Chapter 31

Light that which bleeds

“Nadia! The beast is at the verge of death. A couple of hits from our ballistae and I am sure it would drop dead. Aim carefully, we only have a total of six spikes with and be careful not to hit the others.” Agon shouted while his eyes were glued on the beast.

“Um! Agon, where is Marcos?” Nadia asked a little worried. Marcos had suddenly gone missing and Nadia was scared that something might have happened to him.

“I do not know and I don’t think we have the liberty to be worried about him right now. He might have run away or something. Now concentrate on the beast” Agon urged Nadia to go back to shooting the beast. Ever since the battle with the beast had started, Nadia had been shooting the spikes whenever possible while simultaneously healing any one that had a low health. Due to this Shiv and the others had given majority of the mana potion to Nadia as the entire plan depended on her effectiveness. Thus it could be said that Nadia was the central tower of all the strategies of the party. This was the reason that she was made to stand behind the ballistae as it could act as a guardian to her if necessary. Shiv had carefully thought of everything and had come up with a sure to win plan but he did not take into account the appearance of an outsider.

A short that emitted bright light stuck out from Nadia’s chest. Blood spurted out from the wound like the water from a huge fountain. Agon froze for a moment and before he could even react the sword dug into Nadia’s flesh three times more rendering her lifeless in seconds. The lifeless body fell to the ground covered in blood, her beautiful golden eyes going pale. Agon unsheathed his dagger and ran towards the outsider, rage clouding his senses but fuelling his movements. The dagger bit into the outsiders shoulder making him kneel down in pain. Agon pulled out the dagger and began his next thrust aiming for the neck of the attacker. With all his might and speed he swung down his arm hoping the attacker would drop dead but everything went vain when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. The pain was then accompanied by a warmth, the warmth of his on blood. This time, it was Agon’s turn to kneel down. Gripping the wound in his abdomen with his left hand he looked at the attacker with hatred and disgust.

The attacker smiled at the boy. His crimson eyes showed no signs of remorse or guilt, there was only satisfaction in them. Dropping back his hood the attacker kicked Agon on his face thus sending him flying towards the others. The dying boy fell in between the party and the beasts causing both the sides to be startled. But the alpha reacted faster and it reacted in a way that none would have imagined.

It ran towards the half dead boy and in an instant the boy was gone. Only a hand remained on the ground, the body had disappeared. Shiv froze, his brain could not grasp what had occurred. His hands trembling, he looked around himself searching for Agon’s body and it was then he heard the sounds of bones crunching. His mind went blank, leg went numb.

“No, not again. Please don’t. Please, I beg you. Not him” tears gushed out of his eyes as he wailed like a child who lost his mother. Memories of separation ran amok in his mind, the memories of the Draklake village and his three masters filled his heart with grief and now there was another person who had left him.

The health bar of the alpha which was supposed to be at 30% or so was now a little over 50%. The beast had eaten Agon to replenish its health. And now it was glaring at the party who had lost its healer and archer.

Anger began to well up inside the young boy’s heart. An anger so intense that his body began to develop a black misty aura.

Skill Upgraded: Dark AuraBlood aura has grown in to Dark aura. A black aura born from intense anger and hatred. The aura gives you immense power in exchange for your life force. Your anger and hatred towards the alpha dralve has brought forth a hunger for revenge.

+40% attack damage

+15% defense

Duration: Till HP runs out or is cancelled by the user

Mana consumption- 1000 per use

With his black dragon sword in his right and the black dagger in his left, Shiv leapt forward towards the alpha, the dark aura which gave him immense power was already eating way his life at a tremendous rate, but he did not mind, all he saw was the alpha beast in front of him. Activating Hono and Kaze along with Dragon’s roar. The black aura from the Dark aura skill mixed with the yellow aura which was due to the skill Hono and gave forth a black aura with tints of yellow. The alpha which was now paralyzed due to the dragon’s roar skilled glared at Shiv. The attacks hit the alpha right on its face causing it to wail, as black blood rushed out from the cuts.

Rehan and Maya who were till then near Nadia’s corpse unsheathed their weapons and rushed towards the attacker. Rehan thrust his huge sword aiming at the outsider’s abdomen while Maya was activating her special skill, Creators wrath. A berserker’s attack depended up on its rage and so creator’s wrath increased her rage up to 200% making her attacks and agility twice as powerful. She had intended to use it against the alpha if things went bad but now the blond guy in front of her had the highest priority.

