The group that had been attacking the Earth shade pulled out their wounded and doubled their efforts now that they had the space to think, not panicking that they would fall to the Earth spirit.
The strongest among them landed their attacks. Combined with Lox’s attacks, the Earth shade quickly fell.
A globe of air fell around Lox, pulling him into the sky as they raced off through the battlegrounds toward another runner fleeing a Water shade. The runner who had been pulling it was covered in cuts but still they kept running and trying to get the creature far away from the raid party.
The runner was expecting to die, but the farther it could get the Water shade, the more time the other members of the raid party would have to react and ready themselves for the angered shade.
***
Barabas looked at Party Zero with wide eyes.
He had been with the mage’s college since his youth. He’d gone on many adventures all across Emerilia. He was one of the most renowned members of the mage’s guild, taking many of his students and others out into the wilds to search for new and exciting magical phenomena. He had seen battles between the hidden masters of nations and seen them fight creatures of lore.
The Six Affinity Temple was a jewel the likes of which he had never thought to see in his later years.
He had eagerly applied to come on the trip.
Only when fighting these creatures did Barabas figure out that although he was a decent match for the animals that were controlled by Affinity spirits, he was not a match for the shades controlled by Affinity spirits.
He was a Level 600, a presence the likes of which made kings and queens bow to him. He had seen many Players through his life and their strength had always astounded him. Though he had kept away from them, they were violent and temperamental creatures. They could turn on someone easily, as if not caring for life but the achievements and materials they might gain.
The Stone Raiders had shown themselves to be different; around them, miracles seemed to happen. Now he was watching another.
Party Zero was a group that had gained the attention of the mage’s college and guild. They were favored by Archmage Jelanos and Alamos, who ran these two institutions.
Barabas had always been a skeptical man, not believing in things until he saw it with his own eyes. It had served him well in his path to gain a higher knowledge of magic.
Now he couldn’t even believe his own eyes.
Party Zero’s highest-leveled member appeared to be Level 354. Yet they were fighting creatures that Barabas scaled as Level 700 or 800.
They weren’t fighting them one-on-one but it was clear that while they were using some of their most powerful moves, the shades didn’t last more than ten minutes under their attacks.
Barabas had been ready to take his mage’s guild associates from the Six Affinity Temple. The raid party was getting torn apart. They didn’t have many people who were able to hold off the shades.
Now with Party Zero rushing in to help the raid parties, with their eyes clear and their egos thrown aside, they fought with everything they had, not willing to be defeated.
This was the power of the Players. They did this for fun, but when they focused on a task they pushed everything else to the side.
Before, they had wanted to get the most hits to try to get some more experience. Now they were only attacking when it was the most opportune time. Chaining their attacks together for the maximum power. When enough of Level 300s worked together, they could rock a Level 500’s world. Here they weren’t doing much damage, but slowly they were draining the shades of their Health.
People fell out of the different fighting groups. The support people hurried there to heal them and get them back on their feet. As soon as their bars were full and they were in top condition, they ran forward again.
Barabas’s eyes caught the eyes of the adventurer’s guild’s leader. They shared a look of astonishment before turning back to the battle.
These Players were strong. Both of the POE party leaders were surprised with their abilities. As time went on, the raid party firmed up their lines and responsibilities.
Here and there Players were cut down; it was inevitable. The others did everything they could to try to rescue them, but still over a hundred had died. Many more were injured, though still not a single POE had fallen to the Affinity shades.
The guilds had pushed them all back. This was something that Barabas had not seen very often. Most times, he was used to the Players using the POEs as cannon fodder to weaken the enemy before they moved in.
After a few hours, the fighting started to lessen and the Affinity shades’ numbers dried up.
One group and then another found that they no longer had any more Affinity shades to fight. They moved to assist the other groups that were dealing with an Affinity shade.
Barabas and his mages relaxed, letting their Mana regenerate naturally instead of using potions. It was much slower but it would mean that the chances of them getting Mana fatigue were much lower.
The last shade fell.
The raid party let out excited whoops, yells, and cheers, even though they were tired. They had gone up against enemies that were much stronger and persevered.
The Mana cores and loot were gathered and sorted. People relaxed, excitedly talking.
Barabas was used to this type of reaction from Players, even though a hefty number of them had died, three hundred of them—nearly a third of their force. As long as they won, they didn’t care about the losses.
It would be some time until those who died were able to come back. None of the POEs had died; the guilds had figured out ways to keep them safe while still having them contribute.
Those who had died had their gear collected by their friends, holding onto it for their return.
There was a tired excitement around the Six Affinity Temple.
Party Zero were greeted like reigning champions and the higher-level Players who had been able to hold off the creatures were the center of attention as people talked about their exploits.
The other Players were jealous of their abilities but they started to go through everyone’s stats, skills, and gear, looking to find whether there was any way to augment themselves to be stronger in the future.
