by EA Hooper
“And that’s why you don’t try to outdrink Crow-Foot Jim,” the Rogue muttered, tossing the empty bottle aside.
After Xan healed everyone’s minor wounds, the party looked through the owlers’ items. Vincent, Jim, and Xan found chainmail to replace their old armor.
Owler’s Verasteel Chainmail – Material Rating: 200 | Artistically-made chainmail designed by owlers. It’s comfortable to wear and pleasant on the eyes.
“You want this sword?” Xan asked Vincent.
“Nah, my oiron sword has a one-hundred magic rating, so it’s as strong as verasteel,” Vincent replied. “You take that one, and I’ll keep an eye out for hardened or magically-enhanced verasteel.”
Vincent grabbed two ethers, an elixir, and a few dozen gild dropped by the owlers while his teammates sorted through the other items.
We’ve grown strong enough to fight a group of monsters as strong as most of the Dungeon Bosses we used to find. We would’ve won even without me using Void Gun too. I wonder how strong we’ll be after a couple decades on the Dead-World. Hopefully powerful enough to capture Lucas and end his reign of terror. It might be difficult with only the four of us, though.
“Hey, Jim,” Vincent said. “You think you can send a mass message to the Jiminy World Crickets. Figure out who’ll be willing to help us in twenty or thirty years to fight Lucas. I know that’s a lot to ask of them, but if they know I can unfreeze people, it might help encourage them.”
“Oh, I’ve already messaged my top people,” Jim replied. “I told them to lie low since Lucas knows I was with your group. May and Keanu say they’ll organize everyone to move to Firepeak, since it’s outside Lucas’s teleport range. They think they can take the Jump Gates on Nature-Worlds and avoid his Justiciars. Their plan is to set a spawn point at Treespire, since the Justiciars don’t have a foothold yet there. It’s a little out of the way, but they think if they get a strong-enough caravan, they can make the long trip from Treespire to Firepeak. It’ll take a decade or longer to plan it out and accomplish that, however.”
“But do you think they’d help fight Lucas?” Vincent asked.
“They have mixed feelings about confronting Lucas,” Jim said. “Right now, they’re only worried about getting banned. Keanu says he’d be willing to help, and May was curious about your powers. If we develop better spells, I think she and some others might consider aiding us. But it all hinges on us getting strong enough to lead a fight against the game’s last moderator. If we don’t become strong enough, I don’t even think Keanu would take that sort of risk.”
“Then we’ll become stronger—much stronger,” Vincent replied. “I don’t care if it takes me twenty years on the Dead-World. Thirty years. Forty years. Whatever it takes to convince people to join our cause.”
“Forty years might be pushing it,” Jim replied, nervously. “You really want to spend over half the life you’ve lived naturally on some hell-scape of never-ending monstrosities?”
“If I must,” Vincent replied. He glanced at his compass, and then continued northeast. “If you can’t handle it, Jim, then I suggest you head for Firepeak. You could go toward the trunk of the World-Tree and try to reach a world with a Jump Gate. If you fail, you’ll respawn with us, and I’ll give you spare equipment.”
“I’m not saying I can’t handle it,” Jim said, jogging beside Vincent. “I’m only weighing our options. We could always farm the Dead-World a few years, climb up the World-Tree, and then climb back down to Midrun when we’re strong enough.”
“We’ll level up faster if we focus on the Dead-World,” Vincent said. “There’re lots of monsters—higher-class monsters than most mid-tier worlds—and good loot. Not to mention we’d waste most of our time traveling if we go up. This way, we spend most our time leveling and looting. If you get bored of the Dead-World, you can always revisit this one—or that other world that branches off before Eramar.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jim said. “It’s just hard to imagine staying on a desolate world for forty years. That’s forty years without partying; forty years without meeting women; forty years of nonstop fighting. Can we push for twenty or thirty?”
“We’ll see,” Vincent said. “The problem is, twenty years might not be enough. If we don’t get strong enough to defeat Lucas, then there’s no point in going to Eramar at all. Our main priority should be to power-level and develop our void powers. You and Quinn should finish your current spells, and then work on Gravity Shields, so Lucas won’t be able to ban you. Then we’ll farm Eramar for better equipment.”
