Riding the wind was Mari’s voice as she sang in the company of Nitro, who enjoyed drawing her—let’s just say: unmentionables. They sat atop the guildhall building in the midsts of the many flowers and plants that made up the roof garden. So peaceful in the midsts of the breeze, Nitro let her artistic vision flow on her tablet with her pen like a quill, while nearly drooling on the screen. She gave form to that which was without and fulfilled her lust to envision and make concrete.
With Mari’s voice as the soundtrack to Nitro’s endeavour, the blue-haired girl kicked back, relaxed and let her song go.
Reach out.
To the stars.
Hear their song,
In my voice.
We’ll be fine.
With the wind
Under the sun.
Among the floral
With our eyes on the sky
Reveal what we hide inside.
Let our tears fall in daylight.
We’ll keep each other alive.
The smooth words were accompanied by the gentle strum of guitar strings with a subtle beat of a drum every now and then. Her song was carried by the Wind’s tongue as she walked across the streets, through every alleyway, among the crowds of adventures and NPCs. She said “hi” to all, kissing and caressing every face, comforting every ache and dancing in every place.
She hummed and repeated the sweet sound of Mari’s voice as she ran her fingers across the brick walls and shook every piece of clothing she could find. With a wide smile on her face she skipped and bounded while her dress twisted and turned around her.
Soon she found herself in the company of Mila and Remi as they explored the shopping district. She joined their conversation, watching them as they were shopping for some new equipment and small trinkets. She listened in, giggled when they were acting sweet, or laughed straight out when Remi was awkward.
However, that all came to an end as Remi stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder as though someone was watching them. He saw no one out of the ordinary, but his instincts weren’t wrong.
Abe quietly sat hidden on one of the roofs, overlooking the shopping district. When it was finally safe, he peered over the ledge and stalked his fellow guild members. It didn’t take long for the Wind to get bored of watching from a distance, before she continued her carefree stroll.
She visited all the different shops, piggybacked on every person who seemed interesting. Soon, however, she found herself at an end where she’d explored and discovered all there was to find in Genesis, but with Mari’s song on her tongue, she skipped and ran out into the open fields outside of the walls.
She camped with the goblins, danced with them around their fire and tasted their roasting dinner with her nose. From tree to tree she walked through the forests barely disturbing the bed of roots and greenery.
Finally out into the open with the sun’s glare warming her skin, she looked up with a pleased grin at the great ball of light. That’s when she noticed, after blocking out the rays, a shadowed peak standing in the distance.
Her smile only grew, as did the longing to be on top of the world. It only took her a second to decide that she’d climb that huge mountain. It took another for her to burst into a sprint with her dress fluttering all around her as she ran.
When she reached its foot, she didn’t even allow herself a moment to hesitate, before she jumped up and began a formidable journey.
She climbed and climbed, barely slipping when she’d got a solid hold. Her muscles were full of power and her spirit, the same. She giggled when she looked down and smiled with every inch closer she got to the top. But what really made her excited was that she wasn’t the only one challenging the mountain. There was another brave soul embarking on the endeavour.
She hurried until she was right next to him. He was breathing heavily and sweating across his face, but he didn’t at all seem like he was giving up, rather the opposite. He powered through, exercising the might still inside.
“Hyde,” she whispered. “You can do it!”
The faint whistle of the wind tickled in his ears as he made every effort to crawl up to the sky. Left hand, right foot. Right hand, left foot. Soon he was at the end of his rope. His journey was over and his heart was about to give out. He peered over and saw the plateau of the mountain.
With the help of the Wind, he pulled himself over and lay on his back at the edge. I made it. He thought, looking to his left. There stood, the unmistakable house of trials. It was almost identical to the Trial of Strengths. But something about it seemed a bit different. It was probably the slight change in detailing and intricate design.
After his short breather, he lifted himself up, checking the map on his tablet and then quickly snapping a picture of the scenery before he walked over to the house of trials.
“Dammit… I hate portals.” He held his hands over his eyes, but he still couldn’t find it in him to walk through.
“Don’t worry, Hyde, you’ll be fine,” the Wind said, giving him a little push.
“I’ll never get used to this…” Hyde whispered through his fingers as he tried to stand after the attack of portal-sickness.
Finally stable on his feet, he walked through the darkness into the circle of light. Just like in the Trial of Strengths, everything lit up before him. However, this time it wasn’t just one shadow version of him. This time, there were five, all identical in height, feature and shade.
“Draw your sword.” They spoke like a choir.
Hyde said nothing and heeded their words.
“Where should a Dragoon stand?” they said, wielding their own iron longswords.
“C’mon!” Hyde taunted with the blade of steel in his hands.
The shadowed soldiers pushed forward breaking their intimidating line, surrounding the lonely Dragoon. He looked around and found that the only gap he could move into was at his rear. Now with the soldiers stepping forward and him instinctively back, he was losing ground.
“Where should a Dragoon stand?” they said once more.
“C’mon!” he challenged, refusing to back up any further. Instead, he took his first, most crucial step forward. With his steel in tow he pushed forth.
