Everlast Online

The entire gang had been alerted to an enemy attack and undead were running rampant through the base, killing anything they could find; everything within was in utter chaos, and no one stopped for a moment to realise this was simply a distraction.

Nina made her way through the building, all the while covering the walls in spray-painted tags of the Grimian's rival; this was to cover up any suspicion, something Smokey had told Nina to do.

As of the time of the attack Nina had 10 skills. 1 race skill, 6 class skills and 3 other skills.

Being a cat beastman Nina had gained the D-rank skill [Feline Agility] that passively improved her agility, it was a passive skill that could not level or improve; such was the result of choosing a custom character, but it did allow for a certain amount of predictability that aligned better with what goals she had for her class, hence choosing custom.

(A/N: I don't think I mentioned Nina's race yet, but if I have then ignore whatever I said before and only listen to this: Nina is a black cat beastfolk)

The skills that were best helping Nina at this moment were: [Stealth], one of her best; [Thief's Instinct], which she had gained as her 4th class skill; and finally [Lock Picking], which she had acquired through skills scrolls, assuming she would need it for this raid.

She made her way through the chaos, intermittently activating [Thief's Instinct] to guide her in the direction of  treasure. With this she quickly found herself in the room Liz had been taken to, heading towards a painting behind the chair; only to find a safe behind that.

Time to work my magic... Nina thought as she got to work trying to break the lock on the safe. This is gonna take a while. I knew I shoulda practised a bit before this...

Meanwhile, Liz was running through the building away from Rigo.

"Stop running!" Liz obviously ignored the enraged command of the gangster behind her as she made her way through 5 different Gloria-shaped holes in the wall.

How fucking strong was that his? She wondered, though Gloria still managed to survive.

Seeing the beast catching up, Liz once again let loose a pair of her hounds.

"AARRGGH!" He grunted, killing the monsters with ease, but slowing him down again. Liz quickly found herself in what looked to be a warehouse, and in the distance: Gloria's crumpled form.

From her inventory, Liz threw a healing potion at Gloria; opening herself up to attack as Rigo's axe slammed down on top of her. Of course thanks to [Voodooist], this did nothing except kill one of her summons, but she couldn't allow Rigo to know this.

She threw herself forward and tucked up, attempting to look injured. Slowly, she pulled herself to her feet, quite close to the recovering Gloria.

"Thank Gaia I activated the skill in time..." Liz muttered, just loud enough for Rigo to hear, but not so loud as though it seemed she wanted him to hear; a very difficult line to balance on.

"Dammit..." Rigo exclaimed, having been looking back and forth incredulously between his axe and Liz's uncut form until he heard her speak.

"You good Gloria?" Liz asked, coming to her knight's side.

"Of course master, allow me to dispatch this cretin." Gloria seemed to be fine and other than the crack in her armour she was ready to go.

Liz looked around at where they were and found them to be inside a giant warehouse full of large wooden crates. Gloria herself had crashed into a group of them and from inside, several bags of powder fell out, Liz took a moment to inspect the substance as the 2 melee professionals stared each other down.

[Bag of Blizz (A) (Cursed)]

[A small bag full of the highly addictive substance 'Blizz'. Using Blizz grants a 500% increase to all stats for 10 minutes as well as feelings of bliss and euphoria. After 10 minutes user will undergo a 24 period of weakness (-50% all stats) and permanently lose 5% of all stats]

(A/N: This isn't entirely revealed yet, but I don't want people confused on this topic. Cursed items don't always have magic curses on them, though most do. Cursed items are powerful items with dangerous and permanents side effects for use. The drug qualifies due to stat loss and addictive properties, but something like an 'Berserk Potion' that massively imrpoves strength but has a temporary stat reduction and no other penalty is not cursed, despite having a penalty.

Cursed items are significantly more powerful than other items, hence why people use them. For example, an A-rank cursed item would be much stronger than a regular A-rank item, even if their functions are fundamentally the same: take Blizz and a Berserk potion as an example. Blizz would offer much more than and A-rank Berserk potion despite offering very similar things)

The warehouse they were in was giant, it could easily fit 10 buses side-by-side, and it was filled to the brim with crates that Liz assumed to be full of this Blizz stuff.

Drugs? Liz thought. But with this many crates... And if they're all full of this 'Blizz'. Then…

The system rang as Liz's mind ran:

[«WARNING» KINGDOM Quest: <Archduke's Plot (I)> has updated] [Plot: Archduke Kilgard has colluded with the infamous Grimian Gang. You have discovered that they are pushing mass amounts of an incredibly powerful - and incredibly illegal - drug onto the streets of the capital city of Vradora; but for what reason?] [Updated Goal: <Gather information of the Archduke's Plot (1/???)>]

Liz's gratification at the system proving her thoughts right were interrupted as Gloria and Rigo once again clash, Gloria again being pushed back slightly.

Gloria was clearly not in the best position and she needed her skeletons to create chaos throughout the base so that when the event is investigated it seems to be an 'enemy raid', hence the instruction given to Nina.

Gloria was outmatched and her help was not accessible; Liz would have to involve herself in the conflict, though there was one set of summons she could make use of...

