As it turned out, having a hostile Core inside your body was a real bad idea.
Hawke used Twilight Step to teleport away from the glowing body, brought up his Dome of Force, and huddled behind his shield as he renewed his buffs. This was probably going to be as big as when Dergal went boom.
Light so intense he could see it even through his closed eyelids washed over him; his Mana Shield collapsed as his energy pool zeroed out, and he lost over three hundred Health. When his vision cleared up, he realized he had been thrown across the room and was partially embedded on one of the nearly-indestructible Dungeon walls. That boss explosion had been a lot bigger. He felt like he had been run through a trash compactor. All his gear had taken a beating, too. He was going to be spending several twelve-hour days fixing it all up.
Nothing remained of Katalon the Impure. The core, now a fiery orange geometrical mess, floated over the crater where its former owner had stood. It was severely weakened, and the Undeath pattern was beginning to take it over again. He almost felt bad for what he was about to do to the construct after it fought by his side, but if he left it alone it would turn into a hybrid abomination once again. Besides, Infernal energies were evil, and allies of convenience weren’t friends. Ignoring his XP notifications, he got to work.
You have chosen to purify the Dungeon Core.
Available Attunements: Chaos, Death, Order.
You have selected Order.
You have activated the Rune of Order.
Are you sure? Y/N
The purification process was painful and took a lot of effort, but the outcome wasn’t in doubt, not with the Rune of Order pitching in. Hawke had saved it for this moment, and it worked. Hawke used his Advanced Mana Sight to study the process as the Rune replaced the Infernal patterns with Order ones.
Congratulations! You have gained access of Order magic!
All your Death and Light spells have Order versions available. Adding Order energies to a spell will increase its effects, at a higher Mana cost.
When it was all over, Hawke held the Order-aligned Dungeon Core in his hands. The construct looked like a set of interlocking gears, all made of blue light, shining the steady glow of a neon sign. He had plans for it, so he stowed it in his inventory and checked in with the rest of the group.
We just cleared the level boss, Nadia reported. Turns out Tava is a damn good Party leader, even though she’s only at fourth level.
My sister is too kind. I am glad you are safe, my darling. Nadia and I have reached the sixteenth level on the Path!
“Congrats, all of you,” Hawke said. “Uh, I killed the last boss and purified the Dungeon Core, so I’m not sure what that means for the Dungeon. You guys should get ready to pick up all your loot and head for the exit, just in case.”
It’s always something with you, Nadia told him. We’ll prepare to skedaddle. Don’t die.
“I never plan to,” he replied before opening the multiple blinking notifications.
Warning! Dungeon has become unstable.
Without its Core, the Dungeon will collapse in 46 hours, 56 minutes. Any Quests that are not completed before then will automatically fail. Leaving the Dungeon will not reset it to its previous condition, or change the time it has left.
“We still have time!” he said. “Let me meet you on the second level. We have a couple of days to clear the Dungeon, and for the next half hour, I’m pretty invincible.”
They might as well finish what they’d started.
Forty-Three
Quests Completed: Close Infernal Portal
Quest Completed: Tipping the Balance
Quest Failed: The Five Barons (4/5)
You have earned 21,136 Experience (2,492 diverted towards Leadership; 2,492 diverted towards Node Mastery). You have earned 5,250 Experience toward Node Mastery.
Congratulations! You have reached Level Eighteen!
Congratulations! You have reached Level Nineteen!
You have gained 12 Attribute points to distribute.
New spells available.
You have become a Level (Seven, Eight) Node Master. New abilities available.
Your Leadership has increased to Level Eleven! New abilities available.
The Earth and Realms Defenders Guild has risen to Level Three. New Guild Powers available.
You have found: 5 Mana Node Seeds (Life-Attuned)
You have found: 311 gold, 38 Potions (varied), Gauntlets of Thanatos (Level 20 Epic Quality Item), Greater Ring of the Adventurer (+5 to all Attributes).
