The Curse of Rion Castle (The Neuro Book #2) LitRPG Series

by Andrei Livadny

  "Look!" Enea's voice rang with excitement.

  A scene in front of us must have portrayed some sort of ritual. It showed a long line of creatures of every imaginable race. A transparent rock towered at the picture's center. A warrior was kneeling on one knee in front of it.

  "Now what would that mean?"

  I peered at the runes. "This word here means oath," I pointed at the symbols I knew from my spell-casting practice. It was part of the Mortal Allegiance spell engraved on my sword.

  "And this is supposed to be blood," Enea pointed at a tiny ruby mounted onto the engraving.

  "The word next to it means rock," I added. "Which means... the oathing stone?"

  "Exactly!" Enea hurried to check the spells she'd studied. "I think I can read these symbols. They mean blood."

  "So if we tried to put it all together, it'll be... a warrior swearing an oath of allegiance and sealing it with his own blood?"

  "Wait. I'll do a quick search."

  "Try the 'oathing stone' combination."

  She nodded. "I got it! It's in some gamer guy's blog: The Crystal Sphere Roadmap. How interesting. He seems to mention certain plot lines which never made it to the game's release. The post is two years old."

  "Can you read it to me, please? I don't have the access. I can only use the in-game network."

  "Right. Listen up:

  Hi there,

  The Crystal Sphere developers seem to be so confident about their pet project that they've just begun creating some long-term plot lines. Although I can't reveal my sources, there're rumors that the game's development might eventually bring us to the myth of the Founder Gods who supposedly used to control the whole of the Universe. A special update would then introduce a number of very interesting artifacts, including items made of cargonite: a special extra strong alloy whose secret is now lost.

  Among new locations included in the planned update are some interesting ruins of quest castles which once used to belong to the Order of Disciples. According to my source, seizing the castles won't be easy because it involves completing complex quest chains which require the knowledge of the so-called "oathing stones"...

  "Is that it?"

  "Yeah. Most of the blog seems to have been deleted. There're only a few fragmented posts left."

  "Okay. It sounds like the update he's talking about has already been installed. Does the Wiki mention the oathing stone?"

  "It does, but very little. Here, look," she forwarded me the link.

  The Oathing Stone is a mythical and yet undiscovered blood-magic artifact supposedly built by the Founder Gods.

  I did another search.

  The Blood Magic is a lost teaching which creates a constant bond between an item and its owner. The Blood Magic lost its significance after the departure of the Founder Gods. Its artifacts are extremely rare and the consequences of using them can be unpredictable.

  This looked like another dead end. I clenched the plain cargonite locket in my hand. The item was indeed dark with age.

  The sunrise was almost upon us and we were as far from solving this mystery as ever.

  The lamps lining the hall seemed to be dying. Some of them had already expired; others still oozed a dull weak glow. This place, too, was about to submit to the darkness.

  "I have an idea," I clenched the locket in my hand. "Can you see this symbol?"

  "It's the same one as the one on my staff," Enea replied. "Wish we knew what it meant."

  "I wonder if it marks the item's owner as one of the castle's defenders. I think I'm gonna try and activate it."

  "Not blood again! Aren't you afraid you might sign up for something you won't be able to fulfil? You have any idea what kind of forces we might end up serving?"

  "I trust our little Alpha and his intuition. A pet can't hurt his owner — and still he stung you."

  "All right, all right. Try it. I still can't see how it can help us."

  "We'll soon find out. I told you I had an idea."

  I used my sword to cut the tip of my index finger. A generous gush of blood darkened the ancient item, filling the indentations on its surface.

  I waited.

  The runes on my sword's blade flashed all at once, all of them. A wave of freezing cold swept over me, followed by a surge of heat. The central rune on top of the locket radiated a golden light, illuminating my face.

  You've received an item: the Charm of the Sovereign (part of a set)

  Restrictions: only the rightful owner of Rion Castle.

