And They Don't Stop Coming

“Reinforcements will be coming; we’ve got a ton of people reporting attacks in the group chat,” Keith explained as he cracked his neck. He breathed deeply to calm himself down before continuing, “Seems like they’re doubling down on attacks. I’ll explain later. We need to get out of here, now.”

Jenny, despite being mentally fatigued, managed to agree, “My phone got blasted. How many people are saying they’re getting attacked?” she asked as she slid her bass back into its case and zipped it up.

“Five or six. All at once. I got attacked by two giant skeletons and a bunch of little ones,” Keith explained as he walked towards the edge of the barrier, motioning John to follow.

“You guys have a group chat? Of a bunch of abyssal people?” John asked as he followed Keith toward the edge of the barrier. He hadn’t realized how long the barrier was.

“Aye, I’ll invite you to it when we get out of here. I’m guessing your phone doesn’t connect to towers in the Abyss,” Keith replied as they reached the edge.

“What the hell! We’re still trapped,” Keith growled as he **** his hand past the edge of the barrier. “I can get out, but I don’t think either of you would be able to.” Keith pulled his hand back and shook it, as if blowing off some sort of friction.

John then realized he never got the “all clear” popup from the barrier and drew his guns. He cast Spy on the barrier again, afraid of what he would see.

Unnamed Trap Barrier
Level 40
Population: 24

Your Vendetta has spawned. Good luck.

“Alright, so because of my powers, a William Shakespeare impersonator just spawned, and he’s going to be pretty powerful. He was probably around level fifteen the last time I saw him. My powers said he’s going to be stronger,” John explained as he watched as his indicator jumped up to twenty.

“Do your powers wanna give him invincibility too?” Jenny complained as she took her bass out again with a sigh.

“Why are your powers giving us more enemies right now? That’s awfully inconvenient,” Keith glared at John with sudden mistrust, but it was quickly replaced by concern as an abomination limped toward them. Ice stuck to the skeleton’s bones and seemed to replace them in some areas. Its swords were fused to its hands, and it used them to propel itself forward as it hobbled along, hunched over.

“That’s one of the things I have no control over!” John replied as the icy skeleton drew closer. He heard a mass of approaching footsteps, and not far behind the leader, a stampede charged forward, each skeleton enhanced by ice, fire, or lightning.

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” he heard the Shakespeare impersonator yell, though he couldn’t tell from where. The undead army glowed a bright red, continuing toward their enemies. John was surprised that Shakespeare’s voice was so loud even without the scrolls he had stolen. That’s it, the scrolls! John thought as he took one out of his inventory.

“Invite Keith to the party,” Jenny mumbled, not wanting to hurt Keith with her music when she started playing. John did so, and with a sidelong glance at him, Keith accepted.

“Keith, can you wake Jenny up somehow?” John noticed that she seemed to be on the verge of sleeping again, adrenaline be damned. Nearly suppressing the magic of something more than twice her level had really taken it out of her.

“What’s the plan, boyo?” Keith asked as he took a vial with a watery periwinkle liquid from his belt. He handed it to Jenny, who knocked it back and immediately perked up. Her eyes opened wide, and her movements lost their sluggish lag. He handed John a Mana Potion, which he drank to replenish his mana fully. After, he handed John a vial with a navy blue liquid which John used Spy on.

Potion of Lesser Mana Regeneration
Uncommon item. Upon consumption, this potion increases your mana regeneration by up to fifteen times for ten minutes. Due to overexertion, mana regeneration will be halved for half an hour afterwards. Flavored to taste like mint.

“Up and at ‘em, what’s the deal, Johnny?” Jenny asked, now full of energy. She started strumming her bass, and the skeleton in front of them shattered, though her range didn’t reach his comrades. After he was shattered, his crystalline shards of ice shot toward them, and John put up a wall using Mana Construct to block them while Jenny kept playing.

John noticed that her soundwaves didn’t destroy his walls, and breathed a sigh of relief, I guess that’s part of being in a party.

“Keith can go find and take care of the elementalist pretending to be Shakespeare while Jenny and I deal with the skeletons using these.” John held out a Scroll of Amplified Sound for Jenny, but Keith explained what they were before John could.

“Clever move, lad, using those to enhance the reach of her magic,’’ Keith said as Jenny held the scroll up, watching it dissolve and feeling its power flow through her as it activated. It rushed through her veins, surging through as a forceful river and diffusing throughout her entire body.

Jenny let out a laugh of pure ecstasy before replying, “Oh yeah. This’ll do just fine.”

“She keeps her Moet et Chanden in her pretty cabinet,” Jenny began, and the frontline immediately began to crumble. For each that fell, electricity arced toward them, and fire surged along the ground. John pulled up a wall and shot his Disrupting Blast through it, cancelling out the electricity as the fire scorched the wall.

The skeletons crumbled to her tunes, but John was on guard nonetheless. He had given Jenny every scroll he had, and she was making excellent use of them. With each new suicidal attack from the skeletons, he erected protective barrier for Jenny. Using Spy on the barrier again revealed that the numbers hadn’t fallen. They had nearly doubled, and the relentless **** in front of him proved it.

