by Tao Wong
Pushing past the pain, I grab the golden spike and pull it out of my leg and slap against my helmet. A moment later, a potion appears in my hand from my inventory and I’m chugging it down before casting a quick healing. Already, the wound in my leg is closing up and I’m able to stand to face the charging creature. As it lunges to me again, I jump directly at it and to the left, twisting myself around so that I slide on my back on the ground. I lash out with my sword as I do so, chipping at the gold of the creature’s body and managing to carve a chunk of gold off.
On my feet, I back off as quickly as I can even as the elemental spins to me as I begin casting Lightning Strike, struggling not to sneeze from the dust that the creature has kicked up. The mana pulls from my body as the chant runs through my mind, a hand held up forth before me. The casting takes too long and I trigger another jump backwards as I dodge around a spike. As I land, the spell nears completion and Ali flies down next to me, putting his hand on mine and connecting us further, willing a touch of his own Elemental Affinity into the bolt of lightning as it exits my body.
Power rushes out of me, super-charged by Ali, and the cackling electricity slams into the creature, shocking it still. The elemental writhes as the charge runs through it, conducted directly into its core and super-heating the metal. Gold heats up and begins to melt, dropping from the body onto the ground as the elemental loses control over the metal. I focus, pouring everything that I have into the spell, my mana dropping like a waterfall. With Ali directly connected to me and lending his aid, I can feel the electrons ripping free in the air. The elemental is locked in pain, unable to move to attack me as its health drops at a precarious rate just like my mana. This is going to be close.
Eleven seconds and then I drop, mana drained entirely from my body. My head feels like it’s been filled with wool and I can’t focus properly, eyesight fading in and out. I find myself slumping down and forcing breaths through my body, wondering why there’s a little part of me screaming and shouting that I should be doing something more important. I shut it away and I fall backwards, looking up at the clear blue sky.
I’m not sure how long I’m out but when I wake up, Ali is hovering over me playing cards. I groan, slowly shifting up to look around. Where the elemental was, a slag heap of gold and earth stands. Crap – I fainted in the middle of a fight.
“How long was I out?” I try to stand up, my head spinning and I find myself sitting down again when I regain control.
“About 20 minutes. Drink your mana potion, it’ll help,” Ali continues to play his cards, the game nothing that I recognise. A spread of seven piles with cards laid out in a fan-shape, Ali occasionally moving one card from one pile to another or dealing a new card from the deck in his hand.
I don’t argue, following his directions. My hand hesitates between the cheaper or more expensive one and my inner miser makes me pull the cheap potion and down it. The relief is immediate, the wooziness dropping to a manageable level. Right, first thing first – loot. I’m sure Ali will tell me if there’s any danger, not that I’m in any condition to deal with more trouble. I don’t even look at the loot I get, grabbing and dumping it into my inventory as I struggle not to throw up.
“Ali, map this for me will you. We’ll want to get the body later,” I eye the fused golden body of the elemental and a part of me does a little dance at the sheer amount of gold there is. Then again, is gold worth anything anymore?
Glumly, I consider the fact that gold might just be worthless before I push the thoughts aside. Something for later. I look to Ali who sees that I’m mostly done and he waggles his fingers again.
Lightning Strike Enhanced!
You have combined Lightning Strike with your Spirit Companion’s Elemental Affinity to empower the spell. Description updated.
Lightning Strike
Effect: Call forth the power of the gods, casting lightning. Lightning strike may affect additional targets depending on proximity, charge and other conductive materials on-hand. Does 100 points of electrical damage.
Lightning Strike may be continuously channeled to increase damage for 10 additional damage per second.
Cost: 75 Mana.
Continuous cast cost: 5 Mana / second
Lightning Strike may be enhanced by using the Elemental Affinity of Electromagnetic Force. Damage increased by20% per level of affinity
Mana Withdrawal
You are suffering from severe mana withdrawal.
Effect: -80% recovery rates. -80% to all stats. Inability to cast spells till withdrawal effects are over.
