by A F Kay
Thirty feet of soil, ten feet deep, flew through the air and buried the Mage. Twenty of the skeletons fell into the newly formed pit, and the other ten were in the pile of dirt now burying the Mage. Dig had consumed another one hundred fifty Energy, bringing him down to three hundred sixty-seven.
Ruwen ran to the edge of the pit, lowered his left arm, and discharged half the Minor Acid of Dissolving he’d captured from the traps in the maze level in Blapy. It would fill three hundred sixty cubic feet and do one to six damage per second to anything down there.
Standing, Ruwen looked over at Hamma. Her Light Guardian had just finished casting a spell, and a gash across her cheek faded away. Her eyes grew large, and a moment later, Ruwen understood why.
The darkness from before intensified, and claws gripped his shoulders. Ruwen heard the beat of wings and felt the air move around him as something tried to pull him into the air. But he had Fortified his shoulders to Gold, and the claws scraped across his skin, unable to gain purchase. As the creature tried to lift him, it only managed to rip his shirt and cloak.
Ruwen looked up to see a bat, its wingspan thirty feet wide. Hamma finished casting Fist of Order, and the large bat froze as the stun activated. No longer flapping its wings, it fell into the pit with the acid and skeletons.
“We need to get that Ma–” Ruwen started.
Smash and the Butcher, still fighting to get to Ruwen first, both crashed into him at the same time, sending all three of them tumbling into the pit of acid.
Ruwen landed on a skeleton, the bones already mushy from sitting in the acid. He kept his eyes closed to keep the acid out and held his breath, just in case the Scarf of Freshness didn’t work. A fist or foot slammed into the ground next to him, and he pushed himself away. He wondered if he should suck all the acid back into his Void Band, but realized that would just leave him to face Smash, Butcher, and twenty skeletons. Escaping the pit would be a better option.
Ruwen’s back touched something, and he flinched, but when nothing happened, he reached out and discovered one of the giant bone spears the Bone Sculptor had used to shatter his diamond platform.
Channeling ten Energy to Melt, Ruwen reached up and shoved his hands in the bone. It took him a few seconds to find the right amount of Energy that allowed his hands to sink into the bone but still be firm enough for him to pull himself up. Ten seconds later, he pulled himself out of the acid, opened his eyes, and he took a deep breath.
Ruwen climbed to the top of the bone, and then jumped to the edge of the pit, landing twenty feet from the pile of dirt that covered the Mage. He circled the pile, and on the backside, discovered dirt scattered outward as if something had blown it off the pile. The Mage had escaped.
The air hummed behind Ruwen, and he threw himself to the side and down. A bone spear passed through the space he’d just been. He rolled to his feet and ran, not staying in one place, and narrowly missed being impaled by a bone spear that erupted from the ground.
The Mage’s spells were too powerful. If Ruwen didn’t finish this quickly, they would certainly die. Lylan might already be dead. Sift and Hamma were behind a pit of acid, and Ruwen couldn’t wait for them.
Ruwen ran erratically toward the Mage, who stood half-hidden behind the wall of the structure he’d fallen off. The Mage’s Mana dropped by fifty, and a scythe appeared in his hand. Ruwen’s Energy had recovered to five hundred eighty-four, and he channeled twenty Energy into Scrub.
The Bone Sculptor spun his scythe like it weighed nothing, which might be right, and stepped away from the building. “Bored with my Rolling Terror?”
Ruwen slowed as he approached the Mage, but stayed ready to jump if he felt a bone spear coming up from the ground. The Mage’s comment confused Ruwen, and then he realized Impersonate remained active, and he still looked like Sift. That might be an advantage since the Mage wouldn’t expect him to have a Void Band. Weakness also remained active, and the Mage’s bone armor had multiple red areas showing vulnerabilities.
The Mage seemed relaxed. “Your group’s attacks appear like complete chaos, and I’m impressed it’s resulted in your modest success. You’ve managed to burn through a significant amount of my resources. But you haven’t faced me yet, and your friend isn’t here to save you this time.”
