The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Don’t you dare move!” The druid shuffled on top of me, finding a more comfortable position. “I am not done yet … What the…! Meow!”

  It was not comfortable, lying underneath the panther’s huge body. Knowing very well that I had no weapons, Dolgunata did not bother to restrain my hands believing that I would not be able to do any harm or damage. On the one hand she was right; on the other, the panther had such a cute, furry and soft belly which had, contrary to all rules of feline anatomy, just two nipples, that I could not but pet it. My hands sank in the warm soft fur of her belly, and my palms covered the delicate nipples, one in each hand. Perhaps I am a pervert, but I really liked petting the druid’s belly; however, the pleasure was not mutual. Dolgunata soared into the air, having pushed off with all four paws and her tail to boot. The entire area must have shuddered from a wild and indignant scream, and then the panther’s huge body crashed back down. Only now she had protracted her long claws as she landed right in the middle of my chest. A brief flash of pain was replaced with the soft lull of the dark that yanked me out of the claws of the enraged cat. The last thing I remembered was the druid’s attempts to shred me into small bits. Apparently, the girl didn’t like my caresses. Could she be frigid?

  You were killed and sent to a respawn point

  You lost one level

  Your current level: 3

  “Dirion, grab him and drag him off! Yari, come on, wake up! Don’t be so slow!” Logir’s voice tore the blanket of darkness, yanking me from a state of complete calmness. Feeling that I was being pushed to the ground and dragged somewhere, I tried to protest. Couldn't they see I was enjoying it? Why tilt and roll me so? However, as soon as I opened my eyes, consciousness returned in a snap, accompanied by yet another system message:

  You receive +100 Experience

  “Monster, retreat!” I heard the next command from Logir. Dirion, grumbling something highly obscene under his breath, was dragging me towards the forest from where Teart was waving at him. From the other side of the respawn clearing I could hear elaborate cursing, the rattle of metal and players screaming; so I pushed my hands off the ground, jumped to my feet and took a look around to take a final assessment of the situation. Chaos reigned at the only entrance to the respawn clearing. Having learnt to use their attack capabilities, players of all classes were pushing forward, trying to enter the clearing and kill the Paladins who had forgotten their place. However, they were impeded by an insurmountable mountain – a two-meter giant with a shield. Standing in the center of a huge ball of fire, lightning, ice and who knows what else, Monstrichello actively wielded his artifact as if it were a club, toppling the players who attacked him. At the sides of our tank, it was a familiar sight by now to see Logir and Refor, shearing a level off the dropping players, but behind them… Dolgunata was standing behind Monstrichello, waiting for an opportune moment; after she found one, she jumped over the tank’s shield into the thick of the players and turned into a whirlwind. After just a few seconds the druid went back, accompanied by information on receiving new experience, only to repeat her leap a moment later. Experience points flowed like a river, but the crush of the players wanting to kill us never thinned. Everyone wanted those damn granises.

  “I’ll be fine from here! Run to Teart!” I told Dirion who was still trying to get me to the concrete forest; then I turned to the femorc and shouted: “Logir, I’m fine! Get out!”

  Dolgunata was the first to run by me, giving me a very telling look. As I didn’t want to end up in the forefront, I ran after the panther, and then, from the edge of the forest, I watched how properly and carefully the Paladins retreated, making sure to keep their backs to the forest at all times.

  “Retreat! We need to get out, guys!” Teart commanded, pointing out the guiding beam to Dolgunata and Dirion. Players rushed into the clearing; some of them were still crowding the Paladins, while some rushed towards us, hoping to get rid of us in a hurry. I frowned: did the mages scare everyone so much that they just turned into such a herd? Once I climbed a few meters up, there were wild screams of horror and pain filling the surroundings. The players ran into the forest for more than ten seconds, immediately attracting the guards. We didn't need to fear a chase from that quarter.

  “Yari, pleas-s-se try not to attack her at onc-c-ce,” Sartal warned me as soon as I climbed up. Dolgunata in her panther shape was sitting, looking aloof and studying her paws, as if it were not she who had sent me to respawn barely an hour ago. “First we need to make sure we get Logir here. She’ll explain it all to you.”

