16 16. Vengeance
Hello, this is my first time writing a fanfiction. If you notice any errors, please feel free to give me constructive feedback. English is not my first language, so if you notice any mistakes, please mention them in the comment section at the end of the chapter. Let's begin the story!
Word Count: 5160 Words
Note: Just a reminder that I've changed the Guild Auxiliary chapter. I've made some changes in it. I've removed a couple of NPCs and added a few.
Due to my college work, I was unable to upload the chapter sooner so I've made this chapter longer. Increased the word count.
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Bruce in his Doppelgänger form was hovering over the skies of Asgard.
"Violence,
If it's not solving all your problems, you simply aren't using enough of it."
The players had used violence against him by attacking his guild. Now it was his turn to strike back. Seeing the dropping player base, which wasn't apparent at first but now he could see it.
He was sure of it, this would be the end of the War. There won't be any gathering of players of that stature in the future.
Even the players who would wish for revenge and call arms after this raid would fail to gather players. Finding Players capable of breaching The Root is an impossible task.
Now it was his chance to strike back. He had started his attack with Asgard. Flying alone in the skies of Asgard watching the hustle and bustle of the Asgard, The World of God's.
To be precise, he was right above The Centre City of Asgard. Usually, it would have attracted a lot of attention but Bruce was here with a World Item, Helm of Darkness. A helmet from Greek Mythology.
When worn by a player, those without World Items would fail to notice him.
*Sighs
"Asgard is a great World to start the Game. It has the largest and the best Centre City in all nine worlds.
There's the Castle of All-Knowing Father, the Hall of Valhalla, etc.
Especially the Castle of All Knowing Father is a great spot for beginners and small clans. It's a multifunctional place. It was designed for guilds but it's mostly used by clans and small guilds. They can rent space in the Castle for their Guild Base or Clan Base.
Its plus point is that the clans and guilds here can't be raided the usual way.
There's a limited number of places that could be rented. They also have to participate in the Battle in halls of Valhalla, to be eligible for the place.
The ranking there determines if their clan stays or disbands.
In case another clan wish to rent the space, they have to challenge an existing clan in the Castle and defeat them in the Battle. If the Clan fails to respond to the declaration of war against them within a week, they are kicked out of the palace."
Bruce after surveying the location, the Centre City of Asgard. He flew a good distance from the city.
He flew through the forests, rivers and planes till he had entered a hilly region. The hills were covered with trees.
He flew till he reached a hidden cave in the depths of the mountain. After entering the cave, he checked for signs of other players. After completing his search he retrieved The Spring of Calamity and placed it atop an altar he built using Create Greater Item.
After placing it, he roamed around the cave a bit.
By the time he was looking around the cave, a player had entered the cave.
<Others are ready>
"Great, let's get this party started."
Bruce took off the Helm of Darkness and placed it in his inventory.
Later, Bruce passed the Achilles Shield to his Guildmate after retrieving it from his storage. The player after receiving it, entered the cave to safeguard the World Item placed in it.
"Let's start the Raid. It's payback time."
---
Similarly, in Jotunheim, his Guildmates were waiting with Ahura Mazda near the Centre City.
Whereas others with the Standard of Conqueror in Midgard awaited Him.
So were his remaining guild mates waiting with Apocalypse Bringer in Alfheim.
The Fight had begun, it was The Root vs. The World Alliance.
His objective for this raid was simple, nothing grandiose. To kill as many players as possible. To also fill D'endrrah.
A World Item he had saved for just this occasion. It's a World Item similar to Avarice and Generosity. But unlike them, this item could store HP, MP, EXP, and Stamina and convert it into Cosmic Energy.
As per its description, the Cosmic Energy could later be used for any purpose. It can also act as a substitute for any of the mentioned sources.
The Item absorbs all types of energy, which later is used for casting Spell or Skill with HP, MP or EXP cost.
A player couldn't absorb the said energy for experience but could use the energy to cast super tier spells like Wish Upon A Star that require experience or any other skills.
