As we fall, I maintain wind magic under my feet to keep our fall steady. I had learnt how to do this thanks to falling off that damned cliff so many times. After we slowly fall for nearly an hour, I finally see the ground as I carefully ensure we land safely. Looking around, I found the darkness had returned to the edge of my vision, it was like standing in a room with a single candle in the middle.
In front of us is a large man, towering over us at two metres tall. Two pitch black blades sat on his back which faced us. He had heavy armour on and was facing towards something further in the room. Looking deeper, I saw a swirling pool of dark liquid with at least twenty people surrounding it.
“So, you’ve arrived.” Speaking while he turns towards us, his eyes narrow at the sight of us. Looking at Alice, his frown deepens. “Why does one so soaked in darkness oppose us? Come, join us and we will show you true darkness.”
“NO!” Yelling like her childlike self, Alice turns her head away from the man making me chuckle.
‘Oh? You, the one that is Blessed by Celestia that comes from another era, tell me, how did it feel to strangle your own child?”
My smile disappeared as the guilt within me ate at me once again. Seeing him smile suddenly, I knew this was his plan. I felt my emotions stir, guilt and anger at myself once again filling my heart and mind. Suddenly I felt clear, and turning to Alice, I saw her hand on my head.
“Mummy ok?” Cutely asking me this, Alice tilted her head. I see, I had no resistance to Dark Magic, yet Alice could absorb it. Nodding to her, I faced the large man as my eyes narrowed.
“Interesting, to think my magic could be absorbed so easily, no wonder why you managed to purify the Flames of Light and Hope. Pity, you two would’ve made such wonderful slaves.” Drawing the blades on his back, I prepare myself as Alice switches from being held by me and onto my back with her hands around my neck. We hadn’t fought together like this, but I knew from when she was a Dark Raven she could easily hold on.
Level 50 Guardian of the Dark Depths, Terror Lord
Servant of the Embodiment of Fear
Health: ???/???
Gulping slightly, I knew this would be a difficult fight, if he was level 50 it was likely he had ‘evolved’, if dungeon Guardians could do that. Taking a step forward, I felt my body's condition. It was in peak condition, and it must’ve been night outside as I felt much stronger.
“Domain, Fear Incarnate”
A powerful Domain spreads from Terror Lord and very quickly I found myself…normal. Frowning, I look around and find nothing there. Quickly snapping my head to Terror Lord, I see a message from the System.
You are susceptible to fear.
Fear of what? Moving in quick, I nimbly dodge a sword strike from him while moving as little as possible and use Flowing Strikes. Striking his armour quickly, I continue to dodge attacks, stepping back in and continue to strike. After twenty seconds, I found the right amount of strength to leave big dents in his armour, about 70% of my total strength.
Dodging another attack, I leap backwards as he looks at me in rage. “How?! Why are the visions not affecting you?!”
Suddenly realising what his Domain was meant to do, I quickly glance at the warding charm around my neck. It shone brightly, however I could see darkness encroaching on it, which meant it would stop working soon. My recently strengthened eyes wouldn’t work on illusions created by him, so the charm was the only reason.
Raising a sword at me, he focused his eyes on me. “Fear.” At that moment I felt an overwhelming fear grip my heart, making me want to run away. I needed to get out of here! As soon as those thoughts appeared, they disappeared and I knew Alice had absorbed the spell, but it had given Terror Lord enough time to move in and swing.
Quickly reacting, I deflected one sword as I stepped back slightly to dodge the other one, however it cut my shoulder lightly. Feeling an energy swiftly infiltrate my body from the wound, my mind suddenly swirled in terror and a deep sense of loneliness. Once again, I felt the magic disappear but I was now on the back foot as I saw his swords coming for me once again.
Dodging several strikes while a few scraped me, I finally found a chance as he stabbed one sword towards my chest while swinging one downwards. Dodging the stab, I use the back of my gauntlets to deflect the overhead swing, slamming my other fist into his chest in a counterattack. As he stumbles off balance for a moment, I use my deflecting arm to grab his wrist, the other to grab the hilt of his sword and twist both hands, disarming him.
Not done yet, I stab the newly acquired sword into a hole in his armour that I had created with all the strength I could. The sword stabs deeply into his chest as I release it and dodge an attack from him. Facing him once again, I saw his eyes space out as fear crawled onto his face. Looking at the sword, I realised that they worked on him…was this really a Guardian?
I felt the power of his Domain falter, and taking that chance, I spread mine.
