Chapter 291: (4 Chapters today)

Chapter 291: (4 Chapters today)

Chapter 291

Relinquishing his fangs, Riven let out a long gasp as he let the drow woman’s blood run down his throat. It’d been a while since he’d fed on Genua, and going too long without feeding made him feel sick.

He let the body drop to the fleshy floor with a squelch, eliciting a gurgling sound from the woman he’d saved not long ago before he snorted in disgust at the weaponless archer as she clutched her throat. He watched her horrified gaze stare up at him as she choked on her own blood, using her spare hand to claw at the air in a begging motion as he let the fear sink in.

But he wasn’t a complete monster, not yet. He just wanted to make a point. Even if she had attacked him, he was pretty sure she was having something akin to a mental breakdown due to high stress. He still had some humanity left inside his increasingly black soul, and so he just let the knowledge that he could easily kill her on a whim sink in for a while until she was on the verge of death - before utilizing Voodoo Doll to secure her blood flow to keep her alive. As he worked the magic, her bloodflow stabilized and the near-death state she’d been put in quickly reversed. Pouring yet another healing potion set down her throat, he watched the pathetic specimen in front of him cough and choke - visibly shaking before vomiting the blood that’d been draining down her throat while she gasped for air.

“Next time you attack me, I'll just let you die.” Riven said with a blank face, sitting down in a cross-legged position and occasionally sending out bolts of black lightning to vaporize some of the abyssal swarm - getting thankful nods or call outs from the various other participants in the huge room as he helped them one by one every twenty seconds or so. Turning his gaze back on her after she’d caught her breath, he let his red gaze focus on the stealth archer - and could still hear her heart beating furiously in her chest while she glared back at him. “What? Got something to say, you crazy bitch?”

“I am NOT crazy!” She hissed, starting to back away from him on all fours, but she stopped herself when she saw the broken bow at her side. Her features fell, and another glance at Riven saw her face fall even further when he used his tongue to lick some of her remaining blood off his cheek. “Are you toying with my life? For your own amusement? You vampires disgust me.”

“Not enough for you to apparently sleep with one of my kind.” Riven said with a mocking wink. He sent another blast of lightning out haphazardly to the screech of another abyssal creature, and the ripping claws and snarls of his winged companion Jackal could be heard behind him as the beast tore down another of the abyssals. Riven’s shadowy black cloak, the one Athela had given him for his birthday, pulsed red on the inner bloodsilk-made side of it when he sent a wave of mana around the two of them to create another bubble - and he chuckled at her when she nearly scrambled out of the way and into the swirling vortex.

“What is it you want!?” The woman snarled, looking like a caged dog while simultaneously missing any true bite given her apparent need for a weapon to fight with. “Why are you keeping me here?!”

He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. “Keeping you here? We’re all kept here until our parties create the keys and exit the giant’s labyrinth. I thought I was doing you a favor, despite your absolute batshit attitude. But, if you insist on believing that it was me that betrayed you and left you to your apparent fate... Wait. You said you were traveling alone? How is that possible, given this challenge?”

Her gaze became icy, and her fist clenched. But she was still shaking, and it was very obvious that she was afraid by the way her eyes flitted about - casting around them to see if she could somehow find a way out. She also didn’t respond.

Sighing after a good amount of relative silence had passed between them, Riven waved his hand - and the inner bubble of blood mana along with the outer swirling storm vortex of red and black created a passageway for her to leave. “You may go if you want. You are not my prisoner here.”

The sound of battle crashed down upon them as his protective barriers opened up, and the dark elf froze in place - eyes going wider when she saw another one of the abyssal apes that’d almost crushed her to death. She took a step forward, hesitated, looked down at the bow, backstepped, and seemed absolutely unsure of what to do.

“Choose, or I will simply kick you out.” Riven said, getting irritated. “I won’t keep that passage through my mana open forever. It exposes me too, and I really am not in the mood to go all out right about now. I need to conserve my strength because - frankly - I don’t know what to expect at the end of this. Assuming my weakest party members are even going to get through that damn maze.”

