by Edward Brody
“It’s getting tougher,” Jax said. “That was almost too much for us to handle.”
Rina nodded. “We almost lost you too, Gunnar.”
I sighed. “But we did okay. At the end, we killed them all.”
Rina started throwing heals out to everyone who took damage, and then everyone who had been using magic sat down to meditate.
“What’s this over here?” I heard Sung say in the distance while my eyes were still closed and focusing on restoring my mana.
“Looks like some sort of lock,” Jax said. “Whatever it is, that’s what they were all sitting around.”
When my meditation was finished, I moved over to the area where our group was hovering—the same spot where Bone Dancers had been sitting. Lodged into the ground was some sort of circular, metal lid. It was about the same diameter as a basketball and there was a flat handle attached to it. On the front was a keyhole.
“What is this?” I asked. “I hope it’s not another puzzle.”
“Could be anything,” Jax said. “Trap, treasure, some sort of trip to activate something else.”
“Did you guys check the bodies for a key?” I asked as I leaned over and gave the handle a gentle pull to make sure it wouldn’t move without one.
“They have nothing,” Donovan said. “They’re just flesh and bones.”
I scanned the room, and it was completely empty, save for the dead bodies we had just created.
Jeremy stood up straight and cracked his back. “I did bring a few lockpicks. Give me a minute, and I’ll give it a try.”
Jeremy stretched his limbs as if shaking off the rigor mortis of his death, and when he was satisfied, he walked over to inspect the lid. He reached into his bag, fetched a lockpick, and began picking the lock. He moved slowly and deliberately, but he quickly broke the first pick. And then the second, and third, and forth.
Jeremy shook his head. “Damn, this lock might be too hard.” He lifted a pick in his hand. “This is the last one unless you guys have some.”
“Be careful,” I warned. “Just take it slow.”
I considered offering my skeleton key at the time. After the hard battle, a reward would’ve been worth it. But I reminded myself that we were there for Adeelee, and I couldn’t imagine an ancient weapon being stored under the lid. It was possible, but I favored seeing what was further up before committing.
Jeremy took a long, deep breath, inserted the pick into the lock, and began another rigorous effort to open it.
“Come on, Jeremy,” Keysia encouraged.
Sweat beaded on Jeremy’s brow when he said he felt the last pin. A second later, his mouth went wide, and the lid on the ground made a popping noise. “I think I got it!”
“Hell yeah!” I Sung said.
I jumped forward, slapped hands with Jeremy, and pulled him in for a bro hug.
“Careful of traps,” Jax warned—always the cautious one of the group.
Jeremy grabbed the handle and tugged. The lid had a hinge and flopped easily to the side, revealing a deep, dark hole with something gleaming from inside.
Jeremy reached into the hole and pulled out a thin, silver-colored longbow. It was built thinner than the bows I had seen before, and whatever material it was made of sparkled when it caught even the slightest bit of light.
“Oh wow,” Rina said. “That looks nice.”
“A magic bow of sorts,” Jeremy said before handing to me.
You’ve received: Greywood Longbow of Longevity. 20-48 Attack Damage. Durability: 18/20. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 1.1 kg +8 Dexterity. Ranged attacks restore 5% of your Stamina on-hit.
After reading off the details of the bow, I know exactly who it was going to. “Jax?”
Jax raised his eyebrows and huffed. “I’ll gladly take that.”
As I handed him the bow, his eyes lit up. He shook his head as he rubbed his finger across the tight string, and he held it out as if he were ready to shoot it.
“Something else in here,” Jeremy said as he put his hand up to the hole. He lay on his stomach and had to put his hand in all the way up to his shoulder to grab what was inside. When he came up with it, he was holding a green leather bag with a small clasp on the front that had been carved into a shape that resembled a Bone Dancer’s head.
“A magic bag of some sort?” Jeremy said. He unclipped the clasp, flipped open the bag, and pulled a rolled-up parchment from inside. “And…” He unrolled the parchment and eyed it up and down. “Looks like a recipe.”
