Nova Terra: Guardian - A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Titan Series Book 4)

by Seth Ring

  “This will take us to another path that heads straight north.”

  Following OneArrowKiller's direction, Thorn turned down the path and continued to lead them forward. This time, instead of waiting for Boon and SmilingBandit to engage, Thorn flexed his claws and began charging every enemy that OneArrowKiller pointed out. Jumping forward, he sent his claws through two spirits that were clumped together. Spinning on his heel, he snapped a kick at another spirit, the claws on his feet cutting through a third.

  Realizing that fighting with his hands and feet was going to be too slow, he pulled his tetsubo out of his inventory and smashed it down with one hand, crushing the last spirit in that clump of four. Despite the weight of his blow the spirit barely survived due to its resistance to physical damage, but before it could attack him a glowing blue [Ice Spike] lanced through its head, turning it into ash.

  Witnessing how ineffective Thorn’s weapon was, Velin chanted under her breath and a golden pillar of light fell from the sky, revealing a few incoming enemies and illuminating Thorn’s tetsubo. The light wrapped around the metal club, coating the spikes on the end with a glittering sheen. Spinning it in his hand, Thorn nodded his thanks to Velin and, with a silent roar, he took a large step forward. Swinging his weapon, he smashed it into the three charging spirits, easily crushing them into piles of ash.

  The tetsubo increased the area of his attacks and the golden blessing that Velin cast increased his already prodigious damage against spirits. SmilingBandit, seeing how quickly Thorn had killed the spirits, took a deep breath. Letting out a low sigh, he looked at Boon and then at OneArrowKiller. Squaring his shoulders, he called Mina and Velin to come forward.

  “Honestly, magic is going to be more efficient at clearing the spirits. Since speed is of utmost importance, why don’t we swap? Boon and I will move back to guard, Mina and Velin, would you mind helping Thorn clear a path? Arrow can help you with spotting.”

  “No problem, I got this.” Mina stepped forward, her hand raised to stop Velin from advancing. “Velin, you rest for now in case we get ambushed. These spirits won’t stand a chance.”

  After the brief reorganization, Mina and OneArrowKiller stood behind Thorn while Velin, Boon, and SmilingBandit guarded Baxby and the Elves. Getting the signal that everyone was ready, Thorn began to run forward, blazing a path through the Barrow Hills. With Mina’s nigh infinite [Ice Spikes] to support him and OneArrowKiller to detect where the enemies were, Thorn obliterated everything in his path, making much faster progress than before.

  “There is a clump of seven twenty feet up and ten feet to the right, and twenty-five feet farther up on the left there are four. About fifteen feet past them is a group of ten.”

  “I’ll clear three in the first group and CC any pulls from the third.” Mina called out, lifting her wand to cast [Ice Spikes].

  OneArrowKiller lifted his bow as Thorn advanced, sending a stream of arrows at one of the spirits on the side. With Mina tying down the spirits on one side of the group and OneArrowKiller targeting the spirits on the other, Thorn charged into the center of the group of seven spirits, his tetsubo reaping two of them almost instantly. Blocking the others from leaving his range, he thrust his weapon forward like a spear at the nearest spirit while a deluge of [Ice Spikes] nailed the last one to the ground.

  Not bothering to search through the piles of ash for any drops, Thorn continued to rush forward, smashing into the next three spirits like a freight train. The impact of his charge wiped one spirit out and the second and third soon fell to his tetsubo and claws. Watching from next to Princess Rychell, Aien glanced at Baxby who stood on his other side.

  “You said he is a traveler? So even if he dies he is going to come back?”

  “Hmm? Oh, you mean Lord Greymane? Yeah.” Baxby grinned at the Princess’ guard, and quipped. “All you get for killing him is an angrier version. And believe me, you wouldn’t like him when he is angry.”

  “For real. Remind me to stay on his good side.” Boon shook his head as he watched Thorn charging into the center of the group of fifteen spirits without regard for their attacks. “Make that all of their good sides.”

  Mina’s voice rose as she cast [Avalanche] and [Blizzard] one after the other, all centered on Thorn who did not slow down in the least despite standing at the center of the raging snowstorm. The spirits around him were not so lucky, and the freezing magic caused their limbs to go numb, as if they were caught in a thick molasses. Before they could dodge, the magically charged shards of ice that were swirling around them stabbed through their incorporeal forms.

  The ice blades themselves did little to the spirits, but the same could not be said for the magic that wreathed the ice’s edges. As the shards passed through the spirits, they left gaping holes, cutting the spirits of the ancient elves apart. Gulping, Boon turned toward SmilingBandit and repeated himself.

  “Lets stay on all of their good sides.”

  Continuing to forge ahead, Thorn focused all of his attention on carving through the spirits as quickly as OneArrowKiller could point them out. The team rushed forward behind him, Mina and OneArrowKiller supporting his attacks with streams of arrows and spells. With Thorn at the front they made great time, despite the increased density of the spirits.

  As they approached the middle of the Barrow Hills the spirits not only grew more numerous, but they also started getting bigger and stronger. With the blessing that Velin bestowed on his weapon, Thorn was still able to cut them down with a single swing, but he could feel it getting harder and harder. A new type of spirit had appeared as well, one that would have been quite annoying had Thorn been by himself.

