Aeon Chronicles Online_Book 1_Devil's Deal

by Dante Sakurai

  He’d not let another darkie be born at LeMort’s crazed hands. Especially not a potential Ice-Dark or Fire-Dark character. The intel was made top secret by the faction leaders and top guilds, a vote that’d been passed by a slim majority back in alpha. Only a few knew the true nature of dark classes, himself being one.

  The AI controller had decided on a massive asymmetry between dark and light classes. First was the way one unlocked a dark class. Second and most importantly was the power distribution among dark classes. Injustice and unequal, unchecked power was a core tenant of evil. The AI controller had made some dark classes far more powerful than others. LeMort’s class was the most powerful of the five. Ambiguous’ Chaos-Mystic was the weakest—weaker than a Paladin—though insanely annoying to deal with.

  The few dark tablets that had been deciphered revealed Fire-Dark as the most powerful behind two unknown mana types. Ice-Dark lagged slightly behind Fire-Dark. Both summoner-types. Water-Dark lagged further behind both. Jonathan couldn’t allow a player-controlled dark army to arise. He needed to delay for reinforcements as long as possible. Multi-player portals were taxing and time-consuming for Mages to open, especially from longer distances.

  He’d not let down the Draconian Kingdom and Light’s Justice. They’d done so much for him in this world and showed so much kindness which he didn’t deserve. Even when he’d confessed to Lance about his complicity in Max’s murder. The thirty-something-year-old leader had been too understanding. And he had trusted Jonathan with this mission while the guild and allies were at the two raid bosses. Further backup was at least a couple more hours away.

  Touching down at the edge of the crater, Jonathan flicked the party a message regarding the poison clouds.

  Breaking Day: Gotcha!

  Five seconds later, Nature’s Blessing Aura icons appeared below each player's status bars. The aura granted low health regeneration, medium poison resistance, immunity to poisons of tier 3 or less, and lessens the effect of tier 6 or lower poisons. The color of the poison LeMort had used appeared similar to Jungle Viper or Green Widow venom found in mid-level areas in gas form. It was a slow acting poison that dealt more damage the longer one breathed it in. Day's aura should be sufficient as they rode in through the town.

  Jonathan drew his mythical-rarity runesword and shield as the party neared, their loud land-mounts spewing an assortment of noises, failing to wake the litter of bodies. NPCs and many players hated trotting horses or humming, magical artifacts storming cities all day. Faction leaders had passed decrees that banned non-flying mounts in cities back in early-beta when a surge of new adventurers appeared from the aether. Few were given backstories and the majority were explained as creations by the gods to combat growing evil in the world.

  He activated Protection Aura, Holy Light Aura, and cast a Blessing of Vitality on himself. His gear was a well-rounded level 190 legendary rarity set that’d he’d been collecting since mid-alpha. He only missed the shield, sword, and gloves, putting him out of the grasp of the set skill, Mass Resurrection.

  The skill sounded more useful than it was after much consideration. As a tank, he'd need to be one of the last players left standing to maximize the skill's effect. Usually, the supports and tanks were the first to go down in raids against more-intelligent bosses. There were always more damage dealers waiting to join a boss fight. They were expandable and plenty, waiting at the backlines or fighting fodder minions. Too many damaging skills going off and there’d be unmanageable friendly-fire.

  The party arrived, mana-horses and hovering mana-disks unsummoned within seconds.

  Jonathan greeted the party through his full-helm, unfamiliar with the lot. They were random adventurers lingering in Greenwood Capital apart from Breaking Day. She was a new player who'd been power leveled by a mid-ranking member in Light's Justice. It'd taken close to an hour to find a free support. Jonathan preferred a Priest but a support was a support.

  The party said their greetings, two only offering a nod. They didn't appear enthusiastic, fighting a level 223 Witch-Doctor with so few. The damage dealers consisted of mid-level Mages, a Ranger, and a Rogue. Rogues bordered on darkness but were considered good as they lacked any dark mana. The Rogue's society operated on a strict code of honor and justice despite their practice of assassin-like skills.

