Raine returned their rude greeting with a Lunge of his own. He blasted straight into the air, rotated sideways, then Lunged again to bring himself clear of their encirclement. All three were barreling down on him when he landed, their masterful footwork and high attributes allowing them to easily keep pace with his aerial maneuvering.

Outnumbered, out of health, and missing over a quarter of his Discipline, Raine made the only viable decision and fled. He ran backwards, a two-handed mace flashing into existence. Its weight was solid in his hands.

A Parry saved him from a third Lunge. The attacking undead flew to the side, momentarily blocking Raine’s sight of the third armsman who unleashed a razor-quick stab and slash combo the moment he was visible. A chain of three side-steps allowed Raine to barely escape. The last undead bodily threw his companion, allowing him to close the distance a heartbeat later. Raine leaned back, nearly in half, narrowly avoiding a slice aimed at his neck.

Before it could catch him on the backswing, Raine planted a foot on its chest, looked into its empty cerulean gaze, and Leaped backward. They flew away from each other and he spun mid-air. Landing, Raine utilized the dash-step he’d copied from the very first skeleton in the desert to create a sliver of distance. The armsmen didn’t give up, jaws clacking wildly mere meters behind. When space weakened, he shot forward far too fast for them to keep up.

They retreated, returning to the edge of the gentle slope. Raine eyed the trio from a safe distance. Back in the crater, they stood idly for a minute before activating an advanced concealment skill. Catching his breath and wiping the sheen of sweat from his brow, Raine assumed a meditative position to quickly trigger his health regeneration. The defenseless posture would restore a measly five percent of his health every ten minutes. Outside of his last remaining health potion, and his aspect that already brought him to fifty percent, it was his only method of recovery.

Nine minutes later, just before the first tick of health, a flash of light at the center of the crater expanded into a roaring, circular wall of flames that rushed outward. Raine grit his teeth, refusing to move as it swept toward him, intent on stealing the last of his health. He stared hard at his quest log’s timer, counting down the seconds.

The fire drew closer, sweeping across the burnt land, ensuring the ground remained devoid of all life. Four seconds before it arrived, soothing energy swept through him. [+21] Raine jumped to his feet and Leaped high into the air and the four-meter-tall wave of destruction swept beneath him.

He landed on freshly crisped ground, his and the skeleton’s footprints wiped clean. With a frustrated growl, Raine chased after the wall of fire until it ended at the very edge of the dead lands. Positioning himself outside its reach, he resumed his meditative posture.

Nearly two hours passed in relative peace, interposed by waves of blistering death that followed a strict schedule. Every second felt like ten, and the temptation to use his last health potion was extreme, but he had no idea what else was in store for him inside the crater. There was also a high probability that the mountain held the final challenge so he couldn’t afford to recklessly use his items to make up for his blunder.

Raine had significant training when it came to spotting stealthed enemies. Unfortunately, these particular armsman had several advantages that made them almost impossible to notice. Raine knew of only a couple stealth abilities that could resist damage, and they all required the caster remain stationary. This had the added benefit of making them incredibly hard to spot. With the wave of flames wiping away their tracks, they might as well have been using true invisibility.

During the two hours, the shield failed twice, both times releasing fresh paths to the void. By this point, the land was clogged with them and it wouldn’t be possible to run in a straight line for long. He wasn’t completely idle, spending most of the time reviewing his footage, trying to spot any sign of the skeleton that ambushed him.

Frustrated, Raine finished healing and carefully returned to the crater. He circled it until he found the spot he knew the three armsmen should be, then waited. The flames came right on schedule and he prepared to jump over them. As they swept by the skeletons, for the briefest moment, he caught their outline silhouetted within the conflagration.

Landing, Raine rushed forward and the staff he'd bought at the auction house made an appearance.

