eldokhmesy
patreon
RSTUM 92
🕑 Added 2023-05-29 22:32:13 +0000 UTC92: The Book of Rhyme (2)
Possession inanimate objects, phasing through matter, going invisible, a Will o' Wisp is basically a mob on cheat code.
"That's one problematic fucker!" Leon whispered.
"You read it then… here goes our element of surprise." Vadim sighed lightly and aimed his hand forward.
Three dots of light formed at his fingertips and moved at a hasty speed targeting the closest Will o' Wisp. Sadly, he missed and the four wisps started moving in various directions.
"So those were the things that spooked me." Leon said then aimed his two hands forward.
< Changing Classes to "Wizard" and "Rogue" >
With two hands, Leon formed five Magic Bolts that he launched in a strange pattern. He may have learned this spell from Vadim but he made it so that it doesn't move in a straight line or a curved arc but rather takes the unpredictable path of many wild angels. Still, the whips were very maneuverable and couldn't land a hit.
At that time, most of the whips disappeared in the walls and the pillars.
"They've gone invisible!" Leon said in frustration.
"Nah." Vadim said, "I'm not sure what your reading told you but these Whips don't like to fight and usually escape because they are incorporeal. However, when you do something that provokes their souls, they come to pick a fight."
Leon lowered his guard a bit.
"Alright, I guess this is the last room to explore." Leon walked around slowly.
"Thank the Spirits! The sooner we get out of this place, the less time we waste." Vadim said.
Leon was rather underwhelmed that this sunken place has nothing of value to loot. It is a very corrosive environment anyway and he expected that the moment he saw water.
There may be no direct leakage from the nearby river but the water surely has accumulated through infiltration. It was then that Leon had a bright idea. He touched the nearby wall and let his magic flow.
"System. What are the authorities the Admin has?" Leon asked.
< Accessing the Admin Control Panel… >
< Please choose one of the following commands: (Admin Log) - (Bunker Status) - (Defense Systems) - (Staff Log) - (Vault Control) >
"Damn! Vadim, this place was some sort of ancient military bunker." Leon spoke.
"My! Built to last indeed… never got maintained in a thousand years." Vadim started feeling the walls as Leon said so.
Leon then chose the first command, Admin Log.
< Admin Log: (Current Admin: Ring Bearer) (Last commands: Change Admin Password, Gate Unlocking, Energy Status -insufficient-) (Command History: Defense Mode initiation -failed-, System Diagnosis -failed-, Help Signal -failed-……) >
"It seems like it was besieged. The bunker inhabitants were cut off from the rest of the world." Leon said as he kept scrolling through the System Window but Vadim was busy checking out the walls.
As Leon used the second, third, and fourth commands, he discovered that all the systems of the place were disturbed and any data was corrupted.
"Where would be the Physical Body of the System's Data?" Leon asked.
"I don't understand." Vadim turned to Leon, "Speak in Warrior class terms."
"Fine… the Log where the Knowledge of the World is written. The thing that the users of the Knowledge Magic reach when they cast Identify or Read on anything. Where is that?" Leon asked.
"Erielle would know the answer to that but what I understood from the ladies is that this knowledge comes when the magic pulls it from the target… that's why Reading or Identifying anything can cause some unpleasant feelings to the target."
"I get it but… It doesn't seem logical to me." Leon said, "When knowledge gets corrupted, this should mean that someone had deliberately destroyed the data from somewhere else especially when the target of the reading is visibly intact."
"Huh?" Vadim made a dumb face.
"Alright… sorry I asked." Leon sighed and turned away.
His logic was sound though. The Data had to be stored somewhere on something akin to a hard drive or any storage unit. The magic can pull the Data from that log alright but why can some Data be corrupted when the supposed source is not?
Something else has to be corrupted. It is the first time Leon sees it this way.
Now, he chose the last command in the Admin's Panel. The Vault Control.
< Vault Control: (Status: Sealed by Admin) >
"Huh… Unseal then."
< Vault: Unsealed! >
And at that moment, the whole place started to shake.
"Shit! What've ya done?" Vadim stomped the ground with full alert.
"Unsealed a vault." Leon almost fell but he readied himself for anything.
At that moment, the wall behind Vadim opened and the dwarf turned around with a vicious battle glare. Leon came and stood beside him to see what was inside that supposed vault.
Unlike the rest of the bunker, this vault was higher than the water level by a few steps. Vadim and Leon simply scaled the stairs with light feet and kept their senses clear. As they reached the top of the place, they found what they came for.
