Loopshard Novel Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twenty

Adam looked around the interior of the ritual chamber. From absorbing the knowledge inside Alepheria’s lab in Stage Seven back during his fourth loop, he knew how to summon six alternate entities with the ritual and the ingredients on offer. But he wanted to get the Secret Boss bonus for the Stage and he wasn’t sure most of them counted for that. It seed fairly obvious that the summoning had to utilise the Dwarf Nightwing Heart sohow. After all, the Bumblebee they’d summoned and killed last ti had just been like a mini boss at best.

Besides the Sloth Demon that Elia had taught him about, he knew of two more summonings which required a large demon’s heart like that of the Nightwing’s that he’d collected from Stage Three. These summons were also demons, with one associated with corruption and the other tied to gluttony.

Nwetrou is the Primogenitor of Gluttony, so maybe summoning that one isn’t a good idea.

Regardless of which I pick, I need to find my backpack.

I didn’t see it in the library, so maybe it’s sowhere else.

We apparently triggered the secret room with the chimaera, so perhaps we left it in there or sothing.

“Where did I last see the backpack?” he asked the cube.

[PlayerKatherine Joan Williams dropped it before the Tower Crawler crushed her. It appears to have fallen down through the middle of the tower.]

“Great…” he muttered. “What about Sarah, where did I last see her?”

[Player Sarah Ayala went down from the Laboratorium floor when Player Mikhail Tkachenko perished.]

That’s pretty far from the library.

I wonder if Kate brainwashed those two again… If so, then Sarah must’ve broken free when Mikhail died.

The charm might not be strong enough to compel soone to do sothing they don’t want to do, or maybe the foundation of how she was chard wasn’t strong enough.

Adam frowned.

No. By that logic, I should’ve broken free before Kate died.

Unless…

Despite the gift from the Flayed Lady, Adam couldn’t entirely ignore pain, especially not the kind that directly assaulted his mind.

He looked down at his obsidian hand and the sigil that overlaid it.

My mind must’ve been weakened by the flood of knowledge.

But the Flayed Lady protected

from fully succumbing to Kate’s charm by wrapping

in her power sohow.

Not that it stopped her from controlling

and using

to clear a lot of the Stage…

“How much ti remains?”

[15 hours and 12 minutes.]

Goddamn it. Kate wasted all my ti with her overpowered Patron skill…

I doubt I can do the speedrun now.

But maybe I will get the Defender bonus?

Although, Elia said you can’t get that if you’re the only one alive at the end…

Adam frowned.

If Sarah is still alive, she must be hiding sowhere.

I need to find her before the Tower Crawler does.

Adam left the ritual chamber and went over to the edge of the ringed floor to look down through the centre.

I don’t see that creepy eyeball down there, but it must’ve been heading down when it ran into us.

He didn’t let himself second guess and simply leapt off the floor and down the centre, keeping his control sigil prid to the Mana inside his flesh.

Adam fell at great speed down through the floors, quickly passing by the library and soon after reaching the laboratorium where he started to slow himself down. With a firm grip on his own flesh, he floated down past the landing directly below the lab, which was the third up from the bottom of the tower.

Below him lay the dead bodies of Manawings and Mana Hoarders, and further down by the first landing, which seed to house tal Slis this ti around, the giant eye of the Tower Crawler was hovering in the air, looking into the chamber there.

The placent of the landings has been mixed around, Adam realised. The Mana Hoarders had been the first landing last ti, but now it was the third, and the tal Slis had been moved to the first. The lever for the basent was in the barracks that housed the hoarders, and the Blue Shard crystal sword was in the tal forest of the slis, so them shifting around at least didn’t seem to be too different if Adam had been able to find both for Kate while she’d been mind-controlling him.

He watched the eye of the Stage Boss from above while preparing his attack by layering several Push spell patterns onto his Spidersilk Needle using the Golden Tailor evolution’s effect. If it was focusing on the chamber so intently, it had to an that Sarah was alive in there, which gave Adam the perfect distraction to set up.

He squeezed as much blood out of himself that he could without exhausting his Mana and Health in order to prepare the spells, then he gripped the back of the needle and let himself plumt towards his target.

Adam fell like a stone, holding the needle out in front of himself like the tip of a human-shaped spear. When the boss was within his reach, Adam let go of the needle and slowed himself to a stop.