“Domain, Mystical Lunar Starfield.”
As it spread, I noticed how much more powerful it felt, and I also felt something within it, something that was just out of reach. Ignoring this, I used Lunar Blessing as I saw clarity returning to Terror Lord’s eyes.
“Sleep well, and don’t you fear.”
As my voice sings out, clarity returns to his eyes as he rips the sword out of his chest. His eyes then start to glaze over again.
“For the moon will always be near; guiding you through the darkest of nights.”
Dodging an attack, I saw Terror Lord struggling with his movements as anger and fear filled his eyes.
“Close your eyes and drift away; into a land of make-believe; where all your dreams shall be received.”
Dodging back as I avoid the last attack, Terror Lord slumps forward, his eyes completely glazed over. Not wanting to let this chance up, I surround my fists with gauntlets and with my gauntlets, I lay into Terror Lord’s head, which was completely unguarded.
Throwing dozens of punches within ten seconds, I pummelled his face as his jaw and nose broke, but I couldn’t pierce through his skin, it was like thick leather. Seeing his eyes slowly regaining clarity, I throw a Lashing Fire Kick at his neck, sending him crashing into the ground. Picking up both swords, I stabbed down towards his eyes as they regained clarity with some confusion.
Dodging the swords, he dodged one sword, while moving into the other. The sword sinks into his eye as a scream of pain and fear comes from him. Drawing the sword out, I leap backwards while throwing the swords into a dimensional bag quickly.
He crawls to his feet as he looks at me, fear in his eyes…or rather, eye. “W-what the hell are you?!” Yelling with panic he took a step away from me. Frowning a bit, was he talking to me or the illusions that he was still seeing with Lunar Lullaby? He’d still see some remnant illusions due to the after-effects of the spell..
Taking a step towards him, he cowered once again which then made me realise. This person’s sword skills were basic, and everything else he had thrown at me had simply not worked. The charm on my neck had darkness covered up to about a tenth of it, and most spells were dispelled by Alice. I understood now why he was scared.
Without caring, I dashed forward while summoning a dozen Astral Ice Spikes behind me, aiming them at his eyes. Raising his hands in a panic to block them, I start unleashing strikes at the damaged armour around his chest. Within seconds I had smashed holes through it and using Flowing Strikes, I once again tuned my strength and started piercing it with about 90% of my strength. Knowing if I went for too long at that level of strength I’d end up getting tired, I used Wind magic around my fists and continued my assault, maintaining Astral Ice Spikes while punching holes into his body.
After less than a minute, Terror Lord collapses, barely breathing as I look down feeling disappointed. I had considered taking the Charm off and asking Alice to stop dispelling, but I didn’t want to face that darkness again. I didn’t want to hurt Alice.
This however…it was boring. I hadn’t exerted myself, except for using Night’s Fury. Perhaps if all of this Terror Lord’s magic hadn’t been completely negated by both the Charm and Alice then I would’ve had a more fun fight. No, I would’ve been at risk of becoming a Fallen. Shivering at the thought, I stopped myself from becoming overconfident. I’m fighting to survive, become stronger and return to Crater, not to have fun.
Stepping on the Terror Lord's exposed heart, I stepped down as he stopped breathing. Panting for breath myself, I felt fatigue creeping into my muscles. His Toughness had been ridiculous, his skin had absorbed everything I threw at him until I increased my overall strength to using roughly 90%. Flowing Strikes helped me find the right amount of strength to finish something off, but the more strength and energy I used, the more tired I would become.
You have defeated Terror Lord. Gained 750,000xp.
You have levelled to 46!
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Gained the following Stats:
Strength: +105
Agility: +150
Intelligence: +75
Toughness: +6
You gain 10% more Stats due to Aspiring Hero, you gain the following:
Strength: +10
Agility: +15
Intelligence: +7
Toughness: +0
Health increased to 6,500.
Celestial Eclipse Mana Increased to 105,000.
Looking at my mana, I smiled with a bit of stiffness. I barely paid attention to these numbers since I had been relying on sensing how much mana I had, but the number that showed up was a bit high. Sighing, I saw the next message.
Current Dungeon Performance: A -> S+
Tilting my head slightly, I saw nothing else come up. Had the quest not finished, or did I need to leave now. Looking towards the pool of darkness, I watched the figures surrounding it…jumped in? Blinking in a bit of surprise at this scene, the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood as my instincts shouted at me to escape.
