by A F Kay
A notification appeared, and he opened it.
Shing!
You have learned a new skill!
Skill: Detect Trap
Level: 1
Effect: Increase the chance to detect a harmful device by 1% per five seconds of observation.
By the huge smile on Hamma’s face, Ruwen knew she had gained the skill as well.
“My guess is some sort of gas,” Sift said. He squinted as he studied the wall and then pointed at a rock six feet from the floor. “That looks like an ignitor. So probably a flammable gas. Step back.”
Hamma and Ruwen walked to the stairs and tensed to run up them if Sift caused something unexpected to happen.
Sift made sure they were a safe distance away and then walked into the trap. They heard a brief hissing sound.
“Yep, flammable gas,” Sift said, not moving.
A moment later, the rock Sift had pointed at grew bright, and then the air around Sift exploded in flames.
Hamma yelped, but Ruwen just shook his head.
“Show off,” Ruwen said.
Sift stood in the center of the flames, and his Spirit bar ticked upward, while his Health bar never budged. Ruwen was envious of such an insanely powerful defense.
The flames went out and Sift rejoined them.
“How do you do that?” Hamma asked.
Sift looked down. “My parents say it’s because most of my conduits are broken. My center is so full of holes that energy just sinks into it.”
Sift looked so sad that Hamma put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sift. I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just what you do is amazing.”
Sift gave a small smile. “Thank you. I guess I should be happy my disability has a benefit. Imagine how hard it is for Ruwen.”
“What disability?” Ruwen asked.
Sift smiled. “Your face, your personality, your skills, your –”
“Hey!” Ruwen said.
Hamma shook her head. “Blapy was right about you two. Uru is punishing me.”
Chapter 41
Hamma refreshed their food buffs, and then they slowly took the stairs up. The steps ended at a short tunnel, and Sift motioned for them to stay put. Sift eased his way down the tunnel and peeked into the next room.
“Ah, my favorite Step fighter,” said someone in a loud voice. “Have you come to join my kingdom?”
Sift stood up straight, and Ruwen and Hamma joined him.
“And you brought friends!”
The speaker sat on a throne of roughly cut stone. Ruwen couldn’t tell if the human-shaped figure was a shadow or smoke. It had yellow slits for eyes, and Ruwen couldn’t see a nose or mouth.
Ruwen had read about creatures like this, and his Perception filled in some of the details.
Name: Mist Wraith (Level 15 Elite)
Health: 357
Mana: 478
Energy: 122
Spirit: 0
“It has a lot of Mana,” Ruwen said. “Also, a lot of Health.”
“You may address me as Your Majesty, or Grand Upper King, or simply Highness,” the Mist Wraith said.
“See why I call him Talker,” Sift said.
“I’m so pleased you brought company, Master Sift. A beautiful priestess, Uru, if I’m not mistaken, and a tall…are you holding a crowbar?” Talker asked.
Ruwen looked down at his baton and then whispered to Sift. “Do weapons work on him?”
“Not very well,” Sift said. “You just have to keep damaging him until the magic holding him together is used up. It takes a while.”
“Master Sift, have you reconsidered my offer? I will make you my War Marshal. We will march our forces deeper and deeper until the entire pyramid is MINE!” Talker said as he raised a fist into the air.
While Sift responded, Ruwen looked around the room. There didn’t appear to be any other rooms in the building. The roof sloped upward toward the turret and high on the walls were the windows they’d seen from outside. The castle was just one big room.
The granite walls were smooth, just like the outside, and Ruwen wondered if a Stone Mage had been involved. More than likely, Blapy had created this building for Talker, and he had tasked the Goblins with making his roughly formed throne. Ruwen didn’t see anything in the room he could use to help in the coming fight.
“…frowny face?” Talker asked.
Hamma and Sift stared at him.
“What? I wasn’t listening,” Ruwen said.
“Shocking,” Sift said.
“Sift turned him down, so he is offering you the War Marshal position,” Hamma said.
“He didn’t ask you?” Ruwen asked Hamma.
“Oh, he did. You are his last pick,” Sift said.
