Short summary of the last chapter:

Spoiler :

The demon’s was hassled by Kretchof so he sent out a search party for the undead. Kretchof started a fire in the demon’s camp, and stole some goods. Voice figured out how to deal with the large worms, and took out many of them. After a while it took way too long to get them to the trap, so he made a new plane.

Also, let me know if anything is wrong with the chapter! Be sure to comment!

The demon sent his men out to search for the cause of the fire. It had been put out relatively easily, but the sentinels had not seen whoever had stolen their goods. Many of his troops now lacked a secondary set of enhanced weapons and armor.

Of course the secondary set was not as good as their primary set, but still. Having the items stolen in broad daylight, when the entire camp was on alert, did not sit right with the demon.

Someone used the undead as a decoy to harass his army. Someone used the harassment to gather supplies his army needed. The weapons and armor the people stole could feed a small village for a year. The demon was not about to lose that much financial security.

The entire army went in search of the culprit, almost all of them had at least lost something. The only ones that stayed with the camp, where the old sentinels and the new ones. Most of the new sentinels were forced to watch the punishment of the older ones. The demon didn’t kill the old sentinels, but the old sentinels wished he did.

The torture went on for two entire days, with the audience changing as the sentinels changed shifts. After the two days, the old sentinels were completely broken. They would not even be able to think for themselves for about a day.

The demon could have done far worse, but he needed every man he could get his hands on. The search turned up nothing during the entire two days.

No undead were sensed in the entire forest, and no one was seen by the search party. The only people outside of the town were: the hunters, the occasional merchant, and the demon’s two spies. The spies came up empty handed as always. The people in the town were too untrusting to help.

The spies were attempting to get into Elvina’s good graces, but it was not going well. Most times they couldn’t get in to see her. The few times they could they were refused any requests for information, and denied from helping the town rebuild.

The undead somehow just vanished. The demon was on constant alert. There was no way someone with that much explosive ability would just go away. The fact that this mysterious group had managed to not only track them but track his group undetected was nothing short of a miracle.

The demon wanted to recruit whoever that was at any cost. Unless it was Mar’s Chosen. The demon didn’t think Mar’s Chosen would be the type to summon undead. Summoning Undead was the direct power of Davros. Using Davos’ ability to resurrect the dead would neutralize any power Mar had given him, at least for a while.

Besides if Mar’s Chosen knew the size and power of the demon’s army, he would have run away the first chance he got. Therefore, the demon started plotting how to get this group that was harassing his men, to join his side.

The demon wasted several days trying to track down the undead, or the summoner, with no luck. The only time they saw undead was when another attack came. It was four undead, but none of them even exploded.

The spies he sent into the city finally gave information he could use. Mar’s Chosen was last seen heading west. The demon opened his map. Most likely the whelp was heading for Dwarven Hall. It was a large dungeon, that no one had entered in hundreds of years.

The demon shook his head. He mobilized his army that night. They couldn’t find the undead army, but he would be damned if they were going to lose the trail of Mar’s Chosen. It had already been over two weeks since he had left the city. They had a lot of catching up to do.

The demon’s army had to suffer many attacks by undead while they traversed the forest. Many times the supply tents would be raided. Even when the sentinels would have two patrolling the supply tent they would be raided. The only times they wouldn’t be targeted was if there were people in them. If the demon put too many people into the tents then defending against the undead army became harder.

There was no food to be found for the demon’s army while they travelled. They had to go far off track to find even the smallest amount of food. The hunters of the groups said everything had been picked clean. It was as if some overly hungry abomination had come through, but there was no sign of anything large enough to eat all of that.

Due to the amount of hassle the demon’s army got, it took them two entire weeks to reach the Dwarven Hall. The last few days off the journey were especially hard.

Kretchof’s POV:

After collecting the armor and weapons I collapsed the fortress master had made for me. Although I was reluctant to give up something master so painstakingly created, I had to do what was in master’s best interest. Guarding the loot took first priority. I made sure the demon’s army couldn’t get to any of it. I made my skeletons dig a large cavern and put the loot in that.

My master wanted me to whittle down the army opposing him. I was doing just that. After I stole many supplies from their camp, I had started clearing out all food products that might help them on their path to my master. I used my undead to harvest any edible plants, and kill any animals in the area. I would have decayed the plants, but master would have been displeased if I somehow adversely affected River’s Cross. I didn’t want to make master angry. All of the fruit and vegetables were used to lure in the herbivores. I used the herbivores to lure in the carnivores. Like this I had gathered up all possible food products that might assist the army in getting to master.

I sent all of the food products back to River’s Cross, discretely of course. I made sure there was no way of anyone finding out it was master that was the cause. I had found a large nest of badgers, several hundred in fact. I cursed them all to death. After cursing them I sent in my zombies. The zombies made short work of the badgers. After only an hour of fighting there was over a hundred badger bodies ready to be raised. I sent my zombies out on suicide missions to attack the camp again. I knew the demon’s army would wipe them out, but I wanted to raise badger skeletons.

