Keeping his momentum, Kazzrak uses his shield like a battering ram and Slams the rat to the side before stabbing it with an overhand chop with his axe. Both attacks reduce the beast’s health by another large portion, and a Frost Spear sails over my shoulder to slice into the rat, shaving off the barest hint of health.
Ifalna must have cast a spell, as the rat lights up and another large portion of its health disappears, leaving just over a third of the bar left.
Another couple of hits before it has a chance to get up and the elite rat keels over and dies. Even with the experience shared between all of us, the little kobold managed to level up six times to level 11. My experience bar only moved a little bit though.
The kobold, who I can now see is slightly smaller than even Kazzrak’s dwarven stature, begins grovelling in front of me with tear-filled eyes and snot running out its nose.
I almost feel like the little guy is really playing it up as he grabs at my legs while looking up at me pleadingly. “Please! Please help my people! I will do anything you want. Just help me protect them.”
Quest: War with the neighbours II.
Rarity: Unique.
Details: Elder Sylan would like you to rid the Glade of the kobold menace. This grovelling kobold would have you save them. Make your choice.
Conditions: Remove the threat of the kobolds.
Reward: Unknown.
Accept quest?
Yes/No
You try telling a man-shaped lizard sniffling and grovelling at your feet that you won’t save his family, that you came to kill them all.
Nah, I don’t think so. I’m an asshole, but I’m not heartless.
Besides, the little fella on the ground reminds me of two things that make my heartstrings clench in sorrow and pain.
He immediately reminds me of the look my little brother, Sebastian, would give me when he did something wrong and didn’t want me to snitch on him to Mom and Dad. He had those big puppy-dog eyes that just wrenched the soul, and I never had a defence for it. The little shit got away with everything and I happily let him due to my weakness. I would move mountains for that little monster.
Those crushing feelings of my brother somehow melded and overlapped with a very pivotal moment in my life while I was on tour overseas, creating a double whammy virtual heart attack.
Back then, a boy of around six years old had run up to my squad while we were on patrol through a poverty-stricken city to keep things quiet.
He had tears and snot streaming down his face and threw himself down on the ground before me. His family were being held hostage by some very bad men in their home, and he had kicked one of them in the nuts before escaping to get our help as we passed by. He was pleading with all of his heart for us to help his family.
That day, after a very touch-and-go firefight, we had a home-cooked meal with a very grateful family. I also found out the boy’s name was Achmed. We threw the dead terrorists who had been using their home as a base into the back of one of our vehicles for the higher-ups to gain intel. Not to mention the RPGs and guns they were using.
Apparently, this group had been responsible for attacking several patrols through the city and had killed several soldiers and even civilians without a care. I believe that Achmed probably saved my life that day. Every now and then, I still get letters sent through the military to me from that brave little boy as he tells me about the achievements he has made in life.
This grovelling little kobold reminds me of Achmed for some reason, and I can’t shake the feeling that I need to protect him like I did Achmed.
I accept the quest change without any further dithering. “I’ll help your people, though what do I call you?”
Hope blooms on the kobold’s face, just like it did back then with Achmed. “I am Knax, son of the chief of our kobold village. We must hurry. This was only one of the many rat monsters that have come up from the depths.”
You have gained 1 vassal. Current vassals: 505. Gain more vassals to help protect your Duchy.
“Just put it out of its misery already, Lord Sybaal,” Eloise says with menace as she finally catches up to us. The rest of the group also exit the forest and walk up to us.
“I’m afraid the situation has changed, Eloise,” I snap protectively as I turn to them with a frown, noticing that the nymphs have each reached level 11. “Knax here is now one of my vassals, just the same as the nymphs and the Felorians.”
Eloise glares at Knax. “How can you say that? They are thieves and have been stealing from us for so long. Why would we ever become allies?”
