Chronicle of the Eternal: Volume 1 (27 page)

The two axe wielding Serf
charge forward as soon as they see Regal’s squad while the bow wielding one
fires two arrows. One of the arrows hits Regal’s shoulder, doing thirty points
of damage, a little less than ten percent of his health thanks to his
ridiculously high total.

Veronica uses a Tier 5
Divine Art, ‘Frozen Synapse’, on the bow wielding enemy. It is a control skill
that can be used on a single enemy to temporarily rob them of consciousness.
She then uses a Tier 4 Divine Art to slow the remaining enemies’ movements
before raising her rifle to shoot heavy bullets at them.

Regal, Kilde and Astore
save their mana and attack with their revolvers while Veronica’s rifle bullets
further slow them down with their slight knockback effect. By the time the axe
wielding Serf near the squad, they have less than half their health left and
Astore begins using his alchemy.

Astore uses an earth
element Tier 4 Divine Art, ‘Stone Spear Array’, erecting multiple spears from
the ground to use the enemies’ own momentum against them. It only takes a
moment for the Serf to free themselves of the spears however, and the bow
wielding Serf also wakes up.

Regal and Kilde both
charge at the axe wielding Serf while holstering their guns and drawing their
Jagged Severing Blades. Kilde uses ‘Rapid Dicer’ to launch an innumerable
number of slashes, while Regal uses his simple ‘Twin Thrust’  several
times to launch dual attacks.

Veronica uses her alchemy
to slow the attacks of the bow wielding Serf to prevent him from attacking
Regal and Kilde, while Astore takes the role of using alchemy for defense. He
summons several small earth shields that float in the air and automatically
move to intercept any ranged attacks. The shields crumble after receiving an
attack, but each shield can block a single arrow.

The axe wielding Serf
ignore the damage to their bodies, and even while dying launch all out attacks
against Regal and Kilde. An axe hits the shoulders of both Regal and Kilde
before they get the chance to dodge, doing a critical seventy points of damage
as the Serf finally lie down to die. The damage only takes fifteen percent of
Regal’s health, but Kilde loses almost thirty percent from that single attack.

With only the bow wielding
Serf left, Regal and Kilde quickly converge on it while Astore switches from
defensive tactics to offensive. The final Serf is killed within a minute,
dropping several pieces of loot, half of which are useful to Regal when
crafting.

Regal keeps the cotton
fabric roll and Serf fang, splitting the coins between the other members and
giving the healing tonic to Kilde who suffered the most damage. He takes out a
small bar of condensed food to initiate the restoration of what health he
himself lost. At the same time, he removes the ears of the dead Serf and places
them into his inventory.

The squad doesn’t get a
chance to recover their health, mana and stamina before another group of Serf
arrives. This time there are two sword wielding Serf and two bow wielding ones.

Feeling annoyed at the
situation, Regal rouses the squad into action and launches a pre-emptive attack
on the Serf.

The second group of Serf
are killed within a few minutes but the squad didn’t have a chance to restore
their health so they take another small toll of damage on top of the first.
They try to take this opportunity to finally start restoring their stats, but
they don’t get the chance again as a third group of Serf attacks, also with
four members.

The biggest difference is
that the third group ambushes them from behind, catching the squad unaware and
dealing a large amount of damage before they can react. Veronica is hit the
hardest by two axes, taking away half of her health. Astore is the next worse
off while Regal and Kilde at the front of the squad are relatively unharmed.

The Serf with axes use
their unique Divine Art ‘World Crusher’, and a royal purple flare appears on
their axes as they crush the metal grate between them and leave a considerable
hole while Veronica and Astore are sent flying back with critical health.

Regal is about to order
his squad to retreat and tend to injuries when two arrows shoot him in the
back. Regal curses his luck as a fourth group of Serf, this time seven in
number, appears from the other end of the tunnel and leaves his squad in a
position to be attacked from both sides.

“We need to break through!
Spare nothing!” Regal commands while pointing at the third Serf group.

Astore immediately
unleashes the Over-Tier Divine Art ‘Overlapping Ice Waves’, sending four
consecutive waves of ice shards that flow like water and slice apart everything
in their wake.

Kilde unleashes an
Over-Tier Divine Art from a martial skill, ‘Dimensional Render’, a slash that
gives off a blinding white light and severs everything, regardless of armor.

