Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

The Emberhand Coven was a particularly draining encounter, both literally and figuratively. The cold had sapped not only our strength but our morale.

We also didn't have anything to substitute the aforementioned ancient kiln that was covered in cold for centuries, so our only option was to brute force it with our bastion's firepower.

It ended up to be quite a long fight that lasted 15 minutes. I forced the recruits to play defensively, and Verina had been burning her lifeline away to keep the bastion warm enough that it was habitable.

Kuzunoha did the bare minimum per our contract agreement. Though, she saved a lot of the recruits from imminent death from time to time.

This whole encounter was akin to a fight against nature itself. The Emberhand Coven weren't the most resilient, but their environment-changing power was fatal and consistent.

We ended up winning the encounter with no long-lasting wounds except bits of frostbite and hypothermia. Verina's presence alone counteracts these effects.

"Alright, time to pay up."

I also ended up making everyone shed a couple droplets of their blood for Verina to use from this moment and onward, since the overall fight against the Emberhand Coven drained a lot of our ohrtender's lifeline.

—

[The Candle Knight]

[Description: A knightly figure whose armor is made of blackened wax, with candles growing from every part of his body—on his shoulders, his helm, and even from the cracks in his chestplate. Each candle burns with an eerie, green flame, casting long shadows that seem to writhe and twist on their own.

The Candle Knight moves slowly, his armor melting slightly with each step, yet never losing its shape]

[Hint: The Candle Knight can only be stopped by extinguishing the flames on his body]

—

There were a sizable number of them—around 18 of them entering the outskirts of the bastion with gleeful flames.

"More of them are coming after this."

"How do you know?" Verina asked.

"I heard more than five groups of similar footsteps faraway, heh."

As much as I worried for my recruits to fight a knightly figure doused in flames, the Candle Knights were a pushover.

They were Bloodhounds' level of pushover, even the Sandstalkers were much harder to fend off than these large and well-lit targets that screamed 'hit me!' the moment they arrived in our peripheral vision.
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Though easy they may be, they were quite durable and resilient, which was good for training the newbies in formation and timing of their thrust.

—

[The Fallow Man]

[Description: A towering figure draped in ancient, patchwork robes of dead crops—stalks of wheat, withered vines, and dry corn husks. His face is a blank mask of cracked clay, and wherever he steps, the ground blackens, killing everything beneath him. The Fallow Man is drawn to places of fertility, gardens, fields, or forests, where he stands silently for hours.

Slowly, the area around him begins to rot and decay, as if the very land is surrendering its life force to his presence. Those who come too close feel an oppressive hunger and thirst, their bodies weakening as if starved, no matter how much they eat or drink]

[Hint: The Fallow Man can be deterred by planting seeds in salted earth—an act of defiance against his curse, though the seeds will never grow]

—

This Calamity Object appeared as a third wheel when my bastion was dealing with the near-endless swarm of Candle Knight, giving us a rather annoying state of hunger.

Five of them were scattered around the place outside of the bastion alongside a couple of annoying Calamities we knew of such as the Shardfiends and our old-friend Sandstalkers.

This time, I let Verina and Kuzunoha leave the bastion and hunt all of the Fallow Mans on their own. Verina alone might not suffice, but her chemistry with Kuzunoha was impeccable despite their innate hate for one another.

Thanks to that, I could focus on rampaging on the frontline against the army of Candle Knights with my Stormhooks and occasional Fortcracker's shots.

Not to mention, we also need to deal with the occasional phenomenon of unnatural darkness that was caused by the Star-Eater Stag in the background.

At this point, the state of Moods and Sanity amongst the bastioneers were not in their best. I won't be surprised if one of them loses it when we reach the Ordeal of the Midnight.

On a good note, this means more loot for me~!

We managed to finish the entire wave of Calamity Objects in less than 30 minutes. It was one of the most annoying waves so far.

—

[The Clay Emperor]

[Description: A gargantuan statue of a forgotten ruler, its body crafted from dried and cracked clay, with a crown embedded deep into its crumbling head. The Emperor is immobile at first, but once its domain is threatened, it begins to move with an earthen creaking sound, each step shaking the ground. Wherever it passes, the soil turns hard and infertile, as if all life is drained from the land.

The Emperor's hollow eyes glow faintly, and those who look into them are filled with a burning ambition, a desperate hunger for power that eventually turns them into brittle, clay husks themselves.]

[Hint: The Emperor can only be stopped by returning its crown to a hidden tomb far beneath the earth, but to find the tomb requires overcoming the temptation of the ambition it spreads]

—

It was one of the Calamity Objects that Verina and Kuzunoha encountered far outside of the bastion, something that drawed a dreadful reaction from Verina.

And also myself.

Since 'that' incident, I'm just simply terrified of anything clay-related. Thankfully, Verina and Kuzunoha encountered this Calamity Object in its inactive state, so we also didn't need to enact that annoying puzzle of finding the hidden tomb that spawn alongside the emperor.

"Oh, don't tell me you two are afraid of a little dirt and pottery?" Kuzunoha quipped with a genuine curious intent laced in her words.

"I don't want to talk about it," Verina lightly chuckled.

"I also don't want to talk about it," I wryly chuckled, conjoining my nervousness with the awkward atmosphere. "Though, you can certainly ask Daffodil about it tomorrow."

"I can't wait to uncover it then~"

After that, the appearance of the Calamity Object slowed down drastically, allowing me to stabilize the Moods and Sanity of the bastioneers.

I introduced this bastion to a variety of board games, keeping the mind of the restless preoccupied. Some of the recruits, however, preferred to have their alone time amidst this resting time.

Regardless, I would prefer to have most of my bastioneers to be on the better shape before we unravel the kind of crazy that we will encounter tonight.

After all, it was only a matter of minutes before we reached the Ordeal of the Midnight.