“You met Thor God of Thunder at the Village of Beginnings?” Fayte blinked several times. “That can’t be right. He should have left a long time ago… although, I haven’t heard much about him on the forums yet…”
Fayte trailed off as she went into thought. Adam, on the other hand, could not help but look at Aris with a concerned gaze.
“He didn’t try to cause any trouble for you, did he?” asked Adam.
“Hee-hee. Well, he did see me without my veil. It was when I first entered the village. He was already at level 10 at the time, so I’m guessing he was planning to leave, but then he saw me and came right up and asked me to become his woman.” Adam twitched several times when he heard this, which caused Aris’s eyes to brighten like stars in the night sky as a mischievous smile crossed her face. “Are you worried? Don’t be. I told him I already have someone I love. Though he was kind of persistent. He kept tailing me every day for several days…”
She trailed off and went into what he recognized as her “thinking mode.” With her arms crossed, face scrunched up, and head tilted down, she looked adorable. Adam wanted to kiss her, but he held back.
“What is it?” asked Adam.
“Um, it’s nothing important,” Aris said at last. “It’s just that, after the first three or so days of him following me around, he just stopped. It was kind of strange. I guess maybe he got sick of constantly being rejected and left the Village of Beginnings.”
Adam didn’t say anything, but he decided he was going to speak with Asteroth about this and ask why they hadn’t informed him of this Thor player harassing his Aris.
After lunch was over, Adam washed the dishes and the three friends talked and played some simple console games together for at least an hour or so. Then Adam and Fayte once more entered Age of Gods. They appeared next to each other inside of the large room where they had battled against the [killer gargoyle]. Lilith was already there. She was petting Kureha, seeming to enjoy the way the little fox yokai’s hind leg twitched in the air as she scratched behind her ear.
“Welcome back, you two,” Titania said from where she stood. There was a slice of bread in her hands, which she periodically nibbled on.
“It looks like Susan is the only one we’re waiting for,” Adam said.
He couldn’t see her face, but Adam could tell Fayte was smiling as she said, “Susan is probably in lessons right now. She is home-schooled by some of the best tutors in the world, and sometimes her classes run late.”
“What is this ‘home-schooled’?” asked Titania as she floated over to them and landed on Adam’s shoulder.
“It’s when someone is taught at home instead of going to school,” Adam answered.
“So I see. And what is school?”
Adam knew what school was even though he had never attended before, but he didn’t have the patience to tell Titania. He looked at Fayte, who interpreted the request with eye contact alone, and while she explained the concept of school to the fairy (she explained that it was like this magic academy), Adam walked over to Lilith.
“Master,” Lilith greeted in a soft voice, though she did not stop petting Kureha. Her love for cute things had been outed a long time ago. There was no longer any need for her to hide her obsession.
Adam did an admirable job of hiding his grimace. “After we finish things here, I want you to get in touch with Astaroth and the other members of the Soul Reapers. Tell them to find Thor God of Thunder, and kill him until his level drops back to 1.”
Lilith tilted her head in obvious confusion, but she didn’t question his orders and instead nodded once. “It will be done.”
Susan appeared several minutes after his conversation with Lilith. She apologized profusely to all of them for being late, bowing repeatedly. Everyone told her not to worry, but the girl still seemed more contrite than simply being a little late warranted. After they had gotten her to calm down, the group of six found themselves standing in front of the massive double doors.
“Is everyone ready?” asked Adam. Everyone nodded. “Then let’s keep going. I’d like to conquer this academy before dinner.”
Adam inserted the [stone tablet] into a relief on the massive double door, which caused the entire door to light up with runes. A loud creak echoed around them. The sound of stone grinding against stone was ear-piercing. Adam, Fayte, Lilith, Susan, Titania, and Kureha remained silent as the door opened, revealing a large staircase that curved upward.
The six stepped passed the door and continued on their journey.
Elemental Master
Something Adam discovered was that the higher they climbed up this tower, the stronger the enemies became. In the first ten floors, enemies were all at level 35. After reaching the eleventh floor, their enemies became level 40. That was a five-level increase.
At present, Adam and his party were on the fortieth floor, which meant all their enemies were at level 55. That was about the limit to what they could win against. Even Adam found himself struggling against enemies that had on average +1,000,000 health, never mind the fact that most of the time when they ran into enemies, there were always groups of them.
On the plus side, they ran into so many enemies that all of them had gained +4,000,000 experience points. Kureha and Titania had reached level 18.
Kureha’s and Titania’s levels had finally surpassed Adam’s. The reason for this was just simple math. When Kureha and Titania were at level 1, they only needed +100 experience points to reach level 2, whereas Adam needed +150. Each level they gained still required fewer experience points than Adam, so at level 17, they only needed 6,553,600 experience points to reach level 18. On the other hand, Adam needed 9,830,400.
“I’m not sure how much longer we can keep going.” Fayte’s voice was not at all muffled by her veil as she spoke. She sounded worn out. “We’ve been traveling for a long time now, but we haven’t found anything that would suggest there is a treasure, much less a [hidden class scroll] here.”
