Soulstone: The Skeleton King: A LitRPG Novel (World of Ruul Book 2)

by J. A. Cipriano

  It seemed impossible, but at the same time, this was my only shot, and there were no other options. I had to try.

  As I scrambled to my feet and pulled the Sword of Infinite Sorrows free of my inventory, agony exploded up and down my body, but I ignored it as my health and mana went to one. No. This was my chance, I had to strike him down now. I lunged at the boss as he raised one glowing hand toward me. Flames rippled across his outstretched palm as I reared back to attack.

  “Die, necromancer!” My world erupted in a wash of flame as I stabbed outward, trying to cut through the fireball he’d thrown at me and get to him as my body was engulfed in fire and my HUD went black.

  System Message: You have died.

  47

  I tried to scream, tried to do anything as the world around me exploded with excruciating agony. Then I felt pulled in every direction at once as everything around me fractured into crystalline slices of vision.

  All the sounds around me vanished instantly, leaving me in a profound silence that chilled me to the core as the agony I’d felt evaporated, leaving me in a state of emptiness. More images fragmented my vision as red flashing lights strobed in front of me. I didn’t know what I was seeing per se, but a cursory knowledge of medical television made me think it was one of those screens that was supposed to show heart rate and the like. Only this one was flashing with angry light and had zeros across the board.

  I tried to look away from it, and as I did, my vision swam, fracturing out like frozen snowflakes. I was back in the room Ivan had shown me when I’d first entered Ruul. Only, unlike before, Ivan was lying on the ground in a pool of dark blood, his wheelchair thrown to the side. Gore covered the screens in front of where his body lay.

  A non-scream tore from me as realization hit me. Ivan was dead. How could he have died? And what’s more, wasn’t I supposed to be dead? How could I be seeing this?

  It didn’t make any sense, and as I had that thought, heat exploded across my vision, burning everything up until my senses flaked away like so much burned paper.

  The world around me stuttered, flopping sideways as the room vanished, lurching sideways, and as it did, I heard the distant speck of a voice.

  It was so quiet I could barely discern it, but at the same time it was loud in the absence of all sound, and as I reached out toward it, I realized I was dying.

  Only, I couldn’t die. I just couldn’t. Not in some stupid game. I had so much to do still.

  In that moment, I wanted to cry, and I couldn’t because I was a brain in a box. All around me everything faded, distending down into nothing before shattering into even less.

  And still there was that voice, and as I floated toward its sirens call, I couldn’t help but think it sounded way too much like my mom. I pictured her face, the tear streaks on her cheeks as she learned of my stupid demise, of how I’d died fighting a newbie boss in a video game.

  I pictured my father trying to be stalwart as he learned the last of his line was no longer to be, and as I did it, I knew I’d failed them. That hurt more than knowing I’d never see another sunset or kiss another girl. It hurt on a level I couldn’t explain.

  “You have been revived!” the voice said, and as its words slammed into my brain, I felt my spirit drawing back toward it, felt myself moving toward a piercing vail of light. Only, I recognized that voice. It was Elizabeth Hurley. Only that made no sense because she shouldn’t be calling me because I was dead.

  Except she was.

  And as that realization hit me, the world swam back into focus. I lay flat on my back, the broken hilt of the Sword of Infinite Sorrows in my hand. The Skeleton King lay on his back beside me, the silvery blade broken off in his chest. The ground beneath us was scorched beyond repair, and as I lay there, my HUD flashing red, the Medallion of Courage floated above me. It flashed with green light before exploding, sending a million carnelian sparks outward around me. As they touched my flesh, heat like the first touch of sun on an autumn day licked across my skin.

  System Message: Medallion of Courage has been destroyed. You have been revived.

  48

  “I saw you fucking die,” Crash said, the awe in his voice nearly overwhelming the splitting headache in my skull. “I saw your health hit zero. I saw your body evaporate.” He took a deep breath in an effort to slow his breaths down. He was kneeling over me on the battlefield. Evidently, the moment the Skeleton King died, all his minions did too.

