Awaken Online: Armageddon, page 30
Finn turned his attention back to the rock golem. “We don’t mean you any harm. Can you understand me?”
Before the creature could respond, the ground shook again, this time much more violently. The golem’s eyes flashed in alarm, and rocks rose around itself, forming a protective barrier – the stones suspended in the air by its gravitational magic.
At the same time, the area all around the group began to flare with that same shimmering energy. The haze bloomed in the air, spreading out aggressively in a massive ring – one that far surpassed the first. Brian formed a thicket around the group, and even Finn retreated, flames rippling across the metal bracelets along his right arm as they melted down and formed molten orbs that began to orbit him slowly.
That strange energy exploded outward in an instant before abruptly disappearing.
The forest had expanded well into the neighboring valley. Thick trees. Dense foliage that blocked the sunlight. Hundreds of years of growth in mere moments. Even with the help of her mana well, Eliza’s Accelerated Growth couldn’t have pulled off that feat.
However, the group’s attention was fixed on one point. A structure now lingered a few hundred feet away, visible through the new tree cover but half-buried in the rock and stone, the architecture not identifiable. Around that building, more of the stone elementals were pushing themselves up and out of the rock – the ground dissolving around them easily.
As the elementals’ emerald eyes turned toward the group, they definitely didn’t look friendly. Shards of rock were soon pulled up into the air around them.
“Uh, so this doesn’t look good,” Frank muttered.
Julia had her shield raised, Kyyle hovering beside her. “The good news is that they’re still far away. They’re going to have trouble hitting us from—”
He was cut off as the stone spikes rocketed away from the elementals, only for portals of jagged green light to form in the air. The missiles promptly disappeared.
Jason had a bad feeling about that, his eyes scanning the area around them. “Finn?” he asked, tension filling his voice. “Anytime you want to give us a heads up.”
“Behind us!” Finn finally shouted.
The green portals reopened in the air, and those stone projectiles came raining out… only to strike against Finn’s heated metal and for Jason to reflexively cut them from the air in a series of well-timed Soul Slashes.
“Some sort of teleportation?” Julia grunted as the rocky shards dropped to the ground.
“Looks like it,” Ella shot back, her wand in hand now, but her acid ineffective against these sorts of attacks. She could only look on and wait.
“Oh, shit—” Frank began.
Jason turned, only to freeze in shock. From their vantage point, they could see valleys stretch out around them for hundreds of miles, framed and surrounded by more barren peaks. That hazy energy was springing up all across the area – pockets of shimmering air that ranged from a few dozen feet to nearly a mile across. The only saving grace was that the earth elementals in the distance seemed distracted by the colossal amount of mana flaring into existence.
If this is happening across such a large area, could it also be extending further than the mountains? The thought came to Jason unbidden, worry knotting in his chest as he thought of the Twilight Throne and its residents.
Almost as though the game had been monitoring his thoughts, a brilliant sapphire notice suddenly sprang up before him, glowing with an ominous light.
Universal Event Notice: Armageddon
Armageddon is nigh! The excavation of the relic has had unanticipated consequences. Portals are now opening across the land, spilling forth creatures both friend and foe alike and terraforming entire areas. There is nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
The end is coming…
The group all swiped aside their notices, a tense silence settling across them.
Pockets of forest now dotted the valley and mountains, with even more shimmering domes forming as they watched. And from those pockets of energy, more earth elementals poured forth, pulling themselves from the ground amid broken buildings, sparkling streams, and dense forests. No doubt, this scene was playing out everywhere… creating mass chaos.
Jason shook himself. This was unexpected, and his city was likely under siege right now, but there was nothing he could do about that. His people were well trained and equipped. They could weather whatever happened. For now, all he could do was keep pushing forward and figure out a way to stop this. If the farming areas in this region hadn’t already been destroyed by
And, unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to repurpose earth elementals.
Which meant they only had one option now.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” Jason grunted, waving at the Carry-On Worm and the creature’s maw opening wide to receive them.
The nearby elementals were already beginning to recover, forming more spikes of stone as their glowing green eyes turned back to the group – clearly intending to blame them for whatever the hell was going on. However, Kyyle acted quickly, creating a Gravity Well in a circle around their position. As soon as the missiles exited those glowing green portals, they were sent crashing into the ground.
“Where are we going?” Riley asked, worry in her voice as the group piled back into the transport, its ivory walls soon surrounding them.
Jason’s expression was grim as the maw sealed itself shut, and they began to slide back into the earth, tunneling down and away from the creatures that now roamed the surface. He could feel chill energy coiling through his veins, numbing him to what needed to happen next.
“Straight toward this excavation. We’re going to end this. Now.”
