End Online: Volume 2 (9 page)

The minor goblins immediately slash the image, watching it
disappear as if it was never there before spotting me soaring over them. I
am passing over Grigor by the time he notices, which is too late for him
to respond with an attack before I pass by.

Except, Grigor proved to be surprisingly dexterous and
agile. Leaning backwards, he swung the oversized cudgel at me as I am
directly above him. Swatted like an insect, I flew across the cavern and into
the wall, my health flashing red and five seconds of being dazed left me in a
critical condition. 

When the daze effect is lifted, I only have seconds before
the goblins reach where I landed. 

Fen was doing a good job at flanking the enemy and picking off
the minor goblins with her ice bolts, but they were all already caught under my
'aggro', and would only attack me.

Opening my inventory I quickly grab a handful of green medicinal
herbs, stuffing them in my mouth before escaping from the approaching goblins.
My entire body feels like it’s about to collapse but I manage to keep my
distance while my health slowly recovers. In the end I barely manage to recover
a third of my health. 

'If I had known I would be fighting a boss, I would have
prepared potions beforehand! Even if they taste disgusting.'

The rest of the minor goblins are already finished by Fen, and
she starts launching various ice attacks at Grigor. The boss however seems to
shrug off her attacks, most of them not even penetrating its skin.

The boss's health drops by about twenty percent from Fen's
entire onslaught. But it is already close enough to strike me, launching
another earth shattering sacred art at me. 

"Back Stab!" I don't have any time to think, nor can I
concentrate enough to do a silent activation. I transport behind Grigor,
narrowly escaping the attack by using the entirety of the stamina I had
recovered.

Not wasting the opportunity, I stab both of my swords overhead
and into the centre of the boss's back. It may have been wearing armour, but
striking any defensive equipment other than a shield is the same as striking
the body.

My attack cuts sharply into its back, critical damage removing a
further fifteen percent of its health. The cudgel comes swinging around along
with the rest of the boss, but I had already witnessed how quick it could move
and would not be falling prey to it again.

I narrowly escape the blow, the wind pressure does a little
damage and blows me back a couple of meters further than I had intended. But I
would call the attack successfully dodged.

The 'aggro' effect on Grigor all of a sudden wore off and he
turned his attention towards the little white wolf, completely out of magic,
dashing back and forth slashing at his ankles.

Pointing the cudgel at the ground, A red glow signalled a sacred
art. 

"Fen! Get away from there!" Panicking, I shout out to
the wolf, trying to warn her.

But my warning came too late. Driving the cudgel into the
ground like a tombstone, a shockwave buffeted the room. I was far enough away
and even I took damage. Fen, who was much closer to the origin of the force,
gets blown away, lying limply on the ground ten meters away.

"FEN!" I run over as fast as I can, any blow that
could launch something weighing over two thousand pounds was sure to cause
serious damage.

Through the party window on the side of my vision, I could see
Fen was not dead, but that attack immediately had put her in a near critical
state. There was also a strange icon I had not seen before flashing next to her
name. Judging from her not moving and the icon, I will assume that it means she
is unconscious right now.

Consuming a few more herbs, I rush at the boss. Any afterimage I
had gets dismissed when I land an attack but it only takes me a moment to leave
another one and escape its attacks. I may be acting reckless, but there was no
timer on Fen's negative status effect and I could not possibly pick up her
enormous weight and move her to safety. 

The only method to keep her safe right now was to get the boss's
attention, hoping I will be able to 'aggro' it again.

However, Grigor is still intent on attacking Fen, barely even
swinging his weapon at me. With forty percent health left the boss was
getting closer to the wolf step by step.  

Glancing at my health, the herbs have recovered enough that I
should be able to take an ordinary swing or two from its club. But if it uses a
sacred art it is all over.

I don't want to lose Fen! Despite everything, she has been
the best partner to have.

My health is low, the same as my hunger and thirst bars. My
entire body right now feels heavy and exhausted, as if there was a great
weight on my shoulders. 

Pushing myself to move as fast as I can manage, I appear in
front of the boss. My first strike is a critical hit along his throat, but the
subsequent moves were random hacks to anything I could reach. I was getting to
the point where I could no longer leave afterimages from my speed alone.

Grigor's eyes shift to me. Good! I have his attention and
probably 'aggro' now. He suddenly grips his weapon in both hands, the club
emitting the red hue of a sacred art!

'NO! I won't survive that!'

My entire mind goes in to panic mode. I instinctively resort to my
primal instinct to protect as much of myself as possible, crouching down as low
as I can and covering my head.

My weapons leave my hands as drop down, bringing my chest
to my knees with my hands protecting my head. 

