ALL NOVEL Chapter 329 - Ambush
The first thing Eric made out was a massive chamber soaring upwards like a gigantic football stadium, decorated with horrors unimaginable.
Eric clenched his fists at the sight of countless writhing souls bound to spikes upon the ground, silently shrieking as ghostly streams of energy all rushed into a central figure hovering over them all, his head no more than a skull with two perfectly preserved yellow eyes.
In its bony ethereal hands it held a bone staff trembling with ghostly yellow energy. Eric’s senses screamed warning, having absolutely no doubt that being hit with that weapon would be a Very Bad Thing.
Eric felt a chill of deathly apprehension, instantly understanding their peril.
This dungeon might be located in an Orange tier-territory, but having never been properly anchored to a world ascending so rapidly… this final boss was far closer to level 100 than 60 or 80.
A truth he felt in his soul, even if his too low ranked Identify skill could give him nothing clearer than that. Not without giving the game entirely away.
Because Eric didn’t dare move as the creature’s cold yellow gaze turned to a furious glare.
“What foolish Champion of Light dares to enter the chamber of Lost Souls?” The creature roared, voice echoing endlessly through the half-domed chamber, to the point even Eric’s ears stung and he could sense the choked off groans of the others. Because at that moment with all of them keeping utterly still in Yuki’s shadows, none dared say a word as she darted through the final chamber, slipping past tormented sentinels moaning their agony, claws dripping with cold so deep it appeared jet black to both Infravision and Magesight.
For Yuki was both light and shadow, somehow blending in perfectly with her environment as she scurried under the feet of the hot-eyed specter running the asylum.
The translucent abominations continued their odd rounds, tending to the spirits writhing on obsidian spikes as the undead puppetmaster went back to his twisted cultivation. At least Eric could be certain it was a boss monster and not any sort of rule-twisting Contender, yet the dark power it radiated was no less fearsome, because to be hit with it might kill even him. Without the proper arcane wards at the ready, Eric feared only combat-time and fast reflexes would save him. And that would do nothing for his friends.
Eric turned his focus back to Yuki, who had frozen perfectly still with anxious eyes Eric could see so clearly when a guardian specter abruptly shifted his patrolling pattering. Eric’s heart started to pound, about to scream for everyone else to flee… when Yuki slid right past the sentinel and continued on her way.
Eric smiled when Jack squeezed his arm painfully tight, almost certain that Jack had a crush on the girl.
And Eric felt Jack sigh in relief next to him when Yuki made it to the far side.
Then everything changed. A brilliant golden light flashed, and all the shadows burned away.
The levitating specter shrieked when he was pierced by a golden bar of light that bounced from crevice to crevice before pinning the shrieking specter in a fiery diagram mid air, and all at once, every single specter present, both boss, underling, and tormented soul, were shrieking in golden coronas as they blazed so brightly all Eric saw was white light… then nothing at all.
Congratulations! You have successfully cleared: Spectral Dungeon!
This Rift has been locked to standard settings! Boss monster will be normalized to surrounding mana levels for all future encounters!
Congratulations! You have successfully achieved a First-Clear bonus for this Orange-tier Delve! A part of Terra’s eternal potency is now forever your own.
Spiritual Energy has increased by 1 Point.
Soul Reserves have increased by 1 Point.
You have achieved Rank 2 in Essence of Dominion!
Eric frowned as he came to himself once more, realizing that he had lost at least a few seconds of time, being at the periphery of a dungeon clear and not himself the main show. But still… only 3 points earned instead of twelve? A part of him felt angry dismay as his spirit raced toward the brilliant shaft of light ahead that he knew would lead them all back to the realm of the living once more.
Then his ire turned to sweetest joy, recalling a truth too long forgotten.
He had just earned a node that, for all its bitter flaws, promised incredible power. And in all the time he had delved and grown by leaps and bounds, almost never had he found any opportunity to increase his essence affinities. Affinities he had thought that at least in two cases, would be permanently stuck at Rank 1.
Until now.
And if Rank 1 Dominion had granted him considerable power enhancing various skills even without the terrible wonder of infusing Higher Order concepts, how much would Rank 2 change?
