Spiteful Healer: Book One - A LitRPG Adventure, page 15
“I can’t have her ruining our plans. She knows too much. Move so that I may kill her, or you will be the one to taste my blades,” the voice growled, shifting back into a human form, his silhouette barely visible in the dark building.
“That’s fine,” Winter said, adopting a fighting stance. “If she dies, that’s it for her, but I’ll be fine,” he said defiantly.
“So be it,” the figure grinned. Lunging forward with two daggers drawn, he began striking Winter’s shield.
You take 4 piercing damage.
You take 3 piercing damage.
You take 4 piercing damage.
You take 2 piercing damage.
“Of course… Creatures that attack slowly will hit big, but fast attackers with low damage are weak against shield users, right? As long as I can use Brace on all your attacks? Which, to be fair, is a bit hard, but…” Winter said as he timed his shield movements to coincide with the dagger strikes of the cloaked man.
“Will you shut up and fight back?” the man shouted in frustration. “If you plan on being a pincushion, I’m fine with that. Your shield skills are above average, but how long can you keep that up?”
He continued stabbing furiously, focusing his attacks on Winter’s shield to break his defense. His focus was only interrupted by a chewing sound, causing him to stop and look over the top of the shield, where he saw Winter holding the torch under his right armpit while using his right hand to eat a steak.
“You’re eating lunch while we’re fighting?” the cloaked man shouted in pure rage.
“Well, yeah, you’re making me use so much stamina,” Winter replied, stuffing an entire rockjaw steak into his mouth and pulling another from his inventory.
“How much do you want to underestimate me?!” the man roared. He waved his daggers away from the torch into the darkness, and when he brought them back near the light, they were engulfed in a shadowy mist.
You take 12 shadow damage.
You take 11 shadow damage.
“Uh oh. Shaduh daggersh, no guud. Nee’ light, nee’ light,” Winter said with his mouth full, trying to wave the torch toward the daggers to cancel the effect. However, they were moving too quickly in the now pitch-black storage house. As he saw the torch flames flying through the air in front of him, an idea popped into Winter’s head.
This was a firewood storage house.
Firewood.
Torch.
He used the torch to set fire to the dry firewood on either side of the doorway.
“Reawy not the besh choice o’ hideouts. Minor Heal!” he cast, restoring his health a bit.
“Insolent priest!” the cloaked figure shouted, unleashing another flurry of blows on Winter’s shield. Winter went back to eating steak and using Brace. This continued for a few minutes until Tinsel was long gone, and Winter thought it might be safe to try and run, but a notification popped up to deter him.
Level Up! Shield Mastery has reached [Level 17]!
Level Up! Leather Armor Proficiency has reached [Level 12]!
“Whoa, that’s a lot of Shield Mastery experience! Hey, what level are you?” Winter asked excitedly as the fire inside the small structure began to blaze out of control.
“He’s level 15,” a voice answered from behind Winter. He glanced back to see Herilon standing there, his greatsword drawn. He wore a strange glass monocle over his right eye, emitting a blue light that faded a moment after Winter looked at him. “My guild leader said she got a warning that a building within Orm was on fire. You mind explaining what you’re doing?”
“How’d you find me so fast?” Winter asked, to which Herilon pointed at the billowing pillar of smoke rising above the treeline. “Oh… I’m— It’s a quest. I was looking for the person poisoning Orm. It’s this guy. He uses shadow magic, so, y’know, fire,” Winter replied between mouthfuls of steak, healing himself and blocking attacks.
“Oh, in that case, great work. I’ll take it from here.” Herilon took a few steps forward, raising his oversized greatsword into a striking position.
“Ah! Wai’, hang on. Thish guy’sh givin’ good skill ’sperience,” Winter protested.
“What? Why’re you eating so much steak in a fight?” Herilon looked at him in disbelief.
“Stamina,” Winter replied like it was a given. “I said he’s giving good skill experience.”
