< < Now Entering > >

< Stage 4 >

< Siege of the Elphin Sanctuary >

< 20-minute Timer >

Adam led their carriage through the stone gate to the Elphin Sanctuary. The living roots writhed around on the walls of the city and he stared at them while the horses pulled the vehicle into the city.

No matter how many times I experience this sensation, it's still super uncomfortable being puppeteered like this.

His hands moved the reins as though he was an expert driver, and the horses followed his commands without question. The city's many citizens watched him suspiciously from the buildings and walkways above, and the guards on the ground followed along beside the carriage.

Belamouranthe had her face pressed up against the window in the vehicle's door and he noticed many of the guards staring at her while they kept track with him.

Then Adam blinked and his surroundings changed.

He was standing in the pit at the centre of the Sanctuary, a place full of uncomfortable memories.

This time it will be different, he promised himself. This time I'll save Bel.

The girl's mother, the Elphin Queen, stood before him. The first time he'd been here, he'd thought her tall and strikingly-beautiful figure was alluring, but now he hated the sight of her. Still, she looked so similar to Belamouranthe thanks to her long golden hair.

Unlike last time, she wore a tight-fitting emerald-green dress made with a barely-perceptible pattern of overlapping leaves. This was the dress Bel had worked together with Weaver to come up with and it suited the Queen's ashen skin well.

Her glowing orange-yellow eyes burned into Adam's and her horns rose above her like the roots of a great tree. The smaller horns that sprouted around the top of her scalp and created an impression of a crown was like a match for the iron one that Adam wore.

His eyes shifted to the translucent-red wing that hung down her back. It contrasted the green dress starkly and he wondered if he pulled it out whether it would grant him a special reward or not.

Adam's gaze shifted down to Bel's face. She was holding her mother's hand and grinning. Her face portrayed a blissful ignorance that made his chest hurt.

The Queen smiled widely, revealing sharp carnivore teeth. "My gratitude, Traveller, for returning mine daughter to me. At last, she can fulfil her destiny and bring prosperity to our people."

Adam looked to the side where a runner came down the steps into the pit where they were gathered.

"Mine Queen!" he exclaimed. "The enemies are at our walls!"

"The Forlorn King truly believes he can defeat me?" the queen asked defiantly. Her eyes moved across the warriors surrounding her and Adam. "Defend the Sanctuary and slay every last invader!"

"I will lend my aid to your people," Adam said, though the words were not his.

Ugh, he thought.

Having the System decide what he was supposed to say felt awful and he feared how it would be used in future Stages. The fact that the System even had the ability to control him in these cutscenes proved just how powerful it was. How would it even be possible to defeat such an entity.

Surely these Trials are just an idle game it plays to pass the time. If it is an infinite being it is no doubt bored of the monotony of existence, so I'm sure my species' suffering must be entertaining somehow.

And if not that, then the petty drama with other incomprehensible deities taking part in the Trials, like Nwetrou and whoever it got the Dimensional Cores from, would help stave off its boredom.

He looked back at the Queen.

"I will prepare the Ritual of Adherence while you help protect this Sanctuary," she said.

Then he was released and once again able to control his own body. The stone eye that could activate Hardmode floated out from behind him, but he ignored it. Emelia had told him what it did in this Stage, and he was not interested in experiencing that. After all, it would make the normal soldiers stronger and give all the mini bosses much more powerful shadow-based attacks.

"Everybody!" he shouted, and all the Elphin warriors stopped. "Remain around the pit and protect your Queen! A few of you should gather the rest of your kind from around the city and tell them to come here. Do not throw your lives away for nothing! Let me show you how to win this unfair fight that has come to your city!"

Their united voices called back to him, and it was clear they would follow his commands.

At least this part is easier since I know they can be controlled.

Adam looked down at the gauntlets on his hands. They had been re-equipped after he'd gone to sleep, along with the rest of his gear, which was odd.

I wonder if the Elphin will pop like the Slothling Imps when they die due to this Relic's effect?

As the Elphin mostly remained on the stone steps of the stepwell-like pit, a handful of runners went off in different directions to bring the rest of the defenders here. He highly doubted they would lose if they concentrated all their defenders on this place, rather than spread out to defend each individual breach. After all, the Elphin had archers and the enemy did not, aside from the one mini boss that he was still terrified to encounter.