“Between the silver and his own!” said one of them as they quickly moved to protect the other from Hyde’s attack.
Now off balance, he entered into the crucial moment of recovery, where two iron strokes were drawn at him and only one could be blocked by his steel. The other dug into his side.
He staggered back, watching the iron legion continue their march. Their heavy steps and the rustling of their armor shivered in his ears and chilled his spine.
It wasn’t just that they were fierce, it was the fact that they were an unified unit who fought not as a group of five blades but as a single one. Although they were five human-sized foes, they resembled a single colossus with a heavy sword and shield at his disposal.
“Dammit,” Hyde whispered, steadying his feet.
“When you have one to protect,” they said, entering into the iconic top guard Hyde was familiar with. “You protect yourself!”
The shadowed soldier leading the pack, lifted his arms above his head, telegraphing an obvious Rend. It was easily Parriable, but it wasn’t just the one attack coming, it was a fifty-fifty. If Hyde punished it, it meant that during his offensive push, any number of attacks could come from the other soldiers.
His only option was… to Parry. He blocked the attack flawlessly. Under the sparks of steel and the ring of clashing iron, he Feinted his counter and attacked one of the other unsuspecting foes with a Hilt Bash. Once dazed, he threw the soldier into the pack forcing them to stagger against one another as if they were a huge clumsy hydra.
He capitalised, forcing one of them to taste steel with a furious Rend. Surprisingly enough, it only took the one attack to drop the soldier. However, when he tried to continue his push, he found that they were defending one another more fiercely than before.
Even when
spread out, it seemed like they were always there to carry the other one’s slack. They left no openings and barred every possibility of being cut down. Instead, Hyde was forced into a corner, desperately trying to dodge the attacks and stay alive. Until…
“A Dragoon covers for others, taking on their burden!” the words resonated and in that very moment, he knew that his job was exactly that. His job was to be the vanguard, the all rounder, the one that would pick up where another would fail.
That’s when he realised the skill that they were using, the one that gave them the ability to cover flanks and leave nothing vulnerable.
Cover. The Skill that allowed a Dragoon to be there in the nick of time, when another Skill wasn’t sufficient. It was the Skill that would stop anyone from ending up like Levi.
“C’mon!” Hyde screamed, and right then with a smile on his face, he leapt into the den of silver blades and shadowed beings. All in order to be the wielder of that very Skill.
CHAPTER 15
“Okay, listen up,” Zora said, standing behind her desk in the main guild office. Everyone gave their full attention as she dimmed the lights and used her tablet to project a large holographic image behind her. “I hereby declare this the start of our first expedition.”
“Expedition?” Hyde whispered, imagining a very harsh journey through a blizzard at night.
“An expedition is when we travel to discover something new,” Mari said to him.
“We’ll be looking for the Dungeon, The House of Sages,” Zora announced.
“Dungeon?” He tilted his head to the right, visualising a gothic-styled, mansion basement with all kinds of rats and spiders—nope, just nope—he shook his head ridding himself of the eight-legged creatures swarming his imagination.
“A dungeon is—” Mari began.
Hyde quickly stopped her, trying to not get the specifics, because at this point he was sure that if spiders were involved he wouldn’t be able to take it.
“We’re going for The House of Sages?” Remi said. “Isn’t it still just a rumor?”
“It exists, and we’re going to find it,” Zora said, leaving no room for questioning.
“Okay, okay just tell me, what is The House of Sages?” Hyde whispered to Mari, clearly changing his mind.
“It’s a Dungeon,” she whispered back.
“I know that—”
“Our lineup will be just like we practised. Mila and Remi are one unit, Abe and myself, Hyde and Nitro, and Mari will be stand-alone support.” Zora looked across their faces and said soon after, “Scratch that, Hyde, Nitro and Mari are one unit.”
“Now, according to the rumors, The House of Sages should be somewhere in Ogre Territory, so we’ll start off around there, trekking the more uncharted lands of the area.”
“What exactly is a Dun—” Hyde began.
“It’s a place where monster are,” Mari whispered.
“But—”
“That’s a wrap!” With those words Zora ended the meeting, and Hyde was left without any answers for his questions.
They left the city of Genesis, packed and ready for the trek. Everything they possibly needed fit nicely inside the hidden space of their tablet inventory.
“C’mon, can someone tell me what a Dungeon is exactly?” Hyde grumbled.
“What? You don’t know?” Abe asked.
“Were you even listening?” Remi added.
“I was, but no one said anything about what an actual Dungeon is,” Hyde said.
“What rock have you been living under?” Zora turned to him.
“Hey, shut up!” he retorted.
“A Dungeon is the pinnacle of group play in this game,” she explained.
“That doesn’t really tell me anything.”
“You really haven’t even heard of a game, have you?”
“Not that again…”
“A Dungeon is where the strongest guilds go to prove themselves,” Remi explained.
“Oh, so it’s like some trial kinda thing?” Hyde replied.
“Not exactly, think more of a lion’s den, and if you come out alive, you’re given all kinds of amazing loot, and you also pretty much become famous,” Abe said.
