A Trap for the Potentate (The Dark Herbalist Book #3) LitRPG series

by Michael Atamanov

  “Is that it?! I thought it was something serious,” my sister chuckled, showing her sharp predatory teeth. “To appease the gods of Boundless Realm, you just need to make sure Antonius Just doesn't survive this battle. Just make it all look like a coincidence, so the healer and his relative Max Sochnier don't suspect us.”

  “Us?” I asked, and the forest nymph bared her teeth yet again.

  “Of course! You're my brother, after all, and you can always count on me for help. As for Antonius Just, don't lose your head, I'll deal with this problem myself and promise that the gods will be left satisfied. And I'll do it with great satisfaction. I don’t feel any sympathy for that healer, much less trust. That dude appeared at just too convenient a time, given you were searching for him in this huge world. Such things simply do not happen. Maybe you called him by name in one of your video clips?”

  “No, of course not. But from what I did upload, my audience does know that I promised Taisha to find and punish those at fault in her sisters' murders. Although I, naturally, didn't say their names.”

  The forest nymph made an anguished grimace, showing a strong doubt in my mental capacity and, at the same time, marveling at how I could possibly not understand such elementary things.

  “Tim, your big-eared Goblin always had Intelligence as the weakest stat, but you could understand yourself that all the TOP clans have already put two and two together and figured out exactly which players you promised Taisha to track down for the torching of Tysh...” the mavka turned around and looked carefully from side to side to make sure that we were still talking alone. “By the way, as the topic has turned to your beautiful green-skinned thief, would you mind telling me where she is? I was embarrassed to ask with everyone else around.”

  With no reservations, I told Valeria the situation with Taisha, about the unique quest, our duel and my secret mission for the NPC thief. My sister stayed silent for a long time, then spoke out barely audibly, looking me right in the eyes:

  “Well, Tim, I hope you understand you will be spoiling your relationship with the strongest clan in Boundless Realm once and for all. After all, if Taisha does manage to steal the unique item from the Legion of Steel's treasure room, they'll never forgive you. Also, even if the theft is unsuccessful, the leaders of the Legion of Steel will be frightfully angry at such impudence.”

  I already understood perfectly, but didn't see any other way to get the item and, at the same time, express to the Legion of Steel how upset I was with their attempt to steal my unique NPC companion. Valeria gave a heavy sigh, shook her head, then changed the topic once again:

  “Doesn’t it occur to you, Tim, that we might be going about this all wrong? We're trying to reach the upper Styx by force, repeating the error of the previous twenty-six expeditions. But all their pitiful experience shows that, no matter how strong the initial expedition members, sooner or later, they came across an equal force and had to stop. Some players made it further than others, sure, but eventually they ran into monsters they just couldn’t handle.”

  “And what do you suggest?” I asked, my interest piqued.

  The forest nymph shrugged her shoulders unconfidently:

  “I'm not sure, I have only one suggestion for now. In essence, after all, our army is made of NPC orcs and is moving through territory controlled by other NPC's. As a rule, different groups of NPC’s are rarely hostile to one another, especially if there are no living players nearby. It's logical, otherwise all the computing resources of the Boundless Realm servers would be wasted calculating which NPC predator saw which NPC prey, managed to sneak up to it, or take it down. The world comes to life only when there is a living player nearby to witness it. It is, after all, for our benefit that all this beauty is made. Approximately the same thing happens with intelligent NPC races, clans and armies...”

  I caught my sister's idea and, after some thought, agreed with her:

  “That's true. That goblin village of Tysh, for example, stood for years unnoticed, until me and you showed up. As soon as there were players nearby, everything turned on right away. The goblins scurried into action, and started generating missions for us, trading, and discussing. But if we weren't nearby, everything would stay frozen, or work in background mode with minimal use of computing resources.”

