A quick glance at her stats revealed what she said to be true. She had reached level twelve.
Character: Dark Heart
Alignment: Neutral
Level: 12
Health: 224
Mana: 232
Synchronization: 67%
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 20
Wisdom: 20
Intelligence: 16
As I stared at her stats, I vaguely recalled the spell she’d used. Because I’d had a rogue, I’d never actually used it because my rogue hadn’t been good at magic. This game, however, was different. I had even higher intelligence than Dark Heart so as soon as I reached level twelve, I could learn Turn Undead too, and what’s more, I might be better at using it than she was even if she fancied herself a paladin.
“Doesn’t work on boss monsters though,” Crash added with a shrug. “At least it didn’t in TG. There was code that specifically made it fail when cast on a monster with the boss designation.” He gestured toward the room, probably to indicate it was curiously absent of skeletons. “Worked like a charm here though. Guess that guy wasn’t considered a boss.”
“We need to do this again,” Two’ Manchu said, smiling at Dark Heart. “That shit got me fifty percent experience in like thirty seconds.”
“Same,” I said, glancing at my own experience bar. While I wasn’t sure how many skeletons they’d killed, now that the room was cleared, I found I’d gained close to forty percent experience and was on the verge of leveling to ten, which would be sweet because my natural ability to hit and deal damage would both increase. At least, they were supposed to increase.
“Maybe we can hit the wasteland after we finish here. I need a few minutes to regenerate the mana I used in the fight,” Dark Heart said, pointing at something in the middle of the air I couldn’t see. “it won’t take too long.” Then as she watched us staring at the empty spot beside her finger, she blushed. “You can’t see what I’m pointing at, huh?”
“No,” Crash said, shrugging noncommittally. “But I can see it in the party window. That twenty mana per cast is steep considering you only have two hundred and thirty two mana total. You get eleven casts, and it took you two or three tries per skeleton…”
“I just need a weapon or something with more spell power or something, and then I’ll rock these guys.” Dark Heart shot him a look. “Anyway, let’s search the place. The skeletons didn’t drop a lot. Only a few Rhuvians each.”
“Good plan,” I said, glancing around the room as the others began to search the bar. Only there wasn’t that much of interest in the room. There were the rooms upstairs and the kitchen in the back though. “George and I will check the kitchen, and then we can regroup and go through the upstairs rooms, okay?”
“What if I don’t want to do what you say?” George asked as he followed me through the opening in the far left wall that led to the kitchen. At least I was pretty sure it led to the kitchen because I’d seen a now dead waitress bustle in and out of that doorway with food.
“Then I might be forced to find a new rabbit,” I said, peering into a large empty room that smelled of old blood and decay. “Perhaps one that’s a little better looking.”
“You’ll be looking a long time then, boss. There ain’t no rabbit better looking than moi,” the rabbit said, dismissing my comment as I used my Light spell to brighten the darkened room. A sphere of light leapt from my outstretched hand and hurtled toward the middle of the ceiling.
As I stepped further into my room, a chill ran down my spine. The floors and walls were covered in blood, and as I moved forward, the sound of chewing filled my ears.
“Ugh, this place stinks, boss!” George said, hopping alongside me and crinkling his nose.
“No kidding,” I said, pinching my nose. Only as I spoke, the chewing stopped. I glanced toward the source of the sound, but didn’t see anything besides a large stone counter.
“Um… did it just get eerily quiet, boss?” George asked, right before a skeleton clad in a chef’s hat and apron leapt over that counter to attack me. Bloody bits of ragged flesh clung to its lips as it slashed at me with the butcher’s knife gripped in its skeletal hand.
I ignored its blow as my health dropped by five percent and whipped my dagger around and hacked at the thing. An inhuman scream tore from its maw as my black mithril blade sliced through its bony chest. Unfortunately, my dagger got stuck between its ribs as it twisted away. While furrows of energy spread across the ragged edges of its wound, the skeletal chef stabbed at me with mindless fury.
