It looked… human but stood at least twelve-feet tall and was wrapped in a set of black, icy plate mail that was so dark it barely reflected any moonlight. Its helm looked as though it had been forged from a single piece of metal, and had only two narrow slits for its eyes, which were blood-red and filled with evil. In its hands, was a bow the size of a catapult.
Hollowed Warrior—Level 28.
“Please, help me!” the young man screamed, waving his hands at us as the Hollowed Warrior raised its bow for another shot.
“Get down!” I shouted at him as his enormous attacker fired. The young man listened and hurled himself to the ground as the arrow streaked through the air above his head and embedded itself in a tree behind me.
“Come on, guys!” I shouted to my party, kicking off the ground and sprinting towards the massive knight.
I heard Vayde cast behind me and expected to see another one of his Shockwaves booming through the air beside me, but instead, a streak of flames crackled through the air and struck the Hollow Knight in the chest. The flames enveloped him and stuck, and I watched as his HP began to fall.
He wasn’t armed beside the bow, which gave me an opportunity to attack. I lunged in with Warrior’s Charge as D’s arrows struck the knight, and I used the momentum to lead into a Broad Strike. My blow hit the knight just above the knees. He was almost twice as tall as me, but the strike did significant damage.
I was anticipating some sort of reply attack and leapt back just as his fist came crashing down not inches from me, shattering the frozen ground in front of me.
I looked up at the crimson eyes, barely visible through the tiny slits in the pitch-black suit of armor and raised my sword as he swung again. I tried to deflect his attack, but he was strong, and his fist slammed into me with full force and sent me tumbling over backwards.
“Gah!”
The frozen ground was hard, and as I crashed down, I lost my grip on my sword, which clattered away across the ice. The blow and the impact had taken me down almost to half health, and I quickly reached for a health potion, but before I could drink it, the Hollow Warrior swung again.
I barely had time to scramble out of the way before his fist made a crater in the ground where I’d been laying. Tripping all over myself, I raced towards my sword, snatched it up and turned to face him.
Another one of Vayde’s fireballs struck him, followed by one of D’s arrows. It registered a critical hit and a large chunk of his health drained away.
“Nice, D!” Vayde shouted.
“Jack!” D cried out. “Use your Flame Strike! He’s vulnerable to fire!”
“Got it!” I called back, raising my sword.
But the warrior turned slowly, almost too slowly, in a way that made me start to panic. Unusual moves like that from a monster usually meant something bad was coming—something you haven’t seen yet.
Another one of Vayde’s fireballs hit him, but the Hollow Warrior’s attention was completely on D. I expected him to raise his bow, fire another arrow, but when I saw the way his foot was positioned, I understood.
“D, get out of the way!”
But it was too late. The Hollow Warrior charged.
It was like my Warrior’s Charge skill, only multiplied by ten. Something that big shouldn’t be able to move that fast, but he did. It was like light speed. He shot across the frozen ground and slammed into D with a force that knocked him off his feet and high into the air.
“D!” Vayde shouted. D’s body arced through the air, legs and arms flailing, trying to find something to grab onto. His health was critical. If he hit the ground, he’d be done for.
“Vayde!” I screamed. “Heal him!”
“Way ahead of you,” Vayde replied, leveling his wand at D. Just as D began to plummet back towards the ground, Vayde’s healing spell enveloped him. Blue and silver wisps swirled around his body. It was a lower level spell, one that took less time to cast, but wasn’t enough to restore him completely. But he didn’t need that, he just needed enough to stay alive.
D hit the ground and survived—barely. Only a tiny sliver of health remained. One more hit from anything and he was a goner. He fumbled around for a Health Potion, but Vayde was already casting a higher level spell to get him to full health. I turned back and saw the man we were trying to save leap towards the enormous warrior.
“Yaaaah!” he roared. It still didn’t look like he had any weapons.
He braced himself like a boxer and swung out with a fist, and it was then that I understood. He was an Unarmed Combat character, and on his fists, were two Brass Cestuses, leather gloves, with a large curved piece of metal protruding from them. He’d obviously put a lot of points into quickness and started raining down blows on the Hollow Warrior with blinding speed.
