Legacy of the Fallen (Ascend Online Book 2)

by Luke Chmilenko

  “Acid?” Freya repeated, a momentarily confused expression crossing her face before being replaced by panicked understanding. “It’s acid!”

  “Everybody move!” I shouted, my feet already in motion as I saw The Beast’s mouth open wide, the muscles on its throat contracting sharply and releasing a thick green column from its maw that shot through the air. “It can breathe acid!”

  Seeing Lazarus dive away in the opposite direction that I’d chosen to run, I felt my skin begin to burn as acid splashed up from the spot where I’d just been standing, seeing an alert appear in my combat log in the process.

  [The Beast] hits you with [Acid Spray] for 87 points of damage!

  Like we needed this thing to have a special ability on top of being a raid boss! I thought as I ran to get out of range of the spray, seeing Freya already several steps ahead of me. A chorus of panicked voices rose all around me as everyone reacted to The Beast’s new ability, the tide of the battle suddenly shifting as everyone scrambled to get out of its path. Yet as I moved, I noticed that the torrent of acid shifted to follow me as The Beast tracked my attempt to escape, trying to catch me with the full force of the attack. Damn! It won’t leave me alone!

  “Lyr! Over here!” I heard Halcyon shout through the chaos, my eyes shifting to spot him and several other mages that had lined up together and were all channeling several Force Shields, providing a safe pocket for nearby Adventurers to take cover in.

  “Coming!” I shouted, risking a glance behind me and realizing that it was only seconds until The Beast adjusted to my speed. Faced with no other choice, I dipped once more into the now pitiful pool of mana I had left and triggered Blink Step, fixing my destination just past the edge of the closest Force Shield.

  Vision blurring as I crossed the intervening space, I reappeared at the spot that I had chosen just in time to see Freya rush past me, having been forced to cross the distance bereft of the aid of magic. Glancing around me, I noticed that the majority of the people around me were all Virtus members and I breathed a sigh of relief to be back among friends.

  “Lyr!” I heard Constantine’s tired voice call out from amongst the crowd, prompting me to spin in its direction to see both him and Amaranth rush towards me, both of them covered in blood and looking the worse for wear. “Please tell me I heard wrong and this thing isn’t really—”

  “Incoming!” Halcyon’s shouting voice interrupted from beside us. “Get right up against the shield if you can!”

  Not waiting for a second warning, the three of us reflexively rushed to obey the mage’s warning and piled in close behind him, just in time to see The Beast’s acid spray splash across the Force Shield he’d conjured, before shifting to continue towards the other mages.

  “Does that answer your question?” I asked, glancing back towards Constantine, who had gone noticeably pale at the sight.

  “Unfortunately,” Constantine grunted as he lifted an arm to protect his face from the stinging mist that began to filter down from above.

  “If anyone has any bright solutions on how to get out of this I’m all ears!” the mage called out, visibly flinching as the spray of acid slammed into the barrier again, causing the shimmering field to waver. “Because we’re not going to be able to keep this up much longer!”

  “We won’t have to!” Freya’s voice called out excitedly from beside us. “Look! Help is on the way!”

  As one, we all moved to look through the distorted lens of Halcyon’s Force Shield just in time to see the other half of the raid rush out from behind The Beast, having found itself temporarily forgotten in the chaos. Without a second’s hesitation, they swarmed forward as one, intent on making The Beast pay for its lapse in vigilance. Seeing several familiar faces in the distant crowd, my eyes were drawn to the row of people leading the raid’s charge, managing to catch sight of Drace, Aldwin, Veronia, and Lazarus a heartbeat before they all slammed into The Beast’s flank.

  “Here’s our chance!” I shouted, the stream of acid spewing forth from The Beast’s mouth abruptly stopping as it staggered from the impact of the raid’s brutal charge and howled in pain. “Take the shields down! Everyone, forward!”

  Sensing that the end was finally at hand, a deafening roar tore itself out of our throats as the Force Shields fell before us and we all charged forward towards The Beast, a veritable storm of magic crackling out over us to herald our arrival. Flinching from the now combined onslaught, I saw The Beast look uncertain for the first time in the fight as it turned its head back towards us and took a halting step backward as if contemplating retreat.

  But before it could do anything, we too slammed into the creature and began to swarm around it, our weapons slashing and chopping through flesh. Bellowing in agony, The Beast wasted no time in responding to our attacks, its claws and teeth lashing out through our ranks and claiming their fair share in casualties. Yet as the battle began to wear on, the mighty creature finally began to falter, its once glorious hide nothing but a patchwork of carnage and gore, its attacks growing slower and less accurate.

  Staggering drunkenly from the loss of blood as the epic battle came to an end, The Beast opened its mouth one last time in a desperate attempt to send another spray of acid through our ranks, only to invite an avalanche of magic and arrows straight into its maw and down its throat. Coughing violently, that final onslaught proved to be last that the creature could withstand and it collapsed to the ground in a heap, a river of blood and acid pouring free from its ravaged maw as it lay completely still.

