“We are not taking her!” Lorna declared furiously.
“We may need her,” Billy replied. He tried to stay calm even though his guts were churning inside.
“I said, no! She can hide somewhere safe until we get back.”
“Where is safe here? She is probably safer with us.”
“She can go back up the tree or wait at the Induction Centre.”
“You know I can decide for myself,” Su Li said.
“You can get hurt,” Lorna said. “Billy has told you the pain of dying. Even with resurrection it will be excruciating.”
“And that is my choice.”
Billy could only envy her calm in the face of Lorna’s anger.
“You are too young to make that choice.”
“Oh really?” Su Li said her face bright red. “I think you need someone with brains to make sure you don’t get us all killed. Someone who can point out that the others are still alive but injured. You can still see their stats in the party.”
Billy cursed. He should have noted that but was too distracted. Unfortunately, the group menu did not track the location of the members. But at least they were alive.
“We need her,” Billy said, trying to appeal to Lorna’s brain instead of her heart. “We have to weigh her safety against that of Yuki and Trevor. We will probably need her.”
Lorna looked from Billy to Su Li and then back again. “Fine! But if something happens Billy, it’s all on you.”
Billy nodded, cutting Su Li off with a hand gesture. They had won the argument but there was always a cost. It was better to let it drop. They would need cool heads to get through this.
“Ok, then grab your weapons. Let’s cross the river and find their tracks. The faster we find them the better.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until dark?” Su Li said.
“Can you see in the dark?” Lorna asked. “This is not a movie. We don’t know the terrain and we do not have torches or night vision goggles. Daylight is our friend right now.”
Billy could see that Su Li wanted to retort. In the end she just turned away, fiddling with her knife.
Billy remembered watching many movies where the heroes had had no problem seeing at night time even without torches. But this was definitely not going to work here. At night it was pitch black. There was no ambient light like near a city or even a small town.
Before they set out, Billy checked the party interface again. He could see Trevor and Yuki’s characters but their hit points were less than half. Trevor’s health in particular was low.
They found a place to cross the river only ten metres downstream where there were lots of rocks to ease their crossing. The rocks were slimy and difficult to stand on but by helping each other they crossed without issue.
On the other side they quickly found the trail. The rat-fiends had made no attempts to hide their passage. Su Li was the first to spot signs of their passing. Broken branches and flattened grass gave a clear indication of the route they had taken. Following was easy as they seemed to be heading in a straight line.
Lorna led the way now – her steps barely making any noise. Trevor tried again to copy her. It took a while but his care was soon rewarded with another skill [stealth]. A heart-stopping whisper from Yuki behind him informed him that she too had acquired the stealth skill.
Lorna and Billy stared at her until she bowed her head. Billy wished they had a party chat option although maybe it was a good thing. It could be distracting in the wrong circumstances.
They followed the trails for another kilometre. The ground was starting to rise and become rockier. Lorna slowed down as if she could sense they were reaching their destination. Billy took a firmer grip on his spear and concentrated on each movement; slow and steady.
They heard their targets before they saw them. Loud sounds from in front spoke of some sort of argument amongst their enemies. Lorna raised her hand to indicate for Billy and Su Li to wait.
Each moment after she disappeared through the undergrowth passed agonizingly for Billy. Part of him wanted to rush in there and start swinging and stabbing. He calmed his breathing and tried to meditate. Su Li was reading his face carefully. She was only armed with a knife and he hoped she would not have to play a major part in this rescue attempt. Still, they might need the extra hands. He smiled at her and indicated for her to crouch down next to him. She did so and then unexpectedly put her hand on his. This was not the flirting or joking Su Li – this was a teenager looking for reassurance. Billy squeezed her hand gently.
***
Lorna returned after what seemed an eternity. She waved for them to follow her back the way they had come. After some distance she stopped and faced them.
“I think there are about ten of them inside what looks to be a natural cave with a wide entrance. There are two outside on guard – though they are not really paying much attention. The others are inside the cave and difficult to see clearly.”
“Did you see Yuki and Trevor?” Su Li asked.
“They may be at the back of the cave. It is dimly lit but I saw two rat-fiends standing like they were watching over something.”
“Are they all armed?” Billy asked.
“Most appear to be carrying crude weapons of one type or another.”
“Can you bring me close enough to look,” he asked. “I want to check their levels before rushing in.”
“That was my thought. We all stick together though.”
“So what’s the plan?” Su Li asked. “There always needs to be a plan.”
At the moment, Billy did not have a plan. There were more than he had been anticipating. He felt they could have easily dealt with six rat-fiends or even eight – but Lorna’s count put their numbers at twelve at least.
“I think I have an idea,” Billy said. “If we rush in, we will get overwhelmed by numbers. It is easy to fend them off in small numbers. We need to draw them out in groups.”
“We could create a distraction,” Lorna asked. “Pull most of them away, kill the rest and then sneak Trevor and Yuki out.”