[Stage Four is the first Stage in the Trials that does not feature Wa—]

"Skip."

< < Stage Objectives > >

< Defend the Ritual Site for 20 minutes >

< Defeat the Forlorn Captain >

< Slay all invaders >

As Elphin flowed in from various parts of the city to the centre, Adam ran up the steps leading out of the pit.

[The 20-minute Timer has begun,] the Eye announced and the Hardmode orb vanished.

He immediately summoned his barrier behind himself as he reached the top of the ritual site, then he used it to push himself towards the north where Emelia had told all of them about the hidden Relic Chest atop one of the towering buildings.

The city was no less jaw-dropping than the first time he'd seen it, but this time he didn't stop and stare.

His boots tore up the mossy ground until he hit one of the stone roads designed for carriages. Around him the four-storey towers of lashed-together boulders covered in writhing roots rushed past.

Then he realised he could go even faster. He slowed to a halt briefly and then smacked the barrier into the ground repeatedly to trigger Last Stand's Fervour. With the barrier glowing an ominous red, he put it behind himself and continued forward. In his head he counted down the 10 seconds until it would explode.

It was a huge boost in speed, which no doubt meant the various speed effects on his barrier were multiplicative. He just hadn't noticed it until now since it was hard to gauge based on the rotations of his sawblade shape.

The loud thrumming wail of a horn announced the true beginning to the Stage, but Adam knew he was close to his destination. An explosion quickly followed the horn as a breach was blown open in the wall. Since he'd called away the defenders, he needed to hurry up and get over there to eliminate the invaders.

Emelia had described the particular building as one with a small red maple tree growing from half-way up and red berry bushes dotted sporadically along its length.

Adam skidded several metres and stopped almost directly in front of the exact building, then he flung his barrier away and it exploded harmlessly into the air, none of its fragments reaching him.

It'll be too slow to go up the stairwell inside, he thought. Especially since my Speed is only 85%, even with the Slothling Fur Coat.

He summoned a new barrier, flipped it horizontally and then climbed on board. It immediately cracked under him and triggered Last Stand's Fervour, but that was exactly what he'd been hoping for.

With a gesture, he lifted the barrier up towards the top of the tower, moving faster than any elevator he'd ever used.

He climbed off and onto the building which was about six metres wide and eight long, then flung the barrier away out of sight where it soon exploded. In front of him was a wood and stone chest.

[You have discovered a Relic Chest!]

[Unlike the chest at the end of a Stage, this chest's reward options cannot be rerolled.]

Should I use the Lucky Stone? he wondered, putting his hand in his pocket to feel the Relic he still kept there.

"Is it possible to use the Lucky Stone on this?"

[Yes.]

He thought about it for a few precious seconds.

What I really need is the Captain's Cape, but just using the Lucky Stone won't make it appear. It'll just guarantee I get at least Rare quality options. It could be anything that shows up.

I'll save it for now.

Adam kicked the chest and it popped open. He recognised the first option as the Affliction Ward, but the second, a necklace made of translucent red pearls, was new to him. It was also Epic. The last option was a rare rusted chest armour like what the Forlorn soldiers wore.

< < Relics Available > >

< Affliction Ward (Uncommon) — Negate any Affliction. Breaks after use >

< Queen's Pendant (Epic) — Sacrifice the nearest subordinate ally to negate the damage from an attack. 1-minute cooldown | Wearer is afflicted by Curse, increasing damage taken by 10% | Wearer is afflicted by Scorn, removing all beneficial effects of Worship >

< Forlorn Cuirass (Rare) — Reduces damage received against anywhere below the neck by 75%. Increases damage received against head by 200%. Breaks after 6 hits | Reduces Movement Speed by 30% >

Holy shit!

He immediately pulled off the All-Mother's Wrath around his neck and stuffed it in his pocket with the Lucky Stone. Then he selected the Pendant.

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< < Relic Selected > >

< Queen's Pendant (Epic) >

[You have been afflicted with Curse. Damage taken increased by 10%.]

[You have been afflicted with Scorn. All beneficial effects of Worship removed.]

I wonder what Emelia would say to this Relic. It's possible that the Scorn affliction greatly outweighs the damage-negation effect, although right now it shouldn't do anything.

