End Online: Volume 5 (12 page)

Both of these weapons came from the boss ‘Flame Elemental
Guardian of the Deep’. The second and final boss we successfully managed to
kill.

“Perhaps we should, umm, try this raid again. With more people.”
Matrix speaks up shyly, clearly expecting to do it again.

“No. Let’s not,” Sir Laurence grumbles.

“Why not? Isn’t that place like a paradise for you?” I ask the
knight in shining armor, a sly grin spread across my face.

Prince Charming doesn’t respond, but Mason does, “I hate
mermaids.”

“Aye, they 
definitely
 be bad luck,” Even
CaptainGordon is fed up with those vicious creatures, not that I blame him.

I reflect on the events of the raid. The mermaids were the most
troublesome indeed. They have a strange ability to afflict the target with a
charmed status by making eye contact. This isn’t the charm effect like in the
old RPGs, where the target can no longer attack that enemy and will often
attack an ally.

The mermaid’s charm is similar to an aphrodisiac, and the target
of each person’s infatuation is the nearest ally. This effect not only shut off
our hearing and narrowed our vision, but took no consideration of gender when
making the affected player attempt to grasp onto the nearest ally and kiss them
profusely. Much to Sir Laurence’s dismay, I got paired with Verde first. I
don’t know whether to find that fortunate or unfortunate. At least it was with
someone of the opposite gender.

‘You! This! You’ve done this before!!’
 I repeat Verde’s words in my head, rubbing the spot on my
face where she initially slapped me as the kiss finished and the charm effect
wore off. She wasn’t under the effects of the charm at the time, but surprise
stopped her from preventing the kiss.

Fortunately for me, everyone else had fallen under the charm
effect and had their hearing sealed so they didn’t hear I had kissed her
already before. A few of the other party heard, so I hope they don’t discuss
that before we find land and I have the chance to leave them.

I am genuinely surprised at Verde’s reaction though. The
surprise on her face, and other indescribable emotions, showed that she truly
remembered the kiss. What I don’t know is that if she has slowly been
remembering things already, or the memory suddenly came to her at the time.

Amidst my wandering thoughts, I can’t help but glance over at
the others from time to time. If anyone was to walk into this cavern at this
moment, they would be greeted with the shocking sight of eleven bodies lying
haphazardly in the limelight of the raid doors like corpses.

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

The sun glares down from directly above us as we finally set
sail away from the cursed island. The heat at noon is the polar opposite of the
night time chill, causing most of the people to be panting for air and
consuming twice as much water as usual to keep their satiety levels up.

I sit down next to Fen again, talking to her about my experience
in the raid. Feeling vaguely guilty, I avoid detailing the mermaids and their
risqué appearance, instead describing them as twisted, cruel creatures.

Our journey continues in peace, not encountering a single sea
monster in a strange kind of luck. Eventually, the three days of being sick
pass and not only do my stats return to full values, but Fen’s eyes open.

The great big wolf hastily stands up, causing the ship to rock violently
in the process. She loses her balance from the movement and falls against the
mast, bending it slightly. CaptainGordon shouts out curses as his ship gets
damaged for no reason, even losing a level in speed.

I realize Fen can’t return to her human form at the moment with
her dress in tatters, so I plan to buy her a new one as soon as possible. She
nuzzles her nose against me, causing me to get more wet than when Fen drools in
her sleep. I feel a little irritated about it, but soon let it pass. How can I
be angry with her as soon as she recovers?

Two more days in the game pass, and eventually an unfathomably
large landmass is viewable on the horizon. At first glance I can tell that this
is the rumored island.

As we get closer, I make out the shape of the island and cannot
withhold my shock, “It’s a desert!!”

The others are equally surprised, but don’t remark on the land.
They stare wide-eyed at the enormous dunes of sand that go as far as the eye
can see. Just by looking at the island, even I feel like the temperature has
increased significantly.

The ship is so slow it still takes another day before we finally
reach the island, leaving the ship and stepping onto the burning hot sand.

-Lost-

As the grandiose doors to the raid shut behind us, it suddenly
cuts off the cool breeze that was travelling the network of caves through the
mountain. Replacing the silence is the wet sound of occasional drops of water
hitting the stone floor deeper within the tunnels.

The beginning of the raid is completely different from what I
expected. My nerves are on edge and I raise my weapons in preparation for a
fight upon entering, but the area appears empty. The ceiling here is impossibly
high in comparison to the height of the mountain from outside, but the entryway
is only ten or so meters long. All of this can be seen by the luminescent gems
jutting from the walls. I want to pull out a pick and try harvest some, but
there is a large crevice in between us and the wall, preventing me from
reaching them.

We are standing on a small square platform made of azurite,
while steps of the same material sharply descend into the darkness below.

“Let’s go.” I intend to sound confident, but a hint of
nervousness can be heard in my speech.

