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Arcane Apocalypse ~ 58
🕑 Added 2024-11-06 17:00:13 +0000 UTC****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aCCu7V8NNvCTex2FbBQHc0NbYdKz2R67eTvRScO1J24/edit?usp=sharing
*****
Well. Shit. Mia thought, instinctively tightening her grip on her Spectral Blade as she aimed her wand at the monster. She suppressed the urge to vomit as her Spirit Sense felt the empowered presence of the creature, then she shouted. “It’s level 12. Be careful.”
“Get ready,” Brent said. “The barrier is failing. Mark and me in front, give it your all. This fucker looks like trouble. Red, I’m relying on you to kill it with your Lances if you see an opening.”
The moment the barrier protecting it fully fell away, a slew of spells smashed into the monster and made it stagger. Mia’s piercing Bolt was among them, but all it managed to accomplish was a small crevice running across its bare skull. Maybe if I hit the same spot with four or five times …
The combined power of Helene’s Storm magic and Lina’s condensed Air bursts kept the monster on the back foot, and even as it pushed forward with a growl, it was slowed. Carmilla took the opportunity to tear into its thighs and rip out a fistful of flesh with her claws.
Brent and Mark just readied themselves. The swordsman’s presence seemed to vibrate with power as he no doubt channeled his Ki at maximum power, while Mark seemed to swell in size as his armour sucked up the sandstone from the ground to strengthen itself with extra layers.
The monster roared, its voice not really a sound and more like a wave of hate transmitting right into Mia’s mind. She shuddered, then glared back at the twisted abomination, matching its loathing stare with one of her own.
With a quick step to the right, she threw her Spectral Blade at the towering creature’s right leg as Carmilla jumped away from the left. Her magical sword spun forward like a wheat and tore into the beast as Mia swung her arm up.
As if its axis was connected to a long pole extending out from Mia’s arm, the spinning Blade followed the movement and tore a bloody path through the monsters as it flew up. Clumps of writhing meat fell off its side, its blackened ribs revealed underneath as its right arm fell limp, half-detached at the shoulder.
Mia swung her hand around, twisting the spinning blade to horizontal and sent it for a second run at the monster’s neck. It’s twisted, half-attached arm swung up and swatted the Blade to the side at the cost of anything below the wrist.
Grimacing as she felt the spell coming close to breaking, she pulled the Spectral Blade back into her hand and went about repairing it and recharging its mana while the three mages leaned into their attacks around her.
Carmilla switched over to sending arcs of blood at the monster, one after the other right at the wounded shoulder. The Water Blades fuelled by her collected monster blood were much less effective than her dedicated Blood spells, but the vampire didn’t have to be so frugal with these so quantity made up for the lost quality.
Lina and Helene on the other hand, kept the monster from approaching. Bursts of Air and thick flashes of lightning kept the monster constantly stumbling and fighting to keep its footing.
Mia noticed that Mark wasn’t just standing at the ready either as tendrils of Earth mana pushed and pulled at the sandstone under the monster’s feet, making its efforts of keeping steady worthless.
With the tenth Water Blade smashing into the same joint, the blackened bone gave way and the limp, battered arm fell on the ground. At the same time, a powerful burst of wind finally managed to spin the monster around and have it fall on its back with a thunderous thud that kicked up a cloud of dust.
The two melee fighters rushed forwards and as if they’d already discussed it, sent devastating overhead strikes at the monster’s left knee. Brent’s swings were quick and powerful, while Mark’s were mostly empowered by his by-now ridiculously large mace. He must have advanced his Earth Manipulation again to move that damned boulder on a stick he calls a mace. What could he be at? Greater, or Major?
Once Mia’s Blade was properly recharged, she circled around the downed monster struggling to get up. It waved its one good hand about and tried to kick at the two melee fighters blindly, but the only kick that landed barely managed to make Mark stumble as he rooted the boots of his armour into the ground.
