The Land: Raiders: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 6)

by Aleron Kong

  You have found:

  Sprite Claws of Sublimation

  Durability: 42/45

  Item Class: Unusual

  Quality: Superb

  Weight: 1.4 kg

  Traits: Activating the enchantment in these gauntlets will cause most forms of common rock to turn to gas

  Charges: 253/257

  “I… WANT… ONE!” Richter said. These things were amazing! If he could find a way to learn this enchantment, the possibilities were endless. Watch out Tokra, he could make insta-tunnels too! What if he could apply the enchantment to a pick axe? The productivity of his ore gatherers would sky rocket!

  “These are not trinkets to just be given out,” Yoshi said severely. “They are only given to those who have undergone the Uddo Rengai.” Then his face softened somewhat, while somehow a cruel glint found its way onto his face. “You have proven yourself to be a trustworthy person, however, and I am happy to call you an ally. Perhaps you would like to undergo this training once we are done with this little task. In fact, I strongly recommend it.”

  You have been offered a Quest: Uddo Rengai I. Your relationship with sword adept Yoshi has progressed to the point that he has offered to let you undergo a secret form of sprite training. Your Gift of Tongues ability translates this as ‘Trial of the Wood Spirit.” From his tone and phrasing, it is clear that refusing this training, would be unwise for your relationship with him… and possibly for your health. Reward(s): A set of Sprite Claws of Sublimation. Other unknown benefits from training. Penalty for Failure to accept or complete this Quest: Loss of relationship rank with Sword Adept Yoshi. Do you accept? Yes or No?

  “Uhhh, I’d be honored?” Richter responded. It was half question half answer.

  “Yes,” Yoshi said as if Richter’s answer had been a foregone conclusion. “Back to the matter at hand. My team will scale the ravine walls and cross over the top of the wall. From that side, with the help of your leech poison, we will be able to kill all of the goblins on this side of the wall. You and Sion must remain behind.”

  “Look, I know I haven’t undergone your trial yet, but I can climb. Sion here is like a monkey. Just give us a spare set of the claws, and we’ll help. I promise I’ll give them back after.”

  “No, battle sergeant,” Yoshi said. His use of Richter’s War Leader rank made the chaos seed pay close attention. It was almost like half-sprite was showing him respect. “I no longer doubt that you were a valuable addition to this squad, but you do not know how to move laterally across stone while ensuring that not a single pebble falls to tell of your passage. You would put us in danger. Also, you have your own battle to fight.”

  Yoshi looked at him and meaningfully tapped the red dots still in the ravine. Richter understood immediately, “The patrol.”

  “Yes,” the adept said nodding. “It will take my squad some time to scale the cliff and move past the gate. Those four goblins will make it back here before we can kill all of the gate guards. If they see their guards missing, they will raise the alarm. You and Sion need to kill them before the patrol gets suspicious. Richter, you have proven yourself an able warrior. I can leave members of my strike team to help you if necessary, but that will greatly decrease our chances to kill the gate guards quietly. Waiting for the rest of the army to come is not an option. If the patrol gets to the end of the ravine and sees their sentries gone, they will raise the alarm, and the mission will fail. Similarly, if you cannot silence the patrol all at once, and they raise the alarm while we are still climbing. While we are climbing, we will be vulnerable, and many of us will die. Speak true, Lord Richter. Can I trust you to kill the patrol quietly?”

  Quest Update: Bloodstone I. The success of the mission rests upon you. Yoshi is confident that his strike force can kill the gate guards despite being outnumbered. The patrol of four goblins is already returning, however. You must kill them quietly. Yoshi will leave you extra men to help, but that would endanger his half of the attack. Penalty for Failure: The possible death of Yoshi’s entire strike force and failing the Quest. Can you and Sion kill the goblin patrol quietly? Yes or No?

