My foot crunched the mulch of fine black ash that was all that was left of a field of wheat. The wind howled carrying a cloud of black ash on it the sky a constant grey overcast. The air was chilly in the darkened hellscape that was left of my judgement. There were sections of greenery still out there, places where those had sided with me had been protected and those who had stood against me had managed to defend. However, that was not the case here. For as far as my eye’s could see (which was basically until the planet curved and the ground went out of sight for me) not a living thing could be seen.
“So much death,” Jeriah said his voice low and in awe at the sheer destruction.
“The stories the gods gave their priests of when they went to war with each other, they all described landscapes just like this,” Tobias said his tone also breathless with awe.
“I knew we were inflicting destruction,” Jeriah said. “I saw the locusts and storm when we were in Camelot but I just couldn’t conceive of it at this scale….”
“Did you know it was like this?” Tobias asked me though it took me a second to recognize the question was directed towards me.
“I was there,” I said.
“You were in Albion…” Jeriah said.
“I see through my angel’s eyes,” I answered. “I witnessed every blade of grass get devoured, every tree or building burn and crushed by hail and every agonizing moment of the end for every humanoid who would not bend the knee; and I would do it all again to do what was needed.”
My followers were silent as I walked forward into the blackened post-apocalyptic landscape. We walked to the edge of a smoldering heap of rocks all that was left of a once great city. I could sense the dungeons at the heart of the ruins and World Forge compressed the earth to the side as I moved towards the dungeons’ entrances.
This city had been built to support the nobles who farmed the dungeons and used the strength gained from them to maintain their power. A total of twenty-four dungeons were within the city limits ranging from seven Mortal rank Dungeons, eight Veteran ranked, four Hero ranked, two Exarch ranked and one Hierophant rank dungeon. I had made sure this city was destroyed since not just because of the massive support from the gods by its inhabitants but to open up these dungeons for my own and my vassals use.
I stepped up to the entrance of the Hierophant ranked dungeon, it wasn’t so infamously difficult as the Swarm Dungeon had been but offered decent challenge and rewards from the reports I had. None but the royal family had been allowed to farm this dungeon but of course they were all dead now. I placed my hand on the arch of the dungeon’s entrance and received a notification from the System.
Hall of the Lost King, this dungeon has been well explored and no additional loot will be granted for completing it.
Dungeon Rank:
Hierophant
Max Party Size:
5
“Guinevere and I will delve this dungeon alone,” I said.
Voidra manifested herself.
“Voidra will remain here for a time and construct fortifications to protect our new territory,” I explained.
“So you really intend to conquer these lands?” Jeriah asked.
“Its not like their previous inhabitants have need of them,” I said with a callous shrug. “They had their chance, now this world will be given to those more deserving.”
“And that is decided by you?” Tobias challenged.
“You’ve been out of the woods to long,” I reprimanded him. “If you have already forgotten the Law of Strength. I am the one who decides who is worthy because no one else has been strong enough to prove me wrong.”
“I’m not questioning your strength,” Tobias said. “I’m questioning your morals; these weren’t my countrymen I had no love for them, but they were still men…. women…and children.”
Guinevere laid a hand on my back. “There deaths were necessary,” she said. “They were given the chance to live, they chose to die for their gods.”
Guinevere’s face couldn’t be seen behind her veil, but her voice was colder than ice and the two men flinched. While Guinevere’s beauty caused a longing in anyone who looked at her the fear of me made them all blanch at the thought of even approaching her. Tobias and Jeriah flinched away from her face and stepped back, bowing their heads, the conversation ended.
I watched as the two of them walked away.
“I maybe could have handled that better,” I said to her quietly. “I want their loyalty, not just their obedience.”
“They are loyal, they’re just afraid,” Guinevere said. “They recognize they could have been these people if the circumstances of their birth had been different.”
“They would have had a choice the same as these people,” I said and took Guinevere’s hand and stepped into the dungeon.