Jim nodded. “I’ll stay forty years if I have to, but I won’t be happy about it. I have family out there, remember? They told me they’ll meet up with Keanu and follow his caravan to Firepeak.”
“Would they fight with us?” Xan asked.
“Oh, god no,” Jim replied. “My son and his wife want nothing to do with this mess. They just want to get away from the Justiciars. My daughter only wants to protect my oldest granddaughter, River. Now, River would probably love to join us, but I don’t think her mom will let her. She’s a little like you, Xan, before you ran away from your dad. Speaking of which, did you tell your dad and sister what’s happening? They’re both in my guild, so they might become targets.”
“My dad’s been spamming my private chat this entire time,” Xan replied. “He says they’ll meet with May and try to make it to Firepeak. I’m kind of worried they might get caught, but that only gives me more of a reason to follow through with this plan—so whatever happens, I’ll be able to protect them.”
Jim grinned. “I remember back when you left Teramor, your dad was the one trying to protect you. You’ve grown up quite a lot, you know that? Even if your biological brain can’t mature in this game, you’ve grown a lot as a person.”
Xan smiled back in reply.
Vincent eyed the massive tree through an opening in the canopy. “We’re almost there. I really hope our daiglass shard is in this dungeon.”
“We can always bite the capsule,” Quinn remarked. “But yeah, hopefully it’s there. Either way, we’ll beat up those dumb owls and take all their loot.”
They stepped into a small clearing, and the entire party gaped at the massive tree. The trunk looked wider than most skyscrapers in the real world, but it stood so tall that its highest branches almost reached halfway to space.
“There’s no freaking way we’re climbing all the way to the top of that,” Quinn said.
“We probably don’t have to,” Vincent replied. “If it’s like most dungeons, it connects to the nesting spots of certain monsters. The dungeon might only be the bottom third or so, and the upper two-thirds could be nests.”
His eyes narrowed on the square shapes in the branches far, far above. “I think I see structures of some sort. There must be an entire city built into the treetop.” He looked down to the people-size holes in the trunk. “Look, there’re spots for the owlers to enter. I bet the one that took our shard flew through there to take it to the Dungeon Boss. Let’s go get it back.”
They passed massive, curled roots as they neared the base of the tree. The roots themselves looked larger than any tree Vince had ever seen. He spotted a dark passageway that dipped below the twisted roots, and they approached it. His HUD showed the location name change to Elmrot’s Stronghold.
At the end of the passage, a verasteel door blocked their way. Vincent tried to open it, but found it locked.
“I got it,” Jim said, stepping forward. He equipped his Master Thief’s Key and touched it to the door. The door unlocked, and the Rogue smirked as he opened it. “What did you three do without me when you came across locked doors?”
“Break them down if I could,” Quinn replied. “Ignored them otherwise.”
Jim shook his head. “Imagine all the loot you missed out on.” He held the door open for his party members.
Vincent was the first to step into the wood-carved hallway. The wood glowed with magic that lit the hall with a dim l
ight. “No welcome party?”
“The owlers probably haven’t seen players in decades,” Quinn noted. “That might actually work to our advantage. Although I imagine the one that stole our diaglass shard would’ve alerted its buddies.”
Vincent equipped his True Huntsman’s Cloak over his chainmail. He blended into the wood, and even the glow passed through his cloak like he wasn’t even there. “I’ll sneak ahead and map it out. Let’s play it safe since they probably don’t know we’re here yet.”
He equipped a mapping rune and crept through the hallway. The dim light made it hard to see the ends of the hall, and his friends disappeared from his sight as he traversed the passage. He saw several splits in the path, but there seemed to be no indication of any rooms of interest.
It’s all the same. Just long, dimly lit passages.
A shape appeared at the end of the hall, and he pushed himself against the wall to hide, then Scanned the figure as it came closer.