The two skills attack one
after another, draining Kilde and Astore of most of their remaining mana and
stamina, but successfully killing a Serf from the third group.

“Let’s go!” Regal shouts
while dodging two incoming arrows out of pure luck.

With Regal in the lead,
Veronica, Astore and Kilde quickly flee from the scene and toward safety: the
third floor entrance. The Serf in this area are particularly strong and it
completely caught Regal unaware this time. He can only curse himself for not
being prepared for such a situation as they run.

They quickly arrive at the
shaft and start crossing the pipe that spans the chasm, cautiously walking to
avoid slipping and falling.

Regal’s group are moving
too slow however, and the group of seven Serf quickly catch up to them. Three
bow wielding Serf fire arrows from the safety of the path at the edge of the
shaft. The distance between the Serf and Regal’s squad is considerable, so the
arrows don’t have good accuracy. Two of the arrows strike the pipe Regal is
walking across, harmlessly bouncing off it and falling down into the abyss.

The third arrow seems to
be imbued by a great amount of luck for the Serf though. It strikes Regal
through the ankle, causing him to lose his footing and fall over.

Veronica is nearest to
Regal and tries to catch him, but it is too late as he slides off the side of
the pipe too quickly. The last thing in Regal’s eyes is disbelief and fear as
he is quickly swallowed by the darkness below.

There is an indescribable
pain and feeling of uneasiness in Veronica’s chest as she sees Regal fall,
finding herself unwittingly standing still despite a second volley of arrows
coming. Regal has only died in front of her once before, back when they were
all level 1, but she didn’t feel like this back then. All she can think about
now is the look he had in his eyes as he fell.

“Veronica, what are you
doing?! We need to move!” Kilde calls out, who is more than twenty feet away
from her already.

Not replying Veronica
quickly moves her legs to catch up with Astore and Kilde as they exit the shaft
on the other side. Once out of the shaft, Veronica, Astore and Kilde look at it
and the chasm below helplessly.

“He’ll be at the Temple of
Life soon. Shall we keep hunting, or go see him?” Kilde asks the other two.

Veronica replies immediately
with no hesitation, “We will go see him. He is our squad leader, and I want us
all to reach level ten together.”

Neither Astore nor Kilde
refute Veronica’s decision, especially since she was originally the squad
captain and so is considered the sub captain by the other members.

The three Soulless reach
the entrance to the first floor of the dungeon and are about to leave when
Veronica stops the other two.

“Little brother is still
here. He is still a part of the squad so he hasn’t died, and I can sense the
general direction he’s in,” Veronica says with an expression that is plastered
with confusion.

Astore and Kilde focus on
the connection they have between squad members and also feel that Regal is
still alive, both exclaiming, “He is! But... how?”

Veronica shakes her head,
not understanding. She quickly comes to a decision to ask the two guards at the
entrance to the dungeon. It took the three a while to reach the dungeon
entrance without Regal, so it is early afternoon when they emerge.

The guards look at the
three leaving the dungeon and seem surprised, but they don’t address their
thoughts and carry on with their duty.

Veronica walks up to them
and solemnly explains the situation to them directly. “He is still alive at the
bottom of the shaft. Please help us.”

The guards look at one
another and shake their heads. “Are you sure that he is still alive down there?
That should be impossible.”

“Yes, he is definitely
alive.”

“That’s strange. I’m sorry
miss, but there’s nothing we can do right now. We will report the matter to our
captain, but we won’t be able to go down there today. By tomorrow, the dungeon
will shift its shape and finding the exact shaft he fell down would be nearly
impossible. Not to mention finding a safe way down them is impossible, the black
smog in the shafts is corrosive. Not just health, but equipment will lose
durability and quickly break, including ropes.”

“I see. I can only wait
for him to revive then.”

If Regal was next to
Veronica at the moment, he would have seen an expression of sadness that
Veronica has never shown before. Not even she knew what kind of look she had at
that moment.

The three Soulless soon
head their own ways home, but Veronica doesn’t return directly home. Rather,
she walks all the way to the Temple of Life and seats herself in one of the
waiting chairs, awaiting the moment Regal dies and revives.

Veronica waits until late
at night, when Regal disappears from the party, meaning he has died. Veronica
looks at the rebirth pond expectantly and waits for him.

She stares at the water,
which doesn’t have a single ripple, for over an hour. Despite that, Regal has
not appeared.