Unnamed Trap Barrier
Level 40
Population: 43

“Caviar and cigarettes, well versed in etiquette, extraordinarily nice. She’s a killer, queen!” Jenny felled the skeletons in waves, but it seemed two more popped up for each that fell. Surely she couldn’t go on forever.

“This isn’t working! We need to go to the source! Let’s hope for both our sake’s that it’s somehow Shakespeare,” John yelled over her music, and she nodded, still playing, but walking along with him toward where they had seen Keith sprint away to.

I should use that Echo Stone! It’s the perfect opportunity! John thought as he took it from his inventory and dropped it. A wave rolled over the battlefield, only visible to them. Each of the skeletons was colored a scarlet hue, and behind the houses, two more figures were highlighted. The first figure was bulky and marked in blue, the other lanky and highlighted red. The figures faded away after about thirty seconds, and the echo stone pulsed once. When John picked it up, a popup appeared.

Time remaining until next Echo Stone pulse: 55 sec.

“That’s useful,” Jenny commented as she burned another scroll and continued to play. Walking toward Keith was a slow process, since to keep the skeletons at bay John had to keep putting up walls and Jenny had to keep playing.

“You could see the highlights too?” John asked out of curiosity, as the stone had mentioned nothing about extending its effects to his party. I’ll run out of mana after my next one, I need to pop that regeneration potion. John knocked back the regeneration potion and erected another wall just in time.

“Recommended at the price, insatiable an appetite. Wanna try?” Jenny paused for a breath as legions of the skeletons fell before asking John, “Am I not supposed to be able to see what that thing does?”

“It didn’t say so,” John responded, blasting an arc of electricity out of the air. “Though that is useful to know;, it’s probably because you’re in my party.”

They rounded a corner and saw Keith in a sleek, steel-like form battling Shakespeare. Similar to his stone form, his skin retained its fleshy color, but seemed much stiffer and ridged. A sheen graced his flesh, and a stream of lightning bounced off of him.

Keith looked slightly different, but John could hardly even tell that this Shakespeare was the man he fought, but luckily, Shakespeare hadn’t noticed him yet, so Spy worked like a charm.

Boss Enemy! William Shakespeare
HP: 200/500
MP: 1750/3200
Author, Poet, Undead-Mage; Level 39
Not actually Shakespeare, but inspired by his works. Nobody remembers his original name, not even he himself. He has risen due to his hatred toward you, empowered by your enemies to assist in fighting your allies. His enchanted words work as well to buff the undead as they do to debuff the living.
Common: $7,500; Greater Robe of Elemental Protection - Uncommon: Staff of Amplified Sound, Attunement (Spell Rune) - Rare: Fireball (Spellbook), Frost Mist (Spellbook) - Epic: Lightning Stream (Spellbook), Attunement (Spellbook) - Legendary: Minor Return From The Different Dimension (Magic Card), Magician’s Masque

John formed a shield in front of him instinctively just in time to block the deflected attack.The undead status had mutated Shakespeare into something unrecognizable, and John shuddered just looking at him.

Mana Construct level 10! You may now form simple constructs using any part of your body!

Achievement Unlocked: The First Step
Level an arcane spell to level ten or higher

• Perk: Arcane Body

Another pulse of energy surged through John; this one much stronger than any other. It was as though his body was for the first time accepting his own magic. Like a breath of fresh air after nearly drowning, his veins felt opened. They had been closed his whole life, and the suffocation he hadn’t even been aware of had finally ceased. John hit the tooltip for Arcane Body.

Arcane Body, Hidden Perk
Your body has adjusted to the natural flow of mana. As such, your maximum mana has increased by 10%, time taken to cast spells has been decreased by 33%, and you have greater control over the range and intensity of your spells.

John exhaled slowly, hardly aware of the fight going on behind and in front of him. All at once, mana formed around his entire body in a steel cloak. Even with insanely fast regeneration, it was used faster than it could be regenerated to form the hardened veil of mana that surrounded him.

Due to natural adjustments within your body, you may now use Reflex Mode three times a day!

John sprinted toward Shakespeare, who took note of him and launched a stream of lightning at him, exclaiming with a maddening cackle, “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”

John felt slower, but Keith had become a total statue. It was as though they were moving through water. Jenny, on the other hand, moved normally as she relented her attack on the skeletons to assist them in fighting Shakespeare. John noticed that, although she was running at a normal speed, she was playing her bass. Whether to nullify the debuff or speed through it, John didn’t know.

Without a second thought, Shakespeare arced lightning toward her. If she were at her top speed, she would have no problem dodging. As it were, she had to switch spells to block the blast, which slowed her playing down, slowing her down to a crawl as well.

John activated Reflex Mode to assist him in his fight against the waves of atrophy, and immediately, his perception shifted. Shakespeare arced lightning toward him in retaliation, and John dodged it with ease. He shot Shakespeare in the head twice, dealing massive damage. Just a little more, John thought as he moved to pull the trigger again, but Reflex Mode was ending. Just before Reflex Mode ended, John pulled the trigger… but it didn’t matter.

A spike of ice, unseen to him, soared from above, smashing his protection to bits and him to the ground with such **** that the shockwave caused Shakespeare to lose focus of the debuff. That was just the opportunity Keith needed. His steel fist collided with Shakespeare’s head, ending him once and for all. John saw none of this, as the moment the spike collided with him, the world shut off.