-With the zombies gone, I began the arduous task of raising many skeletons. There was a way to exceed the limit of skeletons I could have summoned at once, but it took a lot of time and patience. I had plenty of both, but it was still difficult. I began drawing the complex circle around the badgers. I had to have a steady flow of blood to draw it. I used many of the badger corpses provide the blood needed. It took about thirty minutes of drawing to finally complete the circle.

When I was done with the circle I began the long incantation. This spell was the most complex, and powerful, one I could cast. The incantation took three entire minutes to finish. As I mouthed the words, dark magic poured from my body. Master had enhanced me when he summoned me. I didn’t know how, but he somehow gave me the ability to tap directly into the dark mana in the area around me. Because of this, the magic requirement was not a problem.

After the ritual was done I gave the orders to the badgers. They began their work at once. I had ordered them to start making a maze. The exact details of the maze are unimportant, but I did make sure to know the fastest sure-fire way from the soon to be constructed entrance, to the holding chamber I was in. The entire system took a long time to make. The badgers usually created small setts (tiny tunnels) so creating large pathways took more time. I ordered them to create tunnels big enough for the smallest of the large monsters to be able to walk through.

The network first connected outside of River’s Cross, that is when I started sending out forays to collect food and bring it to them. After that the tunnels began to become more expansive. The entire network was housed at least 60 feet below the ground. That was the maximum height, not including the tunnel to River’s Cross. I thought master would be pleased by the complex area the Demon’s army had to travel through to get their gear back.

Unfortunately the demon’s army decided to leave the area they were staying in. I left the confines of the storage room, and began to raise undead to slow the progress of the demon’s army. The large summoning I had done earlier had its own slot it took up. I could only have one large summoning at a time, but it did not effect the amount of normal undead I could have.

The amount of undead I could summon had been slowly increasing since I was constantly summoning new undead. I could now summon up to forty skeletons at once. They were all fairly weak, but master would be happy to see my powers grow. I wanted to please master in any way possible. The skeletons I made harassed nearby animals, and made several forays into the demon’s camp as the traveled. The badgers dug tunnels near wherever my position was. Their job was to expand the system, I didn’t care in which direction.

The tunnels started taking on a straight line, with many detours and dead ends, but it was still a straight line. Master would not be pleased with such an easy puzzle, so I ordered the badgers to start making the tunnels go off in different directions. They obeyed, leaving only a small number to follow me. I used those badgers to accost the demon’s camp. They would dig to supply tents while I sent in my skeletons to attack. They would sneak into the tent instead of digging into it. I did not want to give the enemy any idea of how I was stealing their supplies.

I made the badgers fill the hole in after they stole the supplies. They filled it in for six feet. Just enough to make the army not think to dig lower. The amount of gear and supplies I stole was considerable. I hoped my master would be pleased. I never managed to get any of the really good gear, but that was too much to ask. Master would not be happy if I was over zealous and ruined the plan.

I made sure to constantly take all of the food, and continue to raid the supplies of the army. They eventually got smart enough to post people in the areas the badgers were going to steal from, so I increased the amount of force attacking the camp. If I could not have their supplies, then they would be battered even more. I continued the attacks every night, far into the mornings on some occasions. I made sure to keep them from having a pleasant sleep any night. Undead don’t need to sleep, but the living do.

After a few nights of poor sleep, even trained warriors would start to make mistakes. I kept this up for almost two weeks. After a week and a half I started to put in maximum effort to stall them. I sent out zombies more often, I even made some of the zombies follow the badgers into the camp. I would use Miasma Bomb, and make the zombies fall in a way to explode the orb my master gave me. The Miasma was mostly sleeping gas, but occasionally there was an explosion with poison mixed in. The demon’s army seemed to have high tolerance to both most of the time.

Several Miasma Bombs would have to be used just to take out one person in the army. Still, the amount of damage caused by the orbs was commendable. My master surely knew how to get good weapons. My supply was running low though. I only had four left by the time the army made it to the mountain. Still the amount of hassle I provided for the demon’s army was enjoyable.

The underground network the badgers worked on was extensive by that point. There were no traps, and the tunnels would easily collapse if anything bigger than two badgers walked in them, but they were a commendable start. I hoped master would be pleased. He would be able to leisurely kill intruders should he take up residence in the tunnels.

On the way to the mountain, I felt the bodies of several dwarves. They were low levels, most likely trying to make a name for themselves, but died too quickly. I raised as many as I could, and had them help the badgers strengthen the tunnels. I wanted the entire overlay to be fortified as much as possible by the time master came to visit it.

I gave orders for the dwarves to slowly increase the stability of the tunnels. I didn’t want a single cave in. Meanwhile I had the badgers start making traps. They were simple traps, mostly pitfalls, but they had to do for now. The pitfalls were empty, but I had to find some way of making wooden spears to put inside them. Two days before the demon’s army reached the mountain, I gave my master warning.

He responded with, “Eh? Whatever. Let them in. I’m not even in that place anymore.”

(The demon’s army reached the mountain about a week and a half after where we ended Voice’s part of the chapter last time.)

Voice’s POV:

We couldn’t think of any good plan to easily mark the path. At least none that EDI and Heather could do. I had thought of making Heather use magic, but I realized I never taught her. I guess it doesn’t matter. Seems like it’d be a hassle.

