I turned just in time to watch as the cowardly Rogue tried to sneak attack James, who weaved in and out of the way of arrows sailing at him. Just as the Goblin behind him was set to strike, James rolled out of the way. The arrow meant for him struck his would-be assailant in the left eye, leaving the Rogue with only a sliver of HP left. It lay panting in pain on the ground. Kayda dove out of nowhere and pushed the arrow deeper—the Goblin died, and Kayda began to feed on her fallen foe.
I got a notification that Kayda had leveled up again.
“Fuck, that bird is brutal, dude.” Yoh laughed as he jogged over to join James against the Ranger.
I walked behind it and cast Frozen Dagger, which it seemed to dodge as if by instinct. James spun, grabbing the icy projectile and stabbed it into the neck of his opponent, bringing the Ranger to its knees. Yohsuke slashed with his sword and cut the thing’s head clean off.
We looted the bodies, then sat down for a moment.
“What the hell was up with you guys?!” I asked. “James is out here catching arrows and spells and shit. Yoh, you’re a fucking lucky dickhead. What’s going on?”
“Monks get an ability to catch projectiles within reach, but there’s a cool down, about ten seconds,” James explained. “So, I can catch one, maybe two at a later level, but anything more during that cool down I either dodge or get turned into a pincushion.”
We both looked to our other friend and he smiled. “I unlocked something called Spell Sniper. I got it back when I caught that one Goblin earlier, but I was saving it for a time we needed it.”
He took a moment to fill us in, and I had to admit, I was more than a little jealous. Spell Sniper allowed a caster to increase the accuracy and strength of his spells. This one added a couple of neat effects, like confusion and stun at a certain percentage chance. It was a passive ability, something that was always there that boosted abilities or spells. He hadn’t gotten the chance to truly try it out until just a few minutes ago, and even then he had been weary of it.
“I didn’t want to go too trigger happy because there’s a chance that I could hit you guys, and it would hurt a lot,” he continued.
I couldn’t blame him for that. I was still jealous, though.
They were common in a lot of games—passive abilities like this one—but this was my first time seeing it here in Brindolla. I’d have to ask about it from people who knew more in this world, but, typically, a passive ability like Spell Sniper added a little extra something to your skill set. A mage, for example, could use a lot of fire-type spells and earn an ability that caused him to do more damage to creatures, cause burn damage over time, or lower mana cost of a specific kind of magic. All of those were awesome, and it was really lucky that Yoh was the one to have gotten Spell Sniper.
I spent the rest of Kayda’s stat points. Her intelligence had naturally increased by one, probably due to her distributing retribution to all the Goblins she could in cruel—but brilliant—ways. I put another point into Strength and two into Wisdom.
We rested a bit longer, long enough for my Fox Fire spell to cool down, then moved on. I checked in with the others, who were doing well, and then we moved on.
The next fight we got into was an all-out brawl. There were three Goblin Fighters level 14 walking toward the room we had just left. We looked at them, they looked at us, and no one moved for a second. Then all hell broke loose as the lead Fighter took the initiative and charged us. He went for the target with no weapons — James.
James laughed as he push kicked the Goblin in the chest into the one behind him. The Fighter left standing went straight at Yohsuke. What was I, chopped liver? I growled at the little bastard and stabbed it in the back with my great dagger. It was wearing hodgepodge, rusted metal armor too, so I cast Lightning Bolt after I pulled the blade back out. Hey, I may be stupid, but I’m not that bad. The lightning struck the metal backplate of its armor, and the little thing shook violently. Yoh took the opening to drive his Astral Blade into the creature’s exposed ribs and cast an Astral Bolt point blank into its head. The Goblin dropped—its head a smoldering ruin—and we moved onto the next opponent.
This Fighter was assisting his friend in fighting James. Both worked well together, probably used to fighting as a team. One went high as the other came low, then mid-strike swing and a jab from the partner. If James hadn’t had high Dexterity, he would have been skewered a few times. It was bad enough that the Monk had lost thirty percent of his HP and the Goblins were near full.
