The Player stepped towards us slowly and steadily, a smile on his face that said he didn’t think there was any point hurrying. And why would he? Most of our strongest had already fallen. Was he really going to care about one sorcerer and a level 9 Novice Bladespinner?
‘We could run?’ Val suggested, still standing at my side.
‘I think we both know you’re not gonna leave your friends to die.’
‘No, I suppose I’m not.’
The Player drew closer, pace by pace, and I found myself taking a subconscious step backwards. Val, seeing me do so, followed suit.
‘Any chances you have any more bright ideas?’ I asked. ‘Cos I think I’m… yeah, I’m out.’
Val didn’t immediately say anything, and as always, when the chattermouth was silent, it worried me.
‘Val, what are you—’
‘There is one spell I could try,’ she said. ‘Remember what I told you? About the first time I got cornered by a Player? I summoned a bogspawn to get out of it.’
‘You said you couldn’t control it,’ I replied. ‘You said it was dumb luck that it attacked the Player and not you.’
The sorcerer nodded. We were both stepping backwards much more quickly by this point.
‘You still can’t control it, can you?’
‘Nope.’
‘What are the chances it attacks him instead of us?’ I asked.
‘One in three, I’d guess. And that doesn’t account for the possibility that it just goes to finish off one of the others.’
‘I don’t think I like those odds. I don’t—’
‘What other choice is there, Styk?’ the sorcerer interrupted me. ‘Die? He’s just so strong. Every hit he takes barely seemed to stagger him. He got hit in the neck earlier, and that’s usually enough to bring anyone down.’
Val was right. He had been hit in the neck; Arzak had wedged one of her swords in deeply. So deeply. And yet, now… the Player didn’t so much as sport a scratch. The truth dawned on me, at last.
‘Oh, Val…’ I said. ‘We’ve been so stupid.’
‘Speak for your—’
‘We know he’s got off the charts Intelligence, that’s how he’s got so much mana. But we wondered how he had so much health too, right? Surely he hadn’t invested in both Intelligence and Vitality to this degree?’
‘Well, yeah, I—’
‘He hasn’t, Val. He hasn’t done invested in Vitality much at all. Think, Val, think!’ We were stepping backwards at this point as fast as we realistically could, without tripping. The Player, still, was closing on us. ‘We’ve been thinking that he wanted Tokas for her healing, but what if that wasn’t true? What if it’s her illusion magicks that he was after? Why would that be, Val? Why would that be, unless…’
In my peripheral vision, I saw Val’s eyes widen. ‘He’s not strong; he’s a healer.’
‘Yes.’
‘But how does that help—’
The Player flicked up a hand, apparently sick of waiting—or perhaps worried about where our conversation was going—and flung a fireball at the pair of us. Val and I dived separate ways, the attack passing between us and barely catching my ash-armoured arm.
The sorcerer touched her hands to the ground, her eyes suddenly growing black, and I realised what she was doing. She was resorting to the bogspawn.
‘Val, no!’ I shouted. ‘There’s another way!’
‘Tell me,’ came her reply, and her voice was distorted, warbling and deep.
‘Heal him! Heal him!’
‘What? What good will that—’
I whipped up a portal to protect myself from the Player’s latest attack. ‘Remember my hangover?’ I replied, not wanting to spell it out in front of the pyroknight in case he saw where I was going with this. ‘I asked both you and Tokas to heal it. Remember what you said?’
Val’s eyes returned to their normal colour. She whipped her hands forward. ‘One source,’ she said. Yellow-white light, not hidden by the enchantment of her obscurem, poured from her hands and trickled at the tiniest possible pace into the enemy.
The Player couldn’t heal, not any more. All it would take was some decent damage from me, and I might just be able to take him down. I searched myself for the answer to this problem. How best would I be able to deal damage without him killing me first? Because that was still an issue. I needed to—
The pyroknight pushed a hand out at his side, and I was too slow to react.
As a giant fireball shot towards Val, I reached out to open a portal between them, but I was too late; the spell passed the point of the portal before I could get it open.
Val took the hit squarely to the chest, and she screamed.
As the sorcerer collapsed to the floor, trying to exhaust the flames that engulfed her, the Player turned on me. And he sighed.
‘It’s over. It’s all over. You’re mine, now.’
Val began to cough up blood.
‘Finally,’ the Player continued, ‘we can put all this behind us. Tana doesn’t have to know what I tried to do to her. All evidence will be…’ He held up a hand, summoning a small ball of fire to hover just above the palm. ‘...ash.’
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
‘Tana?’ I asked, eyes sweeping the landscape, looking for an advantage. Anything.
