by Konrad Ryan
“You’ve changed. You’re faster now. Stronger, too. I can hold off the five, I’ve done it before. But I can’t do that and evade Becca at the same time. Can you do it?” Bunta was all business, his usual hesitation gone. “If you can take Becca, we can save Terrance. Otherwise we need Brando’s help now.”
Tad’s thoughts raced. Could he take her? Maybe if he closed the distance so she couldn’t use her bow… cold sweat trailed down Tad’s neck. Did they want him to kill her? Her movements were sharp. They surely rivaled Tad’s own capabilities. She would be a tough opponent for him, he could already tell. He could feel her strength from across the cavern. That was new. Tad studied the ground. Finally, he found the courage to ask.
“Do I kill her?”
Gruff grunted, Bunta nodded. Despite their instant responses, Tad could sense their hesitation. Maybe they weren’t unfeeling stones. They were just… seasoned. It wasn’t the first situation where they needed to abandon a friend, a companion, to stay alive. A second chill spread down Tad’s back at the thought.
If Scar hadn’t liked Tad before, it would only get worse when he found out Tad had killed Becca. The two seemed to be friends. Close. Both shared the loss of the same individual. Scar’s brother. But what other option did Tad have?
Tad gave a nod. He would do it. He forced the uncertainty from his gut until he mirrored the same resolve Bunta and Gruff showed. Tad touched the back of Bunta’s armor. His health was too low. Tad cast ‘heal other.’ A gasp of pain escaped Bunta’s mouth. Tad felt sick. Why did healing feel so bad? In games, it always looked so soothing as mystical green magic enveloped the wound. In reality, it felt more like a thousand tiny medics sewed your flesh together with white hot needles. You felt every ripple of flesh, every nerve, as it spidered through your muscles.
Bunta’s health rose to over forty percent, Tad’s own health dropped under fifty percent. But Tad felt good about the choice. If Bunta fell, they would all fall.
Finally Becca’s arrows paused again. That was the signal. “Go!” Gruff shouted. In an instant, his overlarge shield shrunk as he slammed it into the face of one of the swordsmen just outside. Bunta’s twin daggers opened a cascade of blood and gore as he slashed and stabbed both swordsmen in a flurry of strikes. Tad found Becca’s eyes. Not her new slick black eyes, but her natural eyes. Terror shone within. She was frightened, desperate. Yet her face laughed. Whatever they’d done to her, it was clear that some part of her was still in there. Still conscious. Trapped.
Tad would have to kill her while she watched, a prisoner to her own body. But what other option did he have?
Bunta sped ahead, leading the two swordsmen away from Gruff. He furiously stabbed and sliced between the gaps in their heavy armor. Bunta was above the two in terms of skill and speed, but a pudgy woman with ebony hair that stuck up like serpents, cast a green beam of healing. This healer didn’t need physical contact to heal! The swordsman’s horrendous wounds knit back together in an instant. Bunta tried to circle around the two to reach the healer, but a solid knight with a huge iron shield stepped in front to block his advance. A fourth shot firebolts, icebolts, and lightning bolts rapid-fire as they chased Bunta away from the blonde healer. Their strategy was simple. Protect the healer at all costs. Wear down the opposition. How had this team lost? They were so strong!
Becca’s arrows rained down upon them again, but this time her attack was confused. Her arrows chased Bunta’s flashing movements across the room as he drew closer to the healer. It forced him to back off. Becca had joined in the group’s strategy without even a word of explanation.
Tad charged toward Becca. His senses had never been this sharp. The two warriors weren’t particularly fast, not compared with Bunta who moved like lightning through quicksand. Warrior rank slayers were on a different level. Yet, despite Bunta’s speed, the perfect coordination of the six soldier slayers seemed to be his match.
Tad drew closer to Becca. If he got in close range, Tad would have the advantage. She was a ranged attacker. Tad was a close range fighter. Like Bunta. Even if he only had one dagger. He sped across the cavern. He needed to close the distance while Bunta distracted her.
