I felt myself drawn to the crystal once again, as though there was something there that I was meant to do. I didn’t know exactly what and so I let my instincts take over. I reached out to the inscription and tapped on it, letting fingers brush across their grainy surface,
I felt vibrations tremor from within the stone. All of a sudden, the fountain split apart, and the very ground began to quake.
“Everyone! Move back!” I yelled, skipping away a few feet away from the pillar. The whole town square started shaking, the tiles of its streets cracking one by one, as though they were playthings for the earth.
A line split straight through the middle of the fountain, cutting it into a perfect half. Two semicircles moved to the side, the half of a fountain on each of their straight edges. Dust and rubble fell into the gaps as they moved, disappearing from sight. I held my body weight still, keeping myself on my feet until the vibrations died down.
When the tremors stopped, I looked ahead of me, at the circular section of darkness that now stood where the fountain had been. It was a hole about ten feet wide, and god knows how many feet deep. I walked up to it, activating my Night Vision skill and looking down into it. I thought I could make out a surface but it was just my imagination. All I could truly see was deep, black darkness.
The rumbling began once again, only this time, howling accompanied it as well. Clouds of ominous gray appeared in the sky above us, forming in less than a few seconds. The sunlight turned dull, and thunder rumbled across the land.
They were all ill omens.
All of a sudden, a beam of pure white light shot out of the inner depths of the newly opened chamber. It shot straight into the clouds, turning them from grey to pristine silver.
“Seriously, what’s with all the weather manipulation?” Nyx asked.
Out of nowhere, a massive bolt of lightning struck me where I stood, thunder accompanying it through the winds. Pain burst into me as I stood at the edge of the drop, my body frozen still, my nerves and muscles paralyzed. I felt my arms numb, my eyes lose sight, and then everything turned back to normal in a flash
I gasped. “What just happened?”
DING!
Congratulations! By uniting with your second spectral spirit, you have now broken ‘The Seal of the Eternal (2/5)’! Stats have been updated. Inventories have been updated. Skills, Subskills and Special moves have also been updated.
I stared at the screen, unable to believe what had just happened. I’d been searching for my Spectral Spirit for months now, and like Ijyela had suggested before, Ikarius had held it all along. I smiled to myself, finally finding a spark of happiness in the grim circumstances around me.
I’d just leveled up.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The second Seal of the Eternal.
That was something I’d been trying to figure out for the last three months. That was what I’d actually been pursuing before this whole dragon escapade had begun. The first part of the Seal of the Eternal had been easy to break, but that was only because the first Spectral Spirit had been quite easy to find. I’d ended up stumbling onto it myself.
The second part of the seal was a lot harder to break, especially since I hadn’t the faintest clue about where to even get started on finding the Spectral Spirit that would help me break it.
And now here I was, united with the second of my Spectral Spirits, absolutely out of nowhere.
“Zoran, what just happened?” Freya asked.
“I sense a stronger presence from you,” Krof said. “Your seal?”
I nodded. “I’ve broken through the second part of the seal.”
“Then that white light…”
“Was my Spectral Spirit.”
Everyone but Nazu stared at me, completely stunned.
“You actually did it,” Ijyela whispered.
“What is a Spectral Spirit?” Nazu asked innocently, his voice bubbly as usual.
“Something important,” I smiled at him.
“So there was a Spectral Spirit hiding in this village,” Krof said. “How odd.”
“I have no clue what’s going on either,” I said. “But it’s probably best to keep this aside for now since we don’t have the time to deal with this.”
“I have one question though,” Ijyela said. “What even happened back there? You touched that pillar and fell to the ground unconscious. I tried to reach out to your subconscious and see if you were okay but something was blocking me.”
“Oh,” I said. “It’s…complicated”
I explained to them what happened, that I’d had visions of dragons flying over this town, that I’d had a beast of silver eyes talk to me. I told them of the city I’d seen, of the buildings and towers that’d risen high up into the sky.
“You saw the past,” Freya said, her eyes wide. “That pillar showed you a vision of what Ikarius used to be, of what Dragonfall used to be.”
I nodded. “I have no clue how or why that hole opened up though,” I said. “I just touched the pillar and that immediately happened.”
We all turned our gaze to the wide circular gap in the floor. I still couldn’t believe my second Spectral Spirit had been inside it. How odd was that?
“How much stronger have you gotten?” Krof asked. “Is your current strength enough for you to take on the Dragonborn?”
“I doubt it,” I said softly. “But I can check.”
I swiped the air with my fingers and my Ga’em menu slid down. I opened up my Stats menu and looked at my screens.
