Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Fifty-Four

Adam’s mood was already ruined by Parvillo’s revelation to him, but it was made no better by the sight of which players had beaten the most achievements across the last three stages. Out of the 673 million players that remained, eleven had gotten all of the achievements across the last three stages, and one of them was his brother-in-law, Christian. Willow, Lenard, Gladwyn, James, Lasse, Alexander Nova, Hiroshi Sakurai, Mórrígan, Ilya, and Juliette were the other ten.

She’s trying incredibly hard to make every last one of the people I’ve befriended, fought, or died to become my strongest opponents, just to rub it in how much she knows about me.

Adam thought back to how his sister had been in pain and looked at Christian. The only visible thing about his build were the Blood Mage sigils on his hands.

He must have a secondary weapon.

[Remember my warning,] Parvillo said. [Facing another of the Flayed Lady’s adherents in the Challenge Arena may get you killed. It is not conducive to our goal.]

Adam ignored him and pulled out his challenge stone. He couldn’t get his sister’s words out of his head, and he wanted to at least protect his family, before the Flayed Lady could pull all of the players into her domain and do whatever unspeakable things she had in mind for them. She would not play fair, and he expected her to twist everyone still alive to her whims, all in her petty pursuit of Adam’s subservience.

To doom an entire universe all just to get back at me…

She’s flexing her absurd power, but it doesn’t feel any different than a child’s temper tantrum. I suppose this is why she is the primogenitor of envy.

He raised the marble in his hand and pointed it at Christian.

< You have forcedPlayer Christian Fischer into fighting you >

Adam landed atop the sand inside the arena.

Across from him stood a hulking monstrosity.

He picked Red Prince as his evolution, Adam realised. Once again the Flayed Lady knew who I would go for, so she had him prepare in advance…

He couldn’t see any of Christian’s relics, nor his secondary weapon. The raiment that surrounded him looked like the slothling ogres from the previous stage, and it was easily twice their size, putting him at something like ten metres in height.

Still, it didn’t matter. Even with a massively-empowered suit of flesh and blood, Adam was confident in himself. He had grown a lot stronger since fighting Helena.

He may have a weapon with the ability to parry, so I need to make sure I move too fast for him to react, although I’m not sure how he’d be able to parry without my fists touching his weapon directly.

It could also be a magical Class, like Warder or Spellcaster.

“You killed Helena,” Christian said. “She said you would and I didn’t believe her. Even though we were all here together, you chose to tear us apart!”

Adam ignored his words.

This isn’t Christian.

Christian has always been too kind for his own good.

He would likely have told me to run and save myself, rather than lambast me for what I’ve done.

Adam tensed up, preparing for the moment they would be able to move.

The Flayed Lady continued to shout at him using Christian’s mouth, but her words fell on deaf ears.

Despite the situation. Despite being in a fight with his own family. Despite Parvillo’s haunting words. Despite it all, Adam found himself overtaken by an extreme sense of clarity of purpose.

Then they were released by the invisible constraints and Adam immediately shot himself at full speed across the sand, going in a straight line towards Christian.

His massive raiment lifted its arms, firing dense spears of hardened flesh and blood from its palms like machine guns, but Adam zipped around it all, his body moving fast enough that it made a whooshing sound in his wake.

As soon as Adam got close, a magical pane of glass shaped like a cone fired out from within the abdomen of the large suit of organic armour. His body curled around it, avoiding it completely thanks to his dodge guaranteeing he could evade any direct attack, though he wouldn’t be able to dodge for the next two seconds.

Adam threw both of his bear traps, four ghostly clones following them. A boom like an explosion came as all six went off together, atomising more than half of the raiment and revealing Christian’s body within. The blast of air also threw up a massive cloud of sand, covering the area in shadow.

[Six traps triggered. 600 Points rewarded.]

Adam had already surged around the back of the enormous raiment, jumping and swinging his stone hand to send forth three fists that each blew open the back of the armour before Christian could even turn.

Another cone of magical glass shot out at Adam, but this time he activated his nightwing cloak and the attack passed right through him. Although it was a spell, Adam knew that it was considered physical by the System, just like most of the Blood Mage Class’ direct attacks.

He charged up his shapeshifter’s claw with his right hand and jumped above a massive swiping limb, landing atop of a cloud that raced him towards where Christian stood within the crumbling raiment.

As Adam swung his empowered hand, Christian sent all of the material of the raiment out in front of himself to stop the attack. Since it was a defensive move, Adam’s cloak would not let him pass through it, so he released his claw against the flesh and blood in his path, blowing it apart with enough force to send both of them flying backwards.

Christian hit the sand, his raiment fully destroyed, and as he hurried to his feet, Adam was already racing across the arena to reach him.

Adam picked up one of his spent bear traps with his stone hand as he passed them, flinging it at Christian, which triggered the blood mage choker he was wearing, knocking the trap aside.

Christian turned the blood barrier into a bolt he fired at Adam, but it was too slow to catch him, so he instead summoned a barrier with his Warder class, which was the Mana Manipulator evolution of Fusionist. He fused his own blood into it to change its element and shot it at Adam, but Adam jumped over it, even as Christian used the Mana Manipulator’s power to make the barrier forcefully explode to release the blood magic trapped within it.

