End Online: Volume 2

by D Wolfin

  "Good Sir! Please permit me, Sir Laurence, to slay this dragon for you!"

  "A warrior!" The man in the store is so easily filled with life again, "Forget the dragon. Please just rescue our-"

  "I will slay the dragon!"

  Just as I imagine him being instantly turned to ash before some almighty dragon, a window appears in front of each of us.

  One of your party members has accepted a quest!

  Quest: Rescue the citizens of Leaz

  The innkeeper of Leaz, Rouze, has requested you to head to the mountains east of Leaz and rescue as many of the captured townsfolk as possible.

  If you kill the dragon like you claim you will, you will be bestowed honorary titles befitting you feat.

  Refusal will cause the citizens of Leaz to lose trust in you, resulting in an increase in the price of local purchased goods

  Grade: Blue

  The down side to turning down this quest wasn't all that bad. However, Prince Charming and his child like dream of slaying a dragon has already accepted the quest for all of us.

  Out of curiosity, I open my quest log. In there at the start of the ‘Rescue the citizens of Leaz’ it describes the acceptance of the quest.

  Closing the window immediately, I could not possibly continue reading the words of some medieval poet writing about the venerable actions of Sir Laurence in Leaz and his oath to slay the dragon. I had hoped it would mark his foolish actions, but my quest log appeared to like him just as much as everyone else did.

  He walks out of the inn beaming, incredibly proud of his actions.

  "Hah–hah-hah! I knew my day would come!"

  ""Go die on your own!"" Verde and I mimic each other’s words at him, Fen simply giving an irritated look at the man.

  "Well, shall we go?"

  Looking at Verde and Fen and giving a small shrug of my shoulders, we all decide we may as well go. The four of us head off east in no particular rush, not exactly eager to chance running into a dragon.

  "Remember not to die," Verde said casually as we walk, "These marks on our hands indicate we are from Glace. If any of us die, that is exactly where that person will respawn. There’s no changing our spawn point after all, it's set to your home country and that is it."

  I visibly swallow, the thought of travelling all this way only to respawn back in Iceridge was quite terrifying.

  “What if another player kills us, we would be sent hundreds of miles away.”

  "That is the reason why a lot of players will often try to kill players from other kingdoms. Considering that if they defeat them, they are automatically far enough away from the respawned player that they are basically free. Most people call it the 'Home Ground Advantage'."

  "I suppose you do have a point, I can also imagine if they lost and died they would respawn a lot closer as well."

  "Exactly," Verde raises a finger and nods her head.

  "But, what about the player killer status if the other person initiated the combat, is it not a little unfair if they receive it just by defending themselves? Prince Charming here got it"

  "It would if that was the case," the prince turns red, knowing exactly what she is about to say, "This idiot here didn't receive the red skull for killing the first player who attacked him. He received it for killing the second player who he attacked first. It is a common ploy that is used quite often. They do this so the second person can finish off the player without receiving a red skull."

  We discussed various tricks and scams some players pull on each other until nightfall, finally settling down inside a small crop of trees for the night.

  I've learnt a lot of information from Verde during our journey. One of those was about sleeping in game. Not only can it be dangerous sleeping in the wilderness at night, but there always had to be a lookout. If there wasn't you may wake to find some of your stuff stolen by wild animals or even that you've been attacked.

  Yet a lot of people choose to sleep in the game, each for their own various reasons. The most common were either the people who did it simply to immerse themselves in the game, or the people that did it for the five percent experience bonus you gained for the next five hours while the sun was up.

  Deep in thought, it took me a little longer to get to sleep than usual

  ***************************************************

  The next morning Fen is once again in my sleeping bag. This is the fourth time it has happened, and the third time she is chewing on me!

  The only time she did not chew on me was when I didn’t feed her any meat the night before. Does she simply savour the taste in her sleep?

  I had thought she would not be here this morning. Considering she was not the one on watch duty last night, there is now currently one empty bed.

  The person on watch last night was Prince Charming. Did that idiot prince not see her move? Or did he simply not do anything about it?

  Speaking of the person, he is sending me glares as I drag the sleeping wolf girl out of the bag.

  I hear him grumble about, "Waking a sleeping maiden after she-." Only hearing up to a point where his voice became too quiet to understand.

  It was only one more day in the game until we arrive at a range of mountains tall enough they block off the sunrise. Our entire current surroundings are hills of various sizes right before the enormous mountain range.

  "I wonder where this army of Stone Kobolds is? Surely it would be pretty hard to miss."

  I wonder out loud as we climb to the peak of the tallest hill around us.

  Our entire surroundings unravel as soon as we stand there. Just to the north of us, an epic battle is taking place.

  ‘Just how many players did that uncle send here!?’

  It is practically a thousand players against ten thousand enemies. I suppose about half of them are here without the quest though, only interested in the massive amounts of experience available.

  The ground is looted with corpses of both Stone Kobolds and players alike. There are a few Boulder Ogres dead as well. They both really lived up to their name, enhancing my eyesight I have a closer look at them.