Each blow itself didn’t do much damage, but he was striking so fast that the damage was really starting to add up. With the Warrior’s back turned, he was also landing quite a few critical hits. For a brief moment, I forgave him for getting us into the battle in the first place.
What is he doing!? I thought as I leapt at the Hollow Warrior, swinging my sword at its back. The blow hit hard, and I twisted my sword in my hand and struck again, this time with the serrated edge.
The blow scored a critical hit, and chirped, letting me know the Bleeding Wound debuff had landed. The Hollow Warrior was below half as another one of Vayde’s fireballs hit him.
The Hollow Warrior turned towards him, and I swung out, slamming my blade into his back. D’s arrows pelted down on him as another Fireball bashed into him. He roared with anger as his HP dropped to critical.
“Execute,” I said with a grin, activating the skill.
My sword chirped as I scored a critical hit and I watched as the last of his remaining health was stripped away.
“Got him, boys!” the man beside me shouted as the Hollow Knight cried out a final death rattle before exploding out of existence.
“Ding!” Vayde and D both cried out in unison.
I turned around to see them both grinning ear to ear. D was 18 and Vayde was 17, and I was well on my way to 22. But that wasn’t what was on my mind. What was on my mind, was the stranger whose life we’d just saved.
“Yeah, baby!” he shouted, leaping into the air with a fist over his head. He turned to me with a huge grin on his face. “Thank you, guys! Thanks so much! I would have been toast if that thing had caught up with me! I can’t wait to see what he dropped!”
“Whoa, wait a second,” D interrupted, racing up beside us to the pile of loot on the ground. “We killed him. No way you’re looting him.”
“What!?” the man gasped.
“As you said, you’d be toast if that thing caught up with you,” D continued. “We’re taking this loot. You can go kill one on your own and keep whatever it drops.”
The man contemplated his choices: grab as much as he could and then run for it or fight us for it. It didn’t take him long to realize neither decision was practical.
“This isn’t fair!” he protested.
“Let’s all calm down here for a second,” I said, trying to calm everyone down. “What’s your name?”
He looked down at the ground and I could see by the look on his face that he was embarrassed. And when I inspected him, I understood why.
Mister Glorious—level 17
“Mr. Glorious?” D roared with laughter. “Oh my God, what?”
“Hey!” he protested.
“How cute,” Vayde joked, extending a hand. “I’m Vayde. Nice to meet you.”
D was practically bowled over with laughter. “Is there something else we can call you?” I asked. “Something… shorter?”
“Baltos,” he replied. “That’s the name I usually use in most games.”
“What does it matter what we call him?” D asked. “It’s not like we’re ever going to see him again.”
“What!?” Baltos protested. “Come on! We’re like—partners now! Don’t you guys want a sick Unarmed Combat w
arrior in your group!?”
With that, Baltos broke out into some sort of showmanship routine, displaying his fighting abilities, punching the air and showing off like he was a boxer getting ready for a championship bout. D’s jaw dropped so far it almost hit the ground.
Vayde covered his mouth to stifle a laugh as Baltos finished off his display with a leaping uppercut. He landed and smirked as if to say, “How about that!?”
“Yes,” D replied. “We would want a sick Unarmed Combat warrior in our group. Do you know one?”
“Hey!” Baltos yelled. “Who shit in your cereal?”
“What!?” D roared, taking a step forward. His voice was so loud and unexpected that it actually caused me to jump. He was glaring at Baltos intently, and for a second, I almost thought he was going to attack him. “Did you—did you just quote Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!?”
Baltos’ eyes bugged out of his head. “Ch—Chasing Amy, actually.”
“Ho—lee—shit…” D said in amazement. “You know Kevin Smith’s movies?”
“Hell, yeah, I do!” Baltos replied enthusiastically. “I kind of have a thing for those ancient 1990s indie movies.”
