vol3ch4
Dangers and Treasures of the Abyss
Navigating through the tunnels of the Abyss made about as much sense as using a broken compass to find the west pole. One could think of the Abyss’s shape as something like an ant colony, though each tunnel was tall enough to hold a skyscraper and wide enough to fit a city. The problem was, Crane quickly figured out, that if you went in one direction for a day, turned around and went back for a day, you would not return to where you started. Without motion or movement the tunnels and halls seemed to shift randomly, and the only way to be certain you were going where you wanted to be was to already be there.
Crane using his flight shoes and Onyx her wings, the pair soared low over what appeared to be the ground. Though occasionally the gravity shifted in the tunnels and when you reached the end, up was down and left was right compared to the previous perspective.
Without a reliable means of navigation they had no idea where their path would lead, but they knew what they were looking for. They decided they would keep going until they either found a way out of the Abyss, or a place they could get stronger.
“Crane, over here,” Onyx shouted. She was pointing at a crevice she found in the rock that looked large enough to squeeze through. “There’s an airflow here, it might lead somewhere.”
Crane flew over to see it as well. It could lead to another cavern, but it was too small for Onyx to go through with her wings. She would have to use her racial skill ‘Alter self’ to put them away, but since she could only use it once a day, she would be without her wings for at least a day, something that could cost them.
Crane asked, “Are you sure?”
Onyx’s wings started to shrink in affirmation until they eventually withdrew into her back. She passed through the crack motioning for Crane to follow.
The first thing Crane noticed as he passed through the thin passage was, that after switching from his randomly generated avatar form to the form of his body as Do Hyup, he was two inches shorter. But other than that he was impressed by how seamless the switch was. Onyx still knew who he was, and so did Keagan. And the form-fitting cloak Keagan transformed into, the one he was wearing now, was still form-fitting though his dimensions had changed. To his relief he found that even though his avatar now matched his original outer-self, videos and images of Crane that were taken or recorded before he left Versailles had not changed. As long as he lost enough infamy to deactivate the bounty tracker he had on him before returning to Versailles, he would not be recognized as the ‘The Great Terrorist.’
Not that Crane had any intentions on returning anytime soon.
The passage was winding and narrow, at several points one had to leap across meter wide cracks in the rock the passage went through that extended in every direction and would likely mean certain death if you fell through. Crane worried at a few points that it was a dead end which would force them to go back, but if so, they hadn’t reached it yet. After two hours of shimmying, they made it through to a large, open cavern. When Onyx reached the end, Crane could hear her gasp. He was worried they had found some dangerous place, but when he emerged from the passage, he too gasped.
The cavern was as wide and tall as the ones they had seen before and lite with the flows of glowing lava common throughout the Abyss, but where the others had been bland tunnels of some black or brown stone, this cavern’s interior was inlaid with streams of smoke colored veins. The mineral lines each caught the light from the lava, but only reflected small bits of it, giving the wall the impression of a multifaceted gemstone.
Onyx said after a moment, “It’s beautiful..”
Crane said, “Yea. But first things first. Keagan, scout the area.”
Crane’s cloak flared up and turned to blue fire before flowing away from him and forming a giant sabertooth tiger. The enormous fire cat said, “Yes master,” before flying off.
Crane and Onyx explored the area by foot and made their way to a nearby wall. He followed it until he found a point where the grey-ish material vein reached down to the floor. He placed his hand on it and said, “Identify.”
Teokorite ore
Also known as Twilight ore, metal forged of this phantom mineral weakens in bright light, and thus is rarely if ever seen in surface world.Due to Intermediate Mineral Refining skill, additional information gained.
Teokorite Ore should be cold forged to obtain maximum hardness.
Keagan returned a moment later and said, “The cavern is empty master, but I found a cave that smelled of hell beasts.”
“A Dungeon? Something to check out later. That’s all for now, go on and stretch your legs Keagan.” After being addressed, Keagan landed himself onto ground level and ran off.
Crane stood before the Teokorite vein and decided he needed equipment. The equipment he collected and forged himself had all been destroyed by the spell that transported him to the Abyss, and he wasn’t about to get any equipment from the locals.
Demons did in fact have some of the most powerful weapons in existence, and a few were so powerful, they didn’t even have level requirements, they could be wielded by anyone. But that was their selling points. Demon weapons were, according to a book in the demon library, forged through a demon skill called Manifestation. Through it a demon could infuse their essence into a solid form, outside their body. The book described it as an upgraded level of the ability demons had to manifest a physical form. There were many stories of mortals in the upper world selling their souls to demons for the chance to use the demon’s manifested weapon. In such storied the wielders would gain unbelievable combat prowess and might, but would always become evil, spreading wickedness throughout due to the demon’s influence over them.
