Unchosen Champion

It seemed like Coop walked into a trap. Despite his attempt at carefully inspecting the fort for monsters, his attention had slipped after not finding anything for so long. Then, he’d overextended himself when he finally found something. He had received multiple afflictions from the surprise attack of a second monster and the death throes of the first.

He dismissed his sword and his shield, finding them less than ideal for fighting the smaller armored monsters. He summoned his spear, just for the improved reach, but he didn’t think it was the best weapon for the situation either. Stomping the monster had been wildly effective, even against the robust carapace that shrugged off the edge of his sword. He wanted to experiment with a blunt weapon against these foes, but for the time being he would make do with his spear. The spear was battle tested, and he was hesitant to try a new weapon under the circumstances.

Coop stayed still, keeping one eye on the ceiling, hoping to avoid having more of the unnerving invaders dive onto him. He leveled his spear at his attacker, as it waved its front appendages at him, still dripping with his blood from its surprise attack. Coop imagined it was mocking him, trying to goad him into a frantic attack that would just invite more of its brethren to swarm him. He felt his blood slowly dripping down his back and clenched his teeth.

Instead of rushing, he noted the afflictions that he had acquired. He had two stacks of Soul Degradation, which increased the cost and cooldown of his abilities by 17%. The effect was reduced by his magic defense, but he also wasn’t entirely reliant on his abilities in the first place.

Summoning his spear had cost him more mana, but it was hardly something he would need to worry about with his massive mana pool hardly budging. Soul Degradation had been applied by the claws of the ambushing monster that continued to taunt him, but Coop’s build meant he could mostly ignore the debuff and continue to rely on his regular attacks to defeat his enemies.

He also had three stacks of Soul Rot, from the dead monster’s tail barbs nicking his leg. Soul Rot drained a negligible amount of health and mana, but it would also apply another affliction when it expired, with the secondary affliction being dependent on the number of stacks of Soul Rot. It would always expire 60 seconds after the first stack was applied. Coop would have to keep track of the affliction’s timer.

It didn’t seem like a long time, but in the middle of combat 60 seconds was an eternity. Even in a staredown with the monster that had ambushed him, it took forever to countdown. The debuff would only drain 20 health and 30 mana over its duration, so he didn’t feel pressured to rush, preferring to wait for its expiration.

Coop couldn’t simply back away to wait out the debuff either, as the monsters lined the ceiling in every direction, waiting for the opportunity to ambush him. He’d need to mistjump if it came down to a retreat.

Coop continued to bide his time. It seemed like a better idea to be patient and deal with whatever came from three stacks of Soul Rot than to collect more stacks of the affliction while moving around and inviting more monsters to join the fight by ambushing him.

The waiting was the hardest part, and he braced as the debuff got closer to expiring. The monster scurried a bit, back and forth, and Coop followed it with the tip of his spear, ready for it to get into his range, but the monster seemed reluctant to leave the shadow of its brethren on the ceiling. Coop was equally reluctant to move into their range.

More clattering echoed in the shadowy corridor behind him. A quick glance told him that the monsters didn’t seem content to wait for his Soul Rot to expire after all. They had given him a chance to walk into their strike zones, but his refusal to move meant they were becoming aggressive. Monsters released themselves from the ceiling one after the other, all around the room, until Coop lost count of how many challengers he now faced. At least he had avoided their initial attacks. They were a lot less imposing when they were on the floor.

He lunged forward, with waiting no longer an option, and stabbed at the nearest monster. His initial attempt to impale it with his spear was just as ineffective as trying to cut them with his sword. His target allowed itself to be flattened, giving its metallic scutes the opportunity to protect its body, and all the rest of the monsters scurried toward Coop. The clacking of their arachnid-like legs against the stone floor was a horrible sound. Coop allowed himself to be drawn back toward the exit as the monsters converged on his position.

Moving backwards was a mistake. Not all of the monsters had been impatient enough to drop from their ambush spots, and Coop was sliced again by a falling monster. Its claws avoided his armor and drove into his shoulder before Coop angled his body out of the way. As the monster landed, he swung his spear like a hockey stick, launching the monster across the room where it smashed into the stone brick wall. The crunch of metal against stone reverberated through the corridor and the monster was defeated.

The rest of the swarm charged at him from all directions, and he was forced to repeatedly slap shot the monsters with his spear. As long as he could get underneath the monsters he could easily defeat them, launching them across the room through their companions and into the walls, but they stayed low to the ground and didn’t hesitate to flatten themselves when he struck them. Further attempts to pierce their armor felt like stabbing a marble. The tip of his spear punctured the surface of the stone floor as it slid off the sides of the Excavators. He was forced to stick with teeing off on the monsters while stomping on the ones that rushed closer.

