by EA Hooper
The Ice Knight ignored him and tried to cast a spell, but nothing happened. He equipped a dagger, cut through his own shields, and then jammed it into his heart. The room flashed with light, and his injury vanished, pushing the dagger out of his chest.
“I bet you keep all your basteel in daiglass storage, don’t you?” Lucas mocked. “It would’ve been interesting to see if it could cut my forcefield, but I guess you hadn’t stopped to prepare before you attacked me. You might as well give up. We have over a thousand prisoners, and the only ones ever to escape used Lotus Capsules. Although, I marked timers for their deaths and simply caught them again.”
“Release me!” Zhang screamed, grabbing the shattered blade and striking the forcefield. The blade cut his hand, and the magic blasted him backward, but then a flash of light healed his wounds.
“Release you? Oh, sure. All you had to do was ask. It’s not like any of the other thousand prisoners have ever begged for their freedom.”
“You can’t do this, Lucas. You have no right to hold people against their will. You had no right to take Midrun.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Be glad I didn’t freeze you for the rest of the update.”
“You’ll pay for this, you realize? This footage will be uploaded by my AI Assistant. It’ll get millions or even billions of views.”
“Other people have threatened me with their AI Assistants. I don’t care. That’s three centuries from now, and by that point, the people of World-Tree will worship me. I’ll keep them safe from this terrifying game. The bosses, the angels, and all the would-be tyrants out there.”
“You’re the only would-be tyrant I’ve seen.”
“No, no. I’m the good guy. I’m taking over for the benefit of everyone. You ever hear the saying that the best form of government would be a benevolent dictator?”
“But you’re not benevolent.”
“Look, man, I put you in a comfy cell with books and a viewing screen. I might even let you out under a few conditions. The first being you submit to my rule. The second being I surpass you in levels, so you’re no longer a serious threat to me.”
“That won’t happen. You’re already at the level-one-hundred wall when climbing becomes more difficult. Just wait till you hit the two-hundred wall and stop gaining levels for years.”
“I need to get strong enough to reach the upper worlds. How can I become the benevolent lord of the World-Tree when the City-Worlds at the top are out of my reach? That’s why I hope you and I can come to an understanding one day. Despite how much you’ve angered me, now that I’ve beaten you, I almost wish we could be friends. You’d make a good right-hand man, Zhang.”
“That’ll never happen.”
“You becoming my right-hand man, or us being friends?”
“Both. I could never be friends with a childish person who abuses their power.”
Lucas sneered. “There you go again, trying to put me down to lift yourself high. God, that attitude annoyed me when you weren’t in my prison. Now, nothing you say bothers me, because I own you. I won, and you lost. Good game, Zhang.”
“You didn’t win. ARKUS won for you. Without your mod powers, you’d be nothing. And even those powers will only take you so far. There’re limits to what you can do, and that’s why you’ll never reach the upper worlds.”
Lucas felt his eye twitch, but he tried to ignore the frustration building inside him. “What kind of limits? Like a power that counters mine?” Lucas paused in thought. “Those four—they were following you!”
Zhang raised his cold eyes. “Who?”
“Don’t lie to me. I remember Jim asked about you. So, you must know them. Tell me how that guy killed me in one shot. Why didn’t my Mod Gun work on him?”
Zhang’s body relaxed, and he slumped onto the mattress on the floor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. They probably saw me rushing to the tower and followed to help.”
Is he lying? Lucas stared at the screen, trying to read the man’s cold face. But he’s my prisoner. I have absolute power over him. He has nothing to gain by lying to me. They can’t rescue him here. I won. I beat Zhang. And if I can beat him, then I can defeat anyone—even that cheater. He’ll show his face sooner or later. It’s just another game of cat and mouse. I’ll win like I always do, and then I’ll move onward. I’ll beat him. I’ll beat the angels. I’ll conquer the World-Tree.
Lucas felt his nerves unwind, and he smiled to himself. “So, you’ve never heard of a power that lets someone avoid getting banned? Maybe some kind of exploit?”
“You probably tried to ban a doppelganger.”
