Escape from Darom, page 23
“Gggaaahhh! I screamed as my eyes shot wide-open.
The sound of blood rushing through my ears nearly drowned out all the sounds of battle going on around me. While I was yanked up into the air, I let out a ragged gasp as my chest burned like it was on fire. In the distance, I could vaguely hear Helgath’s enraged shrieks as the Scorpion’s venom was pumped into my body. While this sucked massive donkey-dick, I couldn’t help the savage snarl that reverberated deep in my chest. Casting a Minor Cure Disease, I wrapped my fists around the base of the stinger which just so happened to be the only unprotected portion of the Venomous Rock Scorpion’s body.
“Life Leech,” I screamed through foaming blood-spectacled lips, channeling my spell of last resort.
“RRREEEE!” The insectile scream was music to my ears as I held onto the stinger for dear life. I couldn’t see anything going on around me as I was whipped back and forth like a favorite chew toy being torn up by a puppy. Nonetheless, I managed to keep a death-grip on the bone stinger until the Venomous Rock Scorpion’s body went ridged and collapsed into a heap.
For a very long second, I could only lay there on the torn-up ground gasping for breath as the battle continued going on around me. When I realized Helgath wasn’t coming over to give me a hand, I weakly began looking for a way to free myself. The yard-long stinger was still sticking completely through my chest and after a few tries, it became clear that I wasn’t pulling myself off of the point without some major help. As I laid there trying to think of something I could do to free myself, I suddenly remembered that the Pickaxe of Earth was still strapped to the outside of my rucksack.
As the sounds of combat got more desperate around me with every passing second, I learned that you can accomplish amazing things when you were properly motivated. Though getting my hand on said pickaxe took nearly the last of my mana, I got to work chopping away at the base of the stone-encrusted tail with a purpose. Unsurprisingly, this turned into yet another extremely painful process. Not just due to the angle completely sucking. That was a given. The bigger issue was that every impact of the pickaxe against the stone-encrusted hide sent jolts of pain shooting through my entire body. Even so, I gritted through the pain until I hacked the tail free of the giant scorpion’s body.
“Kill it … kill it!” Neristhana urgently shrieked as I painfully staggered to my feet.
“I’m trying to,” Fylreh screamed back at her as the Centauride’s bow repeatedly twanged, “but these Armor Piercing Shots only do so much damage.”
“Keep on firing,” Helgath’s stern voice commanded as she worked with Neysa to force the Venomous Rock Scorpions chasing them slam into each other, “We’ve got to help Star!”
“I’m fine,” I managed to gasp out as I carefully bent over to pick up my dropped Vicious Executioner's Axe of Cruelty.
“Star!” my companions chorused in relief as Fylreh’s next arrow finally killed the giant scorpion that was chasing Neri around.
“Woohoo,” the Centauride cheered, “only three more to go!”
“About time,” Neristhana said, breathing heavily as she came to a stop swaying on her feet, “I think … I need to take a quick break.”
I was just trying to figure out how we could help the rest of our companions against these monsters, when the familiar faces of Sarka and Tinyr joined the fight. Pulling aggro on the Venomous Rock Scorpion that was chasing after Fylreh, Sarka’s shield brought the giant scorpion to a stop. As Tinyr began slashing at the bulbous head, Sarka triggered another Special Class Ability that allowed her to block the multiple incoming attacks with her shield as Unalia’s Armor Piercing Shots began drilling into the monster’s head while Yun blasted it with Enhanced Shadow bolts.
“Nice save guys,” I called to my old team as the trash mob stiffened and collapsed a second later.
“Looked like you could use a hand,” Sarka teasingly called out as a pack of four Werebears leaped on the giant scorpion chasing after Helgath.
“Yeah, Star, you might want to have someone take a look at that injury,” Yun called out, hitting me with another Minor Cure Poison and a Regeneration, “you’re looking a bit green around the gills.”
“That’s next on the list,” I assured the Priest as a group of ten Kayden troopers came jogging up.
