Endless Fantasy Online

by Devin Auspland

  Whirling around, the pair of travelers faced a group of five goblins jumping at them. Before the two of them could get off the ground, a large explosion hit them from behind. Their eyes went white as their backs sizzled like bacon from the heat. The other three goblins leaped into the air. Another well-placed arrow killed one goblin before he could lift his weapon. A large dark form pounced sideways, catching one goblin in its fangs and the other in its claws as it drove them to the ground. Quickly finishing the one in her mouth with a sickening crunch, Ringo lifted her clawed paw and took a wide swipe at the remaining enemy. Several deep slash marks appeared on its chest as blood flowed freely out of the tiny creature. Ringo lifted her paw again and pressed it down hard, ending its life.

  The group formed a tight circular formation and Ringo let out a loud howl. She was making it clear that she was on the hunt and that the goblins were her prey.

  Goblins surrounded the group, snarling and growling as they circled the travelers. “Ready for round two?” Nanoc asked sarcastically.

  Donny sheathed his rapier and pulled out his lute. Strumming twinkle twinkle little star as he began to sing along. “Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.” Nanoc and Luke looked confused but TD conjured a large fireball in one hand while gesturing for the group to stay still with the other.

  After just a few seconds, it became clear what Donny was doing. The goblins started to lean from side to side as their eyes began to open and shut. A few of them dropped their weapons as they slumped over, fast asleep.

  “Tssk. I was hoping I could get them all with that.” Donny surveyed the surrounding goblins. His spell put three of the six asleep, leaving the other three swaying and fighting back slumber. “Well, I did my part.” He gestured at the goblins, suggesting that the other three start their attack.

  “I like this one Luke.” Nanoc grinned as he brought his axes down on one of the swaying goblins.

  TD released his fireball on two of the sleeping goblins who were bunched up together on the ground, killing them both swiftly. Luke held his bow in one hand and drove his fist into the face of the last swaying goblin. As his fist connected with the goblin’s face, he activated his gauntlets’ special ability and claws shot out and through the goblin's unprotected skull. He quickly retracted them and a system message popped up.

  Critical Hit!

  Attacking weak spots on enemies will result in a Critical Hit. Critical Hits do increased damage.

  New skill acquired: Claws, Beginner 0. You have taken the first step in mastering claw weapons, a subclass of fist-based weapons. Congratulations, you know how to throw a basic punch. Effect: 1+x% claw damage.

  By the time he finished reading the system prompt, Ringo had pounced on and killed the last goblin.

  “What was that?” Nanoc stared at Luke’s fist.

  Stretching his hands out in display, he replied. “It's a new weapon I got, Wolf Claws.”

  “You're just trying to make Backstab jealous, aren’t you?” Nanoc added, causing Luke and him to chuckle and their companions to just look confused.

  Nanoc whirled around, raising his axes just in time to block a large bastard sword. An orc was pushing against Nanoc and slowly gaining headway. Before he had time to review the situation and counterattack, another orc ran his blade through Nanoc’s side. TD threw a fireball at the two orcs, causing them to back peddle away from the group and to pull the blade from Nanoc’s side. Once the blade was free, Nanoc fell to one knee, clutching at his wound.

  Luke followed up on TD’s attack, firing arrow after arrow. The orcs dodged and rolled out of the way, looking for an opening to close the distance again. Looking at his party menu, Luke saw that Nanoc’s health was plummeting. The initial attack brought him below half and the bleeding debuff was steadily chewing away at his remaining hit points. He stopped firing arrows long enough to cast nature’s regrowth on the downed berserker but the momentary lapse in ranged cover was the opportunity the orcs were waiting for.

  Rushing forward, the orcs quickly closed the distance and swung their massive two-handed blades at Nanoc. Donny acted quickly, parrying one attack. His strength was not high enough to hold the massive blade back and it struck him, causing a large cut on his shoulder. The second orc swung down at Nanoc. Nanoc lifted the arm that still held an axe in order to block. In his weakened state, Nanoc wasn’t able to prevent the sword from cutting deep into his upper arm muscle.

