Here, I noticed a heavy clatter and turned. Twenty of the dwarven guardsmen with their big body-length shields were standing in two lines, blocking me and the wounded Vanessa from the Goons. The first group of ten was in close formation, with their short spears protruding through special gaps in their shields. The rest of the dwarves took a step forward and had their shields raised at an incline, creating a second row of defense. The word "hird" instantly sprang to mind — this was the precise name of the military formation the dwarves were using against their higher-level enemies. The dwarves took a decisive step forward. I returned to the wounded girl.
I had to close the wound with a bandage or some gauze but, first, I'd have to get to her! Removing chain mail from a heavy body lying on the ground was a long and difficult task. But not in Boundless Realm. I had no idea how it was technically possible, but I looted the unfeeling, but still living body, throwing the equipment Vanessa had been wearing on the stones. A cloak, chainmail, a warming undershirt... I immediately ripped the undershirt into strips.
Successful Strength check
Experience received: 200 Exp.
One more Middling Elixir of Life, because Vanessa Hamfist's hitpoints were nearly at zero. And another, the last of the middling ones. I had four Minor Elixirs of Life, but they were far too weak. So, no time to think about that now. What I had to do was place the gauze and bandage.
Successful Agility check
Experience received: 200 Exp.
With the corner of my eye, I noticed the grayed-out words "Fimbulthul. Level-57 Mythical Hound" had suddenly lit-up white. Just for one second, but I managed to activate it! The beast's icon flashed among my pets and immediately dimmed out. Someone must have done in the white hound right after its master. What could I say, I'd see in one hour who he'd respawn next to — me or Mariam Standing_Right_Behind_You.
Alright, bandage ready. The speed of the heath loss was reduced, but didn't stop, so I had to pour another elixir down her throat. There were three left. Two. One. And that was all... I didn't have any other way of supporting the life of the Dwarf Mechanic, and the life bar of the NPC was still going down.
Just one method remained — bite Vanessa and make her a vampire with regeneration ability. But I would have to do that in full view of hundreds of NPC dwarves and several players. The question: "Is the life of an NPC worth such sacrifices?" did not exist for me at that moment. Vanessa saved my life, and I owed her a debt of gratitude for that. Yes, it was hard to understand from an outside perspective, but at that moment, I was ready to reveal my essence as a vampire.
Fortunately, such a sacrifice was not necessary — the life bar of the Dwarf Mechanic shot up, reaching the orange, then yellow zones. Healing magic? From where?! I turned. Behind me, there was a high-level player, and they were wearing a wyvern hunter medallion around their neck. It was a harrier-gray old dwarf with a knee-length beard:
Torino Granite_Muncher
Dwarf
Level-108 Healer
"You should get her dressed quickly, Amra. For local women, being naked in public is a great shame. They'd sooner die that be subject to that. And I should know. I've been living among the dwarves for two years and have studied their ways."
Trying not to be surprised, I quickly replaced the equipment I'd removed from the Dwarf Mechanic. Other than the undershirt — that was bandages now.
"Mhm, much better. She'll live, but it's a serious wound. She has a torn lung and a broken spine. The debuff is very serious — her lower body will be paralyzed for two days, then she'll limp for the rest of her life."
After following my gaze, which was boring into the hunter amulet, the healer gave a good-hearted laugh:
"Pay that no mind. I only bought the amulet because the advertisement got to me. But after I looked into your ordeals — constantly in fear, running away and hiding... I decided that I didn't want to participate. It just wasn’t for me! No thanks! Plus, I'm too old for that life. Let my grandchildren run around Boundless Realm in search of adventure. I've got my clinic here in Dotur-Khawe, a calm existence, constant patients, good neighbors..."
