[p=center]There was so much death.
So much blood on my hands.
As I walk, I spread chaos.
As I fight, I spread death.
At this point, do I deserve salvation from it all.[/p]
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“That much?! We don't have enough gold and yet the legendary Weed is....” cried Haku checking the amount of money he had and counting it rapidly. The other four were also rapidly checking their pockets as well. All they had at mass were the loot that came from Alexandra and Viv killing monsters from the cave.
At this moment, Mapan appeared with a smile and said, “If you are scrapped for cash, I can help by buying some things from you.”
Eden felt this was too precise to be a coincidental.
“Really?! Thank you! Thank you!” said Saku excitedly.
The five bards took out all they got. Old gear and loot and other rare items that they had obtained over the years. Mapan looked at this with greedy eyes but said:
“This much is a bit short for the amount you need...what about I have you a loan that you can pay off later on?”
The five bards looked at Mapan like he was a saviour. Eden completely ignored them since it wasn't his problem if they were scammed for all they got. Plus whatever they will get from this trip would be worth more than they had either way.
Alexandra looked at Eden and asked, “Do we have enough gold to pay?”
With a sigh Eden replied, “You really want on this quest don't you.”
Alexandra nodded like a small child.
“Don't worry, we have lots to spare that we could pay for everyone at once.”
“Hmm...that much. Never realised how much gold we had” muttered Alexandra.
“Al, that's because we don't let you even see the money. Me and Eden together takes care of our finances. Have you forgotten when you spent all our money on some crap you found and was worthless?” said Viv. There seemed to be a monster behind his back though that was an illusion. It was still quite scary to the point that Eden was having cold sweat.
“....”
Alexandra moved her gaze away from Viv remembering the incident and sweating a lot.
“That's....well I haven't fo-forgotten....” muttered Alexandra trying to avoid direct confrontation against Viv.
'If I recall...wasn't that the same day where Viv wanted to buy something limited and couldn't in the end? Also that day...Viv was quite scary. Very scary....' thought Eden remembering that he had thought that a demon possessed Viv and was about to kill everything.
“Anyway, let's pay to get the quest” said Eden interfering with the execution of Alexandra taking out a large stack of gold coins that amounted to 43 500 gold in total. Even to Eden, this amount felt 'heavy' to him considering that he spent most of the time not using much gold even though he had so much.
Eden lined up with Alexandra and Viv and eventually got to Weed.
“Here is the money” said Eden handing over the stack of gold coins.
Weed gave Eden and the others a business smile and said in a kind voice as if this was perfectly fine, “Thank you. Will you embark on this quest with me?”
Help Emperor Weed on eliminating the treat from one of the 10 restricted zones the Cursed Forest
There had been many saying that a great beast lies low in the cursed forest that is finally awakening. If such a creature would leave it's home to the main continent, there would be massive tragedies. As such, Emperor Weed had accepted this quest to slay the monster. Help Weed on this quest and you will be rewarded as well.
Rank: A
Reward: Experience, Blessing from Nature
Restrictions: The creature attacks the main continent.
“Of course” said Eden, why wouldn't he want to considering he just handed out a lot of gold for this.
You have accepted this quest
Several seconds later and Alexandra and Viv also accepted the quest as well. Several more minutes, the rest of the players got the quest as well whether they had enough cash at hand; didn't have enough to sold some stuff to Mapan at a 'fair' price or simply traded in something of the same value to Weed like equipment or rare items. There were now 50+ players that were with Weed in this quest though he didn't really care.
Mapan seeing that the contract ended between them, partied up with Weed. Along side Weed in a party was also a archer, mage, priest, monk, dancer and fisherman. It was quite an unique party with a dancer and fisherman mixed in though he couldn't really say much when he was a 'Mage' , Alexandra was a 'Paladin', Viv was a 'witch' and there were five bards with them.
Eden looked around and found that there was a large quantity of paladins and priests here. Over half of the players here were of those class who everyone else had holy enchanted weapons at hand.
“Hmm...why are there so many who are church related here?” asked Eden to Minra.
She looked surprised and said, “Huh? You didn't know?”
Eden shook his head.
“That's because the Holy Element is the most useful here even with their abilities being reduced quite a bit. In this place, there are lots of ghost related creatures like Ghost Warriors or Ghost Knights and you need Holy spells else otherwise to defeat them.”
“Hmm....”
Eden thought that this was literally the perfect hunting ground for Alexandra.
“How strong are these creatures?” he asked again.
“Around the level 600 margin at least, I heard from other players that they reach level 700 for named monsters.”
'Not a bad hunting place then. Well I and those two now have to resort to these kinds of places to increase our level even more now since there aren't that many good places to hunt in now.'
“Anyway, let's talk to the others of our formation. We're just following Weed at this point to the boss but we will be attacked quite often so we're more or less alone on getting there. The other parties will try to form alliances of larger groups as well but I rather just go with us eight.”
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“Ho...so those are the ghost warriors. They looks quite solid for ghosts” said Alexandra seeing into the distance several tens of enemies.
Right now, the group plus five bards were with the other players since they haven't actually entered the dungeon yet. There was only a simple battle to gain entrance to the start of it and it was guarded by the most simple of enemies.
“Paladins will be the front line! Priests will be the last line and will primary support the paladins! Everyone else, move into the place that you feel that your role will be most effective!” shouted Weed immediately taking charge of so many players at once easily.