  Luke released a water shot, striking one orc in the chest. The orc looked hurt but wasn’t down for the count. He lifted his sword and prepared for another attack. As he swung down to finish the job a fireball hit him dead on and caused him to stagger back mid strike. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, Luke shot another water shot at the creature. The orc continued to stagger backwards before falling flat on its back. Ringo ran in its direction to finish the job.

  Luke turned his attention back to their remaining foe and saw Donny struggling against the raw strength of the orc. He tried to parry the attacks and use the orc’s strength against him, but with each attempt he found himself cut open by glancing blows. Running short on mana, Luke didn’t want to use another water shot, so he fired a pair of regular arrows at the orc in an attempt to disrupt its battle rhythm.

  The orc didn’t attempt to dodge, he took both arrows and continued to advance on the bard. Donny was slowly being pushed backward as the orc gained the upper hand. Unable to take his eyes off the creature, Donny didn’t notice the rubble around him and tripped on a large piece of stone. Falling backward, he saw the grin on the orc’s face as the orc raised his blade high into the air above his head in preparation for a death blow.

  Donny closed his eyes, accepting his fate. When he didn’t feel the rush of cold steel across his body, he hesitantly opened his eyes. The orc was still standing over him, his blade raised but he was shaking and the grin on his face turned to an expression of disbelief.

  “Backstab!” The rogue had jumped onto the back of the orc, driving his dual daggers deep into its upper back. When the orc tried to turn and pull the frail rogue off, a sword drove into its stomach, finishing the job.

  “Stop playing around, Backstab, and go protect Nanoc. Luke! Give him another heal. We need potions over here now!” Penny was standing over Donny, taking charge and shouting out orders. Her orders were followed without hesitation. Backstab ran and stood in front of Nanoc as Luke swiftly healed him. Penny extended a hand to Donny, which he quickly accepted. “Are you ok?”

  He patted the dust off and gave himself a once over. “Yeah, I think so. I’m at about 40% though, so I’m gonna need to heal up before we fight again.”

  “Donny! Sorry Bro, my magic has a long cooldown time. I tried jumping in to…” Donny raised a palm, cutting TD off.

  “Don’t worry, I get it. Things worked out in the end anyway.” Donny gave the mage a reassuring smile.

  “I hate to break up this love fest but there is a small army left to kill.” Penny pointed at the goblins and orcs flowing into the city. “Follow my advance and give me supporting fire.” She slammed her sword against her shield several times, triggering her taunt ability. Several goblins and orcs began moving her way in response. Everyone grabbed their weapons and followed Penny’s lead.

  The fighting continued for a long time. The group would taunt a small patch of enemies, Penny and Nanoc playing the role of damage absorption while Luke, Ringo, TD, Donny and Backstab dished out damage. The whole guild was holding their ground. Then the city’s full army arrived, making quick work of the remaining scouting party.

  Exhausted and drained of mana and stamina, Luke collapsed to the ground. “That” gasp “wasn’t” gasp “so” gasp “bad.” Luke laid down flat on the cobblestone path and took in gulping breaths. They had fought back the advanced scouting party without losing more than a few members of the guild and the city guard.

  “Maybe for you. I almost died at least three times,” Nanoc added. Their core group all survived and worked w
ell together while taking out a surprising number of enemies.

  Backstab slapped Nanoc on the back. “Only almost?”

  The group all laughed exhaustedly and immediately collapsed alongside Luke, using the last of their stamina reserves in their laughing fits.

  Unable to do much of anything while his mana and stamina recovered, Luke pulled up his notifications.

  Skill up: Nature’s Regrowth, Intermediate 1.

  Skill up: Water Shot, Beginner 5.

  Skill up: Short Bow, Intermediate 1.

  Skill up: Beast Mastery, Intermediate 1.

  Skill up: Claws, Beginner 3.

  Skill up: Dodge, Beginner 5.

  Simple Goblin Warrior x17 defeated. 510 party participation exp gained.