“Famous—really?” Hyde raised an eyebrow, looking unconvinced.
“The guild’s name as well as the members participating in the completion of the Dungeon gets written up on the leaderboards,” Mari said.
“Leaderboards? What’s that?” he asked.
“Seriously? What century are you from?” Zora commented.
“Shut up!”
“It’s a scoreboard showing the names and the current score and ranking of the leading competitors,” Mari explained.
“Oh and you also tend to get an interview with the Eden Times,” Mila added.
“Eden Times?” he repeated.
“It’s a newspaper, want me to explain that too?” Zora scoffed.
“Oh, just shut up,” he grumbled. “So who’s currently at the top?”
“Tryhards and SWE,” Remi noted.
“And then there’s also that one which disappeared,” Abe said.
“One guild disappeared?” Hyde asked.
“Yeah, no one knows why, but the guild with the most Dungeon completions, just up and vanished one day with all its members,” Abe continued.
“What was their name?” Hyde wondered.
“That’s a mystery,” Remi said.
“Oh.”
“But that doesn’t mean we, The Crimson Demons, can’t overtake them!” Nitro chanted.
“Really? The Crimson Demons again?” Zora looked unimpressed.
“Anyway—so these dungeons are difficult, right?” Hyde asked.
“Extremely,” Remi said.
“Then, why do people put themselves through such things?” Hyde wondered.
“Hyde… because of the money, the fame and the bitc—I mean the challenge.” Zora turned to him with burning eyes so sharp he’d almost quivered under their glare.
“Isn’t it just suicide?” he questioned.
“Usually, but that’s why it’s only the best of the best that go for it,” she smiled, looking back at her party.
Are we the best of the best? Hyde thought.
He couldn’t shake the question as they continued their trek, but a notification popped up on his tablet, drawing his attention away from the critical question. He glanced at the tablet, clicking whatever it was that had showed up and sure enough, the map moved automatically, showing him a huge area highlighted with a rough circle ahead.
“Hey, I just got something on my tablet—” he trailed off when he noticed everyone had received the same message.
“This should be good,” Zora grinned despite herself. “Listen up, we’ll be participating in this event so look alive. We’re running with the same setup as we will in the Dungeon.”
Everyone but Hyde nodded.
“What the hell is going on—” he whispered. “Hey, what event?” he asked, imaging a summer festival, with a lot of food, activity booths and lights.
“Dynamic event,” Mari replied.
“You know, that doesn’t tell me very much…” he grumbled.
“Just watch…” Zora smiled, and as they reached the top of a hill, Hyde froze.
“What the—” he looked across at all the players in the fields below. So many. Were there always this many people?
“Are they all real people?” he asked.
“Yep,” Abe smiled. “Welcome to the world, Hyde.”
“This is a dynamic event,” Remi explained.
“Really? Just a bunch of players standing around?” Hyde cringed.
“Look at the thing they’re fighting,” Mila smiled.
“The thing they’re fighting—” as soon as those words left his lips, he noticed the huge creature trying to fend off the army of players. It looked like a giant black boar with purple flames coming off it.
“What is that thing?” he asked.
“That is
the target of our dynamic event,” Zora smiled. “C’mon, they’ll kill it before we get a chance to hop in!” she raced down the hill.
“Well, try to have fun,” Abe smiled following her.
“We’ll see you there,” Mila waved and then raced down with Remi in tow.
“Does everything make sense now, Hyde?” Mari asked.
“No, nothing makes sense!” Hyde grumbled. “What about the Dungeon?”
“Forget the Dungeon! This is our new target!” Nitro chanted.
“Okay… then what is that? Where’d it come from? And how in the world do we even fight it?”
A staff spawned in Nitro’s hands. “With this,” she said assertively.
“It appeared from the forest right over there,” Mari explained.
“Really, it’s that easy,” he eyed her.
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded.
“Fine, let’s go,” he said, and the three of them made their way down the hill.
As they arrived at the battlefield it became increasingly obvious just how big the giant boar actually was. How—
“How the hell do we—” he trailed off as he heard Nitro’s chanting. Her staff glowed and lights flickered around her.
“Come Static!” Nitro screamed and a crack of lightning followed electrifying the ground. The sparks jolted and jumped, raving through the boar’s muscles, but barely stunting its movement. “Damn, I need something bigger,” she smirked, beginning to prepare a stronger spell.
While she did, Hyde turned to Mari who was supporting the army of players with her book. “Um… how exactly am I supposed to fight this thing?”
“With your sword,” she cocked her head to the right.
“My sword? But that thing is huge! Wouldn’t I just be like a thorn poking its legs?” He shook his head.
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded.
“Are you kidding me?” He raised a brow.
She simply shook her head and pointed. And what he saw were a bunch of presumed Dragoons poking at the legs of the boar.
“Lame!” he grumbled, but sure enough, he did just that.
He hacked at one of the monster’s legs with a few other melee fighters from other guilds and parties. After the first couple of slashes, they looked to one another and sighed, understanding just how lame their job was.
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