The Time Master

by Dmitry Bilik

  I heard a short clap which sent the rachnaid’s dying body flying into the depths of the tunnel. I turned my head. Harph was standing behind me, his hands outstretched. In the meantime, Arts was firing away at Traug’s opponent.

  “Magic almost doesn’t work on him,” she said. “Wretched Moon! We can only deal physical damage.”

  Traug must have heard her because he moved resolutely forward, swinging his sword time and time again in a series of decisive blows. I heard the crunching of bones, followed by the creature’s scream as one of its fighting legs gave way. Traug attacked it again; this time the famulus began to limp.

  The surviving rachnaid went for me but was stopped by a white shroud which dropped onto the monster from above. It was clearly another one of Harph’s spells. Although it hadn’t dealt much damage, it had considerably tamed the monster’s ardor.

  Immediately a tiny green shoot appeared between the rocks, rapidly growing in size. In just a few seconds, it entwined the famulus completely, immobilizing him, then began to constrict him until his bones crunched. The creature squealed.

  “Now!” Jan shouted.

  “I’m on it!” I ran over to the monster and thrust my spear into its head. It made a foul sound like sinking a knife into a potato. And just to remind you, it took me exactly five blows to kill it. A coincidence? I don’t think so. It must have been my new crit bonus at work.

  Your Pole Weapon skill has increased to level 6.

  I looked around. A few paces away, Traug had already overcome his own victim’s defenses and was finishing it off, sending slime sloshing all over the place. The creature’s legs jerked in an attempt to cover itself from the blows; half of them were already broken, the other half chopped off. For a brief moment, I felt sorry for the bastard — but only until the agonizing monster used its mauled legs to make one final thrust, aiming to sink its mandibles into Traug’s neck. With envious reactions, Traug threw his shield up, then continued to hack at his enemy.

  “Enough, you!” Arts shouted. “Can’t you see you’ve already caved its head in? That’s exactly why I can’t stand Korls! You love to run amok!”

  ‘Run amok?” I repeated.

  “It’s one of their racial traits,” the girl explained. “You humans have Intellect and Eloquence. And they have Amok which lowers their intellect but improves their strength and reaction times.”

  Oh, great. Did that mean I’d borrowed all the worst from both races? As a human, all I had was Eloquence but no boosts to Intellect. And as a Korl, I’d missed out on Amok in favor of cold resistance. Just my luck, I suppose.

  ‘Okay, what now?”

  “I’ll go and see,” Harph said, splitting again.

  This time he only made two sorties, after which he rejoined us. “They dug a narrow passage from this tunnel, ending in a huge cavern guarded by six famuli. The Alpha is guarding the other exit.”

  “I’d venture a guess that he’s guarding the Queen,” Litius said. “And if so, he won’t move unless there’s a direct threat to either him or her. And as for regular guards, we could lure them out.”

  ‘Exactly,” Harph agreed. “The big one didn’t give a damn about me. He kept watching me but he stayed put. But the other famuli kept following me and even tried to attack me.”

  “One more thing to consider,” the beastman raised a hairy finger, “is that rachnaids are constantly communicating. They already know that we’ve invaded their territory and killed their own. Another thing I’d like to point out is that these creatures learn remarkably fast.”

  “Hopefully, not too fast,” I said. “Harph? Which one of your spells has the longest range?”

  “Falcon’s Arrow. It’s an aimed shot with a range of a hundred and fifty yards. I have a few which have a longer range but I can’t guarantee their accuracy.”

  “Good enough. How far is it from the passage to the cavern?”

  “About twenty-five yards. You actually can see the cavern from the tunnel.”

  “Excellent. We’ll all stay here while you aggro one of the guards. The passage is narrow; there’s no way they can get through it all together. We’ll stand our ground and make mincemeat out of them.”

  Nobody seemed to object. Guided by Harph, we cautiously made our way to the passage. Traug probed inside and immediately returned, confirming the information about the six rachnaids posted about fifty paces from the exit.

  Now it was Harph’s turn.

  “Make it quick. Cast your spell and come straight back,” I said.

  He smirked, his whole countenance making it clear that his battle experience far outshone my own, and moved forward. We stayed behind in pitch darkness.

  I stretched out my hand and sent a mental command, casting Light.

  Arts reached inside her sketchbook and produced a hand grenade, of all things. It looked like an old pineapple grenade but with smooth round sides.

  She must have read something in my stare. “What now? Yes, it's a Russian RGD5.”

  “You don’t happen to have anything else like this in your book?”

  “I might,” she replied softly.

  I would have continued asking questions, and I sure would have found out a few more interesting things, had it not been for a sudden burst of light as Harph returned.

  “I’ve aggroed him,” he said, bug-eyed.

  Litius waggled his ears, listening in. “They’re coming.”

  “I’m gonna lob it,” Arts said as she tugged out the pin, then did exactly what she’d said she would do.

