by Dmitry Bilik
I ordered a jug of beer which only cost me one gram, curious to try proper beer out of a wooden barrel. I sat at an empty table, poured myself a mug and sipped it. It’s not for nothing they say that the first mug is always the best. It quenches your thirst while satisfying your taste buds. Everything after that is just getting pissed.
The beer was all right. It was different: slightly bitter and stronger than usual, but it agreed with me.
Naturally, I wasn’t going to get drunk. I just needed to while away the time. Unlike the Players’ inn in town, this place had no TV, so here the only option was this most ancient of entertainments.
I sat so that I could see the bulletin board. It was quite full. Lots of the missions had gone dark because there’d been plenty of Players here just recently, but they were still active. For instance, the blood mage one had turned almost claret.
But that wasn’t what interested me.
Harpies
Mission from the Oracle
Charged with: aggressive behavior and attacks on commoners.
Sentence: death
Location: Crete, Greece
Proof of completion: the harpies’ claws
Reward: 200 grams.
Crete? That was a bit of a trot. The fee was nothing to write home about, either. But that wasn’t what had drawn my attention to it. It had been issued by the Oracle. It wasn’t every day that he issued tasks to Players.
I walked over and pocketed it.
I spent some more time in there, then got up and left the building. It was a shame to leave more than half a jug of good beer behind. The guys from my ‘hood would never have understood that.
Litius, Arts and Jan were already waiting for me at the Gatehouse. We exchanged a few meaningless phrases which betrayed our nervousness, then quickly fell silent.
Three minutes before we were supposed to leave, Harph finally turned up. He just nodded and stood next to us.
“Before I forget,” I dug both my hands into my bag and drew out 200 grams of dust.
He took it without a scruple in the world. His name on my group list was now printed in bold. Now we were all set.
“So where’s this Korl of yours?” Arts asked, leafing impatiently through her sketchbook.
I glanced at my watch. She had a point. I wouldn’t say that Traug was the central character in our group but according to him, he was a decent warrior nevertheless. “One moment.”
I walked over to his front door and tapped it lightly. No reaction. I thumped it with my fist.
Something clinked inside. The bed creaked. “Go to hell!”
“Traug! We’re all waiting for you!”
There was a moment’s silence, followed by a crashing noise. It sounded as if our new friend had barged for the door with all the force of an atomic icebreaker, ignoring all the obstacles in his path.
“Traug!”
“I’m coming, okay? One moment!”
Traug’s bare torso appeared in the doorway. If I wasn’t mistaken, the girl sleeping on the bed was the one I’d seen last night at the Syndicate.
Traug lived up to his word: he got dressed in no time, rushing around the house like a wounded bear. His bedmate ignored all the racket.
Finally, my fellow countryman tumbled outside.
“Don’t you want to leave her a note?”
Traug shrugged it off. The rest of the group wasn’t too excited to see us — or rather, him. Even the always cheerful Jan wasn’t smiling. As for Arts and Harph, they were almost looking daggers. It was a good job Traug had a thick skin which allowed him to ignore all the unfriendly stares.
“Let’s go,” Harph said. “The sooner we get started, the quicker we’ll finish.”
Never a truer word said in jest. We entered the building and approached the Gates. We even had to wait in line behind two orange guys and a human all of which seemed to be going to different destinations, or so I gathered by the names of the locations.
Finally, it was our turn.
“We need to put the dust in the bowl, stand around the rock and hold hands,” Arts instructed me, noticing my bewilderment.
I almost burst into tears when I had to part with the dust. 204 grams! You could buy a skill with this money or even several spells. But it couldn't be helped: I’d already set the process in motion.
I walked over to my group. They stood in a circle. The only things missing were the long tie-dye robes and some idiot humming to psychedelic music.
Harph’s hand lay on my right shoulder; Jan’s on my left.
“Now touch the stone. You know what to do next.”
I sure did. I lay both my hands on the rock and uttered,
“The Valley of Silence.”
This time everything happened much faster. The dust rose over the bowl with a flash, blinding me. It only lasted a few seconds; then I sensed a fresh touch of wind on my face.
When my eyesight came back, I was facing the rocky platform and the trail which led downward in the crimson light of the Red Moon.
In the morning sunlight, the place didn’t seem so terrifying. If anything, it appeared deserted, even abandoned, rather than foreboding. The powerful wind whistling through the mountain peaks like some relic monster was the only hint of its true nature.
“Arts? Can I have a spear, please?”
The girl laid her sketchbook on the ground and produced a chain of sheets. She reached inside them and pulled out a spear.
Oh. Last time it had been bigger, hadn’t it?
A copy of an Ekhitte aboriginal spear
Summoned weapon
Time to disintegration: 1hr 59 min 58 sec
“And a length of rope, please.”
