Labyrinth to Tartarus: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 3)
Page 26
“Okay, I hear you. I’m in. What do I have to do?”
“Excellent. You shall be granted a few gifts, with which you will accomplish the very thing you set out to do. To confront the Claw of Tartarus and defeat it.”
* * *
You have found: Breastplate of Thanatos, Helmet of Thanatos, Greaves of Thanatos.
A spell has been cast on you: Master-Tier Aegis of Order (level 20). Duration: 1 hour.
A spell has been cast on you: Master-Tier Vitality of Atlas (level 20). Duration: 1 hour.
A spell has been cast on you: Mana Boost (level 20). Duration: 1 hour.
You have learned a new spell: Mana Shield (Life)
Holy crap, Hawke thought as he felt the effect of the new spells. The Aegis of Order worked much like his Shield of Light, but it reduced the damage of any spell by 600 points, 900 against Undeath and Chaos magic, and increased his Resistance to all kinds of magic by 15%. Vitality of Atlas raised his Health by 50%. Mana Boost did the same to his Mana pool.
“You may want to wear your new armor and use your new spell, Lord of the Dead,” Magoth said. “In one minute’s time, you will depart for the sixth level of the Dungeon and face its Core.”
Forty-One
Breastplate of Thanatos
Item Level: 22 (Minimum Level 17).
Damage Absorption: Physical 25/45%; Elemental (All) 20/25%; Forces (All) 15/15%. Agility Penalty: 2. Stealth Penalty: -12% Speed Penalty: -5%. Durability 650/650. Requires Heavy Armor Skill and attunement to the Death Element.
Attribute Bonuses: +6 to Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Spirit and Willpower.
Spell Focus: Reduces time to cast, Mana cost and cooldown of any spell other than Light, Life or Celestial by 10%.
Life Stealer: By spending 10 Mana, wearer can create an aura of Life Stealing: every second, it will drain 5 Health per level from any living beings within 10 feet; the drained Health can be converted into Mana, Health or Endurance. This ability has no effect on the Undead.
Mana Storage: +200 Mana Capacity
Two Open Slots: Can accept any Jewel, Rune-Stone or Orb, except those attuned to Light or Life magic.
Helmet of Thanatos
Item Level: 22 (Minimum Level 17).
Damage Absorption: Physical 25/45%; Elemental (All) 20/25%; Forces (All) 15/15%. Agility Penalty: 0. Stealth Penalty: 0% Speed Penalty: 0%. Durability 450/450. Requires Heavy Armor Skill and attunement to the Death Element.
Attribute Bonuses: +8 to Constitution, Intelligence, and Spirit.
Spell Focus: Reduces time to cast, Mana cost and cooldown of any spell other than Light, Life or Celestial by 10%.
Death Booster: You can increase the damage or effects of a spell by 10% per Mana spent, to a maximum increase of 300% (30 Mana). Only Death or Undeath spells can be boosted in this manner.
Mana Storage: +100 Mana Capacity
Greaves of Thanatos
Item Level: 22 (Minimum Level 17).
Damage Absorption: Physical 25/45%; Elemental (All) 20/25%; Forces (All) 15/15%. Agility Penalty: 0. Stealth Penalty: -5% Speed Bonus: +10%. Durability 450/450. Requires Heavy Armor Skill and attunement to the Death Element.
Attribute Bonuses: +8 to Constitution and Dexterity, +10% to Speed.
Set bonuses: Two pieces: Double all Spell Focus bonuses. Three pieces: +25% Mana. Four pieces: +15% to Resistance against Elements and Forces (All). Full Set (five or more pieces): +100 Mana; Reduce Casting Time by 1 second or 10%, whichever is better.
Well, guess that’s goodbye to my Battle-Mage set, Hawke thought as he put on his new armor. Of the set of armor that had kept him alive for over ten levels and who knew how many near-death experiences, only the vambraces remained. The set bonuses were gone, although the new benefits of the Death-based armor were much better.
