Likely the last chapter for tonight, the next one is like 16 or 17 pages that I divided into two halves. I'll do those tomorrow.
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Despite stopping Marianne and the large number of magic circles, the number of undead that reached the gates of Constantinople did not decrease. They were still coming at a similar pace. Killing Marianne was not enough to even slow it down. Garnet was now certain that there were multiple people responsible for them. It was the only way that it was possible for them to have so many of them so spread out.
With so much going on, Garnet could not concentrate on trying to unlock her chi like Zedd had. She even had difficulty even trying to figure out a solution to the undead problem. No matter what she did, she felt like she was running into barriers that blocked her progress.
Nian working with Zedd to clear the magic circles was not enough. Adam and Raphael were too busy making more Revenants. Romulus, Sylvia, Serena, Sunny, and the spirits rotated on a regular schedule to try their best to help clear out the massive numbers of undead.
The book Garnet acquired from Marianne only saved a tiny bit of mana since it was useless for creating vessels. It was only useful for calling the actual summons out, but her mana regeneration far exceeded the costs of summoning. Garnet and her allies did not need sacrifices for their undead for some inexplicable reason while others needed things like special books to have the same effect. It was a massive advantage, but with that knowledge, Garnet knew that it was certain that the Dark Mages had several of the books.
Garnet looked down the side of the wall, watching as the city's automata continued to kill the undead.
Name: Skeleton
Level: 10
Class: Undead
Sub-Class: None
Stats: ???
The skeletons already reached level 10. They weren't a serious threat, but the fact that they continued to slowly increase in level was worrying. "What's the matter?" Serena asked. She too was worried about Garnet.
"That's the matter," said Garnet as she pointed out over the wall. She could see the undead slowly approaching at all times every day. It had scared away most of the people who used to visit Constantinople trying to search for riches, but the constant march of undead was a problem that she just could not ignore.
"This city has faced far worse things," said Serena. "A handful of undead creatures like this is nothing to worry about."
"Maybe you're right," said Garnet. "But I have a feeling that this is just the beginning, and that is what really worries me."
One of the things that worried Garnet was the fact that there were no high level summons. When Crossen reappeared in front of Constantinople, he brought things like a level 70 troll. This meant that the Dark Mages had the ability to summon powerful creatures. The problem was that Garnet had not seen any of them in a long time. The conclusion that she drew from this was that they were saving up their high level creatures somewhere in order to prepare for their real attack on the city. When that moment came, the full force of the Dark Mages would be unleashed upon Constantinople.
"Worrying about it isn't something you should spend your time doing," said Serena. "You should be focusing on what you can do to solve the problem."
"I am," said Garnet. "We have the anti-magic field that protects us. We have an army of Revenants and Cerberus. But it somehow still does not feel like enough."
Garnet took out the Book of the Dead that she got from Marianne. "This is my proof," said Garnet as she handed the book to Serena. "I want you to keep it locked away in that library of yours."
Serena opened the book and looked inside of it. "There's summoning spells for undead in here," she said.
"That's one of the books the Dark Mages were using," said Garnet. "There's eleven more of them out there with similar contents and probably effects as well. I want to make sure they don't get their hands back on it under any circumstance."
"Alight," said Serena. "I'll keep it in the secret area with the other book."
As Serena left, Garnet watched the field as a large blue cloaked man came running straight towards them.
Name: Raven
Level: 62
Class: Augmentation Mage
Sub-Class: Monk / Summoner
Stats: High Intelligence, High Vitality
Based on his stats, he was likely one of the Dark Mages. "Recall!" Garnet called forth Meliae, Sino, and Sunny.
"HURAH!" shouted Raven as he dashed straight for the walls.
Even though Garnet had already called for help to stop them, Raven did not stop. In fact, he kept on charging. "Out of my way!" he shouted.
BANG. A thunderous roar erupted as Raven crashed straight into Sunny's staff. Sunny swung his staff pushing Raven back. "You're much stronger than I thought, Garnet," said Raven as he looked at Sunny.
Garnet took a quick look at the heavily built man. He seemed more like an experienced warrior than a mage. His muscles were bulging out of his clothes and it looked like he was at least seven feet tall.
"Is he talking to me?" Sunny asked as he looked at Garnet.
Garnet shrugged. "I don't know this person," she said.
Raven looked at Garnet who was still up on the wall. "So you're Garnet," said Raven as he turned to face Garnet for real this time.
"No, I'm not Garnet," said Garnet.
"Then who's Garnet?" said Raven confusedly.
