Eses cosmic dragon left the planet, going back the same way she came, through the pathway that condensed an insane amount of aether that even Moyo felt it rattling his teeth and bones. Opened deep within the castle of the thousand blades, it had been a work of power as well as might, loudly wondering why she didn’t go through the nethervoid, Mardar explained,
“Opening anymore pathways through the nethervoid would drag the attentions of the beings of the abyss currently wandering the nethervoid, especially one as large as which she’ll no doubt open” he said,
With the dragon gone, Moyo had returned to his legion, watching as the Ship carrying the tabards and remains of those few who had died at the last battle departed the planet. Although there were no bodies to be buried, Moyo sent along the funds owed each member with orders for their families to be found and taken to the planet titan where they would be catered for. Standing on a mountain range, he watched the master Kimiv forge runes above the skies of the planet, a series of runic circles of protection that would prevent any abyssal pathways from abruptly trying to bore their way through in the planet.
Aided by Mardar who added the expertise of the jades to the project, Moyo was left with little to do than to organize his legion, take them through training runs and oversee their dungeon delving from the numerous dungeons that had sprung open on the planet. Bored out of his mind, he had actually evolved his constitution that had broken through the five thousand mark a while back, evolving it into titan’s physique. Bestowing him with an additional 100 points to add to his dexterity attribute, the attribute previously sitting on a solid 4,700 finally crossed the evolution mark to 5,000.
Evolving into titan’s agility also, it sadly enough didn’t give him any points. Resolving to find out why constitution gave him that, he had contacted Mrs Martha, aware of the cost of the long-distance communication, especially this far from home. Her answer had been simple,
“Your constitution was an integral part of you” she said,
“Your skills were intrinsically tied to it, wrath of Oya healed you in battle, greed of the titan sometimes stole parts of the vitality of your foes, except you don’t use it again due to your overwhelming strength already”
Taking that, he was one step closer to evolving all his attributes, a feat few masters could boast of, still he kept it to himself, resuming his devotion to training and meditation to while away time, leaving the running of the legion to Idris who organized dungeon runs and ensured the protection of the legion from the other forces who no doubt envied them. At times he was forced to step in, like when a master of some clan he wasn’t familiar with had tried bullying Idris and his commanders into vacating a diamond ranked dungeon. Hoping to settle it amicably, he had arrived to see the master preparing to attack his guard for disrespecting him.
Usually, he’d had left them to go against the master, the ten with Idris more than enough to put down a master although with apparent effort. He was however cautious of the authority he could feel from the master, no doubt linked to the aspect of some ruler as well. He had simply put down the master himself, although far from the eyes of his planetary forces, there was no need to disgrace him so. The master on a path of aura-based weapons had found his abilities coming up short against Moyo who had simply brutalized his way through the man who had an offensive mantle.
Activating deific greed of Esu, he had simply taken a pinch of vitality that belonged to the man, nothing to add to his already abnormal level of strength, simply to ensure the man understood just what sort of danger he had been in by taking on the titan. The matter had died there and then, the both of them returning to their forces with the master putting up a font, leaving with his dignity intact. Masters Killian, Duval and Skatha had recovered soon enough, apparently the attacks of the creature had bitten into their lifelines, entire parts being simply cut off to avoid it infecting them in their souls as well.
It was the first Moyo had heard of such happening, even as they sat above a mountain range, watching a master ranked dungeon appear, Moyo questioned them about it. Killian had scratched his beards that had grown when he had been unconscious,
“Soul and mental attacks while tied together, are crazily rare, rare enough that any ascender who simply possesses it is simply either snatched up by the brigade or one of the cult groups that follow the primordials themselves” he said,
Moyo checked his character sheet, silently giving thanks for his defence against mental attacks, Skatha nodded,
“we’ll be fine, might take a few months to recover the lifeline cut off, nothing a good rank upgrade won’t solve as well” she said, her words appearing in his HUD,
“Although you run no risk of that, your aspect would flush it out and renew your line anytime you experience such” Duval added,
Moyo had felt awkward standing there with the masters, they had once been his mentors, a height he had once aspired to reach, and yet here he was, preparing to go for a dungeon run with them. The appearance of a master ranked dungeon had woken all the masters on the planet from their idle bored state, and with the knowledge supplied by Mardar that the dungeon was an entire labyrinth as big as a continent had excited them to no end.
