Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2)

by Stephen Roark

  I wondered what everyone else was up to. Anwi surely had died when Stitches had kicked her into that pit back in the Tomb of the Befallen Grub, and Sabotenda and Kodiak were probably back at Cara wondering what to do next. I really hoped they had just stayed there and found a place to level and hadn’t come out to try and reunite with us. We were too far ahead and unless they found some kind of shortcut, they’d never catch up.

  “Phew,” Baltos said. “That feels good.”

  “Worried you might die and respawn in the Grub?” I joked, turning around. “Now, why don’t we check this place out…”

  My voice trailed off as I saw Korwin and the rest of the White Rose guild standing together in a line facing us. Their numbers had more than doubled. There had to have been at least 25 of them now, and they were all armed and ready.

  Shit…I thought, feeling like the world’s biggest idiot. I knew it was too good to be true.

  “We’ll take all your gear, thanks,” Korwin announced, an evil grin on his lips. “If you don’t comply, we’ll be forced to kill you, over and over again. You’ll respawn at the Bindstone, of course, and maybe, just maybe you’ll drop all your gear before you go completely Sunken. But hey, do you really want to take that chance?”

  “It’s not fun being Sunken, I hear,” Osium added. “But then again, you’d probably know that. I mean, you ran into Walten, right?”

  “Walten?” Curafin asked. “You mean—”

  “The Sunken who attacked you up on the island?” Osium laughed. “Yeah, he didn’t cooperate with us and you can see where that got him.”

  “Goddamn it,” I cursed under my breath. These guys were real bastards. We were completely outnumbered, just like we’d been when Bleed came for us back in Carrethen after Jack went up north after killing Chaucey. I glanced around the cavern, looking for a way out, but all I could see were the stairs where we’d entered, and Korwin’s guild was standing right in our way.

  “Let’s run for it,” Curafin whispered.

  “Yes, run for it!” Osium laughed, drawing his bow and taking aim. At least five others did the same. “Think you can make it?”

  Idiot! I thought. What is wrong with you?

  The old D would have never gone along with this, regardless of how nice the people were. All signs had pointed to them being trustworthy, but I realized now how much more diabolical their plan was. If they’d killed us back at Beatle’s, they would have been able to loot whatever items we’d dropped when we died. But by trapping us here, they would be able to get every single thing we had.

  I’d be able to restore the group if they went Sunken of course, but in the end, the result would be the same. We’d be stripped of our gear and sent away to fend for ourselves, in a high level zone with no way back to Cara. It would be a miracle if we were able to make it to Vayde.

  “What do we do?” Chaucey whispered, hiding behind me.

  “Nothing we can do,” I replied miserably, opening up my inventory.

  I felt weak as I selected my armor and got ready to place it on the ground. I’d battled my way through Jahannan and all its traps just to be done up like this? It wasn’t fair! But there wasn’t anything left to do. No choices, no ways out. I smiled sadly at the rest of my group and dragged my leggings to the group to drop them, but before I could, something at the other end of the cavern caught my eye.

  A fireball, silent and enormous, spiraling down from an opening in the cave wall. Time seemed to slow down as I watched it hurtle through the air towards the White Rose players. At the very last second, just before impact, Selune turned around and saw it. But it was too late.

  The monstrous ball of flame smashed into the line of players like the fist of God, killing four of them instantly and decimating the health of several others.

  “Fallen God!” someone shouted as the rest of them began scrambling out of the way as a volley of arrows rained down around them.

  “Archers, to your posts!” Korwin shouted.

  At the other end of the cave, a flood of players emerged from the opening where the fireball had come. It must have been the other entrance into the Underground City, and we’d arrived just when someone else had decided to attack.

  “Fallen God!?” Baltos asked as we ran for cover, ducking down behind the Mage hut.

  “A guild!” I replied, shouting over the noise of the battle as more players spilled into the cave. “My friend’s part of them!”

  “Then they’re here to help us!?”

