The next day, Olana, Ayla, Maria, and Esme geared up and met me at the fast travel point. We teleported to the Vaulted Ceiling.
Meanwhile, the other team went into the Underground Forest to farm.
Tackling two big dungeons at once was proving to be a challenge. By the end of today, both teams would be tired. We’d need to take another rest day, tomorrow.
But we needed loot from the Underground Forest to progress in the Vaulted Ceiling. We needed to be as efficient as possible.
Even though my stats and soulbonds had advanced considerably, so had the strength of the monsters. The Vaulted Ceiling, after all, was the home of the Outer Gods. It was going to test me more than anything else ever had.
We climbed another floor of the tower and fought a group of Fallen Angels. Olana’s skill was a Holy Heal, which worked similarly to Maria’s Water Heal, except it also provided a temporary buff to both strength and intelligence. She would cast it on me every few minutes. She stayed in the back of the formation with Maria, hesitent to use her holy claws against the angels.
I couldn’t blame her. Those angels hit hard.
At the next tower floor, an opening led outside of the tower and onto a wide road. Glass buildings flanked the road, their tips touching the stars. The road was crowded with other sorts of monsters: strange translucent oozes, glass skeletons, and see-through goblins. We took it slow, letting Ayla draw agro and use her Shimmering Shield as often as possible. Esme and I would use our ice katanas or arrows to take the enemies out.
We continued down the road fighting monsters. The stars in the sky seemed to get stranger the deeper we went into the Vaulted Ceiling. No longer did they twinkle with a single color, but rather several. And they seemed to be smeared across the sky instead of in a single place.
“Remy!” Olana called.
She pointed down the road. A masked figure stood in the distance, a dark aura surrounding his body.
“It’s one of them!” she said. “The cultists!”
The Disciples of Omega. Finally, we’d found one.
“Stay back,” I told the girls. “Let me handle this.”
“I won’t let you face him alone,” Esme said.
“Just stay behind me,” I replied.
I approached the masked man. He was wearing a purple hood, and I could not see any of his features. The mask itself was formed from dark energy.
“Where are the curseborn you kidnapped?” I asked.
“Who do you think you are?” the masked man said. “A hero, come to save them?”
“I am the king, and they are my citizens,” I replied. “You and your cult have committed grave crimes, for which you’ll be punished.”
The masked man laughed — such a dark and discordant sound. “We are one with the the Shadowsoul. Soon, your pathetic little island will be devoured.”
“No. I won’t let you or the Shadowsoul hurt anyone. Now answer me — where are the curseborn women you kidnapped?”
“We are preparing the ritual,” the man said. “We must honor the Outer Gods. When the New Year dawns, they shall be sacrificed, and the world as you know it will end.”
So the sacrifice was planned for the New Year, which was a few weeks from now. That meant we still had time to find them, though not as much as I would’ve liked.
“Take me to them,” I said. “Now. If you do so, I’ll forgive your crimes.”
The man laughed. “I don’t seek your forgiveness. What are you — a mere man — compared to the glory of Azathoth and Shub-Niggurath?”
I’d heard those names before, though couldn’t quite place when or where.
“A man can become a god, too,” I said. “Though with your attitude, I doubt you’ll live long enough to see my rise.”
“Such arrogance!” The black aura surrounding the masked man glowed, as if he were about to cast magic. “You are poisoned by hubris. Perhaps it is because you have not yet seen. You will witness the power of the Outer Gods, and you too will bow before them.”
The dark mist churned and twisted around the masked man. It glowed with a blinding black light, then streamed into the man’s body.
His limbs snapped and twisted. Tentacles shot out of every part of his body.
Soon, the man turned into a mass of tentacles and eyes, all on a bulbous body. It resembled an ooze, but far worse, and I already hated the base form of oozes.
“It’s weak to holy,” Maria said.
Too bad Olana and I weren’t soulbonded. I would’ve loved to use her holy claws.
“Let’s kill this fucker,” I said. “Maria. Cthulhu time!”
