Path of Spirit (Disgardium Book #6): LitRPG Series

by Dan Sugralinov

  Good evening, Alex!

  Choose your world for immersion.

  Selecting Disgardium out of the three available, I closed my eyes again. Three heartbeats later, I felt a stone floor beneath my feet. My character appeared in the same spot where I had hurriedly quit back to reality — in the basement of the Widowmakers’ former castle.

  Or at least, I thought it was. But as it turned out, the Widowmakers had recaptured it. The pair who met me spoke with triumphant hatred in every word:

  “I was right!” Mogwai shouted in satisfaction. The stench of a rotting corpse hit my nose, nearly made me gag. “He logged out here and here’s where he logged in.”

  “Kill him!” Eileen growled, pointing a finger at me. “And don’t forget — the final hit is mine!”

  Mogwai twitched, got down on all fours, his head stretched out, the lines of his face turned waxy and seemed to flow — he was transforming into a huge undead panther. The leader of the Widowmakers stepped back behind him and activated a mobile dome shield. I put on Cloak Essence to hide my emotions.

  Casting a glance at the interface, I confirmed that all my abilities were active and got ready to fight, but the attack didn’t come right away. The Supreme Legate of the Destroying Plague even stepped back, frozen in a low crouch. The fur on the back of the snarling panther’s neck rose up and emitted sparks — the druid must have been activating battle buffs.

  I glanced at Eileen’s profile and saw that she was still an elf, which meant Mogwai was the only legate there. This wasn’t the first time he and I had been in direct conflict. We’d studied each other well. In cases like these, nobody usually wasted time checking out the opponent and developing a strategy, but our confrontation was unique: each time we encountered each other, one of us had changed, reshuffling the deck.

  This time our situations had switched again. I was no longer part of the Destroying Plague and had lost my rank of legate and Immortality — which is what Mogwai was relying on in organizing an ambush. But that hadn’t helped him at Kharinza, so what did he hope to achieve now?

  Eileen answered my unvoiced question:

  “The exit from the basement is blocked! All teleportation too. Only I can lift the block. Both of you keep that in mind…”

  Chapter 3. Innoruuk’s Punishing Hands

  JUDGING BY THE BEHAVIOR of the Widowmakers’ leader, she wasn’t overjoyed to be teaming up with Mogwai, but a common enemy united them. What had the Supreme Legate promised her to make her go up against the bungling Goblin League again? Participation in banishing the Threat? Legate status?

  The supreme legate’s initial excitement from the successful ambush had passed and the panther’s face now bore an expression of disgusted indifference, but even still, his strong emotions flashed through: he was celebrating.

  “Before I grind you into the floor, I want to tell you something,” Mogwai said.

  His voice had changed, but not just because of panther form. Mogwai hissed and growled deep due to changes in his rotting vocal chords. Mr. Xiaoguang had shown before that he was a reliable source of information, and attacking first was disadvantageous for me due to the mechanics of Justice, so I let him finish.

  “Your ex gave you up!” the Supreme Legate told me, mockery in his voice. “Apparently, Liam was better in bed… Oh, sorry, I forgot you didn’t even get the chance to crack that safe, ha-ha!” The panther’s laughter sounded like a cat trying to cough up a furball.

  It wasn’t hard to see he was trying to rile me up. But even knowing that, it was hard to keep my cool. He achieved his goal, but I showed no weakness.

  “Enough talk, Mogwai!” Eileen spat, her voice filled with anger. “Prove you’re not a rotting worm-filled coward and take him out!”

  “You’re in no position to give me orders, future legate!”

  “Hey, does this mean you two are like, together?” I asked. “Do your masters the Gallaghers know that you serve Xiaoguang now, huh, Waters?”

  I deliberately used their surnames instead of game nicks, to make it clear that I meant real-life subjugation, not just virtual. In addition, I wanted to play on any potential disagreements between them: both were leaders by nature. It was clear by Eileen’s tone that she didn’t like working with Mogwai.

  “Fuck off, kid,” Eileen spat. “Maybe you should keep your nose out of your elders’ business.”