Yohsuke summoned Bonzer behind the Goblins, and the Skeleton went to work on the Goblin with the least health.
“James,” I said over the grunting and fresh clash of metal. “You go with the Skeleton. Yoh and I have this one.”
I turned to Yoh and nodded so he would take the lead. After he and the Goblin had begun to weave their deadly dance. I took in my surroundings. The tunnel was actually fairly large at twelve feet wide and ten high. I had just enough room for my great axe in here, but it would be close.
I equipped my great axe and activated my one stop combo, Cleave and Wind Scythe. I threw the axe at the Goblin as soon as it was clear of my friend. It hit his armor and knocked him five feet back. The armor mitigated some of the damage, but the attack had dropped him to less than half of his health. He tried to pick my axe up to use it against us but could only drag it behind him. Another idea occurred to me.
“I’m going to trip the little bastard up,” I explained to Yohsuke. “Don’t hit me.”
He nodded at me, trusting me to do what I said but still confused. I shapeshifted into my fox form and bolted between the Goblin’s legs. He dropped the haft of my axe and tried to grab me, but I was too quick for him. From that first miss, I bounded around the thing’s feet and distracted it until Yoh stabbed it in the head with his Astral Spear.
“Call off the Skeleton. I’ve got this,” James called out with a grunt. “You guys rest.”
Yohsuke and I sat down off to the side of the tunnel. Bonzer kept a lookout since he had nothing better to do and Yoh didn’t want to dismiss him just yet. James was down to fifty percent HP, and I was about to cast Regrowth on him when his body flashed with golden energy just beneath the skin and his health bar was at full again.
“Woah!” I whispered to Yohsuke so we didn’t distract our friend. “You see that?”
“Yeah, man,” he said back. “Looks like Monk is a pretty badass class.”
James disengaged from the fight for a second with a back handspring, then lunged forward swiftly and thrust his palm out. More golden light surrounded his outstretched hand, and on impact, the thud from the Goblin being thrown violently away into the wall behind him made the two of us cringe. He closed with his enemy before it could stand and dispatched it with an axe kick. It was a beautiful, brutal strike.
“Nice going, man,” Yoh said. “What was all that?”
“My Ki,” explained James. “Ki is the force inside all living beings. I can manipulate my own, and with the understanding of how to do that comes the ability to use it on myself and others. That last strike was a Ki Strike. It costs about ten Ki per strike, adds magic to my attacks, and depending on where I strike, it will stun, knock a target prone, or push them back fifteen feet. The other thing was a self-heal that the class uses called Healing Aura. It uses half of my Ki, so I’m going to need to meditate real quick.”
“That’s pretty freaking sweet, man,” I said with a whistle. “How do you like punching things?”
“It’s pretty relaxing. I get a good work out, but I can use weapons like staves, nunchaku, short swords, and some other simple weapons. Most of my skills lay with unarmed combat so I may stick to that unless something comes along.”
We waited while James meditated. He sat up against the wall, legs crossed, and his body seemed to relax slowly. Once he was completely relaxed and still, he stayed that way for a little bit. While he was doing that, Yohsuke and I spent our time leveling up. One point to Intelligence and four to Wisdom. The
n I picked my next spell.
Heal – Heals the target or caster for 100 HP instantly. Cost: 100 MP. Range: 60 Feet. Cool down: 5 seconds.
Kayda leveled up again. At level 7 now, her natural point, the one that went into the most used stat between levels, went into Constitution, so I threw two more into that and one into Wisdom. I checked and saw that a couple levels ago she could have a spell of her own. The spells were limited because of her elemental alignment, but I could see potential there with a couple. The first I picked was her own Lightning Bolt. That should help us out. I could’ve kicked myself, but with how busy we’d been lately, there just didn’t seem to be time to check.
I took a moment to check on the other group. They had met some resistance but otherwise seemed fine. They were going to push a bit further then call it a night.
Moments later, James stood up and stretched.
“You guys ready to move?”
