Timewalk

Chapter 501: The Frozen Scourge

Mato

Mato smiled quietly to himself at how quickly Ali immersed herself, already lost to the world, even in the depths of the Blind Lich’s domain, merely for the joy of studying some strange runes. He was no sage of mental healing, a battle healer at best, and so he’d been worried sick about something that could shake Ali so deeply. Still, he believed in her resilience, and it was a relief to see a little of her passion shining through.

He glanced at Malika, “Just outside,...

Chapter 500: Hidden Chapel

Calen

The illusion shimmered as he stepped through it, and Calen found himself on the other side in a hallway, much like every other in the dungeon, with dark stone walls and floor and painted murals along the sides. But that’s where any similarities ended.

Of the ubiquitous crimson carpets, there was no sign, and instead, the hallway was carpeted in ankle-deep drifts of dust that his magic left undisturbed even as he stepped out into it. Along the walls, rusted bolts and dark...

Chapter 499: The Well of Eternity

Aliandra

Ali watched as Mato burned, disappointed that the nectar had not made them all immune to the Parasitic Nightmares.

It even says ‘Immune to nightmares’, she thought grumpily. What good is that if the first monster called ‘nightmare’ doesn’t count?

However, she really couldn’t complain. The nectar prevented most of the negative effects of accidentally glancing at the boss: no longer did the mere sight of its eldritch form provoke splitt...

Chapter 498: The Nightmare

Mato

Mato charged the Well of Eternity with a furious roar, his mind struggling to comprehend the grotesque mass of flesh and snarling mouths that lashed out at him from directions that couldn’t even be named, let alone seen. His claws raked through a Parasitic Nightmare, trailing sharp, jagged ribbons of void that severed a tentacle that was trying to grapple him, but half a dozen more immediately filled its place.

The whispers surged, suddenly drowning out his thoughts, his ...

Chapter 497: Parasites

Aliandra

The monster could not be. It simply defied reason. It took reality by the throat and impaled it on the fact of its own existence, leaving it broken and whimpering in the corner.

Ali’s Sage of Learning punched her in the stomach with the force of an avalanche behind it. Her mind twisted, sprained by the impossible contradictions it was forced to endure, leaving her stunned and reeling.

Dimly, in the dark recesses of her mind, she realized just how mistaken they h...

Chapter 496: Dark and Tormented Souls

Malika

The dim candle of red life energy burning within Mato was nothing compared to the raging inferno that had been his life force before he had entered the hall. Malika stepped forward, teleporting herself straight through the heavy stone of the walls, arriving right beside her nearly dead, frozen friend, currently being roasted by the devastating flashing and booming of continual lightning bolts.

Her hair began to stand on end, and even her skin prickled into goosebumps from...

Chapter 495: The Lich’s Eye

Aliandra

Ali stopped prodding Malika with her finger when her friend turned and met her querying gaze with a dazed stare.

“Uh,” Malika said.

Ali waited, but she said nothing more. Is she ok? The ring looked like it might be cursed, what with how ominous it appeared. She prodded Malika again.

“Ali… can you… use this?” Malika managed, her voice barely a whisper.

Ali glanced dubiously at the ring on Malika’s outstretched palm. “Is it curse...

Chapter 494.5: Haverron - Status Sheet

A/N: 2 of 2 (chapter and status sheet)

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Name: Haverron
Race: Undead
Titles: The Devastator

Active Buffs: Death Knight's Ascendance, Raid, Respawn

Class: Death Knight – level 215

- Mortal Cleave – level 140
Stamina: Melee attack for weapon damage +3673% [skill + strength].
Stamina: A cleaving strike which does weapon damage +7206% [skill + strength x 2] and reduces target h...

Chapter 494: Tiers of Skill

A/N: 1 of 2 (chapter and stat sheet)

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Aliandra

Ice, it seemed, was very difficult to dispose of. At least in the sheer quantities that Haverron had conjured during the fight, powered as he was by an unbelievably obscene amount of domain mana. Fireballs just blew it around, so she had her Hellfire Imps simply standing with their flame shields, using the heat to melt the ice, but progress was painfully slow – an issue of sheer volume versus how much heat the imp...

