by Aaron Oster
Simon allowed his tension to ease as the time passed and, eventually, a grim smile broke out onto his face.
The Assassins Guild had a terrifying reputation, and they never failed to complete a job. Morgan was as good as his, and Arnold would likely be dead in a matter of days. Then he could finally rid himself of all the nuisances and focus on getting in good with the king. After all, there were still other kingdoms to conquer and King Simon had a very nice ring to it.
1
“Duck, you moron!”
Sarah’s timely and slightly insulting warning was the only thing that saved Morgan’s life. He dropped to the ground and heard a pair of stone shod hooves whistling through the space his head had occupied, only moments before. Then a hail of icy spears flew past him and impacted his assailant, prompting it to let out a scream of pain.
Morgan straightened as Sarah jogged over to him, a wide grin plastered on her face.
“I don’t see what’s so funny. I almost died just now,” he grumbled, as he turned to look at their downed foe.
“Well, the almost dying part wasn’t funny,” Sarah said, bending down near the beast and retrieving its core. “What is funny is that the mighty supermage was almost killed by a freaking donkey!”
Morgan looked down sourly at the now dead donkey, as Sarah walked past him, still snickering to herself.
It wasn’t his fault. She’d been distracting him when the donkey was sneaking up on him, and he hadn’t sensed the attack coming. She’d done it on purpose; probably to get him back for that comment he’d made about her weight the other day.
Just the thought of Sarah’s expression was enough to make his sour mood evaporate.
She might have almost gotten him killed, but it was totally worth it.
They were currently in a rank 12 beast zone. This was their first time going through this particular zone and, so far, Morgan wasn’t impressed. It seemed like Gold had some kind of sick sense of humor, and had given them a key to a beast zone filled with a new assortment of farm animals.
So far they’d run into a bunch of insanely aggressive chickens, some sheep that looked to be the evolved form of the ironwool-sheep they’d fought back in the academy, and now this; a donkey that used stealth to attack.
“Are you just going to stand there all day?”
Morgan turned to see Sarah still grinning and staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Just thinking about Gold’s sick sense of humor,” he said, walking over to her.
“Yeah. Only he would send us to a place like this,” she said, starting to walk again once he’d caught up with her.
Morgan looked around at the surrounding landscape and wondered how a place this nice could be so dangerous. A massive plain of swaying green grass spread out before them. The sky was clear and blue overhead. A light breeze wafted across, rustling the grass, and bringing the scent of wildflowers along with it.
If he could, Morgan would spend the rest of his life here. It was calm and even peaceful, as though there was nothing wrong with the world.
His illusion of peace was instantly shattered when a mass of feathers and claws launched itself at him with an angry squawk.
“Damn chickens!” he yelled, using his new gale force skill, along with condensed wind blade at the same time.
He narrowly avoided the stabbing beak of the green and yellow chicken, then brought his swirling purple blade across, cleaving the chicken in two.
“Son of a bitch!” Sarah yelled as she was drenched in feathers and chicken blood.
“Duck!” he yelled, as another one of the chickens launched itself at her.
Sarah didn’t duck, though. She whirled on the spot and thrust her hand out with a scream of rage. The chicken didn’t stand a chance. It practically exploded in a shower of blood and guts; as she used her upgraded icicle barrage skill.
She then turned to Morgan, who was doing his best not to burst out laughing at her appearance.
“Not. A. Word!” she said, turning and stalking away from him.
Morgan bent down near the two chickens and retrieved the cores. He made sure not to dismiss his wind blade, as the cost to summon a new one would be too high. Instead, he held his arm out to the side as he worked.
He straightened, clutching two slightly bloody cores in his hand and jogged back to Sarah, who was attempting to wash off the sticky mix of blood and feathers.
Morgan considered asking her to put the cores away but decided that she was best left alone for now, so he instead opened his status to view the core’s stats.
Name: Bloodsucker-chicken core
Rank - 11
Total available energy: 1,872/1,872
This core was taken from a bloodsucker-chicken and has no special properties.
Who knew a chicken could be such a good source of energy?
Morgan closed his status, and placed both cores in one of the many pockets of his canvas pants. He looked over to Sarah, who had by now managed to clean most of the blood off herself. He was walking over to ask her if she was feeling better when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw a break in the landscape off to their left. An open and bare patch of ground in an otherwise grass-covered field.
He held his hand up to shade his eyes and squinted to try and get a better look. It was no good though; the shifting grass, as well as the bright sunlight, made it nearly impossible to make anything out.
There was only one way to get a better view.
“Hey Sarah!” he called out.
Sarah stopped, turning to give him a questioning look. Morgan pointed upward and she nodded, stopping in her tracks and keeping a lookout.
Morgan used his new enhanced flight skill and took off into the air, flying straight up so he could get a better view of their surroundings. He stopped when he reached his maximum height of 60 feet and looked to the area he’d spotted from the ground.
