World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  Vitality Level Up: 379>382

  Spirit Level Up: 407>410

  Resolve Level Up: 380>383

  Perception Level Up: 404>407

  Agility Level Up: 378>381

  Strength Level Up: 377>380

  “That actually worked?” Vincent asked himself. “For a second, I was kind of worried.”

  He ran toward the crater to look for item crystals, but then the rest of the text appeared.

  Congratulations on defeating a boss on this Challenge World. You may choose one soulbound item as a reward.

  Heliostorm (Soulbound) – Material Rating: 700 | A mithril war hammer of incredible power and craftsmanship. | Efficiency 30: Spells channeled through this item cost thirty percent less mana. | Amplify 30: Increases the size of mana and elemental spells by 30%.

  Hearthgod (Soulbound) – Material Rating: 700 | A mithril rune hammer of incredible power and craftsmanship. | Expert Channeling – This hammer is especially proficient at absorbing and redirecting frequencies. | Concentrated Power – The user can channel large amounts of mana through this hammer in order to harden any type of material that can be hardened. The higher the starting rating, the more mana is required.

  Nodric’s Chainmail (Soulbound) – Material Rating: 700 | Mithril chainmail that covers the user’s head and torso. The craftsmanship of each ring is impeccable, and you can see finely drawn runes on them. | Lightning Dance – The user can channel mana into this chainmail to unleash an incredible power in all directions. | Mana Reprocess – Every time the user casts a spell, if that spell doesn’t hit a target, then fifty percent of the mana used is reabsorbed.

  Vincent paused his search of the crater to read over his choices. The chainmail isn’t much use to me, but those hammers are ridiculously strong. Hearthgod might even be able to make hardened-basteel. Then again, it must cost a ton of mana to do so or Nodric would’ve had hardened-basteel armor instead of normal basteel. So maybe that’s out of the question.

  His eyes went back to Heliostorm. Since I mostly fight with spells, this is more useful for me. Unfortunately, channeling void attacks tends to disintegrate whatever item I use. Every time I tried to cast Voidfire with an orosteel staff, I only got two uses from it. However, this is soulbound, so it’ll renew itself after a week. Getting two or three buffed Greater Voidfires a week for a reduced cost would be help me a lot.

  Vincent hesitated a moment, remembering how much he had been looking forward to forging once more, but he stuck with his gut and chose Heliostorm. He equipped the hammer, feeling its weight and the power inside the weapon.

  “You ought to make quick work of bosses,” Vincent told the hammer.

  With the prompt gone from his sight, his eyes slowly fell on the crater again. The Ranger sighed to himself, then searched around for any hint of item crystals. He’d noticed in the past that as long as a small piece of flesh survived, the game would drop a monster’s items. A few times, however, his spells had left nothing behind, and he’d received no items as a result.

  “Man, I really shouldn’t have used that attack,” he said, groaning afterward. “I think I incinerated every last piece of him. Now what am I going to do?”

  He turned to the nearby stem, eyeing a sliver of the World-Tree through the clouds. Vincent knew Rosaria was waiting somewhere out of sight, and the thought of trying to get past her sent a shiver down his spine. As he considered it, his eyes caught a glimmer of light on the ground several meters away.

  “Item crystals?” he said aloud as he jogged over. A small pile of dust in the shape of a forearm sat on the ground there, and several crystals were half-hidden underneath. “The blast must’ve sent one of his arms flying this way.”

  Vincent grabbed the gild, then happily fed them into his Builder’s Tome.

  Builder Points: 200,113

  “Yes!” he screamed, jumping up with excitement.

  Vincent hurried back to the place he’d left the daiglass shard and picked it up off the ground. He willed the tome to flip to the selection of Jump Gates, then spent most of his points to place a rune-covered platform of daistone on the ground. After grabbing a handful of Jump Crystals from storage, he stared at the wall of clouds above, looking for a light that indicated a jump target.

  Vincent’s smile faded when he didn’t see a single point of light.

  “No, no, no,” he muttered. “That can’t be right. There has to be at least one Jump Gate that points in this direction.”

