Steel Wolves of Craedia (Realm of Arkon, Book 3) (4 page)

"If it weren't for him..." Masyanya sobbed behind him.

"It was a worthy death," Rexar spoke grimly, gazing at the debris. "Let's bury him along with the other defenders."

Max looked around at his companions.
Nobody's even mentioning the fact that these are just NPCs,
he thought to himself. So immersed were they in the surrounding world that the line between real humans and non-living programs was growing blurry, almost nonexistent. And while some scumbags who had come here from the real world were busy raping and torturing their own kind, this arboreal warrior had sacrificed his life to give him, Max, those crucial seconds necessary to finish off the terrible monster from the Gray Frontier. With a heavy sigh and a nod of consent to Rexar, Max started toward the great heap of bones lying on the ground, and put his hand on it.

"Well?" Luffy shifted from foot to foot anxiously. "Come on, don't keep us in suspense!"

The warrior looked up at his friends, then zeroed in on the assassin. He smiled.

"You're one lucky SOB, Donut," he grunted, handing a dagger and a leather level 105 chestguard—both rares—to the grinning rogue. "And a new pair of shoes for you, Masyanya," he added, passing rare chainmail boots to the huntress.

"The shoes a little too big for me," Masyanya wiped the tears with her sleeve, smearing dirt on her face. "Sixty levels too big... I'm more interested how much coin that thing has got?"

"Figures," Bonbon gave a mournful shake of the head. "Even now all Masyanya can think of is size and money."

"One hundred seventy gold—I've never held this much money in my life," Max smiled. "Eight uncommon quality items for various classes, plus a bunch of reagents and ingredients. Oh, and..." He held a dramatic pause. "Hold on to your seats..."

You've accessed the quest: Unique Trophy.

Quest type: unique.

Hand in Gaerryon's Head to the quartermaster of any Great House.

Reward: experience, 50 gold. Increased reputation with the chosen Great House. Increased reputation with the dark elves.

"We're rich!" Rexar whispered in awe in the silence that followed. "Fifty gold per man, plus one seventy from the boss."

"I'm not the lucky SOB here, Max," Donut sniffed. "You're the one who just wasted a bonehound with a quest sword that doesn't even have any stats, earning the 'Protector of the Great Forest' title, after a whopping two months in the game. I can't even call that luck—I don't know
what
that is..."

"Oh, please!" Max dismissed him. "Like it's so hard to bring a few high-level friends with you—a tank and a healer—and engage the boss without inviting you to the party. There's your 'Protector' right there..."

"Do you really think we're all idiots here?" the assassin shook his head dubiously. "That's been tried a thousand times, but the governing AI is no fool. Trust me on that. If he's capable of infusing non-human characters with almost human-like emotions and knowledge, preventing such crude attempts at cheating is easy as pie for him."

"Then why didn't the governing AI account for the lycarn assisting?" Max gestured at the warrior tree.

"Hell if I know," Donut shrugged. "Maybe that was part of the script, considering how close we cut it. No way we would have survived without its help. And we wouldn't have been able to return to this island either. Besides, even if we were level one hundred or higher when we got here, I'm positive that this bastard," he gave the pile of bones a spiteful kick, "would have been one fifty, maybe even two hundred. Hidden quests are just like that! They're incredibly difficult to find, very easy to lose, and virtually impossible to complete."

"Fine," Max nodded. "It is what it is—I'm not one to bitch and moan about all the party bonuses we scored." He looked at Bonbon and motioned at the corpse at the tank's feet. "You're the master dresser, aren't you? Feel free to dismember that bastard, and let's start digging a grave! We'll head into the shrine as soon as we're done here. I'm still shaking a little from what just happened..."

"I hope you're right, you know," climbing out of a wide hole three feet deep, Bonbon shot Alyona an askance look.

"Quit your grousing, that's the last one," the young woman replied dryly. "If you had read any books on the subject, you'd know that dead elves ought to be buried separately, so that a tree would grow from each grave."

"Don't pay any attention to his grumbling," Masyanya flashed a jovial smile. "He's just hungry."

"Nine people in the party, but only Max and I were digging," Bonbon couldn't resist cracking a smile in return. "It's just like real life—for every one laborer, there's a dozen managers and supervisors."

"Oh, come on! With your strength stat, it takes all of ten minutes to dig a grave. You two could have found jobs as excavators IRL," the blonde snickered.

"What a wench! Would it kill you to say a kind word once in a while?" Bonbon chastised her. "I don't know what Donut sees in you." Bonbon gave a dramatic sigh. "Well, where's that lycarn debris? Time to end this."

The initial plan had been to bury the shine defenders and the fallen treant in a mass grave, but Alyona had come out defiantly against it, citing some books she'd read. Nobody had protested, and now there were eight mounds running along the edge of the forest at intervals of roughly one hundred feet. When everything was done, the nine elves gathered silently over the ninth mound—the grave of the abandoned shrine's last defender. The solemn silence was broken only by the wind rustling the treetops, and an owl hooting in the distance.

"Thank you," Max spoke first, his grim gaze fixed on the barrow. "All right, let's go see what—"

Suddenly all nine mounds shifted, as pillars of emerald light shot up from them into the sky. An enchanting music filled the elves' ears.

Attention! You have garnered the attention of a higher being. Kirana, the Goddess of Vengeance, knows of your existence.

"Seriously, you guys, there's something off about you..." Donut muttered, flabbergasted. "In all the years I've been playing, I have never experienced so many emotions as I have with you in the past several days..."

"Something off about 'us,'" Masyanya winked at him. "Not 'you,' but 'us.' You're one of us now, aren't you?" She looked at Max and touched his shoulder, nodding over at the shrine ruins. "Shall we? Lead the way, chief."

