"After we beat this dungeon, I think we might have to bathe and wash our clothes," he said. "This realm might be too much like real life."
"Really?" Fergus asked. "How often do you kill people in real life?"
A shuffling sound, followed by some growling, came from the dark gully. The battle-mage walked closer, peering inside intently, but it was too dark to see anything. It was even creepier than Deadman's Swamp.
"Follow me. I want to stamp done on this dungeon and move on," Killum said.
The battle-mage led the way into the gully. Rand followed, with Tiana next and Fergus bringing up the rear. The dwarf muttered things under his breath, like, "Come to daddy, my little monsters" and "Come feed my thirsty blade, my evil darlings."
He wasn't sure if Rand really hungered for a fight that much, or if he was trying to shore up his resolve. That new realm was a lot scarier. The cost of defeat and death was much greater.
The sound of shuffling feet alerted him. "Watch your backs! Here they come!"
This time it was orks. Undead orks. Killum started with his lightning, but after a dozen strikes it stopped working. He cursed his stupidity, remembering the ring could only be used thirty times in twenty-four hours. So he gripped the spear in both hands and charged.
"Die, orks!" Rand shouted. "Feel the fury of a dwarven warrior!"
"Shut up and fight, runt," Fergus said with a strained voice. He and Tiana were shooting arrows at a furious rate, and then stopped suddenly. "Dammit. I'm out of arrows."
"Leave Rand alone," Tiana said. She pulled her sword and belt knife. Then she activated the Robes of Concealment and vanished. Her disembodied voice continued. "I think his battle joy is cute."
"Tiana thinks I'm cute!" Rand shouted joyfully to the heavens. "Wahoo!"
Killum shook his head, while Tiana laughed. Fergus charged into the fray with sword and dagger. The zombie orks were unarmed, with no armor, but they were still big, super-strong orks. Living orks were usually armed and armored, and they were fast and strong. Zombie orks weren't particularly fast, but they were tenacious.
"Keep moving forward," Killum said. "Don't stop to finish them off. Just keep moving forward."
An ork backhanded him. The battle-mage was spun around, black and white flashing behind his eyes. For a second he didn't know up from down. The undead ork reached for his throat, but suddenly its throat erupted with blood. And then the monster's head came off.
"There, I helped," Tiana's disembodied voice said.
Anger boiled within. He'd come that close to dying again. Just the thought made his skin crawl. Killum cried out in fury, and charged back into the fight. He hit the gap between Fergus and Rand, slaying two orks in three swings and a thrust. He kicked another to the side that Rand promptly gutted. Tiana cried out in joy ahead of them, and then he saw another ork's head come off.
"I see a cave," she called back. "It's guarded by humans with spears and swords."
"Not undead humans?"
"They look alive," she replied.
Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level. You are now a Level 12 battle-mage!
Congratulations! You've earned enough experience points to move up one level in Spearman. You are now Level 2!
Killum grunted in frustration. He didn't need those damned prompts in the middle of a fight. There had to be a way to turn them off. Three orks appeared in front of him. He thrust three times, jerking his gory spear back after piercing each ork's heart. They crumbled before him, forcing him to step on them as he advanced.
"Hey, those humans are players," Tiana said. "They've got strange glowing collars around their necks. I think they are entranced."
"We can be entranced and controlled with magic?" Fergus asked. "That sucks."
That was the understatement of the day. Killum thought dying was bad. Being magically enslaved had to be ten times worse. Could a mage hold a player in servitude forever?
"Ha!" Tiana cried. "Entranced or not, they die when I cut their throats!"
He cringed. That poor player was going through hell, and it wasn't even his fault. Killum bashed aside two orks, stepping between them as Fergus and Rand slew them. He spotted the cave entrance. Four humans, three men and a woman guarded it. All very tall and very blonde. They looked like barbarian warriors, with the men wearing fur loincloths and the woman a fur bikini. One of the men was lying in a pool of blood.
The male barbarian on the other side of the cave gasped, back bowing. The tip of a sword erupted out of his chest. As he collapsed, the female barbarian turned and attacked. She caught hold of Tiana, ripping the Robes of Concealment off the thief.
The barbarian warrior woman pounded at Tiana with her sword. The thief was barely defending herself. Killum concentrated on the woman.
Milena. Human barbarian warrior (Lvl 23). +3 Light. PK: 1.
"Help!" the redhead cried.
Milena swirled her sword around Tiana's blade, and then swept it from the thief's grasp. Emotionlessly, the barbarian aimed her blade at Tiana's heart. And thrust.
Killum raced frantically forward, and just managed to get his spearhead between them and parry the killing blow. Tiana ducked with a squeak, and raced back to the Robes of Concealment, while the barbarian chick turned on Killum.
"My master commands you to die," she said, and thrust at his throat.
The battle-mage batted the sword aside, and then spun around backwards to kick her in the hip. The barbarian stumbled back against a tree. She didn't hesitate charging him. Killum feigned a thrust at her face, and when she fell for it, he lowered his point and let the Wolfsheart Spear do its magic. The spear pierced her heart, coming out her back a good six inches, before he yanked it out of her.
The barbarian woman fell to her knees before him, an incredulous look on her pretty face. She looked down at the bloody spot deep in her cleavage, and then lifted her eyes to Killum.
"Thank you for freeing me."
He looked around to find all of the barbarian guardians dead. It looked like Rand got the last kill. Killum wasn't sure how Rand felt about player kills. Fergus and Tiana definitely didn't want any, but they were all getting them in that realm. Oddly enough, Tiana had the most PKs at four.
She's killed four players in two days, he thought. Not even two days. It's still earlier than when we came over yesterday.
Fergus and Tiana started collecting arrows. Killum just stood there resting. He hadn't been that exhausted in a long time. And never while playing a video game. Then the four barbarians began fading away, leaving behind weapons, purses, and those collars around their necks.
A tall, thin man wrapped in black robes stepped out of the cave. The man was ghoulishly pale, with black eyes. He looked at the bloody spots where the four barbarians died and then caught Killum's eyes. He smiled cruelly, showing a pair of inch long fangs.
Vampire necromancer (Lvl 18). -45 Dark.