MM - Chapter 45 - CHALLENGE AND REWARD

Raine danced back from the two armsmen as they advanced on him from both sides. His hand flashed, revealing a welcome sight. With the hilt of Last Chance’s Gambit now snug in his fist, he hopped back one more step. The undead gave chase, and when both were in the range, he let loose a Rupture. His skill wreaked havoc on their defense and health, but didn’t slow down their advance.

Rained dove in close, then skittered back, utilizing one of the footwork techniques he’d stolen from them. His feint had the desired effect, deftly avoiding a standard slash from both skeletons. Before they recovered, he stepped in close and reached around the nearer’s shield, activating Final Gambit. With a blindingly fast martial technique, the skeleton contorted its body, barely getting its shield in place for a Block.

The barrier split in half, its durability reduced to zero beneath a white crack of explosive force. The discharge carried forward, crashing into its chest and scattering its pieces into the dense jungle. [-3,628] Raine twisted his torso and sidestepped, avoiding a Pierce from the shield and spear armsman.

From the elites in the desert, Raine assumed these new variants would have their own special skills so he chose not to end the second skeleton yet. After testing its defenses and martial skills in a few exchanges, the undead raised its spear high, then clacked its jaw at the heavens. Its body was surrounded by a golden glow and it charged. Disappointed, Raine dodged and unloaded Final Gambit in its face and the spear wielder met the same fate as its friend.

What good is a damage buff if you can’t hit?

Shaking his head, Raine pushed through the dense foliage closer to the jungle ruins. Most of the buildings were tucked inside a steep ravine and gave the appearance of an ancient monastery, abandoned to the elements. 

He worked his way downhill toward a bridge that gave access to the main complex. He progressed with light steps, taking his time and occasionally throwing pebbles ahead of him. Another shield and spear armsman were dispatched before he found the third variant, a shield and cestus user. 

The single-bladed fist weapon was just as much of a letdown as the spear. The skeleton used a technique to get close, then its glowing weapon moved at a normal speed toward Raine’s chest. He avoided it like any other attack, then whittled down the undead before dispatching it with a Rupture.

Despite his disappointment, Raine understood full well how dangerous these elites were. Even in the distant future, players capable of consistently dodging attacks from larger, stronger, and faster foes was a rarity. With the knowledge that even a single connected skill would easily kill him, Raine remained on full alert as he neared the bridge.

The next armsman to show itself was another sword and shield user. He baited out its special skill, his eyes wide, absorbing its every move with crystal clarity. His only warning was a brief twinkle of light at the tip of its blade, then the weapon vanished. Only years of experience with PVP saved him. Long ago, he ingrained the use of Parry the instant an opponent's weapon disappeared. Raine’s shoulder dislocated as his axe was jerked to the side in a motion too quick for his body to handle.

[Negative affliction received: Arm Luxation - Duration 1:27:41]

A clang filled his ears and his opponent stumbled three steps to the side. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Raine switched to a one-handed grip on his axe. His skills and attacks would deal less damage, but there was no helping it. He retreated, utilizing Rupture to slowly whittle the bastard down without letting it get close enough to use the dangerous skill again. When it died, he stored his weapon and greedily drank down one of his two health potions.

[Minor Health recovery potion: Restores 10% HP over sixty seconds, additionally cures one physical negative affliction (Cooldown: 15 minutes)]

While rolling his healed shoulder, he opened and perused the combat log.

[Elite Ancient Armsman uses Rapid Slash - damage negated]

Rapid Slash? Why have I never heard of any of these skills? Is it because they’re from an ancient Gromut race? Some of them, especially Rapid Slash and Guillotine Slash, are completely ridiculous for a level fifteen class. Well, greater races being straight up better than humans is nothing new. There's a reason so many people chose to change species, even with the hefty penalties.

I wonder if a Gromut Species Token is the reward for clearing this place. Wouldn’t that be something?

After learning his lesson, Raine no longer allowed the sword wielders a chance to attack. Instead, he kited them back up the hill until the third or fourth Rupture killed them—depending on his luck with crits. Twice, Cassidy’s Comet made an appearance and he didn’t trade it out, gleefully demolishing the skeletons in his path with overwhelming force. 

He sped up his pace further once he had sufficient recordings of their martial techniques. With time ticking, he was more concerned with getting out alive than further review and practice. That didn’t mean he was going to leave any of them alive. The SP, and especially the AT was too good to pass up. 

