End Online: Volume 5 (11 page)

CaptainGordon’s status shocks me with how low it is. Recalling
his class skill of ‘Combustion Engineer’, I realize the large difference
between direct combat classes and the crafting classes. In a scrap between a
player specializing in combat and another in crafting, the crafter will
naturally die faster in an exchange of blows. At least I assume so, but there
are always exceptions.

***************************************************

The island becomes more difficult to traverse the further inland
we get. The center of the island is virtually one massive mountain of carefully
stacked stones; some as big as a person, others the size of mammoths.
Fortunately, there are plenty of ledges to walk along and areas where we can
climb further upward.

At least we don’t have to concern ourselves with strange and new
monsters attacking; this island is completely and utterly barren except for the
mermaids we saw earlier.

We lose track of time and don’t realize how far we have come
before evening falls and the light from the sun dims. We have torches to fend
off the dark, but descending the mountain with them will be increasingly
difficult.

“Up there, isn’t that a cave?” I ask, pointing my finger at a
bleak looking hole in the mountain of rocks further above us.

“How about we camp for tonight? I have plenty of wood in my inventory
to build a fire,” Mason further develops my question.

Everyone decides that is for the best and we zigzag up the rocky
mountain to finally reach the cave.

The interior of the cave is pitch black. A wind can be felt from
deep within, but no sound follows. My initial thought is that this cave must
run all the way through the mountain and emerge on the other side.

Mikhail and Sir Laurence, our two strongest players in terms of
defense, take the forefront in venturing into the cave. They each hold a flaming
torch, an oily rag on the end of a stick that is commonly used in the game, to
light up the area around us.

I can see that the cave is formed completely naturally. There
isn’t a sign of any mining or other unnatural factor along the walls of the
cave. A few almost polished sections of stone leave me puzzled, but I think
nothing more of it after a moment.

“I think this spot is as good as any,” Mason says about twenty
steps into the cave.

We still have a decent view of the crimson and yellow sky
outside the cave, while the breeze coming from further inside the cave is
pleasantly cool. Under the light provided by the two torches, Mason starts to
remove small logs from his inventory and pile them up to form a pyramid.

There is no need to pile the wood up in a particular way or have
any dry grass to start the fire in the game. Just a few logs of wood and a
single spark will have a thirty percent chance of starting a fire. This may
increase if the spark lands on dry leaves, but nobody I have talked to seems to
be concerned with such things.

Once the flame catches the logs, the fire takes a few minutes
until it is fully ablaze. We all find rocks resting against the walls that we
can roll over and use as chairs. Sitting a comfortable distance from the fire,
the increasing chill of the night is warded off by the flame.

“So, who has ghost stories we can tell?” Mason’s eyes light up
in anticipation.

“Bein’ a captain on the seas, I run into a few thin’s,”
CaptainGordon speaks up first, taking the limelight. “‘Owever, I never be so
scared as the time I ran ‘cross a ghost ship. Wit’ sails torn white, and more
‘oles in the ship than should be. It should not even ‘ave been floatin’.”

The pirates voice becomes lower, more sinister, “First the
ghosts invaded me ship, ethereal beings tha’ a single touch ‘ould suck a piece
of ye soul out. They appear from nowhere, disappear when ye look at ’em. But
jus’ as I be tryin’ to save my neck it came. Pale as death itself, rags for
clothes billowin’ in the wind as it just floats there. Then it open its mouth…
Out of its mouth came-“

Just at this moment of thinking about my experience in the ‘Joy
Inn’, a sinister thought comes to mind. Locking my consciousness on SomaHealer,
I activate ‘Haunting’. Taking a deep breath and covering my mouth with my hand
as if yawning, I let out a screech as high pitched as possible. Of course,
under my skill, the sound appears to be coming from just behind SomaHealer.

Everyone hears the scream and pales slightly, but SomaHealer is
the most affected. He shouts and curses as he falls off his rock in fright and
onto the ground. The least influenced are my party members, who stare at me
shocked.

‘Who would have thought that skill would have such a practical
use,’
 I think to myself in self
satisfaction.

Mason explains my skill to the terrified individual who is still
looking around for the source of that noise to no avail. Upon learning that it
was me, he glares at me in humiliation and anger. CaptainGordon, on the other
hand, has since recovered from the initial shock and finds it to be highly
amusing.

I cough lightly, trying to maintain an innocent expression.

“Did you two… Did you, plan that out?!” SomaHealer exclaims
incredulously at CaptainGordon and me.

“We did not,” The initial humor begins to fade and I easily keep
a straight face. “I merely… saw an opportunity.”

“It be as Lost said,” CaptainGordon says amidst laughter before
his eyes flash in the firelight. “Anyway, I be tired of ghost stories, and I
don’t be thinkin’ we can top Lost’s screech. Who be up for explorin’ this ‘ere
cave?”

Everyone else gives it some thought before agreeing to the idea.
I walk to the entrance of the cave in thought. From my high vantage point, I
can see the ship dimly lit by a full moon in the sky above. Fen’s figure seems
to reflect twice as much moonlight as anything else, making her white figure
clearly visible. By focusing on her figure, my class skill activates and
creates a telescopic effect to see Fen much better.

She is calmly sleeping on the deck of the ship, her breathing also
much more vigorous than earlier. Seeing her slowly recovering makes me feel
much calmer. Returning to the campfire, I am the final person to agree to the
exploration.

Splitting back into our respective parties, Sir Laurence and
Mikhail once again lead the formation with torches. The cave we are in is a
strange formation; some parts are wide enough for all eleven of us to walk side
by side, while others are so narrow we practically have to walk in single file.
After walking for barely five minutes, we reach the end to the cave.