---
The death knight exploded as Clarent melted through its armor. The waves of undead just kept coming, I saw the mechanic to stop the endless spawning waves of monsters. Two crystals lay at the back of the hall and they flashed with light and exponentially larger and stronger number of undead spawning every thirty seconds. This room wouldn’t have even been a challenge if Guinevere and I hadn’t been standing their for the past half-hour letting the waves of undead build in number and strength. Guinevere wasn’t even fighting just standing behind me making sure nothing got to my back as I fought with her sword in one hand and Clarent in the other. I would also have been using Viviane’s sword if not for the fact that she had created it to only be wieldable by her, a shame it was the only S rank artifact I had ever come across.
I’d heard about this challenge from the reports on the dungeon and was the real reason I’d chosen it. I could have run the Swarm Dungeon again but I preferred the diversity of dungeons to running the same one over and over to get your “kit” as this world’s locals referred to it. I needed to kill massive amounts of enemies with these weapons and I had Karnen and Ares separate from my soul using Janus and Thorn to make as many kills as they could with them. I’d ranked up the ability I’d gotten when I’d sacrificed Viviane to its max rank.
Paved in Blood: (Rank 20) Your very touch creates legends, weapons you use to kill now gain a small percentage increase to the damage they will deal in the future, caps out at a 60% increase in damage. This ability uses the lifeforce inside the creature to power itself drawing out the energy of the creature and using it to reinforce and slowly evolve the weapon used. There are no limits to how many weapons can be improved in this way.
After making enough kills with this weapon any non-physical damage types dealt by it are moved up to the next stage.
Weapon enchantments are enhanced and made more powerful the more kills you make with the weapon.
After making a certain number of kills the weapon gains the ability to hold a “Damage Charge” whereupon every ten kills will store a damage charge (to a maximum of 4 charges) which can be spent to increase the damage of the weapons next attack by one Stage.
Weapon gains an “Augment” once it has passed a certain number of kills needed for it (different for each weapon) this Augment can be activated once every ten minutes for thirty seconds and will dramatically effect the nature of the weapon for that time period.
Final Rank Bonus: If a weapon makes enough kills it will go up in Tiers or rarity even becoming an Artifact maxing out at Artifact Rank IV.
Casting Time:
Passive
Cost:
---
Rank up this ability to increase the powers weapons will gain and the benefits they will receive. Each rank increases your Might, Endurance, Toughness and Power by 1.
There was a faint feeling I got from the weapons each time I made a kill with them. There wasn’t a notification but more of a sensation of something growing inside them with every bit of “life-force” they took from the undead. Apparently undead had life-force, who knew.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“How much longer do you want to do this!” Guinevere shouted over the wail of a banshee as I continued to let the undead charge into the meat grinder of my weapons.
“I’m getting close!” I shouted back. “Maybe another half-hour or hour!”
The undead rose like a tidal wave before me crashing down but just like a tidal wave crashing against a mountain they were repelled, maybe if they had a few hundred years they could carve away the mountain but for now they were just fodder for my ability. Back when I was the Warlord a dungeon like this would have been fantastic for farming rank points with My Blood & Souls quest but at the level that Quest had been I’d have had to spent days to farm it and wouldn’t actually gain new abilities.
The wave of undead was destroyed and I felt a shift within Clarent then thirty seconds passed and a new wave of undead spawned. A roar shook the hall as behind the ranks of banshees, death knights, wraiths, skull lords and dozens of other undead types a massive dragon made of bone appeared. It wasn’t a skeleton as such, its body covered in yellowed bone scales. Its eye sockets were filled with a green fire, and it opened its jaws and breathed out. The breath attack did nothing to the undead, but it licked against my skin necrotizing the flesh wherever it touched.
For the first time in the fight, I began to move forwards hacking my way through the undead horde towards the dragon which seemed content to hang back and use its breath weapon. Voidra emerged from my soul, and I tossed her Guinevere’s sword then I activated the double blade of Clarent, something I was rarely able to do since I was always wielding multiple weapons or blasting lightning from my hands. I spun through the walking corpses every swish or swing of Clarent cutting through them. I only had access to a fraction of my abilities right now with only the Shadow still inside my soul.
