"Now that went just beautifully" Skill joked as he revived, looking around he found Kyll, Soren and Karnage standing by Thurk. "Yo Dwarf dude, other dudes, where we at?"
"Ignoring that you just called me a 'dude', we're outside the city" Karnage replied as she rolled her eyes.
"I just filled in Birse" Kyll stated showing him the VCD "We're waiting on Sly now for his report".
"And hope for your safety it's fuller than yours Kyllix" Birse added, his voice coming from the device.
Kyle chuckled "He's joking…", he glanced into the device "You're joking right?".
Suddenly a flash of light caught their attention as someone else respawned.
"You know, I would have liked to be told beforehand if I was going in for a suicide run!" Reyna exclaimed as she walked down the platform and stepped towards them.
"Oh shut yer trap woman" Skill stated jokingly.
"Can I kill him?" Karnage asked.
Birse snorted "What's your price?".
Skill gawked at them speechless.
Another flash of light above the respawn point before Sly appeared "Yo Silv why'd you leave party?" he immediately asked while looking around.
"Silv hasn't respawned yet, maybe he's still alive?" Kyle asked with a raised brow.
"No he died before me and Reyna…" Sly replied as he turned around and waited "You sure he didn't walk away somewhere? Not the first time he'd rage quit."
"Nope, he hasn't respawned yet" Soren exclaimed as everyone turned to look at the respawn point.
"Adventurers" Thurk spoke out catching their attention, they turned to look at him but he couldn't get himself to get the words out.
Kyle stepped towards the Dwarf "Speak" he spoke with a cold commanding tone.
Thurk held his ground as everyone glared at him "We did not believe it was possible, you all are blessed by the grand quest similarly to the other heroes after all. Your souls should be protected…" he explained solemnly.
Skill dashed between Soren and Kyle pushing them aside as he grabbed Thurk by the collar, his eyes wide with anger "What does that mean?" he asked before Soren and Karnage pulled him away.
Thurk cleared his throat "When someone dies inside a dungeon their souls are conscripted, taken over by the dungeon to use as minion or mana. A dungeon shouldn't have the control needed to break the protection you have on you, less so such a new born one as this" his tone became agitated as several auras pressed onto him.
"It's my fault" A dark aura grew out from Sly as he stood staring out into the treeline, his hands trembled as his expression turned to pure rage.
"Shit he's losing it!" Kyle exclaimed as he stared at the black ethereal energy oozing out of him, violet lines of glowing mana growing on his hands and face.
"W-what do we do?!" Reyna asked as she stepped back in horror.
Reality shifted next to Sly as a crimson red rift tore open "I told you, if anything happens…", Draxxer stepped out of the rift and raised his right hand to Sly's forehead "I'll come".
Sly collapsed unconscious, the black aura around him dissipating into the air.
Draxxer sighed "So, what completely idiotic failure have you suffered this time?" he asked pointedly while glancing at everyone.
Thurk kneeled down "Great hero! What brings you to these parts!?" he asked in a cold sweat.
"Unfortunately I'm on babysitting duty" Draxxer replied with another sigh "So who's going to explain?".
Kyle stepped forward "Is it possible for a dungeon to conscript one of us?".
Draxxer frowned at his question "No…No dungeon has such precise control, I thought you left Carn without entering the dungeon though?"
Kyle glanced back at Thurk who was visibly shaking "A dungeon appeared here in New Ruk, we entered to investigate it but got wiped. One of us hasn't returned."
Draxxer hummed in thought as he stared down at the unconscious Sly "This person is indeed one of your people? Were they in a party with you?"
Skill spoke bitterly "Yes he's one of us, he was in our party but…"
"He left, forced out of the party I should say" Draxxer's eyes narrowed as understanding went through him.
"And what would that imply?" Birse asked, as Kyle raised the device to face Draxxer he saw the image of Birse sitting behind his desk with arms crossed.
"Foul play, something is assisting this dungeon. To have enough power to disrupt a God's protection…the list can be narrowed down to four things." Draxxer crouched down, grabbed Sly by the waist and lifted his unconscious body over his shoulder "An angel, a demi-deity, an ascended or…" he stood up "A Devil".
Birse's expression darkened "What is the outcome of being conscripted? Can they be saved?"
Skill turned to glare at him "Of course we're saving him!" he exclaimed angrily.
Birse met his glare "Stand down Skill".
Biting his lip Skill quieted down and dropped his glare, his fists red from being clenched the whole time.
Draxxer shook his head "He's far gone, at best you can put him out of his eternal slavery."