“Roger that!” Maria closed her eyes and channeled her power.
A portal to the beach of the Deep Ones opened. Cthulhu stepped through. He hovered toward the Tentacle Ooze and began ripping out tentacles off the ugly thing’s form. But the Tentacle Ooze was resilient. He even dodged some of Cthulhu’s smashing attacks.
Soon enough, Cthulhu returned to to his home, leaving us to do the rest.
“Esme. Ice Golem Form!” I called.
We both turned into Ice Golems. With the invulnerability the form provided, we closed the distance to the tentacle monster and bashed it as many times as we could.
But it still didn’t go down. And now, both Esme and Maria were out of mana.
I took out my red sword. I began dancing around the monster’s tentacle attacks using Shadow Step. I even used my Time Crown to freeze time and cut several tentacles off its body.
All the while, shadows had been erupting out of it. It seemed to have a huge health pool, unfortunately.
“Ayla,” I called. “Cast Divine Wind!”
The wind god emerged from its portal. It resembled a hurricane, but in the shape of a god. The wind god pulled the tentacle monster into its storm, causing shadows to bleed off it.
But even that did not take it down. And now, with the other girls out of mana, only Olana and I remained to fight it.
“I’m sorry,” Olana said. “I don’t have the agility to get near without taking critical damage.”
I regretted expending all our special abilities instead of trying to whittle this thing down more slowly. But in the heat of battle, you have to make decisions. You have to take risks. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t.
Maria, Esme, and Ayla stayed at the back. I continued to attack the Tentacle Ooze with my red sword. Olana would hit me with a Holy Heal whenever I took damage.
Then the Tentacle Ooze glowed with a furious green light. It absorbed shadows out of the air, and grew. It grew to three times its size, and the eyes in its disgusting body turned red.
“Fuck,” I said. Of course this bastard was going to have a second form.
One of the red eyes fixed its gaze on Olana. A laser shot out of it. Olana had no hope of dodging the attack. It hit her, and she screamed and fell.
“Olana,” I said, “are you all right?”
“I’ll… be okay…” She was breathing fast.
“I’m sorry. I promised I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, and yet…”
“You did your best.” She smiled. “No one has ever treated me as well as you have.”
The Tentacle Ooze roared. Its red eyes were fixated on us. It was about to unleash its laser attack. I had to do something, or we were finished.
I took Olana’s hand. “I’ll protect you for the rest of your life. Will you soulbond with me, Olana?”
“Of course I will, Remy.”
Her holy tether shot out of her core and into mine, shining with pure white light.
SOULBOND OF HOLY LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED
NAME: Olana
CLASS: Holy Maiden
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 3
Endurance: 3
Vigor: 1
Mind: 3
Luck: 2
WEAPON UNLOCKED: HOLY CLAWS
NEW HOLY ABILITY UNLOCKED
Immediately, I bore my claws, leaped in the air, and descended upon the Tentacle Ooze.
It was so incredibly weak to holy attacks that I simply ripped it to shreds. Using the claws was so fun, especially combined with my high agility. I was like a lion slashing at its prey.
The Tentacle Ooze had no chance to hit me with its laser eyes. I simply dodged them with Shadow Step, then stuck my claws into its ugly form.
With another flurry of claw swipes, the Tentacle Ooze burst into shadows.
SHADOWSOUL TETHER SLAIN
Holy shit, it was a Shadowsoul tether the entire time. Unbelievable.
There was no use in lingering. We picked up the massive amount of soulcores and goldcores it dropped. I made a fast travel point, and we all teleported back to Whispering Waters.
Everyone was unbelievably exhausted, Olana especially. I let her rest in my bed while I took a dip in the cold pool along with Esme, Ayla, and Maria.
“You did the right thing,” Esme said. “Now you can protect Olana, forever.”
I sighed. “Just don’t say the s-word.”
“You mean ‘sister-wife?’” Maria said with a giggle. “We have a new one. Yay!”
Ayla and Esme laughed, while I put my face in my palm.
