The team of witch hunters decided it would be best to devise a new strategy accounting for my ability to easily manoeuvre in the dark. The strange assortnt of characters that stood before would have made for a sorry sight if they were mbers of another guild, but the witch hunters' guild was fad for taking in everybody that could wield a weapon, regardless of background. So countries even sentenced their prisoners to service in the guild, showing how mixed their reputation was.
Yet, the guild had existed for more than a thousand years, due to the church endorsing them and their staunch neutrality when it ca to politics. This stood in stark contrast to the rcenary guild, that liked to choose sides and support anyone who had enough coin.
The smallest guilder, who wielded a bow, was a middle aged woman with a lithe build. She eyed for a mont, before she spoke up.
"Let's introduce ourselves first, shall we? If we're to trust each other with our backs turned and all that. My na's linda. I beca a part of the guild a decade ago. I'm a tier 2 [Journeyman hunter]. I'm an archer, so I stay in the backline, peppering our opponents with arrows from a distance."
The largest, mace wielding guilder was the next to introduce himself.
"Barnold. Tier 2 [Brutal marauder]."
He didn't seem much for conversation. The rest of the group cringed a little, hearing his introduction. The next person that stepped forward was an elder man, who wielded a staff. He had a magnificent beard that almost reached the floor, which was a stark white colour. Clearly he was a wizard of so sort, those types always took care of their beards as if it were their child.
He spoke up with a kind tone and a small smile on his face, elevating his grandfatherly persona.
"I go by Nestor. I am this party's resident wizard, certified by the academy. You may rely on if you require healing. I hold a tier 3 class, [Corrupted Life mage]"
The last party mber left was a big bellied giant, just a little smaller than Barnold. He wore a longsword in his scabbard and had a large tower shield attached to his back.
"And I am called Garrett! I'm the leader of this silver ranked party, a tier 3 [Bulwark]. I like drinking, won and fighting! You should join..."
linda walked up and pulled his ear.
"That's about enough of that, Garrett. Don't corrupt the kid with your terrible habits."
Seeing this as my cue, I spoke up last.
"My na is Arthur. I...don't really feel comfortable sharing my class yet, because of its rarity. I hope you don't mind. I like swordsmanship, and training!"
The party looked at a little weirdly for a mont. Perhaps they thought my reluctance to share my class was a little suspicious. linda broke the silence and got back to business.
"Nice to et you, Arthur. Let's talk strategy. Exactly how good is your night vision, and what other skills do you have that are useful in battle?"
I was unsure of how I wanted to answer her question. I knew that I would eventually need to explain my situation to join the witch hunters' guild, but this didn't feel like the ti or the place to open that particular can of worms. I decided to keep my dark affinity out of my explanation for now. I also decided not to talk about too many different skills. Most people only received one or two skills upon their class awakening, after all. They would then receive a few skills through practicing and tiering up. The only reason I had so many was because I technically started off with a weak version of a tier 4 class.
"My vision skill let's see in very low-light environnts. I have [swordsmanship], [flexibility] and [perfect physique] as skills that could help in battle."
Garrett was the one to answer .
"Ha! At least you got so proper levels under your belt before you entered this death trap, then! Getting two milestones in your first tier isn't bad kid! Looks like we won't have to babysit you too much! No wonder you didn't want to share your class! You will have to share it to join the guild properly, though."
"Don't worry sir, I will."
"Alright! Our strategy is to go in there, and kick that goblin's ass!"
linda chided Garrett.
"No you idiot! When we enter the boss room, Arthur should go scout ahead a little and report back what the boss looks like. Then you should head to the back and stay there as we kill the boss."
"But..."
"No, young man. You'll just get killed if you try to help us. This isn't a ga, kid. Letting you scout ahead is already a big enough risk. We're giving you the chance to witness a higher tier fight. Don't ruin your future for one fight."
With a sigh, I accepted. I really wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove that all of my hard work until now paid off, that it held aning, but I could understand their point as well. It was a humbling thought. It reminded of why I started walking this path in the first place. Strength and freedom.
Determined, I walked ahead of the party as we got closer and closer to the boss' personal chambers.
A few minutes later we could hear the sound of sothing big moving. The party stalled and waited as I went forward, searching for the boss.