The adventurers stared at him in shock. Kyle knees buckled underneath him as he fell down, a hollow feeling in his gut. Soren dropped his battleaxe as his body also went limp, falling down he lay sitting on the snow as him and Kyle stared at Draxxer in disbelief.
Skill's eyes widened, turning around he ran off into the nearby treeline. Nobody stopped him, nobody spoke at all for what seemed like hours.
Draxxer broke the silence "I shall take this one directly to the capital, this second incident makes it clear that he has no control and is too dangerous. Leader Birse, I can send in an elite squad of sol-"
Birse cut him off, his voice harsh and forced "No" he stated plainly "This is our business, he is one of ours and as such will be taken care of by our own".
Draxxer nodded in understanding before turning and stepping into the rift, it closed behind him leaving them to stare at empty space.
"Kyllix prepare to force open a rift, Death change the connection to Kyll's" Birse ordered as he stood up.
"On it" Death announced from somewhere in the room.
Kyle continued to lay there, his breathing escalating into panic.
"KYLE!" Birse shouted out his name, his anger and frustration finding their way into his tone.
"Yes…" Kyle managed a reply, his hands clenching around the device as Birse disappeared out of view.
"Kyll I'm cutting the connection, whenever you're ready after that" Death announced as the VCD's crystal centre suddenly went back to being transparent.
Kyle and Soren lay there momentarily, quietly they lay there as their anguish and frustration got under control.
"Kyll…" Karnage had crouched down by him, she lay her hand on his shoulder and tried to speak but nothing came to her.
Kyle suddenly stood up, his eyes fierce with anger "Stand back" he told them as he raised the device with his left hand to hover in front of himself.
Everyone stepped back as he focused, closing his eyes he began to chant "Bend to my will, break to my touch! Dimensional Force!" his words echoed far and wide as a blue aura engulfed his right arm like an inferno. Lunging forward he clawed at the VCD with his right hand, the moment they clashed a blinding red light flashed out.
Kyle let go of the device as he felt it shatter under his grip, standing back he covered his eyes from the light as it began to slowly dim. When the light disappeared completely they found themselves staring into an orb of crimson red energy, twirls of blue spun and twisted around it's circular surface.
Two figures stepped out of the orb, Death and Seren glanced around at the others as they came out of the portal. Kyle inspected them both.
DeathChilled [Pyromancer]-[Martial Artist] (Runic) (SER Blaze Lord) Level 96
Death had switched out his new spawn equipment, he wore a dark red monk robe with black patterns of flickering fire. As for weapon he held a long abyssal black Bo staff, runic inscriptions carved into it glowed red from top to bottom.
Seren_Cross [Cleric]-[{Lord of Wisps}] (Glass-cannon) (SER Scrub 1) Level 97
Seren's gear was less flashy, a pure white robe trimmed with light blue. Her staff on the other hand was difficult to look at, completely made of crystal the staff's base was two blue vines twisting around each other and ending in white orb that the vines wrapped around. Some of the vines grew outwards forming four pairs of crystalline wings ending in sharp blades.
"Birse said he'll be back soon, went to gather some old friends he said" Death explained with a saddened tone, with his gaze on them he sighed and walked up to Kyle and Soren who couldn't meet it.
Before he could say a word Seren stomped over to stand in front of them "Snap the hell out of it, you think he'd want you to sulk all damn day long?" she spoke softly but her hands clenching around her staff couldn't hide the anguish they all felt.
"No…he'd want us to take him out" Kyle replied, his voice choked and toneless.
Death smiled weakly "Take two, we'll take care of this." he told them with a nod "Where's Skill?"
Kyle pointed towards where Skill had run off towards "He dashed away into the trees" he replied.
Death followed his gesture "We'll go find him, you two wait for Birse here." turning around he walked away, Seren glanced at the two of them one last time before following.
Kyle spent the next few minutes trapped in his thoughts as he stared emptily at the portal ("Why did it turn out like this…we should have been more thorough…we should have…we should…"). The grief itself was eating him away but combined with the guilt he felt completely hollow ("It happened again…no matter how strong I get…I keep…I keep losing people…") grabbing his chest with his right hand he clenched it fiercely.
"We're back" Seren announced as she walked back over to them, Death helping Skill walk behind her.
"What happened!?" Reyna asked with a shocked expression, Skill was missing a leg.
"Nothing important, he'll heal." Death replied as he helped Skill down to the ground nearby a tree. Seren crouched down by them and began casting her healing magic, a steady flow of ethereal green energy slowly regenerating the leg.
