by Lucas Flint
A loud growl behind me made me and Okac look over to the right. Kerco was still alive, but another Scan showed me that his Health had taken a huge hit. Even better, his HP was rapidly dropping even as he stood there, which meant he was likely suffering under the same debuff that I had, only he didn’t have a Health Potion to drink to make it go away, at least as far as I could tell.
“Traitorous rat,” Kerco snarled. “Stabbing me in the back to save an enemy of the Master … you have dishonored our clan with your treacherous actions.”
“No, Kerco, you dishonor us,” Okac replied, though I noticed he was trembling in his armor. “You side with Master Holly, turn us into her slaves. Lizard Warriors should be free.”
“Free?” Kerco snapped. “No one is free in this world, traitor. Freedom can only be found in the sweet release of death … a death I will be happy to give you.”
Kerco raised his claws and rushed toward us. Okac, to his credit, actually rushed to meet him and the two Lizard Warriors began fighting. Though Kerco was bigger and stronger than Okac, Okac had speed and agility to avoid Kerco’s wide swings and strike back with attacks of his own. It helped that Kerco was still bleeding out, but even with his wound, Kerco could probably still kill Okac unless I did something fast.
But what could I do to help Okac? I was completely unarmed. If I stepped into that fight now, I would probably just end up getting wounded or even outright killed. Yet I had to do something because it was clear to me that Okac couldn’t win this fight alone. I suppose I could just wait until Kerco bled out, but his Health seemed to be dropping slowly and he might kill Okac before it dropped to zero. Plus, I hated waiting around and feeling useless, so there was no way I could do that without feeling like a loser.
My eyes fell on the Cannibal Sword that Kerco had dropped. Thoughts racing, I picked it up and immediately Scanned it:
Cannibal Sword
Status: Unique, Rare
+20 to Strength
+30 to Speed
+0.5 damage added to critical hits
25% increase chance in landing critical hits
Description: Originally wielded by the thunder god Arlos, the Cannibal Sword is a legendary blade feared and admired in equal measure by Swordsmen all over the world. Capable of shattering all but the strongest of blades, the Cannibal Sword is a dangerous weapon to be wielded only by the most experienced swordsmen.
ERROR NOTICE: You are not high enough level to use the Cannibal Sword to its fullest extent. All stat increases and Abilities associated with Cannibal Sword are locked to all players under Level 30.
Dang it. I knew it was too good to be true. At least I could still use it as an ordinary sword, even if its stat bonuses and Abilities were locked from me right now. It was better than nothing, anyway.
Gripping the Cannibal Sword’s hilt with both hands, I rushed over to Okac and Kerco’s duel. The two Lizard Warriors were going at it hard, tearing and ripping at each other with their claws and teeth. Kerco’s Health had fallen to under a quarter, but Okac’s Health was even less. His Stamina must have gone down, as well, because Okac was a lot more sluggish and awkward in his movements, evading fewer attacks than usual and looking like he was about to pass out.
“Okac!” I shouted. “Get out of the way! Now!”
To my relief, Okac immediately broke off his fight with Kerco and jumped away. Kerco, who had apparently not been expecting that, nonetheless swung his claws too far in a failed attempt to get Okac, leaving his stomach wide open and defenseless.
With a yell, I stabbed the Cannibal Sword directly into Kerco’s stomach. The Cannibal Sword pierced his armor and sank into his belly, causing Kerco to gasp as smelly green blood poured out of his stomach wound. His eyes widened with a mixture of terror and disbelief as his Health bar fell to zero.
With a grunt, I ripped the Cannibal Sword out of his stomach and stepped back. Kerco stood for a moment before suddenly fall on his hands and knees, coughing up blood and gasping for air. More green blood spilled out of his stomach, but I was more amazed he was still hanging on despite the fact that his Health had fallen to zero.
“Very … clever, outworlder,” said Kerco. He looked up at me and his eyes were green as if his own blood was filling his eyeballs. “Never in my wildest dreams … would I have thought to be killed by my own sword. It is … an honor, in a way, to be killed by such a legendary weapon.”