  Vincent grabbed a few more Jump Crystals to extend his range, and then he studied the sky for any faint lights. Once again, he didn’t see anything, so he grabbed a dozen more crystals, which forced him to hold all his items by making a bowl shape with his shirt.

  Still, he saw no lights.

  There’s no way. ARKUS has to be screwing with me. This side of the stem is the best angle too, so I doubt it’d help me to go a different hemisphere. It’s like the AI made sure there wouldn’t be a single Jump Gate pointing at this world—or maybe there were a few that got destroyed somehow.

  Vincent put the crystals back into storage. He stood on the Jump Gate in silence for a while, trying to think of his next plan of action, but he only knew one other way off that world.

  I have to get past Rosaria.

  Chapter 6

  Vincent drank enough ethers to refill his mana reserve and fully power Silpher’s Coat. He set his weight to ten percent with Eferia’s Boots, so he’d have extra speed, then equipped Heliostorm. After leaving the daiglass shard at the base of the world’s stem, the Ranger ventured uphill, keeping his eyes on the sky above.

  After walking for a few minutes, the clouds parted, and Rosaria descended from the sky, a wicked smile still on her face.

  Vincent raised Heliostorm and unleashed Voidfire from the weapon.

  A shockwave spread out from the angel as she broke the sound barrier, easily dodging the attack before it reached her. She raised one finger, and an immense pressure fell on the Ranger. He thought the angel would attack, but she wagged her finger at him instead.

  Vincent glanced down at his mithril hammer, noticing the melted slag that remained. The surviving runes still glowed with power, and he guessed he could get one more Voidfire out of the weapon, but he decided on a faster attack instead. He aimed his hammer, then channeled several Void Guns through it. Although he tried to keep his aim on Rosaria as she moved left and right, he couldn’t land any of his shots, even with his superhuman reflexes.

  After four shots, the rest of the half-disintegrated hammerhead sloughed away, dripping like hot magma. He unequipped the hammer, then drew out most of the mana stored in his coat. Vincent readied a Voidfire in each hand before propelling himself toward the angel with Zero Field.

  As he neared the enemy, he could feel her aura of world magic weighing so heavily on his body that he felt suffocated. It didn’t stop him as he rocketed at full speed toward the motionless angel.

  Vincent raised one hand to strike Rosaria with a point-blank Voidfire, but her own hand snapped out lightning fast with a flash of blinding white light. His left arm plummeted to the ground below, where his Voidfire exploded against the World-Tree’s branch.

  The Ranger launched himself backward before the angel could take his other arm, but he tossed his second spell at her when he realized she hadn’t moved from her location. Rosaria snapped her fingers, and a tremendous wall of world magic materialized instantly. The wall started on the branch but extended well into the sky. It reminded Vincent of Xan’s World Wall, only far bigger and denser looking. His Voidfire struck the wall and exploded, and when the black flames cleared he saw his spell had only left small cracks on the angel’s mighty defense.

  The wall disappeared as quickly as it had formed, but Rosaria had vanished from the spot she’d been seconds ago. Vincent hadn’t heard any movement, and he spun around in a panic, trying to find her. After one full turn, he found himself face to face with Rosaria as a supersonic shockwave ran past him.

  Vincent
shouted in fear and raised his remaining arm, only for the angel to take it off in one fast motion. Zero Field faltered, and he fell out of the sky. Before he could hit the ground, Rosaria caught him by the neck. Her grip felt stronger than all but the largest monsters he had encountered, and she snapped his neck with the slightest effort.

  When Vincent didn’t die right away, confusion momentarily distracted him from the fear and pain. When he noticed his mana reserve draining at a rapid rate, he remembered he still had Warro’s Necklace equipped. Since he’d used the coat’s mana for two of his Voidfires, Vincent knew the necklace would keep him alive for maybe half a minute, assuming Rosaria didn’t kill him first.

  A laugh that sounded almost innocent escape the angel’s lips when she realized Vincent hadn’t perished yet. Her free hand tugged at his collar, revealing the necklace.