"We're here" Birse announced as he walked out of the portal, a few other adventurers walked out behind him.
Kyle's surprise momentarily overcame his grief and guilt as he inspected them.
Birse [Shadow Paladin](Were) (SER Overlord) Level 97
Birse had gotten vast upgrades to his gear since the last time Kyle saw him, now that he stood in front of him he could see it in full. He wore full white plate armour with dark grey trimming, a dark grey hood going down into a cloak and a pair of pitch black gauntlets twice the size of the average. Each gauntlet's fingers had long snow white claws curving inwards, out from the wrist five white chains hung out about two meters long and ending in dark grey hooks.
Jackykill [Assassin]-[{Lord of Wraiths}](Sneaky-Beaky) (SER Elite) Level 92
The assassin was wearing a dark grey robe under a darker cloak, a white iron mask covered his face from the nose down as strange green inscriptions glowed on it. The only traits of his appearance visible were his dark brown feline eyes, constricted slits for pupils. No weapons were visible on him.
Steph773 [Elementalist]-[Alchemist] (Energized) (SER Elite) Level 105
A mage with brown eyes, elven ears and long blonde hair, strands of blue, red, green and brown mixed in. She wore a bright yellow robe lined with belts that held long crystals of every colour strapped to them. Instead of a weapon she wore black leather gloves, four slots for crystals lay empty on each wrist.
CHfarms [Druid]-[{Lord of Treants}] (Stick-Em) (SER Elite) Level 114
Although human in appearance the ears, tail and blue stripes on the skin gave away their tiger beast-man linage, with short black hair and green eyes they weren't the strangest looking of the group but definitely stood out. He wore plate armour entirely made of green wood with branches sticking out from the shoulders, leaves grew out from them as if still getting sustenance. A dark green cloak made of leaves covered his armour while strapped to his back was a long bow of curling branches and vines.
Cherrysboi [Guardian]-[{Lord of Golems}] (True Tank) (SER Elite) Level 119
About a head taller and half a person wider than the rest this dark-skinned bear beast-man wore dark grey chain armour above brown leather chest and legs, along with plate gauntlets he also wore dark grey chain leather boots. His friendly smile, bald head, red and blue eyes overshadowed by the gigantic hammer head strapped to his back. Blood red iron all the way down to the handle the large war hammer looked impossible to haul, even so he stood as if it wasn't even there.
Woodstauk [{Lord of Unicorns}] (Experi-mental) (SER Scrub Lord) Level 91
By far the strangest of the group of adventurers, this elf with short brown hair and blue eyes caught most of the attention with his unorthodox gear. He wore a sleeveless jacket of white pelt above a black shirt with long sleeves, long pants and a cloak both same pelt as the jacket. Above the cloak's hood right where his forehead would be located a long black unicorn horn spiralled upwards not attached to the hood but poking out of a hole it probably made. He held no weapons or armour parts that looked close to being one.
"You never told us the others are here too?!" Kyle exclaimed in surprise at their being here and astonishment at what one of them had sticking out.
Birse shrugged "I didn't either until they all approached me recently, was going to tell you all when you arrived at Kaledd so we'd all meet up face to face but…circumstances as they are we're here now." he explained with a distant tone.
Suddenly more adventurers stepped out of the portal, among the dozens of them Kyle recognized Zeeke, Nakano, Zaahr and a couple other Eternium and Apok guild officers.
Zeeke gave a wary glance at Birse and Jacky before stepping towards Reyna "We're heading straight for Kaledd" he announced before glancing back at the rest of his guild members who grouped up by them, Kyle counted eight Eternium members in total.
Karnage ran over to Zaahr and hugged her, the almost sickly thin girl smiled weakly as she patted her friend's head. Pulling away Karnage glanced at the rest of her guild "What about the others?" she asked with worry in her voice.
Zaahr was the one to respond "We set up hunting parties to grind levels around the forest, they're all busy getting stronger" she tapped Karnage's shoulders reassuringly.
Birse cleared his throat gaining everyone's attention "As we've discussed Eternium and Apok will be heading straight to Kaledd to gather their members, Serenity has some unfinished business here in New Ruk." He turned to Thurk who was staring at everyone with wide eyes and confusion "You Dwarf, take us through to the other side of the mountain" the words came out as more of an order.
Thurk was taken surprise by his tone and jumped slightly before responding "I-I'm afraid I cannot let so m-"
Birse rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked away "On me" he ordered, the Serenity members including Kyle, Soren, Death, Seren, Jacky, Steph, CH, Cherry, Wood and the healed Skill all turned to follow him. The other guilds followed closely letting Thurk momentarily stand there even more confused than before, after a bit of a jog he caught up with Birse.
