I woke up, and immediately went to pat Will, so he would also get up. We had much work to do.
He wasn't pleased, and just rolled off his bed, and landed heavily on the floor.
- Damn... You ok?
The only answer was a groan, which made me chuckle a bit. I left him, to grab some food. The city center was full of people, hunters preparing to go into the woods, craftsmen striking deals on the sides, to not block the way to the device, and also people just hanging around, observing, sharing rumors. Maybe even spying. I saw few familiar faces. Nobuo, Mbeki, and Bulgarians were there.
We shared brief greetings and went our separate ways. They had their places in line, I didn't. Today wasn't about the speed to earn as many crystals as we could, but about making it all the way to the wolf boss. I was wondering if Will could beat it. There was a chance the boss would be too strong even for both of us. What then? Could we escape it?
If there would be a door, then maybe we could hold it. The problem was wolves were different. I just couldn't think why there would a door to the boss in a wolf's den. On the other hand, this place sometimes just ignored logic. If you looked close enough you could see those small things.
There was also that strange silver-haired. If it was really controlled by the boss, then he for sure had to be an intelligent creature. Question was, how intelligent.
- What you are thinking about? - Will's voice suddenly pulled me back to reality.
- About our hunt today.
- Oh, and? Did you make some kind of plan or something?
- No. I'm still thinking about that strange wolf from yesterday.
- Oh, yeah. It was really creepy. We should have killed it.
- Maybe.
He just shook his head.
- Are you gonna stand in line, or I should do it?
- I'll go.
He just gave me a nod and went to have a sit on the cart. I on the other hand went to the end of the line. It took a few long minutes until we finally were able to buy. I got a new pudao and some food. Will took a spare sword, some provisions, torches, and a bit of cotton.
With it all packed on the cart, we departed, and a few hours later were crossing the wolf's territory. It was definitely cleared by others because we didn't encounter any creature. Howling still could be heard very well around us, from multiple places.
I even stopped for a moment to listen. Putting my hand on the poplar trunk, feeling the bark with the tips of my fingers. The tree shouldn't really be growing in such a hot climate, but in this world it was.
- Let's go - Will said, probably because I wasn't moving for too long.
- Yeah.
And we kept pushing on, all the way to the cave. Finally encountering few wolves close to the entrance. We dealt with them swiftly, collected the crystals, and then proceeded to light up our torches.
The inside looked just as scary as yesterday with the stalactites and stalagmites sticking out just as animal fangs. Like the whole thing was gonna bite us, and then swallow up. Scary but on the other side exciting.
I tried to look for our silver-haired friend, but there were only tunnels splitting up into more, and more. Darkness, the sound of water dripping down to crash on the rocky floor, and distant howling, mixed with occasional growls.
- I hate this place - Will mumbled under his breath, but I heard him.
- Let's keep going.
We only walked for couple more minutes, when the sudden silence went thru the cave. There was only the sound of water we could hear.
- They noticed us - Will whispered.
I agreed but didn't respond. Instead, focusing on my sense of hearing, trying to catch the sound of their paws, and nails hitting the rocky floor.
- Can you hear them? - Will asked after taking a peek at me, and figuring out what I was doing.
- No - as I was saying those words, I finally heard something.
Even though, it was too late. They started to come from every direction. Like they were actually prepared for our invasion after what happened yesterday. It was unlike them. They usually were more careful, but now they just wanted to flood us with numbers. It was pointless.
We slaughtered dozens of them, easily over a hundred, until the crystals piled up and the last dog was gutted by Will's sword.
- That was... strange. Why the hell did they do that? Peter?
- I think something is controlling them...
- The boss?
- Probably. Let's grab the stones, and move further. It got me very curious...
Will smiled while looking at me.
- You are really weird, you know, Peter?
- Yeah. I know.
We picked up the crystals and started to push further. Maybe after around an hour strange growling from the darkness ahead, just in front, made us stop. Slowly a large, black wolf emerged into the torchlight. After him, another one, and another. They were almost as tall as me when still standing on all fours.
- Fuck... - said will.
- Yeah - I quickly agreed.
That was all the conversation, cause they jumped at us, and even more kept emerging. We just slashed them midair, cutting them open, and dodging to the side, to avoid their teeth. There were no stops in our movements. We kept dancing as they kept coming, snapping their jaws aiming for our necks, but couldn't reach. Their claws on the other hand could, but those weren't that sharp, and although it was painful, when those scratched my skin, there was almost no damage. It was more like a heavy punch. Even the armors were enough to withstand those with only a bit of damage.
