The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3)

by Vasily Mahanenko

"Yes brother, we will grant you our aid in this battle and then return to our world," the voice of one of the pillars sounded in my head, so I immediately told the good news to Anastaria and looked at what was left of the raid. Seventeen out of sixty-three. Some weird lottery was happening here ... The survivors included Clutzer, Eric, Leite, Barsina, Antsinthepantsa and me ... . Essentially we could rule out six of our people in the fight with a 400-level Lieutenant, which wouldn’t be good. The twenty 350+ mages that we downed resulted in six new levels for me, +15 levels to my Officers, +4 to Barsina and +2 to Antsinthepantsa. As for the rest, I couldn't remember their initial levels, so couldn't tell if they gained anything. For instance, Anastaria’s definitely didn't go up, remaining at 331 and as for Hellfire – our highest-level player on the continent –, he couldn't get past the 340 threshold.

  "I am proud to have the honor of fighting with such warriors." Slate started to walk up to each player and shake their hand. Interestingly, as soon as the blacksmith stepped away from them, the face of each player became a picture of surprise and then his eyes shot in my direction. What now?

  "I am proud ... ." When my turn came to shake the hand of the future Prince it all became clear. We’d all got a 'Gratitude of the Imperial Family’ buff, increasing our stats by 20% and doubling the speed of Energy, Mana and Hit Point regeneration. That's it ... now there'd be no escaping questions on what a member of the Imperial Family was doing in these woods.

  +50 to Reputation with the Malabar Emperor.

  Current level: Respect. You are 3800 points away from the status of Esteem.

  "YOU ARE INTERESTING TOYS," the Lieutenant's voice flooded through the Dark Forest, slapping us all with a long list of short-term debuffs, "IT WOULD BE A PITY TO DESTROY YOU STRAIGHT AWAY, BUT SUCH IS MY MASTER'S WILL! DIE!"

  "Barsa, me and Leander – twenty paces away from Hellfire," Anastaria immediately took charge, sorting out all the remaining healers. "Etamzilat is backing up Hell. Ants – put strengthening and restoration on everyone. Right now, it's important! Leander, on cool down bring back up two more healers, three of us may not be enough. Small fries – to the back with you! Mobs aren’t like the boss – things are gonna get really hot!"

  All the nearby trees had been thoroughly destroyed during the battle with the mages, so now our group was standing on the edge of an improvised fifty-meter clearing. After three or four fitful breaths (there are no heart beats in Barliona), the trees on the opposite side flew apart, bringing the Lieutenant into view. Unlike in Plinto's first video, where he was covered by mist, now we could see this boss and his appearance in all its glory: he was a three-meter tall biped, his race indeterminable, because he was a formed of a combination of human, white-skinned vampire and green orc ... a Frankenstein of the Dark Forest.

  "That's one ugly bastard," Antsinthepantsa, who was standing next to me, couldn't help saying "Are all Dungeon bosses like this or did we just get lucky?"

  "Save the chit-chat for later! The fight will have four phases," Anastaria immediately shouted after evaluating the boss's properties. "First. Hell, you take him and turn him away from the raid. Everyone stand on the sides, including the small fries, or you'll get iced. On my command, we all run to Hell. Etam – you stay at the back and catch the cleave attack. You must reduce the incoming damage from each cleave – it'll hit hard. 'Killer – your guys join only at my commend. Don – hit him, but very carefully, I suspect that he will return part of the damage in close combat. Don't get yourselves killed that way. The second phase is the other way around. We all stand next to Hell and then run in different directions on my command. Etam – you're at the back, as before. As for the third, its description is too hazy, so we'll split into four groups: tanks, heals, melee and ranged damage fighters. Stand around the boss and carefully listen for my commands. The fourth phase is closed; we'll have to improvise. Ready! Thirty seconds to start of the fight. Twenty-seven. Twenty-four. Ants – one more amplification on the tanks! Twenty! Mahan, as soon as the boss goes for us send in the Elementals. They should slow him down. If things work out, they can then step back until the second phase. Ten! Leander – don't forget to get the healers back as soon as the rez cool down allows you. Five! If we survive, I owe you all a cookie! Damn, talking like Mahan now. One! Go! Go! Go!"

  "YOU WILL ALL DIE!" growled the Lieutenant, hitting us with a wave of debuffs and rushing towards us.

