Cultivation

The guardian of Mikado was a massive beast. A three headed wolf, black as night, its shaggy thick fur was matted and mangled, the body of the wolf both muscular to the extreme and emaciated looking, bones twisted at deformed angles as it rested on its hind legs. Its arms were thick and corded like a human, the ends in thick claws. On its hind legs it looked like it reached ten feet tall. The three heads were wide eyed and blood-shot. The jaws gaping with saber-like fangs protruding at all angles from the lips. Blood and saliva dripped from the menacing fangs. His eyes were deep and black, soulless, you could see no iris. Like a demon. In its right arm the beast carried a large whip, the whip had barbed spikes littered throughout the chain. The barbs each looked like the end of a morning star.

I shivered as I gazed at the image. The grotesque nature of the beast obvious for all to see. Vane's gaze was narrowed, fixated on the image. His brow furrowed. He looked up to Axel.

"What do we know?��� He asked. Axel stroked his chin in thought.

"We know recommended level is 35. His attack style is extreme aggression, attacks in circular patterns. His general swing with the whip has been enough to wipe whole parties. We figure our best bet of attack is to go in with a large force, as many brute force DPS and healers as we can muster, and several tanks to draw his aggro." He began.

"What does the pattern change once he reaches half health?" I asked, noting the common tendency for bosses to change aggression tactics when their health is lowered. Axel stared up at me.

"That we don't know. Those few who survived didn't publish on the experience. Right now, we are grinding levels and recruiting until we reach a place where we can attack." Axel gestured to Lan, who was standing halfway across the room.

"Lan is our lead tank; he will be commanding the assault force." Lan wandered over at the gesture of Axel, joining our group standing in a circle around the image. A few of the inner circle members had meandered over and were listening as well.

"We need to train up our members before we think of attempting the boss. Many are level 30, but we're going to farm missions and enemies in the fields until we reach our goal." Lan spoke up, rubbing the back of his neck. "We're going to need each of you to lead a squad out to train in groups."

I blanched. Lead a group? I was a solo fighter. I wasn't used to being in command of a unit, let alone even collaborating with people. I looked to Vane, he nodded at Lan.

"We'll do it. There are monsters in the Western flower fields, we can take them down if we're in units." I snorted. The beasts in the fields I could probably slaughter on my own.

"We plan to start assembling groups in the next week. We'll notify you when we're ready to begin. We'll start a daily regimen." Lan explained. We both nodded.

"We're going to take down the guardian." Vane asserted. And then, we'll take down you. I left unspoken.

A week later we were scattered in our groups, patrolling the woods beyond the boundaries of Mikado city. I trudged forward, through the dense bed of flowers. A group of five Scythes surrounded me. I had three men and two women. The men were a mix of bow users, one magic user, and a swordsman, and of the two women, one was a magic healer and the other also a swordswoman using a rapier. Seeing the rapier made me miss Aine, yet she was wandering around Mikado completing various quests to raise her level. We had decided it was best to keep her away from this crowd.

Sticks crunched beneath my thick black boots; the breeze gently filtered through the trees. It was quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I stepped forward and signalled those behind me to follow suit. A cracking sounded in the bushes far away, I placed a finger to my lips to signal the group to be quiet. I edged around a close group of oak trees. As I rounded the group of trees, I could see the bushes rustling. A large porcine figure that stood over six feet tall, was gnawing at the shredded corpse of an animal on the ground. My gag reflex triggered, and I had to swallow down bile.

I signalled to the male magic user, he nodded and held his arms aloft, gripping his wooden, intricately carved, staff in his right hand. He began chanting softly, a blue mist crept along the forest floor, licking and eating at the leaves and grass along the way, it circled around the feet of the porcine figure. The figure was muscular, with a pig snout and boar-like tusks that protruded from his face. A thick mop of hair sprouted from the top of his head, and it was dressed in leather battle gear. A large axe was gripped in its left hand, it shook as he gobbled up meat. The blue mist completely surrounded the figure. Suddenly it froze. It started to struggle against invisible bonds.

Taking the few second advantage, I launched. Lifting my sword above my head I hacked downward, slicing into the shoulder of the Orc. The Orc screamed and snarled, its tusks dripping with hot saliva. Snot covered its pig-nose. The attack broke the spell locking it in place and it reached for its axe, running forward in a frenzied motion. The bow users knocked their arrows, and the other swords man and woman raised their blades and set into a fighting stance.

The archers launched their arrows at the charging Orc, a few pierced his armour and he slowed, but never stalled. He raised his axe and brought it in a sideways arc toward me. I stopped it with the flat side of my blade, struggling against the surprising strength of the creature. The swords man and woman rounded behind the orc, slashing in time to strike at its back. The beast arched forward, and blood dripped from its wounds. I broke away and jumped back, spinning and slashing. My blade struck the side of the Orc's neck. Its head severed from its shoulders and fell to the ground in a spray of blood. Breathing heavily, I stepped back and sheathed my sword.

"Nice strike!" Eric, the male archer called out. He raised his hand for a high-five. I smiled and smacked his hand briefly. The group began chattering amongst themselves, high fiving and congratulating. A noise like chanting and grunting sounded in the distance. I raised my hand to silence the group.

I gestured for them to follow me and wound us further into the dense trees. We continued our march forward for a way until I broke through the other end of the tree line. The sight before us stopped me in my tracks.

Before us, across the vast flower fields on the other sides of the forest surrounding Mikado, a legion of Orcs rallied, marching across the landscape and trampling flowers beneath their feet. They all held weapons, spears, lances, swords, axes. They snarled and frenzied, struggling to walk in a solid formation. The others stopped as they approached next to me.

"What on Earth…?" Eric trailed off.

"God help us all." I whispered.