Chapter 221: 1,000 Steps (Patreon)

At some point stairs stopped making sense. As a vertical mode of transportation they demanded a lot from the user and when a structure exceeded a certain reasonable size it called for a more efficient method of traversal. It was just poor planning to build an enormous monument without a plan to facilitate visitation. For the Great Pyramid of Chakyum, at least an escalator would have been nice. Surely, someone could have managed an alternative to creating a long climb of monotonous steps with the help of mana.

Coop stood at the base of far too many stairs and reconsidered his logic in approaching the High Priests on foot. In this case, he had believed it would be a good idea to take it slow and make sure he didn’t rush into any kind of traps, especially because they had been given a clear perspective of his journey toward the center of the settlement. In his pursuit of the last few levels before his next skill choice, he had provided a clear presentation of most of his skills. There was no chance that his rapid approach for the final section would be able to catch them by surprise after the dramatic battles with the Acolytes and Priests.

In particular, they had the opportunity to witness him utilizing hundreds of mistjumps in the lead up to their confrontation. Anyone with any sense could anticipate his sudden appearance following a thrown spear, as that had been the weapon he had used for the entire trip in order to avoid despawning his phantasms. The Priests had an advantage in knowing more about Coop’s skills than he knew about theirs, so he expected them to be prepared for their inevitable battle.

When he first arrived on the shores of Belize and entered Corozal, he had been humbled by the snares of the profession masters. Ever since then, he had been more conscientious toward the potential of traps. Unless he was specifically seeking to take advantage of the element of surprise, he had tried to approach each boss fight with more deliberate measures. Coop didn’t think of himself as particularly reckless, but he was always trying to find better ways to do things. This time, he considered the circumstances surrounding their confrontation.

While the High Priests knew he was coming, the Cult of Chakyum was as contained as it would ever be, thanks to the net cast by the Jaguar Sun. The only rush was in beating the initiation of the upcoming settlement event, but that was still two more weeks away. There was plenty of time to finish his part in defeating the Cult. They weren’t going anywhere unless the Jaguar Sun was wiped out first, and he knew they had no intention of being wiped out at all.

Coop took his time climbing the first few stairs, carefully assessing each stone surface as he searched for hidden triggers. Intricate hieroglyphs had been carved into the surfaces, but he couldn’t understand what story they sought to tell. Judging by the number of skulls and skeletons, he doubted it was a pleasant tale. The whole pyramid read more like the universal warning labels on a container full of poison than the throne of the region’s leadership.

In a way, marching up the side of the pyramid felt like he was undergoing a test of courage. If he wanted to meet the masters of the settlement, he needed to show that he was properly devoted to his purpose. He needed to climb the mountain to meet the old masters at the top and hear their wisdom. It was a filter.

At the most basic level, it was a simple challenge. Climbing the massive staircase required a challenger to demonstrate they had the resilience, determination, and stamina to be worthy of their time. It only called for a straightforward showcase of physical and mental fitness. It took a certain amount of humility to even engage with the test. If someone believed they were worthy of meeting the masters at the top, by necessity, they would be confident to the point of arrogance. The stairs were a way to knock them down a peg or two. If the task turned out to be more arduous than anticipated, and the challenger struggled, they would have to tap into hidden reserves to persevere or otherwise abandon pretense and give up.

Besides being a physical test, they were also symbolic. The stairs represented a journey toward the heavens and therefore enlightenment, a separation from the mundane and earthly challenges below, and an opportunity for the challenger to overcome internal struggles. If Coop climbed all the stairs, he would be able to subdue his inner demons, confront his fears and doubts, and prove that he had mastered his weaknesses.

Truly, Coop thought the stairs were a multifaceted obstacle. Many a wise master had employed their expert ability to disqualify unworthy candidates. Coop was impressed. He glanced at the black flames flickering in the breeze at the sides of each step and shook his head. 

“...or I really could just mistjump.” He mumbled to himself, unsympathetic toward his potential personal journey. He was solely concerned with getting stronger and protecting Ghost Reef.

