I’ll be honest, that stung. She wasn’t wrong . . . but still . . . harsh.
“Good, then it is decided,” said Mardi. “Now, invite me to your group. I cannot wait to deliver a little sweet revenge on those Ardentia bastards. They have hounded me for far too long.”
I was still hesitant to add her to the group but her threat, while epically stupid, felt like something she would do. I invited her, adding her to our party, making us eight strong.
“Did they bother you in Hammerton?” Rose asked.
“Me, not so much, my guards, all the time. They gained several levels from it, but it still annoyed them to no end,” Mardi answered.
“Okay, enough lollygagging, let’s get moving,” ordered Baby, trying and failing to strike a serious tone.
I giggled, then Micaela did, in short order we were all laughing while Baby pouted, her wings drooping.
“Back to the barracks then,” said Rose. “Time to fly.”
“We get to fly?” Micaela asked excitedly.
Rose grinned mischievously. “Yes indeed,” she replied.
“Ooh, I wonder what kind of flying mounts there are?” Micaela chattered, followed by her listing several different mythological beasts that could fly. It persisted for the duration of the walk back to the barracks. When we got to the gates, she finally said, “Got a be a spirit dragon for me. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
I looked at Rose who now seemed to regret her attempted mischief.
“Rose, you want to use the scroll?” I offered, seeing as she was the one that broke the enchantment, I felt it was deserved.
Rose was happy the snatch up the scroll and activate the spell, causing it to burn away in sparks of light and attack her eyes. Rose batted furiously at the sparks, trying to knock them away but they ignored her hands completely. Finally, she blinked a few times. “Woah, I’ve got a directional arrow and distance marker in my UI now.”
“How far?” I asked, watching Vari and Mardi blink confused by the term ‘UI’.
“82.7 miles that way,” Rose answered, pointing to the southwest.
“That is in the outskirts,” said Vari. “We need to go to Ninth Ring, Southwest 3.”
“Hey guys,” said Baby.
“Yes,” said Rose, starting for the jump platform.
“Just a thought, but . . . everyone saw that announcement about the ‘Grand Enchantment’ quest, right?” Baby asked.
“Yeah, what about it?” Rose asked.
“Well, do you think the Ardentia might know you broke the enchantment?” Baby asked.
“She has a point,” said Olaf, cocking his head to the side.
“Right, so we should buff up now,” said Rose. “Then I’ll jump first, followed by Vari, then Jack. After that, the order can be whatever, none of you will be up for much of a fight when you first arrive.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Micaela asked. “I’ll have you know I don’t get airsick.”
“Just a precaution,” I said, trying to keep the peace. Rose had the right of it. Vari and I were both veterans of the jump points, we wouldn’t have any sickness to worry about upon landing and even Rose was getting more comfortable with it.
Buffs went out, quickly boosting each member of my party with all manner of powerful goodness, including a damage shield from Baby called ‘Sage’s Ward’ that would absorb -1,000-HP Damage. It was awesome and proved her trip to the Royal Fairy Tree had been well worth the effort.
I laughed a little when buffing Heath broke him out of stealth.
“Awe, mate, come on. That’s just not cricket, breaking a man’s stealth like that,” complained the thief.
“Oh, stop your whining,” said Rose. “You make it through tonight without pissing me off and I might forget your little . . . dance.”
“What dance?” Baby, Olaf and Micaela asked together.
“There was no dance, Bye-bye made the whole thing up,” said Heath, lying through his teeth.
“Now I really want to know,” said Baby.
“Bye-bye, you owe me,” said Olaf, looking at me seriously.
“Olaf, I will break your mind into a million little pieces,” warned Heath.
“Bye-bye, you owe me,” Olaf repeated, staring harder if that was possible.
“There was no dance,” I said firmly, earning a very disheartened look from the ogre.
Heath nodded and vanished, the buffs had long since finished getting passed around.
I whispered to Olaf. “I’ll tell you later.”
Olaf nodded seriously, perking up.
“Okay, that’s enough gossip,” said Rose, donning her dual shields and stepping onto the jump point. “Ninth Ring, Southwest 3.”
Rose vanished and Vari followed a second later. I stepped up next and vanished just as they did. It impressed me again just how amazing this method of travel was.
The landing was normal, Rose battling against three
Thankfully, Vari was there to heal and put out a little damage.
I jumped right in, letting my spear fly with ‘Rapid Striking’, quickly whittling down the three warriors. “Surrender or die,” I called out once their health pools were below the 10% mark.
Thankfully, all three surrendered. I shackled them quickly with my spell.
“Were they waiting for us?” I asked.
“Yeah, just those three, haven’t checked the room out there yet,” said Rose.
“Woah, I feel woozy,” said Baby, appearing suddenly, her flight from the platform was erratic and slow.
“It’ll pass, little sis,” said Rose, trying to guide the diminutive faery to a corner of the room to rest. At least she wasn’t sick.
Micaela appeared next. “Wow! That was amazing! Can I go again? I promise I’ll come right back.”
Of course, the hyper one wouldn’t get sick.
“Enemies were waiting for us,” said Vari. “Once Mardi and Olaf arrive we can send them back to the barracks.”
