Heart of the Void: Sosaku Online - Book 2
Page 19
*** Corrupted Soulguard, Level 15 (Elite) ***
*** HP: 82%, SP: 78% ***
*** Conditions: Corrupted (78%) ***
*** Active Spells/Abilities: Voidtouched ***
*** Weakness: Light, Fire ***
*** Highest Statistics: Strength, Constitution ***
Mika looked back at me and cursed. “What the hell man? Why did you heal it?”
I shrugged. “Dude, they are corrupted. The healing removed a bunch of the corruption. Don’t kill it until I see if I can cleanse it.”
Kjara stopped cutting into the thing and went on the defensive. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Kheph.”
I drank a mana potion and sighed as my mana surged back to fifty percent, and then I started casting.
Sehkmet’s Cleansing only took off a few percent of the corruption, likely due to its low rank compared to the level of the elite mob, so I went back to healing. At its current mana cost was far less efficient than Cure Wounds.
Each casting took off about a quarter of the corruption, but as it got closer to zero it became harder and harder until with a pop, the corruption hit zero and the soulguard stumbled backwards, shaking its head.
The black veins that had permeated its body were gone, and the pits of darkness that had been its eyes were now replaced with small glowing balls of light. Golden light. Like Amenhotep.
The soulguard stood tall and bowed to me before turning towards the central sarcophagus and readying itself for battle.
Mika popped back into visibility and gestured towards the NPC. “So, can we kill it now?”
I just glared at him but was spared from having to say anything when a scream from the center of the room drew all of our attention.
The spirit of Asah collapsed backwards, exhaustion weighing heavily as he spoke. “I have done all that I can. He comes.”
With that proclamation, the central sarcophagus erupted in a cloud of stone and dust, and when the dust cleared, it revealed a creature out of a nightmare.
…
26
Standing nearly twelve feet tall, the creature was the shape of a giant, powerfully muscled humanoid. Its skin was formed of some sort of transparent membrane containing a swirling, rolling mass of absolute darkness.
Each of its four arms ended in tridactyl, ebony clawed hands and its head was a horrifying cross between a giant squid with a lamprey’s mouth and eyes that didn’t just offer a glimpse into the void; they were the void.
Buried in the rolling maelstrom of the creature’s chest was a massive heart, beating in time with the swirling eddies within the creature’s translucent flesh.
I activated Analyze.
*** Manifestation of the Devourer, Level 18 (Boss) ***
*** HP: 100%, MP: 100, SP: 100% ***
*** Conditions: None ***
*** Active Spells/Abilities: ??? ***
*** Weakness: Light, Fire ***
*** Highest Statistics: ??? ***
A series of four letter words left my mouth as the boss turned its gaze towards us. Its maw shifted slightly into something that I knew deep down in my bones was a grin. It was the look of a starving man given access to an all you can eat buffet.
*** You have been affected by Gaze of the Devourer. All regeneration rates have been reduced to 0. ***
I cursed again as the icon appeared next to everyone’s name in the party window and cast Sehkmet’s Cleansing on myself.
*** Sehkmet’s Cleansing was unsuccessful. Gaze of the Devourer cannot be dispelled. ***
“Damn it!” I yelled. “The debuff can’t be cleansed. Going to have to do this with no regen!”
Mika groaned. “I think we’re screwed man. Darkman over there came all the way from the upside down to kick our asses, and I don’t think he’s going to leave here unsatisfied.”
Kjara growled as Amenhotep stepped forward to intercept the boss. “We’ll see how ‘Darkman’ likes some divine light,” she said and moved forward to support the tank.
Mika shrugged and darted behind some debris to slip into stealth while I stepped up to support my allies.
As the creature reached Amenhotep, the spirit of Asah lifted his head, his form glowing slightly. “Blood of my blood, I grant to you my strength,” he said and then faded away.
*** Spirit of Asah uses Empower Bloodline ***
A pulse of golden light drew my attention to the left. The soulguard I’d cleansed in the last wave, whom I had completely forgotten about, started glowing with the same golden light as the god as it charged in at the boss.
A golden glow lined the edge of the soulguard’s weapon as it drove the blade into the boss’ side, dropping its health bar by a percent or two. A cloud of black mist flowed out of the creature’s wound and sizzled in the golden light.
Amenhotep rushed in and slammed his shield into the boss while Kjara attacked its flank, glowing blades cutting into its flesh.
The manifestation’s arms lashed out, each of its four limbs attacking independently.
Kjara gasped in pain as the creature’s talons tore through her armor and sent her skidding across the floor, her health dropping by thirty percent.
Amenhotep’s shield caught the first of two blows directed towards him, but the second ripped a large tear in the bandages of his thigh, causing him to collapse briefly to one knee before my healing spell mended the wound.
The fourth attack ripped a massive wound in the soulguard’s chest, dropping its health by over half and sending it crashing backwards onto the floor.
The soulguard began to stand, but the manifestation, remembering the NPC’s opening attack, was having none of it and pounced. Its lamprey-like teeth latched on to the soulguard as the inky tentacles ripped its body apart and pulled it into the boss’s gaping maw.
