The group ran as they felt the rumbling grow stronger and stronger, almost knocking them to the ground. They made it about a hundred yards from the building when the first of the creatures made it through the busted doors.

Terry took a moment to turn and look at the things. They were only about three and a half feet tall but seemed to be hunched over. It looked like they had skin like a lizard and were carrying spears, but they didn’t seem to be wearing any clothes, that he could see. Katar grabbed his shoulder and motioned at his sword.

He quickly looked in his inventory and saw he did have a sword in there, though it was an older one that wasn’t very good but he supposed it was better than nothing. Taking the sword out and giving it to Katar, the group continued to run. Tamara leading them down the street and taking a corner by another building that looked like a hotel. As He rounded the corner he looked back to see a lot of the little lizard things rushing after them.

Tamara led them down a road between the hotel and another building that he didn’t see what it was. As they neared the end of the buildings, Katar grabbed his shoulder and pointed back the way they came and motioned cutting. Looking around he got his meaning, he thought.

“Tamara, hold up.” Terry called out.

She and the rest of the group stopped. They were only about ten feet from the end of the building. “What’s it look like up ahead?” He called.

She rushed to the end and looked left and right before coming back. “Left looks clear and right there’s another building with what looks like a parking lot, but clear.”

“Okay, Tamara you take Bradley and Susan and post up on that end in case any of those things decide to come around back. Izzy, Katar and I will post up on this end and the buildings should funnel them into us so that we can handle their numbers.”

Tamara had Bradley and Susan go towards her and ready their weapons, both kids looked scared to death and pale. As they walked forward Gantar placed his hands on their shoulders and gave them a nod. That nod seemed to work as their faces returned to normal and determination replaced it.

They didn’t have to wait long as the first lizard thing turned the corner moments later and screeched at them and pointed. It was followed soon after by dozens more. Terry had three of his skeletons join them and the other two with Tamara and the kids. He thought he heard someone crying but it was hard to tell over the screeching and yipping of the lizards.

The road between the two buildings was really an alley he realized and thanked whatever was out there that it wasn’t wider. As the six of them stood side by side they covered almost the entire width with about a couple feet between each of them. He didn’t have much time to ponder how lucky they were with that as soon enough the first lizard thing was within his leech life range.

He cast his leech life area of effect, or AOE, on the first available target, a red leather skinned lizard thing. It and the rest of the lizards in a five-foot circle, immediately slowed down and then fell as they were pushed forward, they didn’t last much longer. He casted it again and again as the things got closer. He cast it once more before the things crashed into their line.

He swung his sword down, slicing one of the things in half, then sidestepped a spear thrust from another one which he back-handed, spinning it around before thrusting forward and skewering it. Pulling his sword out of it he quickly cast leech life again before parrying a club strike. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Izzy take a hit on her shield before charging into the offender and knocking it and the four behind it down, stabbing the first one and finishing it off.

He had chips and dents in his armor as he continued to swing his sword and cast leech life, throwing a random firebolt and lightning bolt into the crowd as well. Cutting, slicing, thrusting and kicking as much as he could. His mind going into an almost auto pilot as his sword went to work.

The battle lasted a good hour before Katar cut the last lizard in half and then stood up, looking out over the road of bodies. Terry was exhausted and wasn’t sure how he or any of them had lasted as long as they had. He looked down at himself and he was covered in blood and guts and spear holes in his armor and he realized he was missing pieces of his armor. Looking around the others were just as bad, if not worse than him. He had kept casting leech life as much as he could so his health wasn’t as low as Izzy or Katar’s.

Even his skeletons had made it, if barely. They were missing pieces and one even walked with a limp as he looked at it, it was missing one of its feet. Turning around he saw the group huddled together and off to the side. It looked to be a good idea to have Tamara and the kids post on the other end as they had a good portion of the road filled with bodies as well.

Not for the first time he wished he could take the armor off without it disappearing. Wiping his sword off on one of the pieces of clothing the lizards had on, he sheathed it and turned to Izzy.

“Well, that was fun.” He said in between deep breaths.

“Ha, tell me about it.” She was bent over gulping down air.

He turned to Katar and even he was breathing hard, but looked better than Izzy. “We did say we wanted to level some.” He laughed and then turned to Tamara. “How did you guys do?”

