World Keeper

Chapter 529: Bloodlust

Awakening his prestige felt… it felt good. Good enough that Grayson had almost lost himself in the euphoric pleasure washing over him. However, he knew that he did not have the freedom to indulge, and kept his mind steady as he waited out the process.

As soon as the message appeared in front of his eyes, he immediately opened his skill tree. Similar to spells, prestige abilities had their own special currency, prestige coins. Normally, you could only start earning those coins after your prestige title was unlocked, but he had traded to get a large number of them in secret before the invasion. All in order to prepare for this moment.

His eyes scanned over his new skill options, looking for anything that could help him in this fight. He had chosen his title carefully, and had done so long before entering the dungeon. As such, he had high expectations for what he could find.

And sure enough, his eyes fell on one particular skill at the base of his tree. ‘The Path of Conquest’, an ability which allowed him to dominate the minds of lesser opponents. He didn’t know if that meant strength, level, or simply energy quality, but these spirits charging at his men should qualify.

This skill had ten levels, each of which would increase its range, duration, as well as grant buffs to affected individuals. Ten levels, with each costing more than the last, was quite a heavy expenditure, but he didn’t hesitate. Over half of his prestige coins vanished in an instant.

However, that was enough. He leveled a fierce gaze at the approaching spirits. His men were firing arrows and spells at them from a distance, keeping them at bay. Yet, they were constantly coming closer, using their own people as living shields. As if there were some horrific entity behind them spurring them into action.

With a thought, he activated his new skill, pushing it to its limits. There was a strange pulse of power that spread out from his body. Although this power did nothing to the men and women of his guild, it showed an immediate effect when it touched the spirit monsters. Their bodies stopped charging, starting to swell with increased energy.

Under the dumbfounded gazes of the guild, they turned around and calmly left the dining hall. Even when a delayed spell landed on one of the creatures and wounded it, it paid no mind to its attacker. Under Grayson’s control, these spirits only had one goal, which was to fight the Keeper’s forces.

“Okay, that should buy us some time.” He muttered to himself. “Fleece, start preparing your domain. Everyone else, take a moment to recover.”

Inwardly, Grayson was cursing the developer of this dungeon. At first, everything was going fine. They entered the dungeon, integrated themselves with the population, but as soon as the proper combat started, the Keeper was all over them. Maybe this dungeon was meant to be conquered through deeper infiltration tactics.

He lamented his choices so far. There was no time limit for the dungeon run, even if it took years to complete. According to the rules, it was even possible to have the run spanning multiple generations Unfortunately, his guild was ill-suited for such a long term dungeon. The last time that they had hit a wild dungeon like this was before the release of prestige titles.

Maybe that had something to do with it? He shook his head. Even if the difficulty scaled up with the available resources to the players, knowing that wouldn’t help them at this point.

While everyone else was recovering from the brief siege, Grayson took another careful look at his skill tree. There was another skill that had caught his eye after he finished leveling up ‘The Path of Conquest’. This skill, aptly named ‘Army Empowerment’, allowed him to strengthen the abilities of those under his command.

Grayson knew that he wasn’t a particularly skilled fighter. Even with his prestige title, there were dozens of warriors within the guild able to defeat him in single combat. His specialty was in commanding an army, mobilizing them and allowing them to exert power far beyond the norm. That was what it meant to be an Overlord, to stand above all others.

It was finally here. The chance that Leowynn had been hoping for. Her longsword shined with a golden radiance as she cut apart one of Dana’s soldiers. She was finally going to be able to fight a true battle alongside her father.

Previously, the most that they had done was training together, or a fight where they had to hold back in order to not show their full power. This was the first time in her memory that she was able to truly fight together with her father, their lives on the line. She could be his shield and his sword.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught the faint expression of excitement that flashed across Tsubaki’s face, and knew that the kitsune was having similar thoughts. Both of them had participated in countless struggles on the edge of life and death in their past, but neither of them had had the chance to do so in recent time.

Leowynn and Tsubaki seemed to dance together through the halls, their backs occasionally pressing together as they killed their way through the spirits. They knew that they could simply wait near her father, and allow Dana or Scarlet to kill them as they approached, but this was their warm up for the coming battle. Whatever spirits slipped through, they would let the others have.

Leowynn gave a wide grin as she stepped forward. There was a panther covered in silver scales, its tail a sharp spike. When it lunged, she felt a faint pressure against her back from Tsubaki stepping into her again.

