“I don’t really understand,” Refor was taken aback, “so this is the loot we receive together with the bonus luck? A set of class armor?”
“In principle, that’s true,” Nata grinned, settling more comfortably in the cynocephalian’s arms. I could have been wrong, but it seemed the druid liked it there. “If we were to disregard the enhanced level of protection against all types of damage compared to the standard armor, improved system of filtration, conditioning and waste disposal, availability of information panels and other frippery with a lowered visor, it’s just common class armor. No, it’s not a Klifand armor set, but even this set would run seven to seven and a half granises at the auction. I don’t think there’s going to be anything else useful for me here, so see you in an hour. Sorry, Zangar.”
The druid tenderly stroked the cynocephalian’s muzzle, causing Marinar to snort in displeasure, then briskly hit him on the chin with her forehead. The necromancer staggered, not expecting such a turn of events, but his cry of indignation was wasted on empty air: the Game sent Dolgunata to respawn, as a player who had broken the rules.
“Let’s change.” I issued a curt order once Marinar had changed one dark robe for another just as dark. Either Zangar wasn’t quick enough to stand in the passage and cover her from view, or the mage didn’t care that she was being ogled by men starved of female attention, or she was a habitual exhibitionist, but we got to fully enjoy looking at Marinar’s beautiful body. The loose robe of the mages hid its owner from immodest glances, falling in baggy folds. But now we could see for ourselves that the people of Varnax were similar to people from Earth. Snow white lacy panties and a thin strip of similar snow white cloth across the chest was all that Marinar left on before reaching for the new robe. Turning it in her hand, as if not sure where the front was, Marinar raised her arms, causing most of the Paladins’ breath to catch in their throats. Only now did I realize for how long I hadn’t been with a woman! With constant training I had turned into a fierce ascetic striving to survive no matter what, and completely forgetting such a joy as sex. The robe swallowed Marinar, turning her figure into a baggy outline, but in our minds we still kept seeing the two almost invisible white pieces of cloth, which seemed to disappear on the mage’s stunning figure.
“I..,” Logir said, swallowing. The femorc’s face, red by nature, turned deep crimson. “Get out!” I need to change…”
We reached the huge vertical wall about an hour later, after waiting for Monstrichello and Dolgunata’s return. As soon as the group rejoined it became clear that three stable subgroups had formed within it. The first and most numerous comprised the Paladins and Dolgunata, who acted as the lead. They listened to her, followed her and obeyed her without question. Perhaps the druid had never removed the submission spell. The second were Zangar and Marinar, who didn’t let anyone close, and gradually wandered off away from everyone, including myself. Those two generally wandered around the area discussing the specifics of the growth of this or that tree, like two teenagers building a relationship with each other. The third included just me, which did not bother me at all. During the last several years of leveling up I had become used to solitude.
“Monster on the bottom, Sartal on second level.” Dolgunata started issuing commands as soon as we approached the four-meter wall. The yellow road ended at its base, clearly indicating that one should keep moving on and simply soar over this minor obstacle. The wall was assembled of large rectangular blocks, and with a certain amount of agility and luck it would be possible to climb up using the joints as hand- and footholds. Unfortunately, I had no rock climbing skills, so had I been without the group, I would have spent a long time here working out the problem of how to climb over the obstacle. The Chancellor had thought of everything: there was a wide strip of empty land between the forest and the wall; not a single plant was growing there. Apparently, more than one player had climbed a three and jumped over the wall, so the Chancellor closed that loophole.
“Yari: your turn!” Paladins demonstrated miraculous acrobatics. Monstrichello was pushing with his hands against the wall; Sartal climbed onto his shoulders and used his tail to help the other players climb higher still. Zangar finished the climb first, then lay on the wall, hanging down to help the rest: Logir, Dirion, Refor, Teart, and finally me. I climbed to the top, carefully making sure not to inflict any damage, and looked around. Behind the wall, as far as the eye could see, there was a grassy plane interspersed here and there with a few scraggly trees. Several clouds of dust indicated moving inhabitants of the wastelands, but they were moving away from us: the dust was receding into the distance. Clinging to the necromancer, Sartal hitched Monster with his tail and swung him up. Climbing over the “logjams” was so trivial that it made me frown.