Becca turned. The motion was ever so slight. But that’s all it took for her bow to point directly at Tad. Her cruel smile grew even wider. Bunta hadn’t distracted her at all! Becca had been waiting for Tad to expose himself. Had waited for Tad to be in the perfect position with no cover to retreat to. She had him and she knew it. Frenzied excitement showed on her face as a hoarse laugh escaped her throat. Her former beauty twisted and warped. The spectral arrows flew from her bow, Tad could only think of one way to avoid the arrows.
Tad leapt straight up into the air, twisting his body down toward the ground as he cast twin firebolts in a wide explosion, pushing him higher. The stream of arrows chased. Tad had nowhere else to go! He flipped in the air. His momentum drove him into the shallow cavern ceiling as the arrows trailed. What Tad wouldn’t give for a shield. Wait! He didn’t need a shield! Tad leapt off the ceiling toward Becca. Her smile widened. Once again, he was hers. Or so she thought.
Black mist exploded in front of Tad as King Wraithford’s massive axe blade materialized. Hundreds of arrows broke across the axe as Tad flew behind the axe toward Becca. Arrows ricocheted off the axe blade, splintering into a ghostly mist before they disappeared altogether.
The arrows stopped. Tad gripped the cold obsidian of the axe and pushed, black mist exploded, the weapon’s physical form disappeared to one of his four black-mist equipment slots. Surprise danced on Becca’s face as Tad closed the distance. The rapid speed of his movements tore at his muscles as his body protested in pain. Weakness debuff! At this crucial moment? Tad glanced at his health bar in the bottom right of his vision.
*Health: 43/110
Mana: 1/42*
His health was dropping fast from the weakness debuff and he was out of mana from his stealth journey in the caverns and his firebolt evasive maneuvers. An urgent dread settled in his stomach like a weight. If his health dropped to zero and he passed out like he had in the King Wraithford fight, he would die for sure. There wasn’t just one enemy. And as far as Tad knew, Becca was the only other person in their party who carried resurrection vials or who had any healing skill. Tad studied his opponent. The dungeon pouch she kept her crystalline resurrection vials affixed to the side of her hip. Her bow held in strong gorilla gauntlets that looked so out of place on her feminine form. The gorilla gloves… Didn’t they increase your strength? If Tad wore them his weakness debuff would disappear and he could fight freely.
Ignoring the scream of his muscles, Tad reached for Becca. The insane smile on her lips faltered for a moment as worry appeared. It was Tad’s turn. He had her. She could no longer fire arrows. She had to wait for that ability to replenish, to be usable. Tad wouldn’t wait that long. He was on her in an instant. His single dagger flashed through the air toward her throat.
The snap of a bowstring was Tad’s only warning as Becca’s hands twirled. A brown blur crashed into the side of Tad’s head. The impact launched Tad twenty feet into a cavern wall.
Pain washed over him, his head throbbed painfully. Confusion surged. It happened so fast he’d missed it. He’d been so focused on his own attack, desperate to land it before her spectral arrow cooldown reset, that he’d missed whatever she’d done. Tad’s head felt like it would explode.
Tad climbed to his feet as Becca charged. In her hands she held a bo staff, the cut bow strings dangled from each side of the staff. Tad stared in disbelief. She cut her own bowstring to use the staff as a melee weapon! With the improvised staff-like weapon, her range was longer than his, and her attack landed first. Tad checked his health bar.
*Health: 21/110
Mana: 1/42*
She was strong. Not only that, she was fast and clever. She wasn’t some mindless puppet, but she still had every natural fighting instinct honed beyond razor sharpness. Tad couldn’t take another hit like that. But t
he longer this fight dragged on, the more his weakness debuff would wreak havoc on his health pool. He was running out of time.
Tad swayed backward, just out of the range of Becca’s attack. She feinted at his head and spun the staff to attack at his legs. Dizziness twisted his vision, off balance from the head blow, but his reaction speed was still intact. He lifted his foot away from the tripping attack, but she launched right into a flurry of jabs. Tad stumbled backward as he awkwardly dodged her attacks. How was he supposed to close the distance? Her reach advantage was so great and she was just as fast as Tad! No… that wasn’t true. She was just a hair slower, but the speed of her whirling long staff kept him at bay.
Having engaged Becca in combat, he knew for sure. Becca hadn’t been this fast or this strong before. Something had happened to her, increased her abilities to make her more feral, enhanced her combat prowess. She was like a wild beast who smelled blood in the air. And she was hungry. Maybe literally.
