Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “How are you feeling?” I asked Chrysa. Bolverk was moving surprisingly fast considering how short his legs were, and I was worried the beautiful woman wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace for much longer.

  “I am fine, Leo. I often spend the day rowing on the shores of my homeland. Running is easy when compared to that.”

  “Fair enough.” I smiled at the woman.

  We continued for another half minute and reached the end of the descending hallway. I could see the room beyond was massive, and I wanted to call out to Bolverk to hold so we could carefully assess and plan how to tackle the room, but the gnome berserker just sprinted out of the hallway without care. Cornalic followed him, and I did as well so I could ensure that they had healing if required.

  We came out onto a square ledge inside of a massive cavern. The green stone eighty-foot high ceiling was open in half a dozen locations, and a spray of bright sunlight illuminated the entire room. There were also hundreds of feet of green vines hanging from the open gaps in the stone, and they looked like a curtain of flowering drapes.

  The ledge we were on was a square shape of about thirty feet wide. Opposite of the door where we entered the room, was a small pathway of maybe two feet across. It wound around the length of the cavern like a serpent and joined with three other square platforms arranged in the middle of the chamber. I toed to the end of our ledge and glanced down. It was approximately a thirty-foot drop that ended in a current of water.

  “This doesn’t look safe at all,” I said as I pointed my sword at the narrow walkway. “One of the contestants could easily fall off this and into the water. Also,” I pointed to the first platform, “I’m going to bet that archers or magic using golems are going to jump out of those platforms and throw shit at us while we try to run to them.”

  “I will destroy them,” Bolverk growled.

  “No! Wait!” I called out as the gnome began running across the narrow platform. The tattooed man didn’t listen, and the closest platform to us began to shimmer with the arriving golem.

  But it wasn’t one golem that rose from the stone, it was three.

  “Shit!” I said as I used Spirit of Stone on the gnome. The golems that appeared on the platform had slim bird-like heads and carried javelins. They hefted the weapons to their shoulders and then threw them at my friend with deadly accuracy.

  Bolverk was running across the narrow walkway in a horizontal direction to them, but the golems seemed to have guessed the small man’s speed, and they threw their spears with the correct lead to hit him. Fortunately, the weapons were not magical, and the three javelins bounced off him without doing any damage.

  “Ha!” the gnome shouted as their weapons fell into the chasm below.

  “I will assist!” Cornalic shouted as he followed Bolverk’s path across the walkway. Unfortunately, another javelin appeared in each golem’s hand as soon as the half-orc started his run, and the animated clay creatures turned to throw their new weapons at my green-skinned pal.

  “Got you!” I said as I used Spirit of Stone on Cornalic. I almost didn’t need to though, the half-orc was ready for their throw, and the muscular man dropped off the side of the walkway, dodged the trio of flying spears, and then swung himself up with a move that evolved into a cartwheel across the narrow path. I almost didn’t believe my eyes, but the half-orc increased his running speed to a sprint and threw himself off the ledge of the path. His leap carried him over the abyss, and he rolled onto the platform where the three golems stood a second before Bolverk arrived there by running around the serpentine path.

  Cornalic attacked the golem on his left with a precise series of short sword slashes to the creature’s right arm. Another spear appeared there as if the golem was forming it out of the clay that made up its body, and my friend was trying to hack the limb off so the golem couldn’t use it. His attempt was successful, and the arm came off after the muscular man’s fourth hit.

  Bolverk took more of an indirect approach. He brought his axes against the right golem’s legs with a solid whack, and then rolled under the creature as it fell forward. Next, he buried both of his blades into the chest of the golem in the center of the trio, back flipped off the clay creature’s body and pulled his large axe off his back while he spun in the air. He then slammed the heavy weapon’s edge into the back of first golem’s head a second after it landed on the ground.

  “Amazing!” Chrysa called out, but my friends didn’t pay her any attention.

  Cornalic had dissected the head of the golem with the missing arm, and then he backstabbed the remaining one as it tried to shove its spear into Bolverk. The fight hadn’t taken more than a few seconds, and my friends were unharmed.

  “Next,” Bolverk growled as he pointed to the second platform. It was only about thirty feet away as the bird flew, but the narrow path led back in the wrong direction before it returned to the platform. It was perhaps eighty feet of distance, and I worried about keeping both of my friends alive while they traveled there.

  “Wait for us to get to the first--” I started to say, but Bolverk was already running down the path, and the area of the second platform shimmered as more golems rose from the stone.

  Shit.

  “Don’t fall,” I told Chrysa as I walked across the narrow path toward the first platform. Almost as soon as I finished telling her not to fall, I misplaced my left foot and almost lost my balance. This wouldn’t have been a challenge if I didn’t have to keep my eyes on my friends while moving quickly. I didn’t know how far of a distance I could use my healing or protection abilities, but they were each at least fifty yards away from me.

