Dragon Kings of the New World

by Dante Doom

  "Let's try to smash a wall!" Van said as he rushed to the non-moving wall and slammed his hammer against it as hard as he could. The hammer bounced back off of the wall and the word Resist flashed against the steel. "Fredlin, can you enchant my hammer? Make it stronger!" Van ordered.

  Fredlin shook his head. "Sorry, but I don't have the magic points for that. Using that arrow defense spell was expensive, so it'll be a few minutes before I can recharge."

  "I wonder if we have a few minutes," Sahara said as the walls continued to press in on them.

  "There's gotta be some mechanism powering this thing," Kylian said as he ran up to the walls and began to search for a secret compartment. "But I’m just not finding anything."

  "Maybe it's not a trap," Sang said. "What if it's some kind of puzzle?"

  "That's unlikely," Van said. "Normally, puzzles have some kind of indication that they're a puzzle."

  The walls were getting very close now, and the team was beginning to huddle together. "We're gonna have to push back!" Van said. "Everyone, back to back!"

  Van and Sahara stood back to back and pressed their hands against the opposing walls. They grunted and wheezed, but were able to stop the walls for the time being.

  "My stamina is dropping!" Van wheezed. The green bar above his head was rapidly beginning to decrease. "Can't hold this for long!"

  "I got it!" Kylian said. "The mechanism is in the moving wall itself! Look at that panel!" He pointed to a panel that was towards the top of the room, only slightly sticking out of the side of a wall. The seams of the panel were hard to see, but Kylian's pointing at it caused the outline to glow bright red. Kylian turned his short body to the side and pressed his hands against the walls, giving him enough of a foothold to start climbing between the walls.

  The walls began to move a little more as Van shouted out in pain. Sang had tried to press her arms against the walls, too, but as someone of the ranger class, her strength was far too low to really prevent the wall from moving.

  "Just hold on!" Sang said. "We're almost there, so just hang on!"

  Kylian scrambled up between the walls and was able to position himself so that he could fiddle with the panel. He opened it up and began to disable the trap. After a few seconds of clicking, the words Trap Disabled +50 points appeared on everyone's screen.

  "Whew!' Van said as he slid down to catch his breath.

  "There's no time for resting," Fredlin said as he pointed at a small door that had suddenly opened up in the side of the right moving wall. "We gotta run!"

  Van sighed, but leapt to his feet. "Come on!" he shouted as he led the team through this new door. The small door led them upwards to another level.

  "What fresh hell is this?" Sahara asked as she pointed at a large pile of bones in the middle of the room. They had emerged from the trapdoor that was on the ground, and it appeared as if they were in some kind of a cave.

  "Are we still in the castle?" Sang asked.

  "Probably," Van said. "This might just be where the king keeps his pet monster until he needs it."

  "Great," Sang said as she scanned the area for life. Her Spotting skill was extremely high, but she didn't see any signs of life.

  "Over there, a door!" Fredlin said as he pointed at a large wooden door. "And we didn't have to almost die in order to find it!"

  "Truly, we are moving up in the world," Kylian said as they hurried toward the apparent exit. As they reached the door, though, they heard a loud snarling sound. Sang glanced behind them to see that a gigantic weasel-like creature with red fur and huge fangs had climbed atop the pile of bones and was snarling at them. The beast didn't have any eyes, and greenish liquid dripped down from the creature's mouth, indicating that it was poisonous. The words Feralice Level 75 hovered above the beast.

  "What do we do about that thing?" Sang asked.

  "Leave it behind; the door's unlocked, "Kylian replied as he swung the door open. "We don't have time to play around."

  "Or do we?" Van asked. "A monster that big and optional? If we killed it, we'd get a lot of points. Maybe even enough to pass the minimum requirements."

  "It's risky," Fredlin said. "The timer's still running."

  "Okay, so here's the plan," Van said. "Kylian and Sahara, you two hit the next room and figure out what it looks like. If you can engage in a fight and win, do it. Sang, Fredlin, and I will stick around here and fight this thing. We'll divide our times."

  "That seems unnecessarily risky," Kylian said.

