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

by Andrei Livadny

  "Why don't you have a proper healer in your group?"

  "Couldn't find one," he replied. "Pointless hiring just any old quack. So we have to make do with scrolls, elixirs and my Paladin abilities."

  * * *

  THE TINGLING SENSATION in my fingertips was still there. A very nagging feeling. The invisible source of power had to be here somewhere.

  Zander was calm. He knew what he'd gotten himself into. The dungeon was millennia old. No one had ever completed it before us. The imps here had to be nice and fat with plenty of treasures to drop. Our loot might exceed our wildest expectations. This I could tell by the ecstatic look in Rodrigo and Iskandar's eyes which glinted with anticipation.

  Togien was restless and on edge. Armed with his battle axe and shield, he kept casting militant glances around him. Platinus was unusually quiet. He kept close to me, clutching yet another vial with a picture of some improbable monster on the label. Probably a generic image.

  "What's that?" I asked him softly, trying not to disturb the wizards who were busy casting raid buffs.

  You've received a mass blessing:

  +50% to resistance to fire

  +25% to Physical Defense

  +25% to your Health quota

  Duration: 30 min

  You've received a mass blessing:

  +20% to armor durability

  +20% to close combat damage

  +10% to all spell damage

  +5% to your chances of dealing a critical hit

  Duration: 30 min

  "Cast Levitation!" Zander commanded, heading toward the gaping mouth of the ancient mine shaft.

  "So what's that vial you've got in your hand?" I repeated.

  Platinus turned pale. "Power of a Monster 2.0. If I drink it, my stats will go sky high for sixty seconds."

  "Put it away. Didn't you hear what Zander's just said?"

  "Why not? It's only sixty seconds! I might win the battle for you, you never know!"

  "Right. Open the Wiki and look up 'aggro', now. How can you be so stupid? You can only use it if all of us get killed, understand? Better still, give it to me. Just to be on the safe side. Literally."

  Reluctantly Platinus handed me the vial, then flung his robes open and reached for another one. This one had a large sign of the Red Cross on the label.

  Levitation enveloped us, lifting us in the air, then placing us gently on the ground below.

  The dust cloud concealed the ruins of the ancient mine, restricting visibility and gnawing at our life bars.

  Zander cringed. "The demons are playing it safe. They've got a long-term DoT cast over the area. The legionnaires must have attacked them every night."

  "Yeah," Virgil agreed. "Once they find out the curse has been removed, they might get cheeky. They might start pushing the envelope to see if they can conquer the upper levels."

  My point entirely. We'd have to purge this place once and for all, otherwise we might have constant problems with them. Normally, dungeon mobs respawn regularly — or if they don't, a new set is generated for each group that enters the instance. But the fact that my quest was unique made Rion Castle an exception from the rule. Which meant that the imps might not respawn at all.

  The dust cloud dissipated abruptly: a sure sign that it had been created by magic.

  We inched forward until we reached the nearest tunnel which was swarming with imps busy hacking at the rock. There we met our first surprise. A junior conjurer: a filthy, ugly, hunched-up creature was sitting on a rock in the middle of a pool of bubbling slime, breathing in its toxic effluvia and murmuring something. Next to him stood a totem made of bones, topped with a tiny skull of some local rodent. Three blobs of darkness circled it incessantly, leaving a smoky trail in their wake.

  I want my castle clean and filled with light, the warm memory of Enea's words touched my mind.

  I could sense the growing pressure on my brain. My resistance to magic was quite good. The mercs had nothing to fear, either. But Togien and Platinus were in trouble. Both froze in place, their faces betraying fear and disgust.

  "Zander?" I asked.

  "I can feel it," he replied immediately. "The totem is trying to control us. I saw it happen before but never as powerful as this one. It requires one hell of a power source."

  The conjurer fidgeted in place, casting suspicious glances around.

  "Smoke the motherfucker," Togien's voice broke under the totem's mental pressure.

