Veil Online - Book 3: An Epic LitRPG Adventure

by John Cressman

  Whether due to his newly acquired Eye for Details skill, or just a play of the moonlight, something about the many pillars in the area caught his eye. The pillars that held up the stone ceiling were spaced every ten feet, judging by the number of tiles between them. They took up the same space as tile, meaning they were roughly two feet by two feet. They started three tiles, or roughly six feet from the steps. But that wasn’t what had caught his attention. It was the carvings on them. Or more precisely, a glint of something on the carvings.

  Jace strained to see the carvings on the pillars but erosion and the vines that covered them made it impossible to see if they had actually contained writing or runes. But something had caught his eye and he continued to stare at them until he caught the glint of something shiny. Was that a gem?

  He wanted to walk over to the pillar and take a closer look, but he didn’t trust the floor. Looking at the skeletons, he had over a dozen reasons not to trust it. He bent down and examined the tiles again. Why weren’t they glowing? If they were trapped, why weren’t they glowing like the steps?

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he told Luna.

  “Yes,” Luna replied as she looked up from cleaning herself. Jace just shook his head and went back to examining the pillars and floor. A flash of inspiration struck him and he pulled out the spyglass he’d been using on the ship. Bringing it up to his eye, he focused on the pillar to the right.

  He used the magnified view to zoom in on the part of the pillar where he’d seen the gem. It took him a minute to focus. The spyglass was meant for longer distances and was slightly out of focus with something so close. But even though it was blurry, he could definitely make out a green emerald like gem embedded in the pillar. Nice!

  Moving the spyglass up and down the pillar, Jace was pleased to find more of the green gems. He wondered how much they were worth. He turned and looked at the pillar on his left. Just like the previous pillar, it had gems embedded in it as well.

  Then he caught sight of something he almost missed. The gems were space about six inches apart and in between them, barely visible, were round holes. He brought the spyglass down and strained his eyes again. Now that he knew what to look for, he could pick them out.

  Gems and holes. What did the two have to do with each other? And why were the gems still there? Why hadn’t they been pried out and taken long ago? There were skeletons near some of the pillars, but there were also skeletons four or five feet from pillars. The pillars were strewn over different tiles, so it was impossible to know the last tile they had been standing on.

  Jace brought the spyglass down and looked from pillar to pillar. The gems lined up exactly on the pillars to his left and right, each gem having a twin on the opposite pillar. Two gems that lined up exactly on each pillar. Each gem with an associated hole below the gem.

  On a hunch, he pulled his sword from its scabbard. Leaning forward, he swiped the sword between the two pillars, breaking the invisible lines between the green gems.

  As soon as the invisible plane was broken, he heard a clicking sound and felt the impact of something against his sword. Even as he sliced his sword down, he felt the small impacts along his sword until it had completed its arch through the pillars.

  He brought Kraken’s Claw back quickly and examined it but saw no damage. He squinted at the ground where he’d sliced the sword. They were hard to see, but he spotted tiny, thorn-like darts lying on the ground. Even from where he was at, he could make out the dark liquid that stained their tips. Poison.

  The pillars shot poison darts as soon as someone interrupted the line between the gems. They were like magical, invisible tripwires. Which meant there was no way to disable them like a normal tripwire. He was surprised he’d never run into them before, especially with Mordred at higher level.

  Poison shouldn’t affect him with his new magical gloves but even if those darts only did a single point of damage, he could be hit by dozens, even hundreds of them. He looked down at all the skeletons. He wasn’t willing to risk it. Not yet, at least.

  He stared up and down at the pillars, trying to figure out what to do. Maybe he could pry them out from the side? Or would that just cause a nonstop barrage of the tiny thorn-like projectiles? Was that even possible?

  Now that he knew how they worked, he stepped up onto the first square. Nothing happened. He had guessed that it wouldn’t since the pillars began on the third row of tiles. That left a two tile wide walkway that he could transverse.

  Thinking he might be able to just walk around the trapped pillars, Jace walked left, all the way to the end. He found that the pillars at the far left actually flush against the foundation. There was no way to just walk around them without breaking the magical tripwire.

  Next, he walked right, past the steps. He had intended to go all the way to the end, to see if it was the same on both sides but stopped in his tracks. The second to last and last pillars did not have green gems set in them. These two pillars had red gems.

  “These gems are different,” he said absently to Luna, who was walking next to him. She was still in her smaller form and glanced up at him.

  Taking his sword out again, he passed it between the two pillars. Nothing happened. He didn’t feel any impacts of tiny darts. Jace looked down on the ground where the sword had passed. He didn’t see any darts. Just to make sure, he sliced Kraken’s Claw between the two pillars again. Nothing.

  Jace put his sword away. Steeling himself for pain and ready to snatch his hand back, he broke the invisible plane with his hand. Nothing. No darts came shooting out from the pillars. Was that the key? Red gemmed pillars were safe to pass through but green ones weren’t?

  He pushed his arm through the invisible tripwire, further this time and still nothing happened. Satisfied, he looked down at Luna who was watching him with some interest. “Follow me exactly. Okay?”

  Luna looked up at him and tilted her head. “Yes.”