“I might just stab you again if it will make you die faster,” I said, glancing at the Cannibal Sword in my hands, which was covered in Kerco’s green blood.
Kerco chuckled and coughed up more green blood. “Forgive me, Master Holly, for failing to protect the Eggs. I hope you will not punish me too harshly in the Beyond …”
Without warning, Kerco fell flat on his face onto the ground. A notification suddenly popped up in front of my vision:
A boss monster (Elite Lizard Warrior Commander Kerco) has been defeated! 250 EXP goes to the slayer of the boss, +10 Stat Points!
That was followed by another notification that appeared immediately afterward:
Level up +2! You got 6 Stat Points!
You are now Level 12.
Dismissing the notification, I heard an odd rattling sound and looked to my right. Okac stood there, staring at Kerco’s corpse with big eyes. He seemed unable to believe what he was seeing. Given how powerful Kerco was, I couldn’t blame him for being at least a little surprised. I just hoped it wouldn’t make him think twice about helping me.
“Okac, are you okay?” I said, tilting my head to the side. “Do you need a Health Potion or something?”
Snapped out of his trance, Okac shook his head rapidly. “No, outworlder. Lizard Warriors have slow healing factor. Okac’s Health will restore itself.”
As Okac said this, I noticed his Health tick up by one. At the same time, a small scratch underneath his left eye also healed up. It was definitely a slow process—I would say it probably healed one HP every five seconds—but it seemed like a useful Ability nonetheless. Made me wish I was a Lizard Warrior, though given how ugly they looked, perhaps I wasn’t missing out on much.
“Bolt!” said a feminine, slightly monotone voice behind us. “You’re alive!”
I looked over my shoulder to see Olga flying toward me, with Mecha Knight and Switch following closely behind. Behind them lay the corpses of dozens of Lizard Warriors, which Bait was apparently looting for items and equipment, because he was busily moving among the corpses, bending down every now and then to check them and occasionally standing up with a big smile on his face and some kind of item in his hands.
“Hey, guys,” I said as the three of them stopped before me. “I see you managed to kill all of the Lizard Warriors.”
“It wasn’t that hard,” said Switch, rolling her eyes. “Not for me, anyway. Those lizard idiots don’t like fire any more than that Tree Golem did.”
“I seem to recall you hiding behind your brother’s shield most of the time and taking potshots,” said Mecha Knight. He looked down at a burned hole in his robes with a displeased expression on his face. “And not always accurate potshots, either.”
“I said I was sorry,” said Switch with a humph. “You got in the way of one of my fireballs. Should have moved when I told you to.”
Mecha Knight just sighed, as if they had had this argument before, but then he looked at Okac suddenly and said, “Wait a moment. Why is this Lizard Warrior still alive? And why isn’t he attacking us?”
“Okac betrayed his clan,” I said. I gestured at Kerco’s corpse behind us. “If he hadn’t attacked Kerco when he did, I would be dead right now. He’s on our side.”
“Outworlder is right,” said Okac, nodding. “Okac on your side now, not Holly’s.”
Mecha Knight looked at Okac skeptically. “Interesting. I don’t remember Genius programming the monsters to side with players. Then again, he did design VO to be able to evolve and react to player actions, so perhaps this is something new the system came up with since I
was last here.”
“Okac serve outworlder because Okac hate Master Holly now,” said Okac, standing erect like a soldier waiting for orders. “Besides, Okac wanted to eat Birdman Eggs, but when Okac heard they were going to be sacrificed, Okac knew he couldn’t allow that.”
As Okac spoke, I noticed Olga’s fingers moving like the fingers of a puppeteer manipulating the strings of a puppet. But then Olga stopped doing that without looking at me, though I suspected she was aware that I was staring at her. I looked at Okac again, who was smiling brightly and began to put two and two together, but I decided not to say anything just yet.
“Well, Okac, you can join our party if you want,” I said. “We can always use more fighters. Are you a good fighter?”
“Okac one of the best in his clan,” said Okac proudly.