Chapter 493: Frozen Storm Armor

Malika

Once again, Malika let her eyes search out each of her friends, one by one. A nervous gesture, she knew; an attempt to reassure herself that they were ok. Her eyes lingered longer on Ali as she worked to clean up the mess – they had almost lost her during the first attempt, and during the second run, Malika had made the mistake of assuming they had the Devastation Rush figured out. That error of judgment had almost gotten her friend killed again. It was truly terrifying just ...

Chapter 492: The Frozen Apocalypse Unleashed

Aliandra

Ali’s heart was still pounding from her desperately close call with Haverron’s Devastation Rush impaling attack. Without her treant boss and Mato’s incredible damage control skill, she would undoubtedly be dead right now, with a high likelihood of her corpse being raised as a horrifying, walking undead abomination to be wielded against her friends.

Instead, she had survived, and Calen was now kiting him, leading him about by the nose, and using his own skill to do...

Chapter 491: A Brush with Death

General Byron Dragovich, Southport

Byron sat staring despondently at his map, hoping against hope that the moving shapes depicting the rout being inflicted upon his forces outside the barriers would somehow shift and magically rally. Futile wishes. Unfortunately, anyone with a shred of rationality knew it was impossible. He twisted his lips and frowned, not that his feelings would have any positive impact on the pathetic wreckage of his carefully planned formations. In the background,...

Chapter 490: Battle Shopping

Aliandra

“Hey, guys, do you mind waiting for a few minutes?” Ali said, already mentally directing the tiny golden dragonets flying around her domain. “I need to go shopping really quick.”

“Are you serious? You know we’re in the middle of a fight right now?” Malika said, glaring at her with a comical mix of exasperation and surprised amusement.

“New slippers?” Mato put in.

“Well, not right at this exact moment,” Ali said, sticking her tongue out ...

Chapter 489: Forging a Plan

Aliandra

Ali stared aghast as the gigantic runic greatsword tore Malika’s body in two. Crimson blood sprayed into the air, falling to the ground with the clatter of frozen red hail.

Way too much blood.

“Malika!” she screamed, her voice tearing at her throat with its rawness.

Ice mana bit into the broken remains of Malika’s body, forming the shape of the Frozen Doom curse, and Ali dispelled it while mentally screaming for healing. Priests ignited their Devotio...

Chapter 488: The Devastator

Malika

Malika stepped out onto the plaza, taking care to avoid some of the larger, shimmering formations inscribed into the black stone, keeping her eyes fixed on the huge Death Knight up ahead and the ominously glowing runed sword grasped in his mithril gauntlets. Two enormous skeletal frost dragons wheeled about high overhead.

“Be careful, everyone,” she said. “We don’t know what he is capable of.” The instant the words had left her mouth, she cringed a little inward...

Chapter 487: Kiting Death

Calen

No wonder that thing was so ridiculous, Calen thought, staring in awe at the skill list Ali had just shared for the Grim Spark boss that had given them so much trouble.

It’s a Sleeper!

Lyeneru had warned him about the so-called ‘sleeper’ monsters. So had Nendir. Sleepers were one of the many ways experienced dungeon delvers died. A monster with a rare combination of skills, attributes, or abilities that pushed their challenge rating so far out...

Chapter 486: Cursed Runes

Lem, Ist, Io
Carve runes upon your head
Spin thrice around
Rise now, you’re undead!

- Delirious murmurings of a deranged Sage shortly before death, discovered on a scrap of parchment in the Crypt of Kings.

Aliandra

Ali looked up at Malika with more than a little surprise. Her friend tended to be overly cautious about risk and danger, and honestly, Ali could see her point of view – Grim Spark had been way deadlier than any of them had imagined....

