Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn

by John Nest

  "Magikera, you better stay quiet," reprimanded Amahan, before she could speak. "You don't want to be pushed, do you?"

  "Haha," sarcastically replied Magikera, but kept her mouth shut all the same.

  As they hiked in silence for the last twenty minutes, Amahan suddenly motioned for his guild to stop. He had picked up the familiar but disgusting scent of rotten flesh.

  "Puthaw, your up," said Amahan, and moved back behind the three Death Knights.

  Puthaw, Bato, and Ligon moved forward with their skull shields in front of them.

  SHING SHING SHING

  Puthaw was the first one to draw out his long executioner's blade, its hilt ornately designed with a skull. "Ligon, you take left. Bato, you take the one on the right."

  Then, from both sides of the narrow path, two monstrous creatures with gorilla-like bodies clung to the edges of the road.

  They had found the source of the foul stench, undead yetis with rotting flesh glared their red eyes at them. Only a few patches of their white fur remained, while the rest of their bodies had began to decompose.

  In complete synchronicity, Bato and Ligon moved at the same time. Together, they severed their respective undead yetis' arms, which was grasping on the sides of the road. In one fluid motion, they smashed their skull shields into the monsters' chests, dropping them back to the abyss.

  "See, Atiman?" asked Puthaw. "I told you us Death Knights can handle the monsters here."

  The undead yetis revealed their life bars to be 900,000 HP. This made throwing them down, be the easier choice, rather than fighting them on the tiny space of the narrow road.

  Suddenly, two more undead yetis walked up from behind their group. These monsters tried to ambush the Decane members, but Baskog stood his ground at the rear. Pointing his black kite shield with the embossed silver cross at the yetis, he used its holy cross attack. In one flash of white light, both invaders released their hold on the ledge of the road and fell.

  "What about that, Puthaw? Did you see that?" taunted Magikera. "Well, I saw that clearly," she added, pointing out how Baskog had them outmatched.

  "That one doesn't count," retorted Puthaw. He then charged forward at the undead yetis clinging on the sides of the road.

  In one mad sprint, Puthaw wielded his executioner's blade with angst and fury. Numerous hairy arms flew up in the air, as the Death Knight cleaved them off the undead yetis who hindered their way.

  Having survived countless quests together, the rest of the Decane members all knew too well to run as fast as they could. As they chased after the mad Death Knight, they dealt the finishing blow to those undead monsters clinging to the road, letting them fall back into the dark unknown.

  It took them twenty minutes of running, slashing, and bashing, before they finally saw the end of the steep road. It led them to a expansive landing covered in snow.

  All of them, except for Matz, were breathing hard as they tried to catch their breath. Their breath clearly seen through the cold air.

  Then, Amahan pointed to the other end of the landing. "Look! Baskog was right after all," he said, as all of them watched a grandiose castle partly covered by the mist.

  From where they stood, they could make out the doors to the castle, whenever a gust of wind momentarily blew away the mist. They only had to cross the spacious palace grounds in front, with the dead flower gardens on its sides.

  The Castle was, however, blocked by a thick iron gate.

  "Should I break it down?" asked Puthaw, readying his executioner's blade to hack the gate.

  "Stop!" yelled Amahan. "We don't know if there are any traps."

  "Or there could be monsters who will come at us, as soon as we break through the gates," added Atiman.

  "I guess that makes sense," said Puthaw, and sheathed his lengthy blade. "If it wasn't coming from you two, I would've probably barged in already," he added and chuckled.

  "So, what do we do now?" asked Puthaw.

  "I propose that we move the break earlier," said Amahan. "Hilot, Puthaw, and Baskog, is that fine with you three? Or do you need to be somewhere later?"

  "And then what? The rest of you will bust through the gates after we leave?" asked Puthaw, dropping a clear hint of hurt in his voice.

  "Of course not," replied Amahan. "Actually, I was planning to take on those undead yetis again," he said. "I want to see their respawn time, and study their behavior."

  The Exorcist paused, scrutinized Puthaw's expression before proceeding. "We might need to run away from the castle," he added. "And we can't escape down the same path, if we're blocked by undead yetis."

  "Yeah," said Puthaw, while nodding his head. "That makes perfect sense."

  Baskog timidly raised his hand. "Um. I don't mind if we move the break earlier," said the only Night Templar. "I do have to do something."

  "How long will that take?" asked Amahan.

  "Maybe, one hour, tops?" replied Baskog.

  "That's in game time, right?" confirmed Atiman.

  "Yup, an hour in Zectas," said Baskog.

  "Okay, this is what we'll do," began Amahan. "Baskog will log out for one hour, while we fight those undead yetis again."

  Amahan looked around his guild members, to check whether everyone understood. All of them nodded without a word.

  "After that, we'll head back here and break the iron gates, together," added Amahan. "Everyone, got that?"

  "Sure," replied Magikera.