With a laugh, her body turned, allowing Tsubaki to twist and intercept this panther. Meanwhile, Leowynn’s own sword swiped out with tacit understanding towards the frail-looking humanoid without a face that Tsubaki had been up against.

Unfortunately, their battle was cut short when the wave of spirits reached its end. Dana was the summoner of these monsters, not their enemy, so once their forces were depleted there would be no more backup.

“You two battle maniacs had enough fun?” Dana asked, a knowing grin on her face.

However, at that time, it was Scarlet that unexpectedly spoke up with a troubled expression. “We should advance cautiously. I can sense that the ki of the other party has suddenly spiked. Most likely, they are preparing for their final confrontation.”

Hearing that only made Leowynn more excited. Her strength was just as high as her father’s due to the special link between their souls. If the enemy was indeed growing more powerful, that would make it a more fulfilling fight.

Tsubaki, on the other hand, was more adept at controlling her expression. She offered a faint nod towards Scarlet, thanking her for the warning. However, when she turned and began walking again, Leowynn couldn’t help but notice how her body shifted to stand more protectively in front of her father.

With a small smile, Leowynn led their advance this time. From their position, it was only a matter of time before they arrived at the crumpled steel door of the cafeteria. When that happened, she did not immediately step out, because doing so would simply make her the target of countless attacks.

Instead, she turned towards the others, offering a faint nod. Tsubaki returned it with one of her own, holding up her hands. Between her palms, an orb of white light appeared.

Tsubaki held this orb gingerly for a moment, before aiming at the door of the cafeteria. With a light push, it shot forward at a breathtaking speed. Once in the large room, it burst into a blinding radiance.

Leowynn didn’t miss this opening, nor did any of the others. She closed her eyes and charged into the room, more than capable of fighting blind. Her sword swept out towards the nearest hostile presence, and she could feel the heavy impact as it collided with a shield.

However, something about the situation felt almost… wrong. The air of their battlefield itself felt off. She withdrew her sword, changing it into a pair of metal bracers that stuck to her arms.

When the light passed, and Leowynn opened her eyes, she was finally able to tell what disturbed her so. The golden glow of her weapon had vanished, returning it to a pure silver. She did not have the time to figure out what that meant, as an arrow flew towards her.

The arrow seemed to contain an icy light, and gave Leowynn a faint sense of danger. She did not dare to block it directly, and stepped aside to avoid it. However, this arrow vanished even before it would have hit her normally.

Leowynn had seen this move before, and kicked the ground with all her strength to propel herself into the air. As soon as she did so, she saw the arrow exiting a small portal, striking where she had only just been standing.

While she was airborne, Leowynn had the brief chance to observe the rest of the battlefield. Scarlet was running rampant, an armor of bloody light wrapping around her. In one moment, she was a monster ripping apart a warrior with crimson claws. In the next, she had become a red mist to evade the ranged attacks that had been launched her way.

Dana wasn’t any worse off. She walked through the battlefield like a specter, her form ethereal. Her hands had elongated, forming dagger-like claws that struck out at anyone who came close. And, of course, she made sure that she was always close to someone, to prevent the enemy from being able to use any large attacks against her.

Tsubaki… Leowynn was shocked when she saw Tsubaki’s seemingly desperate state. She wasn’t fighting with any of her divine abilities. She wasn’t firing off beams from her tails to pierce her foes. Instead, numerous wounds had been cut open on her body in the brief moment of combat, and she was forced to pull out a pair of silver daggers.

Tsubaki was the one who should have been the most effective in this attack, aside from maybe Leowynn herself, and yet she was the one suffering? Leowynn didn’t have the time to process this change as she saw six spears of ice flying at her.

She condensed a small platform beneath her feet, and kicked off of it again to launch herself forward. Leowynn had an idea now as to what was wrong, and it was no doubt the same reason that her father had not been offering any suppressive fire from the rear.

Somehow, the enemy was able to stop their divine abilities. Her weapons had always been imbued with the divinity she shared with her father, empowering them far beyond normal. The loss of that golden glow showed that she was unable to tap into that power anymore.

Her figure flashed, stepping in front of one of the mages. The man was startled at her sudden appearance, stumbling back briefly as she observed him. Not this one… After giving him a quick look over, she threw out a punch that caused his head to burst open. If she wanted to relieve the pressure from Tsubaki, she had to identify who was causing this suppressive field.