Crane had no intention of ever using a demon weapon, no matter how strong, so he had to forge his own while in the Abyss.
Of course the problem was that not only was his equipment destroyed, so was just about everything else. He would have to create from scratch each piece that was required to forge equipment. Crane smiled at the thought, mostly due to the fact this wasn’t the first, or even third time he was in such a situation, and he knew what to do.
Crane told Onyx that as long as she didn’t go into the dungeon on her own or get lost, she was free to do as she wanted. Crane himself went to a lava pool and proceeded to collect handfuls of the molten rock. Since he used a spell to increase the temperature of his hands and arms to the same degree as the lava, he wasn’t burned or harmed. As the lava cooled, Crane molded it like clay into pots, jars, bowls, tubs, mallets, and large molds.
Although most of the abyss was as hot as an oven, that didn’t mean there was no water, it just wasn’t in liquid form. Crane gathered the water in the air with magic and cooled it into a liquid he could store in the jars for quenching. The information given by identify said cold forging, that referred to intense quenching from glowing hot to below zero, something Crane already had experience with.
Crane used the stone lava mallets to smack and break chunks of the metal off the wall. It took a lot of effort but until he made a pickaxe it was the best he could do.
Tools made of magma were brittle because magma is the melt rock of several materials, but most of it is in fact silicon. Thanks to this Crane was able to extract relatively pure silicon from it to add to his crucible to extract the impurities when he heated it up.
After about two hours of trial and error, Crane was still working to figure out the best way to forge with Teokorite. Onyx had long since explored the cavern to her heart’s content and was now watching Crane intently. After another hour, Crane settled on what he believed was the best way to extract the metal from the ore and forge it. It required a lot of silicon, more than ten times the amount he’d ever use on any other metal, and slow burning. For some reason the metal extracted from the crucible had a much higher purity if melted slowly, at just the melting point of the metal without going over. After being extracted, it had to be quickly formed, then it had to be cooled as fast as he could to as cold as he could. His method was to put the metal into a tub of water, then use an ice spell on the tub to freeze it to zero.
Crane’s first success was a small pole and pick that would attach to one another to made a pick axe. “Identify.”
Twilight PickAxe
Durability 70/70
Attack 35
This crude pickaxe was forged by a skilled craftsmen using unknown techniques. Due to a property of the material, durability will be lost in strong light. Exposing this pickaxe to sunlight would cause complete degradation.
Restrictions:
Level 50
Strength 80
Equips:
+2 Mining Skill
+30 STR while mining
+20 VIT while mining
In addition to the pickaxe, Crane made a shovel, three hammers of various sizes, and used the mold to make a small, but sturdy anvil. Afterwards, Crane took a seat and collapsed exhausted.
Onyx peaked over Crane’s collapsed form and asked, “Is there anything I can help with?”
Crane looked at her, then at the pickaxe and said, “Well, I’m both smelting the ore into weapons and mining it from the ore vein.”
Onyx nodded and took the pickaxe and shovel. An hour later she returned with a pile of ore and a few gemstones. “I found these while mining.”
Crane looked at them. He didn’t recognize the gem type but he wasn’t an expert on gemstones so that wasn’t an issue. He said, “If you want I’ll carve them for you later in return for helping me get the ore.
Crane spent the next several days figuring out the best way to make a weapon of Teokorite. He found that no matter what he did it wasn’t malleable enough to forge a sword thin enough to use his finesse skills, so he would just make the best long sword he could for now. And since he wasn’t going to be using a rapier, he didn’t need to make a knife to use in his off hand.
After making over a dozen swords, Crane picked from them the best two for his primary and backup weapon.
Twilight Longsword of Coldfire
Durability: 180/180.
Damage: 98-105
This sword was forged by a skilled craftsmen using unknown techniques.
The blade remains cold regardless of the outside temperature. Frost forms on the blade and cold air eternally hangs around it. Exposing this sword to sunlight would cause complete degradation.
Requirements:
Strength: 600.
Level: 300.
Effects:
Equips:
Strength +70.
Agility +30.
Bonus frost damage +55.
30% Chance of slowing with each strike, effect stacks.
5% Chance of Freezing with each strike.
Sword absorbs fire and heat
Either due to a property of the metal or a side effect of cold forging, several swords he made had a cold property, but although this sword did not have the highest attack or durability of all the ones he made, this was the only sword with the property of absorbing heat and fire.
Crane was tempted to use Rune smith to empower this sword, but Rune smith lowered the life of a weapon by forcibly imbuing it with magic. It was a drawback that made the skill inferior to the ability of an enchanter.