He handed me both items to identify.
You’ve received: Schematic: Steel Circlet. [Steel Helmet, Min Armor Limit 5, Max Armor Limit 20. +10-15% Charisma] Requires 20 Intelligence. Requires Weaponsmithing Lvl 18. Requires: 2 Steel. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Poor. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg
You’ve received: Bespoken Bag of Unburdening. Capacity 30. Durability: 830/1000. Quality: Indestructible. Rarity: Legendary. Weight: 1.5 kg. This item opens to another plane of existence and can hold 30 items of any size (so long as they will fit in the mouth of the bag). +1 Dexterity. Adds 5% chance to survive a fatal blow with 1HP remaining. [Spirit Item: Cannot be lost or stolen]
There were moans and oohs from almost everyone when I read out the details of the bag. The whole gang’s eyes were lit up, and they were looking at each other in astonishment. I didn’t blame them… The amount of use that I had gotten out of my unburdening bag easily put it at the top of my most useful items, and this bag had double the number of slots as mine. The chance of surviving a fatal blow was pretty incredible as well.
“Guildmaster privilege, Gunnar?” Jeremy asked.
I smiled and sucked air between my teeth. It was tempting to take the item and hand over my elven unburdening bag to someone else, but this was an item that literally anyone in our group could use extensively. “Nah…” I replied. “I’d love to have the extra slots, but I’m doing just fine with what I have now. One of you deserves an upgrade.”
Everyone looked at each other as if they were waiting for me to choose or someone else to demand ownership.
I raised my eyebrows. “It’s up to you guys.”
Jax held up his new bow. “I’ve gotten more than my fair share already.”
Keysia wrinkled her nose. “It would be useful for any of us, but perhaps it would be even more useful for Reborns, since the bag essentially stays with you upon death. If we die and aren’t resurrected—“ Keysia looked to the other NPCs. “—then the fact that it can’t be lost or stolen becomes irrelevant for us.”
Rina sighed and shook her head. “That’s true. And I can always get something like that later.”
Ozzy took a step forward. “Well, I mean… I’m taking most of the damage. There’s no doubt who can get the most use out it.”
“It has a dexterity bonus as well,” Jeremy said. “And rogues are easier to kill.”
Sung shrugged. “Yeah, it would be great for me.”
“Well, let’s not be greedy over items,” I said, remembering the way Liam was when I was out with him. “Whoever feels it’s ideal for them can just rock, paper, scissors it.”
“Fair enough,” Jeremy said.
“Rock, paper, scissors?” Keysia asked. “What is that?”
“A game from our world,” I said. I held out each of the three possibilities and briefly explained the rules to the NPCs. They seemed intrigued by the game, and watched as Jeremy, Ozzy, and Sung all gathered around in a circle.
“One, two, three,” they all said in unison, throwing their hands out in the middle of the circle.
Ozzy and Sung had both thrown out paper, while Jeremy threw out rock.
“Dang it!” Jeremy spat.
When they repeated the game a second time, Sung threw down scissors, while Ozzy stuck to rock, winning the game.
“Congrats,” Sung said with a smile, and the two slapped hands and bumped shoulders.
“Congrats,” I repeated and threw the bag over to Ozzy. “With thirty unburdened slots
, you’ll not only be the tank, but you’ll be our official pack mule.”
Ozzy laughed as he admired the bag. “So worth it.”
“To start, you can carry my old bow,” Jax said and handed him the bow he had previously been using.
Ozzy grabbed the bow and slid it into the bag.
“Everyone ready to head upwards?” I asked.
Nods and grunts ensued, and we all started towards the slope that led up and out.
While we were all feeling great about the cool items we had found, none of it was an ancient weapon. And I knew what was in the back of everyone’s mind… At least if they were thinking anything near what I was thinking.
If fighting three Bone Dancers had been so difficult, how would we survive the next level?