Valerianna Quickfoot, now level-40, rode up to us on her level-32 Seasoned Wolf. She was looking at the Dwarf Healer with obvious suspicion, but still didn't say anything about him. Instead of that, she pointed to the distant Taisha, who was digging through the possessions of dead Goons:
"The drop is just a dream. I've never seen anything like it. The enemies lost almost all their equipment. I'm walking on the edge of over-encumbrance, and I took only valuable items. I even found one unique. And if you get the chance, you should shake down 'your girly' — she was the first to get the idea of looting Mariam Standing_Right_Behind_You. I suspect we might see an NPC thief running around Boundless Realm wearing a full Kingslayer set in the near future."
"We will not," I answered, looking at the bloodied throwing knife, the properties of which I could not discern due to my low Intelligence. But still, I saw the level limit. "The items from this set are limited to level 180+, so Taisha won't get the chance to try on the emerald-dragon-hide armor for a long time. But, all in all, it was quite the unexpected outcome. I bet the leader of the Goons is not happy that she brought the drop chance up to 97% before the battle. By the way... Right at this fountain, there's a respawn point!" I turned to the healer. "I'd pay a thousand coins for a video of Mariam Standing_Right_Behind_You being reborn in nothing but a diaper!"
The old Dwarf Healer laughed good-heartedly, stroking his beard:
"That is possible. But it doesn’t seem very likely the cautious moon-elf lady chose our fountain as a respawn point. In any case, the Goons will be very mad when they come back. You should get as far away from this place as you can. Bolt like your lives depend on it!"
"That's exactly what we're going to do," I assured the elderly player. "As soon as we bring our wounded companion to her parents to be cared for, we'll immediately race full bore out of this subterranean city. After all, I bet that wasn't the only division of Goons in Dotur-Khawe!"
The Hunt Comes to a Close
WE HAD ALREADY been galloping down the mined-out shaft for an hour and a half, ignoring any forks or boarded-up tunnels. The only source of light was a magical bluish-white torch summoned by my sister that accompanied her everywhere. I didn't even try to call up night vision, because there was plenty of light as it was. The floor was slippery in places, covered with a thickly overgrown mold, but in large part, that was the only difficulty.
A few times, we encountered abandoned conduits — heaps of empty slag, old smelt furnaces, empty store-houses and rusty narrow-gauge rails that went off somewhere into the darkness. We didn't find anything useful there — the fastidious dwarves had taken everything of any value out of the tunnel before closing it up. But I still didn't understand the residents of this subterranean city, who had boarded up this entirely adequate and, based on what I could see, safe corridor. But suddenly, our path ahead was blocked by a huge spiderweb...
"Dumbo, let me remind you that I've been afraid of spiders since I was a kid." said the mavka, raising her voice after a long silence.
"I also cannot bare spiders, even the littlest ones!" Yunna echoed. "But this one's web is as thick as a finger. The spiders around here must be big as wargs, if not bigger."
I hurried up to the obstacle. The spiderweb was very old, dried out and covered with flecks of dust. Nevertheless, I was unable to break the web with my hands. Cut it down with a knife? Or burn the web?
The mavka also jumped off Pirate and walked up closer. After looking over the walls, the wood nymph pointed to a lattice of deep scratches next to the old spiderweb:
"I have a bad understanding of arachnid language, but my Polyglot skill will allow us to decode some of the symbols at least. Scratched into the wall, it says: 'border' and 'forbidden.' And also, there's what looks to be the dwarven rune for 'death.' I think these many-armed creatures made this as a sort of boundary, the crossing of which is punishable b
y death. And also, for the record, I see a vague motion somewhere in the distance on the minimap. There are monster markers popping up and disappearing. For me, they have red skulls."
Red skulls? The beasts were more than twenty levels higher than my sister? Bad news...
"Maybe we should go back to the last fork? Then we can try to get around the obstacle down a side passage." Taisha suggested. But I shook my head "no."
"That won't get us anywhere. If we go farther than this spiderweb, we'll be attacked. Also, the dwarves of Dotur-Khawe were quite insistent that we not leave the main corridor leading to the surface, because lots of tunnels are in critical condition, and getting lost in this gigantic underground labyrinth would be easy-peasy. It seems the time has come for me to use my rainy-day trump-card..."