Crane didn’t want to waste his best sword on that, but he had no problems using Rune smith to strengthen a few of his inferior swords. Their maximum durability would quickly degrade and they would need to be repaired far more often than an untampered sword, but they would have some serious firepower during their short lifespan.
After another two days, Crane had made some half-plate armor and a sturdy wrist guard for himself. He of course offered to make something for Onyx, but she said she didn’t need it, which was true enough. The skill her father left her, Scarlet Aura, cost much less mana to maintain than Crane’s aura spells, and gave her effective means of offense and defense without lowering her maneuverability like armor would.
Upon entering the dungeon, Crane got an unexpected message.
Clear the Mines.
Difficulty: B
This mine used to be owned by the Del Rotso clan, but when the mine became infested with hell beasts, they decided to abandon it. Clear the mine of all Hell Beasts and the ownership of the mine will transfer to you.
Progress
0000/1160
Accept?
Yes|No
Onyx seemed to have received the same message, and said, “You wanted a good spot to train.”
Crane nodded and said, “I’ll accept.”
You have accepted the Quest
Although Crane would not get any bonuses for being the first to discover a dungeon due to Random Transfer, there were still perks to exploring in general.
Equipped with a rune engraved sword that had a dealt a lot of ice damage and had a 25% chance to freeze solid with each strike, Crane and Onyx proceeded to hunt hell beasts.
Hell beast is a general term for demons with low intelligence, manifestations of willpower that did not become at least a demon imp. The group includes hellhounds, lava worms, twisted spiders, rocs, and hundreds of other different varieties of abominations straight out of the world of nightmares.
Crane quickly discovered that the hell beasts in the mine were of the Eingu type. The looked like a mix between a gorilla, a human, and a goblin. Their mouths always hung open and low, with a two feet wide jaw. They moved as quickly through the tunnels as monkeys would the trees, using their long beefy limbs to grab hold of nearby rock to propel themselves forward. Their deep red eyes and razor filled mouths gave Crane a small shiver when he first saw them swarm towards him.
With a roar their jaws extended to three and a half feet wide and they came in a never ending stream. Dodging the jaws in such a close space was almost impossible so he had to slash their faces through. Onyx stayed in the back and used rapid shot with ice infused arrows to freeze or slow the Eingus that tried to get past Crane. Their strategy was simply to freeze as many as they could to clog up the tunnel then kill them at their leisure.
It took more than twenty of Crane’s slashes to kill a single Eingu, meaning they were probably between level 350 and 400. One on one, an imp could easily take out an Eingu or any other low class hell beast thanks to their access to demon magic, but there are thousands of times more hell beasts than there are thinking demons. It is likely due to their sheer numbers that the mine was abandoned, not due the strength of the beasts within.
With each successive kill, a small amount of black miasma poured from the vanquished demon, and every once in a while, Onyx would go up to the front to inhale it. Killing a demon released the souls in their possession, and the more souls a demon subjugated, the stronger they were. That being said, most demons, thinking and non-thinking only subjugated a fraction of their consumed souls. What made Onyx different was that she could use the skills she inherited from her father, an archdevil, to subjugate with a much higher success rate. Devil exclusive subjugating skills were one of the main reasons devils were almost always stronger than demons.
After three hours the hordes stopped coming and there was silence. In total they had killed less than a hundred of the hell beasts and still had over a thousand to go. That and Crane suspected that the further down they went, the stronger the hell beasts they’d find.
In total, it took two weeks, two in game months to complete the quest.
Quest Complete: Clear the Mines
You have removed the hell beast infestation and Ownership of the mines has been transferred to you.
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
You have gained a level!
In addition to the four levels gained from the quest, Crane had gained another twelve during the extermination, and Onyx had gained ten. Crane opened up his status window to see his progress.
Avatar- Crane.Alignment- ChaoticLevel 338Class- Rune MasterTitle- Kingdom SlayerFame- 3981 Infamy 2411Health- 21930Mana- 37320Strength- 651+20Agility- 632+20Wisdom- 370+20Intellect- 332+20Vitality- 223+20Luck- 211+20Leadership 171+20Finesse- XX+20Fighting Spirit- 391+20Perseverance 561+20Endurance- 382+20Toughness 149+20Resilience- 119+20Faith 14+20Concentration- 157+20Insight 88+20Affinity to Nature- 103+20Courage 133+20Attack- 3946Defense- 1377Magic ResistancesFire-51%Water-42%Earth-49%Black Magic-52%Ice-42%Wind-59%Lightning-45%Light-59%+ All stats are added 20
+ While using a sword you receive +25% bonus to Attack
+25% Maximum Mana
+ Enables you to learn all craft skills to the stage of a master.