He was very aware that the demon’s gift had been aimed at his Death magic affinity. From now on, using his necromantic spells would be easier and more efficient, while his Light and Life spells would not get as many benefits. Just the kind of thing that might make a former Paladin of Light and current Twilight Templar feel tempted to stray from the straight and narrow. Even more annoying, the new armor wouldn’t be terribly useful in his current situation, but would be formidable when it was time to confront the Nerf Herders.
Luckily, I have you to serve as my conscience.
We’ve got Tava and Nadia, too.
The helmet had a long ‘snout’ protruding from the lower part of his face that didn’t look pretty but would also serve to turn aside thrusting attacks and missiles. A set of sharp leaf-shaped decorations that opened on both sides were anything but practical, like horns on Hollywood’s ‘Viking’ helmets. They weren’t just decorations, though; even without using his senses, he could tell they were enchanted. He guessed they powered the Death Boost effect in the helmet. A 300% bonus to damage and effects for a measly 30 extra Mana was worth any kind of weird shapes on his headgear.
As the armor pieces all clicked into place, Hawke felt a small surge of energy, not quite as powerful as when Magoth had cast his Order and Life spells on him, but still noticeable. He felt much stronger, more focused, faster. Upgraded. Someone nobody would want to mess with if they knew what was good for them. Hawke, Lord of the Dead. It had a nice ring to it. An image flashed past his eyes: himself, wearing the full set of Thanatos armor and a huge spiked mace, sitting on a throne of skulls. There was nothing living around him, because nothing living could survive in his presence.
Hawke shook his head. What the hell?
He had always wanted to play Paladins. Never even tried the Death Knight class in WoW. But now he had to walk a fine line between Life and Death, Darkness and Light. Hero or monster. It wouldn’t take too many missteps to become something he didn’t want to be.
Finish these Quests. Level up. Find some new gear that doesn’t reek of Death Magic. Be the Paladin you want to be, with a side order of Ninja. Easy peasy. Heh.
“Are you ready, Death Lord?” Magoth said, working Hawke’s necromantic title for all it was worth. Bastard.
“One more thing,” Hawke said. He checked his new spell.
Mana Shield (Life Spell)
Time to Cast: 15 seconds. Cooldown: n/a. Cost: 10% of your maximum Mana pool; Mana spent in this manner cannot be regained for as long as the spell is active. Duration: Until dispelled. Range: Self. Effect: As long as the spell is active, any damage you take (after all defenses are accounted for) will deplete your Mana instead of your Health pool, until your Mana pool is exhausted.
It was a better spell than Transference, since he didn’t have to do anything to keep himself healthy, but it was a lot more expensive. He would be giving up ten percent of his Mana pool while it was active. But he also had lots of Mana potions to regain his power, which had also been boosted by fifty percent for one hour. Hopefully he could get things done before the effects expired. He removed Transference from his roster and replaced it with Mana Shield.
“All right, I am ready.”
You are about to enter: Claw of Tartarus.
Warning! Entering this Dungeon will place your Reincarnation site on the entrance. You will lose 3 Identity points every time you die while inside the Dungeon.
Accept? Y/N
And here we go again, Hawke thought as he accepted.
* * *
Hawke Lightseeker (Half-Elf, Eternal)
Level 17 Twilight Templar, Monster Trainer
Health 1,969 Mana 2,941 Endurance 1,060
He emerged from a porta
l into a small chamber with one corridor leading out. And was greeted by a deluge of psychic messages from Tava, Nadia and Blaze, who were still in the Dungeon.
What happened? You disappeared!
We have cleared most of the second level. About to hit the boss. Care to join us? Nadia said in a more practical tone.
Can’t join you. I’m on the bottom floor. About to fight the Dungeon Core.
Wait, what? Nadia all but shouted in his head.
No time, he told them. Will be in touch after I’m done.
The corridor was chock full of traps. He sent a few Animated Shadows to trigger the mechanical ones, and a series of Tulpa ‘Mana-dummies’ to explode the ones attuned to living targets. That took about a minute, and he checked his timer: fifty-eight minutes left on his buffs. He strode forward as he added his own defenses into the mix and called his two regular pets. He was ready to play tank, artillery, and healer for his party of one. Plus his summons, of course, although he missed having Digger by his side. And the rest of the team, to be honest, but if he didn’t stop the Core in a few minutes, the battle for control of the Labyrinth would be over, and the victorious Revenant would probably invade Tartarus itself.
