Chapter 9

Shiv was now in the forest beyond the gates of the village. He had a single day left before the black rabbit invasion of the naiad pond. But the difficulty of the quest was so high that Shiv understood that his current strength was not enough. And that is why decided to walk in the forest, to level up, to become stronger. But soon he fell into a predicament. All the small monsters tried to run away when they felt his presence due to his unique blessing. A level 1 Shiv was now searching the forest for a suitable prey, he ventured a little deep into the forest.

Shiv walked slowly through the dense forest, wary of the surroundings. The boy concentrated his sense so as to detect any movement, he very well understood the fact that a strong monster could easily dispose of him. And so the boy walked, his body ready to react even to the smallest of disturbance. Shiv scanned his surroundings carefully, he was getting frustrated for not being able to find even a single monster to fight. An hour or so passed and Shiv’s patience was running out. But things changed in an instant.

A smile broke out on Shiv’s face for a little away from Shiv were three level 4 monsters, two-tailed foxes. Their health was not that high, a value slightly above 150, but their attack power was strangely high, a whopping 30 base damage. Shiv felt a chill run down his spine, were he a normal level one player, then he stood no chance, not even against just one of the monster. The high agility coupled with the huge damage could finish a normal level 1 or 2 in seconds.

Though the level difference between Shiv and the fox was a little high, Shiv was sure that he was strong enough to win, after all, his status was comparable to a level 10. Yet, Shiv approached the foxes carefully. He activated the watch to make sure that the fox’s reaction time would be doubled, giving Shiv a chance to escape if need be. Shiv knew that the watch cost him a huge amount of mana and so he wanted to finish off as many foxes as he could in the next one hour and so hoped he could find other foxes as soon as he was done with the three before him.

Out of the three foxes, two were on the ground as if they were sleeping while one remained awake as it leisurely licked its fur. Shiv had circled around so that he could approach the fox from behind and so tip toed. The boy had approached the fox and had reached just behind it when the fox suddenly turned towards him. Shiv was startled for a second, but his body moved in an instant. Drawing out a small dagger that he had requested from Stryn, Shiv plunged the dagger right into the fox’s neck. The chains of time helped him greatly as the fox couldn’t react in time. To Shiv, the fox’s movement appeared unbelievably slow, but to the fox Shiv was faster than lightning.

But this sudden action caused another problem to Shiv. The moment the dagger pierced deep into the fox’s neck, it wailed miserably before it surrendered to death. The wail had woken up the other two foxes that were asleep. The foxes identified the enemy as well as the death of their companion and so the two stared at Shiv intently. The foxes let out deep growls trying to intimidate their enemy. One of the foxes walked away from the other but made sure that they were not too far away. This was a move to not be an easy target for the enemy but at the same time be able to dash towards the companion to give aid if needed. The foxes were hardly separated by five metres from each other, while they were separated from Shiv by another five or six metres.

Shiv, on the other hand, readied his body for a battle. His eyes switching between the foxes, Shiv took out another dagger. Shiv held the daggers in both his hands with a reverse grip. He the bend his body a little, while his hands at his chest level then suddenly dashed.

The foxes were on high alert, not due to the approaching enemy because of the enemy’s lightning speed. In an instant, Shiv closed the distance between him and the fox to his right. He swung his right hand up, aiming to pierce his dagger right into the fox’s neck. Seeing his companion getting attacked, the other fox too dashed towards Shiv. The monster with its high agility ran at a great speed covering this distance to Shiv in a blink of the eye. Aiming at Shiv’s neck, it lunged with a wide open mouth.

Shiv smiled, he knew that the other guy would rush in. This insight let Shiv plan things two or three steps ahead and this was one such situation. The right hand which was aimed at the fox to his right never pierced into it. Shiv had retracted his hand slightly at the last moment. And when the second fox had lunged into the air, Shiv spun his body fast, his hands stretched out a little. His sudden moments startled foxes once again. The fox in the air landed near to the other guy as Shiv’s sudden spinning caused it to lose its mark. But before the fox could even turn its neck towards Shiv, it felt a burning sensation on its neck.