After crossing the mostly collapsed bridge with liberal uses of Leap, he visited and cleared out each building in the ancient monastery. Once more, he found no sign of treasure chests, and at this point, assumed everything must be hidden with Korahn’s legacy. By the time he dispatched the three guards at the entrance to the final temple, both he and his weapons were two thirds of the way through level thirteen. Additionally, he found another five skulls, this time with sockets lit with sapphire glows. He pocketed them like the others.

Halfway up the steps, a rumble swept through the ground and the sky flickered as the shield protecting the mystic land faltered. Raine was lifted into the air by a great suction. His eyes widened in alarm and his limbs flailed, finding no purchase. The sun and clouds were sucked away, replaced by an all-consuming blackness. There were no stars or moon to bring light, only a never-ending abyss that swept down to consume him.

The shield spasmed, its bluish, honeycomb surface snapping back into place. Raine fell to the ground, landing on his feet. The shield’s pale energy was now the only source of light, and it revealed a land drastically changed by the brief exposure to the consuming abyss beyond. Trees had been uprooted, and much of the ground was simply gone, replaced by gaping fissures that pulsed with stomach-twisting, ebony darkness.

His instincts screamed at him to avoid them, an unnecessary fear as there wasn’t enough wealth in both worlds to convince him to get close to one. He accessed his quest log, blinking in annoyance at the updated text.

[This realm has become unstable. Time until complete spatial collapse: 23 hours 59 minutes]

[The return gate is currently nonfunctional. Pass the trials of Korahn to reactivate the gateway and escape before complete spatial collapse. All items acquired in the mystic realm shall be lost upon death. A 70% penalty to all attributes will persist for 20 days upon death]

[May Korahn’s judging gaze reveal your salvation]

Why would I assume I actually had the full time to escape? The opportunities here are too good, of course it wouldn't be so easy.

Raine dashed up the steps, his brows furrowing when the inside of the building was dominated by a large set of steps leading deep into the ground. There was almost no light, so he withdrew one of the items he’d purchased from Gazmo.

[Gromglenn Lesser Lantern - Dull Trash: Releases a dim light via chemical induction. Do not shake vigorously or use beyond listed durability for… reasons (Durability 14/15)]

Raine carefully but swiftly descended. The soft, steady light from his lantern was miles better than the flickering or a torch, if slightly more dangerous. A patch of pure darkness ahead that wasn’t washed away by his light had him walking on the far side of the steps. He passed well clear of the abyssal entrance, then spotted a slightly larger gap than normal between one brick and the next.

He weaved around the not-so-obvious trap, back into the center of the stairs. A few steps later, a series of clanging clicks like gears moving deep underground sounded behind and above him.

“Oh c’mon!” Not needing to see to know the steps above were rotating to turn the entire staircase into a massive slide, Raine ran downward. His eyes were wide open, looking for more dark splotches. There was no point looking for traps, he would never spot them at the speed he needed to be moving to avoid the real danger.

He moved to one of the walls, giving a wide berth to a hole in space, only for that wall to suddenly explode in a shower of bricks. The blast caught him in the side and tossed him directly toward the hole. [-269]

Time swelled as adrenaline slammed through his brain. He threw the lamp, the motion and force of release spinning his body enough that he could bring his feet together, the soles of his boots facing up the stairwell. Thoroughly jostled, the device combusted, filling the tunnel with a flare of illumination. Looking down the stairs, Raine noted the three holes in the distance and at just the right moment, snapped out both legs, activating his newest general skill.

[Lunge - Novice - Discipline: Accelerate to maximum speed in a chosen direction (Cost: 5 discipline)]

As he’d practiced, Raine’s feet smashed into the air. At the full extension of his legs, the fissure was less than a meter away. Flexing his toes, and every other muscle in the lower half of his body, he pushed his Potency and Connection to their limits, demanding they impose his will on not just his avatar, but the very world around him.

As if shot from a cannon, Raine blasted downward. He skipped nearly a hundred steps in seconds, narrowly avoiding the holes he'd spotted with the help of his exploding lantern. Its light faded, leaving him hurtling in near-darkness. He threw out a hand to thud along the lip of several steps. The force flipped him over to land on his feet, continuing to roughly bump down another twenty steps before he gained control of his momentum. 

