The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  Before we have completed our first loop, as I am putting my foot down, a feeling like an icy cold spear pierces my stomach from below, and I freeze in place. Instead of stepping forward, I step back and prod the floor of the tunnel with my staff.

  A section of the tunnel floor collapses, and I see a pit with a turgid black something stirring within it.

  Raven Goddess moves up next to me and stares into the pit. "That is Living Darkness. Though, I have never understood why anyone would call something like that 'Living'."

  I have never heard of, let alone encountered, Living Darkness, but as I stare at it, it does not give me the impression that it is really alive.

  "What is it?"

  Raven Goddess shrugs. "Living Darkness. It is something that probably originates from the Darkness that preceded the world, but I have never met anyone that knew what it really was. If you enter it, you will be consumed, but as long we do not fall into the pit, it will not chase after us."

  "Right." I poke the ground beyond the pit to make sure it is solid and jump across.

  With a graceful leap that almost makes it look like she is levitating, Raven Goddess follows.

  Not much farther on, when a feeling like needles pricking my skin on both sides of my body assaults me, I jump backward. From the walls on both sides of the tunnel, sixteen skeletons force their way out of the dirt walls. They all stand around my height and are armed with spears.

  Mutant Half-Giant Skeleton (Fighter) Level 20

  » HP 2100/2100

  Not waiting for the pack of skeletons to attack, I attack the one on my left with a Sliding Thrust and follow up with a sweeping strike to the one on my right.

  Pop! Pop!

  The heads of both skeletons turn into bone powder, and they fall to the ground, like marionettes with their strings cut.

  What the hell? Jumping backward, I take a quick look at my combat log.

  Mutant Half-Giant Skeleton : -4330 Untyped Damage: (170% Skill Expression (+800% Damage): Sliding Thrust (+100% Damage): Critical Hit (Head) (+200% Damage)) Save Failure-Pulverizing Damage Head (x2 Damage)

  Mutant Half-Giant Skeleton : -3421 Untyped Damage: (154% Skill Expression (+640% Damage): Critical Hit (Head) (+200% Damage)) Save Failure-Pulverizing Damage Head (x2 Damage)

  The level of Skill Expression in the two attacks leave me in a state of near shock, and I keep backing up to give myself a few seconds to think.

  "Crom!" Raven Goddess darts past me and engages one of the following skeletons. Her swords shear through the bones of the skeleton's arms like a hot knife through butter, and still holding its spear, the skeleton's forearms drop to the ground.

  "What is the matter with you?"

  I shake my head and refocus my thoughts. "Nothing. I'm okay."

  Looking behind me, I see the pit of Living Darkness less than 10cm from my heel and shudder.

  I lunge forward and the rib cage of a skeleton shatters. Even though my attack did not hit the skull, it was still enough damage to one-shot the thing. The major factor in the damage increase is the Skill Expression. It appears to be pushing the base damage so high that the attacks are reaching the 'Pulverizing Damage' level. I just wish I knew for certain what Pulverizing Damage was supposed to be.

  It does not even take Raven Goddess and I twenty seconds to finish off the skeletons. Raven Goddess never uses a single Ability the entire time. Every one of her kills is made with pure skill. The way that she fights, she looks more like a dancer than a fighter.

  "These things are not Level 10."

  Raven Goddess smiles. "Barrow Island follows its own rules. This is the resting of Gods and Demons, and Champions and Monsters."

  As we follow the spiral tunnel through three circles, we kill over sixty of the skeletons and find another five of the pits filled with Living Darkness. The skeletons are not dangerous, and the pits are easy enough to avoid.

  About halfway through the third circle, the central chamber of the barrow opens out in front of us.

  It is empty except for what looks like a black tear in space at the center of the chamber.

  "Is that a spatial rift?"

  As she stares at the black tear, Raven Goddess nods. "Yes, it is."

  "Do you think it's safe to go through it?"

  After walking around the rift, Raven Goddess stares at it for a while. "I think it will be safe to use."

  I look around the empty chamber. "There's nothing here. We might as well see what is on the other side."

  After a few minutes, Raven Goddess looks at me and frowns. "Just because the rift is safe to use, it does not mean that the destination is safe."