Altair took advantage of it, turning it into a friendly competition between the masters, Moyo however had gone to ask Mardar how he had known of the type of dungeon. The jade ruler simply lifted an eyebrow,
“I’m a jade ruler, we have runes for everything” he had simply bragged, Moyo huffing as he turned away from the pompous brat,
The thousand blades had promised a legendary relic or weapon forged within his own core vault to the winner, the masters who already had one or more simply overlooked it, deciding to either let their diamonds run it to get stronger primordial essences despite the danger levels to them. That all had changed however when Altair had added a connection to either Eses herself or Kairos, Moyo watching as all the masters roused at once, the offer too big to overlook.
Of course he couldn’t relate, he saw those beings on a regular simply by hanging out with other stronger beings, something a master of his level shouldn’t even be doing. He wisely kept shut, watching with amusements as the masters boasted to each other and formed groups to dive into the dungeon itself. The sol blade, stellar blade and silent blade had decided to team up together, inviting Moyo along for the run, aside from the fact rewards obtainable from the dungeon, they were specific things they were looking for,
“Aspect shards” Killian said,
“Aspect what now?” he asked perplexed,
Again, the infuriating reality that he was ignorant of somethings came biting back at him, resolving that as once as the war was over, he would dive headfirst into the akashic library to absorb as much knowledge as he could cram into his head to avoid situations like this. Duval had explained,
“Aspect shards are broken fragments or remnants of ancients or primordials of old that have ceased to exist, or so we’re told” he said,
Moyo wondered if that wasn’t another false information being pushed by the powers that be in the archailect, because as far as he knew, ancients or primordials couldn’t die, their thrones reforming their bodies after a while. Still, he wondered what happened if the throne was also destroyed as well, what would bring back the throne?.
“This shards can only be used by rulers, since they haven’t fully unlocked their own aspects, it would serve as a source of power and possibility to unlock their aspects, possibly even evolving their paths into a mythical one, although we haven’t heard of such happening” Killian added,
“And even if it did happen, the powers that be must had kept it silent, the last thing they wanted were masters throwing themselves into needless dangers in the search for a shard, not against high tiered dungeons like this for example” Skatha added,
Another reason why Moyo wanted to delve the dungeon was because of its level, a level 800 dungeon was no joke, not when the average master rank was in the six hundreds to seven hundreds. He as a level 585 master was going way over his head attempting to delve such a dungeon and a few masters had voiced their opinions rather loudly to the thousand blades himself. Given the simple reply of freewill, Moyo had simply ignored them also, after all, he had been trashing masters around the six hundred to seven hundred range. He made no mistakes though, an ascender of higher rank was different from a dungeon monster of that rank as well, he had experienced that first hand when he had delved the master ranked dungeon back on Gaia.
************************************
Together they watched the dungeon fully manifest, instead of the usual swirl of power that pulsed, it was a large black gate with the carved images of monsters on it,
“That doesn’t bode well for you guys” Mardar said as he appeared next to them, Kimiv riding a cloud as he alighted,
The rune touch had declined going into the dungeon, stating it was too high for him and his clan couldn’t afford to lose him lest they lose the planets under their control as well. Moyo could understand to an extent, not many clans could afford to lose their masters, he guessed the rune touch were among them as well. Duval turned to the jade,
“Anything we should know?” he asked,
Mardar scratched his chin,
“Well usually, dungeons like these mean that an aspect shard is within it, most definitely at the lowest level as well, probably the dungeon boss who’s either an echo of the ancient or primordial that dropped it, so, well, good luck!” he said as he snapped his fingers, disappearing in a pop,
Moyo rolled his eyes, watching as their HUD lit up,
Planet notice: a master ranked dungeon of level 800 has appeared, within it is an aspect shard or two of either an ancient or primordial lost to time, those who want to back down from entering the dungeon are free to do so now, don’t let your ego lead you to an untimely death
* Jade ruler Mardar scourge rune.