  "If points matter in this tournament," Van explained, "then we're going to want to get as many as we can at the start. The bigger a lead we have, the better. I think it's worth the risk."

  "Sounds good to me," Sang said.

  "Worst case scenario, we just bail," Fredlin agreed.

  "Fine," Kylian said. "You guys fight it and we'll check the next room. Stay in touch through private messaging, okay?"

  "Fair enough," Van said as he turned around to face the creature. "It's on!"

  The Feralice shrieked a terrible noise and raised its long, spindly arms up high. It bared its fangs at them and prepared for battle. The word Enraged appeared above its head.

  "Watch out for those fangs," Fredlin shouted as he scrambled far away from the creature. "My Beast Master skill indicates that a single bite from either fang can poison you heavily. And we don't have a cleric."

  "Yeah, why didn't we bring a healer?" Sang asked as she aimed her bow and fired two flaming arrows at the monster. The arrows sailed through the air and struck the coat of the creature, but the words Insufficient Piercing hovered above it.

  "Clerics pretty much cap out in their usefulness after level 40!" Van explained as he gripped his warhammer and readied for a charge. The Feralice growled and slowly paced around the bones. It had its back arched like a cat, and Sang could see that it was trying to judge when to strike.

  "Well, don't tell Bidane that," Sang said as she pulled out a Potion of Armor Piercing from her satchel. This potion would increase her Pierce rating by +50%, meaning that there'd be a higher chance of her weapons bypassing the natural armor of the Feralice.

  The Feralice grew tired of waiting for Van to strike and leapt at the berserker.

  "Haha!" Van cheered as he rolled to the left, avoiding the claws of the weasel-like beast. He swung his warhammer around hard then, smashing the side of the Feralice's left leg. The words 150 damage! Injury! ½ movement appeared over the creature as it howled in pain.

  As Sang drank her potion down, she felt her body warm with a powerful heat. Liquid began to fill her eyes, and at first she thought her eyes were burning, but as she tried to blink the liquid away, she started to realize that the liquid offered something of a covering like that of contact lenses. She glanced at the Feralice and could see there were glowing yellow spots all over its body. Perfect!

  She aimed her bow at one of the glowing yellow spots and released another arrow. This arrow sailed through the air and struck the Feralice hard underneath its soft underbelly. It shrieked in pain as the words 300 damage rose through the air.

  "How much health does it have?" Fredlin asked as he began to wave his staff around.

  "800 left!" Van replied as he swung his warhammer at the creature again. This time, it dodged out of the way and slashed at him with its claws. Van blocked the attack with the steel shaft of his hammer.

  "Perfect, I'm gonna cast a fireball spell that will finish it!" Fredlin said. "Hah – this was way easier than Kylian was worried about!"

  As Fredlin raised his hands to release a spell, though, the Feralice leapt from where it had been standing almost 60 feet away, landing right atop of Fredlin.

  "Crap!" Sang shouted as she began to fire arrow after arrow at the creature, but she didn't have enough time to aim for its weak spots, so the arrows merely bounced off of the beast.

  "Help!" Fredlin shouted as he began to take damage. Sang watched as his health dropped down rapidly; he had been at nearly 500 points of health at the start of the f
ight, and now he was barely at 150.

  "I'm on it!" Van shouted as he rushed forward as fast as he could. "Rawrrrr!" he bellowed as he activated his Berserker Rage ability. This would give him the power to move faster and hit harder, and increased his jump speed. The only downside was that he would receive the exhausted status after his rage ended.

  Van leapt high into the air with his hammer and came crashing down on the head of the Feralice. It growled in anger as the words 400 damage hovered above its head. It hissed and tried to shake Van off of its head, but to no avail. Van had dug his heels into the creature's sides and was holding on for dear life.

  Fredlin scrambled out from underneath its grasp and limped away. "Oh man," Fredlin said as he swigged a healing potion. His health bar began to climb rapidly back to 800 points. "At least it didn't bite me."

  The Feralice turned around and looked at Sang, who had struck it with one more arrow. Although the arrow had only landed a glancing blow, the beast certainly didn't like the fact that it was being attacked from a distance. It bared its fangs and began to bound after her.

