Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 31

Chapter 31

This time when Ruin entered the portal to the fifth floor, the Dark Tower left him alone. He exited onto a platform twenty feet across and followed Zylkin who strode quickly away.

The chamber they’d entered had a diameter of a hundred feet and a handful of doors sat in the smooth stone wall. The ceiling, fifty feet above, had the same smooth stone and contributed to the room’s dull appearance. A passageway led out of the chamber toward the center of the Tower.

Only the doors indicated the importance of this place. They all had intricate designs with sigils covering their surfaces. Zylkin approached the most extravagant of them all.

Thirty-foot double doors stood closed, and the black metal of their construction radiated energy that irritated Ruin’s eyes. He squinted to continue studying the designs. The frame of the massive doors contained many different creatures including Saraph, and the scenes all involved battle. The combatants all bore the same symbol somewhere on their armor or weapons.

The sigil wasn’t complicated: an upside-down triangle atop a stretched-out W. Something about it tugged at Ruin’s thoughts and he let his mind go blank, hoping his Cleverness Attribute might trigger and reveal whatever relationship his subconscious had noticed.

Nothing new appeared, and Ruin focused on Zylkin who’d stopped in front of the door.

Zylkin waved at the massive entrance. “The dungeon of the first sigil.”

“Now that I’m here, something occurred to me. My friends will need to do this Meridian Hardening as well, and I’m wondering if I should wait to do it with them. How difficult is the dungeon?”

“The difficulty changes, and nobody knows the calculation to predict it, so you don’t know until you enter. Very few die in this first dungeon. The bigger problem for your friends is their reputation. Have they started farming their Dark Tower reputation yet?”

Ruin winced. “No. Is there a way around that?”

Zylkin shook his head. “Not that anyone knows. You can help them though. Everything that drops in the dungeons has a Reputation value that will display when selling. If you have the Inventory space, you could keep those items and let your friends claim the Reputation. The Tower will also drop Reputation tokens.”

“Can I buy it?”

“Reputation? No. It’s the only thing the Destruction Needles aren’t good for. Reputation is a grind for everyone.”

Ruin nodded and studied the door.

“Do you want me to accompany you?” Zylkin asked.

Ruin had sensed a difference in Zylkin since the man had returned from seeing his family. Ruin wasn’t as good as Hamma at recognizing subtle emotions, but his Perception had advanced enough to notice the suppressed excitement Zylkin now tried to hide.

Zylkin had carried a lot of self-loathing for the decisions he’d made, and this had kept him from his family. His brief time with Ruin had allowed the Shadowmancer to see himself in a new light, providing opportunities to begin purging those dark feelings. Zylkin was in a better place now than when Ruin had first met him.

This change would be even more recognizable to those who loved Zylkin and knew him best. Ruin guessed the recent reunion, which had lasted seconds as Zylkin confirmed his family’s health, had reignited long buried feelings. Normally, Ruin would have welcomed Zylkin’s help in an unfamiliar dungeon, but not in the current circumstances.

Ruin met Zylkin’s gaze. “Thanks for offering, but I’m fine. I’m still trying to figure a lot of things out and I’m going to take things slow as I experiment. If you joined me, I’d just drive you nuts.”

“I don’t mind.”

Ruin placed a hand on Zylkin’s shoulder. “I know friend, and I appreciate that. I’ll find you when I’m finished here. I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions.”

Ruin removed his hand and Zylkin bowed.

The Shadowmancer handed Ruin a thumb-sized unmarked token. “Push some Will into this when you exit. It will alert me, and we can figure out your next steps.”

Ruin placed the token in Inventory and thanked Zylkin. Then the Shadowmancer morphed into a shadow and slid across the floor and through the elevator-portal in a blink.

The variable difficulty of this dungeon gave Ruin pause. So instead of just stepping through the door, he went through his gear and decided what made sense to equip.

Ruin didn’t have many weapons. His fists did incredible blunt damage, and he could summon a sword from his hands. He also had the bow he’d taken from the Val’dor Vault, and he removed that so he could practice with it.

Name: Frostbite Bow

Effect (Passive): +20 Frost Damage added to all arrows.

Effect (Triggered): Frostbite - Once per hour, fire an arrow that creates a freezing explosion dealing 50 Frost damage and slowing all enemies in a 20-foot radius by 20% for 5 seconds.

Name: Twilight Quiver

Effect (Passive): +10% Stealth while equipped.

Effect (Passive): Auto nock.

Effect(Passive): Every ten seconds, refill quiver to 12 arrows.

Effect (Triggered): Shadow Curtain - Once per hour, fire an arrow that leaves a trail of darkness, obscuring vision and reducing enemy accuracy by 20% for 10 seconds.

The Scarecrow Aspect had merged with Ruin’s body and its protection extended to his Core, center, Meridians, and pathways. Since this Armor Class had become innate, he received the benefits for free. He looked at the hood’s details.

Name: Scarecrow Aspect Hood of Guarding

Physical AC: 1,000

Spiritual AC: 1,000

Effect (Active): Angelic Field Guardian: create clone at any location in current Realm. Spirit cost proportional to distance. Created with 25% of wearer’s AC and Attributes.

