by Sergei Katz
— Ah ... my Totem is temporarily unavailable, — I told her.
I briefly described the incident. The giant’s eyes gleamed, and it was clear that she was trying hard not to laugh.
— There's one unlucky bird! — The giantess couldn’t hold back her laughter, but then she became sad. — Then the forest can’t be saved, and if the forest dies, we won’t be able to build our town either. Firstly, there won’t be any building materials, but this is a mere trifle. More importantly, people will not want to live next to a dead forest.
— Well, if the situation is this serious, — I sighed, — then we'll cope without the Totem. Little Morph can fly as well.
— Brilliant! — Martha was delighted. — Then turn the Phasm into a raven.
You have been given the “Salvation of the Forest” quest. Find the kidnappers and rescue the Forest Guardian from them. You have 48 hours.
Reward - the number of rare resources in the forest will increase by 10%. The popularity of the city Tavsmithy will increase by 50%.
In case of failure, the forest near Tavsmithy city will die. The popularity of the city will drop by 50%. Your relationship with Martha will deteriorate.
“What do you mean “given”? Don’t I have a choice?” — I was being indignant inside my head. It's good that I didn’t say it out loud; I didn’t think that Martha would understand my point of view on this issue. — “So, now I have to do everything quickly, since the penalty for failure is that serious.”
I decided not to return to the room. I walked briskly towards the smithy. Terin and my pet were already waiting for me at the entrance.
— Alder, saving the Forest Keeper is incredibly important, but unfortunately, I can’t leave the smithy right now and help you with the search. — The dwarf looked pitiful. He really wanted to come with us, but for some reason or another he wasn’t able to.
— I understand, — I acted sympathetic towards my friend. — Do not be worried, Little Morphy and I will quickly deal with this matter. — Shortening my farewell to a couple of lines, I quickly took Little Morph out of the forge, and we headed for the forest.
The first day of searches produced nothing. Morph, in the form of a black raven, was conducting aerial reconnaissance, and every couple of kilometers I climbed the tallest trees, but it was all to no avail. At night I decided to make a halt. There was still nothing on the horizon, but the chance of running into an ambush were increasing by the hour.
In the morning, we continued the search for the Forest Guardian. Time was running out, and I began to seriously worry: the forest was huge, and I had zero information to go on. I didn’t even really know what I was looking for. Then the agitated Morph returned from reconnaissance.
— Have you found anything?
My Phasm nodded happily.
— Good job! — I happily patted the animal on the withers. — Lead me there now and we can quickly release the Guardian and get back on with our lives.
My pet liked the idea, and he quickly, but quietly led me to the place where they were holding the kidnapped Guardian.
The forest parted, and I saw a huge lake with dark green water. The shore from the side closest to us had been turned into a large camp. In the middle, there was a huge metal cage, in which a large monkey dressed in a dark hunting suit was sitting. Around the cage there were three huge bonfires, five dirty shaggy creatures were sitting next to each one.
— That appears to be our Forest Guardian, — I shared my opinion with my pet.
The Phasm nodded and looked at me, waiting for further instructions. Killing them one at a time was definitely not an option. Judging by how monsters were constantly aware of danger, it was clear to me that as soon as I attacked one of the five, I would immediately draw the attention of the rest.
Instructing my pet, I disappeared behind the trees and lay there, waiting. Little Morph’s task was to get the attention of the monsters sitting at two of the fires, and drag them off until I sorted out the remaining five. Strangely enough, my fears weren’t justified. Little Morph dragged a string of ten shaggy monsters to the other end of the clearing, and the last five still attended to their own business near the third fire.
I jumped out from behind my hiding place and quickly attacked the monster closest to me with the “Toxic Thistle”, and then finished it off with the sword. Then I launched the “Falling Leaves” spell, putting myself in the center, causing a decent amount of damage to the monsters that were surrounding me. So far so good: I quickly finished off another monster, although there were three more, but I would still have time to handle the ones that were chasing my pet. And then a roar came from behind me. Sensing the danger, I rolled off to the side, turning towards the cage, while finishing off one more opponent.
What I saw was bad, very bad. The cage vanished right before my eyes, and the huge monkey turned into another shaggy and dirty monster, only three times larger than those which I was fighting with at this moment, and in its hands was a young tree, torn from the roots, about my height. The monster continued screaming, and the creatures running after my pet turned around and looked in my direction.
While the pack leader was shouting, he did not move, and I took advantage of this time to finish off the opponents around me. What happened next was a complete nightmare, and the only thing that occurred to me was to give my Phasm hand instructions to lure the boss away. He did what he could. The huge shaggy monster was waving the tree, trying to bring down my Morphy who was shaped as a raven. While the Phasm was able to dodge it so far, it would only take one hit with this tree and I would be alone with this whole mob and their boss.
I was surrounded, blows were falling one after another. I was trying to knock out the remaining monsters one at a time, but they were constantly taking each other’s places, so the number of opponents remained the same, but my life points were very quickly falling towards zero. I finally managed to kill two, and then the boss shouted, and its cry immobilized me for a second, with the strip of my life points going into the red zone. At the same time, I heard Morph scream. He had also been immobilized by the cry, and because of this, the boss was able to strike him with one of the branches of his tree.
