World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Vision, do you see him?” Olaf asked once the city was in sight.

  “Yes, he is past the gate. The guards are on the ground,” Vision answered, running alongside of us.

  “Not good,” Olaf hissed under his breath, picking up speed. “Are they alive?”

  “They are breathing,” Vision answered.

  “Good, lead us straight to him,” Olaf ordered.

  “You got it,” Vision said, picking up his own speed.

  We ran past the unconscious guards and into the city where there was utter chaos. Gofi left a swath of destruction in his wake. It looked like he ran right through the stalls, making a straight line toward a central three-story building.

  “Leonidas!” Gofi’s voice bellowed in the distance, followed by a loud clang of metal on metal. “Come out here, Leonidas! Face me, murderer!”

  Gofi was surrounded by more than a dozen guards and most of them were unconscious. The two remaining guards stood between Gofi and the doorway into the building, both of the guards looked terrified of the enraged Rhinoman.

  “Gofi, stop this,” Zemira said, trying to rush forward but being held back by Micaela.

  “Hold on, not with those two nervous looking guards. They might mistake you for a combatant,” Micaela warned.

  “Gofi, please!” Zemira pleaded.

  “No, sister, he must pay!” Gofi shouted, his eyes never leaving the guards in front of him.

  “That is quite enough,” the Lionman we were looking for stated as he exited the building. He was tall, wearing a full set of polished white plate armor from head to toe. If I didn’t know he was garbage, I might have been impressed by his appearance. The problem was, didn’t have a single Judgment against him.

  “Not one Judgment,” I said softly so only Olaf and my friends would hear me.

  “Well crap,” Rose said, then asked facetiously, “Who wants to die first?”

  “You murdered my brother!” Gofi accused angrily.

  “And who told you that?” Leonidas asked, pouring on the charm.

  “Chief Chosi,” Gofi answered.

  “Gofi, my oldest friend, why would you believe that woman? You know the problems we’ve had because of her,” Leonidas chided, as if he was speaking to a child.

  “But she confessed,” Gofi retorted, sounding doubtful. “She told us the truth about what happened to my brother, what happened to you.”

  “Oh? And what truth was that?” Leonidas asked.

  “She confessed that she is the one that had the Bandaka Slavers capture you,” Gofi answered. “She told us how you and my brother ended up in the circus and fought there. She told us the truth, that you killed him!”

  “Obviously she is lying,” Leonidas replied. “But I do thank you for letting me know that she was the one that sold me into slavery. I shall be sure she is appropriately punished.”

  Gofi snorted and shook his head. “No, it was true. You are a killer. A murderer. You made me kill all those people, men, women . . . children.”

  “I never made you do anything,” Leonidas replied.

  “You promised to eliminate the Slavers, but people still go missing,” Zemira jumped in.

  “I have been working diligently to deal with the Slavers, I assure you,” Leonidas replied.

  “He is using magic on you!” Chosi shouted from her place on Olaf’s shoulder, somehow getting free of her gag.

  “You will be silent!” Leonidas snapped, finally breaking from his cool façade. Then he took a single deep breath and returned to his calm. “Please, keep that traitor gagged. She has a way with words.”

  “Enough tricks, no more lies!” Gofi shouted. “My brother is dead, and you killed him!”

  Leonidas sighed. “Please stop this nonsense, Gofi, I do not want to hurt you.”

  Gofi was done talking at that point. He charged straight at Leonidas, but the Lionman simply sidestepped the enraged charge.

  “Gofi, you must stop this,” Leonidas said, almost pleading.

  At the end of his charge, Gofi crashed into a couple of crates, but that didn’t deter him. He charged right back at Leonidas and was again sidestepped with ease. Gofi charged again and again. And every time, Leonidas avoided the charge with ease, until Gofi no longer had the energy to fight. The large Rhinoman collapsed, his SP completely drained.

  “Zemira, take your brother home. I will come see him tomorrow,” Leonidas said. “Please leave Chosi with my guards.”

  “I cannot do that,” Zemira said. “I call for a vote of no confidence.”

  “Seconded,” Chosi said, having successfully gotten out of her gag once again.

