The Fool's Freedom

Alan’s dagger struck only air as the white mass that used to be the throne quickly pulled back the three-eyed man like a safety rope.

The alien stood in place, looking almost confused as he reached for the arrow sticking in his middle eye and wrapped his fingers around the shaft.

His flesh got charred as flames licked the arrow and most likely burned the inside of his brain too. If he had one there. He didn’t seem to care though.

He pulled it out in one swift motion, taking out a bunch of weird flesh and sludge along with it. The monstrous man uttered no sounds of pain nor anger throughout all of this.

Alan used the opportunity to retreat a few steps too. The timer was ticking on his [Monochrome Armor].

Such a wound would’ve ended anyone else.

“Hm. I’ve heard that newly integrated worlds can give birth to interesting class variations. But a simple arrow? Well crafted, well made. Very good. If I didn’t need this place as a base to conquer the rest of the world, I might’ve spared some of you to watch you grow and put you to work. We always need strong servants. Too bad.”

He waved a hand and the white mass behind him surged forward like liquid, creating a dome around the man just in time to stop another hail of arrows and projectiles. Alan distinctly noticed a ball that seemed to be made of shadows crash into the white protective shield.

The attacks left no marks, and the white mass flowed down on the ground becoming a carpet beneath the feet of the three-eyed man.

“Let’s try this again. I am Wuros, and you are in my way.”

There was a flash of blue as a person in a bunny mask briefly appeared near Wuros. Spikes instantly exploded from the carpet of white beneath the alien’s feet, but Top Rabbit was already gone. Alan glimpsed behind and saw him on the edge of the forest of white spikes.

What a fast skill.

What followed was an explosion of electricity that shrouded Wuros for an instant. The bombing seemed to do almost no damage at all, unfortunately.

“Kill the spawn first!”

Rosalyn’s voice echoed as she seemed to have taken upon the role of a general. There was a path of broken spikes leading straight through the field now, and many others had circled and used their range to attack the still unmoving spawn.

I wonder what will happen if the energy counter becomes 100%. This guy seems tough to beat.

Alan moved just in time as spikes of white shot at him and the few who had reached his position. He charged forward, deciding to use the little time he had left on his shadow armor. The dagger he had gotten from Nadia appeared in his other hand and he activated the enchantment, making it heat up.

The spikes were very fast, but he was faster still. As he reached the so-called Wuros he let a few [Shadow Slashes] fly, then moved to the side. Going to full melee against this guy was asking for trouble.

Despite Rosalyn’s call to finish the spawn first, some people seemed to have decided to assist in distracting the dangerous alien. Arrows and elemental projectiles of all sorts rained upon him, doing little. The white chitinous mass beneath his feet flowed like water, hardening and softening to block all that coming.

The Top Rabbit’s blue lightning flashed again, but this time he was intercepted and barely avoided getting skewered.

Alan dodged another half-assed spike that shot at him. Wuros’ aim was getting sloppy when he had so many opponents, proving that the monstrous alien had limitations.

There was a roaring sound as a woman Alan didn’t know rose from the earth nearby as if she had been underground. She crossed her palms in front of her and the earth rose in chunks to form a large seamless ball that hardened and turned into a boulder.

As it went flying toward Wuros the woman was sent back too from the force, just in time to dodge a few of the spikes that shot at her.

The boulder hit Wuros’s shield and shattered from the force, but the shield dented too. Alan watched in amazement as it fell apart for a few seconds and Wuros shook his head. Had the impact gotten to him?

The alien man didn’t react at all during the sequence of events, opting to retaliate silently. Alan noticed that without the white mass, he was manipulating, the body itself was stiff and wooden.

Alan kept running around and bombarding him with shadow blades, careful to not get hit by one of the many oncoming projectiles. He barely dodged a ball of acid that splattered against the white chitin shield that formed to block it.

Alan saw the man in green in the distance to the side, shrugging in apology at him.

The alien shield bubbled and fell apart under the magical acids effect, which made Alan pause. Was this the weakness? Could that skill be the key?

