"FUUCCKK" was all Wood could say as his horn lay a couple centimetres inside the stone brick wall, having accepted Jacky's challenge only moments earlier of whether said horn could pierce stone; Cherry having volunteered to throw him. And so Wood dangled from the hall's roof, his horn stuck deep between the crossroads of three bricks.
"So…How do you get him down?" Asked Death who along with the rest stood by waiting for Kyle and Sly to return.
Jacky simply shrugged "Haven't thought about that, never promised I would either so…"
They all mostly stood gathered beneath Wood waiting to see what happens, Birse was still speaking with Darkness and Draxxer while Caitlyn stood by the three and watched the group horrified at their antics.
Kyle walked into the hall followed by Sly just as Wood pushed himself out, "SON OF A WHORE'S CUNT!" he cursed within the moments it took him to hit the ground. The distinct slapping of flesh against stone was followed by the more distinct crunch of bones.
"Oh…Oh yeap…I'm gonna throw up…" Seren stated as she held her mouth with both hands and turned away from the remains that was once Wood, the front half of his body had smashed into the stone hard ground and flattened as blood splattered all around him.
Kyle had immediately stopped walking when he saw the unicorn man fall from the ceiling, he watched in disbelief as his corpse dissipated into mana. Sly on the other hand was halfway to the floor as he laughed uncontrollably joined by Steph, CH and Soren.
Birse groaned from the cringe "Now we have to wait for THAT fuck to come back…"
"Yo guys" Wood stated as he walked out of the core room "We can spawn here now!" he exclaimed while rubbing his horn. Everyone turned to stare at him awkwardly, his corpse was still dissipating on the ground.
"Wait you didn't have a timer?" Kyle asked loudly as he jogged over to the gathered group, a fair distance between the entrance they came in from and the one to the core room.
Lilior answered his question with a distant echoing voice "This one's master is part of a guild, this one is then bound to the rest of the guild. As long as I have mana I can instantly resurrect guild members, your souls are protected and therefore do not go into the beyond making it easy to gather."
Sly was glancing around confused "The fuck is that voice? Is that your fairy?"
After having explained to Sly, Darkness, Draxxer and Caitlyn the deal about the dungeon and the city's occupants above Birse gathered everyone in the guild to sort of line up; Some would say it resembled more of a noodle but this wasn't a show so they didn't care. Birse, Darkness and Caitlyn faced them as Draxxer continued to rest a few feet behind them with his back to the wall.
"Alright enough fucking around for now" Birse put on his signature cold stare as he spoke "Before we start talking about the contract first I'll enlighten you all on some information we were able to confirm." He gestured at Darkness and Draxxer "These two here are both from our world and have lived several decades on this one so they could do so for me."
He glanced at Darkness and let her explain "As some of you might know the maximum level of this world's game like reality is 499, albeit that being the maximum it is by no means reachable. The people of this world know things about this system because of ancient tablets that were passed down through each race, these tablets explained the different requirements for gaining classes and skills as well as the level requirements to master a class. What they did not explain is just how limited the system is.
The average citizen of Barik stands around level 15 and 30 while guards can be anywhere around 20 and 60. The average soldier stand around 40 and 90 while high ranked officers and guard captains would be the strongest at around level 150. These numbers vary on age as younger officers would be much lower levelled then a tried veteran. This came by for two different reasons, monster levels and combat difficulty being the key one.
There is no known monster higher level than 360, that 360 being the one known dragon we've ever seen. The highest level monster with decent quantity to it that we know about are either demons with the average level of 120 or wyverns with the average level of 90, both these races are highly deadly also holding the highest death rates on Barik alone. The second reason is simply the danger of fighting stronger monsters, the people of this world like any other do not risk their lives carelessly.
As summoned beings your understanding of levels, skills and classes is much wider than of people who've lived under the fear of death when trying to increase or acquire them. Me and my party of heroes were the same having reached levels of 90 and 100 within a week, our world is simply more advanced albeit lacking mana in general. Being capable of revival boosted your levels further by completely removing the fear of death we once had." She thoroughly explained before being stopped by a question.
