"The hell are you talking to? What keep? The castle?" Scarlet asked and then her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god, he’s lost it! Girls! He’s talking to the fucking castle!"
Katya appeared in her doorway with an amused expression on her face. She had her arms crossed and one leg planted against the door. The hem of her nightgown rose up to above her knees and showed much more than I’d like to in this situation. After all, they were ignoring me.
Nikita appeared moments later and scurried up to me.
"Are you feeling unwell? Come lay down. I’ll try to fix you so--"
"Ha the fucking ha. I’m talking to the guardian I hatched before coming up earlier! You people really think so lowly of me that you’d think I’d be talking to the fucking walls? Well, the joke’s on you!" I snapped back at them and teleported to the ground floor. There were still quite a few interesting items located in my inventory which I’d never use, so why not give them to Keep?
I appeared at the center of the castle courtyard next to the castle guardian. He was throwing a fit about how hungry he was, throwing around his stony limbs and growling like a hungry werewolf.
"Give me food, master! Please!" he begged and fell to his knees beside me.
"Hold your horses, little one. Let me rummage through what I can give you," I replied and opened my inventory. There was a metric ton of loot I’d never use and planned to sell to the NPC’s for money, but at least this way, the stuff wouldn’t go to waste.
"Yes, yes! Ohh, give me more!" he groaned as I fed him a piece of armor and a bow. All were thirtyish level normal gear, so something not even a newbie would want to wear. I gave him another few pieces, and another few.
"Say, do you have a status screen I can check or something? I’m feeding your stony ass but I have no idea if it’s doing any good."
He finished munching on the piece of metal and looked up at me.
"Sure thing, master. Here you go," Keep said and handed me a scroll.
"What is it?"
"My information. You just asked for it, no?"
"Well, yeah I did, but you gave me a scroll."
"Oh, silly me! Master, you need to learn the skill from the scroll first. Then you can open my status window as you called it."
I had to admit that I felt a bit dumb. I could have just tried to learn the skill instead of pestering the little creature, but whatever. So I went ahead and learned the scroll and I had something to see. Dozens of different types of stats appeared beside an image of Keep. The most interesting ones were level, evolution stage and his basic stats however.
His own level was 19, evolution stage 1 and the other stats varied wildly. Keep’s total health pool was just shy of 300.000, his attack 30.000, defense 44.000 and the type of attack showed up as Magic AoE. I blinked in confusion and stared at the numbers.
"So you can hit a large number of enemies at once for 30.000 damage?" I asked the guardian skeptically.
"Yes, master. But only once every 30 seconds. Once I grow and evolve, I will be able to learn more attacks, skills and patterns. I do hope you take good care of me!"
"Right. I definitely will. So, how do you get to evolution stage 2?"
"Oh, that’s easy. You need to raid a dungeon of level 100+ that specifically drops evolution cores for Keep Guardians. I sincerely doubt you’ll be able to get one at your current state though."
"Yeah, go figure. I really needed you to tell me that, you know?"
"Really? Okay. I’m happy that I can be of service to you, master."
I was at a loss for words. The little thing was starting to annoy the fuck out of me even though he had no idea about it. Which only served to piss me off even more.
"Whatever. Here, take the rest of your food," I replied and dumped about twenty pieces of crappy gear beside him. He looked up at me with his big round eyes and started crying.
"Oh, master! I will dedicate my life to you and your clan! As long as you keep me fed that is."
"So much about loyalty," I murmured and turned toward the outer wall. I hadn’t inspected the moat yet and wanted to see what the rage was about, so I made my way to the wall and looked down. I had to be honest and say it did look damn impressive. The glint of metal was visible deep in the water. I leaned in closer and could swear there were pikes set up in the moat. On top of that, there were creatures moving around freely in there.
I sighed and leaned against the wall. The moon looked as if it was particularly high up there, looking down on us lowly creatures. How had everything turned out this way? No, not how, but why? I knew most of the answer, but I couldn’t accept it.