  “You cannot call for a vote. Only a Chief can,” Leonidas said, almost sounding bored.

  “I am Chief,” Zemira said, her nameplate updating to reflect . “My kind brother was a stand in because I did not trust you or those you had in your pocket.”

  “Either way, you do not have a second. Chosi is no longer Chief, she is a criminal,” Leonidas snapped.

  “You cannot decide if she is Chief or not. Only her people can,” Zemira stated. “It is our law.”

  Leonidas snarled. “Fine, have your vote. It will not pass.”

  “You have already lost,” Chosi said gleefully, at some point Olaf had set her back on her feet. “Our laws only require two votes for a vote of no confidence to pass. You are out, Leonidas.”

  “Out? Out?” Leonidas questioned loudly. “How dare you? After what you have done, you have the nerve to have me removed as the Lord of this City?”

  “This City is dying because of your mismanagement!” Chosi retorted. “You interfered with our politics, what right does an adventurer have in interfering in such things? This is not your world! We are not your people!”

  “I have bled for this world. Been tortured for this world,” Leonidas shouted. “I have protected this city . . . this entire province . . . my province.”

  “It is no longer your province. You are no longer welcome here,” Chosi said coldly.

  “I don’t think so,” Leonidas said, stalking forward.

  “Whoa, hold it right there, Leonidas,” Olaf said, interposing himself between the Lionman and Chosi.

  “Stay out of this Olaf,” Leonidas said. “You’ve already broken enough laws today just by bringing that filth with you.”

  “Excuse me?” Rose asked hotly, moving to confront him.

  “No, I don’t think I will,” Leonidas said, moving suddenly, his hand blurring from view only to make a screeching sound as his claws hit shield, not that that shield did much as Rose was lifted from the ground and rocketed back twenty yards, her body barreling through a few stalls and vanishing before it even hit the ground.

  It was what I was waiting for, he just killed someone more than twenty levels below him. I waited a second for the Judgment to stack. Then two-seconds, then five, but no stack ever appeared. How was that possible?

  “It’s got to be an illusion,” Olaf said, firing his hand-cannon point blank into Leonidas’s face and barely scratching him.

  I needed to trust that Olaf was right as it explained why I didn’t see any Judgments, even if I wasn’t sure how that was possible. “Justice Bringer,” I intoned the spell, letting the wave of energy wash over us and him.

  Leonidas turned sharply to look at me. “A Warrior-Priest, eh? Then you die first.”

  I barrel rolled over a swipe of claws then rolled under the next swipe.

  Olaf used the opening to swing his maul into Leonidas’s ribcage, getting a small “Oof” from the Lionman but not much else. “What the-? How much armor has this guy got?” Olaf complained.

  Unfortunately, I was still moving, putting everything I had into avoiding the claws, hitting him with every spell I could. If his armor was that thick then I doubted my spear would do much. ‘Beginner Holy Fire’ was doing only -1-HP per second. ‘Beginner Holy Shock’ stunned him for all of a second, if that. ‘Lesser Holy Blast’ did a whopping
-5-HP damage. “How much resistance does this guy have?”

  “You’ll find I am more than a match for all of you. You don’t think I survived the arenas without developing skills specifically for fighting against people?” Leonidas asked, not slowing down in his assault at all. “You think just because you are a Warrior Priest that you can fight someone that is actually trained to fight?”

  “Don’t care,” I replied, adding another stack of ‘Beginner Holy Fire’, upping the damage per second to -2-HP. “You are out of control and must be stopped.”

  “Ha,” Leonidas laughed out loud, letting his guard down for a second, causing his throat to light up.

  I drove my spear into his throat, using a ‘Power Thrust’, finally hitting him for some real damage, -509-HP floated away, and his health bar dropped by about 3%. While my spear was still there, I hit my ‘Ligament Rip’ skill, hoping to make him bleed, maybe make it hard to breathe but I wasn’t counting on it.

  Leonidas jumped away, one hand to his throat and his eyes narrowed at me. Then his hand glowed with red light and when it came away from his throat the damage was completely undone, and his HP was back at full.