Her and the kids weren’t quite out of breath like the other three but they were definitely breathing hard. “We sure got ta work out, dat’s for sure.” She said as she walked towards him.

“Oh, man! I can’t believe we actually survived that.” Bradley said and seemed a bit too giddy for having just been in an hour-long fight.

Even Susan was smiling as she said, “I can’t believe I just did that. I thought for sure we were going to die.”

Gantar then came up to the two kids and clapped them on the shoulder and smiled at them.

Terry looked at Katar, smiled, nodded and clapped the man on the shoulder as well. Katar smiled and whooped, the other elves having finally gotten up as well, whooped too.

It took the group almost thirty minutes to loot the bodies. Terry went and got his loot but also collected as many of the lizards or kobolds as they were identified as, into his special inventory. He scanned the first kobold and got a notification:

New item scanned.

Item found: Kobold body (deceased)

Necromancer can use the body for summoning, rituals and sacrifices. Summons from this body may have different properties.

New item scanned.

Item found: Kobold blood

Necromancer can use the kobold blood to gain certain abilities for short amounts of time. May also be used in potions, poisons and other alchemical combinations.

He collected as much of the blood as he could, before the group started questioning his carrying capacity. They each got some good credits, experience, parts of the kobold, eyes teeth, claws, scales, etc. Everyone that fought gained at least three levels from it.

Once they had collected everything that they could, he got the group up and moving. He hoped that they had cleared the nest or whatever that mound was, so that they wouldn’t come back stronger next time.

He was also surprised to find out that it was still fairly light out. Though the buildings blocked a bit of the light still remaining, yet it was getting dark fast. He led the group down a road and into what looked like a residential neighborhood. He looked for an intact house as they went past each one, but they all seemed to have been attacked. One house had no door and the windows were busted out. Another had a door but there was a huge hole in the side. The rest were similar but as they neared the end of the neighborhood road they got lucky and found a house with a door, no holes and only a few busted windows.

Making their way to the house, Terry, Izzy and Tamara cleared it before letting the group inside. He had his skeletons post up at the doors and the busted windows on the ground floor. The living room and kitchen filled up fast with the two dozen bodies. He just took a chair to a corner near the front door and sat down. Fighting for that long really took it out of you. Though all his health and stamina had already regenerated, he was just tired.

Before he closed his eye though he saw the flashing envelope in his HUD. Opening it up he saw the first message:

You are the first to have killed a dungeon boss. You have been awarded the title Dungeon Crawler. +15% damage to dungeon creatures, +10% damage to dungeon bosses.

You are the first to have killed a dungeon boss by not fighting in the dungeon. You have been awarded the title Dungeon Jumper. +25% speed when in a dungeon, +10% speed when out of a dungeon.

You are the first to have discovered a dungeon. You have been awarded the title Dungeon Finder. +25% chance to find an already formed dungeon, +15% chance to make a dungeon.

His eyes went wide as he read the message. When had he defeated a dungeon boss in a dungeon? The Zombie Ogre bear, it had to be. That was the strongest thing he’d faced so far. “Hey Izzy, did you get any titles?”

“Whoa! Yeah, I just read the message.”

“Yeah, I got some as well.”

“What are you nerds talking about?” Sam snapped.

“We just got some things from that big ass bear we killed.”

“Well, keep it down will you, I’m trying to sleep.”

He rolled his eyes and got back to his flashing envelope. The next message read:

You have rescued a group of elves; you have received +100 relationship points with the group of elves.

You have rescued and treated the elves with respect, you have been awarded the language of the highland sect of elves. You may now communicate with them.

You have earned the respect of Katar, the leader of the highland sect of elves. He will fight by your side until the debt is repaid.

You have befriended Gantar, the prince of the highland sect of elves. +50 relationship points with him. Your relationship with him has increased from neutral to friendly.

You have helped the highland sect of elves heal from wounds you did not cause. +500 relationship points with the highland sect of elves.

Your relationship with the highland sect of elves has increased from neutral to friendly.

Closing the messages Terry turned and looked at the elves, he wanted to test out this new communication with them but they were already sleeping. He could wait until tomorrow. Opening his next messages, he read:

Congratulations, you have reached level 14!

