"Zander, we've got a ghost in here!"
"Where do you see it?" Zander looked around himself, then shrugged. "There's nothing here."
Just as he'd said it, the slab of stone shuddered within its fiery chains. Someone or something was trying to break out.
"They've found me!" Dietrich wailed in impotent rage. "They've found me!"
He leaned sharply toward me. "It's you! You've brought them here! There's too little of me yet... but I'll be growing! And that's when I'll come for you! You'd better watch out! I'll come for you!"
He shrank back and disappeared into the altar's glow.
Now the slab of stone was jumping in its rocky frame. The fiery chains were about to snap under the pressure of the unknown force which was trying to break free.
"You're stupid," the fading voice echoed in my mind. "They're using you. They'll drain you dry and leave you to die. I know!"
The voice died away, disappearing into depths unknown.
Zander froze in front of the column, ready to face the new danger. Still, it looked like we had even bigger problems now.
The ruins in the back of the cave shifted. A lithe shadow darted in the torches' uneven light.
Reguar. Arch Demon. Level 70. A Reaper.
Status: Dietrich's slave and protector
The creature's tag was fiery red.
* * *
"EVERYONE, get back!" Zander shouted.
A thunderous rockfall drowned out his voice. The ceiling caved in, dropping huge chunks of rock. Clouds of dust filled the place. I heard a pitiful cry as one of the Elves was crushed to death.
We didn't seem to have a hope in hell. Still, Zander decided to risk it. He stepped forward to meet the monster.
The Reguar's black hide had an olive sheen to it. His body was covered in scar-like runic inscriptions. I couldn't see them properly in the glow of the creature's fiery shield which coursed over his outline. He was clad in a scanty loincloth.
He was over ten feet tall, all muscle and furious rage.
"Diiiietrich!" his roar rolled over the cave, crumbling the rock debris and settling the clouds of dust. "Diiiiietrich!! Where are youuuuu? Where are my neuuuuuurograms? I want to reeeeeeeeap!"
In a lightning move, he grabbed Zander, then flung him aside. "A dummy!" he roared his disappointment.
Virgil and Tylor rushed to Zander's rescue.
We had nothing to lose. The entrance to the cave had collapsed. The only way out was through getting ourselves killed: a few seconds' work for a level-70 monster.
Even the dream world of the Crystal Sphere had its own dead-ends, literally. And this wasn't even a game scenario.
"I want to reeeeap!" the Reguar thundered, crushing the remains of the stone structure in the corner. His muscles were taut like steel cables. He swept the two warriors off their feet and smashed them against the altar, stripping them of virtually all hp.
"Dummies!" he roared in disappointment.
Raoul kept casting Mass Healing non-stop. It was only thanks to him we were still alive.
Anger flooded over me. "Shut your mouth!" I yelled.
"A Neuro?" the Reguar swung round to me. "A Neuro... Yes, you are! I can feel it! You're a Neuuuuuuuuro!"
At that moment, the runic sequence on my sword blade had finally kicked in. The last of the Mortal Allegiance symbols sprang to life and sent a thin flow of energy down the blood groove, activating the spell.
"Come here, you bastard," Zander growled, taking a swing. The demon flung him aside and barged toward me. He wasn't interested in other players' avatars. He could sense only one living being here, or rather he could sense my neuromatrix — all the others were, in his view, just worthless empty shells.
The Elves showered him with arrows.
Pointless. The damage was minimal. Ignoring the threat, he continued toward me, his fiery stare focused on the only piece of human flesh in the cave.
He walked past the crude column, leaving it behind him still shuddering under the throes of the unknown force. The chains securing the stone door were now white-hot, melting before my very eyes, until finally they snapped.
The massive slab of stone covered in fiery magic writings thudded to the ground.
Despite the absence of names in their tags, I recognized the newcomers straight away.
These were Corporation workers. That's it, you son of a bitch! Prepare to die!
