The OP MC 2

by Logan Jacobs

  His eyes popped open after the first hit, and he reached for his mace by the time I landed a second blow, but I sliced his arms off before he could draw his weapon.

  The zombie stumbled out of the alcove and let out a dry moan as he ambled toward me, but I merely spun in a circle and then stuck out my sword at just the right time to slice its head off.

  “My turn!” Elissa strode forward as her hips swayed with confidence, and she scoured the room until she located a loose floor stone. Then she brought it over and dutifully crushed the skull of the undead at my feet.

  I sighed with relief at the easy victory, and I made a new save point.

  Once that was taken care of, I moved over to inspect the mace that had dropped down into the alcove with the zombie’s hand still attached to the grip. I pried off the dried remains of the fist, and then I touched the tip of the mace to pull up its stats.

  Durability - 73%

  Weight - 3.9lbs

  Quality - Low

  Magical Aspect - None

  Magical Ability - None

  It wasn’t the best weapon, but it would be better than the rocks Elissa had found to bash in skulls so far. With the mace, and her fiery red hair, she would really look like a Skullcrusher as she raged into battle.

  Who knew my wife was prone to the berserker class?

  “The perfect weapon for a Skullcrusher,” I announced as I handed over the mace to the red-haired beauty.

  “Oh, thank you, Bash!” she gasped as she experimented with the weight of it in her hands. She swung it around a couple of times and then plopped it down into her empty hand with a wide grin. “It’s perfect.”

  “If your arms start to get sore,” Mahini interjected in a worried tone, “let us know, and I can take over the skull crushing.”

  “Stop trying to take my job,” Elissa shot back with a giggle. “Don’t worry about me, Mahini, my arms are fine! I used to help my dad haul copper ore around in wheelbarrows as a kid, I’m stronger than I look.”

  “Is that what your necklace is from?” I asked as I indicated the copper circlet that hung from a gold chain around her neck. It was almost hidden from view by the large gemstone necklace I’d given her, but Elissa didn’t seem to mind her crowded throat.

  “Yes,” the red-haired goddess replied with a soft, nostalgic smile. “It reminds me of all the hard work my father did to give me a good life. He was lead miner before the goblins took the mine, and I think he will go back to it now that there’s a council to help him take care of the town. He loves to dig, Bash, and you helped give that back to him. So, now this necklace also represents what you did for the town, and for me. You saved us all, and I love you for it.”

  “Wow, Elissa, you are so beautiful when you open up like that,” I murmured as I crossed the distance to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulder. “I’m proud to call you my wife.”

  “I’m proud to be your wife,” Elissa sighed as she snuggled her face into my neck.

  “Shall we explore this cavern before heading back to the antechamber?” Mahini suggested as her piercing blue eyes roved around the room.

  “Yep!” I made a new save point before we inspected the chamber, but I was pleased to find several chests and cremation urns inside the room. There was meager loot inside, though, only a few gold coins and more shattered gemstone pieces, and I wondered how many other adventurers had made it this far and taken everything in here.

  Then we made our way back to the antechamber where the tunnels split off. We explored the rooms on the right-hand side of the corridor this time, and I made save points before we entered each one.

  We encountered a few zombies and skeletons but found a little bit more loot as well, and it didn’t take us very long to reach the chamber where we’d been ambushed by the four draugrs.

  Then I made another save point and took the second tunnel from the left. Immediately, the floor dropped down into a staircase that led us even further underground than the first tunnel had. The walls were damp, and the ceiling was covered in moss and algae. The air was thick, musty, and smelled of death and decay, so I inhaled carefully through my mouth while keeping my nose firmly shut.

  Mahini and Elissa followed carefully behind me with their weapons at the ready. The desert goddess scanned the shadows with her piercing blue eyes while she jumped at every noise, and her anxiety grew stronger the deeper into the catacombs we wandered.

