by A P Gore
The mage’s life dropped to 50 points, and she squealed in pain. She tried to heal herself, but Noah’s poison orb finished her off before she could even raise her hand.
Noah cast a quick glance at the level 8 goblin commander and found a smirk on his face. Good for him. “Good shot, Rihala. Now let’s take these remaining three out.”
It didn’t take them too long to finish the remaining three without the healer’s support. Noah lost two zombies in the fight, but gained three more.
With the four zombies at his side, Noah stood with Rihala in front of the goblin commander.
“This is going to be tough. He is wearing plate mail armor,” Rihala whispered. Her tail was touching Noah’s lower back.
“Don’t worry. We got this,” Noah commanded his army of zombies to charge ahead.
The goblin commander laughed when he saw the zombies charging him. He chanted something, boosting his 600 life pool to double. He dashed forward with his shield hand and wiped out two of the Noah’s zombies like they were insects.
Noah gulped the bile rising in his throat. Fear, along with the taste of chicken surfaced in his mouth. If the commander’s one skill wiped out two 200 life zombies at once, that meant he was too tough for them.
“Rihala do you have anything on you?”
“I’m preparing the ice shot once more. Please buy me ten seconds.” She moved behind him, a safe distance from the goblin commander.
Noah gulped a healing potion and dashed forward. It was his time to be a tank for Rihala. Their only chance was her big damage spell.
He extended his hand, shooting his Curse of Fire Ball at the goblin commander. The spell only did 50 damage. Noah changed to his poison orb while he parried the warrior’s shield dash. Yet the attack took 100 points from his life, bringing it to 350.
Noah shot a poison orb at point black range, but it only damaged the goblin for 60 damage. It was a crit, but a notification told him that he did reduced crit damage due to the warrior’s defensive bonus. No, it wasn’t working. He needed something else, something strong to take down the commander.
Rihala’s shout signaled him to jump out of the way. Her arrow hit the goblin commander in the face, but it only took 300 points out of his gargantuan life pool, reducing it to 750. A little more of it was reduced by Noah’s remaining two zombies.
Annoyed, the commander hit the remaining zombies with his shield bash and wiped them out.
Nothing was working on the commander. Even the barrage of Rihala’s arrows was useless against him.
This wasn’t going to end well for them. “Rihala, run away! You’ve got to survive this. I’ll come back tomorrow, don’t worry.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.” Rihala jumped next to him and pulled out a normal plain wooden arrow, but the moment she put it on her bow, black tendrils came out of her hand and fused with the bow. They reminded Noah of the darkness he had seen in his last memory. The woody brown color of the arrow turned dark black. Power thrummed through the arrow as the moments passed by.
At the same time, Rihala’s life pool drooped to two third of her original level.
Noah tried to stop her. She was somehow fusing her life with the arrow. “Wait...”
She released the arrow with a twang. The arrow zipped through the air and hit the surprised goblin commander’s shoulder. Black tendrils shot out of the arrow, reaching for his shoulder and hands.
The goblin commander tried to pull the arrow from his shoulder, but the arrow itself decayed and vanished with a puff of smoke.
The commander squealed and stared at his hand. It was decaying in the same way the arrow had decayed. The infection was spreading over his arm. The commander shifted his shield to his right hand and performed a shield bash on his left hand, slicing it apart from his arm.
He freaking tore off his own hand, dropping his life to 500.
“You demon bitch! You’ll pay for this.” The commander chanted something, and tiny drops of blood rose out of the goblin mage’s body. It was like a cloud of blood hovered above the mage. But now the mage was just a pile of bones; all the flesh on her body was gone. It left the nasty smell of a rotten corpse behind.
Noah received a red notification.
Debuff Added: -10% to life generation for 2 hours.
Damn!
The cloud of blood flew to the commander and merged with his body. His life bar shot up, stopping at 900. He was still missing a hand, but now his eyes were blood red. Whatever spell he’d used, it had provided him a new life.
This was bad.
The commander charged Rihala.
