Nightmare Realm Summoner: A LitRPG Adventure, page 49
A keening moan slipped from the sickly monster, and its body quavered. It grabbed for Claire with its remaining hand.
Spark’s fists slammed down on top of its head. The monster splattered on the ground, its hand faltering before it could find its mark.
A rush of energy entered Alex. It was a respectable amount, more than any of the other monsters he’d killed thus far in the Mirrorlands. That was good. They’d made a lot of noise with the unexpected addition to their fight. Now they just needed to help Glint finish off the Barrow Puppeteer, and they could relocate before anything too powerful came to check out the scene of the fight.
Alex turned toward Glint.
Then he blinked in surprise.
His Shardwalker stood above the body of the Barrow Puppeteer. The hideous monster was dead. It lay in a filleted heap upon a spreading pool of sickly liquid at Glint’s feet, its entire body ripped to shreds.
The monster’s Soul Flame floated above its body, waiting for Alex to claim it.
What? But if that’s the monster that died, then how—
Alex’s eyes widened.
“The Dredge isn’t dead!”
He and Claire leapt back. The puddles of sludge flowed together, twisting together and rising back up to reform the Blacktongue Dredge’s body. It let out a moan and stumbled forward, reaching for Alex and Claire with each of its hands.
Spark rained blows into the large monster’s body. Each strike flashed with blue energy and sent large portions of thick fluid arcing through the air, but they only slowed it. Alex dodged out of the way as a hand crashed down where he’d been, sending droplets of black fluid flying everywhere.
“Glint! Kill this thing!”
His Shardwalker burst into motion. Glint bounded across the ground and leapt, crashing into the Dredge’s body like a very sharp toddler going in for a bear hug. He proceeded to rip into the sludgy monster’s body with reckless abandon.
Every strike bit deep into the monster’s body and tore away huge chunks of its wet flesh. Claire and Spark rejoined the onslaught, unleashing everything they had into the monster. The dredge barely even seemed to notice. It swept a hand toward Claire, barely missing her and striking the wall behind her instead.
Its hand smashed through the stone like there was nothing there. Glint severed its arm with one hand, then swiped at the monster’s face with his other. The Dredge collapsed into a puddle before the strike could connect.
No sooner had it fallen than the sludge bounded to the side, flying straight over Glint’s head, and land on the ground several feet to Alex’s side with enough force to shatter the cobbled streets beneath it. The Blacktongue Dredge bubbled back up, its body reforming entirely without injury.
“What the bleeding hell is this thing?” Claire demanded. “It won’t die! I can’t fight like this forever. I’m going to run out of blood.”
A low moan echoed through the street—but not from the monster they were fighting. Alex’s eyes flicked to the side.
Two more Blacktongue Dredges stood on the other end of the street, empty-eyed masks staring in their directions.
Blacktongue Dredge (Initiate 5)
Blacktongue Dredge (Initiate 5)
“And now there are three of them. I guess the Mirrorlands got offended we were having too easy of a time with things,” Alex said with a laugh. He ducked as the Dredge swept an enlarged hand at him in a diagonal strike. The strike slammed into the ground to his side, and Alex stumbled from the sheer impact of the blow.
Letting out a gurgling moan, the Dredge lurched for Alex again, but Glint’s claws carved through its arm and sent it splattering to the ground.
Claire unleashed a flurry of thrusting attacks on the monster. It collapsed back into a pile of thick fluid. Spark shot forward and brought his hands down on the pile, pummeling it with all his might.
The Blacktongue Dredge flowed away, and Alex caught a glimpse of the monster’s white mask buried deep within its goopy body. There was a thin scratch along its side from one of Claire’s sword strikes. The monster rose back up near the two other Dredges approaching them. Claire’s scratch was still on its mask. It hadn’t healed.
Alex’s eyes narrowed.
“Get the mask! It’s the only part we haven’t managed to destroy yet! It must be protecting it.”
