The bloodfiend looked directly at Adam as he walked into the warehouse. Many of the ard humans sward him, until Adam pulled back the hood of his Mage Aspirant’s Cowl. The mont before he removed the hood, he noticed how there was a bubble of holy magic surrounding the crate with the reliquary. The bloodfiend was standing just beyond its reach.
Elia had given Adam a lot of useful information about the vampires and how they operated. She’d been gathering it all to help him survive in her universe. He was glad to be able to put it to good use, even if the circumstances had drastically changed. Her work would not go to waste.
The first thing she’d taught him was that bloodfiends were solitary and territorial during the day. They didn’t stick together until nightfall, and even then they preferred to hunt their own targets. In that context, Adam’s arrival to the warehouse was viewed as a direct challenge to the bloodfiend already there.
The white-haired vampire sneered. “What do you want?”
“The Matriarch sent
to collect the trinket from the church,” Adam told him in a disinterested tone.
“It is already ear-marked for the Patriarch’s allies,” the bloodfiend replied. “Why would the Matriarch care for such a foul thing?”
Does he an the Forlorn Kingdom?
Adam pushed his way through the ard thieves, changing his fingers into talons. He’d absorbed his tail into himself earlier and used its skin to coat his red glass hand, disguising its true nature and making it look like it had been bulked out from a shapeshifting spell. As he walked, he changed the shape of his own body, inflating the muscle and tissue to make it appear as if he was turning into so beast.
The humans quickly retreated to a safe distance, leaving just Adam and the vampire standing near the crate with the reliquary.
Adam felt its presence intently. It was like a heat lamp, its warmth noticeable even from five tres away.
Shit. I didn’t realise that turning into a bloodfiend would also make
vulnerable to holy magic.
Though I suppose it’s a good thing to know when I inevitably end up fighting the Flayed Lady’s adherents in the future.
The white-haired vampire sniffed the air while trying his best to intimidate Adam.
“The Patriarch frowns on the feasting upon our lesser kindred,” he scolded him, picking up on the scent of the blood that Adam had absorbed and which currently coated the inside of his jacket.
“The Matriarch teaches us to consu the weak so that we may grow strong,” Adam replied. It was more or less the truth, as far as he could tell. Elia had told him that the two leaders of the vampires were split, the aftermath like that of a nasty divorce, except the Matriarch had grown a fondness for consuming lesser vampires, instead of taking half of the Patriarch’s fortune. He had no idea if it actually extended to her offspring, but he figured it might.
The man in front of him took a step back. Adam decided to really lean into the type of character he had chosen to imitate, and pulled so of the blood out from under his jacket, forming it into a wine glass before using the Blood Crystal spell on it to lock its shape in place. Then he pulled more blood out and filled it before taking a sip and grinning at the vampire.
He believes I’m a second generation bloodfiend, Adam noted as he read his opponent’s lody.
The only thing that the vampires really feared were those above them in the hierarchy of their kind.
The shadows around the man changed shape and clung to him as he backed away even more.
“The Patriarch charged
with the custody of the relic,” he said, invoking his master’s na in an attempt to scare Adam.
“Do you think the Matriarch cares?” Adam asked, taking a step towards the man.
The shadows curled around him like a veil, but he didn’t try to attack.
His power seems to be shadow magic, and it doesn’t strike
as very strong.
The bloodfiend bumped into one of the two treasure chests with the crescent insignia, brushing his suit against its lid in the process.
“Teehee,” the chest said.
Adam’s eyes widened. Well, that’s a surprise.
He took a long step back as the vampire whirled around to look at the chest that’d just made a sound.
Then it opened up and curled a large blue tongue around his body, before pulling him in and closing shut, swallowing him whole. A few grueso crunch sounds followed.
[Third Generation Bloodfiend defeated.]
Imdiately, all hell broke loose, as, from a distance, it looked as if Adam had just killed the bloodfiend. The various ard thieves and guards rushed towards him, while others left to call for backup.
