《Realms of Eas》0072 - Ruins of a long lost World - II
Advertisement
[Your Insanity skill has reached Lv 6.]
Sera was falling.
A simple statement. Though the train of thought which led to this result was a bit more complicated and people who weren't insane likely wouldn't consider this conclusion in the first place.
So, how did she get here?
Going back in time for a bit, many questions plagued the mind of the girl.
Were their followers infected or not? Should they flee now, wait for a bit or try to engage the stalkers while they still thought their targets were unaware of them?
Questions Sera's instincts would normally answer for her, but now those were occupied with other questions.
Was she really here? Shouldn't she still be near the stairs? Shouldn't she still be much lower to the ground?
The rifts between realms were disorienting because they didn't contain anything. Dungeon were weird, with how some locations could overlap with others. But the environment there still behaved somewhat normal.
Not so much in this realm.
The longer she stood around and waited, the worse it got. Or it was maybe just her self picking up more and more issues with the realms. Things which were, but shouldn't be. It was hard to explain. Hard to understand.
And the missing action, which could have otherwise distracted her, didn't make it any better.
So, once there was a surprised shout from the lower floors, Sera acted.
Did the trap work or were the stalkers trying to lure them into a trap of their own? She didn't care. Whoever followed them was likely not a tank, either specialized in stealthy physical or magical offensive tactics. Both were types of enemies she could defeat with a bit of luck and if she had the first strike, even if they were rather high leveled. So, with one of them hopefully disabled, she wanted to use the opportunity for some fun.
Should she inform her party members? Probably. So she did that. Though not in a questioning way, just as a statement while also placing her sister back on the floor.
And then she jumped out of the window, since it was the shortest way to her goal and would surprise her targets more.
Returning to the present time, did she get the level in her skill because she jumped down a tall building or because she was heading into a fight with people likely far outclassing her? She wasn't sure, but also didn't care.
The girl had much more important matters to figure out: how was she going to stop at the right floor?
The floors passed by her way faster than they should according to her instincts, which still screamed that this world was wrong. Though, while screaming they also informed her that she was nearing her target, if she ignored this weird world.
Being pressed to find ways to stop, Sera did the obvious and simply jammed her scythe into the steel or concrete or whatever the building was made out of to change her direction.
Advertisement
It even worked and she went through the nearby window back inside. However that maneuver had the unfortunate side effect of getting her scythe stuck in the side of the building.
Until it wasn't.
The area of the aged artificial structure where her scythe had cut into simply broke away under the force of the falling girl. Not exactly what the warrior had in mind, but it worked. The debris falling onto her would have been problematic with her old body but her levels made them just an annoyance.
Turning her attention to the three surprised stalkers - well, two were surprised, one was literally frozen -, she quickly prepared herself to strike them with her scythe by activating her various skills.
Covering herself in her mana armor, a flaming aura, the girl used everything she could think of to give herself an advantage.
Unfortunately with herself and her instincts now focused on the two level 93 and 95 enemies, she forgot the weirdness of the realm. So when suddenly the distance to her targets vanished she could barely react to it. At least the same was true for the other two. But it still caused problems. Instead of cutting through the two, she just managed to impale the closest figure, hood and cloak hiding any defining features, before the additional weight and still very alive enemy on her weapon stopped her attack.
Though the resilience of high level beings in the realm was nothing new to her.
Acting quickly, she first threw a part of her flames into the other person's face, hoping to blind and distract them with the pain. Then, before they could completely adapt to the situation, she quickly drew her dagger and started to stab every potential weak spot she could make out.
She still had to evade the panicked counter swings of the enemy. Attacks which still drew her blood even through her mana armor and even though the enemy was impaled, under pain and blinded. She didn't want to think what would have happened, if she had faced the opponent under better conditions. Though the haphazard attacks of her enemy soon stopped as more stabs into the eyes, throat and wherever else she hit fully depleted their health-bar.
[You have killed a Human Lv 95.]
[Your Assassin class has reached Lv 22.]
[Your Maid class has reached Lv 20.]
...
Then finally the kill message and a lot of level ups appeared. Just in time, before the other stalker attacked. The level up messages were also nice, though unfortunately the realms didn't use a turn-based combat system and she couldn't just pause to look at all of her new gains.
So she reluctantly ignored them and returned her focus back to the remaining enemy.
The hooded figure was quickly closing in with a drawn sword and Sera didn't have any delusions that a hit wouldn't cut away huge chunks from her health. Though then, as she tried and actually succeeded in evading the incoming attack, she immediately noticed that her enemy was slow. Well, still fast, however too slow for someone with a physical class and level 93.
