by Jason Cheek
“That’s good to know, but what can I say, I do so love to disappoint my enemies,” I drolly said, privately thinking to myself that she was a fucking bitch. Taking a deep breath, I cracked my neck before flippantly continuing, “I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”
“I’m not your enemy,” Rani snapped in annoyance, “I’m a neutral observer making sure the rules are followed.”
“Of course, you are,” I agreed, not saying to which remark I was commenting on.
Dismissing the V-MMORG Admin from my thoughts, I mentally signaled for Neysa to head over to where Domenic was shouting out orders as Fylreh and Neristhana silently followed with a smirking Rani trailing behind them. As the Silver Dire Wolf came to a stop behind Domenic, I studied the hundred-yard swath of the trail before the defensive wall where a surprisingly intense battle was being waged. It looked like nearly every square foot of the ground had been mined with offensive traps. I saw poison and acid fountains spraying out their payload with surprising effectiveness as Orcs seemed to be dying by the hundreds.
Even though the Earth Elementals were being quickly smashed to bits by the constantly advancing horde, they were wreaking havoc during their short lifespans instead of being disassembled into their core components. I figured that would change once the Earth Shamans got involved, but we’d slaughtered so many of the evil bastards that they’d started staying as far away from the action as possible. As I watched, I noticed that more of the megalith-like warriors were rising up from across the battlefield to take the place of those that were destroyed. It quickly became apparent that the Dwarves were using the stone spikes as replacement material for summoning the additional Earth Elementals.
It was a surprisingly effective strategy. Another twist that Domenic had introduced to his summoned creations was that he’d upgraded his Water Elementals. Instead of the Pure-Water Elementals that he’d been using against the Chaos Storm Alliance, his people had changed them over to Poisonous-Liquid and Acid Elementals. I was curious were they’d gotten the materials from. Studying the flow of the battle further, I realized the Dwarves had added spiked pit traps in-between the stone spikes that covered the ground. Not only did the Orcs fall onto the spikes in the pit when the traps were triggered, they’d filled those traps with the Poisonous-Liquid and Acid Elementals, so that the Orcs were being poisoned or dissolved to death while being pierced with multiple stone spikes when the traps activated.
I was impressed with Domenic’s creativeness, as well as everything that he’d managed to accomplish within the short amount of time that they’d had available before the fight had started. The Dwarves weren’t being passive spectators while their creations fought either. Though multiple Dwarves were stopping whatever they were doing to resummon new Elementals, the rest were releasing ranged volleys from hell on the advancing horde. Magic iron-spiked headed bolts enchanted with acid and poison were fired from their heavy crossbows to hammer into the advancing bronze shield wall, while magic stone bullets from the Dwarven slingers rained down on the enemy, releasing a low-level AOE that was quickly causing massive damage with their continuous barrage.
“Admit it Jay, you’ve lost,” Domenic proudly said as he looked back to see my surprised face. He gave me a knowing smirk, “While you were doing all those quests and playing Lord Ironwolf, I was out with my people shopping for new magic items, traps, and skills that would be affective against fighting Orcs.” He swept a hand at the devastation and chortled, “That’s why we didn’t have the money to purchase mounts.”
While the results of their purchases were impressive as hell, it was quickly becoming obvious that the pit traps and elementals were beginning to be simply overwhelmed by the crushing advance of the Orcs. Almost as quickly as they appeared, the pit traps were being filled with bodies as the horde trampled over their dead and dying without a second thought. In the two minutes that had nearly gone by, the Orcs had cleared over half of the defenses.
“Though, I admit that you’re kicking ass and that those Acid and Poison Elementals are cool as hell,” I said, silently watching the mass advance even as the front of the horde melted under the assault, “you don’t seem to be slowing them down all that much.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Domenic demanded as he swept an arm at the destruction, “We’re kicking their asses!”
“While you’re slaughtering a bunch of trash mobs,” I calmly said, studying the Orcs inexorable advance across the field as Helgath silently nodded in agreement, “you’re not actually stopping the horde.”
