Rise of the Grandmaster

by Bradford Bates

  ShadowLily smiled at her. “I swear to the goddess that if your class change quest involves drinking beer after I had to do all this, I’m going to be so pissed.”

  “Don’t get your panties in a twist. It’s not like you won’t get to drink the beer with me.” Cassie tried to wipe some of the fish-men’s slime off her staff but only succeeded in covering her gloves in the sticky substance. “I’m never eating fish again.”

  “Just imagine how much sushi one of these could make.” ShadowLily started walking deeper into the cavern, avoiding the seawater that covered half the floor.

  “Yeah, nothing says fun like eating half-human, half-fish sushi.” Cassie made a barfing sound. “I think this game is trying to make me a vegetarian.”

  “I’ll get you a veggie and fruit platter as soon as we get back.” ShadowLily quickly put her armor in her inventory before reequipping the clean version. “Now, let’s go kill some fish-heads.”

  “At least they don’t talk. Imagine if they were parrot-heads.” Cassie did the inventory trick with her own outfit and weapon before stalking farther into the tunnel.

  ShadowLily watched from stealth as her friend took the lead. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was never really sure this was going to work out. Whoever heard of an avoidance tank? It seemed like those classes were always getting shunned because one hit to them by a raid boss at end game was almost always catastrophic.

  And while they hadn’t made it to the end game yet, she was impressed by how well Cassie had handled the bosses in their first dungeon run. The girl was amazing when it came to being fearless. There was no way in hell ShadowLily would volunteer to be a tank in this game.

  She preferred life in the shadows.

  One of the fish-men jumped out of the water, covering Cassie with brine. It looked like the drinks, and maybe a spa treatment, were going to be on ShadowLily tonight. If they even had spas in The Etheric Coast. Slowly it dawned on her that she didn’t know much about the city they lived in and what amenities it had to offer.

  She was too busy kicking ass to go on a walking tour of Promethia.

  Cassie moved the fish-man into position and set ShadowLily up for the easy kill. Their system was working pretty well, but things felt too easy. Tim was always telling her that nothing in games was easy. If things felt too simple, the developers were trying to lure you into a false sense of security.

  And then, whamo!

  The big baddie pops out and wipes the entire group. They hadn’t run into anything scary yet, but ShadowLily knew Tim was right. Something huge and evil wouldn’t be too far away.

  The next fish-man fell to her blades, and she started to wonder what kind of sick developer came up with these creatures. Fish heads with bulging eyes and mouths full of razor-sharp teeth stuck on human bodies. It was like some psycho killer from a movie who sewed the heads of animals onto people’s bodies.

  She wondered if their back story involved pissing off the goddess or if some asshole decided to get freaky with a really big fish. Whatever happened, there was a race of hybrid fish-men that they were slowly exterminating.

  Three fish-men later, they ran into a solid wall. ShadowLily frowned at the wall and peered into the water. There was no way to deny it—the current moved under the wall and hopefully into another chamber.

  “Looks like we’re getting wet.” The thief looked at the water again and wished there was a different way. Jumping blindly into what might be fish-men infested water and trying to swim into another room seemed reckless.

  Cassie took one look at the dark water and rounded on her. The tank’s face was redder than a woman who couldn’t get her hands on the new Popeyes’ chicken sandwich. “I’m not jumping in there. We have no idea where in the hell it goes, and I can’t breathe underwater.”

  “I thought you had big lady-balls?” ShadowLily snarked. “A little swim never hurt anyone.”

  “A little thing called drowning still makes you dead.” Cassie looked into the dark swirling pool. “Seriously, tell me we don’t have to do this.”

  “We don’t have to do this.” ShadowLily checked her quest and saw she needed two more kills to complete it. This was the only location marked on her map, so she had to keep pushing forward. "But I do.”

