Veil Online - Book 1 (a LitRPG MMORPG Adventure Series)

by John Cressman

  Lucy Furr casts fireball.

  A small glowing sphere appeared at her fingertip and then shot towards the group of brigands near the barracks. When it came in contact with the first brigand, the sphere detonated, and the area exploded in a huge fireball. System messages scrolled across his screen as every brigand in the blast range was damaged but none of them had died.

  The brigands made a collective decision not to stand around and become targets for more fireballs and charged his group.

  Dharci squealed again, trying to make herself even smaller behind Krogan.

  The dwarf looked back at her. “It’s okay Dharci. Just cast the buffs.”

  “Yes,” snapped the demoness. “Get that fluffy tail in gear and start doing your job or I’ll be eating rabbit stew tonight!”

  Both Krogan and Dharci’s faces went red, but for different reasons. Krogan turned his head towards the warlock and opened his mouth to say something but Lucy had already begun casting another spell. Dharci seemed to snap out of it as well and began casting protective spells on the group, increasing their armor, attack, damage and skill bonuses.

  A second fireball went off at the front of the group of charging brigands, followed by more system messages. More damage messages scrolled by, but he didn’t have time to read them. Jace did a quick count. There were twenty brigands less than fifteen feet from them and a few more were still coming out of the barracks and mess hall.

  As the motley crew of bandits got within five feet, Krogan let loose a mighty shout. “Come get some!”

  Krogan Strongdrink uses Godly Taunt.

  The paladin had used his Taunt ability and every bandit in range snapped their attention to the dwarf. They’d now be compelled to attack him until the duration of his ability wore off. Even as Jace watched, they were surrounding him, trying to hack him to pieces.

  “Okay fang-boy,” grunted the dwarf as he took hit after hit from the bandits surrounding him. “You and demon wench start earning your keep! Dharci, keep the healing coming.”

  Even as the dwarf finished his sentence, the golden glow of healing surrounded him, healing the dwarf up to full health.

  Jace wasted no time and began dancing among the bandits who were now engrossed in attacking the dwarf. With their backs to him, they made perfect targets for his backstab ability and he took full advantage of the situation. At the same time, bolts of fire began to strike men around him as Lucy cast Flame Bolt spells.

  Within a few minutes, they had decimated the bandits in the courtyard. As the last one slid off his dagger, the group took a collective sigh of relief.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” squeaked Dharci.

  “Don’t jinx…” Lucy started to say but the sound of a door slamming open drowned out her words.

  “You dare attack me in my own keep!” bellowed the burly human who had just emerged from the central building.

  The man was tall and heavily muscled. His tanned face was pockmarked, and he wore a patch over his left eye. He was garbed in a studded leather jerkin over a green tunic with tan leather pants and high leather boots. From each hip hung battle axes.

  Jace examined the man in his heads-up display (HUD) utilizing his monster lore skill.

  Ulric Blackcoat

  Level 99 Human Brigand

  Legendary

  Jace read the description and it was exactly what he had expected. Legendary bosses were the greater sort that dropped the best loot a small group like his could acquire. To get better loot, you had to raid mythical or fabled bosses with a group of 24, which he’d be able to do once he got his sash.

  “My lieutenants and I will make short work of you!” Ulric finished and stepped out of the way to allow a brunette woman in a forest green robe and a shorter man with a shaved head wearing chain mail and carrying a mace and shield. Jace didn’t even have to look at them to realize one was a caster and the other a healer.

  “Lieutenants?” growled the dwarf. “You didn’t say anything about adds!”

  “What the hell Mordred?!” snarled Lucy.

  “There was no mention of them!” Jace said defensively. “From any of the villages they attacked!”

  This made things much more complicated. The boss alone would have been a challenge. But with the support of a healer and a caster, it just got much more difficult.

  “We can do this,” Jace told his group. “Take down the healer first, then the mage and then we’ll focus on the boss.”

  His group may have been angry with him, but they were experienced players and they got to work. But he had no doubt that once this was over, they’d have words with him.

