The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) (14 page)

"The Dark Legion clan stuck me on their blacklist, the official one, and open season was declared on me a few minutes ago. Look at the way the passersby are eyeing me. They're probably seeing the message that there's a reward on my head and are considering whether to go for me or if it's best not to get involved."

"A reward? Why can't we see any of that?" Sushiho said in surprise.

"That's because we're in the same group. At least that's my best guess. Let's check this – Dukki, can you leave us for a couple of minutes?"

"Five thousand for each kill," he said almost straight away, as he was reading through the text. "You can be attacked even inside the city without any fear of the PK penalty. You must've seriously rubbed Number Twos the wrong way! How did that happen?"

"Sure thing, I'll tell you as soon as you join the clan," I replied. "Rejoin the group. And, Sergei, you’d better be off to get the horses."

It should be said that when I met up with my old gaming buddies and invited them to join the clan they refused at first. They said that they would have to see who the other clan members were, what the clan policies looked like, the loot allocation and so on, and only then would they decide. Although they knew me well enough, they would have preferred to play it safe at the time, because each of them had been receiving a certain salary-shaped bonus from their own clans and were reluctant to lose the additional income. My proposal to sign Agreements right away was met with approval, but it was finally agreed that could be done after we completed the quest. When I asked about the bonus, which was something new to me, it turned out that from level 5 10% of all the money a player received from quests or mobs went to the clan treasury. This amount wasn't deducted from the player, but was an additional payment made by the Corporation. So certain clans chose to provide a degree of financial support to their members. According to Dukki, because of this he was receiving 10000 gold a month. A pretty healthy sum – considering that he was getting it pretty much for nothing.

The matter of clan levels really piqued my interest, so I sent Dukki back to 'reality' for additional information. The situation with levels was far from simple: the more group quests, Dungeons, or crafting projects clan players completed, the more clan points – of some kind – the clan collected. As soon as the clan accumulated 20 million of these points, the clan gained its first level. The second level required 60 million and 40 million more for the next level, and so on. The maximum clan level was held by Dark Legion, which beat Phoenix on account of its extremely large membership. At least in this regard they weren't 'Number Twos'.

Attention! You have been discovered by a player from the Dark Legion clan. They are under obligation to attack you. Prepare yourself!

I barely had time to read this short text before a 5-minute Stun debuff landed on Dukki and Sushiho. Rogues! I immediately jumped up, looked around and kicked myself for not buying any stealth-detecting elixirs. A Stun could only be applied to 122 and 127-level players if the opponent was of the same level or higher. Otherwise Dukki, also being a Rogue, would've detected the attack and had time to react. And now I was left to face two or more players all on my own. There was little hope in relying on Slate – as an NPC he wouldn't interfere in the fight even if it were happening right around him.

Damage taken.

Hit Points reduced by 14533: 16314 (Critical Kick) – 1781 (Physical defense)

Total Hit Points: 5106 out of 19640

Attacker: Lloyd Redoombsky, level 172. PK restrictions have been lifted.

I was flung about two meters away and slid down the temple steps. The worst thing was that I could feel very well where that kick had landed – the part usually used for sitting. Bastard – if I ever get my hands on him, I'll kill him! As I got up, I just glimpsed a flickering in the air a few meters away – Lloyd stealthed once again. As soon as a Rogue attacks from invisibility, he drops back into vision for 5–10 seconds. One of the abilities of that class is that they can stealth several times in a row, perhaps three or four times all together, though I don't remember the exact number. Such a sneak-attack always inflicts extra damage. In general, it's a pretty unpleasant class in a solo fight. On the other hand, if you manage to survive the first two or three attacks, the Rogue is as good as done for – you can do what you like with him in the time it takes for his invisibility to recharge. It's a pity that our level difference was so great – 105 levels. Otherwise I would've taught him a lesson, as I did Reptilis. But why was he hitting me with his foot rather than his daggers? After all, I did spot fairly decent gear on Lloyd earlier!

The Shaman has three hands ...