A slashing blow from a worker's sword sliced through the Reguar's back, halving his life, while a magic attack extinguished his fiery shield, simultaneously activating the cave boss' special abilities.
The demon roared his fury. Single-use portals opened all along the cave's perimeter. Their depths glowed crimson, letting out freshly-made golems. Dripping with thick red magma, the golems staggered toward their master, leaving molten footprints in the rock floor.
Pressed against the Altar, Virgil and Tylor kept receiving repeated damage. Their tags were chock full of some unidentified debuffs. The golden healing spiral rotated among them as the ancient place of power kept changing its effects chaotically, healing the warriors, then stripping them of their strength.
Zander lifted himself to one knee and leaned against his sword, struggling to his feet.
The Elves kept a low profile for the moment, saving arrows and waiting for the signal. Rodrigo and Iskandar, where were they?
Obeying the order, the kobold and the two Guards of Gloom stayed next to me, covering my back. No idea what had happened to Platinus.
The floor shuddered underfoot.
The thick fog of toxic gases was consuming the cave. The portals had expired. The golems' crimson outlines glowed through the smoke; they continued their advance, dropping pieces of hardened lava.
The Reguar had lost all interest in me. He now had a much more dangerous quarry to hunt. The Corporate wizard in his gray robes swung round, drawing a circle with his hand. With a sharp hiss, ice met with fire, turning the golems into frozen statues which then exploded, torn apart by the rapid change of temperature, and collapsed in a heap of steaming slag.
You've just witnessed the casting of Antagonism spell!
For your information: You cannot learn restricted-use spells.
The Reguar's life shrank another 30%.
That was the end of him, surely.
As if! The Reguar's next actions betrayed remarkably quick thinking totally uncharacteristic of an NPC.
Instead of wasting his remaining abilities on furious but futile attacks, the demon acted out of the box. Ignoring his scripts, he went berserk.
He leaned forward, grabbed at the altar with both his hands and ripped the altar from its pedestal, then hurled it at the portal column.
The glow of the Corporate teleport flared up momentarily, then expired. A fine web of cracks ran over the column; it stood for another moment, then collapsed in a heap of rock debris.
"Neuuuuuuros!"
The demon's two powerful arms pierced the workers' avatars with remarkable ease.
Normally, they would have disappeared, leaving behind two lonely bundles of the players' gear sitting on the floor. But the game kept glitching.
A blissful smile distorted the demon's features.
He hadn't regenerated, no. His life was still deep in the red. What happened next was absolutely unthinkable.
The two workers — the wizard and the warrior — were thrashing about on the floor, convulsing in death throes. Roaring with laughter, the Reguar lifted both in the air. The workers' bodies seemed to leak whiffs of blueish gray smoke which the demon imbibed greedily.
Mechanically I focused on the prompt,
You are watching the process of identity matrices disintegration with their following consumption by the new host body.
"Did you see those visuals?" Raoul's tense voice awoke me from my stupor. "That was a nasty way to go!"
"Who were they?" Platinus asked hoarsely.
"Those were mob hunters. Apparently, the Corporation hires some elite pla
yers to locate and eliminate any glitchy mobs."
A shiver ran down my spine. Didn't anyone realize the sinister significance of what had just happened? Did they still think this too was gameplay?
Unlike them, I knew the name of the "defective" mob's next victim. No points for guessing.
I was the only Neuro left.
I looked around me in search of a potential escape route.
The portal had shut down.
The altar had been reduced to a luminous lump of rapidly metamorphing matter.
The entrance to the cave was blocked with large chunks of rock, with Elves lurking behind them.
Both Virgil and Tylor were unconscious. They appeared dead but for some reason, their avatars hadn't vanished as they should have.
Iskandar and Rodrigo sat sprawled on the floor, immobilized by a Curse of Stone.
Zander was still trying to scramble to his feet. His movements were sluggish and uncoordinated. The blow must have damaged his equilibrium.