Veronica hopes that
nothing has gone wrong, and that it is some other cause, like he voluntarily
left the squad, but she has no way of contacting him to find out. Beset with a
feeling of worry that seems to be an alien emotion to her, she does not know
what to do.

Veronica sits in the
Temple all night, falling asleep in the hard wooden chair while waiting for
Regal.

***************************************************

“Veronica, it’s been a
month already! What’s with that look?” Piora fiercely shakes Veronica whose
mind is elsewhere.

Piora is sitting on the
grass in front of Veronica during lunch at the academy. Veronica has been
acting distant for the past month since Regal vanished, and Piora can’t stand
seeing Veronica, her best friend, like this anymore.

“I’m sorry Piora. I don’t
really understand this feeling, but I know I’m afraid.”

“He’s coming back! I don’t
know what he’s been doing this past month, but surely he has his reasons.”

“I’m sure that’s all it
is. There are just so many things I don’t understand lately. Piora, why did all
of this happen after little brother left? Did he do something to me?”

Piora stares at Veronica
incredulously. “You’re an idiot, just like Regal.”

“What?”

“I said you’re an idiot,
just like Regal.”

“I know what you said, but
why do you say that?”

“These feelings you’re
having now that he’s gone, isn’t the reason obvious?”

“No, it’s not.”

“You have been with him
all these years, always with him. You’re in love with him, Veronica.”

“But I don’t have any
interest in love.”

“You are completely in
love with him, whether you can see it or not.”

“No, that can’t be-”

“Save it. You love him.”

“I... What should I do,
Piora?”

“Wait for him to come
back. After that, show him how you have been feeling.”

“I don’t understand any of
this, Piora. How do I show him?”

Piora reveals a devilish
smile, the kind that tells Regal to stay away when he sees it. Unfortunately
for Veronica, this is another thing that she doesn’t understand.

“That’s simple. All you
have to do is...”

As Regal slides off the
pipe spanning the shaft, fear and confusion fill his mind. He isn’t afraid of
dying, but falling into what appears to be an endless void has a terrifying
aspect to it.

The pipe Regal and his
squad were crossing grows further away as he falls. After only a few breaths
worth of time, it is gone. Regal is enveloped by the endless darkness of the
chasm, and it almost appears to stick to and envelop him.

The darkness isn’t only an
area void of light, but seems to consist of a sticky fog-like substance. The
fog has a corrosive property as it starts eating away at his skin and mind. The
pain of this happening isn’t comparable to the death Regal once had, but it is
still more unbearable than anything else he has experienced before.

Regal’s health and mana
drop at a speed of ten points a second, a slow and agonizing death. He screams
out in pain, but not even the echo of his voice comes back. Regal only lasts
for ten seconds of this, before what was left of his mana from the earlier
fights vanishes and the continuous damage to his mind causes him to lose
consciousness as his limp body falls into the abyss.

***************************************************

Regal’s entire body is
extremely weak when he regains consciousness. He floats in a pool of water
while blinking in confusion. He had expected to wake up at the Rebirth Pond in
Grand Theore’s first floor Temple of Life. Instead, he is floating in a vast
body of water staring up at an endless amount of black fog.

Memories of falling into
the abyss replay in Regal’s mind. He remembers the excruciating pain he felt
and can’t help but grimace. He notices that his stats and mana are slowly
recovering, but his health currently only has twelve points left. He needs to
eat some of the food in his inventory but can’t do so while floating in the
water.

Regal had survived the
fall into the shaft, but he doesn’t understand how. It is common knowledge that
falling into one is a guaranteed death, not a single person was known to
survive falling into one of the shafts, so how did he?

Trying to find answers,
Regal twists his body and helplessly splashes around the water as he tries to
find a way out. He is nearly dead and killing himself would easily allow him to
revive outside, but he doesn’t want to feel the pain of death again and the
words of the judge during the first inter-academy tournament about how life is
precious cause him to put those thoughts out of his head.

Amidst struggling to keep
his head above water, Regal sees a faint red glow through the darkness on one
side. Hoping for a way out of the water, he thrashes his arms and somehow
manages to move toward the light. It would be much easier if he had the
‘Swimming’ skill, but he somehow manages to move through the water without
drowning.

After ten minutes of
struggling, Regal arrives at the wall of the shaft where an enormous path leads
away from the water. The path is very similar to those of the third floor of
Theore Substructure, only three times as wide and tall. That faint red glow
Regal saw earlier can also be seen, emanating from depths.