Herilon let out a chuckle. “Alright. But how can a level 5 player survive so many hits from a level 15 Shadow Assassin NPC?” Herilon asked rhetorically. Winter didn’t answer. “I can see you’re using Brace well. Not many players can handle bracing fast dagger attacks so consistently, but still… You started playing, what, like a week ago? And you spent most of that time dying to a boar. Something’s weird here.”
Herilon began pacing behind Winter, making him uneasy. Unfortunately, Winter couldn’t watch what Herilon was doing—he had to pay attention to the dagger strikes to Brace properly.
There was a flash of blue light behind Winter. He glanced back once more to see a beam of blue magical energy radiating from a wand that Herilon had pulled from his inventory, the beam connecting directly to Winter.
“Hey, what the heck are you doing?” Winter shouted.
“Relax, it’s only a Wand of Identification,” Herilon said as he fidgeted with an item card containing all of Winter’s statistics and skills.
“Damn,” Winter sighed. He knew what was coming next.
“What the heck is Pacifism…” Herilon said. In an instant, his jaw dropped wide open in disbelief. There was an awkward silence between them, filled only by the sound of the vulgar threats and dagger attacks of the Shadow Assassin, who was displeased at being ignored.
“You cheeky lil’…” Herilon grinned nastily. “The whole world thinks you’re some hopeless noob who can’t kill a boar. This is what you were doing? How’d you learn about this? Did Makaroth tell you?”
“I’ve got nothing to do with Makaroth. He doesn’t know about it. No one does except me, and now you,” Winter replied anxiously.
“Oh, this is gold. So, you had to die a lot to get it? Eirene… I guess it only works for divine classes. Dang, that rules me out.” Herilon began pacing back and forth again, thinking it over.
“Any chance you’ll keep it to yourself?” Winter asked as politely as he could.
“What I don’t get is why you’re keeping it hidden in the first place. You could immediately clear your name if everyone knew this was what you were doing. You’d be famous. Again.”
“I’d be famous for being Makaroth’s son, not because of the skill. I don’t want anything to do with that guy.”
“Ahhhh, I see. So that’s how it is.” Herilon stopped pacing, enjoying his position of power over Winter. “It’s kind of hard to level up without being able to attack anything, though, isn’t it? I mean, eventually, that guy will take you out. It’s not like you’ll exhaust him. He has ten thousand stamina.”
“How do you know that?”
Herilon tapped his monocle. “Arcanist’s Eye. It’s an intermediate-level enchanted item. It lets you see the statistics of monsters that are lower level than you.”
“Well, ten thousand is nothing,” Winter blustered.
“Pfft, yeah, right. How much steak did you bring?” Herilon raised an eyebrow as he put his sword away and crossed his arms.
Winter didn’t reply due to an abrupt burning sensation in his throat, similar to the sensation he’d gotten from diving into the well for too long. He coughed painfully as the smoke from the flames billowing out of the building through the doorway became too much to handle. He couldn’t breathe and was forced to turn his head and take in fresh air from outside to stop the suffocation effect.
Another lightbulb flicked on in his head.
“How about we make a bet?” Winter suggested. As he spoke, more level-up notifications appeared for Shield Mastery and Leather Armor Proficiency—they were going up incredibly fast. “If I can defeat this Shadow Assassin, you won’t tell anyone about my skill.”
“Hmmm.” Herilon thought about it for a moment. “I’m starting to like you, Winter. I got the wrong first impression of you.” He put a finger to his chin. “Alright, deal. I’ll need to tell my guild leader about it, but I’ll make sure she keeps it between us. But only if you can defeat that assassin.”
Winter grinned, eyeing the bright flames and thick smoke inside the stone building. Sure enough, after another minute of dagger attacks, the Shadow Assassin began coughing profusely.
“There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you!” a familiar voice shouted behind him.
Winter turned to see Keldan, Swiftstar, and two other players, named Rocknight and Vriflow, all approaching from a distance. They were about two levels higher than when Winter had last seen them. Winter let out an audible groan.
“How did you guys fi—” Winter didn’t finish the sentence as all four pointed at the giant pillar of smoke. “Oh, yeah,” he mumbled in defeat.
