Chapter 63: Bottomless Fear (1/2)
Victor thought they would just have to wait for dawn, protected by Kia’s shield. He was wrong.
Emile whistled, giving the signal for his group to attack. A cowled figure with a scythe, a vampiric grim reaper, walked through the shield as if it wasn’t even there.
Reaper Deathscythe used [Skeleton Key] to bypass [Shield of Light]!
Of course vampires assassins would have a Perk which bypassed supernatural wards… Kia immediately moved to intercept the intruder, but he grabbed some kind of pendant and uttered magical words. The shield of light collapsed, and everything became dark again.
Due to the thick darkness, Victor could barely see more than a few feet away, at least before Kia formed a miniature sun in her free hand. The aster partially illuminated their surroundings, revealing dozens of vampiric assassins charging at them with sharp blades. He could see Allison near him but not the rest of his troops, although he could hear them fight in the darkness.
Of course, Kia didn’t let the enemy through, cutting down one, then two, then three rogues without breaking a sweat. She didn’t even bother to dodge the strikes, even though they used poisoned weapons; their blades bounced off her armor without inflicting damage. Meanwhile, it took but one slash from the Shining Knight to reduce a vampire to dust.
It was like watching babies trying to take down Mohammed Ali. A hilariously one-sided slaughter.
But it distracted her, allowing other rogues to dash at their true target: Victor himself. His sharp reflexes allowed him to dodge a vampire’s blade and retaliate with his scythe, cutting the attacker in half.
Critical hit! It’s a one-hit KO!
His weapon absorbed the vampire’s soul, which told the Vizier that either his Helheim overwhelmed the soul trap effect, or that it spared the enemy thieves. It also gave him enough time to activate his buffs.
You gain +4 check bonus against [Undead] effects.
+100 temporary HP.
Chances to inflict [Terror] increased by 20 percent.
Your scythe will now inflict the [Poisoned] ailment!
You gained the [Regen] status!
He briefly considered summoning his trump card with [Black Horseman], but that would undoubtedly cause the mansion to collapse on everyone inside.
Emile Lavere, the assassin he fought in the Winter Kingdoms, emerged from the darkness to flank him with a silver rapier. He narrowly missed his chest, but pierced his armor through a chink.
You took medium damage! Manslayer negated by [Darwinist]! Insta-Death negated by [Monster Lifeforce (Red Dragon)]!
“Undead?” the vampire snarled, angry at his attack being countered. “How can you count as undead?”
Victor retaliated by blasting the killer with a dark fireball, but he dodged out of the way. The projectile exploded somewhere, making the mansion shake. The Vizier prayed that it didn’t hit the Kobold Rangers or Junior by accident, forsaking this attack so long as he lacked visibility.
The enemy Reaper soon joined Emile, trying to behead Victor from behind while he fended off the vampire assassin. “[Turn Undead]!” Allison rushed to help him, blasting the enemy Reaper against a wall, and keeping Emile at bay. “Vic, get behind me!”
“Alright, I’m taking Marinette!” Victor declared, his free hand fumbling in the dark while Allison shielded him.
“Marinette?!” Allison asked before a bunch of ghosts forced her to focus back on the fight. “[Turn Undead]! [Turn Undead]!”
“My bazooka!” Victor replied, grabbing the rocket launcher with his free hand, and swinging his scythe with the other.
“You named it?” Constantly repelling undead didn’t prevent Allison from complaining. “Vic, you can’t solve all your problems with a bazooka!”
“Why not?” Truth to be told, he couldn’t use it in the dark without risking friendly fire, but it helped with the intimidation factor. “Flee before Marinette! [Fright Knight]!”
As he spoke those words, the Reaper glanced at the weapon with dread, before slithering back in the shadows. The ghosts harassing Allison ignored him though.
Your enemies’ Strength and Charisma decreased by one stage!
Reaper Deathscythe now suffers from [Terror]! [Terror] failed to affect Dark Spirits and Emile Lavere!
“Not running away this time?” the Grand Vizier taunted the assassin, who adopted a dueling stance with his rapier.
“I fear Mamma Lucie more than you,” he replied, before casting a spell on himself. “[Bolstering Dead].“
Allison attempted to turn him again, but this time, the assassin ignored her. He charged at Victor with murder on his mind.
The Vizier raised his scythe to kill the vampire, but the bastard moved around Allison, putting her in Victor’s way. The chief of staff stopped his attack before his blade could cut his own friend, but this gave Emile an opening. The assassin raised his rapier, aiming for the throat.
