by Phoenix Grey
“What’s this for?” The half-imp hesitated to take it.
“I didn’t lose much Stamina today. If you sleep on this, you’ll be fully restored by tomorrow.”
Even though Uden had been a dick to him, Azure didn’t want him to start the next day with low Stamina. Besides, Azure had more than enough to get him through this piddly dungeon.
“We could always share.” The half-imp waggled his eyebrows, causing Azure to roll his eyes.
“I don’t think it works that way,” Janine said from a few feet away where she was smoothing out her own bedroll. “Otherwise, I would have already offered.”
“It was a joke.” His expression went slack.
“You guys sleep.” Azure reached into his Bag of Holding to get what he needed to build a fire. Thankfully, Lonnell had some sticks to pitch in. It was the only thing Azure had forgotten to bring. “Lonnell and I can take shifts.”
“We can?” Lonnell’s head jutted back.
“They’re low on Stamina. You and I haven’t really done anything today.”
“Ah, yes.” He nodded, now understanding his friend’s plan.
Azure pulled a few pieces of raw boar from his Bag of Holding and began cooking. By some miracle, he only burned one piece before he got them all fed. Knowing that they’d need more food in the morning and throughout their trip, he spent 50 Stamina to cook up five more pieces, burning the other half to a crisp.
Once he was done with that, Azure leaned against the cool burrow wall and brought up his character sheet to assign his points.
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 14, 15% of the way to next level
Health: 425 / 340 (460)
Mana: 430 / 290 (440)
Stamina: 300 / 310 (440)
Vitality: 20 (12)
Intelligence: 15 (15)
Strength: 17 (12)
Agility: 14 (10)
Dexterity: 15 (8)
Charisma: 11 (9)
Luck: 14 (5)
Skills: Archery Lvl 8; 6% of the way to next level
Stealth Lvl 4; 33% of the way to next level
Analyze Lvl 11; 57% of the way to next level
Cooking Lvl 5; 90% of the way to next level
Alchemy Lvl 5; 14% of the way to next level
Foraging Lvl 11; 96% of the way to next level
One-Handed Weapons Lvl 9; 52% of the way to next level
Tracking Lvl 2; 80% of the way to next level
Two-Handed Weapons Lvl 6; 55% of the way to next level
Fishing Lvl 3; 0% of the way to next level
Drinking Lvl 2; 45% of the way to next level
Land Magic Lvl 3; 23% of the way to next level
Enchanting Lvl 3; 33% of the way to next level
Languages: Common Tongue, Sprite, Goblin-Tongue, Elvish, Cheoksum
Adventurer Rank: E
Damn. He was super buff. There was really nowhere he felt he really needed improvement.
For shits and giggles, Azure threw his first point into Luck...because fuck Uden. Briefly, he thought about throwing his other two there as well, but that felt like it would be a waste. Instead, he put them both into Mana, knowing that he'd be using his Summon Mount spell a ton in the future.
With that done, Azure turned his attention to his skills. There were quite a few close to leveling, which made him wish he had a few Small Skill Tokens to spare. That wasn't the case though, so Azure focused on the one skill farthest from leveling that he actually used a lot. Archery.
Congratulations! The skill: Archery has reached Level 9. This skill allows you to use a bow and arrow to defeat enemies. Aim strong and true.
Well, that was easy, Azure thought as he closed his character sheet, content with his decisions. Now all that was left to do was sit back and wait for morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE REALM – Day 86
Uden and Janine woke up refreshed, Azure had mostly recuperated his stats during his brief sleep, and Lonnell had nothing to recover. For breakfast, they ate the boar that Azure had cooked the night before, then continued down the path that Lonnell and Janine had taken the previous day.
Enemies were just as plentiful as they had been yesterday. The rest of the party held back while Uden took care of them one at a time until they finally reached the stairs leading to the next level.
