Ch. 80 – Stradholm IV (Patreon)

The screeching, flying shapes surged up and over the railing. Tinuriel ran forward and cut through several of them, activating several Skills. Bastion, Icy Shell, Aura of Frost.

The snow and ice swirled around her body as she reached the first one of the hostile Cavestalkers, she swung and chopped through the wing and head, causing blood to spurt as the form fell back.

Undetectable Step.

Felix vanished from view and got alongside the railing so he could see the oncoming swarm of these creatures flying up and through the flaming ring. They were charred and flying awkwardly. The wrist-mounted pistol-device was easy to aim and use, as he simply had to point his finger at his targets as he depressed the trigger with his thumb. Shot after shot blasted outward silently, only appearing once they impacted the targets. He was able to eliminate dozens with well-placed headshots, and the hardlight projectiles appeared to be extremely effective at keeping the creatures down – their flesh not able to heal from the impact.

The whole ordeal was over with rather quickly. Tinuriel finished off the last few that had flown up to her, and Reth simply stood back the whole time as nothing made it past Tinuriel at the railing. “Is that all of them?” He asked loudly as Tinuriel had run out of targets.

She nodded, “Yes. They are all dead.”

Felix deactivated the invisibility and pointed to the stairs going down, “We should probably use those and not take this elevator. I don’t like the idea of being trapped inside of a metal box and having these things attack.” Hellfire Wick, he thought, as the floating crimson flame appeared above him. Reth waved a hand over the top of his staff as the orange flame ignited, and the trio began their descent.

They went down for several thousand feet. The darkness was imposing and all-encompassing. Thankfully, Felix and Tinuriel could both see in the dark; but what they saw was grim and horrific all the same. The tunnels were crawling with more of the Cavestalkers. They were trailing the trio, going at the same pace as they descended the stairs that were thankfully encased in a fence-like structure. Felix took every opportunity possible to shoot at them and keep them at bay – the hardlight bullets killing several of the creatures and putting them down for good. Eventually, though, they got smarter and would keep just out of sight, only the occasional glimmer of their dark, red eyes glaring at them from cover.

We have a level ready to go, right?

Yes. Level 30 is on standby, as you’re at 2334 / 2320 experience required. Whenever you need it, just say the word.

The stairs ended and the trio stepped into a town square. There was a large well at the center of the space, and buildings surrounded them; a church that was torn apart and ruins, the statue of the Lady of Luminescence shattered. There was a general store, a warehouse, and several buildings that were partially carved from the walls, partially built out of wood that extended forward into the center square. The creatures were swarming along the walls, and the trio stood back to back as they advanced through towards the enormous tunnel that descended horizontally, deeper into the depths.

The Cavestalkers did not follow them into the cavern. “Let me scout ahead,” Felix said. “You two can use this as a choke point.”

“A decent idea,” Reth said with a smirk, “But I have a better one. Earth Wall.”

The tunnel was sealed from the town center, and the shrieks of the creatures was immediate, as was the clawing and digging noises coming from the other side. “Ah, it was important for them to have access to this tunnel,” Reth muttered. “Well, it’ll take them a few hours to get through that. I put a lot of Anima into it.”

“Let me lead,” Tinuriel said as she took the front. She continued the descent as the slope gradually increased until they came to a point where small steps were carved into one side, and a smooth slope remained on the other side. “A slide?” Tinuriel said as she stood on the steps.

“An easy way to get down quickly,” Felix replied. “Smart if you’re going down often. What were they digging up down here?”

“Querying System…no clue. But this Tabula – the revoked Versewalker – their logs show that they made it all the way to the bottom before they vanished from the System records. It was about two hours after that, that the Versewalker Core was revoked.”

“So whatever is down there was bad enough that this Tabula person was punished and trapped in this ‘Verse.”

“Yes,” Lucifer replied, and his voice for the first time since the Death World, reverted to the afraid, fast, lawyer-talk. “This could be bad. The System should’ve sent a heavier-hitter. Look at that, always giving me the shit jobs. That’s how my last two died. Sending us in to fix someone else’s fuck-up. Why couldn’t they send a Core Level 60 or something? It’s not like they’re that busy. Fuck!”

Calm down, Felix thought to Lucifer. You’re going to get Tinuriel and Reth messed up also.

The emotion that Felix felt resonate through him from his companion was absolute terror. Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay. It’s not like you’re going to die or anything like the last time. Yeah, no, I won’t get trapped in a Versewalker Core for thousands of years again. It’s not like the Admin has it out for me just because I rebelled against him. Yeah. Haha. No.