The butcher’s knife tore into my side, dropping my health by another six percent despite my leather coat and chain mail. It was sort of lame because the blade would have slid off if this was real life, but all my armor seemed to do was reduce the damage I took. Stupid game.
“Die!” I cried, releasing my hold on my dagger while I spun and buried my short sword in its side.
Another shriek erupted from its maw as it lurched sideways away from me and wrapped its skeletal hand around the black mithril dagger. As it tried to pull the blade free, George blasted it in the face with Cone of Ice.
The magical ice lance took the skeletal chef’s head clean off its shoulders, and as its head bounce across the wooden floor, the rest of its slumped forward onto its knees before bursting into a bunch of iridescent shards.
My experience bar went up by four percent, and I smiled as I moved forward to pick up my dagger and the fallen butcher’s knife to identify it.
Butcher’s Knife
Damage (Small Monsters): 1
Damage (Large Monsters): 1
Range: 1
Material: Steel
Durability: 100
Bonus: 10% bonus to butchery and related craft skills.
A sigh exploded from me. This thing was useless. I’d keep it since I might wind up learning butchery, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be using it in combat.
“That was fun, boss, but next time, let me get it from far away while you just stay back, okay?” the rabbit nodded toward my side, even though my health was already starting to regenerate because combat had ended. “I hate having to wait for your health to recover. It’s so boring.”
“Like you’ve ever had to do that,” I grumbled, sheathing my dagger and moving around the counter to see what the skeletal chef had been doing back there. I instantly wished I hadn’t because laying on the ground were a bunch of hacked up corpses and a black, bubbling cook pot.
George grimaced as a foot bobbed to the surface of the viscous liquid. “I’m so glad I haven’t eaten here.” He stuck out his tongue, and as he did, my stomach lurched. I, of course had eaten here, and while I knew it wasn’t real per se, I still nearly lost my lunch onto the wooden floor.
6
“Well, that’s certainly creepy,” Two’ Manchu said as he came up next to me. “I hope you didn’t eat anything.”
“Dude, he totally ate something,” George replied, poking me in the side as I stood there staring at the hewn bodies beside the massive cook pot. “No one would be that pale if they hadn’t.” The bunny leered at me. “Tell me, did it taste like chicken or pork?”
“I bet it tasted like chicken since this is a game world and how is an AI going to know what stuff tastes like.” Two’ Manchu smacked me hard on the back. “You know, like in the Matrix.”
“Dude, fuck the Matrix, and fuck you,” I snarled, getting to my feet and glaring at the barbarian. Then I poked him hard in the chest. “What the fuck are you doing in here, anyway? You’re supposed to be searching for clues.”
“Coming to get you because we found something?” Two’ Manchu offered and gave me a reasonable smile. It made me want to hit him. Hard.
“Whatever,” I snapped and stomped past him into the main room to find Crash and Dark Heart standing over a table examining an old book.
“Hey, Kahn. Come check this out!” Crash called, waving me over. “We found this old journa
l that talks about the Skeleton King. I think we know how to beat him.”
“Really?” I asked, crossing the room with the barbarian and the rabbit hot on my heels. A moment later, I found myself staring at a musty, leather-bound tome. The leather itself was cracked and split, and the pages were yellowed with age. “How do you know it’s relevant?” I pointed at the open page where it depicted what looked like a picture of an amulet. “We don’t have time for a wild treasure hunt if we want to kill the Skeleton King before time runs out.”
“That’s the thing,” Dark Heart said, standing up and turning to look at me. “The book says that the Skeleton King can only be killed by the Sword of Infinite Sorrows, and in order to wield the sword, you must find the Medallion of Courage, the Ring of Strife, and the Broach of the Fallen Hero.” She pointed at me accusingly. “Do you have any of those items?”
“Well, no.” I shook my head as an exasperated sigh left my lips because that seemed like a lot of stuff we needed to get just to defeat the Skeleton King, and a quick glance at the timer counting down until he came to ravage the town left me with the impression we didn’t have time to get it all. Still, we had to try, right because if we didn’t, we had no hope of completing the quest and defeating the Skeleton King. “So how do we get them?”
