by D Wolfin
I have thought it all through. He will not suspect my spy, considering he is not a part of the Swords of Light. All I need to do is then come and extract my revenge on the player 'Lost'. It that woman is there with him, all the better!
Chapter 9 – Wolf Girl
-Lost-
Somehow, I am certain the person clinging onto my back is Fen. Yet, she should be a wolf. Since when could she transform into a human? Was it a new technique, like when she first began to use the ice attacks? Or has she always been able to?
Images of what the wolf look like in human form are flickering through my mind, trying to match up what little I could feel against my body to an image.
'No. I should not think those things!'
Slamming my eyes shut I force all unnecessary thoughts out of my mind.
"You may not want to help Verde, Fen, but I do. We can't just leave her there."
"Yes... You can. Just pretend... She doesn't exist." Her icy voice sends shivers through my entire body with each word, but it isn't exactly an unpleasant feeling.
"She is there because of me. Being responsible, I could not do that."
"... Only... If you buy me clothes..."
A short silence passes over, neither one of us knowing exactly what to say next. I break the silence first by agreeing to buy her something to wear.
The embrace disappears from around me and when I turn around, she has already transformed back into a wolf.
Opening my inventory I go to get the scroll of shrinking, but, even after three full searches it was not there. I shake my head from side to side, refusing to admit that I have run out of the scrolls.
"Umm. Fen," Looking up at the wolf as I speak, "it appears I may have, just potentially, run out of shrinking scrolls." I try to play it off with a laugh but the sound that comes out is too dry to be called that.
The wolf gives me a furious look, stepping away from the passage entrance while reliving bad memories.
"I didn't mean for this to happen! Honestly!" Raising my hands above my head, pleading innocent to the wolf, "And I'm not going to drag you through a tunnel again. You know, last time wasn't pleasant for me either."
I can't help but say those last words with a considerable amount of bitterness.
"These paths are a great deal larger than the tunnels near where you were, so you should be able to walk down them easily enough."
The only problem is going up floors. With her massive body she will not be able to climb the narrow ramps around the edges of the seemingly bottomless pits.
She begrudgingly follows behind me as we leave the area to go rescue Verde on the second floor. I was correct in saying the pathways were indeed larger. Fen can comfortably walk down them standing upright and there is a reasonable amount of room on either side of her. But, she would not be able to do any evasive manoeuvres if we were attacked.
I consider how odd it is that we fought the boss after collecting the dungeon loot. Normally it would be the other way around, you fight the boss, and then you gain the rewards after.
It was a nice trap to have the boss sneak up behind the player who was all excited about the chest, but it was just too different to any role playing game I have ever played before.
Lost in thought, we arrive at the ramp to climb to the second floor. Fen nervously shifts her gaze between the ramp and me, suspecting I may trick her again.
"Fen, I need you to do something for me," the wolf takes a few steps back, a few ice bolts forming in the air, "Calm down! It's not something like that! All I need you to do is transform into a person while we go up, then you can turn back into a wolf."
The ice bolts shrink in size, but they did not completely disappear. They whittle down till they are about the thickness of a finger, before being launched at my eyes.
"Hey! Cut it out! I won't look. You can just walk behind me!"
Dodging the attack, I turn around and stand at the base of the ramp, facing the other way. Before long, faint footsteps walk up behind me, stopping directly behind me.
"You... Peek, and I will... Your eyes..." It was menacing, yet I could feel the nervousness in her icy voice.
"You've already tried that. It failed." I retorted a little more sarcastically than I planned to, but there was no changing it now.
A pair of arms sneak under mine, raising them up over my head as I am placed into a choke hold. Two small ice bolts with dagger tips form in the air, a hairs width away from my eyes.
"I will... Your eyes..." She repeats the words, this time having a slightly greater effect on me.
"Okay, okay. No peeking!" I wasn't going to anyway, but the cold beads of sweat on my forehead tell me I have to make it perfectly clear to this wolf.
Fortunately, the arms release me and the ice bolts dissolve into dust in response to my words.
Two nervous hands grip onto the back of my cloak as I start walking along the wall. Slowly getting higher, we climb up the pit hole to the second floor.
Once we get to the top Fen let's go of my cloak and whispers, "Sorry... For not showing you... Before..."
I turn around surprised, but she has already turned back into a wolf nearly three meters tall.
We encounter a few freshly spawned groups of goblins, but we easily take care of them, suffering next to no damage.
We approach near the pit connecting to the first floor and come across Verde. She is sitting against the wall near where she logged off. Something seems strange when she looks up to greet me, a slight happiness in her hazel eyes.
Her eyes! I can see her properly for the first time with her hood down!
The eyes I could see were entrancing. I almost lean closer just to stare into them. Verde's hair is straight at the top, before flowing into loose curls that flow down onto her chest. Her fringe is swept to the side, held in place by two clips.
I still could not tell exactly what her size was thanks to the leather armour she wore, but it seemed to be considerable.