“If we want to find a [hidden class scroll], then we will need to travel until we find a magic vault,” Titania said. “I heard this place had a massive vault where all their most powerful items were stored.”
“Are you sure the vault has any treasure left?” asked Fayte. “It looks like this place has been ransacked.”
“I’m sure,” Titania said. “Do not forget this magic academy was the most prominent institute on the continent at the time. They would have completely sealed off the vault and all of their most important rooms with magic and seals. Even if several armies stormed this place, they would not be able to break the seals on these doors so easily.”
Since Titania was the closest thing their group had to an expert on this world, nobody denied her words, but all of them were feeling the effects of traveling up this tower for several hours. Even Adam and Lilith displayed their tiredness in the way their shoulders slouched. It was fortunate they were wearing masks so no one could see their haggard faces.
Their group was traveling in the same formation as always, with Adam in front and Lilith taking up the rear. The floor they found themselves on looked a lot like a series of classrooms. There were a lot of lecture halls with tertiary seating. Adam could imagine students sitting in the seats while their magic teacher lectured them from the podium. Of course, most of the seats had long since broken down and even the stone tables had numerous cracks running across them.
After constantly traveling without rest and fighting the enemies located in the halls and rooms, the group eventually reached another massive door. This one was even bigger than the previous ones they had entered. Made from a type of metal, Adam was shocked to find that this door, unlike all the others, still appeared to be in pristine condition. Majestic and imposing, the door’s primary feature was the magical seal in the center. It was the coat of arms for this academy.
“Should we… go in?” asked Susan.
“I’m not sure.” Fayte turned to Adam. “What do you think?”
“Ho
w many hours has it been since we started playing?” asked Adam.
Fayte tilted her head and Adam knew she was calculating the passage of time. She had a perfect memory and possessed an impeccable internal clock, making it easy for her to figure out how much time had passed.
“I would say we’ve been playing for about three hours, give or take a few minutes,” she answered at last.
Adam nodded. “We’ll go in, but this will be our last door. If we don’t find any treasure or a [hidden class scroll], we’ll stop for the day and begin again tomorrow.”
Everyone agreed and together placed their hands on the door and pushed. Nothing happened at first, but then the door released a low creaking sound before, like magic, it swung wide open. Adam counted their blessings. He’d been worried this door would be locked.
The room on the other side of the door reminded him of a stadium. A high wall rose all around an oval-shaped space. Behind the wall were several rows of seats where people could watch whatever was happening down below. As they walked forward, he twisted his head, picturing the many students sitting in this place and enjoying death matches against ferocious monsters.
Not that he thought this place would allow their students to fight to the death against ferocious monsters or anything.
In the center of this stadium stood a silent figure. Adam could not tell what their gender was from so far away, but they were dressed in a dark robe with gold lining the hems. As they got closer, he noticed this person had long, dark hair tied together at the back with a leather band, and they were somewhat translucent. He could see the other side of the stadium through their body.
In other words, this person was a ghost.
The figure turned around as they got closer, and their group was met with purple eyes, a pale face, and beautiful features. A woman. Adam could now see the full figure concealed by this person’s robes, though it was just a hint. Those robes were thick enough to hide most of her figure from view. Her pale face was framed by strands of hair. In her left hand was a black and gold staff, odd symbols running up its length.
Her face was scrunched into a vicious snarl.
“Foul invaders! Do not think my academy will be so easily brought down by the likes of you!” she shouted at them.
Fayte, Titania, and Susan jumped at the sound of her voice, harsh and grating like nails against a chalkboard, but Adam and Lilith merely stared in silence. This woman was a ghost. Adam had once read a spiritualistic article about how ghosts that were stuck on the mortal plane would sometimes relive their last moments. The article had been utter garbage, completely unbelievable since spirits and ghosts didn’t exist, but seeing this woman and her expression reminded him of that article. He wondered if this character’s creator had read it as well. In either event, she was probably reliving the time when she defended this academy from the three armies that destroyed it.
“It looks like we have no choice but to fight this woman,” Adam said. “Let’s get in formation. Long-range fighters in back. Me and Lilith in front. Titania, give me her stats.”
Having worked together for several days now, Adam gave his orders smoothly and the others got in formation as if they had been anticipating them. Lilith stepped up to his right and held her dagger in a reverse grip. Her dark eyes were narrowed. Titania, meanwhile, fluttered behind Fayte, Susan, and Kureha as she cast [scan] on the woman.
Name: Alexandra Mystique
Description: Alexandra Mystique was a young woman with an unprecedented talent for magic. She went on to found the Advanced College of Magic, but she was killed when the kingdoms of Friedonia, Slaveon, and Malroc attacked her academy.
