“Stall!”
Wallace, Lucas, and Mark rushed towards the goblin duo. Lucas ducked under the howl of a giant sword cutting the air above, and dived away from a downward slash that shattered the stone floor. Arrowed peppered the face and neck of the warrior as Mark lunged close and piercing through a part of its heel. The warrior raised its sword but Wallace let out a sharp yelp, and the warrior’s sword held high as it wobbled slightly in a daze.
Fire crashed into its body, spurring a roaring flail from its lull. Lucas charged through the thrashing and falling flames his swords glowing white and slashes deep into the unprotected back of its knee. A shout of victory was met the goblin highpriest raising its staff and the fire snuffed out, the burns and cuts healing in moments.
An arrow filled with power soared towards the highpriest’s head as was cut short by a bark shield that materialized in mid air. The three melee players darted around the warrior, slashing, thrusting, and hacking away as they dodged its lethal swings. Lynn encircled the giant, loosing powerful arrows at the highpriest and was blocked every time. Between casting its shield, its staff glowed yellow and the warrior’s wounds healed faster that they appeared.
“Kill the priest!”
“I can’t!” Lynn yelled back. “It never stops using skills!”
Wallace glanced at the great goblin tree in between slowed fighting, leaves falling off its branches one by one, and back to the highpriest cackling in elated arrogance. “Fire on the tree!”
“I don’t have much more!”
“Just do it!”
Zoya gathered swirling flames and blasted the tree. Fire engulfed its bark and branches, its sneer falling into a low wail. But just as quickly as the fire spread, it snuffed out with a cascade of blood. The tree’s thick roots swallowed up something in large gulps and its charred body restored to pristine health, its sneer returning.
“The priest won’t let it work!”
Before anyone could suggest a plan, the warrior broke into a charge straight for the evoker, ignoring all damage and wounds inflicted on it. Zoya froze as the giant monster bounded upon her and brought down a towering sword. The clang of metal boomed throughout the temple as sword struck Tawny’s shield. The stone cracked and caved under her feet and the weight of the blow strained her body, but she stood tall and pushed the sword off to the side.
“Wallace!”
The troubadour’s eye’s sharpened and he let up an energizing war chant. Power surged through the battlepriest’s body as the warrior raised its sword with a lean and brought it down again. This ground shattered even more but this time Tawny didn’t budge an inch. Lucas and Mark sliced through the back of its legs and Lynn relentless shot arrow after arrow at the highpriest, giving it no time to heal.
Shin watched the party fight, well coordinated and effective as the rare elite duo struggled, slowly whittling down, then glanced at the falling leaves of the goblin tree. Victorious shouts of encouragement and grit filled the temple as much as the roars. It was going poorly.
The party had gotten lost in the sight of victory, failing to see their attacks were steadily being undone. Barely a tenth of the leaves had fallen but sweat and exhaustion were already visible on the players. Their mana and stamina would expire long before their opponents. Not even the old schemer seemed to have fully come to terms with that. And that would lead to the other problem. Shin hopped over to the side of the evoker.
“Hit the warrior again.”
“What?”
“They’re gonna lose.” Nor appeared at Shin’s side. “You’re running out of time.”
The evoker hesitated, doubt and anxiety conflicting within her. But ultimately she held out her hands and fire swirled in.
“Kill the priest.”
“Aye!” Nor burst forward, wind on his back, as fire crashed into the warrior. The highpriest’s attention jolted from his defense against the incessant arrows and raised its staff, and a slash of a scythe lodged into the bark shield it just barely managed to erect. Nor darted around the warrior, its claws finding footing in its bark like armor, tail scythe slashing at the highpriest from all angles.
Fire continued to rage on the warrior as the goblin priest frantically tried to douse the flames in spurts between the blades and arrows raining down on it. A desperate roar made it linger its attention just an instant too long, and an arrow struck the back of its skull. The highpriest fell limp and dropped off the warrior’s shoulders.
The now unhindered attacks ate through the giant goblin’s legs until they gave out. The warrior collapsed to the floor and a whirling wheel sliced through its exposed neck, shallow at first but deeper the second time and with the third dug into its throat. The party stayed their weapons and jumped back as the warrior choked on its own blood, the stone floor beneath it quickly painting red.
“Tree!” Wallace yelled back at Zoya.