Adam summoned another barrier, but instead of using it like an elevator again, he scaled down the side of the tower to reserve his Mana. The moment he reached the ground he would run back towards the city centre to hopefully cut off the invaders led by the Forlorn Knight with the greatsword.

Since my crown has that 'Subordinate Ally' reference and affects my summons, then the Pendant should work with my barrier too. The real question now is what is defined as an 'attack'.

He looked down at the ground below.

I doubt falling from here and landing on my head would be considered an attack. Best be careful.

He had to climb around one of the red berry bushes since it was full of thorns, but after that he was able to drop the last two metres and land on the soft mossy ground.

With his barrier pushing him from the back, he returned to the ritual site.

This pendant gives a pretty big clue about the Elphin Queen, Adam thought to himself as the buildings rushed past him.

She is scorned by her God, the All-Mother, and so she seeks to use her daughter, whose blood is special somehow, to open the way to a forbidden temple underground. Given that she's scorned, I doubt that finding a different God will help.

I wonder what happens when I give Belamouranthe the All-Mother's Wrath necklace? How will the Forbidden Altar be opened then?

There were other Elphin children in the city, but I don't think she'd use any of them.

He pushed the thoughts aside as he saw the Elphin defenders fighting the Forlorn invaders near the Sanctuary's centre. The soldiers accompanying the knight were full of arrows from the many archers in the walkways above them, and only a few defenders had perished.

Adam skidded along the ground as he moved the barrier out in front of himself and shaped it into the narrow cone. The Forlorn Knight had black smoke billowing out from his helmet and killed a new defender with every strike of his greatsword that landed. The sun from above was incapable of illuminating him properly as though the shadowy smoke repelled it.

The twelve Forlorn soldiers around the knight wore dark rusted armour while the Elphin might as well have been naked given that they just used silk and bark as protection.

However, now that Adam was here, those Elphin that suffered grievous wounds started to glow red from their eyes as the Last Stand effect of his Dented Crown took hold.

Damn, I thought it would work no matter the distance, but it seems to require me to be within sight of the subordinate allies…

One of the Elphin with Last Stand's Fervour tore through several Forlorn soldiers with his sword, cleaving off limbs left and right.

Remembering how he'd fought the knight last time, Adam sent his cone-shape right into the towering invader's hip and let it unfurl.

The barrier was cracked from striking the armour aggressively, but the result was glorious as the knight was split into two and fell over. With the Last Stand triggered, Adam shaped the cracked barrier into a sawblade with as many teeth as he could manage. Then he spun it up and drove it down onto the knight's armoured neck.

Sparks and shredded metal flew all around until suddenly replaced with black blood. The knight's head was cut off and he immediately died. With his death, the soldiers became susceptible to mortal wounds. Given that they were all pierced through by arrows and had suffered grievous injuries, their deaths followed shortly after their leader.

The soul essences of all the Forlorn dying at once flew into the Wraith Lantern while he quickly switched to the wand for the upgrade reward.

< Choose your Upgrade >

Two overlapping shrieks preceded a pair of wraiths shooting out from his Relic. They floated in front of Adam while the Eye unfolded itself into a podium.

"Go!" he told them, knowing there were more enemies beyond the walls of the city.

But the wraiths did not listen.

After a moment of just floating there they returned to the lantern.

Goddamn it!

I thought they'd seek the nearest enemy in the Stage, but it seems they have to have line-of-sight. What a waste of souls…

He quickly looked through the upgrades.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spell Size (Uncommon) — Increases spell size by 30% >

< Casting Effect (Rare) — Increases casting responsiveness by 35% >

< Defence (Uncommon) — Increases all defence by 10% >

Defence is good, but with my new pendant I should be alright for now.

What I really need are two more wand upgrades to be able to evolve Summoner into Invoker. That should be my focus right now, unless I get Luck as an option.

He selected Casting Effect since the Spell Size would probably mess with his barrier.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Casting Effect (Rare) >

With his selection done, he once again ordered the Elphin to guard the ritual site. Then he used his barrier to push himself towards the east, just as an explosion echoed out across the city.

I'm faster than last time, even with the detour to grab the Relic Chest.

Still, there's no way I can get the Speedrun and kill the Secret Boss.

After all, Emelia had said the Speedrun required you to beat the Stage in 5 minutes or less, which was pretty absurd given that it had taken him 17 minutes last time.