The next day, Olana, Ayla, Maria, and Esme geared up and met me at the fast travel point. We teleported to the Vaulted Ceiling.
Meanwhile, the other team went into the Underground Forest to farm.
Tackling two big dungeons at once was proving to be a challenge. By the end of today, both teams would be tired. We’d need to take another rest day, tomorrow.
But we needed loot from the Underground Forest to progress in the Vaulted Ceiling. We needed to be as efficient as possible.
Even though my stats and soulbonds had advanced considerably, so had the strength of the monsters. The Vaulted Ceiling, after all, was the home of the Outer Gods. It was going to test me more than anything else ever had.
We climbed another floor of the tower and fought a group of Fallen Angels. Olana’s skill was a Holy Heal, which worked similarly to Maria’s Water Heal, except it also provided a temporary buff to both strength and intelligence. She would cast it on me every few minutes. She stayed in the back of the formation with Maria, hesitent to use her holy claws against the angels.
I couldn’t blame her. Those angels hit hard.
At the next tower floor, an opening led outside of the tower and onto a wide road. Glass buildings flanked the road, their tips touching the stars. The road was crowded with other sorts of monsters: strange translucent oozes, glass skeletons, and see-through goblins. We took it slow, letting Ayla draw agro and use her Shimmering Shield as often as possible. Esme and I would use our ice katanas or arrows to take the enemies out.
We continued down the road fighting monsters. The stars in the sky seemed to get stranger the deeper we went into the Vaulted Ceiling. No longer did they twinkle with a single color, but rather several. And they seemed to be smeared across the sky instead of in a single place.
“Remy!” Olana called.
She pointed down the road. A masked figure stood in the distance, a dark aura surrounding his body.
“It’s one of them!” she said. “The cultists!”
The Disciples of Omega. Finally, we’d found one.
“Stay back,” I told the girls. “Let me handle this.”
“I won’t let you face him alone,” Esme said.
“Just stay behind me,” I replied.
I approached the masked man. He was wearing a purple hood, and I could not see any of his features. The mask itself was formed from dark energy.
“Where are the curseborn you kidnapped?” I asked.
“Who do you think you are?” the masked man said. “A hero, come to save them?”
“I am the king, and they are my citizens,” I replied. “You and your cult have committed grave crimes, for which you’ll be punished.”
The masked man laughed — such a dark and discordant sound. “We are one with the the Shadowsoul. Soon, your pathetic little island will be devoured.”
“No. I won’t let you or the Shadowsoul hurt anyone. Now answer me — where are the curseborn women you kidnapped?”
“We are preparing the ritual,” the man said. “We must honor the Outer Gods. When the New Year dawns, they shall be sacrificed, and the world as you know it will end.”
So the sacrifice was planned for the New Year, which was a few weeks from now. That meant we still had time to find them, though not as much as I would’ve liked.
“Take me to them,” I said. “Now. If you do so, I’ll forgive your crimes.”
The man laughed. “I don’t seek your forgiveness. What are you — a mere man — compared to the glory of Azathoth and Shub-Niggurath?”
I’d heard those names before, though couldn’t quite place when or where.
“A man can become a god, too,” I said. “Though with your attitude, I doubt you’ll live long enough to see my rise.”
“Such arrogance!” The black aura surrounding the masked man glowed, as if he were about to cast magic. “You are poisoned by hubris. Perhaps it is because you have not yet seen. You will witness the power of the Outer Gods, and you too will bow before them.”
The dark mist churned and twisted around the masked man. It glowed with a blinding black light, then streamed into the man’s body.
His limbs snapped and twisted. Tentacles shot out of every part of his body.
Soon, the man turned into a mass of tentacles and eyes, all on a bulbous body. It resembled an ooze, but far worse, and I already hated the base form of oozes.
“It’s weak to holy,” Maria said.
Too bad Olana and I weren’t soulbonded. I would’ve loved to use her holy claws.
“Let’s kill this fucker,” I said. “Maria. Cthulhu time!”