"[Raise Horde]!" Liz commanded, performing all the theatrics as 100 warehouse workers rose from the ground and attempted to swarm Rigo, who no longer had the (NPC) tag but was instead a (Boss), this would be good.

Rigo was not at all distracted by the weak zombies that attacked him as he made use of another of his skills: [Axe Ripple]

Rigo took distance from the knight woman and slammed his axe down, hard, onto the ground causing the very floor itself to ripple like a wave; dealing high damage to nearby enemies and knocking over the further away ones, like the little necromancer. Most if not all the zombies died from that attack, which was good, considering the long cooldown.

It's a good thing she's at a low level... Rigo thought, looking at the girl behind the knight he fought. He was familiar with necromancers and had no desire to fight one, but it was clear this little girl was just an upstart who had no real ability as of yet. All I need is to get past that life-saving skill, but with the knight protecting her it's harder than it should be.

I can't risk damaging the Blizz any more.

The attacks he had already thrown out had somewhat damaged the supply already, but the boss would understand that was merely a necessary expense to get rid of the intruders. 

Gloria and Rigo clashed blades for quite a while as Liz looked for an opening to attack; she did not want to interrupt the flow and put Gloria at risk, but she could tell Gloria would not win with this alone, she needed more. And clearly Gloria knew this too as she made her next move.

Black light shone along Gloria's blade as she again used the skill she acquired at level 20: [Incompetent Strike (D-)]

It was a move limited to only [Black Knight]-type classes; instead of the STR stat, the skill was empowered by the user's emotions while sacrificing the user's form, leaving them open for attack as they used the skill. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the attack - within reason of course - meaning it was an attack of one who lacked the composure of a properly trained knight. However, this is what made it powerful.

It was Gloria's strong emotions that prevented Rigo from cutting her in 2.

So, those same strong emotions coated her blade and Gloria slashed out at Rigo with the full force of her anger, her sadness and now, her devotion. Rigo was not a fool, he understood that for this level 20 or so's attack to allow her to survive his own, it had to be powerful; there was no chance he was going to face that attack head on.

Luckily, Rigo's class was made for situations like this. Rigo had the [Siege Breaker] class, one that prioritised physical strength above all else. Hence, his own skills would surely stop whatever had so empowered the knight lady. Rigo used the skill [Break Through].

(A/N: Do not confuse [Break Through] with a skill like [Breakthrough]. They are 2 entirely different concepts)

The 2 weapons met and for a moment there was silence. But as before Gloria was no match for Rigo and she was once again sent flying into the crates of Blizz, luckily the powder stopped her from getting sent into a different building; and even luckier, she managed not to ingest any.

Rigo had a satisfied look on his face, until he realised there were 9 attacks heading his way from all around him. [Siege Breaker] excelled in strength, but not much else; and most attacks left them temporarily vulnerable; now Rigo found himself being impaled by 9 spears of white bone.

Rigo's END was high enough for him to survive and look around to see what exactly he had just face and floating around him were 8 wooden hands, all aimed to fire at will, and at his front, the little necromancer helping her knight to her feet.

I'm glad my skills levelled. Liz thought as she saw Rigo pulling the bones from out of his flesh, clearly even more angry.

Liz had gained a level in [Puppet Hand], [Summon: Skeleton Soldier] and [Summon: Undead Hound] as well as an increase in the 2 new weapon passives and [Multitasking], if only slightly.

150 soldiers and 20 undead beasts were now wreaking havoc within the gang's base and their strongest member could do nothing to stop it.

Rigo finally got himself free of the bones that pinned him down and charged at the little necromancer, hoping to finish her off; he didn't believe the cooldown for a life-saving skill would be so short as to protect her this time; but before she could...

Rigo was sent a few steps back and blood fell from his chest.

"Go no further, foul beast." Gloria growled as she cut into Rigo's chest, causing even more damage to the powerful foe. Gloria's [Demise Blade] passive skill was quickly rising, and with it came the passive damaging effect of the skill.

The skin around Rigo's wound blackened slightly as he made a pained face, suffering the effects only a [Demise Knight] can deliver; but this was soon replaced by anger.

How dare a couple of low level bitches evade their death's for this long. 

I'm sure he'd be even more exasperated if he knew they were both undead, but that is of little relevance right now.

Rigo charged forward with angered vigour and slashed down, aiming to break the knight's guard and push past her, the guard was surely broken, but in that momentary stillness he was peppered with a series of spells.

Liz and Gloria's abilities perfectly synergised as one stopped the foe allowing the other to attack freely.

Liz made use of her weakest attack [Mana Bolt] in order to rain down a bombardment of spells down on Rigo, its short cast time making it the best choice for small but quick damage. Allowing Gloria to once again push Rigo back as the descending magic slowed his movements.

Liz moved to ensure she was always behind Gloria and refreshed the undead whenever they died, a message came that made Liz want to end the fight.

[Nina: I got it]

Those 3 words were enough for Liz to know she had gotten exactly what she needed. The system also decided to prove that further.

With Nina’s message the system rang, showing Liz's progression in the quest. 