Although having a minion that is more powerful is always nice. Still I just told EDI a simple trick to avoid getting lost in a maze. If you keep on hand on the wall, you will never cross the same path. That is unless there is no exit. Of course you might be in the same area, but you wouldn’t be going the same direction. Quick tip for you kids that find yourselves trapped in mazes a lot.

She led the worms to the trap area I made, but it still wasn’t fast enough for me. After three trips of gathering worms we noticed something chilling.

The first trip had three worms, I easily dealt with them. The second trip had two. I got a notice for passing the halfway mark of the quest. The next group was what caused the commotion.

The worms were only half the size of normal. Now why would that cause a problem you might ask? Well these worms were at least three times the density of the previous worms. Now that might seem like much of a problem, but my crusher was basically ineffective against them.

They would leave after about five minutes of crushing the worm, to go hunt for a new one. The couple of times they had to battle it, without cutting it, for about a minute. Then next couple they just rested since I had already killed the other one in time to kill the next. It was a never-ending cycle of killing for me.

After a dozen, I began to have short breaks in between the kills. It wasn’t because I got faster, it was because EDI and Heather had more trouble finding the worms.

When I had I bit of a break, I started thinking about how to get to the worms faster. An idea dawned on me. I went blank faced as I thought of the repercussions, and benefits I might get.

Deciding it had very little risk I tried it out. I sat on the ground in a comfortable position. I closed my eyes, and began meditating. Of course I had Ancestor, Sol, and Tear watch out for Lily. Sol and Tear thought it was for her safety, Ancestor knew the truth. Of course Sol and Tear didn’t know about Ancestor.

I took over inspect. My theory was simple. I could see mana in the environment. This was not news. I could also look closely at a particular direction by concentrating. That way I could see even further. This was also not news. Finally all living things produced light mana, although I had to concentrate a lot to see it. Again, this was not news.

My theory was this. If I concentrated REALLY hard, I could probably pick out light mana from a distance. If that was the case then why couldn’t I search for enemies at distances with that method? Of course it was a pretty slow process since the further I looked, the shorter the scope of my sight was.

Still, I tried it out. I first sent a message for Heather to stop. She told EDI, and they both rested for a minute. I looked at the map, when I saw Heather’s distance and direction I began to search for her light mana signature.

It took me about two minutes to finally find it. By the time I saw the mana, my scope was so small I couldn’t even see the little wisps coming off of her. I only saw a bright light. Still, it had worked!

Long Distance Detection

Current Level: Novice Level 1 Exp 0.00%

This skill allows the user to search for living animals based on the light mana they exude. With this skill the user can find any animal type creature’s location. The practical search area is 100 feet around the user. The extended search area is 200 feet around the user.

To search the extended search area, the user must concentrate. The extended search area is the area the user has to spend a large amount of time searching.

Each level in this skill will increase the clarity with which the user can see mana signatures from a distance. Every rank of this skill triples the search areas that this skill can search.

The distance this skill can work on will increase as the user gets better at searching for auras.

Can be fused to Group Skill: Inspect. If fused, Inspect will upgrade to Long Distance Inspection.

You have learned all of the required skills to upgrade the Group Skill: Inspect. Would you like to exchange relevant skills for the Group Skill: Inspect? You can choose to fuse them at a later time. At that time say exchange relevant skills.

“NO!”

I wanted to see what upgrading my Inspect would do. Inspect was tied for my most OP, and therefore most loved, Group Skill. Combining more things into it was nothing short of a heavy, low risk investment. Fusing a skill with it was like a guaranteeing a Corporation that its profits would skyrocket if they put a penny in a fountain.

I was SO going to enjoy this new skill.

“Skill Fusion: Long Distance Detection and Inspect.”

Long Distance Inspection

Current Level: Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%

This upgraded skill allows you to use the benefits from: Identify, Identify Compatible Skills, Identify Skill, Sense Potency, Automatic Sense Potency, Sense Skill Potency, Mana Sight, and Aura Sight, Sense Motive, Sensory Perception, Search, Track, Taste, Spot, Search, Listen, and Body Language Analyst.

You can inspect anything. The higher the level of Inspect the more information you gain on the thing inspected. You must be able to see the thing to inspect it.

To level this skill you must do an action that would be encompassed in one of the skills that were consumed to make this skill.

This skill can be toggled to automatic. If you wish to toggle this skill to automatic say: ‘Toggle skill Inspect to Automatic.’ To toggle skill to manual say: ‘Toggle skill Inspect to Manual.’

This skill has been upgraded to encompass more skills. The exp and level will not be adjusted, but the exp requirement will be.

You have fused more than 15 skills together in the Group Skill: Inspect.

Inspect has gained 10 levels, maximum of 100.

Inspect now works at a distance. The distance Inspect works at is equal to 10 times the level of Inspect.

Many sub-skills of Inspect have evolved.

All sub-skills in Inspect that deal directly with the five senses have been upgraded.

Sensory Perception now will gain more information to deduce from. Sensory Perception will now be able to increase the accuracy of the information it shows.

For enhancing skills related to all five sense you have gained the trait: Perceptive.

Perceptive is the perfect trait for those capable of understanding the five senses. Using your five sense, you are able to detect things most would overlook. The more you train your senses, the more powerful this trait will become. This trait enhances the amount of information, from your senses, that your brain can handle.

