Apocalypse Knights 1: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 27
UNKNOWN
Dungeon: Level 2
Monsters:
UNKNOWN
So it did become Level 2, like Jonn feared, Max thought, but he didn’t have time to ponder the Dungeon right now. A hulking, heavily muscled brutish humanoid thundered toward him, a savage battle axe held high in its powerful hands. The monster’s skin was green, and its powerful body was encased in plate armor of dark steel.
Max raised Stridentsong into a parry, only for the monster to fall apart, decapitated and completely dismembered. Erik appeared briefly behind its falling body parts, before blurring into motion again. Before Max could blink, another quartet of similar monsters five feet from his left flank died as well, their heads rolling from their shoulders.
“Fight!” Erik’s voice echoed in Max’s ears. The Infiltrator had somehow circled to his back, faster than Max could see. “Fight for your life, damn you!”
Max needed no further prompting. He cast Prowess and charged at a cluster of the armored monsters that were advancing upon him.
Monster: Orc Warrior
Level 2
Health: 45/45
Mana: 1/1
Physical Attributes
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 4
Fortitude: 11
Perception: 4
Abilities
Chop
Cleave
Sunder
Rewards
Victory Shard value: 2
Treasure: Class D
Taking note of the orcs’ high strength and mediocre dexterity, Max adjusted his grip on Stridentsong and hurled himself into a Quicksilver Path blade form. His zigzagging, erratic advance bewildered the monsters as he approached, causing them a moment’s hesitance in bringing their axes to bear. Max took the chance to lunge out with Stridentsong, ramming its tip underneath the jaw of an orc and driving the blade up and into its brain.
The monster’s yellow, piggish eyes crossed before glazing over into the sightlessness of death. Max withdrew his sword and pivoted around the slain orc’s still-upright corpse, squaring off against another of the monsters.
The second orc scythed its axe across in a horizontal blow that would bisect Max from the midriff down. Max dropped into a full front split, allowing the heavy blade to whistle uselessly above his head before he lanced Stridentsong into the monster’s groin and twisted the blade before ripping it out. The monster unleashed a high-pitched yowl and doubled over, clutching its mangled pelvis and dropping its axe. Max exploded up and around in a leaping, airborne pirouette that had Stridentsong arcing through the orc’s exposed nape.
A third orc snapped its gaze upward to track Max’s airborne form. It readied its axe, ready to swat him out of the air, but a swift Crashing Iron blade form sent Max plummeting earthward, faster than the monster had anticipated. He hammered Stridentsong’s tip into the orc’s torso, the blade entering just above the monster's collarbone and ripping through its heart.
Max dismissed Stridentsong as he landed. He then swiftly summoned it again, so that he didn’t have to tear the sword free from the monster’s flesh as its corpse thundered to the dirt beside him.
A swift sweep of his gaze told him that they’d emerged in the heart of a raging battle. Orcs were everywhere, doing battle against clusters of Knights-Errant, and the latter weren’t faring very well. Within a heartbeat of Max’s watching, four Knights-Errant went down, hacked apart by the axes of the orcs.
That group of orcs turned to Max, then. He raised his sword, ready to meet their charge, but a column of fire rained down from the skies, engulfing the monsters and turning them into shrieking humanoid torches. Max blinked, then saw another cluster of orcs suffer a similar fate. Patches of charred dirt spread across the ground told him that many of the monsters had been similarly incinerated already. Max was tempted to search the skies for whoever had conjured the flames, but he knew that focusing on the battle at hand was the wiser choice.
He advanced, thinking to regroup with Jonn and Erik, but he had no idea where the latter was. Still, knowing how Infiltrators fought, Max figured that Erik was working the flanks of the monsters’ formation, slaying them unawares. Jonn, on the other hand, was easily visible. The Warmonger was about fifty feet from Max, and he had charged right into the heart of the orc horde. His halberd hacked vast swathes into their ranks, every blow easily slaying five or six of the monsters at once.
Max’s eyes widened in awe at the display. Jonn embodied the perfect combination of speed, power, and technique. His halberd clove relentlessly into the monsters, their plate armor or their attempts to parry availing them nothing. Every blow Jonn struck was precise and economical, with virtually no wasted movement or energy. The orcs roared and hacked at him, only to catch empty air or have their blades skim uselessly off Jonn’s armor.