“Creators wrath” she yelled out and soon red markings appeared on her body, her blue eyes turned red making her look like the devil himself. Rehan who had been till then attacking the blond but unable to land a successful hit retreated immediately. The blond was confused as to why the knight had retreated but was immediately made to defend a fury of blows from the berserker. Creator of wrath was a passive skill which had a duration of 5min. once the 5min were over Maya’s body would feel extreme exhaustion and would be rendered paralyzed for two minutes and thus the skill had a very big disadvantage. If she was unable to finish of her enemy within 5min, her death was certain.

The blond boy gritted his teeth, even though he was blocking the attacks, his health was still decreasing indicating the attack power was too high that blocking was only a little effective. In less than three minutes, Maya’s attack speed was so high that the blond boy could hardly see the sword she was holding. Maya began preparing for her final strike, the boys’ health was now at 10% and she was sure a single attack or so would end his life. She concentrated all her powers to the tip of the sword, activating another special skill, double pierce. An attack which pierced the victim twice at the exact same spot. The first attack not only caused damage in also rendered any defense at the point of contact as bull thus letting the second pierce attack do twice the damage. Pulling back her sword, she thrust it with all her might, aiming at the boy’s heart and with a clang, the attack shattered the armor at the point of contact. Preparing for her next strike, she pulled back her sword once more but the attack never came.

‘Shoom’ ‘Shoom’ ‘Shoom’

Rehan could clearly hear the sound of something fly through the air, not once but thrice. His widened when he saw something he did not expect. The iron spikes had impaled into Maya’s back causing her attack to be canceled and also making her lose her balance. Rehan rushed towards Maya to prevent her from falling but before he could reach her, the blond boy had already thrust his shinning sword into her throat and slice it off. The iron spikes had a tremendous attack power, just three of it had caused Maya’s HP to reduce to 5% and the exhaustion from the creator’s wrath had caused her to defense to drop too, thus making the iron spike hits as critical hits. And the final blow was to her neck, severing her head from her body. Rehan ran towards the boy who had by then consumed a couple of high grade health potions to recover to almost full health.

“You are next, Marcos. Once I am done with this bastard, you are next. I will rip you apart”

But the battle was horrifyingly one sided. The boy had a hard time against Maya because he could not cope up with her attack power and speed. But Rehan’s was a different case, his strength was and speed was not enough to make the boy sweat even a little. Every attack Rehan used against the boy was ineffective, and was countered. Rehan’s health began to deplete at a fast pace and in no time reached 5%. It was then, something that startled the attacker occurred. Rehan’s HP till then was almost depleted shot back to full health. The boy stood in daze as he saw the full HP bar of his enemy.

“Just because your HP has been regenerated does not mean you can win with those weak attacks”

“Silent Prayer” Rehan dictated the name of the skill he had just used. “This skill makes me immortal for 10min, triples my attack power at the expense of my life. The moment the skill runs out I die and lose five levels. Till now I have never used the skill, so be honored. Now die”

Rehan gushed towards the blond guy who was a little late to react to the sudden attack. Rehan’s sword made a slash and hit the target on its stomach causing the boy to writhe in pain. A single attack had caused him to lose almost 20% of his length. The boy tried to back off from Rehan but to his dismay, Rehan had already anticipated this and had begun the second attack. At this moment a spike sprang towards Rehan’s back. Twisting his body, Rehan evaded the spike and thus escaping its clutches but the sudden twisting had caused him to lose his balance and fall down. Before he could get up the blond boy was already in front of him. His normally bright sword was now emitting a red color. Rehan understood it was some sort of skill and tried to block the attack, while his back was still to the ground.

Marcos was smiling at himself for getting such an easy target, he was sure that even if the spike did not hit, his master had got the advantage now and would surely finish of the enemy knight. But once again things did not go as he thought. While smiling and enjoying the fight between his master and Rehan, Marcos did not notice the guy lurking in the shadow behind him, not until something plunged into his back, impaling his heart.

“How does it feel to be backstabbed?” a deep voice asked, filled with rage. The voice was trembling so much that Marcos could not recognize it at all. He tried to shout, call for help from his master and so he opened his mouth. But no voice came out, for he felt immense pain in his neck. The lurker had removed the dagger from Marcos’s back and slit his throat before Marcos could shout, all in a matter of seconds that Marcos did not even understand what was going on. Slowly his health began to drop as the dagger once again pierced his heart, now from the front. The dagger was pulled out and then it came down again impaling his throat. This impaling strike continued for a minute so. Marcos could not react, the pain every slice caused him made him unable to think or act and soon he lay dead, his corpse covered in wounds and blood.

