Desire: A LitRPG Adventure (Volume 2), page 21
He retreated over five hundred feet in an instant as his broken arm recovered. His quick reaction was honed over hundreds of battles. Whenever he had an injury that lowered his combat power, he swiftly took out a health potion and drank it. He looked at the blood red ball and narrowed his eyes, “Hm?”
The arm that stuck out of the ball entered back inside. A second later, the blood that formed the ball collapsed, a dark red figure appearing within. Vincent had disappeared, only to be replaced by something… else.
It was as tall as Kaum, standing 8ft tall. It was slender, and the surface of its body was dark red. Under the inspection of his sensory field, he realized it wasn’t skin, but blood. It had no eyes or nose, only a creepy smile. Its dark red hair hovered in the air, like it was underwater. The ends of its hands and feet had thin, sharp claws. A voice rang through the air even though its mouth didn’t move, “First mode: Demon.”
As Kaum was inspecting the demon cautiously, it crouched down. It disappeared as the ground underneath it shattered. The force of it pushing off the ground was so powerful it created a small crater. Kaum snapped his neck to the left, only to be greeted by a fist. He raised his arm and protected his face, barely having any time to react. There was a loud snap as his body flew backwards like a ragdoll. He skipped along the ground uncontrollably. He coughed out a mouthful of blood as he pierced his uninjured arm into the ground, stabilizing himself. He looked up in horror as he thought, “I can’t react in time! What’s going on!?”
He didn’t have time to turn his head as he curled his uninjured arm over his head. Another loud snap rang out as he once again skipped along the surface of the ground. This time, he couldn’t stabilize himself and was sent flying even further. When he came to a stop, he kicked off the ground and looked around in fear. His eyes widened as he let out a hollow chuckle, “I’m… I’m safe…”
Miraculously, he landed within the barrier erected by the mana spire. It would take an attack that surpassed a statline of 500 to break past that. He forcefully manipulated his broken arms with qi to take out a health potion, quickly downing it. A scream rang out from behind him, “WARCHIEF!”
The shattering of glass pierced through the air. He only had enough time to turn his head as a dark red fist smashed into his head, causing it to directly explode into bits of flesh. His body stood still before collapsing backwards. The orcs looked aghast at the demon which stood over their now dead warchief. The demon swiveled its head towards the orcs, but the only thing they could see was the smile. They took a step backwards in fear.
The demon staggered backwards as its body shrunk. It shrunk from 8ft all the way down to 6ft as white muscles began to grow on the surface of its body. It was followed by muscles, veins, nerves, and then skin. On its head, a brown brain began to grow, followed by a white skull, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and mouth. The whole scene was grotesque.
Even Ace, watching from afar, was a little disgusted. Suddenly, Vincent’s voice rang within his mind, “Don’t just stand there, I’m about to collapse.”
“Oh,” Ace flew through the air and traveled through the hole in the barrier. He reached Vincent just as Vincent was about to fall over from exhaustion. Vincent’s face was deathly pale, and he was gasping for breath.
He chuckled weakly, “That ability takes quite a toll on my soul…”
“With power to match,” Ace exclaimed. He was full of admiration as he recalled the battle that had happened in less than 20 seconds. Vincent was extremely fast, with strength to match.
“Yeah,” Vincent struggled to say, “I destroyed my human body and replaced it with condensed blood. It is superior to my body in every regard.”
“Hmm…” Ace swept his eyes across the orcs who stood in the air. He spoke calmly, “Do you surrender?”
Moggul’s eyes were still wide with shock. Just a minute ago, Kaum was on the verge of victory. However, once Vincent turned into that strange creature…. Kaum was completely dominated, unable to respond at all. Goran’s voice rang from the side, “Oh, yes, yes. We surrender, we surrender.”
Moggul looked at Goran in disgust, but he didn’t have the willpower to continue fighting. They had lost, completely.
Chapter 101
The orcs looked warily at the pair of humans. Their strongest orc, their leader, lay dead before them. They could no longer protect their families and loved ones. Before the unstoppable power that was demonstrated just a moment ago, it was a futile endeavor. This left them uncomfortable, and uncertain about their future. Ace could sense all of this, so he felt obligated to speak, “Everyone, I’m not a tyrant. All I want is to return home, I never wanted it to come to this.”
