Soul Knight - Chapter 7 (Patreon)

[Welcome to the Lesser Ordeal, Prince Torian!]

[Your Family has failed Ordeal Torian’s Tribulation, leaving Havendale in ruins. To reclaim ownership of this tower, a Trial must be completed. You will find the Trial on the fifth floor of this Ordeal.]

[Exit or respawn not allowed for Prince Torian until Trial is completed.]

They were stranding in snow up to nearly their knees, a cold wind beating against their skins. Within a valley, they could see a mountain and various snow-covered trees in the distance and around them. Next to them was the portal they entered, and Nick knew that it was meant for being able to retreat. Except he could not.

“What, you mean I’d be able to respawn if not for this? This some baby game stuff!”

Kaya was getting her bearings as they arrived in the Ordeal, but looked at him confused, “Huh? You can’t respawn now? What did your message say?”

Nick read the two girls the message, leaving them gasping at the different parts.

Eirwen was worried. “Oh no, Nick. During the first stratum, the tower allows for respawn, though it takes time–and your spirit is wounded. The Tests within the Lesser Ordeal are mostly meant to be just that–tests. They are meant to grow you as a person, to prepare you for Orion’s dangers.”

Kaya nodded. “It’s good that the danger’s only for you–though, that Trial does seem worrisome. It can have its own rules, but it should give Eirwen and me a chance to opt out or escape, so we’ll cross that bridge when it’s time. Now it’s a really good thing Eirwen and I came to help you out.”

“Whatever. I always play hardcore mode, this is nothin’. Let’s get moving.”

Eirwen smiled. “Parties do increase the difficulty, but they are statistically proven to reduce and mitigate risk, increase rewards, and be that much more fun! I’m excited to explore!”

Nick chuckled. He was certainly going to enjoy having her around. “How you girls doing, are you cold, Eirwen? It seems my body handles this just fine.”

All three of them received the same message when they had arrived, but Nick looked over it.

[First Floor: Test of Steadfastness. The biting cold will chill you to the bone, while the starving wildlife test your steadfastness. Make it to the portal to the North.]

Eirwen smiled. “I’m fine, Nick! My wool’s not for nothin’. And I’m sure Kaya will be good here too. The portal should be that way.”

She pointed off into the distance, and Nick started walking. Luckily, the snow was hard enough that he could get decent footing, but every few steps would see him stumble through the softer snow.

Nick asked, “That’s North? Is it just me, or is the essence thick here? Like we could just sit here and gather it?”

Kaya was walking by his side, on the lookout for threats. Eirwen stayed a few paces behind them, her crossbow at the ready.

Eirwen replied, “That’s right. You should practice gathering essence on the move. If you spend enough time within the floor, you can absorb essence until you reach the level of the floor without a problem. However, as you spend more time, the difficulty should increase. It can become pretty risky to stay long, as it can add more Tests. If you die, you lose a significant amount of essence when you respawn.”

“Huh, so that’s why that bandit lord isn’t level ten. He got stuck on probably the eighth floor?”

Kaya sneered. “Maybe even earlier. He probably doesn’t want to expend too much effort. By restricting access to the Ordeal, nobody can get stronger than him. The essence in the ruins and surrounding area is kept low, part of the protection they use to keep monsters out. They–”

Kaya was interrupted with a howl, what sounded like wolves to Nick. Her ears flicked as she looked side to side.

Nick pointed, “Let’s run over to that big tree! It’ll be easier to protect Eirwen with it at her back.”

Kaya frowned but acquiesced, the three of them running for the tree. Nick saw about a dozen wolves with fur the color of snow running through the woods, gaining on them rapidly.

Nick and Kaya stood in front of Eirwen, the wolves surrounding them. Just a few over a dozen, they didn’t look that strong to him.

“These guys are level one?”

Kaya now drew her two short swords she had prepared. “Yes, but I’m still surprised there’s so many. The Test sounded like it was more about lasting in the cold…”

Nick shrugged. “This will be good for Eirwen. I’ll cut them down quickly.” He drew a single throwing blade from his bandolier, preparing to throw it.

The wolves started posturing, trying to draw out Nick and Kaya, but the two stuck close to Eirwen. She fired a shot from her small crossbow, nailing one of them in the shoulder with a yelp. She began reloading her crossbow, while many wolves charged at once.

Others circled looking for the right time to attack, and Nick quickly decapitated one, and swung into another that leaped at him in quick succession. The first didn’t even get to cry out, and the second was nearly sliced in half with a pained wail.

Kaya didn’t handle her enemies quite as well–Nick’s skill and legendary weapon allowed him to cut through the enemies with ease. The wolves were larger than the rats, but he cut through them just as quickly.

He felt like their bodies were somehow weaker, that perhaps the rats were higher level, or closer to the second, than the wolves.

