Fall of the Black Seraph: The Complete Genesis Game Collection, page 39
Returning his senses to normal, Seraph turned back at Sadie and shook his head and shrugged. It was better than nothing. They would still be going in blind, but not without some measure of care. Seraph mentally projected his ability Starfall to space on the other side of the door and let it charge. If there was anything or anyone on the other side, they would notice it, and at least he would be able to hear them… and blind them. 5, 10, 30 seconds passed, and Seraph released the spell. Grabbing the door knocker, weapon in hand, he pulled the door open.
The room was a tomb, and the release of Starfall had not disturbed it in the least. The walls were made up of glossed sandy-red odem. Deep grooves were carved into the stone from the passing of wind and water, without any sign of either water or an opening for wind to pass through. As he admired the walls, Sadie struck him in the back to get his attention as she pointed.
Everywhere on the ground lay piles of bones and skeletal bodies. Seraph crouched next to a heavily armed skeleton near the doorway and examined it. The bones were broken in spots—clean breaks through as if cleaved. In other spots, small nicks could be seen as if from a small blade or blunted sword. Seraph watched as Sadie’s eyes widened at the casualness of him searching the body, fearful that he would wake the dead. He wasn’t worried about that, though he had felt an enchantment upon the room, he did not feel the presence of the evil and restless dead. Only a solemn melancholy. The way the skeletons were littered throughout the room, and with their similar heavy armaments, Seraph mused they died in battle.
“It’s OK, Sadie,” Seraph said as he got up. “They won’t touch us. Let’s keep moving; we’ve another door to pass through,” he said, pointing to the far side of the room.
Ignoring her sharp intake of breath, they both looked towards the stone doorway that was their next goal. Twin torches burned on both sides, the flames blue to ward off evil. The doorway was split in the middle and carved into the stone were profane images. The carved figures appeared to move as if alive—depictions of the trapped souls of the damned, faces twisted in agony as demons perpetually pulled them down into hell, unable to escape damnation.
The closer the two of them got to the doorway, the heavier their steps became as an oppressive aura pressed into them, weighing them down.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Seraph,” said Sadie, her tone a warning as she looked hesitantly at the demonic door.
Seraph nodded as he forced himself forward. “I have a bad feeling too, but it's not like we have much choice here. The only way out is through, and we can’t retreat without gaining control of this Guild Hall. Too much depends on us being successful.”
“I know that, Seraph, it’s why I’m still here and haven’t turned around and gone back to the surface. Too much is relying on us. But have you even thought of where that door leads?” she questioned; her face lined with worry.
With a confident reply, he answered, “Nowhere we want to go, but it’s nothing the two of us can’t handle. This was meant for beginners, a group of beginners, but still beginners. We should be fine.”
Gripping her weapon tightly, she responded. “You’re probably right about that, just be careful. Don’t take on any more risk than we need to. Neither of us is coming back if we die.”
He nodded in agreement; he wasn’t trying to be a hero.
When they reached the gate, both heard a loud crash and turned around to see that the stairwell door had now been sealed off.
“Only way out is through,” Seraph reminded her in response, pointing at the gateway as a clear coated red shield covered it, effectively closing off the exit and sealing them in the room.
“Never mind,” Seraph added irritably as they both recognized the sounds of bones animating with the tell-tell clank of ivory. Something neither Seraph nor Sadie was surprised by.
Notification: Event Discovered - Ancient Animity
Details: Dying in the heat of battle, these ancient enemies rise in undeath to do battle once more, united where once they were enemies to bring death upon the living.
Conditions: Defeat all enemies
Reward: 2 Rings of Random Quality.
Sadie counted all the skeletons around them. “We’ve got a count of forty in total. All melee, though. Still, it’s going to get rough. Let’s retreat back to the stairwell and use that to funnel them all into a choke point.”
“Can’t,” replied Seraph, “that door is sealed, and even if it wasn’t, those skeletons are in the way. It wouldn’t work out well.”
Sadie shrugged, her sword glowing blue as she powered it up with the ability to do more damage to the undead. “Alright, here they come,” she said as the first of the Skeletal Warriors reached her, swinging a rusty broadsword at her. She ducked underneath and brought her own blade up into the skeleton's skull, using her off-hand to add more force by pushing up on the pommel. The move shattered the bone and dispelled the animation, the rest of the bones falling to the ground.
“Well done, Sadie,” Seraph said with a smile, his blood burning in excitement as the nearest three Skeletal Warriors turned to attack him. Their movement was slow compared to his current physical ability, and he was easily able to outpace them as they swung their swords and axes at him. One at a time, he dodged and evaded, using the opening to counterattack with a devastating hit from the Warhammer. All three of the Skeletal Warriors were destroyed in seconds, though more soon replaced them.
The kill had been easy enough, but he noticed his own ragged breathing. Sadie appeared to be having the same issue as steam began to rise from their bodies. They would burn through all their stamina before destroying the rest of the skeletons.
“I guess now’s a good time to show you a little of what I can do.” Sadie laughed as she cut the palm of her hand and made a fist, forcing the blood dripping from her palm to fall to the ground in droplets.
