by Quinn Dallas
Not to be outdone, Leonidas readied his sword and shield. He lunged and struck the boss over and over again. Each of his hits landing with a satisfying crunch.
“Is that all you got?” The beast chuckled. “I'll finish you all off before dinner!”
The creature was now at fifty percent of his hit points. Meanwhile, Shauna and Cairngorm continued launching ranged attacks towards the Rat King. Shauna’s arrows hit for nominal damage. While Cairngorm’s dark bolts debuffed the creatures defenses. The monster howled and stomped his foot. In response, the icy wind picked up and soon a chilling snow storm manifested. Shards of ice scraped against my skin and the cold slowed me down. It was literally death by one-thousand tiny cuts. Shauna did her best to toss out heals. However she took significant damage. The low hit point cleric couldn't survive this assault for very long.
I needed to act fast. So, I reached into my holding bag for my special vial of neurotoxin. This concoction applied a hit point regeneration debuff on any chosen target. Which made it impossible for them heal. Without Grymme’s mystic towers buffing him, the toxin might just finish off the boss.
I didn't bother to toggle on stealth. As the sustained damage from the snowstorm would all but neuter that ability. Instead, I drank a damage potion. With my poison coated weaponry in hand, I lunged. The Rat King slammed his fists into the ground. Which produced another vicious knockback attack. Instinctively, I activated my dodge talent. Which granted me eight seconds to avoid incoming damage. Gripping my dagger, I dove forward. Then, I marveled as the notification messages rolled by.
YOU HAVE POISONED THE RAT KING.
YOUR NEUROTOXIN WILL DEAL 200 DAMAGE OVER 10 SECONDS.
THE RAT KING HAS HAD A HEALING DEBUFF APPLIED TO HIM.
"He's been poisoned!" I called out to my team. "Hit him with everything you've got, before he can regenerate."
Leonidas screamed “Holy lightning strike!" And then brought his blade down hard. Bolts of golden electricity struck the creature over and over again. Each attack knocking off even more hit points.
"Berserker Blow!" Yelled Yvir. She brought her halberd down hard through the creature's midsection. Rivers of scarlet spilled from the resulting wound and hit the ground.
"Storm of the dead!" Cried Cairngorm. A whirling cloud of dark energy soon surrounded the beast. Shredding his hit points further.
“Blessed holy shafts!" Shauna screamed as she fired from her bow and arrow. Glowing arrows struck the creature one after another.
The giant beast howled ferociously. That's when I noticed Rolf sneak in from behind. In a flash, he hamstrung the creature was a series of quick blows from his blade.
I joined the battle again. Hitting the monster with my blades. The creature let out a mighty roar, as his hit points decreased down to a sliver. The deafening sonic scream dropped all of us to our knees. But I wasn't ready to give up yet. Gripping my blades I plunged them into the monster's chest. Then, Leonidas brought his sword down in a mighty blow. Followed by a second devastating attack from Yvir’s fierce halberd.
That was all it took! The Rat King let out another fearsome howl. Then he fell to his knees with a dull thud. Dripping with blood, he pounded his fists against the ground.
“I won't be defeated by the likes of you!” He screamed in defiance. But it was already too late. His eyes widened, then he exploded into a spectacular display of dissolving pixels.
"Holy crap we did it!" Leonidas yelled.
“I can't believe it!” Shauna slumped against the brick wall. The holographic reward screen popped up and hovered before us:
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE RAT KING!
YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE BOSS KILLER.
YOU HAVE EARNED 5000 XP.
YOUR FIGHTING RANK HAS INCREASED.
YOU HAVE EARNED 500 GOLD.
THE PHOENIX STONE IS NOW YOURS.
DON'T FORGET TO CLAIM YOUR BONUS ITEMS FROM THE REWARD CIRCLE.
"Hell yeah!" Yvir gave Leo a high five.
"And that's how you play the fucking game!" Leonidas said, as he rested his blade on his shoulder.
Where the Rat King had once stood a flaming red ruby now hovered. A strange but powerful glow emanated from within it.
“That must be the Phoenix Stone!” Cairngorm whispered in awe.
