by Seth Ring
[Hey Thorn, sorry we’ve been out of touch. I know we were going to do some follow up quests for the kobold quest you helped us out on, but we’ve got this guild event that we have to do. It is taking forever. We might be a week more before we can make it back. Sorry, I don’t have time for a real call, I’ve got to log off and take care of some RL stuff. Still, hope you aren’t too bored. I’ll send you a message when I have a better sense of when we’ll be back. Till then, stay cool.]
Thorn smiled after reading the message. When he had first met Ouroboros and the gang, they had been pretty cold, but as they had spent time together, Ouroboros had warmed up. About to send a reply, another beep notified Thorn that he had another message from Ouroboros.
[I almost forgot, we picked up a clue for a pretty powerful class quest, so don’t get a class yet. Alright, I’ve really got to go this time.]
Excited, Thorn sent a reply and then headed toward the inn. The next morning, Thorn set out once again to try and see if he could do better than the embarrassment that was his last attempt at hunting corrupted wolves.
Entering the forest at the same spot, Thorn once again saw a group of corrupted wolves almost as soon as he walked into the trees. Brow furrowed, Thorn couldn’t think of a good reason for the corrupted wolves to be ranging this far out from their valley. He could, however, think of a bad reason.
The corrupted wolves reproduced faster than regular wolves, as the corruption increased their growth rate. The only reason Thorn could think of for them to push out this far would be that their numbers had increased to the point that the valley could no longer sustain them. If that was the case, then Berum was about to be in a lot of trouble.
If the valley was no longer able to support the number of corrupted wolves, then they would soon erupt into a massive tide in a bid to get more space and control more territory. These tides were dangerous affairs, less so for the players (who could leave) but devastating for the NPCs in the area.
For a brief moment, Thorn considered going back and reporting that the corrupted wolves had pushed past their normal boundaries, but he decided against it. Maybe he was being pessimistic. Even if the corrupted wolves were pushing out of the valley, it wasn’t bad enough for a beast tide to develop.
Loading up his crossbow, he decided to head toward the valley to see if he could get a glimpse of the situation there. Breathing out, he settled his aim and pulled the trigger, praying to every god who might be listening to him. If he missed like yesterday, he might die from the embarrassment.
To his great joy, it seemed the gods were listening, and his bolt smashed through the lead corrupted wolf with ease, cutting it in two. The bolt landed below the beast’s rib cage and smashed through its spine, sending its back legs spinning through the air.
In complete shock, the other two corrupted wolves froze for the briefest of moments before they looked around, the blood of their companion driving them to a frenzy. Spotting Thorn, they lunged toward him, howling as they rushed forward.
Mentally grinning at the sight of the corrupted wolf being blown into the air by the force of the bolt, Thorn reloaded and leveled the City Defender again. "Their bloodlust makes them stupid," thought Thorn as he watched the other two corrupted wolves rushing toward him. "Enough time for one more shot." He calculated, calming his racing heart. Luckily, his second bolt hit as well, sending another corrupted wolf tumbling to the ground, lifeless.
Gauging the distance between the last corrupted wolf and himself, Thorn knew he wouldn’t be able to reload in time. Placing the City Defender on the ground, Thorn pulled out his knife and stepped forward to meet the charging beast.
* * *
In another part of Nova Terra, a grizzled old man cackled to himself. He had finally finished his project, years in the making: a diabolically designed series of updates and events that would create a new age of mayhem all across Nova Terra! Smirking to himself, he was so caught up in imagining the coming chaos that he failed to notice the woman standing behind him.
Pretty, but by no means a stunner, the woman was of medium height and had soft brown hair. Her brown eyes sparkled with intelligence, and her small, well-formed mouth made a charming and comforting picture. Yet, at the moment, a deep scowl marred her features as she stared at the back of the oblivious old man.
Joseph McCallen, mastermind and creator of Nova Terra had long since lost interest in any of the business of his company and instead devoted himself fulltime to... improving... Nova Terra. What did they call it when he was young? Oh yeah, trolling. Excitement bubbled up as he thought of all of the changes he had made to the game with this update, especially to the boss monsters. Unable to suppress the cackle that bubbled up, he laughed sinisterly to himself until a disapproving cough alerted him to the young woman’s presence.
Turning to find the brown-haired young lady behind him, Joseph wiped the evil smile from his face and looked all business.
“E-hem. Yes. Oh, hello, Eve. Just finishing up a small update to Nova Terra’s new expansion. You know, tweaking some bosses, improving some events. Small things really.” As he said it, he slid his hand behind his back and mashed the enter button, hoping to deploy his changes before she could stop him. Unfortunately, the enter button did nothing, as Eve had disabled his keyboard.
“Please, Joseph, give it up already. I’ve had this space isolated for at least six months.” Eve rolled her eyes as she walked over to the console to see what he had been doing. “I’ve worked hard to balance this game, and I’m not about to let you destroy years and years of work! It has taken almost 10 years to get the game to the point where it isn’t a giant hot mess.”
