Chapter 47

* * *

Congratulations, you have learned a new aura - the Aura of Light.

Congratulations, you have learned a new spell - Divine Touch.

This spell has requirements for the target; please refer to the reference.

"That's it. Congratulations, you have now received all the spells befitting a temple warrior!"

"Thank you. It's a long way to go, but the reward is worthwhile too."

Import of external settings is complete.

After bowing, I walked out of the Spellbinding Chamber.

Two days of waiting, followed by 24 hours of hard pumping by the professional driver team. These guys knew their business down to the last detail; I was sent a file of instructions and demanded compliance with them under threat of termination of the contract without a refund of the advance payment. There was no room for lyrics. I had several people working for me: two lured the monsters away, two held them to reduce the threat, two treated us, and two other groups were combing the area around us, guarding against incoming mercenaries. Judging by the conversations, they fished out at least a dozen, immediately dispatching the player-hunters.

Not the most populous Mist spot near the mountains, just two competitors, a couple hunting demons on the other side. And strong, ten to fifteen levels above me, monsters. Just right for a quick "boost" for a rich player who was determined to get through the initial levels in a hurry.

So I have two auras. "Combat," already rank two, reduces physical damage by six percent and magical damage by three. And now also "Aura of Light," reducing damage from evil by two percent and increasing my damage to evil foes by the same amount. At level one hundred, an Aura of Righteousness will appear, increasing my chance of passing hits to evil and my chance of dodging retaliatory attacks accordingly. NPCs above level one hundred and sixtieth had another "Aura of Fortitude", reducing the effect of all curses and debuffs, but so far no one has been able to pump the paladin to such a skill, and in the reference materials on the developers' website nothing specific yet. Creators is not a linear game where everything is clear in advance; anything is possible.

In theory, if one were to reach the 200th level by casting all auras and blessings at the maximum rank (sixth to be exact, any higher would be too tedious), the presence of just one such paladin in a raid against the evil would provide a decrease in the damage received by a third and increase the power of their own attacks by twenty percent. On the other hand, he will always be the first target for the enemy. That's not a threat to me, though - I'll just quit the quest and go. A couple of hours a week is enough time to convince me that I'm continuing with the paladin project for sale. I hadn't set myself a deadline, had I?

I stopped at the gates of the Temple after thinking about the prospect. It was crowded. There were too many newcomers and too many NPCs. It was as if they were waiting for something.

I closed my eyes and started ticking off the items on my to-do list for today.

Party. It needs five people, and I suspect that two, and probably three, places will be taken, even if I am against it.

Passing through the zone. For two days I didn't get bored spitting in the ceiling, but carefully watched everything I could find about the story quests. Admittedly, mine, half made up, wasn't as colorful as the ones created by professional designers. The "Return of the Princess" storyline included three battles with dragons in underground caves, a massive attack by seven alliances on a dark god's citadel, and a week-long siege where players stayed in their seats for twenty-four hours. And the finale, when the beautiful elven princess revives her forest... I've watched the reel three times. That's where the fantasy is. That's where the real plot is! What about me? Just petty squabbles inside a secondary temple.

But all sorts of things are to be expected now that a mark has appeared on the map.

And the passage itself. I had taken some insurance steps, but... something told me that going into the zone with the guys from the boost-squad would be wrong.

Besides, you should always give people a chance.

Friend list, online.

I pondered the two lines for a minute, then made up my mind.

"Hello, Jha, it's Paladin. Are you busy?"

"One second." Almost a minute's wait. "Here. What is it? Another storyline quest, another new, unknown zone?"

"Hmmm... How do you know?"

My interlocutor was quiet, then stretched out:

"Pal, tell me you're joking. There's no such thing, these places have all been traversed in two years, and you suddenly find a second dungeon in a row? Your dad's COD level editor?"

"So you're not going?"

"I'm coming! Shit, right now? I've got a quest parcel to take to the castle. It'll take ten minutes; I'll make it!"

"Are you building a castle already?"

"The donjon was completed yesterday!"

"Well, congratulations on your fifth rank!"

"Thank you! Thank you for the castle, by the way! Well... is our guild going to get anything? Why don't you join us? People are different, but we're fun, really!"

"Thank you, Jha, but I'll still refrain. In fifteen minutes at the temple square."

"I'm coming!"

I've closed the chat room. I have an archer. We need another full-plate warrior, a healer, and two fighters.

I walked across the courtyard to the training ground and looked around. Two young warriors were engaged in a training duel, and a tenth officer was cursing a slumped servant with a bundle of short spears. Three unfamiliar paladins surround the young priestess and make her blush with very dubious compliments. Should I intervene? But then one of the trio got down on one knee and presented the girl with a scarlet flower... where did he get it from - his hands were empty?

