Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The panic that had gripped him since he first felt the Level Compression of the Adversarial Elite faded almost entirely by the time he returned to the city of Darkwood Vale.  His heartbeat returned to normal as he landed outside, uncaring that anyone saw him flying.  He quickly moved into one of the lines that led through one of the gates, his thoughts scattered all over the place as he ignored everything around him.  Unfortunately, the world wasn’t ignoring him.

“Thaden!  You’re back already?”

His attention was pulled away from his thoughts, hearing a familiar voice.  Turning around, he saw Steven and the core group of the few dozen members of Guilded Glory that had participated in all 7 of the Intermediate dungeons he’d done over the last few days.  Oh, crap.  For some reason, he hadn’t even thought about the consequences of returning to the city without his Raid Party; as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he’d been primarily thinking about himself and what he was going to do now.  While he would love to be able to go back into the dungeon to see if the Raid Party was still alive, there was no way he was getting near that place until he was a whole lot stronger.  He just hoped that it would stay contained until he was ready to face it.

“You’re going to have to tell them.  If they perished in the dungeon, they’ll know about it eventually when they don’t show up.”

He knew Sadia was probably right, but he still hesitated to admit to Steven and the others what happened.  There was a portion of his conscience that felt like a failure, as he second-guessed his decisions not to turn everyone back or doing something to prevent everything that had happened; but there was the more practical portion of his conscience that acknowledged that it wasn’t his fault, as there was no way he could’ve known an Adversarial entity would be inside the dungeon.  If he had been able to, he would’ve saved them, but there was only so much responsibility he could place on his own shoulders. 

“Yes, I’m back.  I got here as fast as I could,” he responded after a few seconds of thought.  “I have some potentially bad news.”

“Uh, oh.  What happened?”

The Solitary Shaman wasn’t exactly sure what to say, because he knew it was going to sound crazy.  It sounded crazy to him when he thought about it – and he had lived through it.

“This is going to sound hard to believe, but stay with me here…”

Thaden began to describe his experience inside the dungeon with the Raid Party, explaining how he had a Psychic Resiliency Competency that allowed him to eventually deduce what was happening to everyone.  When he came to the parts where every single monster the Contenders were fighting were the exact same one, just with a different mental projection of its appearance, more than half of them seemed skeptical, though no one interrupted his depiction of the events. 

It wasn’t until he went over what happened with the purely mental “Assault Waves” and what happened afterwards that he could see them blanche in horror at the description of the Adversarial Elite.

“What Level did you say it was?” Steven asked.

“710.  It nearly killed me, despite having an Achievement that reduces the effects from Level Compression by 90%.”

“And what of the Raid Party?  Did you see them after this… thing… appeared?”

Thaden shook his head.

“Well, they’re not dead, at least.  We’ll have to see if we can rescue them.”

As much as he wanted to believe the confidence in the man’s statement, he was confused at why he thought they were still alive.  “What do you mean?  I can’t see anyone our Level standing up to that thing for long.”

Steven looked at him funny, before he chuckled.  “You didn’t even check the Rankings, did you?”

The Solitary Shaman mentally slapped his forehead.  Pulling up the Rankings, he slumped in relief to see everyone was still on the lists, or at least everyone he knew personally; Corinna and Rachel, along with a few of the other high-Level members of the Raid Party were still where they were before.  He knew that if someone died permanently, they would be wiped off the Rankings immediately.

“Yeah, you’re right, I didn’t.  Thanks.  But if they’re in there, and that Elite is still inside, there’s no way we can get them out.  I don’t even want to get within a mile of that place, as it’s too dangerous as it is right now.”  Just the thought of the sheer pressure of the Level Compression he’d felt from the Adversarial monster was enough to twist his insides with a healthy dose of fear. 

“Where is it, by the way?” Steven asked.  “Its location wasn’t shared with the Guild in general, as the top brass wanted to keep it largely a secret to prevent the other Guilds from discovering too much about it,” he explained.

Should I tell him?  I don’t know if he’d be able to even get within a mile of it before being affected by the Level Compression.  In the end, he decided that it was best to continue being open and truthful, and they deserved to know.

“But be warned, if you start feeling the pressure of its Level Compression, don’t go any closer or it could kill you.”

“We won’t get too close, don’t worry,” Steven assured him.  “What are your plans now?”

“Evolve my Class, now that I’ve finished my Assignment.  After that, I’m not quite sure.  I still technically have a contract with the Guild for a little over 3 weeks of running Intermediate dungeons, so I suppose I’ll be doing that.”

“Count us in with that, then.  If we’re going to rescue our Guild members, we’re all going to need to get stronger.”

