Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2)

by Stephen Roark

  “Hey, at least there’s no more permadeath!” Gehman said, trying to be cheery. “But, uh…I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to help out here.”

  I saw the disappointment on his face, but he was right. This boss was three times his level and would definitely one-shot him if he got anywhere near him.

  “Hang back then, champ,” Lambert teased. “Let the big boys do the heavy lifting.”

  “Shut up, Lambert,” I snapped, suddenly feeling protective of my friend. “The last thing we need right now is some cocky dickhead running his mouth.”

  Whoa, I thought. There’s the old D!

  Lambert raised his eyebrows at me, obviously taken aback, but he didn’t say any more. I saw Lock doing his best to hide his smile and got the feeling that he’d probably had to say something similar to the guy before.

  “So, we take out the trash mobs,” Sabotenda said, stepping up to my side. “Then what? We all just rush the guy? Or should we spread out into two groups and flank him?”

  “Attacking from behind would be good,” Kodiak suggested. “If Jane and I could get behind him, we both have attacks that do more damage.”

  “Yeah, but how are you going to do that?” Curafin asked. “This is wide open ground, and if we draw aggro, he’ll just smash us to pieces.”

  “I know how,” I smiled, turning to Sabotenda. “We’ll use the portals. Kodiak and me. Everyone rushes the boss, then at the last second, you portal us behind him. We hit him hard and I draw aggro. I’ll be able to take the most hits so you guys can unload on him when he turns to me.”

  “That actually might work…” Sabotenda pondered.

  “Curafin, you’ll have to Menace his ass before we strike,” I told him. “Or it’ll be a waste of my cooldowns.”

  “No problem.” Curafin nodded.

  Lightning flashed again overhead, this time illuminating more of the boss, enough that I was able to inspect him.

  Nameless Archer—Level 176.

  “He’s level 176,” I groaned. “Not 175.”

  “I said 176!” Gwin protested.

  “All right, whatever,” I replied, readying myself. “Let’s take out the trash, whoop this guy’s ass and head back to Cara. Everyone ready?”

  The group all nodded and we started up the slope towards the boss, picking off Festering Archers and Knights as we went. We’d become efficient at it and it was only a few minutes before the field was clear. We marched up the incline and stopped a safe distance from the enormous boss.

  He was like a sickly hunchbacked giant, clad in ragged studded leather armor that hung from him like it had been arbitrarily draped over his sickly body. Enormous veins protruded from his pale thin skin that was tightly wrapped over massive muscles. Half of his helm was missing, as though something had taken a bite out of it, and his mouth hung open like his jaw was broken. Each footstep shook the ground. He must have been at least 40 feet tall, and in his monstrous hands was the sickest looking bow I’d ever seen.

  “All right, guys.” I grinned. “Let’s do this. Curafin, hit him.”

  “Roger that.”

  We all dashed forward as Curafin cast Menace. The black cage twisted and collapsed into the Nameless Archer and he wheeled around towards us. We were gaining on him fast, and I called out to Sabotenda.

  “Now!”

  He raised his halberd to cast, but before he could, the boss let out a bellow that created a shockwave that swept across the ground and smashed into our ankles, whipping us off our feet and slamming us down on the rancid stone.

  “Gah!” Sabotenda cried out. “What the Hell was that?”

  “Some kind of shockwave,” Curafin groaned.

  The pain from the fall rippled through my back as I got to my feet. I looked up just in time to see the Nameless Archer draw his enormous bow back and take aim. But he wasn’t aiming at me. He wasn’t aiming at any of us—he was aiming beyond us. I whirled around and shouted, “Gehman, look out!”

  Gehman’s eyes went wide as the giant arrow streaked towards him like a heat seeking missile. He didn’t even have a chance to move before it slammed into him, tearing up the ground with him. His lifeless body was flung into the air and spun three times before crashing down again.

  “Shit!” I cursed, trying to remind myself that this time, Gehman wasn’t actually dead, but was respawning back at the Cara Bindstone.