  Elissa, on the other hand, practically bounced along behind me. She made sure to take careful steps, but there was an energy to her movements that reminded me of sunshine and bikinis. She also grinned widely while she swung her mace around experimentally.

  “You know, I never imagined I would like such a big weapon,” she mused in a quiet voice as we approached the first chamber down the second tunnel. “It is intimidating, but instead of being scared, I’m excited to see how afraid I can make my enemies become.”

  “You’re getting bloodthirsty,” I snickered. “Soon, you’ll get the fire inside your gut at the mere thought of a fight.”

  “It’s true,” Mahini confirmed with a serious nod. “I long for battle, sometimes I even dream of it…”

  “Like not nightmares?” Elissa tilted her head of fiery tendrils to the side as she gave the desert goddess a curious look.

  “Right.” Mahini nodded again.

  “I wonder if that will happen to me,” the red-haired beauty sighed. “I got upset when I first killed that kobold, but now I’m enjoying the thrill of combat more.”

  “That is how it works,” Mahini said.

  The second tunnel was much shorter than the first, and we cleared out two zombies and three skeletons with ease and found about twenty more gold pieces in the process.

  Once we’d made our way back to the antechamber, I made a new save point, and I eyed the third tunnel closely.

  We’d gone through half the pathways at this point, and I tried to determine which direction would be the one that led to the source of the curse.

  Now that I looked closer, the third corridor appeared different from the other tunnels. The walls were exposed rock, and the floor was made out of dirt. The path was uneven and turned around a wall ten paces back, so I couldn’t see very far into the passage. I could feel a breeze coming from the mouth of the cave-like corridor, though, and shivers ran down my spine.

  In comparison, the fourth tunnel looked much like the first and second ones. It was wide, and after a few paces it descended into steps, but a torch cast a ring of light and illuminated the bottom of the short staircase.

  Everything in me said the third tunnel was the one that would lead me to the source of the curse, but I wanted one hundred percent completion, and there was no telling what I would find down these winding corridors.

  So, I made a new save point and led the women to the fourth tunnel. Better to get it out of the way before I faced whatever was down the third, cave-like corridor.

  “We skipped one,” Mahini observed as she followed dutifully behind me.

  “Did we?” I asked in an innocent tone, and I shot her a wink.

  “There has to be a reason for it,” Elissa declared with confidence. “Bash doesn’t do anything without a reason.”

  “Spot on, Skullcrusher,” I confirmed as I gave the tiny goddess a charming smile. “The third tunnel holds the source of the curse.”

  “Why do you want to avoid the goal of our quest?” Mahini seemed baffled by my choice, but she bit her bottom lip like she was worried I would reprimand her for questioning me.

  “I merely want to clear out all the undead before we continue on to our goal,” I explained with a shrug of my shoulders. “There could be valuable loot down this tunnel, too, and I want to find it all.”

  “Of course, Great One,” Mahini said with a small bow of her head.

  “See, I knew there was a reason,” Elissa quipped, and she strode forward with a sassy swish of her hips.

  The first chamber to the left was right at the bottom of the st
airs, and Elissa bravely entered first with me lighting the way behind her. There were more coffins and burial urns, but none of the sarcophaguses were occupied, so we turned our attention to the cremated remains.

  It seemed slightly sacrilegious to be scavenging ashes for loot, but after finding the jewelry earlier, I was determined to not leave a single stone unturned. There was no telling how rich I would be by the end of this quest.

  We continued on our way, and I made a few save points as we went. We cleared out several more rooms but found nothing more than skeletons. At the end of the winding tunnel, the corridor once again opened up into a wide room, and the chamber was probably thirty feet across and twenty feet deep. All along the walls were coffins and urns, and in an alcove against the far back wall sat an ancient looking chest.

  “Jackpot,” I chuckled as I gazed across the room at my prize.

  A huge iron lock dangled from its latch, and I licked my lips as I decided what to do first, but then I decided we should clear out any undead resting inside the coffins before I attempted to open the chest.