He looked toward the man in green, who seemed just as surprised as Alan that his attack had worked.

Oh no.

Alan boosted his body as much as possible, making his legs scream in pain, and rushed in the direction of the man in green who was frozen in place. A sharp tendril shot out from Wuros’ direction almost at the same time. Alan had the advantage but the sharp spear was as fast as him.

Fucking move! Dumbass!

He managed to reach the man in time and pushed him out of the way of the spike. It whooshed past them and stopped mid-air.

“Thanks, I—,” the man started before he got interrupted. Alan cursed and barely turned around, raising both of his daggers and pushing mana into his [Monochrome Armor].

The spike that was shot remained connected to the mass and its length exploded with smaller spikes just like the blobs had. Alan felt them break through the shadows protecting him. He frantically tried to cut with his daggers and barely managed to do so with [True Edge].

He used the other dagger almost as a shield and felt pain in his wrist as one of the smaller spikes aimed at his chest hit the shadow-covered blade and pushed the flat up against his chest.

Alan quickly tried to stop the dagger’s heat enchantment as it started burning through his beaten-up leather armor. However, new pain exploded in different parts of his body distracting him.

One spike stabbed him straight through a bit below the right collarbone, while another got him near the ribs. A third scratched his thigh.

There was a flash of green as the man he had tried to keep alive sent a small cloud of something gaseous which covered most of the chitinous tendril. The strange skill quickly started corroding the white material. The smaller spikes broke off first, allowing Alan to move away and get some distance.

The wounds were bad, but he’d had worse.

The man in green was key in all of this though, and Alan quickly put his desires for contribution and reward on the back burner for now. This was a matter of survival.

He managed to free himself of the burned chest armor he had on in seconds, using his dagger to cut it off.

“Thanks, man, I—,” the man in green tried to speak again, only for another tendril to pierce him straight through the chest, lifting him up in the air where another completely obliterated his head.

The three-eyed alien’s laughter echoed across the battlefield, while Alan frantically moved away.

That’s one ace down.

The loss of the acid skills was a blow, but he was glad he had survived that. The bleeding holes on his body were painful, but he could still move. Using one of the two healing charms seemed like a good idea, but then again also seemed like a waste.

His boosted healing outside of combat would probably be sufficient. It would make him lethargic, so it was not an option yet.

He looked around for the healers, but most stood in the far back, treating people who were freed from the spike field.

He saw the woman who had sent the flying boulder out. One of her hands was missing and she was retreating in panic in wide jumps.

The distance Alan had put between himself and Wuros at least gave him room to breathe. The fight with the purespawn was still going on, and Ashlyn was somewhere in there.

The energy counter had reached a whole 87%. It was their hope for victory.

The [Monochrome Armor] was about to end in a few minutes at best. Alan moved closer, careful to not attract the attention of the alien again.

Thankfully a group had already engaged him, led by Socorro. The spikes that shot from the blob of white left bloody trails on the large man’s body, but they seemed shallow in comparison to what they were doing to other people.

Top Rabbit was still jumping in flashes of light, dropping his explosive charges, and retreating.

Suddenly, a flash of blinding light made Alan blink, and then gape as there seemed to be a hole in the dome of white that had risen to protect Wuros. The shield slowly became liquid and fell back down again, only to reveal that the alien was hurt too. He seemed surprised at the smoking hole in his abdomen.

A loud shout broke the instance of silence.

“Protect her!”

Spikes shot, bending and ignoring everyone else, and going for a blonde girl Alan hadn’t noticed before that. Thin golden light shields appeared before her but were quickly shattered by the attack.

She screamed and Alan cursed. Another person who could hurt the fucking thing would die.

There was a flash of blue as Top Rabbit appeared and wrapped his hands around the girl before returning to his original position.

The girl gathered herself impressively quickly and nodded her thanks. She formed a diamond with her thumb and index fingers on both hands. A small seed of light started charging there.

This one is dangerous. So many monsters are coming out.

Alan let out a breath and rushed back in. He had precious little time before he was reduced to spamming [Shadow Slashes] and praying he didn’t get noticed.

