“Same as usual?” Sara asked as red lights flashed and warning voices blared.
“Same.” Kaden didn’t mind. The sheer number of times he’d woken to a disaster, or stepped out of a portal into a disaster, or returned to consciouness hanging by his heels in an ice cave while a monster beast roared at him, well, Kaden had gotten used to it. “You know what the [Falcrow] always says: Kill them all.”
Sara triggered the door and stepped out facing one direction, while Kaden took the other. Necromancers ran everywhere in no order that Kaden could tell. He summoned the [FalCrow]—and immediately sent it swooping at a soldier in glimmering green armor. “Found the bad guys. They’re in green.”
“You mean red robes,” Sara said. “Like the [Fire Mage] coming our way.”
“Anthem?”
“Save it. Swap.” Sara stepped sideways, facing the green swordsman, while Kaden triggered his Elderitch Shield and charged, letting it take a fireball straight on. The shield absorbed much of the fireball, barely charring his legs thanks to [Resist Fire] and [Last Man Standing].
“[Blast Wave]!” The [Fire Mage] shouted.
Kaden had been charging forward. The blast of fire that hit him threw Kaden straight back. He slammed into Sara, who was locked in a battle of strength with the [Swordsman], a battle she was winning, since two blades and two psuedopods left the Swordsman in trouble.
All three of them tumbled into a heap as the [Fire Mage] strode forward, singing softly to himself. Level thirty? Well, shit. Kaden struggled to stand up and winced as a blade stabbed him in the back. Even with [Fortress of Stone] it hurt.
“You’re going to regret that,” Sara said.
If Kaden ever wrote a guide of things young Adventurers should know, it was that there was a worse place for a cosmic horror to begin devouring than your face. The [Swordsman] probably would agree, except he was busy screaming, and then, he wasn’t even doing that.”
Kaden resummoned the [Eldritch Shield] and sprinted at the mage. This time, he kept the shield angled up.
“[Big Boom]!” The Mage said, almost laughing.
The Elderitch Shield shattered as a blast of flame struck it. The [Bone Waller] collasped, folding around his arm as its flesh sizzled.
But this time, Kaden had braced for the impact, and though the bones in his forearm cracked, he wasn’t thrown back.
A last chance fireball set Kaden’s hair on fire and left him blind in one eye, but now, he was on top of the mage, lifting him off his feet and driving the man backwards into the wall.
You have inflicted 200 points of ramming damage on the wall.
You have broken your battering ram.
Kaden slit the mage’s throat with the Levicon Blade and stuffed his corpse into Inventory, then ran back to Sara, who dripped blood from slashes all the way down her arms. She drew a potion from Inventory and drank half, offering the rest to Kaden. “Any id on the Swordsman?”
She shook her head. “They’re a distraction, meant to inflict casualties and divert. I think we should hunt the distractions. We may not be able to handle the main attack force.”
Kaden looked right. “That’s classrooms. Your way is residences.”
“Residences.” Together they sprinted down the hall. With every moment, Kaden’s health rose. And this time, he’d be ready. “You want mages or melee?”
“Both.” Sara leaped out into the central hub of the Necromancer’s residentials and unleashed [Anthem of the End].
Even expecting it, Anthem of the End felt like death. To the trio of mages killing students, it was even worse, and Kaden activated [Moment of Speed] to bring Remembrance down on one’s neck.
Again, to slam the hammer head into another Mage’s gut, and again, draining half his mana to close on the last mage before he could even drop the student he was choking with a giant fist of stone.
Remembrance slammed into sheer granite as the last [Mage] raised a stone shield, a shield that shattered, causing Remembrance to scream.
[Split Second] let Kaden dodge a flying fist the size of a man, one that materialized from nowhere. How the hell was the Mage casting with [Anthem of the End] active? A mystery for a time when his enemies were crushed, literally.
You have helped slay the [Geomancer Avis Lerned].
You have gained experience.
You have helped slay the [Geomancer Katherine Kennedy].
You have gained experience.
Kaden was low on mana and desperately dodging, searching for an opening in the unceasing attacks to change the battle. The last Geomancer was level thirty five, and it showed. Even with the constant damage from Anthem of the End, he wasn’t concerned.
Sara’s swords whistled through the air, barely missing the Geomancer as she joined with him. It bought Kaden just enough time for [Mana Drain]. Every drop was a battle, but the moment Kaden won the first drop, like a wound in the man’s soul, mana gushed out. Mana he poured into Sara with [Mana Well], and used to power [Moment of Speed].
The tide of battle shifted in a heartbeat.
The Geomancer looked back—and sprinted.
Straight into Trinity, who bashed with her bone head, sending him sprawling, then leaped (as much as a beast her size and weight could leap) onto the man’s back. He coated himself in granite—granite Trinity broke, over and over, while Kaden ripped mana like soul-entrails until nothing more came.
Trinity’s claws ripped and tore, and her tail stabbed over and over, chipping what little stone remained until it could stab deep into the Geomancer’s chest. Blood spurted from the wound in time with a slowing heartbeat.