It looks like I’d been right, he thought, examining the beasts wandering around below.
A small flock of sheep was wandering around the clearing, and standing in the center was a massive ram.
Sarah’s eyes tracked him as he came down and landed next to her with a grin.
“I found the Patriarch. Looks like it’s a ram, just like the other zone.”
Sarah groaned when she heard that.
“Yet another farm animal. Why was I expecting anything else?”
Morgan shrugged.
“You can stay here if you want. I’ll be more than happy to take the core for myself.”
“Not a chance!” Sarah said, placing her hands on her hips. “We had a deal. I agreed to take a break from traveling and come into a beast zone with you, so long as you gave me the Patriarch’s core!”
“Keep your pants on, I haven’t forgotten,” Morgan said with a dismissive wave.
It had been a challenging few days since they’d left the academy, and he’d thought coming into a beast zone to unwind would do them some good. The only problem was that Sarah had refused. Offering her the Patriarch’s core was the only way he’d gotten her to agree to join him, and now he was regretting it.
“Well then, let’s go,” she said, marching out in front of him once more, and heading in the direction he’d indicated.
Morgan stared after her for a moment, then sighed and followed after her.
This was going to be fun.
2
The ram and his flock of sheep soon came into view and Sarah came to a halt at the edge of his territory. The ram wouldn’t attack them, so long as they didn’t step out of the grass, which Morgan found quite strange.
The ram could clearly see them, so why wasn’t it attacking?
“How strong do you think the ram will be?” Sarah asked, tightening a few straps on her uniform.
“Well, the last few times, the Patriarch or Matriarch was 2 ranks higher than the other beasts, so maybe rank 14?”
“It’s going to be a tough fight if it is, especially seeing as
the sheep surrounding it will likely all be at rank 12.”
Morgan snorted out a laugh and Sarah raised an eyebrow at him.
“Sorry. I just never thought that a conversation like this would ever come up,” he said, gesturing to the gathered sheep.
Sarah flashed him a grin then, and the two of them prepared their plan of attack.
“I think the best course would be for you to use your new skill to start off,” Morgan began. “As soon as the attack hits, I’ll move in for an all-out attack. The sheep will probably go down pretty quickly, but the ram will be trouble. Try and slow it down. Maybe pin it in place. As soon as the sheep are dealt with, we’ll hit the ram together. It’s likely going to be at least 5 ranks higher than us, so let’s try and act before it can use its ability.”
Sarah thought on that for a second.
“Do you really think it’s a good idea for me to use my new skill now? If I do, I won’t have access to it for the next twelve hours.”
Morgan nodded.
“I think that we can move up in rank after this fight, so I’ll finally have enough RP for my new extra skill.”
“Alright! Let’s go murder some sheep!” Sarah said, pumping her fist in the air, prompting him to flash her a grin.
Battles like this always put him in a good mood. Judging by what the ram’s rank was likely to be, it would be a good fight.
He took up a fighting stance as Sarah prepared to use the new skill she’d acquired at rank 9. Her hands took on a bright blue glow. She brought them up and slammed them into the ground with a shout.
Sarah’s new skill was called icy wave and it was devastating. A massive wave of jagged spikes spread out in a cone shape from where her hands had impacted with the ground. They covered the distance between her and the sheep in an instant and began skewering them with razor-sharp icicles.
Morgan watched in fascination as one sheep after the next was heavily injured, or outright killed.
Now it was his turn.
Using a whopping 350 RP Morgan activated wind blade. He’d dismissed his earlier one, which in hindsight, wasn’t very well thought out. He was then forced to wait for his RP to regenerate, then activated it again. His arms snapped to the sides, and two swirling purple blades formed from the air around him. Gravity further compressed them until they were as solid as any blades made of steel.
He’d chosen to go with slashing blades because the ram was likely using a super ability. The blades also cut through the tough wool better than the piercing blade did.
He then used heavy impact and gale force at the same time. His already diminished RP began to plummet at an alarming rate, but all he needed were a few seconds. Morgan braced himself, then launched forward, activating his last skill- enhanced flight.
His massive upsurge in both strength and agility, coupled with his flight skill, propelled Morgan forward at an incredible speed. He covered the distance in a flash, making sure to keep his legs well clear of the icy spikes below him and lashed out with a powerful attack.
He sliced through the trapped sheep with the whirling blades of air coated in reiki, making it almost too easy. In just a few seconds, he’d managed to kill every single sheep in the clearing. He grimaced, deactivating his gale force and heavy impact, then quickly flew back to Sarah, who was trying to hold off an angry ram and landed beside her.
“How’s your MP looking?” Morgan asked as she used her icicle barrage, launching a mass of icy spears at their wooly assailant.
“I’ve got enough for a few more attacks, but I’ll be completely done after that. How about you?”
“Got almost nothing. I’ll be fighting with just these,” he said, waving the two blades in the air and grinning.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were enjoying this!” she yelled, as the ram finally broke free of the ice and came charging at them.