The evoker inhaled and cast fire at the goblin tree, engulfing it in flames once more. The warrior’s movements slowed to a limp and the tree let out deep wails as the leaves burned away. And then it cackled. Blood poured from its back and leaves, dousing the fire. Giant roots broke through the stone floor and swallowed the goblin duo below. The tree began to shift and fold into itself. A second fireball as doused with blood again. The party watched in a daze as the tree morphed into a giant body of flesh and wood, the highpriest’s face emerging on the giant goblin’s forehead, eyes blank and mouth agape, a deformed goblin face growing from the wooden torso of the giant goblin, and stretched into a sneer.
[Great Goblin Tree Champion (rare) - Greater Peasant]
With a rugged shriek the champion rampaged towards the evoker. Shin fled as the creature barrelled over, ignoring all attempts of the party to halt its charge. The evoker stood still, her face fallen into despair as the arm of the champion morphed into a club and smashed her to paste.
“Noooo!” Lynn yelled as she shot arrow after arrow that burst into flames on the champion body. The highpriest’s eyes shone and the flames snuffed out.
“Fire paper!” Wallace shouted at Shin.
Shin drew a single one and threw it at the giant chasing after the archer. One at a time, sparingly, and from a distance, Shin threw talismans at barely effective areas. The champion faltered but bound its focus on the archer. The archer nocked another arrow but mana fizzled out around the tip. She gritted her teeth and shot a bare arrow and then another, determined to kill the vile creature one way or another. She took aim again and her foot caught on a broken stone tile. She tripped to the ground and before she fully realized what happened, a wooden axe cleaved through half her body. The champion turned to the rest of the party with a sneer full of malice.
Mark sprinted away, towards one of the large torches on the wall. He reached out his hand and the floor fell from under him, his cries cut off from the trap door snapping back up. The highpriest’s face broke into a mad cackle overflowing with mockery at the devastated faces on the remaining party.
Shin grabs the healer, having moved to the back without anyone noticing, and throws him over to the rest of the party. A white fox masked warrior appeared by his side, swords drawn. The party stared in shock as they inspected the summon.
“Fight it or fight both.” A sword and axe found Shin’s hands as he casually handed out the ultimatum.
Wallace let out two more war chants on himself and Lucas, looking worn for it. “Tawny up front! Georgie keep us alive!”
The three remaining combatants gritted their teeth through frayed emotions and faced down the champion. Tawny dodged an axe cleaving into the ground and a club slammed into her shield, sending her skidding away on her feet. A booming shout knocked the champion off balance enough for a third strike to miss wide. Lucas sliced through a chunk of the warrior’s arm and dived away from the retaliation. He looked back to see the two wounds heal in moments, and clicked his teeth.
The champion tensed into a crouch then leapt high into the air. Tawny scrambled away as it fell down towards her, the shockwave of the impact knocking her to to the ground. She rose to her feet and a club smashed clean into her. Her body crashed into the wall and fell to the floor, broken and unmoving.
“Tawny!” The curer cried as he ran without thinking.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Stop, you fool!” No sooner had Wallace’s words landed that the club did too, splattering the priest into paste.
Lucas sprinted straight towards Shin, face twisted in anger. “You die first!” With a cry full of hate he slashed down at Shin and his two swords met Inari’s. She flourished the swords away and kicked him in his chest, sending him skidding across the ground. He looked up just in time to see the giant foot crush him. Shin glanced to the side at the old man who had used this time to position himself at the back with him, just 20 yards way, holding a purple vial.
“Use your summon or we both die!” A desperate threat and one Shin abided. Inari sped off towards the boss while Nor remained, facing off against the old bard with Shin.
“You think you’re good enough to take me, you little shit!” Wallace spat.
“Yeah.”
Wallace inhaled and Shin dove to the side, avoiding the tunnel shaped shockwave of his booming voice, throwing an axe as he went. Wallace swatted it away and ducked under the sudden slash of Nor’s tail. Two axes bore down on the airborn sickle weasel and were lightly deflected by its claws, digging his tail into the ground as footing. Wallace leaned back avoiding the arrow out of the corner of his eye and Nor brought himself down to the ground, lunging into a whirlwind.
Wallace sidestepped the wheel and jolted again, but an arrow struck his shoulder. Three fluttering talismans set off, burning the top right side of him. He hit the ground in a crouch, as a sickle wheel flew over him, and burst towards Shin. A purple vial appeared in his hand and an arrow pierced his wrist.
“Ha!” Wallace threw a large cloth pellet with his other hand hidden behind him.
