by Deck Davis
Gevil stared at the orb. He was a good 3 feet away from the wizard, as if he didn’t like getting close to him. “How much gold will they get us?”
Layre looked at Gevil with scorn. “Gold? Rogue, you really aren’t making the most of your time in Adonis. Not everything is about gold. Have you never thought about what wonders lie in hidden places? Have you never basked in thoughts about the mysteries this life can offer?”
He held the orb up high. It cast a dim glow in the tunnel. “This is about much more than gold,” he said. “There is more to this mountain than we thought.”
“So, what do we do with it?” said Gevil, staring at the orb.
The wizard put the orb in his inventory bag. “That, I do not know. But when we get to the guild, I will begin my studies.”
Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. Layre didn’t know what the orbs were used for, yet. That meant that Nathan still clung to his advantage.
Now that he knew who they were dealing with and how prepared they were, he needed a plan. The guild members had come with provisions. That meant they were here to stay until they completed the quest. Nathan was going to have to get rid of them, but how? He sensed that he wouldn’t be able to drive the wizard away using fear like he had with the warriors.
He needed to get back to Dereck and come up with a plan. For now, at least, they still had the element of surprise, since Layre and the others didn’t know that Nathan knew they were here.
He shifted his weight and was about to move away when he noticed something. He’d been watching Layre for so long, that he hadn’t paid enough attention to the wizard’s pets.
A shiver ran through him. Suddenly, he felt exposed.
As he stared across the tunnel, he saw that all 4 of the creatures had turned in his direction. Their skull faces were staring at him, and their backs were arched, as if ready to attack. They’d sensed him.
Chapter Eleven
As the skull creatures stared in his direction, their bodies started to change. Their fur glowed a dull red, the color becoming stronger and stronger with every second. Soon they were the color of blood, and their skull patterns had disappeared.
The change in his creatures wasn’t lost on Layre Mock. The wizard followed the direction of their gaze and looked at where Nathan was hidden.
Surely he couldn’t see him? He was too far away, and he was in the shadows. Nathan tensed his claws. He checked his stats – his energy was at 120, his HP at 176. He could afford to use his Chaos Breed skill if it came down to it. The problem was, the rules of the power meant he could only use it once per thirty minutes. He had to choose his time carefully.
Still, he wasn’t going to fight yet. Not on his own, with no preparation. Besides, there was no way the wizard had actually seen him. Even if he had, Nathan had enough distance to get away.
He decided it was time to go back to Dereck, Sherlock, and Watson. He was going to move, when the wizard spoke. His voice was deep enough to fill the tunnels. Curiously, it didn’t have an echo.
“I know what you want, monster.”
Nathan held his breath. The wizard was trying to draw him out into the open. That meant that despite having a warning system in the form of his pets, he didn’t know exactly where Nathan was.
The wizard stood still. Nathan could see the whites of his eyes amidst the darkness.
“What’s he doing?” muttered one of the hooded figures.
Gevil elbowed him in his side. “Shut up. Let him work.”
The wizard seemed unperturbed by the bickering beside him. He hadn’t taken his eyes away from Nathan’s direction for even a second.
“I know who you are, monster. And I know what you want. I know what you crave; I have seen it. You want blood, don’t you?”
Nathan said nothing.
“Yes,” continued Layre. “Blood. And guts. I can give you that. I can give you a dozen little players for you to take away and slaughter. Play with them. Paint the walls with their blood.”
Nathan’s insanity meter was at 25%, brought down by Dereck’s ability. Unfortunately, the cleric’s spell had a cooldown, and Nathan would have to wait until he could use it on him again. Still, 25% wasn’t too bad. Dark thoughts occasionally flashed through his mind. Sometimes he smelled the odour of a rat and started to salivate. But he could control it for now.
The more worrying thing was, how did Layre know about Nathan’s cravings? Did he have some kind of knowledge about the Tuphos class? Dereck the cleric seemed pretty experienced in Adonis, but even he had never heard of it.
“You’re wondering what I want in return, aren’t you?” said Layre.
There was no use staying quiet and pretending he wasn’t there. Layre didn’t seem the type of person who could be fooled easily. Even so, it was a psychological trick in negotiations that the person who spoke least, usually won. Something about letting the other person do all the talking helped you keep the high ground.
“Let me kill you,” said Layre. “I know that sounds a lot to ask. But think about it – even if I am not successful, other guilds will come. They will never leave you alone.”
“So, I should let you kill me because if you don’t, then other guys will? Sounds like an awesome deal,” said Nathan. Speaking made him feel vulnerable, but his position was already given away.
He heard Layre shuffle on his feet. A couple of his newbie guild members muttered when they heard Nathan’s voice.
“Do you know of the Cult of the Third life?” asked the wizard.