Just as I’m about to reach for the stone in my pocket, my body froze. I felt an overwhelming fear grip at my heart, the Charm on my neck completely broke as I felt all hope drain from me. Darkness filled the room, my Star Gaze unable to penetrate it at all. I heard voices, thousands of them, coming from all directions as the fear within me continued to grip me.
I felt Alice grip my neck harder, she was trembling behind me. I wanted to hold her, tell her everything would be fine but I couldn’t even lift a finger.
His presence is Fear. All hope is lost in True Darkness. The Manifestation of Fear is arriving, bow your head in fear, mortal.
Whimpering, I nearly fell to my knees while hugging myself. I felt scared, scared of the voices, scared of losing Alice, scared of becoming weak again, scared of becoming a slave once more. I knew, somehow I knew, if I fell to my knees now, I would be forever lost. Feeling tears run down my face, I felt the fear getting stronger and stronger.
I didn’t know what to do. Other than standing here, I didn’t know what to do. My body refused to listen to me, the stone had fallen to the ground and I knew something was coming. I knew that once it arrived, I would be truly dead. No, I would be a Fallen.
“Abandon Her, become mine. I can give you strength.” A voice stood out from the rest. It kept repeating those words, over and over. Abandon Her? “She can not help you. She has abandoned you.” T-the Moon Goddess? Trembling, I knew I was alone, truly alone in this darkness. And She had yet to help me, even once.
Feeling the darkness slowly enter my mind, it didn’t try to rush through me like before, but it slowly and surely started to shift my emotions. Holding onto the clarity of my mind, as if it was the only hope I had left, I came to a realisation. She hasn’t helped me…because I never asked for it.
Knowing I had no other hope, no other chance, I closed my eyes and did the one thing I had refused to do. I had wanted to go through this with my own strength, with my own power, but this wasn’t something I could do, I knew that, this power wasn’t something I could face. Knowing this, I opened my mouth and prayed.
“Oh, Mother Moon, hear my plea,
In this hour of darkness, I beseech thee,
Shine your gentle light upon me,
Guide me through this fear and uncertainty.”
As my voice comes out as a whisper, I wait as I hold on as best as I can. Nothing changed as seconds passed. Nearly a minute passed as the voices got louder as my hope held. It was the only thing I could hold onto, that maybe, just maybe something would happen.
As time slowly crawled towards another minute, my hope started to fade. The voices were right, I’m all alone down here. She had abandoned me too. No, She had never really been there, had she? Sending Her Church to kill me should’ve been enough for me to know that.
Feeling my knees tremble, my mind slowly became cloudy as the voices reached their peak. Knowing that I was about to become a Fallen, I kept my eyes closed and hoped I wouldn’t kill Alice. The blue gem within me hadn’t responded at all.
In that moment, a hand grasps my shoulder as a wave of soothing energy spreads through my body, ridding it of all the Darkness energy. Opening my eyes, I looked at a pair of eyes that resembled mine.
“Yo, long time no see. Snack?” Holding a pouch up to me, Flannery gave me a wink.
“F-Flannery?!” Baffled, I watched as she giggled.
“Tessa. Tessa Moonflow.” Tilting my head, I realised what she meant as she told me. “It’s my name, my actual name. Sorry I’m late, turns out breaking into a Locked Dimensional Dungeon and locating you was a bit tricky even for Selenia. Now, we don’t have much time, so hold your questions till later.” Giving me a soft smile, she looked at Alice who was now peaking her head over my shoulder.
“Flan-Tessa, why ar-” Shaking her head, she looked behind her shoulder.
“Later, later. Now, do you see that big ol’ chunk of rock?” Looking in her direction I saw nothing as the Darkness obstructed my vision. Telling her this, she nods. “I see, so your Star Gaze isn’t that powerful yet. Close your left eye.” Doing as she said, she smiled and pointed her finger at my right eye. “Synchronise.”
My vision suddenly shifted and I was looking at myself. “Huh?” As I mutter, I saw myself mutter as my mind spun. I’m seeing what Tessa is seeing?
“Good. Now, pay attention.” As the vision turned, I could clearly see through the darkness once more. In the middle of the swirling pool of darkness I could see a massive black rock. “See it now?” Nodding before realising we couldn’t see me, I told her I could.
“Good. I can only do this much. That rock is the source of the summoning. Strike it with the strongest Lunar magic that you can.”
Breathing in, I looked at this massive rock. It was the size of a house at least. Feeling an anger build up within me, I let my fury build as I placed the blame on this rock for nearly making me Fall. Feeling myself raise a hand, all of my mana syphon into the spell.