Glint shifted targets immediately. He leapt at the Dredge’s face. The Dredge immediately raised its arms to cover its face, but Claire and Spark joined in on the attack. They focused their attacks on the monster’s head, tearing through its defenses as fast as they could.
Their efforts were working—but not fast enough. The other two Dredges were almost upon them. The monsters were just too annoying to kill. Now that the Initiate 6 Dredge was focused on defending itself instead of attacking, it was even more resilient than before.
If the other two entered the fight, then it would be practically impossible to focus one of them down without getting caught by one of their slow but powerful strikes.
He gathered his power and darted forward, stepping around the Dredge and ducking under a swing, before thrusting his hands forward and using Funhouse.
Reality shattered before him. Cracks spread out like a jagged spiderweb and expanded until the patch was just over eight feet in diameter. Alex couldn’t force it any larger in the time he had left. The approaching Dredges lurched forward and swung at him.
Alex dove out of the way. The Dredges passed into the warped space and were abruptly twisted together before being spat out in two opposite directions. They stumbled and moaned, the masks sliding across their bodies to relocate Alex.
One of them leapt at him again. Its fists crashed down on Alex’s remaining Mirror Image clone, shattering it instantly. He backed up, keeping distance between himself and the two new monsters.
“Spark!” Alex called, not risking a glance back. “Forget protecting yourself. Grab onto the Dredge’s mask and hold it still for Claire and Glint!”
With that, the other two Dredges were upon him again. Alex danced around Funhouse, keeping it between himself and the monsters as best as he could. They didn’t seem to be intelligent enough to comprehend what the magic did. Their hands and bodies passed through it, only to be spun and sent stumbling out in other directions.
Sweat rolled down Alex’s back and beaded on his forehead as thrill gripped his body. The Dredges were slow, but a single hit could kill him. He had to keep their attention until—
Magic rushed into Alex in a river of energy. One of his monsters had died.
A loud crack echoed through the air an instant later.
Alex risked a glance back.
The Initiate 6 Blacktongue Dredge stood frozen in place. Glint’s claws were buried deep into its body, having just sliced through its mask. Then the Dredge collapsed into a wet puddle. Energy gripped Alex’s chest from the kill, and a Soul Flame materialized in the air above the dead monster.
Yes!
Alex strode over to the flame and plucked it from the ground, inserting it into a Spatial Mirror and turning to Claire with an excited grin.
His elation was short-lived. A shadow passed through the air overhead. Everyone—the other two Dredges included—froze and craned their necks back to look skyward.
The blood drained out of Alex’s face.
Perched upon the roof of a building was what could have only been described as a living shadow. It was easily twenty feet tall and sported blackened armor that melded together with its body. He couldn’t tell where the armor ended and rippling flesh started. Its eyes were two solid chunks of crystal-blue dry ice, smoking with indiscriminate hunger. The monster’s fingers transformed into long shadows, sinking down into the actual shadow it cast along the building’s wall and onto the ground.
Forsaken Revenant (???)
The monster’s shadow stretched out along the ground and met with the foot of one of the Dredges.
There was a faint snick.
The Dredge exploded.
Its shattered mask clattered to the ground amid raining droplets of black, vicious flesh.
The hair on the back of Alex’s neck shot straight up. A primordial sense of terror welled in his stomach, borne from the very same warning that told humans not to venture into the dark.
Freezing blue eyes turned toward the second Drudge.
Alex spun on his heel. There wasn’t a word to be said. Claire was already at his side. They poured every scrap of energy they had into doing the only thing they could.
Running.
68
Alex’s feet pounded against the warped stone of the Mirrorlands, and his breath came in short, poorly repressed gasps. He nearly tripped over a random root jutting out from the sidewalk, barely managing to hop over it in time to avoid coming into contact.
Claire ran just ahead of him. He was pretty sure she probably could have left him behind with the enhanced abilities her remaining blood could give her, but she hadn’t pulled too far ahead. A fair portion of that was probably because, if Alex died, the way out of the Mirrorlands evaporated with him.