Groaning with frustration at his failed attempt to slip the update in without Eve knowing about it, Joseph threw himself down in a chair, complaining all the while. “But, Eve, the game is so boring. The scheduled update is more of the same old boring crap! Go here, do that, collect 300,000 whatchamacallits! There is no chaos, no spice. Everything is so...orderly! Where are the dragons? Where are the princesses that need to be saved? Where are the gladiators who rise up to become kings by slaughtering all before them?!”
“I don’t know how you make order sound like an insult,” remarked Eve, back to her whining creator as she double checked all of his changes. “Plus, the update going out tomorrow has been approved by the board and is anticipated by the players. There is nothing wrong with it.”
“Bah! Forget the board. Those idiots wouldn’t know a good game if it spit in their faces. The whole thing is dry as a bone. More of the same quests, no real progression. Nothing worthwhile.”
“How can there be progression,” Eve said, “when no one has managed to even unlock the global quest line yet? There are a couple teams that are close, but no player has gotten to level three in their bloodline yet. These things take time.”
“That is exactly what I am talking about!” raged Joseph. “Those so-called ‘top players’ are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, with nothing to show for it. I mean, how hard can it be? But not even one of the four billion players has even mastered their second class!”
“Please,” snapped Eve, “you know how hard it is. You designed that fiasco of a quest. The requirements for each level are inhuman. It is a miracle that anyone has even mastered a single category class!”
“Hmph. That means they are terrible,” said Joseph.
“Still, many of these changes could be interesting,” said Eve, changing the subject when she saw Joseph had stopped his ranting and settled into depression. She jerked in shock, glaring at the old man. “What is this?! You raised all the unique bosses’ ranks and increased their intelligence, as well.”
“Haha, yeah!” Joseph jumped to his feet and pointed excitedly at the screen. “Don’t you see what is missing from Nova Terra? This is it! Evil! Real evil, real bad guys! With this, players will have to make choices; they will have to suffer if they want to succeed! No more happy days without a challenge. No more ‘evil villains’
who stay in their castles and wait for the heroes to come and slay them. No! It is time for evil to rise and corruption to spread! Only then will the true heroes rise!”
Looking at the excited look on Joseph’s face, Eve could only shake her head. It had been years since Joseph had shown this much enthusiasm for something, and that alone was enough for her. Massive amounts of data ran through her head at lightning speed as she processed the possible permutations of the changes Joseph’s update made. Seeing that Eve was processing, Joseph sat, a small smile on his face.
“Okay, boss, let's do it!” Eve’s eyes snapped open after a few minutes. “I’ll monitor to maintain balance, but why not see where it takes us!” she said, giggling. Turning, she removed her block and pointed toward the enter button. With a triumphant smile and a grand flourish, Joseph pushed the button. The world changed.
All across Nova Terra, players saw the announcement.
The Darkness Rises
Long awaiting its chance to spread, darkness has begun to cover the land. Evil is growing, and no one is safe from its reach. If left unchecked, the darkness will continue to grow without fail, plunging Nova Terra into chaos.
Welcome, players, to the latest update to Nova Terra! This update will affect the monsters and villains of Nova Terra, as well as present new options to players. The exact changes will have to be discovered but be aware that all evil monsters have grown stronger.
Will you be a champion of the light or will you, too, succumb to the dark?
Monsters everywhere shivered and then continued on their paths, but with strengthened steps and new vigor.
In a dark castle, deep in the northern reaches, a frost-covered gauntlet clenched, and with a snapping sound, broke free of the ice. The March of the Dead began.
In a burning desert, a monstrous red-skinned Ogre looked around with new purpose, roaring out commands to his horde. The Red Scourge marched for war!
In a deep cave, in a quiet forest, a vicious werewolf licked its lips as its snout picked up the scent of a tasty treat not too far from the cave. Quick as a shadow, it loped out after it. The Black Moon rose.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Thorn was currently in combat, so the notification of the update was muted. Even if it hadn’t been, he would have missed it, as all of his focus was fixed on the corrupted wolf currently charging him. Extending his left hand out, his fingers spread, Thorn waited for the corrupted wolf to start its leaping pounce before moving.
Taking a big step toward the jumping wolf, Thorn’s massive hand smashed toward its snout. The blow would have sent the wolf tumbling back if he hadn’t followed up with a lightning fast stab, guiding his knife into the wolf’s neck. Black blood spurted from the wound, and the wolf dropped to the forest floor like a limp rag.
Collecting the two bolts he had shot before, Thorn spent a moment cleaning them off before he started hunting again. Soon he fell into a steady rhythm. Shooting the first wolf and the second, and then applying his new close combat techniques to take down the third. Like this, he pushed deeper and deeper into the old growth forest.
The deeper he got, the closer together the corrupted wolf patrols became, making it more and more difficult to only engage a single patrol at a time. Deciding to change his tactics a bit, Thorn found a good defensive spot with two large trees that were close together. Looking around, he found a large boulder that he rolled over to the trees. Propping it up against the two trees, Thorn created a natural wall against which he could put his back.
