Chapter 16 Level 2

A few months passed since I first met Shadow and she informed me that we were nearing the entrances to the second level. Malix had come out and was back on my shoulder and since then Shadow seem to give us a respectful amount of space but remained within sight. I had tried several times to go near her but if Malix was out and about she would backpedal like I had the plague.

During these months we hunted several tier 4 beasts and ran away when we spotted a tier 5 on the prowl. The beast we hunted consisted of bats, these giant sloth-like creatures that seemed to suck on the stalagmites, and the moles from before. I say we but it was just me with Malix watching my back. Several times I activated my bloodline to better control its affecting range. The tier 5 beast I had seen previously was none of the above it was some sort of tortoise like creature with a massive shell. The beast was the size of a hill and would break the stalagmites before consuming them.

During my rest time when Malix would crawl into my bag to nap, Shadow would come near and converse with me. I had learned she was a Sun Elf who took jobs to help support her clan but when I tried asking for more details, she would just go silent. She did however ask me small questions every now and then about how I trained growing up and how I got my bloodline to be so potent at such a young age. Not seeing a problem with telling her. I explained to her how some of the Kan scions are trained as soon as they’re strong enough to lift a weapon. The look of shock and horror on her face when I told her my age and how I trained was priceless. I wish I had an orb to capture the moment.

We traveled close to the walls of the massive chamber as Shadow had informed me that the deeper, I went into the Everchange forest the stronger the creatures become. This did not stop me from collecting herbs that looked interesting and ores and gems that I had found growing from the stalagmites deeper inside. This place was so rich in resources that I was confused as to why they do not clear the area and settle in here. It wasn’t until our second month of traveling that I finally managed to catch one of the elusive drops. The raw amount of mana contained in that single drop almost knocked me out. I hadn’t realized how much power were in these drops and I caught several more later that week. Each had to be stored in their own container otherwise the container would break and both drops would be lost.

In the distance roughly an hour or two away I could see the beginnings of a massive hole in what I could only assume be an entrance into Level 2, the Land of the Dead. This is where the necromancers that failed in a coup d’état originally fled too with hundreds of thousands of undead. This was where Rognif Claw met his doom but not before cursing the land. The land which happens to have some of the richest mana and mineral deposits on the area. I had extracted as much information about the upcoming level from Shadow as I could. The undead curse was so strong that no priest of the gods could ever fully purify it without it reverting as they tried. Any living creature that died here would rise back up as an undead.

Another reason I was so grateful for the return of my strength with the third tier available I could buff myself and use several moves only available to knights or warriors of this level of strength.

Finally arriving to the massive hole, I peeked inside expecting to see hordes of undead but seeing nothing but packed dirt and darkness.

“You won’t see undead for a week at least. The further they are from the Land of the Dead the weaker they become. Their existence is tied to the land itself.”

Shadows voice came directly into my ears, and I turned to glance back at her. She must be using some sort of technique to be transferring her words directly to my ears. I nodded at her in thanks before I began my descent.

“Malix you wouldn’t happen to have traveled to level 2 or further beyond before?”

The worm which had been curled up on my shoulder jerk before shaking its head and facing me. Lately she had begun to sleep more and more, and I assumed it was just a beast thing.

‘Hmmm? Waa, I eat anything you’ll give me.’

Her voice was a bit disorientated, and I picked the worm off my shoulder in concern.

“Are you ok? Would you like to sleep inside my spatial bag?”

Shaking her head once again Malix straighten up before speaking.

‘I’m ok sorry just… need more rest lately. What was your question?’

“Have you ever traveled to level 2 or further beyond?”

‘No at least I don’t think so. Most of my life was spent were we found you and the times I did travel it was on top of my mother at speeds I could not see and yes I would like to go back inside your bag.’

I pulled the pack open, and the worm scurried into the bag. I still wanted to know how she could do that, but she would never answer whenever I asked about it. Find then, keep your secrets.

My descent continued and a week passed in a flash. As I went further into level 2, I noticed more and more minerals and mana stones of low quality until those minerals disappeared and veins of ore appeared in their place. Iron and copper but this was just the beginning. I was sure I would see a magic metal or two. Truly I was amazed at the tunnel but what was even more amazing was whatever creature made such a perfect and mostly circular tunnel.

The moment I passed a certain distance into level 2 I felt the very quality of the environment change. Shadow had pulled up close to me before she seemed to shimmer in place and disappear. Shocked I looked around until I heard a giggle coming from below me. Looking down at my own shadow I noticed how instead of appearing like me it appeared like a certain elf lady. This was awesome.

I returned my attention to the changes and noticed the tunnel I had been traveling downwards in changed the moment I took a step passed a certain threshold. It seemed to get brighter before dimming all at once and even with my enhance vision and mana stones littering all sides of the tunnel glowing in blues, reds, browns, and transparent I could barely see. I sat down and took a few hours to adjust myself and body into a combative mind state. I would be on my own from here on out and I needed to ensure I was fully ready before I set off. Things could get dangerous in the Land of the Dead.

A week before Aegis arrived at the entrance of level 2.

Kavlar chuckled in glee as his horde over came the defenses in the city of Comb. It was all so easy to enact his plan as the Land of the Dead not only enhanced his powers but masked them as well. So much death energy was concentrated that all normal procedures that would rat him out as a practitioner of the dark arts could not detect him. Comb was the first major town established in the Catacombs for mining purposes. It was also a small EGER (Empire’s Guild of Emergent Request) headquarters as the surrounding undead was a great way to train for various guilds and their newer members.

The thing with the city of Comb is that no one higher than the tier 5 governor was stationed here. Most of the undead within the surrounding 100-mile radius would only be tier 3 with a few tier 4s roaming. Nothing a concentrated offense could kill or reroute from the city.