  “That's exactly right! And now, imagine this: a squadron of NPC orcs is walking into desolate unpopulated lands where not a single living player can be found. Those unpeopled regions are probably in a 'half-asleep' state using as little computing power as possible. Let's not consider you and I and say that it's just our orcs on the march. You can't seriously think that, just because of such a modestly sized group of NPC's, whole regions of Boundless Realm would be activated, and the expensive computing resources of corporation servers would be wasted on their upkeep? I'd never believe it on my life! Most likely, it would just calculate the speed of our squadron and, as a result, the game system would spit out where it would be at a given time. After all, recall after we got that message from Taisha, your orcs walked in peace to the copper mine near Dotur-Khawe, and probably didn't meet anyone along the way. It was as if they were simply walking, not interacting with the game world and, at the calculated time, simply appeared at their destination.”

  I hadn't considered that before. But she was right. Why simulate the movement of every NPC in the huge Boundless Realm? Also, there wouldn't be enough computing power for that truly titanic effort, even in the most powerful game cluster! Players only care about what is happening next to them, and the system devotes its main resources to showing its users a vibrant and interesting Boundless Realm. In fact, a simple squadron of NPC's without living players had much higher chances of reaching a certain map point without coming across any difficulties. That had to be thought through.

  Our conversation was interrupted by the flapping of huge wings over my head. VIXEN had returned from her nightly hunt. My winged snake brought a half-suffocated Desert Jerboa and I thanked the fortunate hunter for taking care of her hungry master. I extended a hand to stroke my emerald beauty as usual, but the Royal Forest Wyvern unexpectedly pulled back from my affections and stuck her toothy maw and long neck toward me. I got confused and didn't realize at first what my flying mount might want but, after that, I realized my winged scout wanted to share some information.

  I took a step closer and leaned the forehead of my big-eared goblin against VIXEN's head. Just then, a kaleidoscope of pictures ran before my eyes like screenshots of the game taken from up high.

  A hill next to the orc camp, densely crowded with so many different monsters there wasn't even room for a falling apple to hit the ground. Most of all, it was large toothy rodents: rats, jerboas, hamsters... very, very many rodents. Although there were also plenty of wolves. There were also a decent amount of reanimated animal skeletons, partially decayed zombies and a few tall leshies, armed with blowguns. That was unpleasant information. I was working under the impression that the enemy wouldn't have any ranged weaponry. And above this motley crew, there was a whole swarm of large winged insects and a few ghosts. Our defensive bulwark could certainly not hold back these creatures. The flying beasts could attack my army from any direction. And further over the hill... it got much more interesting.

  Saddled on a very large reddish-brown swamp wolf, there was a huge two-headed monster that looked like two overgrown rat bodies fused together. But one head of the strange Siamese twins was dead and without eyes, having long ago turned into bones stretched over with dried-out skin. It wasn't clear how it was still moving and flapping its lipless gums. But at that, the second rat head was totally alive and darting its evil red eyes at VIXEN flying in the sky. The monster was equipped with a heavy black cuirass with two head holes. One paw was holding the reins and the other had a glimmering staff, clearly filled to the brim with strong magic.

  Hyenarius

  Rat King

  Lord of the Swamps of the Styx

  I had apparently discovered the black-magic bei
ng that united this ghastly army of the living and the dead.

  Blood-Soaked Swamp

  I TOLD VALERIANNA about the rat king and described him in detail. The forest mavka considered it for a minute, then suggested a few options of how to try and reach the enemy leader. But she tore apart all her own ideas in short order, because we wouldn't manage to reach the hostile military leader either in stealth, on the Gray Pack or on VIXEN. And we certainly couldn’t kill him in any kind of reasonable timeframe. The king was guarded by a whole army of dangerous high-level creatures, including flying ones which made the mission of taking him down extremely complicated.

  The forest nymph adjusted her hair, messed up by the cold bursts of wind coming from the river and our camp, and took a heavy sigh:

  “Let's hope that, right before the attack or during the battle, the Rat King will come to within striking distance of our arrows or spells. Then we can try to get rid of him. I can just feel that, with the death of the leader, this whole army will fall apart all on its own!”

