Wraith made his way through the forest, following the rough dirt path indicated on the map. Since the map was given by a goblin, the quality was terrible. In some places the dirt road, which was barely visible in the first place, would disappear altogether. When he got to these places, he would be forced to head off-trail, based on the relative position of the trail as indicated by the map. Even though he also kept an eye out for the landmarks on the map, it was still a very difficult trek.
Several times he had to turn back because he got lost. I should have gotten a compass from him before I left, he thought to himself. He regretted not getting more supplies before heading off on this journey, as it was his first real adventure. Even worse was the fact that the trail he was following was ending and he would have to make his way only by following the few landmarks that were plotted on the map. Even taking into account all these issues he still made good time getting there.
It had taken the entire day but he judged himself to be about two-thirds of the way there already. It would be several hours more until he reached his destination. He could try to make his way there at night, but given the lack of light and the fact that monsters would start to wake up, he needed to find a place to bunker down for the night.
He searched for a place to hide out and take shelter. He was looking for a cave or even a hollowed tree to take refuge in, but there didn't appear to be anything like that. As he was looking he happened to find a lake. It wasn't particularly large, but the water was fresh and clean so he walked over to take a break and fill his canteen.
While he was filling his canteen he felt an uncomfortable tingle on the back of his neck. He slowly got up and turned around. Just a few metres away from him stood a young woman in, what he judged to be, her twenties. She was looking at him with glowing yellow eyes. Although he was in a fantasy game, he had to admit that they were eerie. Beautiful, but eerie all the same. How she got so close without making a sound? How could she be so deeply in the forest all by herself? He at least had a reason for being here, she shouldn't have one.
“Hello, my name is Wraith. Who might you be?” he asked warily. His gaze flickered from her long black hair tied in a high ponytail which reached the middle of her back, to her dark leather outfit covering her dusky skin. She was slender and seemed to be unassuming, but the tattoos on her face and the back of her arms coupled with her unique eyes gave the impression of a fierce predator.
Her lips curved up slowly into a smile. “Hello to you as well, my name is Daciana.” She walked over to him, her footsteps not making a single sound. “So tell me, Wraith, are you lost?”
“No,” Wraith said with a slight frown on his face, “why would you assume that?”
She gave a low throaty chuckle. Wraith felt his cheeks redden. She was the first woman he had met that was so, sensual, for lack of a better word. The way she carried herself, coupled with her voice, her face, and figure, went far beyond the beauty of any woman he ever met in real life. “Forgive me if I was wrong, I just didn't expect you to come to this dangerous area on purpose.”
“So then what might you be doing here? Would I be correct in assuming that you yourself are lost?” asked Wraith.
She laughed once again, “no, I know exactly where I am and how dangerous it is. It's just that nothing here can harm me.”
Though Wraith was tempted to test her strength, he had a feeling that her strength was very real and palpable. Though he was taken in by Ayrsted's false strength, her spirit had a depth and density that he didn't feel from Ayrsted.
“So tell me then, what are you doing here?” she asked him.
“I'm looking for the location where the Queen of the Hunt is holding her tournament.”
She froze when she heard this. Her eyes opened wide she asked him in disbelief, “do you know what you're getting yourself into? What could you possibly hope do when you get there?”
“I plan to take part in it,” he told her, showing her the amulet.
“You wish to participate?” she asked incredulously. “Are you some kind of fool or do do you have a death-wish?”
“Since I plan to win, neither would apply to me,” he told her.
The initial shock and disbelief she had in her eyes turned to grudging respect. After being silent for a while she lifted her hand and pointed towards a grouping of trees. “Head through there for a couple hundred metres and you'll come to a small cabin. You can stay there for the night. In the morning, just walk straight out of the doorway. Do you have a map?” he nodded and handed it over for her to look at. “If you keep walking in the right direction you'll eventually come to a cliff. It's marked on your map so you can make your own way from there.”
“Thank you,” he told her, as she walked away from him.
Before she got too far away, he called out and asked her, “Daciana, are you the Queen of the Hunt?” It was an obvious question to ask. From her eyes he had already guessed that she was a type of monster, a fairly powerful one as well based on her aura and her human form.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, an amused look on her face. “No, I'm not her. When you see her, you won't need to ask that question.” With that she kept walking until was swallowed up by the trees.
