No, they were more than just his harem. He loved all of them. They were the only thing keeping him going.
Zack turned away and bared his teeth as he thought of the Janitor. “I’m going to fucking kill you when this is over.”
He accepted the quest.
Bringing up the map of Middle Underworld in his field of view, he was amazed at how big and complex the damn place was. It had to be three times larger than Lower Underworld had been, though he had no real way of knowing how big that had been either. Walking around in dark tunnels and chambers was disconcerting to not only his sense of direction but also to knowing how far he had traveled.
The map contained dozens of markers naming different locations. The portal from Lower Underworld was located roughly in the bottom center edge of the map, the Drunken Fop Tavern a little north of that. It had taken them around four hours to travel from the portal to the tavern, and yet on the map the two locations were almost on top of one another.
Which meant, the rest of Middle Underworld was truly vast. The Bottomless Well was some ways south of the center of the map. Without a scale showing him how many miles across the map stretched, it was impossible to tell how long it would take them to get there.
Zack bit his lip. If he didn’t get this first assassination mission out of the way quickly, he would be out of time. Even now, he was pushing the countdown timer until death.
130 Hours until death!
Bloody hell.
The rest of the map showed the location of several goblin tribes to the far north west of the map, some other locations that had no indication of what they were, an area belonging to the Cult of Sulfurion, another to Gwynn. Dozens of other locations were marked on the map and one caught Zack’s eye.
Mercenary Hold.
Would that be the location of the mercenaries he would have to hire to traverse through Upper Underworld? The top level of the Underworld was a true Raid zone, with raid bosses that would need to be fought to escape to the surface. Or so his core quest to escape the Underworld had said when he had first been exiled down here.
Overwhelmed by the complexity of the map, Zack closed it down. The women needed him. He had to get a move on.
“Fine, I will watch over Queen Missy and your two concubines,” Margery said. She stood at the edge of the bed, tears running down her wrinkly old face. “I knew you would bring trouble to our lives.”
“This isn’t my doing.” Zack frowned. “Trust me, I will do everything I can to get them back.”
The old woman glowered at him. “I expect you to, for if you don’t.” She drew a knife from inside her robe. “I’ll kill you.”
“I’d let you kill me too. I have only made it this far in the Underworld thanks to them.” They are the only thing I have in this wretched life, other than a mother who lied to me all these years!
He spun on his heel and strode toward the door leading out into the palace. “I will need potions before I leave.” He brought up the player house upgrade panel, and bought the Restoration Potions upgrade for Margery (-300 food). He would go down into the basement and order a whole bunch of them.
With plenty of food still left, he decided he would head to the markets, buy a new cloak and pick up two Large Canvas Sacks (300 Inventory Slots), to replace his 100 slot plain Canvas Sack bags.
Then he would get started on the mission.
Margery followed him down to the basement, muttering under her breath. Zack didn’t bother paying attention to what she was saying, as it was no doubt about him.
Zack ordered her to make 10x Greater Restoration Potions at fifteen meals each (-150 Food). His inventory still contained 6x Greater Health Potions and 8x Greater Mana Potions, so he wouldn’t go nuts ordering more. He had no healer now and potions were going to be his only way to heal while in combat.
By the end of upgrading and ordering potions, he still had 730 meals. Enough to buy a cheap magic item and a bigger bag or two.
“I’ll be back soon,” Zack said, heading for the door.
When he arrived in the markets he browsed the local vendors and decided to purchase…
Tailored Cloak
A simple crimson cloak that is good at hiding all the blood from your murderous escapades!
+1 all stats
Physical Damage Reduction 4%
That cost him 250 meals.
Then he went and grabbed two Large Canvas Sacks, costing him a further 400 meals and leaving him with only 80 and only one Canvas Sack in need of replacing. After all the hard fighting and killing, he was almost broke again.
Before he left the center of town, he headed to the stalagmite quest board. It was then he noticed how quiet it was without the three women around. Amy’s jokes, Missy’s musical voice, Betsy’s… Well, Betsy’s everything. Even the NPCs ignored him. Without Missy around, he was nothing to them.
For the first time since entering Aralia Online, he felt truly alone.
Stuff this. I need to GTFO of here and get a move on. The game was starting to feel too much like the depressive real world, he reckoned.
Reaching the quest board, he scanned it for any new gathering quests or anything else that might be useful to do on the side. There was one new task that looked interesting.
REPEATABLE QUEST
Objective: The local Healers Guild is in search of the following rare herbs: Purple Thistle, Glow Pods and Cave Kelp. The guild is willing to pay 20 meals for every herb you return to them. These herbs can be carried in any type of bag and can be found in Middle and Upper Underworld.
Zack accepted the quest, double checked there was nothing else of interest, then headed back to the palace. When he returned, Margery met him in the throneroom and shoved the Restoration Potions into his inventory. “Done. Now leave me alone so I can watch over Queen Missy and your concubines.”
“Their names are Amy and Betsy.”
