Xanthe grimaced. “If I am caught with you—”
“Then do not get captured.” Averyl crawled onto Xanthe to peer into her eyes, her nipples pressing against the sides of Xanthe’s breasts. “Let us leave once the soldiers stop searching. Once we are in South Town, I will stay in an Inn like this and remain there until you have secured passage for me with the star-dwellers.”
“Very well.”
“And . . .” Averyl shut her eyes and looked away. “If you change your mind, I would very much like it if you traveled with me.”
Xanthe held Averyl close and stroked her short cherry hair to bring calm to the princess’s mind. It was the only thing that she could think of doing other than telling Averyl the truth.
Xanthe had no plans to go with her.
She had to kill Leafblade—
A muffled sound reverberated through the wooden door.
Someone was behind it—Leafblade, perhaps? Xanthe leaped from the bed and pulled the Silver Dagger from her hair, causing it to fall and smother her bare shoulders, then approached the door. She opened it and the faun bartender Kam fell forward and faceplanted. Kam had been leaning against the door. His pants were down, making his bare, furry arse face the ceiling, his stiff cock still in his hand.
Kam had been jacking off while listening to Xanthe and Averyl fuck. He stood up, hands held out to Xanthe’s dagger.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Xanthe raged.
“I was just checking for holes!”
“Which holes? Mine or Averyl’s?”
“Both!”
“You should go . . .”
“I think you’re right, lass!”
Kam pulled up his pants, struggling to fit his hard cock back into them, and ran off into the darkened Inn hall, his hooved feet making too much noise.
Someone would report that to the searching imperials.
Xanthe and Averyl had to leave.
Chapter Thirty-One
Guy, Kam, and Zuran took the long route to the cave. They had to. There were way too many sentinel patrols between the desert city of Holt and their destination. The detour, naturally, sent the three on a path crawling with animals tainted by the affliction that had turned into creatures that looked like a cross between a squid and a slug. They were cleverly called . . .
Squig | LVL: 10 | Rank: D | HP: 100%
Squig . . . who the fuck comes up with these names?
The Squig was easy for Guy, but a challenge for Zuran.
Zuran resumed his role as the party cannon, blowing the targets up that stood in their path, as Guy stabbed and slashed Asteria’s Sword to keep the monster’s attention fixed on him. Kam wasn’t much help, being someone who the affliction hadn’t changed. All he could do was poke the monsters with his knife.
Kam did two HP worth of damage. It was better than nothing.
Zuran has attained level 4!
At least the detour isn’t a waste of time. The numerous battles lowered Guy’s HP, forcing him to consume his limited supply of HP hyposprays. He was down to seventeen now. We need a new strategy since there’s no healer.
And for that, he looked toward their sigils, especially the new ones gained from recent battles.
“Zuran,” Guy called out to him. “Let’s swap out sigils.”
Guy changed his sigil loadout, using the first combination he discovered while alone in the desert. He took off his Wrath sigil, which removed his Provoke skill, then replaced that sigil with Safety. Now Guy gained the use of Fortification and Stand Your Ground, alongside On Your Feet and Storm Slash.
Fortification will reduce the damage I take when I have the AP. Less damage means fewer hypos to use. And Stand Your Ground, combined with my racial trait, should prevent me from being knocked around like a bitch.
“Done,” Zuran said. Guy and Kam looked to see that Zuran had covered his bare chest and arms with sigils. Guy counted four sigils on Zuran: Magus, Target, Projectile, and Fire. “Think I overdid it?”
Guy shook his head. “No, I think that’s fine. You’re not supposed to get hit anyway, so you can get away with wearing less.” Guy gazed at the mountain ahead. They were close.
The next wave of monsters came nowhere close to harming them. When swings from Asteria’s Sword granted Guy the AP, he used Fortification, and the subsequent five attacks inflicted upon him did less damage. Meanwhile, Zuran fired up the new spells he learned from the sigils. One was a single target spell simply called Fire, and it sent Squigs up in a blaze of flames. The second spell was Fireball. Zuran would conjure a flaming orb of fire from his tome and fling it forward, hitting anything that happened to be in the way. It made taking down multiple monsters easier. Guy got the Squig to chase him in a straight line, while Zuran ran to reposition himself, spin around, and start the three-second cast.