"Hey, have you read the forums today?" Dineth asked in private. As promised, neither of the three had been in the clan chat and left it to our convenience.
"No, why?" I asked curiously. He wouldn’t have bothered me unless it was worth it.
"There’s a raid tonight. An interesting one. The first main god will appear in Hazard. It’s supposed to drop unique items and accessories, skills and Dragoon promoters."
"Oh? And which god is that?"
"It’s someone you’re supposed to be familiar with. Old man Odin."
I snorted and laughed madly at the information he’d just shared with us. Yes, I wanted a re-match. It still hurt when I thought about those damned wolves and their jaws. I shuddered at the thought but was excited at the same time. Of course, he wouldn’t remember me, but that didn’t mean I forgot about him.
"We’re in."
"Good. Here’s the link. Read up so we can come up with a tactic. Well, not that we’ll need one as there will be thousands of players killing the thing."
"Whatever. Go rest until it’s time. I’ll let you know."
I closed our channel and activated the clan one.
"Girls, there’s a raid today. Odin will invade Hazard. You up for some killing?"
"Hell no! Those wolves were nasty!" Katya whimpered.
"And bugged to kill us in that special dungeon," I replied. "Read the description. If you don’t want to go afterward, then don’t. We’ll stay home."
"Whatever," Scarlet said. "Wait. Have you read where the raid will be held?"
"No, not yet," I replied and scrolled down. My eyes widened in shock and anticipation both. It was Gobi. "Hah! This kicks ass! Get down to the castle square and feed Keep whatever items you have and don’t need. Get his level up to as high as possible in case someone wants to invade us."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Katya asked.
"Just get down. We don’t have much time left. With a little luck, we can celebrate tonight like there’s no tomorrow!"
40
"How is she?" I asked as Nikita walked up to me.
"Addicted. She’s craving your bite," Nikita replied coldly. "Said it was the best thing to ever happen to her. She even begged me to do it."
I was caught off guard, to say the least. Why and how the hell was she addicted? I remember biting Nikita and being bitten by her, but I feel no urge to do so right now.
"And when we… did the biting thing? Was it different back then?"
"I have no idea. We didn’t suck each other dry. And this virus that he infected you with is strong. I keep trying to get rid of it, but there’s no way to. At least for now."
I pulled her closer and embraced Nikita, planted my lips on hers and pulled back before anyone saw us.
"What’s the worst that can happen?" I asked.
"I don’t know. Maybe it can go so far as to erase you. I have no idea."
"Oh." I let go of her and stepped back. "That’s not good."
"You don’t say," she teased.
"Nikita, you sound more like the other girls with each passing moment. You sure they aren’t rubbing off on you the wrong way? After all, I clearly remember you being very into Katya going down on you."
"Oh, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it very much. But it’s not like with you. There’s this… feeling I get when you’re close to me. How could they ever replace you?"
&nb
sp; "I guess they can’t. Still, I’m very happy to hear your thoughts on the matter. Now, would you let me see Renee for a moment?"
She looked at me thoughtfully with both hands on her hips. I couldn’t help but smile at her perfect body she had. My Nikita, I thought. Only mine.
"Sure, but don’t bite her, okay?"
"I’ll try not to," I joked but she shot me an angry glare.
"I’m serious. Don’t."
I sighed and walked past her into Renee’s room. The moment she saw me, her face turned red and she launched herself at me.
"You’re here! Finally! Bite me, my love! Bite me so I can love you only the way a Vampire’s bride can!"
"Hey now, hold on you little devil. No one’s biting anyone here. What’s more, we need to figure out why this happened in the first place."
Her face turned a few shades darker, but I promised Nikita I wouldn’t make it any worse. Even though something pulled at me to go ahead and do it. I licked my lips and stared down at Renee.
"I’m very glad you came over," Nikita said and pushed me out of the room. "Maybe I’ve figured out what’s causing this effect. Give me a few minutes and I’ll tell you. Until then, don’t go anywhere."