  "Argada Urhant!" Hellfire shouted something incomprehensible, sent an axe flying into the approaching boss and instantly rolled sideways.

  "Brothers, attack!" I commanded the Elementals, hurrying after Anastaria.

  "'Killer, start, Hell is holding it. Don, go at it! Etam! Stand right behind! Hunker down already! (To 'hunker down' – to deploy a damage-reducing ability.)

  "YOU CANNOT WIN! YOU ARE WEAK!" shouted the Lieutenant a couple of minutes into the fight. So far things couldn’t be going better: Hellfire was holding off the boss very skillfully, preventing him from doing anything nasty. From the very start of the fight the boss didn't use anything other than simple blows, which our tank easily blocked, so everyone, including Anastaria were fine-tuning the order in which combat abilities were being used, something players called 'rotation'. The aim is to inflict maximum damage per unit of time. If you crossed a certain average threshold, well done, if not, you're not ready to become a raider just yet. Due to the level difference eight out of ten of the Spirits I summoned missed, but thanks to the Elementals the boss's Hit Points began to diminish at a nice and steady rate. I even had a flashing thought that the Mushu Dungeon was much more interesting in terms of fight mechanics, but then the boss's Health sagged below 90% ... .

  B E W A R E!

  "All run to Hellfire!" Anastaria immediately shouted. "Mahan, take the Elementals to the edge of the clearing!"

  I sped after the girl but then felt like I’d hit an invisible wall. A foreboding ... Stacey was wrong: we mustn't gather – at all. The boss lifted up his arms and started to say some sort of an incantation. All attempts to interrupt him ended in failure: the spell was going to be cast no matter what. He was a Priest, after all, even if he's been sown together from different pieces. He was about to let rip ... .

  "Mahan, hurry!" my deputy hurried me, but by then I already understood what had to be done. We had to get as far as possible away from the boss as quickly as we could.

  "Everyone to the edge of the clearing! Now! Tanks too!" Leading by example, I ordered the Elementals to move away fast and sped to the farthest side of the clearing.

  "Hear that?" Anastaria needed less than a second to take a decision. "After Mahan, quick. Hell, Etam, you too!"

  "Etam, stay!" Donotpunnik immediately shouted, "Take Hellfire's place! Stacey! The lightning strike must hit the tank and be distributed among the closest players! Even a beginner raider knows that! If the strike goes into the ground, there'll be no survivors!"

  "Don't stop!" Unwavering, Anastaria continued to run after me. "Everyone to the edge of the clearing! Etam, Donotpunnik! As the deputy raid leader I order you to get away from the boss! Five seconds until hit!"

  "Etam, hold!" shouted Donotpunnik, running up to the leader of the Heirs of the Titans, who took position in front of the boss. "Stacey, now's not the time to be pulling rank. This strike has to be caught! Come back!"

  The girl spent about a moment drilling me with a stare and then commanded: "Leander, a dome! (minus 40% damage) Mahan, I really hope that you're not ..."

  "RASTURMA PERLANTA KES!" The Lieutenant's shout shook the ground as he completed the spell, and dark entities started to fly from his hands. The ground around the boss blackened, as if all life had drained out of it. The two players standing in front of Frankenstein of the Fallen ... they disappeared in a flash, while the boss's Hit Points rose back up to 98%.

  "Morons," came Anastaria's half-whisper, as she began to get the raid's Health back up. The Lieutenant's spell sent Clutzer and Leite for respawn, Eric and I survived thanks to improved damage blocking, a
nd the rest of the raid lost about 20% of their Hit Points. If it weren't for the dome and the fact that we’d put good distance between us and the boss ... . Then again, we still had a total of sixteen fighters against just one lonesome boss. He'd be biting the dust in no time ... .

  "Mahan, the dark phantoms are moving in our direction," came Antsinthepantsa's shout. "Activate Change of Essence, we have to stop them."

  "Arrows fly right through them without causing them any harm!" came the voice of Exodus, a Phoenix Hunter, one of our last long-range fighters. …

  "Try it on the closest one!" replied Antsinthepantsa "He's already been changed! Mahan! I won't manage on my own!"

