by G. Akella
"I see," Max sighed and looked at the bald warrior. "What do you say, Bonbon?"
"I say we give it a try," the tank shrugged. "Rare level twenty gauntlets will fetch at least twenty gold at the auction, and such items really come in handy, the times being what they are. Even if we wipe here, what of it? We will have at least tried."
"He's right," Luffy nodded, pointing at the rat on the dais. "There's at least a hundred gold's worth of stuff for the five of us inside this thing, so it would be stupid if we didn't at least try to bring it down. Besides, we need the gauntlets now, not later, so we definitely need to kill it."
"I also say we try," Esthera nodded. "Dying is very unpleasant, sure, but it's worth the risk. Anyway, we lose nothing in case of death."
"Leeque?" Max turned toward the ranger again.
"I go along with everyone else," the young man smiled widely.
"In that case, let's assume our positions. Bonbon, draw him away from the dais and hold him in the center." Max looked at the resolved faces of his companions. "The rest should give the tank five seconds to draw aggro, then unload on the beast with everything we've got. Everyone ready? Let's go!"
Bonbon put the helmet on his head and approached the boss.
"Rats are clever little guys, got cute ears and beady eyes..." he muttered as he walked, and this ditty of unknown provenance had an ominous ring in the silence of the cave.
When Kryass some ten yards away, Bonbon made a few tentative swings with his sword, and called out:
"Here ratty ratty..."
As soon as the tank entered the aggro zone, the gray rat sprang up onto all fours, stretched like a dog, yawned, demonstrating a set of horrifying yellow fangs, and unhurriedly trotted toward the right staircase.
That was when things started to go all wrong. With Kryass maybe seven feet away, he pounced suddenly, ramming his snout into the tank's shield. Though Bonbon was prepared for the fight, the impact made him reel and expose himself for a moment. Kryass instantly took advantage, plunging his teeth into the warrior's right shoulder and taking twenty percent off his HP. Gripping the tank with his mouth, the boss shook him like a dog a few times, then threw him on the floor and made a near-undetectable motion with the tail. Bonbon, who was scraping himself up from the stone tiles of the floor, suffered a critical hit. His sword slipped out of his right hand, and the warrior fell on his right side heavily. Esthera's healing spell did not make much of a difference. His HP was down to forty percent—no one in this world was likely to withstand that kind of pain.
The boss turned his head sharply, its yellow eyes finding the priestess. At that very moment, Max crashed into Kryass' side with a yell of "Get Bonbon up!" He knew he would die, but hoped to win them some time so that the tank could recuperate.
Max often had to take instant decisions of this sort in his previous life, and he knew right then there was no other way. A mighty blow all but took the rat's left ear off, leaving a crimson mark on the skin. Kryass uttered a muffled growl, crouching on his front paws, and jerked toward the warrior. Then something inexplicable happened. It was as if someone invisible gave Max a push, the beast's jaws snapping mere inches from his shoulder, drops of sticky yellow saliva staining his chestplate. The stench brought Max's stomach up to his throat as he dealt the boss another blow, and then someone invisible swept his right leg from behind. This made Max fall to one knee as the beast's gray tail whistled above his head. Barely managing to register a surprise, the warrior jumped to his feet and put all his anger into the next blow, catching the rat in its bared fangs. He heard the sound of breaking teeth with satisfaction. Then he turned around and ran toward the left staircase leading to the top of the dais.
"No damage!" he shouted as he ran, hearing the claws of the beast, which had missed yet another time, scratch the stone at his back. Esthera screamed something in a high voice and Luffy cursed loudly. Kryass, whose quarry had escaped him yet again, howled out in disappointment, and Max suddenly heard a woman's laughter ring like a bell in his ears. The warrior wasn't really aware of what he did as he ran thirty-something feet across the landing, and then jumped off the dais, following his invisible ally's push between his shoulder-blades. There was another frustrated roar behind him, and the boss, whose programming didn't permit him to jump off the dais, scurried on toward the right staircase, aiming to finally sink his teeth into the hated biped. Obviously enough, the warrior did not stay to wait for the giant rat, running to the left instead in order to repeat the maneuver. Having already made it on the dais when the monster was still running underneath, he waited for the distance between them to shrink within fifteen feet, then jumped off the landing again, denying the beast its prey yet again.
