Spiral led them around the outskirts of the battle so as not to attract the attention of the invading soldiers. “Should we help Thulnar?” Valit asked, watching as the giant man climbed back to his feet and shook off the soldiers trying to cling to him.

“Nope. The goal is to take out the enemy sorcerer before Thulnar runs out of HP.”

More spells rocked the battlefield, several of them killing soldiers that happened to be too close to Thulnar when they detonated. Kana considered how much damage the enemy sorcerer’s magic was doing when compared to Valit, and he had to ask, “Just how powerful is this guy? What’s stopping him from just blasting us with one spell and finishing us off? He’s killing multiple NPCs just as collateral damage every time he casts another spell.”

“Yeah, that’s…” Spiral trailed off. “No spoilers, right? There’s a way. You’ll see in a minute.”

They circled around the battle and finally reached the back side, where a line of soldiers had formed a protective barrier around the sorcerer. Behind their ranks, the man who was hurling magical devastation across the battle field floated two meters off the ground above an intricate geometric design that glowed with a purple light. Four more men, presumably also sorcerers, stood at the cardinal directions outside the design.

“This is the quest. Break through the elites guarding the sorcerers, kill the support sorcerers to cut them off from channeling to the guy in the center, then finish him off.”

“There’s at least twenty soldiers guarding them,” Valit said.

“Yeah, but they’re not as tough as the ones in town were, and the sorcerers can’t help them because they’re busy in the middle. We can take them, heal up for a minute, and then move on to the casters.”

“We haven’t really done all that great against large groups, historically speaking,” Kana pointed out. “Is there another way we can come at this?”

Spiral shook his head. “It’s fine. Just back me up on this one. We got this.”

Before the other two could protest, he ran headlong into the soldiers, who reacted with predictable hostility. Kana rushed after him, and the three of them started fighting for their lives. As Spiral had said though, the soldiers individually weren’t that strong. Kana wondered how much harder the fight would have been if he’d been using the quest reward spear instead of Nibelus.

He had also gained several levels since they’d started the quest though, and the fights had been getting easier and easier. Barring Spiral’s disastrous plan going after Black Manor and its chief assassin, the quest line hadn’t actually been all that difficult. Even the twenty to three odds they were in was rapidly balancing out. Kana didn’t know how many were left, but he guessed they’d taken out at least half of the soldiers in the first minute of combat.

Spiral’s stamina meter was almost empty though and he was edging from yellow to red HP. He’d used up whatever defensive class skills he had and was starting to backpedal in an effort to ease some of the pressure. Kana himself had taken enough hits that he’d lost half his HP. Valit had also taken a few hits, and she was not well armored. They were going to win unless something went wrong, but they were not going to be in good shape when it was over.

Kana’s prediction was exactly right. They did manage to defeat all of the NPCs, but all three of them were down to red HP, and Spiral’s stamina was almost completely gone. “Five minute breather,” he said. “That should give us enough recovery time.”

“Will it give us enough time to finish up the sorcerers before the soldiers respawn?” Valit asked. “That’s already cutting it close, and we don’t even know how long the sorcerers will take to beat.”

She didn’t say it, but Kana was sure she was wondering if they even could beat them. So far, he hadn’t seen any hostile caster NPCs, so he didn’t really know what to expect from them. They obviously weren’t using the same spells he’d seen Valit cast. He hoped they would go down quickly, but it was best not to take anything for granted.

“Tell me about these NPCs,” he said. “What kind of spells should I be watching out for?”

Spiral shrugged. “I don’t remember. When I did this last, I was a ranger. I stood far enough away to not get caught up in melee and shot things until they died. And, to be perfectly honest, I’m kind of winging this whole thing. I was the guy and a buddy from school was dragging me along. He didn’t explain things very well, or, you know, at all. So this is all coming from fuzzy memories and what I can piece together.”

“Now he tells us,” Valit muttered.

“Hey! We did alright, didn’t we? We’re here on the last quest. Kind of the last quest. Whatever.”

“Uh, ok. I think? Wait, how many quests are there after this one?”

Spiral wiggled one hand back and forth. “Eeeehhhhhhh, this portion of the quest line ends here. There’s a sequel line later, but it’s a lot of levels ahead.”

