MM - Chapter 111 - HELL HATH NO FURY

Raine was the first over the edge. He jabbed a hefty anchor into the rock two meters away, then leaped backward. The heady tingle of excitement in his gut when gravity pulled him down mixed with anticipation of what awaited them at the bottom of the crevasse.

He hadn’t been sure about the nature of their destination until seeing it for himself. Its particular crimson glow and location underground were a dead giveaway. The Caves of Quindimire they came to conquer was the seed of a demonic invasion.

In the past, such invasions eventually became commonplace. The denizens of the other realms were well known for their greed of the Mundane Realm, and as their power grew, so too did their appetite. They came for various reasons: Materials, slaves, wealth, knowledge, and prestige. The list was long, and the invasions’ purpose varied wildly depending on who sent it. The Demonic Realm most often sought slaves and knowledge, though there were a few exceptions.

Raine reached the bottom of the sharp-walled chasm in only a few hops. His feet thunked onto a five-meter wide platform made of roughly dislodged rock. Detaching his harness, he left it dangling against the wall. He didn’t need the climbing equipment; using it was a ruse for anyone who came to ambush them on the way out into thinking he did. Above, his people were still figuring out how to don their harnesses. Raine ignored them, focusing on the intensity of the Demonic Power in the air.

Since it wasn’t enough to force him to shit his pants, he was confident in approaching the nearby crimson sphere: The heart of the invasion. It was the size of a small house and mostly buried in the bedrock. Its visible portion pulsed rhythmically, creating the ominous ambiance. Its surface appeared metallic and liquid, shimmering occasionally like the rippling of a pond. With each flare of illumination, it grew imperceptibly in size.

For beings of any realm, crossing the borders between one and the next was no simple task. For the most powerful, they were stripped of a considerable amount of their strength. To counter this, invasion hearts were packed with as much energy as their constituent materials could absorb and then sent to the Mundane Realm to ripen. They would eventually burst if not found and destroyed, birthing a horde of powerful, highly intelligent monstrosities.

Raine’s palm came to rest on the fluid surface. He sighed in relief at the messages that sprang to life in his HUD.

[You have discovered the heart of a demonic invasion]

[Minimum Level Requirement: 15]

[Raid Size Requirement: 15]

[Claim ownership of this invasion (Y/N)]

[!Warning!]

[Failure to clear the invasion after accepting ownership will negatively impact local reputation standings]

Such a low-level invasion was incredibly rare. Raine was glad he wouldn’t have to drag everyone to a nearby power-leveling area before they could start. Without hesitating, he focused on accepting ownership. The sphere pulsed frantically in response, and a drop of its demonic energy sank into his skin. It then shot back into the sphere, which rippled madly in response.

[Invasion owner level identified: 22]

[Assimilation of invasion heart underway. Standby]

Seconds later, the sphere rapidly changed shape. It disappeared in a flash of crimson light and was replaced by a large arch carved out of the bedrock. Artistic depictions of demonic creatures covered its rough, ebony surfaces. Through it, a long stone tunnel could be seen. A new series of notifications appeared.

[You have discovered the Unique Raid Instance: Caves of Quindimire]

[Select Difficulty: Normal 1x / Challenging 2x / Hard 4x / Nightmare 8x]

As with many things, invasions followed the second inviolable law of ZionLine: With impossible challenge comes impossible reward. In the case of invasions, the Mundane Realm had its own tricks to play. Just because a ruler from another realm pumped a million points of energy into an invasion heart didn’t mean that was the end of it. The Mundane Realm itself could further empower the invasion, granting increased risk and reward to those foolish enough to test their limits.

The exact rules for how these boosts manifested within the raid were a hotly debated topic as there was too much variance to narrow down the exact rules. In general, it was simple enough to understand. If, for instance, a million points had been used in the creation of this heart, then selecting nightmare would see that multiplied to eight million. Those points would then be used to construct a larger raid filled with more dangerous foes. However, upon failure, that would only unleash greater havoc on the surroundings.

Unlike normal raids that could be attempted multiple times, in unique invasions, it only took one death of the contractor to immediately destabilize the heart. Being responsible for unleashing a horde of demons into the heart of the Silvergate Kingdom would result in Raine going from a freshly minted noble, to a famed criminal. He already used the easiest ways to acquire reputation with the Noble Faction without already being a noble. One death, and he would be forced to restart all his plans in another kingdom.

