by M E Robinson
“Guess he gave you the right runes after all,” Gio commented dryly, observing the path of destruction the wind blade had left in its wake.
Ryan whistled. “Damn. Now I really want to learn this spell. I wonder if I’m not high enough level to use it yet?”
“It didn’t work until I put in almost double the mana I used for Flame Strike. Try forcing out more mana,” Jun explained, reading the description of his new spell as he stowed his wand back in his storage pouch.
“I’ll try later. I think we’ve arrived,” said Ryan, pushing aside a branch to reveal an enormous cave looming large only a few dozen meters from the group. As the three emerged into the clearing, a loud howl sounded, a trio of wolves leaping down from where they’d been sunning themselves on top of the cave entrance.
Racing towards the party, the lead wolf leapt at Ryan who was just staring impassively at the lupine intruders. Just as the wolf’s claws were about to tear into his leather armour, a blur arrived, slamming into the wolf and sending it flying with a sharp yipping noise.
Standing in front of Ryan, Gio stood tall, his shield held sturdily in front of him, “You wanna take out your weapons? Or are you just gonna stand around like Connor in a teamfight,” Gio asked, swinging his blade at a second wolf to keep it at bay.
“It’s fine, you got this,” said Ryan, yawning as another wolf leapt towards him. This wolf was not as lucky as the first had been. With a whirring sound, an arrow burst into view, embedding itself into the wolf’s eye and sending the creature crashing to the ground before skidding to a halt at Ryan’s feet.
“Nice shot,” he commented, giving Jun a thumbs up.
“I’m not going to miss, I’m not you.”
“Ouch. Hurtful,” said Ryan in a monotone voice, drawing his sword and cutting down a wolf about to bite at Gio. As Ryan’s blade sunk into the wolf’s back, Gio’s sword was emerging from the back of the final wolf’s throat. Letting out a gurgling sound, the two wolves collapsed to the ground, having utterly failed to even scratch the party.
“Sorry, want me to buy you a drink later, babe?”
“As long as you don’t buy the cheap shit again. The stuff you bought last time tasted like water.”
“Are you two gonna keep flirting or help me loot these wolves?” Gio interjected, with a look that made it obvious that he was tired of his friends’ antics. With a laugh, Ryan and Jun walked over, bending down to retrieve their spoils.
“These monsters are too easy - it’s like last hitting in League,” Ryan complained as he looted the wolf he’d just killed.
“Hopefully there’s goblins or something strong further down in the caves. Isn’t that what that cute NPC chick told you, Gio?” asked Jun, retrieving his arrow from the wolf’s skull.
“Yup, the villagers think there’s something breeding the wolves further down below. The army won’t investigate though as they have bigger problems to deal with. And the militia doesn’t have enough men to risk sending people down to check it out. So the wolves have multiplied,” Gio explained.
“Well I hope there’s an elite down there. Or even better, an elite and some goblins. At the very least, I want bigger packs further down. These guys are too easy to kill in small packs,” said Ryan, nudging the body of the wolf with his foot.
Jun nodded his agreement, while Gio just sighed. “You guys say that. But I’m the one who has to tank them you know.”
“Just don’t be a scrub and you’ll be fine, Gio,” Jun said with a laugh, walking towards the cave. Laughing at his friend’s antics, Ryan followed, leaving Gio to follow them inside.
The interior of the cave was surprisingly well lit with sunlight streaming in from holes up above and miniature crystals that glowed dimly jutting out from the walls. The limestone walls shone with a pale hue, light reflecting off the slow streams of water that dripped onto the walls from above.
Following the path they’d tread before, the trio made their way through the caves, casually slaying red-maned wolves as they chatted about the game and the competition.
“I’m just saying, the more people we kill, the faster we can get ourselves set up for the Kingdom representative tournament. We can also keep our opponents from leveling by killing them, it’s two birds with one stone,” said Jun, firing a Charged Shot into the throat of a howling wolf. Cut off mid-howl, the wolf stumbled once before falling to the ground, its healthbar disappearing.