  I also thought so. In all of Boundless Realm, the undead and could not coexist with the living, and the only possible reason for this exception was the half-dead half-alive Rat King.

  From the direction of the orc camp, the wind carried an intoxicating scent I wasn’t expecting — donuts frying in hot oil. It seemed that Tondik Exuberant had finally gotten to his chef duties. The mavka also picked up the smell and asked to explain about the fat chef. I told her about Tondik and his doting mother, and also about what I'd bought in her alchemy shop. At the same time, I complained that I hadn't found anything interesting from the weapon-smiths or armorers in Dotur-Khawe. I mean, of course I managed to get a new blowgun, cloak, mail, boots and leather pants that were much better than my old stuff, which was for a level-fifteen or -twenty character, but everything I'd bought, if it had any magical bonuses at all, was just average and boring. The Forest Mavka heard out my groaning and laughed happily in reply:

  “Big-ears, did you think you'd find sets or unique or legendary items in a normal trade shop? The whole reason such items are valued is that they are found very rarely... What's that?”

  The mavka asked, seeing me do something unexpected. My flap-eared goblin squatted down and was digging in the thick grass, gathering some large yellow berries.

  Herbalism skill increased to level 16!

  Miraculous Cloudberry (alchemy ingredient)

  Herbalism skill increased to level 17!

  Fame increased

  Present value: 8

  You are the first to discover this plant in Boundless Realm

  Two skill increases in a row?! I could understand the first. I had not received any increases in Herbalism for a long time, even though I was stubbornly gathering plants all the time, if I happened to come across them. But what was the second for? For discovering a new type of plant? Apparently.

  I told my sister about my discovery and the double growth in skill, at the same time showing her the unusually large berries. The mavka then immediately asked that I give her one, so she could determine the properties of the new plant, because Amra didn't have enough Intelligence to do so.

  “It gives a decent boost to Regeneration, but for quite a short time,” the forest nymph shared her conclusions. “Tim, I've got a feeling that, if you made a concentrated elixir of these berries, it might give complete regeneration like trolls have, and even restore lost limbs. But that's just a feeling. You should check it. By the way, here's a good way to quickly level Herbalism. After all, we're going to wild and unknown lands, where very few Herbalists have been before, if any. I suspect that you will come across a good number of new plants. I think, if you manage to raise the skill fast enough, your director will be satisfied...”

  Our conversation was interrupted by the piercing wail of a signal horn. One of the sentries watching the enemy army had seen them go into action.

  “It seems to have started,” the forest nymph made a few passes with her hands to renew her defensive spells. “Best of luck to us all! And don't forget to eat that Jerboa before battle,” my sister said, pointing at the barely living creature that was still in VIXEN's mouth, after which she headed out to her defensive sector.

  “I won't!” I promised the mavka, looking around for prying eyes.

  The Swamp Jerboa died from just one Vampire Bite. I shared its body with the ever-hungry VIXEN.

  Experience received: 1105 Exp.

  Achievement unlocked: Taste Tester (88/1000)

  Racial ability improved: Taste for Blood (Gives +1% to all damage dealt for each unique creature killed with Vampire Bite. Current bonus: +26%)

  Not bad, not bad. The hunger passed, and my Thirst for Blood was also totally sated, so I didn't need to worry about that for the next thirty hours. After wiping the traces of blood off my face, as not to betray my secret, I hurried to the most dangerous and important defensive sector and immediately jumped onto Fimbulthul's back while running, so my short flap-eared Goblin could see at least something in the distance.

  It seemed the alarm had been raised by Johnny, the eagle-eyed sentry boy who had come from the Tipsy Albatross to my pirate crew on the White Shark, then followed the orcs into the desert.

  “Captain Amra, the enemies have come down from the hill into that ravine!” Johnny pointed into the darkness. “You can't see them from here because of those thick bushes but, when it was light out, we walked through there, the ravine leads along the river right to our camp!”