There was a particularly dark time in the past when it was common for spies to seek out invasions within enemy territory, then enter the raid and purposefully die. On more than one occasion, the actions of only a few individuals led to the destruction of multiple countries. Fully powered invasions were not to be taken lightly, and any country that condoned such actions from their spies eventually saw their neighbors turn against them en masse.

Confident he could handle a level fifteen invasion, Raine selected nightmare, then turned away from the arch and waited.

“Are you okay? What was all that light?” Talerra shouted from above. She took much smaller hops against the wall than he had. Her jaw dropped upon reaching the platform and laying eyes upon the gloriously embossed arch with a ghostly skull hovering in its center. She shook her head in denial, the memory of being trapped inside a shotgun slime flooding her thoughts, “No-no-no. Not again.”

“Once we’re inside, the favor is repaid, then your people can leave,” he opened a trade with her and added five items; for once, not demanding payment.

[Return Stone: (Common Grey) Teleport to a previously bound settlement after a 10 second delay (Uses: 5) (Cooldown: 12 hours)]

She barely managed to pull her eyes away from the giant gloating skull, “Y-you don’t want our help?”

“Nope. Unless you want to make a new deal, our transaction ends the second we step inside.”

Talerra couldn’t decide whether to look at his cobalt eyes or the demonic arch. She could tell it was something important, and his secrecy regarding what was inside pulled hard on her FOMO, “What kind of deal?” She cringed, knowing she was putting herself in a position for him to take advantage of her, again.

“Nothing too bad. I’ll let you alone tag along to learn a few things that will massively boost your guild's progress. You won’t be permitted to sell the knowledge, but I guarantee it will help you immensely. Additionally, I’ll agree to assist in the next round of your competition.” Raine’s offer sounded too good to be true, which made the expectation of the hammer dropping all the more painful. Talerra shied away from the blow she knew was coming. Raine merely smiled, announcing the best part of the deal, “In return, you have to promise to do everything in your power to keep your family from trying to kill me.”

“W-what?! But grandfather—”

Raine scoffed, eyeing the others coming down the wall together, “Don’t tell me you believed his load of garbage? If he really wanted to befriend me, he wouldn’t have screwed me over and told me to go pound sand. I know you don’t have a lot of sway yet, but you can at least warn me in advance of whatever's coming next.” 

Seeing her unconvinced, Raine leaned closer and whispered, his breath splashing across her cheek, “You’ve only seen a fraction of what I can do, Talerra. I’m your best chance to beat that dickhead you call a cousin. Sure, I might seem a little greedy, but that’s only because I’m impossibly broke, and I’ll soon have more enemies than I can count. I would prefer if your family, if you, weren’t counted among them.”

The others crowded around before she could come up with a response. Raine clapped his hands, gathering their attention, “We’ll be heading inside in a minute. Once there, I expect complete seriousness. This will be incredibly dangerous. Fizgore, get your fucking armor on, you pervert!”

The man threw his head back and roared with laughter, though quickly followed Raine’s command. Once it was securely covering his muscled frame, he picked at the fabric and layers of metal with two fingers, a deep frown etched on his features.

Whispers and glances were shared, the group's excitement ratcheting several times higher than when he’d told them to jump off the tower and fly through the skies. Raine lifted his brows at Talerra, and she glanced down, furiously searching for the loophole in their new contract that would damn her. She couldn’t find it. There were only three clean paragraphs, and her only condition hinged upon nothing more than a promise.

Grinding her teeth, she accepted. A fresh scroll icon appeared in both their interfaces. Raine smiled, meeting everyone’s eyes once more. Then, he stepped backward into the gaping jaws of a floating skull. The moment he did, they all vanished, leaving the chasm empty save for one individual.

She floated down from on high to hover before the arch. She caressed one of the demonic figures with a gleeful smile. Peridot didn’t know why her new mistress had yet to respond to her reports, but at that moment, it didn’t matter. Her prey had just made the last mistake he ever would. She opened a cleverly hidden pouch on her hip and withdrew a glowing crystal.

It was her only way to escape the Mundane Realm: a priceless item packed with enough of her mistress's raw power to rip open the barrier of worlds and take her to another reality. She pressed it against the arch without hesitation, and all that potential was instead fed to the invasion heart. The ground trembled terribly, the chasm buckling as the arch turned several shades darker and swelled in size.

Since the idiotic Bearer of Cassidy had selected the hardest difficulty, the additional power would be further multiplied. Once he died, a wave of demons unlike any this mundane kingdom had ever seen would be born and sweep across it in a tide of destruction. She, of course, would use the heart’s built-in gateway to return to her mistress and personally deliver the good news. 