Will got some problems, but with my help also came out of that assault unharmed. For a good measure, I used one heal on him.
- Damn. Those were almost like horses - he said.
- Yeah. Let's pick crystals, and keep moving.
We did so, gathering nice pail on the cart, then we pushed on, but just for a bit, since another group of those giant wolfs charged at us from the darkness. Those stops repeated themselves a few more times and finally stopped. We made it just a bit further and decided to take a break for some food.
- Damn. This place is hudge - said will, as he was munching on a piece of bread.
- Yeah.
- Do you think this is even the right tunnel? It's been going on, and on, and on.
- Maybe. Only one way to find out.
- Yeah. You know what? Let's keep moving. I don't want to spend the night here.
- Ok. Let's go.
Another couple of minutes of walking made us reach the end. There was no boss, but two smaller breeds of wolves. All black, with two long stripes of red coming from their eyes all the way to the back legs. We noticed them pretty late. They weren't growling and didn't even charge at us, just slowly got up.
Then there was a blur and I had open jaws right before my face. At the last moment I dodged, and the animal just scratched my torso with his claws. Will managed to block his one with the sword, dropping his torch. Wolf just bit the blade, and then almost ripped it off Will's hands.
I quickly enhanced myself and the weapon with ki, but the dog was already on the move. Another blur and it almost got my leg, but this time I managed to cut its side. Blood sprayed in the air, although there was no groan of pain. The wolf just retreated with unbelievable speed.
- A bit of help! - shouted Will.
He was weaponless, facing his opponent slowly walking to the side, like it wanted to find just the right angle, to hip my friend's throat open. I rushed at the same time as the wolf, dropping my torch, and pudao. It almost managed to sink teeth in Will's face, but he caught those jaws at the last moment, and I punched the wolf's side with all my might. Bones cracked, and the body flew thru the air like a ragdoll, just to hit the wall, and bounce of a bit, landing on the ground.
Then I felt fangs digging in my neck, and weight pressing on my back. I grabbed blindly behind me. My hand touched smooth fur, but I didn't care at the moment, and pushed, to bury my fingers as deep as possible, and just tore the dog off me, slamming it as hard as possible on the ground.
It was enough to kill.
- Fuck! You alright Peter? - asked Will. - You are bleeding. Fuck. You are bleeding from your neck!
His hands were covered in his own blood, but he only cared about me. I quickly used the heals on myself, to close those wounds. They were nasty, cause I ripped my own flesh open while pulling the wolf off.
- I'm fine. I can heal myself. What about you?
He showed me his palms, with holes after teeth, now filled with blood, dripping from the hands to the ground. I healed him, using the remaining bits of power.
- Thank you. Fuck... Let's go back. We need to prepare better for this.
He made few steps, to rest his weight on the cart.
- Ok... Didn't expect that.
- Yeah, and that's not even the boss of this place.
We picked ourselves up and started returning in hurry. It wasn't long until another pair of those strange animals blocked our path. They split to left and right, trying to surround us.
- I'll take care of them, you just bolt, ok Will?
- They will fucking get me before I manage to do two steps.
- They won't. Trust me. Just run with the cart as fast as you can. They will keep coming after us from all over this place, and who the fuck knows how many of them is here. If you have to, ditch the cart.
- Ok. Just don't fucking die, Peter...
- Yeah, yeah. Go - I said while dropping the torch.
And he bolted with full speed, pulling the cart. One of the wolves rushed after, while the other jumped on me. I put a barrier in front of the one chasing Will, and it just slammed into an invisible wall. The other tried to bite my head off, but I was ready. I ducked a bit, and uppercut it, straight into the stomach with my left hand, then finished off with a clean slash.
The second one was already in midair, but I turned, allowing it to only got me with its claws. That wasn't enough. It landed swiftly and turned around with unbelievable speed. But I wasn't wasting time either, and already rushed ahead, to catch it while still of the guard. Wolf dodged my strike, and I almost broke the blade on the rocks. Fortunately, ki made it hard enough, to endure. In a shower of sparks, the dog used its chance, to bite my hand, but I still had that bracer with the barrier on it, so there was almost no damage.
It tried to pull me but I was actually stronger and resisted. Dropped the pudao, and punched it right to the head. Skull cracked. I didn't even try to pick up the crystal and just ran. Ran at full speed.
Will's light could still be seen furder ahead. He was on the move. Slower than me, because of the cart, but still very fast. The noise of more wolves gathering behind, chasing us caught my ear.
