Volume 2 Chapter 2
The Most Dangerous Game
Sarah, the elvish summoner, came to the capital city of the kingdom of Itsoeu for one reason, to head east. She got wind of a rumor that the first user to discover and enter a city gains mountains of fame. Fame determined the level of quests one could easily get, so the more fame one had, the faster one could get strong. Sarah started an account with her sisters and they were competing with one another to see who could become the strongest. Sarah had obtained an impressive level of 130, but was still behind her sisters. Itsoeu Kingdom was the easternmost kingdom of the center on the continent, centered between an extensive mountain range that extended north and south, the city was a gateway to the unexplored east. It was know that the north was too cold to explore, the south too dangerous, and the west had many people ahead of her, so she decided on taking the east. However when she arrived at the capital city, she discovered why the east remained unexplored. Itsoeu's neighboring kingdom to the east, Palmer, had its borders shut. According to what she had learned, it had a no outsiders law to prevent criminals from ever entering. Itsoeu kingdom had a treaty with Palmer that required Itsoeu to prevent any person without Palmer citizenship from entering the kingdom.
Her only option was to go around the Kingdom of Palmer, but that would take a minimum of four months. She didn't know what to do but she had to do something, so she got a job. Sarah found a job at the local Sorcerer's shop. Being a summoner she knew the uses of most of the items, and being a beautiful elf, she attracted customers back to the shop. Shortly after coming to the city, she found a quaint restaurant that served delicious food at a good price. It quickly became her favorite restaurant. Everyday after work, she would walk down a narrow street, giving a coin to the old man who sat there, and make her way to the somewhat hidden dinner.
One day after work, she saw a group of warriors beating up the old man. "Hey! Quit it!" The group dispersed and she went to check on the old man. The man said, "thank you young one," before looking up and recognizing that it was the elf who always gave him a silver coin when she passed him by. "Ahh, its you. I'm sorry to do this but I don't have much time left. I must ask you to do something for my friends." She asked, "Your friends?" He answered, "They died long ago, but their souls do not rest in peace. I sense you have power of the spirits within you, will you listen to my tale?" She could sense what this was leading up to, and quickly and calmly answered, "Yes, of course."
He began his story, "Long ago I was an adventurer. My friends and I explored together, fought together, and partied together." He looked like he was enjoying his reminiscing, but then his face turned to despair. "During a great battle, we were injured and took refuge inside a crevice in the shadow of a rock, twenty five miles southeast of here, just north of the forest. There we found a cave, and decided to wait there until the battle was over. But it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. The cave had many tunnel and was home to many monsters. We were caught off guard and ran for our lives. I made it back to the surface but my friends, my wife among them never did. I know they died down there. But their spirits are not free, they remain trapped. Here, take this." The old man took off a necklace with a small sword pendant on it. "Each of the five other members of my party had a necklace like this, please find them and take them out of that dark place and into the sun. I know once you do, my friend will rest in peace."
Free the spirits
In the depths of a monster filled cave are the five necklaces of the old veteran's fallen comrades. Collect them all and take them to the outside and the sun.
Difficulty level: C
Quest Requirements:
Familiarity with the old veteran
Class associated with spirits
Sarah took the old man's hands and said, "You have my word, it will be done."
You have accepted the quest
The veteran showed a smile of relief and collapsed onto the ground. Sarah checked to make sure, but he was dead. She didn't know if it was old age, the damage from the men who beat him up or if he was just hanging on until he could give the quest. She placed his blanket over him and continued down the street.
She had made plans to leave the city for the dungeon, but first she needed to eat. She thought that seeing a NPC die would turn her appetite, but she had grown so accustomed to eating after getting off work and her stomach wouldn't let her skip it.
She entered the restaurant and ordered the beef stew. The burly barbarian at the counter yelled to the kid in the back to make it, and Sarah paid the man. She sat down at her usual table and waited, but through the door, came the group who she had chased off the old man. The spotted her and walked up to her table. She eyed them carefully and asked, "What do you want?"
They look at eachother and smile before saying, "Relax doll, we don't want trouble, and I'm sure you don't either. It's just that we heard what that geezer told you about that dungeon. We feel really bad about what we did, and want to help you complete the quest."
Sarah was not naive enough to believe him. Sure he would complete the quest, that part was true, but he didn't feel bad about hurting the old man, he just wanted the experience that went along with completing a quest in that dungeon. She said, "Sorry, not interested in your help."
The guys looked at eachother again and smiled before looking back at her. "Now now pretty missy, this isn't an offer you can refuse. I'm a member of the Lion Guild and we already heard the location of the dungeon. Once we report it to our guild master, the whole guild will make their way there. If you refuse our help, we'll make sure you never complete your quest."
Sarah recognized the name of the guild, it was a powerful local guild of Users, and in the city it held more power than most politicians. Any guild would kill to the exclusive rights to a dungeon, and since these guys already heard its location, there was nothing she could do to stop them. If the guild found one of the necklaces before she did, she would never be able to complete the quest. Any User could only have a maximum of three quests at a time, the only way to quit was to ask the quest giver, but the old man was dead.