“I’m not sure,” Crash said, shaking his head. “I mean, I actually remember a quest for those items, but I don’t recall implementing it because no one would want to spend a couple dozen hours in a newbie area.” He shot me a wry grin. “Know what I’m saying?”
“Well, that’s ten kinds of helpful,” George said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t even know why we keep you around. At least Sugar Tits isn’t too hard on the eyes, but you? Useless…”
“Here’s the thing though,” Crash said, ignoring the bunny which was probably for the best. “I do remember that there was supposed to be a quest to make the Sword of Infinite Sorrows. Our details were pretty vague if I recall.” He shrugged. “Basically though, you need to find the Battered Hilt of Sorrows, the Broken Blade of Sorrows, and then farm a ton of Magestone, that’s what the sword was made from, to repair the weapon. So we could start there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Two’ Manchu said, smacking me hard on the shoulder. “Right, Kahn?”
“It does sound like one, anyway.” I sighed. If we did need this sword to defeat the Skeleton King, we might as well start there. At best worst we’d wind up with a sword we couldn’t use, but who knows, maybe we’d find the other objects along the way?
“Good, then it’s settled,” Dark Heart said, pocketing the journal. “Crash, where do we find the first piece of the sword?”
“In an area called the Ravine of Despair.” His shoulders slumped and color flushed across his cheeks. “While I’m not sure where that is, it has to be around here somewhere, eh?”
“Okay, well, let’s ask the guards. They seem to know a lot about the town’s surroundings,” I said, glad to be doing something that didn’t involve me getting my face pounded in by skeleton bitches nor standing around wasting time. I had monsters to kill, loot to recover, and a quest to complete.
“You sure you don’t want to wait until you’re a bit less drunk?” Two’ Manchu asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “You’re still slurring a bit.”
“Pfft, if I get in trouble, the healer will save me.” I glared at Crash before turning my attention to Dark Heart. “By the way, you put together a shitty party. Why is there no dedicated support? You have three DPS and a tank. That’s a recipe for disaster.” I gestured at Crash once more. “It’s not like he’s good at healing.”
Before Dark Heart could respond, Crash glared hard at me. “Firstly, I played a battle priest in TG, not a healing priest.” Nostrils flaring, he crossed his arms over my chest. “Secondly, fuck you. Heal yourself.”
“You’re aware that there aren’t actually classes here right?” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. I mean, he had a point in the whole he didn’t play a healer thing, but still, we were going to need one soon.
“You’re aware I said the builds we made for Titan Gate were basically the optimum builds, right? If I deviate from them, I’ll become sub-optimal,” Crash snorted before turning on his heel and making his way toward the window. “Let’s go.”
“I didn’t recruit any healers because I had planned on healing. That’s why I slotted my sixteen into Intelligence instead of Strength or Dexterity.” Dark Heart pointed at Two’ Manchu. “I expected the barbarian to tank, but his stats are so bad, I am doing that because Crash is right, in this area, we can heal ourselves as long as we have a good tank.”
“So this is my fault?” Two’ Manchu said, staring at his hands. I’d half expected him to sound angry, but he didn’t. Instead, he sounded sort of depressed. “Sorry, I guess.”
“It’s fine,” Dark Heart said, waving it off. “Once we get to the main world and get you leveled to fifty, we’ll get you a reroll potion. They’re expensive, but lots of people sell them because once you get above a certain stat amount, no one really uses them because it’s too risky. We’ll just fix you up then.”
“Okay,” Two’ Manchu said, shuffling his steps as he took a deep breath. “Sorry again.”
“Well, glad I’m not the problem,” Crash snapped, glaring at me before climbing out the window and disappearing into the night outside without another word.
“What a jerk,” George said, padding over to Two’ Manchu and nuzzling his leg with his bunny head. “I think you’re swell for a fuckup.”
“Um… thanks,” the barbarian said as I stared at the open window before turning my gaze to the stairs.
