by Dakota Krout
“Territory dispute? As if!” Tiona scowled at the notification blocking her view as if trying to frighten it into changing its verbiage. “This is a stupid survival quest like that rabbit swarm!”
“Here they come!” Dylan’s voice wavered as he raised his shield. “This is gonna hurt, dang it, stupid team needing a tank…” His voice trailed off into incoherent grumblings, but his stance reflected perfect defensive discipline.
Guess looked around at the team members–who were getting into formation and putting their backs to a tree–and vanished into a nearby shadow. Tiona was about to give a few orders, looked around, and snorted. “Rogues! Guess, you better just be getting into position, or I’m going to cut you in half!”
The first of the wolves exploded through the underbrush, only taking a moment to lock its eyes on the party before snarling and charging them. Before making it halfway, half a dozen more canines began hurtling into the open. Arrow after arrow launched from Chad’s bow, finding new homes in fur and flesh. The first wolf died, but the others simply increased their pace. Chad continued attacking, but was knocked to the ground as a Scout made its presence known by returning fire. Chad screamed as the barbed head of the arrow tore into his bicep, and he was forced to stop attacking as his arm went limp.
Joe was the only other member of the team with ranged attacks, and his hands quickly formed his only offensive spell. The shadow of the Wolfman bunched up and slid into the Scout soundlessly; the Wolfman screamed in pain as it fell. It wasn’t dead yet, but Joe needed to turn his focus to Chad. He gripped the arrow, knowing this part would suck. With a sharp pull, the arrow, a chunk of meat, and a spray of blood came from the fallen man. Chad shrieked as Joe grabbed the tender area, applying his healing spell as accurately as possible. In moments, skin was closing over newly-grown tissue.
Chad nodded with tears in his eyes, leapt to his feet, and began firing arrows once more. His attacks were much more carefully targeted now; Scouts were his main focus. Leaving the four-legged variety to his teammates, Chad put an arrow into any wolf standing on just two feet.
Dylan was screaming in rage and pain as he waded through the wolves attempting to drag him to the ground. “Not! This! Time! You mangy beasts. I am going. To. Cut you!” He punctuated his sentences with slashes or bashes, using his shield as much as his sword. With his grumbling curses drawing the animal’s attention, Tiona was able to deal maximum damage. Her sword flashed amongst the combatants, leaving behind huge gashes and crippled opponents. As the last wolf fell, Dylan stood on wavering legs. Just before he would have collapsed, Joe’s hand landed on his shoulder and began pouring healing water over the stocky tank. Dylan shook his head, his mind able to function properly again as savage bite marks rapidly vanished from his body.
A Scout thudded to the ground, falling from its sniping position in the branches of a tree it was planning to ambush them from. Guess landed on the anthropomorphic wolf, using it as a landing pad as her presence was once again known. “Three Wolfmen, well, four with this one, and about sixteen wolves in that wave.”
Territory dispute. Rounds survived: 1/5. Experience deferred.
“Deferred?” Joe asked as he noticed that everyone else was also getting the notification.
“You get the experience when you either finish the quest or die,” Tiona told him as she prepared herself for the next wave. “That way, you can’t level up mid-battle and get fully restored.”
“Well that sucks,” Dylan’s grumbles started up again. He was looking over his wolf-leather armor which was becoming heavily tattered. “At least I’ll have plenty of materials to repair this with after the battle.”
The next wave progressed in a similar manner; the only real scare being when a wolf used one of its comrades as a springboard and was able to tackle Dylan to the ground. Luckily, this was near the end of the wave, and Joe was able to restore him from only a few health before the next wave began.
Territory dispute. Rounds survived: 2/5. Experience deferred.
This time, something was different. Instead of Wolves charging them, a storm of arrows and thin javelins began to whizz through the underbrush. Dylan laughed as his stout shield vibrated from the impact of the projectiles, his reaction time good enough that none of them landed in his body. Joe, Chad, and Guess were the main damage dealers this round, as they needed to seek out the archers and end them from a distance. Joe was able to eliminate two of the Scouts on his own, then finished off one Scout who had three arrows protruding from his stomach. Not seeing any open wounds on his teammates, Joe was surprised as Chad suddenly fell to his knees gasping.
