Chapter 15

Broken promise

A quest is directly related to a rumor. That is an undeniable law in the world of MMORPG games, virtual or not. The same law applied to Dragon Lore. Every time somebody succeeded a quest, a rumor started to spread, every time when a quest failed rumors spread too. Thus quests and rumor were considered as two sides of the same coin, always together but never the same.

Such things also happened with Ryu or Shiv, but rumors about him did not spread until he set his foot in the Bredon Kingdom.

Even when he had received Oberon’s blessing, or when he had obtained the chains of time or the black dragon or the hidden class there were no rumors of the so-called Oberon’s child. And so, one would wonder why a situation arose where the undeniable law of quest and rumor was broken.

“The answer is simple” Allen Perez, CEO of Phoenix Enterprises spoke. The man was in a meeting with the heads of different departments of his company.

“This Shiv was not part of the Orrinshire world, he was beyond that.” Allen stopped as his gaze swept across the faces of all the men and women assembled in the board room. He could see disbelief, shock, mockery and many other complex expressions in each of their faces.

With a sigh, Allen shrugged his shoulder. He himself could not believe the report he had received a few hours ago. “Bu still, can anyone explain to me why he was sent to Draklake. Even if he was a premium user with the highest privileges, he shouldn’t be able to enter Draklake. That place is destined to be available for the strongest players”

But the only reply that came was, “We are working on it” which disappointed Allen greatly.

“Did he go through some sort of selection process? A trial or something?”, Allen asked hopelessly.

“No sir, none of the designated trials for the entry to the Draklake area has been activated. The only speculation we can come across is that the AI itself was responsible for this”, a woman replied as she skimmed through some papers.

“HINA? Don’t be absurd”, retorted a man opposite to the woman. And soon the room became noisy with the heads of various members arguing. Some blamed the HINA while some supported the HINA.

“Human Intelligence Neural Assembly or HINA. The world’s most advanced AI with thought process similar to humans and emotions that are on par with us”, not minding the ruckus, Allen spoke in a mild tone. Closing his eyes, Allen ran some scenarios in his head, he had to make his move or the game’s balance would crumble.

“That’s enough”, Allen shouted to gain the attention of those assembled in the room and then continued, “Here is what we will do, for now, investigate the cause for this situation. Go through the logs and find out why he was sent there. Another team, monitor this Shiv guy closely. Notify me anything and everything about him. The rest of you will help to speed up the new update. Increase the number of low-level quests and also the experience obtained for all the other players other than Shiv. That should keep things balanced for a while. Now go”

Once the members dispersed, only the CEO along with his secretary remained in the room.

‘What is that AI thinking’, Allen sighed again.

HINA was the pinnacle of artificial intelligence in a sense. With brain capability above even the smartest humans in the world, it had the ability to read people's brain waves thus making it possible to understand players need, desires, character, abilities, physical prowess, intelligence and many other things. But still, Allen did not understand why it would send someone to Draklake on the first day of the game.

Yuki, find out the details about the boy, everything about him and try contacting him” he ordered his secretary.

“I am afraid we can’t, Sir”, the woman replied politely. Her poker face remained emotionless but her words were soft and polite. She had neatly done her shoulder length hair but few strands of it fell onto her cheeks. Allen often enjoyed the view when Yuki would carelessly push those few strands to the side. The woman was his salvation from all the stress.

“Why is that my lovely secretary?”, asked Allen in fake shock.

“His is the next King, Sir”

“King? What just because he got a tattoo and sword you think that makes him King of Dragon Lore? Don’t joke around Yuki”, replied a slightly agitated Allen. The game was his sweat and blood. He had sacrificed everything in his life to build the game. It had taken him years to single-handedly develop HINA. He had dreamed about a game that would evolve on its own, a game that would never die, a game with endless possibilities, and that was Dragon lore. And if someone said that his game was conquered at such an early stage, Allen would not sit and listen silently

“He is the heir to Yasahiro”, Yuki replied coolly not minding the anger in her boss’s voice. She was used to his passion; after all, she had been together with him for more than ten years.

Allen froze. He now understood what Yuki had meant by King. The Yasahiro industries were powerful, powerful enough to cause earthquakes even in America. There was only one King in the world now, and that was Isamu Yasahiro, powerful, cunning and if the time calls for it, brutal too.

Allen knew, unlike the world which was ignorant, he knew very well about the force that has been driving the world from the dark since the first nuclear war. He knew the current head, who had single-handedly sustained Japan and then later rebuilt the country to become the strongest.

“Contact Yasahiro Industries. Request for a meeting with him at any cost. And Yuki”

“Sir?”

“Release the Jabberwocky”

This time, it was Yuki who froze.

---***---

‘10 levels! Sweet. That makes me level 50’ Shiv mused happily.

