Chương 188: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Eighty-Eight

< < Optional Stage Objective > > < Eliminate the Goblin Tribe > Seo-Yoon's red-tinted mist filled the goblin encampment, spreading from the foot of their hill and down the field that the primitive structures had been built on, just in front of the mountain pass leading into the Forlorn Kingdom proper.

She had used a pool of Adam's mana-infused blood as fuel for her spell, and to keep it going non-stop, growing it to a massive blanket of crimson fog, Seo-Yoon walked in a circle to keep her magus boots active to constantly refuel her mana. While watching her work, Adam had theorised about a dozen different horrific ways to utilise the Cloudmaker to devastating effect, and with the right setup he was sure it could trivialise all the early stages, including Alepheria's Tower and the Forbidden Altar.

"What now?" Diwa asked, while the others shifted their gaze from Seo-Yoon to Adam and then to the goblin camp. The goblins were understandably on guard, but since they couldn't see through the cloud that covered their settlement, they were just standing their ground, preparing for an attack. But they would never be prepared for what was about to come. Adam took a deep breath and focused on the melody of the mana-infused blood that blanketed the encampment. Then he activated Blood Crystal.

The effect was immediate, as the nature of the mist changed in an instant, becoming like a rain of needle-shaped crystals. A sound like exploding glass echoed back towards them a couple of seconds later, and it was quickly joined by hundreds of smaller explosions as each of the shards of crystallised blood found a target, triggering Adam's bleed affliction to fill the area with even more blood that was attuned to his mana, creating a cascading loop.

He didn't need to activate the spell more than once, because as the shards met the goblin's blood, they resonated with the melody of his mana and spread the crystallisation into their wounds, sending the effect down into their bodies. The carnage was over after five long minutes and the reputation that Adam had tried to build with the others had all but soured on his display of overwhelming power.

"I didn't know that was possible," Seo-Yoon remarked breathlessly.

"I'm glad you're on our team," Natalia said, though her melody told him she feared him. Diwa said nothing, but she likewise feared his power.

"Let us finish off the survivors," Chien said, striding down the hill first. Adam followed after him and the three women brought up the rear. Without getting too close to the First Light's zealot, Adam said, "I will loot the goblins' trophies and use their bodies for my raiment skill."

"Can you tell how many are left alive?" Chien asked him.

"Only about a dozen," Adam replied.

"Their leader is amongst the survivors though."

"Then I will deal with him first." While Chien barrelled through the primitive gates of the encampment, Adam flowed in behind him, focusing on the corpses that covered the streets while the Lightbringer hunted down the survivors. Adam used a blade of bone to gather the goblin ears, after which he harvested the corpses' materials, bringing them all to the same spot, out of sight of the others who slowly followed in Chien's footsteps. Once Adam was done, he'd collected 37 goblin ears.

He quickly set up his Beckoning Crimson skill, though he had a lot less blood to work with, since so much of it had crystallised. It does seem like the Cloudmaker can be used to create a lot of blood compared to the mana cost of summoning it myself, so long as there's a pool to use for the Water's Flow evolution. I may have to ask Seo-Yoon to do that for me.

With his material prepared as small flesh and bone towers, and the blood gathered into pouches within them, Adam activated the spell and then his Kingly Raiment to follow. The dead goblins were a mix of every different colour, though there were just two red hobgoblins and three of the purple tribal magicians, with the bulk made up of yellow archers, blue spearmen, and green clubbers.

The resultant armour they formed was a dirty-grey and somewhat disproportionate, with his gauntlets becoming much bigger than normal, and the arms gaining the appearance of bulky muscle, while the rest of the body armour was rather thin. After pulling off the helmet, Adam realised it ended up mostly resembling the blue goblins, growing long and angular in shape. Adam frowned as he took in the appearance of the raiment, knowing it was a bit too monstrous for him to wear around his team.

With liberal applications of his sculpting magic, he reshaped the armour into something more human-like. He managed to rejoin the others by the time they located the hobgoblin lord. The boss was waiting for them inside a large reinforced tent, none of the blood crystals having gotten to his inner sanctum. Based on the melodies that were with him, two normal hobgoblins and three of the purple magicians backed him up.

They all gave Adam surprised looks, but he was glad to note that none of it was tainted with fear, apprehension, or disgust. In front of the tent were enemies that Chien had defeated, three spearmen and a hobgoblin. Adam could immediately tell his magic didn't work on their corpses, which was annoying.

"Is that your skill?" Natalia asked, running her eyes up and down his body. Adam nodded.

"It raised my damage and speed by 345%."

"That's a lot," she said.

"Does it work like my Tagpi?" Diwa asked.

"It's not alive, if that's what you're asking," Adam replied.

"But it does protect me with its material, so it's close to the raiment of bone, like I mentioned." Seo-Yoon snuck up behind Adam and poked the armour plates.

"I thought it would be soft," she commented.

"Why?" Adam asked.

"I don't know."

