The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 68: Alice in Hell

The group tried to enter the minor dungeon, but were blocked by the entrance.

"The entrance is defective," Starfighter said, "I think that the game has issues with dungeons where the entrance is covered by terrain. But it's easily solved. The party leader just has to set a teleport point for the team, then everyone can teleport and will be in the dungeon."

"Alright, will do," DicingDevil replied quickly.

He navigated the dungeon's party leadership menu. It asked him to create an instance, then began a timer of 15 minutes for clearance. Slightly hurried, he selected the [Waypoint] option, and a soft red light began to emanate from the tunnel entrance below. He exited the menu.

Crucis saw a dialogue box appear in front of him, saying, 'Your party's leader has set a Waypoint. Teleport to near location?' He pressed yes, and a faint blue ring appeared around his feet. Soon, the rest of the party was also surrounded by these rings.

After 30 seconds, Crucis found himself teleported into a large room with crumbling, white walls, and a small, marble fountain in the centre. Pools of white powder spread across the edges of the grey-brown floor, fallen from the chalky stone of the walls. The party had spawned on the same side of the room, and there was a large doorway on the opposite side of the room with broken hinges which suggested that the door itself had been torn out.

DicingDevil stepped quickly towards the fountain in the centre, and as he touched it the noise of loud footsteps arose behind the doorway. Soon, a group of five skeletons wearing white, glowing armour appeared, carrying small swords which were covered in cracks. Each of them was named [Defender of the Faith (Scout)].

"Their swords won't break, don't even try," Starfighter said. "They're very weak to hits on the head, though."

The group stood back briefly as Grisier used the fountain's water to cast [Ice Blast], spraying shards of ice at the skeletal enemies. This struck two of the skeletons on the head, and their HP dropped to 75%.

Crucis saw that one of the enemies seemed to be stronger than the others, and still had 97% HP remaining, so he ran up to it and struck it with a light [Slash] to the chest while parrying its sword. He flicked his sword upwards to strike it with a [Rising thrust] hard on its left arm, which was holding its sword. This caused its grip on the sword to droop slightly, and Crucis used [Uncrossing of Blades] to raise his sword away from the skeleton's and immediately strike at its left wrist with a fierce [Overhead slash]. This quick onslaught of high-Agility moves was enough to dispossess the skeleton of its sword, which clattered across the floor.

Crucis ushered an approaching Akshel away from this skeleton, and Akshel shifted off to help Starfighter, who was keeping one enemy pinned in a corner and furiously striking at its head.

Crucis, however, took things easy. After a [Feint], where he pretended to stab at the enemy in order to force it to backpedal, he swept his sword quickly across the ground to trip up the moving enemy. As the skeleton fell backwards into the corner, it had only 65% HP remaining. However, Crucis only used light strikes cushioned by the skeleton's armour, doing barely any damage. With each strike, some black mist began to rise into the air.

Grisier saw what Crucis was doing, and used a [Healing] spell on the creature, followed by [Mana Push] to keep it stuck in the corner. This brought it back up to 67% HP, allowing Crucis to strike further. Since he wasn't wounding it heavily, not much black smoke arose, but he figured it was much more than he would get by just killing this scout quickly. Once the black mist grew thick enough that the room looked like it was tinted clearly darker, Crucis killed the skeleton with a blow to the head. While the rest of the scouts died in 30 seconds or less, Crucis' lasted for 1 minute and 40 seconds. The rest of the group were getting slightly impatient, but DicingDevil pointed them to the mist.

Starfighter had spent this waiting time by busily discussing tactics for the next room with DicingDevil.

DicingDevil addressed the group as they prepared to enter the doorway. "This guy says that we should attack the boss first. It will appear in front of one of the players here. Whoever is near it, attack it, the rest of us will take the mobs. Spread across the room so that Grisier can cast spells from the fountain in here."

Him, Starfighter, Crucis, and Akshel stepped through the door, into a large cavern which seemed to have fragments of ruined walls around its edges. The ground was brown, hard mud. Crucis and Starfighter spread out towards the left, and the DeathGang members towards the right.

There was a loud, feminine sobbing sound from the right side of this cavern, but as DicingDevil checked there was nothing there. As the crying noise disappeared, without a sound a large, hulking skeletal figure wearing an oversized purple robe appeared in front of Crucis, named [Alice]. This skeleton's two thick arms hung menacingly in Crucis' direction, a foot above his head. It eye sockets were tall, empty holes which had been torn downwards, and its mouth had also been ripped into a large hole with rough edges and gaped widely as it faced Crucis.

Not bothering with formalities, Crucis used [Agile Step] to move instantly to the skeleton's right flank, then attacked it with a [Lunge] which accurately struck its neck. The creature roared in a low-pitched, muffled voice, and swung a mighty hand in Crucis' direction. Crucis, however, had quickly shifted his weight downwards and crouched behind the creature's left leg, using [Thrash] to beat at its leg and weaken its balance.

Starfighter aggressively ran up to the skeleton with his sword raised by its blade, and used [Mordhau] on the boss' face. This sent the boss out of balance, and Crucis easily grabbed and upended it by the legs as Starfighter laid down over it and hacked fiercely at its head and neck.