Looking him over, Joe noticed black lines that had crept up Chad’s arm. He swore softly, only now remembering that Scouts were known for using poison on their arrows. Activating cleanse, he channeled the spell and worked to expunge the high-leveled poison from his teammate. It was difficult to do, but with his higher understanding of the spell, higher skill level, and the bonus power from channeling, he was able to rid the toxins from the archer’s bloodstream.
Skill increased: Cleanse (Beginner 0). Congratulations! You have increased your skill enough that you understand the basic concepts! Since you mainly used this skill to remove poisons and toxins during the novice rankings, Cleanse now has a 10% bonus effectiveness against poison and toxins in the human body!
A piercing scream rang out from the final Scout as Guess succeeded in backstabbing it, and it fell to the ground from a branch above them.
Quest complete: Hunting the hunters! (Daily) 10/10 Wolfman Scouts have been slain by your party’s actions! Return to the quest assigner for any monetary or item rewards! Experience gained: Deferred.
Territory dispute. Rounds survived: 3/5. Experience deferred.
Joe tried to help Chad to his feet, but as he pulled the archer upward, his strength modifier made him fail and he fell down on top of his surprised teammate. “Sorry!” Joe was flushed with embarrassment, “Seriously though, I need to put a couple points into strength. And constitution. This is getting stupid.”
“Joe! Get your mind in the battle!” Tiona called out as the next wave began. A few arrows arced toward them, but Chad had already regained his feet and returned fire instantly while dodging the missiles. The real trouble appeared as a trio of Wolfmen stepped out of the forest, heavy machetes and thick leather armor marking them as vastly different from the creatures they had fought thus far. Joe stared intently at the new threat, attempting to pull up some information on them.
Successful perception check! Wolfman Warrior. After standard training and months of hardship, extra strong Wolfmen are given their first weapons and armor. The more metal they have on them, the more elite the force. A Wolfman fully clad in metal armor and wielding a metal weapon is an absolute elite and a force to be reckoned with. Average level is eight.
Perception +1! After staring intently, almost lovingly, into the eyes of your foe, your perception has increased to the point that you can attain general knowledge of them. Gain more insight into your enemies to advance your understanding of their being.
“These guys are at least level eight, everyone.” Joe was surprised by how calm his words sounded. Realistically, he had no idea if he would be effective against this type of enemy.
“Finally, a worthy challenge,” Tiona stated dryly, her face coated in sweat as she tried to catch her breath.
The three Warriors loped toward them, fury in their gaze as they raised their weapons.
~ Chapter Twenty-three ~
“Joe, can you slow one of them down?” Dylan questioned in a quiet voice. “I can’t hold against three at once.”
Looking over his teammate with a searching stare, Joe saw that he was about to break. “I’ll do my best.” His mana reserves were almost full, since healing cost him almost nothing right now. Joe targeted the Wolfman Warrior that was in front, leading the charge. Joe’s hand moved in a specific pattern, and the shadow of the wolf lanced upward into the unprotected shin of the sprint
ing soldier. There was a disturbing *crack* of bone as the shin bent around the spike, the force of the running Warrior causing the bone to split vertically.
Howling, the leading Warrior dropped to the ground, weapon flying from his hand. The others ignored him as they continued their assault. Joe wanted to finish off the fallen Wolfman, but the others clashed with Dylan and Joe had no attention to spare. Their attacks were unrefined, brutal but effective. Dylan blocked three strikes before his shield shattered, but he managed to lash out and open the gut of the rightmost attacker.
The Wolfman whimpered as his intestines saw light for the first time but continued attacking weakly until all his movements stopped. Tiona dashed in and parried a blow that should have caught Dylan in the neck, leaving the Wolfman open to a backstab from Guess. The wolf stiffened as another blade slammed into him and an arrow slid between his ribs through a gap in the leather armor. Dylan gasped, dropping to his knees as he took a deep breath, cradling his broken arm as the pain finally reached him. He smiled through the pain, happy they had survived the wave. “Guys, I really think we-”
Blood poured from Dylan’s torn throat as he looked uncomprehendingly at the Warrior that had fallen with a shattered leg. The canine bared its teeth in a horrifying snarl before the others managed to put various weaponry into its body.