  Taking a deep breath and hoping he was right, Jace leaped past the pillars. Nothing happened. So far, so good. Luna trotted after him and stopped next to him, looking up expectantly.

  Now that he knew what to look for, Jace was able to find a twisting path that snakes between the pillars. He followed it forward, then turned, then came backwards, then turned again, then went all the way to the left end before looping back and finally depositing him on the other side of the tiled area, in front of the two metal doors that lead into a new area.

  Jace glanced down at Luna. “Think the door is trapped too?”

  Luna just stared back at him.

  “Me too,” Jace nodded and started examining the door. For some reason, the magical, invisible tripwires hadn’t registered as traps for him. Was that because his skill was too low? Or was it because they were, by their nature, invisible. And could he trust his Find Trap skill to find other traps?

  Realizing he had no choice, Jace poured over every inch of the door, looking for any sort of trap. He also looked at the area to either side of the door. There were no hinges, they must be on the other side of the door. That meant the door opened inward into the room beyond.

  He checked the floor as well, looking for any indications that there might be a pit that opened below him if the doors were open, but he saw no signs of any traps. He spent several more minutes going over everything a second and third time before finally giving up.

  “If there’s a trap,” he told Luna. “It’s hidden well. What do you say? Do we just open it?”

  Luna stared at him for a long minute. “Yes.”

  “Fine,” he smiled. “If I die, it’s your fault.”

  He pushed on the door and, despite their obvious age, the double metal doors swung open silently. As they opened, they revealed a large inner room. It was at least as large as the tiled area he’d just navigated, but was an enclosed room.

  As the doors opened, magical torches bolted to the walls on either side of the room burst into light, illuminating the room in a pale golden-orange light.
It was impressive but his attention was immediately drawn to something at the far end of the room.

  Against the wall, or perhaps carved from the wall, was a stone idol. The idol was of a humanoid, sitting cross legged on the floor. It’s arms were on it’s lap and in the statue’s hands held a large stone bowl. Magical fire burst from the bowl, further illuminating the large room.

  With the light, Jace could see that the idol was not of a human. The nose was broad and flat and the eyes were too big. The thing’s mouth was open and its teeth were pointed. From the sides of its head sprouted horns. Was it supposed to be some sort of demon? Or some ancient god?

  But even that didn’t capture Jace’s attention. The things that captivated him were two enormous gems that served as pupils for the creature. They had to be as large as his fist. Maybe larger. Just one the gems might be worth enough to get the scroll of imprisonment they needed to trap Damian.

  Then Jace looked at the forty or so feet of tiled floor between him and the idol and wondered what sort of final traps there might be to protect something so valuable. In his experience, he’d learned that the developers always saved the most diabolical and deadly traps for the final room.

  Chapter 45

  Letting out a frustrated breath, Jace squatted down at the entrance to the idol room. He’d spent the last fifteen minutes searching, prodding and throwing things on the floor tiles without any result. At this point, it looked like there were no traps. But he couldn’t accept that.

  In his experience playing 90+ levels as Mordred the assassin, the final room was always the most difficult. The traps were more carefully hidden and more deadly. So where were the traps?

  Was he not high enough level to find them? Or, like the invisible trip wires in the previous room, did these not show up on his Find Traps skill? There was no way to know for certain and nothing he’d done so far had triggered any sort of effect. He was starting to get frustrated.

  Luna meowed and looked up at him. She was still in her smaller form and had been cleaning herself. Now, she was done grooming and giving him a bored look.

  “I can’t find any traps,” he told her.

  “Traps?” she meowed.

  “Like the spikes or the little darts,” he replied. “There’s got to be something between us and that idol. Some other trap.”

  Luna sniffed and stood up. She walked back and forth across the doorway and Jace thought maybe she was smelling something. Perhaps it was some sort of acid or gas trap and she was getting a whiff of it.

  Then, as he was watching her, she turned and trotted off into the room before he could do anything. Reaching out and trying to grab her, he yelled out for her. “Luna!”

  Ignoring him, the cat trotted across the forty feet to the base of the idol. When she got there, she turned around. Still facing him, his familiar sat back on her haunches and stared at him. “No trap.”

  Recovering from his panic that Luna was about to be impaled, shot full of darts or dropped into acid, Jace let his outstretched hand drop to his side and stared open mouthed at the orange tabby in front of the idol.

  Had Luna known there were no traps? If so, how had she known? Or was it just sheer dumb luck?

  Jace looked at the floor, glancing from tile to tile. Maybe she was too light to set off any pressure plates? He looked back at her. “Grow big and come back.”

  He hated himself for asking her to do that. If he was right and it took a certain weight to set off the trap, then she’d probably be killed. On the other hand, if he walked out onto the tiles and died, she’d be banished anyway. At least, that’s how he tried to justify it.

  Giving Jace the equivalent of a cat shrug, Luna grew to her giant size. Now the size of a tiger, she had to weigh nearly the same as him. No traps went off. She trotted across the room and stopped in front of him. “No trap.”

  Jace had nearly covered his eye, afraid to see what would happen to Luna. When she stopped in front of him, he bent down and scratched her under the chin and behind the ears. “You’re a good cat!”

