Everlast Online

After each of the undead girls had completed their individual trials it did not take long for any of them to find one another.

Piper had woken up a few moments after she had been knocked unconscious and from beating the tattie-bogle she had risen from level thirty two to thirty seven. Despite having no new skills from the boss battle she was not disheartened after already gaining two new skills.

[Connected Cut] and [Blood Burn] were both exceptional skills with one being the deciding factor that had allowed Piper to stand victorious - even if she was still feeling the after effects. The tattie-bogle had unfortunately not dropped any items and so, after clicking her tongue at the tiny distance she had actually travelled, Piper headed over to the rain cloud where she knew she would find Bailey.

Bailey walked out of the mansion with her rewards in hand. Those being a staff and skill scroll.

The skill scroll was for a skill called [Black Chains], which Bailey promptly ripped and made use of:

[Black Chains (0%) (A): Summon and wield a powerful chain imbued with dark magic. Higher proficiency allows for improved control and summoning of more chains]

The other item was a rather crappy looking staff, it felt like cheap plastic against her hand and had absolutely no weight to it - the staff felt much like a toy would.

[Pretend Wizard Staff (B): A toy wizard staff cursed with black magic. +75% Magic attack power. +100% Dark-aligned magic attack power]

"Oh. That's pretty good." Bailey had remarked as she sat on the step of the nightmare dollhouse; knowing her friends would see the rain she had manifested and head towards it. 

Somewhat ironic that I spent all my gold on skills instead of weapons and still ended up with a better weapon than them. Bailey chuckled to herself.

After Jess had defeated the gargoyle mini-boss she began heading over to the raincloud, only to notice something within the rubble of the monster, leaning over she was able to pull out a rather nice necklace with stoney-grey wings adorning the sides with a large hematite gemstone. Jess was familiar with the gem as one of her sisters had shown it off to her one day when she was grounded from something she had long since forgotten - her parent's punishments coming frequently and usually without real reason.

Inspecting the necklace allowed Jess to see the accessory was quite interesting:

[Stone Wings (C+): A necklace created in an attempt to copy the strange weightlessness of the gargoyle race. +25% Defence power. Grants use of the skill {Alter Weight}]

[Alter Weight: Allows user to alter their weight for 1.5 seconds]

"That's pretty short." Jess grumbled reading the skill description, "Still... Might be useful."

So, Jess made her way towards the rain with her new necklace hung around her neck.

"Hey!" She called out, being the first to arrive at Bailey. The cloaked skeleton looked up and waved at Jess who was approaching, "How was it for you?"

"Creepy, unkillable dolls." Bailey responded, "But I got this cool staff."

"Neat. It was gargoyles for me." Jess responded, "Got a necklace too."

Both girls showed off what they had and waited for Piper to show up; luckily it didn't take too long for the young dhampir to show up as she trudged through the mud that had been created by Bailey's rain.

"Your skill is quite annoying." Piper sighed, slicking her soaked wet hair back, "What kind of stuff did you have to fight."

The girls talked for a while longer; Piper jealous at getting nothing and the other two jealous that she had gained another grimoire skill. However, eventually they began making their way through the rest of the dungeon.

The number of enemies during that point were limited and being a complete mismatch of monsters; even having elves, beastfolk and humans among them. The girls fought goblins and orcs; humans and elves; bears and rabbits - a complete assortment of random monsters with no common factors, except a strange change to their names and faces.

[Unlucky Elf (4) (Monster)]

[Unlucky Ogre (3) (Monster)]

[Unlucky Majin (7) (Monster)]

[...]

All of the enemies they found were named as such with levels much lower than the girls expected from such a dungeon. Even creepier were the monster's faces. They all had uncomfortably wide smiles, the kind that would hurt to maintain for longer than a minute, that they kept up no matter what they did to them - even killing them did nothing to stop them from smiling. Their eyes were equally discomforting being completely black with no sign of intelligence at all.

"Is it like... Brainwashing or something?" Jess asked as they killed yet another of the smiling freaks.

"Maybe, but wouldn't that stop after they die." Bailey responded, drinking a mana potion, "And I don't think brainwashing would change the name of their race either."

"It's creepy either way." Jess sighed, Piper had remained silent as she looked around for some kind of direction for where to go. It was only as they continued to walk around aimlessly that Jess heard laughter in the distance; her attributes as a ghoul improving her hearing.

Telling the others what she had heard caused them to designate the source as their destination since they lacked any other clues on how to complete the dungeon - they didn't even know if they could leave before that.

The girls ducked and weaved between different parts of the carnival; the derelict old rides and destroyed attractions each showing how little of the carnival remained. Yet a single attraction still remained: A vibrant circus tent. It was colourful and bright, a complete contrast to the dull and lifeless surroundings of the carnival; it was as though the entirety of the park's joy had been gathered in a single park.

The girls approached cautiously, expecting some kind of fight; however, as they peeked inside they didn't find anything immediately suspicious.

Inside was a large open area surrounded by rows and rows of full seats; different unlucky monsters all sat and watched a single act: One clown telling rather corny jokes and in return getting a wave of laughter.

