Jonathan hadn’t been in Tartarus in months, and he had skipped a few of the realms by leveling up normally in the Infinite Hells. With how powerful he was for his level, he didn’t have to grind all the way up to the top of the Tier to wield power equal to it. Even against Circle Lord, especially with Limit Breaker, he could even the odds a bit. However, as Eventide had shown, Circle Lords usually had an edge that would stop Limit Breaker from becoming a guaranteed win. In Eventide’s case, he had enough temporary power to far eclipse what Jonathan could muster.
Jonathan wasn’t sure what Aluran’s signature skill was, only that the worm had access to spacetime magic, and a stockpile of advanced tech. Depending on how advanced it was, that could also prove to be a challenge.
The eighth realm of Tartarus was, of course, still a hellish realm of lava and volcanic rock. That was where the similarities ended. It appeared to be a facsimile of the real world, not the Infinite Hells, but Telvaria. The only difference was that everything was adapted to the extreme heat and patterned after the volcanic theme. The grass was a dull red in color and the trees were the texture of stone. Rivers of lava ran down rolling hills towards lakes of bubbling molten rock. Strange types of fish leaped out of the lakes every now and again.
Clouds of ash scudded across the sky and the air was the temperature of a blast furnace. Birds flew around, wheeling around like vultures in an empty desert sky.
A city could be seen in the distance, but it was covered in a haze of mist that made it hard to make out the finer details. Unlike many of the cities of the Infinite Hells, it was flat. A lot of larger cities were built on hills and mountains because of the defensive value, or they were constructed in accordance with the egos of their rulers. Avarana had built a tower in the center of her city that had loomed over everything else, taller even than some mountains.
The city on the horizon was still quite large, surrounded by a wall of dark stone. Jonathan couldn’t properly judge the height, but it was at least a few hundred feet tall.
“This realm seems a lot more civilized than the others,” Edgar observed. “I can’t see any monsters, other than the local wildlife. None of them seem especially aggressive or powerful.”
“It might be like that realm with the Merchant Queen,” Jonathan said. “The Uthraki have everything under control, and the world is mostly tamed.”
“Or it could be like my own layer,” Arkanon countered. “A civilized core, but hordes of monsters gathered all around.”
“What should we do first?” Jonathan asked. “I want to get to fighting, but do you all have any suggestions?”
Arkanon shrugged. “That sounds good to me. While I do want to see the accomplishments of my people, that might drag us into something that will take too much time.”
Jonathan frowned. “Didn’t you have me assist with a war that spanned your entire realm? You can’t talk about dragging people into things.”
Arkanon coughed. “I suppose you’re right. But still, my vote goes to fighting. Then perhaps we can make contact with the natives.”
“The only problem is finding monsters to kill,” Edgar said. “There’s nothing around here. Even the realm with the Merchant Queen had more monsters.”
“The further we head away from the city, the more likely we find something,” Jonathan suggested. “Let’s head out into the wilderness. There has to be at least a herd of monsters out there.”
With how fast everyone in the group could move, scouting out the landscape was a matter of minutes. They found a vantage point on an especially tall hill, one that could almost be called a mountain had grass not been growing all over it. Because there was no snow or frigid temperatures at higher altitudes, the flora of the realm spread everywhere, no matter how improbable it seemed.
A rolling vista of red and orange tinged foliage and stone spread out in every direction. More cities could be seen in the distance, hulking monsters of stone and permanence that dominated the local landscape.
“Still nothing,” Edgar said disappointedly. “Maybe this realm is entirely domesticated.”
Jonathan frowned. “Wait, what’s that?”
“What?” Edgar asked. “Point it out for me.”
Jonathan pointed over at the gap between two cities, where a mountain range extended like the spine of a titanic beast. A massive highway wended its way around and over the mountains. Traffic streamed along it, but something was amiss. It had taken Jonathan a few moments to realize what it was. The Uthraki that he had expected to see were nowhere to be found. Instead, a race of troll-like creatures, many times taller than any Uthraki, drove the wagons and marched alongside the convoys that traveled. There were so many of them that they looked like ants. Their skin was covered in pebbly growths, as if stone was fused into their flesh.