  Behind me, Lock fired an Acid Bolt at the boss, and I whipped around in time to see it splash against his legs, dealing a moderate amount of damage. The Nameless Archer roared and drew his bow back and took aim—at us this time.

  “Scatter!” Lambert shouted as the boss fired.

  The arrow seemed to travel faster than light and absolutely obliterated the ground where we’d just been standing as we hurled ourselves out of the way.

  “He’s too strong!” Gwin shouted. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

  “No!” I roared. “I need that bow! Sabotenda, do it!”

  I heard the sound of Sabotenda’s portal spell go off behind me and watched as a flat black sphere appeared on the ground in front of me. He cast again, and another emerged behind the boss.

  “Kodiak!” I shouted. “Let’s go!”

  I sprinted for the portal as the enormous archer took aim, and leapt into the blackness without hesitation. Instantly, I was thrown up into the air behind the giant, not inches from his legs. Behind me, Kodiak swept up out of the ground as Sabotenda’s portal closed behind him. He landed beside me and wasted no time going in for the attack.

  I activated Rush and launched right into an Ambush as Kodiak slammed his dagger home with a Backstab. I unleashed my cooldowns before the boss even had a chance to turn around. His arrows may have been fast, but he was slow, and by the time he had spun around to face us, we’d managed to slash away a good amount of his health. A lot actually—more than I’d expected. In fact, he was approaching half HP.

  “Hell yeah!” Sabotenda shouted from across the plain.

  Another one of Lock’s acid spells spat through the air to slam into the Nameless Archer’s back, and I quickly ducked out of the way as he slammed down his massive fist in an attempt to crush me.

  “Watch it!” Gwin shouted, firing arrows as fast as he could.

  We’re actually doing it! I thought, watching the boss’ health plummet.

  I leapt in and activated Eye Gouge, praying the stun would land, but of course it didn’t. Even if I was the highest level of the group, this guy was still 175 and able to resist.

  He countered with an ability of his own, some kind of enhanced speed attack, whipping his bow in a horizontal arc towards me. I tried to get out of the way, but there just wasn’t any time.

  The attack slammed into my chest and slammed me down hard, obliterating more than half my health. I barely managed to roll out of the way to avoid his foot slamming down at me.

  I staggered to my feet as the familiar tingling of a healing spell washed over me.

  Thank God we met Curafin, I thought, spinning around and unleashing with my daggers on the giant archer.

  My heart leapt in my chest as his health fell beyond 25 percent.

  “We’ve got this, boys!” I screamed, activating Mutilate and following up with Blade Flurry. His health kept dropping as he roared with anger, and I felt my heart leap in my chest, but just as his bar hit critical, something terrible happened.

  27

  The Archer’s Secret

  The Nameless Archer roared again, releasing a second shock wave that made the first one look like child’s play. Not only did it sweep all of us off our feet, but it knocked us all down to critical HP.

  I hit hard and skidded to a halt, sharp rocks tearing into my back and sides. I gasped and struggled to my feet, just praying Curafin had his wand at the ready for a heal spell, but as I looked across the field at him, through the giant’s enormous legs, I saw him doubled over on the ground in pain.

  “Curafin!” I shouted.

  The ground s
hook and I looked up at the Nameless Archer as his entire body began to glow red. He raised both of his arms above his head like a crazed fan at a sporting match, and as he did, the ground began to shake. I staggered back as the stone began to shift, causing pebbles and stones to slough off and run down the slope away from us. Then, in front of me, a hand emerged from the ground.

  A sickly hand, undead and putrid red like the slime we’d been careful to avoid as we crossed the plains. It grabbed at me, snatching me by the foot. I kicked it off and leapt back, only to be greeted by more hands clawing their way to the surface behind me.

  “What is this!?” Kodiak shouted, scrambling out of the way of the undead bodies emerging from the ground.

  “He’s summoning them!” Lock shouted.