Coop cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before he aimed his spear at the top edge of the staircase, squinting with one eye and gauging the distance. He abandoned his contemplations and threw the spear at the top, not too hard, but with enough force to cover the distance.

With the spear throw, he dismissed the fantasy of transforming his adventures into a cultivator’s novella. Coop wasn’t there to confront his inner demons and make new connections with mana before duking it out with powerful old masters. He was there to wreck some trumped up losers who thought they were big enough to bully their way to the top of humanity and take over the planet.

Activating his mistjump just before his spear crested the edge of the pyramid, he entered the monochromatic world of mists. The normally dark and hazy world was unusually vibrant and he noted that the pyramid itself was awash with murky, vibrating energy.

Plumes of thick black smoke funneled around the center of the flat top pyramid, as if the structure was a pressure cooker that was on the verge of erupting. Streaks of shadowy mana drifted from all directions in the sky, forming rivers in the soaring gray mists and blurry outlines of the world. The black mana culminated with a vortex that funneled into the center of Chakyum’s pyramid.  Coop felt like the entire region was on the verge of detonating, though he barely understood the mechanisms of mana.

He suspected when Dan read the mana, scenes like these were what he meant. Clearly something grand was happening, and the pyramid was the focal point. Now, even Coop could tell that the heart of the region was the pyramid within the Yucatan settlement; no mana reader necessary.

When Coop solidified from the mists, spear and shield held loose in his fingertips, he made sure that he landed before the top step. Just because he declined to take the Test of Stairs didn’t mean he was abandoning his deliberate approach. 

Five High Priests were waiting for him near the civilization shard, some distance away from the edge. The shard hovered in the exact center of the pyramid, on top of a platform that was surrounded by even more stairs. This time, they led down the perimeter of a square shaft that drove into the interior of the structure.

All five of the High Priests were watching the staircase that would bring Coop into their presence. While he rose from below, slowly taking each step, mists streamed from his armor as though he had climbed out of the underworld rather than along the streets of their settlement.

Coop identified each of the High Priests with a flick of his eyes in the moments that he appeared and manually climbed the last three steps. He let his own overwhelming aura spread across what would be their enormous arena as he galvanized himself. Fog of War began condensing along the floor, forming an invisible wave of mists that stretched his senses across the top of the pyramid.

[Oathsworn Human (Level 390)]

[Colossus (Strength)]

[Thane of Begarahl]

[Stone (Crusher)]

The first Priest on the left was a mountain of a man, large and muscular. Coop thought he had the same natural build as the Cleary Brothers, but had spent more time focused on bodybuilding to give himself a chiseled exterior. He exhibited strength, whether intentionally or not, as his muscles flexed while he shifted his body. 

Coop wasn’t particularly intimidated, regardless of the Priest’s dramatic level. The Voice of Kukulkan had already shown the limitations of a pure focus on a single attribute when compared to Coop’s more flexible Revenant class, and he sincerely doubted he would lose in a contest of Strength.

[Oathsworn Human (Level 437)]

[Deathstalker (Agility)]

[Disorder (Indiscriminate)]

The second from the left lingered just a bit behind the rest. She was leaning off to the side with her weight distributed onto one leg while the other rested on a toe. She seemed ambivalent toward potential conflict, but she didn’t shy away from his eyes when he assessed her. Her hair was twisted half up and half down, and she pushed a greasy black bang away from her face with a black gloved hand with her head angled sideways. She smirked at Coop as if an anticipated meal had been served. Coop figured she was a rogue of some sort, and given her higher level, an effective one.

[Oathsworn Human (Level 411)]

[Totemic (Strength)]

[Chosen of the Wild Herald]

[Nature, Spirit (Guardian)]

Another large man was the middle Priest in the group. He wore animal skins across his chest, over his shoulders, and down his back, but his bare arms were tanned, and his skin was covered in tribal tattoos. He had two large stumps that were carved with depictions of various animals strapped across his back . If Coop was continuing to assign traditional party roles to the High Priests, he expected the Totemic was some kind of defensive support, especially given his mana affinities and title.