  "One moment," Zander replied calmly. "Let the conjurer show us what he can do first. We can always use the logs for later reference."

  "And what if the warlock arrives?" Platinus asked in a tense voice.

  "Even better," Zander replied. "That would be a good pull."

  We were still lurking within the dust veil. I could see Zander's logic. He was trying to work out whether the totems and junior conjurers made some sort of network. The mental pressure in itself was a useful albeit depressing tool responsible for the dungeon's somber atmosphere; still, we shouldn't forget that a magic network like this could also serve as a primitive alarm system, warning the others of any potential intruders.

  Platinus' legs gave way under him. He crouched on the ground, whining and clutching his head. Togien's neck bulged with pulsating veins as he whispered dwarven protective spells — apparently, with little success.

  Zander wasn't in a hurry to cast his auras. He peered expectantly into the darkness.

  Piles of rotting bones nearby emitted an unbearable stench. The cave which had looked so mysterious from above was in fact gruesome.

  One of the piles of bones shifted.

  I tensed up. Zander raised a commanding hand, gesturing to us to stay put.

  This annoyed me. What was he waiting for?

  Platinus promptly shut up. He sat on the ground swaying, staring nonsensically into space.

  And there was the warlock coming!

  The pile of bones shifted again. No, not bones. Dogs. Patches of matted hair clung to their skeletal frames. I couldn't look at their mangy heads.

  Hell Hound. A Replicated Object. Level 30

  Their tags made the blood freeze in my veins. But that wasn't all. The demons had a much worse surprise in store for any potential intruders.

  The warlock stopped, mouthing something. I strained my eyes.

  He uttered a few words in the ancient language. The blobs of darkness that were circling the totem now darted toward the dogs' lair. They enveloped it in an ashen haze which streaked down the creatures' bare ribs, penetrating their bodies and forming the outline of an enormous mythical creature.

  Infernal Monster. A Replicated Object. Level 20.

  You've learned a new spell: Object Replication

  Class: unique, uncategorized. Part of the Founders' lost school of magic.

  Mental Energy cost: varies, depending on the complexity of the replicated item/creature

  Class restrictions: none

  Requires:

  Level 30

  Intellect, 14

  Willpower, 14

  None of us had ever seen anything like it! I dreaded to even think how much mana it must have cost him to build an Infernal monster like that?

  Zander's self-restraint had yielded fruit: they hadn't noticed us yet. The dust cloud kept gnawing at our hp but it was worth it simply to uncover the enemy's secret abilities. Iskandar was already busy analyzing the logs.

  What happened next far exceeded the limits of our gaming experience. The monster, cobbled together with bits of flesh and bone, looked as if it was about to crumble apart. Its life bar barely glowed. Its movements were erratic — the thing may have looked scary but at the moment, it posed no threat to us whatsoever.

  The warlock gulped down a mana vial. The totem began emitting more wisps of dark energy which headed for the man.

  The warlock dropped to the ground, writhing in a pool of bubbling slime. He seemed to be having a fit. The imps abandoned their picks and tried to scamper to safety, apparently horror-stri
cken, but stopped dead in their tracks under the hounds' fiery glares.

  The warlock resumed the spell.

  I activated Spell Interception. Luckily, my Twilight Vision and Observational Skills allowed me to lip-read.

  The imps nearest to the warlock exploded in a cascade of blood and gore, dissolving into clouds of crimson mist. An invisible force channeled them toward the monster, pumping him full of energy.

  The creature's life bar quivered and began to grow.

  You've learned a new spell: Dark Regeneration

  Class: unique, uncategorized. Part of the Founders' lost school of magic.

  Mental Energy cost: varies, depending on the number of disembodied creatures and the amount of hp channeled toward the recipient

  Class restrictions: none

  Requires:

  Level 30

  Intellect, 13

  Willpower, 13

  "The legionnaires must have really put the fear of God into him," Zander said through his teeth. "Alexatis, if we survive this instance, I owe you."