  And then I realized why the fight had been so easy up until now. The whole thing had been a trick. The Nameless Archer had been hiding a secret in order to lure in overconfident adventurers. They’d test him out, think he was weak, get sucked into a fight with him and then fall victim to his trap—just as we’d done.

  Curafin was struggling to his feet, caught by two of the hands as more Festering Knights pulled themselves from the ground. I was free, at least for the moment, and managed to get a single use from my Health Kit and get myself to around 75 percent HP. Kodiak was fumbling around with his, but I looked over at him just as the Nameless Archer raised his bow and fired a shot.

  It was point blank range, but that didn’t matter. Kodiak’s health was critical, like everyone else’s, and the arrow killed him with ease. His body was flung back and slammed down like a ragdoll physics experiment.

  “Kodiak’s down!” I roared as the undead broke the surface and began to swarm us. They looked like the Festering Knights we’d faced earlier, but were much taller and obviously higher level. Curafin was on his feet, aiming a healing spell at Sabotenda, who was doing his best to fight off three of them as they tried to swarm him down. But before Curafin could get the spell off, one of them drove a sword into his back. His health vanished and he collapsed to the ground.

  “Curafin!” I screamed. It was only Lock, Sabotenda and me left standing, and Sabotenda was on his last legs, and without a healer, none of us were going to last long.

  Strong hands gripped my back and I spun around and activated Blade Flurry, using the AoE damage to break a hole in the line of attackers advancing on me. I managed to kill one of them, but they just kept coming. Without a miracle, we were all going to die.

  “Get—get them off me!” Sabotenda shouted.

  “Use your portals!” I called out in desperation as Lock went down to a group of five Festering Knights.

  Sabotenda aimed his halberd and managed to cast the first portal, but before he could get the second one off, his attackers knocked him off his feet. I heard the second portal appear somewhere, but I couldn’t tell where. But if Sabotenda went down, I’d be the only one standing. I had to save him.

  The Nameless Archer pulled back his bow to fire, but I was already sprinting forward through his legs towards my fallen group member. His health was barely visible, and I doubted there was anything I could do for him, but I had to try.

  Slashing at the mobs in front of me, I cut a path towards him, but just as I was about to reach him, an arrow slammed into his chest and finished him off.

  “No!” I shouted, feeling the last bit of hope I had inside me vanish as the life disappeared from his eyes and his body went limp.

  I kept running. There was nothing else to do. I had a swarm of snarling monsters behind me, and a wall of them in front of me. All I wanted to do was die somewhere out of the range of the Nameless Archer, so that when we all came back to loot our bodies, I wouldn’t trigger him.

  But that’s when I saw it—Sabotenda’s portal, swirling like a tiny black hole in front of me. Without hesitation, I threw myself into it without even knowing where it would lead.

  I slammed into something hard and felt myself falling forward. I reached out to grab ahold of something, and felt something soft beneath my hand. I gripped it tight and managed to right myself. Only then did I realize where I was.

  “Holy shit…”

  I was on top of the Nameless Archer. Sabotenda’s portal had landed on his right shoulder and I was standing there, safe for the moment, from the army beneath me.

  The giant boss roared, obviously aware of my presence, and tried to swat me off like a fly, but his body was just too enormous and he wasn’t able to reach me, like those big bodybuilders in the gym who are so swole they can’t even scratch their own back.

  “Haha, sucker!” I cried out, leaping into the air and slamming my blades down into his neck. Ambush actually worked, as I guess the game considered me on top of him. Not only did the blow deal 400 percent normal damage, but the strike was also a critical hit. At least 75 percent of the Nameless Archer’s remaining health vanished.

  “I’ve got you now!” I bellowed, a rush of energy spurring me on as I unloaded on the tricky little bastard. I could just taste that bow he was going to drop, and the thought of ditching the obnoxious crossbow and getting back into my D life again was all the hope I needed to finish him off.

  He bellowed again, trying to knock me off with his shockwave, but it was hopeless. No one had ever anticipated a player ending up on top of such a tall boss, but through a complete accident, I’d ended up there.