I took out the ribbon-bound summoning scroll and, decisively breaking the wax seal, unfurled the parchment. A moment later, five steps from me on the stone floor, there appeared a big glowing blue circle six meters in diameter. A plethora of bright, indecipherable runes were flowing along its inner edge. And, a few seconds later, a big group of fighters appeared inside the circle —mages with spells already activated in their raised hands, soldiers hiding behind shields wearing heavy armor, bowmen with the bow already pulled, a ton of zombies and spirits floating in the air. The experienced crew was prepared to enter battle at any second, and now started looking around in search of an enemy, somewhat bewildered.
I took a step forward, attracting the attention of the mercenaries.
"Mercs, your mission is to surgically clear this corridor here all the way to the surface, after which the contract will be considered completed. The enemies are spiders and other subterranean beasts of levels 60 to 90. It shouldn't be any issue for you."
"Please clarify the mission," said a level-170 necromancer who stepped forward in a torn shroud, wooden sandals bound with twine and a mask in the shape of a three-eyed skull. Disregarding the strong magical aura coming from the tear in his garment, one might think the player was trying to save money on equipment. "You don't want us to 'steam-train' so you can level quick? Just walk down the corridor cutting down everything in our path?"
"That's exactly right," I confirmed. "There's a hunt after us, so our biggest concern is speed."
"In that case..." said the necromancer, clearly in charge of the group, as he looked at the web and corridor, "first and fourth group of five, advance! Get to the exit! The third group is to remain with the client and take down anything the strike group misses. The second group will go in the opposite direction to meet the pursuers. Hold them at bay, even if it costs you your life!"
There were no arguments or objections. The mercs split into groups in silence, ready to carry out the mission.
"Wait!" I said, stopping the soldiers, who were already getting into action. "I've got an idea for the second group. There's no reason for them to die. Here in the old underground corridor, there are places where the tunnel is practically held up by matchsticks — the girders are old and bending, and little stones pour down from above at the slightest disturbance. I suggest you collapse the tunnel, blocking it off entirely." With these words, I took out the ice bomb and extended it to one of the mercenaries from the second group of five.
The half-orc assassin looked over my gift carefully, tossed it up and caught the charge in midair with his wide palm, giving a bark of approval:
"Now you're talking! This will blow so hard, it'll take the dwarves more than a century to clear. If that isn't enough, I've got another four grenades in my bag, even if they aren't as powerful."
"Then let's not waste time!" the necromancer said, making a decision. Then, pointing at the momentarily flickering spiderweb, he walked after the assault group, leading the stinking zombies and hovering spirits after them.
We were told to wait fifteen or twenty minutes, after which point we could walk forward down the cleared passage. As soon as I gave the command to rest, the wolves and wargs laid down on the stones, having lost all interest in what was going on. Valerianna Quickfoot also asked to exit Boundless Realm for a few minutes. The group of five guards that remained with us stepped aside in order to, and I'm quoting their commander here: "Not embarrass the client with our presence." The mercs didn't embarrass me at all, but I didn't want to impose with my company. One of the mercs placed a torch in a crack in the wall so I didn't have to sit in darkness, then went off after his comrades.
For some time, I sat with my goblin and looked at the smoking torch, dripping burning resin. But suddenly, Taisha broke the prolonged silence:
"Amra, please give me that throwing dagger you took near the fountain!"
Well, well! What a request! The magical throwing knife was already worth quite a lot on its own, and was also part of a very expensive and rare set called Kingslayer, which significantly raised its value.
"What do you want it for, Taisha? After all, you don't have the skills or level to use it."
My green-skinned companion shrugged her shoulders and smiled craftily:
"It's hard to explain, Amra. It's just that I feel with my skin that this object should belong to me. I have an unbearable desire to possess it, but I cannot express that in words. I do not want to steal the knife from you, or buy it, which is why I'm just asking."
Hrmph, an explanation that was simply in the best traditions of female logic: "I don't know why, but I want it, so you need to give me that expensive thing." What could I say? I’d had girlfriends like that in real life before. Unlike them, Taisha was at least useful. So, I took out the curved and fairly heavy throwing knife and simply gave it to my companion.