Alex couldn’t risk throwing a glance over his shoulder. A moment of distraction would be enough to let him stumble into something littering the street, whether it was a random floating stone, a root, or a hole straight into super-hell.
He and Claire just ran. They kept to the edges of the buildings, trying to stick to the paths they’d already traveled through before, and praying that none of the City-Eater Centipedes saw them.
The memory of the Forsaken Revenant clung to Alex’s mind like the wet sludge that made up a Blacktongue Drudge’s body. Even though he couldn’t see or hear it, the mere thought of the monster squeezed his heart in his chest with a hand of frost.
It was nearly five minutes before they dared slow. Alex and Claire drew to a stop in the shadow of a huge tree emerging from the side of an office building and doubled over, bracing their hands against their knees and scanning everything in sight for any traces of the Forsaken Revenant.
“What the fuck was that?” Claire rasped between gasps for air, wiping her brow with the back of a hand.
“I have no damn idea,” Alex replied. He swallowed, glanced back in the direction they’d come, and shuddered. There was a difference between enjoying a good fight and… whatever that thing had been.
He had absolutely no desire to fight it. No desire to even see it again. Something about the creature was deeply twisted. A minute passed. He and Claire didn’t budge. They remained in their hiding spot, but the Forsaken Revenant didn’t make itself known again.
A slow frown worked its way across Alex’s lips as his heartbeat started to return to normal and his mind pulled itself from the grip of the terror that had been gripping it.
I’ve seen some scary shit before. Why was that thing so bad? It actually had a name, unlike the Riftwarped monster that Berith killed. I wasn’t nearly as scared of that thing—or Berith, for that matter—as I am of this.
His frown deepened. Now that he actually had a moment to think, he realized he couldn’t remember what the Forsaken Revenant’s face looked like, or if it had even had one at all.
“Bloody creepy,” Claire muttered, pushing her hair out of her face and shaking her head. “Too creepy. Literally. Are you—”
“Yeah. Confused,” Alex said. “I… Do you think it had some sort of ability that made us want to run?”
“More like it just flipped a switch in our brains. Prey know a predator when they see it,” Claire said with a shudder. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’d like to head back just about now. I don’t know if I want to be wandering around the Mirrorlands so soon after that… thing saw us.”
Alex knew exactly what she meant. Even though the monster was nowhere to be seen, an edge of uneasiness still pressed against his spine. The only reason they were alive was because the Forsaken Revenant had gone after the higher-stage monsters before them.
If they met it again as they were now, they would die. There was no question or doubt about it. Even if Alex had been able to bring the absolute brunt of his strength to bear against the Revenant, it would have killed them.
“I think I’m with you on that,” Alex said with an uneasy laugh.
“Decided you don’t want to die fighting anymore?” The corners of Claire’s lips twitched in amusement.
“I decided I don’t want to get slaughtered. There’s a difference between a fight that might kill me and one that definitely will. Anything with an unreadable level is definitely beyond what we can handle right now.”
“Agreed,” Claire said. “And getting back earlier rather than later is probably smart anyway. I don’t want to miss the third Initialization Event.”
Alex nodded. He glanced down at the deck at his side, slipping the topmost card free and turning it face-up.
Spatial Mirror
Stored Energy:
High Novice (Corpse Burrower) - 4
Low Novice (Corpse Poker) - 3
Low-Mid Initiate (Riftwarped Block-Eater Centipede) - 1
High Novice (Root Fiend) - 2
Mid Initiate - (Blacktongue Dredge) - 1
Bonded Creature: None
Even though each mirror only held a single monster, they shared the pool of souls. And sitting at the bottom of the list of potential monsters was the one Alex had just killed before they’d gotten the attention of the Forsaken Revenant.
The Blacktongue Dredge.
It had been one of the most annoying monsters to kill that Alex had ever fought. He’d been looking for something that could keep monsters off him and act as a tank for the party… and Alex was sure he’d just found it. He grinned to himself.