Much better—things are dying faster, and I’m taking less damage. This setup is the only way for us to get through without a healer.
Zuran has attained level 5!
“Fuck yeah!” Zuran yelled and jumped in triumph.
Nice to see he’s leveling at least . . . I haven’t gained a level yet.
Guy checked his experience points.
Experience Points: 1237/2143
Seems the requirements to level up get higher and higher.
An hour and a half later, the trio arrived at the mountains. Traveling down a small path led them to stop at the mouth of a cave, a dark and hair-raising one.
“Well, after you,” Guy said to the group.
“Hey, you are the Paladin,” Zuran said and waved his hand in an “after you” gesture.
“You have cool magical powers, man,” Guy said. “At least you can blow shit up if it looks at you funny.”
“And if they sneeze on me, my ass is dead!”
“Yeah, well—”
Kam strode forward. “Let us get moving.”
The faun entered the cave. Guy and Zuran exchanged looks, shrugged, and followed behind. They both grumbled shamefully. They had the cool powers of a class, and Kam didn’t.
Using his tome, Zuran cast a spell that set the book on fire, though none of its pages burned. It worked as a torch for the trio as they ventured into the depths of the cave, the only way to the city of South Town. It didn’t surprise Guy to discover monsters lurking within it. He became concerned about the planet’s ecosystem and how nature had changed in response to the new game rules the affliction brought.
“Do not get too far from me!” Zuran said, gesturing to his burning tome. “I got the light.”
He was right. Guy couldn’t see shit without Zuran’s burning tome casting flickering red-orange light on the cave’s walls . . . and he certainly couldn’t see the oversized bats that blocked their path, their oval-shaped mouths opened to display razor fangs.
Cave Bat | LVL: 12 | Rank: B | HP: 100%
Guy held the monster’s attention, his sword cutting away at the Cave Bat’s torso and wings. With the beast focusing its bites on Guy, he ambled to the side, forcing the monster to keep pace, ultimately putting its back toward Zuran. The Mage cast the Fireball spell.
The Cave Bat never saw their end coming and rewarded Guy with 105 experience. Zuran, being level 5, got 150 per kill.
Higher level and rank of enemies, equal better experience points. I like this!
The cave turned out to be a dark maze-like cavern, offering the trio multiple passages to traverse, some leading to dead ends, others taking them in a circle, the rest leading them deep through it. Guy couldn’t imagine that the cave was the most common way to travel between Holt and South Town. There wasn’t a sign in sight, nor any paths that indicated fae travelers used it frequently. Then you had the giant Cave Bats lurking around every corner, almost like they were spawning from thin air, not caring about the fact that Guy had been putting them to the sword and that Zuran had been blowing them up with his fire spells.
This isn’t a cave. It’s a fucking dungeon.
One long dungeon crawl.
So long that Guy hit level 10.
Congratulations on reaching level 10. Asteria’s Sword is now ready to grow. Would you like to evolve Asteria’s Sword into something stronger at this time? Yes/No.
Why yes, I would love to! “One sec, you two,” Guy said to his party. “My sword needs to evolve.”
Once again, four screens circled Guy, each displaying a preview of the next stage in the evolution of the mysterious sword he possessed.
Asteria’s Sword [Long sword]
Rank: D
Attack: 20
Vitality +1 Strength +1
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Strength +1]
Requires: 47 Strength 66 Vitality
This long sword is basically the one I have now, just stronger.
Asteria’s Sword [Short sword]
Rank: D
Attack: 6
Vitality +2
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Strength +1]
Requires: 30 Strength 66 Vitality
Hmm, tempting. I’ll lose attack power, but the vitality will boost my defense. And with Zuran at my side, I don’t think I’ll need to focus on offense as much.