Chapter 27 - Rifting
Percy aimed down the shaft of the arrow, carefully lining up his shot. His arm trembled ever-so-slightly. Nerves. Yet he tried to stay calm. To steady his breathing. In and out. In and out. On the next exhale, he paused, steadying himself… and released.
The arrow sped forward on a direct collision course with the wolf prowling along the forest’s edge. The creature looked up, its ears twitching as it detected the faint whistle. Then its amber eyes turned in Percy’s direction.
It should have been a direct hit.
But Percy wasn’t expecting the field to begin to waver – shimmer and shake and spark with energy. Then the air itself seemed to split open. One moment, there was tall swaying grass… the next, pools of glowing magma dotted the cracked rock.
There was another haze now, but this time its cause was obvious. Waves of heat rolled across the field. Even from where he was crouched in the grass, Percy could feel it. Intense and accompanied by the faint smell of sulfur. Where it touched the edges of the original field, the grass dried, browning and more than a few patches erupting in flame, smoke curling into the air.
Percy’s arrow struck something, only to fracture apart.
Instead of burying itself deeply into the wolf’s side, it had crashed headlong into a giant fire salamander – the creature having pulled itself up from one of the magma pools. It barely noticed the projectile as the wood splintered and then caught flame. No, its attention was on the wolf that stood there frozen in shock along the edge of the forest – those amber eyes now taking in the trunks of the nearby trees that were seared black and the way the grass fires were beginning to spread.
Percy could sympathize with the poor animal. He also sat there staring in stunned silence, his bow hanging from his limp hands.
The fire salamander wasn’t nearly as confused, however.
It snapped forward, sending up a spray of molten rock that set even more of the field ablaze. In an instant, it caught the wolf in its jaws, its skin and fur searing. The creature chomped down again and again, cracking bones and ripping through sinew. Then it swallowed the remains of the wolf whole before sliding back into its pool, a lone bubble breaking the surface.
Percy swallowed hard. Sweat was beading along his forehead from the heat, and the fires were spreading rapidly, sending billowing smoke into the sky. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. He’d just been farming in a low-level area. Trying to level.
What the hell was this?
I need to get the fuck out of here, he thought to himself.
Percy turned to flee through what remained of the tall grass, putting distance between him and that fire salamander and using the smoke as cover to obscure himself from sight.
It was a good plan.
Until another rift opened directly in front of him, the air splitting again.
In an instant, a creature of pure flame towered above him, its body flaring with energy. Percy had seen some screenshots online that resembled this monstrosity. But they’d been smaller. The Avatar of Flame had one as a pet. A fire elemental. But those were mere children in the face of the god of flame he now faced, its flaming eyes suddenly focused on Percy.
There was nowhere to run. Nothing he could do. Not to this… this thing.
“What the fuck is wrong with this game—”
He was cut off as the fire elemental’s eyes flared and twin beams of light carved through the air and then through Percy’s abdomen. He barely felt the sensation as he toppled to the side. It was strange, really. Just a searing line of pain and then… nothing.
System Message
You have died.
Thanks for playing Awaken Online!
***
Kurt was running down the street, his feet beating against the cobblestones and his breath coming hard and fast. He turned a corner, seeing another of the thugs waiting for him. He dove to the side, a blade flashing past but only slicing away a corner of his cloak. The fingers of his left hand moved swiftly, and amber energy flared around his palm.
The spell complete, Kurt kicked off the ground, his feet soon touching against invisible platforms of air, each step propelling him forward slightly. In just a few short hops, he had made it to the roof of the nearby building, only for a whistle to screech through the air behind him.
Kurt turned, but it was too late, the arrow cutting into his arm.
Just a flesh wound. I should be able to keep—
The world suddenly listed and tilted around him, his limbs feeling sluggish and unresponsive. Poison, he realized belatedly. Kurt toppled to the ground, then rolled down the roof tiles before tumbling over the ledge. He hit the ground below with a solid thump. Not enough to kill him – not at his level. But enough to send the wind rushing from his lungs as he frantically tried to refill them.
“Nice of you to drop in, Kurt,” a voice spoke up. It was soon accompanied by a familiar, leering face that hovered above him. Ivy, the leader of the
A solid kick to his side followed, accompanied by the crunch of bone. Kurt knew they couldn’t keep that up – not without triggering a torture warning. But the rules always had some leeway. They could kill each other after all. He knew they would walk right up to that line without crossing it.
“Now, where is it?” Ivy demanded.
It was a struggle, but Kurt managed to form the words. “Screw. You.”
Ivy sniffed. “Funny. But we know you’re bound to the respawn point here in town, and we already have some people waiting there. So, you have two options. You can tell me what you did with the item. Or we’ll graveyard camp you until all your gear breaks and you’re forced to reroll. And that’s saying nothing about the trauma. Torture doesn’t apply to combat.”
