World-Tree Online

by EA Hooper

  He’s not using Vanish or any kind of teleportation. He’s simply too fast for my eyes to follow. If this is what an A-Class monster is like, I can’t even imagine the power of an S-Class. Or even S-Plus. He shuddered at the thought.

  Vincent stood and hurried to his friends as they gaped and tried to follow Pidge’s movements.

  “Why can’t he cross over the stem?” Jim asked. “Other monsters can leave their worlds.”

  “I don’t know,” Vincent replied. “Maybe he’s not meant to. The game hints he’s being punished for something.”

  “Should we try to fight him?” Quinn asked, her eyes wide.

  “I don’t think so,” Vincent said. “A-Class is too far above us right now. Even in his previous state, it took all our void attacks combined to bring him down. Besides, we can’t risk hanging around this world for more Justiciars to appear.”

  Quinn nodded, and their group hurried up the bark as gravity twisted around them.

  They walked a short distance, then Vincent paused to glance at Pidge. The World Boss had finally stopped his rampage, and he floated in the air, panting with rage. Pidge saw him looking and replied with an ear-piercing scream.

  Chapter 25

  Player: Noble Vincent

  Location: World-Tree | Mid-Tier Branch

  Class: Ranger

  Subclass: Mage

  Vitality: Lv 58

  Spirit*: Lv 68

  Resolve: Lv 61

  Perception*: Lv 73

  Agility: Lv 62

  Strength: Lv 58

  After a couple months of travel, the World Knights cautiously approached the stem of Eramar. As they eyed the peaks of crags that poked through the dark, swirling clouds, Vincent wondered what kind of horrors awaited them. They’d spent the last couple months discussing rumors of what other players had found on Dead-Worlds and how dangerous they were.

  We’ll be killed by the end of the first day, Vincent guessed. These worlds are meant to push players to their limits. Even caravans with a dozen teams typically return with only a handful of players—assuming anyone survives the trip.

  Their path descended into the swirling clouds that covered the world, and they saw nothing for thirty minutes. However, Vincent felt the gravity growing heavier as they neared the planet. Dead-Worlds have higher gravity. That might be good for leveling Strength and Agility, but it’ll make it tough to live here for years—or decades.

  When they finally broke through the swirling clouds, Vincent gaped at the desolate landscape. He saw twisted, broken canyons as deep as the cavern where they’d discovered Rayazar. Steep crags dotted the landscape, sometimes poking through the swirling clouds, and winged behemoths circled the sky. Lightning storms covered a lot of the world, and it seemed with the dark clouds always overhead, a new storm could start with no warning. The land around the stem looked punctured with thousands of deep, pitch-black holes.

  They stepped off the stem and onto the cracked landscaped. All of them noted the increased gravity, and Quinn jumped to see how high she could go. She landed with a thud and struggled not to fall.

  “I feel about three times heavier,” Quinn said.

  “This is awful,” Xan noted, lifting her hands up and down. She took a deep breath, and a look of strain crossed her face. “It’s even hard to breathe.”

  Vincent held the daiglass shard tight in his hands and checked his HUD as the location changed to the Northern Pits. He glanced at his teammates. “Should we leave the daiglass shard near the stem?” he asked. “It might be dangerous to lose it in a place where we’d die the moment we respawn.”

  “Yeah, drop it at the edge of the stem,” Quinn said, nervously eyeing the horizon. “We can set up a camp here.”

  “Looks like we aren’t the first ones to try that,” Xan said. She pointed at the old remains of broken tents and wagons laying nearby.

  Vincent almost hadn’t noticed the destroyed campsites with the dust covering them, but when he stared around, he saw over a dozen other sites spread around the stem. We won’t be safe anywhere on Eramar, he realized.

  He backtracked toward the stem, found a groove in the World-Tree’s wood, and jammed the daiglass into the indentation. A minute later, Vincent returned with a bucket of dirt and covered it. Now monsters won’t spot it and think it’s something to take back to their nesting spot. Although monsters rarely venture onto stems, better safe than sorry, I suppose.