  Still, they weren’t anywhere near as bad as Not Insane’s class: Raven-Lord. A pure-dark class though surprisingly weaker than Witch-Doctor by a fair margin.

  Jonathan waited as Day cast an ensemble of buffs and auras, her branch-like staff motioning as the primordial language echoed from her lips.

  A minute later, she smiled and said, "Okay all done." She reached into her pouch. "Oh right, I brought along the case of keystones that you asked for…"

  “Good, thank you.” He nodded and waved at her to keep it in the pouch.

  “Are we going to enter or wait for the others?” Alexxor asked, the Rogue.

  A dagger of black mana flew straight at Day’s head. It was fast. But Jonathan’s dexterity was high and combined with Day’s stat buff, he managed to leap into the way and activated Life Link, binding his health points to Day’s. The attack bounced off his shield with heavy recoil and embedded into the ground, smoggy mana disintegrating earth and stone.

  You have taken 126 dark damage (-57%, blocked)

  The Holy Light and Nature’s Blessing auras topped him back up to full over five seconds.

  “Who’s there?!” Wyn, the Fire Mage player shouted.

  A succession of smaller dark bolts shot at the party, smalls swirls and puffs of smoke dancing between the buildings among blurs of a shimmer. It had to be either Insane or SoSo Lovely.

  The Mages dodged in swirls of their respective mana and a sleek, mana-infused dash in the Rogue’s case.

  Jonathan blocked two headed for Day and another that was about to impale the Ranger. He was level 131 and hadn’t unlocked his short-distance teleport skill yet. Jonathan threw him a Life Link. Tier 6 Life Link allowed for three maximum targets and reduced the damage taken by 10%, all diverted to Jonathan. Almost no pain felt. A huge boon for the Paladin class. “Defence formation for a Life Link strategy! Backs against the temple! Move!” he shouted.

  The party scrambled, Day at his side while the damage dealers ran ahead. More bolts shot at the group. Jonathan blocked the majority.

  “Ah!” the Water Mage cried out, a bolt buried in his stomach.

  Jonathan gave him a Life Link but it was too late. His meager health points drained before the double-word incantation left his lips. The Mage's flesh blackened and crumbled to dust. His skeleton and gear fell and rolled down the crater. He didn't have his Mana Shield up.

  A mad laugh echoed from the houses as more sinister projectiles rained down on the group. A dark, bird-like creature made of black mana burst into the sky and hurled a barrage of needles before dissipating.

  Not Insane.

  The Mages teleported to dodge non-stop. A spike clipped the Rogue’s leg. He screamed. Day struggled to chant a healing spell.

  “You only brought mid levels?!” Insane bellowed, his voice rough and crazed. “Fool!”

  Commotion broke out in the party, Day on the verge of panic as Jonathan blocked dart after dart flung in her direction. Life Link prevented all pain and damage from inflicting Day but her inexperience showed. She'd likely not be able to composure while a stream of dark missiles pelted her face.

  But Jonathan was an experienced raider. "Keep going!" He fired a blast of Lesser Holy Light in the general direction of Insane, no time to chant a class-skill.

  Then pinged the arcane mage with a thought command. A suggestion to cast an Arcane Projectile Bubble appeared in his user interface. The ping system was implemented by the AI controller after players complained about hectic, large-scale battles.

  The Arcane Mage spoke, his staff held high as he backpedaled. Jonathan tossed him a Life Link, barely saving him from decapitation in his mana-drained state. The dark attack splashed
against his neck, interrupting his chant for a second. His eyes hardened as he resumed.

  Without pause, Jonathan pinged the Fire Mage, ordering a Greater Flare to spot Insane.

  She complied with a nod, ending her assault of mid-level fire spells, and pointed her ruby wand at the cluster of buildings. She spoke a short incantation. A ball of fire grew in the air over the houses and exploded in red light. No damage but it lit the night sky and alleys with rays of fire mana for a good five seconds.

