Monstergirl Quest, page 2
And if that were the case…I wondered…
I closed my eyes and focused. I held up my left hand and closed the gauntlet into a fist. Once more, the world rippled.
Did I just create a save point? I wondered.
I closed my fist again, shut my eyes, and focused on the previous moment. The world rippled and I was standing in the middle of the room again, just as I had a few seconds ago, when I first focused on making a save point.
“Autosaves and regular saves,” I whispered to myself, careful to keep my voice down, because I knew the skeletons would hear me.
As bizarre and, yes, terrifying as this all should have been, the gamer inside of me was excited as hell.
I glanced down each hallway to make sure they were clear, then stepped toward the one to the right, where that first skeleton kept coming from. On the ground, I saw a stone. I picked it up, took a deep breath, then hurled it down that hallway.
It bumped and skidded across the earthen floor. A moment later, I heard that familiar moan coming from the skeleton.
“Alright,” I whispered to myself. “Let’s see if we can get this to play out differently this time.”
The skeleton rounded the corner, its ghostly white skull face shining blue from the mystical fire, and it groaned again as it raised its iron claymore and charged at me.
I was nervous – who wouldn’t be, with one of the undead charging at them – but stood my ground. I held the Soulguard up in a defensive posture, waiting, waiting…
The skeleton hissed and slashed the heavy blade down at me. I raised the Soulguard and parried it, causing sparks to fly off the iron blade.
Even better, I hardly felt the impact. Whatever strange metal this gauntlet was constructed from, it seemed to absorb a certain amount of kinetic force.
The skeleton hissed at me again, took a step back, and raised the blade once more. It slashed the blade down diagonally, hoping to catch me at the shoulder, but I pivoted back and blocked the blow with the Soulguard again.
Though undead, my improved defense seems to piss off the skeleton, because now it came at me faster, slashing madly. Clank, the blade pinged off the Soulguard. Clank, clank, clank, as I parried three more successive slashes.
After the third block, something quite strange popped up in my field of vision.
BLOCKING SKILL INCREASED +1
I laughed, because instantly, blocking became a bit easier. I figured out how to lean into the parries, lessening the force of the impact that the gauntlet failed to absorb.
The skeleton kept coming at me, but now, this was almost becoming fun. I laughed and chuckled as I parried blow after blow until the skeleton’s iron blade had grown chipped and dented.
But then I had an idea.
I jumped back a few extra feet, giving the skeleton time to wind up for its final blow. The undead creature raised that claymore up high one more time, and as it slashed down at me, I didn’t parry the blade.
This time, I opened my armored palm and caught it, closing the gauntlet’s metal surface around the blade, trapping it.
The skeleton groaned in frustration. It tried to pull the blade away, but now I felt my increased strength. As hard as it yanked on the hilt, I was too strong for the skeleton to wrest control of its blade.
I grinned and kicked the beast in his bony sternum. The skeleton went down in a cloud of dust. I tossed its claymore aside, raised my metal fist, and crushed its skull with the Soulguard.
The skeleton went limp.
“That was fucking sweet,” I said to myself.
Just then, the world rippled. Another autosave, I figured.
Not a half-second after the ripple, I heard a footstep behind me.
Just as I recalled that second skeleton that I’d run into down that other hallway, I felt its broadsword punch between my shoulder blades. It came out bloody on the other end, piercing my sternum, drenched in my blood.
The world rippled again.
I opened my eyes, whole once more, and I’d just smashed the first skeleton’s head in. This time, I knew that second skeleton was coming behind me, but I didn’t have time to put up a fight before it stabbed me through the back again
Fucker.
The world rippled a third time. This time, I leaped forward the first chance I got, and that second skeleton’s blade pierced nothing but air.
Unlike its buddy, the skeleton’s broadsword was smaller and lighter than a claymore, giving it plenty more space to work. It slashed at me faster than the first had, pushing my new blocking skills to the limit, but once I got my bearings, I repeated what I’d done the first time.
I parried, blocked, pivoted…waited.
When the time was right, when the skeleton came at me with a sideways slash, I caught the blade in my armored palm and yanked the weapon from the skeleton’s grip.
The moment I had full control of the blade, another strange configuration flashed across my field of vision.
IRON BROADSWORD
WEIGHT: 12 LBS
DURABILITY: 367/600
ENCHANTMENT: 0/5
Holy shit, I could read weapons stats just by holding onto them! A cool trick, yeah, and I was starting to think this was what Ciara had meant when she mentioned me having Second Sight.
But as cool as that trick was, I let it distract me for a moment too long.
The skeleton was still coming at me, more frantically this time, like it was personally offended that I’d stolen its broadsword.
The undead bastard grabbed at the hilt and started wrestling with me over it. Unfortunately for the skeleton, whatever magic animated its dead body didn’t give it quite the strength that the Soulguard had given me.
I shoved the skeleton backward. It stumbled back a few feet, but kept its footing. This time, though, when it charged me, I swung that sword in a wide arc and took its head right off at the shoulder.
LONG BLADE SKILL INCREASED +1
“Oh damn, this is pretty fucking cool,” I thought.