He’s good! Max thought. Beyond good! He’s as skilled as father! Maybe even Sava!
Jonn punched an orc with his gauntleted fist, caving in the monster’s torso and hurling it into the midst of its fellows with bone-breaking force. Having cleared some space around him, he swept his halberd out in a massive arc. Every monster within blade’s reach of him fell, cloven in twain where Jonn’s weapon had touched their flesh.
The Warmonger’s face was twisted with grief, and Max soon saw why. A robed woman lay at his feet, obviously dead, judging from how her head was only attached to her neck by a thin strip of flesh. He raised his weapon and roared.
“To me! Push them back!” Jonn cried. “Destroy them all!”
Voices, weary and strained from battle, echoed Jonn’s exhortations with renewed vigor. Max raced toward Jonn as the Warmonger waded once more into the thick of the fray. An entire host of orcs swarmed Jonn, hooting and brandishing their weapons, most of them leaving their backs turned to Max’s blade.
Max had removed Ardent Rally from his list of readied Flux spells the previous day and replaced it with Cloak, figuring that stealth and concealment would serve him better in the Forlorn Dungeon. He called the spell’s casting words to mind and chanted them. The moment the last syllable left his lips, he saw his outstretched hand and blade vanish from sight.
Now invisible, Max renewed his advance upon the orcs surrounding Jonn. He hacked at the monsters from behind, slicing Stridentsong into spines, hamstrings, napes, or groins. Orcs died, slain by a foe they could barely sense. Max had never attacked foes incapable of defending themselves against him before, but monsters deserved neither mercy nor honor.
Max slit an orc’s throat while it tried to get to grips with Jonn. Sudden movement in the corner of his eye had him leaping aside into a roll across the dirt. Another monster growled and stalked in his direction, only to stop after a few steps and blink in bewildered confusion.
I become visible briefly whenever I strike, Max realized, suddenly acquiring an entirely new appreciation for an Infiltrator’s fighting style. Knights-Errant like Felix and Erik had to take into account their enemies’ field of vision when they approached, so that they wouldn’t be caught and hacked down by their slain foes’ companions.
Max scrambled to his feet. The orc’s ears twitched. It growled and advanced once more, barking to several of its kin. Four more orcs broke away from the scrum around Jonn and turned, sniffing the air and twitching their ears this way and that.
Cloak doesn’t hide my scent or any sounds I make either! Realizing that the orcs knew where he was, Max tugged his Magus Staff free and leveled it at the orcs. He chanted the words to Icelance. A beam of frost streaked from the tip of his staff to plunge into an orc’s eye. Max swept the beam across, catching another orc in its open mouth. The monsters fell, convulsing as spikes of frost burst outward from the inside of their skulls.
Max pointed his Magus Staff and repeated the spell. Another Icelance sliced through an orc’s throat, filling its airways with frost. Choking, the monster stumbled into its kin, tripping one of them. Max thrust the staff into his belt and charged at the last orc standing.
The monster swiped at Max as he approached, but he leaned back sharply so that its axe sliced through the air an inch from the tip of his nose. Redirecting the momentum of his charge into his lower body, Max threw himself into a slide across the ground. He hacked Stridentsong into the orc’s hamstring as he passed, drawing a howl of agony from the monster. The orc staggered forward a few steps before falling to one knee.
Max flipped himself back to his feet and dismissed Stridentsong. He summoned his short bow from his ring of holding, along with a fistful of arrows, swiftly nocking and drawing one of them into readiness. The first shaft punched into the hamstrung orc’s left ear. The second into its throat. It fell, just as the orc that had tripped over its choking kin rose. Nocking, drawing, and loosing rapidly in the Hunnite fashion, Max put three arrows into its face, one in each eye and a shaft through its mouth.
The monster fell. Max returned the bow to his ring and called Stridentsong forth once more, ready to recommence his slaughter of the orcs.