You could say this was the result of his charisma, leadership and reputation that no one dared to oppose him.
“Well, then looks like I'm going to have some fun~” said Alexandra leaving to fight at the front as well.
Eden stayed behind with Viv and the other support players. In total there were around 20 close range related players while there were around 30 ranged related players. Next to Weed however, he also had some of those 'sculptures of life' that looked like monsters that obeyed his commands.
Getting onto the 5 metre tall black bull, with the flying ones hovering next to him and the golden man and priest one staying behind to support him there, Weed charged first and alone.
“Wait what?!” one player exclaimed seeing Weed suddenly attacking.
“Damn, charge charge!”
As a result, the safe formation of the players immediately broke down as they chased after Weed.
“Enemies! Kill the enemies!” shouted the ghost warriors seeing Weed alone attacking them. All 20 ghost warriors charged at Weed trying to kill him with their weapons. The large black bull easily moved around them letting Weed slice and dice them from the side before retreating a bit then charge in the centre of the ghost warriors and cutting them inside a rain of swords.
The other sculptures of life did not stay idle as well. The bird related ones, the gold looking one and silver looking one turned into swords of the same colour and deflected and otherwise attacked the ghost warriors as well.
The gold man shot arrows rapidly from his bow while the priest maintained and healed Weed when he was hit though she immediately switched to simply buffing him when Weed glared at her for some reason.
By the time the other players got to Weed, all of the enemies were already slain and Weed along with his sculptures of life and his party which were all players that seemed strong entered the dungeon already.
The other players hastily tried to follow Weed as well.
“....”
“Well that was kinda unexpected. Weed is quite the good fighter....to the point that I hope Alexandra doesn't attack him....” said Eden.
The five bards immediately thought of who the hell would want to attack Weed and that appeared on their faces.
“Ah, Alexandra is the battle freak type. You don't know her that well but she would drag me into so many things when she finds that something is powerful. Examples including hunting a silver griffon king, white hydra and several death knights. There was even a case of fighting an abyss knight as well.”
“....”
They stared blankly at Eden,
“What? Three players with levels that makes them some of the top players and you think that we haven't gotten lots of times where we faced strong foes?”
“No no, but hearing you fought against those kinds of foes is....well quite assuring for us” said Alina knowing having strong protectors are the way to survive with their level of strength.
“Let's go, Al is getting impatient waiting for us here” reminded Viv causing everyone to go to Alexandra and into the dungeon.
The entrance of the dungeon was quite plain in fact. It was actually more like a large wall that separates one side of this place to another with both sides being quite open in fact. Naturally there were places where they had to cramp in together which was quite dangerous against ambushes but otherwise there was quite a lot of room to fight.
Think of a dark desert and then put it underground as a large cave and then add in walls that are really far apart and you get this dungeon.
The moment that Eden and the others walked through the entrance, they got this message
You have entered the 'Dungeon of Seeking Curses'
- Fame increase by 5000
- Double exp and items is in effect (13 days, 23 hours...)
“F-fame increased by 5000!” cried Saku in surprise. The other bards were also seriously surprised to the point that they could get heart attacks as well. Even now, gaining this amount of fame at once was almost unheard of unless you were a top player on a difficult quest. For 'normal' players like the five bards, this was something that was akin to getting a rare item each.
However it was quite small to the other three that had gained so much that it didn't matter much...except for Eden who had the highest infamy in the game and had the least fame between the three.
“Only 5000? That isn't that much” commented Alexandra much to the shock of the five bards.
Viv contributed to this with, “We reached 300 000 a while back so it's natural that it isn't much to us. On the other hand our fame level is the same as Eden's infamy level.”
Alexandra gave an amused smile to Eden and asked, “Last time your infamy was finally reaching down to 200k. How did it rise so fast back up?”
Eden remembered such incidents....and said:
“Gods are quite petty you know and don't like fixing their mistakes.”
“Ah so you pissed a God off intentionally?”
Eden shook his head.
“Not intentionally. The other Gods practically forced me to kill on of their kin and that one not exactly pleased till the last moment raised my infamy up high while the other Gods didn't bother to fix this before sending me back. Hades was a real bitch while ruling the spirits of the dead as well. His 'Soul Devouring Flames' was also troublesome to handle as well.”
“Sounded like a fun trip.”
“Not at all. There were so many underworld grim reapers that make horror stories seem tame. Ah....how many time did I almost die...and then actually die in that place. Speaking of which I'm surprised that you haven't brought this topic up once even though it happened years ago.”
“Well...after you appeared again, you looked like haggled and had this 'don't ask and don't bother me' look on your face for the next month so there was no time to ask” Alexandra replied shyly.
Viv butted in with, “Eden, Al are you sure you want to discuss this in front of them?” Viv pointed at the five bards that seemed very keen in listening in. Alexandra waved her hand and said, “Let them be. It's not like a group of people can make others believe that there is a person who slain a God though I believe the Emperor over there did a while back in a quest. Anyway, I want to see this 'Soul Devouring Flame' that you got.”
Eden sighed and looked around. There were some ghost warriors around but looked like they were doing nothing at all. At the front was Weed bursting through the main defence while everyone else took care of the scraps left behind.