Chapter Thirty-Four
2/12/0001
After climbing the inner slope and exiting to a higher level, things started to feel even more dicey. The outer path was only about two-thirds the width of the previous one, and looking over the edge would make even the bravest of people uneasy.
The path wound around the mountain for some time until we reached a section where part of the path had collapsed. The hole was only about three feet in length, and there was still a tiny ledge that hadn’t collapsed which was around five or six inches in length.
“Oh, fuck me,” Jeremy whined as we approached the hole.
“What’s the problem?” I asked. “We can jump across.”
Jeremy shook his head. “Yeah, but I’m already afraid of heights. This is so not cool.”
I gave Jeremy gentle slap on the shoulders. “I’m afraid of spiders. Did I ever tell what I had to deal with in my first few days in Eden’s Gate?”
Jeremy shook his head. “No.”
“When we make it back from here, I’ll tell you. It was a whole lot worse than this little hole. That’s for sure.” I shuddered as I remembered Gramora.
Jeremy snorted, crept up to the edge, then clenched his teeth as he waddled back.
Without wasting time, Jax made a run and jumped over the ledge with ease. Keysia, Rina, Donovan, Sung and I followed suit.
Jeremy seemed a little more confident when he saw so many of us successfully cross, but it took him a few false starts before he finally made a run and leapt over the hole.
Ozzy didn’t seem as nervous about the hole but looked down at it several times. “I don’t think I can make it.”
“Sure, you can, Oz,” I encouraged.
Ozzy shook his head. “Nah… I clearly remember getting impaled by spikes and falling on my face the last time I had to deal with a jump. I’m not as nimble as you guys.”
“Take your armor off,” I said. “You can throw it over to us first. Or better yet, just put it in your unburdening bag. You’ll be light as a feather.”
Ozzy smiled and thought about it a moment, but then shook his head. “I’ll just shimmy on the ledge.”
I took a look at the ledge, and it seemed like a decent enough idea. Not as easy as a jump, but it was certainly big enough if he were careful.
Ozzy stepped on the ledge and placed his body flat against the mountain face. I could tell he was holding his breath as he inched closer to the other side with tiny side steps.
A small rock fell from beneath the ledge, and I suddenly felt a little more unsure about the idea. “Careful…” I warned.
Donovan and I moved close to the edge to grab Ozzy’s hand when he was almost across, but when he took his last step, the rock under the ledge gave way completely, and Ozzy started to fall.
Donovan managed to grab Ozzy’s hand as he fell, but the momentum pulled Donovan down too. I grabbed onto Donovan’s armor by the waist, fell to my knees, and skidded across the hard path I tried to pull them up.
Jax jumped forward and grabbed me by my shoulder, and everyone else grabbed on to Jax to prevent us all from toppling over to the ground below—a fall that would’ve been an instant death.
“Holy shit!” Ozzy said as he dangled by Donovan’s arm. There was a loud crash from far below, then numerous hissing and screeching sounds that carried through the air. I could only assume that the falling rock had disturbed the Hexapodras on the ground level.
Donovan groaned. “You’re too heavy for me to pull up. I need you to pull yourself up and grab on to the side of the ledge. I’ll keep my grip on your arm.”
“Hurry,” I said. I could feel my fingers slipping on Donovan’s smooth chitin armor.
Ozzy grunted a few times as he used all his might to pull himself up and grab on to the side of the ledge, alleviating some of the weight from us. With him having a grip of the ledge, we all tugged as hard as he could while he pulled with his other arm, until his center of his gravity was over the ledge and he could claw his way forward.
Donovan kept hold until he had pulled himself all the way up.
“Oh shit,” Ozzy said with heavy breaths when he was safe. “Fuck me. That was close.”
“You should’ve just jumped,” I said.
Ozzy looked over to the damaged ledge again. “I think I’ll just have to do that on the way back.”
“Dude,” Jeremy said, pointing at Ozzy’s feet. “What happened to your boots?”