Noah couldn’t let that happen, so he pushed her out of the way and interrupted commander’s charge with his own body. The dash took 200 life, reducing his pool to a bare 150. One more dash like that, and he would be done.
The commander grabbed Noah and lifted him in the air. The commander’s fingers were wrapped around his throat like it was a tomato. The world blurred, but before his sight faded, he spotted a corpse. The goblin mage’s corpse.
“Rihala, you have to ru—” He used the last of his spirit to raise another zombie. If nothing else, he could at least buy her some time.
A yellow notification popped up. He thought maybe it was a new way for the game to mock his death, but it wasn’t.
You have raised a Zombie Mage. 1/1000 chance for doing so. You seem to be fortunate enough that your chance applied to the spell. Enjoy it while you can.
Warmth spread across his back, and his life rose steadily. The commander’s grip tightened around his throat, but the decline in his health was easily matched by the healing effort from his zombie mage. By the time he got back to half of his life, he had enough spirit for a couple of poison orbs.
Noah shot the poison orbs at the commander, one at his face and one at his wound. Both did crit damage and lowered the warrior’s health to 750.
He then cursed the commander with his boiling blood curse.
The commander dropped him and held his wound with his right hand. He was screaming with all his might. The poison from Noah’s spell was spreading through the warrior’s body. Blood sprayed out of the wound.
One of the drops caught Noah’s bare hand, and it burned. Burned like a fury.
Noah quickly applied the curse of pain on the commander, increasing his agony.
At the same time, Rihala’s ice shot hit the commander, taking 300 life from him.
The commander’s life was reduced to a mere 120.
One more poison orb, and the commander dropped on the ground, dead.
Noah too dropped on his butt, exhausted and drained. Rihala joined him and lay next to him. Her chest heaved. It was a breathtaking sight, even in his current foul mood. But his own zombie mage interrupted his view and healed them both to full life with a couple more healing shots.
His vision clouded with notifications.
Experience gained: 1300 for killing 6 level 6 goblin warriors.
Experience gained: 500 for killing 1 level 7 goblin mage.
Experience gained: 3500 for killing 1 level 9 goblin commander.
Total experience gained based on contribution: 5300.
Congratulations! +1 to strength for demonstrating exceptional pain endurance.
Congratulations! +1 to wisdom for draining the wisdom again and again.
Congratulations! Your Poison Orb has reached 100% progression. +1 to poison orb
“Wasn’t the goblin commander level 8?” he asked Rihala, without looking at her breasts.
“He was, but he upped his level with a war-cry. Hence the extra experience. My mother says—sorry—she hates goblin commanders for these abilities.”
“Hmm make sense.” He opened his delta character sheet.
Name : Noah
Class : Cursemancer
Second Class : Zombiemancer
Level : 6
Stats
Strength 15
Wisdom 36
Chance 7
Health: 500/
500
Stamina: 285 (7.89/sec)
Spirit: 360 (17.96/sec)
Skills
Poison Orb (Level 7): Damage 47.95. Require 35 spirit per cast. Skill Progression: 10%
Current Experience: 24320/26000
Unused Skill Points: 8
“I need around fifteen hundred experience to level up.” The thought cheered him, and his tone reflected that. The battle had been brutal, but he was one step closer to his goal.
“I need about the same. My mom would be happy to see me at level 7.” A sweet smile covered her face. Her tail was wrapped around Noah’s shoulder now, but it had a totally different meaning than when Thia did it.
Noah lay back on the ground and closed his eyes. He needed rest.
21. The Promise
Noah and Rihala were walking through mist as dense as foam when they encountered and killed another level 5 rat pack. Walking through the mist was like walking through a body of water, thick and wet. Rihala even stumbled into a tree, head on, as soon as they walked inside the mist. It was a funny moment, and Noah had to push his hand inside his mouth, biting it, to suppress his laughter. It wasn’t because she fell, but the way she stumbled into tree after tree after tree. After the fifth time, he wrapped an arm around her and let her walk with his guidance. The intoxicating smell of her sweat and whatever perfume she wore mixed together, arousing him. But thanks to the fresh, clean smell of the forest, he remained a decent human being. Though he doubted she would resist at this point, it would have been taking advantage of her. They remained silent throughout the journey in the mist. Only the sound of their sped-up hearts and dried leaves cracking under their feet was audible for a long while.
