Holy Blood 7

Chapter 7

There was a large line of people at the gate when we arrived. It looked like there were well over four or five thousand people lined up. I use the word lined loosely. It was more a mass of people that were streaming in the same direction. There was plenty of yelling, shoving, and cursing that would make any rave goer proud. The only thing keeping it from turning more violent were the lines of city Guards on either side of the street. 

We put the girls in the center of the group and made our way towards the exit. A few people still tried to coup a feel but were all dealt with by the men. I was towards the side, so no one tried to bother me, my partially unfolded wings giving me nearly two meters on each side of free space. 

Half an hour later we finally reached the gates themselves. I whistled as I leaned back to take them in all the way. Created out of some black stone or metal, they rose at least fifty meters if not more. Strange writing and what looked like magic symbols decorated every inch of it. The engravings pulsed gently with light. 

Once my eyes reached the top of the gate was when things got really interesting. The barrier that could be seen from anywhere in the city extended from the top. It went into the sky and appeared to be without end. Two large statues of beastmen stood in a crouch on top of the gate to complete the effect. 

“When I was falling to the world, I saw some interesting landmarks around the city. I know for a fact that without a healer other groups are going to have a hard time breaching these areas, so we need to make our move as quickly as possible to reap the benefits,” Wizard said as we crossed through the gate. 

“Yeah, I agree. The early bird gets the worm, and we have several birds,” Hoop laughed. 

I nodded, but I was more interested in the sight before me. Outside the city was a decent sized plain and I remembered that most MMOs would have fodder monsters around this area, but this time it was eerily silent. A couple hundred meters worth of open land then a twisted forest grew like claws reaching for the city. 

A red mist appeared to coil out from the trees. The earlier groups of people were entering the forest without too much trouble, meaning the mist either is too weak out this far or its for ambient feeling. It was distant and at first, I thought I was hearing things but the longer I stood there the surer I became. There were screams of hundreds of people sounding from inside the forest. They sounded out individually thus they were probably the people that were working solo. 

“This is going to be fun,” I murmured as I test my staff for balance. 

“Should I mention my not good with horror games,” Chloe said from the back of the group. 

“Everything is an experience,” Wizard said patting the top of her head. 

“I remember what looked like an old homestead in that direction. Let’s check that out before we go deeper,” Wizard pointed in the direction a few dozen of the parties already went. 

“Sounds good to me,” Emory said, “I need to find some reagents for my potions, and the forest seems like a good place for that.”

Everyone else nodded. The stream from the city was abating when we finally made our way towards the forest. I assumed that was it for the challengers for today. Even with almost two million criminals in one place, there would always be a good number of those that were cowards or had some other reason not to risk everything. They would just get left behind in the times to come. 

When we were a good distance in the forest, I called for a stop. Everyone looked at me curiously, but I just smiled. Reaching into my inventory I pulled out the stone bowl that I had inadvertently taken from the church. I cut my palm and allowed some of my blood to flow into it. 

“Alright. Your turn,” I said, holding the bowl out. 

“What the hell!? Why should I cut myself? You can roleplay all you want but I want no part of it,” Lulu cried, waving her hands in front of her. 

“Now. Now, no need for that. I do have my reasons,” I said mysteriously. 

Wizard just looked at me then used a small knife to cut his palm as well. The bleed effect lasted ten seconds then the cut healed. He backed away, squaring his shoulders. 

“Quickly now before the blood fouls,” I said, gesturing with the bowl to the others. 

“Alright!” Emory said with a gasp. Ten seconds later the blood was a bit higher. 

After that everyone else followed suit and poured some blood into the bowl. Lulu was the only one that was still hesitating. I moved in front of her. The bowl almost completely full at this point. 

“Come on now,” I smiled, trying to project the image of a holy person. 

“Stop making that face. It makes you look evil. I just need to pour some blood in the bowl right,” Lulu said exasperated. 

She pulled her own knife out and slit her palm. Her hand was so small, she only had to cut a few centimeters and she was done. I found it weird that the bowl filled up to exactly the edge but didn’t spill. I decided that it was just some kind of game mechanic. 

“Time for some fun. Prayer of Blood! I offer this tribute to Otris the Blood Maiden,” I intoned. 