Hamma punched Sift in the shoulder, and he didn’t move to avoid it.
“What?” Sift asked.
“Be nice,” Hamma said.
Sift rubbed his shoulder in fake pain. “Why am I in trouble? Because Talker is a good judge of ability?”
“Disability, maybe,” Ruwen said.
Ruwen folded the crowbar away and attached the baton to his belt. The weapon wouldn’t be very effective against Talker.
“Well?” Talker asked.
“What are the benefits?” Ruwen asked.
Talker tilted his head back in thought. “Well, you get to work for me, obviously the highlight, and I can –”
“You said he’s held together by Mana, right?” Ruwen whispered.
Sift nodded.
Ruwen opened his Void Band and removed the bag of diamond dust he’d received from defeating Sparkle. He opened it, poured half the bag back into his open Void Band, and then placed the bag back inside.
“What are you doing?” Hamma asked.
“I have an idea,” Ruwen said.
Sift groaned.
“Hey, they’ve been getting better,” Ruwen said.
“What is it?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen whispered to them. “I think Talker is like a mass of Mana cobwebs. Sticking a dagger in him, or an arrow, or even punching him isn’t going to do much. It’s like you’re stabbing a net. I’m guessing our best chance is to damage him over a large area. Diamond dust is hard and sharp, and I’m going to spray twenty-five carats of it into his chest. I might end this in one shot.”
“How are you going to get close enough to do that?” Sift asked.
“That’s the easy part,” Ruwen said. “Hamma, hand me your Goblin hats for the quest.”
“So, what is your decision?” Talker asked.
“Be ready, Sift,” Ruwen said as Hamma handed him the hats. “Hamma, keep a safe distance.”
Ruwen removed his own three Goblin hats and shrunk his Void Band to a circle two inches across. He bent his hand inward to hide the open Void Band from Talker’s view and walked toward the Wraith. Sift followed behind Ruwen.
“Your offer interests me. How many troops do you have?” Ruwen asked as he tossed the Goblin caps toward Talker. “These were easily defeated.”
Talker stood as Ruwen neared. “No need to worry about that. With my leadership and vision, success is assured. With a few conquered levels, we will need to turn recruits away.” Talker’s voice rose. “My victory is inevitable!”
Ruwen was within ten feet of Talker, and he slowed.
“Should I kneel?” Ruwen asked.
Talker’s yellow eyes burned brighter. “Yes, that is appropriate.”
Ruwen turned his head and looked at Sift, who stood five feet away. Sift wore a puzzled expression.
Ruwen signed to him in Shade Speak. Get. Ready.
Turning back to Talker, Ruwen kneeled.
Talker paused and then approached Ruwen until the Wraith stood right above him. The Wraith didn’t make any noise, but the faint smell of sulfur mixed with ammonia made him wince. Ruwen locked eyes with Talker, and for a moment, his thoughts spun in terror. The yellow eye slits bored into Ruwen’s brain.
Ruwen noticed Talker’s Energy had dropped and realized the W
raith might be using some sort of fear spell on him. That was enough to kick Ruwen into action. The longer he waited, the more dangerous this became.
Ruwen raised his left arm, straightened his hand, and channeled twenty Energy to the twenty-five carats of diamond dust in his Void Band.
A cone of dazzling fractured light erupted from Ruwen’s Void Band as the diamond dust refracted the sunlight from the windows above. The spray of tiny diamonds struck the entire chest of the Mist Wraith, and Ruwen smiled.
The Mist Wraith’s Energy dropped in half, all the way down to fifty, and Ruwen watched his diamond dust strike an invisible barrier around Talker and fall to a pile at the Wraith’s feet. The Energy drop before hadn’t been a fear spell at all, but Talker activating his shield.
“That’s new,” Sift said from behind him.
Talker’s arm formed into a sword, and the Wraith swung it at Ruwen’s neck. He threw himself backward, the hours of training with Sift quickening Ruwen’s response and saving his life.
The blade missed, and Talker immediately rotated the sword to plunge it into Ruwen, who now lay on his back. Sift barreled into Talker, knocking the Wraith backward and into the throne.
