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

by Tom Gallier

  Ka-boom!

  Killum was blown backwards a dozen feet. Blackness sucked him down fast. His friends rushed over before he died, including the dragon. All he wanted to do was order Gyevikxus to protect them.

  "Gye – Gyevikxus," he gasped out. The dragon was sucked into his helmet as he continued. "I want you to… Oh crap."

  Chapter 39

  They just stared at their friend's body. Lord Kathro's bolt left Killum bloody and tattered. One arm was missing, and most of his guts. Bile burned Asha's throat, and nausea threaten to explode out. She averted her burning eyes, quickly wiping the tears away.

  He's not really dead, she told herself. Her eyes disagreed. It helped when his body faded away.

  Asha picked up his Power Sword, purse, and Ring of Lightning. The helmet was Bound to him. She left his armor on the ground. It was too big for her to wear and too heavy to carry. There was little chance anyone would steal it.

  "Where is his Wolfsheart Spear?"

  "Back with the mule, I guess," Rand said. "With the rest of our stuff."

  "And my staff?" They nodded. She shook her head. "This is ridiculous. The first thing I buy with my cut of the treasure is an inventory spell."

  The others nodded solemnly.

  Shouts rose up from inside the castle. Lord Kathro was no longer atop the keep. She guessed they were preparing for the coming assault by the four of them. Asha would prefer to wait for Killum to return, but time was of the essence. Yet, there was something else they needed to deal with first.

  "We have a moment of opportunity," Asha said. "Scatter. Find a safe place and designate a new respawn site."

  Three sets of astonished eyes looked upon her.

  "You seriously want us to take the time to create new respawn sites?" Fergus asked.

  "Do you want to take the chance of being sent all the way back to the dragon's lair if you are killed?" she snapped, eyes flashing. "I am depending on you being here for me. Rand and Tiana are depending on you. We all depend on each other."

  Fergus didn't want to let it go, but Tiana jumped in. "Instead of arguing the point ad nauseam, let's just do it and get it over with."

  To end the fight with Fergus, Asha gave a nod and turned toward the forest. She used her levitating spell to propel herself a good ways down the side of the mountain pass. Not too far, though. She estimated it would take her five minutes to run back up to the castle and rejoin her friends if she were killed.

  "Wish I had a flying dragon like Killum," she muttered after the respawn site was created. The spot wasn't anything special, but was only a few seconds run from the road. "I wonder how fast he can fly back up here?"

  They'd all designated respawn sites within the dragon's lair. That was four days walk to the south, but the dragon was pretty fast. Gye could probably cover a day's walk in less than an hour. So, Killum should return in less than four hours. She had no idea how fast the dragon could fly.

  I hope a lot faster.

  Asha heard the clash of steel as she approached Warlord's Castle. Rand and Tiana were fighting a mixed group of undead goblins, humans, and a dwarf minotaur. The short, stout minotaur charged her right away. The monster had several serious wounds, none of which seemed to be bothering him. The two-foot length of intestines flopping around on his left side freaked her out a little.

  Pulling both of her swords, the sorceress met the mini-minotaur halfway. He fought with a pair of single-bladed axes. They exchanged a flurry of thrusts, jabs, and parries, before she kicked straight up and connected with his chin. That stunned him for half a second, giving her the opportunity to take his head.

  A trio of undead humans in pelt loincloths and war-paint charged her. She turned to meet them, but three perfectly placed arrows flew past her and thudded into their hearts. Three zombies dropped to their knees, gave her an embarrassed look, and keeled over dead at her feet.

  "You're welcome, sorceress," Fergus said as he strode onto the battlefield.

  The castle's iron-bound gates began to swing closed. The portcullis remained raised, so they hadn't found the problem. Asha smiled. Lord Kathro's undead minions weren't the brightest monkeys in the tree, which was what she'd hoped.

  "Get inside before they close the gates!"

  Asha raced toward the gate, building momentum, before leaping high and using her Levitate spell to fly towards the gate. She threw thunderbolts at the two ogres they had pushing the heavy gates closed. The ogres stopped and raged at her, giving her the time needed to concentrate intense fire on of the giant doors.

