Ignis sat on the roof of their settlement, watching as a horde of goblins slammed into Grave's undead horde. Beside him sat the four founding members of the Apocalypse Force.
Bradon, or Altan Khan as he now called himself, showed up yesterday with Shade and a small collection of crystal turtles. They hadn't had a chance to talk since then, what with the goblins besieging them later that day. But now, they have established an equilibrium.
Graves's army of the undead was matching the goblin horde in pure numbers. After all, he could add every goblin they killed to his army and formed their primary defence.
The members of the apocalypse force, using spells or ranged weapons, sat on top of the dirt walls, taking potshots at the goblins while protected by the undead—safe from the goblins' retaliation. Although the two armies looked at a stalemate, it wasn't.
Shade had already infected the goblins with a disease that targeted [Goblinoids]. Ignis had more than enough counters to the disease to overcome it, but the goblin horde was suffering. On top of that, Brandon or Altan kept marching his personal band of raiders into their ranks to devastate them anytime they looked to be recovering or if he got bored. In the end, the goblin's army should have been decimated by now. But reinforcements kept pouring into the area to reinforce the siege. So now that they were stuck in a stalemate, they had time to talk atop the bright and chilly roof of the media centre.
Altan, bare-chested while two of his concubines ran their hands up and down his chest. His half-giant skin was smooth, golden and unblemished, like a Mongolian Superman.
“So, how many more goblins do we have to kill before this siege is over?” Altan asked as he groaped one of his concubines. Ignis thought her name was 2. “As fun as it is massacring the goblins, I can't exactly expand my empire while we're under siege. How many of these fuckers are there?!”
“They have a portal,” said Ignis. “I flew out yesterday and flew over their base. They have a giant portal in the middle of the university, and it releases a fresh army every couple of hours.”
“Why not destroy it?” asked Altan. “Then we can really get on building my empire!”
“It's heavily guarded,” said Ignis. The entire place is swarming with [Shamans], and I'm not exactly stealthy. The only reason they didn't blow him out of the sky was because I was out of range.”
Altan slammed a meaty fist on the table, scaring his concubines. “Not good enough. Next time, at least make an attempt; your stupid bloodline should let you die trying once a day."
Ignis felt his flames flare involuntarily. That hadn't been a part of the Legend of Noralon; now, he was finding his mood was often being reflected in his flames. For a fleeting moment, the image of Altan engulfed in a blazing fireball was almost too tempting to resist. But no, these were his friends.
“Give me some reinforcements, and I can get it done.” Ignis shot back
“You’re both wasting your time,” said Shade, lifting his beer to his bony face with arms thinner than the legs of the chair he sat on. His friend had apparently decided that Severus' snape wasn't a good enough look and had used his reroll scroll to look like a high elf Voldemort.
Shade shot him a stupid grin. “My plagues will wipe them out in due time. We just need to sit back and let the XP roll in.”
“I agree,” said Graves, barely visible under his shroud. His rat-like features were hidden under the shadow of his black hood. “Once they're all dead, we can raise them as an undead army and take over the entire Vancouver area.”
Graves, Shade, and Altan shared a smile
“That would be badass!” said Altan. “We let the goblins come then!”
He groped Two's breasts roughly, not caring for the others in the room. It was no easy feat getting Altan to change his mind. However, Graves’s suggestion of creating an undead army seemed to be doing the trick. But Ignis still had a problem.
"Would you please leave the girls outside, Brandon?" Graves asked
"It's Altan." Altan corrected, not minding them at all as he played with his slave girl.
"What about me? I need XP as well," Ignis pointed out as flames licked up and down his body.
"Oh, Hell no," Shade said. "Your fire would wipe out all of the plagues I've been loading them up with."
"And it would kill my undead." Graves pointed out.
"Besides, we need to let the sheeple gain levels," Altan said as he fondled the ass of one of his slaves.
Ignis rolled his eyes. "So what, you guys are the only ones who can get passive XP?"
"Come one, man, just launch a raid at the goblins that aren't around us. That way, you can get xp, and we can keep grinding xp from the horde," Shade protested.
"You already gained two levels," Ignis shot back as something white landed in Graves's lap.
"Um, what was that?" Ignis asked.
Graves opened up the paper airplane and started reading.
"It's a request for a meet-up," Graves said, interested. "From the people we attacked."
