Howling with rage, the devil pressed its attack, clawing the air wildly as it caused me to backpedal to the edge of the pier. Stopping short of falling into the water, I stood my ground under the creature’s rabid assault, earning a pair of long cuts along my hand and forearm.
Damn, this thing is fast! I grimaced as the devil’s wounds began to sting. Despite my weapon’s longer reach, the Hellborn Brute’s speed advantage was giving it a fighting chance, allowing it to just barely stay ahead of my blade. Yet for all of its ferocity, it had yet to display anything more than sheer animal instinct, intent on overwhelming me as quickly as possible. Let’s see just how smart this devil is.
Feinting a slip, I tucked one leg under me while pretending to lose my balance, giving the devil an opening it couldn’t miss. Without even hesitating, the Hellborn Brute lunged forward, letting out a glee-filled cackle as it lunged towards me—
Only to meet air as I shifted out of the way, letting it sail right over me and land in the water with a splash.
All muscle and no brains, I thought, allowing myself a small smile as I pushed myself up off the ground and rushed away from the pier’s edge.
“Damn you, Cain!” the woman’s rage-filled voice reached my ears as I ran, causing me to turn my head towards the noise, where I spotted a familiar, if misshapen face.
Edith.
Bleeding freely from a large wound on her cheek, I felt a jolt of surprise shoot through my body as I realized that my blindly aimed crossbow bolt had caught the woman in the face, tearing through her mask and finally revealing her identity. In contrast to the woman I’d once known, Edith’s face was now covered in countless scars, the flesh on the right side of her jaw having deformed and melted like a grotesque candle.
“Edith?!” I couldn’t help but blurt in surprise as she fixed me with a baleful glare. “What the hell happened to you?!”
“You did this to me!” the dark-skinned woman shouted, as she threw back the cloak that had been concealing the right side of her body. Raising it high into the air, Edith lifted a monstrous claw-tipped arm easily three times the size of the other devils’ and launched herself at me with a cry of rage, the other devils following close behind her.
This is bad! Panic began to grip my heart as I desperately angled myself towards the statue, looking to take cover beside it and keep Edith and the other devils from simply swarming over me.
Sweeping my sword in the air as I ran, I caught Edith’s massive claws on the edge of the blade, feeling them grate against the metal as they slid off. Attacking with the same frenzied tactics as the other Hellborn Brutes, Edith slashed out again and again, driving me backwards as I retreated around the front of the statue.
Following close behind their mistress like lemmings, the other devils fought one another for position as they tried to circle around the edge of the platform to get to me, only succeeding in getting in one another’s way.
“What happened, Edith?!” I demanded as my blade sliced opened a length of her mutated arm, causing black bile to gush from the wound. “What happened in the Arcaneum?!”
“Fuck you!” the woman hissed, fury coloring her voice as she continued to press her attack, the injury on her arm doing little to slow her. “You ruined everything!”
Before I could reply, I heard Molly’s voice shout out from behind me, “Lazarus, duck!”
Reacting at the speed of thought, I pushed away from Edith and rolled backwards as a black missile sailed over my head, slamming right into Edith’s body. I heard Edith curse as Molly’s spell burst in an inky cloud of darkness, rendering her temporarily blind and deaf.
“Right behind you, Lazarus!” Molly’s voice sounded close by as I regained my feet and leaped forward to take advantage of Edith’s temporary weakness.
Unable to see my attack coming, Edith was caught completely flatfooted as I sliced open a massive wound leading from her left shoulder to opposite hip. However, instead of the red blood I’d expected to see gush from the wound, more bubbling black bile erupted from the body and began slowly oozing down Edith’s chest.
Is she…part devil now? The black blood looked similar to the ichor that had oozed from the Hellborn Brute when I had sliced it open. What the hell happened in the Arcaneum that twisted her so badly?