  “Maybe!” I replied, drawing an arrow and firing it into the back of one of Korwin’s men. The critical hit tore his health to half and he spun around to face me, but as he did, three more arrows struck him and finished him off.

  I glanced around the corner of the building as Fallen God’s forces fanned out as they came into the cavern, circling the town on both sides. It looked to me like they had superior numbers.

  Korwin screamed and brought his hand down. “Fire!”

  His archers loosed a volley towards the invading forces, but they hadn’t singled out a target, and simply did chip damage to a few of the players as they rushed down towards the town.

  “What do we do!?” Curafin hissed, his flaming sword held at the ready.

  “We have to let them know we’re not part of the White Rose!”

  “They’ll never believe us!” Baltos replied.

  “They will if we help them,” I said with a smile.

  Baltos nodded, rubbing his hands together. “Right.”

  “Make it obvious,” I told the group. “They have to see us as allies. Otherwise, it’ll be one guild killing us instead of the other!”

  I leapt out from cover, making myself visible to the new attackers, and fired an arrow at one of Korwin’s men, striking him in the back and dealing a critical hit. He spun around in shock and raised his wand at me, but Baltos was on him in a second, opening with a Stun Punch that interrupted whatever spell he was trying to cast.

  Curafin drove his Bishop’s blade into the man’s side, tearing off more of his health, and Chaucey, hanging back behind me, fired what must have been a Charged Shot that actually dealt significant damage. I fired again, striking him with a frost arrow that took him down for good.

  “Here!” Curafin roared. I turned as he aimed a Menace cast over my shoulder, then spun around and fired at the target. My arrow struck as the black debuff cage collapsed into the player. My shot scored a critical hit and obliterated more than half his health. I could see by his gear he was lower level than the group we’d run into with Korwin. I drew back to fire again when a Frost Bolt struck me in the side, causing my arms to jump and my shot to fly higher than my target.

  But Baltos was on him, and drove a devastating Uppercut into his chin, sending him soaring into the air, directly into my arrow. It struck him at the top of his arc, dealing enormous damage.

  “Nice one!” I shouted, drawing back another shot. Baltos didn’t reply, but I could see a massive grin on his face as he began pummeling the player, driving his health down towards critical.

  I spun around just in time to duck another Frost Bolt as it whizzed towards me. Someone screamed in pain behind me as it slammed into them, and I fired back. The arrow struck his shoulder and spun him around. An arrow hit my back, but the damage wasn’t too bad. Ignoring the pain, I leapt forward, swapping to my daggers, and unleashed a Mutilate on the mage as he tried to bring his wand down towards me again.

  Both daggers struck true and carved away at his health bar. He was only wearing a robe, and clearly had no protection spells in place, as my single attack destroyed more than half his HP.

  “Korwin!” a voice roared as I drove two more strikes into my attacker. His health was dangerously low. One more blow would do it. But as I raised my daggers for a slashing attack, someone struck me hard in the back, knocking me down.

  I struggled against the enormous weight on me as the sounds of battle rang out through the cavern.

  “You’re nothing but cowards!” Ko
rwin roared back.

  “Your time has come!” the voice shouted back as I rolled to my side and threw my dagger up to block a downward attack from a short sword. It was Motomo, Korwin’s man, standing over me with a fierce look of determination on his face.

  He ducked as an arrow whizzed past him, then brought both swords down and sank them into my chest.

  I wailed in pain as a quarter of my health vanished, and tried to scramble out of the way, but something struck me in the shoulder, and I looked up to see Moon towering above me, her sword raised for another attack.

  Driving my foot into Motomo’s groin, I rolled backwards and tried to get to my feet, but out of the corner of my eye I saw an attack coming and had to throw myself aside to avoid Selune’s halberd as it pierced through the air towards my neck.