As the weapon continued to fall towards the Tower Crawler’s invisible body, Adam gave it a spike to the back with so of the Mana-infused blood that coated it, which greatly accelerated its speed.

The large eye looked up towards him just as his needle struck, unintentionally presenting him with the best possible target.

The four Push spells he’d woven and placed on the needle all exploded in quick succession, blasting the eye and its translucent tear-drop-shaped body and mouth with crystallised blood shards filled with Adam’s Mana.

Like Beck had promised, the boss was susceptible to magical attacks, and the very first hit was enough to make the invisibility cloak that covered it flicker and vanish. The cloak was more than just a concealing veil, since it also imparted a powerful protection onto the boss, and if Adam wasn’t quick that protection would return.

But that was why he’d stacked his spells, and the next three sheared through the body and mouth with devastating power, breaking open the jail of teeth keeping the eye trapped within. The arms that extended out from it simply dissipated as the white shell fell away, leaving the floating eye without protection, like the yolk of an egg.

The needle yanked back to Adam while he dropped the final few tres separating himself from the boss.

The eye started to glow as its gaze locked onto him, but before it could activate whatever spell it had been preparing, Adam swung his left hand into it and activated the Blood Fist Ring.

A spike of blood pierced all the way through the floating eyeball and destroyed it, but just for good asure he made the blood violently expand, exploding the boss’ core which quickly evaporated as its pieces flew in a dozen different directions.

Adam continued to let himself fall until he reached the bottom of the tower where he slowed himself down and landed on his feet.

< < Optional Stage Objective Complete > >

< Defeated the Tower Crawler >

Near the remnants of the Crawler’s rapidly-evaporating shell lay Adam’s silken backpack. He imdiately went over and inspected the contents while keeping an eye on the first landing where the boss had been focusing all of its attention.

The backpack was filled to the brim, and inside it was the Dwarf Nightwing Heart along with his two pendants, as well as the Slugwhale Key and five cores.

< < Secret Relic > >

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

< The Slugwhale Key (Rare) — A large key made from the temporal bone of a Slugwhale >

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Crystallised Mana Core (Uncommon) — Mana condensed into a crystal that can power contraptions and sustain simple lifeforms >

Below them, cramd into the bottom of the bag, were two shards of blood.

Adam frowned as he inspected the new one.

< < Quest Object > >

< Shard of Blood — The crystallised lifeblood of Mikhail Tkachenko >

She made

kill Mikhail!

He clenched his jaw in anger.

Despite her attitude earlier, it was clear Kate had taken full advantage of him after he fell under her spell.

I never should’ve trusted her!

Jin was right. We should’ve killed her.

I should’ve killed her the mont I understood her power.

Adam let out a deep breath.

She’s dead now, so it doesn’t matter…

He kept his eyes fixed on the first landing, but if Sarah was truly in there, then she wasn’t coming out.

Where the shell had landed and promptly disappeared, was now a strange weapon. It was a large skeletal arm comprised of both a forearm and an upper arm, and the hand at the end was splayed out flat.

Adam went over and touched it.

< < Weapon Obtained > >

< Crawler’s Arm (Rare) — A colossal weapon ford from an arm of the Tower Crawler. Lingering traces of its magical powers remain >

Feels like a gimmick weapon.

“Stow it in my Player House for now,” Adam told the Eye, intending to check it out later.

[Understood.]

Adam lifted his body up from the floor and towards the landing above, ntally preparing himself for whatever state Sarah might be in.

If she’s hiding, then she’s terrified.

That makes a lot of sense, given the power that Kate possessed and how she wielded it.

I’d be freaked out too if I watched soone mind-control another person into killing a teammate…

I wonder where Mikhail’s body is though, I didn’t see it in the laboratorium.

Co to think of it, the three Relics I got from Jun’s body weren’t in my backpack.

Adam landed outside the tal forest chamber and cautiously entered. It was the sa sight that greeted him as the last ti he’d co to the Stage, with a small replica of the Magical Forest clearing rendered in tal and an apple tree in the centre of the room. Granted, the tree had been chopped down when they’d collected the Blue Shard sword from inside it.

Huddled behind the stump of the tallic trunk was Sarah.

She looked like a wreck, with her hair no longer in a ponytail but instead just a dishevelled ss, and her eyes were dilated in panicked fear. Next to her was one of the sacks that’d been used in the lab as a vat to grow so organism, now repurposed into a bag and filled with Relics and other stuff.