Ruwen pushed himself to his knees and glanced up to make sure he wouldn’t be attacked. Sift and Talker were on the other side of the throne. Ruwen crawled forward on his knees and opened his Void Band wider. When he reached the pile of diamond dust, he sucked it all back into his Inventory.
Closing his Void Band, he stood. He pictured the symbol for Scrub, and a second later, his hands glowed. Ruwen channeled twenty Energy per second to his hands and then dashed toward the fight.
The hours spent cleaning the armor for Fluffy had accustomed Ruwen to channeling this much Energy to his hands, and he ignored the tingling in his fingers. Talker had altered his sword into a spear, and Sift dodged the thrusts of the Wraith.
Hamma shouted, and lightning arced downward as her Heaven’s Wrath spell completed. The spell spilled around Talker’s shield, and while the Wraith’s Energy dropped to forty-one, he remained undamaged.
Stepping closer to the Wraith, Ruwen slammed both hands into its back, expecting the Wraith’s shield to quickly fail under the onslaught of so much Energy. Instead, a high pitched keening filled the air, and Ruwen was thrown violently backward.
Ruwen slapped his arms behind him and broke his fall, avoiding a concussion. The air smelled sharp, like just after a storm. He had lost eleven Health points, and his hands ached. Talker had been thrown as well, and Sift managed to land a few blows before the Wraith recovered.
Ruwen had felt the resistance of Talker’s shield right before the massive repulsion. The two Energy fields felt like pushing together magnets with the same pole. Useful information that he wished he’d known before. Worse, his two best ideas for breaking down the Wraith’s body had been foiled.
The hard blows Sift landed barely caused Talker’s Energy to decrease. The Wraith’s Energy Regeneration had already started to undo the damage Ruwen had caused with his surprise attack. They needed to overwhelm that shield to break it.
Ruwen stopped channeling Energy to Scrub and moved to the side. He wanted to launch some of the granite boulders he’d collected and didn’t want Sift in the line of fire. The Wraith moved away from Ruwen and Sift.
“Your resistance shows spirit but is futile. Submit to me,” Talker said.
Ruwen and Sift stared at the Wraith, and Hamma came up behind them.
“Between Sparkle’s body and Talker’s shield, my hands are going to hurt tomorrow,” Sift said.
“Whatever that shield is, it blocks my spells,” Hamma said.
“He has decent Energy Regeneration to power that shield, too. We have to overwhelm it,” Ruwen said.
“You have any more ideas?” Sift asked.
“Just one,” Ruwen replied.
Ruwen raised his left arm, opened his Void Band, and pointed at Talker. “Submit to this!”
Just like the stalagmites, he channeled twenty Energy to one of the head-sized granite rocks he’d collected from the wall. The boulder plopped out of Ruwen’s Void Band and struck the rock floor with a loud thump, two feet in front of him.
“That seems about right,” Sift said.
Talker laughed, and Ruwen’s cheeks grew hot. He needed to compensate for the difference in size and weight between the stalagmites and granite.
Embarrassed, Ruwen channeled one hundred Energy to the next stone, which exploded as soon as it met the air. Ruwen’s Health dropped by five and Sift sneezed as a cloud of dust surrounded them.
Talker’s laughter turned hysterical, and Ruwen’s cheeks burned.
“Maybe somewhere in between,” Sift said and then sneezed again.
“I know!” Ruwen said.
Hamma’s voice came from behind them. “Maybe we should rethink this. He knows what you’re trying to do now, and he doesn’t seem worried.”
Hamma was probably right, but Ruwen, angry and embarrassed, didn’t want to give up. Even though marble and granite weighed about the same, these rocks were much larger. Ruwen didn’t have many data points, but it appeared the power curve for adding Energy was exponential. So even though each of these blocks weighed one hundred fifty pounds, if Ruwen was right, they wouldn’t need much more Energy than the thirty-pound spears of marble he’d shot at Sparkle.
He also wanted to make a point, so he erred on a little too much power and shot another block of granite. This time with fifty Energy.