  I grin. "Where is the fun in playing it too safe?"

  Raven Goddess sighs. "Insufferable man."

  Without delaying any longer, I step through the rift.

  Ding!

  I feel like something is digging frozen claws into my heart and the base of my spine.

  Looking around, I see a chamber that has more or less same dimensions as the central chamber of Daray's barrow, but it is not empty. A rectangular stone block stands in the middle of this chamber, and the skeletal remains of a malformed Half-Giant body rest upon it. From rusted and rotted chests around the stone block, gold, silver, jewels, and jewelry spill across the dirt floor.

  Floating in the air over the stone block, two ghostly figures have their hands around each other's throats, but neither figure appears to be injured in the least.

  Remnant of Daray (Champion) (Dark Marauder Emperor) Level 1

  » HP 324,000/324,000

  Remnant of the Tomb Lord (Chieftain) (Tomb Lord Emperor) Level 1

  » HP 343,000/343,000

  "They're undead Class Emperors. They're Rank 9, but they're only Level 1. Why are they still only Level 1?"

  If you are not in War Mode and die in Primacy Online, you get reincarnated at Level 1 again, but you retain your Rank. There are resurrection spells and items available that partially mitigate the penalty, but there is a limited window in which they can be used. Either way, you are going to be grinding Levels if you die. So, in the end, killing someone is an easy way to get them out of your hair for anywhere from a little while to an extended amount of time.

  Sometimes, monsters and NPCs that are killed come back, but unlike a player, they come back as undead. Like a player, they retain their Rank but start out as a Level 1 undead of some type. Just what type of undead a 'Remnant of' is supposed to be, I have no clue. It is something that I have never seen before.

  "They were undead that were killed but somehow still survived. Now they are nothing but spiritual remnants. They have almost no chance of ever rising in Level again. The only real hope for either of them is to release their souls to the final death and hope to be reborn." Raven Goddess' voice sounds unnaturally hollow.

  I look at Raven Goddess, and the pain I see in her eyes hits me like an almost physical blow. For a moment, she looks like someone who has lost everything, even hope, but as if sensing my eyes upon her, she hides the pain and meets my gaze.

  "Putting an end to them would be a kindness."

  "They're Class Emperors and the Remnant of the Tomb Lord is a Chieftain."

  Champions are monsters that are considered to be roughly equivalent to an eight-man group of players. Chieftains are the weakest tier that is considered to be a true boss. All the tiers of monsters and NPCs above Champion generally get lumped into one bucket and called bosses, but there are radical differences in the strengths of those bosses.

  Raven Goddess smiles sadly. "They are only the remnants of Class Emperors. The 'Champion' and 'Chieftain' tiers are nothing but the Quantum Control Program's estimation of their strength. For the most part, it means that they have overly powerful life forces and excessively huge Mana pools. It has very little meaning and does nothing to make them special existences. Yes, the two of them are dangerous, but they are not unbeatable."

  Raven Goddess' expression shifts to a grin that is not reflected in her
eyes. "Moreover, we cannot avoid fighting them. Look at your quest journal."

  Huh? I open my quest journal and feel another cold spike through the pit of my stomach.

  Find the Tomb Lord (Unique) (Storyline Quest: 2 of ??) (Difficulty: ??)

  » Explore the Tomb Lord's tomb: Complete

  » Interrogate the undead: Complete

  » Destroy the undead: Complete

  » Follow the Tomb Lord through the spatial rift: Complete

  » Lay the Tomb Lord to rest, once and for all.

  » Reward: ??

  » Quest cannot be shared.

  "Fuck. At least, we have access to the game interface in here."

  Raven Goddess laughs mirthlessly. "The quests we have received from that doll are abnormal. I want to see what the Quantum Control Program's objective is and what it is doling out for rewards."

  I sigh in resignation. "At least, the game hasn't entered War Mode. Just getting hit once by one of them is going to be a fast trip to a reincarnation."

  This time Raven Goddess' laughter is filled with humor. "I think you can live through one hit. So, you should just not get hit twice."

  "Ha."

