World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Stand clear,” Gofi said, snorting then charging. The Rhinomen went right through the wall and kept going, breaking down walls as he went up the spiral. Then he hit the sixth wall and stopped. “I need a minute to catch my breath,” he panted.

  I looked down as the gas that was still creeping upward. “Attack the wall,” I said, activating ‘Rapid Striking’ repeatedly. Even with the reduced damage per strike, and every strike hit.

  “I am so wishing I already had my full-sized cannon,” Olaf complained, swinging his maul with everything he had.

  “Hey, Babe, I was thinking about repainting our bedroom while we’re off next week,” Micaela said, hacking away at the wall. “I was thinking Seafoam Green. I hear that’s back in style.”

  “What’s wrong with blue?” Olaf asked, pausing in his hammering.

  “It’s just . . . kind of dark. I wanted to lighten things up,” Micaela said.

  “Interior decorate later, break wall now!” Rose yelled at the pair.

  Olaf went back to swinging.

  Finally the wall broke.

  “I think I am good to continue,” Gofi said, now that the wall was cleared. “Try to keep up,” he said, charging again and breaking through five more walls and stopping on the sixth and final wall standing between us and access to the roof top.

  “Stupid boss mechanic,” Rose groused, slamming one edge of her shield into the wall then the other.

  “Where’s cordite when you need it?” Olaf complained. “Hell, I’d settle for a brick of C4 at this point.”

  I looked down into the tower below us. The Gas had just reached the last barrier we broke through without Gofi’s help. Roughly judging the pace of the gas, it seemed like we should have plenty of time to get through the last barrier. But who knew if that gas would continue up on to the roof even after we broke through this barrier? I couldn’t see fighting the last 50% of Khan’s health while surrounded by what is obviously poison gas.

  Eventually, there was the telltale sound of the wall cracking, then crumbling before finally collapsing and opening the way forward.

  Khan saw us and cursed. His gaze looked to the horizon and he cursed again.

  Growling, Khan turned back to face us. “It would seem my ride is late. I suppose I shall play with you a little longer.”

  “You’re not getting away,” Rose shouted, preemptively charging. Except Khan was ready for the attack, the stone vanished from under her feet. She slammed into the edge of a hole in the floor and scrambled to get purchase.

  Khan moved to attack Rose while she was vulnerable, but Harrison cut him off, charging ahead. Unlike Rose, when the floor opened below Harrison, he glided right over the hole and slammed into Khan.

  Since Harrison had aggro, I leaped next to Rose and took one of her hands and pulled her up, only to feel like there was no ground behind me as I tried to step back.

  Thankfully, Rose grabbed the front of my leather armor and pulled me close. A hole had opened behind me while I was helping Rose.

  “I hate this guy,” Rose complained. “He is officially the most annoying boss we’ve ever fought.”

  “Agreed,” I said, jumping to a more solid footing. “So, let’s hurry up and kill him.”

  Rose didn’t need to be told twice. She tried to charge again, and this time, she succeeded.

  It was just in time, the ground below Harrison suddenly opened up again. The man caught himself with his shields, creating an unstable bracing.

  This time Micaela rushed forward to help pull Harrison free.

  I heard another yelp from behind me and saw Gofi stuck in a hole. The hole wasn’t actually big enough for Gofi to fall through. Knowing he wasn’t in danger, I left him as there was no way I was going to be able to pull him free.

  Just as I was about to turn away, I saw something dark darting from the sky.

  “Olaf, duck,” Vision shouted, appearing out of nowhere.

  Olaf dropped and rolled, bringing up his hand-cannons and firing them into the air above where he was just standing.

  There was a roar of pain as the chimera landed briefly then shot back into the air.

  “Ha, you didn’t get me this time,” Olaf cheered. But it was short lived as the roof under him was suddenly gone. “Aw, no fair!” he shouted as he fell through and vanished.

  “Not my fault,” Vision said quickly.

  I know I shouldn’t have, but I laughed.

  “Vision, where have you been?” Micaela asked, finally noticing the Spirit Wolf. “And where did Ollie go?”

  I laughed harder, almost falling into a new hole as it opened under me. I used my spear as a pole-vault to escape the fall, my laughter quickly forgotten, as was Vision’s sudden arrival. We would have time to question him later.

