“Fuck yeah!”
“Sam? Sounds like you got what you wanted,” she said, amidst giggles.
“Yes Alex, thank you so much!”
He equipped it as fast as he could and extinguished his torch. He still didn’t think he stood a chance against that madman Caesar, but at least he was better equipped than before. He snuck out of the cellar and unlocked the back door of the house so that he could sneak out from there. When he saw no one approaching, he ran back into the dark woods and kept running until he was sure that he was well away from the residence. He still wasn’t sure where Caesar even was in the forest, but if he saw him, he would start running right away. Combat was suicide.
He kept going until he found himself back near his old training grounds, near the cave, after having evaded some new enemy types after taking a new route through the forest. One of the enemies was a Cutthroat like himself.
The Cutthroat had ambushed Sam from a tree with a “death from above” attack that took most of his health in one strike. Sam had hurriedly scrambled to his feet and ran, but the Cutthroat was quick and persistent. Sam had to weave in and out of the trees to create some distance and had to time his dodging with the enemy’s knife throws until he was out of range. He didn’t want to start a fight with anyone or anything until he was sure that Caesar wasn’t around and that Cutthroat seemed like a tough opponent in his own right. Once he was finally inside the cave, he passed by the grinning merchant and had his rest at the Soul Beacon. He decided to sit and check his new items to see just what he got.
Priest’s Charm
Used as a catalyst to cast divine blessings.
A basic rosary worn by most peaceful priests of the church and battle priests in the fields. Showing one’s belief is said to grant one abilities not known to those who are skeptical of the divine hierarchy.
Blessings come directly from a pact with the gods.
Wishbone (2)
Randomly pulls a partner for cooperative play.
A favorite of those who are superstitious. To many, it’s just a simple bird’s furcula.
Breaking these with a friend is said to cause something special for the one with the bigger piece, a wish if you will.
Quintessence (3)
Completely restores a player’s HP and adds a point to his or her quintessence counter.
Probably the single most important object of desire for those who find themselves risen after death. The quintessence is said to be what makes a person truly human. To lose it is to lose yourself.
Broken Shackles (wrists)
Gauntlets
Used to restrain prisoners, these appear to be rusted and bloodstained. Those who are cursed with undying flame are considered an abomination by most nations outside of Heimfall. Thusly, when a person rises out of their graves after death, they are quickly contained and shipped to the cursed lands to rot away, away from civilized society. These shackles litter the landscape.
Broken Shackles (ankles)
Anklet
Used to restrain prisoners, these appear to be rusted and bloodstained. Those who are cursed with undying flame are considered an abomination by most nations outside of Heimfall. Thusly, when a person rises out of their graves after death, they are quickly contained and shipped to the cursed lands to rot away, away from civilized society. These shackles litter the landscape.
Priest’s Extinguisher (1)
Prevents a revenant’s use of Soul Fire upon contact.
A much needed item used by battle priests of many nations. Priest’s extinguishers were so named because they disconnect a revenant’s soul from the very fires that feed it.
The first battle priests were said to hail from the cursed land of Heimfall, where this enchanted item is said to have been created.
Sinner’s Scriber
Allows a player to encroach upon the plane of another player.
One of the legendary writing tools crafted and enchanted by the eminent linguist, scholar, and mage Letraym. As Letraym had no moral qualms about exploring facets of magic and language otherwise deemed wicked, she crafted this tool as a way for its users to share their malice with other worlds.
Three Headed Hound Seal
Increases Wearer’s Perseverance.
A signet ring bearing the seal of the royal family of Aschelund. The seal depicts a legendary demon beast said to have been slain by Aschelund’s very first king. Just wearing it seems to make one feel royal and strong.
Ring Slots: 2
Sam hurriedly equipped the ring to one of his free fingers and it increased his Perseverance by twenty points, up from the single point he currently had. He scrolled through his menus to get to his manual to look up what perseverance actually did. He had forgotten after so many years. From its definition, it looked like perseverance was a statistic that allowed one to keep their “composure” in combat. That seemed to apply to offense and defense, but beyond that the exact definition of what perseverance did was very vague. He didn’t linger on it and instead read the stats of his Rapier.
Rapier
Thrusting Sword
A type of sword favored by those with precision and high skill. Patience and good timing are needed to bait out attacks and strike an enemy’s exposed weak points. The blade’s long reach makes its thrusting attacks very effective.
ATK 103
Weapon Damage 65
S ATK D = 8
D ATK C = 30
M ATK F = 0
B ATK F = 0
F RAT 0
L RAT 0
D RAT 0
P RAT 0
B RAT 4
Weight: 2.2lbs
He switched over to read his Dagger’s stats to compare.
Dagger
Knife
A small blade, typically reserved as a last resort on the battlefield. For most it is a useless weapon, but a few know human vital points quite well and look for the perfect moment to strike.
ATK 44
Weapon Damage 10
S ATK F = 0
D ATK B = 34
M ATK F = 0
B ATK F = 0
F RAT 0
L RAT 0
D RAT 0
P RAT 0
B RAT 10
Weight: 1 lb
S ABS: 4000
The Dagger was a lot weaker, but had an amazing hidden critical value that was very high. Sam hoped that the Rapier would be the exact same.
