There was another ten minutes of music playing before the instruments stopped. Music brought out emotions. And to Colt, now, these last couple of songs were that of glory. The strings of the violins hummed and celebrated his victory; the deep notes of the bass were a line that someone might dance to for his accomplishment.
Not that he could dance. No. It took a while, but he got back to his feet near the end. He’d taken a good number of wounds—too much blood coated him now to tell how much of it was kobold and how much was his own.
Colt put two of the newest points into endurance and then divided the other two into dexterity and soul, knowing it would be a necessary expense to make it back to the kitchen. He found, though, that this addition to his soul stat no longer tore him out of his body. Things became more real than before, but he could focus, feeling his understanding of the world and his connection to the edge of his weapons as a firm anchor point.
He waited as the band winded down; the dance floor now painted red. A macabre sight in this gothic place—oddly, he found it fitting. A good tribute to the show the Phantom Orchestra provided for him. If there was a way to go out for a last show, a dance like that you played for was certainly a way to do it.
The show wound down, and then the instruments lowered, once more littering the floor of the blackwood stage as if there’d been no concert at all. Simply a collection of disused instruments in a graveyard of kobolds.
Finally, the notification he’d been waiting for appeared.
———
Quest Complete: Ghastly Concert
You’ve survived the orchestra’s performance and shown yourself as their last fan standing! You’ve given these giddy ghosts everything they might have hoped for. Step on the stage to receive your well-deserved reward.
———
Colt nodded and then moved, doing his best not to stumble over the corpses. Despite all of the increased statistics, it was a near thing… He felt tired. The enhanced endurance was the only thing that kept him going.
He reached the stage—and one of those ghostly hands appeared; it held in its palm a knife; the weapon was short, and though it looked more solid than the hand holding it, the metal was transparent and glowed a light blue.
———
Name: Spirit’s Knife
Description: A ghostly weapon that crosses the border between physical and spectral. This weapon is halfway between the realm of the living and dead and, therefore, can affect beings of either. Due to its unique properties, it can be bound to the soul, stored in the soul, and summoned by the soul at will. Treat it right, and you’ll never be without a knife again!
Inspect (Basic) has gained a level!
———
It’s soul-bound, in other words. Colt reread the wording twice, having to focus after skipping through it the first time to look at the level gain for Inspect. This place was addictive, but the details mattered.
Colt to the weapon in his hand and felt a thread reach out toward his core—or what he thought of as a core. A little place in the center of his chest, where the thrum of cut had come from. And he accepted it.
The knife vanished.
He still sensed it there—it could appear in his hand should he yank it out, so he did, popping the new weapon into existence out of nothing.
He threw it—landing squarely into the body of a dead kobold not far away, then he willed the knife to return to his soul. It vanished, taking a split-second longer this time as if it needed to cross the physical distance back to him, and then he felt it there, unsummoned but willing to appear in an instant.
“Neat.” Colt stretched. He felt better. A combination of the stats or the enthusiasm of getting a new and undoubtedly cool toy was a nice perk-up.
He sat back down on the stage and then ate more of his packed-away food, letting the healing from his endurance stat do its work. Having advanced it to 24, it was obvious now that it did indeed play a part in healing. The pain in many wounds decreased—the damage he had been dealt was far less than it would have been had he been swarmed by kobolds at a lower level.
Colt simply took a moment to relax, to refresh, and gather himself.
He had no idea how much longer it would be until he leveled. If he ran into anything on the way back, he’d have to deal with it. But he knew he needed a rest.
It would be easy, though, to get back. All of the levels. The new weapons, his advanced skills, and stats—if he had to face a handful more kobolds and rats to return, he wasn’t worried.
The mist slowly filled in from the alleyway into the pavilion, the yellow gas-lit lamps making cool shadows. It struck him then as he took a bite of an apple; this place wasn’t too far away from one of those horror games he played as a kid. Silent Hill? However, in that game, a monster with a pyramid head and a giant sword walked around in those mists. Here, he couldn’t say definitively there wasn’t such a thing, but with the kobolds and rats… It didn’t quite live up to the horror aesthetic it should have.
