“What’s a region quest, Steve?” asked Elizabeth.

Steve looked in the distance, “Probably a quest issued to everyone by the king of a region. This one looks like we have to defend the city from goblins. We will get points for killing goblins and there must be an extra bonus for killing the goblin king and queen.”

Bon had a feeling he knew who the goblin queen was. The human woman he had saved from the goblin’s lair earlier, may have found other goblin tribes and convinced them to band together and attack. Her goblin husband must have respawned sooner than Bon had expected. That woman was a real living person, unlike the goblins, but every action had a consequence and the Tower had now put a bounty on her head.

They walked down the road to the city. There was lots of traffic on the road, of people escaping into the city for their safety. There were soldiers on horseback escorting entire villages. They all looked very worried, as though death would leap out at them at any moment. Bon could smell their fear. Their hands trembled and their eyes darted in every direction. They were easily startled by sudden sounds. He could hear their worried chatter.

“Heroes!” one of them shouted, when Bon and the others joined the traffic. People parted before them, shouting “Brave heroes. Please save us.”

“We will do whatever we can,” Steve promised them. “For now, you don’t have to worry. We will walk with you to the city.” Steve’s reassurance, coupled with his noble looks, did much to soothe the crowd. Bon would have never been able to handle them so easily. He was not a people’s person.

On their way they encountered a small band of thirty goblins, who were probably scouts for their main army. There were only five guards at this part of the long procession of people, and they must have looked an easy target. Before the goblins could attack, Steve sprang into action. Bon buffed the party while they attacked the goblin scouts. Within five minutes the battle was won. Steve sheathed his sword with a satisfied smile.

“Level up,” Steve grinned.

“Congratulations, Steve,” everyone in the party chorused together. There was so much sweetness and rainbows oozing off of their voices that Bon felt sick.

“Bon, you have to have leveled up as well,” Steve said. “The experience points are being shared equally.”

“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t,” Bon said, with a cryptic look.

“Alright. Be mysterious if you want, but it’s good to share your information with your party.”

They took a circuitous route to avoid the main goblin army and made it to the city without any more mishaps. They booked rooms in the inn. Bon went out to walk after dinner. He was feeling restless. There were so many displaced people in the city now, that they had only managed to get rooms because of their status as heroes. Bon spotted a few other players walking on the streets, but he didn’t greet them. He wasn’t in a very social mood.

This goblin onslaught was his fault. He overheard stories of the goblins’ cruelty as they massacred villages. If he had killed that woman back then, none of this would have happened. She was a real living person though. If he met her again, could he kill her? She had caused so much harm that she deserved death. He hadn’t even found out her name. It was probably easier to kill someone whose name you didn’t know. He wasn’t the Tower’s executioner. He was just a monster slayer. It wasn’t his job to kill people. He felt a little better at that thought.

Bon walked up to the city’s east wall and talked to the captain there.

“How many goblins have gathered outside the city?”

“Just look,” the captain pointed. Bon could see fires in the distance. With a glance he estimated that there were ten thousand camp fires. If there were five goblins per camp fire, then there were fifty thousand goblins. “There are many times this number in the west and in the north,” the captain said. “I didn’t even know that so many goblins existed until today. We will have to depend on you heroes.”

There had been only about fifty players on this floor when Bon had arrived. More players would have cleared the twenty ninth floor by now, but would they be enough? It wouldn’t be good if the city fell. Too many people would die, including his favorite chef from the inn. The fried chicken she made was delicious.

He walked back to the inn and knocked on Steve’s door.

“What is it?” Steve let him in, while his harem chattered among themselves. There were two mattresses on the ground, and the bed was pushed to the wall. Bon had been wondering how five people managed to fit into such a tiny room.

“Think you can lead all the players on this floor?” Bon asked. “We need someone to organize the defense.”

“I could try,” said Steve, not looking very confident.

“C’mon, you’re a great leader, and you’re level thirty six. You also look like a movie hero. I’m sure everyone will agree to have you lead us.”

Alright,” said Steve. “I’ll go talk to the other players that I can find. Girls,” he turned towards the rest of the room, “Are you coming?”

