Distortion (Somnia Online Book 5)

by K. T. Hanna

  You do seem out of sorts. Are you feeling well?

  Even Somnia sounded concerned, and perhaps a little bit static. Like the reception wasn’t quite coming through, similar to the old AM/FM frequencies of radios. I’m feeling okay.

  She tried to push the words through and wasn’t sure they’d reached their destination until she faintly heard Somnia crackling her own reply.

  I’ll keep a watch. Make sure you don’t overdo it.

  Yeah, she didn’t know how to tell the world she was fairly certain she’d already sailed that ship. What she had to do for herself was try and watch her reactions and her inclinations, because she didn’t understand quite what was happening. Maybe it was because they were underground.

  Clezdill sighed, and Murmur knew what he was about to say even before he uttered the words. It allowed her to begin forming some sort of retaliatory plan.

  “I’m going to give you one chance to walk away. Well.” He paused, chuckling already at the joke he was about to make. “You can gate away, go home, vamoose.”

  The group glowered at him, and Beastial’s arm quivered with his urge to throw his axe again and not miss this time. Only they knew that wouldn’t work.

  “I’ll take that as a no? You’re not a very talkative bunch, are you? Anyway.” He seemed to like hearing himself speak. Murmur wanted him to know that no one else did. “In that case, I’m going to give you a chance to save this poor creature’s legacy.”

  He paused, his eyes raking over them eagerly, like them lapping it up would entertain him. The sheer obstinate air around them probably put him off his original plan, but he continued anyway. “If you defeat me, then I will allow these eggs to go free, thus granting Somnia with its only surviving nest of octodiehs. I swear on my own life that if you win, you will never have to worry about me or mine trying to enslave the stupid creatures again.”

  The adult swayed restlessly in the water, and Murmur wanted to go over and soothe it, but knew moving would be perceived as a threat. Instead, she sent a brief spell of soothe over the creature, trying to make it suffer less.

  “What’s the catch?” Havoc shot out. Considering he’d been the construct maker and had witnessed the lives of the zombies as a side effect of his casting, he was qualified to yell at the formidable buffoon in front of them.

  “Catch?” The stranger grinned, and this time there was no mistaking him as a gentleman or a good person or creature. There was pure malice in that smile and streaming from those eyes. “Well, it’s not a catch. It’s just going to become fact. When I defeat you, you and your entire raid force will be coerced into digging our tunnels for us.”

  In the shocked silence, he continued on. “See, we’re not done yet. We still have black gold and gold-gold to retrieve, even right down to diamonds and platinum. It’s all about money, my dears. All of it. No hard feelings.”

  “No hard feelings?” Murmur mocked the words and could barely recognize her own voice. “You think we would let you do that to us? We might not know the extent of your power, but neither do you know the extent of ours. Come at us. I’d like to see you try and enthrall us.”

  “I was so hoping you’d say that,” Clezdill muttered, his eyes seething like pools of tar, large in his face. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”

  Just a reminder that this individual is going entirely off script. He is evolving. This version of the dungeon is more…problematic than I’d anticipated.

  Murmur acknowledged the information in her mind, but she was going to have to have a sit down with the world and try to make it understand what was and wasn’t okay. That sort of information hours into the dungeon was badly placed. They should have known that sooner; maybe they would have been warier.

  Darkness, like smoke tendrils, began to weave its way around the mage’s hands. Murmur buffed the raid, not sure how long this fight would last, and Mellow used their cleaning concoction. That buff was such a strange blessing, but she’d take all the help they could get.

  Bard song lent them fleet feet and increased their mana regeneration by a fraction of her own Mana Tide. Vigor for energy rejuvenation, Enrage to transfer her own hate to Devlish, Fervor for Merlin, Exbo, Jinna, Dansyn, and Rashlyn, Beserker for Beastial and Devlish, and Signet for the entire raid and to make up the agility lost through Beserker for Beastial and Devlish.