Party member Dylan has fallen! Experience loss halved due to quest deferring experience gains. Look for him as the sun rises over the eastern horizon.
Territory dispute. Rounds survived: 4/5. Experience deferred.
“Damn it! No!” Tiona dropped next to Dylan, trying to find any signs of life even though they had all already gotten the notification of his death. “Dylan, I’m so sorry! We weren't ready to push into this area, and you told me you didn’t want to tank… I…”
“Snap out of it, Tiona!” Chad called angrily. “He’ll be back tomorrow, and you can feel bad for yourself then! The last wave is starting!”
The brush rustled ominously, and all of the humans prepared themselves. Joe frantically channeled cleanse into Tiona, granting her the ‘well-hydrated’ buff just before the battle started. Out of the forest walked an extra-large Wolfman, and the light reflecting from his polished armor caused Joe to blink a few times. A thick bastard sword was held in a single hand as the Elite Warrior glared at them and looked around at the bodies that were already beginning to rot. A dark rumble grew in its chest, transforming to a howl as it charged them. Twice as fast as the others, the Elite Warrior crossed the distance in a flash.
Joe cast shadow spike as the Wolfman closed in on Tiona, but its eyes shifted to him and Joe could see the beast’s eyes dilate. As Joe finished the spell, the monster launched himself into the air. The spike appeared from the shadow, but the spell almost instantly collapsed. Not only had jumping taken the wolf out of range, his shadow had shrunk to a tiny circle on the ground, weakening the spell immeasurably. Cleaving downward with his huge sword, the wolf snarled as Tiona rolled out of the way of the ground-shattering blow. It took two incredibly quick pulls, but then the bastard sword came out of the ground with a spray of soil as the wolf continued his attack.
The Warrior rolled forward suddenly and Guess appeared behind him, her daggers only scoring the metal armor as the beast dodged. A backhand caught Guess across the face and the rogue went flying into a tree. A sound like hail was starting to annoy the Wolf, and he glanced over to see Chad firing arrow after arrow into his armor. Targeting weak points, the archer was doing his best to inflict any damage at all but failing miserably. With the wolf looking in his direction, Chad targeted his eyes. Simple movements of his head caused all the arrows to either miss the Wolfman entirely, or break against his helmet.
Tiona roared as she swung her sword with both hands, catching the Wolfman in the small of his back. He only stumbled forward, regaining his footing and turning to join the duel Tiona was offering. The huge sword flicked out and it took all of Tiona’s skill to deflect the blow, the force still causing her to stumble backward. She dodged the next two swings without trying to match strength with the beast. Locking eyes with Joe for a moment, she nodded slightly and charged forward.
Joe channeled his shadow spike, the spike appearing at the Wolfman’s lower back just as an arrow impacted the back of his knee, causing it to buckle. Tiona’s charge slammed the off-balance Wolfman into the spike, but to Joe’s horror, the armor held. Guess re-entered the fray at that moment, and her daggers bashed the wolf just hard enough for the armor to give way with a squeal. The tip of the channeled spike slid into the humanoid slowly, the wolf not able to recover his balance as Tiona and Guess dodged his frantic attacks and applied their own. With a sickening *squelch* the spike exited the front of the wolf and was stopped by the undamaged breastplate.
The Warrior struggled valiantly for a few more moments before falling to the ground as Joe ran out of mana. It twitched a few times, then lay still. Joe dropped to the ground gasping as his body slowly began regenerating his fully depleted power. Through his breaths, he looked with great curiosity at the new notifications that were allowed to appear.
Quest complete: Territory dispute. Rounds survived: 5/5. Experience increased by 50%! (25% bonus for being the first to find this event, 25% bonus for completing it on the first attempt.) Exp: 2000. Item gained: Class specific item box! This small treasure box holds an item only useful to you or someone with the same class as you! Guard it well!
