Chapter 5
Temple in the Swamp.
In the continent of Versailles, one of the most important phenomenon is quest generation. Mosts quest generations can be divided into three groups; event quest generation, chance quest, and auto quest generation. Event generation requires specific circumstances, or the quest will not generate. But once the factors are present, the generation is guaranteed. Auto generation requires no prior circumstances and will generate automatically. Chance generation is unpredictable. Several factors are required to generate, but even if all are present, the chance that the quest will generate is not set.
An example of a chance generated quest, would be if a high priestess’s convoy was attacked successfully and the high priestess was captured alive. In such an instance, a quest to rescue the priestess may be generated.
All of this was the explanation the Paladin Ramen gave to Don as to why he was summoned by the church to this (literal) god-forsaken swamp.
Don decided that the unnecessarily complicated explanation was just the Paladin’s way of saying, “Don’t blame the player, blame the game.”
Don had joined the church of Leu sometime ago to acquire enough divine affinity to allow him to raise a holy dragon. He succeeded, but the help of the church came at a cost of assisting the church in times of need, such as now.
According to Ramen, the paladin User who lead the group, every member of the Church of Leu who had been close enough to the swamp had been summoned. The group totaled 39 members at the start, but many had been lost. The problem was that there was no lower level cap on those who had been summoned, so the group contained members between level 80 and level 310. Don himself was level 250, but had the stats of someone much higher.
Don usually wasn’t the type to complain, but the strictness of the quest was too harsh. According to the parameters, the priestess would be killed very soon, so everyone who received the message came immediately. Due to this, only those who already had them used swamp boots. Everyone else, Don included, walked through the thigh deep water with only their normal shoes. Don was certain that his would disintegrate completely before the quest was completed.
“Ambush!”
At the sound of the scout, the group raised their defenses. A group of armored lizardmen charged at the group from two directions. The inexperienced priests ran for cover, but ended up tripping over a sunken log in the swamp water. Don used his battle dance to strike at the Lizardmen. His fighting style had the effect of boosting the condition of the group he was with and attracting the attention of the surrounding monsters.
Several of the lizardman group were taken in and moved to attack Don. Neither Ramen or any of the other paladins moved to aid him.
Three seconds and seven flashes of sword strikes later, the lizardmen were dead.
Green scaled lizardmen are around level 80, with the armored variety being around level 120. Even outnumbered ten to one, Don was skillful enough to wipe them out. For lower level players however they were not so easily dispatched. The lizardmen are natives of the swamp, and are at their strongest in its murky waters.
Any of the players over level 200 could take out all of the lizardmen single handedly, however the group only had twelve members above that level, the rest were lower. By an unfortunate twist of fate, a group of ten User priests that had been deployed to a nearby town were called on, their levels were only around 90 a piece. They, like the other low level players, had been called by the quest, and needing protecting. If the quest had not been timed, the few high level characters called would have been enough, but in a timed quest, every available resource is needed.
At some point in the battle, three large monsters revealed themselves from the depths of the swamp’s mud. Moving piles of boulder sized rocks that were joined together with thick vines.
“Swamp Golems!” someone shouted.
Several paladins, even a few of the high level ones tried attacking, but golems have a high resistance to sword damage beneath a certain threshold, and none of the paladins used a mace. Most of their swords bounced off.
“Leave the golems to us, finish off the lizards!” An elf ranger who, like Don, was a member of the church, issued commands to the disorganized group. Behind Ramen this man’s rank was the highest in the group.
Fireballs were shot repeatedly at the golems. The short magic gunner pulling the trigger tried to burn through the vines holding the golems together. However it was less than effective. Having just emerged from the swamp, the water saturated vines were difficult to burn. Golems that did ignite partially submerged themselves in the swamp water to put out the fire.
The massive limbs of the golems swung at the attacking paladins. One that failed to dodge was crushed from the strength of the blow. A cleric quickly tried to cast healing hand, but the damage was too great and the paladin died.