Wraith watched her leave, disappointed that she wasn't the Queen. He then made his way in the direction she pointed out. By sundown he had reached the cabin, so he turned in for the night.
The next day he left the cabin early so that he could be in time for the tournament. After walking for two hours he finally reached the cliff. With this landmark he determined the direction he had to go in. He marched his was through the woods, hiking up the hills, making his way through the bushes and bramble, until he came to a cave. The mouth of the cavern was enormous, big enough to be host to a dragon's lair. The stalactites and stalagmites rising from the floor and the ceiling of the cave made it look like a real mouth.
It was a scary sight, warning him off and away. Since he couldn't turn back at this point, he ventured in. He walked deeper into the cave, avoiding the large cracks and upraised ledges on the uneven floor. He moved cautiously, keeping an eye out for hidden dangers. Since no system messages popped up when he entered the cave, he realized that it wasn't a dungeon. It was a small blessing, since dungeons held monsters that were stronger than those in the wild.
The cave sloped down, continuing for several hundred metres underground. When the slope finally levelled out he found himself in an enormous chamber about a kilometre in diameter. When he stepped inside he counted about one hundred different creatures. There were all sorts of species there. There were humanoid lizardmen and goblins, large beasts like wolves, demonic creatures, the undead, and a whole host of other creatures in all shapes and sizes.
All these creatures were endowed with heightened senses, so when he noticed them, they also noticed him. The first to note his presence was a goblin that was standing close-by. “It's a human, a human, a human! Kill him, kill him, kill him!” the goblin chattered, alerting the other creatures before launching itself at him.
This goblin was larger than usual, but it's brain was still the same. It launched a simplistic attack by bringing the axe overhead and smashing it down on his head. Though it was a simple pattern, the speed and power of the goblin more than made up for it. While the goblin was still in the air and started bringing the axe down, Wraith reached up with both hands, mindful of the danger of having them cut off. He grabbed the handle of the axe near the top of the shaft and pulled it and the goblin with him. He twisted around in a complete revolution and threw the goblin back where it came from.
While the rest of the creatures were stunned temporarily, he reached into his pocket and took out the amulet shouting, “I've come here to take on the challenge!” The creatures that witnessed all this unfold were stupefied at the appearance of this human, who they initially thought to be frail and weak, little more than a child in their eyes. In the span of just a few seconds, he quickly dissuaded them of that thought, and set himself up as a worthy contender.
In reality this was all a clever ploy by Wraith. He could tell that everyone else there were considerably stronger than him in terms of pure stats and levels. Had the goblin taken a different approach to battle, there was a more than likely chance that Wraith would have been cut in half instead.
The only advantage that Wraith held over them was his intelligence. Instead of fighting hard, he would have to fight smart. Making them think that he was strong was a means to that end. Of course this wasn't entirely successful. Some of the monsters there wanted to kill him anyway. Wraith grimly took his stance, prepared to defend himself.
As they roared, fury and bloodlust rising in their voices, preparing to charge at him, a voice thundered out, “SILENCE!”
The sound thundered throughout the cavern, quelling all thoughts of conflict. Wraith and the other creatures traced the origin of the voice to a ledge high up on the cavern wall. Straining his eyes, Wraith could make out a figure. It was humanoid and definitely female. He noted long, dark hair and a fur-trimmed mantle over a form-fitting dress. He peered closer at her face, and was stunned to discover that it was Daciana.
Although she looked every bit as human as him save for the eyes, the monsters looked upon her with fear and respect. Although she may not have been the Queen, she was definitely ranked high in the hierarchy.
When she had everyone's attention she poke again. “There are enough of you here that we can start the tournament. The Queen,” she said while gesturing to a figure behind her, cloaked by the shadows, “will watch and judge your abilities. The only rule you have to abide by is to survive,” she told them with a dark smile on her face. “That's right, this will be a no-holds barred battle royale. The last one standing can inherit the Queen's power.”
Both Wraith and the creatures were stunned by her pronouncement. Dammit! These monsters are all at the very least a hundred levels above me, I could have done something about it if it were one-on-one, but in this sort of situation fighting head-on would kill me. There's only one way to win. It may not be honourable but screw it. Like she said, all that matters is winning.
