The Black Dragon: A Fantasy LitRPG (Dragon Kings of the New World Book 2)

by Dante Doom

  Chapter Six

  Sang crouched and watched her target. The strange man had been following Van’s team from a distance for quite some time, and as soon as they left the castle, he picked up his pace to keep up with them. Thanks to Sang’s Tracking skills, she had been able to identify his path and follow him while hiding in the woods. Van and the rest of the party were heading toward the Forlorn Valley, and thankfully, the forest that she was hiding in surrounded the entire region, meaning that she could follow the stranger continuously without risking exposure.

  Sang had tried to pull up the stranger’s character sheet, but she’d only received a message that read: This player has the Discrete Skill, making them impossible for you to identify! He was definitely up to something sketchy, though, and she was determined to figure out what it was. If she could somehow get the drop on him, she might be able to interrogate him and get some kind of a lead. With her bosses breathing down her neck, she knew she had to do something soon.

  The stalker was also moving through the trees carefully, keeping to the edge of the forest where he could see Van’s team at all times. Despite the fact that it was getting close to midnight, there was plenty of illumination from the moon. Sang didn’t know what kind of lunar cycles the game had, but the moon seemed so close that it was almost like a lantern, lighting up the entire area.

  Sang crept through the woods and ducked behind a tree for a moment. She checked her inventory.

  The Weakness Poison that Dolly had given her would be the perfect item to use against the man. It would strip him of his strength and eliminate his ability to run, leaving him completely unable to fight back. Without knowing his level or class, she had no idea of whether a poison would work on him, but she knew she had to try something.

  She gently smeared the poison on her short sword’s tip. All she had to do was creep up on him and hit him once, and then the poison would do its job. There were only a few abilities in the game that gave a player poison resistance, and if this stranger didn’t have them, he’d be in real trouble.

  With a deep breath, Sang walked out from behind the tree and followed after the stalker. He was moving slowly, trying to keep his eyes on Van from his vantage point in the woods. He stopped for a moment to write something down in a notepad, giving Sang the perfect opportunity to lunge forward and stab her blade into his back.

  Sneak Attack 250 damage appeared over his head as he gasped and fell to his knees. The word Poisoned also floated above him.

  “Gah!” he wheezed as he began to writhe on the ground.

  “Well, well, well,” Sang said, standing over him. “Looks like you’re in a bit of trouble.”

  The man’s hand reached down to grab his sword, but as he tried to pull the blade out of its hilt, he gasped and wheezed.

  “That poison should be sucking all of your strength away,” Sang said, pressing her foot against his chest. “You’re in trouble, but fortunately, I’m not here to player-kill.”

  “What do you want?” he asked. “Gold?”

  “No, I’m looking for information. What’s your name?”

  “They call me Kenwar. Manhunter Kenwar,” he said.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kenwar,” Sang said as she dug her heel into his chest a little harder. “But we need to talk. Why are you following my friends?”

  Kenwar scowled at her. “I’ve been hired to follow Van,” he said. “And you, as well, Sang.”

  The words caused Sang’s blood to run cold. This wasn’t a good sign at all.

  “How do you know who I am?” she asked.

  “Draco employs me,” Kenwar replied. “They’ve asked that I keep an eye on you two.”

  “Why are you being so straightforward now? Shouldn’t you be trying to lie to me?” Sang asked.

  “I have no interest in lying to a potential ally,” he said.

  “What are you talking about?” Sang asked as she glanced around. His confidence indicated that he might have some kind of upper hand, but there was no one else around.

  “Here’s the situation, Sang,” Kenwar said as he shifted a little, moving his hands away from his sword and holding them up non-threateningly. “I happen to work for some very powerful people. People who I don’t particularly care for... but they like me. And they want me to work for them. I’m sure, as you know by this point, Draco isn’t a company that most people can say no to. So, I’m in a tough position. I can either say yes and be rewarded, or say no… and be punished.”

