Holy Blood 6

Chapter 6

We made it to the meeting point a short time later. I don’t know how they managed it, but it looked like they had assembled all the gear and equipment needed for camping long term in the wilderness. There were several large sacks bulging with stuff that two of the members of the party were guarding with intense glares to anyone that even so much as looked at the things. 

“Ah! Abaddon! Master of Destruction! Over here!” Wizard called when he was me. When he noticed Lulu behind me, his grin turned into a smirk. 

“Hail, Loser Wizard of Legend!” I called back, successfully turning his smirk into a frown. 

“Abaddon. Who’s your new friend?” Wizard asked when we were closer. 

“Just a stray I found at the library,” I replied, “Lulu, this is L. Wizard, Wizard this is Lulu.”

“Nice to meet you my Lady,” Wizard said with a gentleman’s bow. 

“Nice to meet you too, Loser Wizard,” Lulu said with her innocent eyes. Wizard groaned while the others who heard her laughed. 

“Boss, I think you’re screwed,” a big man laughed. 

“Leave me alone Hoop!” Wizard shouted back to the large man. 

“Sorry! I couldn’t resist,” Lulu said. She blinked her large eyes at Wizard, and he sighed and nodded. 

“What do you want?” Wizard asked. 

“I would like to join your expedition. I don’t want to sit in the walls,” Lulu said seriously. 

“Hmm. Race, class, and level?” Wizard asked. 

“Ferolin, Witch, four! Sir!” Lulu said with a salute. 

“A ferolin?” I asked, cutting in. 

“Um, this game’s version of the gnome I suppose,” Lulu said after a moment. 

“A witch would be a good addition to the group in case we encounter any boss level monsters. Debuffs are always the way to go,” the other woman in Wizard’s party said. 

“Atropa is right. I would hate to fight a boss without some dot support,” Hoop said.

“Then its settled. Welcome aboard, Lady Lulu,” Wizard said with a grin. 

“What’s the plan for the rest of the day?” I asked, looking at the sky. It was starting to get dark. 

“We’ll camp right here. The supplies can’t be stored in our inventory and I checked and found it cost a pretty penny to put us and the supplies up for a night. For the first part of the night let’s introduce ourselves,” Wizard said, contemplating the situation. 

“Sounds good,” I said with a nod. I would go sleep at the church after this, I decided to myself. 

“I’ll go first. Name’s L. Wizard, Wizard class, level five. Organizer of this little band,” Wizard said bowing to the group. 

“Hoop Windell. Warrior Class. Level two. Everyone, stay behind me and I’ll make sure to protect you!” Hoop said with a grin. As I saw earlier, he was almost two people worth of mass alone. He wielded a large shield and sword. I was pretty sure they were the starting weapons, but on his race,  they just were that much bigger. He reminded me of Thor.

“Atropa, Mage, level five.” The other woman in Wizard’s party said. She was pretty beautiful in her own right. With smooth blue hair that cascaded down her back like water. Her face was almost too perfect, meaning it was majorly altered most likely, but I guess it was her face now.

“Chloe, Archer, level six,” Wizard’s little sister said. She was even more out there, but that was more due to her race. She was of the Fairy race. Not the small one but human sized ones. She still looked human except for the translucent wings on her back. I had seen her a few times when George showed off her picture, and she still had the same face, a nice down to earth look. 

The next three looked like they just hit random on their character creation. They were all human with brown hair, that was so average you would forget about it if you passed them in a crowd. 

“Emory, Potionare, Level four,” the first one said. 

“Potionare?” I asked not really sure what that could be. 

“I make potions. I can use them during combat. I was going to be the healer before we found you,” Emory explained. 

“Bombs?” I asked. 

“Bombs,” Emory said with a grin. I reached forward and clasped his arm in a strong handshake. 

“Men…” Atropa and Chloe both said almost at the same time. 

“Rocco, also warrior, also level two,” the second one said, shaking his head at Emory and mine’s display. 

“Henry, Rogue, level four. Leave scouting to me,” the third one said. 

“You three aren’t brothers, are you?” I asked glancing between them. 

“No, but we all did hit random during the creation phase,” Emory explained. 

“Ah. Well, I’m Abaddon, Priest, Level ten,” I said. 

