Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga

by Michael-Scott Earle

  My feet were still running forward though. No, I was sprinting forward, and the twist of my hips caused my feet to lose all traction. My momentum continued though, and I knew I was going to fall. There was little time to think, but I knew that I couldn’t fall off the pathway or all sorts of bad shit would happen. All I could do was commit to my fall, push more power through my running legs, spin so Chrysa and I faced toward the ceiling of the dungeon, and pray to whatever luck I had that we wouldn’t tumble off the narrow pathway.

  My back slammed into the stone and we bounced. Then we landed on my right shoulder, and the momentum convinced me that the next bounce would send us over the ledge and down into the distant water below. I kicked down with my right leg and felt the inside of my foot touch against the side of the pathway. The movement strained my hip, but it re-aligned my tumble, and the third bounce connected the pathway squarely under my shoulders.

  Chrysa gasped, but then looked up from my chest as soon as we stopped moving. The woman guessed I couldn’t get up from my position with her on top of my chest, so she spun around in my arms to put her feet on the path where my legs were. I glanced to the second platform and expected to see the golems launching another salvo of fire darts, but the creatures were still bringing their hands back, and I guessed that I had another second or two before I needed to worry about the next volley.

  Bolverk’s health dropped down to 60% and turned my head up to see where my friends were. One of the axe golems was down, but both of the spear throwers were still alive, and the last axe warrior was still at full health. I saw Cornalic try to move around and either flank the axe golem or get to the spear ones, but the two with the spears had guessed his intention, and they were both throwing their respawning weapons at him. My green-skinned friend could do little more than dance around the platform to avoid the projectiles.

  “Run,” I said to Chrysa as I pointed to the distant platform. I almost expected her to tell me, no, but I had made it clear during our training that she needed to do everything I ordered her to do without question. The woman didn’t even nod or tell me “yes” she just turned on her heel and dashed toward the third platform as if she would die if she didn’t make it there before me.

  My shoulder hurt, but the initial pain had passed, and it just felt as if Jax had given me a “dead arm.” I could move the limb, and I used it to help push me to my feet. I checked the two caster golems and saw that they had launched their flame darts again. The two magical projectiles were headed directly at me, but I managed to start running before they hit the spot where I had landed.

  It was the last straight portion of the pathway before the third platform, and I guessed that I was about seventy yards from where my friends engaged the golems. The spear throwers actually fought with their backs to Chrysa and I prayed that they wouldn’t turn around to throw their weapons at her when she got closer.

  I tried to use my Minor Heal on Cornalic, and my friend glowed with the orange light. I breathed a sigh of relief as I sprinted toward the platform, and I hit him with another two Minor Heals before I used another Guardian of Fortune on him. My abilities had caused the spear to fall free of the muscular man’s shoulders, and he immediately switched his defensive strategy to an offensive one.

  The half-orc feinted to the side, rolled forward, and then jumped up with a flurry of slicing attacks that cleaved the head off one of the spear throwers. The creature fell as soon as I caught up to Chrysa, and we both reached the third platform as Bolverk ended the axe golem.

  I didn’t have my sword out, but I could still grapple, and I latched onto the last golem’s arm as he drew back his spear. My other two friends were quick to assist me, and they plunged their weapons into the creature a half second after I tied up his weapon.

  “Through the door!” I pointed to the end of the platform. This last platform was connected to the wall, and there was an open archway there. My three friends sprinted the last bit of distance, and we slid into the next hallway just as two of the fire darts slammed into the side of the wall behind us.

  “Wonderful timing, friend Leo. For half a moment, I did believe I was in a dire predicament. Then I recalled that you have immense skill, and I knew I would be okay.

  “Yeah,” I said after I took a gulp of air. It felt as if I was wearing a coat four sizes too small from using so many Minor Heals in a row, but I guessed I had few more in me before I needed to get worried.