Once Marcos was dead Vrolis leapt toward Rehan to defend him from the sudden attack. His years as an assassin had helped him travel at speeds normally impossible to humans and in seconds Vrolis was behind the blond with the dagger already half its way towards the blond boy’s vitals. Sensing the attack from behind he jumped out of the way causing the skill to be cancelled. Vrolis helped Rehan up, the two then intently stared at the boy in front of them.

“Now that the rat is dead, let us take care of you now.” Vrolis said pointing towards the dead Marcos. The blonde felt a shiver when his eyes met that of Vrolis.

“Why did you do this, the so called apostle of life? Have you decided to become the apostle of dark now? Such underhand methods?” Vrolis’s voice did not hide his disgust for the player in front of him. But this sudden revelation made Rehan dumbfounded.

“You are Adrian? The one with world rank 1? What do you want with us?”

“With you? Nothing. If anything you should curse your bad luck. It is due to your bad luck after all that you are part of Shiv’s team. All I want is to see him beg for his life and watch him despair when I steal all his precious things from him.” And the boy began to laugh like a maniac. The next moment a sharp pain broke out of his knees.

Vrolis had already begun his attack, the first attack was to the knee, trying to cause the boy to lose his balance and agility. The second attack was to the abdomen and the third to the heart, triple strike. Triple strike was one of Vrolis’s skill which let him strike at very fast pace. The attack being not anticipated and sudden caused the boy to lose a lot of HP. He swung down his sword at Vrolis which was easily evaded. Next was Rehan’s turn. He had little less than five minutes left before he dies and so he wasted no more time. The broad steel sword which was given to him by the knights order when he became a knight was now slashing at the intruder eating away his health. Every time the boy tried to parry or counter the attack, Vrolis would appear behind him and thrust his dagger onto his back. The boy was now powerless and was in great danger as the other two continued their attack. Both of them then prepared for the final strike and was about to execute it when Gist came flying and crashing on the blond boy. Vrolis and Rehan were shocked with the sudden crashing and looked towards the alpha, what they saw shocked them. Kate was on the ground, her limbs torn down by the alpha while Shiv was defending himself from the barrage of attacks the alpha was firing.

Gist got up hugging his stomach. He limbed towards the two while he clutched his sword with bloody hands.

“What happened?” Rehan asked, his face was pale now as all hopes of defeating the alpha had now disappeared.

“Don’t know. We thought we were winning. Shiv had activated a skill which made him really over powered and so we were hacking down it health while barely remaining alive. And then it suddenly became too strong. I don’t know what happened, may be some sort of special boss skill but it really is unbeatable now, at least not in our tired state. May be if you two could join we might have a chance. The alpha had been emitting a blackish aura ever since it powered up. And only one pair of its eyes are open, I am guessing it sacrificed its eyes for more power or something, I don’t know. Damn we very much need a healer” Gist complained, still limping towards the Alpha.

The last phrase told by Gist caught Vrolis’s attention. Grohl, they still had Grohl, but why was he not healing anybody. Vrolis then looked towards the boy, who was now getting up from the ground, his health was now a 2%, but a smile broke out on his face as he witnessed the scene before him.

“Serves you right Ryu, this is what you get for insulting me. Don’t worry this is just the beginning. I will take away everything from y….” before he could finish his sentence, he fell to the ground, the last bit of health running down to zero. Rehan had cut him down with all his might and then he too fell to the ground as his skill ran out of time. Gist stared at the two for a while and then began limping towards Shiv to help him out. Vrolis had already disappeared, he was now running towards the building where Grohl was, hoping the little priest was still alive.

---**---

“I will kill you, you bastard.” Shiv screamed at top of his voice. Even though he was under heavy attack, his eyes were glaring daggers at the alpha that had slayed his friends. The dark aura around him had subsided as he did not want to die before the beast was slain. When Kate was dead and Gist was send flying, only despair and anger filled inside Shiv. His brain could not understand what had gone wrong, his heart could not bear the pain it was paining. With tears still rolling down from his cheeks, Shiv still pushed on, trying everything he could to bring down the alpha.