  I made a new save point before we inspected the coffins, but my gaze kept floating back to the chest, and it took all my willpower to stop from saying “my precious” all Gollum style.

  I just freaking loved loot.

  There were several undead asleep inside the coffins, but the three of us had settled into an efficient routine to deal with them. Mahini and I each severed the heads with our swords, and then Elissa came behind us and crushed their skulls with her mace.

  By the time we’d killed four zombies, we were all sweating and breathing hard. While it wasn’t incredibly challenging, it was taxing work to grind through all the undead. We had to make sure they wouldn’t sneak up behind us, though, so I knew it was necessary.

  I made a new save point, and I let the girls catch their breaths while I turned my attention back to the chest. The lock was sturdier than the last one I’d encountered, so I was certain my dagger couldn’t break it, but I had a different idea to try.

  I took out one of the daggers Jaxtom had made me back in Bastianville since the blade was straighter than the sorcerer’s curved dagger. Then I slid the tip into the opening of the lock and wiggled it around.

  I didn’t really know what to expect, but I could feel the mechanisms through the vibrations of the blade, and I maneuvered the weapon around until I could slide it further inside. Suddenly, a loud click echoed through the room, and the lock popped open.

  “Oh, yeahhhh.” I grinned like a kid in a candy store and slid the hook off the latch. Then I pulled open the lid and gazed inside. Mounds of gold were piled up to the top, and several gemstones peeked out to shine in the torchlight. My mouth watered at the wealth in front of my eyes.

  This was more like it.

  I grabbed my loot sack and began to pile the gold inside, and I inspected the gems idly as I tossed them in after the gold. There were three of them, a blue one, a red one, and a green one. They kind of reminded me of my little ass kicking trio, so I made a mental note to figure out how to use the stones in a cool way. Then at the very bottom of the chest and underneath all the gold was something I had not expected to find.

  A wand.

  It was made of a carved wooden branch, but it was heavier than I expected it to be when I picked it up. My eyes widened as I inspected it closer. It was about the length of my forearm and had a well-worn grip on one end. There were some carvings in the ash gray wood, but they were weird looking symbols I didn’t understand.

  I flicked the wand experimentally, and a tingling sensation shot up from the wood and into my arm.

  Suddenly, the tip erupted into flames, and the wand poured out a fiery inferno the likes of which I’d never seen before.

  “Woah!” I jumped back to escape the heat of the blaze, but it was no use, the fire quickly engulfed the entire chamber. The startled screams of Mahini and Elissa filled my ears, and I choked on black smoke.

  Oops.

  Chime.

  I reset back to before I’d opened the chest, but I took several long moments to hold Mahini and Elissa against me while I inhaled their very alive scents. Then I turned my attention back to the ancient chest, but it was much harder to open this time. I cursed a little under my breath while I wiggled the tip of my dagger inside the opening of the lock, and then, after some effort, the mechanism clicked open and the hook popped off.

  I let out my breath in a low sigh and then opened the chest. I already knew what inside, so I didn’t give it a second glance before I started to shovel the gold into my sack. When I came to the wand, however, I held it gently in my hands and inspected it carefully.

  Then I touched the tip of my finger to the end of the wand to activate the stat box.

  Durability - 95%

  Weight - .5 lbs

  Quality - High

  Magical Aspect - Fire

  Magical Ability - 1x Inferno

  Holy shit, I’d used the only spell the wand had in it just to experiment. The sound of my women screaming still echoed in my ears, but I shook my head to dispel the thought. That didn’t happen in this timeline, so I needed to let it go.

  “What did you find, Great One?” Mahini asked with a questioning arch of her dark eyebrows.

  “Looks like something magic!” Elissa gasped as her emerald eyes took in the wand in my hand.

  “Yeah, it’s a fire spell wand,” I explained. “It’s very powerful, though, and we can only use it once, so we will have to save it for a special occasion.”