Ozzy looked down, and sticking out of his metal pants were his pasty feet and stubby toes. “Oh man…” He slapped his hand on his forehead. “They fell off while I was dangling.”
Sung chuckled. “That’s pure gold.”
I sighed and groaned. I had to admit that it was kind of funny, but it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
Ozzy smirked, took a deep breath, and stood up on his bare feet. “Don’t worry. I can still handle the damage, so long as nothing goes for my feet.”
Jax raised his eyebrows and looked at me with worry. I could tell he was thinking the same thing that I was—our group was being boiled like frogs. Dragon’s Crest was slowly whittling us down while simultaneously forcing us into more dangerous situations.
Chapter Thirty-Five
2/12/0001
The path continued to grow thinner as it rose, but there were no other broken outer sections.
When we finally reached the next entrance, I was surprised to see a loose sheet of leather dangling from the top, hiding whatever was inside. The leather was worn and had several holes, so it was clear that it had been placed there a long time ago.
“That’s weird,” Sung said. “Why would there be a door?”
“Something intelligent inside, perhaps?” Jax suggested.
I raised my chin to Ozzy and pointed to the leather curtain. “Considering our last warm welcome, would our tank like to do the honors?”
Ozzy nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped over to the loose hanging leather. Usually, I was confident when Ozzy took charge, but it was really hard for me to take him seriously while he was walking around with his pasty feet hanging out.
Ozzy pulled back an inch of leather and peaked inside before pulling it back all the way. He glanced from side to side and looked back to use with an ‘I dunno’ smirk on his face. “Looks clear,” he said.
Oz stepped in first then held the leather back as we all filed in.
Standing in the center of the room was a life-size statue of a man holding a staff high above his head. He looked middle-aged, with a short stone beard, and his face had been carved with a fiery expression on his eyes. The statue was holding his free hand out as if he were commanding something or casting a spell.
Unlike the other sections of caverns that were built into Dragon’s Crest that were barren and unfinished, this one had a smooth floor, and the walls were carved with intricate runes and murals.
The murals depicted large dragons flying through the sky, and while it was difficult to tell in their single-colored tone, they seemed to be breathing fire down on various men, women, and children of different races below.
Some were throwing spears up at the dragon, some shooting arrows, and some appeared to be casting spells. One on side of the wall, two d
ragons were battling each other, one gripping the other with its jaws and the other digging its claws into the other’s back. Curiously, those two dragons had what looked like men riding on top, but it was difficult to tell what they were as their faces and part of their upper body had been chipped or chiseled off.
“This is beautiful!” Rina said as she admired the markings on the wall.
“Sometimes I wish I had a camera,” Jeremy said. “This is unreal.”
“Camera?” Donovan asked.
Jeremy shook his head. “It’s… nothing.”
I walked over to the figure in the middle and rubbed my finger across its smooth stone. I inspected it from each side to see if there was anything of note, but it just looked like any old boring statue.
“No ancient weapons in here,” Sung said.
“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “But at least there isn’t anything in here to kill us.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Jax said, followed by a loud cough. He had his head tilted way back and was squinting straight up.
I looked in the direction Jax was squinting and saw nothing on the ceiling but something black like soot. My first thought was that someone had been burning something in the room at some point, though there was no sign of fire damage on the floor.
But then I saw a spec of white appear in the soot, and then I saw another. “What is that?” I questioned.
As if whatever was on the ceiling was answering me, a whole wave of white specks appeared, and then the sound of flapping filled the room.
“Uh oh,” Jeremy whined.
“Here we go again!” Ozzy yelled.
As the creatures flew down from the ceiling, my first assumption was that they were bats, but when they got closer, they were something a little odder. They had a black bodies and fur like a fox, yet a black beak like a bird, and a tail that curled around like a lizard’s. At the end of their arms was a thin, leather webbing, but with a much smaller wingspan than I would associate with a bat back on earth. Long claws were attacked to their feet and hands.
