(Author: Hello all. Odin has completed his training and killed several sea bandits in such a cruel manner, he gained more enemies. He also meets a mysterious elf named Lana in Sea Wolf Cove. Meanwhile, the three heroes who stayed behind in the Baos Kingdom have made astonishing progress in leveling due to constant fighting against the Chaos. In this chapter, Johnny, the boy who made friends with Marcus and Odin has spent the last few months fighting. Marcus arrives in the dwarven kingdom on a mission to access some ores in the mines. Little did they know, the Chaos were there. Odin also decides to stay a few days on Sea Wolf Cove and train some more there. He also decides on an alias that would soon become known all over the island and more. Enjoy.)
Chapter 6: The Witch Blade
"Are you sure we're headed the right way?" Johnny asked. "We should have arrived at the mines by now."
"I got me scouts up ahead. The roads are blocked Johnny boy. Calm down and let me scouts be," an old dwarf grunted. "Hey! Elf! Ye doin' alright back there? You're half dwarf ye know. Ye ain't even wearin' heavy armor. Aren't ye assassins supposed to be nimble an' stuff?"
"Sorry General Ogdal," Marcus said. "I'm kind of mildly claustrophobic. I don't do well in dark caves."
"Bah! I blame ye elf blood in your veins. Come along now. Ain't much farther to go," the general said.
Some of the dwarven guards snickered and followed General Ogdal. They never met a dwarf, much less a half dwarf hero, afraid of dark caves. Marcus had arrived on his first solo C rank mission. He joined the adventurer's guild in the Baos Kingdom and spent many months doing E, D, and C rank missions. However, he never did any solo missions. After a few weeks, he passed level 10 and got the hidden class: Shade Assassin.
His class allowed him to become one with shadows and appear out of another shadow by looking at it from the shadow he resided. It was the perfect assassin class and he was practically invincible at night. However, he never accepted missions in dark caves. He felt too overwhelmed by both the darkness and how small caves were. Now he was level 22 and accepted his first solo C rank mission to retrieve rare ores in the dwarven kingdom under attack by the Chaos.
He met Johnny as he waited for an audience with the king. Johnny had become a rank 20 Golem Berserker. It was a crazy hidden class and could only be accessible with a heavy price. Johnny had lost both of his arms as he fought before he reached level 10 and was saved by the dwarves. He couldn't bear living without arms and tried to commit suicide many times until the dwarves decided to give him prosthetic arms from scrapped golem experiments. The magical transformation was complete and the golem arms fused to Johnny's body.
Now, Johnny wielded his massive battle axe he got from the Primordial of Rage in his right hand and a massive dwarven steel battle axe in the other. His class change actually changed his body, making him over six feet tall and a muscular build to match. He no longer looked like the teenager he did before that struggled wielding a battle axe with both hands. Johnny also got the title: Destroyer Golem and was respected by the dwarves for his resilience while fusing his new arms and his prowess in battle afterwards.
"I know, I'm a badass," Johnny grinned as he saw Marcus stare at him. "I owe the dwarves a lot for giving me new arms. The place for you to mine the magical ores is up ahead."
Marcus, Johnny, and General Ogdal arrived in a large hall fit for giants with piles of ore veins to mine from. General Ogdal gave Marcus a special pickaxe to mine the veins of magical ore without damaging them. Johnny relaxed with the dwarf guards and listened to their war stories.
"Not good. Me scouts were supposed to arrive to switch rounds a while ago," General Ogdal frowned. "Oi! Sidel! Juggar! Go an' scout ahead and find me other scouts. Somethin' smells fishy and we dwarves hate fish."
Both dwarves saluted and quickly ran to the other end of the hall. Just as they were about to leave the hall, one of the missing scouts appeared and fell on the floor, evidence of several bites and claw marks destroying his armor. One of the dwarven scouts cursed and beheaded the dead dwarf with an axe.
"Chaos Beast!" the scout cried out in horror as a giant tentacle wrapped around the other scout and yanked him out the hall. Everyone else froze in shock as they heard a loud scream followed by the sounds of tearing of flesh and breaking of bones.
Juggar, the last scout, ran back and shouted, "Run! Run like ye lives are at stake! Run!"
