I pulled up Acuity to inspect how badly it was infected, and Bri’jit did the same.
<<<>>>
Curse of Serth-Rog: 95% infected
<<<>>>
Alright, pretty bad.
We exchanged glances. She started working her ritual magic. I didn’t know how it worked. I wasn’t sure how it worked here and not outside the mausoleum, but purple magic flowed from her hands like a shower of moonbeams to cleanse the heart. Slowly, but surely, slivers of the infection were shaved off the heart every second.
94%... 93%... 92%...
I healed Tyler and refreshed his shield. As clueless as he was to how this world worked differently from a video game, he knew how to manage his own Health well, and would occasionally pop a red Health potion if needed. Part of me still wanted to cleanse him right now and remove the debilitating debuffs on him, but I gave my word, and he wasn’t near death yet. He seemed to be managing fine. Rholle popped in and out of stealth to get a cheap shot or backstab on Elder Saurspring. They had his Health down to 90% already.
Instead, I turned the cleanse to the heart, placing my hand on it. It shaved off another 2%. Every spell cast on it made the veins burn like roots on fire.
As busy as the two rebels kept the lich, the grave cleric’s and my actions hadn’t gone unnoticed. Saurspring snarled and stomped the bone pile he stood on, forcing the two rebels to slide down the pile of bones to the floor whether they were in stealth or not. He stretched his arm above him and conjured the green magic in his hand.
“Brother! You have been called!” he screamed into the echoing cavern.
A zombie broke away from the crowd chasing Keres and raised a spear in salute. He shuffled towards the pile of bones.
V.G.O. was a world in itself now. The pain and hunger felt real, and the people in it were real—real enough to matter to me. My body back on Earth was dead, likely tossed into the Hudson with the rest of the sewage after Jericho had me torn out of the game capsule.
But it was still designed to be a game, first. There had to have been a reason Saurspring made them slide to the ground instead of simply interrupting them and knocking them back. I could be wrong, but usually vocal callouts like that meant something. The only dungeon I had ever fought in was PvP, but I couldn’t shake the memory of the tells the lake monster in the Black Temple put out.
As Rholle and Tyler climbed their way back up the mountain of bones, the zombie fell on its own spear at the base and added its corpse to the pile.
Saurspring laughed. “Even in death, you will serve...”
I jumped as Bri’jit screamed beside me. “What just happened?” she gasped, looking to me. “I had it to eighty percent. It’s up to ninety percent again!”
I quickly cast Veracity to shave off a bit and turned to the rogue.
“Rholle! Don’t let the zombies get to the bone pile when he marks them! Burn them down.”
Rholle flipped his twin daggers around his wrists and stared at me quizzically. “I’m not a Firebrand.”
I gritted my teeth. That made sense. “Just kill them!”
The next time, it worked.
We lost DPS on Saurspring, who was finally at 66% now with this tactic, but cleansing the burgeoning dungeon heart was our priority. We managed to get that below 25%.
The problem came when we realized that it shouldn’t be. As long as Saurspring was alive, he could corrupt the heart even more. We could completely cleanse it, but as long as he had power, he’d corrupt it again. It’d be a battle of attrition, when really, it should be a DPS check.
The only real solution was to kill Saurspring. And for that, we needed Keres’ holy fire.
I didn’t have any damaging abilities. It wasn’t a fight that required heavy healing, as I imagined most at-level dungeons let people manage their own Health with potions. With Bri’jit able to cleanse the heart, too, I was helpful, but not truly needed. Not anymore, at least, with the infection stabilized. I didn’t want to face this fact, or what I’d have to do to be useful.
Good thing I had put points into Constitution to give me Stamina.
“Keres!” I called out. She finished slashing with her dual chakrams at the zombies chasing her and looked up, running leisurely backwards. She had managed to kill ten of them while Rholle focused on taking out the chosen sacrifices.
“Switch with me,” I pleaded, sliding down the pile of bones and running in place to get my blood pumping. It wasn’t necessary as one look at the zombies and the thought of them chasing me sent me right into sinus tach.
