It was fifteen minutes before a guard captain exited the building and had a short discussion with Lord Soroush. As expected, they’d found nothing inside. Then all the attention was turned on the visiting vampires. Some were even lesser nobles, but none of them had the gall that I did.
After the interviews bore no fruit, Lord Soroush flew over to the front of the building and turned to face everyone. Looking down on everyone from twenty feet in the air, he addressed the crowd. “It seems the thief has already slipped from my grasp. I apologize for any offense this may have caused.”
I was so relieved, I turned and gave the woman holding on to me a warm smile.
“Before you leave, there’s one more thing,” Lord Soroush said, holding up his hand overhead.
Glancing back, I saw that there was something he was holding between his thumb and index finger. It was a Master Ring.
There was no disguising my reaction this time as my face stiffened and eyes turned into saucers.
He gave no more warning. A piercing silver light gleamed into life and covered the area in light. There came a strange glow from my hand. Looking down, the Master Ring that had integrated itself with my body was twinkling like a tiny star.
The girl holding me loosened her grip as she noticed the light. That, at least, was a blessing in disguise.
“You?” Lord Soroush growled.
With a shrug, I threw out my hand and cast Smog in his direction. Then with a quick wink to the girl, I cast it at her feet.
“Run,” Shamash commanded. Where had he been all this time?
As the woman screamed, the smoke had already started to fill the area, and I’d retrieved my arm and was already running. I cast Smog like a madman, filling the courtyard with a thick cloud of smoke in a few seconds.
Once I was undercover, I switched directions. Not toward the town’s exit, but toward the side of the manor.
I felt a chill in the air even before I heard Lord Soroush cry out. In the next instant, there was a blast of ice that solidified no more than ten feet away. Screams filled the air from every direction.
Immediately, I cast Crystalized Fog and turned the entire Smog cloud into a solid state except for the immediate area around me. Funneling mana into Smog like a madman, I dropped the Crystalized Fog a few seconds later, then shot a giant orb of dark smoke into the sky like a rocket. When it went off close to the cavern ceiling, I had already darted behind the manor.
Catching a glimpse of my handiwork, I saw the massive cloud still growing and it fell toward the city below. I also saw that Lord Soroush had flown to the center of the courtyard and was casting large waves of Ice Mana at the ground that froze everyone that got in its path. I didn’t know if the spell was deadly or just something to stop movement, but it was clear that almost everyone that had been standing there was already an ice statue. The most obvious way I could tell was that the screams had stopped.
I scrambled to think of what to do next. If I could make it into the city before they examined everyone stuck in ice, stealth was still a possibility. The problem was, to even try such a thing I’d need to go around the back of the building and give this place a wide berth to make it work. There was no way Lord Soroush wouldn’t have already figured out that I wasn’t here by the time I made any progress. The other option was to flee with everything I had, but could I really outrun a level 60,000 vampire and his personal army?
The Smog would not last forever, so if I were going to go, now was the time. I might as well go all out. Let’s see if he can catch 8x Primordial Cat with 100,000 Strength and Dexterity. With only my Mind Buff still active, Primordial Cat Form began filling me with raging heat. Even before I’d fully funneled the 15,350,000 MPM into the form, I’d torn forward into the cloud of Smog. I was through the courtyard and plunged into the smoke-filled city in less than a breath.
Lord Soroush’s voice boomed, “He’s in the city!”
I could feel the mana being disturbed behind me as dozens of people took chase. That didn’t mean they were fast enough to catch me.
With Mana Sight at full power, I strutted through the city like a volcanic eruption. Using the walls of buildings as much as the city street itself, I gouged dark-steel and brick. I made the vampires following me look like they were flying backwards.
Then I felt that frozen aura from before except this time it had grown a hundred times more dangerous. I didn’t have to wait and see what was about to happen. I’d suspected it before, but now there was no doubt. Lord Soroush had been sent to this city for one purpose, and that was to wait for the fool stupid enough to return with the missing Master Ring. I was that fool and was about to experience the wrath of a level 60,000 monster.
I kept funneling more and more mana into Primordial Cat Form, but as my stats continued to ramp up, remaining in the streets and even using the sides of the buildings was detrimental to the amount of speed I could generate. Even if I would lose the cover that the buildings and my Smog provided, I didn’t have any other choice.
Launching myself upward, I landed on top of a pyramid-shaped roof of dark-steel. With all of my strength I drove myself on as the very foundation of the building cracked.
My restrictions lessened and my speed soared. Crimson Incubus Form couldn’t even touch the ridiculous rate at which I moved.
I didn’t jump but sprinted across the tops of buildings, and once I reached the halfway point and the natural wall surrounding the city neared, I leaped toward it. Landing without slowing down, I accelerated across the wall even more with a smooth surface to run across. Only then did the aura of the ice demon behind me start to fade.
When I’d run through the city earlier in my Vampire Form, it had taken me minutes. In my ascending Primordial Cat Form, I’d made it to the city’s exit in less than ten seconds.
Before I could even breathe a sigh of relief, I felt the energy behind me explode. As I scaled the hill that led out of the valley in which the city sat, I turned back to see a liquid ice avatar rocketing toward me at a speed I couldn’t match.