"I suppose this means lunch is postponed," with a heavy sigh and a dismayed throwing up of the arms, Bonbon followed after everybody else...

The interior of the shrine was rectangular, with walls around sixty feet long and forty across. Six trees stood in a pattern, like columns, framing a path to the altar, which was fashioned in the shape of a wooden bowl. Sunlight filtered through breaches in the walls and ceiling, illuminating the surfaces damaged by time and fire, covered in mazes of cobwebs and colonies of strange, ostensibly parasitic fungi. Lying crumbled on the ground on either side of the altar were fragments of two stone statues. It was impossible to discern what they might have looked like once. Evidently, the disavowed had taken all of their rage over losing a hundred of their troops on these reproductions of the goddess. Despite the myriad holes in the walls, the shrine was steeped in total silence, disturbed only by the footfall of the elves themselves.

"Be on guard," Max turned back to his companions, meeting their anxious gazes.

The warrior crossed the space quickly, putting the fragment of the black sword on the altar, cracked and charred in places, and... Immediately jumped back, shielding his eyes from an explosion of blinding light. There was a crash overhead as the shrine's walls shuddered. A breeze blew into his face, carrying aromas of pine and forest grasses.

You've completed the quest: Restoring the Shrine I.

You have gained a level! Current level: 40.

You've learned a unique skill:
Punishing Bough.

You have 6 talent points to allocate.

Racial bonus: +1% to resistance to earth magic.

Class bonus: +1 to constitution, +1 to strength.

You have 18 stat points to allocate.

………………………………………………………………

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

………………………………………………………………………

You have gained a level! Current level: 43.

You have 9 talent points to allocate.

Racial bonus: +1% to resistance to earth magic.

Class bonus: +1 to constitution, +1 to strength.

You have 27 stat points to allocate.

You've learned the spell:
Punishing Bough.

Instant cast.

Cooldown: 60 seconds. Upon activation, any physical or magic attack you execute will ignore 50% of your target's armor and resistances. Punishing Bough cannot be parried or blocked with a shield.

Attention! You have garnered the attention of a higher being. Kirana, the Goddess of Vengeance, is friendly to you.

You received
Kirana's Favor
, a passive ability granting a permanent 3% increase to all your stats.

To the sounds of the same enchanting melody, Max gazed in awe at the walls and ceiling as they shifted in shape and color. Verdant vines were creeping rapidly through every hole, covering the surfaces, reanimating the trees that were sloughing the parasitic fungi off their coats. All he could do was gaze and take it all in, speechless. Not that words were even unnecessary.

You've accessed the quest: Restoring the Shrine II.

Quest type: hidden, chain.

Slay all the spawn of the Gray Frontier in the vicinity of the shrine. Slay Agrallon the Disavowed, the head priest of Vill, the God of Torment and Torturous Death. Loot from his remains the Emerald Tear stolen from the shrine of Kirana, the Goddess of Vengeance, and place it on the goddess' altar.

Reward: experience, increased reputation with the dark elves, unknown.

Attention! To complete this quest you will need at least ten allies.

Hearing stunned exclamations, Max turned back to the altar and froze. Two stone figures stood erect on either side of the pedestal. A tall warrior maiden with a fearsome visage was resting a massive two-handed sword on her shoulder, the fragment of which had just been placed on the altar. She was studying Max intently, with a dash of mockery, the way a seasoned veteran might look at a green recruit. The warrior looked at the other figure. Young, long-haired and fairly small in stature, the elven maiden was strikingly beautiful, her eyes radiating warmth and understanding. Max nodded at both statues, muttering, "We shall do as you ask, have no doubt," then spun around and headed for the exit.

The area surrounding the shrine had changed dramatically: the moss was gone, replaced with a lush carpet of green grass; the sickly pines had vanished from the shorelines; the water was clear, free of foul weeds and debris; and the air was full of zest, like in springtime.

"There's life here now!" Luffy's jubilant exclamation came from around the structure's corner. "Exactly where that nasty garden used to be."

"Nothing surprises me anymore," chuckled the assassin, sneaking up on the warrior soundlessly. Thankfully, Max was beginning to get used to it. "A victory for the tree-huggers, eh?"

"No kidding," Max chuckled in return. Then he stretched, gazing past the treetops at the setting sun. "Looks like we may be here a while."

"Are we freaking going to eat today or what?" Bonbon asked indignantly, hands crossed over his chest. "Or is this a fast that no one told me about? I've had it with your skeletal dogs, grave-digging and..." His grumbling became drowned out by the roaring laughter of his companions. The bald man shook his head and, grinning despite himself, plopped down on the ground and produced a rolled-up cigarette. "I don't get no respect around here. Just wait till you ask me to cook you all barbecue next time..."

"Look! Alyona was right!" Rexar shouted excitedly, pointing toward the forest. Nine young trees were growing along the edge, swaying gently to sporadic gusts of wind. Their leafage was a resplendent orange in the sunset.

Chapter 3

The woods stirred awake by the morning breeze. It ruffled raspberry patches and massaged the tall grass, then got tangled up in the mighty boughs of a live oak growing twenty yards from the black hole gaping in the hillside. Day was breaking over Demon Grounds.

"Why in Hart's name is this called a 'swamp' cave?" I hopped off the razorback and scratched him gently behind the ear, then gave Iam a quizzical look. "Where's the swamp?"

"A quarter mile from here, in the direction of Indis," the black-haired warrior looked up from his boot, which he had been trying to wipe clean off slime, and motioned westward, toward the Great Lake. "As to its name, you should ask Reece," Iam nodded at the mage, who was toiling over the corpse of a giant horned toad. "He's the smart one around here. He'd even traveled to Xantarra to study something or other, albeit with little success."