So that solves one problem. Evolving a skill does in fact get it to level fifty. But does it increase it by a rank, or does it only get it to level 50? I would need to pay attention to my skill fusions to find out.

“Exchange Relevant Skills.”

You have exchanged all relevant skills for the Group Skill: Inspect. All relevant skills have been taken from your skill list. The total accumulated experience has been added to the Group Skill: Inspect. The total level requirements have all been added to the Group Skill: Inspect.

As you level this skill all parts of it will level up. For instance if you look at enough auras to level up, you will gain the benefits the other skills would have provided at that level. This skill takes more exp to level up to level two than all of the skills that make it up would.

Long Distance Inspection

Current Level: Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%

This upgraded skill allows you to use the benefits from: Identify, Identify Compatible Skills, Identify Skill, Sense Potency, Automatic Sense Potency, Sense Skill Potency, Mana Sight, and Aura Sight, Sense Motive, Sensory Perception, Search, Track, Taste, Spot, Search, Listen, Body Language Analyst, and Long Distance Detection.

You can inspect anything. The higher the level of Inspect the more information you gain on the thing inspected. You must be able to see the thing to inspect it.

To level this skill you must do an action that would be encompassed in one of the skills that were consumed to make this skill.

This skill can be toggled to automatic. If you wish to toggle this skill to automatic say: ‘Toggle skill Inspect to Automatic.’ To toggle skill to manual say: ‘Toggle skill Inspect to Manual.’

This skill has been upgraded to encompass more skills. The exp and level will not be adjusted, but the exp requirement will be.

You have fused more than 15 skills together in the Group Skill: Inspect.

Inspect has gained 10 levels, maximum of 100.

Inspect now works at a distance. The distance Inspect works at is equal to 10 times the level of Inspect.

Many sub-skills of Inspect have evolved.

As usual my Inspect went Haywire. The new flood of information was almost too much to handle. I thanked Mar for the Perceptive Trait. I went over my new group skill. I stopped paying attention to everything else as I did.

I sent a quick message for Heather and EDI to come back. Then I started trying to figure out the information I had on this skill.

Basically my Inspect now became a long distance target effect. After a few experiments I concluded that the further I went out, the less info I could see. At 500 feet I couldn’t see anything but a spec of dirt.

I also learned that I could upgrade only parts of my group skills. I practiced with my newly enhanced Long Distance Inspection, until Heather and EDI returned.

If I concentrated on a certain type of aura, ie earth, I could detect that aura at vast distances. The distance I could detect it at seemed independent of the Inspect (Long Distance Inspection) skill. I decided to refer to it as Inspect still. Long Distance Inspection was too wordy. I didn’t like it.

My mana sight had increased dramatically. I could easily see several times the distance as before. I could see all mana in a 100 foot radius in all directions. It was magnificent. I had to concentrate slightly to see further. To reach 500 feet I had to narrow it down to only seeing a spec of mana. I was slightly sad I hadn’t thought of this skill before. I could have found some nice metal if I had.

Come to think of it. Why have I not been mining at all? I got that shitty ring, and a pic. Might as well try it. I decided to try mining after explain to EDI and Heather my idea.

They came back within a few minutes. I smiled at their return. Lily had a small pout. Sorry, you didn’t get the chance to attack me LOL.

“Alright guys. I’ve learned a new skill while you two were out. I think it will speed up the search fairly well.”

They both nodded. EDI asked, “What kind of skill?”

I explained it to them. Heather didn’t really seem to understand, or care, but EDI seemed very interested in it. Lily tried to seem interested as well, but the little 93% feigning interest floating beside her head sort of stopped me from believing her.

I told them my plan. I would scout with my ability, and the group would follow. They would battle the worms, as I prepared my explosives. Tear would cover us all in water mana, and I would set the explosion off.

Same thing as the first time we killed the worms. The only difference was that I might accidentally let Lily get scorched by the fire. Or better still the worst case scenario would be she might DIE! OH NO! That would be terrible. A smile slipped through as I thought that. EDI and Lily smiled in return.

Luckily they misunderstood the reason for my smile. They seemed downright cheerful at the new hunting method. Of course it might have been that EDI was growing attached to me.

I tried one more experiment with the skill. I gave the skill over to Ancestor. I had Ancestor try to see the mana of our group. I actually had no idea if Ancestor could see our light mana. Ancestor succeeded.

Oh man. This is just WAY too good. I was SO going to milk the shit out of this evolved skill. Ancestor had a much faster computation speed than I did. While the sheer amount information almost overwhelmed me, Ancestor seemed to enjoy it. The only thing I excelled at was the amount of things I could watch for. Ancestor could only view a limited amount of things at a time. Ancestor would only see one type of mana while using mana sight. Whereas I could see every type of mana around me, unless I was looking long distances.

That was the only major drawback, but this plan wasn’t hindered by it.

Probably due to the fact that Ancestor had no way to experience bodily sensations for a while. I gladly let Ancestor handle the menial work, while I led the group in the direction that Ancestor directed.

Apparently the search ability, which enhanced touch, could even pick up the tremors of the tunnels if I knelt down and felt the ground. I place my head on the ground. I relayed the information as Ancestor told me it.

