The True Enemy Revealed

by Jason Cheek

  I got a Flurry Blast into the asshole as I leaped at his back blade first. His Flame Shield lit up around him, only to disintegrate as I triggered Backstab. Scooping up his two-handed bastard sword, Apoxsee scrabbled away from me on his hands and knees as I lurched after him. Only to be blasted off my feet by a blade combination that ripped my Holy Shield away and knocked my hit points down to a hundred and shattered the bones of my sword arm. Reeling to a stop from the pain, I got my senses back just in time to see the length of iron from his two-handed sword pierce my chest.

  “Looks like you die again, loser!” Apoxsee spat in my face, while twisting the blade in my gut as my hit points once again plummeted to zero. Just before my vision faded to the familiar black-like twilight of death, I saw Fylreh’s hooves flash before my eyes as she trampled the Dread Pack leader to the ground with her front hooves. I heard his agonized scream cut-off abruptly as his head exploded like an overripe watermelon.

  You have been killed by Apoxsee Neoauspex! Do you wish to resurrect at your corpse or release your spirit to the nearest graveyard?

  Selecting ‘Resurrect’, I appeared once again in the graveyard. Without a second thought, I took-off at a flat run heading into the city. This time I only made a few wrong turns, before I found myself once again on the street from the arena. Seeing my gravestone shining like a beacon, I made my way to the light and slid to a stop atop my body as I selected ‘Resurrect’.

  This time I appeared directly behind a Flame Shielded Apoxsee. In a ten yard radius around us, bodies were in the process of being blasted through the air by his Flame Knockback AOE attack as he howled in laughter. The fiery aura surrounding his body was already scorching my skin as I whipped the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden up behind the Dread Pack leader’s back. Triggering Sneaked Attack, I plunged the blade through his spine as the Flame Shield fizzled away and his health dropped to zero. Seeing my companions sprawled out across the cobblestone street, I began spamming Regeneration on everyone I could see, when a Flame Strike suddenly melted my face off.

  You have been killed by Fellblade Panzerfaust! Do you wish to resurrect at your corpse or release your spirit to the nearest graveyard?

  This time, I made it back in record time to my corpse. Appearing in the game, I was just in time to see Neysa ripping Apoxsee’s throat out, while Helgath rode his back like a psychotic rodeo clown as she plunged the hilts of her daggers in his eye sockets. Seeing that they were both near death, I hurriedly spammed my Regeneration out as I slammed the Helm of Inaxidor on my head and scooped up the Black Coral Iron-reinforced Defender. Before I could join the battle, Apoxsee collapsed to the ground, graveyard dead, while I began hurriedly recasting my buffs. Seeing no immediate danger, I shrugged my backpack onto my back, and rose up into a crouch ready to fight.

  Bodies of my troopers and gravestones carpeted the cobblestone street around me as the newfar were cut down by the survivors. Further down the avenue, I saw Ulia quickly followed by Ryane cutting a swath of death through the respawning newfar, while Keela and Brenna covered them from a shattered doorway. Here and there, I saw the familiar faces of my friends fighting side-by-side with the embattled troopers. My friends would take the fiery aura hit to hammer down the Flame Shields, after which the troopers would rush forward to end the players’ lives.

  A cool wind suddenly blew across the battlefield as my HUD lit up with a spell called ‘Healing Breeze’ that healed me for three hundred and sixty points of damage. While that in and of itself wasn’t anything spectacular, the greenish glow on all of the raid members around me that received the same healing was. This was the first group heal I’d yet to see in-game.

  Looking around for the source of magic, I saw Krishna, the newfar I’d saved from the dungeon, standing on the edge of the nearest rooftop above us with his arms raised as a green glow filled the air around him. Facing the opposite direction, his companion that I’d saved, Lyeneru Caivyre, was casting a similar spell further up the street. Between the two of them, they managed to cover the entire raid as nearly dead troopers began to stand up straighter.

  Giving both casters a salute with my sword, I began searching for my companions just as Fylreh came to a stop right behind me. The centauride was covered in blood and soot. Her mane was burnt in places on her head and back as she took up a defensive stance around me. Quickly, I hit her with a Regeneration, while Helgath and Neysa appeared to take up defensive positions around me in a triangle looking outwards.