How long was he going to entertain talking to the wizard? Just a little while longer, he guessed. Enough to see if the wizard slipped up and said something he shouldn’t. Right now, any information he could get was golden.
“I’m not acquainted. You’re not here to convert me, are you?”
Layre laughed. “Don’t worry, I don’t have pamphlets to thrust upon you. You would find our cult interesting, monster. Especially in your predicament. There is a belief that if one were to die in Adonis, there is a third life waiting after that.”
“Don’t players respawn?” asked Nathan.
“For now. I am working on a method of permanent death, and then I will be able to leave this world and cross into the next. But I am not close enough, yet. You, monster, have a chance. You can die. You can see what lies beyond. It’s nothing to be feared; it’s a beautiful gift.”
Then it dawned on Nathan. “You’re not here for the quest, are you? You don’t care about the reward.”
“Do you think some gold coins and some trinkets interest me? I want to see you die, monster. I want to see what happens when a sentient being crosses beyond. And what’s more – there is something on this mountain that can stop respawns.”
Somehow, Nathan had known that the wizard wouldn’t have just come here for a quest reward. There was something interesting about his idea. It also displayed the human condition of selfishness in all its glory.
For centuries, humanity had no idea whether there was something beyond our life on earth. Then, modern technology allowed humanity not only to find an answer, but to make one. We solved the question of ‘what happens when you die,’ by creating a new world that awaited us after death.
So why, then, was there a cult wishing for another afterlife? Was this one not enough? Maybe it was the mystery of it all. People who obsessed over what happened after death didn't care about the actual answer. Instead, they were in love with the mystery of the question. And when Adonis Rebirth was made, that mystery was snatched away.
Whatever the wizard’s motivations, Nathan wanted no part in it. There was nothing waiting after Adonis. And even if there was, he had no interest in letting the wizard kill him so he could see it.
“You are taking too long with your decision, monster. Come over here, and we’ll talk better.”
“Kiss my ass,” said Nathan. Then, he regretted his inability to think of a better come back.
It was time to leave. At least now he had an idea of how many people
were here. It wasn’t good – Layre, Gevil and their group outnumbered them. This was never a fight he’d win with strength, so they were going to have to be clever about it.
He turned to leave. As he did, he heard the wizard talk. His voice was lower, and Nathan knew he was talking to his guild mates.
“Set them loose. Chase him down.”
“But sir, they’re trackers, not fighters.”
“Wound him. If he kills them, so what? As long as they wound him. We don’t need trackers if we have a trail of blood to follow.”
Nathan didn’t stick around to find out what the wizard meant, since he had a good idea already. He started to move away, backtracking on himself and heading toward the main chamber.
Sure enough, just seconds later he heard the sound of multiple feet pounding on the ground. Layre had released his skull-faced pets.
How many of them were there? There had been 4 – he was sure of that. The robed man had said the creatures were trackers rather than fighters. That meant Nathan might have a chance if it came to a battle with the creatures.
The most obvious answer would have been to just run as fast as he could, but he knew that was a sign of not using his brain. Against every urge in his body, he stopped running. He quickly checked his HP and energy. His hitpoints were almost full, and he had most of his energy left. Good.
Next up, he glanced at his insanity meter. It was at 25%, which meant he could afford to kill a few times without it getting out of control.
With the footsteps getting closer, he set off again. He ran through the tunnels. He was glad to realise that he knew each twist and turn before it even arrived. Whether it was a good thing or bad, this place was becoming his home, and he felt like he knew it off by heart now.
The footsteps got louder. He heard feet galloping behind him. He didn’t know if he was imagining it, but he was sure he could hear their breath as they panted. Or was it his own breath?
Then he heard a snarl. Long, drawn out. Hostile. He turned, already knowing what he would see.
The four creatures were behind him now, twenty feet away at the end of the tunnel. They were taking careful steps forward, like tigers approaching an antelope. What they didn’t realise, though, was that this antelope had giant claws.
He knew he could take one or two of them out with his claws. Maybe more if he used Chaos Breed and sent one of them crazy. Still, there were too many for him to fight alone.
One of them crept forward. It must have been the bravest of the four. It kept his head low and snarled.
Nathan brought up his map and studied it for a second. When he saw what he needed, he closed it. He turned and started to move away, turning the corner and leaving the skull creatures behind him.
He looked ahead. The dark tunnels forked two ways. One led directly to the main chamber, while the other took a slightly longer detour. Despite needing to get back to Dereck and the minions, he took the detour.
The creatures wasted no time in following him, but this time, it was a good thing. He wanted them to. Follow me all you like, he thought.
As he navigated the labyrinth, he even slowed down a little. His energy was three-quarters full now, but running at full sprint emptied it quicker. So he slowed down. He heard the creatures’ footsteps grow louder.
