The Hundred Reigns

Chapter 123: The Overlord of Crime (7)

The good thing about riding a magical undead horse created from an Overlord’s lifeforce, was that they didn’t really need their head to ‘live.’

Simon blasted Masaru back to the dirt below where he belonged with a well-placed Hellthunder, then ordered his headless horse to keep flying away… until the wind suddenly began to change direction and caused his mount to trip in midair. Simon glanced back at the cliff to see Yashamaru waving his hands at him and reshaping air currents to immobilize his steed.

How can a Monk Vassal Class command the winds?! Simon cursed as he spotted a slightly bruised Masaru and Reiko preparing to leap back up into the sky after him. I can’t let them catch up to me.

With his horse neutralized, Simon used Hellfire to propel himself away a few seconds before Reiko sliced apart his mount with her ghost-claws in midair. Simon barely had time to land on one of the stone spires before he saw Masaru’s shadow falling down on him, fist raised.

Putting on his Strength for Speed ring to increase his Agility, Simon countered with a Chaos Wave that threw Masaru back. The Godhand spun in the air mid-flight to land on another stone spire to Simon’s right, while his ally leaped on one to his left. Yashamaru glided down with the winds the same way his phantom steed ran on them and quickly cut off the last escape route, trapping Simon in the middle of a triangle.

I’m surrounded, Simon thought as he quickly renewed his buffs, especially Energumen and Shadowshield. Oh well. Violence it is.

“First time I see a dullahan running away from battle,” Masaru mused with a grin. “I thought their kind pursued their quarry to the death?”

“A dullahan is a beheaded rider, Baldy, not the horse,” Reiko replied warily, shuriken flashing in her hands. “This shadow thing is something else.”

“Guys, focus,” Yashamaru admonished his teammates as he waved his hands and called out the ambient mist to him. “His curse will kill us within minutes unless we force this monster to lift it!”

“I wasn’t running away,” Simon replied, “I was being merciful.”

Reiko sneered. “How so, by giving us a free shot at your fleeing back?”

“I gave you time to tell each other goodbye, but it seems you would rather die screaming.” Simon chuckled darkly and then blasted them with the darkest terror. “Dreadful Aura!”

They were too strong to die on the spot and had Perks lessening Terror effects, but fear caused their resolve to briefly waver and leave them open for attack. Simon struck first by casting Night Raid at Yashamaru, a swarm of abyssal bats materializing from his hand. The man caused the mist around him to condense into a sphere of water that shielded him from the attackers.

Reiko immediately used the opportunity to leap across the void and throw a volley of shuriken at Simon. Predicting her next move on account of her Ninja levels, Simon dodged the projectiles. She used a Kawarimi to switch places with a shuriken in an attempt to blindside him, but Simon quickly struck with a Chaos Wave that blasted her down into the valley below.

Watching that girl use Kawarimi aroused Simon’s envy. He had tried to replicate the Technique soon after the reign began and failed. Kawarimi’s knowledge had been engraved in the Ninja Crestone itself, and while he could feel a vague phantom memory of it imbuing his flesh, he hadn’t mastered it enough to replicate it after losing the Ninja Class. He hoped to correct that failing during this reign.

Unfortunately, Masaru immediately exploited Chaos Wave’s brief cooldown to rush across the void and kicked Simon in the chest with a troll’s strength. His Unyielding Essence should have let him shrug it off, but the blow hurt anyway. Renal’s intel that a Godhand’s fists were treated as magical weapons rang true.

Supereffective hit!

The kick thinly cracked the Overlord’s chest plate and sent Simon plummeting into the void alongside Reiko. Simon looked up midfall to see Yashamaru descending after him, the mist turning into spears of ice in his hands. Trusting Renal’s intel, Simon pointed a finger at him before he could throw them.

“Petrify.”

Yashamaru turned to stone mid-motion. He fell with his ice spears into the mists below alongside Simon and his teammate.