The girls didn't know what they were seeing, all three of them simply waited for something strange to occur; and it didn't take long.

A few moments later the girls noticed something odd about the laughter. It was incredibly mechanical, like a robot doing its best to copy a human and the catalyst for realising this was a single monster, one [Unlucky Goblin] had begun to laugh differently - sincerely. Its horrible smile widened even further as both spit and tears dripped down the goblin's face; the entire tent turned silent and turned to stare at the laughing goblin, their contorted smiles all directed at the monster that could not control its laughter. It began to tremble and shake as it grabbed its stomach and fell to the ground, as if desperately trying to run away, but unable to stop its laughter. As the tears and spit became dyed red in blood another noise joined its raucous laughter.

Cracking and ripping sounds echoed out from the clown at the centre. Its body convulsing and twisting as it exploded into a mass of limbs and oozing black flesh; long, scrawny arms came out from its back - each lined in razor sharp barbs - as the clown grew in size from a regular human to what was closer to a bus. It had a total of ten arms that each ended in three sharp claws, digging into the dirt floor of the tent as it propped itself up and stalked over to the laughing goblin. 

It stretched out one of its claws and grabbed the goblin, its joins cracking as it did. With the goblin, still laughing, in its grasps it raised it high above its now lifeless face - all colour drained such that it resembled a corpse - only for four lines to spread across the clown make-up. Beneath the face a disgusting mass of flesh and teeth revealed itself, the kind that would give children nightmares for years; the flesh writhing and teeth trembling in delight as fresh prey was ready to eat.

The goblin did not stop laughing as it was dropped into the monster's mouth. It did not stop laughing as it was ripped apart by the monster's teeth. And it did not stop laughing as it became meat paste. Its laughter only stopped as its vocal chords were shredded and the goblin was swallowed deep into the creature's stomach; it was silent for a moment, but it could not last as the entire crowd began a chorus of cheers and claps, masking the cracks and groans of the clown as it returned to a humanoid form - but not before Piper could inspect it:

[Joyless Husk (50) (Boss)]

"How do we... Fight something like that?" Jess blurted out, trembling at the memory of the goblin's gruesome death.

"It's just a game..." Piper tried to reassure her, but even she did not feel comfortable fighting it. Bailey was entirely silent as she tried to process what she had seen; the horror of another living being getting ripped into pieces all while laughing.

It took a moment for any of the three to feel at all comfortable, but they eventually did - knowing they could not get out of the dungeon without killing that thing. No plans were made as Piper turned towards the tent, walking beyond the threshold and pulling blood from beneath her skin.

It shot out at incredible speeds and hit the clown like a bullet. The creature was knocked off balance and before it could get back up a rain storm began; ice and water attacks falling down onto the creature before it could do anything.

"SGhjjhjASdjhdhjoHJOgdsfhjghg!" An incomprehensible scream came from the creature as its body began twisting and cracking once again, its true form returning.

However, despite their fear the girls didn't flinch and continued. Jess stepped forward, lowering her weight for a moment to jump up and deliver a strike into its stomach area; minimal damage was done, but the black ooze came from where Jess had attacked - the creature's blood.

As the blood fell Piper enforced her will over it, launching it through the air and transforming it into something closely resembling an arrow. The three blood arrows lodged themselves in the mouth of the beast as it attempted to let out another screech; it swung its head wildly in pain and more arms sprouted from its back, aiming in all directions as they swelled up massively. Something began to move along the scrawny limbs of the monster and the trio of girls quickly dived towards the only place those arms were not aimed - under its belly.

They let out a sigh of relief as they watched black goo spew out of the newer arms, landing on the crowds of unlucky monsters and melting them upon contact. They never once stopped laughing and cheering, even as they melted into black goo.

"At least there won't be any adds." Jess quipped, only for the other two to chuckle at her as the seats were nearly immediately filled once again by more monsters.

They had regained some of the composure, the rigidity of the boss's movements reminding them they were just playing a game and contextualising the horrific scenes it was so willing to display. 

"Let's move." Piper smiled, activating [Blood Burn] and having her pale skin become a shade of pink as steam emanated from beneath her skin. She moved quickly and with much more strength, her [Connected Cut] skill being activated as she moved back and forth between the husk's limbs unimpeded. It was not dexterous enough to do much to stop her - especially as Bailey and Jess joined in, each worsening the gradually increasing injuries that Piper was inflicting.

It's too big for its own good. Piper smirked, taking advantage of how easily her party could outmanoeuvre the monster. Its attacks were certainly devastating, each step it took causing the ground below to fracture under its weight, but it was far too big to move with any accuracy.

Piper's sword cut through more and more of the husk's black limbs with increasing power, blood coating her blade to enhance its cutting power and more of her blood being burned. As [Connected Cut] reached a 500% buff, Piper burnt much more of her blood, jumping high and coming face to face with the monster; just as it opened its maw as if to swallow Piper it buckled under its own weight.

