Taking a few more hits, Rhyno’s special boss ability kicked in, and he unleashed another Terrible Roar, invigorating the remaining troops, doubling their attack speed for a moment.
I kept casting arrows and sacrificing players, occasionally sending a healing wave to my remaining soldiers as the fight dragged on.
The tide had changed; our combined forces were slowly overpowering the players. They dropped dead like flies, but we continued to take heavy casualties
Despite their fire-powered armor, the Infernal Ogres died first, then Yulli succumbed to a necrotic spell that drained her health away. Rhyno, Kilpi, and I were the last standing. Three against a dozen players and a shitload of dark horrors as our support. My mana pool was nearly depleted, so I stopped freezing and kept on launching drilling arrows, counting on my high mana regeneration to keep me going. Rhyno was critically injured, his health hovering around 20 percent, and his liquid darkness blessing was too low to make much of a difference. There was nothing I could do either. My own heal spell was intended for a large crowd and did not restore a lot of health individually; it would hardly make a dent in the gladiator’s massive health pool.
But it was Kilpi’s turn to shine. As the tank boss’s health reached half, his own boss AoE ability kicked in and he transformed into a whirling blur of shields, protecting both me and the Ogre, deflecting attacks and absorbing incoming spells.
With the protection he offered us, we struck back with impunity at the players, and their numbers continued to plummet until only one was left: the leader who was trying to organize them.
Somehow, using the tiny buckler, he managed to block two swinging blows from Rhyno’s mace and pulled out a yellow potion. I recognized it instantly. It was called ‘Death and Glory,’ a last-stand sort of potion that would turn the drinker into a rampaging force of destruction for a short while, but claiming his life once the effect wore off.
I couldn’t allow him to drink it.
I didn’t have the mana to freeze him and I had exhausted the stored charges of my staff.
Instead, I leveled the sharp end of the staff and lunged forward. With an unbelievably lucky shot, I hit the vial and shattered it.
“NO!” The player cried in protest, though he didn’t have long to lament. Kilpi performed a shield bash, stunning him, then Rhyno’s club took him square in the chest, and his follow-up overhead strike smashed him into paste.
We’d won.
I leaned on my staff, breathing heavily. This was the toughest fight I had participated in since the Ogres’ raid on my clan.
And it was only the first wave.
My golem was destroyed, the apes annihilated, and most of my soldiers were dead, but I couldn’t let minor details get me down.
I still had the bracelet, and with the enemy now gone, I could resummon my troops, all of whom should have gained a significant increase of skills and levels. Unfortunately, as simple unseeded mobs, I couldn’t do so for the apes, whose timely intervention had enabled us to hold up until the main force arrived.
The enemy’s numbers took us by surprise, but despite that, we held our own and triumphed. I had no doubt that, now prepared, we would win over the second wave as well.
Kaedric, the enemy is defeated. Start resurrecting the troops.
Rhyno clasped his huge hand over Kilpi’s shoulder and grunted approvingly.
Kaedric?
35 – The Enemy You Know
“Shadow-crap, shadow-crap, shadow-crap!” I fumed.
We’d killed all the players in the first wave. I knew that for a fact since the feeling of lightness had disappeared. That could only mean one thing: the culprit bastard had decided to show his cards.
“Vic, how can he suddenly be registered as an enemy when up until now he was a phantom?”
“Damn it!” I pounded my hand on a nearby tree.
Kaedric! The saboteur’s presence is preventing us from resurrecting our troops! We need to find and get rid of him immediately before the second wave arrives!
My seneschal responded immediately. I understand, my lord. However, I have no way of locating him. All the noncombatants are hiding in the cave and the remaining soldiers are with you. The village is deserted. The culprit can move around unseen and unhindered.
“Shadow-crap!” I hissed again. Get everyone out of the cave and comb through the settlement. I want to know as soon as they encounter any of the newcomers.
Yes, my lord.
The two bosses, Rhyno and Kilpi, were the only surviving members of my army. Vatras’s plan was working after all. His first wave did what it was supposed to; their attack had left us virtually defenseless. The two bosses were barely standing on their feet. Rhyno had lost hundreds of HP and even with the Liquid Darkness blessing, it would take him … I narrowed my eyes.
“Rhyno, how the hell are you healthy? I saw you get hacked to within an inch of your life.”
The gladiator grinned wickedly and reached inside his armor. My jaw nearly dropped to the ground when I saw the curled bundle of feathers and ears he had extracted. The bundle quivered, took a rasping breath and unfurled.
It was Bek!
Rhyno chuckled gleefully. “The Champion needed more heal, but little goblin cannot near big fighting. The goblin is small, so I put inside my armor and tell, ‘heal!’”
Bek hugged himself and shuddered. “Bek almost not breathe!” he piped. He shot an angry look at the Ogre, then, to my surprise, poked him with his staff; “You not put Bek in smelly armor again, or Bek use magic arrow, not magic heal!”