Soon enough as they walked, one of the ghost warriors noticed them, a small group with lots of weak bards in them. That ghost warrior let out a battle scream and immediately charged to attack.
“Epp!”
“Shit! Run!”
The five bards immediately went to panic mode since they were non combat types as well as in a place that was higher level than them as well by at least 100 levels.
Looking at Alexandra who more or less said with her eyes that she wanted to see the flames, Eden quickly processed all the commands to use the spell in his head. Blue flames wrapped around himself as he chanted:
“Soul Devouring Flames!”
The blue flames extended from his whole body and flew and bathed the ghost warrior causing it's very soul to burn and disappear in seconds without leaving a trace left.
“....”
The five bards were shocked while Alexandra and Viv looked a bit impressed. Usually Eden using fire had to use a large 'bang' attack to get rid of an enemy of that level. For a flame to do the same silently means it was really powerful.
“The only problem is that these flames are God rank which means super drain on my mana which is saying a lot with all my mana regenerative skills.”
Still looking at the blue flames on Eden's body, Alexandra asked, “How long can you sustain them then?”
“Around 3 hours continuously.”
“Wow that is a huge mana drain. I bet the strongest mages wouldn't be able to use it for 10 seconds.”
“Yep, plus this is due to the power source of the flames being soul power. I have to convert mana into soul power to use these flames. I think the underworld was practically made of that stuff so Hades could use it constantly. Otherwise I could extract some souls and use it like a battery but that won't last too long. In the end, I found that using my mana as the source is quicker and easier to manage.”
“So...there isn't much possibility of using it too much then?”
“Not at all. Unless there is an enemy that is quite durable I don't think I need these flames that much.”
Eden, Alexandra and Viv walked on with the five bards stared at Eden covered in blue flames in both awe and fear though one gritted his teeth seeing the difference in power.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Several hours passed and the large group of players led by Weed was almost to the end of this dungeon. Mid way, they had to go further underground and into a large cave system. There, there were more powerful monsters that were troublesome to deal with such as ghost bats and ghost knights.
Since they didn't really stick to the other groups, Eden was forced to often use long range magic in order to deal with enemies before they got near since he had to protect five more people now.
“Burn!” shouted Eden grabbing onto an enemy with his 'Soul Devouring Flames' and burning it to death.
“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” The ghost knight screamed as it sent out waves of spiritual power as a last resort attack to Eden.
Eden took the hit and it didn't actually damage him due to his high defence. The ghost knight disappeared and the group proceeded ahead some more.
While walking, he could hear the conversation of the five bards behind him.
“I gained another level...”
“How many times has it been now?”
“I don't know. I gained 10 level so far.”
What they were doing was bus riding on the efforts that Eden made. Well it couldn't be helped since they were too weak to even help Eden deal with enemies and Eden himself was only getting a bit of experience for each kill even though the level difference between him and his enemies wasn't too far apart.
Once again Eden used 'Soul Scan' to keep track on Weed since it seems that he knew where he was going and there were two other groups following him close behind as well. It was quite shameless how there were so many people following someone else 'feeding' off the remains that may appear. However Eden also searched ahead as well and more or less found the location of the boss monster that needed to be killed.
Due to this, he and the others were taking another path to the boss unlike the others. One reason was that he didn't really like other players. Another was that Alexandra wanted to fight and this could not be done sticking to other players as well.
“Let's speed up a bit” said Eden chasing down several enemies using his magic to finish them off.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Another few hours passed and eventually using a different route to the other players, they ended up at the room before the boss monster.
Immediately when they got here, Weed took out some armour and polished it. He then sharpened his weapon as well and did the same to the rest of his party in under a minute. Taking out some bottles of what seemed to be alcohol, he drank one and gave a bottle each to the rest of his party as well.
“What is he doing?” asked Eden.
Another player which he did not know answered.
“Oh, Weed is using the skills he gained from intermediate skills to raise his weapon, armour and stats before fighting. I think you can possibly double your attack or defence when doing this.”
Eden was quite surprised that there was such an option besides from using powerful buffs on oneself to get stronger. Thinking about it, his Divine Sword never dulled so he never had a need to sharpen it and he really didn't need to polish his armour as well since it was quite durable. Perhaps this was the reason of not knowing.
At the same time, several other parties formed and prepared for the battle. Eden could see that the five bards were playing several buffs onto them to increase their stats even further aiding the buffs of the priests. Even if it was small and weak, every buff is good at times like this and these high levelled players knew that it may save their lives.
“I'm opening the boss door” said Weed in a commanding voice that was completely different from the 'pitiful' one he had when asking(scamming) for money when giving out the quest.
The other players were silent and waited for Weed to act.
The door opened and inside the boss monster was revealed.
Standing at 5 metres tall, it was a giant by all means and carried two large axes that glowed with dark light. It was a ghost warrior by all means but was a lot more powerful than the one that were faced at the beginning of the dungeon.
“CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!” shouted Weed making everyone run straight at the ghost warrior.
10 close combat players charged up immediately while the other 10 stayed a bit behind to protect the other players and see what would happen.
The eyelids of the ghost warrior opened and let out a bright hazy flame from each of them. It opened it's mouth and breathed out hazy fire at the charging players!
“Let the goddess protect from all flames of evil! Fire Protection!”
