Unbound Deathlord: Challenge

by Edward Castle

  "Jack Thorn," he said. "The man whose head is worth two hundred gold." He nodded to the specter, and it left the room, closing the door behind him.

  The drow, Ted, Bear, I and the two guards were the only ones left.

  "What?!" I said. "Jack who? Who are you talking to?"

  He laughed. "We had a conversation with a very interesting vampire friend of yours. Eternal, he was named. Your illusion ring is no surprise to us. We were about to grab you when your ghost friend here came to us with a proposal."

  "Ted?" I looked at her. "What's he talking about?"

  "After she used her skill to see through your illusion and got the interview with you, she came to us. She had a plan on how to make your death even more profitable. Didn't you think about why there are so many people around?

  "She put the interview in the public forums and we helped her spread the word that you'd be found here, so we could get more customers. Even the specters got interested in it and are now offering a hundred gold for your head."

  "But- Ted! You promised you'd only release the interview after the Challenge was over! I trusted you! And you too, Bear! We fought together!"

  "Wait, wait, there's more. She planned to use you to level her attributes up a little and then turn you in. You were completely played, dude."

  "I hate you!" I struggled, visibly trying to get out of Bear's embrace. "And you too, whoever you are!" I spit in the direction of the drow, but he was too far. "Come at me! One on one! I challenge you!"

  The drow laughed more. "Big guy, shut him up." Bear squelched me for twenty more damage, and I stopped yelling. "You asked me who I am? I'm General Garcia, the richest Earthen in the Underworld! And you even helped!"

  "I'll kill you, Ted! I'll come back and kill you! And you, Bear! And you too, Garcia!"

  The general opened his mouth to say something, but Ted spoke before he could. "Oh, yeah? Let me give you a real reason, then." She knocked an arrow at her bow and pointed it directly at my face.

  "No! Lower the bow." Garcia yelled. "I want to do it myself. With my fists. I believe his words in the video were 'bunch of noobs.' Let's see how he handles the punches of a noob with twenty points in strength."

  I said in my mind.

 

  Ted was very unhappy.

 

  "You know what's really funny?" I asked. "Your head with an arrow in it."

  Ted turned the bow, and the arrow flew true, penetrating the guy's head a little and staying in there. He screamed at the sudden pain and moved to get his helmet.

  Bear dropped me, took his sword from his back and turned to face the armored guys. I created a fire morb as I pulled my weapon from its scabbard.

  "Attack! We are under attack!" One of the guards screamed, but that was all. I guessed they used the mind chat after that.

  Garcia picked up his helmet but found a big issue: while the metal arrow in his head didn't prevent him from living, it did prevent him from putting the helmet on. That single second allowed my first fireball to hit the back of his head for a critical, and my sword to go through his neck.

  Ted also put an extra arrow through his head. He kept screaming in pain and rage and wasn't able to put the helmet on. He died to my next fireball.

  As I turned back, I saw Bear slipping his sword into the gap in one of the guards' armor, at the neck. The man died instantly.

  The remaining guard opened the door and ran. There were no mages outside the door anymore.

  Ted asked.

  I kicked Garcia's body.

 

 

 

 

  Ted asked uncertainly. I had not told them the rest of the plan.

 

 

 

  Bear had sheathed his sword and was now carrying the General's body over his shoulder and the helmet in his hand.

 

  We ran to the stairs I had seen before and went up. I tried to grab the riot shield that they had left behind, but it was too firmly struck to the ground.

  When we finished climbing the stairs, we found ourselves on the roof of the building, no walls anywhere.

 

 

 

  We did. We could see everything, from the White Tree guards coming to the building to the mass of people everywhere. The guards were shouting and pushing, and people were getting upset.

 

  I pointed at the Blackguards on the edge of the cave chamber, some nine hundred meters away.

  He took a while to answer.

  Right before the line of black cloaked people, a single zombie in plain cotton clothes stood. A red armlet was on his arm and a small dagger in his hand.

 

 

 

  A few seconds later, the poorly clothed zombie stuck the dagger into one of the drow hoods.

  It was as if he had opened a dam. Like a wave, the Blackguards came. I didn't even see how they killed the zombie, the guy simply dropped dead immediately after delivering the first blow.

  I smiled.

  After taking my hood and my illusion ring off, I held a metal cone before my mouth. "Hello, noobs!"

  My voice boomed much louder than I expected. Everyone looked up at once, and silence reigned.

  "I am Jack Thorn, and you are all dead. You all fell into my trap! Hail the White Tree clan!"

  I shoot a fireball at a random guy. People screamed, and suddenly there were a lot of morbs appearing and weapons being grabbed. I threw another fireball.

 

  An arrow missed her by a breath.

  I threw another fireball and lay on the floor.

  She dropped on the floor too.

 

  She took a while to knock an arrow to her bow and just fired it randomly, without even bothering to look
down.

  Bear said. I looked back and saw him putting the white armor on.

 

  He positioned himself right beside the stair opening, sword on his hands.

 

 

 

  On the streets, people were screaming, and chaos had erupted. The Blackguards were still coming in single line. A few people had got caught on the way, and only their corpses were left behind.

 

 

  I took my short bow out and also began to help with the rain of arrows on the people below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  For a few minutes, I just kept attacking and watching people die. The weaker ones were the first to fall, and lots of small groups had formed.

  Fire seemed like a favorite element, and fireballs went everyone. People with ranged weapons were having the hardest time in the closed space, but close-range fighters were shining.