  Casting it took all of twenty seconds. But her mana came back quickly as long as they were out of combat. Letting Clezdill form his spell might not be wise, but it was probably necessary. She nodded to Devlish and Rashlyn. They’d worked out beautiful form by now. They knew their roles and abilities, and when to substitute for one another.

  The shadowed tendrils reached out to touch on patches of the oily water. Rising up through the surface came several stocky Eiriarpth zombies.

  “What is he?” Beastial breathed out.

  Havoc sounded irritated. “Some sort of mage and necro hybrid. I so should have picked that instead of extra necro.”

  Murmur would have laughed, but the army of undead began to approach them. Leeroy darted out to meet them, his scythe at the ready. This whole undead army was a decoy. The real threat was what they protected—Clezdill. He stood behind his wobbly phalanx with a grin that held pure malice, and finally his shadowed surroundings began to take form.

  She wanted to sigh or roll her eyes, but he’d played it well, and maybe she should have tried a distance stun, but it wouldn’t have bought them much time, and she’d had to have done it at the expense of reinforcing her fighters.

  The huge monster of darkness rose up in the air. He looked like a floating djinn, bulked upper body, with a tail of smoke, like he was pulled from a lamp. He was grayish black from all of the haze that formed him, and his eyes glistened a cold white, standing out starkly against the rest of him. The scowl on the djinn’s face sent shivers through her being, and Murmur gulped before throwing her Nullify out.

  At the same time, Rashlyn taunted all of the zombie constructs with her AoE Kanji, and the rest of the raid began to attack the undead while Devlish screamed his own Terror, followed by Hatred in order to get the djinn and its master to focus on him.

  Help.

  Murmur glanced over at the octodieh. She tried to soothe her, to let her know they were helping. But then the thought projection became more forceful.

  Help. Can. Help.

  And Murmur grinned. Glancing at her MA, which was a sitting at a nice healthy 265, another charm would put her down to 230, and leave plenty to use even her most devastating attacks. Quickly, she tried to communicate to the giant octodieh what she intended, indicating that she and Snowy shared a similar bond. While hesitant, the answer was definitely affirmative.

  Murmur cast Charming Cooperation and suddenly felt a surge of strength rush through her.

  You receive the Octodieh’s Last Stand

  Increase Strength by 75

  Increase Agility by 50

  Increase Wisdom by 50

  Duration: Current Battle

  You receive the buff Vengeance

  Adds a damage shield that yields 35 damage to the attacker every time you are struck. This has a 25% chance to inflict a weakening DoT on the attacker.

  Duration: Current Battle

  Murmur smiled, realizing that everyone in the raid had received the buffs, and that the octodieh had a sense of determination about it. They were going to win. Clezdill would die screaming.

  And then the shit hit the octodieh’s tentacles.

  The huge creature launched what looked like a helicopter attack. Her legs whirled around it, and the sludgy water churned, pulling the undead underneath with deadly whirlpools that ripped limbs from torsos and sent rotting flesh firing up toward the cavern ceiling.

  Raining zombie parts about summed up the way the day was going. The djinn was occupied with Devlish, and all of the raid turned the
ir attention to the lake’s edge now.

  In the middle, Clezdill looked surprised, like he hadn’t thought his undead would be defeated so easily.

  “He’s a djinn.” Sinister pushed out the words as she kept up with healing. “Just free him.”

  Devlish looked a bit sheepish, and while he figured out how to free the enslaved being, Murmur attempted to stun Clezdill.

  This spell has no effect on an encounter as powerful as this one. Don’t try again.

  She’d thought as much, but sort of hoped he’d still be able to be stunned. It didn’t seem fair that he insisted on enslaving creatures and controlling beings and was immune to her charms, so to speak. She also felt like Somnia had been giving her little legs up where she could. Considering the state of the virus in the game though, that wasn’t something that was easy.