To Shiv’s dismay, the alpha was getting faster and faster as time passed. Till now, he was able to block the attacks directed towards him, but now one or two always came through and caused him damage. The high difference in levels made each attack bite of large amount of health. And now, Shiv was on his knees, his head hung low as he stood in wait for the last strike. His eyes were lifeless and his face pale. From a distance, Gist was shouting at him to stand and fight. But Shiv was already dead, mentally. Agon’s memories were now being played inside his mind, the young boy who had always followed him, the young hunter who had always obeyed his every order, he was now gone. Shiv wondered what he would tell the boy’s parents, how he should face them. With every fleeting moments, more and more pain shrouded his broken heart. For some the boy was a NPC, but for Shiv, he was very much a living thing.

“Giving up already Mr. Chief of Draklake?” a sweet male voice echoed out. “Such a pity and here I thought you were something great. Well, now that you have given up, shall I finish it off myself?” a young boy with red long hair appeared out of nowhere near Shiv. He looked as if he were fifteen or so, holding a sword almost double his size and was crimson red in color. Behind him was another boy with grey hair, holding a katana like sword, he was dressed like a Kung Fu student and had no metal armor on him. Together with the two, a girl stood, holding a staff and dressed in a white rob. Her hands were holding a staff which was as tall as her, and her head was covered with a black witch hat.

“Let us begin guys. Damn the thing is still at full health” the guy with red hair shouted and ran forward. The three attacked from different direction and all the time there a guy behind the beast attacking it from its blind spot. The red hair acted as the main tank as it absorbed the agro as well as most of the damage from the alpha. The three used a variety of skills and attacks to approach and deal damage to the beast. While the red hair guy was attacking from the front, the other two would hack away at the beast with class exclusive skills. The guy in the kung Fu dress was a samurai monk, though he was able to equip swords, the monk class caused him unable to wear any defense and so he was the most vulnerable among the trio. The woman was possibly a witch, she being able to use dark magic and also having a witch hat too. The rob she wore made her defense less just like the monk, but the witch often cast a mana shield whenever an attack was directed towards her. The last was the guy with the huge red sword. He had long red hair and matching eyebrows. The sword he equipped was too big for the boy’s stature and yet he wielded it just as it was his very own arm. Some type of swordsman sub class, all three of them above level 100, Shiv was measuring the new guys. He had come to a conclusion as to what their class and level were from watching their attacks and clothes. The trio continued hacking down the beast’s health and just like before, a black mist covered the alpha’s body and its health shot back to full in an instant. Shiv and the others stared at the beast in shock.

“Again? What is that skill?” Gist who had by then limped back towards Shiv questioned in disbelief. In every game he had so far played, the boss sometimes did power up tremendously, but that was a one-time skill. But the alpha, not only did it restore its HP, it also evolved, the level bar on it showed 160 as its current level. “An unbelievable thing, truly unbelievable.” Gist could not stop from saying.

“What the hell?” the red haired boy seemed angry. “Fine I will finish you off myself. Crimson death form 4: Hell blizzard”

The moment the boy activated the skill, his red sword began to glow with a fiery aura. The boy’s back began to grow black wings which kept growing till it was twice the length of the boy, his ears began to sharpen, fangs and claws grew out. His neatly kept hair were now lengthening too giving the boy an unruly appearance. With the sword held against his chest the boy stared at the alpha taunting it to attack. The angered alpha swung its right front leg, sharp claws covered with dried up blood came down on the red hair, intending to cut him down but the claws never reached its destination. The boy had disappeared just before the attack hit him. He was now under the beast, facing its soft underbelly and what followed were a series of really fast set of attacks, aimed at its legs and belly. The alpha beast wailed in pain and tried to move away but the attacks to the legs caused it unable to move. By the time the skill wore off, the alpha only had 10% of it health left. The red haired guy jumped away from the beast and then signaled the others to finish it off. The two companions activated their skill and then approached the beast to slay it in one go.

“Deaths Embrace” the witch used a dark magic which caused thousands of black colored hands to emerge from the ground and constrict the alpha, the hands caused burn on the alpha’s body thus reducing its health little by little. And before the alpha could restore its health, the next attack came.

“Heaven splitter” the monk roared as his sword made a vertical slash on the beast head, splitting it into two, a very neat cut. The beast fell into the ground motionless, black blood oozing out.

Gist and Shiv stared at the three who were now walking towards them, smiling at them as well as looking down on them.