  “Explain what?” I was taken aback. Does Logir really know why in hell this mad cat was trying to frame us all? She killed me!”

  “My dearie,” Dolgunata deigned to talk to me, displaying a scowl of huge sharp teeth. “After what you did, as a decent Paladin, you only had two options: either take me as a wife or die. Let’s consider that I made the choice for you. I’ll tell you here and now – you do something like that again and nothing will save you. I’ll bury you alive!”

  “I am not your dearie,” anger at the druid demanded an outlet, so I attacked her with reproaches. “You call me that again, I’ll bury you myself! Now…”

  “Guys, why don’t you settle it between you two after we get the others out of there, Teart interrupted us. “I’m not sure that Monstrichello’s immortal. You’ll figure it out with the druid later…”

  The operation for the safe extraction of Monstrichello, Logir and Refor took us most of an hour. For most of that time we were looking for a place where the guiding beam would come as close to the clearing as possible while not being the only beam in the area. It was clear to everyone: the players would rush after us into the forest and see the Paladins grab onto a beam. It was pointless to hope that mass madness would overcome each and every player; someone was certain to connect the dots and also grab the beam. We needed to make sure that their beam would be the wrong one.

  We were able to accomplish what we intended, even though in the process we nearly lost Sartal, who was not careful, poked out from behind cover, and was hit by a lightning straight in the chest. However, either the charge was weak or the reptilian’s artifact had upgraded to such a level that it fully absorbed the hit. Sartal got off easy with just a burnt spot on his armor and an angry shout from Logir, who ordered the reptilian not to stick his tail where he shouldn’t. Once the guards came to our aid by killing players one after another, it became clear: we were able to get away.

  “Now that we are relatively safe, maybe you’ll tell me what’s going on!” I turned towards the team as soon as we put some distance between ourselves and the respawn point. Nodding towards Dolgunata, I added: “Why is she alive and with us?”

  “I’d be interested to know that as well,” said Teart, stepping up next to me. “Why were we supposed to risk ourselves? I admit, it was very nice to reach level five, but was it worth killing Yari?”

  “You don’t know what’s going on either?” I was surprised.

  “I do wish! I came to the meeting point and saw everyone discussing the major plan for saving you. But why you needed to be saved was about as clear as mud. You’d demonstrated that you were a sensible being and were unlikely to get yourself into so much trouble that you couldn't get out of it. Hence, you died in some kind of a weird way. But no one said what happened. From snippets of conversation I figured out it was the druid that put you under. But for what, how and why no one would say. And I’m curious!”

  “We have an agreement.” After a noticeable pause, Logir took on the brunt of it. “We’re helping each other to pass through the Academy.”

  “Congratulations,” I said testily, “but this doesn’t answer a single question I asked.

  “We… it’s a condition of the agreement...” Logir said uncertainly, when Dolgunata came to her aid:

  “According to the conditions of the agreement they can’t tell you anything, or else the Game’ll wipe them out. Either we all continue together, or else no one g
oes anywhere. I will not allow anything else.

  “Even so? What are you going to do, kill us?”

  “If I have to, yes.” Dolgunata showed no emotions at all, as if she never doubted her superiority. “I’ll keep sending you for respawn time after time until we reach agreement. We’ll keep going together.”

  “Logir?” I looked at the femorc in confusion. Even despite her red skin I could see the blush of embarrassment. As if the femorc found the druid’s words unpleasant but could do nothing about it. I shifted my eyes to the rest: “Guys, what’s up with you?”

  “Don’t look at me, I’ve got nothing to do with this,” the leprechaun responded in a voice as bewildered as mine.

  “You have no choice.” Dolgunata continued with her line. “Without me you’ve no chance of surviving. You know nothing about the Academy. You think the forest is the main obstacle?”

  “As if you’ve got any more information,” I quipped, trying to figure out what to do. The druid, using the right of strength, was trying to play boss, and six Paladins had to put up with that. Personally, I was unhappy with that approach.