“Two dense worms passed here ten minutes ago. They went this way.” I pointed in the direction Ancestor told me they went. “If we hurry we can catch them!” I said as I started running.

The others quickly followed. The running was effecting Ancestor’s ability to read the movement of the worms. Unfortunately we had to stop every few minutes to actually get the worms new locations. I decided to make a thin stone tablet. i changed the mana in the tablet whenever we stopped for Ancestor. I marked the paths that the worms were seen going. I was making a very crude map.

We tracked and killed a dozen worms before they started looping around. The battles were pretty much the same. EDI and Heather would beat the shit out of the worms, then I would burn them as they fell. After Tear had taken all the water mana, I would cause a giant fireball. Tear would cover us in water, and we would be safe.

I had gotten very quick at injecting the needed amount of fire mana into the air. I could fill a ten foot section of the tunnel in only a minute and a half. Pouring my mana into the fire mana all at once caused slight burns on me though, so I had a limit to how much I could pour out at once.

Tear seemed to take extra care protecting Lily. I wished Tear would just stop that. I knew it was to gain my good graces, but seriously. Tear didn’t even let Lily so much as a minor burn. *Sigh So much for that plan.

The worms weren’t even difficult to deal with anymore. All of their attacks consisted of rushing, slamming, or swallowing. It took a while to beat each one, but it was easy. I guess it would have been a lot harder if I hadn’t discovered the weakness to fire.

We were killing the worms a lot quicker now. Each set took about five minutes to get to, and only two minutes to kill.

After killing many more, I got another notice. We had killed 75. I had a bad feeling. The next ‘worm’ proved my feeling right. This worm was humanoid.

The wormman stood at just over six feet. Clad only in what seemed to be hardened worm parts. Ew, that’s a bad mental image.

The worm had ‘fingers’ made of five smaller worms. It didn’t have eyes, but had eye sockets. It balanced on the tip of its legs. It didn’t have any feet. It was comical to look at. It was less comical to look at its stats. The only weapon the worm held was a rusty iron sword.

Worm Guardian Level 46

Queen’s PatrollerHealth:1900/1900Stamina:200/200

I didn’t know what this worm thing was like to fight, but our current fighting style was not going to work. I knew that much at least. The only weak spot it had was right at its ‘neck’. I wasn’t sure if worms had necks, but that’s the best way of describing it.

The wormman had an unbelievable amount of health. If it was calculated with a base of 100 at level one, it gained a total of 40 hp per level. That might not sound like a lot, but even EDI only gained a total of 15 per level. The worms we had killed before had nowhere NEAR that amount of health.

I almost screamed I needed a MOD, but remembered that the last time I did that Bit-Bee had heard me. I’d rather not do that for a joke.

I would have given up on beating the dungeon, but I had a disposable meat pawn with me. Plus EDI and Heather. I could use those two to at least distract the thing while I ran away.

I quickly went over all of my knowledge of worms. Hmm. I knew they liked wet soil, and could live for a long time in water. When they dried out it made breathing hard for them, but to make it that dry I would have to pump more fire mana into the air than it took to cause an explosion.

I guess I could try it, but EDI and Heather would have to hold out for a while to let me. “Normal formation! GO!”

I gave the order. The group sprang into action. EDI started to combat the beast, while Heather waited for an opening. While the fight raged on, I poured in fire mana, and Tear took away the water mana.

EDI was a wonder to behold. The worm was quick and flexible, but EDI was even quicker. What she lacked in flexibility she made up for in brute strength.

The battle started with a thrust from the worm. EDI caught the blade with her two Sai in an x formation. She flicked her right Sai, causing the worm to be pulled slightly to her right. EDI jumped at the now exposed side of the worm, and stabbed.

The worm had managed to bring its sword around just in time to block the attack, knocking EDI’s Sai to the side. It slashed at her chest, but EDI jumped away.

She ran back towards it. The beast struck with a diagonal slice. She knocked it away with one Sai, and landed a hit on its chest with the other.

She pulled her Sai out. Tiny worms followed it. Damnit! Are you fucking kidding me!?

Now we had to deal with the little worms too. I increased the pace of heating. I was getting covered in tiny burn marks while I worked.

The small worms started crawling to the wormman, not trying to attack EDI. Confused, EDI didn’t try to stop them. I almost screamed at her to not let them get to it, but it took all of my power not to scream from the flames. If I let out any sound it would be a sound of agony.

The worms connected with the leg of the guardian. They were instantly absorbed back into it. The wound on the worm’s chest closed, and its health went back to full.

The constantly increasing difficulty of the dungeon irked me. I really wished that it would fucking stop! I appreciate a difficult time as much as the next guy, but GEEZ! Cut me some slack man! I’m stuck here with a would-be assassin, a girl that is obsessed with eye stabbing, and a FUCKING RABBIT, and the game makes me fight infinitely regenerating monsters!?

I dreaded what the actual Boss Guards were. Usually there were about nine. So the last 10 kills of the quest would basically be impossible.

I decided to ignore it, and pay as much attention to the duel as I could. The worm thrust at EDI’s abdomen. She moved her stomach backwards, while slashing at the monster’s chest. It was kind of funny to look at.