Then a blue jelly jumped out of the darkness and hit him in the eye.
“My eye!” the vampire assassin screamed in both pain and surprise, the jelly hopping around happily.
“Eye!” Buzz Jelly chirped as if it found the word funny. “Eye treasure!”
“I can’t see…” Having put a hand on his wounded eye, Emile missed the glittering fangs on his left. “I can’t see—”
CHOMP!
Junior’s jaws closed on Emile’s torso, the mimic chewing the vampire around like a cat with a rat.
Oh, right. It was a team fight.
“They think we fear the dark, but they’re wrong!” Victor shouted while Junior swallowed the vampire whole... only for Emile to escape its jaws in mist form. “They use the cover of darkness to hide from us! For we are the Hoard! We are fear!”
“Fear!” the jelly repeated. “Fear!”
[Rally Minion] activated! All minions’ stats raised by one stage!
Victor’s declaration was answered with the sound of windows breaking. It occurred to him that the cultists guarding his home must have engaged other attackers.
“Chief!” Victor heard Red somewhere to his left. After concentrating, he distinguished the shape of his ally, alongside that of Pink, in the dark. “This way, through the windows!”
“[Monster Insight],” Victor replied.
Shadowman—
He sliced both of them without warning with his scythe, their bodies dissolving into shadows, much to his annoyance. “How many doppelgangers do they have?”
“What kind of Doppelganger?” The Vizier turned to find Kia rushing to his side, having slaughtered anyone foolish enough to attack her.
“Inveigler!”
The Shining Knight cursed. “That’s the worst kind! They can create one health point duplicates at will. Unless we slay the original, more will keep coming.”
“Lavere is in my basement, we have to kill her or these attacks will never end!”
“I’ll take care of her,” said the paladin, “after we evacuate you.”
Victor guessed that she, like everyone, hated escort missions. “Sorry to have dragged you into this!” he apologized, as she guided him, Allison summoning thorns to protect their rear. He barely avoided a poisoned arrow aiming for his head and deflected a second with his scythe.
“You’re kidding? I’m so happy! There is a big battle...” she said while blocking a projectile with her blade, a blissful smile on her face. “And I haven’t missed it!”
Skill check successful!
Sensing something to his left, Victor leaped backward as shadowy claws emerged from a wall to try and seize him. A monstrous, ghoulish undead halfway emerged from the wall, snarling at him.
Murdefer
Wall Ghoul (Artificial/Undead)
Strong against Physical attacks, all status ailments, necromancy, Earth, and Unholy.
Weak against Artislayer, Deadslayer, Holy.
A malevolent basement dweller moving through the walls of a haunted mansion (yours) to ambush its prey (you). It can drag the people it catches to another part of the mansion. Beneath its thuggish exterior, it’s a very shy creature looking for love.
Did they turn his entire house into a death trap?
The monster attempted to grab Victor with a dreadful shriek, but whips caught its claws. The Kobold Rangers emerged from the darkness, forcefully dragging the monster out of the wall so Red could pummel it. “We have your back, chief!”
“Vic, here! The windows!” Kia called him. She raised her blade to parry a strike from the enemy Reaper, who had returned for a second round, locking her into place. Victor rushed to help her, but then sensed cold dead hands grabbing his ankles.
He suddenly realized the Nightblades had brought more than one wall monster.
Before he could react, another ghoulish creature dragged him through the flooring as if it was water. In the blink of an eye, he landed into some kind of underground catacomb, the wall monster hanging above him.
Victor raised his bazooka and pulled the trigger.
The resulting explosion blasted the monster into tiny pieces, parts of the ceiling with it, and repelled Victor by a good five meters. The Vizier quickly got back on his feet, facing a pile of rubble.
“This thing is amazing,” the adventurer muttered to himself, caressing his bazooka with religious awe.
But it only had one projectile.
So he tossed it away, keeping only the scythe and running as fast as he could through dark, underground corridors. As he did, Victor heard a piper’s melody echoing across them; while he knew he should run as far away from its source as possible, the Vizier decided to finish Lavere before she could launch another attack.
The corridors eventually led him to a much larger underground crypt, which unlike the manor above, had a few sources of magical light. Bright lanterns kept the darkness at bay, casting light on dozens of coffins belonging to the Nightblades, and a table at the center. He quickly distinguished shapes in the dark, sitting around it. Savoureuse, a strange human piper, and...