The Skull Throne: A LitRPG novel (Kingdom of Heaven Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  I watched as Ori floated to the ground, her eyes narrowing and her body tensing. I could tell from the look on her face that my words had stung. It wasn’t something I wanted to do. She was a good person. She was someone I wanted to know better, if I was being completely honest with myself. Still, I couldn’t be stomped all over.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “But it’s the truth. I didn’t go with him because I didn’t believe he was better than you. I looked at the people he surrounded himself with, people like the Jackal and those douchebag players, and I figured no one who was on the up and up could ever keep that kind of company. God knows I couldn’t, but he didn’t lie to me. At least not about the two of you being honest.” I cleared my throat. “That stops here and now.” I shook my head. “Otherwise, your quest does.”

  “It’s your quest, Jack,” Hecate said.

  “Stop,” Ori said, holding her hand out to silence the green woman. “You’re right,” she added, looking at me. “This isn’t our first time trying to complete this mission, but it is the first time the Principalities have taken an interest. With them came rules, came regulations. We weren’t allowed to be as honest as either of us would have liked, but I refuse to hold fast to any of that anymore.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t get you home. I never intended to. When we chose you, we did so believing it would be the last time you would ever see your family. We did not do this without difficulty or hesitation, but we did it nonetheless.” She nodded. “We did it for our world and, if I had to do it all over again, I would. I don’t know how you’ll ever return to your sister and nephew. I don’t believe you will. That is the truth.”

  “I don’t need you to believe it,” I said quickly, though that wasn’t true. I desperately wanted her faith in me. Looking at her, I realized that – if I had it my way – I’d want more than that. Then, still looking at the iron clad angel woman, I added, “Thank you for being honest with me finally. But don’t stop now. Tell me where we’re going and don’t be vague about it.”

  “You need to level up as quickly as possible, and more than you did before. The Shadow needs only to find the portal, and my intel says he’s closer than I’m comfortable with. You need to get to the Upper Level today and, to do that–”

  “The way we came,” I said, nodding. “You want me to fight the dragon.”

  “Not exactly,” she answered. “I want you to go further. I want you to fight all of them.”

  “All of them?” I asked, glaring at her.

  “Yes, Iron Jack,” she said. “It’s spring here, time for hatching.”

  My eyes widened. Oh…Oh damn.

  “We’re going to fight our way into a dragon nest.”

  I pulled my glowing sword from its scabbard and grinned. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  22

  “You sure this is it?” I asked, looking over at Ori as the three of us stood at the edge of an eerily still pond. It was a nondescript place, so ridiculously meaningless, no name even popped up in my navigation bar when we neared it. It was the sort of place I would assume was set dressing should I have passed it when I was playing back in the safety of my home. But I wasn’t in the safety of my home. I was here, in KOH, and Ori had just told me this very lake was where I would find the dragons. “It just looks like a stupid lake.”

  “What did you expect it to look like?” Ori asked, glaring at me.

  “Don’t give me that,” I said, shaking my head. “We both know what this place is like. Anything that’s important has a lot of flourish and decadence to it. This is just a hole in the ground filled with water.”

  “You didn’t even know dragons existed in this plane until we told you,” Hecate said, looking out at the lake. “Is it really so hard to believe that this is what’s helped them remain a secret to your kind?”

  “Fair enough,” I answered, though the use of “your kind” kind of stung a little. I knew I wasn’t like Hecate and Ori. They were natives. They were something completely different, but I had fought beside them. Didn’t I deserve better than a “you people” response?

  “I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do,” I admitted. “I mean, unless I’m not seeing them – which would be totally believable – there are no dragons here.”

  “Not on the surface,” Ori answered coyly.

  “Oh, give me a break,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t sign up for underwater stuff.”

  “I didn’t hear you complaining when that Ember person asked you to retrieve a moss-covered gemstone from the Sea of Serendipity,” Hecate pointed out wryly.