Immediately, I looked forward to consider my options and what advantages the terrain might provide, but then I saw a tiny head peeking over one of the boulders at our basecamp about a quarter mile away. She wore a look of extreme dismay.
My choices vanished like smoke beneath tornadic winds. Even if I were allowed, it was highly unlikely I could truly outrun Lord Soroush. With Jasmine in tow, it was completely impossible.
Not for an instant did I regret saving her.
Digging my claws into the stone under my feet, I spun while skidding and brought myself to a complete stop. My Human Form was already taking shape, and the glimmer of Solar pierced through my flesh. Like a torch of light, I caught fire.
Lord Soroush was already catching up. His entire form had a glassy sheen like polished ice. He dragged both his arms behind him with perilous concentrations of mana funneled into them. I was going to be too late.
The Immaculate Light Magic Focal Crystal appeared in my right palm. My Solar Form bloomed like a phoenix in the darkness of night.
I’d used over 2,500,000 MP for my short little trip with Primordial Cat. I had 52,000,000 MP left.
When Lord Soroush was less than a hundred feet away, I caught a glimpse of the army behind him. Thousands of vampires had flown up to give chase. Even though most of them were a mile away, they would be here in less than a minute. If somehow I was able to quickly defeat Lord Soroush and this large group was only made up of level 20,000 soldiers without their higher level captains, this was still not a fight I could win.
“Light Mage?” Lord Soroush roared. “Your scourge must die!”
With everything I had, I channeled Artificial Sun through my Focal Crystal, but nothing happened. It felt more like it was filtering or blocking my mana. Not enhancing it.
Lord Soroush came to a stop less than thirty feet away. With both his hands flung back, I felt his mana build. It was like he held an avalanche in either hand. Whether I was a Lig
ht Mage or not, he didn’t fear me. A level 16,000 against his 60,000 levels’ worth of experience was like him stepping on a half-dead roach. The worst I could do is dirty his boot.
I didn’t stop pushing all the mana I had into the Focal Crystal. Reaching my normal channeling limit, I didn’t even think, but broke through. My body atomized into Light particles. I saw the stream of light rushing through my arm and into the egg-sized orb that I held. It was glowing brighter than I was.
My death came for me like two icy comets as Lord Soroush threw his hands forward.
I closed my eyes with only a glimmer of hope that Shamash would save me as he’d promised.
The tiny crystal in my hand chose that moment to rupture like an exploding sun. The beam that shot forward swallowed Lord Soroush as it gushed toward the army behind him. I hadn’t even aimed Artificial Sun, but in that moment, I directed it as best I could to appear in the midst of the army to hopefully kill and injure as many as I could.
As for channeling, I didn’t stop. Any moment, Lord Soroush’s ice would tear me from the sky. I needed to throw as much mana into this one spell as I possibly could, so I couldn’t dare to slow down. Instead, I pushed even harder.
Like the flip of a switch, the light went out.
There was no sound or fear, only rest.
I had no idea how long I was unconscious, but suddenly the light returned and filled the entire world.
Opening my eyes, some shapes started to appear. Feeling something hard, I dragged my fingers against what was below. It was the stone ground. I’d fallen to my knees.
Looking up, I reactivated Solar Form to gain access to Light Vision. Hope rose up inside my chest as my Artificial Sun came into view. It was the size of ten city blocks and was in orbit in the midst of where the army had been.
Glancing at my Character Sheet, I saw that I’d used every ounce of my mana. More than 52,000,000 MP. That was why I’d blacked out. It was from a moment of mana sickness…
I jerked my head to the side to see a missile of ice that spanned more than two hundred feet behind me. To my other side, there was a second missile that was even larger. Just the stream of mana that had rushed from the Focal Crystal had been powerful enough to split Lord Soroush’s spell in two, or at least redirect the mana in both his hands.
Coming to my feet, I walked forward to get a better view. With a Master Light Orb in each hand, I began draining them to replenish my mana to be ready when what was left of the enemy arrived.
I desperately looked on the ground and in the air for Lord Soroush but there was no sign of him except for the colossal ice spikes behind me.
I jolted to a stop. A scream of anguish pierced its way into my hearing like a well-placed arrow. It hadn’t come from the air where my Artificial Sun was, but the city below it.
The next wail that came wasn’t alone. Thousands of people cried out at once.
Looking up, I realized my Artificial Sun hadn’t stopped growing. It was more than twice the size it had been just a moment ago and was only getting larger.
I moved forward to stop it, but a voice sent a tremor through my head. “Stop!”
Turning back, Shamash was standing right by me in his lich form and didn’t seem to be affected by my Light Magic at all. How long had he been there?
“You are not capable of stopping a spell of this magnitude,” he said in a more level tone. “Not only will you be unable to stop it, but it will be capable of harming even you while in your Solar Form. Many spells don’t list higher tiers, but with enough mana, some can evolve to reach a completely different plane. This can’t be compared to the Artificial Sun spell that you’re used to casting. It’s called Scorching Sun and hasn’t been seen for a thousand years. Once it reaches a certain magnitude, it will become self-sustaining for a short period of time and even grow on its own.”