Asteria’s Sword [Greatsword]
Rank: D
Attack: 20
Strength +2
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Strength +1]
Requires: 47 Strength
Though, if I rocked this, Zuran and I could deliver a lot of hurt to the monsters!
Asteria’s Sword [Rapier]
Rank: D
Attack: 4 Magic Attack: 2
Charisma +1 Intelligence +1
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Strength +1]
Requires: 22 Charisma 47 Strength
I may have MP, but I’ve yet to come across any magic spells for me to use, making this option useless. From what I gather, Provoke is more effective with high persuasion, and it seems charisma can boost that. But is sacrificing strength and vitality really worth a marginal power increase to Provoke? Fuck it, I’ll just stick with the long sword. It hasn’t let me down yet.
“Yo,” Zuran said to Guy. “You finished?”
Guy selected the long sword and nodded. “Yeah.”
Asteria’s Sword glowed with enough light to brighten the cave’s walls blue. When it faded, Asteria’s Sword had changed again, now with a sharper blade and hilt that fit perfectly in Guy’s hand. The trio resumed their adventure in the cave, slaying bat after bat. The tunnels and monster encounters seemed to be never-ending, resulting in Guy’s experience jumping halfway to level 11. Zuran hit level 6 and then later level 7.
“The fuck?”
A wooden chest grabbed Guy’s attention. He kneeled next to it as Zuran’s magical tome flared its flames, bathing the chest with light. It was a random treasure chest, kind of like the ones in the books Guy’s mother used to read to him as a kid. There was no lock on it, so he opened it and pulled out the single item inside.
Obtained: Lesser HP Potion
“Why is there a random chest here?” Kam asked.
The chest evaporated like the monsters they killed. Guy offered Zuran the potion since it was useless to him, then remembered he had six more in his inventory and traded those with Zuran too.
“The affliction must have created the chest and the potion inside,” Guy said.
Zuran looked puzzled as he held the bottle with red liquid. “What? The affliction can make objects too?”
“I suppose so,” Kam said, looking at the cave’s rock face. “Half these passages were not here when I first traveled through them. The whole bloody layout of the cave changed. The affliction does not just affect people and wildlife. It changes the world, too.”
“For what purpose?” Zuran asked.
Kam shrugged, then turned to keep moving through the cave. “Not sure, but at this rate, the world will not be the same in a few months.”
Guy doubted Faeheim was the only planet affected. The affliction changed Guy on the planet Mennaze, and there was that Jane Doe land-fae in the hospital back at the fleet. As Guy recalled, she was a level 5 Cleric and somehow ended up adrift in space. There could be other planets changing throughout the galaxy. Maybe even ships in the star-dweller fleet.
And if that’s the case, it's going to change warfare. Whoever has the most high-level soldiers will win.
Zuran’s tome torch guided them to the cave, or rather, dungeon’s central chamber—at least, that’s what it looked like: a circle-shaped room made of the rock face. There were two ways in, one from the tunnel the trio arrived from, and a second at the far end of the circular-shaped room. When they stepped forward, Zuran’s burning tome cast a glowing light on a sleeping bear about the height of Guy.
Naturally, the three entering the chamber caused the bear to open its red eyes.
It roared as it shook its body awake and stood on its hind legs. The bear turned out to be a lot taller than Guy and his traveling partners.
Guy reached back for Asteria’s Sword. “Oh boy . . .”
Zuran grimaced. “This is not good . . .”
Dire Bear | LVL: 15 | Rank: A | HP: 100%
“Rank A,” Guy grunted. “You see that, Zuran?”
“Yeah, I really wish I did not though.”
The Dire Bear stomped its feet and charged at the three like a raging bull. Kam and Zuran ran to the left and right, respectively, and Guy checked his AP.
AP: 100/100
Just enough for Fortification. No, wait. He looked at the charging bear again. Its rushing body wasn’t slowing down. I really don’t want to get knocked down and clawed to death. Stand Your Ground, it is.
The charging bear drew near.
Guy held out Asteria’s Sword to block and shut his eyes.
Crash.