[Kallnenko Branch: Common Grey - LVL 5: (AP +15) (AS -.25) (DEF +10) (PHY +4) (Durability 35/35)]

He tossed rocks at all three, breaking their stealth. In the next second, he released a Rupture. Two took critical hits and the chase began. Heavily utilizing Discipline and martial techniques, Raine barely kept ahead, whittling them down with Ruptures. He purposefully missed with the last attack, leaving one alive.

Closing the distance, he familiarized himself with its dagger’s rapid jabs and slashes. Ten minutes of frantic combat later, he gave up on glimpsing its special attack. With the next wave of fire coming soon, and not wanting to risk another bout of dilation-induced vertigo, he quickly dispatched the annoying elite. With calculated steps, he positioned himself in one direction, and his vodcast recorder in another.

When the fire came, he jumped it, already notating on his zoomed-in map the locations of two distant groups of hidden foes. Checking his recording, he found another group. When he took the first step toward the nearest armsmen, the shield above failed without a single flicker, plunging the mystic land into complete darkness.

Raine felt it on his skin before he heard it, a gentle suction that pulled at his arm. Every muscle in his body accelerated to the left as he stepped. A ripping sensation traveled the length of his right arm, feeling exactly like the time he'd been pulled in two by a giant. With mad desperation and a roar on his lips, Raine swung toward the fissure, activating Parry.

A powerful blast kicked him in the stomach and tossed him end over end through the air. He landed on his back, freshly sizzling charcoal burning his neck as he slid. Leaping to his feet, he frantically patted his intact arm.

I can't believe that worked. Does a hole in reality really count as a physical attack? Kinda makes sense. Why am I questioning it? Never spurn the hand that passes you antivenom!

The lights returned and he found the largest rift he'd seen so far. Unsure if its size was due to him triggering it, or just another sign his time was running short, Raine got to work. With more than a little anxiety to sweat off, he tracked down all the armsman he'd located with the help of the flames and whittled away their health.

Avoiding the even more plentiful rifts was a pain, but he managed with careful planning. On the second fight, he was lucky enough to get Cassidy's Comet and made sure to keep it by allowing one of the undead to chase him the entire time. The last to die dropped its unique flavor of blue-socketed skull. Having expected the unwelcome sight, he could only sigh and consign himself to tracking down every single one of them.

Hoping to optimize his time, Raine split the crater into two sections; one inner circle, and one outer. He worked his way around the outside in overlapping sections, making damn sure he didn't miss any.

Carefully advancing to the center of the inner section, Raine finally got close enough to see what was creating the expanding rings of fire. Stuck in the ground, a gnarled old staff released a steady blaze from its top. It was surrounded by a bubble of force that distorted the air, and seeing it made his skin crawl and his eyes light up with greed.

That's no simple weapon… I want. I have to hurry before one of those damn rifts forms on top of it! Oh shitbaskets. If that does happen, I won’t be able to find the armsman!

A few minutes ticked by as Raine impatiently waited for the next blast wave to reveal his enemies. Taking far too long for comfort, the flame on the staff's tip was eventually sucked inside, then exploded outward in a cleansing ring. He jumped it, recording the locations of the nearest hidden armsmen. When he approached the first, it surprised him by dropping stealth early.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

This armsman wore robes instead of armor and swung a wand his direction. Raine's eyes flew wide and he dove to the side, narrowly evading the tiny ball of flames that zinged by his head. The distance it attacked from was less than the distance of its three nearest companions. If he approached recklessly, he would end up with four casters launching deadly bolts at him several times per second.

Dancing back with shuffling steps to make aiming harder, Raine pulled the monster well clear of its allies before rushing in to engage. When he closed within three meters, its wand emitted a blue sheen. Before he could even curse, it thrust the weapon into the charred soil and a rapidly expanding cone of frost shot toward him.

Raine had personally seen and read about hundreds of classes. He knew a plethora of skills by heart, especially those from lower tiers. Even though these armsman had some amazing skills, the likelihood of them having access to a true, omnidirectional AOE was right around zero percent.