  The Ranger followed up with a series of glowing, green arrows. The barrage tore into the closest building and detonated in a plume of green mana.

  The Arcane Projectile Bubble finally engulfed the party in a tint of blue, slowing all projectiles that entered the bubble. Miasma-ridden bolts slowed to a manageable speed. Someone breathed a sigh of relief.

  Reaching the exposed temple wall, Jonathan swiveled his gaze as he guided the party back, blocking a bolt and murmuring a Life Link every now and then. Insane had been slowed by the retaliatory combo—but still nowhere to be seen. "Has anyone seen him?" he said loud enough for the party to her.

  He received a chorus of nos and head shakes.

  Jonathan cursed and began chanting Consecration, imbuing his blade with light mana. A large area-of-effect attack that de-stealthed and dealt no damage to non-dark characters.

  A black chain shot out of the air from the left and wrapped around the Fire Mage’s Mana Shield.

  There.

  The chain constricted as Jonathan finished his channel, swinging his sword in a wide arc and bringing it down in Insane’s direction. At the same time, he pinged Day to activate Lightning Aura for five seconds. A high-mana, damage-boosting aura.

  Day muttered a few words as a ten-foot pillar of light and gold burst into existence. It crashed into the ground where Insane stood. Blinding fire-like white light erupted as the pillar crackled with lightning, dealing high light damage to any dark character within a hundred meters.

  But there was still no Insane!

  Then everything went black.

  Jonathan frowned. Did he just die?

  No. Full health-bar. No respawn dialogue.

  Wait… Insane had recently attacked a caravan carrying a cache of dark scrolls. This had to be it. A new Raven-Lord dark skill.

  Jonathan activated Divine Mark and Radiant Shield.

  And just in time.

  His shield flashed with white light and the darkness receded just enough.

  Insane stood grinning a foot away from Jonathan, daggers flaring in black flames, one piercing into the weaker portion of armor on Jonathan's neck. That scarred, pale face and maddening silver eyes twitched as cold pain like none other panged in Jonathan's blackening flesh.

  Insane performed a double-slash manoeuvrer drawing a spray of blood, emptying Jonathan’s health bar down to 1. Light mana rushed to his wounds through his arteries and nerves, sealing it in an instant and consuming the temporary Divine Mark charge.

  The Rogue player had already reacted the second the darkness faded thanks to his high dexterity, his own daggers glowing in dark-brown. He delivered a cross-cut to the back of Insane’s exposed neck before he could follow up with a killing slash.

  But Insane flinched to the side and avoided a lethal injury. Blood squirted from a medium sized wound. He dashed away in a twist of black mana. Quick footsteps behind the temple could be heard.

  “Oh my god! I’m sorry! Everything went black!” Day shouted and began casting Rejuvenation.

  The damage dealers turned to chase.

  "No," Jonathan said, voice weak. He pinged the party and issued a stop-ping. "Don't chase. We need to get into the temple." He pinged twice more and the Rogue player finally doubled back with a growl. The Ranger and Mages settled into defense postures around the group. The arcane mage erected another projectile bubble.

  “Dammit!” the Rogue said. Though a second later he closed his eyes, taking slow, deep breaths. He finally said as Jonathan’s health rose, “Apologies. I saw a shadow circle us but wasn’t fast enough to say anything.”

  Jonathan nodded, his throat still in pain. Day's healing was weak though stronger than his weaker Paladin healing power. His health recovered agonizingly slow as his neck throbbed despite his Pain Resistance Passive. He hadn't felt such pain since early beta when he'd tanked that back dragon raid. That new skill Insane had acquired was dangerous. Too dangerous. Ten seconds of utter darkness without the sense of sound or touch or smell in an area was enough to wipe over ten high-level players. It was fortunate Insane hadn't come with backup.

  They’d need to find an effective counter for that move fast.