And it was true. He had no real indication of just how powerful or useful Narg would be in the maze even given his ‘seeking’ abilities, but he was hopeful. Whereas Nora was just deadweight. He liked her, and she’d helped him in Chalgathi’s trials during their very first system event. It was also the reason he didn’t mind helping her out now... but realistically he could have chosen a better partner for his descent in the abyss. He’d also never say that out loud as he didn’t want to hurt her feelings - which made him internally laugh considering who and what he was - but friends were friends regardless of how weak they were.

Which made him wonder just how well the rest of his ‘guild’, or rather his ‘guild to be’, were doing - and the thought made him smile. Hakim, Tim, Julie, and Tanya were all still undergoing a training regimen back in the Brightsville area if things were still going to plan. However, from the reports Lillith had been giving them before she vanished - it was very unclear just what was going on back on Panu. Thoughts of Kathrine came next, and of Mara, of Vin and Nin and how they’d all gone missing... and his heart sank again with his smile fading just as quickly as it’d come. He could only hope that Tre’Zix of the Purple Claw was just as good as Lillith claimed he was, because if not - the others might very well be dead. Why, who, and how - those subjects were also questionable, and he knew that Allie hadn’t seen Lahn in quite a while either.

What did Lahn think about all this? The guy was probably worried sick because of Allie’s long absence. Riven had grown to like Allie’s new boyfriend very much, especially after her little phase of collecting numerous boy-toy thralls that made him want to gag. He vividly remembered that musclehead bastard she’d turned into a sex slave back when he’d first set up his guild hall, and-

He shook his head. No, that was just him being an overprotective and somewhat hypocritical big brother. If anything, the tables had turned. He technically was dating two women at the same time now in something of a three-way relationship with Fay and Athela, and he didn’t know what to even consider Genua after that one night stand and what it’d led to. And if Kathrine lived, he had no doubt her family would still want to make sure they wed for political reasons. And defying the Blood Moon Requiem wasn’t a good idea in the longer term... even if he truly didn’t want to add that kind of headache into his life.

Ugh.

“I SAID CLOSE THE PASSAGE! I’LL STAY! I’LL STAY!” The drow woman’s shriek cut into his thoughts, and he rapidly shook his head and looked up to see her fending off a large abyssal worm that repeatedly struck at her with quick snaps and sprays of smog in the passage.

She was only barely holding on, and she had a deep bite wound that was bleeding profusely on her right thigh - which was already collecting rot similar to Fay’s cursed clouds.

Just how had this ‘champion’ even gotten this far in the Abyssal Descent? If all it took was snapping her bow in half to make her so useless, she shouldn’t have come in the first place. Jackal was also staring at her as if she was some kind of oddity, and the living weapon gave Riven a shrug and a side-eye as if to say he didn’t get it either.

With a casual snap of his fingers, Riven’s mana pulled the drow woman inside again and the vortex smashed through the temporary passageway he’d created through his storm. The worm was obliterated in an instant with a loud shriek, its black body being torn to shreds as the dark elf stumbled backwards and hit the floor.

“How the actual fuck...” Riven muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. “Did you ever get this far, while being so utterly pathetic?”

***

Watching Narg and Nora traverse the maze was interesting every once in a while, but it was also very nerve wracking because of all the close calls they had time after time. Close calls that, if he’d been there, would have been a breeze. Meanwhile, the rituals that the others were performing with the sacrificial altar were grotesque even for his tastes, and he had no wish to gaze upon the disgusting things they had to do to those poor caged souls in order to acquire each key.

And thus he’d decided to take his mind off it and continued pretending that nothing was wrong at all, because he couldn’t do anything about the other groups anyways - and worrying about it would only sunder his mood.

“So... What’s your name?” Riven eventually asked after having healed the dumbass across from him for the third time in a row over the course of twenty minutes. He reached into his bag of holding, and pulled out some bread that he began to chew slowly while glaring down the obviously panicking woman as she rocked back and forth. “My name’s Riven.”

