Ananizarte, Goddess of Darkness, dealt you 4350 damage!
You are dying! 60 seconds left till final death! 59...58...57…
“Pathetic tricks of the grey swindler didn’t help much, did they?” I heard her voice. “Raghel can attack in three dimensions at once. There is no salvation from it!”
I saw her change the grip of her invisible blade, turning its sharp point downward to deal the final blow.
Ananizarte, the Goddess of Darkness, killed you! You are dead.
I lost. I was ready to see the respawn point, but for some reason, I was still there.
A message appeared before me.
The Soulbinding Stone retained the hold of your soul and may return you to life. Do you wish to respawn? Yes/No
The goddess, having lost all interest in me, turned back and stepped away, furiously yelling at the empty space,
“Tormis, you craven bastard! Come out, loser!”
Yes.
I stood back up. Only a third of my health remained, but I didn’t need any more. Just one step, one perfectly calculated strike — just below her shoulder blade, next to the edge of her flowing black mane. Aelmaris flashed triumphantly and pierced Ananizarte right through. She didn’t get the time to turn around or scream. She simply disappeared.
You dealt 3500 true fire damage to Ananizarte, the Goddess of Darkness! Souls eaten: +1!
Attention: Ananizarte is a non-playing character of rank 8 who is unable to respawn. You have absorbed her soul! You have absorbed the soul of the leader of the House of Darkness! You receive 1,000,000 XP! You receive 5 free attribute points!
Attention: a divine entity is sealed inside your sword. Your sword gains a new ability: Night Sentinel! When unsheathed, it inflicts Dread (5/10) on all surrounding characters.
Unique achievement unlocked: Scourge of God! You receive... You receive...
Dumfounded, I watched the imploded log that showed more and more lines, unable to believe what had just happened. It felt as if the system had gone mad, immediately gifting me millions of experience and dozens of free attribute points for achievements.
A second later, a man in a brown robe manifested by my side. He threw me a probing look, and for the first time, I could see his face, usually hidden in the shadow of his hood.
“Why didn’t you kill her?” Tormis demanded.
“You didn’t pay for it,” I smirked, holding his gaze.
Chapter 24
WE SPENT several seconds trying to stare each other down until I realized that I was looking at nothing. Tormis had disappeared.
Yellow light burst out next to the destroyed wall of the Crystal of Negation. It was so bright that I had to put my hand to my forehead and squint, trying to make out what was going on.
The remains of the Crystal were fading, disappearing without a trace. A building appeared in a golden halo of light, its sharp lines sweeping upward. It reminded me of Gothic cathedrals in European cities — high narrow towers, pointed archways, a facade decorated with bas-reliefs. Sunlight poured out from the open enfilade, as if inviting me in.
Quest completed: The Grand Temple of Shadows!
The main shrine of God Tormis was liberated and restored!
Your reputation with Tormis increased by 5000! Current value: 3910/15000 (Respect)
Come in and claim your reward.
A reward? Now that was something I was always prepared for. I slightly chuckled as I looked at the unsheathed blade of Aelmaris. Who could have thought that by the end of the raid, it would house the leader of the Dark Pantheon? I wondered what it could lead to. My head was bursting with ideas on how to use Ananizarte’s capture in my interests. For instance, how much I could get from, let’s say...
All right. I decided to think it out later and hear out the offers of all interested parties. The main point was not to go too cheap. Until then, time to get Tormis’ goodies.
As I walked to the temple, I examined the remains of the Ancients’ machines and the bodies of fallen monsters and Watchers strewn across the cave. Lots of valuables could be collected there, especially if one went through the destroyed Ziggurat. Ellurite slowly poured out of the broken pillars of edra, streaming down the rough floor in gooey rivulets. There’s an enormous deposit of that precious resource just underground, I realized, gradually recovering from the heat of battle. A gallon of purified ellurite cost several hundred gold at the Bazaar. There was an entire sea of it, millions of gallons! The only problem was that getting it out of Helt Akor would be difficult, considering how hard its mining and processing was. In its natural state, it was too toxic for transportation, as it dissolved the packaging and poisoned all escorts. Still, it was worth consideration, considering the size of the deposit.
Incidentally, how were the Watchers doing? I unmuted the Courier voice channel, but nobody seemed interested in my appearance. Listening to the buzzing conversations, I inferred that after their death, the raid hadn’t been kicked out of Helt Akor. They found themselves in a respawn circle inside the Endless Paths. That could happen only if we happened to be on the same Layer as the Anchors, the NPC faction inhabiting Helt Akor. Only three known settlements with their own resp points existed: on the seventh, eighteenth, and thirty-third Layers. That, however, was not one of them, but rather a completely new and previously undiscovered place. The Crossroads had sent us in the very depths of the Endless Paths where no player had gone before. The Watchers were chattering like monkeys. However, someone had noticed my presence.
Olaf: Are you here? What’s happened, why weren’t you answering?
HotCat: It’s a long story.
Olaf: How did the battle end? I see