  “Number one, it’s creepily stalkerish that you know I did that, and secondly that gemstone could be slotted into any weapon to increase its Base Damage by 25%, making that a completely different situation.” My voice instinctively lowered. “Besides, I was trying to impress the Avenging Angels.”

  “So we’re not worth impressing?” Ori asked, a thin, annoyed smile tugging at her lips.

  “Honestly.” I shrugged, “I kinda thought I already impressed you.”

  “That’s beside the point,” she said, waving me off with one slender hand. Still, I couldn’t help but notice the smile spread across her face. “We need to focus on getting to the Upper Level and making sure the Principalities are safe so they can help you take out the Shadow. To do that, you need to be leveled up and the quickest way to get leveled up is to–”

  “Kick a bunch of dragon ass. I get it. It's pretty self-explanatory,” I said, tightening my grip on my sword. “Good thing I sprang for a Coral Ring. Bet I’m going to need that Water-breathing Power right about now.”

  “I don’t see how. The dragons aren’t underwater,” Hecate said, shrugging. “They’re in a dry cave located through a tunnel at the bottom of the lake. I’d tell you to be careful of sea creatures, but the dragons sort of take care of them for you. After all, they’ve got to eat something.”

  “You’re telling me that like you’re not coming with me,” I said, chuckling and looking from Hecate to Ori and back again. They were stone-faced. “Which is ridiculous … right? I mean, ‘cause it sounds ridiculous. There’s no way you’d ever send me into a dragon lair all by myself since you need me to, oh, I don't know, um, not die, right?”

  “Iron Jack,” Ori started.

  “Oh God,” I said. “She used the right name. I’m definitely screwed.”

  “You’re not screwed,” she shook her head adamantly. “If I’m even right about what that expression means. If we go down there, we’ll be inclined to help you.”

  “Yeah,” I balked. “That’s the point, for help.”

  Her reply was equally steadfast as she frowned thoughtfully. “Helping you would only prove to hurt you.”

  “I’m not following you,” I answered, narrowing my eyes.

  “You need all the kills for yourself, Iron Jack. You need every bit of experience you can soak up, now that you can level past 50. I’m not stealing any of it from you. Neither is Hecate.”

  The ogre threw up her hands as if to say, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

  “And what if I get dead?” I shot back. “Didn’t think of that, did ya?”

  “Of course we did,” she answered, her eyes fluttering to the ground. “But we have faith in you. We believe in you, in what you’re capable of. Besides, you have enough healing potions to ensure that – at the very least – you can make a run for it.”

  “You believe in me?” I asked, swallowing hard, and feeling a little more touched by her show of support than I imagined I might. Something about a woman who was so capable and so legendary as Ori seeing me as something worthwhile made me feel like all those hours of playing really amounted to something spectacular. After all, Ori had given me more crap than anyone here that wasn’t trying to kill me. You’d think I wouldn’t pay much attention to what could easily turn into a back-handed compliment, but this time I could feel the honesty behind her sentiment.

  “More than anything,” she said firmly,
which lit a fire inside of me. “Maybe there’s another way I could prove that to you” Moving toward me, Ori leaned in, pressing her lips against mine in a forceful and absolutely amazing way. I felt like the rest of the world, the rest of all the worlds disappeared. There was just me and her, just the angel and the dude who was lucky enough to have her macking on him in this very moment. She pulled away, leaving butterflies to dance around my stomach and she looked at me with glowing eyes. “Now get down there. Descend, Iron Jack, and return a god among men.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that “god” thing, but that unflinching support and impromptu make out session from Ori of all people filled me with confidence. “That was cheesy,” I laughed, marching into the lake. “But I totally love it.”

  I gave the pair a quick grin and dove into the water.

  Being underwater all decked out in armor was strange and, in any other circumstance I had ever been in, would have been a really bad idea. But this place didn’t abide by the same rules as my world. I had been underwater here in my armor before, and it hadn’t slowed me down. It didn’t slow me down now either as I switched on the goggles I had gotten from Hecate and looked down into the murky depths of the lake.