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” I said, letting him help me sit up. “I thought I died too.”

  “Dude,” Crash said, shaking his head at me, and as he did, a darkened shadow fell over him. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked over to see the Lord of Liches blocking out the sun. His dark cloak billowed in the air around him, and as Crash turned to look at him, his mouth fell open.

  “You have defeated the Skeleton King. Most impressive,” the lich said, kneeling down next to us and holding his hand out to us, palm up. “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

  “Huh?” Crash said, but as the lich spoke, I remembered the quest I’d accepted. I’d agreed to bind the Skeleton King’s soul to a gemstone.

  “He wants this,” I wheezed, still trying to get myself under control after having died. Then I pulled the gemstone out of my inventory and held it out to the lich. Only, unlike before the blue crystal was swirling like it’d inhaled the whole of the void itself, and as I stared at it, something deep and primal inside me unfurled its wings and cried out with the desperate urge to flee.

  “What the fuck is that?” Crash asked as the lich reached out and wrapped his bony hands around my own and shook them.

  “That, my dears, is almost complete.” The lich stood, taking the gemstone from me and moved toward the Skeleton King’s fallen body.

  “Almost?” I asked, reaching out so Crash could help me stand. As my friend helped pull me to my feet, the lich knelt down and pulled the broken shard of the sword from the Skeleton King’s body before placing the gemstone in the hole.

  “Almost,” the lich replied, holding his hand out over the gemstone. As he did, white sparks leapt and popped, cascading outward across the whole of the Skeleton King before he was reduced to ash, leaving just his sword and armor behind. The gemstone fell to the ground, and as it did, the remains of the Sword of Infinite Sorrows shattered into swirling silver pixie dust that fluttered through the air like cherry blossoms in a stiff breeze.

  “Come, take your prize, necromancer,” the lich said, lifting the gemstone into the air, and as he did, the fragments of the sword coalesced around the crystal in a flash of light.

  I turned away, unable to stare at the brightness, and as spots of colors danced across my vision, I heard the lich walking toward me. I looked toward him as he held one hand out to me. As I blinked to clear my eyes, I realized a blue cobalt skull sat in his bony clutches, and he was offering it to me.

  “What is that?” Crash asked, and as he spoke, the lich thrust it into my hands.

  “The spoils of war,” the lich said, wrapping my fingers around the skull as a dark wind howled and lightning cracked across the sky.

  World Achievement: Player Kahn has found the Soulstone of Death.

  I stared down at the glowing soulstone in my hand in shock. Had I really just found a soulstone? Seriously? Me? And, what’s more, now that I’d found it, the game had told the whole world I’d gotten it. While I had no idea how many players existed outside the newbie area, that thought chilled me. What if those players wanted to kill me and take it.

  Soulstone of Death

  Material: crystal

  Durability: Unbreakable

  Bonus: Increases all Skill Effects by 100%. Increases Necromancer and Death Knight Skills by an additional 50%. Increases strength of all controlled undead creatures by 50%.

  Party Bonus: Increases Party experience by 100%. Increases Party regeneration by 50%.

  Set Bonus: Unknown

  My mouth went dry as I stared at the item
box. Sure, the bonuses were crazy good, but what had me stunned was that the set bonus was unknown. It intrigued me because I had no idea what I could expect by putting the soul stones together. Would this world just evaporate? Would it give me a crazy buff that would let me fight the maelstrom? Who knew?

  “Oh my god,” Crash said, his mouth hanging open in shock as he stared at the glowing skull in my hand. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Believe it, adventurer,” the Lord of Liches said. “For now that you have found this Soulstone, others will seek to take it from you. Guard it with your life, for if you do not, they will take it from your corpse.”

  Then, with that, he vanished, leaving Crash and I alone on the battlefield, and as I turned to look at him, a smile broke out across his face.

  “Dude! We might actually go home,” he said, words breaking partway through as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I mean, we might actually be able to get the soulstones.” He swallowed again as I put my head on his shoulder and laughed because he was right.

