by Paul Kite
Quality: Epic
Material: Adamanty
Damage: 220 (for each item)
Permanent spells cast:
20% chance of dealing 120% critical damage
20% chance of dealing 120% damage
Temporary spells cast: absent, when casting no more than 2 spells (one for each item).
Level Restrictions: 50
Restrictions on the class: Moon Hunter (restrictions were removed by the will of God Edenis)
Chapter 38
I looked at the rings, chose the ones that increased strength and health, and thereby nearly doubled my HP bar. I chose amulets to protect +100, and with Lsaeros’ consent, I took all the scrolls and potions that he had laid out. These were flasks that could fully restore life, stamina, and intelligence immediately, heal poisoning and stop bleeding. In general, it was a complete survival kit for high-risk areas. Most of the scrolls belonged to the category of combat magic.
“How do you like them?” the wizard asked, putting the rest artifacts into his spatial pocket.
“They are great!” I jumped up, evaluating the armor, then drew my swords from behind my back and conducted a series of air strikes.
“Then let’s go!” Lsaeros waved his hand, opening the portal.
This time I wasn’t afraid to go out first, and, once on the other side, I immediately became alert, noticing the forest and three huge silhouettes that resembled overgrown bears among the trees. These were the most peaceful and simple local mobs who decided to walk along the forest border. I remembered the descriptions of the monsters of the Ilian ridge from the books in the Noar-Rahor library. They said that the animals became worse as you got closer to the forest, and you could see completely unimaginable specimens. The most dangerous thing was that the monsters could quickly sense intelligent beings that roamed along this mountain range. Therefore, whatever way we choose, sooner or later mortal danger would surely come.
“Why didn’t you open the portal at the barrier?” I asked the wizard in surprise.
“Alas!” Lsaeros shrugged. “It’s impossible. There are constant magical interferences near the barrier of Ilian, the chance to create a stable arch is extremely small. By the way, the closer you are to the barrier, the worse the spells work, they sometimes produce completely unpredictable results,” the wizard explained. “Therefore, rely on your sharp blades and capabilities, not on me and my magic skills. However, if anything happens, I can cure you,” he hurried to add, seeing my displeasure. “This is strange, my healing spells are only slightly weakened, but there are no unexpected effects when I use them.”
“Let’s go around them then,” I suggested, referring to the mobs near the forest. However, the wizard understood me perfectly. “By the way, are we looking for a specific place near the barrier?”
“I chose this place because it’s easier to get to it from here. There is an abandoned village and there’s a path in the mountains. There used to be a wall, built by dark and light elves at the site of a narrow isthmus, along which the sinrims entered the Cursed Lands. If we choose other ways, we'll have to climb up the steep slopes.”
“Oh no,” I shook my head. “Let’s go here.”
“To the left,” the wizard pointed. “I know the way,” he explained.
We left the overgrown bears behind, the impenetrable space and the seemingly endless rows of trees were waiting for us ahead.
Despite the fact that we tried to avoid danger, we still got into a skirmish with local mobs after an hour of walking through the forest. We accidentally stumbled upon a pair of adult kailams, creatures similar to erect walking cats, they had large and very sharp scales instead of fur.
The animals, like us, were very surprised by the meeting, it was strange that they didn’t sense us coming.
As soon as I drew my swords and told the wizard to stand behind me, the beasts silently rushed to attack.
Since I didn’t know their weak points, for some reason they weren’t described in the book, I was aiming for their eyes and paws. Successfully I blinded the first mob, who whined piercingly and thoughtlessly smashed everything that came in its way. Then I jumped to the second kailam. After I managed to cut its front paw, I tried to pierce its scaly skin at the throat. I succeeded! The animal, bleeding profusely, fell to the ground. I decided not to return to the blinded one. He wasn’t going to bother us anymore.
“Let’s go, hurry up,” I told the wizard who stood aside carefully watching the fight, and he obediently followed me.
