You’ve been targeted by Raptor-Raven.
17
The big bird landed in front of me, scratching at the ground. Its face revealed its absolute hate for the player who had stolen its offspring.
Slowly, I walked up to the momma, extending the squalling chick out in front of me. Still, the momma did not attack. Her eyes flicked left and right as if in disbelief of the situation. That’s something we had in common.
When I had gotten close enough that I could reach out and touch her, I placed the chick carefully into the sand in front of her.
The Raptor-Raven looked at her baby, then back at me, then back at the baby. With a swift movement that made me flinch, she snatched the chick up into her mighty mouth, leaving just enough room for the baby to get air.
And then, the staring contest began. I was fully prepared to grab for my sword and buckler if at any point I felt threatened. I was pretty sure I was about to have a serious fight on my hands.
But that’s not what happened.
The bird beast must have sensed my inclinations. She turned her bulbous body around and knelt.
“Caw Caw!” she cried, giving me the cue to hop on.
I didn’t hesitate.
I jumped onto the Raptor-Raven’s head and grabbed on to her feathers tightly. I had never noticed how very soft this creature was. I had killed so many of them while doing the daily quest with Ushmoe that I never took the time to appreciate what exactly I was doing. Or was it that I was never able to comprehend what I was doing?
I blamed all these new thoughts on my Enlightenment. How was I supposed to level in the future if I felt pity for all the creatures I was quested to slay?
Without warning, the beast beneath my knees jolted from the ground, the force pushing my face deep into her feathered back. I gripped tighter and lifted myself up and felt the wind whip into my face.
Such an amazing and powerful feeling it was to soar above the world. All at once, the giant bird took me into a full vertical direction forcing me to hang just by my grasp of her feathers, making my hips and legs dangle in the air.
But I wasn’t frightened. Oh no. I was exhilarated.
We flew up and over the walls of the village and that is when my new winged friend came to a horizontal cruise. I looked beneath us and felt my stomach drop a bit. The players looked like tiny, sad bugs as they went along their bland activities. Activities that they were forced to do daily for there was nothing else left to do in Ashvell.
The Raptor-Raven landed herself back on her Temple peak. I was just about to step to the ground when she decided it would be best to launch me off. I hit the ground and skidded to a halt on my butt. The Raptor-Raven mommy spit out her chick and nuzzled the little one tightly under her wings. I could sense our relationship had ended.
I walked to the edge of the peak and there I saw him.
Far out, I could see Ushmoe had been stripped of everything and was tied to a spike that had been hoisted above the front gates of the village. Even from this height and distance, my Elvish vision made it possible for me to see his ribs rising and falling.
My anger resurfaced and I used the energy to hop down onto the roof of the Temple, the chain mail making a loud clang. I descended as fast as I could. When I finally plopped down onto the cobblestones, I was met with faces of amazement. Players put their hands to their mouths and whispered amongst each other as I strolled past them. Many tried to stop and ask how I had reached such a level and many rubbed their dirty palms over my new chain mail having never before seen such armor. I responded to none of this stimulation, for my eyes and mind were set on revenge.
The details of Ushmoe’s shaking body were almost too much to bear as I stepped into the village square. It was the same square in which Lehn had been murdered.
I could even smell the poor Badron’s grimy hair as it floated in the wind and the odor flew into my nostrils. The scent of which made me want to bend over and retch.
“Toxhin, you will pay!” I exclaimed aloud.
A crowd had followed me from the Temple to the square, most of them cupping their hands in anxiety.
“Come on out, you horrible bastard! You pest of a player!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs. “Come and get a taste of what you have been giving to these poor players!”
Nothing.
“I don’t think the Dagger Hearts accept cowards in their midst!”
Silence.
I was breathing heavy now, the chain mail on my chest chattering with each breath I took. I wiped spittle from my mouth and readied my hand near the hilt of my sword. I knew that slimy player was watching me from somewhere. I could just sense it.
If he wasn’t going to come out then I would have to force him out.
I walked to the front gates and climbed Ushmoe’s pike. The smell of his body really got to me as I made it to the poor player’s feet. His eyes were open but had glazed over long ago.
“Ushmoe! It’s me!”
No response.
“Come on, man, snap out of it.”
Nothing.
A sudden horror filled my mind. Had I accidentally Enlightened Ushmoe in the Haunted Well? If this were true, then I couldn’t even imagine what pain my friend had been through these past few days.
I pulled out my sword and cut him down, catching his limp, dirty body before he could fall. I gasped at how light he was.
I climbed down and placed him gently by the gates.
Congratulations! You’ve completed the Hidden Quest: Friend in Need.
Objective: Risk your life to save a captured player. The player must be on your friends list.
Reward: Experience, Player Title: Liberator
Congratulations! You are now known throughout the World of Drathos as Tharis the Liberator! This title will appear above your head when other players concentrate on you.
I was in the middle of deleting the notices from my vision when a rusty sword plunged through my back and out my stomach. I looked down to see the silver of the blade covered in my life’s blood. The pain didn’t resonate until a few seconds later when my hands began to shake. I tried to fall to my knees but the carrier of the sword would not allow it.
