“We killed your pathetic clan first,” Gerald taunted the Orc. “You’re the last.”
The chieftain used his area stun again, in the five seconds the stun held them the chieftain began to glow red. His next attack took Gerald all the way down to 50/1100 as he followed up the stun with his big attack again, doing extra damage thanks to being enraged.
The stun wore off as the chieftain pulled back his axe to finish Gerald off. Tiny taunted the boss, causing it to turn on him as he closed into melee with it. Tiny’s shield met the attack, but enough damage went through to reduce him to a sliver of life.
“For my master,” Tiny rumbled as he slammed his shield into the Orc’s face, his last attack before the orc killed him.
Those few seconds bought enough time for Marysue to get some healing onto Gerald. Gerald reengaged the boss as the DPS kept up their attacks.
Bob was all but in hysterics as he kept throwing Fire Blast after Fire Blast with renewed vigor. “You killed my friend, asshole,” he ranted as he kept casting since he didn’t need to vocalize words for his spells. “I’m going to cut your nuts off and fry them up.”
Alburet raised a brow, surprised at the sheer depth of emotion that came from Bob over Tiny’s death. It seemed that Bob actually liked Tiny more than he had been letting on. As his mind half considered that he landed another blow on the chieftain, wondering how Tiny would react if Bob died.
They were making good headway on killing the boss, finally dropping it to 100/4500 when it stunned them again. As before, during the stun it followed up with its major attack on Gerald, which killed him this time. It turned on Alburet, hitting him for close to 200 due to his lower armor. The blow landed squarely on his leather covered head. As soon as the stun wore off they killed the boss, letting out a ragged cheer as they all sat down exhausted.
“So close to being perfect, too,” Alburet half complained.
“We’re a little under what level you should be to be in here,” Marysue stated. “Without Tiny taking the adds then sacrificing himself we wouldn’t have made it through.”
“It was a little unfair to have the boss using its high damage attack right after it uses its stun, though,” Fluffball mused. “I mean, how is a tank supposed to mitigate that?”
“There is an ability that will use your mitigation ability automatically for you if you are going to take fatal damage,” Gerald said as he came back through the door. “I didn’t take it, but now I might because other bosses are likely to do something similar and honestly it makes sense for the monsters to be smart enough for that.”
“So you’re not upset?” Fluff asked.
“Only that I didn’t take that ability at fifteen,” Gerald shrugged. “I had no idea they had changed the boss up to use those abilities as a combo like that.”
“Well, let’s grab our loot head back to turn in the quests and call it a night,” Alburet said, getting back to his feet.
“Master?” Bob spoke softly, “Tiny isn’t able to come back for a while and if you’re all going to call it a night can I take off too?”
Lips pursed at the soft tone Bob used, Alburet considered his imp’s hunched form. “If that is what you want Bob, but before you go, thank you. You did a great job all day and even more so during this fight.” Bob gave a jerky nod before he vanished along with the copy Bob.
Fluffball, who had been watching, spoke up, “He took that harder than I thought he would.”
“Definitely didn’t expect it either,” Alburet replied, turning back to see what loot Marysue got from the boss.
“Okay,” Marysue said as she stood up holding a set of hard leather boots. “My loot is a pair of boots with bonus wisdom.”
Gerald looted the body next and came up with a bronze skullcap, “Nice, gives five points to constitution.”
Fluffball ended up with a ring that gave her extra strength. Stacia got a ring with a bonus to charisma, which made her smile. Alburet was last and as he looted the chief’s body disappeared. He ended up with a leather chest piece with five constitution and two more armor than the leather chest piece he had been wearing.
“We’re all looted up, so let’s head back to the fort,” Alburet said, with the others agreeing.
It took a little over an hour with them only attacking the patrols that got in their way to reach the fort at a run. Before they headed inside they sold off their junk to the single vendor. With that done, they went inside the fort proper to turn in the quests.
“This should level me,” Fluffball said excitedly. “If it does I can pick up dual wielding like I wanted too.”
The Sergeant looked up as they approached. Just before they reached the desk Gerald paused and held Marysue back so Alburet was the first one to the table. Alburet hadn’t noticed as he’d been a step ahead anyway. He came to a stop and saluted the Sergeant.
“Sir, we are back from our expedition,” Alburet said once the Sergeant returned the salute.
“We have word from our scouts that the whole village was wiped out for the time being. Well done, you lot,” the Sergeant said with a nod of his head, “If only the men could do what you've done.”
Quest Completed: Kill thirty Orcs
Receive: Increased Reputation with Stormguard Guard factions plus ten gold.
Quest Completed: Kill ten Wargs
Receive: Increased Reputation with Stormguard Guard factions plus ten gold.