“Yasha!” Reiko called out in horror as she caught the nearest stone spire and began to run down its surface after her petrified teammate.

“Reiko, catch him!” Masaru shouted from above as he dove down after Simon, who immediately tried to strike him with Petrify… to no avail. He simply ignored the ailment, unlike his teammate, though Simon sensed it wasn’t absolute immunity.

Petrification and paralysis resistance, as predicted, Simon thought. I feared Renal might have deceived me, but his intel is mostly accurate so far.

Using Hellfire to control his flight a bit, Simon managed to safely land in the misty valley below in a clearing so shrouded in fog that the sunlight hardly reached the ground. He heard a big ‘thump’ not far away, followed by a rush of experience and a wail that informed him Reiko hadn’t managed to catch her teammate in time.

Simon had lost sight of those two because of the fog, but Masaru landed not far from him with such a powerful impact that it sent dirt flying all over. His grin had faded away and he immediately rushed at Simon with glowing fists of gold, the number over his head having fallen from three to two.

Simon intercepted him with an Ectoplasmer blast, but the Godhand outright punched the spirit projectile to pieces with a glowing fist. Since the infocard warned that Masaru would heal from physical ailments like poison, and he needed an opportune time to cast Chaos Wave, Simon adjusted his strategy by switching his Strength for Speed ring for his Spell for Speed one, trading his strength reduction for a magical one.

Thankfully, an Overlord’s spiked gauntlet did count as a weapon as far as Warmonger

was concerned, which gave Simon a slight, intuitive understanding of hand-to-hand combat. He began to trade punches with Masaru, dodging light-empowered fists and retaliating with his own punches. However, he quickly found himself forced on the defensive as Masaru also targeted his knees with his kicks. Warmonger only helps with my fists. Simon was a boxer exchanging blows with a martial artist, using only his fists when the enemy also incorporated footwork into their movements. He would have me on the ropes if it were an official match.

A pity Simon never fought fair.

He activated Chaos Wave without warning, throwing Masaru back before he could land a punch on him, then triggered his Devil’s Arm spell and aimed straight for his heart. His claws only dug skin deep into Masaru’s chest—his very flesh felt stronger than steel—but that was alright. All Simon needed was physical contact.

“Timethief,” Simon cast.

He stole Masaru’s time, slowing his previously fast movement while his own reaction time sharpened.

Haste status!

Simon grinned behind his helmet as he summoned his mace and began to pummel Masaru with it. The Godhand had grown sluggish and barely managed to raise his arms to defend himself, only to be pummeled into the ground. Simon’s mace struck fast enough for the wind to whistle in its wake, leaving bloody bruises that would not heal and draining Masaru of his strength. Simon’s relentless assault soon brought the Godhand to his knees.

I have you now, Simon thought as he raised his mace for a fatal blow to his head, when something caught his arm. Ropes coiled around his limbs and throat to impair him.

No, not rope.

Hair.

Simon’s head snapped to the left, spotting Reiko. The woman had managed to sneak up on him under the cover of the mist without making so much as a sound. Her hair had grown unnaturally long and surged to grab him like a kraken’s tentacles, their strands as strong as steel wire.

“Masaru!” She shouted at her teammate as Simon tried to force himself free. “The Ten Thousand Fists secret Technique!”

Masaru quickly adopted a strange stance with his left hand raised in a half-prayer open palm, and the other a fist pointed at Simon. His golden body began to glow, with over a dozen spectral arms of light appearing behind his back.

What the… Simon blinked in surprise as the arms multiplied. That wasn’t on the card–

Masaru struck him with ten thousand fists.

The Slow ailment drastically decreased the target’s speed by altering their personal timeline, yet Masaru’s hands of light began to strike Simon so fast he could barely see them move. They pummeled him from all angles with sacred power rippling through his miasma armor, the impacts reverberating beneath his skin and into his ribs.

Supereffective hit! Your Rampart & Barrier have been shattered! Supereffective hit! Supereffective hit!