“Maybe we should let them howl? Perhaps they can summon reinforcements,” Ryan observed, wiping his sword on the dead wolf’s fur. Standing up he continued, “And I agree with you. We should definitely try to suppress our opponents, but like Mark said, we don’t want to make too many enemies, at least not during this stage. Once we’ve qualified, we’ll be much more safe from the other teams in the kingdom.”
“I don’t mind killing small fries like the ones we fought earlier. But we should probably avoid fighting large guilds and gaming studios. Mark will be pissed if we get smashed cause we picked a fight with Yuuki or Ravenholm. Also we could try letting them howl. This new shield is letting me tank them pretty easily,” said Gio.
“Eh, screw Mark. He plays it too cautious. We’re not going to lose to a bunch of scrubs in a fair fight,” argued Jun as the trio pressed onward.
“I get what he’s saying though. We won’t lose in a fair fight, but if they gang up on us then we could be in trouble,” said Ryan.
Gio nodded. “Exactly. You guys might be able to fight groups on your own. But some of us can only fight one or two enemies at the same time. And if we piss off a few guilds and they all come looking for us, do you really think the GMs are going to stop them?”
“Then we kill them until they’re forced to stop. I just want to be able to kill who I want. If Eric’s being a dick, are you saying I can’t kill him?” Jun asked.
Ryan laughed. “You can try. He’s pretty good at running away from you by now though.”
“You’ve definitely given him lots of practice,” Gio added with a grin.
Chapter 6
Continuing onwards in this manner, the party soon found themselves in a large tunnel heading even deeper underground. By now, the sunlight streaming in from above had vanished, leaving only the dimly glowing gems embedded in the wall as sources of illumination. As Gio rounded a bend in the tunnel, the sounds of clashing metal could be heard echoing along the walls, coming from up ahead.
“Are there other people here?” Ryan asked uncertainly.
“We haven’t seen any corpses. Either they’ve been here for a while or it’s monsters fighting amongst each other. We’ve already seen wolves hunting demonic rabbits. Could be something like that,” Jun suggested.
“Whatever it is, we came down here to fight. Not like we’re going to run away just because others got here first, eh?” said Ryan, drawing his sword and pushing Gio forwards. Hoisting his shield in front of him, Gio advanced cautiously in the direction the sounds were coming from, Ryan and Jun bringing up the rear with weapons drawn.
Reaching the end of the tunnel, the trio emerged into a large cave. Enormous limestone stalactites grew from the ceiling, dripping droplets of water into pools of water, creating ripples that cast eery reflections on the walls of the cavern. At the far end of the cave, a huge group of players could be seen battling with a small group of tiny green skinned humanoids.
“They’re fighting goblins,” Jun observed, peering at the group across the cave.
“How many can you see? I count seven,” Ryan whispered.
“Eight. There’s a mage hiding behind that column over there,” Jun pointed. Craning their heads, Ryan and Gio followed his finger, their gaze falling upon a large limestone pillar almost three meters thick. As they watched, a Flame Strike flew out from behind the pillar, striking one of the goblins. With a cry, it fell, leaving only two goblins standing. Uttering loud shouts, the fighters fell upon them, two fighters descending upon each goblin, while the ranged members looked for an opening to shoot. As the la
st goblin fell, one of the fighters shouted something. Unfortunately for the trio, he was too far away to make out the words, but it seemed he was the leader as the rest of the group scrambled to follow his order.
“What’s the plan?” Gio whispered, looking at Jun.
Jun looked pensive. “They’re using a lot of people to kill only a few monsters. Unless there is a larger group of monsters further in, then this is a super inefficient way to grind. This means they’re either bad or waiting for something.”
“Waiting for what though?” asked Ryan.
“Maybe us?” suggested Gio.
“Could be. I’m fairly sure I recognized the guy who shouted earlier. He was the one with the really stupid look on his face when we killed him earlier,” Jun said with annoyed look.
