I still feel wary of the forest, but I follow her lead.
The glow from the pendant catches on something up ahead.
A bright white marble slab sticks out from the earth. It has Elvish runes engraved into it. The princess runs her hands over the runes and they begin to glow silver. They glow brighter and brighter until the slab begins to shake. Earth falls away and the slab rises higher into the air, pushed up by a large tunnel. I can see a set of stairs that lead underground. Into more darkness.
“How did you do that?”
“It’s an elvish dungeon. Only an elf can open it.”
“What did it say?” I feel like I am asking a million questions, but there is so much I don’t understand.
“It said, ‘Only two may enter. Only two may leave.’”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t really know, but I’m guessing it means we both have to make it out alive. I hope you brought your big boy pants, Esil.”
Great. I’m going into a two-person dungeon with monsters designed for a level fifty-four elf. I’m toast.
We walk down the stairs. Torches light the way. The corridor is tight, not much bigger than the mines. Spiderwebs stretch across the corners of the ceiling. The dull gray stones writhe beneath the dancing flames.
At the bottom of the stairs, I receive a notification.
Would you like to bind your soul to the Guardian Forest Dungeon? Y/N?
I’ve already agreed to help. I might as well bind here for when I inevitably die. I focus on the yes and a small dot appears on my map, letting me know where I am bound. I can see the corridor we just passed, but the rest of the dungeon is a blur. It must fill in as we journey through.
“Are you ready?” Aleesia asks. She has replaced her fine linens with battle armor once again. The silver armor has faint green hues that move in the torchlight.
“Let’s do this.”
As soon as I step past the bind point, a flaming arrow catches me in the chest.
Chapter Six
My chest is tight and I find it hard to move. My vision goes red at the edges and heat pulsates around the wound where the flaming arrow struck me. My haptic suit is doing a great job of making me feel like shit. I yank the arrow from my chest. The arrowhead is coated in a thick layer of blood. I toss it to the ground just as another darts in my direction. I prepare to block it with my axe, but the air shimmers in front of me and the arrow comes to an abrupt halt and falls to the ground. I look to my right and see the princess with her arm extended, casting a shield spell where the arrow stopped.
“We need to find cover quick,” she orders. “So we can find out what we are dealing with.”
I pull a torch from the wall and attempt to cast light into the room. There is a small pillar not too far away. We both dive behind it, while flaming arrows whistle and clatter against the stone floor.
“Do you have any ranged weapons?” Aleesia asks.
“I have a rusty spear, but that’s about it.”
“It won’t do. Looks like I’ll have to take them out from this distance. Do you know any ranged spells?”
“I don’t.” I feel like an idiot saying it, but she is the one who invited me along. Without so much as a glance at my abilities. Yeah, I can hit hard, but I’ve only been questing for a day and here she is taking me into some unknown dungeon. If this ends badly, it is most certainly on her. Even if she is a princess.
“It’s fine. I’m going to shoot an arrow in their direction, if you see a break, run and smash them. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Aleesia nocks the arrow in her bow and pulls it back. The arrow begins to glow a bright red. Long fiery tendrils snake out from the arrow and curl around it. She steps around the corner and lets it fly. The cavernous room lights up before me and I can see five skeleton warriors. Two archers and three swordsmen. The arrow lands near one of them and bursts into a ball of fire. One of the skeleton archers runs towards it. The moss and ragged clothes that hang from its bones catch fire and the cavern is alight once more.
Now that I know how many there are, I take off towards them. Their positions show on my map in the bottom corner of my vision. The burning skeleton shoots a flaming arrow at me and I duck just as it flies past my head. My haptic suit warms around my left ear, letting me know how close the flames were.
A bright yellow arrow whizzes past me from behind. It lodges in the ribs of the archer and electric bolts charge out from skeleton to skeleton with a vicious crack, stunning them momentarily with each bolt. Their health bars drop by a quarter. I use the moment to check their stats.
Skeleton Warrior. Level 13. These bony warriors are dying for a good fight.
Level thirteen. Out of my league, but not so much that we don’t have a chance. The princess could probably handle most of them by herself. I continue my charge towards the archer and use Lunging Strike. The blackness behind his eyes is dark and sinister. I stun him and bring my axe down hard against his shoulder. His bones clatter into a pile on the floor and my experience bar shoots up. I don’t have time to check for loot. There are still four skeletons left.
The princess’s arrows continue to barrage the skeletons, dropping their health in droves. The other archer collapses into a pile of bones. Three left.
The princess switches to her shortsword and we move in on the last three warriors together. She moves with speed and grace, slicing at the skeletons and parrying their blows far faster than I can. I attack hard, but not fast. The Vampiric Ring the princess gave me raises my HP by a fraction with each hit. If the skeletons were faster, I might be in trouble. In a few short seconds, their crumpled bones lay at our feet. A silver nine flashes across my vision, letting me know that I have leveled up.
“That was good.” She smiles at me. “Here, let me help you.”
She says something in elvish and then places her hand on the spot where the first arrow hit me. I feel my cheeks go red and wonder if my avatar’s are as well. My HP begins to recover and I feel a warm sensation as her hand glows a faint blue. A moment later, I am fully healed.