  "Hold your ground!" Van called out as he dropped his warhammer and grabbed the beast by the ears. "When I say shoot, shoot!"

  Sang nodded and loaded three arrows on her bow. It was fortunate that the ranger character she had been given had all of her old skills, including the Multi-strike ability. She took a deep breath and held perfectly still, waiting for the signal.

  The Feralice charged her, and Van screamed "Now!" as he pulled with all of his might on the beast's ears. The weasel-like monster didn't like this at all, and it reared its head back, exposing its neck. Sang took the shot, seeing how the neck of the creature glowed bright purple. Her three arrows sank into the monster's neck and it roared in agony. The words Critical Blow 800 damage floated in the air. Blood sprayed from the beast as it collapsed on the ground, hissing and shrieking.

  "Yes!" Sang shouted as the words Optional Monster Defeated +350 points appeared on the screen.

  "Nice," Van said. "We've got to move, though; the clock is ticking!"

  "Is there enough time to loot?" Fredlin asked.

  "Are you kidding me?" Van asked. "Of course, there's enough time to loot it – we're gamers after all. That hasn't changed."

  6

  Van, Sang, and Fredlin rushed into the next room, which was some kind of a cellar. There were dozens of shattered skeletons laying on the ground. Among the barrels and bottles of wine was a ladder leading upwards.

  "No sign of them, so I guess they kept moving," Van said as he grabbed the ladder. As he began to ascend, the words Skeleton Room defeated +100 points hovered above him. He grinned as he continued his ascent.

  He wasn't particularly worried about making the cut in this tournament round. If gaming logic had taught him anything, it was that the first round would always be the easiest. Advancing to the next section wouldn't be hard, but would probably be difficult enough to weed out the truly incompetent. The more points they gained now, though, the less they would need to garner later on.

  As he climbed up the ladder now, he heard some shouting upstairs. It was Kylian yelling at Sahara.

  "I've already tried that! Okay? I don't need you suggesting that we do the same thing over and over again!" he said.

  "I'm just trying to help!" Sahara shouted back. "And you're not doing it right, so try it my way!"

  "Guys!" Van said as he emerged from a hole in the ground. "What are you two arguing about?"

  "Captain Grumpy over here thinks he can solve this logic puzzle, but he's only getting more confused!" Sahara said as she pointed to a body of water. They were in a square room, but there was water between them and the next exit.

  "I'm not getting more confused," Kylian said as he pointed to three statues. "It's an old logic puzzle and I know exactly how to do it."

  "What are all of these?" Sang asked as she climbed out of the manhole. She examined the statues for a moment. There was a statue of a cow, another of a dragon, and then a large barrel of hay. Tied to the barrel was a boat, but it looked like it only had enough room for one statue.

  "It's part of the puzzle," Kylian explained. "That door over there is sealed tightly. We've got to figure out how to get all three of these statues across."

  "That's the puzzle?" Fredlin asked as he hoisted himself up into the room. "Just put one statue in the boat at a time. You two have been arguing about this?'"

  "It's not the easy," Kylian said as he grabbed his hair and began to pull on it a little. "There's a method to it."

  "Wow, I have never seen you this perturbed, Kylian," said Van, laughing a little. "It's just a puzzle. Relax."

  "I know the answer!" Kylian shouted. "I was a mathematics champion in high school, okay? I just… can't figure it out."

  "Because you're suffering from a very advanced form of dementia!" Sahara shouted back.

  "Take it easy, everyone," Sang said as she walked up to a glowing interface that hovered above the boat. She pressed her hand against it, causing the interface to rapidly expand into a large drop-down menu.

  The Dragon, Hay, and Cow Puzzle

  If you want to open the door, you must solve an ancient mystery. Three statues are before you: a cow, a dragon, and a barrel of hay. The boat will only hold one statue, but all three must cross. If the cow and the barrel of hay are alone together, the cow will eat the hay. If the dragon and the cow are alone together, the dragon will eat the cow. How then, will you get all three across the river?