A deep crimson glow shone up from below, revealing a rupture in space just to his side that glistened invitingly. Sweat sprang from his forehead as he carefully examined the nearby stones before taking a large step away from it. The clicking stairs were now distant, so he more cautiously continued down toward the ambient light. He reached the end quickly, finding three narrow bridges suspended by nothing but thin air over a bubbling pool of magma.

The tunnel was now rectangular—about ten meters from wall to wall—and a short distance ahead was a sharp corner to the right. The bridges extended around the bend. He had no idea which was the correct one, but knew for a fact two of them wouldn’t go all the way to the end. Without hesitating, he took the middle bridge at a sprint. It was only a few centimeters wide but that didn’t bother Raine in the least.

He slowed slightly to go around the sharp corner. Immense heat washed over his body from below, turning the air hazy. Ahead, the left bridge abruptly ended while his continued a little further before doing the same. Raine jumped to his right, easily clearing the three meters to perfectly land on the correct bridge. Leaning forward, he sprinted to the end, assuming the bridges wouldn’t disintegrate if he took too long.

A large stone platform with another pedestal at its center held the second idol. He Leaped across the dozen meters separating the end of the bridge and the pedestal. Landing on its narrow surface, he kicked the little statue into his inventory, then scoured the surroundings for the exit. 

He found it directly above in the form of a narrow tunnel leading straight into the bedrock. He Leaped again, grasping a stone outcropping and pulling himself onto it. Another was above on the opposite side of the tunnel. He jumped straight onto it, then back and forth all the way back to the surface. He exited the ground from a well in the center of the monastery, cursing at himself for not checking it when he walked by it earlier.

The entire ordeal had taken less than twenty minutes, but when the ground shook again, and the shield flickered on and off, Raine felt like his time was already running out. He took off to the west in a sprint. Most of the trees had been uprooted and left in a massive jumble. He ran on top of them, only allowing himself to be distracted long enough to glance down at the description of his newest acquisition.

[Korahn’s Idol of Steadfastness: Xar strove for balance in all things. His legacy was a people gone blind and toothless, allowing nature to claim its vengeance]

Raine jumped from trunk to trunk. He only slowed to avoid the holes in reality as he tried to stay atop the trees. The air pressure thinned and gravity lessened. His short hops turned into bounding leaps that sent him hurtling through the air. Heedless of the danger, he ran like his life depended on it. There was almost an entire day remaining until the listed time of spatial collapse, but he now knew that to be irrelevant. The only thing that truly mattered was how long he could survive here.

The final area was a massive dead field. Even after angling up the mountain, he couldn’t spot anything that stood out. With no better ideas, he ran to the center of the area but space remained thin, a sure sign he wasn’t in the right place. An acrid, cloying scent clogged his nostrils with each breath. The ground crunched beneath his feet as though the endless crops that once filled this place had only recently turned to flat charcoal.

Frustrated, he chose a random direction and ran until he could see the base of the shield far in the distance. Beyond it, instead of the curvature of a planet’s surface, all he could see was empty darkness. He chose another direction, then another, finding nothing at all.

Is it below? Do I need to do something with the skulls?

Pulling one of each color out, he let their dim lights lead the way back toward the center of the area. Halfway there, he spotted something odd to his right. It was as though a section of the land wasn’t visible for a few seconds, then reappeared. Slamming his heels into the ground, he slowed his ludicrous speed and turned back toward the oddity. Sure enough, there was a shallow, circular crater around two kilometers in radius. The angle of the ground was gentle, but due to its size the center was fairly deep below the rest of the terrain. Due to its unique shape, it was nearly impossible to spot from the mountain or the ground.

Relieved to finally have found something, Raine quickly stored the useless skulls and headed inside. He slowed as the pressure and gravity solidified, his guard up and his eyes roving across the smooth ground. There were no buildings or signs of anything other than the gentle slope, yet he remained on high alert.

The shield in the sky stuttered, bathing the land in strobing blue lights. He heard a large fissure opening to his right, sucking up the ground in a roaring vacuum. His instincts screamed at him to move. He fought them down with a vengeance; without being able to see, repositioning randomly would be far more dangerous . Right as the shield stabilized, a stabbing pain lanced through his back [-390]

The force of the blow sent him lurching forward. He felt a large presence looming over his back even as its jaw clicked in his ear. Raine spun, sidestepping out of the skeleton’s reach before it could finish his remaining HP. Just then, two more dropped from stealth, daggers flashing as they Lunged.