It was clear that Sarah hadn’t heard Adam enter, because the mont she saw him, she imdiately jumped up and summoned a spell in the air before slamming her staff into it, launching a magical bolt directly at him.

His Blood Mage Choker activated to block the attack, creating a pane of blood in front of him that he quickly took over and placed on the front of his chest armour.

“Relax,” he said, lifting his hands into the air. “I’m not mind-controlled anymore.”

“I don’t care!” Sarah scread, but she didn’t prepare a second spell.

“You killed Mikhail!” she went on.

“Kate made

do it,” Adam replied calmly.

“Liar!” she scread and her right hand started to glow.

Adam had no idea what it was, but he imdiately activated his spring boots and shot himself backwards out of the chamber, catching his body mid-air outside the landing and staying airborne to avoid whatever was coming.

An incredibly bright sphere of golden-orange light flew out through the opening of the chamber, passing under Adam where he floated but making his eyes sting painfully.

It struck the wall opposite the landing, leaving a two-tre-wide scorch mark.

That was the Sun Flare spell that Morrligt gifts his worshippers.

He floated down to the landing, but didn’t go into the chamber. The situation was too volatile and it was obvious he needed to clear things up before he tried to approach Sarah again.

A nagging voice in his mind told him it was easier just to kill her, grab her loot, and get out of here, but the more pragmatic part of his mind told him that getting the Defender bonus was more important in the long-term, and he needed her alive for that.

I didn’t even want to kill anyone when I ca here…

“Sarah! I’m not trying to hurt you!” Adam yelled into the chamber.

“Then leave!” she yelled back.

“I can’t do that,” he said.

“You’re a monster!” she shouted.

“Can I just explain myself?” he asked.

“You already did enough explaining before you killed Mikhail!”

Adam frowned. What the hell is she talking about?

“Kate brainwashed ,” he replied, taking a step into the entrance. “She brainwashed you and Mikhail in the beginning as well, before you fought the Bone Creeper.”

Sarah didn’t imdiately deny what he was saying, so Adam went on.

“Kate made

kill him. That wasn’t .”

“She didn’t tell you to do it!” Sarah replied angrily.

He walked back into the chamber again slowly. The blood he’d absorbed from his choker activating clung to the front of his fur coat, ready to spring into action and defend him again if necessary.

Sarah was pointing her staff at him the mont he ca into view.

“Listen to , Sarah,” he said. “That wasn’t . I don’t even know what the fuck happened since I collapsed outside the tower. I just blacked out and then ‘woke up’ when Kate was crushed to death by the Crawler that was just trying to get you earlier. I’m missing like 5 hours from my mory.”

“I also lost my mories after we were attacked in the carriage,” Sarah said, lowering her weapon. “Mikhail ntioned the sa thing to

when we entered the tower. He told

not to let Kate get too close.”

That ans she didn’t brainwash them a second ti. Weird.

The charm on Mikhail must’ve faltered too, since he was pretty much dancing to Kate’s tune before I was mind-controlled by her.

But perhaps there’s a limit to the charm. There has to be if it’s so powerful.

It’s possible that only one target can be fully chard at a ti, and since Kate switched to , maybe that ans the effect on him vanished.

“Can you just tell

what happened?” Adam asked, sitting down on the floor with his back against the wall of the tunnel leading out of the chamber. “I’d really like to know.”

Sarah didn’t sit down, but she quickly recounted the events to him.

After Adam had collapsed following the defeat of the golem, Kate had helped him back to his feet and from then on, he’d done anything she asked of him. Mikhail and Sarah had followed along behind Adam and Kate as he used his blood and flesh magic, along with the Spidersilk Needle, to take down almost everything they encountered with terrifying efficiency.

Once they’d killed the second golem and entered the tower, Kate had asked Adam how he was controlling the flesh and blood of the enemies, and he’d gone on to explain his primary weapon, the blood sigils.

Sarah and Mikhail had grown suspicious of him, since it was yet another secret he’d been hiding, and it was only made worse when Kate had asked Adam to appraise sothing and he had admitted that he wasn’t actually worshipping ssir but rather the Flayed Lady.

For so reason though, Adam hadn’t revealed anything about his Patron.

“That must’ve been the Flayed Lady’s doing,” Adam said, interrupting the story. “She did sothing right when Kate’s mind-control activated. I think she was trying to protect her own secrets.”

