Alfred looked at his results with a snide expression before he noticed Vera’s dilated eyes filled with terror. He got up and hugged her as Green cleared his throat and got everyone’s attention.
Lacy had just turned level 31 but didn’t feel any sense of comfort knowing that Alfred had almost died. Wanda had a similar sentiment brewing in her eyes. The entire room had a morose, downcast feel, and Green tried his best to rectify it by leaving as quickly as possible.
Wanda and Berk went with him, leaving Alfred in the room with Lacy and Vera. Both of the girls lied down next to Alfred as he relived the moments that had just occurred. The battle had immediately gone south when an elite saber sentry had appeared. The men on the forum hadn’t cleared the dungeon in under twenty five minutes, so they didn’t spawn the boss.
Alfred gave Vera a kiss on the forehead as Lacy cuddled on his stomach. He looked at Lacy realizing it might have sent the wrong message, but she followed his action with a smile.
“It’s okay… If my best friend almost died, I’d kiss him on the forehead too.” Lacy smiled, pulling Alfred by the head and kissing it to prove her point. He grabbed her and took her into his chest. After an hour of them lying on the bed, he felt a little bit more content.
“I’m glad we’re all alive,” Alfred stretched and rubbed back Vera’s Red hair as she took a nap on his chest. She was still shaking from the terror she’d experienced. The Saber had hit her with a blow that had sent her skidding against the floor, and she felt like a rag doll getting tossed to the side. Lacy got up and began to prepare a meal. She added some steak to a pan and put in some garlic and butter in addition to some basil. After searing it on both sides, Vera finally awoke…
“I… I’m sorry about being so useless… I thought by going with you I could protect you… Turns out I’m about as good at being a Defender as I am at martial arts…”
“you only practiced for three weeks before you gave up,” Alfred said with a grimace. “If you died, I’d never forgive myself… I’d only have Lacy then… She’s not very good at being my best friend…”
Lacy dropped the food on the table as she laughed. Throughout their childhood, they’d been a mixture of friends, enemies, and lovers… She even dated him once in eighth grade for a few weeks before they decided to hate each other again.
“He’s right…” Lacy replied, smiling as Vera laid on his chest. “He’s like a little toy that I play with… I only keep him for a few weeks a year before I discover how bad he was made…” Lacy joked before Alfred gave her a death glare. “I’m just kidding… We’re all best friends here… We’d make a great couple.”
Alfred blushed as Vera looked up at him with a smile on her face. This was their second time talking about all three of them being together, and he almost took Lacy seriously… She stretched up from his chest before she felt an object rub against her back. She ignored it as Lacy began to eat her meal.
The three of them ate together before Rexam’s voice echoed throughout the space.
“There is news Alfred… Didn’t want to bother you, but apparently a set of Hermia Kingdom’s Troops are heading towards Larimar… It looks like a player is guiding a thousand NPC Army towards the gates of Larimar, and will be here tonight…”
“Cute sounding Assistant,” Lacy said, finishing up her food. “What player is it… Do you know?”
“No, I’m not aware… However, there is a quest being given out in the center of the city by the guards… apparently, the chancellor of Larimar put his seal on it… It’s a quick way to get respect in Larimar Kingdom…” Rexam elaborated with her pitch rising. “I… I didn’t mean to interrupt your budding relationships, but the reward for the biggest contributors to the quest is huge…”
“We can’t die in the capital right…” Alfred finished his food as well. “However, I’m surprised a Player is able to control an NPC army… Also, how come I never heard of the Chancellor before?”
“The players don’t really fall under the control of the government, or the chancellor,” Rexam said, “They only are asking the players because they don’t have a choice… Hermia has a much bigger army approaching then they expected…”
“I think I’m going to sit this one out,” Vera said, pushing aside her plate. “I had enough of trying to power level... I’m better looking pretty and taking it slow and steady… Don’t you agree Lacy…”
“Well… your breasts are huge now,” Lacy said, looking enviously at the round jugs on her friend’s chest. “I’m wondering will I grow those in four years…”
Alfred blushed as he recalled prom night… her breasts definitely got a little bit bigger, but compared to the fun jugs on Vera they were still along way off. Lacy could tell by Alfred’s look where his mind just traveled. She slapped him on the leg causing Vera to laugh before she once again shivered.