Not wanting to accidentally hit one of her teammates, Mia instead changed her active spell — the spell circle she had active in her runic-model — into Blast and started sending them at the monster’s exposed skull. They didn’t break through, not the first three anyway, but she hoped it gave the monster enough of a concussion to keep it from landing any hits on her friends.
Helene mimicked her, likewise having refrained from sending her Storm lightning at the monster with two very conductive people beating on it from that close. With her mother’s spells joining in and Lina dropping Air hammer after hammer down on the creature, it was likely blinded and had its brain turned to mush by now.
“Stop for a bit, please,” Carmilla said, stopping behind Mia and Helene and as the two did so, the vampire pointed a finger at the monster. The intricate spell circle of Blood Lance sprung to life and the beam of crimson energy bore into the dazed monster’s head.
Its skull, cracked and battered after Mia and Helene’s assault, split and shattered. The monster’s gigantic body twitched, a wild kick blindsiding Brent and sending the man flying five meters before he smashed into the ravine’s wall.
“Not fucking dead yet,” Mia said as everyone just watched the monster twitch without attacking, then sent a Blast right into its open skull. Why can’t these damned things just die when their brains get aired out?
She sent a worried glance Brent’s way, his collapse form laying still against the wall. Helen broke away from the assault and with a quick flap of her wings, rushed over to the downed man and quickly fed him a Greater Healing Elixir.
Mia, distracted by the splatters of blood on the wall behind Brent, right where his head smashed into the sandstone, had to be tackled to the ground by Carmilla when something shot by where her head had been a moment ago.
Mark grunted, stumbling as a force smashed into him and as Mia looked over, she saw a blackened rib piercing into his chest. For a moment, she stared in horror, but then the earthen giant grabbed the rib and tore it right out. Only the very tip of it was bloody, but the dwarf didn’t seem to care as he stepped back to the monster and started beating on it with renewed vigor.
Blackened bones, femurs, ribs, finger bones and whatever else there was flew through the air like they’d been shot out of a cannon. Mia used the stored mana in her wand to throw up an Arcane Shield as quickly as she could and huddle down behind it while Carmilla just stood there and dodged them as best as she could.
A few bones hit the vampiress, one even piercing her right through the eye. The redhead seemed unbothered even as she tore the … blackened finger out of her eye-socket. She healed, and she healed quickly. Thank fuck I gave her my blood every day. What if her lifeforce ran out right before that thing hit her?
Mia herself only caught a single piece of what she thought was a shinbone across her hip, but her ring’s emergency healing function activated the moment after and stitched her flesh back together. Still, tears streamed down her cheeks as she grit her teeth from the abominable pain.
After what felt like an eternity, Mia felt the monster’s presence dim and finally sputter out. She took a deep breath, tasting bile in her throat and getting a lungful of stink from the rotting blood and intestines now revealed to the world in the gory pile that had once been the monster. “It’s dead!”
“Really?” Lina asked, and Mia only then noticed that the blonde had her back pressed up against Mia’s as she used the smaller pink-haired girl as a meat shield. Mia would have been angry had she not known that was likely the best course of action. Mia had a magical Shield protecting her after all. “Are you sure? It’s not going to explode in our faces?”
“Yes,” Mia said. “Very sure. It’s presence is gone.”
With that said, her wand’s mana stores ran out and her Shield dissipated. Then she ran over to her mother, who still had arcs of lightning covering her and Brent’s still form in a dome.
“Mom!” Mia shouted, trying to make herself heard over the zaps and buzzes of the electric dome. “It’s dead! You can turn the magic off, how is Brent?”
Carmilla came over too, staring at the dome while Mia could still hear the crashes and thuds of Mark’s mace cracking bone and splattering bloody gore all across the place. It seemed he took getting hit badly and was going to pulverise the monster in return.
Mia briefly thought about stopping him to make sure the monster’s core remained intact, but dismissed the idea a moment later. She really didn’t care about cores at the moment. She took a deep breath again, inflating her lungs before she shouted on the top of her lungs. “MOM!”
That finally got a result, and the dome faded away. Helene looked up at her, huddled down in a ball. Behind her, Brent slowly blinked up at them. His eyes were lost, distant, as if he was wasted from a week of straight drinking.