Mission completed: A Gift for Taisha
Reward selection in process
I remembered this quest perfectly. It had been sitting in my queue for quite a long time unfinished. Back at the goblin wedding, my NPC bride had demanded I gift her an object meant for her and no one else. I'll admit, over the last few days, I'd been busting my brains trying to think something up that could really be for no one but Taisha. I didn't know why, but the throwing dagger of the leader of the Goons had met this criteria. Strange, of course, but the mission had finished, and that's what mattered. But I still didn't know what it meant by "reward selection in process."
And meanwhile, Taisha, not at all ashamed by the presence of Irek and Yunna, started getting undressed. The dark, form-fitting thief's clothes, which had served as the source of a great many nasty jokes, flew onto the stones. In an instant, Taisha was wearing just a thin loincloth and, a moment later, she was standing in a full suit of luxurious sparkling armor made of the skin of an emerald dragon!
"Wow!" was all I could say. "Excuse me?!"
Taisha laughed happily, very satisfied at my surprised and enraptured reaction.
"The secret here is simple: the full set has a special bonus: 'No level limit.' So, it was important for me to have all ten objects from the set. I took nine off that moon elf, and the other was a gift from you... And for that, I’ll give you something no worse than that. I'm sure you're gonna like it!"
The NPC thief unclenched her fist, showing me a massive silver ring lying on her hand with a milky-white oval stone in the setting.
Ring of Ice Stream
+20 Resistance to Cold, +25 Strength, +25 Agility,
Summon Mythical Hound (no more than 1 time per day)
Unique object from the set Twelve Élivágar Guardians
But this was... Such a valuable object... And perfect for my goblin! It was practically made for him! I couldn't find the words to express the emotions overflowing from me, so I simply took a step toward Taisha, who looked amazing in her new armor, and gave her a kiss.
Reward received
As soon as I'd taken and put on the Ring of Ice Stream, a new portion of messages appeared before my eyes:
Mission completed: Get higher Agility than Taisha
Experience received: 48000 Exp.
+20 to any check of Taisha's opinion
Level f
orty!
Attention!
You have reached level 40
You may now improve your character’s survival by choosing a modification
Wow, a real red-letter day! I opened my character's stat window: The ring had given me complete immunity to cold! Beautiful! And what about the Gray Pack settings? There it was, Fimbulthul the level-57 mythical hound had become my pet! I still couldn't summon him for seventeen hours — clearly the time since his previous owner had summoned him had not passed yet, but still.
"Looks like I guessed right with the gift!" laughed the NPC thief, picking up her old rags and placing them in her inventory. After noticing my gaze, Taisha commented on her actions: "I can still wear this around the house. After all, I can't very well roast fish or mop the floor in my sweet new emerald armor. And also, why hide it, it was pleasant to catch your admiring gaze on my body, undressing it."
At that moment, somewhere in the distance behind us, I heard a muted plunk, and a few seconds later, a burst of air stirred past my wide ears. They'd caved it in, cutting us off from our pursuers. Alright then, one problem down. Now I had to wait for my sister to return, and we could get going.
* * *
My sister entered the game looking overstimulated. Her eyes were burning as if she was rushing to share a new portion of fresh news.
"News of the hour! On the Boundless Realm forum, they're writing that Mariam Standing_Right_Behind_You has disbanded the GOONS! In parting, she said her fill of rotten things about the intellectual capacity of her former clan-mates, who somehow managed to fail all her most important orders of the last days. They'd frittered away the clan castle together with all its stores. They'd wrecked a ship on the cliffs out of their own idiocy together with a hundred of the strongest soldiers. After that, they sunk another ship in battle with the Keepers — a drekar they'd purchased with a loan from the bank of gremlins. And, at the pinnacle of their stupidity, they'd aggroed the NPC guard against themselves and let Amra and his flying mount go. I also read that Mariam Standing_Right_Behind_You has already applied to join the Mercs clan."
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