So much for free time. Real life is hard. It took me about four days to proofread and fix this chapter because I’m too tired to focus.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 16: Demons Rising

Nala awoke in the courtyard of Fort Sunset, the last area she had been in before the Selection everyone was talking about. She too had been chosen as a candidate to become a champion, but she, unlike many others, had succeeded. She wanted to test her new abilities on normal enemies and see just how good she could become with them, combined with her usual skills.

“You’ve been gone a while, you know. I’ve been waiting here for you to come back and I’m guessing this is about that Selection so you had better have come back with an amazing new ability or I’m going to be mad at you for making me wait. I had to wait for hours, you know, and I didn’t want to log out and leave you here alone. Who knows what could have happened if I had just left. This courtyard could have filled with demons or monsters and things and they would have attacked you. Then you’d be dead.”

“You done, Mom?”

“Yep.”

“Cool. Let me show you my new skills.” She showed Star all the new abilities she had gained from the goddess Valux. Star thought it would have been great if Arkiel had chosen one of them, but Star hadn’t been chosen at all, and Nala had been chosen by one of the six major gods, which she decided was probably better anyway. Arkiel was merely a minor god and any powers he would have given would have been lesser than what Valux, the god of light, gave her.

Nala thought it was strange that Star’s character worshipped a male god and gained powers from him. Nala knew that her friend was something of a man hater. Star explained that because he was a male god, he would need competent women to lead him in the right direction. A goddess wouldn’t really need help like a male god did, or something like that. Nala had a habit of not paying full attention whenever Star went on one of her rants.

Recently, the two had completed the Demons Rising quest only to find out that it was a chain quest. They had had a tough time fighting through the fortress and especially difficult was the last demon in Fort Sunset. It had appeared in the courtyard after they had taken out every other demon in the area. It had been a six-legged monstrosity with three spiny ridges running down its back and two long, whip-like tails that flicked, cutting through the air. Its two front feet had long, razor sharp claws that it used to tear apart its foes.

The demon had a long, flat head covered in short, dull spikes, similar to a durian. There was a moment during the fight when it had used its shark-like teeth to bite into Star, nearly killing her considering the damage she had already taken earlier in the fight. Nala had to rescue her friend and fight on her own while Star kept her distance and healed herself using divine magic. The two of them fighting together managed to take it down in the end, though it was a long, hard fight.

They still needed to claim the monetary reward for the quest, but they might as well do the next part and let the money accumulate so that they wouldn’t lose any of it if they died and they didn’t need to buy anything anyway. They were at the base of the mountains and the second part of the quest had them heading towards a city in the mountains. They had to meet the guard captain there and find out what the next part of the quest was from them.

She couldn’t be certain, but Nala felt as if the quest might be something related to the hidden story of the game. She didn’t know if others had received similar quests, but she had to wonder why Star had been given the quest. Was it a random coincidence, or was there a reason behind it? While she had been wondering about these things while pacing in the courtyard, she suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.

After that, Valux had told her that she had been chosen as a potential candidate for the powers of the goddess of light. She took the test and overcame the trials, learning the class Hand of Light. She now had a series of skills that involved the use of light magic. Her new skills were useable with just about any weapon, while also including light based magic and a healing skill.

The pair headed towards the mountains to go find the city that was somewhere within. Just as they were about to start climbing a path they found, they realized what time it was. They both frowned, knowing that it was time for them to log out for now. The two confirmed that they would meet up at the usual time for next meeting and then they left the game.

Minala took off her headset and stared at the ceiling before she stood up and walked over to the window. She wanted to play more of the game because it was a place where she could be herself. Dead World Online was a game that let her be free when everything else about her life was far from it. She looked up at the stars, wishing for the thousandth time that she didn’t live in the city. Light pollution and smog made it so that only a small percentage of the stars could be seen. She loved to look at the stars.

She sighed and moved to sit down at her desk, pulling out a notebook as she thought about the game. Min’s game time revolved around Cara’s schedule. Cara was the reason that Min was even playing the game in the first place so she didn’t want to play without her and leave her behind. Min knew that she would be able to play the game as a solo player while Cara couldn’t. Min didn’t want to leave her best friend helpless, and it was more fun to play together anyway.