The other side of the hall burst as a giant, tentacle boar entered the room. It was absolutely hideous. Impure planetary life force must have contaminated a boar, twisting its body and growing piles of crimson crystals over its body with giant black and crimson crystal tentacles coming from its rear. It was twenty feet tall and about thirty two feet long. Blood dripped from its mouth as another tentacle sprang forth and grabbed Juggar.
"Blasted boar!" General Ogdal roared. "Ye killed me nephew! On behalf of the Silver Hammer clan, I'll smash ye to a bloody pulp with me hammer!"
"Johnny," some of the guards nodded and followed General Ogdal, a tear falling down Johnny's face as he turned to grab Marcus.
"We need to go! NOW!" Johnny cried and grabbed Marcus by the waist and lifted him up like a sack of potatoes. "Where a Chaos Beast is, the infected Chaos monsters are sure to follow! We need to warn the kingdom to stay away from the mine!"
Sure enough, twisted forms of dead dwarves and the local wildlife in the mountains appeared behind the Chaos Beast. They ignored the dwarves as they heard the Chaos Beast howl. One of the guards locked the hall doors as Johnny dropped Marcus outside.
Johnny fought against fifteen of the infected as they escaped through the doors. They bit and clawed at him, but Johnny killed them all. As they were not a Chaos Beast, Johnny was not tainted.
"There must have been hundred of those things in there," Marcus panted.
"There was only one Chaos Beast," Johnny said silently as he led Marcus back to the kingdom. "General Ogdal will be fine, but some of the guards will die. I glimpsed the Chaos Beast's level. It was only a level 53 Chaos Beast. Probably newly turned too. General Ogdal is level 76. Even if Chaos Beast's are overpowered, they can't infect someone whose level is ten higher than theirs.Chaos Beasts usually travel in hordes just to kill and infect the weak. As it was just one, it must have been a scouting party. We got lucky. Some of the dwarves will come back home."
Marcus blanched as he didn't expect the stubborn old dwarf who yelled at him was so strong. If Marcus wasn't a hero of the Thousand, he would probably have been beaten to death by General Ogdal for being afraid of dark caves. True to Johnny's words, General Ogdal arrived back in the kingdom. Twelve of the thirty two guards and all four scouts died. General Ogdal said that the mine would be closed as it wasn't a victory even though the Chaos Beast was killed. The Chaos had a hive-like mentality. What one saw, the others saw. The dwarven mine would soon be overrun and all the veins of magical ore would be lost. It was huge loss.
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"Are you sure you don't want to go to Uzalga with the sailors?" Lana asked a day after the mine attack. "I'm glad you chose to stay here during your stay at Sea Wolf Cove. Not every day you meet a demon dragon Halfling."
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"Yeah," Odin laughed awkwardly. "Halfling...sure. I chose to stay for a while longer because of the coliseum. You mentioned many powerful warriors and monsters would be fighting in the arena. Could I somehow participate?"
"You can but your life would be forfeit," Lana said silently. "Most of the participants are usually prisoners who have broken the laws here. If you volunteer and survive, you may keep the monster core of the monsters you slayed in battle as well as a hundred gold coins or one mithril coin. There are many types of currencies, but the universal one is metal. 100 bronze coins is one silver coin. 100 silver coins is one gold coins. Lastly, 100 gold coins is one mithril coin. However, most people value a mithril coin more than one hundred coins as mithril is the lightest metal in the world and nearly indestructible. Only adamantium and dragon scales and bones can break mithril and both adamantium and dragon scales can break each other. The weird white chain mail shirt you wear is made of a mix of mithril and steel. However, it seems to be enchanted and is more durable than pure mithril. You must have known a powerful enchanter. If you can enchant items and sell it on the black market, your identity will remain anonymous and you can obtain some mithril coins."
"I am a hero of the Thousand and was given this chain mail shirt by the Baos Kingdom," Odin said. "I enchanted this chain mail shirt myself."
Lana looked at him, wide-eyed and said, "You should not mention that to others. Knowledge on runes is extremely rare and the runes on your mail shirt are so ancient that many of my people would kill for it. Not even the mention of a hero would give them pause to slay whoever owned that shirt or imprison whoever made the runes."