  I guess we were given the task of keeping dipshit busy whenever he spawned in, or we were the only ones that were keeping a lookout for the rat bastard. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I saw a Holy Shield snap in place around Fylreh and Helgath. Looking up, I got a nod from Yun and Thompson who were just following-up with another Holy Shield for Neysa and me. Shaking my head, I couldn’t help the snort of laughter that came from my lips at my internal bitching.

  Feeling better, I was just debating if I should try putting on my armor or not when Apoxsee suddenly appeared before us. Before any of us could attack, the bastard’s Flame Shield flared to life around him. My shield hand punched out throwing an Enhanced Shadow Bolt as Helgath and Neysa sprang forward, but not before I saw the tricky bastard’s hand shoot down at his feet in the familiar cast of what we were calling Flame Knockback.

  Instantly, we were blasted off our feet just as his Flame Shield sputtered out. The Holy Shield around me took the brunt of the hit as I was bounced off of the wall on the far side of the street. Climbing to my feet, I saw Apoxsee scooping up his bastard sword, when a flight of black arrows from my Shadow Scouts thudded into his body like rain. The bastard went to super-jump back, only to have his legs give out from underneath him as he collapsed to his knees looking like a pincushion. Before the light completely faded from his eyes, the bastard snarled at me hatefully as I shot him a bird a second before a gravestone appeared on top of his body.

  “Choke on that bag full of dicks?” I thought darkly, stepping forward to loot the man’s corpse. Hurriedly, I got everyone healed up and split up into a spread out triangle formation around the Dread Pack guild leader’s gravestone as I watched the battle swirl around us. My eyes easily picked out the enraged newfar that were respawning back in as quickly as possible. Most seemed to be being cut down before I could even get a visual lock on them, but finally my dedication paid off as I got an Identify off. I couldn’t help the grim smile that came to my lips as I saw the newfar had been knocked down to level 22.

  Before I could check out another player, Apoxsee appeared back into the game. Scooping up his bastard sword on the run, he leaped into the air heading directly for me as black arrows hammered into the cobblestones behind him. Instead of super-jumping like normal, his feet hit the ground a second later as his Flame Shield burst to life. In his rage, the DPS Warrior was oblivious to his loss of a major attack skill as his hand shot out in the all too familiar gesture of a Flame Knockback. Instead of being blasted off my feet, I saw the look of utter surprise that momentarily flashed across his face as nothing happened.

  It was gone an instant later as my Enhanced Shadow Bolt shattered his Flame Shield. Before he could bring his bastard sword down to take off my head, I stabbed him through the chest as he came to a shocked stop. Deflecting his bastard sword aside with a Holy Shielded arm, I kicked him off my blade a second before Fylreh’s scimitars ended his life. I hurriedly got off an Identify as his body collapsed into a heap at my feet. Before it faded away, I smiled happily as I read the pop-up that appeared over his corpse: Apoxsee Neoauspex level 39 Flame Shield Mage.

  I thought Apoxsee would give up after that and respawn at the graveyard, but instead, his rage drove him to attack another five more times. Each time, we slaughtered him quicker and quicker. The proverbial straw that broke him out of his blind rage was when he dropped to his knees to trigger his Sliding Attack. Instead of shooting forward like normal, nothing happened except for a flight of black arrows piercing his back. In those last few seconds of li
fe, I saw the look of absolute horror that came to his face as he suddenly realized what had happened. As his eyes looked up at me filled with hate; I couldn’t help but chortle.

  “Looks like you’ve lost a few levels.” I said, giving him a shit eating grin. “How do you like them apples?”

  Not that I expected a response as his eyes glazed over and a gravestone appeared over his corpse. Instead of staying black, it turned white almost immediately as he chose to respawn at the graveyard instead of the battlefield. Neysa appeared by my side to lean her massive side against my shoulder as Helgath stepped up to me with her eyes shining. Breathing a sigh of relief, I scooped up the Half-Orc into my arms as I looked out at the newfar and troopers’ stunned faces standing around me.