Adam backed away from the treasure chest as it sprouted two long gangly legs and arms. The blue tongue lolled out of the body ford from the chest’s bottom and lid. The seams between the two warped into jagged edges like teeth, and it had three fingers and toes on its limbs, which it was splaying in anticipation. It was truly a horrifying thing to behold.
“It’s a mimic, right?” Adam asked his cube as he activated his Cloud Skimr Jacket to avoid a sudden open-mouthed dive from the monster.
[Correct. This is a Mimic Chest.]
I thought they weren’t supposed to show up until later.
Unless Nharlla worshippers can make them appear whenever. Apparently it’s not exclusively human mimics that show up as part of their weakness.
Aeran and Závi burst into the warehouse, and Adam quickly shaped his body back to normal while preparing to fire the Heart Lance spell construct he’d made earlier.
Instead of turning around to try and swallow Adam a second ti, the mimic ran on all fours, charging for Závi with its mouth open wide.
Adam adjusted the aim of his beaked hand slightly to avoid hitting her, and then he fired the Heart Lance spell, shooting the pressurised beam through the bottom of the treasure chest body and out through the open top. The spell continued on past Závi, before piercing the head of a guard holding a bow.
The mimic chest collapsed in a heap a few tres from her, but almost imdiately started to get back up.
Shit, I must’ve missed.
Závi aid her crossbow bracer at the downed mimic and fired the explosive bolt into its mouth, blowing open a large hole where Adam had pierced its top and splattering a gooey purple brain onto the nearby wooden boxes. Aeran leapt on top of the mimic and tore into it with brutal chops of his Outrider sword, though it had clearly already died from the explosion.
There was no announcent following the mimic’s death, and its creepy body just lay there, looking like it could stand back up at any mont, even after Aeran managed to separate its lid and bottom from each other.
With the creature dead, he and Závi jumped on the humans who’d made the foolish decision to stand their ground and protect their stolen goods.
I think Elia said the tongue is a trophy. I’ll have to get it once the fighting is over.
A second later, Sofia charged into the warehouse while she was in the middle of cutting a man in half, and Adam sent his blood flying out to slash through the remaining enemies that Závi and Aeran weren’t already busy fighting.
They moved outwards from the central warehouse, killing all those that challenged them, while Luo nailed a few from afar with his crossbow. A handful managed to make good on their escape, but Adam didn’t feel the urge to hunt them down, since none of them were bloodfiends.
Once they were done, they reconvened in front of the dead mimic.
“What the hell is this?” Luo asked.
Both he and Sofia were touching their ears as though there was a sound annoying them.
“What are you hearing?” Adam asked.
“It sounds like the whispers in the tower,” Sofia said and Luo nodded.
Adam planted his right foot next to the base of the blue tongue and then wrenched it free from the bottom of the chest with a wet squelch. Unlike the human mimics who were entirely organic tal, mimic chests were almost like real creatures, since they had a brain and sothing akin to flesh, though they were blunt to Adam’s magic. The tongue was especially unique, because it could be pulled up by its root and sold as a valuable trophy.
But when Adam tore it free from the mimic’s body, there was sothing attached to the root of the tongue, like a football-sized lump of runny clay. Except it wasn’t clay, it was wood.
The clump detached from the tongue and plopped to the ground, though it mostly retained its shape.
< < Collectible Relic > >
< Mimic Tongue (Epic) — The greedy tongue of a Mimic Chest >
Adam rolled up the large tongue and put it into his silken backpack while the others inspected the weird clump.
< < Quest Object > >
< Changeling’s Core — A living and breathing ball of pliable wood >
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“The sound went away,” Luo muttered.
“It’s for our quest,” Sofia realised. “I think we’re supposed to use this to create a Changeling, and then we have to harvest its face and turn it into a mask.”
Luo frowned. “But how are we supposed to create it?”
Sofia didn’t seem to know.
Maybe I can let her use the compass later to help her figure out where to go.
“You said you would not kill the vampire without us,” Aeran challenged Adam.