  Effect: +10 to mana regeneration rate

  +10% to attack strength

  +10% to Stamina

  The Shield of Reason (an ancient spell-like feature): +50% to the wearer's resistance to all mind-altering magic within Rion Castle limits.

  The Charm's Aura:

  The castle owner and all of his clan members receive +50% to resistance to mental attacks;

  Each of the clan's allies in arms receives +5% to both physical and mental defense within a range of 60 ft. + 3 ft. per character's level.

  He who has collected The Charm of the Sovereign, the Replication Ring and the Rune of Knowledge will receive the Ancient Legacy ability (+10% to Intellect, +10% to Learning Skills and +10% to Spirit).

  "You all right?" Enea's voice betrayed concern.

  "Yeah. Got some cool stat bonuses. And you? Did you manage to get some rest? We need to get moving. We have very little time left before sunrise."

  "Where do you want us to go?"

  "You'll see. It's a long story."

  * * *

  WE WALKED outside. The early morning air was considerably colder. The pitch-black fog had thickened; patches of frost glistened on the ground.

  I turned toward the gate. "Get ready."

  The moment we crossed the invisible line dividing the locations, the air grew warm. The dark fog dissolved, revealing the moon and stars.

  "Alex, watch out! The Disciples!"

  "I can see them," I raised my hand with the Charm in the air.

  The ghosts lingered, undecided. They stopped their advance and began circling us, daring neither retreat nor approach.

  Then the air filled with transparent clots of ectoplasm coming toward them from all directions. Holy cow! Some ability that was! Apparently, the three Disciple leaders could absorb the other ghosts' ethereal bodies, bringing their own levels up by imbibing the stats of all those undead wizards and sorcerers.

  "Alex, we need to go now!"

  "No. Wait."

  "They're getting stronger!"

  "They're not aggroing us for some reason, are they? Watch how they look at the charm!"

  "You think they will help us?" Enea asked doubtfully.

  "We'll soon find out."

  Indeed, the creatures had completed their transformation. One of them floated closer, materializing as an old man with a long gray beard.

  "Who are you?" he asked in a muffled voice.

  "Can't you see?" I replied boldly.

  "Neither the Charm of the Sovereign nor the Staff of a Hydra make you the castle's rightful owners. You're looters! You've had the audacity to disturb our brothers' ashes!"

  "Very well. Try and kill me, then. Think you can do it?"

  He did try — but an invisible force disrupted his spell, stopping him mid-word. The old man stammered and lowered his head, hunching, as if the burden was too much to bear.

  "Let me go!" he croaked. "What do you want?"

  "We've come to free this castle from the powers of the Dark. Sunrise is near but we're not strong enough to fight our way to the Oathing Stone!" I ad-libbed to check our theory.

  "The castle's rightful owner would have used its teleport system in order to get there," once again his voice betrayed doubt and suspicion.

  "It doesn't work, does it?"

  "Oh," the old man paused, thinking. "We can't cross the gate. I wonder if someone removed the magic crystals?"

  "You must have a few spares, surely!"

  "They're all empty.
Discharged. They're no good to you."

  "Can't you charge them?"

  "What, and channel our own strength into them?"

  "Don't you want to finally rest in peace?"

  He chuckled. "There's no peace in disembodiment."

  "It's still better than being stuck in some old ruins."

  He frowned, thinking. Finally he nodded. "We can give you the teleport crystals. We'll charge them for you. But if you fail... you'll regret it!" he threw a handful of crystals on the ground in front of him.

  The ghosts' ethereal bodies disintegrated into transparent streams of energy which reached for the crystals, charging them up.

  I bent down and picked up one of them.

  You've received an item: a Minor Teleport Crystal

  Charge: 100/100 (rechargeable)

  You've received a new level!