The priests immediately started to buff the players with fire resistance buffs that caused the flames on them to be reduced substantially and cause small burns inside of turning them into charcoal. Seeing this, Alexandra's eyes brightened and she was about to head out as well.
“Stop.”
Viv was the one to stop her. He looked around and frowned.
“There is something wrong. That thing is not the most powerful thing here.”
Hearing this, both Eden and Alexandra felt around as well using the countless battles they had to determine the greatest threats. They could feel that there was something powerful but was not sure where it was.
“It...shouldn't be a problem as long as it is not disturbed” said Eden, “Besides, it's that thing over there that needs to be killed to finish the quest. After that we can run away.”
“Highly doubt it from past attempts” replied Viv with a sigh grasping his staff even more, “We should help as well.”
“Right.”
Alexandra turned to the five bards and said, “Can you keep the buffs on the other players active?”
Hearing this, Alina smiled and said, “Yes! All of us have buff extending songs to use! Leeet's go!” before starting singing in a loud gentle voice together with the other four.
With that done, the trio turned to the ghost warrior which was handling being attacked like this fine. In fact it was going too fine to be true.
“Accursed humans! You dare attack the land where those who were exiled from heaven and earth gather?! Fine then....rise my breathen!” the ghost warrior shouted drawing power into the battlefield.
From the sides of the walls....came more enemies!
All sorts of enemies appeared from ghost warriors, ghost knights, ghost mages, ghost bats, ghost horses, ghost wolves and so on!
It was like a B+ horror film coming alive.
However besides a minor few, the players weren't that affected by the appearance of such foes.
“Support players gather in a group! Paladins circle and protect them!”
The players moved unnaturally quick and changed their formation to deal with his new event in the battle while Weed and the other few players focused on the boss alone.
“Agggggh!”
One ghost warrior got near Eden in which he quickly flashed his hand and chopped it in half without thinking much on it. He was watching Weed battle.
Seeing this, he could only think that it was a highly skilled battle. He either defended with all his might or attacked with all his might in an instant. It was the polar opposite of Alexandra who could attack and defend at the same time.
Alexandra was fearsome because she could switch between both styles and take you off guard like facing an animal or beast but with Weed, all there was a burst of one thing that didn't even leave you time to react.
It was quite fascinating to watch and Eden believed he could learn some pointers like he watched,
but he was still in a danger zone right now. Before he knew it, he was completely surrounded and a couple of enemies blocked his view of Weed fighting.
A bit pissed off, Eden charged up an insane amount of mana to normal standards and burst out several magic spells at once.
“Geeeet out of my way!” Eden shouted shooting flames, ice, lightning and wind at the same time everywhere.
To describe what happened, think of an explosion and add in several elements in it and Eden as the core of it. The ghost creatures that were around Eden all turned into grey light immediately like there was no resistance at all.
Seeing this, Alexandra laughed out loud battling against several ghost knights at once while the other high levelled players only took a quick glance at Eden before focusing on their own battle. None of them were stupid enough to ask or stare in this situation. Their lives came first naturally.
“GAAAAAA!”
There was a loud scream where the ghost warrior boss was. Weed had chopped off one of it's arms and was now proceeding to take down a leg as well with the other players there. A minute later and the ghost warrior was taken down.
The monster was slain...but the quest was not complete. It just might mean the actually boss was somewhere else.
However the presence of a powerful foe in this area did not disappear...instead it increased rapidly. Noticing this...the other ghost creatures immediately escaped leaving the players confused. Weed frowned feeling this as well.
However, more importantly Eden felt something strange.
“This feeling....” was some familiar...
It was the same feeling got from llyfr and 'that' from long ago. Something he didn't not expect to feel...like he was just reunited with long lost family.
“Hello Eden-chan~”
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“!”
Instinctively, Eden sliced the air where the voice came from in a panic.
Bang!
A large sound from the attack that Eden used alerted everyone to where he was and what was there.
“Agh...”
Eden held his limp arm that he used to attack and immediately retreated nearer to where the other players were. Blood was dripping from his arm and he noticed that it was broken. Furthermore his healing speed was extremely slow for some reason.
“....”
Feeling that a new enemy appeared the players did not let their guard down at all. In fact things went even more tense with the appearance of this new enemy that completely bypassed their sensed and managed to attack someone without them noticing at all. A few seconds passed and his arm snapped into place completely healed as he glared at the enemy as well.
“Hello Hello~! It's soooooo nice to meeet you all~!” the 'person' said.
Dressed in full Gothic pink in a frilly dress that was cut from just over the knees, this 'person' was completely pale like an undead but had black hair in pigtails and most prominently, a third eye on her forehead that was completely black. Another thing was that her mouth was extremely large as well covering from one cheek to another.
Since no one was willing to speak...since there was a suffocating feeling coming from her...even though Eden had to admit that he felt quite comfortable in it...he asked:
“Who are you?”
Hearing these words, the 'person' made a look of complete and utter despair at Eden and cried from all three eyes saying:
“You're soooooooo mean! How could you forget about Onee-chan here? Or....do you prefer an imouto...~?”
“I'm sorry but I don't have an older sister nor do I want a younger sister” said Eden plainly ignoring the straining mood right now.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Once again the 'person' started to act out some sort of play and said, “Buuuuuuuut you know Eden-chan, we aaaaaaaall know about you~! Since we are aaaaaaaaaall family~”
With those words, Eden sensed that he was going to die.....literally as something was heading this way. Leaping like an animal, Eden dodged to the left moving faster than anyone could expect as the place he was standing at twisted as a dark bubble appeared where he was.