“Level ten!? How?!” Wizard asked.

“Class quest, I guess,” I replied with a shrug.

“Well that makes me feel better about tomorrow,” Atropa said rubbing the back of her head. 

“That just leaves me! Lulu here, Witch, level four!” Lulu said making a pose like an idol. 

I clapped my hands, ignoring her. “Alright I’ll see you guys later.” 

“Sure thing,” Wizard replied straight faced. 

“Hey!” Lulu yelled. 

“I have a date with a Goddess. You can keep your idol routine,” I said waving at her. 

“Abaddon! You jerk!” Lulu called after me, but I ignored her. 

Luckily, the church wasn’t too far from where the party was waiting out the night. The streets were less crowded by NPCs, but players were all over the place. I noticed they appeared to lack any kind of drive just sitting leaning against the wall on nearby buildings. I saw that some of them had signs of battle showing on their armor. It made me worried about what we would find outside the barrier, but little good would come from holing up here forever. 

When I reached the church, I did a double take. Light was pouring out from the windows, and guards lined the streets. There were also some men in dull white armor that manned the entrance to the church itself. People were streaming in and out of the church, it was the first signs of hope I’d seen on the NPCs faces since arriving here. 

Inside the church looked like it had received a once over with a fine-tooth comb. A lot of the crumbling was gone and there were areas with a fresh coat of paint. A line of people stood in front of the altar where I saw Lucy casting her Holy Light spell. I saw another of the white armor guards and approached him. 

“Sir, I am Abaddon. I wish to spend the night here,” I said quietly. 

“Sir Abaddon! I was told you might visit us. One moment I will inform the Lady.” The guard started to move towards Lucy. 

“Guard, that’s alright. She is obviously very busy doing the Deity’s work and I would be most in the wrong to bother her over some simple sleeping arrangements. I know the way, I just wanted to let you know,” I said catching him before he could run off. 

“If you feel so, Sir. Help yourself,” the guard said then gave a small bow and returned to his post. 

I nodded my thanks then made my way to the Pantheon. There was no one inside so I made my way over to Otris’s statue. It looked a little more polished than last time I was in here. I clapped my hands together. Sure enough, the world faded to black a moment later. 

“Dear Abaddon, couldn’t bear to leave me?” Otris whispered into my ear. 

“I actually wanted to ask you something,” I said, doing my best to ignore the shiver that ran down my back.

“My dear Priest. What do you want to know?” she asked, tracing her hand along my jawline. 

“Is it true you tried to control the lower realm?” I asked. 

“Indeed. I have nothing to hide from you,” Otris whispered in my ear. 

“Are you still that powerful?” 

Otris paused for a moment, “You’re… You’re not going to admonish me?” she asked surprised. 

“Why would I? You’re the Goddess of bloodshed sounds reason enough for me,” I said with a straight face. 

It really didn’t matter to me what she did in the past. If I’ve learned anything from my fellow humans, then we do whatever the hell we please anyway. In fact, I would rather her be powerful so I will have less trouble traveling the world in the future. It was only in my benefit for her to be powerful. 

“My Priest!” Otris suddenly cried. She wrapped her arms around me, red tears flowing from her eyes. 

“Goddess?!” I asked surprised. 

“Everyone always comes to me for power or to reproach me after they find out my history. You’re the first that hasn’t done so,” Otris explained as she rested her face in my shoulder. 

“I can’t say I didn’t want more power, but I would never try to use you for something as crude as that,” I soothed. 

I petted the Goddess’s hair while she sobbed. I was glad this was a dream like world as the front of my robe was now a crimson red. I grabbed her shoulders and moved her a bit away.

“Alright, Goddess. I have to get up early tomorrow, time for me to head back,” I smiled. 

“Very well,” Otris said with a pout and sniffled once. Then my body froze in place. “Not without a snack though.”

She brought her face to mine and I expected another crushing kiss. I was surprised when this time it was amazingly gentle. Her lips brushed mine leaving a feeling there even after they would let up. I lost track of time as she indulged herself. Finally, she broke away, her face flushed. Though I was sure mine was even redder. I felt control of my body come back. 

“Goddess! You really don’t have to freeze me!” I shouted angrily. 

