by Jakob Tanner
The guard led us back to the throne room.
King Galmund grinned when he saw us turn up in his throne room. He clapped his hands. My HUD filled with messages.
You have successfully completed Quest: The Serpra Overlord in the Storm Mountains!
Congratulations! Your primary class (Druid) has leveled up (Level 31). You have gained (1) class skill point for your primary class.
Congratulations! Your primary class (Druid) has leveled up (Level 32). You have gained (1) class skill point for your primary class.
“My guards will show you to the tunnel passage leading to Iron Citadel,” said the king. “Now begone, before I break my word.”
We all shrugged. We were used to the Rorn’s lack of concern for the favor we did for them. Or as the guard had put: the favor we had done for ourselves.
The guard led us back through the city towards a different ridge than the one we came from. He took us to the entrance of another dark passage.
“Go beyond here, follow the river when you get to it and you will eventually find the exit to the mountain slopes where Iron Citadel resides.”
We nodded our heads.
Shade whistled at the Rorn city below us.
“I’d like to say it was nice knowing you,” said Shade talking to the city. “But I really can’t.”
The Rorn guard replied: “On behalf of all of us here, we feel the same.”
28
“We will be at Iron Citadel in the next twenty-four hours,” said Will.
“Good,” I said.
“May I ask: let’s say you succeed and beat Konrad Takeshimi, what then? Do you ever think about that?”
“I haven’t really,” I said.
“I think about it sometimes,” said my brother. “And I’ve decided: if we make it through all of this, I want to set up a restaurant. An old school diner. I want to bring pancakes to the people of Illyria!”
“Really?” I said. “You don’t seem like a diner guy.”
“Younger me probably wasn’t,” said Will. “I spent so much of my adult life helping rich people get richer, but never focusing on what I wanted. I feel like serving yummy food to people would make me happy. You could be my chef.”
My eyes widened. “Wow. So then I can make you richer.”
Will laughed. “I guess so. You can think about it.”
We carried on down the tunnel. Will spoke up again. “In the more immediate future, do you have a plan once you capture the castle? What’s your next step? Siege Ryr’s Ascension? Do you think such actions will convince the people of Arethkar to trust you?”
“When the people of Arethkar see we can win and can overthrow Konrad and his oppressors on the high council, then they will trust us and they will come.”
Will nodded his head, taking in my words. “Alright, little bro. You’re the boss.”
A rattling came from up ahead. I put my arm in front of Will to get him to stop moving ahead.
“Do you hear that?” I whispered.
Everyone in the party stopped moving.
Emerging from beyond the tunnel was a metal spider made of gold and brass. It had a bright glowing crystal at the center of it. It clickety-clacked towards us. Another metal spider followed behind.
“What the heck are those?” said Shade, rubbing his eyes.
“Rorn spider automatons,” said Jackson. “They’re used for mining crystal mana and other materials. They’re usually accompanied by—“
Two spheres rolled into the tunnel chamber. They moved past the spiders and paused. Lines on the surface of the spheres appeared and then springing open from within the ball was a taller automaton with glowing red eyes and sharp metal pincers for arms.
“Initiating intruder assessment,” buzzed one of the pincer automatons. “Assessment: enemy. Attack. Kill.”
The two automatons moved towards us.
“Let’s get this over with,” said Serena, charging ahead. She yelled, “Protect Thy Allies.” Her shout sent a reverberating wave into the metal creatures. All their eyes turned on her.
The pincer robot came at her first and Serena triggered her block-counter ability. The pincer met her blade, only for Serena to make a rapid spin and slash her giant metal blade right into the robot’s side. The automaton collapsed on the ground, the different gears and parts spilled out. It laid uselessly on the tunnel floor.
“Pff,” said Serena. “Trash mobs.”
The other pincer automaton came at her. Serena’s blade clashed with the metal arm. She lifted up her foot and kicked the robot in the chest. It wheeled back and fell to the ground. She leapt above it and swung her sword, slicing the robot in half with her crushing blow ability.
“Well that was easy,” said Serena, standing over the dismembered parts of the automaton, wiping her forehead.
“Watch out,” yelled Jackson.
Right behind her was the other automaton, the one she’d destroyed.
“What the—“ yelled Serena, holding up her blade to block the attack.
The spider-automatons had repaired the fallen pincer robot and were now heading over to the one Serena had just crushed to repair it.
Jackson ran into the battle. He leapt in the air and came falling back to the ground with a flaming punch, taking out one of the spider automatons.
“Always take out the healer first,” grinned Jackson.
I threw out my arms, casting air blast, sending the fallen pincer robot’s different parts out in different directions.
With one of the healers down, Serena crushed the pincer automaton with ease, first countering its attack and then responding with a crushing blow.
The only remaining automaton was one of the metal spiders. “Initiating Self-Destruct.” The spider vibrated. The metal at the top of its head glowed brighter and brighter.
“Oh crap,” I said. “Kill the spider before it kills us all!”
We descended upon it with all our offensive power. The robot was dead before it had a chance to explode and cave us in.
“Phew,” said Shade. “That was close.”
