Moonlight assassin a lit.., p.72
Moonlight Assassin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy, page 72
But Guy’s favorite combo of all was chaining Uplifting Strike and Storm Slash together. If Guy hit Serzax with Uplifting Strike, he’d wallop the man of darkness so hard that the blow would launch him into the air. If Serzax was airborne, Guy would spread his Inferno Wings, fly up, and position himself so that the knockback from Storm Slash would send Serzax to the surface hard and fast, forcing him to take additional fall damage during the impact. Of course, that combo was iffy. Serzax was a human just like Guy and randomly resisted all forms of knockback, including Uplifting Strike’s upward launch.
Guy didn’t bother casting Blinding Flash. Serzax always saw it coming and covered his eyes. Blinding Flash also blinded nearby allies who weren’t in Guy’s party. Besides, he was better off spending his MP on Lay on Hands and Shockwave Slash.
Flying for a long period only encouraged Serzax to hit Guy with Shockwave Slash or his spells. The strength down from the Dark Touch debuff fucked Guy’s flight time, too, and sapped the strength from his arms and hands, making Guy’s weapons feel heavier than usual.
Their sword fight entered its fifteenth minute. Both men heaved a few paces backward, keeping their weapons aimed for their heads and side-stepping about in a circle. Serzax didn’t strike; he was studying Guy closely. The man of darkness worked up so much sweat that his long silver hair stuck to his neck and shoulders.
“You have gotten stronger, I see,” Serzax said. “I dare say you are stronger than Matthew.”
Guy sneered. “And you’re still a bitch! I dare say more of a bitch than your dead son, Wylume.”
Serzax’s lips twitched.
He ran for Guy with the Nocturnal Blade raised high. Guy heaved Asteria’s Sword upward, blocking the strike—
Thud.
Serzax kicked Guy in the stomach. It was a dirty move.
The blow was so hard it flung Guy backward and into the sand. Guy leaped back to his feet, only for Serzax to blast him square in the chest with a Dark Orb. Guy lost 774 from that spell and felt darkness sap his will to live. Serzax shut his eyes while a caster’s circle rotated below him. He cast Dark Orb again, burning Guy with black and purple flames. As long as Guy was out of melee range, Serzax could pound him with spell after spell, and as long as Guy’s AP was at 54 and rising by one each second he couldn’t capture Serzax with Magnetic Pull—
A flurry of arrows pierced Serzax from behind, ripping holes into his black cape. The man of darkness spun to the Ranger who had shot him.
It was Ulysses standing next to Averyl, clenching her Stellar Rod. Ulysses nocked an arrow and fired it, missing Serzax when he rolled across the sand. As Serzax came up, a magitech rifle blasted a scorching hole through his left arm.
Sting fired the rifle.
Raven wings flapped suddenly. Xanthe, Azar, and Farrah swooped down like vicious birds of prey seeking blood. Nijana soared above the shadow angels and played a quick note from the Requiem of War song, enchanting their attack power.
Serzax’s HP fell to 31% fast. In a panic, he punched Farrah to the ground, kicked Xanthe in the face, then stabbed Azar before twisting around to run. Ulysses sank arrow after arrow into Serzax whenever he got a clear shot, but it wasn’t enough to get his HP down to 25%.
An imperial Bard landed ahead of Serzax, offering his hand to him. “My Lord, we must make a tactical retreat!”
Fuck that. Guy ran after Serzax, the best he could in his weakened state and his HP at 251. He blew through three HP hyposprays and brought his HP up to 1658, though it didn’t do much for the Dark Touch debuff. Averyl would have to cleanse that, but it looked like she turned to cast Resurrection on the dead littering the beach.
The imperial Bard played Swift Carol with his harp, granting himself and Serzax boosted movement speed. Guy couldn’t keep pace with them. He needed Nijana’s music, and she wasn’t in his party. As Serzax and the imperial ran, he pulled out what looked like an Air Seed. Serzax popped the seed into his mouth, as did the imperial aiding him, then dashed for the ocean’s waves and dove in for a swim.