The Dire Bear threw the weight of its body upon Guy, but he didn’t move. Guy just stood there like a mountain. He cleaved upward after that, hitting the bear’s face, then came back down again for a second strike. The Dire Bear stood on its rear legs, roared, and suddenly came down with its front claws aimed for Guy’s head. Guy held Asteria’s Sword up, blocking the attack.
Crash.
That blow threw him down. The effect of Stand Your Ground was only good for one attack. Guy was down on the ground and the bear sprung its mouth open, biting and gnashing at the fallen Paladin, almost capturing him with its jaws.
“Oh, God! Not good!” Guy panicked.
A flash of fiery light exploded on the bear’s side. Three seconds later, it repeated. Zuran was unleashing his flaming hell. To the side, Kam poked the bear with his knife. He might as well have used a spoon. The bear had clamped Guy in its mouth, biting down hard enough for him to feel the pain.
That means . . .
Guy | HP: 146/586
. . . okay, maybe Fortification was a better use of my AP.
Another explosive blast flashed, singeing the bear’s fur and tossing Guy away, making him spiral to the ground. As Guy got to his feet, he pulled out an HP hypo and injected it.
Guy | HP: 263/586
His HP recovered, but not enough, so he repeated the injection.
Guy | HP: 380/586
“Bro! Get this fucker off me!” It was Zuran. He was running away now with the bear chasing him from behind. “Use Provoke!”
Guy tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword and chased the Dire Bear. “I don’t fucking have it!”
“Why the fuck not?!”
“Because I switched sigils, remember? This build won’t let me use Provoke!”
Zuran ran along the circular chamber's length while the Dire Bear chased him and Guy followed with Asteria’s Sword up. Kam stood in the center, watching as the three ran laps around the chamber, wincing at his useless knife.
“Anything I can help you two with?” Kam asked, sounding all nonchalant.
Neither said anything. They were too busy huffing and puffing from the race. Guy closed the gap and cleaved the bear’s ass. After a four-folded slash, the monster stopped
and stood on its hind legs again to roar, its eyes glowing red like a demon had possessed it.
The Dire Bear turned to face Guy.
“I’m gonna assume this is going to hurt a lot.”
He swung as fast as he could to get the AP he needed.
AP: 80/100
Just two more to go.
The bear clawed the air ahead of it relentlessly, its arms moving so fast it appeared as a blur of brown.
Guy | HP: 297/586
It was cutting away at Guy’s HP.
One more hit and I can use Fortification.
Guy scored the hit and wasted no time using Fortification—
The last swiped tossed Guy into the wall.
The Dire Bear spun for its next victim, Kam. He didn’t have HP like the others did, and so the rules of life and the universe applied to him.
“Kam! Run!”
The faun hurried into the darkness of the chamber with the bear running in pursuit. As Guy stood up to get the Dire Bear’s attention back, Zuran downed an MP potion, restoring his MP, then resumed his casting and dished out a Fireball.
The Fireball missed as the charging bear moved out of the spell’s trajectory. Zuran grimaced. “Ah, man, fuck! I just wasted 65 MP on that!”
“Use your single target Fire spell!” Guy said as he continued to run for the Dire Bear. “The spell Fire just hits the target, no matter what, right?”
“Yeah, but it does less damage.”
“Less damage is better than no damage! Projectile spells are only good if the target remains still.”
Zuran groaned and stood to cast the next spell, his eyes shutting. “Ugh, yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Guy closed the gap and leaped up high, aiming his sword at the Dire Bear. He came down with a massive vertical cleave, cutting into the bear’s flesh. He shifted to the left and sliced again, this time horizontally. Meanwhile, random blasts of fire erupted on the bear and its HP dropped. Guy looked to see how much they had to go.
Dire Bear | HP: 52%
Almost there!
The beast stopped his chase for Kam, having lost interest. Once again, the Dire Bear spun toward what it perceived as the threat, Zuran. Guy stood ahead of Zuran, using his body as a shield, Asteria’s Sword raised high to deflect the next attack, his AP at 100 and ready for his next move.
Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1) Page 23