When the eastern breach came into view, Adam moved the barrier out in front of him and skidded along the ground until he came to a stop. Twelve Forlorn soldiers charged in his direction and atop the wall stood a tall dark shadow. He angled the barrier thirty degrees along its vertical axis with the hope that it could deflect the knight's enormous projectile. It'd almost killed him last time, so he was on guard.

A glint from the mini boss caught his eye and he flung the barrier forward while moving to the side.

A thick crossbow bolt struck his defence and went right through, whizzing by his head with only half a metre between them.

Shit… Okay, my barrier is not great for defending against piercing attacks…

With the massive hole in its shape and enough damage to crack it, the barrier became red as Fervour triggered. Adam quickly shaped it into a sword-like shape and spun it horizontally at neck-level, then moved it right into the incoming soldier's path. They were too slow to avoid it and the frontmost four were immediately decapitated on impact.

At the same time, Adam ran towards the wall that the Forlorn Knight stood atop. He had only a few more seconds before the mini boss would fire another bolt.

The soul essences of the dead soldiers flew into Adam's Wraith Lantern and a shriek cut through the air as a wraith emerged. This one was more detailed than the previous two, which to him indicated that the greatsword knight's soul had been used for its creation.

He summoned another barrier while the wraith shot forward with a swipe of its claws, immediately killing two soldiers by shredding their heads and necks into bits.

[Warning! Mana below 25%.]

Adam stumbled a step but quickly recovered.

I've got one more summon left in the tank after this one.

Soul essences flew into his lantern as the first wraith continued fucking up the soldiers thanks to Fervour. Just as Adam threw himself out of the way of the knight's next shot, a wraith was summoned and immediately flew up to the mini boss on the wall.

Of the four Forlorn Knights, the crossbow wielding one was definitely the creepiest. Thanks to the black cloth that covered his body and the shadows that clung to him like a veil he looked like an incarnation of Death itself. The black smoke billowing out from the depths of his drawn hood also really added to the creepiness factor.

The knight swung his enormous crucifix-shaped crossbow at the wraith, but it passed right through. Then the ghost shot forward with a swipe of its rending claws. Frost bloomed up the side of the boss' body as the claw wounds manifested. With its opening attack done, the wraith went into Last Stand's Fervour and absolutely shredded the boss.

Instead of stopping, Adam ran through the breach as the mini boss and soldiers perished to his wraiths. He made sure to switch to the wand before the notification hit him.

< Choose your Upgrade >

Once it was clear the knight was dead, he switched back to his spell-tome, while moving towards the storage-like hut on the other side of the wall. Forlorn guards stood in front of the hut and the black Relic Chest sat behind them just waiting to be looted.

Unlike the soldiers that accompanied the knight on the wall, these men were not affected by its death, perhaps because their fates were tied to that of the captain.

It didn't matter though, because the last few soul essences followed him out through the breach in the wall and fuelled his Wraith Lantern for another charge. The ghost shrieked as it was summoned.

Adam flung his barrier out in front of him and swung it in a cleaver shape, chopping off heads left and right.

All of them died in short order and yet another wraith was summoned from their soul essences. It disappeared along with the previous one before either could fully expire and explode from his Cruel Gauntlets' effect.

I should probably swap the Gauntlets, he thought to himself.

As he approached the black chest, he remembered that he was supposed to collect the Hearts of Darkness that the Forlorn possessed.

Damn, can't believe I forgot…

There's too much to keep track of here.

[You have discovered a Relic Chest!] the Eye announced while Adam quickly got to work chopping up one of the dead soldiers.

Before checking out the Relics he peeled open the corpse with the cleaver-shaped barrier. It was grisly work, but after a few moments he revealed the Forlorn soldier's heart. It looked like a shrivelled raisin. Despite his apprehensions, he reached down and yanked it free.

Nothing happened when he pulled it out.

"Is this not a Collectible Relic?" he asked the Eye.

[No.]

He tossed the blackened heart aside with an annoyed grunt.

Maybe only the knights and the captain possess the special hearts?

Adam sighed and wiped his bloodied and foul-smelling hands on the mossy ground. Then he opened the chest. Inside was a flask with oily liquid, a cape, and a plague-doctor mask replete with a beak and weird goggles.