  Silence fell over the battlefield, save for our ragged breaths as we all stared at The Beast’s body in complete exhaustion, none of us daring to believe that it had truly fallen. That after all that had happened that we’d all somehow managed to end up victorious. Then without any visible cue, a short and victorious fanfare followed by a familiar chime echoed through my ears as several lines of golden text appeared in my vision.

  Congratulations! Your raid has successfully defeated [The Beast]!

  As a reward for your legendary accomplishment everyone in your raid has been awarded:

  1 Class Skill Point

  500 Renown

  You gain Raid Experience!

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 19!

  You have unlocked a Class Challenge opportunity!

  Chapter 53

  “…and that was the last thing he said before The Beast ate him,” I finished, spreading my arms out wide in a shrug as I looked out towards the group, hearing several curses fill the air in response.

  “The camp,” Caius said in a sad voice. “If Carver and his group came down here, they had to go through the camp, which means…”

  “I know, Caius,” I replied. “Depending on what they did…Shelia, Jenkins, all the others.”

  “Are we going to go back?” Freya asked in a quiet voice.

  “We can’t,” I said, shaking my head as much it pained me to say so. “What’s done there…is done. We won’t be able to change anything at this point. It’s more important that we try and find Carver before he can find a way to screw with the world event here and destroy everything.”

  “You think he’d actually do that?” Lazarus asked, sounding a bit hesitant. “He and all of his followers then would have to eat the Death Penalty from dying. There’d be no way they’d be able to get their Soul Fragments back from this place afterward.”

  “In a heartbeat,” Drace said bitterly. “We’re not exactly his favorite people. Even less so if what Ignis told Lyrian is true.”

  “Damn that man,” I spat angrily. “I still can’t even begin to imagine just how much he would have fed back to Carver. No wonder we never ended up finding him after the battle at the Tower.”

  “Or why he pushed us so hard to get into the Dungeon,” Halcyon added. “He wanted to know exactly what we were up to…”

  “I bet he and his group are probably long gone from Aldford by now,” Constantine said. “Assuming they didn’t change their bind points
beforehand. Hell, if they already knew they were going to destroy the place…they likely would have. Else their death could have them resurrecting back in Coldscar or Eberia if Aldford was…gone.”

  “They tried to cover all their bases,” Sierra noted. “Well, almost all of them. They couldn’t have accounted on us actually killing The Beast, after Ignis’s stunt.”

  “Which means that we have a very short window to get things back under control,” I said, glancing towards the scattered groups of Adventurers that had survived the battle with The Beast, and seeing them all in various stages of recovery as the few healers we had still standing did their rounds and soothed injuries. “We need to get everyone ready to move as soon as Halcyon and I can get a sketch made of the Runestone. Hopefully, we can get it down in just one cycle.”

  “We will, Lyr,” Halcyon said to me in a confident voice.

  “You two go sort that out then,” Sierra told us, then went on to indicate Drace and Freya with a wave. “The three of us will sort out the raid and reorganize the groups.”

  “And I guess Lazarus and I will get the loot sorted then,” Constantine said. “I think given the urgency right now, no one will complain if we hand it all out later…”

  “That all sounds good to me,” I stated as I glanced in the direction of the Runestone then back towards the group. “Halcyon and I will regroup with you all once we have our sketches done.”

  With tasks assigned, we all then splintered into our assigned groups and headed off in separate directions, the need to get moving putting a spring in all our steps. Falling in beside Halcyon, the two of us made a beeline towards the Runestone at the mouth of The Beast’s Lair, which we expected to illuminate any minute.

  “Hey, Lyr,” Halcyon said to me as we made our way to the cave’s entrance. “By any chance did you hit level nineteen and see our Class Challenge thing?”

  “Uh, not yet,” I replied, noticing one of the several alerts still needing my attention in the corner of my vision. “I mean, I hit level nineteen, but I haven’t checked anything yet.”

  “You should,” Halcyon told me. “It’s…interesting…”

  “Hmm,” I said thoughtfully as I called up the notification and saw a large block of text appear in my vision. “Whoa, that’s a lot…give me a second.”

  Congratulations! You have unlocked your first Class Challenge opportunity!

  In order to cater to as wide of a variety of playstyles as possible Class Challenges are designed as a way to further develop your character attributes and abilities beyond what normal level progression and equipment are able to grant.

  For your first Class Challenge, you will be able to gain a substantial boost to an attribute of your choice by performing an exceptional act of prowess that best embodies that trait. Please note, you will only be able to gain a boost to a single attribute. Good luck!

  Perform an Act of Strength: 0/1

  Reward: +10 to Strength

  Perform an Act of Agility: 0/1

  Reward: +10 to Agility

  Perform an Act of Endurance: 0/1

  Reward: +10 to Constitution

  Perform an Act of Magic: 0/1

  Reward: +10 to Intelligence

  Perform an Act of Faith: 0/1

  Reward: +10 to Willpower

  “Huh,” I said after I finished reading the update and dismissed it from my vision. “That’s pretty cool.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Halcyon replied. “Though…I’m not sure what exactly would qualify for some of them. I mean, like what does it exactly mean to perform an act of magic or faith? The other ones are pretty easy to explain.”