  Ulric charged forward towards Jace since he was the closest but as soon as he was in range, Krogan called out a Taunt and the boss ran by him straight towards the dwarf. The boss chopped down with both axes and the paladin barely got his shield up in time to deflect them.

  Instinctively, Jace took the opportunity to backstab the boss but no sooner had he removed the daggers than golden light surrounded the boss and the wounds healed. He hated healers when they weren’t on his side!

  Jace spun and started to rush the healer but stumbled back as a fiery bolt struck him in the chest.

  Jaiyana Stormdragon burns YOU with Flame Bolt for 359 fire damage.

  Jace staggered back, glad his sensory feedback was set at 15% of normal otherwise he would have felt that blast as if it were real. It still stung but he ignored the stinging sensation and activated his Shadow Stalk ability and disappeared.

  He dodged to the left and then ran forward towards the healer. The man was caught in the chest by a flaming bolt from Lucy. He started casting a spell to heal himself and Jace rolled between the two lieutenants and came behind the healer. He immediately stabbed both his daggers into the man’s back.

  You backstab Gerett Fistspirit for 1,111 damage.

  You backstab Gerett Fistspirit for 1,103 damage.

  While the damage would have easily brought down a normal bandit, these were mini-bosses and had 10 times the normal health and mana. As it was, it did ruin his spell.

  Gerett staggered forward, turning to get his shield up and face his unseen attacker. Another flame arrow slammed into the bandit healer’s back just as Jace turned visible.

  Jaiyana saw him and began casting a spell at the same time Gerett began casting his own spell.

  Using double mana, Jace activated Paralyzing Strike for each hand and struck out at both Gerett and Jaiyana.

  You pierce Gerett Fistspirit with Paralyzing Strike for 111 damage.

  Gerett Fistspirit is paralyzed for 10 seconds.

  You pierce Jaiyana Stormdragon with Paralyzing Strike for 110 damage.

  Jaiyana Stormdragon is paralyzed for 10 seconds.

  With both the mini-bosses paralyzed, Jace rolled between them once more and came up behind Gerett. He stabbed his daggers into the healer over and over again as many times as he could for the extra backstab damage before the paralyzation ran out. Just as the last second of paralyzation ticked off, Jace saw the message he was looking for.

  You backstab Gerett Fistspirit for 1,101 damage.

  Gerett Fistspirit dies.

  You gain 4500 experience.

  The bandit healer collapsed in a lifeless heap as Jaiyana began casting another spell. Jace didn’t have enough time to interrupt her and was suddenly flying backwards across the courtyard.

  Jaiyana Stormdragon hits YOU with Tornado Blast for 679 damage.

  YOU are stunned for 10 seconds.

  Slamming into the wall, Jace felt the air explode from his lungs. His vision clouded and he saw stars even as he slid to the ground.

  Even though his body was stunned, Jace could still do mental activity. He activated his Slippery Grasp ability to break the stun. He saw his mana drain and suddenly he could move. Retrieving his daggers from where they had fallen, he sprinted at the brigand spellcaster.

  She saw him coming and began casting a spell. He spared a glance at his health and saw he only had 12 h
ealth left. If it weren’t for the boost from his armor and the buffs Dharci had cast earlier, he’d be dead. He couldn’t let the mage land another spell on him.

  He looked at his mana and stamina. Both were almost gone. Jace didn’t have enough for another Shadow Stalk nor one of his spell dodging abilities. He barely had enough stamina for a few attacks. His only chance was his racial ability, Form of Bats. It cost no mana but was only usable once a day. He had no choice if he wanted to live. He activated the ability.

  You have activated Form of Bats.

  You are immune to direct damage effects for 30 seconds.

  You now possess the characteristics of a Medium Bat Swarm.

  Cooldown timer: 23:59:59

  A Flame Bolt hurled towards him but right before it hit, his body burst apart into a swarm of dozens of bats. The bolt struck one the bats and vaporized it, but he took no damage. He swarmed around Jaiyana, using the bat swarm confusion ability. As long as he swarmed around her, she couldn’t take any actions that took concentration - like spellcasting.