“I am!” Morgan exclaimed.
Then he activated his version of the mage shield.
Unlike Sarah’s, which was made of mana, his was made of reiki. So instead of the usual blue color one expected when seeing a mage shield, Morgan’s was a deep purple.
Because of this, he hadn’t really been able to use it much, as it would be a dead giveaway as to what he was. Now he could use it without fear of being caught, and he was excited to see what it could do.
The ram glowed an angry red as it used its ability, then it pawed at the ground and charged. Morgan met it head on, running straight at the charging monster - who was nearly as tall as him - with wild abandon.
This was what he lived for. The thrill of the fight, the excitement of facing new enemies, and the opportunity to grow stronger.
The ram slammed into him at full force and Morgan’s breath exploded out of him as his shield buckled under the force. He grinned as the ram impacted against him, and he brought his blades across its throat in a pincer attack, slashing through the wool and partway into the skin, but not deep enough to finish it.
Morgan flew through the air, managing to catch himself with his flight skill before he hit the ground, and righted himself. He looked over to the ram, who looked both perplexed and annoyed that it hadn’t managed to kill him. That was its last mistake.
A massive barrage of icy spears suddenly slammed into the side of its head, and within a few seconds, the ram lay dead. Morgan let out an annoyed sigh and let his shield flicker out.
Of course, Sarah would have to steal his fun. Why did she always need to do that?
She jogged over to him and flashed a wide grin as he dismissed his wind blades.
“We did it!”
“Yeah, we did it,” Morgan said, unenthusiastically.
“Oh, come on. Don’t get all pouty on me because I killed the ram in one attack when you couldn’t,” Sarah said, patting his cheek and laughing. “I think you owe me after treating me to that shower of chicken guts earlier.”
Morgan just nodded, turning his attention to the carcasses of the dead beasts.
“Let’s see what we got.” He said, walking over to the first of the sheep.
He retrieved the core and opened his status to view it.
Name: Steelwool-sheep core
Rank - 12
Total available energy: 2,009/2,009
This core was taken from a steelwool-sheep. As this core was taken from an evolved beast, the amount of available energy has been slightly increased.
At least the energy from the sheep wasn’t too bad.
Morgan closed his status and saw Sarah examining the Patriarch’s core with a look of delight. He walked over to her as she closed her status and raised a questioning eyebrow.
“See for yourself,” she said, handing him the core and walking towards the other sheep corpses. “Just remember that I’ve already checked how much energy there is. Don’t go taking any for yourself.”
Morgan opened the core’s status and gasped.
Name: Steelwool-ram Patriarch core
Rank - 14
Total available energy: 5,611/5,611
This core was taken from a steelwool-ram. As this core was taken from a zone Patriarch, and an evolved beast, the amount of available energy has been slightly increased.
What the hell? How did this beast give so much energy?!
He closed his status and looked over to Sarah, who twiddled her fingers at him and gave him a wink.
Morgan grimaced as he walked over to another one of the sheep corpses.
That was the last time he’d let her have the core without a fight.
It took them another few minutes to finish collecting the cores, and by then, Morgan was well and truly ready to leave.
Sarah pulled the key from the small leather bag that held all their possessions and opened a portal back to their world.
3
Walking through the portal, Morgan stepped into the utter darkness of the cave where they’d made camp for the evening. Sarah stepped out behind him, cursing lightly as she stumbled into him and nearly fell.
He heard her rummaging around for a few moments before a bright light flared, illuminating the small cavern. Morgan turned and saw her clutching a small lantern in one hand as she rummaged around in the bag. A few moments later, she produced another and placed it on the ground.
The cave was small, barely ten feet deep, but the entrance was well hidden by a small clump of bushes, making this the ideal camping spot until nightfall.
Despite their escape from the academy, there was still a war raging on between the North and Central Kingdoms. From what they’d heard, King Herald had returned from his diplomatic mission and was now leading the war effort to push the North back. The academy had become a ruin and refugees were fleeing to the South and East. There were patrols of soldiers that would pass by every once in a while, and if they ran across the wrong ones they’d likely be killed without a second thought.
“I’ll go check outside for the time,” Morgan said, stretching and walking over to the low entrance of the cave and peeked out.
The light outside the cave was dimming, but it wasn’t yet fully dark, meaning it was likely around six or so in the evening. Another hour and it would be fully dark.
He slid back into the cave and saw Sarah taking off her boots and beginning to work at the straps on the side of her shirt.
That was good. Despite washing herself off in the beast zone, she was still covered in blood, and it would likely start to stink in a few hours.
Morgan began walking over to sit down when Sarah turned to glare at him.
“What?” he asked, reaching into his pockets and fishing out a few cores.
“I’m changing.”
Morgan shrugged. “I’ve changed in front of you plenty of times.” He rummaged around for another moment before he came out with the core he’d been looking for.
