Quest into Hidden Realms (Hidden Realms LitRPG Series Book 1)

by Tom Gallier

  The battle-mage concentrated on his other spell. Despite knowing the Spell of Disorientation worked on the ghouls, he wanted to test his other spell. So Killum threw the Spell of Temporary Blindness at the hobgoblin and goblin zombies.

  "Blindness!"

  There was a slight pause in their attack, but then they continued as if nothing changed.

  "Well, that didn't work," he muttered, and started swinging his sword. Zombie blood flowed and splattered, as heads, arms, and legs flew left and right. Soon Rand and Tiana finished off the ghouls and joined them.

  "I think they are blind," Fergus said. "But they can still hear us, so continue fighting."

  That was fine with Killum. He especially wanted to slaughter the goblins, since one of them killed Asha. Despite the fact her death put the sorceress a day behind them, he understood at a primal level how horrific it was to die in that world.

  They went through pure hell before being respawned.

  "Ha! We did it!" Rand shouted, shaking his gory axe at the heavens. "I am a warrior! Bring on your unholy hordes, Lords of Darkness!"

  "Can someone please knock on wood," Tiana said. "Rand, shut up. If you jinx us, I swear I'll kill you twice."

  "Don't even joke about killing him," Killum said, walking over to where Asha died. He picked up her purse, sword belt and scabbard, and then pulled the sword out of the dead goblin. After cleaning the sword, he sheathed it. Then pointing at Asha's Robes of Concealment. "I'll carry her weapons and purse, but you can wear her magic robes, Tiana. You're used to using invisibility as a weapon."

  "Cool!" she said, snatching them up.

  "Have any of you died in this realm?" the battle-mage asked as he retrieved his Wolfsheart Spear. They shook their heads, watching him with wary eyes. "It's bad. Real bad." Killum stopped and shuddered, feeling nauseous. "When I died, it may have been the most traumatic, horrific experience of my life."

  "How so?" Tiana asked.

  "It was like going to Hell for ten to fifteen seconds. I swear, demons were biting me, ripping the flesh off my bones, and otherwise terrorizing me."

  He couldn't continue. And worse, he knew Asha had just experienced it. He didn't wish that on anyone, especially not one of his friends.

  While Rand cleaned his axe with a scrap of cloth from a dead goblin, Fergus and Tiana went around collecting their arrows. They had to cut more than a few of them out of the bodies.

  Killum looked up the road, spotting a gully cutting into the surrounding forest. Greenish water with swirls of blood red trickled in the streaming coming out of it. That had to be the dungeon, Goblin Gully.

  You've been offered Quest to Conquer Goblin Gully! Death and danger are assured, but the rewards are unknown. Do you accept this quest? Yes or No?

  "Why are the rewards always 'unknown' and the danger assured?" Killum asked. The others nodded, looking up at their prompt. He shook his head woefully, and answered. "Yes."

  Congratulations! You've accepted Quest to Conquer Goblin Gully. Fight to the death! No quarter given or received! Let the glory be yours and conquer!

  "It's the glory," Rand said. "That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. And the experience points."

  Killum glanced at all of the dead goblins, ghouls, and hobgoblins. Their butchered, blood-splattered bodies were scattered all about, including in several piles. They weren't fading away like Asha had, or mobs did in the previous realm. That was another element of realism he wasn't sure he liked. Also, their victims' blood continued to soak the players' clothes.

  "After we beat this dungeon, I think we might have to bathe and wash our clothes," he said. "This realm might be too much like real life."

  "Really?" Fergus asked. "How often do you kill people in real life?"

  A shuffling sound, followed by some growling, came from the dark gully. The battle-mage walked closer, peering inside intently, but it was too dark to see anything. It was even creepier than Deadman's Swamp.

  "Follow me. I want to stamp done on this dungeon and move on," Killum said.