Presently, he had no idea. All he knew for sure was that he was rapidly approaching the rift between worlds, and considering the warm welcomes prepared for them so far, he’d best be ready for absolutely anything.
So when brilliant autumn sunlight flared like a goblin’s blaster rifle, Eric was already sprinting free of the entrance more out of good-sense habit than anything else.
He certainly wasn’t expecting his tactical Interface map to suddenly scream with warning. Now flaring with scores of reds.
Only then did he register the pain of a sniper shot piercing his abdomen. Monstrous quickness, dilated time perception, flaring danger sense and sheer paranoia compelling him to him weave, duck and sprint even before he had even fully registered all the hostiles trying to kill him.
Far better to look a fool than die as one was what he had been planning to say to Yuki, when she and the others shot the inevitable quips his way, knowing that his juking and darting about made him look like a goofball.
He didn’t expect their first uttered sounds free of the dungeon to be screaming and gurgling blood as their enemies made it utterly clear that they were now enemy number 1, to be executed at all costs.
Greed, Head of Bloodtear Syndicate, ACKNOWLEDGES your open state of vendetta!
WAR has formally been declared against Eric Silver and all his allies!
All cease-fire accords between your parties have been REVOKED!
All treaties between your factions have been REVOKED!
You have been struck multiple times by Bloodtear assassin sniper fire!
433 Quickness modified skill check AVOIDS DoomStrike Perk!
Contender Status mitigates Instant Death Perk!
You have successfully mitigated 3 Critical hits to Medium Wounds!
The air was awash with the scent of blood, the screams of the wounded, the desperate cries of his friends.
Eric’s instincts were screaming warning as he sensed both the unexpected roar of giant bear worgs and the distant shouts of gnolls fighting them off, and the awful killing pressure of cannons now being pointed his way.
There was only one thing he could say, one chance they had, sending a mental scream Yuki’s way, her soul flaring brighter than any others, some of their friends already near death from hideous wounds they had taken in the blink of an eye.
“Jump back in the gate! NOW! NOW! I’ll draw their fire!”
Even as he thought the words, he screamed his hate to the trees absolutely filled with sneering gnolls and the weight of goblins embracing their darkest arts. And each and every one of them was armed with blaster rifles, and thank all the heavens that Eric’s shimmering warded lizard hide armor that had served him so well since he had first fled Freetown was shedding blaster fire as easily as it ever did.
Even if more than one strike had left smoking marks upon his flesh, over 4,000 hit points having been cut by a third in a shockingly short period of time. He could only pray that he had been the focus, and that his friends at least had a chance of survival.
And with multiple gnoll champions screaming for their lackeys to fire their three bronze 12-pounders in the split second since he had emerged… death was all but certain if his friends didn’t jump back in immediately.
It would have been so easy to just sprint away right then, slip free of the killbox entirely. To blow these fools away with just how fast he could move.
And perhaps he would have, if the death of six people who had trusted him with their lives wasn’t all but assured.
So he burned away his fear, his blind terror of death in the simmering crucible of retribution it deserved, white hot fury transforming to absolute killing intent.
Still weaving and juking before blaster fire winnowing down his close far too close to half, Eric locked gazes with the sneering human cannoneers so eager to see him dead.
“Fragor!” He howled, and the cold-eyed man spitting chew and glaring Eric’s way as he manned the cannon battery exploded in meaty paste, spattering the pair of assistant orc gunners who crumpled with matching groans, blood pouring from their ears.
The barrage of fire immediately cut off as a dozen startled cries made it clear that Eric’s Psionic rupture had grown in strength and potency, buying his friends precious time.
“Yuki! Leave fucking now!”
But he wasn’t done. Far from it. Eric’s lips curled in a furious snarl as sporadic fire tracked him once more, Eric deliberately staying in the clearing, weaving and dodging inhumanly fast, but right in the open, drawing all his enemy’s fire.
Even as Eric’s flesh lit up with fresh burns, Eric paid it no heed, eyes and throat protected, Unified Peception allowing him to sense all he needed to. Because with all eyes on him, his foes weren’t focusing on his friends.
With all eyes on him, they weren’t even focusing on the cannons… or the powder kegs they thought safely scooted back, just a few yards away.