  Thorn had just finished cleaning up a group of four spirits when he heard OneArrowKiller’s shout and a sense of danger flooded his mind. Spinning on his heels, he raised his left arm, shielding his neck and head as he crouched. Through the gap in his arm he caught sight of a pale green fireball rushing toward him.

  Letting himself fall back, Thorn was nearly able to dodge the fireball completely, but ultimately his size was too big and it caught the edge of his bracer, exploding into a burning mist. Bracing himself for the burning pain, Thorn was astounded when he felt an icy sensation from the green fire. A deep chill settled into Thorn’s forearm where the fire struck and quickly began to spread. The sickly green began to crawl up his arm, only disappearing after Akira gave a small squeak.

  [Royal Grace]

  [Thanks, Akira.]

  [Of course, master!]

  Lifting his eyes, Thorn spotted the attacker, a spirit that he had never seen before. Unlike the spirits they had faced so far which were roughly humanoid in appearance, this spirit looked like it was made up of an armless floating robe. Protruding from the top of the gently waving garment was a thick candle stem, flickering with green flame. As Thorn watched, the green flame above the spirit’s wick began to swell as it got ready for another attack.

  [Triple Shot]

  [Ice Spikes]

  Both Mina and OneArrowKiller did not wait for the spirit to launch its attack, pummeling it with arrows and shards of ice. The first few attacks failed to hit, ricocheting off of a shield of mist that materialized around the spirit’s body. Each strike caused the shield to fade until it disappeared completely, allowing the following attacks to rip into the spirit’s body.

  As it deteriorated into ash, Thorn took a deep breath, wincing as he stretched his hand. The ghostly fire had burned his arm badly, despite leaving no mark on his bracer. Even after Akira had cleared the fire from his arm with [Royal Grace] he could feel the sting that it left behind.

  “What on earth was that?” Mina looked over at OneArrowKiller.

  “That was an Unholy Wraith. It is one of the more advanced enemies. Seeing it means that we are getting closer to the core areas. We’ll have to be more careful from here on out.”

  “Yeah, no kidding. Any other enemies that we need to watch for?”

  “Uh. There is also a Spirit Reaper. It is a big, brute t
hing. Has massive hammers for hands. It is made of bones though, so it doesn’t have the physical immunity that the rest of the spirits possess. Once we hit the center area we will have to deal with Reapers, Wraiths, the ancient spirits that we have been fighting, and Dread Hunters. Probably all at once.”

  “Hmm. The Spirit Reapers should not be such a big deal. Anything without physical immunity we can have Thorn deal with. Me and you should be able to focus down the Unholy Wraiths.” Tapping her chin, Mina paused for a moment. “Velin, we might need you up here.”

  “What is going on?” Walking up, Velin looked between Thorn, Mina, and OneArrowKiller.

  Hearing Mina explain the situation, Velin agreed to move to the front rank and fight alongside them after SmilingBandit and Boon assured her that they could handle guarding the back line. After reapplying the blessing to everyone’s weapons, Velin gave Thorn the signal and he began to push forward again.

  Within a few minutes they ran into another large group of spirits, this time supported by two of the strangely-shaped Unholy Wraiths. This time, before getting close enough to aggro them, Thorn pulled out his arbalest and leveled it at the Unholy Wraith on the right. Seeing him focus his attention, Mina and OneArrowKiller readied their attacks, targeting the Unholy Wraith on the left. Holding up his hand, Thorn counted down and as he reached one he pulled the trigger of his siege crossbow.

  The shriek of the massive bolt ripped apart the mist’s unnatural stillness, drawing the attention of the spirits. At the same moment Mina and OneArrowKiller released their attacks, peppering their target with as much damage as they could muster. Seeing that they had started their attack, Thorn put his arbalest away and charge forward, smashing into the center of the grouped spirits.

  Once Thorn was surrounded by spirits, Velin planted the end of her staff into the dirt, chanting under her breath. As the spirits rushed up to Thorn, a ball of light rose from the gem on Velin’s staff, rolling through the air to hover above Thorn’s head. Shimmering flame fell in a curtain around Thorn’s massive figure, shrouding him from the spirit’s attacks. As the spirits' limbs came in contact with the flaming wall that surrounded him, their bodies burst into flame.

  For a moment the misty air was filled with muffled screeching as the spirits were consumed by the fire. A few seconds later, the area around Thorn was emptied of ancient spirits as they burned themselves to death on Velin’s [Holy Flame Shield]. The two Unholy Wraiths were also dead, one destroyed by Mina and OneArrowKiller and the other cut down by the bolt from Thorn’s arbalest. Despite the success of their attack, Thorn was not happy as he looked around.

  The spirits were starting to get harder and harder to clear quickly which would mean slowing down and would increase the chances of getting caught by the team that was chasing them. Sighing, Thorn glanced at the way they had come despite the fact that he could not see anything besides mist.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Half an hour later, Baxby alerted the group that his alarms had been triggered. Thorn was in the middle of punching through an Unholy Wraith, so he quickly finished up his fight and the group gathered to talk about what to do next.