Thrice did they encounter kobolds the same level as Uden, and Azure reveled in the half-imp's misery when he miscalculated a swing of his dagger and ended up getting clawed in the side. After being abandoned in the dark, he felt no sympathy for Uden. The guy deserved to get his ass handed to him, and if Azure couldn't be the one to do it, then he'd take satisfaction in watching the half-imp get hurt during combat. Of course, both Lonnell and Janine were far more coddling, running up to Uden and making sure that he was all right once the fray was over. He'd get no such treatment from Azure.
When they descended the stairs to the next level, the tunnel split yet again, this time in four different directions. They stared down the paths, each looking identical.
Probably more decoy tunnels,” Lonnell surmised. “How do you want to tackle this one?” he asked Azure. “The enemies on this floor should be stronger, but nothing that we can’t handle.” His gaze moved to Janine before settling on Uden. “I still don’t want him going alone.”
Initially, Azure thought it would be best to put Janine and Uden together, but then he remembered that they’d fight over kills, so it probably wasn’t a smart idea. “Go with your brother. Maybe you can control him.” He snorted in Uden’s direction. “Janine and I will each take a tunnel alone.”
“I’m a lower level than the both of you,” Lonnell pointed out. “Shouldn’t you go with Uden again since you don’t need the experience?”
“I will never travel alone with that prick again.” Azure glared at Uden.
“Someone can certainly hold a grudge,” the half-imp mumbled under his breath.
“He’s your brother; he’s your problem,” Azure reiterated.
“Fine,” Lonnell surrendered with a sigh. “Now I guess we just need to decide which tunnels to take.”
“Let’s go in order of our first names. I’ll take the tunnel to the left, Janine will take the next one, and you guys can take the third. Once we’re done, we’ll meet back here and go down the last one together.”
Janine hesitated. “I think it would be better if we stayed paired up.”
“Why?”
She shrank slightly. “I’m not really a fan of these...caves or tunnels or whatever you call them. I usually don’t take quests that involve them.”
Azure sighed inwardly. Pairing up would waste time. Still, he cared for Janine enough to want her to be comfortable. “Fine. You come with me. We’ll take the first tunnel. They can take the next one.”
She quickly flanked Azure's side.
“It’s still early, so hopefully we can finish this level before tonight,” Azure said to the group.
“Hopefully.” Lonnell nodded. “See you guys back here in a few hours.”
They headed down their assigned paths, and it wasn’t long before Janine and Azure came across their first enemy. This kobold had a green tint to its fur, and it paused as soon as it saw them, raising up on its hind legs.
“What’s it doing?” Janine asked.
“I don’t know.” Azure quickly activated Analyze.
Level 8 Kobold Novice.
The kobold began to growl, and a green ball formed between its paws.
“Incoming,” Azure warned.
Thrusting its arms forward, the burst of magic sailed straight for the center, not caring who it hit. The basketball-sized orb of, what appeared to be, transparent green water with a dark green nucleus, levitated toward them. Whatever it was, it moved fairly slowly, allowing both Adventurers plenty of time to get out of the way. When it hit the wall behind them, the ball erupted and sizzled against the dirt, c
ausing chunks of it to slough off.
Acid, Azure thought, now wanting to make doubly sure he avoided getting hit. That looked like it would hurt.
“Be careful. We don't know what else it can cast,” he told Janine as she drew her ax to approach.
“I’m slow, but I’m not that slow.” She threw back at him.
Apparently, the spell had no cooldown period, because the kobold was already gearing up to cast again.
Janine charged in as overzealous as always. She hacked sideways, hitting the kobold in the arm. The spell bubble burst, coating the creature with spell backlash. It roared as its fur and scales began to scald, filling the air with a strangely not unpleasant scent. Then again, anything was better than the strong smell of feces that permeated most of the tunnel. Her next strike cleaved the kobold’s head nearly in half, causing it to topple over and surrender to death.
After holstering her ax, Janine pulled out her bestiary and flipped it open to the entry on kobold novices. Azure brought his torch closer, reading over her shoulder.
