Arcane Kingdom Online: Dark Magic (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 2)

by Jakob Tanner

  We locked in step with the crowd and shouted with them down the street. The keep was in sight, its tall stone walls looming high above us. Bright blasts of thunder and lightning swirled the upper walls of the castle. Hang in there Mari. Hang in there Fen. We’re coming for you.

  The crowd stopped marching. What was happening now?

  Beyond the shoulders of the protesters stood a wall of Laergardian soldiers. Fully armored and ready to keep back any riots. The march wasn’t going to go any further.

  I gestured to the nearby alley. “Time to try a new route.”

  We squeezed our way out of the crowd and dashed down the alley. We made a hard right and found ourselves in a narrow street, facing a group of goblin bandits. They had the badge of Drakus glinting on their chests. Their daggers were already drawn.

  There was about seven of them, all in a huddled mass. The lightning in the sky glinted off their short crooked blades. They took a step towards us. We took a step back.

  “We can’t go back the other way or we’ll have to face the guards,” Serena said. “We’ll have to fight our way through here.”

  I eyed the quest timer ticking away. Fuck. We didn’t have time for these goddamn goblins. A swirl of heat and rage poured through my fingertips and palms, flames erupting in my hands.

  I whipped the flame balls at the mass of goblins. “Let’s get this over with.”

  I ran towards the goblin gang. I’d take them on my own if I had to, I was so pissed.

  “Clay!” yelled Serena but I wasn’t listening.

  My skin developed a rocky stone outer layer. I had roughly thirty seconds of mediocre tanking in me now and I was going to savor every bit of it. I clenched the fingers of my right fist and squeezed them tightly with my thumb. I cocked back my arm and let the heat and flames travel with my fist, swinging it right into the goblin’s face. The green skin of his cheek turned to roasted ash. His jaw swung. His teeth cracked and one even went flying against the wall. His HP fell by 25%. I turned around and readied another punch at the three goblins coming at me.

  I met their dagger slashes with another fire punch. The blast knocked their arms down and I came swinging my other hand. My heart raced like a jackhammer. I didn’t have a stamina bar to measure how much of this type of fighting I was able to endure but my body was beginning to tell me: not much more.

  I turned around to catch the other goblin gang members but I was too slow and a dagger stabbed right into my shoulder. Agh! My stone skin ability had worn off and I was back to my normal squishy self. The cold steel burned through my flesh and I wiggled to get away. The goblin ripped his sword from my body, crimson blood splashing out alongside it. I stumbled backwards. Another blade swung into my ribs. The world around me spun. I was down to 30% HP already. What was I doing?

  The goblins continued to barrage me with their stabs and slashes but the pain disappeared. The cold steel digging in and out of my flesh felt less potent. A golden light surrounded my entire person. Kari. She’d cast protect on me. Thank the gods.

  I was lifted high in the air. Serena was holding me up by my shirt collar away from the barrage of goblin attacks. She tossed me to the side then lunged her sword at each of the goblins, drawing aggro onto her. Classic tank work.

  My health bar jumped up in 40 HP bursts as Kari threw out bright golden shards of cure spells at me. Back in the green, Serena threw me to the ground towards Kari.

  “Now stay back there you idiot,” yelled Serena. “Goddamn DPS pretending they’re a tank. What kind of noob shit is that?”

  I shook my head. My anger dissipated in the face of death. She was right. It was idiotic behavior, but I was frustrated and wanted to kill these goblin bandits and get on our way. We were running out of time.

  I got back on my feet, whipped out my staff, gripped it hard and drew in the mana from the surrounding area. My free hand’s fingers clawed through the air, dragging and manipulating the ground at our feet. I unleashed ruptured ground and let the street tear up in front of us. Jagged stone rocks erupted across the narrow road. Goblins tripped and fell over. Crippled status debuffs flickered underneath their HP and MP bars.

  Shade emerged from the shadows right as a goblin was picking himself up off the ground. The Lirana thief unleashed a double back stab with both of his daggers, slamming the green bandit’s body back to the ground, this time for good.

