by G. Akella
"What is that thing?"
"Didn't you read the log?" Donut sniffed nervously next to him. "The top dog on the inside just devoured all his buddies and jumped to level 120. Which means that we'd better hope this fella burns, or things are going to get hairy..."
Just then one of the walls collapsed, and a twelve-foot-tall smoking monstrosity came tumbling out, the very sight of which inspired nothing but disgust. Agralon the Hierophant looked truly repugnant. One might think that the boss' designer had first slapped a shapeless blob of rotting meat onto a skeletal frame, then had deemed his creation an irredeemable mess and dumped it. The one positive development was that out of 150,000 hit points, the boss had no more than three thousand left.
"Stay back, Bonbon," he barked at the tank in response to his sidelong glance. "We're taking that freak down from a distance. Kite him toward the forest."
A couple of arrows sunk Agralon's chest with a crunch, followed by a fireball. With a blood-curdling roar, the beast jerked his disproportionate limbs up over his head, then thrust them forward. The ground underneath the group blackened. Max felt something slimy touch his shoulder as the earth ruptured and bony skeletal fingers shot out to clasp his right ankle in an iron grip. The log blew up with messages of curses and hexes applied to the party. A voice swore frustratingly into the channel, to which the monster roared with triumph, then minced toward them.
"Alyona, Ellanca, get the debuffs!" Donut bellowed, turning into a translucent shadow.
Slipping into invisibility and removing the hexes on his own, the rogue started toward Agralon, veering slightly left. What happened next was unthinkable. The boss jerked toward the rogue and delivered a crushing blow with his right paw, balled into a hypertrophied fist. Caught totally by surprise, Donut didn't even scream. His body was knocked back a dozen feet and was still, all twisted up like a broken doll. The rogue was still alive, but unconscious from the pain shock of losing nearly ninety percent of his life. Paying no attention to the arrows tearing at his flesh, Agralon started moving toward the lifeless assassin, and suddenly for Max the passage of time slowed to a crawl. Sensing that his legs were now free, and that Bonbon was still bound with some kind of magic despite all his swearing, he popped Charge and smashed into the beast's hipbone with all the force he could muster. The boss simply spun in place, brushing him away like a pesky fly, though Max felt as if a horse had kicked him in the shoulder. Barely keeping his balance, he stared into the beast's eyes, huge and yellow and burning with inconceivable hunger. Realizing that he hadn't even time to swing, he simply thrust the point of his sword forward, stabbing the monster in his repugnant maw...
Your Toughness skill has increased to 14%.
You have gained a level! Current level: 66.
You have 1 talent point to allocate.
Racial bonus: +1% to resistance to earth magic.
Class bonus: +1 to constitution, +1 to strength.
You have 3 stat points to allocate.
You've earned a unique achievement, Agralon's Slayer. Agralon is a unique boss that can only be killed once. You and your allies have been granted a permanent 2% increase to your physical and magic damage.
Your reputation has increased. Dark elves are now neutral to you.
Max opened his eyes and tried to sit up. His body ached as though it had just been flattened by a steamroller. Grimacing with pain, he grabbed onto Bonbon's arm and pulled himself to his feet, straightening his back with some difficulty, still tight from the recent spasms. He looked around at his companions' faces, then winked to Alyona, her face as pale as a sheet, smiled and reached into his pocket for a cigarette.
"Thanks, bro," Donut said to him guiltily. "That was retarded of me. I was sure he'd already aggroed on the archers, but my cocktails must have caused even more damage."
"Don't beat yourself up," Max patted the assassin on the back reassuringly, lit up, and looked back at his friends' faces, still showing some concern. "All is well that ends well, right?" he mused, exhaling the smoke.
"Look at yourself in the mirror before pontificating about good endings," Masyanya shook her head as she lowered herself to the ground. "I could loan you mine, if you want."
"Don't be mean," Donut smiled at her. "Besides, a wounded hero deserves a kiss from his lady love, does he not? I've been waiting patiently..."
It was obvious that the rogue was hurting just as much as Max, but he refused to let that keep him down.