  “What the actual fuck, man!” George cried from behind us. “I leave for three seconds and you find a soulstone and become gay?” He waved his hand at Crash and I. “I’m honestly not sure which is worse.”

  “I’m not gay,” I said, squinting at the rabbit as Dark Heart stood beside him. She looked beaten to shit, her hair was plastered to her scalp with sweat, and through it all she was smiling like someone had turned on the goddamned sun.

  “If you’re not gay, why haven’t you tapped any of those fine goblin asses?” George replied, crossing his arms over his chest, which to be fair, was a sort of fair point because to George they were real girls and not virtual ones, and anyone in his right mind would be all over busty chicks.

  “Congratulations,” Dark Heart said before I could properly respond to George. She moved toward us and enveloping both Crash and I in a hug. “I knew you guys could do it. Everyone said I was crazy, but I knew you could do it.”

  “What?” Crash asked, narrowing his eyes at her. “What do you mean? I thought we were chosen…”

  “She lied about all that,” I said, waving away Crash’s words as I pulled away from her. “Ivan’s dead.”

  Dark Heart bit her lip as she looked at me for a long time without responding.

  “Wait, what? How can Ivan be dead?” Crash asked, fear filling his voice to the breaking point as he turned to stare at me wild-eyed.

  “I saw him when I died. I saw him lying in a pool of blood. The systems running our brains were all flashing and pissed off, but here’s the real problem. As scary as that sounds, she doesn’t seem surprised.” I pointed at Dark Heart. “You’re not, are you?”

  “No.” She swallowed hard and looked away from us as the wind blew by, causing her hair to flutter, and as it did, I wanted to reach out and grab her by her dark locks and shake her until answers fell out of her like she was a goddamned piñata. “I’m not.”

  “Is this where you say he knew the risks?” I asked, and as I spoke, she shut her eyes and nodded as a tear slid down her cheek.

  “The reason I’m not surprised is we’re not supposed to be here. If you were, you’d have been recruited the normal way. A dude in a suit would show up and offer you a billion dollars to join the US guild. Then they’d set you up in state of the art immersion rigs, and you’d come into the game.” She took a deep breath. “Only you wouldn’t be recruited because you’re not soldiers.” She tried to smile at me. “The tests showed gamers would do better, but they never listened. They just said they’d train soldiers, and then…” She shook her head.

  “So you went outside protocol and got us all jacked in on the down low?” Crash asked, taking a deep breath. “Why?”

  “And why aren’t we dead too?” I asked, unable to properly function as shock and anger filled me to the brim. Not only had we been recruited behind the government’s back, but no one was supporting us. Worse, the people in the outside world had killed our handler. What was to stop them from killing us too? “They should have pulled the plug on us as soon as they found out about us.” I took a step toward her, my hands clenching and unclenching as I fought the urge to wring her stupid neck. I knew Dark Heart was bad news, but this? This was positively insane.

  “I don’t know why we’re still alive. It doesn’t make any sense, especially if you really saw Ivan dead.” She turned toward us, only she wouldn’t look at our faces. No, she looked anywhere but at the two of us. “I needed people who could help me find Wynn.”

  “Who the fuck is Wynn?” I shrieked, my hands balling into fists as another realization hit me. With Ivan dead, who was going to pull us out of this place if we found all the soulstones?

  “Wynn is—”

  Party Message: Players Sabre and Two’ Manchu have left the Starting Area.

  Party Message: Players Sabre and Two’ Manchu have left the party.

  As I stared at the messages in shock, a trio of pigeons appeared overhead. They circled for a moment before dropping down next to us and offering us each a piece of paper. As I reached out and took mine, my mind still reeling from everything that’d happened, the message displayed on my screen.

  “Good job, Kahn. I knew you were something special. Unfortunately, special only gets you so far. I probably owe you my life, but if I let you put all the soulstones together, I’ll be killed along with the maelstrom, and that doesn’t seem like something I’d enjoy. So here’s what I’m offering. Hand over the Soulstone, or I kill your friend. I’ll be in Isla Nor. Come quick. I’m not known for my patience. Sabre.”

