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Stole watched as Gurran, the proud lightning shielder, got blasted away from the Skeleton that exploded.
Used to adventuring alone, ambushing monsters under the cover of darkness, her first instinct was to run.
Even the girl’s Core makeup was centered around this fact. Having experienced Soul Sanctification twice, she had three Cores.
The Core of the Six-footed White Hare, with the passive [Peaceful Encounter] ensured that no monster would recognize her as an enemy, until she did something to aggravate the monster first. Plus its boost to her [Hearing] and [Footwork] stat allowed her to run away at the first sign of trouble.
Her [Concentrated Aim] allowed her to snipe targets from afar without ever needing to get close. [Bounce Shot] allowed her to do the same to smaller groups of enemies in conjunction with [Concentrated Aim]. All these Cores gave significant boost to her senses, built for assassinations and running away at the first sign of trouble.
Hence when their tank got blown away, her first instinct was to run away.
But she couldn’t. Stole’s foolish sister ran over to help the incompetent fool, putting herself at risk. Then there was the fact that they were surrounded by a swarm of living skeletons, each gathering mana to explode. Stole didn’t know the ins and outs of being in a party but from what the human –Lock– told her, she knew that having even one person down was bad. Really bad.
So when the little voice inside of her told her to run while her emotional side told her to stay with her sister, Stole did what any teenager would do.
She froze.
Her thoughts ground to a halt, panic setting in and her limbs turning to lead. If it wasn’t for the training that her father who was also a [Pioneer] had drilled into her at a young age, she would have dropped the Arbalest, which coincidentally was also a family heirloom. The voices inside of Stole screamed, blocking out her thoughts and suspending the signals that her brain sent to her limbs so that even when she recovered from the mental paralysis, all she did was shake with inaction.
Like being frozen in time by herself while the rest of the world continued moving, her enhanced eyesight saw everything.
Dorothy summoned two more wolves, one white and one black. Great hulking beasts that towered over their master and the Gray-wolf loped towards her in large strides, leaping over the glowing skeletons. He circled behind her, bit the back of her collar and ran towards Gurran; giving Stole a stage view of the battlefield. Dorothy leapt on the back of her white wolf and leaped towards Gurran as well. The Black Wolf was already near the fallen Shielder and Shara, circling around them like a mother wolf and smothering them.
Dorothy was creating a living shield using her wolves to block the worst of the explosions.
“Get in here!” Dorothy, her eyes filled with alarm, screamed at the lone warrior who stood by himself.
Lock stood alone against the skeletons.
The man turned his head backwards a fraction of an inch and Stole saw his face.
Eyes filled with absolute confidence.
And Grim Determination.
And then Lock… did Battle.
There was no other way to describe it.
The man strode into the swarm of skeletons, gray aura covering his ugly jagged katana that gleamed with repulsive light. He stepped forward in between three skeletons and then spun, decapitating them at their waist and in the follow-up movement smashed one to pieces with his shield, sliced another one in half vertically and kicked the skull off of the vertebra for the remaining skeleton in a spinning kick.
Lock never stopped moving even while one of the skeletons nearest to him lunged forward in a bear-hug motion, exploding midway. He took a knee on the ground, condensing his body, tightening his elbows to his ribs and ducking behind the half-moon shield as deadly pellets pelted into the shield. They bounced off of the shield though not all of them, some of them left long bleeding cuts. His ankle, the top of his head, thighs and numerous other cuts opened up, pouring life-water freely.
But the wounds didn’t stop his charge, if anything they spurred him on.
When Lock blocked the explosion and suffered wounds, his shield which was in the shape of a Half-moon gleamed with iridescent light and began to fill out the empty space, becoming a perfect circle. A Full Moon. He swung wide with the shield, slamming it into another skeleton and disintegrating it to dust. With that same movement a translucent wave of mana looking like a miniature tsunami swept up the dozen skeletons nearest to him and carried them away, crashing down on the ground and obliterating them.
｢ Lock casts [High Tide] ｣
Immediately after, Lock’s body shone with white light and Stole could tell that the man just became multiple folds stronger. The [Aura] surrounding his sword became larger, sharper. The pseudo-mana-energy grew darker in color around the edges while those nearest to the blade turned painfully bright white.
Lock moved forward, running parallel to the ground against the wall and throwing a flurry of stabs and cuts. Within a span of ten seconds, even less perhaps, his Kanata ripped through the remaining skeletons that still stood. When all the skeletons were gone, he tugged on the chain attached to the manacle on his wrist, the other end of the chain attached to an identical manacle to the Thần Trùng and pulled.
Unbeknownst to the others, the Thần Trùng had been about to repeat the dance to summon another wave of suicide bombing skeletons. It stumbled from the force of the pull, falling on its bird-skull face and burying the ground with its beak. It attempted to stand, using its freakishly long limbs but Lock tightened the chain and pulled again, keeping the monster on the ground.