  Quest update alert: Purge

  New task available: Activate the internal teleport system of Rion Castle

  New task available: Find out which of the teleports leads to the Hall of Oaths

  * * *

  ONCE AGAIN did the Resurrection Hall lay in the dark dotted with the unsteady little flames lining its walls. The black fog seeped through the cracks in the crumbling stone, the bright glow of the resurrection point the only source of light in the room.

  "Over there," I drew Enea in the direction of the stationary portal next to an ancient obelisk covered in runic symbols. We hurried toward it.

  "How did you know the ghosts would help us?" she asked.

  "I didn't. Not at first, anyway. But when they began syphoning other ghosts' energy, then I knew it."

  "What do you mean, you knew it?"

  "This is how games work. The reason why quest NPCs tend to have inordinately high levels is to make sure players can't smoke them just for fun."

  "Didn't we kill some of them when we tried to get here?"

  "We killed them in battle — which means they could still respawn soon afterwards. That's different. Secondly, we didn't have any quest items then. The moment we got them, the ghosts' levels grew accordingly. Which is actually a good idea on the part of the developers."

  Panting, we finally reached the obelisk. I focused on the runes covering it while Enea caught her breath.

  "I keep forgetting where I am," she admitted. "This feels like the only real world."

  "You're taking it well," I said as I located a group of shallow slots in the rock whose shape seemed to fit the crystals. "When high-density holograms first appeared, that was something else, I tell you. In those days, that was state-of-the-art authenticity. Can you imagine I jumped out of my seat a few times trying to escape a monster? Cables flew everywhere!"

  "You fleeing the battlefield? No way!"

  "Fleeing from my own console, rather. Those were the days. Could you pass me the crystals, please?"

  "There. Need help?"

  "It's all right. You'd better check the portals' interface."

  "How do I open it?"

  "Just focus on the obelisk."

  "Okay... oh yes, it works," her gaze glazed over. She fell silent, mouthing something.

  I slid the remaining crystal into a slot, then joined her.

  Oh wow. The interface was a jungle of buttons and drop-down menus, all in the Founders' language. Translation? — You could forget it.

  "I'm lost," Enea said.

  "It's all right. We'll sort it out in a moment. I want you to look for the symbols you know in the words 'stone' and 'oath'. Think you can find those combinations? I'll do the right half of the interface, you do the left."

  "Okay."

  After a few minutes of focused search through a multitude of inscriptions, we finally had the first result.

  "Alex, I think I've got it. This word means 'an oath'. But the symbols that precede it, I've no idea what they stand for."

  Oh yes. It looked like my old language quest had acquired an unexpected urgency. "Let's have a look. Where is it? Can you highlight it?"

  One of the buttons glowed green.

  She seemed to be right. This looked like the only possible combination. Although I didn't recognize the first word in it, it was repeated on many other teleport control buttons. Could it mean "Hall"? Possibly.

  "Are you ready?"

  Enea nodded. Color drained from her face.

  Congratulations! You've activated the internal teleport system of Rion Castle!

  Chosen destination: Hall of Oaths.

  Quest updated: Purge

  * * *

  WE PORTED to a balcony overhanging a huge oblong room. All of its walls were lined with high vaulted windows. Did that mean we'd reached the very top of the donjon?

  The dawn was already upon us. We had very little time.

  Statues of ancient heroes crowded the hall: full-size sculptures clad in tattered clothes and armor darkened with time. A freezing wind gushed in through the paneless window frames, tearing at the statues' clothing and jingling their weapons.

  The doors leading to the hall had once been rammed open: the gaping entrance bristled with splintered wood.

  Traces of a desperate fight were everywhere. The floor was littered with bloodied, disfigured bodies. Judging by their position, the Cohort of the Fallen had put up a fierce defense against those warriors and wizards who'd proved immune to the Dark magic.

  The furious battle which re-enacted itself every night since. Still, for today it had already been over.

  A few dark figures still ambled about the room. I focused on their tags. All of them were levels 200+.