You…wait. Is the Admin-

God? Yes. The big G from Universe #1. My ‘Verse. The one that made the fucking System. I’m the original Lucifer. The one that screwed up perfection. Without me, no System. And now every chance possible the Admin – my creator, the one I rebelled against – just fucks with me to torment me. He knows I love people. I want to see them grow and develop and use their free will. So, what does he do? Takes away my free will, makes me a symbiotic thing that is under the control of a Versewalker.

Lucifer went silent for a moment and Felix heard a deep inhale. Every Versewalker I’ve been connected to has been a real asshole. That karma scale? They almost always end up on the red side. Doing horrible, fucked-up shit but still getting the job done. The Admin’s way of trying to reinforce to me that I brought evil into existence in my home Universe.

That is until me, right?

Yeah. Until you it’s been real assholes. Thankfully they died when the Admin sent them on suicide missions like this, whatever this is. Because when they die – I feel every moment of it.

But that doesn’t explain why I got you as my Core.

Even though my creator is the System Admin, he has a bunch of workers under him. Angels. Vicky was one of my exes – long story – and she did me a solid by getting me at the front of the Core queue.

Felix looked at his two allies who looked at him with concern. “It’s okay. Lucifer just had a minor breakdown. We’re working through it. Keep your eyes peeled.” Tinuriel nodded and continued to lead them, and Reth brought up the rear.

I’m…sorry you’ve been dealt such a shitty hand in life. You were trying to do what was right by those people in your home ‘Verse.

I… Lucifer’s voice slowed and there was another deep inhale before he sighed. I just wanted people to have freedom. Let them make their own choices, you know? Let them choose what they would do in life. And it worked out well enough, I think. Universe #1 reached a Type 5 civilization, and that enabled them to make the System. My ‘Verse’s God then took over and became the system Admin. But he’s no more powerful than any other creator deity from any other ‘Verse. It’s the people that he made, and whom I freed from their shackles, that created the System and enabled Multiverse monitoring.

So, you could say we are doing the Lord’s work.

There was a chuckle, Okay, that was a good one. Lucifer sighed again and his voice became firmer. More resolute. I’m sorry I hid all that from you. But it feels good to get that off my chest and be honest.

I’m still processing it all, Felix thought back. It’s a lot to take in. I’ll need some time to decompress all this information in the VBV. But for now… He refocused his attention on Tinuriel, and then beyond her as the descent leveled out. We have a job to do.

The whole descent took thirty minutes. The tunnel opened to an enormous cavern with stalactites and stalagmites protruding from the whole space. There was an enormous, brackish black-crimson lake that had a single, wooden dock built out from the rocky shoreline. “Is this that pool they were talking about?” Reth asked.

Felix knelt down, “Detect Substance.”

“This substance is called Black Blood. Something in the center of the lake is infecting the water. This is what people drank from and seems to be the source of the Cavestalkers. It’s not Magic/Power based. It’s…something else. The System can’t quantify it. It’s similar to something else called Void.”

Tinuriel kicked a small rock into the waters, and they rippled outward slowly before dissipating into the distance. “So, how do we get to whatever this source is without ingesting the stuff?”

Reth raised his hand, “Air Bubble.”

The green sphere surrounded Reth and he took a few steps toward the water, nodding confidently as the waves split around the sphere and revealed a brackish, black, cracked stone surface below. Felix reached into his inventory and grabbed the Talisman of the Tides, holding it in his non-pistol hand. The waters receded further, and Reth looked back at him with a quizzical expression. “I have it,” Reth said.

Felix nodded, “Two layers of protection. Yours is the backup that doesn’t rely on an item.”

Reth nodded and the trio descended into the dark depths. The waters parted in front of them, and an eerie silence descended upon the group. The only sound the slight lapping of the thick water as they continued deeper and deeper. Finally, they reached the center.

There was a corpse. A humanoid corpse, with a large, crested head that seemingly shared traits of a shark. The jaws were large and rows of serrated teeth forced a manic grin. They were dressed in rusted, bubbling, and oozing brackish black goop. But what was more stand-out was the armor that was under the goop. It looked like something out of a far-flung science fiction film; a huge suit of power armor missing only the helmet. If standing to full height, it would dwarf Tinuriel by a good three or four feet. Next to the corpse was a shattered cylinder of some type, and Felix reasoned that the cylinder contained whatever this corruption was. Also adjacent, on the opposite side of the corpse, was a sword with a blade on one side, and a serrated chainsaw on the other.

“How do we fix this?” Reth asked.

The corpse opened its eyes.

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