Guy stopped running when Serzax and the imperial sank into the water, vanishing from sight. They wouldn’t be coming up for air anytime soon, not as long as they had the Air Seed’s effect active.
Ulysses rushed to Guy’s side, keeping the Marauder’s Bow raised, and an arrow nocked. “Where are they going?”
“Swimming to the undersea fortress, I guess,” Guy said.
Ulysses turned around. “I’m going back to the Seraphim.”
“Don’t bother.”
“I don’t recall giving you captaincy, Sutherland.”
“They have Swift Carol active,” Guy said, turning to face Ulysses, ambling toward the Seraphim. “They’re swimming hella fast.”
Ulysses continued to his ship. “The Seraphim is faster.”
“And finding and targeting them in the ocean will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Then we meet them at the fortress.”
“Which is heavily guarded.” Guy sighed through a facepalm, then ran to keep up with Ulysses. “Which brings me to my next point. Our deflectors are down—”
“What the fuck, man!” Ulysses stopped and chucked the Marauder’s Bow to the beach’s sand.
“Using the Seraphim isn’t an option unless you know exactly where in the ocean they are. Even then, with the deflectors down, they could board us, maybe even damage the hull with spells.”
Ulysses groaned and turned to Guy, placing both hands on his waist. “Then what do we do? And don’t say nothing because I’m not leaving this fucking planet until Serzax’s dead!”
“If Serzax makes it to the fortress, he could easily fast travel to another world and escape—”
And Ulysses retrieved the Marauder’s Bow and bolted for the Seraphim.
Arn stood beside Guy, shaking his head. “Why did you give him that idea . . .?”
Guy ran to Ulysses, waving and shouting. “Ulysses!”
“I don’t want to fucking hear it!”
“We’ll swim over,” Guy offered. “If Serzax left Ellyllon, no problem. We’ll infiltrate the undersea fortress, find where its jump gate links, and then follow his ass.”
“Swimming . . .” Ulysses looked at Guy with a grimace. “I’m not a fae. I can’t hold my breath that long.”
“We won’t need to with Air Seeds. It’s what Serzax is using right now and what the first wave of imperials used before he brought the Azrael here.”
“And where are we going to get those?” Ulysses asked. “Loot the dead for them?”
“No guarantee they’ll drop them. And I doubt this wave of imperials had them since they arrived via the Azrael.”
“Then where else would we get Air Seeds?”
“Farrah, Azar,” Guy called out to the Inara shadow angels. The two ladies injured by Serzax’s assault stood up, groaning when they reached for an HP potion to drink. Their wounds faded away when Guy walked toward them, then they observed the soul crystals lying on the beach and dead imperials due to become crystals themselves. “You think either of you can use the Administrator’s Debug thingy and create Air Seeds?”
“Hmm, let me see,” Azar said. She activated the Administrator’s Debug screen Guy had heard so much about. With it, she had the power to create anything, literally. Azar flipped through the pages until she discovered the item in question, Air Seed. She shut the screen off with a sad no-shake of her head. “A single Air Seed requires at least five soul crystals to make. And honestly, Paladin, I would rather we keep these crystals to bolster Inara’s wealth and defense as per our agreement.”
“Well, there goes that idea.” Guy spun away, with his face lost in thought. “Hmm.” He rubbed his chin in a sage-like manner. “I think I might know someone who could hook us up.”
Chapter Ninety-Three
In a shock to many, the Seraphim left the planet Ellyllon and soared into the void of space. Once it was a safe distance away from the druid world, a hyperspace conduit opened. The Seraphim dove into it and left the system, destination: the planet of the fae water nymphs.
“I still say we should have just taken the chance on looting the dead,” Arn said, reclining his chair before the navigator’s station.
“We permakilled a bunch, and none of them dropped the seeds,” Guy said, standing from his seat. “Not to mention, Air Seeds have a limited duration. Something like thirty minutes or so. We need enough seeds to swim to the fortress and back.”
“Guy’s right,” Rachael said, ambling to his side. “Having an Air Seed’s duration fade during the middle of our swim does us no good.”
He nodded to his childhood friend. “We’d just end up drowning.”