For this very purpose, he had let them find his Guild. Though he could have just attacked directly, skipping all the unnecessary tasks,
"But where is fun in that? As long as I have World, I don't have to worry about these guys catching me off guard."
He had already used it in his guild, The World Alliance had done a great job at providing him with so much cosmic energy.
He wished to fill the D'endrrah, but ironically its capacity was infinite. So were Avarice and Generosity's.
With his antics, he had set a record to beat and defend against the largest Raid Party Alliance in Yggdrasil or any other game in the market to date.
The Root, its name had skyrocketed after the Raid. It's news everywhere. It was a trending topic in every gaming community.
Especially the Final Fight recorded by Diablo_69. He was a player present in the Grand Hall of Atlantis, where Bruce had summoned The Dark One, using a divine tier item, the Child of The Old Ones.
In his fight against Areos, he said otherwise but before the Raid, he had used Ouroboros to get a skill.
A skill, he had named as Arcane Scholar.
With it, he could do a lot of things. For one, he could enchant spells or skills into items of his creation or others irrespective of any limitation but there still exists a limit.
He with World's help had created the Infant's body, The Child of The Old Ones. It was Infact a Golem with an infant's appearance. He had cleverly hidden it from the view of the players to not be subjected to appraisal from them.
With his skill, he enchanted it. So at the time of his fight with Areos, he was still with the ability to summon the Monster.
Many players have also taken to the internet to complain about the display. The act of sacrificing a baby to perform a ritual was not acceptable to many. Many condemned The Root for its action. They were frowned upon by many.
Yggdrasil had to take action, they banned and restricted building items or NPCs like infants.
Bruce received a warning from developers for his action.
It was also the reason why Dark One was able to take out most of them so easily. Many were repulsed and scared. They were frightened to control their avatar. They couldn't defend themselves.
In the end, he did accept their warning.
"The urge to point out their hypocrisy. They sure have double standards. I knew of the reaction. It was just for fun.
They can ignore all the kids dying in the real world but can't accept or watch it happening in a game."
It was just a one-time thing, Bruce had pulled it off successfully, and he wasn't going to continue it. He couldn't imagine having to see an infant die, albeit it being a Golem with life in the New World. His consciousness wouldn't allow it.
The rest is history.
After setting up the Spring of Calamity, after having activated it Bruce got out of the Cave. He Sped through the forest.
The Player, his guildmate stood guard. Protecting The World Item on his behalf.
After he neared the Centre town, he didn't get out of the forest but rather chose a tree near the town.
He sat on it, waiting for the show. The spring had started its work. It's a curse and negative energy spreading across the whole World. The black jarred miasma-inducing liquid poured from the jar held by The Goddess statue.
Bruce had been waiting for the players of Asgard to move. A good amount of time had passed, and the miasma in the form of mist had covered a lot of area.
With every second, the players were cursing the idiotic player for having activated an unknown cursed item.
All players, NPCs, and monsters irrespective of their designation fell. As the mist of the curse spread across the World, those without instant death resistance those without protection and resistance against the negative energy and those who were weak died.
The players enraged followed the mist out of the centre of town to hunt the perpetrator.
The other players spread across the map also made their way to the location.
The Spring of Calamity had a huge flaw, unlike other World Items. Most World Items' effects wouldn't be cancelled when their user dies. Even in death, the effect caused by them using World Item remains. But at the death of the player, the Spring of Calamity would transfer its ownership to the killer.
The Slight Goddess favoured The Strong.
It was then within his power to choose. To either stop the plague or get assist kills from Slight Goddess.
The mist travelled the World, its effect affecting all those in the mist. A disadvantage of the mist was that it didn't let players affected by it teleport, it didn't allow them to escape the mist by teleportation. The Goddess was obsessed with her prey and once caught in her clutches, she didn't let go.
As Bruce spotted those flying dots from the town, he flew to intercept them.
As fate had it, Heteromorphic Players were subjected to debuff in any Human or Demi-Human World.