Just because I was curious, I set the broadsword aside and picked up the claymore. It was heavier, a bit more unwieldy, especially in the tight confines of these narrow hallways.
IRON CLAYMORE
WEIGHT: 27 LBS
DURABILITY: 980/1600
ENCHANTMENT: 0/5
Though I was sure the claymore would deal more damage in an open space than the broadsword, this claustrophobic crypt made me prefer the broadsword. The broadsword was a bit more damaged, but given the area, I thought it was the better choice.
I looked around to make sure I hadn’t attracted any more undead. So far, it looked like I was in the clear, but before I took one other step, I decided to make another save point.
The autosave would have been a nifty feature in a safer area, but that last time, it had almost gotten me caught in an endless loop of death.
After I made another save point, I closed my fist and shut my eyes again. This time, I saw even more of that Second Sight magic that Ciara had mentioned. To make sense of my newfound power, I could now see it the same way I might see a character menu screen in a game.
I saw all my stats, my health (a red bar), my fatigue (a yellow bar), and an empty slot where mana would be measured, if I had any.
“Fucker,” I grumbled, because if there was magic in this place, learning it would go a long way in helping me protect myself.
Anyway, first things first. I thumbed through the menus until I found the save games. I wasn’t sure how the Second Sight magic worked, but it was very intuitive. I turned off the autosaves for now. With my luck, I’d autosave at the exact second I fell into a pit lined with spikes, then get forced to relive my death over and over for eternity.
However, when I returned to the menu to look at my stats, I couldn’t help but frown. Sure, the Soulguard had increased my strength and speed far beyond what they’d been in my reality, but here, they were ranked fairly low.
What was worse, when I saw my level, my inner gamer started raging in anger.
LEVEL 1
“Well, we’re going to have to fix that,” I said to myself.
I picked up the discarded broadsword and held it firm. I figured continuing down this hallway was as good as picking any of the others. Yet, when I started down the hallway again, I noticed something in the corner of my eye.
There was a slightly faded rectangular thing in the upright corner. As I walked, the ‘screen’ seemed to scroll. Holy shit, it was a map!
Granted, the area that I hadn’t yet reached was still shrouded in darkness, but the circular room behind me was clear to see. That meant it would be extremely hard for me to lose my way, even if this crypt turned out to be some massive labyrinth.
Despite all these advantages I kept discovering, I made my way forward much more cautiously than I had at the start. Yeah, making save points and respawning were awesome, but I didn’t exactly like what got me there. Dying still hurt like a bitch, and I wanted to do as little of it as possible.
The crypt was indeed mazelike, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle with the map right there for me to see. I came across tombs and mausoleums, walls constructed of the bones of the dead, just like those creepy catacombs I’d heard about in Paris.
At the end of one short hallway, I found a thick wooden door. For the last few minutes, I hadn’t run into any opposition, but I had a feeling that my good luck was about to run out.
I pressed my ear to the door, feeling my face getting tickled by the rotted wood and cobwebs. On the other side, I heard light moaning, not quite similar to what I’d heard from the skeletons.
But definitely one of the undead, I thought.
From the sound of it, the creature was at least a few feet away from the door. Judging by the hinges, the door would open outward, toward me.
I took a deep breath. I held the broadsword in my unguarded right hand, figuring it was safer to keep the Soulguard free for defense. I made a quick save point, counted to three, then ripped the door open.
“Let’s do this, motherfucker!” I shouted, expecting to see some shambling zombie.
I did not see a zombie.
It was a skeleton, but hardly like the versions I’d seen before. It was taller, wearing a tattered, moth-eaten mage robe. Its eye sockets were neither dark nor empty, yet burning with tiny ruby red flames that seemed to scare off the warm, blue mystical fire burning on those torches. Those flaming red eyes blazed with more than just anger.
Unlike those lesser skeletons before it, this one’s eyes shined with a very clear and malicious intelligence.
The robed skeleton levitated almost a full foot off the ground, adding to its already intimidating height.
“Oh god, this place has liches,” I said to myself right before the creature cast a fire spell that turned the world hellfire-red and burned me down to ashes.
Chapter Three
I respawned back at the door. I grit my teeth in anger. The last thing I had seen was the ball of fire the lich had produced moments before it incinerated me.
For a moment, I’ll admit, I actually considered leaving the lich alone. This particular hallway ended right here, at the lich’s chamber, and if I made my way back to where I started, I didn’t think the creature would follow me.
But no, I wouldn’t run away. After all, I’d been brought here for a reason, hadn’t I? Despite the initial rush at my newfound powers, I remembered that girl, Ciara, pleading with me to help her.
Apparently, that girl thought I was the Champion of her people. I didn’t think the Champion of the Mananymphs would run away, scared of some ugly undead sorcerer.
This time, though, I needed to think. This prick wasn’t like the skeletons. It wasn’t going to make things easy on me by charging at me, looking to cleave my head off with some sloppy slash.
The lich was intelligent, that much was obvious.
I paused for a moment, considering the broadsword in my right hand. My inner gamer had reservations about using the weapon ever since I first stole it from that first skeleton.