I arrived inside a large chamber that had bones and wood adorning the walls as if it was a ribcage. The entrance left on a slightly raised platform, allowing to look down over the edge to see the boss. I peeked over, and realised that linda's advice hadn't been without reason. Below , I saw a small goblin garbed in a long robe waving a staff around, cackling madly. The goblin was surrounded by giant lizards made out of bone, each the size of a large horse. They were clearly undead creatures, which had a reputation as being far too difficult the kill and immune to pain, making them an absolute nace in battle. I noticed a string of dark mana leashing each of the lizards to the shaman.
I shuffled back and held my breath, feeling fear for the first ti since my awakening. I knew that engaging this boss on my own would an death, no matter what. The sheer size of the lizards, and the imnse vortex of dark mana I could see circling the goblin were proof of that. Seeing a creature command such a vast amount of dark mana filled with both fear and jealousy at the sa ti.
I headed back to the group on the tips of my toes and reported what I had seen, leaving out the dark mana. Garrett was the first to reply.
"Shit! No wonder so many rookies died! From Arthur's description that bitch must be at least tier 3!"
"We can handle it."
Barnold had answered, confident in the party's strength, which Garrett seed to agree with.
"Damn right we can! Hey kid, do you mind backing up while we talk about our plan for a mont. No disrespect ant, but ntioning all of our skills and tactics around a stranger is bit more problematic when it cos to higher tier skills."
"No problem. I understand that tier 1 skills won't exactly be a surprise to anyone, in comparison to tier 3 skills."
Etiquette around skills declared that the higher the tier, the more secretive people would be about them. I walked a little further away, and sat down to clean my blade.
Twenty minutes later, the party had finished discussing their strategy, and beckoned to co watch the fight from a vantage point. All five of us entered the chamber.
The group of four went up to the platform. Then linda and Nestor started charging up attacks, a blue coloured arrow and a green ball of light respectively. A mont later, both launched their attacks. The arrow bounced off of the skull of one of the undead lizards, while the life orb had more success, lting the skull of another, taking it out of the battle. Clearly, the group had decided to take care of the minions first.
Now that the surprise attack had started, Barnold and Garrett rushed forward. The two remaining lizards ran forward to et them in battle. Within a second, the two groups were upon one another. A mad clash of fang and steel ensued. The goblin shaman wasn't about to let that happen without interfering, however. It put up a shield of dark mana around itself, before launching a series of black orbs and bolts at the witch hunters. Garrett blocked them with his tower shield, while Barnold was protected by a shield erected by Nestor, which deflected most of the attacks. One bolt still struck his shoulder however. He scread out in pain as a chunk of his shoulder began to rot. Within a mont Nestor had moved to reverse the process with a spell. The shaman didn't intend to give them any reprieve, however. It blocked a few incoming arrows that linda had launched, before launching a black mist at one of its bone lizards.
The mist enveloped the lizard, turning its bones black. The creature beca bigger and wider, becoming at least twice as big as its previous size. It roared, seemingly having turned mad. The string attaching it to the shaman snapped, most likely ending any control the shaman might have had over it. It ran straight at Garrett, swiping its claw at his torso. Garrett moved to block again, which he did successfully, being pushed back in the process. He moved to counter attack, but was instead hit by a long bone tail covered in a black aura, which hit him so fast it sent him flying. He landed against a wall and collapsed in a heap of blood.
From there, the tide of battle was turned. Both Nestor and Barnold had recovered, but without Garrett and his tower shield, they had very little opportunity to defend themselves, forcing them to rely on dodging attacks. A well aid life orb killed the second undead lizard, but with both the shaman and the enraged lizard still in action, the situation looked grim.
The shaman threw more spells at the remaining party mbers, none of which managed to land a solid hit. Barnold continued slamming his mace into the black lizard, however it was ineffective, not even leaving a scratch. Nestor's and linda's efforts to break the goblin's shield didn't have much more luck. The mont one of Nestor's spells started lting through the shield, dark mana would be pulled in from the surroundings, purging his magic from the shield. linda's arrows were fast and nurous, but simply didn't have the penetrating power necessary to hurt either of the opponents. She launched arrow after arrow, creating a veritable storm of projectiles, but the shield didn't weaken, simply drawing on the plentiful dark mana that was created by the dungeon.
