As we entered the altar room we saw that it was covered in a hazy mist, obscuring most of the room. I could see the two candles burning brightly on the altar even through the mist, that seemed to swirl with every movement, almost clinging to our bodies. I was tense as hell walking into this creepy room, expecting the inevitable boss battle. I swung my head to the left, seeing movement in the mist. I stared at the space, waiting to see if I spotted it again. The room was deathly silent like a shroud had been draped over it. I chuckled internally at that thought."Welcome," a raspy wispy voice said from somewhere in the room.The voice seemed to come from everywhere as it echoed around the walls. I wasn't able to locate the speaker as I frantically looked about the room."Back to back," I whispered to Fiona."Ok, but leave some space to maneuver," she replied as I felt her armor brush my shoulder."Oh, no, don't be like that. I get so few visitors. You came to play, let's play," the las
I would like to say we were tough enough to spend the night in the crypt, but I would be lying. We got the hell out of there as soon as our needs were met. It was a little awkward, to say the least, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the experience. As we sat in our camp I decided to go over the notifications I hastily forgot the night before. Fiona seemed happy but also lost in thought, so I left her to sort out her feelings.[Congratulations you are the first party to clear this dungeon. For this epic feat, you have been awarded 1 free skill slot for each member][For being the first group to clear this dungeon you have been awarded 1200 credits][You have earned the title Light in the Dark 15% additional damage when fighting Undead]Nice, another free skill slot and two titles all from one dungeon, hopefully, the next one will be as rewarding. As for the loot, it was pretty shit. Mostly the bones we collected, the robes and mace. Heck, the end boss only dropped a necklace. A gaudy thin
We rode towards the smoke as quickly as our mounts could move. It seemed to be coming from the overpass bridge. The very same bridge we took the first time we entered the city. While not the only entrance to the city, from this side of town it was the most convenient. We rode past a few other entrances that had been blocked off or were too far from the main road for ease of use.I doubted the city or any cities for that matter, would remain this spread out in the future. It was likely the cities would be walled off. Making safe zones for non-combatants to protect them from roaming monsters. It would also help position the soldiers at easily defensible chokepoints like our overpass.We zipped down city streets, the ravor beasts easily navigating even the concrete roads. We were closing in on the checkpoint. There was still some smoke, and from this close, I realized it wasn't coming from the crossing. It was farther in the city, perhaps near where the army headquarters might be. Whatev
I remembered the class from one of my possible choices. I knew it was capable of buffing and healing and I could already see she was pulling out little carved figurines.'Well guess I get to see if I made the right choice in class,' I thought as I activated Blink Step. I blurred past all the fighters, deciding to try and disable the older lady first.I hit the old lady with a Stunning Gust, it was one of my weakest abilities. She doubled over as the attack hit her but the stun didn't activate. I raced back to my original position just as my spell faded. I swear I gave the group whiplash. Their heads whipping back and forth to try and track me.The stunned slaves halted for half a second before they all looked at me, anger in their eyes."You harmed Granny!" the Berserker bellowed in rage.Geez, these people acted like they weren't just about to beat me to death, and yet I'm the bad guy.I looked behind the venerable granny, seeing the mage engaged with Fiona. He was putting up a decen
The freed slaves had been correct. I was looking over the railway overpass from the second story of a house. Four individuals were lounging behind the sandbag bunkers on the far side. There were, however, no mounted guns.I couldn't see any guns from this range, which was not necessarily a good thing. It probably meant these individuals had power enough to not need firearms. There were two possible ways across the bridge, quietly, or loudly. We would try the quiet approach first."You ready for this?" I asked Fiona.She had argued against the plan, well one part of the plan. She had been pretty insistent about not wearing the armband. I managed to convince her it was the only quick option we had. We needed to get across, to the city, and determine what happened to the locals. If we could save them we would."Not really, but what choice do we have?"I just grunted in response. Plan B was in the back of my mind. If this plan failed I could probably blitz across half the bridge before my
The concussion wave of a massive blast was both felt and heard, even from our position. Which should not have been possible. At most, we should have heard a small popping sound and not felt anything. Something had gone sideways in a big way. I looked at my combat messages, there were five new entries.[Geomancer takes 715 damage][Scout/Sniper takes 670 damage][Fencer takes 278 damage][Guardian takes 256 damage][Void Stalker takes 255 damage]Oh hell, that was a lot more damage than should have been possible. I popped my head out of the building to see the destruction. A crater a good ten feet across dominated the area, along with three mostly intact bodies. There was no sign of the other two. What worried me most was the large plume of smoke that now dominated the area."Ok we need to move, now," I said, rushing from the building and heading away from the area. At this point, it didn't matter where we headed, as long as it wasn't here.We must have covered three miles before we st