  “We run. There are more enemies to destroy--”

  “Hold up a second,” I interrupted Bolverk by grabbing onto his arm before he could dash away. I thought about using Healing Touch on the gnome, and he instantly went to full health. There was only a brief flash of an orangish-red light, and the burn mark on his shoulder returned to tattooed skin.

  “Don’t get hurt for a minute. I can’t heal you,” I explained.

  “We go. We kill. We take the Throne of Ascension.” He shrugged free of my grasp and ran down the corridor.

  The rest of us followed him down the green stone hallway. I had counted twenty seconds before we came to the first turn in the corridor, and the walls at the corner began to shimmer with the arrival of new golems.

  I pulled out my longsword as one of the creatures dropped from the ceiling. It was kind of hunched over and held two curved short swords. Its face actually looked as if it was designed like a crab’s, with twin mandibles that shifted sideways along its face.

  I hadn’t been surprised by the creature’s drop though, and I managed to block its first series of swings with a few well-placed parries of my much longer blade. Two more of the strange looking golems were attacking Bolverk and Cornalic, but my friends had also evaded damage, and were pressing their own attacks.

  “Cornalic!” I shouted to my friend as I pushed my back against Chrysa. A fourth assassin style golem fell from the ceiling behind her, and I immediately hit myself with Spirit of Stone so that I wouldn’t get hurt by any of the four darting blades.

  I blocked the one on the right with the guard of my blade and then kicked the left golem in the stomach with my left foot. The one I kicked fell away from me, smashed into the far wall of the hallway, and then came at me again. The one on the right pulled his blades free of my guard and tried to slash low across my stomach. I flipped my blade over with two hands to block the low attack and then took my left hand from the grip of my sword so that I could grab the creature’s right wrist.

  My grapple was a bit clumsy, and I would have been cut if I wasn’t enchanted with Spirit of Stone, but because I was, the edge of the golems’ sword just scraped along my forearm. I was able to turn my sidekick into a sweeping shin kick that I combined with a pull from my left arm. The golem was thrown off balance, and I managed to yank the fourth attacker over so he blocked the third one from stabbing me.

  Cornalic was there instantly, and his twin short swords slammed into the side of the third golem. The thing’s health bar immediately dropped to nothing. The creature and its weapons turned into broken dust, and I let go of my longsword so I could hold onto the golem’s other wrist. My sword bounced onto the stone floor with a sound that made me wince, but it didn’t really matter. The weapon was magical, and I doubted the blade would be harmed by the drop.

  The golem wouldn’t fare so well. The animated hulk of clay turned its head to Cornalic, but I didn’t let go of its arms. My friend made a dual cross cut with both of his blades, and the head of the creature popped off its shoulders like a cork from a champagne bottle.

  I hit Bolverk with a Guardian of Fortune just in time to catch one of the two remaining assassin golems cutting into his back. One of the cuts looked like it actually did make it through the enchantment and ripped open the bare skin of the man’s back, but his health bar didn’t go down on my UI.

  I kicked the longsword off the ground and into my hand a half second before I lunged toward the golem closest to me. The point of my blade sunk into the thing’s back, and I stepped forward to drive my weapon deeper into the monst
er. It tried to turn around and stab me, but I had made my thrust with the blade in the vertical position, and it couldn’t muscle past the width of the sword combined with my strength. Cornalic was to my right, and his twin blades were like a blender. A moment later the second opponent was crumbling around my sword, and the half-orc was stepping to assist Bolverk with his opponents.

  “Why aren’t you hurt?” I asked Bolverk once he and Cornalic had put their final swings into the last golem and turned it into sand.

  “Pain means nothing when I sit upon the throne.” The gnome turned to run, and I looked at Cornalic.

  “Some great warriors have abilities which can help them ignore damage. They are called stances. I actually have a few myself that I sometimes use, however, they do not allow me to ignore damage. I prefer to not get hurt. The sight of my blood does make me quite uncomfortable. Did I ever tell you about the time that I--”

  “Tell me later! We have to go,” I said as I pointed at the running gnome.