Shaking off my stray thought, I continued to press my attack, landing another vicious cut across Edith’s midsection as she desperately backpedaled trying to escape my reach. But before I could land a finishing blow on the hell-warped woman, I was forced to defend myself against the slashing claws of a Hellborn Brute that had finally managed to squeeze past his retreating mistress.
Dodging the vicious swipe, I slashed back at the devil, landing a solid hit on the creature’s arm at the same moment Molly fell in beside me and slashed open its stomach.
“These things shouldn’t exist!” Molly shouted to me as she sliced open another wound in the devil’s body. “Not here, not on this plane!”
“I don’t know what that means, Molly!” I called back, as a second Hellborn Brute rushed forward to join its companion. “They’re here, they’re angry, we need to kill them!”
“They’re unbound devils! They shouldn’t be able to enter our—” Molly began to explain before letting out a loud yelp as a claw found a way through her guard. “Fuck! I’ll tell you later, just hack them to pieces!”
“That I can do!” I growled, calling on the sigil’s power once more, reveling in the intoxicating rush of energy that shot through my body. As the crimson haze began to creep across my vision, I heard myself calling out to Molly, “Using the sigil, watch out!”
A heartbeat before the power fully consumed me, it vanished, the burning sigil turning cool against my skin. Bright crimson light flared out behind me, as a flashing alert appeared in the corner of my eye.
The power channeled by your Sigil of Rage has been absorbed by a nearby [Chaos Stone]!
“What the hell was that?” Molly exclaimed, chancing a quick glance behind her.
“Something Edith brought!” I explained as best I could, feeling a strange emptiness where I had once sensed the sigil’s power. “It’s interfering with the sigil!”
“Shit!” Molly gasped as we were both forced to take a step backwards under the combined attacks by the two devils. “Can you fight?”
“Yeah!” I replied, feeling a little unsettled. Despite using it only twice, the sigil’s power had quickly become addictive, and having it so suddenly torn from me left me feeling unbalanced. Glowing bright behind me, the crimson crystal continued to shine, casting the entire battlefield in a bloody haze.
Pushing through the disorientation, I stepped forward against the pressing devils, accepting a wicked slice that ran the length of my arm in exchange for the opportunity to brutally chop my sword into the side of one of the creature’s head, cleaving straight into its skull. Thrashing wildly from my blow, I followed up my attack with a heavy kick straight into the devil’s stomach, using the motion to wrench my blade free in a spray of gore.
Falling backwards lifelessly, the Hellborn Brute’s body was ruthlessly shoved to the side and onto the black water as the devil behind it slapped it out of its way while rushing to take its place, clawing out at Molly and me in a rabid frenzy, causing the two of us to take a step back from its ferocity.
“Careful!” Molly shouted, parrying a claw that came inches away from stabbing into my unprotected side and forcing it downwards, giving me an opening that I could exploit.
“Thanks!” I barked, taking advantage of Molly’s maneuver, slicing a shallow wound down the Hellborn Brute’s shoulder and arm. Pausing for a second as the devil leaped backwards in pain, I glanced at my health and stamina, checking to see just how much I had left.
HP: 526/710
Stamina: 416/710
Satisfied that I was I good shape, I readied myself to spring forward at the Hellborn Brute and resume my attack, but an alert flashed in the corner of my eye, warning me of a noise behind me, followe
d by the sound of slushing water. Wheeling around, I saw that the first devil that I had tricked into the water had finally pulled itself out and back onto the pier.
Snorting like a bull, the devil stamped its cloven feet as it put its head down and rushed back into the fray, gradually building momentum with every step it took. Watching the goat-like devil quickly eat up the distance between Molly and myself, I made a split second decision and rushed forward to intercept the creature before it crashed into us from behind. Leading with my shoulder, I feinted to meet the devil’s charge in a titanic collision of strength, only to drop down at the last second.
Sneaking under its guard, I slammed my shoulder into the charging devil’s hips, its momentum throwing it over my shoulder as it flipped right over me and landed on the ground heavily.
