Rogue Ascension 38. The Hunt for Joey Eclipse

Joey realized quickly he had lines he wouldn’t cross. He avoided areas with heavy commoner traffic. They were running amok to get to safety right now, but they were not that fast.

Mixing with them would make his escape from the city easier. But that felt wrong to the rogue – most commoners were innocent people trying to live their new existence in Multiverse Z. He didn’t want them involved with his crazy stunts.

Strangely, Joey felt very relieved by this even with all the trouble he was in. It was nice knowing he wasn’t truly an evil villain. He was merely playing a role. But having those lines he wouldn’t cross meant he’d struggle and bleed more.

Hence Joey’s current situation involving ninja-like fights across empty rooftops and plank bridges. Arrows flew by his head as he dodged range attacks and diving rogues slashing down at him.

He avoided them and the flying semblances of man-sized hawks, hornets, and the bats that used sonic attacks to stun their targets – he grappled and tossed rogues at the bats, letting them crash into each other and block the sonic attacks.

From nearby rooftops, mages hopped and flipped around while aiming their staffs and shooting bolts at him. They kept up because of their obvious imbalance in stats – these hunters favored their body a lot. Also, there was more than just stats for Joey to deal with.

Some mages pole vaulted with their staffs and used a magic blast at the end that sent them flying over large gaps between buildings. Some rogues had skills helping them chase and move faster while trying to assassinate or capture a target. Tamers followed while pumped up for the chase because of their hunting affinity – and they could ride on top of their semblances that moved even faster than most humans.

“Joey Eclipse!” shouted a tamer on the street. He was riding on the back of a shadowstalker. “I swear I’ll lend you a silver coin if you come with me! It’s twenty on the line, man! Twenty silvers!”

“Come and earn it!” Joey tossed down the head of a slain rogue. He jumped off a plank bridge and dove through a window of an office-like structure.

A flying semblance crashed into the wall near the window – it was a split second too slow from reaching him. His hand sifted through his pouches before activating and tossing a glyph tile.

The tile flashed and turned into a liquid orb. The water bolt crashed into the rogue diving through the window behind Joey. The adventurer flew back out the same window.

Joey slowed down as he exited the business room and prowled through the halls. He wasn’t far from the big gate, but he needed to catch his breath and regulate his physical and magical stamina.

Obviously, his would-be hunters wouldn’t wait outside for long. Joey put away his sword and drew a single kunai. In the next few moments, the hallway filled with rogues dressed in dark clothing.

He was the only one in white – the blood cleaned off.

“You guys know you aren’t as strong as me,” Joey said with a domineering smile. “But there are more of you than me. So, do you feel like you’re good enough?”

[If you can get past us, you need to teach us your moves,] a female rogue said in an Asian language. [Let us see how great you are, Joey Eclipse.]

The rogues attacked at once with their short swords. The ones that had his back moved the fastest, their backstab spell guiding them for the killshot.

Joey’s tail battled the backstabbers from behind, slicing and whipping. He dove ahead and knocked aside sword strikes with his knife and grappled his enemies with killer intentions.

He gutted a rogue. He grabbed the head of another and shoved her face into a sword thrust meant for him. He grabbed another rogue by the neck – stabbed his friend in the eye – and slammed the rogue against the railings of the staircase Joey led them into.

Rogues attacked and met the vicious resistance of an unstoppable renegade, their bodies getting torn and mangled before being tossed over the railings. They fell down the chute and hit the bottom dead. Other rogues rolled down the stairs like sacks filled with potatoes.

Joey stopped his violent staircase descent when tamers and warriors crashed into the staircase from the first floor and started climbing up. He took the third floor, his tail slapping aside attackers from behind while he dragged a rogue by her hair and threw her forward into a magic bolt shot through a window. Her body exploded like a bloody balloon filled with sausages.

He took the door to his right, stabbed an ambusher up the jaw with his kunai, and threw the corpse behind him to slow down pursuers. Then Joey dove out another window. There were adventurers waiting outside, aiming their weapons and magic upward.

“Face the champ!” Joey yelled, summoning his semblance. “Al Bruce Crabton!”