  "The spells can't be identified," Iskandar reported, suppressing his excitement. "This is the Founders' magic! The monster's damage can't be estimated! The hounds are under absolute negation with zero chance of a resist."

  This was our analyst's verdict. Now Zander as the raid leader had to act upon it.

  "Rodrigo, I want you to cast Negation. Iskandar, Alexatis, focus on the warlock. Togien, you need to aggro this creature. Try to last at least a minute if you can. Virgil, Tylor, you need to kill it. The warlock is mine. Don't bother with the imps. Let's do it!"

  Zander lunged forward, leaving the safety of the dust cloud.

  He must have decided to play it big from the start, attacking the warlock with the magic of Light.

  The man wasn't easily scared. He raised his staff, building a wall of darkness between us. A Negation promptly cast by Rodrigo ripped the darkness to pieces.

  Whining, the hounds tried to scamper away. Zander cast a 30-sec Silence over the warlock's retinue of liches. Unable to cast spells, they engaged in a hand-to-hand, much to the pleasure of Zander's moonsilver sword.

  Obeying Zander's orders, Togien lunged onto the Infernal Monster. He gave it a well-calculated whack with his axe, pulling aggro to himself, then promptly recoiled, covering himself with his shield.

  The monster reared up, showering Togien with blows.

  The warlock tried to port out. As if! The Absolute Negation disrupted his spell while Zander's sword nullified his passive shields, forcing him into combat.

  I pierced the warlock with two Ice Spears while Iskandar cast a generous dose of Subzero over every enemy.

  Frozen to the knees, the warlock whimpered and reached for the totem, clenching it with both hands.

  A dull rumbling sound echoed throughout the cave.

  The nearest imps — about fifty in total, including a dozen level-30 warriors — dropped whatever they were doing and assaulted Zander all at once.

  The warlock was taking Zander's blows remarkably well. His life bar kept soaring. Suddenly his cloth robes disappeared, replaced by a suit of armor. Some ability that was! Talk about class switching! Even his name tag had transformed. Now Zander was fighting a Dark Knight!

  Zander kept charging, performing combo after skillful combo — but now the two opponents were more or less equal.

  Grunting under pressure, Togien kept pulling the monster's aggro to himself as Tylor and Virgil assaulted the creature from both sides, killing it with expert speed.

  Things seemed to be working out in our favor... the problem was, the hounds were now coming back! Also, the imps were just too numerous.

  I invested all of my mana into a hail of Ice Arrows, smoking the most brazen of them. Rodrigo cast the iridescent swirling spiral of Mortal Cold over the shapeshifting warlock, slowing him down and allowing Zander to crit him. Still, at least ten of the warrior imps were already upon him, about to attack him from behind.

  I was an idiot! I hurried to gulp a vial of mana as I sifted through my spells. You couldn't blame me, really: all my life I used to be a Warrior. What was my level now? 27, exactly.

  I could now cast illusions, couldn't I?

  Blessed be the sorcerer whose bag I'd found on my memorable first day in the Crystal Sphere!

  I activated Legacy — which made all acquired spells available 3 levels earlier than required — and hurried to cast the 5-sec spell.

  I tried to visualize a hydra as believably as I could in all its blood-curdling detail, complete with the clouds of acid mist escaping its many jaws. I also cast the Aura of Fear over it for good measure.

  The screaming of the imps all but ruptured my eardrums.

  The hydra I'd conjured up turned out to be twice its natural size. The sudden arrival of this bog monster had put things into perspective. Apparently, the imps were the cowards from hell — literally!

  The workers scattered in all directions. The warriors stopped dead in their tracks. One of them dropped his weapon; a few more turned gray with shame and fear when their loincloths suddenly became moist.

  The hydra emitted a guttural hiss. Its twelve horror-spewing jaws were enough to impress even the hell hounds: the beasts stopped in their tracks and began backing off, growling.