A sense of warmth spread through Thaden at hearing that from the previously hostile Blade Stalker.  Not only was he believed and not immediately accused of some sort of foul play against the Guild Leader and his Raid Party, but Steven – and those with him – wanted to continue working with him, not only to become stronger, but to save their people.  He couldn’t help but feel like he was somewhere he was valued and belonged, something that hadn’t always been true in his life – and especially since coming to Tarth.  After becoming a bit jaded after his initial reception by the Charee, and then harassed or taken advantage of by the few Contenders he came into contact with, he didn’t think he would like actually joining a Guild and all the things that came with it.  Even the skeptical feelings toward him that many of the Guilded Glory members had after meeting him had largely faded, replaced by feelings of companionship and camaraderie.

At least, that was how he felt now with these people.  Steven and the few dozen Contenders with him had somehow become his core group within his subsidiary Guild, Exploitation; they showed their loyalty and trust in him by believing him and thinking about ways to save the others.  He just hoped to prove to them that their trust was well-placed, as now his new goal was to free the leaders of the Guild from the clutches of the Adversarial monster. 

Gaining strength and power for a potential payoff in the future was all well and good, but having a more immediate goal was even more motivating to him.  First, he had needed to gain Levels and become more powerful so that he could find the Anchor dungeons; once that was done, his focus had been completing his Evolution Assignment, which he’d now done.  If he was being honest with himself, his plans for after that happened were a bit nebulous, as it had felt like a distant possibility for a while.  Even when he was starting the recent dungeon with the Raid Party, knowing that if they succeeded with completing it and his Assignment, he hadn’t seriously thought about what he would do afterwards.  Fulfilling his contract with the Guild, of course, was the #1 priority, but after that, he figured he would solo a crap-ton of Intermediate dungeons to gain PICK and wealth, before possibly tackling the final Intermediate dungeon that would trigger the next Developmental Phase.

That was something he could still do, especially as after his contract was done, he was technically free to do whatever he wanted.  He was technically under no obligation to the Guild Leader or those with her in the Raid Party to save them, but he also wasn’t going to abandon them to their fate if he could do something about it.  His decision to help was in no way an admission of responsibility about what happened, as he’d mostly determined that he wasn’t at fault, nor was it an obligation that he needed to devote his time toward that goal; instead, it was an acknowledgement that something disastrous happened, and he had the ability to help where not many others could. 

To abandon them now wasn’t who he was or who he wanted to be.

“Perfect.  Let me know when you’re ready to go, and we’ll start hitting the dungeons as hard and as fast as we can.”

Steven nodded.  “It might be late tomorrow, as we want to check out the dungeon you just left, first, so that we can tell the rest of the Guild about what happened with firsthand knowledge of the Adversarial monster inside the dungeon.”

“Sounds good.  Again, be careful not to get too close.”

After agreeing, Steven and the others took off after obtaining some buffs from Thaden, and they raced off with incredible speed.  When they disappeared from his sight, he turned back to the line to see that he was nearly at the front.  It didn’t take long after that for him to be admitted to the city, and an even shorter time for him to make his way to the Adventurer Coalition building where he had his Diamond-Ranked room.  When he finally arrived, he shut the door and Sadia appeared now that they were alone.

“I didn’t want to go into it before, as you needed to get your head around it all, but this entire situation is seriously fucked up,” she began, as he sat on the edge of the bed, the mental exhaustion from the day catching up with him as he sighed.

“I know.  But I’m sure that we’ll find a way to save—”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about,” she interrupted him, shaking her head.

Thaden looked at her and gestured for her to continue as he lay himself back on his comfy bed.

“This shouldn’t have happened.  A representative from the Adversary shouldn’t be able to find its way into this developmental world, like, at all.”

“Why?” he asked, confused, as he’d already had experience with one.

Sadia hmphed.  “I know that you’ve already seen one and had a hand in killing it, but that also shouldn’t have happened.

“What do you mean?”

After a pause, in which the giant squirrel seemed to gather her thoughts, she explained.  “I can’t go into specifics, but try to think of this developmental world as a chicken egg—I know, that sounds odd, but it works for this purpose.  Now, a chicken egg has a shell that protects it as the chick inside grows, until it eventually breaks out to join the rest of the world; in this case, the Contenders are the chicks and the rest of the world is the universe in which the Assimilation System and the Persistent Adversary contend with each other. 

“The shell protecting this world is infused with the System’s energy, keeping it safe from any outside influence with an impenetrable barrier.  Nothing can leave until the shell is cracked from the inside, which will eventually come when the Contenders reach—hmm, too much information,” she said, cutting herself off abruptly.  Shaking her head, she continued.  “Anyway, that’s not the important part; what is important is that no one can leave here until something happens to crack the shell from the inside, but that also means that nothing can get inside.  Are you following so far?”

He nodded.

