“What the hell? Why do you look so horrible?” he asked and hurried up to help me stand.
“Encumbered by two grazlitaurs,” I whispered.
He put my arm over his shoulder and helped me make the last few steps. I produced the pouch, and he started pulling the pieces of meat out one by one. The weight became less gradually, and I could stand on my own feet again without feeling as if I was about to be crushed.
“Shit, two at once? We barely brought back one the first time,” he scolded me. “Why do it?”
I shrugged. “Couldn’t let the meat go bad. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Yeah, well, we need a cold room in that case. Think this inn has one?”
“I noticed a door I couldn’t get open,” Rita yelled over the ruckus inside the kitchen. “It was pretty cold over there, so maybe that was it?”
I looked where she pointed and walked over. The handle wasn’t budging, but she was right. A cold draft hit me right away as I stood there, but it didn’t carry past me.
“I’ll ask Melina once she’s taken a bath with Lana. They were dirty from head to toe.”
“Oh? Why? What did you do?” Sarah laughed.
“Nothing, you minx. The two of them butchered the grazlitaurs, so they got blood all over them.”
“Minx?” Mark asked. I couldn’t place his tone of voice very well. He didn’t sound angry at what I called his wife, but rather amused. “He finally found a good nickname for you, love.”
“Oh, really? Should I flirt with him, then?”
“No, I mean, wait, what does that have to do with anything? It’s just a word for flirtatious, isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Think so.”
She chuckled and motioned with her index finger for Mark to get back to what he was doing: chopping some of the bone up.
“We should have all of you do Butchery tomorrow,” I said, looking the others over. “Some extra attack and health isn’t anything to scoff at when we’re this weak.”
“Sure, I’m all game,” Donald said as he dropped his cleaver onto the table. “We’ll be done here soon. Why don’t you go rest up a bit, boss?”
“Boss? Come on, Donald. Not boss.”
He shrugged. “You are as long as you’re stronger and more important than us. At least for me.”
“Shit, this doesn’t feel right at all. Maybe brother? I’d like that more, to be honest.”
“Then brother it is!” He laughed. “Let’s drink one to that later!”
I nodded and walked out, then went to visit the girls. They were just finishing shampooing their hair.
“Food’s done soon.”
Melina looked up at me but never stopped rubbing Lana’s hair. “Want to join us?”
I shook my head quickly, not wanting to look like a perverted horndog. Shit, all these nasty words that were going through my mind got on my nerves. I’d never even known there was such a word. Horndog.
I let out a sigh and spoke. “I didn’t even break a sweat during the battle earlier, so no, sorry.”
“Aww.” Lana chuckled. “Don’t want to see two pretty ladies without their clothes?”
“Oh, why do you think I’m standing here? Of course I do, but I’m afraid if I take mine off, someone might get mad.”
“And who’s that?” Melina inquired.
“I don’t know. The one left looking?”
“Pfft! You wish!” Lana laughed. “You’re not getting any from me even if I turn into a ghost.”
“I wasn’t expecting any either way,” I murmured. “We need to talk seriously when you ladies are done. I’ll be waiting in the dining room.”
Scar appeared out of nowhere as I sat in my usual spot, leaning against the wall and waiting for everyone. He lay beside me and curled up like a pup. The way he acted was strange, and it bothered me. I put my hand on his head and rubbed it, then pulled back as a tiny bolt of lightning discharged against my skin.
“What? Can’t I even lie here without someone bothering me?”
I frowned. “Asshole. Why did you hit me with electricity?”
“Because you’re touching me.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand back. He was brooding over something, but I didn’t know what exactly. I didn’t know what he was like when alive, so I didn’t have anything to compare his behavior with.
“What is it? Why are you down?”
He shrugged what passed for his shoulders and looked up at me. I could swear he looked sad and even slightly different than the last time I saw him. Did he look more corporeal?
“I want to be separated from you, but I know it will never happen.”
“Why? It didn’t bother you the first week.”
“It does now. I feel everything you feel, and your inner turmoil about the women is very distracting and painful.”
“Yeah, you can imagine how bad it is for me, then.”
He lowered his head again and closed his eyes.
“Don’t be so sad, little wolf,” a familiar voice said out of nowhere. “I’ve brought you salvation.”
Veles appeared out of thin air and sat opposite us, her legs crossed as she stretched out in one of the two only chairs in this place. She looked identical to last time, wearing the same short yukata and moving her hand through her platinum blonde hair.
“Greetings, Goddess,” I said and nodded slightly out of respect. “What brings you here?”
“Oh, not much. Do you want me to give you the news once everyone is seated? Or do you want to hear it first?”
“How long until they’re done?”
“Just enough time for us to finish.”
I let out a deep sigh, knowing I wasn’t going to like this. “You might as well tell me right away.”
She offered me a smile and nodded. “The situation is much worse than I thought it would be. The thirty opponents have been chosen, and only seven of them are human, you included.”
“Thirty opponents?”
She nodded. “The others are aliens, as you would call them. The worst part? Seventeen of them have patrons just like you. And most are at the same rank as me.”
