Tinker, Tailor, Giant, Dwarf ( LitRPG Series): Difficulty:Legendary Book 2

by Gregg Horlock

With that, he drew his sword from his sheath. The blade was stained red with blood, and a black jewel shone out from the hilt. Herelius charged at me. Despite the bulk of his armour, he was fast.

  As he ran at me with his sword in the air, a red light gathered over him. Just as he swung his blade, I dodged to the left. The bulk of the force missed me, but the tip of his sword scratched my bicep.

  98 HP lost (Total: 71 / 169)

  Even a graze from his sword was enough to drain more than half my HP. I knew that my dagger wasn’t strong enough to puncture his armour. I glanced at the gunpowder and casings behind me, but I knew that I wouldn’t have time to make even a single bomb.

  There was nothing for it. If my normal dagger wouldn’t work, I had to use something else. I drew the Old Serpent’s Sting from my belt. On seeing it, Herelius’ eyes seemed to burn with fire. I looked at the blade and saw that the metal glowed red.

  Old Serpent’s Sting Used

  25 HP lost (Total 46/169)

  Herelius swung at me again. I ducked my head and felt the blade rush over my scalp, narrowly missing me. Without pause, I lurched forward and stabbed the dagger against Herelius’ armour with all the force I could muster. The blade didn’t puncture the metal, but I saw that his armour started to crack around the area I’d stabbed him.

  It wasn’t good enough. I’d need to hit him a dozen times before I did any damage, and my agility was too low for me to keep dodging him. As the sounds of the battle roared on outside the barn, I looked at my enemy and knew I had no choices left.

  Herelius stepped forward. He slowly backed me into the corner of the barn, where I stumbled against the pile of swords and heard them clatter to the floor.

  I gripped the dagger in my hand. If I was to die here, I would die fighting. With the last of my strength, I would crack Herelius’ armour. As he approached me, I stabbed him again and I saw more cracks spread across the metal that protected him.

  Old Serpent’s Sting Used

  25HP lost (Total 21/169)

  “I know what the blade does,” he said, moving closer to me. “With every attack, it drains you. You can’t last long now, Janus. Surrender to it. I’m told death can be a pleasant feeling if it is quick enough.”

  Herelius stood over me and raised his sword. I remembered the last time I had been in this position. I pictured him stood over me in the cave and raising his blade. I remembered the pain that seared across my chest.

  As Herelius swung his sword at me, time seemed to slow. The seconds dragged on so that I saw the arc of his swing get closer and closer to my neck. It was as though the game was allowing me to live the last moments of my life in agonising detail.

  The blade came within an inch of my throat and then smashed against something. I waited for the pain to spread across me and for my HP bar to drain, but instead, nothing happened.

  I realised that a shield of hardened mud had grown around me, and Herelius’ swing had blasted through a portion of it. Across from me, at the entrance of the barn, stood Helblake Crowley. The Greye Leader held his hands in front of him, and his face was screwed up in a look of concentration.

  Herelius turned to face him. As he did, I equipped my normal dagger and rushed at him. I grunted with concentration as I leapt toward him, and I felt my Poison Blade skill activate.

  The tip of my dagger stabbed into the back of Herelius’ neck, finding a small patch of skin where the metal of his armour didn’t join his helm. The Serpent leader grunted in pain. I appraised him, and I saw a status next to his name.

  Herelius Rouge – **Poisoned**

  Herelius didn’t even turn around. Instead, he stared ahead of him at Helblake. I looked on at this meeting of two powerful forces. The shadows in the barn seemed to grow darker around me. Outside, I heard someone scream, and I heard the rush of a fireball that a mage had cast. The fight showed no signs of slowing.

  Helblake broke his concentration and looked beyond Herelius and fixed his stare on me.

  “I told you we would meet sooner that you thought,” he said.

  “Come out of your cave, have you?” said Herelius. “This must be important, for the mighty Greyes to sneak out from their hiding place.”

  Helblake looked at me. “You need to go, Janus. Take the dagger and get out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving you here.”

  “This isn’t about one life, Janus. Surely you must realise that by now? If you stay here with the dagger, this will all have been for nothing.”

  “I can’t just leave you with him.”