  The golems finished rising out of the second platform. There were five all up. Two narrow-headed spear throwers, two of the knight looking ones carrying shields and single handed axes, and a single one that looked like the golem from the center of the previous room. I guessed it was a healer or protector. The setup was obviously a “holy trinity.” The shield warriors would stand at the front of the platform while the spear throwers would rain down damage. The healer at the back of the group would keep the warriors protected or healed. It was the same setup we had with our group, but there were just three of us, not five.

  Bolverk charged the melee golems, but the warriors locked their shields together and leaned into the two-foot wide area where the pathway met the platform. This was all kinds of bad. The gnome berserker didn’t seem to slow his face-first charge, and all it would take was a flick from one of the golem’s shields to knock the short man into the river far below us.

  I used Guardian of Fortune on the gnome and sighed with relief when his body glowed with the shield pattern. Almost as soon as my ability landed on him, I saw both axe carrying golems also light up with the effects of a Guardian of Fortune ability. Bolverk must have noticed it too because the man did something I would have thought impossible if I hadn’t previously seen the tattooed gnome in action.

  He high jumped over them.

  It was a full backwards high jump looking leap, layout, and flop down on the stone floor of the platform. He must have lifted 10 feet into the air, which might have not been that impressive if he was a tall human, but he wasn’t. He was just a crazy as fuck gnome who thought he was the god of war or something.

  “Shield!” I shouted as I stepped in front of Chrysa and raised my left arm. Bolverk had landed between the javelin throwers and the axe wielders, but the golems with the javelins weren’t even looking at the man. They were looking at the beautiful woman standing behind me. I held up my arm before they even released their throwing spears, and I easily caught them with my shield. I was a little surprised they could throw the weapons this far, but I was even more surprised at their accuracy.

  Bolverk didn’t waste any time on the glowing axe golems. Instead, he tore his small axes through the left leg of the closest spear chucker. His twin attack removed the creature’s leg, and it started to tumble over.

  The healer looking golem raised its hand in the air, and
a surge of yellow light came to the weapons of the other four animated creatures. I didn’t know exactly what the glow indicated, but it was no doubt some type of weapon enchantment that would allow our enemies to cut through us easier. Bolverk seemed to come to the same conclusion, and he danced around the twin cuts of the axe golems.

  Cornalic then plowed into the two axe carrying golems like a green colored wrecking ball. It was a surprisingly unsophisticated attack, but it was effective. The axe golem on the half-orc’s left side was caught completely by surprise by my friend’s slam, and it tumbled forward off the edge of the platform.

  Bolverk saw Cornalic come to his rescue, and the gnome turned his back on the axe golem so he could cut into the other standing spear throwing one. As soon as Bolverk swung his axe, the animated monster glowed with the effects of Guardian of Fortune, and my friend’s weapon just bounced off the spear thrower without doing any damage.

  The gnome berserker switched targets and rolled sideways across the platform so that he was nearer to the protecting golem. The creature immediately began to glow with the Guardian of Fortune enchantment, but Bolverk had positioned himself on the opposite side of the healer from the spear thrower, and he could whack away at the golem without much interference.

  Cornalic downed the last axe golem with a series of quick cuts with his sword while Bolverk was slamming his axes against the protecting golem. The only other golem that was standing was the final spear thrower. I would have thought the creature would have attacked Cornalic, or maybe walked to flank Bolverk and assist the support member of his party, but the animated monster did something I hadn’t expected instead.

  He turned toward me and threw his yellow enchanted spear.

  The attack didn’t really catch me off guard since I was watching the battle, but I didn’t understand its strategy until I saw the angle that the weapon was leaving the creature’s hand.

  The golem was throwing the spear at Chrysa.

  “Watch out” I used a Guardian of Fortune on the woman and myself as I moved my body in front of the spear and prepared for it to rip through my chest. Fortunately, my enchantment caught the attack, and the spear bounced off me with a thud that sounded like the weapon was sighing.

  “The thing threw its spear at you! I thought these golems are supposed to use non-lethal attacks?” I asked the beautiful woman.

  “They aren’t supposed to injure me! It should be shocking attacks! By the Light, are you okay?” Her brown eyes opened with horror.

  “Yeah, my magic stopped it.” I turned to access the battle and saw that my friends had both taken out the last two clay golems.

  “Bolverk, wait until we-- ah shit!” I shouted as the small man started running to the next platform.

  Cornalic chased after the gnome across the narrow stone walkway, and I gestured for Chrysa to follow me before I ran on the serpentine bridge again. The part of the path they were on led away from me before circling back and then cutting away toward the final platform. There was a spot in the middle of the narrow path which would put me about fifty yards away from the last platform, but I didn’t like the idea of standing there with Chrysa while I tried to focus on supporting my friends.

  The ground on the last platform started to shimmer.

  “I changed my mind. Go back and stand on the last--” I turned to tell the young woman, but as soon as I saw her I groaned with dismay.

  The platform we just left was starting to shimmer with the arrival of more golems.

  “Keep running!” I yelled at her before I turned again. The worst thing we could do was split the party, especially when the distance was so great. It would make it difficult, if not impossible, to run back and protect each other. I was going to have to double down on pushing forward and hope the three of us could protect Chrysa while she stood on the platform where they were fighting.