Advertisement
Were they hiding their magic proficiency?
No, the reason promptly revealed itself to her as frost started to form on the arms and legs of the figure. Did they get infected by their comrade or did it spread slower? A question for her sister. For the warrior it only mattered that she could use the opportunity!
With the opponent freezing, Sera distanced herself further and switched over to magic. Her spells would deal even less damage than her physical attacks, but she was just trying to waste time so the virus could finish its work. A part of her still wanted to engage in direct combat, but neither could she compete with the enemy nor was it wise to risk infecting herself with the virus during combat. She might be interested in experiencing her sister's invention personally, but not so much while facing a much higher leveled opponent.
Dragging out the fight a bit longer was fortunately enough to freeze the figure completely. The possibility that they could be faking it did pass her mind, yet was then discarded. There had simply never been a reason.
The fight was over.
Though, with her armor storing mana, even disabled it needed a while to completely vanish and the flames of her aura were still needed to heal the wounds she had sustained from the battle with her first victim.
And in regard to her latest kill, she was interested in the potential loot!
Unfortunately, aside from the sword, daggers, a small compass and a rather light weight spatial bag, there wasn't anything interesting. And as much as she wanted to rummage through the bag, she still didn't like this realm and wanted to get away. The fight had distracted her instincts a bit, but EVERYTHING WAS STILL WRO-
Suddenly a sword appeared.
It was close.
Where did it come from?
Didn't matter! She had to evade, so she tried to turn to the side, but could only notice that a dagger was nearing from that direction.
Were there more attacks?
She couldn't tell. It was dark and the shadows hid everything.
Why were there even shadows?
Also irrelevant! She had to get away!
But where to?
A sword from the front, a dagger from the side, darkness all around her.
The weapons penetrated her aura and armor with little resistance.
Unable to find any outs in the split seconds she had since she had found the quickly nearing blade she left everything to her instincts.
She shouldn't even be here!
The distances didn't make sense!
The environment didn't make sense!
But then why was she still here?
Nothing made sense!
THIS REALM WAS WRONG!
With metal cutting into her body, the girl freed her mana and denied the wrong world itself.
And for once the world listened to her demands.
[Your Aura skill has reached Lv 7.]
[Your Soul-binding Aura skill has reached Lv 4.]
[Your Mana Siphon skill has reached Lv 8.]
[Your Mana Armor skill has reached Lv 2.]
[Your Spell Casting skill has reached Lv 2.]
[You learned the Sacrifice skill.]
[Your Sacrifice skill has reached Lv 2.]
[Your Insanity skill has reached Lv 7.]
Reality shattered.
[Your ##### extra class has reached Lv 2.]
[The Rebellion skill has been awarded.]
[Your Rebellion skill has reached Lv 1.]
The darkness vanished.
Then she was left alone, finally at peace and with resources depleted. Well, aside from the still bleeding new wounds and some still remaining issues her instincts had with the realm, but much less so than before.
The debris of her fight was still lying around, yet neither the body nor the ice statues were anywhere in sight.
Checking on her sister also returned a hard to describe location, which could only be summarized as "not here".
Walking over to the window through which she had entered the floor earlier, now weirdly without the space-illusion-madness which had previously shortened the distance, Sera could also see the plaza where Sarah had prepared the trap. But, even though there was the plaza, there were no signs of the rift and just a physical hole in the area's center.
A hole absent in the reflection in the sky.
Having had enough of the weirdness of the realm for the moment, she didn't jump at the opportunity to explore the weird cave-hole-thing, but instead checked the last place which might give her a clue about what had just happened: her status screen.
[Rebellion]
[A skill unique to the ##### extra class. You went against common sense, disregarded advice from others and broke multiple laws. Not because you had to, not because you were missing information, but just because you wanted to. For the fun of it. Embracing your instincts and insanity, you now chose to go against the realm itself and tried to twist the world around you. While that is an ability more commonly associated with higher leveled mages and gods, you still succeeded partially and changed how the realm affected you. Using mana you may now impose your instincts and will upon the world and change how the world interacts with you. All changes are limited by the used mana as well as affinities provided by you and the world.]
Did she just get a skill, so she could get lost with magic?
Was she lost again?