  Mogwai glanced at her and the elf girl shut up. Turning back to me, the druid snarled:

  “I can get into that hole you’re hiding in like a stinking rat any time I like!”

  “Sorry, I’m no expert on bugs, Fen. I’ve never seen one in my life.”

  “That’s because you are a bug, but still, use what little brains you have, Scyth: why are you here, and not there? What stopped me from capturing your island and destroying the last temple of the Sleepers? Think, Sheppard, think…”

  As he finished speaking, he tried and failed to take control of me with Subjugate Mind. That had already failed before, but he was trying all the abilities he had — what if it worked? Liberation protected me from the first attack, Sleeping Justice doubled my stats and Equanimity activated, giving me seconds of invulnerability at the start of the battle.

  At that moment, I finally realized: I couldn’t kill him with Reflection or Vengeance, or my fists. However, my insanely high damage would give him endless plague energy. If Eileen wasn’t lying, then I couldn’t get out, and that meant the Supreme Legate had all the time in the world to eliminate the Threat. Plague attacks ignore armor and defensive skills, including Resilience, which resists all other types of damage.

  These thoughts slipped along the edge of consciousness and I began to act out of habit and instinct: Ghastly Howl, as expected, failed to scare the undead, but hit Eileen, sending her running down the tunnel in Fear; I sent a Lethargy at her back, but it failed, blocked by an amulet the elf girl wore; above me, a chain of Spirit Shackles unfurled invisibly; I fired Sharkon’s Mane charged with Vindication at Mogwai; one after another, Iggy, Crusher and the Montosaurus emerged from their pocket dimensions… And then a hiccup:

  You cannot summon Storm the Storm Dragon in an enclosed space. Pet is too large.

  You cannot summon Sharkon the Underground Terror in an enclosed space. Pet is too large.

  The Montosaurus, thanks to Behemoth’s preventive measure, only just managed to fit into the stone tunnel. The sharp mane on the beast god’s spine knocked chips off the low ceiling. Iggy’s wings brushed the walls as he tried to take flight. Crusher was stuck between the dinosaur and the needler, roaring and snarling and trying to get out. My pets completely blocked my enemies from view. The wolf and the needler were useless there, so I recalled them both.

  An earsplitting roar echoed through the basement — the Montosaurus had entered combat and was beginning to grow. The ancient divine magic and flesh overpowered the enchanted castle walls, which appeared to explode from the inside. Not just the tunnel, but the walls and ceilings of every floor burst out in a spray of stones, leaving only whirling golden dust behind. Sunlight dispelled the gloom of the basement, although I was in the shadow of the sixty-yard dinosaur.

  I gave him the command to step on Mogwai, to keep him trapped beneath his mighty foot. I remembered perfectly well how helpless I was under the dinosaur’s foot in my own time as a legate, and now I needed a few seconds to get out of range of their block. Realizing that I was planning to flee, Eileen threw an energy net at me.

  I tore through it with ease, took off into the air, dove at the elf girl, grabbed her around the waist and shot into the sky, dodging between the collapsing walls. Eileen twisted, tore from my grip and cut my face with her blades of Innoruuk, as if growing from her hands. Flying into a rage, I freed my right arm and it back for Hammerfist: Reaper’s Scythes could smell blood, the blade flexed, stretching toward its foe…

  But the top of a wall fell down on us with a crash. Feeling the debris dragging me downward and the power of my Flight failing to keep up the m
any tons of weight, I dropped Eileen and got to work tearing the stone blocks apart with Hammerfist.

  One strike, two, and a stone block exploded. Sharp shards scratched my skin, but I paid no attention. Another strike and a second stone block shattered.

  I summoned Storm and she flew beneath me like a nightmare shadow, positioning herself so that I landed right in the saddle. Iggy appeared next to us and chittered. Below, the ancient dinosaur crushed the druid’s Resilience mana shield and ran into Equanimity. In a cloud of rising dust, stone shards and debris, I saw the crushed Mogwai attacking the Montosaurus: mighty living roots burst out of the ground and started leaking plague essence. They quickly grew, wove around the dinosaur, reached his neck and strangled him, then pulled downwards. The Montosaurus tried to resist, but soon swayed and began to slowly fall, unable to withstand the druid’s plague-enhanced spell.