+ Can learn skills that use the stat finesse
+ Can learn and use rune magic.
+ Can harness true power of runes to increase variety of effects when used.
+ As a Rune Master, you understand that all magic originates from runes, Enables you to learn modern magic spells based on your level in Rune Mastery.
He thought to himself he had come a long way since leaving Kallamore Kingdom. His attack was less than half of what it would be if he were a pure swordsmen so as a spell sword he had to make up for the damage with magic. Crane had also allowed himself to be beaten to the breaking point so often that his PER, END, and TOU stats were far beyond what any magic user usually possessed, spellsword or no. The fact that he even had the toughness stat meant he had long since veered off the path of a traditional spellsword.
When he looked at his surplus of mana, he always sighed. Were he any other spellcaster class a higher level would mean more powerful spells that could make the most out of so much mana, but Crane had to create his own spells. Even though he learned every rune and used them so much his mastery reached advanced, he still hadn’t gotten the hang of spells that chained together more than twelve runes. He had made a few that he hoped would be very powerful, but their success rate in casting was too low for practical use. He still had much to learn.
Crane told Onyx, “You subjugate as many of the souls as you can, I’ll get as much as I can from this mine.”
“Do I have to?” she complained, “I didn’t even need to use any demon spells against the Eingus.”
Crane sighed and said, “That’s because we had a plan and knew what we were up against. If you want to stay here the rest of your life, fine, but if you want to travel to places where we don’t know what we’ll be up against, you’ll need everything you’ve got.”
Onyx pouted and left, hopefully Crane thought, to go meditate. Onyx rarely if ever won an argument with Crane, and it vastly annoyed her. The only reason she obeyed someone so much younger than herself was because Crane took the effort early on and each day since to prove he was stronger than herself through daily sparring.
Crane got to digging in the lowest parts of the mine, he hoped that was where the best stuff was. He found out from exploring that this mine was not made to excavate Teokorite. Either because demons didn’t know how to work it, or because, like Onyx, they didn’t need it, they hadn’t dug these tunnels to extract the phantom metal. Crane hoped that whatever they were looking for, he would find.
Over the next month, a week outside of the game, Crane dug through the rock following the teokorite vein. On nothing more than instinct, Crane figured that this mine was dug because whatever else was down here could be found with Teokorite, so following the vein was the best option. Crane enlisted the help of the minor earth spirits he had a contract with to find something in the stone and move aside the already dug rock. They couldn’t dig themselves but they were useful helpers. In addition to gaining a few gems, Crane had reached intermediate in the skill he got the first day of digging, ‘Mining.’ It made him dig faster and after it reached intermediate he got some bonus stats
At the end of a hard day of digging, Crane found a shining black mass in the rock. From the outside it looked the same as teokorite, but when Crane used identify on it.
Night ore
Little is known about this material other than the fact is is highly prized by demons.Due to Intermediate Mineral Refining skill, additional information gained.
Night ore requires intermediate level blacksmithing to work. To use properly requires advanced level blacksmithing.
Crane lifted the metal lump, it was the size of a basketball, and as light as a loaf of bread. He shivered in excitement as he remembered that mithril had the same warning about requiring advanced level blacksmithing which meant this was least least as good.
Crane packed it into his inventory and started digging again in the off chance there was more. Treasure in Royal Road only occurred once per location and it was unlikely that he’d find any, but it gave him some time to think. Crane did in fact have much experience working with mithril. He had stolen much of it from other kingdoms during the War of the Kings and had made many outstanding items from it. The only secret to working with mithril was to melt it in the hottest flame possible and let it cool down while working it as slowly as possible. When Crane got the knack for it he took a whole day to slowly hammer a mithril rapier and wrist guard which had served him well all they way until he hit level 280 when he found a better thin sword.
However he was in no hurry, Crane’s blacksmithing skill was only at intermediate level 5. Because he was no longer in a position to make mass quantities of equipment, if he wanted to get his skill to advanced he would have to go with quality over quantity. If he found a mithril mine or manastone mine, he could use it to make hundreds of high quality items. Until then or if he found a master blacksmith NPC that could make it into something amazing, he’d wait patiently. And with that train of thought he left the mine shaft to go get Onyx.
“How’d you do?” Crane asked her.
Onyx released the scarlet aura and said, “I got a few. The souls from the beasts seem wilder than the ones I got from father.”
Crane said, “Well it’s time to leave. We’re going through the passage we found in the mines.”
Onyx nodded and followed Crane back in. A few weeks prior, they found another crevice large enough to move through with an air flow. Occasionally dungeons had secret passages that lead elsewhere, though sometimes they just lead to harder dungeons. On that off chance, Crane lead the way. If they were in danger, Keagan’s cloak would alert them and they could turn around. However they reached the end without problem, another tunnel like all the ones before.