  “The territory of the Academy is a regular rectangle with spawn points for players in each corner. Along the perimeter of the Academy there is a two-kilometer reinforced concrete forest with passages, and five teachers in the vicinity of each corner. Then there is a wasteland followed by a desert; in the center of it there is a lake; in that there is an island where the head of the Academy is located. Between the forest and the wasteland there’s a labyrinth with traps; it’s only possible to pass through that as a group. I know how to avoid some of the traps. The rest we’ll explore once we get there. This is just a small part of what I know about the Academy. If we agree on the temporary truce, I’ll tell you everything I know.

  “Temporary truce?” I frowned.

  “For the duration of our stay in the Academy. As soon as we return to the main world, I’ll destroy you. I’ll tear you to pieces for what you’ve done! But for now we need each other. Or, actually, I need you, and if you don’t need me it’s your personal problem. The next time we’ll pull you off the respawn grounds after you die two or three times, to make you more agreeable. You don’t have a choice, Yaropolk. By the way, neither do you, Teart‒ stop hiding behind Yari’s back thinking you can get away. I am faster anyway.”

  “So you want to share information about the Academy?” I laughed in the druid’s face. “You want to buy us for data that’s completely useless in the main world? I’d thought you were a sane player.”

  I tried to keep independent and calm, while working on analyzing the situation in something like supercomputer mode. What was going on? Why did Dolgunata behave as if she were fully in control of the situation? Why was it that the Dolgunata whom I had met in the very beginning and the Dolgunata who was standing in front of me now behaved like two different people? Why had she changed so dramatically? But most of all, I was perplexed by the Paladins’ indifference to the way the druid threatened me. It seemed that the Paladins had come to realize that we were all brothers and that we need to stand fast to protect each other; yet again it turns out that they’re ready to betray me just to stay alive. What could Dolgunata have promised them to gain their unconditional support? Granises? That sounded like total nonsense.

  “But what else do you want?” The druid said in surprise. “Money? Then I’d like to remind you, in case you’ve forgotten, that it’s you who owes me a granis for help. Whether you need it or not I don’t really care. I want to get it and I’ll get it from you. From you or from your body. By the way, here’s another tidbit of information for your development: after the final death of a player, all his granises stay on Earth. So they’ll be mine in any case. And forget about your initiation – it won’t save you. Are we done? May I turn back into a good girl?”

  “You must have also forgotten – without Teart and myself you won’t be able to follow the guiding lines. Go ahead, kill me. We’ll respawn and squirm out of it somehow. While you’d have to trundle from here through the entire forest to the nearest path, and it’s not guaranteed that even with your speed you’d be able to avoid the guards. And all of you would be just dead meat,” I looked at the Paladins. “Guys, don’t you see that she’s just using you?”

  “Yari, just say yes. Believe me, Dolgunata doesn’t wish us ill.” Logir spoke as if forced. “She just wants to finish the Academy, as we do. No one is using anybody."

  “Oh, really?” I looked in the druid’s mocking eyes, making my final decision. “You need my help? No problem, I’ll help. We’ll go through the Academy together. Pony up three granises. That’s my condition.”

  “Why not ten?” The druid laughed. “Or a whole hundred at once …”

  “Teart, have you found any new pictures?” I turned to the leprechaun, ignoring the druid.

  “Yeah, I got a couple,” Teart followed our rules and sent me the trade. After a pause the leprechaun added: “Yari, I side with them. Somehow I want to live more than I want to show my attitude. If Dolgunata can help us pass through the labyrinth and provides information about the Academy, let her be the lead! Maybe the girl has some kind of hangup about leadership. Hungry childhood, wooden toys nailed to the floor, all that; so now she’s trying to force everyone to kowtow to her. I don’t see anything horrible about letting her be in charge.”