  Goblin Scout x14 defeated. 350 party participation exp gained.

  Orc Scout x4 defeated. 140 party participation exp gained.

  Orc Warrior x7 defeated. 350 party participation exp gained.

  Hmm, not bad gains, he thought as he mentally swiped away the notifications. Luke thought back on how he was forced to use his claws on more than one occasion when goblins tried swarming TD. He sat up and looked around. There was carnage everywhere, and bodies littered the city entrance and cobblestone paths. Forcing himself off the ground, he cracked his back and knuckles to release the tension in his joints.

  “Man, nothing like a night full of battle to make you all stiff,” Luke said to no one in particular.

  Stretching beside him was Backstab. “You’re telling me. If we get stuck in this game much longer, I’m going to open a massage parlor. I’ll make a killing, I mean, imagine it. All these nerdy guys would pay fistfuls of gold to get a massage from a hot elven babe.” He looked around for confirmation and was met with disapproving gazes from everyone but TD, who appeared to be holding back drool.

  A cascade of arrows, engulfed in dark flames, rained down on the crowd. Everyone quickly jumped for cover. Some ran into alleyways or behind buildings, while others raised their shields in protest. Luke dove for a large piece of stone left over from the explosion, and Ringo followed his lead. When he heard the last of the arrows drop, he came out from behind his makeshift cover.

  “Is everyone…” he froze. Backstab was on his knees and hunched over, a dozen or more arrows sticking into a variety of spots on his back. Luke cast nature’s regrowth but got a system prompt in response to his efforts.

  Unable to cast, invalid target. Target must be alive in order to cast this spell.

  Penny slowly walked over to Backstab and closed his eyelids, his face trapped in an expression of utter shock. Even though he was several feet away, Luke could see the tears falling from her face.

  Nanoc stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “He’ll come back as soon as we end this. He’ll probably be pissed that he was the one to die again.” He let out a small chuckle.

  Changing his priorities, Luke ran for the nearest set of steps that led up the wall. He looked out across the fields and saw a dark shadow far in the distance.

  “They must have a few dark mages with them.” Captain Holtz stepped beside Luke. “They were somehow able to hide their presence from our magic.” He looked behind him, into the city, and saw several lifeless soldiers and travelers. “We lost a lot in that surprise magical attack.” He noticed the grim expression on Luke’s face. “Now is not the time for sadness, it's the time for vengeance! Mages! Light it up!”

  A couple dozen massive light orbs flew into the sky, several of them exploding and causing glowing rain to come pouring down on the distant, dark shadows. As the rain fell onto the patch of darkness, it ate away at it like a parasite. It made quick work of the concealing spell and revealed an army of monsters. There were orcs, goblins, ogres and even some humans standing in large formations.

  Luke couldn’t even attempt to count their numbers. Looking back at the army of guards behind him he began to worry. He locked eyes with Captain Holtz before saying, “how the hell are we supposed to fight that?”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  All Hope Lost

  “Prepare to launch artillery spells! Archers to the wall!” Captain Holtz was shouting orders, and people were flowing into position without hesitation.

  Luke notched an arrow and turned to see TD running up the stairs and pulling his spell book out of his bag. Looking further behind the wall, he saw large teams of mages wearing matching robes standing on large complex magical circles. The circles were glowing and large elemental attacks started forming in the air. As they formed, large crates full of ingredients started to vanish around them. A wondrous display of magic filled the air with fireballs, glowing rocks, ice shards, and glowing balls of light. The elemental attacks continued to grow and grow until they were taller than the wall and the surrounding two-story buildings.

  The enemy army wasn’t idle during this time. The bulk of the army started charging toward the city at a full sprint while rows of archers and mages began preparing for attack.

  “Mages, release! Archers, at the ready!” The captain gave the command to release the spells.

  The larger-than-life elemental attacks launched into the air and over the wall. Enemy mages attempted to counterattack but the artillery spells were on a whole different level and the minor spells crashed ineffectively against them. As the artillery spells crashed into the ground, they splattered dozens before exploding and killing hundreds in their wake. Even several mighty ogres were eviscerated while charging into battle.

