“What do you mean you brought in a specialist to hold the chimera?” Rose’s voice rang out loudly.
“Now, Miss Rose, we all saw the level of that chimera when it killed Olaf outside the Slaver’s Fortress. As good as you are at level 22, that monster is probably over level 30 by now,” Twill tried to explain.
I could understand the frustration on Rose’s face just as much as I understood Twill’s decision to bring in a higher-level tank. Rose used the last couple days to train. Which for her, was abusing Harrison as much as she could. Leveling up her ‘Shield-Wall’ skill while she had access to someone qualified to train her.
This came right after Harrison informed us, that due to his quest from the God Oshosi, he would be leaving us after the chimera hunt. Rose was understandably a little upset. But the promise of a future adventure, once Harrison found the Circus Maximus, seemed to have mollified her for the time being.
“Harrison, do you hear this?” Rose complained.
“That is enough of that, Red. Let the Trappers do their jobs,” Harrison chided Rose, as he polished a smudge on his shiny new armor. Okay, so the black armor wasn’t very shiny, but Harrison still took a great deal of care in keeping it looking new . . . at least until the fight started. “We will get our chance.”
Harrison’s labor to mine as much ore as he could finally paid off. I didn’t have the Boarman mine ore with every free minute he had for nothing. First, he provided Marie the ore she needed to continue practicing her ‘Blacksmithing’ skill. Second, he unknowingly provided the ore necessary to make him a full set of high-quality armor with Marie’s complements. Harrison would likely deny it to his dying day, but I swear I saw him shed a single tear when he saw the armor for the first time.
Rose crossed her arms in annoyance.
“Rosie, don’t be like that. If higher-level tanks are what we need to succeed, then you’ll just have to suck it up. This is for Olaf, not for you to prove how good of a tank you are,” Baby chided her sister.
Rose was quick to retort and started bickering with her sister.
“Are you sure you want to date that one?” Titan asked softly.
I chuckled. “I’m sure.”
“So, when does the show start. I’m looking forward to watching this fight,” Titan said.
“Soon, I think,” I answered.
Titan nodded and walked back to his bear.
Baby and Titan were just being Baby and Titan. They had pretty much just done their own thing over the last two days. Titan finished rebuilding his platform for Perses’s back. It was unbelievably more intricate than the original. The platform was sanded smooth and stained. The railing around the platform was also sanded smooth and stained the same color as the platform. In addition, he carved intricate patterns into the wood railings and then painted the carvings with a silver paint to make them stand out against the dark stain. Needless to say, due to the nigh unbelievable increase in Titan’s Charisma, Perses had become a real teddy bear whenever his rider was around. With newfound attention, Perses was nothing like the aloof and uninterested mount the blue ursa major was when we first met.
Titan had also built a small stable on the platform to hold additional mounts. Perses seemed less pleased by that addition, but at least Titan was starting to truly learn to play the game. And adding another, smaller mount was a step in the right direction. When I asked Titan what he was going to get, he said he’d figure it out once he found his next province.
Meanwhile, Baby had finally started training herself. She even spent time with Harrison helping the large Boarman get used to casting magic. I can still remember Harrison’s grumbling about having to learn magic at all. Then I dropped the bomb on him about what it means for training as a Warrior Priest. It was wonderful to hear him after that. Finally, someone understood my pain.
“Camp’s all broken down,” Sooty reported. “Wagon train is ready to go as soon as we finish breaking down the chimera. I have got two wagons ready for that. I still think we should have gotten a third wagon just in case.”
“We’ll be fine,” I said. “We already have 4 wagons filled to the brim with grootslang parts, and that is after selling off all the meat.”
Sooty frowned. “We could have stored it in a warehouse in Root City with everything else.”
“I know, but its fine,” I said.
Sooty’s frown didn’t fade. “We could have made a lot more money if you would have just waited a few weeks.”
“Sooty, it’s fine. We don’t need the money. We’ll make more than enough on the parts,” I said.
Reluctantly, Sooty nodded and returned to his wagon, where both Loral and Nahid were waiting for him.
Sooty and Loral had pretty much adopted Nahid after the events of the Slaver’s Fortress. Other than that, Sooty was arranging wagons and transport to move our haul from the grootslang to Root City. We also finally had a party to celebrate Sooty and Loral’s nuptials. And as a gift, we all agreed to let Loral and Sooty claim as much of the grootslang leather as their one wagon could carry. I wasn’t about to let Sooty claim the entire wagon train of materials. Naturally, Marie demanded that she get the same for our share of the bones, as if getting two Diamond Hearts wasn’t enough.
And speaking of the Diamond Hearts, it was only after I presented them to Marie that she informed me that she would need to find a master gem cutter to shape the diamond for her needs. Marie planned to find one while my friends and I were out of the game for a week. It was also at this point that Micaela demanded any leftover diamond shards to use to house her Shaman spirits. Other than that, Marie seemed content to just continue working on her ‘Blacksmithing’ skill, though I was worried about who would be providing her ore next month without Harrison.