[Oathsworn Human (Level 386)]

[Druid of the Swarm (Intelligence)]

[Chosen of the Billion Wings]

[Fractured (Slayer)]

The fourth of the group was an extraordinarily creepy woman. Coop wasn’t sure if she was looking at him due to the transformation that her face had undergone. Two compound eyes sat on her face like immobile domes in place of eye sockets.

A pair of black studded leather straps wrapped around her head, criss crossing over the bridge of her nose. Coop wasn’t sure what the fashion statement’s purpose was, unless there was a chance that her head would split open without them, they just seemed to be in the way. When she grinned, confirming where her attention was, Coop involuntarily shivered as he noticed a fly climb out from a gap in her teeth before he averted his gaze.

[Elite Oathsworn Human (Level 505)]

[Herald of Cosmos (Mind)]

[Stellar, Void (Champion)]

The last was another woman. She was older than the rest, with gray streaks in her short dark hair, but she had benefited from the rejuvenation provided by mana. Her posture immediately reminded him of the Tide Priest, like they were sisters of the aristocracy observing the rest of them. More importantly, the Herald had both a special ‘Elite’ designation and the Champion title. An Elite High Priestess represented yet another layer in the Cult’s ongoing development.

Coop thought the group might be able to answer some of his questions, but he let his spear do the talking.

After only a fraction of a second where the two parties assessed each other like a pair of wild animals crossing paths, Coop planted his foot and threw his spear as if he decided they were prey. He had begun his motion even while assessing the group, and he shifted his torso from behind his round shield so that he aimed at the highest level of the group before the spear was released. The Herald class that held the title of Champion would be his first target.

While there was a small chance that the highest level Priest was actually Chakyum, even if she wasn’t, it made sense to target the one that seemed the most dangerous. Coop of all people respected Mind focused builds more than anyone, and combined with the other factors, such as level, elite status, and mana affinity, he assessed the Champion of the Yucatan to be the biggest threat. He felt the need to be decisive as he unhesitatingly challenged five High Priests at once.

The last group of High Priests managed to form a relatively balanced party, with a mixture of attributes and archetypes. Though they might not have been members of a single faction, it was clear once again that they had been influenced by the galactic community, whether intentionally or not, at least when it came to class archetypes. The Cult of Chakyum may have been an unofficial human faction, in some ways like The Lighthouse, but they operated in a more similar manner to those that had been guided by outside factions than the people of Ghost Reef who sought to forge their own path.

His spear shot through the air, blasting a single sonic boom, just as members of the opposing party burst into action. The one Coop expected to be the slowest was the first to move. The muscular Colossus shifted across the party, transforming into a stone-armored golem, and used his knuckles to smack Coop’s spear away, sending it beyond the pyramid while preventing it from striking his target. His entire body had turned to earth colored stone, but was already transforming back to flesh while Coop resummoned his spear.

“That’s no way to greet your seniors.” The man declared with a booming accented voice that rumbled through the stone once his head transformed back to normal.

The Totemic stoically slammed one of his totems into the ground, fusing it into the pyramid, and a green stream connected with the Colossus who was shaking his hand as if he had lost the feeling in his fingers.

The Swarm lady snickered while the Totemic placed his horned totem, letting a handful of mosquitos escape into the air. “I’m surprised he showed up at all.” She sang, letting her words float in the breeze along with the insects. “Such a fool.”

There it is, Coop thought. The arrogance that had been missing from the Cult of Chakyum’s actions as a whole was simply delegated to the individual lieutenants.

He reflexively cast Legacy of the Mists as his Presence of Mind detected a disturbance in his Fog of War at his rear, ignoring the continued conversation between the Priests. 

A phantasm appeared behind Coop, shield first, blocking the Deathstalker’s ambush. A single jagged dagger clanged against the ghost’s hoplon and she instantaneously returned to her position behind the other High Priests, leaving a black portal ringed with deep purple to fade after she reappeared. She spat, squinting at Coop before relocating behind the Totemic with a cavalier saunter.

“You are too late.” The Champion spoke authoritatively, raising her voice to be heard by Coop at the edge of the temple and putting an end to the others’ chatter. “Master has decided to move on from this place once the ritual is complete.” She stated. “However, he wished for me to relay a message to you should I have the opportunity.”

