by A P Gore
Noah walked through the thick mush of trees and vines, slicing his way with his knife. It was much easier now than it had been when he started the game. By the time he reached the cave, he had killed multiple rats and a pack of griffins on the way. Unfortunately, there was no worthy monster to raise a good zombie, nor did he get good experience. Because the rats and griffins were under-leveled, he only received 100 points of experience combined. At least the constant use of spirit orb and a couple of curses of fire ball pushed those spells to the next level. His spirit orb reached level 6, dealing 39.6 damage, and curse of fireball reached level 2, dealing 79.2 damage. It was a good boost to both spells. When he got bored, he raised two rats as his zombies just to keep practicing that spell.
Noah paused when he spotted three rats, thinking about the next spell to use. But before he could decide, three back-to-back arrows flew through the air, killing the rats with a critical hit. The next set of arrows pierced his zombie rats.
“Come on, those are my pets,” he shouted and readied his poison orb.
Rihala jumped out of the bushes, landing in a stumble and pinwheeling her arms. She wore a sunshine smile as she regained her balance, but it vanished as soon as she took the first step and tripped over a stone. Noah zipped forward with his spirit run and caught her. His biceps were pressed against her soft breasts, and his cock pressed against the thin fabric of his starter pants.
“I’m sorry. I’m so clumsy.” Rihala grabbed his hand and stabilized herself. “I didn’t know you knew necromancy. Raising the dead and all that! Wow! Is it great? My mom says necromancer is a poor choice of class. Can you change it?”
“It’s okay. I'm fine with my choice.” Noah returned the smile, staring at her red striped waist-length dress matching her polished tail head. She looked ravishing, downright edible in that red dress. “I’m a Cursemancer, and a Zombimancer too.”
“It’s true then…”
“What’s true?”
“You travelers can have multiple classes and come back from dead. That’s so amazing.” She went into a dreamy state.
“Rihala…” He tapped on her shoulder. “You literally killed me a couple of days ago, and I came back. Didn’t I?”
She bit her lower lip. “I’m so sorry for that, human friend. I didn’t mean to kill you. Please tell me how I can repay my debt. I didn’t think I would trip like that and kill you. I’m so clumsy most of the time. My mom always shouts at me for this.” Her beautiful eyes dropped to the ground. “I was so afraid. Even your demon friend told me that you’d come back. I couldn’t sleep that night. I’m so clumsy.”
“I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have asked you about...” He stared at her neck, but if the collar was still there, it was hidden by her high-necked dress.
She rubbed her neck awkwardly. “Was it painful? Your death?”
“I’ve had worse.” A sweet sensation shot up as he remembered the way he’d died that day. Rihala was turning into a serious attraction point for him. He doubted he felt this way even for Serena when they first started dating. Too bad Rihala was a demon.
Her face reddened when she spotted his gaze lingering on her breasts. Noah looked away. He wasn’t here for dating girls. He needed to focus on his goal. “Did you see any game around? I’ve got to level up for the cave dungeon.”
Her eyes lit with a glint. “Are you aiming for the dungeon too?”
“Yes, I have a quest there.”
“Okay. We can head there together.”
“Shall we team up then?”
“Party with a human? Willingly? My mom always tells me not to trust anyone, but you have saved my life once, and she says we should trust someone who saves our life,” Rihala said with a smile that touched Noah’s heart. At least there was one other innocent demon who acted like a real person and not a shitty piece of code. He hadn’t known her for long, but whenever they met, he found her chirping enthusiastically about her mother, the world, and everything around her. Why would a piece of code do that?
Noah sent her a party invitation. He was a kind of afraid she would change her mind if he waited longer, and he didn’t want to miss a chance to work with her. They worked well together, as proven in their battle with the orc.
She didn’t accept the invitation right away. She reached for her neck, rubbing it. “But my human friend, I can’t be seen roaming around with you. We have to travel a few feet apart, and I’ll break our party once we reach level 7.” She sounded sad, but there was firmness in her eyes. She meant what she said.