“Thanks. That’s a pretty useful ability.”
“Yeah, how do you not know any spells?”
I decide to tell her the truth. “I’ve only been doing this for a day. I never had any money to travel outside of the mines until now.”
“What changed?”
I’m not ready to divulge that much information, so I change the subject. “Shouldn’t we go clear the next room?”
We pick up the loot before heading into the next room. I find some bronze armor and a few silvers. Nothing too exciting, but the armor is still better than the rusty breast plate I currently have. I switch them out and prepare for what might be coming next.
A few torches hang on the wall of the next room. Something scurries into the darkness and I briefly see a long furry leg.
“Is that what I think it is?” I ask the princess.
She shudders before responding.
“Spiders.”
For a moment, I’m lost in my memories. I remember the orphanage. Before I moved into my box, I spent a long time at the orphanage. I don’t really know how long. We would spend eight hours a day logged into the educational worlds of Pangea. They told us that a smarter world was a better world, but in truth, I think it only made us more aware of the lot we had in life. When we would log out, we would spend the rest of the day working. Sewing clothes, cleaning the dirty floors. At night, the spiders would crawl along the walls, their deep red eyes almost glowing in the night…
“I don’t do well with spiders,” I say.
“Grab a torch. They are terrified of fire.”
The princess sends a flaming arrow across the room and I want to run away. A dozen spiders now populate my map.
“Esil, they’re not real. We can do this.” She puts her hand on my arm and a little of the fear goes away. I’ve never had anyone comfort me, but it almost feels familiar.
She’s righ
t, after all. It’s all virtual reality, as much as we might want to believe otherwise. The spiders can’t truly hurt me.
I pull a torch from the wall. In my other hand, I hold my axe, ready for whatever comes. The princess has her arrow nocked. Flaming red tendrils reach out from the arrow. Something moves in the distance and she lets the arrow fly. It bursts into flame along its route, sending out fireballs that bounce around the pillars searching for targets. The arrow impales a large spider some fifty yards away and its legs curl up in death.
“Nice shot.”
She gives me a smirk just before the spiders step out into the light. Eleven large, hairy spiders. Their milky white pincers click and their eyes glow a dull red, reflecting the flames from the torches. I am so not looking forward to this.
They surround us, moving faster and quieter than I thought possible. The princess and I stand back to back, all the while the clicking grows louder.
“I’m going to stun them. Hopefully my lightning arrow will set off a good chain. Then you hack them to pieces. Got it?” she says.
“Got it.”
The next thing I know, there is a loud crack of lightning and I watch as the bolts dart back and forth, stunning each spider in turn. I take off towards the closest one and bring my axe down hard upon its head. Its legs immediately retract and its eyes gloss over. One down. I’m lucky this is only going to be a melee fight.
Just as the thought appears, a large glob of acid erupts from the mouth of the spider to my right. The acid sticks to my arm holding the torch and I lose all feeling. My arm freezes and the torch falls to the floor.
“Princess…” I call, but she is in the heat of her own battle, switching between her sword and bow. Several spiders lay crumpled around her. My only option is to fight with one hand. I have no idea how long my arm will be paralyzed.
I move in on the spider just as it launches another blob of acid in my direction. This time I duck and the projectile sticks against the stone wall behind me. I bring my axe down hard and the spider falls to the ground. Piece of cake.
Three spiders have me surrounded. I need to act fast if I don’t want to become their next meal. The click of their pincers makes it hard for me to think. I have enough mana for two Lunging Strikes. I lunge at the closest spider and stun him. While the ability cools down, I attack the next closest and watch his HP drain to zero. I still don’t know how I’m hitting so hard, but now is not the time to question it.
My haptic suit clinches around my arm and my vision goes red as the third spider digs its pincers into my one good arm. I jerk free and cast Lunging Strike. The edge of my vision is a dull flickering red as my HP continues to drop even after the spider has bitten me. The spiders must have a poisonous bite.
The first spider is no longer stunned, but I am able to parry its bite. The sound of its razor-sharp teeth grinding against my axe hurts my ears. I swing hard into its head and a trail of green blood marks the floor, leaving only one spider left. I don’t have time to find the princess, but she must be fine. She is nearly five times my level. The last spider arches its back in the air and spits another ball of acid at me. The projectile whizzes by and lands behind me on the floor with a splat. My vision still has hints of red from the poison, but most of my sight has returned.
I don’t want to risk another bite, so I switch to the rusty spear for the added range. The spider scurries toward me, venom dripping from its teeth. I gather the spear in my hand, finding its balance, and let it fly. It catches the spider in the thorax just as it pounces in my direction. The force of the throw lifts the spider off its feet and carries it across the room. The spear lodges between the bricks of a pillar and the spider lets out a loud squeal before its legs curl up in its final embrace.
A slow clapping startles me from behind. I turn to see the princess, her hair slightly disheveled, wearing a grin.
“Very well done,” she says. “If what you say is true, you’ve really got a knack for this kind of thing. We should do this more often.”
My heart beats a little faster.