The explosion had earned him a lot of exp thus skyrocketing his levels. Shiv left the bonus stats point unassigned and decided to take down the remaining goblins. Every time he came across goblins, Shiv made sure to attack stealthily. This was to understand how many goblins were there and to come up the most efficient way to deal with them.

With his increase in level, a single hit was now enough to deal with the goblins, but he still remained cautious. Even though he estimated the remaining numbers to be less than ten, he had no way of knowing and so he decided to move stealthily so as to efficiently finish the quest without any glitches or miscalculation like the time with the naiads.

Every time he came across a group of goblins, Shiv activated ‘Kaze’ and ‘Hono’ to instantly take care of the goblins. He had dealt with 15 of them so far which was already beyond his estimation. In one such occurrence, Shiv came across another goblin. But this one was different from the rest, its skin color was not as dark as the ones Shiv had encountered till then. This new one had two red horns that emerged from its head. Its fangs too were longer as it protruded out from its mouth. With a body thrice the size of a blood goblin, the monster towered above Shiv.

Shiv stopped a little away from the monster and made sure he had hidden from the monster’s view.

‘This guy is strong. Maybe a level 50 but not strong enough to be a boss monster. Goblin general, may be? A two handed axe huh. So the strength type. Probably will have high health and defense, low agility. Armor throughout the body except for the back of the neck and his arms. The head guard is thick, only his eyes are unprotected. That is some armor, I will have to move fast’ gauging his enemy in a few seconds Shiv moved forward.

“Kaze, Hono, Wind scythe (wind magic)” activating three skills Shiv moved towards the goblin general. Instead of going for the back or the neck Shiv appeared in front of the general and using the arrows he had in his hand he stabbed both the legs of the general at the same time. This was to decrease the general’s movement is what a normal person would think. But to a martial artist the scenario changes.

When a person tries to perform an action like punching, the power that generates in his hands starts from the legs. The power starts from the leg, travelling and building up throughout the body and finally reaches the hands to produce a powerful punch. A punch which does not use the legs is a punch with next to no strength.

Shiv’s motive was simple. Limit the goblins leg and thereby killing the power behind the general’s attacks. And it worked wonderfully. The general lifted its axe to swing but the swing would not come. The generals upper body was unable to handle the weight of the huge axe and thus rendering the axe useless.

The goblin general was startled at his inability to use the axe which it had used countless times before. Soon its legs collapsed under the weight of the battle axe. During the confusion, Shiv lunged towards the general who was on his knees. And with another two arrows in his hands, he stabbed the two eyes of the goblin with all his might. The arrows bore through the general’s eyes blinding it.

A strategy Shiv always made use against strong opponents. He knew his limitations, rather than trying to be a hero, Shiv used strategies and his sharp mind to take down enemies. ‘Blind them and they will fall’. The blinded general became an easy prey as it only took Shiv a few minutes to cut down the monster.

Once the hunt was over Shiv took time to rest and regain his stamina and satiety. The cave was a single road with no branches which made it easy for Shiv. Had it been one with several branching Shiv was sure that he would have got lost several hundred times. It took Shiv another couple of hours of running to reach the place where the villagers were held captive.

The villagers were held captive in a large circular hall with them chained to the walls. Half of the villagers were crying while the another half slept on the ground. At the center of the huge hall was a gigantic throne made from human skulls, partially completed. A huge sword was pierced into the ground like it was some sort of legendary sword waiting for its owner to pull it out.

Sitting on the disgusting skull throne was a monster, easily the size of a 2 storey building and as fat as an elephant. This monster was nothing like the other goblins, its red body was covered with armor throughout except for the back of the legs to allow movement. Even though it had fangs similar to the goblin general from a while ago, the number of horns on its body was more than the general. Two horns decorated its ugly head but at the same time, there were horns on its shoulders and elbows. The horns were sharp and at least a feet long. Shiv gulped, he knew that those horns could take his life in an instant. This was a true boss monster, a goblin king.

‘Don’t tell me. Were those skulls from human sacrifices? You killed humans to make a fucking throne?’ Shiv felt the fear in him being absorbed by a building rage. His fists tightened as an intense anger surged through him.

Shiv then looked at the hostages more carefully. His legs lost all its strength, and tears rolled out. The bodies which were lying on the ground were all headless with blood flowing around them.

‘Unforgivable, Unforgivable. You will know pain, you will writhe in agony and I will make sure that scum like you will never see the light of a new day’ and a dark aura began to form around Shiv, enveloping him. He took out his black sword which too was now covered in the same red aura.

“I will slaughter you!” roaring out loud he ran, concentrating all the red aura into his sword. Detecting the sudden movements, the huge goblin lifted his sword into the air as it faced the approaching enemy. The goblin king’s eyes were focused on Shiv, gauging him but then suddenly Shiv disappeared.