“Aren’t we going to check the rooms upstairs?” I asked, wanting to go check them out but not wanting to go by myself after what had happened in the kitchen.
“We already did,” Dark Heart said, putting a hand on my shoulder for a second before heading toward the window herself. “That’s where we found the journal.”
“Awesome,” I muttered even though it wasn’t awesome. So while I’d been getting attacked by a skeletal chef and finding out I’d consumed virtual human flesh, they’d found a lead on how to beat the Skeleton King. That totally seemed fair.
“Stop being a grump,” Two’ Manchu said as Dark Heart exited through the window. “You’re still cool. Remember, you have those amazing stats. I mean, it’s probably because you needed the extra help, but still.”
“Whatever,” I said, handing George to him after he climbed out the window, then I followed suit. It felt good to put my feet on the cobblestone streets of the Town of Silver Gables. Something about being in the Macabre Skull had set my nerves on edge.
Still, as I sucked in a breath that tasted like pine trees, it was hard to believe this place was going to be besieged by undead soon. I mean, the walls weren’t even stone, just sharpened stakes. The undead would break through that so fast, it might as well not even be there.
“How are we going to defeat the Skeleton King?” I asked, gesturing toward the gates as we made our way back to the town center. “The quest makes it seem like he’s going to storm this place and there’s absolutely no way this place can defend against that. The second he shows up here, his army will run roughshod over the place.”
“Hopefully, we will have the sword to kill the Skeleton King when he sieges the town. Then we’ll just kill him,” Dark Heart said, giving me a look that made me think she’d had a similar thought to mine. “If not, these guys are kind of fucked, and while I want to help, I’ll port to the main land long before I let myself get killed defending NPCs.”
“Good because that would kill us too,” Two’ Manchu said, but before he could elaborate, Cain, the resident old as dirt item identifying NPC waved at us from beside the fountain.
“How are you fine adventurers doing?” he asked, approaching us in his hobbled old man way that made his leather sandals scrape on the cobbles. “Good, I hope?”
“Pretty good,” Crash said, smiling brightly at the old man.
“We were hoping to put the Sword of Infinite Sorrows back together again. I think I heard something about the first piece being in the Ravine of Despair, but I don’t know where that is.” His smile brightened to full on one-hundred watts. “Do you, per chance?”
Cain’s expression darkened. “You want to put the cursed blade back together?” He shook his head. “Everyone who has ever used the weapon has turned dark. Why the Skeleton King used to be this land’s greatest hero before he took possession of it.”
“I think we might have better luck,” I said, trying to reassure the old man. His words didn’t frighten me. I mean, okay, sure, it was a cursed blade or whatever, but it was also part of the story line. Just because bad things happened to fictional people for the sake of plot, didn’t mean they’d happen to us because, after all, we were real.
“Suit yourself,” Cain replied with a weary sigh. “The ravine can be found of the far eastern side of the Wasteland of Chaos. Once you’re on the border, you’ll find a passageway that leads down into the ravine.” He swallowed hard. “Be careful though. The wasteland is known for sinkholes, and many an adventurer have fallen into one, never to return.”
“Yeah, been there, done that,” Two’ Manchu joked. “No desire to do it again.”
“Yeah, for real, right?” Crash whined, shaking his head. “Anyway, let’s go.” His gaze glazed over indicating he was looking and a menu. “We’ve only got a few hours until daybreak and we don’t have time to spare.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Cain said, shaking one knobby finger at us as Crash turned toward the gate and began to walk away. “You’d best wait until morning.”
“Why is that?” I asked. It wasn’t that I was anxious to go or not because the Skeleton King would come either way, and call me crazy, but the idea of venturing through the Wasteland of Chaos and into the Ravine of Despair at night didn’t sound particularly smart. After all, it wasn’t like I could adjust the gamma on my screen to max and see like it was daytime. No, it’d actually be like it was nighttime.
Soulstone: The Skeleton King: A LitRPG Novel (World of Ruul Book 2) Page 4