“What the hell are those?” Edgar asked, after realizing what he was looking at. “Those aren’t Uthraki. What happened here?”
Arkanon stared at the highway in horror. “My people… Where did they go? Did these creatures defeat them?”
“We won’t find out unless we go closer,” Jonathan said. “They don’t seem to be especially hostile. Most of them look like traders.”
“Can you use that scanning ability of yours?” Edgar asked. “It’s the strongest out of all of us.”
Jonathan pulsed Divinity through his eyes, but unexpectedly, the skill failed. The energy started dissolving into the air as soon as he tried to cast it in the direction of his target. The trolls were too far away for even Jonathan to analyze. He shook his head. “It’s too far away. I can’t muster enough power to reach all the way there with the ability.”
“Damn,” Edgar exclaimed. “That’s a first. I guess even you have limits sometimes.”
“Well, let’s just get closer,” Jonathan replied. “We’re all strong enough to defend ourselves against anything this realm has to offer. It’s capped at Tier 9, so it should be safe enough.”
“Alright.”
The party took their time heading towards the highway. As they moved further down, more of the road came into view, hidden behind other hills. A few vast herds of what looked like livestock grazed peacefully on the reddish grass. They were massive versions of cows, covered in scales rather than short cropped hair. Each of the herds were tens of thousands strong. Their presence raised a few questions. As most of the inhabitants of the realm should have been far above the point where they no longer needed to eat, why did they still have cattle roaming around?
The grasslands passed by rapidly. Without many landmarks to measure distance by, it all blended together. Still, the realm was vastly inflated by its Tier, as were all the other layers of Tartarus. Tens of thousands of miles passed by beneath Jonathan’s feet, though it barely felt like it.
The highway came into view bit by bit, revealing itself to be truly immense in size. It shimmered in the heat like a river, miles in width. Thousands of wagons hurtled by, each of them the size of a semi trailer or larger. They were pulled by scaled beasts that looked like reptilian oxen.
Even now, it was still over a thousand miles away. Only the vastness of the world and its relative flatness preserved the illusion that it was any closer. Sometimes, a higher leveled System user’s perception got ahead of their mind, creating illusions of shorter distances.
Now that they were closer, Jonathan tried to scan the troll-like monsters once more. This time it worked.
Hogarth Avran
Umber Troll
Level 850
Health: 1600000/1600000
Mana: 567800/567800
Stamina: 1435000/1435000
Status: Healthy
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Highest Skill Rarity: Epic
Highest Pathway Skill: Expert 7
The eighth layer of Tartarus was once ruled by the proud Uthraki, but in an unprecedented turn of events, the species meant to be the rulers of their realm were usurped by their slaves. Called the Umber Trolls, they were an originally non-sapient tribe of monsters that were domesticated by the Uthraki. Over millennia, they absorbed ambient elemental energy and more importantly, the culture of their masters. Eventually they developed a crude language, plotting the downfall of the Uthraki. Over many more millennia, they evolved further, until one day they rose up against their oppressors and unleashed abilities they had been hiding until then. It has been eons since then, and Hogarth Avran is but a poor merchant working the trade route between Pragunvale and Ekbis.
Jonathan frowned. “You’re not going to like this, Arkanon.”
“Why?” the Uthraki warlord asked, his eyes narrowing. “What is it?”
“It looks like the Uthraki have been wiped out. They were replaced by these creatures, which are called Umber Trolls.”
Arkanon’s hair stood on end, a mantle of crimson light blasting outwards. “I will wipe them out to the last!” he roared, raising a hand and summoning a lance of flame. He cocked back his arm to throw it, but Jonathan stopped him, destroying the spear with a quick pulse of Void energy.
“Hold on,” he said placatingly. “There’s a bit more context to it.”
“What context could explain the eradication of my people?” Arkanon snarled. “I have half a mind to force you out of my way.”
Jonathan sighed. “You can try, but it won’t go the way you want. Just listen to me.”
“Fine,” Arkanon huffed. “I will give you that much. Only because I trust you.”
“Thank you. Now, what I was trying to say is that it seems like the Uthraki who once ruled this layer of Tartarus weren’t like the ones you know.”
“What do you mean?” Arkanon asked. “How were they not the same?”
