World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  Quinn made a face like she was trying to decide whether or not to punch Ezra, but then she relaxed. “Fine, whatever. Let’s go fight the Gods.”

  Vincent sent out team invitations to everyone not already on the list, and Jim gave Ezra a rune leaflet to apply to the guild.

  “What do we already know about the Elder Gods?” Vincent asked his team.

  “Firstly, you can’t set Checkpoint Crystals on their worlds,” Fynn said. “If you place one outside their instance, it’ll be disabled after you enter. That’s the most important thing to note. Also, if two teams go to the same world at once, they end up in separate instances and fighting different copies of the same boss.”

  “Most of them are really big,” River said. “Like, way bigger than Rethin, and they’re all classed as S-Plus.”

  “None of our attacks do any lasting damage, either,” Quinn noted. “I made my Negative Wave specifically to use against them, and even that didn’t work.”

  “Same with my Celestial End,” Ezra said. “I thought for sure it’d let me kill one or two, but they always recovered.”

  “Cause all of you were going about it the wrong way,” Jim said.

  Everyone except Jeanie turned their heads to him.

  “Do you know something we don’t?” Fynn questioned.

  “Yeah, don’t you remember when I finished True Scan a few decades back?” Jim asked. “Everyone begged me to use it on the Elder Gods. I told you at the time I didn’t see anything useful, but that was kind of a lie.”

  “Jim, are you serious?” Quinn said. “You had important information and you didn’t tell us?”

  “I wanted to wait for Vince,” Jim explained. “If I’d told you what I knew, you’d have kept dragging me back to fight those things when we honestly didn’t stand a chance.”

  “Did you know he was holding out on us?” Ryker asked Jeanie.

  Jeanie nodded her head. “Of course. I agreed not to say anything cause I knew how badly he wanted to wait for Vince.”

  “Well, I’m here now,” Vincent said. “What’d you see with True Scan?”

  “Will Points,” Jim said.

  Everyone stared at him.

  “That’s it?” River said. “Not going to elaborate, Gramps?”

  “They have a bar labeled Will Points,” Jim explained. “That’s all I got from it. Our best efforts at fighting them only knocked out fifty points from a thousand.”

  “Interesting,” Ezra said. “I always assumed they either had a weakness or a hidden mechanic that determined how many times they could restore themselves. I never considered it’d come down to breaking their willpower.”

  “Willpower?” Devon questioned. “Are those things even intelligent? They just seemed like big, unstoppable monstrosities to me. How would you crack the will of something like that?”

  “Those monsters are more than they appear,” Ezra said. “They’re every bit as intelligent as the angels, even if they don’t seem like it at first glance.”

  “Can we pick one of the six and get started?” Fynn asked. “My vote’s on Aefa.”

  “I’d rather start with Lamat,” Ryker said.

  “Oh sure, let’s just start with the hardest one,” River said, sarcastically.

  “I don’t think Lamat is the hardest one,” Quinn said. “He just has a lot of fight in him. If anything, I’d rather start with him because he feels the most like an actual boss fight. Some of the others are a lot weirder.”

  “Lamat it is!” Vincent said, stepping onto the Jump Gate. “Which world is his?”

  “The farthest one,” Xan said, pointing at the distant world covered in a green instance fog. “It’ll only take one Jump Crystal per person, but we have to all activate them together.”

  Vincent readied his crystal, then waited as a few of the party members touched the nearby daiglass wall to swap items. After a minute, everyone joined him on the platform and activated their crystals.

  Vincent expected the Jump Gate to lift him off the ground as it always did, but he instead saw a flash of green light before Edgelight disappeared from his view.

  Chapter 21

  Vincent noticed a new world materializing around him, although the Jump Gate still looked like the one he’d been standing on moments ago. Bluish dirt and rock appeared across the distance, but based on the curvature the world seemed smaller than the Challenge Worlds. The air felt strangely thick, and his movements were sluggish in it, almost like he was moving through water.