  “Yes,” she replied, purring from the scratching.

  Jace stood up and took a deep breath. If Luna could make it, then so should he. Theoretically. He put a foot out onto the first tile and slowly put weight on it, ready to move it back at a moment’s notice.

  Nothing happened. He put more weight on the foot and still nothing happened. Cautiously, he moved his other foot to the tile next to it. He waited to be killed in some gross and painful way, but nothing happened.

  While Luna watched him curiously, Jace slowly took a step. Then another. When nothing happened, he continued slowly stepping across the room, ready to dive to the side or roll out of the way. Finally, he was in front of the idol and Luna padded up next to him. She looked up. “No trap.”

  “Yeah, yeah, smarty pants,” he teased and scratched her behind the ears.

  He looked up at the strange idol at the huge gems embedded in the eyes. He reached out and carefully put a hand on the idol and then quickly withdrew it. Jace hadn’t really expected anything to happen but one never knew.

  “Time to get some loot,” he told Luna and climbed up onto the huge statue. He first climbed onto the legs, then reaching up, pulled himself onto the right shoulder. Squeezing the statue’s neck with his legs, he withdrew a knife. Jace leaned over the face and, after a little effort, pried the gem out of the eye socket.

  Jace caught the eye and then quickly glanced around the room, expecting something to happen. But nothing happened. The only thing moving was Luna’s tail as it swished back and forth while she watched him.

  Jace placed the gem in his haversack. If he died because of some trap, at least he’d take the gem with him. He then carefully made his way to the other side and repeated the process with the left eye. With a little work, the second gem popped out and fell into his hand. That’s when things began shaking.

  “INFIDEL!” a voice bellowed with the grating of stone. Jace realized the voice had come from the idol and in the momentary confusion and shock, he lost his grip and slipped from the idol. He fell to the side and came down hard on his side.

  YOU take 0 falling damage.

  As Jace grunted as he hit the floor but his Safefall ability had spared him any falling damage. He looked to see Luna moving away from the idol, her ears back. Then movement caught his eye and he looked up to see the huge stone head of the idol turning to look down at him.

  “INFIDEL! RETURN WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN!” it bellowed and it’s left arm began to slowly move, reaching out to him. It was a golem! A giant stone golem. And he had just triggered it.

  Scrambling away, Jace tucked the gem into the haversack and backpedaled away from golem. The thing was leaning forward now, both arms reaching for him. It was starting to move faster and Jace barely had time to examine it in his HUD before he turned and ran.

  Lost Temple Guardian (Legendary)

  Level: 50

  The golem was level 50! He and the girls had no chance against it. Their only hope was to outrun it and lose it in the forest. He ran full speed towards the door with Luna next to him but grabbed her by the collar and skidded to a halt as he exited.

  “The darts!” he told Luna and pulled her to the side as he heard a thunderous footstep from the room behind him and then another. It was coming after them.

  As fast as he could, he retraced the safe path and was almost through when the golem came barreling out of the temple and crashed into several of the pillars. The thing had had to be almost twenty feet tall and his arms and legs were now moving at full speed. He heard darts pinging off the stone golem but knew they couldn’t damage the golem.

  “RETURN WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN!” the creature bellowed and turned towards him.

  Leading Luna through the last part of the safe path on the chessboard floor, Jace dived off the foundation and onto the ground.

  YOU take 0 falling damage.

  At the outer temple wall, he saw Diana and Mika in the globe of the sword’s light
, their eyes open wide. They must have heard the crashing sounds from the temple and the bellowing of the golem.

  “Jace?” Mika said as he ran closer.

  “What’s going…” Diana started to ask but then a booming sound drowned her out and the earth shuddered as the golem jumped off the temple’s foundation, onto the ground.

  “RUN!” he yelled to the girls and turned to Luna. “Lead us back to the bridge!”

  “Yes,” the cat said and easily outpaced him to move to the front of the group.

  “Follow Luna back to the bridge and get across it!” he yelled just as heavy, ponderous footsteps began to sound behind him.

  Glancing back, he saw a piece of the outer wall explode outward as the golem just ran through it without even pausing.

  They made it to the treeline and then plunged into the forest, following Luna. The thing’s enormous strides nearly allowed it to catch Jace but the golem’s outstretched hand just missed him as he ran between two trees.

  The golem slammed into the trees and bounced back. The thing looked uncomprehendingly at the trees, as if not able to understand what they were. Then, it swung both it’s huge fists at one of the trees and there was a large crack as the trunk splintered. Another blow from the golem and the tree topped to the side.

  The animated creature pursued Jace through the forest as he ran after Luna and the girls. Any trees which got in the golem’s way were quickly toppled. But the time it took the thing to knock down a tree allowed Jace and the girls to stay ahead of it.

  Suddenly, the trees disappeared and they were back at the ravine. He pointed to the tree bridge. “Get across! Quick!”

  Behind him, the golem crashed through trees, closing quickly. Luna reached the bridge first and bounded across. Mika and Diana followed, the bridge visibly shaking as the two ran across at the same time.