At that moment, she heard a noise behind the group. "Excuse me, your beef stew is ready." It was the kid in the back who made the food, with a tray that had a bowl of steaming stew. The guy who had been talking to her said, "Hey kid, can't you see the adults are talking?" He knocked over the tray, spilling the soup over the floor. The kid looked up and said, "Are you going to pay for that?" The entire group burst out laughing, and after a moment the guy said, "Of course not, hahaha." The kid calmly said, "Then please leave, this is a place for paying customers only." This renewed the rounds of laughter and the guys said, "Well why don't you make me kid! Ahh ha haha!"
The kid then punched the man cleanly in the stomach, causing him to keel over. The guy next to him took out his sword and swung it down at the kid's head. Sarah almost looked away but she saw the kid's arm move up to block the blade. She expected it to slice through the sleeve of the chef uniform and the kid's wrist, but upon contact a loud ringing sound was heard, and the sword bounced off the cut made in the uniform's sleeve, revealing the blue steel gauntlets beneath it. The kid then bent down and sweep kicked the the swordsman. The other guys had already begun to draw their weapons, but the kid had already move to one, gave him an uppercut to the jaw, and spun around and smashed his other elbow into the jaw of another fighter. There were only two left and the first two were getting off the ground. They figured out they would be taken if they took the time to draw their weapons so they both tried punching the kid. He sidestepped one and caught the fist of the other, pulling him forward while twisting his own shoulder back, rotating the caught fist uncomfortably. He then back kicked the guy while ducking the punch from the one he dodged with a side step. Before the guy could retract his fist it was grabbed, and the kid pulled it over his own shoulder while kneeing the guy in the gut, just below the rib cage. The first two the kid took down got up, with a fierce gaze in their eyes.
The kid had taken down each member in a matter of seven seconds. Before the two could do anything, the head of the restaurant had come over. After watching his busboy take down the group, he spoke up, "What is going on here?" The kid turned to his boss and said, "These men had business with the young lady, but they are finished and were just leaving."
The first guy said, "We aren't going anywhere!" He was practically frothing at the mouth with anger. The head chef asked, "Are you going to buy something then?" The guy responded, "We're not going to buy anything at this piece of sh-" The chef's sword left its scabbard without anyone seeing anything, and rested at the throat of the man who had been speaking. In an even voice, the man said, "This restaurant is for paying customers only. Leave. Now." It was obvious that the man was an absurdly high level. It was far too dangerous to mess with him, so the group obediently left the restaurant.
Sarah could not believe what she had just seen. The head chef seemed to be a barbarian, so his skill was not that surprising, but a kid who appeared at least ten years younger than her had just taken out a group of grown men. She knew that in the game, the age doesn't really matter, what mattered was skill, experience, and level. However it was still a fact that this kid possessed all that, and was probably stronger than she was. She asked the kid, "Who are you?" She had almost asked, 'what are you.'
The busboy looked up at the elf and said, "The name's Crane. Can I get you another bowl of stew?"
On impulse she said, "Actually, my name is Sarah, and I wanted to ask for your help. Those guys wanted to take part in my quest, but I refused them. If they get to the dungeon first, they'll take the double experience and prevent me from ever completing the quest."
Crane seemed to ponder the lady's dilemma. She panicked that he would refuse and said, "I'll throw in a bonus, I work at the sorcery shop, I'll give you a discount on whatever you want there." On this the kid's eyes lit up. "Ok, I'm in. My shift ends in thirty minutes, wait here and I'll come with you to the dungeon." She panicked again, "But if we don't leave now they will beat us to the dungeon!" He asked, "how far is it?" "Twenty five miles,” she answered. He told her, "relax then, we'll make it there before those guys do." She relaxed a little. If the kid said they would make it he must have a plan. A few minutes later Crane brought out another bowl of stew, Sarah blushed a little bit that she had completely forgotten that she had ordered food. She enjoyed it and thanked Crane for the food. When the time came, Crane, wearing a blue overcoat and blue feather hat, came out to her table. They left the restaurant and headed for the gate.
Along the way, Sarah felt the strangest feeling she had felt since first logging into Royal Road. Overwhelming, intense fear. It was like she was surrounded by an inescapable, shadow that brought death itself. She had never known such intense fear before, it was the kind that could drive someone crazy, but it lasted only for an instant. She collapsed at the shock, and noticed a few screams around her and several people fainting. Whatever had happened to her seemed to have happened to a wide area. Crane turned around and helped her back up. He said, "Oh, sorry about that, you wanted to rush so I couldn't wait to leave the city before calling my partner." She took his hand to help her get up and asked, "Partner? Wait, that was you?"
He showed uneasy face and said, "Yeah, my partner is outside the city and has the ability to detect fighting spirit. Strengthening my own for a moment is a signal between us. He will be waiting outside the gate."
"But that was so intense! How did you do that?!"
She could barely believe that what she had just experienced had come from this kid.
"It's a learned skill called battle aura that lets you control your fighting spirit to have different effects, it can't actually harm anyone. Hmm, come to think of it I don't actually know how it affects others very well, I usually use it to scare away monsters and communicate long distance with my partner. My partner isn't really affected by it but I never asked the monsters who ran away how they felt."
"Well, that felt like I was being suffocated by death. Harm or not, if you sprang that unexpectedly on someone for a long time, it could drive them mad. Be careful ok?"
Crane nodded thoughtfully, "I see, I'll be more careful in areas crowded with bystanders."
