Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty Six

(Ta-da! BAM! surprise upload! So, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I have my second Patron! Thank you, BrunoCalypso! You da best. You da you da best. And so are you, Gothicshark! Stay awesome!

Now, the bad news. SOMEONE has been ripping my chapters off, as well as From a Serpent to a Lioness, and posting them on Novel35. Whoever you are, I’d VERY much appreciate you taking them down from Novel35, since you DID NOT ask for permission, nor did you link my Patreon. I do not give consent for my work to be shared. Shame on you. I hope no one else is doing this, or I’m going to be very disappointed. If I find out this is continuing, I may rethink posting more chapters. I apologize if this ends up happening.)

 

 I look around me, at the large group of people who’ve chosen to accompany me. Gimmel and his squad of a dozen fellow dwarves, Harvenhaight, the black-winged Skyborne, Asteria the Alv mage, the Ashiga Executioner, Clawdette. A proper force for taking on a raid boss!

I crack my neck lightly, rolling my shoulders, as I adjust my grip on the handle of my greatsword. It feels perfectly balanced, and I can’t wait to try it out against the Ancient Lich King. At the back of the group, Randy and Marika are trailing along. I think the pink-haired girl just wanted to get away from Ulged after he savaged her. Randy, well… he’s alternating with glaring at me, then Asteria.

As we travel through the cobwebby, long-abandoned catacombs and lordly halls, the sound of our own footsteps is almost the only thing that breaks the silence. Every few metres, one of Gimmel’s Pathfinders bangs a sturdy metal hook into the wall, before removing an ever-burning lantern from a belt of them around their waist and, igniting it, leaving it hanging for the next group to come through. Apparently, several groups came through without leaving a trail for their successors while I was off-stream for my birthday and beat the boss down already, netting themselves some sweet loot. It’s a good thing I wasn’t trying to be one of the first teams to do so. Luckily, respawn mechanics allow ANYONE who wants a challenge to have a crack at him as many times as they want.

I smile, catching Asteria’s eye. A faint pink warms her cheeks as I bat my eyelashes at her, and she blows a raspberry at me, wrinkling her nose. The sound of sudden and unrestrained violence comes from off the main path, from a side-hall. As we peer in, the darkness is broken by flickers of light, the rich blackness of the room beyond disturbed by clashing steel and muffled cries, accompanied by thuds and wet, sticky splats.

Once the room goes quiet, Asteria flips a few pages in her grimoire, calling, “cover your eyes, we’re going to light this place up!” A few seconds pass, then an answering call breaks the silence. “Okay, ready!” Asteria releases her spell, and a glowing orb of bright white light flies into the room, expanding and shining, like a miniature sun.

In the centre of the chamber, a short, slim girl stands, hand over her eyes. At her hips, a pair of katana handles protrude from black sheathes. One sheathe is shorter than the other. Around her feet, several dozen neatly dismembered of the strange zombie cyborgs, which, according to Astie, have been named the Deadguard by other players. Her clothing, a sort of short kimono with loose, flowing trousers, is slashed to ribbons. Underneath, she’s wearing a black one-piece bodyglove without a single mark on it. She lowers her hand, and smiles. “Yo! You kinda caught me finishing up my training!”

I blink, and then, as we watch, a large, hulking abomination, easily eight feet tall, lurches up behind her. Before anyone can say anything, the creature’s huge, crudely-made warhammer pounds into the girl’s side. However, she simply chuckles, her arm upraised, the blade of her sword drawn. She’s… blocking it?!

She pirouettes and darts back, as the Deadguard roars, preparing to strike again. With deft, assured movements, the girl… begins to dance, flowing around each blow like water, ducking and weaving around as she slashes, drawing her shorter katana, dual-wielding the paired swords in tandem.

I don’t know, maybe we should help her, but… she seems like she’s having fun, challenging herself to bring down something almost twice her height, with only her reflexes and her steel between her and death. For almost five minutes, we simply watch, the spellbinding performance finally brought to its finale, as she vaults up the Deadguard’s hammer-arm, balancing on its left shoulder, as both of her blades cross over at the back of its neck. It roars weakly, collapsing to its knees, then falling flat on its front, the final blow a downward stab with both swords.

The girl hops off as the creature’s body settles, limp and inert. “Thanks for letting me handle it, I appreciate the no-killstealing.” Her blades slide home with a snick, and she bows politely. “I’m Yugata No Yuki, a Huntress here for the challenge of testing my skills. What are you lot doing? Going for a boss run?”

Looking around, I see that everyone else is watching me. When did I become the leader of this whole thing??? Shrugging, I step forward. “Um, yes. We’ve made it our goal to challenge Jemistra. If you want, you could join us?” I offer, but she smiles and turns me down.

“Thanks for the offer, but I wasn’t planning on going after him today. I have other stuff to do, but maybe our paths will cross again! Seeya!” and, with a puff of smoke, she just… vanishes. I look around at the carnage she’d apparently wrought in the dark, and simply respond. “Okay.”

 

Back on the main path, we make good time, with Gimmel’s squad in the lead, still placing down those lamps. An hour passes, then two, as we descend into the depths, head crosswise, ascending, and going anti-crosswise again. The Deadguard make a few attempts to prevent us from making progress, but our numbers manage to hold the line successfully, without casualties. In one of the rooms, there are a few Pathfinders of other races, not just dwarves, who’ve established a base for those in need of respite.