There were shelves packed with many strange things. Some had scrolls that seemed too crusty, they would crack if touched the wrong way. Some had glass containers having nothing but ash inside but their value seemed still within them. They even found some old weapons like swords and spearheads that were corroded but still better than whatever was out there in the damp mess.
And at the center of this all, there was a skeleton resting its back on a wall.
The skeleton was for a small person, a bit shorter than Leon. It wasn't for a Dwarf, as first expected, but rather for a human. From the shape of the bones, it was a female.
That female was wearing a dress that seemed to have preserved some parts and patterns of itself but got corroded in other areas. According to Vadim, the preserved bits were magical of nature. On top of that, the skeleton had its right arm wrapped around a metal box and its hand holding a wilted arrow shaft. By tracing the arm position, Leon found a puncture on the skeleton's clothes indicating that it removed the arrow from her abdomen and died at that position… many many years ago.
Vadim also was onto that as he nodded to Leon.
"The scenario is clear." Leon said.
"Aye! The poor lass died from an arrow and her bones stiffened around that metal box as she died. The invaders must have shot her but she managed to fortify herself in that vault." Vadim said and then added something Leon didn't know, "That arrowhead… It is Orcish. This place dates back to the Human-Orcish War."
"So you're saying this is 600 years old?" Leon asked.
"No. The stones around here were cut way before that. The armor is also unlike anything I've seen. The conflict with the Orcs started in the olden times. This lass could have been here for more than… 2000 to 3000 years."
"Shit!" Leon said and then laughed, "We stumbled upon history."
This was exciting nonetheless, he may not feel connected to the history of this world but he knows it is worth something and he's more than willing to learn it once he gets the time and as soon as he finishes learning all about magic.
Now, to the most critical situation at hand.
"The Box." Leon said and winked at Vadim.
"Aye! Let me do it, I'll be steady." Vadim replied.
"Woah woah woah! My operation, my call. I have the steadiest hands I know." Leon said.
"Woah woah woah! You're comparing your finesse to a dwarf?" Vadim seemed offended.
"Alright Master Dwarf, watch and learn." Leon laughed slyly and in a sick and swift motion, he held the metal in the arm of the skeleton with the tips of his fingers. He then started to align his fingers at certain places in order to assess the weight of the box and make sure to never damage the skeleton in the process.
The reason he didn't want to damage that skeleton was because of its archaeological worth. And like a swift thief, he retreated to the metal box and lifted it up without a single hitch.
"Alright… that's not magic, that requires some practicing, lad." Vadim pointed out.
"What can I say? I am just your average World-Class Thief." Leon said with a smile.
"World-Class, ya say?" Vadim smirked, "Thank the spirit that's not a title or the spirits won't leave ya be."
Vadim simply turned after saying that, leaving Leon looking nervously at his status window in the section of the title where it says "World-Class Thief".
Leon started to follow Vadim out while checking out the metal box he got.
"Vadim, what do you think this thing is? The carvings on the box look fresh… be t it's magical, righ…" Leon was walking and not looking ahead but he suddenly bumped into Vadim, "... What's wrong, man?!"
Leon looked annoyingly at the dwarf who suddenly stopped in his place but Vadim seemed totally focused on something ahead of him. As soon as Leon looked ahead, his eyes widened and cold sweat drenched his back in an instant as if he saw some ghost.
Because it was a ghost!
It looked like a woman but her eyes were dark and hollowed, her hair was long and messy, and her skin was withered and pale. She hovered in what seemed to be a version of the dress she wore when she was alive and pointed at the box Leon was carrying.
"GIVE!"
The ghost opened her mouth and her words made the world colder.
"IT!"
The Will o' Whips that disappeared from all across the main room emerged back once again, this time in large numbers.
"BACK!"
And the Ghost rushed towards Leon.
————————————————————
[ Banshee ] < Spectral Undead >
Banshees are spirits of woe and vengeance. They haunt the land where they died and weep for what they lost. Only the betrayal of loved ones can make the spirit of a woman become a banshee and her regret becomes her essence of undeath. She has the following abilities:-
- Death Magic: the creature can use the Magic of Death due to their negative unliving energy and can also use other forms of magic.
- Leech Life: the creature can drain its target vitality when passing through them.
- Invisibility: the creature can turn invisible by shutting off its light until it attacks or possesses.
- Incorporeal Nature: the creature is immune to physical attacks with mundane weapons and can only be harmed by magical attacks.
————————————————————