It hurt. The colorful surroundings turned into a monochrome display. The melodious chirping of birds on the pine trees turned into an annoyance.
“Fair enough. Lead the way, as your tracking skills are better than mine.” He sounded rude, even to his own ears. But she was right. Maybe. He knew what demons thought about humans. Why would she think differently? He should focus on the advantages he would get out of this partnership.
“Do you have that skill? It’s not a class-specific skill. My mom taught me when I was a child. I used it for years to track runaway chickens.”
“No.”
“I can teach you. It’s a nice skill to have.” She bent down, staring at a track on the ground. “See, these are hind leg tracks. As these are small, they seem to belong to a rat. But look at these big tracks.”
The importance of learning a new skill took supplanted his sad mood, and he kneeled next to her, looking at the tracks she indicated. His vision illuminated with a green light when he studied the large tracks that looked like foot prints of a large animal with three fingers. “Are these goblin tracks?” He only knew of no other animal with three fingers.
“Correct. See? The way my mom taught is the best way.”
A skill notification appeared.
Congratulations! Your patience and dedication (which is non-existent based on your history) have demonstrated your ability to wait, analyze, and identify creatures’ footprints. +1 to tracking skill. This skill can’t be increased by putting points in it. 10% chance to track a creature with a level equal to yours.
“Thanks, I got it.” Noah's mood lifted a bit with the new skill gain. He knew the skill would come in handy down the road. Before, he was running in blindly, but now he would be able to identify some tracks. If only someone had taught him this skill before, like Mathial. A bitter taste covered his mouth as he thought about the greedy blacksmith. That man never told him anything useful, for gods’ sake.
“Keep using it, and you will get better at it. Let’s go. The tracks are fresh, and the goblin won’t be much farther.” Rihala sped up and vanished behind the large bushes interspersed with the trees.
Noah infused his legs with spirit and activated spirit run. In ten to fifteen seconds, he caught up with Rihala who was jumping from branch to branch.
She suddenly dropped to the ground like a stone. Her tail jumped up and touched his lips like a finger telling him to shut up.
He nodded.
She jumped. Her tail wrapped around a low hanging branch, and she pulled herself up gracefully. In a few seconds, she was sitting on the topmost branch.
Her dexterity must be quite high. But why is she so clumsy then?
Her intense gaze was focused somewhere far. When she found whatever she was searching for, she jumped down, balancing herself on the branches with her tail.
She was so graceful that he couldn't take his eyes off her, but all the grace vanished when she landed next to him. She stumbled forward, and Noah tried to stop her, but her speed was too great. They both tumbled to the ground. Noah broke her fall, but ended up beneath her again, his lips a mere inch away from hers.
All the sadness in his heart melted as her warm breath brushed over his lips. He fought the urge to lift his head and suck on those cherry red lips.
His heart rate increased when he spotted her eyes focused on his lips.
“I might start tripping you on purpose if I keep getting you this close.” Noah winked, teasing her. Th
anks to the stupid hooded demon for taking his armor away, he could enjoy the softness of her breasts fully.
Her face turned red, and she slapped his shoulder and pulled herself up.
+1000 to reputation with Rihala because she thinks that you have a good wit and sense of humor. Which I found none.
Noah frowned at the game message, then got up and stood next to Rihala, who was now looking at the road ahead.
A couple of goblins had emerged out of the brush, one with a brown tunic and pants held a spear, and other one with a slender body, a fat nose, and blue pants, holding a mana source. He looked like an intergalactic hippy wearing colorful clothes. One of them was a warrior and other one was a mage, a good combination.
A fight loomed, and Noah wanted to be the hunter rather than the prey.
A quick perception check notified him that the goblins were each level six, so they would get 2x bonus experience upon killing them. Adrenaline surged through Noah’s body at the thought of more experience and good zombies for the next adventure.