All those years of hockey and football are finally paying off. The stray thought crossed my mind as I twisted towards the stunned devil lying prone on the ground.
Wasting no time on mercy, I stabbed my blade through the fallen creature’s heart before pulling it free and slashing through its throat, ensuring that it stayed down for good.
“Lazarus!” Molly’s voice was tinged with desperation as she delivered a killing slash to the Hellborn Brute she was fighting and backpedaled as a recovered Edith and the now sole remaining devil rushed forward to fill its place.
Jumping over the rapidly decaying form of the devil that I had just slain, I rushed to rejoin Molly as she fell in beside me. Familiar with one another’s movements, we immediately then launched into a counterattack, stopping Edith’s and her minion’s advance cold. Swinging my sword through the air with precision, I caught Edith’s massive claw on the edge of my blade, halting it long enough for Molly to add yet another vicious cut across the woman’s chest.
“Damn it!” Edith roared, frustration taking its toll on the woman. It was clear that she had no practice in fighting as a team with the Hellborn Brute, assuming it was even capable of such intelligence and teamwork. Shouting something harsh in an unknown language, Edith conjured a glowing Spirit Bolt and tossed it at the ground in front of Molly and me.
Exploding with a burst of energy, the blast forced the two of us to take a step backwards as we instinctively shielded our eyes, momentarily losing sight of Edith and the devil. By the time our eyes readjusted to the sight, Edith had rolled past me, using the distraction to run towards the glowing Chaos Stone.
Before I could move to follow her, I felt claws dig into my flesh as the devil lunged forwards, grabbing hold of both Molly and me. Grimacing under the devil’s brutal grip, I fought to free myself from its hold, driving the claws even deeper into my forearm as I tried to bring my sword to bear with one hand. The light of the stone danced wildly in the night as Edith snatched it up from the ground and clenched it tightly in her left hand.
“It’s not how I wanted to do this, but it will have to do!” Bitterness dripped from Edith’s voice as she began to conjure a ball of fire in her oversized hand. The fireball rapidly grew in size as the Chaos Stone dimmed.
“Aaah!” Molly screamed in pain as she thrust her sabre into the devil’s unprotected stomach before tearing it out and thrusting it back in. “Kill it! Quick!”
Shit! She’s sacrificing the devil just to kill us! With one arm pinned, I quickly reached with my free hand and grabbed a dagger off the bandolier on my chest. Then I followed Molly’s example, repeatedly stabbing the devil as I tried to pull myself free.
Working up the creature’s chest, I left half a dozen bloody holes before burying the dagger straight up to its hilt in the creature’s eye. Combined with Molly’s desperate stabbing, it was too much for the creature to withstand and its grip began to weaken. Tearing my arm free of the claws that held me in a spray of blood and pain, I looked back towards Edith, seeing her barely holding onto a beach ball-sized orb of fire.
Making a split-second decision, I pushed myself away from the falling devil and grabbed Molly as I ran away from Edith, towards the statue of the Stone Sailor. Moving with every ounce of speed I could muster, I ducked in between the statue’s legs, desperately seeking cover at the same moment a massive blast of fire exploded behind me.
I felt flames sear into my back a heartbeat before a thunderous concussion knocked me forward, sending me and Molly sprawling to the ground. Wincing in pain, I rolled onto my back to see if I could catch a glimpse of Edith before she followed up with another spell. Looking between the statue’s legs, I heard an ominous noise echo through the air as one of the legs cracked, weakened from the explosion, the statue beginning to shift as the stone crumbled.
“Oh, fuck!” I swore, seeing the leg finally give way, causing the statue to break free from its pedestal and it begin its descent towards me. Scrambling on my hands and feet, I pushed myself backward as I tried to escape the Stone Sailor’s path, only to spot Molly lying on the ground, still struggling to come to her senses.
She doesn’t see it. I realized, a fraction of a second before I threw myself forward, shoving Molly hard enough to send her tumbling away from the statue’s path.
Looking back upwards, I had just enough time to make out the statue’s face as it fell.