Shiv had calculated the fox’s landing position and also its time of landing. He had then spun his body such a way that the moment the fox landed, Shiv’s right dagger would pierce into its neck. The move was risky but was a one shot kill. And this time, the gamble paid off. The second fox fell to the ground. No, the third one too was one the ground, a dagger embedded into its skull. Even the fox didn’t know why there was suddenly a dagger deep in its poor brain.

The spin was to create an unstoppable momentum. With the chain of time activated, Shiv knew that if he were to act fast with precision, he could take down the two in an instant. And that is what he did, the right hand aimed at the second fox’s neck while the left hand aimed at the third’s head. Shiv was not sure if the dagger would have an impact on the third fox, he was not sure if the skull could be penetrated and so the move was truly a gamble.

This reason why he took such a gamble was his high health. The various boosts had increased his health considerably and so he knew that a couple of attacks would not kill him. He wanted to feel that adrenaline rush, the excitement of a fight.

Shiv smiled at the feeling of victory but what made him smile with excitement was the sudden notification that notified him his level up. The boy had in an instant reached level 5. Each level up gave a player five status points, while death resulted in a decrease of level by 1. The decrease of level was also accompanied by a reduction in five status points and 24hours ban from logging in.

Shiv once again started moving. By the time the sun went down, Shi had reached level fifteen and had amassed a total of 70 points. He then allocated 20 points each for STA, STR and AGI, and the remaining to INT after all mana was something Shiv greatly lacked. He had also gained dagger mastery, which rose to level 3. Shiv had switched between the dagger and sword to improve his proficiency with both and as a result, the sword mastery too rose to level 3. Occasionally, the boy came across groups of five, during which he used his sword. He then had activated his heavenly elemental techniques, Form 1 and Form 2 to deal with the enemies swiftly. By the end of the day, Shiv noticed that the heavenly elemental technique proficiency increased much slower than all his other skills.

Satisfied with his current level, he set off to the naiad’s pond. He reached the pond in 1 hour and what waited for him was a pretty much large group of blue coloured beasts with looked similar to goblins. Their face resembled a human but their body was as short as a goblin and were a deep blue in colour. Shiv examined them and found slits on their neck which Shiv identified as organs that let them breath in water, ‘just like fishes’ Shiv thought. He then introduced himself to them as the disciple of Thorwin, Altair, and Petra. The naiads were ecstatic at the news. Finally help had come and they could relax a little. Eager to be of any help, the naiad’s urged him to really on them. What fascinated him was the lack of a leader figure and yet the group was well organised with no history of internal strife.

Shiv wanted information if he were to put down the wild rabbits and so he asked the friendly naiads lot of questions. From them, he understood the surrounding terrain, things he could use, how strong the rabbits were, their possible weakness and the sorts. Shiv thought deeply on what he could do to overcome the situation. He knew that he alone could not take down all the rabbits and so he prepared a plan. Shiv’s eyes sparkled suddenly and in the next moment, orders were given out to the naiads to gather materials which could be useful to him. The naiads for some reason listened to the orders with great enthusiasm.

The naiads knew everything to be known in that forest and did what they all were requested to with great perfection. Shiv did not understand why they were so friendly with him and he did not bother to ask them the reason. His time was short.

Night fell and Shiv logged off for a brief moment but returned fast he had preparations to make. He then slept under a tree till morning. In the morning, he once again went to grind his level a bit. By the time he came back, Shiv had reached level 20. The points were equally distributed to VIT, STA, STR, AGI and INT.

Once again night fell. Shiv sat on a stone, his beautiful sword unsheathed, waiting!

“It is time for blood” and the boy snickered.

---***---

The previous day.

Deep inside a very enchanting forest, where the white moonlight barely squeezed in through the canopy, a young human sat on a large stone, in his hand a black sword with a very long blade. Illuminated by the brilliant white light, the young man was wiping the sword clean while he sang some song. His wavy black hair swayed in the gentle breeze, his golden brown eyes sparkled in the low light. The naiads surrounded him like bees attracted to honey, his song had captured them. If a girl were to pass by she would faint at the mere sight of the brilliance.