The only mage that was in the party was chanting, trying to cast a spell to turn the tide of the battle. Don protected the chanting mage from the lizardmen who tried attacking him. After a few seconds, the spell was complete, a magic circle formed around the golems and white frost started growing all over them. Using an area of effect spell that lowered the temperature of the target enemies in the target area, the mage had slowed the golems to a speed that could be easily dodged. Using this opening, the paladins quickly chopped at the vines keeping the golems together while the rest of the party finished off the last of the lizardmen.
The fight was over but not without loss. The group was down to 25, almost half of what they started out with. Individually the creatures of the swamp were no match for the large party, but it was a campaign of attrition, the swamp slowly chipped away at their strength for every foot forward they took.
This didn’t surprise Don in the least. The quest to recover the priestess was C rank.
Two days after entering the swamp, the team reached the lizardman base. However it was not what they expected. The lizardmen had renovated an old temple in the swamp into a sturdy fortress.
“This is bad. There is no way we can breach there fast enough to rescue the priestess.”
“No, there must be a way.”
Ramen consulted with his men and decided the plan. Ramen would lead the majority of the team members on a frontal assault on the temple. The ranger, and the few who could act in stealth, would search for a secret passage, and use the commotion to secretly infiltrate the temple and retrieve the priestess. Don and Thessa were assigned to the stealth team.
“Who here can use Detect?” asked the ranger.
Don raised his hand. The elf was unsurprised. “Alright, I’ll search the west side, you search the east. Everyone else, stay hidden.”
Don agreed and left for the eastside of the temple, using Detect every few feet heading south. He had equipped a cloak made from a Shade that, although did not make him invisible, did make him almost unnoticeable.
He reached the south side without finding a secret entrance, but the Ranger had been more fortunate. The group of five followed him to the west side where they entered a small passage hidden in the rocks.
Within the base, the Ranger held out his bow at the ready, string drawn at all times. Everyone walked silently, following the Ranger’s lead. Once or twice they saw a Lizardman guard, but the elf shot them in the throat before a warning alarm could be called.
There luck however does not last long. From behind a corner a Lizardman sees them and is summarily executed. But a cry goes out anyways. The guard had been moving with another still behind the corner who witnessed the death.
Moments later dozens of lizardmen flow into the hallways.
Thessa pulls out her guns and helps fill the hallway with projectiles.
In the commission he asks her if she can find the priestess using scent, as her nose was stronger than a human’s. But she answered that she had been trying to do so since the beginning, but the smell of the other humans in the part and outside was too strong.
The temple was maze like in its construction, passages that lead to dead ends or groups of lizardmen were too common. Eventually they reached a staircase they hoped would lead them to where prisoners were kept, but it was worse.
Dungeon
You have discovered the Temple of the fallen King.
The first monster killed will drop the best quality of item.
Fame increased by 250
“A dungeon? We’ll never find her.”
Morale of the small group was at its limit. Don spoke up, “We can only move forward, there is not another option.” As a man, this was the only path.
Some of the party members nodded and moved together forward. Their first encounter in the dungeon was with a group of lizardmen, but instead of green, these ones had black scales.
Don was the first to clash swords. The lizardman had great strength and resilience. It used its sword, shield, and tail far more effectively than the green lizardmen. However it was only about level 170 or 180. Against Don it was no contest.
The group defeated the black scaled lizards, but the sole cleric of the group was killed. Not by a black scaled lizardmen, but a skinny see-through one. The monster appeared out of nowhere and stabbed the cleric in the back. It’s chameleon like scales seemed to change color and camouflaged it within the dungeon.
From then on no one let their guard down. Not only due to the possibly threat of a cloaked attack, but due to the loss of the team’s cleric.
The next group had two lizardman shamans. They cast black mist spells that made it hard to see. Lizards see body heat, so it only affected the party.
Don used his mana sight ability to see the lizardman through the mist and protected the others from the stealth attack. The ranger also had a skill of some sort that allowed him to see through the mist and shot down one of the shamans. Thessa shot down the other.
The dungeon was long and exhausting. The mental strain was as bad as the physical. Through much trial the group eventually made it to the final chamber.