  “Oh, you are right, dear Leo. Forward to victory! Ha!” Cornalic sprinted after the gnome, and I gestured for Chrysa to follow us.

  “Are you okay? Your face looks pale,” Chrysa asked, but it was her face which actually looked a few shades paler than normal, and her breath was coming out in ragged gasps. I guessed we were pushing the limits of her running fitness.

  “The last few Guardian of Fortune uses have made it a bit hard to breathe, but I’ll be fine,” I said to her.

  “Up ahead!” Cornalic shouted, and I turned away from the woman who ran beside me. I saw that Bolverk was about to charge into another room ahead of us, and I sprinted past Chrysa so that the gnome didn’t get out of my range.

  The gnome skidded to a halt as soon as he ran into the next room, and I slowed myself so I wouldn’t plow into him or Cornalic. The new area looked somewhat similar to the previous room. It was smaller, maybe only sixty feet wide by a hundred feet long, but the light came from several broken parts of the ceiling, and green vines were hanging from the holes. The green stone combined with the water of the previous room, vines, and sunlight gave a kind of jungle feel to this dungeon. I had to admit that I liked the design, even if I hadn’t spent a lot of time studying the graphic textures.

  “There is the marker!” Chrysa yelled out, and the three of us followed her finger to the far end of the room. There were two sets of stairs on the wall there, and they led up to a pedestal. On top of the pedestal floated a disc about the size of a dinner plate. I half expected the thing to glow with magical light, but as it spun, it caught one of the rays of light from the ceiling, and it flashed a golden hue.

  The portcullis dropped from the archway behind us, and we were trapped in the room. An instant later, spots on the wall, ground, and ceiling began to shimmer as the golems emerged from the stone.

  In the center of the room, a twelve-foot tall clay monster rose. It had two armored knight looking heads and four arms. In each of the four arms it held an axe, curved scimitar, short spear, and shield, and the creature’s eyes glowed a malicious red color. The hue reminded me of lava, and I felt a twinge of fear trickle down my spine.

  Then ten more golems finished entering the room.

  Two of them were shield carrying golems with axes, two of them were spear chuckers, two looked like the mage ones that threw fire bolts, two were the assassin golems with hunched over bodies and dual short swords, and the final two each carried the two-handed axes. The last pair stood in front of the four-armed boss golem, and their placement made me wonder if the rest of the golems would fall if we managed to kill the two-headed boss first.

  Then the large golem raised his top pair of arms, and the other golems all began to glow with a teal-blue enchantment I didn’t recognize. Then the boss let out a shout, and all the weapons started to glow with a bright yellow light.

  “That ramped up fast,” I growled as the horde of golems began to rush across the room toward us.

  Chapter 25

  “Stand behind me!” I reminded Chrysa as Bolverk moved to intercept the two shield carrying golems. The assassin ones were moving to flank the gnome from his left side, but Cornalic and I moved to engage them.

  “Dearest friend. I still have not used my Never items. Should I use them to take out the casters and javelin golems?” Cornalic asked as our swords met the two assassin golem’s blades.

  “Wait till their protection enchantments go down,” I said as I tried to tear the head off one of the assassin golems with a sweep of my longsword.

  My attack was half a moment too slow, and the golem dodged under my blade. Then it came up with two quick jabs with its left blade followed by a long slash with his right. My blade managed to catch each of the attacks, but I needed to step back so that I had more space to pivot my longer weapon.

  Cornalic pivoted to drive his left short sword into the golem I retreated from. His attack rang true, but his blade didn’t seem to do any damage to the animated creature. The glow from its body did fade, though, and I guessed the boss’ group enchantment absorbed a single attack.

  The caster golems were on the left side of the room, and I caught them winding back their arms to summon their fire bolts. The spear chuckers were on the right, and I saw their arms fling javelins toward us. I would have thought that they would have gone for Bolverk, but the man was partially hidden from their view by the much taller shield carrying golems. Instead, the spear throwers aimed right at Chrysa.