"You attacked," Ignis said. "I have no interest in gaining Infamy titles. I don't know why you three are so infatuated with them."
"Should we go?" Shade asked.
"Yes." Altan agreed instantly as he pushed his slaves off of him.
The slave girls moved back inside the building, where it wasn't minus ten.
"It sounds interesting, and it never hurts to know your enemies. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? They attack us, and then we kill them all? I've been itching for some exercise," Altan said as he flexed his muscles.
"I can agree to that." Shade said.
"Alright, Altan, it's just north of here at the seven-eleven." Graves said.
Graves allowed his black wings to emerge from his back before he grabbed Shade and took to the sky. Altan used his Fast Travel Skill [Red Rider] and disappeared and reappeared as he ran north. Ignis allowed his own flaming wings to emerge as he took them to the sky.
They flew for less than ten minutes before they arrived at the seven-elves. Once there, they found around a dozen people, all older than them. Ignis immediately recognized the massive lizard man in the front and used [Identify] on all of them.
DING!!!
Name: Abaddon
Titles: Beta-Tester, First, Awoken Myths, World First 6
Race: Lizard Man
Level: 21
Classes: Giantslayer 21
Personal Skills: Natural Arms and Armour, Aquatic Predator, Storage, Mapping, System Wiki, Siegebreaker, Brewer, Meditation
Giantslayer Skills: Tiger Style: Sundering Claws, Lesser Colossus, Cut Down to Size, Bulwark, Second Stage, Legendary Strength, Fee-fi-fo-fum, Charge, Giga Impact, Relentless Onslaught, Moment of Immortality, Close Combat, Not Today
Name: Thomas Bruner
Titles: Beta-tester, First, Awoken Myths member, Guild Leader
Race: Half-elf
Level: 21
Classes: Augur 10, Tactician 3, Exorcist 8
Personal Skills: Best of Both Worlds, Story Teller, Storage, Mapping, System Wiki, Terra Arts, Aqua Arts, Teacher, Misalliance Crafting, Mana-infused Weapon, Basic Swords, Flyte
Augur Skills: Augurs Eye, Art of Life, Bight Arts, Far Seeing, Prophetic Meditation, Hand of Mercy, Quest Giver
Tactician Skills: Nascent Guild Leader, Leadership 3, Raider 2, Logistics 3, Coordination 2
Exorcist Skills: Spell Trap, Karmic Contract, Paper Armour, Paper Wings, Shape Paper
Name: Alexandra Ling
Titles: Beta-tester, First, Awoken Myths
Race: Sun Elf
Level: 21
Classes: Wizardess 20, Witch 1
Personal Skills: Solar Metabolism, Stable Chanting, Storage, Mapping, Mana Supersession (System), Flyte, Meditation
Wizard Skills: Arcane Awakening, Arcane Shell, Multi-cast, Charge Attack (Magic), Synchronized Chanting, Grimoire, Mana Sight, Mana Manipulation, Arcane Insight, Persistent Casting, Meta Magic
Witch Skills: Flying Broomstick
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Name: 'Major' Bailey Adams
Titles: Major, Awoken Myths
Race: Human
Level: 20
Classes: Rescue Ranger 19, Major 1
Personal Skills: Story Teller, Storage
Rescue Ranger Skills: Bound Weapon, Hazmat, Snake Eyes, Fancy Feet, All-Seeing Eye, Legendary Agility, Stasis, Coordinate Ⅳ, Accelerated Thoughtspeed, Timeleap
Major Skills: Military Leader
The rest of the group wasn't worth mentioning if not for the guns. Ignis had learned the hard way that guns were still exceptionally good at killing humanoids. He would have died if he hadn't flashed to fire when some jackass had shot him in the gut when he had been flying over.
The Lizard Man, Abaddon, was easily the most dangerous. Everyone else here had weaknesses, but that guy didn't. He could inflict enough damage fast enough that they might not be able to break away before he killed one of them.
Ignis suddenly worried about what would happen if they fought here. He wasn't sure what would happen if the Apocalypse Force was gunned down, and worse, he didn't see the fourth member of the Lizard Man's group. That rodent man.
He was pretty sure they could escape. They had a few levels on the Awoken Myths. But not enough to make Ignis comfortable. Then he remembered the infamy titles his friends had gathered. Crap. In the legend of Noralon, you weren't punished for a crime. You got an infamy title. Those titles allowed any player to kill you without receiving a penalty. In fact, you got a reward—more reason for these people to attack them.