  “Help!” I shouted as all three of them advanced on me, weapons pulled back to strike. I glanced around for my group, but Baltos had his hands full with another unarmed fighter wielding a pair of bronze nekode and Curafin was casting Menace on someone. Chaucey fired at Selune, dealing good damage, but it wasn’t enough to stop them. They raised their weapons together to strike, and I braced myself for impact, holding my daggers up in a final prayer that I’d somehow manage to block or deflect their strikes.

  But just before their attacks found their mark, an enormous Fire Ball struck them, like the one I’d seen as Fallen God’s forces came charging into the cavern.

  The massive spell swept Korwin’s men right off their feet and sent them slamming into the Mage’s hut. I watched as all of their health plummeted and looked up to see a mage walking towards me.

  He was clad in the most brilliant red robe I’d ever seen. Black and gold frills lined his shoulders and hood that was thrown back to reveal his blonde hair and surfer-guy face. I recognized him instantly and cried out as he approached.

  “Vayde!”

  68

  The Right Hand of God

  Vayde’s face twisted in slight confusion as he stopped in front of me, unconcerned by the battle going on around him. My jaw dropped when I inspected him.

  Vayde—Level 166.

  “Holy crap!” I exclaimed as he looked down at me. “Look at you, dude! Level 166!?

  My old friend frowned and tilted his head to the side. “Do I know you?”

  “It’s D!” I cried out, leaping to my feet. I couldn’t control myself, and leapt onto him, tossing my arms around his neck and hugging him so hard I was surprised it didn’t actually do damage.

  “D!?” he replied, obviously confused. He gently pushed me back and looked at me. “No…D’s a dude.”

  “Well…surprise!” I cried back. “It is me, dude!”

  “It can’t be…”

  “You want me to prove it? Fine! We met you when you were level 11,” I told him, blathering on as fast as I could. “You were part of Cavey and Xavier’s guild that protected Stoneburg. You were with us when Jack got his Executioner’s Sword—when we fought the Necromancer and the skeletal horde. We went to the Crimson Catacombs with Jack where you…you died.”

  Vayde’s expression shifted as he processed what I was saying. He was obviously confused. The last time he’d seen me I’d been a scrappy looking dude and now he was looking at…me.

  One of Korwin’s men dashed towards him, a massive battle axe held high. Without even bothering to look in his direction, Vayde turned his glowing blue casting sphere and fired a blast of flames that engulfed the would-be attacker. The damage was enough to almost kill him and the man cried out and sprinted away as fast as he could.

  “Is that…seriously you, D?” Vayde smiled. “Why the Hell do you look like a girl?”

  “It’s a long story,” I replied, relieved. “But what are you doing here? We were coming to see you at Neydeesa!”

  “Cleaning out these White Rose idiots,” he scowled. “Taking over the city. These guys are pure evil. Worse than Sinister if you ask me.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I said slowly. “Speaking of…”

  I turned, looking over at Chaucey, who was standing as far away from the fray as he could, firing arrows at Korwin’s troops. When Vayde laid eyes on him, his expression completely shifted from one of friendship to one of hatred. He raised his orb in his direction, but I quickly moved in front of it.

  “What are you doing!?” he exclaimed. “That’s Chaucey!”

  “I know!” I replied. “But he’s with us now.”

  “What!? What are you talking about!?”

  “Look, it’s a long story, okay? And I’ll tell you everything after, but can we deal with the White Rose now?”

  “Fine,” Vayde said through clenched teeth. “But I want an explanation for this!”

  “You’ll get one,” I told him as he turned and raised his casting orb again. Small fist-sized embers spewed forth, chattering across a line of Korwin’s forces, tearing away at their health with ease. Two of them died and another three were critical. I took aim and picked one of them off.

  “Chaucey, here!” I shouted, pointing to the weak ones desperately trying to heal. Chaucey fired an Explosive Shot at their feet, which burst like a grenade, destroying what was remaining of their HP. I heard more players respawning at the Bindstone behind us. They were temporarily White for the next ten minutes after being killed by another player, so for the time being we didn’t have to worry about them. But if the battle wasn’t over by then, they’d be back in the fray.