He got back in range and swung with [True Edge] sending shadow blade after shadow blade at the creature, adding to the pressure. It was all he could do.

At least [True Edge] let him do some damage, even if it was negligible.

Wuros dodged the second beam of light and spoke.

“Enough. I tire. Be cleansed!”

The voice overpowered the sounds of the battlefield and sent a wave of strange aura slowly spread all around the boss in a circle. Alan could almost see it. He felt his shadows slowly degrade and poured all the mana he could to keep the armor up while once again moving away.

Many of those attacking Wuros fled too, but some were unlucky. Alan saw a woman who had reacted too slowly fall to her knees. White spots were quickly spreading on her face and bare arms until her body was simply consumed by the growth.

She screamed.

Is this a fucking plague?!

First her skin, then slowly it spread taking her blood and her flesh, until there was only skeleton and clothes remaining. The white mass that had grown after eating at the woman’s skin and flesh flew toward the carpet beneath the alien’s feet and joined it.

Alan gulped. Was it airborne? Probably. What stopped it though? He saw a few more people with white spots, but not all succumbed.

Socorro seemed to resist the affliction as he screamed and his skin became red, literal steam rising off his body. All the wounds he had sustained seemed to close and heal completely. The white spots burned off too.

Another cast something very similar to [Cleanse] making Alan frown. The white spots were gone in an instant.

Alan quickly took out one of the charms and rushed toward a young man who was screaming for help.

The cleanse went off without a hitch and the white spots disappeared.

Can it be this simple?

Some of the man’s flesh and skin were already gone though, and with the absence of the white plague all that remained were gaping wounds and missing chunks of flesh.

“Use [Cleanse]!” Alan yelled rushing toward another. He managed to cleanse a few of the afflictions, mentally blessing Mr. Muge. The healing charm in his inventory would probably be able to deal with the wounds the plague left, but Alan was not that generous.

Soon the strange aura disappeared and Wuros seemed to… giggle.

“Stave off purity by cleansing yourself… I am a devout believer, but this is funny. Ha!”

Does everyone lose their mind as they grow stronger?

It was a possibility… great power came with great character issues. No one remained the same. Or sane.

Alan felt the world shift and with horror realized [Monochrome Armor] had served its purpose. However, the colors didn’t shift like before. They did become more vibrant, the white more blinding, the shadows... Something was different.

He had no time to examine the change as he quickly retreated backward and put away his daggers. His time on the frontlines was over. He hadn’t done much. His body ached and the absence of the shadows made him shiver.

The staff of Vel’Noir appeared in a whoosh of shadows while Alan kept walking back. He threw a glance toward the energy progress bar which read 91%. The System really was treating all of this like a game.

There was no time to regain mana or cast his skill as something pushed him from behind and straight toward the alien man. It was like a pulse of force that didn’t hurt at all.

Alan felt himself fly, before he landed on the ground, mere meters away from the monster.

He had no time to see who had done this when a tendril of white stabbed through his stomach and lifted him. Alan had the presence of mind to put away the staff before dropping it.

“What do we have here? Come back, little pretender?”

Alan had no strength to curse or respond. [Synaptic Failure] went off and the tendril that was piercing his stomach shuddered, but nothing more.

The attacks continued raining despite his predicament, but Wuros didn’t seem to care. A slight shift would bring Alan on the path of all the projectiles and end him. He had forgotten to pay attention to the worst of them all – the humans.

Shit…

Alan threw a hateful glance toward the boss and tried to activate [Monochrome Armor] again, pushing all of his remaining mana into the skill, while at the same time, he took out the ritual dagger and tried to cut at the thick tendril that was piercing him.

Whatever strength he had was gone though, and [True Edge] couldn’t make up for that.

Something prevented the activation of the armor too. He felt a surge of exhaustion unlike any spread all over his body, and for a second it felt even worse than the wound in his abdomen.

His [Broken One’s Will] trait wouldn’t allow him to die so easily. However, he didn’t have anything that could free him or allow him to escape.

The mace covered in gray light that caved Wuros’s head in came just in time.