“I didn’t,” he replied. “The mimic ate him. I’m sure if you cut open the bottom part of its body, you will find his crushed remains within.”
Aeran gestured to the defeated creature. “Do it,” he told Závi.
She approached the main part of the mimic where Adam had pulled the tongue from and cleaved through it with the chain-wrapped Swashbuckler sword, empowering it with her Duellist’s Glove mid-swing. The bottom part of the treasure chest split in half, spilling out weird slimy goo and a rolled-up ball that’d once been a bloodfiend. Sohow, the mimic had imdiately compressed the man down into the size of a waterlon, which was terrifying.
“That’s disgusting,” Sofia muttered.
“Did you get the announcent for killing the vampire?” Aeran asked Adam. It seed that he hadn’t gotten credit for it himself.
Adam shook his head. “No,” he lied.
Even though Aeran was staring right at him, it imdiately beca obvious that he couldn’t actually discern the falsehood in Adam’s response.
I’m pretty sure the whole lie-detector thing was bullshit.
Or maybe my poker face has really improved.
They left behind the dead mimic and went over to the crate with the reliquary, next to which was another treasure chest.
“Is that one also a mimic?” Luo wondered.
Aeran kicked the chest and it popped open, revealing three Relics.
Shit… I forgot to tell them about my Luck.
Though I’m sure Aeran wouldn’t trust
to be the main looter.
Adam looked at the Relics that’d appeared. They were all completely new to him, and one was Rare. There was a fancy masquerade party mask, a dark cape, and a diseased-looking hand.
< < Relics Available > >
< Ballroom Mask (Common) — Equip to conceal your true identity. The Relic breaks if the mask is unequipped or the wearer sustains or deals damage >
< Nightfarer’s Cloak (Rare) — Significantly slows falling velocity | Wrap around your body to ld into the shadows for 20 seconds. 10-minute cooldown >
< Ghoul’s Hand (Uncommon) — Empower the next attack with a weapon in this hand to inflict Festering Boils, reducing target’s max Stamina by 25% and inflicting 5 damage every 10 seconds for 1 minute. Breaks after 2 uses >
Before anyone could remark upon the options, Aeran grabbed the cloak and equipped it.
“We need to decide on the order in which we distribute loot,” Adam scolded him. “I have 25 Luck, so I’m guaranteed at least Rare options always appear from Relic chests, and I have a special upgrade that makes four options appear, so I should be the one to open these chests in the future.”
“You just want to take everything for yourself,” Aeran retorted predictably.
“I trust Adam,” Luo said.
“I don’t really trust any of you,” Sofia remarked honestly. “But I do think Adam’s idea is better than fighting over the Relics.”
Závi looked between them, gauging their expressions. “We should see if Adam is telling the truth when we next encounter a Relic Chest.”
Aeran cast her an annoyed glare, but relented and said, “Fine. But we will do separate rotations for Relics and upgrades.”
At least he didn’t suggest rock-paper-scissors.
He may not have realised that his appraisal skill trivialises gas like that.
Aeran picked up the reliquary from the crate. “This must be what we ca here for. Who wants to carry it?”
He looked at Adam who was keeping his distance. Then a knowing grin spread onto his face and he walked towards him.
“Don’t bring that near ,” Adam told him.
Aeran ignored him and ca closer.
Adam’s Blood Mage Choker activated, creating an ineffectual barrier of blood in front of him, though the aura of the holy relic pushed right past it, heating up his skin. He pulled the blood to his hand and hopped back a few steps using the Mana in his flesh to pull him back.
“Stop it,” Sofia said, putting a hand on Aeran’s chest.
“Touch
again and I’ll cut off your fingers,” he snarled at her.
Luo moved in front of Adam as well, even though he was clearly terrified.
Then Závi took the reliquary out of Aeran’s hands. “I will carry it,” she said, stepping away from Adam.
Aeran glared at them all, a an look on his face. Without a word, he left the warehouse.
“What’s that guy’s problem?” Sofia muttered.