  Without waiting for her friend’s rebuttal, she dove into the water and started swimming with the current. Maybe it wasn’t her brightest plan. Cassie was right; they had no idea where this tunnel went. She was pretty sure the fish-men weren’t worried about oxygen like they were, so she really could die. At the same time, she knew games were created to give you a way to win.

  She just hoped there wasn’t some magical breathing device she was supposed to find before taking the plunge.

  There was no way to tell if she was going the right way. It had already been dark in the cave, but underwater it was pitch black. All ShadowLily could do was follow the current and hope that when she needed air, there was something besides solid rock above her.

  There was a noise from behind, signaling that Cassie had decided not to make her do this next part of the quest alone, despite her fears of drowning. ShadowLily hoped she hadn’t killed them both by taking a leap of faith. Her vision started to swim as her chest grew tighter in the search for oxygen. It reminded her of trying to hold her breath and do laps in the pool back home.

  Only in her pool, the penalty for failure wasn’t death.

  Just when she thought she’d totally fucked up, there was a faint light ahead. Nothing made a drowning person swim harder than seeing potential salvation. She pushed her body faster, knowing the only way out was forward. Her lungs burned. It wouldn’t be long now before her body forced her to take a breath.

  Then it was all over.

  When her head broke the surface of the water, she spluttered and gasped. Before even looking around, she floated on her back, just sucking in as much of the sweet, sweet air as she could.

  Cassie breached the surface a few moments later, and after a few lungfuls of fresh air, she looked relieved.

  “Still alive,” ShadowLily intoned serenely as if she were just floating down the lazy river with a margarita in hand.

  “No thanks to you,” Cassie retorted as she climbed out of the water. “The real question is, how are we going to get back? Swimming against the current is going to be a problem.”

  Her tank was right. Getting back out was going to be a real bitch. Unless the tides turned, they couldn’t make the swim. The good news for them was the water seemed to be from the ocean, so the current should change at some point. If The Etheric Coast even had tides. Things didn’t always work the same way here as they did back in the real world.

  ShadowLily swam to the edge and pulled herself up onto the rough cavern floor. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

  “Easy for you to say. If I die, I have to start over,” Cassie grumbled.

  Looking at her friend, she did her best Tim impersonation. “But I have a plan.”

  “It never makes me feel better when he says it either.” Cassie climbed out of the water. “Normally, a plan from your boy toy means I get the shit kicked out of me for a while.”

  Pulling Cassie close, ShadowLily grinned at her. “But never a dull moment, eh?”

  “I could use a few more dull moments.” She pulled her bō staff from behind her back. “Now, let’s go find something to hit before I lose my temper.”

  “You got it, boss,” ShadowLily snarked as she followed a stomping Cassie through the cave.

  They continued walking, and the spaced-out torches gave them just enough light to see. In the distance, there was a brighter light. With every step, the tension grew. They hadn’t seen one of the fish-men since swimming through the underground channel and nearly drowning. It couldn’t be long now before one of the creatures burst from the water to attack.

  Their eyes were adjusting to the brightness now, but it wasn’t sunlight. There seemed to be a room at the end of the tunnel lit by thousands of candles. Wax dripp
ed down the rocky walls and puddled on the ground. They walked further into the chamber and could just barely make out what was at the end: a giant throne made out of the bones of a whale.

  And it wasn’t empty.

  It must have been the leader of the fish-men, or at least the leader of this cavern full. He towered above the two men at the bottom of the throne. If she had to guess, ShadowLily would have said he was a good foot taller and at least fifty pounds of muscle heavier than them. This next battle wouldn’t be as easy.

  The king of the fish-men stood up from his throne and stared down at the two women. “You have killed many of my school. For that, there must be retribution.”

  Cassie turned toward her friend. “I think he just threatened us.”

  “Well, we did kill quite a few of his people.” ShadowLily grinned at the tank.

  “So, business as usual?” Cassie twirled her bō staff and glared at the king.

  ShadowLily pulled her daggers free. “I don’t see why not.”

