Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

The adventurers turned around sharply to see the monster. There was something different about this monster: it didn't have the conventional whole skeleton body. Its form was cobbled together from various remains of decimated undead skeletons, making the monster look eerily repulsive.

Alita_72 fired three arrows in quick succession, targeting one spot on the monster's arm. The arrows struck swiftly, and their combined power broke off the monster's arm, liberating Am_I_Me from its grip.

At the same moment, Ivan and Salazar were locked in a fierce battle. Salazar, as impatient as a monster that operated purely by instinct, zoomed over to Ivan, initiating the fight. It pulled a bone sword from its rib cage, using it to begin an attack. Ivan parried the blow with his sword.

He pushed down on Salazar, forcing the tyrant to take a step back to balance its stance. Ivan was quick to capitalise on the opportunity, slicing off the hand in which Salazar held its sword. As it retreated, Salazar lethally launched its shield at Ivan. Ivan effortlessly sliced the shield in half.

Meanwhile, something unsettling happened. Am_I_Me suddenly switched positions with Alita_72. It puzzled the other adventurers, including Am_I_Me herself. There was a brief moment of confusion and silence.

In this brief moment of silence and confusion, Am_I_Me was staring directly at Onelight. Her expression changed from fright to confusion and finally to elation upon realising that she was no longer under the monster's threat.

As for Alita_72, she was in a perilous situation. The instant she switched places with Am_I_Me, what greeted her sight was a hulking figure standing over her. She instinctively drew an arrow from her quiver. She stabbed at the monster's abdomen, infusing the attack with the special ability, Fatal Strike. At the same time, the monster punched at her head. She successfully stabbed the monster, lodging her arrow deep into its abdomen. Unfortunately for her, her head was squashed into a bloody pulp.

Shock gripped the adventurers as they witnessed the demise of their colleague. Onelight was convinced about what she thought about Am_I_Me. She needed no more evidence to reach a conclusion. Even though she didn't sense any devil energy emanating from her.

"You are the devil collaborator!" Onelight yelled in utter disgust and hate at Am_I_Me.

Am_I_Me was heartbroken and confused, seeing her close colleague die helplessly. She dropped the Exp stones, dissolving into uncontrollable tears.

Wanyama was deeply shocked. He too blamed Am_I_Me. As the team leader, he acknowledged his responsibility of always being accountable for the safety of his teammates. Bearing this responsibility, he constantly tracked the positions of his teammates. Now, he felt someone in the team was missing. He couldn't pinpoint who exactly it was because the grief was overwhelming. The team had unconsciously bonded as they cleared the levels.

The monster reeled in pain like a human after it was stabbed. It suddenly vanished.

Blueblack turned around, confused as to why her teammates were weeping and grieving.

"Guys, what happened?"

She approached Wanyama and asked, "What's the matter?"

Wanyama didn't spare the 'voidwalker' a glance. "Am_I_Me just orchestrated the death of Alita_72. It's obvious she is the devil collaborator."

"Devil collaborator? That can't be right," Blueblack said, a glint of dark energy sparking in her eyes.

Onelight sensed the devil energy. She calmly spun around and saw a demon, impaled with an arrow in its belly, speaking with Wanyama. She paused, utterly terrified and shocked. She couldn't discern that this demon beside Wanyama was her teammate, Blueblack. Seeing the demon beside her team's leader made her question everything about her experience in this realm.

Wanyama was puzzled that Onelight paused as she looked at him. The healer's throat became dry, and she struggled to breathe. A throbbing headache arose in her head.

Meanwhile, the other adventurers were reeling in sorrow, ignorant of what was happening around them. They even forgot about the monster, not questioning its sudden disappearance.

Over at Ivan's battle. Salazar roared, displeased with its missing hand and damaged shield. Ivan smiled within his helmet. He held his sword with its point angled towards the ground. He raised the sword, gripping the hilt in both hands, its point facing the sky.

Before he could make the decisive move, Salazar guffawed inexplicably. "Where is your honour, adventurer? You dare to fight a weak opponent with a powerful weapon. You have no honour. If you have honour, battle me fist to fist."

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Battle Invitation.