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“Stop staring! Get him!”
***
A growl escaped my lips as I tugged on the chain, refusing to let the monster gain enough leverage to stand on its own two feet. It’s beak continued to clatter and the emptiness of its orbit where its eyes were supposed to be seemed to convey rage and frustration. As I heaved, my weight settled on my heels, my thighs, hamstrings and back burning as I played tug of war with Thần Trùng using the [Share the Load] chain.
Each heave worsened the cuts on my thighs and arms and I strained with so much effort that my head felt tight, about to explode and the cuts on my face spurted blood from the building pressure.
Luckily Stole and Dorothy came to their senses soon enough. I felt the familiar clack of her Arbalest being loaded, a steady presence of mana building up for [Concentrated Aim].
Dorothy’s attention on Thần Trùng was much more drastic.
Her three wolves, Gray, Black and White, bounded over. Their snouts wrinkling in a display of aggressiveness and loud barks resounding in the Burial Mound. The beasts circled the beasts and nipping and bit Thần Trùng, who was struggling to get up. In something I’d only seen in nature-based documentaries, the wolves worked in coordination with each other.
When the monster tried to stand, one of them rushed to tear apart its achilles tendon or the back of its knees. The monster turned around to swing its gangly arms at the beast but it was already gone, one of its counterparts darting in from the opposite side. Dorothy’s form was a blur, weaving in and out between her wolves, her body practically hidden behind the massive bulk of her summons. She threw knives and throwing stars, dealing a steady amount of damage to the creature.
｢ Stole casts [Concentrated Aim] ｣
Boom
The Arbalest thrummed like a deep throated dinosaur and the wind twisted in the wake of its bolt which pierced through Thần Trùng’s ribs.
Gurran rejoined the battle with a [Lightning Cleave]. But since he had been momentarily unconscious, their were no sparks of electricity floating around. That was the problem with a lot of the lightning-builds. Without the proper set-up, there would be no real damage.
The battle dragged on for a few more minutes but Thần Trùng was incapacitated and we gave the caster-type monster no time to prepare spells, chaining our attacks with precision. Finally, Stole killed the monster with another instance of [Concentrated Aim].
Our reward?
Nothing.
Sometimes, it was like that. You kill a Boss monster but your only reward was the experience. It was only in Fractures that you were guaranteed something; once again emphasizing how precious Fractures were, even if you weren’t accounting for their rarity and difficulty in opening one.
We gathered ourselves in silence and Gurran was silent throughout.
Good. He should be reflecting on his mistakes.
Shara was the one who addressed us. “Thank you. The goddess is pleased.”
As she said it, her words were infused with a little bit of mana. Mana, energy, ki or something; something that tingled my senses and told me with absolute certainty that Shara was telling the truth. That Oung, for that split second, had looked upon us and was pleased. Shara’s half-lidded eyes smiled at me.
It freaked me out so I didn’t bother responding.
Dorothy didn’t seem to be bothered by the moment of mysterious presence at all. “So we’re even then?”
Shara pointed behind the area that Thần Trùng had been pacing.
There were three freshly dug graves. Sticking halfway out of the graves were sarcophagus made of gray stone. I fought the urge to reach out with my pathetic Mana Sense because the last time I sensed something made by Oung, it had been both painful and mentally straining. Just seeing it with my eyes was enough for me to recognize them.
Usually when you wanted to erase a Core, you had to visit one of the six places of Worship. There you’d pay an extravagant fee. It was a necessity to move up in this world and those greedy priests knew it. Sometimes I wondered if they worshiped their gods or worshiped coins. I knew that back on earth, the difference could be thin.
But that wasn’t the only way to erase a Core. There were various [Relics] hidden throughout MSS that could get rid of a Core for you and in some cases, even upgrade it. There was always the risk associated with it but then what didn’t? It’d be too much of a cheat to be able to erase your Core for free. The Sarcophagus was one of those [Relics] which fulfilled various functions in the game and I could tell that it had the ability to erase a Core… and possibly replace it for a better one.
I had to erase a Core –the Lucky Beckoning Cat– and replace it. The time had finally come.
“These are [Relics]. I’ve only seen them in books and heard of them from tales from other adventurers.” Gurran looked longingly at them. He walked over to one and tried to move it. It wouldn’t budge.
Ah, he had wanted to sell it. Of course, Oung wouldn’t allow it but I have to give him props for trying.
“These are the goddesses’ gifts. I will wait here with Stole while you three use it. It will only be a moment.”
Dorothy poked at one. “Is this safe?”
Shara nodded while Stole looked less than convinced. Shara quickly turned to look at Stole, but the Pioneer began to nod enthusiastically.
“If my sister says so, I believe her.”