"Why 'had' as in past tense? Can you also respawn like we do?" Kyle asked noticing her choice of words.
Darkness nodded "Not just us, everyone can." Almost everyone in the group was surprised by this reveal, she continued to explain further "It makes sense since anything effecting summoned heroes will in one way or more effect the people of this world. When a God summons heroes they gain the capability of changing things inside said system, with us we gained the ability to form parties. Each generation of heroes added something to the system, your generation seems to have added respawning."
"Wait, how did we not notice this earlier?" Asked Sly.
"Because it takes people of this world 24 hours to respawn." Birse cut in to explain "A dozen or so people started respawning back in Frosthold from some accident that happened early on with a manafire explosion. We were able to contain it and question them all with our recruited numbers. I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up so me and Death kept it to ourselves until we confirmed it with Draxxer or someone else."
"Anyway" Darkness continued "Thankfully this also means the assassination of general Jason L.Moore of the Esfeltian military was a fruitless attempt." She stated with a relieved expression.
"Wait so…What about the war? Will the demons also respawn?" asked Soren completely ignoring her.
"Have you seen a tower long demon respawning in town?" joked Jacky "Still have no clue how you all killed that thing, I just hid" he admitted with a chuckle.
"As we all expected from you but nobody seems to be asking the real questions here!" Wood suddenly exclaimed, when everyone turned to look at him he finally explained "Why can't we just blow up towns until the Dominion gives in!?"
The following series of groans and facepalms was followed by further ignoring the unicorn man.
Birse cleared his throat to get their attention "This doesn't mean we're invincible, not only does the military possess powerful fighters but we must keep our eyes out for Devils. I don't believe for a second that they haven't infiltrated the Dominion."
Jacky snorted in amusement "It's not like they stand a chance anyway, call me biased but with all of us gathered together; new and old members and our ability to respawn. How can they?"
"That is a simple question of numbers chap" CH replied "We can't get ahead of ourselves just because we are stronger, they most definitely have the numbers while they may also have just as many strong players on the field."
"Exactly" Birse stated in agreement "Constant deaths will only weaken us. Back on topic; there will be targets that require subduing with force, that starts me on our contract. We have about 22 hours to prepare before Sly's killing spree brings the enemy this information, I have already thought up each of your assignments."
He began assigning teams and explaining their tasks "Cherry, Soren and Seren will come with me as team alpha." said members gathered together behind him. "Jacky, Death, CHfarms and Skill are team bravo" The three of them moved to stand next to each other "Team Charlie are Kyll, Wood and Steph." The last team also gathered together around Kyle.
"What about me?" Sly asked being left out.
"You're staying put with the dungeon, you're our builder Sly and I need this place ready for defence." Birse answered with an apologetic tone.
Sly seemed to ponder on it for a moment "Fine, I'll get this place nice and rolling" he then replied with a distant tone, lost in his thoughts over building the dungeon.
"Team Alpha will respond directly to me, Team Bravo you'll respond to Death and will be getting the targets from Rin Darkness while Team Charlie will respond to Kyll." he opened his inventory and took out five VCDs "We will use these to communicate, Kyll you get an extra in case you need to open a portal. I had this one connected to Carn but it will have to do." He handed them out giving two to Kyle, one to Death, one to Sly and keeping the last for himself.
"The plan is quite simple" Birse continued to explain "Team Alpha will keep the other guilds out of reach from Eslet by calling a meeting with all of them, Team Bravo will either assassinate or capture key targets then join Team Charlie into providing as much chaos and destruction as they can muster. We own or take out their chain of command and the rest will be as easy as regaining the public's respect. Once chaos ensues Team Alpha will co-ordinate the adventurer guilds into the defence of the people, with Empress Caitlyn as the public figure head."
"Let me get this straight, Alpha does their diplomacy shit, Bravo sneaky beaky assassins and Charlie blow up the city?" Wood asked with visible glee.