  “I’m not sure,” I said as I considered the question. “We’re among the first to hit this level, so we’re breaking new ground here. Maybe the idea behind the Class Challenge is to try and push us to our limits, and then reward us afterward?”

  “That’s as good as an explanation as any, I guess,” Halcyon said with a shrug as we arrived at the still blank Runestone. “It’ll be something fun to work towards to when we have the time, an extra plus ten to an attribute is worth a bit of effort to figure out.”

  “Definitely,” I agreed as the two of us sat down in front of the Runestone and readied ourselves to copy the spell fragment when it appeared. Sitting in silence with charcoal in hand as we waited, I found it difficult to keep my hands steady, the aftereffects of the battle and Ignis’s betrayal still weighing heavily on my mind.

  I should have expected something like this, I thought as I clenched my hands tightly. Why did I think Carver would leave us alone for so long? I let myself get too roped up in the dungeon and then everything here in the Twilight Grove…meanwhile he was just biding his time, all the while knowing what we were up to.

  “Did I screw up, Hal?” I asked with a sigh, forcing my hands open. “I mean, I didn’t see anything coming…about Carver or Ignis…and he literally ran into me as he was dragging a train through the camp.”

  “You’re too hard on yourself, Lyr,” Halcyon replied. “None of us saw the bit with Ignis coming, and once we found the Grove, after nearly a week of looking for Carver with nothing to show for it, it’d make sense he’d fall off our radar.”

  “Still feels like I could have done more,” I said. “Maybe if I’d taken that espionage training that Stanton offered us all…”

  “And what would you have exactly dropped in favor of doing that, Lyr?” Halcyon asked me while shaking his head. “I’ll admit, maybe we were all a bit naïve thinking that someone wouldn’t betray us from the inside, but we also had no reason to believe that someone would.”

  “Until it bit us in the ass,” I grunted.

  “That’s usually how these things work out,” Halcyon admitted. “Sure, it sucks right now, and if we make it through all of this, we’re going to have to be more careful going forward, but you can’t be stressing yourself out over something we didn’t, couldn’t, have anticipated.”

  Before I could say anything in reply to Halcyon, the Runestone chose that moment to activate, prompting the two of us to abandon our conversation as we fervently rushed to copy the spell fragment. Drawing faster than I ever had to before, I didn’t dare take my eyes off the display as my hand moved across the paper before me, only shifting my eyes downward after the display had faded and I was forced to rely on memory. Scrambling to get every piece of detail down before we forgot, we sat in silence for nearly a minute as we worked, well aware that we were trying to accomplish a task in a single pass that would have normally taken us three if not more cycles to verify.

  “I think I got it,” I announced, taking my hand away from the paper and looking over the detail.

  “Same,” Halcyon replied, shifting over towards me so we could begin to compare our sketches, realizing that they were completely identical. “Well, that’s good news. Though this one didn’t seem as large or complicated as the other two.”

  “I noticed that,” I said in agreement as we then compared the latest spell fragment against the two that we had already found, finding that it fit seamlessly with one of the pieces and effectively completed that half of the spell. “Looks like there’s just one last piece left then if this is any indication.”

  “Here’s to hoping,” Halcyon replied as he carefully read the combined spellwork and then looked back up towards me. “This looks right to me, Lyr. At least, in that, I can’t see anything wrong with it. Though I guess we won’t know for sure until we find the other fragment and actually try to cast the spell.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge if, or when, we come to it,” I said with a shrug, knowing that this was currently the best we could do. “Right now, we have to try and track Carver down. Once we have that taken care of…”

  I let my words drift off as Halcyon began to nod in understanding, “I hear you, Lyr. We’ll figure it out. But speaking of Carver, where’d you think to start looking for him? The Ley Line?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed as I turned my head towards the brig
ht emerald light that shone over the jungle. “The only way I can see Carver somehow forcing this world event to kick off, is if he screws with the Ley Line, specifically, the ruptured part of it.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Halcyon said as he followed my gaze. “Though you know…Carver won’t be the only thing to deal with if we head that way. There’ll be spirits too.”

  “I’m counting on that actually,” I told the mage as I turned back to face him. “We’re likely going to be outnumbered when we manage to catch up to Carver and his group, but if we can somehow use the spirits against them…”

  “Then maybe we can give them a taste of their own medicine,” Halcyon said with a smile. “Seems fair after all they put us through.”

  “I certainly think so,” I replied, briefly returning the man’s smile before resuming my serious expression and looking towards the raid, which was still in the process of getting itself together. “Well, we might as well get back to the others and help get things ready; we got what we came here for. We’ll have to come back another time to explore this cave. If there is another time.”

  “There will be, Lyr,” Halcyon said optimistically as the two of us began our trek back towards the raid. “There will be.”

  Falling into a companionable silence as we walked, I decided to take the time to focus my attention on one of the two notifications still flashing in the corner of my vision, the first being my newly gained attribute points. Giving the matter a few seconds of thought, I decided to invest the five new points into Strength, realizing that it’d been a few levels since I’d improved the attribute. With that out of the way, I then turned to the second notification, seeing that it pertained to the Class Skill Point that we had all gained from killing The Beast.