A fan of Enma struck out in a fan ahead of me, catching a familiar prince’s shield, and sent him flying. He dropped the weapon he’d been using during our practice bout.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 6,227 damage to Loravian
“Ahh! What the hell? Why are you doing this?” he cried and pulled himself along the ground, trying to get away from me.
I didn’t wait for him to get away and grabbed the box again from my subspace, activated it, and threw it at him. It exploded in a rain of green sludge that stuck him to the ground.
“Hey there, Loravian. Care to tell me why you ran out on us?”
“I-I didn’t run! You said I should get away from you, right? You told me to stay away!”
“Staying away and running from me isn’t the same thing. When I hit you with the arrow, why didn’t you stop running?”
He stared at me with a look of horror painted across his face. Either he didn’t know how to reply, or he was trying to come up with an explanation. I didn’t care for either of them.
“I-I was afraid you were going to kill me. I was afraid that you couldn’t kill the snake and were coming after me!”
“Right, there was that part, wasn’t there?”
He nodded furiously, his eyes bulging outward. Beads of sweat the size of beans poured down his forehead and flew in every direction as he kept moving that ugly head of his.
“What-what now? Can we still honor the deal?”
“I don’t think so. Veles? Can you please come or give me a sign?”
Two thunderbolts struck the ground nearby and showered us with rock and soil. Veles appeared to my right, ready to do battle, and a second figure appeared to my left. Was he the prince’s patron?
“Indra!” Veles snapped. “You dare interfere after your weakling Perovian tried to get my champion killed by the basilisk?”
“Hah! That just means he’s smarter than that—whatever that is!” the deity called Indra hissed and nodded toward me. “If he could even be fooled by such an idiot, then there’s no hope for him.”
I stared at Indra, both annoyed and angry.
“Say, Indra, what will happen if I kill this little Perovian here?”
The deity frowned, and then his expression turned into one of anger. He raised his hand, and it started glowing, but Veles backhanded him and sent the deity flying. I grabbed a canister from my subspace and partially lifted the prince up before pushing him down again. The familiar beep of arming the bomb escaped his right upper leg, and his eyes grew wide.
“What are you—what have you done? You’ve just killed me!”
“Maybe. It all depends on you.”
“You don’t have much time. Indra is pretty strong,” Veles hissed as she flew after the deity.
“Let’s not waste any time, then,” I replied cheerfully. “By the Gods and the system, I pledge ten cores that if Loravian answers every question truthfully without any subterfuge, I won’t let the bomb kill him.”
Several thin strands of lightning struck both me and Loravian as the system accepted the promise.
“What do you want to know?” he asked hurriedly. “Come on, my people need me. Ask!”
“Seeing you’re so impatient, let’s start with an easy one.” I sat down on a piece of rock across from him and stared at the little bastard. “How many times has your race participated in this game.”
“Five times!”
I waited for divine lightning to smite him, but it didn’t. Interesting.
“How did you manage to survive after losing? I assume you didn’t win all five times.”
“The portals explode, destroying everything in a ten-mile radius. The world isn’t destroyed if a side loses. And not every rift is a game with life at stake. Smaller and mid-sized rifts are just that, rifts to get stronger. They can be upgraded into bigger rifts, but I don’t know how.”
“Quite interesting,” Melina muttered as she inched up to me. “How the hell do you know all of that?”
“Simple. I’ve seen recordings.”
“Do you have them with you?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. Look, I’m prohibited to go back unless I get the last core. Please give me the core.”
“Not so fast,” I said calmly and ask the next question. “Did you expect us to die fighting the basilisk?”
He nodded his head hurriedly. “I did. I guessed you could damage it enough that we could kill it.”
“Hah, at least he’s honest!” Melina laughed. “So what do you think? We sure look good for corpses, don’t we?”
“Mel, come on. Don’t you see he’s about to piss himself?”
“Wait, what? I’m not! I’m a prince! How dare you—yes, right. I’m sorry.”
I raised an eyebrow as I stared at him after his short tirade. “Would it have worked? The sacrifice?”
“Umm—no. I would need to sacrifice someone strong enough. You came to mind.”
“So you’d sacrifice me and the cores?”
“Yes, something like that.”
I let out a sigh and got to my feet, pulled out my halberd, and slashed it straight through his neck. No matter how big a defense he had, without a shield and getting a critical hit in, his head rolled to the ground, and his body slumped backward. The bomb activated as his body slumped backward.
I closed my eyes and opened them again. He still sat there, and my daydreaming had passed. I didn’t know what to do with him, but killing the bastard was the easiest thing possible. Would it make me feel good? Yes. Would it be the right thing to do? The notion of only a city going up in flames in comparison to a whole world sure made it appealing.
The sound of booming thunder resounded to my right, and chunks of soil, stone, and splinters of wood peppered our shields. A piece of rick hit the prince’s head, and he cried out. Well, I guess I got my answer right there. Still, I would give him one last chance.
“How many others have you killed so far?”
“Other what?” he cried and tried to shield himself from the debris.
