Szesis was bored. Not in the 'I have nothing to do' way that you probably imagined. But bored in the 'I have nothing of value to do' kind of way. He had never been good at waiting, it hadn't helped that the last few interesting events had given him conflict blue balls.
The two humans he had caught snooping around had been after the same thing he was. But instead of fighting to the death they had agreed to his proposal of doing his work for him. That had sucked, no entertainment value at all.
The second event had been… well, almost alarming. It wasn't every day you witnessed a member of the Darkwoods roaming around outside their vast territory. He had partially hoped the one he had noticed casually walking through the ruined streets of Pherin had been a scout. But no invading force of Blight Beasts or Grim Ents had shown up which was very disappointing.
He shifted uncomfortably on the slanted roof he was taking a nap on. His makeshift armour clanked and that made his mood worse. Yes, wearing it made the goblins think he was one of their own but he missed his actual armour. He reached through a ring of shadow and pulled out a half empty bottle of wine.
He drained it and casually dropped it off the side of the building. A screech of pain came from below but he ignored it. With a brief effort he hopped to his feet and leaped a quarter of the city's district with a few hops, only to land within the 'command centre'. It was a pile of rubble but the goblins were very pleased with it.
"General." he nodded to the goblin on watch and half heartedly saluted. The goblin dropped his spear in shock and returned the gesture.
"G-g-general?" It stammered.
"Congratulations on the promotion. Where are the others?"
"I-i-inside my l-lord."
"Wonderful. Go kill a mountain drake and bring me its head. Oh and do it alone." Szesis benevolently commanded as he strode past. The newly promoted and soon to be dead goblin practically skipped down the street.
He approached where several evolved goblins were bickering over a poorly made map of the city drawn in debris and dust. "Gentlemen! I have detected a great enemy of our people and must make haste to slay it! I'll be back in a day or two. Don't kill each other while I'm gone, okay?"
The oversized green children scrambled to salute him, praise his existence or beg for something. He ignored all of them and swapped places with a shadow positioned on one of the outer walls.
Szesis stretched and yawned. Exile was fun when it wasn't so dreadfully dull. Now then, what should I spend the next few days doing? Go fight something worthwhile in the mountains, see what the humans were doing down south?
If only I could… "Oho! What is this?" He asked outloud to nobody.
A dark speck was rapidly approaching from the western horizon. Szesis squinted, making out a humanoid shape in dark slender armour and two sets of rapidly beating insectile wings.
"Well well. Isn't this a pleasant surprise!" He said before shooting off a condensed pulse of his aura. The dark shape slightly altered its course and moved directly towards him. Szesis looked down at the scrap the goblins called armour and sighed. Then he started stripping.
===
A minute and a half later the newcomer swooped down to Szesis's level on the city's wall. The orc nodded a greeting as he affixed a sleek red breastplate to his torso, then he pulled a similarly coloured pauldron from his spatial vault.
He gave the newcomer a friendly smile and continued getting dressed. "Welcome! Or should I say; welcome back? I take it this city was your fine handiwork?"
The dark figure shared many similarities to a human woman with pale skin and jet black hair, but Szesis knew better. The midnight carapace around her waist and antennae on her head gave her away. So did the wings, and the aura, and her compound eyes. Okay, lots of things gave her away.
At least she hadn't been foolish enough to cast off all her monstrous components like some other awakened beings Szesis knew of.
"Yes." She hissed without emotion.
"Great! It's mine now. I'm not giving it back. You shouldn't have disappeared for half a decade if you still wanted it." Szesis confidently proclaimed as he pulled on an armoured greave.
"Where?"
"Where what?"
"Where is she?"
Szesis hadn't the foggiest what the ant lady was on about. "Who?"
"You know. Where is she?"
"I really don't, sorry. Also I'm Szesis, the greatest king you'll ever meet." He generously gifted her with the truth and a name.
"I am the one called X of the Obsidian Hive. And you lie! Tell me where she is! Where is she?"
"I told you I don't know. Do you want a drink?" He asked politely and with great kindness. He tightened a leather strap and eyed the formian. X seemed roughly equivalent to himself, as a second strata incarnate he was no slouch.
Maybe a few levels higher than myself… this could be fun.
The woman buzzed in anger. The first trace of emotion so far. "You know who. Where is my mother?"