  It was constant thunder for a moment as she hovered before the gatehouse and rained down thunderbolts on one side of the gate until the iron-bound oak splintered apart. Fergus and Rand attacked the ogres, dancing around them and calling out taunts. The undead beasts lashed out blindly in their confusion. Fergus quickly found their weak spot. An arrow through an eye and into their tiny brain put them down.

  Tiana zipped past them and through the long tunnel. Arrows and hot oil came down out of the murder holes, but she was too fast. Rand paused, scowling. There was no way he was fast enough to survive that gauntlet of death.

  The sorceress landed between the two men as fireballs began raining down from the top of the gatehouse. A man and woman were throwing them. Asha grabbed her friends' hands.

  "Hang on."

  She extended her Levitate spell to include them, and leapt up. It used up three times as much mana, but in a heartbeat all three of them were atop that gatehouse. The sorceress used Killum's Power Sword to fight the two mages. Crystals glinted from both of their foreheads, giving the sorceress a chill. That's what Lord Kathro had planned for her. Magical subjugation and forced to join his horde. Eternally enslaved to evil.

  She attacked straight on, while Rand and Fergus went after the other guards. Both mages were mobs, but their power was real. One was level 19, but the other just level 6.

  Asha charged in behind her Shield Ring. Fireball after fireball burst upon the magical barrier and didn't impede her progress in the least. She threw a pair of fireballs and forced them to split up. She reached the woman first, thrusting the Power Sword deep into her chest.

  The mage's chest exploded and made the other mage panic. He took off running. Asha hit him with Bind, which made him freeze in place. A pair of orks came up out of the open door and one of them cut him down to clear his path.

  "Help!" Tiana cried down in the bailey.

  The sorceress jumped over the two orks and down into the inner ward. She spotted the thief in front of the keep's open entrance and surrounded by Dread Ones, fighting them off like a spitfire. Asha attacked them from behind, cutting down five before they realized she'd come to the rescue. Five seconds later she found herself next to Tiana, and surrounded by undead minions.

  "You were supposed to save me, not join me," Tiana said.

  "My mistake," she said.

  It was all Asha could do to keep the Dread Ones at bay with the Power Sword. There were too many of them, and they demanded her full attention. She had no time to consider which spell to use, much less cast it. It wasn't long before her arms began to tire.

  "I seriously need a couple of Healing potions to combat my fatigue," Tiana gasped out.

  Asha worried they were about to be overwhelmed and dragged down into undeath. Then an arrow transfixed the ork's head right in front of her. Then another arrow through another head, and another, and another.

  "Die zombies!" Rand shouted. "Red ruin to you all!"

  Zombies turned around to meet the new threat. Tiana cried out in joy, and Asha felt a rush of adrenaline. They redoubled their efforts, and a few minutes later all of the zombies were dead.

  "Wow, that was… Not fun," Tiana said, bent over huffing and puffing. "I don't think I've ever been this tired in real life."

  "True," Asha whispered. She downed a Healing potion between pants. "This is brutal. Everyone, be quick about it and drink a Healing potion or two. We have to be at full strength before going inside
."

  They all turned as one to stare at the dark, open door into the main keep. Somewhere in there waited Lord Kathro. But first they'd have to fight their way through his horde of goblins, orks, and other undead minions.

  Chapter 40

  "Let's kick Lord Kathro's ass before Killum returns," Rand said. "That'll teach him to never get killed again. Ha-ha!"

  Asha looked at Fergus. "You're right. He's quite mad."

  Rand grinned at the sorceress, and then he looked at Tiana. He never felt so alive. The more realistic the Game became, the more he loved it. This is Realm of Battle on steroids! The blood and guts of battle called to him. It excited him to the core, and he saw something in the others' eyes, too.

  "If I reach Lord Kathro first, I get to pick which one of you ladies has to sleep with me tonight," he said. Their eyes widened. He continued before they could protest. "And when I kill him, I get to claim you both! Ménage à trois glory will be mine!"

  "You can't handle the two of us," Tiana said.