"Leeque, Luffy! Follow my lead! Bonbon, you just stand there and watch!" he shouted to his companions as he ran. Fortunately, they understood.
What followed was a chase that seemed interminable. The ranger, warrior and mage would run up, deal damage to the boss as it ran past, and jump down once the beast came within fifteen feet of them. When Luffy and Leeque drew a lot more aggro than Max, he would stay down, dealing mighty blows to the rat whenever it ran past.
"It doesn't get any more idiotic than this," muttered the tank, who had come to his senses by then. "No one would believe me if I told them. And thanks, by the way! This is the second time you pull my fat from the fire."
"You'll repay me yet," Max chuckled as he prepared to hit the beast that was about to run past him yet again.
It took twenty six minutes of frenzied running for Kryass, pincushioned with arrows, to ram his snout into the floor tiles and to stop moving at last.
You have gained a level! Current level: 18.
You have 1 talent point to allocate.
Racial bonus: +1% to resistance to earth magic.
Class bonus: +1 to constitution, +1 to strength.
You have 3 stat points to allocate.
Max took note of the system message, lit a cigarette, and plopped down onto the cold floor.
"Max! You... You... Boys! We have cleared the dungeon!" There were still tears in the red-haired priestess' eyes, though they also shone with joy.
"There you go," Bonbon took a pull from the bottle and handed it over to the warrior. "Finish it off, I've had my fill."
A pleasant warmth slid down his gullet, and Max felt completely happy. If only Alyona and Roman were here, he thought to himself. Everything would be perfect then.
"Were you an athlete in your past life or something?" Leeque sat down on the floor next to him, breathing heavily.
"Whatever gave you the idea?" Max looked at the ranger as he blew out the smoke.
"Well, you know... What you managed to pull off at the beginning of the fight would probably be hard even for a level 50 rogue. Dodging the attack of a boss three levels higher than you twice... that's something out of a fairy tale. No one would believe you if you told them. You're a warrior, after all, so you're not supposed to be all that agile."
"I just got lucky," Max shrugged, remembering the woman's laughter that he'd heard inside his head, and raising a wordless prayer of gratitude to his green-eyed savior.
"Ain't he the lucky one," Luffy smiled and patted his companion on the shoulder. "That's been his MO since Sunlit Forest—he had managed to find a rare quest even there."
"Look who's talking," Max laughed. "All right, let me finish my cig, and we'll take a look at what's inside this thing."
"Don't forget the hide! I intend to flay the rat, too," Bonbon took a bloodthirsty look at the carcass of Kryass. "I won't even sell it—I'll use it as a rug in my room, or hang it on the wall."
"Do whatever you like—you can even eat it!" chortled Luffy, sitting next to him. "I wouldn't put it past you."
"You're mean," the bald-headed warrior shook his head. "I'm the victim here, you know. While you three played tag and ran around like your butts were on fire, I experienced horrible suffering."
Max instantly thought of the sign with the three b
eetles and the name of the recently incinerated inn. He laughed, tossing the cigarette butt, and headed toward the dead boss.
"There's something here to compensate for your suffering," he grunted as he looked inside. "A tank's breastplate."
"Let's see it!"
Max produced a crude-looking piece of steel plate mounted on chain mesh, and showed it to everyone.
Steel Plate Cuirass
Chestguard: plate.
Durability: 197/200.
Rare item.
Armor: 80.
+10 to strength.
+20 to constitution.
+5% to all resistances.
Weight: 18 lbs.
"You can wear it, too," Bonbon shook his head. "Besides, you've earned it more."