The constant blows pushed Simon back without any respite. He would have managed to wrench himself free without Reiko’s hair halting his movements, but as it was, all he could do was raise his arms to protect himself. He had to break the combo before the damage piled up beyond recovery. He quickly switched his Spell for Speed ring for his Strength for Speed one and counterattacked.

Mindflayer.

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His dark thoughts rippled into the form of an unseeable cone of psychic energies that knocked Masaru back and broke his concentration, throwing him back with a snarl and causing his arms of light to vanish.

“The flesh is strong, but the spirit is found wanting!” Simon taunted them as he stored his mace into his inventory, then used Devil’s Arm to grab Reiko by the throat. “Hellfire!”

Reiko barely had time to blink as flames erupted from Simon’s hand. He burned her skull until the flesh melted off her bones, pretty hair and all.

Masaru attempted to rise back to his feet, but Simon simply struck him with Mindflayer again and kept him pinned in place with psychic torture. The Countdown over his head fell from one to zero, extinguishing his life. All that remained of the Monk’s disciples were corpses, soul gems, and the rush of a level-up.

Level 56 Overlord Perk: Devil Forgemaster IV (Passive): You have learned how to craft Consumables such as wands, bombs, or magical gems, but they must include miasma as part of their creation.

That was less experience than I expected, Simon thought. He sensed a penalty of some sort, likely from the fact that he had been ten to seven levels above those three individually. Even murder might not be enough of an atrocity to satisfy my Class one day...

Either way, the job was done. Simon found Yashamaru’s broken stone pieces nearby. He lifted his Petrify curse, then burned his and his fellow disciples’ remains to make it seem like they had run afoul of a dangerous monster. The nearby corpse of the ogre that Masaru had thrown to his death earlier would complete the crime scene.

I’m sorry, Simon apologized to the corpses as he looted their Crestones. Reiko had actually had two, her Deathclaw and Ninja ones. I swear your deaths won’t be in vain.

Perhaps he should send them some anonymous magical gifts in a future reign as penance? Would it even matter?

Either way, Simon grabbed the Ninja Crestone like an old friend. Re-acquiring the Kawarimi and progressing in the Class further would no doubt help him. He cancelled the Overlord outfit and activated Ninja, sensing the mana coalesce around him into a garb–

A pervading feeling of wrongness suddenly washed over Simon like a cold shower, followed by a simple notification.

ERROR!

Huh?

The Ninja Class outfit shattered back into raw mana without warning, leaving Simon dazzled and confused. Twice more he tried to activate the Crestone, to no avail. Each time the garb would begin to materialize, only to dissipate halfway.

What was going on? Did the Vassal Crestone include a safeguard preventing it from being used by anyone except the late Reiko, like the War Party’s ones? Simon switched to using the Deathclaw one, quickly putting on the same silken garb Reiko had been wearing before her death.

Deathclaw: The hand of death itself, a master of forbidden martial arts who channels the ancestors’ power to strike the soul itself.

Strength B, Vitality C, Agility A, Perception A, Magic B, Intelligence C, Charisma D, Luck D.

Innate Perk: Spirit Body Mastery (Passive): You can learn any Body and Unarmed Techniques, but only those channeling the Physical, Soul, or Ailment elements.

Innate Perk: Vital Sight (Passive): You can immediately detect an individual’s pressure points, such as nerve clusters or fracture points, letting you land critical hits more easily and with more impact.

Innate Perk: Spectral Fist (Passive): You can strike intangible targets as if they were solid.

Level 1 Perk: Martial Arts I (Passive): You gain medium proficiency in unarmed combat (x1.5 damage).

This one is working fine for me, Simon thought, a sick feeling settling in his gut. What about the others?

He put on the Godhand outfit and then the Kineticist one, testing them out.

Godhand: A martial artist who dedicates themselves to the pursuit of enlightenment through meditation and righteous vows.

Strength A, Vitality A, Agility B, Perception B, Magic D, Intelligence E, Charisma D, Luck D.