Coop raised an eyebrow. Gathering that Chakyum wasn’t one of the High Priests, but was nearby and planned on leaving. Obviously, Coop would need to prevent that from happening. He was more worried about losing his chance to catch the Cult leader than he was about their ritual, though that was certainly another concern. One thing at a time, he reminded himself.

The Champion cleared her throat and began. “From the Throne of the Underworld, the Lord of Death’s voice rings out. Our Master’s words are thus: Go back to your own territory, little brother. There is no need for you to contribute to my legion yet. Collect yourself, for I have grand plans for us. We will meet when you are ready.” She heralded with a bit more drama than necessary. She had real class president energy, desperate to maintain the good graces of their teacher. 

Coop frowned at the message. He was mostly confused. Did Chakyum not understand that Coop was in the Yucatan specifically to take his head? Why would he be under the impression that they were potential allies? Coop couldn’t remember a single instance where he would have given the impression he intended to cooperate with the death Cult.

Then again, several of the members of the Jaguar Sun had made the same assumption when they first encountered Coop. Notably, Tzultacaj thought Coop’s aura was enough to go straight for his head.

“He calls him brother.” The Colossus observed under his breath, though his voice rumbled through the stone regardless. His frown was matched by the other High Priests, excluding the Champion.

“It’s okay. Master values us as well. He wouldn’t be taking us with him if he didn’t.” The Swarm lady consoled the larger man, patting his shoulder gently. Gnats scattered as she moved.

The Deathstalker silently raised her arm and pointed her obsidian colored dagger at Coop, expression grim. “Can I have his heart?”

“Yes, sister.” The Champion of the Yucatan responded to the gesture. “If Aspirant Coop, Champion of Ghost Reef, does not leave the Grand Tomb, we are to remove him.”

Coop shook his head. “Good luck.” He murmured, letting his spear rip through the air for a second time.

He aimed at the Totemic this time around, giving up on quickly removing the biggest threat. Instead, he assessed that if he had any chance of beating their combined strength, he needed to remove the one that could cast heals.

Coop leaned forward and launched himself after the spear, finding purchase against the rough stone floor with his feet. He avoided a pure mistjump for fear of putting himself exactly where they expected. Instead, he would leverage all of his stats in an effort to exceed their collective powers and take at least one of them out before they unleashed their skills. Combined, they might approach the totality of his accumulated attributes, so he wanted to bring their numbers down and ensure he held at least that one advantage as fast as possible.

As his body exploded into motion, the world blurred and he crossed most of the distance before any of them reacted. He carefully envisioned the final four steps necessary to close the distance and planned his attack, as if the Battlemaiden was there to guide him.

His thrown spear struck the stone guard of the Colossus when Coop planted his right foot, starting his four count. At the same time the Deathstalker appeared at Coop’s left side, accurately anticipating his speed, stabbing at his kidney. Coop adjusted his shield to block the nasty dagger, but simultaneously, a second Deathstalker appeared at his right. Coop maintained his stride, casting Legacy of the Mists in time to summon a second phantasmal shieldbearer to block the assassin while his own shield was occupied.

Coop didn’t slow down, undeterred, as he planted his left foot on the second step, causing a third and final copy of the Deathstalker to be left in his dust as she attempted to ambush him from behind while exiting a purple gateway. The first two assassins disappeared into puffs of smoke, revealing the third to be the real copy, but she was smashed in the upper back by Coop’s first shield bearer, slowly chasing Coop and proving that his phantasms had several advantages over what seemed to be the Deathstalker’s clones, the first of which was their duration, and the second was their autonomy.

The Colossus had recovered from blocking the spear throw after Coop’s third step, better prepared to brace against the force and avoid being staggered the second time he was struck.

Coop’s ethereal shield and spear disappeared into clouds of mists as he planted his fourth step and the Swarm Priest disappeared into a cloud of mosquitoes to retreat to the side, unwilling to risk being near Coop’s building momentum.

