Read End Online: Volume 6 Online

Authors: D Wolfin

Tags: #Romance, #litRPG, #game, #MMO, #virtual reality, #Fantasy

End Online: Volume 6 (5 page)

BOOK: End Online: Volume 6
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CaptainGordon brings out
his own health potion, a middle quality one, and drinks it while hiding behind
the others. The ‘Stone Guardians’ should have been defeated by now, but they
have an annoying ability to absorb the rubble of their fallen comrades to heal
themselves. As such, there are still nine remaining.

With my health restored
and no current ‘Stone Guardians’ under my aggravation, I order everyone to
attack all the targets evenly to bring their health down to fifty percent. Once
that task is done, I cast ‘Dire Starburst’, creating carnage and damaging half
of the golems. Perhaps it is due to there being more targets than last time,
but my attack does considerably less damage to each golem. Still, it is enough
that three are instantly killed and another three are quickly destroyed by the
party.

The final few golems are
quickly disposed of without much effort, and the room is now full of rubble.
Several ornaments and stone shelves along the walls have broken as a result of
the battle, but most of the room is intact. After collecting the loot, we
divide up a large quantity of iron ore, a few bluesteel ores, and other
miscellaneous goods.

The building is of
considerable size, so we spend some time exploring the rooms and collecting any
treasures lying around. More stone golems attack us, but nothing compared to
the first room. We find a treasure chest in the back of the building, but it
only contains a couple of low quality weapons and armor for each person.

I also can’t help but
notice while we are inside that Fen keeps staring at me in an intimidating way.
She is always next to me, so I do my best to put it out of my mind.

Leaving the building and
going back onto the street, two of the parties see us emerge and express looks
of utter surprise. Clearly, they know about the dangers inside the buildings.

One of the parties, the
Nekomata and Inudoga party I saw earlier, quickly finishes the golems with an
efficiency they didn’t have before and walks toward us. I put my guard up in
case they attempt anything, but am confident we can defeat them with our
strength.

Moments later, the party
arrives before us and the leader, a handsome man with drooping dog ears and wielding
a large two-handed sword, steps out and says, “Haha, no need to be so guarded.
To be honest, I am surprised that you successfully went into one of these
houses and came out alive. I have a proposition for your party leader: would
you like to form a team and enter the main temple?”

“What’s in it for you?” I
ask cautiously.

“Well, we don’t have the
strength to go all the way through by ourselves. Judging by your strength, we
should be able to if we work together.”

I look back at the rest of
my party. Everyone apart from Fen and Verde nod their heads in acceptance. I
also don’t have a problem working with another party, so I consent to working
with them.

“That’s great! My name is
NightHunt.”

NightHunt also introduces
the rest of his party: PathFinder, GraciousOne, Gole, Pursuit, and HumorMe. The
last person’s name causes me to laugh, but they seem to be straightforward
people. They also happened to have come from another server when the merge
happened, and they don’t know me or anyone from our party when I introduce us.

NightHunt also
participated in the ‘Battle for Supremacy’, but it was only a superficial one
as his server was already marked to merge with a different server. Since the
result would have no impact after the merge, nowhere near as many people
participated as ours had.

Taking part in minor
chatter with the other party, I begin to grow more friendly with NightHunt and
the others. Of course, I protectively hold Fen close after a few lusty glances
are sent her way. Verde receives some gazes as well and moves behind Sir
Laurence and the others.

Fighting against the
‘Stone Guardians’ with two parties is incredibly easy, to the point of
instantly crushing groups of five or six. It only takes half an hour before we
arrive at the entrance to the grand temple in the center of the ruins.

The doorway is a massive
opening five meters tall and three meters wide. Torches, whose flames could die
out at any moment, are strewn across the ground at regular intervals, dimly
lighting the interior.

We enter and proceed
cautiously, as this temple apparently has enemies much stronger than the ones
outside.

Stone bricks make up the
floor, walls, and ceiling. Vibrant green vines cover most of them though,
breaking up the world of grey.

The tunnel into the temple
continues straight forward until it reaches a large, square room, sixty meters
long on each side, in the center of the temple. The ceiling is a large dome,
with a single hole at the apex through which sunlight follows a small tunnel
from the temple roof and spills into the room. In opposition to the stone brick
floor earlier, this room has several decayed gardens and even a dried up river
in it.

Pathways snake around the
room toward different exits. Among the paths and gardens, golems made of iron
walk in groups of six or seven.

“Creature Analysis.”

Name:
Iron Guardian

Level:
210

Health:
7800

Magic:
700

Stamina:
700

 

??

 

They’re very similar to
the Stone Guardians, except stronger, and if my intuition isn’t wrong, even
more resistant to physical attacks.

“They are near immune to
physical attacks,” NightHunt explains to me, as if reading my mind.

Nodding to him, I turn
toward the rest of my party. “Well, I guess they are evolved ‘Stone Guardians’.
They are level 210, much higher than the enemies outside. CaptainGordon, if you
want to, you know, test out your weapon on them that will be fine. If you don’t
want to show it off in front of another party though, I understand. Verde… I’m
sorry.”

Verde is downcast because
she is useless in this dungeon since she only knows physical attacks.

Experimenting with
physical attacks against the enemy, I use ‘Backstab’ on the nearest golem,
appearing behind it. Stabbing two daggers down onto the hulking lump of metal,
I am completely incapable of penetrating the surface. I quickly use my original
sacred arts, ‘Triple Thrust’ and ‘CrossX’, before it has a chance to retaliate.

My attacks result in
taking a mere sliver off its health, and several white scratches on the back of
its torso. I expected the golem to take a bit of time to turn around before
attacking me, but to my surprise, its head and hands simply spin around. Caught
unaware, I am completely knocked away by an arm like an iron rod that connects
with my shoulder and takes more than half my health.