Ah, he probably should have guessed that. Formians only got so worked up about a very select number of things. Well, he had no idea as to the fate or location of the formian hive queen. "Dead. Sorry for your loss."
"LIES!" The word hit Szesis like a steel fist. He would have rocked back from the force if he wasn't, you know, the greatest.
"Not lies! She's dead and I killed her. Sorry for your loss." He lied honestly.
These words made the formian try to kill him. Which was exactly the point.
===
Shockwaves of gravitational power cracked buildings in half and sent chunks of city wall tumbling. Goblins died in their hundreds as they scampered for cover.
Szesis dodged a scythe-like blade of energy with a casual hop and twisted mid-air so he could observe the chaos. This… well. This was great. Honestly everything was wonderful. He definitely had the situation in hand.
X was, maybe, just a little bit stronger than him. A dark blur raced across rooftops, a volley of navy blue spears lanced towards him. Szesis dodged by swapping with a nearby shadowy copy, it died in a puff of black essence above him.
"Should have waited to put on my boots before saying anything stupid." He complained to himself, finishing his getup and standing up. He reached out and summoned a long blade wreathed in shadows. Time to prove he wasn't a total pushover.
The formian spotted him and let out an ear piercing screech. Goblins tumbled to the ground, blood trickling from their long ears. Szesis cracked his neck and burst into shadowy power. He stabbed forward and a mimic of his strike manifested a split second later right in front of the formian.
X cut it to pieces with suddenly clawed hands and continued right towards him. So he followed up his attack with fifteen more, each coming from a new direction. This made X retreat, her wings a blur as she skimmed backwards.
Szesis was already moving in pursuit, he darted from shadowy alleyways to shattered buildings, his every step propelled by his immense attributes and movement skills. He flitted around the city, never staying in one place for more than a moment. His aura naturally making him harder to detect.
Above the formian lost track of his position so instead decided to launch destructive beams of energy in wide sweeping arcs through the city. The attacks had no hope of catching someone as slippery as Szesis, he burnt through stored energy to manifest new shadowy copies and sent them scattering through the newly ruined ruins.
This is fun. Szesis thought happily. I hope the Mythhold survives!
A lance of power sliced the metallic titan in half.
Hopefully.
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I can't close the maintenance door. It's like the whole structure is shutting down." Marcus said as he held up the door key.
"And you can't use your skill?" Sieg asked.
"[Create Key] only helps me unlock things I understand, not lock them again." Marcus sighed. "The tunnels will be flooded full of goblins in no time, what a shit show. They may even find the hidden exit."
"What…do?" Leif asked as he drained vitality from frozen troll chunks.
Sieg looked at Marcus. The shorter man nodded and closed his eyes. "Find." Spectral images flickered in and out of existence around the mages head. He reached up and quickly arranged them into ever shifting orders. A minute passed, then another. Marcus began to sweat, his movements becoming sluggish. Finally he opened his eyes.
"Deeper?" Sieg asked with concern in his voice.
Marcus nodded. "There… there should be another way out… Ugh." He stumbled and clutched at his head. "Aha, the [Seeker] class is quite excellent, especially after its tenth level promotion. But its skills are really tricky to use correctly." Marcus explained for Leif's benefit.
The spriggan tilted his head in acknowledgment.
"Which way?" Sieg asked, his tone worried as he glanced between the chambers now opened entrances.
"Back, back to the statue room. I'll re-use the skill when we get there, the path I saw was incredibly blurry."
As the sounds of goblin screeching neared them the three retreated into the Mythhold's depths.
===
"This way. Through two more chambers then… then there's some sort of blockage but there appears to be a side route." Marcus said, pointing the way forward. They left the statue room as the world trembled.
===
The ground shook with tremendous force, both Sieg and Marcus were thrown off their feet while Leif was able to stabilise against the tunnel's wall. Thin cracks began to snake their way along the ceiling.
"Up." Leif hissed, pointing to the growing fractures in the stone above.
"Damn! Go, go!" Sieg yelled as rubble fell in small chunks from overhead. Behind them came a distant crash and the wails of goblins. The three burst into the chamber as the wide passageway fell apart behind them.
Before Leif was a rectangular chamber three times as long as it was wide. Along both walls were square panels placed in a grid like pattern with strange glyphs carved onto their surfaces. Sieg led the way, warily eyeing the walls as he went. He stepped between the first set of two and ducked cursing.