We nodded and got up to loot our kills. The drops from these guys were okay; the swords would help like the other weapons, so I took them. The money we split evenly this time because James threatened to punch me if I tried to baby him anymore. I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that knuckle cannon of his so, I graciously agreed.
Further down the tunnel we came to a room with an altar and three hooded Goblin Acolytes level 15 huddled closely together before it. A section of the room was partitioned away with a thick material and incense was burning heavily behind it. It stung my nose something fierce, but I got out a rag from my old clothes and tied it over my mouth and snout like a bandit. It helped a little. There were torches on the walls, but they didn’t smoke or sputter like normal flames, and they didn’t screw with our dark vision.
The group decided it was too risky to stay and plot in easy sight of this doorway and went back down the tunnel to talk out a plan.
“What are you guys thinking?” I asked.
“I’m guessing those are casters,” said James. “Most likely some kind of Black Mage type.”
“Yeah, gotta go in and get ‘em quick before they lay down a good amount of damage,” said Yoh.
“Well, I have a crowd control spell, but it’s expensive mana-wise,” I offered, “but if it works, Kayda and I could fry them really fast. I’d be spent on mana and have to fight close quarters after. Water Grave, if you remember?”
“I could throw Black Snow down or Star Burst as well,” Yohsuke grumbled, his eyes closed in thought. “It’s expensive, too but worth it if we can do as much damage as possible to them before we have to go in. What’re we looking at dimension-wise for this spell?”
I explained my spell, Water Grave, as a ten foot by ten foot globe of water that holds anything it touches in and slowly drowns it, unless they can manage to get out. I hadn’t tried it before, but I figured it could help. Pair that with a charged Lightning Bolt from myself and Kayda’s own spell, and we could do some serious damage—provided the laws of science held on this planet.
We discussed our options quietly and decided on a plan. After that, Yohsuke cast his Infernal Body spell, and we waited while his mana recovered.
A quick mental conversation with Kayda later, and our attack was set to begin. The first bit went off well; the sphere sucked in all three Goblins no problem. Yohsuke’s Star Burst blew up and did a little less damage than we had thought, about ten percent apiece, but it was something. The force from the spell rippled and forced one of the Goblins close to the edge of the sphere, where it continued to struggle to get free. I guess some Goblins can’t swim? I finished charging my spell, and Kayda cast her own the same time I did. The effect was exactly what I had hoped it would be. The water magnified the lightning damage threefold, and two of the Goblins inside were dead and crispy.
Unfortunately, the third Goblin who had been pushed back was able to escape the full force of the blasted lightning as it slipped out and fell against the altar. It screeched in a high pitched, guttural language and produced a knife. Before any of us thought to move, the little green creature leapt onto the altar and slit his own throat. His HP fell to zero, but a burst of flame claimed the falling body, producing a charred-looking creature with small horns, small wings like an over large bat, and glowing red eyes.
It pointed at us; a red beam shot toward us and exploded like a Fireball, knocking Yohsuke and I back. Luckily, James had ducked out of the room and was spared. My health had dipped by thirty percent and Yoh’s about a quarter.
“Gonna need Bonzer on this one, buddy,” I said. “I think is going to be rough.”
The Lesser Demon level 18 looked at us and grinned. A small, nasally voice spoke in my mind, “Yes, it will be.”
“Great,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Telepathy. Oh goody.”
“You’ll die first, disrespectful worm.”
“Your mother.”
It shrieked and hurtled my way, quickly closing the distance between us. James seemed to just be there, planting his foot into the side of the enraged Demon’s head and shooting it into one of the magical torches. The spell from the torch didn’t do much to it at all.
“Might be magic resistant,” James said before I could.
I brandished my great axe and got ready. I had fifty mana left, and it was going up slowly but surely. Bonzer stepped into view; the Skeleton was level 8 now. His gear remained the same, pirate-style getup as before. His jaw lowered in a wordless cry, and the Skeleton charged the little Demon. The Demon met him head on and began to smack its attacker swiftly, attacking three times for every one of the Skeleton’s attacks. The kick from my friend had done only about five percent of its HP so we stood a chance if we did this right.