“My God, practically the entire thing is salvageable.” Most of the kobold’s bones and its pelt. He felt like he’d been wasting his kills up to this point.
“We don’t have time to take it all.” Janine closed the book and approached the body. “It would take a good hour to butcher it for all of its parts.”
“Or more.” Considering how many parts they could actually take.
“Best to go for the easy parts,” she said before hacking off both of the kobold’s paws, then doing her best to skin it for its pelt. “Bah!” Janine fell back onto her ass from the effort of trying to pull the hide from the beast’s stubborn corpse, following it up with a curse when she ended up ripping it. “Ruined.” She stood and spit at the dead kobold, though she still rolled up the fragments of pelt and stuck them in her bag.
Azure loved how she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Janine looted downed foes as if she’d spent a lifetime in The Realm. Then again, he had gotten used to it too after a short while. Maybe it was just natural to adapt.
They moved on, traveling about a hundred yards before the next kobold came into view, another caster. Again, Azure stepped aside to let Janine handle it. It would likely be another boring day for him.
Not waiting for the beast to fire off its spell, Janine rushed in while the kobold was casting. Wrong move. When she leaned to the side to avoid being hit, she miscalculated, and the orb clipped her shoulder, exploding in midair. The sizzling sound of skin made Azure cringe, as did her cry of pain. Either the pain was immense or the spell had a stunning effect, because she dropped her ax and retreated toward the wall.
Seeing the kobold gear up to cast again, Azure rushed in, pulling his club and swinging it one-handed. With his left hand, the weight was a bit unwieldy, but he was able to interrupt the kobold’s spell, bursting the green bubble and causing acid to fall onto the creature’s paws. It too cried out in pain, taking a few steps back.
Azure diverted his attention to Janine, who was already recovering.
“Son of a bitch, that hurt,” she said through clenched teeth as she picked back up her ax. In the torchlight, Azure could see where the acid had eaten through her armor to her flesh, leaving a red bubbling wound behind. Thankfully, it was far from fatal. “I’ve got this.” Janine held a hand out, indicating that he should get back.
Never one to get in a pissed off woman’s way, Azure retreated several steps to watch the angry dwarf chop her ax down on the injured kobold like a psychopath enjoying their kill a bit too much. Blood splattered every which way, and the high-pitched whimpering of the kobold made it sound like it was begging for mercy.
Janine returned to him panting, her ax arm hanging limp as she clutched the burn on her shoulder with her other hand. “Bastard,” she grumbled, turning to spit on the corpse. “That will teach you.”
“I’m sure he learned his lesson.” Azure’s eyes widened, and he did his best not to look amused. Nothing could be learned if you were dead.
She paused to uncork a healing potion, drinking it down. The flesh and skin quickly began to regenerate until the injury looked like nothing more than a small scab.
“So what did we learn from that?” Azure asked once Janine had finished looting the body.
“Let it cast first, then come in and attack.”
“That’s what I learned, too.” He was glad she hadn’t gotten mad at him for seeming condescending. Because that had sounded kind of condescending.
Out of sheer boredom, Azure felt nosiness coming on. “So...you and Uden?” he brought up as they began walking again.
“There is no me and Uden,” she replied coldly. “I told you, it was just a booty call.”
Azure chuckled. “Isn’t it kind of awkward to be partied up with your ex-booty call?”
“It would be less awkward if he’d just acted normal afterward,” Janine sighed.
“What do you mean?” He raised an eyebrow.
She seemed to sulk a bit. “The day after...well, you know, I was in the tavern having breakfast. He came in, saw me, and then diverted to another table. It’s like I wasn’t even there.”
Azure cringed. “That’s rough.” A classic douchebag one-night stand move.
“I knew what it was when it happened,” Janine confessed. “I wasn’t looking for anything. I even told him that when we were together. He didn’t have to go and be a dick about it.”
“Uden is always a dick.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s just Uden.”