“Rifters. People who are playing this stupid game.”
He didn’t say anything for several long seconds, but then seemed to come to a decision. “You’re not letting me go, are you?”
“Depends on your answer,” I replied with a shrug. I got up and stood there, towering over him despite him being a head taller when on his feet. I readied my halberd and waited for his response.
“Four.”
I swung the halberd and decapitated him this time for real. His head flew, and his body slumped to the side. The pressure switch under his leg released the blast wave and sent his body parts in all directions.
The battle between Veles and Indra suddenly stopped, and I felt a wave of new power course through me. Indra’s presence disappeared along with the prince’s body. All that remained was a pouch, one similar to the one I got from my first kill.
ACHIEVEMENT LEVELED UP:
Friend or foe? Foe!
Kill enemy contestant within the rift 2/2: Rewards:
1. Level Up +10
2. Loravian Rift Pouch
BUFF LEVELED UP:
NAME: Killer Level 2
DESCRIPTION: +15% to all stats.
And then there were two.
Chapter Twenty
I sat with my back against the wall. Melina was to my right, just as always. Veles had brought us back on her wings of sorts and let us rest. She had promised to return later so we could have a chat, but I wasn’t in the mood, not in the least.
We had suspected that the prince would try something stupid, but what was it with people and idiocy? If you saw overwhelming power in front of you, why would you risk almost certain death over life? It was something I’d never manage to wrap my mind around, but it didn’t even matter, really. Whoever came at us would meet a horrific end.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Melina said as she snuggled up close to me.
I turned around and pressed my fo
rehead against hers. “I wonder what it feels like to be like Veles. Have you ever wondered?”
She pulled away and frowned at me. Her lips curled up, and she was about to speak, but she stopped herself from saying something I probably already knew was going to come.
“Where’s this coming from?”
“The last boost I got was pretty intense. No wonder they’ve been killing other rifters while we were busy grinding gear and cultivating. But if you don’t have a good base, then the percentage doesn’t mean much.”
“I guess. The prince wasn’t that strong despite having a big boost.”
“Exactly. I think we did ourselves a favor by going this way, though. Luckily, I knew how to absorb Enma and get stronger that way, or we’d be stuck.”
“Hah! You’re the best.” She chuckled and planted a kiss on my cheek. “But don’t go getting any feelings of grandeur. We’re far from Veles’s level.”
“Sure you are.” Veles laughed as she appeared out of nowhere.
She could have easily been listening in and most likely had been cloaked for a while. It wasn’t like we could hide anything from her anyway.
“Are you happy with the result?”
She winked and flashed me a smile. “Sure am. You have no idea how it feels to be finally above those who kept bullying me all these centuries. I’ve had some bad luck with previous runs, but this time I think I hit the jackpot, Viktor dear.”
“Good, I guess. So what now? You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important in a way, right?”
“Exactly.” She laughed again and threw her head back. Her chest heaved with her laughter, but when no one laughed with her, she stopped and let out a sigh. “I’ve come to talk about your dog and your previous wife. They’re not doing good. For some reason, their life force keeps diminishing, and it’s all I can do to keep them around. Now that I’ve got this boost, it’s much easier on me, but I still have no solution. At least not until you got your hands on those cores.”
I raised my right eyebrow and sat upright. “Are you saying that we can get them back?”
She nodded and blew me a kiss for some odd reason. “I think we could. Want to try it with your wolf? I would inject thirty cores’ worth of Enma into him. I think it would give him a year? Maybe a bit more?”
“A year of what? Life?”
“No, not life. It would give him a year’s worth of summoned time. See, the way he came to be was wrong, and he pulled at your life force and Enma, but it broke him from inside. Twenty of the cores would be needed to try to repair him, while the ten would give him the time.”
“What about—her?” Melina whispered. “Could we give her some time as well?”
“No, we can’t,” Veles replied calmly but firmly. Her tone said it all.
“I don’t think she has much time, but we could probably have her reincarnate in her previous world, not knowing who she was. Maybe she could live a good second life?”
I stared at her, trying to get my mind around what she was saying. She was able to get Lana to reincarnate, but not me. How? And why? I glanced over at Melina and held my mouth shut as she looked at me from the corner of her eye.
“How?” Melina asked weakly. “I’d be alright with sacrificing something to give her a new life. Only if it doesn’t cost me my time with Viktor, though.”
“I don’t know? Maybe a hundred cores? I’d have to talk to the Supreme first, but a hundred cores can produce a massive power surge.”
I nodded. “I’m willing to sacrifice them as well. Even all of them for Scar and Lana. Have him reincarnate with her so she isn’t alone.”
“Oh? Won’t you miss him?” Veles chuckled sinisterly. “He’s quite strong.”
“So are we. Lana is all I need, Veles. We’re much stronger than we used to be several weeks ago, especially with your buff.”
She put up a finger and pressed it to her lips. “That buff will disappear once the battle with the Zanoxian is over. You’ll get your wish, and I’ll go on to wage more bets and wars.”