I nodded. I wondered how you were supposed to send a party invite to an NPC, however, when I noticed that option appear on the menu for my party. Tapping the button, I saw an invite go out to Okac, who immediately accepted it and joined our party.
“Are you sure we can trust him?” said Switch, looking at Okac with disgust. “What makes him different from the other Lizard Warriors?”
“Don’t worry, lady outworlder,” said Okac, giving her the thumbs up. “Okac has sworn his life to outworlder Bolt. Okac will never betray party or Master Bolt’s friends.”
“Master Bolt, eh?” I said with a grin. “I like the sound of that.”
“Interesting,” said Mecha Knight. “But what about the Birdman Eggs?”
“Over there,” said Okac, pointing at the enclosure I had noticed earlier. It appeared to have escaped the battle unscathed. “All Birdman Eggs present and accounted for.”
“Well, that was easy,” I said. “Switch, go get Bait. We’re going to take those Eggs and finish this quest.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Luckily, it turned out that Okac had a key to the enclosure, so we were able to open it and check on every Birdman Egg to make sure they were all in good condition. Thankfully, aside from a few scratches on their shells, the Birdman Eggs were in perfect shape. Apparently, the Lizard Warriors had been under strict orders not to crack or damage the eggs, because they needed to be whole for the ritual.
At first, we thought that carrying the eggs would be an issue. The five of us working together could probably carry one Egg in each arm, but that wouldn’t get even half of the Eggs, and even if it did, it would still leave us defenseless on the way back up to the surface. The Lizard Warriors may have all been dead, but the Lizard Warriors weren’t the only creatures hiding in the tunnels beneath the Tall Mountains, nor even the worst.
But then we discovered that the Birdman Eggs actually counted as items you can put in your bag. As a result, between me, Mecha Knight, Bait, and Switch, we were able to fit all Birdman Eggs into our bags. It was kind of weird to touch a Birdman Egg, watch it vanish before your eyes, and then see an icon representing the Egg appear in your item inventory screen, but I didn’t question it. I could only assume that Dad designed it this way to make it easier for players to complete quests like this one.
Before leaving the cave, we did a quick search for any loot that may have been hidden away. In particular, I checked Kerco’s corpse and found that he had some very high-leveled armor and equipment, but unfortunately, it was locked to Lizard Warriors, so I gave the equipment to Okac, who seemed extremely pleased to get such powerful armor and weapons. He especially liked Kerco’s helmet, which seemed to be some sort of Lizard Warrior status symbol, but his explanation about why he liked it made no sense to me. All I knew was that Okac was a lot stronger now, which was good because all of us would need to be as strong as possible to defeat Holly. I, however, took the Cannibal Sword, whose Abilities and stat bonuses I still couldn’t use, because I needed a weapon.
I also learned that both Bait and Switch had leveled up a few levels, even higher than me because they had killed more Lizard Warriors than me. Even Mecha Knight was close to leveling up again, although because he was already at a high level, it would take a lot more experience before he reached his next level.
Aside from Kerco’s corpse, there wasn’t much else in the way of loot to find here, so the six of us departed from the cavern and made our way back to the surface. That normally would have taken hours to complete, but Okac was very familiar with the tunnels thanks to using them so much to steal Birdman Eggs, so he showed us a secret route back to the surface with minimal random encounters.
That was how we got from the secret chamber to the surface again in less than thirty minutes. When we emerged into the sun, Switch threw out her arms and said, “Light! Oh, how I missed it.”
“Okac don’t care much for light,” said Okac, raising a scaly hand over his eyes to protect his vision. “Okac prefer tunnels.”
“Thanks for leading us out of there, Okac,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “If we didn’t have you, we’d probably all still wandering around lost down there.”
“No problem, Master Bolt,” said Okac, saluting me again. “Okac says—”
A dark shadow suddenly appeared over us and I looked up in time to see a Birdman flying toward us. It wasn’t just one Birdman, however. There were three, one in the middle and two on either side. Based on the swords they held, I guessed they were guards of some sort, but I didn’t know for sure because I was too busy looking at the middle one, which was Aeolus.