Between the Dredge’s ridiculous strength and defense, it’s perfect for my needs. Sometimes—on very specific occasions—I love the Mirrorlands. I’d have hated to be a summoner back on Earth. The monsters in the Mirrorlands are just cooler in every way. Then again, I don’t think people are running into Forsaken Revenants back on Earth.
“You going to summon a monster before we try to get out of here?” Claire guessed, looking from Alex to the mirror in his hands.
Alex nodded.
“We could end up calling a strong monster when I open the portal back to Towntown. Intentionally holding ourselves back on Earth is fine when we’re up against weaker monsters, but the Mirrorlands is insane. It’s best to have every trick we can, even if we don’t end up needing to use them.”
“I’m not the one that has to be told that not everything we do has to be borderline suicidal,” Claire said dryly. “I’ll keep an eye out while you get ready.”
“Thanks. I’m going to do it in my Mind Palace to avoid making a ridiculous amount of light and sound. We don’t need more attention than we’ve already got.”
Alex sat down, crossing his legs beneath him, and focused his attention inward. It was a little difficult to slip into meditation when his heart was beating so fast with the mixture of excitement, adrenaline, and nervousness pumping through his veins like a slurry of drugs, but he eventually felt the world fall away around him.
Darkness rose up to take its place. A black lake stretched out around Alex, and a huge basin rose from its center, backed by a mantle and before a set of plain white stairs. Three pillars emerged from the lake at the edges of the lake, looming far above.
The gemstone that he’d set aside previously still rested at the top of the stairs. Beside it, blue mist swirled in a large orb.
Alex didn’t let himself get distracted. He didn’t have time to do a proper meditation right now, nor had he killed enough monsters to have a pressing need for it. Instead, he pulled the empty Spatial Mirror from his deck and placed a hand upon its surface.
Energy pressed into his palm as the glass rippled at his touch. Alex located the Blacktongue Dredge’s Soul Flame. He drove his palm forward, pushing past the resistance, and it sank into the mirror’s depths. Chilly energy prickled at his skin and raced down his arm as it worked into his body.
Alex’s teeth clenched at the uncomfortable sensation. His fingers found the Blacktongue Dredge’s Soul Flame. The chill became a biting frost, so cold that it almost burned. Alex’s hand tightened around the energy. It twisted and leapt in an attempt to escape him, but his hold on it didn’t falter.
He yanked his hand back.
The Soul Flame burst free from the Spatial Mirror. It slipped from Alex’s fingers and rose into the air, condensing down into a tiny marble.
Thin lines of molten blue energy twisted around the marble as it started to spin, forming a miniature vortex within the air. Pressure blew Alex’s hair back and sent small waves rolling out across the surface of the black lake.
Alex raised a hand before his face and squinted as the power coming off the marble grew stronger. The ripples turned to waves, lapping against the sides of his legs and the basin. Wind whipped past his head and gathered around the marble, spinning with such intensity that it turned a translucent white.
A dull hum filled the room. It grated on Alex’s ears and made his jaw throb. The pressure changed; his ears popped. Alex’s stomach clenched, and he slid back across the surface of the water.
The light pouring out from the marble grew brighter until it was a deep ocean blue. It forced him to squint and peer past his fingers. His mindspace felt like it had been caught in a storm.
Waves crashed against his legs, and the sound of rushing wind and water mixed into a cacophony. His hair whipped furiously around his face, and the world almost seemed to tremble as more power gathered within his Mind Palace.
Alex squeezed his eyes shut just in time to avoid a brilliant flash of light and a loud whump.
A final wall of pressure slammed into him with such force that it lifted him off his feet and knocked him to his backside. He skidded across the surface of the lake—still largely unsure as to how he was sliding on top of water—before he managed to get his feet out under him.
Alex blinked furiously to rid his eyes of the dots floating before them and jerked his head to look in the direction of the Soul Flame.
