Chapter 041
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‘ ‘ for thoughts.
“ “ for speech.
* * for actions.
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Asunder Online (and all its chapters) by fidelc123 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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A couple of (in game) days after his meeting with The Dreameaters, his companion alerted him to a big group of travellers approaching for them in the forest. They were at least two dozen of them and were around 100 m away, although it would take at least a couple of minutes for them to encounter him and his companion.
Bob: “So how should we proceed? They feel much stronger than both of us.”
Jack glanced around his surroundings and noticed a few tall trees nearby. He gestured to them and addressed his companion.
Jack: “Let us climb up and conceal ourselves and see how it goes. It is probably just a co-incidence. If it does come to a battle though, I will create a distraction and do your best to escape.”
Bob: “I don’t like running.”
But almost immediately he noticed jack’s frown and hastily added.
Bob: “But it does seem to be the smartest decision in this case! Where should I wait? I probably won’t be allowed in city limits without accompanying you.”
Jack: “Hmm… wait near those kobolds. Now quick, go climb that tree. They will be here in less than half a minute now. And remember retreat is the first priority! Run before even you have to sue your healing spell.”
His companion hung his weapon on his belt and climbed a nearby tree. It was awkward climbing, but he made it in time. He himself used a combination of free running and Mana Claws to nimbly climb and sheath himself in a bunch of leaves.
Soon a tall guy, around 6 feet 4 inch tall, in clunky plate mail armor arrived beneath them. His plate armor was silvery in color and his electric blue cape had an emblem etched into it. It looked like a golden thunder bolt embossed over a grey cloud. His weapon of choice seemed to be a bastard sword and a kite shield. The same emblem was etched into his kite shield.
The thunder bolt insignia player stopped and scratched his beard. His face was quite handsome with a cleft chin and strong jaws. He had blond dreadlocks extending up to his chin. He had golden yellow eyes and a French beard. He walked around a bit and frowned. A chainmail wearing warrior, somewhat shorter than the blond dreadlocks guy approached him.
He had spiky brown hair and was clean shaved. His weapon of choice appeared to be a halberd which was around 6 feet tall, although he did have a hand axe near his hips. Behind them were around twenty other players of various classes. Judging by appearances around 8 were lightly clothed casters – mages and priests.
Around 5 were equipped in leather armor, three of whom were wielding long bows. Jack assumed them to be rogues and archers. And the rest were in an assortment of heavy and massive armor wielding a variety of melee weapons, most of whom stuck with a one handed weapon and a shield.
Halberd Guy: “What is wrong Boss… why did we stop?”
Blonde Dreadlocks Guy: “Our quest objective should be right here. But there is nothing here…”
Halberd Guy: “Well it has to be around here somewhere. We will spread out and surround it and wait for you, Boss.”
Jack: ‘Quest Objective? Shit. That blondie looks like a paladin. I am sure I didn’t use Spirit Eater abilities in front of any divinely aligned player or NCP.’
Jack then suddenly heard a chiming whisper in his mind.
Chiming Whisper: ‘That’s probably because of me.’
Hearing a whisper in the back of his head Jack was surprised and started panicking. Was that whisper something the game was enforcing o him, or was he starting to lose it?
Chiming Whisper: ‘No you are not “losing it”. I am hurt you don’t remember me after you accepted our gift.’
Jack groaned mentally. Of course… it seemed a bit too convenient that he had got a potentially game-changing trait for free, just by napping near a random lake.
Jack: ‘The Dreameaters? Why am I not surprised that I am being hunted barely a couple of days after I accepted your gift.’
The Dreameater: ‘I must confess, we were kind of desperate for a foothold in Terra. In order to not appear too desperate we put a bit of a show. On the bright side because you did help us understand this reality better, your gift was quite powerful too!’
Jack: ‘Well I did accept it. Anyways, is there any way to get out of this mess?’
The Dreameater: ‘Well there is a way, but you would have to agree with another small deal.’
Jack: ‘Another deal…with you? Do you take me for a retard? I would only consider it if it could save my flunkie from death.’
The Dreameater: ‘Suit yourself…’
While Jack was having a conversation with the voice in his mind, the Plate Armor wearing blonde player stood exactly below Jack and pointed his shield and sword upwards. He then did a half crouch and his bastard sword started glowing golden with crackling electricity. He then stabbed upwards as he shouted “Lightning Spike”.