Meanwhile, a group of smaller skeletal mobs, each named [The Faithful], had begun pouring in through a large crack which appeared in the centre of the cavern roof. Each of these enemies wore a torn, blue and silver robe. They were met by a spray of ice as Grisier cast [Ice Blast], and then DicingDevil and Akshel set upon them, clearing through these weaker mobs quickly with sweeping slashes.

The boss' leg was strong enough to send Crucis cannoning away towards a cavern wall. He crouched down and skidded to a stop, using a hand on the ground to steady himself. One of his shoulders lightly brushed the wall as he stopped, and he used this shoulder to push off against the wall as he stood up with a swagger and walked back towards the boss. He felt confident on seeing that the boss was still pinned to the ground.

Starfighter was clinging on to the boss' upper body and striking resolutely at their neck and head. Although the boss tried to dislodge him with its imposing arms, Starfighter had wrapped his legs around one of the boss' large ribs, and would steadfastly cling onto the boss' bones with his hands to counter-act any attempts to get rid of him. The warrior was still clinging on and striking, using his [Haladie] when the creature tried to obstruct his sword. In the process, he had taken several hard strikes as the boss bent its stiff arms with effort, but had taken the boss down to 55% HP.

Crucis was interrupted by a rogue [The Faithful] which had run from a fight with DicingDevil, and ran up to fight Crucis as he was carefully trying to avoid the boss' legs. Frustrated, he grabbed this skeleton in a rough [Chokehold], not dealing much damage but dragging it along with him. Since [The Faithful] were only level 35, he dragged it with ease towards the boss, using it as a shield while approaching. Quickly ducking down near the ground, he grabbed this [The Faithful] by the legs and scurried between its legs towards the boss, then slammed [The Faithful]'s body down hard across the boss' lower ribs just behind Starfighter's legs. The boss cried out in pain, and reached 40% HP.

While [The Faithful] had nearly died from the collision, Crucis saw that one of its legs had broken off. These creatures' bones were highly tough, even more than the boss', but their joints were weak. He dove down towards it and killed it with a quick [Silent Stab], then grabbed its detached leg bone. Using [Stealth Cloak], he made his way behind the creature's head, and then begun striking away its arms with his sword as soon as it tried to strike Starfighter. With this protection, Starfighter was quickly able to whittle down the boss' HP with persistent strikes.

Seeing a large chink forming in the boss' neck, Crucis quickly laid half of the legbone in this crack while the creature was distracted by Starfighter. Crucis then jumped carefully onto the firm legbone, balancing with one foot on either side of the neck, and heard the creature cry out. He stepped lightly off as he began to lose balance, and while doing this used his right foot to spin the bone off the boss' neck and to the side, where he picked it up off the ground. A large gap had formed in the boss' neck, and Starfighter began to pour further strikes into the crack.

As the boss reached 15% HP, a girl's voice quietly sang out, "Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do," from near the boss' head. Crucis guessed that this might be similar to the King's [Blinding Fate] skill, and fled carefully out of the way. Soon, he saw Starfighter catapulting away from the boss, striking against a wall of the cavern and falling to 35% HP. Seeing him, Grisier cast [Healing] and Starfighter returned to 55% HP. The boss had also healed as the girl's voice sung, and was back to 25% HP.

As the boss tried to get up, it had difficulty because of the neck injury, which meant that its head kept teetering from side to side and threatened to fall off. Slowly, it tried to rise while carefully keeping its head in balance. Crucis watched it as he crouched and lurked near the cavern walls, staying out of the way of the mobs and waiting for the boss to rise.

As the boss lifted itself tentatively on its large feet, kneeling slightly as it tried to keep its head in place, Crucis used [Stealth Cloak] and then ran forwards. In an instant, he leapt near the boss with [Agile Step], then wrapped the legbone around its neck and pulled backwards. Due to his momentum, the creature began to reel backwards, and its head began to shake wildly. Tilting the legbone slightly, he caused the creature's skull to fall tamely to its left side as it stumbled awkwardly backwards.

Emulating Starfighter's approach, he used the legbone to pull himself up onto the creature's large back, using the creature's ribs and backbones to climb on with his legs. Hanging his upper body backwards into the air like a carefree skydiver, he felt the pressure on the creature intensify until it began to sway heavily back and forth. Finding that he couldn't keep his balance, he slipped his feet onto the ground and roughly pulled downwards on the legbone, trying to keep a firm balance on the ground and apply pressure to the wildly swaying creature. It managed to lightly scrape him with one arm, but had difficulty striking backwards when in such disarray.

As the creature weakly stumbled around, trying to avoid falling backwards, Crucis saw that it was leaning forwards in order to avoid his pull. He pressed forwards suddenly, kneeing it downwards. Since it was already highly off-balance, it fell to the floor under Crucis' knee, and he followed it down with the legbone still caught around its neck. He curled his leg around the back of its ribs as it tried to shake him off, and kept his firm grip on the legbone, pulling it upwards.