The king panicked a little. Its brain failed to comprehend the chain of events especially the sudden appearance and disappearance of the human boy. Keeping his guard up, the king scanned the surroundings for any sign of the enemy only to find no trace of him.

It was like lighting that Shiv suddenly appeared in front of the King’s face with the black dragon ready to strike. The goblin king though surprised used all its strength to block the oncoming attack and was partially successful. Years of experience had made its instinct and reflexes really sharp.

Shiv had used Kaze to disappear from the king’s vision then had used the leg armor of the king as footing to jump towards the king’s face. With the sword clad in a red aura and Shiv clad in the yellow aura from Hono, Shiv swung his sword at the king’s face. The goblin king had barely parried it and so was successful in reducing the damage received.

The slash gave a small cut on the goblin king’s face near to its right eye. Shiv who had intended to blind at least one eye of the goblin king failed to achieve results. But,

‘Trrrng’

New skill unlocked: Blood AuraA dark red aura born from the lust for blood and revenge.

Your anger and hatred towards the goblin king have brought forth a hunger for revenge.

+15 AGI, STR, STA

+20% attack damage

+5% defense

Duration: 3min

Mana consumption- 300 per use

Shiv did not even bother to go through the new skill window. Closing the notification, he once again used Kaze to disappear, this time equipping the bow, he shot all the arrows he could at the goblin king’s face. But the giant goblin sword blocked the path and thus rendered most of the arrows useless. Only a couple of arrows managed to find its target but none of them hit the eyes at all. Once the volley of arrows ended, the goblin king charged towards Shiv. For its huge size, it was fast and agile. Not wasting any time, Shiv took out his dagger and sword and ran towards the goblin king.

The goblin king swung the axe vertically down at his enemy. Shiv rolled forward, right in between the goblin king’s legs so as to avoid the axe. With this, Shiv was behind the goblin king. Using his dagger his stabbed the goblin king behind the knee and slashed it as hard as he could. The pain in its legs caused the goblin king to roar as it yanked the leg backwards thus sending Shiv flying.

You have taken 200 damage

The hit drained Shiv a considerable amount of his health, blood was now dripping from his head. But Shiv did not falter, he was blinded by rage to even notice the health drop. The impact had made him let go off his dagger but he somehow managed to hold onto the sword. Shiv got up and then activated three skills at the same time depleting his mana source considerably. Luckily the recent level up had given him enough points to increase his health and mana.

“Kaze, Hono, Blood Aura” and once again Shiv bolted towards the goblin king. This time instead of aiming for the back Shiv targeted the hands of the goblin. All three skills being activated at the same time increased the attack damage tremendously. The goblin king’s swings were slow and easily dodged by Shiv. Shiv did not even think about parrying the blows, he knew that it was impossible for the current him. The axe was swung three times. On the third time just before the axe reached Shiv, he used chains of time to slow down time thus almost depleting his mana. This gave him more time to cut down the hand. Holding the sword directly above his head Shiv brought down the sword with tremendous strength, his years of kendo practice aiding his move. The sword came down clean and beautifully. It was as if the air was being cut into two.

‘Slash’ and off came the thick right hand of the goblin king. Blood splattered out of the wound like a nonstop stream. The pain caused the huge monster to roar, a deafening roar.

His instincts told him to move and so Shiv jumped back, but it was futile. The roar caused something Shiv had not foreseen.

You have been affected by the Goblin king’s roar: You have been paralyzed

Duration: 30sec

Shiv’s eyes widened. Paralysis was not something he had expected. Shiv was sure that the goblin king was at the most a level 60 and was sure that its roar would not affect him much. But what Shiv failed to include in his calculation was the fact that the monster in front of him was a blood goblin king which was outside the conventional laws.

Even though 30sec was a short amount of time, it was enough for the goblin king to kill Shiv. Unable to move Shiv gazed at the goblin king and then at the people who were crying. A horrible thought crossed Shiv’s mind at that time. All those who were crying being beheaded, Shiv’s mind was imagining such a brutal scene.

“Move, move you stupid body. I promised, I promised Bella I would protect everyone. Move. Godammit . Move” Shiv was crying and screaming. Losing one’s parents is a pain Shiv did not want another person to feel be it a real person or a NPC. With all his might he tried to move. The goblin king was limping towards Shiv with his left hand raised, ready to squash Shiv. Shiv’s earlier stab to the leg had slowed down the goblin king but that was not enough to buy him time to escape. Shiv was cursing, cursing himself for being so weak, so useless. He stared at the approaching nemesis, eyes with hate and anger.

“I will come back for you; I will hunt you down till all eternity. In the name of Maheswara, I will dance on your dead corpse one day” Shiv yelled. The goblin king smirked at Shiv. It was then something happened.