She used both blades to pierce into the chest and deflect one wolf that leaped at her, guiding it into the path of another. They tried biting her, but she wedged her bracer into one of their mouths as Nick’s throwing blade pierced the untouched one in the eye.

The rest now charged, six at Nick and four at Kaya. She did her best to finish the one she pierced her two blades into, swinging her blades with focused precision. Nick noticed she was light on the strength of her attacks–her attacks not cutting very deep. She finished it just in time for two of her wolves to arrive.

She activated some ability, her body being charged with some kind of energy. Kaya began moving faster, and he realized she activated [Dash].

The wolves came from several angles, three of them leaping at the same time. Nick was quick to slice through one and sway under another, elbowing the third so hard in the head that he thought its skull might have cracked.

He threw another knife at one of Kaya’s targets, and danced through the surrounding wolves leaping high, kicking and slicing through those that attacked him low.

Eirwen barely had time to shoot her second shot at one of the wolves near Kaya, before she moved with a blur and cut through the last ones. Kaya had taken a bite on the leg, but it didn’t look overly serious–likely, some bruising, as they probably barely pierced her leather if at all.

She was already taking care of it, removing armor and applying bandages.

The three collected their ranged ammunition, and Eirwen touched one of the downed corpses. “Loot.”

The wolf corpse was bathed in light, and a pile of meat, some wolf teeth, and a decent patch of fur was left over.

Nick looked at what they received with a frown. “I’ll try the meat, but who would want this other garbage? Is Eirwen here gonna lug around dozens of pelts and teeth in her bag? By the second floor, you’ll be wanting to dump everything you find in here, won’t you?”

Eirwen giggled. “You might be right, Nick. But our people have a saying. The Ordeal provides what’s needed to pass its Tests. You never know: What if we get to the second floor, and sewing up all these pelts to make a sled or something might be just what we need to get through it? If we didn’t take them, we could be in a lot of trouble.”

Kaya added, “And wolf pelts and teeth are both valuable. Creatures from Ordeals are full of essence that belies their level outside. Nobody’s sure why, but the creature’s essence within is more…perfect. While the hide might not look anything special, it’s actually quite strong for a level 1 reward. Outside the Ordeal, it might be comparable to a level two or three wolf’s pelt, which would be a difficult challenge to kill by yourself.”

Being reminded of the essence, Nick did his best to visualize the two whirlpools and draw it into himself. He had noticed that essence had pooled up around both Kaya and Eirwen as they slayed the wolves, and the two girls immediately drew it into themselves to where it wasn’t being lost when they moved or otherwise.

“What would we do if we didn’t have the wonderful Eirwen here? I’d have to skin the corpses?”

Kaya chuckled. “She is wonderful, but no. With no looter in the party, they would dissipate into the floor of the Ordeal quickly, leaving these items. Her skill is much more efficient though, splitting some additional Essence among us and usually getting better items.”

As Eirwen worked through each wolf, additional essence besides what he got from killing the wolves would trickle into him. Rather than it drifting over to him, it was more like it arrived from somewhere else, like when his Soul Servant was getting kills far away from him.

“Oh, forgot about that. Create Soul Servant!”

A small amount of soul power left him, along with some mana, filling out one of the lesser maimed wolves. When it stood up, Nick felt a familiarity with the creature.

“Hey, I think it’s Jerome.”

It barked once happily, and stood at attention. Nick frowned in thought. The bandit had cost more soul power, but the wording of his spell description made it sound like a soul inhabited it each time.

Perhaps the wolf was just much lower level than the bandit, or something.

He cast the spell on another wolf, getting him two. He wasn’t sure if the soul was similar to the bearcoon or not, but he found it interesting that the first cost more than the second.

With his soul power, he thought he could perhaps have four or five, but he kept himself at two for now, as it would reduce the strength of his soul blade.

Eirwen looked at them with interest. “They feel funny. It’s like they are alive, but not. This is totally different from a necromancer’s reanimation!”

Nick said, “Yep, I don’t know how, but it is. It’s probably because we Archaens are awesome.”

Kaya rolled her eyes, but Eirwen chuckled. “That’s really neat. Those will be a lot of help.”

“Yup, I’ll have Jerome here protect you. You ain’t got anything to worry about with me around, Eirwen.”

Eirwen smiled as she went about looting each of the corpses and as far as Nick could tell, there was nothing of import as she loaded the results into her bag. On the eighth, she exclaimed. “Oh! I got a skill gem.”

Holding up a tiny red gem, she had a wide smile on her face. “It’s [Map]! This is a great find.”

Nick narrowed his eyes on it. “How do you know?”

Kaya snorted. “You just will it to provide you information. Please tell me you at least did that with your sword?”

Nick chuckled. “Oh yeah. I dunno, I had to pick my class just for it to tell me. Who’s going to use it, can anyone?”