“Good girl.” Kaden thanked her for leaving enough of the corpse, which he stuffed into Inventory.
Sara checked each of the rooms. “Four dead, eleven survivors, none of them older than fifteen.”
“Hunt or Guard?” Kaden asked.
“Guard. That was a thirty-five. I’m uniquely suited to killing mages and we struggled.”
*My end may come, but I welcome the second death!* That was the Wraith.
“Leave me with Trinity. One exit, one entrance, we’ll guard it.” Sara stepped to one side of the door and Trinity took the other.
Kaden took off running. He slammed into a [Fire Mage] from behind and used the man to bash through a doorway into a classroom. A destroyed classroom. Four [Beserkers] with warhammers circled Ymersist, who looked more like a collection of bone fragments than an actual skeleton.
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In hindsight, a clever quip, or moment of comaraderie would have been perfect. Maybe a higher level hero would have done it. Kaden led with [Mana Drain] and the [Fire Mage]. The [Berserker] Kaden slammed into never saw it coming. [Moment of Speed] plus the Levicon Blade ensured he never did, and the sheer shock on the other’s face as Kaden stored the man’s body gave him a moment to select a new target for [Mana Drain], mana he offered to Ymersist, who drank it in like air.
His bones began to reform, while Kaden finished draining the second Berserker.
What followed was madness.
The two undrained Beserkers attacked Kaden as a team, while the other focused on killing Ymersist, whose spells didn’t seem to effect them at all. [Split Second] activated over and over. With a four level advantage, they were faster than him and stronger than him. “Why are you not killing them?”
*Mine enemy is warded against Necromantic spells. Their weapons are an anathema to my kind.*
And of course, the longer berserkers fought, the greater their stats grew, though only [Bearserkers] were unlimited.
Time to change the battle. Kaden used [Moment of Speed] to flee—then spun, drawing Thorn Caster from Inventory and drawing an arrow from [Mana Quiver]. At point blank range the resulting arrow ripped right through one [Beserker] and into another.
You have inflicted the status effect: Poisoned.
Filled with battle-rage, the warrior charged on, ignoring the bleeding hole in his gut. But Kaden had never meant to switch back to Remembrance. He lunged forward before the man could swing his hammer down and cut with the Levicon Blade, shearing the head off the man’s hammer. Snatching it into Inventory, and diving away from a smashing blow from the second Beserker.
It took a quarter of Kaden’s health. There was a reason Kaden loved Remembrance. It did wicked amounts of damage. He twisted to grab the warhammer and sliced off the handle and three of the Berserker’s fingers with the Levicon Blade. Two of them disarmed, and their shouts of warning brought the third running.
Kaden met his overhead swing with Remembrance, which screamed as it drank in the blow. Over and over, the Beserker attacked, and every time, Kaden returned with his own swing, while Ymersist attacked the remaining Beserkers barehanded.
The air began to shimmer.
The mana beads embedded in Kaden’s armor drank in the power, and Kaden felt a shift deep inside him. Only [Moment of Speed] let him keep up now as the Beserker built fury. Even blocking cost him health from the sheer impact.
Dust floated upward through the air, and Remembrance wasn’t just vibrating, it hummed. He met an overhead swing with one of his own, matching hammerhead to hammerhead.
The world rang out a thunderclap. The air crackled and color drained from everything, but it didn’t blur like when the System halted. The mana stones that formed constellations on his armor had spread out to cover him, and he wore solid black armor. Remembrance was no longer a battered remnant. The axe-head was razor sharp, the hammer head was fitted with short spikes.
You have learned a new skill: [Moment of Eternity]
Time stopped, but Kaden didn’t. His mana drained like blood gushing from a slit throat—a coincidence, as Kaden slit the frozen beserker’s throat. 200 mana. He lunged to slice the other one. 50 mana. He’d never reach the other one in time, but spun, hurling Remembrance.
His mana hit zero.
Time resumed as Remembrance buried its axe head in the last Beserker. Who didn’t die. He reeled back, screaming in pain, then righted himself, charging forward.
You have acquired the status effect: Mana Shock.
Kaden was deeply ill. He could barely stand, let alone fight.
Ymersist lashed out, grabbing Remembrance’s handle, then swinging the warhammer—and the beserker over his head to slam into the floor. With every swing, the axe sank deeper, until the final swing split the man’s skull in two.
You have helped slay the Beserker Utri Darg.
You have gained experience.
Kaden stumbled over to grasp Remembrance, reeling from the effects of what he’d just undergone. [Moment of Eternity] was a tier four skill. Even if he learned it from a scroll, it should have been impossible to use.
He startled as the dead man’s body began to rise, sloughing off flesh. The split in the skull remained, but the skeleton shook off the last of its flesh.
“Want more?” Kaden plucked the Corpse Inventories from each body and tossed them on the floor. “I was saving them for you to resurrect and question.”
*A new purpose they must have.*
Kaden produced the broken hammer heads. “Can they use these?”
One by one, the still wet skeletons shuffled over. Their hand bones merged togeter, forming a haft for the hammer heads.
