Adam tried a new strategy as he walked along the road with the others: transparency about his class. The fact that Heiner had fled had unintentionally been a huge boost for their sense of comradery, and though everyone was still on edge, they were all more or less willing to talk openly about their builds. Since Adam had exposed Heiner’s sche, he had earnt a bit of goodwill with the others, but it had been sowhat tarnished by Chien’s ominous warning about him. Still, Natalia stuck close to Adam while ignoring the others, perhaps because she thought they were alike.
I suppose that I must seem paranoid to her, and she was already quite on edge and worried about our team, so she no doubt thinks I can relate to her more.
Adam knew that his appearance also didn’t help ingratiate him to the others, but he was honest about the fact that it was a curse from the Flayed Lady.
When he told them that he was vulnerable to holy magic, Diwa surprised them by saying that she was as well, or rather, her amalgam was.
“I call him Tagpi,” she said.
“You speak with your armour?” Natalia asked suspiciously, giving Adam a ‘this girl’s crazy’ look. He just shrugged.
“I wish my armour would speak,” Seo-Yoon remarked.
“When I do well, the angel talks to ,” Chien said.
Natalia gave Adam the look again.
I know. We’re all crazy. That’s kind of part of surviving the Trials, I guess.
“You’ve got an evolution of the Priest, right?” Adam asked Chien.
“It’s called Lightbringer. It purifies those I defeat, using the holy power imbued within and my weapon.”
“I don’t know what that ans,” Adam replied.
“It ans their corpses cannot be defiled by magic,” he explained. “Magic such as yours.”
“That’ll be an issue if it ans I can’t use my power,” Adam said.
“You use corpses?” Diwa asked.
“He’s a Blood Mage,” Natalia told her, as if it was obvious. “Your armour uses corpses too.”
“Mine too!” Seo-Yoon said excitedly. “Or well, just their blood.”
“The dead should be allowed to rest,” Chien remarked. “The angel said so.”
Natalia sighed.
Diwa went on to explain her weapons, but Adam was already familiar with what they did. However, he was a bit surprised to discover that the Shield Wall effect applied to any shield she wielded, hence why Gorgon Slayer was her main weapon. The spear it ca with was quite powerful, but her mirror shield was not ant to be able to block, so it was odd that it allowed her to activate the Shield Wall effect which was triggered on blocking. It almost seed like an exploit.
“I picked the Vanguard evolution path instead of Guardian,” Natalia replied. “My Nimble Prince sword is more powerful than so shield that just pulls in attacks.”
“Every pawn has their place,” Chien remarked. His spiel was already starting to tire Adam out.
“Did you just call a pawn?” Diwa replied, offended.
“We are all pawns in the Great Ones’ ga,” he said.
“Can you just shut up for a few minutes? You’re giving a headache with your bullshit,” Natalia told him.
“What does it do, Nimble Prince?” Adam asked her before a fight could break out.
“It makes my movents sharper and faster. I can run on walls and jump like an acrobat with it. My other weapon is Blademaster. Besides changing my sword to a katana, it also gave a special skill. The effects from Nimble Prince work for the katana as well, so I can switch between them without a worry.”
She seems confident in her power, which I’d normally chalk up to arrogance, but given that she’s made it this far, it’s definitely not all bluster. The odds of soone surviving this far without being strong are extrely slim.
Granted, Heiner might’ve been able to fly away from most trouble with his two wings.
“Why do you only have one weapon?” Seo-Yoon asked Chien.
“I go to bed early and don’t like the dark,” he answered. “I never visited the tent as a result.”
Natalia laughed.
I can’t figure this guy out. He seems simultaneously like he’s a religious zealot and an ignorant fool. And neither part seems like it’s an act, and the way he’s so calm is off-putting. But if he’s truthful about wanting to protect everyone, then I don’t need to worry about him. He knows that his holy magic can hurt both Diwa and I, so he’s keeping his distance.
Adam told them about his unique skill, comparing it to the raint of bone, which was surely based off of the kingly raint in so way. The fact that none of them had seen his magic in action helped their opinion of him trendously, but he was expecting to get so negative reactions when he inevitably had to use his powers.
Seo-Yoon was the next one to explain her build, and she flashed Adam a grin as she described the Cloudmaker. For her Spellcaster class, she had an evolution called Elental Tempest, which would allow her to absorb and use up to four elents. It was the final evolution after Elent Tar, and Adam already knew the other evolution, Elental Avatar, because both Beck and Sarah used it.