Loud murmurs broke out among the masters assembled, deliberations on whether delving the dungeon was indeed worth it, Moyo saw their ambitions win out when the doors of the dungeon swung open and the masters began to blitz their way into the dungeon itself. Moyo and his team stayed back though, waiting for the majority of them to go through the dungeon rift before they moved. Duval being the oldest led the group,
“Skatha, you act as the scout, Moyo, you’re our shield, Killian, ranged attacks, I’ll deal close combat when necessary” he said,
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
The reasons they were given their roles clear enough to them, it needed no explanations. Skatha with her path was as good as a scout as they could get, naturally maintaining silence with the ability to mask both her powers and theirs to near perfectness stillness, she would be vital in gaining knowledge through going ahead in the dungeon. Moyo with his insane durability, bloodline ability they knew nothing about and mantle that was neigh indestructible, he was a wall against whatever attacks the creatures of the dungeon threw at them.
Killian with his stellar path was good at ranged attacks, his skills mostly used from a distance while Duval was a one man walking incinerating machine, useful in dropping AOE or area of effect damage. Amused at the facts that he was actually beginning to use real gaming terms, he realized to himself how different the archailect was from what the usual gaming system was supposed to look like. There were no quests, no plotlines for them to follow and definitely no teams or at least as far as he knew that braved dungeons regularly for the fun of it.
The archailect simply gave everyone the same option, seize the power you see if you dare. Everyone was the protagonists of their own existence, able to go as high as they dared, or reach too far and be cut down like a stalk of grass. It gave him a reassurance that they weren’t simply slaving away to a system, although the true secrets of the archailect were slowly being unravelled to him, he had the determination to see it through. The moment they passed through the dungeon gates, oshosi screamed as he threw himself to the front of the group, just in time to take a bolt of lightning so powerful, he felt it traveling through his body, throwing him sideways with a concussion.
He felt the masters throw up their realms around themselves, lightnings chaining themselves as they smashed into the realms, somehow shattering them. Moyo shook his head, bouncing back to his feet in time to see the large lizard made of blue lightning open its mouth again for another blast,
Elemental Lightning lizard, level 700
The large creature whipped its head towards Moyo, realizing he hadn’t died, it shot the blast at him again,
“Moyo!” Killian shouted,
“I’m fine!, take it out no-“ was all he said as he threw up his mantle and titan’s body to weather the next attack, the lightning burning away his actual robes that couldn’t withstand the barrage of lightning that lit up the area. Ignoring his blinking HUD, he rolled to the side, drawing dominion as he swung the blade, sending his aspect powered intent towards the creature the exact moment the rest of them unleashed their attacks as well.
The skies above rumbled as a net of lightning crashed down, protecting the creature, a futile effort, the attacks of the masters tore through its dome of protection, ripping into the body of the creature that hissed as it exploded in a shower of gore. Opening his vault immediately and grabbing another robe, Moyo opened his HUD, looking at the messages,
Notice: you have entered a master ranked dungeon of level 800, the following are now in effect:
* You cannot exit the dungeon until all monsters are slain
* You have seven days to wipe the dungeon clean or be stuck within it
* The dungeon consists of lightning, mist, fire and diamond affinity monsters
* There are three- four aspect shards for the four affinities within the dungeon
* There are four dungeon bosses within the dungeon, all must be slain at each level of this dungeon to escape
* Rewards include: coins, relics, mythical and legendary dungeon cores.