Duration: Withdrawal effects will reduce by 1% for every 1% of mana regained
Metal Elemental (Level 43) Slain
+7000 XP
Seriously, no level up? I look at the experience marker and grimace. Trying to level an Advanced Class sucked. I push the thought away again, worrying about something I can’t change isn’t particularly useful.
“Why was the elemental so much harder to kill? I mean, we kicked the ass of the troll with ease and the elemental isn’t that much higher,” I ask.
“Mikito had worn it down a bunch – even if it was regenerating, getting your ass kicked around takes a toll. Also, this was a bad match. Beam energy weapons don’t work as well, and well, your biggest hitter only really worked because I was around,” Ali shrugs and continues. “Metal elementals are tough against physical attackers and you don’t have access to your class skills to bypass its armor. Frankly, if you didn’t have Sabre on, you’d be dead. Then again, that’s not new either.”
I nod and groan, a throbbing pain in my leg making itself known as I come down from my adrenaline high. It’ll heal soon enough, but till then, I’m just going to have to suffer. Can’t even cast anything with the mana withdrawal going-on. Definitely time to call it a day.
“Mr. Lee,” I am flagged down as I drive into Whitehorse, head still pounding a little. I groan, seeing that it’s Fred and Minion but pull over. Playing diplomat sucks, but if making sure we don’t start a war in our own city is the result, I can suck it up like a big boy. I can’t help the little bit of anger, of resentment that creeps into my voice though.
“Fred, M…” I pause and then look at his name, “Eric.”
Eric – Minion’s – eyes narrow but he does not say anything. Fred smiles, waiting for me to clamber off my bike before he speaks. “I hear you have spoken with Lord Roxley and the minotaurs?”
“Yerick. I’ve spoken with the Yerick and Roxley, yes,” I answer.
“Tell me, what did you learn?” Fred smiles ingratiatingly, leaning forward to come into my space just a little.
I shiver, feeling the need to wash as he smiles at me, “Not much. The Yerick are Adventurers mostly, some craftsmen. They’ll be joining us at Roxley’s invitation and will be buying buildings from the Shop. That should get us closer to the safe zone mark, help us stabilise the city more”
I watch Fred as I speak, hoping the news about the buildings will make him happy. I know there’s a lot of pressure to get us to that 80% mark, but the cost of doing so is staggering – especially when you consider our needs for the future. We’re only at 40% but even that is helping to stabilise the number of spawnings already. “The rest, well, I figure someone like you or Miranda would be more appropriate to discuss with them. I’m sure the Yerick would be happy to talk with you about how they fit into our little community.”
I’m laying it on a little thick, but I can see Fred grab at the sentence and run with it. “Yes, we’ll need to talk about the contributions they can provide and maybe they could join the business association.”
“Of course,” I nod blandly, already mentally checking out. To my side, Minion’s eyes narrow and his fists clench as Fred blathers on more to himself about how to integrate this new community in our city.
“Evening then, gentlemen.” I smile and get on my bike, heading to see Xev. Thank god it was only armor plating this time, should be a pretty quick fix. I wave hi to her, drop the bike off an
d take the offer to be dropped off via tandem bike. All I want is my bed and peace and quiet. Just for a few hours. I really need to make sure never to drain myself like that again.
Chapter 21
Breakfast the next day is more civil, everyone seeming to have settled down. Lana doesn’t serve me like she normally does, but no one is giving me the cold shoulder either. However, conversation is stilted, long pauses breaking up conversational gambits. Most, since Mikito continues to quietly eat her rice without participating as usual.
As we finish, I tap the table to get everyone’s attention. When they look at me, I say, “Today’s day 3 of the guest rights. The Yerick have said they’ll keep indoors ‘till tomorrow, so that leaves us a day of peace. I think we should try the cave today.”
Richard and the others look at each other before he sits forward, staring at me. “What’s this brilliant plan?”