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Crane turned to Onyx and said, “Left or right?”
She looked at him without saying anything. Then Crane realized she was looking past him. The cloak flared up and Crane turned around to see a few dots on the horizon. Onyx and Crane squeezed back into the crack before they were noticed.
The figures that were flying by were rocs, hell beasts that looked like a mix between a pterodactyl and a drake. Their wingspan was over twelve meters, and as they got closer, Crane saw they were being ridden. The figures ridding them were smaller than demon soldiers, so Crane assumed they were demon imps. The six mounted demons flew past them without issue and shortly they had gone.
Onyx said, “Lets go that way,” as she pointed in the direction the imps were flying.
Crane understood why, if they were going somewhere, they might actually know where they’re going, and if Onyx and Crane followed relatively close by, they could follow through each passage the imps went through before the tunnels moved around or whatever they did.
“Alright lets go.”
Crane lifted off and was followed shortly by Onyx who took out her wings.
They stayed low as to avoid being seen by the roc riders but it never became an issue. After half an hour of flying they reached what appeared to be a town. They landed far away and began to explore the perimeter.
Onyx asked, “What should we do?”
Crane hadn’t really thought about it. He knew the Abyss would have settlements and such but he had no idea what would happen if he entered one. The idea made him curious.
“I’ll go have a look around.” Crane answered.
Onyx looked worried at the idea.
Crane said, “If I haven’t come back in a day, go full devil form, they might think you’re a devil yourself.”
Without another word Crane flew away towards the town.
The first thing Crane found amusing was that as soon as he got close to town, Keagan’s cloak lit up and didn’t turn off. Crane walked into the town and found that he indeed stood out. The town itself seemed to be solely composed of demon imps. They were about the same size as the sixteen year old Crane, but other than height, they had nothing else in common. Their skin color was a shade that always fell between black and red, but the form of each varied, no two looked identical. Most had horns, a few had small wings, nearly all had a tail, and none had a face that could be mistaken for human.
One imp that was walking by shouted, “Human!” Then it proceeded to wrap black flames around his hands before hurling them at Crane. Crane slashed through through the hellfire with his sword that absorbed and extinguished the fire. Crane then asked in a loud voice, “Where can I found a general store?”
As if a spell had been cast on the lost, not a single imp could move after he had spoken. It wasn’t that they were paralyzed, it was that they had heard something so ridiculous, they couldn’t process it.
One imp overcame the shock and approached Crane. In a hesitant voice it said, “You should not have come human. Why are you here?”
Crane looked up as if deep in thought and looked back at the imp to say, “I was on my way to my to the kitchen for a snack and I got lost.”
The imp asked, “You ended up in the twelfth sector of torment on your way to the kitchen?”
Crane answered “I am not a clever man.”
Crane expected more than stunned silence from a joke he thought was hilarious, and a moment later he got it.
“Ahahahaha!!! Haha, AH Hahahahaaha!”
Crane looked over to the doorway of a nearby building to see a red skinned man with horns. If his skin wasn’t red and he wore a hat, he could walk through the upper world no problem.
The man walked up to Crane and said aloud, “This human doesn’t seem too bad.” He then looked Crane in the eyes and held out his hand, “As long as you don’t try anything foolish, you’ll be treated as my guest, deal?”
Crane shook the man’s hand and said, “Deal.”
Ding*
Contract established.
Residents of the Twelfth sector of Torment will no longer be aggressive to you.
Should you cause any harm to any resident, the contract is void.
The blue embers of Keagan’s cloak died down and Crane asked, “What was that?”
The man looked amused and said, “That my friend was a contract. Am I the first devil you’ve met?”
Crane answered, “No, I’m traveling with a she-devil at the moment. But she was a bit of a shut in before I met her, she knows nothing of the world and only just got use to using her skills.”
The devil said, “Is that so?” He then gestured to the building he had come out of and said, “Please follow me, there is much I’d like to discuss.”
The building seemed to be the demon equivalent of a casino, Crane remembered the last time he was in a casino and wondered if he would leave this one in the same condition he left the other.
The devil sat down at a table and asked, “So, what really brings you here?”
Crane said, “Well I am lost. I performed a teleportation spell without a set destination and wound up here a few months ago. Been wandering around ever since.”
“I see. I’m surprised you’re still in one piece. How have you managed to survive so long?” the devil asked.
Crane shrugged and said, “It wasn’t that hard, I’m pretty tough.” Crane was purposely putting on a false bravado, he had to give the impression that he was so strong that being in a town of devils and demons wasn’t a problem for him.