We ran for a long time. I eventually caught my friend and the dogs retreated. Noises of their claws on the rocky floor just stopped. We made it all the way to the exit without stopping.
- Fu-uck! - Will was panting heavly.
- Couldn't put it better myself. That was dangerous.
- No shit, Peter, no shit! We are not coming back here for a while!
- Yeah. Hop on the cart. I'll pull you.
He didn't protest, and we started to head back to the city. Will was almost out of gas, I on the other hand felt pretty fell. My stamina was unbelievable.
- So, what's the plan now? This place is too hard.
- I don't know Will. Maybe we should go for rats, and boost ourselves with crystals? I would love to go back to the canyon, but I need to be around in case they find Blue. I fucking hate this situation.
- Yeah. It's bad.
- Sometimes I wish those damn problems would just vanish. Why does it have to be us? Why do we need to bear all of this mess? I never asked for this!
- Ok, ok! Calm down. Don't fall apart on me here, ok? We will fucking deal with this Peter. You are not alone.
- I know. I'm just... Tired? It feels like it's all on my head. I feel responsible for Blue, you know... I had him. I fucking had him and could slit his throat. He deserved that.
- Damn, Peter... It's not your fault he escaped. And not your responsibility to deal with him. He is a murderer, and we should deal with people like that as a whole. As a community.
- Problem is most people just want to care about their businesses, and when shit explodes, they just wish for a superhero to appear, and clean it for them.
- Just relax. Tomorrow let's go hunting rats in the nest, ok? We will split the crystals, and get you a new and shiny class point. I have an idea...
- What?
- Let's boost you up, and then return. You are gonna beat the wolf boss, and I will finish it off. It should work, shouldn't it?
- Maybe. I don't know. We can try, but what if it won't work?
- Then fuck it. We will aim for the orcs then, or maybe find somebody else to spawn goblin boss for me.
- Ok. It's your call anyway.
When we made it finally to the city, it was already pretty damn late. We split 535 stones. I let Will had the one that remained and sold my score for 66 750 points. I was nowhere close to having enough for manual, so I didn't upgrade myself, trying to save the whole ten million.
We both bought some food, beers, and returned to Will's room, to talk a bit more, and call it a day.
The day ended with 2 319 557 points remaining on my account.
I woke up, and immediately went to pat Will, so he would also get up. We had much work to do.
He wasn't pleased, and just rolled off his bed, and landed heavily on the floor.
- Damn... You ok?
The only answer was a groan, which made me chuckle a bit. I left him, to grab some food. The city center was full of people, hunters preparing to go into the woods, craftsmen striking deals on the sides, to not block the way to the device, and also people just hanging around, observing, sharing rumors. Maybe even spying. I saw few familiar faces. Nobuo, Mbeki, and Bulgarians were there.
We shared brief greetings and went our separate ways. They had their places in line, I didn't. Today wasn't about the speed to earn as many crystals as we could, but about making it all the way to the wolf boss. I was wondering if Will could beat it. There was a chance the boss would be too strong even for both of us. What then? Could we escape it?
If there would be a door, then maybe we could hold it. The problem was wolves were different. I just couldn't think why there would a door to the boss in a wolf's den. On the other hand, this place sometimes just ignored logic. If you looked close enough you could see those small things.
There was also that strange silver-haired. If it was really controlled by the boss, then he for sure had to be an intelligent creature. Question was, how intelligent.
- What you are thinking about? - Will's voice suddenly pulled me back to reality.
- About our hunt today.
- Oh, and? Did you make some kind of plan or something?
- No. I'm still thinking about that strange wolf from yesterday.
- Oh, yeah. It was really creepy. We should have killed it.
- Maybe.
He just shook his head.
- Are you gonna stand in line, or I should do it?
- I'll go.
He just gave me a nod and went to have a sit on the cart. I on the other hand went to the end of the line. It took a few long minutes until we finally were able to buy. I got a new pudao and some food. Will took a spare sword, some provisions, torches, and a bit of cotton.
With it all packed on the cart, we departed, and a few hours later were crossing the wolf's territory. It was definitely cleared by others because we didn't encounter any creature. Howling still could be heard very well around us, from multiple places.
I even stopped for a moment to listen. Putting my hand on the poplar trunk, feeling the bark with the tips of my fingers. The tree shouldn't really be growing in such a hot climate, but in this world it was.
- Let's go - Will said, probably because I wasn't moving for too long.
- Yeah.