“Looks like he still has his bodyguard,” Swiftstar commented, motioning toward Herilon, who glared back at them.
“These your pals, Winter?” Herilon asked.
“No,” Winter replied coldly.
“Hey, hey, we respect the Night Hunters. We’ve learned from our mistakes. We won’t start any more fighting within Orm, but we’re not exactly in Orm right now, and we’ve got a bone to pick with Winter.” Keldan’s tone was overly dramatic for his livestream.
“Be that as it may, I just made a bet with this guy. I’d prefer you not interrupt it.” Herilon gently patted the hilt of his greatsword.
“What kind of bet?” Swiftstar asked. The four walked close enough to see the level 15 Shadow Assassin fighting for his life inside the small firewood house. It looked unusually cruel, so much so that Winter might’ve felt bad about it if the assassin hadn’t continuously threatened to rip out Tinsel’s throat and make Winter eat it between his attacks.
“Winter says he can beat that level 15 Shadow Assassin without attacking it,” Herilon shrugged.
“Are you mental?” Vriflow, an elven girl wielding a scepter and shield, commented. She had straight, long red hair, wore black and blue mail armor, and stood a few feet behind the others.
“Being Makaroth’s son has gotten to your head, huh? Did you forget that you couldn’t even kill a boar? How’s a level 5 going to beat a level 15?” Keldan shouted, partially directed at Winter, partially at his audience.
As he said this, the Shadow Assassin collapsed to the ground.
Shadow Assassin defeated!
Congratulations, you have reached [Level 6]! 3 attribute points available, +51 health, +21 mana!
Level Up! Shield Mastery has reached [Level 21]!
Level Up! Leather Armor Proficiency has reached [Level 15]!
Level Up! Minor Heal has reached [Level 13]!
Attribute Up! You’ve gained +1 Constitution.
Attribute Up! You’ve gained +1 Spirit.
A small gray orb rolled out of the assassin’s body, cracking open to reveal a black cloak. Winter bent down to pick it up before frantically navigating to his skill list to see if Pacifism was still there. To his relief, it was.
“This game’s a bit twisted,” he mumbled at the corpse. When he stepped away from the blazing building and turned around, he saw all five staring at him, eyes wide, jaws dropping. “So, uh, a deal’s a deal, right?”
“Cheeky little…” Herilon shook his head in disbelief. “Alright, a deal’s a deal. I’m heading back to Orm.”
“What a coincidence, me too!” Winter said, running to walk beside Herilon, glancing back anxiously at the other four, who stood dumbfounded at what had just happened.
“How?” Swiftstar shouted at Winter, who shrugged nonchalantly.
“Did he suffocate him? Make his stamina drop?” Vriflow suggested.
“You can do something like that? What kinda messed-up tactic is that?” Rocknight mumbled.
Keldan broke out of his stupor and took a few steps after Herilon and Winter. “Oi, are you still protecting him? The bet’s over, right? Come and fight us, Winter!”
“I’m not protecting him. I’m keeping order in Orm,” Herilon replied dismissively. “We just happen to be heading in the same direction. Don’t worry, I won’t attack you unless you flag hostile.”
Herilon grinned mischievously. Winter inched closer to Herilon and walked quickly to keep up with him. As the two got farther away, the four of them huddled together.
“What’re we going to do?” Swiftstar asked. “He was taking hits pretty easily; he might be a bit stronger than we thought.”
“He’s level 6, which means he’ll get full death penalties now. We’ll be fine. Besides, we gotta give the people what they want. You guys want more Winter, right?” Keldan called to his audience, noting the viewership was nearing 500—significantly higher than his usual 100 average. “He’ll have to leave Orm eventually.”
Chapter Eleven
ULTIMATUM
When Herilon and Winter arrived back in Orm, the two parted ways. Winter returned to the church while Herilon resumed patrolling the streets. When Winter was out of earshot, Herilon hastily opened up his messaging interface to contact a level 134 character named Quinn, the guild leader of the Night Hunters.
