Chapter 025 - The Last Door

Anna woke with a start. Her head spinning and every inch of her body feeling like it had been beaten with a stick. Her first vague thought was appreciating the kind of damage she’d delivered to those assholes on her last day before the world turned on its head. Her second thought was far more pressing; Where the fuck is the boss? 

She blinked a few times to get the blurriness out of her eyes and looked down at the hunk of stone and masonry resting over her leg. She adjusted her position and was relieved to feel that while it hurt like hell it certainly wasn’t broken. How? She adjusted her leg a little and winced. Oh, right, I’ve got fancy bones or something. A low huff of breath caught her on the side of the head and she whipped her head towards the source. Two massive eyes stared at her from just a few feet away, rows of lamprey teeth opening and closing slowly with each breath.

Her gut tightened. Oh shit. Is it conscious? 

She shifted a little and it jolted, its eyes going wider as those teeth spread out in a rippling wave. It snarled before pulling back, tossing its head left and right before falling limp again. Anna pulled away and it started back up again, trying desperately to get to her as the tons of stone resting on its body held it in place. A rock fell and skipped past her. It wouldn’t be pinned for long. She turned back to the slab pinning her leg and started to push, Shit, it’s not budging! Why is it so fucking heavy?

I need leverage.

She looked around, trying to find something to pry beneath the stone enough to get her leg free. She spotted her club, a good ten feet away and resting against a wall. That was when it occurred to her that she shouldn’t be able to see. Wait, I’m not holding a glowstone. Where’s this light coming from? 

Anna looked up and found the source. A pool of mana spread clear across the center of the large chamber she’d found herself in. There was a pillar stretching down all the way through the middle and into the glowing water from the ceiling covered in odd etchings and diagrams. Her eyes fell along the column and the pool to another landmark. A podium with three slots waiting for her. She closed her eyes and sighed, the center of the maze. Its right in front of me.

The boss snarled again and she shot it a look, “Shut up, I’m trying to think.”

It of course ignored her and kept snarling. She reached up and rubbed her eyes, wiping some of the sweat and dirt off her face. It’s hot in here, not even my ring is helping. Her face fell and she checked her resources. Her heart leaped into her throat when her mana tolerance ticked up three points at once. 

Resources:
HP: 112/183 | SP: 89/173 | MT: 68/150

Fucking son of a bitch! I hate this place! 

She sat up further and grabbed onto the block, putting her back into it as the boss flailed even more. Her muscles strained, Come on, come on! I’ve got fifty fucking points of strength, I should be able to lift a goddamn rock- it budged. She gasped and almost lost her grip before redoubling. It shifted again, then again, her arms screaming at her until finally she felt the weight around her ankle loosen just a bit. With a painful twist she pulled her leg out and shot to her feet. She tried to put pressure on the leg but it wasn’t having it. A sprain, could be a hell of a lot worse.

She glanced towards the frantically struggling boss and shot the finger before looking down at its legs. Bone. Exposed bone. That mana really did a number on you, didn’t it? She panted and grinned, I know what to with you.

She limped over to the creature’s legs and pulled a couple of the bone-seizing arrows out of her inventory, taking a quick knee. It shifted and tried to pull away from her but she just stabbed it. One didn’t seem to do anything, there wasn’t much of a reaction at all. Two and she saw portions of the exposed fetid bone turn black. Three and the black began to spread. She barked out a laugh and pulled herself back up and hustled towards her club.

“Fuckin’ stupid blob tentacle thing,” she muttered, snatching the weapon up and turning to the podium. She pointed at the boss, “I’ll be back for you in a second.”

Its roars slowed and she knew the poison was finally working. She focused on her task, quickly pulling the three completion tokens out of her inventory and shoving them into the slots on the podium. Staying in this room for any amount of time was bad for her health. Each token clicked into place and they gleamed for a moment before dissolving, the eerie glowing powder left behind swirling across the podium and into the center slot. 

A moment later a golden token was left behind. She plucked it out of the slot and admired it with a small smile.

Stygian Inheritance Token of the Heir - Taint (Unique) - Inert
This inert token will be converted into an active token upon exiting the Tainted Halls.