  “Let her be in charge, I have nothing against it,” I shrugged my shoulders, amazed at myself. Where did I get so much courage and certainty that I could do no wrong? “It’s just that nothing comes free. Besides information I want three granises, and either I’ll get them or she can go f…”

  “I warned you.” Dolgunata instantly turned into the panther and leaped towards me. “We’ll see how you sing when you run out of lives …”

  There was a brief flash of pain followed by another system message:

  You were killed and sent to a respawn point

  You lost one level

  Your current level: 4

  Waking up after the second respawn was like a bright light turning on in a dark room: suddenly everything appeared out of nothing, including my awareness of myself in the said everything. I appeared next to the respawn stone, and just a few moments later another player appeared next to me. Then another. And another. And more… the clearing was filling with players of various types; they were trying to spot Paladins within the host of appearing creatures, so the decision on what to do next came together with someone’s shout “Paladin! Get him, guys!” Using Dolgunata’s tactic, I leaped straight from the spot crushing into a reptilian who had just appeared next to me. The player, who hadn’t expected my maneuver, crashed to the ground, and together we rolled on the ground right under the feet of the crowd that was running towards us. I was working on pure instinct: if you want to survive, run straight into the thick of it. Next to me strange black lightnings were flying, along with arrows and other stuff. Once an axe whistled by; however, all of that did much more damage to the others around me than it did to me.

  “What in hell are you doing?” rasped the reptilian crushed under me, and I found no better answer than to whack his head on the steel boot of one of the players. The reptilian went limp and I made another somersault, using my victim as a shield.

  “Where is he?!” I kept rolling on the ground creating a bigger and bigger pile-up. In their rush to kill me first, the players hindered each other, fell on the ground, tripped their neighbors; some of them even started killing their competitors, as I guessed from surprised and indignant screams. At some point I realized that the reptilian I was using as a shield had disappeared; either he had got loose in the crush, or he’d fulfilled his mission and protected me against a deadly blow. Whatever! I kept rolling, out of the corner of my eye tracking the final goal of my wild maneuvers: the edge of the forest.

  Freeze, all of you! Or he’s gonna get away!” I knew that voice. The Book of Knowledge immediately confirmed: the screamer was Dangard, a student of Devir, so I redoubled
my efforts. “There he is! Hit him!”

  A stone boulder that was suddenly right in front of me shattered to smithereens; sharp shards drummed on my armor. I reached the edge! Without slowing down I jumped onto all fours and, like a monkey, took off in running leaps into the forest, rolling over in a random direction after each leap. I needed to put my chasers off target; lightning bolts and icicles that were missing me left and right confirmed that I had chosen the right tactic.

  “Don’t let him escape!” Dangard’s shout was so close that I nearly lost my rhythm. After yet another leap I jumped over to crouch behind some boulder and raised my head for the first time, to look around and find a guiding line — I had just a few seconds left before the guards would become active.

  “I ain’t going into that bloody forest!” I heard an “encouraging” yelp from behind – it gave me a couple of seconds of lead. And then I saw the greenish light. The guiding beam was just a couple of meters ahead. “The monsters!”

  I was running forward, not looking at the path, periodically touching the saving beam. My intuition warned me against trying to climb up right now; there was simply no time for that. Making sure to dodge and weave, jumping behind the boulders that kept appearing in my way, I cursed myself for being stupid and naïve. Was the first time not enough to make it clear the only person you could trust in this game was yourself? No one else! Dolgunata had again found some inner fears of the Paladins, forcing them to submit. Made some kind of agreement to boot, blasted alley cat! Why in hell did she stick to us anyway? What, do you have to sacrifice someone in the labyrinth in order to pass through? There was nothing else to explain her actions.

  “You’ll still die! You can’t pass through the labyrinth! I heard Dangard’s scream right behind my back; then he choked and went silent. The mage had encountered a guard. Only then did I stop, calming my madly beating heart and stilling my desire to rush on. I was practically soaking in adrenaline, so I released my emotions by screaming at the skies: “Basaastaaards! I’ll blast y’all to hell!” I was shaking so hard that I nearly let go of the beam. Only a guard’s red eye that opened barely a meter away reminded me that I wasn’t in a safe place.