“I just feel like we’re wasting time by leaving the planet . . .” Arn said, narrowing his eyes at the light from hyperspace.
“Everyone’s camped on the beach,” Guy said. “The shadow angels from Inara captured the Eastern Yelrokas Fortress and Zenevieva Fortress from the imperials just before we left and are working on the Ceo Fortress. There are only two options for the empire now: fast travel to the world that the undersea fortress links with or swim back to the beach. We got this.”
“Until the sentinels show up,” Arn snorted.
Rachael gasped to herself when Arn mentioned “sentinels.”
She tugged on Guy’s shoulder, pulling him with her. “Hey, Guy, can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Sure.”
Guy and Rachael left the Seraphim’s bridge and took a long stroll down the starship’s winding corridors. Rachael periodically looked backward, like she was making sure nobody was following or listening to them. Nobody was.
She pivoted to Guy and gazed at him with a worrying look. “I never had the chance to tell you what Henrietta discovered with that PDA.”
Guy crossed his arms. “What did she learn?”
Rachael sighed and stared at the floor, holding her hip with her left hand. She explained everything, focusing on the demons being creations of the ethereals and used as shock troopers to attack Earth. She told him that the sentinels were the ones who fought the ethereals and the demons to defend Earth. When the sentinels failed to save Earth, they rescued as many survivors as possible and brought them into the Asteria Galaxy to seek refuge.
“Well, the demons are all dead now,” Guy said. “At least the ones who escaped into our universe.”
“Yeah, but . . .”
“The ethereals created them. Yeah, I hear that.”
“Rain’s an ethereal, Guy. We can’t trust her blindly.”
“We’ll be fine.”
“How can you be so sure? Remember when we captured that fortress on Ellyllon? Remember how Rain just jumped onto that turret and knew how to operate it?”
“You and I both did that as well, Rachael.”
“We’re star-dwellers. Yes, it was sentinel tech, but we have lots of experience using computers and the like. It wasn’t hard to figure out.”
“The imperials knew how to operate them.”
“Because the sentinels taught them how. Who taught Rain how to use a pulse turret? And didn’t you say Rain was drawn to the demons in the desert?”
Guy had to give her words some thought. “Yeah . . . we never did figure that mystery out.”
“Rain could be genetically programmed to respond to requests from the demons.”
“Rain didn’t react when we initially encountered the demons, way back when we first came to Penna, just before we killed the Flame Wyvern.”
“Rain’s mutation into an ethereal hadn’t completed at that time either. That fancy glitter on her skin says it all, Guy. She’s still changing. Between that incident in the desert and her using the turrets . . . she’s . . . she’s slowly revealing her true nature to us all.”
“Here’s the thing.” Guy sighed. It felt like he was arguing with the most important person in his life. Guy hated that feeling. “The White Dragon made Rain who she is, and she’s been a help to the team, and let’s face it. The White Dragon’s guidance has gotten us to where we are now. It has never been wrong about anything.”
“And that’s the scary part. It’s never wrong.” Rachael’s voice changed to a worrying tone. “What happens when it is? We’ll be running headfirst into something we think will go one way, convinced that the White Dragon is never wrong.”
“It’s an AI. Its decisions are calculated.”
“So we think. Maybe we’re wrong about it being an AI? Even then, AIs can be hacked and reprogrammed, infected with a computer virus, or straight up have programming glitches. Hmm, and that incident in the desert with Rain and the demons? Didn’t you say she forced the White Dragon to change one of the quest objectives? Oh, and the White Dragon’s been generous with quest experience points as of late. Hell, maybe that’s a glitch too. With all that said, the White Dragon might one day lead us into an early grave, and trusting Rain blindly might be the thing that would do it. Don’t make me be the one to hold your soul crystal . . .” Rachael clasped her hands together, almost begging him. “Guy, please, watch your back with Rain. The ethereals created the demons, and it seems they’re the reason Earth fell.”
“Rain was born a fae. She was never an ethereal until now. But I understand your concerns, Rachael. I’ll keep a close eye on Rain. The sharpened senses of the Assassin subclass make me more alert and aware of my surroundings too.”