“Fuck you, Jay,” Domenic said, the confusion clear on his face as he turned back to the unfolding battle. Within moments, I saw the look of confidence on his face begin to fade as he realized the truth of my words. It didn’t matter that his people had nearly killed a couple thousand Orcs in a matter of minutes, the horde ground through everything that his people were throwing at them and kept on coming. In that moment, there was a pop of displaced air as Pounce, Domenic’s Blink Lynx combat pet, suddenly appeared at his side.
‘This should be good,’ Helgath sent as Neysa’s mental agreement flashed in my mind while we watched Domenic’s face turn pale at whatever message Pounce had just given him.
“Did you know that the Orcs cover this entire valley?” Domenic demanded as a look of horror came to his face. Whipping around, he glared at me accusingly, “Why in the hell would you have us set up camp when we should be running for our lives?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Probably because there’s no way our people can run all day and night without collapsing,” I said in the same tone as I swept a hand out at the people of The World around us. Even now, they looked exhausted from the forced march from Palnisdale. “Do you see my Bard Ayda anywhere? No, because she probably collapsed during the forced march from exhaustion and she was on a mount.” My voice took on a calmer tone as I looked Domenic in the eyes.
“Without Ayda’s magic and us constantly harrying the Orcs to slow them down with cavalry charges, none of us would’ve have made it to the Valley of Stone without being overrun by the horde,” I said, as Neysa silently stepped up beside him so that I had a clear view of the battlefield, “That’s also why I spent nearly all of my money purchasing mounts before we left Palnisdale and did everything I could since then to level those Dragoons up.”
“It’s fucking game over,” Domenic said, as his eyes took on a faraway look, “Pounce showed me the valley,” Domenic shook his head as he gazed out at the raid around us. “They don’t know it yet, but they’re all fucking dead men walking.”
“Maybe,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder as we saw his Dwarves step back from the wall. Already, the zombies in the ditch before the defensive walls were tearing into the horde, while the Uten Syn members transformed into Werebears and started to fight the Orcs that were trying to scale the wall. To either side of us, I saw the Devil Dogs in a similar situation as they fought to repel the Orcs. Glancing at my HUD, I smiled seeing that the five minutes were up, “but then again, maybe not.”
“The fuck Jay,” Domenic asked in confusion as he helplessly stared out at the solid mass of Orcs covering the trail below us.
“Watch and learn grasshopper,” I said, as I switched to raid chat, “Everyone on the wall fall back and take a knee. General Dell, you’re up!”
“Goddammit Jay, this isn’t the time for us to be fucking around with a bet,” Domenic said as General Dell’s voice cracked out like a whip.
“Dragoons, front ranks only, release Dark Lances at will upon my command!” Ignoring the shocked faces of everyone fighting against the Orcs trying to scale the defensive wall, I silently stood by as the command immediately cascaded down throughout the Squad Leaders and Sub-Leaders. I saw the Dwarves looking to Domenic in confusion as the Devil Dogs and Uten Syn guildmembers hurriedly scrambled back away from the wall and took a knee. Seeing that I wasn’t going to stop whatever was going down, Domenic urgently shouted to his Dwarves.
“T
ake a knee … take a knee!” The Dwarves took up the shout, throwing themselves to the ground in some cases, when General Dell’s voice rang out again in raid chat.
““Fire!”” There was a split-second pause as the command cascaded through the ranks, before a thunderous whoosh filled the air. Instantly, a volley of brilliant flaring purplish-black light streaked out from the Dragoon’s glowing hands to slam into the advancing horde’s ranks at nearly point-blank range. The glowing bolts left a visible yard-wide trail through the air as they pierced through everything in their path for a hundred yards.
It didn’t stop there. The thunderous roar continued again and again as glowing purplish-black bolts blasted across the battlefield one after another. At first, the effect of the Dark Lances wasn’t obvious. The Orcs simply ignored the magic spears piercing through their bodies as they tried their best to rush the line of Dragoons. A few managed to climb over the wall, but they were nearly dead and quickly dragged to the ground and finished off by the Uten Syn and Devil Dog players that were crouched down under the continuous volleys flaring over their heads.
After about eight seconds, swaths of Orcs began to collapse across the battlefield as a system window popped open before my eyes.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 48!