  “This is not good,” I grumbled.

  “Break his legs,” Olaf said, going on the attack again.

  I followed right behind him, taking aim for Leonidas’s legs as Olaf ordered. My spear struck the right knee and glanced off the armor, only -2-HP. But that didn’t stop me. I kept attacking and dodging, taking the heals from Baby as they came. As good as my ‘Acrobatics’ was, it didn’t give me a 100% dodge chance.

  But we chipped away at him, pounding his joints, getting past his armor and doing damage only for him to heal the damage away almost effortlessly.

  “You really should quit already,” Leonidas said, seeming to never run out of stamina.

  “I’m a slow learner,” I quipped, my spear finding a gap in the armor around his knee and tearing through the joint completely and giving him a ‘Crippled’ debuff again.

  “I can do this all day,” Leonidas boasted, putting a hand to his knee then frowning, his eyes widening slightly. “No . . . no . . . this isn’t . . . how? What did you do to my mana?”

  “I stole it,” Rose said, stepping into view and grinning victoriously, her Vampiric fangs gleaming. I was unbelievably proud of her, choosing to drain Leonidas of MP instead of jumping right back into the fight.

  “No,” Leonidas said, suddenly backing away, his destroyed leg dragging behind him.

  “Your time is done,” I said, feeling confident that we had him now.

  “Well played,” Leonidas said. “But it won’t be enough. Your spell is about to run out. And then it will be a day before you can try again. And by then . . . by then I’ll have a hundred soldiers standing between you and me.”

  Normally, I would have been concerned that we had basically been fighting this guy for an hour already. But I still had one cast left. Before that, I needed answers. “How do you know about that spell?”

  “A God told me,” Leonidas answered. He wasn’t lying, at least, I didn’t think he was. But he also wasn’t telling me the whole truth.

  “Well, your God left something out,” I said, relishing in the moment. “Justice Bringer,” I cast again, seeing the look of terror in Leonidas’s eyes when a second wave of my spell was unleashed.

  “Rose, keep draining him so he can’t regenerate his mana,” Olaf ordered, striking swiftly at the surprised enemy, his maul cratering into Leonidas’s other knee, causing it to buckle but not break.

  Leonidas looked up in rage, I almost missed his hand slipping into a pouch at his belt. I tried to strike for it, but he was too fast. A small vial poured a blue liquid into his mouth, his MP bar suddenly filling almost halfway to full. After that, his hand glowed red and his wounds were healed, and his knee repaired almost instantly.

  “Stupid potions,” I grumbled, striking at him again, but he dodged back this time.

  “I’m afraid I don’t have any more time to waste on you today,” Leonidas said, actually turning and running.

  “Did he really just run away?” I asked, not believing what I just saw.

  “Don’t just stand there,” Rose said. “Chase after him,” she continued, running right behind the Lionman.

  We chased him through the Bazaar, causing even more damage than Gofi did in his original charge into the city. Eventually, Leonidas ran out of places to go, and ran inside another large building. Above the double doors was a circle of symbols, but I didn’t know their meaning, except to assume this was some manner of temple.

  “He’s cornered,” Olaf said. “Be careful, everyone.”

  The temple inside appeared to have been well cared for. It was clean and the many altars appeared to have fresh offerings.

  “Undergod Kokou, help your servant in his time of need,” Leonidas’s voice carried through the large hall, but drawing us straight to him and the alter he was kneeling before.

  “Pathetic,” a voice boomed, filled with anger. “Who is this pathetic kitten who begs me to help him? Where is the betrayed Warrior that sought strength to keep fighting? I see him not.”

  “He’s a Warrior Priest,” Leonidas shouted back.

  “You are a Paladin to the Warrior Undergod Kokou,” the voice shouted back. “You are the being I named ‘Secutor Gladitorium’, a title of great honor, naming you one above Judgment. And still you plead for my help.”

  Did that title hide any Judgments against him? Or did it mean he couldn’t be judged? As in, any ‘Judgments’ against him wouldn’t do anything?

  “My levels will be lost. I won’t be able to protect this province anymore,” Leonidas said.