  To sum it up, the effect from my first illusion reinforced with the Aura of Fear had surpassed my wildest expectations.

  Struggling out of their stupor, the imps began inching sideways toward the hydra, ignoring Zander entirely.

  Virgil and Tylor emitted a triumphant yell as the Infernal Monster collapsed under their blows, crumbling to a heap of lifeless bones.

  Staggering, an exhausted Togien stepped back as I continued to heal him non-stop.

  Iskandar and Rodrigo kept the shapeshifting warlock under control. The desperate man fought to the last. He used his class-switching ability again, returning to his original form, then tried to escape using a teleport scroll. Zander caught him just in time, then performed a shattering coup de grace. With a heartrending scream, the warlock dissolved into a swirling cloud of ashes.

  Zander swung round and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of the hydra. It didn't take him long to see through my little trick though; he posted a grinning emoticon in the battle chat and got busy smoking imps.

  Virgil and Tylor — who by then were done with the hounds — also joined the melee.

  Iskandar and Rodrigo were busy restoring mana. I'd healed Togien completely. Finally I had a moment to take a look around.

  Immediately I noticed Platinus crouching sneakily next to the pool of bubbling slime — which by now had completely defrosted — and trying to fill some vials with the filthy liquid.

  Right, and what about the conjurer? Had he given us the slip? Apparently not. I could see a heap of old rags marking the place where he'd been smoked.

  The only thing left was the totem grinning its weathered yellow fangs.

  * * *

  THE FIGHT was over. Zander cast a watchful look around, then sat down to meditate, restoring his health.

  I was about to walk over to him when Tylor stopped me. "Wait a bit. He's busy performing a ritual. He's speeding up the cooldown times of the abilities he's just used."

  Iskandar and Rodrigo were inspecting the totem discussing how best to neutralize it. I could tell by the slight quivering of the air around its tip that the artifact was still very much active.

  We had no enemies left within a direct line of vision. Still, I was sure that further down the dungeon they had more surprises in store for us.

  "Did you see that shapeshifter?" Togien asked. "What was that, some kind of multiclass?"

  "He's only an NPC."

  "Sure. Smart motherfucker. A real beast for his level. I wouldn't want to meet him in a one-on-one, that's for sure. These game developers have sick imaginations, whoever they are. I'd love to know what else they have in store for us here."

  "Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

&nbs
p; My inbox flashed with an incoming message. Sender: Enea. Status: Offline

  She hadn't even bothered to log in. She knew I didn't have Internet access to reply, anyway.

  I couldn't sleep all night. First hot, then cold... I need to be with you. I know you're frowning now. Don't worry. I remember what I promised you. I need to see my father and take some security measures. But once I'm back... just you wait.

  A shy emoticon clutching a heart was smiling at me.

  "Alexatis?" Zander's hand lay on my shoulder. "What's this pensive look on your face?"

  "Nothing," I closed the message. "It's personal."

  "This is a quest dungeon, isn't it?"

  "No. I didn't receive any quests if that's what you mean. I do have one related to the castle but I've no idea how to go about it yet. Haven't found any prompts, either."

  "Mind telling me what it's about?"

  "Why should I?" I really didn't feel like letting him in on the quest. Its conditions stated clearly that in order to regain its ancient glory, the castle needed the mysterious "source of magic power" allowing me to unblock most of the castle's unique functions.

  "A warlock who can turn into a Dark Knight and who can materialize Infernal monsters... you can say what you want but this can't be just some game designer's whim," Zander replied. "He is a very complex character. He uses uncategorized magic. I understand your predicament but still, if there's anything at all you can tell me that might help us complete this dungeon, do it now."

  "Okay. Read this," I send him a copy of the system message regarding the unknown "source of power" and added, pre-empting his question, "Don't ask me where it is. I just don't know."

  "It has to be here somewhere," Zander said with confidence. "You sure you don't have any other quests involving this place?"

  I shook my head.