Then everything went black.
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Chapter 8
Passing through the veil of death, I felt my soul pulled back towards my bind point as I awoke in a plain stone room. A glowing orb set in the wall shone with a vibrant white light, causing me to squint at the sudden brightness. Crossing the entire length of the city in an instant, I found myself deep within the Grim Shadows headquarters, slowly pulling myself back together, my head spinning wildly.
Not my worst death, as these things go, I thought to myself grimly as I slowly moved my arms and legs, no longer feeling the countless injuries from the fight with Edith, though I was sad to note that both my sword and crossbow hadn’t respawned with me.
Taking a moment to assess how I felt, I was happy to find that my spirit was fully intact and that my death hadn’t afflicted me with Death Sickness, which would have forced me to return to the harbor to collect a fragment of my soul. I guess that means Edith technically killed me.
Striking a balance between encouraging conflicts between players and still having consequences for death, Ascend Online took two different approaches in handling death penalties. In the normal scenario where an Adventurer died at the hands of a creature or another non-player character, a fragment of their spirit was left behind at the scene of their death, forcing them to recover their Soul Fragment, or accept a punishing loss in skills and experience.
In the other scenario, when a player was killed by another player, instead of the normal death sickness, the dying player instead lost a small portion of their Renown or Infamy, depending on their moral bent. In contrast, the winning player received a slight increase to their Renown or Infamy, in addition to a fairly substantial reward of Experience.
This system ensured that players who repeatedly died against other players wouldn’t end up being crippled with impossible experience debts and a loss of their skills, but still carried a reasonably sufficient penalty for dying. From what I’ve been able to discover so far, high levels of Renown or Infamy influenced how NPCs reacted to you by either giving you a bonus or a penalty to your reputation, which could lead to rare quests or opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable.
The sound of running feet brought me back into the present as a small dark-haired boy ran into the room I had just respawned in.
“Lazarus, you’re back!” the tiny boy’s voice squeaked as he looked around the chamber for anyone else. “Well, I guess if you’re in this room, you died, but you’re also back. I know how it works for you Adventurers. Did dying hurt? What happened? I hope you kicked their butt before they got you.”
“Goner.” I held up a hand, motioning for the young thief-in-training to slow down, struggling to keep up with his rapid barrage of questions. “Please let my head stop spinning first…”
“No time for that!” the boy exclaimed, stamping his feet while puffing his chest out. “Isabella finally gave me a job! She told me that if any of our Adventurers popped back into this room, I’m supposed to bring them right to her!”
“That…explains why you’re still awake,” I said slowly, smiling at Goner’s enthusiasm.
At only twelve years old, Goner was the youngest member of the Grim Shadows, an orphan whose parents had once belonged to the guild before tragically being killed on a job gone bad. Since then, he had been adopted by the guild, who made sure that he stayed safe and was taught everything he needed to survive in the world.
“Yep!” Goner urgently motioned me to follow him out of the room. “They even let me have some coffee, too! It tastes the best with a lot of sugar in it. I’ve already had three cups today! I should get another one, maybe.”
“Uh…” I followed the boy as he practically ran out of the room ahead of me. “Maybe you should drink some water instead, Goner!”
“There’s water in the coffee, Lazarus!” Goner stopped to look back at me, already halfway down the hall, shaking his head. “I think I’ll just stick to coffee for good now, it gives me so much energy!”
“Goner!” I called after the caffeine-addled boy as he turned away and ran off deeper into the hideout, leaving me behind.
Before I could catch up with the boy, a flashing note appeared in the corner of my vision as Molly finally messaged me, causing me to slow my pace while reading the incoming message.
Molly: Lazarus! You saved me!
Feeling a sense of relief wash through me, I composed a reply back.
Lazarus: I’m glad you made it! Unfortunately, the statue caught me and I’m back at the Guild Headquarters. Is Edith still there?
Hell to Pay (Ascend Online Book 2) Page 7