A familiar voice from behind broke the charm of the moment:

"Paladin! What the hell were you doing three days ago?!"

"Good morning, Nika. How's life? How's the pumping? Learning anything new from embroidery?"

"Don't talk back to me! Why did you give up your new rank? Is it a quest? Do you know something? Talk, talk, don't bore the girl!"

"It's a quest. You have to smile at everyone and not accept too many gifts. Suddenly, all of a sudden, they come specially and give me a rank out of turn! And I'm just a humble, hardworking temple warrior..."

"Yes, yes, I knew it right at first sight. What's the reward?"

"I don't know," I answered truthfully for some reason, "I like the process instead."

"Yes, the process is our everything. The result is dust!"

"Good morning to you too, Piglet."

"Hello! Looking for a party?"

Am I looking for a band? Is it worth it? Should I leave it as it is, go through the final part of the quest, and I'm sure it's already the final, with the boost party I've hired? And there would be no need to mutilate anything and no need to risk anything.

Or should I give them a chance after all?

"I'm looking. Jha is coming for sure. I'm waiting for him."

"Piglet and I are coming!" Nika cut it off, rubbing her hand for more firmness. Hmm, is she the one already in town from the virt?

"But this is my quest and my rules."

"Pa-al, you know I'm a hard-working, obliging girl! I'm ready for everything, aren't I?"

"Me too. Do you want me to kill someone?"

"Two or three Prismatic dragons. I need their skins. I'll be able to pump Scribing."

"Ahem. Can you choose something simpler?"

"What can I do with you? Let it be simpler. "

Jha ran onto the square, dragging a tall man in a baggy robe with a patterned bandage behind him.

"Pal? I've found a healer. Do you need one?"

"Good one?"

"From our second line-up, I guarantee!"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Invite. There, now we need one more heavy fighter, and we can go."

"Wait! I got one! It's a cool tank. And it's a hell of damage!"

Nika turned away, raised her palm to her cheek, and froze. Then she quickly spun on her heel and declared cheerfully:

"He's coming!"

We had to wait another minute, and then something very large, grey-skinned, leather-clad, bandaged, and with a giant club on his shoulder pushed through the temple gate.

"There he is! Pal, get him in the group - and run!"

"A Mountain Troll? Guys, I have all the powers to help the Light ones, and the conditional Dark ones get nothing from them."

"Pal, don't be afraid. Gnawzy is a light troll!"

I looked up and examined the troll again. What kind of self-mutilation would it take to make an inherently dark race a character with a positive reputation? That's where badass roleplay is needed!

"Okay. Invite. So, who has what level?"

"Pal, asking a girl a question like that? Ew!"

"Nika, it's important."

"Hm. Forty-two."

She got stuck in the sandbox, oh, she got stuck.

"Forty-eight." Jha is clear, he's a guilder.

"Thirty-six." Piglet sighed sadly.

"Forty-one." Heal. Good, the fortieth is a turning point for many with new skills. It means he already knows a thing or two.

"Forty-three." The troll was using some sort of voice filter to lower the timbre of his voice. A r-r-rolep-player, though.

"What about you, Pal? Or are you just going to keep on hiding?"

"Mine doesn't matter, Nika. Good. Now one important, or rather, very important point. This is my quest!"

I looked around at them all. Standing in a semicircle, listening, no one is playing with their socials or emojis.

"I don't want simple loot. You can keep it for yourself. You'll probably find a lot of blue armor there, which the temple of Amala the Healer will gladly accept for a decent price. These are for you. Weapons, recipes, and materials you share. But the loot from the boss, whatever it turns out to be, is entirely mine. Who doesn't agree?"

"Yeah, we got it. Plot Quest is pot quest" Jah shook his hands, "You do, we help. Guys, I'm speaking on behalf of my guild. If you're thinking of turning in to Temple, sign up with us and turn in as guild members! We'll double the reward from the temple!"

The troll scratched noisily, Nika remained silent, Piglet hummed thoughtfully.

"Any objections to the boss being mine? Nika?"

"Yours, yours. What's the difference?"

"Piglet?"

"I don't need it. I'm going after the other thing."

"Gnawzy"

"It's yours."

"Heal and I don't have to ask, we'll beat the boss for you! By the way, men and lady: if you don't want to turn in like our fellow soldiers, you can just sell. We'll buy twenty gold pieces each!" Jha tried to bargain more for his guild. Well done.

I created a raid.

"Now the 'taxi drivers' are coming up. Run for four 'whistle'. And then another ten minutes of walking."

"Wow, that's serious!"

"Yes, it's not close."

"What kind of zone?"

"I don't know."

"Pal, you extremist!"

"Nika, it's called 'extremal'."

"I don't care."