Climbing out of the water,
Regal is extremely relieved to be on dry land. He has never been swimming
before, so could only rely on his instinct to stay afloat. The ‘Swimming’ skill
is important in some grand cities, but Grand City Theore’s surroundings are
hellishly barren, so there was no need to worry about the skill. Regal secretly
vows to himself that the first thing he will do when he is in Market Street
again is purchase that skill book, even if it costs a bit much.

Sitting next to the water,
Regal takes out some already prepared food from his inventory. He has raw meat
that he can cook that will have a faster effect of recovering health, but in
his weak state and solitude, he is afraid he won’t be able to properly defend
himself if some mutant beasts are attracted by the smell.

Not wanting to have the
rest of his squad notice he is alive and try to rescue him, and instead escape
the dungeon, he removes himself from the squad. He will most likely be revived
at the Temple of Life if he doesn’t escape so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Regal’s health, mana and
stamina are completely recovered after twenty minutes of resting. Curious about
this new floor and hoping for a way to climb back up, he nervously starts
travelling towards the red glow while sticking close to the walls.

The temperature of the
dungeon starts increasing from the usual chill Theore Substructure’s lower
floors have, to a heat that causes Regal to start sweating.  He reaches
the first junction in the path, finding three separate paths leading away, each
emanating an eerie crimson light.

Regal chooses the path on
the right, which is the side of the wall he is slowly creeping along. From
here, the floor becomes a complete maze, even more so than the above floors. He
takes out his notebook and starts creating a map with the shaft as the center.

Regal discovers what the
red glow is after a short while. Flames, dark red like blood, roar up from
beneath the steel grate floor like an inferno, emitting a terrifying heat that
makes Regal’s mind dizzy. He is forced to stay clear of these areas as the heat
not only damages him, but threatens to rob him of his consciousness at the same
time.

Sounds of scuttling and
metal scratching on metal can be heard from some directions, so Regal
cautiously avoids those directions. The atmosphere makes Regal sweat more than
the heat, especially when the sounds of movement are closer to him. He doesn’t
know what enemies lurk in this floor, but whatever creatures there are do not
sound like they are small.

After two hours of
exploring, Regal hasn’t come across any enemies or stairs ascending, but he
does find another shaft. This shaft is different to the one he fell into; there
is no pool of water and a black corrosive fog seems to extend everywhere. He
can’t even extend a hand into the shaft without losing health.

Turning away from the
shaft and choosing another path to traverse down, the worst case scenario
unfolds.

In front of Regal, two
Mutant Rats unlike any he has seen before appear from around a corner. They
stand two meters tall, with golden fur and blood red eyes. Their claws are a
foot and a half long and shine with a dark luster, producing the metal on metal
scratching sound Regal has been hearing.

Regal studied these mutant
beasts in class. They are Mutant Rat Kings, mutant beasts generally around
level 17 and with a terrifying attack strength that can tear through any defense.

The Mutant Rat Kings glare
at Regal with crimson eyes full of killing intent. A bone chilling fear fills
Regal’s body and his danger sense rings alarms, a sign that the enemy in front
of him is much more powerful than he is.

Regal draws his gun to fight
for his life, but before he can fire a single bullet, the rat’s overbearing
aura vanishes as they scuttle away with a terrifying speed. Confused at the
sudden turn of events, Regal stands still and looks at where the rats were
incredulously. Even with escaping unharmed, he finds the situation too
suspicious.

Turning around, Regal
discovers why the Mutant Rat Kings ran away so quickly as he spots another
enemy coming. This enemy has the body of a nine foot tall pitch black wolf, but
stands on two legs and holds its scythe-like claws out menacingly.

This isn’t a mutant beast
at all, but instead a monster. It is known as the Obsidian Wolf, a beast which
isn’t as fast as other wolf-type monsters, but its claws are indeed scythes of
death.

The monster has been in
this dungeon for the past two hundred years, and has currently reached level
40. It would be stronger, but the Mutant Rat Kings are weak compared to most
mutated beasts, not giving much experience points, and they always flee from
the Obsidian wolf, making them difficult to kill.

An even more dangerous
foreboding and fear strikes Regal and his knees start to feel weak.  It is
such a terrifying feeling that Regal doesn’t have the slightest intention of
fighting the enemy in front of him, especially not when he is alone.

