Chapter 90: No Light in the Darkness
> “I’m getting us in the Air, everyone onboard!” Aegis heard Leonard ordering them through the party interface.
>
> “Copy that!” Ren cheered excitedly.
“Can you meet me at the Monastery?” Aegis asked through the interface as he began swimming against the current once more, fighting his way up the river despite the abysslings screeching at him from both the east and west shores, the reapers swooping dangerously low to threaten biting him or picking him up in their talons.
> “There’s a thin line between being heroic and being suicidal, and you’re flirting with it.” Quinn replied.
“It’s not just Priestess Clara up there, is it?” Aegis said and got no immediate response. “Or did you see them evacuate the kids down the mountain?” Aegis asked Sapphire.
> “No, I didn’t, they wouldn’t have had time.” Sapphire replied hesitantly.
>
> “What kids? What’s he talking about?” Herilon asked.
>
> “The guild leader of the White Flames and his wife, they adopted an NPC kid, he’s still up at the Monastery with some other orphans.” Sapphire explained as they all went quiet for a moment.
>
> “Well darlings,” Leonard took a deep breath as he broke the silence. “I guess we’re flying to the monastery for a pickup.” Leonard said excitedly.
>
> “Don’t worry, this trip is sure to be interesting.” Gregory spoke in a mocking tone, imitating Captain Leonards voice.
>
> “Oh pish posh Gregory, I saw you smiling when those Arallians thanked you for saving them.” Leonard replied to his mockery.
>
> “I did nothing of the sort, sir.” Gregory replied.
>
> “I’ll help protect the ship, though I’m not that strong.” Yuki said encouragingly.
>
> “Okay, make for the monastery, but we’re not landing. It’s on you to get there and get the priestess and the kids to the top of the tower.” Quinn reluctantly said back through the interface.
“Yeah, sure, no problem.” Aegis said sarcastically, his voice strained as he struggled to keep swimming up river, the sound of the Juggernaut stomping behind him getting closer. “Eeeeasy peasy.” He groaned as he felt the shift in wind pressure that came before every strike the Juggernaut made. Aegis quickly re-equipped his shield from his inventory.
“GUARD!” Aegis created the shield at his feet and used it to propel himself forward through the river for a burst of speed at the last second before the Juggernaut’s blade crashed down on him, the impact broke up the flow of the river and sent waves outward towards the shores, further propelling Aegis northward away from the impact point a good distance before the waves were forced back due to the flow.
It was enough, though. Aegis had been propelled far enough up the river to be near the edge of the mist, and the abysslings on the west shore were disoriented momentarily from the splashing waves, as if they’d never experienced touching water before. Aegis took advantage of this to climb onto the west shore and take off sprinting along the edge of the river.
The reapers, however, had seen him and kept track of all of his movement, immediately moving to swoop down on him with loud screeches. Aegis glanced back to see the Juggernaut recomposing himself, and far in the distance to the south he caught a glimpse of the Sky Darling lifting off into the night sky, while simultaneously to the far east he’d spotted a second Juggernaut arriving at Arallia. Aegis unequipped his shield again and instead started dual wielding direwolf steaks, getting low on his supply from Rene, and bit into both of them as he prepared to sprint up the mountain path. He noticed as he did, not many of the reapers were swarming to chase him, instead turning their attention towards the Airship. It was only then that he noticed that the water had washed off and removed the effects of his lures.
“Guys, my lure's gone, heads up. The reapers are coming for you!” Aegis shouted into the interface. Aegis was able to stay far ahead of the abysslings, but as he got further up the mountain he could visibly see just how far down the island of Kriene had already sunk into the abyss. Outside of the tallest buildings of Arallia and the mountain he was on, it looked no different than when Aegis was flying over the abyss on the Airship - nothing but black mist in every direction.
When Aegis arrived at the ramps leading up the wall left of the waterfall he was forced to take his shield back out and deal with the few reapers that were still swarming after him, but the vast majority had turned their attention to the Sky Darling, and Aegis could barely see it sailing through the skies as a large round sphere of reapers formed around it. Thousands of them were flying rapidly in circles to form the death spiral for the Airship, but they were having trouble closing in due to the flashes of magic being cast by the Night Hunter members on board. Aegis got a glimpse of a flying blue sword slash cutting outward from the ship that he’d seen Herilon use a few days earlier.