There were just so many of them attacking together, and since he was hesitant to make distance for fear of moving underneath more ambushers, that he ended up taking scrapes and incidental damage before he could stomp or swipe them away. His health pool was at its maximum, but his debuffs were stacking up. When his Soul Rot affliction was about to expire, it had risen to 22 stacks.

Coop threw his spear back out of the room and initiated his mistjump to try to mitigate the consequences of whatever affliction he was about to receive from Soul Rot.

The single mistjump cost him dearly, almost 5,000 mana disappeared as he retreated. He had really underestimated the consequences of the stacking Soul Degradation affliction, and all of the incidental attacks from the monsters had piled on the debuffs. It even put his mistjump on a cooldown, an ability that normally had none. Relying on regular attacks to deal damage and ignoring his mana was fine when a fight was going well, but he depended on mana to increase his mobility.

He traveled through the mist and reappeared inside the previous, empty room just as Soul Rot’s timer ended. The resulting affliction caused him to stumble, losing his balance completely and falling to the ground, putting him at the mercy of the swarming Ruin Excavators that followed him from their nest. More ambushers clattered to the ground from the ceiling, seeing an opportunity to finish him off with their brethren. They filed through the doorway desperate to reach him.

22 stacks of Soul Rot was enough to give him Soul Paralysis for 6 seconds, which lived up to expectations, putting him in the horrible position of laying on the ground, unable to move, while he watched dozens of the arachnid-like monsters scamper toward him on their creepy little legs.

His magical defense from his Mind stat had reduced the effect of the affliction, but it hadn’t been enough to avoid the consequences of letting it stack. He couldn’t even yell, all he could do was rely on his armor and defenses to keep him alive while the monsters had an unhindered opportunity to tear at him with their claws. He was dreading the additional afflictions almost as much as the pain and he wondered if the mistjump had been a mistake, all of that mana could have buffered his health pool through Mind over Matter. As long as he survived and could retaliate, he could count on his Reaper title to heal him back to full.

The first Ruin Excavator led the swarm in charging at Coop’s paralyzed body. He stared at it, refusing to look away even if he was unable to do so, and already anticipating the rampage he would go on in revenge. The monster raised its pointed claws at Coop, threatening to spear him with both tips, and as it charged, it stumbled and fell into pieces. It was cleanly bisected. The front three segments slid along the ground into Coop, harmlessly. Disgustingly, but harmlessly. Then they dissipated. These things were basically robots, but they were still full of oily fluids that he had no interest in touching.

Coop watched as other monsters in the swarm were picked apart by invisible blades. Legs were cleanly detached, claws split off, and tails sliced through. Monsters were split in half at their segmentations even though Coop couldn’t pierce them with his spear, nor cut them with his sword. Whatever was able to cut the tough little monsters had unbelievable sharpness that even exceeded his weapons, despite his weapons being enhanced by his ridiculous Mind stat.

The swarm was still mostly intact when he finally recovered, but he got back to his feet with a vengeance, completely unharmed. He couldn’t remember ever manually retrieving his weapons, but this time, he picked up his spear from the ground where it had clattered next to him. He leveled the butt of his spear at the monsters and started smashing them. Forget about cutting them, he would crush them with his Strength.

Since the monsters had to funnel through the doorway and he wasn’t afraid of stepping backwards, they weren’t able to surround him again. He avoided every attack while taking his frustrations out on the Excavators. They didn’t stand a chance now that he was outside of their domain. He refused to take any more debuffs from them. He pulverized the monsters relentlessly, using enough of his Strength to put divots in the stone floor. He didn’t hold back. Balor could repair the fort later, once he eradicated the invaders and their hive.

They weren’t so tough when they weren’t able to swarm him or attack him from above and below at the same time. Of course, he had just been brought down a few pegs by monsters nearly half his level, and he had to admit they had really freaked him out.

When the last of the monsters was defeated he reentered the room, staring up at the ceiling, eyes peeled for more. He found several of the monsters, still waiting in their arrow-like positions for him to walk underneath them. He took leaping swings with his spear like he was cracking open a piñata that was being held too high, bludgeoning the monsters and defeating them in one blow. He wasn’t satisfied until the room was completely clear of them, with the only sign of their presence the triple pockmarks scattered across the ceiling. He checked his notifications.

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 26)]

[+12 Basic Credits]

[+1 Soul Dredger (Uncommon)]

[You have a new quest!]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators I (1/5)]

[Congratulations! Your profession has leveled up!]