  Richter didn’t hesitate. A great many things had changed since he had come to The Land, but his ability to make a split-second decision when it was required was not one of them. “Those goblins are going to die, and I’m going to be the one that kills them.”

  Yoshi extended an arm, and Richter reached out as well. The two clasped wrists and met eyes. Then, with a firm shake, the adept let go and told his men to move out. Alma flew back over the ravine. The patrol was still moving towards the gate, so the strike force started jogging down the crevasse as well. The more ground they could cover before starting to climb, the better.

  The claws were amazing, but it looked like they burned through the magic of the enchantment fairly quickly. Based on what Richter had seen, the claws might only have about five minutes of continuous activation time before the charges ran out. A quick round of questioning showed that none of the sprites had the enchantment skill, which meant that they couldn’t use soul stones to replenish the charges. Damien assured him, though that they were trained for these types of scenarios.

  They traveled half way down the ravine, and then the strike squad began its ascent. The sprites were natural climbers. Augmented by the magic in their gauntlets and even more so by the climbing spikes, they were able to move upward at the speed of a slow walk. Within a few minutes, they were several dozen yards up, and if not for the Night Vision spell, Richter and Sion wouldn’t have been able to see them. True to Yoshi’s word, not a single pebble fell to give away their passage.

  Richter, Sion, and the shale adder continued forward. They had chosen a switchback in the ravine as their ambush point. The snake’s scales had already changed to match the grey rocky ground it was slithering over. The location they had chosen had several small boulders that should still be large enough for the cloaked Companions to hide behind. They found their positions and began to prepare.

  Both men anointed arrows with leech poison. When Richter viewed the arrows in his virtual inventory, a small green teardrop icon appeared next to them. The poison status would not last long, but it would remain long enough for them to spring their trap. With that thought, the chaos seed reviewed the traps in his Bag to see if they could help.

  He had a shrink trap still left in his bag from earlier adventures, but all of his dart traps had been used. The only other traps had come from the assengai queen’s lair: Tranquilizing Web Trap, Acidic Web Trap, Constricting Web Trap and Razor Web Trap. Richter shook his head, they were all potentially powerful, but none of the traps ensured instant kills or incapacitation. Killing the goblins would have to come down to their magic and fighting skills.

  Richter loaded his Ring of Spell Holding. The enchanted band couldn’t hold any of his new initiate level spells, but it would still prove its worth. He started a casting, and the clear gem on the ring turned black. Checking the video feed from Alma, he saw that the goblins had started coming back down the pass…and there were two more coming with them.

  He looked at Sion, with a pensive look in his eye. The sprite looked back and adopted a resigned expression when he saw Richter’s face, “What? What now?”

  “Welllll…” Richter cleared his throat, “It looks like there are now eight goblins coming with the patrol now; five fighters and three scouts.”

  “What?” Sion hissed quietly. “You said six!”

  “It was six!” Richter shot back through gritted teeth.

  “Then why is it eight now?”

  “How the fuck should I know?”

  The two friends bickered quietly for a few more seconds, until Richter said, “Look. This is happening. Now let’s plan.”

  The chaos seed took his map out and zoomed in so they could see the goblins. The good news was, through Richter’s position as Scout in Yoshi’s war party, he could see that all of the goblins were level sixteen and below. The highest level goblin they had encountered so far ha
d been level twelve. Apparently, the lower level goblins had been given the shit detail of doing scout duty outside the ravine. That didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous, but at least their stats shouldn’t be near the superhuman levels that Sion and he had. Richter hoped that the trend of the goblins getting stronger didn’t hold true, though. Otherwise, the encampment might be full of high level enemies.

  Another stroke of luck was that the green-skinned fighters were moving as slowly coming back down the canyon as they had going up it. It gave the strike squad more time to reach the far side of the gate, while also giving the Companions time to prepare. They gave names to each of the goblins to better assign targets. The fighters were: Big Nose, Scar, Rash, Rash Two, and Ugly Face. That last guy was ugly even for goblin. The scouts were Yellow Wart, Cross-eyed, and Bill. Richter looked in askance at his friend over the last name.