He didn't have time to actively process the reason he Lunged towards the caster. His instincts, honed from countless battles, simply knew what to do. He flew forward at a slight angle, narrowly cutting to the side of the expanding cone’s origin. Ice so cold it was hot froze the skin of one arm, but he dodged. He rolled to his feet right as the wand descended toward his head.

Parry threw it off course, the redirected force sending the skeleton hurtling face first into the ground. Rupture and Final Gambit crushed its skull to dust.

Raine checked the angles of the cone painted in ice on the ground, then waved his hand in the air to find the projected height. Satisfied, he pulled the next skeleton in a similar fashion, unsurprised when it turned out to be a caster as well. This one fired bolts of ‘slow’ moving lightning from its staff, not activating any skills beyond the basic Blast right up until it fell to pieces under a barrage of heavy mace blows.

The fights with the casters were both frustrating and cumbersome. The staff wielders had a column-shaped AOE, similar to the two-handed swords. A boosted sidestep was plenty to get around the threat. The real challenge was the need to pull them one at a time while dodging multiple flung elements, turning every encounter into a slog. With how much the pace of time in the mystic land slowed while fighting, each encounter really only took seconds at most.

Raine developed a sense for when his bouts of vertigo would strike. Taking breaks amidst the rift-pocked land was incredibly stressful, but a necessity. Time ticked by all too fast, especially after the sky-shield began to pulse weakly as though its power reserves were bottoming out.

Raine found himself quickly growing exhausted. The high stakes, and continual combat for multiple hours on end took its toll in the form of full-body sweats and short, uneven breaths. There was no way he could stop though. With the wonky dilation, even a short break outside ZionLine would lead to catastrophic failure in the environment.

He pushed through the fatigue as best he could, steadily eliminating one frustrating foe after another. By the time the fifth skull dropped several hours later, he was panting with one hand on a knee, sweat staining his vision. He wiped away the newest nosebleed, an agonizing migraine pulsing faster and harder than the sky-shield.

I've definitely exceeded the safety thresholds. But no warning yet? Why?

Shaking the useless thoughts free, Raine looked for the idol. There was only scorched ground and the staff, still safely sheltered behind a bubble of force. With no other ideas, he placed a hand against the shimmering surface.

[May Korahn’s judging gaze reveal your salvation]

Easy enough.

Pulling out the skulls, Raine quickly positioned them in the locations he'd found them, with the staff acting as the mountain in the center. The moment the fifteenth's glowing sockets peered at the bubble, it flickered and vanished.

The heat released from the staff intensified ten-fold, washing over Raine and crisping his skin. He didn't dare breathe to cry out as the blaze would invade his body and roast his lungs, massively increasing his discomfort. [-15] Assuming the staff was in fact the third idol, Raine took a step toward it, intending to store it before it could do more damage.

In response to his approach, it released a bright flare of power that smashed into his chest. [-100] Raine winced, turning his face to the side as his sweat evaporated in an instant. Holding his breath, he hopped two steps closer at once. A much brighter pulse of orange light ran from the bottom of the weapon to the top. He sidestepped the expected flare but it curved and hit him dead on. [-200] Coughing weakly, he glared daggers at the evil weapon.

Thought so. Each step triggers big damage. Meanwhile, it's going to keep passively burning me. Can’t rush to it without a huge health pool, and normal regen wouldn’t stand a chance. Well, Mr. Staff, you probably think you're hot shit. You clearly don't know the lady who sent me here. Crafty old bag had your Ncode from the start.

Raine was still five steps short of the weapon when it thrummed again, washing him with a wave of hot air. [-15] With less than a hundred health remaining, Raine grinned at the gnarled staff. A second later, Greater Werewolf’s Regeneration kicked in. [+42] Five seconds later, his health increased again while the staff remained dormant. [+42] He got a third tick before another puny wave of damage hit him. [-15] [+42]

Cautious as ever, Raine let his health hit fifty percent before taking another step. Additionally, he timed it so he would get a tick of regeneration before the staff released its passive tick of damage. He took the expected pulse of searing pain to the chest, then stopped and waited for his regeneration to bring him back to half. Unfortunately, this wasn't considered combat by his cursed ring, or he could have used a weapon to boost his max health beyond four hundred and ten.