Bang!
Then the bubble burst and a large hole remain where he was.
Looking around blushing, the 'person' said to Eden:
“This is innnnnndeed quite embarrassing to onee-chan you know~! I guess I have to introduce myself then. I am the 'Destroyer of Curses' Endo. Your onee-chan as a fellow Destroyer!”
With that, the space around her twisted into black light as a weapon appeared in her hands. It was a completely pink scythe.
“There are sooooooo many bugs here~! I have to clear them out before onee-chan can talk to you Eden-chan~”
Eden found Endo...a fellow destroyer grinning madly.
Danger! That was Eden felt to his core.
“Mana Shields!” he screamed trying to cast even a little bit faster.
Several tens mana shields appeared around everyone instantly and was continuously stacking up, layering over each other as Endo swung her scythe at them.
“Taaaaaaaaake this~!”
There was no sound. No flashy explosion.
Splash~
In an instant, several people were cut in half and died immediately, others large large wounds or were missing limbs now. The mana shields he casted could only deflect so much before breaking and it looked like it was sliced opened instead of breaking.
Eden sighed in relief seeing Alexandra blocking the attack with her sword in front of the five bards. Those at the other end of the area, like Weed and his sculptures were unaffected since the attack did not reach them at all.
As for himself?
“Cough....”
Eden fell to his knees holding his cut open stomach.
“Heeeey, why didn't you dodge or block with a strong defence~? Onee-chan's attack hurt you knoooow~”
Endo looked almost concern of Eden but he knew that that was just an act. She didn't care about anything let alone him of all things. It was just that they were similar that she acted like this and wanting to test him that she intentionally reduced the power of her attack that Eden could barely see as something that must not be hit with.
“Weeeeeell, I suppose I can try again~” she said in a cheerful manner. She swung her scythe once again and this time Eden couldn't even move. His wounds were still open and his 'burst recovery' wasn't working properly.
“Eden!”
Alexandra leaped in front of Eden and took the attack head on causing large cracks to appear on her golden flashy armour. There was clean straight line where it looked like she was slashed by Endo.
Splash~
Behind Eden, at least 30 players all died immediately. They had no chance at all and they turned into grey flames and dropped some loot as well. Eden could have sworn he saw Weed's eyes flash for a moment there...
All that there left were Weed, his sculptures, some players and...the five bards that immediately retreated next to Weed in the commotion.
“Heeeeeey! Don't block my attack! I want to make Eden-chan into my toy~” Endo said such a terrifying thing in front of Eden. He wanted to escape right now.
However Alexandra retorted with, “Nooo! He's my toy!”
“Who the hell is a toy?!” he retorted without thinking about it causing the wound on his stomach to reopen again. Eden cringed in pain.
There was something wrong since even in extreme cases, wounds wouldn't hurt this much...moreover, they didn't heal this slowly as well. Eden believed he saw some priests trying to heal others but it not working at all...
“Hey....you're the 'Destroyer of Curses' right? That more or less means you have a strong connection to curses...even your attack carries curses right? Wound Regeneration prevention and Pain amplifier are the things you just used right?”
Endo let out a small smile as from the wounds that were sustained, his skin turned completely pink there.
“Oh great....death by pink. Dragonic Release!” sighed Eden...he knew that this was another form of a cures he couldn't get rid up so...he just needs to increase his regenerative abilities seeing that his mana levels were already at 30%
Dragonic Release is now active
With 'Dragonic Release' now active, Eden could feel that his body was recovering at a slightly faster rate than before. However it was still a huge danger to even get hit once.
Endo clapped her hands in an exaggerated manner and said, “Little Eden-chan can power up! However before that...you, the 'Destroyer of Sovereigns' should get rid of thaaaaat thing over there~! An Emperor that rules over all people~! Eden-chan are you resisting the instincts inssssside you~?”
“....”
Eden nor anyone else spoke a word. Certainly Weed could be considered a target by Eden in a certain stand point but he vowed to never get to that point ever again. Last time he was almost consumed...he wondered if he would become like this if he allowed it to happen.
However Eden also preferred that a whole United Kingdom to not hunt him down as well....even if he was not completely responsible to his death. As such, Eden warned:
“Weed! Get out of here! This is not your battle!”
A quick glance between the two and Weed said in a calm fashion, “I do not intent to steal other people's prey.”
Endo stared at them as Weed, his sculptures of life and the five bards as well as what's left of the other players tried to leave. She even let out a small wave as well as they cautiously left to the exit.
However...
“Onee-chan givvvvvvves up~! I'll kill the fake puppet of the Gods at leasttttttttttttttttt!”
With a burst of speed, Endo charged at the priest which was the one who was made to be the priest of Lou or something like that and swung her scythe down at her.
“Summon death knight!”
A death knight appeared.
“Master!”
“Be meat shield!”
And was grabbed and thrown at the attack that was heading to the priest.
Bang!
The death knight was one shot with a single blow and disappeared. The other players and sculptures of life used ranged attacks at Endo which caused her to retreat a bit.
“....”