Too late, Ruwen realized the Mage had stalled for time as he cast the powerful fear that had crippled Sift and briefly disabled Ruwen. But Ruwen’s Mental Resistance had reached seventy-five percent thanks to Last Breath, and he resisted the fear.
Ruwen let out a whimper, acting as if the fear had worked, and ran at an angle that would take him past the Mage. The Mage smiled and raised his scythe to slice Ruwen as he passed.
As the Bone Sculptor swung his scythe, Ruwen turned and threw himself to the ground as if he’d tripped. Laying on his back, he continued to whimper until the Mage stepped into view. As the Bone Sculptor raised his scythe, Ruwen spun his legs around, catching the Mage’s ankles.
The Mage fell backward, and Ruwen cast another Observer spell the amulet had given him, Pay Back. It cost twenty-five Mana, but it flung Ruwen to his feet, and when Ruwen’s hands touched the Mage’s shield, it triggered a stun that lasted one to three seconds.
The Bone Sculptor froze as the stun took effect, and Ruwen punched the Mage’s shield as fast as he could. Each blow left a leech hanging from the shield. Between the damage caused by Scrub, the leeches, and the force of his blows, the shield failed just as the stun disappeared.
An explosion of black light erupted from the Mage, doing fifty-four damage to Ruwen and throwing him fifteen feet backward. He landed on his back and did a reverse somersault to regain his feet. Not wanting to give the Mage time to cast another spell, Ruwen triggered Pinpoint and shot a Blessed Brick at the red spot Weakness had marked near the Mage’s shoulder.
Bone armor exploded, revealing the Mage’s body underneath. The force of the blow spun the Mage around, and Ruwen shot another Blessed Brick at the red spot at the back of the Mage’s neck. The bone armor shattered, exposing the pale skin underneath, and the Mage stumbled.
Ruwen sprinted toward the Bone Sculptor, intent on ending the fight. The Mage whirled around and screamed, the sound full of anger and hate. Bones flew off the Mage, lowering his Armor Class by two hundred ten. Ruwen dodged six bones that the Bone Sculptor had shaped into spears, but there were too many, and ten impaled him, totaling four hundred and eighty-one damage.
Dropping to his knees, Ruwen looked down at the awful damage. His Health bar blinked yellow, letting him know he had less than twenty percent of his Health remaining, and Last Breath triggered, protecting him from the pain. A debuff appeared.
Dark Shackles: Paralyzed
Ruwen could feel the poison in his body. His resistance to poison, while high at thirty-six percent, couldn’t resist ten doses. His Bracer of Freedom should cut the duration in half, but he didn’t know if he had that much time. He should have realized the Bone Sculptor would have an emergency close combat spell.
The Mage laughed. “You should have stayed with your friends. What hubris to think you could defeat me by yourself.”
The scythe disappeared, and the Bone Sculptor drew a dagger from his belt and threw it at Ruwen. It struck him in the chest doing thirty-two damage, but the debuff that appeared horrified him, and he quickly stopped channeling Scrub and turned off Weakness and Impersonate just to be safe.
Grounding Stake: Energy cost increased tenfold, Mana cost doubled
In the second it had taken Ruwen to read the debuff his Scrub spell had consumed two hundred Energy instead of twenty. He had three hundred fifty-two Energy, fifty-nine Health, and with the buff from Hamma’s Blessed Spring Water, four hundred nine Mana.
Last Breath sped Ruwen’s thoughts up, and the outside world slowed. In hindsight, he should have waited for Sift and Hamma. He had been arrogant. The debuff limited his options. Tricks he’d used before, like Dig, would cost far too much Energy now. He needed to regain some Health and delay
the Mage until the poison wore off. The Bracer of Freedom would halve the time, and that should surprise the Mage.
Massage was the only way Ruwen had to gain Health without moving, but it did a paltry two Health per second for thirty seconds and took two seconds to cast. But maybe additional levels would improve that. He opened up his Spells tab and found Massage.
Every spell point he added doubled the healed amount, increased the Mana cost by thirty, and removed a half-second from the cast time. The level five spell healed thirty-two Health per second for thirty seconds, cost one hundred fifty Mana, and became instant cast.