  "You, Half-Giant, why do I sense my Master's Aspects from you?" The voice of the Remnant of Daray seems to reverberate more within my mind than my ears, but either way, it is clearly understandable.

  The weight of the stare from burning red eyes of the Remnant of Daray hits me like a runaway ore train. For a few seconds, I struggle to keep my knees from buckling, but then, it feels like a thread of Willpower infuses into my mind. Taking a deep breath, I stare into those hot, red points of light in the head of the shadowy form.

  The Remnant of the Tomb Lord tries to turn its head to look at me, but it cannot budge with the Remnant of Daray's hands around its incorporeal throat.

  "I am the inheritor of Crom Cruach."

  "Kill this left-over scrap of a cowardly toad for me, and I will give you a reward beyond your most avaricious dreams. While I yet live, he will not dare to attack you." The Remnant of Daray's words are filled with dark malice, but it does not appear to be directed at me.

  When I look at Raven Goddess, she raises her eyebrows and shrugs.

  For a few moments, I frown. "Killing the Tomb Lord is required for finishing the quest. We might as well take advantage of the situation."

  I quickly cast a buff spell I learned from the Dark Slayer crystal. Well, I suppose I already knew it. At least, I still remembered the words to it from my days as a Shadow Knight. The spell is in one of the languages used for Necromancy, and even after five years, I am still fluent in most of the languages for the Necromantic and Darkness Schools of magic. In just a few seconds, a dark radiance surrounds my staff.

  Incorporeal Touch

  » Incorporeal Touch fills the caster's attacks with the power of Darkness and gives them the ability to harm most existences that are not fully within the material plane.

  » Minimum Level: 10

  » School: Necromancy

  » Type: Sustained

  » Mana Cost: 1MP/Minute

  After over seventy years as a Shadow Knight, I never figured out what that 'most' was supposed to mean. I have yet to find something incorporeal that cannot be attacked with this spell up.

  I move around to the Remnant of the Tomb Lord's back.

  "Do not dare to attack me! I will destroy your mortal body and torture your soul for an eternity!" Even when compared with the Remnant of Daray, the Remnant of the Tomb Lord's voice has a hollow, empty tone to it.

  "Shut up and die."

  I attack with a Sliding Thrust and barely scratch the thing.

  Remnant of the Tomb Lord: -755 Untyped Damage: (150 Damage Absorbed By Damage Resistance): Damage Reduction -45% (148% Skill Expression (+580% Damage): Sliding Thrust (+100% Damage): Critical Hit (Head) (+200% Damage))

  There is no Suppression affecting my damage. I would have expected there to be Suppression from the Rank difference, but even without it, the Remnant of the Tomb Lord is still a Class Emperor.

  Rank is greater than all. It is considered to be the Iron Rule of Primacy Online . The Characteristic and Ability increases you get by Ranking-up are worth tens of Levels, and then, you add in the Damage Reduction. You get it from every Rank, and it cuts any and all damage you take by a fixed percentage. For a Rank 9, there is a hard 45% reduction to any and all damage. Abilities, Talents, and high-Rank gear can give you Damage Resistance and extra layers of Damage Reduction that will stack on top of the Damage Reduction you get from your Rank itself.

  The Remnant of the Tomb Lord probably has an innate Ability that gives him the Damage Resistance, but luckily he does not seem to have gear. At least, I do not think he has any gear. I hate trying to figure out what an incorporeal undead actually has. Even though they look like they are wearing clothing, they are usually bare-ass naked spiritual entities.

  "How dare you! Do you know who I am!"

  Even though the Remnant of the Tomb Lord phrases his sentences like questions, he is not expecting answers. He sounds more like he is screaming in rage than anything.

  "You look like a big sack of XP to me."

  After I attack a few more times, Raven Goddess joins in, and her swords move so fast that they are barely more than blurs.

  "Cease your attacks, cowardly mortals! Damn you! I will torture you for a thousand centuries and not let you die!"

  "He's pissed." My tone of voice is sardonic.

  "You are what is commonly known as an asshole. You have a natural talent for angering people." Raven Goddess smirks at me and laughs.

  "At least, you can recognize my better qualities."