Aeolus and his two companions landed on the ground not far from us. Standing up tall, Aeolus was even taller than I thought, easily a head taller than me and my friends. He was extremely thin, but I knew from experience that his lack of muscle definition didn’t mean he was weak.
I took this moment to Scan his two companions:
Tornado and Cyclone
Level: 105 & 104
Class: Elite Birdman Guards
Affinity: Good
Health: 1,100/1,100 and 1,075/1,075
Weakness: Ice, Electricity
If Birdmen are among the strongest of Keoria’s many races, the Elite Birdman Guards are among the strongest of the Birdmen. Whereas most Birdmen tend to fight and hunt solo, Elite Birdman Guards always travel in pairs or more. Having received unique training from the Birdman god Feath, the Elite Birdman Guards are a force to be reckoned with.
The two Elite Birdman Guards certainly looked it. They were taller and slightly bulkier than Aeolus, wearing gold and silver armor that made them stand out. They carried long swords with crystalline blades and had white, angelic wings that extended as wide as a car. They made Aeolus look quite plain, yet for some reason, they treated him with deference and respect like he was their king or something.
“Hi, Aeolus,” I said, waving at him. “My friends and I managed to save the Birdman Eggs, every last one of them. We also killed the Lizard Warriors, again every last one of them.”
Aeolus’ sharp eyes darted over to Okac. “Then what is this one doing here?”
I noticed the Elite Birdman Guards reached for their swords, but I held up a hand and said, “Okac is okay. He betrayed his clan and played an instrumental role in helping us kill their leader. He’s on our side now and helped us get out of the tunnels with the Birdman Eggs. You can trust him.”
Although Aeolus and the Elite Birdman Guards seemed to relax a little, I could tell they still didn’t trust Okac very much. I couldn’t blame them, because Okac had helped kidnapped their children and put the future of the entire Tribe at risk. I just hoped that Aeolus and his Guards wouldn’t ask for his head, because that would make things very awkward for us very fast.
“Very well,” said Aeolus. “Lizard Warriors have no loyalty among each other, anyway. Always trying to stab their friends in the back to raise their status. Barbarians.”
Okac opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a warning hand and he closed his mouth. Last thing I needed was for Aeolus to decide to wipe out Okac because they disagreed about the culture of Okac’s people.
“Anyway, I sensed
that you might succeed in your quest, but I didn’t believe you would save all the Birdman Eggs,” said Aeolus. He held out his hands. “Please shift the Eggs from your item inventory to ours. We have enough spots in our item bags to carry all of the eggs between us.”
A new prompt suddenly appeared in my vision when Aeolus said that:
Birdman Tribe Chief Aeolus has initiated an item transfer. Y/N?
Chief? I knew that Aeolus was important. Explained why he brought the Guards with him and why he gave us the quest in the first place.
Regardless, I hit yes and immediately saw all ten of the Birdman Eggs in my inventory disappear. Based on the surprised expressions the others wore, I could guess that their Eggs were gone as well.
“So you’re the Chief?” I said to Aeolus as my prompt disappeared.
Aeolus—who now held one of the Eggs in his hands—nodded. “Yes. Perhaps I should have told you that before. I am Chief Aeolus, son of Chief Cracked Beak, and current Chief of the Birdman Tribe and this egg here is my soon-to-be hatched son, Damano. It is my duty to protect and lead my people to safety, which is why I asked you to save our children. For that, I must thank you, but more than that, I must reward you as well.”
A new notification popped up in my vision:
QUEST: Find the eggs of the Birdman Tribe
STATUS: Complete
With a bit of work and a lot of luck, you and your party members successfully rescued and recovered all of the missing Birdman Eggs, as well as cleared the tunnels beneath Tall Mountains of the Lizard Warrior clan that had made them its home. Chief Aeolus personally thanks you for your help.
Relationship to the Birdman Tribe rises from Neutral to Friendly
+5,000 EXP for each party member!
You received ‘Feather Shield’! Check out its details in your item inventory.