  "Here," Enea whispered, hiding behind the balcony's parapet. A wide staircase led down to the center of the hall where a desecrated oathing stone towered: a large transparent crystal which exuded a weak humming noise and harbored an opalescent clot of darkness.

  Just above it, an emaciated demon floated in the bubble of Levitation aura. He was old and barely alive, his shriveled body covered in scars from a great many slashed wounds. Some of them were quite fresh and still oozing black blood, shedding an occasional droplet onto the Oathing Stone. The artifact absorbed it greedily, poisoning the souls and thoughts of all whose who once had shared their own blood with it as part of the sacred oath.

  That was it! This was the curse of Rion Castle!

  "The demon in on his last legs," Enea whispered. "We can kill him."

  "Wait," I watched the legionnaires ambling about the room. They would make quick work of us.

  "Alex, but sunrise is near! I don't care if they kill us! At least we'll remove the curse!"

  "Not necessarily. Can't you see that the demon's dying? They'll probably replace him with someone else in a moment. Wonder who that someone might be?"

  She stared at me. "Christa? No way!"

  "Why not? That could be the reason why she wasn't allowed to finish fighting you. She wasn't the one controlling the undead, that little was clear."

  "But Christa is a player! They can't keep her here against her will!"

  "But what if she volunteered? How do we know what kinds of quests demons receive? Maybe she thinks the reward is worth it?"

  "But that's ridiculous. Alex? No one in their sane mind would agree to being tortured like this! Would you allow them to-"

  We heard a commotion on the staircase. The five surviving legionnaires gathered together not far from the exit. They hadn't yet noticed us.

  A warlock walked through the broken doorway. I knew him — I'd seen him the previous evening. He was followed by an armor-rattling group of liches dragging in a chained and struggling Christa. Enea had been right. Christa might have initially agreed to the task but once she'd realized what exactly was demanded of her, she must have had a change of heart.

  The warlock wore a triumphant smirk. No wonder. He was level 70. He knew there was no one around who could challenge him or disrupt his plans.

  The remaining undead followed in her wake. There weren't so many of them left! The legionnaires must have long lost their minds, killin
g anything that moved. The warlock's robes were in tatters, his retinue decimated.

  Christa's eyes were filled with fear and incomprehension. "Let me go! I'm not doing it! I don't want to!"

  "You've accepted the quest," the warlock said without even turning. "You agreed to its conditions. No one can change the destined path. Rion Castle will forever remain ours. Step aside!" he snapped at the five legionnaires.

  Perfect timing. Only a few minutes left till sunrise.

  "We're too late," Enea whispered.

  "Not at all. Port us to the stone — now!"

  * * *

  THE POPPING SOUND of the teleport was akin to a clap of thunder.

  The giant crystal didn't even budge when I collapsed on top of it. Still, the impact was enough to hurl the emaciated body of the demon through the air, his last drop of blood missing the stone and landing on the floor like a tiny bubbling smudge of ink.

  "You? You survived?" the warlock threw his hand in the air, about to cast a spell. Enea sank the sharp end of her staff into the demon's bony chest.

  His scream echoed from the walls. The warlock recoiled.

  I hurried to drop to one knee. Blood magic! It was the only way to cleanse the stone and lift the curse.

  My sword pierced the transparent crystal with ease and froze, reverberating. I closed my hands hard around the blade. Blood flowed down the defiantly glowing runes, streaking onto the stone, and was immediately absorbed by it, wiping away the darkness and rekindling light.

  Howling, the sorcerer stepped back, recognizing his defeat. His magic bond with the crystal had been severed. The stone glowed brighter, its light illuminating every corner of the ancient hall, growing stronger and fiercer — and purer — with every passing moment.

  The sorcerer wielded his staff in the air, pointing at me and Enea. "Kill them!"

  Quest Alert: Purge. Quest completed!

  You've lifted the curse from Rion Castle!