“Yo, Bye-bye, am I playing the Bard or the Thief today?” Heath asked. He was standing right next to me when he asked. I had no idea when he got there.
“Do whatever you think will help the most,” I said.
“The thing is, I haven’t been able to make my ax yet. Until I do, I’m really best used by doing one or the other,” Heath said.
“I don’t know, ask Twill,” I said.
“He said to ask you,” Heath replied.
“Then . . . Bard,” I said.
“Great,” Heath said with a wide grin, changing his title from
“Does that do anything? The Titles, I mean?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Heath replied, walking away with a grin.
I should have known Heath wouldn’t give me a straight answer. I would need to ask him about the titles again later.
Heath . . . Heath was Heath. He went back to Root City immediately following the end of the Slaver ordeal with the promise to return for the chimera hunt. He claimed to have unfinished business there, but with Heath, who knew if that was true or not. At least he showed up the morning of the hunt, sitting in the middle of our campsite and waiting for us when we woke up.
And as for me, when I first returned to the Bazaar, I needed to explain what happened with the Slaver’s Fortress to Zemira, including Gofi’s ‘punishment’, which made her laugh and smile with joy, happy that her brother-in-law was in a better place than the Deep Dark. Unfortunately, because of the jailbreak, she had no choice but to banish me from the Bazaar . . . for a week, the absolute minimum punishment she and the council could apply. It was long enough that I would be logged out of the game when it expired. I may have grumbled that I was sort of working for the Gods, but none of them had the courtesy to show up. At least it only applied to me, annoying as that was. It could have been worse, and I guess it didn’t really matter in the end. The odds of me returning to the Endless Savanna were slim.
With an abundance of time, I finally sat down and wrote a heavily edited version of the story of my spear for Sirac, fulfilling the requirements for his quest. I updated my journal while I was at it and gained some skill levels to my profession and then I updated my m
aps. Part of which included making a map for the Slaver’s Fortress Dungeon. I could not wait to submit it to the Cartographer’s Guild. I was already drooling over the potential reward. To sate my curiosity, I checked the Tome of Otherworldly Knowledge. I was only looking for the going rates, but when I searched for maps of the provinces, a Seed Inc. disclaimer popped up explaining that posting such information violated the terms and conditions and that all maps must be purchased in the World Tree. I might have heard a ‘cha-ching, cha-ching’ in my head when I read that. Suddenly, ‘Cartography’ was an even more valuable skill.
“Yo, Bye-bye, stop spacing out!” Olaf shouted.
“Huh? What?” I asked, coming back to the present.
“Twill said he’s ready to move out,” Olaf replied, rolling his eyes.
“Right, let’s go,” I said.
We walked first to the lake where we first saw the Mfalme Lions. From there, we were able to follow the now very old trail. Not that we needed to. My fantastic map noted where the paths diverged, and which trail led to the mine where we were ambushed. This time we followed the other trail. The trail was too old for me to follow, but the Hunter’s Union Scout Lodanis, had no problem. As good as I had gotten with tracking the Warthogs while I was fighting to build up my ‘Thundering Lion Charm’, it was nothing compared to what an actual scout could do.
“The den is just ahead,” Lodanis reported.
“Vision?” Micaela asked, calling the Spirit wolf out of the spirit realm.
Vision appeared and answered, “It is near.” Then promptly vanished again.
“Hunters, set it up!” Twill shouted, then started barking out orders and positioning for the various weaponry he brought, most important of which was the bola thrower. The bola, a weapon used for capturing a target, was two balls joined by a rope or chain between them. In this case, they were going to be aiming for the wings to try to keep the chimera grounded.
While the Hunters set up their ambush, we were kept well back. The chimera might attack the Hunters for entering his territory. He would definitely attack Olaf for entering his territory.
About twenty minutes later, Twill said it was time.
“We’ll be right behind you, Olaf,” I said, speaking for Heath and myself. We would be following Olaf with our ‘Stealth’ skills active, ready to stun the chimera as soon as it appeared.
Olaf nodded and took a deep breath to psych himself up for the crazy he was about to embark on. I activated my ‘Stealth’ skill and followed.
Olaf creeped along slowly. Ahead of us was a cave, it was too dark inside to be able to see into the cave, but it was no doubt the chimera’s den. There were broken and chipped stones all around the entrance giving me the impression it was clawed at to make it larger.
“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty,” Olaf chanted nervously as we moved even closer to the entrance. He kept it up until he got to the cave’s threshold. “Alright, here goes nothing,” he said, stepping one foot inside.
The roar that followed probably should have caused a fear debuff. It was louder and angrier than any roar I had encountered so far. And the black shadow that just about covered the clearing in front of the cave was unnerving.
I looked up and saw the red winged lion crashing down on us. I cast ‘Holy Shock’ and dove out of the way, rolling and coming back to my feet to run. As I ran, I heard the twang of the ballista followed by a whirring sound as the large bola cut through the air. I had no idea if Olaf survived until I heard the cacophony of his hand-cannons, the sound amplified even further by the cave he dove into.
