by Dylan Keefer
We were six hundred floors up now, a lot more to go.
I look to the side, J Ron was trying to wrap the items we found so he could place them in the bag. But he was not doing it properly so the items can shrink inside the brown fabric. I put him in charge of storage and protecting me.
He was stuck to me like glue, well at least that part of his job was done right. He was still weak compared to the others. Even Xavier was way more useful in a fight.
I averted my eyes to see Valush fanning her hand towards Joshua who tried to get Medpack’s attention. Medpack was some distance further up.
“Go away shoo…” Valush exclaimed.
Joshua retorted, “You know, you got to be kinder…what?”
She says something, Medpack adds to it with a glowing smile. He throws up his arms up in frustration and stalks off as the girls laugh.
At this point Xavier and Deabush look up at Joshua coming their way. On looking at me, Joshua utters quite brightly, “Ah yes, Celina my favorite girl.”
Xavier shoots a look at me, but I did not say a thing.
Joshua continues, “You’re looking good today, I was telling Neil you dress the best out of all the girls in the party.”
Averting his eyes briefly, I was not dressed that extravagantly. I wore what I needed to survive, but I could not deny what I wore was oddly fitting. This was slightly different from my usual stuff. Have to be fashionable for the company, so I mix and match.
A silver Breast Plate that covered so little of my chest with white lace underneath, the Gorgot and the accompanying black short robe covered the back of the shoulders and slipped into a straddled pointed triangle. With a short dark grey skirt and thick woven gladiator like boots, I had the look of a modern female fatal dream.
The thing was I was jaded from the constant battles and mobs of Mobsters, he can shove his dreams somewhere else.
“What a way you jump from girl to girl, were you not talking to them a while ago? Why all of sudden you notice me now?”
Xavier started laughing but Joshua was not to be outdone.
“You know me and you go way back, we talk so much, we don’t need to talk. I just need to look at you.”
“Listen to me. This look,” I swing my hand and drop one finger on my hip with twirl of my bosom, “is not for your eyes.”
“Ohhhhh, ho, ho! Burn!” Xavier exclaimed as he rolled over laughing. Even Deabush was snickering.
Alice was not here and she was the one he been flirting with the most since he came the last time. Showing off his muscles and acting like all of us girls would not notice.
He passed close by me with a sour look but he wagged his head and stopped suddenly. He then grabbed Ron’s wrist.
“Do it like this, take one end of cloth and lay it like a triangle from the center…yeah like that, do it with the next half.”
Ron with his free hand did as Joshua said.
“Good, now you’ve done two, do the other two opposite sides. Once you do not rush it, you are not in competition with the cloth. Yeah, do it like that. You will see the cloth shrink…see there you go.”
I smile, Valush came up and slaps Joshua upside the head.
Joshua whips his head around in shock, “Oy lover boy, go down in front. Since you are the best player here,” she said with playful scorn.
Xavier turns round, “He should not be lying about himself.”
Deabush snickered, Joshua frowned as Ron got the cloth sack to form into a small tight bread like shape. Joshua shot Valush a side glance as he passed her, “Xavier you just join, hold your overconfidence until you can lead the line like me.”
“Lead which line, I ain’t seeing you Tank?!”
Oh, he noticed too?
“That’s you and Ron’s job, I kill the lot of them before they get to you, that’s my job.” Joshua scoffed and waved his arms around as he stepped confidently by the two of the guys, “Small fries do small jobs, leave the big jobs to big men.”
“The,”
I cut Xavier off, “Ok guys lets move on.” Valush looked down at Ron their eyes connect and Ron uttered with a stumble, “I, I, I finished.”
“Oh, come on then. We were waiting on you, you know.”
“Sorry, I… I’ll do it faster,” He said hesitantly.”
“Hmm? Brighten up that face and stop worrying so much, With me and flex-a-lot here you won’t need to do much.”
Valush turned, Ron nodded and shot up as I slipped in behind him hiding my smile.
Chapter 15
Eight hundred floors in, I was starting to lose focus moving throughout this place so casually. Every time we logged in, we had to carry on until we either all died or all of us quit. But quitting was not in my bones. No one here no matter the struggle suggested such a dishonor. The Numbia guards stood in pairs around us.
Rotating they flexed and moved in the square, a magic seal was present. A player could stand on top of it, used to save their progress until they logged back in. It allowed players to do these long journeys in caves and dungeons.
“Man, this is…” he yawns loudly, Valush slaps him in the stomach. Joshua drifts back sending a venomous stare her way.
It softens slightly, “You know that hairstyle looks better with that black shroud you were wearing the last time.”
Valush was donning blond thin dreadlocks, she smiled and walked off from him. This time around, it was me, Alice, Valush, Medpack, Deabush and Joshua.
If only I had Xavier and Ron, he could try Tanking for me. But Joshua and Valush I might as well be the Tank. I already been talking with Victor and Neil outside of this and it seems they been dealing with Gallivant Gang ever since Bain and Killon got caught snooping.
I can only hope it is not a big problem. My big problem was the Kingdom of Pain players attacking us constantly. Here I thought it was a random one off incident but it seems that attacking players is a regular thing for them. That and they usually are the primary sellers of Nonpath.