"Why would I need a breastplate with extra health?" Max shrugged. "I can wear anything, including leather armor—it doesn't make a difference to me. But a properly equipped tank is vital for any group for succeed. So take it and stop making a fuss about it."
Apart from the breastplate and the gold, the boss dropped two unusual quality rings, one of which Max instantly gave to Leeque. Esthera and Luffy rolled for the second. The priestess won, but ended up giving the ring to the mage, saying that the pearl was already more than enough reward for her.
The mage didn't resist for too long, taking the ring and planting a kiss on Esthera's cheek as a sign of gratitude. The priestess blushed in a very cute manner, shooting a bashful glance at the smiling Leeque. He hugged his girlfriend's shoulders and kissed her on the other cheek, then took her in his arms and started to spin around the hall.
"All right, enough of that! You'll have plenty of time for lovemaking later," Bonbon grunted, wiping his bloodied hands on a piece of filthy cloth. "Let's get going. It's not that long until nightfall, and we still need to hand in our quest items and find a place to stay for the night."
"You can crash in our clan's house," Leeque told the bald warrior. "There's plenty of space there."
"Well, that's one thing less to worry about." Having finished wiping his hands at last, Bonbon looked at the cloth in his hands skeptically, blew his nose into it for some reason, and put it back in his bag. "In that case, all we need to find is food and drink."
"We've got plenty of supplies," Leeque reassured the tank as they headed for the exit. "Let's get going—Corky must be getting tired of waiting."
A long damp passageway brought them to the bluish film covering the exit from the dungeon—as far as Max could see, you could only pass it in one direction. They followed a narrow path around a pile of whitish boulders and found themselves on the bank of the overgrown river.
The moon was already in the sky, perched high above Ellorian, which had grown quieter. Its silvery light touched the treetops, tracing a straight white line on the surface of the water. But the city was nowhere near asleep, as numerous groups of players sat on the shore, and a woman sang nearby in a beautiful contralto. Max could not make out the words, but the melody was enthralling. Lost in his thoughts, he missed the moment when their recent acquaintances appeared. As it turned out, they had been waiting by one of the nearby trees.
"Is everyone alive?" Corky looked at his sister searchingly.
"Alive, but ravenous and despicably sober," Bonbon responded for Esthera in a distinctly tipsy voice.
"Corky, I promised the guys they could spend the night at our place. They'll be setting out tomorrow," Leeque notified the priest, adjusting the quiver on his back.
"No problem," Corky nodded. "Do you intend to hand in your quests now or tomorrow morning?"
"Now. There are fewer people in the evening, and I'm eager to try on the gauntlets," the ranger grunted.
"Gauntlets? But didn't I tell you that..." the priest suddenly cut himself short, and his eyebrows started to rise. "You mean, you've managed to take out Kryass?" he exhaled in surprise. "But how? It had taken us three attempts our first time, and we didn't even feel the pain back then!"
"We appear to have an acrobat among us," Leeque cackled. "Let's get going—I'll tell you all about it on our way."
Chapter 17
Handing in the quests didn't take them long, and they received a ton of XP. Everybody got to long-awaited level 20, while Bonbon dinged 22. Max had a little over five gold coinss now, including the money dropped by the bosses. The rare gloves he had received from a dark-haired hook-nosed elf gave 20 points to strength, 10 to constitution, and enhanced the owner's physical damage by one percent. All in all, it had been a good day.
The house of Leeque and Esthie's clan was a small two-story building in the southern outskirts of Ellorian, about a hundred and fifty feet away from what passed for a city wall here.
They were given a room for the three of them, and instantly invited to dine. However, Leeque and Esthie claimed they were too tired, and headed straight to bed. Luffy followed suit shortly; in an hour, only Bonbon, Max and Corky were still sitting at the table. Max used all his tact to decline the offer to join the clan, trying not to hurt the hospitable host's feelings, explaining that he could not participate in any events until he found his friend and his friend's sister, but promised to think about it in the future.