“To be honest, I didn’t want to come on this quest. I stressed myself out thinking about it all the next day—went back and forth between yes and no. I knew things were going to be weird.”
“Then why did you come?” Azure glanced over at her.
“I’m here for you. Well...because of you,” she hesitated. “Because you’re my only real link to our world. I mean...I could have let you go with them and probably met back up with you later, but I remembered how dangerous these quests are, and I wanted to...Never mind.” Janine shook her head.
“You wanted to what?” He bent slightly to grab her attention again.
“It’s going to sound completely stupid.” A small chuckle escaped from her lips.
“I’m sure it won’t sound stupid.” Azure grinned at her.
“Well,” Janine took a deep breath, finding it hard to speak. “I guess I wanted to protect you.”
Azure bit his bottom lip, guilt invading every cell of his being. He’d gone out of his way to get her to come on quests that he clearly thought were dangerous, and all that she wanted to do was protect him. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Azure felt emasculated, but more than that...he felt ashamed.
“I’m going to be fine. You don’t have to worry about me,” he assured her.
“I’m fairly certain you would have been.” She nodded slightly. “But now I know for sure.” A genuine smile graced her face.
“Hey.” Azure bumped into her as they walked. It was accidental, but it worked for the moment. “Don’t worry about him. It’s just you and me. At the end of the day, we’re all that really matters.”
“Aw. I didn’t know you were such a romantic, William.” Janine drew her hand up to her chest and giggled.
“I’m serious. Yes, they’re my friends, and I’ve known them longer, but you’re the first person I’ve met who has actually made me feel sane. All this time, I thought I was going crazy. Or maybe that I always was crazy. To hear that you’re from Earth, too... It made a world of difference, and I can’t even explain it.”
“I feel the same way,” her voice lowered as she spoke, and her attention suddenly became focused on something ahead. “I think there’s one coming.”
Azure listened for the scuffling of feet. “I think you’re right.”
Two more kobold novices down, and they finally came to what appeared to be a dead end. The tunnel concluded in a cul-de-sac no bigger than a bedro
om.
“Hm. Maybe Uden wasn’t lying after all,” Azure said as he examined the space.
“You really thought he was lying?” She raised a brow.
Something caught Azure from behind, knocking him forward and causing raking pain down his back.
Critical hit! Level 11 Kobold Adept delivers 65 damage.
Azure spun around to face his attacker, but there was nothing there.
“Are you all right?” Janine rushed to his side.
“Grab your ax. It’s invisible,” he warned only a second before a large paw appeared out of nowhere and swiped at Janine. She cried out in pain as she collided with his body. Azure stood like a rock, gripping her shoulders to keep her from falling over and then immediately moving her behind him.
He barely had time to draw his club before the kobold struck again, coming in from the left this time.
Level 11 Kobold Adept delivers 55 damage.
“Son of a bitch!” His arm pulsed with red agony. The wound was deep, shredding muscle and causing him to lose some mobility. With a shaky hand, he passed his torch back to Janine before gripping his club with both hands and swinging wildly out in front of them.
This kobold seemed to be more intelligent than its predecessors, hanging back while Azure expended his energy fighting nothing.
“Back against the wall,” he said as he ran into Janine while backing up.
“Is there just one or more?” Her eyes roved from side to side, seeing nothing but empty space.
“I don’t know. Stay behind me though.”
“I can’t fight if I’m behind you,” she argued.
As if trying to grant her wish, a paw reached out from the void and gripped Janine’s arm, pulling her to the side. The harsh unexpectedness of it caused her to lose her footing and tumble to the floor. Azure took advantage of her prone position to swing his club in the direction that the paw had come from, but it simply passed through air.
Scrambling to all fours, Janine tried to crawl back over to Azure, but a hand grabbed her ankle and began dragging her out of the room. She screamed and turned to kick at the beast. Each landed blow sent a shock wave through the kobold, making its form appear for a split second before fading out again.