A guild leader meeting was called.
Barabas joined, looking at everyone in the circle.
“Well, as much as that was one hell of a fight,” Josh grinned and the others smiled happily, “I don’t think that we should go any farther with the groups we have. These things were Level 700 or 800. There are only a few people who can handle them. If we’re to move forward, I think that we’re going to have to get Level 700s at least to deal with them.”
“What about Party Zero?” Kim looked unhappy. Her guild members had skills on par with someone who was a Level 600.
“They’re our trump card and while I’m still awed by their abilities, I don’t think we can rely on them. They were running around trying to save as many people as possible.” Josh had more to say but it was clear he didn’t want to say it as he felt he might offend someone.
“With low-leveled people around, there’s just more distractions. Having someone go down means it takes two people out of the fight: the person who is down and the one who is healing them,” Gimel said. “If we have Level 700s in here, then there is not only less people around to worry about, but they can all look after themselves.”
Josh nodded. Kim’s face looked darker at the two guild leaders’ words.
Gimel’s Fellox Guild only had a handful of Level 700s.
“That said, I think we should pull everyone back to the crack. We’ve been fighting all day. We’ll get a few of our scouts to look ahead to try to check the levels and get a read on the Free Affinity spirits. If they get spotted, they can book it out of here and into the outpost. Once everyone’s back, we can go rest some, split up all of the loot, and watch how long it takes for the mobs to respawn in here. I propose that we just farm the f
irst three or four levels for a couple of days. Get some loot, experience. This place is great for gaining some levels and testing out our abilities,” Josh said with a happier tone.
“I agree,” Barabas said. The adventurer’s guild leader also let out a grunt of agreement.
“I’m looking forward to taking a bath and getting some food.” Gimel smiled.
Kim sighed. “Yeah, we’ll pick this up again tomorrow,” she agreed.
“Well, let’s pass the word. I need a bloody shower!” Josh slapped his legs and stood up.
“I could tell you that for free—think you burnt away my sense of smell with your rank.” Gimel smiled.
Josh laughed heartily and shook his head.
***
In the center of the Six Affinity Temple, a single person sat. Their eyes flicked upward toward those it sensed beyond the temple’s walls. His gray eyes glowed with power. Around him, the air seemed to shimmer like heatwaves from a rocket’s engine.
This man’s name was Jung Lee.
He cocked his head to the side. His senses had become incredibly acute over the years. He had needed them. As he had grown stronger, so had the powerful Free spirits that were within his body. They had become smarter in their attacks and probes, meaning that he had to also increase his abilities to stop them from invading his mind and taking over.
All six Affinities fought within him, clashing with him as much as they did with one another.
He unconsciously fended off a fight from the Dark Affinity spirit that tried to worm through the spell formation he created. The Dark spirit recoiled under the pressure that he was able to display.
Jung Lee looked out at the area beyond the temple. He had noticed the odd creations that had moved through his prison. He remembered of hearing something like them from the exiled races that made up the Aleph society.
With his senses, he could see through his prison, finding a massive group of people from Emerilia and Players.
Jung Lee’s heart started to beat faster. He had not seen anyone in centuries. He had been a recluse before, an alchemist who wandered Ashal to create different miracle medicines and improve his abilities.
It had been his downfall. He had become trapped, with no one to rely on to come looking for him, to save him from his imprisonment and constant battle with the Free Affinity spirits that had invaded his body.
His heart seemed to suddenly stop as he realized that they were moving away from the temple; only a single group stayed behind. Jung Lee tested their auras, easily getting past their aura suppression.
“Good talent,” Jung Lee said to himself, looking at the group. “They were able to clear the way to the temple.”
Jung Lee turned thoughtful as he looked at these people who were now headed out of the earthen dome that covered the temple and its grounds. Jung Lee sent out a spell. Reaching beyond the walls, he was able to find the massive outpost that had been created beyond his prison.
Hope started to fill Jung Lee. With just a person’s help, he might be able to free himself of the daily fights that kept him stuck within the Six Affinity Temple.
The Earth spirit attacked Jung Lee’s psyche.
Jung Lee fiercely fought down the Earth spirit, burning his own power to attack the Earth spirit. It backed off in fear, the other spirits quieting their attacks and probes.
They were used to Jung Lee fighting them off. To see him show any emotion, to go beyond what was totally necessary—they knew something was wrong.
The large group reached the crack as the much smaller group moved forward. There was a woman in flames, a man of shadows, another with wind circling around them, and a fourth just floating in the air without any clear sign of what magic he was using.
The rest of their party had headed for the entrance with the rest of the group. Including the odd man made of metal.
Jung Lee focused on these four as they cautiously approached the pillars that supported the overhanging roof in front of the temple proper. They continued forward under the overhanging roof and toward the large open doorway that could fit two carts through it.
Jung Lee stopped using his spells; instead, he looked down from his seat at the temple doorway.