On our way out from the compound, we checked a few of the bodies. I removed any storage rings from the Black Dragons we came across stuffing them into my boots to look through later. We did manage to find another pistol and M16 rifle along with a few magazines of ammo. The Corporal took the pistol and now the Specialist had two weapons. Well, three if you included the maces I gave to each of them.The Scout actually came in quite handy on our trip. He could sense hostiles within a certain range, allowing us to avoid a few patrols and letting us know it was clear. I checked anyway just to be extra cautious. Trust but verify."Ok where to?" I asked our guides."Well, the first place they could have gone was to link up with the Matron and her people."I grumbled at that thought. I didn't really want to interact with the cantankerous old crone again. I was also starting to suspect that she had an ability that allowed her to leach experience due to her high level. The only other explanatio
I surveyed the courtyard where grumpy granny had her market. The area was dead silent. Missing from the scene was any indication of a battle at all. There were no bodies, no destruction, simply nothing.All that remained were empty parking spots and a few pieces of debris, marking out the one time mass of stalls and local merchants."So, where do you think they all went?" I asked the two soldiers that were tagging along."I'm not sure," Corporal Jenkins said as he looked up and down the street from our hiding spot in an apartment over some junkie little dive bar."How about you Wellman, sense any enemies nearby?"I watched the man concentrate for a bit before he replied."I'm not picking up anything with my skill, but as you know its range is limited."I just nodded, hard to forget the ambush we just ran into fifteen minutes ago."Well, we need to check it out, keep your eyes open for any hostiles or possible clues."It was a quick trip downstairs and then across the street from the b
Was the person in the mirror really Henry and not an international supermodel?Henry could not help but wonder.However, Mia's reaction told Henry that it was not an illusion.Mia's mouth was wide open as she walked to Henry's side in shock. She looked at him in the mirror and was amazed."Oh my God, Henry, I never realized that you're so handsome! Gosh, you look so good."As Mia spoke, she couldn't help but touch Henry's firm chest."Oh my God, these firm pecs are worth dying for…"Henry looked at Mia, who was acting like a pervert. He shook his head helplessly and slapped her hand away."Alright, now that I've changed my clothes, let's hurry to the banquet before we go late. I'm not known for attending any events late." Hearing this, Mia finally came back to her senses. "Ah, yes. We have to hurry over. With such a handsome companion by my side, I'd like to see if those little b*tches will still show off in front of me," Mia proudly said as she pulled Henry's arm.After that, they q
Martin strode down the hall of the capitol building with a worried smile on his face. He was a bit greyer now but he still oozed charm and confidence. Time had been kind to him.The city had become a booming metropolis in the ten years since Paul returned, after his year and a half of being missing. Martin knew something had happened because one day a bunch of massive flying ships had come from nowhere and obliterated the ships that had been harassing the city non-stop for over six months. They had quickly taken care of Lord Vik’t and his remaining forces, the man managing to flee back to his homeworld before the Guild caught him.When Paul had returned, he had returned a quiet man. You could see the loss in his eyes. But the man pushed on and his businesses flourished, producing the Earth’s mightiest warships and most advanced runic items. Then five years after Paul returned, he took a fleet of ten of his capital ships and vanished for another year.When he returned again, the ships
As soon as the pirates realized the Guild ships were approaching the island, they broke off the fighting and retreated toward the edge of town to dig in. They weren’t stupid enough to attack the Guild but it seemed they wanted to ensure there wasn’t an accidental incident.One of the Guild ships docked and the Captain stepped off to greet the three of us. I had been carried over by Barcos and Em’ah on the same chair she plopped me in the night before. My legs were looking less like mashed potatoes now and instead looked like mushed putty. It was hard to ignore the sensation of the bones moving around within my shattered legs but I was managing.“Captain Paul, I hope this wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to hold off your enemy. I can assure you, we will leave for safer shores immediately if it was.”I ignored the man’s condescending snark before replying. “You have the agreement from the Director?”“I do,” he smiled. “Do you wish to review it?”I nodded and he produced a stack of documents