Quest Completed: Kill the Orc Chieftain
Receive: Increased Reputation with Stormguard Guard factions and an item from the Quartermaster.
“Take this scroll to the quartermaster to pick up the gear and gold from him. The thanks of Stormguard goes with you.” The Sergeant got to his feet, saluting all of them before retaking his seat.
Alburet chuckled as everyone in the party leveled when the three quests completed. “Nice. Let's grab our rewards and head out.”
The group exited the keep to find the quartermaster standing next to his forge, shutting the place down for the night. “What do you all need with me? The forge is done for the evening,” he said as he saw them approaching.
“We come to collect the rewards we are due per the Sergeant, sir,” Alburet said, handing the scroll across.
“Hmm twenty gold and an item each,” the quartermaster sighed. “Fine, let's make this quick though, shall we.” He handed Alburet a book, “Select your item, I'll hand out the gold while you browse.”
Alburet looked though the book and selected a ring with a plus five to intelligence as his old one was about to break. He handed the book to Gerald, who was hovering waiting to get it. Alburet accepted the gold from the quartermaster who had handed coin to the others already.
Once Gerald and Marysue had their rewards they said their goodbyes and vanished, logging out right there. Fluffball yawned as she equipped the new bracers she’d picked up while Stacia looked through the book.
“I'm going for the night, thank you for grouping with me again,” Fluff said, suppressing another yawn. “I might be on again tomorrow. If so and you’re up for it I'll send you a message.”
“Sounds good, Fluff. You have a good night,” Alburet replied as Fluff used her Homestone.
Stacia coughed gently as she handed the book back to the quartermaster, “I'm ready, master.”
Alburet grinned at Stacia, “Let’s go home then, shall we? I need to speak with Stewart before we bathe and have dinner. So when we get back, you get things rolling for dinner and bathing while I speak with him. Once that’s done we can have a little fun tonight.”
Stacia shivered slightly, “Will you spank me as hard as you did last time?”
Pulling out his Homestone, Alburet smiled, “I can do that for you, kitten.”
Stacia used her Homestone a moment before Alburet did. When he arrived he caught sight of Stacia already entering the inn. “Eager for tonight, I see,” Alburet chuckled to himself as he walked to the inn.
The inside was packed full of people as it normally was at t
his time of night. Pausing inside the doorway, he looked for Stewart among the masses, finally spotting him in the corner at a table with Grimgar. Alburet made his way over to the table after a minute or two of dodging through the crowd. “Evening, Stewart. Can I bend your ear about business for a few minutes? Hi to you as well, Grimgar. I promise it shouldn’t take long.”
Stewart eyed him for a moment before nodding, “Ah, must be about your next summons. We need to go down to do that though, so we can’t break any laws and cause problems for Alistern.”
Grimgar shrugged, “As long as he comes back for the next round. How did ye huntin’ go?”
“We cleared out the Orc Village. It was a little scary for a few minutes but all in all it worked out.”
“How did Stacia do?” Grimgar asked intently.
“She did her part fine. Nothing even came close to touching her, either.”
“Good, good tha’ be what I be wantin’ to hear. Don’t keep him long. This ale won’ last forever,” Grimgar chuckled as he snagged Stewart’s mug from across the table.
Stewart shook his head, “Can’t leave ale out near him, he is a two fisted drinker. Alright, let’s get going otherwise he will order more rounds on my tab.” Stewart started moving through the crowd, headed to the tunnel. When they finally reached the work space, they were completely alone. Stewart didn't seem to find that odd as he sat at his desk, “Okay, what did you need?”
“I wanted more information about the Lesser Succubus before I call the IRS for her. You said that Succubi tend to push their masters for attention.”
“Yes, they do,” Stewart said, nodding. “It’s not as bad as you probably fear, though. Think of it like the Imp wanting to damage things or the Destroyer wanting to take attacks in your stead. Succubi just want affection and maybe a rough time at your hands, is all. Give it to her occasionally and there shouldn’t be any issues. Unless you are one of those rare few who wants an incubus?”
Alburet shook his head, “No, I like the females. Thanks for that, though. Okay, so it’s not like she’s going to be all over me when we’re hunting, then?”
“Not at all,” Stewart said. “The worst I recall was a certain Succubus screaming out her master’s name for three nights running while we were out hunting. While actively fighting though, I’ve never seen a Succubus cause issues. Then again, if she becomes unhappy who knows what she might do? I’ve never had an unhappy Succubus.” He gave Alburet a shit eating grin, “Maybe you will have that problem, though.”
Snorting, Alburet shook his head, “I doubt it. Is it safe to summon down here?”
“Yes, that’s why I suggested we come down.”