  Ignore the party’s chatter, Jonathan flicked a message to his guild, describing the new ability and how Radiant Shield ate away a few meters of the darkness after it began fading. Perhaps the counter was simple. Insane’s skill would be too powerful otherwise. No—underestimating the dark classes like that was suicide.

  The Fire Mage spoke over his shoulder, “Are you sure you want to go down there? Not Insane was only level 204… LeMort is—”

  A hundred-meter wide pentagram of purple-black flared to life around the party. Jonathan's gear and body suddenly weighed twice as much. Even with his high-level strength stat, the greater gravity almost sent him to his knees. The other players wore lighter gear though their strength wasn't as impressive. The Arcane Mage collapsed to a knee. Day's frame shook as she healed and healed Jonathan past the 50% mark.

  Then a massive hemisphere similar to that of the Arcane Mage’s projectile bubble enclosed the group. Hues of dark mana flowed through the air and boundary. The air was now thick fluid.

  Jonathan recognized the spells in a heartbeat. He'd fought against these countless times. Temporal Rift and High Gravity Zone. Ambiguous Pain was here.

  Why didn’t she and Insane attack together? Jonathan shook off the question and issued pings, the Temporal Rift too thick to talk in. To the temple! To the Temple! The Chaos-Mage zone control spells had one major flaw: the caster had to remain in a line of sight to the targets for them to be affected.

  Pulling the Arcane Mage up, Jonathan struggled to the stairs leading up to the temple entrance. It was a strange design like all the other dark temples. This one had a set of stairs up against the side of a small pyramid structure and an entrance at the top that led to another set descending far below ground. Dark and twisted and convoluted. As expected for an evil-aligned structure.

  As the party scaled the black-grey steps with great difficulty, mid-tier Arcane Bolts rained down on the group.

  You have taken 314 arcane damage.

  Jonathan smirked. The great weakness of Chaos-Mystic was the lack of long-range damaging spells. Even Raven-Lord had a small arsenal of projectiles. The bolts splashed against the Mages’ Mana Shields and the Rogue and Ranger dodged with ease. Day took them head-on, the Life Link absorbing the puny damage.

  The Rogue reached the temple entrance and pushed aside a damaged granite counter in the way. It looked like this town had been using the entrance as some kind of booth despite the Temple Guardian below. Smart. It had to be either pure luck or stupidity for LeMort or Rowan to have discovered it.

  The party filed into the entrance one by one, Jonathan at the rear. "Careful there should be a mid-level mimic down there. Kill it from a distance," he slurred over many seconds.

  They nodded and began casting damaging spells as they descended into the darkness.

  Though the Ranger had stayed on the last step, facing a line of trees by a two-story building and small park where the bolts originated. He released a blitz-speed flashing arrow and the trunk of a tree exploded. Then he knelt and fired a rain of arrows in impressive speed despite the rift and high gravity.

  There wasn’t time for this. LeMort and whatever ritual she was performing on Rowan needed to be stopped at all costs. Bubbles of dread told Jonathan that Rowan was exactly an Ice-Dark or Fire-Dark type for LeMort to call both Ambiguous and Insane. They rarely wor
ked with each other, their skills having poor synergy. Jonathan would die trying to at least buy time for the coming player and NPC reinforcements. He grunted at the Ranger, “Get in!”

  In a flash of purple and black, Ambiguous Pain blinked in front of the Ranger and unleashed a purple wave of force. Day lost balance and tumbled down into the temple. Her health bar took three chunks while Ambiguous’ dark orb focus palpitated above her palm. She invoked a spell with her free hand. Jonathan began slurring the words for Life Link.

  The Ranger shot a Detonating Arrow point-blank. It ricocheted off her Mana Shield.

  Jonathan didn’t manage to pass him a Life Link before a purple prism encased his head and filled with black mana. The prism shattered and the Ranger’s head was no more. His body tumbled down into the crater in slow motion.

  Ambiguous lightly laughed, the rift not affecting her. "Well, that was easy. You're not nearly as good of a Paladin as I thought."