She realized he had just said he would only use it in such a manner in areas without innocent bystanders, this did not make her feel better.
He continued, "It only has such a strong effect on those without fighting spirit, you're a magic user aren't you?"
She realized that although she had told him her name, she had not introduced herself, "Yes, I am a Summoner, and are you a fighter, or monk?"
She had seen his hand to hand combat skills and although he had not actually used a skill, she was confident in her assessment.
"Neither, I'm a spellsword."
Spellsword was the common term for classes that used both magic and sword skills together, though most were weaker than either a wizard or warrior of the same level. She asked, "But you used such excellent hand to hand combat skills."
"Did you know that you can go to a monk's guild and pay for lessons in hand to hand combat? I couldn't learn skill other than fist mastery of course but I been training with them for a while now. Since coming to the city in fact I have split my time between working at the restaurant and training at the monk's guild. I've been at the level where I can spar freely with them for the past week."
Although Sarah understood everything he said, it still didn't make sense. Why would someone who uses a sword and spells learn hand to hand combat skills when they could be advancing the skills they already know. It was common sense that a man who mastered one thing was stronger than a man who learned a hundred. Was this kid someone who played for fun, and didn't care if he became weak? But he wasn't weak when he showed his skill in the restaurant, and from what he said, those skills were learned recently. What kind of monster was this kid? Now she seemed to accept the reality she felt from the fear from earlier. This kid was not one you wanted to be your enemy.
They reached the gates and Crane lead her just pass a group of tree, beyond the guard's sight. Laying there, was a giant sabertooth tiger, with beautiful blue flames coming from its body. As a summoner she had seen many strange beasts, some of them conjured through her own spells, so the sight was not all that alarming. She saw it stare at her, but there was no hostility in its eyes.
Crane said, "This is my partner, Keagan. Keagan, this is the summoner, Sarah." Sarah bowed a bit and Keagan nodded his head. Crane turned to Sarah and said, "Time to get to business, it is your quest so it is your party."
She nodded and said, "Would you like to join my party?"
"Yes."
You have created a partyCrane has joined your party
Crane continued, "So, where to?"
"25 miles southeast, near a rock at the line of trees that leads to the forest."
Keagan spoke up in a low husky voice, "I know of the place you speak, a group of fifty headed in that direction not long ago."
Crane said, "We gotta beat them there, you up for it?"
Keagan grinned, prominently showing his teeth, and his two large fangs as well. The fire on his back died down and he knelt low. Crane hopped on the tiger's back and motioned for Sarah to do likewise. Crane bent over low and Sarah did the same, putting her arms around Crane's waist just before Keagan started in a run.
After ten minutes of running, Crane pointed to their left. Sarah saw the group Keagan spoke of, it was definitely the Lion guild. Some of them noticed that a flaming sabertooth tiger with two people riding on it were running past them. Sarah thought it was better to go around and not be seen by the group, but if they were seen it was likely because Crane had wanted them to be seen.
Another forty minutes later and they arrived at the rock in front of the forest. The pair got off and Keagan asked, "Should I eat them?" Sarah answered for him, "No! That guild is known for having many Users over level 200!"
Average players were around level 50, with the true gamers averaging around level 130. For a player to get to 200 so fast meant they must've been people who practically lived in the game. Crane said, "I've heard of those guys. Keagan, you can do what you want but if you die, I won't be able to summon you until we leave the dungeon."
Sarah didn't understand what he meant, was the firecat a summons? If it was a summoned spirit she would have felt it but she did not.
Keagan said, "I understand," and left for the forest.
Sarah looked at Crane who could tell what she was thinking. Crane took off a necklace he was wearing. "This is a storage gem. I formed a contract with Keagan, and stored his lifeforce within it, making him immortal. If he dies, he will return to the necklace, and after a while, I'll be able to call him out again."
As a Summoner, that sounded too good to be true to her. "There has to be a catch."
Crane thought about it and said, "Well, until Keagan can come back to life at my call without the necklace, 20% of all my experience goes to him as long as he is out. None of his goes to me."
20% less experience while hunting was no small sum, but it still seemed like cheating to her.
"Where can I get one of those storage gems?"
"Don't know, I found this one at a tourist shop, the owner didn't know it's true value either."
So no help there. She dropped the subject and looked around the rock. At one side of it was a crack that looked shallow, but upon closer inspection it was deep, and was in fact the entrance. They both slipped through the crevice into a wider passage that lead down a dark rocky path.
Dungeon: You are the first players to discover The Sunken River Caves
Reward 100 Fame
Double experience, 2x item drop rate.
The first monster killed will drop a good quality item.
"Whew, we really are the first ones to make it."
Crane said, "Looks that way. Hey, if the first thing we'll kill in this dungeon is User, you think he'll drop his best items?"
Now Sarah understood why they passed the guild instead of going around. The little blue monster wanted to eat them. "Well, the message says the first monster killed, I don't think Users qualify."
Crane nodded. "Alright then, keep up your guard, we're gonna explore this place a bit before they get here."
"Wait a moment, I can help with that." She took out the level three summoning component Fairy's Hair, and buried in under some loose soil. She rose her staff and said, "I call upon the spirit of the earth, Summon Golem!" A magic circle appeared over the spot she buried the fairy hair and from it arose a six foot tall, with shoulders three feet broad rock man.