The black ball burst into smoke as it struck the ground, filling their area of the temple. Under cover of smoke, Wallace let out a booming shout, blasting it clear, exposing Shin mid jump to the side. Wallace’s arm was already cocked back, the purple vial switched over. With a mad smile of victory, a scythe cleaved through his neck from his blindspot. Blood spurt from his neck and his body collapsed as his head rolled across the ground, mad smile still etched on his face.
[Achievement reached - Apostle Slayer I. 25 attribute points rewarded.]
‘Slay an apostle of a god.’
[Befriend Spirit has reached lvl. 10. 50 Attribute Points rewarded.]
“A worthy foe, Sir Shin!” Nor landed by Shin’s feet. “I should like more of them!”
“Better one over there.” Shin glanced over, his focus moving away from the patron backed player.
The battle of rares raged fiercely. Inari darted around, easily avoiding the champion’s strikes, slicing deep wounds all over. But the champion endured and healed itself just as fast, its bark armor body preventing easy lethal wounds. She spat trickfire on its face and again the goblin boss countered its attacks, the fire quickly douses with blood.
An arrow coated with fire talismans strike the highpriest’s face and set ablaze. While the champion lurched, Inari shot Shin a look. He stored his bow and adopted a casual stance.
“Ha ha! She walks the path of knighthood after all!”
The fire dispelled and the arrow pushed out, as the highpriest’s face healed back to full. Inari continued her solitary battle, now targeting the same wounds and areas instead of cutting wherever she found herself. The champion spun around with its weapon morphed arms, and the white fox weaved through them, slicing away at its heels deeper each time.
The champion tensed and jumped, aiming to squash the pestering spirit under foot. But the white fox took to the air in steps and watching the giant fall, its flailing falling short of her. The champion shattered the floor as it landed, and its half severed foot broke horribly, sending it crashing to a knee.
Inari spit grayish blue flames on the giant once again. The eyes of the priest glowed but the flames leapt off the giant’s body and into her shining swords. A white figure blurred and Inari buried her weapons into the face of the priests and slashed away, inflicting the fires upon the champion again.
She jumped back as two morphed weapons slammed into one another above the giant’s head, and slashed through the corners of the goblin head’s mouth, spitting more fire inside. The champion flailed as the fire raged across its body and smoke rose out of its mouth and nose. Still, Inari did not relent, slashing away at its neck, deeper and deeper until it severed it through.
The giant goblin’s head rolled away in a spasm, fire doused and its wounds still healing. The flaming body’s flails grew weaker and weaker until fire quelled its movements entirely. Inari walked to the half healed priest face and raised her sword.
“Fool… trees… save us… protect us… you freed it… cursed… beast… agony… you die…”
A sword ended the words of the face with a mocking sneer and the temple shook. The roots that lined the walls withered away revealing images of fierce wolves killing goblins and at the back, a painted wall of a black wolf trapping by roots as surrounding goblins cheer.
[Giant Tree Goblin Champion (rare) - Greater Peasant]
Strength - 363
Agility - 128
Constitution - 345
Vitality - 302
Dexterity - 249
Perception - 195
Force - 126
Spirit - 197
Control - 146
Willpower - 201
Skills:
Slash lvl. 10, Dispel lvl. 10, Crash lvl. 10, Greater Lunge lvl. 10, Blood Dousing lvl. 10,
Traits:
Barkhide (epic), Regeneration (epic), Green Blood (rare), Greater Photosynthesis (rare), Lesser Poison Resistance (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare),
[Summon Mystic Kitsune Guardian has reached lvl 7.]
[Achievement reached. Dungeon Conqueror I. 25 attribute points rewarded. 25 bonus attribute points rewarded.]
A searing pain on the back of Shin’s hand interrupted his focus on the points. Body Supremacy did nothing to stifle the feeling, reminding Shin of the weakness he felt from his uncontrolled eyes at the start of the tutorial. Withstanding it was left to his own will, but that was more than enough for such a small matter. A symbol carved itself out on Shin’s hand, vertical squares connected at a point with a three pronged line straight through it. It finished in mere seconds and the pain subsided. Shin took inventory of himself then tilted his hand around, starting at the mark.
[Brand of the Reviled]
Identify told him nothing but the name. By Shin’s best guess, it was a curse of some kind but there was nothing that told him what he caused exactly. Inari rushed over immediately and grabbed his hand, her demeanor a bit frantic as she deliberated what to do before coating his hand with holy fire. It might not be as effective as normal magical fire but it charred his skin all the same, the mark unaffected. Inari cancelled the golden flames and her panic increased.