ABC slammed down on the adventurers and their semblances with a reckoning. The level 51 hull crusher bruiser swung his massive pincers around adventurers and split them in halves. He caught a leaping shadowstalker and beheaded the feline with a quick snip. He kicked out his legs, smashing aside a cleric and stabbing through a warrior’s unarmored torso.

In the meantime, Joey landed on top of his semblance as it fought and created space for them. Joey clenched his jaw, enduring the essence freeze while he gripped ABC’s eyestalks like reins. They were his lifeline at this point.

“Go, Al Bruce Crabton, go!” he urged on, and his semblance listened.

ABC slapped aside bolts with his pincers and crashed into the main road leading to the big gate. He surprised the adventurers waiting there, none of them having seen a hull crusher before, let alone a bruiser.

ABC plowed through obstacles like a runaway train, punching out his pincers and reveling in the chaos. Adventurers got snapped in half, trampled, or smacked out of the way. But those were the adventurers on the ground. The archers and mages on the walls were free to attack without much retaliation.

Joey activated all the barrier tiles he had.

Multiple bubble-like barriers layered over him. They soaked damage and broke as they endured a pounding from multiple angles. This helped ABC focus on what was in front of him instead of covering up from the top. But there weren’t enough barriers for them to pass the gate and make the climb out of the basin slope without getting blasted from the rear.

Joey had to cover their tail.

Together, Joey and ABC crashed out of the big gate. The last barrier covering their heads popped. Archers and mages moved from one side of the wall to the other and aimed down at the duo.

A six second Shade Dragon Breath streamed from Joey’s mouth, splashing over the top of the wall and coating the nearest adventurers in dark flames. Men and women screamed like dying animals in torturous pain.

The attacks against Joey and ABC died down quickly. All the adventurers felt the horror and dominance of Joey’s ruthless power.

“Molt drive, Al Bruce Crabton. This is our chance,” Joey said through chattering teeth. His channels felt so cold, he struggled not to curl up and shut down.

He struggled with one hand to pop open potion bottles and gulp down all of their contents. Essence, stamina, and health went down the hatch, helping a lot.

Meanwhile, ABC listened to his master and shedded his heavy armor. Dented, pitted, cracked pieces of ABC’s shell rained down quickly, leaving a trail behind him. Little by little, the hull crusher bruiser picked up speed as its flesh showed as a pink color, soft and vulnerable.

But he was lightweight now. Very lightweight for his size. ABC hissed in celebration of the freedom, scuttling forward faster than its size suggested. The basin top drew closer, but the volley of arrows raining down from behind moved even quicker.

Joey wrapped his tail around one of ABC’s eyestalks and held out both swords. He parried arrows that felt less dangerous. He hurled out clones as body shields for arrows that felt more dangerous, exploding them midair. The ground around them soaked arrows and explosions, shaking ABC up a little while avoiding direct hits.

The unstoppable renegade covered their backs all the way to the top of the basin and out of view of the gate. Joey heard hundreds of adventurers screaming in anger, forced to watch the renegade ride away on top of his rare semblance.

No matter. They would group up. Tamers and rogues would lead the way. They would chase and chase. But they would have to organize first, so Joey let himself fall back and relax as ABC scuttled at full speed down the path into the jungle.

“I can’t believe it. Did I actually pull that off?” Joey asked, staring at the moons and watercolor cosmos of the night sky. “I guess I did have one big trick they had no idea about. My semblance. Nice job, Al Bruce Crabton.”

The hull crusher bruiser raised its pink claws and hissed in celebration once more. Clearly, ABC was just as happy as Joey with the results. The semblance finally got to have some fun and go wild – and use Molt Drive.

Finn and The Renegades had doubted Joey’s decision to start from the guild. The guild manager had suggested the rogue should get a head start in the jungle with his group. But Joey denied each attempt to urge him into having an advantage.

It wasn’t great enough for him.

Joey was convinced running and killing his way out of the guild and out of New Zam City was necessary. He also knew this was a great way to test and level up Monstrous Momentum on the fly. So he was more than glad his plan worked out.

I want to leave an impression for the adventurers of this port city. And this will reach the ones who’ll come from the other adventurer hubs.