D turned to me and gave me a look as if to say, “Can you believe this!?” I, of course, had no idea what they were talking about though, so I just sort of shrugged. He turned back to Baltos and stared.
“Okay,” D said, clapping a firm hand on Baltos’ shoulder. “You can come with us.”
“Awesome!” Baltos shouted, leaping into the air again.
“But if you pull another high-level mob like this,” D replied, waving a warning finger in his face. “I don’t care how many good movie quotes you know—we’ll leave you behind. Got it?”
“Got it!” he replied. “So—where are we headed?”
“The Crimson Catacombs,” I replied. Baltos’ face almost fell off.
“The Crimson Catacombs?!” he shrieked. “Are you—are you guys sure!?”
“No backing out now, Mr. Glorious,” D chuckled. “You’re part of the group now.”
22
A Bold Move
“Wait, guys… seriously?” Baltos asked, as D bent down to check the Hollow Knight’s loot pile at our feet. “The Crimson Catacombs? That’s like—a high-level dungeon. Why would you be going there?”
“Ever heard of Sinful?” I asked. I could see by the look on his face that he did.
“They’re the ones that took over Daric,” he replied.
“So, they are based there?” Vayde asked.
“That’s one way of saying it,” Baltos replied. “Another way of saying it would be that they completely own the town and kill anyone that’s not in their guild who comes to buy or sell.”
“You were based there?” D asked. Baltos nodded.
“Me and a few other guildless folks. And then Chaucey came,” Baltos replied, his eyes unfocused as though he was reliving something. “None of us were over level 10 and he was already 17. I knew he wasn’t there to make friends. I got the Hell out.”
“So, you’re not that dumb,” D said with a friendly jibe.
“Yeah, well we hear they’re using an exploit spot in the Crimson Catacombs to level,” Vayde explained. “We’re going there to stop them.”
“They’ve been raiding Stoneburg,” I continued. “The town where we are based. The people there helped us, and now we’re going to help them.”
Baltos nodded, clearly thinking hard about what we’d told him. After a second, he looked up and smiled. “Well, you helped me, and I guess now I should help you.”
He extended his hand, and I took it and shook it. It felt good to make a new friend in Carrethen. I was still wary about new faces, seeing that I was the most wanted man on the server. It seemed as though Baltos had no idea who I was though.
“Holy shit!” D gasped.
“What is it?” Vayde asked.
“He dropped his bow!” D replied, picking up the Hollow Warrior’s fallen weapon and holding it in front of him. It was enormous, taller than him, but had shrunk significantly from the size it was when the Hollow Warrior was holding it. Obviously, the game scaled down the items dropped by enormous monsters.
It was the color of bone, with ornate carvings of tree branches on the notches where the string was secured. The handle was a simple wrapping of dark brown leather. There was something about the simplicity of the bow that was somehow terrifying, as though it had been designed to be unassuming, subtly dangerous.
“Is it awesome?” Baltos asked with excitement.
“102 base damage,” D replied.
“What was your Yubi?” I asked. “The one Xavier gave you?”
“Hollowed Snarlwood Recurve Bow. Base damage 65…” D said with a grin as he notched an arrow and took aim on a tree a few yards away. He let loose and the bow cracked like a whip as the arrow streaked through the air and embedded itself in the trunk, spraying chips of wood everywhere. Snow fell from the branches above.
“Damn.” I nodded.
“I feel so left out,” Vayde remarked, twirling his wand in his hand. “I need an upgrade too!”
“We’ll get you one,” I replied. “Still a long way to the Catacombs.”
“Hey, Baltos,” D said, nocking another arrow.
“Yo?”
“Let me test the damage real quick,” he replied, pulling the string back and aiming directly at Baltos’ chest.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Baltos yelped, leaping behind me for cover. D started to crack up and lowered the bow.
“See, Jack? This guy’s a softie! We might not want to take him with us.”
“Oh, sorry if I don’t want to get blasted at close range by a bow dropped off a monster ten levels higher than me!”
“What else did he drop?” Vayde asked.