The wolf stops paying
attention to the Mutant Rat Kings that fled and focuses its attention on Regal.
Baring its sharp fangs at him, small sparks of flame emanate out from its mouth
as it slowly stalks toward Regal.

Mustering up his courage,
Regal turns around and flees down one of the paths that the Mutant Rat Kings
took. The Obsidian Wolf sees its prey fleeing and its eyes intelligently follow
this prey he does not recognize. In the countless years the monster has lived
in this place, it has never seen an Immortalis before, so the monster is quite
curious toward Regal.

The monster casually moves
toward Regal who is fleeing as fast as he can. It moves at the same speed as
the student, which is equivalent to walking for the wolf.

Regal has already stopped
using his map, or paying attention to where he is. All he can do is flee from
the monster that is likely to eat him as soon as it catches up.

Regal randomly turns from
one pathway to the next, choosing random directions to lose the monster behind
him. But despite all his efforts, it is still chasing him. A loud screech
surprises Regal as four Mutant Rat Kings spot him and attack from the direction
he is running. He feels despair as there are no paths of escape, with the
monster behind him and the mutated beasts in front of him.

Just as Regal is about to
give up hope and accept his death a fireball as large as him flies over his
head with a terrifying speed and into the Mutant Rat Kings. Two of the rats are
instantly incinerated by the attacks and the other two see the Obsidian Wolf
and flee as fast as they can.

Regal glances behind him
and sees the residual light from an alchemy diagram above the wolf’s head
dissipating. He realizes that this monster could kill him at a moment’s notice,
and has just been toying with him.

Despite running as fast as
he can, Regal somehow manages to produce a further burst of speed as he runs
down a path and toward an area where the flames have blocked the majority of a
path.

The Obsidian Wolf thinks
nothing of the direction he runs in, following him as if it doesn’t care where
he goes.

Regal finds the path with
the flames, and the heat initially causes him to flinch. Without slowing down,
he dashes through the path and narrowly avoids the flames of the inferno. He
loses almost half of his health and his vision blurs from the heat, his entire
body emitting faint wisps of steam as all the perspiration is instantly
evaporated.

Regal makes it past the
flames with a considerable amount of coincidence and luck. The Obsidian Wolf
stops on the other side of the flames where it had thought he would have Regal
cornered. The monster has no way of passing through the flames as the path
Regal took through the fire is too narrow for it. It looks at the flames in
shock, before letting out an enraged howl loud enough to cause the pipes along
the walls to vibrate and resonate chimes of various pitches.

The monster doesn’t stay
staring at the flames and darts away at a speed more than four times faster
than when previously chasing Regal. Regal takes the opportunity to consume some
food to recover his lost health.

Rather than wait around
for the Obsidian Wolf to find another route around the fire, Regal leaves as
soon as he finishes eating. He is additionally attentive to not only avoid
Mutant Rat Kings, but avoid the Obsidian Wolf too. He can hear sounds of the
monster somewhere else in the dungeon, but it thankfully doesn’t appear to be
getting any closer.

As if to spite Regal’s
thoughts, the sounds of the monster suddenly start getting closer to him,
causing Regal to start running towards the nearest junction, trying to find a
corner he can hide in. He is fortunate in that there is a small depression from
one of the corners, enough to hide the body of a single person.

Not long after hiding
himself, Regal spots the monster charge toward the junction he is hiding in.
The Obsidian Wolf stops in the center of the junction. Regal uses ‘Foresight’
to glimpse five seconds in the future before gasping and rolling out of his
hiding spot as soon as he sees what will happen.

The monster turns and
glares at where Regal is hiding, not hesitating in the least to swipe its claws
through the wall like butter and carve up the spot Regal is hiding in. The
monster has been tracking Regal through his scent, and as soon as it caught the
trace of it, could follow him anywhere on this floor. Hiding in a small recess
in the wall is not going to allow the student to hide from the monster for even
a second.

To the monster’s surprise
however, Regal seemed to predict the attack that he should not have been able
to see coming and rolled out from the recess just before the attack came,
successfully dodging it by a narrow margin.

The Obsidian Wolf pinches
Regal with its claws before he can get a chance to escape again and picks him
up, lifting him up from the floor so that Regal’s face is directly in front of
the monster’s. Regal stares into its dark golden eyes that seem to be able to
look straight through him.