  He caught and held her eyes. "We'll see."

  "Wait, what do we get if we reach him first?" Asha asked.

  A thrill rippled through the dwarf warrior. Neither had refused. Even better, Fergus noticed and scowled.

  "Then you can choose between me, Fergus, or Killum as your playmate."

  A prompt popped up before him, even as Asha and Tiana looked up at theirs.

  A wager is offered! Reach and kill Lord Kathro first. Winner gets his or her pick of lovers! Your victory will be all the sweeter! Do you accept this wager? Yes or No?

  "Yes, I accept," Rand cried, wondering if the game would compel the women to pay up.

  Congratulations! You've accepted the Wager to Reach and Kill Lord Kathro first. Fight to the death! No quarter given or received! Let the glory be yours in victory with two eager to please women!

  Both Tiana and Asha gasped. They turned shocked eyes on him, and he returned a wicked grin. Neither one had agreed, nor did they refuse. It was on!

  Rand felt a tingle surge through him as he turned to the yawning double doors. The sounds of movement and rattle of armor reached him. The bad guys were preparing. As far as he was concerned, they'd already had too much time to get ready. So he shook his battle-axe at the keep, feeling his battle-fury rise.

  "Castle, you are mine!"

  The dwarf warrior charged in with a battle cry. He heard the others follow. Asha sent a fireball over him to burst against a line of drow warriors, scattering them. With a savage stroke of his axe, Rand burst through their crumbling line and entered the keep.

  For a second, he was blinded by going from bright sunlight to interior darkness. But dwarves were creatures of the underground. He could see better in the dark than any of his friends, and only the drow had night vision as good as his.

  "Ladies, watch me smite my enemies," he cried.

  Fergus and Tiana sent arrows all about, feathering the undead fiends. Only the arrows that pierced the heart or brain killed zombies, so most of their shots were wasted. Not so his strokes. Every swing of his battle-axe severed arms, legs, or heads. Soon the stone floor was slick with the slimy blood of his enemies.

  "I am a god of battle!"

  The vast entry chamber was lit by torches on the walls. Rand fought his way to the middle, and paused to look around while his comrades kept the horde busy. His smile was huge as he spied two staircases, one on either side of the chamber, with a third between them leading deep beneath the castle. Thoughts of the castle's dungeons intrigued him.

  Rand knew a moment of uncertainty. The castle's treasure was surely down below, and he judged it would be a vast treasure to rival Gyevikxus' back in the lair. But then his eyes fell upon Tiana's lithe form, fighting with sensuous grace. And Asha, with the body of a bikini model, so fast and just as graceful as the thief.

  I'm going for the glory, not the treasure, he thought. Hell, the women AND the treasure will be mine when I claim this castle by killing Lord Kathro.

  A detachment of dwarf warriors, led by a dwarf wizard, came up out of the dungeons. Rand's eyes flashed. How dare Lord Kathro kill and zombify dwarves! Rand saw red and attacked those vile corruptions of his magnificent race.

  "I will free you, my brothers, from Lord Kathro!"

  He charged them. The wizard dropped back behind the warriors, who all formed a line and lowered their spears. Rand reached them a second later, swinging at their spears. He ducked and spun under the line of presented spears, getting inside their guard. They didn't break rank, making his dwarven heart soar. No dwarf, living or undead, feared death in battle. He barked a laugh and cut down one, two, three warriors.

  Thunderbolts struck the line to his left, while Fergus put arrows into the eyeholes of dwarven helmets. The wizard pointed his wand at Rand. It began to glow, but Tiana zipped past Rand and snatched the wand out of the dwarf wizard's hand. Rand took the top half of the wizard's head off a second later.

  "Teamwork!" Rand cried. "We're the best team ever."

  He spotted a dozen goblins coming down the stairs to his left. With a mighty battle cry, Rand launched himself at them. They were armed with those weirdly curved bronze khopesh swords of ancient times. The goblins had no armor, and just wore undyed homespun trousers. Their complexion was the grayish-green of undead goblins.

  "I grant you the death of heroes," Rand shouted as he plowed into them.