I was shaking with an adrenaline rush. I desperately wanted to live. "Arwan! Aim for his eyes!"
Bowstrings began snapping. With a roar, the demon swung toward me. The mob hunters' bodies slumped lifelessly to the floor.
His movements jerky and disjointed, the demon ripped the arrows out of his bleeding eye sockets. Not that it helped him. I could clearly see the icon of the Blindness debuff hovering over his head.
I lunged forward, escaping an erratic swing of his arm, and dragged my sword across his belly, ripping it open.
Black blood gushed out.
You've dealt a critical hit!
You've cast a curse: Mortal Allegiance!
You've received an Achievement: Mad Valor, for attacking an enemy whose level is twice as high as your own.
As if that made any difference.
The damage I'd dealt him was miniscule. The scars covering his body were in fact protective spells tattooed deep into his skin. I was too weak to harm him.
The Mortal Allegiance had only managed to slow him down a little.
"Everybody! He's our main target! Raoul, can't you remove the debuffs off the wizards? Watch his movements! He's blind! Try to duck his blows!"
The kobold and the two Guards of Gloom assaulted the monster with abandon. Their long polearms were perfect for this kind of combat. The Elves continued shooting, aiming at the demon's most vulnerable parts. With a resolute shake of his head, Zander clung to the wall and scrambled to his feet.
Rodrigo and Iskandar came round.
The demon struck out blindly. My three warriors circled him, ducking his blows. Zander had finally perked up a little and joined in the attack. Slowly but surely, we were frittering the demon's hp away.
Finally the wizards joined in too, illuminating the cave with the flashes of spells.
My blood boiled with adrenaline. The absolute realism of the experience had wiped away my leaden fatigue.
"Watch out!" Zander shouted. "He's got ten percent life left!"
He was right. Now the demon was about to use his last and probably the most powerful of his abilities.
The monster froze, enveloped in a murky protective aura. He began to grow, transforming into his combat shape which was ever larger and stronger, his body a giant knot of muscle.
A cloud of acid mist escaped his jaws, filling the cave.
I was choking. My lungs were about to explode. Holding my breath, I squeezed my eyes shut from the caustic fumes.
The demon was now blindly crushing the rocks. He had nothing to lose. Now that his bulk took up half the available space in the cave, it was only a question of time until he got to us.
A vial shattered on the rocks nearby.
"Last chance!" Platinus yelled triumphantly, then screamed, ducking a blow.
Our alchemist was too good for words. Now that we were all pushed to our limits, I was beginning to realize how priceless each of my team was.
Once the acid had stopped assaulting my eyes, I resumed my attack with renewed vigor.
The wizards, Raoul and the archers retreated to the walls. The demon may have transformed into a spiky Infernal beast, but it hadn't helped his blindness. His eyes were still studded with the feathery fletches of the arrows; his crushing blows were inaccurate and uncoordinated.
Still, now he appeared to have one hell of a powerful armor. Our combined attacks couldn't make a dent in it.
"Keep going! We're nearly there!" Zander shouted. Still, each of his sword blows stripped the creature of a meager 20 to 30 hp. Mine couldn't even do that. The kobold's halberd and the naginatas of the two Guards of Gloom dealt 10 pt. damage each. That way we were going to poke at the mob's armored hide till the cows come home.
I had one last trump card left. I'd been saving it for a desperate moment like this. And it looked like now was the time to use it.
I leapt aside, dodging a blow. The demon's spiky fist crashed into the wall, causing a small rockfall. I waited for it to subside, then clenched the Charm of the Sovereign and started reciting the summoning spell.
I concentrated, trying to visualize the summoned creature as best I could.
It worked. A whirl of tiny flames raised by the Centurion spell parted, releasing the figure of Helmud the Knight.
His eyes focused on the demon's combat incarnation. "You godless spawn of Satan!"