“Not with them injured. We would not get far. And they know where we are sheltering.” Billy looked grimly at them both. “We need to face facts. We cannot allow them to live. We are going in there to kill.”
Lorna nodded as if he was merely confirming her own opinion but Su Li looked more apprehensive.
“First, we need to reduce the numbers. Let’s see what we are facing.”
Lorna took them to a good vantage point. Well-covered by thick bushes, the three of them could observe the rat-fiends without too much risk. Billy could immediately see that the guards were too preoccupied in their argument to notice anything. With the noise they were making even Trevor could have sneaked up on them.
The thought of Trevor brought him back to the task at hand. Each of the guards was level three and carrying basic spears that looked to be little more than metre long pointy sticks. They looked larger and better fed than the rat-fiends they had faced earlier.
He looked inside the cavern. There were two creatures standing guard at the back who were also level three. The rest were scrawny looking and appeared to be only level one or two. Their weapons were little more than knives and hand-axes. As Lorna said, there were ten of them in total. They could easily deal with the guards but they would be seen and heard as soon as they did so. Also, he did not want to underestimate these creatures. They may look small and weak but most of them were a higher level than him and a pointy stick could do a lot of damage.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Silently they moved back away from the cave and made their plan. They had to get this right.
***
Billy was practically blind to what was happening as he waited behind the boles of two large trees. Lorna fidgeted with her spear as she waited next to him.
Suddenly they heard sounds from the direction of the cave. Angry noises and strange squeaks echoed through the woods followed by some laughter. They heard footsteps heading towards them. Billy quickly wiped his sweaty palms down his robe.
The dainty figure of Su Li ran past them. She ran for a few more metres and then stopped. The two guards followed soon one of them sporting a bloodied eye. When they saw that she had stopped they too slowed down. With deliberate movements they stalked towards her still squeaking away at each other.
Before they could take more than a couple of steps Lorna and Billy attacked. Billy had put his spear to one side deciding on using his hands. He barreled into the rat-fiend pushing it to the ground and then wrapped his hands around its throat. It thrashed around frantically but he held on firmly. Almost surreally he watched as Lorna smashed her target over the head with the butt of her spear. The rat-fiend fell to the ground either dazed or unconscious. It did not matter as Lorna stabbed it repeatedly until it died.
Billy could feel the one he was strangling weakening in his grasp. He held on for a few more seconds until the second announcement.
He was surprised by the first announcement. It seemed that they shared some of the XP when in a group but only when the group members were involved in the fight. When he looked at the stats, Trevor and Yuki had not received any XP. He calculated that he must have received 50% of the rat-fiend he had put down and 25% for the other that Lorna had killed. How it would work for their different levels he did not know. If Su Li killed someone she would get more XP than he would as she was still level 0.
He let go of the creature’s greasy fur and wiped his brow. He could not shake the feeling of being a killer from his mind. Frogs were one thing and self-defense another. He knew that the creatures would not hesitate to kill him but this felt different. He did not regret his actions but he would need some time to come to terms with what he had done.
He nodded to Lorna and Su Li. The girl had done her job well. And Lorna was as solid as ever.
“Come on!” he said. “We need to get back quickly.”
The strategy was to hopefully be able to drag away at least two more rat-fiends when they came to look for the guards. That was plan A anyway.
When they returned to their vantage point the other rat-fiends were still milling about the cavern but none of them seemed concerned about the missing guards.
Lorna looked at Billy and he sighed. He had expected some of the rat-fiends to follow up on the missing guards. If they stayed like this it would need to be plan B. He watched the rat-fiends for a few more minutes and then signaled to her. Plan B was now in motion.
Lorna moved towards the cave while Billy and Su Li hunkered down. Before any of the rat-fiends could react, Lorna rushed into the cave and stabbed one of the level 2 rat-fiends in the throat three times. She then smashed her spear butt against another’s head and run from the cave. She paused just outside the entrance and then shouted, “Come on fuckers! Let’s dance!”
The rat-fiends squeaked angrily at each other.
Another notification came.
The first creature she stabbed must have bled out. Well that only left nine and one of the them was still on the ground. The rat-fiends surged out of the cave, just leaving the two guards and the fallen rat-fiend, As a mass they attacked Lorna. She fended them off with her spear constantly backing away, leading them from the entrance. The plan was that once she was far enough away she would turn and run.
Billy counted to ten. He could already see a few bloody marks on Lorna. She was unable to keep all of them away. Focus, he told himself. Once he felt the rat-fiends were far enough away. He dashed into the cave with Su Li a little behind him. He lowered his shoulder and charged the unfortunate rat-fiend who had just picked itself up sending it crashing into the cave wall with a sickening crunch.
He then launched himself at the two guards. Each of the guards was armed with a crude axe. He thrust forward with his spear and stabbed one of them. Then he moved away. Again and again he kept moving in to stab and then withdrawing away from their attacks. Slowly he drew them away from the prone forms of Trevor and Yuki. Both of them appeared to be unconscious and tied up.
