Realm of the Nine Circles: The Grind: A LitRPG Novel

by P. Joseph Cherubino

  “Because you are worthy of the task at hand, namely, to bring life back to the Spiven Elves so we might take our rightful place in the Realm.”

  “Rightful place?” Kalmond asked uneasily.

  The King just smiled. “Yes,” he said, “But let us start small, shall we?”

  Kalmond opened his inventory and checked the time. He had just four hours left. Sweat prickled on his brow. “Why don’t we start with steel?” Kalmond said. “I need ten ingots of spiven steel. That’s why I’m here.”

  “You still think this is merely about a quest. How delightful,” the King said.

  Kalmond grew impatient. “To me it is. How about I promise to help you later if I just get some steel.”

  The King sighed. “Very well. I shall hold you to your word.” He stepped back and made two gestures. First, he waved his right hand, and in its path, a swirling portal opened. Then, he stepped down a few paces and waved his left hand at a nearby building, the doors of which swung open with the sound of grinding stone.

  “In that storehouse, you fill find all the ingots you need.” The King held out a portal sphere to Kalmond. “By taking this, you bind yourself to your word that you stand ready to serve the Spiven King when called upon.”

  “Sure,” Kalmond said, snatching the globe from the King. “Thanks.”

  The dwarf scrambled up the storehouse stairs into a hall filled from floor to ceiling with ingots. He pulled from pallets all that he could carry, then scrambled back down the stairs and across the avenue to the waiting portal. He paused before he stepped through. “Thanks, your majesty!” Kalmond said, and stepped through.

  “Remember,” the King said. “When my portal sphere glows, you are honor-bound to answer.”

  Chapter 26

  The portal from Naefinas took a bit longer in transit than other portals. The lag gave Kalmond pause over the spiven King’s final words. As the portal opened on the other end and he stepped through, second thoughts nagged at him. What exactly had he bound himself to? What obligation was he expected to fulfill? He shook off the feeling when his feet touched down on the dusty floor of the great forge beneath the town of Darkwell. The King had deposited Kalmond exactly where he needed to be.

  Kalmond ambled over to Veith, who shoveled ore into his furnace with the help of two Rock. Each took turns shoveling, then Veith made a hand gesture and the two dillo stepped back and looked on expectantly.

  “This is how you make ore into steel,” Veith said, retrieving a pair of stout pincers. He reached into the forge with the pincers and retrieved a glowing bar of metal. Veith turned to the anvil and pulled the hammer from his belt with a single motion. “Call to mind the type of blade you want to make,” Veith said, bringing the hammer down on the red-hot steel, “and then use the hammer.”

  He pounded away, casting off sparks until a two-handed sword formed over the anvil. He quenched the blade in a barrel of water, then handed it to the nearest rock, he said, “Now take this over to my bench and add the pommel just like I showed you. This sword is yours!”

  Rock took the weapon and waddled over to the new bench on the other side of the forge. Veith noticed Kalmond for the first time as he turned away from his Rock student. “Dwarf! You return! Were your travels successful?”

  “They were, blacksmith,” Kalmond said, handing over ten spiven steel ingots.

  “Ah!” Veith breathed. “I’ve not seen such fine steel in ages. Stand back as I keep my word to you!”

  Quest Complete: Bring Ten Ingots of Spiven Steel to Veith 800 XP

  Gong! With the spiven ore quest, Kalmond finally reached level twenty.

  Kalmond the Stone Dwarf

  Level 20

  XP 29460

  STA 42

  STR 40

  INT 39

  AGI 40

  CHA 40

  MAN 37

  MLVL 1176

  Hit Points 17559

  Veith dropped the ore into his forge with a great spray of sparks that bounced off his leather apron in every direction, making Kalmond step back a few paces in spite of his fire-resistant plate mail. The blacksmith worked his broad shoulders over the forge, then brought out a large, glowing hunk of metal. He hammered the steel over his anvil, but the form that took shape was obscured by clouds of smoke and showers of sparks. Even when Veith finally moved from anvil to quenching barrel, Kalmond could not see his new axe. He waited with breath straining as Veith worked, craning his neck for a glimpse.