Eden stood there a bit shocked and pitying the death knight that was summoned since he was once treated like that by Alexandra and Viv. However this was a chance for an attack as well seeing that Endo was distracted right now.
“Flame Strike!”
Eden fired an arrow of blazing fire at Endo at high speed.
Bang!
It was deflected easily by the scythe. Endo looked at Eden disparagingly saying, “Edddden-chan~, something of that level cannot even scratch a full born destroyer youuuu know~!”
“Tch.”
Normal levels of magic did not work. It seems that all destroyers based upon the ones he knew had a shocking level of magic resistance like himself....
“Sword Wave!”
Alexandra at that moment also attacked Endo which she tried to deflect as well but blew up when her scythe.
Bang!
Endo was left with some minor wounds. She gently looked at the arm that was harmed as well as her ruined clothing and looked at Alexandra.
The pressure around both of them increased.
“Holy Aura! Divine Beast Shift!”
Alexandra covered herself with white aura and increased her body's ability at the same time instantly.
“Hoooooooo~ Another puppet of the Gods ehhhhhhhhh? I guess I can play a bit then~”
While saying that in a light tone, the pressure and aura around Endo completely changed to one that made one to only think of death when seeing and feeling it on your skin.
Feeling that he would be drawn into this battle as well...
“Battle Aura! Dragonic Overload!”
Battle Aura is now active
Dragonic Overload is now active
Eden too increased his power level as well like Alexandra.
“Spirit Mode!”
Eden looked over to see that Viv was entering the battle as well turning into his 'Spirit Mode' that increased his spirit magic power as well as causing physical attack to often slip through him. Now that he thought about it, a number of 'creatures' were missing...to be precise, all of Weed's sculptures of life were gone from this place.
“....Did Weed just made his minions run away?” wondered Eden as Weed returned in full armour and a sword that was shining with Divine Power in one hand with blood shot eyes.
“You trash! You dare cost me an investment! That one still hasn't payed back it's debt to me! She needs to be my tool around for a few more decades! Die!” Weed shouted in a fury seeing that one of his comrades was almost...wait, what was this talk of debt and tools?
With a swung of his sword, thunder birds came flying out at Endo which she happily took on. Alexandra as well as several of the few remaining players also charged in as well hoping to kill this 'hidden boss' at least. The five bards were for some reason also here as well.
Not minding all of that...Eden prepared several spells to use against Endo. If he couldn't damage her then...
“Water Turret!”
A large gush of water came flying at Endo which she easily split into pieces.
“Ice Prison!”
The water seemingly turned into ice and wrapped around Endo at the same time making her unable to move as well. However Eden did not stop there.
“Gravity Hell! Dark Shackles! Dark Prison!”
Even casted these three spells over the 'ice prison' spell as well chaining up the Endo even more and causing the space around her to distort with the sheer pressure that Eden placed on her.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!”
And in an instant, all of that was broken with Endo stretching her arms. Eden could hear that one player commented that Endo was a complete monster.
“Onee-chan is happy Eden-chan! You are stronger than an inseccccct~!” she cried cheerfully swinging her scythe several times causing several cuts to appear on everyone around her. Alexandra was even forced to switch to her 'Valkyrie Armour' since her usual one was broken into pieces now.
“Crimson Spear that rejects the heavens! Starfall Series Spell #7 Longinus Strike!”
Viv started his attack then and there seeing that his usual magic attacks were useless against Endo. A great black spear appeared with a golden core and shot at Endo in a straight line. She gleefully took on the attack creating a simple barrier on front of her using her scythe as a base and negated the attack like that.
“Moonlight Sculpturing Blade! Heraim Fencing!”
Weed shot around Endo taking advantage of her careless manner and managed to wound her several times bypassing through her defences with his skills and speed.
“Hahaha, the littttle insect can bite~! Legion of Curses!”
Endo leaped back and began to produce those bubbles with curses in them at random places rapidly. Eden and the others literally had a hard enough time finding a place that did not have a curse on it.
As a result, some of the few remaining players died.
Seeing this, Eden had not choice but to go full force with the intentional of taking her down even if he died in the process.
[p=center][I to awaken am the Tyrant whom stole the throne of God]
[I devour the wisdom and rip apart the Knowledge]
[I will become the Magic King that rules over all Creation]
[And I will show you true Despair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
[Magic King Drive!!!!!!!!][/p]
Magic King Drive has been Activated
Eden's golden aura increased several times and turned different in nature itself. Eden could feel the movement of Endo and what she was probably doing now. It was a strange feeling when countless experiences are pouring through your mind.
“Golden Sword!”
Eden created one golden sword from his skill and threw it at Endo.
“Golden Spear!”
As Endo deflected and easily cut through the golden sword, Eden extended the spear to stretch out and stabbed it at Endo, extending and extracting it over and over again as he battled with her while he was several metres away. However Endo's skill with her scythe was beyond what Eden imagined and she proceeded closer to him for every attack he made.
“Tch.”
Wielding the with one hand now, he summoned his 'Divine Sword Kotoko' in his other hand. When Endo was really close, he let go of the spear and blocked several attacks that went his way in a fashion similar to a furry.
Of course the other players did not do nothing. They also attacked often but their attack were often blocked or deflected leading to Endo counter attacking them and killing them instantly as well.
After a few minutes of battle, all that was left was Eden, Alexandra, Viv and Weed as well as the five bards since they haven't attacked Endo yet ad was seemingly spare for now.
