For a moment, it looks like she’s won the unicorn, but just as the bid is about to lock in, someone bids fifteen thousand gold.
Aleesia’s hand doesn’t falter for a second. How much money does her family have?
Sixteen thousand.
Seventeen thousand.
Twenty thousand.
Twenty-two thousand.
All eyes are on Aleesia now. No one even cares about the unicorn. They want to know how high will she go.
“Twenty-five thousand,” she calls. More than I make in a year.
“Sold,” yells the gnome and the princess jumps in the air. All the seriousness has left her face. The crowd claps and cheers at her winning bid.
“Wow,” I say. I can’t imagine what it would be like to just know that you could have whatever you want. There was a confidence about her that she knew no matter how high the price went, it would be hers.
“What?” she asks, her eyes sheepish.
“That was intense. You think that unicorn was worth that much?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I guess we’ll see next round. Oh wow, look at that.” She points to the mount that has just taken the stage.
Another horse, except this one is black with a fiery mane, tail, and hooves. Fire explodes from its nostrils as it neighs at the crowd. The beast has a temper, that’s for sure.
“This nightmare is the last of our unique mounts. Let’s start the bidding at two thousand.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” roars Klink, her fists clenched. “A bloody nightmare! What chance do any of us have against that thing?”
“What do you mean?” I’ve never even heard of a nightmare.
“They’re one of the fastest mounts in the game. And extremely rare. Only a character with an evil alignment can ride one.”
While I listen to Klink rant, the price soars to fifteen thousand. No one in the crowd has bid on it, which means that someone in another world wants it really bad.
It sells at seventeen thousand.
The rest of the bids go on for a while. Ordin finally returns and buys himself a sturdy pony for a few hundred gold. It’s not fast, but it’s tough. Klink ends up buying some weird lizard creature that looks like a dragon without wings. It thrashes about violently as she attempts to ride it, continuously throwing her to the ground.
“I think I’ve made a mistake,” she groans and we all laugh.
I don’t buy anything.
I hang out with the princess and dwarves outside the city gates while they test out their mounts. The unicorn the princess rides is extremely fast. It bonds to her quickly. Klink, on the other hand, is tossed to the ground several times.
My message icon blinks and I see a message from Buzz.
Esil,
Sorry I missed your call, had to take care of mom. It looks like a lot has happened while I was gone. Those five exclusive mounts are bad news, but I think I might know of a place where we can find you one of your own. It’ll be a long night, but if you can meet me in Asgard in an hour, I have an idea.
-Buzz
Chapter 22
You are now entering Asgard, one of the nine worlds of Norse mythology. This is a non-technological world. All electronics have been disabled upon entering Asgard.
"How in the hell do you have a pass to Asgard?" I ask Buzz. It’s not included with the basic Worldpass that I bought him. Something strange is going on.
His appearance has changed since we last quested together. He no longer wears the pinstriped steampunk clothes from Steamworld. Instead, he wears a black tunic, red pants, and a dented battle helm. He carries a large shield that could block his entire body. A black wolf is engraved in the heavy metal. A black leather cape hangs from his shoulders.
“I had a quest,” he says. “Never thought I would be able to beat it on my own, so I might as well try it with you. I decided to become a tank, too. Well, a tank-mage. All those points I put into Intellect are paying off. Not to mention I still hit like a truck. I traded in all the items and clothes you bought me for some simpler but more durable items. You’d be surprised the type of shield I got for what you paid for Firebreather. I hope you aren’t mad.” His normal smile is gone, replaced with a look of concern. When I focus on Buzz, I can see he is now level twelve. He’s been busy.
“Those were gifts. You can do whatever you want with them as long as you’re happy. Now, do you want to enlighten me on why we’re here?” Merlin hops from my shoulder and lands on Buzz’s shield.
Buzz’s smile returns and his face lights up with excitement.
“Okay, so, you know the basic Worldpass you got me allows me to travel to Midgard, the Old Norse version of Earth. Well, one day I was out trying to level up and I came upon this wolf pack. I could have killed them easily, but there was something about them, I can’t quite explain it, that made me not. Probably because there was a runt with the pack. So I watched them. I sat and watched them for hours until they got up and left. Then I followed them into a cave. By not killing them, I had created an alliance with the wolves. They vowed to protect me whenever possible and asked me if I could help save their leader, Fenrir.”
“Did you?”
“Did I what? Save him? God no. I would die in a heartbeat. They keep him chained in a dungeon in the heart of Asgard. Apparently, he’s a total badass. He is bound in a magical chain because the gods fear that his release will bring upon Ragnarok. Basically, it’s the end of their world. We’d need a whole team to make it through to him.”
“I don’t see how me coming here helps then. We’re just two people.” I don’t have the money to buy a nice mount or the stats to unlock a good one. I guess I’ll be stuck riding a pony or walking on foot.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Buzz smirks.
Right as he says it, I hear a commotion coming from the portal behind me. Grayson appears, wearing his pirate wardrobe. His necklaces jingle as he steps up to my side and grips me hard on the shoulder. Next, the princess emerges from the portal, followed by Ordin, Klink, Glordin and Tinker. Aleesia walks up to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. She is dressed for battle, wearing a tight blue tunic. Silver bracers run down her forearms. My face burns when her lips touch my skin.