Lily saw my almost laugh and looked at me quizzically. I ignored her. I had lowered the fire output seeing as the battle would no longer include a massive amount of smaller worms.

The guard threw its fist at EDI. She deftly countered, by stepping to the side and angling he Sai in front of her. She sent a kick to the worm’s stomach.

The worm was thrown a few feet backwards, but managed to get up before EDI could capitalize on the attack.

A hole suddenly tore open where the worm’s mouth should be. Hundreds of regularly sized worms spewed forth. The worms launched themselves at EDI.

Seeing her delimit, Heather decided to join the fight. Heather jumped, and landed on the wormman’s head. She suck her teeth into its ‘neck’, and drank her fill of its blood.

The blood quickly drained from the giant worm, but not quickly enough. The worms stopped spewing forth, but the wormman grabbed Heather. He threw heather against one of cavernous walls.

I cast a small, concentrated fireball at the small worms attacking EDI. I made sure to clear away all fire mana not needed for the spell.

The fire flew from my hand, incinerating almost all of the smaller worms. Tear encompassed the ball of fire in a larger water orb, keeping the water from touching the fire directly. That way the fire wouldn’t set off the explosion I had worked so hard to create.

The smell of charred worm meat filled the air. If I didn’t know better, I would have said the wormman almost gagged. Of course worms don’t have noses… I think.

“EDI! Ignore the small fry!” She seemed to hesitate, but attacked the largest worm. The smaller worms slowly getting crisped.

As she started trading blows with the wormman, I could see a difference in the worm’s attacks. Heather might not have drained all of the blood, but the lack of blood was an obvious detriment to it.

It’s attacks were slower, and more clumsy. EDI was able to get in many shallow hits. Heather stood up, and pounced the thing again.

She attached herself to its leg, and began draining it of its blood. The worm tried to throw her off again, but she held on tightly.

Before the worm could get a good grip on her, EDI launched a powerful set of attacks. She slashed in a cross formation, then an x, then zigged across the worms chest. The first two attacks the worm stopped, with two quick flicks of its sword. The third tore out a large chunk of its skin.

The skin congealed, and the resulting worms squirmed towards the man thing. Tear and I burnt them before they reached it.

The worm was slowly showing signs of weakening. The damage dealt to it healed, but its health remained the same.

With Heather slowing it down, and EDI distracting it, I was able to finish my preparations. “TEAR!” I pushed the girls away from the monster with wind magic. As I did Tear covered us in water orbs. I forced the explosion.

The entire hall rumbled from the excess heat and power. The fire continued to spread for over a minute. I actually had to start funneling the fire mana away from the water orbs. We almost got cooked. I let Lily’s orb heat up a little though. Not enough to hurt her, just to where she was uncomfortable. Whoops!

When the inferno was over, Tear released the water orbs. EDI and Heather were gasping for air, Lily seemed fine. Oh yeah, guess I forgot they can’t breathe underwater. Oh well. I shrugged mentally.

“Alright guys, let’s go.” I said. Ancestor tried to say something, but I couldn’t hear. Suddenly a sword was forced through my left leg. I looked at it confused for a moment.

I looked at the wielder. A badly burnt, but healing, wormman the size of a small child. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? WHAT THE FUCK!!!

“HEATHER!” Heather pounced at the thing. She wrapped her teeth around its neck, as EDI stabbed through its neck.

Sol healed me, as I jumped backwards. I pulled the sword with me. Not expecting this, the feeble strength of the wormchild was not enough to hold the weapon.

I shuddered as I forced the sword through my leg. I concentrated on sending healing mana into the wound.

My anger flared at the failed tactic. I…DO… NOT FAIL! I gathered as much fire and dark mana as I could. I pushed the mana at the worm thing, while adding nature mana in. I swirled the tri-mana around my sword. It was just pure mana, it had no real form or task. I don’t know how hard it was to control, because I was blinded by my anger.

My anger clouding my judgement I used Battle Rage. I equipped my double swords as I ran at the fucker that could withstand my attack. I forced myself forward with a large gust of wind.

Everything happened in slow motion. The thing tried to punch me, I sidestepped and sliced its throat. Worms fell to the ground.

The fire/dark/nature mana had made some ominous green fire that had a black after glow. The places it touched started to burn and decay. I gouged at the places the fire touched. Scooping out large chunks of the worm as I did.

The parts I threw were consumed by the flame. A scream echoed from my lips. The fire quickly started consuming the entire the worm bitch.

I stabbed and stabbed and stabbed. Blood splattered my face, it tasted like candy. I wanted more! I hit, gouged, tore and bit. In a matter of seconds the entire worm thing was nothing but a pile of decaying burnt flesh.

I was covered in small worms that were trying to burrow into my skin. I used Phoenix Fire to get rid of them. By the time it was over I was breathing heavily. I looked around. EDI, Heather, and Lily were staring at me. Awestruck. I looked down. The burnt carcass of the former wormman laid at my feet.

Heather came forward slightly. “That, that was the angriest I think I’ve ever seen you. Are you ok?”

Her sympathy was a nuisance. I wanted something else to kill. If all the hard work I put into this shitty game didn’t pay off, then I wouldn’t put any work into it.

