“Enemy ships sighted!” shouted the werewolf sailor that was standing in the ship’s crows-nest.
“Where?” asked Akira with a shout as he stood at the helm of the ship looking out into the stormy waters that were churning greatly. He had to brace himself against the heavy wind and cold rain that pelted him like icy shards so that he was not blown overboard.
“Northeast! Captain Pegleg has already spotted them and is chasing after them!”
CRACK!
A long bright flash of lighting trailing from the sea into the dark sky lit up the distant choppy sea waters revealing the outline of a decent-sized ship that had already started to turn around and was trying to fight against the heavy winds and waves to flee from the ships pursuing it.
With the rough storm raging all around them the chase was a long drawn-out task as it took several hours just to close half the distance. It was even harder with the large waves crashing into the wooden ships that were bobbing up and down like little toy boats.
“The enemy’s ship is heading in a direction that will lead us to the whirlpool!” shouted the ship’s captain.
This was quite the desperate move, even when the weather was calm the whirlpools were not to be taken lightly. Now, with the raging storm, the area affected by the whirlpools had doubled.
For the demigods to try and thread the needle was foolhardy and it was even more foolish for Akira and the rest to chase them.
“Send the message to the other ships that we will follow them until the edges of the whirlpools. If they are trying to play chicken we will make sure they keep going that way. We can not allow them to try to turn back once we stop chasing them!” shouted Akira.
Due to the heavy winds and rain, the other ships in the fleet would not be able to hear such orders so the sailor in the crows-nest resorted to using a shaded lantern to send messages in a relay system by using a metal flap that flashed the light in a way that the other sailors in different crows-nests were able to understand.
With the distance to the whirlpools shortening the ship tried to change course at the last minute as the air around them lit up with several special skills used by the demigods.
It was no use as the whirlpool had already grabbed hold of the ship which was now being sucked backward into the whirlpool, its forward momentum completely gone as it continued to pick up speed to match the swirling whirlpool.
Akira and the rest of the expeditionary fleet watched from a good distance as the whirlpool was lit up with many different demigod skills as they tried to break free from its pull but were unsuccessful and were ultimately swallowed by the whirlpool disappearing from sight.
Almost everyone was happy that they had not had to engage in another battle on the open seas. This was not the first encounter with demigod ships nor would it be their last in their journey to the main continent Halrverold.
The only one unhappy with how things ended was Captain Pegleg who wanted to capture the ship to add to his growing fleet.
***
‘Another cave? What’s with the people and hiding in caves,’ thought Ualtar as he looked around the new place he had been escorted to.
Ualtar had managed to catch a few whispering conversations to know that these Dark-robed figures were members of The Cult of Science and that was about all he knew about them. Although he had been told that they were eager to start the ritual that would give him supreme power, he had been forced to wait several weeks in damp caves before moving from one hideout to the next.
He had grown quite bored of the long wait. Each day he was forced to sit around doing nothing but eating the odd food that was given to him. His inaction was allowing his rivals and the enemy guilds to grow stronger while his growth was halted. The only reason he was able to stifle his unhappiness was the thought of the power he would wield when the so-called ritual was finished.
If the cultist were to be trusted, then with his new powers he would have no problem catching back up and surpassing the other guild leaders.
“This place seems different…” muttered Ualtar as he inspected the large open cave they were now walking into.
One of the several cultists holding a large torch heard his words and decided to reply, “This is our most sacred site. Only those who have cleansed their bodies and minds are allowed to enter. This is where the ritual will be held.”
A lot of odd-looking statues popped out of the shadows in the flickering torchlight.
Ualtar was unable to study them in close detail but what he managed to catch was quite disturbing. Each one seemed to be retelling some gruesome tale from the past.
When they reached what looked to be the center of the cavern Ualtar was able to see three slightly raised triangle stone platforms that overlapped at the center where the platform was even more raised above the other triangles and the rest of the cavern.
There, 6 cultist leaders that he had met on the first day, were already waiting near the edge of the raised stone platforms.
“Wait here,” said one of the cultists as several of the torch-bearing cultists walked forward and slotted the long poles of the torches into the holes that were at the tips of each of the triangles.
With the torches placed, this allowed the center of the cavern to be lit from every angle.
“Are we truly ready now?” asked one of the leading cultists.
“It took longer than expected to cleanse his body of all impurities but we managed to complete the task!”
Ualtar heard everything they were saying but was not worried. Throughout the weeks of waiting he had not experienced anything odd happen to him nor did any of the cultists try to meet him or even try to do anything weird to him.
It was obvious to him they were talking crap since if something had happened to his body he would have known and would have been able to cleanse it with a potion or have one of his guild mates use a purifying skill on him.
If worse came to worse he could always kill himself and revive without the negative status lingering in his body.
“Chosen, please stand on the center platform facing north. You need to be as close to the center of the platform as possible,” said a cultist as he led Ualtar to the edge of the triangle platforms.
With Ualtar now standing on the platform staring north he was able to see an even larger statue in front of him that was not a very pleasant sight to the eyes but he could not make out why he felt that way as it was somehow distorted making it hard for him to make out exactly what it was.