Without saying a word, the squad targeted the Venomous Rock Scorpion chasing after Neysa. At a command from the Squad Leader, they blasted the monster with a single volley of Enhanced Shadow Bolts, killing the creature instantly. “My Lord!” the Squad-Leader said, before snapping off a fist salute and leading the troopers away as they headed off for the next fight.
“Catch up with you in a bit,” Sarka apologetically called back following after them.
“Yeah, we’re trying to level up as much as we can,” Tinyr explained as they jogged after the Defensive Tank.
All around us, there were squads of Kayden troopers hurrying across the battlefield slaughtering any monsters that they came across. Well, they were all Dragoons now since all of my forces had gotten the Unique Class upgrade from the constant riding and fighting, I silently thought as I smiled to myself. Either way, they were highly effective as entire packs of Venomous Rock Scorpion and Scaled Shadow Hunters were wiped out in single group volleys from multiple squads coordinating together.
Mixed along with the House of Kayden Dragoons were the Uten Syn Druids and Wardens. Though not as organized as my troopers, they were nonetheless extremely effective in slaughtering the higher-level trash mobs. The savage packs of Werebears sweeping through the Jagged Assassin Beetles were almost terrifying to behold. With their claws and overwhelming strength, the Druids’ battle forms would tear off whole sections of the giant insects’ carapaces to shred the flesh underneath. It was brutally effective and, once again, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy about not being able to learn that unique Nightmare tree.
‘You’re okay!’ Helgath exclaimed in relief, hurriedly rushing over to inspect my wound as I heavily plopped down on the carcass of the giant scorpion. From the haunted look in her eyes, it was obvious that the severity of the attack had upset her greatly.
‘I’m fine,’ I soothingly sent, trying to calm my soulmate down as I draped an arm across her shoulders and pressing her forehead into mine, ‘you seem to keep forgetting that I can’t die in The World.’
‘Dying is not the worst thing that can happen to you,’ Neysa said in a huff as she sniffed at the base of the broken stinger.
‘True, but not relevant here,’ I replied, giving the Silver Dire Wolf a warning look. Helgath didn’t need any encouragement to overtly worry about me.
“Is that it?” Fylreh asked, warily lowering her bow as she trotted over to see what was wrong with me.
“Looks that way,” I said, letting out a groan as I carefully clenched a fist over the hole in my chest, “Shit, I think this damn stinger is poisoning me again!”
“I think it’s more like a digestive fluid then a poison,” Neristhana clinically said from beside me as Fylreh bent over to inspect the chunk of bony-stinger sticking out of my chest.
“It’ll stop once you remove it,” the Centauride added as she put away her bow, before helping the Half-Orc remove the gear slung across my back.
“Gah!” I hollered as Fylreh, tried to remove the bow that was slung across my back, “You’re hooked around the stinger … you’re hooked around the stinger!”
“Don’t be a clumsy cow,” Helgath worriedly said, giving Fylreh an unhappy look as Neysa let out a disgruntled growl.
“I am being careful,” Fylreh replied, jerking the bow over my head as I let out a pained groan, “And stop calling me a cow.” She shook her head in annoyance. “That doesn’t even make any sense.”
“So, it would’ve been okay if I’d just called you a heifer instead,” Helgath asked with a twinkle in her yellow cat eyes.
“Not helping,” I gasped, trying unsuccessfully to breathe through the pain as the Gnomeling stepped between the two females.
“How about having this discussion after you’ve helped the poor male?” Neristhana asked as both Helgath and Fylreh gave her sheepish looks.
Thankfully, my companions managed to get the rest of my gear stripped off without any more major problems. I say major because they did a decent job getting the rucksack pulled away from my back even with its point hooked through it. Not that they could get the damn thing off. It took Neristhana climbing up behind my back on the giant scorpion’s corpse with Helgath straddling the back of my shoulders as they worked together to carefully ease the stinger through my chest while Fylreh assisted from the front.