  I gasped, looking at the sheer number of skeletons that littered the lake floor. Huge, mammoth creatures were dead, having been reduced to nothing more than midnight snacks by the dragons I had just been sent to kill, idiot that I was.

  Part of me wanted to go back, but I pushed through it, mashing down the totally legitimate fear deep enough inside of me that I was relatively sure it wouldn’t be crippling. I couldn’t think about all who had fallen victim to these things. I had to move beyond that, for myself, for my family, for this place.

  Thanks to Hecate’s goggles, I noticed the tunnel almost instantly.

  I couldn’t think about that now though. I had to kill me some dragons. And holy mother of Frig I was gonna fight a dragon. Scary as it was, I couldn’t help but smile. How cool was that!

  Pushing myself forward, I dove toward the tunnel. The instant I went into it, a strange current picked me up and thrust me forward faster than I ever could have managed on my own.

  Powerless against the current, the force spun me around backward. I tried to move, to flail, to somehow orient myself, but it was impossible. My heart began to hammer in my chest, and fear shot through me. What if I got thrown right into the waiting jaws of a dragon?

  With a bone-jarring thud, the current suddenly spat me onto a slab of dry, hard stone.

  Dry, hard, hot stone.

  I took a deep breath and tried not to panic as I brushed my wet hair out of my eyes before scrambling to my feet. I whirled around, pulling my sword out of the scabbard and looking around for any signs of something tall, dark, and scaly.

  The cave would have been dark if not for the goggles. As it was, it was huge and round…and five dragons lay against the circular walls, huge, scaled things of varying colors and sizes.

  The first four were similar enough looking aside from being different colored. One was blue, one red, one the traditional green, and one pure white. Unlike some of the strange creatures and spirits in KOH, these dragons had a strong resemblance to the classical European-fantasy interpretation of dragons. Scaly, serpentine bodies with four sturdy legs, the dragons had long necks, whip-like tails, and folded, bat-like wings. Even their colorations had a natural shading, with brighter colors along their necks and bellies darkening over the thicker scales along the head, top of the neck, and back. To top off their draconic majesty, each one’s head was crowned by two curved horns.

  The last though, that one was a bit strange. He sat in the center and was much larger than the rest with clear skin that showcased its internal organs.

  My sword glowed with blue Celestial Energy, but it seemed almost ridiculous against the might of these things.

  They were as tall as buildings and as scary as any monster I had ever seen on any screen. They weren’t on a screen though. They were right in front of me, and they looked pissed.

  Without so much as a “How dare you!” the red one rushed toward me, taking to the air on mammoth bat-like wings. It spewed fire at me, but I spun, tucking and rolling. I barely dodged the flames as it turned, readying to attack me again.

  As I brought my blade up to meet its attack, it pulled away, looking up at the translucent thing. Their eyes met, and instead of dive-bombing me, the red one bowed its head and circled back. As it did, the blue rushed toward me, opening its mouth and shooting shards of razor-sharp ice in my direction. My eyes went wide, but I still managed to jump out of the way. The ice shards ran up the floor of the cave, and one slammed into my armor. Luckily, it was stronger than the ice, though it dented my breastplate inward, the bruise forming in its wake hurting like a mother and took a sliver out of my Energy bar.

  I scuttled away, calling on my still-limited supply of Nature Magic, namely my solitary Lightning Bolt. It came from nowhere, appearing out of thin air at the apex of the underwater cave and barreled down toward the blue dragon, but before it could strike down the beast, the green one shrieked.

  Like magic, my bolt of lightning arced violently sideways, striking the green one. Energy danced harmlessly along its body before grounding out into the stone.

  Now, what the hell was the point of pushing me to learn magic for this quest if it wasn’t going to do a lick of good? I pushed that out of my head and tried to think. Ori wasn’t trying to kill me; there had to be a way to use magic here and win the day.

