Chapter 4: 2 men vs an army

“Rize?” (Doraig)

why do you seem so excited? doesn't this seem like the apocalypse is descending upon us or something? your eyes are sparkling, dude!

“It’s a king type! a king is going to appear! this is our chance to strike it rich, but you have to fly us up while I shoot with my bow” (Rize)

holy crap, my first confrontation against a king! wait, don't those pop out with a big ass army next to them?

“umm okay!” (Doraig)

I grab Rize who sits on my back and take off, in the distance I see a whole lot of skeletons popping out of the shrine, the whole area looks white with the amount coming out of there!

Rize takes aim and uses a skill called ‘rain of arrows’ followed by ‘volley’

Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received ...

Holy shit! that was how many? one more of those and I will level up!

“Dodge!” (Rize)

Hey, don’t pull my neck!

“Pay attention you derp or you’ll get us both killed!” (Rize)

by the way what was that? it looked like a green moon! Is it that thing?

holy cow it’s a grim reaper, it’s a literal grim reaper wearing a robe and using a massive 2 handed sickle!

“one more combo! Stabilize yourself!” (Rize)

Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received Experience Received Level up: 10 -> 11

“Archers!” (Rize)

what? Ouch!

HP received damage, HP 44 -> 10

“MOOOOOOROOOOOOON!” (Rize)

Crap crap crap crap, fly away!

into that cave!

“Haaa- that hurts like hell” (Doraig)

“Stay still” (Rize)

Rize casts basic heal on me but UGH! the moment he took off the arrow it hurt like a motherf-

“Why’d you kick me, man!” (Doraig)

“you moron almost got both of us killed! now pay more attention to the ground” (Rize)

“yessir!” (Doraig)

is this guy a drill sergeant?

we check the outside of the cave, and after quickly disposing of the 2 nearby skeletons we take off once more!

this time I pay proper attention to what’s going on on the ground and thus manage to dodge the archers and sickle attacks without too many problems, I'm really glad I took the skill points necessary to evolve glide!

After 2 more of Rize’s combos I level up once more, and finally, take a look at my status:

Name Doraig Stat Base Bonus (%) Total Skill Name Current level Max Level Evolution Race Dragon (Otherworldly) STR 12 0 12 Minor Destruction Breath 76 99 Intermediate Destruction Breath Level 12 VIT 15 5 15.75 Intimidating Gaze (Racial bonus) 2 99 +Intimidating Voice (Racial bonus) HP (+Bonus) 38/44 (+4) DEX 20 0 20 Fly 5 99 +Aerial Mastery HP Regen +1.075/minute MP (+Bonus) 175/175 (+0) INT 43 0 43 Basic Red Inspect 3 999 Medium Red Inspect MP Regen +4/minute Skill Points Available 6 Stat Points Available 10 Experience Points 40/4375

I put all my stat points into vitality and raise my hp from 44 to 96.5, so now I can take a bit of damage albeit not too much.

“what level are you right now Rize?” (Doraig)

“I hit level 12 two combos ago, and you?” (Rize)

“I hit level 12 just now” (Doraig)

“then it’s time for the big boss, skeletons give reduced EXP once you get to level 12” (Rize)

“Hai Sir!” (Doraig)

“okay here’s the plan, you get close to the boss, take a quick descent into the zone, I jump off your back and shoot a volley of arrows on the skeletons around the king, opening the way for you to cast a bunch of Destruction breaths” (Rize)

“that… sounds dangerous!” (Doraig)

“Let’s go!” (Rize)

“Ugh” (Doraig)

let’s see, there are 20 or so archers in the immediate vicinity of the boss, not too bad, but I have to really make an effort if I want to evade the sickle attack at that distance!

I close in while raising my height, and when I reach 150 meters from the floor and I'm right above the reaper I begin my descent!

at the 4 meter mark off the floor, I turn my body and use all my might and dexterity to halt my descent, stopping just a foot from stamping my face on the ground!

Rize jumps off my back and casts a volley followed by another volley, instantly obliterating all the skellies around the boss, I then proceed to cast my own burst of damage!

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Destruction Breath!’

‘Minor Breastruction- I mean, Minor Destruction Breath!’

that’s it! I’m completely dry out of mana, is it deader than it was yet? I can’t see anything with this amount of fog and dirt!

“Not yet!” (Rize)

Rize takes aim and shoots a final arrow, and like that, the king dies before being able to bring destruction to the area, and all the surrounding skeletons seem to have broken down as well!

