by Cate Ryan
[Giant Rat has been defeated. 5 XP awarded]
[60 XP until next level]
She touched the rat shivering as she did it. They needed rat fur for the recipe Hades wanted. Did he know she was terrified of rats?
“Yuck.”
[1 Rat Fur has been added to your inventory]
“Okay, let’s get going.” She wiped her rat gut hands on the side of the wall, and they headed down the other fork. Blessedly downhill again.
Mack killed two more rats along the way in a quick one two motion and she received two more rat fur notifications.
That was enough. She looked forward to not touching any more rat guts. Except that, she probably should keep collecting it just for later recipes. That was the way in crafting games.
More than ever she missed Shizuki Tani with its orange grass and no rats.
She paused. She had heard a noise up ahead.
“Do you hear that?” The sentence came out in one long phrase rather than separate words.
Mack nodded wordlessly.
Damn.
Whatever it was sounded big.
She tiptoed down the tunnel casting her illusion whenever she could. Hoping to trick whatever she could hear. Her mana dropped slowly, almost regenerating to full between each casting of the illusion.
The noise she realized was still very far away. It was just very loud too. That was not what she wanted to hear.
“Whatever it is. It’s enormous.”
“Should we turn around?” Mack had already turned back the other way.
[Skill improvement: Stealth – Rank 2 (Novice)]
[Skill Improvement (Stealth). 15 XP awarded]
[30 XP until next level]
That might be useful.
“Um. No, I want to sneak on and check it’s not something we need. Though I have no idea what we’ll do if it is something we need.” She added as an afterthought.
Mack shrugged and continued on after her. He seemed to share many of her skill proficiencies and stealthed along next to her in what she hoped was a sufficient manner.
The darkness seemed to press in on her as they walked. Taysia jumped at even the slightest sound, which usually turned out to be Mack’s heavy footfalls on the cavern floor. She kept waiting for a flobberwask or some other horrible creature to jump out at them. Instead of a horrifying creature she received a notification.
[Skill improvement: Stealth – Rank 3 (Novice)]
[Skill Improvement (Stealth). 15 XP awarded]
[15 XP until next level]
It turned out stealthing through a dark tunnel in the underworld did wonders for the skill building. Who would have expected that?
Taysia found she knew exactly where to put her feet to avoid making too much noise. She couldn’t call herself an expert yet and it didn’t hurt that their adventure took them through a dark tunnel, but she was glad to be progressing.
[Skill improvement: Perception – Rank 2 (Novice)]
[Skill Improvement (Perception). 15 XP awarded]
[300 XP until next level]
[Congratulations – You have reached Level 11
You have unlocked SHIELD (Spectral)
300 XP until next level]
[Skill improvement: Night Vision – Rank 2 (Novice)]
[Skill Improvement (Night Vision). 15 XP awarded]
[285 XP until next level]
Taysia opened her shield choice and immediately switched to spectral shield, barely reading the description. The image showed glimmering shield that appeared transparent until struck.
By the time they reached the end of the tunnel where it opened into another huge cavern all the light had disappeared.
She was glad of that. The noise had been getting steadily louder and now resembled a roar. Even in the darkness she could see 10 eyes blinking out at her. 10 eyes. Each one as big as her head. 10 eyes that each seemed to have spotted her and Mack.
The little tag above the creature read [Hydraxius (2000)].
That was not what she wanted to see.
That was the thing they needed 3 heads from. There was no way they could take on a level 2000 creature and live to tell about it.
“We need to back away very slowly.”
Mack grunted his agreement, she could just see his horns in the darkness.
Slowly they backed into the tunnel careful to keep themselves out of sight. The creature had already seen them. But blessedly seemed slow to act. They managed to make it back into the tunnel before a sudden burst of flame crackled towards them. Taysia scooted back no longer worrying about being quiet. At the last moment the word block popped into her head and she conjured the spectral shield. Instead of deflecting the damage though, the fire shot straight through, the shield disintegrated.
She checked her health bar while scrambling even further back pleased to see her health still at 97%. Her shield must have absorbed all the damage before breaking.
She made a note to put more points in the shield and thank Isaac. It had already been worth its weight in gold.
“Well, I think we’ll need to level up a little before we even think about going back in there.”
Eager to get out of the way, Mack continued scrambling up the steep pathway and away from Hydraxius. That thing had been huge. It was in that moment that Taysia remembered the story she’d heard about Greek mythology. Hydra. The creature with all the heads that Heracles had to face. There was something strange with it, they grew back or something when you chopped them off? That part was a blessing. At least it meant they only had to face one of those things.
“You’re back,” Nolan greeted the pair happily at the tunnel entrance.
Taysia doubled over trying to catch her breath, still a little stunned about what she’d need to do. “We found him. He said we can go so long as I can get the ingredients for a collar for his dog.”
“Oh. Well, that’s actually much better than I thought.” Nolan grinned ear to ear before realizing that Taysia and Mack looked far less impressed.
“What’s the downside. You guys don’t look pleased.”