Ualtar frowned as he received a last system warning that this was his last chance to quit the class change. From here on out there was no way to stop the ritual or revert it.
“I’ve wasted enough time already! I will not back down now at the last moment!” said Ualtar with conviction.
With his deceleration, the Cultist leaders began positioning themselves at each of the outer edges of the three triangles.
Lower-ranked cultists appeared out from the shadows carrying several items as they walked to the raised platforms. With the silent commands from the leaders, two cultist members carrying white glowing crystals each placed one on two of the outer triangle platforms.
On the third outer triangle, several normal-looking gems were placed on the platform. If Akira was here to see them he would be shocked to see that they were the normal gems that had been stolen from him many years ago!
The last item that was carried to the raised platform was a dented dark metal box. The tallest cult leader moved up to the box and pulled out an ancient black metal mask. With the mask in hand, he stepped onto the center platform and placed it onto Ualtars face making sure to properly adjust it so that it fit snugly and did not move.
With his task complete he returned to his spot at the only empty edge of the outer triangles.
Behind each of the 6 cultist leaders, there was an even larger crowd of low-ranking cultists that had arranged themselves in a large triangle formation with the tip being the cultist leader.
Silence filled the cavern as the cultists readied themselves for the coming ritual.
Ualtar was giddy with excitement as the time had finally arrived for him to receive his powerful hidden class!
“BEGIN!” shouted all 6 cultist leaders at the same time.
The six large groups of cultists followed the lead of their head cultist and started to chant in an ancient guttural language long forgotten by almost every other human or demon race faction.
For several minutes nothing of note happened causing the giddy Ualtar to grow agitated as he stared at the disturbing statue in front of him. He could not look anywhere else as his body had been frozen in place.
When ten minutes of nonstop chanting passed the platforms surrounding Ualtar started to slowly glow!
As the glowing light grew stronger, wisps and beams of light seemed to float and flow toward the ancient dark mask on Ualtar’s face. With each second that passed the ancient mask started to emit a dark aura that was far different from the glowing light that was being sucked into the mask.
Some unknown force controlled Ualtar’s body, floating him up into the air and repositioning him so that he was laying on his back still floating above the center platform.
With his face and the mask now facing the ceiling of the cavern, Ualtar was able to see many carvings and paintings that depicted wars and battles of the ancient past. At the center of it all was a large painting where various monster-like creatures were bowing down to a large hazy figure.
Ualtar was fascinated by all that he was seeing and for a moment forgot about all the chanting cultists.
This only lasted for a short time as he was soon jolted from his fascination by a sharp pain, unlike anything he had experienced before.
‘Somethings not right!’ thought Ualtar as he tried to weather the sharp jolts of pain coursing through his body.
Try as he might, he was unable to activate any of his special skills nor move a single muscle to try and stop the pain that was only growing even sharper and more numerous all over his body.
‘This sort of pain should not be allowed by the…’ a sharp jolt of pain stabbed at Ualtar’s mind causing him to lose focus and all thoughts. He was unable to regather his thoughts as one wave after the other assaulted his mind.
Ualtar was in so much pain that he did the only thing that his body was able to do.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” he let out a deep pained cry that washed over the Cultists and echoed throughout the cave. His pained cry was ignored by the cultists as they continued chanting.
The energy light continued to flow into the ancient mask attached to Ualtar’s face as he floated above the platform. With each minute that passed the dark mask started to emit more and more of a black mist that was slowly surrounding Ualtar’s entire body as he continued to scream.
In the third outer triangle, the normal-looking gems floated up into the air and stayed still for several minutes.
Fwoosh!
As one they all shot forward and slotted themselves into the dark mask with a burst of light shining throughout the cavern causing Ualtar to scream even louder as both his body and mind were attacked with an even greater force.
It was at this time that a few of the assistant cultists in the rear of the triangle formations started to fall to the ground lifeless.
As the ritual continued more and more cultists began to drop to the ground as their energy was sapped away and sucked into the formation and then transferred to Ualtar who was now covered by a dark black misty cocoon.
The black misty cocoon was hungry for energy and quickened the pace at which it sucked the energy out of the glowing white crystals as well as the energy from the weaker-willed cultists that could not resist its power.
FWOOOSH!
The large black misty cocoon exploded out from Ualtar’s body and covered the entire room in pitch black blotting out all sound and light.
This darkness did not last for long as it was quickly being sucked into the ancient black mask.
With the last wisp of misty darkness disappearing into the mask, Ualtar’s screams had completely stopped. His floating body slowly reoriented itself so that he was in an upright standing position before lowering him back onto the ground.
When his feet touched the ground a Shockwave of energy burst out from his body and flew throughout the entire cavern.
The surviving Cultists ceased their chanting as they held their breaths and stared at the masked Ualtar who now radiated a far different aura than before.
The masked head of Ualtar slowly moved to look at the cultist leader that was closest to him.
“Oh great demon lord!” Shouted the cult leader. “After many generations and many failures, we have finally succeeded in our mission and have found a way to summon you to the mortal plane!”