  When Vincent stared at the sky, two things caught his attention. First, there was an instance fog that creating a bubble around the planet. The second—and more striking—thing he noticed was the titanic serpent circling the world overhead. Smooth scales covered the beast, and feathery wings hung off its side every quarter mile or so. As Vincent stared, struggling to find the creature’s head, he realized it’s body actually overlapped itself several times as it wrapped around the entire planet.

  Vincent stood in awe of the creature, his mind going blank.

  “You okay, Vince?” Jim asked.

  “Yeah, I’m—I’m fine,” he mumbled in response. “That thing is just insanely large.”

  “I mean, it is an Elder God,” Jim said, grinning. “What’d you expect?”

  “Jim, don’t act like you weren’t shocked the first time you saw Lamat,” Jeanie said. “If I recall, you spent about five minutes cursing under your breath before you finally moved.”

  “Alright, fair enough,” Jim said. “Vince, we’ll give you four minutes to get yourself together—since, you know, you’re stronger than I am. Then we need to figure out how to kill this thing.”

  “I don’t need four minutes,” Vincent replied. “Let me just gather some intel first.”

  Vincent cast True Scan on the Elder God circling the planet, but all he saw was a flood of scrambled information. Only a couple of lines came to him in clear detail.

  Lamat the World Serpent (Elder God) – Monster Class: S+ | Ageless | Sex: Male | Respawn Time: ??? | Personality: Vindictive

  Will Points: 1,000/1,000

  “True Scan didn’t show me any weaknesses or resistances,” Vincent noted.

  “Yeah, the Elder Gods are different from the other creatures in this game,” Jim told him. “Use Scan on the world too, if you haven’t already.”

  Vincent complied, but the only text that appeared was Lamat’s again—and without the Will Points. “The world doesn’t have a name? Is Lamat and his domain one and the same? That might explain why True Scan is limited here.”

  “Bingo,” Jim said. “It took me a while to figure that out. You can think of the world serpent as Lamat’s avatar. In actuality, everything bound to the instance is part of him. The ground, the sky, and probably even the few plants you see.”

  “Fascinating,” Ezra said. “How does one fight an entire instance?”

  “I broke one before with my void powers,” Vincent said. “Although, I’m not sure that would apply here. We probably need an item dropped by the world serpent to reach Xenith. Breaking the instance should only be our last resort if we can’t figure out anything else.”

  “Let’s start with our original strategy, then Vince and Jim can use True Scan to see how many points we knock off,” Quinn said. “We’ll split into teams that take cover around the various caves and valleys on this world, then attack Lamat with ranged spells like Mana Missile. Ezra, I’m sure you can bombard him endlessly with your world magic birds.”

  “That’s exactly why I developed that spell,” Ezra said. “I spent six months hiding in caves and attacking him like that, but in the end, I still didn’t make any progress.”

  “Yeah, but this time you have a team,” Quinn said. “With enough of us together, we might break his will. While most of our ground fighters use hit-and-hide tactics, our floatier people can form a sky team to attack him up close.”

  “That’d only be Xan and me, right?” Vincent questioned.

  “You forgot about Gravity
Bounce,” Jim said. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the air here is so thick it almost feels like a liquid. You can already jump several times higher and float. With Gravity Bounce and its upgrades, I can stay airborne for a very long time.”

  “And I picked up Gravity Bounce decades ago,” Quinn said.

  “Don’t forget I have Ice Jet,” Zhang added. “You can include me in the sky team.”

  “You guys can try that, and I’ll lead the ground team,” Ezra said, staring at the remaining party members.

  “Why do you get to be in charge?” Jeanie questioned.

  “I’m a master tactician,” Ezra replied. “If you all permit me to use my Puppet Strings, I can perfectly coordinate the ground team.”

  “Hell nah,” River said. “I’ll lead the ground team without any weird puppet stuff.”

  Fynn donned a mithril helm shaped like a wolf’s head, then cleared his throat. “I would prefer that either Ryker or myself lead the ground team.”

  “Well, I vote for River,” Athena said.

  “And I vote that I should,” Jeanie added.

  Devon looked around worriedly, then glanced at Vince. “They’re starting at it again.”