Name
Zoran Diablo
Level
783 (41% to next level)
Health
13450
Mana
16300
Stamina
12010
Strength
1748
Agility
2494
Dexterity
1415
Wisdom
3561
Constitution
1345
Intelligence
1630
Endurance
1201
Charisma
1004
Luck
34
HOLY HELL! I exclaimed, astounded by how much I’d grown. That was more than 250 levels higher than what I was before. My stats reflected the level-up too, with all of them other than my luck going up by at least 150 points. Excitement built into me as I put my finger to the screen and flicked it to the side, sliding the old data away and letting a new set of information come into my vision.
Name
Zoran Diablo
Race
Eternal
Abilities
Resurrection
Spirit King
Re-animator
Titles
Phantom Lord
Undead Emperor
Necromancy Demon
Master of Ikarius
Resistances
All Arts
Alignment
Neutral
Reputation
Level 10 - “The World shakes in your presence”
I quickly noticed that I’d gotten a new ability and a new title. Necromancy Demon sounds neat, I grinned.
“Also a little scary,” Nyx chuckled.
Everything is scary at this point, I tapped on my new ability and its info screen popped up.
RE-ANIMATOR - You can now raise beings from the dead and induct them to your forces. Level of the raised undead depends on the level of the summoner, and the level of their Death Arts skill. Number of beings you can summon depends on the level of the Death Arts skill. Currently, you can summon thirty undead, all of them being around Level 200 on average. Summoning more than this limit will cause each individual summoned to be of a lower level.
Wow, I stood there, stunned. This ability was super sweet! It made sense, given my new title, that my new ability was something related to necromancy, but I was still super excited that that’s what it was.
A Ga’em prompt screen popped up in front of me.
You have obtained a new skill: Water Arts! The oceans and the seas are now within your realms. Attack power increased by +5% while in the water. Agility increased by +5% while in the water. Health regeneration rate increased by +1% while in the water.
You have obtained a new skill: Wind Arts! The skies are no longer the limit. Attack power increase by +5% in the presence of a storm. Agility increased by +10% in the presence of a storm. Mana regeneration increased by +1% in the presence of a storm.
“Lord Diablo!” Raffiel ran to us, panic in his demeanor.
DING!
WARNING! The mirror shield has been taken down. Ikarius has been invaded. Sundown Haze has been deployed. Empty moat and guard hounds have been defeated.
My eyes widened. We’ve been attacked, I realized.
“Dammit,” Nyx cursed. “We should have been more alert. We knew we were going to be under fire soon.”
“Raffiel, get your men deployed,” I said. “We don’t know how strong the enemy is at the moment, but we don’t have a choice but to take them on anyway.”
“Yes, my Lord,” the man ran back the way he’d come.
Drat, I muttered. How do you even defeat an empty moat?
“Beats me,” Nyx said. “All I know is the moat around the village doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Zoran, we need to head out,” Freya walked up to me. No doubt she’d gotten a notification of the attack as well.
“What do you mean head out?” I asked.
“It’s likely this attack is from either the Dark Alliance or the Alliance of Light coming after us,” she said. “We don’t have the resources to take on both of them at once. And we haven’t even considered the Black Guardians yet. We need to regroup before we do anything.”
“Regroup where, Freya?” I asked, a little annoyed. “We’re less than 50 people here. There are no resources for us. This is it. We either fight them off here or we wait too long to-”
“The men are coming for Nazu, Diablo,” Krof said, his tone calm and collected. “If we stay here we risk them getting the kobold. And once that happens, they will be the ones to resurrect Acnologia.”
I froze up, the simple logic hitting my emotions hard. I realized I was being very emotion-driven at the moment, and that it was best I stopped and took a breather.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s fine,” Krof said. “So of the places we can go to, the best one would be-”
“I still don’t agree with leaving,” I interrupted.
The old wizard looked at me, confused, not expecting to hear those words.
“I do not plan to run away from these men now. Our best chance of defeating such a large force is within this village, a place we have control over. If we run away all we’re doing is putting off a battle we must fight. Do not forget, the Shadow Dragon’s chambers are here, and it is likely it is within whatever is down that dark path,” I pointed to the hole in the village square. “You may leave if you want to. Leave Nazu here and go. I will take on the intruders and search the darkness for Acnologia’s chambers.”
Ijyela sighed. “Stubborn as usual,” she muttered. “There is sense in what you say. I will stay alongside you.”
“Fine, we’ll stay,” Freya said, and I could tell Krof agreed as well. I’d won them all over to my side with my statement.
“Thank you,” I said.
I heard rumbling come from the village boundaries, and I could immediately tell that the invaders had entered the streets.
“Come on, we don’t have much time!” I yelled. “Freya, keep Nazu in your sights. Find a place to hide. Ijyela, stay with them.”
“Got it,” the elves said and picked up the kobold, running away with him to hopefully a well-hidden spot.
Krof and I ran to the where the noises were coming from, the old wizard surprisingly nimble for his age. And then I realized he wasn’t even touching the floor with his steps. He was gliding across the streets.