I wonder if Sarah is still alive. I never checked up on her. Nor the others from the altar group, now that I think about it.
Adam had been too focused on himself and his small group of friends, but he vowed to make better use of the tavern going forward.
After explaining their classes and evolutions, the conversation shifted to their relics. Seo-Yoon was kind enough to share the information about her gloves, but she kept the power of her golden pendant a secret.
< Relic >
< Silken Gloves of Winter (Epic) — When Health goes below 10%, encase the wearer in a protective coffin of ice that lasts 5 minutes. Relic breaks after 1 use | Fire a bolt of ice. 2-minute cooldown >
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Chien also showed them his relics, and Adam likewise shared his, though he hid the mandate of blood, since it would raise too many uncomfortable questions too soon. It was easy to obscure with his fire glove.
< Relics >
< Crusader’s Headband (Epic) — Holy damage dealt with weapons turn into flowing waves of light, radiating outwards as a cone and travelling 5 tres | When Health hits 0%, return to 50%. Relic breaks after 1 use >
< Blinding Cuirass (Uncommon) — Gathers holy mana into itself and grants Chien-hung Li 1 point of Health regeneration per minute | On hit, release gathered holy mana as a Holy Nova >
< Heavy Boots (Uncommon) — Increases Player Defence by 25% | Reduces Movent Speed by 50% >
Two pseudo cheat death relics, though neither would actually allow them to fully cheat death.
The headband would just bring Chien back to half health, but it wouldn’t literally heal him, so any powerful affliction or grievous injury would still just kill him. The protective ice coffin that Seo-Yoon’s gloves would create was also not a surefire way to survive, since it once again could seemingly be bypassed by an active affliction, or perhaps even a powerful follow-up attack, such as what Adam’s fire glove was capable of.
The heavy boots are also a terrible item, since it’s effectively the sa derit as the heavy belt, but half of the defence boost.
The Blinding Cuirass on the other hand is quite interesting.
It was clearly a relic from his patron, since its effect was too strong to be a normal uncommon relic, not to ntion the fact that it was bound to his na. It was the first relic that Adam had seen give passive health regeneration, and while it was only one point per minute, that was still quite useful given how long the stages would last. It wouldn’t help him survive bleeding out, but it would knit his wounds back together over ti, which was useful.
“How big is the nova?” Adam asked.
“I don’t know,” Chien said. “It was a gift following my service in Moonport.”
“I failed my quest,” Natalia remarked. “He wanted to infect all the citizens in the city with the plague.”
“Why?” Diwa asked.
“He wants to find all these weird organs,” she explained.
“Resistant organs, right?” Adam asked, guessing that Natalia was the one who worshipped the Guardian.
“Yeah. In the Tower it was a kidney, in the Floating Sea it was a noxious slugwhale’s heart, and in Moonport it was lungs. I sohow managed to do it in the Floating Sea, but I couldn’t find out how to activate the plague in Moonport. Supposedly, one of the citizens would survive the plague by developing an unnatural resistance and I would have to harvest their lungs… It’s fucking creepy. I don’t know what he wants them for.”
“What is it for this stage?” Diwa asked, clearly horrified at the prospect. She needed to find a Capgras Demon, which Adam was fairly sure was related to Nharlla. It was the sa thing that was tied to the Soul Dial that Fal had offered in her soul bargain.
“I need the brain of a creature that has broken free from the Forlorn Shadow,” she said.
I think that must be one of the secret bosses.
There was a boss that Elia had told Adam about, and it was said to roam on its own, ignorant to what the forlorn army did. Beck had ntioned it in more detail, and it sounded pretty awful, particularly since it only appeared at night. Neither he nor Elia had actually defeated it though, because it could fly and only targeted lone players, making it difficult to even encounter. It was supposed to be a giant bird that looked like a raven made of shadow, and which regularly ate horses by snatching them from outdoor stables.
Chien wouldn’t say specifically what he had to do, other than the fact that it involved helping the church in Old Town. Seo-Yoon’s quest to obtain the true fla was related to the church as well, and it seed she had to use it to permanently defeat a forlorn knight and then gather up the ashes. They would likely do both of their patron quests just as a natural cause of how the stage developed.
“What punishnt did you receive from the Guardian?” Adam asked Natalia.