Alas, he couldn't transform into his Human Avatar, The Slight Goddess didn't differentiate between allies and enemies. All were equal in her eyes. The caster and World Item holders were spared of her Wrath.
A big flaw in her powers was that it didn't affect powerful Undead allies.
Her prowess killed and caused damage to powerful Undead in enemy ranks but it didn't affect powerful Undeads belonging to the same party as the User.
A big loophole or one of its functions. It wasn't just Undead Allies, but even those teammates with max negative karma irrespective of race were spared of her Wrath. At the same time, humans or other race allies were subjected to her Wrath.
So Bruce had to change his Avatar. He as planned started the War with Undead Avatar.
Mors was the name he had given to his undead avatar.
'Mors means death in Latin. I don't have great naming sense so. There's nothing I can do with it.'
As players made their way to the forest, they saw Him hovering in front of them. It wouldn't have raised much suspicion if not for the player being from the Undead race and the mist.
Not a lot of players had come, only a small group of players were successful in making quick judgements. The rest were still gathering their allies to attack, regrouping and planning.
Rak, the World Champion of Asgard was at the forefront of the attack team. With him were his guildmates. Accounting for 74 players stood facing Mors aka Bruce.
"If it isn't Rak, The World Champion of Asgard."
"Great, so you do know me. Then it makes things easier. There is no way you can take on me and my guildmates all alone. So just spill it, who are you and why are you here?"
"Also what is this mist? Is it a World Item?"
The players with Rak questioned Mors for the answer, but throughout their questioning Mors remained silent.
Observing his silence,
"I don't think there is any use of further questioning. He isn't answering any of our questions." Rak was the first to raise his weapon.
Mors remained silent. As Rak closed in on Mors, his sword was just an inch away from Mors when he teleported.
'Hmm! A delay in teleportation. That's crazy, for it to have worked. He must have predicted my actions and reaction to his every statement. My speed and my guildmates' reaction.'
It hadn't been long since the match started, Rak had only swung his weapon once but he was terrified.
'He didn't cast any spell at the time of my attack. Was it a coincidence or preplanned?'
'It must have been a fluke.'
It wasn't just Rak who was shaken up by this event. A few of his guildmates who noticed the phenomenon were also shaken up.
Mors who had maintained his silence so far, spoke.
"I'm not alone."
Rak was unable to use appraisal on Mors just like the players from Raid weren't able to appraise LordofTheMysteries.
'Maybe it's an event. That could explain a lot of things.'
"I have my Guild with me."
The statement from Mors was the last nail in the coffin. Rak was terrified of the skills of the player named Mors.
"You players waltzed in my Guild and expected to get away Scot free. Now it's time for retribution."
Mors after his declaration cast a spell,
{Widen Magic: Cry of Banshee}
An instant death spell had been cast, and a woman's scream echoed in the surrounding area. But it was of no use, all players present had instant death protection.
Seeing the spell cast, he moved forward with his skill.
{Skill, The Goal Of All Life Is Death}
A special skill accessible by those who master necromancy magic tree.
A skill that helps any spell bypass all instant death protection.
After the "Cry of Banshee" the skill had been activated.
After he had cast it, Rak and others withstood the attack.
After the spell effect died down, they saw it.
A clock had appeared behind the skeleton. By the time they could make note of it, the needle in the clock ticked.
The countdown had started.
As a World Champion and a Guild Master of a big Guild in Yggdrasil, he had heard of this skill.
Rak had researched and collected a lot of information on Yggdrasil.
Though he knew not of the class that the skill belonged to.
He knew its effect. A skill that aids spells to bypass instant death resistance and protection.
Knowing what he did, it would be foolish to let the Skeleton Mage complete the spell.
He rushed in to strike. To cleave through his HP and kill him before he could complete his accursed skill.
It wasn't him alone, many of his guildmates joined him while a few teleported to escape its range.
It was Rak who reacted to Mors first. Rak was confident to be able to cut the Skeleton Mage standing in front of him.
He was just one step away from slicing his sword through The Skeleton.