  Bronze swords bounced off his enchanted helmet and armor as he slashed left and right, splattering goblin blood everywhere. The stench of it was awful. Worse than human blood by far.

  "Aaiiee," he cried, slipping on the blood-slick marble stairs. He looked up to see a goblin poised for a death stroke. Rand was already starting to curse his rotten luck when a sword from behind passed overhead to kill the goblin. "Thanks, Asha!"

  "Be careful, Rand," she said, as they each turned in a different direction to attack their foes. "We have to stick together if we hope to win the day."

  "A-ha!" he cried, taking off the head of the last goblin. "Nice try, my desert rose, but you won't keep me from reaching Lord Kathro first."

  Rand raced up the stairs. Asha cried out for him to stop. He laughed and continued upward. Victory and glory were at the top of those stairs. In a matter of minutes he could reach Lord Kathro before any of the others, defeat him in mortal combat, and claim Tiana, Asha, and the castle as his own!

  Bards will sing of my glory. I'll be a great legend in the Kingdom of Kumar. Hell, I'll be a king, he thought. He paused at the next level up, seeing a corridor passing through the keep to the other side, another corridor followed the wall all of the way around the edge, with the stairs continuing up to his right. He glanced back down the stairs, grinning. And Fergus will stew in his jealous juices.

  A loud crash of arms back in the entry made him hesitate. Did his friends need him? But then a pair of orks appeared in the corridor and took challenging stances. They weren't zombies, so even more dangerous. His hands tightened on his axe's thick haft, eyes narrowing.

  "The glory is mine!" he shouted and charged.

  Chapter 41

  Tiana sent an arrow through the heart of a goblin running up the stairs after Rand. Panic hit her for a second, afraid Rand might actually get to Lord Kathro first. Would he pick her over Asha? The thief couldn't imagine anyone choosing her over the sorceress, but then the dwarf had been watching her more than usual.

  Did I really agree to that challenge? Does not refusing it constitute acceptance?

  Asha was halfway up the stairs and following Rand. It was much more likely the sorceress would reach Lord Kathro first, and defeat him. Still…

  Fergus grunted, stumbling back from a group of ork Dread Ones. He was too pressed to use his bow, so was fighting with a sword. One of them struck him, but she didn't see blood. It didn't look good for the elven ranger. Then Asha came tumbling back down the stairs, with the last of the goblins racing down after her. The thief saw a path she could speed along where she could help both of her
friends.

  Activating the Ring of Speed, Tiana took off like a bullet toward Fergus. She hit that gap between him and the orks, while swinging her sword and slicing open the orks' bellies. Once past she only had to veer a little and she'd reach Asha long before the goblins got to her.

  "Ugh," she cried.

  The last ork in line swung the round shield she hadn't noticed. The speeding thief was struck in the shoulder, which sent her off in a new direction. In a heartbeat she found herself streaking over the edge of the staircase going down into the dungeons. She was airborne a second, bounced off the descending ceiling, and crashed in a heap at the base of the stairs one level down.

  "Uggh. Ooooh, that fucking hurt."

  She rolled onto her back, hearing heavy footsteps coming quickly down the stairs. She'd lost the sword, and the bow across her back was snapped in two. Tiana pulled her long belt knife, and struggled to her knees.

  Last act of defiance before I die?

  Two of the orks she attacked, including the shield holder, came down the stairs. They trailed entrails, and even their arms and faces showed signs of brutal, bloody attack. One of them was missing an eye, and another missing his nose, left cheek, and left ear. Both carried spiked maces.

  Tiana spotted her sword atop the stair's bottom tread. She clutched her left hand, with the Ring of Speed, and willed herself super fast. And nothing happened.

  "What the hell?"

  It took her a second to remember there were usage restrictions. She wasn't sure how many times she'd used it, or how long they'd been fighting. Seemed like days on end.

  "Sometimes my life sucks."

  The redhead quickly rose and took off running away. The Dread Ones followed silently. She ran about twenty feet, but not too fast. She wanted them to catch up. Just before they came within striking range, Tiana cut a crafty look back at them, before feigning right, and taking off to the left and around.