There wasn’t much to say to that. Once they’d judged they had no more time to recover, Spiral opened up combat against the sorcerers. All three of them piled on the first one and dropped him before he had time to even fight back. The other three immediately ceased channeling their magic into the leader and began launching bolts of fire and lightning at the party. Kana was blasted off his fight, and left lying on his back with a stun effect for a few seconds.

He responded with lightning of his own in the form of an arc lance, followed by a clipping sweep to stop the casting of one of the sorcerers who was still up. The trio managed to kill them all in a matter of seconds, though Spiral’s HP dropped back into the red. A shockwave rolled out from the symbol on the ground as the prime sorcerer descended from his place floating in the air.

It pushed Kana and Spiral back, and even Valit staggered when it passed through her fifteen meters out. The NPC’s HP bar appeared, and a name popped up over that. “Malificus of the Crimson Plaza,” Kana read out. “Why does that sound familiar?”

“The token you got from that area boss,” Spiral reminded him. “Let’s get him.”

Valit struck first with a flashburn beam. Malificus immediately countered with a beam spell of his own, but instead of being elemental based, it looked like a rope of undulating darkness connected the two of them. It blasted Valit backwards and put some kind of status effect on her, though she was too far away from Kana for him to read what it was.

Then he had no more time to spare worrying about her. The enemy sorcerer set a stream of fist-sized sparks up into the air that drifted down around him in lazy, drifting patterns. “Watch out for those,” Spiral said, dodging between two as he closed the distance. He didn’t quite manage to squeeze through a tighter group, and it sent a shock of electricity through him. His whole body seized up for a second, allowing another one to strike him before he could start moving again.

Kana darted between the drifting sparks and pulled Spiral back to safety while Malificus laughed and started casting another spell. A shimmering red orb appeared in the air. The sorcerer sneered at Kana and said, “Should have minded your own business, outsiders.” Then he gave the orb a shove and it rocketed into Kana, dealing close to a third of his HP in damage.

Spiral had recovered and weaved his way through the last of the drifting sparks just as Malificus started his next spell. Without a moment’s hesitation, he heaved his shield forward and slammed the edge of it into the sorcerer’s throat. Malificus gagged and fell on his ass, giving Kana the time he needed to close in and attack.

He put Nibelus through a full combo chain, attack to attack to arc lance to rising slash, and even managed to string a clipping sweep into the end to keep the NPC sorcerer on the ground. His HP drained steadily with each attack, but when it turned red, a second shock wave knocked them backwards and Malificus regained his feet.

He uttered a short spell and, with a flick of his hand, a mirrored orb large enough for a man to stand in fell out of the sky. It slowed as it approached the ground and landing gently, barely even disturbing the grass it touched down on. Seams appeared in it, which widened until panels fell off and revealed an outraged looking man.

“What is the meaning of this, Malificus!” he demanded, storming across the grass.

“Your soldiers are all dead. But that man has used a soul summoning to take on the form of that titan. The magic will expire when it’s finished consuming his soul, and he will die. There is nothing left to fight for here.”

“No! The villagers. You have to kill them. We had a deal.”

Malificus shook his head. “The contract was to get your revenge on that man. He will die. You may stay to witness it if you wish. I will return to the Crimson Plaza and my masters there.”

Alidrak shot an uneasy glance at the party, and then at Thulnar, still three times the height of a normal man and rampaging across the field to pick off the last pockets of resistance. He stopped and straightened, slowly turning his head as he did. He locked eyes with Alidrak, and turned to take running strides towards the man.

“No, I think you are correct,” Alidrak said hurriedly. “I will accompany you back to the Crimson Plaza.”

“I thought you might. Then farewell for now, foolish mortals. I look forward to meeting you under more… opportune circumstances.” Malificus flashed them a perfectly evil grin and flicked his hands out. A black circle opened up underneath the two of them, and they fell through it before it closed again a second later.

Thulnar charged onto the scene, his footsteps shaking the ground. He slowed when Malificus and Alidrak disappeared until finally he churned to a stop and fell to his hands and knees. “No, the bastard got away,” he rumbled, his voice echoing through nearby trees and across the field.