  “I grew up with a sprite named Billari. He was a total asshat.”

  Proud of his friend’s improved usage of swear words since they had met, Richter just nodded and said, “Nice.”

  The Companions watched as the patrol got closer, and saw that the goblins stayed in roughly the same configuration. Four fighters walked in back, another walked slightly ahead, and the two scouts walked a couple of yards back. Only three, two fighters and a scout, had horns on their belts. They were the first targets.

  The plan was to let the patrol pass by and then Sion would attack from behind. Once the goblins’ attention was turned towards the sprite, Richter, who would be stealthed just ahead of the patrol, would attack. The Companions had preparation, surprise, superior weaponry, magic and levels on their side. The goblins only had numerical superiority. The ambush should work, but Richter had learned that nothing was sure in battle.

  None of the goblins with horns were wearing helmets, which greatly increased the chance of making an instant kill. In fact, each goblin only wore a random collection of metal and leather armor. Most of it had holes in it, showing how the previous owner had died. All of it was rusted in places. Their weaponry was in a similar state, ranging from a wooden cudgel to a rusted mace. Sion would take out one of the horn blowers with a poison arrow to the neck or head. Hopefully, with his insanely high attack speed, the sprite could strike a second target before the goblins even knew what was happening. The adder could be relied on to incapacitate another fighter. The rest were going to be the responsibility of Richter and Alma. It might have been too much, if not for the fact that Richter was a summoner.

  Despite what he had thought earlier, the chaos seed slipped his Ring of Healing off of his finger and donned the Ring of Dominant Will he had taken from the Witch Doctor’s body. With what was coming, he had a feeling that he would need the +21% that the ring provided to his ability to control other creatures.

  Alma flew above and behind the goblins, unseen and ready to attack. Once Richter saw that the goblins were only a few hundred yards away, he started casting. Sion stood in front of him and spread his cape, ensuring the magical light couldn’t be seen down the canyon. Richter moved both arms as he dual cast the spell for the first time. Green light surrounded his hands, and he cast Summon Minor Chokespore Arachnid.

  A four-foot tall green disc appeared in the air, and a dry smell like fallen leaves filled the air. It was faint but distinctive. From the disc, a hairy, segmented leg emerged, and then another. In a few seconds, the entire spider had come through from whatever plane he summoned it from.

  The thing was only three feet high. Its furry bod was a mix of green and brown in a pattern that would provide great concealment in a forest. Most of its body looked like any other spider, albeit much larger, but its abdomen was pockmarked with dozens of silver dollar sized holes. Despite the fact that it was a higher level than the saproling he could summon, summon, Richter was disappointed in his new creature. Until he used Analyze.

  Name: Chokespore Arachnid Disposition: Loyal

  Chokespore arachnids are agile hunters. Rather than trapping creatures in webs, this forest hunter quietly creeps closer to its prey. Once in range, it jumps into the middle of a pack of creatures and releases the fungus stored in its abdomen. These spores shoot into the air and causes severe allergic reactions in most creatures. Effects include closing of airways, extreme blurred vision, and intense pain, making concentration difficult. After its victims are incapacitated, it quickly bites its quarry causing a short-term paralysis. This is still long enough for the spider to wrap the bodies in strong spider silk to be consumed at its leisure.

  Level: 22

  Health: 220/220Mana: 50/50Stamina: 180/180

  Strength: 25

  Agility: 29

  Dexterity: 34

  Constitution: 22

  Endurance: 18

  Intelligence: 5

  Wisdom: 7

  Charisma: 4

  Luck: 10

  The spider might be just what they needed. Richter had been planning to summon a saproling as well, but he realized that in this case, less was more. It wasn’t worth the two Earth creatures possibly exceeding his control. He quickly told Sion about the creature’s capabilities, and the sprite agreed that it should jump into the middle of the patrol once the fighting started and release its spores. Richter accessed the faint light in his mind that showed his Psi Bond with the spider. He tested a few commands and was pleased to see that it moved as he directed it. The best surprise was it could scale the walls and attack from above. Richter had it climb the ravine wall several feet away from the switchback and wait.