Ruwen knew heals were valuable, but in the future, he’d be using his Spirit to heal, and these spell points could help gain insight into other spells so he could learn new essence recipes.
In fact, if things got much worse here, he’d be forced to use his Spirit to save himself. But was that the right choice? If what Blapy and Uru told him was true, revealing what he could do would start the apocalypse. Should everyone suffer because he didn’t want to die? But he doubted his friends would leave, and that meant Sift might die here. Could he lose Sift just to delay what would eventually arrive anyway?
It might be a long time before he could use his Spirit, so having a powerful heal wouldn’t be a waste. He confirmed the spell point allocation, and his entire body broke out in goosebumps.
Ruwen cast the spell, and his Mana dropped by three hundred. His Health increased by almost ten percent per second, and the Bone Sculptor noticed.
Something struck Ruwen in the back, a bone spear he assumed, but the one hundred fifty point shield on the Hooded Pacifist’s Cloak of Wandering triggered, stopping the attack. The Mage growled and another spear erupted from the ground, piercing Ruwen’s stomach and exiting the middle of his back. His Health bar blinked red, warning him he’d dropped under ten percent Health.
The Mage tilted his head. “You really are stupid.”
“I’ve never heard that before,” Ruwen said.
Something behind Ruwen caught the Bone Sculptor’s attention, and the Mage smiled. “Oh good, company.”
Ruwen teetered on the edge of indecision.
Use his Spirit and risk bringing the apocalypse early but save his friends.
Or don’t use his Spirit and risk everyone dying, and maybe losing Sift forever.
Ruwen agonized over the decision but knew in his heart what to do.
As the poison debuff blinked and disappeared, he saw he wouldn’t have to decide today.
The Mage leered at Ruwen. “Your two friends have come to see you die.”
Ruwen shakily lifted his arm, pointed at the Bone Sculptor, and smiled. “All three have.”
Lylan plunged her dagger into the exposed neck of the Bone Sculptor. Ruwen didn’t know how many abilities and spells she triggered, but it critically injured the Mage. The Bone Sculptor fell forward, his body limp and in shock. Before he hit the ground, a gloomy light surrounded and then swallowed him. In a blink, he’d disappeared.
Chapter 59
Sift and Hamma slid Ruwen off the bone spear, and Lylan pulled the dagger from Ruwen’s chest. Hamma added a heal to Ruwen’s still active one, and they laid him on the ground.
“Where did he go?” Ruwen asked.
“He’s not here,” Lylan said. “I’ve seen it before. The ultra-rich or important have safety measures against assassinations. If your health drops too much, it triggers an instant teleport to your bind point.”
“So he lived?” Hamma asked.
Lylan shrugged. “I hit him pretty hard. He only had a few seconds left.”
Sift kneeled next to Lylan and hugged her. “I was so worried.”
Lylan hugged him back and then narrowed her eyes at Ruwen. “You shot me a little over one hundred feet. And by little, I mean fifty. It took all your healing potions to fix my broken legs.”
Ruwen grimaced. “I’m sorry. Things went crazy as soon as I tried to launch you.”
Hamma touched Lylan's shoulder and cast another heal. Lylan’s face relaxed, and Sift glared at Ruwen.
“What?” Ruwen asked Sift. “You saw what happened.” Ruwen looked up at Lylan. “What was it like in there?”
“Like sleeping,” Lylan said. “I stepped in, and the next moment I was one hundred fifty feet in the air.”
“Sorry,” Ruwen said again.
“What happened to the Butcher?” Ruwen asked.
Everyone stared at him. “The giant sword-wielding skeleton.”
“Oh, Sift smashed it,” Hamma said.
“You made it look harder than it was,” Sift said.
Ruwen sat up. “You didn’t see the whole fight, and I bet the acid softened him up.”
“I don’t know,” Sift said. “You looked like you were struggling.”
Ruwen pointed at Sift. “It was hard to think over all your screaming.”
“That golem hates me,” Sift said.
“Smash hates you because you made fun of him,” Ruwen said. “Did you apologize to him?”