  Luckily, Lucy saw the opportunity and cast Flame Bolt after Flame Bolt until Jaiyana finally died. As she did, Jace ended the ability and returned to his humanoid body. Jace breathed a sigh of relief that he managed to stay alive when a frantic voice came over their link.

  “I’m almost out of mana!” Dharci squealed hysterically. “Help him! Help him!”

  Chapter 3

  Jace could see that the dwarf had taken a beating from the boss. His armor and shield were dented, and blood flowed from several cuts that hadn’t been healed completely. Krogan wore a mask of concentration on his face as he desperately tried to parry and duck Ulric’s deadly blows. If the dwarf went down, they would fail.

  Reaching into a pouch at his waist, Jace retrieved the one potion he hadn’t wanted to use. It was an incandescent potion. Incandescent potions were rare and expensive because they restored mana, health and stamina. It would cost him every penny he’d make from his share of the loot today to replace it. But he had no choice. He popped the stopper and gulped down the contents.

  You use Supreme Incandescent Potion.

  Supreme Incandescent Potion restores 1000 health.

  Supreme Incandescent Potion restores 1000 stamina.

  Supreme Incandescent Potion restores 1000 mana.

  The potion burned as it went down his throat, but he instantly felt better as new energy surged throughout his body. His stamina and mana were back at maximum and his health was nearly there.

  With his newly restored attributes, he rushed at Ulric’s back and began backstabbing the boss. To his side, Lucy was doing the same. She was hurling firebolts as fast as she could cast, and their combined attacks were dropping the boss’s health steadily.

  The boss continued to hammer the dwarf with relentless blows from his axe and after every few blows, the golden glow of healing would surround the dwarf as Dharci cast her healing magic on him.

  “Dharci, how are you doing on mana?” Jace asked the rabbit-kin over their link.

  “Down to 25% and I’m out of potions,” she responded. “I only brought 3 potions with me. I thought that would be enough.”

  Jace was angry with himself. The potions she had brought would have been enough if they’d only had Ulric to contend with and not the two mini-bosses. He eased off his backstabs to check his inventory. He had one mana potion. Damn. This was going to be an expensive fight.

  “I’m bringing one back to you,” he told her.

  Just then, Ulric’s health hit 75% and the boss stopped hitting Korgan and crossed his axes in front of his chest and twisted his body slightly. Jace had seen this before. It was a special attack called a Whirlwind Attack.

  “Special attack! Back up! Back up!” he shouted over their link as he backpedaled to get out of range. To their credit, his group listened and did as he said. They all moved back, and it saved their lives.

  Ulric Blackcoat uses Whirlwind Attack.

  The boss jumped into the air and began spinning around in a circle. As he did, he extended his arms and let go of axes. The axes flew a good three feet from him, still attached to his wrists by leather cords. This extended his range by a good six feet. He spun around like a deadly top with his axes whistling through the air.

  Luckily, all of his group were out of range and Jace took the opportunity to rush around the spinning brigand of death and hand Dharci a potion. She took it gratefully and hurriedly drank it down.

  “Do you have any mana potions you could give Dharci?” Jace asked Lucy as he made his way back to his previous spot.

  The demoness gave him a disdainful look. “I have one, but she’ll need to pay me back for it.”

  Frustrated, Jace shook his head. “Just give it to her. If she can’t pay you, I will.”

  The boss stopped spinning and yanked the axes back into his hands. Krogan shouted his Taunt and Ulric resumed his attacks on the dwarf.

  Jace resumed his own attacks and was joined by Lucy after she gave Dharci one of her potions. “That’s 10,000 gold vamp-boy.”

  “Sure,” Jace said in between backstabs. “Once we kill this guy.”

  Once again, the boss’s health bar began to decline until it hit the 50% mark. Jace knew he’d probably do another special attack at 50% but he wasn’t prepared for what happened.

  Ulric Blackcoat goes Berserk.

  Suddenly Ulric let loose a primal scream and seemed to grow in size. He stopped attacking the dwarf and looked from group member to group member before settling his gaze on Lucy. He began stalking towards her, slashing the air in front of him with his axes.