Makes sense, kill the competition then when they can do no better, sell them a dream. It is the perfect way to rule over people. I move to the side, gesturing towards Deabush, he comes over to me.
“You stick to Medpack…”
He nodded, to everyone else, “Valush and Joshua go out, Deabush stay close to them, not too close, I do not want you to get dragged into a Eunoch or a Mole Assassin moving in on you. I will stay far behind.”
We had one hundred floors to go and what waited ahead were Monsters that were not only big, but ferocious and deadly. Called Eunochs, they were fifty feet tall fat monstrosities that were covered in rock. Some people thought they were made of rock. Which might not be far off from the truth, they lack speed but if they hit you with one of their huge slugger like arms, it was usually a one hit kill.
Their body was hard to break and they do not take injuries from weak attacks. A team could with patience beat one of them. The problem lied in the fact that they loved being in packs.
Drawing one off was difficult because by nature they preferred fighting within the pack.
With that we left the Numbia, there were many more Bugs down at this level of the Underdark. But they were numerous and had a variety of poisons that could really be a pain when ready.
I opened my map and kept watch. Medpack already casted a shadowing spell it should be hiding me just in case. Joshua dealt with them as Valush followed close behind.
We pushed through, it was slow but we were making progress.
Then, “Blast what the hell! Celina, some players have our number, shoot Deabush, shoot!”
I called out “Medpack?” Valush were engaging three Eunochs, Joshua looked like he was flanking. Running wide on their side, the map showed me two people not from our group or inclusive of the Monsters, which were bigger dots.
“Alice, come on.”
I rush forward with Alice close behind.
“Hey you guys ok back there?” Joshua asked in dull concern.
Medpack answered quickly, “Ah…w
ell, Celina!”
I was already there, I cast, “Getsomody!” the four sign seal shakes under my feet as the streams of shadows rush out going into my three allies boosting their stats. One of the players notice me now, it was the Vulpine. She had a reddish curved blade and was about to flank me, but I saw a blast of fire shoot out in front hitting the Vulpine.
Alice was still behind me and she was getting better at flexing her battle prowess. She had more power than Alvain but she was a bit clumsy since she was not used to adventuring like us. No matter, that was enough. Medpack easily pushed back the other player, a hammer wielding Mulu.
The Vulpine and Mulu kept trying to side step Medpack. Trying to rush Deabush, but Medpack was too fast for them, especially with Getsomody’s enhancement to stats. She kept coming in their path. Deabush took down the Mulu from range while Medpack kicked over the Vulpine only to see her drift into the shadows.
Blast, these Kingdom of Pain bastards won’t give up. I was right, Kingdom of Pain has been lessening their attacks since long ago. After all we already have the Nonpath. But it gained an resurgence near the nine hundredth floor. All the time, I noted that their members went for Deabush more.
Honestly, me and Alice were weaker, so why attack Deabush? My eyes float over the bow. Yes that must be it. We decided to stay more cohesively together even if the risk of enemies wiping us out was greater.
The Eunochs were surprisingly in a large group by the fifth floor down. It was so large enough a group that they were clearly blocking the entrance to the next floor, fantastic.
All of us shook our head, seeing at least twenty of them gathered in between a tall precipice and a big column of earth.
“Yaaa…I think we are done for today no?” Alice said from behind me.
Giving up already? Well I could easily read the faces and see that was how it was. That was the train of thought currently.
Though I really wanted to at least try and push ahead and see what lurked below. I have never been to the Underdark. A lot of us have our first except Valush. Then Valush ranted off at the mouth about some Numbia store at the end in this city selling some good stuff you won’t get anywhere else.
I sigh, “yeah, I agree, we attack that mob we are dead.” I looked around observing the situation, “especially in this small space.”
I already knew about the city, Pantilla. It was a Numbia city, great place to hide now that I think of it. But the houses there were expensive. It was prime property in the heart of the earth’s core.
“Joshua could run a distraction…” Valush said.
“On so many!?” Joshua lamented.
We would see subraces such as Dwarfs, dark skinned Elfs and Dragon Humanoids. I heard stories but I never been there as there were many other players so everyone was jumping to get a look.
Now the ambition was as scattered as…”Hey Deabush, how much damage you can do with that bow, you know as a base damage?” Alice skipped beside him.
Deabush fidgeted slightly but shook his head as he did not rightly know.
I look their way, “Party up, Rolls history for Deabush,”
The menu blurb opened up slowly revealing the list of damage dealt and felt by Deabush since he logged in.
Joshua slipped in behind the two looking at the numbers on the screen. A blurb appears.
‘More Players, check map’
Wata is making herself really useful. I floated my eyes over at the map.
There was a player moving across the map, it disappeared before I could contemplate it. Was that a Kingdom of Pain member?
I looked west of me, I saw nothing more than rock. But from the wide left, came the creeping darkness. There was a path that led out that way.
These guys were still stalking us.
“Hey Medpack, can you go check somewhere for me?”
So we stood stationary and waited for Medpack’s report. She used Desteria to hide her magic power and material body, then she used Shadow’s Embrace to counter any magical tracking.