When I got hold of it all, I pulled out the knife and began to fumble with it. It had seemed much easier in theory.
“Give it to me,” Traug grabbed the knife.
He took a sword out of his own bag, laid the spear on a rock and hacked at it with all his might. The spearhead and part of the shaft flew aside but no one rushed to pick it up. Traug used the rope to securely tie the knife to the shaft and gave it back to me.
I studied my modified summoned weapon, with my knife replacing the spearhead. The spear itself had become much shorter, about six foot or so. I pulled at the rope. The knife didn’t wobble. This was the weapon I intended to kill the Alpha with.
“That’s it,” I said cheerfully. “Now it’s all up to our scout. We’re gonna find their lair, kill them all and retrieve their eggs. Litius? What do you think?”
“Over t-t-there,” Litius pointed to one side, then headed off confidently in that direction.
Chapter 24
IT’S LONG BEEN KNOWN that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Not because some people are sturdier than others, of course. All it means is that what is habitual for some can be uncomfortable for others.
That’s exactly what happened now. The path which had been perfectly serviceable for the rachnaid killed by Arts earlier that morning, wasn’t exactly passable for us. Or should I say, it was completely impassable? The wretched creature with his stick-like legs had no problem walking where we’d already been struggling after the first measly fifty yards.
The descent was steep, too. The slightest lapse of concentration could send you flying into the abyss. Which very nearly happened to me.
“Please don’t do that again,” Jan said, grabbing me by the collar. “Suicide is the worst thing you can think of right now.”
“Why?” I asked, crouching in fear.
He laughed. “If you die, who’s gonna get us back? I don’t have one grain of dust on me.”
“You’re not in a hurry, are you?” Litius shouted angrily.
Our beastman was the only one who didn’t seem to have any problem with the rocky terrain. He leapt deftly from one boulder to the next in huge bounds, sniffing the air as he peered around. Then he would turn back to us, waiting for his clumsy and less speedy partners.
We descended into yet another ravin
e, framed by a mountain on one side and jagged cliffs on the other. I noticed the semblance of a road that led up through them. To my question why we couldn’t take it, Litius replied with a curt “Too long.”
Yeah right. And if I fell to my death now, that would be quicker, would it?
“Over there,” Litius pointed below. He already felt quite at home here and had even stopped stuttering.
“What is it?”
“An old mine. Can’t you taste something nasty in the air?”
Actually, he was right. I even had the impression this wasn’t Purgator but some polluted industrial zone near Chelyabinsk[22]. You couldn’t take a full lungful. At least now I knew what caused it.
“Ellurium deposits,” Litius said. “As far as I know, this entire region was rich in it. Further on, there should be some abandoned smithies. That’s why they kept the Gate nearby. They used it to transport the finished weapons to other worlds.”
I turned round, “Arts? Have you heard anything about these mines?”
She shook her head. “It must have been a very long time ago.”
“So,” Litius continued, “the rachnaids chose these mineshafts for their dwellings. They have plenty of tunnels leading in all sorts of directions which improves their mobility.”
“Does that mean we’ll have to climb down?” Traug asked anxiously. “I’m not good in enclosed spaces.”
“Aha, so our brave giant from the North is a big claustrophobe?” Arts asked innocently.
“No, I’m not,” Traug said, taking offence. “If you absolutely have to know, I prefer women.”
The only person who hadn’t uttered a word throughout the whole trip was Harph. I actually had the impression that he’d begun to regret his decision. Still, two hundred grams he’d received from me were a power to be reckoned with. There was no turning back now: he had to complete the contract in full.
“There’re some scratches on the rocks by the entrance to the mine,” Litius shouted from below. “The rachnaids have passed this way. I can smell their droppings.”
Arts screwed up her nose and donned her armor. Traug too hurried to equip. One moment he was a normal person — or should I say Korl — and the next moment he was a giant in full armor and Vendel helmet, holding a round shield in his left hand and a longsword in is right. Had I worn dentures, they would have dropped to the ground in surprise.
Litius and Harph were the only raid members who hadn’t transformed. Actually, not quite. Harph did don some sort of cloak and hung an amulet around his neck. I recognized it as the one I’d seen at the spell modifier’s place. Everybody was getting ready to fight.
“I can hear some noise inside,” Litius said softly when we’d climbed down.
I peered at the thick wooden beams and the shaft’s black mouth. I really didn’t feel like going there blindly, even considering the spell that I had.
Harph stepped forward. “I’ll go take a look.”
Before we could say a word, he'd split into two identical figures. One remained immobile where he’d just stood while the second one took off and trotted down the shaft.