“Are you sure?” she asked, likely remembering how winded I got on the walk here.
I ran beside her and held out my hand for a high-five. The gesture seemed lost on her until she held her palm up against mine. Good enough.
By Gaia I wished I was level 15 already to take Duality and do some damage. Or had a sunflower. My Divinity meter was nearly full, but it wouldn’t do me any good if I couldn’t do damage.
Bri’jit cast Repose again to slow them for me. “You got this!” she called out, giving me a thumbs-up.
A Loan in the Dark
I remembered Gunder’s words: Get mad, not scared. I wasn’t going to let a little lapse in cardio keep me from protecting the elven city or the forest itself. I wasn’t going to let yet another old man who believed in sacrificing his own people for his own benefit get away with the crime. We had to stop him. All I needed to do was run.
I didn’t have any damaging attacks to keep their attention, so I had to improvise. The light of the sunflowers attracted the zombies outside, so I clenched my fist and cast the cantrip. A glowing sphere of white light appeared in my pale hands. I held it aloft like a torch and took a lap around the bone pile.
My Spirit was fine; it was my Stamina that gave me trouble. I made it one tour before I started to get winded. So much for all those points in Constitution. I cast Lenity to shield myself as the zombies closed the distance. My side pulled like a tight stitch, and I tasted copper on the back of my tongue. The gnashing of teeth and groans of the dead encouraged me to keep going. I’d have to pace myself better and let my Stamina refill.
My role was still healer though. I’d shield or toss a HoT on Tyler when he needed it. Keres and Rholle both had higher evasion and dodge chance and weren’t hit by Saurspring’s long claw-like nails as often, but the splash damage from his magical abilities hit everyone within three meters.
What’s more, Keres was absolutely eating away at Saurspring’s Health. Her Chastise ability didn’t affect his armor as much as the lower-level brigands’, but Rholle was able to exploit the vulnerabilities it exposed. Her Absolution blessing kept Tyler from being frozen while his CC-breaker abilities were on cooldown.
It worked. It worked too well, in fact. By giving the rogue extra damage to exploit, he’d pull aggro off Tyler and get swiped. I’d throw a HoT or shield his way when I was in range, but his Health was getting low. Dangerously low.
My judgment wasn’t always the best when it came to saving people.
I thought I had enough space to cast a heal. Each direct heal of Charity only cost three seconds to cast. I didn’t anticipate how far zombies could shuffle in three seconds. One would think all the disintegrating sinew and lack of functioning fulcrums from decaying muscles would prevent them moving at all, but no, they were on me and through my holy shield with teeth and claws before I finished the last of the spell. I had enough time to call out for help.
But my dumb ass was still thinking about Rholle.
“Bri’jit, heal the rogue!” I screamed.
Five of them pulled at my robes, sinking their rotting teeth into the flesh of my thighs and arms. The others pressed behind and overwhelmed me to the ground.
“Keres!” I cried, elbowing one zombie in the mouth and fighting to wrest control of my arm from another. I wouldn’t let them have my holy book. “Keres, I need that shield!”
She didn’t hear me. She must not have. She didn’t even look at me.
/> My heart sank. I couldn’t even heal myself if they wouldn’t let me own my arms.
Teeth sunk into my neck and all breath stopped. My body froze, like a rabbit in the maw of a wolf. I knew I was screaming; I knew I was, but I couldn’t hear myself. I was one inch this side of the grave. My Health bar plummeted into the red, trickling down, number by number, until it hit 1 HP and blinked rapidly.
I closed my eyes tight, but death never came.
Ubiquity popped, surrounding me in a brilliant, prismatic shield of white light. I had a second chance. A timer counted down in my peripheral.
10...
I had enough room to wiggle my fingers to make the motions. I had cast Charity enough times, I didn’t need the book open. Three seconds of the stronger tier would get me at least 100 HP, plus my spell power, and all the bonuses of Bri’jit’s buffs. Three of those plus a crit from the boost to Luck Gaia gave me would surely—
7... 6...