  Curafin screamed in terror and I turned to see a group of White Rose men bearing down on him. His health was dangerously low.

  “Vayde!” I shouted as I rushed towards him, firing an arrow into the back of a knight carrying an enormous battle axe. It struck him, temporarily distracting him, but the others lashed out at Curafin with their melee weapons, and I watched as his health dropped to zero and he fell down dead.

  “Shit,” I cursed, swapping to my daggers and activating Rush as I dove into the fray, slicing and dicing as fast as I could, blowing all my cooldowns to do as much damage as I could.

  “D! Get down!” Vayde shouted from behind me. I instantly threw myself to the ground as a Fire Ball smashed into the group. Two of them went down and the remaining one was so low all it took was another two hits to finish him off. I glanced back at the Bindstone as Vayde respawned, looking defeated. He’d have to sit there waiting and watching while we continued to fight.

  “Jane!” Chaucey cried out as a volley of arrows struck him. There wasn’t even any time to do anything. He was dead and respawning back at the Bindstone.

  “Come on, Vayde!” I shouted. “Let’s finish this!”

  Vayde nodded and raised his casting orb high above his head. “Fallen Gods! Down!”

  All around me, Vayde’s men dropped to their knees as a monstrous ring of fire emerged from his hands. It was like a spinning blade that grew and grew, sweeping over the town, consuming Korwin’s forces in flames. The first blow from the incredible spell did incredible damage, but applied a fire debuff that continued chewing away at the health of Korwin’s guild mates.

  Instantly, Vayde’s followers were back on their feet and attacking. Within seconds, the majority of the White Rose were dead, back at their Bindstone watching the rest of their companions as they were cut down.

  “It’s over, Korwin!” I shouted, spinning around, trying to locate their leader. But he was nowhere to be found. Unlike Vayde, who led his forces into battle, it appeared Korwin had run off to hide when the tables were turned. Slowly, he emerged from between the Blacksmith’s and Mage huts, a sheepish look on his face.

  “Vayde, just wait—”

  But Vayde didn’t wait. He raised his orb and quickly cast a Fire Ball that slammed into Korwin and nearly killed him. I drew back and fired a shot that finished him off and smiled as his body hit the ground and the sound of his respawn rang out behind us at the Bindstone.

  I turned around to face the White Rose as they stood defeated around their Bindstone like a group of ghosts. I could already see th
e confusion beginning to form in their eyes as they took their first step towards becoming one of the Sunken.

  “The Underground City is ours now,” Vayde announced. “Your loot is ours. We will give you a chance to vacate before you all turn Red again. If you choose not to leave, we will simply kill you again, one by one until you are Sunken, and then you will be cleansed from this world for good. Think of this as my one merciful offer. I suggest you take it.”

  “Yeah, how’s that feel!?” Baltos taunted them as he took his place by my side. “Scheming bunch of snakes. Feeling sexy now, Moon?”

  Moon didn’t reply. In fact, none of them did. They looked absolutely miserable and I couldn’t help but feel as though it had been a long time since they’d actually lost a fight. It made sense considering their tactics. They’d just find a small group they could handle, lie to them and bring them back to the city and ambush them. And it would have worked on us too if not for Vayde’s arrival.

  “This is our city…” Korwin finally said, his voice low and soft compared to his earlier tone.

  “Well, it doesn’t seem that way anymore,” Vayde countered, his voice strong and commanding. I understood now why Rayne had made him her right hand man. “This place has been a blight on the world for too long, and today it comes to an end. You also made a very unfortunate choice of choosing to attack one of my friends. Consider it merciful that I don’t subject you to the same fate you subject your victims. Leave now and do not return. This city is property of Fallen God now.”

  Wow, that was quite a speech, I thought. Vayde had come a long way since Carrethen, and it felt good to see him so in charge. It was great to see him, but I couldn’t help but feel small beside him. Here I was, having just led my small group of friends into a trap, only to be rescued by my former comrade who was now famous across the entire server and in command of a small army that had come to my aid.