  “What kind of punishment are we talking about?” she asked as she lessened the pressure on his chest. If he really wasn’t a fan of Draco, he could be a very valuable ally.

  “I’d prefer not to get into it,” Kenwar said as he shifted underneath her boot again. “But I can be persuaded to talk.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to be out of this stupid game. I want to be free from having to work with Draco ever again, but quite frankly, that’s not going to happen until they’re satisfied. Problem is, I don’t know when they ever will be.”

  “Are you trapped? Can’t you log out?”

  “Oh, I can log out alright. But, when you’re a certain rank in the Draco pro world, if you don’t log in at least every day, they send someone to check on you. And I worry about that person being armed.”

  Sang frowned. There was a somewhat cavalier attitude that Kenwar had; something about the way that he spoke so casually, so that it made her worry that perhaps he wasn’t telling her the truth at all. One thing was established, though: he was working with Draco. Now, whether it was of his own volition or not, she still knew she couldn’t trust anything that he had to say.

  “So, you just want to be free from this game? For good?”

  “Of course. I never wanted to be part of some crazy conspiracy; I just wanted to be a gamer. I did not sign up for any of this,” Kenwar said.

  Sang couldn’t shake the feeling that Kenwar was absolutely lying to her. Or was she just being paranoid? There was only one way to find out.

  “You know I’m connected with people, then,” she said. “Give me your home address and I’ll send a team to pick you up right away. You won’t have to worry about Draco bothering you again.”

  “Really? You’ll do that?” Kenwar asked. His eyes had lit up and she could see genuine hope in them.

  “Sure thing,” Sang said.

  “Great—my real name is Kenneth Galber and I live in Scranton, Pennsylvania. My address is 1831 West Penn Street. But you better move fast. Draco can’t monitor our verbal communications due to the way the servers are designed, but they can read any messages that are sent. As soon as you send a message to your team, they’ll know about it.”

  Sang was surprised at his cooperation, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The worst-case scenario was that he had laid out some sort of a trap, but she would alert her superiors of the chance. No one was going to be pulling anything funny over on her or her team. And this development would give her a little bit of breathing room. With Kenwar in CIA custody, her superiors would at least be able to focus on gaining information from him instead of pulling the plug on the program. She grinned as she began to type up a coded message to her task force. This was the best news that she had encountered all week.

  Van looked at the small war-camp which had been assembled at the bottom of the hill. There was a large collection of peasants wearing militant clothing and wielding farming tools as weapons. There were about six hundred in total, but Van knew the peasants wouldn’t be a problem against his team of seven. Sang had rejoined their group shortly after they’d reached the Forlorn Valley. She’d been excited to tell him about a new development, but he didn’t want to talk about it until after they retrieved the gem. Sleep Time was right around the corner, and Van was dead set on getting his hands on the Gem of Rending before they were booted out of the game.

  “Alright, team, what’s the plan?” Van asked, turning to face his compatriots. He, of course, had a
great plan, but he wanted them to be able to feel as if they were contributing by coming up with suggestions. He knew a good leader should never look like they were the one calling all of the shots, or else followers would grow jealous of him hogging the spotlight.

  “I think we should go in and see how many of them we can kill!” Capello said with a laugh. He brandished his twin axes and began hacking away at the air. “I’m guessing I can kill at least a hundred by myself.”

  “Wow, you can kill one hundred poorly trained peasants armed with farming equipment fashioned into weapons? What a hero,” Bidane said. “I say we go and just convince them to stand down and return to their liege. We’ll probably get an experience points bonus for solving the issue without violence.”

  “How is solving something without violence a good option?” Capello replied. “I say we just go down there and bathe in the blood of our enemies!”

  “They’re peasants who are mad at the king, so they are bad guys,” Dolly said.

  “Let’s not try to get into the political dichotomy of who’s right and who’s wrong,” Kylian said. “We’re mercenaries. Our job is to just do whatever it takes to get paid.”

  “That counts as a vote in my favor,” Capello said.