I invited the four elves who had approached to raid and then led the crowd to the gate.

Danil?

We are there.

At the gate, I nodded to the sergeant I knew, bought the first "lucky" thing from a passing hawker (it turned out to be salted fish, and I immediately started thinking about a big mug of cold juice), and then I commanded:

"Let's start!"

Nika, Piglet, and Jha waved their hands at the same time.

And we run.

The treadmill hummed, the roadside flashed, and we raced ahead. Nika clashed with Jha, a scythe found on a stone. The archer was no stranger to chitchat, either, and successfully shrugged off all the girl's attacks. The troll was thumping his huge feet behind me, making me a little nervous. The healer and Piglet were discussing the effects of poisons and the chances of healing spells.

"That is it." I called up the shopping menu and paid the senior 'taxi driver'. "Follow me!"

And running again, but not so fast.

Forest, ravine, forest again. And some low, fifty-metre-high, bushy cliffs.

"Empty."

I stepped forward, walking along the grey stone covered in patches of moss. The map tinkled melodiously.

"There."

The nearest rock shuddered and melted away, revealing a narrow gorge leading somewhere into the rocks.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Halt. Be blessed with this scroll!"

"Wow! Rank six?! I love it!"

"With this scroll, I put protection on you."

"Magical? Not bad."

"With this scroll, you shall be covered!"

"Pal, what are you, the oligarch's favorite grandson?"

Ha, I had two days to prepare, and now seventy masterpiece scrolls were waiting in my inventory.

"Trade. Healing potions, five vials per hand."

"He's an oligarch for sure! Pal, will you take the girl to a restaurant? A Parisian restaurant, maybe!"

"Don't spare the vials... but don't waste them either. The nearest altar is five minutes away, so everybody must live! Now, tank, let's go."

The troll shook his head, snorted, and staggered forward into the gorge.

"There's a contact!"

Six shadows floated towards us.

"Pal, what we are doing?"

One big one, four medium ones, and one small one.

"These are reflections. Our reflections. The target one is the little guy! Gnawzy, hold the big guy!"

The battle proved to be a thrill and not an easy one. The shadows had all the same skills as we did and were just as fast as we were at using spells and skills. The only thing we had to offer was attack coherence. We had to learn to switch targets on the fly, keep our foes from healing or resting, and concentrate fire one at a time on our targets. The most troublesome was Nika's counterpart, who turned into a misty demon that robbed us of our powers and magic with a touch. I had to use Exorcism.

As we rested and waited for a full recovery, we saw the misty shadows behind us pouring with color and coming to life.

"What the hell?"

"Apparently, you can't rest here. They are shadows. They are immortal."

The second fight with the same opponents was easier, despite the unrecovered spells. We knew the enemy and were already getting used to each other.

"Loot! Oops, a blue piece!"

"Nika, have you decided to steal all my voice commands?"

"Don't flatter yourself, a third of players say loot."

"And the rest?"

"The rest say booty."

"Let's move on! Otherwise, we'll have to fight a third time!"

The advice was appropriate, and we rushed forward. The gorge was linear. Having killed one group of shadows, we passed around a bend and met the next. It was bad. A single man couldn't get through the passages, which meant that the death of one fighter was the same as the death of the whole group.

The trick with the invisibility potion didn't work, the shadows spotted me quickly, and I had to run away.

This gorge had to be passed honestly.

"Pal, why the hell are these things here?"

With a shrug and a bite of fish, I replied:

"There is an opinion that such a zone is always generated for a group. And in such a way as to be passable, but to cause maximum inconvenience."

"A masochist's dream!"

"You didn't like that dagger?"

"I like it! I don't like the prospect of losing it at any moment!"

The loot was plentiful. Each group of shadows left something in blots of darkness on the rocks. We just had to get it in time. Nika had floated the idea of standing in one group, squeezing out whatever they had, but we didn't support it.

Seven groups later, we came across a mini-boss. What do you mean, mini? It was our troll, only three times bigger.

"Pal, I have a bad feeling about this!"

I was silent. It looked like these were the improved and reinforced versions of each member of our party that we would have to defeat. Later it turned out that fate was playing along with us after all. All the mini-bosses were in their separate rooms, and mere shadows could not see what was going on in them. In addition, rooms were available to rest in.

"Troll" we scored with blunt force. "Archer" made a run for it - he really liked to jump up on high ground and fire from there. "Beastfolk" with his boar snout, let loose clouds of venom, and the "Big Nika" with a Whip of Ashes was the easiest one, as I'd just slammed an Exorcism-Shining-Touch into it and taken three-quarters of its HP. "Priest" pounded across the room in waves of dark light, and after talking, we stood behind the troll, setting him up as a meat shield, while I, Healer, and Nika treated our "tank" Piglet and Jha frantically shot the unmoving boss. On the plus side, each mini-boss dropped more than its fair share of the loot. Two magical items fell, causing Nika to squeal happily and Jha to swear enthusiastically.