“The Umber Trolls were once a race of monsters that the Uthraki enslaved,” Jonathan explained. “They were abused and oppressed, but they eventually evolved and gained sapience. They rose up against the Uthraki and defeated them.”
“And how do you expect me to believe that?” Arkanon growled. “You-”
“I thought you trusted me?” Jonathan asked coldly. “If that really is true, then you should listen to me without doubting everything I say. My scanning ability has been faithful as long as I’ve had it. What reason would it have to lie?”
Arkanon took a deep breath, calming himself slightly. “Fine. What else did it say?”
“Even if you wanted to get revenge for the Uthraki of this layer, it wouldn’t mean much. They died billions of years ago. The Umber Trolls have ruled this world ever since. I doubt an Uthraki has breathed the air of this layer of Tartarus for almost as long as the Infinite Hells have existed.”
Arkanon slumped. “That is unfortunate. I do see your point, though. There is little purpose in taking revenge on people who didn’t have a hand in the demise of the Uthraki. Besides, if they truly were slavers, they deserved what came to them. That is not the Uthraki way.” His face hardened. “Still, if they attack us, I will not give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“Any clues as to what we should do here?” Edgar interjected. “The history is useful, but was there anything relevant to today?”
“Not really?” Jonathan said, shrugging. “All I learned was the name of the Umber Troll I scanned, and that he was a merchant. Apparently he runs a route between two cities called Pragunvale and Ekbis.”
“If this realm is so civilized that there are trading routes, livestock, and cities, there might not be many monsters to kill,” Eliza mused. “Maybe we’ll be better served training in the outside world?”
“No,” Jonathan replied. “There aren’t any monsters left in Hollow Dream, and the ones in Bloodspill are too weak to do anything.”
“We could always return to the cloud cities and use the dungeons,” Eliza countered. “It’s not like they can say no. We did free them from Eventide.”
Jonathan shrugged. “I mean, maybe? We kind of reached the limit of what those dungeons could do. I already operate at an essence deficit, and I can’t really level up without consistent foes at a certain level. Tartarus is good because it usually has monsters up to the peak of the Tier.”
“I have an idea,” Edgar said. “How about we spend a few days exploring this realm, and if we don’t find anything, we can go back to the Hells and search for something there?”
“I’m fine with that,” Jonathan replied. “What about everyone else?”
Everyone nodded.
“It’s settled, then. We should make contact with the natives first. They might know where some monster hunting spots are.”
“Or they might try to kill us,” Arkanon said darkly.
“Then we’ve solved our essence problem,” Jonathan answered. “If they truly wish to destroy us, then we can fight back.”
“Fine,” Arkanon agreed. “But where should we go? I doubt merchants and caravan guards will know much.”
“Let’s follow the highway to a city,” Jonathan suggested. “The fact that there is a highway means that the two cities it links must be more important than the others we’ve seen that don’t have roads.”
“I can’t fault that logic,” Arkanon said. “But at the first sign of trouble, we’ll fight.”
“When has it ever been any different?”
Arkanon grinned. “Now that’s the Jonathan I know.”
***
The highway snaked across the realm, looping in and out of mountain ranges and through endless plains of shoulder height grass. The road was utterly enormous, so large and long that by the second day, everyone found themselves yearning for some action. The highway was longer than most of the Circles so far had been wide, a truly incredible distance. It could have wrapped around the sun a few times over and still had some left.
A few of the Umber Trolls had looked in the party’s direction, but either they mistook them for rocks or simply didn’t care about their presence, as none of them had tried to approach them. Jonathan kept a distance of a few hundred miles between himself and the highway. It was a short distance relative to the perception of the Umber Trolls, but it created such a large area to scan that it would have been impossible to find them unless the trolls were actually looking.
As time went on, a city started to rise from behind the hills and mountains, emerging in bits and pieces until it stood alone in the rolling grasslands, like a manmade mountain crafted from layers of stone and metal. Unlike the other cities, this one extended upwards as well as outwards. A towering spire reached into the sky, easily miles in height. It was made entirely out of obsidian, and sparks of baleful purple lightning raced up and down it. At the top was a flapping banner, emblazoned with the symbol of a volcano shaped into at fist, lava spurting out from between the fingers.