  Vincent ran to rejoin his teammates, but before he reached them, a swarm of figures rose from the nearby pits. The Ranger noticed immediately there were two distinct kinds of monsters. The first fluttered into the air like trash bags in the wind, only much larger. A dozen of the creatures flew out at once, and Vincent Scanned one as it outstretched into a human shape for a moment before furling and fluttering into the sky.

  Skin Flyer – Monster Class: D+ | Age: 185 | Sex: None | Personality: Mindless

  Vincent lowered his gaze to the second set of monsters as they climbed from the pits. Two dozen of them shambled toward their group. They looked like walking skeletons that Vincent had seen in dozens of video games, only these still had organs, bloody veins, and sinew hanging off their bones. He even saw rotting hearts beating in their chests.

  Revenant Scout– Monster Class: C | Age: 212 | Sex: Female | Number of Offspring: 54 | Personality: Sadistic

  As the revenants shambled forward, he saw one more creature crawl out of the pit. It looked like a revenant, however it stood almost twice as tall. Its bones were covered in ice, and its frozen heart didn’t appear to be beating.

  Draugr Brawler – Monster Class: B | Age: 351 | Sex: Male | Number of Offspring: 128 | Personality: Vindictive

  >Jim: I’m guessing we target their brains or hearts. The little ones don’t look all that tough.

  When the revenants were halfway to the party, their pace increased, and the monsters darted toward the players. With the heavy gravity, Vincent doubted he could run much faster than them.

  The players readied themselves and released mana blasts, targeting the enemies’ hearts or heads. Vincent nailed a headshot, but the revenant continued forward without worry.

  >Vincent: Headshots don’t work. Go for the heart.

  He planted a shot in one’s heart, and it crumbled into dust. They took down about five before the revenants reached them. Vincent equipped his sword and ran it through the heart of one scrawnier revenant. Another swung its fist, hitting him in the jaw. Even with his Gravity Shield and the world’s higher gravity, the punch knocked him several steps back. Vincent stumbled and fell to the ground with his mouth hanging open in shock.

  >Vincent: They have high physical strength! Don’t let them grab you.

  Almost as soon as he’d sent his message, two of the revenants grabbed Jim by the arms. He used Mana Volley to blow one to pieces, but the second twisted until it broke his Mana Shield and snapped his arm in several places. Jim screamed, and then Quinn punched the revenant in the heart with Breaker, killing it.

  Xan held her hands over Jim’s arm and used Bone Reshape to fix it. Several Light-Drain Butterflies she’d sent after revenants landed on Jim’s arm and vanished in puffs of light, but it didn’t help much.

  >Alexandria: My butterflies didn’t drain much light from those things. They seem to be mostly brute strength. Very little magic.”

  Quinn killed the last revenant, and then their party stared at the draugr. He hadn’t moved far from the pit, but he kept his glowing blue eyes on their team. His jaw opened, and he released a howl that echoed over the landscape.

  Vincent hadn’t noticed the shapes in the sky diving down until they were almost on the party. “Watch out!” he shouted.

  The skin flyers swarmed Jim and Xan first, several piling onto them. When the skin touched Jim’s flesh, the rotted-looking flyers seemed to melt onto him. One of the skin flyers pulled away, ripping Jim’s skin off with it. He screamed and fired Mana Gun through one, killing it.

  The skin flyers attached to Xan rel
eased a corrosive spit that shattered her Mana Shield and melted her armor. One wrapped around her arm as she raised it to defend herself, and then merged Xan’s arm into its body. It ripped itself away, taking the young woman’s arm, and Xan screamed as she collapsed to the dirt.

  Quinn Vanished and appeared next to her two teammates. She used quick Breaker strikes to kill several of the skin flyers. It didn’t seem to take much damage to their bodies to cause them to crumble into ashes, but every time she killed one, another replaced it.

  Vincent ran to help, but the draugr sprinted toward him with superhuman speed. The large monster struck Vincent in the chest, tossing the man back several meters. His Gravity Shield slowed the impact, but the hit still knocked the air out of him. He rolled across the ground before he managed to jump to his feet.

  The draugr smirked and charged again.

