The Luckless: A MMORPG and LitRPG Online Adventure (Second Age of Retha Book 1)

by A. M. Sohma

  “What Prowl is trying to say,” Riko said with a grunt as she renewed the bindings on the stranded umbra-nox. “Is that you are over-thinking this. You know tactics—just think it through like you would as Azarel and tell us what we need to do.”

  Kit took a deep breath and followed Riko’s advice. She pushed her fears about the corrupted servers out of her mind, and even shed the pesky reminder that she was the party leader and was responsible for the well-being of the quest.

  This is Retha, she reminded herself. It’s my world, or at least it used to be, and this fight is just a chess match. I only have to compare the pieces and find a winning strategy. Her mind skittered over their previous battles, and the things she had learned about her party members, as well as her memories of fighting various umbra-noxes.

  “Prowl, is your Mangle skill a single target attack, or is it area of effect?”

  Prowl struck out at an umbra-nox that was stalking Cookie. “The de-buffs are area of effect, but the attack itself is for a single target.”

  “We have to group them up so Prowl can lay that de-buff on them. His de-buff will slow them down and make them much easier to fight. They’re pretty breakable if you can actually hit them,” Kit said. “Riko, if they concentrate their aggro on Gil, can you keep him alive?”

  “If I don’t have to heal anyone else, and if he can supplement with potions.”

  “Gil?” Kit asked.

  Gil slipped between Vic and an umbra-nox and took a blow meant for the wizard. He grimaced, but shook the pain off. “I believe I can handle it.”

  “Make it happen,” Kit said.

  Axel and Cookie peeled off, slinking into the shadows. The umbra-noxes began to slip after them, until Gil planted his shield in the ground. “Cry of Challenge!” He shouted.

  Six of the seven umbra-noxes descended on him, with the seventh still being caught up in Nature’s Binding.

  “Now, Prowl!” Kit launched into Battlefield March, boosting Gil’s defense stats. “Vic, Cookie, Axel. If you have any powerful attacks with load times, start casting them now.”

  Prowl, visible only because the buckles of his armor stood out on his all-black clothes, stalked around the group of umbra-noxes that were slaughtering Gil. Just as he had with the dragon, he planted the wads of clay and a triangle formation, though this time he set them on the ground.

  “Move faster, Prowl,” Riko said. “My cooldown on my heals can barely keep up with Gil.”

  Kit, planted close to Gil to make sure her buff spread to both him and back to Riko, gazed past the umbra-noxes. The shadow reaper was still there, its white skull gleaming hideously in the faint light. It made no move to summon more umbra-noxes—thankfully—but it leered like a specter as it watched the battle play out.

  “Look out!” Axel shouted.

  Kit realized too late one of the umbra-noxes had been lured away from Gil and launched itself at her. She leaped backwards, but it reached out with one of its irregularly long limbs and manage to slash her across the chest. Gil immediately launched another Cry of Challenge at the creature, dragging it back, but the damage was done.

  Kit staggered backwards, her health bar down to 15%. She hissed at the burning, bubbling sensation that tore through her and quickly popped a health potion, restoring her only to about 50%.

  “I’m sorry—I can’t heal you.” Riko motioned furiously, firing off healing spell after healing spell at Gil.

  “No, it was my fault.” She shook her head, throwing off the edge of the pain, and launched back into Battlefield March—this time making sure she stood a little farther away.

  “Here we go!” Prowl shouted. “Mangle!”

  The wads of clay shot out lines of dark blue light that connected, and black fog rolled in—looking extra chilling in the darkness of the forest.

  Abruptly, the umbra-noxes started moving slower—more on the level of “fast” instead of “lightning speed.”

  Red tendrils of light shot out of the clay masses and convened on one umbra-nox. Prowl threw his dagger at the creature, sticking it in the chest. The dagger shed red sparks, and bolts of lightning zipped from the dagger to the wads of clay before the center point erupted with a flash of light and a loud boom.

  The umbra-nox was thrown back from the impact then disappeared, defeated.

  “One down, six to go!” Axel hooted.

  “Launch your casted attacks now,” Kit shouted.