Notice: you have slain a level 700 lightning lizard, you get:
* 1,000 diamond coins
* 5,000 gold coins
* 10 rare aether shards
* 1 legendary aether shard
“Am I the only one who’s seeing this?” Moyo asked,
Skatha nodded as she sheathed her blade,
“Master ranked dungeons are bizarre in themselves, we expect nothing to go according to plan” she typed through her HUD,
“The most critical question is, where are we?” Killian asked softly,
They looked around to see a landscape covered in hard stalagmites that acted as the ground of the area, lightning bolts regularly striking around, drawn by the lightning lizards that began to crawl out of crevices in the ground. Gripping their blades tighter, they put their backs to each other,
“Anybody spot a way through?” Duval,
The lizards circled them, mouths open as Moyo unleashed his realm, the mountain of his core realm descending as he uttered the command,
“shield”
The lightning bolts crashed on his realm like a freight train, staggering him as Moyo poured his aspect and Ashe through his realm, the masters staring grimly at the attack that drove even a pseudo primordial to desperate ends. The barrage paused and the monsters came for them, Moyo flipping dominion in his hands and shot forwards, right behind the masters who went on the offensive. A silver blade made of intent and conjured by the silent blade drove its edge straight through the skull of one of the lizards before Killian was there, his silver blade decapitating the monster.
Duval conjured his blazing sun in the sky, the ball shooting lances of concentrated intent sun beams that dropped devastating damage on a lizard, the creature screeching in pain before Moyo grabbed it by the throat, activating greed of Esu in time for the lightning running through its frame began to scorch his hand. Greed of Esu went to work as the creature trashed in his hands futilely, Moyo pitting the full brunt of his titan’s might against the creature.
Greed of Esu absorbed an aspect of the creature as his HUD pinged,
Notice: greed of Esu has acquired elemental lightning, you have gained resistance to elemental lightning (10%), absorb more from a greater lightning elemental to increase resistance.
Snapping the neck of the creature, Moyo threw its body aside, in time for oshosi to scream at him again. This time however, he let the chain of lightnings crash into him repeatedly, grunting as he weathered the attack better than before, still standing. One step of Ogun and dominion had pierced through the skull of the creature, cleanly killing it in one critical hit before withdrawing dominion from its lifeless corpse. The masters had made short work of the creatures also, leaving dead corpses that fizzled back into aether dropping loots.
Notice: you have slain two elemental lightning lizards, you get:
* One robe of lesser lightning immunity(R)
* Dagger of lightning(R)
* 2,000 diamond coins
* 10,000 gold coins
* 20 rare aether shards
* 2 legendary aether shards
Picking up the rare weapon and robe, he threw it into his vault, looking at the other masters that got almost the same loots with differences in coins. Turning to them as they glanced around, Killian spoke,
“You weathered that last attack pretty well” he said,
“a skill of mine, lets me gain immunity to whatever creature I can absorb from during battle” Moyo explained,
“The legendary skill I believe?” Duval asked,
Moyo nodded, sheathing dominion as a large runic circle forged of white lightning shards appeared in the skies above, a large scream like the steadily increasing static of a radio began to whine through the air, drilling into the skulls of the masters. Moyo however weathered the attack more than them, watching as the masters dropped to their knees, staggering under what looked like a mental attack. With ninety percent immunity against the attack that destabilized the masters, Moyo wasn’t in a perfect position to see the lightning-fast attack and to stop it before it met the masters.