  “There’s a purpose for us all,” said Helblake. “And it seems I found mine. Not in the Assipian peaks, but here, in a barn near Iskarg. A fitting end, I guess. Don’t let this be for nothing. Leave. Now.”

  He was right. I didn’t want to admit it, but I knew he was right. If I stayed here with the dagger, both of us would die and Herelius would get it regardless. At least if I went, there was still a chance he could be stopped. It was slight, but it was possible.

  I looked around. Helblake stood at the door of the barn, and Herelius advanced on him. Even if I tried to get by him, my HP was so low that all the Serpent leader had to do was punch me, and I would die.

  As if in answer to my question, Helblake focused on something behind me. I turned and saw that the part of the wooden structure of the barn was weakening. The wood seemed to darken and rot. Turning back around, I saw that a wooden shield had formed in front of Helblake. Herelius stepped forward and with one swing of his sword he busted through the shield.

  I turned around. I kicked the weakened wood and created a hole, where daylight streamed in.

  “Remember,” said Helblake, not taking his eyes off Herelius. “Find the Tinker. I won’t say his name here, but you know who I mean.”

  Herelius turned to me. “Wait, Janus. Don’t leave so soon.”

  I ignored him and went to go through the opening in the barn.

  “Don’t you want to know about your brother?” said Herelius.

  I stopped.

  “It’s been a while since you saw him, hasn’t it?” said Herelius. “I bet you’re missing him.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” called out Helblake.

  I knew I had to leave, but I couldn’t. “You know Thomas?”

  “Thomas? No. I don’t know anyone called Thomas. That isn’t your brother’s name anymore.”

  “You need to go, Janus. He’s tricking you,” said Helblake.

  Herelius gave a crooked grin. “No. Your brother has a different name, now. He’s called-”

  Before Herelius could finish his sentence, a groaning sound came from above us. I looked and saw that Helblake stared at the barn roof with a look of focus. The wood above us began to twist and weaken until finally, the roof began to collapse. A wooden beam fell from above and smashed onto Herelius' head. The barn shook, and I knew it wouldn’t stay standing much longer.

  Herelius grunted in anger and rushed at the Greye leader. As he raised his sword, Helblake stared at it. I watched as Herelius’ sword seemed to vibrate and turn black. As he swung it at the Greye leader, I heard a loud clang of metal and I saw that a steel barrier had formed in front of Helblake.

  More wood rained down on us. Another beam fell, and this time there was a loud creak as the barn began to fall apart. I had to go. If I stayed, I’d be buried under the wood.

  I ducked through the opening and went outside. Just as I stepped out onto the grass, the barn collapsed behind me, burying Herelius and Helblake underneath it.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  When I re-joined the battle at the front of the guild house, I saw that bodies were strewn on the mud. Craters marked the spots where Brian’s bombs had exploded. I heard the ringing of metal on metal as warriors swung their blades at each other.

  The Serpent numbers were dwindling. I watched as the hooded Greyes used their abilities to drain the steel from their opponents’ swords. They sent them back at the Serpent fighters as shards of metal. Men and women cr
ied out in agony as pieces of steel pierced their flesh.

  Ahead of me, Smoglar and Connor stood back-to-back and fought as Serpent warriors and rogues rushed at them. Ozreal drank a mana potion, threw the vial on the ground and then focussed another wave of arcane energy. Tiredness was written over the old mage’s face.

  I heard the sound of a horn. I looked at the fields ahead of me in dismay, as I saw that another unit of Serpent troops marched across the grass. Their numbers seemed to be endless, and I wondered how many more waves would come at us. I gripped my dagger and prepared to join the fray.

  As I rushed forward, someone grabbed my arm and dragged me back. I turned around, ready to stab my dagger into the belly of whoever it was. Instead of a Serpent, I saw Brian. He had scratches on his face and a wound below his shoulder. His fingers were stained black from gunpowder, and his HP bar was barely a quarter full.

  “You have to go, Janus,” he said.

  I shook my head. “We’ll keep fighting,” I said. “With the Greyes here, we have a chance.”

  Across from us, where the barn once stood, I saw wooden beams fly through the air. Herelius Rouge stood up from the wreckage.