Groaning, I opened my eyes. All I saw was darkness. I tried turning my head or moving but it seemed like I was pinned in place.I fought down the urge to panic as I evaluated my condition. My arms were still broken, the sharp stabbing pain when I tried to move them told me as much. I could breathe though so my organs had healed after the beating I had taken. That was something at least.Seeing as I was in no immediate danger of dying, I checked my skills. My blood ran cold as I saw what remained of my abilities.[Rejuvenate][Multicast][Eye of the Storm][Aura of Rage][Calcifying Strike]Frostwave][Orb of Darkness][Energy Lance][Overcharge][Tempest Ball]That was the sum total of all the skills I now had. They had stripped me of every ability I had stolen from them along with every ability my second class gave me by default, making it impossible to recover skills by stealing them from others.I let out a morbid little chuckle as I lay there. Tears of frustration leaked from the
Those two words seemed to freeze everyone in place, but it wasn’t magic that caused it, it was fear. My body was frozen along with everyone else but my eyes rose into the air, tracking two creatures as they forced the magical fog away from the entire area with some ability.It was hard to tell by their alien physiology but I got the distinct impression they were looking directly at me. The initial fear was subsiding and people were starting to move again until the larger of the two squid-like creatures cast a spell. I managed to get off an Identify before the spell hit.[Ulq | Void Hunter/Maw of the Void | 47/41][Xiph | Psy Commando/Maw of the Void | 45/42]My body shook as I realized they were here for me but not a single person or even the entire pirate armada currently assembled here would be able to kill these two creatures.I felt the spell wash over the area and everyone was frozen again but a halo of golden light burst into existence above my head, washing away the spell’s eff
The meager fleet of ships I was now in charge of, rose from the dock and slowly spiraled into the air to get above the mist. The chaotic coloration of the mana storm was visible in the distance even through the mist. That meant the enemy was almost upon the island.The Retribution was the first ship to breach the thick covering and it was no surprise to see the enemy ships had spread out in a crescent shape to surround the island. Enemy fast attack craft zipped toward our location and I double-checked that everything was working as it should. I had also turned the mana accumulator back on.I sometimes wished I had been able to fit multiple layers of shielding on the ship. But my experiments in that regard had not gotten anywhere. Shields that close together acted like soap bubbles. Either they popped completely or merged together, but it didn’t increase the strength of the shield when they did. The only way to prevent this was to have separate bubble shields that only covered a certai
After weeks of sitting around, the Retribution finally got to fly again.Knowing we were leaving, the harbor was a beehive of activity. Cobbled together crews were drilling aboard the other captured pirate ships. The people knew it wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when another enemy would appear.As soon as Khikall got us away from the docks and any possible collision, I engaged the cloak. It was far more effective now that I could enable and disable the automatic recharging system. The massive disruption of mana we used to leave in our wake was now a tiny trail.I hadn’t had time to figure out a way to smooth our passing completely but this would have to do. I also had Em’ah watching for trails from a crudely assembled periscope. Now she didn’t need to be on the deck to use her Mana Sense skill.Speaking of skills… I had picked up a few from the last fight. I also managed to finally hit level twenty in my Maw of the Void class. I stuck two of my stats in Strength, one in Endura
I watched as the workers placed the last armor panel in position and began to weld it into place. It had taken a few weeks to repair the damages from our fight but the Retribution was looking almost new.The replaced sections were clearly visible by the heat transfer in the titanium. I could easily fix that when I turned the thermal defenses on. It should make everything a uniform color. Paint would work too, I suppose, but why cover up the beauty of the metal.It was a good thing the ship was complete, over the last few days, we had been getting reports from the Guild merchant ships that were stopping to trade, and they weren’t good.Large fleets of pirate ships spotted raiding islands. The Capital of the Avulian Protectorate was sacked and all of the leadership missing. The remaining fleets of the Protectorate were attacking any ship that wasn’t theirs or the Guild's. Cities burning due to the slaves I helped free, it was madness and it was spreading.Already I could hear concerned
Captain Grulaine hissed in annoyance as his second in command handed him his “orders”. His second flinched back and hurried out of the room. If he hadn’t, Grulaine may have cut him down in a fit of pique. It galled Grulaine to be under the thumb of another. He had gotten rid of his father for that very same reason. And now thanks to a series of unfortunate events, he found himself beholden to the damn pirate king Black Gar’s lap dog.How was he to know the repair yard where he went was controlled by that snake. If he had he certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the loan to effect repairs to his cannons and ship. Repairs that had taken far longer than necessary, and left Grulaine on the sidelines as the entire protectorate seemed to be crumbling around him. An opportunity-rich environment he wasn’t able to take advantage of.But that wasn’t the most galling part. He found that his repairs were delayed on purpose so Gar could tighten his stranglehold on the local pirates. By the time Grulai