Suddenly, a glowing circle materialized in the middle of the room. We approached it slowly,each of us excited at what possible treasure awaited. I touched the circle with the tips of my fingers, and a holographic display screen appeared. CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE RAT KING! YOU HAVE NOW RECEIVED AN EMPOWERMENT MODIFICATION. [DO YOU ACCEPT?] I touched the shimmering [YES] button and waited to see what the reward would be. My jaw dropped as the stats manifested. I had received a rare melee damage enhancement. The damage increase wasn't a small one either. The gemstone granted twenty-five percent extra damage. And that was for all my hand-to-hand martial abilities.
Shauna squealed with delight, "Oh my God a healing gem! My healing rank will be crazy high now!"
Yvir was scrolling maniacally through her display screens. "Wow a damage resistance gem!"
"Hot damn!" Leonidas crossed his arms over his chest. " I got a melee damage increase too!"
"It seems like we received a bonus reward for our troubles!" I said.
It was then that I noticed Rolf was nowhere to be found. Suspicious, I scanned the room. Then I realized what happened. The Phoenix Stone was gone! And so was the thieving little gnome! I couldn't believe that he pulled a fast one on us
“Rolf stole the Phoenix Stone!”
"What the hell!" Yvir cursed.
"That Gnome bastard!" Cairngorm’s face darkened.
"We're going to get back!" I ran in pursuit of the thief.
The rest the team was close behind. No way we let Rolf steal our hard won prize. The stone was too important to lose.
We ran for what seemed like an eternity. Until we came upon an exit from the catacombs. As we emerged from the tunnels the most horrific sight possible greeted us. Tolan Gath! Grymme’s chief assassin smirked as we approached. A regiment of well-armed Rattari surrounding him. I couldn't believe it! Alehorn had sold us out to our worst possible enemy.
"For fuck’s sake!" Yvir’s eyes widened.
"Bastard," I sneered.
"Rolf," Leonidas screamed, "You little punk!"
The Gnome seemed unfazed, as he pulled the stone from his holding bag. With a flourish he handed it over to the assassin. Then the grinning gnome turned and spoke.
“No hard feelings folks!" He smirked. "I just work for the highest bidder. And Grymme is paying a small fortune for that trinket. All I had to do was ensure you lot didn't get your hands on it!"
Tolan Gath grinned wide as he took the stone from the thief’s small hands. More than anything, I wanted to smack the condescending sneer from Tolan’s face.
No way in hell was he winning. Nope, not today. I drew my blades from my my belt! Then I readied myself for a fight. Tolan Gath wasn't going to get away this time. Not if I had anything to do with it.
Leonidas looked grim, “We're getting that Phoenix Stone back!"
"No argument from me," Cairngorm narrowed his eyes and made a mystic gesture. Dark energy crackled around him like fire.
Shauna readied her bow, "Just say the word boss!"
"Let's get the bastards," I grunted as we charged.
Yvir swung her halberd with force, "I'm good and rested up from that last fight.”
I faded into shadow and went into action. Confident the others had my back. Shadows flowed around me, as Cairngorm’s placed his Shadow Cloak spell. A faint glowing light also flickered before my eyes and I knew that was Shauna's healing power. Both magic users had buffed me to the limit.
I was confident those buffs plus my newly slotted power gem would give me enough juice to take Tolan on. Totally invisible, I readied my Shadow Strike power. Then I lunged towards t
he leather clad assassin.
But he had sensed me! With little effort, he spun round and slashed with his long sword. Luckily, I managed to duck and roll. Dodging what would have been a fatal blow.
“It seems you've grown more skilled girl!" Tolan taunted me. "Let's really see how good you are now!"
The air around the dark assassin shimmered and he vanished from sight. I couldn't detect him at all. His invisibility skill must have been leveled to the max. I bit my lip. No matter what, I was gonna win this fight.
I reached into my holding bag for something special: Caltrops! I tossed a handful of the tiny metal spikes into the air. They landed in a wide arc, scattering over the ground. That should bring the invisible killer out of stealth. If he stepped on them, a nasty DOT would be applied.
ITEM NAME: CALTROPS
DAMAGE TYPE: BLEEDING DAMAGE OVER TIME.
DESCRIPTION:
YOU SCATTER CALTROPS ON THE GROUND IN THE HOPE THAT YOUR ENEMIES STEP ON THEM.
AFFECTED FOES WILL HAVE THEIR MOVEMENT SPEED REDUCED BY 50%.