  Without a word, Cassie charged at the throne. The two guards sprang into action, moving to intercept her before she could reach their king. The little tank spun and dodged their attacks, giving ShadowLily the chance to pounce from stealth.

  The rogue-to-be took out the first fish-man without an issue. The second one realized the thief was the bigger threat and turned to face her. Cassie thunked him on the head for his troubles. When the creature spun back around to ward off Cassie, ShadowLily plunged her daggers into him from behind.

  A quest update appeared in the lower right-hand corner of her vision.

  Kill twenty Fishmen from behind: Complete

  Update…

  …New quest received.

  Kill the fish-men’s king and take his necklace back to your class change representative to complete your quest.

  Cassie looked at the two dead fish-men and turned to look at ShadowLily. “So do we get to kill the big guy now or what?”

  The thief grinned back at her. “Looks like we do.”

  The king of the fish-men let out a fearsome war cry, drawing the duo’s attention before he pulled out a massive trident from behind the top of the throne. At the base of the three points was a glowing blue jewel.

  Tim wasn’t the only one who played enough games to know the jewel was important. It either gave the king additional protection, or it performed some kind of elemental attack. Her guess was it had something to do with water.

  The king jumped from the throne and landed behind them, effectively boxing them into the cavern.

  “Guess he doesn’t want us to get away,” ShadowLily muttered before dropping into stealth.

  “It’s not like we can swim out of here with him chasing us. Trapping us in the cave again seems like overkill.” Cassie gritted her teeth as she moved to face the king.

  The first blast of water hit the tank right in the chest and sent her flying into the throne. She hit the bones and bounced down a few of the steps. Thankfully the king seemed less worried about her and more interested in finding the thief who disappeared.

  The giant fish-man turned his trident toward the ceiling and let off another blast of water. As the droplets fell from the cavern’s roof, they revealed ShadowLily sneaking up to him from behind. He swung the trident in a slow arc, ready to blast her.

  Cassie had seen about enough from the smelly fish-headed fucker. Flipping back to her feet, the tank growled and started running. Why did all these assholes think they could turn their back on her?

  The king’s arm made a horrible snapping sound as her staff slammed into the limb and shattered the elbow. The trident fell from his hands just before he could blast ShadowLily into next week.

  Not willing to die so easily, the king pulled a dagger from his belt and slashed at Cassie with his one good arm. It was easy enough for her to dodge the attacks now that she only had to worry about them coming from one direction. She kept the king’s attention focused on her so ShadowLily could get to work.

  The rogue didn’t disappoint as she stabbed her daggers into the king’s scaly back. The king of the fish-men wailed in pain, but ShadowLily silenced him a moment later. All of her training with Gaston had prepared her for this moment. The bulbous-headed bastard didn’t stand a chance.

  It almost seemed unfair having higher skills than someone at her level would normally have, but that didn’t stop her from taking full advantage of them. She made sure the king was dead before moving to examine his body. The only two items he had on him were the necklace and the trident. She tossed the trident to Cassie and took the necklace for her quest.

  “What do you want me to do with this?” Cassie looked at the weapon in her hand.

  “Keep it or sell it. I just wanted to give you something for helping me out.” ShadowLily watched her friend, hoping the little bonus would make her happy, but it wasn’t gratitude she saw on Cassie’s face. The look her friend was wearing was different somehow, it might even be described as devious.

  The tip of the trident rose as Cassie pointed it at ShadowLily. “Might as well see if it works.”

  Oh, shit!

  “This is for a day spent in stinky-ass fish guts.” Cassie let a blast of water fly.

  ShadowLily tumbled across the cavern floor and came up spluttering. “If you didn’t like the gift, all you had to do was tell me,” she snapped.

  “Oh, I like it just fine,” Cassie started to raise the trident again. “It’s going to be a hit at pool parties. Super Soaker this, bitches.” She shifted aim away from ShadowLily and sprayed an arc of water across the cavern walls.