  If this reality was cheating, why shouldn’t Fable?

  Damn thoughts were getting iffy again. She concentrated on debuffing the creep in the middle of the lake, trying to figure out how they were going to pull him over. And then she grinned. That wasn’t going to be a problem at all when it came to it.

  So instead, she left it alone and helped her guild free the djinn. The shackles that circled his wrists were made of a substance none of them recognized. For the first time she thought it might have been nice for one of them at least to take up a trade seriously. The metal looked like steel but wasn’t.

  “Don’t suppose anyone has a laser that might cut it?” Devlish asked.

  “Nope.” Mellow produced a strange vial. The top of it allowed for the liquid to be poured accurately. “But I suggest standing back. It might spark. You need to shoot it at the shackles, probably where they’re weakest. Around the bolt, maybe?”

  Merlin nodded, carefully cocking his coated arrow and shot what looked like a root arrow into the djinn’s shackle. It appeared to bounce off, but as they watched, a wisp of smoke began to emerge from the metal. The liquid on the shackle corroded through, and suddenly a snap resounded throughout the cavern, and the djinn stopped struggling and looked up, focused only on Mellow and Merlin.

  It held out the other wrist, a sly grin on its face.

  Mellow obliged, carefully prepping another arrow for Merlin to fire. And the djinn was free.

  “You dare enslave the almighty djinn!”

  The voice boomed through the cavern, and for the first time Clezdill looked uncertain. The djinn punched his fists together and nodded to Devlish. “Gratitude is due. I will assist you in defeating this cretin.”

  The words didn’t resound this time, but suddenly the djinn was attached to the group as Devlish’s pet. Murmur wasn’t about to question that mechanic, but she was pleased to see when Devlish cast his Darkness Lariat and pulled Clezdill straight into the group, leaving the tiny island with its precious cargo.

  Now that was a fair fight.

  Murmur projected the thought toward the octodieh, that she could go over and finally see its young again. Then the enchanter turned her attention to defeating Clezdill, and began to debuff the hell out of him. He was still a strong opponent, but without all of his tricks, without his coerced henchmen and zombies, his strength was sapped.

  It gave Murmur caution. Without all her tricks, she was weak as well. She’d need to watch out for that. She used her Mana Block, Mana Theft, and Mind Bolt on him. After all, she had 230 MA. It brought her no small amount of joy to see him virtually unable to cast. Sadly, because he was a boss, it meant all of her spells were diminished in capacity.

  But that’s what her guild mates were for.

  Merlin and Exbo had developed a synchronicity where they jumped from being perfectly in time, to making sure there wasn’t a moment without an arrow piercing their target. Mellow’s deftness with their cauldron had taken time to develop, and Murmur didn’t envy their need to know their spells and ingredients so well.

  Sinister and Veranol contributed some damage. The defiler’s wards meant Sinister’s healing was only needed when they went down. Clezdill was buffeted on all sides, especially by Jinna who winked in and out of vision. Each time he reappeared, it was to stab the boss in a new area.

  Rash and Beastial danced with deathly auras. Beast and Shir-Khan were beautiful to watch when they had Pack Bond activated, which was most of the time. Rash in damage mode was amazing, and the extra agility added such speed to her Hundred Fists and Discipline that Murmur could have watched all day.

  Havoc cast and sent Leeroy in, and Dansyn kept up regen, attack speed, and mana regen while darting in and out himself.

  But the djinn. For every hit Clezdill managed to land, it seemed the djinn landed more. Like a mirror image with multiplication. Without his army, he wasn’t much. Technically it was seventeen against one pitiful Eiriarpth, which was mostly overkill. But at least he died.

  And he died fast.

  The last breath choked out of him, no last words, no evil battle banter, just a dead egomaniac.

  He looked so frail and tiny on the stone ground before them. They stared at him for a few seconds, like they were waiting for him to stand up again.

  He didn’t.