“Roger that!” Maria closed her eyes and channeled her power.
A portal to the beach of the Deep Ones opened. Cthulhu stepped through. He hovered toward the Tentacle Ooze and began ripping out tentacles off the ugly thing’s form. But the Tentacle Ooze was resilient. He even dodged some of Cthulhu’s smashing attacks.
Soon enough, Cthulhu returned to to his home, leaving us to do the rest.
“Esme. Ice Golem Form!” I called.
We both turned into Ice Golems. With the invulnerability the form provided, we closed the distance to the tentacle monster and bashed it as many times as we could.
But it still didn’t go down. And now, both Esme and Maria were out of mana.
I took out my red sword. I began dancing around the monster’s tentacle attacks using Shadow Step. I even used my Time Crown to freeze time and cut several tentacles off its body.
All the while, shadows had been erupting out of it. It seemed to have a huge health pool, unfortunately.
“Ayla,” I called. “Cast Divine Wind!”
The wind god emerged from its portal. It resembled a hurricane, but in the shape of a god. The wind god pulled the tentacle monster into its storm, causing shadows to bleed off it.
But even that did not take it down. And now, with the other girls out of mana, only Olana and I remained to fight it.
“I’m sorry,” Olana said. “I don’t have the agility to get near without taking critical damage.”
I regretted expending all our special abilities instead of trying to whittle this thing down more slowly. But in the heat of battle, you have to make decisions. You have to take risks. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t.
Maria, Esme, and Ayla stayed at the back. I continued to attack the Tentacle Ooze with my red sword. Olana would hit me with a Holy Heal whenever I took damage.
Then the Tentacle Ooze glowed with a furious green light. It absorbed shadows out of the air, and grew. It grew to three times its size, and the eyes in its disgusting body turned red.
“Fuck,” I said. Of course this bastard was going to have a second form.
One of the red eyes fixed its gaze on Olana. A laser shot out of it. Olana had no hope of dodging the attack. It hit her, and she screamed and fell.
“Olana,” I said, “are you all right?”
“I’ll… be okay…” She was breathing fast.
“I’m sorry. I promised I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, and yet…”
“You did your best.” She smiled. “No one has ever treated me as well as you have.”
The Tentacle Ooze roared. Its red eyes were fixated on us. It was about to unleash its laser attack. I had to do something, or we were finished.
I took Olana’s hand. “I’ll protect you for the rest of your life. Will you soulbond with me, Olana?”
“Of course I will, Remy.”
Her holy tether shot out of her core and into mine, shining with pure white light.
SOULBOND OF HOLY LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED
NAME: Olana
CLASS: Holy Maiden
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 3
Endurance: 3
Vigor: 1
Mind: 3
Luck: 2
WEAPON UNLOCKED: HOLY CLAWS
NEW HOLY ABILITY UNLOCKED
Immediately, I bore my claws, leaped in the air, and descended upon the Tentacle Ooze.
It was so incredibly weak to holy attacks that I simply ripped it to shreds. Using the claws was so fun, especially combined with my high agility. I was like a lion slashing at its prey.
The Tentacle Ooze had no chance to hit me with its laser eyes. I simply dodged them with Shadow Step, then stuck my claws into its ugly form.
With another flurry of claw swipes, the Tentacle Ooze burst into shadows.
SHADOWSOUL TETHER SLAIN
Holy shit, it was a Shadowsoul tether the entire time. Unbelievable.
There was no use in lingering. We picked up the massive amount of soulcores and goldcores it dropped. I made a fast travel point, and we all teleported back to Whispering Waters.
Everyone was unbelievably exhausted, Olana especially. I let her rest in my bed while I took a dip in the cold pool along with Esme, Ayla, and Maria.
“You did the right thing,” Esme said. “Now you can protect Olana, forever.”
I sighed. “Just don’t say the s-word.”
“You mean ‘sister-wife?’” Maria said with a giggle. “We have a new one. Yay!”
Ayla and Esme laughed, while I put my face in my palm.