“See, piece of cake. Dude, you really need to learn how to fight. Well, I can’t blame you for being back stabbed. You should not be so trusting.” The red haired mocked Shiv and then the trio began laughing. They were so busy mocking Shiv that they did not detect the movement behind them.

“Look out” Shiv cried out seeing something behind them, but the warning was already too late. The red haired guy looked behind him, wondering what Shiv was referred too. What greeted him was his monk friend being chewed by the alpha. His low defense had caused him too much as the over powered alpha lay waste to him in seconds. Above the alpha’s head a series of number was shown, “Level 165”. The alpha which was supposed to be dead not only did it revive, it had evolved too. The red haired unsheathed his sword in rage and stared at his dead friend being chewed by the beast. The witch shrieked out loud, catching the beast attention and in an instant the beast was now before her, its claws already on its way to cut her down. The witch cast her mana shield but it was not strong enough, her body was hit with the claw which send her flying a good length.

Now all that left were a red haired sword boy, Shiv and half dead Gist. The three grasped their sword and glared at the beast, ready to strike it the moment it moved. The alpha glared back, its red eyes intently watching the three. When its eyes made contact with Gist, it sped towards him intending to finish the weakest among the three. Bracing himself, Gist waited for the impact but nothing came. A blinding light descended on them, all the four who were in that open space were covered by the light. Shiv and the other two could feel their HP and energy being refilled. It was a high level spell and Shiv knew who the caster was. Looking around he found Vrolis and Grohl running towards them in a hurry.

“This guy was knocked out by some body and was tied down. Took a while to wake him up.” Vrolis explained. Shiv nodded his head as he understood who might have knocked him out.

“Great one! There is something I must tell you.”

“Not now Grohl, the beast is still alive. We have to slay it or else we all die”

“You cannot kill it with your sword Great one. It is being protected by the Dark God’s mist. Without light the beast cannot be slayed. Look the beast is now in pain as my holy spell is a curse to it”

Shiv and the others looked at the beast which was now writhing in pain on the ground. Even though its health remained constant, it was surely in pain.

“Great. Listen to me Grohl, I need you to prepare your strongest spell. Cast it only when I tell you to. Understand?”

“Yes, great one” Grohl nodded. Shiv gestured Grohl to move away from the open space and then turned towards the others.

“Listen guys, there is only one way to take that thing down and for that we work as a team ” Shiv said looking at the red hair.

“Fine, fine I get it. What is the plan? And you better be fast, the thing is getting up”

“Can you use that hell blizzard skill once again?”

“No can do. That is a skill I can use only once every day. But I have another set off skills equally powerful”

“That is enough. Use it after that boy casts his holy spell. We three will bring down the things HP. You stand and protect the kid” saying so Shiv dashed towards the beast activating Kaze, Hono, Dragon’s roar and Dark aura, thereby completely depleting his mana pool. Gist and Vrolis followed behind, activating their own sets of skills. The three surrounded the beast just like the red hair trio did, with Shiv being the main tank. The barrage of attacks took place at very high rate that the beast could not cope up with it. Shortly later the beast’s HP dropped to 10% and the Shiv screamed. “Now Grohl, hit him”

The boy roared in his cute voice “God’s Verdict” and the earth trembled lightly, the night clouds split and then a single ray of light shot down at a tremendous pace hitting the alpha right on its head pinning it down to the ground. The dark aura around its body was being absorbed by the light, slowly the alpha’s body came into view covered in numerous cuts and its own black blood.

“Red hair, finish it off”

“Crimson Death Form 3: Devil’s Claw” The red hair rushed towards the pinned down beast, the huge sword he was carrying suddenly split into two halve turning into dual swords. As he neared the beast, the shape of the sword slowly changed, it width decreased and length increased, slowly it was transforming into two scythes. The high speed run was followed by a very powerful jump, the red hair boy seemed flying through the sky and when he landed, he was on top of the beast’s head. He placed the scythes on each side of the beast neck and in one powerful motion beheaded it. The head of the beast rolled down on the ground and came to a stop in front of Shiv. Once the rolling stopped a tab opened up in front of him.

You have failed the quest. Somebody else has cleared it and so you have failed it. No penalties are applicable

Shiv fell to the ground in relief. Gist hugged Vrolis in joy while Grohl danced around. The red hair stood there gazing at the beautiful white moon. The beast was finally dead.

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ARMAGEDDON: THE NEW WORLD

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