The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 25

  “Fine,” he mumbled, unimpressed.

  A thud sounded, sending tremors along the ground and pebbles skittering off the surface. I perked up, a smile on my face. Something big was close by. I rushed towards the sound, moving silently over the ground. A few seconds in, I came upon a small clearing in the middle of the forest.

  And there, in the grassy enclave, was a giant goblin. The creature stood about ten feet high, a primitive necklace of rock and teeth around its neck, a massive club of metal-adorned wood slung over its shoulder. Its eyes were a sharp green, like moldy leaves, and its skin was many shades darker.

  The beast looked around the field, glancing at high treetops and low bushes as it moved around. I stayed in my position a few seconds longer, trying to gauge what was going on before deciding to step into the open. It wasn’t like I couldn’t take this beast out if I wanted to, but I’d rather know what it was doing instead of just killing it in an instant.

  As strong as I was, however, I still needed to be wary of the enemy. The Ga’em had been clear on the rules it had imposed on this world, and one of them was that, no matter how strong a person was, an assault to their vital regions, regardless of how weak the attacker was, could cause massive critical damage, potentially killing them.

  I diverted my thoughts and focused on the giant’s head, using my Analyze skill on the beast.

  DING!

  Race

  Goblin Warlord

  Level

  125

  Goblin Warlord, I thought as I read the words off the screen. And he’s quite strong too.

  “Strong?” Nyx scoffed. “That’s a joke coming from someone like you.”

  I know, I know, I smiled.

  One question that was still on my mind was why these goblins had come after me in the first place. The small forest we were in, Tigrea, was not one that goblins frequented, so it was odd that these creatures were attacking us now. It all seemed very unnatural.

  “Didn’t Ijyela tell us the shadow of darkness has increased ever since—” Nyx said.

  “She did,” I replied.

  “Maybe that’s why these creatures all have much higher levels than we’d expected.”

  “We’ve also never explored this region,” I said. “It’s possible it just so happens the creatures here are much stronger.”

  “Maybe,” he said.

  The Goblin Warlord grunted and hunched low, glaring at me through the trees. It caught sight of me almost immediately, and its body language changed, vigor infusing its bones. It lifted its club high into the air and yelled—a war cry. Hordes of small goblins rushed out from behind it and made their way to its sides, ready to attack.

  “Well,” I mumbled. “That came out of nowhere.”

  “This is going to be fun.” Nyx said.

  I ignored him and strode out of my spot, taking the fight into the open field. The goblins eyed me as I walked, eagerly holding their weapons, waiting to attack. The warlord slung his club forward and pointed it at me, yelling out another cry. The goblins all echoed his signal and scampered towards me.

  “Are you still sticking to using Dawnbreaker?” Nyx asked.

  I sighed. “Fine, I’ll use a spell,” I said. “But not one that’s too strong.”

  “That’s fine,” he said, sounding excited.

  Seriously, you make it sound like I never use any spells, I rolled my eyes.

  I thrust my hand out, feeling energy course through me. I sharpened my vision, focusing on the goblins, their shape, their features. Everything. A word floated out of my subconscious, urging me to say it.

  I opened my mouth to speak. “Al—”

  A dark shadow passed over my face, distracting me for a second.

  I heard a massive blast, and when I looked again, a horde of goblin bodies lay on the ground, broken. The warlord lay in a clutter of trees, branches digging into his flesh and trunks pressing him down to the ground. Every last goblin had been killed.

  “Pretty impressive, huh?” A strand of hair floated in front of me. An elf stood there, her obsidian hair flowing in the wind, the streak of silver distinct in its shades of darkness. Her big moonsilver eyes looked at me, radiant elven skin glowing as the sun descended in the sky.

  “So much for using a spell,” Nyx muttered, clearly disappointed.

  “I almost attacked you, Freya.” I sighed, dropping my still-hovering hand and letting my concentrated energy dissipate back into me.

  “Well, the important thing is you didn’t,” the elf said, sliding her silver longsword back into the sheath on her back. “Oh, and also that I managed to take out all the goblins myself.”

  “That’s hardly surprising,” I chuckled. “The small ones were like Level 70 or something, and you’re what? About Level 190 now?”

  “I’m at 214, actually,” she chuckled.

  I stared at her. “Okay, you leveled up waaaay too fast.”

  “What can I say?” She grinned. “The super-rare XP boost potions I’d obtained helped a lot. I’ve been grinding quite a bit too.”

  “Yeah, but you went from Level 47 to Level 214 in like three months.”

  “I feel like you’re just sore that you’ve been stuck on the exact same level those three months.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “What are you talking about? Of course you are.” Nyx chuckled.

  “Shut up,” I complained.

  “Are you talking to Nyx again?” Freya raised an eyebrow.

  “Uhhhhh.” I looked at her. “Yeah?”

  “I see,” she said, her voice suddenly devoid of any emotion.