  I stashed the wand inside my pack for safe keeping, but out of reach for accidental waving. Then we headed back to the main antechamber.

  I made another save point when we were back in the circular room, and the third tunnel seemed to be calling my name. There was something sinister and unnerving about it, and my gut was telling me something powerful laid at the other end of the tunnel.

  Whatever it was, I was about to find out.

  No matter what I faced, I would be victorious in the end, so I straightened my shoulders and led the way like the god I was.

  Chapter Twelve

  We walked into the winding corridor of the cave-like tunnel. The roof came down low and close to our heads, and the air was colder than in other areas of the sanctum. There was an eerie feeling all around me that raised all the hairs on the back of my neck.

  At the end of every dungeon crawl in every video game I’d ever played, there was always a big, bad undead boss guarding the best loot. There was a high probability that killing the boss zombie would undo the curse on Lake Balerno, so I continued onward despite my shivering nerves.

  The hallway grew tight, and we had to walk single file, so I held the torch and took the lead. I could practically feel Mahini’s nerves getting rawer the deeper we went into the catacombs, but Elissa was like a breath of fresh air in the stagnant cave-like corridor.

  “This has been such a fun adventure so far, don’t you think, Mahini?” Elissa whispered, and I glanced over my shoulder to see her bounce down the dark, dank tunnel with her flame-colored hair flicking from side to side.

  “If you say so,” Mahini chuckled, but the smile didn’t leave her face as she followed in the red-haired beauty’s footsteps.

  The path curled and twisted every few paces, so I couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down by the time we’d walked for thirty minutes. There were also no side chambers in this direction, which was yet another difference between the previous paths we’d taken.

  Then the path stopped in front of an ornately carved double iron door. It was probably eight feet tall and twice as wide, and the metal was etched with skeletal remains, runes, and other designs I’d never seen before. There were words in a foreign, ancient looking language on the center of the portal, and I imagined them warning travelers of the dangers within.

  It was a good place for a new save point, so I focused on the image of the closed door and told myself this is where I would come back to when I reset.


  “Let’s kick some ass, ladies.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “Keep your eyes peeled for danger, and stay behind me.”

  “Yes, Great One,” Mahini replied with a small nod.

  “Whatever you wish, Bash.” Elissa grinned.

  We were ready.

  Then I pulled on the handle to heave one side of the double doors open. The iron creaked like it hadn’t been touched in centuries, and a cloud of dust burst out from the crack as soon as it opened. I pulled it open as wide as it would go, and then I took the torch from Elissa’s hands and entered the next section of the burial sanctum.

  It looked like a cave inside, but it was a fairly small chamber. The hewn rock walls circled inward to almost meet at the back, but they left a small gap big enough for us to walk through. A placard stood on top of a pile of rock to the left of the gap, so I made my way over to see what it said.

  The words were in the same ancient, foreign language, but they began to blur and rearrange before my eyes. Then they settled back again, but this time it was written in English.

  Tread carefully if you dare disturb the slumber of the Ancient One, for many dangers lay in wait of foolish feet.

  I shook my head in awe at the predictable warning sign. There were likely lots of traps on the next leg of our journey, and definitely some kind of undead lord waiting for us at the very end.

  I peered into the dark shadows of the gap with curiosity more than fear as I tried to imagine what could lay ahead of us. I was tempted to have the girls wait here, just so I could find out where all the traps were and how to avoid them. I didn’t want anything to happen to my two women. I could easily reset and bring them back to life, sure, but that didn’t mean I could forget the images and sounds associated with their deaths.

  I shivered as I remembered some harrowing scenes from earlier in our quest to break the curse on Lake Balerno. While death got a little easier to handle over time, and I found myself shaking off the unsettling feeling of dying better after each occurrence, it wasn’t something I was eager for more of. I’d much rather run through the entire burial sanctum without any of us losing our lives.