Ares, Karnen and Voidra moved behind me preventing the undead from encroaching on Guinevere or getting to my back and most importantly farming every one of them to increase the power of the weapons they were wielding. The dracolitch snapped down and I sidestepped its jaws and stabbed Clarent into its skull. The blade or red lightning…skidded off the skull and the dragon rolled its head to the side crashing into me with its skull and smashing me against the wall.
I smiled. Finally, a proper challenge.
“Honey!” I shouted to Guinevere. “You want to join in for this one?”
Voidra disappeared back into my soul as she tossed Guinevere her sword. Guinevere blinked for one second as she read the sword’s new status.
Freytha, Type: Sword (long-sword), Rarity: Artifact IV: Made for one of the companions of the Champion of Duelists then enhanced and Ascended to the next Artifact rank by Mordred- Reborn of the Void. This weapon can only be destroyed by a god.
The sword inflicts a Severe additional amount of Cold damage on each hit.
Inflicts the Brittle condition on each hit.
Inflicts the Chilled condition on failed toughness check on each hit for 5 seconds (stacking).
Sword Augment: Once every ten minutes this sword can transform into a “Great-sword” for fifteen seconds doubling its reach and physical damage it will deal for the duration.
Damage Charge: (0/4) After making ten kills you gain 1 damage charge which can be spent to increase the damage of your next attack by one Stage.
Blood Baptism: The number of kills made with this weapon by Mordred-Reborn of the Void have given it a permeant +64% increase to all damage it deals.
*Brittle: Reduces the structural integrity, strength and hardness of armor on each hit by a moderate amount, continuously stacks with each additional hit.
*Chilled: When inflicted with Chill movement speed is reduced by 50%.
Durability:
N/A
Weight:
4.5 lbs.
Guinevere landed on the ground, swept her sword around her clearing the undead and her sword extended in her hands as she took it in a two-handed grip and it extended doubling in length and width as she brought it down in a heavy swing. Her sword also bounced off the skull of the dracolitch but left behind a scratch and a ring of frost rime.
Thirty seconds passed again and more undead spawned. There wasn’t a second dracolitch, but a dozen giants of bone and rotting flesh appeared. I threw Clarent and the blade spun cutting through the newly spawned undead like an industrial combine harvester through a field of brown corn stalks. There was another sensation as Clarent passed some new threshold and snapped back into my hand. I glanced over its new description my superhuman Perception and Mind rank letting me read and comprehend it in a moment.
Clarent, Type: Sword (Lightning Blade) (Artifact S): A sword created by the Warlord Mordred and blessed by Kelesa the Goddess of War & Conquest. Made with the Star of Mordred a natural treasure of unlimited potential and with a grip of blighted star metal and Hell Dragon scales and then wrapped with the with skin of the goddess Kelesa herself with runes marked in her blood to hide this swords thunderous roar.
This sword can take three forms, longsword, great-sword and double-bladed sword. The change is mental and instantaneous.
Sword Augment (Clarent’s Roar): Clarent gains a new form it can assume for 15 seconds with a 10-minute cooldown. Clarent’s Roar does massive AOE damage to in a 50ft line.
The sword deals Divine lightning damage on contact with any surface, objects are heated and melted on contact with the blade can cut and melt through hardness 9 material, cuts through an additional 1 hardness every twenty ranks. Starting bonus: cuts through hardness 9.
The range of lightning-based abilities are increased by 15ft per twenty ranks and allows them to be cast without verbal components. Starting bonus 15ft.
Power Source: This item requires no mana from its wielder to activate any of its effects.
Mana Magnification: This sword will act as a wand also, any lightning-based spells or abilities cast through it will have their damage doubled and requires no verbal activation.
Greater Enmity: The damage with this sword is massively increased when its wielder is enraged.
Damage Charge: (4/4) After making ten kills you gain 1 damage charge which can be spent to increase the damage of your next attack by one Stage.
Blood Baptism: The number of kills made with this weapon by Mordred-Reborn of the Void have given it a permeant +66% increase to all damage it deals.
Weight:
9.5 lbs.
I ducked the dracolitch’s tail then switched from double-bladed to great sword form of Clarent and brought it down on the dragon’s skull in the same spot Guinevere had hit. It left a black scorch mark but didn’t break the skull any more than it had in its other form it didn’t have the advantage of Guinevere’s physical doubling sword alteration.