Innate Perk: Sacred Body Mastery (Passive): You can learn any Body and Unarmed Techniques, but only those channeling the Physical, Light, Life, and Support elements.

Innate Perk: Sacred Fist (Passive): Your body is considered a magical weapon, and you can strike intangible targets as if they were solid.

Level 1 Perk: Martial Arts I (Passive): You gain medium proficiency in unarmed combat (x1.5 damage).

Kineticist: A martial artist capable of bending all four elements in their search for inner harmony.

Strength C, Vitality B, Agility B, Perception A, Magic B, Intelligence C, Charisma D, Luck D.

Innate Perk: Element Body Mastery (Passive): You can learn any Body and Unarmed Techniques, but only those channeling the Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind elements.

Innate Perk: Mana Sense (Passive): You can detect the ambient flow of mana in the air within a ten-meter radius of yourself.

Level 1 Perk: Martial Arts I (Passive): You gain medium proficiency in unarmed combat (x1.5 damage).

The rest of the group’s Crestones worked perfectly fine for him, except the Ninja one.

Simon had a bad feeling about this.

With his mission accomplished, Simon looted the trio’s soul gems for future use, spent his teleportation gemstone to return to the smuggler’s cove and then made his way back to the Attic’s door. One of its many fetch guardians went to contact Renal to confirm his task was complete.

“Back already?” Renal scoffed after checking the three fingerbones Simon had taken from his victims as proof of his success. “Color me impressed. I thought it would take you a few more days.”

“I told you it would be no issue for me.” Simon hadn’t even needed to sap lifeforce from his cows to keep himself going, unlike most other opponents. “Are we done then?”

“We’ll be after you hand over those fools’ Crestones.” Renal extended his hand. “Did you really think you could keep them?”

Simon scowled in annoyance. “Our accord didn’t mention them.”

“Don’t take it the wrong way,” Renal replied. “I have a finder’s keeper policy, but we can’t run the risk of Fablan sorcerers’ divinations showing those Crestones half a world away from Fablan. I’ll pay you the Crestones’ price or provide you with others as a replacement for your trouble.”

“That’s… surprisingly fair, I guess,” Simon commented. He hadn’t expected Renal to offer compensation for the confiscation. “To be honest, I half-expected your infocard to contain erroneous information to ensure I would be in for a nasty surprise, but your intel was almost entirely accurate.”

“What kind of fool do you take me for?” Renal grunted. “I’m a professional. If you want to live long in this business, you’ll learn to keep your personal feelings and entanglements out of the workplace. The fact I don’t like you doesn’t mean I’ll let that affect the job.”

Simon gained a slightly greater respect for the Ninja. Not enough to keep him alive once he tracked down the Prince of Spiders, of course, but he might give him a chance to serve as an undead.

“I’ll take replacement Vassal Crestones for my lieutenants, if you can obtain any,” Simon decided upon handing the Crestones over to Renal. This was mostly an excuse to get his hands on more Class schematics he could replicate for himself in the future. “The Ninja one is broken though. It wouldn’t activate for me.”

Renal raised an eyebrow and then studied it. A wave of mana coursed through him, a new Ninja outfit overwriting his own.

“It’s working perfectly for me,” he said. “Must be your Overlord Class interfering with it.”

That’s what bothers me, Simon thought grimly. The fact that Renal could use the Crestone pointed to an ugly possibility. “I thought that at first, but it didn’t interfere with the other three Crestones.”

“You must have pissed off the Rogue spirit somehow,” Renal mused. “See, all Vassal Crestones of a given type tap into the same Class archetype. They’re like key copies used to open a door. If I were to lose my Ninja Crestone, I could continue to level-up in my Class as soon as I obtain a new one without losing my progress, but if the doorkeeper knows not to let you in, no key will ever work.”

His words pointed to the same possibility that Simon had been considering: that he had an access problem.