He wished to use {World Break} on him.
When he was within striking distance, he had been immobilised.
He stopped, he couldn't move his body. Golden shimmering chains covered with black inscriptions, what looked to be runes he had been seeing in the Halls of Asgard.
The supposed Golden Chains had bound him.
Rak could hear it. He heard him, The Skeleton Mage laugh.
As he looked at the Skeleton Mage, he heard him speak.
"I'm Vengeance!"
"THE F*CK YOU ARE!!!", Rak couldn't delay it anymore.
Rak was just having an unlucky day. First, it was his work pressure and now this.
He shrugged off the chain binding him.
Gleipnir a World Item was useless against players with World Items.
It did stop his charge but he didn't lose his stats pertaining to physical aspects of his character and was able to easily shrug it off.
'This should be a World Item.'
Spells rained down on Mors. Mors taking advantage of the surroundings dived into the forest. He maneuvered through the forest. Taking trees as covers, he ran.
Now, it was Rak who was confused. Wouldn't the spell activate near him and not on them?
Wouldn't they be out of the range of the spell?
"But no matter, it doesn't change the fact that he attacked us."
"We don't have much time. Ignore him and let's find the item that started this."
"Possibly this could be the work of a World Item."
"True, but why did he run away? He couldn't be thinking of jumping on us after the spell is activated."
As Mors escaped into the woods, Rak's guildmates assembled near him pitching in their ideas.
Rak was confused by his action. But he knew that he couldn't underestimate players from The Root.
The Guild that he thinks the skeleton mage belonged to.
"It doesn't sit right with me to leave him alone. Who knows what he is up to?"
"Fine, how about we split up?"
"That will do"
They were hurrying to find him.
Half the players Sped through the plains to the source of the mist. While the rest rushed into the woods to find him.
And they found him fast.
He wasn't hiding.
He was right there, in the open.
Mors was sitting on a stone in a comfortable position, looking at them.
Alas, it was too late. The hand was just one tick away from striking the final mark.
They were sad to have failed him from activating the skill but we're elevated to be outside the range of the spell.
Still, it eluded Rak. What use was it to activate a skill with no enemies in the range of the skill?
He looked up, to see the army of players rushing towards the source of the mist.
An army that dwarfs the Raid party. All of Asgard was on the move.
Asgard hosted the highest player base in the whole of Yggdrasil. Though the player base of Yggdrasil had decreased. Asgard was still in a league of its own.
The number of players in Asgard was equal to the number of players in three or four other worlds.
Though it boasted the highest player base, the unity among them was non-existent.
It still had more players than what few Worlds had in their prime.
Asgard called for players. It was the home of Gods, which players wouldn't desire to build their home base in Asgard.
Asgard was also the world that had been explored the most. Most of Asgard had been mapped.
It was an advantage that came with a larger player base.
Rak, contemplating the Skeleton Mage's action was hesitant to rush in blindly.
It was until the needle struck its final mark.
Twelve seconds had passed.
"NO.."
"What?"
Hearing his teammate shout, he didn't even get the time to respond.
In that instant, death had descended.
Silence encapsulated the World.
The Eclipse class was unique. Only a few managed to acquire it. Its description spoke for itself. The flavour text or the lore of the class. "Only overlords who have truly mastered death can acquire this class and eat away at all life like the sun is eaten away at in a solar eclipse."
The mist that had almost covered the whole of the World, converged and diverged.
They the players despite the Instant Death protection had been receiving damage from the curse, negative and plague. It was continuous damage, they had been building upon it, but their recovery and consumption of health potions aided their endeavors.
Their Instant Death protection had been penetrated, the mist claimed the lives of all who had been in the World.
Rak, couldn't speak. Or it would have been better to say that he tried to speak but wasn't able to produce any sound.
Every player, NPC and Monster in Asgard was now officially dead except for those carrying World Items and World Enemies.
Since the Mist had successfully managed to cover the whole of Asgard, a World had been plagued. Which prompted the summoning of The Slight Goddess.