"Keep waiting," the huntress groused. "Of all the nerve, calling yourself a hero... All I see is a fool rushing at a boss twice his level who can see right through his stealth. And you!" she glared at Max. "Charging the bastard without waiting for the tank to grab aggro first—that is sheer idiocy, not heroism."
You could see that Masyanya was still on the edge from the recent encounter. But then, her mood had been sour since she'd lost her bear a week ago when it became "untamed," to use the game lingo. Apparently, Masyanya had been missing some required talents from her summoning branch—a blunder that came to light only after her pet had simply vanished one fine night. The error was fixed expeditiously, but that didn't bring back the pet. Naturally, the primary victim of her lousy mood was none other than Donut.
"That was my fault," Alyona came to Max's defense. "I needed to dispel Bone Pincers from Bonbon, but ended up casting it on Max first."
"That's enough, everyone," said Max, wanting to nip the argument in the bud. "Take ten minutes to rest, then we'll loot the boss, search the cave and the houses, and get the hell out of here. And if anyone can't sit still, feel free to loot the bodies of the disavowed."
The face of the girl he'd killed appeared before his mind's eye, and he groaned to himself. Withdrawing toward the nearby shed, Max took a seat on a grounded log, leaned back against the rotting wood, and closed his eyes. Aww, the hell with all this! he thought as he took a drag, and somehow that simple thought made him feel better.
"What's wrong?" Alyona sat down next to him. He hadn't even noticed her approach. The young woman put a hand on his shoulder and arched her right brow. "Spill it! I can see that something is eating away at you."
"The disavowed that nearly killed me..." Max spoke quietly, gesturing weakly to the prostrated body.
"Yes?"
"It was a woman..."
"So?"
"Alyona... What kind of game is this that I'm forced to kill women?" the warrior spat with annoyance, averting his eyes.
"I told you before, and I'll say it again—in this game, the genders are fully equal!" the young woman said with a sigh. "I know you're still relatively new, but it's time you accepted this as an axiom. It's not some kind of feminism, either, but simply the way things are. By default. And besides, that bitch certainly doesn't look like a pitiful orphan or a sex slave. She was an adept by rank, which means she had tortured at least one sentient being to death. Did you forget what Donut's story about his friend observing the interrogation of a captured Red Raven? And what about all those damaged folk that had been sent to the mentalist? The simple truth is, we do the whole world a favor when we exterminate these vermin!"
"All right, all right," Max put up his arms conciliatorily. "None of what you're saying is lost on me, but... I guess I still need time to come to grips with this new reality."
"The sooner you do it, the better," said the girl, fixing a leather lace on her boot. "Because if the next pretty face you see causes you to pause or hold back, others may suffer as a result. Including you. And I really wouldn't want that to happen," she concluded, looking up at him with a smile. Then, with a peck on the cheek, she snatched her staff up off the ground and was off in Masyanya's direction, apparently to give solace to another sulking soul.
She's got Roman's personality, Max grunted to himself, watching her go. Even if her ears are a tad pointier.
Chapter 3
The emerald tear—a translucent and perfectly saturated stone of a grassy green color—seemed to be the carbon copy of the stone inlaid in the pommel
of the sword that had been set onto the altar of the goddess. Or, rather, an infinitely purer version of it.
"Incredible!" Ellanca exhaled with awe, clearly speaking for all of the group's representatives of the fairer sex. "Could I hold it? Just for a moment, I promise I won't break anything!"
"Here, have at it," Max held out the gemstone to the young woman. Ellanca hurried right over, paying no mind to the priest's blackened corpse. "Let the others have a look, too—don't think I can't see the pure child's wonder in their faces," he chuckled, then glanced at Bonbon—the only one in the group who looked as bored as ever, chewing on something. "There's a ring here for you to grow into, but it'll take some work," he grunted.
"Oh yeah? What sorta work?" the bald man inquired, swallowing whatever he'd been chewing.