Jess and Bailey's attack had finally bore fruit, giving Piper a perfect opportunity. With a grin that fully displayed her fangs Piper whipped both metal blood into the monster's face - dealing massive damage as more and more of its oozing blood sprayed out into the circus tent.

With a heavy thud it fell to the floor, Piper following close behind as she felt the after effects of [Blood Burn]. Luckily she was caught by Jess, taking one of her HP potions to recover.

"Haha! Good work!" Jess cheered, believing they had won, only to be proven wrong again as a familiar cracking and ripping sound could be heard - even over the cheers and laughter of their audience.

Looking over was a similar monstrosity, but much smaller. It only had six limbs, two acting as legs, and instead of one head full of teeth; mouths were bulging out from everywhere on the monster.

It stepped forward with some uncertainty, but found its barings and charged at speeds that would have been impossible before its phase change.

"Second phase!" Piper called out, jumping to the side in order to avoid the attack. She rolled over the floor, the HP having only restored her health and not her actual blood, which meant she was not in top condition.

Jess moved quickly in response, activating [Precision Strike] at an area that lacked a mouth; increasing its power further by using [Alter Weight] to increase the weight of her hand on contact. Her attack was not as effective as she would have liked as the monster raised a hand to block, however, it was not entirely ineffective as it smashed right through that arm, destroying it.

It roared once again, but before it could make a move on Jess it jumped back out of the way of a [Water Blade].

Piper, Jess and Bailey had above average teamwork and so could cover for each other with a certain level of trust. It was for this reason that Bailey did not feel any fear as the boss charged directly at her and the same reason she was not surprised when Piper appeared burning more of her blood and cutting upwards with her blade coated in boiling red blood.

More black ooze gushed from the creature as it jumped back and out of range of the girls, running to evade the [Ice Barrage] Bailey had used.

It's lost almost all of its defence. Piper smiled, having felt the lack of resistance when attacking. I can't tell about its strength though.

The joyless husk's form change had obviously been made with speed in mind, but in doing so it had clearly lost most of its defensive power. All they would need to do was hold it still for Jess's [Precision Strike] then cover with magic and stop charges with [Blood Burn] as it could make Piper faster if just barely.

"We can win!" Piper shouted, her grin widening. This grin did not last long as the husk let out another screech, but it felt different; a message appeared to confirm this suspicion.

[You have been inflicted with the {Curse of Laughter (B)}]

[Curse of Laughter (B): Those afflicted will be racked with uncontrollable fits of laughter at random moments. Time - Undisclosed]

""Fuck!"" Jess and Piper cursed simultaneously, Bailey being the only one unaffected by the attack as the boatsman race lacked such emotions.

"We need to kill it faster!" Piper called out, they didn't quite know the effects a curse like that could bring, but it could hardly be good. Bailey quickly fired off a number of [Water Bullets] to herd the monster as she desired until it was finally in place for Jess to attack.

She reared her fist back, [Precision Strike] activating as her hand moved forward - but an attack never came:

"Hehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" All of Jess's skill deactivated and she began laughing hysterically, falling to the ground as she clutched at her stomach. Her concentration had been completely broken under the effects of the curse and left her open to an attack.

The monster's claw moved quickly as it cut at Jess; neither Piper or Bailey were able to arrive in time to block it.

"FUCK!" She yelled out, stopping her laughter as more than a third of her health was drained from a single attack. A large cut ran along her side, bluish blood flooding out of the wound, "That feels awful."

Piper felt discomfort seeing how Jess had been unable to control herself and desperate not to feel it herself she let loose; bullets of blood firing off towards the monster. However, she too fell to the curse; bursting out laughing and losing her control over blood.

Luckily, Bailey and Jess were prepared, stopping the monster's attempt to take advantage with a series of wild attacks.

"Ha... Haah." Piper breathed deeply, completely hating the feeling of her curse, "We need to kill this thing. Now."

Jess nodded fervently and a plan was formed - shoddy, but with some chance of success.

Please don't start laughing. Piper thought, charging forward with her sword ready; Jess approaching from the opposite side. 

The monster was kept in place as water and ice rained down on the husk. The black, scrawny limbs of the monsters whipped wildly to block the girls who approached, but they had expected this; Piper sliding low and Jess using [Alter Weight] to jump higher.

They grinned as they made use of their skills.

[Blood Burn] made Piper stronger and [Blood Manipulation] took not only her own blood, but Jess's and the monster's too in order to build up further momentum as her sword swung through the monster's legs.

Bones armoured Jess with [Bone Exoskeleton] as a [Precision Strike] pushed her clawed hand deep into the creature's shoulder.

With no legs and a great force pushing down the monster fell to the floor with a crash, fully open to one final attack: A large black chain falling from the sky.

Piper and Jess watched, collapsing to the floor in fits of laughter, as the creature's head was crushed under the weight of Bailey's magic. As their levels increased and the girls stopped laughing they could tell the monster was finally and truly dead; all that was left was to count up the spoils.

"Let's get out of this fucking place." Piper said, having explored enough creepy bullshit for two lifetimes.