“Was all of it for nothing?” he asked. He faced Kana and Spiral, but he didn’t seem to be talking to them. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “No. The people here are safe. You kept them safe? Yes?”

“We did,” Kana said.

Thulnar let out a great, giant-sized sigh, one laced with exhaustion. His body slowly shrunk until he regained his normal proportions. The wounds that had seemed so insignificant moments before were now horrendous, life-threatening things. Thulnar didn’t seem to care though.

“One more favor,” he wheezed out. “The last one, I promise. Plant flowers over my grave. The purple and yellow ones. Always liked those.”

Then the NPC died and the quest log updated to completed. It awarded Kana a whopping 1500 XP, easily enough for him to reach level 9. Hi shoulders sagged in relief. “That was a bit of work,” he said. “Are all the quest lines this intense?”

“I think Thulnar’s had a lot of work put into it on account of how it’s accessible at such a low level. It’s pretty much the first group quest in the game and Sprigot wanted to give off a good impression and keep people playing. At least, that’s the theory. There are some other quest lines that are pretty hardcore, but this one is one of the most famous among Istrius players.”

“That’s not how I heard it told,” Valit said.

Spiral shrugged. “Just what I heard. I guess you could dig through some interview footage on the net if you want to know the truth.”

“So, what now? We plant some flowers on this guy’s grave and move on?”

“You don’t have to actually do that part.”

Valit shook her head at Spiral. “I think we should. We came this far.”

He gave Kana a questioning look. “Up to you, I guess. You’re the tie breaking vote.”

“Sure, might as well,” Kana said. His goal was to poke through as much of the game as possible, and while he didn’t think there was much to be found at what sounded like an end-of-game cutscene to cap off the ending credits to the quest line, they were already there and it wouldn’t cost anything but a few more minutes to see it through.

All of the hostile NPCs had disappeared, and by the time they got back to Faldsteel, the villagers were scattered throughout the town and the fires had been extinguished. Bodies were being hauled in wagons to the local cemetery, and a whole unit of farmers was digging graves one after another. Valit found the man who seemed to be in charge and got his attention.

“Thulnar’s body is on the west side of the field,” she told him. “He said, before he died, that he wanted flowers planted on his grave, purple and yellow ones.”

The villager nodded. “I know the ones. Can you show one of the wagon drivers where he’s at? We’ll make sure he gets a proper plot and not tossed into the mass grave.”

“Oh. Um. Yes, we can do that,” Valit said. “Who do we talk to?”

The overseer waved another NPC over and said, “Follow this woman and go pick up Thulnar’s body. He’s getting a plot in the northeast corner where the flowers bloom in the spring.”

The NPC got on his wagon and flicked the reins. The horse hitched to it didn’t move, so he flicked them again. Slowly, obviously exhausted, it started trudging down the street. Kana walked behind with Spiral, content to let Valit handle the interaction on this one. They made it there to pick up Thulnar’s body, and after it was loaded and the wagon started back, Kana noticed something.

“Hey, look,” he said, calling Spiral over. The two of them stood over the patch of grass where the sphere that Alidrak had been in had touched down. “What is all of this stuff mixed into the dirt?”

“No idea. It looks like you can pick it up though. Some kind of quest item maybe? I didn’t know this was here.”

“I’m almost positive it wasn’t when we were fighting the last NPCs on the quest.”

Kana bent down and picked up one of the metal fragments. He brushed the dirt off and examined it closer. As he did so, a loot window popped up and told him he’s found fourteen brightsteel shards. After claiming them, he told Spiral what they were.

“Are you serious! Brightsteel shards at this level? Valit will kill you for those.”

“Are they some sort of sorcerer thing?”

“Worse. A crafting thing.”

“Oooooh.” Kana let out a low whistle. “And they are rare?”

Spiral gave him a dirty look. “I hate you.”

Kana laughed and clapped the knight on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go give her a third. She was part of this. She deserves them.”

“Nah, she can have my third too then. I have no interest at all in crafting. I’ll tell her to make me something nice later in return.”

“What are you guys talking about back there?” Valit called out. “The wagon is leaving. Come on.”

“Boy do we have good news for you,” Spiral yelled back. “Come look what Mr. Four Leaf Clover over here found.”