‘Did you think your antics only attracted my attention? No. The Council knows all. Sees all. Has its fingers in everything across all the western continents.’
I looked from Val to Corminar and Lambkin, passed out at the edge of town, and then to Arzak and Lore, who’d pushed themselves to the limit to try to take this man down. All of them were on the verge of death. All of them, the Player would kill as soon as he was done with me. The only thing keeping them alive was… me.
They were screwed.
Against my better instincts, I closed my eyes. I figured that if I was going out, then I might as well not see it coming. Maybe that would spare me just an ounce of pain.
I breathed deeply, hearing the Player step closer to me, taking his time about the kill. Salivating at it.
And then a familiar voice roared.
I opened my eyes, and both my head and the Player’s whipped to where the noise had come from—the road into town. If I’d expected salvation—and, frankly, I hadn’t—I definitely hadn’t expected it to come in this form.
Tokas continued to roar as she charged.
I seized the advantage of the distraction to retreat to behind the cover of an upturned water trough as the Player turned to loose a fireball at his once travelling companion.
Before the Player released his spell, Tokas launched one of her own, splitting herself into three, and then nine, and then more and more copies of herself. All of them roared in an eerie chorus as they launched themselves towards him.
The pyroknight released his spell at one of the Tokases, chosen by instinct, and the illusion faded away as the fire engulfed it.
‘I’ll be Val!’ the many copies of Tokas shouted.
‘What?’ Styk replied.
‘Your plan—we do it. We do it now!’ Tokas and the illusions scattered around the Player, each of them loosing a very small trickle of healing magicks into the enemy, all of them fake but one. The Player, judging by his frantic turning, had just as much idea which was the real one as I did, it seemed.
I snapped back to reality, grasping my knife once more.
I had just one shot at this, I realised. As soon as I did damage to the Player, he would eliminate me. I eyed up my power bars—mana was dwindling, but I still had plenty of stamina.
There was one way. One way where I could deal incredible damage. A way that I’d tried before to great success. I opened a portal in the sky high above the Player, and another at my feet.
I fell through it.
I knew, of course, that I was falling to my death. Outside of the warped reality the Ascendent Cultist had created in that tavern, all those weeks ago, fall damage would most certainly apply. I was falling to my death.
And yet, it didn’t seem to matter.
I took solace in the fact that I would be taking the Player with me. Everyone else—all of those idiots I’d come to call friends—would get a chance to survive. That was enough for me.
As I fell, I turned myself towards the ground, seeing it hurtling up at me. I pulled out my knife, pointing it squarely downwards, directing it towards the centre of the Player’s skull. I activated my Stab skill, putting all of my weight and the force of the fall behind it, and I resisted the urge to close my eyes.
This death I could face; it was at my own hand. It was of my own making.
With every second that passed, my speed increased. Below me, the still-healing Tokas moved her illusions to preoccupy the Player, keeping him turning on the spot and firing spells at the tieflings around him.
He didn’t look up until the last moment, and by then it was too late.
As I stabbed, the Ranger’s Blade pierced his skull with ease, burying itself deep in the man’s brain, and I had just enough time to relish the kill before I, too, crushed into the ground.
Level 42 pyroknight defeated!
Worldbending — +10,300xp
Worldbending increased to level 19!
Worldbending increased to level 20!
Worldbending increased to level 21!
Worldbending increased to level 22!
Worldbending increased to level 23!
Base Points gained — +10 INT, +10 Free Points (INT/WIS/CHA)
Ability selection unlocked
Select an ability from the list below…
Knifework — +8,900xp
Knifework increased to level 18!
Knifework increased to level 19!
Knifework increased to level 20!
Knifework increased to level 21!
Base Points gained — +4 DEX, +4 STR, +8 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)
Ability selection unlocked
Select an ability from the list below…
Level up!
You increased to level 10
Class evolved!
Level 10 Bladespinner
Race: Human
The pain was too much even to scream.
It was simply… overwhelming.
I was frozen, legs crumpled beneath me, blood spilling out like nothing I’d ever seen before.
Though Tokas hurried to my side, healing magicks at full power, I already knew it was too late. My eyelids grew heavy.
‘Heal…’ I whispered, ‘...them.’
My health bar drained. Drained. Drained.
To nothing.
My final plan had gone just like I expected: I died at the end of it.
…
…
…
…
…
Descendent of the Architects defeated!
Sisyphus Artifact: Charge replenished!
"Styk"
Level 9 Novice Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 20
Intelligence — 77
Dexterity — 26
Strength — 38
Wisdom — 25
Charisma — 0
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 18
Knifework — Level 17
Identification — Level 8
Stealth — Level 6
Abilities:
Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.
Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.
Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.
Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.
Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.
Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.
Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +400%