You have 7 Attribute Points Unspent!
I dismissed the window with a thought. Four seconds later, thousands of Orcs keeled over dead as another notification flashed open before my eyes.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 49!
You have 7 Attribute Points Unspent!
Across the battlefield, I saw all of the remaining Orcs out to a hundred yards keel over dead as General Dell’s voice sounded in raid chat.
“All Dragoons, hold your fire!” As the command ““Hold your fire!”” cascaded down throughout the ranks, the Dark Lances stopped after a total of fifteen volleys.
“Holy fuck Jay,” Jill’s voice sounded in the sudden silence leftover from the after effects of the continuous roaring from the Dark Lances.
You could’ve heard a pin drop as everyone looked at me with a mixture of awe and horror. At least, you could’ve if there wasn’t a mass of Orcs already flowing into the gap that had opened up before them as they rushed over the bodies of their dead like water filling a hole. While the effects of my new Dark Lance spell were impressive as hell, it had only worked so well because I’d made sure to create the perfect situation for using it. That had only been possible by the intelligence that I’d gotten from Lance Leader Warf and the work Domenic and my other friends had done in setting up the defenses.
The real question, I knew, was would this be enough to make the horde blink. As all of my friends began talking at once about what just went down, General Dell’s voice rang out again in raid chat.
“Dragoon Trainees, cast Zombie Hands on the horde’s front ranks on my mark!” I could see the surprised looks on everyone’s faces, except for the Uten Syn and Devil Dogs members that had been with me during the charges earlier that day, as they realized the fighting wasn’t over. It was obvious to everyone that there must have literally been five to seven thousand Orcs slaughtered within those fifteen seconds. From the looks being traded by the Dwarves and my friends that had stayed behind, they were even more shocked to realize that meant nothing to the Orcs.
An uneasiness settled over the defensive lines as the horde rushed across the battlefield. I saw a number of nervous looks from the Dwarves being sent back at Domenic as the mass of Orcs closed to within ten yards of the defensive wall. Before anyone could speak up, General Dell’s voice cracked like a whip in raid chat once again.
“Mark!” As the command cascaded down the line, a swath of Zombie Hands ripped up out of the ground to latch onto the entire front rank of the enraged horde. Like earlier in the day, most of the Orcs face planted into the ground as bony fingers tore into their exposed skin as shields and weapons skittered across the ground. As the enemy began climbing back to their clawed feet, General Dell ordered the front ranks of Dragoons to open fire once again. As ““Fire at will!”” echoed down the Dragoon’s ranks, I was momentarily surprised that Dell hadn’t ordered the Dragoons to fall back, when I realized the troopers were at full mana because of their new levels.
Once again, the thunderous whoosh of Dark Lances splitting the air echoed off the trail’s granite walls as flares of purplish-black energy blasted into the Orc’s ranks. The Orcs bellowed in fury as they tore at the Zombie Hands holding them in place. Behind the captured ranks, the Orcs hacked at the forest of arms trying to make the spell fail so they could get through to our lines as the Dark magic shafts pierced through armor and shields like it wasn’t there.
By the time the cast count hit twelve nearly every Orc across the field had collapsed dead to the ground. A handful, surprisingly enough, were still standing as the Zombie Hands spells ended. I felt Helgath’s clawed fingers emotionally dig into my forearms as the handful of Orc War Leaders staggered a few steps forward. They all collapsed a second later as the next volley targeted them individually. As the Dragoons stopped firing, General Dell ordered the front row to rotate to the back of the formation.
As the second row of Dragoons stepped forward to take their place, the Orcs were already charging across the battlefield. By now, everyone was silently watching the showdown between the Orcs and Dragoons as the experience points rolled in. Curious to see why I didn’t get another level with the latest swath of Orc deaths, I opened up my system window to see a curious message. I’d only gotten ten experience points for each Orc’s death.