And we kept pushing on, all the way to the cave. Finally encountering few wolves close to the entrance. We dealt with them swiftly, collected the crystals, and then proceeded to light up our torches.
The inside looked just as scary as yesterday with the stalactites and stalagmites sticking out just as animal fangs. Like the whole thing was gonna bite us, and then swallow up. Scary but on the other side exciting.
I tried to look for our silver-haired friend, but there were only tunnels splitting up into more, and more. Darkness, the sound of water dripping down to crash on the rocky floor, and distant howling, mixed with occasional growls.
- I hate this place - Will mumbled under his breath, but I heard him.
- Let's keep going.
We only walked for couple more minutes, when the sudden silence went thru the cave. There was only the sound of water we could hear.
- They noticed us - Will whispered.
I agreed but didn't respond. Instead, focusing on my sense of hearing, trying to catch the sound of their paws, and nails hitting the rocky floor.
- Can you hear them? - Will asked after taking a peek at me, and figuring out what I was doing.
- No - as I was saying those words, I finally heard something.
Even though, it was too late. They started to come from every direction. Like they were actually prepared for our invasion after what happened yesterday. It was unlike them. They usually were more careful, but now they just wanted to flood us with numbers. It was pointless.
We slaughtered dozens of them, easily over a hundred, until the crystals piled up and the last dog was gutted by Will's sword.
- That was... strange. Why the hell did they do that? Peter?
- I think something is controlling them...
- The boss?
- Probably. Let's grab the stones, and move further. It got me very curious...
Will smiled while looking at me.
- You are really weird, you know, Peter?
- Yeah. I know.
We picked up the crystals and started to push further. Maybe after around an hour strange growling from the darkness ahead, just in front, made us stop. Slowly a large, black wolf emerged into the torchlight. After him, another one, and another. They were almost as tall as me when still standing on all fours.
- Fuck... - said will.
- Yeah - I quickly agreed.
That was all the conversation, cause they jumped at us, and even more kept emerging. We just slashed them midair, cutting them open, and dodging to the side, to avoid their teeth. There were no stops in our movements. We kept dancing as they kept coming, snapping their jaws aiming for our necks, but couldn't reach. Their claws on the other hand could, but those weren't that sharp, and although it was painful, when those scratched my skin, there was almost no damage. It was more like a heavy punch. Even the armors were enough to withstand those with only a bit of damage.
Will got some problems, but with my help also came out of that assault unharmed. For a good measure, I used one heal on him.
- Damn. Those were almost like horses - he said.
- Yeah. Let's pick crystals, and keep moving.
We did so, gathering nice pail on the cart, then we pushed on, but just for a bit, since another group of those giant wolfs charged at us from the darkness. Those stops repeated themselves a few more times and finally stopped. We made it just a bit further and decided to take a break for some food.
- Damn. This place is hudge - said will, as he was munching on a piece of bread.
- Yeah.
- Do you think this is even the right tunnel? It's been going on, and on, and on.
- Maybe. Only one way to find out.
- Yeah. You know what? Let's keep moving. I don't want to spend the night here.
- Ok. Let's go.
Another couple of minutes of walking made us reach the end. There was no boss, but two smaller breeds of wolves. All black, with two long stripes of red coming from their eyes all the way to the back legs. We noticed them pretty late. They weren't growling and didn't even charge at us, just slowly got up.
Then there was a blur and I had open jaws right before my face. At the last moment I dodged, and the animal just scratched my torso with his claws. Will managed to block his one with the sword, dropping his torch. Wolf just bit the blade, and then almost ripped it off Will's hands.
I quickly enhanced myself and the weapon with ki, but the dog was already on the move. Another blur and it almost got my leg, but this time I managed to cut its side. Blood sprayed in the air, although there was no groan of pain. The wolf just retreated with unbelievable speed.
- A bit of help! - shouted Will.
He was weaponless, facing his opponent slowly walking to the side, like it wanted to find just the right angle, to hip my friend's throat open. I rushed at the same time as the wolf, dropping my torch, and pudao. It almost managed to sink teeth in Will's face, but he caught those jaws at the last moment, and I punched the wolf's side with all my might. Bones cracked, and the body flew thru the air like a ragdoll, just to hit the wall, and bounce of a bit, landing on the ground.
Then I felt fangs digging in my neck, and weight pressing on my back. I grabbed blindly behind me. My hand touched smooth fur, but I didn't care at the moment, and pushed, to bury my fingers as deep as possible, and just tore the dog off me, slamming it as hard as possible on the ground.
It was enough to kill.