Instead of the night sky, however, all I see is endless
darkness. Something does not feel right. We all hesitate for a moment, before
once again walking forward into the darkness.

Once within the darkness, the path beneath my feet slopes
downwards along a winding path. Our torchlight lights up the area around us,
and I can see sections of other paths extremely similar to the one we are on.
On the wall nearby is another cave, almost exactly the same as the one we came
out of. The cavern is enormous, so much that our torches can only light up a
small section of it.

This mountain must have multiple caves snaking through it, all
leading to this central area.

There are only two other things visible in this grotto: a
formation of hundreds of thousands of crystals on the distant ceiling, and an
enormous set of doors against the far wall. The ceiling gives off a faint
light, but nowhere near enough to shed light on the cavern. However the doors
at the far end are different, emitting a bright luminescence that reveals a
wide area around them. They stand a full fifteen meters tall, and twenty meters
wide. Intricate green and blue polished gems are inlaid into the doors in some
kind of formation.

I stare wide-eyed at the doors as we make our way through the
darkness toward them. Upon reaching the doors, I can see that there is not a
single flaw in them. They are the products of exquisite, masterful crafting.

“What is it?” I ask while closely examining the door.

“Most likely, the entrance to a raid.” Mason says completely
stunned. “Though I have never heard of this one.”

“What do you mean by raid?” Verde asks curiously.

“My lady, have you never played other games before?” Sir
Laurence asks politely but she only shakes her head, before he continues to
explain. “A raid is similar to a dungeon, except several parties of players
participate together to fight through the dungeon and defeat the final boss. A
raid is also vastly more difficult than an ordinary dungeon, too.”

“How many parties can participate?” I am unfamiliar with the
raids in End Online, so I can only ask the others.

Mason takes the time to respond, “Up to six parties, regardless
of size. Although if a single party is over six players in size, the rewards
and experience from the raid practically vanish. This means that 36 players is
the maximum you should take on a raid.”

“You’re forgetting. For new raids, the more players the better.
It is best to first get to understand the raid so you can formulate strategies.
Even if it does forfeit the reward,” Moonkite corrects Mason diligently, even
as she stares up at the doors with equally wide eyes.

“Is that all that’s different?” I ask the two, this time
Moonkite answers my question directly.

“No, dying is also different. Death in a standard dungeon or in
the overworld will cause you to respawn back at the temple of your origins, but
death in a raid will cause you to respawn outside the entrance of the raid. The
death penalty still takes effect though. You also can’t enter the raid again
until it is either cleared or all players have died.”

“Hrmm, I see,” I nod my head in understanding. “So, shall we
give it a try?”

CaptainGordon immediately agrees, while the other seem a little
reluctant.

“There are are three of us that are currently weakened. Do you
think that is a good idea?” Mookite asks while shaking her head.

“We are already too short on people, so successfully clearing
the raid is impractical. We may as well have a look inside. Perhaps we will
still get a treasure or two,” Mason reasons with undeniable logic.

Moonkite seems to ponder for a while, before coming to her own
conclusion, “This effect will last three days. We can just wait out that time,
unless anyone has a potion or spell to cure this effect? Lost, your companion
can join as well then. She seems quite strong.”

“Sorry,” I reply immediately. “Fen won’t be joining us on this
one.”

Bring Fen into a place where she is practically guaranteed to
die along with the rest of us? Never.

“Sir Laurence, I know you have a few healing spells. Do you have
one for curing sickness?” I ask the knight.

“Not for something like this. Poison, yes, but not diseases or
sickness though. The closest thing I have is to recover vigor, increasing a
player’s endurance and maximum health by ten percent.”

“Something so incredible? How could you have not used that on
the rest of us before?!” I almost cough up blood as I realize he has such an
impressive spell that he has not once used for us.

“Waste of mana. It’s never been necessary,” he says while giving
a stone-cold harrumph.

“Do you think you can use it from now on? Especially during the
boss fights!”

“If necessary.” His answer is curt, but at least he will give us
a few boosts.

My party finally agrees to enter the raid after some discussion,
while Mikhail’s party eventually joins in so as to not be excluded.

Mikhail and I, acting as the party leaders, place our hands on
one door each. I push with all my might to open the door, but the door swings
open with no resistance at all. Once the opening is wide enough, we all walk in
and begin the raid, the door silently closing in behind us.

***************************************************

I lay panting against the entrance to the raid, my head
throbbing with an increasing migraine. I am not the only one here, everyone is
resting sprawled out in the area. In a ranking of ‘last to die’, I took second
place.

“We, we got pretty far, didn’t we?” Mason says, laughing in ill
humor.

“Two bosses. We definitely did well.” I answer weakly, still
trying to catch my breath and shake off this persistent headache.

Our group is engulfed by silence, only the sound of breathing
echoing through the cavern. We all earned a few valuable rewards from the
dungeon, mainly from the boss drops. I personally managed to get a ‘Unique’
enchanted longsword and an ‘Epic’ golden upper leg armor, which I traded with
Sir Laurence for an ‘Epic’ broad axe which should sell quite nicely. Needless
to say, Sir Laurence covered in silver armor with a pair of golden upper legs
is quite the humorous sight.

There were plenty of other miscellaneous items and loot I
obtained; including ‘Ordinary’ tridents, curved swords, armor pieces, fish
scales, 200 gold, and a few new herbs. But none compare to the main items I got
from the boss drops. Opening my inventory, I look at the stats of those weapons
once again.