Oh well. There’s no way Bill can match my progress. With or without Logan, he’d made far more of a gain and pushed himself far further than possible. This quest had turned out to be a hell of a prize with the experience it gave him.
They would escape this place. And he would be strong enough in the kitchen to hold them together to the finish line.
The mist deepened as Colt took another bite of his apple, feet hanging off the edge of the stage.
Red eyes appeared at the entrance to the octagon, and a stab of fear dove deep into Colt’s heart.
It was hard to see until suddenly it wasn’t. A shadow of a man was there, coat tails on either side of his back; the gas-lit lamps nearby showed a twisted face—he caught the barest bit of a grin, the smile far too large unless one's eyes were broken. Those red eyes pierced the mist and tried to peel back every layer of Colt’s flesh for a peek beneath.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
———
Hide Status (Basic) has gained a level!
———
He’s inspecting me? It sent a shiver through him, but he felt the skill push back, hiding away details from this stranger. Repelling those creepy eyes from looking through him. At least, all of him.
A jolt of designation tore Colt from his frozen stance; he realized that he hadn’t even moved for a solid three seconds after this shadow had appeared. No.
This wasn’t the same low-level Colt creeping into the dungeon for the first time with his two allies. No, he’d weathered a tide of Kobolds and came out victorious; Colt snarled at the grinning man and did two things at the first time.
First, he pulled one of his chef knives out and threw it at the shadow; aiming and tossing it was even easier. He had the strength, dexterity, and skill necessary to hit a target that far away. It might be a longer shot, but he felt confident in himself—especially since that menace was in a direct line from him, right through that open doorway.
Second, he played the evil figure’s own game, firing off an inspect of his own.
Let’s see what we’re working against.
———
Name: Jack ‘The Ripper’ - Level 29 (Boss)
Description: An iconic manifestation of a notorious figure from your reality. This particular man was an infamous killer who lived in the late 19th century. He roams the Endless Alleys, targeting victims with his red gaze to track down, kill, and then consume. In your reality, he was never caught and evaded any sort of punishment for his numerous inhuman crimes.
This is an optional boss and is not necessary to clear the Endless Alleys. However, ‘optional’ is a funny word and should be taken with the correct perspective. Many things in life are ‘optional’ until they aren’t. And for you, right now, it does not appear that this boss is very ‘optional,’ is he?
Best of luck.
Noteworthy Skills:
Consume [Uncommon] - Level 11: This skill allows the user to consume nearby corpses or meat of the recently deceased in order to regenerate their own physical form.
Aura Of Fear [Rare] - Level 9: This skill is a manifestation of fear incarnate; this cloak radiates a constant sense of crippling dread and fear outward from the user, slowing and up to paralyzing their movements.
Inspect (Basic) has gained a level!
———
Ah. Shit.
Simple thoughts about all he could afford.
The knife spun through the air, and the black-figured man laughed—there was a quick movement, and a wicked jagged shadow of a knife leaped out from his hand, clanging against Colts in the middle of them. Then, the shadow was darting forward, right at him.
Of course, Colt threw a second knife—this one, Jack blocked by throwing his own knife—he rolled to the side, avoiding the glinting steel chef knife with an expert's precision.
Colt took the couple of seconds that bought to get his ass off the stage and out of the pavilion, leaping over the plethora of kobold corpses within to escape the confines of the dance floor—then he ran around the outside, trying to put distance between him and Jack.
His heart pounded in his chest, his brain working in overdrive.
That skill—Consume?
Here?
He had an endless supply of healing. They were in a graveyard of dead kobolds.
Colt turned his head to look.
Jack was several feet behind; his grin up close was yellow, the teeth rotting, and those red eyes swirled with a promise of a slow and painful death. Yes. Jack would take him, slice by slice, bit of skin by bit of skin. Oh, how he would scream.