The priest told Max the time and place of departure of the next caravan passing through Talyan, and the shrewd Bonbon sold Esthera's brother all the skins he had gotten from the dungeon for twenty gold total—both of them looked pleased with the deal. They sat there for another half hour, talking about their earlier lives. Finally, they headed to bed, having decided to take a look at the local auction the next morning. The caravan wouldn't leave until four in the afternoon, so they had more than enough time.
"Bye-bye, Max, bye-bye, Straw Hat, bye-bye, Bonbon," Esthera gave each of them a parting kiss on the cheek, blushing, and hugged Leeque tight.
"It's a pity you can't join our clan," the ranger shook his head dejectedly as he gave each of the companions a handshake. "But remember, the Lions of Amsterdam will always give you a warm welcome."
"Looks like we're in for long lives now," Max smiled to the ranger. "We'll surely see each other again someday."
"We'll definitely see each other again," grunted Bonbon, having received five quart bottles of fifty-proof firewater as a parting gift. "I'll surely find you once I run out of giggle juice."
"Giggle juice?" Esthie echoed, bewildered.
"An old Slavonic term for alcohol," explained Max in Bonbon's stead. "And when are you guys planning to head to the temple of the goddess?"
"In two hours, leaving through the eastern gate," replied the girl. "And from there to the Thorny Coppice to level up. It's not that far, but, unfortunately, in the opposite direction from Talyan."
"See you, sister," Luffy winked to the young woman. "Looking forward to seeing your new ink when I see you next."
Max felt a wave of melancholy tugging at his heart on their way to the auction house. He always felt that way when having to part ways with people he considered dear. It was how he felt when Roman had moved to America. However, today's melancholy didn't last long. They would all live for a truly long time now, and he had a feeling they would definitely see Leeque and Esthie again.
The Ellorian auctions were held in an enormous space bordered by tall shrubs. Located in the southern part of the city, it must have spanned at least five hundred acres, and divided into a vast number of specialized sites. According to Bonbon, a few years ago the devs decided to abandon the idea of a unified auction house, making the place look more like a medieval market, with ore sold in one section, leather armor in another, ranged weapons in yet another, and so on.
Square wooden boxes lined the perimeter of each section—these were used for buying items and putting them up for sale. In order to have the corresponding menu open before you, all you needed to do was approach one of the boxes and place your hand in a special niche. Then you could choose an item, mark it in the list, make your bid or buy it at once by inserting money into the cash slot. Alternatively, you could place an item
in the box and specify its price in the options—all needs were provided for. Incidentally, any purchased item would appear in the box immediately, and could only be claimed by the player who had paid for it.
Max had only seen this many people once before—at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow. An important client of his company, which had still been in business back then, had insisted that he tag along to see some international soccer match there. Max couldn't care less for soccer, but he couldn't decline the offer since he was about to sign a contract with this person, the terms of which were rather favorable. After spending almost two hours in the stands, surrounded by fans chanting unintelligible gibberish, Max vowed never to attend such events again. By the way, Spartak won that evening, much to the client's delight, and the contract was signed. Presently Max was looking at another crowd of people yelling like mad, and, once again, his only wish was to get as far away from them, as quickly as possible.
Bonbon had given all the money to Max in advance—his twentieth level made thefts from his bag impossible. They pushed their way through the crowd at the entrance and sold the five ordinary quality items from Lake Cave to some middleman for two silver pieces. Then they headed straight for the area with the shield and plate armor vendors. Disregarding Bonbon's protests, Max had insisted that the first thing they would do was buy the bald warrior a shield. The one in his possession currently could only block fifty percent of incoming damage.
They got lucky eventually. After about an hour of standing in line to one of the boxes, they managed to get an excellent rare level 22 shield for 25 gold. The shield gave 22 to constitution, 11 to strength, plus 10 to all resistances. Most importantly, it blocked sixty seven percent of all incoming physical damage.