  The Stone Kobolds appear to be roughly five foot tall humanoid reptilian creatures, dressed in various leather armour pieces. They are wielding mostly battle axes and although a few have large swords, the most noticeable part is their stone grey skin.

  The Boulder Ogres are hulking brown giants about the same height as Fen when she is a wolf. They have bulging muscles coming out of every part of their body and while they are somewhat slow, the swinging of their club like fists decimates everything in their path.

  Using my analyse skill I see the Kobolds are mostly around level sixty while the Ogres reach a massive level one hundred and fifty.

  "I really don't want to die," I speak to the rest of the party, "I also suspect the prisoners should be in some cave behind them, I can’t see any sort of camps out in the open at least. Do you think we could circle them and release some of the prisoners while they are distracted?"

  "That sounds, like it could work actually."

  "A true man would charge sword first through the battle field!"

  ""Again, go die by yourself!"" I am in sync with Verde again with responding to the idiot prince.

  Despite his words, he still follows us as we travel into the mountains.

  The terrain is incredibly rugged in the mountains. Fen and I move through them relatively easy, Verde is okay, but Prince Charming is hopeless in his heavy armour. These mountains prove to be clearly not meant for ordinary players to climb, often giving us dead ends where we cannot pass any further.

  We spot a strange black and yellow striped tiger as tall as a person from a distance away. It has two slightly curved horns on its head which occasionally send sparks of electricity arcing between. Given its sinister look, I analyse the beast.

  Name: Electric High Pantreal (Knight Class)

  Level: 210

  Health: 7,390

  Magic: 9,430

  Stami
na: 2,000

  ??

  'Odd, it is a knight class? Grigor was a boss class while Fen is a Queen Class. I wonder what they could mean. We most definitely should not be here!'

  Warning the other two about the creature and how dangerous it is, we all hold our breath and hope it does not notice us hiding behind this rock. A spark shoots between the horns, shortly enveloping its body as it flashes away like a bolt of lightning.

  What a monstrous speed! Even Fen next to me has a startled look on her face.

  "Okay, we need to head to that mountain over there, the one without the top on it. We also need to hurry before anything else that spells death happens to cross paths with us!"

  With the other two agreeing, we flee across the terrain to the mountain I mentioned. If I recall correctly, this is the mountain behind where that army is fighting.

  Approaching behind the mountain we find a small cave leading into it. Verde is the one who speaks up first.

  "Umm. Just a question, is this possibly a back entrance to where the townsfolk are being held?"

  We all look at her, nodding our heads that it is definitely possible. I personally can't imagine a single mountain holding two dungeons.

  Walking inside we see the notification saying 'Entering Grael's Lair'.

  "Mmm, Grael?" I question as we walk into the darkness.

  The cave isn't so dark that I can't see at all, it seems to be a game element that in most dungeons, and various other places, that you can see even without a light. Although vision is limited to about ten meters in every direction, everything looking like dark shadows more than anything.

  Mindlessly wandering for about ten minutes, I spot a natural light source. It is awfully suspicious that we haven't come across any enemies yet.

  Entering the light, my world suddenly becomes flooded with colour. Even if it is just stone walls, there are various minerals showing through where the walls have been cut.

  Looking up towards the light source of this hundred meter diameter reveals this cavern has no ceiling. The mid-day sun blazes through where the top of the mountain should be.

  The walls are strange, with deep gauges running up them. However, the most impressive thing is the hulking black mass in front of me. It is probably about seventy to eighty meters long, taking up most of the floor space in this massive space

  It appears to be covered in some sort of crystalline black scales, almost glossy at close appearance.

  We walk around the object, following the wall. As soon as we get around the front, we freeze in our steps.

  I kind of already knew it, I'm sure the others probably guessed as soon as we entered the cavern. But I didn't want to believe it.

  "A-Analyse."

  Name: Grael (Emperor Class)

  Level: 565

  Health: 123,300

  Magic: 74,200

  Stamina: 0

  ??

  "Hah... hah. I-it's level is f-five hundred and s-sixty five..." I let everyone know just what we are dealing with, even though all our faces are already as pale as they possibly could become.

  "Also," I put on the smile of death, "Have I ever told you all about my skill, the one that automatically causes enemies to have the 'aggro' status towards me?"

  Grael has one of its slitted dragon eyes open, fixated directly on me.

  Chapter 11 – Grael’s Lair

  -Lost-

  The dragon, Grael, has one eye open, its deep violet pupil fixated on me. A trickle of sweat rolls down my back as I feel I most definitely have its ‘aggro’. Although, Instead of being intimidated by my aura, it seems to be excited for a fight.

  ‘As if I would fight this thing!’

  There are three exits in this circular grotto, excluding the one we entered from. Fortunately, one of the tunnels out is just a few meters behind us. Everyone is also aware of the exit, ready to flee. Prince Charming is completely pale in front of the dragon. Despite all his earlier bravado, when it came down to the moment, he clearly had nothing to show for it.