  It was one hell of an explosion. My ears were still ringing when the first rachnaid showed up. Granted, he was limping — but apparently you couldn’t stop these with a piffling RGD5 grenade.

  It was a good job that Traug had been standing directly in front of me. Admittedly, he too was concussed but at least he was wearing armor and not a tatty trench coat mended by a goblin. The rachnaid’s claws made a screeching noise against Traug’s armor as the creature attacked him not once or twice but four times — and only after that did Traug finally wake up and move his butt to assault the enemy.

  Just then our wizards joined in, too. Arts doused the famuli with a good dose of fire while Harph was showering them with some killer air spells. The first rachnaid was repeatedly thrown in the air; his body was singed but he kept getting back to his feet, assaulting our tin can a.k.a Traug time and time again.

  At this point, I finally came back to my senses, took a better grip of my spear and began advancing.

  I stood directly behind Traug and started dishing out blows at the creature’s flitting legs. Not all my blows earned me points but those that did land were real beauties.

  Your Pole Weapon skill has increased to level 7.

  Just as I received the message, the creature’s razor-sharp front leg came flying through the air. The rachnaid screeched, trying to rear up, but Traug’s sword sliced through his most vulnerable point directly under his head. He must really have known a thing or two about these things’ anatomy.

  The rachnaid’s body was still warm and convulsing when another famulus headed toward us. Traug stepped aside, giving him a chance to get out of the passage, and only then did he attack the wretched insect. At that point I noticed that my knees had stopped shaking as the battle had turned into a regular tactics practice. You aggroed a mob, killed it, then aggroed the next one.

  I killed the second one single-handedly with an accurate blow to the head. Honestly speaking, I’d been plain lucky. It was only the second time in my life that I’d used a spear so I was far from being an expert. But at least I could handle it with confidence.

  We’d almost finished off the third monster when I heard the angry roar of what sounded like a tiger.

  “We’re surrounded!” Jan shouted.

  The old me wouldn’t have known what to do. He would have probably frozen in place or started mumbling something incoherent. But the new me didn’t hesitate a second.

  I took two steps back and swung round. �
��Traug, don’t let him through! Harph! Arts!”

  I hadn’t needed to say anything. Harph had already cast his signature Thunder from the Sky, the one he’d used to defeat the Darkest One. Now it was just as spectacular, sending one of the new arrivals tumbling head over heels back into the far end of the tunnel.

  I hurried toward another one which was giving Litius a hard time. Our beastman was growling and throwing feints, but his fur was covered in blood. I noticed at least four deep cuts in his hide.

  The rachnaid swayed, trying to avoid a blow from a new opponent, but I had the most serious intentions regarding him — short of offering him a wedding ring.

  [ ∞ ]

  One accurate blow did it; the next moment, my spear was pointing upwards with the rachnaid’s head already impaled upon its razor-sharp tip. Because as he’d ducked, he’d literally offered himself to my knife.

  Your Pole Weapon skill has increased to level 8.

  Your Short Blades skill has increased to level 11.

  The other famulus who’d already recovered from his short but impressive flight suddenly tripped up a mere ten paces away from me and dropped, entangled in Jan's ivy creepers. He struggled furiously for a while, realizing that his number was up, then quietened down as he watched me approach him slowly. He might have hoped for mercy — or he might have realized that any resistance was pointless. In any case, mercy was the last thing on my mind. I whacked him in the head with a spear, then finished him off with two more blows.

  “Jan, heal Litius!”

  Our beastman was in a bad way. He hadn’t even tried to get back to his feet, lying limply where I’d left him. The ground under him was dark and sticky with blood. His eyes didn’t focus on me but stared into space over my head.

  “Jan!”

  “Wait up, for crissakes!” Jan shouted back. “I’m out of mana!”

  “Take this,” Harph said, hurling him his amulet, the one he’d received from the enchanter.

  Jan clenched it in his hand. Immediately a green shoot began boring its way through the tunnel’s rocky floor, so thin it was almost invisible. It had broad leaves and a pink bud that kept swelling. Finally, it bloomed, releasing a cloud of off-white pollen tinted with crimson, which instantly filled the air.

  I watched in amazement as Litius’ wound began to close, leaving hard scabs behind.

  “Here,” Arts hurried to his side. She reached into her bag and brought a vial of bright red liquid to his lips. From what I gathered, she hadn’t drawn it but must have spared it from her own emergency stocks.

  “There, there. It’s gonna be fine,” she said softly, pouring the liquid into Litius’ mouth. She then felt his pulse and looked up at me. “He’s alive. He'll pull through.”

  Only now did I begin to shake. Really, it felt like I was outside in minus forty wearing nothing but my underpants. I’d very nearly lost a team member... a fellow human being... or rather... ah, dammit, Litius was human, whatever you say. I hadn’t taken all the eventualities into account. I’d made a mistake in planning our advance.