Sarah said, "Please help us explore these tunnels and search for five dead adventurers." The golem nodded and sank back into the earth. From the earth several small dirt mounds split apart and disappeared in different directions.
Crane said, "I didn't know golems could do that."
"Most can't, they just walk around and attack or defend, but that one was a higher quality summon."
"I could tell, fairy hair costs 78 gold."
"With my discount as an employee I only pay 56 gold for it."
Crane nodded and the pair hurried down into the dungeon before the Lion guild arrived at the entrance.
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Khan was a powerful user and founder of the Lion guild. He named his character after his favorite historical figure, Genghis Khan. Behind that name, he would build up an army and become the emperor of Versailles continent. With this goal in mind he fought constantly in Royal Road, he spent most of the past few months inside his capsule.
In large scale battles he always used a method of leveling up, inspired by lions. An adult lion would cripple an animal and let its children finish it off, only he did it the opposite way. All his subordinates would go hunting powerful creatures, and he would always deal the final blow. This combined with the fact that he practically live in Royal Road made him one of the highest level characters in the game. He allowed only those most loyal to him to use the same method using his subordinates. Although anyone else in this power leveling scheme would suffer and get little experience during these hunts, they were too weak to complain. Besides, although they did not have strength, they had loyalty. The leader's power was their power, and the number of Users who joined Khan's group increased. Khan eventually founded a guild named after the method used to power level players. Every once in awhile Khan would choose another loyal member to receive power leveling, and each time he did, the group as a whole became more loyal, in the hopes that next time it would be them who would be chosen to become powerful.
They were idiots. The people Khan choose 'based on loyalty' were in fact rich users who paid Khan gold and real money to receive the power leveling program. Due to this Khan was able to make a living off Royal Road and his lion system. Through their money, both on and off Royal Road, Khan was able to increase the power of the Lions guild to be one of the strongest in Itsoeu Kingdom. Representatives of the Lion's guild went to various towns, forts, and villages offering protection in exchange for loyalty. With the reputation of the guild being so high many accepted, and now the Lion guild had direct control over those settlement's taxes and where it went. On this note Khan did not mimic his idol. Genghis Khan would often set a lower, fairer tax rate when he took over a city. The User, Khan, was greedy, and would squeeze every copper he could out of every village, and because only a handful of the guild’s Users were high level, the protection the settlement's received was shoddy. The only time a powerful User from the guild came by was to quell any thoughts of disloyalty to the Lion guild. However even after all this, they were only the 2nd most powerful guild in the Kingdom of Itsoeu. Their rivals, the Copper Hearts guild, had possession of dozens of dungeons that only their members could use. It was a simple plan Khan hadn't thought of, find a great dungeon, station multiple guards at the front, and allow only guild members to enter. Due to these private dungeons, the guild members were able to become powerful without a power leveling program. Khan's guild found many dungeons, but their quality was poor. They found dungeons with powerful monsters, but every hunting party that was sent in was wiped out. The only dungeons that they could hunt had low level monsters that gave little experience. He needed to find dungeons with good monsters that gave great experience. If he ever wanted to surpass the Copper Hearts guild, he needed to find more dungeons.
A man entered his room, "Sir, we've learned the location of an undiscovered dungeon!"
Khan rose from his seat, "Tell me everything."
After hearing the whole story, Khan ordered every one of his strongest members to follow him. He even sent whispers to other members who had been on guard in other towns to meet him at the dungeon, though they would take at least a day to get there.
Khan didn't know what kind of person this busboy was, but he would not underestimate him. Khan's class was Shadow monk, when he reached level 200 he choose to advance to a class that specialized in pressure point strikes. No matter how strong the boy was, any man who gets his pressure points hit will lose all their strength and speed.
Forty minutes after setting out, the men spotted a giant beast running by them. One of the men who were beaten by the busboy was a hunter, with his enhanced vision he saw that on the beast rode the elf and the busboy. When Khan heard this he was furious. Although the dungeon's capture would pay off in the long term, he would still lose the Fame and double experience if those two got to the dungeon first. Khan quietly seethed, "Those two will pay for this."
It was almost sundown by the time they reached the rock. When Khan laid his eyes on the forest behind the rock a shiver went down his spine. "HOLD!" The guild stopped in its tracks. Khan knew this feeling, it was the same when as the feeling of being hunted by a powerful beast, something he had experience many times on his power leveling hunts. Every member of the guild drew their weapons in response. The priests readied their spells and hid behind the warriors. "There!" One of the men at his side pointed out a dull flame, shimmering behind the trees. It was that fire cat the pair had ridden. If it was here, that confirmed the two were already in the dungeon. "Vice Captains, with me, everyone else, protect the priests." With him were six Users who, like him, were over level 200, and two more would join him by the end of the day. Although the average Copper Hearts member was much stronger than an average Lion guild member, Khan's loyal unit of vice captains was a force that no one dared to touch. It was known that there were once three great guilds of the Kingdom of Itsoeu. When the Lion guild had obtained five members who were above level 200, the group systematically annihilated every branch of the 3rd guild. Now his guild had a total of ten level 200+ Users, one was on the other side of the kingdom so was of no use, two were on their way, and seven were about to kill whatever was behind those trees. The archers behind the seven men readied their bows and kept both eyes on the flame. The warriors did not let it out of their sight, and the priests stayed in the back, furthest away from the fire cat.