“Easy for you to say… you won’t be entering it.” Dorothy muttered and one of her wolves whined. She nodded to the wolf, making up her mind. “I won’t be going in either. I’m happy with the Cores I have.”
Gurran eyed the Sarcophogus longingly.
“I’ll be entering.” I finally announced and hopped in without further ado.
Stole came over, grabbing the lid and starting to place it over the top.
Right before the lid fell into place, I saw Shara’s face through the rapidly closing gap.
She was smiling.
“I’ll see you soon, Mister.”
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The pitter-patter of water droplets trickling into a puddle.
The immediate wetness that enveloped my sense of touch, feeling cool on my exposed skin. Sweat that was beading on my forehead and my neck began to feel cold; losing heat rapidly. Beyond the darkness, I saw four silhouettes come into view.
A feline-creature stood upright, vertical slits eyeing me. In one hand it held a ragged pouch, dragging it on the floor. In the other, it held a katana whose edges were chipped and jagged, a mirror to the one I held in my own hand.
[Lucky Beckoning Cat].
My first Core.
Another creature; a hybrid between a rodent and a bird. It groomed the fur on its head with its bat-like wings, long tongue flicking out and cleaning its face. The [Ujo] glanced at me and let out a scream, the air vibrating visibly before it went back to grooming itself.
A werewolf-like creature that stood on its hind legs. The creature resembled a giant pile of fur, except for one pallid arm jutting out from the fur with a wicked curved dagger in its grasp and its snout which continued to snarl at me. Unlike other Shadow Mimic Wolves, which were covered in black from head to toe, it had a ring of white fur where its head was supposed to be, like a king.
The [Shadow Mimic Wolf] Core of a Named Vairiant: [Prince Charming].
Then lastly the [Tortured Spirit].
All four of my Cores lay before me.
And between us lay the Statue of Oung.
Unlike the giant statue I saw before, this statue was much more life-sized. Kneeling on the floor of the cave –which I now knew was within my mind due to the physical manifestations of my Spirit Cores- Oung’s vessel stared at me with eyes made of flesh and blood, while the rest of her was made with stone. Unnatural. Divine. Supernatural. Unholy.
Outside of my understanding.
If our last meeting was any indication, her words would affect my soul as much as my body. Any second now, she would open those stony lips and the command ‘Kneel’ would-
The statue smiled with all the charm of a haunted japanese doll and gestured to the Cores behind her.
Huh.
She didn’t command. She didn’t force me. She didn’t glare at me.
Oung was… playing nice.
It was more unsettling than if she had told me she wanted to kill me, blot my existence out of this world like the intruder that I was. I hadn’t expected to meet Oung here, even if she wasn’t the no-nonsense version of herself I saw last time. A part of me wanted to turn around and leave but a part of me wanted to get this over with.
So I tiptoed past her, giving her a wide berth. Her eyes tracked me the entire way and the smile never changed.
Eventually deciding that she wasn’t going to jump-scare me, I walked over to the four Monsters.
The Sarcophagus could work in one of two ways and it was impossible to know which one it was until after I chose the Core to get rid of.
One, it could eliminate a Core. Period.
The other, you chose to ‘sacrifice’ a Core and depending on the rarity of the Core, you were offered a selection of other Cores. A trade of sorts. This trade had a few interesting tidbits.
If I sacrificed the Core of a Named-Variant for example, I’d always receive the Core of a Name-Variant except all my options would be a Grade Higher. So if I gave up the [Prince Charming] Core, which I suspected was grade 4 at the least, I’d be presented with options of Grade 3… or even higher. But higher grade Cores weren’t always the best… though at this stage, I could certainly use them for the stat boost alone.
So I had two realistic choices. Giving up [Prince Charming] or [Lucky Beckoning Cat]. [Ujo] and [Tortured Spirit] were out of the question, they would stay with me for a long, long time. The former might actually stay with me forever. But it wasn’t a hard decision to make, I’d been meaning to give up this Core for a long while.
It simply wasn’t providing enough value for me to carry it around.
Stepping forward, I touched the forehead of the Monster whose Spirit Core I wanted to eliminate.
With a bright flash of light, it disappeared.
And with it a sense of longing filled me.
Like losing an old friend, there was a gaping hole in my heart. A sense that I lost a valuable piece of who I was, that the choice I made could never be taken back. Aking to missing a loved one who was now lost forever, a pang of emptiness went through me. Taking a deep breath, I waited to see if this Sarcophogus was simply an elimination of my Core or an upgrade.
The rest of the Monsters faded away while I wasn’t looking.
And then three orbs appeared before me.
“YES!” I pumped a fist, despite myself. Momentarily, I forgot about the statue watching me.
Now I just had to figure out-
Something heavy and unmistakably solid slid over my stomach and up towards my chest. I felt something cold touch the back of my neck and a voice that sent fractures in my already frayed [Mental] stat.
“You owe me.”
***