Her tear-stricken and bloodshot eyes darted up to him, and she shuddered - one hand still on the thigh where her thin studded armor had been torn off of her. Where the monster had eaten a part of her leg. She rubbed it slowly, and seemed to come back to her senses while wiping away droplets of the third round of potions he’d given her. “I won’t be able to take another set of potions any time soon... I’m already starting to feel sick, and the effects are lessening.”

Riven blinked, then let out a burst of laughter as he threw his head back. Giving Jackal a head-scratch and pushing the winged canine off to patrol the inner perimeter of his storm again, Riven rubbed his temple while continuing to chuckle. “You’re acting like it’s a given I’ll give you another one! Let me tell you something, girl. That is the LAST time I heal you. The next time you get injured, even if it isn’t due to attacking me, I just let you die and I’ll use your corpse for sustenance. You’re way too stupid to just keep pumping potions into at this point, and I’ve certainly done my community service for the month after helping you out. So, as I said... what - is - your - name?”

He emphasized the last four words with a bit of irritation on his lips. “And I truly hope you’ve realized that I am not the man you originally thought I was, given that I’ve removed my mask and you can see it for yourself.”

His words looked like they struck a chord, and he saw guilt, embarrassment, as well as fear edge into a sheepish smile before her pale eyes hit the ground. She fidgeted with one of her boot laces. “I... I am not sure that I should tell you. You wouldn’t believe me if I did.”

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. “Want me to kick you out-”

“No!” She quickly held up a hand in protest, and harrumphed with a guilty lack of eye contact. “No... Please, don’t. I’ll die.”

Riven snorted. “That much is obvious.”

There was a long pause, and she considered him evenly. “I apologize.”

“For which part? For sullying my name and accusing me of sleeping with you in front of my girlfriends in the other party? For trying to stab me? For ignoring my questions about who you are? For being stupid enough to nearly get killed three times over in a single hour? Or for being stupid enough to come down here in the first place without a party, apparently, and obviously not being qualified to be here without a bow that you recently broke. Your very presence insults me. So which is it?”

She blinked, blinked again, and blushed furiously with embarrassment as the sounds of fighting continued around them monotonously. “Uhm... I... Eh... All of them?”

“Good answer.” Riven snorted again. “Now who are you? And why are you here alone? How is that even possible, given the party system here?”

The young woman grumbled something under her breath, rubbed the part of her thigh that’d recently been bitten off and healed, and lowered her head. “I am here because I have no other choice. I need to get to the 40th floor, or I will be disowned from my family and cast out of my sect. My... My name is Kara Blackbow, Seventh Daughter of the Ashen Sage of Purturis.”

She nearly stumbled over her words, and her shoulders sagged as if in relief when Riven didn’t give an immediate response. Then when she finally gained the courage to look up at him again, she became confused. “You... do not recognize the name?”

He merely stared at her blankly. “Am I supposed to? This is the multiverse. Do you know how big it is? Because I certainly don’t and I’ll be damned if I’m supposed to know some guy by the title of Ashen Sage.”

She immediately gawked, then smiled, then began to giggle and laugh. Her laughing became a thunderous cackle, and she rolled over onto her side in a fit of melody as humorous tears began rolling down her cheeks until she almost had a hard time breathing.

He sat there, cross legged and increasingly unamused, as he realized that she truly had gone and lost her fucking mind. This woman was truly insane, and he probably should have just let her die the first time around. He would get no true information out of her, and she was a god awful talking partner to pass the time. Especially after trying to stab him.

He coiled the vine into a tighter formation and wrapped it around the shaft, absorbing it into the outer red shell as the black runes along the dark-red ice began to flare. “The plant has silencing properties, and the gem has gathering properties. Basically, if I’m doing this correctly - which is questionable at best, I should be able to add a percentage possibility for a silencing effect to anything you shoot from this bow. The gem will be used to gather shadow mana from your surroundings and allow you to empower your shots with additional shadow damage while making your shadow abilities cost less.”

Riven gave her a weak smile. “That’s of course assuming I don’t mess this up. I’m depending more on the quality of the materials rather than my actual skill, because I’m kind of new at this. Only been creating totems for a year or so.”

“Only a year!? You’d risk such valuables on a chance that you’d fail!?” She said, perplexed and something akin to horror-struck.