He lunged at the monster. The demon's life dropped promptly; a Mortal Wound debuff added to his stats. Not that it helped Helmut a lot: a spell unknown to me had disembodied the knight on the spot.
"Alexatis, step back!" Zander shouted. "Leave him alone! He'll die now, anyway!"
Leave him alone? I don't think so!
I assaulted the monster again. He reared up, about to lash out at me in one final crushing effort.
I had to finish him off. Nobody else could do it.
A crit!
A fading scream echoed from the walls, replaced by deafening silence.
The demon's still-twitching heart swayed on the tip of my sword. It constricted one last time, spewing a squirt of black blood, then stopped.
My head swam. I couldn't think straight.
Someone forced me aside. The demon's enormous bulk came crashing down. His many wounds began to fester whiffs of blueish gray smoke.
I shook. Those were his victims' neurograms! For a while they hung in the air, forming a haze which then shifted and headed for us, reaching out to the Elves, the kobold, the two Guards of Gloom...
* * *
SYSTEM MESSAGES flashed incessantly through my mental view. I struggled to skim through the more important ones,
Quest alert: Turf Wars. Quest completed!
+1 to the clan's level (+5% to any of the clan groups' actions, +3% to any of the castle buildings' Durability when restored or built anew)
+1,000 to the clan's Reputation
You've received Achievement: Demon Slayer (+10% to any damage dealt to the forces of Inferno)
You've received Achievement: The First Amongst Equals:
+10,000 to your Experience awarded for completing a unique dungeon;
+10,000 to your Experience for dealing a critical hit to an enemy whose level is twice that of yours.
For your information: The Administration of the Crystal Sphere highly appreciates your role in the dispensing of a defective mob. They would like to offer you a further +5% to all Experience received, on the condition that you do not disclose any information regarding this incident.
You've received Achievement: Acclaimed Leader. Your influence on other players will keep growing with every new level.
You've received a new level!
You've received a new level!
You've received a new level!
I sat there completely drained, trying to restore.
"Alexatis, I've just spoken to Togien," Zander disrupted my meditation. "His dwarves are already busy clearing the rockfall. They might be here in thirty minutes or so."
I'd never seen him look so grim. "Okay, s
o what's the bad news?"
"The Darks are stirring. The dwarves reported some gargoyles which had appeared from the crevice, flown over it, then turned back. It looks like Virgil and Tylor's avatars are screwed. They just won't disappear. I think I've lost my old group," Zander glanced at Iskandar and Rodrigo who were cowering by the wall, looking more than absent.
"What happened to those two?" I asked.
"Please don't ask. Their stats are okay. No debuffs, nothing. I don't think it was the Curse of Stone that the demon cast on them. This is probably some uncategorized spell."
Platinus walked over to us. I gave him a bear hug.
He looked embarrassed. "I've run out of potions," he told me.
"That's all right. You can always make new ones," I said. "Once we're back, we'll set up a lab for you. I might even get you a few apprentices. From now on, you're our Head Alchemist. You can experiment all you want."
He beamed.
"Hurry up," Zander said. "We need to check the demon's body before it disappears."
The arch demon's corpse took up almost all of the cave. His combat avatar hadn't transformed back. Segments of the creature's unique natural armor bristled with spikes.
"Arwan, come here for a moment."
The Elf obeyed. His head was still shaking with shock. He'd received quite a few neurograms. All of the NPCs had gotten more than their fair share while the players — Zander, Platinus, Iskandar and Rodrigo — hadn't received any. I could only wonder about any potential consequences.
"Are there any Masters in Flaying among you?" I asked him.
Arwan cringed from the stench. "We'll find someone."
Zander touched the demon's body, activating the loot distribution window. "Not much," he reported. "Two cargonite vambraces and some kind of gadget. It looks like Dwarven craft."
"Can you read their stats?"
The Curse of Rion Castle (The Neuro Book #2) LitRPG Series Page 12