I mean, it was made of iron. As far as my gamer knowledge went – which was serving me pretty well so far, so I saw no reason to contradict it – an iron weapon should have been useless against the undead.
Silver would work better, I thought, but I doubted weapons of such expensive material would be laying around discarded in a crypt.
Then again, the iron broadsword had worked just fine against the skeletons. I’d have to take a chance and see how it faired against the lich.
This time, I would be more careful, because I had no interest whatsoever in getting fried again.
The door opened outward, remember? And there was just enough room for the door to open completely while I stood between it and the stone wall at my back.
“Here goes nothing,” I whispered. I grabbed the door handle and, very slowly, opened the door.
I backed up along with it, stepping carefully, because I didn’t want to alert the lich with my footsteps.
When my back was against the wall, I paused and listened. The lich groaned curiously. I heard the quickest, flickering flame, so I knew it had prepared another fire ball. It smelled like brimstone, like a little slice of hell itself.
I braced myself against the wall. The lich levitated, so it made no footfalls, but I could hear the tattered threads of its robe dragging lightly across the earthen floor as it drifted toward the open doorway.
The undead sorcerer’s shadow fell across the floor as it drifted past the door, unaware that I was hiding right behind it. I waited for a full, palpably tense couple of seconds until the creature cleared the doorway, and I had a good look at the bastard’s back.
I leaped out from behind the door, sword drawn and ready to strike. The lich, however, was faster than I’d anticipated.
It spun around, hissing at me, and struck my right hand with a quick elbow, nearly causing me to drop the sword. That quickly, it had begun to produce a small fireball with its other hand. I pivoted back a few feet, saying “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” but kept my wits about me.
I raised the Soulguard in defense as the lich launched its fireball at me. Unlike taking physical force from a weapon, I felt the impact of the fireball striking the gauntlet far more than I had when I parried the broadsword or claymore.
When that ball of fire struck the gauntlet, there was a bright flash that nearly blinded me. There was a dull heat in my left hand, but nothing I couldn’t grit my teeth and ignore. I took another look at the gauntlet and saw that it was glowing bright red, as if the magic had charged it, somehow.
Anyway, if there was a way I could have used that to my advantage, it didn’t matter, because I didn’t have time to experiment with it now.
I lunged forward before the lich could cast another spell. It hissed in anger, backing away, but I closed the distance between us quickly.
Hacking at the creature’s left arm, I took its hand off at the wrist. I roared at me, so I did the same to its right hand. “Let’s see you hurl a fireball with no hands, motherfucker,” I growled.
Indeed, I was right. I let the lich back away some more. Its burning ruby red eyes seemed to fill with panic as it considered its lost limbs.
I tucked away that nugget of information. I was sure it would come in handy later, because I had a feeling this world wasn’t lacking in undead wizards.
Alright, this had gone on long enough.
Mostly defenseless now, the lich tried to flee. That didn’t work out so well for the creature, as I ran it down and slammed the broadsword’s blade right through the top of its skull.
The lich fell toward the floor. However, before it crashed down on the soil underfoot, its physical form gave out, reduced to bone dust. Its robe drifted quietly down to the floor amid a small pile of fine white powder.
Then, across my vision:
LONG BLADE SKILL INCREASED +1
BLOCKING SKILL INCREASED +1
That put a smile on my face. With just a little bit of grinding, I’d start leveling up in no time. If I just kept increasing my skills, eventually I’d go up a level.
By then, whatever magic the Soulguard had absorbed had dissipated. Still, that was an interesting development. I wondered how long it would take to learn how to harness magic through the gauntlet, or if that were even possible.
Hell, even if I couldn’t harness the magic, I at least knew that the fearsome gauntlet was capable of defending against it. Yeah, the big glove didn’t look like much, but I was quickly learning to love the rusted old thing.
I looted the lich’s corpse, or what was left of it. Though I’d been hoping that its robe held some magical properties, I saw that it was worthless. The bone dust didn’t appear useful, either.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the lich had been the ranking creature in the crypt. It had been considerably smarter and more durable than the skeletons, after all. I felt cheated when there was nothing to loot from it.
Then, I grinned. I’d forgotten about the chamber at my back, the place where the lich had been residing before I lured it out.
I returned to that chamber, smiling when I saw the hefty iron chest sitting at the far end of the room. Loot! I ran toward it, only to frown when I saw the rusted, heavy padlock dangling from the latch.
There were no keys in sight, no lockpicks, either, but I had a better idea. Lockpicking might be a cool skill for a thief, but I was no thief.
I was a goddamn Champion, after all.
I grabbed the padlock in my left hand then squeezed my armored fingers around it. With a little effort, the Soulguard mashed the padlock to bits. I tossed the broken lock aside, unhooked the latch, and opened the iron chest.
The chest contained a single broadsword, but there was something strange about it. The blade was made of steel, but the steel had an oddly beautiful red shimmer running across it.
It was like the steel was reflecting bright red flames. Of course, the only flames in the room were those little magical blue torches, so I naturally assumed this steel had been imbued with some form of magic.