  Vincent sighed and stepped forward. “Let’s not argue. No one needs to lead the ground team. You’re all highly skilled players capable of making your own decisions in the heat of battle. I’ve fought with or against most of you, so I know you don’t need constant guidance. Just split off in different directions, try to stay alive, and spam the serpent with attacks once we give you a signal.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Fynn said, heading off by himself.

  The rest of the group followed his lead and all went in their own direction. Once the ground team had left, Vincent cast Zero Field on himself and levitated toward the sky. He found it barely took any mana to keep him afloat, and it almost felt like he was swimming as he moved through the thick air. Jim and Quinn followed, leaping off of Gravity Webs. Xan summoned her angelic wings and took flight, and Zhang propelled himself upward with Ice Jets.

  They ascended into the upper atmosphere and neared Lamat’s mountainous underbelly. The building-sized scales that covered his body looked thinner and smoother on his underside, and Vincent figured that would be the easiest point of attack.

  >Vincent: Ground team, attack now. That’ll get his attention before we strike.

  In the distance, he saw the flying specks of Mana Missiles. Ezra’s world magic creations moved slower than the missiles, only reaching Lamat after the first wave of explosions flashed along different lengths of the world serpent. However, when the multitude of white falcons struck at once, they created an explosion big enough that Vincent could feel the wind from the shockwave even though he was several miles away.

  The world serpent unleashed a long bellow, and the full length of his body began to twist and coil in the air. Vincent and the rest of the sky team took that as their sign to attack.

  Void spells, world magic, and exploding spears made of ice bombarded Lamat’s underbelly. The Elder God writhed in pain, and his bellow turned into a ferocious howl. They’d dug deep with their attacks, unleashing a waterfall of blood that would’ve dwarfed Niagara Falls.

  Vincent saw the blood only fell about halfway to the ground before splitting and floating across the landscape in red showers. By the time the team got off their second round of attacks, the sky had turned slightly reddish, and Vincent could taste iron in his mouth.

  Many of the giant scales on the Elder God’s side lifted up, revealing pores as big as cave tunnels. Bubbles charged with world magic flew out from the pores and scattered across the sky.

  “Xan and I will worry about the bubbles!” Jim shouted, sending Void Crows to pop the nearest ones.

  When Jim’s attack struck one, the explosion that followed looked like a concussive blast about thirty meters across with world magic glittering throughout the wave. As dozens of bubbles homed in on the sky team, Jim rapidly sniped the attacks from the sky. Xan used Seventh Heaven to pop a few more, then summoned barriers to stop explosions from the ones nearby.

  Vincent, Quinn, and Zhang focused on drilling into Lamat’s body with more spells, only stopping when they needed to drink potions. During those brief moments, Vincent eyed the landscape. The majority of the bubbles had spread out and were traveling through valleys and entering caves like they were trying to find people. He still saw Mana Missiles from the ground team flying into Lamat, but he noticed an increasing number of bubbles flying toward their sources.

  As Vincent prepared to attack, he spotted a shadow moving across the world below. He turned to see that Lamat’s head had finally circled around the planet, seeking out the cause of his pain. They’d tunneled about halfway through his body by that point, so Vincent used True Scan to check if they’d lowered his will.

  Will Points: 1,000/1,000

  >Vincent: His will isn’t breaking at all. Also, he’s coming our way!

  Lamat unhinged his jaw, stretching it open to such an unbelievable length Vincent would’ve sworn the Elder God was getting ready to swallow a city.

  >Alexandria: Vince, take cover!

  Vincent wanted to ask where he would even take cover, but then he saw his teammates circling around Lamat’s side. Before he could follow, a light caught his eye as it flickered across the serpent’s belly. The light flew back around under one of the visible sections of Lamat, moving even faster than before, then circled around the planet a few more times.

  That’s almost like… a railgun!

  Despite Alexandria’s warning, Vincent started toward cover a little too late. The light reached Lamat’s open mouth, and a shockwave of world magic exited at hypersonic speed. The wave struck Vincent before he reached cover and sent him hurtling across the sky. His Density Shield allowed him to absorb the powerful blow, but the momentum carried him at high speed over the planet. He watched mountains, valleys, and crags zip below him as he tried to use Zero Field to slow himself. When he was finally able to slow his momentum, he realized the enormous shockwave had carried him miles away.