I was already casting the second spell for myself. Rholle was at 1%. He dropped to his knees behind Saurspring, gasping and wheezing and clutching a hole in his chest to stem the bleeding.
Bri’jit looked at him. She looked at me. The magic of Benevolence was already flowing in her hand as she whispered the prayer to heal one of us to 100%.
I prayed she chose him as I worked to save myself.
3... 2...
In the end, she closed her fist. The magic fizzled as the last of my spells went off. She said something to Keres I didn’t hear.
My Health was at 100%. Keres had left her position and threw her arm up to protect me with her own shield. I coughed up the remains of blood in my lungs and the room spun. Keres tore through zombies with her chakrams and grasped my outstretched hand with her own. She pulled me to my feet and shoved me towards the bone pile. She hit them with her chain-smite and took off running, while I stumbled my way back to the others.
Rholle was already gone. His corpse slid down the pile of bones like a rag doll, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Everyone’s shouting seemed far off and muffled. My vision faded at the edges like I was lost in a long tunnel. I touched my neck where the zombie had torn my throat out and felt the skin slick, but smooth. My trembling fingertips dripped with bright red blood.
Tyler was screaming. Bri’jit was screaming back. In my confusion, I didn’t hear Saurspring call out to his brethren to join him. I watched one of them leave the mob chasing Keres. I watched him walk right past me.
No amount of information could be processed. My mind was consumed with one thought that played on repeat. She chose to let him die. She chose to let him die.
I felt a hand clasp my shoulder. I leapt back. It was only Keres, whose grip tightened on my collarbone. She must’ve done another lap.
“Liset!” she said, shaking me. “Can you not hear me? Get up there!”
She glanced behind her at the zombie horde, back to me, and shoved me towards the pile.
I obeyed. It couldn’t be helped, I told myself. I had to focus.
The dungeon heart was back to 35% infection rate since we missed taking out the add. Tyler took out his frustrations in a frenzy on Saurspring. Whatever cooldown he had saved let him whale on the lich with righteous, grieving fury. No one was going to take aggro off him through that.
I didn’t feel anything as I grabbed Bri’jit, tore her away from cleansing the dungeon heart, and pushed her towards Saurspring. I wanted to slap her to the ground, but my mind was a numb void of calculations.
We were down DPS.
We needed to kill Saurspring to prevent him from reinfecting the heart.
The only way to do that was to do more damage.
We needed to take this son of a bitch down.
Nothing made sense to me still, in this mirror world of shock, but my base instincts remained. Heal the tank. Shield. HoT. I fell back into my regular rotational rhythm from earlier. Occasionally, when I had the chance, I’d cleanse the heart. It’d take half a minute of me focus casting to bring it down 10%, versus Bri’jit doing it in 10 seconds. We could worry about that when Saurspring was dead again.
Even with Bri’jit replacing Rholle, it wasn’t enough.
When Saurspring called for one of his people to throw themselves on the pile, Bri’jit could slow them, but not do enough damage to keep them from undoing all the hard work I put into cleansing the heart.
I gritted my teeth and made sure everyone was shielded. I had my Stamina back, too.
“Keres! Switch with me!” I called out. My hand was already shining like a torch as I slid down the bone pile and ran past her. The zombies followed me as before, and you bet like hell I ran. This time, they were on their own unless it was an instant cast.
With Keres’ damage added in, even as Saurspring called to his people, we burned the remaining 15% of his Health.
Elder Castien Saurspring groaned as he sunk to his knees. “I’ve died before...” he gasped. “I will... live... again,” he muttered with his final breath before face-planting, another skeleton on the mountain of death.
Tyler stomped his boot on Saurspring’s skull. The zombie horde that surrounded us collapsed like a house of cards with a clattering sound that echoed in the dark, cold cavern.
I sunk to my knees as well. My Stamina bar was blinking at me and my breath came in quick, hot gasps. I watched Tyler kneel next to Rholle’s body and shake him.
“Priestess,” he said, looking up at me. “You can resurrect him, right? He’s my NPC.”
I forced myself to my feet and joined him beside the rogue’s corpse. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“That’s bullshit!” yelled Tyler. He grabbed the nearest bone and chucked it at the wall with a grunt.