Experience Received Level up: 12 -> 13 Received Item: The Undying (Unique)

Nice! I got the robe, and it looks like Rize got the sickle, that thing was freaking strong!

The Undying (Unique)

The Robe used by the Ceremonial Reaper. Allows the user to cast the skill ‘Aura of death’ once a week

Properties:

Physical Defense +20

Aura of Death (Cooldown: 0d 0h 0s)

Level Requirement: 12

“Rize, do you know what the skill ‘Aura of death’ does?”

“Ah? no clue.” (Rize)

you’re so into your new weapon man… what do I do? it sounds awesome but extremely dangerous and I can only use it once a week…

Ah, whatever let’s give it a shot! Ei!

‘Aura of death’

Rumble

Ohh shit, something is happening!

HOLY SHIT! all the skeletons are raising back up! is this a farming tool? wait, no… I feel some kind of connection to the skeletons?

Oh nice, I can control them!

Aura of death has been activated, time left: 30 minutes

After Rize gave me a weird look of fear, followed by a low kick and me giving an apologetic smile because I startled him, I proceed to play with the skeletons, and when the time finally ran out all of them turned into dust that flew off in the distance.

Aura of death has run out of time, Cooldown time: 7d 0hr 0min

man, this thing is sick, a shame I can only use it once a week, though.

“So what does your sickle do?” (Doraig)

“it does exactly what the grim reaper did, it shoots crescent moon shaped projectiles which deal destruction damage” (Rize)

wow, that’s sick, this guy just won the lottery!

“so what now? we can’t really keep farming here now that we hit the cap level of this area” (Doraig)

“me? I'm going back to my village to make sure everyone is alright and to show them I'm okay, the clouds and vortex should have been visible from there, they are probably shitting their pants as we speak” (Rize)

“C-can I go with you?” (Doraig)

“Of course you can’t come, you want them to have a heart attack on top of it all?” (Rize)

after giving him the puppy eyes to no avail I proceed to stealthily follow Rize back to his village.

after following him for a while and almost losing sight of him a few times, a small citadel shows itself in front of me, it’s surrounded by massive 10-meter tall walls and there’s a castle in the middle of it all, this is completely not the image I had of an elven village! this is NOT a village Rize!

I've gotta think of a way to inconspicuously get inside, man do I wish I had stealth like Rize…

Meanwhile inside the citadel

“Father, I'm back” (Rize)

“Rizzy boy, you’re fine! I was about to mobilize the whole militia to get you back safe” (??)

“you’re such a worry brother, you almost got a quarter of the population killed with that little act of yours” (???)

“How’s mother?” (Rize)

“Same as before you left, she still hasn’t awoken” (???)

“Did you at least manage to get it?” (??)

“I failed, the wrong guy popped out of the monolith, I don’t think this one is high enough” (Rize)

“I see” (??)

“Haa…” (???)

“by the way, how did you manage to kill that thing so quickly?” (??)

“I found an interesting guy who helped me out” (Rize)

“an interesting guy? where is he?” (??)

“He’s outside, I wanted to tell you of him before bringing him here but he followed me anyways, he should be near” (Rize)

“is he a Murloc or something?” (???)

“A dragon” (Rize)

“oh, it’s just a- a dragon!?” (??)

“how the hell did you manage to party up with a dragon, no, how the hell did you FIND a dragon in the middle of the Undead plains!” (???)

“well… he’s interesting” (Rize)

“go fetch him, I want to take a look at the weirdo” (???)

“I’ll Bring him here now” (Rize)

Back to our guy

So I probably shouldn’t try the surprise surprise strategy that almost got the villagers killed last time, but what should I do? I'm not sure I can just go and knock the door…

damn it, if I could use Aura of death I could just summon an army of skellies and make it seem like I save the day and boom, everyone loves the dragon hero! Ugh!

“Oi” (Rize)

“AH!” (Doraig)

“Calm down, come with me” (Rize)

“Hmph, I thought you didn't want your people to see my ugly face, not going, mate!” (Doraig)

“Are you coming or not?” (Rize)

Yeesh, you're not a woman, you don't have play hard to get bro, could have just told me to tag along from the start.

“Coming!” (Doraig)

“...maybe this wasn’t the best idea” (Rize)

I feel like I just heard something unpleasant, oh well, first time I'm going into a city while in this new world!