“How is he?” Mia repeated her question, glancing worriedly between her mother and Brent for any injuries or signs of pointy bones that shouldn’t be inside of them poking out of their bodies. She found nothing, much to her immense relief.
“Alive,” Helene said, shaking her head as if to get out of a fugue. She glanced over at the brown-haired man. “I don’t know how well he is. I fed him one of the Greater Elixirs … but I think he’d cracked his skull and scrambled his brain pretty badly when he smashed against the wall.”
“A Greater Healing Elixir should be able to heal that,” Mia said, trying to recall the exact wording of the description. “Maybe it just takes a bit of time?”
Mia jumped up suddenly, whirling around to stare into the depths of the torch-lit cavern. Her Spirit Sense was going haywire as she saw another grey archway rise from the ground in the darkness. The air filled with wrongness became ever so slightly dimmer and the world went still around them.
“I guess that means the big fucker was the boss?” Mia said, uncertainty clear in her voice as she looked between Lina and Carmilla for answers. “Guardian, whatnot? Right? Tell me we won’t have to fight something even nastier after that.”
“I don’t think so,” Lina said, squinting at the distant archway before recognition bloomed across her features. “That’s the entrance to the Core Room, it has to be! We finished the Rift!”
“So no more monsters?” Mia asked, looking around as she scrubbed everything within range with her Spirit Sense. She found nothing, every monster close enough for her to sense them was dead.
“No more monsters,” Lina nodded, grin flashing across her face as she bounced on her feet excitedly. Then her gaze landed on Brent and a very disapproving Helene. After that she grimaced, shame blossoming on her face.
“I think we should haul him out of here,” Mia broke the sombre silence, staring into Brent’s empty eyes. There was nothing there, no thoughts, no emotions, just … nothing. It made Mia shudder a little. “I don’t know what the Rift’ll do now that we supposedly finished it if we don’t leave. I say we go into that Core room, smash the Core and claim the rewards before going back home.”
“We’ll have to carry him,” Helene said, glancing over at Brent.
“Carmilla and Mark can handle that,” Mia said, glancing over at the redhead and the very satisfied looking dwarf strutting over. He shed his magical armour, leaving it behind like a crab’s shell. “Right?”
Carmilla nodded, with Mark also nodding. His satisfied look melted away, giving way to worry as he noticed Brent’s state.
“What’s up with him?” Mark asked.
“He’s possibly comatose from getting smashed against the wall,” Carmilla said. “Or something of the sorts. I think the Elixir and a long sleep will take care of it. Let’s hope his Mind was above 10 and is strong enough to survive him loosing his brain for a bit.”
“That’s a thing?” Helene asked in surprise.
“Surviving loosing your brain?” Carmilla asked, then shrugged. “Sure. Our Minds aren’t just neurons firing in our brains anymore. If we get to Rank 5, we’ll be able to survive having our bodies entirely obliterated for a short while before our Minds and Souls loose their connection and we die for real.”
“Okay,” Mia said, shaking her head a little to get back to the present. She knew if she started daydreaming now, nothing would get done. “Carmilla, can you and Mark grab him? I don’t think we want to be buried in monster guts for the next two days to get every singe monster core here, so let’s just claim our rewards and smash the Rift Core. I think this was enough Rift diving for the day.”
After a round of nods and acknowledgements, the group carefully made their way over to the new archway. Feeling nothing amiss, and nothing immediately dangerous with her Spirit Sense, Mia and Mark stepped through first.
The dwarf, back in his golem-like armour, was first through the portal and as Mia came through, she saw him standing in front of her with his large shield held at the ready.
“Seems safe,” Mark said, his voice muffled through his armour. “Fucking weird though.”
Mia nodded, looking around at the pure white cube they found themselves inside. She peeked out from behind Mark’s shield and saw a pulsating sphere on the far wall, crackling with the same repulsive energy monsters had.