Class information and Perks came from archetypes dwelling in the Worldsoul, which was a linear dimension shaped by people’s memories and beliefs. Individuals connecting to it through Crestones tapped into the wisdom and accumulated experience to gain Perks, with each new level further attuning their soul to the Class’ ideal through experience.

So what happened when a non-linear soul tried to connect to it?

Class information was engraved into him on some level, since his base stats improved thanks to mana attunement, but he had lost access to the non-Overlord Perks he’d gained whenever a new reign began. He had been wondering how to reconcile this paradox for a while and came up with a rather worrying explanation.

Class levels were engraved in Simon’s soul and slowly strengthened his base stats, but non-Overlord Class Perks were abilities granted by the Worldsoul itself. The Ninja Class, itself a vassal of the Rogue, probably received conflicting information, with his soul registering as having levels yet having never actually gotten the experience required to unlock them.

Simon was a living paradox.

This phenomenon didn’t cause too many issues when Simon never leveled up in another Class, but the more experience he had gained in a previous reign, the more suspicious his profile appeared in the system. The Class archetypes likely registered his connection attempts as fraudulent.

Could Anathemic Secrecy’s stat falsification help? Maybe not. It only protected him against divinations, and the System probably used a more complex method of authentication.

I need to test this out with Belzemine when she returns, Simon thought, his fist clenching in frustration. If he couldn’t access her Gladiator Class, then he would have to face the fact that he was up against a severe restriction. I might only be able to level up in a Class for a single reign before it becomes permanently locked out to me.

“Why the interest in the Ninja Class?” Renal asked with curiosity. “You think our garb will fit you better than armor?”

“The girl, Reiko, used a teleportation ability to switch places with a shuriken midflight,” Simon replied. “I was interested in obtaining it.”

“Kawarimi isn’t teleportation, not really. It looks like it to an outsider, or to someone who hasn’t fully mastered the Technique, but it’s really just switching places with an object so fast it looks like it.” Renal crossed his arms. “Do you know where lies the difference between spells and Techniques?”

“Broadly so,” Simon replied. “Techniques are magical martial arts applied to a weapon rather than manipulating magic itself?”

“Then why is something like Elemental Saber a spell rather than a technique?” Renal countered.

“I…” Simon frowned at the question. “Because it can apply to all weapons rather than one type?”

“That isn’t wrong, but not true either. Not all Techniques use magic, or even need mana to work. My ninja master once told me that Techniques are what happens when skill transcends nature.” There was awe and wonder in Renal’s voice, like a historian recounting old tales. “Techniques aren’t martial spells. They’re martial miracles.”

“I… I don’t see the difference.”

“Let me tell you a tale,” Renal said. “There was once an elven swordsman who was convinced a sword could cut through anything if swung the right way. For years and years he would train by chopping wood, then stone, then metal. Each time he broke his sword, he would buy another and perfect his technique. Where his siblings would learn spells and other party tricks, he spent his days and nights practicing again and again.”

Simon listened without a word. Renal sounded genuinely passionate about the subject.

“And at one point, something happened,” Renal concluded. “Reality gave in. The elf swordsman found that his swing could now cut through everything. Wood, stone, diamond, even magic itself. The impossible had become possible.”

“How?” Simon inquired. “Did he use mana some way, or–”

“No, no, the swordsman couldn’t cast a spell to save his life, and neither did his human apprentice, though he eventually learned the art too. It was all skill, all careful movement and relentless practice.” Renal nodded to himself. “That’s the truth of Techniques. They’re moves so sublime that they reach the divine and become immortalized in the Worldsoul.”

Simon immediately thought back to rituals and performances, where their power came from symbols and art rather than the magic itself.

“How can one master a Technique?” Simon inquired.

“Through thousands upon thousands of hours of practice, or having a Class to help you with the process,” Renal mused. “Classes help because they let their user replicate the Technique, so if you use it often enough, it’ll become engraved in your muscle memory even should you lose the Crestone… and there are two that trump all others in that department.”

He raised his fingers.

“The Monk…” Renal chuckled darkly. “And the Warrior.”