I would’ve thought it simply easier to yank the stinger the rest of the way through my chest like you see on the movies but of course, that was another Hollywood fuck up. My companions assured me that wasn’t the case, swearing up and down that it would hurt a lot worse. Funny that, I was still of half the mind to argue the point until Neristhana broke it down for me. After hearing that they’d have to brace their feet against my back so they could pull hard enough to force the fatter end of the stinger through my body and armored backplate, I decided maybe they had a point.
All that I can say was that it sucked either way, I thought, hitting myself with another Regeneration and Minor Cure Poison once the stinger was fully removed from my chest. Normally, things like that were automatically pushed out of your body once you were healed. The only reason I could think that might have happened was because the stinger was still considered an ongoing part of the Venomous Rock Scorpion’s attack until it was fully removed, which I guess, made it different than an arrow or a barb.
“Huh, that’s interesting,” Neristhana said, holding the yard-long stinger up to inspect it, “this is considered a high-end crafting component.”
“High-end Crafting component,” I curiously repeated, letting my body slide to the ground as I laid back using the rucksack for lumbar support and the rock-encrusted corpse to brace the top of my head.
“Yeah, stuff like that sometimes pops up because of my Trader Class,” Neristhana replied as Helgath and Fylreh began giving each other shit as Neysa quietly watched. Well, quietly was a misnomer. I’m sure the Silver Dire Wolf was adding her own two cents to the side discussion that was going on via her mental link with the Half-Orc. Curiously enough, it didn’t sound like they were actually fighting. While that was disconcerting in and of itself on one level, I didn’t have the energy to listen in as the Gnomeling continued her explanation with an indifferent shrug, “When I cast an Identify, it will usually come with an additional description. Usually, the additional information is very basic, but it is a good market indicator to let you know if you’re dealing with a low, middle, or high tier crafting component. Though, that can greatly vary depending on the item and the location where you run across it at.”
“Fair enough,” I said, before lifting my head up to give the Gnomeling an annoyed look, “But can’t basically anything be used as a crafting component?”
“Could this be used for crafting?” Neristhana said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she walked over to the giant scorpion’s corpse and reach into one of the open wounds to scoop out a handful of viscous goo, “No, it’s just random viscera that’s not worth anything. Besides, the skill usually only triggers for known crafting components and takes a bit of savvy to discover their true market value.”
“So, it’s possible to find something that’s new that no one has used as a crafting component and make money off of selling it to others as a new trade good,” I thoughtfully said, thinking over some of the items I wanted to try to produce as luxury trade goods in the future and how The World might react, “and while the material components that are used to make it might show up as having value, no one will know the recipe or blueprints for crafting the item.”
“I never really looked at it that way before,” Neristhana harrumphed thoughtfully, “but that sounds like how it would work for us traders.” She cocked her head to the side to look down at me. “That position doesn’t look very comfortable.”
“Not particularly,” I agreed, accepting the stinger from her and sliding it into my rucksack, “Remind me to go through the rest of these corpses with you to see if there’s any other crafting components that show up as being useful.”
“Before or after you Resurrect all of those that fell during today’s fighting,” Neristhana curiously asked as I let out an exhausted groan.
“That’s going to take a few hours,” I complained, covering my eyes with a forearm. While I laid there silently swearing up a storm, my eyes took note of a blinking system window minimized at the bottom of my HUD. With a thought, the pop-up window appeared before my eyes.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 52!
You have 7 Attribute Points Unspent!
Congratulations! You have reached Level 51!
You have 7 Attribute Points Unspent!
Woohoo, I mentally cheered, not bad at all. Letting out an impressed whistle, I wondered just how many trash mobs we’d ended up killing during that attack. Seeing the Gnomeling’s raised eyebrows, I flashed her a smile, “I just hit level 52.”
“Congratulations, Lord Stinky,” Neristhana patronizingly said, bowing low at the waist as I flipped her a bird.
“Whatever you say, Trader Stink-Fist,” I replied in the same tone, dipping my chin at her before sprawling back to stare up at the night’s sky.