He didn’t know if he was fooling him, but the devil said, “I see, well then, may I be the first person to welcome you to the Abyss. How long do you plan on staying?”
Crane looked up again to pretend to ponder. The question was, like all of the questions the devil had been asking, a differet question disguised with false courtesy. What the devil was actually saying was, ‘Do you have any idea on how you’re going to escape the abyss?’ If Crane confirmed the devil’s suspicions that he had no idea on how to leave, the devil would undoubtedly use that against him.
Crane answered, “Not sure. Lots to see here, but as I said before, I’m quite lost. How do you navigate through the abyss?”
The devil smiled and said, “I can help with that, but it will cost you.”
Crane put on a smile as well and said, “Well nothing is free.”
“Hehe, indeed not.”
Crane decided to get to a another point, “Are you expecting company soon?”
The devil’s smile flickered. “What do you mean?”
“Well, there are other empty tables in this establishment. Some are small and have only two seats, but this one has four seats.” Crane gave another smile at his own undeniable argument. He decided a moment ago that the devil was stalling, which meant he was waiting, which meant that when Crane had come to town, he had called someone and was now keeping Crane there until they arrived. Even the contract that protected Crane from the residents was likely a ruse to get Crane to lower his guard.
The devil calmly answered as if he had not been hiding it, “Yes, some acquaintances are coming over, a human in the abyss is a rare sight, and I knew they would want to see you.”
Crane asked, “Are they residents of this town?”
“No, they are from another settlement, why?”
“Well that contract from before only protects me from residents. I was just concerned that they might not treat your guests with as much courtesy as the other folk do.”
The devil’s eyes that had been half closed in his false smile opened to reveal pitch black eyes, and the human features of his face changed, giving way for a more brutal, savage appearance. He said in a deep, resonating voice, “Yes, I suppose the jig is up. Your joke aside, you are indeed a clever man. Are you clever enough to know what I’ll do to you if you try to escape?”
Crane smiled. He remembered the presence of the archdevil, although weak and broken, his presence was undeniably terrifying when he wanted it to be. Crane focused on that feeling and used battle aura, a skill he had long since mastered that changed the properties of his fighting spirit stat to whatever he wanted it to be. His turned his fighting spirit into a copy of the archdevil’s presence and gave a wicked smile to the devil saying, “Are you clever enough to know what will happen if you try to stop me?”
On instinct alone, the devil quickly got out of his chair and backed away fumbling. He had as much control over doing so as a man who touched a hot stove had over his reaction to pull his hand away. He hadn’t even realized he did it until he was already a few feet away. The devil calmly asked, “Are you really human?”
Crane calmly got up out of his seat, smiled at the devil, and left the casino. The devil made no attempt to stop him, and after Crane passed through the door, he released his aura and took in a deep breathe. Crane had never imitated a presence as intense as Onyx’s father, and it was mentally straining.
Crane walked from building to building, he really was looking for a general store. It was there he was most likely to find a way to navigate through the abyss. What he found was a stall that seemed to sell random objects.
“Human, what is it you need?” Said the imp on the other side of the counter.
“A way to navigate through the Abyss.” Crane answered.”
The imp replied, “That right? Do you even know where you’ll go?”
Crane shook his head and said, “Well, a way to the above world would be nice.”
The imp raised what appeared to be an eyebrow and said, “Well, I can help with that, but it will cost you.”
The imp seemed less hazardous to make a deal with then the devil from earlier so Crane asked, “What do you want?”
“Nothing you’ll miss, just your soul.”
Crane shook his head. It was true that in this game he could go on without a soul, but being soul-less classifies you as a non-human, which would make others hostile against you as if you were a monster. That and being soul-less opened you up for demon possession.
Crane said, “No thanks, but I might have something else to offer.”
The imp said, “Oh really? Well let me tell you we don’t take upper world money. We only trade in souls, and you only have your own.”
Crane decided next time he would bring Onyx to town, but he had another idea for now.
“Well, I found a mine filled with hell beasts and I cleared it out. I found a note in the mine saying that there was a mineral called Night inside there. I could trade you ownership of the mine for a way to get out of the Abyss.”
As soon as Crane said the word ‘night,’ the imp froze. A moment later he said, “You serious? a mine with Night in it? No, you’re lying.”
Crane said, “How can I be lying, I don’t even know what Night is. And I can prove I was just there.”
Crane took out his sword and showed it to the imp. The imp almost got a freezer burn from touching it, but he said, “Yea, that’s twilight alright. You make it yourself?”
Crane said, “Yea. I got enough teokorite ore to last me a while so I don’t need the mine anymore. We have a deal or not?”
The imp said, “Alright. The only way I know to get to the surface, is through the Barrow west gate. I’ll tell you how to get there after you tell me where the mine is.”
