Lion's Quest: Dual Wield: A LitRPG Saga

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “There is a pathway on the left,” Cornalic said as he pointed. “Dearest friends, I would guess that this is the second path of the dungeon. Look! Something moves in the water below.” We all lay on the side of the bridge and carefully leaned our heads over the edge. It took me half a second to find what the half-orc spoke of, but I eventually did notice the ripple in the slow waters. There was a sudden thrashing movement down there, and it looked as if there was a snake in the water.

  “How big is that thing?” Wicum asked.

  “Big,” Bylem confirmed.

  “Let us finish this exploration first, then we can worry about the second path,” Mirea said as she stood from the edge.

  “Dear beauty, let me study the other side for a few moments,” Cornalic said as he stood on the edge, “If we do decide to one day travel that route, observations from up high might be useful.”

  “Ehhh. You are right, Cornalic. Let’s all look the other direction.”

  The party moved to the opposite side of the bridge, and we lay there with our heads over the edge again. We were looking downstream now, and I saw that the pathway in the water below came to a wider platform some quarter mile beyond where it passed under us. I did see another two motions in the water that I guessed were snakes, but it was hard to tell from our distance.

  “Ugh. Do you smell that? It is awful.” Bylem inhaled sharply.

  “Dearest friends, be very still if you please.” Cornalic’s head had turned around behind us, and the muscular green-skinned man let out a gasp that chilled my spine.

  The rest of us spun around to see what the half-orc warned us about, and we each choked back our cries of surprise. The head of a snake had risen from the crest of the bridge, and the stench of the thing assaulted my nose instantly. I couldn’t guess how long the thing had to be to rise out of the river below, but its head was the size of one of Arnacript’s passenger vans, and the fangs coming out of the side of its mouth were longer than I was tall.

  Perhaps it was more dragon than snake, and though it was animated, the monster was more dead than alive.

  Chunks of rotting flesh hung off of the thing’s face like macabre facial hair, and its eyes were a milk-left-out-in-the-summer-sun-for-a-week color. I felt vomit tickle the back of my throat as I breathed, and I would have rather jumped into a trashcan filled with skunk carcasses than have to smell this thing for five minutes. It was absolutely disgusting, but my terror trumped my gag reflex, and I just lay still on the bridge.

  A few seconds later, I realized that our terror had probably saved the five of us from the snake attacking our backs. The monster swung its head around with a bobbing-like motion, but its eyes didn’t seem to focus on anything. I recalled that snakes used their tongue to kind of taste the air, but this creature hadn’t poked out the organ yet. Even if it still had its tongue, I doubted that the monstrosity could even smell us over its own stench. No, I was confident that this thing used its ears to hunt.

  The rest of my companions seemed to come to the same realization a few seconds after me, and the five of us just lay as still as possible on the cold stone of the bridge while the undead dragon-zombie-snake bobbed in front of us. After what felt like two hours, but was probably only two minutes, the creature sank back down under the rim of the bridge.

  We didn’t move for a bit after the snake was out of eyesight, and we all turned our heads toward Cornalic. The man nodded to us, and then rose soundlessly. He motioned for us to stay where we were, and then he crept to the other side of the bridge. He leaned over the edge carefully, and turned his head in both directions so that he could see the length of the bridge arch beneath us. After a few seconds he motioned for us to get up.

  The four of us followed his instructions, and then we walked as carefully as we could across the bridge. There was another archway at the end of the span, but it was a good two hundred yards away, and we were all doing our best to move as quietly as we could.

  “Emph,” I heard Cornalic make a soft grunting noise, and we all froze in our step. The half-orc walked by the edge of the bridge on our right, and he stood as still as the statues of the undead king and queen.

  A snake rose up from the side of the bridge again a few dozen feet in front of us. It looked like the same creature as before, and its bobbing motion seemed slightly more aggravated than earlier. The thing knew that we were up here, but it didn’t seem to know exactly where we were located. I guessed that it must have heard us walking from up above through the stone down in the water, but I realized that might have not been totally correct. My heart was hammering against my rib cage right now, and I imagined that if the thing could hear us walking a few hundred feet above us, it would have been able to hear us all making panicked breaths.

  The snake spent another few minutes bobbing next to us, and then it slowly sank beneath the side of the bridge again. Cornalic leaned a bit over the edge, and motioned for us to walk again. We did so, but now our pace was even slower, and we each struggled to make absolutely no noise with our steps.

  The destination archway on the other side of our bridge seemed ridiculously far away now.

  Wicum was in the front of the group, and the man’s shoulder plates kept scraping against the chain sleeves of his armor when he walked, so he’d raised his emberbrand carrying left arm over his head to squeeze that side silent. He also twisted his right arm up so that his fingers were touching the plate on that shoulder, and it seemed to be taking care of the noise that came from there.

  Mirea was in a somewhat similar situation, but the woman had a bulky shield strapped to her left arm, and she just held both of her arms out to her side in an effort to keep the various plates, chain, and leather parts of her armor from rubbing. Her strategy wasn’t working quite as well as her brother’s, and I saw the pretty woman’s body wince with every step she took.