“No seriously… I keep seeing a sword going into Alfred’s Shoulder… his bone shooting out and his Health bar getting cut in half… How are you okay with that Lacy? I know we like to joke around… However, what if he dies?”
Lacy shrugged her shoulders, and got up. “It’s because I’ve seen him fight Green like a thousand times… After a while, he sort of turned into my idol… I’m guessing that’s why he got to enjoy me on Prom night…”
“Well, it’s nice you two are reminiscing, but… Let’s get out of here Lacy… Vera… hold down the fort… Make sure nothing happens to you when I’m gone okay? If I find you in someone’s basement again, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from exploding.”
“Just have fun on your date with Lacy,” Vera stuck out her tongue, dropping her head as a vision appeared in front of her eyes. “I’ll join you two later for another party mission…”
Alfred rushed out the doorway and Lacy followed after. They made it to the city and quickly found a nestled group of guards conscripting soldiers from the incoming players. The average level in Heaven’s Gate was about 10, and thousands had already taken the quest.
The NPCs, even though they’d been around much longer, took longer to level up. The commander of the guards was level 40, however, the majority were between level 20 and 25. They knew a bunch of players from Hermia Kingdom had already joined in the march to LArimar, so They took anyone to help fight for their side including Alfred who met a recruitment guard and took a look at the prompt.
Unique Mission, Hermia’s Invasion
A guild known as Water Hill has gathered 1300 NPC soldiers from Hermia Kingdom to attack Larimar. They have gathered roughly 2000 players to follow behind them in their march. IF you’re willing to join the battle, the chancellor will be forever grateful!
Mission difficulty: A
Reward is dependent on number of kills…. Reputation score will also be increased depending on results… If you can get just a little bit more reputation, perhaps certain parts of the city will be unlocked for you. It be stupid not to do it…
Would you like to accept the Quest?
Alfred clicked yes and Lacy joined him in accepting the quest from the guard. The NPC army for Larimar Kingdom had already lined up at the gate. It seemed like the foreign troops were just about to arrive.
Chapter 15: Shadow COnstruct
Alfred did some exploring inside the city walls before the upcoming battle with Lacy, and found a few guards in black armor that looked like they might know what was happening behind the scenes in Larimar City. He approached the four men with Lacy as they searched for an explanation. The guards looked at them with peeved expressions as Alfred tried to dig for some information.
“So… Do you guys know why this attack is happening… It seemed to just come out of nowhere…” Alfred held up his hand, noticing the four city protectors all focusing on Lacy over his shoulder, and ignoring him.
“If…. If you tell me what you know,” Alfred continued, “I’ll give you one hundred fifty experience each… It’s the most I can do for the information…”
“Well, suddenly you don’t lo
ok so ugly,” One of the lead guards laughed, slapping his friend on the shoulder. “Tell him about the corrupt leader of Hermia and we’ll get a present it seems…”
“You sure you want to know, boy?” The tallest guard said, leaning forward as his voice diminished to a whisper. “Pay half up front, and we’ll tell you half the story…”
Alfred quickly gave the guards each 50 experience. He traded it to the NPCs through a window he found nested in the corner of his vision. He’d grown accustomed to the tabs he could access with mental commands, and he opened the trade window to gift them each 50 experience.
After receiving it, the tallest guard, Franklin, seemed to turn serious as he recalled what he heard.