Crane explained how he got there in detail and how long it took him. The imp said, “Alright, to get to the Barrow West Gate, you have to follow the smell of sulfur.”
“Sulfur?” Crane asked.
“Yea, everywhere around here smells but it all smells different. If you want to go somewhere, you gotta follow your nose.”
Crane said, “I see, thanks. Now, if you don’t mind, what exactly is night?”
The imp looked suspicious, like he thought Crane was gonna double cross him.
Crane said, “I just wanted to know how much I traded for your info is all.”
The imp said, “Sorry, unless you got something else to trade, I ain’t telling.”
Crane rolled his eyes and left the stall.
From the distance he could hear the sound of many footsteps approaching. Keagan’s cloak flared up a bit and Crane ran between the buildings to get away, using the the brightness of Keagan’s fire to determine how close he was to danger.
When he reached the edge of town, the fire of Keagan’s cloak receded a bit. Crane quietly said, “Open Menu.”
MenuCharacter WindowInventorySystem optionsFriend listGuild menuHelp MenuQuest LogLog OutExit
Crane clicked ‘Character Window.’
Character WindowStatsEquipmentStatusesSkillsBackExit
Crane clicked Statuses. It showed everything that was currently affecting Crane
Statuses-Protection of Mana
-Active Contracts:
Can summon the lesser wind spirit Veres
Can summon the high wind spirit queen Erra
Can summon the lesser earth spirit Gorl
Can summon the lesser earth spirit Ferudhi
Can summon the lesser earth spirit Roculonel
Can summon the greater fire spirit Torch
Can summon the greater fire spirit Egnos
Can summon the lesser water spirit Canner
Lifelink Contract
Devil contractBackExit
Crane clicked ‘Lifelink Contract’ to open up the menu he needed.
Lifelink ContractIn the event Onyx’s health reaches zero, up to 40% of your maximum health will be transferred to Onyx. If you have less than 40% health remaining, all but 5% will be transferred.Contact OnyxBackExit
Crane clicked Contact Onyx, the contract included a whisper like feature, after he knew where it was, from now on he could use the voice command ‘Contact Onyx’ to open a whisper menu instead of searching for the option.
-Hey Onyx, I’m on my way and we’re going to be pursued, you ready for some speed flying?
-Been ready since you left.
-Alright, get in the air, I’ll meet you in a bit.
Crane lifted off with Loki’s shoes and a moment later saw Onyx in the air. They picked a random direction started off.
“Crane, they’re coming!” Onyx was the first to notice that two flying soldier demons and three wingless soldier demon mounted on rocs were tailing the pair.
“Keagan, come out!” Crane’s cloak transformed back into Keagan and ran through the air beside the two. Crane said, “Keagan, find the largest, strongest group of hell beasts you can, and lead us there.”
“Yes master.” He replied.
The tunnels always had a few hell beasts here and there. A pack of wild hell hounds, a hive of twisted spiders, something or other. Crane just needed to find one and use their numbers to even the playing field.
“Master, I could find no large groups, but I do sense a fierce presence, stronger than those who chase us.”
Onyx overheard and said in a worried tone, “An upper class hell beast? Crane, those are way more dangerous than soldier demons.”
Crane smiled and told Keagan, “Lead the way.”
Keagan pointed towards a giant lava pit. Crane and the group slowed down so that their pursuers could catch up. By the time they were approaching the ground, the others were landing.
A roc mounted demon soldier shouted, “Human! Give up now!”
Crane yelled back, “What do you want?!”
The demon replied, “You! With a human body I can go to the upper world.”
Crane heard a small gurgle from the lava and spoke up so that the demons wouldn’t notice it. “Like a contract or possession?”
“Give up and I’ll let you be my servant with a contract, resist and I’ll remove your soul and possess your body.” he answered.
From the lava pit, an eyeless, scale covered worm with a mouth wider than a house shot out and consumed the demon that was talking and the roc he was riding. The other rocs panicked and shook off their riders before fleeing. The lava worm was larger than any monster Crane had ever seen, a scale covered skyscraper with ten thousand teeth.
Crane took the opportunity to begin his attack. “Crimson aura!” Four thurisaz runes appeared and merged together into a single form before glowing and dissipating. Crane was suddenly surrounded by red lightning that stuck to his body and sword. Crane attacked the level 500 soldier demon with all he had.
You have dealt 129 DamageYou have dealt 217 DamageYou have dealt 167 DamageYou have dealt 188 Damage
“Dam!” Not a single strike had slowed or frozen the demon and his damage was less than a fraction of what he normally did. Crane knew all along he was no match for a demon soldier but for the difference to be this high, he would have to deliver over ten thousand slashes to kill a single one of them.