Owler Guard – Monster Class: C+ | Age: 68 | Sex: Female | Number of Offspring: 6 | Personality: Astute
The owler carried a battle-axe in her talons as she walked across the hall. She seemed to move with intent, not dragging her feet like the guards of many dungeons. She hurried past Vincent without spotting him, disappearing down one of the split passages.
So much for being astute. She must be hurrying for a reason, though.
He continued through the hall until he reached an open room full of tables and barrels. Vincent eyed the tap on one barrel and guessed it to be a breakroom. He touched the tap, letting a liquid pour out onto the floor as he took a quick sip.
>Vincent: Hey, Jim. There’s barrels of beer in the breakroom.
Vincent mapped out the location so his friend would know where to find it.
>Jim: All right! Let’s take as much as we can.
The light of the floors and ceiling flickered and then went out. Vincent blinked, finding himself in pitch-black darkness.
>Vincent: Did the light go out at the entrance too?
>Alexandria: Yes. Are you okay?
>Vincent: I’m fine. I’ve only seen one guard, and she ran right past me. Seemed to be in a hurry.
>Alexandria: Maybe she killed the light somehow. Did you see which way she went?
>Vincent: Yeah, I’ll check it out.
Vincent waited for his eyes to adjust, but he still couldn’t see more than vague shapes in the darkness. He crept toward the hall and continued with slow, cautious steps. The quietness of the dungeon made him nervous, and he peered back and forth, looking out for guards. He thought he saw a shape, so he tried to Scan it.
???
Ability Upgrade: 83%
Ugh, why didn’t I finish upgrading my Scan with Darkeye? I’m sure I’ll need that for the Dead-World.
He stayed still, and the dark shape moved past him and continued toward the breakroom. Hopefully, it won’t see the beer I spilled on the floor.
Vincent picked up his pace and went around the corner. He saw a room with light emanating from it, so he peeked inside.
At the center of the room, Vincent saw a hole between twisting vines. Beside the hole sat a giant, glowing acorn the size of a person’s head. That acorn must generate the light for this floor. The guard must’ve pulled it out for some reason. He quickly scanned the room with a mapping rune.
>Vincent: They must know we’re here—that’s why they turned off the light. I’m about to turn it back on, so they might attack me in the room I just added to the map. We really need the light, though.
>Quinn: As soon as you turn the light on, we’ll hurry that way to help you.
Vincent grabbed the acorn and placed it in the hole between the vines. The vines flashed with light, and then the light turned on throughout the floor. He equipped his sword and hid beside the doorway, waiting for an owler to come after him.
A sharp hoot sounded down the hall, and his body tensed as he listened for footsteps. He heard a light pitter-patter, and the guard from earlier charged into the room with her battle-axe in hand.
Vincent swung his sword at the back of her neck as she ran past. His blade cut her Mana Shield and decapitated the guard in one swing. However, he hadn’t spotted the second guard, and the owler drove her polearm at his chest. His Gravity Shield slowed the weapon almost to a stop, but the tip snapped a few links in his chainmail. Vincent spun and slashed through the owler’s Mana Shield, but she shoved her polearm’s staff into his arms and forced him to the ground.
Vincent struggled to break free, but the owler’s strength seemed greater than his. She held him down, and then pecked at his face. She cut his face twice before he reflexively equipped a hardened-oiron helm for protection. However, the owler charged her beak with Breaker, then tapped his helm two more times. The first dented the armor, and the second caused the helm to split into pieces.
Before the owler could peck again, a hardened-verasteel blade stabbed through her back and emerged out her chest. Vincent’s Gravity Shield stopped the tip of the blade from cutting into him too.
The owler gasped as Quinn pulled the short sword from her back. The monster collapsed onto Vincent, but then she charged Self-Destruct like the owler from earlier.
Quinn hefted the body, turned around the corner, and tossed the owler away from Jim and Xan. The enemy exploded before landing, and globules of mana from the explosion burned small holes in Quinn’s armor.
“More are coming!” Jim shouted as he approached the door.
Vincent stepped out of the room and readied his blade as more owlers raced toward his allies. He cast Zero Field, knocking the lead owler off her feet, and then Xan hit the enemies with her Light-Drain Butterflies. Quinn Vanished into the group and shattered their Mana Shields with rapid Breaker strikes. One slashed at her, snapping an armored plate on her arm.