The naiads were all captivated by the scene in front of them. All of them forgot that they were under the threat of an attack. All except the boy had forgotten it. In contrast to his calm appearance the boy’s mind was in turmoil. There was no panic or fear clouding him, only plans and ideas filled his mind. Shiv was planning his strategy, ideas poured into his brain as more than five foolproof plans emerge in his brain. But the wanted one perfect plan, with hundred percent chance of winning and so he racked his brain for it. Suddenly the song stopped, his hands halted and a smile broke out on his face. The naiads shivered, the gentle boy they had known had suddenly vanished from their sight. What sat before them was a god of war!

“Hey! Can I ask you to do me one last favour?” the boy asked, he did not know the names of not even a single naiad. It was not because he did not ask, it was because the naiads did not have one. For them the concept of the name itself was superfluous. Another interesting fact that fascinated Shiv was that there were only women among them.

The naiads nodded since their vocabulary were limited. They understood the boy’s words but could only respond with nods and actions and drawings. That was how they had always replied to all of Shiv’s question. Shiv who understood this had tried to ask yes or no question, while limiting any need of long explanations.

“I want plants which are poisonous and plants which are acidic or causes burns to the skin” he was not sure whether the creatures knew what ‘acidic’ and hence also asked the naiads for plants which cause burns. The Ignutus tree had given Shiv valuable information. He understood the existence of plants and trees that had different effects and so hoped to get plants with acidic sap.

The naiads nodded and then dispersed. Shiv got up from his seat and then checked his inventory. He now had 3 dozen of throwing knives, 4 daggers, a crafting knife, a carving knife, an axe, a bow, 3 dozens of arrows and a lot of rope. After he had levelled up to level 11 he had visited Thorwin to request some more items for his quest. It took him a while to convince Stryn but was successful in collecting all the things he wanted.

He equipped the axe and began cutting down a tree. Since his stamina and strength were fairly high, he finished the job pretty fast. Then he used the axe to cut down the tree into small parts, each 80cm long. In a few hours, he had prepared two hundred or so of them which were at least 5 cm in girth. ‘Not at all good looking. But who cares’.

Then he took out his carving knife and began carving one of the ends of the wooden stick. He was slow initially but gradually his speed increased. In another 4 hours, he had sharpened all the remaining logs. Now he had two hundred stakes, capable of piercing the flesh of most living beings. Leaving the stakes aside he then walked back to the pond. From the pond he started to walk away from it, this time calculating the distance he was moving. When he thought he had reached around 35 metres he halted, taking out the rope he had, he now began tying it to the tree. He formed a circle around the tree with it, tying it at his knee level. The rope was too thin to be called a rope yet too strong to be called a thread an extremely strong twine.

He then moved away from the circle and observed it. It took him a while to adjust his eyesight to be able to notice the twine. ‘Perfect, now on to the next thing’

Once again he repeated the process but the ground displacement was reduced to a quarter of the previous height. A circle was then formed around the pond again, this time much closer to the pond. Next came the turn of the stakes.

Shiv stood inside the inner circle and scanned the area thoroughly. He then walked five steps towards the pond, bending down a little, he touched the earth and called out “Water magic”. To a third person it might have struck as a failed invocation but what Shiv did was not something that could be visible to the eyes immediately.

Shiv slowly took one stake and placed the blunt end on the floor, pressing it onto the ground with little force. Suddenly the wooden stake began sinking deep into the ground. Only a small part was sticking out now, the sharp point part that is. Shiv had used water magic to dampen the earth, letting the stake sink in. Similarly, he placed all the stakes close to the inner circle and then used earth magic to harden the soil. Shiv then gathered some leaves and partially hid the stakes.

When all of this was completed, he cut down another tree. This time, he used half of the logs to make barricades. The rest half were used for making hunting traps. The trap he used was called as spring spear trap among hunters of earth. He took four strong and thick sticks and dug all the four into the ground. The four thick stick were placed as if they represented the four corners of a rectangle which was 30 cm long while the breadth was 5 cm. Another stick which was really long, almost a meter long and much thicker, was placed in between the previous four. The long stick was a little less than 5 cm and so fit easily between the sticks that were fixed onto the ground. The four sticks were vertical while the long one was horizontal. Using the rope, he then tied the long one to the four which were stuck to the ground. To the free end too, he tied a rope and pulled backwards. This made the long stick arch backwards making a perfect arc. The rope tied to the free end was long enough that it could reach the pond. Shiv tied the rope to the tree closest to the pond. If the rope was cut, the long stick would spring forward and would hit anything in front of it. And if there was a sharp object attached to the stick, the sharp object would impale its target and kill it. Instead of using stakes, this time, Shiv used the throwing knives. He tied a half dozen of the knives to the free end of the stick. The same traps were placed around the pond. Shiv then placed the wooden barricades in such a way that majority of the rabbits would pass through where the traps were.