…

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 28)]

[+13 Basic Credits]

[Quest Complete! Defeat Ruin Excavators I]

[You have a new quest!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators II (0/25)]

…

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 25)]

[+11 Basic Credits]

[Quest Complete! Defeat Ruin Excavators II]

[You have a new quest!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators III (0/250)]

…

[You defeated Ruin Excavator (Level 26)]

[+14 Basic Credits]

[+1 Soul Dredger (Uncommon)]

[Defeat Ruin Excavators III (42/250)]

A profession level and two class levels after defeating 72 Ruin Excavators. He’d definitely do what he could to fight them in smaller chunks in the future. His health was back to its maximum, but his Reaper title hadn’t returned much mana for every kill, so he’d need to wait for his mana to passively recover.

He remembered Olani’s new creations, so he pulled out a mana tincture. It was a vial with an almost completely transparent, thick liquid with tiny purple and blue bubbles. The blue tinge gave it a mana vibe, and Coop downed it in one gulp. It had a really light taste that was somewhere between blueberries and blackberries. Coop liked it, but it only gave him 60 mana. He had to commend Olani on a good start and hope that she would develop more potent versions that could keep up with his mana pool in the future.

As he savored the taste, he remembered the invisible blades that had saved him from the swarming Excavators. He spun around to investigate.

Jett was sitting in the doorway using a paw to wipe her face. She stopped when he spun and just stared at him, paw still by her ear. When she slowly blinked her yellow eyes, Coop got the impression that she thought he was reckless.

Cats always seemed so judgmental.

—

Tzultacaj hefted his heavy greataxe over one shoulder, gripping it with one hand, and marched away from the sacrificial altars. Red lightning danced on the surface of the axeblade, bouncing between blood soaked spikes and down the shaft. The weapon dripped blood on him, but he was already covered from head to toe. The battle had been fierce, yet despite being bathed in blood, he had been victorious.

The defeated priest alone had awarded him three full levels, but that was because he had been slow. The troughs of blood beneath the sacrificial altars already overflowed, forming rivers that splashed down the corners of the pyramid. He followed the thickest stream, feeling disgusted, and when he found the pile of bodies, furious. He stomped back toward the entrance, clenching his teeth with enough force to crack them if not for mana’s enhancement.

It was a dark night, but a thousand torches greeted him when he exited the temple and looked down the precipitous steps of the pyramid. The anticipation was thick in the humid jungle air. Tzultacaj didn’t keep them waiting.

He took a deep breath and shouted down the steps, “Death to the Death Gods!” He raised his arm, still gripping the matted hair of the false priest, displaying the severed head for all to see in the flickering torchlight. “Our time is now!” He dropped the bloody head, letting it bounce down the stairs, leaving a trail of thick blood as it went. He raised his axe and red lightning arced into the air. His war host responded with a roar that shook the jungle.

Tzultacaj saw this so-called Cult of Chakyum for what it was; opportunists who believed they could twist 5,000 years of Maya culture for easy experience and positions of power. They claimed to represent the primary death gods and took the civilization shard by divine right, executing those who had held it before them. It didn’t take them more than a week to demand willing sacrifices to please their sponsors and prevent the Earth from being swallowed up by darkness.

It wasn’t 2,000 BC. Who would volunteer to be a willing sacrifice? No one. Yet, these priests had spread to many villages and were leveling up at a ridiculous rate.

Tzultacaj was from a tiny village himself. He was a hunter in a very, very long line of hunters. He used his wilderness experience after the apocalypse and found himself leveling up, using the axe of his ancestors to defeat the monsters roaming the jungle. He ventured deeper and deeper into the wilds to battle the invading monsters and accumulate his strength while keeping his ancestral cousins safe while they remained in their homes.

The villages he was fighting for ended up empty, despite his efforts, but it wasn’t the monsters that had cleared them out. It was the Cult. They leveraged the confusing situation brought by the apocalyptic introduction of mana and moved quickly to consolidate their power. The lack of any central authority in the entire region opened a window for the Cult’s success. As far as anyone knew, there was only one civilization shard in all of Central America. A region that once had 200 million people but just one settlement almost demanded conflict.

The Cult of Chakyum recognized the situation sooner than any other group, and immediately moved to position themselves with an advantage. They were neutralizing rivals under thinly veiled pretenses that were difficult to disprove when the rules of reality were still confused, and they were gathering power on the backs of the innocent.

They had miscalculated, moved too aggressively, and now the resistance was forming. Tzultacaj would fight the evil that had risen around his home and he obviously wasn’t alone. He jogged down the steep steps of the pyramid to join his growing army. They would move from village to village and root the priests out until there were none left.

This Cult of Chakyum would be consumed by the rising Jaguar Sun.