  While everybody else nodded silently again.

  At once, Baskog logged out, while Amahan led the Decane members back to the narrow and steep road.

  * * * * * *

  After an hour passed, Baskog went back online. As expected, all of the guild members were waiting for him in the expansive landing in front of the iron gates.

  "Brr. It's still this cold, huh?" asked Baskog.

  "It isn't as cold for me anymore," said Puthaw. "But then again, we never left. So, we could be numb to it already."

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" said Baskog. "I just had a really important errand to do," added the Night Templar. "How did the yeti hunting go?"

  "Turns out they respawn every ten minutes," replied Atiman. "So, it could be a problem for us if we got mobbed."

  "Ahem! Ahem!" Puthaw forcibly cleared his throat. "Are we ready to break the gates, or what?" he asked Amahan. "Afterall, the traitor is here already."

  By now, it was common knowledge among the Decane members that Puthaw felt betrayed by Baskog's Hidden Job change.

  "Sure, let's do it," said Amahan.

  "Oh, wait!" said Baskog. "Before we go do that, I have to tell you about this rising star in the Sawtorn Continent."

  "You mean, Faux?" asked Amahan. "I already know about him. He's quite a character all right, but let's talk about that another time."

  Amahan paused and did a long stretch with both his hands together. "Now, let's just focus on what lies behind these gates."

  The Exorcist then tapped on Puthaw's shoulder. "Please, do the honors!"

  The Death Knight grinned, and whirled down his executioner's blade with one swift motion.

  KLANK

  The iron gates busted open. Puthaw, Ligon, and Bato were the first ones to enter the vast palace grounds. Whereas, Amahan, Atiman, and Tabang were in the center of their group. While, Magikera, Tirador, and Baskog were in the rear.

  Whereas, Matz stood alone, and walked some distance behind them.

  "Looks like we're in the clear," blurted out Magikera.

  Suddenly, three red apparitions, over two-meters tall, materialized from the mist. Their faces were covered by a hood and a mask, but the thing that caught the Decane members' attention, were the massive crimson scythes they carried.

  "Oops, spoke too soon," said Magikera.

  "What do we do now?" Atiman asked Amahan.

  The rest of the Decane members turned to face their Exorcist Leader.

  "Okay, here's the plan," confidently replied Amahan. "Win!"

  "Good plan!" sho
uted Puthaw, and charged at the apparition in front of him.

  "Crescere Vita! Vitam Reficio!" Atiman started shouting out blessings on Puthaw. "Medeis Reficio! Sanctum Gladium!" The Archbishop increased the Death Knight's maximum life, mana recovery, life recovery, and holy offensive attack for the next ten minutes.

  After blessing Puthaw, Atiman went on to cast the same buff spells on Ligon and Bato.

  All four of them faced the same monster, but Puthaw moved faster than any of the other Death Knights.

  SHLINK

  Puthaw's executioner's blade was met with the red apparition's scythe, but the Death Knight maneuvered his sword to slide down the long handle of the scythe. He nicked two fingers off the monster, revealing its name and life bar, blood wraith (1,780,000/1,800,000 HP).

  Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle grounds. Baskog tanked the second blood wraith by himself. Of course, he was already buffed by the standard spells from Hilot and Atiman. Simultaneously, Magikera and Tirador kept on attacking the same undead monster with their long range magical attacks.

  Baskog pointed his black shield at the blood wraith, and unleashed his holy silver cross attack on the red apparition.

  The blood wraith tried to block Baskog's holy attack with its scythe, but the white light went past it.

  At the same time, Amahan faced the last blood wraith alone. He pointed out his right palm at the apparition, and a gigantic white hand appeared from underneath it. The giant hand held the monster firm, while the Exorcist pelted it with holy cross attacks.

  The hooded Matz, who did nothing the entire time, walked next to the busy Amahan.

  "You know, I could have finished all three of them at once," said Matz. "If you just did your research right."

  "I keep telling you, I'm really sorry," replied Amahan, while still attacking his captured blood wraith. "But what's done is done. Let's just move on from it."

  "I will move on... once you have fixed this," said Matz, pointing at himself from head to foot.

  "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." Matz clicked his tongue. "You know, I could have eliminated all three of them at once. Now, you just have to deal with these monsters the hard way."

  As his eyebrows crossed, Amahan took in a gulp of air. His breath clearly visible through the cold weather as he exhaled it out. He then turned to Matz and said. "You mean something like this?"

  Amahan canceled out the giant white hand holding his blood wraith. Instead, he pointed both his palms to the ground and shouted. "Maxime Exorcismo!"

  An extensive casting circle appeared on the ground, covering the entirety of the castle grounds. A myriad of holy symbols appeared from within it.

  At once, all three blood wraiths stopped moving.

  "Hey? What gives?" complained Magikera, and ceased her attacks.

  All of the Decane members followed suit, and stopped attacking as well.