With our swords at the ready, and using them to pave the way through the dense thickets, we walked another three hundred yards, the wizard suddenly called out to me and pointed to the side,
“The trail should be there.”
Nodding, I turned to the right, we soon got out onto a path covered with low brown grass, and after another half an hour’s walk a large clearing appeared.
“Here is the village, and behind it there was once a wall,” Lsaeros said.
The almost burnt-out houses, made by the magic of the elves, were hidden behind wild vegetation. There were remnants of several simple-looking huts standing in the clearing, as if someone had swept away huge log buildings with one swoop. Here and there under the moss and withered leaves, you could see hewn tree trunks that were once part of houses.
“This is the guard post,” the wizard explained, looking at the remains of the huts. “There were about six hundred steps from here to the wall, if my memory serves me well.”
But there were mountains now, I followed the path leading to the rocky slope.
There, on the left, a separate path was leading to the upper platform of the tower. Although the mountains swallowed up both the wall and all the structures on it, the site itself turned into a part of the mountain massif, creating a flat surface right at the barrier. This is enough for us!
But we couldn’t pass the demolished settlement of light and dark elves easily. Suddenly we heard a noise and a crash, the bushes shook and parted right in front of the guard post, and a small herd of five kargs, wild boars modified by unknown magic almost beyond recognition, surrounded us. They had huge poisonous brownish canines that stuck out like they were ready for a sacrificial victim. Their skin was covered with short bone spikes. They had razor-sharp teeth and three bloodshot eyes.
Pushing the wizard to the left, I jumped to the right. The herd of krags, beating in the ground with their hooves, swept at great speed through the place where we had just stood.
The creatures, once simple forest boars, were slower now, they couldn’t easily turn around for a new attack.
Squeezing the hilt of my swords tightly, I activated the jerk, and before the herd prepared for the second ramming strike, jumped on the very last krag and plunged both blades into his back, and then, turning the blades in the wounds, tore them out of the carcass. The first krag was finished!
The herd didn’t seem to notice the loss. They turned, ignoring Lsaeros who was hiding behind the ruins, and rushed at me again. I jumped over the first two boars and fell right under the hooves of the third, fortunately not on its fangs.
A tremendous blow to the chest sent me flying, I crashed into a tree - my life bar diminished by about a third. The krag rushed at me and thrust one of its fangs right through my shoulder, pinning me to the tree trunk — another twenty percent of HP was gone.
He pushed his muzzle again and I fell to the ground.
“Beasts, let me get up,” brushing aside the messages of the system about injuries, bleeding, poisoning and other debuffs, I was on all fours, watching the angry grunting krag that was about to tear me to pieces.
There was no time for potions, I could get it, but had no time not drink it. My swords lay somewhere in the grass where I was hit. My whole body ached! I felt like my shoulder was on fire, as if molten lead was poured into the wound! I didn’t have the strength to crawl away. I was swaying like a reed in the wind.
The system again sent a message.
Get o
ut! I told myself... my body felt an unprecedented lightness, the pain in my shoulder began to subside, and my life bar instantly rose to its maximum, although it twitched back and forth, then my endurance bar was replenished, too.
Lsaeros began to act on time! At the same moment I jumped into the air and walked away from the krag that felt something was wrong.
I took out two portions of full regeneration and removal of poisoning from my inventory, drank them up and materialized the Daggers of Chaos. I was going to check how good they were!
Jumping up, I found myself near the beast’s muzzle and stroke its head. My every blow was critical! The monster roared, but after several successful strikes, it fell dead at my feet. There were three animals left, one of them was trying to get Lsaeros, who had climbed between a pile of logs. The wizard was trying to drive away the krag, throwing simple spells in the form of small fireballs and lightning, risking greatly, because the barrier of Ilian was near, but this only infuriated the beast.
I almost missed again, distracted by the wizard. Intuitively leaving the roll, I dodged the mob who tried to attack me from the back.
Where’s the last one, then?