At one point, Nestor tried to heal Garrett, but his magic couldn't properly heal his wounds. Nestor could only guess why, but I knew that the lizard had left sothing in the wound that stopped it from closing, using dark mana.
This stalemate lasted for a few minutes, with linda suppressing the larger bone creature by burying it in attacks, as Barnold and Nestor tried to break the shield, occasionally taking a break to heal.
This situation couldn't last forever. In fact, I could already see the trio begin to tire, Nestor no doubt nearly running out of mana by now. The shaman didn't have this problem. It was a fight on ho ground, with its surroundings being perfect to maintain its mana stores.
I could see the exact mont Nestor ran out. A desperate look ca over his face, as he called out his situation to the party. The shaman saw its chance and launched a giant black bolt at Nestor.
Ti seed to slow down, I knew I needed to make a decision now. If I interfered, the witch hunters would find out about my class. If I didn't, Nestor and the rest of the party would almost certainly die. I didn't have much ti to deliberate. I drew the mana out of Garrett's wound, hopefully saving his life in the process. Now it was ti to fight in a battle above my station. This could an death, but so be it. I refused to let good people die when there was a chance to save them.
I rushed forward, activating my core and augnt as I ran. I started to spin my core at a speed I had never dared to before and felt the imnse power course through my veins. With every step my core humd, with every breath the ambient mana shivered. In the blink of an eye I had arrived before Nestor. I lifted my bastard sword and swung to et the bolt with my augnt.
The two dark powers clashed, pushing back into the dirt bit by bit. After what felt like an eternity, the bolt dispersed. Nestor gasped.
"You..."
"I'm sorry for hiding this. I'm on your side, head back to Garrett's side. linda, Barnold! Buy so ti! Keep the lizard busy!"
"We can only buy you a minute! Whatever you have planned, do it fast!"
Barnold let loose a shout that attracted the lizard's attention. I saw this as my chance and rushed forward, towards the barrier. I knew my augnt's power wouldn't put a dent in it, I simply didn't have the power to do that with my weak stats and core. That's why I tried sothing new, that could very well have killed . I deflected or healed from incoming spells and kept running. When I reached the black shield, I put my augnted hand on it, closed my eyes, and activated ditation, drawing in mana from the self sustaining magic powering the shield.
I felt the mana rush through my arm into my core, which I spun faster and faster, to release as much of the gathered energy as possible. If before my mana felt like a river surging through my body, then now it felt like a dam had broken and I was trying to guide a lake into a canal. The mana was simply too much. As I did this the shaman noticed my efforts and placed its full attention on . It sent a swarm of spells at every second, but due to the imnse amount of mana that was entering and leaving my body, I healed from each wound within the blink of an eye. Like this we continued. I sucked in more mana as my arm was destroyed entirely. I sucked in more mana as it healed fully a mont later. I sucked in more mana as my organs were torn apart and I continued as they were healed again. Our struggle went on for what felt like an eternity.
After a while my augnt couldn't numb the pain anymore. My veins were starting to glow a deep black and my hair was slowly rising up because of the dark mana. My whole body started burning, clearly being overloaded with mana. It felt like my blood was replaced with lava. When it started feeling like I would destroy myself and die, the shield finally collapsed. I didn't want to waste this chance. Using all of the power I had left, I used shadow apparation to appear above the shaman. I stabbed downwards and impaled the little fucker, finally killing her.
I collapsed from the pain, completely out of mana. I looked over to the remaining opponent. The lizard started behaving strangely, twitching and howling, before a red ghostly eye appeared in its empty socket. Its bone beca surrounded by a black haze visible to the naked eye. It rushed at , intent on taking revenge for its forr master. I didn't have the strength to move anymore. I saw my incoming death and refused to accept it. Yet it was no use.
Right as its claw was about to reach , I closed my eyes. A mont later, I heard a clang. When I opened them again, I saw Garrett with his tower shield. He had a large gash across his body, yet sohow, he was still standing. I felt hands on my shoulder, and noticed Nestor dragging to the back lines.
"Leave the rest to us, kid. The undead is running on fus at this point, it's only a matter of ti before we win this battle."
Out of energy, I could no longer keep myself awake and I passed out.
Reviews
All reviews (0)