Závi silently followed after him, as though he held a leash tied to her neck.
While they headed back to the church in the Pious district, Adam stuck with Sofia and Luo, helping them onto the rooftops using his Spring Boots and magic.
“There was a guy like that in my tower group,” Luo said, referring to Aeran. “He led the charge in every fight, and because he was strong we all just did what he said. Then we ran into the Tower Crawler and it flattened him in an instant. It was a scramble to just get out alive. I hope the sa thing doesn’t happen here.”
“The nights are going to be extrely dangerous,” Adam replied. “If he keeps thinking he can win every fight, he’s about to get a rude awakening.”
It’s good that we’re not in Stage Nine though. A strong Player like that getting killed would co back to haunt us… If he dies to the vampires, I don’t think it’s the end of the line for us here.
“My last two groups have been plagued by selfish people who had no qualms sabotaging others for their own petty gains,” Sofia said. “When I thought my group in the Floating Sea would finally work well together, one guy tried to have his way with
after I let my guard down at night. I killed him in self-defence. Aeran reminds
of that guy.”
Adam frowned.
Goddamn…
I didn’t even think people like that existed in the Trials.
Sohow, there’s always a new disappointing low.
Adam sighed. “A Courtesan worshipper mind-controlled
in Six, and two Players betrayed
in Seven. Both tis, only
and one other person survived.”
“I feel stupid for expecting more out of people,” Sofia said wistfully.
They reached the part of the Cloth district where the wide canal separated it from the Pious district. Adam grabbed them both and used his boots along with his flying magic to get them across.
“I thought the sa thing,” Luo replied after they landed. “There was a lot of cooperation before the fifth Stage. It made
think that humanity wasn’t ant to be trifled with, even by alien creatures like the cubes and their Gods.”
“The only thing we can do is keep our guards up,” Adam told them. “Lead by example, and don’t let anyone step on you. All of us have already defied the odds to make it this far. That’s sothing to be proud of.”
“I’m nowhere near as strong as all of you,” Luo remarked. “I just got lucky.”
Adam shook his head. “Luck alone wouldn’t carry you this far.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” Sofia remarked.
Adam chuckled. You have no idea.
When they finally caught up to Aeran and Závi, the pair were waiting outside the church for them. Aeran was no longer carrying the bloodfiend head from his belt, and Adam guessed he’d given it to so poor guard who then had to explain it to his superiors.
I wonder if it’ll make a difference. From how I understand it, the guards themselves are infiltrated by the vampires, so they’re unlikely to mount much of an offensive against them.
Adam had taken the opportunity afforded by the return trip to broaden his senses, trying to locate more bloodfiend lodies. Unfortunately, only the lesser bloodfiends were easy to spot, and he wasn’t able to notice a cluster of them anywhere to indicate what might be the Patriarch’s lair. However, the two lodies he’d noticed early on in the Pious district were still there, and as they moved around atop the roofs, he realised both were in the basent of a house not far from the large square they’d originally arrived at.
As they entered the church, Adam brought up the rear, keeping his distance from the reliquary. He’d raised his hood as they travelled, and could once again see the aura spreading out from the holy object.
I’m glad that it’s only the holy weakness that’s affecting
right now.
It would suck if I also had to deal with a weakness to sunlight.
Father Mathias greeted them with a surprised smile and open arms when he saw the reliquary.
“You work fast,” he remarked happily.
< < Quest Complete > >
< Church Repairs >
< Retrieved the church reliquary >
Adam looked around. The repairs hadn’t actually been finished, let alone begun, which seed counterintuitive to the quest completion.
Závi helped the priest place the reliquary back atop the altar.
“You cannot understand how grateful I am,” the priest said. “While you were gone, I spoke to several mbers of my congregation in the Pious district, and they agreed to spread the word on my behalf. The expenses for repairing the church have already been collected. I am now just waiting on a few volunteers to help
patch up the pews and windows.”
