Chapter Thirty-Three
It took almost two hours to climb the winding stairs. Every step upward came with a tiny drain to their vital energies. Li was the first to notice it, her keen senses making her realize she was getting tired faster than she should.
By then they’d been ascending for five minutes and the subtle pull was hardly noticeable. By the time they’d reached the halfway point after an hour of climbing, most of them were down to half strength, and Vester felt like he’d been jogging for hours.
The stairs hung out over the cliff, the rocks slick and jagged down the side of the craggy tors.
The wall the stair ran along was like slime-coated glass, though it was dry to the touch.
Vester attempted to create some climbing methods to see if they could abandon the stairway entirely but the drain on his energy was immense and immediate.
It was clear that the dungeon wasn’t going to allow them to ascend through any other means, and since Krysta’s Sanctuary also took more energy than ever before, and flickered with dangerous instability, the Party resigned themselves to continue up.
That second hour saw all of them grow so tired they just wanted to curl up and sleep.
It was Skylar’s golems that actually made their lives easier.
Whatever force was draining the group failed to touch those animated puppets, so by the end they simply let Skylar’s creations carry them the last few dozen steps.
It was a blessing that the courtyard surrounding the building marked the end of the enervation effect.
Twenty minutes of rest later, Krysta had enough mana to cast Sanctuary—and this time it showed no signs of malfunctioning.
They waited, too tired to talk, but the moment their energies restored to the halfway point Krysta’s Safe Zone popped like a bubble and vanished entirely.
“Looks like that’s the limit to the dungeon’s mercy,” Vester muttered while climbing back to his feet.
He stretched, shifting and taking stock of how he felt.
The regeneration aura had given him quite a bit of mana to work with, but he was physically and mentally tired.
If anything, he felt like he’d already spent a few days delving and should have been getting ready to make camp.
“At least it let us recover some,” Krysta said, clearly looking on the bright side. “And Skylar’s golems are still at full strength! With Dent, Woody, and Ripper, we’re a lot stronger than we would otherwise be.”
“This is true,” Kora agreed with a nod of her head. “We also have very powerful classes to lean on. Now, shall we see if the secret Quest updates when we approach?”
“I’m ready,” Skylar announced. She and Krysta had climbed up onto Dent’s shoulders. Ripper moved to back up Li Ra, while Woody towered over Kora to support her should the kitsune need to defend.
“I am also ready,” Reve said. She spread her wings, flapping hard to rise into the air—only to get slammed down by a powerful wind. The Avatar of Life hit the ground so hard she let out a grunt and bounced. “Or… not…” she wheezed in surprise.
“Oh no!” Krysta shouted. She jumped down and rushed to Reve’s side. Vester could tell she’d performed a diagnostic spell instead of jumping straight into healing magic, because a few seconds later the pandali relaxed and simply helped Reve up. “The good news is you’re only bruised,” she reported.
“It seems the dungeon doesn’t want us flying,” Kora observed, shaking her head. “We should be on the lookout for aerial attackers, or things hiding in the ceilings. Generally, the prevention of flight is to stop delvers from navigating around mazes or because it would ruin an ambush.”
“Either way, it’s not a good thing,” Li added. “Reve, you going to be okay on the ground?”
“Of course,” Reve assured the oni. The woman finished brushing herself off, and she briefly embraced Krysta with one of her wings. “I would be a poor Adventurer if I couldn’t fight without the advantage of the sky. Shall we?”
Vester stepped forward, but when the others moved to follow, he raised a hand. “Let me, just this once, go first. We’re all weaker than we should be, and I’m the only one who can’t die. If there’s a fatal trap, it’s best to let me trigger it if we can’t detect it.”
None of the ladies were happy, though they didn’t actually argue against his point. Krysta’s crossed arms and glower, however, suggested he should be very careful not to take extra risks or he might lose brushing privileges the next time they could rest.
He approached the fort slowly, and before he even had a chance to touch the wall, a Quest appeared before all of them.
Secret Quest: Touch the Heart (Updated)
Requirement:
Penetrate the defenses of the Heart Rot Fortress and defeat the mini-Boss within. Claim the core and the rewards.