  I wasn’t really sure how Freya felt about the whole concept of a spirit just living in my mind. About three months ago, when I’d suddenly found out I was the Phantom Lord, there had been too many things happening at the same time for me to keep track of. And in my distraction, I’d kind of forgotten to mention anything about Nyx to Freya until nearly a fortnight later.

  Needless to say, she was not impressed.

  “Honestly, I think she’s fine with me,” Nyx said, sounding quite chill.

  “She’s never even talked to you before,” I said.

  “But she’s never tried to either, which means she’s fine with me.”

  “I don’t get your logic, but okay,” I mumbled.

  Freya took a step closer to me. “We should keep moving,” she said. “The fact that we found this many goblins here shows us that we’re getting close.”

  “Did you check the maps?”

  “Our destination isn’t on the map,” she said. “Remember what Ijyela told us? This place was lost a long time ago. It isn’t on any of the modern maps.”

  “Oh yeah, which was why it was even weirder that she felt those presences in there.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “The numerous goblins we’ve faced so far attest to the fact that something weird is going on. The warlord especially. I would not expect to see a Goblin Warlord in a forest like this, unless there was something else happening close by.”

  “Well, there have been a number of recent reports of goblins and imps invading villages and towns.”

  “It’s like they all got invigorated at the same time.”

  Though it sounded mysterious, this was a pattern that had started three months ago, and one that we understood well. There was this certain event that I’d accidentally set into motion back then, and the culmination of the aftereffects was what we were seeing now.

  In essence, it was all because this man called the Dark Lord had resurrected again. Of course, I’d taken him out in combat, but the thing was, the Dark Lord was an Eternal, just like me. And that meant that every time he died, he’d resurrect in a random location, with only a bit of his power reduced.

  I hadn’t seen the Dark Lord ever since I had beaten him three months ago. But the fact that goblins and imps, the most basic creatures of darkness, had quickly become stronger and more active suggested that he was still alive, and that he was already starting to influen
ce the tides over the lands.

  “Pick up the pace,” Freya said from ahead of me. “For a man with super speed, you sure do walk slow.”

  “Fine, fine,” I mumbled as I shuffled up to her. Should probably check my Ga’em menu, I thought as I let my index finger slide down through the air.

  DING!

  A vertical column of five circular icons slid down, and I looked at the first one. It contained a shadowy silhouette of a humanoid upper body on it, the shade contrasting against the translucent white background. I tapped on the icon, and two screens slid out, expanding from behind it and taking space on either side.

  The screen on the left contained the 3D full-body image of a young man in his early twenties. His body was toned, but not especially muscular. He had high cheekbones, a chiseled jaw and a skin tone that was a shade between tan and pale. His hair was a radiant silver-gray, the locks falling softly onto his forehead. His eyes were a shade paler than his hair and had flecks of gray in them, as if spirits and ghosts were trapped within.

  Still pretty good looking, I thought playfully as I looked at the 3D caricature of myself. I then turned to the screen on my right.

  Stats

  Items

  Equipment

  Skills

  I tapped on Stats, and a new screen opened up in front of me.

  Name

  Zoran Diablo

  Level

  521

  Health

  12650

  Constitution

  1265

  Mana

  13800

  Intelligence

  1380

  Stamina

  11090

  Endurance

  1109

  Strength

  1598

  Wisdom

  3409

  Agility

  2361

  Dexterity

  1236

  Charisma

  862

  Luck

  200

  I put my finger to the screen and flicked it to the side, sliding the old data away and letting a new set of information come into my vision.

  Name

  Zoran Diablo

  Race

  Eternal

  Abilities

  Resurrection

  Spirit King

  Resistances

  All Arts

  Class

  None

  Alignment

  Neutral

  Titles

  Phantom Lord

  Undead Emperor

  Reputation

  Level 10 – “Kings shake in your presence”

  “What do you need to look at your Stats screen for?” Nyx asked, sounding genuinely confused.

  Nothing, really. You know how my information suddenly changed the last time around?

  “You mean how it all basically got replaced when you broke the first part of the Seal of the Eternal?”

  I nodded. Sometimes I just check to see if my Ga’em menu has added or removed any data. I know it won’t happen, but it’s more of a reassurance thing.

  “Ah, I see,” Nyx said. “Well, I don’t blame you for feeling insecure about this. Last time, the Ga’em menu did kind of throw the Phantom Lord stuff at you out of nowhere.”

  Yeah. I sighed. I thought about how the people around me could still blindly trust the Ga’em menu, while I couldn’t really afford such a luxury.

  The Ga’em itself was basically a hidden entity that helped everyone interact with the world around them. It was an invisible power that connected people with everything they could do. The screens I used were examples of how the Ga’em interacted with living things and gave them information about the world around them.

  Now there was something else, called the Ga’em menu, which was what I was using right now. This menu was a powerful interface that existed between an individual and the Ga’em and helped them customize themselves completely.