Katolon the Impure was waiting for him. It had no minions, or maybe they were off assisting the invasion, but the final boss didn’t need any help. When it had been alive, the Demon Lord had looked like a humanoid boar, covered in bristly red hairs. A pair of massive tusks coming from its mouth were nearly as long as the trio of horns on the top of its head. It had cloven hooves for feet, which were articulated like a beast rather than a man, and it stood a mere seven feet tall, although it clearly was far more dangerous than the Colossal critter Hawke had helped kill not so long ago. Undeath had added a green-and-purple aura around it that was rich with life-stealing energies. The living corpse’s hair had fallen off in places, leaving patches of sickly-looking bluish skin behind. One of its eyes had turned from glowing red to a dull purple that glistened with Chaos and Death.
Katolon the Impure (Infernal Undead)
Level 16 Chaos Master
Health 8,000 Mana 12,000 Endurance n/a
The Core-wielding monster and the Twilight Templar stared at each other for a moment.
“Come get some,” Hawke said.
Forty-Two
Hawke started the dance with his once-per-day summoning and dropped the gigantic Darkness Guardian right behind Katolon. As the tentacled monster struck, Hawke began firing off his regular anti-Undead selection, angling his attacks so he didn’t accidentally burn his pet Shadowling with his Light-based spells.
Katolon wasn’t just a pretty face, though. The hybrid created a magical dome before Hawke’s first spell arrived, one with enough Health and Resistance values to withstand all of his spells and the Darkness Guardian’s pummeling attacks. As Hawke’s Burning Light splattered itself against the greenish-black dome, the Core-wielder struck back with a cone of Death and Chaos magic, over two thousand damage from each.
Most tanks of his level wouldn’t have survived unless they had healer support and lots of it. Even worse, the attack enveloped half the chamber, so those theoretical healers would have been in a world of hurt. In Hawke’s case, all of his summoned critters other than the Darkness Guardian were obliterated. Against Hawke and his power-ups, however, the massive outpouring of energy did bupkis. Getting buffs from a major power was awesome. Katolon didn’t seem to have any emotions, on account of being one of the walking dead, so instead of being surprised or shocked, it reacted to Hawke’s survival by trying something else.
Hawke closed the range with his teleport and started his usual spell and sword-work routine, but the dome remained up. His attacks were damaging it but the dome’s Health stayed at 5,000 despite his best efforts. Hawke activated Advanced Mana Sight. He knew he wouldn’t like what he saw, but he needed to study the monster if he wanted a chance of defeating it.
As expected, Katolon’s inner Mana flow was a putrid mess of Undeath, Infernal and Chaos energies, all oriented toward destruction. What surprised Hawke was that Katolon – the original demon noble – was trapped inside its Undead body, and its suffering was so intense Hawke felt a little bad for the bastard; even a sadistic monster didn’t deserve the agony it experienced every second it remained inside its reanimated corpse. All of that was of secondary importance, though: Hawke was looking for the Dungeon Core.
He found it right on top of Katolon’s solar plexus Chakra, bound to it by thick energy lines that pulsed with Undead energy. Its original Infernal attunement was still there as well, its pattern twisted and broken in places, like a tool crudely hammered into a different shape. It held far more power than the risen demon it was bound to, and it was using that energy to maintain the force field protecting its host. As he watched the Core, Hawke unleashed another two thousand damage, but in less than a second, Mana surged from the Core to the energy shield, fully restoring it.
Meanwhile, Katalon’s spell went off, creating dozens of mini-volcanoes that filled the room. The area soon became filled with Undeath-tainted lava; each eruption was doing over six hundred Chaos-infused Fire and four hundred Death damage every second; even worse, the deadly bursts overlapped so closely together that Hawke was all hit by no fewer than three of them every second, no matter how nimbly he moved. The Darkness Guardian’s size worked against it; six eruptions hit it, destroying it in a few seconds. Only Hawke’s high-grade defensive buffs kept him alive, and they wouldn’t do it for long.
