My heart filled with satisfaction when I saw the Widowmakers’ confidence and calm collapse. More and more chaotic movements, panicked screams and cries of pain. I caught plenty of hits, but my health hadn’t fallen by even a single percent yet— Diamond Skin of Justice had activated.
Only in the air did I remember my pets, who were now at my level. I summoned Iggv the swamp needier and Storm the dragoness, and together we rushed to help the raptor and insectoid clear the castle walls—I needed to stock up on my supply of Serendipity and level up Reaper’s Scythes. I didn’t count on getting much experience. I was at least a hundred and sixty levels above the castle defenders.
A shimmering semitransparent circle moved along the earth before me, showing the effect of Spirit Shackles: the ephemeral shadows of the fallen were pulled into a barely visible black dot in the center of the circle. My inventory was constantly taking in new items. My logs reported thousands of Serendipity points coming in with each kill.
“Watch out, boss!” Nega shouted from below, pointing out the danger.
A stone pillar covered in gleaming runes was growing right beneath me, tongues of flame running along its length. They rose in circles from the foot to the tip, where they melded together into a growing fireball.
Innoruuk’s Burning Pillar of Hatred, castle of the Widowmakers, level 395
Divine defensive structure.
I dashed away from the defensive artifact, but pillars just like it began to break through all over, surrounding Sharkon and the guardians.
“Sharkon, smash!” Flavgray shouted, pointing at the nearest pillar.
In that same instant, the charged artifacts shot out strings of blinding white plasma, hitting all of us. The health of all the guardians except Sharkon fell into the red zone. And the pillars began to charge up again.
Diamond Skin took the damage that hit me. It was in the last few seconds of its timer, and it was a chance to attack the nearest Innoruuk’s Burning Pillar ofHati’ed before Immortality had to activate.
The guardians followed, attacking the closest pillars to them, knowing that if they weren’t quick enough, they would die forever. Sharkon opened his mouth and span his drill head stubbornly, trying to break open another pillar.
My fists shrouded in Reaper’s Scythes fired off a full Combo series mixed with Stunning Kicks until the pillar’s light died before it could fire off its plasma beams. The guardians also managed to neutralize their own, and the rest were too far away to hit them.
I took off and counted nine more Innoruuk’s Burning Pillars of Hati’ed. And they were all charged. Castle defenders were clustered beneath each of them, pressed against each other.
The battle paused for a few seconds. The guardians were waiting for my command, Sharkon covering them from enemy fire. A tall elf girl with a familiar snow-white braid on her shoulder separated from a group of Widowmakers. Eileen.
“I want to talk, Scyth!” she shouted loudly.
“We could have talked yesterday,” I muttered, soaring away behind her.
“A hundred million if you leave the castle and go!” Eileen screamed. “Right now! And fifty more as compensation for the kidnapping!”
“Agree, boss!” I heard Nega shout from below, apparently unaware of the chain of command.
She shouted something else, but two explosions in a row— Plague-Fury on the Burning Pillars and Sleeping Vindication to kill the players,—drowned out both the succubus’ advice and Eileen’s voice.
The white flash uprooted the columns and carried them over the castle walls, obliterating them in flight. The invisible lash of the Sleepers whipped the preventers into a bloody dust without hitting my minions.
They roared in ecstasy and raced after me to finish off the survivors.
A few minutes later, I floated above the castle, seeing who was left. Storm and Iggy were patrolling the perimeter of the clan graveyard, killing anyone who avoided Spirit Shackles and managed to respawn there.
The castle with its grounds was several times the size of our fort. I flew around a while, cleaning up the hunters turned hunted. I spotted some merchant rows, a little market square, a small but imposing temple to Nergal, a farm, storehouses… The Widowmakers castle was like a small town, home not only to players, but NPCs as well, laying down their lives for the defense. It felt a shame to kill them, but there was no way around it—the NPCs aggressed on their own, and they were furious. I raised the dead and sent them to patrol the streets. Worst case, they’d die and strengthen the guardians and Sharkon.
My supply of Serendipity exceeded eight hundred thousand out of the million I needed. Reaper’s Scythes had reached level six. I whittled the defenders down to mercenaries, NPC guards and the Widowmakers themselves. It seemed Eileen couldn’t publicly admit that I’d escaped, and didn’t ask for help when we showed her we intended to attack. Why hadn’t she gone to the Children of Kratos for help? Was she too proud to admit to weakness?
My surveillance flight ended before I could figure it out. No one remained alive as far as I could see. The graveyard stopped emitting Storm’s roars, Iggv’s rattles and the pained screams of players.
Burning with petty vengeance, I sent Sharkon to destroy Nergal’s temple, then took the guardians and walked into the castle. Although ‘walked’ isn’t quite the word—first we had to break down the massive adamantite entrance doors, reinforced with a mass of defensive spells.
“Let me, boss,” Nega said, moving me aside.
The succubus cracked her whip, sending golden sparks all down its length. The charges flowed into the door, spread across its surface and… The doors opened.
“Any time,” Nega said, curtsying.
Not long ago, with just this kind of event in mind, I’d asked Gyula to show me where the control crystal is housed in castles of various levels. Any castle grew from a fort, which had the control crystal in the headquarters. Our headquarters was in a separate, but