“Take care of the mage, and I’ll focus on the melee one.” Noah activated his poison shield and charged forward.
The goblin warrior charged Noah in a blur and hurled his spear. The spear hit Noah’s spirit shield, dealing 30 damage to him. If he’d had his armor, it would have mitigated some of the damage. He ignored the pain and hit the passing goblin with a poison orb, but surprisingly it only dealt 20 damage.
Something was wrong.
The goblin warrior charged him again. The same thing happened. Noah took 30 damage, and his poison orb did 30 damage, even though it hit the goblin warrior’s head.
“Rihala, do you know why I can’t damage this one with my poison orb?” He glanced her way. She was shooting back-to-back arrows at the goblin mage, but failing to hit because some unknown shield encapsulated him completely. Her arrows were piercing the shield, but they were losing their momentum in the process. They dropped to the ground as soon as they entered the shield radius, and the shield was self-healing, closing itself when the arrow dropped.
“Maybe he has strong poison resistance,” she said.
“Ahh!” That made sense.
Why didn’t I think it myself? Stupid Noah!
How could he forget about his passive skill?
The goblin warrior charged at him again, but this time Noah crouched and hit the warrior with a fire ball curse. A black circle ringed the warrior and zapped into a fire ball. The fire ball hit goblin's face for 172 damage. It was a crit.
The goblin warrior stilled, and his body started vibrating. Noah knew this state; he had encountered it before.
Noah hit the goblin with another fire ball.
The goblin froze. His transformation stopped, and his life reduced to 90 points.
Noah only had 90 spirit left. He would have saved it if there was another choice, but the choice was taken for him when the goblin warrior charged him again with his spear.
Noah used the remaining bits of his spirit and finished the warrior off with a single fire ball curse cast.
Noah’s body suddenly spasmed. It was like someone was pulling at his muscles from inside. His spirit bar flashed at 0 before it started filling once again. This was the first time he’d reached absolute zero, and it wasn't a good thing to feel, not even for a couple of seconds.
Noah ignored the pain and the debuff icon that appeared next to his spirit bar and turned to check on Rihala, who was now in defensive mode. Her bow was tucked at her back, and she was doing all sort of acrobatics to avoid a constant barrage of fireballs from the goblin mage.
A quick glance at his party screen told him Rihala was losing her stamina and health too. The pace was slow, but the reduction was visible.
Noah glanced at his spirit. It was filling up slowly, but it had only reached 50. Enough for a poison orb, but the mage had a shield, and he knew his poison orb wouldn’t cut through it. He needed to do something else, something crazy.
Noah dashed forward with his dagger in his hand. The goblin was just a few paces away. He slammed his dagger against the shield, creating a tiny hole in it. Through that hole, he cast his curse of pain on the goblin, damaging him for five damage and increasing his physical pain by 10%.
The goblin mage’s fat nose twitched as pain radiated through his body. He looked strong, but he was strong with mage skills, not physical endurance. The increased pain made him lose focus, and the shield dropped.
“Rihala, now!”
An arrow flew past his nose, hitting the goblin mage in the heart. The mage lost his remaining concentration and looked at Noah with a frightened face.
Another arrow hit the goblin mage in the eye, scoring a crit. A spray of blood shot from his eye.
Noah jumped back to avoid getting his clothes dirty. He didn’t have so many pairs of clothes to waste on the goblin blood, and he hated washing them with soil as soap. The stupid town didn’t have washing soaps. He’d missed his real-life house when he first had to wash his own clothes.
The goblin mage dropped dead with the next arrow from Rihala, leaving a monster crystal behind for Noah. A mix of notification popped into view. He chose the experience notifications.
You have gained 900 experience for your contribution toward the battle.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a soft hand tugging at his. It was Rihala, trying to pull him up. “Let’s go,” she whispered in his ear, her lips brushing against his earlobe, sending tingles across his body. “A large goblin party is patrolling around.”