Current XP/Next Level: 65,639/100,000. Leadership XP/Next Level: 46,316/50,000
Current Node Mastery XP/Next Level: 22,828/25,000. Current Guild XP/Next Level: 3,1217/5,000
Everybody in the party was exhausted. They had been going at it for twelve hours nonstop since the countdown to the Dungeon’s destruction had started. Hawke checked the timer; they had thirty-two hours left. In that time, the reunited party had cleared every monster left in the Dungeon, and had only one quest to go. They had earned a good night’s sleep before finishing the job and getting the hell out of Dodge.
The group had cleared the third level before Hawke’s buffs expired; Magoth’s gift had let him kill Camanax almost entirely by himself. The third Baron had been a hideous bloated monster, even fatter than Dergal. Its main attack was an acidic gas that seeped out of its every pore. Additionally, it could summon endless swarms of Chaos-infused flies. The swarms hadn’t been able to push past the Aegis of Order, and Hawke’s gear had let him survive the gas attack while he pounded on the hybrid with sword and spell. The rest of the party had stayed well in the back, handling any stray swarms and lobbing a few spells and missiles towards the target. Camanax went down a couple of minutes before Hawke’s special buffs expired.
After that, the fourth and fifth levels hadn’t been exactly easy, but the party’s teamwork had become so smooth nobody had come close to dying. The fact that everybody was at level twelfth or higher toward the end had helped, of course. Also, some of the chambers had been empty, its minions no doubt sent off to fight in the Labyrinth. That meant less experience and loot, but nobody complained. They disarmed the traps, collected whatever treasure the vacant chambers contained, and moved on.
The toughest fights, unsurprisingly, had been the two remaining bosses. Kabada looked like a praying mantis-scorpion hybrid, except for a humanoid face. The fourth Baron was a summoner that sent hundreds of adds at the group, but the monsters hadn’t survived long with all the area-of-effect spells the team could deploy. Girl had sneaked in and backstabbed the boss, with Hawke joining in to finish the job. Last but not least, Yamorgo the Terrorizer had been a fifteen foot giant that dwelled in a large cavern. Its eyes fired beams of Chaos and Death energy that had been hard to survive. They nearly lost Olaf again, but the Priest used his last-ditch ability just in time. Tava won the fight by piercing all three of the monster’s eyes with explosive arrows.
Hawke still failed the Five Barons Quest, since he had only been part of the party during four of the five battles. For the same reason, everyone else had missed out on the Dungeon Core Quest. That was what happened when your team split up, although that had been the Laughing Man’s fault, and there really was nobody they could complain to. It didn’t matter. Hawke had been worried they would run into the Revenant, but the previous owner of the Dungeon was nowhere to be found. Had he been trapped in the Labyrinth and dealt with by the Infernals? He could only hope so. Maybe that would be the end of the Undead bastard. In any case, only one quest remained, the Pool of Fear, and they would face it in the morning. There was also the Celestial Altar they had purified. They would check on it on their way out to see if it had a Quest to offer. The party retired to the lake cavern on the first level and set up camp in the same spot they had used the night before.
After dinner, Hawke sat down by himself and did his bookkeeping. The Pool of Fear challenge might end up
with him dead, so he wanted to have those levels set before he went there. He put 4 Attribute points each on Intelligence, Spirit and Willpower. For spells, he picked the Major versions of Bulwark of Light, Death Stare, Shield of Light, and Touch of Light. He wouldn’t be picking up new spells until his entire roster was improved. He had seen the difference the upper-tier spells made in combat, and didn’t want to get caught throwing low-grad magicks around when he faced the Nerf Herders.
Just as he was done, Girl-Has sat down beside him. For a change, she wasn’t wearing her demon mask – or rather, was pretending she wasn’t. She looked human, but Hawke suspected his Advanced Mana Sight would show him something else. He chose not to use it. Girl had stuck to her side of the deal, and he wanted to think of her as a human being for as long as he could.
“Getting pretty formidable, aren’t you?” she said.
“Trying to. There’s always someone tougher out there.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” She hesitated for a moment before going on. “I’m going to leave tonight. Not going to go into the Pool of Fear. A couple of Attribute raises isn’t worth the risk I’ll see something I don’t want to see again. You know, the repressed stuff you erased from my brain.”