Mika appeared behind the boss and sank his daggers into its thigh, ripping the blades through like a scissor to sever what would have been a flesh and blood creature’s hamstring. Kjara arrived soon after and leapt towards the creature’s back, swords leading.
The manifestation moved so quickly that I barely saw the backhand that sent Kjara flying across the room once again, nor the second hand that snaked around to grasp Mika.
The dýrafólk squirmed in an attempt to get free, and I sent Sunstrike after Sunstrike into the boss’s arm to get him to release the rogue to no avail.
Amenhotep used Shockwave to grab the boss’s attention, but instead of dropping our companion, the creature threw him into Amenhotep’s raised shield, forcing the tank back a step as Mika’s broken body fell to the ground, stunned.
I sent a series of Cure Wounds spells into the dýrafólk as quickly as I could cast them, but the rogue was still stunned from the impact.
The boss lunged forward with a trio of attacks, pressing Amenhotep further back and away from Mika’s prone form, and faster than we could react it reached down, picked up the rogue and shoved him into its mouth.
Mika’s scream cut off abruptly as the manifestation’s lamprey-like teeth sank into his flesh and the tentacles ripped off an arm. It was a small mercy that his hit points hit zero before he was subject to the full horror of being eaten alive by Cthulhu’s second cousin twice removed.
*** Mika has been killed! ***
All the healing I’d sent towards Mika to save him had been for naught, and my mana was running low. The long-term effects of the boss’s opening debuff had become painfully evident.
Kjara stumbled back into the fight, her swords a blur as she cut into the boss’s flank and took another chunk out of its health.
Things were not looking good. The boss was still over ninety percent, and we were a man down. The boss seemed to be immune to some parts of the normal aggro mechanic, its attacks targeting both the tank and Kjara when she got close enough to do some damage.
She was able to dodge or parry most of them, but even her supreme levels of agility weren’t enough to allow her to avoid attacks when she was already in midair, and soon enough she was
bleeding on the ground once again.
The last of my mana flowed into a Cure Wounds spell that closed up the worst of her wounds, but we were well and truly screwed.
Amenhotep was barely hanging on, and Kjara wasn’t much better off. I reached into my pouch for a mana potion but wasn’t quick enough. The boss turned his full attention to Kjara as she moved in for another attack and a savage blow from its claw sent her head flying across the room.
*** Kjara has been killed! ***
I blinked and looked away from the sight of her headless body being fed into the creature’s maw as Amenhotep continued to slash into the boss’s side with his khopesh.
I was fairly certain we had royally screwed up the mechanics of this boss by taking out all of the bodyguards and soulguards, and we were paying for it. This was a wipe.
If the boss killed Amenhotep, I wouldn’t be able to summon him again for twenty-four hours and we’d have no chance of finishing this guy off without a tank. So I did the logical, gamer thing to do. I reached out mentally and cancelled the summoning spell.
Almost immediately the legionnaire began to dissipate into a whirlwind of sand, his spirit travelling back to the Land of the Dead without my magic to anchor him in the material. Anger surged through our bond as his body dematerialized, leaving me alone with the boss.
I was a goner. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But if I was going to die, I was going to do so in style. At least my subscribers would appreciate it.
With a maniacal grin on my face, I slung my shield onto my back, grabbed my spear with both hands and charged in at the boss, screaming as loudly as I could, “Leeeeeeeeerooooooooooooy Jeeeeeeeeeeenkins!”
I sank my spear deep into the creature’s groin as I completed my charge, dropping its health another three percent as I struck something critical. The rush of power from the crit didn’t even have time to fully manifest before the creature had its revenge.
There was a brief flash of pain as the boss’s claws connected and then I was standing on the dunes of the underworld.
*** You have been killed! ***
*** Your party has been defeated by the Manifestation of the Devourer! ***
*** Achievement received: TPK ***
*** Manifestation of the Devourer, ending HP: 87% ***
*** Encounter reset: Manifestation of the Devourer ***
*** Your party has killed 8 Corrupted Bodyguards! Your party gains 2880xp ***
*** Your party has killed 3 Corrupted Soulguard! Your party gains 3792xp ***
*** Your party has cleansed a Corrupted Soulguard! Your party gains 316xp ***
*** You have gained 5 Divine Favor! ***
*** Kjara has reached level 13!
*** Mika has reached level 12!
*** Congratulations you have reached Level 14! ***
*** You have gained 2 Combat Skill Points. ***
*** You have gained 2 Divine Skill Points. ***
*** You have gained 2 General Skill Points. ***
*** You have gained 16 maximum Hit Points. ***
*** You have gained 20 maximum Mana Points. ***
*** You have gained 8 maximum Stamina Points. ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient with Aura of the Underworld Rank 2 Achieved! ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient with Discerning Eye! Rank 11 Achieved! ***
I read through the scrolling text and smiled. We’d all gained a level on that fight, making our chances of facing the level eighteen boss a bit more realistic, especially if my suspicions about the mechanic proved to be correct.