  Cookie slunk out of the shadows and stabbed an umbra-nox in the back. Axel used his blade of fury attack again, and sliced the same umbra-nox. They had done a pretty decent amount of damage to it, but it was Vic who took it up a notch.

  “Heavens Fury!” The wizard pointed a finger to the sky and then cast it downward. The area where the umbra-noxes were still congregated begin to glow, and it took Kit a moment to realize the glow was coming from the sky. Soccer ball-sized meteors crashed through the tree canopy, bludgeoning the umbra-noxes and tossing them like rag dolls.

  “Holy crap!” Axel shouted. “That is one sick skill!”

  “How long have you had that skill?” Cookie asked.

  Vic shrugged and charged her fireball spell. “A while, but the cast time is so long I’ve never had the chance to use it.”

  When the meteors stopped falling from the sky, the last rock pummeled the umbra-nox Cookie and Axel had attacked, smashing its last remaining bit of health and killing it.

  “Five remaining,” Gil counted out.

  Kit, her health bar still dangerously at the half-point, chugged another health potion when its cool down time ran out. “Prowl, you work with Axel and Cookie. The three of you need to attack one target to take it out as fast as possible, then move on to the next. Gil, you tank for Vic and Riko.”

  Everyone split off, moving to their assigned partners.

  “Shall I use Heaven’s Fury again?” Vic asked when she was safely hidden behind Gil.

  Kit started the first few dance moves for her Battlefield March again. “Does it eat up your mana too much?”

  “No, it’s just the cast time.”

  “Then cast it one more time. Then use Fireball and attack the target of Riko’s choice.”

  Vic nodded as her cat sank its claws into her clothes to remain on her shoulder. The wizard turned back to the group of umbra-noxes and began sketching symbols in the air.

  An umbra-nox glared at Kit from over Gil’s shoulders. Kit skittered backwards, but the monster grabbed her by one of the white pieces of linen that hung from her skirt and yanked her. It couldn’t reach her torso, but it opened a nasty gash on her leg with its dagger-like claws.

  Gil walloped it, not doing very much damage to it but regaining its attention as Kit hobbled backwards, still performing Battlefield March. “I am not irritated with this character class. I’m not irritated with this character,” Kit repeated to herself. Her health potion cooldown had not reset yet, so she was forced to continue with Battlefield March, dancing with a very dangerous health bar at less than 20%.

  She was glad to see, however, that Prowl, Axel, and Cookie finished one umbra-nox and moved on to the next with ease.

  There was a chiming noise, and an unfamiliar male voice filled Kit’s ears.

  “What are you doing?”

  Kit blinked, and it took her a few moments to realize that Solus Miles was sending her a private message. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You’ve been dying like a fly for the past three days, and now your health bar keeps zigzagging up and down. What are you putting your character through?”

  Kit blinked. “You have the pledge notifications on?” As part of being pledged, you received a notification whenever your significant other logged on or off, died, or was gravely injured. Kit had turned off the system about five seconds after leaving Solus Miles with Habakkuk the Hermit of Love, but apparently the royal knight had not done the same. Unless... “You can turn them off in your settings panel, you know.”

  “I know,” came Solus Miles’ flat response.
“But what are you doing?”

  “Oh, I was leveling, but right now my party and I are facing down the shadow reaper...” Kit trailed off as she, between twists and twirls, gazed past the now three remaining umbra-noxes.

  The shadow reaper was still there, but Kit could tell by the way it held its scythe that it was getting ready to leave. Apparently, if it became obvious you were going to successfully fight off its little mob, the shadow reaper disappeared.

  So it only faces you when you’re already dead. Coward.

  For a moment, the unfairness of the situation made Kit clench her hands into fists. They were in the fight of their lives, literally. She was swiftly losing hope that EC would find a way to fix the corrupted server, making this quest their only chance to get off. And soon it would become an impossible hurdle to jump—particularly as the balance of Retha continued to swing the shadow reaper up in levels.

  I hate their blasted balance! It still hasn’t balanced out my character—unless you count Solus Miles marrying me, which doesn’t necessarily do anything for me, and it was really only a result of a poor attention span.

