End Online: Volume 2 (3 page)

The air started to warm up
as we got deeper into the dungeon, it also began to get a little stale from the
lack of circulation. We had terrible directions inside the dungeon, running
into countless dead ends, sometimes more than once.

We were lucky that there
were only goblins in this dungeon, it allowed us to get used to the goblins way
of fighting and minimize the damage we took after each encounter. Sometimes I
managed to deal with three or four goblins without getting a single scratch on
my.

An hour in and we
encounter a set of crude ramp down, cut into the walls of what appears to
be a bottomless hole. I pick up a decent sized rock off the ground and drop it
down, about twenty seconds passes until the sound of it hitting the bottom
resounds back up. Definite death only awaits those who fall in.

During the first floor I
had levelled all the way up to 30 thanks to being a main damage dealer. Fen
stealing one hundred percent of the experience from her kills had levelled up
to 41, and the other two players had gained a level or two each.

I regained one of the
points in agility I lost from my previous death but I gained a total of four
points in dexterity! All thanks to fighting a usual group of three to five
goblins by my own. Seriously that Prince Charming could have lent me a hand at
least. He was a complete meat shield for Verde.

We follow the spiral ramp
down to the second floor, the silence of the tunnel giving me goosebumps all
over my body. There are also less pole torches sticking out of the ground down
here, making the area darker than the first floor.

We come across a fork in
the path. Verde, winning the rock, paper, scissors, decides to take the route
on the right. Out of the shadows down the path a large group of about ten
goblins comes at us.

“What are they?” Verde
asks about the two goblins in the group that don’t seem to fit in, slightly
worried.

There was definitely something
a little off about them. They were much bulkier than the others, and that had
nothing to do with the fact that they were wearing rusty iron armour.

“What is it with goblins
and rusty iron??” I ask rhetorically.

I could not sell rusty
iron weapons for more than a few coppers and no doubt armour was the same.
Using analyse on one of them, I was fortunate I had levelled up the ‘Creature
Analysis’ skill enough to barely be able to reveal their information.

“Not good,” I warn the
others, “Be wary of those with armour, they’re call goblin warriors. They are
much stronger and have stamina points so they may be able to use some sacred
arts. I won’t get any more information on them till I start defeating them.”

Prince Charming for once
didn’t charge forward for once, fully aware of how dangerous the current
situation is he stuck to Verde like glue. I felt a little vomit rising in my
throat at how clear his intentions were.

‘Protect the lady, impress the lady, and
get the lady.’ 
It was a scenario straight
out of a fantasy tale, so cliché that I wonder if it may actually work. I have
gather from our time partied together that Verde has no interest in Sir
Laurence in that way but he is relentless in his pursuit.

Fen and I
sprint forward to take the initiative against the incoming goblins, ice bolts
fly past me, never missing a target. I launch a mix of throwing
knives amongst the deadly ice attacks that appear to have gotten stronger with
Fen’s level increasing.

We take down one of the
minor goblins but the two goblin warriors don’t take much damage at all. One of
Fen’s ice bolts removed about twenty percent health but my throwing knives were
too poor quality, one dealing a little damage for hitting a critical area, the
other completely breaking on a piece of torso armour.

Fen unleashes one more
volley of ice bolts as we begin our attack, taking down two more as I rush
through with my blades, landing critical hits on necks before the goblins could
react. I cut a path straight through to one of the goblin warriors, using my
new blade to slash its neck, spinning around and dropping on one knee to let
deal another strike across the back of its knees.

I have learnt a lot since
beginning this game, including about precision attacks. Slashing the back
of someone’s knees was one of these precision attacks, slowing down leg
movement for a decent period of time.

The goblin warrior still
had over half its health after my initial critical attack however and shrugged
off my precision attack as if it was nothing. I had no time to escape as it
turned and activated a sacred art, indicated by its sword adopting a red aura.

I roll back and manage to
get away with minimal damage from the goblin warriors sacred art, leaving four
lines of light tracing the path that the blade took. I took two glancing
blows to my shoulder and back in my escape but getting hit by that directly
would no doubt spell death for someone with a low armour rating like me, I
already lost thirty percent of my health just from the two glancing blows after
all.

My hand rests on a broken
piece of dagger from earlier. I need to think quick in this scenario so picking
up the broken blade a little bigger than two fingers I flick it at the goblin
warrior’s face, using the moment it moved its weapon to block it to get
back on my feet and slip past its defence, landing a flurry of blows anywhere I
could land them.

Striking the armour was
exactly the same as striking skin in this game, the resistance was exactly the
same as armour ratings are applied all over the body.

I had to
keep an eye on my surrounding area as my ‘Aggravation’ skill was passive and
always active. Occasionally A goblin would break off from the rest to attack
me, but Fen always stopped them with an ice bolt to the back. 
‘What a wonderful companion, I
knew it was right to have her with me’

The goblin warrior goes to
make a slash at me. My legs are feeling weary from all the damage I have taken
up to this point but the goblin warrior is in worse condition than me, now only
swinging its arms wildly.

Utilizing my speed I work
my footwork and while ducking under the blade, circle it opposite its momentum
to get behind it and launch two powerful strikes to its back. It collapses to
its knees before falling forward, dead.

