Shadow For Hire: Books 1-4 (A LitRPG Series)

by Adam Drake

  Having the huge thief at my back made me nervous, and I kept checking on him as much as the jungle we traveled through.

  As we moved along, I spotted a bright blue flower in the tall grass. On impulse, I picked it.

  You have acquired an item: Sky Flower

  The petals of this flower can be used in various potions.

  Value: 3 Gold Pieces

  Herbology Skill Increased! Level 1, 26%

  “I've never seen that before,” Shwenn said to me.

  “What,” I said. “A leviathan?”

  “Yeah, heard about them. Seen vids of other guilds being wiped by them, but not one so close. Have you?”

  An image of the Kraken pulling itself through the Void portal and into Ogden's lair flashed in my mind. “Nope,” I said. “Never.”

  She shook her head slowly. “Just when you think this game has thrown everything at you something like that happens.”

  She was silent for a few moments, then said, “I love this game.”

  “Me, too!” I said, and we laughed.

  “Shh!” Bozar said, suddenly stopping. “There's something ahead, on the side of the path.”

  From our vantage point, it looked like a small structure was sitting squat in the thick grass. Most of it was masked by trees.

  “Let me check,” I said, then dipped into Shadow form.

  As the others waited, I moved forward along the path, my eyes on the strange structure. As I got closer its details became more clear.

  Keeping my distance I walked past the screening trees and stopped, surprised.

  A small airship lay in ruins in the vegetation, its massive balloon deflated and covering a wide area like a rotted whale carcass. The structure seen from the path was its travel basket which lay on its side. Unlike the airships used for transport, which were as big as sea-bound vessels, this one was tiny in comparison. At best it could carry three or four passengers, of which there was no sign.

  I looked into the basket and found no one there, except riggings and empty cases. Then something caught my eye on its exterior. An arrow. I plucked it out and examined it to find it was normal, save for red feathering and a barbed head.

  Slowly, I turned around, taking it all in. There was nothing else about, so I dropped out of Shadow and waved to the others. “All clear.”

  As they approached, they took in the scene.

  “Oh, wow,” Witt said. “Someone crashed here?”

  “Looks like,” I said, looking over the surface of the huge deflated balloon.

  Holpa's eyes lit up, looking genuinely excited. “This is how we get out of this place! We use this airship to get back.”

  I shook my head, “Not going to happen unless you have some made airship-crafting skills.” I pointed at the massive tears in the balloon. “Looks like the trees really did a number on this, ripped it to shreds.”

  Shwenn said, “Any idea how long ago this happened?”

  “No idea,” I said.

  A message appeared.

  You have found a quest. 'What goes up, must come down.'

  Find out what happened to the survivors of the airship crash.

  Reward: 500 shared experience points.

  “Well, there is our rescue mission,” Witt said with a chuckle. “Never enough of those around.”

  “I think we're the ones in need of rescuing,” I said.

  “Shh! Listen!” Bozar said, suddenly raising his axe for quiet.

  A deep base thumping could be heard from somewhere within the jungle ahead. It was a constant beat, like a section of music that played over and over.

  Drums.

  I held up the red fletched arrow in my hand. “My guess is natives.”

  “At least it's not snakes,” Holpa said, looking nervously at the trees.

  “They probably took the survivors,” Shwenn said listening to the drums and scanning the jungle. “I think it's coming from that direction. They obviously know we're here so let's head over to them.”

  Suddenly, from the vegetation she pointed at, burst forth several little men wearing snake masks. They were almost completely naked save for a type of bamboo armor which covered their bodies. Each were armed, some with primitive axes and bamboo shields, or bows nocked with red fletched arrows.

  Their skin was covered in a light green paint, fading to white in some areas. But upon closer inspection I realized that it wasn't paint, but scales. And their faces weren't masks at all, they were truly reptilian in appearance.

  “Or they could come to us,” Shwenn said taking a step back.

  The natives formed a row before us, about a dozen in all.

  My group quickly positioned themselves as best we could, with Shwenn at the rear.

  For several moments, neither side moved, sizing each other up.

  Witt was coiled to strike, rocking back and forth on his heels, twin swords at the ready. “These pipsqueaks don't look so tough.”

  “Don't jinx us,” I said.

  Suddenly, from the depths of the jungle, the drums went silent. The natives froze as if surprised, then they raised their weapons and shields above their heads and shouted a word over and over.

  “Sisoria! Sisoria! Sisoria!”

  Then they attacked.

  CHAPTER TEN

  As the natives rushed forward, Bozar shouted out his War Howl.

  The effect was immediate as nearly all of them surged at the ogre. He buttoned up behind his massive shield, swinging his axe in wide arcs.