  +61 EXP!

  Attacking another group of fallen goblins, Serena lifted her blade high above her head and initiated crushing blow. Her sword slammed down in a long vertical arc, slicing two goblins right in half, blood and guts flopping out of their open corpses.

  +61 EXP!

  +61 EXP!

  Another wave of five more goblins rushed into assist the weakened and remaining four goblins we’d still had yet to defeat.

  “Push forward as we defeat them,” I yelled. Who knew if it would help, but it would at least gain us a few seconds.

  Serena twirled with her massive blade, clanging off daggers and slicing through necks and chests, dealing tons of damage. All the goblins attacked her and seven daggers at her ribcage—even with her toughness stats—still hurt. Serena’s HP bar jumped up and down as Kari threw cure spell after cure spell to fend off the increased goblin attack damage. Shade launched quick swipes on the enemies, sliding in out of the battle, kiting the goblin warriors to keep them distracted and minimize the intense aggro being pummeled onto Serena.

  The battle was tilting in our favor. Our attacks and team coordination meant the goblins were not only outmatched in strength, but wits as well. Any coordination or teamwork they had was destroyed by our superior tactics, keeping them on a second-by-second defensive strategy. They weren’t fighting to defeat us; they were fighting to survive.

  A bullet hit me in the upper chest and pushed me back a step. Ow! A hot pain rushed through my upper body.

  In the window along the street were snipers with barrels of rifles and revolvers pointing right at us.

  “Clay—this is all you,” shouted Serena. “Hit them with your ranged attacks!”

  I winced and focused in on the window closest to me. A green hand poked out from the window. My hand heated up, engulfing in flames. I put my whole body in the throw, lifting up my legs and pulling back my arm, launching the molten ball of flame at the exposed green hand. The blast hit the target, the pistol knocked out of the sniper’s hands and fell out the window. The goblin scrambled after his fallen weapon and in the moment of exposure I hit him with another fireball. He fell from the window and splattered head first into the floor. Bits of brain splattered everywhere.

  +61 EXP!

  Through the translucent prompt in my HUD came the real tangible tip of a pointed blade, heading straight for my eye. A bullet knocked the blade out of the attacker’s hand.

  “You’re welcome,” said Shade, smoke leaking from his revolver. He slid back into the fray, kiting more goblins from Serena.

  There were three more gunmen up above and still nine goblins on the ground.

  I had an idea for the gunmen. I clenched my fists and let the stone skin envelop my body.

  “Clay, what are you doing,” said Kari, in concern. “You shouldn’t be going directly into the fray.”

  “Don't worry,” I said. “Just watch.”

  I flicked my fingers towards my feet, electric lightning charging through my muscles and bone, giving me intense speed. I ran and dodged my way through the sword fight slashes of Serena and Shade and the goblin onslaught. Dagger swipes came my way but with stone skin buffing me the damage wasn’t severe. Once underneath the rooftops, I let my hands boil with heat, forming two massive fire balls in each. I jumped and created a mana pool and jumped again. One more jump and I faced the bastard. I leapt once more and facing the window and the shocked goblin gunman, I released my two giant fireballs into the gun pit.

  Falling in the air, I power jumped again right into the room with the gunman. I leapt on top of him and pummeled him with fire punch af
ter fire punch. His fallen face was nothing but ash and charcoal.

  +61 EXP!

  Gun shots fired into the empty building I was in. I slid against the wall and materialized a mana potion. Comboing so many abilities together—stone skin, shocking speed, power jump, fire blast—all in quick concession was enough to deplete the majority of my MP. I took a big swig of the blue potion, letting the new mana course through my veins. My blue status bar shot back to full.

  Two more gunmen left. I engulfed my hands in more flame and readied a fireball. I peeked out from my window and lobbed a fireball at the gunmen across the lane. His clothes lit on fire and he ran around the apartment, flailing his arms like a chicken in a coop. A burning debuff flickered underneath his status bar. I shot another two fireballs at him and alongside the debuff he fell to the ground dead.