  I reached the spot in the middle of the winding path and hit each of them with a Guardian of Fortune before I continued my run. I would have preferred to use a Spirit of Stone on each of them, but I’d used the ability on both of my friends about twenty seconds ago, and they couldn’t get it again for another hundred or so.

  The golems were 80% out of the ground of the third platform. There were two of the shield-carrying warriors holding axes, two of the spear throwers, one of the protectors, and two that carried staves. I guessed those were the caster types.

  The part of the path I ran on was straight for close to twenty yards, and I risked a glance back to the platform we had just left. Just two golems were emerging from the ground there, but they were also holding staves in their hands.

  Oh fuck.

  My sprint had taken me a distance of ten yards ahead of Chrysa, and the various options spun through my head. I needed to get to the third platform as quickly as possible, or my friends were going to get hurt by the group of golems there. I also needed to get to the third platform because it was far away from the pair of caster golems who had just spawned on the second platform. If I did either of those with a quickness, I was going to leave the beautiful brown-haired woman behind, and the casters on the second platform might be able to hit her with an ability. Hell, they were presumably going to be able to drop their magic on us while we stood on the third platform, but I was betting we would be far enough out of range to see the shit flying at us.

  I didn’t like the idea of carrying Chrysa as I ran across the narrow pathway, but if she were behind me, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on her and protect her from the casters on the second platform. If I stood aside so she could run past me, I would only be able to move as fast as the noblewoman could run. It wouldn’t be fast enough.

  I slid my longsword into its sheath and held my hands out to the running woman.

  She let out a surprised gasp as soon as I swept her into my arms, and she let out a small shout of terror when I started running with her. I didn’t blame the woman. I was taking her control away from her, and her view below my arms was that of the long drop to the flowing water beneath us.

  I ran.

  The sound of weapons clashing into each other from the third platform threatened to distract me, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off the narrow path. If I missed a step, both of us would tumble down into the water below.

  I saw Cornalic’s health bar drop down to 80%, and I cursed under my breath. I couldn’t move any faster on the walkway without risking us falling off, and I had another fifteen seconds before I made it to my friends.

  There was a loud crash of magic and a flash of red light from the platform. I kept my eyes focused on my walk, but Cornalic’s health dropped down to 60%, and Bolverk’s dropped down to 80%. There were too many twists and turns in the next fifteen yards of my path, but the section after would be straight, so I told myself I could slow my speed and check on my friends when I got there.

  I danced around the first bend of the walkway, and a glowing dart of fire spun past my head. The projectile missed us by a good ten feet, but it had come from behind. The two assholes on the second platform must have fully spawned, and they were chucking their magic at us.

  I moved through the next bend and risked a quick glance back at the second platform. There was a second fire projectile traveling toward me, and unless I did something, it would hit me in the face. I crouched on the walkway to let it pass over my head, and then I ran through the next two bends while I focused on the pathway.

  Cornalic’s health dropped down to 40%.

  I reached the next straight section of path and glanced over at my friends. Cornalic had a spear through his left shoulder, Bolverk’s mohawk was smoldering, and part of his back looked scorched.

  The good news was that the healer golem looked dead as did both casters. The bad news was that there were still the other four golems left, and the shield carrying creatures were positioned in-between my two friends and the javelin throwing ones. Bolverk and Cornalic were trying to take down the shield bearers, but the two golems in the rear were chucking their sp
ears at my friends, and it was hard for them to mount an offense when they kept having to dodge.

  I was probably a hundred and twenty yards away from them still, but the path only bent two more times before it led to the next platform. I didn’t know how far my abilities would go, but I thought about using Minor Heal on Cornalic. He didn’t glow orange, nor did his health go up, so I guessed I was out of range still. He was still moving with his usual grace, but his face looked contorted with pain, and I guessed that each of his dodges was causing agony.

  I yanked my head back to the left and saw two fire darts speeding toward us. The things moved about as fast as a thrown Frisbee and I predicted they would miss me if I stopped running for a second. I did so, and the angry red bolts passed ten feet in front of me.

  One of the spear throwers tagged Bolverk with his weapon, but the thing just bounced off the gnome as if he had Guardian of Fortune or Spirit of Stone. I didn’t actually see any sort of buff next to his face on my UI, but he could have had some sort of stance type ability that was helping him. I didn’t know what he was really capable of. Much like I didn’t actually know what Cornalic was capable of.

  I resumed my run toward the third platform and tried to resist the urge to glance over at my fighting friends. I reached the final set of bends on the narrow path and then winced when Cornalic’s health dropped down to 20%. The thought of my friend dying made my heart jump up into my throat, and I risked some additional speed on my run through the switching turns.

  Then a bolt of fire slammed into my left shoulder.

  It felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat that was covered in gasoline and lit on fire with an industrial blowtorch. My left shoulder spun forward and to the right with the impact of the projectile. I could do little else but twist my hips with the flow of my upper body in an attempt to keep hold of the woman in my arms.