*I go to war, young one. Stay and guard, if thou art willing.* Ymersist led his quartet of skeletons away, while Kaden limped back to Sara and Trinity, using Remebrance to keep upright.
In her presence, Herald of Life began to raise his health and mana. Kaden explained what had happened, leaving nothing out, then shared his logs and status. “How? That’s a tier four skill.”
Sara shook her head. “I have no idea. We had only one visitor, a wounded [Swordsman] looking for a safe place to drink a healing potion. She didn’t find it.”
Kaden looked at the mangled, hacked, speared corpse before shoveling it into Inventory. “Good. How are they getting in?”
“There are doors here we can’t see. I imagine the enemy has a map or a wayfinder.” Sara stopped as someone approached.
It was just a skeleton, battered and broken. It checked in each of the residences, and then dragged itself out. Not long after, a voice spoke, Danae’s. “All attackers accounted for. Send corpses to the central necrosium for questioning.”
Kaden and Sara followed the skeletons dragging corpses, while Trinity followed along behind. The central Necrosium was an arched chamber with dozens of stone tables, most of them filled.
The [Priest] of Mortis stood in the center, next to a set of mutilated corpses. He invoked a spell, and dozens of corpses rotted in seconds, leaving only bones—and the corpse to his side sat up. Duggarn, his eyes missing, his mouth spurting blood.
The Centurion thrust himself up off the slab, already healing. “How many dead?”
“Seven have gone before us to his court,” The [Priest] answered. “Three students, four guards. Five enemies escaped. And they have the twins.”
Duggarn swore as he fumbled about. “I need eyes.”
The priest ripped one from his own skull and handed it over without pause. “Our god sanctions any punishment we deem fit, but he does not know who our enemy is.”
Kaden threw the [Swordswoman] from Inventory. “Ask her. Resurrect her and ask.”
The laughter that errupted from the Centurion Necromancer was not comforting. “I’ll ask. But I won’t be resurrecting her to do it.”
Kaden took a stone table and began unpacking corpse inventories. The equipment was solid, exactly what he’d expect a thirty to pack. “Sara.”
She joined him as he arranged weapons again. Spellbooks again. “I see it.”
All the equipment had two things in common. They were brand new. They were bought at the Emporium.
One by one, the others joined them, and some swore, while others began to cry, or mutter.
“I see,” Duggarn said. “Equipment is supposed to be sacrificed to Mortis. Their bones, their bodies, their souls are ours, and equipment goes to him. But I don’t hold this against you. You’re not even Necromancers, and you fought them beside us. Take it all.”
Kaden packed it away again. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing, yet,” Duggarn said. “The Emporium went to great lengths to retrieve the Twins alive. As soon as they realize their mistake, they’ll want to bargain.”
“What could possibly be worth this?” Sara asked.
Duggarn drew something from Inventory. A pair of skulls and a pair of books. “These are Centurion gear. I was holding them until the Twins are rank four, because the temptation to try and use it before would be too high. I have sworn an oath to return them before the System and Mortis.”
Oath acknowledged and upheld: Do not harm the Sevin or Serta by accident or design, and return their father’s tools at level seventy five.
“Why would the Emporium take them?” Kaden asked. “You have the skulls. All they have are ghosts and skeletons.”
*No one would believe they willingly surrendered the skulls. That kind of power is held on to,* Sara said with mind speak.
“Our reputation with others is stained. They imagine us brutes who delight in death and deal it at every opportunity.” Duggarn shrugged. “Death is everywhere. Death is constant. Death neither needs nor desires our aid, but Life—like the Blight—must be held in check.”
The Priest of Mortis put a hand on the dead swordswoman’s calf. “Rise by my command. The gates of eternity are shut for you. The wastelands of the beyond offer no shelter. Return to your body.”
She convulsed—and instinctively drew a Healing Potion from Inventory, sputtering blood as it ran down ruined lips. “Ransom.”
The word stood alone until her lungs healed further. “Contact the Emporium for ransom.”
Duggarn shoved Kaden aside with gentle, irresistable force. “Your employer broke into our home. Send four [Assassins] after me and a team of Beserkers to break Ymersist. Killed students and guards. Kidnapped my godchildren. I want no ransom. Nor will I send you on to Mortis’s Court.”
The stone slab she lay on lit up with black runes, and vines of solid black Death Mana crept up to cover the woman’s body. Vines that looked a lot like the demon binding. A lot like the soul bindings on Trinity.
She screamed once. Only once, as the vines ripped at her flesh.
What remained was ruin—and the slightest glow.
A glow which darted upright, taking the shape of a shadowy woman with glowing red eyes. Her eyes locked on Duggarn and she screamed.
You have been affected by [Skill Shriek]. Your Skills will not work for (30) seconds.
The spirit dove at Duggarn.
He caught her in one hand, holding her at bay with sheer will. “Good, good. You’re so much stronger than I expected. You will serve us seven hundred years, a century for every life taken.”
Then the Centurion looked to Sara and Kaden. “I have business in the Market, too, now. Shall we?”