‘Its attacks are much
stronger, too!’

Quickly returning to the
party, I let them know my findings while healing my wounds. Due to a lack of
time, I consume several of my own potions and wonder why the others dislike
them so much. They don’t taste great, but they’re not that bad.

Fen hugs me while I am
healing and I imagine her licking my wounds. As strange as my daydream is, I
realize that I like the idea. Maybe later, though, when we’re not in any
immediate danger.

My aggravation apparently
attracts quite a few golems toward us, and both parties curse at me before
firing their magic attacks. Fen is a little late to join, as she stays with me
and doesn’t seem to realize the situation going on around her.

She normally isn’t this
much of an airhead, so I think something must be up. Just as I am thinking
that, she bites her lower lip and says so quietly that only the two of us can
hear, “I can’t… wait any longer.”

I don’t understand what
she means, but before I can react, a dome-like ice barrier forms around us. The
ice completely blocks vision, but it lets a pale blue light through from the
outside.

I look deeply into Fen’s
eyes as she suddenly grabs my coat, pulling herself close and laying her lips
over mine.

Subconsciously I wrap my
arms around her, feeling the chill of her skin while holding her tightly. She
doesn’t struggle at all, accepting my embrace entirely. I brush a lock of
snow-white hair out of the way as I initiate another kiss.

Once again my senses are
overwhelmed by the sweetness of her lips, savoring the moment until the end.
That’s not even mentioning the feeling of her tongue wrapped around mine. I
have no clue what such a thing would feel like. Definitely not.

I quickly release her when
I finally remember that a fight is currently going on around us, pushing her
back slightly and mumbling, “Now isn’t the time… Later, okay?”

She nods meekly and moves
behind me, dispelling the ice barrier at the same time.

Some of my party look at
me with suspicion, especially Mason, who says, “What was that? Also, Fen, you
are drooling.”

At this point, Sir
Laurence’s attitude seems to take a jolt as if he has suddenly realized
something.

“I forgot about Fen’s
satiety level,” I hesitantly lie. “It got too low so she was hungry.”

Sir Laurence, unwilling to
let this moment go, comments, “I bet. Hungry like the wolf.”

This triggers Mason’s
knowledge of the situation, and he sharply turns toward the prince. “Really?
You must be joking.”

“I never joke. By the way,
she isn’t-” His words trail off into a whisper as he describes his conclusion
to Mason in lurid detail.

‘Would you two just
shut up! Especially you, Fake Prince!’
 I
silently scream as I realize the situation is completely beyond my control. If
anything between Fen and I is to happen again, it must be as far away
from these two as possible.

My only saving grace is
that the others don’t appear to have many suspicions. NightHunt has a sly smirk
on his face, but I give him a glare that says he’s dead if he opens his mouth.

While we are distracted,
the golems somehow increase their numbers again and are starting to pressure
us. In a panic, I cast ‘Dire Starburst’, killing the nearly dead ones and
weakening the rest.

With the onslaught of two
parties’ worth of magic, the battle is quickly won. NightHunt’s party is indeed
not that strong, and most of the work is done by us, so we take seventy percent
of the loot and the other thirty percent is theirs. This is quite generous, as
eighty-twenty would be closer to fair.

An hour and many health
and mana recovery potions later, we finally clear the room of all the ‘Iron
Guardians’. The interaction between Fen and I earlier has also become common
knowledge, much to my embarrassment and much to Mason’s and Sir Laurence’s
pleasure. Verde acts strangely after finding out, occasionally sending me
furtive glances. I look back at her once, only to have her quickly turn away.

I am completely silent as
we leave the main room, following a random corridor. Fen keeps unusually close
to me too, which isn’t helping my current situation.

Just as I’m considering
running away from the group and exploring the temple myself, we enter a smaller
tomb-like room connected to the corridor. ‘Iron Golems’ aren’t as concentrated
as in the entry room, but they are still abundant.

Each room usually has a
treasure chest, even if most of them are full of rubbish or trapped. Checking
for and disarming them becomes Verde’s sole task. We discover that a strange
new herb called a ‘Star Herb’ is often found in the treasure chests. As I am
the only one with a use for it, I give up on some other minor goods and
monopolize them.

We finally find a
staircase leading to the second floor, which is about ten meters above the
first. The second floor turns out to be a headache, with the ‘Iron Guardians’
increasing to level 220 and the corridors becoming something akin to a
labyrinth.

We break for lunch after a
particularly large fight that leaves us all tired, but our effort isn’t without
reward. I have increased my level by two, and so has everyone else in my group.
NightHunt’s party is elated, as each of them has gained at least seven levels
or more.

I am in charge of lunch,
as usual. With my cooking equipment, I create a vegetable soup with several
herbs, including the new ‘Star Herb’, which proves to be a new favorite.
NightHunt’s party immediately gets closer to us after smelling the cooking. It
is worlds above the pre-cooked meat and other smaller rations they have
prepared.

With everyone extremely
energetic after a good tasting meal and their satiety bars full, we continue
our exploration of the temple. The second floor is very repetitive, and also
very easy to get lost in. We do happen to find an easy method to deal with any
large groups of ‘Iron Guardians’ though.

The top of the walls and
floors are covered with vine growth, and there are occasionally thicker vines
running across the floor that are easy to trip on. Whether it was intended by
the game designers or not, we only need to lead the iron golems over one of
these vines for them to trip and fall. The success rate of this is incredibly
high, with only one or two fortunate enough to step over the vines.

BOOK: End Online: Volume 6
2.73Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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