"Yes Woody, we're blowing shit up" Kyle replied with a chuckle.
"And I'll be crafting my masterpiece!" Exclaimed an all too excited Sly, a wicked grin from ear to ear as he gazed off while caressing his short beard.
Birse clapped his gauntlets together "Alright you insane fucks with twisted personalities, we'll gather new sets of equipment first. Operation Deceive Distract Obliterate and Seize is in action!"
Everyone briefly stared at him with disbelief and or groaned with cringe.
Dry Patch
The whole group had first decided to visit the Dwarve's armour and weapon stores before leaving, what Birse called 'A quick gear stop' almost ended up what Seren and Steph called a 'Shopping spree' as they insisted on matching gear. They ended up passing through multiple other shops for dyes and other clothing.
All in all it had taken them 2 hours to gear up and would take them about 3 hours to move from New Ruk to Kaledd, leaving them with 17 hours to get started.
The dry grasslands spread out around them as they approached the walled town in the distance. Larger than they had first imagined, the town of Kaledd was surrounded by a similar wall to Frosthold's with the exception of having much taller towers. The grasslands too dry to allow trees to grow like Frostbite forest allowing the guard to have a better view of their surroundings.
Hills lined the vast area of short grass as a single gravel road snaked around them out from Kaledd towards the Dwarven Mountains, the road the Serenity members were currently travelling over. Other travellers passed by the group giving them curious glances, as both a show of discipline and practice of stealth they moved together surrounding Darkness, Caitlyn and Draxxer to hide their identities.
The heavy hitters being Birse, Soren and Cherry wore full black plate armour with dark blue cloaks and hoods above their full helms. The mages Kyle, Steph, Wood, Seren and Death wore black cloth robes and similar dark blue cloaks and hoods while the rangers Skill, Ch and their assassin Jacky wore hard black leather armour and again the same dark blue cloaks and hoods. No emblem or insignia decorated their cloaks, if the latter teams were discovered with such a mark then the guild would be discovered for their deception.
"Bravo activate your dye enchantments once you separate from us at Kaledd, Charlie do so once you leave for Eslet." Birse reminded them as the closest travellers were still out of earshot. The enchantments he was speaking about were some neat dyes they purchased from a Fae apothecary, at will they could change the colour of their cloaks and along with a second enchantment that added a pattern. Okay maybe they more so took the enchantments rather than purchased, the guild had an active deal with the kingdom after all.
The reason behind these enchantments were at first to give Bravo team a further advantage of stealth but later evolved into playing mind games with the adventurers of Kaledd. Making them believe all of the guild's officers were at Kaledd gave them less reason to be suspected for the attacks that were to come and excuses to evade them. Also Birse enjoyed the feeling of having everyone wearing the same cloak as they walked towards the town in formation, albeit he'd never openly admit so.
The town was still an hour or so away, Kyle throughout the whole trek had been deep in thought about his current skill set to keep his mind from drifting to his current problems. Having had no monster attacks with the exception of a unicorn almost trampling over Wood, the whole journey had gone by uneventfully allowing him to do so. He had started by listing his current combat abilities being [Slime Cannon] and [Slime Scattershot] for damage with [Core Overload] as a last resort and [Slime Armour] in case he needs to switch out to tank.
All in all, he was desperately trying to come up with others. Having spent the most recent hour pondering over his new attribute choices for [Ooze] and [Core Overload].
Attribute effects are kept, further attribute upgrades progress through each attribute owned meaning that all upgrades for previous effects can be earned later on.Warning skills tier cap is 15 therefore you are limited to 30 attribute upgrades.
Currently unlocked attributes for [Ooze(Frost)]: (Ice)
(Frost) (Cold) Effects:
[Cold Mist]; Turn into a freezing mist,
[Cold Puddle]; Turn to sticky liquid while retaining temperature
(Frost) (Snow) Effects:
[Blizzard]; Turn into a flurry of snow flakes,
[Snow Touch]; Physical contact causes a spread of [Frostbite] which spreads on further contact
Currently unlocked attributes for [Ooze(Demonic)]: (Monstrous), (Vampiric)
(Demonic) (Cursed) Effects:
[Weakness]; The slime attaches itself to the target slowing them down.