She started writing down ideas for how to use her new skills and abilities in the best combinations with what she already had and what she could potentially have in the future. She had originally been planning to choose a ranger class after she had finished with the quest, but something a little better came along so she decided to take it. She was one of the few who fully read the user agreement that all players had to agree to if they wanted to play the game. It explained that they could shorten the “beta test” and didn’t have to reset the game after it.

Star and Nala were both characters built for the long game when their traits were considered. However, Min cared about winning the tournament much more than Cara did. She wanted to be the best to prove to her self that she could accomplish something no one else could and because it was something she herself had decided on. Even though her family was fairly wealthy, her grades were above average, and she had good looks, she felt her life was a bit dull. Nothing exciting or special ever happened and every day was routine, boring.

Her parents dictated many of her hobbies and activities, making her feel restricted and caged. Sometimes it felt like she was living the same day over and over again, only slightly different from the day before. Cara was the one thing that kept her from going crazy from stress. When she had introduced Min to DWO, it changed everything for her. She was able to be free, if only for a part of the day. However, it was enough freedom that she wasn’t stressed by the time she spent following her parent’s wishes.

Her parents, who were usually strict about electronics, allowed her to play the game that was a gift from Cara because they saw the effect it had on her. After she had started playing the game, she brightened up and her already excellent grades improved. It wasn’t as if all the stress had magically disappeared, it just decreased to manageable levels. She might not be the highest-level player in the game, but she had much more skill than the average player.

Frost

Frost entered the game after waking up and eating breakfast. Emiri had left him at the base of the mountains, saving him a bit of travel time. There was a path right in front of him, leading up the relatively gentle incline. Many of the other mountains in the area were tall and would require climbing tools if he wanted to scale them. The mountain he was starting to climb was enormous despite the more gradual incline. Its tree-covered peak towered above the other mountains, sticking out like a sore thumb.

The mountain looked like it didn’t belong, as if it was created separately from the rest of the mountain range. Even so, the sight of the mountains reaching up towards the clouds was beautiful. He forgave them for the poor mountain range design because other than the one mountain sticking out, the scenery was impeccable. He started the climb up the narrow, winding path to the top as he thought about the revolutionary graphics of the game.

Frost didn’t run into any monsters for nearly an hour as he walked up the path. There was the occasional mountain goat, but the lack of monsters or anything besides trees and rocks was somewhat concerning. If he didn’t have anything to fight for a while, he couldn’t level up and he would fall further behind the other players. He stopped and turned to look back down the path he had come. It would take some time but he would have to go back down the mountain and find another area.

Snap.

Frost looked up to see three creatures that looked like small dragons climbing down out of the trees. They were the same color green as the leaves on the trees, their wings folded along their eight-foot length. They had long claws designed for climbing and had the ability to slowly climb down the tree like a squirrel, facing him with razor teeth bared against their prey. They were level twenty-five drakes, and they looked built for fighting, with their scaly hide and deadly natural weapons.

They tensed to pounce, but he just slowly fell backwards, disappearing into the shadows, relieved that there were enemies to fight after all. He used a pair of daggers to quickly climb one of the trees with a drake in it. He returned to the mortal realm above a drake, using his body weight to plunge his sword into it. He bonded its shadow as he rode it to the ground. Its cry of pain elicited screams of rage from its companions as they pounced at him.

He dove to the side as the drakes crashed into each other, becoming a tangled mess of limbs. They separated and began to fan out, trying to surround and flank him. He attacked the one in the middle, one of the two he hadn’t tethered yet so he could get in close and prevent them from surrounding him. Their scales were almost as strong as steel armor, resisting every strike of his sword and reducing damage.

Frost weaved under and around the drakes as they rushed him, narrowly avoiding both claws and jaws as he cut at them. He wasn’t able to avoid every hit, so he still lost health as he fought. One of the drakes opened its mouth to bite him and on a whim he shoved his sword down its throat. The drake gurgled and collapsed, dying from the massive amount of damage the attack did and trapping his sword inside it. He had to leave it sticking out of the creature’s mouth or the other drakes would each get a free shot at him as he tried to pull it out.