  As the fight progressed, I applied ‘Holy Fire’ stacks and hit Khan with my ‘Holy Shock’ every chance I got. Mostly though, I was jumping around the rooftop trying to help anyone that got tripped up on the holes, trying to make sure none of my friends fell to their deaths . . . any more of my friends fell to their deaths.

  I was busy trying to pull Twill free when Khan shouted.

  “No, this is not right. It is not what I was promised,” Khan hissed angrily, his HP finally dropping below 10%. “I was supposed to be an emperor.”

  “The only thing you have been promised, is death!” Gofi screamed and charged, apparently free of his hole. His horn impaled Khan and lifted him into the air. Then Gofi’s charge ended abruptly as he hit the parapet. The sudden stop of momentum cast Khan free of the horn and into the air. Far from the safety of the rooftop.

  Khan screamed all the way down before being suddenly silenced.

  “Victory!” Gofi cheered, raising his arms in the air.

  “I hate gimmick fights,” Heath complained, one foot up on the parapet and looking over the ledge.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Rose said, putting her shields away.

  Heath rolled his eyes and just pointed at Gofi. “Gimmick.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “We could have done all of these fights without him, not a gimmick.”

  “And how would you have gotten past the illusionist?” Heath asked.

  “More bombs,” Rose answered. “Or any other area of effect skill to flush him out. And eventually, he would have run out of mana.”

  “I guess,” Heath said, looking ready to argue further.

  “And before you start on Khan, Gofi may have gotten the last hit, but he was going to die eventually, especially as there is still no sign of his ride,” Rose said, waving to the horizon.

  “If you insist,” Heath said, vanishing from view.

  “Poison gas is gone,” Baby reported from the hatch that led to the stairs back down.

  The keep’s tower walls were stained green but there was no sign of the gas and no new debuffs appeared by our nameplates as we made our way down. At the bottom of the tower we found Olaf’s corpse and resurrected him. He was . . . unhappy . . . yeah, let’s just go with unhappy.

  When we got to the main floor, I followed Rose around the stairs to head back toward the kitchen when I heard a crash followed by twin thuds coming from behind us.

  I didn’t turn at first. I pinched at the bridge of my nose, knowing that if I turned around, I would probably scream in frustration. With a deep breath, I turned. I didn’t scream. I wanted to, but I didn’t.

  Gofi, the idiot that he was, decided that exiting out the front door was a good idea. Hence the crash of his metal boot against the heavy double doors that separated us from the courtyard of the Slaver’s Fortress. The courtyard, that was filled with what I guessed was around a hundred Slavers, many of whom were crowded around the spot where I knew Khan probably impacted. Slavers, whose gazes were drawn to us with the heavy double doors slammed against the stone exterior of the keep.

  “Ah, more enemies to fight,” Gofi cheered.

  “I vote we leave him,” Heath said, reappearing.

  “Seconded,” Rose said.

/>   I really wish I could have agreed with that. But I couldn’t just leave him. I sighed, stretching my neck as I moved to stand next to Gofi, spear in hand. “Alright, scumbags. Khan is dead. Chagha’an is dead. And Köke is dead. If you want to join them, step up and get in line. Otherwise, drop your weapons and surrender!” I shouted, applying mana to my voice throughout my statement. I hoped I might have gotten some kind of ‘Order: Intimidation’ skill but nothing popped up. At least I activated my ‘Order: Surrender’ for the last part of it.

  One of the braver, or stupider of the Slavers, depending on how you looked at it, stepped up and shouted, “Oh yeah, you and what army. I count eight of you and there are more than a hundred of us.”

  As if someone heard his challenge, the front gate of the fortress was slammed inward, torn free and lobbed into the mass of Slavers, killing several in one shot. And standing in that gate was Perses, his diminutive Bearfae rider at the reigns.

  I chuckled. “That army,” I said, pointing at Titan Beast.

  “Right,” the same Slaver said. “You make a valid point. My associates and I would be happy to surrender provided you promise not to let the bear eat us.”