It hadn’t been enough for Domer’s People to feel Joey’s greatness. Everyone needed to feel it or have a better idea of what they were facing. That would make the hunt for him all the better.

***

“I can’t believe it,” Finn said, staring at a projected screen hovering over his desk. A dozen squares of crystal ball recordings from the overseers showed on the screen. They played back Joey’s great escape from New Zam City.

It was up to Finn to approve which parts would get shown on an emergency update with Zelva commentating. This would go to every adventurer hub in the beginner challenge area to add fervor to the great quest.

To Finn’s surprise, most of the recordings were usable. Joey had escaped New Zam City cleanly.

If other adventurers were in his position, great or not, Finn was certain they would’ve used the commoners as meat shields. It would’ve been a dark tactic, but a logical one.

There was more goodness in the kid’s heart than it seemed. Or he was so arrogant he didn’t want to sully his greatness with fodder.

“One way or the other, he showed me up. I really thought starting at the guild was dumb.”

Finn leaned back in his seat, still feeling stunned. Bewildered, even. He’d never seen something like that from a beginner. Not even from the greats he’d managed.

Rumors had pointed toward the war princess being one of the outliers in this beginner initiation. The Tidal Moon Lord favored her more than greatly, in fact.

She was a rarity among great ones. Most managers would be hard pressed finding the great rarities in hundreds of realms.

Finn handled her delicately with invitations for her to come to New Zam City. She’d refused so far, which was understandable. She was seventeen with rulership over an empire.

So it was quite the surprise to have Joey show up and strut around with more advanced skill than the usual young greats and wear gear that clearly came from the war sirens. Now Joey had shown he was one of those rare great ones as well. To have two great ones who were rarities in the same realm was insane! Impossible. Inconceivable.

“I told you, Dad,” Finn muttered. “I told you this job is worth it.”

Finn approved all of the recordings. He’d let the commentator team figure out the best angles and views. It wouldn’t take them long.

Zelva was passionate about her work. While many in her position had stopped caring and phoned it in, the all-star commentator put her heart into each update no matter what.

Finn loved working with people who cared in Multiverse Z. There were too many who stopped caring and became dull robots.

Finn got on the live chat with his guild managers. Right on time, he received a sample video from Zelva’s lightning fast production crew.

He showed his subordinates. Every one was either stunned silent or shouting in excitement as the video displayed the best angles of the great escape.

In the end, Finn and all his managers approved. Zelva hit the major crystal network with the video and began commentating everywhere in the beginner challenge area.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Finn said softly, “this right here is something I’ve never seen in my experience as a denizen in service to the multiverse. This right here is special. We have a beginner who’s putting everything on the line to provide us with a great show. Something we may never see again in thousands of years.”

“What if he fails?” asked a subordinate manager from Goose Town.

“Then he shall fail grandly.” Finn tapped his knuckles near his crystal ball. “But what if he succeeds? His aim is to gather the best adventurers, great and steady. This could lead to the completion of that troublesome quest.”

“The dread whale,” grunted a manager from Styx Alley. The others made unhappy noises as well.

“Exactly. So, I’m going to be square with you. I’m asking for you to gamble. I already put down fifteen myself. I know this is–”

All at once, Finn saw financial messages from his crystal ball reporting money transfers. A silver coin here. Three silver coins there. It all added up quite quickly. Finn felt fortunate. It was truly a pleasure to work with others who were passionate gamblers like him.

Finn barely looked at the results. He transferred them to his quest givers to update the network on the bounty. It would be a good experience for their roles. Most of them had never handled such a large amount before.

Zelva received the updated bounty on the fly. Like a true worker of her craft, she handled it with cheer and flexibility. She didn’t say it right away – she was good at building up anticipation – but once she was sure she had her audience’s attention, she said it aloud.

Sixty-six silver coins to capture. Thirty-three to prove the kill.

Finn bit the top of his knuckles, a nervous habit he shouldn’t show as the head guild manager. But who could blame him. That money needed to go to Joey.

But the guild had to give all adventurers the needed help to find the unstoppable renegade. It was almost a screwy position to be in.

Working at the grand level in Multiverse Z required some flexibility and honesty. Everyone knew how angry the rulers could get when corruption was found among the multiverse denizens.