Jack was almost hit by that spell, but fortunately the shout alerted him and he managed to dodge just in time. He could not however, maintain his footing and fell from his hiding place as soon as he dodged the lightning spike. He did however manage to roll on the ground and mitigate most of the impact. He stood up and dusted his sleeves while glaring at the Paladin.
As if on cue, Bob jumped down from a nearby tree and landed next to him, causing a mild depression due to his impact. Jack had a clam façade outwards, but inwardly he was cursing his hot blooded companion. These players were clearly searching for him. Why did he have to reveal himself?
Jack: “That was pretty rude you know. Firing a sneak attack spell while I was distracted.”
Halberd Guy: *sneers* “And you hiding like a sneaky thief wasn’t rude?“
Blonde Dreadlocks Guy: “Be Polite Spear_of_Death.” *addresses jack* “What I would like to know is why you are the target of our quest.”
Jack: *feigning ignorance* “What quest? I was just on my way to a leveling ground. I was hiding because a large group of PKers has dogged me for a while…”
Blonde Dreadlocks Guy: “Well my church instructed me to seal a small rift before a demonic spirit invades. But a couple of days back, that quest ended in failure and I got a new quest to imprison the host.”
Jack: *frowns* ‘Demonic Spirit? You fucked me up big time, Dreameater.’
The Dreameater: ‘Many powers don’t like me because I am a big anomaly. I do have a deal which can get you out of it, but at a price…’
Jack: ‘Tell me the details of this “deal’ and don’t miss anything important like last time’s “gift”. I will stall for some time here.’
Jack: “And what does this ‘Demonic Spirit’ have to do with me?”
Blonde Dreadlocks Guy: “Isn’t it obvious? My quest is pointing at you, so you must have made a deal with it. Why don’t you just quietly accompany us?”
The Dreameater: ‘I am but a mere fragment of our true selves hitchhiking with you Jack, greatly limiting the powers at your disposal. They are almost non-existent in fact. I can however, form a link with my true selves and channel a great amount of power.’
Jack: “And why would I do that… out of the goodness of my heart?”
Blonde Dreadlocks Guy: “I am to bring you into custody to complete my quest. Obviously it will be a lot more bothersome if we decide to fight and I have to track you back to your city. I also noticed that your party member is an NCP. You wouldn’t want him dying now would you?”
As if on cue, all the other players readied their weapons, and the priests started chanting buff.
Jack: ‘Are you sure that it will end this manhunt with me as the target?’
The Dreameater: ‘Not sure, but it is your best bet.’
Jack: ‘Then what are your terms Dreameater?’
The Dreameater: ‘All I require is your permission, and I will start channeling. You will allow us to use your vessel for a short period of time, the after effects of which will kill you.’
Jack: ‘Demonic Spirit indeed. What you are asking is to possess me!’
The Dreameater: ‘Well yes, but its only temporary! And it will get you out of this mess…’
Jack: ‘… which was created by you! Not unless it is otherwise hopeless!’
After they entered a battle ready stance, the priests cast their various buffs. While the blond paladin was threatening Bob’s life, Jack channeled a ball of Soulfire in one of his hands as he activated Entropic Leech. He then threw the soulfire ball at the largest group of casters, while simultaneously shouting:
Jack: “Run Bob.”
But it was too late. A strong purple black aura coated Bob, and hate radiated from him as he teleported outside the encirclement, not to flee…but to attack another group of casters! Jack cursed in his mind, and noticed the Paladin was chanting another spell. He quickly pointed at him with his left hand and clenched it into a fist as he imagined him being crushed form all sides.
Ravaging Prison was activated and distorting transparent, almost invisible, sphere covered the Paladin, interrupting his casting and he started losing around 1.3% HP per second! Due to his heavy armor, he was especially affected by Ravaging Prison and he was rendered completely impotent!
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Furthermore, if the whole spell was allowed to run its course, the paladin would lose around 50% of his max HP! This was very significant as his opponent was almost 15 levels over him and was a Paladin, which meant that he had a decent P.Def and M.Def!