  Rising up on the dragon, I saw the Depths Teleportation icon turn active and pressed it right away. The next moments happened within the two-second cast. Roaring in anguish, Monty fell on his side; Iggy, sent to deal with Eileen, emitted a Deadly Chirp, threw out pack of parasitic larvae and struck the elf girl with Binding Toxin; Mogwai crawled out from beneath the dinosaur dragging his torn-off legs, found me with his eyes and attacked without hesitation. The beam of Moonlight interrupted my cast an instant before I jumped to Kharinza. I prepared for battle, but a second later Sharkon appeared out of nowhere and buried the druid beneath himself. Eileen, slightly beaten up by the fall, was frozen from Iggy’s stun with one leg raised, arms overhead and face twisted in fury.

  We rose higher and I examined the several black craters in the grounds of the castle, which was now reduced to heaps of rubble. And not a single sentient in sight, not counting Mogwai and Eileen. It seemed that initially only they and some third person were there. Probably a legate, maybe Criterror. After regaining her former territory from the goblins and freeing Mogwai, Eileen stayed behind with him to ambush me while the other legate left the location so that Mogwai didn’t lose Immortality.

  Leaving Storm, I shot up to about half a mile high to ensure that nobody would stop me from leaving; I recalled my pets before Mogwai could kill them, and activated teleportation…

  In my peripheral vision, I saw colossal scaly hands materialize in the air around me:

  Innoruuk’s Punishing Hands

  The divine hands, black with veins, clenched around me, sending unbearable piercing pain through my body from head to toe. Easily overcoming the resistance of Resilience, this hitherto unknown New God nearly killed me. Only Diamond Skin kept me alive, freezing my health bar an instant before it hit zero.

  When the hands parted and disappeared, the god’s voice shook the castle ruins:

  “He is yours, my courtesan!”

  Innoruuk returned me, a broken and bleeding ball, to the ground. The god’s help seemed to end there, and he disappeared. My eyes were filled with blood, but I saw the interface: the cooldown to summon my pets wasn’t over yet, so I was left alone against two. Motionless and helpless — Innoruuk’s grip had sealed me into something like a cocoon, blocking my abilities. I tried to take off, failed. The minute-long timer of the Innoruuk’s Punishment debuff exceeded the time left on Diamond Skin.

  Everything had turned against me. Feverishly calculating my options, I came to one final conclusion: I would die as soon as my invulnerability ended.

  No doubt Mogwai, still in panther form, and Eileen thought along the same lines. Also extremely battered, they approached, exchanged glances. The druid nodded to the elf girl and both set about weakening me however they could: Entwining Roots, Confusion, all kinds of damage-over-time spells… Eileen summoned a manticore a little smaller than Sharkon; seeing this, Mogwai summoned a hydra. Neither pet was particularly high-level, but they were just there to make sure I didn’t get away.

  The cocoon from Innoruuk’s Punishment fell from me like an old snakeskin. A strike from a powerful clawed paw imbued with plague energy crashed down on my chest, smashing my heart and eliminating any chance I had of surviving. Mogwai roared with glee:

  “I expel you from…”

  “He’s mine!” Eileen wailed, interrupting him.

  You are dead.

  Remaining time to respawn 9… 8… 7…

  I saw in monochrome, and only where Scyth’s gaze happened to be pointing before death. Something swept the panther off my body. Three lines flashed in the logs, the first about the elf girl using Belial’s Blood, which absorbed all the magic in the area; the second — Eileen dealing damage to Mogwai; and the third message said… Mogwai had been killed!

  4… 3…

  The elf girl’s face appeared in my view, attractive, but distorted with cruelty. She triumphantly raised an arm with a fine blade in hand and, as if in slow motion, began to lower it, shouting:

  “I expel…”

  Second Life! You managed to dodge death!