When the naiads returned with what he had asked for, Shiv used the poison plant and ground the leaves to a pulp using stones. He squeezed the leaves to get the liquid which was then applied to all the traps including the rope circles. Finally, he used earth magic to create 8 huge earth buckets which were almost the same size as his. Even though it was tiring, he then filled those buckets with water from the pond. One would have thought that the pond would go dry, but the water level did not even drop a bit.

Shiv had initially raised a small wall which was only 15cms tall around the pond, the large buckets were then built close to the wall. He then squeezed out the liquids from the acidic plant. The liquid along with the poison was mixed with the water. The naiads were again requested to gather some more plants. By the time all his preparations were done the day had passed.

On the next morning, Shiv went to level up and returned when he was level 20. It was already evening by then. Shiv turned to the naiads and gave them some orders, the naiads nodded their head with vigour. They gave Shiv some herbs to eat which, when he ate, rejuvenated him.

Soon night fell and Shiv sat on a stone next to the pond, smiling. Like a predator waiting for his prey, Shiv waited for his enemies to come and it did not take too long. Shiv could footsteps and sounds of various other motion. His smile widened and eyes sparkled, the adrenaline rush in his body made him feel invulnerable.

“It is time for blood” the god of war had descended.

‘Trrrng’

Black Rabbit ArmyThe Black rabbits are approaching intending to invade the naiad pond and seize it for themselves. You have been sent to stop the marauding black rabbits and help the naiads survive.

Black rabbits killed: 0/150

‘150 huh, it is gonna be a long and rough night’

‘Squeak! Whoosh!’ Shiv could hear sounds along with the cries of the rabbits. ‘It has finally started’, Shiv kept waiting.

---***---

The black rabbits, 150 in number were running towards a particular destination, towards the naiad’s pond. They were moving at their maximum speed as they hoped to take over the pond at maximum speed. But that very speed led them to their end. The black rabbits in the front suddenly stopped, some rolled down ahead, blood oozed out of those fell onto the ground. Some were instantly killed due to being cut by the strong rope. The Black rabbits were so fast that by the time some of them noticed the rope it was too late. Those who did not notice were cut deeply. Those who noticed the rope tried to slow down but to no avail, they too were cut but mildly. While those who had stopped promptly, were pushed by those rabbits that didn’t know the situation. Rabbits after rabbits tumbled onto the rope.

A small cut was all that was needed, as the poison on the rope began its mission and spread throughout the bodies of those who were cut. Those who were deeply wounded died instantly while the others that got wounded had a long and painful death. The number of rabbits dwindled fast. The rabbits in the back were now cautioned, they stopped their advance and carefully observed the surroundings. Finding nothing they moved forward, their speed decreased to a quarter of their maximum.

That was when the second trap activated. The rabbits in the front suddenly tripped. Their running sending them flying a little forward directly into the hidden stakes covered with the same poison. And so the army began dwindling at a frightening pace. The rabbits began panicking. The only enemy they could sense was nowhere near them. They had felt the enemy’s presence long ago, an enemy other than the naiad, but that enemy had remained stationary all the time. They did not understand how they were being killed. Fear struck them. Their morale fell, their instincts told them to run away but yet they moved forward as if they were afraid to go back.

Only less than half had survived the initial traps. The Black rabbits then decided to spread out. They thought that if they spread out and surrounded the enemy their victory would be easy. Another foolishness. They did not know who they were dealing with. They did not realize that they were being manipulated.

The rabbits now stopped running as they walked as slow ass possible. They were alert, keeping their eyes on the enemy in front who had been sitting still for the moment they had arrived. They avoided the barricades and walked cautiously through the path that was unguarded.