He opened the reliquary to reveal a small golden statue holding a round ball of silver against its naked torso. Wings hung down from its back and, to Adam’s Mana-sight gifted by his cowl, it glowed incandescent white.
Father Mathias touched his hand to the holy object and the Mana flowed up his arm and into his body, but Adam was the only one who noticed.
With a gesture, a wave of holy magic flowed outward from him, stinging Adam’s skin in passing, though without dealing any damage or triggering his lighthouse boon. Candles around the interior lit up and a warm glow soon filled the church.
“The First Light has returned to this place,” he said. “However, we cannot yet enter the crypt. I need ti to gather my strength to cleanse the defilent. In the anti, please spread the word that the church will welco worshippers anew.”
< < Quest Unlocked > >
< Spread the Good Word >
< Spread the news of the church’s reopening to every district >
“Would it not make sense to kill the necromancer first?” Aeran argued.
“With the reliquary returned, he will not venture above ground again,” the priest replied. “He is cornered, and can now be safely dealt with. But necromancers are vile and tricky beings, and without the proper rites, his undead will return anew, given ti. I must bathe in the power of my Lord before I have the strength to cast the cleansing magic.”
Aeran frowned. It was clear he had wanted to take on the necromancer right away.
From what Elia said, it was possible to kill the necromancer by just finding the key to the crypt, possibly by stealing it from the priest, but I’m guessing it doesn’t actually stop the problem of undead roaming about.
This is a more roundabout way, but the end result is like Beck said: we weaken the bloodfiends by making it so that a lot of citizens are blessed by holy magic and trinkets.
“What about our reward?” Sofia asked.
“I have not forgotten,” the priest replied and waved his hand again.
A second wave of holy magic flowed across them.
Adam grimaced as it struck him, but then an upgrade reward rolled in. It had gone up in rarity thanks to the speed with which they’d completed the quest.
< < Upgrades Available > >
< Sigil Efficiency (Epic) — Reduces sigil activation cost by 25% >
< Invocation Range (Epic) — Increases invocation range by 50% >
< Defence (Epic) — Increases all defence by 25% >
< Affliction (Epic) — Increases the effects of afflictions inflicted by 25% >
The Affliction upgrade must be one of the two new ones that appeared with this Stage. The other reduces affliction damage.
While more Defence was useful, and efficiency was also hard to ignore, Adam decided to pick Invocation Range, since he felt that it made a huge difference, and would be especially useful now that he’d realised he could make eyes. More range would basically enable him to do remote attacks if he made so kind of construct with eyes and limbs.
It would also be useful for keeping an eye out at night.
Literally.
< < Upgrade Selected > >
< Invocation Range (Epic) >
With the upgrade, his total combined range bonus was at 135%, which boosted his maximum reach to 35 tres, up from 28.
“Did everyone else get an upgrade too?” Adam asked.
“I did,” Luo said.
“ too,” said Závi and Sofia.
“How are we ant to spread the word?” Aeran asked the priest.
“I think we should just visit the taverns,” Adam answered before Father Mathias had a chance. “There is a bonus reward for visiting them all, just like with the settlents achievent in the last Stage.”
“I never got that one,” Závi remarked.
“It’s the one called All Havens, right?” Luo asked for confirmation.
“That’s right,” Adam said. “It’s probably not a lot of Points, but every little counts. And we can take out any bloodfiends we find on the way.”
“Now you are speaking my language,” Aeran said and pushed past Adam. “Lead the way.”
At least he’s eager enough to fight as a vanguard.
The others followed them outside, while the priest started to pray.
Adam looked back over his shoulder as he left through the doorway. Perhaps it’s a bad idea for
to stay in the church after we finish the quest chain. I feel like it’s just a matter of ti before the holy magic starts to actually do damage to .
I suppose I could always just fly high into the sky to escape the nightly attacks, but it’ll probably be a bad idea to leave Aeran to his own devices. Not to ntion, there’s the whole ‘don’t go to sleep’ thing.
Adam pushed his worries aside for now as he led them towards the strong lodies coming from within the Pious district.
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