A gut-wrenching pain erupted from my chest as she said that. I felt like keeling over and throwing up, but then it stopped just as suddenly.
“What… the hell was that?” I hissed as I pushed myself off the table.
“The game has now officially begun for everyone, so expect to see some enemies soon.”
“How far away are they?” I asked, still clutching at my chest. The pain was gone, but a strange, dull ache remained.
“Most are strewn throughout the first five zones. Or rather the first five layers, as I’d call them. See, the first zone has twenty-nine maps, the second has nineteen, the third has nineteen, the fourth has fourteen, and the fifth has fourteen as well. Everything above that is a giant map for itself. You can only get to them after killing a rank thirteen monster by yourself, and once you’re at the new zone, you’ll have to set up a new base or have your current one teleported.”
“So we’ll face someone pretty soon, I guess? And a rank thirteen is pretty far off, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “You just might. I know there are several others strewn about the third, fourth, and fifth zones, just like you, while the most can be found in the first starting zones.”
“Who’s the one closest to us?”
“A Zanoxian. His patron is Vulcan. They’re the perfect matchup, so you’ll have to avoid him for a long time.”
“Fuck,” I cursed.
“Fuck indeed, but we have a way to get out on top. See, you got a two-day head start, so you need to stop sitting on your ass and start working. I’ll share a part of my power in the form of a buff. Whenever you’re out inside the third-zone maps, the buff will be active from 06:00 to midnight. I’ll use the downtime to regenerate my power.”
“We’ll have to work really hard during the on times.”
She nodded. “Exactly. It’s not just your ass if you lose, a
s it will be mine as well. I don’t want to be a minor God or, even worse, just a divinity. Fuck that!”
“So what do you propose?”
“Start by clearing out the grazlitaurs. They need to be gone, and I mean constantly. I don’t want to see any of them for a whole day.”
“Wait, why throw away all that meat?”
She frowned. “Meat? Who cares about the meat? They can never run out, Viktor. The whole spawn is restored every six hours, so it’s not like you’ll run out of food.”
“Really? So no matter how many we kill, they’ll never run out?”
She nodded again as a smirk slowly crept up her face. “Yeah, really. But wait, I’m not finished yet. Once they haven’t been around for a whole day, the big guy will wake up and try to root out the one killing them. See, he likes to eat once a day. A whole spawn of them, but it’s totally random, so you’ll have to camp the spot.”
I stared at her for a long moment as I thought about what she just said. “A big guy? As in a big monster?”
“Exactly. A really big one at that. In your ranking system, he goes by an eight.”
I almost choked on pure air as she said that. An eight! We’d barely killed a kobold lord, which was a five, and now she wanted me to kill an eight?
“Why don’t you have us roll over and die, Veles? You want the three of us to kill an eight?”
“No, not the three of you. The five of you. Your group will need Melina’s support skills and her healing, and Lana is much stronger than she lets on. Mark can play long-range support, as he has up until now, while the wolf and you take the brunt of the attack.”
I sat there and thought about it. She wouldn’t have brought it up unless it was possible, so why even bother arguing over it?
“Say, Veles, why do we need to keep the spawn empty? Can’t we just wait for him to come for his food?”
She shook her head and sighed. “Even one of them is enough for him to return to his slumber. He’ll be even crankier if that happens, but that’s not the best-case scenario. You want him enraged. And you want to start making weapons and armor from the grazlitaurs’ bones. You can make good stuff out of them for yourself, even projectiles for his rifles. You’ll just need to mine some of the ore around this place and finish the job quests. Besides, you’ll get a new special stat called Break once you get the new weapons. That stat is purely there to help break the shields.”
“And you think we’ll have a chance? Even with that break stat?”
“You will. See, there are many hidden quests that you don’t know about, and they just pop up once you’ve done something to complete them. I can’t tell you what they are, but one of them is that spawn near the stream.”
“Oh?”
My frown turned into a grin. I liked quests and rewards. What’s more, I was still waiting for the ordinary quests we should be getting from this place. As if reading my mind, she spoke.
“Yeah, oh. As for other quests, you’ll be getting them once the seven-day period is over. No one gets them before the rest. Sorry.”
“No, no, everything is fine. But I was actually thinking of going out and seeing the tower. Go inside and do some killing.”
“Don’t. It’s full of wannabe hunters. Wait until the seven days are over and then go. No one and nothing but the Supreme Lord can damage the dome around your inn, and that goes the same for the other starting points. You will have to wage your little wars out in the wild and catch them with their pants down.”
Everything felt suddenly much easier after hearing her explanation.
“So we’ll be able to go out for a while without a worry?”
“Only for a full week. The dome is directly tied to the owner, so if you go out, the dome goes down after seven days.”
“Fuck, that’s not—no, it is. I’ll just have to be careful when I go out.”
“Yeah, you will. Now, little wolf, will you come with mommy for a while? I’ll return you tomorrow morning when the buff goes up.”
“I will, Goddess,” Scar replied weakly, bowing his head in subservience.
I wasn’t sure I liked what she did with him, but if he was willing to obey, then it meant that he felt safe. And why shouldn’t he feel safe? She was our patron.