  “Bad news, but they must be tracking us with magic.” The old treasure hunter rubbed his grizzled chin. “That is the only way they could have found our actual path so fast.”

  “Are you sure that they didn't just trip them when they passed by?”

  “No, they’re on our track.” Baxby shook his head as he gave SmilingBandit a look from the corner of his eyes. “I set them well back on the path so they would have to be walking down it to trigger them. This is not my first rodeo.”

  “Can we throw them off again?”

  “No, we don’t have any time.” Velin’s frown deepened, causing her brow to furrow. “With the speed they are traveling they’ll catch up with us in fifteen minutes. Maybe less.”

  “Then I guess we fight.”

  “We can’t.” Velin shot a look at Princess Rychell who was biting her lip with worry. “The Princess and her guards are escaped slaves, unless we have a way to crack their slave brands we run the risk of them being recaptured.”

  “Wait, what are you talking about?” Mina asked, looking back and forth between Velin and the princess.

  Blushing slightly, Princess Rychell pulled down the collar of her shirt, revealing a line of arcane text tattooed just below her collar bone. Written in a sinister spidery font, it glowed with a sickly magic. All three of the other Elves carried the same tattoo, and as they thought about them their faces fell.

  “Okay, so you have a scary looking tattoo. So? I feel like I’m missing something here.”

  “The slave tattoo has a compelling effect. They are applied in pairs. One on the slave, the other on the slave master. If the bearer of the corresponding master tattoo appears they’ll be able to order the Princess and her companions around as they wish. We can’t afford to let them meet with the owner of the master tattoo.”

  “Shoot. We should have brought Oberlin along.” Mina said with frustration.

  “I’ve already messaged him and Peregrine and asked them to come to the island. But we need to get the Princess to Thilvena as quickly as possible. That is the only way she’ll be safe until the slave brand is undone.”

  “Then how are we going to stop them?” SmilingBandit asked.

  *WHUMP*

  The sound of Thorn’s tetsubo hitting the ground drew everyone’s eyes and he loomed over the group. Lifting his thumb to his chest he ground his fist into his palm.

  *I fight. You go.*

  “Thorn is right. We’ll need to split up. One group will keep going with the Princess, getting her back to Thilvena as fast as possible. The other group will need to stop the pursuing group.” Velin sighed and faced Thorn. “Splitting up is not ideal but I don’t think we have another option. Thorn, who do you want?”

  Looking over the team, Thorn thought about the upcoming fight. He had already faced both Heuron and Lady Ruby, but he had no idea who else they would be facing. The chasing group could not be too large given the speed at which they were traveling, and they were likely almost entirely players.

  Velin was needed for the rest of the group to finish crossing the Barrow Hills, plus, she was probably best suited for diplomacy in the Elven city of Thilvena. Baxby and OneArrowKiller were also important for the group escorting the princess. That left SmilingBandit, Boon, Mina, and the Princess’ guards. Unsure about how well the Elven guards could fight, Thorn did not want to pit them against players before he was sure that they would be able to survive the encounter. After all, for natives, losing their lives was a permanent thing.

  At the same time, asking Boon, SmilingBandit, or Mina to stay back for what would almost certainly be a fatal fight was not fair to them. SmilingBandit could tell that Thorn was having a tough time figuring out who to ask. Sharing a glance with Boon, he stepped forward and smacked his fist to his chest.

  “Leave it to me and Boon. We’ll stop them with you. The worst that will happen is that we’ll be unable to log into the game for a day.”

  “But what about the quest?”

  “Hah, it doesn’t look like it’ll fail if we die. So long as the Princess makes it back we’ll have reached our goal.”

  “I can stay and help too.” Mina raised her hand, only to have Velin grab her arm and lower it.

  “We need you to clear the spirits.” Velin said. “Thorn, Akira, SmilingBandit, and Boon are probably more than we can spare as it is, we can’t afford to lower the combat strength of the main group that much.”

  Thorn pointed to himself, Akira, and Boon.

  *Stay. We fight.*

  “Are you sure you do not want SmilingBandit to stay as well? At the very least you’ll be able to attack from multiple sides. I know that it is not an ideal configuration but we don’t have time to do much better.”

  “Plus, Boon and I are used to attacking together. We’re much more effective as a team.” SmilingBandit patted Boon on the sho
ulder as he agreed with Velin’s assessment. “Arrow, do you think you can help out with some traps? Honestly, anything would be good at this point.”

  “Sure, I can put down some traps.” OneArrowKiller nodded, pulling a number of small devices from his inventory. “I’ve got a variety of elemental traps that I can deploy.”

  “We can put down some traps as well.” Slightly embarrassed by their inability to help, the two Elven guards quickly spoke up.

  Finding a small hollow at the base of one of the hills, OneArrowKiller and the Elven guards began to set up their traps in a horseshoe shape around the hollow. As they arranged the traps, Velin helped Thorn, SmilingBandit, and Boon set up their plan. Placing the last of his traps down, OneArrowKiller brushed his hands off and walked over to where Velin was organizing the others.