All of them panting with stamina levels on the low levels, Eden was barely maintaining his 'Magic King Drive' even though he only activated for a little while.
“Disappointing! Verrrrrrrrrry disappointing Eden-chan!” said Endo in a serious tone now though her exaggerated speech was still there.
“Even if you are the youngest in our 'family', llyfr-nii was far stronger than you! Not only you are suppressing your nature as a destroyer, you evvvvvvven threw away the power of the 'Magic King Armour'!”
“....”
Everyone was silent, they did not want to piss her off and get killed at this point.
“You know Aniki always said that llyfr-nii's power can be split into three parts. The first was llyfr-nii's power to oppose gods, the power that was opposite to divinity and creation. The second was his Magic King Armour that bathed in the blood of countless gods. And the third was the power he got from consuming the Devourer to become the ultimate destroyer of all creation!”
“And what it have to do with me?” asked Eden still healing his wounds that almost stopped regenerating at this point.
“Everythinnnnnnnnnng! Llyfr-nii awakened your Destroyer nature. While he was in you, his powers aided you and even gave you the power of the 'Magic King Armour', something that was born parallel to the ultimate 'God Armour' as well!” lectured Edon with her cheek pouting for some reason. It was like she was scolding Eden like a child now.
“Nooooooow! Since llyfr-nii left, you no longer have access to llyfr-nii's aid but should still be able to use the 'Magic King Armour' but all I feel is the scent and power of a lowly dragon! Moreover you are not trying to be yoursssssssssself, restricting yourself like a child in puberty!”
“I don't think that last part has-”
“Quieeeeeeeet!!!!”
“Yes ma’am.....”
For some reason Eden could not help but to obey her words....
“Now onee-chan will give Eden-chan a chance heeeeeeeeere~! That is if you survive this~”
[p=center][I too awaken am the sinner that cursed the throne of god][/p]
“You got to be fucking kidding here.”
The aura around Endo increased several times.
[p=center][I devour blessings and give curses]
[The light of all Creation will succumb in agony to my curse]
[And I will show you true face of hell!!!!]
[Curse Heathen Drive!!!!!!!!][/p]
The presence around Endo was increased several fold and all Eden could see was death itself. There was nothing he could do. Strength, speed and powers; all of those factors he was completely outmatched.
He had only now realised how much of a monster a true 'Destroyer' was unlike him who held everything back for sanity and peace of mind.
[Curse Eruption!]
Black waves came from Endo quickly. They caused several symptoms of rare and powerful curses to appear on his body as well as the others. There were too many to simply list here. It made the black plague look like a cute puppy.
However not everyone succumb to these curses.
“Blood Destruction!” cried Alexandra pressing on her body even though it was bleeding heavily due to her forcing herself right now. All this time, Endo was more or less focusing on Eden but for a split second, she looked at Alexandra with a bit of interest.
[Ho....]
“Sword Wave!”
Alexandra attacked and Endo deflected the attack away perfectly and countered her by slamming her into the wall after throwing her off balance with a wave of pure power that was similar to 'sword wave' but on a different scale and range.
BANG!
“Cough...”
Alexandra fell flat on the ground lying in a pool of her blood like that.
“Bastard....Dragon Transformation!”
Dragon Transformation is now active
Eden turned into his humanoid dragon form.
[Yes~! That's the feeling you need Eden-chan!]
Emitting killing intent from his whole body ignoring the curses that want to pull him into a deep endless sleep, Eden stood up and took a stance and gathered a massive amount of aura in his divine sword.
[Give me your looooooooooooove~!]
“Heaven and Earth Separation!!!”
Eden slice space itself at Endo. The pressure from the sheer amount of aura that he let loose caused damage to his own body as well as it looked like an above average split in space formed and was shot at Endo.
However with her hand covered in black curses dripping from it, Endo smiled and blocked the attack. His most powerful attack.
[Now have it baaaaaaaaaack~!]
And deflected his own ultimate attack back on him.
“Shit!”
He used a combination of several different magicks to move the earth, wind, lightning, ice, fire and even light and dark to block the attack that was coming at him. Of course while these random spells he throw without a thought were all high powered spells, they paled against a cheat level ultimate attack.
And by almost instinct....he used 'Chains of Heaven' to grab onto Robe and threw him in front of the attack.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!
The explosion due to the attack splitting space at random directions broke through his defences anyway and pushed him to the wall like he was tossed there.
[Ahhhhhh...Eden-chan is soo bad~ Onee-chan approves!]
For some reason once again, Endo now gave Eden a thumbs up.
Slice!
In that instant, that same arm that was giving a thumbs up was slice off with a sword that was pure black and reflected the night sky. And the person wielding that blade was an undead creature. However Eden could see souls and could tell immediately...
“Weed?” he muttered shocked seeing that he died and turned into an undead knight of some sorts.
Endo looked at her arm on the ground as what seemed to be liquid curses poured out of it and reattached itself to her body. With a simple flick of her hand, Weed as an undead was chained onto the ground without being able to do anything.
[Baad Undead-chan! Attacking me while I was talking to Eden-chan! I should make it so that my curse haunt you for the rest of your dayyyys! But seeing Eden-chan being the bod boy there...Onee-chan here is happy you know! Eden-chan might one day fight with Onee-chan and the other Oni-sans and Onee-sans that we have!]