Only took her 15 minutes. Liz grinned, wanting to finish this soon as the situation Liz had created had no chance of going unnoticed. Better remove the traces.

Rigo watched as 3 hulking masses of rock formed behind the necromancer, Rigo prepared himself to fight, grinning as taking down enemies with incredibly high defence was his specialty, but he could only watch in shocked horror as they turned and began destroying the product.

"AAAAAAH!" He screamed, using a burst of strength to push Gloria back, it worked but he had opened himself to a flurry of attacks from Liz and her hands, "STOP!"

His yelling fell on deaf ears as Gloria and Liz's attacks remained persistent.

"DAMMIT!" Rigo screamed, pushing Gloria away again and jumping back to evade the necromancer's assault instead of trying to finish her off; he was about to use his trump card.

Rigo hadn't wanted to use this skill, he wanted to prevent damage to the warehouse, but now there was no choice. The golems were already destroying the product and his actions couldn't make things worse.

Liz's eyes went wide as she saw something happen.

"Gloria! Fall back!" But it was too late, Gloria was flung at even higher speeds as she crashed through one of the golem and broke it down into rubble, thankfully that did stop her from going even further, but it did put her in a difficult position; but more than that she was on her last legs and Liz had no way to get her back properly, resummoning didn’t work on summons like her.

Liz looked over and saw that Rigo was now 3 times as tall as he was before, and clearly he was much stronger.

Rigo had used one of his strongest skills: [Battering Ram]

The skill was a fairly simple berserk-type skill, but this one covered the weaknesses that the [Siege Breaker] class had. 

The effects of the skill not only tripled his STR, it also doubled his AGI; covering one of the biggest weaknesses of the class: The [Siege Breaker]’s speed. In return he gained a significant decrease in his INT and even END, that and the temporary weakening to all stats that his skill caused after its use was up, but this skill ended any combat before that came into effect. This skill was the reason Rigo had never lost a confrontation as his gang fought for territory in the capital city.

Liz knew this was bad and resummoned each of her undead on her, only the golems were excluded. But Liz had not anticipated the speed at which Rigo moved and found him right behind her, delivering a destructive axe blow to the back of her head.

A wild grin spread across Rigo's face as he felt time slow around him; he did not even care about the 8 bone spears forming around him as they would soon disperse when the master died.

The axe made contact and Rigo felt it cut, a wave of satisfaction washing through him, bringing his meagre foe to their inevitable end. But that satisfaction ended the moment it was replaced with a wave of pain.

Rigo shrieked in pain as bone spears pierced deep into him, his shock rippled as the little necromancer was not just alive; but not even injured.

"H-How?" He muttered, hung up by the spears.

"We were simply a bad match." That was all the little necromancer said before his life ended.

As the fight ended, Liz fell to the floor in a heap.

"That was… close..." She muttered, Liz was not so conceited to consider this a ‘true victory’, she knew that she only won due to Rigo's lack of information and his arrogance.

His last attack had eventually killed Gloria, meaning Liz could not summon her for 24 hours.

Without Gloria she had no way to block the attacks coming from Rigo, her undead would be the same as flies before his strength.

She had only won because Rigo didn't know about her [Voodooist] skill, if he had, he would have dodged the bone spears and cut down her undead one by one as it was clear he was fast enough to do so. 

Why did I bring them all here!? Liz berated herself. In a panic she was hoping to defend herself with the undead, but doing so would only make it easier for an enemy to finish her off as they could just cut down the undead before killing her.

In a situation like the one she faced against an empowered Rigo it was clearly a better strategy for her undead to be as spread out as possible. Not only would it keep her skill’s effect a secret longer, but Liz may soon be able to get some kind of defence skill

She looked over the mess that she had left and picked up the loot he had dropped, unfortunately she couldn't use [Dismantle] on enemies the system considered 'too humanoid'. What she did acquire from the fight was a significant level boost and Rigo's weapon:

[Canyon War Axe (C+)]

[War Axe used by a powerful barbarian class. +30% STR when using, allows use of <Ground Splitter>]

Liz was going to look over the other changes she had acquired when a distinct noise was heard, followed by the chiming of the system.

[Nina: Knights are here get out quickly]

Shit! Liz immediately removed all of her summons and ran off to the back entrance, before she could turn the corner she heard the clinking of metal armour and ducked into a side room.

If she was caught now, she would be charged as a member of the Grimian Gang and likely executed.

The knights passed without noticing her, but she could not get out as the backdoor was being blocked. She looked around the room as quickly as she could; once those knights found the Blizz, which was supposedly very illegal, every room in this place would be searched.

Then Liz noticed it, a small drain pipe. Around the size of her head.

Dammit... Liz muttered, realising what she needed to do. At least I can finally put [Doll Anatomy] to use, besides being forced to walk all funny.

All of Liz's equipment was sent to her inventory as she returned to her potato sack look, pulled out the cover of the pipe and forced herself down the drain into the sewers. Just barely squeezing through as a group of knights burst into the room.

Liz squeezed herself through the dirty and smelly pipe, on her way to freedom; checking stat increases would have to wait.

This feels demeaning.