By the time they got out of the mist, they had killed a sixth level 5 rat pack and reached level 7.
Noah put all 3 stat points he received in wisdom, as the pain of low spirit was getting a worse with every passing fight. He needed a big spirit pool to survive the ever-toughening battles.
When he was finished, his stats stood at: 540 life, 400 spirit, and 305 stamina. It was a good level up, and now he could cast 11 consecutive poison orbs or 3 curses of fire balls—though he wouldn’t. The limited number of fireball charges was concerning. Each fire ball was doing 85 damage now, and with his -10% to fire resistance, he would be able to do 92-93 damage depending on enemy’s fire resistance. Two poison orbs worked better in the damage to spirit cost ratio, but the poison orb didn’t prove very effective against demons and goblins. He would have to increase the fire ball charges somehow.
The spell department was mostly improving, but the zombie situation was problematic. He could have 5 zombies up at a time, but getting the corpses was a big issue, and they died after two hours. The mage had fared better, lasting for 5 hours and performing excellent healing, but it was a 1/1000 chance of success. If only he had a way to make zombies without a corpse or some skill to generate the corpses for him, he would be able to rule the world.
Wait, I have a spellgem!
Noah pulled out the spellgem. It emitted a soft blue light.
“Where did you get that?” Rihala inched closer to him, almost sitting on his lap, leaning all over him. After their last fight, her closeness had shot up exponentially. Not that he minded it. Her body was warm and soft enough to keep heat flowing in his body. He just had to fight his sexual urges. Then everything would be fine.
Damn! Why is it so difficult to resist those urges?
“I’ve got a skill to combine normal monster crystal cores into these.”
She stared at his face like she was meeting a celebrity, starstruck. “Wow! That’s a rare skill. My mom never told me that anyone could do this. And trust me, she knows everything.”
He stared at the spellgem. It was a work of art, but he couldn’t decide if he wanted to use it right away.
“Use it,” she said, as if reading his mind. “It’s better placed in one of your skills than sitting around in your bag if we are going into that dungeon together.”
“Yes, you’re right. We need all the help we can get to defeat the dungeon. It’s good to have you with me. You make things so much easier.” She was not only a sexy woman whom he loved to hang out with, but also a potent archer.
She rested her head on his shoulder, and her tail wrapped around his torso. “Those are the nicest words I’ve heard in a long time.”
He smiled.
“Let me see where I can use this.” He opened his skill panel. He had a plus icon next to two spells: Poison Orb and Curse of Fireball.
He placed the spellgem in the Poison Orb expansion slot to see what its effects would be.
Poison Orb: Upgrade the skill to have a multiplication effect. 20% chance to grant a new skill only available through spell enhancement gem. 20% chance to fail the enhancement. 20% chance to upgrade the skill with new enhancement. Do you want to use your spellgem? Yes/No?
He checked the fire ball spell next.
Curse of Fire Ball: Upgrade the skill to an unknown effect. 20% chance to grant a new skill only available through spell enhancement gem. 20% chance to fail the enhancement. 20% chance to upgrade the skill with new enhancement. Do you want to use your spellgem? Yes/No?
Standard text, but it had an unknown effect, and Noah didn’t have faith in his chance level to make the unknown effect a worthwhile one. So, he chose to go with Poison Orb.
Congratulations! You have used a unique spellgem of multiplication on a shitty spell. Due to the low level of the spell, the chance of creating a unique spell is raised to 100%
Congratulations! You have created a new skill: Poison Multiorb. Use sentient mana and cast multiple poison orbs. Use it to see the effect. Damage: 50*n, where n is the level of the primary skill. Adds an extra area of effect. Restriction: Requires 12 charges for each cast. Gain 1 charge every 12 hours.