Becca descended upon Tad with an increased fury. Blows rained down from above. He dodged what he could, blocked the rest with the small hilt on his dagger. His fingers found themselves smashed more often than not.
Panic rose in his chest. She was trying to kill him! This felt different from a monster or a boss. It felt more personal. Another human was trying to snuff out Tad’s life. Her natural resentment toward Tad had been amplified.
A pushing strike landed in the middle of Tad’s chest and knocked him from his feet. He rolled backward back onto his feet only to find his back against the cavern wall. She cornered him. What could he do?
She was right in front of him, his back to the wall. Could he stealth? No, he needed darkness and mana for that! Becca twirled her staff in a prepared attack. Tad was out of his depth. Most of his skills were magic, he had no combat skills as far as he knew. His fight against the roaches had been simple. Their tactics obvious. Becca used feints and her entire battle experience to dictate the terms of the fight. Tad had never fought another human before, not to mention a girl!
His quest reward. Tad hadn’t even accepted his quest reward yet! Surely one of those items could be strong enough to give him an edge in this battle, but which one?
Tad would not die here. He couldn’t! Not yet! Tad strained his eyes to the limit in sheer focus as the staff whirred toward his head. Tad lunged forward, blocking the downward blow with his remaining dagger. He diverted the attack, but the force of the blow sent his dagger spinning from his hand. Having closed the distance, Tad used every ounce of strength in his body to tackle Becca. The two tumbled across the floor before her cruel smile disappeared from her mouth. Instead, she opened her mouth wide and exposed horrible pointed teeth, then she bit down on Tad’s shoulder.
Tad screamed in pain as he drove his fist into her temple again and again. Her bite loosened with each blow. His punches had power behind them. Finally, her head knocked back from a brutal punch, her teeth scraped across his bones as her bite released. Tad twisted, freeing a leg from beneath him and kicked with his might. Her body snapped upward, Tad kicked a second time with enough force to knock her across the cavern floor. He scrambled to his feet and darted away to make some distance. She’d overwhelmed him from the start. Tad’s hands scrambled to touch the right buttons in front of his face as he opened his quest reward menu.
The cruel smile reappeared on Becca’s face. From the pouch on her hip, Becca pulled out a second bow string and deftly restrung her bow. In a moment, Becca would have her bow back and Tad would be weaponless. Even in their short grapple, Becca had shown she had more weapons and battle experience than Tad had. His only hope was his quest reward! Tad read the words, scouring the menu for the right item.
*Congratulations on completing your first dungeon! Please select your reward:
Sienth’s Gleaming Longsword
Raekast’s Fang
Marywell’s Titanium Crook
Vander’s Maple Wand
Tidwell’s’ Ruby Shield
Titan’s Embrace*
He needed a weapon. The longsword? But longswords were strength based weapons, Tad doubted he would be very proficient with it, or even if he had the requisite strength to wield the weapon. The crook and wand were for a healer and a mage. The shield was for a tank. That left two options. Raekast’s Fang and Titan’s Embrace. The fang sounded like it could be a weapon, but what could Titan’s embrace even be. Maybe armor? It didn’t matter. Tad’s fingers trembled as he met the confirmation window.
*Do you accept ‘Raekast’s Fang’ as your quest reward?*
“Yes.”
Immediately, a cloud of unnatural darkness swallowed the lightspheres that illuminated the cavern as it plunged into darkness. This darkness was different. His stealth vision couldn’t penetrate its shroud. But he didn’t need his eyes. A gargantuan presence filled the room as terror clutched his heart. Becca screeched. Shrieks from across the cavern mixed and intertwined. The presence was immense and powerful, almost like the being who met Tad upon entering the dungeon, but different in a way Tad didn’t know how to explain.
Waves of power pulsed through the cavern, knocking Tad from his feet. A roar of fury and anger pealed through the air. Shockwaves blasted Tad against the cavern wall. Suddenly the powerful presence roared, as if in pain. The power condensed. The enormous presence shrunk and tightened until it was a small sphere, then condensed even further.