Margery glared at him. “Get out there and do whatever you have to do to bring them back. I will look after the three of them, so no need to come back here to check on them until you are done.”
“This won’t be over quickly.” Zack breathed deeply through his nose, trying to keep his anger in check. He could have done without the old woman’s hostility right now. “Once I have completed my first task given to me by the asshole who did this, one of the women will wake up. I have no idea which.”
“Then, hurry and get out there. Do whatever you have to do.”
Zack went and placed sixty of his remaining meals into the storage in the attic, then stopped by Missy’s bedroom. With a heavy heart, he kissed the three sleeping women softly on the lips. “I love you. I will be back soon.” He turned away. “When you are all with me again… I will tell you the truth of what you really are.”
With that, he used the portal stone and returned to the Drunken Fop Tavern.
Chapter Eight
Alone
Zack lowered the map, then doused his torch. Yes, this is it.
Finally, he’d arrived at Hyvernal Farmstead. It had only taken him eight hours to get there. Between the map and his compass, he had never once gotten lost. A good thing too, being that he had a disease timer counting down the hours until his death.
Speaking of death…
He saw an NPC man tending a small herd of goats. The shepherd didn’t seem to have any weapons, but one might be hidden inside his woolen robe.
What the hell was a woman being held prisoner here for? The place looked like nothing more than an out of the way peasant’s shack whose sole purpose was either to give players another location to explore or perhaps the peasant offered a quest.
Unless there was a pretty farmer’s daughter here, in need of saving from her overly protective father who would join him once she was saved. That made Zack grin. Just what every growing harem needed. A beautiful farmer’s daughter!
Keeping himself hidden behind a stalagmite, Zack scanned the area for a way to approach the house without being seen. After a minute, he gave up. Th
ere was no way to get to the house without the NPC seeing him.
Zack moved out of cover and approached the shepherd. When he neared, he called out to the man in as friendly a voice as he could muster. “How goes it, friend?”
The NPC grabbed a metal staff from the ground beside him and started toward Zack. He didn’t look like he was moving to attack, only coming over to see what Zack wanted.
“Greetings,” The shepherd said his eyes on the sword at Zack’s waist. “Can I help you, stranger?”
Zack studied the goats as they puttered around the rock floor of the chamber scooping up bits of food. “I was exploring out this way and caught sight of your homestead.” He glanced at the man and tried to not give the impression he was ready to rip out his sword at the first sign of trouble. “You don’t have anything to trade do you? I have a whole stash of meals in my Inventory.”
“No, nothing. Sorry to be rude, but can you please leave?”
“Wait. Can I spend the night here first?” Zack lifted one of his feet and pretended to rub it. “Been a long day, and—”
“Get lost. We don’t take kindly to strangers here.”
“Right, right.” Zack glanced past the NPC at the house. There were no lights shining through the windows. The place seemed empty.
“You live out here by yourself?” Zack dropped his foot, getting ready to reach for his sword.
“I will tell you one last time. Leave. Now.”
“Or what?”
The shepherd frowned, then opened his mouth to speak but Zack was already moving. He had his sword out in a moment, slashing it around and slicing open the man’s neck to a spray of red.
Inflicted 199 damage
Falling back, the shepherd held a hand to his throat. He tried to speak again, but Zack silenced him with a quick thrust to the stomach. Sorry, friend, but I want my harem women back.
Farmer has died
+100xp
Nothing but an NPC commoner who had posed no threat. What was he protecting?
Suddenly, the door to the house opened and another man dressed in a red robe stepped out. “Who the fuck are you?”
Zack popped his Rapid Advance and went right for the man before he could react. Judging by how he was dressed, the man was likely a Fire Mage. Fire spec’d mages could do a lot of burst damage, though like all glass cannon classes, they were weak in melee. Zack reckoned he was lucky Fire Mages lacked the snares Frost Mages did.
Frost Mages were the bane of all melee classes except Rogues.
As Zack bore down on him, the Mage pointed a finger at him and a long rope of fire erupted from it like an orange serpent. Flame Whip.
-122hp
Damn, that hurt. Lucky Zack had used his Rapid Advance when he had, as by the time the Mage was about to cast a second spell, Zack was on him.
He smashed the guy in the face with Shield Slam, then followed up with a savage downward cut into the man’s shoulder. The Mage screamed, blood spurting from his broken nose and wounded shoulder.
Unrelenting, Zack slashed the man’s guts open with Criss Cross, then Sweeping Arc, his Stamina draining quickly.
After a Demon Strike, the Mage went down, crying out in agony, his intestines hanging from his belly. Gritting his teeth, he looked up. “Take this, asshole!”
The air around the Mage exploded. A wave of fire blasted Zack through the air, He landed hard, sliding across the ground and coming to rest against a stalagmite.
-256hp
Zack cried out, as flames licked at his armor. Desperately, he patted himself, extinguishing the flames before they could inflict more damage on him.
The Mage had to be a player. No way would a standard NPC do damage like that. In his haste to get into melee, Zack hadn’t even checked.