She had arrived to collect the souls.
All players and NPCs in the game had been hit by a no respawn penalty for 30 minutes.
That wasn't the end of it. They also lost a single Racial Class and were reset to level 1.
Unlike Endless Abyss, they didn't have to earn double the experience to level up and no revival for one day.
Rak stood there standing seeing his guildmates and players fall. Bodies raining Down from the skies of Asgard.
He stood there watching it all.
He and everyone who had watched him activate the skill linked it with Banshee's Cry.
It wasn't their fault. Mors had portrayed it as such.
Seeing only Rak survive from those who chased him here, Mors spoke to him.
"What was it that you were saying?"
"Amazing, this is mind-blowing. How did you do it?"
"A magician never reveals his secret."
"A Magician huh! Quite the role-playing. Now shall we get started?"
"Let's get to it."
As Rak tightened his grip on his sword, he watched as the Skeleton Mage took out a black helmet from his inventory.
It was his instinct to use appraisal on every item. But he wasn't able to find anything about it.
'A World Item. How many world items does this guy or his guild even have? It is crazy as it is, this guy alone managed to kill almost the whole of Asgard. Could this get any worse? Let's just get this over with.'
Bruce wore his Helm of Darkness and with it, he retrieved Zeus Wrath.
Seeing the Skeleton Mage take out another weapon, Rak was flabbergasted.
'Yet another World Item. Just how many of it does he have?'
"I can guess as to what you might be thinking but desperate times call for desperate measures."
"It is just us two here. After killing all those players, you aren't nervous now, are you? I am World Champion after all"
"Not quite right, I have fought World Champions and even won. My schedule is packed up. I don't have much time that I could give you. I would have enjoyed fighting you without these but I have somewhere else to be."
"Huh?"
"You don't think that this is the only World we are attacking do you?"
"I get it now. That's the reason it's just you here."
"Yes, let's get this over with. I also have to aid my guildmates."
"If you don't mind answering. What's your name?"
"Mors. World Champion of Asgard I am Mors, your friendly neighborhood Overlord."
Rak didn't wait for the call, as he rushed towards Mors. Lightning strikes the place he was standing before. As Mors had raised the Zeus Wrath to the sky.
A barrage of lightning struck near Mors, creating an effective shield against Rak's advancement.
'Seeing it being inspired by Greek Mythology. An item belonging to Hades, I had expected it to be related to the undead but it's quite different.
The helmet helps me pass through any barriers and walls plus it makes me invisible. There is also the effect of fear and madness debuff with the Aura of Death to those who look upon me and to those I use it on.
Lastly, it can create chains that sprout from the ground, those who are touched by the chains are pulled into the underworld.
With an instant death skill, those without instant death protection will be unable to free themselves of the chain except for those who have equipped a World Item.
Lastly, it can summon shadow construct. Creatures of shadow, the monster made of shadow.
I would have expected it to be able to summon undead, seeing that it is Hade's artifact but whatever.'
Shadow constructs rose from the ground following Mors' arm. His gestures summoning more of those shadow armies. The shadow constructs had the appearance of imps, wolves and many more.
'These guys are similar to what Shaltear summoned in Overlord. In the fight against Momonga.'
All of them simultaneously attacked Rak. The fight continued as Mors kept on summoning shadow constructs and undead using his spells and skills and also enhancing them with his abilities and skills.
The fight continued, Rak could do nothing but defend as he was forced to face those summons. He swung his weapon, and with every swing, the enemies disappeared. They were killed with every attack but the number kept on increasing. While fighting them he was subjected to lightning strikes back-to-back.
Paired with attacks from Mors he was down on his last leg.
'Weapons or World Item in general focus on only one aspect. They have only one ability and are unrivaled in that aspect. There are a few exceptions though, those are the mythological and divine weapons of the Gods and the Heroes. They have multiple abilities but not all of them are absolute abilities, most of them are just add-ons.'
{Super Tier Magic, Fallen Down}
Mors with the super-tier spell managed to eliminate Rak, The World Champion of Asgard.