Info: You have demonstrated great power against Salazar. But for an adventurer who wants to build a good reputation across the cosmos, it is dishonourable to fight your opponent with a powerful weapon. Salazar has invited you to an irrefutable hand-to-hand combat against him. The future of your reputation lies in this battle.

Description: Defeat Salazar in hand-to-hand combat in order to complete this raid.

Ivan pulled up a section of his system info, curious to know the heights his physical attributes had attained.

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System Info

Character Name: Nnamani Ivan

Avatar Name: Black Riot 79

Physical attributes

HP-300 (+200)

Vitality-20 (+10)

Strength – 20.11 (+10)

Agility-20.2 (+10)

Speed-20.11 (+10)

Stamina-20.15 (+10)

Intelligence-15.11 (+5)

Info: Ten points is the base grading for a regular player. A rating of 10.1 implies that a person is two times stronger at an attribute than a regular human being. If the rating goes higher, the power gap increases at the rate of 0.1 point to +1x power.

Item attributes

Defence – 100 Attack – 1000

"I will be damned!" Ivan exclaimed on seeing the improved attributes he possessed.

"Demon!" Wanyama's voice echoed, reaching Ivan's ears.

The martial artist turned his attention to his team leader's direction. He saw the Rune Giant backing away from the devil. His teammates had confused looks, seeing the demon. Onelight still stood, frozen in shock.

"See-through vision initiated!" These words blinked on Ivan's visor. He now saw the person beneath the devil's appearance: Blueblack!

"Appraisal complete. Name—Blueblack. Class—Demon class." These words flashed on Ivan's visor.

"How?" He was shocked.

He did a headcount and discovered that one of his colleagues was missing. His visor granted him magnifying vision. He soon located the headless corpse of Alita lying next to a crater.

Ivan flared up in rage. His fury ignited a burst of power to surge from his body, spreading beyond the realm, breaking through the devil energy veiling the events happening in the realm.

Hanging outside the gate, Brainboss had been observing a tampered surveillance of the adventurers in a heated battle on Level 10. The burst of energy breaking forth from the realm alerted the Awakened Transcendent-ranked character that something was amiss in the realm.

Ivan was travelling close to the speed of sound. He had his weapon primed to strike down the unsuspecting demon. Suddenly, his rapid motion was halted. Brainboss_7 stopped him with his index finger.

Brainboss grabbed the air with his other hand, compressing the devil energy that lingered across the Vate Prison Realm within this hand. The entire events of what transpired from Level One to Level 10 appeared in his thoughts. He also saw the memories of Blueblack, who was instantly reduced to a weak phantom imprisoned by invisible shackles.

The Demon Class Special Character had summoned a Lord Devil, which wasn't supposed to happen because she was base rank when she did this. The Lord Devil helped her reach Honoured rank within a day, and in exchange for its help, she was to deliver nine base-rank special characters as a sacrifice.

She agreed with the Lord Devil that it was free to snatch the lives of her teammates during this raid. The agreement was the object responsible for the infiltration of the Lord Devil's dark energy into the Vate Prison Realm. The Lord Devil had orchestrated the appearance of Lhilac. Lhilac was a minion of this unknown Lord Devil.

She intentionally stepped away from dealing with the possessed undead skeleton that killed Baka. She perfectly feigned shock, hiding her evil deeds. Am_I_Me's overall cowardice and reckless theft at the grand dining hall provided her the right cover for her operations.

Blueblack had used a Class-Switch Card to hide the fact that she was a Demon Class Special Character, pretending to be a Voidwalker Class Special Character. However, the duration of the effect ended during the heat of the battle on Level 10. She had an adequate amount of mastery over Dark energy, and she used it to push the duration of the class-hiding effect. Hence, she risked a backlash of unknown severity and form.

Furthermore, she saw an opportunity to kill Am_I_Me, but that was when she suffered a backlash, amnesia, and loss of power control. She transformed into a wraith and assembled a monster to kill Am_I_Me. She unintentionally exchanged the positions of Am_I_Me and Alita_72. Then, she killed the wrong target.

Suffering from amnesia, she forgot that she was stabbed with an arrow stuck in her abdomen. She also forgot that she was not to transform into a demon. Not being able to recall these two points, she approached her teammates, blowing her cover at a crucial period when the team had gained a significant boost in might.