My side seemed to be burning, I turned around, but didn’t let go of the dagger.
Here was the last boar! It jumped out from behind a fallen tree trunk and felt its fang nearly missing my ribcage.
The very krag whose attack I successfully evaded rushed into battle again, trying to pierce me.
“Take that!” I thrust both daggers into the monster’s neck, and it dragged me across the ground.
Pulling out one of the blades, I furiously punched the beast so that it would bleed out, and I would have opportunity to finish it off. This tenacious creature stopped only thirty yards away, dragging me to the very end of the cleaning. The boar wanted to hide in the dense thickets, throw me off, hitting me against a tree or a rock. The beast was breathing heavily, it fell to the ground and twitched its hooves trying to get up.
I ran back drinking the regeneration potions to remove the poisoning effect and restore my health.
Two boars tried to pull the wizard out of his shelter. This was not his lucky day.
“Where are my spell scrolls?” I hurriedly got all I had. “I won’t experiment with combat magic. ‘The Curly Vine’ is fine,” I squeezed the first scroll in my hand.
“Activate!”
“Wow!” I exclaimed in amazement, seeing both mobs suddenly enveloped by thorny vines that sprang up from the ground and bit into their skin, penetrating deeper and deeper into the flesh. “I wasn’t expecting such an effect,” I quietly added, looking for the wizard behind a bundle of thorns wrapped around the wounded beasts that were now screaming wildly.
“Kraven! You... you...!” he yelled from the back of the rubble, and I hurriedly ran up to Lsaeros, who was emerging from the shelter.
“Let’s talk later,” I interrupted the wizard. “We must leave before anyone else comes!”
“Yes, sure,” the wizard agreed, looking at me menacingly.
Don’t you like having so much power that you can’t even use it to the fullest extent? I smiled to myself.
Now I knew why wizards didn’t come here. They were really useless here. Any spell could unexpectedly turn against them. Only well-armed and small detachments of warriors could climb to the barrier.
Suddenly, a deafening roar rang out behind us and I turned and cautiously looked around. Damn it, I could see nothing past the forest! However, the crackling of breaking trees was perfectly audible.
“Come on, let’s go,” I pushed the wizard, who was scolding me. “I don’t want to face a monster that roars so loudly.”
We ran up to the first mound like we were running from mad dogs. However, it wasn’t a dog, but a monster! I’d never seen such a giant beast before! I finally saw a huge mob moving towards the clearing pushing away age-old trees and leaving a cleared track behind. The creature was the size of a four-story house and stubbornly wanted to eat two quick and clever intelligent creatures!
Chapter 39
We were climbing much slower to the upper platform of the tower that protruded from the mountain like a foreign body. We clung to the branches of plants that grew along the entire slope and helped each other. Finally, we reached a tall parapet with loopholes laid out of thick stone blocks and found ourselves on a plain sixty feet wide.
The walls of this tower must have been very thick! I thought, looking at the remnants of the defense towers.
The larger part of the platform was located on this side of the barrier of Ilian, and the rest was hidden by a translucent magical veil shimmering with red and blue flashes, covering the entire territory of the Cursed Lands, including the coastal sea area, with a giant dome. However, looking closer, I realized that the tower’s platform was not hidden behind the barrier, it looked like it was chopped off. I noticed pieces of stone blocks and a dark bottomless abyss — a wide and long crack that led somewhere deep into the mountain range.
“Kraven,” Lsaeros distracted me from contemplation, “if someone climbs here, hold them off for at least an hour. Be careful! Try not to die until we open the passage in the barrier. Then you can do whatever you want, you can even jump down. You will be reborn anyway,” he hinted at my immortality.
I knew he was right. Suicide could be the fastest way to leave this malevolent place. Wading back through the forest for several hours, risking being eaten by another monster wasn’t such an attractive prospect.
“When I finish the ritual,” the wizard continued, “I’ll let you know! I will need just one drop of your blood, for the final part of the whole procedure.”