“It’s okay.” Shin consoled her as he used Cure Wounds to fix the burn marks. “We’ll figure it out later.”
“I’ll call you later, Nor.”
“Till the next duel!” Nor bid him farewell as he disappeared. The fighting was over and the sickle weasel was expensive to keep up.
Shin continued to heal as he walked towards the eight chests that appeared in the center of the room, Inari following meekly behind. Shin noted the number of chests matching the number that entered the temple before opening the first unceremoniously. Light shone up and a black shield too large to fit in the chest materialized, floating in place. The shield a dull shiny black of rugged make with a red painting of a goblin face stylized to be more frightening than the actual creatures.
[Obsidian Goblin Shield - Rare]
‘Passive: Lesser Fear Resistance.’
Shin grabbed the shield and it crashed to the ground. Shin attempted to lift it before conceding and storing it away. It was heavy, very heavy. He estimated he needed at least double his current strength to even hold it steady, let alone wield it effectively.
The second chest bore the same effect as the first, shining light and an item floating above.
[Rapid Ironbark Vest - Rare]
‘Active Skill: Quicken.’
‘Double the user’s speed.’
Shin equipped the torso armor which adjusted in size to fit him. It was relatively light, enough that it wouldn’t slow him down. More importantly, Shin felt an option in the back of his mind. He activated it and burst into action, his body blurring as his shadowboxed and darted around. The test lasted only seconds as he got what he needed. The skill doubled his speed, an immense boon. However, it drained his mana rapidly, much more than even Nor. He zipped over to the next chest.
[Vermillian Helm - Rare]
‘Passive: Minor Fire Resistance.’
Shin stored the bloodred metal helm without a second look.
[Ring of Improved Healing - Rare]
‘Improves the efficacy of healing abilities twofold.’
Shin equipped it on his right index finger. The effects were immediate and obvious, living up to the twofold promise.
[Vermillian Daggers - Rare]
‘Active Skill: Hemorrhage.’
Shin equipped and slashed around his daggers, foot long curved blades the same color as the helm. They weighed about 16 or 17 lbs each, quite heavy for daggers but 50 strength was good enough to wield them moderately well it seemed. The hemorrhage skill made inflicted wounds bleed faster but he would have to test that later.
[Elm Longbow - Rare]
‘Active Skill: Aircutter.’
‘Wraps sharp wind around an arrow to increase its piercing power.’
Shin stored his daggers and equip the bow. Light enough to aim properly, he found by waving it around. An arrow appeared in his hand and he nocked and aimed, but his arms trembled halfway. He tensed his muscles, being bulging across his arms until he finally stopped. A stronger bow was great but he lacked the strength to even fully draw this one.
[Obsidian Macana - Rare]
‘Passive: Repairs damage through absorbing blood.’
Shin held up the club sword the system called a macana though it bore a strong resemblance to an aztec macahuitl. It was a flat wooden club shaped like a long oar head with a short handle. Razor sharp rectangular black blades protruded from the sides of the club with small spaces in between. It was a weapon meant to saw enemies rather than slash or chop, if Shin recalled correctly. Shin waved it around. The wooden base meant it was light enough for him to use. It didn’t say active skill either, which meant he could repair damage without expending resources. He stored the macana and headed for the last chest.
[Spirit Sealing Jar - Rare]
‘Contains and suppresses mortal spirits up to rare tier.’
If the qualities of the players affected the items granted, this one would be his, Shin figured. He wasn’t quite sure how to use it though. He could only bond with one spirit at a time, skill attached spirits not withstanding. He had no desire to imprison spirits either, though he supposed it could be used against an enemy spirit as a last resort.
Shin threw his newly gained 125 attribute points into Spirit bring the total to 391, and stored the jar. He then hopped between the bodies of the party, rummaging with their gear and spatial bags. He acquires a greater stock of potions and rations, a few upgrades to replace his gear, and from the old bard an uncommon tier axe with the Chop active skill and that vial of uncommon tier purple poison. He glanced over to Inari who still looked down.
“It’s okay.” Shin repeated, showing Inari his healed hand. “Let’s go.”
Inari followed, her body language perking up as Shin headed towards the exit portal at the back of the temple strewn with blood and corpses, feeling rather content.