“Others?” growled Weed wanting to attack Endo but not being able to.
[Yeeeeeep Undead-chan! In each of the 10 Restricted Zones....do you know why they are called the Restricted Zones by the Gods? It's because at the heart of eaaaaaach of them is a 'Destroyer' like Onee-chan here. Onee-chan was verrry sad that wandering 'destroyers' like Eden became extinct but when he appeared....I could feel everrrryone being supppppper happy you know~ We finally had new family and Eden-chan even faced off against Aniki as well with llyfr-nii!]
At that moment, Eden could feel that a massive amount of mana was converging around Viv as he was using a spell. It seems like he was on the breaking point of snapping now...
“Wait wait wait Viv! You'll kill us all!” shouted Eden feeling that this amount of mana meant...
But Viv ignored Eden and chanted:
“The stars fall one by one as the witch laughed with mercy as the Gods fell and the Demons rose. Starfall Series Spell #13: Heaven's Fall!”
The hold room turned black as the spell covered everyone not caring for the safety of anyone.
[Not baaaaad chibi-chan but against a 'Destroyer' like me...haaaaa~!]
The black sky shattered into pieces like glass and fell to the ground.
“....”
Eden wondered how overpowered this thing was. Literally smashing spell of that scale into pieces screamed monster (Yes and as the narrator, I will intend to make you do that often as well). He wondered if all the other 'Destroyers' were like this as well...and despaired a bit seeing that her personality wasn't normal.
Like Alexandra but without brakes and only an accelerator.
Seeing the despaired Viv who had his most powerful spell rendered useless, Endo was about to attack him...
Bang!
A golden chain that was similar to the ones that bound llyfr and the ones that he could use appeared and bound itself to Endo's arm from an unknown place.
Bang Bang Bang Bang..!
Chains continued to appear and restrain Endo. Seeing this, she pouted and shouted:
[Ahhhhhhh, I wanted to play a bitttttttt more you knowwwwww! Bah, Gods are no fun. Eden-chan~]
Endo looked at Eden with an amused look on her face as she said:
[You must become stronger. In order to 'protect' instead of 'destroy' with or against all the Oni-sand and Onee-sans that you got! Onee-chan here will play with you when you get stronger okay~!]
With that, the chains completely pulled Endo into the ground and into the heart of the 'Cursed Forest'.
The battle ended...with their complete defeat.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Still in his undead form, Weed approached Eden with a smile on his face. For some reason, this smile was more frightening then Endo which they just fought.
“I died you know” he said.
“I know” replied Eden not getting his point.
“Levelling at this stage is quite difficult even for me. Because of you, 'that' appeared and it ended up with me being killed and ending like this.”
“....”
“And beyond this place is a completely new section of the dungeon! We still have a quest to do you know” said Weed grabbing onto Eden's shoulder.
Eden shiver with a bit of fear there and then.
“And you will help me right? As good 'friends'. I have taken an interest with the power you process.”
Cold sweat was pouring down his spine as he tried to find a way out of this. Alexandra was down for the count and Viv was super depressed right now as well.
“Damn! Need to abandon them!” he shouted making a way to one of the exits.
However immediately, Weed's sculptures of life appeared and blocked all of the ways like their lives depended on it.
The large bull then said:
“Moooooo, if we let you go, Master will torment us too.”
“....”
Eden was outnumbered and exhausted as well seeing that he fought with full strength for a while. If he fought now he would definitely lose to these dozens of creatures that were on Weed's side. The gold man walked over to Eden and patted his shoulder.
“Gololololo. Give it up. We can't escape as well.”
In the next two weeks, the dungeon was completely cleared and the monsters in them were all hunted to extinction.
Alexandra and Viv happily accepted the friend requests from everyone since they got along with them quite a bit since Alexandra liked fighting and Viv like managing money and resources.
Also for some reason Mapan and the four bards tagged along as well and was simply exhausted even though they did not hunting. The exception was when money fell in front of Mapan where he and Weed battled for every last coin.
Eden friended those five and promised to meet them again later.
However when Eden was looking through his stuff, a frighteningly powerful glare came from Mapan for a while seeing all the rare loot he had.
Also, Eden never felt that his overwhelming life force; to survive no matter what could cause him this much grief. Later on even Alexandra felt slightly exhausted from this kind of hunting. That time Weed managed to gain 5 levels from this hunt which made him very happy.
When Weed asked to friend Eden, he ran away not wanting to be used like that ever again.
Onwards?PreviousExitNext
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Author's Notes:
- Word Count: 8900~
- Well much to my disappointment, I found it hard to focus on Weed fighting things considering that he is quite weak in defence compared to Eden or Alexandra. Against Endo the 'Destroyer of Curses', it was quite difficult to add him into the battle with significant since I don't have a good idea of his abilities. But be assured, he was doing stuff in the background since this is from Eden's point of view.
- Also writing 17 pages in a day is a lot more difficult than I remembered...kinda expected me to take a few more days to complete this chapter. Well battle scenes ARE a lot easier to write than anything else. No talking...no chatting...just simply fighting and moving about.
- Finally, Endo was a bit too fun to write. Think of Kurumi Tokisaki from Data a Live in pink and add a third eye on her forehead as well as a double than usual mouth.