The Ogre laughed raucously and pulled Bek into a one-armed hug. “Next time, I tell armor-gob to make a pouch in armor for little goblin. Rhyno and Bek! Undefeated champions of the arena!”
“That’s enough, Rhyno; put him down,” I intervened. Bek was slowly suffocating in the Ogre’s armpit.
He did as I ordered, and Bek started breathing again.
“We have a problem,” I told them. “There’s an enemy hiding in the valley. It is one of the newcomer travelers. We need to find him. Split up and start searching.”
“At once, Chief!” Kilpi pounded his chest and walked briskly away.
“Let’s go, little one,” Rhyno said, leading the disgruntled Bek.
At least one good thing had come of the battle: As the sole survivors, we four had gained a lot of XP. Rhyno rose four levels to 23, Kilpi and Bek each made it to 24, and I gained two levels, bringing me to 40.
I put the two new ability points into Mental, as usual, and surveyed the field of carnage.
Blood, body parts, dropped items, and shimmering void crystals dotted the ground. I couldn’t spare the time to go through them now. Kaedric, send some workers to collect the loot from the battlefield.
Yes, my lord.
I cast Shadow Teleport and left the scene.
***
I reappeared out of the shadows, standing at Totem’s Watch, and scanned the valley.
I did not detect any movement. As Kaedric claimed, the place was deserted.
Below me, my goblins started to flow out of the cave and spread across the open part of the valley, looking for the elusive culprit.
In the meantime, I had to do what I could to prepare for the second wave and trust my clanmates to do their part. I turned around and entered the temple.
Kuzai and the two adepts were standing on the other side of the door. They wielded blobs of darkness, ready to attack if an enemy made it through.
I ignored them, marched straight to the shrine, and placed my hands on the rough stone and bones apparatus. I a
ccessed the temple’s interface directly and was satisfied to learn that even after purchasing the Dark Horrors upgrade, I had slightly over 3,000 FP at my disposal.
Fighting and killing players inside the zone of darkness was immensely rewarding. Every dead player was consumed by darkness, earning Faith Points for my clan and leaving a high-level void crystal behind. And I planned to capitalize on that.
Accessing the Eternal Night upgrade options, I purchased several debuffs. The first reduced enemy max health by ten percent, the second reduced damage dealt by ten percent. Each cost 500 FP. The last reduced their resistances and armor by ten percent for 1,000 FP.
That left me with exactly 1,060 FP to spare. I could afford an additional upgrade, but I decided to go another path. The last two surviving bosses had earned themselves an upgrade. I upped their Liquid Darkness blessing to rank 3 for 100 FP, which improved their health regeneration.
For another 120 FP, I splurged on Shadow Armor III for them both, which provided an additional 15 armor. I finished by getting the Coat Weapon III blessing, increasing their damage output and armor penetration by 20 percent.
I spent 350 FP on two soldiers, more than I’d ever spent on one individual before. I tried to convince myself it was a vote of confidence in their battle prowess, but I couldn’t fool myself. This was an act of desperation. As things stood, those two would be the only ones standing between an invading army and my clan. And despite the benefit of the home field advantage, without the rest of my troops, we were outmatched. Even with the new blessings, these two would only be able to buy us a minute.
Probably less.
I had to find the elusive player and put an end to him. Permanently.
Kaedric, anything new?
His answer took me by surprise. My pulse quickened and I allowed my contained anger to swell.
Where are they?
WHO IS IT KAEDRIC? I didn’t let him finish
The urgent tone was out of character for my seneschal. The exact details must have unnerved him.
Just tell me where.
That was inside the forested part of the valley. I ran outside the temple and looked in that direction. With a thought, I cast Shadow Teleport and reappeared inside the gloomy forest.
I stood between the gnarly, black trees and scanned my surroundings. There was no one in sight.
My Tracking skill kicked in, illuminating signs of recent passage. A single person had passed through here not long ago. I spotted blood smears on some of the tree trunks.
I started following the tracks. They led me deeper into the forest until I came into a patch of open ground, only a few meters across. The bloody tracks continued straight forward and into a bed of flowers.
I moved toward the flowers, frowning. Something didn’t feel right here.
I heard a moan and I instantly cast Mana Shield and summoned a trio of drilling arrows. I cautiously approached the flower bed and found an injured person lying in the center.
Raystia.
The catgirl was bleeding from a number of cuts along her legs, but she was alive.
“Raystia?” I called, scanning my surrounding. “Where are Misa and the others?”
“Hey Totem Chief, Sir,” she said weakly and coughed. “I am sorry … I tried, I really tried, but I just couldn’t … they were too strong.”
I took another step, standing just outside the flower patch. I could see her legs were sliced up pretty bad, which was probably why she was prone. She also had the bleeding debuff and would die from blood loss within minutes if not treated.
Still, I didn’t move any closer. My Dangersense was screaming at me that something wasn’t right.