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As fate would have it, the Raid continued.
It was a massive success, they had managed to raid 4 Worlds and successfully defeat a horde of players and monsters. Though they didn't intrude on the guilds they still got a lot of loot.
Bruce was now sitting at the top of the Castle of All-Knowing Father. The Castle is of Gods, as he watched the whole Centre City.
He had also acquired quite a haul from this raid. Especially the World Items,
The Caduceus, A World Item that has the power to revive players, Monsters, summons and NPCs. No Limit to amount of players that can revived once activated. Usable only once per day.
Those revived face no experience penalties.
Aegis, A Shield World Item, similar to Achilles Shield but unlike it, this can reflect all skills and spells. The user can't equip any other weapon when holding the shield. This can be used to reflect all attacks but is of no use against physical attacks.
Anubis, A long obsidian black staff. A red orb at the top held by grey roots coiled with the Staff.
An undead summoning staff. The symbolisation of the Power of The God of Death.
Erebus, Erebus is capable of inflicting a massively powerful area of effects on targets with a positive karma value across the entire world. Alternative of Ahura Mazda.
Morpheus, A World With the Power of Dreams. Can be used to put the players or targets to sleep, spanning the whole world. An item that can be used to control their dream. Plus the ability to show a good dream or experience nightmares.
Can also be used to create a phobia. The phobia or the fear inflicted upon the target is random.
Styx, A World Item, that can be used by a player to drag any target into a spiritual realm. The river separates the world of living and dead. Both the user and target aren't able to use their power here. While their body is immobilised in the Real World. A sitting target for the allies of the user or the target pulled into the space.
The spiritual realm cannot be breached by anyone, even those with World Items.
The target is not affected by the pull if he so possesses a World Item. Other World Item holders or other entities can't spy on or detect the realm or its activation.
Bow of Artemis, The legendary Golden Bow from the Greek Mythology. Never misses a target. The bow does not require arrows. The Bow has the strength and prowess to affect the terrain and afflict different conditions to the target.
Holy Grail, A healing-type artefact. A World Item with the power to heal.
Atlas, A World Item that has the power to locate any player, object, monster, or NPC. With the power to teleport the objects and players as per user discretion. Also, can be used to teleport the user to the said object, player or location with no Limit. Even has the power to bypass barriers created by Other World Items like Ouroboros.
These were the World Items he acquired from the Raid with another World Item from an event.
He like every time rushed to complete the event. It was the fight against The Prince of Abyss. After defeating all Lord of Sins in the past, when he fought and won against the Prince of Abyss, he got the World Item, Yggdrasil Leaf.
Yggdrasil Leaf, The World Item, with the power to create a barrier. A dome barrier blocks players from entering or leaving the dome. The land is transported to different dimensions. It's a shield or barrier-creating item to protect against intruders.
Similar to the World Separating Wall, a Wild Magic spell was used by PDL.
The Raid was a success.
Bruce in his Doppelgänger form kept looking at the city. He had been silent the whole time.
'It's been 7 years since the beginning of the game. Within a couple of months, it's going to be 8 years. Only four years will be left before I will be gone from this World.'
His gaze lingered on the Halls of Valhalla before he stood up.
"Veni, Vedi, Vici"
[ I came, I saw, I conquered. ]
His muttering lingered in the Palace as he teleported from his place.
Sooner had he teleported, players started appearing in the Centre City of Asgard. The City that had been empty till now was now filled with players as they spawned in the city. Soon the city of Asgard was filled with players appearing or after reviving when they were killed by the Spring of Calamity.
In the year 2133, The Root had declared War on four Worlds of Yggdrasil. Where Bruce alone managed to conquer Asgard and kill off all the players in the World.
While his Guildmates eliminated the players in Jotunheim, Midgard and Alfheim.
The Root didn't attack any Guild, all they did was eliminate the players, NPCs and Monsters they got their hands on. It was yet another milestone achieved by Bruce in Yggdrasil Game.
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**The End**
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