My face hardens and I turn my gaze to Eloise properly. “Eloise, I will say this once and only once, so hear my words and my intent. I will personally deal death to anyone seeking to deliberately harm a vassal of mine. If I cannot see to it myself, I will send an executioner. I like you, Eloise, but I will brook no dissent among those who become my vassals. Make your choice.”
Duke Sybaal has made a proclamation. Any person seeking to harm a vassal of his will earn his wrath and will be sentenced to death. Mercy will not be granted.
All the NPCs’ jaws drop and their eyes become very frightened suddenly. Maybe I’m thinking too much of the past and put a bit too much vehemence into my words?
Oh well, I did mean it though.
Several knees touched the dirt at the same time as all the NPCs kneel before me. Guess that answers that question.
“Smart move. Now, let’s get on with this. We have wasted too much time already,” I say, turning towards the gate before having a spark of intelligence and bending down over Knax. I quickly invite him to our raid, then move his hand to where it needs to be, and we are now one member up.
“Knax, we don’t have time for you to figure this out right now. You can do it later.” I pull his still-grovelling form to his feet and smack him lightly on the head to get his head out of the stunning clouds I just blew his mind with and to get him moving. “Eloise, you said you are a tank? Stick with Kazzrak and follow his example. Keep the mobs off the rest of us.
“Roghan, heal when necessary though I imagine that you won’t be doing much, so stick to DPS unless you see someone in need. Ifalna will tell you if she needs your help. Randall, you don’t leave Ezekial’s side. The rest of you, stay in a rough group around Dosan and Ifalna. Let’s go.”
With that, I start sprinting to the gate, the others right on my heels. Ifalna starts buffing everyone, and she is done before I am even at the gate. As I pass through, I see that most of the buildings are on fire now, and there are rats everywhere, trying to get in them.
Like literally everywhere. There is an entire horde of rats. Almost all of them aren’t that high a level, being only around the level 10 mark; however there are also six elite bosses. Two level 10 elites and four level 20 elites.
They are trying to get into the massive longhouse that looks like a hall of some sort, but they can’t due to the door being shut. The door does look like it’s seen better days, and I’m not sure how long it will last, considering with every ram from the rats it is splintering.
“Kazzrak, Eloise, pick up the bosses and keep them away from the hall. Eloise, stick to the lower-level ones till you get the hang of it,” I shout, sending them streaming forward while I slow my advance.
When they pass me, I have a small oh-shit moment as an earth elemental made from giant slabs of stone stomps past. Not to mention it is a good head taller than me. Then I realise it is Eloise. Fancy that, then, guess she will be pretty useful in someone’s party.
“Okay, everyone else, clear up the normal mobs quickly and then start whaling on the bosses. Lower levels first. Gene, stick to Frost Spear,” I direct the rest.
As the tanks are picking up the bosses, the rest of us kind of annihilate everything else in our path. I just stick with my Frost Spear, as nothing is getting even close enough to strike. Popping Sweeping Strike at every chance I get with the normal mobs, we down the horde of normal rats within three minutes.
After sending his minions off, Dosan finally summons his Plasma Wolf for the first time, and I have to admit, I am extremely jealous of him right then. It is a sleek incorporeal wolf with a coat of deep violet shades of colour that shift like smoke.
Lord Varim is casting bolts of black so deep that they seem to suck all the light in. Dosan then starts using his wand nonstop, causing minor explosions. His minions are running rampant around the outskirts of the group, playing off-tanks (secondary tanks to the main tank). Although when we are all doing one-hit KOs except for the NPCs, it’s not so much tanking as just letting loose, or cutting sick, as some people say.
Arrows are whizzing all over the place from three separate bows, every one hitting its mark of furry flesh.
We switch to the elites after everything else is a corpse lying on the ground. Of the six elites, one of the higher-level ones is down from Kazzrak’s concerted efforts, while Eloise has taken off around a tenth of each of the two that she is holding. I didn’t notice either of their health go down past 90 percent during the entire fight so far, which is probably a testament to Ifalna’s Barrier and heals.