  I hit her with Guardian of Fortune and stepped to the side so I could knock her out of the way. My movement was half successful, and one of the spears went wide. The other did hit her though, and I gasped with relief when it bounced off her chest.

  “Ahhh!” she screamed with shock, and I saw her eyes widen.

  My movement had taken my attention away from the assassin golem for a moment and I spun my sword around to parry where I thought the animated creature would strike. I caught one of my opponent’s blades with my guesswork, but his second sword slipped around my parry and buried into my stomach.

  “Leo!” I heard Chrysa scream, but her voice sounded far away.

  “I’m fine!” I said as I brought my long sword down on the golem’s arm. My strike cut his limb off at the elbow, and his blade pulled free of my stomach. That might not have been the exact result I wanted, because the sudden freedom from the weapon felt like someone had poured molten glass into my stomach, and I couldn’t help but groan.

  I made another strike against the one armed assassin golem, and he raised his short sword to block it. I put my full weight behind my swing, and his other arm crumbled as my longsword bashed his blade aside and sunk into his crab head. The creature’s life bar dropped to nothing, and it crumbled into a pile of what looked like wet sand.

  I used Minor Heal on myself, and my stomach instantly felt better. It still hurt like I’d eaten bad Mexican food, but the sharp feeling of molten glass had completely faded, and I didn’t feel as if my guts were about to spill out. It also didn’t feel like I was bleeding anymore, but the front of my armor was already soaked with my blood.

  The casters on the left launched their fire bolts, and I knew their target was Chrysa. I cast Guardian of Fortune on myself and moved to stand over the knocked down woman. The first bolt struck me in the chest, and exploded into a warm fire that did little more than tickle me. The second bolt hit me in the stomach and my vision turned dim.

  “Leo!” I felt Chrysa’s hands on my shoulder, and I blinked away the fog of my vision. I was sitting on my ass with my back against the wall. My entire body felt on fire, and I coughed up a plume of smoke.

  “Dear Leo! I go!” I heard Cornalic shout, and I looked over to see my friend finish off the second assassin.

  The half-orc shimmered, disappeared, and then re-appeared ten steps closer to the casters. He leaned over to sprint toward them, and the two axe-wielding golems guarding the two-headed boss moved to intercept my friend. They were a little further back in the room though, and Cornalic reache
d the two casters a moment before the two-handed axe carriers reached him.

  I lunged off the ground and tackled Chrysa a moment before the spears almost hit her. I half expected them to both slam into my back, but I heard them bounce off the stone next to us.

  Bolverk’s health was down to 80%, and I used Minor Heal to bring him up to 95%. The man hadn’t made much progress against the two shield carrying golems, but he was keeping them engaged and his health hadn’t really fallen in a minute of combat. He was doing a great job tanking them.

  One of the caster golems appeared to instantly die, and the second disintegrated a moment after. The axe carrying golems raised their large blades to slam into Cornalic, but both of their attacks just passed through the illusion of my friend, and then each of their health bars dropped as if they were red water draining from a sieve.

  Cornalic ran across the width of the room toward the spear throwers, but the two-headed boss golem swung his four arms through the air as if he was handling a giant baseball hat. A spray of yellow energy laced out of his swinging movements like a crescent wave and the magic raced across the room to strike the half-orc. His mirror image was cut in twain as soon as the arch of magic reached it, and I used Minor Heal on him almost as soon as he was hit.

  My big green friend screamed, and I hit him with another Minor Heal when his life continued to drop. Then I used another and a fourth as his health bar continued to drop down below 50%.

  But his health kept dropping, I felt like an elephant was standing on my chest, and my friend was twisting on the ground.

  The spear throwing golems seemed to notice the half-orc was down, and they pivoted to throw their readied weapons at him.

  I knew that the next heal would knock me out, and while I doubted I had an equal amount of mana fatigue with Guardian of Fortune, I felt as if I was holding my breath. I just couldn’t get any more air in, and I didn’t want to risk falling unconscious.

  So it was time to pull out the big ass healing guns.