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Khan smiled, a flaming monster trying to hide as the sun was going down was too funny. When he saw it before, he noticed that it looked a lot like a tiger. Somewhere in his mind, he remembered that he once heard that tigers hunt by circling their opponents, and jumping from behind. A cold sensation surrounded his body at this realization and he turned around and yelled, "From behind!"
The firecat leaped at the priests in the back, it bit off the man's head and had jumped for another before the group realized what was happening. The warriors turned around and attacked the firecat, but it was covered in flames and the moment they got close enough to strike it they caught on fire. Screaming burning men ran away from the monster while archers shot arrows at it. The firecat was large but agile, as soon as it was fired upon it moved behind warriors and engaged in fighting them. The archers separated from the warriors to get a clear shot, but when they did the blue flames grew in size and the cat ran at the group. It set them on fire and ran away before the Khan and vice captains returned to the group. The remaining three priests used purify on the archers before moving on to everyone else who was on fire, so the Archers were able to shoot at the fleeing fire cat. However their arrows were way off the mark, their wooden bows had taken extensive damage from being on fire as did a lot of their equipment. The guild being one that focused on power and money had no members with the repair skill. Whenever they needed better equipment they just bought it.
"Incompetent Fools! fifty of you against one beast and it got away from you!" Khan wasn't pleased by the situation. He lost three priests, four warriors, and the ranged firepower of his whole guild. He took a deep breathe. It wasn't any real loss. The priests were regrettable but the entire group wasn't the equivalent of one of their vice captains. One of the archers asked Khan, "Should we return to the city and repair our bows?" To Khan, the people there other than the vice captains were there for one reason, to weaken enemies so that the vice captains could finish them off. "Negative, you would need an escort to prevent that beast from killing you, and to prevent it from burning your bows after they were repaired." It was a wiser idea to make a few of the Vice captains escort them, but they were not as loyal as the guild thought. They paid for power leveling, and according to their contract, they had priority to newly discovered dungeons. Because of this Khan could not tell any of them to leave the dungeon and escort the archers back to the city.
"We all go in as is." The large group quickly found the crevice in the rock and one by one slip inside the dungeon.
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Sarah and Crane had been fighting the monsters of the dungeon. The dungeon seemed to have been formed by ground water seeping through the ground and eroding the loose soil between the tightly packed rocks. The monsters of the caves were a variety of humanoid amphibians. The frog breed were wide, green, fat brutes that shot their sticky tongues out which latch on and pulled forward. They always were with the salamander breed, blue, skinny, long limbed creature with fins on both sides of their face where the ears should be and long sharp claws on their skinny webbed fingers. They worked in unison, the frogs drew you close and the Salamanders fought in close combat.
Thanks to the help of the golem, they had found two of the necklaces. They needed three more.
A small mound appeared on the wall and started shaking. Sarah could hear its voice, it said a large group had just entered the dungeon. Sarah turned to Crane and said, "Well, your prey is here." Crane smiled. Crane had told her since the beginning he would only kill the monsters she was unable to. For small parties the experience per kill was divided based on how much damage each member dealt, but if one of the Users was a much higher level than another, the higher level user would receive most of the experience after dealing any damage. Due to this, Crane would not attack any monster Sarah was fighting, only the ones she could not handle alone. She knew however that Crane was not simply being generous, Crane was waiting for bigger game. She saw the light in his eyes when she said the guild had level 200+ players. Crane said, "First things first, we finish mapping out the dungeon. They won't be going anywhere till they've done the same." Sarah smiled, this little kid was patient, but that just made him more dangerous.
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Khan ordered his guild to four groups, each with at least one Vice captain, to split up and explore various tunnels of the dungeon. His own group was now fighting the amphibians. Although they appeared to be the same color, frogs green, salamanders blue, each has its own shade, with lighter colors around level 120 and the the darker colors around level 145. They came in small groups and had predictable attack patterns. But most importantly, the experience wasn't bad. Although his vice captains would not gain much experience here, the was a good place to power level to 150. By forming a raiding party instead of a normal one, the person who dealt the last blow would always get half the experience, This was a great place to to train.
Khan's group had reach another dead end in the cave system. They marked it on a map they were making and moved on, but before that, "Sir! I found something." Khan turned around and went to the end where the man had spoken. There, laid a skeleton with a shining pendant around its neck. Khan remembered that the little elf's quest required her to find five of these necklaces. Khan ripped it off the skeleton, parting the skull and the spine. The pendant was a small shield, with a tiny gem in the center. Khan put it around his neck and under his tunic. As long as he lived, that pendant would never see the light of day.
-Khan, I've spotted the elf and kid, I'm pursuing now.
The whisper had come from Doken, a vice captain whose level was 218, the second strongest in level behind himself. The vice captain and his group of ten men were on the path to kill the those two. Khan regretted a bit that he would not be able to rip that pair's throats out himself for denying him the double experience but he took solace in the fact that most of his vice captains were almost as ruthless as he was.
Three hours of exploring later he received another whisper, but from Elroy, a different vice captain.