  The thief watched her for a moment then smiled. “I think I just figured out how we get out of here.”

  Cassie frowned. “Have I told you how much I hate it when you sound like Tim? Sure his ideas work, but they seem sketchy at best.”

  “Are you really saying you don’t want to use the trident to shoot us back through the underwater passage like a rocket?”

  The tank looked at the water and then back to her best friend. “No, I don’t think I’m saying that at all.” Her frown turned into a shit-eating grin. “Let’s do this.”

  Once in the water, they straddled the trident like a broom. As the weight of the metal and their gear pulled them under the surface, Cassie activated the trident, and they launched forward like a cork from an extra bubbly bottle of champagne.

  If they hadn’t been underwater, they would have screamed in joy.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  “I’m surrounded by incompetence!” Jepsom raged.

  He looked around the room at all his disciples’ upturned faces. “Every fucking one of you is worthless.”

  Jepsom pointed at one of the men whose name might have started with an H. “I asked you to stop that street preacher, not to incinerate him in front of a crowd.” He shook his head. “Have you ever heard of discretion?”

  “And you!” The cardinal rounded on Dunstin. “How hard is it to get some street healing hack to disappear?” When he snarled, the man shrank away in fear. “And if I understand the situation correctly, not only did you not resolve the issue, you scurried away like a roach from the torchlight.”

  “He had a fire mage with him,” Dunstin pleaded.

  Smack!

  The chamber echoed with the sound of Cardinal Jepsom’s open hand making contact with Dunstin’s cheek. “If I wanted excuses, I would have sent whatever the fuck his name is.” Jepsom pointed at the man he just chastised. “But I wanted it handled, so I sent you.”

  “I apologize for failing you.” When Dunstin wasn’t slapped again, he took it as a sign to continue. “Tell me what to do, and it will be done.”

  Jepsom cracked the insolent bastard on the head with his staff. “I told you what to do, and you fucked it up.” He took a deep breath to center himself. “It seems that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.”

  Jepsom reached down and placed a healing orb against Dunstin’s skull. “I will have need of you again. T
ry to be less disappointing in the future.”

  “As you command, Cardinal.” Dunstin hurried to his feet.

  The cardinal looked out at the waning members of his band. The only three men Jepsom trusted to get things done had been killed. There was still no word on who had assassinated them, but they had to be good if they also took out Juan Pablo. The man was a brute, and no one had been better at killing than him.

  Now all Jepsom’s hopes of finding the assassin rested on the shoulders of an even worse brute. If the half-orc shit didn’t come through, he would have his head on a stick, goddess be damned. It was bad enough his own men were so incompetent that he needed to rely on outside help, let alone the help of a half breed.

  The cardinal locked his eyes onto Dunstin’s. “I have a task that even you might be able to handle. Find Malvonis and bring him to me.”

  Raising his staff again to deliver another blow, Jepsom sneered. “Do you think you can accomplish the task I’ve set before you?”

  “I can and I will, Your Eminence.” Dunstin turned and left the room.

  Jepsom looked at the rest of his followers. “I’m not the high priest yet, but it is only a matter of time.” He smiled at the men standing in front of him. “When I take over, all of you will be promoted. Do not forget what we are working for.”

  The cardinal made the sign of the lady over his chest. “You are dismissed. Go and tend to your duties.”

  The priests filed out of the room, and Jepsom smiled. If he could nip a few of these problems in the bud, he might still have a chance to pull off his coup. The Dungeon Heart had given him power, but he had to use it wisely. The last thing he wanted to do was tip his hand early and give Paul a chance to stop him.

  This healer in the slums was troubling, though. He’d already dealt with one healer down there, and now there was another one in the same spot. The slums hadn’t had a proper healer in over fifteen years, and now they were springing up like wildflowers after the first rain of spring.

  If the man refused to bow to Jepsom’s commands, he’d have him locked up. A few coins in the right pockets and the city guard could make someone disappear more quietly than any of his men were capable of.