Both sigils had suddenly started glowing before a green flash of light met in the centre of the room as two beams collided just above Sieg's position.
Leif threw out a golden shield to protect the man using [Under My Protection]. The rarely used charisma bonus improving the skill's shield as it was used to protect another. Sieg crouched in a daze looking at the dispersing motes of golden light that surrounded him. He gave the spriggan a curt nod before standing.
"Nice work." Marcus commented as he patted Leif on the shoulder. An awful grinding sound came from either side of the chamber as both glyph panels tried and then failed to move from one grid space to another. The green lights flickered then died as both panels fractured down the centre.
Traps? But single use due to the current state of the structure? Leif thought as he observed the rest of the room more closely.
Dozens of sets of panels lined both walls heading towards the exit on the other side. Fortunately both of Leif's companions were sharp enough to see what he had noticed without him needing to say anything. Better to preserve uses of [Gilded Body] in case there was a fight.
Speaking of gilded body…
Fusion of skills [Gilded Body] and [Iron Fists] 1/100%
Still at one percent. I guess killing things doesn't accelerate the process like with my evolution counter. Leif thought.
"I can sense that there's enough mana in each panel for a single blast or whatever they might do." Marcus said. "Normally I'd suggest we go through a maintenance tunnel instead of trying the room but the way back just collapsed and there don't seem to be any side exits."
"Through the traps it is." Sieg sighed and let his axe disappear. "I'll be using my face to check these unless either of you want to volunteer." Leif considered this, his body was naturally more durable than both humans and he was currently full to bursting with stolen lifeforce.
His attributes were at their full forty percent increase from [Blight's Bounty]. He shrugged internally and stepped forward. Both humans nodded and stepped back. Leif cracked his neck, lowered himself into a ready pose, focused on [Might] with [Grand Action] and exploded forward.
He burst past the next pair of traps, a dark sphere of energy detonated behind him. Leif felt the residue of whatever that explosion was brush against his back but he didn't stop. Two lances of ice flew from above but they veered away as they drew closer to smash harmlessly into the floor. Sieg's doing no doubt.
Two metal tipped arrows a foot in length shot from the next set, one on each side. They curved slightly to track Leif's momentum. On one side he manifested a condensed shield of golden light and on the other intertwined limbs of ethereal roots curved around his forearm.
The shield shattered and the arrow skidded off Leif's shoulder. The other impacted his protections from [Gilded Body] and punched right through his raised arm. Leif hissed in pain and stepped back.
He made to continue but Marcus held him back and confidently walked forward. "Next one is lightning I think, allow me."
Sure enough two bright flashes of lightning erupted toward the man. He raised a hand still wreathed in a purple gauntlet, both bolts curved mid air and struck his fist.
There they were absorbed into the skill's construct, crackling power threatened to overwhelm the working so Marcus ejected the stored power at one of the two upcoming panels. The improvised attack didn't seem to do any damage unfortunately.
"Arcane magic has its drawbacks, but the versatility is unmatched." Marcus boasted as he flexed his fingers.
Leif ripped the arrow out of his arm and watched as amber sap quickly filled and closed the wound. The pool of vitality within him had dropped slightly but it wouldn't pose a risk.
Five minutes later the room was cleared, the chamber behind them was a destroyed wreck from energy detonations and skill usage.
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Letlet watched in awe as what he could only assume were gods did battle in and above the ruined streets of the former human city; Pherin. To witness such glorious displays of power was something he had dreamed of ever since he came crawling out of a half destroyed basement.
That was three months ago but to Letlet it felt like a lifetime. Which it was, for him at least. The system had only recently bestowed him with a name of power, Letlet had run around telling everyone he could!
They had hit him and told him to "piss off" but Letlet didn't mind. He was happy and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He was happy even as a dark blue light built in power over the city.
He was happy as the clouds above began to twist and flow downwards. He was happy as a crackling beam of power ripped the central district apart, the very ground splitting open.
He was happy as he was instantly vaporised, not even ashes remaining.
===
The next chamber had been going so well. Had being the important word in that sentence. The room was cylindrical with significant vertical height. Smooth stone bridges criss-crossed the chamber, well most of them did. Several of the bridges pivotal to completing the chamber had collapsed.