  Captain Holtz gave the command for archers to launch their attacks. Hundreds of arrows flew into the air and, at the command of the captain, mages enchanted the arrows. As the arrows reached their peak and began to descend, they ignited. Flaming arrows now rained down on the approaching forces. Pockets of corpses appeared in the crowd where the artillery spells and arrows hit most frequently. Any gaps were soon filled in as the enemy army marched over the bodies of their fallen allies.

  As the army readied another round of arrows, the enemy archers and mages fired. Hundreds of arrows, enchanted with black flames, flew toward the city and descended upon the defenders. The city’s mages attempted a counterattack, but most of them were focused on preparing another round of artillery spells, so the flaming projectiles flew unimpeded.

  Men fell from the ramparts as flaming arrows crashed into them. They slew several mages who were focused on preparing their spells. Luke ducked behind the wall as best he could in order to avoid the attack. Ringo stood over him, not wanting her papa to be struck. When the barrage was over, Luke pulled away from the wall and saw that Ringo had a flaming arrow sticking out of her side. He quickly pulled it out as Ringo let out a loud roar and Luke cast his healing spell on her.

  “You all right?” Luke questioned mentally.

  “A warning before pulling it out would have been nice,” she replied.

  Luke apologized as he stood to face the incoming army. Another round of artillery spells launched over the wall, crashing down and killing hundreds of monsters. But despite their best efforts, the enemy army reached the wall.

  Dozens of orcs and goblins began flooding the open gate, while hundreds more struggled to find purchase on the reinforced defenses. As they made contact with the walls, defensive spells activated and explosions of magic shook the earth. Large blasts of fire, spikes of ice and explosions of lava burst forth from the magic wards placed earlier that night.

  Luke was in awe at the power of the mages. That star-struck feeling quickly melted away when ogres reached the city. The ogres stretched their arms out, allowing dozens of goblins and orcs that were clinging to their body to jump on the ramparts before they began punching new entry holes into the city.

  An orc landed only a few feet from Luke. Luckily, the orc stumbled a bit as it landed, leaving an opening that Ringo took full advantage of. Ringo rushed forward and sank her teeth deep into the orc’s forearm. The orc pulled back its opposing arm to strike, but Ringo distracted it long enough for Luke to close the distance.
Luke landed two punches in quick succession. As the blows stuck the orc, Luke sent mana to his fists and metal claws shot through its body, tearing through the orc’s makeshift leather armor.

  The orc fell to the ground and Luke took stock of his situation. Enemies were flooding the main gate, ogres were busting apart more openings in the wall, monsters were gathering on top of the ramparts and the enemy outnumbered them at least ten to one. It wasn’t looking good for the Phoenix Kingdom.

  “Luke! We need you down here, now!” A voice came screaming from below. Looking around, Luke saw the origin of the plea. Penny and Nanoc were trying to fend off a party of orcs that had surrounded them.

  Luke looked around and saw a shield leaning against the wall nearby. He grabbed it and placed it at the top of the stairs that led off the ramparts. Time for my Legolas moment, he thought as he jumped on the shield, attempting to ride it down the stairs while firing arrows at enemies. At least he could say he attempted it. As he jumped on the shield it flew out from under him, causing him to not only fall flat on his back but also to roll down the stairs. When he reached the first bend in the stairs, he fell over the edge and landed on a pair of goblins who were rushing for nearby defenders.

  Scrambling to his feet, Luke had just enough time to dodge a dagger aimed for his abdomen. He pressed his back to the stone wall as the goblins prepared to lunge forward. Before they had the opportunity, a large wolf jumped from the ramparts and landed directly on the pair. Pressing down hard, Ringo crushed one of them while an arrow pierced the other's skull before it could counterattack.

  “You have to be careful papa,” Ringo cautioned.

  “I know Ringo, I know.” Luke responded telepathically as he dusted himself off and cast nature's regrowth to regain the embarrassing amount of hit points he lost in his stunt.