It was intense, the most powerful and concentrated presence Mia’d felt in her life, but it also felt … detached. No, that wasn’t quite right. Its presence was writhing, compressed down inside the sphere. It was trapped, locked inside that spherical prison and wasn’t left to do as it wished.
Once the rest of the group stepped through, Mia slowly walked up the sphere, twitching at every little sound like a startled rabbit. Once she was there, with the sphere — the Rift Core — within arm’s reach, she reached out with trembling fingers and touched it.
A new System window popped up in her face.
***
[Congratulations! You have Cleared this Rift: ‘Boarling Settlement’]
[Rewards will be generated shortly for any delvers who’ve contributed!]
[Hidden Quest: First Rift Clear!] has been Completed!
Objective:
Take part in Clearing a Rift! COMPLETED!
Rewards: Doubled rewards for Clearing the Rift.
***
Mia stood frozen for a moment, just reading through the notifications. Maybe that was why the next window popped up, a few seconds after the Hidden Quest’s completion notification swam by her vision.
***
[Do you wish to Destroy this Rift: ‘Boarling Settlement’ - level 12]
[WARNING! This decision is final and will have permanent consequences: The Destruction of this Rift!]
[{Newcomer}’s Tip: Destroying a Rift generally increases the rewards by 400% at the very least, but in turn, it makes it impossible to gain those rewards again, since the Rift will be gone.]
[ Yes / No ]
***
“Okay, if anyone’s not okay with me destroying this Rift, speak up now?” Mia said, looking over her shoulder back at the others. “We could leave it here and delve it again once Brent gets better. It’ll be much safer now that we know what to expect.”
“Destroy,” Lina said, raising a hand into the air. “We have a fuck ton of other Rifts to delve, plus, this one gave me the creeps.”
“Right you are, sister,” Mark gave an approving nod and raised his large clay hand.
Carmilla just silently raised her hand, only shrugging as Mia raised an eyebrow at her. With Helene being the last, she too just raised her hand. “Not for those reasons, but I agree too. This place is far too dangerous to let fester and grow. There has to be easier Rifts out there.”
With that decided, Mia mentally tapped ‘Yes’.
***
[Rift’s Destruction has been initiated! Process will commence once all delvers have left the rift or after 2 standard ‘Earth’ hours.]
[Generating Rift Rewards … ]
[Reward quality increased for being the first ever delvers to Clear this Rift]
[Reward quantity increased by 500% for initiating the Destruction of this Rift!]
[Rewards doubled by ‘Hidden Quest: First Rift Clear’]
[Rewards Generated for User Maria Vexley:
1 x Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Summoning
1 x Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Conjuration
2 x Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Abjuration
2 x Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Warding
1 x Book: ‘Archmage Leondrus’ Guide to Runic Theory for Junior Mages’
1 x Book: ‘Grand Mentalist Rosenthal’s Introductory to the Mental Arts’
1 x Book: ‘Grand Mentalist Rosenthal’s a Hundred and One Meditation Techniques.’
***
Mia stared, slack jawed, at the list of rewards that was only getting better and better the further she read. On the walls in the white cube they were in, shelves appeared with nameplates above them and the promised rewards appeared with the usual lack of flare Mia’d came to expect from the System.
Well, she might have jumped back a bit at first, expecting for it to drop the books on her head. Again.
That wasn’t even the end of it, though. There was one other notification popping up once she waved away the ones associated with the Rift.
***
[{Newcomer} Introductory (12)] is Complete!
Objective:
Enter a Rift / Dungeon and kill a number of monsters inside! ( 50 / 50 ) COMPLETED
Reward: A System generated defensive artifact (Amulet of Lesser Warding).
Claim reward now?
Yes / No
***
Mia couldn’t stop grinning as she scooped up her haul of books and locked the new amulet’s necklace around her neck. Not as the new archway rose up and they stepped through, not as it shattered the moment the last of them was back out of the rift and not when the ambient energies went back to a tranquil state.
She kept smiling until they arrived back home, even as Mark and Lina kept poking fun at her. Then she threw herself into her books, she had so much to read and study.
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