Riven nodded. “You betchya. It takes my mind off the current situation anyways, as I’m just sitting around doing nothing and I kind of feel bad for you.”

She seemed startled at his reaction, but quickly subdued herself to look down deep in thought - focusing on the work he was doing and occasionally shooting him curious glances.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

He pretended not to hear.

The gem itself was far harder to incorporate than the vine, and he ended up blasting it into smaller pieces before creating a fine powder out of the crystal. Infusing it into the ice, the bow went from a deep red into a dark black with the rune previously inscribed almost completely gone. There was a subtle red glow to the bow now, aside from the silver handhold, and the second to last piece - the graphic - was summoned over to him with a wave of his hand.

“What is that?” She asked, confused but also eager as she watched the obviously intricate set of three-dimensional runic tapestries shift and stir. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life.”

“It’s a graphic.” Riven replied, pausing in his creation of the weapon to point out different aspects. “Graphics are a way to formulate magic of thought into physical concepts by using base code of Elysium’s system. They are the skeletons of magic taken visible form, and are an advanced concept I myself am not entirely familiar with. I know the basics though and have a gnome teacher who’s trying to impart his knowledge over time, but this is one of the ones he made. Thankfully I DO know enough to manipulate them to an extent and can modify this one at a small margin to better suit your needs.”

She seemed eager and interested when he glanced right, causing him to chuckle at the excitement evident there, and so he continued in his short speech on the matter.

“There are three concepts, Re, Vo, and Tin that act like an axis to travel along when inputting source code. Then there are another two concepts, Nun and Zika, with Nun representing orientation and affinity of a power source like your Shadow Sub-Pillar. Zika represents power of intent. The base concepts of Re, Vo, and Tin I am going to leave intact because they’re far more complicated and the construct of this specific graphic is already well done. However, the more malleable concept of Nun can be modified away from the Blood and Sin energies infused into it to orient themselves more towards shadow.”

Riven’s fingers twitched, and the graphic turned a dark black over the course of seconds. “Now I’m modifying Zika, which is the power of intent. The original graphic’s intent was protective, that of a barrier or shield. I’m changing it to ‘Pierce’ and ‘Speed’ now, which should better suit your needs considering this is a bow.”

The three-dimensional set of interconnected runes shifted and warped, forming a different model before their eyes.

He grinned. It had worked. “Lastly, I will pluck a soul shard from the void around us. Totems with soul shards are far easier to control and more likely to bind than a fully formed soul, and though they are less potent - it is probably in your best interest given that you’ll need the weapon rather soon instead of later. There’d be a chance this weapon didn’t want to bind to you if the totem I’m making had a fully formed an aware soul inside of it, and truthfully it’d probably want to bind to me instead of you given my affinity for shadow is higher - and I also have affinities for the other Blood and Sin energies running through it.”

His Death Sub-Pillar shivered and pulsed, and his gaze warped to see into the void just like Allie had taught him to do over the course of their last few sit-downs while here in the abyss. He saw what he was looking for in the vast expanse of darkness and glittering lights around them, and plucked a tiny fragment of light from his surroundings before retreating back into the present. Holding out his hand, he showed the flickering fragment of random soul he’d acquired to the dark elf who let out a sharp breath at his presentation.

Pushing the piece of soul into the bow, he saw the weapon shudder underneath him. A blast of energy encompassed the area they sat in, and the black bow began to wreathe itself in dark burgundy sparks as the silver metal of the bow’s center became more akin to gray.

[You have created the Item: “Black River Bow of Sin’s Wrath (Totem).” Details on this item are negated due to the event status effect.]

“Now for the arrows since you’re low. This part will be easy.” He said with a gesture at her nearly empty quiver, laughing at her gawking expression of amazement.

One by one, he began to create ‘Sniping Profane Blood Lances’; the upgraded version of his original blood lance infused with his Snipe ability and empowered by wretched snares. The blood lances thinned and shortened, becoming arrow-sized as the black lightning sparks shifted over the red shafts. The wretched snares used to propel them to greater speeds also enclosed themselves over the arrows, and he modified the spells to explode upon contact - an effect that’d explode and shred the target with the snares upon impact now that the arrows were being propelled by the bow rather than the original slingshot effect of the snares when summoned.