He hadn’t the time to gawk though, and continued focusing on his journey up the mountain. Everytime Aegis looked back down behind him he’d seen that he was getting further from the Juggernaut and the abysslings, but the mist was rising up the mountain as well. As he got higher, the air got thinner and started draining more of his stamina, but he’d managed to reach the monastery before hitting zero thanks to wolfing down direwolf steaks repeatedly.
When he got through the gate the loud bell was still ringing throughout the monastery. He ran through the garden and entered the main building, making sure to seal the door behind him as best he could.
“PRIESTESS CLARA!” Aegis shouted as loud as he could, but like before, he could barely hear himself over the sound of the bell. He resorted to manually checking the rooms, swinging open side door after side door, making his way to the back hallways as he felt the stomping of a Juggernaut closing in on the monastery.
It was the second to last room that Aegis checked that he finally found them in. Priestess Clara was standing in front of a group of 7 children, her arms spread out wide as if to protect them from harm as Aegis burst through the door, but the moment she saw him, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Aegis, what is happening?” Priestess Clara asked him worriedly.
“Kriene is sinking into the Abyss. No time to explain, we need to get to the top of the tower. Do you know how to get there?” Aegis asked her.
“N-no, I’m unfamiliar.” Clara replied nervously.
“I know the way, I know it!” Elric shouted excitedly, but a second after he did there was a loud booming roar from outside and the sound of crashing destruction. The ground shook violently - Aegis knew it was from a Juggernaut but luckily he hadn’t hit the room they were in.
“Show us the way, now, NOW!” Aegis shouted anxiously. Elric nodded and stood up, running out of the room. “Go, go, all of you!” Aegis ushered them out after him, Priestess Clara going in the front with Aegis in the rear. As they ran Aegis saw that it wasn’t just Elric, every one of these kids were elite, and they all looked absolutely terrified. Once they’d left the room and ran down a corridor, Aegis saw signs of the destruction from the strike the Juggernaut had made on the building, and he heard the familiar screeching of swarms of abysslings approaching.
They went through a small doorway on the northern side of the building which opened into a spiraling staircase upwards several stories, all of them running as quickly as they could. The slowest child in the back, Aegis grabbed and picked up in his arms to help her run as she looked to be no older than five years old, and he could feel her shaking in his arms as he did, but they eventually arrived at a landing at the base of the tower that had no walls around it.
The staircase leading up the tower wound around the outside of it like a spiral - they’d have no protection all the way up, and to make matters worse, Elric, Clara and the other kids were all frozen in fear as they now saw the red eyes of the Juggernaut standing in the garden.
“Get up now, Clara! Take the kids up! Fast!” Aegis rushed them with urgency. Clara was able to snap the kids out of their trance and usher most of them up, ultimately being forced to carry one of the younger boys as well. Aegis saw that the Juggernaut had clearly seen them and was pulling back his sword arm to swing up at the tower, but Aegis couldn’t do anything else but run.
Luckily, just before the pulled back blade was thrusted forward, a gigantic white arrow flew at the back of the Juggernaut creating an explosion of holy light. Aegis looked and saw Quinn standing at the front of the Airship aiming down at the Juggernaut, with Sapphire enchanting her bow from behind her. They were being swarmed by reapers, but Ren, Herilon, Tullan, Trexon and Yuki were fighting them off and Quinn was now launching a barrage of arrows at the Juggernaut to get its attention off of Aegis.
“GO GO GO!” Quinn shouted down at them anxiously.
> “I can’t lower the Airship anymore if I want to be able to fly away. Once the hull touches the mist, it sinks.” Leonard said through the interface.
“Come on, come on, get as high as you guys can!” Aegis ushered the kids up. Aegis and Clara did their best to rush to the top of the tower, but the island was plummeting extremely fast now, it felt as though they were barely outpacing the rising mist as they looked down and saw the black mist encroaching on the walls of the monastery. The Monastery of the Stars was now the only portion of the island of Kriene not consumed by the darkness. Aegis had bigger problems though, as several reapers broke off from attacking the Airship and began circling the tower, eying the children.
“FUCK OFF, PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!” Aegis shouted at then angrily, but they of course ignored this. Aegis saw one swooping down at Elric in the front of the pack and had to hastily re-equip his shield. “GUARD!” Aegis shouted at the last second, creating a projection just in time to prevent the reaper from biting into the kid, whilst Elric stumbled in pure fear.