Jim unleashed a close-range Mana Volley that vaporized the head of one owler that’d lost his Mana Shield to Quinn. The scattering bolts continued and peppered the owler behind him, poking holes throughout his body.
The injured owler started to Self-Destruct, but Quinn appeared behind him with Vanish. She grabbed his head and twisted it around, expecting it to kill him, but she discovered the owler’s neck could turn more than 180 degrees without snapping.
The owler exploded in a flash of green mana that knocked the nearby monsters to the ground.
“Quinn!” Vincent shouted, cutting down an owler with his sword. He looked at Quinn’s half-vaporized bones before they turned to dust.
That would’ve killed her instantly, so at least she didn’t suffer. And if we don’t find the daiglass shard here, she’ll find it when she respawns in two weeks.
He glanced over to see Jim and Xan finish off the last owler. They flashed grim expressions at Quinn’s dust, but the team had learned long ago to keep going whenever one of their members died. They gathered Quinn and the owlers’ items, and then searched the passageways.
“The owlers obviously know we’re here,” Vincent noted. “So we might as well hurry to the top before we lose anyone else.”
Xan patched up their minor wounds and cast Repair Scar to remove the claw marks from Vincent’s face. Jim hurried to the breakroom to gather beer in mugs and jars while Xan worked her magic. Afterward, the three searched the first floor until they found a massive hollow space at the center of the tree. Giant glowing acorns hung from vines across the chasm, casting a white-green light that revealed dozens of floors.
Vincent’s eyes swept across many floors until they fell on a vibrant, multicolored platform at the top. With the way the inside of the hollow space twisted around itself, it made him realize the giant tree was made of multiple trees that intertwined.
“I imagine the dungeon ends where the different sections of the trees merge together,” Vincent said, eyeing the colorful platform. “That platform is our destination.”
“That’s so far,” Jim said, wide-eyed. “We lost Quinn on the first floor. You really think we’ll make it
to the top? I don’t even see any stairs or ladders.”
“We’ll have to make our own way,” Xan said, equipping the Wall-Walking boots and Lich’s Cloak. She ran up a wall, and then floated to a platform on the opposite side. For a few seconds, she disappeared from their view, but then she released a rope down to them.
Vincent and Jim climbed the rope, and then Xan repeated the process. While she readied the rope on the next floor, Vincent eyed the passages that branched from their current platform.
“We’ll need to keep an eye out for owlers,” he warned Jim.
“I saw two flying around way up there,” Jim replied. “They haven’t spotted us yet. Or if they did, they don’t think we can climb that far.”
They climbed to the next floor, and Xan ran up the curved wall. After flying across to another platform, she tied a helmet to the end of the rope and then tossed it across the gap for Vincent to catch.
“I’ll hold it while you climb,” Vincent told Jim.
Jim nodded, grabbed the rope, and shimmied up. Once he’d made it up about five meters, Vincent pulled his feet off the ground and tightly held the rope. It swung him back toward the wall, and he quickly climbed to the top.
“At least I got something to drink,” Jim said, sipping from a beer mug while they waited for Xan.
“Yeah, you’ve been a bit irritable without alcohol,” Vincent joked.
“And I haven’t gotten laid in weeks,” Jim added. “The next couple decades will be rough without booze and women. I’m supposed to be a Rogue, not a monk.”
Vincent chuckled. “You’ll be fine. Think of this as rehab.” He grabbed the rope as Xan let it down.
Jim waited for Vincent to climb, and then followed him. “I don’t want rehab. Starting my guild was close enough to rehabilitation into a meaningful life, and even that might’ve been a subconscious ploy to get more booze and meet new women.”
“Yeah, but think of how much attention you’ll get from women if you save the World-Tree from Lucas.”
Jim’s eyes lit up. “My god, you’re right. I’ll be ultra-famous. People will buy me drinks everywhere I go. I’ll need guards just to hold back the flood of women chasing after me.”