“Purify Lesser Undead,” she commanded as the ground below her turned white, an arcane circle spreading out from the drops of blood. The circle expanded a few meters around her. Seraph watched as the Skeletal Warriors within the circle became trapped, unable to move as their bones began to shine in the same white as the circle before collapsing in heaps of bone dust.
“Does it seem like this is too easy?” she asked after clearing away over two-thirds of the undead horde in seconds.
“It does now,” responded Seraph as he moved to join her in the circle, his back against hers. “Makes sense though. This being on the first floor, means it would be one of the places new players would find and explore first. It’s balanced to them, not to us.”
“Correct. That makes perfect sense,” she responded. “We might actually be a little over-leveled to be here. Even with the experience boost we got earlier, I’m sure anyone else in the same situation wouldn’t have been able to pick up any abilities like you have.”
“That’s true,” Seraph admitted as he used his Cold Hands ability on one of the few remaining skeletons to turn the bones to ice before shattering the monster with a blow from the Warhammer.
“Show off,” she muttered teasingly. Both of them were enjoying themselves. Two warriors doing what they did best: killing things.
With the last of the Skeletons defeated, both of them collected some of the scattered bone dust before it was reabsorbed by the Dungeon to give to Jack when they surfaced. When the expected notification of completion never came, and the doors remained sealed, they both knew the battle wasn’t over and used the time to prepare themselves for what was to come.
Each of them was expecting a sub-boss or regular boss to appear. All throughout the room bones begin to churn, pulled from the piles left around, and uprooted from where they had been embedded in the ground. Collapsing upon the middle of the room, they formed into a Skeletal Lord, though this one was covered in armor from its head to toe, with no obvious weak points to attack. The varying rusted swords scattered through the room thrust into the armor to act as spikes, making it near impossible to approach close enough to destroy it.
The dead thing was made of thousands of bones, and Seraph knew it would never get tired—something that they even with their advanced stats for situation they would need to contend with. Exhaustion was already setting in after having fought through the Skeletal Horde, their muscles heavy and cramping.
“Do you have any ideas?” Sadie shouted at him after they tried unsuccessfully to launch a barrage of attacks against the Skeletal Lord, only to be forced to retreat as its giant Claymore swung with a quickness the other Skeletons had not possessed, nearly disemboweling both of them.
“I’ve got one idea; we need to get in front of the demonic door,” Seraph responded as he started to run. Sadie followed, the Skeletal Lord not far behind as it ran in pursuit.
“What’s the plan, Seraph?” Sadie asked nervously, eyeing both the door and the charging Skeletal Lord.
“Can you parry that Claymore?” asked Seraph.
“Once or twice. Any more and my sword would probably break.”
“All I need is once,” responded Seraph as he used his Thousand Handed ability to summon Ethereal Arms throughout his body. Sadie screamed at the Skeletal Lord, drawing its attention to convince it to attack her. As it lifted its Claymore to attack, Seraph ran around behind it, using the forward momentum of the swing to grasp at the gouges in the Skeleton’s armor from where the swords had punctured it, pushing it forward toward the demonic door.
The effort strained him almost to his breaking point, but not quite. His strength was amplified by the use of the spectral arms he had summoned.
From the doorway, the demons etched into the stone stopped pulling at the human souls that they had kept trapped and turned to look at him in eager anticipation. Outreached hellish claws reached out as if the stone was elastic as the Skeletal Lord fell forward off balance. Many demons grabbed ahold of the monster and pulled it inward, the bones that had comprised its monstrous form disappearing as they reverted and transformed into the souls who had been trapped in undeath. Twisted in agony, the souls screamed for escape as the demons celebrated.
Chapter 51: Sins of the Past
* * *
“I got the Ring of Minor Protection!” Sadie shouted at him as she slipped it on her hand. Seraph checked his own spatial pocket and pulled out his own ring. Apparently, the loot had been divided by the World Dungeon. “And I got the Ring of the Fool,” he responded, turning the steel band over in his hand.
Notification: Item gained “Ring of the Fool”
Details: Whoever wears this ring is cursed and will have a status of confusion bestowed on them until such a time as they or someone else removes the ring.
“Let's get going. We’ve wasted enough time here,” Seraph said as he pulled out his Pin of the Hometown Hero. “This is for you. If you can’t use it, give it to Jack later.”
Sadie looked at the item curiously. “What is this thing?” she asked.
“It’s a guild item I found. If the condition stat is met, it allows the wearer to be assumed as the leader around others. Once this guild gets founded, I want my second in command to have it—or whoever I install as the face of the guild,” Seraph explained as they walked.
As they approached the demonic door, the demons etched into the stone turned to look at both of them, every demon showing them a look of deference and respect. Power was what they respected. For the souls that were kept trapped, the lapse was used to try and escape their prison as souls and faces pressed against the stone searching for release. The demons returned to their duty as the seal on the demonic door was undone so that Seraph and Sadie could continue.
The demons did not hinder the pair as they passed.