I looked at Lily. Ah, a perfect thing to kill. I rushed her. She was going to try to kill me anyway, so why not?

EDI stepped into my path. “What were you about to do? You need to calm down!” EDI’s face was angry. I looked around wildly, this was the perfect time to kill Lily. I felt so POWERFUL right then. I licked my lips as if to speak.

I rushed Lily again, before I could move more than one step Heather knocked into me. ARGH! Why couldn’t these peon let me kill the girl!? Why couldn’t they see she was a threat? Why was I surrounded by utter morons!?

I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned my blades on Heather. “FINE! You want to take her place? COME!” I dashed towards her. I began a complex series of slashes and thrusts. Even Heather had a hard time avoiding them.

She was trying to avoid attacking me. Bad idea. I threw a burst of fire at her. She jumped to avoid it. She perfectly landed in the path of one of my blades.

I cut her left flank deeply. Her blood soaked the ground as it splashed outwards. Sol started healing her. “SOL! STOP! RETURN TO ME! TEAR RETURN!” I would NOT have traitors in my midst!

The anger at everyone continued to build. It felt like I was going to explode. The feeling subsided slightly whenever I cut something though. That’s what I planned to do.

I cut at Heather again, but EDI intercepted my blades. I felt my body get faster. I noticed my wind and fire mana draining, but didn’t care.

I ran behind EDI before she could tell what was happening. I angrily whispered to her. “I gave you those Sai, instead of getting a weapon myself! Don’t you DARE selfishly raise them against me!”

I stabbed her in the spine with one of my swords. I tried to anyway. In my anger I must have missed. I hit her in the back of the neck, with the back of my sword no less.

It wasn’t what I wanted, but it got the job done. I could deal with her later. After all she was unconscious and had an attractive body.

My head began pulsing. I had to kill Heather quickly. I looked around, I couldn’t find her. I heard a sound, and ran that way. Heather and Lily were running away.

I smiled a wicked smile. “Hey now! Don’t run! I just want to play!” I don’t know why, but I found that funny. I started laughing.

I checked my notifications as I ran faster, my wind and fire mana being depleted. What I saw made me stop in my tracks.

I started getting even angrier, but stopped myself. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t think of anything else, so I cut my stomach samurai style. “SOL HEAL ME!”

Dark mana seeped out of my wound, dripping to the ground. Sol quickly came out, and tried healing me. I wanted to give the fucker an order to kill itself, so I bit my tongue until it bled.

I pushed as much of the dark mana out of me as possible, while Sol healed my wound. After a second the wound closed.

I forced myself to sit down, and meditate. It was the last thing I wanted to do, so it should do the trick. I re-read the notice.

You are currently afflicted with Worm Guardian’s Resentment.

By killing a Worm Guardian, you have gained its resentment. By being bathed in its blood the resentment was turned into a curse.

Curse of Anger and Killing activated. You are angry beyond belief. You will want to kill anything that was not an actual enemy, especially if it was once your friend. All physical abilities have been temporarily tripled.

Curse of Anger and Killing has been amplified by the Dark Curse Amplification.

Remaining time: 56 minutes 23 seconds.

For improperly fusing three or more types of mana that included darkness as a base, you have been inflicted with Dark Curse Amplification.

Dark Curse Amplification increases the power and length of all adverse effects on the one cursed.

Remaining Time: 56 minutes 20 seconds.

I wanted to kill. These shitty blue boxes made me so ANGRY! But I didn’t. I was under a mental curse. There was no fucking way I was going to some dead fuck have his way with me.

I tried meditating, but it was no use. I was too angry. Still, I sat there. I was not going to move until I calmed down.

I decided that since I was not in a position to do anything else, I would purify mana. The best option seemed to be fire. It felt angry, just like I did.

I focused all of my attention on the fire mana. Before I knew it I was creating a fire room. I stopped, and forced water mana into the air. I cleaned up the water mana, but letting Tear absorb it. I didn’t look at Tear or Sol beyond telling them what to do. I would have most likely tried to kill them.

The same thing happened. I began flooding the area around me. I opened my eyes, and took a deep breath.

I was still angry, angry enough to kill, but now I had a bit of my mind back. I needed to think of a way out of this.

The curse said I would want to hurt my friends. A thought popped into my mind. I knew how to actually get EDI killed. All I had to do was think of the fact that she was an NO!

If the game wanted to be like that, I could cope. I was much better than this mother fucking shit.

EDI wasn’t even my friend. She never was. She was just a piece of eye candy I let tag along. I was going to drop her if she didn’t join my guild anyway. In fact I made the decision to drop her after the effect of this thing wore off. I didn’t need weak asses in my guild.

Heather, well she was just a drain on resources. Sure she provided back up, but Troy was much better. In reality I didn’t even have a real use for Heather at all. Except to keep EDI entertained. And again I was going to drop EDI.

And Lily? Well I was ok with killing Lily. She might not technically by my enemy right now, but one day she would be. If I killed her under the guise of this curse I could even get away with it!

I almost started thinking of good points of the group, but didn’t let myself. I was convinced to throw them away and blame it on the curse.

As if realizing the benefits of the curse was a trigger, I began to feel it fade away. The curse left, and I felt more and more angry.