“Rule one, newb. Never turn your back on a foe.”
Health: 36%
Health: 30%
“You…” I said, grasping at the sword. “You monster.”
“Eh, I’ve been called worse,” Toxhin said, letting go of the sword and forcing me to fall onto my side. He walked around to face me. “I’m so glad you came! Now is the perfect time to finish what I started.”
At first, I thought he meant me. I hoped it was me. But I knew, down deep, what exactly he had meant. He was speaking of Ushmoe.
“No!” I said, coughing a bit of blood. “Don’t you dare!”
Toxhin pulled out a small, hidden dagger and winked at me before sticking the tip of it into Ushmoe’s head.
“NOOO!” I cried, wiggling like a worm on the bloody cobble. “No!”
“Yes!” Toxhin replied, putting his foot on the dagger’s pommel and pushing it deeper into the cranium.
My vision blurred and all these horrible emotions began to fade. I was dying.
“You know what?” asked Toxhin. “I have an idea!” He walked over to me and hoisted my paralyzed body up. “You should be the one!”
I didn’t understand what he was talking about until he released my limp body down onto the dagger. Fresh, warm blood, Ushmoe’s blood, splashed onto my neck.
Warning! You’ve killed another player of your faction! You now have the status of Murderer for three days. You have reduced your honor points in the Light Faction. You have gained Experience points.
I fell directly through Ushmoe and face planted into the ground as his body converted into white wisps of smoke.
Toxhin picked me up just like the first time we had met and threw me onto my back. I couldn’t stop myself from vomiting all over my new shiny armor.
Health: 7%
; Toxhin snickered a bit. “Now, it’s your turn.”
18
What I hated most about dying was that I felt like I had just started to live. However, I would rather have died Enlightened than live forever in a village led by this psychopath. Perhaps the afterlife would be something like the beautiful plains I was given the opportunity to level in. Maybe I would see Ushmoe there and we could finally level up together.
For what felt like an hour’s worth of agony was, in reality, only just a second. I was just about to close my eyes for good when the clouds above separated and released a familiar light to shine down upon my shoulders. Some invisible force lifted me from under my armpits and beneath my feet. The sword slid slowly out of my back. I could see Toxhin’s face gaping at me as I rose into the air like an angel.
Congratulations! You have acquired Level 20!
And just like that, I felt renewed and reborn.
My chest, vambraces, and glove armor was unequipped and placed in my bag without any of my doing.
Congratulations! You have proven yourself worthy of the Legendary Sub-Class: Lionheart. Lionhearts are guardians of the players around them. They fear danger much like anyone else but choose to put themselves in front of Hell’s fire so that others may live. These bold Warriors are the definition of bravery. A Lionheart will be given abilities to lead and protect the good players and NPCs of Drathos, regardless of their faction.
I smelled the scent of charred skin before I felt the radiating pain as the entirety of my back combusted into flames. I jerked my head back but I could not find myself able to scream. I could feel the flames crawling in a pattern I could not picture in my mind. Just as fast as the pain had come, it was gone, along with the smell of burning flesh.
Let this scar of a Lion’s head and mane forever be a remembrance to you that you are bound to your duties as hero and protector of the entirety of the World of Drathos.
Population of Lionhearts in Drathos: 1 out of 9,472,906
Rarity: Legendary
Proficiencies: All Heavy Weapons, All Martial Weapons, Shields, Gauntlets, All Forms of Armor, Javelins, Spears, and Lances.
Abilities Learned: Lion’s Impact, Coward’s Badge
Items Received: Lionheart’s Starter Gear
Congratulations! You’ve earned the achievement: Beastmode. You have successfully been granted a Legendary Beastheart Class!
I was gracefully let back down to Drathos, my toes resting on the cobblestones first and then my entire foot. Toxhin just stood there, hunched over like a sick animal, his eyes wide with horror. He had picked up the bloodied sword that had dropped from my back and onto the ground. Now, however, the sight before him was too much to bear. His body trembled before me and the sword fell to the ground with a small clang.
A loot bag with a Lion’s head embroidered into the leather appeared floating in front of me. I grabbed it and, without even examining the contents, I equipped all of the equipment.
Young Lionheart’s Plate Chest Piece
Young Lionheart’s Leather Helm
Young Lionheart’s Plate Vambraces
Young Lionheart’s Chain Mail Leggings
Young Lionheart’s Plate Shoulder Pauldrons
Young Lionheart’s Plate Boots
Young Lionheart’s Shield
The bag came with no sword and so I equipped my own. I looked at Toxhin and shook my head at him. Was it just me, or were his raggedy trousers now wet?
The eyes of all the players that had surrounded us were now gazing down at their chat boxes. I did the same.
Attention! Players of the Light Faction! On this day, let it be known that Tharis, Warrior from Ashvell Village, has done you all a great honor by becoming the first of Drathos to earn the Legendary Sub-Class of Lionheart. Expect him to lead you to Victory, Glory, and Enlightenment! Huzzah!
The words meant nothing to me for all I could feel was cold emptiness. I had been too late. My body had been the final death blow to my first friend in this pointless world. And so I kept walking towards my target.