A new message popped up. It was from the Tidal Moon Lord.

[TML: Have you finally lost your mind, Finn?]

The epic elf grinned. Ah, yes, the best stress reliever he could find.

[HGM: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I gave a new tailor a chance two days ago. I think they did a good job with my latest wardrobe.]

[TML: I should’ve listened to the Caravan Necropolis Lady. You are trouble.]

[HGM: And I’m handsome, too!]

[TML: This Joey child better succeed. If this entire event ends up in failure, consider yourself retired. And don’t forget. You must help the adventurers find him. We must be honest. Or else.]

Finn didn’t bother replying, feeling the pressure again. He’d gotten to his position because he gambled big and won. But he’d fallen from the loftiest heights because he’d gambled big and lost. If those silver coins went to the wrong adventurer, it could screw the economics and ruin the beginner challenge.

“All or nothing,” Finn said.

***

While the guild manager walked a tightrope, Joey linked up with his group and his battlemaid. They began their great journey north. The renegades had big plans to fulfill while getting chased by desperate adventurers from a port city being left in disarray.

But this simple point of view of Joey and the renegades could not truly expand on the size of this great quest. The ridiculous bounty was spreading everywhere around the beginner challenge area, going further than Joey could conceive at the moment.

It certainly reached steady adventurers from cities and towns across the western tides. It reached great adventurers inside and outside of these hub areas. Since this event was so large, guild semblances of flying beasts flew out while gripping crystal balls.

These items projected the news loud and clear for many miles. Great adventurers staying out in the wilderness turned their attention to the Zambwi Land.

The bounty reached Aqua Star City as fast as it reached any adventurer hub. As a ruler, Princess Maylolee could keep updated on major adventurer events through her local crystal network.

She was reading reports from the agricultural arm – bored halfway to death – when her advisor ran into the banquet room, shouting for her attention. The advisor shoved a crystal ball into her face.

Maylolee watched the recording of the commentator elf and video clips of Joey fighting his way out of New Zam City. Then she saw the bounty, knowing right away this was a scheme by Joey.

Maylolee couldn’t stop herself from smiling before bursting into giggles that felt awkward and broken. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed.

While the war princess wished all the best to Joey Eclipse, there were other creatures that only wished for his downfall. The monster leaders had their ways of staying updated on adventurer news. Something like this wouldn’t go unnoticed for them since an adventurer could get a big bounty for their lives at any time.

All that silver was dangerous in the hands of adventurers. Joey Eclipse needed to disappear, and preferably doing so as a meal for the Monster Leaders. Thus, orders spread among the two major monster groups.

Those orders caught the attention of the mercenary corps of water nagas who’d work for anyone, even monsters. There was no doubt the mercenaries could double dip if they caught the attention of adventurers with enough coins. Thus, monsters and denizens turned their attention toward the Zambwi Land, hungering for Joey Eclipse’s life and the fortune attached to it.

But that wasn’t the worst thing to happen in the area. The worst thing was for a certain type of slave to catch news of this giant bounty. The slave was a former adventurer equipped with enough awareness and a position to track big updates on the adventurer network.

That slave, who dreaded the displeasure of his mistress, screamed at the news of the sixty-six silver coin bounty. Then the adventurer slave exited his outpost and ran straight to an enslaved war siren unit positioned nearby. They shrieked in dread when they saw the adventurer slave.

Their dreadful screams told each other what they needed to do. They would return together to the territory of their mistress. And tell her of the suspicious update. The dread whale would soon know the name of Joey Eclipse.

While that was the worst consequence for the area, this view of the event would fail to give justice to how far Joey’s name would reach. Nothing like this had happened in a beginner challenge area in a long time.

Thus, Joey had caught the attention of beings outside of the realms. And such beings should not be giving attention to an initiated human whatsoever.

Yet, these outer beings looked down at the realm, ready to bear witness. This made the Tidal Moon Lord feel very nervous. Now he had to be extra honest while under heavy supervision, just like Finn.

This was indeed an all or nothing event for everyone involved. And Joey was at the center of it, ignorant of the grand scope of his reach and how costly his failure could be.