“Got it,” I nodded. “But about the portal key... Will you give it to me now?” I asked, thinking the wizard would refuse.
“Take it,” after a moment’s thought, the wizard threw me the object.
Catching the key, I made sure it was the right one and hid it in my inventory. Well, the wizard didn’t deceive me, even though I had some doubts about his honesty. I was going to respect our agreement. If he needed an hour, I would give him an hour!
Unfortunately, my swords remained below, I shook my head in disappointment. Unlike the Daggers of Chaos which were always with me! I would never lose them.
Throwing a slightly dissatisfied glance at me, Lsaeros pulled a short dagger from his spatial pocket, it had a wavy blade of black glass that emitted a strange scarlet haze. The wizard began to draw the runes directly on the stone surface under his feet near the magic barrier. Looking closely, I realized that they weren’t burned in stone! The grooves, melted by the blade, were filled with a dark red liquid, presumably blood! The dagger pulled blood from the palm of its owner. The ritual of opening a passage in the barrier of Ilian would cost him dearly. Fortunately, I was supposed to donate only one small drop.
Leaving the wizard to his ritual, I stood next to the loophole and began to watch the approach to the mountainside. I could clearly see the guard post, the settlement and ruins.
A monster was approaching. A huge roaring ball of brown fur burst onto the clearing. It’s many eyes were scattered around its spherical body, with several mouths that squirted saliva in all directions, and dozens of short legs that allowed it to move on almost any surface and destroy anything in its way.
“What madman came up with this disgusting animal?” I didn’t immediately realize that I asked this question out loud, surprised to see the strange mob.
Suddenly, the monster’s five pairs of eyes were looking straight at the platform, catching my eye, and the roar, which did not stop for a second, turned into an ultrasound. Shaking my head, chasing away an unpleasant ringing in my ears, I hurriedly sat down, hiding behind the parapet.
Turning around, I looked at Lsaeros, making sure that the monster’s sonic attack didn’t stop him. He was all right and he was still working. The wizard tolerated inconvenience and stubbornly drew his magical runes.
When I looked out into the loophole again,
my mood collapsed. A large crowd of different beasts was walking along the glade led by the huge monster. There were both ordinary-looking animals and those that were altered beyond recognition.
Like a wave, they swept over the destroyed village, passed by the ball-shaped monster and immediately began to climb the mountainside.
“It’s beginning,” I whispered, materializing the Daggers of Chaos in my hands.
I kicked back the first small mobs that came out ahead and reached the parapet faster than the rest. Then, when the larger beasts joined them, I had to use weapons.
I cut, pricked, and pushed them down, struck them again, chopped up their paws, kicked …
Protecting the tower became a tedious monotonous work. The system stubbornly tried to tell me about each new level I achieved. The monster fell over the parapet with a yelp and I was wondering what to do.
The mobs froze expectantly at the slope, while the giant spherical monster was tumbling down, apparently it tried several times to climb up – it crushed dozens of little animals as it fell back down. After another unsuccessful attempt to climb the mountain, the hefty creature roared irritably, spinning wildly and startling the small mobs around it.
Then, stumbling upon a log and violently throwing the piece of wood aside, the monster stopped and stood silent. Then it thought of something with its little brain, and seizing a beast that looked like a cross between a jackal and a crocodile, threw it in my direction.
Wow! I whistled in surprise, following the flight of the mob that crashed into the barrier and like a bag of bones and meat, slid down to the ground. Not so high! Try harder! It’s a gutter ball. I commented on the actions of the living catapult.
Frightened mobs ran away from the abnormal monster. However, some of them decided to storm my tower platform...
I occasionally had time to drink potions and hastily slay a creature that managed to climb the parapet. Some of them I killed only when they near to the wizard. When one more mob almost got to Lsaeros, I realized that I could not cope with the monsters attacking me! There were too many of them! I managed to fight off this one with great difficulty, but the next would kill me, and then the wizard would die.