  With no other way of fighting back, Vincent’s kicked helplessly against the angel until she sliced off his legs with a white beam of energy that emanated from her finger. His Density Shield had only slowed the beam for a split-second, mostly at the bone where it was strongest.

  She’s too powerful. Does she even have a weakness?

  Vincent tried to True Scan the angel, but her aura of world magic was so strong it seemed to push back the negative energy and nullify his spell.

  I can’t do anything against her—I can’t even touch her. Would she just kill me already?

  The angel tilted her head in curiosity, then used her free hand to touch the tears building below his eyes. She stared at the wetness on the tip of her pale finger for several seconds as if mesmerized.

  Vincent felt the last of his mana draining away, and his muscles eased at the thought of death. However, before the necklace’s power wore off, Rosaria’s attention snapped back to him. She reached a glowing hand into his chest, ripped out his heart, then released him from her grip.

  Vincent’s broken, dismembered body plummeted toward the branch, but his eyes stayed locked on Rosaria as he fell. He almost thought he saw her smile crack into a frown as his heart crumbled to dust in her hands.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Daiglass 0167.3076.0775.0729…

  Vincent had panicked breaths as he sat up in the bed. His pounding heartbeat slowed when he realized he was back in the house at the Garden.

  I left the daiglass shard up north. Did Monika retrieve it?

  Through the open door came the sound of humming, and the Ranger nervously stood and crept down the hall to find the NPC making stew in the kitchen. All the baskets that had been empty were once again filled with rare fruits and vegetables.

  “You’re back?” Vincent asked.

  “Oh, you’re awake!” Monika said, smiling at him. “I didn’t want to disturb you, but it seemed like you were having a terrible nightmare. You’ve been tossing and turning for hours.”

  “I wasn’t asleep, I just respawned,” he replied, growing somewhat tired of the NPC’s act. “You understand that. I know you do.”

  The NPC ignored him and continued to happily stir the stew.

  “You’re in a good mood,” he said, grabbing food from the basket to add to his inventory.

  “The Voice of the World-Tree talked to me again,” Monika said. “It said you’ll be staying here with me after all!”

  Vincent glared at the NPC. “I’m not staying here. I’ll keep fighting that angel until I win.”

  Monika tasted the stew. “Ooh, this is good! Try it.”

  “No thanks. I don’t have time. I told you, I’m going to fight Rosaria.”

  “You can try,” she replied with a cheerful tone. “The Voice says you won’t get past her. I’d hate for you to get hurt out there, but I know I can’t stop you—you’re too stubborn.”

  Vincent left without saying another word. He raced outside, then headed north. Even though his ether supply in storage was nearing empty, he used what he had to refill Silpher’s Coat. As he neared the world’s stem, he temporarily boosted his stats with food and readied Heliostorm in his hand.

  A flash of light appeared in the sky, and Vincent Scanned it out of reflex.

  Lance of Longing – Mana Usage: Extreme | The user creates an unbelievably powerful lance made from a hundred layers of compacted world magic. When this spell strikes a target, it explodes, spreading its righteous power out in a one-mile radius that is far more powerful at the epicenter. However, it only causes damage to objects, monsters, or players the user has deemed to be targets.

  Vincent cast Zero Field on himself, gliding away from that spot as an intense white light streaked across the sky. The spell struck a few meters from the spot he’d been standing moments ago, and then an explosion of white light engulfed everything in sight.

  Intense heat, pressure, and concussive forces battered Vincent for several seconds. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the thunderous explosion, see anything besides whiteness, or feel anything but pain. When the attack passed, he found himself collapsed in a crevice between petals, several hundred meters from where he’d been previously. His clothes had burned away, and his flesh had melted halfway to the bone.

  With barely any strength left in him, Vincent struggled to equip a mega-elixir. However, his eyes caught sight of another flicker of light as it headed for him.

  You’ve died. Respawning at Daiglass 0167.3076.0775.0729…

  Vincent sat up in the bed and stared at the wall with a blank expression.