My pet’s life points had fallen to nearly zero as a result. I drew my Phasm’s attention with a cry and gave it a sign to hide. The huge monster was staring dumbfounded in search of the enemy who had disappeared from itssight. While this was going on, I was able to kill two more beasts, but things were worse than ever. I was still surrounded by six monsters, and at this point, even though there were fewer of them, they began to attack even more aggressively. I started retreating towards the forest, but my attempt to change position was thwarted by a tree flying towards me, which was thrown by the boss.
“Why the BLEEP is this happening!”
I wasn’t even given a moment to eat something and improve my life points. I knew that I urgently needed to eat some health-giving nutrients. I was panicking inside: I knew that this fight was beyond me. I urgently sought a way out of the situation, but nothing was coming to my mind. Then, before my eyes a scarlet flash appeared in front of the shaggy boss, and out of it, as if from a portal, my Totem attacked the monster. Everything was sparkling around him, with flashes of lightening flying from his wings and striking the monster in the eyes. The huge creature’s fur burst into flames.
I couldn’t fathom where my Totem had come from, nor why he was looking completely different. There would be time to figure that out later, but at this point the only thing that mattered was the battle. I quickly attacked everything around me, using all the manna that I had, and quickly dealt with all the opponents. Little Morph was helping my Totem by attacking the monster from the back, and by the time I joined the fight with the boss, he had less than ten percent of his life points left. We quickly dealt with the creature.
Thanks to your “Ruby Seed”, your Totem Copper Wing has moved to a unique path of development. The unique form of development is Lightning Speed Corundum.<
br />
Your relationship with Lightning Speed Corundum is one of Trust. To reach a level of Respect: 20 000 points.
Current Totem bonuses: 12% to speed; 12% evasion from attacks; 10% evasion from critical attacks.
Abilities:
Summon — You are able to summon the Totem for 1 hour, every 7 days.
Scarlet Shine — Your weapon deals an additional 10% of fire damage over 15 seconds. Recovery time - 5 minutes.
What did “summon” mean exactly? And where was the true Forest Guardian? The quest still hadn’t been completed. I began to look around, and then I felt a blow to my head. My eyes blacked out and I lost consciousness.
— Finally! It seems like our sleeping beauty has woken up. — The speaker’s voice was squeaky and very unpleasant. I could sense that the speaker liked to mock, especially those who couldn’t defend themselves.
My eyes gradually became accustomed to the light, and a grinning ugly mug with a sharp chin and violent demeanor, with slightly slanted eyes leaned over my face. All my attempts to stir made no difference, which was strange, because I wasn’t held in chains.
— You’re probably trying to move and don’t understand why you can’t. — The voice appeared to be highly amused. — Believe me, you are not going anywhere any time soon. Still, you are probably surprised, thinking to yourself, why are you being attacked by other players in the game? It's simple, our dear Rime is the creator of the quests, and it's his quest that you are currently performing. Well, during the quest, anything can happen, — The ugly mug giggled unpleasantly.
— Enough talk. — I could hear another voice to the right of the ugly mug. It was rude and abrupt, as if the speaker didn’t like to talk and was only doing it at this moment because of necessity. — Let him call his bird, because I want to make a pet out of it for myself.
— Rime, you have good taste, —the ugly mug laughed. — You don’t mind giving us your pet, do you?
I still couldn’t answer: whatever was stopping me from moving was stopping me from talking as well. Therefore, I remained silent. The only thing I couldn’t understand was why would anyone want my Phasm? Then it dawned on me: they took my pet for a Totem! Well, good luck trying to domesticate that one!
— You see, Rime, our dormouse can’t talk right now, so you will have to do it yourself. Meanwhile you can go back to sleep, — he said to me, and I was knocked out again.
I woke up to a terrible scream, accompanied by a heart-rending howl of the one that he called Rime.
— You are such a bloody idiot! — The sense of rotting from that voice was so strong that I could taste it. — You wasted my unique gift! — The speaker was furious, and with every new word Rime shuddered and began to howl even louder. — You are no longer of any use to me! Be useful and give me your energy!
Rime’s voice reached its peak and then broke, and the poor man could only wheeze afterwards. The ugly mug next to him was laughing madly.
— Shut up, Smog. — Apparently there was somebody else nearby, and the voice that uttered the last sentence was dry, and it chilled the blood.
The ugly mug that, as I understood, was called Smog, shut up instantly.
— Oh, you’re finally awake, scumbag! — It seemed like Smog was looking for someone to blame. — It's because of you Rime died!
And once again I was hit on the head with something...
—... Come on, wake up, now we are going to have some fun.
I regained consciousness.
Smog’s ugly mug was hanging over me.
— Now you will give me your four-armed Vorto. Do not be afraid, it won’t hurt. I’m lying, it will hurt! — Smog gleefully laughed, extended his hand over me and came out with some unintelligible rubbish.