The four people stood at the doorway, none of them making a sound as they looked around.
Jung Lee studied them, using his far sight to focus on them. He locked eyes with the woman who was covered in air. His heart seemed to stop as he gave her a kind smile and a tear fell from his cheek.
Seeing another person filled him with joy and hope.
He had been tempted to just give in, to stop fighting the true Affinity spirits. Now new resolve filled him.
He used all of the magic he could use before being dangerously underpowered to deal with the true spirits’ attacks to write two words.
***
Anna looked to her feet as two simple words appeared. She read them out in a hushed tone as the other party members also looked at the characters on the ground.
“Help me.”
All of them suddenly looked up at Jung Lee. Their hearts went cold as they looked at the refined man with a sad and lonely look on his face. However his tears were those of joy. The scene made them all take deep and heavy breaths.
A screen filled their vision.
Quest: Possessed by Spirits
Jung Lee was once a great alchemist and fighter. He searched across Ashal for new ingredients to make different potions to enhance his abilities and solve maladies people had. He stumbled into the Six Affinity Temple when he was injured. Free Affinity Spirits entered Jung Lee’s body in his wounded state, fighting one another and Jung Lee for control of his body.
After suffering for centuries, Jung Lee wishes to end his suffering.
Failure: Do not complete this quest within 1 month
Rewards:
Gain 5 stat points to use at your discretion
(???)
Anna’s eyes went wide. Finding quests that would allow those to complete it to gain stat points were incredibly rare. She had never seen a quest give five whole stat points. The difficulty of the task could be imagined.
She dismissed the screen and looked up at Jung Lee again.
His eyes went red for a moment as the air around him shuddered. A low growl came through the temple as his eyes switched to white, and then gold. His fingers clamped around the sword in his hand, which flashed with different colors.
“We’ll be back,” Anna promised, looking to the rest before they all turned and left.
Chapter 31: Welcome to the Cause
After leaving the Six Affinity Temple, Party Zero and most of the people who were in the outpost headed for the ono and through to Terra.
Anna had requested a meeting with the rest of the Stone Raiders leadership and Party Zero.
Josh granted it, all of them meeting in the Stone Raiders tower in the meeting room where the guild’s leadership discussed the future.
The four who had stayed behind to try to gather information all had dark looks as everyone took their seats. Dave looked deep in thought, leaning against a wall, with too much energy to sit down at the table.
“Okay, so what’s so important that we can’t go and clean up?” Josh asked in a light tone. His smile faltered at the looks from the four who had looked into the temple.
“When we were looking into the temple, we caught the eyes of the man who is sitting in front of the portal. With what we were able to observe, his name is Jung Lee. As we saw him, it seemed that he noticed us.” Anna sighed and shook her head.
“Did he try to attack?” Dwayne asked in an alarmed tone.
“No. Instead, he wrote a message on the ground in front of us, just two words.” Malsour looked to the others. “Help me.”
Others in the room had a variety of emotions when hearing this.
“Maybe a subquest?” Kim asked.
“What are we helping him with? It could be a trap,” Cassie said.
“Free Affinity Spirits are powe
rful creatures with strong wills and abilities. They can enhance someone’s ability by a great margin. Though they overtake the person or creature that they are within. They might have a modicum of intelligence but it isn’t great enough to be called sentient. Here Jung Lee was able to write out a message. I sensed all of the Affinities within him. All of them Free Affinity spirits,” Anna said.
“We’ve talked among ourselves. What we think is that Jung Lee somehow had all of the Affinity spirits gain access to his body at one time. He is still in there, but he’s been fighting off the spirits within his body the entire time he’s been in the Six Affinity Temple. After he wrote the message in the stone, his eyes changed color, as did the Affinity that ran along his sword. It was as if he was fighting all of the Affinities that were within his body,” Induca said.
“So what? There’s a man in there who can’t do anything because of all the Affinities that are fighting for control of his body?” Dwayne asked.
“Essentially,” Malsour said.
Kim shook her head. All of the Party Zero faces were serious.
“Okay, so is there anything we can do? Is it worth doing anything?” Josh asked.
“In the coming war, we’re going to need strong people. If we can help out Jung Lee, he might be the kind of person that will help us greatly.” Dave pushed off the wall, his eyes hooded.
“Bit serious, are we?” Dwayne said with a slight smile.
Dave calmly put his hands on the desk and looked at the people around the table—all of Party Zero, Cassie, Dwayne, Josh, Esa, Jules, and Lucy.
Anna felt her heart tighten with the look in those eyes. So the time has come, she thought, scared, but understanding of Dave’s actions.
It felt as if the air in the room became a little more thick as Dave cut the Jukal link to the room. Already it was hard to pick up a signal in the heavily warded conference room but now nothing was getting in or out.
Time of Change (Emerilia Book 7) Page 35