Eirwen continued looting the other wolves, but said, “Anyone can use [Map], but many skills have certain restrictions, or can be more powerful with both the right attributes or affinities, and class. Because I have Ordeal Supporter as an option, I’d likely get the most out of the skill.”

Kaya added, “If Eirwen has [Map], she’d be a lot more valuable in future groups. Her life as an Ordeal Supporter would be set.”

Eirwen snorted. “What do you mean, Kaya? I’m supporting you and Nick, aren’t I?”

Kaya spoke softly, “It’s just…in case I’m not around…”

Nick nodded. “I’m good with need and efficiency before greed, then. I do think you should use it, Eirwen.” He gave her a smile. “You’re going to be the best Ordeal Supporter sheep girl ever. The belle of the ball, every party is gonna want you for their party–but then they ain’t gonna get ya, since I'll keep you in mine as much as I can.”

Eirwen giggled. “Belle of the…?”

Nick did his best to give a charming smile at Eirwen. “That’s right. The belle of the ball is the most beautiful, most important girl at a dance. That’s gonna be you, I’ll make sure of it.”

She blushed, as Kaya coughed and motioned to the portal. “Let’s keep moving, before the difficulty increases.”

“How does it do that? You mean just spawn more enemies?”

Eirwen said, “Depends on the level. Being in the Ordeal and absorbing the essence is a privilege that must be earned. Here, it will probably start becoming colder, in addition to us seeing more wolves.”

They continued their march toward the portal, withstanding the cold for nearly thirty minutes with nothing happening. Eventually, more wolves howled and charged them. This time, there were already trees around them, so Eirwen had her crossbow loaded and ready to fire with her back up against a tree almost right away.

Jerome the wolf protected Eirwen, Nick ordering it to stay by her. The other supported Kaya, so he could go all out without having to worry.

Nick decided to be much more liberal with his throwing knives, preparing to throw several before he drew his blade this time. He laid into many of them as they approached, and Kaya threw several as well. Combined with Eirwen’s crossbow bolt, four were downed or limping before the first ones even arrived.

Going on the offensive since Eirwen was protected, Nick charged this time instead. There was a column of them running towards their party, and he met them head on. Piercing straight through the first with his blade thrust out, much of the wolf disintegrated around his blade as he passed through it.

He quickly spun and slashed as each tried to bite into him as he passed them, and they took on mortal wounds with every swing of his blade.

Five had separated from the column of wolves as he fought through them or were passed by him dodging and slashing another, and he threw another knife into one from behind as he charged back toward Kaya and Eirwen.

Kaya managed to get one blade right into one wolf’s skull, and the other she dragged across the wolf’s side as it went for Eirwen. Wounded, it still went for her, but it was met with Jerome the wolf going for its throat in a takedown, shaking it until the life left its eyes.

They finished off the wounded wolves with ease, and Eirwen was filled with awe as she looked over Nick’s handiwork.

“W-Wow, Nick. It looks like you could handle all the wolves by yourself?”

Nick snorted. “What do you mean, looks like? I totally could, no problem. This blade is real powerful, but really, the wolves are kinda predictable and weak. The rats were smarter. Well, they did have more buddies too.”

Kaya frowned. “You mean the hundreds of rats you killed were stronger than these wolves?”

“Yup. Had more essence, too. Man, think of all that loot I missed out on. Or, do monsters outside the Ordeal have loot too?”

Kaya had a look of doubt on her, but didn’t say anything as she went to collect her knives.

Eirwen nodded as she looted the creatures once more. “They can, but Ordeals are usually much better. More often than not, the rewards are more tailored for the people challenging themselves within. Of course, people get stuff that they end up just selling, but sometimes later they realized that they had a person within the party that had high affinity for the skill and could use it to make themselves much better, but they ignored it.”

They collected the loot with nothing special appearing, and began absorbing their essence as well. The party then continued toward where they believed the portal was.

After continuing on for a little more than fifteen minutes, they were suddenly buffeted by icy winds. Snow began falling as well, the temperature falling drastically.

The girls, even being beastfolk, started to wrap themselves up a little better in their cloaks, but Nick felt like he was at home as they continued their march. Over the next hour, they fought through two more packs of wolves, providing Nick with no real challenge at all.

During this time, they all absorbed as much Essence as they could. It wasn’t just to increase their level, but it also warmed their bodies.

“Oh! I hit level two as Ordeal Supporter. I got a passive: [Detect Safe Area]. It appears there is one ahead, I think near the portal itself.”

“Nice! Isn’t that a little fast? I suppose like a noob I didn’t really absorb the essence, but I killed hundreds of rats before I did.”

Eirwen giggled. “That’s part of it, no doubt. But I had absorbed essence over the years, just got…stuck, is all. The third level will be much slower.”