“It’s time to pay you back for helping me clear that dungeon.”
“You have helped us all at one time or another,” says Ordin. He beats his warhammer softly against his chest, showing his allegiance. His intense stare matches the fire of his beard.
“What are all of you doing here?” I ask. None of these people owe me anything. I can understand Buzz and Grayson wanting to help, but the others, half of them have their own quest to prepare for.
“I messaged them as soon as you told me you needed a mount,” says Buzz, “and they all agreed to help. No strings attached. You’ve got more friends than you think you do, Esil.”
The city of Asgard stands before us. Carved out of stone, the city is an elegant maze of towers and pillars that grow higher and higher into a center pillar that stretches above the clouds. Getting into the center of that city is going to take a lot of work. I hope we all have a few tricks up our sleeves.
You have been offered to help with the quest “Rescue Fenrir,” do you accept? Y/N
I accept and a blue dot appears on my map. At least we know where he is. The only problem is getting there.
The gates to the city are about a mile away. Several other players walk around us, coming and going. Aside from Grayson, the rest of us look like we belong here, but even he isn’t that out of place.
We walk at a brisk pace.
“What do you do with your mounts when you’re not riding them?” I ask no one in particular.
The princess answers, “I’m not sure how it works, but whenever you don’t need them, they just disappear into your inventory. They don’t weigh you down either, which is convenient.”
“Not that I’ll ever master riding the bloody thing,” murmurs Klink. “Whatever I was thinking buying a basilisk
is beyond me.” She kicks her feet against the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
“A basilisk? Don’t they turn you to stone if you look them in the eye?” I ask. Seems like a dangerous beast to have, especially when you can’t control it.
“Mine is blind. That’s why I got such a good deal on it. Figured I could guide it myself, turns out to be more work than it’s worth.”
Buzz leads the way up ahead. Merlin still rides on his shield. I like Buzz’s new identity, I think it suits the man he has become. He’s still the goofy guy I remember, but he takes things more seriously.
“This’ll be fun.” Aleesia walks close beside me. The memory of her kiss causes my face to grow hot.
“Yeah, thanks for helping.” I try to sound nonchalant as I say it, but I fail miserably. As much as I like her, I know we could never be a couple. We are just too different. She comes from a world so far from mine that it might as well be another planet.
We pass by a group engaged in raucous laughter. One of the men has long blond hair and holds a small hammer in his hand. He is making small bolts of lightning jump out at a large green hulk of a man in front of him. The green man doesn’t seem to notice he’s a lightning rod. Their companion, who is as wide as he is tall, holds a keg of beer in one hand, letting it pour into his mouth and down his red beard. Merlin eyes them suspiciously as we walk by.
Inside the gates of Asgard, this city is alive with laughter, fighting, and games. Men drink and wrestle at roadside taverns. Everyone seems to be having a good time. I wish I had that sense of mirth right now. Instead, I’m worried about finding a mount for a quest that could be happening as soon as tomorrow. It’s the uncertainty of it all that makes me anxious. Give me something I can fight and I’ll beat it down as best I can, but not knowing, that’s when my imagination runs wild.
“This way.” Buzz motions. I look at my map. He is leading us away from the where the wolf is.
“What do you mean? The wolf is located straight ahead.”
“You think you’re just going to walk straight in and take it. Come on, Esil.” He shakes his head at me.
I see a small, ragged, gray wolf disappear around a corner.
“Are these wolves seriously leading us to the quest?” asks Glordin. His battleaxe hangs from his side and his black hair is pulled into a bushy braid.
“What can I say? They like me,” says Buzz. I can’t help but smile. Only Buzz could befriend an entire species.
We follow the wolf down a narrow alleyway. High walls block out the sun, casting the alley in a dark shadow. It is late evening and soon the city will be shrouded in darkness.
The wolf leads us for what feels like an hour. We twist and turn from one street to another as we wind our way closer to the city’s center.
The wolf looks back at us before turning the next corner. When we catch up, it has disappeared. All that stands before us is the high wall of the castle.
“What the hell?” rumbles Grayson. “We’re at a dead end.”
“Not quite,” says Buzz. “Help me lift this sewage grate.”
Hidden in the pavement, designed to look like stones, is a sewage grate that leads down into the underbelly of the city. Buzz, Grayson, and Ordin lift and the heavy metal slides to the side.
“Since we’re doing this for you, you can go first.” Buzz smirks.
“My pleasure.” I focus on Merlin and he flies up to the castle wall. He’s much more useful up there as a lookout than in the cramped pipes of an underground sewer.
I climb down a ladder attached to the stone wall into the sewer. When I hop off, I land with a splash in the wet underbelly of the city. Everything is dark except for the stream of light from the alley. We’ll need a way to see if we have any shot at finding our way through here.
Grayson is the next to join me. Soon, we’re all inside.
“Anyone have a light?” asks Klink. With the grate pulled back overhead, there is even less light than before. I can barely make out the outlines of their faces.
I hear movement and then the entire tunnel is lit in a blaze of light.