“Don’t underestimate the powers of the Wind Arts, Diablo,” he smiled as we headed forward.
And there about twenty yards ahead of us I saw dark-suited knights charge in. Raffiel and his men were fighting them, exchanging strike for strike as both sides injured each other.
“Ikarius, Move!” I yelled, and my forces quickly shuffled out the way, letting the enemy men run up to me. I pointed my hand right at them. “Oskis!” I yelled. Flames burst out my palm, stronger than before, and shot through the enemy forces. I heard screams sound as knights fell to the floor, their armor melting off in the heat, their bodies singeing and burning in the flames.
All of a sudden, I felt the air chill, and a blast of darkness came straight at me.
“ZORAN!” Krof yelled, and a shield of light immediately emerged around us. The dark blast though broke through easily and smacked hard into me, sending me sliding across the floor.
“Well, well,” Jelal walked to the front of the knights. “It’s nice to see you, Eternal.”
I smiled, my added strength giving me confidence. “You looked better with all that blood on your face,” I muttered.
“Zoran, there are people coming in from the streets a few yards to the right,” Nyx said.
“Krof, Raffiel, can you check the street a few yards to the right from here,” I said. “I’ll hold down this entry point.”
“Sounds good,” the old wizard said and glided away in a flash, with the knights running behind him as well.
“Oh?” Jelal looked at me. “You’re taking us on yourself? Confident, aren’t you?’
“Why did you come here again?” I asked. “What does the Dark Alliance want with this place?”
“Playing innocent, how childish,” he smiled. “Acnologia.”
Dammit, I thought.
“We know the Shadow Dragon’s resting chambers are here, Eternal,” Jelal said. “The Dark Lord told us of it.”
“If the Dark Lord was so great, you would have come to this place first instead of going to the Ulhur mountains.”
“We did,” Jelal smiled. “We did come after your village, but we couldn’t find the chambers. The Dark Lord thought he made a mistake and sent us to the Ulhur mountains next, the closest Dragon chambers from here.”
“That’s why the Dark Alliance attacked Ikarius,” Nyx said.
“Sounds like the Dark Lord doesn’t know what’s going on anymore,” I said. “How do you even know if he’s right this time?”
“Because if this wasn’t the Dragon’s chamber, you wouldn’t have come here.”
“He has a point,” Nyx said.
“You’re not getting to the chamber, Jelal,” I said. “Leave now, and we can stop this from happening.”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands,” Jelal said.
“Oh, I think I am,” I lifted my hand up. “Uher!” I yelled, sending the Dark Phoenix right at him. He put up a shield, ready to block it, a smile on his face.
But he was wrong. I was stronger.
The Phoenix went crashing through Jelal’s defense, sinking into him and throwing him down to the floor. The dark bird crushed into the men around him as well, killing them all in a mere instant. I rushed up to Jelal, Dawnbreaker in my hand, ready to cut into him.
He stumbled up onto his feet, fear riling his body language. “How…” he mumbled. “It wasn’t supposed to…”
“Diablo, enemies coming in from the other side of the village,” Nyx yelled. “We’re being attacked on two fronts now.”
“DAMMIT!” I yelled, anger coursing through me.
“You won’t win, Diablo,” Jelal said as I reached him. A gust of darkness shot across him and when it disappeared an enemy knight stood there instead.
I slashed into him anyway, bringing the confused man down to the floor.
Where did that fiend go? I muttered.
“He’s still here,” Nyx said. “That wasn’t telepo
rtation magic he used. I think he switched places with someone from his ranks.”
Figured, I said. Where on the other side of the village is this enemy force?
“Uploading the map to your mind,” Nyx said, and the image showed up immediately, a flurry of purple dots entering in from about five streets on the opposite side of Ikarius. I looked at the bunch of red entering in from this side too. I could see one green dot fending off an entire street by himself. Krof. There were a bunch of green dots on the other streets too, Raffiel and his men, but they were being subdued fast.
I thrust my hand up at the few knights remaining in front of me. “Oskis!” I yelled, sending a blast of fire down onto them and taking them out in a flash.
With my street here cleared up, I took off, running across to the other end of the village. Gusts of wind blast behind me and the stone street cracked under my feet, the elements unable to bear the sheer force I put into my strides.
“What do we do about Jelal?” Nyx asked.
If he shows up again, I’ll take him down, I said. Personally, I think he’s shocked enough to not think about attacking me again for quite a while.
In seconds I was at the other side of the village, and I saw men in black run through the streets ahead, with others even running across the rooftops. For a second I thought these were the second force from the Dark Alliance, and then I realized they weren’t.
A badge of silver lay on the breast of their outfits. The Black Guardians, I grit my teeth. I slid to a stop, gauging the forces rushing up to me.
“Hello, Eternal,” a man stood atop a rooftop
“Lazarus,” I muttered.
The Eternal: Dragonborn - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 2) Page 22