  Finally, the burly blacksmith pulled the axe from the barrel and hurried over to his workbench where he quickly administered the finishing touches. When he turned away from the bench holding the axe in both hands, Kalmond felt light headed by what he saw.

  The double-bladed axe was nearly as long as Kalmond was tall. The twin blades at its head spanned his chest as Kalmond took the weapon gingerly from Veith. As he brought the shining metal close to his face, his reflection overlaid the fine engraving of arcane dwarven runes surrounding a depiction of a bear head, its mouth open in a roar.

  Kalmond tested the balance and found it perfect with one hand around the soft leather that covered the bottom section of the haft. The axe ended in a sculpted bear claw that, when Kalmond willed it, opened wide to reveal sharp nails that would provide a secondary attack.

  “To show my thanks,” Veith said. “I added two enchantments. One is speed, of course, the other takes strength from your enemy and adds it to yours on a critical hit.”

  “Sapping…” Kalmond said breathlessly. “Speed and sapping enchantments on a two-handed axe that I can use with one hand. I’ll be unstoppable!”

  Veith bellowed laughter and pounded Kalmond on the shoulders, then simply walked away back to his forge. He set back to work as before, making sword after sword and handing them to one Rock after another.

  Kalmond slung his new axe across his back and looked around the cavern for his Rock. Just thinking of her brought her from the crow.

  “Hello, my friend!” Kalmond shouted as he hurried over.

  “Do I know you?” Rock asked.

  Kalmond stammered, embarrassed, “Oh, I ah...thought you were…”

  That familiar laugh bubbled from her and Kalmond’s face reddened. “You tricked me!” He shouted.

  “I learn humor from not-smart dwarf friend,” Rock said.

  “Good one!” Kalmond said, giving her a little shove. “How did you find your adventure?”

  “Was much fun. Rock wants to come with you. Bring family too,” she said as her husband and children sidled up.

  “Let’s go then,” kalmond said. “I have to go to Dundree, then get to the new Sixth Circle in—” he checked the time by pulling up his inventory. “Wow...three hours.” He turned to Rock and her family. “Come on, Rocks,” he said and motioned them towards the elevator platform.

  When they all piled on, Kalmond pulled the rope and up they went. Kalmond suppressed a snicker when all the rocks drew in their arms and heads and stood on trembling knees as the platform hurtled up.

  “You can come out now,” Kalmond said when the platform stopped atop the wellhead.

  The Rock family poked their heads out slowly and looked around as Kalmond left the platform. “Come on,” kalmond said, motioning them towards the portal to Dundree.

  Kalmond wasted no time heading for Molly’s house as soon as the portal popped him back in Dundree. He found her standing by her door in full battle robes looking grim and severe.

  She opened her mouth to say something, but a scream and a crash cut her short. Kalmond turned to a roaring sound and witnessed a fireball arc over the palisade wall and crash in the courtyard. “They are here,” Molly said.

  “We’re not ready,” Kalmond said.

  “My family fights for the Bear Dwarf!” Rock declared.

  “Stay inside the walls to help,” Kalmond said. Rock nodded her head and drew her scimitar, as did every member of her family.

  Just then, the door to Molly’s shack flew open, and Urseon s
hot past. He streaked towards his former cave home and dove into it on his belly.

  “Only one thing can do that,” Kalmond said.

  “The Ogre,” Molly replied.

  Runecaster and McCrushin ran up. “We closed the doors just in time.” McCrushin said.

  “Six identical Ogres,” Runecaster said. “And trolls, lots and lots of trolls…”

  “I didn’t sign up for this,” McCrushin said. “That Ogre killed me before, and now there are six of them.”

  “Then don’t die,” Kalmond replied.

  “Don’t be such a baby,” Runecaster said.

  “Easy for you to say,” McCrushin shot back, “being a beta tester and all.”

  Kalmond cocked his head, and Runecaster replied, “I can’t help it if I play so well that Plexcorp wants to use my character for AI modeling. I just wish they’d have told me first.”

  “Ah, that was my fault,” Kalmond said, spooling up a white lie. He guessed correctly that Holly figured out some kind of solution for players getting their characters hijacked. He only hoped Driskroll was as amenable.