-Khan, The elf and kid are down here in the lower east section. Me and Yorden and going to take them out.
He wasn't sure if he should be agitated or relieved. If the kid got away from Doken's group that meant both that the man was incompetent and that the kid may prove to be worth fighting after all. He brought up the screen to send a whisper to Doken.
-Did you lose the kid? Is he any good?
...Nothing, no response. He tried again.
-Answer me dammit! Are you there!
There were several reasons a person could not send a whisper. There were places where whispers could not be sent or received, jail for example. But he had been receiving and sending whispers since he arrived. That meant that either he was being ignored, or the receiver was not online.
Khan didn't think that someone could defeat his highest level vice captain, but that didn't mean it was impossible. Because he was the strongest vice captain, his went without another vice captain and was the only one of the four groups that did not have one of the three remaining priests. He decided it was better to be safe than sorry, there was one vice captain with him so he sent the same whisper to the remaining four vice captains inside the dungeon.
-Doken is not returning any messages, he may have been defeated. Protect your priests.
Borne, one of the two vice captains in the last group sent a whisper.
-Doken? No way. The monsters in this cave are too weak to defeat us.
-There are more than just monsters in this cave.
-The elf and kid?! You say they defeated Doken?! That's impossible.
-Elroy and Yorden's group are chasing the pair now. Meet up with them if you want.
Another few moments later.
-Khan... Elroy isn't returning any whispers back to me, neither is Yorden.
-...... You and Xander get over to the entrance immediately. We will wait for the last two vice captains to get here. Send a whisper every 15 minutes until you get here.
Khan confirmed that Elroy and Yorden were indeed not replying. This was unprecedented, the busboy and elf couldn't be stronger than they were, the kid was working at a restaurant! The power leveling he used required at least twenty members to assist in weakening monsters during hunting for a period of four months. This guy could not be as strong as his vice captains, if he were there would be no reason to run away. No, he must have used some kind of trick, lead them into an ambush. If Khan were to do it, he would aggravate a large group of monsters and lead them to his target. The safest countermeasure for such a tactic was to regroup and wait patiently. He was not a patient man, but he was not stupid either.
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"I guess he's not stupid." said Crane. Sarah had just told Crane that her golem said all the Lion Guild's member were heading towards each other, regrouping. She was amazed at how easily he had killed the guild members. From how he explained it, their power leveling raised their level without increasing their skill proficiency. He said it didn't feel like the warriors even had intermediate level swordmastery. They were like painted ornaments, strong appearance, fragile bodies. Crane had even used the terrain to his advantage. He lead the parties through areas with a lot of water falling down to get them drenched, then froze them solid with a black ice spell. The only one who wasn't affected was the high level vice captain. Crane dealt with him with unbelievably skilled swordsmanship. In the three minutes it took to kill him Crane had only received a single blow. When the man fell, so did his armor and sword. It seemed that double drop rate did extend to killed users, and according to Crane, so did the double experience. Crane then cleanly killed each of the frozen group members, one strike a piece. The next group seemed to be only marginally more difficult for him. It had two high level users, so Crane made sure they were completely soaked before sending what seemed to be an even more powerful freezing spell. The two still weren't frozen, but they were slowed enough for Crane to take them both on single handedly, without taking a single hit. After killing the remaining members, he took the drops for himself. Sarah didn't ask for him to share, no matter how rare or expensive the items were. She hunted monsters, and picked up her drops, he hunted Lions, and picked their drops.
The pair had finished mapping most of the dungeon save a few areas and had collected three necklaces. Crane said if the Lions didn't have the last two, they would find them after killing the rest. Thanks to her golem they knew the general area of every group in the dungeon so they could not run into them without wanting to, which allowed her to be able to hunt monsters on her own without worrying. Her multicast skill was intermediate, which allowed her to call up to four summons at the same time. While her golem kept an eye on the dungeon, her bird of paradise, icicle serpent, and fire fox fought the amphibians while she cast nature magic. She had summoned her water lizard, but had to recall it when she learned of the monster's almost immunity to water attacks and replaced it with icicle serpent, whose attacks worked just fine. Crane didn't help her in her fights, but she didn't need him, although multicast only allowed her to call weaker summons in groups and she couldn't summon more that one of each type, she had fought with her little pals long enough to work like a well oiled engine, a whole, greater than the sum of its parts. And just because he didn't help during the battle, that didn't mean he didn't help. After the battle he would give her tonics and food that had a rejuvenating effect. She fought with buffs gained from light snacks the whole time, and it was comforting to know that he was watching her back.