“About fifty percent of all loners died here,” Logir answered my silent question. “When we got here, there was such a crush… Nobody wanted to be on the bottom, as there were no guarantees that anyone would help you climb to the top. We actually had to walk some distance to the side in order to climb over. If before this “logjam” the player did not find a group for himself, he was not fit to go into the wastelands.”
“When Dolgunata went to fetch you, she was alone,” I reminded her. “But somehow she did climb over!”
“It’s nice to be a panther with strong claws,” Logir grinned, watching the Paladins as they were starting to jump down. Dolgunata in her panther form was about a hundred yards away from the wall, jumping and frolicking like a kitten. Suddenly Logir became serious: “Yari, what I’m going to tell you should go no further. If my father finds out what I did… it’s better not to think about that. I was sent to this enrollment for a reason. I was supposed to betray you to the mages. Devir promised to take me as his student only after that.
“I know.” I told the girl about the scene between her father and Sharda which I had happened to witness. “Keeping quiet about it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
“So you know…,” Logir’s face dropped. And you still brought us together.”
“You don’t want to be a headhunter any longer? So the issue with Devir is not relevant any more.”
“That’s not all. My father doesn’t know that I know the truth – when he discussed this with Devir, I was supposed to have been asleep. There was a sleeping potion in the wine, so by all accounts it should have knocked me out for quite some time. But the mages didn’t count on the fact that I have good resistance to poisons. I watched my father and Devir. I saw their guests. I could not hear the entire conversation‒the guests were careful‒but now I am quite certain that Zangar was among them. He was covered with some kind of fog that only parted once, but it was enough for me to remember that scowl. Now that I have seen him go around with Marinar, I remembered that incident. That was definitely him. But he wasn’t in the lead – he did not participate in the negotiations. He was with another cynocephalian, very well groomed, as if they were preparing him for the final sacrifice. Zangar goes everywhere with the mage, the mages declared war on the Paladins, we are Paladins… There are questions. What was he doing with Devir? I’d better get going‒ people are looking at us askance already. This is all I wanted to tell you to reciprocate your help. You can figure out yourself what to do with this information.”
Logir jumped down to join the rest, leaving my faction to think in solitude. I shifted my eyes to the necromancer‒ he and Marinar were strolling along the wall; it seemed they were discussing something and arguing. So what do we have? Zangar’s teacher first met with Archibald, then with his main enemy, Devir. Then the three of them send their own students to the Academy, and through their machinations they all end up in one sector. What do they all want? Me? Who the hell needs me?! Just one of the players, and there are thousands of those! There’s something else there. Something that I don’t understand, but Archibald and Devir can’t live without. Should I ask the necromancer directly? Hoping for his positive attitude towards me, and a rather special sense of j
ustice? He would tell me exactly nothing, quoting the teacher’s prohibition one more time. Sad as it might be to admit it, all these creatures are strangers to me. After the Academy our roads will part. I would need to find Gromana and work out the issue with Madonna’s notes. That’s my number one priority, while the squabbles between Archibald and Devir may be left to their students. By the way, there should be mages somewhere in the wastelands. Dangard was threatening that he’d make us pay for what had happened in the forest.
“Does anyone wish to make a speech before we set out?” I was primarily addressing Dolgunata and Zangar, as soon as we lined up in order, ready for battle. Monstrichello was habitually going first; I even ended up having to give him three Energy elixirs from my precious reserve. It was not a good idea to venture forward without the tank, who was immune to magic. Logir, Refor and Dolgunata were following Monster. Two with weapons, one with claws. Zangar and Marinar comprised the third row in the group, ensuring elimination of enemies remotely. I, as the second tank, was at the back, to cover for some unexpected circumstances attacking from the back; all the other lightweights were between me and Zangar. Without weapons they would not be much help in open battle.