I liked her plan, a lot.
Mardi arrived next and quickly rushed off the platform, quickly finding one of the garbage cans and unloading on it. For a little lady, she packed a lot of vomit.
Heath showed up next, looking peaked but not sick. “Oh, nice flight, awful landing,” he complained before vanishing. I had no idea if he went somewhere to vomit in ‘Stealth’ . . . would vomiting break ‘Stealth’?
Olaf was the last to arrive and looked absolutely green. He didn’t even make it to trash can before he was projectile vomiting directly at the door.
“Oh, that’s nasty,” he grumbled as he wobbled toward the last trash can.
I knew it would pass, we just had to be patient, then as a team we could go out into the office area and deal with any waiting Ardentia Guild members. At least that was my plan until I heard a sizzling sound, followed by creaking and cracking. My eyes were inevitably drawn to the vomit covered door . . . vomit covered, melting door. It turned out, ogre vomit wasn’t just gross, it was extremely corrosive.
“Where’s an exorcist when you need one?” I asked, getting a laugh from Rose.
“Is someone possessed?” Vari asked, her spear suddenly at the ready.
“No,” I said quickly. “No one is possessed. It’s a joke from the other place.”
“Hey, they're here!” a voice on the other side of the door shouted, an eye peering over the top of the slow melting door.
“Great, good work, Olaf,” complained Rose, preparing to receive company.
“I’m sorry,” the big ogre blubbered, the garbage can had been eaten through and there was a new hole in the floor.
“We need to find a way to harness this acid vomit,” said Micaela, pulling out her axes.
“Maybe there is an ogre only spell for it,” suggested Vision, leaping down from her shoulder.
“How many out there?” Micaela asked, looking down at the wolf pup.
Vision’s eyes glowed for a moment. “Seven, all betwee
n level 6 and 8 with one level 9.”
“That’s a handy little trick,” said Rose, complimenting the pup.
A loud thump shook the door, interrupting any further banter.
Rose backed up from the door, trying to give herself room to charge at the first enemy through the door.
Two more loud thumps followed and the door broke free at the hinges, slamming into the ground, causing some of the acid vomit to splash.
Rose didn’t pay it any mind, she charged forward with her shoulder lowered, impacting the first guy through the door, an orc
Rose slammed both shields forward into the heavily armored warrior. He counted, jabbing a spear, impacting with Rose’s ‘Shield-Wall’, doing almost no damage.
I zapped him with ‘Lesser Holy Shock’, stunning him and dealing -215-HP Damage. It also allowed Rose to strike the orc warrior in the head with the edge of her shield. I followed up with ‘Justice Strike’, hitting for -513-HP Damage and just to change things up, I hit him with ‘Holy Smite’ which did only slightly more damage than I expected, the -232-HP Damage notification surprised me. My spells were severely lacking compared to my spear.
Rose was right, I had neglected my magic way too much for my shiny and exciting spear. I would need to work on that later.
Micaela didn’t stand idly by either, she threw fireballs from ‘Sundance’ every few seconds, keeping her distance, which was optimal for the enclosed space.
A hit from Vari put the shield bearer down permanently. It surprised me how easily she killed, on the other hand, she was a trained soldier and was probably better prepared for such things.
“Sorry,” Vari said. “I did not mean to get a critical strike.”
“Lament later, fight now,” grunted Rose, blocking the next attack from a dual sword wielding cultist,
It was at this point Baby rejoined the fight, renewing the ‘Sage’s Ward’ on Rose then topping off her HP. Despite Vari’s higher level, she seemed to be like me, not very proficient with her magic despite being a cleric. Vari made the switch to spear wielding damage dealer seamlessly, adding her very overpowered spear attacks. It made the defeat and capture of the swordsman much faster.
When he surrendered, I bound him in shackles and yanked him out of the way, so Rose could engage the next guy, another
Rose grunted as a ball of heated fire splashed against her shield, it seemed a mage of some kind had joined the fight, lobbing spells around the swordsman. “Jack, Micaela, focus on the mage back there. Vari, stay on the sword dancer,” Rose ordered, grunting again as another fireball impacted her shields, the fire splashing and remaining lit, Rose’s HP slowly ticking down as the heat from the fire on her shields inflicted damage.
I had to angle behind Rose to see over her to the
I started with ‘Lesser Holy Shock’, timing it for when she was about to spit. I didn’t expect the ball of flammable snot to drip slightly from her mouth and catch fire. It was horrible to watch as the fire swallowed her head whole, rapidly draining her HP with -76-HP Damage, -101-HP Damage and similar numbers ticking past rapidly, when the stun faded she ran out of sight. I wasn’t sure what happened to her but figured she was gone, she barely had a sliver of HP left when she moved.
“That worked a little too well,” commented Micaela, switching targets back to the sword dancer.
I also switched targets, helping to quickly bring the sword dancer low.
“You are under arrest,” ordered Vari, causing the sword dancer to surrender. Then she put actual physical shackles on the man, quickly dragging him back to the other prisoners.