  "Oh, I think I know this," Sang said as she looked at the statues. "I think."

  "I know I know this," Kylian replied curtly. "You just need to give me a minute to think."

  "Well, let's use progressive elimination," Van said as he put a hand on Kylian's shoulder. "If we send the barrel of hay first, the cow will be eaten by the dragon, and if we send the hay, the dragon will eat the cow."

  "But even if we get it across, we still can't leave them alone," Sang said as she crossed her arms. "Meaning that we're going to have to make multiple trips, right?"

  "Yeah…" Van muttered. "Okay, let's do what we know first: let's send the cow across the river."

  Fredlin and Kylian grunted and groaned as they grabbed the statue and dragged it over to the boat. The boat immediately began to move to the other side of the water, and there it slid the statue off. It then turned around and floated right back to them.

  "Now what?" Sahara said. "If we put either of these across the river now, someone is going to get eaten."

  "That's where you're wrong," Sang said as she waded across the water. "Whatever you send to me, I'll just send the cow back. So, send the barrel of hay next!"

  Van complied, and shoved the large bronze statue of hay onto the boat. The boat drifted over to Sang's position, where she swapped out the hay for the cow, sending the cow back to them.

  "Oh, I got it now!" Kylian exclaimed as he helped pull the cow off of the boat and the dragon back on. "This wasn't so hard after all! I was just overthinking it."

  They sent the dragon across the water to Sang, who then quickly took the dragon off and returned the boat to Van and the team, so that they loaded the last statue and crossed the river.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" Van asked Kylian as they walked through the water. "I have never seen you perturbed about anything."

  "I'm fine, Van," Kylian said. "I just go crazy when I can't figure puzzles out."

  "Well, Sahara wasn't helping either," Van said as he looked over at the woman. He couldn't quite figure out her age, but she never acted like an adult. When pressed, she always said she was a 35-year-old woman from Oklahoma, but that didn't seem right.

  "I was just messing around," Sahara said. "It's not like we were going to go any deeper into the dungeon anyway."

  Once the final statue slid onto the ground, there was a loud clicking noise followed by the grinding of a door slowly opening up. The words Puzzle Solved: 125 points floated in front of Van. Not bad at all.

  "I h
ope we don't have much left to go," Sang said as she pointed to the set of stairs the newly opened door had revealed. "Up is good, right?"

  "We're at 640 points," Van said as he took the lead and began to ascend this new set of stairs. "I doubt there's much left for us after this."

  They made their way to the top of the stairs to discover a ten-foot-tall and ten-food-wide cube made of green ooze that was directly blocking their passage through the hallway.

  "Look!" Sahara said as she pointed at the cube. "I can see the finish line on the other side."

  "What the hell is this thing?" Sang asked as the cube slurped and burbled at them. It slowly began to creep towards them, but it was moving at a snail's pace.

  "Dungeon Cube," Van said. "Don't touch it, or it'll suck you in and slowly digest you."

  "But you'll suffocate before you get digested," Fredlin added.

  "Well, it's coming towards us," Sang said as she fired an arrow into the creature. The word Ineffective hovered above the thing as her arrow slowly sank into the ooze. She could see the arrow slowly beginning to disintegrate from being inside of the green slime. "What do we do?"

  "Kill it, I guess," Van said as he craned his neck to see if there was any way around the creature. From the looks of it, the monster was unavoidable. There was nowhere to go behind them, either. Going back down the stairs wouldn't help, because this thing would probably just squeeze itself down the stairs and follow them. They could theoretically lead it to the water of the last level they'd been at, but at the speed it was moving, it would probably take them almost all day.

  "I've got just the spell," Fredlin said as he raised his hands. "It's a powerful enchanting spell that imbues a weapon with the power to affect creatures which are immune to regular damage!"

  "Ooh, pick me!" Van said as he raised his warhammer high. "I'll kill it!"

  "Perfect!" Fredlin said. "Now, hold still!" He raised his hands high and began to mutter arcane words as little bolts of energy flew from his fingertips to Van's warhammer. The hammer glowed brightly as the power radiated around it.