Chapter 5

Dagger and Sword

A young woman in velvet robes walks down the street with a little boy over her shoulder. All his thoughts were falling out of head. He had been kidnapped!

"Ah!" cried the boy weakly as he flailed his short arms. Freeing himself would have been easy, but he dared not offend his first teacher and leave her side.

"Stop being so silly," Baylee said, putting Grey down. "You’re outside now! Did the heavens strike you down? You need to learn that promises don't hold any more power than the wind. A mage is a master of his own fate, situations changes with time, what may be right one moment may be wrong the next."

Grey looked up at Baylee.

"But...I promised my father."

"A man's promise is only worth as much his strength. Little Grey, didn't you say you would be my apprentice and I would be your master? Right now, I am teaching you something. Will you be wise enough to listen?"

Grey nodded and looked down at his feet. He could feel his cheeks grow warm.

"It is not that I wish you harm, but as a clever child you should know your limits. In the future, if you continue to be pig-headed you will find yourself in impossible situations. Say you are in a dungeon with your fellow party members. You are told to hold guard formation to keep the monsters at bay. A monster leaps up and tears your leader away. Do you stick to the formation? Or do you act to save his life?"

"I would save his life!"

"Wrong!"

Grey looked up in disbelief at his master.

"I should let him die?"

Baylee tapped him on the head with her staff. "Silly kid. Nobody said anything about letting so and so die."

"But you said - "

"I know what I said. You, young apprentice, are not asking the right questions. Why are you in a formation? What is your role in the party? You are a mage. You are the brains of the group. If you get bitten on your hand should you focus only on the bite? What if there are more monsters lurking about? You could go save one person, but the person next to you might get snatched away instead."

Baylee's eyes glossed over, recalling an old memory.

"That is why you stay in formation. You protect what you have first, then think about how to save the person you've lost. Same with promises. They are only useful to people childish enough to believe in them. You break them if you have to. The most important person is you! If you are dead, then everything goes to waste."

Grey contemplated Baylee's words. He could not agree with her, but many of the things she said made sense. Would he risk killing others to save one life? If one had to lie to protect his friends, would it be considered evil?

Baylee looked at Grey softly.

"Little Grey, let me ask you. What is your goal in life?"

Grey's eyes lit up.

"To become a powerful mage!"

"Then as your master it is only right for you to follow me," Baylee explained. "A master and student relationship is a bond forged for a lifetime! I am not some callous person who would take you away without telling your parents."

Baylee placed two fingers on her lips and whistled. A sheet of paper wriggled out from underneath her hat and traveled all the way back through the second story window.

"This whole time I was writing a letter while speaking to you. Aren't I clever? Ho, ho, ho."

Grey shook his head playfully. If he was a silly kid, then Baylee was a silly adult.

"Alright! Enough of this. You have two feet. We have to get the tailor to spin us some rope and knapsacks. Follow me."

"Knapsacks?"

Baylee gave a toothy grin.