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“Come on, come on! Get them up!” Aegis shouted and Clara whimpered in fear as her legs too were visibly shaking, she struggled to get Elric back to his feet as Elric's friends that he’d been playing with helped out as well, and they continued up the staircase.
“BEHIND!” Quinn shouted, causing Aegis to turn at the last second and see a Reaper swooping at him from the back - it wasn’t aiming for him but rather trying to grab the little girl he was carrying. He threw up his shield and braced the attack and the reaper retreated away. But more and more were being emboldened, and Aegis’ watched his stamina begin to dip again. He knew he couldn’t block these attacks forever. His adrenaline was pumping through his veins violently as he ran infront of another of the young boys and knelt down.
“Get on my back, climb on. Put your arms around my neck!” Aegis shouted and the boy hastily did as he was told, afterwhich Aegis quickly grappled a third young kid under his shield arm. They weren't light, but his game character's strength was unnaturally higher than his real world strength, and he was able to maintain his balance and momentum despite carrying three of them. Clara had a fourth, and Erlic and his two friends in the front made up the rest.
With only three real targets to protect, Aegis had an easier time keeping an eye on any bold reapers that tried to swoop down at them, whilst the Juggernaut angrily swatted its blade out at nothing in the direction of the Airship as it began to hover high above the top of the tower.
“Get lower! Lower the ship so we can pick them up!” Quinn shouted at Leonard.
“I’m telling you, I can’t! This is as low as I can get! Any lower and the Airship is gone!” Leonard shouted back as Aegis, Clara and the other children crested the top of the tower, a flat round landing with a small statue of Eirene in the middle.
Aegis tilted his head up to look at the Airship, having heard their shouts over the swarming reapers now forming a deathball around both the Airship and the top of the tower. There was easily a 35 meter gap between them.
“Aegis, we…” Quinn looked down at him, and he saw it in her face. She didn’t know what to do. The children all looked up at the Airship and the realization sank into them as well. “I can only grappleshot 15 meters.” Quinn said hysterically, he could see that the looks of despair on the childrens faces as they stared up at her was getting to her, even though they were only NPCs in a game.
“I can grapple shot too, with my threads!” Yuki said anxiously as she and all of the Night Hunters moved to the side of the Airship, staring down at Aegis and the children as they slowly sank into the abyss.
“There’s gotta be something we can do, boss.” Herilon said as he looked at Quinn’s expression. Quinn looked at Herilon, then the others, ending on Ren, and she took a deep breath and a smile slowly grew on her face. “Hey Herilon. Ren. Let’s jump.” She smirked. Ren turned to his big sister and Herilon grinned mischievously.
“What are ye’... are ye bloody mad?!” Tullan shouted in disbelief.
“Yuki, world famous tailor, number one weaver and stitcher, right?” Quinn turned to Yuki and Yuki nodded nervously. “You better not miss. Weave my grapple to yours.”
“Huh? What?” Yuki replied confused for a moment.
“I’m coming too.” Sapphire said excitedly.
“Bunch of crazy…” Trexon’s voice trailed off. “Once everyone's within 15 meters of the ship, I can shell us. Hurry up!” Trexon shouted as Sapphire, Ren, Quinn and Herilon stood at the edge of the airship, and all in unison the four of them jumped off down towards the tower 35 meters below. As they landed, reapers and abysslings swarmed the tower from all sides.
Herilon opened with a wide cleaving swing to wipe out several approaching reapers. Quinn released a multishot of several dozen arrows well beyond anything Aegis had ever seen Darkshot do, and she directed them around with the fingers on her right hand - she was casting redirect with simple wiggles of her fingers and causing each arrow she'd fired to turn into a piercing shot and hit multiple reapers. Sapphire released a shockwave of holy energy which caused Aegis’ stamina to rapidly regenerate, and he saw the same aura was affecting everyone else. He quickly saw the buff on his bar [Aura of Beauty] that was causing it. Not one to do nothing, Aegis joined in by using his guard to block incoming reapers while positioning himself at the top of the stairs to act as a wall and stop any more abysslings from getting up.
“Ren, Kalmoore special! Give us a good jump!” Quinn shouted and Ren nodded.