  Would you like to revive where you died or go to your linked respawn point on the Isle of Kharinza?

  I made the obvious choice.

  “…you from Disgardium…”

  The world darkened and Scyth revived in Kharinza.

  Chapter 4. Death to the Destroying Plague!

  TRYING TO CONTROL my racing heart, I sat on the raw earth of the graveyard, felt Behemoth’s gaze, heard his call. I doubted the Sleeping God would approve of me giving up the second temple without a fight.

  My friends logged into Dis, surrounded the graveyard and called to me, but I didn’t react. I was thinking, staring distantly at a bright green blade of grass and not seeing it.

  My head was pounding. A storm of chaotic thoughts rushed through it, drowning out everything else: We have to take out the Nucleus or all our plans will fail.

  Needless to say, Eileen managed shock both me and Mogwai. But I was even more shaken by how close I’d come to losing my Threat status. Counting the time in the cocoon, I’d spent two minutes with a single thought: Scyth is doomed.

  Sure, I’d turned mortal, but I was 150 levels above Mogwai and had the highest Resilience rank, plus stats strengthened by Sleeping Justice! And I still lost. Although Mogwai’s invulnerability was nothing new, his ability to neutralize the Montosaurus was impressive. When I was a legate, I’d poured my plague energy into my own scant arsenal of three unarmed combat moves. The undead druid had far more talents than me, and judging by what I’d seen, he was actively experimenting, finding new ways to empower his abilities. I couldn’t figure out how Mogwai had avoided the penalties of the twofold difference in level to the monster, and that bothered me. The only explanation was that he’d unlocked something like Path of Justice for class skills.

  I wasn’t the only one favored by the gods. I didn’t know how long Eileen’s cooldown was for Innoruuk’s Punishing Hands, but I really hoped it wasn’t short. The damage it dealt easily smashed through Sleeping Invulnerability, Resilience and the Cold-Blooded Punisher set, then annihilated my huge health supply. And that was with an aura and perks that lowered incoming damage. How did the elf girl take Mogwai out, anyway? She killed him with Destroying Plague Immortality active! I doubted Mogwai would forgive that stab in the back. They’d been a hair’s breadth from eliminating me! Nether, I still couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Most of all, why hadn’t Eileen let the druid finish the ritual? They were both participating in it, after all. They both would have gotten a Rainbow Crystal, opening a portal to the highest-class treasury!

  But all that was their problem. My problem was that now that Mogwai was free, the fort could be attacked at any moment. That threat hung over Kharinza and the Awoken like the Sword of Damocles. And that meant the fort had to be upgraded to a castle, and any teleportation of strangers into its territory had to be forbidden. And since it had come to that, I would have to talk to Tissa after all and find out if her treachery was a one-time action or if Mogwai now had unlimited access to the island. Obviously, Tissa would have to be kicked out of the clan.

  The w
orkers, cultists, kobolds and troggs had to be moved to Mengoza — that neighboring island I found while stuck in the Nether. I couldn’t stay on Kharinza to keep them safe, and I wasn’t much of a protector anyway, as it turned out. There were also rich deposits of ore on the new island, Ruins of the Departed to keep Infect busy, and mobs to level up on. They could conquer the place while the castle went up. With Righteous Shield, Kharinza would be relatively safe, and then we’d take them back there.

  I’d have to discuss all this at length with the clan officers, of course, but first, a hard conversation with Behemoth loomed. What could I expect from him? Would he take someone else as his Initial, like the Nucleus had? Not likely — it wasn’t in his interests. But I doubted the conversation would be much fun.

  Rising up, I stretched out my stiff body and nodded to my allies and followers who had swarmed into the graveyard and were waiting in tense expectation. In the dead silence, I walked toward the temple. They hadn’t seen the alternate future, and what had happened demoralized them: the battle was lost before it began; the Initial left the battlefield; Nergal’s followers triumphed, and the Destroying Plague got a huge boost to its progress. Scyth had appeared at the graveyard, and that meant a stronger power than him had emerged. What could I do to stave off their pessimism and defeatism?