Nobody else picks up on the uncertainty in my voice, or at least
no one says anything. Everyone gives me a curt affirmative before we cautiously
walk down the stairs, two abreast. My foot slips on one of the steps and I lose
balance. An arrow suddenly pins my cloak to the stairs and stops my fall,
preventing me from tumbling down the steps.

“Thanks, Mason,” I say to the now smug guy with a bow.

Several of the people behind me chuckle to themselves. They
don’t say anything directly, but the laughter echoing back and forth around the
cavern assaults my ears for a minor eternity. Brushing my clothes off as if
they have dirt on them, I unhurriedly proceed down the steps as if nothing
happened.

I was originally unsure how to proceed and was waiting for
someone to bring out a torch as I don’t have one, but it turns out that we
don’t need one. The gemstones along the walls start to emit light as we
approach, as if they can sense our presence. The light in front of me spreads
further and further as we descend, yet I still cannot see where the stairs are
leading.

The stairs curve, winding down into the darkness. After half an
hour, and at least a couple of thousand stairs, our destination finally
appears. A large double door very similar to the raid entrance, only smaller, materializes
on a platform that is also extremely similar to the entrance.

Not wanting to alert any monsters to our presence, nobody speaks
aloud as we push the doors open. They are clearly in good condition as the
hinges don’t squeak and allow us to enter the room silently.

The room is much better lit than the azurite staircase with
hundreds of luminescent gems along the ceiling. The walls and floor are also
made out of black and grey stone. Small puddles and pools with no particular
order have formed from water dripping into indentations in the stone floor.
This must be the source of dripping sound from earlier.

The first enemies in the raid are also in this room. Within an
area of 5000 square meters, what appear to be about 200 mermen are just idly
milling about. Standing nearly three meters tall with thick fish tails and
upper bodies that would make most male body builders green with envy, they move
around gracefully while wielding golden tridents as thick as my leg.

They all have long golden hair and beards of various styles and
lengths. If this was in different circumstances, I could humor myself looking
at each of them and relating them to people I know or have read about in
history books.

The nearest merman isn’t close enough to immediately attack, and
is in a small group with two others. If we are going to attack, it will be best
to start with them.

“How will we do this?” Verde whispers in the middle of the
group. Luckily, any concerns we had that the mermen might attack at the
slightest sound were baseless, since whispering apparently doesn’t attract
their attention.

“We will attract a few over here, but first: ’Creature
Analysis’,” I mouth under my breath, much quieter than Verde just to be safe.

“Be careful, they have incredible health and stamina. Level 245
as well. They also appear to be slow and those weapons don’t look like toys;
avoid getting hit.”

Mason nods his head and affirms my speculation with a dour
expression after using his own creature analysis. “We just need to get them
over here. Shall I shoot one with an arrow?”

“I have no better ideas. Please do not miss though. If you
attract too many we will be dead before we even get a chance to start.”

Silence comes over our group and the only noise made is the
flexing of Mason’s elven bow. The wood creaks further and further until, with a
twang, the arrow is released. I involuntarily forget to breath as the arrow
lands square in the nearest merman’s neck as a critical hit.

Rather than roaring, the merman lets out a resonating aquatic
like holler. As I had feared, it isn’t just his small group that turn and head
toward us, but another fifty that are nearby. We quickly have to choose between
attempting to run back to the staircase, or fighting them while trying not to
attract more.

“We’re locked in,” Mikhail says dryly, not even checking the
door, “The door will unlock after all the monsters in the room have been
cleared out.”

“What? How do you know that when you haven’t checked the door?
Or been to this dungeon before?”

“It is a common setup in most raids. This is no different.”

Several other party members agree with him and I decide not to
dispute it further. This situation would be much more positive if we had a full
six-party raid squad.

The mermen heading toward us are indeed quite slow on land, but
it is different if they reach a rock pond, clearing the distance in the blink
of an eye.

“We need to keep them away from water! Follow me! Fen, I need
you to freeze every pond and puddle that you can,” I exclaim before realizing
that the wolf girl is still sick on the boat.

“Everyone, let’s go!” Mikhail speaks to his party and
immediately follows us as we head away from the door and toward a larger
section of land away from any water.

I start throwing my throwing knives at the mermen while Mason
shoots arrows. Lockon also joins in with wind-reinforced arrows. The enemy are
quite intelligent, however, and use their tridents to defend against most of
our ranged attacks.

The others in the party get ready for close-quarters combat,
including watching the surroundings to make sure no more head over and catch us
unaware.

I wish Fen was here to freeze the ponds. Not only would this
prevent them from speeding up their approach, but the mermen’s tails would slip
on the ice and slow their movements even more. Despite finding an area with
more land to slow their approach, we only manage to kill five of them before
they are within range to attack.