“No, this was different. Banning a doppelganger causes it to disappear. I’ve done it a few times by mistake. He also killed me with an attack made of negative energy. It went right through my Mod Shield.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Ugh, you’re no help.”
“What did you expect? I’m a prisoner, not your friend.”
“No, no. You lost, and I’ll break your will eventually, just like that woman across the hall. I’ve held her captive for over three decades, and she’s happy when I visit because it gives her someone to talk to. I even gave her my friend Harper as a companion because she’s been such a well-behaved prisoner the last couple decades. If you play along, I might get you a friend too.”
“Just leave me be, Lucas. Come back in a hundred years when you face your first angel. Then you’ll realize your fantasy of an empire is hopeless. That you aren’t as in control as you think. That you aren’t special.”
Lucas forced a laugh at the communication panel. “Oh, Zhang. It’ll be fun to watch you break. But once you lose that cold attitude of yours, I think we’ll be friends. So, I’ll see you in a few months, after I’m done turning Midrun into the cornerstone of my empire. Maybe I’ll move you and my most prized captives there once I rebuild the tower into my castle.”
He stepped away from Zhang’s cell and glanced at Harper on the screen. She and Valery looked to be talking to one another. Valery’s manic expression showed how happy she was to have a companion after decades of solitude. However, Harper’s face held only misery.
Harper will break too. One day, she’ll regret everything and beg for my forgiveness. She’ll beg me to love her again. She and all my captives—my collection—will admire me. They’ll respect me for besting them. Just like Killer Sam, who so easily joined my cause. I’m a winner. Lesser people are naturally drawn to winners like me. But my prisoners are a higher sort—more human than those mindless followers of mine. These ones will take convincing. They’ll need to be reformed. It’ll take time, but I have plenty of that.
Chapter 24
Player: Noble Vincent
Location: Ornrak (World) | Pidge’s Run (Region)
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Mage
Vitality: Lv 58
Spirit*: Lv 68
Resolve: Lv 61
Perception*: Lv 73
Agility: Lv 62
Strength: Lv 58
Vincent and Xan had played cautiously until Jim and Quinn respawned, using the time to pick off stray owlers and gather more verasteel weapons and armor. They had even found some thinner plates for Quinn to use since she preferred speed over durability. With their new equipment and a better understanding of the owlers’ tactics, the World Knights completed two more dungeons that Vincent and Xan had spotted.
Vincent had also brewed up more ethers and elixirs to replenish their dwindling supply. He’d made a few mistakes following Elmrot’s Apothecary Book, but he soon found himself able to make basic ethers and elixirs with a variety of ingredient combinations. It seemed certain combinations affected the amount of potion he’d end up with, and could even change the speed of recovery by as much as a twenty percent difference.
While Vincent worked to make potions, Xan had scouted unexplored regions of the world, eventually spotting the World Boss. She’d only caught glimpses of the winged boss as it flew thr
ough a deep, narrow canyon that zigzagged across the entire western hemisphere.
“It looked like a big bird of some kind,” Xan told Jim and Quinn as their group neared the edge. “I saw it snatch up a mountain goat in an instant and then disappear through the canyon.”
“So, you know nothing about it?” Jim asked. “Other than that it flies and eats goats.”
“It looked diseased, in a way,” Xan replied. “The wings were huge, but crooked. Missing half the feathers. Blotted skin underneath.”
They walked along the edge of the canyon, eyeing the darkest pits and crevices. Like so many canyons they’d explored on the World-Tree, it appeared full of branching tunnels and caverns. They stayed above the canyon, however, and walked for several hours, spotting nothing more than stray goats and birds.
“You sure you didn’t see an owler?” Jim asked Xan.
“No, I’m sure,” she replied. “This thing was too big. At least its wings were.”
“Shush,” Quinn said, raising her hand.
Everyone glanced around the canyon, but Quinn turned her head to the trees.
“Hey, my mana detector is picking up something!” a voice called from the forest.
Quinn grabbed Jim and Xan by the arm and pulled them off the ledge. They fell to a path below, and she quickly dragged them to the nearest dark passage.
