Dino Sword

by James Archer

  “Damn,” I said, impressed at the power of her dino sword.

  The League of Twelve would do anything to get it back.

  “Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!” the dino-men shouted in unison.

  I glanced up and saw the red-scaled beast inching forward. He barely fit into the tall, wide tunnel. Before he reached the scratch in the floor, he stopped and shot flames out of its mouth. Morgana lifted her sword and created a protective energy bubble around us. The flames skirted past us but killed some dino-men nearby.

  “Be ready,” Morgana said. “The scratch won’t hold back the dragon. It’s too high level.”

  “Fuck this worm!” I shouted and ran forward, out of the protective bubble.

  I leaped and came down, slicing the dragon’s neck. My inactivated dino sword bounced off its thick armor. Unlike the arena, I didn’t have a ton of buffs on the blade. Their attack had taken us by surprise. Without a bit of luck, we all might die.

  “Look alive!” Morgana shouted. “Coming through!”

  She ran past me and plunged her glowing dino sword into the beast’s chest. It screamed and scrambled back, out of her reach.

  “Brother killer!” the dragon hissed. “You will die now!”

  Was he related to the dragon I killed in the arena? No time to think about it now. The dragon shot more flames out of its mouth. Morgana’s protective bubble had followed her and covered me enough to protect me from the magical fire. The magic failed, however, to stop the dragon from closing in and swiping with its massive claws.

  I screamed as they slashed across my face, leaving a deep gash that would leave a permanent scar. Fuck all dragons! I lunged forward and stuck the damn creature in its open mouth. My pierce actually did some damage, causing the beast to scamper back again.

  “He’s got back-up,” Morgana said.

  Three mages in deep purple robes stepped around the beast, freely walking over the protective scratch in the floor of the tunnel. We hadn’t done much damage to the dragon, but they healed and buffed him anyway.

  “Get the mages!” Morgana yelled.

  No shit, I thought as I stepped forward. She shot a white energy beam out of her dino sword. It shot past me and struck the dragon in the eye. Great idea. I used the distraction of the thrashing dragon to slip up to one of the spellcasters. He went down quick as I closed the space between us. The other two scrambled backward, raising their hands to cast.

  Blue flames shot out of their four hands, slamming into me. I lost over half my health in the one damn attack. The force knocked me over. As I got to my feet, they stepped forward, hands still raised. Morgana took out another one with the white beam energy. I ran forward and scared the last one away. The dragon wasn’t as easily convinced.

  “Brother killer!” he yelled in an accusatory tone.

  “I killed your fucking mom, too, bitch,” I said.

  The dragon went into a rage, rushing forward. I retreated faster, Morgana joining me. The few dino-men still alive also moved back.

  “Stop!” Morgana commanded while holding her dino sword aloft.

  The dragon froze in fear. What does that sword of hers not do? I wondered as I used the opportunity to rush forward. Knowing I could damage the interior of its mouth, I jumped as high as I could as I got close to him. The dragon turned at the last moment, giving me the perfect opportunity to stick my blade deep into the upper roof of its mouth.

  I fell to the ground and rolled as the dragon thrashed about again. The rampaging beast crushed the last mage against the wall of the cave. I didn’t see him get back up as the dragon retreated even more. Morgana and I kept moving forward, not giving him any leeway.

  “Finish him,” I said. “Your sword’s better than mine.”

  She screamed as she ran forward. The dragon lifted its tiny arms, looking hilarious as she pierced its chest with her dino sword.

  “Die!” she shouted.

  The dragon obeyed the powerful woman with her own dino sword.

  << Combat is over! >>

  << You get +10,000 xp >>

  << You have 328,000 xp >>

  << Level Up! >>

  << You need 12,000 xp for next level >>

  With no time to choose a class to level, I turned to Morgana. She nodded without me having to say a word. We commanded the dino-men to hold the line behind the scratch in the floor while we went up the platform to the surface.

  “Put that sword away,” I said before we left the building.

  She shook her head. “I’m using it. Let the cards fall where they may.”

  “That’s reckless,” I said.

  “You know that’s why you love me.”

  She gave me a peck on the lips then went outside. I followed her down to the deck of the stuck boathouse. Almost all the vegetation in the swamp had been burned. I saw dozens of dino-men bodies littering the ground. The dino-women had survived and were using their recently learned magic to battle the dragon head-on. I saw Newton leading them.

  “Where’s Harper?” I asked, still scanning the battlefield.

  “There,” Morgana said, pointing.

  I followed her finger and saw Harper raise her staff. A stream of freezing water shot out of the tip and blasted the dragon, almost knocking it out of the sky. The green scales of the beast glistened in the afternoon sun as it screamed and sent a cloud of green fog streaming out of its mouth. Harper activated her staff again, causing it to snow, diluting the fog.

  “She needs our help,” Morgana said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”

  “I’m with you,” I said then hopped over the railing and climbed down the rope ladder.

