《Tethralin (LitRPG)》Chapter 35: The Inferno
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Chapter 35: The Inferno
I continued spending mana to return to the shadows as I passed by the numerous squads that were out and about. I didn’t really spot any of these rebels, and I eventually ducked into an alley between two buildings. The buildings in this city were much taller and developed than the ones I had crossed before, now having windows and many being two to three stories high. Even when I ran across cities on Easy, none seemed to touch this city’s development.
I made sure to take peeks out of the alley, but there was hardly any civilian activity. Only soldiers were patrolling, mainly heading to the sector that some of the explosions seemed to effect. I was finally free and had time to gather my thoughts.
So, let’s focus on some priorities.
First, I continue focusing on survival. That is easy enough. I just need to not get myself killed and act covertly. Especially since my system is down and I can’t rely on it for anything. At least my abilities work.
Second, find the princess to work out the quest and proceed to the next floor. I can’t be bogged down. I can’t do anything if I stay on a floor too long unless there is some kind of progression available to me. I need to ascend so I can leave which ties into priority one.
Third, figure out everything else that was going on. That would help ensure priority one, too. If I can get to the next hub after the Floor 20 boss, then I think I’ll be set.
Frankly, I hadn’t cared much for this game’s lore. I hardly cared about lore in the few other games I played. I wanted to be strong and not have to feel the day-to-day struggle that life was. Even if I had never been the strongest, the escapism was there.
But things were different now. I hadn’t even heard about shades until my encounter with them at the throne room in the Goblin Kingdom. Before then, on Normal and Easy, there wasn’t even a word of them.
I wondered if something had happened and the developers decided to add something crazy to make matters worse than they already were. There was something that pulled at me but I couldn’t figure it out. Their focus should be on handling the issue of players entering a vegetative state.
Ugh. I smacked my face with both hands to try and refocus on what was going on now. Enough rest for now.
It seemed to be nearing evening and the productivity of the soldiers hadn’t died down. It would be quite helpful if I was able to see an overhead visual of the area but I didn’t have any abilities that could assist there. The buildings were numerous and varied in height, but the majority of them were capable of blocking my view of the area.
I moved to the corner of the alley I was in and peeked out into the street. A group of Nysel Kingdom soldiers were moving out with their swords and spears. One in the back had a crossbow and one of the men leading their movement held a similar weapon to the one that had shot a torrent of water at me, which I deemed as a ‘Water Blaster’ for simplicity sake.
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If they had those weapons, they should have sent them over to the port city so the guards there could use them to protect from the chimera attack, or the Mermen; though I couldn’t be sure at their power against Mermen.
“Hey, you there!” I turned my head down the alleyway. Two soldiers started marching over my way and it seemed I had been spotted. I immediately cut the corner and activated {Shrouded Shadow} when the soldier then said, “Stop!”
Many of the buildings, be it if they were homes or shops of various sorts, were damaged. I wasn’t sure where the civilians were, either. I needed to move away from this heavily soldier-centralized sector, so I moved inward to where they had come from, resting my mana as needed at alleys.
I went along the way which I expected was towards the inner part of the city. It seemed I was at the outer section as there was a gate with a wall encircling another area. Though the walls were towering so I incapable of seeing beyond them.
The gate had two openings and there was a weird pole in between them with four guards, two on each side, protecting the entrances. I backtracked a bit so I could make sure my mana was full before approaching the gate. Afterwards, I entered the darkness and ran towards the opening on the right.
The weird pole that had been in between the two openings immediately pulsed out a barrier that prevented me from moving forward. The crystal that sat on top of the pole turned red and the guards immediately looked towards it but luckily couldn’t see me.
Or so I thought.
The pole pulsated once again and a wave of energy encompassed my body, preventing me from moving and deactivating {Shrouded Shadow}.
“Rebel captured at Gate Two. Be on the lookout for the other rebels.” I couldn’t see which guard was speaking or to whom. But a yellow light shot out from nearby, disappeared and a different voice rang out, slightly distorted, “Understood. For the King!”
“For the King!”
I wanted to struggle but I couldn’t even try to struggle. I was completely restricted and two of the guards grabbed hold of me, taking me to who knew where. I should have expected the unexpected, been more careful or something. I thought I was doing well but it was quite obvious I was trapped. One of the guards opened a door after moving me through the gate. We entered one of the guard walls just past the city’s inner entrance.
Then, I was harshly thrown to the ground.
“Return and continue your shift. I’ll interrogate this one.”
“Yes sir!”
“Get up and sit in the chair.”
Is he talking to me? I couldn’t move my body or my head, so I had no idea where he was looking or who he was trying to speak with as I was currently strewn across the rough floor.
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“Get up and sit in the chair!” That was met with a swift kick to my side, though it didn’t hurt. My armor was quite resilient. However, not receiving notifications was quite discouraging. I was blind—in the dark, one may say. I tried to speak but was unable as the power binding me prevented much.
So I was kicked again. He vocalized his astonishment at my lack of struggle while I was equally astonished at his lack of leg day.
