Arcane kingdom online co.., p.148
Arcane Kingdom Online: Complete Box Set, page 148
Shadow Clay triggered an earthquake spell, crumbling the ground at our feet.
“Aw mate this is super annoying,” said Shade, jumping out of the AoE attack. “It was great when you used it on others, but it’s a right pain in the bum used against us.”
What was our squad’s weakness?
Then I remembered.
“Everyone, keep them distracted,” I said, grinning.
I unleashed my dream druid combo, sidestepping into the dream realm and conjuring the powerful dream blade in my grip.
I jumped back into reality and summoned three phantasms of myself.
It was a clone versus clone battle now.
“Nice work, Clay,” shouted Jackson, locked in a boxing match with his shadow self.
The brawler was congratulating me too soon. This was only step one of the plan.
I electric blinked across the battlefield.
I emerged right behind Shadow Kari and without any hesitation shoved my dream blade right through her head.
“Ice cold,” gasped Kari on the other side of the battle.
That was always the strategy we used against trash mobs and bandits and what we as a squad always defended against.
You gotta kill the healer first. Always.
Shadow Clay threw out a fireball at me.
I electric blinked right into his face.
“Weren’t expecting that were you?” I smirked, before stabbing my shadow self in the gut.
Shadow Clay was always going to be the second target. So far he’d only been using my apprentice mage abilities, but if he had my other skills, he’d be able to revive Kari and then we’d be stuck in an endless loop of a fight.
I wrenched the dream blade into the shadow clone and ripped it out.
Shadow Clay collapsed on the ground. Dead.
“Mate, you just killed yourself,” said Shade, locked in a knife fight with his shadow self.
“I suggest you do the same,” I hollered back.
The battle was ours now that the two healers were taken out. All that remained were Shadow Serena, Shadow Shade, and Shadow Jackson.
But what the heck was the false-tree lord doing during all of this?
I looked over and saw the false-tree lord had his hand raised over the battlefield in the exact same stance he was in when he summoned the shadow clones.
Could it be?
I electric blinked behind the false-tree lord and sliced the dream blade into his raised arm.
“Arghh!” yelled the false tree-lord.
The shadow clones all disintegrated into wispy nothingness.
By attacking the false-tree lord directly, I was able to cancel his summoning spell. We should have noticed immediately that the spell had to be continuously cast to keep going, but the sheer shock of seeing our shadow selves had kept us distracted.
What originally seemed like a pretty OP spell was actually kind of mediocre.
This false-tree lord stunk.
“It’s time you stopped hiding behind your minions,” I said. “And fought us yourself!”
50
“Charge!”
I floated midair above the false-tree lord, staying just above his head with a mana puddle at my feet.
“Give him everything you’ve got,” I shouted as the whole team charged on the false-tree lord.
This monster wasn’t as powerful as he tried to make himself out to be. It was time we finished him.
I swung my dream blade into his neck.
CLANG!
The sword barely dented the false-tree lord’s neck.
“What the—”
How high was this monster’s toughness stat? If anything I was expecting the sword to swipe through the creature and deal little damage, but not even being able to penetrate his skin with my blade?
“You think this is enough to kill me!?”
BOOM!
A powerful force rippled through the air and shot me across the barren landscape until I smashed into the ashy ground, a few good meters away from the false-tree lord.
I stood up off the ground and got my bearings.
The rest of the group got up from the other side of the monster lord where his blast had flung them.
“One more charge,” I said.
I knew his neck wasn’t a weak point. I’d aim my magic blade somewhere else then.
I conjured three more phantasms of myself and we rushed the false-tree lord.
The monster flicked his head back and forth, unsure whether to focus on me and my clones or the rest of the party coming from the other side.
He was surrounded.
There was only one thing he could do.
He triggered his energy force ripple effect.
BOOM!
All the party members groaned as they were shot back. Same with my phantasms.
But not me though.
I knew the false-tree lord was going to do something like that.
That’s why at the last minute I’d electric blinked right above his head.
“Impossible!” shouted the false-tree lord as I came flying down from the air above him, sword outstretched.
“Clay dodged the attack!” cheered Serena.
My blade landed right into the false-tree lord exactly where I wanted it too.
In the center of its glowing purple heart.
“Nooooooo!”
The false-tree lord began to disintegrate into dust.
+35000 EXP!
Congratulations! Your primary class (Dream Druid) has levelled up (Level 21). You have gained (1) class skill point for your primary class.
The whole barren field began to tremble.
“Well done, Clay,” said Jackson. “Looks like this place is going to implode on itself now that the false-tree lord has fallen. We gotta get through that portal back to the mother tree ASAP!”
We all dashed back towards the portal. I shot out shocking speed spells on all of us to increase our agility.
We rushed and as the land around us began to crack and splinter we made it to the portal and jumped through.
51
We made it through the portal and not a second too soon.
The purple gateway to the false-tree lord’s realm closed up and in its place was a shower of golden light.