“He only had two others in his party. Did they really grab five more people just to come kill us?” Ryan asked incredulously.
“We killed like twenty people yesterday. Maybe they teamed up?”
“Damn scrubs,” Ryan muttered.
“Not like you guys tried to negotiate with them or anything. I’d be pretty pissed if I were them,” Gio muttered.
“Eh, it’s their own fault for trying to intrude on our spot after we told them to get lost. If we want Riptide to be a respected guild then we can’t let scrubs like them walk all over us. You think Yuuki or Ravenholm would permit people to take their spots?” Ryan asked. Gio just sighed at this, giving up the point as he peeked his head out from the tunnel once more.
“I’m fairly sure we can kill them actually. No one that we killed yesterday stood out. I’m fairly sure they actually do need this many people just to survive down here,” said Jun suddenly.
“You got a plan?” Ryan asked, staring at Jun.
Jun nodded. “These tunnels are pretty narrow. Gio could easily prevent them from coming at us more than two at a time. They only have a single mage and a few archers. And I doubt that any of them are all that accurate. The three of us can easily kill them two or three at a time. Especially if they’re really the same guys from yesterday,” he explained.
Ryan nodded slowly. “That could work,” he replied. Turning to Gio, he looked at his friend seriously. “Are you up to it? The plan hinges on you.”
Gio looked conflicted. “I can probably hold off one. Maybe two. But if they’re attacking me with arrows and spells at the same time, I don’t think I can do it.”
“Good enough. You shouldn’t need to hold on long. Ryan can aim for the ranged players while I help you with the fighters. You guys ready?” Jun asked, giving his friends a glance. Ryan and Gio nodded. Seeing this, Jun’s face lit up in a feral grin. “Time to gank some noobs.”
Making their way through the cavern, the trio stealthily followed the group of players into another tunnel. Allowing their opponents a slight lead, they navigated the winding tunnel passages by following the sound of voices echoing through the tunnel. Hearing the sounds of battle, Jun motioned for them to speed up, quickening their pace towards the tunnel exit. Reaching the end of the tunnel, Jun peeked out. What awaited him was another enormous cavern, very similar in both shape and size to the previous one. The group they were shadowing was clustered up roughly thirty meters from the entrance, where the last of a group of four goblins was fighting desperately against the fighters but to no avail. With an angry cry, the goblin fell, the leader of the group motioning for the fighter who’d dealt the finishing blow to step forward to receive the drops.
"Are you sure they're in here?" one of the archers spoke up with an annoyed tone. "We've been down here for over an hour. But they still haven't emerged. How do we know that this is their spot and they weren't just here for a little while earlier?" he asked, the tone of his voice clearly challenging their leader’s decision to remain in the cavern. One of the fighters stepped forward to answer this provocation, a man wielding a longsword with a small buckler strapped to his left arm.
"They should be. This is clearly their grinding spot. They wouldn't have defended this place so fervidly otherwise," the leader responded. He was a middle-aged man in his forties, his well-trimmed beard and rigid expression gave him a stern countenance and his rigid posture showed that he clearly had some level of training. Hearing his answer, the archer backed down, subdued.
“Why are you worried anyways? This place is pretty great for grinding. The villagers want us to kill goblins anyways. And their drops are pretty sweet,” one of the warriors spoke up.
“Easy for you to say, you guys don’t have to worry about dumb meatheads getting in the way of your attacks,” the mage muttered, her long gray hair and wrinkly skin denoting her age.
“What was that, bitch?” the warrior roared, advancing on the older woman playing as a mage.
“Enough! We are here to grind and kill those three player killers if we can. You think picking on a granny makes you tough? Stop infighting or you can leave,” the bearded man growled, stalking over to glower at the warrior. With a tsk, the warrior turned back, walking over towards an archer and another fighter who began conversing with him in low whispers.
“As for you,” said the bearded man, turning to the mage, “if it wasn’t for us warriors, you and the archers would be overrun by the monsters in here. You didn’t have to fight those three yesterday but they’re tough and we need to work together to succeed. We’re a team here, act like it.”