“Night’s Fury.” Whispering with an angry voice, a massive magic circle appeared above the rock as a moon of Celestial Eclipse magic fell directly onto the rock. This was far more powerful than Lunar magic, the power contained in it made me wince slightly.
“Celestial Eclipse Magic? Too early, far too early. You’re not even at the Crossroads.” Hearing Tessa mutter with disbelief, Night’s Fury imploded, shaking the cave as Celestial Eclipse energy swirled, eating into the rock, destroying it. The feeling of darkness around us completely stopped and feeling my vision return to myself I saw that the darkness had disappeared.
Seeing the swirling pool of darkness, I knew it hadn’t ended just yet. Looking at Tessa, I saw her smiling at me. Cupping my cheek with her hand, she giggled.
“You’re strong, Alisha.” Removing her hand, she smiles once again towards Alice. “Is that the Dark Raven? My, you’ve gotten beautiful, haven’t you?” Looking at me, Tessa said “I know you’re filled with questions, and I have answers. But not now, my time here is up. On the next Waning Moon wait somewhere with no other people. I’ll come find you.”
Before I could say anything, Tessa disappeared completely as I heard noises behind me. Alice climbs over my shoulder as I hold her, and turning, I see dozens of people appearing from the hole we had entered from. Wearing golden armour with weapons on their hips was the army that had attempted to invade. One of them held a basin with the Flame of Hope and Light.
As our eyes met, they seemed to be in disbelief, but before anything could be said, I noticed I had started fading. The System also gave me a message.
Current Dungeon Performance: S+ -> SS+
I found myself in a white void as another message came up.
Quest: Defeat the Unknown completed. Rewards Available.
The Manifestation of Fear has been pushed back, for now. Due to your actions, history has been rewritten. The Manifestation of Fear in the past failed to be summoned, failing at the last moment, however it had succeeded in corrupting the Army of Light. Without the Flame of Hope and Light, the Army could not resist the corruption and had become Fallen.
The Fallen then marched onto the city of Andres, where after a long siege, the Fallen failed to take the city and were quickly vanquished.
Due to your actions, history has been rewritten and the Army of Light has rid the city of Hale of the Darkness that laid below. They hail you as a hero, a statue of your appearance erected in their halls for all to see.
These changes to history actions do not affect your era, though there may be records or tales of the events that took place on this day.
Looking at the story that the System told me, I knew that Alice and I had done something drastic. This experience hadn’t been difficult, Alice had solved a lot of the problems we faced and we had been saved by Tessa at the last moment. I hadn’t been pushed to my limits, and it didn’t feel like I personally had achieved anything.
Feeling Alice hug me tightly, I looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“Alice ok!” Chuckling, I could tell she had been scared. Even though she had managed to negate a lot of our problems because of her unique ability to absorb darkness, it seemed whatever that Manifestation of Fear was, she had been affected by it heavily as well. Looking forward, I saw a single set of double doors in front of us, the only thing in this white void.
“Let’s get out of here, Alice. I’m hungry.”
“Mm! Alice love Mummy!”
Pursing my lips, I still felt guilty for what I had done to her before. Rubbing her hair lightly, I told her that I loved her as I walked towards the doors. Feeling disappointed that I hadn’t done much in this dungeon, I also knew that I had become a lot stronger than before. Pushing the doors open, I stepped out into the building that held the Battlefield of Eternity.
My sight was met with an empty building, five people stood there looking at me, all of whom had astonished looks on their faces. Behind them, I saw another three people, one of which was Elise. Identifying one of the five in front of us, I knew him as Xander, and looking at the other four I noticed they all wore Ruby Grade necklaces. Executives of the Guild?
Stepping forward, Xander gave me a deep look before glancing at the doors we had just come out of. Looking back myself, I saw the doors close as the inscription, a battlefield that matched what one would see when entering, slowly fading as blank doors sat there.
This Dimensional Dungeon has been completed and will be changed into a new Dungeon. Currently inaccessible.
“Young adventurer.” Turning to face Xander, he frowned. “At this time, you will be brought to the Guild to be questioned. What you have accomplished here is unfathomable, that much is undeniable. Understandably you must be exhausted, however this is something that can not be delayed. Come with us.”
Frowning slightly, I looked at Elise, who had an unusually stern face on as she nodded. Deciding it would be best to comply, I followed the executives along the path out of the building and towards the Guild building.