Chapter 164

The Lake of Bones, The Pitt - 2:05 PM

When I gathered my papers to leave the Fieldhouse, I had found that they had been tampered with. Not noticeably if I were to give it a passing glance, but enough that I could see it clearly because I knew what to look for. That, coupled with my performance, meant that he would certainly be following me.

Which was good, because we had both settled in for a nearly three hour trek through the Pitt before we stood in front of our destination.

Well, I did; he was still under stealth somewhere behind me, and I looked up to the ceiling to wordlessly ask Sara to confirm the fact.

[[Patron Message]]

I would have sent you a message if he deviated from your path, but no, he’s still back there.

It seems like he’s pretty used to following people through these boring tunnels, at the very least. He’s been humming his own danger theme for the past hour or so, and he keeps checking a pocket watch. I think he might have ditched you if you hadn’t put down how long it took to get to your destination.

Sincerely,

Sara

I nodded, but didn’t say anything out loud. My stalker would have left hours ago if he hadn’t been warned of the long trek, which was something I had to learn the hard way since I had no easy way to track him back then. Despite everything working against me, I had learned exactly what I needed to in order to keep him on my trail.

Taking a breath at the entrance to the dungeon, I stepped in. The tunnel continued for a while longer, leading directly into the heart of the arena without giving me a chance to get into its guts, but the scenario quest screen popped up very early.

[[Second Scenario Quest: Liberate PPG Paints Arena!]]

The Lake of Bones lies deep within the Pitt, waiting for players to test their mettle. There is but one enemy waiting for you here: the Accumulator of Bones.

Your task is to simply defeat the Accumulator as many times as you can. Between rounds, you may end the event by destroying its core. However, the more forms you fight, the higher your reward. Points and Guild Points will be dished out at the end of the quest based on how far you make it.

Stand atop the hill in the center of the arena to start the quest.

Objective: Defeat the boss as many times as possible, and destroy the core when you are finished.

Reward: Variable points, Variable Guild Points, PPG Paints Arena will be liberated.

I stepped into the arena proper to find that the ice rink was covered in dirt due to the events that were taking place on the day the system dropped. A part of me was glad that it wasn’t set up like it normally was; I really didn’t want to fight off hordes of zombified penguins. This was fine enough. Dirt covered the arena and there was a proper hill smack dab in the center to accommodate the monster trucks that sat three to a side in the arena.

Sadly, none of these were Bone Collector, which would have made this a little more humorous, though Grave Digger and Zombie were both present. They could barely be seen over the sheer amount of bones covering the entire stadium, but they were here.

I waded through the remains of bodies waist deep as I headed towards the center of the arena. Bones of all shapes and sizes were pushed out of my way as I made my own trail. They were all clean, picked free of any remnants of the corpses they once were, which was a small mercy. The place smelled surprisingly clean instead of a dumping ground for the plague like it looked.

The further in I got, the more apparent it became that not all of them were human, either, and I made note of several that had to come from giants of some sort or another. Rib cages as tall as I was, sharp bones that seemed to come from protruding natural weapons, and more were easily seen. Stopping and turning around, I looked up.

A humongous skull sat above the tunnel I had just emerged from. It came complete with large, twisted horns not unlike a cow’s, though the general shape was clearly that of a humanoid. The macabre decoration sat on the seats and made its way almost halfway up to the ceiling, teasing us a bit on how large a foe we could be fighting here.

With a determined, if slightly manic, grin on my face, I turned around to make my way to the hill. I had seen lesser folk balk at such a terrible sight, but not me, and certainly not my stalker. We would make it through together, even if he didn’t know it yet.

I received an update as soon as both of my feet were on the hills.

[[Warning!]]

The first round will begin in 30 seconds.

Snapping away the text box, I stood there with my hands clasped behind my back. I didn’t pull out any of my weapons or prepare in any way. Like any wave based events, it started off fairly easy and only got harder as time went on.

[[Patron Quest: Defeat the Accumulator!]]

I’m in a special position to send you more points than usual, Anthony, and I’m going to use it.

The Accumulator of Bones is a tough enemy… eventually, but I have no doubt that you’ll be able to see it through to the end. Of course, defeating its early forms is easy, but I want to see you go the distance. Not only that, but I want to see you succeed in recruiting the teenager who thinks he’s pulling the wool over your eyes.

For every round you pass, I’ll match the scenario’s output. And, if you manage to completely defeat the Accumulator, I’ll give you a little surprise. I look forward to seeing you pound this thing into the dirt.

Objective: Kill the Accumulator of Bones.

Optional Objective: Recruit your stalker.

Reward: Points for every round you win, with a special surprise if you complete each one.

Optional Reward: +1,000 points.

“Thank you, dear,” I whispered as I swiped away the box.

The countdown returned as I looked around. High above my head, the televisions would show the logo for Sol Ligatus on all four sides as well as the text “Round 1.” If there were more guilds here, then that would change, but nothing happened as it was just me and my unaffiliated stalker. I shifted as I waited, trying not to seem impatient.

Once the timer hit 0, it disappeared and the bones started rattling everywhere. They didn’t move much at all, but it was aided by sheer volume. The sound pervaded my body, causing me to shiver involuntarily. I threw it off, however; it would take a lot more than that to creep me out.

As quickly as it started, the sound stopped, and I started looking around. It didn’t take me long to see where bones were shifting in the arena. The Accumulator was streaking underneath at a fairly fast pace, unhindered by the dense environment surrounding it. It circled around the hill several times in the first minute as if daring me to leave the only bone-free zone, and I let it.

Its patience wore thin before mine did, and the Accumulator suddenly switched gears and headed right for me. A white blur erupted from the lake of bones, heading straight for my neck. I activated Force Field in front of me, watching as the creature slammed into it and caused it to shimmer, before dropping the defensive ability and catching it by its head.