< < Relics Available > >

< Tainted Oil (Uncommon) — The Player's weapons are coated with the darkness of the Forlorn, imbuing their attacks with Taint, lowering target's Stamina regeneration by 40% for 30 seconds. The coating lasts for 2 Stages, after which the Relic disappears >

< Captain's Cape (Rare) — Increases Movement Speed of allies by 10% | Increases Attack Speed by 25% >

< Plague-Spreader Mask (Rare) — Afflictions jump to nearest available target within 10 metres when afflicted opponent dies >

I got the cape! Lucky!

That mask is new, but it sounds like it has the potential to work in terrible ways, depending on how 'available target' is interpreted, since it may affect allies and even me. Still, Stage Four is great for anyone with an affliction build. There are so many options to choose between. I wonder if the Overflow Diadem and Mask would be possible to wield together, because that would be incredibly powerful.

Regardless, the choice was obvious.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Captain's Cape (Rare) >

Adam grinned as the cape appeared on his back.

This loop was going really well for him. The pessimistic part of his brain was wondering when things would take a turn for the worse.

An explosion echoed across the city and the clearing it was situated within, originating in the west. Then another came from around the same place a moment later.

He moved the barrier around his back and returned to the breach. The crossbow knight's corpse had fallen off the wall and landed inside the city. Its head was separated from the rest of its mangled mess of a body. Both of its arms and one of its legs remained above on the wall, and its torso was already mostly open.

With a few quick slashes of his barrier, Adam was able to break open its chest. Inside was another blackened raisin although this one was slightly bigger. When he pulled it free a System message appeared.

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Heart of Darkness (Common) — A heart borne by those who gorge on darkness >

He pulled the Spidersilk Sack from his back pocket and tossed the heart inside, then tied the sack to the back of his belt.

The Eye was unfolded into an upgrade podium nearby and he was glad to see that it showed upgrades for Summoner, since it meant he'd timed it correctly.

Alright, here we go. With this upgrade I'll finally get Invoker!

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spell Damage (Uncommon) — Increases spell damage by 10% >

< Casting Efficiency (Rare) — Reduces casting cost by 15% >

< Movement (Uncommon) — Increases movement speed by 10% >

The choice was obvious, and he picked damage.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spell Damage (Uncommon) >

The wand hanging from his belt started to glow golden and after the Eye reverted to its cube shape, the weapon exploded into golden particles that it sucked up.

[Your Summoner Weapon Type has reached Level 6.]

[At Level 6, your Weapon Type can be evolved in one of two possible directions.]

The cube changed into a pyramid shape and dropped to the ground. Two holograms appeared on either side of it. The one on the left was a longer reddish-brown wand formed of one gnarled piece of wood, while the one on the right was almost identical to the original bleached one, except instead of a red lace string it now had a blue one with a little silver bell at the end.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Elementalist — Unlock four elemental effect patterns to boost the versatility of spells >

< Invoker — Increase summon count by 1 >

Adam picked the Invoker without even hesitating.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Summoner => Invoker >

The wand reappeared in his right hand and the spell-tome was unequipped to his left hip. A pyramid gem appeared in front of him and flew into his chest.

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

I can't wait to try this out!

He switched back to the spell-tome and continued on his way.

Fortunately, the barrier he already had summoned didn't suddenly gain a duplicate, possibly because the evolution's effect wasn't retroactive. He was rather happy about that, since wielding two barriers simultaneously would be hard to figure out while he was in a hurry, though he knew he'd still have to tackle that issue before he took on the Aristocrat.

Adam continued towards the centre of the city with his barrier pushing him forward. It had gotten faster again, thanks to the cape. It was a bit strange he thought, since it specifically stated 'Movement Speed', which he assumed would exclude the lifeless summon and only affect his wraith and imp summons.

Glad to be proven wrong though.

For some reason however, the boost to attack speed didn't seem to be applied to the spell and he wondered why, but guessed it had to do with how he was currently using the barrier.

Maybe it's about the intentions behind the movements of the spell?

He pushed aside this speculation for now as he rushed towards the next battle. He was also formulating a strategy for how to give himself enough time to take on the Forlorn Aristocrat. However, his best idea came from an old zombie game he'd played, so he wasn't sure if it would be effective or not.

I've just gotta give it a try.

The sounds of fighting came closer as he tore across the city.

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