The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series Read online

  * * *

  Tao: What’s up, are you watching them?

  Illith: They’ve gone into the first passage. It’s a dead end, Elemental Plane and nothing more. It should keep them busy for two hours or so.

  Tao: Have you looked what respawned below? Would be nice to wipe them, like last time.

  Illith: I’ll go check.

  Illith: In short, the more, the merrier. Two layers below, there’s a random event, a Netherworld portal. Daine and her pack. Remember her?

  Tao: Ahaha, how could I forget something like that? Could you pull her up to the Watchers? Let the girls have some fun!

  Illith: I could try. Hope I won’t get swallowed myself...

  * * *

  Clearing and completing the instance took almost two hours. That was my first time in such a big and challenging PvE raid. I thought I had done a great job with my two tasks — protecting the buffers and avoiding dying. The guys from the support group, AlexOrder, Olaf, Nazgul, and even Fang the minstrel didn’t look like whipping boys. The monsters had broken through to them only once, and I was unable to show my skill, as Abbot incinerated the elemental with a cloud of hungry darkness. The only problem was the boss. Several tanks spent almost half an hour killing it, switching every minute. The translucent giant consisting of pure energy kept discharging sparks and arcs of lightning, killing everyone who came close. He was immune to half of our magic spells, and the healers had a hard time while we worked on figuring out the solution, constantly resurrecting players who dropped like flies. Three stages, the enrage phase when the boss transformed into a giant ball of lightning — we survived everything, and I didn’t even die once.

  The creatures of energy didn’t drop items: only essences, ingredients, and fragments of magic gems. The best prize was an live enemy caught in an antimagic trap — air and lightning elementals were highly valued as components for the engines of astral ships. We captured at least a score of them.

  In addition to several purple ingredients, the boss dropped a large magic gem of Epic quality, the Lightning Stone. Inserted in a weapon, it imbued it with bonus electric damage, allowed the user to cast Great Lightning once an hour, and gave them a chance of casting Chain Lightning on a group of enemies. Should I really explain how much power such a thing could add to a warrior’s sword or a mage’s staff? It was a rare item, with only six of them sold at the Bazaar auction, with the prices starting from fifty thousand.

  Overall, we were tired, but satisfied. The cave turned out to be a dead end with nothing else of interest to us. Abbot led us back to the staircase exit.

  Nothing seemed to have changed, and the bottom of the well between the layers shined crimson, while shadows cast by our torches danced on its walls. We went down, hoping to find a place to camp on the next floor.

  One of our forward scouts was the first to raise an alarm. A single signal was closing in on us: someone was ascending from the depths of the Endless Paths. The raid immediately assumed battle formation, encircled by a wall of scaled shields and pointed ends of weapons. Slowly, step by step, we moved forward to the signal.

  Abel: A girl! A young girl! She’s coming up to you!

  We saw her several seconds later — dirty-faced, with a disheveled black braid, wearing a filthy homespun dress with tattered hem. She looked like a teenager, but she stubbornly kept climbing the tall stairs, constantly looking back, seemingly scared. She ran up to us and stopped before the wall of shields, reaching out with a pleading look. Komtur met her halfway.

  Komtur: Her name is Daine. She gives out a rare quest. She’s asking us to rescue her.

  Abbot: From whom? Is somebody after her?

  Komtur: She’s not saying. She’s very scared. Should I accept it?

  Abbot: Go on, and share it with the raid!

  Olaf: Looks like a random event... Wow, why is it 18+?

  Abel: One more signal! It’s close!

  Komtur pulled the girl inside the formation, and the steel wall closed ranks once again. They were almost next to me, and I could see her scratched dusky face, blood marks on her arms, and a steel shackle with a broken chain on one of her ankles. The girl was shaking.

  A nimble winged silhouette fluttered out of the depths of the well, deftly landing on the stairs right in front of us, several feet away from the first line.

  “Oh, what have we here?” she asked us in a sensuous contralto. “Boys? Lots of boys?”

  The girl who was staring at us looked like she stepped out of an Aimi Akada ad — big blue eyes, pink full lips, ash blond flowing locks. The only things spoiling the picture were red dots smoldering in her eyes and black batwings chastely wrapped around her body.

  Olaf: A succubus. Something smells off... I’m searching the net.

  Abbot: Prepare to fight demons. Holy damage, liquid silver, Elixir of Eradication, quickly!

  “What a lovely surprise! Boys, you have our friend,” the demoness purred. “Will you give her to us, or do you want to play first?”

  “Don’t give me to them!” Daine screamed, clutching at Komtur’s polished armor.

  “They...they...” She started sobbing, hysterical.

  “Then we’ll play,” the succubus observed, smiling. She spread out her wings and slowly walked along the raid to the edge of the stairs, seductively swinging her hips. Other than wide golden bracelets on her wrists and ankles, the demoness was completely naked. Her body was covered in an intricate blue-black tattoo depicting scenes of such indecency that I looked away in embarrassment.

  Abel: Check! Signals, lots of them!

  Ox: They’re coming up, very fast! They’ll be here in seconds!