The blood in the blood started to swirl then like there was a drain in the bottom, the blood vanished as it sank. Red and black smoke started to pour out of the bowl. I breathed it in to show that it was safe to the others. Wizard took the leap next and breathed in the smoke. 

“Amazing. I can actually feel that I’m stronger,” Wizard said, doing a few jumps. He was able to clear a noticeable amount of air. He reached down and picked up a rock. He aimed for a branch and threw it hard. I was impressed with his accuracy as the rock ripped thru the branch. 

“Now, everyone else. Its just a buff spell,” I said gesturing with the smoking bowl. 

Everyone came forward and pulled a drag from the smoke. I had a distinct impression that I was passing around some drugs but just filed it away. This was a game and I was sure there were going to be worst things eventually based on the player base they threw in here. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was already trying to make meth somewhere. 

“Alright, lets head out. Unless you have anymore buffs you can cast?” Wizard asked. 

I shook my head in reply. I was about to put away the bowl when I noticed that something felt off about it. I examined it and was surprised when an item description came up.

Bowlà Otris’s Offering. This common bowl has been used to offer tribute to the Goddess Otris more than once. A power is starting to fill it. Offerings 3/100. 

Well that was interesting. I wonder what would come of this if I was able to complete it. I would need to continue to offer blood to the Goddess with it. I noticed that it only had three counts, so either the first couple didn’t count, or it only counted my own blood once a day. I used it several times the first day I was here, and again during second while I was helping out the first group of people. Both times I used it several times but its only counting once. It would need more testing in the future to be sure. 

That little event over we made our way deeper into the forest. The warriors made sure to keep their guard up while I stayed ready with my healing and sanctuary spells. I really didn’t want to die or let anyone with me die. I felt like it would leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth. 

We walked for nearly ten minutes when the first attack happened. A dead body hanging from a tree branch was the only warning we had before a shadowy limb shot from the trees, wrapping around Hoop. We were spaced out in case of some type of long-distance attack so only Rocco was near him. His bulk saved him as the shadowy limb wasn’t able to pull him up quickly. 

Rocco reacted instantly and brought his sword around then down on to the shadowy limb. Unfortunately, the limb wasn’t so easily cut. His sword bit into the flesh of whatever it was but only managed a few centimeters. 

“AHH!” Hoop shouted as he grabbed the shadowy tendril and pulled it back towards the group. I distinctly heard the sound of snapping tree branches as something fell heavily from the canopy. There was also a large amount of hissing and growling. The thing landed heavily, shadow leaking from several wounds along its body. 

It reminded me of an octopus. It was a ball of shadowy flesh and had five or six limbs that were withering all over the place. I couldn’t see any eyes or even a mouth so I wondered how it would even eat its prey if it caught anything. 

“Holy Light,” I cast worried about Hoop. The steam formed between us and I got a vague sense of how much LP he possessed. He was well within safety margins, but he still suffered a decent amount of damage from the tendril. 

“Brace yourself Hoop!” Wizard yelled. A decent sized fireball formed over his hand. He thrust his arm forward and the fireball traveled less then ten meters instantly. There was a small explosion of fire and the monster caught flame. It was interesting seeing flaming shadow. Rocco rushed forward, doing his best to dodge the flailing tendrils. 

I threw a heal on him as a tendril pierced his leg. I was impressed when even while screaming bloody murder he managed to stab his sword thru the burning center of the monster. Shadow sprayed out, painting him black but the monster finally stopped moving. I expected the body to vanish in a burst of light, but it remained, including the tendril that was stabbed thru Rocco’s leg. 

EXP +1000

Hoop ripped off the tendril wrapped around him. He took his sword and made an over the top downward slice, cutting off part of the tendril in Rocco’s leg. I rushed over to help, I could sense his LP going down from the tendril making movements. Likely from the blood loss. 

“Here, bite this,” I said shoving a piece of leather from my pack in his mouth. I looked to Hoop and nodded. He yanked the tendril the rest of the way thru his leg which elicited a scream that was thankfully muffled by the leather. I quickly used Holy Light on him, but the wound was a large hole that took three heals to fix completely. 

“Fuck! This game is going to be hell with so few healers,” Lulu said from the back. 

“The lack of healing is going to make it much closer to real life than it was intended,” Wizard added. 

“Glad you see my value,” I commented while making sure Rocco was fully healed. I nodded when I didn’t find anything else, “Hoop. Do you need any more healing?” I asked. I couldn’t sense his LP anymore.