'No, don't look there! I still need to apologize! If she sees me looking there it will make things even worse!'
Shaking the thoughts loose from my head, I extend a hand to her.
"C-Can I help you up?" I stutter a little, embarrassed about the kiss. She gave a short nod and lent me her hand.
She did not say anything until I hoist her up onto her feet.
"Thank you for coming. Umm... Do you happen to have any potions? My health is still a bit, low." Cheeks flushing red, her voice came out incredibly bashful.
"Sorry! I don't, and I kind of need more water before I can make any more." I did not realize her health was still the same as when she logged off, but I could not do anything without water. I also could not feed her any green medicinal herbs due to not having enough left to make any difference.
"Umm, would this help. I originally bought this when I started playing. I thought back then we had to have food and water to survive. Since then I have drunk water for the luxury." She averts her face as she hands me the bottle.
"Hah, this should do." Taking the bottle and my potion making equipment out I grind up two green medicinal herbs per vial and make a total of four health potions. This is all the herbs I can manage to spare at the moment.
I drink about half of what is leftover in the canteen and pass it back to Verde, along with the potions. I don't consider drinking out of something that has been used by someone else to be dirty simply because this is a game, and germs are non-existent here.
Verde quickly drinks the potions and washes the flavour down with the rest of the water, letting out a small burp from her mouth. Quickly trying to cover up the unfeminine exhalation of air with a cough into her hand, it will still adorable the quick high pitched noise followed by an out of sync cough that did nothing for it.
I retrieve the empty potion flasks from her as she pulls the hood of her cloak back over her head.
It is only around the corner that the ramp to the first floor is. I ask Verde to log off for five minutes due to there
being something she shouldn't see.
Once again Fen's hands are slightly quivering through my cloak. Half way up even I receive a massive fright when her foot slips, causing her to half fall off the ledge, only being saved by her holding onto my cloak.
With my heart racing, she quickly pulled herself closer to me, wrapping her arms around my chest. Lifting her legs up, they quickly held onto my waist as well.
'She must be terrified of heights,' Come to think of it, she did stick rather close when she was the miniature wolf, 'I completely had no idea.'.
She is a very slender wolf girl. I can feel a bit of fat on her, but not very much. The limbs wrapped around me reveal her skin to be completely pale, almost as if it has never seen the sun.
The most surprising aspect is her weight. I had a moment where I panicked about it when she threw her weight onto me. But she has lost all the weight as a wolf and is barely a hundred pounds now.
Placing my hands under her thighs, I support her weight as I carry her up to the first floor. The memory of her skin in my hands remains while I wait for Verde to log back in and join us.
The trip through the first floor was also extremely easy, minor goblins falling before they could even reach us. I had Verde repeat the same process of logging out when we climbed up to the surface. Fen didn't climb on to me like last time, but she was definitely closer than when we originally started.
Above ground my eyes widen in surprise at all the goblins. We had been underground for quite some time, yet, there are none here.
From over one of the hills surrounding the encampment a group of ten players suddenly emerge, entering the encampment just as Verde climbs up out of the dungeon. Maybe it’s just me, but they seem to be heading directly towards us.
"Not good," Verde whispers to me, "See that symbol on the back of their left hands, that is a guild symbol. They are from the Swords of Light."
I had heard about the guild symbols. Each guild assigns a symbol to a part of the body that every member wears. It appears on the body, or clothing if that is specified, similar to the symbol that every player receives on the back of their right hand when they turn level fifty.
Surely enough, looking on the back of their left hand revealed a tattoo like symbol. Activating the ‘Hunter’s eyes’ aspect of my class skill, I get a clear picture of the tattoo. It is in the shape of a sword, with rays of light coming off of it.
Encountering other players temporarily overwrites my embarrassment to Verde, but who wouldn’t feel this daunting atmosphere that drowns everything else out.
"The Swords of Light?" I whisper back to her, "I haven't heard of them before. What is so bad about them?"
"Not only have they been known to extort players for gold to hunt in grounds they claim to own, but all their members are over level one hundred. Most players can't even do anything to stop them. Shh... They're here!"
Hissing the last part at me, she turns around and faces the Swords of Light members in front of us. A man with short cropped blond hair, sticking straight up, steps forward from the rest of them. His armour gleams like silver, yet it has a stange texture to it showing it is some unknown metal that I do not know of.
"Well, well." The man looks up and down us, determining our levels by our equipment. His gaze stops on Fen for a moment, but he continues speaking after giving an odd facial expression.
"It is relieving that you know who we are, it saves a lot of explanations. Oh, sorry, I heard everything you said before. I have a skill called 'Sonar' that enhances my hearing you see. I am Chronix, the leader of the Swords of Light, and these men behind me are our strongest members. All their levels are around one hundred and fifty." He gives us a heart-warming smile as he introduces everyone. Surely he isn't such a bad guy.