11 The Mad King of the Forest
Sam was a man possessed. He dived headfirst into his new goal of collecting a lot of souls. He spent what felt like a few hours on it, mainly fighting the Forest Barkers and running when they’d overwhelm him. He gained enough souls to level-up four more times to soul intensity sixteen, increasing his dexterity to twenty, speed to sixteen, and his vitality to twelve. He wanted a little more HP after being spooked by Caesar’s one hit kill blow. He was hoping that his increased dexterity and new weapon would be enough to eliminate the Barkers with one critical strike, but his Rapier did the same amount of critical damage as his Dagger in the end. That meant its critical multiplier was much lower than the Dagger since its base damage was much higher than it. Sam guessed the crit multiplier for the Rapier to be about three times damage compared to the ten or more times of the Dagger.
Another negative impact of equipping a heavier shield and sword was that it affected his movement and dodging speed. It wasn’t a drastic change, but he could feel the difference, especially whenever he rolled. He didn’t cover as much distance as before.
He decided to move deeper into the forest. There was a new enemy here that was hostile from the start. It was another plant creature, but this one looked like a matador. It hopped around like one and brandished a red muleta made of flowers while it danced. It seemed like a rose come to life and even wielded a thorn covered sword made out of some kind of durable plant matter. Its face was round and blank like a green grape and on the top of its head was a rose bud fashioned like a cap.
Sa
m and the rose man took turns thrusting at one another with their swords. Sam attacked safely from behind his shield while the rose man evaded with its muleta. Sam thought he had an advantage with his shield, but the rose man’s flowing muleta was effective at diverting all damage from its body. Sam was starting to get frustrated, but he was having a harder time simply anticipating the rose man’s attacks. He was afraid to attempt a parry, but it seemed like it was the best way to get past the rose man’s defenses in this case. Nothing else seemed effective against such an evasive and deceptive opponent.
He tried to bait out certain attacks, but the rose man wouldn’t cooperate. When it missed a thrust, Sam found his moment to strike. Only it wasn’t his moment and the rose man countered him with a parry from its muleta. It then thrust its thorny sword into his exposed chest and took half of his health, whilst afflicting him with the bleedout status effect which damaged him over a period of time like poison and seemed to slow his stamina regeneration.
Sam fell to the ground clutching his chest. The pain was so great that he just wanted to stay on the ground and curl up into a little ball. He only scrambled to his feet once he saw the rose man approaching. He rolled away, created some distance between the two of them and took a swig of Soul Fire.
As it approached, the rose man launched a more powerful thrust at him. When it collided with Sam’s shield, it deflected off of it hard, leaving the creature briefly stunned. Sam retaliated with two quick thrusts of his own doing more damage than he normally would. It wasn’t close to critical damage, but it was sizable enough to make a difference. The creature’s health dipped down by about a fifth with each strike.
It quickly retaliated after Sam’s second thrust, but Sam had seen its attack already and now knew its point of origin. He looked closely at the creature’s upturned wrist and the moment its thorny thrust took flight Sam tossed its delicate hand away which left it wide open for his opening blow. Sam’s blow was a vicious thrust that went right through the creature and pierced its heart cleanly. Its health quickly faded to nothing and Sam received a Rose Muleta for his troubles along with three hundred souls.
Sam made sure no one was around while he looked at what the muleta could do.
Rose Muleta
Shield
Boost’s evasion and blocks magic based attack. Useless for blocking physical attacks.
A favored item by demon hunters and matadors of Krylatty. The red color and aroma provokes simple minded demons and other beasts into attacking recklessly. The size and length of the flowy material can obscure secret attacks.
P DEF 5%
M DEF 92%
L DEF 75%
F DEF 10%
D DEF 50%
A DEF 50%
P RES 100%
D RES 90%
C RES 60%
B RES 40%
Sturdiness 0%
Durability 100/100
Weight 0.3lbs
It had some solid advantages over his Metal Crest Shield in many aspects, but it just didn’t have enough physical defense or blocking ability, so he chose to skip it for now. Seemed like it could be a good asset once he improved his parrying and dodging abilities. He took another swig of his Soul Fire once the bleedout damage subsided and challenged another rose man on his way deeper into the forest. His victory netted him three hundred more souls and one less drink from his Soul Fire. He was down to only one drink. He thought about returning to the Soul Beacon in the cave, but resting would only revive all the enemies he had already killed. He pressed on further, looking out for strong enemies as he crept through the shadows of the forest.
Sam thought he heard something strange nearby, but he wasn’t sure what it was. It sounded ... human. The sound seemed to come from the north. Sam hoped to hell that it wasn’t Caesar again. Losing all his souls right now would be a pain. He stayed in place for a while, listening intently until he heard the noise again. It was heavy breathing and it had a cadence to it.