  “Alright, team, since we’re looking at a split in opinions, I say we put it to a vote,” Van said. “In addition to the plan of slaughtering a bunch of peasants or trying to negotiate, I would propose that we just send our stealthier team members down to steal the gem. It’ll be easy, and we won’t have to waste time in combat.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Dolly said. “Then, if we get attacked, the rest of the party can flank them from this side of the hill.”

  “I like it,” Sang said. “We’ll be in and out in less than a few minutes.”

  “Alright, let’s vote!” Van said. “All in favor of taking the loud and violent approach?” Capello and Dolly raised their hands.

  “Okay, next, in favor of diplomacy?” Bidane raised her hand.

  “And in favor of Stealth?” Van, Sang, and Kylian raised their hands.

  “Sahara, aren’t you going to vote?” Van asked. The wizard had just been standing still, watching everyone without reacting to what they were saying or doing.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, my mom just called on the phone,” Sahara said. “I gotta bail early, so good luck!” And with that, she vanished from their presence.

  “Great, whatever are we going to do without an easily killable wizard with barely any useful spells?” Bidane asked.

  “Hah, be nice, Bidane,” Van said. “She’s only five levels away from getting her first offensive spell. Fireball is incredibly powerful. If you aren’t careful, she might use it on you.”

  “I’d put money on her dying before she hits Level 25,” Bidane replied.

  “I’ll take that bet!” Capello said.

  “We’re not betting on a party member dying!” Van said. “At least, not without a clear rule stating that those betting against her survival won’t try to hasten her death.”

  “I’m a Cleric of the White Fox,” Bidane said. “We’re forbidden from harming our friends and allies!”

  “But not against betting on their early deaths?”

  “Definitely not,” she said with a smirk. “Come on, now—the vote has been passed, 3 votes in favor of the Stealth mission.”

  “Okay, cool!” Dolly said, walking up to Sang. “You ready, Stealth sister?”

  “Why are you so cheerful?” Sang asked. “I thought you wanted to vote in favor of the murderous route.”

  “Oh, I’m just trying to play more to what my character would do. See, I’m a ruthless rogue who has no trouble slitting throats to get her way. So, I’m going to do whatever she would do.”

  “You’re probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Sang replied.

  “Hey, take that back!” Dolly said. “I’m a brutal cut-throat!”

  “Just because you say it doesn’t mean that it’s true,” Sang said as she grabbed her bow and her satchel. “Alright, we’re going to head down to find the gem.”

  “My Prayer of Clairvoyance has indicated that the gem is located within the center of the camp, inside of a crate near the fire pit,” Bidane said. “You might want to bring some water to douse the fire with so it doesn’t give away your cover.”

  “I dunno,” Sang said as she looked up at the sky. “With this moon, we’ll be visible even if there are no other light sources.”

  “Well, hopefully your Stealth skill isn’t too impacted by the light,” Van said. “Good luck down there!”

  “Thanks,” Dolly said. “Alright, let’s go! First one to the bottom of the hill has to dig the latrines at the next campsite!” And with that, both Dolly and Sang became translucent as they rushed down the hill.

  Van turned his attention to preparing the team for the journey back to the dragon. Everyone was quick to pack up the gear they had laid down at the top of the hill and prepare to head back. Van just hoped that the two ladies wouldn’t have trouble with retrieving the gem.

  After a few minutes of packing and small talk, Capello—who’d been posted as the look-out—gave a shout. “There they are!”

  Van turned to see Dolly and Sang climbing up the hill, thankfully without anyone chasing them.

  “Did you grab it?” Van asked.

  “Yeah, it’s here,” Dolly wheezed, producing a gem the size of her fist from her satchel. It was a beautiful shade of turquoise and seemed to shimmer in the moonlight.

  “Nice work!” Van said. “Anyone spot you?”

  “You know, all of those peasants were Level 5 and 6,” Sang said. “They didn’t have any points in the Spotting skill. We probably could have walked in un-stealthed and just taken it.”