They focused their attention on Ace, his speech would determine whether they had a future or not. He looked over them as he said, “First, I have news regarding the curse which pervades your planet.”
Murmuring rose amongst them, they didn’t expect Ace to mention this. Moggul took a step forward as he stared hard at Ace, “What do you think you would know about the curse that we don’t?”
“At the center of your planet,” Ace looked straight at Moggul, his face solemn, “I found what made Mogtar so rash and impatient.”
Moggul’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Thinking back to months ago when Mogtar entered the great chasm, he never explained what he found. However, it clearly shook him to his core, changing his personality. Discussions rose amongst the orcs, wondering what Ace meant. Goran glanced at Moggul as he asked, “There were rumors that Mogtar entered the great chasm and lived to tell the tale, is it true?”
Moggul hesitated, but realized that they were currently apart of the same clan, so he said, “Yes, it’s true. Whatever he found in there caused him to become a mercenary.”
“Ah,” Goran looked at Ace and Vincent, “it all makes sense now, where these humans came from, I mean.”
Ace raised his voice as he declared, “Your planet does not have much longer!”
“What do you mean?” Moggul raised his voice in bewilderment.
The orcs shouted and roared at Ace, “How dare you, human!”
“Liar!” Another shouted.
Ace enhanced his voice with qi, overpowering all other sounds, “When we entered deep into the great chasm, we found massive black chains entering each continent. At the center, we found a massive deposit of origin stones. This is where all the qi in your atmosphere comes from!”
Goran’s eyes widened in surprise, he exclaimed, “Origin stones!?”
Moggul turned to look at Goran as he questioned, “You know what they are?”
“Yes,” Goran’s face became solemn as he explained, “they are the crystallization of the purest form of qi. There are records in my clan that say at the beginning of the universe, there was only origin qi.”
The orcs spoke to each other in hushed voices. They were unaware that such a precious stone was underneath their feet. Ace continued, his next words causing the orcs to fall silent, “Unfortunately, the black chains are absorbing 99.9% of the qi emitted from the origin stones. In the year we spent down there, the deposit of origin stones shrunk drastically. I’m afraid your planet has at most a decade more to go before it completely collapses. And… whoever placed those chains there will want to get them back after the job is finished.”
Anxiety filled the air. If Ace’s words were true, then they were doomed. However, as to whether he was telling the truth… that was uncertain. Vincent glanced at Ace and questioned through telepathy, “You aren’t going to tell them about Grom?”
“No,” He responded, “Grom doesn’t want his descendants to know that he was alive. He’s ashamed to meet them.”
“You’re okay with twisting the truth?” Vincent looked questioningly at Ace.
“It’s for the best.” Ace said, his gaze full of resolve.
Goran’s chest clenched in anxiety, he was the one who believed Ace the most. His clan had records of their history, and was the most learned of the clans. He took a step forward as hope filled his eyes, “What do you plan on doing?”
Ace took a deep breath before he shouted, “I am the leader of my planet. I can guarantee you a continent of your own. The planet is full of wildlife, oceans, water, food, forests, you name it! There is no curse there!”
The orcs once again fell silent. This decision was too big to make on the spot, they would need time to think. In addition, they were just the warriors of their clans, not the elders. The elders were wise and knew best how to lead the clan forward alongside the clan chief. Ace continued, his voice calm, “I know that each generation of orcs comes out weaker than the last. This is because of the curse, right? It should be the opposite! Why live here?!”
“Enough,” Moggul cut off Ace as he said, “we need time to consider what you have said here today. I can sense your sincerity, but we need time.”
“Understood.” Ace nodded his head. He didn’t expect for them to just agree on the spot and abandon their planet. Their homes were here, their history. To give that up and leave? Difficult. He hoped they would make the right decision. He added one last thing, “Even if you decline here today, I will still leave the portal between our planets open, just in case you change your mind.”
At his side, Vincent looked a little better, but it would take a few hours for him to recover his soul. To restore his blood, the only requirement was absorbing it. However, to restore his soul force, it took meditation and rest. Vincent spoke up, “We are now going to take control of the dungeon which occupies the planet. We assume Kaum combined the dungeons owned by each clan?”
A year ago, Magtha explained that each continent was occupied by a dungeon owned by a clan. When Kaum became Warchief, he must have combined them into one. Moggul quivered before he nodded, “...Yes... it’s in the mana spire.”