When the flames cleared, Zack found the man on the ground staring over at him, blood spilling from his broken body and pooling around him. “Fuck you.”
“They gonna be your last words?” Zack got to his feet and moved in for the kill.
The Mage started to lift his finger, ready to cast another spell. Zack hacked off his arm, the limb plopping to the ground and disintegrating into ash. “My arm. My freaking arm! For the love of—”
With one last Demon Strike, Zack took off the man’s head.
Level 11 Player Neb Kuchera has been vanquished!
+1100xp
Well, that had been easier than expected. Lucky for Zack, he had caught the dude unaware.
His heart skipped a beat as the adrenaline of battle settled. Did he just sentence another player to a real world death?
Shit.
Zack jumped back, as the player’s corpse exploded into ash. Damn it. There went looting him for useful items.
Leaning against the front of the house, Zack drank a health potion, restoring some of his lost hit points. What the hell was going on here? Why were players hanging out in this farmstead? And who the hell was the woman he was meant to find?
Were there more players inside? Did they know they were under attack?
Drumming his fingers on his sword hilt, Zack glanced back the way he had come. He could always leave and forget about this. The cost would be devastating… But, if he was taking the lives of real people… The Janitor had said the forum trolls were rich kids living at the center of the City, but who were the players here at this farm? Their friends?
Zack held his breath as he heard shouting from inside the house. “Please, my lady. I’m trying to help you.”
A muffled woman’s voice screamed something back, but Zack couldn’t understand what she said.
“You should be happy for men like me. The Guild of White Knights wants to help you. Who knows what that guy is here for.”
The people inside knew he was there. That was to be expected he supposed. After all, the fight with the Mage, while short, hadn’t exactly been stealthy.
Zack took a deep breath. He was here now. He could run and turn his back on the women he loved, or he could go in there and face whoever was inside.
He reckoned it wasn’t much of a choice. Love always won out.
Raising his shield and gripping his sword, he quickly came up with a plan. Go in, and charge right at anything that moved and kill it. Great plan, genius. Totally not something that’s going to get me killed.
Fuck it. Let’s do this. He flew around the corner and raced inside the ramshackle building… and promptly almost fell headlong down a flight of stairs carved out of the rock.
The house was nothing but a ruse. There was actually something under it.
When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he found himself in a well decorated spacious room. Crafting tables, an anvil and kitchen took up one side of the area, while the other was dominated by two large beds, red carpeted floor and beautiful paintings and tapestries hanging on the wall.
Maybe the NPC shepherd had been this house’s equivalent of Margery at the palace. An upgradeable NPC, there to serve the master of the house.
The players who lived here had clearly been in the Underworld for a while, as the house had been heavily upgraded in comparison to Missy’s palace.
Zack scanned the room for the man he had heard speaking from outside. No one seemed to be about, but there was a metal door across from him.
As he started toward it, he heard muffled shouting coming from beyond. The woman he had heard earlier. Maybe she was gagged or the man had his hand over her mouth.
Reaching the door, Zack paused to gather himself for a fight. When he was ready, he threw it open and charged right in. A rotund mailed armored man waited for him further up the stone corridor, shield in one hand, sword in the other and hairy gut hanging out from under his mail shirt.
A fellow Steadfast Blademaster.
Zack ran up and smashed the man with Shield Slam, followed by a Devastate, then simply kicked him in the nuts.
The man screamed and fell back against the prison bars behind him. He went to raise his sword but two hands clamped around his arms and pinned
them to his side.
“Fumph tue,” the woman said, holding the man in place.
Zack didn’t know what she said, but he reckoned he got the gist of it. With his defenseless hairy gut exposed, the man could only watch as Zack plunged his sword deep into his innards.
Wrenching his sword out, Zack drove his blade in a second time. Blood exploding from the man’s mouth and his legs gave out, the woman letting him go so he slid to the floor in a growing pool of red.
“I only wanted to help you,” the man moaned, staring up at her. “Women need honorable men like me to protect them. The capitalist, supremacist patriarchy cannot be allowed to be victorious.” His eyes switched to Zack, his life draining away. “The Guild of White Knights is going to hunt you down and end your alpha male existence. We will go the Full McIntosh on you!”
His last words rattled in his throat as his HP reached zero.
Level 11 Player Cob Bhipman has been Vanquished!
+1100xp
Zack shook his head at the corpse. “Never go the Full McIntosh.”
The woman said something unintelligible again. Zack knew that voice, even if he didn’t know what it said.
He stepped over the blood and approached the bars. His mouth fell open. “Anita, what the hell are you doing here?”
The orc woman who had been with Ivan stood before him.
Chapter Nine
Rad Fem
Her eyes swiveled down to the gag in her mouth.
“Oh, right, let me get that for you.” Zack lifted the thick gold ring through her nose so he could rip the gag free.
“Finally, I can breathe again.” Anita fixed her nose ring then glared at him. “I could ask the same of you, male. What the hell are you doing here?” She glanced over his shoulder. “Did your harem women wake up to themselves and leave you?”
Raid Slayer 2 Page 5