INVISIBLE ENEMIES WILL LOSE STEALTH IF THEY STEP ON CALTROPS AND BE UNABLE TO BECOME INVISIBLE AGAIN WHILE UNDER THE DAMAGE EFFECT.
Before long, a very surprised Tolan Gath materialized, the rapidly ticking damage from the caltrops preventing him from re-entering stealth.
"Clever lady!" Tolan sneered. He then reached into his vest and flung a storm of shuriken at me.
I prayed my dodge ability would be enough to avoid serious injury. But two of the deadly projectiles managed to strike me. I pulled up my Hud display and checked to see how much damage had been done. That was when I noticed the poison. Dammit, that should have been something I anticipated. The poison also had a slowing effect. Reaching into my holding bag I snatched the flask of Rattari wine. There was just one tiny swallow left. I gulped it down quickly. The icon for the slow movement debuff vanished. I noted the look of surprise on Tolan’s face. Grinning, I lunged towards him.
My poisoned blade scraped across his chest. He tried to dodge but wasn't quite fast enough.then he arched an eyebrow and spoke.
“You have improved!" Tolan fell into a challenging martial arts posture.
Then he spun, bringing his curved blade dangerously close to my throat. I managed to avoid the blow. But Tolan’s move had somehow summoned a strong wind.
ATTACK NAME: WIND SCAR
ATTACK TYPE: MELEE (SPECIAL)
YOUR OPPONENT HAS USED HIS WEAPON TO SUMMON A POWERFUL GUST OF AIR. THIS MANEUVER HAS KNOCKED YOU OFF YOUR FEET.
The knockdown attack caught me off guard and I fell backwards. Instinctively, I rolled. Just avoiding a deadly slash from Tolan’s heavy blades. I exhaled a sigh of relief. My previous battles and skill gains had really upped my speed and agility. I was nearly on par with the once unbeatable assassin.
"You'll have to try harder than that!" I taunted Tolan.
The dark assassin narrowed his eyes and spun his blades dangerously. I watched as a series of buff icons manifested over his head. They appeared to be for damage, agility, and speed. A mysterious icon in the shape of a skull ☠️ eluded me.
I didn't know what the wily killer had in mind, so I stayed very alert. Rolling to my feet, I readied myself for battle. Tolan moved almost faster than I could follow. His whirling blade caught me off guard. Dealing a significant amount of damage as it struck my shoulder. I pulled up my HUD overlay and took a quick glance.
My hit points were down to thirty percent of one-hundred. Another blow like that one would easily kill me.
There was no choice but to push my luck. Unfortunately, the caltrops had worn off. Tolan Gath smiled before fading into invisibility. Now, I couldn't see him. Unsure of what to do next I gripped my blades tightly This time I had to be ready for anything.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Leonidas and Yvir engaged in battle with Tolan’s Rattari guards. They were much too busy to help me. I scanned the room, looking for Rolf. The thieving Gnome had vanished from sight. It figures that sneaky bastard would take off once things got heated. That's when a sharp pain struck me in the back.
I winced in shock and fell to my knees. Above me stood Tolan Gath. He raised his sword for a decapitation move. I had to act fast if I was going to survive. Reaching into my holding bag I found a smoke bomb. Those granted short duration stealth. I tossed three of the spherical projectiles. They hit the ground and exploded in a cloud of white smoke.
This took my attacker by surprise. Knowing that I had no time to waste, I cast placate. That put me under a double layer of stealth. Tolan had lost sight of me. And there was no way I was giving him a chance for another attack. My hit points were dangerously low.
Downing a damage potion, I readied my Shadow Strike attack. The entire sequence events took only a matter of seconds. My assassination attack hit hard. A red assassination critical message floated above Tolan’s head.
CRITICAL STRIKE SUCCESSFUL
The stunned assassin gasped. My blades were stuck firmly into his back. All of his hitpoints bled swiftly away. Before he could speak another word he exploded in a shower of red and black pixels dissolving into the ground. A series of congratulation and reward messages scrolled past me.
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE DEFEATED TOLAN GATH!
YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE DEATH STRIKER.
YOU HAVE EARNED 3000 XP.
YOUR FIGHTING RANK HAS INCREASED.
YOU HAVE EARNED 425 GOLD.