Stage One: Lay living fingers on the Talisman of Death.
Conditional: This Quest becomes invalid past level 55
Reward: ???
Punishment: Those who fail to gain entrance to Heart Rot Fortress in under 24 hours will be forcibly ejected from the island and prevented from attempting entrance a second time.
Details of this Quest are locked under a Geas and cannot be spoken of to anyone who was not present when the Quest was issued.
“Huh, well,” Vester murmured, “looks like we have a new objective.”
He found that the wall in front of him had vanished.
In its place was a wide stone archway carved to resemble stacked human skulls.
The courtyard within had upward-facing skulls for cobblestones, and in the exact center of the chamber was an onyx pedestal dripping blood.
The sanguine fluid bubbled up before cascading down the sides to pool around its base.
And floating on the geyser of blood was an ancient, ivory skull.
Unlike the other skeletal decorations, that skull had clearly once been alive. It was tumbling about in the crimson fluid, rolling over and over, its gaping sockets and gleaming teeth constantly filling with the fountain’s contents.
“Who here thinks that whoever touches that fountain is going to die horribly?” Vester asked redundantly. He turned to look at his Party and saw all of them nodding in agreement.
“My Perception Aura is being stifled, but I strongly suspect the fountain is cursed,” Reve confirmed. That was when Vester realized his own Mana Sight wasn’t working for the grisly chamber.
“Same,” Li Ra added. “My nose says that the fountain is real blood, but I’m sure there’s something else hidden inside it.” The stoic oni was scowling, and Vester saw her eyes flick from him to the courtyard several times.
“It definitely looks cursed…” Krysta agreed reluctantly. “You’re going to have to go in and touch it, aren’t you?” she asked Vester. The pandali slumped, leaning against Dent’s head, and pouted. “I hate this!”
“He’ll be okay,” Skylar assured the pandali. “I can send Ripper in first if we want.”
“Don’t,” Vester cautioned. “The Quest specifically demands living fingers. It’s possible that sending one of the golems might be seen as an attempt to cheat. The dungeon could consider that a fail condition.”
Bad enough that Non’s dad saddled me with a mask I can’t get rid of—now I have to go and grab hold of a blood-covered skull, Vester thought sourly. But if I can keep any of them from being hurt, it’ll be worth it.
“Alright, let’s get this done,” he said.
He pulled rope from his inventory and tied it around his waist, then he tossed the other end to Kora.
She wrapped the rope around her forearm and bicep, then shifted to brace her feet.
Skylar had Ripper carefully grasp Kora’s armor with its tentacles to further anchor the kitsune.
With that set, Vester began walking into the fortress courtyard.
Each time his foot came down on a skull, a burst of frosty energy spread outward.
The air released a foul moan, like something rasping through a gaping hole in its throat.
Vester felt pain and weakness running up his legs, and a tremble started in his knees.
“It feels like the skulls are meant to drain my life force,” he reported to the others. “The cold is unpleasant, but I can handle it.”
“Can you shield your feet?” Kora asked.
Vester tried creating a barrier of thin metal under his feet, but it was like his mana was pouring down a hole: the material never solidified, and it just left him even more tired. “No. The trap raises the cost of casting and prevents it from activating.”
“I can’t use my telekinesis on you either,” Reve said. “The moment my magic crosses through the arch, it dissipates and my mana is torn free. The entire area is heavily warded. It is likely this is meant to be done by someone with immense constitution.”
Makes sense, Vester realized. Life drain and enervation usually takes down the defensive fighters last. Their incredible vitality generally helps them survive it, but this feels extreme even for those scenarios.
Despite the discomfort, Vester never stopped walking.
He finally reached the blood pool at the base of the pedestal, which was when he realized his skin had drawn tight over his bones.
His muscles had withered down to leathery ropes beneath parchment thin flesh, and his skeleton stood out in swollen joints and sharply defined shadows.
He ran his tongue over his teeth and grimaced at how loose they felt.
The pool was wide enough that he couldn’t simply reach over it to get to the fountain.
Up close, he saw that he’d need to step nearly to its base and reach upward to grasp the tumbling skull.