- Fuck! You alright Peter? - asked Will. - You are bleeding. Fuck. You are bleeding from your neck!
His hands were covered in his own blood, but he only cared about me. I quickly used the heals on myself, to close those wounds. They were nasty, cause I ripped my own flesh open while pulling the wolf off.
- I'm fine. I can heal myself. What about you?
He showed me his palms, with holes after teeth, now filled with blood, dripping from the hands to the ground. I healed him, using the remaining bits of power.
- Thank you. Fuck... Let's go back. We need to prepare better for this.
He made few steps, to rest his weight on the cart.
- Ok... Didn't expect that.
- Yeah, and that's not even the boss of this place.
We picked ourselves up and started returning in hurry. It wasn't long until another pair of those strange animals blocked our path. They split to left and right, trying to surround us.
- I'll take care of them, you just bolt, ok Will?
- They will fucking get me before I manage to do two steps.
- They won't. Trust me. Just run with the cart as fast as you can. They will keep coming after us from all over this place, and who the fuck knows how many of them is here. If you have to, ditch the cart.
- Ok. Just don't fucking die, Peter...
- Yeah, yeah. Go - I said while dropping the torch.
And he bolted with full speed, pulling the cart. One of the wolves rushed after, while the other jumped on me. I put a barrier in front of the one chasing Will, and it just slammed into an invisible wall. The other tried to bite my head off, but I was ready. I ducked a bit, and uppercut it, straight into the stomach with my left hand, then finished off with a clean slash.
The second one was already in midair, but I turned, allowing it to only got me with its claws. That wasn't enough. It landed swiftly and turned around with unbelievable speed. But I wasn't wasting time either, and already rushed ahead, to catch it while still of the guard. Wolf dodged my strike, and I almost broke the blade on the rocks. Fortunately, ki made it hard enough, to endure. In a shower of sparks, the dog used its chance, to bite my hand, but I still had that bracer with the barrier on it, so there was almost no damage.
It tried to pull me but I was actually stronger and resisted. Dropped the pudao, and punched it right to the head. Skull cracked. I didn't even try to pick up the crystal and just ran. Ran at full speed.
Will's light could still be seen furder ahead. He was on the move. Slower than me, because of the cart, but still very fast. The noise of more wolves gathering behind, chasing us caught my ear.
We ran for a long time. I eventually caught my friend and the dogs retreated. Noises of their claws on the rocky floor just stopped. We made it all the way to the exit without stopping.
- Fu-uck! - Will was panting heavly.
- Couldn't put it better myself. That was dangerous.
- No shit, Peter, no shit! We are not coming back here for a while!
- Yeah. Hop on the cart. I'll pull you.
He didn't protest, and we started to head back to the city. Will was almost out of gas, I on the other hand felt pretty fell. My stamina was unbelievable.
- So, what's the plan now? This place is too hard.
- I don't know Will. Maybe we should go for rats, and boost ourselves with crystals? I would love to go back to the canyon, but I need to be around in case they find Blue. I fucking hate this situation.
- Yeah. It's bad.
- Sometimes I wish those damn problems would just vanish. Why does it have to be us? Why do we need to bear all of this mess? I never asked for this!
- Ok, ok! Calm down. Don't fall apart on me here, ok? We will fucking deal with this Peter. You are not alone.
- I know. I'm just... Tired? It feels like it's all on my head. I feel responsible for Blue, you know... I had him. I fucking had him and could slit his throat. He deserved that.
- Damn, Peter... It's not your fault he escaped. And not your responsibility to deal with him. He is a murderer, and we should deal with people like that as a whole. As a community.
- Problem is most people just want to care about their businesses, and when shit explodes, they just wish for a superhero to appear, and clean it for them.
- Just relax. Tomorrow let's go hunting rats in the nest, ok? We will split the crystals, and get you a new and shiny class point. I have an idea...
- What?
- Let's boost you up, and then return. You are gonna beat the wolf boss, and I will finish it off. It should work, shouldn't it?
- Maybe. I don't know. We can try, but what if it won't work?
- Then fuck it. We will aim for the orcs then, or maybe find somebody else to spawn goblin boss for me.
- Ok. It's your call anyway.
When we made it finally to the city, it was already pretty damn late. We split 535 stones. I let Will had the one that remained and sold my score for 66 750 points. I was nowhere close to having enough for manual, so I didn't upgrade myself, trying to save the whole ten million.
We both bought some food, beers, and returned to Will's room, to talk a bit more, and call it a day.
The day ended with 2 319 557 points remaining on my account.