The light cleansed the entire mother tree, wiping away the purple bruises of corruption that had infected it.
It was a majestic sight to behold.
“Beautiful,” said Serena.
A message appeared in my HUD.
Congratulations! You have completed the quest: The Corruption Infecting The Mother Tree
Collect your reward for this quest by heading to the top of the mother tree.
The mother tree was restored. We could now seek out the cure we wanted.
We hurried to the outer part of the branch and onto the elevator of light.
I told the prompt to take us straight up to the top.
“I wonder what’s going to be up there,” said Kari.
Both the elder and the A.I. guardian Jupiter told us that the mother tree was where ancient peoples went to seek cures for unknown ailments. If Konrad Takeshimi had truly hidden the cure to the ZERO virus somewhere that matched the lore of the game, this seemed like it would be the best place to hide it.
A random troll hut probably would have been a better hiding spot, but then we probably would have never found it.
The magic elevator took us higher and higher to the top golden glow of the mother tree.
It got so bright for a few seconds I only saw white.
Then we emerged in a beautiful grassy grove.
Old gnarled trees surrounded us and at the center of the grove was a fountain of water.
Floating above the fountain was a hooded figure.
“Is that the true tree lord then?” asked Serena.
Maybe. The hooded figure seemed incredibly familiar. Like I’d seen him before. Then I realized who it was: it was the ghostly mage who appeared during my apprentice mage and summoner trials.
What was he doing here?
We approached the fountain and the floating figure.
“Hello,” I said, not sure how you were supposed to greet a tree-lord. “We’ve come seeking a cure for a powerful disease.”
“Maybe say please and thank you,” whispered Shade.
There was no good way to broach this subject. We’d just have to wait and hear what the tree-lord guy had to say.
The hooded figure nodded his head.
“I understand now,” spoke the man. “You need a cure for the ZERO virus?”
“How did he know!?” gasped the whole party.
The figure removed his hood.
It was Konrad Takeshimi.
“What are you doing here?” I said. “I thought we killed you.”
The man smirked. “So, that is what happened to me in the end, is it? Do not worry, I’m not miraculously still alive. I’m merely a fragment of the man you killed. A piece of code hidden away.”
“Have you been tracking me all along?” I asked. “Since the apprentice mage trial?”
“Dear heavens, no,” said the man. “My code was hidden within this character to be triggered to appear here in the mother tree if the A.I. guardians were ever successful in enacting their plan. As soon as a portal was created, linking this world and our own, I was summoned here at the top of this tree.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s a pretty well-thought out plan.”
“Not particularly,” said the man. “I was weakened by the sheer corruption caused by the A.I. guardians absence, but it was the best plan I could come up with that would successfully sneak by their own detection. It also relied on others—like yourselves—seeking me out.”
The man’s eyes wobbled and he looked down at his hands.
“I was a bad man. There is no forgiveness for what I did. To you, to my daughter, to the world. I sought power and let it corrupt me further and further and when I realized my mistakes it was far too late. I designed my presence here in the hopes that someone might find me and help me undo the misery I caused. I have gifts for you all, including the cure to the ZERO virus.”
“For Jackson,” said the man. “I present one of the rarest set of brawler gloves available.”
Jackson went up and accepted the reward.
I checked my HUD to get a cheeky look at the brawler gloves’ stats.
Jackson has received Mythril Gloves (ATKP 2500-3500, +50% Critical Hit Rate)
The man continued, presenting items to each of us. He called forth Serena next.
Serena has received Heaven’s Glory (ATKP 4000-5000, +25% Critical Hit Rate, +500 Holy/Light Damage)
Holy crap—that was one super powerful greatsword.
Kari was next. She received a wondrous staff.
Kari has received Angel’s Blessing (ATKP 500-1000, MTKP 1200-2300, +50% Bonus Healing, +50% chance to regain MP lost after every spell)
Shade received a set of powerful daggers.
Shade receives Mugara’s Twin Blades (ATKP: 2000-5000, +90% Bonus Damage From Stealth Attacks, 40% Critical Hit Rate)
Then there was only me.
I didn’t want a rare weapon.
I stepped forward, moving closer to the cloaked reincarnation of the game’s creator.
I wanted the cure to the ZERO virus.
It was the reason why we’d travelled all this way, even as a gateway of hellish demons was about to open up and let flesh-eaters flood into Illyria.
The reincarnated Konrad lifted up his hand to me and said, “Only you, young man, wielder of the Prophetic Seal have the power to cure the virus. You must use the code: //run: cure_0_virus. The ability can only be used once. I know it’s not a lot. But it holds the key to developing a vaccine and an ability to cure the disease on a widespread scale.”
I stared at the man, dumbfounded.
My stomach lurched.
“You mean...” I said. “This is only a single cure. For one flesh-eater?”
“Alas, it was all I could muster,” said the man. “But you only need one cure to cure the rest, right?”
“But we don’t have the time OLD MAN!”