  Vincent aimed Void Gun at the creature’s head and blew the top of his skull off. Bits of icy bone and brain matter rained across the ground, but the monster still swiped and struck the Ranger in the head. The blow knocked Vincent across the dirt, and he felt blood trickling down his scalp.

  The draugr remained standing, even with the top half of his head missing. He unhinged his jaw and sprayed an icy breath that froze the ground. Vincent found himself stuck as the ice crawled up his arms and legs.

  “No!” he shouted, watching his friends get torn apart by the skin flyers.

  The draugr raised his fists and brought them down on Vincent’s head.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Daiglass 0167.3076.0775.0729…

  Vincent respawned, and the horrific landscape loaded around him. He watched the pits reappear and the crags beyond them. The dark, swirling clouds blocked his view of the World-Tree, but still allowed a dim light to reach the planet. He looked downhill at the spot where he and his friends had fought the draugr, the revenants, and the skin flyers. All the monsters had vanished, but he saw the dust and glowing item crystals the players had left two weeks ago.

  Vincent equipped his True Huntsman’s Cloak and hurried to the items. He snatched them up while making sure to keep an eye on the pits. Once he collected his friends’ items, he hurried back up the hill. By that point, Xan and Jim had already respawned.

  “Oh, my god,” Jim said, wide-eyed. “That was horrible.”

  Xan nodded, her body still shaking. “Yeah, it could’ve gone better.”

  Quinn respawned and shouted in fear. She paused and turned to her friends. “So, let’s try again?”

  Vincent handed them their items, and they reequipped everything.

  “Maybe we need a strategy?” Jim asked.

  “No, we need to get stronger,” Quinn replied. “No strategies. No cheap tricks. Just fight, fight, fight. Try to perfect our spells too.”

  Quinn charged her negative energy spell and rushed toward the pits. “Come out and fight me!”

  Skin flyers and revenants replied by ascending from the pit. She dove at them and hit the group with her attack. The gravitational wave collapsed the ground at the edge of the pit, blowing apart several revenants in the process. The shockwave knocked her across the dirt, and she slid to a stop next to her friends as they chased after her.

  The skin flyers dove at them, and the three standing players drew swords. They focused on cutting down the monsters as quickly as possible before the revenants climbed from the pit. Vincent and Xan took most of them down with quick blade work.

  Jim nodded in approval. “You two are good sword fighters. Better than me for sure.”

  A dozen revenants charged at their group. Instead of wasting mana, the team focused on close-range fighting. Vincent sliced through revenants until one grabbed his blade. The edge of his sword dug into its palm, but then Quinn intervened and killed it with a Breaker strike to the heart. Jim cut through one, then blasted another with Mana Volley while Xan slashed through the hearts of two more. Within seconds, they had finished off the entire mob.

  Vincent took a few breaths. Normally, he wouldn’t tire out so quickly, but the heavy gravity of the Dead-World made everything more difficult. He eyed the nearby pit as two large shapes emerged.

  One draugr carried no weapons, and the top of his head looked paler than the rest of his body. He must be the same one that killed me—his head regenerated.

  The second draugr carried a verasteel longsword in her hand. With the monster’s tall, lithe body, her longsword looked more like a short sword, but Vincent had no doubt the monster was lethal with it.

  Draugr Swordswoman – Monster Class: B | Age: 298 | Sex: Female | Number of Offspring: 96 | Personality: Proud

  Jim charged negative energy, but the two monsters rushed their team. The brawler hit Jim in the chest, sending him flying backward, and the other swung her sword at Xan.

  The Cleric blocked the swordswoman’s strike, but the hit knocked Xan off her feet.

  “Xan!” Quinn shouted, Vanishing and reappearing to the draugr swordswoman’s right. She charged her boots with Breaker, and then leapt forward. With the heavier gravity, she couldn’t pull off her spin-kick to full effect, so she targeted the knees of the enemy. Her first two leg swipes cracked the draugr’s right knee, and the third shattered the frozen leg to pieces.

  The sword-wielding draugr toppled in front of Xan, but still tried to take a swing. The young woman rolled away, and the dirt next to her exploded from the strike. By that time, Jim had climbed to his feet and readied his void spell. The winged-attack hit the draugr in the shoulder, then cut upward into the air, severing the monster’s sword arm.