“I did,” Sift said. “And I think Smash was about to leave me alone when some idiot that looked like me teased him again.”
Ruwen winced. “Sorry, that was an emergency. Maybe after a day or two, he’ll forget.”
Hamma pulled Smash from her dimensional bag and held him up. “Both the idiots are sorry for being dumb, Smash.”
“I hope we never have to see him again,” Sift said.
Hamma covered Smash’s ears. “That was mean.”
“What?” Sift said. “I just mean I don’t ever want to be in a situation like that again. I’m only here for the sights.” Sift pulled Lylan toward him. “And the women.”
Lylan punched him. “Woman, not women.”
Ruwen got to his feet, and everyone stood. Lylan held out the dagger that had triggered the Grounding Stake debuff.
Ruwen shook his hands. “No, thank you. I don’t want to be near that thing again.”
Hamma pulled the Bone Sculptor’s cloak from her bag. “It’s a powerful cloak, and you can summon that elite skeleton if there are enough bones around.”
“No, thanks,” Ruwen said. “I’m attached to mine. Plus, it keeps me hidden from tracking magic.”
No one else wanted it either, so Hamma put the cloak and Smash back in her bag. “I’ll donate it to my chapel.”
“Let’s check out the temple,” Ruwen said.
As they walked toward the temple, Ruwen checked on Whiskers, who was still at the lakeshore. Ruwen set him to patrol around the valley. He wanted plenty of warning before anyone else arrived.
You were quiet for all that, Ruwen said to Rami, trying not to sound upset.
You know I want you to think for yourself.
I know, but it seemed pretty dire at the end.
That’s because you hadn’t been monitoring Lylan’s progress the entire time. I knew she would make it.
That would have been good to know. I was really stressed.
I know. But stress like that is required for growth.
Ruwen’s mouth went dry. I think I would have used my Spirit.
Maybe. But you didn’t.
Doesn’t that make me a terrible person? I might have sacrificed the world for a few.
We all change, and experiences like you just had speed that change. Regardless of where you end up, it is good that you started here, as a friend willing to do everything in his power to keep his friends alive. That is noble, and that is okay for now.
Thanks, Rami.
Warmth traveled down Ruwen’s neck and into his chest, and he smiled. He had enough to worry about without adding guilt to the pile. In the end, he hadn’t revealed himself, and that meant he’d kept his word.
The wind had dissipated the acid, but bones and diamond pieces littered the area.
“Why are there so many bones here?” Hamma asked. “All those bodies should have been fed to the temple’s recycler.”
“Maybe they died after the temple broke,” Lylan sai
d.
“Good point,” Hamma said, and then added, “That skeleton experience really adds up.”
Curious, Ruwen glanced at his log. But it was full of combat details.
Rami, could you –
Rami closed his log and popped up a summary. You are getting lazy.
You’re the best.
I know.
A Rolling Bone Lancer (Level 20) has died!
You have gained 2,606 experience (10,300*(25.3% group modifier))!
An Elite Skeletal Butcher (Level 24) has died!
You have gained 4,731 experience ((14,800+3,900 Elite Status)*(25.3% group modifier))!
A Gigantic Blood Bat (Level 22) has died!
You have gained 3,150 experience (12,450*(25.3% group modifier))!
148 Summoned Skeletons have died!
You have gained 53,358 experience ((1,425*148)*(25.3% group modifier))!
The group modifier had evened out now that they were all similar levels.
“I leveled,” Lylan said, unable to keep the smile off her face. “I can’t believe I’m twenty already.”
“Congratulations!” Hamma said.
“Gratz, Lylan,” Ruwen said. “I’m really happy for you.”
Sift pulled Lylan close as they walked, and she grinned. Without the fierce exterior, Ruwen felt like he was seeing Lylan for the first time. A young woman, barely older than him.
They started up the steps to the temple, and everyone grew serious again. Smash had demolished the skeletons blocking the entrance, and Ruwen stepped over the piles and into the temple.
A notification appeared, and he opened it.
Ting!
You have completed the Quest – The Search for Truth (Part 2).