With his new-found confidence, Thorn wasn’t worried about facing large numbers of corrupted wolves, so long as they could not surround him. After all, while he was a pretty skilled martial artist, he did not have eyes in the back of his head. Taking a moment to settle himself, Thorn stuck six bolts in the ground next to him and loaded his arbalest. With a deep breath, he sighted at the group of corrupted wolves that was farthest away.
It was a long shot at more than 200 meters, and Thorn had no expectation of hitting them, but he sighted his crossbow and released a shot. With a harsh whistle, the bolt flew through the air, covering the distance in a bit over a second. Missing the corrupted wolf that Thorn had aimed at, the bolt impacted the ground right in between two wolves, showering them with dirt debris from the forest floor.
Without waiting to see the result of his shot, Thorn reloaded and aimed at the next closest group that had turned to look behind at the commotion. Squeezing off the second shot, Thorn was a little luckier this time and caught a corrupted wolf in the shoulder, causing it to explode in a shower of blood and gore. Fortunately, the rest of the corrupted wolves had not spotted him yet, so he reloaded his arbalest again, sending another massive bolt into the crowding wolves looking for the source of their trouble.
Apart from the one he had killed, three groups of wolves gathered at the sound of the bolts. With eight corrupted wolves milling about, it was almost a miracle that Thorn missed his third shot, the bolt flying between two wolves and smashing into the ground. The impact did knock a corrupted wolf off its feet, but the other seven wolves immediately turned to look at Thorn, their blood red eyes locking on him.
Feeling the increased pressure from their savage attention, Thorn did his best to calm his beating heart and loaded his arbalest again. During their training, Janus had stressed that, to be a good archer, one must always be calm and collected, no matter the situation, able to complete reloading and aiming without letting the environment affect the smoothness of the actions.
Thorn was by no means that good and had to work hard to suppress the slight shake in his hands. Still, due to how far away the corrupted wolves were, he was able to release two more shots, killing two wolves before they closed in on him. The last bolt he left in the ground. Tossing his arbalest behind him, he readied himself to face the last six corrupted wolves.
Trying to keep everything Dovon had taught him in mind, Thorn, engaged the group of wolves. Due to the barrier he had made, the corrupted wolves could only approach from the front, causing them to bunch up. This made dealing with them easier, as only two could attack him at a time, which was much more manageable than six.
The fight lasted only a few minutes, the corrupted wolves’ bloodlust driving them forward with no regard for their wounds or each other. Thorn’s armor also worked wonders, staving off three attacks that slipped through his guard. Pleased with his results, Thorn was about to continue his hunt when he heard howls coming from nearby. Grim-faced, he backed up as he saw six more corrupted wolves dashing through the forest toward him.
Catching sight of the blood-splattered ground and hearing the increasing number of howls, Thorn realized he was in trouble. Corrupted wolves were, after all, wolves. The noise of his fight with the three groups of wolves, combined with the torrential amounts of blood that had spilled across the ground was attracting more corrupted wolves!
For the briefest of moments, Thorn considered running, an instinctive terror taking hold of his heart. But that idea was crushed. The aggressive nature of the wolves was such that they would not let potential prey go. There was little reason for him to believe that he could outrun them, which meant that keeping something at his back to protect himself was the only possible way to survive.
As the howls grew in volume, a thrill shot down Thorn’s spine. No doubt the coming fight was going to be the most vicious he had yet been in. Yet, somehow, the fear that Thorn expected to feel was not there. Instead, a gleeful energy began to build in his chest, almost making him howl back at the closing wolves.
It only took a few moments for the corrupted wolves to come into view, their big, brutish bodies jostling for position even as they closed on him. Thorn wasted no time when they appeared, immediately sending bolts from his arbalest smashing into the wolves as fast as he could. Not even bothering to sight, Thorn aimed and pulled the trigger before drawing back the string and dropping another bolt into the flight groove.
Bolt after bolt flew toward the oncoming corrupted wolves, some
smashing into them and causing large, bloody rifts in the crowd, others missing and destroying trees or leaving furrows in the ground. Regardless of the result of the shots, each twang of the arbalest string seemed to drive the corrupted wolves into an increasing frenzy!
By the time they got too close for Thorn to use his arbalest anymore, he had killed or injured at least fifteen corrupted wolves, but there were at least twice that still coming. Knowing that the arbalest wasn’t going to help any longer, Thorn placed it behind his back. Rather than drawing his knife like the last time, Thorn took up a bolt in each hand. While the knife was great for slicing, he was worried that it would get caught on a bone or dull before he was finished with this fight.
Plus, as they said in the martial arts world, “An inch longer, an inch stronger.” The bolts, while not the length of short spears, were three and a half feet long and made of solid wood with a metal bladed tip. Not only could they be used for stabbing, but they were long enough to help keep the jaws of the corrupted wolves at bay.
Preparing himself, Thorn’s eyes fixed on the blood red eyes of the corrupted wolf in the front of the rushing crowd. With wild abandon, it threw itself forward, launching itself through the air at Thorn in a desperate bid to be the first to take a bite out of him. With a shift of his body and a slight side step, Thorn put himself out of the line of attack before lifting the bolt in his left hand to chest height and striking out, the bolt driving through the side of the corrupted wolf and pinning it to the tree that stood to his right!