Beyond satisfied with herself, Peridot retreated from the chasm. She flew high into the air, impatiently awaiting for the fun to begin.

***

The original quantity of Demonic Power in the invasion heart was only enough to create a level fifteen raid. Since Raine was the owner, the difficulty would be geared toward his level. That meant stronger enemies to divide that limited Demonic Power between. Even after selecting nightmare difficulty, Raine expected a relatively small area. Something along the lines of a dungeonous cavern or medium-sized, infested town. Which is precisely why his jaw dropped when the group materialized inside what could only be described as a fresh, untainted mystic realm.

They were standing on a vast plain of pink soil with no end in sight. An angry red sky stared down at them. Thankfully, there were no celestial bodies in the sky; entire universes created within invasions required billions of points of energy and were saved for the highest levels.

The ambient light was sufficient to find the only landmark in sight: a stone city at least fifteen kilometers distant.

The only reason the heart would create this much space is… Oh shit.

“Nobody move!” Raine shouted, the hair on his arms and neck standing at attention. Turning to Talerra, he pointed at her people, “Get them out of here, now! Everyone else, Stealth, and don’t even think about twitching.”

The twins and PristineCanvas balked at his tone and order. Talerra’s confirmation and furious expression had them clamping their lips tight. They activated Return Stones, vanishing a few seconds later. FierceFire looked like she wanted to say something to Raine. His glower and knit brows had her leaving as well. Soon, only his people and Talerra remained. Save for Raine, they knelt and vanished from sight.

With no way to know exactly what was coming, Raine distanced himself from the group, “Again, do absolutely nothing no matter what happens. A single mistake will get you all killed.”

Due to the unique nature of invasions, no actual other-worlders were sent inside the heart on its journey to the Mundane Realm. Instead, the power within would spawn the invaders based on the total power after the modified difficulty. That process usually took a few minutes. The first unwary invasions attempted in the past all ended the same way, with a party immediately setting out to explore a seemingly empty dungeon, only for hordes of creatures to suddenly spawn around them: a sure death sentence. Unfortunately, that was Raine's only good option. In this wide-open space, if he stood next to his vulnerable party, they would die in seconds.

Without fanfare, the entire realm shook and rumbled. The sky flickered between several shades of red and black. Then, a gargantuan eyeball so large its pupil was the size of a moon appeared in the cosmos. It stared right at Raine, demanding he succumb to its overwhelming dominance. Thanks to Milkdud’s Farsight, Raine received slightly more information than usual when meeting the menacing, fiery gaze.

[Gaze of Malefaction (Hierarch): Level 30 (HP 9/9) A commander of the forces of Bahael Ghaap]

Raine wasn't given time to wonder how a hierarch ended up in an invasion meant for low-level players. The killing intent that slammed into him was beyond immense, making rational thought an impossibility.

[Negative affliction received (Greater Enfearment): All attributes reduced by 50%]

Instead of falling prey to the fear swarming through his blood, Raine rejoiced in the fact that, unlike the countless battles of his past, he finally had a mental ability to defend himself from the monstrous existences that inhabited ZionLine. He dug deep, pulling hard on the killing intent bred from the tens of millions of deaths dealt with his two fists. Bloodlust exploded outward, then instantly stopped. The usual several-meter sphere only barely managed to cover his skin.

[Negative affliction resisted: Greater Enfearment]

In Raine’s extended hand, a greataxe took shape, its viciously sharp and jagged blade a perfect match for his grin.

[Spine Splitter Greataxe: (Lustrous Blue - LVL 15) (Attack Power +105) (Attack Speed -.25) (PTC +35) (PHY +10) (Durability 200/200)]

The others weren’t so lucky. They took the full brunt of the freshly spawned god’s ire. If not for Raine’s constant use of bloodlust throughout the night, they would have instantly broken stealth. They hung on with all their will, but the true horrors had yet to appear. The eyeball blinked; one slow, methodical closing of a lid so large it belied belief. Then, the ground surged.

For as far as Raine could see, the soil liquified. In clumps of various sizes, the fluid slid upward into the air, like oil seeking the surface of water. The sacs of fluid took shape, becoming more defined. In only a few seconds, over two thousand demons spawned.

They staggered in their infancy, unknowing of the world they'd been birthed into, nor their purpose. The eye gave them what they lacked. A flash of crimson energy swept across the land, and as one, the demons raised their heads and howled with hatred so fierce the entire realm trembled anew. Then, their glowing eyes fell to the lone human in their midsts, and all hell broke loose.