“Take it easy there, now,” Toxhin squeaked, falling to his ass and crawling backwards on his hands and feet. “You’re a Lionheart for God’s sake! You can’t harm me! You’re the player’s hero! You read the thing!”
I pointed my sword at him.
“Please! No! You can’t!”
I summoned the ability of Lion’s Impact. It was a series of moves that felt so… comfortable and right, like I had been practicing them for the past eternity.
I slammed my shield’s face directly into the ground, sending not only Toxhin into the air but also all the rubble, debris, and trash along with him. With blinding speed, I slashed upward with my sword, slicing Toxhin’s back wide open and revealing the white bone of his spine. I pivoted and turned swiftly, sending a final sweep of my shield into his face, sending the psychopath, Toxhin, flying in the direction of the wall’s gate where he smacked with such force that the heavy, wooden doors opened slightly for half a second.
And there the monster sat, his head hung down, his nose in a strange position, missing teeth, and both eyes closed. I read his stats.
Health: 3% (Incapacitated)
The crowd was silent, their mouths open in awe.
I walked over to Toxhin and hoisted him over my shoulder. I reached out and grabbed Ushmoe’s Loot, opened it, and found it empty.
With one final kick from my plate boots, the gates flung open. Cool gusts of air slapped me in the face as did the smells of the grassy plains.
The crowd behind me started to cheer and applaud as I took my first steps as a free player. I would have to enjoy my freedom while it lasted, for I didn’t see myself lasting much longer.
Before me was the Dagger Heart army of around 200 players. At this angle and distance, I could only make out the front lines which sat on mighty horses holding spears with the familiar Dagger Heart emblem flapping in the wind at the very tips of every spear.
I half-expected my body to take control of itself, to spin me around and to force me to run as fast as I could. But it didn’t. I was in full control now. This was my life and I could make it however I wanted it to be.
With courage I did not know I possessed, I made my way forward with their incapacitated guildie bleeding over my shoulder. The players of Ashvell followed me out of the village and into the plains. I turned to them. They could see the army of death before us but none of them showed any signs of fear.
The Ashvellian players lifted their sad weapons in the air and gave me a single but loud, “Huzzah!”
19
I will never know why all of those players of Ashvell decided to fight by my side. They knew, just as I did, that it was complete suicide. The Dagger Hearts wasted no time in targeting us and attacking. Strangely, I wasn’t one of the targeted players. It was either dumb luck or they chose to go for the weaker players first.
Blood sprayed in the air as thousands of arrows rained upon us from the clouds. I lifted my shield over my head to block any of the strays and, sure enough, I could hear the clanging of metal inches above my head.
Both the blood running down my chest armor and Toxhin’s screams reminded me that he was still on my shoulder, completely open to all of the arrow attacks. I let his body slip off me and fall to the ground. He was riddled with wooden arrow stems. I barely caught a look at his terrified face before he turned to smoke.
I don’t remember the clouds building up the way they did, but now they were thick, dark, and juicy with water. The rain fell upon the battle with thick drops that made the grass slippery and hard to traverse over.
I could hear orders being called out followed by the loud clops of horses’ hooves heading our way. I placed the shield in front of me and readied my sword to parry or plunge. Still, arrows whizzed past me, sticking into the players around me. Every one of those players died instantly. There was a white fog now over the battlefield as players turned to smoke before hitting the ground. They didn’t fight for me. No, they fo
ught for their controller. Whoever was manipulating these poor players knew that death was inevitable in this situation and, yet, they forced their puppets on.
Half the ranks of Ashvellian players had died before the horns surrounding the battlefield blew. I was in the middle of trying to target and run after enemy after enemy but could not reach any of them. None of them looked at me, none of them attacked me, and none of them let me get close. I’d had a few chances to use my strike ability but it missed 100% of the time due to the immense level gap.
The horn made the entire battle pause and look around. My long hair was heavy from the rain and it flopped into my face which was covered in blood and the spittle from my yelling. The horns were soon answered by the battle cries of horseback players riding from each side of Ashvell, hidden by the cobblestone walls. The Dagger Hearts, now ignoring us, all turned to a single player amongst their midst.
Slith Level 100 Backstabber (Trickster)
Slith was a female fairy. She was easily distinguishable from the other races because of not only her size but the thin see-through wings on her back. She wore slime green armor, all pieces with some aspect of a snake on it. The most notable were her pauldrons which were snake heads with a green smoke effect wheezing out of each mouth. Slith’s face was sunk in and you could tell her creator had made it their job to make her look as devious as possible. Her bald head swung left to right as she assessed the situation with a cool demeanor. But I could still see the frustration in her ugly face.
“Take defensive positions!” she cried in a gentle yet booming voice. “Front lines, hold left position! Second line, take right! Archers, nock arrows!”
The Dagger Hearts, their name tags all in red now, ignored their weaker foes completely and did as they were told. In a few seconds, us Ashvellians were left dumbfounded in the middle of a rectangular formation of enemies. All of the Ashvellian eyes came and rested on me and I could feel them asking me for orders. But I had nothing to give them. I was still a newb after all, just like them.
The Lionheart_a LitRPG Novel Page 10