“I have to climb into the pool,” he called to the others.
It didn’t look deep, but he was sure something would happen the moment he stepped into the fluid.
He hated being right.
A single step and a twisted black flame roared up his leg to set his entire body on fire.
The ebony blaze didn’t seem to burn his body—it was after his soul.
Vester felt like he was trapped in a wind tunnel that kept shifting between hot beyond comprehension and cold beyond belief.
The worst part was the sensations didn’t alternate—they somehow spun and twisted inside him like each was trying to claim him.
He couldn’t stop a scream from escaping his lips. The sudden shock of pain was so brutal that all his muscles locked up, and it was only when he felt the rope tug at him and pull backward that he was able to start moving again.
“Don’t… I can handle this,” he rasped. Each step saw the pain grow worse, but Vester refused to quit. He could hear the blood splashing around his ankles, and it was hard to see through the flames, though he was relieved to realize his body wasn’t weakening further.
I have a feeling anyone who dies to these traps will rise as some form of undead, he thought grimly. This entire thing is starting to feel like a trap set specifically by the Goddess of Death to gain more power. I’m betting this whole courtyard would empower Jack.
That made him wonder if this island had transformed in this manner because of Jack’s presence on the eleventh floor. Non had said her changes came through chaos, but Vester suspected the Great Dungeon also drew on what was already present.
It was a relatively pointless line of thought, but fortunately it distracted him from the storm of agony in his soul. When he finally reached the floating skull and grasped it in hand, he grunted at the sudden shockwave that resonated through him.
Divine Essence absorbed.
Divine possession blocked by demi-divine status.
Conversion to Lich blocked by Blessing of God of Life.
Divine Essence transmuting.
Stage One Quest Complete.
In all his time on Ordinal Vester had never seen notifications move through his vision so fast and harsh. Each was gold lettering lined in ebon flames, and each came with a wave of pain that left him shaking like he’d grabbed a live wire.
With a cough, Vester spewed rancid, rotting blood from his throat.
The skull finally came loose in his grip and he was able to stumble back away from the fountain.
Once he’d claimed the Talisman the blood had ceased to flow, though it was pure coincidence that Vester found a skull-shaped indent in the basin when he fell to his knees.
“Found the lock to the next area,” he grunted. “Kora, I got a notice saying Stage One complete, did you guys get anything?”
“We did,” Kora confirmed. “I received the same notification, along with a message about Stage Two.”
Vester blinked, focusing on getting his vision clear, then saw that he had the same message waiting for him. He’d missed it in the initial spell of weakness.
Stage Two: Descend into the Pit of Life and Loss.
“Yeah, I got that too,” he agreed. “Let’s get out of this courtyard and head inside. I don’t think anyone left outside will be able to get credit for completing the Quest.”
He paused, taking several shaky breaths, then spat out a bit more of that foul sludge in his lungs.
“Any ideas what the Pit of Life and Loss will be?”
“I’d bet it has something to do with getting sick,” Krysta called.
She’d spoken loudly, since she needed to be heard over the heavy thuds of Dent’s steps.
“The lake around this island corrodes things, and the name of the island itself is Heart Rot. If the first stage was death, then I’m betting the second stage is life and decay.”
“I hate that that makes sense,” Vester complained.
He glanced down at his arms and saw that his muscles were filling back in.
His skin no longer looked like he was a living mummy, and whatever other damage he’d taken seemed to be healing swiftly.
“Good news is the damage from the traps was temporary.”
“Do you think it would have killed me?” Kora asked while stepping forward to join him. The kitsune gently lifted him upward, helping him regain his feet. “Or do you think I would have been able to resist it?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Your constitution is a lot higher than mine, so maybe it wouldn’t have hit you as hard… but that last attack didn’t feel like it was going after my body. It was like it was trying to tear up my soul… Also, I got some strange messages when I touched the skull.
I have a feeling if someone was healthy when they grabbed the skull, they’d wind up as a powerful undead minion for the Goddess of Death we’d need to fight to get the key.”
A glance showed him his Party was ready, so Vester slotted the skull into the floor.