  “That bitch!” I snapped, my hands crinkling the note as it flashed away into my messages window. Between Sabre and Dark Heart, I was through with female players and their lying, cheating, backstabbing…

  “Why the town of Isla Nor?” Crash asked, raising an eyebrow at me as he chewed on his lip in confusion. “I’m pretty sure this town exits into the Town of the Golden Knight, and Isla Nor is practically on the opposite side of the world from there.”

  “I dunno,” I said as I moved past him and picked up the items dropped by the Skeleton King. “But we have to go get him.”

  “You can’t hand over the soulstone,” Dark Heart said, moving toward me with tentative, wary steps.

  “I’m not—”

  “I’m serious, Kahn,” she said, cutting me off as fear filled her voice. “You literally can’t. Soulstones are bound to the owner. The only way someone can take it from you is if you die. Now that you have this one, the quest is done. No one else can get it.”

  “Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I asked, swallowing hard as fear unlike any other I’d ever felt hit me.

  “You can’t be serious,” Crash said, shaking his head. “Everyone and his mother will be trying to kill him to take it then.”

  “Maybe not…” Dark Heart said, shaking her head. “Right now, I’m pretty sure only one person will. We just need to go talk to him. I’m sure he’ll help us.”

  “Okay, let’s try that, but either way, I’m heading to Isla Nor,” I said, gripping the sword the Skeleton King dropped hard enough for my knuckles to turn white. “We have to save Two’ Manchu, and to do that, we have to find Sabre. Fast.”

  “Okay,” Dark Heart whispered as I nodded to her. “I’ll lead the way to the transport.”

  “Don’t worry,” Crash said, throwing his arm around my shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered, shaking my head. I had a terrible feeling about this, and even as I identified the items the boss had dropped, I couldn’t get excited. As soon as I stepped out into that world, I was going to die, and this time, no medallion was going to bring me back.

  “Oh, come on, we’ll even let you keep that stuff if you want,” Crash said, nudging me with his arm. “I mean, I’ll take it off your cold dead body, but be happy. It’s awesome.”

  I nodded and glanced at the items. He was right. They were awesome. I just hoped they were awesome en
ough.

  Sword of the Skeleton King

  Damage (Small Monsters): 9

  Damage (Large Monsters): 9

  Range: 1

  Material: bone

  Durability: 2000

  Bonus: 10% chance to proc fire damage for 500% damage.

  Skeleton King’s Armor

  Armor: 12

  Magic Resistance: 15%

  Material: Steel

  Durability: 1500

  Bonus: Magic Resistance does not interfere with spells.

  Set Bonus: When used with Gauntlets, Boots, and Leggings, grants +50 Health.

  Skeleton King’s Gauntlets

  Armor: 5

  Magic Resistance: 15%

  Material: Steel

  Durability: 1500

  Bonus: Magic Resistance does not interfere with spells.

  Set Bonus: When used with Boots, Armor, and Leggings, grants +50 Mana.

  Skeleton King’s Leggings

  Armor: 8

  Magic Resistance: 15%

  Material: Steel

  Durability: 1500

  Bonus: Magic Resistance does not interfere with spells.

  Set Bonus: When used with Gauntlets, Armor, and Boots, grants +1 to all stats.

  Skeleton King’s Boots

  Armor: 3

  Magic Resistance: 15%

  Material: Steel

  Durability: 1500

  Bonus: Magic Resistance does not interfere with spells.

  Set Bonus: When used with Gauntlets, Armor, and Leggings, grants +2 to all Necromancer and Death Knight skills.

  49

  As we landed in the Town of the Golden Knight, I nearly had a heart attack. Not because the trip through the portal had been particularly scary nor because we were in immediate danger. Because neither of those were true.

  We stood in a town remarkably similar to the one we’d just come from, almost like someone had used the same model, only where the last one had been silver this one was gold, and like that one, this one was marked as a Safety Zone, meaning players couldn’t damage each other here.