It took me just over four seconds to call up the Spirit Summoning Mode. The Tambourine and the Emperor's Boots did their job. I summoned a Healing Spirit and cursed myself for failing to put things in order earlier. I got a third Spirit rank, which meant that now I could include three spirits in one summoning, but I hadn't selected that in the settings yet. It’s not like I had much time for that. ... All this went through my head in a flash while I was restoring my Hit Points. It was strange that no new attacks came as I was healing myself; it was as if Lloyd intended to allow me to heal myself. Had he decided to play around with me for a bit?

"Peed your pants, eh, you little shit?" Lloyd's pleased voice came from nowhere. "There's no obstacle course here to hide behind! You'll pay for that six grand you cost me!"

"Guards!" I shouted frantically. "An attack in the city!"

"The PK-restrictions have been turned off for you, you idiot," Lloyd's voice came from somewhere to the right, so I rolled to the left and caught another Critical Kick from a foot belonging to Mlish the Magnificent, level 154. He was another player who had refused to pay the money he lost on the bet. "You stupid turd. You went and pissed off the entire Dark Legion!"

The Rogues remained stealthed, so I couldn't select them and start to bite back with Water Spirits. As I flew through the air I saw that, like Lloyd, Mlish appeared for 5 seconds after the hit and then vanished once again. This meant that both he and Lloyd only had 2–3 stealth-dives left. After that, for the next 5 hours, I could do with them what I liked. The main thing was that I hoped they would keep to kicking and not switch to sticking pointy things into me. Any hit with a weapon or even a shuriken throwing star would land me at the respawn point. So then ... Mlish is to the left and Lloyd is to the right, but there's no-one in front of me and the way into the temple is clear. I hope Beth will save me ...

A direct hit to my chest completely winded me and sent me flying about twenty meters. The system happily informed me that a third bounty-hunting enthusiast had joined the fight. Another Rogue – one of those that tried to go back on our bet. I hit the corner of a house with my back and my vision began to swim: birds started to fly around my head and, alongside the message that I now had a 20-second Stun debuff on me and a critically low number of Hit Points (145), I was beginning to hallucinate:

Player Plinto has invited you to join a group. Do you accept?

I knew that fighting hallucinations was useless, so I pressed the 'Yes' button. This can't get any worse, so why not take the chance?

As soon as the Stun expired, I got back on my feet again, healed myself and looked around. So we had three Rogues (I really hoped there weren't more) who had decided to play cat-and-mouse with me and slowly trample me into the ground. They could've sent me for respawn several times over as I was lying there, but they opted not to, preferring to remain invisible. As did Plinto. His see-through outline, visible only to members of the group I had just joined, was a couple of meters away from me. Plinto was intently examining his surroundings and when I looked at him, put his finger to his lips, indicating that I should keep quiet. All right then; keeping quiet was just fine by me. But what was he up to?

A little more time went by before the former leader of the Dark Legion Clan seemed to come to a decision of some sort. He pointed towards a small alley about twenty meters from me, and did all he could to indicate that I should go there. The guards that had run over at the sound of the fight were standing about forty meters from me and were very busy doing nothing while looking various passersby over. All the local NPCs quickly dispersed, shops shut their doors and a crowd of onlookers began to gather along the edges of the street where the fight had taken place. These were mainly players below level 100, but from the shouts that reached me they were having a heated discussion about how many level 50s one might need to bring me down and get the Dark Legion's reward. How kind and considerate of them.

I tried to stop myself thinking as I followed Plinto's instructions and dashed towards the alley. As I was running past a house, another kick from Lloyd caught me below the belt and provided me with the acceleration required to get to my destination even faster. I ended up tumbling the last stretch like a football that had been kicked, but one that came with an added speed bonus. I ran around a corner, leaving my pursuers behind, purposefully summoned a Strengthening Spirit to give me added acceleration and ran forwards as fast as my legs could carry me. It was just as well that I had no time to change my ring bonuses from Agility back to Intellect. The extra speed would be pretty handy right now.