  He’ll probably kill off the sky team if I don’t do something quick.

  Vincent flew toward the nearest section of the world serpent, equipped Heliostorm, and cast Greater Voidfire. The hammer increased the size of the blast, putting a cavernous hole in the Elder God’s belly. After drinking several ultra-ethers, Vincent cast the spell again, using the slag remains of Heliostorm for one more attack. He struck the previous hole, tunneling deeper into the serpent’s body.

  Vincent refilled his mana as the sky turned red with Lamat’s blood. He’d expected his attacks to draw the God’s attention, but he could still see Lamat trying to maneuver around himself to get the sky team.

  When the Ranger turned back to the wound he’d carved into the beast, he noticed its flesh was already regenerating. Vincent unleashed another Greater Voidfire, then pulled mana from Silpher’s Coat to release a quick follow-up blast.

  The Elder God’s body shuddered across his entire length, causing the entire world to tremble. Vincent glanced at the horizon, where Lamat’s head had somehow opened even wider than before, just before the two halves of his jaw split into an X-shape.

  >Vincent: What’s he doing?

  >Jim: The hell if I know! I’ve never seen him do anything this weird before.

  >Ezra: Now this is interesting. Finally, we’re making progress.

  The split ran down Lamat’s throat and poured out a wave of blood as the tear traveled backward like the railgun attack but in reverse. When the split reached the section beside Vincent, he watched as a skyscraper-size ribcage cracked and opened Lamat’s underbelly. Stringy intestines fell as if someone had unleashed an ocean of snakes, but then the severed ends raised into the air, pointing in all directions.

  Every end of every intestinal tract across the world-encircling serpent charged Vaporize simultaneously.

  Vincent peered over the hundreds of intestines hanging nearby as they charg
ed their attacks. With his high Perception, he had time to spot a gap in their trajectories and launch himself into the dead zone with Zero Field. As he reached the one safe spot close to Lamat’s belly, hundreds of nearby Vaporizes went off at once.

  Vincent ignored the waves of heat and pressure, but he watched the horizon as the entire length of Lamat’s exposed intestines bombarded the world below. He couldn’t even imagine how many Vaporizes the boss had fired at that moment. A thousand? Ten thousand? Vincent’s only reassurance was that the attacks seemed wild and desperate, so he used True Scan to see if they’d made any progress.

  Will Points: 999/1,000

  >Vincent: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’ve only knocked off one point.

  >Fynn: Just one, and he’s doing all this?

  Ezra’s raspy laugh sounded over the chat.

  >Ezra: What marvelous destruction! I was starting to worry this would be too easy.

  >Athena: One of those attacks got River. Will she be able to go with us to the final world if she doesn’t survive all the Elder God fights?

  >Jeanie: Worry about that later. Lamat’s attacking again.

  Vincent watched the stringy intestines turn in different directions as they began charging more Vaporizes. He floated upward, heading into the exposed insides of the Elder God so that he wouldn’t get struck. Waves of heat and pressure seemed to move through the serpent’s stomach right before spells fired, putting thousands of holes into the planet.

  >Vincent: Ground team, hide and try to stay alive! Sky team, take cover inside of Lamat or above him.

  >Alexandria: Zhang and Quinn tried to fly above him, but Lamat blasted them. I don’t think either survived. Jim and I took cover inside his stomach.

  >Jim: I’m going to get sick if I stay in here much longer.

  >Vincent: There’s a lot of empty space in here now that his intestines are hanging outside of his body. I’d almost guess that players are supposed to take refuge here, but most people can’t fly like us.

  >Jim: Oh, oh! I think I got it. Vince, you might not have seen it, but Lamat’s end connects to the planet itself. One of our old theories was to tunnel down there to see if he connects to something, but the entire core is made of unrefined basteel. It’d take forever even with void attacks, and he eventually found and bombed our location with those bubbles.