"Since we're all here, let us get to it," Chien said, bringing their focus back to the matter at hand.

"I will go first."

"There's no point risking it," Adam said.

"The purple ones inside are capable of casting affliction magic, and it's an enclosed space, making it hard to bring our true power to bear."

"What do you suggest?" Chien asked. Good, he's amenable to discussing strategy. Adam expended a small bit of mana to create a flame from the index finger of his fire glove, which had inexplicably resized itself to fit over the gauntlet of his armour. He turned to Seo-Yoon.

"Use this to bring them to us." She was quick on the uptake and absorbed the fire using her aspirant's cowl. The power immediately suffused her Cloudmaker staff and she bade them all step away from her and the tent. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. After a few moments, she brought forth a scalding cloud of embers, and with dance-like motions, she sent it inside the tent, while backing away herself.

Chien and Diwa naturally shifted to stand in front of her, as though they'd done this move many times before, although Diwa kept her distance to the holy warrior. As the tent caught on fire and Adam sensed melodies of distress and agony from within, the goblins attempted to barge their way out through the opening, only to run right into a spear and war hammer.

With every swing, Chien's weapon sent a rolling wave of bright-glowing holy magic outward from himself, causing Diwa to back away to protect her sentient armour. Then the hobgoblin lord emerged, a crooked metal crown on his head and covered in burns and ash. He shoved Chien aside with ease and aimed right for Seo-Yoon, instantly identifying her as the source of the fire. Just as Adam made to react, Diwa yelled at the boss, shifting his attention to her.

Before the lord could even swing his two-handed blade, which Adam noted had the fiendbarb relic attached, a bolt of ice lanced into his side. It was immediately followed by a finger from Adam's gauntlet zipping through the back of his head, blowing open the top of his face. But it didn't put an end to him, as he took another step towards Diwa. Then Natalia leapt past him with a swing of her katana, taking the boss' head clean off.

< < Optional Stage Objective Complete > > < Eliminated the Goblin Tribe >"That was easy," Natalia remarked, wiping the blood from her blade with her cape. Chien nodded.

"It is thanks to Seo-Yoon and Adam."

"It felt dirty, fighting like that," Diwa remarked.

"Listen," Adam started, getting their attention with that single word.

"There is no sense fighting fair. The Trials are not fair to us, so why should we act any different. The most important thing is that we all survive. I for one will do everything I can to make that happen."

"He's right," Natalia remarked.

"I don't know about you, but I fought tooth and nail to get through Moonport. I'm sure as hell not going to complain about fights being easy."

"Hey, look!" Seo-Yoon said, suddenly inside the smouldering tent. They all followed her voice and saw her standing next to two upgrade chests.

"Wait!" Adam exclaimed, and she paused before touching either of them.

"I wasn't going to take one!" she replied.

"That's not what I meant," Adam said.

"Okay, this is going to sound really dumb, but we need to make sure we tickle every chest we find." Natalia laughed. Even Chien looked like he might crack a smile. I will accept some ridicule if it avoids one of us being eaten by a chest.

"I'm unfortunately serious," Adam replied, though it was easy to see why it would be hard to accept his words at face value.

"In Moonport, there was a mimic chest. I found out later that tickling chests is the easiest way to reveal them without actually triggering the loot inside." Before anyone could question the logic, Seo-Yoon exclaimed loudly, " Guchi-guchi-guu!" while running the fingers of her blue gloves up and down the sides of the two chests. She paused and looked back at Adam.

"What is the point of tickling them?"

"They're supposed to giggle if they're mimics," he replied.

"I'm pretty sure someone pulled a prank on you," Natalia remarked. Emelia had said mimic chests didn't appear until later, usually after stage ten, but it was clear that worshippers of Nharlla changed that fact. Besides, it was a simple precaution that, although absurd, would prevent someone dying needlessly.

"I think he's telling the truth," Diwa said, backing him up.

"I heard from others who worship Nharlla that they found mimic chests in Moonport. Many lost teammates to them."

"In my group, it ate a bloodfiend who brushed against it," Adam said.

"I would like to not be eaten," Natalia said.

"Even if I have to tickle every container we find." Adam laughed.

"For now we just have to be wary of chests."

"How should we divide these?" Seo-Yoon asked.

"I am fine to wait until last," Chien said.

"Let's start with Diwa and Natalia getting one each," Adam suggested.

"Okay!" Seo-Yoon replied.

"For relic chests though, I have a choice ring and twenty-five luck, so unless someone has more, I should be the one to open the chests to guarantee the best possible loot," Adam said.

"I have fifteen luck," Diwa replied.

"Mine is thirty-seven," Natalia admitted.

"Does anyone have higher?" No one answered.

"Then you'll be the one to open them," Adam decided.

"Is everyone else okay with that?" she asked the others.

"It benefits us all, right?" Diwa replied.

"It does," Chien said.

"Why is yours so high?" Seo-Yoon asked, still tickling the chests for some reason.