  "Evinco Malum!" shouted Amahan, and the life bars of the blood wraiths steadily dwindled to the last HP. It took less than three minutes for the red apparitions' life bars to display zero.

  TING DING TING

  The sound of the blood wraiths dropping their scythes resonated within the castle grounds.

  "Like that?" Amahan asked Matz.

  The hooded Matz nodded once and said. "Yes, but my attack would not have drained all of my mana."

  Amahan did not respond. Instead, he took out a blue potion and drank it all in one gulp. He walked away from Matz, and headed towards his guildmates.

  With his back facing the cloaked Matz, Amahan took out two more blue potions and chugged it down.

  "Hey, Baskog, what were you saying about Faux, again?" asked the Exorcist, as he subtly tried to change the topic.

  "Um," replied Baskog, surprised by the question out of nowhere. "Oh, right! The forums are saying that he's gotten to the point, where he is as famous as you, Tristan, and Smoke."

  "I think he could be even better than Smoke," added Magikera. "But maybe that's just because that stupid DarkElf has been lying low lately?"

  "Well, Faux isn't just lying around," said Baskog. "In fact, he had just successfully defended Votl City against an Ork Horde which numbered almost a million."

  "How did he do that?" asked Puthaw, bewildered.

  "Technically, he was only one of the thousands of people who defended the city," explained Baskog. "But he was given the temporary title of Vice-General."

  "Faux, could be a big deal, but I don't think his fame will last long," said Amahan. "But like I said, as the same case as with Smoke and Tristan, if they're not in the continent of Nawterra, why bother with them?"

  "True," said Baskog. "Now that you mention it, I think Faux is going to be in deep trouble soon."

  "Why is that?" asked Magikera.

  "Oh, right!" blurted out Baskog. "I forgot to mention that the Orks had fooled them all."

  "Eh? How?" further asked Aero Magus.

  "Vitzytl's capital city may have been defended," began the Night Templar. "But now the Ork Horde is going after the other three cities who have barely any defense."

  "Ha! This Faux character isn't even on Smoke's level," said Amahan. "I'm sure that Smoke wouldn't have fallen for such a ploy."

  Amahan let out another deep sigh, cleansing his mind.

  "Alright, pick up the loot and let's see what this palace has to offer," ordered Amahan and led the way towards the castle doors.

  Matz tried to walk directly behind Amahan, but the Exorcist hastened his pace.

  Amahan stopped, and waited for everyone to arrive before he opened the door. "Everyone, ready?" he asked, holding the knob of the palace door.

  "Do it, already!" yelled an excited Magikera.

  As soon as they opened the door, a notification window popped up.

  - Entered King Aquila's Summer Home

  This was where the King and his family spent their holidays.

  Now, it is the home of ghosts and apparitions.

  - Monsters inside this mansion are highly aggressive.

  - Suggested level for entering this mansion is 250.

  "Baskog, you said this was King Aquila's Castle, right?" asked Atiman. "Why does it say Summer Home?"

  "I don't know," replied the Night Templar. "That's what the book told me."

  "See? I knew we couldn't count on Baskog to get his facts right!" screamed an angry Puthaw.

  * * * * * *

  A sandstorm cleared up, which revealed a four-story ruined castle carved out from the side of a mountain. This ancient structure was part of the lost city in the scorching deserts of Grand Malodorant Dragonis.

  Yet, its formerly abandoned streets were now filled with a bustling crowd of Sonstwelters and Zectians. All of them were busy doing business in front of medium-sized tents to ones that were extravagantly large. Most of these were owned by newly formed guilds.

  The common stalls were filled with the finest armor, weapons, accessories, and potions. With one glance, any passerby could tell that these were expensive items.

  After only a few months of being discovered, this place had become the largest rally point in the east. One of the main reasons people were drawn here, was due to the lack of taxes from any of the established kingdoms.

  Because of this, this rally point received a daily arrival of fresh meat. Hundreds of Zectians and Sonstwelters arrived from the Kingdoms of Thanotl, Thayotl, and Matotl. They wandered through the streets, all looking for the next big score, gambling that they would make it big here.

  Among them, were an Assassin and a Priestess.

  "This place was discovered by Tristan and his DracoRicco members," said one of the new arrivals.

  "Ironically, this was also the place where Tristan disbanded his guild," added a Paladin who walked behind them.

  The Assassin then gently patted the Paladin's shoulder and said. "Hey, my name is Bon. How would you like to—"

  The Assassin was rudely cut off by the hand of the Paladin. "Not interested," he said, and moved away from him.

&nb
sp; "Ora, try that guy," Bon said to the Priestess, who stood next to him.

  "Um. Excuse me, Sir. I just arrived here three days ago," began Ora. "And I was wondering if you would like to join me on a quest? The rewards are pretty—"

  "Sorry, I'm busy," interjected the Paladin, cutting the Priestess off.