  "Don't let this shit get any closer! Hell, take the boss! Mahan, are the Elementals still with us? If yes, send them at the boss. We fight on, no slacking! Eric, we have no choice! Stand behind the boss and catch those cleave attacks! Leander, on every second cleave throw Teeth [an ability not permitting you to die for 10 seconds] on Eric. The cleave comes once a minute, I will cover him with the Bubble between the Teeth. We should be able to hold out. Go!"

  Fifty strange, dark phantoms got embodied by Antsinthepantsa and me in less than a minute and it took Ehkiller and Exodus only one shot at each to rid us of this plague. But Eric ... my Elementals were giving the boss a good kicking, but every minute the Lieutenant made a double strike. Hellfire took the main hit and the tank that stood behind the boss caught the returning movement. Eric didn't get into position fast enough so the cleave went nowhere. And this 'nowhere' cost the raid –40% Hit Points for each player, including Hellfire. If not for the experience of the Phoenix leaders, who've been through many dozens of such fights, we would all have been wiped. This is why my Officer, teeth clenched and covering himself with the shield he got in Dolma, took position and started catching the Lieutenant's cleave attacks. The only thing that Eric permitted himself was a low grunt during the hit, because withstanding being almost destroyed by a hundredth of a second ... tanking isn't an easy job for a prisoner, if you think about it. ...

  B E W A R E!

  "Everyone to the opposite side of the clearing!" commanded Anastaria, as soon as the boss's Hit Points went below 90% for the second time. "Leander, shield on my command, Eric, hunker down (use a damage-reducing ability) when he blows. Ants – strengthening on Eric and Mahan, they must survive this. Mahan, why are your Elementals still hitting the boss? Move them! Leander, if the boss's Hit Points don't go up after the blast, get Elenium up."

  "No!" I intervened midway through Stacey's commands "We need a tank! Eric won't be able to take it!"

  "Nothing will happen to your Eric! Any tank can catch the cleave-hit with the Teeth and the Bubble: his level has nothing to do with it! It's just that he's lower than anyone else in levels and is totally useless in battle! I know it's painful, but everyone else is busy and losing a fighter just to make it a bit easier on Eric ... . Anyway, later! When we get Etamzilat back, we'll replace Eric. For now he can stay and level up his Endurance, that's useful for a tank!"

  "All right," I agreed with the girl, "You have more experience with these things ...."

  "Attention everyone!" shouted Anastaria, as soon as we survived the second blast and destroyed the dark phantoms. "Stop doing any damage to the boss! Priests – resurrect on cool down! The Priority: first the tanks – Etamzilat and Undigit. Then healers – Car–"

  "Plinto!" I intervened, "Stacey, we will really need Plinto! Get him up right after Etamzilat. We won't manage without him next!" If anyone could‘ve explained to me why I butted in, I would’ve given him half my gold. An additional tank or a healer would have come in very useful right then, but no! Instead of resurrecting a healer, as logic would dictate, here I am demanding the Rogue be brought back. Yes, he might be able to deal the highest damage to the boss, but if there is no-one around to heal, hitting the boss would be of little use. Right, enough! Logic can go hang; intuition rules the day today! And mine’s saying that Plinto's presence is vitally important.

  "Priests, did you hear our leader? Leander gets Etamzilat and Elenium heads out to get Plinto back. He's lying two hundred meters away from here. Move it! Now!"

  We survived two more blasts at 80 and 70% of the boss's Hit Points, managing to get six players back up between attacks. The embarrassed Donotpunnik, after dropping a quick 'Sorry', was helping to support Etamzilat and Hellfire, redirecting some of the damage to himself. At a certain point we even stopped hitting the boss altogether, in the hopes of resurrecting the entire raid, but then we started getting such a crazy amounts of damage that Leander had to put a dome up to reduce the amount that was hitting us. Good job, priest: he didn't need to wait for any orders for this. The only real snag was that nobody but the Priests were able to return players from the Grey Lands. Leander and Elenium were doing the work of five people, but their rezzing ability couldn't recharge faster than the programed game cool down mechanic allowed: five minutes per player during combat.

  "YOU DECIDED TO OPPOSE ME?" the Lieutenant finally uttered, giving us yet another extended collection of debuffs, "ADMIRABLE! THEN LET'S PLAY!"

  "Everyone run to Hellfire!" Anastaria immediately reacted. "The shockwave described in the properties of the second phase will mean that the entire raid will be taking a lot of damage. There is only one safe place – right in front of the boss. What do you say, Mahan?"