A strong light came out from his hand and struck my forehead. As soon as this happened, my head was enveloped in incredible pain, as if a million thin blades were simultaneously trying to break through my skull. My eyes started to get dark again, but the pain suddenly left.
You have been “Robbed”. You have lost part of your Vorto, consisting of one “Hag”.
— You are a waste of space as well! — Once again, the voice was spreading the rot.
The face of Smog became blue and white, and was horrific to see.
— Well, — the voice of decay became thoughtful, — you are of little use now, but energy can always be useful.
Smog started screaming and it was a terrible howl, full of pain and horror. His face was distorted by an incredible agony. I tried to move again, but I still didn’t have any control over my body. I didn’t know how long it took, but my manna slowly recovered. Judging by my interface, Little Morph and Corundum, as my Totem was called at this point, also recovered and were only waiting for the moment to join the battle. Finally, I felt that I was in full control of my body, just at the second that Smog’s ugly mug was melting right before my eyes.
I jumped to my feet, made a somersault to the side and gave a signal to my pets to prepare for the attack. Only after that did I assess the situation. In the place where I had just lain, two throwing knives were stuck. The one who threw them was a gamer; he was dressed in a dark suit from the skin of some animal, same as mine, only darker. He was holding two long blades that reminded me of knight’s swords. To his right, a large pile of rotten leaves was hanging in the air, and that was probably the source of the foul stench that I could smell.
— It's unlikely that your skills will help you, — my opponent laughed. —You and your little animals have no chance to stand with your little animals against the patron and his chosen warrior, — the bastard was very merry. —You'll be my dessert, I think I'll drink as much energy as from these two idiots just from you, — the creature took turns, pointing at the ashes of the two gamers he had already killed.
Quite unexpectedly, a tentacle flew in my direction. I simply didn’t have time to dodge it. One more second and I would have been finished. Then there was a flash of light, and the severed tentacle fell to the ground.
— Who said that he was on his own? — The smiling Trickster appeared by my side. — Forgive me for being late, but I had urgent matters to attend to, — my patron smiled.
CHAPTER 30:
AN UNEXPECTED
TURN OF EVENTS
— Look who decided to show up!
The rotten smell intensified. It seemed that when this pile of manure was upset, then the smell of rot became even stronger.
— Did you come to help your only and useless follower? Do you think you can handle me - the Great Yagmourt?
— Are you really the Great Yagmourt himself? — Trickster made a frightened face.
— In person, — the heap was super cocky.
The smell was simply unbearable. Evidently, the creature got a kick out of frightening people.
In return, Trickster decided to play his own mind games.
— I'm sorry, I've never heard of you, — he stunned the Great One.
And again, the smell came.
— Maybe we should just kill him already? — I asked Trickster in a whisper, so that our opponents couldn’t hear me. My patron imperceptibly shook his head, but he indicated for me to be ready.
“Okay, let's see what happens next,” — I thought.
— How dare you! — It seemed that the heap of brushwood had finally realized the meaning of what had been said. — Everybody knows me! I will be followed by thousands of Newcomers. I'm the one who gives everyone a unique...
Trickster didn’t even let him finish:
— You are nothing more than a talking heap of dung, — he grinned. — Do you really think that any idiot, — he nodded to the two dead bodies, — will get a random gift from you, and that will make them stronger? Make you more powerful?
— Be silent, you scumbag! — The stench was growing to new heights.
Even Trickster began to frown.
— I've heard about you, and your origin will not help you in this world. Few will choose you as their pa
tron, because everyone knows that the Newcomers will seek power, magic and wealth. I am the one whom most of them will see in the selection, and the fact that I will give a unique gift will incline the scales in my favor, — Yagmourt laughed. — The ones here will die, and new ones will come. There will not be tens or hundreds of them, but perhaps many times more! This useless bunch are of no use, but there are others like him, — and the Great One pointed to the silently standing warrior. —The fact is that a bunch of ants can eat a stronger creature alive.
— It seems to me that you'll be looking for the more incompetent, stupid, and limited Newcomers, — Trickster laughed. — I perfectly remember the conditions of each power that was offered to us when ... — Trickster hesitated.
The silently standing warrior and I both noticed this, but we had no time to consider what would happen next. Events were developing very quickly. Trickster, it appeared, had decided to completely piss Yagmourt off.
— Having chosen the power to grant to each person who has chosen you a unique gift, you refused everything else. Perhaps, of course, you might have something in reserve, but, in fact, you are nothing more than a stupid pile of leaves! — An arrogant grin appeared on my patron’s face. — Now I have one warrior and you have one, but I'm a thousand times stronger than you are.
Stink, stench and even more stench. The Great Yagmourt began to swell with anger:
— How dare you! I challenge you to a duel and I'll kick your skinny ass!
Trickster broke into a smile. To all but the Great One, it was clear that this was what he was trying to achieve. The only question was - why? And why hadn’t he challenged Yagmourt to a duel himself? Trickster again had a serious expression and looked like he was thinking deeply. It seemed that the cunning man was waiting for something. And then the world sounded a gong.
The gods came to the world. The foundation stone of the temple was laid.