  “Are you down or what?” Kalmond said to both Runecaster and McCrushin. “Shit is about to go down, and this is much more than a game. Stay or go, but there is no room for half-measures.”

  “Geez, OK,” McCrushin said. “But you owe me.”

  “Stay behind the wall,” Kalmond ordered. “And lead the NPCs when the time is right.”

  Kalmond opened a chat channel to Driskroll. “Dundree under attack. I need you now. Help.” No answer. Kalmond cursed a lusty oath aloud.

  “This is what I saw,” Molly said as another flaming ball sailed over the wall and crashed down directly on the fountain. Villagers screamed and tore about the square in terror.

  “Then I will show you something else,” Kalmond growled. “Teleport me outside the wall. Aim for the woods.”

  Molly took the basilisk egg in both hands and held it above her head. Ribbons of light streamed out on an invisible wind, then formed a helical column around her. The light swirled, then reached out for Kalmond. An instant later, he was standing in the woods outside Dundree. He crouched down quickly in the brush when he saw the army a few paces away.

  The trees making up the palisade gates, twenty feet tall, shook like saplings as a dozen trolls worked a battering ram that swung forward and back on a wheeled frame before the gates. Six identical green ogres flanked the ram. One of them lashed at the trolls with a bullwhip, while the others hammered their fists against the walls and jabbered violent threats. A few hundred trolls lined up in disorderly columns behind the ram, and in the rear, more trolls swarmed over a catapult that held a massive flaming ball of pitch.

  “Give me the bear!” a voice boomed out like a kettle drum as one of the ogres cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted over the wall.

  “Shit,” Kalmond cursed bitterly in the underbrush. “Fucking Driskroll.”

  All around the towering green ogres, trolls scurried, slobbering and chattering as they ran back and forth. They screamed and howled their battle lust, forming waves of sound that chilled Kalmond to the bone.

  “Calling me to save your ass again won’t help you get into the nameless any faster,” a voice said from nowhere.

  Kalmond yelped at the sound and rolled away from the voice. He was barely able to make out a shimmering translucent form that leaned against a tree.

  “Ass!” Kalmond hissed over voice chat.

  One of the trolls near the edge of the woods turned towards the sound. A bowstring sang out, and an arrow made a vulgar hiss. The arrow shaft passed clean through the Troll’s neck, nearly removing its head, killing it cleanly. None of its companions noticed.

  “You’re welcome,” Driskroll said as his invisibility spell blinked out and he slipped down onto the forest brush beside Kalmond.

  “That was close,” Kalmond whispered.

  “What do you have in mind?” Driskroll asked.

  “So, you’re in?” the dwarf asked.

  “Sure,” Driskroll replied. “I’ll send my bill, later. I brought five fire potions. That’s about 1k circs right there…”

  “Whatever,” Kalmond grumbled. Driskroll handed over the firebomb potions.

  “OK, OK,” Driskroll said, laughing. “Enough ball busting.”

  “We just need to distract them,” Kalmond said.

  “It’s about a hundred to one,” Driskroll said.

  “I didn’t say it would be easy. We have invisibility,” Kalmond replied.

  “Lead the way to our deaths then,” Driskroll said and went invisible. Kalmond followed suit.

  Boom! The battering ram grew louder as more trolls joined to hammer at the gate. Runecaster and McCrushin fired spells and boulders down from the walls atop the attackers.

  Boom-crack, went the battering ram and the gate parted slightly, revealing for a second panicked figures on the other side who pushed it closed.

  “This is it,” Kalmond said, jumping out from the brush as he chugged a mana potion. He hurled a firebomb at the trolls working the ram, then another. Both bombs scored perfect hits, scattering all the trolls.

  Driskroll didn’t need to be told. He ran ahead to a tree where he took cover and let loose with flaming arrows, taking out three trolls in rapid succession. Kalmond leapfrogged and ran just behind the treeline a few paces, where he set up a firebomb trap in a gap between the trees.

  The dwarf quickly deactivated his invisibility and took his time firing two crossbow bolts into the crowd that saw him instantly and turned to rush at him like floodwater. He wasn’t going for aim. He just wanted to draw as many his way before he turned around and ran behind the largest tree trunk he could find where he activated invisibility again.