Wait what is this sentient mana? I’ve never seen that before.
Congratulations! You have gained +5000 experience for creating a new skill. +1 to all attributes (except chance and charisma).
“Wow!” Noah roared in happiness. “This is great. I got a big boost.” He slipped his hand around Rihala’s shoulder and pulled her closer.
She sniffed him. “Great! The demon god gives bonuses like these randomly. We have a good chance of beating the dungeon now.” Her arms were around him, forming a ring.
Noah quickly glanced at his character sheet. He had 11 skill points unused. He assigned two of them to the Poison Orb skill, bringing it to level 9, dealing 63 damage. The boost in stat points also boosted all attributes, bringing his health to 570, spirit to 410, mana to 80, and stamina to 325. He was also halfway to his next level, and the dungeon would definitely push him over. Excitement surged through his blood. The air was filled with newfound energy, and he was dying to get into the new dungeon.
“I’m so happy for you, Noah. I wish you were a demon.” Rihala hid her face between his arm and torso, her voice sad.
“I said I’ll free you, somehow.” He would do that no matter what. How could he let a sweet demon like Rihala suffer the pain of slavery?
“We’ll see.” Rihala rose, her tail sliding away from him. “We should go and attack the dungeon. How many health potions do you have?”
“Four.”
“I guess we ought to try it out. If we can’t get through the first floor, we can just walk out. I’ve heard stories of adventurers exclusively beating the dungeons to gain great rewards and levels. I hope we’ll level up by the time we come out. I want to get to level 10 and boost my credentials. My mother would be so happy if I can get to level 10.” Her voice was heavy with emotion.
Noah stood next to her and pulled her closer. “Let’s do this together. And I promise you. No matter what, I’ll free you from slavery.” He promised her again, and he meant to keep it. How? He didn’t know that yet.
She leaned closer and kissed him on his cheek. “I trust you, my human friend.” Her arms wrapped around his body. He was reminded of the reputation slid
er again. It hinted at her closeness, but was it really just because of the reputation? The reputation system sucked, because he could tell that the she demon had been attracted to him for days. Reputation was nothing. Everything superseded its use.
22. Cave of Xamphala
From a distance, the cave looked like a serpent’s open mouth. Spiky rocks imitated the teeth of the snake, above and below. The air around the cave smelled different than the fresh forest air, like someone had mixed a little poison in it. Even the birds’ chirping, which had been loud and annoying, completely vanished as they closed in. Silence prevailed.
“The air is so much worse here. My mom always says to stay away from such places.” Rihala grabbed his hand tightly.
“Let’s move away a bit to eat. I don’t think I can eat in this environment,” Noah said. He wondered how the food would taste if they tried to eat in the circle of the cave’s influence. It couldn’t be good.
Noah gathered a few dried fallen tree branches, and with the help of his fire ball curse, he lit the fire a few meters away from the cave. He had frozen chicken, and Rihala had a bottle of amazing seasoning. As the chicken roasted on the crackling fire, its mouth-watering aroma spread around them, arousing their taste buds. And with Rihala’s seasoning on top of the baked chicken, the flavors just burst in his mouth. She mentioned her mother forced the bottle in her bag, and for the first time Noah thanked her mother.
A tree with green fruit grew next to the pine tree they were sitting under. Rihala plucked one of the fruits and handed him. “Try this. It’s tasty.”
Noah tasted it with some doubt, but the doubt vanished as soon as the sweet and bitter taste sent a shock to his taste buds—in a good way. He grabbed a couple more fruits and bagged them for later.
“Let’s head into the cave. I’m excited. Mom always says excitement before an adventure is good for one’s health.”
Noah mentally ordered his four rat zombies to stay behind him and not act until he order. Though he doubted how much they would listen to him. Only the monsters above level 6 reacted intelligently. Low level rats and snakes acted on instinct, and their instinct pushed them into unnecessary battles.