I grin, waving Ali over and together, we outline what we know and what we plan. When we are done, the group sits there in silence, Richard scratching as his beard and frowning, Lana with a slight quirky smile on her lips, Mikito calm and collected and Rachel smirking.
“Man, that’s kind of broken isn’t it?” Rachel replies, shaking her head as she spins an unlit cigarette around her finger.
I flash her a grin, shrugging, “If it works, sure. We’ll need help though.”
Rachel wrinkles her nose and then nods, “I know just the people.”
The group slowly nods and we quickly assign the last of the tasks we need to do. As I head towards the door, Lana grabs my arm and says. “Sorry about yesterday.”
“What was it about?” I prod her, wanting confirmation about what I’ve guessed. I’m dense but not stupid.
“Nothing important. Not right now. You just make sure to bring them back okay,” her eyes flicking over to her younger brother betraying which one she really means. I know, she likes us all but it’s her brother. I don’t blame her.
“I’ll be the last one out,” I promise her and she lets go of me. Alright then, time to go kill something. At the thought, I can feel the slow thrum of anticipation run through me. Yes, definitely time to kill some monsters.
I squat outside the cave, a couple of hours ahead of the rest of the crew. They are headed into Carcross first before joining me. Me, I’ve got to get the initial part of the plan going – scouting out the cave. Ali pointed out to me that while the Wil-o-wisp might be interesting, it wasn’t exactly subtle in its presence and the Shadow-aspected Crilik shifters could kill it. Instead, we compromised by purchasing a bigger mana battery for the drone and a second one just in case. Expensive, but it’s not as if I have a better choice.
Ali’s watching the doorway, actually paying attention since he can’t automatically scan for monsters while I watch the drone map the caves. I keep it high and near the ceilings, running in infrared vision and letting out low-level radar pings, enough to create 3D maps of the area it travels through. Hooked into Sabre, the cave renders in exquisite detail in my helmet visor. Best of all, the Crilik shifters don’t have a clue.
The cave system isn’t that big, not really. Just over half-a-kilometer long with about five main caverns. The Crilik move about too much for me to get an accurate count, but at a rough guess, I’m looking at just above 40 of the shifters include a nasty looking Alpha that is nearly double the size of the next largest shifter. The Alpha prowls the last few caves, and after a time I notice that there are some shifters that are smaller than the others, half-again the size in some cases. Right, monster lair.
When the team arrives, they come with extra help. Both Jason and Mike have been added to the team, though they’ve been sworn to secrecy about Sabre for now. At this point, I’m seriously wondering why I bother with it but it’s habit by now. Rachel moves to the cave entrance the moment we arrive, hands raised as she begins to pull stone from the earth to form walls and a ceiling around the entrance. Richard walks forwards, the Huskies ranging out beside him even as Elsa is dropped down next to him. Above, Orel watches from a perch right above me. Richard lets loose with a series of flares, lighting up the front cave fully and then settles in to keep an eye for the Shifters.
Mikito and Jason get to work, felling trees with blade and magic in quick order before slicing them into pieces that are less cumbersome for Gadsby to carry. Gadsby, grinning carries logs about double his size on his shoulders with ease, bouncing into the cave and stacking them up just like you would if you were making a campfire.
By this time, I’ve brought the drone back to the second cave and are watching the shifters. They prowl the edges of the light, waiting for us to move in but don’t take further action. No surprise there, the compendium indicated they weren’t the smartest creatures in the world, mostly ambush hunters. Since we aren’t moving deep into their territory, they are willing to wait and watch our strange actions.
Superhuman strength and speed means that the preparations are completed really quickly and I gesture for Mikito and Richard to come to me. They take the sensor data I have and while the others wait, we spread out over the mountainside. This is the tricky part – we want to block off enough airways to reduce airflow, but not too much or else we’ll just kill the fire completely. Ali and I figure about half should do it, or at least we hope so. Not as if either of us are arsonists or firefighters. The insta-cement pouches we pull from inventory work fast and set within moments of application, filling our respective holes within moments of application.