  Holy Moses! The Rat King had shown a bit of tactical trickery, trying to get his army into our camp unnoticed. What could I say? The defensive trench had been dug, sharpened stakes were placed, the barricade was reinforced, and my orcs were already equipped with new weapons and armor. The enemies would be forced to approach our fortification through the sections we'd left open, only three or four monsters per passage at a time and, meanwhile, my crossbowmen would be constantly zinging enemies with bolts. The rest of the monsters would simply not fit and just trip each other up, pressing into their allies' backs. We were ready!

  I thanked Johnny for his good vision and attentiveness, then sent the young chap to the rear. The front lines were no place for a child, even if he was a level-35 Sentry. I also didn't want to lose the only human in my orcish and goblin army. The boy tried to object, but I was insistent and even thought up an explanation:

  “Chef Tondik is cooking donuts back there, take Irek and Yunna and start handing out food to the hungry soldiers. And you can eat too. But if I see any of you at the barricades, I'll tear your ears off!”

  Foreman skill increased to level 37!

  But then I was quickly left speechless. Behind the nearest bush-covered hill, I could see enemies just two hundred meters away. What surprised me was that the enemy army was moving in silence, trying not to reveal their approach too early. My crossbowmen fired a volley on Valerianna's command, and I saw a few monsters fall and roll on the ground, immediately trampled by the innumerable paws of their attackers.

  Only in our direct zone of sight after being entirely convinced that they were revealed did the enemies break their strange and utterly unnatural silence and start giving off a ghastly howl with hundreds of different voices. An enemy arrow passed just one centimeter from my head. I noticed it at the very last moment and dodged by some miracle.

  Dodge skill increased to level 23!

  “All bowmen first fire on the leshies, they can hit us from afar!” I shouted out, not wasting any time and activating the Gray-Pack-control interface.

  I made sure that, above all else, the wolves, wargs and Mythical Hound had the Pack Hunter perk, increasing attack numbers, resistance and armor by ten percent for each member of the Gray Pack with the same perk active. After that, I changed Fimbulthul’s second perk (available for all pets level-50 and higher) to Bloodthirsty, which made his health go up for every bite he landed. And finally, I looked at the list of beasts I could include in the Gray Pack.

  There were lots of options
. The Rat King’s army had no less than forty Swamp Wolves of all different levels. I could take any three of them into the Gray Pack just by dragging them into the slot. I chose the three highest-level wolves, and immediately gave them the Pack Hunter and Bloodthirsty perks, then set them against a group of leshy archers.

  Animal Control skill increased to level 27!

  My three new Swamp Wolves didn't survive for more than six seconds, swept away by a wave of enemies piling on them. The wolves didn't get close to any of the enemy archers, or even get out of their tightly-packed groups. The resulting scuffle did delay the wave of attackers by a few seconds though, allowing my crossbowmen to get off another volley.

  After tossing the gray inactive wolves out of the Gray Pack, I chose new Swamp Wolves. This time, I didn't even choose perks, immediately ordering the predators to run away from the enemy armies, setting a far-away point on the map. The result was similar. A great many teeth and claws tore the three wolves to pieces in a matter of seconds. Without the Pack Hunter perk, they had no chance. Their armor and health were just too low. Damn!

  And although I could seriously weaken the enemy army this way, taking all wolves from them one by one, I was still hoping to find a better application for these predators than simply offering them up to the horde of rodents and undead.

  My third attempt was also not too successful. I tried to give the wolves the Pack Hunter perk and also increase their defense with the Dense Fur perk, after which I set them on the nearest Jerboas. There was a scuffle, and a bit of chaos. The attacking monsters were distracted by the sudden appearance of enemies in their midst. I managed to stop the approaching wave of monsters very briefly although, this time, they were just one hundred steps from our positions. The horde of monsters were stuck through with orcish crossbow bolts, taking a bloody harvest. Valerianna Quickfoot once again applied her focus, creating one double, then again and four identical forest nymphs opened fire on the enemy with the speed of a machine gun, sending an unending stream of icicles, lightning bolts and fireballs at the beasts.