Five more groups of shadows, and we came to the end of the gorge.

"Nazgul? I knew they existed!"

"The hundredth level. And it's melting, man!"

A ghost was fluttering over a skeleton in armor. Apparently, it was the same rebellious general. And now that we had reached him, having shattered all the defenses of the cursed place, he began to disembowel.

"So, is this the dark counterpart of our warrior of light?"

"Well, what shall we do, Paladin?"

"He's really melting! Pal, what about the quest?"

"Chopping." I closed the map and turned off the useless mods, leaving only the notification of the spells cast by the enemy. "He's melting. We've only got one shot at this. The ghost probably has all the nastiness the little monsters showed us. Don't let it touch you. Hit it with everything you can from a distance. Nika, when is your Merge going to refresh?"

"Four minutes."

The ghost, dense and opaque a moment ago, gradually melted away in the sun, watching us in silence. Would he last four minutes?

"Okay. I'm going forward."

"Maybe a troll would be better?"

"Better me. I'm faster in the virt. The troll is too clumsy."

We were not prepared for such a battle. The ghost is ethereal. We only had Nika and her fire as a real threat to such creatures. No arrows, no baton, and no sword of mine could hurt it. That's when I should have sworn off the fact that I'd chosen a priest instead of a cleric to be my healer! Divine exorcisms would come in handy now!

"Here we go. Troll, cover for Heal."

The troll sighed and roared at the Nazgul. As the troll shouted, all his parameters went up; it was a battle shout. I wish I could filter it out. It was already hurting my ears.

The three of us started shooting at the boss, the healer standing behind us, Nika stepping aside and throwing sparks. Nazgul, after rubbing the troll for half a minute, suddenly switched, sent a cloud of venom at Nika, and flew towards us, throwing Arrows of Ashes. The healer hesitated, trying to finish healing Piglet, and didn't have time to run away.

"Jump!"

First I flew forward toward the Nazgul, and then, from his blow, backward. Damn it, I warned myself to stay out of the melee!

Put my arm in a sling!

"Her touch is on me!"

And once again, I'm alive and well! Luckily, there were less than fifty HP left!

"Fusion!"

Nika turned around as a Fire Elemental. Shit!

"Heal, it's all in Nika! Heal! Heal!"

An Elemental of Divine Fire had to touch the enemy to do damage, and it was dangerous to even be near the creature! Nika danced, slapping her palm against the dark, already translucent robe, and the healer and I did our best to keep her at least at half HP.

An Arrow of Ashes hit Piglet, but before I could do something, he drank a healing potion.

What else could I do? A crazy idea flashed in my head, frozen by the long, hard battle.

"Heal, I need twenty seconds!"

"Pal, you bastard! Come on. I'm giving it all out!"

The priest folded his arms and used something from Last Chance Skills.

Menu. Skills. Scribing.

Stretching my arm out towards the boss who was finishing off the troll, I sighed and said:

"Capture the spells!"

Congratulations! You have captured the fourth-rank Arrow of Ashes spell!

"Heal! Heal! Evil be gone!"

The troll slipped out, squeezing his way along the wall past the boss, frozen by the loss of one of his main weapons.

"All together! With everything we've could!"

And we did it! Even Heall was sending some light of good into the flailing shadow, I was firing arrow after arrow from my crossbow, Nika was chopping the Nazgul with a flaming whip, and the troll even threw a club at the end!

At the true howl of the Nazgul, the boss froze, raised his hands, and scattered!

"Yes! We passed! Done!"

With a sigh, I looked around. Wow, everyone survived!

Nika and I were the healthiest - two-thirds of our HP each.

Jha, Priest, and Troll needed urgent treatment. Piglet was a little better but also beaten. What a creature that ex-general was! And now the reward!

"Loot!"

The player received the loot - the Necklace of the Fallen General

I looked at Nika, who had managed to pick up what I should have taken. She smiled back and shouted:

"Now!"

A player has left the group

The troll stepped towards the healer, defenseless in his meditation of recovery, raised his club, and. with a familiar roar, dropped it directly on the priest's head. It exploded in a cloud of sparks, and a red inscription flashed over the troll:

Gnaw, the killer.

Jha leaped backward, drew his bow, fired a double shot, expending half his strength... and scattered a cloud of sparks at the same time as the troll he had killed.

Piglet lowered his crossbow.

Nika, who was standing to the side, smiled again and stepped forward.

"There's never enough booty for everyone. That's life, Pal. That's the way it works."

Oh, she hasn't forgotten.

* * *