  The arch looked to be fifty yards away, and I contemplated just prompting my companions to run there. I was sure we could make it to safety before the giant snake rose back up to investigate the bridge, but then again, I didn’t know exactly what was beyond the archway. We might be running into a room full of skeletons.

  The arch was now thirty yards away, and I could see Mirea’s arms shaking from holding them out at her side. We were so close to the end of the bridge now, and I wondered if the woman was thinking about just running the last bit so that she could give her arms a break.

  “Humph,” Cornalic grunted again, and we all stopped our walk. The disgusting scent of the zombie-snake monster assaulted my nose like a truck full of garbage crashing into my bedroom, and I tried to hold my breath so that I wouldn’t puke. I didn’t see the monster on the side, so I guessed that it was behind us a few paces. I didn’t want to turn my head to confirm; since I guessed that any movement might alert the thing to my presence. I really needed to talk to Zarra again about the scent feedback in the game. This smell was absolutely disgusting, and I almost wanted to log out right now and take a shower.

  It felt like we stood in silence for an hour. Mirea’s arms were shaking dramatically more each second that passed, and every breath made me want to choke, but we held our position, and Cornalic finally whispered for us to continue.

  Then we passed through the archway, and collectively let out a sigh of relief.

  “Shh!” Cornalic warned as we all gasped. “Keep quiet, dearest friends. I believe the monster’s maw can fit through here.” The half-orc gestured at the archway above us. I nodded to the man, and we took a few more steps deeper into the room. There was a single statute here, and it was a skeleton king sitting on a throne with the skeleton queen perched on his lap. The room was about thirty feet wide, square shape, and large wooden doors were positioned on the wall beyond the statue and on the rightmost wall as we walked away from the archway.

  “Another inscription. This one is long,” I whispered as I approached the statue. The rest of my companions had come to stand on the other side of the sculpture, as far away from the archway as th
ey could stand, and Mirea nodded at me to read.

  “The powers that Queen Dorni discovered were hungry, and they demanded the blood and flesh of the living. At first, the beautiful woman was reluctant to give them their desires, but the voices were compelling, and they promised her the safety she wanted for her husband and her family. Safety from their enemies, safety from diseases, and safety from death. They whispered these promises to her as soon as the sun set across her kingdom, and the woman began to give them what they desired.

  Belmore found out about the sacrifices, and the murders, but his lovely queen managed to convince him that the offerings she made to the dark things were for the good of the kingdom, and the foolish man believed her.

  Then the voices asked Dorni for the life of her young child. The woman was now their minion, and she would not disobey.”

  “This is rather depressing,” Cornalic whispered after I finished reading. “No one likes people that would murder children.”

  “Is that serpent going to come in here?” Bylem asked. “It didn’t seem to care that you were reading.”

  “I believe we are safe in here. Also, I think all those ripples we saw down below were just from that one creature. There is a possibility we might be able to defeat it easier while up on this bridge, then we will have less hardship taking the second path,” Cornalic said as he gave us his grin.

  “I don’t want to fight that thing on the bridge. It can knock one of us off easily. Then we would either die when we fell, or land in the water and die a minute after when the thing eats us,” Wicum said as he glanced back to the archway.

  “Agreed, but we could get it to poke its head in here. Then we can attack its face without risk of getting knocked off.” The half-orc shrugged.

  “The face is the most dangerous part. That is where its teeth are,” Bylem said before he made a soft, yet sarcastic laugh.

  “It does sound risky,” Wicum whispered.

  “But the risk is correlated to the reward, dear friends,” the half-orc said with a playful smile. “We could explore two paths in one day! Think of the treasure that might be in store for us.”

  “I’m more concerned about finishing this path at the moment,” Mirea said as she gestured to the doors with her right hand. “Which door?”

  “I feel as if the door behind the statue is the main route, so I think we should look there first,” I said as I pointed my glowing short sword at the door on the right side of the room.

  “Okay. Cornalic?” the woman asked the half-orc, and the man moved to the door. He pressed his ear up against it for a few moments, and then examined the handle. Then he shrugged his shoulders at us, and gestured for everyone to get ready.

  Wicum and Mirea drew their weapons, and moved a few feet away from the half-orc. They nodded at the muscular man, and then he quickly pulled open the door. Beyond the entrance was a long hallway and I could see metal jail cell type squares on each side.

  The siblings advanced into the hallway, but the passage was only six feet across, and the auburn-haired man had to let his shield carrying sister take the lead. The cells to our left looked less like prison areas, and more like torture chambers. There were dozens of skeletons inside of each one, and they were either hanging from chains, tied down to operating tables, or locked in other strange torture devices. Their skeletal mouths were all opened in silent screams, and I felt dread gnaw at my stomach.

  As soon as I realized I was terrified, I felt the emotion flip around to pleasure. Ohlavar Quest had done an amazing job of making me feel as if I was in this place for real, and the sensations running through my nerves were exponentially greater than at any point of ever playing Astafar Unlimited. Zarra’s team had done almost everything right with this game, and even though I didn’t have much of a death penalty, the thought of messing up down here and losing my companions forever was making me feel as cautious I’d ever felt playing a game.