“Oh, it’s a biggie.” Taysia laughed bitterly. “We need 3 Hydraxius heads. I don’t know if you know what a Hydraxius is, but we do. And it’s huge. And level 2000.” Taysia sunk to the ground.
“I think we’re going to die here.”
“No.”
Nolan who had been so unsure of himself earlier now looked determined.
“If Hades can be trusted then we need to do this and we need to get out of here.”
“Everyone. Over here now.”
Taysia pulled herself back to her feet. With the help of everyone they would be able to take down a huge creature with infinite heads. Hopefully.
“Taysia managed to find Hades.” Nolan recounted the story, “I need everyone to check their inventories and pool their resources so we can defeat it and get those heads. We cannot all lose our characters because of this,” he paused, there was nodding from the crowd, “Some of us might lose our characters though,” he said this quieter. “There’s no guarantee. And I won’t force you to help. But please. This could be our way out of here.”
Most of the heads nodded their agreement.
Taysia jumped in now, “If you’re willing to come with us and fight please head over there.” She pointed near to the left of the entrance.
“If you’ve got items that might help us and want to offer those up, but you don’t want to fight. Over here.” She pointed to the right of the tunnel.
“If you can’t help out, then I understand. Please head back to the other side of the tavern for now, there’s a lot we need to prepare.”
She watched as most of the group headed to the left of the tunnel. A few headed to the right. There was only one heading away from them. A lonely level 2 player.
Well, that was good. They might have a chance.
She pulled up her inventory and scrolled down to the notebook.
“If you’ve got something you’d like to offer to
us. Please write it down here including your name. And whether it’s single use or permanent. If we need the item, we’ll come speak with you. If it’s permanent, we’ll do our best to get it back to you after.”
Taysia had to yell to be heard over the buzz of excitement that had washed over the Rolling Wave members. They’d been flat and lifeless earlier but now they had a task they’d sprung in to action with a vengeance.
She watched as the notebook and pen were passed around the group to her right.
“Once you’re done over there, bring the notebook here. Anyone on this side got items they’re not using that might be useful to someone else?” A few people nodded. This group looked less sure of themselves. Some of them were quite low level, 10 or 15 like her. Only one was level 200, hardly surprising. She made a note of their classes. A few mages. Many of them monk classes. Few carried weapons. She made a note of the few who did. They would be her beheaders. Counting up, there were now 40 of them. Their combined level didn’t even come close to reaching 2000 but maybe that wouldn’t matter. She wracked her brain for how Heracles had defeated the hydra in the myth. She remembered something about him cauterizing the wounds. She had fire. That might be her job if she could get close enough. She certainly wasn’t any good for damage at such a low level.
Nolan buzzed around the group with the notebook as more and more items filled its pages.
Taysia caught sight of one person she decided she needed to speak to “You. Turner. Come here.”
The man slunk forward he wore all black, even his weapon. His tag read assassin level 121. Perfect.
“I need you to help me with something else,” she said it quietly so the others wouldn’t overhear.
“I need you to help me find the furies. We need a vial of blood from each of them. Think you can do that?”
“I’ve got vials. How hard can it be to take down three witches?”
“Good. We don’t need them dead. Just a vial of each of their blood. Up to you how you get it.”
“Consider it done.” He stepped away consulting the tunnels for a moment before choosing one on the far side of the tavern.
She hoped he knew where he was going. Should she have warned him about the flobberwasks?
Speaking of flobberwasks.
“Does anyone have any flobberwask venom?” She put it to the group. If she got lucky one of them would have taken one down. Plenty seemed to have headed into the cavern.
A few people raised hands. “Great. We need it for the recipe. If you’re willing to help me out, I’ll be most grateful.” The three people with hands up wandered forward. Some of them looked less than pleased to be parting with their hard won loot whether they had plans for it or not.
“Okay. I say we wait an hour or so to make sure everyone’s mana and what not it up to 100% Then we’ll head out. I’ll start looking at the list with Nolan and we’ll distribute items as needed. Please try to move about as little as possible so we can find you if we need to.” Everyone nodded. A few sunk to the floor where they stood and settled in for a time. A couple pulled out card games. Taysia wondered if any of them were playing the strange made up game that Hades seemed to enjoy.
The list of items people offered to contribute was immense. She looked through it, marking all the items that were single use. Querying Nolan about their properties wherever she was unsure. Many of them would boost one stat or another. That would be useful. Others boosted overall health. Many had lost interest and joined the card games.
Of the permanent items, there was a mix. Indestructible weapons, those she bumped to the top of the list. They would be useful for anyone. Most also came with a slight bump to stats.
Items that could be worn would also be incredibly useful. Once she had an idea of what was on offer, she called to get everyone’s attention.
“I need all my intelligence-based players on this side, agility based here. Charisma based this way. Strength based over there. Did I miss anyone? Oh yes. Wisdom based. That way.”
She gestured to five places around the cavern. “Only those of you planning to come with us.”
A few people she remembered seeing offering items sat back down. Or scooted out of the way of the groups.