The best way to win a battle, was to have someone else fight it for you. Fortunately, most of the creatures were of reasonably low intelligence, so he expected them to fight the closest opponent to them, without a plan other than defeating the enemy before them.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Fight!” Daciana shouted at them. At that, the cavern devolved into chaos. In a matter of a few seconds just about every creature was fighting. Wraith was the only one that drew back, hidden by rocks and shadows. He started watching the flow of the battle, identifying the strongest creatures and noting the distribution of the fighters.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Once he had enough information he left the safety of the darkness, and silently moved in. He left the strongest monsters alone, letting them trim down the numbers and fight amongst themselves. Instead he went for those in the middle in terms of strength and levels. They would take care of other monsters of a similar level and also get rid of the weaker ones.
He saw a skeleton fighting a small group of goblins. Although there were four goblins against the skeleton, they were still losing. Wraith made his way behind the skeleton and struck it's upper arm, or at least the bone where it was supposed to be, with a high left kick. The kick only did a small amount of damage, but it served to weaken it slightly. He then followed up with a sweeping right kick and sent the skeleton crashing to the ground.
Once this was done, he jumped back and moved on, letting the goblins attack it instead. Although the skeleton would make it's way back up, the goblins could inflict a fair amount of damage while it was still down.
He kept moving, elbowing a lizardman in an injury on his stomach, striking a bear on the head to stun it for a second, and sending a barrage of blows on several creatures, all designed to stun, trip or weaken them slightly. He never spent enough time to fully capture his opponent's attention, and never gave any killing blows.
After five minutes the number of combatants had been cut in half. Even though Wraith tried to avoid strong blows, a series of glancing blows had shaved off about twenty percent of his health. He also gained a level, which surprised him. Although he only struck once or twice on each creature, since they had such high levels, they brought him up to level three.
With fewer enemies he moved onto the second step of his plan. He sought out creatures that fought with magic or summoned spirits. These were monsters that he actively went to kill. They were already injured quite a bit and had used up most of their mana so they were relatively easy to fight. As they also lacked melee combat skills, he could fight them without worry.
In the entire group there were only about ten such creatures. After a couple of well placed strikes he took down a skeleton mage. It was the most powerful among the magic-wielding fighters, but as it was unable to use its true skills it died quickly.
Instead of staying there and drawing attention to himself, he slipped past the other creatures still fighting and attacked a demonic creature. It truly did look like a demon. It had scarlet, leathery skin and two large black horns jutting from its forehead. It had eyes that were entirely black and slits in place of its nostrils.
Unlike the skeleton mage, this monster used its mana efficiently so it still had a good chunk left. When it saw Wraith, it opened its mouth to chant a spell. Seeing this, Wraith sprinted the last three metres and threw a punch straight at its mouth. He knew that if he let it cast even a basic spell, he would probably die instantly.
The monster, cut off so suddenly, failed in activating the spell and caused a mana reflux. It did some damage and wasted some of its mana. Wraith then kept attacking the creature. He aimed solely at the face, the throat and the stomach. After a series of jabs and kneeing it, the monster finally died, giving Wraith another level.
He proceeded to do this for the remaining creatures. Though they were weaker than the demonic beast they gave him multiple level-ups, though he couldn't assign any stats while in combat. As he looked around, he saw that there were only about twenty opponents left.
These were the stronger monsters, so he couldn't go after them blindly. Fortunately they were also spread out across the cavern so he wouldn't get mobbed by them. This was the final and most dangerous part of the plan, and the one that required the most fighting.
By this point everyone in the cavern was severely injured. Wraith went after the ones that were on the ground and bleeding, trying to catch their breath and recover. He first went after a wolf he saw lying on the ground. Unlike regular wolves it was enormous. It was even larger than a horse.
Although its left front leg was broken, and there were numerous gashes across its body, it was still a dangerous foe. Wraith slowly made his way over towards it. When the wolf noticed him, it growled deep in its throat. It was a warning. It was telling him “come over here if you want to get your head ripped off.”
Wraith was scared, but it wasn't the debilitating kind of fear that freezes you up and makes you want to soil yourself. It was the kind of fear that gets your heart racing and sends a cold sweat trickling down your back. Wraith's stomach felt as if it was twisting and his lungs felt as if they were starving for air.