“Beastshift, form, Kalmoorian Ape!” Ren shouted excitedly. Aegis watched in disbelief as Ren released a ball of green smoke around himself, and his body began to morph into a dark brown hairy gorilla with small horns going down its spine. By the time he’d finished transforming he took up nearly all the space on the top of the tower and broke the statue of Eirene that was standing there.
“Everyone get on the damn Monkey!” Quinn shouted.
“Whoohoo!” Sapphire cheered excitedly as she bunny hopped onto Ren’s head, Herilon and Quin jumped on his back and grabbed his fur, whilst Ren scooped up Clara and the children in his big gorilla arms. As he did, Aegis Herilon and Quinn all got a clear view of the red eyes of the Juggernaut glaring up at them from the abyss now swallowing the base of the tower. Aegis wasn't sure what the plan was, but he didn't want to be left behind and quickly grabbed onto the hair on Ren's back as well.
“Now, monkey, Jump now!” Herilon shouted excitedly. Ren bent his knees, and with all his might he jumped off the top of the tower with full force.
“VINEROPE SHOT!” Quinn shouted, and Aegis looked to see Quinn now standing upright on the back of Ren, pointing her bow down at Ren’s back.
“Cancel Shift!” Ren shouted, and simultaneously as Quin’s arrow hit Ren he transformed back into a little boy, causing everyone to begin a freefall into the Abyss, if not for Quinn’s Vinerope shot hitting ren and shooting out rope vines in all directions, wrapping themselves around every single person within 5 meters of the impact point and binding them to the arrow for 10 seconds, as Aegis saw the debuff appear on his interface.
It felt like time slowed down. Now all bound, Quinn lifted her bow upwards and shot an arrow in the direction of the Airship.
“GRAPPLESHOT!” She shouted, as a rope magically formed at the back of the arrow and magically grew outward as it flew up to the sky.
“GRAPPLESHOT!” Yuki shouted as she threw her giant iron needle down towards the arrow. Yuki’s grapple shot and Quinn’s grapple shot barreled towards each other, and just barely had enough range that they passed by one another. “ITO NO MAI!” Yuki screamed anxiously as her hands began to glow blue and Aegis watched her wave them around. As she did, her giant iron needle and the rope attached to it weaved itself around Quinn’s grappling arrow.
Quinn wrapped her end of the grappleshot around her arm quickly in the second that it was still lax, while Yuki grabbed her end with her hands, but the moment the weight of everyone connected to the Vinerope shot reached Yuki, it jerked her forward nearly pulling her off the side of the Airship, if not for Tullan grabbing the back of her belt.
“HEART OF ARMOR!” Tullan shouted, and suddenly his entire body began to grow plates of iron, starting with his feet which he dug into the wooden planks on the deck of the Airship to stop him and Yuki from being yanked off the side by the weight of the others.
“6 SECONDS LEFT, PULL US UP PULL US UP!” Quinn shouted as she looked at the timer of the Vinerope shot ticking down. Trexon and Gregory both rushed over to help pull the rope, while Yuki and Tullan tried to back up using his iron body.
“BEASTSHIFT, FORM, FERRET!” Ren shouted, shifting out of the Vineropes so that they dangled aimlessly between Herilon, Clara, Sapphire, Quinn, and the 7 children, barely holding them all in the air as they swung above the abyss. Ren scurried up the 30 meter rope as fast as he could to reach the Airship. With just 2 seconds left, he got aboard. “BEASTSHIFT, FORM, KALMOORIAN APE!” He shouted as he turned back into the giant gorilla at the very last second of the Vinerope debuff. He grabbed Yuki’s rope with his giant ape arm and yanked it as hard as he could, giving everyone a sudden jerking upward motion. As they flew upward from the momentum, the Vinerope debuff disappeared and they all lost their connection with Quinn and her grappleshot.
“THAT’S HIGH ENOUGH! GRAND SHELL!” Trexon shouted, and a gigantic transparent dome wrapped around the Airship, and all of the people in free fall. As they fell back down, they landed on the dome and all slid to the bottom of it. Aegis and the others could look down and see through the transparent shell they were standing on, watching as reapers began crashing into it from all sides. “That’s a lot of attacks, my mana wont hold forever. Get your asses up, NOW!” Trexon shouted as Quinn ushered everyone over to her rope.
“I got the youngins.” Herilon said as he picked up four of the kids with ease, setting them on his shoulders and back and making sure they were holding on tight.