The wall facing the party was mostly smooth black metal, save for a titanic gate that opened directly in front of the highway. A few glimpses of the city within could be seen, rows of blocky houses crafted out of a dull grey stone. The highway sloped upwards through the city, showing that it was built on a hill.
“Well, we’re here,” Eliza said. “What next?
“We should try to make contact with one of the merchant Umber Trolls,” Edgar suggested. “It would be an easy way to tell if their species is overtly hostile, or whether they can be reasoned with.”
Arkanon clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. “I hope they cannot,” he muttered darkly, staring at the city.
Jonathan laid a reassuring hand on the Uthraki’s shoulder, though the gesture felt a bit odd, given the height disparity. Jonathan had to stretch up to reach Arkanon’s shoulders, nearly rising up onto his toes. While leveling and the System had bulked up his already six foot frame, Jonathan was still human. There was only so much a human could grow.
“If they want to fight, you can indulge yourself all you want,” Jonathan said. “However, I am not interested in trying to commit genocide because of something that happened billions of years ago. Besides, they did have a good reason to do what they did.”
Arkanon snorted, but opened his fists. “I will maintain my patience until one of those trolls tries to attack. Mark my words, it's just a matter of time…
Jonathan waited for the Uthraki to say something else, but Arkanon simply stood there, gazing broodingly at the city.
“I’ll go ahead and try to make contact,” Jonathan said. “If the worst comes to worst, I’ll have the easiest time getting out. I’m confident that I’m faster than almost everyone at my Tier, especially if I use Wrath of the Void. I also have my Void cloak to hide me.”
“I’ll come with you,” Eliza said. “You might need some backup. I can also use the wind to communicate with the others remaining behind.”
“Fine by me,” Jonathan agreed, before setting off. The grass swished against his legs as he ran, far more durable than any normal grass. His footsteps should have reduced the plants to ash with the sheer velocity behind them, but they remained unharmed.
He and Eliza slowed down as they neared the highway, bending down so that the swaying grass could hide them. Before making contact, Jonathan wanted to get a better idea of the Umber Trolls’ senses.
The highway was about ten miles away at this point, a trivial distance for Jonathan to cross with his level of Dexterity. It was also a trivial distance to cross for anyone else at Tier 9, which included the Umber Trolls. There would be little time to flee if things went south.
“How should we do this?” Eliza asked. “Should we single out one of the Umber Trolls or just walk up to the road?”
“Wouldn’t doing both of those things require us to get up close anyway?” Jonathan asked. “Unless you’re planning to lift one of them up with elemental energy and carry them here?”
“I was thinking that you could use your Void cloak on one of them, and then I would carry the troll back with my elemental energy.”
“Wouldn’t that just make it more likely that they’ll see us as enemies?” Jonathan asked.
Eliza nodded. “Yes, but what if they already are enemies? It would be a lot safer to test the waters this way.”
Jonathan furrowed his brow, panning his gaze along the highway. He used Void’s Eye, skimming over the details as he went. He didn’t care about the unique history of each of the Umber Trolls, only their strength. Most of them were between level 850 and 860, the midpoint of Tier 9, but about one in ten were over level 865, and dressed as guards. Thick plates of metal that must have weighed tons were strapped to the hulking Umber Trolls, making their already intimidating stature far more imposing. They were at least four times Jonathan’s height, holding weapons that seemed crafted for industrial purposes rather than as weapons. They wielded hammers the size of telephone poles and swords twice as long as Jonathan was tall.
While they were quite threatening, Jonathan was confident about his chances against them. All of them were orders of magnitude weaker than Eventide had been. The only potential threat would be if all of the Umber Trolls banded together. Even then, Jonathan would be able to use his Void abilities to take care of them in one go.
“I’m going to approach them myself,” Jonathan eventually decided. “Wait there and if things go south, relay that information to the rest of the group with the wind.”
“Are you sure this is safe?” Eliza asked. “Some of those trolls would be a challenge even for me.”
“I’ll get out of there if I can’t take care of them,” Jonathan assured her. “I’ve been through a lot worse.”
Eliza nodded. “You’re right. Go ahead. Let’s see what the trolls want.”