“He removed my protection against afflictions, and all afflictions I suffer will spread to anyone within ten tres.”
Well, shit.
The others gave her a look like she’d just told them she was carrying a bomb inside her stomach.
“Don’t look at like that!” Natalia protested.
“Do not worry,” Chien remarked. “I will protect you.”
Diwa sounded less certain, but echoed his statent, “I will focus the enemies on , so you won’t get hit.”
“Thank you,” Natalia muttered, trying to hide the fact that she was actually grateful.
It’s not gonna be that easy though, Adam thought.
The forlorn army was comprised of enemies far worse than what they’d encountered in stage four. All of them had weapons that at minimum inflicted taint, but so also had auras that radiated afflictions or special attacks like those of the forlorn aristocrat, which could totally negate healing altogether.
Even if Natalia hadn’t been a frontliner, she would still struggle to avoid getting hit the entire stage, and given that she needed to be up close, it was all but guaranteed she would pick up so afflictions.
But since afflictions she suffers are radiated to anyone in a ten-tre radius, she can be used against the enemies.
Adam knew it was fucked-up to consider her as nothing more than a weapon, but it was important he knew all the options on the table, since there was no telling what could happen. If it ca to it, he would not hesitate to sacrifice one person to save the rest. Especially considering how bad the stage could get.
The Guardian is all about resistance though, so it’s odd that he would give her such a weakness. That seems more in line with affliction-based Absolutes, such as the Headless One or the Flayed Lady.
I’m glad she told us though, since she could’ve beco a huge liability if we hadn’t known.
Adam could tell that Diwa was hiding sothing too, but before he could ask her, she opened up about it. “I also failed my quest for Nharlla in Moonport,” she admitted. “I had to find a changeling core, but I looked everywhere and never located it.”
“What’s your punishnt?” Natalia asked her.
“I wasn’t punished at all, but I think they changed my quest for this stage.”
I’m fairly sure a Capgras Demon is way worse than normal mimics. If I’m not mistaken, there’s sothing called the Capgras Syndro. It has to do with believing people close to you have been replaced.
“You should be able to know when the Capgras Demon is close,” Adam told her.
“The whispers, you an?” she asked.
Adam nodded.
“If there are a lot of people, it may be difficult to find.”
“I can tell if soone is human or not,” Adam revealed. “Human mimics don’t have blood inside them, and demons and bloodfiends are fundantally different.”
“I wish I’d had that power in Moonport,” Natalia remarked.
Chien brought them to a halt by lifting his large weapon in the air.
“The road is blocked up ahead,” he said.
They had been following a gravel path through the rolling green hills, but from where the Lightbringer had stopped they could see that a large mountainous rock wall barred the way, with a narrow pass slithering through it. At the mouth of the pass were the crude structures belonging to a tribe of goblins. Adam had been keeping track of their lodies from afar, and they were surprisingly similar to human lodies, although much simpler, with just a handful of base desires at the forefront of their minds, alongside emotions such as anger, arrogance, envy, and fear.
Beyond their encampnt and the rock wall were human lodies, and in the far distance were a jumble of human and inhuman lodies. Adam didn’t need to see the entirety of the stage to know that it was a lot of spaced-out vistas and locations, with lots of rolling hills between them. Like other stages, the layout of settlents and areas of interest were different for every group, and he was hoping to obtain a map to figure out how to route their course through the world.
“Hein was right about the goblins,” Seo-Yoon remarked in surprise.
“How should we deal with them?” Diwa asked. “It looks like there are a lot.”
The goblin encampnt was like a small town, and there were plenty of towers dotted around the entrance of the mountain pass. Yellow archers, blue spearn, green club-wielders, and purple tribal magicians crowded the place, with the archers and magicians preferring the towers. There were also larger red-skinned hobgoblins roaming about, and they seed to be lieutenants serving the hobgoblin lord that Beck had told Adam about.
Heiner could’ve easily flown over the mountain, and I could probably lift all of us over to avoid the fight, but I want the points for taking out the tribe.
Adam looked to Seo-Yoon. “Can you manipulate blood with your Cloudmaker?”
“I haven’t tried it, but yes, I should be able to.”
“And how far can you push the mist you create?”
“It may take so ti, but I can push it from here to the town in maybe ten minutes.”
“Then I have an idea,” Adam told her. “If it works, none of us will need to fight them head on.”
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