“He may be onto something Wanda… Let’s try it… If it fails, Alfred will be responsible for retrieving the weapons…”
“Nice to know you don’t mind sacrificing me,” Alfred grinded his teeth, and raised his eyebrow. “However, Berk… Weapon’s Experts have a lot of weapons, right?”
“Yup, we create metal from mana… Hehe” Berk laughed, “It’s okay with me boss… you want me to try and get a few eyes out…”
“Sure…. Wanda be careful and stay in the front,” Green ordered, “Lacy, heal her even if she gets scratched.”
“OH, so you decided to care about me…” Wanda crossed her arms. “It’s nice to know after two weeks of giving you whatever you wanted, it made a difference….”
“Too much information…” Lacy crossed her arms, blushing as she looked down at the grass. “You didn’t give him everything he wanted… did you…”
“Well… not everything… As a little girl, I learned that certain things should only be done on special occasions.”
“Enough Wanda,” Green scowled at her with a peeved glare. “If you keep talking like that, Berk is going to lose his focus…”
“I’m not a pervert!” Berk said, with his skin turning red… “Anyways… I’m going to throw a few daggers at it now… You guys ready?” Berk asked before Green nodded his head. He tossed out a slew of daggers from each hand directly towards the heads on the beast’s body. It moved its arms as its feet stayed rooted to the ground. The creature began to burst out blood as a few knives pierced into several of its eyes.
A large shriek came out of its mouth as blood started to spray off several of the faces on its body. Lacy began to use [Light Arrow] to help out as Nick and Portland tried to use their sword tempest abilities to help nip away its vision.
Small Creatures began to appear out of the forest in large droves in response to its scream. Hundreds of miniature Chimeras charged towards the large flesh tree as small branches started to rise out of the ground. Alfred began to chant in order to summon seven fresh NPC guards, and he also added two Shadow Chimeras to buffer the groups damage. At this time, The massive pack of small Chimeras immediately appeared like a wave and they assailed them from every direction.
Green met the charge with everyone that wasn’t a range class.
The miniature chimera were roughly three times easier to kill, but their numbers kept increasing. The branches that were rising from the ground also didn’t make things easier. They began to grow sharp leaves that left Alfred with an uncomfortable feeling. He began charging around the encirclement, trimming the leaves with his Shadow Whispers and Constructs.
Dozens of small chimeras started to pile up. Green killed a few with every slash as Wanda stood in front of Berk in order to swipe away any chimera’s that made it through their defensive line. Alfred, on the other hand, kept weeding the branches from growing too tall. The few that grew past three meters in length began to act as small arms for the massive beast. Unfortunately, the amount of small Chimera just kept on increasing…
“Where are they all coming from?” Wanda stabbed out with a shimmering sword, cutting a few in half. “It’s like they never end!”
“It’s definitely that annoying screech from its mouth,” Berk said, sending out more and more knives as he tried to manage his mana. “However, I’m going to run out of weapons soon guys! A few of the eyes on its head I can’t get!”
“Well… do we even know if its working?” Lacy said, casting a [Restoration] on Green as he took on claws from every angle. “Wanda… were you able to scan it…”
“I don’t even know if this thing has health… Its name is showing up as Tree of Sorrow… maybe it’s just hidden for a reason?” Wanda pondered as a flurry of blades flew past her head. She turned her shield in order to stop a charging set of Chimeras, sending them skidding against the ground.
Green grimaced as he phased and appeared by her side. “Maybe we just need to incapacitate it… Without its arms and mouth it’s useless right…” He said… “Alfred… you think you can cut off its arms?”
“No… absolutely not!” Lacy stumbled in her angst. “You just told him to not do anything foolish!”
Alfred immediately activated stealth walk without replying. Green took that answer as a yes as Lacy screamed “idiot!” trying to get him to stop. In response, Alfred frowned as he jumped off the back of his NPC guards and wrapped his hand around the creatures large twig like arms. He immediately found a chain of veins running down its flesh and drew two daggers towards its skin. It immediately shrieked in rage as it sent out an attack towards the feeling on its skin. With a swipe downward, Alfred used all of his strength to pierce into its arm. The limb immediately detached as Alfred reappeared. HE smiled before the creature’s other arm crashed into his chest.
“Alfred!” Lacy screamed, running towards him into a sea of Chimera. She used [Restoration] as Alfred struggled to get up. His Health had dropped by an entire 1000 from that single attack, and even with the [Restoration] only 800 remained. The same arm that sent him flying slashed down like a scythe as blood pooled out of his mouth. He smiled at Lacy before the blade broke through the dagger in his hand.
Green phased to his side and kicked him away, taking the large arm into his shoulder plate. He buckled onto his knee as Nick jumped into the air. The creatures arm instantly flew off as he cut down. The two limbs wreathed on the floor as Berk sent out a knife storm to the top of its head. The last of its eyes closed shut as the boss screamed in agony. The branches in the ground immediately retracted as the strange tree began to wither and desiccate into a small ball.
“You did a good job there,” Green said, getting off his knees, “However, I didn’t tell you to get hit.”