Fen is nearly finished
with the rest of the goblins, her goblin warrior already dead and the rest not
far from death. But where is Verde and Prince Charming?

Glancing down the corridor
at where we originally were I spot them, engaged in combat against a troupe of
goblins the same as the ones Fen and I are nearly finished with.

There are nine goblins
surrounding them, two of which are goblin warriors. They both look exhausted
and I scold myself for failing to notice their health dropping in the
party window, they barely have thirty percent health left each.

I quickly open my
inventory, stuff a few green medicinal herbs in my mouth and also grab a fresh
batch of throwing knives.

“Hurry, Fen!” I shout to
the wolf that finishes the last goblin, “We need to go save those two now!
They’re in trouble so no holding back!”

She doesn’t exactly rush
to come to their rescue but she does at least listen to me, unenthusiastically
sending of ice bolts one after another down the corridor, a few nearly hitting
Verde and Prince Charming.

‘Fen, those icicles never come that
close to me when we’re fighting together, are you doing that deliberately?’

I start throwing the
knives at the goblins, once I am nearly upon them I draw my swords and cutting
through a nearly dead goblin I combat one of the goblin warriors, leaving
‘Aggravation’ to draw the attention of other goblins away from my two party
members near death.

The goblin
warrior’s sword glows red just like the last one, but I have better
footing than against the last one, allowing me to easily retreat back to
safety. my companions health drops down to fifteen percent each and they are so
worn out they can no longer defend themselves properly.

“Perceptual Sight!”

Time slows down for me, to
about sixty percent of normal. I race forward at the goblin warrior, crossing
my blade in front of me as I close the distance between us. Using my heightened
reaction speed I swing my weapons outwards, cutting a ‘V’ along the goblin
warrior’s neck. Immediately I bring the weapons back down, doing a precision
attack by slashing the inside of its elbow joints.

The goblin warrior screams
out in pain, but I am already behind it, crouching to deliver another precision
strike behind its knees follows by activating the sacred art ‘Triple Thrust’ on
its back.

I still have plenty of time
left in ‘Perceptual Sight’. I use it to dash through the mob of goblins dealing
deadly slashes and stabs to critical points. One critical strike to
any goblin affected by my ‘Aggravation’ is enough to sufficiently weaken it to
no longer be a threat.

Any goblin still attacking
the Verde and Prince Charming received two attacks to quickly finish it
off. In mere moments all the goblins were finished bar one and
my two comrades had less than ten percent health left.

“No! Fen, attack that
goblin!” There is one more goblin, to be precise the second goblin warrior, not
under the effects of my ‘Aggravation’ and about to attack Verde. My only hope
was for Fen to launch an ice attack and knock the goblin back, but where was
this attack?

I look at
Fen and she gives me a look as if saying, 
‘Too bad.’

When I
see her current status in the party information she is completely out of
mana. 
‘What the
hell? I could have sworn she had mana just a moment ago, where did it all go?’

My brains reaction speed
may by currently in overdrive, but that doesn’t increase my speed, and this
hood refuses to come off. Prince Charming was a step ahead though, true to
being a knight in shining armour till the end he used the last of his strength
to throw himself in between Verde and the goblin warrior, saving her life but
suffering a fatal blow.

He falls face first into
the ground, body turning to smoke and leaving behind a loot menu containing all
his gold, a total of fifteen pieces! I rush the goblin warrior and immediately
engage it before it can finish off Verde as well. It was a lot weaker than I
originally thought. Only fifty percent of its health was left and the rest
disappeared rapidly in front of my onslaught.

Verde was lying on her
back, as pale as death. I’ve been in her situation before, that player doesn’t
feel that bad but they most certainly look like they’re in quite some pain and
discomfort.

Her health is too low and
her wounds are inflicting bleeding damage slowly over time, not even healing
herbs could save her from that as the recovery was less than the bleeding
damage. If I can restore her health enough the bleeding damage should stop.

Rummaging through my
inventory I found the one thing that could save her. I pulled out my home made
vomit green healing potions. It was actually incredibly fortunate that I hadn’t
thrown them all away from my last experimental batch I did.

Well, I was and still am
never going to drink one of these revolting things. But giving it to someone
else was a different matter.

Verde has three percent
health left and doesn’t seem to be able to respond to my voice. Time is
running out so I sit her up against one of the walls and removing the stopper
from one of my vials, use one hand to open her jaw and the other to pour the
contents of the potion into her mouth.

Half of the potion comes
running back out of her mouth and the other half she chokes on and it sputters
out. A little got consumed but not enough to help the situation, I also only
have four potions left.

‘I really don’t want to have to do
that!’

I think
to myself as there is only one situation I can think of to save her. Completely
forgetting this was a game for a moment all I could see in front of me was a
dying girl, my mind clouding at the thought of anything else.

Removing
the stopper from another potion, I tipped the contents back into my mouth and
hold it there, 
‘no wonder she coughed it up this stuff tastes even worse than it
looks’
. Brushing a strand of hair from her face I bring my face
closer to hers, placing my lips over hers and force every last drop of the
horrid potion into her mouth, forcing her to swallow it.

I have read about this
scenario in books and seen it done in many movies, when someone is
incapable of swallowing a liquid you must help them consume it.