Ace carried Vincent on his back as they flew into the air towards the mana spire. As Moggul saw them disappear inside the mana spire, he looked towards Goran and asked, “What will you do?”
Goran shrugged, “Our clan votes on things, I expect this will be no different.”
“Hah,” Moggul sighed deeply, “How could things turn out like this?”
Meanwhile, Ace approached the black orb hovering off the ground and held it in his hand. A hologram appeared in front of him.
Do you want to destroy the high tier dungeon or become its owner?
When he selected ‘become its owner’ two holograms appeared in front of him. The first was a message he was relieved to see.
Congratulations! You have conquered planet Rogdul!
This meant they could now return home through the portal. The other hologram was much more complicated, it reminded him of the hologram when looking at his territory on earth. He said aloud, “This must be the hologram for controlling the dungeon.”
He scrolled through, familiarizing himself with it. As he saw the daily income, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, “What!?”
Vincent opened his eyes and questioned, “What is it?”
“The daily income,” Ace gulped loudly, “for having the dungeon span planet Rogdul…”
Vincent’s ears perked up, “...is?”
“20 million points a day.” Ace answered slowly.
“Hm? There are no taxes for a dungeon, right?” Vincent required clarification. That was too many points. For controlling their territory, they had to setup shops and buildings, and then maintain them. These things required spending the money they earned from taxes. However, for a dungeon… things were clearly different.
Ace shook his head as he continued, “However, for the dungeon to have encompassed the entire planet… that required a lot of bloodshed and destruction. Thankfully, we weren’t the ones to do it.”
“So a dungeon has no growth potential, while a territory has unlimited potential?” Vincent now better understood the difference between the two.
“Enough about this,” Ace closed the hologram and turned around, “let’s go home.”
The orcs still hadn’t left the battlefield. They were still taking in all of the events that had just transpired. As they saw Ace and Vincent leave the mana spire, the discussions halted. Ace flew over to Moggul and said, “We are going back to my planet now.”
Moggul glanced at the mana spire and hesitated. However, he realized that if he asked for the dungeon back, things might turn ugly. He threw the thought out of his mind and nodded, “Farewell, for now.”
“Make sure to not enter through the portal for a bit, I have to explain things on the other side.” Ace explained. If they were to go through the portal without the military defending the portal unannounced, things might turn south. It was best to prevent the worst case scenario from happening.
“I got it.” Moggul hit his chest with his fist, followed by the rest of the orcs. Ace copied them and turned to leave. After Ace and Vincent disappeared into the distance, the rest of the orcs dispersed and headed back to their clans to inform them of everything that had just happened.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the location of the portal that connected their planets. Ace landed in front of it, a surprised look on his face, “Strange…”
“It transformed.” Vincent muttered.
In front of them, the portal they were familiar with was gone. It was replaced by a massive gate that stood 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide. On the top and each side of the portal, there were clear white stone pillars. Ace walked around the portal and found that behind the portal was a white stone wall. There was now only one entrance to the portal. Once again standing in front of it, he reached his hand out, just in case. As it passed through unharmed, he finally felt relieved.
He carried Vincent through the portal and once again found himself in the space tunnel. This time, the road was much wider, the same as the width of the portal. Vincent head rested on Ace’s shoulder as he said, “I guess this makes sense, considering our planets are connected now.”
“Mm.” Ace nodded as he walked forward, quickly reaching the other side. As he stepped through the exit, the first thing he heard was the blaring noise of a siren. He looked around and found himself inside the man made crater. Red lights were flashing on the adamantium walls, and soldiers were running around as officers shouted commands.
“What’s going on?” Ace glanced behind him and found that the portal looked the same on this side. He understood why the military was thrown into a frenzy, the portal had probably changed when he took over the dungeon just thirty minutes ago.
“FALSE ALARM!” A familiar voice rang through the air from the speakers on the adamantium wall.
“Anderson?” Vincent raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had been sleeping on the way over, but he was woken up by the sirens.
“Goliath and Demon have returned, I repeat, Goliath and Demon have returned.” Anderson’s voice rang out from the intercoms.
Ace glanced at a camera mounted on the adamantium wall and waved, a grin breaking out on his face, “We’re back.”
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Cameron Milan, Desire: A LitRPG Adventure (Volume 2)