But the battle was over. Jonn stood atop a pile of the monsters, his stony features covered in ichor. Knights-Errant advanced their battle-line toward him, finishing off any wounded monsters in their path. Erik flashed into visibility beside Jonn. The Infiltrator’s blade was drenched from tip to pommel in the gore of orcs.
The two of them exchanged a few quiet words before Jonn turned to Max and gestured for him to approach. Max did so, walking across the corpse-littered plains. Many of the bodies were disintegrating, but no small number of them still remained. He passed at least ten Knights-Errant as he made his way to Jonn.
“What happened?” Max asked, though he suspected he knew the answer already.
“The Dungeon became Level 2 and produced a horde of Level 2 monsters,” Jonn replied. “I warned Viesera Flange that this might happen, but she didn’t believe me. She is dead now, because she didn’t rally more Level 2 or Level 3 Knights-Errant to this outpost.”
A flickering shadow fell over their shoulders, then. Max looked up and saw a robed figure descending slowly upon them from the skies. It was a woman, slightly older than Max, with tired and haunted violet eyes and a headful of long white hair. She stood atop a disc of black stone, the width of which was roughly twice that of her shoulders.
An enchanted item that allows her to fly, Max realized. Very interesting.
“All Viesera had was a motley collection of Level 1 Knights-Errant, with a few Level 2’s scattered amongst their ranks,” the woman said, stepping off her flying device and deftly putting it away into her ring of holding. “The attack began just after I arrived, Jonn. The orcs crushed the frontlines and smashed the Voice Thrower. I did what I could, but I’m only one person.”
“I know, Weis,” Jonn replied. “No one blames you. I am sure this position would have been overrun long ago if not for you, and the monsters would have reached Hisktown.”
The woman who could only be Velia Weis nodded wearily. Her violet eyes caught sight of Max then, and curiosity flashed across them.
“So this is whom we’re babysitting,” Velia said. The ghost of a smile touched her lips. “Maximo Strident. He’s not as tall as I thought he’d be.”
Max’s gaze flickered involuntarily to Jonn. He was as tall as the Warmonger, albeit slightly narrower across the shoulders. And if he were to stand side by side with Velia, the top of her head would barely crest his midriff.
“Hmph. He handled himself adequately,” Erik said, each word sounding as if it’d been forced out of him. Max had a feeling that coming from the Infiltrator, this was high praise indeed.
“Can we expect anything less from the Hero of Fristar Valley?” Velia retorted, before meeting Max’s gaze squarely. “Oh yes, I did some digging once Jonn told me your name. Bards sing about you in the Capitol’s taverns, you know? Just as well you aren’t with the Enforcers anymore. Those corrupt, incompetent imbeciles don’t deserve someone like you.”
“The Enforcers are no more incompetent than we are,” Jonn rumbled. He nodded at the fallen Knights-Errant to emphasize his point. “By and large, they try their best to do their job. I am not sure if the same can be said for us.”
Max felt an inexplicable sense of gratitude and respect for Jonn, then. He’d been dishonorably expelled from the Enforcers, but he’d still given more than a decade of his life in service, and he’d known more brave and honorable men among their ranks than cowardly connivers. It was important to him that the Enforcers’ honor wasn’t besmirched.
Erik grunted and flicked the ichor off his blade.
“Let’s go if we’re going,” he said. “I don’t have the time to waste on these fools.”
It was clear to Max who “these fools” were: the lower-Level Knights Errant slowly approaching Jonn, their eyes awash with equal parts awe and trepidation. Some of them seemed abashed, probably because they felt that they’d failed Jonn.
With good reason too, Max thought. If not for Jonn and Erik’s arrival, the monsters would have broken through eventually, Velia’s efforts notwithstanding, and rampaged through Hisktown, slaughtering hundreds before the Enforcers could eventually hold off long enough for a large contingent of Knights-Errant to arrive.
“I need a few words with them,” Jonn said. “Then we’ll go. As is evidenced, we can afford no further delays.”
Jonn turned to address the crowd of Knights-Errant. He pointed to one of them, a man clad in chainmail and a plumed helm.
“You. Drusus Fehl. Send word to Flora Truesteel,” he said calmly. “I want her in charge here. As for everyone else, bury your dead and lick your wounds. Stand ready for battle.”