The skull I was gripping was that of a human, but none of the other bones matched. Long ears made of cartilage emerged from its head like rabbit ears, touching each other with nothing to actually adhere them together. Its body was small and seemed to be composed of a person’s hip bone and pieces of what looked like hands and feet.

“Bones for the Accumulator!” the creature cheered, its voice small and full of childlike wonder. “Yours, too! Yours, too!”

“Disgusting little thing,” I said aloud as I charged my Dragon’s Breath.

Spinning, I turned and threw the creature towards the gigantic skull before opening my mouth for half a second. The beam utterly destroyed the Accumulator’s rabbit form and drilled a hole through the side of the giant’s head. A wisp of purple energy lingered over where the creature had perished.

That was its core. If that was destroyed at any point between rounds, then the event would be over just as the scenario quest screen had said. Personally, I was ready to go the distance with each of these fights, so I didn’t do anything. Instead, I kept an eye on where I knew my stalker would be hiding in the screens up above.

There was no movement, which was good, and the core disappeared into the lake of bones without any  danger.

[[Warning!]]

The second round will begin in 30 seconds.

Clasping my hands behind my back, I started waiting patiently again. Nothing changed in the half a minute between the warning and the next appearance of the boss. The bones began to rattle again before stopping.

Just like before, the Accumulator started running around unseen beneath the surface. The wake it left in the lake of bones was bigger this time, though not by much. It circled around the hill for longer this time as if daring me to come into its domain, but I waited patiently. There was no reason to, especially as this game was one of attrition.

Closing my eyes, I opened up my Aura Sense. The Glasses of the Messenger of Peace was a great edition to my Wisdom, and I could see up to 85 feet away. Under the bones, the Accumulator swam in the form of a swan, its aura a disgusting, tainted purple and green due to the necromantic energies.

Above me, hanging out on top of the jumbotron, was my stalker. His aura was black and wispy, as if my senses wanted to slide off of him and focus on something else. It made sense considering his stealth abilities, but I had far too much experience to let that distract me. He ran around, keeping a close eye on the Accumulator and had a weapon in his hand.

Since he was here for boss kills, it was bothering him that he had let the first one go to me without getting a hit in. That was going to make him a little more anxious for this second one. It didn’t matter because this would count as one at the end of everything, but he only had his suspicions of that and he certainly wasn’t going to waste three hours of travel time on a hunch.

Despite focusing on the man above, Aura Sense allowed me to keep track of the Accumulator without issue, so I wasn’t surprised when it started heading straight for me.

This time, its skull was the body with a spinal column neck ending in a hand. Its wings were made of several ribs held together by its innate abilities, and its legs slapped the ground as it ran towards me. This version of it couldn’t fly, but later ones could.

Once it emerged, I released another Dragon’s Breath. Another half-second burst was enough to completely destroy it in its tracks, and it pierced through one of the monster trucks on the ground behind it. I saw a dagger pass through the spot where it had once been before the purple wisp reformed, and the weapon disappeared into the lake of bones.

Above, the black aura was tinged with a bit of angry red and sick green as they leaned forward to look at me.

I acted like I hadn’t seen it as I watched the wispy purple and green aura returned to the bone lake, infusing it with its essence before dispersing. While I didn’t open my eyes, I heard the warning reappear for the third round.

A smile played at my lips as I thought about what he would be thinking about both the enemy and myself. I had used up a lot of resources on very early enemies, but it was necessary to show off at least a little bit.

Time was up, and I still hadn’t moved from my spot. Aura Sense was draining my Mental Points, but at a slow enough pace that I didn’t mind it in the slightest. It was better to keep an eye on everything for this next stage.

Instead of circling, the Accumulator made a beeline straight for me. It was in a serpentine form this time, with a cow skull for a head and several bones trailing behind. Dodging out of the way, I avoided the horns as the tail whipped for my head. There was nothing I needed to do, however, as a dagger fell from the ceiling.

It pierced through the Accumulator’s skull, pinning it to the ground, and the wispy aura left it. Between all of my stalker’s passives and abilities, a sneak attack like this would have caused even a fifth or sixth form Accumulator to die in one hit. That was a more impressive feat than this would have been, but he was impatient, and it was time to capitalize on that.

Dramatically reaching up with one hand, I seized my stalker’s clothes in my psychic grasp and used Drop. He started falling, flailing to reach the video board and failing as he fell to the ground. In his panic, he made a sign with his hand and his aura disappeared, replaced with a skull roughly his size. I let it go, and it fell and shattered beside me.

The teleport was short range and could only be used when there was something he could swap with, and I could see him in the lake of bones. Reaching out again, I started Pulling him towards me by his clothes. He started screaming and clutching onto the bones, but he was soon dragged onto the hill.

Once again he disappeared, but I had anticipated it, and grabbed him once again. “You really want to keep wasting those teleports?” I asked as his feet kicked against the ground, struggling.

His clothes met my hand, and I kept a firm grip on his collar. I opened my eyes to regard the teenager in front of me. He was covered from head to toe in black, his only features shown to the world were his brown eyes. Across his forehead was a metal plate with the word “Ninja” written on it, and various other pieces of metal were strewn haphazardly across his body, protecting his feet, elbows, and stomach.

The ninja struggled, but didn’t attempt to draw any of his weapons; he was still squeamish about attacking actual people. That didn’t mean he was quiet about it, however.

“Unhand me, you foul knave!” he yelled, taking on a holier-than-thou tone. “You know not what forces you mess with. I am the great and powerful gentleman thief, Mercury Moongrave, and I demand you release me posthaste!”

“Great,” I said as dryly as I could, actively attempting to push away any excitement from my voice. “I managed to catch myself a roleplayer.”