  Witt attacked the scrum from the edges, striking a native from behind. The native turned to hack at him with an axe.

  Holpa backstabbed one attacking Bozar, then turned to parry a swing from another with his short sword.

  This left three natives with bows standing back and firing arrows. Dipping into Shadow, I zigzagged at them. The jungle shadows kept my ability maxed to the point I was nearly invisible, even while sprinting.

  Shwenn sent Charm into the throng around Bozar, then fired her energy wand. These natives had high hit points, and could take a lot of damage.

  Running up beside one of the archer natives, I blinked out of Shadow and struck him from the side. He dropped his bow and pulled out a small axe, lunging for me. I back-pedaled while parrying his strikes. The strength behind his swings was a little scary, but I kept from getting hit.

  The two other archers were entirely focused on Bozar, and hitting him with each shot. The ogre's hit points were dropping at an alarming speed.

  Shwenn cursed, and fired a Fireball at the two archers, who didn't even bother to move out of the way. The Fireball exploded around them, sending them flying into the vegetation. Bushes and branches caught on fire.

  A Sisorian Native has been killed. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  A Sisorian Native has been killed. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  The native hacking at me with his axe glared and hissed. He looked human, but his skin was entirely of little scales, and the eyes in his human face were long narrow slits. A forked tongue flickered out of his mouth.

  I kept smacking away each of his attacks, but he wouldn't let up. Without thinking, I parried a swing then lunged forward in an attempt to run him through. But he easily dodged to the side and swung downwards, hitting me in the back with the axe.

  Cursing, I pulled away. That hurt. These guys had some serious punch.

  Over the native's shoulder I could see Bozar was swinging like a maniac, but strangely, none of the natives were dead.

  Witt faced off against three natives who had broken away from the Bozar dog-pile. With dual blades he matched their attacks swing for swing, but I could tell he was a little concerned with their fighting abilities.

  Holpa, for his part, was jumping onto the backs of natives and jamming his crystal dagger into them. But when he pulled away, he was surprised to see they didn't drop dead.

  “What's up with these guys?” I shouted to Shwenn as I parried another brutal axe strike.


  “I think they have an insane regen ability,” Shwenn said, focused on her wand attacks.

  Great, I thought and tried for another lunge. This time, I hit home, drawing blood. But the native barely flinched still swinging like crazy.

  Okay, this wasn't working. To Shwenn I said, “Get Charm onto this guy, and hit him with your wand.”

  Perhaps realizing what I was doing, she did so without argument. The diamond beetle pulled away from gnawing on the leg of a native to race across the grass. It rammed into the back of the native I was duelling with and clamped its pincers onto his leg.

  The native turned to look, almost as if annoyed. At the same moment, an energy ball from Shwenn's wand struck him in the face.

  While he was distracted, I stepped forward and jammed my sword into the center of his chest. The blade went right through his odd bamboo armor and out his back.

  He hissed in pain and glared at me with red-slitted eyes. But he didn't go down. As I slid my blade out of him, he resumed his attack, but this time his strikes were much weaker.

  But after exchanging several blows he suddenly buckled and fell to one knee. Charm suddenly snapped its pincers around the side of his head and squeezed. The native hissed in pain, and I ran him through with my sword again. Finally, he crumpled to the jungle floor.

  You have killed a Sisorian Native. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  I ran to where Witt was fighting the three natives, barely keeping them at bay. Charm drove into the legs of one, and I hacked at the native's exposed back. As he turned in surprise, an energy ball struck his head.

  I hacked and sliced at his torso while he parried some of the strikes. These guys were tough.

  To my right, I was aware that Bozar had killed one of the natives and managed to quaff a healing potion. All the while the others continued to strike at his shield or hit him with their axes.

  Witt suddenly took a nasty hit to the face while parrying a blow and stumbled back. His health bar took a big dip. A crit.

  “FILTERED!” Witt said, shaking his head. “Can we set this to easy mode now? These dudes are hardcore!”

  The native I was tangling with hacked at my sword as I continued to parry them.

  Parry Skill Increased! Level 6, 59%.

  Charm was practically eating through his leg, but he didn't seem to mind. The leg should have been ripped off by now. If these natives had a regen ability, it was off the charts.

  Then, as the native tried to push me backwards with a flurry of attacks, his red eyes widened. I noticed a black swirling cloud dance across their surface and then was gone.

  Uh oh.

  “Dark magic!” I shouted for all to hear. “They're under the influence of Dark magic!”

  Even over the sounds of combat I heard several filtered curses from the other members. Dark magic perverted normal magic like a radioactive bomb. The Dark magic no doubt strengthened these guys and enhanced their natural regen ability, but at the cost of something else.