After about a minute, Harph’s immobile figure sprang to life and turned to us. “There’re lots of tunnels down there. Some of them make up part of the original mine while others must have been dug by the rachnaids.”
“We have plenty of time till sunset. We need to explore it all properly. Do you have enough charges to do this again?”
“Well enough,” he said, then forked off again.
We didn’t have to wait too long: fifteen minutes at the most. By then, Harph had been down the tunnels eleven times with an occasional break to tell us about whatever he’d seen there. The most important part of his intel was the fact that he’d found three famuli which definitely appeared as if they were guarding something. The fastest way to get to them was via the new passages dug by the rachnaids. But there was also another way, slightly longer but somewhat safer: through the shaft’s original tunnels. This would give us some room to maneuver.
“Well, let’s go,” I said, my voice faltering.
It was scary. Very scary. I remembered my earlier encounter with the rachnaids. Even the thin scar on my shoulder which had healed rather quickly thanks to the magic and Elufrian ointment had now begun to throb. Either it was my overwrought imagination or maybe I could really sense the monsters.
Still, I had to advance. Sergei the Nutcase who’d had the cheek to call up the raid had no right to betray his fear. He couldn’t seek support from his friends. He couldn’t quiver. Instead, he was obliged to coordinate the attack and lead his men... or rather, his creatures.
“Traug, you take point. I’ll follow. Arts and Harph after me. Jan and Litius, you bring up the rear.”
That was actually quite simple. Traug clad in armor head to toe was your typical tank. So he was going to take the blows. I... well, I was probably still more of a warrior. That’s why my place was next to him. Arts was a battle mage and Harph, a classical wizard. Jan had already shown himself as a healer. A quite unusual one, but still. But Litius... as I’d already gathered, he was a rather average warrior. He carried a short sword in his hand although he hadn’t changed his clothes. Let’s leave him in Jan’s care.
I extended my free hand and cast Light, then nodded to Traug, pressing the spear to my chest.
Traug raised his shield and walked unhurriedly forward with a kind of savage grace. I followed.
Here deep down the mine, I struggled to breathe. Ellurium dust crunched between my teeth, leaving an unpleasant aftertaste. I had a stitch in my chest; my heart was throbbing. Then again, it could be the adrenaline rush.
We walked to the end of the main tunnel, past the twisted wreckage of mine carts, half-buried tools and heaps of miners’ lamps with broken glass lenses.
On Harph’s suggestion, we turned left. Here, the darkness was so impenetrable that even my Light couldn’t dispel it. So Harph cast one of his own spells — admittedly an unusual one but it did work. In his case, it was his whole body, and not just his hand, that began to glow. The spell appeared similar to mine: he must have modified it to suit his own needs.
“They’re quite close,” Harph said.
“I hear them sh-sh-shuffling their feet,” Litius said softly. “They’re c-c-coming for us.”
“Very well,” I said, trying to will myself to stop shivering. “We’ll face them here.”
Tactically, the advantage was on our side. The tunnel wasn’t wide enough: definitely not enough to allow more than two rachnaids to pass at a time. Traug and I were going to meet the enemy head on, making sure they didn’t fight their way past us to the rest of the group. And our fire power would give us a considerable edge in this confrontation.
That’s exactly how it happened. There were actually three famuli. Two of them immediately advanced while the third one hovered restlessly behind their backs, making nasty noises and impatient to join the fray.
This time their tactics differed considerably from the last time when the famuli hadn’t appeared to be in a hurry. Now they descended upon us like angry wives on a payday.
Traug didn’t budge. Razor-sharp claws slid off his pauldrons, unable to find a place to penetrate them, and started hammering against the shield. Traug didn’t shift an inch.
My own opponent, apparently doubtful of the power of human weapons, allowed his momentum to drag him onto my makeshift spear, ripping his belly open in his attempt to get even closer to me. I ducked aside to avoid the blow which only grazed my shoulder.
By saying “only” I mean “clawing me all the way to the bone”. I screamed with pain, afraid of passing out, then rewound time.
[ ∞ ]
I crouched and dug the spear shaft into the ground at a sixty-degree angle. The spearhead turned green with slime. I didn’t even have to aim it in the pouch under his head: apparently, the Alpha wasn’t the only rachnaid who suffered from allergy to moon steel which sliced through their flesh like hot knife through
butter.
Your Pole Weapon skill has increased to level 5.
Your Short Blades skill has increased to level 10.
You’ve achieved Mastery in the following skill: Short Blades
Mastery level: 1
Every fifth blow in a series of attacks will result in a crit.
I glimpsed the creature’s sharp claws and mandibles fleeting over my head as he hadn’t yet realized that his prey had escaped him. The rachnaid slid forward along the ground, ripping his belly ever deeper. I watched his life ebb away as his body bled nauseous toxic slime.