  “We’ve won!” I shouted pumping my fist into the air as Helgath joined me with a howling shout. The response was sporadic at first as Yun, Unalia, and Thompson cheered from the rooftop above us while they bounced around like boxing champs with their arms over their heads. Thomas, Sarka, Tinyr, and Kenzie joined in a second later as their shouts of celebration rang out across the battlefield. As Matt, Terry, and Terry joined in a moment later, the rest of the surviving troops began cheering in earnest as it dawned on them that we’d won.

  My eyes caught Fylreh’s tired face as her eyes unhappily stared at Helgath in my arms. Our eyes met as we gazed at each other uncomfortably for a moment. Shrugging the oddness away, I bowed my head to her in thanks as I hit her with a Regeneration. The look she gave me was one of acceptance as she returned my nod and began making her way over to me. No words were necessary. We both knew the score. I set Helgath down as Fylreh took up a protective position at my back. Patting Neysa on the flank and giving Helgath’s shoulder a last squeeze, I got to work.

  The first thing I did was collect up the Dread Pack guild leader’s soul stones. The handful that were forty plus went into my special boss pouch. While not an elite boss, I figured a high-level Nightmare zombie was almost just as good. The remainder of Apoxsee’s soul stones I dumped into my bag for regular zombie use, while the rest of the loot I left to be collected up later. Finished with my task, I headed over to my friends who were still getting dressed.

  Clapping Thomas on the back, I gave Sarka a one-armed hug, and clasped Tinyr’s pint-sized fist as I checked over the situation. Up on the rooftop, Krishna and Lyeneru both gave me cheerful waves as they hugged each other in relief. That was another situation I needed to address, I thought with a shake of my head as I continued on. There was only a hundred of my Royal Army troopers left and maybe fifty of the survivors from the dungeons. Although, watching the celebrating Dark Elves on the surrounding rooftops, it looked like all of the Shadow Scouts had made it through fine.

  I was just about to look away, when I saw an exhausted Ayda looking down at me. The grin that came to my lips said everything I wanted to say to the amazingly talented woman as I pressed a fist to my chest in salute. Without the bard’s unique abilities, we surely would have wiped facing off against the Dread Pack’s guild leader. The woman’s smoky gray eyes sparkled back at me as she stood up and curtsied back. With a final nod, I continued walking down the street.

  Surprisingly enough, Sir Hemmet and his Royal Knights all seemed present and accounted for. He’d said before that the Royal Knights were the hard hitters of the Royal Forces and their extra training showed in how many had survived the shitstorm we’d just been through. I’m sure the extra armor they wore didn’t hurt either. Hopefully, we could change that in the future for my troopers. If I could get them all geared up like me, have a few more healers per trooper, and a couple emergency heal potions on each of their belts, they’d weather something like this much better in the future.

  We’d won the main battle, but the fighting wasn’t over as a few of the Dread Pack’s members respawned here and there. They were slaughtered in seconds due to their lower levels, which finally forced them to choose the graveyard option as the few remaining gravestones began turning white around us. While that was all well and good, I couldn’t truly relax until I knew the graveyards were secured.

  “Listen up people! There’s a lot of work to be done!” I bellowed out, getting everyone’s attention. The general raid chat covered all of the various raid groups’ individual channels and allowed me to talk to everyone in the entire raid at once. “Get healed up and your zombies raised. We still have to make sure the graveyards are secured and that we’ve truly captured all of these assholes.

  “I don’t want to get blindsided while we’re doing rescue operations. Once we know we’re good to go, we’ll get all of our people resurrected, find your families, and start helping all of the townspeople that we can.” My words seemed to settle everyone down as I saw my friends and troopers begin following my orders.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the names of the Sub-Leaders that had been assigned to hold the graveyards, which meant I needed Assault Leader’s Dell’s help as soon as possible. The problem I had was that Assault Leader Dell’s icon was showing on my raid list as being dead. Seeing Phoenix talking to a shaggy blond giant, I focused on the man’s name as Team Leader Fowle appeared over his head. With an apologetic nod, I interrupted their conversation.