But Eric was very much aware of all the players on the board… including the pair of assassins even now lining up shots for fresh kills.
Not on Eric… but on the critically wounded players behind him.
“Hell Vines!” Eric roared, caring nothing that his mana and Qi reserves were both rapidly falling as he screamed the words out half a dozen times in a row, filling not just the clearing but the forest itself with those blazing trees.
Trees that rapidly sent the entire forest ablaze, even as dozens of 20+ level gnolls, feeling invincible with such deadly toys in their hands, soon felt nothing at all when thorn covered limbs of liquid flame wrapped them up in tight constricting vines that could crack even 60th level dinosaur ribs. Against low-leverl pseudo-champions a third of that level, death was quick and brutal, one shrieking gnoll after another exploding in flame.
Eric flashed a fierce grin of satisfaction when gnoll yips were interspersed with orc squeals and goblins screams. Happy that he didn’t have to actually spot the stealthy goblins to assure their doom when the entire world became a furious maelstrom of choking smoke and flesh searing flame.
“Hell Vines!” Eric roared once more, flashing a fierce smile as a band of reds scurrying back were suddenly pierced and blackened by fresh death as yet more trees made up of whipping limbs and liquid flame set ever more of the forest ablaze as Eric whispered a handful of arcane syllables that made it clear that even here and now, shot, ambushed, terrified for his friends, he was ruthless and savvy enough to think of the big picture.
And by some fortuitous stroke of luck, fate, or design, not one tendril caressed or marred a single Bronze cannon, the kegs of gunpowder somehow cooled by a chance breeze. Priceless treasures Eric now raced toward, before being intercepted by a giant of a man chuckling coldly and radiating the power of a Contender. Sheathed in enchanted steel and radiating Strength and Vitality the equal of his own, Eric realized that Greed hadn’t been lying when he’d bragged a bout being six moves ahead of them all from the start.
The massive giant of a man who’s spiritual pressure made it clear that his physical stats were well above the 200 watermark, smirked, twirling a wicked looking axe of dark steel so like what the minotaurs favored.
“Eric Silver I presume? The famous Sylvan Contender?” He snorted. “Name’s Calvin the Destroyer. Sorry about your friends, kid. But they chose the wrong side. As did you. Now that you’re warmed up, it’s time for the main event!”
He grinned up at a shimmering little silver eye hovering above him. “My All Seeing Eye will be taping it live for my Members-Only channel. You cool with that? Of course you are! Alright, kid. Show me what you—“
Fire Fist!
Fire Fist!
You have disarmed your opponent.
You have claimed your opponents axe!
Your opponent is pleading for mercy!
You show him NONE!
Eric didn’t waste time with pointless attempts at diplomacy, or bemoaning the pathetic irony of humanity eating itself while their enemies watched on and laughed. All he saw was a smirking monster taking advantage of betrayal and the tragic doom of his friends, and for that, this Calvin asshole was instantly relegated to subhuman monster.
Now that the blaster fire had died down as his own arcane fire roared with increasing fury, he could focus all his attention, all his KILLING WRATH on the fucking piece of slime that wanted to treat this like some fucking game.
Swinging his battle axe like an idiot who knew how to hew wood or decapitate oversized underground horrors, but sure as fuck the man had never trained with practitioners of SCA, HEMA, or under any true master of polearms, where he would have at least learned to use winding strikes to guard his line, weave past his opponent’s blows, and strike with finesse and control that would instantly line him up for a follow up cut or thrust.
This asshole instead put all of his monstrous Strength into each fearsome blow. Which, combined with a Quickness of several hundred, meant that he had probably obliterated anyone slower than himself with a single strike.
Which didn’t do shit against Eric as his fury turned to a white hot point of light on his FIST as he juked under his foes’ piss poor guard to pound Calvin’s vulnerable gut with powerful hooks that cratered the man’s pathetic excuse for enchanted armor and filled the world with FLAME!
Calvin’s eyes bulged comically, wheezing for air that just wouldn’t come as Eric tore the man’s own battle axe free of his twitching hands and twirled it effortlessly around, finding it surprisingly similar in weight and feel to the bardiche he had once so loved, before locking gazes with his would-be executioner for one final moment.