  +61 EXP!

  A whole bunch of experience points prompts also appeared in my HUD. Good. The rest of the party was handling things below me.

  I took a quick breath behind the wall and readied myself for another go with the last gunman. I jumped out from the window ready to strike when a bullet hit me in the chest. Ack! He hit me again. I was down to 45% HP. My stone skin had disappeared, my chest leaking out dark rivulets of blood.

  I ducked to the floor right as another barrage of shots came at me. Damn. A shot or two more and I would be dead. Catching my breath, I cast healing mist and let the restorative vapor surround my body. The bullet wounds closed up and my health shot back up over 70%.

  This last goblin gunman was clever. He’d seen my other tricks.

  I cast shocking speed and ran up against the wall. I ran to the other side of the building, dodging two more shots from the goblin. I fell to the ground and crawled back across the floorboards. I got up making as little noise as possible and power jumped out the window. Flying across the skirmish below, I conjured another fireball. Toppling into the new apartment hallway, I unleashed the blast.

  The goblin had his back turned, still aiming for where he thought I was in the other building. The flame blast shocked him so hard it knocked him off the window ledge to the ground.

  Splat.

  +61 EXP!

  I hurried over to the window, lobbing more fireballs towards the skirmish. There were only a few more goblins left. Serena chased them around the laneway, letting them have it with her crushing blow.

  I power jumped back to the laneway, now full of goblin corpses leaking puddles of blood down the street.

  I shook my head and hurried down the street. “Gotta keep going.”

  I eyed the quest timer, ticking away.

  00:17:31 minute(s) remained.

  C’mon, we’re almost there.

  At the corner we were at the walls of the keep. Soldiers were running across the battlements, preparing to take on an army of rioters. Standing in the center, ordering them all was the last person we needed to face right now.

  The ultra-powerful captain of the Kingsblood.

  Sir Archades.

  37

  I swung myself back around the corner and knocked my head against the wall.

  There was no way we were going to survive a fight against Sir Archades and then Bertwald as well. We had to figure out a way around him.

  “What’s wrong Clay?” asked Serena. “Shouldn’t we keep moving?”

  Sweat fell down my face. I shook my head. “Sir Archades is guarding the wall.”

  All of our faces fell, except for Kari, who asked, “Who’s Sir Archades?”

  “He’s like the worst school principal you’ve ever had,” said Serena. “Except he also has the power to literally kill you in seconds. He chopped Clay’s head off once.”

  I blinked at the memory, rubbing my neck.

  “Yeah, yeah, he’s a total prick but we can move around him,” said Shade. “We just need to be—wait for my favorite word—stealthy!”

  I crossed my arms and sighed. “Alright, let’s hear it. How do you think we can get past him?”

  Shade popped his head out from around the corner and scanned the wall. He returned and scratched his chin and wagged his tail. He was thinking. “He’s dictating orders from the wall. So he’s not anywhere close to the actual keep entrance. All we have to do is climb over the wall far away from him and make a wide berth behind him until we reach the door. Voila!”

  “I thought you were a master thief,” said Kari, looking up at Shade with cute dopey-eyes. “Your plan doesn’t include any recourse for a situation where he turns around and sees us clearly going for the keep entrance.”

  Shade lifted up a finger. “Ah, but I do have a plan. He won’t care if he sees us.”

  “And why not?” I said.

  “Because we’ll be in disguise.”

  “Oh brother,” groaned Serena. “Let’s get on with it then. Lead the way Shade.”

  “Thank you Ms. Serena,” grinned Shade. “I’m more skilled in improvisational work, but this is definitely one of my better plans. Now follow me.”

  The thief snuck across the street and hugged the stone wall of the castle, masking himself in the shadows. We followed behind. The street was empty compared to the rest of the city due to the guards cordoning off the streets and blocking the riots.

  “Light squad-b to the eastern wall!” bellowed Sir Archades.

  I shuddered, knowing he was so close to us.

  Shade bounced down the street away from the Kingsblood knight. We ran to a point along the wall where we no longer heard any murmurings or heavy footsteps above us.