  If I am to be the target of this dragon’s attack, I will not be able to escape with everyone else. In my mind I replay the image of the prince getting incinerated, but this time I include myself in the picture next to him.

  ‘As I thought, definitely no good.’

  “Everyone, I have its aggro so I can’t escape with all of you. I will attract its attention while you all escape. Now, RUN!”

  I break off from the rest of the group who run for the nearest cave, allowing them to flee without any resistance. The dragon responds to my movement by lazily raising its enormous tail.

  I may have zero confidence about being able to fight this dragon, but I am quite proud of my speed. This may be the scenario where a rabbit could not possibly hurt a bear, but the rabbit will live if the bear can’t catch it.

  Circling the dragon, its tail strikes with the intent of squashing me. Despite its massive size, the attack struck down like a bolt of lightning, completely throwing me off guard.

  The attack comes down with pin point accuracy, and unless you have more speed than this attack, it is a completely unavoidable attack. However, the attack only flattens my afterimage, where I was less than a second ago.

  The entire earth begins to shudder beneath my feet, followed by a shockwave from the blow. My body is treated like a rag doll, blowing me away with the force of a brick wall.

  ‘What the hell was that? Was that attack for real?’

  A few thoughts cloud my mind as I fly through the air, disappearing the moment I hit a wall on the other side of the cavern. The blow against the wall rattles my entire body, riddling it with pain.

  Huh, pain? Letting out a cry in agony, a deep heat resonated throughout my body, causing my bones to scream under the pressure.

  I don’t understand it, there is supposed to be a limit to pain in virtual reality. Sure, the VL can induce pain, but it should only be able do so in minute amounts.

  Luckily, the pain I felt is still nowhere near what it would feel like in real life. But it was still beyond the threshold of what should be possible.

  The dragon slowly turns its head to face where I landed, now with a bored look in its eyes. A ‘stunned’ icon is still flashing in front of my eyes, preventing me from moving.

  As the status effect runs outs, most of the pain I felt subsides and is replaced with weariness. I only having thirty percent of my health left as well.

  I notice that directly next to me there is one of the tunnels leading away. Before the dragon can react, I scurry across and exit the boss’s area. Less than a minute passes as I force my legs to run though the pitch black tunnel, barely able to even see the walls.

  A roar reverberates the entire tunnel and all of a sudden light starts to enter.

  Turning my head to glance at the source of the light, I see a crimson wave of fire billowing its way down the tunnel. The fire occasionally flares blue, but only for short moments. Seeing the torrent closing the distance between it and me, despair starts to set in.

  ***************************************************

  ***************************************************

  -Verde-

  We found a rear entrance to the mountain yet something seemed off. For a hidden entrance, it was not hidden at all. If the beasts outside were any indication, the monsters inside should be overwhelmingly more powerful. That is the way dungeons are, monsters inside tending to be stronger than those outside.

  The inside of ‘Grael’s Lair’ is also rather eerie. The path is pitch black, if one of us was to fall too far behind they would disappear from sight and be lost to us.

  The walls are made out of two different kinds of rocks, but without any light they only appear in grey scale. This whole cave also does not appear to be natural, almost as if it was dug out. The jagged walls look like they were carved by the swings of hundreds of picks, or some kind of large claws.

  There also appears to be no monsters at all. Considering that this is a dungeo
n, it is extremely suspicious!

  Before long I see a natural light shining from around one of the corners, lighting up the red and brown walls. The entire path here has been a single route, no splits in the path, and no difficult terrain either.

  Rounding the corner, there is a grotto with the sun shining through the open mountaintop. Inside of it is a hulking black mass of some kind of glossy scales. Getting closer I get a closer look at it.

  ‘Huh. Isn’t this…?’

  Walking around it my fears come to life. Directly in front of us is an enormous dragon. With one eye resting on us, my heart begins to pump harder in my chest.

  “Hah… Hah. I-its level is f-five hundred and s-sixty five…” Lost speaks the words with a disheartened laugh.

  I can feel my life leaving me, already accepting death. Sir Laurence next to me has also forgotten his pride and gone pale.

  ‘That fool! Why couldn’t he die alone.’

  Upon Lost’s words, I take the only path to survival and flee while he distracts the dragons attacks away from us. I know quite well how fast he is, he should at least be able to dodge any of the dragons attacks.

  I run to the nearest tunnel with Sir Laurence and Fen. It is barely five meters away, yet it feels like a mile.

  I run into the darkness without looking back, fearing a breath of fire or some magical projectile would be right behind me.

  The walls slowly turn to greyscale, no more light reaching our location. The pathway in front of us splits up into three different routes, each branching out into the unknown.

  “Sir Laurence,” I speak now that I feel safe, “there is no way that dragon can get us now, but we need to get out of here.”

  The man in question slowly nods his head. Now away from death’s door, he has regained his composure. He doesn’t say anything though, so I continue speaking.

  “But to do so, we are either going to need to go back past the dragon, or find another exit. We need to meet up with Lost as well… Hey, where’s Fen!?”