Murals depicting warriors in splendid armour and wielding every kind of weapon under the moons that gleamed a brilliant silver. They wrapped the edges of the chamber in a downward spiral, each displaying meticulous detailing.
Though Leif found the little details difficult to pay attention to, what little he did see of the art display was certainly impressive, he was currently trying not to die.
Arrows and other assorted projectiles rained down from above, he slapped a falling stone out of the air but took an arrow to the shin. Further along the narrow walkway Marcus and Sieg were struggling.
Out of all of them Marcus was the only member of their group with a potent ranged option. Purple bolts of light whizzed up the height of the chamber, the energy illuminating the darkened bridge-ways above.
Goblin eyes glinted intermittently in reflected violet as they continued their barrage. The chamber shook, several goblins tumbled screaming to their demise in the darkness below. For a brief moment the onslaught of missiles ceased.
"Run! Now!" Sieg roared as he led the charge. At the end of each bridge was a small alcove built into the chamber's walls. Each of these had a maintenance door and attached corridor but the narrow passageways were so clumped with debris and goblins that they weren't a viable option.
Also they only went up, the opposite way Leif's group wanted to head. The small shelter gave the trio cover as Marcus loosed arc of power after arc of power. Sieg condensed frost onto the walkway behind them, focusing to spread the slippery ice further up the walkway.
They waited for the next tremor before making their move. Leif, moving in the rear, spotted a javelin headed for Sieg's back. [Under My Protection] activated at the same time Leif swapped [Grand Action] off [Alacrity] and onto [Willpower]. The shield held initially but the constant use of the skill had weakened its overall efficacy.
Fortunately the barrier had alerted Sieg to the danger. The big man darted out of the javelins path, the missile chipping stone as it impacted the walkway. "Something big above us." He called. "We need-"
The whole world rocked from side to side, Leif's heart lurched as he almost went toppling over the edge even with [Gilded Body] and [Grounded Stance] improving balance.
Marcus wasn't so lucky. It wasn't that the man was incapable, far from it. What nearly sealed the mage's fate was a huge slab of stone crashing down into the bridge from above and nearly crushing him. The walkway groaned precariously under their feet as it began to tilt.
"Marcus!" Sieg yelled and dived toward his falling companion. To the spriggan's relief the northman made it just in time. To the spriggan's not relief Sieg too began to tip over the edge as the bridge tilted further and further.
Leif dashed forward and skidded the last three metres right up to where Sieg was half dangling. Leif reached out and grabbed the man by the arm. He then pushed everything he had into [Might] and dug into the stone surface of the walkway with his claw tipped right hand.
For a short, horrifying instant he failed to find purchase. Then his momentum slammed to a halt. Leif hissed from a mix of strain and triumph. The walkway jerked to a stop as it got caught in one of the chamber's many alcoves.
"Well." Marcus gasped. "That was too close!"
Then a beam of dark blue energy ripped through the chamber from above. It sliced cleanly through every bridge it came into contact with. By what could only be called a miracle it just barely missed the bridge they were clinging to.
What was less fortunate was the follow up tremor. Their bridge was shaken free and began to plummet. Over a hundred goblinoids, two humans and a spriggan fell screaming into the void below.
The darkness swallowed them up, each instant of falling stretching on for an eternity. Suddenly their momentum began to taper off, slowing considerably before almost stopping in its entirety. Marcus's glowing sphere of purple light zipped down to its caster and revealed their situation in a soft purple light.
Every chunk of falling stone hung suspended as if caught in slowed time. Below was the faint outline of the largest runic circle Leif had ever seen. Well, he hadn't seen many but this one still stood out as remarkably large.
The bottom of the cylindrical chamber was almost double the width of what it had been above. Leif took this all in in stunned shock. He shook his head and heaved Sieg up, who then in turn did the same for Marcus.
Everything felt light, almost weightless. A goblin still mid fall spun helplessly in mid air, its downwards momentum all but vanished. It thrashed and kicked but was unable to move. Sieg sent a disc of ice in the monster's direction, the projectile quickly lost its speed and harmlessly bumped the goblin. The man shrugged.
Silver light flickered around Leif, he looked around confused and saw the same light around his two companions. All throughout the chamber silver light illuminated goblins before with a flash they all vanished, appearing on the chamber's floor unharmed.
For a single peaceful moment nobody moved. Then Sieg bisected the nearest goblin and chaos reigned.
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