“Course we are,” said Kara. “And you’re coming too,” she said to Bon. “You can’t just put ideas in his head and then take no responsibility.”

“Fine,” Bon sighed. “I’ll come too.” It wasn’t that he was lazy. He just had no social skills. Being alone with Tian Bu Ru for two thousand years had made him a little rusty.

There was a whole group of players drinking beer in the hall downstairs.

“Hello,” Steve greeted the man who looked to be their leader. “I’m Steve.”

“Thomas,” they shook hands.

“We were just thinking that it would be good to organize all the players here for the Region Quest. It could get too tough to handle if we all go on our own.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” said Thomas. “How do you propose we go about doing this?”

“We will find the leaders of the various parties and discuss strategies together. When the battle starts we will have a strict chain of command. If one person gives the orders there will be less conflicts.”

“And you want to be the leader?”

Steve shrugged. “Someone has to do it. I don’t mind if you find someone better than me.”

“If you’re confident then it’s fine,” said Thomas. He had agreed so easily, that Bon wanted to slap his face. Was having a good looking face really all that mattered in this world? Thomas continued speaking, “I can’t lead myself. Big battles aren’t my thing. I’ll support you, but I don’t know if the rest of the players will.”

“I’ll handle them,” Steve said confidently. “As long as I have your support it will be easy.”

And so, ten more players joined the Grand Alliance, as Bon had taken to calling it. They found more players scattered across the city’s many inns and Steve convinced them one by one to join him. At the end of the night there were a hundred and fifty players in the Grand Alliance.

It was a few hours till dawn. Steve gathered all the players in the central square, and began discussing strategies.

“We can’t defend every wall,” one of them said.

The king’s general was at the meeting as well. He nodded and said, “I have enough soldiers to defend two walls. The other two will have to be defended by you.”

“We don’t have enough people for that,” said Steve. “What if we do the attacking first? We will attack their king and queen who are probably at the western camp, since that’s the biggest. The other goblins will rush to their defense. We will then retreat to the walls when it gets too much for us to handle.”

“We could just let one of the walls fall, and fight them in the city,” said one of the players. “We can build traps and hide in the houses.”

“You have watched too many movies,” Bon laughed. “First of all, we don’t have time to build traps. Secondly, the goblins will be like a river rushing through a broken dam. We won’t be able to contain them.”

“Fine,” said the player. “We’ll go with the first plan then.”

Steve’s plan was too fraught with risks. Bon had a better plan. Morning came and the players gathered outside the west gate in groups of ten. Bon wasn’t with them. He had sneaked off by himself and gone to the eastern wall, which they had left undefended. He used Invisibility and walked outside the goblins’ camp. He then waited for the goblins to gather themselves into a group. When they were all together, Bon summoned a meteor.

“Meet your makers,” Bon waved his hands to the sky.

A huge piece of flaming rock came shooting down from the sky and hit the ground. The impact made the earth quake for many minutes.

Meteor Fall

Summons a meteor from the sky which does Area of Effect damage

AOE can be set by user. Smaller AOE causes more damage

Damage is also dependent on player’s Wisdom stat

Mana required: 2,000 Cooldown: 8 hours

The goblin army was obliterated. There was no trace of their camp left, only a gigantic pit in the ground.

You have 80,547 points

Bon used the Teleport skill to go back to the city and quickly joined the players in front of the western wall. Two more members had been temporarily added to their party, a Gunslinger and another Priest.

“Where were you?” Kara asked.

“Toilet,” Bon answered.

“Did you feel the earthquake?”

“Yup,” Bon had caused it after all.

Just then a soldier rode towards Steve with a message.

“The eastern goblin camp has been destroyed by a meteorite,” Steve shouted to the players. “We won’t have to worry about them now. The Tower is helping us. Let’s do our best, and get as many points as we can.” The Tower wasn’t helping them, he was, Bon thought wryly to himself.

The players cheered, and began to move out towards the goblin camp. Each team was to attack the approaching army from a specific position. They were all in box formations, protecting the weak members like the Bard, Archer, Mage and Priest. Messengers from the city followed their party, ready to relay Steve’s orders to the rest of the players.