  He’d barely made it to cover when the first wave of trolls set off the trap. He killed six immediately. They were too close. If he moved, the mob would be sure to see him. That’s when Driskroll deactivated his spell to appear within dagger striking distance. Driskroll slashed at two trolls that escaped Kalmond’s trap, killing one and wounding another. That gave Kalmond time to run.

  He ran deeper into the woods, turning south along the treeline. He set two traps this time, the second just beyond the blast radius of the first. In the distance, the giant ogres continued to pound away at the gates, but with many fewer trolls. That was good news. The bad news was that at least half the troll army was after Kalmond and Driskroll.

  “Hurry up,” Driskroll shouted over voice chat. That meant he was close.

  Kalmond revealed himself again, taking time to aim with his crossbow. He scored a double-critical one-shot kill on a troll that happened to be leaping over the body of a fresh corpse made by Driskroll. He fired again, scoring another critical with a poisoned bolt that made the troll attack his comrades.

  “Nice shot!” Driskroll shouted. Kalmond grinned and let loose with two more bolts in rapid succession. One scored another berserker, the other scored a kill.

  Kalmond ran hard to pass the second trap while remaining visible. He stood at the edge of the blast radius, drawing his bear axe in one hand and the axe of warding in the other.

  Three trolls tripped the bomb, making bloody chunks of gray troll meat slap wetly off his chest plate. Kalmond ran into the blast, chopping the third troll in two with the bear axe. Four other trolls, unable to escape the wall of flame, slashed at him with scimitars. Kalmond blocked two with the axe of warding. A broad, power-attack sweep of the bear axe caught one, killed it, then carried the corpse along to kill the other.

  Kalmond went invisible just before the flames died out. He flanked a column of trolls rushing towards the place where he was not. He chopped one clean in two with a rage attack, then put the axe of warding away to slam a rejuvenation potion. He followed that up by drinking a firebomb potion for the first time. He’d never tasted gasoline, but he imagined that was the taste.

  Going invisible was useless now, so he deactivated and found himself in a crush of trolls that form
ed a circle around him. Kalmond activated his rage attack and held it until the world looked like a window doused in blood. Scimitars pounded against his armor as he whirled, slashed and chopped.

  The extra strength from the firebomb potion was not enough. More trolls joined the crush, pushing Kalmond back to the palisade wall. He swung his axe from left to right, and ended up chopping through an arrow shaft instead. Driskroll was back. More trolls dropped with arrows in them before Kalmond could kill them. The crowd thinned out.

  Half the trolls broke off from Kalmond and went after Driskroll, who also stopped bothering with invisibility. As soon as Kalmond got clear, he downed a healing potion and tore into the mob that had made Driskroll disappear.

  It was Kalmond’s turn to bait the mob. “My armor has high fire resistance,” Kalmond said. “I’ll make them chase me, then stop. Throw all your firebombs into the crowd when they cluster up!”

  “You’re insane!” Driskroll shouted. “But I like it!”

  Kalmond ran hard around the palisade wall, and he was near the clearing when the mob caught up. The dwarf stood firm as a sea of trolls washed over him. Axes took out one after another until he lost count. Half his hit points were gone before Driskroll tossed one firebomb, then another. In a fit of insane inspiration, Kalmond took the time to down a stoneflesh potion. Within the flames, a bright flash of light announced Kalmond reached level twenty-one. He hadn’t been keeping track of the kills, but he thought he must have taken out nearly a hundred to get the next level so fast.

  Kalmond the Stone Dwarf

  Level 21

  XP 32680

  STA 43

  STR 41

  INT 40

  AGI 41

  CHA 41

  MAN 38

  MLVL 1224

  Hit Points 18241

  With his endurance bar full, Kalmond activated his trusty rage attack and used it for every strike until it was gone. He dropped at least ten more trolls, all of them on fire, and the crowd still surged against him like a tide. Then, the mob suddenly paused. Every troll head looked up for a moment, then the entire mob turned around and ran the opposite direction.

  “They broke the gate,” a text message came in from McCrushin. “They’re inside!”