  Shwenn cursed. “Okay. Not good.”

  But there was little to do about it right then except to fight for our lives.

  Suddenly, Charm bit through the leg of the native and he collapsed, a surprised expression on his face. I took the chance to drive my sword right through one of his slitted eyes, piercing the brain and getting a fatal crit. The native's body sagged.

  You have killed a Sisorian Native. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  With the native dead I quickly looked to Bozar who I was concerned about as he was taking a serious beating. Despite having just taken a potion, his health bar was back down to half again as the natives didn't let up their attack.

  Holpa focused his attacks on the same native Bozar was and managed to backstab the reptilian man. The being shrieked and collapsed to the ground.

  A Sisorian Native has been killed. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  Witt and Shwenn focused on one of his two attackers in an effort to chip away at its health together, with Charm doing its leg attack thing.

  Wanting to help Bozar, I quickly ran a few paces back from the fray and switched to my bow.

  Aiming at the native Bozar was exchanging blows with I fired a Multi-Shot. Instantly, four arrows sprouted from the native's neck and he arched his back in agony. Under continual barrage, Bozar lunged forward with a concentrated swing and his axe cut the native's head off.

  Now there was four natives on Bozar and two on Witt.

  Having to wait two and a half minutes for my Multi-Shot cooldown to reset, I took aim at the head of one Witt was trying to wear down. I fired a Sure-Shot into the being's head and it died on the spot. That was it for my bow abilities for the moment.

  I gave Bozar a glance, and he nodded. Certain he was okay for the moment I fired a rapid series of volleys into the final native on Witt. Within moments, the native's back was a pincushion of a dozen arrows. With Charm sawing away, Witt's counter strikes and Shwenn's energy blasts, the native finally succumbed.

  You have killed a Sisorian Native. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  “We having fun, yet?” Witt said as he charged over to help Bozar. With a running leap he drove his twin swords into the back of a native. Amazingly, the native turned to hit Witt across the face with its axe.

  “FILTERing Dark magic FILTERED!” Witt shouted as he recoiled from the blow. “Shouldn't even be in the game! Makes everything over-powered!” He parried a series of axe blows.

  “You'll get no argument from me,” Shwenn said firing her wand. “No wonder this instance has such a low success rate.”

  Bozar swung out with his axe, hitting two of the natives, before ducking behind his shield again. “What is it?”

  “Twelve percent,” Shwenn said.

  “Well,” Witt said, “I don't intend on being a part of the eighty-eight percent. We're twelve percenters, right guys?”

  Everyone was too busy fighting to answer. The way things were going, we might not make it into the twelve percent club at all.

  I kept to my bow shot, knowing I could do the most damage this way while being more selective of my target. A quick volley on the native Witt had engaged helped turn the tide, and the snake-being dropped.

  You have killed a Sisorian Native. You have gained 600 shared experience points.

  After taking a deep cut to his side, Holpa backed away from the fight and took to using his boomerang again. I couldn't blame him. As a thief, he shouldn't even be on the front line, but there was little choice in the matter.

  There were three natives left, and we kept the group's entire focus on one of them at a time. With Bozar absorbing their strikes and quaffing potions, he held their attention enough for us to whittle their hit points down to zero. One by one they fell, until all three were dead, giving me an additional 1,800 shared experience points.

  When the last native had collapsed, the group sighed with exasperation.

  “What a grind,” Bozar said, sagging against a tree. “That Dark magic stuff gives them a heck of an advantage.”

  Witt said, “If the rest of this instance is like that, we're going to be at this for a while. Regardless of what I hit those guys with, they just wouldn't go down.”

  I asked Shwenn, “What's the most effective thing against a Dark Magic attack?”

  “Dispel Magic,” she said. “Which I have.”

  “Great!” Witt said.

  “And it has a one hour cooldown,” Shwenn said.

  “Which is not so great,” I said with a wry grin.

  Witt noticed Holpa snooping through the native corpses. “Hey, FILTERED! What did I tell you about the loot procedure?”

  Holpa rolled his eyes and went to crouch under a tree. The thief looked beat up, and I was actually a little impressed he had held his own. Despite all his whining he could still put up a good fight.

  Shwenn quaffed a mana potion, then went to the corpses.

  “No, take a break Shwenn,” Witt said. “
You've earned it.”

  “It's okay,” Shwenn said. “I wanna see what these guys got.”

  First, she went to each corpse to check for gold, netting each of us 210 gold pieces. I smiled as the coins clinked into my money purse.

  Then she went through the items. Not all the natives dropped something, but there was a good number to go around.