"I think he's an idiot," Meliae whispered to Garnet.
"I don't know, but can you tell me who you are?" Garnet asked.
"I am Raven, Fifth Chair of the Dark Council," said Raven. "I am looking for a book that may be lost out here."
"He's definitely an idiot," Meliae whispered to Garnet. "He just told us who he was. You should kill him quickly before he realizes who you are."
Garnet spotted two others approaching towards them from the horizon. One was running on foot and one was riding on something. "Can you show me what it looks like?" Garnet asked. She wanted to confirm if they actually had it or if Marianne and Xiaomei were exceptions.
Raven threw a book up towards Garnet.
Name: Book of the Undying
Quality: Mythical
Effect: MP Consumption for summoning undead -50%, HP of undead summons increased by 200%
Note: Part of the Necronomicon Set [5/12]
Garnet could not believe how dumb Raven actually was. "I've seen a book like before," said Garnet.
"Really?" said Raven. "Could you tell me where you last saw it?"
"I think it was back along the main road west," said Garnet.
"Thank you very much," said Raven as he turned around and ran off. He was focused on his task that he forgot to even retrieve the book.
The two figures in the distance approached Raven. After a short while, the three of them turned back towards Constantinople. Garnet's deception was quickly seen through.
When the three figures approached, Garnet saw who they were. It was Percy, Xiaomei, and Raven. Percy was on foot this time, but Xiaomei had butterfly like wings, most likely because of her transformation skill. "Look who's here to pick a fight with me again," said Garnet.
"Give Raven back the book," Percy said angrily.
Garnet could tell that Raven was visibly mad, like he was going to smash something at any moment. "Why should I?" Garnet asked. "You declared me your enemies and even set up this endless swarm of undead to attack this city."
"That wasn't us," said Xiaomei.
"Now you're lying too," said Garnet. "Book of the Dead."
"How do you know about that?" Percy asked.
Xiaomei had a surprised look on her face. She was suddenly lost in thought.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" said Garnet as she tried to provoke them.
"If she has the book, we have to get it back," Percy whispered. "The Chancellor is going to be mad if we don't."
"We don't know if she actually has the book," said Xiaomei. "The Chancellor said not to directly attack until we were ready."
"My orders are to kill her," said Percy. "I don't care what you do as long as you don't get in my way."
"Wait!" shouted Xiaomei. But, Percy did not listen. He ran ahead. "Come Raven."
Raven and Percy both ran forward.
Garnet could hear all of this shouting. "Since this book seems pretty important, I'm going to hold onto this and see if there's anything that will help me against the undead coming my way," said Garnet.
Garnet wanted to see their reaction. Three of them gathered together was suspicious enough, especially since Xiaomei was someone who reported to the Chancellor. If they did not help, it was clear that they were the ones responsible for it. If they did help, they would probably be working against Murad's plans. "Sorry, but we cannot help," said Xiaomei. "We're here looking for something else."
Garnet knew they were lying. "No!" shouted Raven. "I need that book back!" he shouted as he ran towards the wall.
That was the proof that Garnet needed. Raven revealed their true intentions. As much of an idiot as he was, he was someone dedicated to his task. "Stop!" Percy shouted.
It was too late already. Sunny met Raven in combat as Raven prepared to smash Sunny. "Black Armament!" Both of Raven's arms were coated with a black transparent layer of smoke shaped like claws.
Sunny was confident in his own physical abilities and met Raven's attack with his own punch. "Hammer Strike!" Sunny's staff transformed into a mace as he swung it. BAM. The sound of the two colliding released a loud sound.
The victor was clear though, Sunny had broken cracked the black coating on Raven's arm. "Gah!" Raven cried out as he was pushed back.
"You're too weak to face me," said Sunny as he confidently displayed his staff.
"Call: Ancient Beast!" It was already too late to stop Raven.
"We can't stop him," said Xiaomei.
"This is what the Chancellor wants," said Percy. "If you're not going to help, stay out of the way."
Xiaomei was emotionally torn. This was supposed to be for the good of the Dark Mages, but the Chancellor's actions were selfish now. For now, she just stood back and watched them fight.
Raven called forth a large beast. It appeared to be a hybrid of reptile and avian of some kind. It had long arms that stretched out like wings. It was clearly capable of flight. Its mouth looked like a lizard with a long tongue, but its feet resembled that of a chicken's.