  “Come get some!” shouted the dwarf, trying to draw the boss back with his Taunt.

  “Help!” she screamed as the boss got closer. “Get him away from me dwarf!”

  “I’m trying!” Krogan yelled back to her. He used another Taunt. “Come get some!”

  Ulric reached the warlock and began to hack her with a frenzy. Unlike the dwarf, she had no armor to protect her. After only two hits, she collapsed to the ground dead.

  Lucy Furr has died.

  “Dammit!” Jace swore as he saw the warlock’s dead body. “Dharci, can you raise her?”

  Ulric Blackcoat is no longer Berserk.

  The boss was turning toward Jace when its Beserk ability must have run out. Jace cursed himself for not timing it. These abilities might be triggered by low health, but they generally only lasted a certain duration. In the excitement, he’d neglected to time it.

  “Uh,” the healer sounded dubious. “I could, but I don’t think I’d have enough mana for the rest of the fight.”

  He knew the warlock would hate him, but he made the call. “Leave her until the end.”

  Jace resumed his attacks on the boss, slowly getting him down towards 25%. As soon as Ulric’s health reached 25%, he stopped and prepared to do another Whirlwind Attack.

  “Whirlwind!” he shouted over the link. “Back up!”

  Dharci and Krogan did so and the three of them waited out of range for the boss to finish and then resumed his normal attacks.

  Jace resumed his backstabs until the boss reached 15%. As soon as Ulric’s health dipped below 15%, Jace used the last of his mana to activate Shadow Stalk and then his special once a day class ability, Assassinate.

  Assassinate could only be used on targets at less than 15% health and only from stealth. If both the conditions were met, it killed the target instantly. Like his race ability, it used no mana, but could only be used once per day.

  Activating the special ability, Jace drove his dagger in the brigand’s back, between his ribs and into his heart.

  You have activated Assassinate.

  Ulric Blackcoat has been assassinated by Mordred Blacklock.

  Ulric Blackcoat dies.

  You gain 9000 experience.

  Cooldown timer: 23:59:59

  “Ha!” bellowed the paladin. “Good job pointy-teeth!”

  “Thank god that’s over,” squeaked Dharci
.

  “Can you raise Lucy?” Jace asked the healer.

  Dharci checked her mana level. “Yes, barely!”

  The rabbit-kin cast Raise Dead, a spell that could raise a recently fallen companion, but could only be cast outside of combat. It’s sister spell, resurrection did the same thing but could be cast during combat. It also cost four times as much mana. “Immanis suscitavit mortuis!”

  The demoness’ body was bathed in golden light as her body was healed and life was restored to it. After only a second, she sucked in air and her eyes popped open. “You son of bitch!”

  The half-demoness got unsteadily to her feet and turned to Jace. “What the hell? Waiting until after the combat to raise me?”

  Even though Lucy was addressing Jace, Dharci shrank back behind Krogan.

  “I made the call to save the group,” Jace told her defensively. “If we’d raised you during the fight, Dharci wouldn’t have had enough mana to keep Krogan up. And then we’d all be dead.”

  The demoness continued to seethe and glare at Jace until Krogan cleared his throat. “If you two are going to glare at each other all day, Dharci and I will just take our share of the loot and leave.”

  “Fine,” the demoness snapped, turning away from Jace. “Let’s just get our loot and get out of here.”

  The four of them walked over to Ulric’s body. The first thing to divide was always the money. In this case, since he was a high level boss, it was probably in the form of gems. Jace grabbed the money pouch from the bandit’s belt. Opening it, he dumped the contents into his hand.

  In his hand he now held a dozen sparkling gemstones, all worth at least 20,000 gold each. He used his Appraise skill and got the exact values, then divided them as equally as possible, taking the lowest portion for himself to avoid arguments.

  When no one argued with their cut of the money, he moved on to the items. The first item was the slightly glowing weapon on the ground next to the leader’s body. His Appraise skill showed it as the Axe of the Burning Sun. Looking at the stats, Jace imagined Mordred’s eyes were bulging.