By the time we’re back, the entrance has a nice overhang and is enclosed with stone with only a single wide opening left. Richard and Elsa start the ball rolling, moving deeper to get in range before Elsa begins to breathe, flames licking at the wet logs till Elsa has to stop. We pull them back and Jason takes over, sending wind in a steady roar to fan the flames and more importantly, create the smoke we need. I wish I knew what was going on inside the cave, but I’ve already recalled the drone to keep it from getting damaged. However, the howls that start emanating from inside let us know that the Crilik aren’t happy.
There’s little more to do, Gadsby, Mikito and I are the front-line at the cave entrance while the flames roar, wet tinder super-heated by the turtle creating quite a bit of smoke and blocking lines of sight. We catch sight of something moving behind the flames, snarling at the fire before it disappears behind smoke and shadows and then there’s silence.
Now we just wait, as smoke continues to build in the cave system, forcing the creatures to choose to die from asphyxiation or run through the flames to meet us out here. Of course, half-a-kilometer of caves would take a while to fill with smoke fully, so Gadsby has the enjoyable task of hauling the extra wood we chopped and adding it as necessary.
“You know, this just feels wrong,” mutters Gadsby during one particular long stretch of waiting and Jason nods in agreement.
Jason falls silent for a moment, letting the wind from his spell die down as he watches to see how the fire is going. Spotting an area that has not lit, he calls forth a spear of flame and throws it, the spear erupting and setting the logs on fire. Jason turns to me then, hand absently pawing a pair of glasses that are no longer there, “Not a game right.”
“No, not at all,” I reply and narrow my eyes, trying to spot the monsters. No game, just our fucked-up lives. This could take a while, but we’ve got the time, the wood and the discipline to wait.
The first sign of trouble comes after a few hours, a trio of Crilik panicking and rushing us. The first takes a shot to the head from my rifle and drops, the second slips and thrashes in the flames and the third is met by Mikito and her blade and loses its head. An hour later, we get a series of notifications that more Crilik have perished.
Then nothing, as time drags on. Gadsby heads away to grab more wood when the fire begins to die down and that’s when the remaining Crilik charge us. Stripped of their main advantage in combat by the fires, strength and stamina sapped by the carbon dioxide poisoning they’ve been going through, the figh
t is a massacre. It doesn’t stop them from charging though.
I launch a Lighting Strike in, joined by a more powerful and impressive attack of the same form by Jason and the bolts dance between the bodies, jumping from creature to creature and forcing more than one to fall into the fire. Rachel flicks her hands, stone spears launching from the ground to impale other monsters that make it through the first magical barrage. Behind us, Richard works his shotgun as they close to his range, targeting those in the lead. They lose more than half their numbers in this way and then are forced to funnel to where Mikito and I wait, blades drawn to end this. Gadsby rushes back to join us and Mikito meets the Boss herself, polearm dancing in strikes that keep the creature off-balance and on the defense. I occasionally slip aside, letting a Crilik out so that the Huskies can grab it and savage the creature while I fight the others. Next to me, Gadsby smashes his opponents into paste with armored metal fist and truncheon.
As I said, it’s a massacre. Already damaged from the run through the fire and carbon dioxide poisoning and stripped of their greatest weapon, they are no match for us. When the fight is over, we’re left panting but victorious over the bodies. We grin at each, and then as a group, we begin to go over the notices we’ve been given.
Quest Complete!
You have cleared the Carcross Cave of Crilik Shifters!
10,000 XP Awarded. Reputation increase in the village of Carcross.
Level Up! * 2
You have reached Level 16 as an Erethran Honor Guard. Stat Points automatically distributed. You have 18 Free Attribute Points to distribute.
Class Skills Locked
I scream with joy, breaking out into an impromptu dance. Fucking finally! I can’t help but grin, ignoring the shocked looks everyone else is giving me. I needed just one more damn level and I get 2! Allocating a few additional points to my Charisma stat and I’m good to go.