Joe slowly sat up as he felt his body starting to recover from the intense battle. Everyone was sitting, faces and bodies covered in dirt, blood, and sweat. He muttered, “I bet we all have the ‘stinky’ debuff right now.”
For some reason, the others seemed to think this comment was hilarious and started chuckling. In a moment, the chuckles turned to full-on laughter. They slowly stood, aching all over, and began to loot the bodies. Most of the clothes were tattered rags, but the leather armor and metal weapons could be sold for a fairly good price. The real prize was the heavy metal armor worn by the Wolfman Elite. They stripped the gear off of him, ignoring the horrid stench coming from his ruptured organs. When the team found that they couldn’t carry both the armor and the loot, Joe decided to tell the others about his new spacial ring. There were a few twitching eyes, but no one said anything as he stored the thick armor in the ring.
“It’s totally full right now,” Joe explained as Tiona asked him to put the other loot in the ring. “It’s not a huge capacity, really just enough for all my spell components and… well, a set of armor, I guess.”
“What?” Guess looked over at them.
“I said ‘I guess’. I wasn’t calling you.” Joe rolled his eyes.
“Ah.” Guess went back to watching for danger.
“Alright.” Tiona sighed heavily. “You know, the more you hide stuff like this from us, the less likely it is that we can fully trust you.”
“I wasn’t hiding it, really.” Joe felt a bit upset about her assertion. “You just can’t really use it, so there was no reason for me to bring it up. It would just seem like I was bragging!”
“Hmm.” Tiona looked away, then addressed the others, “Good job today. Check to see if Dylan dropped anything, and let’s get the heck outta here. I’m totally beat right now.” They set out for town, and Joe checked the other notifications that had been blinking in the corner of his vision.
Exp: 496 (Combination of multiple creatures. See full listing? Yes / No)
Joe selected ‘no’. He knew what monsters he had fought today, he didn’t need to go over it again. It was only early afternoon when they approached the gates, but it felt like it had been a week. He was indescribably interested in the class item box that he was carrying in his storage ring, but he couldn’t open it for fear of the others finding out what it contained. What if it shouted ‘Ritualist class item!’ when he opened it? Sure, it was unlikely, but… games had done stranger things in the past.
The trail back was quite the trudge with how exhausted they all were, but the t
houghts of a relaxing bath and a hot meal were a powerful draw. Joe’s need to maintain a fairly slow pace made the others huff with annoyance by the time they were halfway back; at this point Chad and Guess started playing tag in the trees, jumping from branch to branch with the excellent agility their class afforded them. Tiona would get a bit ahead of Joe, then do push-ups until he was past her. Joe’s face soured when she would run past him and try to beat her previous record. Now he was missing the slow, stealthy pace they needed to use when going through hostile territory.
Never had Joe been so happy to see the city gates. He ignored the others in his team, and they laughed at his aloof countenance as the party disbanded. Waving at each other, they went their separate ways. Even Joe muttered a fond farewell, knowing that they were only teasing him to ease the tension of the day. He skidded to a stop as he remembered that he was carrying the armor they intended to gift to Dylan. Looking around frantically, he saw that the others were gone. They must have forgotten about the armor and the repairs it needed. He rolled his eyes, knowing that he needed to take care of this before starting to relax.
Joe walked into the trade district and was surprised with how long it took to find directions to a reputable armor smith. The characteristic sound of metal on metal and tear-inducing smoke from the forge was nowhere to be found. Worried that the smithy in the area would only be a storefront, he was much relieved to walk in and see a man pounding soundlessly on an anvil. “Hello! I have some armor that I need work on.”
There was no response to Joe’s words; the man just kept hammering away. Getting a bit frustrated after repeated attempts to get the man’s attention, Joe looked around and noticed a bell on the counter. He went over and rang it, and the man at the anvil looked up with a startled expression. Setting down the hammer and metal he was beating on, the man walked over with a neutral expression on his face. “Yes? Sorry, there’s a sound barrier in that room. Can I help… no, get out. I don’t sell any kind of mage armor or weapons, in fact I’m not a huge fan of the college. I work with metal here, I don’t have anything light enough for… whatever class you are supposed to be.”