By far the largest group was the agility based. Unfortunately, many of the items on offer were for wisdom and intelligence-based classes.
She looked down the list, starting with those groups since they were smaller. For the higher level characters the single use items would be much more useful. For the lower level players, a permanent item seemed more useful since a small boost could mean a huge return.
She handed out the intelligence items with none left over calling over the players who’d offered them up. There were still plenty of single uses to be handed out though.
Wisdom, charisma and strength went similarly quickly. She had a weapon leftover to offer to Mack which he took eagerly.
Finally, the huge group of agility players. Monks almost all of them.
“Okay, everyone level 25 or below, this way. 25 to 50 over there, 50 to 100, 100 to 200 and 200 plus.” She gestured to make separate lines. The largest group included the players from levels 50 to 100 with 12 people. The rest had just a few with only one over 200 levels.
She handed out the items, there would not be enough for everyone. She focused on those who had less armor or open slots. The highest-level players already had far better items than she had to offer anyway.
[Congratulations, you have learned a new skill
Leadership – Rank 1 (Novice)
[New Skill (Leadership). 15 XP awarded]
[270 XP until next level]
This skill is useful for commanding and inspiring troops. Works well in conjunction with tactical warfare.]
The very last items went to herself. A lovely ring that would grant her fire resistance. After her brush with the Hydraxius that seemed important and a crystal orb that would help to channel her spells.
[Crystal Ball – Spell casting
Value 200 gold
Rarity Uncommon
Properties +10% damage to all spell attacks
Description
The lovely crystal ball has fire swirling in the center. It’s lovely to look at but also give you bonus damage to your spells]
[Ring of Fire Resistance – Ring
Value 300 gold
Rarity Uncommon
Properties Reduce fire damage taken by 50%
Description
This beautiful gold ring offers a reduction to fire damage. The gold band and ruby gem go well with any outfit.]
She smiled, satisfied by her work. This whole thing had to succeed.
The assassin hadn’t returned yet. They’d have to leave without him. Never mind. That was the last item on their list after Hydraxius heads. It would work. It had to.
Taysia called everyone forward. “Those who are melee fighters to the front please. Mack will lead the way for now. And I’ll be heading up the rear. Once we get there we’re going to go in swinging. Those of you who are melee run straight in. Those of you with ranged attacks hang back a little and aim higher so you don’t hit your friends. That’s the plan. Move out.” She’d seen that in old movies and always wanted to use it. She waited for Mack to reach the head of the tunnel and watched as 10 or so monks filed in behind him along with a handful of fighter and barbarian types.
As they walked through the twisting caverns Taysia pulled up her stats hoping to maximize their chances.
[9 unspent attribute points.]
Strength 10
Agility 15
Constitution 22
Intelligence 25
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
[Take care all choices are final.]
She placed five points into intelligence and three into constitution, leaving just one unspent point. On a whim she added it to agility.
[8 unspent attribute points.]
Strength 18
Agility 8
Consti
tution 16
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 8
Charisma 8
[Take care all choices are final.]
Checking Mack’s points, she split them equally between constitution and strength bringing them to 20 and 22 respectively.
Chapter 13
“And now,” Taysia yelled the command and immediately nearly 50 attacks launched at the Hydraxius. Its health dropped by a slither.
She could see bolts of energy and arrows flying from a distance in the darkness. Up close she could hear the struggles of the monks and fighters working to bring the creature down. She joined in launching her fireball at the creature unsure if it was doing much damage with so much else happening. She had no idea of the Hydraxius’ resistances. It was already fighting back. One head breathed fire in the direction of a group of monks. Several of them dropped to the ground. When the fire disappeared so had the bodies. One hit had permanently deleted their characters. She shuddered and returned to her attacks. She’d led them here. She needed to make sure that their sacrifices were not in vain.
She’d instructed those with weapons to focus on lopping the heads off so she could send fire at the wounds. She watched one head drop to the ground a few moments later, a critical hit that had dropped its health by nearly 2% if the bar offered an accurate indication. She’d so far avoided damage, she had no idea where Mack was though.
She tried to see whether the player that had chopped the head off had received their ‘treasure’ she counted down. Two to go.
With a whoosh she sent a fireball clean at the wound which writhed wildly. Even as she did so, 2 more heads grew back, and its health increased by 10%. She groaned. They would never be able to destroy it like this. But they didn’t have to. Exactly as she’d told the assassin, they just needed the heads.
Another head was lopped off a few minutes later. Its health was dropping slower now with less of them to attack it. She counted less than 25 remaining. There had been more than 40 before.
Many of those left were the ranged attackers. But even a few of those had fared poorly. One head breathed fire a fact Taysia could attest to. Another she’d since learned, spat acid. And a third had a breath weapon that dealt cold damage, freezing anyone who got in its way. For the one high level guy who’d taken a hit it had frozen him for nearly a full minute. The rest had gone down immediately. She watched as the acid head dropped to the ground. There were now so many spells and attacks lighting up the area that she had a rough idea of what was happening.