“So… since you paid for it, I guess I’ll tell you…” Franklin said, searching for the memories in his mind. “Hermia Kingdom declared war on the Larimar because they have new resources that they didn’t use to have…”
“What do you mean?” Alfred interjected, his eyebrow raising in ponderance. “I thought the two cities were fairly equal…”
“Not quite,” Lacy interrupted… “The Higher-level players tend to flock to Hermia Kingdom… It’s closer a few dungeons right…”
“Correct,” Franklin nodded his head, his white hair dropping out of his Helm. “I guess you already know about that then,” The guard continued… “However, some of the player guilds, I heard, realized what they’d get if they took over a city… The NPCs respawn and give experience every time they die…”
“SO, basically… they’d be like an endless supply of experience?” Lacy chimed in… “They want to take over the city to kill the NPCs?”
“Our commander told us a few hours ago that the Chancellor in Larimar just got offered a chance to surrender… Our chancellor… named Krab didn’t like it very much… He knew the players would bring us trouble… however, we have more soldiers than Hermia, so we decided to fight!”
“so basically…” Alfred recapped, “he’s taking advantage that there are more high level players in Hermia Kingdom,”
“Yup, and it would be fine with us if it didn’t mean us losing all of our lives… If we get killed ten times in the same day, us NPCs will turn permanently dead… It will be hard to find any good food at Bird’s pub when there is no Old Bird…
Alfred gave Franklin and his friends an additional 200 experience for the information. He felt a little bit uneasy learning about their plot. There was a variety of young NPCs running around in the sea of players and soldiers.
The two moons were in the sky, rearing their heads again, and the markets had all closed. The sound of marching could start to be heard as Alfred sent Green a message to tell him what he found out.
Even though he and Green weren’t on the best terms, it still made sense that he’d want to protect any rival guilds from power leveling. A lot of the players seemed to have abandoned morals since being reborn in Heaven’s Gate. The lifestyle players he’d seen in town seemed especially worried. If their city was taken over, the guards wouldn’t be able to protect them if the invaders had any ideas about them.
Green didn’t answer for a few minutes before he finally sent a reply. He’d been doing a few Story missions in order to try and reach level 36. Seeing Alfred’s request, he quickly took the Transportation Array and arrived in the City. He had a group of roughly 100 members with him from Green Everest.
They were set to convene outside of the walls in thirty minutes. Alfred and Lacy went through the town and helped a few of the NPCs close up shop. They were all very friendly, and seemed grateful that two players were helping them out. On his way across town, Alfred saw the graveyard, and remembered the mission he received from Old Bird. His face scrunched up with worry as Lacy pinched him in the back.
“Try not to do anything stupid over a bunch of NPCs… okay…” Lacy looked into his eyes, her blue-green crystalline orbs staring deep into his gaze. “If you do a good job, I think I’m going to have to date you… I heard from Vera I gushed about you after prom… It must have been some night…”
“I suppose we had fun,” Alfred cleared his throat… “However, let’s not talk about that right now… It’s like you thrive on teasing me.”
“You have no idea how strange it is for a girl to find out she lost her virginity in the future to a man that took her to prom in a Jeep that broke down… Then to find out that when the Jeep broke down she took him into the forest and hiked up her skirt… It’s a turn on… I didn’t think my first time would be so sexy…”
Alfred had to admit he looked fondly on that day too. However, he didn’t know how to respond. Lacy was a tiny bit more innocent than the eighteen year old he’d taken on that date. It was strange to think he could take the same girl’s virginity twice. However, he’d gotten inured to Lacy’s ways, and slapped her on the butt before he winked at her.
Lacy looked down embarrassed, and noticed a few children laughing in one of the storefronts that had remained open. The town had roughly 2,500,000 NPCs, and an additional 3,000,000 Players. Most of the players spent all their time doing missions in their Mission Centers. It, however, had gotten much more crowded. Roughly one fiftieth of those players had come out from doing missions at once, and filled up the central square. It was originally a mostly empty brick enclave that extended nearly a mile in diameter. However, now the entire square had been filled with players, and the gate opened before the guards waved their arms to send the troops forward.