One by one and numbering in the dozens, he created these arrows and cut their magical intent off from his control. Inspecting each of them and making sure they were stable, solid, and without any flaws, he used his mana to shift them over to Kara’s quiver - pushing them into the point where the quiver bulged.

[You have created the Items: “Sniping Profane Blood Arrows.” Details on these items are negated due to the event status effect.]

“There you go. I think this’ll help you survive a bit longer.” Riven said somewhat smugly as he handed the bow over to the drow woman, who continued to stare in wonder at the item - her hands shaking slightly at the gift he’d given her before taking it in her grasp.

Abruptly, the dark burgundy sparks flared and danced along her hands, up her arms, and into her body as she shuddered. He stared, watching her as he felt the pact between the totem and the dark elf manifest despite a lack of system information, and then was surprised to see her begin to cry.

She sniffled, trying to blink away her tears and hide her face beneath one hand and a swath of white hair while gripping the bow in the other, before silent sobs wracked her body as she stared at the floor. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just need a minute to collect my thoughts.”

His gaze softened and he nodded, looking away to watch the rest of the champions do their thing. Jackal came over and nudged against his right shoulder, and he reached across the winged abyssal dog to give Jackal head scratches with a hum of contentment. After a few minutes had passed, and she still showed no signs of calming, he floated the question he’d been considering since realizing her predicament.

“You know, our fifth member was prematurely sent down to the 50th floor.” Riven said aloud over her body-shaking and semi-silent sobs. “My group could escort you to the 40th floor on the way down, you could join up with us temporarily if you’d like.”

Sniffling and wiping away her tears again, she looked up through bloodshot eyes and puffy cheeks. “You would do that? For me? For a stranger you’ll never see again after all is said and done, when I leave for my homeland?”

Riven shrugged. “Why not?”

“Because I am deadweight.” She said flatly. Looking down at the weapon he’d bestowed upon her, and then the enchanted arrows he’d given her, she shook her head. “Believe me, I would be more than happy to accept, but the things you said to me earlier were right. I won’t be useful to you in your descent, if that is what you are hoping for. I’d more or less accepted my death down here, but if you are offering... and you truly mean it, then I will not decline if the system allows it to be.”

Riven smiled and patted her on the arm. “Ah. Good point. Let’s find out then, shall we?”

Mentally willing the system to accept his request, he waited for Elysium and The Abyssal Descent to respond.

He didn’t have to wait long.

[Do you wish to add Kara Blackbow to your party? As Lillith is currently trapped on Floor 50 of the Abyssal Descent, Elysium will accept your request for a filler until you reach Lillith - if you manage to survive until then. But doing so will cost you three-billion Elysium Coins as tribute. Do you accept?]

“Lillith?” She asked. “Who is that?”

The notification was present for both Riven and Kara to see, and she immediately winced upon re-reading it - her hope fading just as quickly as it’d come.

“I don’t have that kind of money, Riven...” She trailed off, only for her to choke on her words when he accepted the prompt, and a tidal wave of coins flew out of his spatial sack towards the notification before blinking out of existence.

[You have added Kara Blackbow to your party here in the Abyssal Descent. Kara’s 20 day time limit has been modified to normal parameters, and she will proceed to Floor 21 with you upon successful completion of your other party members exiting the giant’s labyrinth.]

“RIVEN! That kind of money is enough to bankrupt my entire SECT!” Kara screeched, whirling on him and leaping to both feet with wide eyes. “I CANNOT REPAY THAT KIND OF MONEY!”

He smirked. “Whoever said I was asking you to repay the debt?”

She was immediately stunned into silence, and only took a seat again when he gestured beside him. “Thank you for your kindness, Riven. I don’t even know what to say. I am... undeserving.”

“Do not think much about it.” Riven said, beginning to meditate to restore all the mana he’d used up on creating the totem. “I don’t even know how much money I have anymore. I haven’t looked in a long time. Now, sit down and rest. We likely have a lot of time to burn.”