“Since no one has anything interesting to say, let’s move on,” I concluded. “Where’s the nearest teacher?”
Five hands at once pointed in the same direction.
“Excellent! So that’s where we’ll go. Monster, go ahead to the right, along the wall, and then gradually move more to the left. We need to circle the sector.”
There was a pause. As I supposed, the Paladins had worked out such a strict hierarchy for themselves, with Dolgunata at the top and everyone else below, that now their worldview was shattering: the druid was in no hurry to take power back into her hands, allowing someone else to be in command. I had to repeat once again before Monstrichello humphed, turned and slowly, as if unable to believe what he was doing, trundled along in the direction I had indicated. I do wish this blasted Academy will be over soon! I hate to be in command.
Some time later I became completely certain that it was not possible to call the terrain of the wastelands “flat as a table”. There was no vegetation – we had not encountered trees, brush nor even tall grass; yet the height difference sometimes reached about thirty meters! The wastelands looked more like knolls, hills or earth mounds rather than an even plane. Trying to walk between the hills we had not encountered any unwanted visitors – only once there was a fleeting shadow on the crest, which disappeared quickly and never returned. Several times I extracted my pet from his suspended existence, but other than a funny lurching run there were no new features about him; he didn’t even growl as he had in the den.
“We've got a visitor!” I shouted, surrounding myself with my energy shield, and activating my artifact. Two overgrown snakes that looked like the worms in the movie “Tremors” were following us, making no sound; they were about a hundred yards behind us. Had it not been for the pet, who had slowed down and made me look back, those visitors would have caught us without any warning.
“That’s something new.” The druid was next to me in a few seconds. “Monster, defense! Everyone in a circle! Activate shields on my command! Marinar and Zangar – remote strike!”
“They are only moving along the foot of the hill,” I noticed and looked higher up. The separation line between thick lush grass on the top of the hill and thin, barely alive at its bottom, that had been bothering me for the last half an hour, received an explanation. At the bottom it had been chewed, stomped and spoiled by the worms. Those creatures couldn’t reach any higher!
“Did you hear him? Upward on the double!” Apparently I had said the last thing aloud, since Dolgunata immediately started issuing orders.
“Won’t make it. Those are quick,” Zangar stayed where he was, as Paladins and Marinar rushed up the slope. The necromancer extracted his spear and scowled: "Must fight. Yari, give two elixirs. I have only food. Let’s trade. Want see what I learnt. You with me?” The last question, surprisingly, was addressed not to me but to Dolgunata.
“I don’t think I’ll have enough control for those creeps… On the other hand… Why not? Yari, I need a couple of elixirs as well: go on. Really, I need to test my abilities in battle mode.”
“Do I look like a bottomless well?” I was looking from one player to the other in bewilderment.
“I’ll give it back to you double!” Dolgunata waved me off, waited till I provided the desired after all, and started whispering something under her breath. The soil around us started foaming, splashing forth as a thick juicy green carpet, so favored by cows in the Alps. The druid’s eyes glazed over with a green sheen; despite dead calm, her hair was drifting, as if in a strong wind; the girl even became taller, as if filling with some force. The ground twitched and started dragging me towards the druid: the green carpet was rapidly shrinking; it was sucked up into Dolgunata’s feet as if she turned into a sponge. I had no idea what would happen to me if she were to touch me – what if she sucked me in as well? So I quickly ran off the grass and continued to observe her transformation from a safe distance.
Zangar was not far behind the girl as she was sucking up grass. A foggy cloud formed around the necromancer’s head, just as I had heard so many times but had never seen until now. It looked disgusting, as if a dense dark thundercloud was stuck in one place. The crystal on his belt started shining like a little star, and the cynocephalian, who was already pretty large, seemed to have increased in size as well. Zangar set one foot to the side, holding the hand with the spear to the side as well, and bent down like a long-distance runner. The fog around his head prevented me from seeing the necromancer’s muzzle, but I was sure that it displayed the evil grin of a fighter who is certain of his strength and prepared for a hard fight. All that, and given that unlike Dolgunata and myself he had no active protection. Only his own agility, flexibility and upgraded armor.