“You’re acting like I like getting kicked by you,” Alfred retorted. Looking into Lacy’s eyes as she appeared by him. “Anyways… I’m sorry Lacy… I—”
“It’s not okay,” Lacy said, tears building underneath her eyelids “You realize if you die, I’ll have to find another guy to bother… you wouldn’t like that right?”
“I’m looking for a girlfriend,” Berk said, smiling as he knocked against the ball that had been birthed after the fight. “However, this thing is strange… what is it?”
Chapter 20: Experience SEed
Berk picked up the small ball and held it in its hand. It weighed roughly 150 pounds and he had to hold it with all his strength. It seemed like the tree had condensed into a smaller size but without losing much density… He put it down next to Green and he took a look at it. No one seemed to know what to do with the little sphere. However, Lacy pointed out they hadn’t gotten any experience from destroying the Tree of Sorrow. It left Alfred with a tinge of worry in his gut.
“Maybe we should bury it?” Berk suggested… “Maybe its some sort of seed…”
“I don’t know…” Alfred got shivers just looking at it. “However, that’s not important… How the hell do we complete this dungeon?”
“I think we complete it slowly,” Lacy pet back Alfred’s hair. “We are probably leagues ahead of Ken now… This wasn’t an easy boss…”
“I think we can rest when we pass the Final boss… Come on… The road is up ahead… We should really get going.”
Green got up, and ripped off his shoulder blade. The durability on his armor had gone down by 20. However, with a click of a button in his inventory the shoulder blade that had gotten wrecked reappeared anew.
The armor reconstructed itself because his durability hadn’t reached zero. If it did reach zero, only an extremely prestigious blacksmith would’ve been able to fix it.
The new shimmering shoulder blade made Green scowl internally. He hadn’t ever gotten hit that badly by a first stage boss monster. Dream Dungeons were said to have two bosses, and the second was supposed to be three times harder than the first. Both him and Green had already almost died. He kicked the ball on the floor and sent it flying into the tree.
An old man with a long
beard appeared behind that same tree. He nodded towards Green as he swung out a gnarled staff from behind his back.
“ah….. so you three actually survived the first boss… It seems a few other players weren’t so lucky,” The man said, kicking the small ball back towards Green. “However, before the next phase.. I’ve suppose you’ve earned a story…”
“We don’t really have time,” Green said, shaking his hand. “How about you tell us where the final boss is…”
“There is only one road… You can’t figure it out? However, if you don’t listen… you’ll never beat the boss,” The man said, laughing at Green’s Eagerness. “If you listen, perhaps you’ll even learn a secret or two that’ll help save your future…”
“What do you mean future?” Lacy said, “You make it sound like something bad might happen…”
“It has… fourteen times…” The old wizard said. “My name is Ernestine by the way… pleasure to meet you…”
“The pleasure is all yours,” Nick said, his hoarse voice sounding suspicious… “However, what do you mean players died… did something happen to Avery?”
“I don’t think you should care about that,” Green interrupted. “However, are you allowed to tell us about their instance…”
“I can do whatever I want,” Ernestine snidely replied with a raised eyebrow. “However, no… that Avery didn’t die…. They lost what they called their backup defender… It was a shame because they were getting so close!”
“That’s good to hear,” Nick whipped away the sweat. “I’m sorry… I knew Avery on Earth… Didn’t think he would betray us…”
“Well… I think there is always a story behind every story,” Ernestine said. “Maybe he had no choice but to betray you guys, and that leads me to tell you why this place looks so familiar…”
“This is actually the fifteenth patch of Heaven’s Gate….” Ernestine said, cleaning off his hands. “You guys will discover a lot more as you clear more dream dungeons… However, just know that other races have tried to complete Heaven’s Gate… None have succeeded…”
“I thought you couldn’t die if you didn’t do Hard missions?” Alfred said, looking at the man with the grey beard and red eyes with suspicion. “How could Fourteen races fail a game where you can only die if you take risks…”
“Well… They managed to do it, and they did a good job at it too! Anyways… since you completed the boss… that seed I kicked over will become incredibly useful… It contains all the experience from the boss, and is called and experience seed. You can choose to gift either all the experience to one person, or split it amongst yourselves…”
“Are you going to tell us anything else?” Alfred intoned nonchalantly, a trace of sarcasm in his voice. “Like… the reason why we should believe this little tale about the Fourteen other races?”
“It’s because if you don’t, you’ll end up like theM.” The old man tapped down his staff and instantly disappeared. Green looked somewhat in disbelief as the old man left. A trace of greed was emitting from his eyes as he picked up the Experience Seed… He immediately clicked on it causing all their names to appear.
[Experience Seed] (level 35) (Dream object)
(Contains 160,000 experience)
Select a party member
Green (Level 37)
Alfred (Level 28)
Berk (level 35)
Lacy (Level 32)
Wanda (Level 35)
Nick (Level 34)
Portland (level 32)
Froth (level 33)
Please select a name and type in the amount of experience… The Experience Seed is limited to the dream Dungeon Party only… don’t you feel like you have the world in your hands?
Green clicked on his name as Alfred angrily glared at him. He paused for a second and tossed it over to Alfred. It made sense to try and level the playing field.