“Some Pareals,” D replied. “A few Superior Health Kits, some Moderate Health Potions—ooh, Jack what’s the armor level on your breast plate again?”
“Two hundred and eighty,” I replied.
“This one’s two ninety,” D said, raising his eyebrows.
“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “Gehman gave me this. I’m not swapping it until we find something way better.”
“Here, Baltos,” D said. “You take it. Sell it when you get a chance.”
“Hey, thanks!” Baltos said, taking the breastplate from D.
We divvied up the Health Kits and Potions and I looked around us. Everything looked the same. Snow, fir trees, and more snow.
“Which way?” I asked. “Are we far from Daric?”
“The quickest way to the Catacombs is that way.” D pointed. “Why are you asking about Daric?”
“Well… I was thinking about training Void Magic,” I replied. “And Daric would have a mage where I could buy the spell I want.”
“What?” D protested. “Void Magic? Train like… Axes or Smithing or something!”
“I thought you said trade skills were worthless?”
“We don’t even know what Void Magic does,” he protested.
“I know what I saw back at Stoneburg,” I replied with confidence. “After Psycho cast that spell on Chaucey, the next arrow that hit him almost killed him—in one hit!”
“It could have just been a random crit or something,” D replied. “You don’t know if it was that spell that did it. Let Vayde train Void Magic!”
“Can’t,” Vayde replied. “Not for a long time. Not enough points.”
“You seriously never saw Void Magic in Beta?” I asked D.
“Void Magic wasn’t even in Beta!” he replied.
I looked at my character sheet.
Void Magic. 22 skill points. Exactly the number I had. D was right. I could pick up Smithing, which would give me the ability to craft my own armor and weapons, and now that Gehman was gone, that could come in handy. I could train another melee weapon, like Axes or Halberds, just in case I found something better than my Executioner’s Blade.
No, I thought, hovering two fingers ove
r the up-arrow that would train Void Magic. This is it. I can feel it!
“I’m doing it,” I announced. Without hesitating any longer, I tapped my two fingers on the arrow. My 22 available skill points vanished, and Void Magic appeared in my skill sheet.
“We’re doomed,” D groaned.
“Okay, 3PO,” Baltos replied.
“Man, you two are like peas in a pod,” I said as I scrolled through the list of available spells under the Void Magic tree. There was an entire subsection listed as “Vulnerability Spells,” and among them were Frost Vuln, Fire Vuln, Lightning Vuln, Acid Vuln, and each of them increased the target’s vulnerability to a particular element. I started to get excited.
“Oh, yes.” I grinned. “This is it.”
And then I found it.
Menace I—Decrease the Target’s armor by 10%. And above it, were higher levels of the spell, all the way up to 6.
“Menace,” I exclaimed triumphantly as I read the spell description to my party. “That’s what Psycho cast on Chaucey back in Stoneburg.”
“Ten percent doesn’t seem like much,” Baltos said hesitantly.
“That’s only the level 1 spell,” I replied. “They do all the way up to 6. That’s a 60 percent reduction…”
“Wow…” D replied. He actually sounded impressed and I looked at him to see him nodding in agreement. “2JZ engine, no shit! I retract my previous statement.”
“Did you just quote the Fast and the Furious?” Baltos asked, looking confused.
“He does that,” I replied. “Guy’s like an encyclopedia of movie quotes.”
“Well, at least give us something good!” Baltos replied. “Ya know… ‘the force will be with you, always.’ Or, the ‘salty pork is especially nice!’”
“He will. Just give him time.”
My Void Magic skill was a pathetic 15, compared to my sword skill which was 195. The skill level was based on Focus and Wisdom, and mine were still 10. I raised them both to 30 and dumped the remaining experience into Void Magic, bringing it to a slightly less terrible 65. Still, it was enough to learn Menace II.
“I need to get to a mage,” I said. “There’s one in Daric. Right, Baltos?”
Baltos nodded.
“This is not a good idea,” D warned. “There’s no telling who they’ve got on guard there. The place is probably swarming with scouts.”
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 10