Alfred followed after and met Green outside where they’d decided to meet. The hundred of players from the guild he hadn’t yet met from Green Everest were standing in a circle around a tree. Berk and Wanda were in the front by Green while the two Sword Tempests, Nick and Avery, from the previous mission were standing by Green’s side.
The other members of the guild were all between levels 25 – 30. He wasn’t surprised that a good portion of them were girls. Green always attracted more women than he could count.
“We’re going to be in for a show,” Green said, talking to the entire group. “stay together and make sure the healers are always in back… Mages… save your best spells for later…”
Alfred nearly puked hearing Green giving a prep speech. However, he clapped and joined in the comradery when everyone else hollered up and got excited. Lacy rubbed his shoulder and leaned her head against his arm as Green pulled in Wanda for a Kiss. He noticed a slight trace of sadness on Lacy’s eyes before he turned her head and offered her a smooch.
The atmosphere was screaming a battle was about to happen. A few large circles of players were gathered by the nearby trees. Torches had been lit to brighten up the darkness, and a plethora of soldiers were standing in long rows and ranked. Thousands of low level players stood behind them. The lowest class players had seemingly all decided to line up behind the troops. He figured their thinking was if any high-level players fell down and got stunned they could swoop in to get experience.
A large horn got blown that created a din that echoed into the distance. The soldiers started marching forward as the Bulwarks were all gated shut and the parapets were filled with bow experts. Alfred felt a sense of awe seeing such a large movement of troops. It looked like a body of water about to clash with another body of water.
A massive amount of fire arrows were shot off and landed in rows of hay. Behind the flickering rising flames charged what looked like an ocean of troops from Hermia Kingdom. One individual in the front, however stood out for his sheer agility. He happened to be the third highest level player in all of Heaven’s Gate. At level 36, everyone in the opposition was aware of him. His name was Tremont6, and he also happened to command the Water Hill guild.
Green rushed forward to meet him as the thousand of troops all fired off their attacks. Hundreds of magic attacks burst from magicians. Alfred found himself a small area with Lacy Where dozens of NPCs were rushing forward. Alfred immediately activated stealth walk and rushed inside the incoming army. He immediately ringed his hands around two soldiers
’ necks as fire arrows flew over him.
The invading troops replied with their own salvo of fire arrows. A large block of defenders activated their shielding skills and defended the majority of the vanguard. The strongest soldiers burst into the front lines and toppled through the defending NPCs.
Dozens of bodies dropped on both sides before divergent swords began to clash.
The Healers took their spots in the back and started using Area of Effect Healing Techniques to try and mitigate the incoming damage. It seemed pretty even at first. The bowman seemed to take out all the weak players on both sides. The mages attacks all clashed in the air and the highest level players all looked for equal opponents.
Green and Tremont’s fight started as Green Everest joined the Frey. There had to be at least three guilds from Hermia Kingdom that were in the top 20 against Green Everest because only Green Everest had stood on Larimar’s side. Alfred rushed towards a few important looking figures when his Stealth Walk cooled down. Since he was level 20, if he struck an opponent unaware, he could usually drop their health to zero.
Green Everest turned out to be the turning point in the battle. Green had much more knowledge When it came to hand to hand combat. Tremont had a surprised look as Green’s spear stabbed into him. Alfred caused similar looks to appear on the higher level guild leaders that he found.
He began to rack up experience in the fight as the two NPC armies clashed. Green got approximately thirty kills every minute as Lacy healed everyone she could. As soon as the battle started, it became clear that the invaders had severely underestimated their might. The lowest level players kept rushing out to try and get experience. Some of them looked crazed as they attacked only to die and respawn in the town.
The players that were killed from the invading army, however, were teleported back to Hermia. The Transportation Array had been shut down by Larimar’s Chancellor, and all the players that died were forced to wallow in self-pity miles away. Tremont even blamed the turn of the battle entirely on Green.
Heaven's Gate: Volume 1 (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 11