Frost whipped out his staff and used it to defend himself as the enraged drakes flanked him. He guided them away from the body of their companion and circled back to grab his sword. He sprinted using burst of speed to grab his sword and put it in its sheath safely. He decided that the heavy staff’s blunt ends were more effective against the thick scales of the monsters and he used it to beat them into submission.

One of the drakes made a low squeaking noise when its health reached ten percent and began to back up slowly. Frost stared it down, refusing to let precious experience points he had worked for simply walk away. It turned to run and he lunged grabbing it by its tail, tethering its shadow, and hitting the head of the other drake with his staff so it wouldn’t interfere for a few seconds.

He jumped on the back of the drake, letting go of its tail as he drove it into the ground with the staff and his weight. It thrashed around as it squealed in terror, trying to throw him off. Frost grabbed it by the base of the neck and plunged a dagger into its eye. It released one last pained cry before it died. The last drake tackled him off of its companion and the two wrestled for a moment before separating.

Frost wanted to try out shadow hook since he was fairly confident he could finish off the drake at any time, now that there was only the one injured creature left. The drake charged directly at him, snarling as it tried to tear him apart. He jumped over it, and tethered it by touching it as it went under him. The second tether was a hit from the staff charged with shadow energy. The third tether connected when he punched the beast in the head to redirect its bite to the side so that it missed him.

He hopped back and fell into the shadow realm where he switched back to his sword. If the fight with the mage was any indicator, he didn’t need to use shadow cutting to hit shadows in the shadow realm, so he didn’t bother. He distanced himself from the drake and used shadow hook, to close the distance. He flew forward swiftly and used the momentum to drive his sword into the drake’s shadow.

He heard a muffled bell sound as he was forcibly recalled to the mortal world. The drake’s limp body slid off of his sword, raising a small dirt cloud as it plopped onto the path. A shadow ball appeared above the body of the drake in front of him, but not the other ones he had tethered. He ate that shadow, collected the scales that dropped, and then he opened the window that was in the bottom right side of his view.

Ability gained: Shadow BreakA single attack at an enemy’s shadow in the shadow realm that uses the momentum of shadow hook.

200% damage

Ignores armor

Cost: 30 Shadow Energy

Frost continued up the path while keeping an eye out for more enemies in the trees above him. He took his time climbing the mountain, focusing over the next week on fighting drakes to level up himself and his skills. He also wanted to test his abilities to see what their limits were. Occasionally, he hunted the extremely quick goats worth a surprising amount of experience, more for the meat that dropped and agility training than anything else.

He discovered that he had a five second cooldown on shadow tether when trying to tether someone more than once, which had probably been there since he gained the ability to tether enemies three times. There was no cooldown on tethering different enemies so he still had the potential to tether a large number of enemies in a short amount of time.

He discovered the limits of his other abilities as well. When in the shadow realm, doing damage with a melee weapon returned him to the mortal realm. Projectiles such as throwing knives didn’t seem to have the same effect. He was also unable to affect or even touch an enemy’s shadow in the shadow realm unless he tethered them in the mortal realm. Shadow hook always pulled him towards a tethered enemy when used on them in the shadow realm, no matter what enemy it was.

The further he went up the mountain, the higher the enemies’ levels were, reaching into the lower thirties. In that week, he had reached level twenty-eight and soon the drakes would no longer be worth fighting. In that time, he had collected a great deal of drake scales and goat meat, as well as a few of the uncommon drops, such as goat horns and drake claws.

In that time he had also increased many of his skill’s levels and even gained some new ones.

SharpeningProper blade sharpening gives a slight increase to damage and can increase the current durability of the weapon.

Running: Beginner Level 10Constant training allows you to run faster and longer without becoming tired.

+10 Stamina

Active: Lightning Flash, Beginner Level 10A single attack made with 35% attack speed, 140% damage, and ignores 20% of armor.

Cost: 20 Shadow Energy and 30 stamina

SkillsClimbing: Beginner Lvl 7

Cooking: Beginner Lvl 9

Falling: Beginner Lvl 4

Forging: Beginner Lvl 4

Jumping: Beginner Lvl 8

Repair: Beginner Lvl 7

Running: Beginner Lvl 10

Stalking: Beginner Lvl 7

Tailoring Beginner Lvl 5

Sharpening: Beginner Lvl 2

Eventually, eating the shadows of the dragons resulted in him gaining a few random stats and an amazing ability. The shadows of the dragons had somehow had an effect with his bloodline, giving him something amazing.