Name: Ancient Beast
Level: 80
Class: Primal
Sub-Class: Titan
Stats: High Vitality
Xiaomei ran straight for Garnet. Meliae saw this and immediately reacted. "Burst Seed!" A blast of pellets sprayed towards Xiaomei, forcing her back. "You will be fighting me," said Meliae.
That left Garnet with Percy, whom she had defeated before thanks to Percy having to close the distance in order to fight. In terms of match ups, Garnet's side had obtained the best one possible. "I won't make the same mistake as last time," said Percy.
"You won't have to," said Garnet confidently. "Transformation: Queen of the Night! Transformation: Lightning Form!"
Garnet wasted no time rushing Percy, who was caught by surprise. He did not even have time to create snow beneath his feet. "Horizontal Slash!"
Percy raised his spear to intercept the attack. "Frozen Tip!" The tip of his spear glowed blue and began to spread outward, creating a shell.
BOOM. Garnet's Explosive Palm smashed against the thin blue shell formed by Percy, knocking him back, but preventing the direct damage the attack would have caused. "What the hell was what?!?" shouted Percy. "It's like she's growing stronger every time we fight her."
"Then we need to finish her off here," said Raven. "We can't let her get stronger."
Sunny was singlehandedly taking on both Raven and the Ancient Beast. Even though Raven and the Ancient Beast seem to be pushing against Sunny, it was clear that Sunny was toying with thim.
On the other hand Xiaomei was being pushed back by Meliae. "You know your poisons won't work on me right?" said Meliae as she caught Xiaomei's sword in her hand.
"Desquamation!" Xiaomei immediately fell back in order to create some distance. Meliae was a Wood Spirit, one that was even capable of regeneration. She confidently stood up to Xiaomei who had thought all she needed was one strike to finish her opponent off with poison. "We won't know until we find out," Xiaomei replied. She began to focus more of her mana.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Xiaomei was already breathing heavy. Her Desquamation spell allowed her to avoid injuries, but it took a lot out of her.
Garnet focused her attention on Percy, knowing that the other enemies were being taken care of. Percy had gathered the snow under his feet as he floated up above. But, Garnet knew how to deal with this. Percy's snow could be melted. "Recall!" Garnet called forth Nuria. "Spirit Union: Nuria!"
Garnet took the glowing orange ball that was now Nuria and pushed the ball into her neckline like she had seen Marianne do.
New Skill: Transformation: Lightning Fire Form
Transforms into a combination of Fire and Lightning, granting you the bonuses of Fire, Lightning, and Wind elements. Your Strength, Agility, and Dexterity are all increased by half of your Intelligence.
MP Cost: Maximum Mana reduced by 30%
With Queen of the Night and Lightning Fire active, Garnet was down to a low 20% of her mana, but she had incredibly stats to back it up now. Her wings glowed with a red light and lightning regularly sparked and crackled around her body. While Lightning Form prevented Garnet from activating another transformation, it did not prevent her from activating a Spirit Union, which was classified differently.
"That's Marianne's skill," said Percy who was surprised. "Did you steal it from her?!?" Percy shouted angrily.
"I don't know," said Garnet. "Are you behind the undead attacks on Constantinople?!?" Garnet snarked back.
New Skill: Transformation Mastery (Level 1)
Reduces mana penalty and consumption from transforming by 10%
Garnet wanted to finish off Percy as quickly as possible. "Final Strike!" Garnet put all her mana into a single attack, much like Marianne did. It would be ironic that the second of the Dark Mages to be killed would be by an attack developed by one of their own. For Garnet, the cost was not great as her maximum mana was low and regenerated at a fast rate. The bow on Garnet's arm enlarged into a yellow one similar to lightning. As she pulled back on it, the bow enlarged even further. An orange petal appeared to the side of her bow, then green petal appeared adjacent to it, then a yellow to the side, and then a blue. It was four petals arranged in order around her.
Garnet released the attack straight towards Percy. "Glacial Wall!" Percy reacted as quickly as he could to it, raising a thick sheet of ice between him and Garnet.
BOOM. The wall of ice shattered as the arrow pierced straight through the wall of ice. BOOM. There was a second explosion as the arrow itself exploded, transforming into numerous small bolts. The scattered fragments rained outward in a huge arc and each one carried the properties of the elemental bolt on a lower scale.
As the explosion cleared, Percy lied there, missing an arm and a leg. He was bleeding heavily, but Garnet could tell he was not moving. He was already dead.
"Retreat!" Xiaomei shouted.
"No!" Raven shouted back at Xiaomei. "If I lose that book, I'm as good as dead."