As it swelled, the cries from the city only increased and intensified. Like the billowing cloud of an atom bomb, it neared the cavern’s ceiling and threatened to fill the entire alcove in which the city sat.
The Light Orbs fell from my hands before they were even half drained. I was trembling as I watched it continue to expand and draw near to the tops of the city’s buildings. Before it was even a hundred feet from the tallest peak, those buildings near the center of the city began to disintegrate into ash.
The wailing traveled as the destruction spread until the only voices left were coming from the outskirts of the city.
Seeing a chance, I started to move. Perhaps I could still save a few people.
“They are already dead,” Shamash said.
Spinning to face him I shrieked at him with a voice I didn’t recognize, “You knew this would happen. That’s why you stressed that I keep the Focal Crystal ready.”
“You’re giving me too much credit. I will admit to hoping you could use the crystal to gain a large sum of experience, but I also thought there was a small chance of it happening. This… I never imagined. Such a scene may seem to fit my original desire for you to use this realm to gain experience, but with what I know now of your personality and character, this is the last method I’d choose.”
The momentary strength that anger gave me burned up with the Scorching Sun and I fell to my knees before dropping to my rear to sit there and watch the spell reach its apex. Not only had it reached the tops of the buildings, but it had swallowed the entire middle of the city. The buildings around it weren’t much better. Only those on the very perimeter of the city remained standing.
The Scorching Sun continued at its apex for a few minutes before its energy slowly started to flare out of control like a dying flame.
I dropped my Solar Form and let the heat it created bathe me in second degree burns that immediately healed because of my regeneration rate. I’d hoped feeling something would lessen the pain that came with murdering five to six hundred thousand people, but it lacked such power.
After the spell was gone I didn’t move. Streams of tears trailed down my face, but tears of blood wouldn’t even be enough to begin making up for evil I’d just committed.
Shamash didn’t speak again.
I just sat there with my legs stretched out in front of me and my arms lying haphazardly in my lap. I traced the shape of the Scorching Sun that had carved massive perfectly round valleys into the walls and ceiling. But mostly I tried to remember what the city had looked like before it had been utterly destroyed.
As immoral as the couple was, I remembered the vampire woman and her husband who thought my wicked proposal was a life changing blessing. I remembered the shopkeepers and their clerks who were thankful to the point of smashing their faces into their own countertops while bowing to show how much they appreciated my patronage. The boy who bumped into me who had been ready to let me punish him for his offense. Every single one of them had been alive half an hour ago, but now they were all dead.
Pulling up my Character Sheet, I saw what I already knew would be there.
Level: 29,641
I’d been well rewarded for their deaths. I closed it immediately and didn’t even think of the stat points I now had to spend. I’d reach 100,000 Wisdom with the click of a finger, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it or care.
There was the scuffing of feet behind me, but I didn’t bother looking. If it were danger then the lich would say something.
Only when Jasmine sat down next to me did I turn my head. She didn’t say anything, but just curled her knees to her chest and looked out over what had been her home.
“I’m sorry,” I said with a snot-filled nose.
She looked up at me and held my gaze for the longest she ever had. My human form didn’t seem to bother or surprise her. Then she simply turned back to watching the scorched earth below.
We both sat there for an unknown period of time.
When I finally got up to leave, I found the Mana Orbs where I’d dropped them and prepared to drain them as I walked. But then I saw the Focal Crystal on the ground where it had fall
en when I’d blacked out. Instead of being crystal clear it had become as foggy as Smog. I was about to stomp it into pieces when I stopped.
It being found would immediately implicate the Illuminated Cathedral. I’d hang on to it as a token so that I’d never forget.
I was finally heading home. I’d thought I’d gained an understanding of what Aeris must be going through after finding out that vampires weren’t necessarily evil incarnate. I was wrong. I’d killed those first groups of vampires when I believed them to be evil. Aeris, however, was killing prisoners of the succubi knowing that they were innocent, or at least not deserving of death. She did it because they would die anyway, and she couldn’t think of any other method of gaining power quickly so that she could protect the others.
Soon, Aeris, this nightmare will be over. I kept telling myself that but secretly knew that it was something that we could never forget.
Chapter 39 – Making Friends
I’d originally been thinking that I was going to leave Jasmine in a vampire city friendly to her race and lacking slavery, but no longer. I was heading home and nothing else would turn me from my path.
The petite dark elf vampire in her blue dress rode atop my Embar as I flew at her side in my Crimson Incubus Form. Our pace was slow and would remain that way for a few miles as she got used to riding him. Soon enough, I’d quicken the pace. It wasn’t going to be a comfortable trip for her, but I’d still go out of my way to make things easier.
“Do you think you’d struggle with your thirst when you’re around nothing but humans?” I said.
She tore herself from her vacant musing to stare at the floor beneath me. “No, my lord. I was changed when I was twelve and was strictly disciplined until I gained control. I won’t be a problem.”
I felt a swelling of anger at her answer. As amazing as controlling her thirst was, I was sure the discipline she received was of the cruelest sort. “How old are you? If you don’t mind my asking.”
Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series Page 38