Curious as to what was going on, I eyed the advancing Orcs and did a quick Identify, surprised to see that they were very green. Meaning that they were on the borderline of not giving any more experience points for killing them. I frowned realizing what that meant. Once I hit level 50, I probably wouldn’t get any experience points for these bastards. That was fucked because the bastards could still easily kill me without much of a problem. At least, they could if enough of them jumped me all at once, I mentally corrected, as I watched General Dell have the Dragoon trainees lock the horde’s front lines down again with Zombie Hands.
As my Dragoons began hammering them to death with Dark Lances, I popped open my Character Sheet and selected everyone in the raid. With a thought, I began updating everyone on the new spells that they should be able to get now. The only problem, I realized as I went through the list of spells, was that most everyone still had to level up their Dark magic before they could get access to any of the new spells. Disgusted with myself for forgetting such a simple aspect to the game, I closed the windows as once again the battlefield was cleared of Orcs. As General Dell began ordering the second rank to fallback and the third rank stepped forward, Domenic caught my attention as I saw Pounce blink away in the direction of the lower ridge.
“How long can your guys keep this up?” Domenic demanded as we watched the Orcs flooding into the gap once again.
“Pretty much indefinitely,” I said, nodding towards the rows of Dragoons waiting to step forward, “since everyone is leveling up, we can basically keep rotating out troopers all night long if we have to.”
“Hell, even if they circled around in front of us, we’re probably good,” Thomas called out as he walked up with Kenzie at his side. Domenic and Kenzie gave each other a civil nod, before acting like the other one wasn’t there.
“I’d rather that they’d just fall back,” I said as the field began filling with Orcs once again, “unless you really want to sit here killing grays for a week.”
““Killing grays?”” Thomas, Kenzie, and Domenic exclaimed in unison.
“Yeah,” I said, frowning at the three of them, “check out your kill logs.”
“Wait,” Kenzie exclaimed as soon as she popped open her kill logs, “I’m only getting ten experience points for each of these kills?”
“Me too,” Domenic angrily said.
“While it sucks,” Thomas said as he wisely pu
t it into perspective, “I’m not about to complain about having the entire raid power-leveled up to level 49.”
“So, is it over?” Krishna asked, walking up with Phoenix and Angie at his side as our impromptu meeting grew in size.
“Depends on how they decide to act,” Phoenix said, giving me a friendly nod, “Nice work on setting up this bottleneck.”
“Thanks,” I said, flashing her an appreciative grin, “I’d hoped we might be able to pull something like this off when I was talking with Lance Leader Warf back in Palnisdale.”
“Oh, shut it, Jay,” AJ said as he came walking up with Jill and Krystal in tow, “you didn’t even have this spell back in Palnisdale.”
“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t planning on getting these assholes caught in a bottleneck that we could defend for a few hours while everyone rested up,” I said, giving him an annoyed look as I motioned at the Valley of Stone around us, “You think we just found this spot by accident?”
“Just be happy that we’re not fighting throughout the night,” Kenzie said, elbowing AJ in the ribs as he came to a stop beside her.
“Hey now,” AJ playfully complained as he put a hand up to stop her from hitting him again, “only Jill and Krystal are allowed to do that.”
As Kenzie joked around with AJ and talked to Jill and Krystal, the rest of us watched in silence as the Dragoons cleared the slope once again of Orcs. To everyone’s shock, the Orcs didn’t immediately start rushing in to fill the gap this time around. Something, as per Helgath, that was unheard of in the Orc’s known history. As Tony, Fluffy, John, Glen, and Kitty came walking up, I curiously watched as a massive Orc came striding up to the edge of the kill field. By now, there were corpses piled up to the demi-human’s knees.
The immense Orc was surrounded by several slightly smaller warriors along with an assortment of disgustingly decorated Shamans and staff carrying Orcs that I automatically flagged as some sort of mages. Slightly smaller still meant much larger than any of the Orcs that I’d yet to face off against in combat. The War Leader especially looked brutal as fuck and had to have been at least eight-foot tall. The immense Warrior strutted around with massive two-handed battle axes easily held in both of his heavily armored fists like hand axes, while the thick armor covering his muscular body was of a quality and design that I’d never seen before. He aggressively paced the invisible line like a lion outside of a car filled with tourists in Lion Country Safari looking for a way to break inside for an easy meal.