Chapter 485.5: Mato - Status Sheet (Tree Form)

A/N: 2 of 2 (chapter + status sheet)

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Name: Mato Bahr
Race: Beastkin
Titles: Rift Warden, [Savior of Aman Rak], Incorruptible

Active Buffs: Tree Form, Natural Prowess, Well-fed, Lirasian Sage (42)

Class: Elemental Shapeshifter – level 153

- Arboreal Sanctuary – level 65
You emit a spherical Sanctuary aura of nature magic centered on yourself. Range: 1475 feet...

Chapter 485: A Tool for Smiting

A/N: 1 of 2 (chapter + stat sheet)

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Mato

Mato remained in his tree form, listening to the others moving around beneath his branches, feeling the sensation of his Consecration flickering and pulsing over the roots and brambles he had grown. He ignored the prickle of lightning from the coiling vines around his trunk, his consecration and base regeneration more than enough to overcome the damage. Overhead, his Lirasian Sage tree spirit floated quietly among his broa...

Chapter 484: Lightning Loot

Calen

Calen stood, invisible, upon the roof of the building overlooking the battle, wings dismissed to free up his stamina for Power Shot, and drew Cinderstrike’s bowstring all the way to his cheek. He channeled stamina into his bow, empowering his attack for a full three seconds before unleashing the enchanted mithril arrow loaded with every damage enhancement he could muster. The shot shone, briefly lighting the walls of the nearby buildings, outshining even the incandescent confl...

Chapter 483: Ali’s Daring Plan

Aliandra

Time for a new plan.

“Calen, is there any bare earth nearby? A park or something?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “You want to use Mato?”

“Yes,” she said. They had been naturally following many of their standard strategies to deal with the Bone Fetish. It wasn’t that their strategies were bad, as such, but in this specific case, they were proving woefully inadequate. Ali mulled over their available resources, tugging on the strands of ...

Chapter 482: Hasted, Lightning-Enchanted Stabbing

Aliandra

Ali took a deep breath and puffed air into her cheeks, surveying the remnants of her forces in dismay. Grim Spark was hunting them. That much had become abundantly clear over the last hour as they tried again and again to lose him within the ruins. Just when they thought they had finally outrun the dangerous skeletal fetish, it would reappear with a flash and a pitter-patter of tiny feet, sowing destruction and lightning in its wake before vanishing into the darkness once mor...

Chapter 481: The Grim Spark

Malika

Malika teleported behind the Death Knight, avoiding the powerful descending strike of the greatsword blazing with the blue radiance of its ice mana, and she unleashed her punches, refreshing her Soul Mark and stacking up more Soul Burn that flickered softly within the undead monster, relentlessly consuming its mana.

These patrols of Death Knights and Devastation Knights had initially been terrifyingly dangerous, but as she unleashed her forms from the calm within her Clar...

Chapter 480: Rule 4, The Power of Preparation.

Aliandra

Ali had never quite gotten comfortable seeing through the Eye of Agnor’s ten different demonic eyes, Still, she had to admit it saw a whole heck of a lot better than anything she had ever experienced, save perhaps the True Sight of the Malevolent Oaks, and even that had a limited range. She could see the Death Knights clearly in the dark, both with the demon’s dark vision and with its mana sight. And, although her personal mana sight was much more advanced and nuanced, sh...

Chapter 479: Devastation Knight

Malika

Malika waited for Mato’s transformation, watching the bear step out into the center of the shimmering rune circle and vanish. She didn’t even let the swirling vortices of mana subside before she followed. As her feet reached the center of the circle, the long-range teleportation magic took hold of her, yanking her body immediately elsewhere. Her awareness was stretched, as if resisting the pull of the formation. Still, the power of the teleportation magic was inexorable, an...

Chapter 478: A Mighty Demon Slayer

Aliandra

Ali sighed deeply and rolled her shoulders, earning several loud cracks and popping noises as a reward. Splitting her attention between her work and monitoring the progress of Calen and her Shadow Dragon was a trivial matter for someone who’d attained the rarified heights of over sixteen hundred intelligence; however, it was what they had found that kept distracting her. The Well of Eternity, Mi’ir Valdanis, the Crypt of Kings, Haverron, Dark Souls? And what was that ...