The pair made their way to the bottom of the dungeon. It was a large cavern, hundred of feet across with a large underground lake. The lake reflected the blue glowing moss on the ceiling, a common sight in most underground dungeons. At the other end of the lake was a pile of shining treasure. "This seems to be the place of the final battle." Crane said, Sarah hesitated, "This is the boss room right?" Crane nodded, "Yea, that lake is probably where all the water collects after being filtered through the rocks. I suspect it is filled with the eggs of these monsters, as well as the home of whoever is guarding the eggs." Sarah tensed up for a minute before he said, "Don't worry, he won't pop out until we take a step into the water, that treasure is the bait. It is probably the loot of every kill these guys have made." Sarah nodded, "So what do we do?" Crane said, "Well, there are two options, you kill the boss on your own, I can keep the fight just between you two but I won't help you fight him. Or we let the Lion's guild come down here, let them kill the boss, and take them out afterwards when they are weaken." Sarah thought about it for a minute. "Can you still take out the guild without using the boss?" "Of course, that way I'll get 200% of the experience for killing all of them instead of sharing with the boss." Sarah nodded. "I'll take him on." Crane smiled at her answer and walked over to the shore. She made some preparations, walked up to the water, and smashed her foot in, announcing her presence before backing away. The still surface of the water became violent. Sarah saw a large shark like fin speeding its way around the lake, after winding a bit it back and forth, seeming to increase its speed, it headed for the shore. Crane said, "Fight it away from the shore." She was sure there was a reason, but she didn't have time to ask. Crane stepped away from her as the fin approached the shore and a nine foot tall monster jumped out of the water with the name, Darkwell, hovering above its head. It was heavily muscular, possessing the head of a frog and long limbs with razor sharp claws. The best of both monsters as it were. Before it landed, Sarah begun her attack. The icicle serpent sprayed a frosty breath at the floor while the bird of paradise swooped in and knocked the creature's feet. It landed unbalanced and ungracefully slipped on the icy floor the serpent just made. Sarah and her fire fox simultaneously shot fireballs at Darkwell. The practice combo allowed them to merge their attacks into one just before it impacted the monster. The pair cast another round of fireballs but Darkwell had dug his claws into soil for traction and pushed himself out of the way and off the ice. It looked up at the bird of paradise and shot its tongue at it, catching and pulling the rainbow color summon into its mouth before crushing it with its rows of teeth. Sarah glanced at Crane to see what he was doing, but he was just staring at the water. Sarah ordered icicle serpent and firefox to attack and give the golem a chance to make a surprise attack. The snake fired icicles from its mouth while the fox shot fireballs. Darkwell jumped forward and from side to side dodging the magic attacks. It choose to take out fire fox first and jumped to it in a zigzag pattern. When it got close it swiped it arm and four streaks of water projected forward from the monster’s fingertips. The water claw destroyed the fire fox as Darkwell turned to attack the serpent. The icicle snake changed its tactics from shooting icicles to blowing ice breathe. The longer the still wet amphibian was in the ice spray, the slower it got. It stopped outside the breathes range and waited. Nothing could keep attacking forever, but that was the opportunity the golem had been waiting for. The rock beneath it sunk as the rock around the feet shot up to engulfed it. Darkwell jumped at the last second but its foot was caught and dragged by the rock into the ground. Darkwell yelled and smashed the rock that trapped its foot, breaking it to pieces. The golem reassembled and fought the creature. Darkwell opened its mouth and shot a powerful water jet at the golem, sending it backwards into the lake behind it. Darkwell jumped in.
A rock golem could only be destroyed beyond reformation through the use of its summoners mana if smashed to pieces out of contact with the earth. Sarah recalled her icicle serpent and waited for the rock golem to be destroyed. The two most effective types against it were fire and ice, fire did more damage but ice had greater effect. She thought about what Crane would do and started her summon ritual. "I call upon the ancient being to fulfill our contract and come at my call, Summon Black Wolf!" She had just felt the golem vanish and had already buried several summoning components around the area. From the area she had buried the special component, cinders of black fire, came a black magic circle. black snow shot out from the edges of the circle, and a howl echoed through the cavern. A giant black wolf, jumped out of the magic circle, its size the same as Keagan's. Black snow fell from the wolf's black fur. As the wolf got closer to the edge of the water, the surface began to freeze over. Darkwell jumped out of the water just as the splash he made froze solid. While in the air it shot a water jet at the wolf who jumped out of the way and roared with an icy wind at the monster, before it landed, slowing down. However instead of heading to the monster, the black wolf approached Crane. For the first time since her fight began Crane turned away from the water and looked at the ice wolf. It bared its teeth at him before Sarah yelled, "Not Him! The big guy!" Crane turned back to staring at the water as if nothing had happened and the wolf turned back to the creature. But after yelling out, Sarah became Darkwell's target. He leaped forward to her and closed the distance in two leaps and shot his tongue at her. It latched on and pulled her off the ground into the creature's oversized mouth. Before she was eaten the black wolf ran up and bit the its tongue, ripping it off. Sarah landed on the ground near the Black wolf and saw that the end of the tongue was covered in ice. The wolf jumped at the monster and their battle truly began. They circled and jumped around each other, biting, slashing, and kicking one another. Although it was an ice wolf, it still had to avoid the water shots and water claws. Water that accumulated on its fur instantly became ice, and though it did no damage, it lowered its speed until it broke off. The same could be said for the amphibian, when it got close to the wolf's fur or got hit with the icy breathe it suffered from freezing, and was slowed until it waited to be thawed. Sarah watched the battle and wanted to help out, but she knew she couldn't. Crane had not said anything to her about it but she finally realized that the monsters within the cave were blind. They reacted to movement and sounds but without that they didn't notice you. Crane had not moved from staring at the water with the one exception and Darkwell never even looked at him. Although she couldn't attack she could still assist. She silently caste buffs and healing spells when needed, though the summon healing spells cost her both mana and health.