They needed to make sure this didn't turn into a brawl.
"Got your little note." Shade said. "What do you bitches want?"
"Have you come to apologize for attacking us?" Altan demanded as he fingered his scimitar.
Never mind; they were all going to die. Ignis wasn't sure what he wanted to do more: facepalm, fireball his friends, fireball the other people, or just make a run for it now.
"I don't recall attacking you. In fact, the first time we met your crew was when you guys tried to fireball me," Tom said coldly as paper armour covered in writing started to cover his body.
Ignis wondered why the guy had a suit of paper armour. It didn't sound like a very good defence. Maybe he should target him first.
"If you didn't want to be attacked, you shouldn't have made yourself such a tempting target," Graves shot back.
Abaddon stepped in front of Tom protectively.
"I'm sorry, little man. Did you say something?"
"Now, now, there is no need for this to devolve into a fight," Ignis said, finally stepping in. He really didn't want to.
"You came here to offer us a business proposal. Let's at least hear it first," Ignis said.
"We have a quest, and we want to fill out the party so we have a proper group," Tom said as he shared the quest.
DING!!!
Regional Quest: Bloody Goblin Horde
The bloody goblin horde has started a campaign to conquer this portion of the world. With a bloodstone powering a portal, they are using human sacrifices to bring their horde to this world. The Guild Leader of Awoken Myths has created a plan to shut down the portal and cripple the horde. Needless to say, if you fail to stop them, you are all going to die or be forced to flee the area. No pressure.
Objectives:
Destroy or Capture the Bloodstone: 0/1
Destroy or Capture the Gate: 0/1
Bonus Objectives:
Kill all of the Goblins: 14,567 / ?????
Kill the ???: 0/1
Kill Seraphel: 0/1
Kill Goblin Shaman: 1/1
Kill ???: 0/1
Kill ??? 0/1
Rewards:
2 Levels for everyone involved, Bonus XP for Everyone, a Title: Goblin Killer, 5000 Settlement Points, Winter Event Guild Token
Ignis nodded. This was good. Actually, it was great. A Regional quest gave great rewards, and it would work to smooth over their nasty introduction.
"We find your offer acceptable." Graves said. "What do you need from us?"
"We're attacking at dawn tomorrow. When that happens, you should start pushing up to Qwantlin from here. The pincer attack means that if the goblins try to stop one of us, they'll inevitably leave themselves open to the other." Tom explained.
"And what of the loot?" Graves asked.
"System rules. You keep what you kill," Tom stated.
"And the bloodstone?" Graves asked.
"Like I said, you keep what you kill," Tom said coldly.
Something about the way the man said it made Ignis deeply uncomfortable.
"It has been a pleasure doing business with you. We will see you tomorrow then," Graves said.
Turning, Ignis's group left. But Ignis couldn't help but feel like he was missing something. When they got back to the Bell Media Centre, Graves broke out in laughter.
"HA hahahahaha. I can't believe those fools bought it." Graves chuckled like a madman.
"What are you talking about?!" Ignis asked, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"We're not going to do anything tomorrow." Graves said. "We are going to sit back and let both our enemies wipe each other out. And once they are, we shall sweep in and take the rewards for ourselves."
"Obviously," Altan snorted.
"What?!" Ignis asked angrily. "We're going to turn down a regional quest?! A Regional Quest, mind you, that solves our biggest problem. They're offering to pay us to help us get rid of our goblins!!! And you lot are thumbing your noses at them like a bunch of wankers." Ignis spat.
"We aren't turning down anything," Altan said. "They've already shared the Regional Quest with us. They can't unshare it. Without us, the goblins and Awoken Myths will rip each other to pieces, and when a bloody victor emerges, we will be there to kill them and take the prize."
"And if the goblins win?" Ignis asked, flabbergasted.
"Then we will continue to reap the benefits," Grave said. "Shade and I are levelling like crazy thanks to a near-endless source of opponents. Why help them when we can harvest the levels and the Regional Quest for ourselves. ."
Ignis wanted to facepalm.
"Besides, we have all the bitchs and food we need right here." Shade said with a snarky grin.
"We can't take on an entire Goblin Horde. There are already thousands of goblins here and millions on the way," Ignis said as he facepalmed. "Or did you not read the quest? It won't be long until they drown us with their forces."