  The battle-mage led the way into the gully. Rand followed, with Tiana next and Fergus bringing up the rear. The dwarf muttered things under his breath, like, "Come to daddy, my little monsters" and "Come feed my thirsty blade, my evil darlings."

  He wasn't sure if Rand really hungered for a fight that much, or if he was trying to shore up his resolve. That new realm was a lot scarier. The cost of defeat and death was much greater.

  The sound of shuffling feet alerted him. "Watch your backs! Here they come!"

  This time it was orks. Undead orks. Killum started with his lightning, but after a dozen strikes it stopped working. He cursed his stupidity, remembering the ring could only be used thirty times in twenty-four hours. So he gripped the spear in both hands and charged.

  "Die, orks!" Rand shouted. "Feel the fury of a dwarven warrior!"

  "Shut up and fight, runt," Fergus said with a strained voice. He and Tiana were shooting arrows at a furious rate, and then stopped suddenly. "Dammit. I'm out of arrows."

  "Leave Rand alone," Tiana said. She pulled her sword and belt knife. Then she activated the Robes of Concealment and vanished. Her disembodied voice continued. "I think his battle joy is cute."

  "Tiana thinks I'm cute!" Rand shouted joyfully to the heavens. "Wahoo!"

  Killum shook his head, while Tiana laughed. Fergus charged into the fray with sword and dagger. The zombie orks were unarmed, with no armor, but they were still big, super-strong orks. Living orks were usually armed and armored, and they were fast and strong. Zombie orks weren't particularly fast, but they were tenacious.

  "Keep moving forward," Killum said. "Don't stop to finish them off. Just keep moving forward."

  An ork backhanded him. The battle-mage was spun around, black and white flashing behind his eyes. For a second he didn't know up from down. The undead ork reached for his throat, but suddenly its throat erupted with blood. And then the monster's head came off.

  "There, I helped," Tiana's disembodied voice said.

  Anger boiled within. He'd come that close to dying again. Just the thought made his skin crawl. Killum cried out in fury, and charged back into the fight. He hit the gap between Fergus and Rand, slaying two orks in three swings and a thrust. He kicked another to the side that Rand promptly gutted. Tiana cried out in joy ahead of them, and then he saw another ork's head come off.

  "I see a cave," she called back. "It's guarded by humans with spears and swords."

  "Not undead humans?"

  "They look alive," she replied.

  Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level. You are now a Level 12 battle-mage!

  Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level in Spearman. You are now Level 2!

  Killum grunted in frustration. He didn't need those damned prompts in the middle of a fight. There had to be a way to turn them off. Three orks appeared in front of him. He thrust three times, jerking his gory spear back after piercing each ork's heart. They crumbled before him, forcing him to step on them as he advanced.

  "Hey, those humans are players," Tiana said. "They've got strange glowing collars around their necks. I think they are entranced."

  "We can be entranced and controlled with magic?" Fergus asked. "That sucks."

  That was the understatement of the day. Killum thought dying was bad. Being magically enslaved had to be ten times worse. Could a mage hold a player in servitude forever?

  "Ha!" Tiana cried. "Entranced or not, they die when I cut their throats!"

  He cringed. That poor player was going through hell, and it wasn't even his fault. Killum bashed aside two orks, stepping between them as Fergus and Rand slew them. He spotted the cave entrance. Four humans, three men and a woman guarded it. All very tall and very blonde. They looked like barbarian warriors, with the men wearing fur loincloths and the woman a fur bikini. One of the men was lying in a pool of blood.

  The male barbarian on the other sid
e of the cave gasped, back bowing. The tip of a sword erupted out of his chest. As he collapsed, the female barbarian turned and attacked. She caught hold of Tiana, ripping the Robes of Concealment off the thief.

  The barbarian warrior woman pounded at Tiana with her sword. The thief was barely defending herself. Killum concentrated on the woman.

  Milena. Human barbarian warrior (Lvl 23). +3 Light. PK: 1.