"The Chancellor will not kill you for such a silly reason," said Xiaomei as she tried to persuade Raven to retreat. All her shouting fell on deaf ears as Raven continued to fight against Sunny, who now appeared to be toying with Raven instead.
With every strike Raven threw, Sunny switched to a different weapon in order to block it. Sickle, scythe, hammer, fist, axe, bow, kris, shield, staff, gun. The mix of weapons forced Raven to focus on the weapon and Sunny, which divided his attention further.
"Essence Absorption!" Garnet absorbed what remained of Percy.
New Skill: Water Wall
Create a barrier of water between you and the enemy. Very effective against projectiles.
MP Cost: 200
New Skill: Icicle Lance
Throw a spear of ice at your opponent. Ignores armor.
MP Cost: 100
"Two down, an unknown number left to go," Garnet thought. Strange thing was that Percy did not give any stats. "Was he that weak?" she thought.
DONG. A sound rang in the sky. The sound vibrated through Garnet's ear and she was able to tell that it was coming from the sky. She suddenly felt the presence of another worldly creature, but there was nothing in sight. As Garnet looked up, she saw a familiar sight. "Now? With no warning?" she cried.
New Quest: Survive the Invasion (39:59:59)
A blue star has appeared in the sky. Ensure that the Invasion is defeated.
Reward: Experience
There was just over a day until the Invasion arrived. Garnet would not have time to deal with the Dark Mages nor the Grey Ghosts. "Tell your boss that I have other problems to deal with," said Garnet. "I'm going to deal with that first," she said as she pointed into the blue star in the sky. "I will deal with you guys after if you survive."
It was the strange feeling along with the sight of a blue star. "Fall back!" Xiaomei repeated once more.
"Not yet!" Raven shouted back.
Xiaomei's aura began to change. There was something else mixed into the mana. "Serpentine Art First Verse, Serpent's Skin!" The butterfly wings on her back dissolved into a green mist. The green mist condensed into a bright green liquid cloak that covered most of Xiaomei's back. It resembles a transformation, but at the same time, it did not transform her entire body. It only created something like a piece of equipment on her back and her arms.
Garnet could feel that there was something different about the form. There was something else mixed into Xiaomei's mana, as if there were multiple sources of power that she was drawing from.
"You leave me no choice," said Xiaomei as she suddenly turned away from Meliae and ran towards Raven at an incredible speed. BANG. She slammed Raven in the neck.
THUD. Raven fell over unconscious. "I'm leaving with him," said Xiaomei. "Be warned, the Chancellor will not take the loss of two council members so easily."
"I don't want to fight you either," Garnet replied. "But if you continue to provoke fights, then I guess the fight between us will be inevitable."
Xiaomei picked up Raven. "I'll be back to help you against that, I promise," she said as she pointed to the black star above them. She then picked up Raven on her back and carried her off.
Garnet took the Book of the Undying and threw it over to Xiaomei. "I'll give it back to you this time," she said.
"Why?" Xiaomei asked.
"Proof I don't really want to be your enemy," said Garnet.
"Thank you," said Xiaomei as she picked it up. With it in hand, she ran off with Raven on her back.
Garnet could not understand why Xiaomei would help, but any help was going to be useful since she did not have anything that resembled an army. The only thing she had was a semi-organized mess of powerful undead. Unlike before, Garnet was the only one with the authority to control them. Even if Zedd ordered something, Garnet would have to relay it.
The only question was whether Xiaomei could actually be trusted. After all, they were on opposing sides of a fight yet every fight between them ended with Xiaomei stopping the fight and preventing it from escalating.