  "Insufferable Man." Raven Goddess' smirk disappears in a momentary flash of fake annoyance.

  I laugh, but I am already bored. This is like practicing my attacks on a pell, but if the Remnant of Daray lets go of the Remnant of the Tomb Lord, Raven Goddess and I are as good as dead. Except for the ghouls and the wolves, everything else has been enemies that cannot put up a decent fight: zombies, dumb cannibals, nearly disabled automatons, and now this.

  With the Remnant of the Tomb Lord being immobilized like he is, it does not even take five minutes to cut him down.

  Ding!

  You have completed: Find the Tomb Lord .

  Do you wish to accept your reward, now? (Yes/No)

  I shake my head. "What an anticlimax. He was worth less XP than those automatons of his."

  Raven Goddess laughs, but she does not seem to be particularly amused. "He was only Level 1."

  "What are you, inheritor, and why is the inheritor of my Master with a woman who has the stink of his murderer about her?" The Remnant of Daray stares at me coldly.

  When I look at Raven Goddess, she sighs and looks up at the Remnant of Daray. "Are you able to recognize who I am the inheritor of?"

  The raw malice in the Remnant of Daray sends a chill down my spine. "I will never forget the stench of the traitorous Scald Crow. From your words, the whore of the Tuatha has fallen. That is pleasing to my ears."

  Incandescent rage fills Raven Goddess eyes. "Hold your tongue, dog! From birth to death, the Hooded Raven never lay with a man. She remained true to her oaths and died for her oaths."

  The Remnant of Daray contemptuously looks down at Raven Goddess. "Inheritor, ask her who murdered Crom Cruach, while he lay wounded."

  "There is no need for him to ask." Raven Goddess glares at the Remnant of Daray, and her voice is filled with anger, resentment, and hate.

  Radiating malice, the Remnant of Daray does not look away. He continues to stare at Raven Goddess, as though he is sizing up his next victim.

  Looking up at me, Raven Goddess meets my eyes, and her eyes appear shrouded in a darkness deeper than a moonless night. "In the exact same way you are the inheritor of Crom Cruach, I am the inheritor of Badb Catha. She had a long and twisted history with Crom Cruach. At times, they were both enemies and allies, and because of her family ties and her oaths to
the Tuatha De Danan, she killed Crom Cruach. She killed the only man she loved, the only man she could never be with."

  You should not trust me so easily. This is my personal endgame with the Church. I am as likely to get you killed as anything. Once again, Raven Goddess' words replay through my mind. Just like the ones that we inherited our Classes from, we have been enemies and allies, but at least, Raven Goddess does not love me. Without such a volatile emotion in the mix, there should be less chance of her acting out precipitously, right?

  "Can you promise that you won't try to kill me?"

  Raven Goddess' mouth scrunches up, and she shakes her head. I have never seen her look so desolate and alone. As she speaks a single word, her voice is barely audible. "No."

  "Do not trust this woman, inheritor."

  Anger toward the Remnant of Daray rises up within me. "Fuck off. My choices are my own. Who I trust has nothing to do with you."

  "You are a fool."

  "Raven…" I do not continue. I am not sure what I want to say.

  Raven Goddess tries to smile but fails. "There will be many years before our paths might diverge."

  I sigh in resignation. "Yeah."

  More to distract myself than because I give a fuck, I look at the QCP's reward thread for the Tomb Lord quest and see three strands. Somehow, I manage to pull out the smallest thread without difficulty, but I could not care less. It feels ironic. When I care the least, I have the most success.

  I have no idea what anything on this list is. It is a mix of gems, boxes, statues, and random junk looking stuff. In the end, I pick a grey box that looks like metal.

  The second list and primary list both have tomes, but there are no talent tomes so I just pick a couple at random.

  "You can manipulate the Shackles of the Domination!" The Remnant of Daray's voice comes out as a shocked whisper.

  "Sort of." My own words are listless.

  "I cannot see through your defenses."

  I shrug and hit the 'Yes' to complete the quest.

  Find the Tomb Lord .

  +5000 XP

  Ability Tome: Provoke

  Ability Tome: Tracking