Yohsuke had come up behind the creature, his Astral Blade slashing forward, while another, smaller Astral Dagger came across the opposite direction. He slashed, weaved and bounced out of range, and slashed more until the little Demon turned to attack him.
I took the opportunity to activate Cleave and Wind Scythe before launching my weapon end over end at the little asshole. The blade only nicked its back a little but shaved off its right wing entirely, leaving a bloody gash. The greater axe embedded itself into the altar. James was right there, his hand glowing green for a moment before he stabbed his clawed fingers into the wound. The flesh around it began to sizzle and pop like bacon and fried eggs. Faster and faster, James stabbed with his hands until his arms were a blur of black and green.
The Demon’s HP was at fifteen percent when it began to intone something and a tear began to appear over the altar. I could see tiny insect swarms over a plane of red fire and sickly yellow gasses. They began to crawl this way, and I began to panic. Screw bugs.
“Shut him up!” I cried.
I leapt over my friends and began to tug at my axe. The swarm was closer now, and I could see that the insects were two feet long with leech-like maws, salivating acid. Oh hell no. I pulled harder, but the axe was stuck. I activated Devil’s Hammer, and that got it out, but I wasn’t going to make it in time to stun the little monster.
Suddenly, the Demon grunted and fell silent. The portal shut as one of the insects leapt toward it, trying to get to me. I looked back, and James had his glowing fist shoved into the Demon’s mouth. His HP had gone down a bit—he was at sixty-five percent—but he seemed okay with it.
“We can make a deal, yes?” the nasal voice begged but none of us listened. This time, I took pleasure in ending the little thing while it was helpless.
Chapter Fifteen
We were hurting. We all sat down after checking behind the curtain and James had seen nothing but a small chest waiting. We grabbed a snack, and I took the chance to send a Mental Message and check on Balmur and the rest of the crew.
“Hey!” Balmur’s voice spoke into my head. “How are you guys managing?”
“Good, man. We just cleared a mini-boss room, I think,” I responded with my own spell. “I think we’re going to call it a night. We got fucked up bad, but we made it. No need to come get us. The loot is good,
too. How are you all doing?”
“Good. Had our own shit to handle for a minute there, but we got through. You guys be safe. If anything happens, I’ll give a shout.”
“Same here, brother. Be safe, and whoever gets up first messages the other. Night”
I relayed the message to my friends, and we all relaxed. It had been nice to have such a good fight, but none of us expected that Demon. What the hell was going on with these guys? Goblins summoning Demons?
After we were healed and recovered, we looted the bodies. The Goblins gave us some gold, and one gave a ceremonial knife. The Demon dropped a scroll, a ring, and a large, blood-red ruby that hadn’t been cut yet.
“A one-time use item,” James said. “Summons the defeated Demon to do the summoners bidding for five minutes. Anyone want to take the helm on that?”
“I will.” Yohsuke held out his hand to take the spell. He took it and looked it over. “I have an idea about that book.”
I picked up the ring to look over its stats.
Band of Inferno
Increases fire damage, +10 to attacks with flames.
Infernal fires bend to your will, strengthening the flames of your castings.
A gift from a careless, stupid human.
That looked nice. I checked with the others and asked the others if they wanted it; they looked at me as if I were stupid, so I put the ring on. I felt the ring heat up until it felt almost uncomfortable, then it stopped.
Yohsuke summoned the Imp, Betzits, into the material plane before us.
“Thank you for summon–” the Lesser Demon began, but was cut off.
“Quiet, minion,” he ordered. “You can speak and read almost any language, right?”
The Lesser Demon looked furious but nodded slowly.
“Good.” The Elf produced the book. “You will read this, honestly and out loud, to us in our language. Go”
He regarded his temporary master with open disgust but complied. The book, which was only a few pages, was a log of things that the Goblins had been collecting, ingredients and incantations in order to summon a Greater Demon at their leader’s order. It didn’t explain why, just that those were the orders and that all priests and shamans were to consider ways to gather the right things needed.
Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1) Page 19