Vincent equipped his True Huntsman’s Cloak, pulled it over himself, and followed them. He stopped at the entrance of the passage and kept his cloak’s hood drawn so only his eyes weren’t camouflaged.
Within seconds, five men approached the ledge of the canyon. He recognized the lead as one of the Justiciars they’d fought in Midrun.
>Vincent: Justiciars. Everyone stay hidden.
>Quinn: Dang, I knew we should’ve left as soon as we respawned. It was an unnecessary risk to stay here this long.
The lead Justiciar held a rune in his hand. He pointed it across the canyon. “Oh, it’s detecting something strong.”
The Justiciars drew their weapons, and then a shape flew from the canyon at a high speed. It tore one man from the ground, shredded his Mana Shield, and ripped him in half as it flew into the air. It dropped both halves of the dead man, and Vincent watched as the top half fell to the bottom of the canyon.
Vincent gaped at the humanoid figure with massive wings. Its half-rotted body looked like a human stretched to twice their normal length. Despite its emaciated appearance, its elongated limbs looked strong and rigid. A cracked mask covered the top half of its face, but its wicked grin looked eerily human. It’s decayed yet angelic appearance left Vincent in such awe he almost forgot to Scan it.
Pidge the Fallen (World Boss) – Monster Class: B+ | Ageless | Sex: Male | Respawn Time: Three In-Game Hours | Personality: Spiteful
The Justiciars attacked Pidge with a barrage of Mana Magnums, however he dodged all their attacks with superhuman speed and reflexes. He swooped down, slashed through one man’s Mana Shield with a clawed hand, and then ripped off the Justiciar’s head. The man’s allies attacked at once with swords and mana.
Pidge didn’t seem to have a shield, but his body must’ve been solid as hardened-oiron because their attacks left only shallow wounds. One of the Mana Magnum’s left a chunk missing from his chest, but Pidge didn’t seem to notice and dove for the next Justiciar.
>Alexandria: What’s happening? I hear Mana Magnums.
>Vincent: It’s the World Boss. He’s some kind of fallen angel, and he’s wrecking the Justiciars.
>Jim: An angel? Aren’t they S-Class?
>Vincent: Not this one. He’s B-Plus. The angels of the upper worlds have crazy powerful spells, but he doesn’t seem to have much magic—like an angel stripped of his true power.
Pidge tore another man to shreds, even as the Justiciars peppered him with their strongest attacks.
>Vincent: Still terrifying as he is, however. If he caught us off guard, we’d have lost for sure.
>Alexandria: Should we try to jump him after he finishes the Justiciars?
>Vincent: Sure, we have plenty of equipment stored in the daiglass shard at the stem. If we die, it’s not a big loss. I’ll toss Quinn at the angel if she wants to try her gravity attack.
His friends neared the edge of the cave, but stayed behind him. Vincent kept his eyes on Pidge, watching the fallen angel tear through the last Justiciar. He waited until the man turned to dust before making his move.
>Vincent: Now!
All four players rushed from the passage. Vincent cast Zero Field and tossed Quinn through the air toward Pidge. The Fighter struck the World Boss in the chest with her spell, and the gravitational shockwave tossed them both away from one another.
Vincent used Zero Field to throw himself and Jim to the top of the canyon, and Xan followed using Wall-Walking. When they reached the top, they saw Pidge lying in a heap on the ground. The fallen angel’s body looked twisted and mangled, and Vincent thought he might’ve been dead until the boss snapped his bones back into place one by one.
Pidge stood, his spine twisting upright. The World Boss smiled at them as he twisted his wings into their proper position.
Vincent fired Void Gun while Jim charged his spell. The black bolt hit Pidge in his mask, shattering it to pieces. His head lolled back, but his body remained upright.
“Is he dead?” Xan asked.
Pidge’s head snapped upright, and he seemed to hardly notice the gaping hole in his face. The World Boss rushed at them far faster than the players’ speed. He reached for Vincent, but the Ranger’s Gravity Shield flashed with black and white light.
Pidge paused and snarled, and then Jim decapitated the World Boss with his winged void spell. The Rogue tried to circle the attack back around to hit the boss’s body, but the negative energy sparked and flew off into the sky.