I cast Shadow Hounds and ordered the five mastiffs to sweep the trees around us and look for ambushes. Keep an eye open as well, Vic.
“What happened here?” I moved another step toward the woman, trampling several flowers.
Her eyes were glazed as she stared at a flower on her eye level. “Those are beautiful, aren’t they?” she whispered dreamily.
I glanced at the flowers. They were mostly black, like everything else that now grew in the forest, and had green pollen. “They’re okay. Who attacked you?”
“I used to love flowers,” she continued, ignoring my question. “When I played NEO in my teens, I used to collect them all the time.”
I took a step closer. “That ought to have given you the ‘Flower Picking’ skill. I once knew a girl who had it. Here, let me see your wounds.”
“Yes, I used to have that skill,” she continued with the same dreamy mannerism. “I even got it as high as level 52.” She chuckled.
My hand that was reaching to treat her injuries froze in place, my mind in an uproar. The rest of the world froze as well. There were no sounds, no movements. I existed in between moments as my brain raced, processing that bit of information, and came to a shattering conclusion.
The girl I used to know had that skill at level 52 as well. She would often stride into my office to show me her latest herbal discovery. She was a sweet kid with a generous heart, and I liked her regardless of the fact that she was also the niece of my best friend.
My lieutenant. Vatras.
The bastard did have a spy in my clan after all.
“You!” I exclaimed. “You are behind all this!”
She looked up at me and her dazed appearance disappeared, replaced with a smug smile. “Too late, Chief.” Then she flailed her limbs, crushing the flowers around her, causing them to release their pollen.
I suddenly found myself standing inside a cloud of green particles. I teleported away but the particles had already sifted through my shield and reached my mouth. I appeared at the edge of the clearing, coughing.
Debuff: Goblin Bane Pollen
Your movement speed is reduced by 30%
Spell speed is reduced by 30%
Duration: 1 hour
Lucky Bastard skill level increased to 42.
Raystia downed a potion, and her bleeding stopped. She got up and gave me a steady, appraising look.
Still coughing, I glared at her accusingly.
She steeled her gaze. “I won’t explain myself to you. Go ahead and kill me now; I’ll just respawn in the cemetery.”
“W–” I coughed, “W–why?”
She rolled her eyes and unslung her bow. “The pollen debuff is especially nasty if you breathe it for a few seconds, but you acted quickly so I guess you only took a portion of that.”
That explained the skill progression message.
“I guess I’ll have to chance it anyway.” She drew the bowstring and released an arrow. It hit my shield with an explosion of light.
I squinted, looking at the arrowhead centimeters from my face. It had punched through my shield but didn’t have enough momentum to reach me. I recognized the slender white missile. A hugger bone arrow, one of my own clan’s make.
“Fight, damn it.” The woman readied another arrow. “Show me your true self; the monster who hurt the people I care for.”
For a second I considered doing just that. The coughing didn’t affect my spellcasting ability. It would be a simple matter to freeze then teleport her into Nihilator’s den and let him devour her. It would end the threat she posed once and for all. And would probably increase my standing with the dark deity, the goblin in me couldn’t help thinking. Nihilator would love munching on this juicy traveler …
I came back to my senses. “Wai–” I coughed again, �
��Wait!”
She drew back the string.
“Pen– Penelope!”
The arrow flew wide, missing me. Raystia stood there, looking at me with astonishment.
“Whe… where did you hear that name from?” She sounded much less sure of herself.
***
Raystia gaped at the coughing goblin. For the first time in a long time, she did not know what to do.
After he uttered her name, he just kept on coughing and wouldn’t speak.
What was she supposed to do now? Raystia wasn’t sure.
Her uncle had tasked her with undermining and hampering this goblin’s efforts, softening them up in preparation for his forces to sweep in and deliver the finishing blow. But that … man… somehow knew her real name!
“Whe… where did you hear that name from?” she uttered weakly, her mind reeling at the possibilities.
He just kept on coughing.
She wasn’t feeling too good either. As part goblin herself, the poison was making her weak and her movement sluggish. She guessed that for a pure goblin the effects would be even more severe.
But she didn’t have to wait for him to answer. Her well-trained analytical mind was already deducing the most likely scenario.
That man somehow knew her. When she revealed the bit about her old character’s skill he instantly knew she was responsible for the clan’s trouble. That meant he knew her old character and he knew her real name. Other than Vatras, her uncle, there were only a handful of people in NEO who knew who she was back then, and of those people, only one of them, that she knew of, was missing.
Her voice quivered as she hesitantly spoke. “O … Oren?”
***
I finally coughed enough of the pollen out of my system to able to speak properly. I straightened and looked at the wild-eyed woman.
“Hello, Pen.” I smiled weakly. “It’s been a while.”
“Bu– but …” She opened and closed her mouth a few times. She eventually decided on keeping it closed and her eyes had a distant look as if she were deep in thought.
Life Reset: EvP (Environment vs. Player) (New Era Online Book 2) Page 60