‘Hihihi, that’s it. Keep moving just like that’. “Cut it free now” shouted Shiv.

The naiads who had been hiding till then came out with the knives Shiv had given and cut the ropes that were tied to the trees. The spring spear traps were activated once the ropes suppressing them were cut. The tension that had built up on the stick caused it to spring forward at a high speed. The rabbits could not react fast enough to dodge the oncoming attack. The knives attached to the end impaled the rabbits killing them instantaneously. Some who were in the range of the stick got hit too, the momentum sending them flying.

The remaining rabbits froze. Those who were heavily wounded, he tried to take them down with arrows trying to improve his archery in the midst. Some of them hit, some did not. But he knew that very hit improved his accuracy. Taking his own time, he took down the near dead rabbits with the arrows. Surrounding the rabbits were corpses of their brothers, rage began to well up inside them. Screaming with all their might they rushed forward intend on killing the enemy in front.

“You got mad just with this? The main course has not even been served. Well, since you guys are in a rush, I will give you a taste of it then. Let it flow!” Shiv shouted the final part of his dialogue.

Suddenly a rumbling sound echoed throughout, then the huge earthen buckets moved. The entire naiad population worked together to push down the buckets. With all their might and anger towards the rabbit, they pushed and slowly the buckets started to fall. A huge wave of water gushed out of all the buckets, towards the incoming rabbits. The rabbits did not even try to stop, they sneered at the naiads at their pitiful attack. This cost them dearly, the entire rabbit force that came into contact with the water winced, their flesh burning, blood gushing out. Through the burns poison seeped through into the rabbits, slowing the rabbit even more.

‘It is finally time’ Shiv Stood up, his black sword shining in the moonlight.

“Heavenly Elements Form 1: Kaze” and Shiv disappeared. With all his grinding, the skill was now at level 2. Even though the mana consumption was the same, his agility was increased by 20% which gave Shiv time to deal with multiple enemies. He appeared behind those he thought would fall with a single strike. Shiv did not even bother to activate the chains of time.

“Heavenly Element Form 2: Hono” he activated his second skill. Activating both the skills cost him more than half his mana, but the increase in agility and attack damage was worth it. Shiv targeted those which had only 20 to 30% HP left. A single strike to the back was all it needed to finish them off. In a minute, he had taken care of 5 rabbits. All that was remaining was 23 rabbits which were burnt and poisoned. And as time passed the poison kept decreasing their HP.

“23 against 1 eh. There is more than I thought. 10 of them would have been an ok but this is a little extra, even if they are half dead. I didn’t want to use this if possible, guess I have no other choice. Chains of Time” and then time slowed, the rabbits lost its main weapon of agility. Shiv now used his sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left hand to take care of those in front of them. He faced the rabbits head on, slashing the rabbits and dodging their claws and bites. The fight continued for hours, wearing down both the sides. Shiv knew that the rabbits would die even if he had left them alone, but he did not want to take any chances. Blood gushed out as a fountain from the cuts Shiv made. The rabbits fell one by one and all that was left were three.

Basking in the moonlight was a young man covered in the blood of his enemies, holding a black sword in his right hand. The eyes that were looking at the rabbits terrified them more. Golden brown eyes that usually glittering was now cold, the very eyes made the rabbits shiver.

They now tried backing off, they just wanted to survive. When they were a little away from Shiv the rabbits began to run with all their might. The one in the front looked back to tell his companions that they were almost free. But all he saw was the two rabbit’s heads getting chopped off. Before his brains could develop the sensation of fear, its head too came off.

---***---

Shiv was tired, he could not move. He took a sip of the water from the pond and his body was back to full energy. Even though he was no longer tired he still sat on the ground, he then took the medicinal herbs the naiads had given him and swallowed it. Lying down, he began allocating his stats point. From the battle, he understood his low mana was a problem. He had gained 12 levels from the rabbit hunt and a total of 60 status points. He invested 15 to INT and WIS, the remaining point went equally to all the stats. With this, he was level 32 which made him excited for it only took him two days to reach that level. He decided to have a nap there and it was then that he noticed some movements.