After disabling the leader, he prepared a Soulfire Breath, and activated mana Claws. As four armored warriors including Spear_of_Death moved to intercept him, he activated Soulfire Shift and teleported to bob and unleashed his prepared breath. It hit 3 casters and an archer and they lost around 10 to 15% of their HP.
Jack then enabled Body Augmentation and pierced a nearby caster’s throat, reducing its HP by a quarter while simultaneously interrupting its chanting! Clearly against these casters around level 80, a Body Augmented Mana Claw Slash was much more powerful than a cast of Soulfire breath!
Jack: “Run, Bob…what are you doing.”
Bob didn’t even reply, and he had actually lost himself to rage and was wildly swinging his axe. Each clean hit shaved off at least a third of the caster’s HP. They managed to kill three casters in a short while, but were not unmolested themselves.
Jack had been hit by stunning crowd control skills of the Archers and although he resisted it, he was slowed down quite a bit, which allowed a couple of warriors to surround and use their Bash skill at him reducing his HP by almost 30%.
His summon Charlie had managed to soften a couple of casters and kill one with his Flaming Claws and blazing swiftness, but had lost almost 60% of his HP under concentrated attack by the nearby warriors who were defending the casters.
Jack didn’t want his summon to disperse early, but he was too occupied to aid it! His companion had also lost around a20% of his HP and his weapon was phasing through all those who surrounded him. Each impact was further generating small shockwaves which disoriented those nearby. After taking care of the group of casters they had targeted, Bob had managed to bring 4 warriors to around 60% HP.
Jack was frustrated in his heart, and he knew that Charlie would be un-summoned soon. He mentally instructed his summon to go berserk and prioritize the casters. His pet’s translucent orange aura turned into a deep Crimson shade, as it exploded with power, head-butting a warrior out of the way and flipping over another to bite at another mage’s throat.
While this sudden burst of strength and savage display of might was impressive, Charlie’s HP was reducing under an alarming rate under the combined effects of the attacks it was receiving and HP drain of its induced Rampage.
It stubbornly held on the caster’s throat (whose HP had reduced to around a fourth) as it received attacks from the surrounding players. Soon, its HP bar emptied and Charlie exploded! In a three meter radius of its surroundings there was dark crimson explosion of flames which killed the caster he had been attacking and shaved off around a 20 to 25% of the HP of nearby warriors.
As Charlie was un-summoned, the pressure had increased on him and his companion. He resorted to slashing and piercing the nearby players with Augmented Body on and Mana Claws with each hit reducing around 15% of a warrior’s HP, while making full use of the environment and Entropic Leech to evade hits.
In the melee, it was extremely difficult for the mages and archers to target him without friendly fire… still he had only 40% HP left as he activated Regeneration infusion. His HP regenerated, and within a few seconds he was over half his HP.
Meanwhile Bob had been reduced to around 20% HP as he was recklessly rampaging through the nearby foes. He had activated his healing spell “Scorching Revival” and translucent orange flames enveloped him and 5 burning warriors near him. He was healed to full health but started losing HP at a steady pace of around 1%/s, while those near him were momentarily distracted as a powerful burning DoT drained around 1.5% of their HP/s
Wherever, his blade passed, purple –black shockwaves with trails of orange soul fire could be seen further spreading destruction. By now, only two squishy casters had survived and Ravaging Prison had expired on the paladin. Jack again shouted at Bob to retreat, but he had drowned in bloodlust…paying no heed to his commands and kept on fighting. As the paladin approached them with Fury
Jack: ‘Shit shit shit. My flunkies gonna die. Dreameater, possess me.’
The Dreameater: ‘It’s a deal then, Spirit Eater.’
Instantaneously, a powerful cocoon of Grey-Black energy enveloped Jack and a large shockwave spread of it, knocking back almost everybody in a radius of 10m. This seemed to have captured everyone’s attention and interrupted Bob’s bloodlust. When the shockwave dissipated, there was a thick layer of Grey-Black energy coating jack and his eyes were shining completely with scintillating colors like diamonds. His HP and PP were full and his look and aura was eerily similar to the Dreameater’s.
He seemed to regain his bearings, and the purple-black aura of rage around him actually dissipated in the presence of the terrifying energy around Jack. The possessed Jack spoke with a chiming voice of bells, yet it inspired terror in all those who heard him.