“Hey Quinn, I got news from Orm.”
“Oh yeah? Stepped in manure? Or encounter a gang of angry level 5 thieves trying to steal your lunch money?”
“It’s about that Winter kid, Makaroth’s son.”
“The one who couldn’t kill a boar?”
“Yeah, about that…”
Winter entered the Church of Eirene to find it much the same as he’d left it, except that Tinsel and Farlion were standing inside, huddled together.
“Winter! I can’t thank you enough! You saved my wife. It’s not much, but take this as an apology.” Farlion held out a small vial of blue liquid.
Acquired: Minor Mana Potion [Quality: 5%]
“Thanks.”
Winter added it to his inventory, then moved past them to greet Clara, who was anxiously approaching.
“An assassin was poisoning the fountain and eastern well and had Farlion lock the central well, so anyone who didn’t take water from the river during that time got poisoned,” Winter explained.
Quest Complete!
+100 Favor with Goddess Eirene
As the message popped up, he watched Clara materialize a folded cloth from her inventory and hand it to him.
“Thank you. You’ve worked hard, as I’ve heard from Tinsel. She informed me exactly what you did, but we still don’t understand why or what creature the poison is based on.”
Acquired: Vestments of Eirene [Quality: 10%]
Winter took the item and put it in his inventory to check later.
“Did you find any clues or hints that may lead us to some answers?”
Winter thought for a second, opened his inventory, pulled out the parchment, cloak, and empty vial, and handed them all to Clara.
She unfolded the parchment to reveal a crudely drawn map made with black ink. It indicated Orm, the river, the firewood storage, and another structure marked much farther away, far to the north of Orm.
“I would wager we may find some answers at this location, though the map is hard to read,” Clara said as she handed it back to Winter. Next, she unfolded the black cloak and examined it. On the inside of the hood, she found a skull symbol. The skull had eye sockets where the jaw should be, and the jaw was where the eyes should be. “The mark of Darxon, a cult that worships the God of Suffering. That explains everything,” Clara concluded.
Winter stared blankly at her.
“The followers of Darxon grant him power by drawing on the suffering of innocents, typically by absorbing it into a dark magical object. They’re known for using cruel and torturous poisons that cause suffering over long periods.
“I will send requests to the other churches in Orm that excel at handling cultists. As followers of Eirene, we must save the lives of the innocent and keep the peace, so I do not expect more of you than that. That being said, please, I beg you, go to this location and discover what manner of creature’s blood they use to create this poison. Time is running out, but if you move quickly, we may yet be able to save everyone here.”
Clara clasped Winter’s hands with her own.
Quest: Priestess Clara would like you to find the Darxon hideout near Orm and discover what creature is being used to create the poison ailing the villagers.
Objective: 0/1 Creature’s Identity Discovered
Reward: Priest Class Skill: Cleanse (Beginner).
Difficulty: Very Hard
Restriction: Limited to class: Priest.
Winter accepted the quest. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
He huffed in annoyance, turned, and left the building. He thought it would be best to update the other priests first, so he went to the job board in front of the town hall.
To his surprise, another priest wearing Zeus’ mark was already modifying the parchment. When finished, he stepped back, and several other priest players leaned in to read what he had written. Winter did the same.
POISON SOURCE FOUND – DARXON HIDEOUT RAID TONIGHT
Leave at nightfall: meet at the north side of Orm Village (10:00 PM GAME TIME)
All classes are welcome (you don’t need to be a priest with the quest to join us)
Level 5+
Difficulty warning: Very Hard! Come prepared!
“Any idea who found the poison source?” a priest asked, looking at another.
“Dunno. The head Zeus priest only told me it was one of the Eirene priests.”
“Really? Eirene? Not bad. A Darxon raid at level 5 sounds exciting.”
“Yeah, no kidding. I thought those guys were only for high-level content.”
Winter avoided joining the conversation, instead opening his inventory to check out the Vestments.
Name: Vestments of Eirene
Slot: Back (Cloak)
Type: Cloth
Armor: 1
Quality: 10%