  “Excuse me, but have either of you seen where Assault Leader Dell fell?” I asked, clapping the both of them on the shoulder. “I need to check with the graveyard Sub-Leaders to make sure everything is good to go.”

  “Milord,” Team Leader Fowle said, hurriedly giving me a salute. “Commander Phoenix and I were both fighting with him when he fell.” The large man said giving the red-headed barbarian woman an apologetic nod.

  Moving with a purpose, the large giant led me to a pile of bodies and gravestones nearby. Looking at the pile of dead covered in blood and gore made my stomach roll. Assault Leader Dell must have held his men against a massive counterattack from the Dread Pack that had cost many of our peoples’ their lives. The forest of gravestones that stood around the pile of our dead was a testament to their horrific struggle and accomplishment. Seeing so many of my people cut down protecting my back brought tears to my eyes as I worked with Team Leader Fowle, Phoenix, Thomas, Sarka and my companions to separate the burnt and hacked bodies into neat rows. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was ensuring we had everyone’s body parts together.

  Getting Assault Leader Dell’s body laid out, I began casting my Resurrection spell as my friends and vassals laid out and prepped the remaining corpses. As I worked, I felt Helgath’s clawed fingers wrap around my arm as she blended our magic together. There was an intense pull as I felt her do something to my spell that I’d never felt before as our combined mana pools began to drop at a drastic rate.

  Feeling my panic, Helgath’s presence flooded my mind with confidence as we were suddenly connected mind-to-mind. Instantly, I understood what she wanted to do. Calming down, I focused on completing my one minute cast as the Half-Orc frantically worked to adapt my spell on the fly. Even with this close of a connection, I couldn’t even begin to follow the technique she was using. Obviously, knowing and doing were two very different things when it came to magic. She was somehow empowering my Resurrect. Not just empowering the spell, but splitting it up into five separate casts. As I released the built up Holy magic, it flooded out into Dell while overflowing to the bodies on either side of his corpse.

  The loss of three thousand mana points in the blink of an eye made me drop to my knees with mana fatigue as my head spun. I felt Helgath collapse to the ground beside me as the sudden strain nearly made her blackout. Hearing the agonized groans of the newly resurrected men, many of whom had died from terrible burns, I hurriedly reached out with my healing magic and cast Regeneration on all of them, before gathering up the Half-Orc girl in my arms.

  Mana exhaustion was no joke in The World, I thought sourly as I stroked Helgath’s forehead to help ease the strain. Tenderly, I tucked several wild strands of stringy black hair behind her pointy ears as she groaned uncomfortably. I understood
well what she was trying to do. There was a large part of her that felt the need to prove her worth to those around us. She felt like she had to show everyone that my decision to tie her soul to mine had been a wise one and not a fool’s choice. It didn’t matter how many times I told her I could give a fuck less what everyone else thought, she still worried about how my people looked at me.

  The other reason she’d pushed herself in this, was that she wanted to test the possibility of resurrecting more people than just one person at a time. Like her cleansing spell in the Hall of Storms, we were on a time limit here and needed to find ways to cut corners as much as possible. In truth, it was a worthy test, since somehow we had to resurrect all of the dead or at least all of the dead that my lower-level spell could. Even if the battle was truly over, I’d be here most of the night holding to the promise I’d given to my troopers and the soldiers I’d rescued from the dungeon.

  Yun walked up with Scout Captain Dherler casting another round of Regeneration as Thomas helped the veteran swordsman to his feet. I heard Fylreh unhappily snort behind me as I stood up holding Helgath tucked to my side with one arm. Neysa whipped around and gave her a warning snap as I ignored the centauride’s reaction and clapped the older man on the shoulder.

  “It’s good to see you back on your feet,” I said warmly. Tears ran down the swordsman’s leathery face as he looked at his brothers in arms being helped to their feet. Seeing the questioning look in his eyes as he scanned the laid out corpses of his troopers, my voice dropped an octave. “I’ll get everyone resurrected as soon as I can confirm that we’ve taken Darom from these scumbags.”