Sam silently stalked closer, staying near the taller trees, rounding them slowly, and staying low until he got to the next one. He could now make out a towering figure in the dark. It was a man, mostly obscured by a cluster of smaller trees and he was swinging a huge hunk of metal. From this distance it looked like a very long and sturdy greatsword. The man lifted it above his head with both hands and held it there. His whole body remained still as stone and soon after he brought his sword down with power and precision, stopping it between his chest and stomach. He hurriedly lifted the blade and struck downwards again, stopping at the same place. Then he swung his sword around in circles with his right hand before passing it to his left and doing the same. When he was done with that, he took the sword up into both hands again and brought it down near his pelvis where it hovered while he deeply inhaled the cold night air. Sam could now clearly see his massive muscular shoulders and huge biceps.
At a distance and in such poor visibility, the man’s face couldn’t be seen. Sam was certain that it wasn’t Caesar, however. The man seemed much bigger than him and much broader. He was also wearing something different. He had some weird looking thing on his head. Like a ... like a ...
Is that a crown?
Sam remembered back to what the merchant had told him earlier.
The mad king! I need to get out of here.
Sam silently backpedaled, with the intention of going back to the Soul Beacon at the cave.
“Have you had your fill, stranger?” The man’s question had chilled Sam. He backpedaled some more and prepared to run. “Prepare yourself. You’re not getting away.” The man’s raucous voice was filled with grim absolution. He sliced down the trees between himself and Sam effortlessly with his greatsword. Sam tried to run, but one of the trees fell in his way and when he tried to adjust the direction he was running, the mad king was already in his face. The trees he’d cut down on his way to Sam had fallen and opened the canopy.
The moon’s light spilled down upon Sam and the king . Sam could now see him clearly. His humanity seemed to be intact. There was no sign of decay on him, unlike Sam’s own mummified avatar. He was a powerfully built mountain of a man, tall, and heavily muscled.
He wore a thickly plated red muscle cuirass over his chest, but left his arms and hands bare. He wore a mostly gold cloth skirt with red designs over his lower body along with deep red greaves on his legs that covered his knees, calves, and ankles. He wore a thick red cape over his shoulders with a golden clasp depicting some four legged multi-headed beast over his cuirass. He froze Sam in place with his icy blue eyed stare. Sam hurriedly glanced up from the king’s thickly bearded face up to the crown sitting atop the king’s short dark hair. It was covered in dried blood and seemed to be a permanent fixture atop the king’s head.
“Ah, you aren’t the one I’m looking for.”
He looked at Sam from brow to boot, apparently sizing him up.
“You’re tall for a Cutthroat, are ye not, boy?” he asked loudly.
His voice disrupted the quiet night atmosphere more than anything else so far. Sam remained silent, thinking of what his next action would be.
“Answer me boy!” he growled and pointed his greatsword at Sam. The tip of the blade nearly touched Sam’s nose.
“I suppose I am,” Sam admitted.
“A foolish occupation for one so easily seen, but I think all Cutthroats are fools. Why were you stalking me then, boy?” the king asked not dropping his sword. “Doing a Cutthroat’s duty? Trying to pillage my quintessence?”
Sam shook his head.
“That’s a dead man’s game, fool. You try anything like that and I’ll take yours with no qualms about it.”
The king looked him over again. He lowered his sword and continued to stare at Sam while rubbing his beard.
“You look to be in dire straits. This forest has tested your will to live, it seems. When I look you over, I just can’t see how you made it this far into this forest,” he said then laughed out loud.
“More men have l
ost their lives and sanity here than you can count. Even worse, those men have found their very quintessence stolen and without it, were forced to become listless revenants. That is the nature of this plague, to steal, kill, and perpetuate our foul stagnation. You’d do well to leave here, boy and to leave your foolish profession. You aren’t cut out for it anyway by the looks of you.”
Is this the same mad king that the merchant had mentioned?
“I would if I could, king. It’s too dangerous to exit the forest. There’s a swordsman out there, with a greatsword just like yours,” Sam answered.
“Greatsword? Maybe you refer to that bloody forest killer. I’ve heard the tales of his butchery. He finds himself fortunate to have not faced the king’s justice. If we ever cross swords then I will eagerly put the mad dog down. I see you’ve lost some of your quintessence and have started to decay. Could it be that you were killed by that madman?”
The king answered his own question before Sam could even respond.
“No. It’s been said that he only kills and pillages the quintessence from warriors of great strength. You luckily don’t qualify as one of his targets.”
Fuck you too, king asshole!
“This forest still remains perilous for an upstart like yourself. Though I can clearly see that you’ve been tested, you just don’t have what it takes to survive here. When I ruled, I was a kind king. I hold the knightly oaths dear to my heart. The number one oath of a knight of Ashelund, ‘protect the weak.’ I will help you while you’re in this forest, boy.”
“Whoa, really!?” Sam couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes. Of course, my assistance doesn’t come free, not for one dressed in Cutthroat garb. You will help me with something later.”
“With what?”
“In time, boy. Right now we’ll make a pact. I’ll consider you as part of my honorable king’s guard and provide you with strategies and assistance with many subjects in this forest. In return you will join me in meting out the king’s justice. What do you say to that?” the king asked as he walked further into the forest. Sam didn’t know what else to do but follow the man. They walked through a thicket and down a dirt path for a few minutes before coming to a stop near a thin stream.