The demon turned and glared angrily at Crane. He started muttering something and a thick black mist surrounded his hand. Crane tried to attack to interrupt the spell, if it was hellfire his high fire resistance and fire absorbing sword could help, but that spell was no hellfire.
The demon swatted Crane a few meters with one hand without interrupting his casting in the other. He then pointed at Crane and the black mist shot towards him like a dozen arrows made of smoke. Crane tried to dodge but it sought him out. Some of the mist was blocked by Crane’s aura, but the rest pierced through without trouble, sending a fearsome pain throughout Crane’s body.
You have been dealt 15932 DamageYou have received the curse of the black mark
Resistance to black magic reduced by 20%You have received the Bone bitter’s Curse
Strength and Agility reduced by 15%You have received the Curse of Atlas
Your body and equipment weighs twice what it used toYou have received the Frozen spirit Curse
Movement speed reduced by 30%You have received the Curse of Madness
Due to Status, Protection of mana, ailments that reduce ability to use mana have no effect
Crane felt every nerve, bone and muscle ache, and he also knew the demon was going easy on him. He wanted to wound, not kill Crane. However thanks to the status, Protection of mana, Crane got when he reached advanced in Rune mastery and Rune magic, his casting abilities could not be affected even by powerful demon curses.
The lava worm and the surviving demons were still fighting. The strength and size of the worm against the magic of the demons. The demons cast a spell that looked like black lightning called Oblivion bolt, that basically turned matter into antimatter and caused it to annihilate with the surrounding material in a massive explosion. The spell was not affected by the target’s defense or magic defense so it was unstoppable, but the worm received multiple hits and had no problem. The explosions broke off scales and flesh, but the worm grew them back at a rate faster than a troll regrew its arms.
On Crane’s command, Onyx was not participating in combat and Keagan was set to protect her. The demon who had just floored Crane said, “Stay put until we deal with this worm human.”
He obviously thought Crane was out for the count. When he left, Crane simple said, “Erra, hear my call, come forth.”
A small gust of wind formed itself into a nearly invisible women who sat beside Crane.
“Well, look what a sorry state you’re in.” She said with a smile. She was still sore about losing to Crane.
Crane smiled and said, “Yea. Anyways I got a favor to ask. See those demons?”
She looked over to the group and said, “Vile creatures. What of them?”
Crane said, “Well that big worm over there looks pretty hungry, could you feed those demons to it?
She looked at him with a bit less contempt. The contract he bound her with was a powerful one that worked especially well with spirits, if he wanted to he could have ordered it and she would’ve been forced to comply.
She said, “Alright, but only because I got to see you in such a pitiful state.”
She disappeared again into the wind. Crane wasn’t worried she had gone. It cost over ten thousand mana points to summon a wind spirit queen and as long as she was around, Crane’s mana wouldn’t regenerate. Since it wasn’t going back up even a single point, that meant she was looking for an opening.
Suddenly, a torrent of air threw all the demons into the air and swirled them into a single spot, hovering over the worm’s pit. Before they understood what was going on, the worm ate them. Crane hadn’t moved and Onyx and Keagan were too far away from the pit to be reached, so without sensing anymore easy prey the worm sunk back into the lava. Crane thought for a moment he might get some exp, but even though he was responsible for their deaths, he didn't deal the damage so he got nothing.
Still, Crane let out another slow smile. He knew that in a head on confrontation, Erra would not be able to deal much more damage to the demons than himself, but it wasn't her fault. This was because even though she was a powerful wind spirit queen, she didn’t specialize in damage. Crane choose her to bind of all the wind spirit kings he had located because she specialized in moving wind, and with her he could fly faster than anything else in the world. Crane looked forward to leaving the abyss so he could fly like that again.
Crane said aloud, “Thank you Erra, good work as always.”
Without replying she was gone, and Crane’s mana was slowly refilling.
Crane steadily got up and moved without haste to avoid the worm’s attention. When he found Onyx he said, “Get out a water jug please.”
She took one out of her own inventory and Crane poured it over himself and said, “Holy Revive”
Two Algiz and two Uruz runes formed and combined. Algiz for holy protection and a link to the divine and Uruz for water and healing. As long as Crane was wet his health would rapidly increase and negative status effects like curses or poison would eventually be removed. Though how long he would have to stay soaked to remove all the curses he accumulated even he didn’t know.
Onyx asked Crane with some annoyance, “How was your first fight with a soldier demon?”
Crane answered, “Informative.”
http%3a%2f%2fi39.tinypic.com%2f28sqb0l.jpg [http://i39.tinypic.com/28sqb0l.jpg]