"I've had a bad run of stages, so I thought that maybe if my luck was high enough, I would finally end up in a good group," Natalia answered.

"I don't think that's how it works," Adam responded.

"Only one person in this group has tried to mind-control and possibly kill us, so for me that's better than how previous stages began," she retorted.

"I'm glad we can all be friends!" Seo-Yoon said excitedly.

"I had to kill some of my old friends before, because they betrayed me." She hugged her staff as she talked, and her melody radiated nothing but cheerful excitement. The others shared a few glances.

"Let's loot the chests," Diwa told Natalia. I wonder what happens if she 'stands' atop of a human while using her Water's Flow evolution… Better leave that question for later. She kind of terrifies me a little with how cheerful she is and her apparent disregard for people dying. While Diwa and Natalia looted the chests, Adam harvested the ears from the goblins, putting him at 47. Seo-Yoon came over and crouched next to one of the dead hobgoblins.

With her thumb and index finger, she yanked on its black tongue and made a scissor motion with her other hand. Adam severed the tongue where she'd indicated, turning one of the fingers of his right gauntlet into a blade. < < Collectible Relic > > < Hobgoblin Tongue (Uncommon) — The trophy of a dead Hobgoblin >"I didn't know that was a trophy," Adam remarked. She looked up at him with a grin.

"One of my friends liked carving up all of the enemies for parts. Did you know it is possible to collect slime cores?" Adam nodded.

"The forlorn knights also have hearts that can be collected," she said.

"I'm planning on getting those too," he replied. Chien came over to where they stood next to one of the dead goblins.

"You are defiling the dead."

"These things are monstrous filth," Adam replied.

"And besides, we all need as many points as we can get."

"Such disregard for life will not serve you well," he remarked righteously.

"Did you save everyone in your altar group?" Adam asked him.

"No," he replied.

"I won the stage because the others fought one another and died meaninglessly."

"Well, I did," Adam told him.

"So spare me the preaching."

"I am aware of your accomplishment. The angel was quite elated about it," Chien said.

"But then you chose to worship the Eyeless One, turning away from the path of salvation."

"We all do what we need to survive," Adam told him.

"And, just so you know, the priests of the First Light are responsible for the Flayed Lady's ascension. They tortured and flayed her, laying the groundwork for the monster she has become." Chien paused, a conflicted chord ringing through his melody.

"That cannot be true."

"Ask your angel about it. Though I'm sure it will just lie or deflect from the truth." Seo-Yoon looked between them, an amused expression on her face.

"It must be tiring to serve such patrons. Morrligt never asks for my strict adherence. He just wishes for me to burn things to create new life with their ashes." Chien glanced at her.

"I know that your quest for Moonport was to burn down the church." She nodded.

"It was easy. The bloodfiends dealt with the priest so it was left derelict and full of tinder."

"The First Light preaches that all life is sacred," Chien said.

"So I shall forgive you."

"Even if I burn down the churches in this stage?" she teased.

"I would be honour-bound to stop you." Seo-Yoon turned to Adam with a grin on her face.

"He's a fun one, isn't he." Adam shrugged. Natalia and Diwa rejoined them.

"What are you talking about?" Diwa asked.

"Nothing important," Adam said, putting the tongues he'd harvested into his backpack with the many ears. It was already close to bursting and greasy fluid sloshed around in the bottom, but it was prevented from dripping out thanks to the waterproof nature of the silk.

"Let us continue through the mountain pass," Chien said. While the others prepared to leave, Adam harvested the few bodies untouched by Chien's Lightbringer power, adding their mass to his raiment, and pushing its boosts up to 357%. It unfortunately seemed to be additive and not multiplicative, so it meant that Adam's damage was now 668% and his speed was 512%. They were both raised a significant amount, thanks to the 20% multiplicative boost added by the glass sapling at the end.

The speed alone was very noticeable, as Adam was able to run incredibly fast and even jump quite high unassisted. The damage was something he'd yet to test out fully, though it seemed to just be a flat boost to his normal powers, not that it had been very noticeable when he'd fired a finger through the hobgoblin lord's head. Whether or not he could blast his way through the armoured forlorn knights would be the real test.

It's just a shame I can't save fused weapons, because this added to something like Kat's Bloodfiend Matriarch fusion would be truly powerful. Their group moved through the ruined goblin camp and into the mountain pass, heading for the Forlorn Kingdom. The road leading through the mountain was too narrow for more than a single carriage to pass through at a time, but it had a lot of short side paths that seemed designed for oncoming traffic to wait until they had space.

In the distance, Adam could still track the blood he'd injected into Heiner's head, and it was surrounded by many other human melodies. I think he's hiding somewhere in Old Town. We've gotta find him before he can get us into trouble. Just then, two filthy and tainted melodies appeared on the ridges of the pass on either side of them. Adam pushed back Seo-Yoon, just as a shadow-wreathed bolt passed through where she'd been standing.

"Ambush!" Chien exclaimed.