  Which was when it occurred to Kit...if the algorithms allowed her to waltz around as a character that was so poorly balanced, in what other ways could she upset the balance of the game?

  “Kitten?” Solus Miles asked.

  Kit stared at the shadow reaper, which was far across the clearing and swiftly disappearing into the shadows. “Call me Kit...” She trailed off as her thoughts crashed through her mind.

  If I’m wrong about this, I might get us all killed. But there’s a chance I’m right…

  She switched to her party chat. “Gil, let one of the umbra-noxes chase after me for a few seconds, then taunt it and get it back.”

  “Are you crazy?” Vic asked. “You’re almost dead!”

  “We have to kill that shadow reaper now,” Kit kept her eyes on the shadow reaper as she chugged another health potion. “This is our only chance, or we’ll have to go back to Luminos and recruit higher-level players to come back with us, and after our reception last time, I’m not so sure that will go over well. Our best option is to take it down, now.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Prowl asked.

  Kit snapped her fans shut. “No, but it’s a calculated risk that might pay off!” She charged straight through the cluster of the remaining umbra-noxes, and sure enough, she proved to be an irresistible target. One of the noxes tried to take a swipe at her, but thankfully it missed and chased her a few feet as she ran toward the shadow reaper.

  Her Cowardly Leader buff kicked in, impressively boosting her speed, and she was halfway across the clearing before Gil could lure the umbra-nox back.

  The shadow reaper’s cloak started to blend in with the night as he faded, but between her physical elf capabilities and her Cowardly Leader skill, Kit was able to smash into him with a flying tackle before he completely disappeared.

  They crashed into a tree. Though Kit was slightly dazed, she quickly disentangled herself from the shadow reaper. Using one of her closed fans, she smashed it in the face. “Violent Outburst!” The feeble attack barely dinged his health bar, but at least he was fully trained on her.

  The shadow reaper wasn’t going anywhere.

  “You,” the shadow reaper growled. It kicked her in the gut, sending her sprawling. “You have made a grave mistake.”

  Solus Miles stared at the crest of his horse’s white mane. “She’s fighting the shadow reaper.”

  The forest around him responded with silence.

  He sighed and looked up at the treetops above him—which were starting to glow pink as the sun slipped above the horizon. Should I help her? The battle seems to be quite difficult for her given the lowness of her health.

  Normally he wouldn’t care. The girl was either a risk-taker or horribly unskilled based on the frequency in which she died, and he had only come across a few players who were ignorant enough to make a miserable character like an elf dancer.

  But she doesn’t talk like an inexperienced player. She knows too much about how everything operates—though she seems to be going off old information. Perhaps she has a friend who used to play who explained everything to her?

  He rubbed the gold band, making Kitten Lovemuch’s stats appear. Her health bar was again popping back and forth between near death and a decent amount of health. She must have a healer in her party—or she’s good at timing her health potions.

  Solus Miles’ horse shook its head, jostling its blue barding.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. Pledging himself to a player who had named herself Kitten Lovemuch was probably going to be the greatest embarrassment of his gaming career. It would be particularly humiliating once word got out what sort of player she was.

  He glared at her name and stats—which still hovered in front of him—then shook his head. No. It’s not her fault. Getting pledged is exactly the sort of attention-grabbing move I wanted to avoid, but I only have myself to blame for it.

  After all, if he hadn’t been carrying the rings around, the hermit never would have performed the ceremony.

  She didn’t react the way I thought she would, though.

  Kitten Lovemuch had clearly been irritated, but for the most part polite and eager to get away from him. Usually, other players only had two or three reactions to him: adoration, respect, or hatred. Polite disinterest was not something he had encountered in years.

  Mulling over the pink-haired dancer, Solus Miles brought up his mini-map. Just how far away is she?

  Kit scrambled to her feet as the shadow reaper stalked toward her. It raised its sickle to attack her, but Cookie appeared behind it, melting out of the shadows. She stabbed it in the back, temporarily drawing its ire.