Buzz holds a fireball in his free hand. He takes the fire and rubs it around the edges of his shield. It stays in place and soon his entire shield is a burning beacon.
“What the hell is that?” I ask.
“Liquid fire. Pretty neat spell I learned. It doesn’t do damage, but when I coat my body in it at night in the Haunted Forest, I look badass! It also lets me craft torches and whatnot, but that’s beside the point.”
A pair of glowing eyes appear down the tunnel.
“Looks like we have our first challenge.”
A black, hairy beast inches its way towards us, clicking its teeth together.
Giant Rat. Level 35. Rats are the plague of humanity. Giant Rats, however, are a plague for the gods.
It makes a chittering sound and then several more pairs of eyes glow behind it.
Four rats stand in our way.
Four big, ugly, deadly rats.
Aleesia is the first to attack. She is our only ranged physical combatant, so it’s up to her to lure them in our direction. Tinker and I can both cast ranged spells, but I’d rather not waste our mana so early in this quest, not knowing what lies ahead.
“Let’s try to handle them without using our mana if we can,” I tell the group.
Grayson clinks his gauntlets together and steps toward the first rat. Ordin, Glordin, and Klink are right behind him.
Grayson connects with a vicious right hook and the first rat stumbles. Its health drops by half. The shocked looks on everyone else’s faces tell me they didn’t expect him to hit so hard. None of them know that Grayson is a miner. They’ve never seen Buzz fight either. By the end of this quest, I’m certain the secret will be out. I just hope I can trust them to keep it to themselves.
Klink’s double warhammers glow when she collides with the same rat, taking it down a quarter. The rats refuse to sit idly by while we destroy them. They all let out a screech that carries across the tunnel. The force from the attack knocks me off my feet. Everyone takes damage, but I take the most, losing twenty percent of my health. Buzz, with his new tank setup, only loses a tenth.
For the next few moments, the tunnel is pure chaos as the rats scratch and bite in response to our attacks. I hold my shield in one hand and slash my axe with my other. Health disappears in chunks. Buzz stands to my side. We develop a rhythm of attack and defense where we both attack and then lodge our shields together to block their counter.
Buzz’s flaming shield does look awesome, I’ll give him that.
Grayson dishes out pain left and right. His quickness allows him to dodge many attacks with the swiftness of a great boxer. The princess stands in the back, constantly firing arrows. Tinker is the only one who doesn’t fight. By his grimace, I can tell he wants to unleash hell, but his abilities will be needed in due time.
The four rats lay dead on the wet floor. I offer my spoils of loot to Buzz. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. We are bruised but nothing more, and I still have over fifty percent health. Our spells would have ended the fight much sooner, but I’m glad we were able to defeat them the way we did. Mana will be a precious commodity going forward. We all take our health potions and press onward.
We clear a dozen rats before we find an exit that leads into an underground tunnel.
The stone walls of the tunnel are covered with frost. Buzz uses his liquid fire on a couple of dead torches that line the wall and passes them to Grayson and Ordin. The further we walk, the colder it gets. The tunnel ends at a set of wooden doors. A heavy iron chain holds the doors shut.
I press my ear to the door and hear an icy groan from the other side that sends chills down my body.
Chapter 23
Grayson picks the lock and we push the frozen doors open. A thick layer of ice covers the corridor walls and deadly icicles hang from the ceiling. It shouldn’t be this cold only a few feet underground. A loud, guttural scream echoes
from down the hall, too far away to be seen. Buzz steps forward, his flaming shield casting light down the corridor.
I hear movement. Tiny cracks form in the ice and splinter down the corridor walls.
Glordin steps up beside me, frost covering his beard.
“It’s colder than a witches ti—” Glordin starts, but a boulder twice my size rips into him. His boots and a splatter of blood are all that remain as the boulder continues tumbling down into the sewer.
“Oh, shit,” says Aleesia, holding her hand over her mouth.
Two large bodies step into the light of our torches. Two blue giants with icy blue eyes look down at us like we are nothing more than ants. One carries a large battleaxe, the other a club. They speak to each other in a language I cannot understand. The giant sits his axe on the floor and picks up another frozen boulder, throwing it at us.
This time, we are ready and everyone gets out of the way.
I focus on one of the giants in front of us.
Frost Giant. Level 59. Frost Giants have resistance to slows but take double damage to fire attacks.
A tiny tombstone sprouts from the floor where Glordin was killed.
“For Glordin!” yells Ordin. He steps forward, his warhammer glowing with power.
“For Glordin!” echoes Klink and Tinker, thrusting their weapons in the air.
“Does anyone besides the princess have any fire spells?” I remember her fiery arrows from the dungeon.
“I wish I still had Firebreather,” says Buzz. “Liquid Fire is cool and all, but it doesn’t do any damage.”
One of the giants steps closer. Icicles fall from the ceiling and shatter on the floor. We have to dodge in order to avoid impalement.
Tinker casts a spell, and the floor splits open. A canyon runs along the floor and rocks slam into the giants. It should have knocked them in the air, but it barely does any damage.
Pangea Online Book One: Death and Axes: A LitRPG Novel Page 16