She raised an eyebrow.

The Tainted Halls

These halls are tainted with Mana, do not succumb.

Clear Condition: The trial is not complete until you exit the Halls.
Bonus Condition: Complete

Her incredulity turned into a laugh, “Oh, I get it. Fine. I should have figured when I didn’t get the title after the first token.”

She set the matter aside and turned to the boss, marching over to it as it stared up at her with impotent rage in those solid black eyes. She reached up and pulled her mask up a bit before spitting on it, “Fuck you,” she snarled. She pulled the mask back down and took a swing at one of those massive eyes. Her club collided and it just bounced off the soft flesh. She tried again with a power strike and got nothing as well. A stab with the other end of the club and a blast from one of her firebats confirmed that a level ten boss, even if it was pinned, was not something she could kill.

Stats trump everything else, I guess. There’s always a bigger fish. You can’t win every fight, Anna. Don’t forget it and don’t get cocky, that sneaking bullshit was a mistake, she grumbled and turned away, pulling out a fresh glowstone. “You can rot there for all I care. I’m out.”

It hissed at her, barely audible, but it managed to shift a little as she stalked away. Anna stepped through the remains of the wall it had broken and found herself back in the hallway she’d run to. It didn’t take long to get to the first long hallway. By then she was already chugging down the last of her medicinal water. It took some of the edge off of her ankle and she picked up the pace, moving to a jog. All around her she heard the shrieks and hisses of the chokers scampering about trying to figure out what to do without their leader.

A distant bang told her that a jog might not entirely be sufficient, and without any better option she broke into a run. Each step hurt like hell but she pushed it aside as she rounded the corner at the end of the passage and into a small group of chokers that were scampering down the path in her direction. Two turns left, come on! 

An Aura Snap popped one of the ugly creatures while the others scattered in surprise. She hopped over the dead thing’s corpse. A few points of essence is not worth-

BANG!

KREEIIIIKAAAAAKK!

-that!

The path immediately ahead led to the spot where she’d fallen the first time, she could still see the empty cubby where it had been. She took the first turn on her right and kept running as the booms of the boss’ approach grew louder. Stubborn old fucker! One more left and the door was up ahead. She threw herself into a full dash, committing to paying for the abuse of her ankle later. Her heart was thundering in her ears when she grabbed onto the handle. She pulled it open as something crashed behind her.

She turned and grinned as she hopped backwards. “Up yours, slimeball!”

The boss shrieked, charged, and she slammed the door.

Anna hit the ground with a grunt and lay there for a while, smiling to herself even as her ankle throbbed. A bubbling laugh rose up her chest and she chuckled. Her chest tightened next and she rested an arm over her face. Even with the mask on it just didn’t feel like enough as the tears started to come. When they finally stopped she was calm enough to feel the buzzing in the back of her head reminding her of the incoming notifications. She swallowed and pulled off her helmet, putting it into her inventory and pulled up the first one.

Quest Complete!

The Tainted Halls
You have traversed the befouled deathtrap of the Tainted Halls, claiming a token and coming out alive.

“Almost done,” she sighed. “One more to go.”

Title Unlocked!

Stygian Strider (Mortal-Uncommon)
You have passed the trial of the Tainted Halls.
Effect: +3 to all stats. New Ability: Stygian Agility

You have acquired a new Ability:

Stygian Agility (Mortal-Common-Base)
Your Agility is increased by +5

She smiled, a fresh boost to stats without a level made it all feel a bit more worth it. There was one more thing to see, though. She pulled the Inheritance Token out of her inventory and the golden object began to glow before settling down in her palm. 

Stygian Inheritance Token of the Heir - Taint (Unique)
This token is granted to those who pass the trial of the Tainted Halls and complete its bonus conditions.

She clenched it tightly, while it hadn’t taken as long to get through the maze it certainly hadn’t been easy either. Her eyes shifted to the final door at the center of the rear of the lobby. A stray thought occurred to her and she stamped down on it quickly, not wanting to jinx herself. Instead, she pulled herself to a standing position and limped over to the central podium where the slot was waiting. She slipped it in and it clicked into place as before.