Spoiler :
Name: Garnet
Level: 44
Class: Chaos Mage / Queen / Hero
Sub-class: Queen of the Night
Stats:
HP: 3400/3400
MP: 12060/12060
Fame: 220
Strength: 132 (+5)
Dexterity: 112 (+7)
Intelligence: 356 (+22)
Vitality: 105 (+5)
Agility: 134 (+7)
Charisma: 42 (+20)
PROFICIENCY:Weapon:
- One Handed Sword – 7
- Hand to Hand – 4
- Staff - 1
Magic:
- Fire – 10
- Lightning – 15
- Wind – 7
- Water - 2
- Summoning – 12
- Blood – 6
- Shadow - 0
SKILLS:Weapon (One Handed Sword):
- Horizontal Slash (Level 3)
- Double Slash (Level 3)
- Crescent Slash (Level 1)
- Triple Slash (Level 1)
- Delta Attack (Level 1)
- Spiral (Level 1)
Weapon (Hand to Hand):
- Palm Strike (Level 1)
- Wind Palm (Level 2)
- Explosive Palm (Level 3)
- Lightning Palm (Level 1)
- Sweeping Kick (Level 1)
- Horizontal Kick (Level 1)
- Uppercut (Level 1)
- Ki Burst (Level 1)
- Demsey Roll (Level 1)
Weapon (Staff):
- Thrust (Level 2)
- Swinging Smash (Level 1)
- Double Strike (Level 1)
- Triple Strike (Level 1)
- Quadruple Strike (Level 1)
- Vertical Smash (Level 1)
Class (Dark Mage):
- Fire Bolt (Level 5)
- Fire Ball (Level 2)
- Incinerate (Level 1)
- Fire Breath (Level 1)
- Lightning Bolt (Level 8)
- Chain Lightning (Level 4)
- Lightning Ray (Level 3)
- Lightning Blast (Level 1)
- Lightning Breath (Level 1)
- Light (Level 1)
- Air Bullet (Level 4)
- Wind Blade (Level 1)
- Wind Breath (Level 1)
- Aqua Strike (Level 2)
- Jet Stream (Level 2)
- Aqua Breath (Level 1)
- Water Wall (Level 1)
- Icicle Lance (Level 1)
- Shadow Bind (Level 1)
- Shadow Grip (Level 1)
- Shadow Crush (Level 1)
- Shadow Wall (Level 1)
- Heat Wave (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire Bolt (Level 3)
- Crimson Lotus: Blade of Lightning (Level 2)
- Tri-Element Breath (Level 1)
- Mugen (Level 1)
- Mana Armor (Level 2)
- Call: Cerberus (Level 1)
- Call: Revenant (Level 1)
- Call: Death Knight (Level 1)
- Call: Romulus, Knight of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Sylvia, Priestess of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Lilith (Level 1)
- Call: Nuria (Level 1)
- Call: Mazu (Level 1)
- Call: Sino (Level 1)
- Call: Meliae (Level 1)
- Call: Serena (Level 1)
- Call: Nian (Level 1)
- Call: Sunny (Level 1)
- Recall
- Dismiss
- Quintessence Force (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire (Passive)
- Essence Absorption (Level 1)
- Blood Bind (Level 1)
- Blood Scythe (Level 2)
- Blood Sacrifice (Level 1)
- Blood Bullet (Level 1)
- Transformation: Lightning Form (Level 1)
- Transformation: Lightning Fire Form (Level 1)
- Teleportation (Level 1)
- Teleportation Summoning Circle (Level 1)
- Instance Dungeon Creation (Level 1)
- Spirit Union
- Spirit Link (Passive)
- Final Strike (Level 1)
Sub-class (Queen of the Night):
- Supernatural Body (Level 1)
- Captivation (Level 3)
- Cosmic Awareness (Level 1, Passive)
- Embodiment of Lust (Level 1)
- Shadow Warp (Level 1)
- Sonic Scream (Level 1)
- Doppelganger (Level 1)
- Flight (Level 1)
- Aura of Nightmares (Level 1, Passive)
- Plate Armor (Level 1, Passive)
- Transformation (Level 1)
- Partial Transformation (Level 1)
- Transformation: Queen of the Night (Level 1)
Tradeskills:
- Hunting (Level 5) - Hunter
- Cooking (Level 9) - Cook
- Inspection (Level 5)
- Sewing (Level 4) – Tailor
- Advanced Magicraft (Level 1) – Alchemist
- Magic Seal (Level 1)
- Advanced Enhancement (Level 1) - Alchemist
- Disassemble (Level 1)
- Inventory Expansion (Level 4)
Passives:
- Hand to Hand (Level 1)
- One Handed Sword (Level 1)
- Staff (Level 1)
- Reflex (Level 5)
- Haste (Level 2)
- Scale Armor (Level 1)
- Aura of Leadership (Level 1)
- Aura of the Hero (Level 1)
- Summoning Commander (Level 1)
- Queen's Presence (Level 1)
- Fire Mastery (Level 1)
- Transformation Mastery (Level 1, Passive)
Unique:
- Hero System (Level 3, Passive)
- Minion Development (Level 2, Passive)
- Otherworldly Knowledge (Passive)
- Golden Tongue (Passive)
- Mana Compatibility (Passive)
- Quick Learner (Passive)
- Channeling (Passive)
- Charging (Passive)
- Night Vision (Passive)
- Guardian Contract (Level 1)
- Thaumaturgy (Passive)
- Magic Negation (Passive)