The party moved forward at a steady pace. The goblins charged towards them, running in a disorganized mass of green skin. The mages and archers began firing as soon as the goblins came within range, ridding them of one fifth of their numbers before the goblins clashed with the front line. Bon played his guitar, buffing his party members and controlling the enemy. There were still many bardic skills he hadn’t used in battle.

Aria of Annihilation LVL 1

Transforms your tunes into the hums of the Angel of Death

Five selected targets are stunned and drained of their health while channeling lasts

Targets’ HP drains at the rate of 5% of Player’s HP per second

Mana required: 500 Channeling time: 3 seconds Cooldown: 30 minutes

Bon couldn’t control the HP drain rate and amount, but nobody noticed that the goblins were dying instantly to his music. He didn’t want to reveal his power just yet.

Rasgueos of Renewal LVL 1 Party members’ health and mana are renewed by 500 each second for 15 seconds Mana required: 300 Cooldown: 5 minutes

He had overlooked this skill earlier since his passive regeneration was much greater than the renewal. It was a good party skill though. It would help the others.

Harmonics of Hell LVL 1

Deals AOE damage to enemies around the player

Damage is dependant on player’s Wisdom stat

Range is dependant on player’s Intelligence stat

Channeling time : 10 seconds Mana required: 1,500 Cooldown: 1 hour

Bon channeled the skill for a few miliseconds. Still, he had damaged half the health pool of all the goblins on the battlefield by the time the skill ended. He had just wanted to try the skill, and it had leveled up to LVL 3 too. Hopefully, nobody would connect this to him.

Pleasing Pizzicato LVL 1 Charms the enemy for 30 seconds Mana required: 150 Cooldown: 5 minutes

“Wow wow wow,” said Kara, glancing at him as she hit a goblin. “Bards are so cool. You’ve got a goblin fighting for us now.”

“It only lasts thirty seconds,” Bon said, taking out his sickle and chain.

“What the fuck!” Steve shouted from up front. “You skilled up the Fighter’s Tree too? Choosing two classes is not going to work out. Hopefully we’ll find something that can reset skill points for you.”

“That’s okay,” Bon jumped to the front and began swinging his chain. He was getting bored with just playing music all the time. The goblins were unable to get close to him. He made sure not to hit too hard. He was swinging his weapon with hardly any force, controlling his strength.

“That’s one hell of a weapon,” Steve said.

“Thanks, I made it myself.”

“You skilled up as a blacksmith as well?” Steve groaned. “You must be a high level to do all that, but your build is a mess. You’re going to have trouble later on.”

“I’ll be fine,” Bon reassured him, while he decapitated one of the goblins.

The players soon made it to the middle of the camp, where the goblin king and queen were sitting on large chairs.

“The goblin queen is a human?” Steve asked with bewilderment. “What the hell is going on with this quest?”

He didn’t have much time to think. The goblin king and his fifty guards attacked the players. The mages unleashed all their spells, decimating the king’s forces. Soon, only the king and queen were left.

Steve gave the goblin king the finishing blow. Now it was time for the queen.

“Stay back,” she said, drawing a dagger while slowly backing away.

“She seems so real,” said Kara. “I don’t want to kill her.”

“Yes,” said Lucy, “Can we imprison her instead?”

“The quest says to kill,” said Steve. “Besides, she isn’t a real person. Don’t let the programming fool you.”

“What if she’s real?” Bon asked, “Just like the other people in the kingdom.” The goblin queen was an evil woman, but this was a real, living person after all, not a monster that would respawn.

“The Tower wouldn’t ask us to kill a real person,” said Steve.

“What if it did?” Bon looked around at everyone. None of them seemed willing to strike the first blow on the goblin queen. “We should give her a fair trial. That’s the way we do things.”

“She’s just some points we can win,” Steve said with a grumpy expression. “Even if she is real, the Tower, which sees all and knows all, has already sentenced her. The Tower is probably the most capable judge there is.”

“Can you kill a real living person?” asked Bon. “This one won’t come back from the dead like us.”