Rose meanwhile had engaged with yet another sword dancer. At this point we had his pattern down so it was easy to take him out and capture him. After that was another shield bearer, she refused to surrender or be captured.
“Useless fodder,” complained a voice from the other room, my guess was the guy in charge of these guys.
“Ladies first,” I joked with Rose, motioning her ahead.
“Why thank you kind sir, don’t mind if I do,” Rose joked back. Her smirk faded quickly, she clapped her two shields together and stalked forward. She was barely through the door when she blurred from view, her charge making a meaty smacking sound when she hit the last guy.
I was quickly through the door behind her. I expected her shield to have laid out the silk pajama wearing man. It seemed her shield hit him but that was it. She was staring up at him, a bright blush on her face. The man was barely dressed, he had dark wavy hair, a strong jaw and the perfect chest and stomach accented by a golden glow that seemed other worldly. I could totally understand why she didn’t want to attack this guy, he was perfection. I knew I could never measure up to this paragon.
I barely registered his nameplate,
Instinctively, I activated the ‘Body Control’ subskill ‘Sudden Boost’ and ‘Amped Up’ with as much stamina as I could as fast as I could. It was my turn to blur from sight. I leapt, my spear pulled back as time slowed around me. When I was in range my spear struck forward, aiming for his stupid, deformed, ugly as sin, face.
The gong of Rose’s shield deflecting my spear never entered my mind as a possibility. Instead of driving my weapons through the Adonis’s head, it scored deep gash across his face and removed most of his ear.
“My face!” he howled, holding a hand to his face. “My beautiful face! What have you done! No one makes me bleed my own blood!”
Whatever trance this guy had put me in was broken. Unfortunately, Rose now had an enthralled debuff and was doing her best to level me. I flipped over her attack and her, rather than attack her I scored a slice across the chest of the Adonis.
“Why!” he howled in demand. “How dare you scar me? Do you not understand, I am beauty and perfection? How are you not under my influence? I do not understand. Kill him, all of you kill him.”
I cursed, Rose was suddenly joined by Baby, Micaela and Vari in trying to kill me.
“Oh, that is just not fair,” I complained, flipping over a spear strike that would probably have killed me if I hadn’t dodged, only to roll back suddenly as vines sprung up from the wooden floor I had just occupied.
I was struck by a fireball in the back from Micaela that took -22-HP from my health pool. It wasn’t a lot of damage which meant there was a good chance Sundance was trying to help me stay alive.
“How dare you! How dare you scar my future!” Rose hissed, her shields trying to slam into me only to suddenly halt.
“Hurry and kill the fool,” hissed Panther. “I cannot hold the misstresss for long.”
I loved that snake. It bought me a short reprieve. I had to move fast, sliding around the Adonis and stabbing with my spear, taking a chunk of his health thanks to a timely critical strike for -632-HP.
Vari was on me again, I dodged but she still scored a strike to my leg that made my landing awkward. I had no choice but to stun her with ‘Lesser Holy Shock’. I attacked the Adonis again, ignoring the fireball from Micaela and wand strikes from Baby, I just kept hitting him, trying my hardest to kill him before the others broke free of whatever restraints held them back.
“No!” the Adonis moaned pitifully. “I am perfection, you cannot . . . you must . . . not . . .”
With a final strike I killed him, just in time too as Vari’s spear was less than an inch from impaling me through the head as was Rose’s shiel
ds and Micaela’s axes.
“What . . . what just happened?” Rose asked, looking around confused.
I collapsed, gasping for breath, feeling my heart pounding out of my chest.
“Why do I feel . . . dirty?” Vari asked.
I snorted a little. I was glad the rest of my party was still in the other room working through being sick or I wouldn’t have survived.
“Jack, what happened? I remember coming and charging then . . . I felt kind of warm and fuzzy all over . . . like I was . . . drunk,” Rose started, looking at me even more confused.
I took a minute to recap the fight for them, by the time it was done they all had healthy blushes staining their faces.
Having recovered a little, I climbed back to my feet, ready to check on the sick people and hopefully get a move on.
“Jack,” said Rose softly, stopping me before I could leave the girls to recover from the embarrassment of being ‘Love Struck’ like that. “Just so there is no misunderstanding,” she said, then gripped the lapels of my jerkin and pulled me into a kiss that left me completely ‘Love Struck’ myself.
“Okay, let’s get a move on,” said Rose, apparently recovered. Personally, I thought it was more she evened the playing field . . . or needed to get ahead of me again.
“I’ll never understand women,” I groused softly.
“Yeah, but we understand you,” said Micaela, smirking and following behind Rose.
“Did I miss all the fun?” Heath asked, appearing behind me, once again successfully startling me after my ‘Perception’ had failed to spot him, that or he finally figured out to approach me from my blind spot.
“You going to loot the corpses?” Heath asked before I could yell at him.
I didn’t like the idea of looting humanoid corpses. I felt bad for killing them . . . okay, so I wasn’t very broken up about killing Adonis, at least as much as I should have been. The fact was, he was just too dangerous to let him continue living and controlling my friends.
Much as I didn’t like it, I should collect whatever loot there was and send it back to the barracks.
I looted the
World Tree Online: The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins Page 35