I heard him fumbling with something and then I felt relief sweep through my body as I could move again. The binding ability was gone, so I immediately activated {Shrouded Shadow} and was met with disappointment. My abilities were still being prevented. I was pretty sure I could still take him out if necessary, though that would provoke the rest of the guards when they discovered the incident, so I instead decided to comply and sit in the chair.
I heard the soldier’s boots clang on the floor as he stepped past me towards the other side of the table I was sitting at and he hurriedly turned around, looking at me as he slammed his hands on to the table.
“Give them up!” He commanded, putting up an intimidating facade. I had an idea of what he wanted, but I couldn’t be entirely sure.
I ended up tilting my head to one side, “The rebels?”
He slammed a hand on the table again, “So you are with the rebels! Oh man, the bonus I’m going to—” he paused, pulling out some weird gem. Then, he squeezed it as a faint gray aura surrounded it, “Captain, I’ve confirmed the capture of a rebel. He identified as such.” Then, he let go and the aura evaporated.
He turned to me, a huge grin on his face, “Well done, dog. Well done. Ahah—”
“But I’m not… a rebel?” It came out as a question, mainly as I was questioning his joy.
I saw the gem he was stroking between his fingers emit a yellow glow, and he pressed it, “Good job, Hildor. I’ll send a squad over to escort the rebel to the Inferno. That’ll make three—so we’ll be having a round of drinks on you, right? Haha. For the King!”
The gem dimmed and the soldier immediately pressed into it, a gray once again shone through, “For the King!” And he let go. “Listen here, punk,” I stared him back in the eye, “You’re a rebel. Through and through, no doubt.”
He started walking around the table, looking me up and down as he circled. “Even worse, you match the description of the bomber. So you bombed a sewer line and destroyed a sector of the kingdom. Didn’t think you rebels would step to bombing your own kingdom. It’s no wonder His Majesty wanted to get rid of all yous.” He then made it back around, sitting down and kicking back in his chair. “Luckily for us, we got ways of controlling the fire. But you know that already, rebel scum.”
Though, I don’t know that. I didn’t think there was getting through to this guy, but I had to think of something. How do I get rid of this silence-type restraint and not get swept into some bind that pretty much incapacitates me?
A knock came from the door behind me, and I just kept my watch on the soldier, “Is it safe to come in, Hildor?”
Hildor jumped up from the chair, “Why wouldn’t it be safe? Hell. Come in, come in.”
I could hear the door open, and the clanging of boots sounded in the stone room. “Well, we know your fetishes, Hildor. We couldn’t be so—” I got up from the chair, tossing it directly at the group behind me and kicked the table towards Hildor. The soldiers seemed surprised, shouting out at Hildor why the prisoner, me, wasn’t restrained properly.
I rolled over the table, landing beside Hildor as I then kicked the table over at the group that came in. They had weapons drawn, and I grabbed Hildor, placing my ‘Vanquisher’ at his head. But I couldn’t produce {Mana Bolt}. Then, I couldn’t morph it into ‘Ashen Gladius’. So an empty crossbow was all I had as well as my shield, which, undeniably, was enough. Except if those abilities wouldn’t work, then neither would my hellfire.
The group of soldiers hadn’t cared as they watched with amusement. Another one came through the door, holding a weapon similar to the ‘Water Blaster’ but this one had a yellowish gem embedded in it. “Good on you, Hildor, taking one for the team!” And they shot Hildor who I thought I had used as a hostage. He went numb and I followed him to the ground as whatever they used transfered to my body—feeling just like I had when the pole pulsated.
They laughed and walked over to us, hoisting me over one of their shoulders. After that, they just started walking towards the door, and I saw Hildor laying back at the wall, unable to do anything.
“Hey, we’re taking this rebel to the Inferno, get Hildor’s ass up and give him the rest of his shift off for today.”
The Inferno. It couldn’t be too bad, right? I did have high resistance. The only problem are these dumb ass restraints. I needed an ability that helped with that, for sure.