The World Boss’s headless body redoubled his efforts to grab Vincent. His claws pushed through the flashing black and white energy and grabbed the Ranger’s arm. Pidge twisted the arm until it snapped, making Vincent scream in agony.
“Vince!” Xan shouted, digging her verasteel sword into the fallen angel’s side.
Quinn Vanished beside the angel and struck him with a flurry of Breaker blows. The boss’s bones snapped from the strikes, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Jim focused his hands on his runaway spell. “Come back!” he shouted, pulling his hands downward. The attack sparked and dove toward Pidge’s snarling head. It split the head in half, and the fallen angel’s body froze.
“Let go!” Vincent screamed, his body shaking with pain. He pulled his broken arm from the boss’s grasp, and then Pidge the Fallen crumbled into dust.
Xan cast Bone Reshape to put Vincent’s arm back to normal, and then she cast Healing Light to fix the torn tendons.
Once his arm felt numb, Vincent collapsed to the ground and sighed. He glanced at Jim as the Rogue picked up Pidge’s item crystals. “Anything good?”
“A Crystal Heart,” Jim replied. “I would’ve thought a fallen angel would drop two, but I guess we’re not that lucky. He dropped a memento and a mask too. Catch, Xan.” He tossed Xan an item crystal and then equipped the plain, eyeless mask.
Xan equipped a new ring, and Vincent Scanned both items.
Pidge’s Mask – Material Rating: 200 | The verasteel mask of an angel that fell from grace and lost his true power. | Flight – The user can spend mana to fly short distances.
Pidge’s Reminder – Material Rating: 200 | A verasteel ring that once belonged to the fallen angel Pidge. It was given as a reminder of his former life, but only to punish him for his sins. This ring still holds a sliver of world magic. | Photosynthesis – When exposed to skybox light, the user can still regain mana without being in contact with a world. However, the user will only regain that mana at a tenth their normal rate.
“That’ll be useful while we’re on the branches,” Vincent noted, eyeing Xan’s ring.
“And this is better than the Lich’s Cloak,” Jim said,
flying in a circle overhead.
“Can you actually see?” Quinn asked. “There’re no eyeholes. There’s not even anything holding it to your face.”
“It suctioned itself to my face before it disappeared from my view,” Jim explained. He pulled the mask off, and then put it back on. “It’s almost like it’s not there when I wear it.”
Quinn grabbed the items from the Justiciars’ dust piles. “Bleh, garbage. At least they had a bunch of potions on them.”
“We better leave in case they have friends around,” Vincent said, motioning for his team to follow.
The World Knights headed north for the stem, and several hours passed before they saw the pathway off-world. Vincent looked ahead at the crevice where he’d hidden the daiglass shard.
“Next stop, the Dead-World,” Quinn said. “With all the verasteel equipment we have in storage, Eramar can’t be that bad.”
“I don’t know,” Vincent said. “It has heavier gravity and lots of strong monsters.”
Xan reached into the crevice and pulled out the daiglass shard. She stepped onto the bark of the World-Tree first, and the others followed.
Vincent paused, hearing the rustling of branches as something tore across the nearby treetops. “What’s that?” He turned just as a shape darted toward him with speed so fast it almost looked like it had appeared before him.
A flash of white light stopped Pidge half a meter away from Vincent. The Ranger stumbled backward in fear and then looked down, noticing that light had appeared where the stem of the World-Tree started.
Pidge thrashed against the white light, his muscles bulging and his veins glowing. He looked stronger than before, and Vincent Scanned him out curiosity.
[Enraged] Pidge the Fallen (World Boss) – Monster Class: A | Ageless | Sex: Male | Respawn Time: Three In-Game Hours | Personality: Spiteful
“He’s… A-Class now,” Vincent muttered, scrambling away.
The fallen angel continued to thrash against the wall of white magic, but then paused. His eyeless mask gazed at them before he flew around at superhuman speed, trying to find a way to reach them. Pidge disappeared from their view in an instant, then reappeared as another wave of world magic stopped him.