  Abbot: Raid, to arms! Assist on my mark!

  The raid closed ranks and stepped back to the wall. Warriors looked through the visors of their helmets, their eyes tense and focused. Spears and swords were aimed at the succubus, and magic fire sprang up on the wizards’ battle staves.

  “Boys, do you really want to hurt me?” the demoness asked, laughing, standing on the edge of the stairs. The sharp noise of fluttering wings grew louder, closing in on us from beneath.

  Abbot: Fire! Lor, take the second assist!

  Before the demoness could flinch, she got pierced with a volley of arrows and dramatically fell into the abyss, still laughing.

  A swarm of winged creatures shot up from inside the well and soared above us, shrieking and screaming, circling us in a mad dance. The room went dark, and cries, laughter, and hooting blasted our ears. There were a lot of them, and more and more kept coming up.

  I couldn’t make out what was going on. The Watchers next to me kept drawing their bowstrings on cue, striking home like in a firing range. Spells flashed, burning down holes in the clouds of monsters swarming above us. But the succubi had their own surprises. Abruptly, five players in the first line lowered their weapons and stepped forward, breaking formation. Several demons at once grabbed them and made off with them, flying up. Several seconds later, their bodies passed us, dropped into the well between the layers. Their icons in the raid flashed and faded. They were dead.

  Olaf: Charm! They’re charming hard!

  Abbot: Mind Shield, everyone, quick! Mages (censored)!

  Popinjay: We won’t have time for everyone...

  Komtur: Look up this spot, quick! What should we do?

  Olaf: On it. It’s a very rare event. An invasion from Netherworld, a portal opened somewhere close by!

  Abbot: Wrong! They aren’t mobs, it’s an NPC faction, look at the logs!

  We lined up around Komtur, whose blinding aura seemed to ward off the demons. Tikhon was casually swinging around a warhammer enveloped in a shower of sparks, and several broken bodies of our enemies were already lying at his feet. Runes on the hammer head glowed bright blue, and the succubi were clearly afraid of attacking the leader of the Watchers.

  They circled around him on their webbed wings, shamelessly showing off their assets, swooshed right past him, and kept trying to sink their claws into his
head.

  “A paladin! Girls, we’ve got ourselves a real live paladin! Dibs on him, don’t kill him straight away!”

  Komtur raised his hammer, shooting out a blue lightning, and a screaming demoness came tumbling down, while the others hastily scattered in all directions. Abbot and Lorindale called out the targets, marking them, and focused fire destroyed one succubus after another.

  However, more and more creatures appeared in their stead. There were hundreds of them; screaming and giggling, they swarmed around our warriors, every now and then grabbing someone from our ranks and pulling them away to pass on. A third of our raid were already dead, their icons red, while another third had strange yellow frames on their icons — the demons used Charm and some other kind of paralyzing magic. The Watchers had no way to counter it, as we had no idea what it was to begin with.

  Abbot: Found it! It’s the Wandering Succubate!

  Komtur: What’s that?

  Abbot: Tikhon, we’re in deep shit. We need to give up. They’re about to attack...

  Huge winged creatures joined the swarming succubi, rushing forward to lunge at our closed formation. I saw grey-green chitinous carapace, excessive muscles, and the scarlet slits of their eyes as one of the creatures rammed our ranks like a wrecking ball, scattering the players all around.

  I was pushed aside, rolling over and hitting the stairs with my head. The UI informed me about 3-seconds daze. Several sharp claws gripped various parts of my body, piercing the armor. I heard a woman’s laughter and a short quarrel.

  “He’s mine! No, mine! I noticed him first!”

  With all my strength, I wrestled out of their grasp, simultaneously pulling out Aelmaris. In a sweeping motion, the shining blade split the air around me, turning several dawdling demonesses to dust. The survivors who managed to leap back or fly up didn’t seem distressed — in fact, they were gleeful.

  Souls eaten: +3! Souls eaten: +1!

  “Oooh, a pretty one! Such a bad boy! Girls, don’t kill him quickly!”

  I was surrounded by female bodies only partially covered by lacework armor. The succubi grimaced, laughed, and chatted, beckoning to me, but were in no hurry to get close to the fiery sword. At the top of the stairs, behind them, the battle raged on, but I saw that we stood no chance.

  Our supports were mercilessly cut down. Daine, who was in Komtur’s care, played her devious trick.

  There was no more Daine. In her place stood a huge — almost seven feet tall — ebony black succubus with crooked claws in the folds of her batlike wings. She was armed with an odd whip. Komtur lay next to her feet, unmoving. His raid icon flashed and faded away.

  Her eyes emitted strange light that paralyzed all Watchers in her sight, while smaller succubi swept them aside, giggling. They grabbed one immobile player after another, taking them into the air, and dropping them into the abyss of the well.

  Olaf: Don’t die! I repeat, try not to die, if you can.

  Komtur: I’m down. That bitch stunned me with Demon Sight. What are we going to do, then? How many are alive, seventeen?

  Abbot: We’ll return via clan Mass Resurrection. But we need an anchor...