Sarah frowned. “She sounds like a bad Patron.”

“Yours is literally the incarnation of solar flares,” he retorted.

“Well, at least mine didn’t task

to kill another Player,” she said.

“Fair,” he conceded.

She went on with the story, explaining how Adam had revealed pretty much everything he knew, but curiously he hadn’t ntioned his ability to go back in ti.

Maybe I have the Flayed Lady to thank for that.

It would’ve been pretty bad if they also knew I was a ti-looper.

They’d gone through the first three landings with Adam telling them about the secrets they’d find, and when they’d gotten the Blue Shard weapon, it was given to Mikhail. All the upgrades had gone to Kate despite their earlier agreent to split the rewards, but since Adam was under her spell, neither Mikhail nor Sarah had pushed back out of fear of his power.

Once they reached the Mana Hoarders’ barracks and unlocked the basent with the lever, they’d ventured back down and defeated the boss in the basent. Adam had been made to loot the Relic Chests, but the rewards had gone to Kate. The things she couldn’t use were given to Sarah and Mikhail to carry, since they weren’t participating much in the fighting.

“After we finished with the laboratorium, Kate started to ask about how the Points work for the Stage,” Sarah said. “For so reason she was sure that you would know. And you did.”

Adam was glad that Sarah didn’t ask him how.

“When you explained to her how the Point rewards were divided between the Players in a Stage that were still alive, Kate said that she wanted to get as many Points as possible.” Sarah paused, clenching her staff. “Then you just turned around and killed Mikhail where he stood. I ran away before you could kill

too.”

It took Adam a second to understand what had happened.

My mind-controlled self killed Mikhail, because Kate wanted more Points.

The logic is very simple, but no sane person thinks like that.

It’s like when she asked Sarah to attack the creeper, and she charged it with her staff instead of using the magic she possessed.

Kate didn’t understand the power she was wielding, and instead of trying the trick that worked to break the spell on Sarah and Mikhail, she instead took advantage of

when I was unable to fight back.

She might not have been a bad person from the outset, but she jumped on the opportunity when it presented itself.

Otherwise, she would’ve at least tried to share the loot with the others.

Adam frowned.

“This Stage ended up so fucked…” he muttered.

“You killed Jun as well, that’s what you said,” Sarah added, recalling it after finishing her story.

“He worshipped a truly evil Absolute,” Adam told her.

“Who?”

“He’s called Nwetrou. Like the Flayed Lady, his first quest is to kill soone, but more than that, he wants his worshippers to sacrifice those they kill to him. If you do that, then the person you sacrifice stays dead forever. They won’t co back, even if you beat the Trials.”

Or if you loop back in ti, he thought but didn’t say.

“There’s no guarantee anyone will co back if they die in the Trials,” Sarah replied. “All we have are the words of the cubes and they can’t be trusted.”

Adam nodded. “You’re right about that.”

“But you killed Jun to protect us?” she asked sceptically.

“To be honest, I was mostly thinking of myself,” Adam admitted. “I didn’t want anyone to be sacrificed because I didn’t do sothing. It wouldn’t sit well with .”

“You don’t seem that sorry about killing him,” Sarah remarked.

“I’m not. He deserved to die.”

“What about Mikhail?”

“He shouldn’t have died. But I can’t change what happened,” Adam said. “What I can do is get you to the end of the Stage in one piece.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“I know.”

“Tell

how to get out and I’ll do it on my own.”

Adam got up from the floor. “Sure, let’s do it like that. But I want half of the treasure you’re carrying,” he told her.

Sarah scoffed. “This is mine. You already got a Legendary Relic and Kate took all the upgrades.”

Adam grinned. “Then I’ll take whatever else remains in the Stage.”

“Fine by ,” she replied. “I just want to leave.”

He nodded. “It’s really simple. You just follow the spiralling stairwell all the way to the fourth big landing. There’s a door that you’ll go through. It’ll take you to a cliff-side on the edge of a forest, and there’ll be a painting. Touch the painting and you complete the Stage.”

“Are you going to clear the way up?” she asked.

“I could carry you all the way up there right now,” he said.

“No thanks.”

“Then give

an hour before you start climbing.”

Sarah relaxed the grip on her staff and sat down on the floor.

Adam took that as his cue and left the chamber.

She won’t ever trust , that much is obvious, but I’ll get her out of here alive.