Wind dragon affinity gained+5% physical damage reduction

+20% wind magic affinity

+10% wind magic resistance

-15% mana

Frost was still unsure just how shadow eating worked so he wasn’t sure what to do about the amazing message. He would occasionally gain a stat when he ate a shadow, but otherwise the effects were underwhelming. He put the thought aside and continued on his journey.

Frost came across a stream in a wide, open area where he was able to refill his water and relax without fear of a drake jumping on his head. He sat down to take a break and log out for a little while. He opened his mouth to say the words that would cause him to exit the game when he saw something move in the trees nearby. It was a darkly colored creature and it was moving quicker than the mountain goats did.

It stopped for a moment, just inside the tree line where Frost could get a clear view of the beast. It was a large black goat with long, curved horns and glowing red eyes that stared directly at him. Frost instantly knew that it was a rare monster, an aggressive, elite version of a monster with higher stats and a very low spawn rate. They were also highly likely to drop some rare items.

It started to move again and Frost sprinted after it, drawing his sword and letting out an excited whoop. It was faster than he was, so he used Burst of Speed to even have a chance of catching it. It changed direction multiple times in succession, trying to lose him. It crossed through the stream and followed a branch of it, heading west along the mountain. He nearly caught up to the goat when it turned around and stood its ground.

Frost was unable to change directions and ran straight into the goat that used its head to throw Frost to the side. He bounced off of a tree, tumbling through some low brush. The goat gave him an arrogant look as if he was beneath it, but Frost grinned savagely at the beast. When he ran into the goat, he had the reaction speed and sense of mind to tether the goat’s shadow.

“Two more and you’re dead, demon goat.” The creature snorted and turned to lope away but Frost was on his feet in a flash, following closely behind it. He used Burst of Speed again and the goat tried to use the same trick to get him to run into it so it could hurt him. He was ready this time and sidestepped the goat, activating Dark Infusion as he cut along its side with his sword. ‘One more tether.’

The goat turned and rammed him, knocking the air out of his lungs. Frost bounced off of a tree, crashing into the dirt. The goat attacked, trying to smash and trample him with its hooves. He activated shadow armor and kicked at the goat, knocking it off of him and tethering its shadow a third time. The goat bolted, trying to gain some distance from him.

Frost stood up and frowned at the goat as it ran, wondering why a rare monster was running away so much when they were supposed to be highly aggressive. The goat was getting away, but Frost wasn’t concerned now that he had bound its shadow to himself. He reached out as if to grab the goat and spoke with a smug smile on his face.

“Shadow hook.” A dark, semi-translucent line a few inches thick shot out from his palm and homed in on the goat. It attached and he pulled, flying to the goat far faster than he could run. He stabbed his sword into the goat and mounted it as it continued to run so that he could drain its health as he held onto it. The goat bucked and thrashed, crashing into trees and doing whatever it could to throw him. It couldn’t do much damage to him while he was mounting it so he held on as the sword reduced its health by the second.

Shadow armor still active, he made sure he had a good grip on his sword with one hand as he punched the goat with the other. When Shadow Armor ran out, he grit his teeth as he drove the sword deeper into the goat. It couldn’t shake him off no matter what it did since he held onto it with his legs and the sword in its back. He drew his dagger and stabbed it into the goat for good measure as its health points started to run low. The goat didn’t seem to have any defense measures other than its speed. Once that was taken away, it was nothing more than a sitting duck.

The goat turned and ran full speed to the southwest as its health dropped to around twenty percent. It ran straight even as its health dropped below ten percent and Frost smiled, knowing he had won. The goat’s health dropped more and he watched as that last little bit of its health bar slowly drained away. Then, his smile disappeared. He hadn’t been paying attention to where the monster goat was headed and now they were both suddenly above a wide fissure in the ground.

He pulled his sword out of the goat and panicked, trying to jump to the ledge but the goat’s death throes sent him spinning and tumbling into the dark fissure. Frost couldn’t hold back a yell of terror as he fell into the abyss below. Advertisement Previous

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Bio: Apparently, I am a special snowflake.

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