“I’m only missing a few dozen. I should be good. Plus, I wanted to find out if you can gain any passive healing skills. No time to start than the present,” Hoop answered, waving me off. 

“Alright. Everyone else good?” I asked just to be safe. I got nods from everyone, so I moved over to the main body of the monster. Wizard was already kneeling next to it, “Well?” 

“I didn’t get any loot screens which leads me to believe that everything is literal. If you see a monster, to loot it you have to skin it and what not,” Wizard sighed. 

“Just how it would be in reality,” I replied. 

“I don’t think anyone has the resquite skills to harvest any materials from it,” Wizard said standing up and dusting his legs off. 

“Excuse me,” Emory said pushing past us. He pulled a phial from his bag and touched it to the corpse. Shadow started to flow into it and quickly filled it up. He did this four times before it stopped working.

“My class let me know I could use its… blood I guess, for making things. Not sure what yet but better to have it and experiment than need it later,” Emory said, standing up. 

“Well it would have gone to waste either way,” Wizard commented. 

“In that case,” I said clapping my hands in front of me, “I offer this enemy to Otris!”  

The corpse folded in on itself several times before it vanished into a pinpoint of red barely a centimeter large. I felt a warmth on my cheek like some one running their hand along it and a light giggle floated into my ear. I checked and my Astral energy went back up, not enough to completely refill me but a good chunk. 

“Oh, I got all my Astral energy back from that,” Wizard said excitedly, “Having a priest is really turning into more and more of a cheat.”

“Is that so. Guess I’ll head off then,” I joked. 

“Haha. You know you would miss us,” Lulu said, crossing her arms. 

I smiled and shrugged. We squared up and continued heading in to the forest. We made sure not to keep such a large distance between us this time. Wizard said he was working with his knowledge of other games, but he would most likely have to throw it all out. We also took care to observe the tree canopy more carefully as well. 

We managed to see another tree that had corpses hanging from the branch much further away. Wizard and the other Atropa prepared spells. They wanted to test their range since the description wasn’t clear how far the spells would travel. I had a hunch they would most likely work according to physics. We were roughly thirty or forty meters away for the test.

Wizard formed a fireball over each hand then glanced to Atropa. She nodded back as two blades made from purple light formed over each hand. Wizard sent his spells first, the fireballs rocketing towards the tree canopy. There was an explosion and a loud hiss of pain as one of the shadow octopus monsters fell from the tree, flaming. 

When it impacted the ground, Atropa sent her own spell flying at the monster. The blades pierced the monster, nailing to the ground. Shadow sprayed all over the area as it flailed around. Hoop yelled a battlecry as he charged with his overly large sword. The monster tried to respond but failed to properly control its tendrils due to the flame. Hoop stabbed his sword straight thru the center of the creature. It struggled for a few moments more before is died.

EXP +1000

“That was much easier,” Wizard said as we moved to the kill. 

“These things are all thriller, not much of an actual threat once you know about them,” Lulu commented. 

“Knowing is half the battle,” I said from next to her. I moved next to Wizard, “I wonder if we get a set amount of EXP based on number of teammates or the level of the creature.”

“Probably situational if I had to guess. This game is incredible advanced, it would know that we killed it quickly and without difficulties,” Wizard replied. 

“Can’t wait to fight the first boss,” I muttered. 

“Hopefully, we’ll all have better equipment when that happens,” Wizard grinned. 

“Done!” Emory called, storing some more phials in his bag, “Do your thing priest.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I yawned. I stood next to the corpse and bowed my head, “I offer tribute to Otris!” The corpse was sucked into the red pinpoint and everyone that used some Astral energy recovered some. I felt Otris’s touch caress my hair briefly then was gone. I smiled then shook my head. It was amazing how used to her I was getting. 

We encountered a few more of the Shadow octopuses before we finally reached the farmstead that Wizard talked about. When we left the forest into the clearing around the farm, I felt like we walked into a warzone. There were dozens of people grouped up all around the first farm surrounding the large house. They were surrounded by what looked like zombies. There were also several dozen if not a hundred plus dead bodies all over the place. They were players, most of them with looks of horror on their faces and it looked like more were joining the deceased every moment.

“This was your idea,” I said flatly.