“Yes, sir!” the helmed man bellowed. The rest of the milling Knights-Errant echoed his words.
Erik grunted again. He turned toward the Forlorn Dungeon and began striding toward it. Jonn followed, gesturing for Max and Velia to follow. The latter produced a mana potion. She tossed it to Max before retrieving another from her ring of holding.
“Drink up,” she said. “I saw you cast a very interesting collection of spells just now. Prowess, Cloak, and Icelance? That must be due to the strange Classification you have. Arcanist, Jonn said.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Max uncorked the potion vial and downed its contents. His eyes widened in surprise as he felt his Mana reserves recuperate in full. He glanced down at the vial’s label and whistled appreciatively. High Mana potion. One of these costs a gold coin at the Truesteel outlet. “Thanks, Velia.”
Nodding, Velia drained her potion too and tossed the vial aside.
“Apparently you can also copy other Knights-Errant’s spells too,” she continued. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”
“Definitely comes in handy,” Max replied, wincing as he realized he been too preoccupied with not dying to use Arcane Flux at all on the orcs. The monsters seemed to have an array of physical attack skills that could have been helpful in the Forlorn Dungeon.
“How does that work, exactly?” Velia pressed, her tired features awash with curiosity.
Max shrugged and quickly explained how Arcane Flux functioned. It took him just a little over a minute, but by then, he and Velia already arrived at the entrance to the Forlorn Dungeon. Jonn and Erik were looking into empty space, and Max realized that they were reviewing their Soul Lens and probably deciding which enchanted items or weapons would best serve them. Just as Velia and he approached, Erik produced a runic bracer of black steel from his ring of holding and slipped it over his left wrist. Jonn stowed his halberd away and took out a huge falchion.
The Warmonger nodded in Max’s direction.
“Some nice blade work out there, Strident,” he said, giving his falchion a few experimental swings. The blade hummed as it arced through the air. “I’m more of a halberdier myself, but I do appreciate the versatility of a sword.”
“Swords have their place on the battlefield,” Max agreed. “Your halberd gives better reach and power though, especially against multiple opponents who are obviously weaker than you, such as those orcs.”
“We won’t find any such foes within, I believe,” Jonn said ominously. “If Straya’s account still holds true, we can expect encounters with singular monsters of unimaginable power. Our survival hinges on you, Strident.”
Max nodded, and as the Knights-Errant entered the Forlorn Dungeon, he followed them through its nondescript stone doorway, trying to contain the pounding of his heart.
Chapter 20
After emerging from the portal within the Forlorn Dungeon’s entrance chamber, Max found himself within the heart of the hellish stone maze once more. Beads of cold sweat rolled down his cheeks as he beheld the walls of twisted black stone and the gray, featureless ground. It was daytime, though. The sun was in the sky, its early morning radiance scattering shadows over every stony nook and cranny within eyeshot. He took a few strides forward, trying to find his bearings.
The last time I was here, it was close to midnight, so the moon was high, and there were few shadows. Max summoned Stridentsong. He looked to his Prowess spell and swiftly allocated two of its unassigned points to dexterity and the other two to perception. Swiftness and sharpness here would avail him much better against the ghouls than strength or toughness. He then cast his Prowess spell at its highest strength.
Physical Attributes
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 6
Fortitude: 3
Perception: 6
Jonn and Erik flanked him. Velia trailed behind. The Infiltrator had wanted to scout ahead, but Jonn had overruled him. There was no guarantee Erik’s Cloak spell and his skills in stealth, sublime as they are, would escape the notice of a Level 99 monster.
The plan was for the Knights-Errant to stick together and depend on Max’s Temporal Equalization spell to overcome any foes they met, including the Dungeon’s Warden. Jonn wanted to locate the latter, slay it, and destroy the core as quickly as they could, putting an end to this threat once and for all. This meant there would be no exploratory detours for Dungeon treasures or hunting for “special condition” monsters that offered more valuable rewards upon their defeat, such as the arachnovores in the Kobold Hills. Velia agreed readily. Erik had a sour look on his face, but he nodded in acquiescence as well.