Another loophole. Kurt swallowed – or tried to, his mouth feeling unresponsive as the poison slid through his veins. An icon in the corner of his vision confirmed he was screwed.
Ivy leaned in close. “So, what do you say?”
Kurt opened his mouth but hesitated. The air behind Ivy was doing something odd. It looked like it was boiling – like hot air rising off sun-warmed pavement. But that could have been the poison working its way through his system. Yeah, it was definitely—
The sky split open at that instant. Darkness spilled from that hole in the world, billowing outward with unnatural speed. It wasn’t smoke. Not exactly. It seemed to suck in the light and amplify the shadows of the alleyway, plunging the entire area into an unnatural gloom. Kurt had never seen anything like it – or like the thing that was now perched on the nearby rooftop. It was a creature of nightmares. Human parts cobbled together in grotesque fashion. Too many pale arms and legs. And its dark, soulless eyes were now staring at the group in the alley.
“What the hell is this?” Ivy grunted, her guildmates grouping up and eyeing the darkness. “Are you doing this somehow?” she demanded, glancing down at Kurt.
He tried to move. To raise his arm, but it was no use.
Kurt could only close his eyes as that thing dropped from the rooftop. Screams echoed out of the alley and something wet and warm splashed his cheek. He wished he could log out, run away, give back that damn item, do anything other than lie there helpless as the timer ticked down ever-so-slowly on the poison debuff.
It was the warm, fetid breath wafting across his face that caused him to open his eyes. He didn’t want to. It was just a reflex. And Kurt immediately wished he hadn’t.
That creature was perched above him, blood staining an inhuman maw with far too many teeth. More blood coated the walls. The ground. The bodies that lay still and unmoving along the cobblestones, their entrails ripped from their bodies. Kurt could just make out more screams in the distance, but he could hardly focus on that – not with this beast hovering over him.
As Kurt watched, several of the arms along the back of the creature’s body were dismembering the others, wrenching a leg free with a tearing sound and a wet squelch. The beast then shoved it against its torso, and the flesh sewed itself together with a line of dark mana. It was adding to itself – grafting on now unused feet and arms.
And eyeing Kurt with a hunger in those dark eyes.
“Shit—” he managed to mutter.
The beast shot forward with unnatural speed as Kurt’s vision spun. He only felt a flash of pain in his neck and caught the faintest glimpse of cobblestones before merciful darkness swallowed him whole, broken only by a single, glowing blue notification.
System Message
You have died.
Thanks for playing Awaken Online!
***
Hanna let out a sigh, feeling the sunlight dance along her skin. The
Which is why they were now in Barrow. It had been nearby. But more than that, it offered a way to offload their newfound loot with ease. Even if the gear was flagged as stolen by the auction house, there were merchants here with a more… pragmatic sense of morality.
Plus, they needed the morale boost after everything they’d been through.
Hanna had to admit that the betrayal of one of their own still stung – as did the wake-up call from
But if they were all doomed, Hanna planned to go out with a bang. Barrow also had some of the more interesting entertainment districts – if you knew where to look. Plus, they were now flush with cash. And there wasn’t much point in saving it if the world was ending.
In short… it was time to party.
“Alright, folks,” Hanna addressed her guildmates. “I just need a few of you to help me haul the loot to our contact, and you should all receive your cut in an hour or so. Meanwhile, the rest of you can have some fun. We’ll meet up in a couple days to go through some other contracts – pick something interesting to tackle as a final mission. What do you say?”
“Sounds great to me,” Tom grunted back, his words echoed by the other members of the guild. Hanna even saw a few smiles as they considered how they’d spend their hard-won coin. New weapons and armor weren’t the only perks Barrow offered.
“Uh, what’s that?” one of her guildmates asked, pointing toward the nearby canal.
Hanna hesitated as she followed the gesture. The air seemed to be rippling up above the water, almost like steam rising into the air. Yet that couldn’t be possible. Maybe Eliza making a second appearance? Or something else? Either way, she wasn’t taking any chances. Not anymore.
“Form up!” Hanna called out immediately.
Her guildmates shook off their surprise as their training took over. The tanks immediately lined up facing the water with their melee DPS at their backs. The rest of their casters and ranged forces hopped onto the roof of a nearby building with a bit of magical assistance. That vantage point provided them with a better line of sight of the canal and any would-be enemies that might emerge. At the same time, they began layering one protective spell after another on the tanks even as barriers of elemental energy sprang up around their casters.
It wasn’t a moment too soon. The faint ripple immediately disappeared, and the waters of the canal suddenly shifted, beginning to spin as though someone had just pulled the plug. The water picked up speed, spiraling more violently now and carving a hole straight to the bottom of the canal. And from those depths, tentacles suddenly whipped forward.