The man began to fade away.
“What! You’re running away?”
“I only had one purpose,” said the reincarnated Konrad. “To pass on this information to you. Now that it is complete, I may finally go to rest...”
“Screw you!” I yelled. “You leave us here in this situation and just disappear. Fine. Run. We don’t need you.”
I took a deep long breath and turned back to the group.
Their faces were white with horror.
Not at me, but at our situation.
We didn’t have a trump card for the upcoming battle.
We didn’t have time to search for another.
We didn’t have jack shit.
52
The Aeolus Comet zoomed through the air passage between Orenspar and Arethkar.
Jackson made a calculated swerve to avoid the river of shooting stars. It added distance to our journey but it ultimately saved us more time.
“How much longer until the gate opens?” asked Serena.
“It will open up in two hours,” I said.
“Great,” said Jackson. “So, we’ll get to Ryr’s Ascension with a few minutes to spare. Maybe half an hour at most.”
We really didn’t have any time to waste. Without a widespread cure for the marauding flesh-eaters about to flood through the portal, we needed to go back to basics: we were about to go to war with the undead.
I stood there in the cockpit, gripping onto a handrail, staring out the window as the cloud ocean rushed past.
C’mon, I thought. We don’t have a second to waste.
After an hour we arrived on the continent of Arethkar and thirty minutes after that, we were landing in the palace aerodrome of Ryr’s Ascension.
“Ooh good to be home,” said Shade, stretching his legs as he exited the airship. “Well, Ryr’s Ascension isn’t really home, is it? But good to be back at a place I’m familiar with. You know a place with pubs and beer gardens and less swamps and haunted trees. Am-I-right?”
Everyone else ignored him.
It was early evening and ominous gray haunting clouds hung over the city and the surrounding landscape.
Regiments of soldiers stood tall just beyond the city walls on the plains of Ryr’s Ascension. The purple gateway—the demonic scar in the sky—hung just beyond them, far across the fields, hauntingly waiting to unleash the monstrosities that wanted to travel through it.
The portal flickered and flamed.
“Oh boy,” said Shade. “Note to self: don’t stare into that scary portal, it has a way of sucking you in.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. For now, the portal was a distraction. Preparations came first. I was sure in thirty minutes we’d be looking at that horrible portal non-stop.
We arrived in the throne hall to find Raylene and Ren discussing with the commanders new battle strategies and formations.
There were also a few unexpected but familiar faces in the room.
“Clay, my boy!”
An old Rorn wizard with a long beard and cloak waddled over to me.
It was Theobold. My first apprentice mage mentor from when I first entered A.K.O.
Standing behind him was Fergus, the young king of Laergard. Beside the king were his two loyal knight companions: Sir Edward Silver and Sir Archades.
If I recalled correctly, Sir Archades chopped my head off when we first met.
I rubbed my neck, nervously.
“Well, this is a first, isn’t it?” said King Fergus, smiling. “A Laergardian king bringing his army to the shores of Arethkar and not for war, but in aid. When we received your message, we answered your call at once.”
I bowed my head to the king.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Damn,” said Shade. “Only you four showed up. I thought we had more friends than this.”
“I brought my entire army,” said King Fergus.
Shade shook his head. “You haven’t been out there. We need many multiples of armies if we stand a chance against the horde that’s awaiting us.”
Shade was right.
I looked around the throne hall, anxiously. I had expected more people to answer our call. We’d travelled across most of Illyria, making friends and allies along the way. Did they really not care about helping us? Did they not care about the future of this world?
“Tell us, Clay,” said King Fergus. “We’ve been told you and your party have been seeking a secret weapon that will save us all. Pray tell me you have retrieved it.”
The whole room suddenly went quiet and everyone looked at us.
Our whole strategy hinged on the hope of us finding a cure.
How could I tell them it wasn’t the trump card we’d hoped for?
My dejected gaze must have said it all.
Numerous people sighed and nodded their heads.
We didn’t have time to wallow. We needed to make a new plan.
“We must elaborate on our current strategy and make a new plan then,” said Raylene. “We have multiple forces at our disposal. The Solmini Mercenary Core, my Desert Faction, the Arethkarian army, and the Laergardian army.”
“I’ve been told by a particularly bashful Lirana,” said King Fergus, “that won’t be enough to defend ourselves.”
“Well, hotshot, erm, I mean, King man,” said Raylene, stumbling over her words. “It’s what we got and so that’s what we’re working with.”
The commanders argued with each other on positioning while I considered silently on the upcoming battle ahead.
There were so many unknowns.
The sheer size of the flesh-eater horde was unknowable. It was practically an endless army.
There was also an issue that the ZERO virus could enter the game world. What the heck would that look like? Would we all get infected?
The good thing, maybe, was that the game system would reinterpret the flesh-eaters bodies, skills, and abilities upon entering A.K.O. So the virus might not be as potent within the game. But on the flip side, we don’t know how powerful their new interpreted abilities will be.