A being wreathed in lightning, large claws forged of lightning and an appearance that shifted in appearance, it was however the name of the creature that stumped him short
Servant of shango, level 750
“Da pa da” he echoed, the edict pushing the creature back a good distance,
Eyeing the creature, puzzled by the name and the apparent reference to his roots, the creature shot forwards,
Screeching as a flash of lightning burned his eyesight, bleaching the entire area white with light, it didn’t stop dominion from connecting with its body though, the arcane blade dispelling whatever protection or armour of lightning protected the creature and with sheer blind luck, struck a critical hit to the creature. The flash of light went away, Moyo rapidly blinking as he created space between him and the creature, staring at its staggering form that seemed to shed lightning as it began to glow,
“that’s not good” Duval groaned,
Moyo agreed, slamming his core realm down on them all, enforcing his command of “shield” on reality, turning the area around him solid with his aspect. The creature exploded, waves of power buffering them as the lightning contained within its form was released at once with a loud bang. The core realm of the titan withstood it, leaving nothing but a stinging feeling to his realm which he dispelled,
“Master ranked dungeons” Killian groaned as he shook his head, dispelling the moment of dizziness,
“That creature could had gone through diamonds easily” Moyo said,
Skatha nodding her head,
“We were caught unawares this time, it won’t happen again” she wrote,
Moyo checked his HUD,
Notice: you have slain a level 750 servant of shango, you get:
* 4,000 diamond coins
* 8,000 gold coins
* 30 rare aether shards
* 3 legendary aether shards
“Something about that monster isn’t right” Moyo said as the masters turned to him,
Dispelling his HUD, he explained,
“Shango is, or was a mythological deity of thunder, lightning and fire from my world, my clan so to speak, why would a dungeon monster bear his name as his servant?” he asked,
“Moyo, are you aware of echoes?, nexus points and their relationships with primordials and ancients?” Duval asked,
Moyo nodded,
“yes, the sage touched on it when I needed his help, something about primordials growing strong enough that their names and eventually paths are somehow reflected on other worlds” he replied,
“Precisely, while I won’t argue to source of the story of the deity on your world, this could be that, the echo of a lost or dead primordial or ancient” Killian said,
Sheathing his blade, Moyo nodded,
“let’s get this over with then, can’t wait to see what’s at the end of this dungeon” he said,
Giving Skatha the robe of lesser lightning immunity seeing as she would be the one scouting ahead of them, it provided her a much-needed source of defence against whatever creature might spot her. Trudging carefully over the landscape of crystalline blue trees that conducted lightning from the skies and the black crystalline grounds that shone with barely restrained power of lighting, the entire part of the dungeon was one big conductor of electricity. Wondering just how well the other masters were doing, they made it closer to the middle of the region.
Again, trouble came knocking, but this time in the form of masters. An aurora of light glowed from a spot in the distance, the masters pausing as they all drank elixirs of strength to bolster their abilities, no doubt expecting something strong, nothing that shiny and that powerful as the aether it exuded showed could come for free. Moyo stared at the rare and legendary grade elixirs they guzzled, wincing at the prices he saw from the system vault, the masters literally drinking an entire sects’ funds in one elixir. He refrained when given though, simply tossing it into his deific vault, preferring to preserve it.
Skatha had gone ahead, reporting back after a few minutes,
“it’s a mini boss, known as the triple guardians Ara, Monomono and Ina” she said,
Moyo frowned again, shaking his head,
“This is crazy, those literally mean lightning, thunder and fire” he said,
“Are they strong from the stories you’ve heard?” Duval asked,
Moyo shrugged,
“No idea, all I know are those three were the familiars of Sango, the source of his powers” he explained,
“Another thing, we have two teams of masters camped outside the area around the mini-boss” she said,
“Masters from two different clans attached to armada thousand blades, mostly unknowns, however, they have masters Hilar scale viper and Urcar primal claw with them” she wrote,
“Two masters allied with house fang blade” Killian cursed,
“fang blade?, as in the swordsmanship tournament house fang blade?” Moyo asked as they nodded,
“were they a part of fleet thousand blades?, what where they even doing on our world?” Moyo asked, eyes wide,
He could hardly remember anything about their house, he doubted he fought any of their diamonds back then as well, Duval nodded,
“Technically, for the duration of this war, the planet belongs to the council, it is a staging ground for the forces of the armada, meaning it is owned by the entire armada of the Molrik system” he explained,
“besides, Altair cannot claim sole ownership of a master ranked dungeon, especially not one that has access to aspect shards” Killian added,
“Meaning it’s open to everyone” Moyo finished,
“Well, this just means we’ll have to beat them to the mini-dungeon boss” he said,
“Hold yourself, while I don’t know the other masters around them, those two masters are some of the pillars of house fang blade, do not take them lightly” Duval warned,
He could see the seriousness in their eyes and nodded, Duval outlining their plans. The masters though from the same house had formed two different rival groups, both sides intent on competing to reach the mini-boss as soon as the part which was currently covered with a curtain of lightening was opened to them. Moyo stepped out, flaring his aura as both camps turned to him, gripping dominion tightly, he spoke,
“hi” he said as he swung his blade, intent and black hole crashing through the air towards both camps.