He had been hoping they might have been awake and able to help, but he had not planned on it. There was point worrying about them now.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Su Li stabbing the rat-fiend on the floor with her knife. In one quick motion she then sliced its throat.
One of the rat-fiends took advantage of his distracted state and hit his arm hard with the axe, sending pain surging down his arm.
Those weapons were crude but still hurt. Billy grimly held onto his spear. He stabbed at the creature managing to get a critical hit.
He grinned at the creatures. He needed to finish this quickly to relieve Lorna.
Before anyone could act, Su Li moved smoothly behind one of the guards and sliced its throat. It bent over, choking on its own blood. She thrust her knife again and again into its back.
One down and one left, Billy decided to let loose. Ignoring the creature’s attacks, he went into a stabbing frenzy. Stab. Stab. Stab.
Billy was panting heavily. His stamina was low now and he only had 19 hit points left. One of his knees was swelling up and his arms were cut and bruised. He sighed and started towards the entrance to help Lorna. He could see from the party chat that her health had dropped below fifty percent. She had made a couple of kills in the notifications that he had not noticed during his fight.
Movement from the shadows at the back of the cave stopped him. Moving forwards came a large fat rat-fiend holding a wooden stick topped with what he assumed was the skull of a frog, horns and all.
Billy quickly analysed the creature. [Rat-fiend shaman (minor boss) level 5. Favorite food: Lemons.]
Billy cursed. What the hell! This creature was level 5 and a minor boss. It was probably the same creature he has seen last night, although then it was only level 4.
He had already lost 30 hit points. If he died now, the shaman would be able to kill the others before Lorna could return.
He lifted his spear and walked towards the shaman.
“Blarg fik alk Mun?” the shaman said. He waved his scepter at Billy and the bodies on the floor.
Billy raised his spear. He tried but could not help himself from saying, “Welcome to the party, pal!”
He moved towards the shaman only for the creature to wave its sceptre. A bolt of lightning surged from the frog skill to lance into Billy’s boy. He has thrown five metres backwards.
Billy writhed on the floor – he could not stop his limbs shaking. The spear lay forgotten on the ground. The shaman had only waved his scepter and he had easily taken Billy down. How could he fight this thing?
“Blarg fik alk min?”
Billy rose to his feet, spear forgotten. With a furious yell he threw himself at the creature. He saw the shaman raise his scepter and twisted aside, allowing another lightning bolt to speed past his shoulder. He hit the shaman head first, throwing them both to the ground. Billy scrambled on top of the shaman holding grimly onto the scepter. He figured that the creature could not cast spells without the scepter.
Holding on was easier said than done. At level 5 the shaman seemed stronger than the other rat-fiends and they were equally matched. Except for one thing. Billy could feel his stamina bottoming out. Already his fingers were shaking and his breathing was rattling in his throat.
The shaman gave a few squeals and a grunt. With a heave, it threw Billy off its bulk and then twisted around until it was on top of him. Billy could see the victory in its red squinty eyes.
He opened his mouth to scream defiantly. Before any noise could leave his lips, Su Li appeared from behind the shaman and stabbed downwards with the spear. She stabbed into the bloated body again and again. Blood spurted onto Billy’s face and into his mouth.
“That is my Billy,” Su Li screamed. “Leave him alone!”
She repeatedly stabbed the shaman until the creature died, its bulk still on top of Billy.
Billy ignored the message. He needed to help Lorna.
“Take care of the other two,” he said to Su Li. “I need to find Lorna.” As he passed, he stopped and patted her on the head. “You did great!”
He picked up his spear and ran quickly out of the cavern. His stamina was still low so he could only jog towards where he hoped Lorna would be. The trail was covered in blood and scuff marks. It was not long before he found a couple of rat-fiend bodies.
He quickly checked the party notifications. It looked like she had killed four of the rat-fiends leaving four.
Another notification appeared.
Three against one now, he mused. He did not have to go much further to see Lorna with her back to a tree and blood streaming down her body. In front of her were three rat-fiends wildly running in and out to try to hit her but mostly getting in each other’s way as Lorna blocked with the shaft of her spear. The three creatures were also bloody and torn.
Billy did not hesitate. He thrust his spear into a rat-fiend’s back. And then thrust again.
There were two left. One of the rat-fiends turned around to receive Billy’s spear point in its mouth. Billy pulled his spear back and then rammed it back again this time in the creature’s chest, thrusting it to the ground.
The last rat-fiend did not last long with both Lorna and Billy thrusting home their spears at the same time skewering the frantic creature.
Billy looked at Lorna and caught her as she was about to fall.
“Did you get the others,” she asked as he lowered her to the ground.
“Yes!”
“That is good. Take them back to the shelter. I will rejoin you when I can.”
“What do you mean? Come on just rest and then we can go back together.”
She smiled at him. “My turn, Billy.”
She lay back. Billy could only watch in amazement as her body disintegrated into sparks of golden light. The light drifted away over the trees. All that was left was the bloodied spear.