The large room was filled with lizardmen of the black, chameleon, and shaman variety. At the top of an altar was the captured priestess, bound and tied to the large stone pedestal.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
A lizardman shaman hold a ceremonial blade above the priestess shouted, “Kill them! Don’t let them interrupt the Ceremony!”
The room contained more than 30 lizardmen, far too much for their group of five to handle.
Don shouted, “Hold them off for 20 seconds!”
At his shout the men formed a small barrier between the lizardmen and Don. Then he began to dance
The movements were elegant yet with purpose, the pattern was flowing yet flawless.
Thessa changed the settings on both of her magic guns.Instead of shooting fireballs, pulling the trigger shot a continuous stream of fire. The strength of the flame was low but the volume was high, especially with two guns focusing together.
With Thessa pushing back the main group and the ranger shooting the ones that made it through, Don was able to complete his sword dance with the humble pose of a praying man.
You have performed Dance of the Gods.
Don could only think to himself, ‘Please be something useful.’
A voice only he could hear rang out like a clear bell in his ear.
-A splendid dance god slayer. You do seem to be in some trouble so I’ll give you my blessing.
God slayer was a nickname the gods had for him and teased him about it whenever they spoke. The skill he used, Dance of the gods used about half his mana and called a random god to give him a buff. The first time he used it, it was a god of the harvest, which gave him a buff that increased his nature magic by 500% for a short time. Don however has no nature magic, so it was useless. The next few times he tried it were not as useless, but not worth the 3000 mana required to use the skill. He hoped it would be a god of war or battle that would strengthen him and every member of his party.
You have received Chrona’s blessing of Time.
At that point Don’s perception of time changed. The world appeared to be going 4 times slower. Like a super haste spell. Though haste increased movement speed, this buff did not make him move faster, only slowed down the way he saw the world.
Don ran to the shamans in the back, twice dodging spells aimed at him. Three black lizardmen in a group were between him and the priest wielding the ceremonial knife. They attacked simultaneously. Don maneuvered his swords around their defenses and pierced two in the neck before dodging another strike and decapitating the third.
The shaman tried to defend himself with his knife but was struck down.
Since seeing Don approach the shaman, nine lizardmen had been approaching for an intercept. They were not quick enough to save the priest, but arrived in time to completely surround and attack Don.
It had been 8 seconds since the buff started, and would only last another 22 before ending. If he had increased its proficiency more it would last longer but he considered it too uncontrollable a skill.
From the side of the others, they saw Don instantly break through the lizardmen defenses and kill the shaman. He moved with more skill than a veteran swordmaster. Although surrounded on all sides he twirled and moved around in a way that would not let a single strike land on him.
Don knew that he would likely be killed as soon as his buff ran out so he decided to use the rest of his mana. “Divine Blade!” His sword glowed with divine power, increasing the damage and breaking through the attacking lizardmen. He could only deal with so many opponents until the buff wore off so before then he had to take out as many as he could.
The power increase of divine blade increased his sword’s damage output enough to crack the black lizardmen’s scales and cut their flesh. Killing them all was not possible in such a short period but crippling them was. He attacked their legs and cut into their shoulders.
“Enough! Kill them all!” A deep voice resounded from the end of the room. An lizardman three times the normal size was sitting on a throne of human skulls.
“Watch Out! That’s a Lizardking!”
Lizardkings were over level 300. A few dungeons had them so much was known. It is said they originate from a mixture of lizardman blood and demon blood. They lead normal lizardmen and strengthen them as their leader.
Don had to change his priorities. It was clear he was the best damage dealer in the group so he would have to fight the king, but killing the group around him with Divine blade would likely eat up all his mana, leaving him too weak to kill a boss monster in his own lair.
Things were looking grim. The group was being pushed back by the number of lizardmen. It seemed many within the room were blackscaled lizardknights. Monsters with levels about 220.
The priestess seemed doomed to be sacrificed.
A large amount of shouting came from down the hall. Suddenly, a dozen paladins had broken into the boss’s chamber.
Ramen yelled, “Kill the lizard! Protect the Priestess!
With the arrival of unexpected reinforcements, the morale of the group rose, and with the added strength pushed through the lizardknights. A small group of paladins ran up the altar and assisted Don in killing his opponents. Don left the guarding of the priestess to them and advanced the lizardking.