  She followed close behind. Once on the ground, we ran toward where the dragon had landed. A fresh wave of Xin Jang’s soldiers arrived from the north, swarming around the green dragon. I kept running in that direction, wishing my dino sword had activated. Would I even be able to damage this one? Morgana overtook me, presumably another effect of her sword.

  I slowed then stopped, watching in awe as she leaped into the air a dozen feet away from the dragon. She came down with the tip of her sword leading the way. My pierce tore a chunk out of the dragon’s left wing, grounding it. Several soldiers ran toward her. I jumped back into action, able to take them out easily even without an activated dino sword. The fight was on.

  As Morgana battled the dragon, slowly weakening it, I took out as many of the low-level soldiers as I could. Harper and Newton helped, each in their own special way. When the dragon went down, gasping its final breath, the enemy’s morale broke. They turned and fled back toward the Forbidden Kingdom. Newton ran over, grinning.

  “Should we follow them?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “We need to protect our land.”

  “Status of the walls?” Morgana asked.

  A dino-man ran up and said, “They’re breached in three places.”

  “Get to work fixing them,” I said. “Temporary is fine for now. We’ll look at replacing them with stone as soon as things stabilize.”

  “Yes sir,” the dino-man said then ran off.

  “How did it go down below?” Harper asked as she walked up.

  “We killed another dragon,” I said.

  “Fucking A,” he said. “We did good today.”

  “King Gerald is sending us help too,” I said.

  “Was that another dino sword I saw?” Newton asked.

  “Put it away,” I said, turning to Morgana.

  She opened the temporal hole and secured the sword in it. Right after she did, another dragon landed nearby.

  “I come bearing news,” it hissed. “King Gerald requests your presence.”

  “We’ll get there as soon as we can,” I said. “We just got attacked.”

  “He wants to see you now. I’m here to protect your appointed lands,” the blue-scaled dragon said. “My name’s Charles. Yes, it’s a human name. No, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  I grinned, liking him.

  “Fine,” I s
aid. “Anything you can tell us?”

  “Tell him the truth,” Charles the dragon said. “Or you’ll die. Do you agree to allow me to teleport you?”

  “Yes,” I said, glancing at the others.

  “Great,” Charles said. “Smell you four later…”

  The dragon chanted then moved its tiny hands. We blinked away. I opened my eyes and saw we’d been teleported to King Gerald’s inner throne room. He sat back, watching as we appeared in the room.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” he said, glancing at each of us.

  “King Gregor and Xin Jang attacked us,” I said. “We’ve been busy.”

  “I know about that,” King Gerald said.

  Two men in white robes stood behind the throne, whispering to each other.

  “I didn’t think you’d have the guts to come and tell me about the stolen dino sword,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked without pause.

  “Someone stole a sword from the League of Twelve,” King Gerald said. “It wasn’t mine, thankfully, but the owner wants it back, and I’m bound to help him. The sword in question was seen in use at the recent battle you took part in. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

  “It’s a fake,” Morgana said.

  “Let me see it,” King Gerald said.

  “The damn thing broke during the battle,” she said. “A red dragon melted it right down.”

  “My spies tell me it wasn’t a fake sword,” King Gerald said. “They saw it in battle.”

  “No disrespect, but they must be mistaken,” I said. “Things were chaotic. I want to thank you for helping me become the one true ruler of the badlands.”

  King Gerald nodded. “I’m not sure yet if I’ve made the right decision, to be honest.”

  “You have, your majesty,” I said. “Trust me.”

  “I want to trust you,” King Gerald said. “You remind me of myself when I first came into Dino World full time. If you haven’t stolen the sword, you need to keep an eye open for it. There’s a reward for any information leading to its recovery.”

  “We’ll do that,” I said. “With your assistance and blessing.”

  I hated kissing his ass, but it was necessary for my long term plans.

  “You’ll have my support,” King Gerald said. “Just don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.”

  “Never,” Morgana said.

  Had we gotten away with it?

  One of the two men in white went up to the king and whispered in his ears.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, standing up.

  The man in white nodded. “Right about...now.”

  As he said the last word, a game notification appeared.

  << DINO WORLD ALERT >>

  << WARNING // WARNING >>

  << A hacker has entered the game and is permanently removing full-time players. While there’s a small chance he may be able to kill your body in the real world, rest assured we’re working hard to capture this menace. Instead of shutting down the game and facing lawsuits, we have decided to continue Dino World and restrict people from leaving the game. The risk of the hacker escaping without punishment is too great for ECNEP corporation. We hope you understand. As long as you stick together, you’ll be safe from the hacker. Capture or providing any information about the hacker that leads to his apprehension will be rewarded in-game significantly. (Have you ever wanted your own planet in the Dino World universe? We’re not even kidding!) The risks the hacker poses are high, so we thought the reward should be at least as earth-shattering. Please play safely as we work to give you the best Dino World experience. Thank you. >>

  “Fuck,” I said, looking at the others.

  “Some players got the message earlier today,” King Gerald said. “This changes everything.”

  “I want to get back to my kingdom in the badlands,” I said. “Do you mind?”