  The djinn did. He stood in front of the group and bowed. “I thank you for freeing me. I know your auras, and I will return if you need me.” And he winked out of the cavern, leaving nothing in his wake.

  Octodieh has broken your Charming Cooperation.

  Murmur looked up at the octodieh and noticed how tired she seemed. “I’m sorry. I wish we could have helped more.”

  She shook her head and gestured toward the small island where the time lock had come off the bubble, and tiny octodieh were poking out of their eggs. She moved toward it, the water clearing from oily to beautifully pristine in her wake, and she cradled the tiny nest in her arms.

  She raised two of her tentacles in a wave and disappeared down to the bottom.

  You receive one of the twelve keys.

  You receive a getashi.

  You receive a midia crystal.

  You have completed the Illinish Threshold in its coldest form.

  This version of the Threshold is no longer accessible as a dungeon.

  You gain experience.

  You gain bonus experience for being the first to avoid attacking the Gatekeeper.

  You gain bonus experience for being the first to solve the mystery of the Eiriarpth.

  You gain bonus experience for being the first to see through Eiriarpth lies.

  You gain bonus experience for being the first to free the coerced creatures.

  You gain bonus experience for freeing the Mole Motherworm.

  You gain bonus experience for freeing the Octodieh.

  You gain bonus experience for saving the race of the Octodieh.

  You gain bonus experience for freeing the Djinn.

  You gain bonus experience for being the first to find and defeat Clezdill.

  You gain bonus experience for tackling the dungeon before reaching maximum power.

  You gain bonus experience for completing the dungeon and discovering a new level of truth.

  You have hit level forty-five.

  “Wait, what?” Murmur blinked, not even remembering having hit level forty-four. “When did we hit that?”

  “Told you dungeons were how we got our experience,” Sinister said smugly, shrugging as she sat down and began pulling out scrolls.

  Murmur glanced at her friend, plopping herself down on the ground too. Snowy butted her hand, and she reached up to scratch behind his ears. Fishing in her inventory, she found several scrolls that she’d acquired before coming on the journey. She almost hadn’t got them.

  Taking them out, she arranged her basic enchanter spells first. Murmur preferred to take her Sinuous ones last since she was never sure how to feel about those.

  Veto

  Cast: Area of Effe
ct

  Type: Debuff

  Duration: Instant cast, 45 second duration, 45 second recast

  Effect: This spell will strip down the target's magical resistance by 100% of the caster's level. Note: Doing this will increase your aggro from the targets you hit. Reducing aggro beforehand is recommended. Unless you're trying to die. Then go ahead.

  “Finally,” Murmur muttered under her breath. She’d been wanting AoE versions of her spells for a while. She’d just have to deal with the repercussions of casting it.

  “Talking to yourself, Mur?” Sinister nudged her and laid her head on her shoulder.

  “Just to the spells and whoever decided I could only use this at level forty-five.” Murmur loved the warmth of her friend next to her and the comfort it brought with it.

  Sinister chuckled, absorbing a spell of her own while still leaning against Murmur. The sensation left Murmur’s skin tingling.

  “Just make sure you don’t let the spells answer back, okay?” Sinister reached around and gave Murmur’s shoulders a brief hug before turning back to her own spells.

  Assuage

  Cast: Area of Effect

  Type: Debuff

  Duration: 45 seconds, recast 120 seconds

  Effect: This spell will lower the threat level of a group of NPCs. Much like the earlier Soothe spell, this will only last for a brief time, and only work if you are out of sight before the spell wears off. Any type of attack will nix this effect. Can be fun if you’re being held prisoner and want a chance to run for it.

  Murmur frowned. Well, that one was oddly specific. She shrugged, ignoring the tiredness deep in her bones and placed her hand on the parchment. The runes in her skin lit up brightly, swirling underneath like they had a life of their own.

  Annulment

  Cast: Area of Effect

  Type: Debuff