  The monster fell onto her belly and howled as she tried to crawl after Xan.

  Vincent sidestepped a punch from the draugr brawler. The monster took several quick swipes at him, and the Ranger struggled to dodge because of the heavy gravity. Where do I need to hit to kill him?

  He fired Void Gun into the draugr’s frozen, unmoving heart. Icy smoke sprayed from the monster’s mouth and joints. The draugr’s bones seemed to lose their iciness, and the undead creature lashed out in response, striking Vincent in the stomach.

  Vitality Level Up: 58>59

  Vincent landed several meters away, rolled to his feet, and chugged an ether. His icy heart was the source of his magic. Maybe without that, a headshot will work.

  The draugr pulled his fist back as he charged, and Vincent fired another Void Gun. Once again, the Ranger’s spell blew away the top part of the enemy’s skull, but the monster still took a swing.

  The skeletal fist slammed against Vincent’s head, knocking him to the ground. He felt blood on his scalp again, but this time, he didn’t give up. He swung his sword through the draugr’s neck, something he wasn’t sure would’ve worked when the monster’s body was frozen.

  The draugr’s half-head rolled off his body. A glowing blue liquid sprayed from his brain stem, and the monster turned to dust.

  “The heart first, and then the brain stem!” Vincent shouted at his friends as they sliced and punched the remaining draugr. “Destroying their heart weakens them, but the brain stem kills them.”

  Jim downed an ether, and then launched his void attack through the draugr’s brain stem, killing her. The Rogue smirked, but then his spell sparked, turned back toward him, and sliced off several of his fingers. Jim gaped at his fingers for a second, too shocked to react, but then the pain hit, drawing a scream from him.

  Xan cast Flash Heal on his missing fingers. He squirmed in pain, and Quinn had to hold him in place. The Fighter forced him to drink an elixir to finish the healing process.

  Jim sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “Well, at least my Vitality leveled up.”

  “Mine too,” Vincent replied.

  “I leveled my Agility when I rolled away from that draugr,” Xan said.

  “See, this will work,” Quinn told them, trying to force a smile. “Cheer up, everyone. We knew how bad this would be. At least we’re gaining levels like we’re newbies again. Let’s keep fighting nonstop, spamming spells, and stomping mo
nsters. We probably don’t even need to stray far from the world stem.”

  “But we need better equipment too,” Vincent noted after finishing an ether. “At least hardened or magically-enhanced verasteel. Items enchanted with abilities would be good, too, even though you can’t enchant something that’s hardened or enhanced. We need to find out if there’re dungeons in this world that we can plunder. If we upgrade our spells, level up a bunch, and get high-level equipment, we’ll defeat Lucas for sure.”

  “Maybe we should wait a few years before trying to find dungeons,” Xan said. “It might be better to focus on levels for now.”

  “Hey!” Jim shouted, staring into one of the gaping pits. “I already found a huge chest. Maybe if I’m lucky, there’ll be booze in there.” He slid into the pit, disappearing from their sight.

  “Wait!” Vincent shouted.

  They rushed to the edge. In the pit, they saw stone steps leading to floors and tunnels. Near the bottom sat a large chest with no monsters around it. Jim rushed to the chest and opened it.

  Long, shimmering teeth protruded from the chest’s edges, and it clamped down on Jim’s neck, decapitating him in an instant.

  “Jim!” Vincent screamed.

  The chest’s wood stretched and splintered. It grew spider-like legs that hardened into a shimmering bone-like material similar to its teeth, and then it raced toward their party. Vincent Scanned the monster while equipping his sword.

  Mimic – Monster Class: B | Age: 524 | Sex: Female | Number of Offspring: 16 | Personality: Curious

  Vincent fired a hole through the mimic with Void Gun, but it didn’t slow. It lunged toward them, aiming its front legs at him. Despite the gravity of Eramar, the mimic leapt high into the air. It stabbed one of its shimmering limbs through Vincent’s chest plate and tackled him to the ground. The old man grabbed two of the monster’s limbs before it could stab them into him. He struggled to hold it back, but knew immediately the mimic was a lot stronger.