“Everyone just grab the rope and I’ll yank you all up!” Ren shouted down and they all nodded. Aegis and Sapphire grabbed on while grabbing the last of the kids, Clara grabbing on as well after making sure everyone was secure. Once they were, Ren quickly began reeling them up while Yuki, Tullan and Gregory remained acting as an anchor for the rope. It took a few more seconds, but eventually they got everyone aboard the ship. Once all on board, they all collapsed and started breathing heavily.
“That’s it, we’re done here. Get us back to Kalmoore!” Quinn shouted to Leonard at the helm.
“Yes ma’m!” Leonard replied as he spun the wheel and the Airship began to turn southwards.
“The reapers are not going to let up, we’ll have to fight them off a bit longer.” Quinn said to the others as everyone recomposed themselves, staring at the black bat-like beasts as they continued to crash into the dome that Trexon had created. Aegis watched his mana dip back down low quickly, despite Trexon pulling a big blue mana potion out of his inventory and drinking it.
“Get the kids and the priestess below deck. Once they’re safe, lower the shell.” Quinn ordered, and Gregory and Herilon both nodded, leading them down the stairs under the helm as Aegis watched Leonard casting his Airship pilot skills to steer the ship around anxiously. Clara looked at Aegis worriedly, but he motioned her to follow Herilon and she did, ushering the kids along with her.
Ren shifted back into his elf form and started hopping around excitedly in anticipation, while Sapphire walked around and topped everyone’s health off and Quinn nocked an arrow, taking aim at the nearest reapers banging against the dome.
“Wait, what is that?” Yuki said as she pointed down towards where the tower was, now completely submerged in the abyss. There was a red name floating in the darkness that none of them recognized. “That is not the Juggernaut, is it?” She said, and as she pointed it out Aegis saw it. [?(Elite) - ??].
Giant glowing red eyes formed inside a large bulge of rising dark mist. It looked directly at Aegis, as if it recognized him, and Aegis certainly recognized it.
“Th-that’s not a Juggernaut! That’s the thing that one shot an elite silver dragon! We gotta run! GO NOW!” Aegis shouted in panic towards Leonard.
“My Airburst is still on cooldown for another minute!” Leonard shouted to Quinn. Quinn glanced between everyone on board anxiously and saw the dread in Aegis’ eyes. She turned back to face the red eyes and saw that a giant black spear of mist began to form in front of it, aimed directly at the Airship.
“What the hell is that thing?” Ren’s jaw dropped.
“It’s lookin’ to attack us Quinn!” Tullan shouted anxiously
“Protect the Captain.” She nudged Aegis towards the helm. “EVERYONE ELSE, DEFENSES UP!” Quinn shouted. “Keep the Grand Shell up as long as you can!” She ordered Trexon as he nodded, they watched as a large black spear of mist began to solidify into what looked like black steel in front of the red eyes.
“Wall of the Armorsmith!” Tullan shouted as he cast a spell with silver fingertips. Aegis watched as Iron plates formed out of his hands, outwards in the shape of a wide wall on the side of the ship facing the spear.
“Aphrodite’s Guard!” Sapphire shouted as a giant heart shaped shield grew outward from her own shield and she held it beside Tullan’s wall.
“Beastshift, form, Mirror Turtle!” Ren yelled as he transformed into a strange looking turtle with reflective plates on its shell.
“Weaver’s Will!” Yuki called out as she created a web of silk that wrapped around everyone gently, enhancing their defense.
Aegis ran up to the helm and held his shield out in front of Leonard just as Herilon and Gregory came back above deck to see what was going on.
“Here it comes.” Quinn said as the spear finished forming, and in an instant it shot forth towards their defenses.
First, it broke through Trexon’s Grand Shell, then, through the Aphrodite shield. After, it shattered Tullan’s iron wall, and lastly, it broke through Ren’s turtle shell, and shot clean through the airship and out the otherside, leaving a giant hole in it, and killing every single player that hit it.
Aegis looked at his party interface and saw that the only people still alive were him, Leonard, and Herilon with an undying will buff ticking down from one minute. He and Leonard had avoided the damage due to being up on the stern, but the damage radius of the spear was large enough that it had hit everyone else on the lower deck.The sound of thousands of reapers swarming in around them filled Aegis’ ears, and there was no Grand Shell left to hold them back.