  Looking at the spider, Richter realized that he couldn’t assume that higher level creatures were necessarily better than his lower level creatures. The arachnid’s main attack involved getting its prey to breathe poisonous spores. That meant the spider was only useful against corporeal creatures that, well, breathed. Against undead enemies, the spider might be next to useless. His saproling however, could probably go toe to toe with zombies of the same level.

  On the other hand, even a patrol of goblin scouts had been enough to overwhelm his saproling in the past. His new spider, though, might make short work of such a squad if they all inhaled its chokespores. It was just another example that in The Land, it was the correct application of power that mattered, not power in and of itself.

  As he prepared to cast his next spell, he drank a mana potion. It was a luxury having a surplus of the blue solutions, and he spared a moment to think fondly of his Dragon’s Cauldron and Tabia. Then he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. His mana bar began to replenish, restoring the three hundred and twenty-seven magic points he had lost dual casting Summon Minor Chokespore Arachnid. Thankfully, his next spell was not nearly as mana intensive.

  A guttural word of Power flowed over Richter’s lips as he cast Summon Weak Bile Rats. A purple-black disc appeared on the ground, and five rats rose from the portal before it disappeared. Each of the rats was a sickly yellow color, despite the fact that their bodies were fat and thick. They were each level five or six. Richter put them through their paces as well and was satisfied that they would follow his commands. He wasn’t able to command each rat individually. It was more like he was psychically commanding a hive mind and they all obeyed. Richter was tense for a moment, this being the first time he had successfully summoned two creatures at once, but both the rats and the spider remained completely under his control. Whether because of the ring or because they were from different elements, his creatures, remained obedient.

  *The stinky ones approach, master,* Alma sent.

  *We’re ready love. Psi Blast any of them that don’t immediately go down, even if Sion or I get trapped in the blast.* Richter hadn’t told his friend about that last part. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come up, and if it did, he was sure the sprite would get over it. Eventually.

  Sion and Richter cast a series of spell buffs. Then the sprite hid himself and Richter did the same. The trap was set, so Richter sent the bait. From what he had seen in the past, goblins were not picky eaters. They seemed to th
ink that rats were a particularly tasty treat. Richter sent the rats forward, around the switchback and towards the goblin patrol. Once the goblins saw the rats, one gave an excited whoop, and the rest squealed in delight. They started speaking quickly in goblin-speak, “Get them.” “Get them!” “I was just thinking I was hungry.” “Those elf-loving bastards scraped the cook pots clean before I even got any dinner!”

  Richter ordered the rats to flee back towards him, and through Alma’s eyes, he saw them run after the rats. Not wanting to be confused by dual images, he shut down the visual feed Alma was sending and prepared for battle. The first goblin came around the corner. Then the next, and then the next. None of them spared a glance towards where Sion hid on the left side of the canyon. Neither did they see Richter along the right side, hidden by cloak, stealth and the dark of night.

  As soon as the last one passed Sion, the meidon sprite attacked. The sides of his cape fell back, and he drew his already nocked bow. He exhaled and released. The arrow, point brown from being covered in poison, flew true. Its broadhead point entered the back of a goblin fighter’s head, and the green-skinned creature pitched forward. Sion was already sighting on his next target before the first began to drop.

  The shale adder, nearly indistinguishable from the rocky makeup of the ravine, shot forward. The first thing the goblin fighter saw of the creature that would end his life was a gaping maw moving towards his face. The snake downed its prey and began coiling its body around the goblin. The fighter managed a short, shrill scream, but the sound only went down the pet’s throat. The adder began squeezing.