  The king waved his hand, not even looking in our direction. Hopefully the hacker would keep his attention enough for him to not question us more about the stolen dino sword.

  “We need a way back,” I said.

  He sighed and turned.

  “Transport them back to the shit lands,” he said.

  One of the wizards in white turned in our direction and waved his right hand. We blinked out of existence and arrived just outside the wooden wall surrounding the swamp. I saw several dino-men diligently working to repair the extensive damage to several sections.

  “That message,” Morgana said. “What do you think?”

  “It’s fucked up,” Harper said. “I’m in here full-time, but I don’t like the idea of not being able to leave if I wanted, you know?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “We need to keep our eyes open and concentrate on taking over the badlands. I really doubt a hacker like that would bother to come to the armpit of Gardonia.”

  “All we have is NPC dino-men and dino-women,” Harper said.

  I nodded. “We do need more players. They’ll come.”

  Over the next week, many low-level players did come to us, tired of all the bullshit between King Gregor and Xin Jang. A few higher level characters also came our way, pledging fealty to me. With no way out of the game until the hacker got caught, things were about to get very interesting. Seven days after battling to keep my kingdom, I sat with Harper, Morgana, and Newton in our underground war room.

  “Another hacker did the same thing about a year ago,” Newton said. “They tried to keep it quiet, but some of us believe it happened.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know,” I said, leaning back on two legs in my chair. “This could all be some sick marketing play or something. Maybe they’re going to roll out a pay-to-play hacker class or something. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

  Morgana smiled, nodding. “Could be. We’ve managed to hang onto our fledgling kingdom. King Gregor and Xin Jang are both struggling to hang onto power. If this hacker person doesn’t come mess with us, we’re in a really good spot.”

  “Doesn’t the fact he could kill us in real life scare any of you?” Newton asked.

  “Nah,” I said. “They’re probably lying. If that ever happened, they’d have to shut down the virtual worlds and that’s never going to happen. They make ECNEP corporation too much money.”

  “It would be nice if we had more than two fucking corporations in the whole world,” Harper said.

  “That’s why we came to Dino World,” I said, settling down onto all four legs of the chair. “We kicked ass recently, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

  “You’re making me wet,” Harper said, grinning.

  Newton rolled his eyes. “You guys are insatiable.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?” Morgana asked.

  Newton wandered toward the door.

  “Just don’t fuck on the meeting table anymore, okay? It’s gross.”

  “Sure thing,” I said, walking over to Morgana. “Shut the door on your way out.”

  ┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

  CHAPTER 24

  ┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

  The Birth of a New Kingdom

  After using the dino sword to kill every day for twenty-one days, the damn thing finally activated. I woke before the others to check out the stats. The abilities and powers the weapon granted me were legendary. With the dino sword, I had no excuse to not form my own kingdom in the game. Dozens of players had already joined me, but the new powers would bring more.

  << Dino Sword — Excelzion >>

  << +50% chance to hit >>

  << +50% damage >>

  << +500% damage on critical hit >>

  << Extra Abilities: Will become known over time… >>

  The stats flew around my brain as I got up and headed toward the main tunnel to check on the progress. We’d already added a dozen more rooms to the ever expanding complex. I stood near the wall and watched as dino-beings and players walked back and forth. After watching a few moments, I headed to the oth
er side of the tunnel.

  We’d fortified ourselves and were in a better position to finally defeat King Gregor and Xin Jang with the help of King Gerald, but I was thinking about my long term future in the game. I glanced to the left then right before activating a hidden button. After part of the wall slid away, I slipped into the tunnel on the other side, walking swiftly.

  The door shut behind me. I walked a good half-mile before stopping in the construction zone. I stopped in a tunnel even wider and taller than the one leading to Yusgood. This one went north, toward Gristle. Eventually, I wanted to have deep underground tunnels leading to all the city states in the League of Twelve. That would be power.

  I watched the golems Harper had constructed for the task. With the magically animated beings doing all the work, the tunnel network would be our secret. Newton might be a weak link and spill his guys if he got too drunk, but I’d warned him of the consequences if that happened. After defeating cancer in the real world, he had no fear.

  “Speak of the devil,” I said as Newton walked in.

  “I saw you come back,” he said. “Everything okay?”

  “You better not be spying on me in that invisibility suit of yours,” I said.

  He grinned. “No, I was fighting with Womang and walking around, and I saw you come to this side. The new tunnels are the only reason you would be over here. I just got news which is why I came to find you.”

  “Oh? Everything okay?”

  “Probably not,” he said. “King Gerald is dead.”

  I blinked a few times as I digested the information.

  “How? What happened?” I asked.

  “The hacker got to him,” he said. “That’s the rumor, anyway.”

  “Fuck,” I said. “Maybe they weren’t lying about him.”

  “Doesn’t seem that way,” Newton said. “I thought you should know.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “With him dead, we need to be ready. The new person they appoint to lead Gristle might not be so keen on helping us tame the badlands.”

  “Yeah,” Newton said, nodding. “It could be bad. Even worse, I heard the hacker’s headed for the badlands. He told some people he’s coming for you.”