Guinevere spun the side as the dracolitch snapped at her and brought her sword down two times in the same spot widening the crack and the ring of frost rime. She ducked again striking at its tail as and claws to block them as it swung and slashed at her. The fifteen seconds passed and her sword returned to its longsword form.
“Guinevere, step back I want to try Clarent’s new sword form,” I said.
She stepped back and I raised Clarent to my shoulder its tip pointed at the dracolitch. I activated Clarent’s Roar by thought ready to see this new augmentation of my sword.
I was in fact, not ready.
Thunder
I nearly went flying as the compressed bands of lightning that formed its blade suddenly were no longer compressed and surged forwards in a nearly five foot wide beam of red lightning. The dracolitch was slammed into the wall as it was blasted back. Its bone white scales blackened then shattered followed by the rest of its body as it began to disintegrate under the force of Clarent’s power. The dracolitch died, no more undead spawned since the crystals had been shattered by the shockwave of Clarent’s activation.
“What was that?” Guinevere asked getting back to her feet.
“I don’t know,” I admitted looking over the hilt of Clarent. “It’s a new effect called Clarent’s Roar. It looked awesome, like something an evil version of the death star would make.”
“It did look awesome,” Guinevere agreed then gave me a side eyed look. “But what do you mean “evil version” of the death star?”
“Umm…” I said awkwardly. “We should go beat the dungeon boss now.”
---
“He entered the divine realm of one of us and killed a god!” Ontera shouted.
“He already killed two gods before that…” Jeresh said idly.
“In his own realm in the Void where they were weakest!” Ontera snapped interrupting him. “He came onto the home turf one of us and killed Viviane, a goddess who should have been well suited to counter him. None of this could have happened if the System hadn’t been altered to allow us to fight each other.”
“You voted to allow it same as all of us,” Falgest said. “Don’t act as if you stood against it now that its turned sour.”
“It was always sour!” Ontera raged. “These infants weren’t there Falgest but you were, you remember the terror of the Void but apparently you don’t remember why we were to weak to oppose it. The stories we told our priest of the god wars were not exaggerations.”
“Agreed,” Myria said setting down her drinking horn. “And the one god who should have been sent to face him has not gone out to deal with her mistake.”
Everyone turned to face Kelesa. The goddess of war wiped her arms from dried spatters of blood.
“I am working on a solution to all our problems,” Kelesa said. “As much as I would love to do battle with Mordred I am no more immune to the Void than anyone else here, however there is a champion who can given the necessary tools defeat him.”
“Who?” Thanadar scoffed. “Arthur? He isn’t even a Champion anymore and has failed at every turn.”
“He has gotten closer than any other god or person,” Kelesa said. “And he is still a Champion, mine.”
There was a stirring among the gods.
“I’m surprised he would consent to that,” Falgest said. “What did it cost you?”
“Nothing but patience,” Kelesa said with a shrug. “And I have a suggestion for us to act on, one that will not require the alteration of the System any further. Many of you have already lost your Champions, you cannot select new vassals but it is permitted to poach Champions from others, what I have is a slight difference to that. Give Arthur your blessing and divine ability without him needing to swear to support your Pantheon when he ascends.”
“So we make your champion stronger and you finally gain a new member for your Pantheon?” Ontera scoffed.
“Arthur is not sworn to me,” Kelesa said with a shake of her head. “He will be free to join any Pantheon he chooses once he ascends. We need to cut off Mordred before he can gain any more strength, we need to create someone who can stand toe to toe with the Void and win. It is time to do what our families should have done when we first encountered the Void, unite together and destroy it in its infancy.”
“You really think we’ll be able to put aside our differences like that?” Jeresh asked, the god of the goblins flashing a derisive sneer.
Kelesa shrugged again. “It’s a choice for you to make as individuals not as a group, do or do not but in the end someone will have to stand against Mordred face to face, would any of you care to see if you can do what Viviane could not?”
There was silence, Kelesa nodded and opened a portal. “I will do my best to hone our new weapon, aid him or not at your own peril.”