The goblin king stopped running and howled with pain. It was then Shiv noticed a man next to the goblin king. On his hand was the dagger which Shiv had lost a while go. The dagger had landed near the man who had used it to escape from his binding. And now he had stabbed the goblin king’s legs from behind in hopes of slowing down h he king goblin.

The visibly thin man stared at the king nervously as he shivered feebly. Even though fear shook him, the old man tried to buy time for the savior who had appeared from nowhere. With shaking hands, the man once again plunged the dagger into the king’s leg.

“Take care of my daughter for me, ” said the man tears running down his pale cheeks and yet he had a smile on his face.

‘Eh? Daughter?’ Shiv looked at the person with the dagger in his hands and then at the goblin king. The angry goblin king kicked the man with his foot making the man fly towards the nearby wall.

“No! No! Leave him alone you mongrel. I am right here. Come at me you sh*t head, not him” Shiv screamed as he watched the goblin king reach for the man and pick him up in his hands. Then wit the left hand, the goblin king squished the man as if it was some bug.

Blood sprayed out from the gaps between the fingers, the man died before he could even scream. The goblin king opened its arms and began licking it, enjoying the blood. And at that moment Shiv snapped. The moment he snapped, his paralysis wore off too.

“Hey meat sack” Shiv called out to the goblin monster. The goblin king looked at Shiv, with delightful eyes, happy to have caused pain to his enemy. It began laughing as if it was watching something funny going around and then looked at Shiv and began to lick its hand again. It was smiling, with its eyes focused on Shiv.

‘Swoosh’, that was all the goblin king heard and his left hand slid down from the elbow. A perfect clean cut. It was instantaneous. The goblin king did not feel any pain due to the speed by which the hand was cut. The next thing that happened was something beyond the previous.

To the overgrown monster, the world suddenly seemed to slow down. No, it understood very well what was going on. It could feel chains tying its body, it could feel a heavy weight restricting itself. Panic struck the monster as it struggled to break free of the unpleasant sensation. First time since the fight had begun, fear crept into its heart. With its blood eyes, the monster king looked at the approaching boy and the instant their eyes met the goblin king felt a shiver run down in its spine.

Something told the monster to run, to get away from the person but no matter how hard it tried, its body refused to listen.

“So now you want to run away.”, a chilling voice came from the boy’s mouth. The goblin king struggled more intently to break free of the invisible restraint. “You think cutting down two hands is pain? No, not at all. Pain is something you will know shortly.” And again Shiv disappeared. The goblin king did not feel anything. It was confused as to why it had suddenly lost its balance. It fell down to the ground. But when it tried to stand up on its legs, it felt strong pain on its right leg. The king’s eyes widened in pain and surprise, its right leg had suddenly vanished as if it never existed.

The goblin no longer tried to move, fear clouded all its senses. The only thing that reflected in its eyes was the figure of a young boy covered in red.

---***---

Bella and the others were waiting at their houses for the return of Shiv along with the villagers. A day had passed since Shiv had entered the cave to rescue the others. Everyone were restless but had a smile on their face. Each and every one of them had utmost faith in Shiv. And so they had decided to do major clean up all of the houses.

‘I must make something good for my father when he returns’ Bella was thinking while preparing food for the other children when she heard the children crying. Grabbing the kitchen knife she rushed out worried.

But she froze halfway, outside the house there were people, the villagers had finally returned. The children were hugging their parents as they cried their hearts out. Bella had tears, tears of happiness as she could finally meet her father. She ran towards the crowd searching for her father. “Father, father”, she called out loudly with happiness that knew no bounds.

“Father? Where are you father? It’s Bella. Where are you?” she yelled. No reply came to her calling.

“Father don’t be quiet. Say something. Father” She called for her father again. Her knees were shaking for some reason.

“Bella”

“Shiv, have you seen my father? He is the village chief”

Shiv then took a necklace from his pocket and placed it on Bella’s hand.

“Why do have mothers necklace with you? It is father’s treasure. I must give it back to him. Tell me where he is already”

“That is all that is left of him Bella” Shiv whispered.

“Eh? Don’t lie to me Shiv, I know he is somewhere here. Father? Father?” she called for him again.

“I am sorry Bella, I am sorry. I could not…” Shiv’s voice failed him, his heart in pain. Bella did not speak, she froze.

‘Slap’, ‘Slap’, ‘Slap’

“You promised that you would protect them. You promised that you would return them”, the emotionless girl spoke as a doll. There was no anger, no sadness, not even the smallest tinge of emotions lingered in her.

“I….”, He could not find the right words to say, he could not even look at the girl in her eyes. He had failed her, he was the reason that the girl had lost her only family.

It was then that tears started to run down Bella’s fair cheeks, her knees gave up and she fell onto Shiv’s chest. Like a little girl who lost her toys, she cried and cried till the tears of her heart could no longer come out.

The boy who had promised and the girl who had believed the promise stood there with their hearts shattered like castles of glass.

---***---