"You must understand that we cannot allow this many into our people's predicament!?" Thurk tried to reason with Birse as he walked by him, glancing back and forth between him and the wall a couple dozen meters away.
"It is of no consequence how many know of your situation as long as the problem doesn't exist anymore correct?" Birse spoke without stopping or even looking at the Dwarf.
Thurk lulled over that before speaking again "Y-Yes that is true but we have rules, laws! We cannot just let in so many people without confirmation from the King or Fae Elder" he explained, his tone growing agitated as they approached the wall.
Birse smirked "Would you prefer I siege that wall open then? Don't bull shit me, either I am going in there to speak with your so-called King and Elder or this whole city will be burned to the ground until I reach that dungeon."
Thurk could feel his throat run dry, it was no empty threat. He thought over his situation as they walked by the wall, the gate nowhere to be seen as it was designed.
"Kyll mark the entrance" Birse ordered as he continued to walk, his usual casual steps replaced by determined strides.
Kyle surged forward a couple times before stopping, having put the spot to memory he glanced around momentarily before surging back towards the approaching group once. Finding the area he remembered, he stood in front of it as blue slime began forming around his hands.
Author: This just felt right
Bad ass music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2uU6OJV65w
"Let me" Birse told him as the chains he dragged behind him gained a golden aura, suddenly lunging forward with his right hand the chains grew longer and hooks dug into the wall.
"You can't…" Thurk murmured as he watched, his hands grew sweaty as his eyes widened in disbelief.
Birse continued to walk as the chains rattled along the metal wall, reaching where Kyle was standing he turned to face the wall. "Step back" He ordered and Kyle did so. Birse lunged forwards with his left hand also sending the remaining chains at the wall, the hooks digging into the metal as if it was nothing more than wood. He glanced at the rest of the guild "Seren, Steph, Death and Kyll. Buff me".
All four members lined up behind him and began chanting.
Kyle raised his arms forwards "Presence of power, presence of strength. Demonic Presence!" the dark aura flowed out from him and engulfed everyone nearby before dissipating.
Seren held her staff straight in front of her as she chanted with eyes closed "For the glory of victory bestow the ecstasy of power! Titan's strength!" a red ethereal bolt of energy surged out of her staff and struck Birse's back giving his body a red aurlike hue.
Death held his staff in one hand and raised his right towards Birse "Tormented flames of hell rise through the ashes and be reborn. Phoenix's breathe!" a golden flame burst out of his open palm and momentarily engulfed Birse's whole body. When the fire subsided Birse was left with golden flames for eyes, his gauntlets being his weapons of choice also burst into a golden blaze.
Steph grabbed six red and four yellow crystals, putting three red and two yellow in each glove she then raised her wrists towards him. "Through the rage of fire and calculative ways of nature. Power boost!" the crystals shone with their respective colours brightly, the lights shrunk into beams that eventually all lined up on Birse. Steph clenched her hands into fists ending the beams and leaving Birse with orange crystal shards hovering circles around him.
After taking a deep breath and flexing his arms Birse stared up at where the chains dug into, flat metal with no indentations to be seen what so ever. He began to chant "Rise from the deepest pits, imbue me with your unholy power. Shadow Ascendance!" smoke like shadows rose from the ground around him forming two hulking arms by his side, the arms bent down and grabbed a set of chains each. "Knock, knock. Daddy's here" he announced with a mana infused voice and the shadow arms pulled.
New Ruk, Northern outer outpost.
Having felt a powerful disturbance of mana outside the city Elder Helen sent Meril to investigate, as she walked through the long tunnel of metal she detected a number of mana signatures before a fifth one appeared like an explosion power by the others. Feeling slightly faint Meril led onto the metal wall "What…is that…" she whispered, the five Fae guards behind her rushed to her side.
Wearing dark blue plate armour the guards weren't on par with the warriors they lost to the dungeon but were currently their best, higher than the common soldier but not quite the elites. Each had a level ranging around 120 and were equipped with long halberds, each end having a spear's point.
Meril collected herself and glanced up at the gate a couple meters away from their position, the usual smooth surface ruined by multiple bulges. Her eyes widened in confusion "What in the name of-"
"Knock, knock. Daddy's here!" the voice boomed through the tunnel like a rush of mana causing her to step back, the creaking of metal and tearing of iron forcing her to cover her ears as the gate was torn right off.