Adam’s trajectory carried him over where Christian stood, and he turned to follow him with his next attack, which made him step on the bear trap Adam had thrown earlier.

Only, it was now active again, thanks to a discreet activation of Adam’s Prankster skill.

Christian’s body exploded just as Adam landed, leaving only the top of his shoulders and head behind.

[Trap triggered. 100 Points rewarded.]

Adam was thankful that the ash and fire brooch immediately turned his brother-in-law’s remains to ash.

He picked up the soul seed left behind, just as the announcement rolled in.

< < Challenge Stone Deactivated > >

< You have defeatedPlayer Christian Fischer in the arena >

< < Victory Pearl Obtained > >

As Adam returned to his seat in the basement restaurant, he felt quietly thankful that the Flayed Lady had been in control the entire time. If he’d actually had to fight Christian and not just his puppeteered body, he might have felt bad about it, but instead he was able to push the memory away.

Without a word to Parvillo, Adam left the restaurant and his player house, walking through the dark streets of Interim Island to reach the garden.

“I’d like you to plant this,” he told Meilo, who took the soul seed from his hand.

“Are you alright?” she asked him.

“No,” he replied. “But I’m still alive, and right now that’s the only thing that matters.”

Thanks to the point rewards from using his traps against Christian, Adam didn’t need to spend the night fishing, which was fortunate, because he doubted being alone with his thoughts right now was a very good idea.

As he entered the market, Fisher was splashing around inside the fountain, much to Yenna’s dismay.

Adam looked at all of the denizens hanging around the stalls and felt that forcing them out of the tavern had been a good idea, since it meant the vendors didn’t feel so trapped inside their tiny stalls.

He went over to Weaver, who was talking to Belamouranthe, and bought five ten-metre-long spidersilk ropes and another bag.

< < Items Purchased > >

< Spidersilk Rope x5 >

< Spidersilk Bag >

< 200 Points Remaining >

Since he had two-hundred points left, he ended up buying two rerolls as well, which put him at twenty points, thanks to the discount from his goblin tooth.

Finally, he visited Thea to get the repaired crown back.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Dented Crown (Rare) — A regent must repel all invaders tainted with the lust for power, lest his kingdom fall to ruin | Subordinate allies gain 10% more Health | Subordinate allies gain Last Stand’s Fervour upon death, extending their lives by 10 seconds and increasing Damage & Speed by 25% >

He added the crown to his new bag, which he wore on his back, while the other, which held the ‘Lucky Stone’ and ‘All-Mother’s Wrath’ was still inside his body.

Charlie wandered around between the stalls, handing out various types of food to everyone, and Adam, realising he hadn’t eaten anything in a few days, asked her to bring him a milkshake and some meat skewers.

Yenna watched him as he came over with his food and drink to where she leant against the fountain. Fisher had been successfully expelled from within, thanks to a harmonica melody Yenna had used to scare her off.

“You look unwell, Adam.”

“That’s probably an understatement,” he replied.

“Would you like me to play a melody for you?”

“That’s okay, you can take a break and just relax with everyone else.”

Her mandibles chittered slightly, though he wasn’t sure how to interpret the mannerism.

Then she leaned in and whispered, “It would be good to get the aristocrat’s mask.”

Adam’s head snapped to look at her, but she’d already pulled away again and was looking up at the bright moon.

What did she mean by that? Is that a relic from the next stage?

[I concur,] Parvillo remarked.

Adam nodded slowly. “I’m glad I’ve still got you guys on my side. Not sure what I’d do if I were completely alone.”

Yenna put a clawed hand on his shoulder. “Just take a deep breath, Adam. Our mind is always our own worst enemy.”

Adam exhaled deeply, before eating a bit of the meat on his skewer and taking a sip of his milkshake.

He hadn’t recognised it until now, but there was a leaden clump in his stomach, or well, the feeling of it at least. There was so much pressure on him to perform; to get through the Forbidden Altar alive and beseech the Chaotic Convergence to fix whatever the Flayed Lady had done to taint this universe with her evil power.

Adam slid down so his back rested against the edge of the fountain and Yenna joined him. Parvillo flitted off out of sight, showing his first sign of empathy, though it was likely just a fluke. Still, Adam appreciated not having to look at the eldritch guide for a bit.

He rested his head on Yenna’s shoulder. Even though she was a wasp pretending to be human, he hadn’t felt put off by her appearance in a long time. Out of all the denizens, she was always the most comforting presence to him.

Yenna’s voice was soothing as she whispered, “Even if you fail, you can come back and try again. I will be here every time, so you can take as many tries as you need until you succeed.”

Adam tensed. “How long have you been pretending to forget me?” he asked quietly.

“More times than I can count,” she replied, a smile in her tiny voice.

“How?” he whispered. “I thought they wiped your memories with every loop.”

“There is a melody I know, though I cannot say wherefrom it came, but it wells forth all the memories of a past forgotten.”

Adam paused. Is that why her weapon, the Everchanging Melody, is Divine rarity?

“Can you play it for me?” he asked.

“I am not allowed,” she said. “Not yet.”

Adam chuckled. “How many secrets remain for me to find?”

“So many,” she replied.

Adam closed his eyes.

“Thank you, Yenna,” he said.

She put a clawed hand on his hair, ruffling it like he was a child.

“Take a deep breath, Adam. You’re almost there.”