  “Accepted,” I said seriously, trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

  It took hours to shackle the Slavers and load them into their own caged wagons. Even with the Hunter’s Union helping. Titan ended up loading the more infirmed former slaves up on his platform. The plan was for him to run them back to the Bazaar and come back for more. Meanwhile, all of us would start the long trek back.

  We also finally got the story from Vision. The Spirit Wolf explained how he saw the chimera flying above the fort and thought it was best to keep watch on it for Olaf. Olaf thanked him and gave him a good petting session. Personally, I wanted to ask how Micaela didn’t know Vision was following us and why Vision didn’t let us know he was there once we were all inside, where the chimera couldn’t get to Olaf. But . . . whatever, I was too tired by this point to care.

  As soon as the last person stepped out of the fortress time froze.

  “Well done,” the God Oshosi’s voice boomed.

  Class Quest Alert: Assist the Warrior Priest of the God Oshosi – Completed!

  You have been charged by the God Oshosi to assist his Warrior Priest in bringing the Bandaka Slave Ring to an end. Eliminate Khan, Righthand Chagha'an, and Lefthand Köke

  Reward: +100,000-Experience, 15-Sigils of the Goddess Issara, Oshosi’s Mark

  Nice. Good experience, 15-Sigils, and an Order Prestige.

  “What is this?” Gofi asked, shocking me out of my perusal of the quest completion.

  Harrison looked just as surprised.

  “I will get to you in a minute, Gofi of the Rhinomen,” the God Oshosi stated, silencing the Rhinoman. “First, my champion, John Harrison. You have succeeded in the task I gave you. You have punished the guilty and seen that justice was served. I formally accept you as my Warrior Priest. Do not let me down.”

  Harrison kneeled, bowing his head. “I will not let you down.”

  “Your new task, Hunt Nero, find his Circus Maximus and bring it down,” the God Oshosi ordered. “If the time comes and you need allies, you know where to find them,” he added, his eyes sliding over to me.

  “And now for you,” the God Oshosi said, his gaze landing firmly on Gofi. “You have done horrible things. Evil acts. Your soul is stained by them. When you die, there are many hells that would happily take you in to their embrace.”

  Gofi looked ashamed, lowering his head and not daring to meet the God’s eyes.

  “When you escaped from your prison, your death was . . . a certainty. You knew this, and you still did it. Tell me why,” the God Oshosi ordered.

  “To protect my people. Without me, they are defenseless. Doomed to slavery. When Bye-bye told me he was going after the Slavers, there was no other choice to be made. If I could kill even one of those Slavers. If I could prevent even one of my people from becoming a slave by killing just one more Slaver, then it would be worth my life,” Gofi explained.

  “Then your life is what I will take,” the God Oshosi said. “And this place,” he continued, motioning to the fortress, “shall be your prison and your chance at redemption.”

  “What do you mean?” Gofi asked, as confused as I was, and I was sure Harrison was as well.

  “This place shall be my warning to all Slavers. Those who died here today shall become the prisoners and you their warden,” the God Oshosi said.

  “I still do not understand,” Gofi said.

  “A dungeon,” I said, understanding what the God Oshosi was getting at. “The God Oshosi is going to make the Slaver’s Fortress into a dungeon.”

  “Precisely. And you, Gofi of the Rhinomen, shall serve to help any who come to conquer this fortress. That is, if you accept my offer,” the God Oshosi said.

  “What offer? I did not hear an offer,” Gofi replied, confused as ever.

  “You will help any who come until you have paid the debt in lives you owe. If you stay until that debt is paid, I will allow you to join your ancestors. But if you leave before the debt is paid, your soul shall be forever condemned. That is my offer,” the God Oshosi spelled it out.

  Gofi furrowed his brow. “Hmm, so I would . . . kill Slavers . . . for eternity?” Gofi asked, trying to puzzle out the offer.

  “Until your debts are paid, you would help anyone brave enough to fight and kill the Slavers that have been cursed to die for their crimes,” the God Oshosi answered.

  “But I get to kill Slavers, right?” Gofi asked.

  “Yes, you would get to kill Slavers,” the God Oshosi answered.

  “Then I accept, eternity killing Slavers, sounds like heaven to me,” Gofi answered, smiling happily.