With one bite it could snap me in two. Wraith couldn't help but think of the worst, but for now he put those thoughts out of his mind and calmed himself before the fight. When he moved into its range, the wolf lifted its head and lunged for him, jaws wide open, each tooth almost the size of his hand.
Its agility and strength were all reduced by its injuries, so while Wraith could probably dodge the attack by a hairs-breadth, he took a risk and punched instead. His left arm twisted as it extended, the weight of his body thrown behind it.
If he missed it would mean the loss of his arm at the very least. The distance between his fist and the wolf's jaw shortened, but his arm was on the right path. It crashed into the wolf's sensitive nose, the power amplified by the wolf's own charge towards it.
The wolf howled in pain and fury. The strike had caused its head to be thrown back, so Wraith took advantage of it. He moved even closer and twisted his body back around, building power as he lifted his leg up and slammed his knee straight into the Wolf's unprotected throat.
Critical hit!
The howl cut off abruptly as the wolf started choking. It was slowly losing Hp. Wraith jumped back just as it started thrashing around, hitting it with solid kicks and punches whenever it came too close. Soon it dropped to the ground, and Wraith watched as the light dimmed from its once fearsome eyes.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Defeating the monster gave him an enormous amount of experience. He looked around searching for enemies while catching his breath. Unlike his fight which, due to him being so cautious and careful, was prolonged to almost ten minutes, the other fights ended quickly.
Now besides himself, there were only two other monsters standing. One was an ogre with a large spiked club, easily eight feet tall with dull grey skin. It was shouting at him, “me smash you puny human! You go splat on Gorg's club!” The other was a wyrm. A wyrm was a distant relative of wyverns. Unlike its more intelligent flying counterparts, wyrms were simple and land-bound. They were barely twelve metres from head to tail with dull brown scales.
This time they were coming straight for him, charging from opposite sides. Since fighting just one monster was exhausting, trying to take both of them on at the same time would be tantamount to attempting suicide.
As they were coming closer, he only had one option left. He would have to dance between the two, making them fight each other. This could only work because of their low intelligence. Instead of moving, he stayed in place and tensed his legs, prepared to leap. He taunted the two of them, “so tell me, what's worse, being an ugly lizard or a stupid oversized gorilla?”
The wyrm hissed and growled with rage. The ogre shouted, “Gorg not stupid! Gorg break you and show Gorg smart!”
The wyrm lunged at him, trying to bite him, while the ogre brought his club down with all his might. This was what Wraith was waiting for. At the last moment he leaped to the side, letting the club fall squarely on the wyrm's head. It dealt a massive amount of damage to the wyrm and to Wraith. Although he escaped the brunt of the force, the spikes scratched his back. Even that small graze brought his Hp to forty percent.
The ogre lifted his club up, and the wyrm lifted his head up still dazed by the blow. The ogre looks around asking, “where you go human? Gorg will find human,” he told himself. Right after he had dodged, Wraith made his way behind the wyrm hiding himself behind its body.
By now the wyrm had shaken off it's confusion, and though its Hp was dangerously low it still threw itself at the ogre and snapped at its throat. The ogre gurgled when its throat was bitten into, blood filling up his mouth. It brought its club down on the wyrm, hitting it down.
The weakened wyrm went down, and after two more blows from the enraged ogre it was dead. The ogre brought one hand up against the bleeding, the other still gripping its club. During this furious exchange, Wraith around so that he was directly behind the ogre, already anticipating the winner.
With the ogre's stamina depleted, he succumbed easily to Wraith's powerful right kick. Wraith dashed to safety as the ogre fell backwards onto the cave floor, his arm falling off his neck and his club. Wraith walked up beside the ogre's head. As he said, “goodbye ugly,” he lifted his left leg high into the air and brought it down onto the ogre's neck.
After a fresh spray of blood into the air, the ogre's Hp, which was already in the single digits went to zero.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Breathing deeply, he watched the corpse turn grey and disappear. He wiped the drops of the ogres warm, dark blood from his cheeks and turned his head up to the ledge Daciana and the Queen were watching from.
Daciana looked down at him, an impressed smile across her face. She said, “well done warrior. Though you may be human, you've proven your worth. Take the stairs up here to see the Queen.”
Below the ledge he saw an opening the size of a doorway carved into the wall, the stairs inside it leading upwards. After he gathered the dropped loot he made his way up the stairs, eager to see what rewards lay in store for him.
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