  Strangely enough, that’s when I received another message:

  You’re on your way to receiving a new skill: Leadership.

  But it wasn’t the right moment to wallow in self-pity because Traug was still fending off the last Rachnaid. I hurried to his side and chopped off one of the creature’s legs. As the famulus began to list, he failed to see the sword blade that struck his head. The blow wasn’t fatal but it was enough to disorient him, resulting in another blow from my spear.

  Your Pole Weapon skill has increased to level 9.

  We did away with the last of the Alpha’s guards without resorting to any special tricks. Traug aggroed him while I finished him off with my moon-steel blade.

  Only then did I turn back to check on Litius. He stood upright without seeking any support. Granted, he staggered a little but at least you could see he was okay. Jan was busy next to him, doing his shaman’s thing.

  ‘We can’t get through here anymore,” Traug wheezed, breathing heavily. “Their bodies are blocking the passage.”

  I turned to Harph. “Where are those other passages they made?”

  “Logically, they should all lead to the cavern. But to get to them, we’ll have to go back.”

  “We don’t have much choice. I don’t see us moving all these bodies. They’re all intertwined.”

  We waited for Litius to recover somewhat, then headed back the way we’d come. Harph wandered off on another recon, then returned. According to him, the coast was clear.

  We then squeezed through a passage so narrow as to allow only one person at a time. Traug took point. I brought up the rear, having learned my lesson the hard way.

  It was indeed a much longer hike. We walked along the winding tunnel for another half-hour until it finally led us to the cavern which Harph had told us about.

  “I don’t think it was the rachnaids who built it,” Litius began to pontificate as soon as he'd recovered. “This cavern appears to be a natural formation. All the famuli have done is tweak it a little by digging a few tunnels and...”

  “Shush,” I said, casting wary looks around. “Harph? Where did you say the Alpha was?”

  “Over there,” Harph replied, pointing at the broad tunnel at the back.

  “He’s not there anymore,” I shared my understated observation with him.

  “Guys, I think I know where he is,” Jan said under his breath. “Look up, but do it slowly.”

  The last thing I saw when I raised my head was the long legs of the rachnaids’ leader coming for me.

  Chapter 25

  EVEN THE SHARPEST knife in the drawer doesn’t cut very well sometimes. The best-laid plans of man can go awry. Unless you’re the Oracle, of course. How was I supposed to know that our death might assault us from above? The rachnaids had neither wings nor cobwebs. There was no possible way they could have descended upon us from the ceiling.

  Having said that, the Alpha hadn’t exactly descended: he’d quite simply dropped, burying one of his combat legs into Harph and piercing his body right through.

  Harph’s gaze glazed over. I and all the others were swept off our feet by the monster’s chitinous shell.

  I needed to act quick!

  [ ∞ ]

  “...I think I know where he is,” Jan said.

  “Up above! Spread out, quick!” I shouted as I darted and rammed Harph out of the way.

  You’ve saved a Player who is neutral to you.

  +100 karma points. Current level: +160. You gravitate to the Light Side.

  We collapsed onto the ground as the Alpha came crashing to the floor behind us. I swung round, picked up my makeshift glaive and held it out in front of me, casting a quick glance to check on my team.

  Traug was on his knees, picking up his shield. Arts was reaching into her sketchbook. Litius growled and stepped aside. Jan was casting another spell.

  The good news was, everyone was still in one piece. And the bad news...

  The bad news was towering right in front of me: huge, angry and lethal. The only thing that still kept me alive was the moon steel which the Alpha must have sensed. At first he tried to get to me but immediately screeched something in his insect language.

  And I was still trying to figure out just how to fight him. According to our plan, we were supposed to engage him after which I would stab him like a freakin’ pin cushion, excuse my French.

  The problem was, our plan involved cornering him which now seemed a bit problematic.

  Still, despite all the hassles, I saw a tiny green shoot forcing its way through the rocks under him. If only we could distract him for long enough!

  I thrust the spear forward so that its tip hit the monster’s chitinous chest. The blade clanged as it glanced off. Not good. It looked like my moon steel couldn’t do jack against the Alpha. I had to aim for his leg or the vulnerable spot on his neck.

  Seeing the spear deflected, the rachnaid went for me. His sharp fron
t leg flitted before my eyes. I was just about to rewind time again — I had enough for one more activation, counting the charges already restored — but the Alpha seemed to slow down.

  He struggled again, but the growing ivy held him tight within its grasp. The amulet in Jan’s hands was vibrating, shining brighter than the local sun, while Jan himself continued to work his magic.

  Still, our luck didn’t last. The Alpha swung round, ripping the ivy apart. All I had time to do was poke him a few times in his backside without much effect, after which I swung my makeshift weapon in the air, chopping off one of his legs.