  “Ms. Serena—if you’d oblige me a lift up this wall?” He bowed and presented his hand to Serena.

  “Buzz off,” said Serena, swatting his hand away. She turned to Kari and bent down, “Get on. Clay—you can carry the gentleman, can’t you?”

  I made a face at Shade and bent over to pick him up. He wasn’t as light as Kari but lighter than I expected.

  I power jumped up the wall with Shade on my back. Once over the battlements I collapsed with Shade over top of me. Serena, with Kari clutching onto her shoulders, landed on the wall with a lot more grace.

  “You mentioned disguises,” I muttered.

  Shade scurried towards the side of the wall where the mountain of Land’s Shield created a big shadow.

  “Yes,” said Shade. “We wait here for enough guards to come and we take their equipment.”

  “Fair enough,” said Serena. “Though we are on the clock. How long are we going to wait for?”

  “Not long,” grinned Shade, pointing to a set of three guards, trudging towards us.

  We hid in the shadows as the guards came close to us. I listened to them speak.

  “Bertwald told me we wouldn’t have to listen to Sir Archades after tonight. I can’t wait to be done taking orders from that bastard.”

  So these guys were on Bertwald’s side, then? How much of the royal court had he corrupted and convinced to join his schemes?

  They walked to the edge of the wall until their backs were turned to us. Shade walked ahead. With both daggers pulled out he initiated backstab on two of the three soldiers, plunging his daggers into each of their respective necks. He slid with lightning speed to behind the other soldier and slit his throat, a cascade of blood flowed out onto the side of the wall. Shade dragged out the most recent deceased soldier and brought him back into the cover of shadows.

  Serena grabbed the other two fallen soldiers.

  “But there’s only three soldiers,” said Kari. “Don’t we need four uniforms?”

  “We don’t have time,” I said. “We’ll have to make do.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” said Shade. “But Kari—you’re not going to like it.”

  We unequipped the fallen soldiers and put on their Laergardian soldier outfits. They didn’t have helmets but so long as Sir Archades didn’t look us directly in the eye I was sure we’d be fine.

  We marched down the wall. To any passersby we would have appeared like any other set of patrolmen. Rioters would�
�ve attacked us even. But clutched underneath Serena’s arms like a volleyball was a grumpy Muumuu healer.

  “Stop squirming,” muttered Serena as we marched down the battlements of the wall.

  “You’re clutching me too tight.”

  “Shh,” said Shade. “Your antics will get us caught.”

  “Our antics?” balked Serena.

  “He’s right,” I said. “All of us are talking way too much for serious Laergardian soldiers. So this goes for all of us—including me—zip it.”

  Sir Archades pointed and shouted at different squads to move into different positions. They’d done such a good job cordoning off the mob and rioters there wasn’t actually much for the soldiers to do on the walls. He was keeping them alert, ready in case of a change.

  With every step we got closer and closer to the knight. One observant glance and we were done for. If we passed him successfully without his notice, we were home free.

  We were a meter away from him now. His back turned to us. We sped up. He turned as we approached. We picked up our pace, passing him. He addressed us. “Soldiers.”

  We kept walking, murmuring in reply, “Captain.”

  I croaked as I spoke. The three of us kept marching forward towards the main doors of the keep. We were a minute away from the front door when Sir Archades’ voice echoed across the grounds.

  “Stop right there.”

  “Keep marching,” muttered Shade.

  “You three!” he said.

  We continued to ignore him. In seconds, he was standing in front of us.

  “I don’t know why the king ever let you go free after I brought you here. I would’ve sent you straight to the dungeons.”

  “Screw you man,” I said. “You don’t even know what’s going on right now, do you?”

  The knight unsheathed his two battle axes. The same ones he had lobbed my head off with only a day and a half ago. “It isn’t a Kingsblood’s duty to know the exact details of the king’s political machinations. It’s his duty to serve.” He adjusted his positioning, preparing himself for an attack. “And my current mission states to kill all enemies of the state.”