“That was uncalled for,” Neristhana said, sniffing as if she’d been offended, “No lady likes to be called stinky even if they are.”
“It’s not like either of us can do anything about it,” I nonchalantly pointed out, staring up at the two moons that were now visible in the night’s sky as I let my body go limp, “Why not pull up a bit of ground and take a load off your feet?”
“Someone has to keep a watch over you,” Neristhana said not budging an inch as she kept an eye on the surrounding battlefield.
Neristhana still wouldn’t give that bodyguard crap a rest, I silently swore, not having the energy to fight her over it. Whatever, as far as I was concerned, this had been too long of a day and I honestly couldn’t wait to log out and get some rest. Maybe General Dell could let the troops rest while those of us that could worked on Resurrecting the dead. Who knows, a couple hours of rest might be good enough to allow us to push through the night to reach Darom. Not only that, but get us out of here sooner rather than later, I suspected, that would help us to not get blindsided by the Orc Hordes that were surely even now circling around the Crevice of Shadows to cut off our escape.
Letting out an explosive sigh at the nonstop adventure, I pulled up my Character Sheet to check over my basic Stats and Attributes.
Startum Ironwolf – Level 52
Difficulty: Nightmare Start
Half-Elf: House of Kayden
Class: Empty
Profession Title: Warlock Baron
Statistics:
Hit Points: 2,670
Mana: 4,000
Endurance: 2,670
Attributes:
Strength: 114 (+91)
Intelligence: 224 (+176)
Spirit: 138 (+71)
Agility: 141 (+30)
Stamina: 160 (+87)
Charisma: 80
14 Unassigned Attribute Points.
Maybe, I should dump all of my Unassigned Attribute Points into Spirit, I silently considered due to the job Helgath and I had ahead of us. While tempting, I didn’t really see that as being a truly valid reason, at least, not when I had so many other Attributes that could use some loving. As I was dismissing the window, I noticed something odd. Why had my Professional Title changed from Warlock Knight to Warlock Baron? Couldn’t the developers have come up with a better name than that?
Whatever, I contemptuously thought, dismissing the window with a thought as a disgruntled Fylreh followed Helgath and Neysa over. Not bothering to get into the middle of their current snit, I sat up and took off my gloves as I began going through my rucksack for a water flask and some smoked Cuttle meat. Taking a pull of water, I passed the flask to Helgath who took a swig and passed it on as I did the same with the jerky. I was about to take a bite out of my last piece, when the sounds of fleshy leathery wings came to my ears.
“We have incoming!” Neristhana warned, lowering into a wary crouch as she started scanning the night’s sky.
‘It’s Tengsly,’ I hurriedly explained, feeling the familiar mental connection approaching as I waved off Fylreh and Neristhana’s concerned looks.
As the Gnomeling and Centauride noticeably relaxed, I watched the sky, wondering if Tengsly had managed to reach Darom or not. I’d decided a couple hours earlier that it was worth trying with us being this close to the city. And, while the girls’ reaction was sort of funny on one level when you considered the Flying Squirrel’s actual size, I didn’t blame them one bit for being jumpy after that last fight. The train of fliers had been exceptionally freaky, especially with the whole everyone being poisoned and paralyzed thing, I thought, as my Darkvision made out Tengsly’s silhouette as he dove for my shoulder.
“Hey Tengsly,” I cheerfully called out, holding out the chunk of smoked Cuttle meat to him as he landed heavily on my shoulder. The little guy looked exhausted, I thought, as he greedily took the meat in his little paws with a happy chitter, “Did you make it to Darom?” As if to answer my question, Alanah’s voice sounded in my mind.
‘Oh wow, this is so amazing. Where did you get a messenger squirrel from? We rescued something similar. Zinn say’s they’re really special and thinks you’ll love them. Oh, sorry for jumping around so much, Lord Ironwolf, I’ll try to explain everything that’s been happening since you left. Darom came under siege almost immediately. We were holding out well enough against the Dread Pack’s assaults until the Chaos Storm Alliance showed up with thousands of newfar.’