[Illusionary]; The very sight of this slime causes hallucinatory effects.
Kyle was stuck between picking (Cold) for the [Cold Mist] effect or (Cursed) for the [Illusionary] effect. With his assignment being the distraction everything relied on him and his squad to do their job right. [Cold Mist] would cause large spread chaos among the citizens if it spread far enough as it would theoretically cause frostbite over any living being it touched. That is if it spread far enough at all.
[Illusionary] would either cause hallucinations that would cause panic or even allow Kyle to choose what people saw himself. Both were theoretically good but Kyle felt one was too theoretical so he went for the one that would prove most useful even if the effect wasn't controllable, he chose (Cursed).
Currently unlocked attributes for [Core Overload]: [Limbs][Colossal]: 10% increase in slime created
[Bind]: Bind an amount of slime no more than 50% worth of your maximum mana to your [Monster Core] allowing you to bypass upkeep cost with said slime. Bound slime is permanent and will not disappear on mana exhaustion but will require twice the amount of mana to regenerate and the activation of [Core Overload]. 50% of your maximum mana will be locked.
[Limbs(T2)]: Slime control upkeep cost disabled for 60 (+ 75) seconds, Mana exhaustion 180 (+ 35) seconds.
This choice was even worse and had taken most of the hour, he had three choices and each were as viable as the next. The first was [Colossal] which increased the amount of slime he could create with the skill giving him more resource to bend and use before mana exhaustion. The second effect [Bind] was the most complicatedly explained effect he'd seen, it basically allowed him to have a permanent amount of slime at all times at the cost of 50% of his maximum mana and regenerating said slime would cost him double it normally would.
The third was something he hadn't seen before, a direct upgrade to a previous choice. [Limbs(T2)] increased the no-upkeep time while also increasing the time spent in mana exhaustion from it's predecessor by 15 seconds each.
Kyle had thought very hard on this choice. Bigger guns and more CC? An actual permanent weapon? Or leaving Core overload as a last resort as he had done so far? It was a difficult choice, a choice that required very close inspection of not only the gains by the cons each of them could have.
A 10% increase in slime was good and all but it still left him with no actual weapon once the time ran out and bigger guns didn't mean he could actually lift them, he could barely move with his current sizes. Having access to a permanent weapon after so long felt like a blessing to Kyle and he had almost straight up chosen [Bind] but decided to think it through further first.
Sure with his current mana of [870/870] thanks to his new gear it was possible for him to have either slime gun permanently but that left him with less than 10 shots until mana exhaustion ran out, he could pre activate the skill and have the cannon out all the time but he quiet enjoyed not hauling the thing everywhere. This did leave him open to come up with a different weapon that did not require ammunition though, so we remained open towards it.
There isn't much to say about the third option though, it's simply a straight upgrade to his previous use of [Core Overload] with a downgrade to the latter mana exhaustion. Over all it was the safest choice. He was stumped, with no clue what to choose so he decided ask for help.
Kaledd was still a fair walk ahead of them as Kyle moved his attention away from his skill book and towards his surroundings. The three heavy warriors were at the front and the two rangers and assassin at the back while their healer Seren along with Darkness, Caitlyn and Draxxer were in between. The four mages were evenly spread out on both sides of their contractors.
Birse was chatting away with Sly over his VCD along with Soren and Cherry on either side of him as Death chimed in from behind Cherry, Kyle was positioned behind Death. Wood and Steph to the right were talking with Seren, Caitlyn and Draxxer in the middle along with Skill and Ch behind them. Jacky was as silent as ever as well as the mysterious cloaked hero of darkness and night.
Kyle briefly thought over what to even call her ("Miss? Ma'am? Rin? Hero? The hell do I call her…?")
Darkness glanced at him "Do you require something hero?" having noticed his gaze she spoke out first.