“Melee on the level 20 while ranged take out the others,” I say, running up to the higher-level one.
Ifalna’s Mark appears on the rat Kazzrak is targeting right at that moment.
Activating my cool downs, Heritage, Sweeping Strike and Furious Strike, I transform into my true Dragonkin form and target the one with the Mark, stabbing it from behind. My dual slash takes off a whole 50 percent of all three of Kazzrak’s elite rats in one go due to Sweeping Strike.
God, I love that ability.
Ezekial and Randall catch up and then both stab the same rat I did with stealthed attacks. We keep whaling on that one as I fling Frost Spears into it between my weapons strikes to maximise my DPS.
Dosan’s Plasma Wolf and his three melee minions arrive and attack one of the other level 20 elite rats. Its health bar drops rather rapidly with all four on it.
It takes almost no time at all to down the first rat. The other two follow even faster, as everyone else has polished off the level 10 elites and is now dishing out some serious damage. Within thirty seconds we have defeated the last two elite rats.
“Phew, how are we looking, everyone? Some massive DPS you all have,” I congratulate everyone as I look around at the devastation to the rodent population that we caused. There are a good three hundred rats of varying sizes and levels littered around the place.
The doors to all the huts and the hall open, even the ones on fire, and hundreds of kobolds stream out of them in droves. They all congregate in the large open area, talking excitedly with tears of joy streaming down their faces.
I guess it’s a pretty good feeling being saved from the brink of death when all your hope had left and you were sinking into a pit of despair.
Before I can even start working on figuring out how to quench the fires, an ear-piercing squeal sounds from the entrance to the cave set into the rock mountain face.
Looking over with a sigh, I lay my eyes on the single largest rat I have ever seen in any game I’ve ever played. It squeezes out of the cave mouth like a fat cat going through a doggie door. I think we all know what I’m talking about.
This thing is the size of a bloody elephant. And those chompers, whoa boy, they are the size of boogie boards. Not the little kiddie ones you get from the cheap stores, but the proper-sized ones that aren’t going to break in half on the first wave.
I dare say that if this fella grabs hold of one of the NPCs, that person won’t be in a single piece anymore.
Gazing up at the beast, I see that we may have an interesting time with this fella, as it is a named monster. Those are always better in loot than normal ones.
“Level fricking 40 Elite Boss, Giant Rat King?!” squeals Knax in a higher pitch than the boss before starting to break down in sobs. “We’re all going to die!”
The Rat King finally gets its bearings and sees us all for the first time. I’m sure it thinks we are all just tiny morsels. However, it still is aggressive as all hell, probably since we just killed all its family, and leaps towards us with another piercing shriek.
This one is more powerful than the one previously, and before any of the kobolds even think to run, a message pops up.
You have resisted the stun from the Rat King.
With the roar of a Challenge, Kazzrak leaps forward to meet the Rat King head-on. Just before he would be rent in two by the massive teeth, Kazzrak dodges with a sidestep and slams his shield into its jaw. At the same time, Kazzrak gets a perfect critical strike into the Rat King’s eye, which is damaged so severely it is now blind on its right side.
Go, Kazzrak.
Awesome opening move, reminds me of a certain movie with two fellows fighting each other using shields and spears in front of a mighty city. Only downside to the attack is that the Rat King’s health bar barely moved at all. This is going to take a while, I think.
Kazzrak keeps up his dodge tanking, occasionally getting hit by the Rat King’s claws and tail as he tries to stay always on its right side and in its blind spot.
“Everyone, ranged attacks only! Except for Dosan’s melee minions, stay out of its range.” I follow my own advice and start laying into it with Frost Spears until the slow effect procs.
After that I just pump out continuous Fire Balls and only occasionally cast another Frost Spear to keep the slowing debuff on. I also pop Furious Strike whenever it comes off cool down.