Notification: Now Entering “Gehena - The Pit of the Bones”
Details: The place where the inglorious and cursed dead go to die the second death. Where the fires never stop burning, and the maggots never die.
A pungent smell of burning and rotted flesh hit his nose. There was a dark smoke thick in the air, making him choke, and from behind him, he heard Sadie start to loudly cough as both moved forward in the smoke, hands covering their faces with bits of the cloth from their armor as they tried to filter some of the smoke and keep from passing out.
His vision was heavily obscured by the thick smoke that burned black from pollutants. Glancing behind, he saw Satie had the same issues, though she appeared to be a bit more unsteady than he was. Being natively elven she likely didn't have the tolerance for the toxins in the air like he did.
"What is this place, Seraph?" she asked in horror as she examined the nearest headstones, each of the names erased as if ground out of existence. She stared wide eyed at the rows and rows of dilapidated gravestones that went on in all directions, disappearing beyond the line of eyesight.
"This is the place of the forever death," he answered cryptically. "Anything cast down into that burning pit will never rise. For those that fall within it, there is no respawn. Only oblivion."
Sadie's look of horror turned to him. "How do you know that?” she asked, an edge of suspicion creeping into her voice.
He didn't have an answer for that, A sense of guilt gnawed at his stomach. Seraph had to turn away. He didn't want to lie to her, and he didn't want to admit how he knew. Not to her. Finally, when the silence became unbearable Seraph answered with a tone of fatalism, he said, "I did what I had to do."
With unshed tears, she launched herself at him with a snarl. Diving into his side and tackling him to the ground with her strength, she exerted enough force to knock the wind out of him when he landed.
"Bastard!" she screamed from on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Her anger welled up from within her, a sense of betrayal rocking her to the core at the reminder of who the person was that she had been traveling with. Over and over again she punched him, one blow after another. The sound of cartilage breaking and skin splitting was easily heard.
Seraph knew he was in no real danger. With his abyssal body, simple damage like this would not be long-standing, and it would do no permanent damage. If this was what she needed in order for them to continue on their mission, so be it. For Seraph, it was small penance to pay.
After what seemed like hours, though it was merely minutes, drops of sweat dripped down her face and off her chin. The force of her blows slowed as her arms grew heavy from fatigue. With one last blow that split his cheek open, she collapsed on the dirt next to him.
His was split face and bloody contusions were already beginning to mend. Within a few moments, any sign of harm would be gone.
"Why did you do it? We tried to help you. We tried to save you. That's all we ever did. And you murdered us for it. How many of my friends did you murder?"
He turned away and evaded of the question. It was a small mercy he could grant her. She didn't need to know what he knew. She didn’t need to know about the experience farms. He would bear the sins of the elves.
Walking away to continue on his journey, he left her behind—content when he heard her feet behind him, following. He was hopeful to stay on track with a mission; they could deal with this later. A sharp pain in his back followed as her sword pierced him and came out through his chest.
Blood poured freely as he dropped to his knees, and she let go of the sword’s hilt, horrified at what she had done. Seraph reached behind him and pulled the sword out, tossing it away.
Even this wouldn't be fatal he thought as he clutched his chest, waiting for the healing magic to kick in. He looked at her, his eyes full of accusation.
Shadows of darkness twirled around him as he answered, his voice amplified by power in his anger. "You elves killed us and robbed us. You stole from us. How do you think so many of your friends and peers leveled up when they were unwilling to renounce the immortality of the dungeon. They did it by killing humans. Your people were murderers, and I was judgment."
"We had to get stronger, we didn’t want you to kill us,” she replied through tears, turning her head away. An answer that he didn't fault. But not blaming the other side for their actions didn't change the fact that they had been enemies.
“Do you know how many friends I lost in those first few years before I initiated the war against your people? Hundreds. All of them," Seraph explained as cold fury seeped into his voice.
"All of them. Every person I lost. It wasn't just my father who died, it was every friend that I had. Everyone who had known me. It wasn't the dungeon. It was you or the monsters you summoned, because you needed the experience points." Seraph's anger was abating already, and with it, the power that had been surging through his body.
He was beginning to feel weak, even with the abyssal body the flow of blood had only slowed a little, something must have been hindering the healing process.
"Can you heal me? "Seraph asked, looking at the wound, realizing he was in danger of dying.
"I'm sorry, I can't. I don't have access to those spells anymore, and my inventory was cleared out except for my weapon and armor," she explained, an expression of fear and guilt across her face.
"It's all right; I forgive you," he said as he reached out a hand to activate his Touch of the Abyss ability, but when he looked at her, he stopped. The man who had killed millions hesitated and lowered his hand. Unable to bring himself to kill her to save himself.
“Help them if you can,” He muttered as his vision grew dark. Sadie screamed when she realized what was happening, that she in her moment of anger had misjudged the man he was, or the man he was becoming and doomed the future. “Now you choose to prove me wrong? Now?” But Seraph didn’t answer. Sadie with no other choice releasing what she had done grabbed his hand and offered herself, activating the Touch of the Abyss ability.