Effect (Passive): Heaven’s Spirit Maze: Incoming Spirit or Essence is delayed 3 seconds allowing for additional Harvesting time. Up to 20% of buffered energy can be bled into the surroundings.

Effect (Active - Destruction Realm Only): Willful Murder: Increase Willpower Regeneration by 5% per Fortification Tier.

Description: A burlap hood with crudely stitched eyes. The Aspect provides Archangel-level protection against Spiritual attacks on the wearer’s center, Core, Meridians, and paths.

Next, Ruin glanced at the jacket’s stats.

Name: Scarecrow Aspect Jacket of Sowing

Physical AC: 1,000

Spiritual AC: 1,000

Effect (Active): Wrathful Crow Beater: staff created from wielder’s essence ignores 90% of non-magical armor and 30% of magical armor. Max damage = (Connected Meridians) * (50).

Effect (Triggered): Divine Murder: While holding the Wrathful Crow Beater, summon (12000) * (Connected Meridians) essence crows to shield the target of the spell for fifteen seconds.

Effect (Passive): Worshipful Focus: grants level two meditation state and Wrathful Crow Beater can be summoned and dismissed and no longer needs to remain in touch with the summoner.

Effect (Passive - Destruction Realm Only): Willful Reaping: Decrease enemies’ Willpower by 5% per Fortification Tier. Area of effect proportional to total Willpower.

The jacket gave Ruin access to a powerful staff as well. He quickly scanned the pants information.

Name: Scarecrow Aspect Pants of Reaping

Physical AC: 1,000

Spiritual AC: 1,000

Effect (Active): Celestial Alarm: area of effect fear with an intensity and range proportional to Spirit used.

Effect (Passive): Winged Embrace: obscures the fortification, aura, soul, and Spirit network.

Effect (Passive – Destruction Realm Only): Willful Toll: Once per hour when Willpower drops below 10%, tendrils erupt from the armor, ensnaring enemies, draining their Willpower and transferring it to the wearer. Area of effect proportional to total Willpower.

Ruwen checked the set bonus details.

Set: Scarecrow Aspect Hood of Guarding, Scarecrow Aspect Jacket of Sowing, Scarecrow Aspect Pants of Reaping

Set Bonus (Active): Holy Rapture: once per week, transport yourself to any location in the current Realm and sector using mental gate runes.

Set Bonus (Passive – Destruction Realm Only): Willful Domain: unlock and enter the five spires.

Ruin had taken some excellent low-level armor from the Val’dor vault, but he wanted every advantage walking into this new dungeon and that meant equipping his Ink Lord’s Wrap of Shadow instead. While his body had absorbed this armor when he’d reformed as a Saraph, unlike the Scarecrow Aspect, he needed to summon the Ink Lord’s Wrap to get the benefits.

Equipping the armor would consume eight slots across Ruin’s body, but the armor’s benefits outweighed that cost.

Name: Ink Lord’s Wrap of Shadow

AC: 3,500

Quality: Legendary

Durability: 5,000 of 5,000

Effect (Passive): Know It All: +50 Intelligence.

Effect (Passive): First Edition: Reduce all magical damage by 33%.

Effect (Passive): Lost and Found: If the Ink Lord is separated from the armor by more than fifty feet, it will teleport to the Ink Lord’s right wrist.

Effect (Passive): Dust Jacket - The armor emits an aura of distortion, providing a 10% chance for any incoming ranged attacks to miss.

Effect (Triggered): Top Shelf: Once per hour, create a staircase made from air with a max height of 200 feet and max weight of 500 lbs.

Effect (Triggered): Librarian’s Hush: Once per day, restore silence to your library by suppressing all sound in a 1,000-foot sphere for five seconds.

Effect (Triggered): Book Burning: Once per month, grant elemental immunity to all inanimate objects in a 1,000-foot sphere for thirty minutes.

Effect (Triggered): Ink Lord’s Paper Knife: Create a small temporary blade suitable for slicing open pages or unruly patrons. Blade’s composition dependent on focus. Inflicts 12 to 24 Piercing damage.

Effect (Triggered): Bookmark: Set location and, once per day, instantly return there.

Effect (Triggered): Debinder - Once per day, transform into a wraith for 10 seconds. While in wraith form, all damage is funneled harmlessly into the Destruction Realm. User cannot attack or cast spells.

Restriction: Black Pyramid Ink Lord.

Description: Small off-white scroll made from Dragon Spider Webbing and traces of Destruction Essence. The librarian can wrap and unwrap themselves with a thought, offering protection while carrying out the duties of the Black Pyramid Ink Lord. Stain-resistant inside and out for the Ink Lord’s inevitable bloody demise.

Ruin equipped the two items he’d taken from the Vault that he had empty slots for.

Name: Ring of Shadows

Effect (Passive): +5% Willpower.

Effect (Triggered): Shadow Root - Once per hour, use an enemy’s shadow to anchor them in place for 2 seconds.

Name: Cloak of Phasing

Armor Class: 100

Effect (Passive): Cancels any critical damage when backstabbed.