The battle appeared to be going in the black wolf's favor but that was only thanks to Sarah's constant buffs and heals. Summons had a notoriously low health pool and she didn't have anymore of the cold cinders of black fire to summon him again. She was already at one quarter health but the creature seemed to be still going strong. She only had one option, she had to give the black wolf time to charge its most powerful attack. Sarah drank the last mana potion Crane had given her and yelled, "Vine Snare!" Green roots shot from the ground and wrapped around Darkwell. It turned to face Sarah and leaped to her, breaking the vines easily. "Vine Snare! Fireball! Vine Snare!" Roots shot from the ground and entangled the creatures feet but it was still able to break through and dodge the incoming fireballs. Sarah cast a few more spells before the monster got close enough to send a water claw out. It was too close to dodge completely but she jumped to the side just as the the projected slash tore through her legs.
Your legs have been crippled, you are unable to walk until treated.
She had only 18 health points left and she was completely out of mana. Darkwell rushed to deliver the final blow, but stopped when it heard a howl behind it. the black wolf had been charging its attack, black snow circled around like a small tornado. The giant frog didn't move. It sensed the danger from the attack and decided the only safe spot was where it stood. In front of Sarah. She looked at the creature's back and smiled, it was over. The black blizzard that circled the wolf shot out at the creature. It ran away but the black blizzard actually chased it. The shore was guarded by the wolf so it ran back to the crippled summoner in the hopes the spell would be stopped. It wasn't, the blizzard passed through her and Darkwell. Darkwell was frozen solid. Not encased in ice but completely permeated by it. Sarah was unharmed. A side effect of her contract was that the black snow had no effect on her. Crane finally stopped looking at the water and walked back to Sarah. The black wolf did not take its eyes off him.
Crane threw a potion to her and said, "Let me bandage those legs, the potion will take care of the rest."
A few minutes later she was back to full health and could walk. She then started bashing the iced boss with her staff. It took a few minutes of bashing and more than once she asked Crane to repair it because it was weaker than the ice. Eventually a crack appeared and with a few more hits the iced boss snapped in two.
You have gained a Level!
You have gained a Level!
Sarah sat down and looked around. "Well, that was easy." Crane smiled and said, "You have no idea. Imagine how it would've been if the fight had been joined by two hundred monsters."
"What do you mean? Come to think of it, you did say you would make sure it was just me versus it. What did you do?"
Still smiling, he said, "I stared them down using Battle aura. As long as their boss was still fighting, they would continue to pop out and come to its aid, I just made them think twice. When the boss stopped fighting, they no longer felt the need to come up here so I could stop."
"Ah, well, what was that between you and my black wolf?"
"That wolf has good instincts, it knew who the most dangerous person in the room was. But I think I should be the one asking that question. That wolf is far too powerful for someone of your level to summon. Isa!"
The same black wave that froze the Lion's guild members came out of his hand and passed over Sarah, but nothing happened. "I thought so."
Sarah looked mildly embarrassed, she couldn't tell him what she had done to get that power, but he continued, "That black wolf is a familiar of Fenrir right?" Sarah looked up in shock, how could he know that? Could he have some connection to Fenrir as well? She had recognized the black wave as Ice from Niflheimr, the home of Fenrir, but she had said nothing. Crane said, "If you are immune to Niflheimr's ice and you can summon that black wolf, you must have made a contract with Fenrir."
Fenrir was a the father of all wolves, a massive black wolf. Fenrir's most troublesome aspect was his capabilities for growth, he became too strong too fast, he could hunt dragons like rabbits and even challenged the power of the gods. It was foretold that one day he would grow powerful enough to kill Odin himself, and cause Ragnarök. Due to this he was bound in chains deep in the ice of Niflheim, during the binding he managed to bite off the right hand of the god, Týr.
Ragnarök was not something people look forward to so any affiliation with Fenrir was generally frowned upon. If people learned that Sarah was a contractor of Fenrir she would chastised, at the very least, the Church of Týr would place a bounty on her head.
Crane asked, "So what's the contract?"
She realized there was no point in further hiding so she said, "He gets 5% of my experience for the duration of the contract, for every three levels I gain I get more of the component needed to summon the black wolf. I also gained a spell that lets me subjugate spirits, but I don't use it."
Crane showed no ill intent, only curiosity. He said, "What's the binding spell?"
"Why? I said I don't want to use it."
"I'm guessing it is based off a property of my ice spell, my class can learn spells based off the spells I know."
"So you can learn it? Alright, you can give it a shot, ask him to teach it to you." She pointed at the black wolf and Crane walked up to him. She didn't follow him, she wanted to go swim to the other side of the lake and check out the pile of treasure but Crane did tell her that there was two hundred monsters in the lake and she didn't think it wise to go swimming in the monster amphibian infested waters. Crane and the wolf seemed to be chatting. She then saw Crane raise his hand over the the water and shoot a chain made of black ice. It shattered before hitting the surface of the water and Crane went back to Sarah. "That went well."
Sarah nodded, "At least someone will get some use out of that spell. And now that my final battle is over, is it time for yours?"
"Not yet, those guys are probably waiting at the entrance for more reinforcements. While we wait you wanna kill the monsters in the lake? I won't kill them for you but I can keep the numbers down with my battle aura."
"Thanks, lets do this."
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