I just hoped I had the mana to pull it off. I had some potions left, but the best of them would only give me a third of my pool, and with that curse cutting my regen to nothing, I might be able to cleanse the dudes but end up having no mana left for keeping the party alive.
The boss was going to be a tough nut to crack.
…
27
Letting the various strategies stew for a while, I activated my Child of the Underworld skill and teleported to my home away from home, the Temple of the Restless Dead.
The inside of the temple was empty once again, so I took a seat on the stairs leading up to the altar and popped open my character sheet. Those skill points weren’t going to spend themselves.
CHARACTER STATISTICS
Name:Kheph Sa’tep
Race:Human, Saa (Awakened)
Class:Priest of Anpu
Level:14Awakened Rank: 2
Experience: 60603/67500
Hit Points: 648/648
Mana: 624/624
Endurance: 457/457
Divine Favor: 71
Attributes (Modifier):
--Strength (+1):14 (+3)
--Agility (+1):11 (+1)
--Constitution (+4):17 (+4)
--Intelligence:12 (+2)
--Wisdom:13 (+2)
--Presence (+2):21 (+6)
--Fortune:12 (+2)
Racial Skills:
--Child of the Sun
--Martial Training
--Son of the Sun
--Aspect of War
--Aspect of Light
Class Skills:
--Blessing of the Gods
--Divine Blessing
--Temple Training
--Child of the Underworld
Boons and Blessings:
--Unknown Origins - Blood of the Gods (Awakened)
Combat Skills: (Available: 2)
--Spear: 12 [54%]
--Shield: 11 [42%]
--Medium Armor: 11 [80%]
--Endurance: 6 [92%]
--Precision Strike: 10 [40%]
General Skills: (Available: 4)
--Armorer: 8 [28%]
--Cooking: 4 [98%]
--Discerning Eye: 11 [0%]
--First Aid: 13 [98%]
--Literacy (Saa):2 [44%]
--Lore (Saa Religion): 11 [81%]
--Survival (Desert): 1 [76%]
--Weaponsmith: 1 [13%]
--Lore (Necromancy): 3 [15%]
--Riding: 1 [92%]
Divine (Available: 3)
Skills
--Combat Caster: 11 [70%]
--Spectral Legion: 2 [N/A]
--Exorcism: 1 [0%]
--Spellcrafting: 2 [97%]
--Aura of the Underworld: 2 [98%]
Spells
--Soothing Touch: 6 [43%]
--Sunstrike: 5 [80%]
--Jackal’s Tooth: 4 [90%]
--Beacon of Life: 2 [42%]
--Purifying Touch: 3 [25%]
--Flamestrike: 5 [11%]
--Sever Bonds: 1 [25%]
--Summon Legionnaire: 1 [85%]
--Cure Wounds: 13 [80%]
--Sehkmet's Cleansing: 5 [30%]
--Purification: 1 [0%]
--Call the Dead: 1 [33%]
--Create Food and Water: 1 [75%]
Damn it, I thought to myself as I read through my skills. There were several I’d love to have at a higher rank, but most of them were close enough to ranking up through use that it felt like a waste to spend points on them.
At least Discerning Eye was primed for some point expenditure, having just leveled up to eleven. I dropped three of my four general skill points into it, bringing it on par with my character level and hopefully providing a better ability to read my opponents with its Analyze ability.
I really needed a trainer, but as soon as we’d reached the temple Kaluitep had rushed us to the dungeon entrance with no chance to ask him for any aid.
The respawn timer still had almost ten minutes left before I could rejoin my companions in the land of the living, so I decided to take a chance and go right to the source for some divine skills… and hopefully not piss off my patron.
I moved up to the altar and knelt before it, bowing my head as I prayed, “Anpu, Lord of the Underworld, hear my prayer. My companions and I face a difficult foe, beyond our current skills and so I come to you to ask for training. I-”
<
br /> A voice rang out from the other side of the altar, “Finally figured it out?”
I looked up to see my patron standing there looking down on me with a small grin on his face.
“Figured it out?” I asked.
Anpu looked down on me and replied, “Did I not tell you to return to me when you became more powerful so that I might teach you new things?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes, my lord, but-”
“But nothing. Did you think that I would neglect the training of my chosen few?” he said.
“N..No, but-” I stammered.
“Enough,” the god said and snapped his fingers.
With a swirl of sand, I found myself standing in a large stone hall with several mummified legionnaires at various locations throughout the room.
Along one wall was a line of practice dummies where others practiced with small horn bows. Another portion of the room was sectioned off with a low stone fence where several more melee oriented mummies were sparring.
At the far end of the hall was an obstacle course where thin, wiry mummies flipped and parkoured over balance beams and jumpy stones while dodging arrows and swinging axes, and immediately to my right was a small alcove with a wall filled with scrolls of various sizes.
Anpu gestured around the room. “This hall is located beneath the temple. The elite of my legion have been brought here to provide training to you, and any others who have earned my favor,” he continued.