“Yeah, I get it. Most of the party agrees with you. Only Nadia, Grognard and I are taking the challenge.”
“Figures. Bet you’re glad you didn’t have to talk your girlfriend out of playing with fire.”
“She only has one life to lose. And she’s smart enough to know that.”
“And I can’t get no quests from your lily-white Altar, either. I already got all I needed from that chunk of rock.”
“You got what you wanted,” Hawke corrected her. “You need something else. I holy you find it somewhere.”
“Whatever, Mister Macho. Anyway, here is everything I know about the Nerf Herders,” Girl said, handing him several pieces of paper. Hawke looked through them, spotting lists of names, ongoing operations, and even a good breakdown of the known factions in both Akila and the Ruby Empire at large, all written in neat Palmer script. Hawke could make it out, although his handwriting was strictly block letters and he used it only to write checks; he had mostly typed or texted all his life. Girl must be older than he’d thought.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said after Hawke looked up from the notes. “I’ll do my best to say out of your way. If you do the same, we’ll both be fine.”
“You don’t have to go,” Hawke blurted out, surprising himself. “And you don’t have to wear that demon crap. I told you what I saw during my Labyrinth trip. What the Archdemon said. You’ll end up chained to a spike somewhere until you turn into a demon.”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time. Those horny guys have plans for me. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, as Mike Tyson liked to say. The demons aren’t the first assholes who thought they owned me. Neither was Kaiser.”
“You don’t have to risk everything. We could use someone with your skills.”
“You do, that much is true.” She smiled – a sad smile this time – before going on. “You know, when you disappeared and dropped out of the Party Interface, I was actually worried about you.”
She looked him in the eye, and he was shocked to see a glimmer of… tears?
“I would be sorry if you went up and died for good, Hawke. You do care about people, instead of just pretending to. That makes you predictable, but also safe. I can trust somebody like you. Maybe even care about you.”
“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is, for you. I could trust you, but you could never trust me. I sort of like you, Hawke. That’s why I’m doing you the biggest favor I can, and getting as far away from you as possible.”
“But…” he began to say, but she interrupted him.
“You’re a frog and I’m a scorpion. Sooner or later, I’m going to sting you. It’s in my nature. And you aren’t an innocent. A nice guy, sure, but your hands are as bloodstained as mine. The oath I took would not protect you from me. You wouldn’t be safe if I stick around.”
Hawke stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. He thought most people were capable of redemption, although some didn’t deserve to be given the chance, like Kaiser. He still wasn’t sure if Girl did. A part of him wanted to try to help her, but the rest agreed with her cold-blooded assessment.
“I hope you’ll be okay,” he finally told her. “And if you change your mind, you know where we are. At least for a while. I’m sure I’ll be going to Alfheim eventually.”
She nodded. “We’ll probably meet again, in the higher Realms. I hear they get smaller as you get up in levels.”
“Probably.”
“Like I said, we’re even. If you get in my way, I will move you.”
Hawke shrugged. “You can try. In any case, good luck.”
“Same to you, Hawke. Watch out for Kaiser. He’s a nasty piece of work.”
“Thank you. I will.”
The demon mask reappeared, hiding her face. She walked away and Hawke watched her go wondering if he had done the right thing. She didn’t turn around. After fifteen minutes or so, he got a couple of notifications:
Girl-Has No-Name has left the Dungeon.
Girl-Has No-Name has left the Party.
And that was that. For a good while, at least.
* * *
“Who wants to go first?” Hawke asked his two companions. Everyone else still in the Dungeon was standing nearby, just in case the three idiots doing the Pool of Fear challenge needed help.
“Maybe we should all go at once and get it over with,” Nadia suggested.
Hawke checked on the timer. Twenty-three hours left before the Dungeon ceased to exist. There was no hurry, but he wanted to get going. It was time to return to his Domain and get back to work.
“Might as well. Everybody into the pool, so to speak.”