Took her nearly a half hour, but she mentally called to us as most of us were sitting while Valush was still pacing far around the mob like a four hundred metres runner.
“Celina, I am pretty much surrounded. Like, I was about to be found out so I used Vergos to make herself look like the Mulu we fought three hundred floors back. They don’t know, but man, I am in a tight situation Vergos only lasts five minutes.”
“What you talking about, wait are you near them?”
“Literally right in front of a good amount of Kingdom of Pain members,”
“Excuse yourself or something?”
“Tried that…it is too late for me, the leader is here the Mata King himself.”
A deep resonating twinge came over my neck. Of all the bad luck, I set the call to party and quickly advise the others on what is happening and Valush’s idea reminds me of her madness.
“Let us attack them, I owe the Mata King anyway.”
I retort, “no, no and absolutely not.”
“Two minutes guys,” Medpack is crying almost.
Joshua intercedes, “How many of them?
Medpack groans in her mind making us all cringe, “at least twenty or around that much, they been trying to attack you for a while now. They want the bow.”
“Good we can trap them, you take everybody else I am going for the Mata King’s head.” Valush says with a dark twinkle in her eye.
I figured, Alice waves her off, “There is no way we can take on twenty high level people with our small party.”
Valush suggests with a smile, “We can try.”
I look back at the Eunochs. I check the map, I see her, I cannot see anybody else.
I snap my fingers at Valush, “Joshua, you and Valush, can you draw those idiot Eunochs one hundred yards to this spot.”
They stare at me then at each other, pert nods to show they were ready for anything. Drawing off an enemy was the job of a Tank, these guys were wild attack types but for once I can hope they can do this well enough to save Medpack.
To them, “go.” I grab Alice and Deabush to my side and run backwards down to where Medpack was.
“Medpack, how long?”
“Almost one minute.”
“You see me on the map?”
“Yes,”
“Run to me,”
“Wha? But…”
“Just do it, run!”
Surprisingly Medpack was not chased. I was not sure if they were still there but once I reached where Medpack was I noted behind her a tall bar that advanced out from rugged rock’s face. It was made of bones that looked glued together. The resulting columns under this bar were also constructed of bones.
I saw Deabush moving far to my right, another entryway down to my southeastern flank.
Next to that was some sort of altar. Encompassed by the bone filled structure, there was this eerie stature of a woman and a bird on the top. Suddenly I saw a figure slip out from the darkness of the wall behind Medpack. No, three of them, they may not have chased her but they tracked her right to us.
Two Humans, one Vulpine and one Elf, the Human in moss green armor was the one Medpack pointed at. He clutched his fist and I could hear the crackle and clank of metal emitting.
“Ah, Celina, it is good to meet you.” His voice was gruff but it sounded devious.
The Elf started drinking.
Floating my eyes to the map on my upper right, Valush and Joshua were close. I just have to hold these guys off for a minute or two.
“Celina, I have heard so much about you. But I must say they did not mention your beauty, it is definitely something else entirely.”
I could not see his face now with that helmet, from what I could grab from memory he looked rather handsome for a red head on that poster back at the conference.
“Oh… not the talkative type?” Mata King said.
I said nothing mostly watching his other comrades. I can see that the Elvish was the magical one. The Vulpine might be
a simple fast fighter, the other Human gave off this sort of Tank like feel about him, mostly because he was positioned directly in front of the Elvish and his armor was Black Steel, very sturdy and a favorite of defense minded players.
I could do no better as all of them were shadowed.
“Hey I am talking to you.”
I was still waiting. He approached, Medpack slid in front of me crouching as if ready to charge. Mata King stopped throwing up his hand as if in defense.
“Easy now,”
Alright just half a minute, a shiver of dread slid up my back. Within my sight, I see three more people with swords and spears coming out of nowhere.
They were near Deabush.
I was careless, while that Human was blocking our line of sight, I could see that Elvish with eight sign seal on his fingertips he was bringing more of his allies on us.
I hate this spell but I had no choice casting a seven sign seal, ”Cloud’s Multiply!” I shoot black beams through all my allies and they multiply.
Medpack, Alice and Deabush loosed five versions of themselves which were really just clever illusions.
“Spread out!” I shout.
The human shouts, the Vulpine runs after Deabushs, “The doubles go away with one hit, hurry take them out.”
That was the regular Multiply spell, this was Cloud’s Multiply. You hit them, they form back and hit you with half the damage you gave them.
Alice ran around the drab stature and started hurling fireballs rupturing their formations as arrows flowed and swords swung.
Through the backdrop of the tense fire, I saw him push through.
“How touching I get to kill the Queen of Destruction so easy…” I saw the swing of his sword, the reason I hate this spell was that I cannot move, that’s the only way to maintain it.
A blast of light consumes me in that instant. I felt like something hit me. I call, “Status…”
Half my life is gone, I hate playing with her.
“Valush!” hearing the Mata King call her name made me shudder. His voice went deep and menacing too easily.
The Mata King had taken off his helmet, his armor was burnt in the center and was giving off a jet of steam. His eyes wide followed Valush’s jump down in front of me.