  I didn’t have too long to ponder that as the clear dragon huffed loudly, sending the green and white dragons to attack me. They both roared in my direction. The green one caused the ground to shake under me, knocking me down, and the white sent a gust of wind through the air, picking me back up and slamming me hard against the wall.

  Green Dragon’s Tremor hits you! You take 1,872 Physical Damage and are knocked down! 84,256 Energy remaining.

  White Dragon’s Gust of Wind hits you! You take 872 Air Damage and 2,122 Physical Damage! 81,262 Energy remaining.

  My head swam. Looking up, I found myself surrounded by the four colored dragons, each brimming with their elemental energy of choice.

  My heart started to pound. I could probably charge one and get a few good licks with my sword and a choice knight move or two (my Endurance was surging from the incoming damage), but the others would be able to focus fire their elemental attacks. I could try and stay out of range and keep dodging, but if I did, I wouldn’t be able to attack with my Lightning Bolt, and I seriously doubted my daggers were gonna do much more than piss them off.

  As that realization hit me, another worse one struck me like a kick in the teeth. Iron Jack or not, I was going to die here, in this cave under the water in a world that wasn’t my own. And somehow, the worst part was that my family didn’t even know I was gone.

  No. I shook my head. I wasn’t going out like this. I knew how this sort of crap worked. I might not have been familiar with dragons in this world, but I was familiar with bosses, and these were nothing but bosses.

  No, not bosses. Bosses didn’t team up. There was one boss surrounded by minions and, right now, these dragons were surrounding their boss. A grin flitted across my face. Now that I knew that, I could formulate a plan.

  The key point that finally pierced my thick skull was the ability in KOH to combine the powers granted by multiple Attunements. I needed the magic not just to shoot people with lightning, no matter how fun that was, but to combine it with my other abilities. I had spent so long neglecting anything that wasn’t attached to being a knight, I’d forgotten I also had other Celestial powers to call on. The key was to combine all three.

  “Say hello to my little friend!” I snarled, calling upon my lightning again. This time though, I summoned it to my sword just as I activated a rarely-used Celestial Ability, Blinding Blade of Justice. To be sure of this working, I upped the ante, forcing it to get so bold and so bright I couldn’t see my hand in front
of me, which meant they hopefully couldn’t either.

  COMBO! You combine Lightning Bolt with Blinding Blade of Justice! Radius increased to 300 meters and Power is tripled!

  Red Dragon is blinded! Blue Dragon is blinded! Green Dragon is blinded! White Dragon is blinded! Ghost Dragon is blinded!

  I darted forward, thanking my lucky stars the goggles I’d gotten from Hecate caused my vision to return nearly instantly. I rushed toward the now-named ghost dragon, watching with disgust as its stomach roiled into view, digesting what looked to be the remains of a huge, whale-like creature.

  I had one shot at this. This dragon was in control of the others, a set-up I had seen in several other boss encounters across the kingdom. The Seven Sons of Durga the Zombie King, for instance, were similar, with the titular seven sons under Durga’s control, him being the main boss and also the lynchpin, his life Energy flowing through all of them. I had a hunch these guys were the same, which meant it was very likely the “minion” dragons shared a life bar with the ghost dragon.

  There were two options in an encounter like this. You either take out all the minions to severely weaken the boss or try to take him out directly with the rest likely following. If I had had the rest of the Angels or Ori and Hecate backing me up, I’d have gone for the first plan, but solo … I’d have to go for taking out the ghost dragon in one go. But any chance of taking him out meant using Smite the Wicked, one of the few Celestial abilities I’d bothered to learn, combined with Knight’s Flurry and another Lightning Bolt, and in the process, expending all my remaining Endurance and Sanctity together. If I was wrong, I would be left at the mercy of the other dragons.

  As I heard the other dragons change direction and rush back toward me, I took a deep breath and readied myself. Then I summoned up all of my Power and every Attunement I knew and launched myself at the dragon. Holy Power surged up in me, running through the Blade of Judgment as another jolt of lightning rained down on my weapon, coiling around the metal blade like a pissed-off viper of electricity.