The enormous plate of metal, gears and other metallic contraptions was sent flying back and away from the rest of the wall. It landed with a loud crash behind the Serenity members, the snow rising up a couple feet from the disturbance.
Birse stepped forwards and into the tunnel as gears and pieces of metal fell apart from the gateway, pulling on his chains they tore off from the broke gate and retracted back to him as two large shadows shrunk down into the ground behind him.
Meril gawked at the wide-open gateway as she fell to her knees, disbelief and astonishment stunning her from even thinking.
The Fae guards recuperated faster than her and lowered their halberds at the intruder, sweat covered their vision as they visibly trembled. One of them managed to speak "Halt! You are damaging kingdom property! Give yourself up now and the charges can be minimised!" the guard spoke with a choked voice, the fear eating away at him from inside.
Birse merely snorted at the display "Out of my way" he stated before waving his right hand forwards, the chains rushed at the guards and entangled around them. Pulling back he sent each guard flying out of the tunnel and into the cold snow, unperturbed by their screams of shock and pleas of mercy he continued to walk forward dragging them behind him.
Meril leaned back into sitting from surprise, her eyes wide in terror and mouth gawking and trembling from fear.
Birse stopped next to her and glanced down, she slowly turned to meet his gaze. He momentarily looked at her with scrutiny before raising an eyebrow, forwarding his free hand to her "Take me to your leaders".
New Ruk, Throne room. A few minutes later.
The Serenity, Eternium and Apokalypse guilds stood around in the throne room as they waited for the Dwarven and Fae leaders, having all arrived very recently through Meril's guidance.
Birse stood patiently facing the throne, his right arm over Meril's shoulders who stood beside him petrified. It had taken multiple of the Serenity members to stop him from walking up to the throne and sitting down.
The Serenity members stood to one side beside the nearest pillar, Skill, Soren, Death and Seren were standing in a group talking to each other while the others either stood or sat around nearby. Kyle stood with is back to the pillar, brown slime moving around his raised right arm. Distracting his thoughts from the grief and guilt, he focused on finding a use for his new type of slime.
Raising his left he summoned demonic slime and let it flow around his arm before reaching the palm of his hand, doing the same with the draconic slime he then pressed them together. Nothing happened, he pulled away his hands and saw that the two slimes remained unaffected by each other. He then moved the blobs of slime, making them stretch out he controlled them into merging together but again the two slimes refused to combine and simply slid by as they touched.
He pulled them away from each other and made the demonic slime change, the frost blue slime appeared in it's place. Moving them to touch each other he was pleased to see a change, this time around the two slimes merged. The draconic slime rapidly devoured the frost slime the second they touched, a notification told Kyle what he succeeded in doing.
Skill merge is a success! [Ooze(Draconic)] has merged with [Ooze(Frost)] creating [Ooze(Elder Frost)]
Focusing on the created skill effect, a window with its description popped up.
Slime type: (Elder Frost) variation of (Draconic)
(Elder Frost) Effects:
[Chilling grasp]; [Frostbite] debuff can be stacked up to 5 times.
[Elder control]; Control over all variations of [Ooze(Frost)] costs 80% less mana.
Kyle closed the window and gazed down at the fluorescent dark blue slime ("A minor victory at least…") he thought with a gloomy expression.
"Yo champ" Cherry greeted as he lay his back onto the pillar next to Kyle "That's one strange class you got there" he mused with a curious expression.
"Ew, how do you even control it? With your mind?" Steph asked as her, Jacky, CHfarms and Woodstauk also walked over.
Kyle looked up and glanced at all of them, except for their user names he didn't know much about any of them. Steph, CHfarms and Cherry being old members of their small group along with Birse, Death and Silv. Jacky being a complete mystery to him and Woodstauk as much of a mystery but more on the random popping out of nowhere and going through unorthodox fits kind.
"That's no way to introduce yourselves" CH chuckled as he forward his hand "I'm CH, these three clueless idiots are Steph, Cherry and Jacky. We're old members of the clan, figured we'd talk since you probably had no clue about us being the newer guy and all."
Kyle dissipated the slime and shook his hand "Kyllix" he stated plainly not knowing how to talk to them.
"Yo what about me? Do I not required an introduction as well?" Wood asked with a raised brow and frown, his horn rising slightly at the facial gesture.
They all glanced at him momentarily before Steph spoke "Who the fuck are you again?".
Wood looked hurt as he stared at them in astonishment "I" he bowed dramatically "Am-"
Jacky snorted and cut him off "He's a fucking unicorn man, don't pay him any attention."