The large creature sneered at Don, showing its razor edged teeth. It got up from its chair and picked up a enormous shimtar next to him Its length was taller than Don himself.
Don’s buff had worn off and he didn’t have enough mana left to keep using Divine blade for the rest of the fight, but he had enough to use it for a finishing blow. He tapped the artifact bracelet on his wrist, activating its effect.
The massive lizard swung its sword with blindingly fast speed, But Don evaded to the side and tried to strike, but the beast’s tail followed through on the attack and bashed Don away like a home run ball. He bounced off the wall and hit the ground. Don had a high resistance to damage and a fair amount of health, but he could only wear leather armor so damage from high level bosses was quite extreme for him. After getting up he saw that he only had about 1200 health points left. One attack from the lizardking and he was dead.
Don focused on dodging attacks and determining the Lizardkings attack pattern. But doing so was not easy. The boss has several powerful skills in addition to its formidable abilities. Thanks to Don’s deceitful movement skills he was able to dodge even the moves he did not expect. He was almost ready for his strongest attack, he just needed an opening.
A barrage of flame bullets pelted the Lizardking’s head. With the help of the reinforcements Thessa was able to move from pushing back the lizardknights to backing up Don.
The moment the Lizardking moved its arm to block the fire bullets, Don activated Divine blade. The bracelet was an artifact that increased mana regeneration by 400% for 2 minutes. He used it and the time he bought dodging attacks to build up enough mana to at least pierce the Lizardking’s scales.
He slashed at the same point three times before jumping back. The scales at that point cracked a bit under the power of Divine blade, but not enough to pierce through.
Thessa stayed at a distance to distract the Lizardking when he got too focused on Don. The mode she had switched her guns to shot many magic bullets, but their individual power was low. Her weapons didn’t have the power to do much damage, but the fireballs blinded and distracted him too much for him to completely focus on Don.
Don used another fury of attacks on the same spot, the scales gave way revealing an open spot of flesh. The next part was complicated.
Thessa knew his plan so she switched the cartridges in her guns from medium to large. Now they would fire powerful shots that even the lizardking could not ignore, but the shots took time to charge.
Don backed away and Thessa fired two large fire balls at the boss that exploded on impact. It shouted in rage and ran to kill the little gunman. Don used this moment to remove the hilts from his blades and combine them, making them into one sword that was thicker and stronger. A gem on the hilt glowed, signaling it was ready for activation. Don’s swords were an artifact pair that had a special feature when combined, though it could only be used once.
Thessa jumped from her position to the roof, then bounced off the roof to the other side of the room. She had an outstandingly high agility rating despite her small size. She taunted the lizardking and actually sat down on the spot.
The furious creature lost all reason and charged forward. Don moved to intercept, just as planned. He stabbed his sword into the lizardking, through the wound he made in the scales. The gem on the hilt started flashing and Don released it before jumping back. The Lizardking flinched at the pain of being pierced, but it was no where near being defeated. Or so it thought.
The next moment there was an explosion. When everyone looked to see what it was, there was a gaping hole in the lizardking’s side.
The artifact blades detonated within the flesh of the lizardking, beneath the defense of its scales. The force of the explosion was maximized by the scales, keeping the pressure in until the whole thing exploded.
The great boss fell to the ground dead. With the loss of their king, the lizardmen became weaker and less organized. Before long, the priestess was safely on her feet and the remaining lizardmen had been killed or had fled.
Don kept his mana sight on to spot any of the chameleons that could still be wandering around just in case. He didn’t want one to assassinate the priestess after having come this far.
Although they met a few pockets of resistance along the way back, they successfully escorted the priestess from the temple.
On the way back from the temple, Ramen said, “Thank you for helping. Is there anything the church can do to repay you?”
“Not the church, but there is something you can do.”
“Name it.”
“Take me and Thessa to all you can eat barbeque, your treat. The we’ll be even.”
This made him flinch for a moment. He knew Thessa’s true nature and he bottomless stomach. After a moment he nodded and said, “Done.”
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