Bonbon was the oldest in their party in terms of years lived in the real world, but you wouldn't know it from the way he handled himself. Perhaps it was his former job as a high school physics teacher that was to blame, as his remarks often scraped the depths of high school innuendo so lewd and vulgar that even the normally imperturbable Masyanya would blush and look away.
You've accessed the quest: Unique Trophy II.
Quest type: unique.
Hand in Agralon's Head to the quartermaster of any High House.
Reward: experience, 70 gold. Increased reputation with the chosen High House. Increased reputation with the dark elves.
And so it was, after accepting the quest shared by Max, he remarked in typical Bonbon fashion:
"Some more head-chopping, eh? Don't mind if I do. Shoot, for seventy gold I'll mince my own grandma into tiny little pieces and fellate a cobra!"
"I beg you, spare us the details of your personal life," Masyanya tore her eyes off the gemstone in her palm to glower at Bonbon and step away from him.
"I'm afraid to ask what he would do for a hundred gold," Rexar quipped, sneaking a glance full of feigned terror at the tank.
"You lot are hopeless bores," Bonbon dismissed their passive-aggressiveness without malice. "Gimme that ring. Before they break out the pitchforks."
Barely holding back laughter, Max handed him the rare quality ring that, in addition to the regular stats, also added five percent to absorption of all blocked physical damage, and continued sorting out the loot.
Besides the tank ring, the boss dropped two hundred gold coins, priest gloves of a silky fabric dyed baby blue which went straight to Ellanca, and an agility charm that was won by Rexar after a roll. Five uncommon quality pieces to grow into, some alchemical reagents and a few crafting recipes were distributed by Max among those who wanted them, while the rest of the haul, which mostly consisted of paladin and necromancer gear, the warrior dumped into his inventory for subsequent sale at an auction. Searching the main building further added to their wealth by a dozen or so common quality items, as well as twenty four gold coins after Donut had spied and cleaned out a cache. The party was then given another reason to rejoice when a random cupboard check revealed sixteen bottles of booze and four pouches of tobacco. Finally, the garb hanging in the wardrobes and most of the kitchenware was confiscated by Bonbon (who else?) as he bemoaned the squeamish sensibilities of those who refused outright to so much as lay a hand on the personal property of the disavowed.
Next on the agenda was the inspection of the copper mine, which everybody partook in except for Masyanya, Ellanca and Helliona, as the girls declared in near unison that they wouldn't be caught dead puttering about in such cesspits. There were two reasons Alyona broke the mold and accompanied the crowd: because mysterious dark caves mustn't be explored without a healer, and because her "paper" had been mercilessly cut by Ellanca's "scissors."
The exhausted copper mine was little more than a cave some sixty yards deep, dimly lit by a few dozen magic lanterns. Branching out into roughly ten side chambers, the long straight tunnel seemed to culminate in a larger hall. The air was dank and heavy with pungent odors that resembled stale mop water and wet dog fur.
"Wait," putting a hand on Bonbon's shoulder who was leading the way, Rexar pointed toward the far end of the cave. "There's someone down there! I can hear their panting."
"I bet it's a captive elven prince!" whispered Alyona, who was bringing up the rear. "We're going to rescue him, and he shall reward us with all of his kingdom's riches."
Her voice sounded awfully funny on account of her holding her nose as she spoke, apparently unwilling to breathe in the cave's malodorous fumes.
"What need have you of a prince, sweetheart?" Donut said while pinching his own nose to taunt her. "You've got Max."
"We've all got Max! But I've never seen an actual prince," the young woman countered, then prodded the rogue in the back. "Keep moving, wiseass!"
"Settle down. We'll search everything in order," Max cut the discussion short, conceding to himself that he'd rather not find any princes down here.
Sure, Alyona was obviously joking, but every joke had a sliver of truth... As if sensing his thoughts, the girl gave him a disarming smile and a clownish shrug of the shoulders. Max shook his head with ostentatious reproach, then followed Bonbon into the first side chamber, and grimaced with disgust. The room, which was two hundred square feet at the most, had but one attraction—a rectangular wooden table with leather clamps secured for binding extremities. The table's bloodied surface was swarming with large green flies and glistening beetles Max couldn't quite identify. The leather aprons and grisly implements hanging on every wall left no doubt as to the room's purpose.