They sneaked out of the open space, hiding behind the trees as much as possible, moving as quickly as they could in the opposite direction. They could kill the two goblins, but according to Rihala around twenty goblins were patrolling the area. Twenty was a huge number, and Noah wasn’t ready to risk Rihala’s life just because he could get good experience.
“That was close.” Rihala breathed out a gusty sigh.
“Indeed, it was.” Noah tried to glance in the direction they came from but couldn’t guess which that direction was. He didn’t have a map to locate anything. “Where are we? And how far we are from town?”
Rihala blinked. “We’re six hours away from your town, and one whole day away from mine. Wow! That’s bad. My mom is going to kill me. But we can’t go back, as we might encounter the petrol again. We have to find a place to spend the night. My mum wouldn’t like it, but it is what it is.”
“Spend the night.” Noah’s body shuddered with desire.
A tail slapped him on the back of the head. Noah yelped in pain. “Ouch! Why did you do that?”
Rihala looked away, red blossoming over her cheeks. “Don’t even think I’d do some lowly things with a human.”
Noah raised his hand and shook his head like his life depended on it. “No-no. I wasn’t implying anything like that.” He bit his tongue, it had betrayed him.
“Forget it, and let’s find a place to camp for the night—separately.” She started walking and Noah followed her. After a few minutes of walking, Noah spotted a ruined house behind a large tree.
“I think someone is living there. We should check it out.”
Rihala quickly covered his mouth with her hand. “Let me check it out first. My mom always says not to go into an unknown ruined house.” She moved forward like a cat, and if Noah wasn’t looking at her, he wouldn’t have known she was moving over the ground. Her footfalls were non-existent. Was it a skill?
Noah released his breath when Rihala came back with a scowl on her face.
‘What happened?’ he asked with a hand gesture.
“The house is all good, but there is a chest in the middle of it and a note. And I triggered it accidentally.”
“What do you mean by accidentally?”
Her face darkened in shame. “I fell on it. Now I’m bound to it, so I can’t go away unless I defeat the two waves starting in ten minutes. My mom always tells me how clumsy I am.”
Noah facepalmed. The woman was an elegant desi
gn of an unknown demon god, but he forgot to offer her elegance while walking. She would keep walking—sorry, falling—into unnecessary trouble.
“It’s okay if you want to go.” Her tail dropped on the ground like it weighed a hundred kilograms, and her body couldn’t hold it in the air anymore. “I’ll take care of this thing myself. My mom has made me strong for such situations.” Her words had strength, but her voice belied her words; it was fragile as the glass test tubes Noah used to store the exotic specimens from the dark side of the universe.
“Why would I? We are in this together, right?” Noah grabbed her hand, giving her a reassuring smile.
“Would you, human friend?”
“Friends call me Noah.”
Her tail jumped up, hovering above her head like it was happy.
“Let’s see if we can get some more information on this new quest.” Noah trudged toward the house.
15. Skeleton House
Washed out light surrounded Noah as soon as he entered the two-story house. The first room looked like it had been painted white ages ago, but now only patches of the color survived. The air inside the house was stale and unmoving, like it feared to wake up whatever beast that lived inside. Something unknown was there for sure, and even the thought of facing it filled his heart with dread.
Noah traced his hand over the wall next to the door. Wooden chips crumbled under his palm and fell to ground, leaving a dust of wooden scraps everywhere. He jumped back, fearing the wall would fall on him, but it didn’t. The old wood held together, maybe for one last time.
The room was mostly empty except for the silver chest placed at the center, and the feeling of an unknown entity.
He opened the chest. It was empty, and he didn't get any quest alert. Strange.
“I'm hungry,” Rihala whispered, startling Noah.
He jumped, nearly tripping over a small crack in the wooden floor. “Don't do that, please.” Noah wiped the sweat away from his forehead. She almost gave him a heart attack.