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Tale of Family - Book 1 - WIP
The world is peaceful in 2063. Fusion reactor and Diamon battery had taken care of the energetical problem. Countries were stable. Automation was everywhere. Life wasn't hard anymore, at least not in the United States of Europe. Summer break is about to start and, finally, Zoe will turn 18 and be able to play the game, Binding Fate. A simple video game, a vrmmo, but what swam under its surface wasn't simple. Power, fame and money were but the tip of the iceberg... State: Hiatus because I've an idea for another story. Quick F.A.Q. : - Yuri/female homosexual relation? Yes.- Yaoi/male homosexual relation? Maybe.- Explicit Sexual Content? Maybe.- Full Fledged Tragedy? No. Never, ever ever.- Body Modification/Body Horror? Yes. (Note: what one person think is body horror can be acceptable for someone else. If you want to see to what length I can go, read a bit of The Other Labyrinth. However, I won't go as high as quickly in the body mod/horror, so relax.- Gore? Hell yeah! I love gore! spraying blood and viscera etc...- Torture? Hurgh... maybe? Idk. Not at the start at the very least.- Memory loss/erasing? No, or at least not permanently. I basically hate this trope because it's like taking out all the character grow from a character, destroying everything that makes them what and who they are. so no.- Overpowered protagonist? You will see mufufu...- Will characters stay relevant seeing how numerous they are? YES, MOTHERFUCKING YES, I hate when characters relevance decay over time for no good reasons ^^'- Plot Armor? First of all, a definition: "Sometimes referred to as "Script Immunity" or a "Character Shield", Plot Armor is when a main character's life and health are safeguarded by the fact that he's the one person who can't be removed from the story. Therefore, whenever Bob is in a situation where he could be killed (or at the least very seriously injured), he comes out unharmed with no logical, in-universe explanation." (courtesy of https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlotArmor I love you guys ^^) So now that this is said, do my characters have plot armour? No, because I always have an in-universe explanation, even if you don't know it yet ^^ Something is illogical or don't make sense? Read more, the answer is surely in the story ^u^- Balanced system? If you want to crush numbers and have a perfect equation balancing all the system, that's not the story for you. The system is more like a living being, and the rewards aren't forcibly tied to the level of the player. In fact, the system is purposely unbalanced ^^' Author's note: My goal here is to write a slow-paced story revolving around the bonds linking the characters, be them family, friends or lovers. Fight will be part of it, but I intend to build an actual interesting world before making truly large-scale battle happen, because the bigger a battle is, the larger its causes and effects are. I also aim at telling a story about how the characters actually help each other becoming stronger, more stable and happier. I particularly despise the lone MC type that becomes so powerful that every other character of the current setting become irrelevant beside being hostage targets, so this will not happen. I also like crafting, arrays, blacksmithing etc... so there may be crafting. Another thing I like is management game like sim-city or the like, so this while also appears, keeping in mind that I like MC's that make people around them stronger... For the tropers around here, a list of tropes that I like to use (note that I may not use all of them ^^) (this list will be updated as I dive deeper and deeper into our dear trope wiki.)- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BodyHorror- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SealedGoodInACan- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouAreNotAlone- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ZombieAdvocate (In particular since I see a lot of things that aren't human as worthy to live and to live with)- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvenEvilHasLovedOnes- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvenEvilHasStandards- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeelFaceTurn- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CorruptTheCutie (Note: being corrupted don't mean you're a villain, only different than before.)- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DefectingForLove (Of course.)- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainousRescue- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InterspeciesAdoption (For the same reasons as zombie advocate, since I love family stuff)- https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrokenBird (to go with corrupt the cutie if it's a girl)Cover: "The Bard" by John Martin, 1817.
8 153The Order Between Life And Death
There is order between life and death, by natural, not by man!!
8 169The Humanity Initiative (discontinued)
Virtual gaming has been around for ages. Many live their entire lives online, not caring about what’s left of the real world. The few who do, fear nuclear annihilation. The risk of an unfortunate chain reaction is too large to ignore, but as of now, prevention is impossible. Humanity, in its biological form, would never survive as it is. That’s why the UN has its full focus on “The Humanity Initiative”. The field of genetics shows promising results, but are years from ready. If bombs were to fly tomorrow, something must survive. Recent VR technology has a potential candidate for that something.Farah Al Farzha never plays online, she loathes the very idea of it. She is in love with reality, and competitive fencing is her way to prove it. But when she reluctantly went online, she couldn’t exit, or at least a copy of her consciousness couldn’t.Human, but juridically speaking no more, Farah struggles in a game that would’ve been illegal. To her only consolation, the game is modeled after reality, a place foreign to the gaming brats around her. But what demands do the UN put on potential ‘human’ survivor candidates, and how will natural selection be replaced, when reality is no more? _______________________________________________________________________
8 244MY Life In The Multiverse
A young man's life was snatched away from him in his sleep and he ended up transmigrating into a weird world with only an unreliable system to depend on.Follow him in his hilarious journey through the difficulties the multiverse has to offer. Current anime involved: Devil is a part-timer, Sakurasou no pet na kanojo, Tensura (Slime), Beelzebub, Tokyo ghoul, Assassination classroom... You can support me and read advanced chapters on Patreon :https://www.patreon.com/Bakorio If you have any ideas for the story, you can message me on discord : https://discord.gg/6KvJZrwYE5
8 329Chronicles of Kyr
Volume one: In the world of Imala, on a continent known as Goskin, homeland of the orcs. In a small feudal kingdom called Limguard, Kyrion, a young farmer's son, looks at the clouds and dreams of a world bigger than the family farm. A world beyond the horizon, a life of adventure, would bring light to a dark place. An elderly spirit master of the Limguard has come for the Biennial awakening. A chance to live and change his fate has arrived, and he will take it. Volume 2: Kyrion has arrived at his academy, a place aiming to groom a powerful spirit master. Follow Kyrion as he grows into a young man and becomes a pillar for his generation. Chapters are back over the weekend
8 145Pantala High School
If the Wings of Fire Pantalan MCs went to high school! If you love Sunlow, Blicket, and Wings of Fire AUs, this one might be for you.
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