“Hey!” scolded Bri’jit.
“I know,” I told Tyler. “It sure is,” I agreed with a defeated sigh.
“T-There’s resurrection in every game,” he stammered in disbelief.
“We Travelers might respawn in eight hours. But not natives,” I said. I wished I were wrong. I wished Hector would’ve woken up in the inn with us and had something lofty to say about the will of the gods while we rolled our eyes and called him a nerd.
Tyler didn’t move. His shoulders hunched as he closed Rholle’s eyes.
“Here, as promised,” I said, offering my open palm to him. He stared at it for a long second, then took off his armored glove and placed his hand in mine. I cast Veracity to cleanse him of the blight. He didn’t even blink as the soothing white light enveloped him and washed the mold out of his veins.
Bri’jit ignored us and finished cleansing the dungeon heart on her own until there was nothing left of the black sphere except ash.
<<<>>>
Quest Update: From Hell’s Heart
You have failed the optional quest From Hell’s Heart. This may have repercussions...
<<<>>>
Quest Update: Ain’t No Grave
You have successfully completed the quest Ain’t No Grave. The Hvitalfarian city of Ascomere may rest easy tonight, thanks to you. The En’Etaliar may resume their pilgrimages to perform rites now that you have cleansed the forest and the gardens. The dead have returned to their slumber, and the dungeon heart is no longer a threat. For now.
In return for your efforts, you have received 5,000 XP, 100 Renown, and an increased reputation with the Whispering Grove. Please check your message system for a promissory note from the Inquisition regarding your payment.
<<<>>>
“You seem decent, sister,” said Tyler, pulling me away from my notifications. “I’ll make sure to tell the others about you. If you ever get tired of working for Imperial bastards, you should come join us. We could use a healer.”
I nodded noncommittally.
“Tell me you’ll think about it,” he said.
“I make no promises,” I said, though I was thinking about it. If the Temple didn’t want me, and the Inquisition sought only to use me, and the Empire had chain gangs composed of medica
l debtors from a problem they were ignoring in favor of crushing a weak rebellion that so far seemed to be made of psy ops, propaganda, and new players who were looking for a distraction from the fact Earth was about to blow up in twenty-four hours, and the Dawn Elves, supposedly my people and the last known allies who would welcome me after I was no longer a healer, were racist, self-serving, sycophantic pieces of...
Were we the bad guys?
Maybe I would go seek out this Grim Jack fellow.
I couldn’t convince Kismet to go with me though if I did. At the very least, I took comfort in the fact Tyler would tell the rebellion leader about Serth-Rog and the threat he posed to Falas Alferra. Perhaps he would take it seriously.
Tyler seemed disappointed in my answer. He made a fist and slowly knocked it into my shoulder. “Well, I better get going then,” he said. He looked over Rholle’s body with a blanched face. “I should bring his body back to his people for a proper burial. That’s the right thing to do, right?” he asked, looking up at me.
The body burst into flames before us. I instinctively shielded Tyler first with Lenity, and was surprised when the fire didn’t burn me at all. We looked behind us.
“What body?” said Bri’jit. “There’s no burial for traitors.”
Keres charged forward and stunned Tyler against the pile of bones and wrapped his arms up in ropes. My jaw dropped. I didn’t think I could think lower of them. They were no better than Saurspring.
“What the hell are you doing?” I protested. I turned to Bri’jit. “He helped us. We had a deal!”
Bri’jit inspected the grave dirt under her nails. “YOU had a deal,” she said as she glanced up at me. She crossed her arms and raised her voice. “He’s a graverobber and an admitted agent of the rebellion. Did you really think we’d let them walk?”
Despite being the shortest of the group, I closed the distance between us in five steps and pushed her in the chest. “Who are you getting loud with? I watched you cancel your spell to heal either of us. Were you planning on saving your people some money by letting me die near the finish line? Or were you always planning on betraying these two?”
Viridian Gate Online: Schism: A litRPG Adventure (The Heartfire Healer Series Book 2) Page 15