“First, we have to make it out of here. The rest of the way will no doubt get harder as we go along.” I show her my arm. Feeling has returned, but the skin is inflamed from the spider’s bite.
She reaches in her pouch and hands me a vial. A bright blue shimmering liquid swirls inside.
“Take this, it will restore your mana. Let me see your arm.”
She places her hand on my arm and it begins to glow as before. The bite marks fade away and my HP recovers. I examine the vial in my hand.
Mana Potion. Restores 200 mana over 20 seconds.
“You should come well stocked next time.”
“Hey, I didn’t know you were going to bring me to some dungeon. How could I have prepared for that?” I thought we were going to talk and then maybe I would farm the countryside again.
She giggles and pulls her hand away. “You should always be prepared for adventure.”
Maybe she’s right. It’s not like I don’t have the money to stay well stocked with supplies now. I’ll visit some of the local shops once we make it out of this dungeon.
I take the moment while my mana recovers to ask the princess about herself.
“So, princess, what do you do when you’re not out questing with your dwarves?”
“Please, call me Aleesia. Save the ‘princess’ talk for the streams.” She brushes her blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m in school. I want to follow in the family business and become a game developer like my father.”
“Wait, your dad is a developer?” Should I mention the chest I found? Would he ask questions? Even worse, would he want to take it back? I decide against it.
“Yeah, he’s worked for them for as long as I can remember. The company really takes care of their…” She stops mid-sentence, obviously remembering where I’m from. “Do you like it there? Working in the mines?”
“I don’t know. Until yesterday, it’s the only life I’ve ever known.”
Chapter Seven
We gather the loot from the room before leaving. Most of the items are repetitive. Several hairy spider legs, venom sacks, a few health potions which I will undoubtedly need, and a handful of silver.
I pick up a torch and use it to light our way out of the room. Another set of stairs leads us down to the next level. I can hear loud grunts before we reach the bottom. Aleesia’s hand grips me hard on the shoulder, stopping my progress. The voices beneath us echo through the dimly lit stairwell. Whoever they are, they are speaking a guttural language I do not understand.
“Goblins,” she whispers in my ear and my entire body shivers. I wonder how she knows, but then I see she has her hand on her sword hilt. A barely visible glow appears as a fine line where the guard meets the sheath. Elvish blades glow in the presence of goblins. “Be careful as you go. They love to lay traps for unsuspecting visitors.”
I slowly step forward and realize my foot is caught on something. Without thinking, I pull hard in an attempt to free my leg. The weight against my foot slackens and then I hear the whir of wire whipping through the air.
The whir continues for a moment, then a loud ringing fills its place. The sound of stone grating against stone comes from the stairs above and I realize we are trapped. How stupid can I be? I just set off their alarm.
Aleesia pushes me in the back, urging me forward.
“We’ll die if we fight here. We need to get out.”
The goblins seem momentarily shocked when I step out into the cavernous room. Their large round eyes are fixed on me with each step I take. Tufts of black hair jut out of their oversized pointy ears. Each one is clad in a mixture of ripped rags and dented bronze armor. A few wear jewelry made of bones. Some carry maces, others dull swords that serve better for blunt force than stabbing. Their skin is the same dull gray as the stone walls. One rides upon a grizzly gray wolf, the beast’s ribcage showing through its matted fur. For a moment, they are silent.
The goblin riding the wo
lf, which I assume is their leader, bangs his mace against his dented shield and it echoes through the hall. I focus on his stats.
Goblin Rider. Level 25. This goblin boss attacks with the fierceness of wolf and goblin combined.
He is definitely the leader. The other goblins range from fifteen to eighteen. There must be at least fifteen of them. There is no way in hell we can take them all out, even if the princess is level fifty-four. It’s just not possible. The room is too small and I don’t have the defenses.
The wolf lets out a roar as it pounces across the room. Slobber drips from its gums as they pull back, exposing a long line of sharp teeth. The train of smaller goblins follows in its wake, yelling and clashing their weapons together.
“What do we do?” I ask the princess, because I don’t have the faintest clue.
She moves past me in a blur. “We run!”
She glides across the stone floor, her movements full of grace. I don’t understand how we are going to get past the horde of goblins that stand between us and the exit, but I follow nonetheless.
One of the goblins is an archer. His arrows cut through the air and the princess forces them to a halt with her shield spell. We are mere moments from being trampled when she reaches into her pouch and pulls out a vial as black as the night. She grabs my hand and smashes the vial on the stone floor. The next thing I know, the room is silent and color disappears from the world. Everything I see is another shade of gray. The flames on the torch I carry are different hues of slate and ash.
The princess continues to hold my hand. She uses her free hand to press her finger against her lips, signaling me to keep quiet. The goblins in front of us look around in shock. Their mouths move, but no sound comes out. It appears they can’t see us. The goblin rider is furious and smashes his mace into a smaller goblin, drawing blood. The smaller goblin attacks the wolf’s legs, causing the wolf to toss its rider to the ground. A scuffle breaks out amongst the remaining goblins and the princess pulls me around them, our backs pressed close to the wall. We make it out of the room into another corridor before she speaks. When she does, color returns to the world.
Pangea Online: The Complete Trilogy Page 5