  Brian put his hand on my shoulder. “This isn’t about the guild anymore,” he said. “It’s not about me, or Smoglar, or Ozreal. The dagger is the most important thing.”

  I stared across at Herelius. I watched as he brushed splinters off his armour, and then bent down and moved wood aside to look for his sword.

  “Forget him,” said the giant. “Forget revenge. This is about more than that. Surely you realise that now?”

  Ahead of me, Smoglar swung his axe at the stomach of a Serpent mage. He looked across, and seeing Brian and me, he ran toward us. Connor followed him. Ozreal and Feidan moved away from the mound of earth and joined us. There was no sign of Derek the tailor.

  When we were all together as a group, I looked at my friends. Their faces were weary from battle. Ozreal and Feidan sported full HP bars, but I could tell both their mana and stamina were down to the last dregs.

  I looked at the battle around me and I saw the bodies of my guild mates on the ground. It seemed that most of the newbies had died in the battle, and the ones that still lived had HP bars draining dangerously close to empty.

  Brian was right, I realised. We could stay and defend the guild, and maybe we could even force the Serpents to retreat. That would never be the end of it, though. When I looked across at Herelius Rouge I felt hate burn through me, but I knew that I had to put it to one side.

  My motivations had been selfish. I had come a long way since leaving Blundow, but I had been driven by hate. Everything I had done so far I had done for myself; pushing myself on to try and satisfy my desire for revenge. I had been focussed on myself. I pulled the Old Serpent’s Sting from my belt.

  “Maybe I can destroy it,” I said.

  I thought about it. If I created a bomb and then combined it with the ability of the Greyes, maybe I could generate enough force to obliterate the weapon.

  Ozreal shook his head. “Destroying the dagger will slow the Serpents down, but it won’t stop them. They’ll find the shards of their Fire Lord regardless.”

  “What, then?” I said. “If I can’t stay and fight, and I can’t destroy it, what do you suggest we do?”

  “Think about it,” said Brian.

  The dagger hadn’t come to me by accident. Someone had sent it to me, and they had to have a reason for that. I realised that it wasn’t so that I could hide it from the Serpents, or even so that I could demolish it. Someone had sent it me because I had a higher purpose.

  I looked at my friends. Seeing them all drained of their health sent a wave of guilt through me. They had all fought for me, and I couldn’t let it be in vain.

  “I need to find the shards of Necrolor,” I said. “And then I have to destroy them.”

  Ozreal gave a grim smile and then nodded. “That’s your purpose, tinker.”

  Across the field and just away from the battle, the Greye portal remained open. It pained me to have to leave the guild house, but there was no other way. The battle around us would rage on regardless of my presence in it. It seemed that with wave after wave of the Serpents coming, it was a fight we would lose.

  The only chance we had was to leave. The dagger would help me find the Shards of Necrolor, and then we could destroy them. Doing that would weaken the Serpents irreparably.

  But that wasn’t all. I watched as Herelius Rouge picked up his sword from the ground. We needed to stop him for good. As well as making sure his Fire Lord could never come back, I needed to end the Serpent guild. I had to find their charterstone.

  This was why I was here. Not for revenge, not to kill just one man. But to rid Re:Fuze of a guild that had blighted them for years.

  I looked at my friends. Smoglar held his axe in his hand and panted for breath. Connor watched the battle around him, with his fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword. Brian loomed over us all, while Ozreal and Feidan stood together.

  “I can’t ask you all to join me,” I said.

  They all looked at each other. It was Smoglar who answered. “And you won’t have to ask, because we’re coming anyway.”

  The portal across the field began to vibrate, and I saw that soon, it would close. If we were going, we had to go now. A higher calling awaited us. I looked back at Herelius Rouge, and I knew that our paths would cross again.

  As we walked across the field and toward the portal, I remembered Helblake Crowley’s words to me.

  “A battle is coming, Janus. Your story is still beginning, but you are reaching the critical part of it, and I fear that sorrows await you. Become strong, and face them head on.”

  Quest Received: Destroy the Shards of Necrolor

  The End

  Thanks for reading book 2 of the Difficulty: Legendary LitRPG series!

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