"Ah I was just about to ask you a question but ended up being stumped on what to call you…" Kyle replied followed by an awkward chuckle.
She nodded back in understanding "Simply call me Darkness as everyone else does as it is my given name, something I am very proud of."
"Given name?" Kyle's curiosity was piqued.
Darkness frowned at his ignorance "Heroes are given names by their backing deity as a sign of acceptance by them. Have you not been given one yet?"
"Yeah actually I have" he opened his character page and switched his active title [Fae Knight] to his given title [Void] "It's this title right? Void is what the voice named me."
Darkness inspected him "I hope I am guessing incorrectly but I shall ask nonetheless…"
Kyllix [{Lord of Slimes}] ({Void}) (SER Shadow Lord) Level 93"Was your given name not equipped?"
Kyle shrugged "No it wasn't…[Fae Knight] had better resistances so..."
Darkness rolled her eyes as she covered her face with her right palm, a held back smile was still barely visible. Moments later she took a deep breath and asked "So your unique class isn't connected to your status as a hero of Frost nor as hero of Void…"
"It's not? I thought slime was connected to the void?" Kyle didn't like how confused this person made him.
"And who told you that?" She asked with a raised brow.
"The…voice…" Kyle suddenly stopped moving causing the group to leave him a couple steps behind before they slowly came to a stop.
Death turned back to look at him "Kyll? You alright?"
"Yeah…" He lied ("SON OF BITCH") "I'm…fine…" he continued to lie ("CONDESCENDING CUNT OF A VOICE! SLIME MY ASS!") his face was visibly twitching as he continued to curse the voice in his head.
("DEVOUR") the voice replied.
"FUCK OFF" Kyle suddenly shouted at the sky, he crouched down and held his face in his palms while groaning the cringe away.
Sly shouted out from the VCD "Yo Kyll is voice telling you to join the darkside again? Do they have cookies?! I repeat do they have baked goods!?"
"Sly go fuck yourself…" Kyle replied as he massaged his forehead.
Darkness chuckled lightly "As I feared young Yako you have been tricked, the Void is on par with gods after all."
"I don't get it…The first time I met it was when I got this stupid class…You're telling me I got this entirely by coincidence?!" He stood up and stared at her with a baffled expression.
"It sure seems so, slimes in general aren't bright enough to be part of a class trial. What did it even tell you in the first place?" She asked out of curiosity.
Kyle explained what exactly happened in his class acquisition trial word by word as realisation sparked through him followed by waves of frustration.
Birse couldn't help himself but laugh "So it gave…you random ass riddles…and…let you feed yourself b-bullshit!" he was joined by everyone else including Sly who sounded as if he was rolling on the ground. Even Caitlyn couldn't stop herself from a muffled giggle.
Kyle gave them a weak twitching smile "Yeah…laugh it out…get it out of your system…"
Death had walked up to him and held onto his shoulder as he laughed with tears leaking down his face "So…So…This mystical voice in your h-head…told you it's the soul of…a slime and your new god…and you just accepted it like a good bitch boy!?"
By now Kyle's face was trembling with frustration and red with embarrassment "You…done?..." he thought back to his second meeting with the voice, after he had passed out from escaping Lucifer's realm. ( " Why had it warned me about using [Dimensional Force]? Why did it tell me to make contact with the previous heroes if it's thanks to them that I now know it's ploy? Do I actually know It's ploy?") such thoughts passed through his mind as the frustration began to build up inside him.
A sudden feeling of pain in his lower lip brought Kyle out of his daze, he staggered back a step and glanced around. The others had stopped laughing and were staring at him with mixed curiosity and confusion. "What?" he asked before noticing his fangs had grown out, glancing down he saw his claws had also come out along with something else. A frenzied blue flame covered his entire body, as if being the physical incarnation of his emotions it lashed out around him.
Death had long stepped away when he noticed Kyle's fangs and claws grow out but further found his decision to move away wise when the flames appeared "Kyll you're on fire, literally" he stated while gazing at the hypnotic white-blue fire.