Steve walked towards the goblin queen, who backed away. The crowd of players around her wouldn’t let her go any further. Steve grabbed her and pulled her to the center, where there was more space.

“For the crime of taking up arms against the human race with a goblin army, and causing atrocities across the kingdom, the Tower has sentenced you to death. What do you have to say for yourself.”

“Please, no,” the goblin queen pleaded on her knees. “I’m just like you. I have a mother. She will be all alone if I were to die.”

“Why did you betray your own people?” Steve shouted.

“To take the throne away from an unjust king.”

“You would collude with monsters to do such a thing?”

“This was the only way I had.”

Bon used Identify on her.

The Goblin Queen Lisa HP 100/100 MP 2,000/2,000 A normal village girl who charmed a goblin king and unified the goblins under a single banner

She mustered a massive army to assault the capital city

Powers Monster Whisperer Charms a monster target

If she was left to roam free, this would keep happening over and over again. The only alternative to death was imprisonment, but Bon doubted that the king would be willing to let her live peacefully within his dungeon. Monster Whisperer – Why had the Tower given her such a power? Couldn’t it just take it away from her? Maybe it couldn’t. There had to be some rules that the Tower couldn’t break.

Steve swung his weapon. Bon didn’t move to stop him. Steve was right about everything. The Tower wasn’t the same as the outside world. They were playing by different rules here. Red blood flowed on the ground, merging with the green of the goblin king’s. Two thousand years of slaughter, but this was the first real death he had witnessed. He felt that it was a pity, but nothing more.

Region Quest completed

With the death of the king and queen the remnants of the goblin army have been routed

Congratulations on finishing the quest and saving the kingdom

You have 135,152 points Rewards: 1xMythical Sandals of Speed, 10,000 Gold, 50,000 EXP

They all headed back to the central square in the city. A resident of the city had brought many casks of beer there for the players, which they opened and drank. Fighting a battle was thirsty work.

Bon joined the other bards and they played together, making up songs on the spot. Bon couldn’t remember most of the songs he had heard before coming to the Tower, so he improvised whenever they played some popular song. After he had his fun, Bon drank almost an entire cask himself. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get drunk. Maybe it was because he was a Nascent Soul cultivator now. Steve was dancing with each member of his harem in turn, or pentouple as Steve insisted on calling it. The women fought with each other for the next dance, and finally settled the order by playing rock, paper, scissors.

There were more men than women here, and many of them gazed jealously at Steve. As the night went on, a few people tried to fight with Steve to show off their dominance.

“What’s so great about you, pretty boy? Let us share in the dances as well,” one of them said.

“They can dance with whomever they like,” said Steve. “I’m not stopping them.”

“I think our chances would increase if we gave you a black eye,” another one rubbed his knuckles.

Steve laughed, and beckoned for them to come at him. Bon watched the fight with interest. Steve was quite good in a scrap. His punches were on point, and his kicks were fast and deadly. Soon, the group of men who wanted to bother Steve were all groaning on the floor. Bon clapped his hands in applause.

“Well done. Didn’t think you were such a good boxer.”

“I trained in mixed martial arts before coming here.”

No wonder he had outleveled everyone else.

“Can you teach me how to fight, Steve?” Lucy asked, staring at him with big, adoring eyes.

“Teach me first,” said Nia. “It will be a useful addition to my fighting skills.”

“No. Me first! Me first!” shouted Kara.

Bon groaned and left the square. He didn’t want to see them demean themselves before Steve any more. He wandered through the city and eventually went back to the inn.

Bon woke up early the next morning, and found Thomas eating breakfast downstairs. Bon joined him, wolfing down on some bacon, bread and fried eggs.

“So, you all set for the boss hunt? We’ll be leaving soon. It will take a while before everyone is gathered.”

Bon scratched his head, “We’re all going to hunt it together?”

“That’s what we planned last night. Weren’t you there?”

“I left early.”

Thomas chuckled, “That cockatrice stands no chance. What do you think the thirty first floor will be like?”

“Just like every other floor I imagine, with a different boss to kill at the end of it,” Bon sighed. “I just hope it doesn’t get too monotonous.”