He ignored the pet’s destruction and took a Mana potion. The process wasn’t as easy as in a game, where you just clicked your key, mouse, or controller button. In the Realms, he had to send Saturnyx to his Inventory and summon the bottle into his now-empty hand, pop the cork with his thumb and chug down the liquid, which had the thickness of cough syrup and the taste of cloyingly sweet honey. The whole process took three seconds, plenty of time to get blasted multiple times as the Death- and Chaos-tainted lava burned off several hundred Mana points from his pool. The potion restored them, however, and also increased his Mana regeneration to unearthly levels for several seconds. That was just what he needed.
Normally, he used a flexible Mana tendril to connect to magical construct or devices. This time, he made a Tulpa spike long enough to reach the Core and drove it through the defensive dome. The pure-Mana attack ignored the defensive structure, although the damage it inflicted was minimal. The push cost him 600 Mana, but it was worth it: the spike touched the Dungeon Core. He couldn’t access it, not while it was still under Katolon’s control, and removing it would require far more finesse and control than he could muster. Destroying the Core was also impossible, so he tried to restore the Core’s original settings instead. He used his Mana to heal the damaged the Infernal pattern, allowing parts of the complex construct to snap back into place. The reawakened sections proceeded to purge the Undeath energies around them. A civil war of sorts began inside the Dungeon Core as the restored parts fought the Chaotic-Undead pattern that had reshaped it.
Katolon froze for a moment as it realized what was happening, but it soon redoubled its efforts, striking out with its spells but also adding savage striles with its horns, tusks, and clawed hands. Hawke blocked a few hits with his shield, but was stabbed through the leg despite all his magical protections. The Mana Shield held, but his energy pool dropped below five hundred. As Hawke fought for his life, he noticed that the Undeath pattern was beating back the original one. It made sense; the demonic attunement had lost once already, when it had been a lot stronger. The bits and pieces he had revived could not win a rematch.
Hawke used his shield to defend himself while he gulped down another Major Mana Potion. As soon as his power was restored, although it was declining rapidly thanks to the continuous lava explosions around him, he threw another 500 Mana into the Core to help the Infernal pattern, and an additional 600 to Katolon itself. Not toward the U
ndead hybrid that he had become, but to the demonic spirit the Revenant had kept around for some reason. The original demon lord had been an irredeemable monster and it probably deserved all the pain and suffering it was enduring, but it wasn’t a coward. Given the chance, it struck back at its jailor even as the original Core continued its own onslaught against the Undead infection.
Both struggles were doomed to failure; the Chaotic-Undead taint was too strong to overcome. But as a Founding Father (or maybe General Patton? Hawke wasn’t sure) had once said, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ While both the hybrid monster and its Core fought to regain control, Hawke took the opportunity and attacked with everything he had, casting all his anti-Undead spells as quickly as he could and also pouring two-thirds of his current Mana Pool into an Elemental Strike. The Core could maintain the energy shield or suppress the restored pattern, but not both. The protective dome, no longer being continuously restored, collapsed under the avalanche of power, and Katolon’s Health dropped by almost half as Hawke’s attacks finally got through to its reanimated flesh.
The hybrid turned to Hawke and blasted him – but the imprisoned Infernal took advantage of the distraction and redoubled its efforts. Hawke downed another potion before he recalled Saturnyx and chopped off one of the monster’s hands at the wrist while it tried to recast its mini-volcano spell. The sudden dismemberment messed up its concentration, and a thrust through one eye disrupted it even more.
It responded to the brutal assault in kind, relying on its claws and horns, but Hawke’s supernatural swordsmanship kept it at bay and he switched to magic, unleashing his spell rotation. Katolon staggered. From within, its former self burned off the last dregs of its essence to deliver its final blow. Its target wasn’t the entity controlling its dead body, however. The Infernal sacrificed itself to hit at the Undead pattern infecting the Dungeon Core. The brief surge of Infernal Mana suppressed the alien energies, and the Claw of Tartarus became its true self again.