I feel a strong wind pressure pass through me, rocking
me back and forth. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw that the attack had just
narrowly passed over my head.

If Grigor was any shorter I would have been doomed.

Jumping back, I started laughing like some evil genius who had
just defeated the hero. Not because I felt like I had won, but because some
crazy laugh was the only way to restrain my anxiety and stop my legs from
shaking.

This was a game, there was no gore, not much pain, yet right in
front of me I almost lost Fen forever.

I kept some distance now that the boss monster had the 'aggro'
status, leading it away from my downed companion.

With Fen out of danger, I start launching my high speed attacks
again, treating its defence like paper. I couldn’t create the
afterimage but I landed multiple critical hits, and barely received any damage
thanks to only striking as I pass by the boss, out of reach by the time it
could react.

Once Grigor's health reached five percent, he underwent a change
in his attacks. Swinging his club in a frenzy, I was taken by surprise at the
ferocity of it.

But the attack is not enough to finish me, as soon as the
cudgel came swinging in my direction the contest was over. The weapon
passed right through me, or at least, it passed right through a mirage of me.

While being surprised, I did not lose my composure. Silently
activating 'Back Stab' and using two swords, eradicate the
remainder of Grigor's health.

The massive goblin drops to his knees. Falling face first on the
ground and signifying the end of the battle. The corner of my view showing
notifications that I had gained a level. It said that five times.

Now that combat has finished, all of the dead bodies generated
loot boxes above their corpses, flooding the area. 

The most important look however was the boss’s. It dropped
twenty gold coins, its armour and fortunately the sword from its belt.
Bringing up the boots I garnered from the chest before the battle, I inspect all
the loot I gained.

What incredible equipment! But looking at the high requirements
for them showed that this dungeon was clearly meant for players much higher
levelled than me.    

I also take note of these two new materials that the equipment
is made of. Meridium appears to be a very stiff metal, quite strong but with a
low durability. Bronyx was clearly your heavy armour providing fantastic
defence that a tanker would wear, it even had a self-repair ability that
massively increased its value.

Truthfully, I have been a little concerned with money, the apple
sales have been great, but they barely payed for half of my expenses. I decide
to keep the sword and sell the other two pieces of equipment. I could not use
them anyway. 

Walking across to Fen, I see that she is still unconscious. I
think I may be able to wake her with cold water, but I have none left. Leaving
her till she wakes up on her own I lie down and rest myself.

I held my left hand up and inspect the back of it. Just like I
had heard, now that I was no longer under level 50, a black tattoo had shown
itself on the back of my palm.

A symbol of a wolf inside a circle, the mark that I belong to
the Kingdom of Glace.

My entire mind felt like it was still running on fumes. Mentally
I was ready to collapse, but the game forcibly kept me awake in consideration to
being inside a dungeon. Lying on the floor, my eyes are closed as I empty
myself of all thoughts. 

I don't know how much time passed, the entire experience seemed
to be out of focus from my exhaustion. 

A faint nudge on the side of my face revealed Fen, wide awake
and full sized. Standing up, there is a slight pain as my mind still seems to
be spinning from the high speed movements in battle.

"I'm glad to see you are okay Fen, that one was far too
close. I don't want to lose you, you know." I had a gentle touch to my
voice, all my past anxiety turning into relief and calmness inside of me.

The wolf glances down, regretting its carelessness. 

"Well it's time to go, let's shrink you down and-" I
was cut off by a voice speaking directly into my head

'Lost, are you there? I need help. I logged back on where I left
in the dungeon. I don't think I would be able to get out by myself and Sir
Laurence is currently offline.'

It was Verde! Back online finally after a week.

I was extremely unsure as to whether I should go and help or not
though. While I did want to apologise to her, I feel scared to face her again
after what I did.

'Please, Lost.'

'Don't worry. I am nearby and on my way.'

How could I possibly refuse her when she asks like that. 

"Fen," I address the wolf behind me, "There is a slight
change of plans. Verde is stuck in this dungeon so we are going to go escort
her outside along the way."

As I go to pull out a scroll of shrinking, a pair of slender
arms suddenly wrap around me, pinning my arms to my side and preventing me from
moving. My heart skips a beat, I can feel the body of the person behind me to
be about nearly my size, but my equipment prevents me from
discovering more.

Before I have time to react to the threat, a voice enters my
ear.

"Don't... Go to her. She is a liar. Let her die and just
stay with me..."

While Verde's voice was intoxicating. This crystal clear
voice is pervading, causing my whole body to react, and leaving a longing
to feel it again when it was gone.

Going from the events of me telling the wolf what we were doing
to this person behind me. It couldn't be.