“NO, Please! I—“
Critical Hit! You have successfully DECAPITATED YOUR FOE!
CONGRATULATIONS! You have taken out your first TRUE Contender!
Evelyn Death approves of this battle! You are now a Level 30 Cultivator!
Strength/Vitality/Quickness/Spiritual Energy have all increased by 3 points!
You have successfully claimed a portion (5%) of all of Calvin The Destroyer’s MAJOR STATS!
Strength & Vitality have increased by 13 points!
Quickness has increased by 11 Points!
Perception & Finesse have each increased by 9 points!
(All point totals have been further increased by previously earned titles and boons!)
Eric howled as the rush of power flooded through him, the air lightning up with crackling electricity so potent that he sensed a shockwave blast away from him even as he trembled with an ecstasy that bordered on agony. Twisting and shuddering like the hero of one of his favorite TV series of katana-wielding badasses. Even so, he still sensed not one but three nearby screams as a final trio of stalking would-be killers were thrown off by the blaze of his own ascension.
When he jolted back to full awareness a split second later, he didn’t waste any time on awe, wonder, or horror at what he had gained, lost, or been forced to do.
Instead he glared right at the three goblins who had been torn out of stealth by powers they clearly understood no better than he, glaring at him even now and pointing their blasters his way.
“Fragor!” Eric roared, springing forward as the center goblin’s skull exploded like a grenade, peppering the others with gristly shrapnel and critically injuring the closer one while the farmost one sent a stream of plasma Eric darted past before he threw his axe. A desperate move earning a sneer for his clear stupidity before the startled goblin wheezed his last, Eric’s axe cleaving right through the blaster rifle and chest faster than an arrow shot from a longbow in an explosion of gore and super heated plasma from the ruptured rifle.
An an eyeblink later, Eric tore the blaster free the final goblin assassin's grip, who was now desperately holding up his broken hands. “Wait! You don’t understand! We—“
Fire Fist!
You have critically struck your opponent.
FATALITY!
Eric didn’t bother ranting at the heavens, or shouting at the eye bot even now hovering close to him after a final pan of the now completely desiccated remains of the former Calvin The Destroyer. Instead, he darted into the trees and in between his pocket of dutifully writhing Hell Vines before claiming the prizes kept securely between them, buffered free of heat and sparks by the ward he had somehow compelled into being even in the heat of battle. A stunt he would normally never dare.
But with multiple cannons now in the mix, sure as hell he wasn’t going to let that resource go to waste, or end up back in the hands of his enemies.
Never again.
And if he snagged a handful of weapons without wasting more than a split second on the snatch and grab? Damn if he wouldn’t do that as well.
You have successfully claimed: 2 Mark II Blaster Rifles! You have successfully claimed 5 Mark I Blaster Rifles!
You have successfully claimed: 3 Bronze 12-pounder cannons! You are familiar with manipulating this model of cannon! All cannons are in pristine condition!
You have claimed 3 Powder Kegs covered in Inferior Tier Runes of Fire Warding! How fortuitous that your enemies made sure your prizes would last!
Eric didn’t bother worrying about the implications that his opponents had been knowledgeable enough to protect the powder from Eric igniting it. All his focus was on the rift just a few feet away.
Worst case scenario, his dying friends had been swarmed by specters and he’d never forgive himself for being so fucking STUPID as to trust a goblin Seer, no matter the oaths or measures taken. They were self-centered spite-filled fucks who’d rather die with their claws in your eyes than live where everyone could see. Or perhaps it was the velimobile they had tracked down, or simply Greed in his calculating devious way had used Calvin The Destroyer to track Eric down. For all Eric knew, the deal was that his enemies would weaken him, and only then would Calvin force the fight.
And weaken him they had. Not that it had done that asshole a lick of good, when Eric pounded the shit out of him before cleaving his head right off.
Right before getting the power-up of his life, second only to his Bronze-tier title, all his injuries healed in the literal blink of an eye.
Yet whatever exhilaration he otherwise might have savored, all he felt now was fear for his friends as he slammed against the rift, along with the dreadful certainty that he was already too late.