“Good.  So, with Tarth contained in this impenetrable barrier, isolated from the rest of the universe, the Adversary should have absolutely no access to it.  While the System utilizes Adversarial energy to populate the world with monsters, as well as the creation of dungeons, you can consider this energy to be ‘sterilized’, for want of a better word to describe it.  In other words, it no longer has a direct connection with the Persistent Adversary, so it can be used and manipulated as the System sees fit. 

“That being said, what happened in this city with the former Region Leader shouldn’t have been possible.  From your memories, it appeared as though the Region Leader somehow summoned a representative of the Adversary, possibly from outside of the world, at least according to the System messages that you received.  However, that would mean that a Level 150 – which as you now know, is strong but not that strong – figured out a way to penetrate the ‘shell’ of this world with the express purpose of contacting the Adversary.  As I’ve reiterated, that shouldn’t be possible, especially for one of his Level.  In other words, what you saw and experienced was impossible.”

Thaden was following her explanation so far, but he wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting at.  “Okay, I see how it might seem that way.  But I know what I saw.”

“I’m not denying that,” she said impatiently.  “But what you saw, what the System detected, and what actually happened have to be different things.”

“So, what you’re saying is that the Adversarial monster didn’t come from outside the shell, because it couldn’t,” he worked out, and she nodded.  “And if that’s true, then, logically, the monster didn’t come from outside of Tarth.  Are you saying that it was already here?”

Sadia shook her head.  “Not necessarily.  What I think, and this is just speculation based on a few factors, is that the potential energy for its existence was already here.  What I believe Veronico did was simply gather it up with his spellform and concentrate it until it created what you and the System saw and detected.”

The Solitary Shaman was beginning to see where she was going with this – and he didn’t like it.  “This potential energy, there is more of it in this world, isn’t it?”  He feared what she was about to say.

“Yes, it’s, well, everywhere.  It’s in the monsters you kill and the dungeons that spawn them.  But, like I said, it was ‘sterilized’ for use by the System.”

Thaden slowly spoke as he worked out why she was so concerned.  “I’m assuming that whatever Veronico did has somehow had a ripple effect apart from what I experienced?”  The giant squirrel nodded.  “So, you’re saying he peed in the pool, huh?”

Sadia cocked her head to the side as she considered his words, before chuckling slightly.  “Yeah, I guess you could say that.  By doing what he did, he left remnants of unsterile Adversarial ‘pee’ in the pool of energy that flows through this world, and some of it obviously escaped the Systems notice.  This normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but Adversarial energy is also semi-sapient, and it has a sense of self-preservation; my assumption is that it found itself in a wide pool of sterilized energy and fled somewhere it could hide and blend in until it was able to make itself stronger.”

“Like a dungeon.  You’re saying that it took over a dungeon so that it could hide from the System… and then what?”

“Well, it can’t just suddenly become more powerful by itself; Adversarial energy feeds on its victims and uses what it feeds on to manifest itself in the form of monsters.”

Thaden closed his eyes and groaned.  “I’m guessing that it feeds on Health and Mana?”

“Primarily Health, but it can treat the Mana the System generates as a source of food, as well.”

“So, it was feeding on the Raid Party for weeks, sucking their Health and Mana away to get stronger…”

“And when it was ready, it finally manifested as the monster you saw there,” she finished for him.

He groaned again in horror, knowing that his Raid Party was still there; he envisioned them hooked up to some magical machine that would constantly drain them nearly dry of Health and Mana for eternity.

Pushing past that horrifying vision, he asked the question that had been on his mind ever since he discovered that the notifications he was receiving had been altered, as well.  “Well then, how come the System doesn’t know it’s there?  It was the System that allowed me to see it’s Level and everything, right?  And wouldn’t it know that its messages to the Contenders inside the dungeon were being changed?”

Unfortunately, Sadia shrugged her squirrel shoulders.  “I don’t know the answer to that,” she admitted.  “Typically, the Assimilation System has an incredible amount of oversight concerning everything inside a developmental world like Tarth, but obviously something has changed or there’s something fundamentally wrong.  Or, it could be that the Adversary has learned how to exert a measure of control over the System that it can’t detect, which is even more worrying if true.”

Thaden was silent for a minute or so as he thought things over.  “What do we do, then?  Try and alert the System about it?  Even if we do, what can the System do?  Would it just issue another Quest to kill it?”

“Yes, that is precisely what the System would do as soon as it learned of its existence,” she responded as she shook her head.  “Which would lead to millions of casualties as Contenders rushed to try and kill it, and it would simply grow stronger with every one that it killed.”

“So… no?” he hazarded with a despondent laugh.  “What can be done, then?”

“The same thing you were already doing; get stronger and kill it yourself before it can threaten the rest of the world.”

Great.  Not like I needed the extra incentive or anything.  

A chilling thought occurred to him.  “Do you think that this is the only place this Adversarial ‘pee’ has been concentrating?”

“Who knows?  For our sake, and the sake of every Contender in Tarth, we better hope that it is.”