Advertisement
Witches of the North Book 1: Winter Journey
Things look bleak for Christopher Hawks this year – not only is Chris nearing the stresses of the end of his high school education, but last September he shattered the legendary sword of the kingdom of Northland, became the accidental heir to its Throne and is now being tracked down by the elite Hunters – all events being a result of a few unfortunate choices made in order to help a Witch named Winter (who, in turn, also received help from a Witch named Ian).Now, Chris, following Winter’s lead and dragging along a few others with him, is on his way to (reluctantly) reach the current Queen and challenge her to a duel. But it seems that Winter is more than impatient – could there be a deadline to their mission? And why does everything seem a little too easy? +++ NOW HOLDING A FUNDRAISER to publish this book more officially! more info on my website!
8 175The Chosen Stars - A Transformers Original Continuity
Also available on Fanfiction.net and TFW2005.com. Contains strong language and violence. Updated sporadically. The planet Cybertron hangs in an uneasy state of cold war. The warring factions of the Autobots and Decepticons have brokered a tenuous peace, but tensions are still high. The revolutionary leader Megatron has prepared for a covert mission that will take him beyond explored space in search of an artifact that might finally allow his rebellion to succeed. Meanwhile, a disaffected youth named Airazor searches for a greater purpose, and learns of an Autobot operation to apprehend the former Decepticon leader. The Autobots and Decepticons converge on a world both alien and hauntingly familiar in a battle that will decide the fate of the galaxy. An original continuity- a new Transformers universe featuring elements both referential and original, crafted to tell a completely different kind of Transformers story.
8 152The Core of a Factory
An abandoned steampunk arms factory, in the middle of a conflict torn former state of the Empire it served, gains a soul. This transforms it into a Lord, capable of turning land into power. Beset by enemies on all sides it must figure out how to win the war its creators lost a century ago. This is a progressive Dungeon Core novel (which is to say the core will progress and expand in scale, eventually) across multiple dimensions with different characteristics (e.g. steampunk, magic, mythological). It has rationalist leanings (paragraphs of reasoning) and litrpg leanings (there are stat blocks). The core game mechanical idea is something like "what if different flavors of magic power actually did come from controlling land" and then the story is: "what if there was a flavorless (artifact deck) dungeon core". Chapters will be relatively short (my aim is that in three column format each would fit on a wide screen monitor), the first few chapters - setting up the main character and mechanics - are currently the longest in the entire series. I write chapters in blocks, and then release them one a weekday (M-F; 6 PM GMT, unless RoyalRoad's publish thing screws up) until I run out. There may be a few days of gaps here and there if someone finds an egregious error I have to re-write around or if I am behind. In general though one can read this once a weekend. I may do slight retconns and edits, I'll make sure to put it in an authors note if I do.
8 89Patchwork System
Notification (cannot be ignored): For being the first being to kill another of its own species after Sublimation, Lyam Aldren is awarded the Title of Cain’s Successor. Let all fear the Kinslayer!!! Lyam Aldren, killer for hire, was just going about his business when he suddenly received a notification from something called the System. Apparently, the entirety of Earth, its denizens and its matter were transported into the world of the System, planted in 'patches' all throughout the infinite world. The world of the Patchwork System is one of challenges, where life is cheap, power is king, and Classes and levels are a thing. In a brutal world, there is perhaps room for a killer with bloodstained hands to find his own way, free of his past. However, his Title and his inherent nature plague him, his fragmented personality laid bare to those with the eyes to see, and if he doesn't become powerful enough to defeat or escape those who would use or destroy him, he will quickly be devoured by the merciless world created by the System. Compared to my previous work, this is a more 'classic' litrpg setup, with clear (if somewhat complex) progression through levels and skill gains, with a 'system apocalypse' setup. Unlike most system apocalypse story protagonists, Lyam is neither a leader nor is he particularly interested in saving his fellow Earthlings. This is a story of a man who is both endangered and set free by the destruction of his old world, as he finds both power, new discoveries, and adventure in a place where his past matters not at all and power is the only language most speak. Later in the story, there will be harem elements, but the first volume is dedicated to Lyam's first months in the System. For those who are more interested in the Heirs of the Hooded King, I am putting it on hiatus as I rework the setting and future story developments a bit.
8 171Nadia *Dropped*
Nadia was a beautiful yet poor 9 year old girl when she was kidnapped from her family and raised to be an assassin. This is the story of how she escapes and what she becomes.This is dropped._________________________________________________________________________________________I am only 12 years old and new to writing so please give me harsh criticism and suggestions.It might be mature in some ways. You have been warned.
8 118Clockwork Memoria
In the near future, androids have become common place. Almost indistinguishable from humans, these androids are finding their place in society. This is a collection of their stories, as they go about their day to day lives. This is written as short prose, akin to entries in a diary from a third person perspective. Please do not expect very long chapters, but updates should be frequent.
8 208