The rock flew straight and reached Talker in a blink. The Wraith, either because he expected the rock, or he had great Dexterity, dodged the stone. A moment later, the granite struck the back wall and exploded. Ruwen winced at the loud sound.
“What an amazing weapon,” Talker said. “We could face the Mistress herself with the proper ammunition.”
Ruwen’s Void Band had turned out to be much more than just storage. He needed time to figure it out, though, and like Talker said, get the proper ammunition.
“You aren’t going to hit him without a distraction,” Hamma said.
“If you get closer, you might have a chance,” Sift added.
“There is no need to fight. Join me, and nothing will stop us,” Talker said.
“I have a bad feeling about what happens when he stops talking,” Hamma said.
“With Talker’s shield active, my attacks are useless,” Sift said.
Ruwen went through his Inventory and only one item seemed useful. The lozenges he’d gotten from level four had a stun component in addition to lightning damage. The level difference between the attacker and target played a role in the stun’s success, which meant only one person here could use it. Ruwen removed his last Lemon Lozenge of Lightning and handed it to Sift.
“Don’t suck on that until his shield is down,” Ruwen said. “If it stuns him, get out of the way so my rocks don’t hit you.”
Sift nodded.
“Hamma, swing the staff and see if you can trigger a stun. I’ll –” Ruwen said.
Talker interrupted Ruwen. “My patience has run its course. This is your last chance to join the winning side. Or maybe you need one more example of how futile this is.”
Thin spikes emerged from Talker’s body, covering him in a dense layer of thorns. Any unarmed attacks on the Wraith now would do terrible damage to the attacker. The room filled with a grey mist, and each of them pulled their Scarf of Freshness over their mouth and nose. But it didn’t matter, because the fog contained a contact poison. A debuff appeared, and Ruwen looked at it.
Weary: -6 Strength, -6 Stamina, All Regeneration reduced by 43%
His Strength and Stamina were both thirteen, and with Hamma’s food buffs, they had increased to fifteen and fourteen. So, the Weary debuff brought them both under ten, and two more debuffs appeared. Familiar ones.
Weak: Attack Damage and Max Encumbrance reduced by 25%
Sickly: Health Regeneration and Resistances reduced by 25%
Ruwen glanced at
the notifications. His Cultivation Stage had increased his Resistances, and they’d decreased the effects of the poison by sixteen percent, but it wasn’t enough. The notifications told him what he already knew. He was in trouble.
The Mist Wraith raised its arms, and a dark red orb appeared over its head like a sphere of blood. Ruwen’s body trembled. No debuff appeared, but something felt wrong, and he opened his log.
A Mist Wraith’s Aura of Despair engulfs you.
You have been Feared!
You resist (Base 15% - Mental Resistance 16.3%)!
Even though he’d resisted the fear, he still felt the partial effects. Or maybe it was just all the debuffs. Whatever the cause, Ruwen felt a wave of hopelessness.
Hamma’s whispered voice broke the silence. Her words hesitant, like they were the first she’d ever spoken.
“Prayer Three.”
Chapter 42
In the same quiet voice, Hamma chanted.
“Despair, misery, fear, and dread,
Enemies around us, all hope has fled,
Friendship, trust, love, and will,
Power this prayer, and reverse our ill.”
For a moment, all the light in the room disappeared. Ruwen felt a tightness inside his chest as if the darkness pulled at his Spirit. When the light returned, his debuffs were gone, and a new buff had appeared. The symbol had clasped hands with three fingers raised.
Prayer Three: +6 Strength, +6 Stamina, All Regeneration increased by 50%, Confidence (15% Increase to Damage, Defense, and Resistances), Immunity from debuffs for three minutes.
Relief flooded Ruwen, and he turned to face Hamma. She had a small black book in her hands, and she carefully placed it in her Inventory. Then she kissed her index and middle fingers and touched her heart, mouth, and forehead.
“How?” was all Ruwen could get out.
“Later. We have a fight to win,” Hamma said.
They did have a fight to win, but the power Hamma had just displayed shocked Ruwen. It appeared like Hamma had reversed every negative effect impacting them. It staggered him.