  It all felt so completely real.

  “Stop,” Cornalic said from behind me, and we all froze.

  The green-skinned man slid around my right side and then came to stand next to Mirea. He crouched at the warrior woman’s feet and then pointed at a stone on the floor. Wicum raised his emberbrand a bit, and Bylem stepped closer with his purple light orb. I saw that the tile the half-orc pointed to was a slightly lighter shade of gray, and the cloaked man pointed to the ceiling above us. We all followed his finger and saw that part of the ceiling was filled with dozens of holes.

  “Dearest friends, might I walk in front for a bit?” the man asked as he reached into one of his pouches.

  “Yes!” the four of us said in unison.

  “Thank you for being so gracious. I shall inscribe a circle around each of these tiles. Please do not step on them.” The man held a piece of brightly colored yellow chalk in his hand, and he drew a thick circle around the lightly colored stone.

  Cornalic stayed crouched near the floor, and stretched a long leg out across the tile. He shifted his weight over to the forward foot, and then drew another circle. Then he took a second long step before he drew another. After about ten minutes he had moved a good thirty feet away from us, and he made the same crouched movements back again. He only marked two more stones on his return trip, and he gave us all a smile when he finally stood next to the party again.

  “There is a bit of dust on the ground. I’m confident that I have found all the traps, but I would advise that you step on the tiles that I’ve stepped on before, dear friends. I know for certain that those are safe.”

  “Got it. Can you go in front again?” Wicum asked, and the green-skinned man nodded.

  We followed Cornalic across the stone tile in a single file. There was plenty of space around the circled stones to step, but the thought of accidentally triggering a trap with a misplaced boot fall caused a bit of sweat to run down my brow, and I gave out a thankful sigh when we reached the other side of the trapped area.

  We continued down the narrow hallway, but Cornalic stayed in the lead, and I brought up the rear. The corridor made a sharp right turn around a large cell filled with twenty skeletons. Each one was attached to either a horrific looking torture device or chains, and their empty mouths hung open in silent screams.

  “I have to admit that I don’t really like this place,” Bylem sighed.

  “Me either, but at least we aren’t fighting a giant zombie snake while we swim in a river,” I chuckled.

  “Grrr. Good point,” the cat-man snorted.

  The cells on the sides of us ended, and the natural stone walls took their place. We continued on for another fifty feet, and then came to a single door at the end of the hallway. Cornalic peered down at the latch there, listened to the wood, and then turned to face us.

  “Dearest friends, it is locked, but I do not think it is trapped. I hear nothing on the other side, but if you don’t mind. I’d like to spring the lock and then take my position behind Leo, on account of my current health issues.”

  “Health issues?” Mirea whispered with a raised eyebrow.

  “Aye fair lady, I tend to get hurt when things attack me. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Ha. Fine. Just do your job and let me do mine,” the woman said, and the muscular man began his work on the door lock. Almost as soon as he slid the pick inside the hole the lever was twisting open, and the man bowed to Mirea as he shuffled to stand by me.

  The armored woman pushed open the door with her shoulder and then stepped past with her shield up. The inside of the place looked like the kind of laboratory that Dr. Frankenstein would have used. The walls were lined with iron cages full of chained skeletons. Ten-foot tall metal shelves held bottles of dark liquid, manacles, length of chains with spiked weighted ends, bone saws, long hooked needles, and piles of dust that I guessed were once books. The room had a slightly chemical scent that reminded me of vinegar mixed with copper.

  In the center of the room, a skeleton was shackled to a large chair. The back of the chair was tall, and a ban
d extended from the wood and wrapped around the neck to keep the skeleton’s head upright.

  The top half of its skull was cut open cleanly and the slack in the thing’s jaw made me wonder if the operation had been performed while the man was still living.

  “Leo, do you know what is inside of these flasks?” Bylem asked as he inspected the shelves.

  “I can check,” I said as I moved next to the fenia. I picked up one of the dusty glass bottles up and then tilted it in my hand. “Preserved blood,” I read the orange lettering that my UI displayed.

  “That doesn’t sound useful,” the fenia said with a growl.

  I reached for five more bottles and read off the same thing from my UI. The rest of the team was searching the room, and Cornalic whistled to us from a spot at the far side of the wall beyond the operation chair.

  “Hidden door here,” he pointed to what looked like a completely normal part of the wall, “But I cannot find a way to open it. Dearest friends, might you help me find a switch? There is probably one in this room somewhere.”

  We nodded at the muscular man, and we spread out through the room to find something that would open the door. While I looked through one of the cages, I thought about the annoying half-orc. The man had been incredibly useful on our exploration so far, and even though I hated to admit it, we would have all been dead without his help in the trapped hallway earlier. I still didn’t like the man, and I still didn’t want to adventure with him anymore after this dungeon, but the experience hadn’t actually been altogether unpleasant. I wasn’t really willing to forgive the half-orc for stealing my gold, but I’d feel a lot better about him once he’d paid me back.