Raine took another step. Now only three short, the staff underwent a significant change. Between one blink and the next, raging blue flames shot from one end of its top, revealing that it wasn't a staff at all, but a scythe. The blue and red flames combined to punish his step. They unleashed a flare that nearly took him off his feet and turned his heartbeat into a drumline. [-200]

[HEALTH POINTS: 5/410]

image [https://i.imgur.com/P6z4qCM.jpg]

Raine’s regeneration ticked, bringing a brief respite. [+42] The steady heat being released doubled, melting his skin and armor together. [-30] Raine grit his teeth without parting his cracked lips, screaming under his breath. His eyesight went dark and he didn't dare imagine the gruesome sight of what his melted face must look like. A wave of healing washed through him again, restoring enough that he could see.

He tried to swallow the hard, dry lump in his throat, knowing he would have died if not for perfectly timing his regeneration before that last step. A realization came to him like a bolt of lightning; he hadn't timed this recent insanity with the regularly scheduled waves of fire that blasted across the entire zone. A glance at his log let him know he was screwed.

With less than two minutes left, Raine pulled the last healing potion from his inventory, ripped off the cork, and slammed it back. Another tick of passive damage radiated pain through him again but he didn't care. His eyes were glued to his health bar and the second he hit two hundred, he took another step. [-200] Twenty agonizing seconds later his hand snapped out to grab the staff right as its entire length began to glow a solid fiery orange.

Slumping to his knees, Raine panted with his head hung low. He stared at the blistered and cracked skin of his hands, watching as it slowly healed. Looking up, he saw the shield high in the sky and was reminded that he wasn't done yet.

He took a deep, ratcheting breath. He knew the limits of his body and mind well. After reaching level one-twenty, it was common training to stress the mind until the safety algorithms forced an ejection. That was exactly why he knew something was terribly wrong. He should have been kicked out hours ago.

With bleary thoughts, he accessed his inventory and read the description of the scythe. His groggy mind tried and failed to fully comprehend what he was reading.

[Khoran's Judgment - Heavenly Amethyst - Level 75 - Soulbound (AP +3250) (EP +4000) (PTC +450) (FNS +400) (ACU +300) (PHY +450) (CNC +575)]

[Innate Skill 1 - Khoran's Justice: None who cross Khoran live to see his justice manifest. Slam the butt of Khoran's Judgment into the ground to summon a meteor dealing 5000% damage (Cooldown: 10 minutes)]

[Innate Skill 2 - Khoran's Fury: Release the fury of Khoran. Extends a blade of living flames for 5 minutes that deals 2000% damage on contact and inflict an additional DOT for half damage; stacks five times (Cooldown: 10 minutes)]

[Innate Skill 3 - Khoran's Gaze: Praise Khoran to receive his guidance. Unveils the location of a nearby treasure (Cooldown: Once per day)]

With shaking hands, Raine withdrew the weapon from his inventory. He couldn’t equip it due to the massive level disparity but that didn’t stop him from holding it. He couldn’t believe he had found something so rare and powerful. Every bit of suffering he’d gone through inside the mystic realm had been worth it a hundred times over. Not even in the past did he own a weapon so grand. Sure, his equipment at the end had been better, barely, but this had half the level requirement of that gear!

“Praise Khoran indeed!” Raine chuckled darkly, unable to stand the fact he had to wait to equip such an immaculate masterpiece.

Suddenly, the weapon shone brilliantly in his grip and a beam of purple light was released from its tip. It shot toward the distant mountain. Where it struck, an illusionary wall vanished and a cave was revealed. From within, a lustrous blue sheen too radiant to come from a single source spilled forth to paint the surrounding sky.

Raine’s chuckle turned to outright guffaws tinged with madness as the shield in the sky surged with a final weak pulse before collapsing for good.