Colt’s foot tripped up, the fear numbing his muscles.
The other skill. It was affecting his coordination. This close—too much. And Jack was damn fast.
What do I do?
Colt tossed his last chef knife. This one Jack cut out of the air—a brief slash from a long jagged knife in his hand sent it flying wide, clanging against the black steel fencing of the pavilion—then he was there; upon Colt, that wicked knife of his darting in to slash him into bits, to cut him inch by inch and pull out everything—
Ignore it.
———
Skill Gained: Mental Resistance [Uncommon] (Basic)
Mental Resistance (Basic) - Level 1
This skill allows the user to resist or mitigate mental and emotional effects pushed onto it by other skills. Think of it like a steel wall surrounding your mind; this can be actively lowered if needed.
———
Like that, Jack's overwhelming fear and paralysis trigger slipped down a notch; however, it didn’t stop Jack’s dagger from speeding into Colt like a bullet.
It wasn’t a surprise when it slid between his ribs and pulled out, nor the gush of blood that came out with it.
Colt grit his teeth; that was part of the plan. Jack was close, twisting the knife inside of him, cackling as he brought pain.
One shot. This trick only had one chance. This guy was faster, at a higher level, and stronger. But Colt suspected he had something Jack did not.
In the blink of an eye, the Spirit’s Knife appeared in his hand—Jack was shocked and tried to pull back, but Colt’s free hand caught his, keeping the weapon locked in. In terms of Strength, it wasn’t even the same as Jack. The guy was more powerful. But it was enough to pause and keep him steady for a couple of seconds, and Colt did what he needed to do. If he couldn’t beat Jack in speed, he just needed to hold him in place.
With the ghostly weapon, he cut. The jagged edge of his weapon tore through the boss’s arm and then kept going. The line was on a charted course to divide the boss in half. It was inevitable. Jack would be split like a piece of chicken chopped in half.
Jack twisted, his eyes flaring red, trying to escape.
The arm Colt started with fell off, divided; the invisible line he saw was straight on course to cut through Jack’s chest in an arc, a nice clean slant down the middle. It split into the side of the boss, a burst of blood as it dove. It moved slower than it did through the kobolds as if this boss’s existence were harder to split through. There was resistance.
It was the difference between slicing through butter and cutting through a piece of meat. Both would be split; one just took more effort than the other. Still, it moved, the wave of death inevitable.
Jack let go of the weapon inside Colt and yanked his hand back, breaking his fingers under Colt’s grip but using blood as a lubricant; at the same time, the boss flared his aura of fear, making him stumble.
Like that, the boss slipped death’s noose and rolled away.
Colt stumbled, one hand still gripping the knife in his gut. Jack stared at him, red eyes open in shock, One of his arms missing, and a deep gash in his side from where cut had begun to dig in.
“You want more?” Colt said, his head feeling faint as more blood poured from the gut wound. “Bring it psycho.”
Jack turned, then ran.
Colt took a step after, but it was too much—he stopped moving, knowing that if he showed weakness, Jack would turn around and finish what he’d started. Instead, he watched the shadow flee back into the mist, defeated yet not dead.
“Coward.”
Colt slowly walked back towards the pavilion and then sat down against one of the stone pillars that formed its foundations.
It hurt.
Damn, it hurt.
Was this it, then? Death’s door? Could he make it back to the kitchen? The wound felt tender, and the blood wasn’t stopping anytime soon. The dagger was starting to disappear, too, leaking into some odd black mist. Once it was gone, the only thing to stop the gushing blood was his hand and the hope that his endurance was high enough to heal it. But he was having serious doubts.
Colt closed his eyes.
Then, a message appeared.
———
Reality String 2220DAX932329C27 has now been fully and completely integrated with the Commonwealth of Existence. Full features are being distributed and unlocked.
Class Selection Pending…
———