“Reload,” Twill’s voice barked out.
I finally skidded to a stop and turned back to face the monstrosity. The
“Fire!” Twill ordered behind me. His order followed by the twanging and whirring. I waited patiently as the ballista did their job, entangling the wings of the chimera.
“Trapper’s engage,” Twill ordered.
Two heavily armored, large men ran forward,
The two Trappers ran in, catching the chimera’s face in the net between them. Together the pair kept running and pulling the net tight as they arced around behind the beast, the Level 28 Trapper ducked below the net and kept going until the net pulled tight. With that done, I thought we had won. All we needed to do was kill the beast while it was trapped. Unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky.
Looking at the chimera, I could see its claws and teeth already biting through the thick chains that made up the net.
“Prepare the second net, this will not hold long,” the Level 34 Trapper yelled, straining to hold the chimera.
That shout stirred me into action. I needed to do whatever damage I could while it was somewhat contained. I jumped in, stabbing with ‘Justice Strike’ then unleashing a cast of ‘Holy Blast’. The damage of the two attacks wasn’t impressive, but every hit counted.
“We got next,” Rose yelled from the perimeter. From her stance I could tell she was just waiting for her chance to charge in. Harrison stood next to her, looking just as eager.
“Melee, fallback, Ballista units, fire!” Twill yelled. I jumped away as the familiar twang sound came but no whirring this time. Instead, there were oversized arrows cutting through the air and piercing into the monster’s sides.
The chimera bucked from the assault. His horns tore through the chains that only moments before were holding decently well. Worse, the damage we had done so far was healing rapidly. With all the ballista bolts, arrows, bullets, and the few melee weapons used in our attacks, we had barely taken away 15% of its health. Seeing the chimera’s health steadily rise 4% while the damage continued was worrisome. At the current pace, we weren’t going to be able to kill it.
“Boss, there is a malevolent spirit attached to it,” Vision said as he appeared. “I can finally see it.”
“Great,” Micaela said sarcastically.
“Is that why its health is recovering so fast?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Micaela said. “Vision, what level is it?”
“Level 32, same as the chimera,” Vision answered.
That couldn’t be good. “So, what do we do?” I asked.
“I . . . have no idea,” Micaela answered, then paused. “Wait, hang on. Kali says our only chance is to drag it into the mortal realm. So long as the malevolent spirit exists on an astral plane, we won’t be able to kill it.”
“Okay, and how do we do that?” I asked.
“Are you kidding me?” Micaela shouted, not answering my question but staring awkwardly down at the new ruby gemstone embedded in her armor. “I’m not doing that. You’re insane. What do you mean ‘it’s the only way’? I don’t accept that. No. No. No means no.” Micaela crossed her arms angrily.
The sound of chains breaking brought me back to the fight. The chimera had finally broken free of the net.
“Charging,” Rose announced, her form blurring a second later only to reappear in front of the chimera, her shield-wall slamming into the monster.
“Charging,” Harrison followed, his actions mirroring Rose’s.
“I can do it, Boss,” Vision said, confusing me.
“No,” Micaela said. “It’s way too dangerous.”
“But all these people might die if I don’t,” Vision said.
Micaela huffed angrily. “Fine. Fine, we’ll do it together. But at the first sign of danger, you run. You got me?”
“Yes, Boss,” Vision promised, vanishing from view.
“Wait, what are you doing?” I asked.
“We’re going into the astral plane and dragging the malevolent spirit through the planes and into the mortal plane. Once it’s there, it’s vulnerable and you can kill it,” Micaela answered, still sounding rather upset.
“That’s great,” I said. “So, why are you so upset?”
“Because anything I do beyond the first astral plane, drains my Spirit,” Micaela answered.
“Spirit? You mean like mana?” I asked.
“No, I mean Spirit. I lose points of my Spirit stat,” Micaela answered.
“What about your totems?” I asked.
“Thankfully, having Palm and Kali adds enough Spirit stat points to cover all my totem spirits and each other. Which means, I can spend almost all my Spirit stat points without losing any of my totems,” Micaela explained. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have work to do.” With that, Micaela sat down, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes.
Vision blinked in and out of view near the chimera. Something firmly clasped in his jaws, but I couldn’t make it out. Then a ghost of Micaela appeared with Vision, her hands grasping on to the same something that I couldn’t quite see.
“Twill, save your ammo,” I shouted. “Micaela’s up to something.”
“Hold fire! Wait on my signal!” Twill shouted quickly.
“New net incoming,” the Level 34 Trapper yelled.
“Disengaging,” Rose and Harrison shouted in unison.
The new net made contact again and just as before, the two Trappers circled and pulled the net tight.
Then Vision and Micaela appeared again, this time with one massive heave from both, their ghostly forms fell backward, and something came fully into view just as they vanished again.
Superimposed over the chimera was a ghostly Mfalme Lion, very similar to the original beast before its transformation. Its nameplate read
World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive Page 55