“Once you reach level 30… you should get a major stat boost… I’m trusting you all don’t mind Alfred using it?”
Berk and Lacy nodded their heads. Nick looked upset, but agreed as well. The ever quiet Froth, who’d been the backup defender also concurred. It took Alfred a second to figure out how much experience he needed. Fortunately, his 50% experience boost applied to even the Experience seed. He selected his name and took out 70,000 experience. With the additional 35,000 experience, he reached level 30… almost level 31.
He tossed back the seed to Green who handed it next to Lacy and Portland. They both took out 20,000 experience and reached level 33. Next to her, Froth only needed 15,000 experience to reach level 34. The remaining experience went to Wanda. With all the experience gone… their party looked more formidable.
Green seemed a little bit distraught, but got over it. Alfred pat him on the shoulder. His Agility had increased by 40 points when he reached level 30, and his health had gone up by almost 1000. Now, if he found himself getting attacked by that second arm, he’d at least be able to take a second blow.
“I’m guessing if you used that Experience seed, you would’ve sailed into first place on the rankings…”
“It doesn’t matter… what’s the point if I can’t get my sister back…” Green said, waving off Alfred’s hand. “Now… Let’s get going… Like the man said, there is only one path….”
….
Alfred and the rest of the Green Everest went further down the road. There was an occasional attack by Chimera’s, however, they were all quickly dealt with by Berk and Green. After taking out roughly another 200 Chimera, they began to see a large cloud with lightning brewing on the horizon.
A large shadow was in the center of that storm, causing the final boss to appear especially imposing. There was luckily a small post for them to stop at before the final battle. A series of abandoned tents with large servings of food had been prepared.
Green worried the food wasn’t edible, or may have been poisoned, but that was quickly dispelled as Berk jumped into grab some Chicken, potatoes, and rice stew to eat. Everyone eventually gave into the cravings as they stared at the clouds.
Green and Alfred even sat at the same table. When they were in high school, any time they had the same lunch period their would be a brawl out back. Lacy even laughed seeing the two of them eating next to each other.
“Wow… if the guys back on the basketball team saw this, they’d think you’d gone crazy, Green…” Lacy said, smiling as she looked back and forth between the duo. “You really did change in those four years… can you tell us what happened…”
“you mean about my amazing life?” Green took another bite as Alfred stared curiously forward. “Why I stopped hating Alfred when I Got here you mean?”
“Well, I want to hear too, honey,” Wanda chimed in… “You had nothing about good things to say about Alfred until you saw him…”
“Well… the difference between me, Vera, Lacy… and Alfred here is that I was on Earth for a year longer… Me and Alfred here had to fight in a random tournament and got put on the same team… We hated each other but we took first place in the U.S.A Finals…”
“Our ranking became 3rd on the international rankings list under team fights… Since then, no matter how much I hated this bastard… I’d never let him on another team…”
“No wonder you’ve been so supportive,” Alfred gulped up more of the food. “You just wanted to use me for my skills…”
“Well, you make up for your looks with your fast hands,” Green laughed, slamming down his hands. “It’s funny right! There is so many unknown things always happening in the universe…”
“About that,” Alfred said, his trust in Green rising… “You might want to hear about how I got to level 28… I completed a Hard mission… in a solo dungeon… you won’t believe where I ended up…”
“Where… in the back of a Jeep,” Lacy blushed as she winked at him. “How dangerous was it?”
“I… I ended up on Earth…. At least… a place like Earth… I know its crazy, but… my Digital assistant said i
t was a second Earth….”
“Don’t overthink it,”Wanda shook her head. “If I’m still as good at science and astronomy as I remember…. We’re at least 10,000,000 light years away from the Milky way… If they use light to study us, then… then humans like us are already long gone…”
“You do science?” Berk said, slamming down another rib… “Sorry for my bad English… can’t think with my mouth full… However, maybe this really isn’t what it seems…”
“We’ll find out,” Green said, dropping down his fork… “I’m worried about it too, but… all we can do is play the game, right? Let’s go beat the final boss… afterwards… maybe we’ll find more answers?”
Green stood up and stretched. They spent twenty minutes letting the food settle and planning for the road ahead. They were going to do the same strategy and have Alfred’s shadow whispers test the final boss. However, if it was as big as it looked in the shroud of darkness, they had their work cut out for them….
Green Everest moved away from the tent and made it to the storm. The sky began to spew out green lightning as a small wrought iron doorway appeared in the midst. Hundreds of skeletons adorned the ground and red blood seemed to drop from the sky. The atmosphere made it especially imposing.
The constant surrounding darkness, however, had grown brighter from the streaking flares of light. The space seemed to even have a slightly higher gravity with every bolt of lightning packing with it the sound of thunder a moment after.
Alfred sighed and recast his Shadow Whisperer technique. Seven of the NPC guards appeared along with two of the new smaller Chimera. They had an increased speed stat which made them more useful for scouting. At this time, they rushed into the large iron gate as Green Everest followed after. A towering Minitour stood in the center of the storm. It had two large wings on its back and spiraling horns.
Heaven's Gate: Volume 1 (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 15