Nikita turned back and closed the door behind her, leaving me to stand alone in the central room. There was nothing I could do except wait, so wait I did at the large window that overlooked my… kingdom? Whatever it was, I loved it. Down below the two girls chuckled and danced around Keep who seemed as ecstatic to meet new people as they were. A large heap of equipment was scattered around him, but he didn’t pay attention to it. Instead, he was chasing Katya in her almost non-existent nightgown. The perverted little shit!
"Aiden?" Nikita said interrupting my daydreaming. I turned to where I thought she’d be standing, but I was alone.
"Yeah?" I replied to her private message, annoyed I hadn’t noticed the different tone.
"I can turn the urge off, but not without taking away some of the other sensations as well."
"Oh, that’s not good," I replied annoyed by the solution. "And there’s nothing else you can do?"
"No, not at the moment. The problem isn’t as much with you as it is with her. She’s had a taste once already, so she’ll want more and more whenever you’re around."
"Bah! I never should have tried to have all four of you. I got carried away in the moment and…"
"No, it’s Dave’s fault. He planted the virus, remember? We just had no idea what it was capable of, until now. I think it was imagined as a behavioral code. You’re a Vampire, so you act like one."
"Yeah, and she’s like a drug addict, so she’ll crave more and more biting."
"I don’t really know, I’m trying to figure everything out as we go. Anyway, I think it would be best you two stay away from each other, at least for now."
"Wait, what about me? Will the craving worsen for me as well?"
"I don’t think so. I mean, if you can control yourself and bite her just once or something, maybe all of this could even work. We’d have to try to see."
"Hmm," I murmured. "I’m willing to try if she is."
"Good. We’ve been waiting on you to offer. Come in, she’s waiting."
"You guys are so funny, you know that?"
I turned from the window and made my way to Renee’s room. The door was halfway open and the two girls were pacing in circles impatiently. Nikita looked the same, but Renee’s bloodshot eyes gave away a lot more than I wanted to know.
"Come in," Nikita said when she noticed me standing in the doorway. I nodded and stepped in, then closed the door behind me.
"Hey, Renee."
"Aiden," she whispered and stopped circling. Her hands moved to the hem of her nightgown and lifted it up slightly to show she wasn’t wearing anything beneath. "Can you bite me… here somewhere?" she pointed at the insides of her thighs, "Or here?" she added motioning to her left side.
"Sure, baby. Come here," I said with a false smile plastered to my face. I didn’t want her to know how I felt, as it would spoil the mood into oblivion. She walked up to me and I knelt beside her, put my hands on the sides of her legs an dug my teeth in her left side. Something wicked burned inside me as I gulped her blood down. I looked up at her health bar as through a fog. It was already down to sixty percent.
"Enough!" Nikita growled and pushed me off her, but I held on tight. Again I found myself sprawled on the ground beside her. I groaned both from ecstasy and pain while Renee slumped into a dark brown, wooden rocking chair not two foot from where we stood. Her eyes glazed over and she shuddered for a long moment, then went still.
"How long until she--"
"That’s better," Renee interrupted my question and got up. She gulped down a health potion, waited a few seconds for the cooldown and gulped down a second. "Thanks, Aiden."
I stepped in and embraced her. Damn, did she look like an innocent little girl at times. I looked down at the short nightgown and winked.
"You plan to go out like that?"
"If you want me to, yeah."
The brawler in my pants started to stir, aroused by the way she would give herself to me and my wishes.
"Nikita? Would it be ok if you watched over us while we finished… our little bout from earlier?"
"As long as you can go again later, not a problem," Nikita replied and sat down in the rocking chair. Without asking Renee if she was in the mood, I picked her up and carried her small frame to the bed.
"I’ll be gentle, I promise," I whispered and went down on her.
"You guys coming?" Katya asked in clan chat sometime later. "The town is flooding with players. Most of the gathered outside the city gates from what we’ve seen. No one knows where the boss will appear though."