"For the treasure of course."

~~~

At the entrance of the 139th Dungeon World a group of adventurers prepare themselves for the  worst. They were three in all: a priest, mage, and warrior. A shadowy man sitting atop a tree branch was laughing at them as they stared down the chasm. Only a few moments earlier, their three had been four. Their ranger was preparing to anchor a rope near the pit when suddenly the earth beneath her feet began to shake. Her instincts told her she was being attacked, so she evaded. Somehow she wound up dodging into the pit, plunging into the pit. Into the dungeon she went, her screams fading into the darkness.

"Gahaha," laughed Vernon. Rangers were valued for their speed and light feet. It was hard to explain, but her dodging into the hole was no accident. How could Vernon not resist laughing at how clever this particular Dungeon World was? To trick adventurers into leaping to their doom.

The warrior of the group, a large burly man clad in half-plate, looked at Vernon coldly.

"You think that was funny? She was my friend. Laugh again and I'll put my sword through your hole."

Vernon chuckled. "Oh? Are you talking to me? Go on. Go on. She must not have been worth much to begin with. To die before entering the dungeon, isn’t that embarrassing."

The warrior gave out a bellow and leaped up to strike the shadowy man on the head. His blade, a silver claymore, sliced the figure in half and blasted the tree into a million pieces. A moment later, however, the same laugh came echoing from atop of another tree.

"Ah, so scary. To strike down a helpless tree. If you had cut it better, we could have made some firewood."

"You think you can keep running. If you want to trash talk then stop running away like a coward. What? Am I too scary for you?"

"You? Scary?" said Vernon incredulously. "Ha-ha. I run because I find it amusing to watch people chase me."

Vernon jumped down and pulled out a pair of thin daggers long enough to be short swords from underneath his cloak. Their blades glistened with a sinister light.

“But if you want me to get serious.”

He grinned with murderous intent.

“Then killing someone like you is no big deal.”

"Wait, friends. There is no need to fight," spoke the priest, putting his hands up in a friendly gesture. If he did not stop the fight now it would really get out of control. "What happened to Melissa was an accident. Johan calm down."

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"Move out of the way, Carl. Can't you see this bastard is asking for it? These rogues types are always laughing and stabbing people in the back." Johan turned to face Vernon. "Screw him, and the parents that raised him! You think your little glowing sticks scare me? You clearly have not seen true strength!"

Johan dashed forward. The weight of his body shifted back and forth. He moved in an unpredictable pattern as if he were a lightning bolt trying to choose a target.

"Earth Crusher!" shouted Johan at the top of his lungs. The words rang clear. His sword became bathed in a brownish light. He charged, striking down with tremendous strength! Vernon smiled softly and walked straight into the blade's path. His hands blurred then seem to split into two, then three, then four mirages. Countless blades crisscrossed into a web of flashing lights.

"Spider Silk Illusionary Formation."

Dagger and sword collide!

One, two, three, eleven, eighteen, twenty, a hundred! So many blades it looks as if the air itself is being ripped apart. Johan's claymore penetrates Vernon's defense by three inches and is stopped completely! Spider Silk Illusionary Formation. How fierce! Johan could only look at Vernon with shock.

"You are not on my level. Fool. Death’s Bite." His last two words pierced like ice in everyone's minds.

Kidney. Lungs. Spleen. Three blows at the same instant leaving hideous wounds. Blood spilled from his mouth. Johan staggered back and fell to his knees.

"Johan!" screamed the mage, hatefully. "Bastard you will regret that!"

"Will I?" laughed Vernon. The mage put up her staff, but Vernon had disappeared from her sight.

"Vanish?!"

Vernon chuckled.

A metallic flash suddenly appeared and the mage's eyes rolled back into her head. She too collapsed to the floor.

"Just you now friend," smirked Vernon, reappearing over the mage's fallen body. Carl's face had lost all color. There wasn't much Carl could do in terms of retaliation. Had Carl been more skillful the match could go either way but all he the spells he knew currently were healing and detoxifying spells. His eyes darted towards Johan who had now collapsed on the ground. If he revived him would it make a difference? This rogue had defeated Johan in two moves!

"Don't be rash!" shouted a hoarse voice.

The ground in front of Vernon was suddenly shrouded by cloud of dust and debris. A Giant Crow, nearly thirty feet long, descended from the sky. An elderly man with loose white robes and a striped bandana stood on the back of the Giant Crow.

"Oh? To escape my Giant Crow's Paralyzing Gaze. You are quite something."

Vernon smiled a few feet away. It wasn't unusual for adventurers to butt in on each other's fights. When everyone wanted to be the strongest, it was natural to them to seek one another out. Who cares if they are already fighting someone? Some gatherings had thirty adventurers in one large brawl.

"To sneak attack a rogue, are you asking for trouble? Who are you, honorable senior?" Vernon asked.

Vernon face showed no emotion, but inwardly he was worried. A Giant Crow? This senior must be a spirit master, a type of mage that specialized in taming wild beasts. Though Vernon enjoyed fighting other people, beasts tended to be far more unpredictable and difficult to handle. Without knowing how strong this old man was, Vernon dared not attack back.

"Unnecessary," answered the old man, dismissively. "I was watching from afar. I know you were attacked first, so I cannot fault you for defending yourself. However, to attack their healer would be unjust. Were you planning on leaving them unconscious for a wild beast to eat them?"

The old man pointed at bloodied Johan and the unconscious mage.

Vernon shrugged. This old fellow was insightful. Vernon had entertained the idea of watching a wild monster eat the wounded adventurers alive. Wouldn't that have be fun? His thoughts then turned towards his chances of killing the elderly man. A sneak attack was possibly, but he quickly dismissed that idea as well. Though invisibility worked well on humans who relied on sight, his Giant Crow would have extra senses that would detect him if he drew close. Stupid beast. So troublesome.

Vernon shook his head and bowed politely. If the game were no longer fun, why stay?

"Well, out of respect for you senior I will take my leave. Seeing as no one died. Perhaps we will even be friends later. Haha."

He gave a wide smile and vanished back into the woods.

Carl breathed a sigh of relief.

"Honored elder, I can't thank you enough for the help. I-"

The old man raised his hand.

"No need to thank me. If anything you should blame your party's lack of foresight. To attack an advanced level rogue. Are you courting death?"

Carl looked shocked. "He was an advanced level rogue?"

"Youngster," sighed the old man. "That rogue used a high level skill three times: one to escape your warrior's initial attack, a second to block his strike, and the third to return the blow. Even if you are ignorant, you should have sensed something was wrong when your warrior's attack failed the first time. Don't tell me you think a warrior's battle sense is inferior to that of a rogue."

"I-I..." Carl was a loss for words.

The old man shook his head. "The earth is large, but the sky is larger. Let this old man give you some advice. Don't pick fights unless you know you will win. You see how that fellow dared not attack me without knowing my strength. You can curse him for nearly killing you, but even he had more common sense! Next time your warrior friend decides to pick a fight, do try harder to stop him."

The old man waved his hand and the Giant Crow took off, blasting a gale of wind before it flew into the sky. Carl sat stunned for a moment before hastily making his way towards Johan to tend to his wounds. They weren't life threatening but they were serious enough to incapacitate him for several days. At the very least, they wouldn't be going into the dungeon anytime soon. He could only sigh to himself as he began casting his healing spell.