Chapter 165

The Lake of Bones, The Pitt - 2:17 PM

While it would have been really easy to keep “Mercury Moongrave” in the air, I gave him some reprieve and let him stand on the ground. I continued holding onto him, though; I kept a tight grip on his collar and he kept a tight grip on my arm.

“Is that really the name you want to go with?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Are you attempting to sully my honor with idiotic questions, you fiend?” he yelled. “My name is-“

“Mercury Moongrave, great and powerful gentleman thief. Yes, I heard you the first time,” I said with a sigh. Putting on a frown, I lifted him off of the ground a few times, causing him to kick his feet. “Are you, though? What’s your Constitution, low twenties?”

The ninja’s eyes widened in indignation. “And who are you to ask that of a complete stranger?” he yelled. A glint in his headband caught my attention.

“One moment,” I said as I reached into my inventory with my free hand, pulling out Vermon’s Smash Stick.

I let go of the mandible turned club and let it Orbit me until I heard it strike bones behind me. In the headband, I could see the Accumulator in a form reminiscent of a crocodile sneaking up on us. Switching gears, I Lifted and Dropped the Smash Stick a few times, breaking through its skull until the purple wisp reappeared.

[[Warning!]]

The fifth round will begin in 30 seconds.

“Alright, let’s see who you really are,” I said more to myself than him. The Smash Stick continued to Orbit us, and I snapped my fingers.

“Mercury Moongrave!” he insisted, struggling again. This time his efforts managed to hurt me a little, but I held firm on his collar.

“That’s not what I’m getting,” I said, staring him in the eyes. “Leonard Oswald Langston.”

“Man, you’ve got a meta skill?” Leonard whined, giving up on his Mercury voice. “That’s a real invasion of privacy, you know.”

“No, I’m a psychic,” I told him, motioning to the Orbiting club with my free hand. “And you are a hard man to track down. I went through a lot of effort to get you down here, Leonard.”

“Can’t you at least call me Mercury?” he requested before recognition registered in his eyes. “Wait, you were hunting me? You can’t have been hunting me, I was the one sneaking up on you!”

“Yeah, because you’re the one who can turn invisible,” I said. “Do you know how hard it is to track someone who can do that? It’s way easier to lay out bait and get you to come to me.”

Leonard settled down. “Wait, hold up,” he said. “I’m going to need you to explain all of that.”

“Sure, can I put you down without you bolting?” I asked, eying him suspiciously

“Aren’t you supposed to be the psychic here?” he countered.

I nodded. “You’re right, I’ll keep a firm grip, then.”

“But I’d also really like it if you let me go,” he said. “This is pretty uncomfortable.”

“You’re uncomfortable?” I scoffed. “I’m the one that’s fighting a boss right now. Speaking of…”

The reflection in Leonard’s headband showed the Accumulator appearing as a bull this time. I could clearly hear it charging through the lake of bones and onto the hill, though I didn’t need to turn to face it. The Smash Stick clocked it in the side of its head at full speed.

I smirked as the Accumulator fell to the ground, sliding into position beside us. “Bones!” it yelled, its voice deeper now that it was larger.

Before it had a chance to struggle to its feet, I raised my foot to crush its skull under my heel. The bones crumbled, and the wisp appeared above the skull. Leonard narrowed his eyes at it and a dagger appeared in his hand. He attempted to throw it, but I lifted him off of the ground and put my body between him and the trigger for the end of the scenario. It missed by a wide margin.

[[Warning!]]

The sixth round will begin in 30 seconds.

“Really?” I asked, shaking my head in disappointment. “If you kill the wispy bits, then you don’t get any points except for a paltry amount for having slain the beast.”

“I’m not getting any points regardless, jerk,” Leonard spat. “I’m unaffiliated. No guild. I’m getting nothing from the scenario. I’m only here for the boss rush you said would happen.”

“Yes, that was the bait I was referring to,” I said, arching an eyebrow. “Obviously, I wanted to get the great and powerful Mercury Moongrave out here so we can have a gentlemanly discussion.”

That caused Leonard to stand up a little taller. He kept one hand on my arm, but gestured towards me with the other. “Proceed.”