Shiv then silently woke up. He was sure all the rabbits had been slain. Something told him that he should be really careful and so he climbed the near tree, hiding in it. Cautiously he looked around to identify the source of the movement.

It did not take him too long to see what had caused the disturbance, but Shiv could not believe his own eyes.

The movement he heard was that of something tripping over the inner rope circle and falling onto the stakes. Trapped on the stakes was something Shiv never imagined to confront. With 3 pairs of red eyes and three pairs of legs, a horrendous beast was trying to free itself out of the stakes which had impaled two of its legs.

‘Why? Why is it here?’

‘Trrrng’

QUEST: THE DRAKLAKE HERO 2Now that the black rabbits have all died, the one who controlled them has come out to seize the pond by himself. A creature thought to be extinct, a creature which is the embodiment of evil itself, a Dralve. Slay the evil beast and return peace to the naiads

Difficulty : +E

Requirements: Kill all the Black Rabbits

Rewards

Unknown?????

Failure

The quest will fail

1. if you die

‘Why is it here? How can it be here?’ Shiv knew that at the current state he was no match for it. He also knew that he had no other choice but to confront it. He did not want to abandon the naiads. Gritting his teeth, he jumped forwards and ran towards the Dralve.

Sensing the approach of Shiv, the Dralve tried hard to get free. The poison and the stakes had eaten away 15% of its HP. But the Dralve was no weak opponent. It was at least a level 50. Too powerful for Shiv.

“Kaze! Hono! Chains of Time!” Shiv used all his skill all at once now that he had more mana. In the two minutes he had, he wasted none. The struggling Dralve proved hard to slash so Shiv could only manage 6 strikes on its back. Shiv them backed off and hid on a tree. He jumped from one tree to another to distract the Dralve. If the Dralve escaped out of the trap while he was slashing he would be dead, he knew this. So he had decided to back off every time his skills wore down. He used his bow and poison arrows against the Dralve. Aiming for the eyes, he shot arrows one after another. And just like before, some would hit the Dralve while some would miss. It took Shiv 20 shots to damage two of its eyes. And soon he ran out of arrows. With no other choices laid out before him, Shiv decided to rely on his sword. Using the remaining poison to coat the sword, he rushed forward activating all his skills, even then his mind was working on strategies to take down the beast. When he was near the beast he cast wind scythe causing a blade of wind to attack the dralve thus forcing the dralve to lose its balance. Before the Dralve could recover Shiv had landed 11 hits on the Dralve. Some of the slashes hit the same point consecutively causing more damage to the Dralve. Moreover the back attack added to the damage. He knew he was fighting cowardly but this was his only chance.

By then the dralve’s HP dropped below half thus angering the Dralve more. Without a care for its body, it started struggling much harder causing more damage to itself. Shiv observed the Dralve for some time allowing his skills to cool down. He would occasionally sip on the water in his canteen which increased his mana rejuvenation. Casting the skills again as soon as it was available he attacked the Dralve with all his might, landing another 10 strikes along with two critical strikes. This time, Shiv understood that the trap won’t hold long. Shiv ran towards one of the barricades and slashed it down. But before he could pick it up he was attacked from behind, a powerful claw send him flying. The Dralve ran towards Shiv to finish him off. Sensing the danger Shiv got up, his hands and body trembling.

“Kaze” activating his skill Shiv lightly dodged to the left and using two throwing knives he picked up in between he struck the beast’s eyes. The beast went slump, crashing onto the ground, losing all of its right eyes. Thinking that everything was over, Shiv bent down to pick up his sword. To make sure the beast was dead, Shiv planned to impale its heart with a stake and so picked up one. He stood up and turned towards the beast to finish it off. The moment he turned back, he saw the Dralve jumping at him. His hands moved instinctively, both the hands which were now holding a sword and a sharp log was stretched towards the beast in mid-air.

The beast panicked. With no way to stop its jump through mid-way, the beast ran into the stake and sword together, both the weapons passing through its body. But before its life ran out, the Dralve with all its might bit Shiv’s left shoulder. With intense pain coursing through his body, Shiv fell together with the dead dralve, his conscious now fading.

‘Trrrng’ was the last thing he heard.

---***---