THE PHOENIX STONE IS NOW YOURS.
PLEASE CLAIM YOUR SPECIAL REWARD.
Tolan had also dropped two objects. One being the Phoenix Stone and the other a special item.
ITEM NAME: GHOST GEM
ITEM TYPE : SELF BUFF
DESCRIPTION: THIS GEM WILL BUFF YOUR STEALTH RATING BY 40% WHEN SLOTTED.
I glanced over at the battle between my friends and the Rattari. One of the enemies had struck Leonidas from behind. The paladin fell to his knees. Leo clutched his chest attempting to cover the deadly wound. Blood trickled through his fingers. In shock, I watched his hitpoints rapidly declined.
Shauna raised her hands. Green healing energy spread from her fingertips. However, Leo was losing health faster than the healer cold handle. If something wasn't done soon he would die. Panicking, I stuck my hand into my holding bag. Then I pulled out the crystal the young prince had given me. I clutched it tightly and prayed my gamble would work.
"Activate team teleport!" I screamed squeezing the precious device in my hand. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light surrounded us. I prayed I'd done the right thing.
CHAPTER 26
The earth shifted around us. When everything came into focus we had materialized in the castle courtyard.
Leonidas was slumped over. Both Yvir and Shauna flanked him. Each one supporting the injured man. Still disoriented from the teleportation my eyes fell on Varick.
“Leonidas has been injured!” I cried out.
“Healers,” Varick commanded. “Attend to him!”
From seemingly out of nowhere white robed clerics appeared. They placed Leonidas on a stretcher and hurried away with him.
“I'm going with them!” Shauna called out over her shoulder.
“Right behind you!” Yvir responded.
The two women ran after the healers. Both terribly concerned about our fallen Paladin.
“Your comrade is in excellent hands!” Varick stood next to me. “I take it your mission was successful?”
“We found the stone,” I answered.
“Then you must immediately take it to the Quest Master.” Varick said.
“I'll go with you,” Cairngorm replied.
I nodded towards the Dark Mage. “Alright then.”
“You did well,” Varick nodded “Come back and see me to advance your combat level!”
I bowed to the wizard and then exited the courtyard with Cairngorm behind. Getting the Phoenix Stone to the Quest Master had
become our immediate mission.
We navigated our way through the labyrinth of streets. Pushing past the crowds and vendors who occupied them. A cacophony of shouting voices rose and fell. As the citizens of Kings City went about their business. We reached the Guild Hall and stepped through the vaulted doors.
The hall was nearly empty. Although, a few adventures remained. I reckoned most had ventured out into the game world on various quests.
“This place is dead and quiet,” Cairngorm pulled his hood back. His dark eyes scanned the room.
“Let's find Celestia!” I took off for the Quest Master’s chamber.
Cairngorm followed close behind. We strode past the stoic guards to find the tall elf standing on her podium.
“Adventurers!” she held out hand. “You have something for me?”
“Yes,” I handed the crimson Phoenix Stone to her.
“Excellent!” She took the stone in hand. Then walked to a small platform. On it stood three angelic statues. Each one held its arms outstretched. Celestia placed the stone in the first statues open hands. The figure's rocky fingers wrapped around the mystical item. Then it's eyes glowed with an eerie light.
A holographic window materialized. In glowing letters, a notification message scrolled up the screen:
NEW VENDOR UNLOCKED!
CONGRATULATIONS ON UNLOCKING THE EPIC ARMORY. NOW YOU AND YOUR FELLOW ADVENTURERS MAY USE YOUR GOLD TO PURCHASE POWERFUL WEAPONS TO AID IN YOUR QUESTS. SEE HEPHESTUS THE IRON MAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
“New weapons eh?” Cairngorm stroked his neatly trimmed beard.
“Well, that is interesting!” I replied. “I can't wait to tell the others!”
“Oh I think they already know” the Dark Mage winked. “That was a global message. Every player in the entire game got it!”
“Shit!” I cried out. “Let's get to that new vendor!”
“Don't forget heroes,” Celestia called out. “Your entire team must return and receive the next quest from me!”
Cairngorm and I exited the Quest Master’s chamber. The Guild Hall was immense. So, I called up my mini-map. Cairngorm peered over my shoulder as we worked to locate the new vendor.