The Pool of Fear was a perfect circle filled with molten rock that somehow reflected light like a mirror, although the heat coming from it, enough to inflict first-degree burns on an unprotected human even from a dozen feet away, made its true nature clear. Grognard, Hawke and Nadia stepped up and stared at the glowing surface. Sure enough, a notification appeared in front of Hawke with the usual boilerplate question and binary answer. He chose ‘Yes.’
The Dungeon and its ever-present heat disappeared, replaced by his villa in Orom.
Hawke was in the courtyard in the center of his house. It was nighttime, and all the lights were out, with the full moon serving as the only source of illumination. He shook his head; he felt confused, fuzzy-headed, as if he’d woken up from a deep sleep. Had he been doing something before he’d gone to the courtyard? He was having trouble remembering. There’d been meetings, sure, and then there was the expedition to the Dungeon, but he wasn’t sure if they’d gone through that already, or were leaving in the next couple of days. Something was wrong, though. He was sure of it.
Saturnyx? Hawke called out. If anyone could make sense of things, it would be his sword.
No answer.
Somebody walked up behind him. He recognized the familiar footsteps. Tava. He turned around.
“Hey, honey. Was I drinking tonight? I’m sort of…”
He froze when he saw her in the moonlight. Her skin was ashen, her eyes solid white orbs, and her throat had been cut open.
“Tava,” he said. He’d meant to scream, but the name came out as a choked whisper. Tava was dead, and that it was his fault. His heart broke. Terror washed over him at the same time.
“You let me die,” the Undead Tava said in a cold and breathless tone he had never heard from her. The wound around her neck made wheezing sounds as she spoke. “I trusted you, and you let me die.”
Her bow appeared in her hands, an arrow already nocked. Before Hawke could say anything, she drew and let fly. He reacted instinctively, sidestepping the missile as he cast Shield of Light. The first missile missed, but a second arrow punched
through the energy barrier and struck his chest. He staggered at the sharp pain; his Health dropped by over three hundred.
“I am now your Slayer, Hawke,” the dead woman said, grinning cruelly as she kept sending continuous barrage of arrows at him.
He almost let her kill him. It was what he deserved. He was also terrified of the Undead avenger she had become. The urge to run away in mindless panic was nearly as strong as the desire to surrender and let her make an end of it. But there was a cold part of him that would not stop fighting to survive. He rolled away from her, avoiding several shafts. He ignored the pain from the missiles that reached his flesh as he cast his defensive buffs, starting with Mana Shield. The pain of his wounds retreated as his healing spells acted as an anesthetic and the additional wounds depleted his Mana instead of tearing through his flesh.
His gear had been stowed in his Inventory. Hawke kept dodging around as he summoned his weapons and armor. The Thanatos gear enveloped him in cold black metal, acting as a barrier between him and the sight of Tava relentlessly trying to kill him. He let his fighting instincts take over, caught most of the missiles on his shield, and rushed forward, striking out with his anti-Undead spells.
Tava recoiled in pain as Hammer of Light burned her cold flesh. The sight hurt him as much as being shot. He stopped.
“I’m so sorry,” he told her.
“Stop being sorry. Be dead!” she shouted back. Her next shot split off into a dozen glowing missiles that hammering through his defenses and reduced his Mana to dangerous levels.
Instinct took over again. Twilight Step brought him behind her, but she had been expecting the move and leaped away before he could hit her. A new arrow landed at his feet and exploded with sticky webbing that glued him in place. A flaming missile set the webs alight. Normally, that wouldn’t be much of a problem, since his Fire resistance was maxed out, but he discovered that the flames were made of Hellfire, and they burned him, further reducing his Mana pool.
Rabbit roared as he entered the courtyard. The Dire Bear was also Undead, with most of its brown fur gone, and much of his flesh rotted away. Its roar was more of a death rattle than something the bear would have normally made, but it was loud enough to make the air shake around him. Rabbit charged, and the sight brought back nasty memories of his first death in the Realms. A new burst of panic froze him for a second, and Tava took advantage of it, driving three arrows into his legs. The points were filled with some paralytic poison that slowed him down as much as the flaming webbing still holding him to the ground.
Labyrinth to Tartarus: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 3) Page 27