Class: 4-Star
Lvl: 50
Health: 5,000,000/5,000,000
MP: 10,000,000/1,000,000
Strength: +50
Constitute: +1,500
Dexterity: +500
Intelligence: +5,000
Speed: +50
Skill List:
Skill Name: Fireball
Description: Shoots fireball from staff
1,000% damage
MP Cost: 2,000
Cooldown Time: 15 seconds
Skill Name: Firestorm: Releases a wave of flames that sweeps over every enemy within a 50 yards of target
1,000% damage
MP Cost: 4,000
Cooldown Time: 20 seconds
Skill Name: Thunder Bolt
Description: Fires a bolt of lightning from staff
6,000% damage
MP Cost 4,000
Cooldown Time: 15 seconds
Skill Name: Chain Lightning
Description: One bolt of lightning is fired from staff and attacks multiple targets, linking them together like a chain
Can hit up to 100 targets
3,000 damage
MP Cost: 5,000
Cooldown Time: 30 seconds
Skill Name: Wind Blade
Description: Fires a single blade of wind from staff
600% damage
Has a 50% chance of removing a limb
MP Cost: 2,500
Cooldown Time: 15 seconds
Skill Name: Wind Hammer
Description: A massive hammer of wind is formed and slammed into the ground, releasing all the compressed wind to blast enemies away
400% damage
100% chance of causing stun
MP Cost: 1,000
Cooldown time: 15 seconds
Skill Name: Earth Wall
Description: A defensive technique that causes the earth to rise from the ground and form a defensive wall to block attacks
The wall lasts for 60 seconds
Can create a maximum of ten walls.
MP Cost: 500
Cooldown time: 60 seconds
Skill Name: Quicksand
Description: The earth around the enemy turns into quicksand, trapping them for 230 seconds
This spell can effect enemies 15 yards from targeted enemy
MP Cost: 500
Cooldown time: 40 seconds
Skill Name: Water Bullets
Description: Multiple bullets made of water are rapidly fired from Alexandra’s staff
Attack lasts for 60 seconds and does 100% damage
Can be used to attack one target only
MP Cost: 1,000
Cooldown time: 30 seconds
Skill Name: Water Dragon
Description: An ultimate attack that creates a dragon made of water
This attack will act independently of its user to attack enemies
It has 300,000 health points and is immune to water attacks
MP Cost: 50,000
Cooldown time: 120 seconds
Skill Name: Resurrection
Description: Resurrects a single person from the dead
Only works if used before one hour has passed
Can only be used once per day
MP Cost: 20,000
Cooldown time: 120 seconds
Adam felt his blood run cold when he saw how powerful this enemy was. Disregarding her level 50 and 4-Star class, she had a health of 5,000,000/5,000,000 and any one of her attacks would kill them in one hit. Even Adam would not survive taking a single hit from this woman. This meant they would need to be very careful when dealing with her. Even if they were as careful as possible, there was no guarantee they could defeat an enemy who was this strong. She was, without a doubt, the strongest enemy he had run across since his meeting with the Spider Queen and Undead King.
But Adam had never been the kind of man who gave up.
“Lilith!”
“…”
Lilith didn’t speak a single word, and her body suddenly vanished as Adam raced forward. As he heard Titania begin singing [Song of Vigor], he activated [Blood Sacrifice], and then began swinging his spear in the pattern needed to activate [Dance of the Sakura Blossoms]. He danced around the woman, thrusting and slashing out. If someone were to look at his attack pattern with a bird’s eye view, they would have seen that the
movement of his feet created an outline in the general shape of a sakura blossom.
-24,480; -73,440; -220,320!
Adam was forced to back off when Alexandra spun around and swung her staff in his direction, light flashing near the tip as electricity crackled out in arcs. Lightning condensed into a sphere before it was fired as a bolt that soared past his head. Adam barely dodged the attack, which struck the wall behind him.
A massive burst exploded from where the [Thunder Bolt] struck. The attack left a large black mark on the wall, but that was it. Adam was surprised the wall had been able to withstand it. He’d already seen how much damage could be done by enemy attacks. The [Skeleton Dragon] back in the Village of Beginnings had carved trenches in the ground. These walls must have some kind of magical protection to keep them from being too damaged, or maybe they were made from a material that absorbed magical damage.
-58,080!
Lilith suddenly appeared behind the woman like a mirage, placing her dagger against Alexandra’s throat, and sliding it across the surface. No blood emerged. However, a thin line appeared, as though she was a hologram that someone had interfered with.
The moment the attack landed, Alexandra’s eyes turned red with rage. She spun around and prepared to attack Lilith.
-1,170!
-9,504; -7,200!
Before she could unleash her attacks, Fayte struck her in the back with the magic spell [Energy Bolt], and then Kureha launched an attack from each of her tails. The first was [Thunder Bolt], which slammed into the woman with enough force to make her stumble. The second attack was [Fireball]. That one struck the woman in the face and seemed to light her hair on fire.
“Unfilial bastards!” Alexandra shrieked. “How dare you and your kingdoms bare your fangs against me! Do you think you can kill me with such pathetic magic?! Let me show you what real magic is!”
Adam was surprised this boss-level opponent could still talk. That was something that had never happened during boss battles in other games.
Alexandra pointed her staff at the three long-range attackers and Titania. Adam grimaced as he realized what was about to happen.
Man Made God 003 Page 12