He quickly pulled out his sword, and held the legbone in his left hand. Striking firmly with the sword, he held on to the writhing monster and bluntly struck at its breaking neck with the base of his sword, resting its hilt on the right side of the neck like a lever. Starfighter had returned, after having to fight off a large group of [The Faithful] which had materialised after the boss sent him flying away, but had run back here after DicingDevil helped him to kill those off. He struck firmly at the boss' arms and shoulders as it tried with difficulty to strike Crucis.

Crucis soon used [Slice] to sever the last sliver of the boss' neck in the crack, and the boss' neck fell off as it died. Getting up, slightly tired, he gave Starfighter a fist-bump as thanks. Surveying the enemies, he saw that a few skeletons named [Defender of the Faith] had materialised, and these seemed like stronger versions of the scouts which they had first fought. These enemies wore similar armour, but now with a more bright, pale glow.

He ran up to join the rest of the group, and saw that Grisier was raining [Icicle Projectile] attacks at these mobs. Crucis ran up to one, then leapt at it with a blunt [Slash] to the face, grabbing at its ribs to steady himself and using his legs to kick beneath its ribs. Maintaining a tenuous balance, he used [Thrash] on its head until it died. Noticing that another [Defender of the Faith] was approaching, he leapt off this one's falling body and towards the face of the approaching one, clawing at its face and nestling the fingers of his left hand between its right eye socket while perching his feet on its ribs. He struck its face with a hard, blunt [Slash] from the right, then pummeled it with an [Overhead slash] and another [Thrash], killing it.

Falling down with the body, he looked for another [Defender of the Faith] nearby, then used the fallen skeleton's ribs to launch himself towards it as he darted along the ground and grabbed it by the legs. It tried to keep its balance, but as he reared up behind it the skeleton fell hard to the ground, crashing into a [The Faithful] next to it. He saw that Starfighter was watching on nearby, impressed.

Assailing this [Defender of the Faith] by the head again, he saw Starfighter quickly take out the fallen [The Faithful] which had collided with it. Another [Defender of the Faith] reared up behind Crucis, but he locked his legs and left hand around its right ankle to slow it down, and Starfighter comfortably sent the near-static enemy to the ground with a blunt [Mordhau]. With impressive dexterity, Starfighter flipped his sword after the hilt strike, and stabbed down towards the creature's face. Crucis scrambled towards there as well, and they both assaulted its head until it died.

Crucis saw that most of the [Defender of the Faith] mobs had died. DicingDevil was busy killing one with [Hilt Bludgeon], an [Ariston] sub-class skill which placed the sword's hilt against an opponent, then elbowed them using the hilt as leverage. He was using this as a follow-up to [Mordhau], and then skeleton dropped dead.

Crucis ran up to one of the remaining [Defender of the Faith] mobs, and used [Feint] to target its head before using [Overhead slash] to swivel his sword and strike at its wrists. By now, the air was growing thickly black, and Crucis could easily strike these skeletons' joints. The skeleton lost hold of its sword, and Starfighter dislodged this with a quick [Blade Strike]. Crucis by now appeared to have a large, black cobra-like hood reaching out from both sides of his back like strange wings, from the height of his midriff to above his head, and his face had been replaced by a black void containing two large fangs and two aggressive, squinting snake-like eyes suspended above that.

He swept his sword along the ground calmly, then as the [Defender of the Faith] lurched forwards he used a firm, sharp [Rising thrust] to strike the top of its neck, sending its head backwards, before comfortably stepping forwards and striking the creature with a firm [Slash] to the face. It fell backwards easily, and Crucis rushed in to finish it off with a [Lunge] to the face.

The last [Defender of the Faith] was charging up to him from behind, but he calmly swivelled around to his right and parried its sword as its swung from the side, then ducked down as its momentum carried it forwards. He grabbed hold of one of its legs and lifted this as it tripped over him, throwing the creature over his lowered back as it ran forwards. It landed firmly on its head, creating a loud, hollow noise and taking it down to 5% HP. It showed little sign of getting up.

He used his sword EXP to unlock the [Mordhau] skill. He had gained a lot of sword EXP from the long fights today, and was close to unlocking dual-wielding. However, he had seen the power of the [Mordhau] move, and decided that it was worth getting now. He was expecting to have to wait longer for sword EXP to accumulate and give him enough skill points to unlock dual-wielding and the ensuing Agility buffs, but since he had the same dungeons planned for tomorrow he would probably end up with more than enough.

He struck the [Defender of the Faith] with the hilt of his sword in a firm [Mordhau]. He noticed that it was less powerful than DicingDevil's or Starfighter's, but still a harsh strike. The creature died with its skull split in two, and Crucis stepped on some of the brittle remains, which crumbled to white powder.

There were still a few small pockets of [The Faithful] remaining. He walked slowly among them, downing them quickly with precise strikes to their necks and heads. He took a few blows in the process, but shrugged it off, ending on a comfortable 76% HP.

The group had cleared the dungeon with 2 minutes left. Crucis was tired, but had enjoyed the experience. He checked his loot, and saw that the boss had dropped a skill book for a skill named [Hilt Feint], as well as a storybook named [A Charming Fairy-Tale]. How wholesome.

He slumped against a wall for a couple of seconds, then left the dungeon.

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM