Ch 215: Arise.
[I just reached lv50, and I have that special class change quest.] wrote Jinah in the group chat.
Of all the system users, Jinah was the first to reach that level. She had been relentless in growing stronger, and benefited from the equipment Akeno had lent her or crafted for her, giving her an advantage over the others. Akeno, Jeanne and Alter might have exceeded her, but they spent a lot of time in their sanctuary, training one girl after another.
Even now, as she walked out of the dungeon, her body was covered by body armor, black with gold highlights, tightly fitting on her body.
Not only that, but she had benefited from the System's quirks that allowed Players to benefit from their equipment simply by putting them into the character sheet's slots. however, only armor pieces coming from the System's store, looted from monsters, or crafted from the bodies of monsters, could be equipped this way.
In practice, it was like Jinah was wearing two sets of armor enhancing her attributes, one made by Akeno, and another using the various bits and pieces she had gathered from bosses.
"Who's in the mood for some ice cream? There's a parlor other there." said Song-Yi with a grin.
"Nice idea, nya." smiled Meilin.
"I have some paperwork to do for the guild, but…" hesitated Heejin.
Jinah grinned as she saw in Heejin's expression that she was asking for someone to convince her to fall to the temptation.
"Heejin, just come with us. If you don't, I will tell Akeno that you are not displaying proper team spirit and turning into a shut-in."
"Resorting to blackmail to get your way. Very well, since I have no choice. But I will get my revenge one day. How about you, Joohee?"
"Yes, please."
The four of them had just finished a B-rank dungeon, and they all wore black and gold armor, and black ponchos over it to hide their figures.
Their outfits were quite conspicuous, but the civilians had seen enough Hunters wearing weapons and armor that they didn't do more than glance at their equipment, before being mesmerized by their beauty.
They heard the sudden sound of brakes being stepped on, and a car struck the one before it. Obviously, someone had forgotten to pay attention to the road.
It wasn't the first time this had happened when they were moving together down a street. Now they only glanced to make sure no one was seriously injured, and entered the ice cream parlor.
"Jinah, are you going to give it a try today?" asked Song-Yi.
"Tomorrow." said Jinah as she shook her head. "I need to do the daily quest to have the recovery reward available if I need it, and I want to be well rested. From what Akeno told me, the trial may be harder than the dungeon we just finished. She's going to give me extra weapons and armor as spares."
"Yes, that's smart. I'll be rooting for you. Be careful, okay?"
"Sure." nodded Jinah.
Song-Yi had an idea and grinned, bringing her head closer and whispering. "And when you come out, you and I will do something nice, just the two of us."
"Oh? I'm not going to say no." smiled Jinah. "But after you have your way with me, it will be my turn. And I'll do the exact same thing you'll have done to me."
"Yes, that's fine."
"Please stop whispering about those things." complained Joohee, her knees pressed against each other. "It makes it harder for me."
"But you like it when it hiss hard, nya." grinned Meilin, lifting her right hand to touch the invisible collar around Joohee's neck. Joohee blushed, wondering if Meilin was referring to a hard dildo, or to her being horny while being unable to do anything about it. Or both. Knowing Meilin, it was probably both. She wasn't wrong, though.
"Tell you what, when Jinah and Song-Yi are celebrating, I'll have some time with you, nya."
"Well, if Mistress agrees…" muttered Joohee.
"Speaking of her, I wonder what she's doing right now…"
…
With a swoosh, the flog struck Gina's left butt, and she moaned once again, her voice muffled by the penis gag filling her mouth.
Akeno smiled as she stopped and ran her hand over Gina's butt, who was now a nice shade of pink.
"Mmph!" moaned Gina, her skin now hypersensitive. Even Akeno's light touch felt slightly painful, but it only fueled her arousal.
Akeno smiled as she unbuckled Gina's gag and slowly pulled it off. She didn't remove Gina's blindfold or collar, however.
"Should I stop now, slave?"
"…Please. M-More… I'm so close!" gasped Gina.
"More who?"
"…Mistress."
"You are quite the masochistic slut, aren't you, slave?" whispered Akeno as she pinched Gina's left nipple, and she gasped.
"This is your fault! You made me that way! Gnn!" protested Gina, before being shut down as Akeno shoved two fingers into her mouth.
"I did. But how you became what you are doesn't matter. What matters is that you get off on humiliation and pain. That is part of you, now. Just like Bora over there is getting off of being a rubber slave."
Gina couldn't see with the blindfold, but she had watched as Akeno had bound her companion.
Lee Bora, dressed in a pink latex bodysuit and black latex corset, gloves and stockings and high-heeled boots, had her arms pinned behind her back in a black leather armbinder, and stood with her legs spread apart by a solid bar, bent forward as her arms were pulled up by a chain connected to the ceiling. That was the infamous strappado posture.
Bora was in her own little isolated world, gagged with another penis gag, blindfolded, and with headphones covering her ears. A magic wand fixed to a vertical bar was buzzing away against her crotch, but a rune on her back stripped her of her ability to orgasm.
Akeno shifted her position, standing in front of Gina, and pulled on the D-ring fixed on Gina's collar, forcing her to lean forward. With her other hand, she lifted the flogger behind Gina's back, letting the leather strands brush against her butt.
"Tell me you want it, slave." whispered Akeno, her lips only centimeters from Gina's, their breasts pressing against each other. "Tell me what you are, and I will make sure you are completely satisfied before I lock you into a chastity belt. One that will stimulate you almost constantly, but also give you random electric shocks. You are going to love it."
Gina groaned as she struggled once again against her bonds, but she couldn't hide her arousal from Akeno.
"I'm waiting, slave. You're getting the belt either way. Do you want a few orgasms before, or will you remain frustrated?"
As Akeno kept brushing the flogger's strands against Gina's ass, she also slowly stroked Gina's pussy lips, and the indecision on Gina's face faded as she gave in with a sob.
"I… I am a filthy masochist, Mistress. I am your sex slave. Please bully me more and let me cum."
Akeno smiled as she went behind Gina and started another round of flogging.
…
Bora didn't know how much time had passed since Akeno had bound her in this position. It would have been stressful if she was a normal civilian, but a Hunter like her could stay like this for hours without issue. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the rest.
She could barely think at all, as her body was trembling from the intense pleasure that seemed to endlessly accumulate in her body, without being able to be let out. She would have come again and again, if not for Akeno somehow blocking her.
She was trapped in a dark abyss of pleasure, only feeling the latex pressing on her skin, the bondage, the vibration driving her mad with pleasure, and the headphones playing a recording of her moans and groans from her last session with Akeno, with the occasional degrading declarations from her Mistress.
…
Jinah walked to the spot indicated by the quest window, a wooden area just north of Seoul, and removed her poncho, completely revealing the black and gold armor suit that covered her body from the neck down.
As a final check, she touched with her right hand the spatial ring on her left ring finger through the reinforced leather glove, verifying its content, and opened her status.
Status
Name: Sung Jinah
Level: 50
Fatigue: 0
Class: None
Title: Giant Slayer
HP: 3 165
MP: 520
--------------------
Strength: 83
Agility: 112
Perception: 68
Vitality: 91
Intelligence: 53
--------------------
Remaining points: 0
Satisfied, she opened the group chat.
[This is it, wish me luck, everyone.]
She didn't wait for the other System users to answer. With the Jeju raid planned for eleven days from now, they didn't have time to waste.
Jinah took from her inventory the key that had appeared with the quest and used it. A swirling blue vortex appeared in front of her.
Jinah thought about her brother for a few seconds, then nodded to herself with determination, and stepped forward.
She found herself in a hallway, wide enough for fifteen people to walk side by side, and wide a comparable height. The architecture reminded her of a castle. And the first enemy appearing did nothing to dissipate the illusion.
A medieval armor, dull gray, holding sword and shield, was slowly walking toward her.
"So far, so good." muttered Jinah. She knew from what Akeno had reported to her that this trial had three phases. Phase 1 was a fight against an increasing amount of animated armors. Most were armed with melee weapons, but she would also have to deal with bow-armed ones, invisible ones armed with daggers, and even mages spewing fireballs and other magic projectiles. It was a test that would put to the test most of her attributes, from strength to stamina, from agility to perception. Anyone who didn't invest at least some points from the daily quests into each stat would likely fall short.
Jinah took from her spatial ring a war hammer and a shield. She hadn't trained much with those, but her high agility attribute, combined with the passive boost she received from the Soul Contract, would make up for it.
The war hammer wasn't very heavy or long, built to endure a lot of abuse and limit the yielder's fatigue more than for using inertia to amplify the force of the blows or extended reach. But when Jinah avoided the armor's first blow and swung the weapon at the armor's head, the blow was powerful enough to knock the armor off its feet and send it careening against the wall. The animated armor fell to pieces, and Jinah could see the caved-in helmet rolling near her feet.
Suddenly, Jinah could hear the footsteps of many armored feet coming closer.
The first had been a freebie, offered by the trial's maker to let the candidate get a taste of what was to come and shift their strategy.
Now, the real test was starting.
…
Jinah leaned to the side just in time to avoid a fireball, then jumped back while lifting her shield.
With a clang, the steel-tipped arrow ricocheted away, and Jinah suddenly swung her hammer to a spot of empty space on her right. A crunching sound was heard, and an animated armor mostly draped in a dark green cloak became visible as it was knocked down, its breastplate caved in.
Jinah jumped forward, bashing away one warrior-type armor with the shield and kicking away another armed with a huge two-handed hammer, and rushed the mage armor. Her downward swing smashed its helmet to bit, and as it collapsed, Jinah swung her Hammer at the bow-armed one, caving its face protection in.
She had already taken a blue Katana from her spatial ring and turned the last two animated armors. She ducked under the swing of the mighty two-handed hammer, and drove the blade of her weapon into the armor's left eye socket. The blade pierced the back of the helmet, and the armor went limp.
Jinah freed her blade in time to parry the blow from the armor equipped with sword and shield and swung at its throat. The metal of the armor was tougher than steel, and Jinah had to put some strength into the blow, but the armor was still properly decapitated and fell to pieces.
She looked around, remaining vigilant for remaining assassin-type armor, but it seemed that after killing close to two hundred animated armors, the first phase had concluded.
Still, one good thing was that she had gained a level toward its end, and the few scrapes and bruises she had received were healed, as well as her fatigue reset.
Jinah recovered the war hammer she had thrown and put it into her inventory, and she walked through the huge structure to the huge double door she had noticed before. The ten-meter-tall door, decorated with a copper pattern, had been locked before, and she hadn't tried to force her way in. Behind was likely the second phase of the trial, and the hardest by a significant margin.
She stretched and drank some water, made sure her katana and shield had already repaired the superficial damage from the previous fight, and pushed the door open.
The dim room on the other side was progressively more illuminated as many torches on the ceiling lit up by themselves, revealing its nature as a huge throne room. The massive throne was easily a hundred meters from the entrance, on a raised stone platform.
Massive stone column ones each side served to support the ceiling thirty meters above her head.
Jinah walked forward, and didn't even turn her head as the doors started to close behind her.
She heard the slow footsteps of a single animated armor, hidden by the column. But she could feel the pressure emanating from it before the blood-red armor came into view, walking to stand in front of the empty throne before turning to her.
Jinah gulped as she saw her opponent.
The animated armor was slimer than those she had fought before, with a frayed red cape fixed on its shoulders. A thick mane of crimson hair, long enough to reach its knees, was fixed on the back of its helmet. And where the previous armors only had darkness inside them, this one had glowing white eyes.
Most of all, the aura and pressure emanating from this enemy was comparable to that of the Lord in the double dungeon.
The armor held in its right hand a massive two-handed sword that didn't possess a cross guard.
Its name appeared above its head.
[Knight Commander Igris the Bloodred]
Igris lifted his blade high in the air, then pointed it at Jinah as an obvious declaration of hostility.
Jinah cast Augment, She had refrained from using it before as she didn't want to tire herself, but Igris wasn't an enemy she could take lightly.
When Augment was done casting, she raised her shield and struck it once with the blade of her katana, signaling her readiness.
Igris moved with explosive speed, crossing the fifty meters separating them with the speed of an arrow, blade trailing behind him.
When he reached her, he pivoted his torso as he slashed, managing to transfer all the inertia of his forward movement into his sword slash.
Jinah still had time to brace herself and black with the shield, but the blow was so powerful, and slightly slanted upward, that she felt her feet about to leave the ground. She quickly jumped in the same direction to maintain her posture, but still was sent colliding against one of the pillars, causing a crack in the stone.
Deciding that giving Igris range to make another attack like this would be a bad idea, Jinah charged him as soon as her feet touched the ground.
Igris received her charge with a powerful horizontal slash, but Jinah crouched at the last moment, using her shield to deflect Igris's sword upward as it was about to reach her. She slashed with her right hand at his exposed flank, and the blade of her Katana caused a shallow groove to appear on his armor, but didn't penetrate or indent it.
Igris, obviously a veteran of countless battles, chose the fasted method to strike his enemy, and decided to kick her face. Jinah barely had time to block with the shoulder of her sword-yielding arm.
She was pushed back, but didn't lose her balance, and Igris currently was in an awkward posture. Jinah decided to exploit it by using Shunpo, appearing behind Igris.
He reacted quickly, wanting to jump forward as he turned to face her, but it was too late, as Jinah, letting go of her shield, grabbed Igris by the back of his torso armor where it stopped at the neck, and with a shout, lifted Igris off his feet, lifted him above her head, and devoted all her strength into faceplanting him into the marbled floor.
The stone shattered all around his head when he impacted the ground, but it didn't seem to do much to him as he rotated the rest of his body to accompany the move, causing him to roll and crouch on his two feet and one hand, his sword already slashing toward Jinah's ankles.
She jumped back to avoid the sword and Igris got back to his feet, and for an instant, the two simply watched each other.
"You really are strong." said Jinah, taking a quick glance at her shield on the ground. There was a significant gouge on it, the result of the first slash she had blocked.
Even with Augment, Igris was still slightly stronger than she was, judging from their first exchanges. And he had a lot more battle experience.
But Jinah was significantly faster, and she hadn't used Hard Light Arsenal yet.
Jinah put the Katana back into her inventory, and was about to take her swordstaff out, when Igris did something that surprised her.
He struck the ground with his sword, releasing it and causing Jinah to hesitate. Igris then removed his cape, as well as the two long daggers sheathed on the small of his back.
Jinah understood. Igris had misinterpreted her move, thinking that she wanted to challenge him into a barehanded brawl, and as a proud knight, was willing to oblige her.
She nodded, then used Shunpo to appear right in front of him, delivering a strong palm strike to his abdomen. Igris was propelled backward, his feet off the ground, and Jinah didn't intend to give him room to recover. When he struck the wall with enough force to cause cracks, Jinah was already on him, punching toward his head.
Igris managed to evade her fist by tilting his head and delivered a lightning quick right hook to her face.
For almost two full minutes, Jinah and Igris punched and threw each other around, causing increasing damage to the throne room.
They separated each other again for a second.
Jinah had gotten the upper hand thanks to her speed advantage, but she still had taken a lot of hits. And if Igris had taken more, he barely seemed a little slower than at the start.
Jinah sighed and took the swordstaff from her inventory, and decided to let Igris take his sword.
She knew it was stupid, that she should use the opportunity to strike him down, but… He hadn't try to jump her when her hands were empty, and there was a non-zero possibility that Igris would be her subordinate in the very near future.
Besides, she had come to see Igris not as a soulless monster, but as an individual, and one worthy of respect.
Igris lifted his hand, and Jinah raised an eyebrow when the two-handed sword tore itself off the ground and flew into his hand. That was a detail she didn't know.
Jinah jumped forward, keeping herself close to the ground so that she would be able to kick the ground instantly and change her trajectory if needed. When Igris swung at her, she used her swordstaff to deflect the blow just enough for her to not being hit, then slit her blade along his sword, aiming at his arm. Igris bent backward fast enough to avoid it, but could only do so by pushing on his extended right leg, exposing it for a fleeting instant.
But it was enough for Jinah.
She instantly changed the swordstaff's trajectory, and the tip of its blade bit into Igris's right leg, just above the knee protector. Unlike the Katana who had been made by Akeno and was of… average quality, the swordstaff was made and named by Noah, and managed to cut through the armor.
Purple blood started oozing from the gash in the red armor.
Igris immediately retaliated, but Jinah managed to block or deflect each of his dozens of strikes, and caused him two more wounds as she did, one cut on his right forearm, and one piercing wound on his waist.
The loss of blood was having an effect on Igris, and his moves started to grow weaker, his footing less stable.
Seeing an opportunity, Jinah put a block of hardened light just behind Igris's left knee and pressed the attack.
Igris tried to step back to maintain his balance, and only noticed the obstacle when the back of his left knee hit it, causing him to stumble backward.
Before he had time to regain his footing and push himself up, Jinah's swordstaff pierced his chest where his heart should be.
Igris shuddered visibly, trying to get the spear out, but Jinah pushed, forcibly dragging him along the floor like a broom until he was pinned sitting against a wall.
"You fought bravely, Knight Commander Igris, but you lost." said Jinah with a low voice.
Igris used both hands to try to get the blade out of his body, his sitting posture making him unable to use his legs, but Jinah could use all of her body strength to try to drive it deeper.
After a few seconds, Igris stopped moving. His head hung down, and his hands fell to his side.
A few system windows appeared in front of her, and she breathed in relief as she pulled her weapon out of Igris's body.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have gained the title: Armor Slayer. A title given to a player proficient in fights against armored opponents. 25% increased damage against armored monsters.]
[Item: leather pouch.
Acquisition difficulty: None.
Category: Miscellaneous.
Gold: 1 500 000
A pouch for carrying money. If you open it, you will get gold.]
[Item: Crimson Knight's Helmet.
Acquisition difficulty: S-rank.
Category: Protective Gear.
Reduce physical damage by 20%.
Strength: +20.
Vitality: +20.]
[Rune stone: Ruler's Hand.
Acquisition difficulty: --
Category: Rune Stone.
You may obtain the skill by crushing the stone.]
"sweet." grinned Jinah as she immediately equipped the helmet in her interface. She had never been a fan of RPG video games before, but after living as a Hunter for nearly two months now, and could understand the appeal of having one's character grow gradually stronger.
The rest of the items were already in her inventory. She was about to take the Rune Stone, when a dozen blue vortexes suddenly appeared in the room. Animated armors started walking out of those gate at a rate of about once every three seconds. The throne room was about to be packed with Armors.
[Mission: Survive for 10 minutes.
Rewards: Enhancement points.
Remaining time: 9:58.]
Jinah sighed as she cast Greater Healing on herself, for the third time in the last few minutes, and looked at the shield on the ground, near the center of the room. She decided to go with the swordstaff for now, rather than try to recover the still damaged shield and go with the war hammer.
Her fatigue was rather high, so she deactivated Augment, and got to work. Jinah knew that the portals would soon close. However, there would be summoner-type armors among them, and they would keep summoning new ones indefinitely.
She either had to survive, killing animated armor after armor to give herself enough room to maneuver and avoid being hit, or she would have to find the hidden summoners, kill them, then clean up the room.
She knew which method she preferred.
…
The last knight fell, its body split apart by the swordstaff, and Jinah grinned. Her new title, in conjunction with a Master Grade weapon, really made all the difference. The armors had split apart under her blows like dry logs under a woodsman's axe.
[You have defeated all the monsters. The class-change mission is complete.]
[Choosing a class according to the player's performance during the trial.]
[Class selected. Wherever the Player goes, the angel of death follows.]
[Whatever path the Player takes, it is littered with corpses, and the stench of blood remains.]
Jinah was pretty sure she knew where this was going. The Architect had apparently deemed her performance suitable for her body to become Ashborn's vessel.
Only, that wouldn't happen. Akeno had been positive that their immunity to negative effects meant that no one would be able to take over her body, even temporarily, unless she agreed with it.
It was even part of their plan, to have one of them be chosen for the role, so that another system user without their immunity wouldn't end up possessed. As she nodded to herself, the system kept displaying more messages.
[In addition, the Player craves great power and blazed her own trail without relying on others.]
Now that was interesting, as it suggested that Players could participate together in the trial, but might end up with lower rewards.
[The thirst for strength calls forth the ghosts that roam the valley of death.]
[The ghosts summoned by the shadow army will follow the Player's orders as the shadow army and make way only for the Player.]
[Your class is Necromancer. Do you accept? YES/NO.]
Jinah hesitated for an instant, then mentally pressed YES.
[You job has been finalized.]
[Number of required enhancement points reached, the class will evolve.]
Jinah felt power crazily rushing into her body. She wasn't even really aware of it, but she was floating, her feet slightly off the ground, and her eyes were shining with a purple glow.
When the small storm of power calmed down, and her feet touched the ground, another window appeared.
[Your class has evolved. Necromancer >>> Shadow Monarch.]
[You have gained 10 Ability Points and Unique class skills.]
[Skill: Shadow Extraction lv.1
Class-Specific skill
No mana required
A shadow soldier is created from a lifeless body by taking out its mana. The chance of failure increases the higher the target's stats are, and the more time passed since the target's death.
Shadows able to be extracted: 30/30.]
[Skill: Shadow Preservation lv.1
Class-Specific skill
No mana required
You absorb created shadow soldiers and save them. Saved soldiers can be summoned and reabsorbed whenever and wherever the animator desires.
Saved Shadows: 0/30.]
Jinah closed the windows and watched the collapsed armor pieces all over the floor. A small [Extraction possible] notification was visible above each of them.
She decided to try it out and activated her new skill, but another window appeared.
[Please designate a command word for the skill: Shadow Extraction]
Jinah thought for a moment, then found the perfect word for it.
"Arise."
As soon as she said the word, dark miasma oozed from the animated armors, forming into arms reaching up. The arms folded and pressed on the ground, helping lift the rest of the shadows' bodies as if they were climbing from holes in the ground. In seconds, thirty shadow soldiers stood in front of her.
They looked like the animated armors they had been before, but the shadow soldiers were pitch black, with blue flames where their armor joints and openings had been.
When she paid particular attention to some of them, notifications appeared above their heads, written in green for allies.
[Shadow Mage – Lv.1. Regular rank]
[Shadow Infantry – Lv.1. Regular rank]
Jinah nodded to them, then walked to stand in front of Igris's body.
She invested one ability point into Shadow extraction, and the limit for the number of shadow soldiers went from 30 to 45. She put another point in Shadow Preservation and obtained the same result.
"Arise." said Jinah, smiling slightly.
Igris's body stirred for a few seconds, but only became still again.
[Shadow extraction failed. Remaining attempts 2/3]
Jinah frowned, and crouched in from of Igris.
"Knight Commander Igris. You have served Ashborn loyally for all those years, guarding his throne. But I am Ashborn's successor, the inheritor of his power and will. I wish to protect what he wanted to protect, and make the Monarchs who betrayed him pay for their actions. Do you not wish to assist me?"
Jinah took a deep breath, and said the word again.
"Arise."