  My skepticism towards the Ga’em menu had come about mainly because, for a long time, it had told me I was a normal person. Then, it had suddenly switched to identifying me as the Phantom Lord the moment I’d discovered that on my own. Of course, I knew it wasn’t the Ga’em menu’s fault that it had been unable to display the information, but after that incident, I’d just begun to question, even if only a little bit, whether the things that I saw on my Ga’em menu were actually accurate in any way.

  I mean, what was to say all of this wasn’t wrong too? Maybe I wasn’t really an Eternal. Maybe I wasn’t the Phantom Lord.

  “You do realize there’s solid proof that you’re both an Eternal and a Phantom Lord, right?” Nyx asked, adding his usual touch of snark in there.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled.

  “What?” Freya turned to me, confused.

  “Nothing,” I whispered, realizing I shouldn’t have spoken out loud.

  “Uhhhh, okay.” She looked at me for a second and then turned away.

  I’m probably gonna hear about that later. I sighed quietly.

  The trees around us began to shrink as we walked further. Their barks turned thinner, and their tops shorter. The greenery grew scarce as we reached the end of the forest. A gust of wind whipped through my hair, enjoying its freedom in the open, now unconstrained by vegetation.

  I took in a deep breath and chugged along, walking beside Freya. “Are you sure we’re on the right track?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, sliding out her Ga’em menu and going through a few options. A translucent white screen opened up, and I could immediately tell that it was a map. There was a small cluster of tree icons in the center, with a blue dot pulsating on the cluster’s left edge. Further to the left of that was a black X.

  “This is the place where Ijyela wants us to go,” Freya said, pointing at the cross. “Right now, we’re on the right track. The hard part is when we get there.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Ijyela could trace the presence she felt only so much, so although she knows the general location of where we need to go, the actual specifics are entirely up to us to find out.”

  “She seems to have been pretty specific already, to be honest with you.”

  “I know, but still,” she said. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for at this point. For all we know, this darkness is some ancient rune or something.”

  “That’d be neat.”

  “That’s not the point!”

  “Fine, fine.” I put my hands up in the air, a smile on my face. “I get what you’re saying. I’ll keep an eye out.”

  “Thank you.”

  Of course, I did try to keep an eye out, but my mind quickly moved to my own concerns as we headed along our route. In the three months since my battle with the Dark Lord, things had changed considerably in my environment. Let’s just say I was not that well liked by people in general.

  The Kingdom of Aingard and the Dargonian Empire were two big dynasties to the east of our current position. As far as I knew, they both hated me at the moment. Like, a lot. Last I’d seen of them, they had both been trying to kill me, but since then, everything had been pretty quiet. It was almost like they had forgotten about me or something.

  And that certainly wasn’t normal.

  The vegetation around us quickly disappeared as we crossed into what could only be described as desert land. Hot sand covered the ground, with a dry wind kicking up dust as we moved against it.

  This place is the complete opposite of the Viridian Forest. I chuckled. I was currently staying at Ijyela’s house in the Viridian Forest, a wide arc of dense greenery between the kingdom to the north and the empire to the south.

  It’d been hard for me to find a place to live, especially since a lot of people were after me, but Ijyela had been kind enough to provide me with shelter. Although, there was no telling when someone might attack me, and that would mean finding a new place to stay.

  “You know, you’re basically a vagabond at this point,” Nyx said.

  “I know,” I si
ghed.

  “What?” Freya turned to me, just like before, only this time she seemed really intent on knowing what I was doing.

  “Nyx just called me a vagabond,” I said.

  She looked at me for a second and then sighed. “Sometimes I realize it’s for the best that I can’t hear you both converse.”

  “Hey, that’s just mean,” I said. “We have great conversations, I’ll have you—” I stopped.

  “What?” Freya asked, and then she jerked her head around an instant later, looking in the same direction I had.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Something is here.” She stretched out her arm, feeling the air, as if searching for something within the gentle winds.

  I closed my eyes and focused, trying to gauge my surroundings. I felt a weird sensation coming from ahead of me, as though something both did and didn’t exist.

  I thrust out my hand. “Ulhius,” I said.

  A blast of fire shot out, a sphere of flames searing the air. It dissipated about fifty yards from me, as if an invisible wall had blocked it. Cracks formed in the air, like a transparent sheet was being shattered apart.

  All of a sudden, the image flickered, and a village faded into view.

  Just like that.

  “What the heck?” Freya gasped.

  Wooden buildings and stone towers lined the edges of the village, with smaller homes standing further in. The village itself was moderately sized, with maybe thirty to forty buildings.

  Unease built up within me as I looked at it. I couldn’t tell why.

  And then I found my reason.

  A monstrous shriek broke through the air, reverberating in my mind and resonating through the ground, powerful waves of sound echoing in the wind.

  A smile curled on my lips.

  “Found you.”