He pulled his map up as he ran. He glanced at it for a few seconds, then grinned.
Just around the corner. Let’s see how you like this.
As the skull creatures got closer and closer, Nathan kept focused and ran in a straight line. There was an opening in the wall in front of him that he’d made earlier when destroying the light parts of the tunnels. Placed in the rubble, out of sight for all but the keenest of eyes, was a surprise.
Nathan held his breath as he ran through the opening.
The creatures got closer.
He heard feet pounding on stone. Footsteps echoing. The sound of their snarls as they grew angry with the chase.
He glanced behind him. One of them was just six feet away from him now. It leapt through the air, claws outstretched, mouth open.
Just as it passed through the opening in the wall, there was a fizzling sound. Nathan looked behind him, and he saw that the creature had stepped on one of the trap runes. A red light emanated from the ground, and it seemed to twist all over the creature’s body. Nathan smelled the sour aroma of burnt hair. The creature spasmed as the burning red light smothered it. It made a sound that was less of a snarl, and more of a scream. It was begging. Pleading for the pain to stop.
He felt bad. He knew he should take this opportunity to leave, but he couldn’t walk away. These creatures were attacking him, but they were only following orders. As the creature cried out in agony, he knew he couldn’t walk away.
He stepped forward. Just a few feet, but close enough. Then, with all his effort, he lashed out with his claw. He caught the creature where its neck met its shoulders. He hit it with such force that he almost took its head clean off. The creature went limp and then collapsed on the floor, dead. At least he’d put it out of its misery. He heard the sound of a bell ringing in his head, which meant that he’d earned EXP.
The other 3 backed away now. One made a curious sound. Almost whiny, as if it was sad. The other 2 snarled.
How did rune traps work? Did they disappear after one use? Or would the creatures be free to follow him now? It seemed that the creatures were wary about crossing through the tunnel after seeing what happened to their friend.
Nathan edged away and then turned around. He ran, navigating his way through the labyrinth until he was back in the main chamber.
When he got there, he stopped and caught his breath. He looked around him. He saw a pile of orbs next to a wall. The rot room was across from him. Feels good to be home, he thought, wondering if it was sarcasm or not.
Dereck was sat on the floor, eyes closed and legs crossed. He appeared to be meditating. After a few seconds, he let out a long breath, then opened his eyes.
“Did you see them?” he asked.
Nathan caught his breath. He nodded. “Layre and Gevil, and some other guys wearing robes. They had pets, too. Caught me by surprise.”
“Pets do not show up on maps,” he said. Then, he sighed. “I had hoped Layre would not come.”
“He looks just as nasty as you told me,” said Nathan, pacing. “What level is he?”
“Too high for you to fight, Nathan. Unless the Tuphos class has powers beyond normal character growth.”
He knew that Dereck was right, but there had to be something he could do. If the wizard had a weakness, he could exploit it. But he didn’t like having to rely on someone else being vulnerable. Instead, he wanted to use his own strengths. There had to be something he could do.
“I’ve got it,” he said.
Dereck stood up. He was completely calm. “What is it?”
“I need to go and visit the 2nd Ancient,” said Nathan.
Chapter Twelve
“There are four of us against all of them,” said Nathan. “We can fight, but without an advantage, we’re screwed.”
“Three of us,” said Dereck.
“What?”
“I’m officially still part of the guild. The game won’t let me kill a guild member.”
“So, why not leave the guild?” said Nathan. “Surely that’s an option on your menu?”
Dereck nodded. “It is, but think about it. Right now, since I’m part of the guild, I can see them on the map. If I leave, not only will they get suspicious, but I won’t be able to track them.”
“Damn. That means you better stay in the guild, then. Which means only Sherlock, Watson and I can actually fight.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I need to go and visit the 2nd Ancient,” said Nathan. “But first, we need to buy some time.”
“How many orbs do you have?” asked Dereck.
Nathan shot a look at Sherlock and Watson, who were over by the wall near the rot room. They’d been mining all mornin
g, and Nathan had let them take a break. They seemed to prefer relaxing near the rot room, where they could get a whiff of the horrible stench.
“Guys?” said Nathan. “How many did you get this morning?”
The minions came over and passed orbs to Nathan. His inventory updated to show an extra 15. Added to the 4 he’d saved earlier, that made 19. He didn't want to spend them, but with the guild here he had no choice.
“Thanks, guys,” said Nathan. “Good work. Watson, can you go through the right-hand passageway for me and explore a little?”
He realized that he’d been so busy over the last 2 days that he hadn’t had a chance to explore the second passage. He suspected it was a loop that met up with the left passage at some point, but it’d be good to know. Since Watson was Nathan’s minion, wherever he went, Nathan’s map updated.