Effect (Triggered): Once per hour, the wearer can phase out of the current plane for 3 seconds, avoiding all damage.

Because of the Ink Lord’s Wrap of Shadow Ruin couldn’t use the Veilbreaker Crown or Combustion Bracelet that he’d just discovered in his loot from the Lalquinrial fight. The Warping Shard dagger and Grimoire of Mourning off-hand he’d consider equipping if the situation called for it.

That left the earring, and Ruin equipped it. It stayed attached all on its own wherever he placed it.

Name: Storm Chaser Stud

Effect (Passive): +25 Intelligence, +20 Wisdom, +15 Charisma

Effect (Triggered): Forked lightning – Six balls of lighting orbit the caster. Once per ten seconds the next attacker within three hundred feet is struck by lightning for 50-100 elemental damage. Damage jumps to all enemies within ten feet of attacker doing half damage.

Effect (Triggered): Sheet Lightning – The caster’s skin is coated with lightning. Once per second all enemies within six feet take 4-12 elemental damage.

Restriction: Only one effect may be active at a time.

Ruin activated the Sheet Lightning spell and his Ink Lord armor crackled as lightning coursed over its surface.

Harmony remained broken, but even with the interference of his Archangel body, his Willpower functioned as a formidable weapon here. He’d reclaimed his Bamboo Viper Step skills already and felt confident fighting unarmed. He needed to figure out how to utilize his Shadow Core in this dungeon so he could cast spells again. A few spells and abilities didn’t rely on Spirit or Destruction essence, and he briefly glanced through them.

The first consisted of the six Soul-related capabilities that originated from the buffs Ruin had active when his human body vaporized. They transitioned into permanent effects when his Saraph body had formed.

Name: Soul Well 

Description: Absorb a percentage of soul power based on your level.

Name: Essence Purge 

Description: Once per day expel all foreign essence from your body.

Name: Annihilation Shield 

Description: Increased durability against destruction energy based on level.

Name: Shadow Mirror 

Description: Reflect a portion of all destruction-based damage back at the attacker. Percent increases with level.

Name: Shadow Cloak 

Description: Summon the shadows to camouflage your presence. Percent effectiveness rises with level.

Name: Dark Charisma 

Description: Once per week take control of a Destruction Realm entity. Success and duration increase with level.

Most of these powerful abilities were based on level, which was another reason to spend his Destruction Needles on experience. He wanted to explore the System store more thoroughly before spending any significant amount of the currency though. If the dungeon proved too difficult, he would definitely increase his level.

The luck buff Hamma had cast on Ruin had also become permanent. Somehow her magic had reformed as a gem that had inserted itself into an open node in his blood. This had resulted in his Val’dor Heritage assuming the theme of Fate.

Name: Fate’s Balance 

Description: Collect and distribute the accumulated fate of your enemies. Borrow a percentage of the pooled luck for personal use based on level. Skewing the balance of luck too long will cause disastrous consequences.

And after using the Minor Prelude of Stillness and killing all the guards in the five towers, Ruin had looted a lot of luck—good and bad.

Fate’s Balance

Positive Threads: 8,120

Negative Threads: 8,944

Borrowed Threads (1% Max): 0

Utilizing this ability to manipulate luck would surely bring the ire of the System if abused but Ruin planned on practicing with it to gain much needed experience.

Minor Prelude of Heresy wouldn’t do Ruin any good here since it suppressed Soul power, something no Destruction Realm entities had. That still left him with Minor Prelude of Stillness. With his vast Mental Energy coupled with the ability’s short cooldown, powering through all these dungeons should be easy. Since the spell was channeled, he might be able to keep it active constantly. A forty-mile-wide circle of death.

Name: Minor Prelude of Stillness

Description: Tranquility of silence. Reduce all frequencies to zero in a 20-mile radius for 3 seconds.

Upgrade: Each additional Spell Point increases the radius by 50 miles and cost by 2%.

Casting Time: Instant

Cost: Mental Energy – 50 per second channeled

Cooldown: 1 minute from end of spell

The last ability Ruin retained was a new one that he’d barely used since receiving it as part of his Grandmaster Alchemist quest line.

Fortune’s Discovery – locate rare, valuable, and unique alchemical resources regardless of how they are hidden. Discovery radius 1 foot for every 1 Alchemy Skill level.

Ruin closed all the displays and pushed on the door to the dungeon. Instead of opening, the doors teleported him to the dungeon’s location. Before he could gain his bearings, nine Notifications filled his vision.

Child of Void your presence is revered. Sacred sigils unhidden.

Child of Remembrance your presence is honored. Spire paths unlocked.

Child of Destruction your presence is welcome. Defeat the Guardian for a Dark Sigil.

Child of Blood your presence is acceptable. Defeat the Guardian for a Dark Sigil.

Child of Harmony your presence is unwelcome. Harmonic suppression activated.

Child of Light your presence is unwanted. Soul suppression activated.

Child of Enlightenment your presence is unwanted. Chakra and Aura suppression activated.

Child of Conception your presence is banned. Obstacles maximized.

Child of Creation your presence is forbidden. Difficulty maximized.