  “Perfect,” Van said as he clapped his hands together. “Well, we got the gem, so let’s go get our reward!”

  The group quickly turned around and headed back to where the castle was located. Van was a little disappointed with how easily they had acquired the gem, but then again, he doubted that the mission was going to be this straight forward for long. He could vaguely recall that there was more to the story than just stealing the gem, but it had been such a long time since he had done this quest that he just couldn’t remember for sure.

  As the group made their way through the empty, windswept valley towards the castle in the distance, they heard a loud commotion behind them. Turning around, Van could see there were four peasants chasing after them, frantically waving their hands and asking for them to stop.

  “Oh yeah!” Capello said as he pulled out his axes. “Let’s hack these guys clean in half!”

  “Take it easy,” Van said. “I think they want something other than to fight us. No violence until I give the go-ahead.”

  One of the peasants, a short man with the words Fredlin the Bannerhost hovering above him, reached the group first and held out his hands. “Please, adventurers, I implore you, listen to my humble request!”

  “Alright, we’re listening,” Van said. “What do you want?”

  “We, the Bikorn Resistance Force, are desperate to fight against the evil tyrant that is King Bikorn! We know that he has hired you to retrieve our sole means of defeating such an evil beast. Please, whatever he told you, know that it is not true! We are nothing more than humble people who are desperate for our own survival. Don’t give away our sole means of self-protection!”

  “Hasn’t the king been providing for you?” Van asked.

  Fredlin shook his head vigorously. “Not at all! He is moody and evil, attacking our crops and livestock whenever he feels that we have displeased him. He is prone to intense mood swings, and is paranoid, as well. We were forced to take up arms after he destroyed our last big crop before the Moon of Harvest. Now, we’ll starve unless we destroy him and raid his treasury!”

  “Uh-oh,” Sang said. “This doesn’t sound good.”

  “Who cares about some dumb peasants?” Capello asked. “I say we just ta
ke the gem to the dragon and get our reward. It’s way easier than explaining to him that we’re siding with the peasants.”

  “Yeah, he was Level 88,” Kylian said. “It’s not like we have a chance of defeating him.”

  “Oh, but you see,” Fredlin said, “the Gem of Rending will easily destroy him! All you must do is throw it at him and it will explode, killing him instantly! The gem was created by the powerful Dragon Sages of the Old World. They feared that some dragons would grow tyrannical and controlling, so they created a few of these gems as a way to rein them in.”

  “Wait, so that thing kills a dragon?” Capello asked. “Screw what I said earlier—let’s kill ourselves a dragon!”

  “Even if it does kill a dragon, we’d have to get close to the king first,” Sang said. “I doubt a dragon king can be caught off guard.”

  “Everyone, shush,” Van said. “I’m trying to think. I’m not sure what the best choice is.”

  “It’s a basic morality quest,” Kylian said. “We can take the high road and work harder, or we can take the low road and be rewarded immediately. It seems straightforward to me.”

  “Just because it’s straightforward doesn’t mean it’s an easy choice,” Van said. “What kind of mercenary company are we aiming to be? This choice will basically set us up as either in the negatives in our morality rating or in the positives.”

  “Morality rating?” Sang asked.

  “Yeah,” Bidane said, “it’s a specific rating that all mercenary companies get. It ranges from -10 to 10. If you’re on the negative scale, it means that your group does shady things and could potentially be evil. A positive rating means that you’re the good guys. The rating doesn’t really have an effect on how NPCs view your organization, but good groups can fight against bad groups without penalty. But if bad groups attack a good or neutral group, they get a penalty.”

  “I see,” Sang said. “So, if there’s no real benefit other than determining who we fight against, why not take the easier option?”

  “Well, the problem is that there are a lot of good guys out there who can make our lives a lot harder if we’re in the negative,” Van said. “So, if we take the easier road now, we might end up screwed later on. Evil mercenary groups tend to leave good ones alone, but there are some mercenary companies of good guys who just travel around and kill any evil group they can find.”