  "Help!" the redhead cried.

  Milena swirled her sword around Tiana's blade, and then swept it from the thief's grasp. Emotionlessly, the barbarian aimed her blade at Tiana's heart. And thrust.

  Killum raced frantically forward, and just managed to get his spearhead between them and parry the killing blow. Tiana ducked with a squeak, and raced back to the Robes of Concealment, while the barbarian chick turned on Killum.

  "My master commands you to die," she said, and thrust at his throat.

  The battle-mage batted the sword aside, and then spun around backwards to kick her in the hip. The barbarian stumbled back against a tree. She didn't hesitate charging him. Killum feigned a thrust at her face, and when she fell for it, he lowered his point and let the Wolfsheart Spear do its magic. The spear pierced her heart, coming out her back a good six inches, before he yanked it out of her.

  The barbarian woman fell to her knees before him, an incredulous look on her pretty face. She looked down at the bloody spot deep in her cleavage, and then lifted her eyes to Killum.

  "Thank you for freeing me."

  He looked around to find all of the barbarian guardians dead. It looked like Rand got the last kill. Killum wasn't sure how Rand felt about player kills. Fergus and Tiana definitely didn't want any, but they were all getting them in that realm. Oddly enough, Tiana had the most PKs at four.

  She's killed four players in two days, he thought. Not even two days. It's still earlier than when we came over yesterday.

  Fergus and Tiana started collecting arrows. Killum just stood there resting. He hadn't been that exhausted in a long time. And never while playing a video game. Then the four barbarians began fading away, leaving behind weapons, purses, and those collars around their necks.

  A tall, thin man wrapped in black robes stepped out of the cave. The man was ghoulishly pale, with black eyes. He looked at the bloody spots where the four barbarians died and then caught Killum's eyes. He smiled cruelly, showing a pair of inch long fangs.

  Vampire necromancer (Lvl 18). -45 Dark.

  "Mob vamp!" Killum cried. "Watch out, he's a level 18 necromancer, and very Dark."

  The vampire held an elaborate bone-white staff in his right hand. He glowed with a faint blue fire. He lifted his left hand, with a silver bracer upon it. The silver had a design worked into it that made the battle-mage's eyes ache and water to look upon. The four collars flew up into his open hand.

  "It annoys me mightily that you slew my minions." The vampire's voice sounded like a death rattle, and made Killum's skin crawl worse than fingernails on a blackboard. "You will replace them."

  "Like hell we will," Fergus said.

  The vampire looked at him, and smiled. One of the collars flew out of his hand at lightning speed, hitting Fergus in the neck. It wrapped around his throat and fastened. The ranger stiffened, a shocked look on his face. Then his eyes went blank, and he fell to his knees.

  "I am yours to command, master."

  "Screw that!" Rand screamed, and the other three charged the vampire.

  Killum's heart skipped a beat when the vampire threw another collar at the dwarf. Rand managed to bat it aside with his axe, but the collar flew straight to Tiana's neck. She dropped her sword to clutch at her throat, but then her eyes went blank and she fell to her knees.

  "I am yours to command, master."

  The vampire started to throw another collar at Rand, but Killum reached him first. He thrust the spear through the vampire's heart. The undead necromancer gasped, and then turned to grin at him. "That won't kill me, fool." Then he commanded, "Minions, catch and hold them for me."

  Killum was forced to jump back. Rand moved to the opposite side of the vampire.

  As Fergus and Tiana stood to obey, the battle-mage tried to cast the Spell of Temporary Blindness, but it didn't work. The Spell of Disorientation failed as well. How much time had passed since he last used them? Killum couldn't remember their cooldown periods, but it couldn't be more than ten or fifteen minutes.

  "Everything's happening too fast."

  Killum pulled his sword and attacked. Rand reached the vampire at the same time. The dwarf's axe bit deep into the vampire necromancer's chest, but only staggered him. When the vampire started to throw a collar at the dwarf again, Killum swung at his arm and severed it just below the elbow.