Dosan sends his minions in, except for Lord Varim, who casts his light-sucking bolts at the Rat King, as well as Dosan’s own wand. Funnily enough, his Plasma Wolf is actually immune to physical attacks, so it just goes to town.
Everyone else just flings whatever ranged abilities they have at the Rat King, whether it is arrows or spells. Even Ifalna chucks over a couple of flashes of light on the boss in between making sure that Kazzrak is at full health with a Barrier. Ifalna had also cast her Mark of Vengeance at some point.
The boss keeps sending out its stunning squeal, which we keep resisting, so I don’t know why it keeps trying. Almost like trying to plug a massive hole in a boat by diving into it head first, before realising that you just left the boat you had been trying to save. Weird, right?
When we get the boss down to around 20%, Dosan pipes up with a sheepish look on his face, “So, uh, guys. What do you think about me having a new addition to the team? Reckon I can Bond this big fella?”
Ifalna groans. “You mean we are going to have to stare at this thing’s massive beady eyes and wonder if it’s thinking about chomping us in two? Really, Dosan?”
“Well, it would be good to have another tank around that can take some punishment. This guy fits the bill, don’t you think?” he asks, starting to get his hopes up.
I can see it on his bloody face.
“Peeps, instead of you all just standing around flapping your gums, how about you either make a decision or put some pain on this guy?” shouts Kazzrak.
We hear the loud sound of something solid hitting something else solid as he narrowly misses the giant chompers but gets sprung by the Rat King’s tail yet again.
“Ezekial?” I enquire, still sending spell after spell into the beast.
“Meh, I don’t care. Having another high-level tank would be good, but so would the experience,” he replies with a shrug.
“Right then. Sorted,” I say, then call out to everyone loudly, “Break off all attacks when the boss hits 14 percent health!”
“Wahoo!” exclaims Dosan, like he just won the lottery, and he dismisses his Plasma Wolf.
Very shortly Dosan is able to begin casting Bond. Kazzrak still has to dodge around and try not to get smacked around too much during that time.
Just like that, it’s over.
The Giant Rat King stops being hostile to us and regards Dosan balefully before exploding in a shower of motes of light as he is released.
Immediately, grinning like a maniac, he summo
ns the Giant Rat King and renames him Ratatoskr. Ratatoskr is now not as large as an elephant, but more like a large warhorse at his lower level of 27. It looks around for a second before focusing on Dosan, and I could swear they’re having an argument silently.
Abruptly, Ratatoskr sits on his haunches and proceeds to begin cleaning himself. I don’t know if that’s better or worse, although it does look a lot more innocent.
Only then do I turn around, encountering the stares of hundreds of kobolds. A particularly ageing kobold ambles his way to the front and stands next to Knax, resting a hand on his shoulder.
I didn’t realise he had levelled up several times during that whole fight. He is now sitting at level 17. To be honest though, Knax sure did deserve it. He was going balls to the wall the entire time, with a protective fury burning in his eyes.
That kid must have a heart of gold. He really impressed me for one so young.
Damn, that’s some sweet experience. I was only getting experience during the level 20 Elite Rats and the boss.
“Father, these men saved my life earlier outside the walls. I was dragged away from the inside of the door as I tried to hold it closed for a group of youngsters,” Knax says loudly and then kneels down on one knee. “I owe him a life debt, as I was literally snatched from the jaws of death.”
The old kobold is surprised by his son’s action and turns to me with an interested look. “Is that so? Who might be the saviour of my son and the rest of our village? Not many are so considerate to our kind.”
Feeling the weight of responsibility shifting on my shoulders as more is added, I reply, “My name is Lord Sybaal. These are my comrades and also my chosen earls and countess, Kazzrak, Ezekial, Ifalna and Dosan. Dosan is the one who Bonded with the Giant Rat King, so there won’t be any trouble from him for you anymore.”
“I see,” says the village chief slowly. “What would you say, Lord Sybaal, if we asked for your protection in these forests for our people?”
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 25