We looked around the tunnel. The coast was clear.
“Let’s keep moving,” I said.
We headed forward. We walked another fifteen minutes before more noise echoed down the tunnel. More automatons? No, there was murmurs and laughter. It was people. We clung to the shadows of the tunnel. Bright orange light of a crackling fire emerged in the distance. The walls of the tunnel disappeared, becoming a ridge over another passageway. In the tunnel below ours was a large regiment of soldiers. They were drinking and laughing. Their shields, flags, and banners all bearing the symbols of Arethkar.
29
I clung to the tunnel walls. I let the shadows envelop me, cloak and protect me, hide me from the nearby danger. The rest of the party did the same.
I cast moonskin, my skin going transparent in the dark tunnel, the contours of my body only visible to myself and my party members. I stepped out from our hiding spot and took in our enemy’s encampment. There were multiple tents set up, weapon racks, more than one bonfire going. This was more than a regiment. It was a small army. Most of the soldiers appeared of the standard Arethkarian variety: warriors with bulging muscles and magitech armor pumping mana into their veins. The amount of genetic engineering Arethkar did on its people was enough to make you sick. Even the non-Chosen soldiers, while not enslaved, were pumped with different technologies and spells to diminish their personhood and transform them into mindless fighting machines.
In the center of the encampment was a skinny swordsmen with long black hair. He was barking orders to those around him. This must be the leader of the group. He was Haeren, except he had spindly black demon wings poking out of his shoulders. Ugh. He was a corrupted fragment like the other Arethkarian generals I’d fought: Oren Kaige with the crab arm and Deirdra with the spider body. Now this guy. An underling brought him food. He took a taste before spitting it out. He smacked the small kid across the face.
&nb
sp; “I told you not to bring me the same shit the others are eating,” snarled the man.
The kid nodded his head vigorously and apologized over and over again.
“Shut up,” he said. “Be gone.”
The kid ran off.
This guy was a total prick. No big surprise there.
I stepped away from the ridge and back into the shadows. I turned towards the group. A message came up in the party chat on my HUD.
Serena: Well?
I didn’t even know where to start.
Clay: It’s quite a big force down there. They must be heading to Iron Citadel as well.
Kari: Aw, crap.
Clay: Worse, they have a douchebag of a general. Some guy with demonic wings in the back. Will—have you heard of this guy?
Will: General Syrus. That’s not good. He’s one of Konrad’s top generals. He’s a complete psychopath too. He’s been known to kill his own party members if he deems them unworthy.
Serena: Sounds like a real Arethkarian bastard. How do we proceed?
I paused to think. We had two options. We sneak past them, or we fight them. Fighting them meant we would be securing our hold on Iron Citadel. The only problem was we’d be risking our overarching plan and we didn’t really have much of an advantage over them in this current scenario. I wrote back in party chat.
Clay: I vote we sneak.
Shade: My man! You’re speaking my language.
We crouched and moved over to the other end of the tunnel. If we stayed hunched over and kept quiet, we’d be able to sneak across the ridge while staying out of most of the soldier’s line of sight. Then we’d continue down the tunnel path we were on, easy-peasy.
I took one tiny step across the ridge when a voice came from behind.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
My whole body froze.
It wasn’t any of my fellow party members.
I slowly turned around, making sure I stayed quiet. Behind us were three Rorn soldiers accompanied by King Galmund himself.
“Galmund,” I whispered, shocked. “What are you doing here? You followed us?”
“That I did,” said the king.
“We had a deal.”
“Silly Aeri,” said the king. “Why would you ever trust me? A pact between a Rorn and an Aeri is as good a deal as a pact between a fox and a hare. Meaningless.”
My stomach sank. This was exactly what Will and I had been discussing earlier. How are you going to get the Arethkarian people to trust you? I shook my head. All I was trying to do was make things better for everyone and yet all these people were rejecting it.
“Whoah, hold on,” I said. “We helped you. We took out the Serpra Overlord for you. Whatever deal you’ve made with Arethkar—how can you trust them? We did the thing you asked for? The deed you needed to get done?”
You increased your bartering skills by 0.1
“I sent you to the Serpra Overlord to die, Aeri,” hissed the king.
“And we didn’t,” I said. “Have we not proved we’re strong allies you’d want to work with?”
You increased your bartering skills by 0.1
The king scratched his chin. Was I potentially swaying him?
“I’m sorry little stupid Aeri boy, but you’re never going to be strong enough to take on Arethkar. Sure you’ll win a battle here and there, but the war is theirs. Allying myself with you would only be signing up for the demise of myself and my people.”
Barter Failed.
I sent a message in party chat.
Clay: Shade, attack!
Shade appeared from the darkness, backstabbing Galmund for an epic critical hit. Blood spurt out of the Rorn king’s back. The squadron went after Shade, while the one healer with them attended to Galmund.
Back in party chat, I sent more directions.
Clay: Guys, let’s try and take out this squadron without alerting the regiment below. C’mon let’s do this!