  "Let's run and then I’ll see," I agreed, but after taking a couple of paces towards the tank, I stopped. We shouldn't run together nor should we stand in one place.

  "What?" Anastaria halted, without ceasing to heal Hellfire and land an occasional kick on the boss. The latter only had 61% Health remaining and, if my gut feeling wasn't fooling me, something unpleasant was about to happen. "There will be no raid-wide damage, so there's no need for us to run together," the girl answered her own question, "we need to decide what to do next. Look, areas with red mist have appeared at the center of the clearing. They look a lot like portals. Any idea what to do with them?"

  Two medium-sized off-red balls of mist were hanging about a meter from the ground at the very center of our man-made clearing and were flashing invitingly, as if telling us to step inside.

  "Plinto and Barsa!" I decided to go with my gut feeling and improvise. The resurrected Rogue was about to come in handy. "There are two red mist balls in the center of the clearing. Get inside them, fast!"

  "The balls need to be activated," quickly added Anastaria, "You have to do something inside them, depending on what you find there. Go!"

  Like experienced soldiers used to following orders, my clan members stepped away from the boss and ran to the center of the clearing. As soon as they activated the portal and disappeared into the unknown, the boss's Hit Points dropped to 60% and the red spheres vanished.

  B E W A R E!

  "Everyone to Hellfire!" came Anastaria's command, but once again I had to interrupt her: "Everyone, get away from the boss to the other edge of the glade! Stacey, try to think what this may be, but we have to get as far away from the boss as we can! Something tells me that this isn't a new ability, but an extension of that blast with the mobs that we've already had. What can it be?"

  "We're inside. There's a labyrinth here and there's constant magical damage, like from radiation. Good thing you sent Barsina too – it hits quite hard." A message from Plinto appeared in the raid chat. "On the move now."

  "Leander, the dome!" shouted Stacey as the boss had nearly finished his spell, and then her eyes widened in terror. It lasted just for a split second, but I caught sight of it because I was looking directly at her. "Everyone, look under your feet!" came another order from the girl. "Barely-visible zones will appear under you. You will have one second to step out of them. Make sure you watch your step, you cannot move to an already formed zone! Mahan and Ants! Don't forget to keep an eye on the phantoms as you move around! There they are! Embody them! 'Killer and Exodus – they're yours! Run!"

  Then all hell broke loose. The boss froze on one side o
f the clearing, his arms lifted up, and a wave of damage from the blast went through the raid. The dark phantoms sped in our direction and a few moments before the explosion purple puddles began to form under our feet, a new one every three seconds. The puddles were about a meter in diameter, so a good many of us had to leave the dome before the spell hit to avoid dying. They really shouldn’t have … the explosion from the boss sent three players for respawn, increasing the Lieutenant's Hit Points to 65%.

  "Brother! Stop this nightmare." A message from an Elemental appeared before my eyes, "One of us has been sent to the Grey Lands. Help us!"

  That's the last thing I need! The Elementals starting to die!

  "I'm at the center of the labyrinth. Got there with my speed boost." Plinto again: "I'm seeing a weird sort of creature oozing purple drops of some kind."

  "Destroy it!" Anastaria's reaction was instantaneous: "This is the source of all our troubles!"

  "On it!"

  A few moments later the glade cleared of purple puddles, the boss lowered his arms and headed for Hellfire. Right, we've survived this ability, but we had three fighters fewer now. And this was with the boss at just sixty percent, and only in the second phase.

  The red spheres appeared again at 61% of the boss's Hit Points, when we regained four of our players. Thirty players against one boss: now this was more like it.

  B E W A R E!

  "Plinto and Barsa, you know what to do," Anastaria quickly responded. "Everyone, stand outside the dome and run together just before the blast! We mustn't allow the puddles to form inside it! Watch out for the phantoms! Let's go!"

  "That's it, we've reached another milestone," reported Stacey with an almost manic glee in her voice, as the boss's Health went below 60%. We survived the second wave of the nightmare without a single death and without allowing the Lieutenant to heal himself. "There are two more phases ahead of us. One is a random, which comes last, and the next – you can look it up in the properties for yourself – will require several groups. We need to get the remaining players up quicker. Stop! The red spheres again! The boss is still only at 58%! The portals; get ready!"