Polynya

The serpent woman smiles. The knights are the most powerful guild Tritania has ever seen. Bringing the battle to them, as you have suggested, will not only result in the Shinigami being destroyed, it will also tip them off to our plan.

“How would they know?”

They’ll know. In Porthos, you must make it so no one trusts Ryuk and his guildmates so that even if they’re telling the truth, the Empress and Sophia will find it hard to believe. Of course, after you’ve caused some havoc, you can continue leveling up and building our group. You’ll get your chance to battle, but first, the psychological warfare continues. Their confusion is our victory.

“How did you get in here?” Kodai asks suddenly. “Who are you really?”

We will speak soon.

Kodai tries to fight a force that pushes him back out of the open door. As soon as he’s out, the door pops shut, and to the right of it, a blip of light that he recognizes as a spawning point appears.

Kodai reaches out for it, and everything time warps.

(0)__(0)

Kodai’s avatar forms on the top floor of a building near a great dock.

The sky is dark, but he can see the faint outline of a magic half-sphere covering the city of Porthos, the capital of Polynya. The serpent woman’s magic still dissipates off him as he takes a step forward, and he instantly senses a few others around him.

He sees the two NPCs, the Berserker Mage and his Dark Mage companion. He also sees Tomas, who has respawned quickly, and Tamana, her head still bowed in his direction. The NPC owner of the establishment has been stretched out over a table with his arms and legs tied to the table’s legs.

A rag is stuffed in his mouth.

The man’s eyes go wide as Kodai approaches him. Curious as to how he’ll react, Kodai takes a small blade from his inventory list and runs it along the man’s jawline. The man tries to squirm, but is prevented from doing much more than shifting his body ever-so-slightly.

Kodai grows bored quickly and stabs the blade into the man’s open palm.

-82 HP!

The man screams a muffled shriek, pisses himself, and passes out.

The Berserker Mage lowers the hood covering his head and steps forward. He takes a knee in front of Kodai. “Empress Thun is having a procession tomorrow at noon. It would be a great place to be disruptive,” he says with a grin. Kodai has seen the mage do this before; the only time he speaks is when the serpent woman speaks through him, same with the other mage.

“Then that settles it. Each of you draft up a plan. In the afternoon, we will see that Empress Thun hears from Ryuk and his band of fucking losers.” Kodai lifts his finger and the logout button appears. “I have to go,” he says hastily, “I’m expecting someone.”

Chapter 14: Extreme Vetting (For Fick’s Sake)

 

 

The warrior is muscular, with dark eyes and long, brown hair. He holds a huge sword that is splintered into three distinct peaks. A Unigaean tattoo is etched across his chest, visible due to the way his armor is cut.

Ryuk recognizes the man at once. He saw him once before, at a distance, while he was near the Mines of Rotlana with Tamana. It feels like ages ago now, and he doesn’t remember seeing a giant black wolf with the man.

The man’s stats appear:

Oric Rune Level 58 Warrior Berserker

HP: 104/3,104               

ATK: 554          

MATK: 11

DEF: 467

MDF: 389

LUCK: 31

Oric Rune points his Splintered Sword at the group and drops to a knee. Ryuk notices a scar on his neck, a bite mark, but he quickly returns his attention to the black wolf that snarls next to him, ready to pounce.

“All right, sheeples,” says the gaseous goblin with a hint of caution in his voice, “Twixy and Liz take Conan with his broken-ass sword; the rest of us, you too, Elfy, take the green-eyed wolf. Marbles, see if you can’t fire a shot right in his ass, like you did that bearadillo. Right in the pocket.”

Hiccup’s face morphs from serious to comical as he imagines the bearadillo crying out in pain after Ryuk popped him in the sphincter with an explosive marble. “Fick that was funny! Let’s get ‘em!”

“I’ll kill you first, goblin.” Oric stands and lifts his sword, only to fall to a knee again. The veins on his arms bulge, and even in the dim light, Ryuk can see that the warrior’s skin has a green tint to it.

“Like fick you will!”