Isecant - Party based LitRPG-lite / Progression adventure

While the troupe, Wooj and the squad leave the area, things started to shift deeper in the forest.

Kiki Tabitha and her unrelenting fighting style, experience, and weaponry are too much for Dylan, despite his form change.

The many-armed member of the dawn floats high above the once vibrant and beautiful Widdlewans, further darkening its dark and pastel greens, pinks, and blues, lighting the land. It continued to black out the daylight, and a pitch-black sky covered the land, broken only by the arrival of his comrades, the Rising Dawn.

Kiki felt a twinge in her mind. A twinge that quickly turned to a throb and a throb into a pounding pressure building within her mind. "RARGH, BASTARD! This is too advanced for something you can conjure." Kiki roared with pain, falling to her left knee, Kiki's invisible assailant began to reveal themselves via four pillars of light bursting from within the dark overcast clouds. Three in a line the same size, and a single enormous pillar of light that dwarfed the area.

The first figure appeared. Two rotating silver blades behind his person. Wearing a tan-coloured trench coat and matching fingerless gloves that fell to his sides. A cream bandana adorned his face; he carried a quiet confidence in his look.

Through the second light came a young girl dressed as an aristocrat's daughter. Wearing a golden frilled dress and a black bow tied scruffily around her head. She was plastered in thick brown dirt and green moss that covered the girl from the top of her hairless head to her shoeless feet. The girl's eyes were a cold, icy blue colour that appeared lifeless and glazed over.

A towering boulder of a well-groomed half-naked man. A pair of black shorts was all he wore, and they were paired with his shaved, cerulean-colored hair. He held his hands inside of the short pockets, and a thick, bushy, yellow handlebar moustache further enhanced his menacing, eyeless look.

Their leader descended. A porcelain beauty, one that would catch the hearts and souls of any that fell upon her gaze. Her hair was hidden beneath a veil, while robes of the finest silken look shone a vibrant shimmering indigo glamour; frills flowed gracefully in the winds as her fierce pink eyes met with Kiki's. The leader approached Kiki, each step choreographed to be as hypnotic as the last. Her movement seems effortless, as if she glided along the crater-riddled floors of the Widdlewans.

Kiki's pain intensified as the woman slowly grew close. It felt like a drill was trying to burst through her skull with every footstep, elevating the pain.

Kiki managed to mutter through the pain one of her powerful abilities.

Name: ???

Description: ???

Effects: ???

The pain slowly faded. Her foe, however, had reached a skill level far higher than the one from her previous encounter, and some residual throbbing remained. The world around her had slowed, and she could hear footsteps from the recent visitors in the distance, breathing from animals scuttling away, and the pitter-patter of droplets from afar as they hit the ground.

***

MC, his companions, and the ever-so-co-dependent Norman had been trying to unravel the enigmatic individual they met at the city walls

"Do you understand this concept?" "Pink badgers are Riveting." "I will buy three," they squawked at a window.

The group had spent barely ten minutes with the person, and already Norman was questioning if the police or the asylum squad should be given a call. Norman was particularly unnerved, not from the words they said, but from the actions as they did it.

Approaching a fruit and vegetable cart, they began speaking with a crate full of mafon berries, constantly trying to shake a hand that wasn't there. "Exchange rates are worthless!!" COUGH "Great doing business with you madam."

Norman was finding his sanity ticking away with every encounter, "MC… Please make them stop. They're so weird; what the hell is wrong with them?"

MC looked at the group as they tried to barter with a market stall trader, talking to the sky while digging deep into their pockets. How can someone get that way, and how do you even manage living alone in such a manner? Must be a tough life.

"Norman, I think it's best to just keep your distance. We need them to follow up on our request completion."

"Hear, hear, sir."

Thanks, buddy.

"Why am I always the one to suffer…"

"Life's just a rollercoaster, Norman. Which guild did we need to go to for completion, by the way?"

"KOUDILLON,"

"Thanks, Horace… Which building was theirs?"

"LET ME LEAD THE WAY."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

***

Solin & Yeathe began to make their move. Communicating with each other in the background as the poor oblivious greys wage conflict across Maliterr.

"Yeah. We should prepare for the pickings. The greys will have managed to attract the attention of guilds soon enough."

"Absolutely, Solin. It's going to be a most joyous day. I daresay, the citizens won't know what hits them.

The conniving Invørsår broke off to communicate with the heads of each force. Soon Eccles Ville would come face-to-face with a disaster on multiple fronts at the hands of foes without a face.

But spies are within the networks. Agents, lurking deep in the shadows. Sought to prevent bloodshed and end a conflict before it has the chance to even begin. A lone figure, operating among the Gobheads from the beginning, eavesdropped on the conversation between Solin and Lizbuth. "It is time, dear. Time for Gobheads to finally hit the people where it hurts."

"We are to attack the western walls, Solin? For the most amount of damage?"

"Positively, my dear. I've calculated all the possible outcomes."

"You are a benevolent deity, Solin. I wish to thank you in person one day."

"I'm sure you will be able to soon, Lizbuth," cackled Solin from the other side.

FUCK. I better report this. The figure bolted from the shadows; his movements alerted Solin, though he was much too quick for the deity to have registered it all properly.

It seems a traitor lurks among your ranks, Lizbuth. Solin's thoughts violently lashed out around him, shattering anything his vicious brown energy touched.