Congratulations, you have reached level 15!

Congratulations, you have reached level 16!

He couldn’t believe he gained three levels from that battle; those things must have been higher level than he thought. Though wouldn’t that mean that Izzy and the rest would’ve gotten slaughtered? Maybe there’s scaled monsters?

Opening his stats menu, he checked them, seeing what he should put the points into. He decided to put five points into constitution and strength, three points into intelligence and wisdom and eight points into agility. Making his stats look like so:

Name: Terry James Roth Level: 16

Race: Human of Earth Class: Battle Necromancer

Health: 540 Stamina: 540 Mana: 580

Buffs/Debuffs: bone armor

Constitution: 54 Strength: 54 Agility: 54

Intelligence: 58 Wisdom: 57

Opening his abilities menu, he put three points into leech life to finish it off and bring it to level three with two ability points in it. He then put two points into the rest to bring the rest to the same level. Making his abilities look like so:

Summon Skeleton lvl 3/3: 2/5

Level 1: The Necromancer pulls the skeleton out of a targeted body and may control up to five skeletons at a time. The summoned skeleton is the same level of the necromancer but with average stats for the level. Each ability point adds +2 stat points to the skeleton.

Level 2: All level one plus the summoned skeleton has armor with a rating equal to the necromancer’s at the time of being summoned. Each ability point adds +2 stat points to the skeleton.

Level 3: Rush – The necromancer orders his skeletons to rush a target. The skeletons will deal 160% damage with their first strike. Each ability point adds 10% damage to their first strike.

Summon Bone Weapon lvl 3/3: 2/5

Level 1: The Necromancer uses a corpse to summon a weapon of their choosing, with 10% of their strength stat as damage. Some weapons may need the whole skeleton while others only part of it. Each ability point adds 10% of the necromancer’s strength stat to damage.

Level 2: All level one plus the weapon can now be imbued with a spell to deal that spell damage in addition to normal damage. Has an 11% chance to cause pierce damage. Each ability point increases pierce chance by 1%.

Level 3: Cleave – the necromancer swings his weapon and an arch of death energy slices through the air in a 12-foot range dealing 160% damage. May be used vertically or Horizontally. (Watch out for friendly fire). Each ability point adds 10% to damage and 2 feet to the range.

Summon Bone Armor lvl 3/3: 2/5

Level 1: The Necromancer uses a corpse to summon armor. Either chest, boots and gloves, or helmet and pants will be summoned from the corpse depending on what the necromancer needs. Each ability point adds 5% of the necromancer’s constitution stat to the armor rating. Each piece has its own armor rating.

Level 2: All level one plus the necromancer only needs one corpse to summon a full set of armor. Each ability point adds 5% of the necromancer’s constitution stat to the armor rating. Each piece has its own armor rating.

Level 3: Armor Explosion – The Necromancer detonates his armor, sending it’s shrapnel in a 10-foot radius, dealing 210% damage of the remaining armor rating at a two-foot radius, damage decreases by 10% every two feet, up to the range of the ability. Each ability point adds 10% damage and 2 feet to blast radius. Watch out for friendly fire

Leech Life lvl 3/3: 2/5

Level 1: The Necromancer leeches 6% of his total health off of a target in 1 second and slows it 10% for 20 seconds. Each ability point adds 6% and 1 second to leech effect and 10% and 2 seconds to slow effect.

Level 2: Leech life may now be cast in a 5-foot circle. Each target within the circle will have 5% of their health drained over 5 seconds and will be slowed by 10%. Each ability point adds 5% health drain, 1 second duration and 10% slow effect.

Level 3: Leech Link – the necromancer connects to 1 of his summonlings and 10% of the damage he takes will be dispersed between them. I.e. if he is connected to 5 skeletons, he would take 50% (at max level) and the other 50% would be spread out between the 5 skeletons. Each ability points adds 10% damage reduction and 1 summonling connection.

He closed out of his abilities menu and opened the last messages:

Your novice firebolt has been upgraded to apprentice firebolt.

Your novice lightning bolt has been upgraded to apprentice lightning bolt.

You have gained the skill novice sneak.

The sneak must have been the notification I got when we entered the store. That should come in handy once I level it up some. He thought as he then closed the messages and closed his eyes to get some sleep.