  Only a sliver of his health remained, and I wasted no time hitting him with a Mutilate and finishing him off.

  The Nameless Archer let out a final death rattle as his health vanished, and he exploded into thin air.

  28

  Solo Exploration

  Ding!

  I leveled up as I fell towards the ground through the flames and smoke he left behind, and looked down to see his entire Festering Army go down too. I hit the ground and rolled, taking minor damage, and looked up just in time to see his bow falling through the air towards me, now scaled down to player size.

  I snatched it with one hand and held it above my head triumphantly, going absolutely goo goo eyed over it. It was a deep brown with a recurve, and several black stripes every few inches. The handle was indented into the thick wood and fit perfectly under my hand. Despite not having a normal arrow to nock, I pulled back the string and felt the enormous power it had. Grinning like a child on Christmas morning, I inspected it.

  Compound Bow of the Nameless Archer—Damage modifier 150%.

  “Damn!” I said out loud. “One hundred fifty!?”

  Back in Carrethen, 113% had been the highest modifier available. Obviously in the Dark World, things had changed. Beneath it was more.

  Bonus to Melee Defense +7%.

  “That’s handy,” I said with a smile. I couldn’t wait to head back to Cara for some arrows, but when I glanced around me at the fallen Festering Army, my jaw almost fell off. There was so much loot I didn’t think I’d have room in my inventory to carry it all. Pareals, chipped swords and longbows, leather armor and Bone Dust, which was probably an ingredient for alchemy or something, but I wasn’t sure.

  I picked up as many Pareals as I could, but I’d need the boys to help me with the rest—I just didn’t have the pack space. Thankfully, we’d all bound at Cara before coming out here, which meant everyone was back there now, one death on the path to Sunken. It wasn’t too long of a walk back, but unless they had all lost their minds, they were on their way back to me, so I decided to just wait.

  I assigned my experience, raising my Coordination 5 points to 315 and my Bow to 414. I was also able to gain 5 HP. The cost of skills and attributes went up as you progressed, costing more each time. I wondered how Wintermute’s backup had affected progression, because at this rate, assigning experience in another 20 levels would barely cover a single point in a skill.

  The fields were clear, at least for now. The Festering Archers and Knights had yet to respawn, so while I waited for my group to make their way back to their bodies, I had a look around.

  Facing the d
irection of Cara, the Festering Plains stretched out on my left as far as I could see before sloping down into a foggy valley. To my right, the flat ground grew more and more rocky and I could see clusters of Festering Knights and Archers wandering about. I wasn’t in the mood for any more of them, and at my level they wouldn’t earn any real experience anyway, so I turned around and looked beyond the ridge where the Nameless Archer had fallen.

  The Festering continued down the slope, but sickly low vegetation cropped up here and there, like fungal spores or mold, dark crimson flecked with rotten greens. A few Festering Knights meandered around, but it was mostly clear, and there appeared to be some large holes in the ground that could possibly lead down into some caves. I liked caves, so I headed down the hill to do some exploring.

  One of the undead knights tried to mess with me, but I cut him down quickly without even wasting my cooldowns. I used Ambush on an archer before he could turn to me and obliterated him with another two strikes. They were mostly low level, in their high 60s, which didn’t mean much to me.

  If only I had arrows! I thought as I pressed on. I couldn’t even imagine the amount of damage I’d be doing with the Nameless Archer’s bow. One-shotting for sure.

  It felt strange to be on my own. I hadn’t been doing any solo exploration or adventuring since arriving in Carrethen with Jack. So, for the first time since beta, I was on my own. In a way it was nice to not have to answer to anyone or worry about them being lower level than me, but at the same time, I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering.

  Cavey, Xavier, Vayde, Baltos…Jack. Where were they? Scattered across the Dark World like a handful of twigs? Clustered together in Sheol, dying over and over, sinking further and further away from their memories and selves? Or were they lucky Unchained and grouped up like the Red Devils?