"You're getting stronger" exclaimed Darkness as she studied the flames "Those flames are your abilities as a fox spirit, I have never heard of cold fire before though so that was unexpected. At least it explains why the winter God Ymir chose you, those flames will probably lead you to a sub-class."
Kyle gazed down at the flames that covered his arms as they slowly disappeared, he memorized the feeling. The cold flames felt like an expansion of himself, his senses seemed to spread into them. He thought back to the first time he saw them, how they appeared in conjuncture with losing control to the voice. Suddenly he felt his knees buckle beneath him, he fell to his knees and stared at the gravel road. He laughed, there was no humour or sign of happiness within it.
It was a cold wicked laugh that sent a chill down many, those that did not know him even thought he had lost his mind while the rest simply stared awkwardly at him. Kyle continued to gaze down at his hands on the ground as the flames began to spread and grow further "It makes sense now…"
Like a decade old puzzle finally being completed he felt relieved, he now understood what and why. How else could his memories been changed if not by a being on the same level as a god? What else could make a mere child murder? It was trying to drive him insane from the very beginning and when Kyle came to Chaoz it hijacked Ymir's place. Coincidence? Gaining the class [Lord of Slimes] with the ability to devour and absorb? Kyle doubted it, it made too much sense. Why make him eat his victims when it was so much easier to just absorb them?
The fire around him had grown large enough to be considered an inferno, the very gravel and dirt along with the grass froze all around it. His guildmates shouted at him trying snap him out of his fit but the flames kept them away.
Following the relief came something else, a raw relentless rage fuelled by everything that had gone wrong in his life. Kyle felt like his mind was clouded with mist as his body entered a frenzy, he snarled like a beast as the fire took form around him. Hundreds of tails formed out of the white-blue fire as their base continued to rage all around Kyle in the form of a sphere, as if a barrier was containing him.
Kyle felt himself move further away from consciousness ("This is what it wanted…") he thought to himself ("This realisation…it knew I wouldn't be able to control my anger…"). His vision went entirely black as he lost all feeling in his body, as if his consciousness was suddenly set aside.
("Relax hero") A calm soothing voice followed, nothing like the cold static voice of the Void. ("Control your anger, collect yourself. Do you wish to be devoured by the very being that tricked you? Do you wish to let it take over? Are you so weak that you cannot even take charge inside your own mind!?") the voice both advised and mocked him for his weakness.
("Silence mortal") The void responded ("Release this one, it is my possession now!")
("Will you allow it to rob you of what little you have left?!") the voice continued to plea.
("SILENCE") the voice screamed making even the reality that was Kyle's mind shudder ("FOR LONG HAVE I CRAVED A BODY! NOW THAT I AM SO CLOSE TO OBTAINING ONE NOT EVEN A CHOSEN SHALL HOLD ME BACK! BEGONE FROM THIS MIND! HE HAS ALREADY GIVEN IN TO THE CRAVING!")
("Don't giv-") the soothing voice was cut off short as even the darkness in Kyle's mind began to disappear. The feeling of nothingness followed, no senses or thoughts just existence itself.
("Get the fuck out of my chosen you filthy creature.") A deep cold voice echoed through Kyle's mind, it reverberated through the void. The feeling of being frozen suddenly washed over him.
Then he was back to himself again. Kyle glanced around at the circle of frost surrounding him, a scene he had seen twice before in his memories except on a much smaller scale. Somehow he felt calm, his anger had entirely disappeared. He looked up at the others, relief going through their expressions as they looked back. A swarm of notifications then filled his vision.
A higher being has invaded your mind! An even higher being has punished the invader in your mind. Title ({Void}) has been forcefully removed by a higher being Title unlocked ({Holder of the Frostfire}) as unique!"Guys?" Sly asked from within the VCD "Yo guys? Hello? Anybody there? The fuck's going on!?"
Kyle felt his consciousness drift away as the ground seemed to creep closer, that is what he thought it was doing until he felt the gravel smash into his face. He blacked out.
"Seriously I saw fire, what's going on? Guys?" Sly continued.