Kaya frowned. “The safe area near the portal is a little worrisome. That probably means that the next floor is a staged event, not likely safe near the entrance.”

Nick smiled. “Look at you, knowing all this Ordeal stuff. Thought you said Eirwen was the studious one.”

She blushed. “W-Well, I really wanted to find a way to gain essence! I’ve wanted to break out of Havendale for a long time now.”

As they moved near the portal, something had laid out an ambush for them, waiting in the snow. His soul servants picked up on them before he could feel them within his [Advanced Soul Sense] range, growling and barking.

Nick moved near it with the wolves still protecting the girls, and a large furry maw came out of the snow. Ready for it, he quickly moved out of the way, and aimed for where the body would be. The strange creature was awfully familiar to Nick, looking almost like an alligator.

He pierced into its rib cage targeting its soul, just as new figures emerged from the snow and moved in for the attack, more wolves. He had managed to finish off the…snow alligator, and quickly moved on.

Nick faced the wolves undaunted, slicing into them as they leaped from under the cover of snow to attack him. Jerome and the other servant wolf kept the two girls protected, and the party worked together to kill the remaining wolves easily.

Up to their waists in fallen snow, they rapidly piled the corpses up for Eirwen to trigger her looting ability on them and move on.

“Damn, could have used some snow shoes. This part would be really easy. We’d be at the portal already.”

Kaya frowned. “This is the only floor I know much about, the bandits being loose lipped about it in the bars. But they always talk about how this floor is frustrating on their runs.”

Nick moved to the strange corpse of the creature. Looking at it, he was right. It was much like a strange furry alligator. He slayed it just the same, but the creature bothered him, creeped him out. Gators weren’t supposed to be like that.

“It’s just not right.”

Eirwen looked over it as she was working through looting the other wolves. “What, the wollywompus?”

Kaya looked at Nick with a raised brow. “What’s not right?”

Nick snorted. “This thing, and I’m not calling it that. Gators are cold-blooded. There’s no way it could live in the snow. This thing is just not right.”

Kaya smirked at Nick’s discomfort, and took on a teasing tone. “Hmm, but don’t you think the wollywompus would be useful as a soul servant? What was that you said? You’re pragmatic? Well, mister pragmatic, or is it Prince pragmatic? You should use the tools that are available to you.”

Nick wasn’t watching her, he was staring at the strange creature. But he could feel the sneer or smirk in her words. He cancelled the unnamed wolf, and used Create Soul Servant on the creature. A new random soul took over it, and he willed it to move around.

Opening its mouth, so he could observe it, it was really like an alligator that had fur all over it. It was an abomination, but at least it was his abomination now.

Nick tried to turn it around. “You were right, this thing should be helpful. Thanks, Kaya. I appreciate you pointing that out.”

She scowled and Eirwen giggled, as she finished looting the last of the wolves.

They arrived near the portal, a cave off in the distance at the base of the mountain. The portal was within a stone archway, that resembled the same one they originally entered.

Eirwen pointed, “The safe area is in the cave. We can stay there safely for a time, usually at least 12 hours.”

They waded through the last bit of snow, one more ambush attacking them as they passed by the portal. This time there were two larger wolves that went straight for Eirwen, and Nick would be unable to reach it in time.

While the wolves seemed to have no trouble running on top of the thin crust rapidly, Nick had to wade through.

He threw several throwing knives at a large wolf that pierced into its flesh, but they were ignored as it focused solely on Eirwen. Jerome, the wollywompus, and Kaya were ready, the three mobbing one double-sized creature as the rest of the wolves surrounded them.

The alligator-like creature captured one of its legs in its maw, and Kaya worked to attack its vitals while it was captured.

The other large wolf raced towards Eirwen, so Nick leaped through the air when he got close enough, shocked at how far he could actually jump in the snow. He sliced through the large wolf’s back legs, almost completely crippling it in one swing. Leaping again, he arrived next to Eirwen, cutting down two additional wolves.

“Damn, I shoulda just did that to start with.”

Kaya managed to trigger [Backstab] on the second large wolf, her body being filled with a powerful burst of speed and strength. Her short swords dug into the creature’s ribs deep, piercing into the creature’s heart.

From there, cleanup of the remaining wolves went rapidly. As soon as they killed the final wolf, the snow, and biting wind let up.

Trudging into the cave, there was a small area for them to build a fire. A hole opened to the sky at an angle above it to let the smoke out, without letting the snow in. They would need their own wood, but a circle of rocks was clearly laid out for them to use in the almost circular room within the cave.

“Cool, this isn’t bad at all. But what’s with that other cave, is that safe?”

A branching cave lead off to the side, the walls lined with ice. It gave Nick an ominous, foreboding feeling like the portal in originally had.

Eirwen frowned. “No, I think that’s…another Test.”