  “Don’t be scared, silly! Come to us!”

  The wall of succubi drew close. The raid was dropping — only a dozen players were still standing, the others charmed, with an unfamiliar icon next to their avatars in the raid interface. A winged shadow plunged on top of me, and without looking, I swung my sword. Flakes of ash rained down, making the demonesses cry out in admiration. I sensed sudden movement from behind and looked back to see swirling chains flying right at me. I managed to duck and dash aside, the metal swooshing an inch above me, but they were thrown from all directions. The spiked balls of those bolas-like weapons wrapped around my body and my legs, tying my right arm to my chest. The demonesses immediately flew up, and I was blinded by a powerful blow to my head that lowered my health enough to get it into the red zone.

  Infernal Smash was used against you! You are stunned for 10 seconds! You are dazed for 10 seconds! You are blinded for 10 seconds!

  Olaf: If they grab you, don’t die, don’t use Soul Stones. Try and hold on, we need five minutes to regroup.

  Abel: Easy for you to say! They are succubi!

  Olaf: Yes, they’ll torture you for a while. Keep going! Try to relax and have fun.

  Abel: (censored)

  Ten seconds were more than enough for them. I felt sharp pain in my hands and saw the icons of two more debuffs, Disarm and Bind, flash into being. The fiery sword limply fell out of my lifeless hand, replaced with a red cross in the inventory plot. I was lying spread-eagled on a wooden cross. Joyous demonesses raved around me, each of them trying to touch or scratch me.

  “He’s mine! No, mine! I’ll get to play with him first!”

  “Girl, heal him up, or he’ll die right now, and not from having too much fun!”

  You are under the effect of Minor Heal! You are under the effect of Minor Regeneration!

  A dozen bleeding wounds left by the claws of nagging succubi were healed as a cool wave of healing energy poured over my body. My hit points were back in the yellow zone, and I raised my head, trying to make something out through the reddish haze that covered my eyes. I was chained to a T-shaped wooden cross. Next to me stood similar crosses with barely alive Watchers, all surrounded by groups of demonesses.

  “Mistress! The Mistress is coming!”

  The succubi came apart, frightened, to make way for Daine — a tall demoness with a perfectly ebony body and ridged snow-white horns curved above her head, her eyes glowing with infernal crimson light. The lacework on her armor displayed more of her body than if she were naked. She came up to me, with each step growing smaller in size, until her eyes were right on the level of mine. Her brow held a crown band with a bunch of small tines resembling the teeth of a bear trap. In the center lay a huge octagonal ruby.

  Slapping me with the tip of her tail, Daine, the Mistress of the Wandering Succubate, roughly lifted my chin up.

  “Mmm, a pretty one,” she purred. White fangs showed from under her black lips, and her pink tongue seductively licked her upper lip. “Let’s start with this one, girls!”

  The succubi cried out in triumph, leaping at the captives.

  “Untie me, bitch, and let’s start! I’ll be enough for all of you, I swear!” I smirked. It was a scene straight from the beginning of a BDSM porno. True, I could escape via a Soul Stone any moment, but Olaf and Abbot were preparing something, talking over the channel.

  Daine gave out a coarse laugh. Seductively swinging her hips, she went around me and stopped behind my back. A second later I felt my armor being torn into shreds and stripped off.

  Rend Armor was used against you!

  The items in my inventory grew unsettlingly red, having lost 50 to 100 percent of durability. What a lady! I had never heard of such abilities before.

  “How cheeky,” Daine said. “Girls, he should be punished, should he?”

  The succubi around us shrieked in enthusiasm.

  Horrible pain burned my back, and I howled, arching in a scream, almost blinded. Warm blood trickled down my thighs. That was just 70% immersion. What would happen on 100%? And what had she done to me?

  Daine appeared before my eyes holding a multi-thong whip dripping with blood. The leather belts were reinforced with jagged shards of metal. That was the thing she had just used to slash my back, a scourge — a horrible forbidden weapon admired by slave overseers.

  “Did you enjoy it?” she asked, stepping closer to me and healing me with a casual touch. “I can do it again if you won’t comply. Would you like it?”

  Olaf: Be ready in thirty seconds. Everyone, check inventory. Do you know what to do?

  “Screw you, bitch!” I said, spitting. Daine laughed again, and her hand with white three-inch nails slid down my chest, leaving bleeding scratches. I looked above her shoulder, defiantly ignoring her. Several succubi were circling Damian on the cross next to me and then,
someone behind me — I wasn’t sure whom, as the wall of moving demonic bodies covered them from my view.

  Suddenly, the black demoness leaned against me with her entire body, and I felt her slowly tremble. Her teeth sunk into my shoulder, piercing my skin.

  “I’m going to do something that will make you really want to oblige me,” she whispered, raising her head and trying to meet my gaze. Daine’s eyes lit up and started to glow blue, their pupils turning into oddly-shaped pentagrams. Still, I was in no hurry to get hit with Charm, Dominate, or Demonic Sight, as Abbot was already counting down the final seconds on the raid channel.