She almost slumped back down to the ground but instead furrowed her brows and forced herself to march over to the door to the Forest of Blood and yanked the door open and was a little relieved to see that she could do so. I half expected it to be reset or locked or something, she thought before focusing on her task. I need to resupply before I do anything else. I can’t heal my ankle without something to treat it properly, I’m probably injured elsewhere as well, my arm still hurts a bit. She scoffed, I’m getting numb to it. I bet I’ll get a pain tolerance skill soon.

The trip to the cave to drink, heal, and top up her canteen was uneventful, as was her trip back. Not a single creature in the forest dared cross her path and she wondered if it had something to do with her title more than her level or her presence. Upon her return she spent a little bit more time resting, her body was still a little sore and she needed to refine what essence she’d managed to gather from the Halls before she moved on.

Refining only took two rounds with her Mana-touched trait helping and she was on her feet, stretching and practicing with her weapon proficiency in no time. I didn’t get any opportunities to practice parrying for my Contingency quest in the Halls, she mused as she went through a three step routine. The feeling she was getting from her proficiency had moved past the bare basics of correct stances and holding her weapon. Now she could feel it urging her to take particular movements one after another. There were several from what she could tell, based on where she started when she was holding her weapon.

Maybe once I master all of these my proficiency will finally go up. I’m curious about what that means or if it will affect anything at all, she thought as she went through another set of swings. These seemed intended for batting an opponent's strikes out of the way rather than hitting a single target. Each time she completed run of the various steps adequately her muscles felt warm, an obvious dopamine hit to encourage her to continue.

She went with it.

By the end of another three days and chowing down on yet another food pill she was well on her way. She was comfortable with most of the various forms her proficiency had introduced her to and she could snap them out without any trouble. She didn’t feel like she had mastered them just yet, though, it felt like something was missing. Ultimately she chocked it up to a hidden progress bar somewhere and after one more trip into the forest to restock her water she made her way to the last door.

It was just like the others, but something about it made her nervous. Her hand rested on the handle and pulled away, thoughts bounding about in her head. Is there any way to predict what’s on the other side? What were the other trials about? She frowned and tapped her foot. I got Endurance from the Trial of Blood and Agility from the Trial of Taint. She wrinkled her nose and pulled up her stats briefly to consider them.

Name: Anastasia Flitt
Race: Human - Terran
Class: Warmage - 5 (425/3800) 11.2%
Profession: None
Tier: Mortal - First
Heritage: Born in the Gray (Unknown)

Resources:
HP: 198/198 | SP: 188/188 | MT: 0/165

Attributes: Available Free Points: 0
Strength: 57 | Agility: 33 | Intellect: 30
Vitality: 40 | Endurance: 38 | Willpower: 29
Awareness: 29 | Insight: 28 | Presence: 68

“Agility, Endurance, and…” she frowned, “Insight I’m guessing. If it follows any kind of pattern.” She flicked her eyes up towards the door and scowled. “So I’m going to have to look at something critically? See the truth of something? That sounds like a pain in the ass. I’d rather just beat something’s head in and be done with it.”

She shrugged, Oh well. Nothing I can do about it. I either finish this one or I’m stuck in here.

She grabbed onto the handle again and pushed down only for what she’d feared earlier–that little jinx she’d prayed she’d not visited on herself–finally kicked in. Her hand passed through the handle and she fell straight through the door. The world around her twitched. Reality buzzed. Sights and sounds whipped past her in a cascade of confusion and barely comprehensible sensory information. She saw the forest in the distance, floating in a void. She could see the outer walls of the labyrinth as well, mana pouring out of a hole somewhere in it and down into the nothingness beneath her. 

For a moment, she thought she was screwed. The shock stopping even a scream from coming out of her before her feet hit solid ground. She looked down at her own reflection in a sheet of mirror-still water.

Quest Alert!

The Tomb of the [ERROR]

[ERROR! ERROR!] Find the [ERROR!] [UNKNOWN ARGUMENT] [ERROR] [DESCRIPTION LOST] [REASSIGNING] [FAILURE]

Clear Condition: LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE
Bonus Condition: [ERROR]

“Oh… shit.”