  The God Oshosi looked for an instant like he was about to argue with Gofi but shook his head. “Just . . . go,” the God said, waving his hand making Gofi disappear.

  Harrison and I watched, dumbfounded, as the fortress was repaired and put back to its state before our attack. Then Slavers started appearing inside the fortress and up on the walls. Zombie Slavers, but still Slavers. I glanced toward the wagon cages that previously held the captured Slavers, curious if he would punish them as well and found the carts empty.

  “Good luck getting rid of him once his debt is paid,” I mumbled. Gofi really was in heaven. That crazy idiot Rhinoman would die a million times and more if it meant he got to kill Slavers . . . even Zombie Slavers.

  The God Oshosi apparently heard me as he raised an eyebrow and cast a sidelong glance back toward the newly created Dungeon.

  “Anyway, it’s been fun,” I said. “But we really should see about getting those former slaves back to safety. God Oshosi, if I may ask, please let Lady Zemira of the Bazaar know about the dungeon and any quests she can give for it.”

  “If you were not Issara’s brat, I would smite you where you stand. But you are correct. I have already exerted too much of my divine power in this place. Good luck in the future,” the God Oshosi said, giving the slightest nod before he vanished, and time started moving.

  “What the hell!” Rose exclaimed. Her eyes were fixed on the Slaver’s Fortress Dungeon.

  “New dungeon,” I said casually, walking past her to unhitch the wagons that previously held the captured Slavers.

  “What do you mean new dungeon?” Rose demanded, chasing after me.

  I laughed, feeling relief. That dungeon really would put the fear of the Gods and Goddesses into any Slaver that thought it might be a good idea to set up camp in this province again.

  “Harrison, it’s more your story, why don’t you tell it?” I suggested.

  “Alright, listen up folks. As the one and only servant of the God Oshosi, I will tell you the ultimate tale of good and evil and how a disgraced Patrolman all but saved the world,” Harrison started, over embellishing from the start.

  “We were there,” Rose shouted.

  “Yeah, but t
hey were not,” Harrison countered, pointing toward Titan and the former slaves.

  I could only shake my head and laugh. Things were going to be okay.

  “Ah, no, damnit!” Olaf shouted, his HP bar suddenly draining before he died. I heard the familiar roar of triumph from the chimera as it flew away, chased by the arrows and bullets of the Hunter’s Union.

  Well . . . almost okay.

  Chapter 31

  “Alright, Olaf, you remember the plan?” Twill asked as part of his final preparations for the chimera hunt.

  “Yes,” Olaf answered again, then continued when Twill looked at him expectantly. “I enter the chimera’s territory and draw it out. Your guy will fire the bolas in an attempt to ground it as soon as it appears. Once it is grounded, we kill it.”

  “Good, good,” Twill said, nodding.

  “I’m here, I’m ready to go,” Micaela shouted, running to catch up with us.

  Over the last couple of days, Micaela was in some kind of rush to finish her Shaman class quest. Apparently, the three villages had some kind of issue with restless spirits and Micaela needed to put them to rest. Her arrival meant that her quest was done . . . I think.

  “All done?” Olaf asked.

  “Yes!” Micaela cheered. “And I finally found Kali,” she said pointing to a new ruby adorning the stone of her chest armor. “And she’s awesome! Palm tried to flirt with her, and she totally punted him in the eggs and sausage, if you get my drift. It was amazing.”

  Based on Olaf’s involuntary cringe as well as my own, I was pretty sure neither of us thought it was that amazing.

  “And did you finally finish your new iron hand-cannons?” Micaela asked cheerfully.

  Olaf proudly pulled one of the newly minted weapons from the holster at his hip. “It’s only pig iron, but it makes them a little lighter than the bronze and it adds another 5-yards to my effective range,” he boasted proudly. Olaf split his time the last few days between the Blacksmith’s shop in the Bazaar and the Hunter’s Union camp. And speaking of the Hunter’s Union, Olaf, Micaela, Harrison, and Twill negotiated a deal and I got a partial refund on the upcoming chimera hunt. I didn’t get the exact details, but all three were given a share of the Hunter’s Union’s grootslang profits and crafting materials. Once they finally did make peace, Olaf spent any time he wasn’t in the smithy with Twill planning for the chimera hunt.