“I have been burdened with purpose,” I said, not putting any additional weight onto my words as I said them. “I am a powerful psychic, as you’ve seen, and my existence in this world gives me a unique insight into its past, present, and future. I look ahead and see terrible events. Pittsburgh, destroyed by the undead. Boston, overrun by robots. New York, blown up in a nuclear holocaust. Lagos, turned to desert. Australia, sunk by the cultists of Atlantis.”

“Damn, that escalated quickly,” Leonard whispered.

“The world is going to Hell, and there’s not much anyone can do to stop it,” I said sadly. “Except me. I can see the threads of fate; I have walked beside them, and seen their end. Five thousand survivors, half a million, one hundred million. This world has been laid to waste more times than I want to say. But not this time, Leonard. This time, we are surviving. Not only that, but we are going to thrive.”

I let him go and smoothed out his collar, and he stood there. “Every time I move, events the administrators put into place crumble,” I continued. “Everywhere I step, plots to destroy the population fall apart at my whim. It’s not hyperbole, it’s the tried and honest truth. Etson and Stanley in Florida, Cordele and Atlanta in Georgia. Pittsburgh, here and now. But not just here.”

Reaching into my inventory, I started shoveling out letters. All around us, the lake of bones started shifting again. “Sharon Gunner, Minnesota, with instructions on how to solve her eldritch moose problem because she’s its next target and she’ll go on to unify the state. Noriko Kato, Japan, and the best way to defeat the Yokai who are coming after his child, who had a class item appear in his lap the moment the system dropped. Kui Tergat, Kenya, who-“

Leonard’s eyes flashed behind me. Frowning, I adjusted his headband to see the Accumulator trying to sneak up on me. His eyes were already on it, but he hadn’t said anything because I had already been dealing with them. This time, it took the form of an elephant.

I sent the Smash Stick high into the air, and the boss looked up at it. With perfect precision, I Dropped it down on the Accumulator’s head. It shied back, having already learned that this was a perfectly deadly weapon, and tried to catch it with its long trunk. While it might have been wasteful, I was in the middle of showing off, and I quickly switched between Push, Orbit, and Pull.

The Smash Stick circled the trunk before colliding with the Accumulator’s skull. It cracked from the force of Drop and Orbit, but it didn’t go down. “Boooooones!” it roared as I started Spinning the weapon, whacking it repeatedly in the face.

Backing up, the Accumulator attempted to dive back into the lake of bones. I maneuvered the Smash Stick in front of it, causing the boss to skitter to a stop before Pulling it back. The little extra damage from Orbit translated well, and the skull shattered. Bones clattered to the floor as I lifted my hand and altered its trajectory. The weapon fit snugly in my hand before I put it over my shoulder.

“Have you been fighting that thing with the reflection from my headband?” Leonard asked quietly, awe evident in his voice.

“Yes. It’s not so hard, once you get used to it,” I said with a grin. “The Accumulator’s not so bad until its final form, anyway. Well, to me. Other people will have issues.”

[[Warning!]]

The seventh round will begin in 30 seconds.

Coughing into my fist, I went back to my speech. “Thanks to this knowledge, I know all about you, Leonard.”

“Mercury,” he quietly insisted.

“And I know what a shackle that class of yours is,” I said, pointing up at his headband. He looked surprised. “I know that it chose you over everyone else in that game shop that day, and I know it’s not the only one of it’s kind. Someday, you’ll have to fight others like yourself, and there can only be one. Come with me, and I’ll make sure you’re the last man standing.”

Leonard went stiff, and for a moment he looked ready to flee. However, he didn’t, fixing me with a shaking gaze. “Why?”

“As capable as I am, I can’t do everything myself. So, I’m putting a team together. Myself, a powerful psychic,” I started, holding up fingers one by one as I made a list. “My second in command, the queen of Sol Ligatus. Her dashing swashbuckler of a husband. A walking arsenal in power armor cosplay, straight from the upper echelon of Atlanta’s most brutal tournament, the Chaos Cup. Finally, the Monstersmith, capable of creating devastating weapons and impenetrable armor from felled foes. As of now, the team’s not complete. Once we’re done in Pittsburgh, I want you to come with us.”

“I can’t leave Pittsburgh,” he said quietly. “I’ve got too much here.”