“Maybe when you’re a bit stronger,” she said then grinned and faded into the darkness. 

I found myself back in the Pantheon. Rubbing the back of my head, I made my way to the dorm section of the church. Since Lucy was the head Priestess, the main chamber would be hers but that still left nearly a dozen of other rooms to choose from. Grabbing the first one in the section, I made my way to the bed and threw myself down. 

I didn’t think anything would change since I checked it earlier, but it was better to check it then miss something that might have helped later on. I pulled up my status. 

Name: Abaddon

Race: 

Angel: As an angel you will be unable to initiate combat with intelligent life. Self-defense is only allowed after a certain threshold. 

Class: 

Priest (The linchpin to any party.)

Skills: 

Holy Light (Damage or Heal dependent on target)

Sanctuary (Area of Effect. Places a barrier around a location that heals or does holy damage to occupants)

Prayer of Strength Blood (Increases the stats of those around the Priest that have given blood to the Goddess Otris. )

Purify Blood Purification (Cleanses debuffs from target and boosts resistance to similar debuffs for a time. 30 second cooldown)

Holy Blood Radiance (Create a cone of light in front of you that deals damage)

Fallen Blood (As your Life points fall the effectiveness of your skills increase.) (Passive)

Level: 10

LP: 2000 AP:2000

Curses: 

Boons: Divinity of Otris

Goddess’s Affection

EXP:13,245/20,355

I blinked a few times as I read the new boon in my status screen. There was no flavor text, so I wasn’t sure what this meant for me. I would need to ask Otris next time I saw her. I yawned then laid down on the bed thinking about what to do for the next couple weeks, months, or years. I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to live in this digital world. They said we would never age, but Otris basically told me that we could still permanently die. I assumed it had something to do with the spawn vanishing if the city is destroyed. Well, according to Lulu, we had roughly six months to figure it out. 

~~~

The next morning the group was ready bright and early. They apparently had to fend off three different attacks of people trying to steal the supplies. Wizard just laughed it off saying they managed to each gain a level thanks to the EXP delivery. 

“Would have been nice if our healer was there,” Wizard commented. 

“I told you I would see you later,” I retorted. I was checking my gear, little of it that there was, over to make sure the last few days didn’t damage anything. Preparation is key for a successful hunt. 

“I thought you meant later in the afternoon! Not the next morning!” Wizard shouted. 

“Ah, the dangers of assuming. I would be careful. That could get you killed in this world,” I said with a chuckle. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Wizard said deflated. 

“Hey, speaking of dying. What happens when we’re killed?” I asked. 

I didn’t actually know. I knew we would respawn if killed, but the actual details I kind of skimmed over when reading the information panel back at the prison. I saw that I wouldn’t really die and just ignored it after that but considering what happened yesterday it would probably be a good idea to get the details. 

“Your body stays for a few hours, depends on level, then you respawn in a random amount of time after ten hours. So, it could be ten hours and one second or twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes after you die,” Lulu explained, her voice coming from behind me. 

I turned around and saw a very tired looking Lulu. I was surprised to see bags around her eyes, with this being a video game after all. As I looked her over, she yawned for nearly thirty seconds straight.

“Long night?” I asked. 

“Well… someone decided to leave me with a bunch of strangers!” Lulu yelled as she smacked my arm with a large book. I realized that I’d seen a few other players walking around with similar books so it must be her class weapon. I flexed my wings almost knocking her over.

“Strangers? You knew them almost as long as you knew me,” I said. 

“Still… You should have taken me with you if you had a place to sleep. It was mean of you to leave a lady out in the weather like that,” Lulu said, sulking. 

“A lady? Where?” I asked looking around. 

“Jerk!” Lulu cried. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll make sure to take you with me next time,” I said with a sigh.

“If the love birds are done, lets get under way. I want to find something legendary before the day is over,” Wizard called to the group. 

We all nodded then grabbed our bags. I was still impressed that Wizard managed to gather all these supplies. I wouldn’t tell him that, I felt it would go to his head. Wizard pointed towards the gate, trying to be epic when a sheet of rain fell at almost the same time, making him look like a drenched cat. He frowned then dropped his arm and led the way. 

“Should I take that as a bad omen?” I asked him as I caught up. I only got a groan in reply.