So, with Kavlar using a Bracelet of Redacted Strength to suppress and mask his power he was quite easily let into the city and if you paid the fee, you would be allowed access to the teleportation gate to return to the surface or descend to another city.

Walking in Kavlar casted |Fatal Touch| and |Black Grip|. |Fatal Touch| was a tier 5 spell which could steal half of the life force of an unguarded target. |Black Grip| a tier 3 spell that would summon skeleton hands which would grasp onto the intended targets and hold them immobile. Kavlar then removed the Staff of Nar’rakkan from his spatial bag and immediately summoned his three necromantic pets. The Staff of Nar’rakkan was a gift from Lady Mira and came with 3 separate features.

“TEErrOr, hoRRor, aND Despairrr calllL your siblings. CApTureee the city.”

The rank one ghouls instantly turned to the captive tier 3 guards and screams rang out as they tore the immobile guards limb from limb and consumed them with great relish.

…

Two weeks had gone by since Kavlar’s capture of the city of Comb. He kept his horde of a thousand strong ghouls just on the edge of the radius and the moment the governor had been captured and killed and most of the guards and adventures incapacitated Kavlar had brought in his army teleporting some in directly such as the higher tier ghouls of tier 5 and 4 while having the rest make their way towards him.

“KeeH, KKEEh, keeeH,” Kavlar laughed he would use these people to complete a blood sacrifice to return his wife’s body to the land of the living. Then he hoped to use their souls for bartering with the dark god Nar’nazak. He hoped the guard would take the souls as an offering and return his wife soul to her body.

He hummed her favorite song to himself as he sliced open the throat of one of the captives then used a brush to write in an erratic rune language. The ground trembled for miles with each character he wrote and the mindless undead began to swarm towards the town. Five thousand souls would be quite the offer.

“Augustus, we’ve received orders grab your spear and get ready to go.”

Augustus rolled his eyes at his party leader and elder sister. Before sighing and speaking.

“Please don’t tell me it’s another overgrown chicken.”

“That ‘overgrown chicken’ was a cockatrice on the verge of becoming a ranked and need I mention it almost killed you, thrice!”

“Octavia please… just don’t mention it to mother!”

Augustus put away his hand mirror after making sure his face was in order before grabbing his spear and a few other items storing them away in his spatial bag. The moment he stepped outside onto their family terrace he was firmly grabbed by his sister and whisked away to their local EGER headquarters.

“Quaver is already ready and waiting on us. This is a black priority mission and we’ll be the first team to be sent out. You’ll get the rest of the briefing once we arrive.”

Augustus calmly removed his sister’s hand from his shirt and walk alongside her. The playful expression that had been forming on his face disappear and Augustus moved with haste.

“How bad is it?”

“Bad we’ve lost all contact with the town of Comb and the nearby towns have all sent out teams that never returned. Either an undead horde is rampant, and the city is stuck defending or…” Octavia didn’t dare to finish her sentence. Comb was where she and her brother first trained starting off as adventurers. The town was small with only around 150 guards for the 5000 population, and she was on good terms with the mayor. Hopefully everything was ok.

The EGER headquarters in the city of Ashburn was a massive seven stories tall beasts as Ashburn was not only one of the largest cities in the Empire but was also home to a few restricted zones within a few thousand miles of the city. Duke Apollo originally built the city to be a bastion in case anything ever happened in those zones and throughout its over thousand-year history the city had never once suffered an attack. Partially because of the guards of the duke and partially because of EGER. Adventurers were one of the most lucrative jobs available in the Empire and most rewarding if you manage to keep your life for long enough. The EGER headquarters of Ashburn was in a gothic style building built with a dark magical stone that reinforced the building as over the years several strong adventures had manage to do major damage when drunk.

Augustus and Octavia entered the building as if the cockatrice itself was on their heels. Moving past adventures who gave out a shout and greeting without so much as a reply. Ascending the stairs until they reached the 4th level. Their third and final member Quaver was already sitting and waiting with a high-level guild representative.

Augustus eyes lit up and he pulled up a chair next to the representative rather than sit in one of the two open chairs on the other side of the table. The representative pushed her glasses up in frustration and sighed and Augustus avoided the eyes of his sister, who if looks could kill would have slayed him 100 times on the spot.

“Corella my dear, it is sooo wonderful to see you again!”

“Zip it, pretty boy,” Corella turned towards him with fire in her eyes and Augustus gave out a slight shiver in pleasure.

Corella returned her attention to the documents in her hand before clearing her throat and speaking. Augustus eyes never once left her face.

“Roughly one week ago the city of Comb failed in their standard communication relay and the cities of Skel, Lee, and Ton each sent out a small force of adventures and guards roughly 30 total who never returned. After not hearing back they’ve requested aid and EGER has been assigned the task. The Blue Team, you guys, have been assigned as foreword scouts who will assess the situation. Your mission is to lay eyes on the city and see if it still stands or is under siege. If it still stands, you’ll be constructing a Quick Gate allowing a few powerhouses from your guild to step through before you assist in fending off whatever has attacked the city. If it has been lost you are to return to the town of Ton, which is also where you’ll be teleporting in to. Any questions?” Corella asked as she reached for the pitcher and pored herself a glass of water. The Blue Team was already moving towards the city center after taking the official documents placed before each of them. This was a black priority that would allow them to cut pass everyone and instantly move out. Augustus waved goodbye as they left the room and Corella rolled her eyes as she watched the party leave.

The Blue Team was a young but powerful group of adventures composed of nobles with Octavia as the leader/spellcaster. Augustus as the scout/main attacker and Quaver as the tank/healer. As people grew in strength and climbed the tiers their powers would open more allowing them to make the impossible possible. Corella put her hands in prayer hoping that the Blue Team would come back safely and that the people of Comb would be alright.