  She’s too powerful. This game wasn’t kidding when it labeled S-Plus as Impossibly Dangerous. There’s no way I could beat her—not ever. I’d need an army of people all at my level of strength to have a chance. It’s like she’s designed to be invincible. Why is she even guarding this world? No one could possibly get past her. It’s like she’s here just to keep Monika and me from leaving.

  “Soup’s ready!” Monika’s voice called from the kitchen.

  ARKUS really wants me to stay here with her—but I can’t. I can’t do this again. She’s not my wife. She’s not the real Monika. I won’t live in fairy-tale land with a fake. There has to be a way past Rosaria.

  Vincent glanced at his inventory, looking over his soulbound items. His eyes fell on the Builder’s Tome, and Vincent equipped it, then flipped to the pages in the back that showed the Jump Gates.

  Jump Gates

  Basic (200,000 BP) – The most common type of Jump Gate.

  Mini (100,000 BP) – A small-sized gate that can only take the user a distance up to three Jump Crystals away. Players cannot link crystals when using this gate.

  Landing Pad (75,000 BP) – Players can jump to this platform, but they cannot use it to launch themselves.

  More types available at Grade 3.

  If I had unlocked Grade 3 when I was on Lavrin, I might’ve been able to build a special Jump Gate to get me off this world. Like those far-reaching gates in the Kai Run. That’s exactly what I need! But it would cost me a million BP to unlock Grade 3. There’s no more enemies to farm except the thralls, which would go extinct if I killed them, and the world boss. I don’t even know if Corrin will respawn, and it probably wouldn’t drop gild since it’s a larva. If I was super lucky, it’d drop something alchemic like soma, but that still wouldn’t give me anywhere near enough.

  “Vincent, the soup is ready!” Monika called again, that time with a melodic tone.

  Vincent let out a deep, long sigh as the realization fell over him. I only have one option. I’ll have to play the long game.

  After grabbing some items from storage, he crept into the hall. He stepped into the kitchen just as Monika called his name again.

  “That sure smells good!” he said, forcing a friendly smile as he sat at the table.

  Monika stared at him, almost in disbelief at first, but then she grinned back at him and poured them both soup. She brought the bowls to the table and sat down to eat.

  Vincent shoveled a spoonful into his mouth and swallowed it. “Wow, this is great!”

  “Is it really?” Monika asked, looking excit
ed. She gulped down a couple of mouthfuls herself before trying to eat too much at once, then covered her mouth in embarrassment. She choked it down, then shyly stared at Vincent. “Oh, where are my manners? I’m so sorry.”

  “You’re fine,” Vincent said, trying to comfort her with a smile. “It’s kind of cute, actually. Reminds me of my wife.”

  Monika’s cheeks turned red as she stared down at her soup. “I—I know you’re going to go fight Rosaria again, but would it be possible for you to help me in the Garden first?”

  “I’d love to, actually,” Vincent said. “Although, I don’t think I’ll be fighting her again. Not for a long time.”

  Monika’s eyes widened as she looked up at him. “You’re staying?”

  “Maybe for a while. I was thinking, this world must have untapped resources underground, right? Maybe I can set up a mine down there that branches out from the well, then build me a forge. I might even wait until the bosses respawn so I can collect their items.”

  “Yes, yes! That’s an excellent idea! I could help you.”

  “Well, I prefer my solitude when working. However, I’ll be sure to visit plenty to help you in the Garden—I could use that Hero’s Boon, after all. It’ll double my experience gains, which will be helpful since I won’t have monsters to fight during most of my downtime. At the very least, I can get a little stronger while mining, forging, and practicing spells during the decade-wait for the bosses to respawn.”

  An uncertain expression crossed Monika’s face, but she nodded in agreement. “That… makes sense. Are you only doing this until you’re ready to fight Rosaria again?”

  “No, there’s no point. She’s too far above me. I get the feeling she doesn’t normally guard this world. She’s like an endgame boss or something—a monster that a full team of max-level players would fight after centuries of preparation. So no, I won’t try to fight her again. I just like self-improvement and working toward goals. That was something my wife really liked about me.”

  Monika’s face changed back into a happy grin. “I think I like that about you too.”