"Can't we?" Shade. "More Goblins means more victims and more undead."
"More fodder for the empire," Altan said.
"You know what? That's just fine. Since we're all just doing what we want, then maybe I'll fly off and join their raid because I don't want to live in a goblin world," Ignis said.
He didn't really mean it. He just wanted to get a rise out of Graves.
"You can't do that!!!" Gaves all but screamed. "As a guild master, I forbid it."
"And who made you guild master?!" Altan asked. "You were merely here first; I am the Kahn, so why should you be the guild master?!"
"I am the guild master because I am the strongest!!" Graves stated. "Or have you missed the horde of undead I command?"
"Puppets and fodder. Fucking my concubines takes more effort than cutting through your horde."
"If it's based on the strongest, then shouldn't I be the guild master?" Shade asked.
"Shut up, Shade!" Graves and Altan said in unison as they continued to argue.
Ignis walked away from his friends. Sometimes, he wondered if they had realized this was reality now, that their actions might have real consequences.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Ignis Vermilion (Eric)
Race: Half-Orc
Type: Humanoid / Elemental
LVL: 22
SubRace: N/A
Age: 16
Health: 2200
Stamina: 2660
Mana: 2200
Health Regen: 50.6 per min
Stamina Regen: 55.0 per min
Mana Regen: 45.3 per min
Titles: Beta-Tester, Pyromaniac, First
Immune
Fire, Ageless
Resistances
Physical, Light, Air, Vitality 26%,
Weakness
Magic, Water, Dark, Earth, Soul 24%
Bane
Manslayer, Goblin Slayer, Elemental Slayer
Classes: Master Pyromancer 11, Fire Enhancer 11
Total
STR: 48
AGIL: 96
DEX: 44
CON: 198
END: 44
PER: 110
INT: 110
WILL: 145
SPIRIT: 308
EGO: 66
CHA: 44
LCK: 44
Base
STR: 44 +10%
AGIL: 88 +10%
DEX: 44
CON: 198
END: 44
PER: 110
INT: 110
WILL: 132 +20%
SPIRIT: 308
EGO: 66
CHA: 44
LCK: 44
Personal: +4 WILL, +4 SPIRIT, +3 INT, +3 PER
Racial: +3 SPIRIT +2 AGIL +2 CON +1 EGO
Bloodline: +5 CON +5 SPIRIT
Bloodline:
[Bloodline of the Vermilion Phoenix] - Legendary: The Bloodline of the Vermilion Phoenix grants you a profound connection to the mystical firebird, embodying its resilience, purity, and fiery power. This bloodline's effects make you a master of fire, capable of withstanding the most intense flames while harnessing them for your own benefit.
* [Fire Conasuir] - Level 20 >> Level 31
* [Vermilion Guard] - Level 18 >> Level 26
* [Purifying Flame] - Level 15 >> Level 34
* [Regenerative Flames] - Level 31 >> Level 33
* [Perfect Form] - Level 3 >> Level 4
* [Burn Brightly] - Level 18 >> Level 21
* [Wings of the Phoenix] - Level 22 >> Level 34
* [Rise from the Ashes] - Level 2 >> Level 7
* +5 CON per Level
* +5 SPIRIT per Level
Skill Slots: 15/60: Skill Points: 0
Personal Skills
* [Endless Brawler] - Level 16 >> Level 20
* [Best of Both Worlds] - Level 8 >> Level 10
* [Storage] - Level 12 >> Level 17
* [Mapping] - Level 20 >> Level 29
* [System Wiki] - Level 8 >> Level 11
* [Identify] - Level 16 >> Level 21
Master Pyromancer 08/16
* [Consuming Fire] - Level 23 >> Level 30
* [Mana burn] - Level 25 >> Level 30
* [Immolation] - Level 22 >> Level 30
* [Shape Fire] - Level 1 >> Level 26
* [Fuel for the Fire] - Level 13 >> Level 19
* Capstone: [Living Flame] - Level 17 >> Level 20
* [Tempered Flame] - Level 19 >> Level 29
* [Reignition] - Level 6 >> Level 17
Fire Enhancer 04/6
* [Claws of the Phoenix] - Level 5 >> Level 10
* [Flight of the Phoenix] - Level 7 >> Level 24
* [Body of Embers] - Level 1 >> Level 18
* [Empty]
* [Empty]
* [Fire Heart] - Level 15 >> Level 18