"High elves still value their runes after all this time. I used to be in one of their temples long ago. It's probably been centuries since the high elves disappeared and kept themselves hidden," Trillion mused. "Most of their race was forced to mix with wood elves. Wood elves were more physically gifted with warrior arts but were able to sense planetary life force and harness the power of life energy. She must be a mix. If so, her father, the wood elf, is her real father, but where is her mother? This girl might have high elven blood. I'm quite positive."
"A high elf?" Odin murmured silently.
"Do you still wish to go to the coliseum?" Lana asked. "You are a monster. I could see a bulge on your chest which must be a monster core. Don't tell anyone you are a monster. You might be taken as a highly prized slave as you can transform and a hero."
"I am a purple king slime," Odin said, staring at Lana. "Are you not afraid of me? I am a monster."
"No," she said softly. "You haven't harmed me or my father even though you are dangerous. As soon as my father and I heard of the sea bandit attack and saw the bulge under you shirt and chain mail, I knew that it was you who slayed them. Just be careful when you choose what kind of battle you want to participate in. If you get wet, the bulge will be more prominent. I suggest putting the core deeper in your body so that only a miniscule amount will show. I will wait for you to do so before I show you around the island. The coliseum fight starts in eight days. You should first familiarize yourself with the island and train in the eastern part of the island where the trolls live. No one would miss the disappearance of those menace."
Odin nodded and felt a tingling sensation as the purple crystal core went deeper into his body, almost touching the muscles near his spinal cord. He shook his body and wore a simple white shirt and light brown pants with his azure coat and white mithril chain shirt hidden underneath. Lana and Odin walked outside where Odin could see many wooden shacks lined up with the harbor up ahead. He followed Lana in the opposite direction of the harbor and up the hill. They passed by many decorated buildings made with interesting architectural designs.
"On the other side of the bridge is where the troll territory begins. Going there is suicide, but seeing as you are a monster, you should be able to see their mana strands and avoid going in the direction where they meet and become denser. Many trolls would be at the ends of those strands. The weakest trolls live near the bridge so you should start with killing them. Good luck. I will have my father sign you up for the tournament. It will cost some gold. What would you like your alias to be?" Lana asked. "You must also indicate whether you use warrior arts, spells, or both as well as what weapons you will use."
Odin paused momentarily as he considered his situation. Odin took out a black robe with silver seams and transferred the runes on his azure coat to the robe. He put on the black robe and stored the azure coat in his jacket. He tested the robe and could summon a gold shield and curved swords all over the exterior of his robes like spikes similar to when he had the runes on the azure coat. He thought about his class and about revealing his demonic ability over lightning and draconic ability over purple demon dragon fire. He then thought about his now indestructible robe and mithril chain mail shirt and his overpowered strength and massive HP.
"How about The Witch Blade?" Odin asked. "It's a nice alias and fits my true fighting style well. I will use demon lightning and demonic dragon fire. I can create a golem, but I don't intend to use such a slow minion and it is quite restraining to cast with such a high price. Say that I use a lance just in case but I will most likely use my fists. I don't wish to reveal that I am a hero. As for a shield....I don't plan on using it anymore. I am a Witch Knight. I might not be restricted in what weapon I can wield seeing that I can use these curved sword runes. Say that I am aspiring to defeat the Witch King. That'll get a few laughs."
"You are definitely more than you seem Odin," Lana smiled. "I will do as you have asked. I do agree on the shield. It is quite restrictive, but your coat has a shield rune so I do not need to report that you require a shield as it is made from a rune. Be careful fighting among the trolls. They are highly territorial and travel in packs. If they smell enough blood, they will hoard upon you."
"Oh, I'll be careful," Odin said menacingly as he took out Hex Lance. "I need to practice using my curved sword runes on my robe and will use my shield rune id need be. I just need to know one thing. Do they have monster cores?"
"They do have monster cores, but the life energy in them is rather weak. They always convert the life energy they have to expand their muscles and become stronger. Anyone of them can crush a rock into dust. Do not let them grab you," Lana said. "Good luck. See you in eight days in front of the coliseum."
"Finally, time hunt prey and feast upon them. Troll flesh is delicious. Trust me. I've eaten a lot of that race while I was alive. It is indeed strengthened by life energy and have very weak monster cores. You have proven the efficiency of your training over the effortless slaughter over the sea bandits. You are the Avatar of Beasts and will now hunt like one. Kill them all Odin. KILL THEM ALL!" Trillion roared with bloodlust. "Leave none alive!"