The being disappeared. Instead, Tad could feel an item floating directly above him. With each beat of his heart, he felt the item in the darkness reciprocate with a beat of its own. Tad got to his feet and grasped his fingers around the hilt of the blade. Even in the darkness, he knew where it would be.
Tad’s fingers froze to the hilt of the blade as an intense chill shot up his arm. Tad tried to recoil from the weapon, but the warmth and moisture of his sweating hands froze to the hilt. The weight of the weapon matched that of his daggers. As he pulled the dagger from its floating perch, the darkness began to dissipate.
Tad sprung into action. He wouldn’t waste this opportunity. Another might not come. The black mist of the darkness kissed Tad’s skin as he activated stealth. Tad glanced at his health bar. He knew he wouldn’t have much time.
*Health: 8/110
Mana: 2/42*
Despite not being able to see through this darkness, he could feel Becca. Feel her enhanced strength in waves. The dagger in his hand yearned for warmth, for heat, for blood. Tad moved as swiftly as stealth would allow. If Tad killed Becca, he could go help Bunta. They could all live.
All it would cost was Becca’s life.
Tad steeled himself for what he had to do. With a quick turn-step, Tad gripped the dagger with both hands and plunged its length into the back of the unsuspecting Becca.
A sinister chime, almost like a laugh, went off in his head.
*You have learned the skill ‘Backstab’*
Becca must have sensed his hesitation, or maybe it was his bloodlust because she tried to dodge the attack at the last second. She wasn’t fast enough, but the minor movement was just enough to cause the blow to deviate from Tad’s intended target, her heart. The razor sharp obsidian dagger pierced entirely through her leather armor, right between her shoulder blades. Her health bar dropped to half. She tried to kick backward, to grab his hair with her hands, to do anything, but Tad gripped her metal shirt in hand. He brought the blade out and stabbed twice more in quick succession.
Becca fell backward, motionless, but came to a stop as her weight rested against Tad. The front of the obsidian blade still gleamed from the front of her chest as ice crackled around the wound. The ice webbed across the front of her metallic cloth armor and up her neck.
Tad pulled the dagger out from the wound, Becca’s unconscious form fell to the ground. Tad caught her. She still breathed. Barely. Her health bar black. Ice from Tad’s dagger sealed her wounds. She no longer bled. She was alive. Unconscious, but alive.
Incapacitated on the ground, Becca’s slender body looked
helpless. She wasn’t a danger any more. Right? Tad didn’t have to kill her. One more attack. Just one more slash and Becca would die. Both Gruff and Bunta told Tad to kill her, but they hadn’t meant this, did they? She was unconscious. Defenseless. It would be murder. Why couldn’t she have just died from Tad’s attack?
He couldn’t do it. Simultaneously with the thought, a musical chime rang inside Tad’s head.
*You have leveled up!*
*You have leveled up!*
Tad gasped as healing energy flowed through his body, his wounds knit closed. Energy surged through his body, replenishing health and mana alike. Tears sprang to Tad’s eyes as relief hit him. His battle with Becca was over. He’d won. She’d been a formidable foe.
But why had he leveled up? Had Becca died? No, Becca still breathed where she lay on the ground. Didn’t he get experience for defeating monsters? Maybe incapacitating them was enough. Would he get more experience if he killed her? A wave of guilt hit Tad at the thought.
Tad shook his head to clear his thoughts. This wasn’t the time. Bunta fought for his life. Even from across the cavern Tad could see Bunta’s health. It was below five percent. His health drained as he dodged, flew and attacked. His own weakness debuff drained his health. Tad’s suspicions had been correct.
But now that he knew what the problem was, Tad could help fix it. Tad gingerly removed the Gorilla gauntlets from Becca’s hands and grabbed the dungeon pouch at her side.
Tad sprinted toward Bunta. Scar and Gruff reentered the battle, but all three of their healths were dangerously low. The two swordsmen and the heavily armored knight cornered them, cut off their retreat. The two swordsmen were both heavily damaged, but the knight still had over half health. The black-haired healer was dead, same with the robed mage. Blood stained the front of their garbs from vicious stab wounds.
Gruff blocked blow after blow. Scar swung his enormous mosquito sword, but his movements were sluggish compared to the swiftness of their attackers. Bunta’s health had dropped so low that any more high-speed combat would render him unconscious.