I immediately shift to melee fighting with Matrix and Verde
while Sir Laurence focuses on defense. I make sure to stick close to Verde to
take advantage of the prince’s protection. With my low defense, getting hit by
a single attack will cause devastating damage.

Mikhail and his party fight off to the side. We mutually work to
ensure that no mermen can get around and attack us from behind. This means I
also have to use an attack and retreat method, ensuring I maintain the front
line and prevent the mermen from encroaching on our position.

The mermen are ruthless, their tridents glow with a golden
radiance and then become a streak of light as they try to impale and pin us to
the ground. Large clouds of dust and small pebbles erupt every time a merman
strikes the ground in such a way, but we narrowly escape each time.

Matrix gets impaled by one of the attacks and loses a quarter of
his total health. I hurriedly dash over and pull him out of the way once the
trident is retracted, and two more mermen follow suit and try to kill him while
he is still down. Drinking one of my health potions, Matrix grimaces before
standing back and chanting with a serious expression.

The passive intimidation effect of my class skill starts
affecting the mermen. I notice more and more enemies heading directly towards
me with piercing glares and raised weapons. To my surprise, my savior turns out
to be our poet mage-tank.

“O’ burning heart of mother earth, I draw on your energy to
ignite the flame within me and turn my foes to ash. Incinerating Flame Wall!”
Matrix furrows his brow as he raises his hand toward the enemy with an
exaggerated posture.

Following his preposterous chant, which I am certain is
different from the last time he used the very same spell, a wall of blazing
blue fire rises from floor to ceiling in the middle of the mermen. Ten of the
enemy are instantly consumed by the high class spell while the rest hurriedly
escape the inferno. Unfortunately, the attack attracts the attention of another
fifty mermen from the room.

We whittle the original group of mermen down to half their
numbers while somehow managing to hold them back before the second group
arrives. The flame wall is effective, but they eventually just go around it.

“Matrix,” I snarl at the culprit who caused the second wave to
arrive early, pressing to make him feel guilty, “You need to take
responsibility for attracting the second group early. Can you make another
flame wall?”

“Umm, I’m a little short on mana. But I, umm, I think I can.”

“Good, please use it on our other side so they can only attack
from two directions.”

“Okay... umm, do you mean now?”

“Yes, now!” I nearly throw one of my knives at him, while he
just looks around awkwardly.

“Raging inferno that dwells beneath the crust, rise up and form
an impenetrable wall of flames and despair. Incinerating Flame Wall!”

‘That is definitely a different chant! You could at least stick
to the same one!’
I inwardly scream, not
knowing whether to laugh or cry.

At least the flame wall rises where I directed him to. Four
mermen are instantly killed within the flames while three more emerge in a
critical condition. The remaining enemies are forced to take a longer route
around the flame wall.

One of the mermen gets dangerously close to the party and
releases a new sacred art. With its trident emanating the familiar golden hue,
the enemy changes its grip to hold it underhand. The trident’s three
spear-tipped points thrust at Sir Laurence, parallel to the ground at an
inescapable speed.

Anyone else would have suffered a massive amount of damage from
the attack, but Sir Laurence is fortunate and manages to shift his shield in
the way of the attack and displace the majority of the force. The thrust still
sends him sliding back four meters, but he only loses ten percent of his
health.

The two firewalls, while not being overly wide, still help us
only have to fight the mermen from two sides. Our party takes care of one side
while Mikhail’s handles the other. I am too busy attacking and pushing back the
mermen on our side to check, but Mikhail, SomaHealer, Lockon and Moonkite seem
to be fighting them off just fine despite having two less party members.

After nearly an hour of back and forth fighting, including
having to flee toward the door and form a new defensive line when the mermen
were about to overwhelm us, we finally kill them all. The end of the fight was
easy, but killing the first half of the enemy is the hardest part due to them
having overwhelming numbers.

I look at the remaining hundred mermen at the other side of the
enormous cavern and feel somewhat dejected. I have a bad premonition and am
about to halt the party to recover health and mana when Lockon shoots one of
the un-aggroed mermen at the other end of the cavern. Before I get a chance to
curse at the foolish archer, every remaining enemy targets our group.

Mason and Lockon continuously shoot the approaching crowd of
mermen while I control my temper and refrain from wasting any more throwing
knives. Some of the knives have been recovered, but I have already lost more
than I can count.

With the mermen having such a large amount of health, the arrows
only kill seven out of a hundred before they reach us. Matrix is out of mana
and can’t use ‘Incinerating Flame Wall’ again for a while. As a result, this
last swarm of mermen takes us two hours to kill by kiting them around the room,
trying to prevent them from overwhelming us with numbers.

My intimidation affecting the majority of them helps take some
pressure off the others, but I end up having to run away twice as often as
anyone else and end up with fewer kills and less experience at the end.