“Great. I guess I could live with that, though since we’re already talking about the end, what happens to the rift if I win? Do I get to keep it?”
She nodded slowly and chuckled yet again. “Yes, you do get to keep and run it. If you wish, you can even participate in another rift war in a century if you wish to. Other than that, you can set up portals in your world that connect to your rift. You can designate the zone it connects to and, well, that’s about it, I guess. You can unlock new zones once you’ve explored and killed off all the area bosses.” She stopped for a second and tapped her lips. “Now that I think about it, there’s a lot you can do. Enough to go on for decades.”
Now it was my turn to be surprised. I had no idea the rifts were that big and great. “Can you tell me more about it?”
“No, not now. It would be a waste of my precious time, Viktor. If you defeat the next rifter, I’ll tell you more, but let’s just say that the rift is like a home. You can upgrade it; you can add new things to it. Even more features become available once you’ve won and started expanding, but everything costs cores. A lot of cores. Are you sure you want to part with your stack?”
I didn’t have to think long about it and just nodded. The rift wasn’t just—I hadn’t even thought about it in so much detail. If I managed to beat the Zanoxian and I had to stay in this place, I could become—no, thinking along those lines wasn’t healthy. I could strong-arm some people in Sylmar, but only to a degree. If I had to focus on this place, then I’d pour all my energy into it.
The tower was another thing I would have to spend more time in. Stronger zones would mean stronger bosses, especially area bosses. If the basilisk had been the area two boss, then how strong would the area three, four, or five be? Rank fifteen? Or maybe twenty?
I let out a deep sigh and met Veles’s eyes one last time. “I need some time off to get rid of the Green Dragon Gang. Give me a month, and I’ll tackle the last rifter.”
“Is that a request?” she smirked and propped herself up.
She’d been mostly sitting as still as a statue, but I wasn’t much better in her presence. Her power demanded respect and that one bowed their head. I wasn’t going that far, though. I would serve her for whatever I still had to do, but that was about it.
“No, that’s my timeline. I do have a request if you want to hear it?”
“Sure, sure. Go on. I like my champions on the raw and ballsy side.” She laughed. “I don’t like them if they’re too obedient. Takes the fun out of it.”
“Then tell us how to best get rid of the green bastards. How can I disable their dome? How can I force them out? And if I go in, can he kill me like I can kill others inside my base?”
“I can’t answer all of those questions, but I can tell you one. You’re too strong to be killed outright by him. You might be wounded, and the spell only works once on everyone. If you survive, he won’t be able to use it again. As for how to get in there, you’re lucky about that. The same species can enter each other’s zones without any issues. It would be a problem to enter the Zanoxian base or the Perovian before its destruction.”
“That’s it?”
Veles nodded and got up. She straightened her dress and pushed her breasts up. “These are quite the hassle, but I like to think that I look rather good, don’t you think so, Viktor?”
She blew me a last kiss and winked just as a bolt of lightning struck where she stood. Veles was gone again, and so were my cores. I hadn’t even handed them over, but I guessed my word had been enough for her to take them.
“Sure is flashy,” Melina muttered. “I don’t like her one bit.”
“She’s a necessary evil, I guess. Still, could have been much worse. At least she’s pleasant to the eyes.”
Melina gasped and then slapped my shoulder playfully. “Viktor!”
“What? She looks almost just like you. What’s wrong with me liking your image?”
“Wrong? You know that isn’t me!
You jerk.”
“Hey, jerk or not, I’ve got a present for you once we’re in Sylmar. Or at least I think I do.”
“You think? How so?”
“Well—let’s just say that I had something made for you, and I have no idea if it’s finished yet.”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” I replied and held out my pinky. “Pinky promise.”
“Hah, that’s so lame.” She laughed. “But I love it. Thanks. I think I needed that just now.”
“So who’s ready for some strong drinks and some snacks?” Mark said from behind us.
“Yo, you’re still around.”
“Hah! Any reason why I shouldn’t be?”
“Not really. Just good to see you, brother. How’s everything here? It’s been a few days.”
“Yeah, everything is good. We’re getting more and more hunters passing through every day. I don’t think we can handle the load as it is going.”
I nodded and offered him my hand. He pulled me up into a half hug, and I tapped his shoulder as well, trying to hold onto whatever I still could. Things weren’t quite slipping through my fingers, but we were steadily getting to the endgame, and once there, I had no idea how everything would turn out.
“So where’s this party at?” Melina asked as she peeked out from behind me. “Are Sarah and the baby there?”
“Sure are. We’re in the main dining room. Will you join us? I would have called you earlier, but I saw you sitting with Veles, so I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. There’s a lot we need to talk about.”
Several minutes later we joined everyone, and there was no way we could evade the hugs Donald, Rita, and Sarah threw at us. It had only been a few days, but I guess getting rid of a rifter was something they considered a big feat. So did I, in all honesty. I had to give myself more props for achieving things others wouldn’t have been able to, or would with much more help from others. Sure, I did get some help along the way, but everything had mostly been done by myself.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 16