“Okay, let me Summon Bettzle then and choose my Succubus…” Alburet said just as a hand touched his shoulder. He spun quickly, his hand pulled back to strike at his attacker. He stopped himself from following through just in time, seeing it was Lilith. “God damn it, that would have been bad. Lilith, don’t sneak up on me like that please.”
Blinking, Lilith shook her head, “I see now what Stacia was talking about, very quick reflexes. I was just coming down to see if anyone here needed anything.”
“I’m good. Just about to summon the IRS for my Lesser Succubus.”
“Oh. Mind if I stay and watch?” Lilith smiled brightly.
Alburet felt his mind blank for a second before he shook his head, “That’s fine with me.”
“Lilith?” Stewart asked in question, but she just shook her head at him, her smile still firmly in place.
Alburet ignored the byplay as he went through the spell to summon Bettzle. A moment later a red summoning ring appeared and Bettzle appeared fixing his glasses. “Ah. Time for your last minion to be selected, Summoner?”
“That is the plan, yes.”
“Very well, your last minion is the Lesser Succubus. Choose we…” Bettzle paused, looking at the book he had been opening. “Hmm, this is odd. You seem to already have a Succubus, which is doubly odd as you didn’t summon me for her contract. Did you bind a free Succubus to your side?”
“Not that I know of,” Alburet said. “Maybe it’s a glitch or a bug. Any suggestions?”
Bettzle frowned at his book, “Try summoning her?”
Alburet checked the second part of the spell that summoned his minion to him. “Okay, here we go. I summon my minion the Lesser Succubus.” As he spoke the words he made the motion of cracking a whip as the spell described. He thought the default spell a bit much, figuring he could change it later.
A bright flash faded to a cloud of smoke at his side. He was aware of a figure in the smoke, becoming visible as the cloud lifted. His gaze followed the disappearing smoke up the body next to him. Cloven hooves led up black leather calves that grew lighter in color until they became creamy white skin just before the knee. The white creamy skin continued past the knee up to toned thighs. Wrapped around one of them was a black leather spade-tipped tail that quivered as it stroked the thigh it was wrapped around. The Succubus next to him wore a pair of leather short shorts that hugged her hips like a second skin. As the smoke continued to rise up her form, so did Alburet’s eyes. He found a flat, toned stomach of white alabaster that gave way to a very full chest which moved with every breath and twitch of her body. His eyes locked briefly on the chest that was covered by a leather bra that helped enhance the assets more than anything. Two firmly toned arms were crossed beneath her chest helping give them a little squeeze and lift, not that they needed more help. Two wings were stretched out behind her, bat like wings of a black leathery nature that easily stretched twenty feet in wingspan. The next thing Alburet noticed was the bright red hair, the dark red of blood mixed with the vibrancy of flame that hung in waves down her back with a single lock draped down next to her bust. Tearing his eyes off her bosom, he pulled his eyes up to see the smiling face of his Succubus staring back at him with excitement and contentment.
“Greetings, master,” Stacia said, licking her lips nervously as if afraid he might reject her now.
Alburet
Human Summoner
Level 16
Strength: 21
Agility: 21
Constitution: 30
Intelligence: 52
Wisdom: 51
Charisma: 35
Health: 1100
Mana: 1310
Spells:
Demon Skin-Rank 2
Demonic Retribution- Rank 2
Summon Least Imp
Fire Blast- Rank 2
Sap Strength
Demonic Haze
Summon Lesser Destroyer
Demonic Vitality
Fire Burst
Summon Lesser Succubus
Abilities:
Personal Spells
Flame Weapon
Copy
Author’s Note
I want to give thanks to my editor first, without whom this book would have taken way longer to even be close to being in your hands. She shall remain nameless though, to stop others trying to get her edit their books (selfish, isn’t he?- editor).
Next up thanks to my best friend who shall also remain nameless, lest someone try to steal him as well, for doing the first round of beta reading. Also beta readers Scott Brown, Jay Taylor and Zee for beta reading it once it was done with the edit. You guys really helped me out by spotting some issues that were missed.
This is the third book I've written, but the first of this series. This time I wanted to dial up the game mechanics compared to my first series, Last Horizon. However, I went old school compared to most of the current litrpg, with set classes and set level up skills.
I guess I should note that all people and places are fictional and any resemblance to real people is not intended. So if for any reason you think any of these characters are based you, wow you got a big ego.
I want to give a shout out to the LITRPG Facebook page. It is a place for fans of the genre as well as authors to mix and mingle. We celebrate the growing genre and encourage each other. Please
stop by and say hello to us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1030147103683334/
I hope you enjoyed the first book of the series. I plan on many more to follow the continued story of Alburet in Alpha World. See you all in book 2 of Alpha World.
The author,
DJ Schinhofen
Alpha World Book One: Gamer for Life Page 37