Gimmel exchanges a few words with a tall Alv in dark clothing, a long dagger on his thigh. He nods and snaps his fingers, and a trio of fox-like Argonauts scamper forwards, bearing a case. Gimmel hands over a pouch that clinks and jingles, which the Alv accepts, a smirk on his handsome face. “Good doing business, master dwarf.” As he saunters away, the fox-like triad bows, opening the box. Inside, there are a dozen crystalline spheres, each engraved with a rune.

“The Vulpa hope these products are to your liking, sir!” the tallest of the three pipes up in a strange, Gaelic accent, drawing up to his full, underwhelming height of three feet. His bushy red tail, pointy ears, and unassuming stature seems almost tailor-made to play on his adorability. His eyes are sharp and cunning, and his easy grin reveals a set of sharp, needle teeth.

“Now, these are still in the prototype stage, so don’t hold onto them after you prime them! Range is five metres blast radius, half magical and half physical damage. Use them wisely, and always think of the Vulpa for all your trading, mercantile, or alchemical needs!”

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I lean in, staring at the strange, pearlescent orbs. “What… what ARE they?” Gimmel grins. “A little insurance policy, my friend. These liddle beauties are pretty much grenades! They have a contact fuse, so once they’re thrown, they go off on impact! Let’s see Jemistra handle this!”

I blink. “Grenades?! I guess they’re player-made, so… and if they’re magic items, then I guess it makes sense… sure, let’s see how they work on him!” I give the dwarf a fistbump, and he tucks the box away for later. With a few words of farewell, the Alv hands Gimmel a scroll.

“This is what we need here for the Pathfinder cadre. Can you see what you can do, big man?”

Gimmel grins and nods, his teeth white amidst the dark tangle of his long beard. “Aye, shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll send a squad with this stuff once we finish our boss-run. See you after we’re done, mate!”

We move off, heading away from the Pathfinder base and resume our trek through the darkness, lanterns lighting our way. Finally, the clanking of heavy armoured footfalls comes from ahead. I start jogging faster, and then pause. At the end of the hallway, the path drops away, becoming a bridge over a massive chasm. A huge, glowing crystal shines high above, almost like a pale blue sun, illuminating the depths below. When I look over the edge of the bridge, I can see buildings.

 A whole city, in the heart of the world. The bridge stretches out over the metropolis below, its other end terminating at the lip of a flat-topped tower. Two distant figures are engaged in combat upon it, and I focus my eyes. One is the armoured knight; the one Gimmel gave a greatsword to. The other is a tall, hunched figure in gold-embroidered robes. The two are clashing, sword against sword, the sound ringing out through the vast grotto, as I point. “We should get stuck in, but be careful not to inflict any damage on the armour, got it?”

Randy scoffs, and Marika rubs her throat again, but at least they don’t make a fuss. Checking our gear, Asteria and I give a quick rundown of what we know to our streams for those who’ve trickled in and are in need of a catch-up, clarifying a few questions and threatening to bonk the ‘down bad’ section of our chats. I get a lot of messages wishing me a happy birthday, as well as messages of support and good luck for the upcoming boss-fight.

A few minutes later, we’re ready, and I tilt my head back, and, spreading my wings, I yell, “CHAAAAARGE!” the sounds of armoured boots filling the air as we begin pounding over the bridge,  the few Deadguard opposing us swept away by sword and spell. I even manage to get a sweet hit in with my sword, slamming it horizontally into the ribcage of one. It flies back a couple of metres, still in one piece and snarling with rage, but it doesn’t matter.

The force of the blow was more than enough to send it tumbling off the bridge, and it plummets into the darkness, disappearing. A few minutes later, I get a small notification about exp and money earned from killing a Deadguard. The bridge is cleared in moments as we barrel along its length, arriving at the massive barred doors to the boss chamber. I push against the surface, but it doesn’t budge. Straining, I work my shoulder into the gate, but no success.

I take a few hopping steps back, almost a dozen metres, as Asteria tries to say something. I bring my wings to bear, and charge, spiralling a little, crashing into the gate and slamming it wide open, buckling the top hinge and leaving it hanging askew.  My shoulder aches, and I spot my hp bar decrease slightly from the impact.

Asteria giggles, pressing a hand to my wrist. “Minor Heal. Kettrin, why didn’t you try PULLING the gate, honey?” I stare at her blankly for a few seconds. My face bursts into flame as I realize. “Oh god… I was streaming that… YOU were streaming that! Aaaaaaaaargh, I’m such a ditz!”

As I nurse my shoulder, the pain fading away, I spot a full-caps message in my chat-bar.

UlgedTheFloofyGnoll: OH GOD THAT GATE! TALK ABOUT ROLLING A NAT20 ON YOUR STRENGTH CHECK!

The message tails off into what looks like a keysmash, before another message clarifies the reason.

Mur_Is_Good_Kobold:  Ulged headbutted his anvil while laughing. Made a dent in it. Getting a healer for him.

 

As I straighten up, I notice the sounds of swords clashing… has stopped. There in the centre of this huge, circular tower-top, the Ancient Lich King and the animated suit of armour… have turned their heads to stare. Jemistra has a look of profound confusion on his withered, desiccated face, and the armour looks like it’s raising its non-existent eyebrow at me.

Everyone is waiting, the silence dragging out, before I step forward, clearing my throat. This is my moment. Should I give a speech about how we’re here to take Jemistra down? Apologize for the gate? An idea flits across my brain and I seize on it. “Sorry to bother you, but we’ve been trying to reach you about your carriage’s extended warranty.”

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