Turning back to the rest of the group, the bearded man glared at the group chatting quietly, “Same goes to the rest of you! We’re a team right now, I don’t expect you all to get along, but don’t cause infighting. Got that?” Hearing a dull murmur of assent, the man growled, “I said GOT THAT?” he roared. This time the answer was much louder, the groups shouts of affirmation resounding off the cavern walls. The man nodded at this, satisfied with their response. “Good. Let’s continue. Warriors in the front, ranged players in the back just like we’ve been doing.”
Reforming themselves into a ragged formation, the group began to move when a whirring sound was heard.
“Gah!” the old mage cried, an arrow sticking out of her shoulder.
Turning back to look, the bearded man’s eyes widened. “Enemy attack! Fighters to the front! Ranged players fall back!”
As he finished his orders, another arrow whizzed through the air, catching the mage as she was scurrying to the safety of the fighters. Stumbling on a rock, she missed her step, sprawling to the ground. Rushing to her aid, the bearded man attempted to cover her with his shield but he was too late. Even as his shield covered her prone form, another arrow whizzed out of the darkness, finding a gap between the shield and her body, the arrow soared past the hasty defence, depleting the last of the mage’s healthbar. With a groan, her wand spilled out of her hands, clattering softly across the rocky ground as her body went still.
However, this second attack allowed the bearded man to see where the attacks were coming from, raising his shield he began to bellow orders to his remaining companions, “There’s an archer shooting from the tunnel we emerged from. It's likely to be them. Remember why we’re here, this is our chance for revenge! Fighters with me to the front, keep your shields up. Archers, lay down suppressing fire so that we can advance. Move!”
Hurrying to obey his orders, the other three fighters rushed to the front, those with shields forming a crude shield wall as they began to press forward, quickly covering the forty meters between them and the tunnel entrance. Unfortunately for the archers, their aim in the darkness wasn’t great, and the rough shield wall did little to hinder the arrows that tore through the air of the cave, never failing to find new bits of exposed flesh to embed themselves in. With a cry, an archer fell as an arrow penetrated his chest, leaving only two archers and the four fighters to fight their mysterious opponents.
Fortunately, the fighters had now reached the tunnel entrance. Jumping into the tunnel, the first fighter’s eyes widened as he beheld Jun standing there with an arrow nocked to his bow. Attempting to raise his shield, the fig
hter was too slow, falling backwards as an arrow slammed into this throat, taking a large chunk out of the man’s healthbar and silencing his cry.
Elbowing the falling fighter aside, another fighter jumped into the tunnel. “It’s them!” he shouted excitedly, bringing his shield up and blocking the arrow that came flying towards him, charging towards Jun as he groped for another arrow.
Jumping backwards, Jun nocked the arrow to his bow as Gio charged past, using Shield Bash to slam his shield into the fighter’s exposed stomach, sending him flying back into the group of players milling outside. Raising his shield, Gio crouched down, blocking two arrows that came whizzing over the heads of the opposing fighters.
“Out of the way,” the bearded man snarled, shoving one of the fighters aside as he stepped into the tunnel. Dodging Jun’s arrow, he raised his sword in a two-handed grip, battering at Gio’s shield. Attempting to raise his sword to repel the man, Gio was forced to abandon the idea as another arrow came flying at his exposed side. Wrenching his shield back into place to receive the arrow, he was forced to retreat, first one step, then another, slowly retreating towards Jun’s position.
The bearded man’s eyes glinted, only a few more steps and the tank would be in a section of the tunnel wide enough for three men to attack side by side. At that point, the battle would be theirs. Ducking another arrow, he continued to pressure Gio backwards, using the fighter as a human shield against Jun’s arrows, his sword hacking down repeatedly, using ferocity to make up for what he lacked in technique and fluidity.
As Gio approached the section where the tunnel widened, Jun grinned at Ryan. “You ready?”
“I’m going to go take out the trash. Be right back,” Ryan responded, flashing a grin back.