The figure rushed from the Gobhead's shrouded encampment and flew eastward. He appeared to speak to himself casually, and being this high in the sky, nobody could dare to question him. "They're making a move. Brace the kid; it's about to get ugly real fast."

"I shall do so shortly. I suggest you head to the Widdlewans from here. Someone will need your help more than they care to admit."

"It's been a while. I hope nobody has forgotten about me."

***

The air was fuelled with tension, yet a subtle interest seemed to linger and intertwine along with it. Kiki stood tall, fearless against a group that has long lurked in places away from prying eyes.

The large, weathered hands she had, shook from excitement. To fight against foes that could reignite a passion she had long since retired from filled her with a rush she didn't know she missed.

"Kiki Tabitha... The original first ranker. YIHIHI~, What a displeasure it is to meet you at last. Look everyone, it's the haggard old grandma in the flesh. What do we think of that?"

'TIS BUT AN ABOMINATION TO HER GREAT LORD ABOVE, DEAR ONE,' the four shouted in unison. Kiki tried to eye which of the five she wanted to take out first. But it was hard for her, resisting the urge to pounce and tear apart the one speaking with her directly.

"Oh. You recognise little old me? I'm flattered. I have never seen your poisonous mug in my life. I'll take great pleasure in wiping that smile from your face."

"Now, now, Kitty," the woman raised a pointed finger at Kiki, who leapt away as the ground exploded where she once stood.

"I'd appreciate you not throwing your meagre life away so quickly. We would love to have some fun with you."

"5 v 1 – is that how it's going to be? Can't be helped, I guess."

"No-no, just little old me for now, fluffy-kins. but first I want to watch you SQUIRM." quickly the woman clapped her hands together, CLAP CLAP

Kiki dived out of the way once and out of sight.

But the woman had already done what she set out to do.

"RAAAARRrrrgh! What the hell have you done to me, witch!?"

WARNING - system malfunction

Character spec has been blocked. Reverting user to pre-sentient state

"Oh, just restoring the natural order, as it were. The system is much too good for the likes of you lessers. Isn't that right, my dear old chums?"

"RESTORATION THROUGH FORCE, OF COURSE, DEAR ONE."

***

The trio and co. had not long managed to reach the Koudillon guild. When MC's group began to freeze in place. And the familiar rippling black tear appeared to him once more. Only he and Dillee remained.

"I say, sir. This is a most unexpected event."
"Isn't it just, bud? I don't like how sudden this is."
"Kangaroo cabbage, fish fingers, and dollar stores in my kneecaps." Said the resident weirdo, speaking to thin air.
The two were surprised an addition joined them in the big freeze, but Tofla's breaking through took priority as they both side-eyed away.

"Tofla? "What are you doing here?" MC was surprised to hear from the enigmatic entity in such a sudden manner.

"Fate denier. The city will soon be unsafe for you and your kin. The Gale and Gorthen Invørsår have been at the root of this most recent madness. The rise in the greys gaining system access.
"Wait, they caused all this? AND THERE'S TWO THIS TIME!?"
"Unfortunately, yes. One of my agents finally confirmed what I had long suspected. How the two beasts achieved accessing the system on such a scale will require more investigating.
"Tofla… This is super sudden. Why haven't you visited me in such a long time? I don't even understand how I beat the last one… How do I fight two of them!?"
"Fear not, sir. Your buddy is here by your side!"
"I will not watch this theatre production. It does not appeal to my taste in orange."

"What a poor damaged set of souls that one is… Terrible are the effects Maliterr is unaware of, even after eight years."
"What do you mean, Tofla? Are you saying they are several people in one body?"
"Several souls, six to be precise. Each trying to reach the surface. Humans, like you Terrahuums and Huums, are too primitive to cope with such a burden. This one has long since gone mad. I imagine their true self seldomly comes out."

MC felt a wave of sympathy for the rambling nutter and a strong-worded disdain for the goddess. Fuck you, Serilia. You could have prevented this. Seeing his best friend struggling, Dillee took it upon himself to try speaking with Tofla. "Tofla? Was it? I am Dillee."
"Yes, I know who you are. [One of my agents was involved in your making.]
"I'm sorry, Tofla. That is a language I am unfamiliar with. The good sir, how should he fight the incoming threat ahead?"
"MC. You can simply throw the obelisk at them. They will activate in the vicinity of the foes and destroy them."

MC absorbed the words, but the light was not on his mind.
"Tofla. I will see to it that the noble sir achieves his mission. Though, I am curious… What should we do after that? I am unfamiliar with the stones. But as the good sir has defeated one already, and you mentioned two elements, I presume that will leave exactly five more stones?
"I trust that you will. And yes, you are correct; there will be five remaining. Once you have achieved what I've set out, continue to be productive in the world and enjoy what's out there. The other Invørsår will eventually show themselves in due time. Be ready. There will be hate against the greys afterwards, though I am preparing something to deal with that small issue as it arises."

Tofla faded after speaking. MC began to snap out of his trance as the tear closed and the world returned to normal.
"THERE'S SOMEONE THE WORLD CAN'T IGNORE! INCOMING!" shouted the rambler to the sky, giving MC a brief fright,

"Yes indeed. Now let's see how this goes. Come on~"