  “Protect? Is that what you call what you have done? Protect, I think not. You have sought war and fighting. You protect nothing but your wish to fight, to make others pay for what you have suffered,” the voice, who I now assumed was the Undergod Kokou, replied. “And so what if you lose your levels. You know how to fight. How to strive. What are levels before you, my champion?”

  “No, I do protect them. I stopped the Slavers in the Bazaar. I drove off the non-Beastkin. This province is safer because of me,” Leonidas protested.

  “You fought and killed any who stood in your way as any true Warrior should. And now you mewl before me like a lost kitten. I was wrong to give you my support after you cast off Oshosi for my strength. You are no longer my Paladin, you are unworthy of the title ‘Secutor Gladitorium’, I shun you, begone from my altar,” the Undergod Kokou’s voice boomed one last time.

  “No, you can’t do this to me,” Leonidas pleaded, red light seemed to escape from his body and flow into the altar he knelt before, pulled away into the divine realms. And when the light faded, his armor turned a dull grey, covered in dents and dings. More importantly, Leonidas had 3,672 Judgments.

  “Oh, you’ve been a naughty boy,” I said with all the irony I could muster.

  “No, you can’t do this. I’m the good guy,” Leonidas protested. “I’m the good guy. A hero to these people. You can’t do this.”

  “Maybe you were a good guy . . . once, but now, you’re just a bully,” I said, activating my ‘Final Judgment’ skill and crossing the temple in an instant, driving my spear through the glowing spot in his armor, piercing it and putting an end to him. “Be better next time,” I said as his body faded from view.

  “Thank you,” a man said, startling me.

  A few altars away stood a man, a Human man with dark skin, his simple tunic and pants colored a brownish yellow. And despite this simple clothing I could feel this man . . . no, this God’s power. I knew then, this was the God the Goddess Issara sent me here to meet.

  I dropped to a knee and bowed my head in respect. “Um . . . Lord,” I said politely.

  “I am Oshosi, God of the Hunt and Justice,” the God answered. “And you are Bye-bye Jacko, the one Izzy will not be quiet about.”

  “Izzy?” I asked, confused only for a moment when I figured out tha
t ‘Izzy’ was actually the Goddess Issara.

  The God Oshosi only nodded and smiled. “Do not tell her that I told you. She is already a pain to deal with. That I needed to ask her to help me with . . . with Leonidas, I fear that I shall never hear the end of it.”

  “How does Leonidas have anything to do with you?” I asked.

  “Leonidas was once like you, a Warrior Priest. My Warrior Priest,” the God Oshosi answered. “When he was taken, when he was made a slave. I could not directly intervene. Instead, I gave him a quest. His task was to lead a revolt. To put an end to the Circus Maximus he was being held in. He readily agreed as I expected he would.”

  The God Oshosi paused here to sigh. “And then he fought and lost. And then he fought again . . . and lost. He continued to lose, and that is when the Undergod Kokou tempted him. Offered him a chance to become a true Warrior of a Undergod, to become his Paladin. He took it and cast me aside.”

  “I’m glad we were able to help,” I said.

  “Now, I shall allow Izzy to use any of my altars spread throughout the World Tree to communicate with you. It is the least I can do,” the God Oshosi said.

  The Goddess Issara’s voice suddenly joined, “Least you can do?” she asked, her body materializing a moment later. “Least you can do, really?”

  Looking put out by her sudden arrival, the God Oshosi said, “I gave you permission to communicate, not show up in person.”

  “I am communicating,” the Goddess Issara replied. “But more importantly, are you really going to be so stingy? My champion has just done a major service for your entire pantheon, you owe him.”

  The God Oshosi groaned in discomfort then winced as if he was in physical pain. “Alright, alright, you are right. I owe him a proper reward.” As the words left his mouth he seemed to relax, no longer afflicted by whatever was . . . hurting him?

  “That’s more like it,” the Goddess Issara said, giving me a quick wink. “While you figure out an appropriate reward. I will give my champion his reward from me.”

  Class Quest Alert: Endless Savanna or Endless Injustice?