"I suppose this was their butchery?" Bonbon gave a long whistle. Even his face was slightly more pale than usual. "Good thing we didn't grab any grub from the pantry—I fear it's well past the expiry date."
"You fool!" Alyona hissed in a constrained voice, and ran out of the room holding her mouth.
The men heard retching sounds coming from the hallway a moment later.
"Luffy, let's take a good look around. Once we're done, all this will have to burn. Along with the house and the shed. Remember the dryad's request?"
"Aye aye, commander! How about now?!"
"No, not just yet. Let's check everything first."
"A dryad?" inquired the ever-inquisitive assassin as he examined the great variety of hooks and saws hanging on the walls. His demeanor suggested he wasn't particularly sickened by the torture chamber.
"Uh-huh. The same one from your and Bonbon's vision, I gather," Max grunted, then headed back into the hallway.
Since morning he hadn't quite found the time to relay to the others the incident from the night before. But I will need to have a long talk with Donut, Max thought to himself. Tell him about the Fifteenth High House and about my dreams. There was no point in keeping secrets anymore. He still dreaded the moment when Alyona would find out, but the rogue was certainly experienced enough to hopefully offer some advice. Moreover, he realized how foolish it had been of him to forbid Luffy to talk about their adventures in the Sunlit Forest. Then again, what's done is done. He would chat with Donut at the completion of this hidden quest, and come clean to everybody else as soon as he decided what to do about his dreams.
"You OK?" he asked a teary-eyed Alyona.
The girl was leaning back against the stone wall of the tunnel—her shoulders trembling and her face stained with wet streaks.
"Monsters! Inhuman monsters!" she was whispering hotly. "Why couldn't we get stuck in a good game, Max? A benign game where we'd milk cows or grow vegetables? Where there's no war and no torture? No mutilated corpses to trip over..."
"Come on, Alyona, they're not all this bad in here," he put a hand on her shoulder in solace, not knowing what to say, and drew a heavy sigh.
"Some comfort you are," Alyona smiled at him weakly. "Go, do what you have to do. And the same goes for the rest of you explorers! Quit staring at me like that. Give me a minute, I'll catch up with you." And, with a dismissive wave to everyone, she turned away.
Searching the next six spaces, which were situa
ted directly across one another, didn't take long. Judging by the metal rods barring entry, these had been used as prison cells. Typical empty square cells with chains affixed to the stone walls—only one of them also contained a small pile of yellowed bones. After diligently checking and knocking on every inch of the second-to-last cell in search of any secret caches, Donut made a show of dusting off his hands, and turned a searching gaze to Max.
"All clear! So, shall we go have a peek at the host?"
The heavy breathing could now be heard by all, and since it definitely didn't belong to a human, an elf, or any other humanoid creature for that matter, Max decided not to rush things needlessly. They still had the main hall to inspect before the last cell with the mysterious prisoner it contained.
"It's time," Max nodded to the rogue. "Bonbon, take the lead, just in case. Everybody, be ready..."
Though Max wasn't entirely unprepared, the enormous shadow of a gruesome monster that darted toward them nonetheless caused both him and the tank in front of him to shudder and recoil from the thick rods that served as the beast's prison. The eyes glared with a bloody-red glow in the shadows of the cell, the massive chain clangored as it jerked, and a terrible roar shook the cave, charged with so much impotence and rage that Max struggled to keep still as shivers ran down his spine. Baring its huge yellow fangs as it crouched on powerful four-toed paws, the chained monster, whose legend identified it as "cerrath," watched the unwanted guests with a savage animosity. The level 70 creature was no less than five feet wide in the withers, with a body partially covered with ceratoid plates, and a pair of saurian-like horns jutting out of its forehead.
"Everything OK in there?" Helliona's spoke into the raid channel, her voice betraying some alarm.
"All good, hunny bunny," Rexar assured his lady after a nervous chortle. "It's just that we found a cobra, and I happen to have seventy gold on me, so Bonbon is about to—"