  The shadow reaper whirled around and slammed the butt of its scythe into her chest. Cookie was knocked into a tree and barely avoided an umbra-nox that had wriggled free from Gil’s taunts.

  “Nature’s Bindings!” Riko snapped her vines around the loose umbra-nox, buying Cookie and Kit a little time.

  The shadow reaper turned back toward Kit, but Prowl darted in front of her, laying a tripwire as he skidded past on his knees.

  The shadow reaper broke through the tripwire easily, too strong for the attack to hinder him.

  Prowl cursed under his breath. “Riko, Vic, you want to hurry it up back there?”

  The earth groaned, and an umbra-nox screamed.

  “One left!” Riko shouted.

  “Cookie, Prowl, Axel, jump the reaper all at once! I’ll give you luck,” Kit shouted. She flicked her fans open and stepped into a twirl, activating the Luck-Luck Dance.

  Axel sprinted across the clearing, stopping near Kit. “I’m here. Are we ready?” The warrior had a side wound that was bleeding pretty badly, and his health bar was only 50%, but he grinned like a maniac as he set his sights on the shadow reaper.

  Kit barely avoided the shadow reaper when it took a swing for her ankles with its scythe. “Yes, do it now!”

  The trio jumped the shadow reaper all at once, ripping into him with their melee attacks. Unfortunately, it seemed to do minimal damage as the shadowy monster lost barely a sliver of his health bar.

  A captive umbra-nox broke through the last of the vines holding it in place, and it leaped for Cookie. It landed a blow to her shoulder, but when it tried to pursue her, Prowl threw a trap down in front of it, stopping it in its tracks.

  “Riko, Vic, Gil, what’s your status?” Kit asked.

  “We’re coming, but we’ll take out the last umbra-nox first,” Riko shouted from somewhere behind them.

  “Cookie, back off. Throw your daggers at the shadow reaper if you can, but try to avoid getting aggro,” Kit instructed.

  The night stalker gave her the okay signal and shrank back into the shadows, leaving Prowl and Axel to play with the monster.

  Axel tried to attack the creature from the front while Prowl jumped at its back, but the shadow reaper struck the ground wi
th the tip of his scythe, releasing a black shockwave that knocked both Axel and Prowl backwards.

  Prowl landed on his feet, but Axel hit a tree and crumpled to the ground, laying there without moving even though his health bar was still a third filled.

  Kit, recognizing the signs of a stun—a status ailment that mentally knocked a player out of it. “Toss him a cure!”

  Vic unearthed a crystal bottle filled with a blue liquid, and then threw it at Axel so it cracked him in the face and shattered.

  “I didn’t mean literally!” Kit shouted. “He has to drink the stuff to fix it, not get it spattered across his face.”

  “I hope those glass shards don’t scar him,” Cookie joked as she straightened up with a grimace.

  Before Vic could toss the warrior another cure, he groaned and sat up. Apparently some of the liquid had drizzled through his open mouth. “While that is a wickedly manly way to take a potion, I think I prefer to have you deliver it a different way, Vic,” Axel said, moving slower than usual.

  The shadow reaper stalked toward Axel and Vic, but Gil popped up between them, taking a scythe swing at the prime with his shield. He grunted as he was knocked back several feet, but his defense held. “Shield Wall!”

  “All umbra-noxes are down. But I’m running low on mana,” Riko announced. “And I’ve already used a mana potion.”

  Kit kept moving, keeping the Luck-Luck Dance active. “Try using Nature’s Bindings on him.”

  Vines shot out of the ground, entangling the shadow reaper. With one sweep of his sickle, the shadow reaper was free. “You really believe your weak attacks can stop me?” The shadow reaper pointed at Riko with one bony hand and hissed.

  Kit, knowing it would be awful to lose their only healer, grabbed a rock and threw it at the shadow reaper, clipping its outstretched finger.

  At the last second, the shadow reaper switched its target from Riko to Kit with an angry snarl. “I curse you,” it said. “I curse you to darkness—may it eat away at your light!”

  Black smoke covered Kit. Though it didn’t hurt, it made her eyes water, and it filled her mouth, choking her.