In the next instant, Coop’s ethereal morning star manifested in his hands. Coop had shifted his focus to the Colossus on his approach, refusing to let the apparent tank control the fight. He would have to knock him out of the way if he wanted to engage with the Totemic. Coop wouldn’t shy away from a preliminary test of raw Strength.

Coop swung his morning star like a baseball bat, adding his strength to the momentum of his rush forward, challenging the strongman directly. The solidified mists pulverized the stone armor where the High Priest blocked, sounding like a wrecking ball in the process of demolishing a building. The strike sent shards of stone to dissolve into dust as they clattered across the pyramid. The Colossus folded over the spiked mace, failing to anticipate Coop’s proper Strength even after two chances to measure it.

Coop’s followthrough sent the big man flying. It was less of a homerun, and more of a foul ball, but the end result was that the Totemic was momentarily exposed while the Colossus rolled across the roof of the temple, leaving rubble in his wake.

Coop didn’t hesitate to go for the kill on the group’s apparent healer. In general, the High Priests of the Cult of Chakyum had long lost the benefit of the doubt. However, his second swing was interrupted when a cloud of mosquitoes coalesced in his way. Coop immediately choked as they sought to drown him, climbing into his throat while attacking every exposed part of his skin.

Coop flailed, abandoning the strike against the Totemic, and desperately cast Vaporform instead. He drifted forward as spectral mists for a full second, observing the glowing forms of his opponents, the massive mana drift that entered the open shaft of the pyramid, and the spotlight that engulfed the civilization shard. He embraced the freedom from the brief horror of drowning in a swarm of mosquitoes in favor of the previously existential fear of losing his physical form.

He toggled the skill off and reappeared behind the healer, already recovered, and aimed another crushing killing blow at the Totemic’s skull. Coop brought his morning star down with all the force he could muster, willing the momentum onto his side. It was an absolute necessity that he took an early advantage in this particular fight. He was too outnumbered to let himself be put on the backfoot.

As his morning star bore down on the Totemic, he felt himself slow down. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see wisps of colorless mana drifting from the fingertips of the Champion, feeding a circle of void above him and his mace. It was like a magnet, drawing his morning star with enough force to counter Coop’s strength and momentum.

Coop growled as he sought for Mindbender to shift his bonus stats and overcome the resistance, but a bolt of lightning interrupted the battlefield.

All of the High Priests turned their heads in surprise. The Deathstalker was still chasing behind Coop’s track, having been battered by, but ultimately escaping the pair of Phantasmal Shieldbearers when Coop swapped to his morning star. The Swarm Priest had reformed away from the rest, the Totemic was raising his second totem in defense, and the Champion was fighting to stop Coop from landing his blow at all.

The Colossus was barely resisting being pinned where he lay on his back after Coop sent him flying. An ancient oversized and bloodstained axe threatened his neck as purple lightning arced from the spikes on its reverse side.

“What’s all this? Are they fighting amongst themselves?” A strange man that Coop had never seen asked from the top of one of the other staircases. “I didn’t expect that at all. Seriously, I never considered infighting a possibility in any of my hypotheticals. I think that actually helps our chances quite a bit.” The man rambled. “They always seemed completely loyal, I couldn’t imagine anything else… perhaps it is a mutiny?” He interrupted himself to address Coop, ignoring the burning conflict. “Hey, you there! Wanna join our side?”

“That is Coop.” Tzultacaj growled as he raised his axe above his head.

The leader of the Jaguar Sun roared as he brought his ancient axe back down and tried to cut through the stone guard of the Colossus with another bolt of primordial lightning erupting into the rear spikes of his weapon.

“Death to the Death Gods!” The Mayan warrior exclaimed at his opponent over the crushing sound of thunder. The leader of the Jaguar Sun was already completely drenched in blood and sweat, and his companion was basically the same though he stood rather lazily in Tzultacaj’s wake.

“Right. That’s fine then.” Tzultacaj’s companion nodded firmly, expectations satisfied as the Colossus blocked the thunderous strike with his forearms. “No need to reconsider things then. Still a hail mary at best.” The man sighed as he lifted both of his arms, palms facing outwards, with a small bead of light growing from the center.

“Mind the lasers, Coop.” He added earnestly.