  People doing typhoon swings could be seen here and there and the blood they left in their wake was splashing everywhere.

  Shadows moved swiftly. Some people jumped around making some weird moves. Others were like martial artists breaking bones and whatnot.

  People in full plate armor seemed to be unconsciously declared public enemy number one, and whoever was close beat them to death. When the plated person died, the attackers turned against each other.

  The world was being painted in a beautiful red.

  'Always try to make your enemies fight among themselves. There is no greater pleasure in life,' father had taught me. I still preferred sex, but I could see his point.

  The drow joined the fray, and it was as if a harvesting machine was going through the battlefield.

  A month after starting Valia, life was finally great, and the world was again a beautiful place.

  Then Ted opened her mouth.

 

  I fired an arrow without looking.

 

 

  I looked at the field. By now, plenty of people should've already dropped exhausted on the floor, but they hadn't. My MP bar also had a lot more mana than it should.

  Bear yelled as someone climbed the stairs.

 

  I did.

  From the invisible walls of the Catacombs, hundreds of colored headless ghost riders had appeared and were charging straight at us.

  They weren't supposed to come. Ted had bribed them to stay out of it, and even if that wasn't the case, the drow presence should have discouraged the specters from attacking.

  Ted pointed.

  Reluctantly, I looked at the direction she was pointing.

  Ridiculous amounts of ghouls using slave collars were pouring from the corridor that led to Crystalia.

  Right beside the tunnel entrance, riding a giant black lizard double the size the yellow ones, was a person in black armor holding five polished spears.

  I felt shiver's in my body. That looked way too much like Shai.

  They shouldn't be here. Dakar was in the middle of a civil war and the soldiers should've stayed there.

  I inhaled deeply.

  "Fuck."

  Jack Thorn

  Unbound Deathlord

  Legendary Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

  Level 20

  Hit Points:560 / 620

  Mana Points:726 / 950

  Stamina:278 / 305

  Attributes:

  Strength:19

  Agility:17

  Dexterity:19

  Constitution:14

  Intelligence:18 + 2 [Items]

  Perception:16 + 10 [Items]

  Willpower:18

  Charisma:8

  Traits:

  © Adept Controller:22

  © Adept Energizer:14

  Adept Mage:12 + 10 [Items]

  Scout:3

  Athlete:2

  Diviner:2

  Gold Digger:2

  Meditator:2

  Scavenger:2

  Shadow:2

  Antimage:1

  Crafter:1

  Healer:1

  Herbalist:1

  Mind Seer:1

  Negotiator:1

  Nitpicker:1

  Ranger:1

  Strategist:1

  Tactician:1

  Warrior:1

  27. Crazy Mode

  'Run away? We can't, darling. Your parents have too much influence and they'd punish you too harshly. I couldn't stand that.'

  - Aunt

  I shot an arrow and a fireball at the man who was trying to climb the stairs, but was being blocked by Bear.

  Ted also shot an arrow at the newcomer.

  I looked over the edge.

  The fight was as hot as ever. The ghost cavalry had arrived at the outskirts of the Slums, and the Blackguards were everywhere now. The ghouls, about two hundred of them, all in chainmail, were now running our direction. Deathlord Shai was close behind them.

  It was only a matter of time before they got to the building.

 

  Ted's next arrow missed the guy trying to get to the terrace and hit Bear instead – the zombie had just pushed the enemy down using his foot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Fifty gold coins just for staying in the area; a hundred and fifty extra for acting. That was the cost of the 'Zombies 4 Life' clan.

  I had tried to contact my lawyer to make the payment with real world money, but that option had been taken away from me. Bear had refused to negotiate on the hopes that I was as rich as I said.

  In the end, we had agreed that I could raise that much money in the game just by selling one of my legendary items.

  The doors to the tavern opened. A zombie in leather armor, glowing slightly orange, came out of it and jumped on a nearby girl in mage's robes, biting a big chunk of her neck off and eating it away.

  Behind the first zombie came other forty-nine, the entirety of the clan, each in his or her armor of choice, but every single one of them lacking weapons. Their nails, however, had grown and were sharp and hard
as metal knives, their teeth were like shark's.

  'You like the Rage still?' Bear had told me. 'Wait until you see someone using Feral.'

  The damage output increased even more than with Rage, and so did the damage resistance. More importantly than that, eating people recovered more HP and also a little bit of stamina.

  To counterbalance that, Feral zombies couldn't choose who they'd target for half an hour, couldn't use weapons, and couldn't activate new skills while in that state. The only ones who they wouldn't attack would be other Feral people.

  And it was astonishing.

  They were clearly not low-level newbies, but veterans who had taken the trouble to raise their attributes and learn how to fight. They dodged more blows than I'd expect and found ways to pin people to the ground and eat them away.

  I was impressed.

  Bear said in a sad tone.

  Ted asked as an arrow missed her. Players didn't practice shooting upwards, it seemed.

  I fired another arrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Status effect received: Duelist

  You have been challenged to a duel and failed to refuse it.

  You cannot leave the Slums until one of the conditions are met:

  » 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

  » You have killed the challenger

  I looked down just in time to see Shai throw a spear, in the direction of my building.

  It was nothing like before. The spear made a loud 'boom' sound as soon as it left Shai's hand and left a trail as it flew, like some sort of comet. It killed everyone in its path, leaving a line of corpses, limbs, and blood. The building shook when the spear hit it.