  "What the hell?" Fergus said. "I'm free."

  Killum thrust-kicked the wounded vampire back against the cave entrance, and then savagely decapitated the necromancer. "I’d like to see you survive that!"

  The battle-mage sighed gustily after looking around to ensure there were no more foes to kill. He grimaced down at the dead vampire, knowing he'd come close to being magically subjugated and enslaved. Fergus was cursing up a storm as he struggled to get the collar off. Rand was helping Tiana remove hers.

  "Figures," he said, shaking his head.

  Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level. You are now a Level 13 battle-mage!

  Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level in Swordsmanship. You are now Level 4!

  Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level in hand-to-hand fighting. You are now Level 3!

  Picking up the staff, he felt the evilness of it creep under his skin.

  Congratulations! You have won the Staff of Calling! Call up the dead to serve your every whim. Must be -1 Dark and level 10 or higher to use.

  Congratulations! You've earned 2 Player Kills and won a Dark Object of Power, thus giving you 1 Point to Dark!

  Setting that aside, Killum checked the vampire necromancer's robes and belt. There was a black leather purse, with a few coins inside. He tossed it next to the staff. Then he carefully removed the bracer from that severed arm.

  Congratulations! You have won the Bracer of Subjugation! Collar and enslave friends and enemies alike. Build an army, or a harem. No usage restrictions.

  "Oh my god, anyone can use this," Killum whispered. "At least it isn't a Dark object. I don't need another point toward Dark."

  They collected the barbarian's weapons and purses. Between the vampire and four barbarians, they gained thirteen silver and ninety-eight copper shekels. The vampire's purse also had two small rubies, and the barbarians all had dropped numerous silver and gold rings, earrings, and necklaces.

  They checked the cave, and found five simple beds made of piled up furs. Some simple foodstuffs, and a roasting pig. No altars. No treasure or artifacts. Nothing.

  "Worse dungeon ever!" Rand declared. "Hardly worth the effort."

  "Definitely not worth getting Asha killed," Tiana said. "Yes, that sucks. I'm starting to develop a bad attitude for this realm."

  "We can still sell the magic staff and bracer," Killum said. "Speaking of, the bracer and its collars kind of freak me out. Someone wrap them up in a pelt and carry it. I'll take the staff."

  Killum and Tiana wrapped the staff in pelts, too. Then she helped him tie it across his back. Holding it was discombobulating and distracting. Wrapped up and across his back was much better. Fergus bound the bracer and collars in a tight bundle with another pelt. The elf found a small pack inside the cave and stuffed the bundle inside.

  Killum gave each of them three silver coins, twenty four coppers. Since each coin was made to be cut into as many as four equal bits, they cut up the remaining coins and each got a quarter of a silver and half a copper shekel. He put the jewelry in Fergus' pack. Fergus and Rand settled up their loans to him, and they decided to divide the rest of it up after they sold the jewelry and magic
al items in Knaresburg. Asha wasn't to get a cut, since Fergus, Rand, and Tiana all agreed she died too early in the fight to earn it.

  Killum paused to drink healing and mana restoring potions and to check his stats, pulling up Skills and Possessions, too.

  Current status:

  Name: Killum

  Race: Human (European)

  Class: Battle-mage (Novice)

  Level: 13 (7% to next level)

  Alignment: -1 Dark

  Health: 78/100

  Strength: 22/30

  Endurance: 17/30

  Agility: 20

  Mana: 150

  Skills: (Click to View/Hide)

  Social:

  Bartering (Lvl 2).

  Fighting:

  Swordsmanship (Lvl 4).

  Spearman (Lvl 2).

  Hand-to-Hand (Lvl 3).

  Survivor Skills:

  Foraging (Lvl 2).

  Spellcasting:

  Simple fire.

  Fireballs.

  Spell of Disorientation.