“Now, you have until tomorrow morning to rest, Viktor. Don’t disappoint me.”
“Wait, please,” I yelled and then caught myself as she stared at me. “Can we save Lana? Can we bind her to… Melina if she accepts? And if so, how?”
“See, you don’t even have to try until she’s rank four in cultivation. Unless her Enma pool is large enough, she won’t be able to sustain her. As to how? I’ll do it for you on the last day if you manage to get her that high.”
Veles disappeared just as the girls came walking in with Rita at the head, carrying a tray of food. They were followed by Donald and Sarah. Mark carried three pitchers of alcohol and gave me a wary glance. Shit, we would need to start brewing our own or risk running out.
“Who were you talking to?” Lana asked as she sat next to me.
Melina sat to my other side and leaned against me.
“Veles. She came bearing news.”
“Oh? What news?” Mark asked hurriedly.
“Sit down and I’ll tell you. It’s not going to be pretty at all.”
Chapter Seven
It took us several hours to accept the gravity of the situation, and only after I told them everything did I come to terms with what Veles had said. It felt like a punch in the gut after thinking we were going to have a good time of it here. Sure, we theoretically could have a good time, but not the way I thought it would be.
The girls lay to either side of me, both wearing nightgowns and modest ones at that. Neither was in a talkative mood, probably lost in their own thoughts. Melina was deliberating on her choices in life and if going along with me was a good choice. She’d been vocal about it and very honest and direct. Lana wasn’t saying much, probably lost in thought about her last husband and all the years in between, the choice to come back to see me and live here.
I wasn’t losing any sleep over what was ahead of us. It didn’t make sense to do as much. What was on my mind, well, I couldn’t do anything about it either, but at least I could try. The grazlitaurs. We needed to come up with a fast way to deal with them. Sure, six hours was enough time to kill them all, but there were twenty of them, and if we could even kill one every five minutes, that was still an hour and a half of uninterrupted fighting. The girls had no way of keeping up with that, and neither did I. We needed a way to whittle down their shields quickly, or we’d tire out.
Melina’s arm and leg shot out and draped across my chest and right leg. Lana lifted her head and noticed the change, then turned around and faced the far wall. Neither of the two said anything and just fell asleep, snoring within seconds. I couldn’t help but smile. It sure had been a day, one none of us would forget any time soon.
I wanted to push her off me. Melina’s body was so hot and the air inside the room humid. I wanted to get out of here and dip inside the stream. Why was I so hot? No, it wasn’t them. It was me. I was burning up from the inside!
Pain shot up my right arm as all my veins started throbbing and bulging.
“Get—off me,” I hissed and pushed her off.
She just turned around and went to sleep again. Damn it, how could she be such a hard sleeper? A fly could wake me up on a good night, much less on a bad one.
I stumbled toward the balcony and slumped down on one of the tanning chairs. Sweat rolled down my forehead, neck, and back. My palms were sweaty, and my breathing labored. I reached for my pouch and stuck my hand inside, then pulled out two of the crystals I’d gathered from the grazlitaurs. They were more bluish and slightly larger than the ones we’d gotten from the kobolds.
My hands wrapped around them comfortably, and I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing, but I was in so much pain. The only thing that hurt as much was the opening of meridians and veins, so I w
as happy. The pain didn’t bother me so much, knowing what was about to happen. I embraced and loved it!
I grinned as a slightly familiar sensation washed over me, enveloping all of my being both inside and out. My eyes shot open as my body started to glow and ooze a thick, black liquid where my skin ruptured. I hadn’t even noticed it because of all the horrendous pain, but it was there.
I shook my head clear, suddenly finding myself leaning my back against the wooden back of the chair. My thoughts were jumbled and my movements sluggish. I pushed myself up and found my arm was stuck. I had to pull hard to get free. The blood had caked up and glued me to the side of the chair and my boxers.
“Fucking hell,” I cursed as I pulled at the dark blood and muck. “How long have I been out of it?”
My undershirt was dirty as well. Damn. I had to have a bath during the fucking night. I wasn’t looking forward to that. It was already cold enough during the day with the sun out and about, but now? There wasn’t a single ray of sunshine present.
I sighed and jumped off the balcony, only to land… not on the ground, but several inches above it. Enma flowed strongly enough that I could now manifest it around me. Something tugged at my mind, almost as if a lost memory wanted to resurface, but it couldn’t. I focused hard on it, but it just wouldn’t come up. Not wanting to lose more time on it, I let out a deep breath and pulled up my status.
Status:
NAME: Viktor
AGE: 31
LEVEL: 5, REALM: 1, RANK: 5
HEALTH: 640
ENMA: 280
SPEED: 2.0
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 144
ENMA ATTACK: 130
BREAK: 0
DEFENSE: 89
ENMA SHIELD: 620
The fifth meridian had opened, and next would be the head, after which I’d go down to my chest and do the rest of the organs, then into my legs and feet. I’d have to follow the plan precisely for some reason, knowing instinctively it was how this process should go. I needed to have a talk with Lana about cultivation and have her explain things more in depth. I knew how to do it, but I didn’t know anything more than that.
Crafting Death: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 2) Page 6