Serena charge striked the Rorn squad. She triggered blade tornado right as she made contact with the group of warriors. The Rorn defended themselves from the attack. They lifted up their shields in unison. Then smacked them into the air. The force of their collective defense, created a reverberating kickback, shooting Serena backwards through the air. She flew across the ridge and crash landed right in the center of the Arethkarian encampment.
So much for the stealth plan.
The Arethkarian soldiers got up off the ground and lifted their weapons towards Serena. She got onto her feet and held her blade up. She spun in a slow circle, keeping her blade lifted, threatening the soldiers with her skills if they were to get too close. Even still, the soldiers came at her from all angles. She triggered blade tornado. She became an undecipherable blur of steel, chopping off the limbs of the soldiers attempting to get closer.
It was a good opening play, but there were still so many soldiers and only one of her. She wouldn’t win the battle of attrition.
“You guys,” I said, talking to the rest of the party. “Focus on the Rorn. I’ll go get Serena.”
I burst into a crackle of electricity. I reappeared below in the encampment. My stomach lurched at the sight of all the angry soldier’s faces, so close up. Their fear, anger, and adrenaline all mixed into a terrifying sight.
I electric blinked through the crowd of soldiers to Serena.
“Hop on,” I said.
Serena jumped on my back and I power jumped into the air, creating a stairwell of mana puddles above the fray of soldiers. I carried us back to the ridge where the rest of the party was fighting the Rorn.
“Let’s hurry down this passage,” I said, as Serena climbed off my back.
“They outnumber us, but we can better our odds by bottlenecking them in the tunnel over here.”
We hurried away from the soldiers. The Rorn charging after us. The Arethkarians were climbing up the ridge and following right behind.
“Alright guys, defensive positions,” I said.
Serena stepped in front of us all, holding up her blade. Shade and Jackson stood at her rear. Will, Kari, and I stood at the back.
I threw out my arms and cast flame wall in front of us all. The Rorn were the first to reach us. Serena triggered blade tornado, combining her swirling blade with my defensive line of magical flames.
I then stretched out my arms again. This time on the ground I created a long plate of ice on the floor. I shot off another air blast, sending the Rorn sliding across the ice and knocking into the incoming Arethkarian soldiers.
The attacks created enough blood and guts on the ground for Will to trigger his warlock AoE move: blood storm. The blood on the ground erupted in bright red demonic flames, burning those across the battlefield.
I added more to the stacking AoE attacks, crumbling the ground at the fighters’ feet.
Kari threw out a +50 ATKP buff onto Serena, right as she shoved her blade into the throat of an Arethkarian spearmen.
Jackson defended his rear with an AoE punch to the ground, creating an earthquake-like effect, stunning the incoming attackers. He then powered up his fists with the bright blue dragon magic and burned the skin off his surrounding enemies with every punch.
Shade, on the other end, was sliding around and playing the warriors off each other. He slid between the legs of an incoming attacker and had the spearman stab the eye of one of his allies. Next he pulled out his kunai and threw out a ranged spinning shadow attack.
We were winning. The Rorn squad was out of sight, either dead or retreated. The Arethkarian soldiers, however, kept on coming.
Jackson whipped his foot into the jaw of a soldier, sending him flying backwards into the ground where sharp rocks stabbed right through his stomach.
A bright orb flew across the battlefield and into the deceased soldier’s body. His body lit up and the soldier stood up with a gaping hole in his stomach before the white light sealed his whole body together. He had been revived.
General Syrus barked orders from the
back of the line, screaming at his soldiers. “KILL THEM!”
“I don’t think we’re going to win this fight,” said Serena, slashing her sword against three Arethkarian soldiers.
“She’s right,” said Will, casting more AoE blood magic.
“There’s only one option then guys,” I said. “RUN!”
30
My heart raced. My throat burned. I threw out my arms, casting shocking speed on myself and the rest of the party. I electric blinked ahead, only to spin around and cast earthquake right over the ground we’d passed. My spell tore up the cavern floor, turning it into shards of rock, difficult to maneuver over.
The tunnel grew brighter and we eventually entered a wide open chamber. Far above was an opening—an exit from the mountain dungeon. The bright white light from beyond shone across the chamber.
“There’s the exit,” I said.
“How do we get up there?” said Serena.
There was no staircase or easy way to ascend. Ridges and smaller cliff faces poked out from the mountain walls. It was a jumping puzzle. All we had to do is jump up from the right platforms and we’d eventually get to the exit.
I ran ahead and found the lowest platform. It was a small stone step. Nearby was another platform. I stepped across.
“Follow me everyone,” I said.
The rock platforms zigzagged along the wall. The platforms became increasingly harder to reach and you had to pull yourself up onto them with the strength of your arms. Eventually I had to power jump to and grab hold of the rest of the party one at a time to get to the next platform. We were halfway towards the exit. It was a scary drop to the bottom. I jumped towards the next platform, creating a mana puddle at my feet. I was almost at the next platform, when a cut rushed across my body. I lost balance on my mana puddle. My stomach lurched. I fell towards the bottom of the chamber. I imbued mana in my back at the last second and cushioned the fall.