"I have a hunch we’ll have to farm some money after the battle. They’re gonna wreak havoc on both the castle walls and the town. I could swear it on my life," I replied. "But it’s a good thing as well. What state is Keep at?"
"The castle? Same as when you summoned it. Why?"
"Bah! I’m not talking about the castle, I’m asking about the guardian. His name is Keep."
"Ohhh!" Scarlet chimed in. "He’s funny. And every much a horndog just like you. Been peeking under our nightgowns more than once."
I snorted and got up from bed.
"It’s hard not to when he’s so small and you’re barely covered up to your butt."
"Wait, small? Who’s small?"
"Keep!"
"Last time I saw him he was taller than both Katya and me combined. We actually measured him. I got on her shoulders. She peeked up as well, but I didn’t mind her though."
I scowled, having no idea what they were talking about.
"Please, can you gear up and wait for us at the square? We’ll be right there."
I ignored the next few messages where she called me all kinds of names and equipped my own gear. Renee and Nikita were done by the time I finished so we all ported down to the ground floor. What I saw, was nothing less than a shock. The little bastard was indeed tall, about twelve feet tall!
"Hey Dineth? Come down with the girls, will ya?" I sent him in a private message. "And join clan chat."
"Sure. We’ll be there in a sec," he replied immediately as if he’d been waiting for me to call him. Good, he was mostly ready then.
"Hey Keep!" I called and threw a rock at the guardian.
"Ow! What did you do that for, master?" he said in a mock hurt voice.
"Stop acting like an idiot and tell me what the hell happened to you!"
"You like what you see? There’s a lot more where this came from."
I stood there in disbelief and looked from him to the girls and up to him again.
"Who the hell taught you to speak like a horndog?"
"No one, master. I inherited the thought and act patterns of my master. That’s you, by the way."
"Ohh, great! As if one wasn’t enough!" Scarlet groaned and pulled down her skirt to just above the knees. I sig
hed and slapped myself three times before I looked up at the golem again. I was just about to ask another dumb question, but I waited and inspected him first. Sure enough, another shock awaited me.
His health had risen to 1.300.000, attack to 90.000 and defense to 140.000. His level was 29 and now that I observed him better, the bastard looked incredibly cool.
"Hey, big guy. Can you attack the raid boss if he spawns close enough?"
"Yup. Or I can throw giant boulders at him if you provide me with some."
"Where do we get those?" I asked and readied to yell at him again.
"Killing Golems in the desert. Or you just buy them from the VIP store. The item was just added yesterday," Nikita said. "I can get us some fifty pieces if you want? Doubt anyone will notice."
"Sure, get them. I want this thing to die as quickly as possible."
"Right. But my attacks hit everyone around the target as well, just so you know."
"Whatever. As long as he goes down fast enough, I don’t care."
"Speaking of which, something’s wrong. Look over there," Katya said and pointed at the market square. Sure enough, an enormous blur appeared out of nowhere and started taking shape. Little by little, it took the form of Odin. In one hand he held his massive spear, Gungnir, and in the other, a leash. At the end of the leash formed a gigantic wolf, white as snow.
41
"Fuck no! Oh hell no! Not that fucking mutt!" Katya yelled angrily.
"You do know that you can attack them from afar, right? Unlike most of us?" I asked, annoyed by her fear of the wolf.
"Oh, that’s right! Renee and I can shower them with pain!"
"Very well. What’s your reload time, Keep?"
"Sixty seconds. I can throw a boulder every sixty sec--"
BOOM.
A massive explosion rocked the fabric of time and space and sent us flying. A violent ringing in my ears disoriented me when I tried to stand up. I made a misstep and landed on my face. A stony hand picked me up and let go of me a couple of feet above the air. I landed on my feet and got up, still unsteady.
"They used a God Fragment against the boss. Fenrir is severely damaged, but Odin is just below full health," Nikita informed us.
Hazard Online 2: Revenge Page 23