"But. It is what you are probably thinking. We came here today to take care of the boss that should have respawned since we killed it two weeks ago. After taking care of all the small fry outside, we happen to see some unknown players coming out of our dungeon. Players, in fact, that have not paid a fee to use our hunting grounds."
He still maintains the perfect smile, almost like this fee is not extortion, but a fair price. I was definitely wrong, this guy is the worst!
"Judging by your equipment, I would say you did not even get past the first floor. But, just to be sure, we will say you made it onto the second floor. The price for two floors is two hundred gold, per person, per day. The fact that there were goblins around means you were in there overnight, making it two days. So, please pay eight hundred gold."
I nervously look over the players standing behind him. They all have their hands on their sword hilts, except for the two pointing their staves at me.
"Alternatively," Chronix continued on, "You could always give me all the equipment you are wearing. Or that oversized pet wolf you have behind you. They appear to be of an appropriate value."
Trying to take my equipment and even Fen! I want to wipe that smile right off his face with my fist, or better yet, a mace!
"Lost," Verde whispers under her breath, "We need to run, if we log out they will simply leave new guild members to camp here and let them know when we come back."
"Mmm. Okay," I was a little uncertain, but I did in fact feel quite threatened by these high level players, "Should we split up?"
"No, I am a very fast player. So they will have trouble catching me. And I already know I have nothing to wo-"
"Eeexcuse me," Chronix lazily interrupts, cleaning out one of his ears with a finger, "Remember, 'Sonar'? Unfortunately I have heard your plan and it is quite unfortunate but it isn't going to-"
"RUN!" Verde calls out as she sprints away from the Swords of Light guild members. Fen and I are stunned at the suddenness for a moment, but we quickly follow.
We keep up at Verde's speed which is quite slow compared to what I am used to. In fact, it is slow enough that I feel like I am lightly jogging., and Fen appears to only be lightly trotting along as well.
Doing a large circle through the hills we enter the thicket of trees we need to pass through to get to Iceridge. It is only a minute before two of the players step out from behind some trees. They are two of the Swords of Light members I saw earlier.
"The boss said you would probably head this way. Unfortunately for you, we are level one fifty, and our skills are designed for speed. You had no hope of outrunning us in the first place. Now cough up the money."
The one who was speaking arrogantly was some skinny looking kid. If this was real life I probably would sit on him.
"Sorry," Verde spoke up, putting on that entrancing smile of hers, "but we are going to be passing through here, please move aside."
The mousy haired kid visibly swallowed, completely captivated by her charms.
"Well, i-if you ask that nicely."
He was just about to let us go! At least, until the bald man next to him frowned and hit him over the back of the head.
"ArrowHunter! You go sit on the sidelines, I will take care of these two." Sending the now moping kid off to the side, he took up a menacing appearance in front of us.
I inwardly let out a sigh and figure talking our way out of this situation is probably no longer possible.
"Fen," I look straight at the wolf, "I need you to take Verde back to Iceridge, wait for me there."
The wolf completely ignores me, pretending like I didn't say anything.
"If you do," I lower my voice, "I won't buy whichever clothes you want the most."
Fen shows an immediate reaction with her tail swinging and ears perked up. A few ice bolts rain down at the bald man, startling him and giving the wolf enough time to wrap its jaws around to back of her cloak and run off. I didn't see much, but I thought I saw Verde go completely pale when she was picked up in the wolf's mouth.
The bald man, who I am thinking looks a lot like a monk if fancy leather armour, narrowly dodged the ice bolts and is still standing in front of me. Only, unlike a monk, there is a katana on his hip secured in
a plain scabbard. I doubt the sword is as plain as the scabbard however.
"You can't get away from me! I am the fas... Damn, that's fast." He was captivated by the speed of the wolf's escape, but quickly turned his attention to me while clearing his throat.
"You have one extremely fast pet there, where exactly did you get it?"
"Why would I tell you that?"
"Shame, I would like to get myself some monstrous pet like that someday. How you did it at your level is also a mystery, I would say you are barely level fifty, but maybe you are only wearing weak equipment."
He speaks like a businessman, each word coming out as if it was a matter of fact. But he seems to jump to his own conclusions too fast.
"I am the fastest member in the Swords of Light guild, possibly the fastest player in the game. My base agility is nearly a hundred and I gain another twenty four percent bonus from both my skills and equipment. Unfortunately, you have no way to escape."
My original concern disappears as soon as he discloses his agility stats to me. I may have this cloak halving my speed, but I am still faster than this guy.
With my worries gone, I run at him at half strength, allowing him to assert speed much lower than it actually is. With a sigh he draws the katana from the scabbard, releasing a few arcs of lightning along the blade while he holds it.
If only he was more wary. As soon as I am in range he swings the blade down diagonally through my body, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. Only my body turns into mist and disappears right in front of his face.
I had activated 'Back Stab', except with a small difference.
My skill places me behind the target facing them, ready to attack. So as soon as I appear behind the monk, I pivoted on one foot to turn the other way. Activating my actual speed, I disappear into the trees behind him.
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