“WEEEE-A-A-A!”
The worms, moving as inexorably as a train engine, hit an invisible obstacle a few dozen yards away from us and stopped dead in one place, swaying madly from side to side. Ultrasound hit our ears, and the players running to reach a safe height crashed to the ground like the pins hit by a bowling ball. The only ones who stayed on their feet were Logir, Sartal and Monstrichello, who managed, just as we did, to shut the visors on their armor. There was no question about climbing up any more – those players who were able to withstand the sonic wave were preoccupied helping their partners who were not ready for the battle, and now were disoriented and screaming in horrendous pain. I took a hit too: my left arm felt numb all the way to the shoulder. The absence of one glove created a defect in my armor, and the hit of the worms affected me, although not in the way they expected.
As I was clenching my teeth trying to live through the pain and dissipate it, I figured out what had stopped the worms: thick roots sprung from the ground and wove around the bottom parts of the advancing beasts. A shadow dashed by: the necromancer attacked. Zangar was so fast that it was impossible to follow his movements. All I could see was black lightning dashing around the worms and leaving deep gashes. There was another – fruitless – ultrasound attack; after that the worms moved to the offensive: they used their four or five meter bodies towering above the ground as whips, beating the ground, trying to hit the cynocephalian who was hovering around them.
“Zatrak de valda!” Dolgunata growled in a voice so metallic and listless, that I shuddered and turned around. The druid did not even look human any more. Moving her arms to the sides, with the help of green shoots she rose above the ground, tilted her head back and was incessantly whispering something‒ periodically the horrid metallic voice echoed over the land. The result of her action was not long in coming: a swirling cloud of insects appeared around the worms, biting and stinging them; new vines kept shooting from the ground to replace the ones destroyed by the monsters’ thrashing; a thundercloud formed over her enemies’ heads, periodically spitting out lig
htning bolts. Dolgunata used all her arsenal of druids’ abilities, that she had studied with the help of the dorn. The ultrasound attacks of the worms sounded without respite, their hitting the earth created effects similar to a 4-point earthquake. Realizing full well that I would be unable to repeat the feat of Zangar – who managed to stay alive still – and I would inevitably be hit if I were to come any closer to the worms, I took out an Energy elixir and ran up to the druid — her respawn would be a luxury we could not afford. Given that the girl’s hands were restrained by the shoots she had grown, she had been unable to drink the elixirs that I had given her earlier.
Two circles of green fog stared at me as soon as I tried to approach the druid. I showed them the elixir, demonstratively opened the lid and raised my arm, indicating my intentions. What if Dolgunata thinks me an enemy and hits me with something heavy?
“Shaldan rasm de valda!” The monster that had used to be a rather attractive girl shouted something else in that metallic voice, tilted its head back and opened its mouth. Apparently, that’s where I was supposed to pour the elixir. Given that her whispering temporarily stopped, I stood on tiptoe and replenished the Energy for the druid who had gone into full battle mode, in the process seeing a row of thin green teeth, sharp like a shark’s. The girl had been transformed not only from the outside but from within as well. Or I had just seen Dolgunata’s true appearance, while her human form was but an illusion.
There was a sigh of relief and the space around us was again filled with whispers and periodic shouts. The worms were becoming tired and did not thrash so hard any more. The roots created by Dolgunata deeply embedded themselves in the snaking bodies, almost tearing them in half; the ubiquitous lightning – that was Zangar – did not stop for an instant, literally tearing one piece of flesh after another out of the worms. It became clear that the uninvited visitors were not going to survive. They were not even using the ultrasound as fiercely any more‒ that enabled our team to get on their feet and continue climbing up at a faster pace.
The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 41