“Promise me, Guy.” Rachael’s blue eyes peered into his eyes. “Promise me you won’t allow Rain to watch your back until she proves herself to be trustworthy.”
His lips twisted.
“At least,” Rachael added, shutting her eyes, and held his arm. “Don’t be afraid to say no to Rain coming on a mission. We’ve done fine without her, and we can do it again. You, me, and the others.”
The Seraphim’s return to the planet of the water nymph fae was met with disappointing faces and sighs from the land-dwellers on the surface. As the starship landed in the ocean, various water nymphs watched and swam to the shoreline. They remembered the Seraphim and its dramatic escape over a month ago and welcomed it with raised lances, swords, maces, and tomes glowing with astral light.
It wasn’t the thing Guy wanted to see as the doors slid open.
“Oh, hey, guys!” Guy spread his arms in greeting. “What’s up?”
“You . . .” A water nymph Spell Lancer strode toward Guy, pointing his spear at his face.
Guy raised his hands in surrender. “Look, I’m here to make amends for what I did.”
The spearman glanced at Rachael, Arn, and Ulysses standing behind. “You can come, Paladin.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“The rest must stay.”
“Oh fuck . . .”
Guy stepped out of the Seraphim while Arn waved goodbye to him. “Good luck, dude, and say goodbye to your dick . . .”
Guy shuttered at the thought.
The water nymph fae guards escorted Guy to their city through waist-high water. One by one, various naked water nymphs arose from the water and brushed back their dripping wet hair with shut eyes. They opened their eyes to see the lone human from space standing before them. Their leader snarled at him. He swam toward Guy and gazed at him up and down.
“Back again,” the leader grunted, then snapped his fingers. “Guards.” A muscular water nymph man swam over and handed the leader a broadsword into his extended hands. He lifted the blade to his face and ogled at the weapon’s stat screen that appeared. “Originally, I had planned to cut off your cock and hang it around my neck.”
“Dude, that’s just fucked,” Guy said, taking two slow steps backward through the waist-high water. “You really wanted to walk around with a giant dong around your neck?”
“Giant?”
“Well, to you faes it would be. I learned during my time on Faeheim that you fairies have little ass dicks. Hmm, though, I might be wrong about Zuran. He’s pretty hung.”
The water nymph leader stared at Guy. “Shall we begin, star-man?”
“Look, I want to make up for what I did,” Guy said. “But there’s gotta be something else I can do.”
“There is not currently. . .”
“C’mon, man.”
“. . . because you have already done so.”
“Wait, what?”
“Two days ago, the Autumnfall fae appeared as you predicted they would.” The leader waved the sword about and held a striking stance. “Strange starships descended from the stars and deployed what would have been our conquerors. But, thanks to the weapons, armor, accessories, and potions you provided, we gained several levels before that happened. The Autumnfall fae were not expecting us to fight back and withdrew, having realized that they did not send enough soldiers.”
Guy raised his eyebrow. “Oh . . .”
“You saved our world from them. I feel obligated to overlook that you abandoned my daughters and offer you compensation.”
The leader nodded, and a naked woman appeared from the water, holding a small treasure chest in her slender hands. She placed it on top of a nearby rock, then swam backward through the water, allowing Guy to tread over and view what lay inside the chest.
The water nymphs had loaded the chest with Air Seeds. At the bottom of the trove were several glass bottles full of red, blue, and yellow liquid.
“Please, take these as your reward for saving us.”
Guy grinned. “Don’t mind if I do!”
He stored the items into his Inventory screen.
Obtained: Air Seed x99
Obtained: Major HP Potion x50
Obtained: Major MP Potion x50
Obtained: Major AP Potion x50
Potions are useless to us star-dwellers, but to everyone else on the team this will help out a lot. He spun around with a bow to the water nymphs. They bowed respectively. Guy didn’t look respectively at the bowing women and their perky wet breasts dangling on their chests when they bent.
Guy raised his head fast before they did.
“May Asteria and the sword she lent you guide you to more worlds in need of your protection.”