“You’ve got one thing here, and it’s not a problem,” I said. Lifting the letters I dropped, I put them in my inventory one by one before retrieving the Medallion of Uuska with the Tea Witch inside. “There’s no free rides, but I guarantee you that Bethany- I mean, Belladonna Nightshade, your little sister, will be safe. This holds a non-combat class that makes potions out of tea. We have a greenhouse set up on our train and a workspace for her.”

“Man, you really do know everything, don’t you?” Leonard asked nervously, though I didn’t respond. He took the medallion when I offered it to him. I waited while he examined the details.

The Accumulator, however, had other ideas. The lake of bones started to shake all at once. Under normal circumstances, it would continue through 20 rounds in an effort to break the defenders in a battle of attrition. I had already noticed that it skipped forms, becoming larger and more powerful sooner than it was supposed to, but it seemed now like it was getting tired of my antics.

[[Warning!]]

The Accumulator of Bones is hoarding power.

“It seems as though our time of safety is nearly over,” I said with a grimace. This was only the seventh round; I was going to get full points from the scenario quest, but Sara’s quest had specified I was going to get paid based on how many rounds I had completed. Holding back a sigh, I snapped open my menu and sent a guild invitation.

“I need your help, Mercury Moongrave,” I said, offering my hand. He stood up a little straighter at my address. “To save not just Pittsburgh, but the whole world. In exchange for your help, I’ll turn you into the best damn ninja this world has never seen.”

Leonard watched my hand carefully. “You’re not going to make me, like, kill people or stuff, are you?”

I smirked, thinking of the Mills. “No. I’m trying to save lives. While there are certainly those who will have to go, killing is fairly anathema to my plans,” I told him honestly. “When it’s called for, then I’m taking care of it. I’m not going to push that burden on anyone if I can help it. Monsters and Demons only, and I’ll even show you how to win that game your headband has you playing without killing any of them.”

The ninja released a breath and took my hand. “Okay, but I’m going to back out the moment I don’t think me or my sister is safe.”

“Unfortunately, there’s not really anywhere safe anymore, but our home base is the safest by far,” I said. 

He watched my eyes as if trying to find some hint of deception, but eventually nodded. “Okay, but you also have to call me Mercury. I have this whole persona I've taken on and I don't want to half-ass it. Understood?”

“Yeah, I got you, Mercury,” I said with a smile. The screen came immediately after he let the handshake go. 

[[Guild Notice]]

Player [Leonard Langston] has accepted your invitation and is now a member of Sol Ligatus.

“Excellent choice, my friend,” I said jovially. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, the Accumulator has decided to skip to the finale. So, if you’ll please give me some space to work, I would appreciate it.”

“You don’t want me to help?” he asked, looking around.

The bones had only been rattling since the warning, but now they were actively moving around. Every single one, including the pieces still on the hill, started backing away from us. They scuttled across the ground towards the stands, and I pointed towards the largest skull in the arena. The same one I had put a hole through earlier. Leonard followed it and took a step back.

Eyes of purple fire burned in the sockets, and I could tell that they were focused on me. Its body was forming all around the arena, making something insanely large.

“Take some shots if you want, but you really need to focus on staying safe,” I said, not turning to face Leonard as I gave the Smash Stick a few swings. “Your stats aren’t high enough, but by the time I’m done you’ll have the points to max out everything and still have some leftover. So your mission, and you’ve gotta accept it, is to survive.”

“And if it focuses on me?” he asked nervously.

“Won’t happen,” I said as I started walking towards the giant skull.

“You sound so sure of yourself.”

That made me pause, and I shook my head. “If it comes after you, then that means I’m dead,” I said before turning and giving him a grin. “Like I said, won’t happen.”

With a nod, Leonard jumped into the air and produced a grappling hook to get him back to the jumbotron. It wasn’t going to be safe for long, but it was a start and he’d be able to get back into stealth easily enough.

Turning back to the Accumulator’s final form, I noted with satisfaction that it was starting to solidify. I leaned to the side, thumping the Smash Stick against the ground loudly. “Come on!” I yelled. “Get your big, bony ass down here so I can destroy you properly!”

“Booooooooones!” it yelled, shaking the arena with its voice.

I flinched at the sound, but it only made me grin; Writhing Zeppelin notwithstanding, I loved fighting these big bastards.