I tried to grasp onto it. I needed an excuse to kill Lily. First the game curses me, then it takes it away!? NO! The curse fled even faster. After another moment it was gone.

I laid on the ground exhausted, both mentally and physically. I had made a plan as soon as I saw the notice. Have you ever tried making and implementing a plan against something that can read your mind? It’s not easy, let me tell you.

I had decided to convince myself to get rid of the entire group, that way they wouldn’t be considered friends anymore. It worked, but keeping the truth at bay was strenuous.

I rationalized reasons why I could get rid of them, they were real reasons after all. They worked, but I chose to ignore them after the curse was gone. I didn’t care if they were throw away pawns, as long as they were my throw away pawns.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It really was a waste though. If I had been faster I could have gotten away with killing Lily.

I read the new notice that was blinking in my eye.

You are have forcefully broken a mental curse.

For being the first player to break a mental curse without help, you gain 50 fame.

For breaking a mental curse without help, you gain 5 intelligence.

For breaking a mental curse without help, you have gained the trait: Mental Fortitude.

Mental Fortitude is the perfect trait for any who wishes to avoid mind altering curses. You are able to withstand more mental damage and pain before your mind starts to shut down. The more mental damage and pain you take, the more powerful this trait will become. This skill can evolve into better versions.

The traits: Resistance and Mental Fortitude, are compatible. Upgrading traits: Resistance and Mental Fortitude. Upgraded to: Complete Immunity.

Complete Immunity is the perfect trait to avoid any sort of pain or damage. Pain and damage of any sort are like second nature to you. You can now ignore any type of damage to your mind or body, up to 50% of your total mental or physical threshold. You can now ignore all pain up to 50% of your total mental or physical threshold. The more damage or pain of any type you take, the more powerful this trait becomes.

Now that was worth the little episode. I assumed the ‘mental damage’ part of the traits meant curses. So I guess I could just ignore curses under a certain level now. That was cool. The real kicker was the Complete Immunity though. HOLY CRAP was that good!

If I raised willpower and endurance, at least I assumed it was those two, I could basically become immune to damage!? OH HELL YEAH!

After making sure I was not under the effects I allowed Tear and Sol to come closer. “Sorry about that you two. I was under a curse at the time. I showed them the trait screen. Tear bobbed knowingly, while Sol looked impressed.

“I knew master was good, but to break a curse on your own? That’s amazing. Mar would be proud! I can’t believe I was lucky enough to contract with such a wonderful and powerful master!” More, praise me more! I smiled in response.

I let Sol talk while I sent a quick message to Heather explaining the situation. She told me to meet her at EDI’s body. When I approached she seemed apprehensive.

Lily looked scared for her life. Good. Fear me now, maybe you won’t try to butcher me later.

I slowly approached Heather. She grinned. Really? After all that battle? I already knew what was going to happen. I prepared a soft cushion of air near the place she would land. She jumped at me, and I tossed her with wind mana against a wall. The air cushion caught her.

“YUP!” She proudly declared. “Master is sorry! He cushioned my landing this time!” Lily looked a little worried at the comment, but seemed to let it go since I was back to normal.

We waited while EDI woke. I healed her, but she was still unconscious. I let my mind wander. Man if that was the power of fighters, I should have chosen a melee class. It still wasn’t too late to change classes though.

I DID put in a lot of time into this class though. And that mana manipulation was way to good to give up. I sighed. I had to figure out how to kill the wormmen without getting any blood on us. Heather seemed fine though.

At least my worm dissection was up to 60%. My Magical Mastery didn’t rank up even though I got Mana Affinity to Adept. That was because my Meditation had already gotten to adept. It felt like a bit of a waste, but still. Having Mana Affinity at adept was nice.

Spoiler :

Stats WindowNameVoice0fReasonClassMana MageLevel 35Health: 100Mana: 1520Stamina: 350Current Title: SurgeonHealth Regen: 1/sMana Regen: 20.4(15.4)/sStamina Regen: 5.1/sStrength41Agility34Wisdom204Intelligence152Endurance51Dexterity44Luck0Vitality35Charisma35Compassion95Leadership66Logic22Piety89Unused Stat Points0Fame850

Skills WindowAutomated Novice Level 9 Exp 25.00%

Speed Reading Novice Level 9 Exp 00.00%

Auto Read Novice Level 20 Exp 50.00%Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy Novice Level 24 Exp 10.46%

Group Skill: Long Distance Inspection Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%

Group Skill: Automatic Nursing Novice Level 12 Exp 50.00%

Group Skill: Con Artist Novice Level 17 Exp 70.16%

Group Skill: Magical Mastery Apprentice Level 32 Exp 6.30%

Group Skill: Skill Mastery Adept Level 50 Exp 21.23%

Group Skill: Tactical Survival Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%

Group Skill: Tactical Combat Training Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%

Group Skill: Breakdown Novice Level 12 Exp 20%

Group Skill: Harvesting Mastery Novice Level 3 Exp 11.11%

Group Skill: Crafting Mastery Novice Level 4 Exp 60%

Affinities WindowLight70%Water60%Wind25%Nature55%Metal25%Earth30%Fire25%Darkness100%