I only managed to take about a dozen steps before I came to a halt. A dead end! Plinto had sent me to a dead end!

"Looks like your luck's run out!" Lloyd appeared from behind the bend. He was still in stealth mode, but I could see him well enough: a mark was hanging above him that allowed both of us to see him. The other two were still completely invisible – looks like Plinto turned up after they had started their leisurely attempt to assassinate me and he hadn't managed to mark them out too. In all truth I gained little from seeing where Lloyd was. Our level difference was just too big for me to do much damage to him with my Spirits. "I want you to see how we are going to cut you to pieces." Lloyd de-stealthed and just a couple of seconds later two more players appeared next to him. "I'm done playing around. We'll meet in 12 hours at the respawn point!"

As he was saying this, I saw how Plinto put marks on Lloyd’s two buddies to keep them in his sights, pointed at Lloyd to me, then pointed at himself and at the other two players. Was he really suggesting I take on a 172-level player? And why the heck not? It's just a 105-level gap. That's nothing; I'll crush them all with my bare hands!

"Whoever hits him from twenty meters away gets a super-prize! I'll go first!" Lloyd shouted and then events went into overdrive ...

As soon as the first throwing stars flew towards me, Plinto entered the fight. His attack was quiet, fast and left Mlish zero chance of escape. I managed to duck, letting a shuriken fly past me and, at the same time, summoned a Spirit of Water Strike on Lloyd. I then surrounded myself with a Water Shield. Perhaps not by much, but it should have reduced any damage that would come my way. The second star cut through the shield as if it didn't exist and seemed to veer off course, but the system happily informed me that my Hit Points went down to 300.

"The super-prize is mine!" Lloyd managed to shout just before a sun seemed to flash under his feet, leaving the 'Blindness' debuff on all the attackers in its wake. Without stopping, Plinto took care of the second Rogue, leaving only Lloyd still standing.

"He's all yours." I finally heard his voice and a moment later Plinto left the group and stealthed.

"Why did you do this?" I shouted my question into empty air, but there was no reply. Plinto had vanished. And who's going to enlighten me on what just happened here? The 'Blindness' on Lloyd lasted the standard 5 minutes, so I decided not to give him a second chance and began summoning Spirit after Spirit onto him.

Achievement earned!

Elephant and Pug level 1 (until the next level: 9 kills of any creatures or players 50+ levels higher than you)

Achievement reward: Damage to all creatures and players 50+ levels higher is increased by 10%.

List of achievements to be found in character settings.

Even my Intellect went up by one point, giving a total of 106 – the difference in our levels was that big. As soon as Lloyd’s juice had ‘run out’, Sushiho flew to my side, screaming “die you bastard!” In the blink of an eye, he threw a green bubble of some kind around me, which reduced damage by 20%, judging by the description. Perfect timing.

"Hang in there Mahan!" A dozen seconds later Dukki appeared, getting his daggers out as he ran and stealthing.

The crowd of onlookers staring from behind the corner vanished as soon as they saw what happened to the three attackers. Plinto might still be somewhere nearby and he was considered a dangerous loose cannon, although I was becoming less and less sure of that myself.

"Legion numbskulls," cursed Elenium, when the rest of the clan arrived on their horses to hear what had happened. "Where is this Barsina? Anhurs has so many people from the Legion running around it you'd think it was a queue for Anastaria's erotic show tickets. Maybe even enough for three queues.”

"An interesting metaphor. Are you Shaman Mahan?" asked a beautiful female voice, slightly lisping her 'sh's. I turned around and saw a petite girl. A human. She was a head lower than me in height. Small – even miniature –, she could have been confused with a child from afar. The name Barsina hung above her head and she had an empty space where a clan membership emblem might've been. I glanced over her gear and noted that she looked pretty well-equipped. Rare or perhaps even Epic items together with a meter-and-a-half-tall tiger made it clear that the girl wasn't experiencing any financial difficulties. An involuntary smile crossed my face as Barsina walked under her tiger's head barely having to bend her own.