Possessed Jack: “Bob, run away. NOW!!”
Bob seemed to be terrified out of his wits. As he heard the powerful command, his figure shimmered with purple black energy as he teleported out of the encirclement and ran away a full speed. The Blond Paladin’s heart was filled with fury. He had almost assuredly ailed this quest, but he won’t let the other party get away without losses!
Blonde Dreadlocks Guy: “Don’t let that NCP get away! I want him dead.”
Possessed Jack: “As if I will let you.”
A distorting colorless ripple tinted with sparks of grey-black spread around Possessed Jack and attracted all the players towards him. The other players who were attempting to follow Bob were instead struggling to remain at their position. His possessed form had clearly shaped some sort of Gravity AoE spell to keep anyone form escaping.
The Possessed Jack turned towards them and let out a terrifying breath of grey black energy. It looked somewhat similar to his regular mana breath, but its range and size was much larger. His possessed form could also maintain the breath for much longer and do much more DPS.
Meanwhile, jack felt as if he was a prisoner in his own body. After he agreed to the deal, he had felt a terrifying presence overwhelm him. As he watched he rapidly regenerated all his used HP and PP in a few seconds.
As The Dreameater cast the powerful Gravity AoE, he noticed that his Full PP bar had instantly reduced by 20% and had rapidly regenerated back to full! The terrifying grey-Black breath that the Dreameater was currently using was barely making a dent in his PP before it regenerated. The other players systematically died as Jack was in awe.
Jack: ‘That’s some powerful shit.’
The Dreameaters: ‘Well we have barely a minute remaining before your shell collapses.’
Jack: ‘Hope you can hold your end of the deal Dreameater.’
The Dreameaters: ‘Just enjoy the ride now, Spirit Eater.’
One of the remaining mages managed to cast a spell and several powerful spiked balls of ice smashed into the Possessed Jack. Each spiked ball of ice damaged him for around 5% HP, and there were around five spheres that hit him. To everyone’s astonishment however, its HP rapidly recovered at the rate of roughly 1.5 % max HP per second.
The mage was cursing in his heart. It was his most powerful single target spell, “Frozen Sphere barrage”. Firstly it had done almost half the damage he had expected it to do…and on top of that that devil had regenerated almost half the damage done before the spell completed.
The Possessed Jack then slashed with its grey-black claws towards the mage. Five arcs of grey-black energy shredded a couple of warriors between them and impacted the mage, who died instantly, while the warriors suffered the same fate.
The possessed jack then systematically wiped out all the players using augmented grey-black version of Jack’s abilities. He simply ignored all attacks hitting him, as he took reduced damage form everything and rapidly regenerated his lost HP. Soon, only the paladin was left.
The possessed Jack teleported near him and the resulting grey-black shockwave had shaved off more than a third of his HP! He then grasped the paladin’s neck and lifted him off the ground as if his heavy armor was made of paper.
Possessed Jack: “Listen carefully, Worm and repeat it to your patron. We have finally managed to gain a foothold on Terra. It is a traveller like you so it cannot die. Furthermore, our conduit is a vassal of the Soulfire Spirit Monarch. End this manhunt on his head now, or soon rifts will open everywhere on Terra and hordes of spirits will begin to slaughter all the believers of your patron. Can your patron afford this war of attrition? Do you understand?”
The blond paladin nodded meekly at this turn of events. He was feeling overwhelming rage and fear at this outcome, but he was powerless now! Seeing his acknowledgement, the Possessed Jack squeezed the paladin’s neck and a layer of grey black energy coated the paladin’s body. His corpse was turned to ash before he could even scream.
Jack: ‘That was intense.’
The Dreameaters: ‘And our time is almost up. Hope we don’t have to possess you Spirit Eater.’
Jack: ‘Yeah –‘
Jack’s vision suddenly turned completely black and a window popped out.
You have died.
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A/N: Sorry for the late chapter. Kind of expect irregular releases till mid-December.
So our MC experiences his first death… but goes out with a massive bang! But at what price?
Although I have a pretty solid idea as to what the cost of this possession should be, please suggest stuff you feel should be included in the penalty. If the idea clicks I will include it :D
Also A BIG THANKS to all you readers for my first achievement! Imma Leader of penguins, fuck yeah!
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