030 Kill or be Killed
It was as if the world froze; every single player froze in their tracks. Some of those who were out in the zones died due to being shocked by the announcement.
Players flooded to the forums to talk about the global announcement. The forum moderators once again had a headache. They locked down the forums to only allow discussions on a megathread they created. They didn't want to spend hours cleaning up the forums like last time.
**** Dev HQ ****
"Sir! Flags #A01-G50 and #K84-H12 were activated!" reported a frantic junior developer.
Doug, and all the other game masters, were just staring at the monitors in front of them. They were captivated by the fight that James and Mercury just completed.
"Sir?" repeated the junior developer.
"We know, we watched every second of it." his superior, Tom, replied.
"Sorry sir, I will head back to keep monitoring the systems." the junior developer ran off.
"Reaper jumped up to level 24 and Blaise jumped to level 23. It won't be long until dungeons are unlocked. Based on what we just saw I would guess that they can duo the first dungeon's normal mode…" fretted Keith, the lead dungeon designer.
Doug felt a massive migraine instantly wash over him. He sat forward with his elbows on his knees and started to think.
"The situation is out of our hands now" Doug sighed. "The system deemed it a historical event, as it should have, and triggered the bonus experience event. They will definitely reach level 25 by the end of the day."
The event designer, Jake, made a comment that got everyone's attention, "They are close to the City of Ruin. They already triggered the event by running into the Devil's Ivy. They might be able to enter the city which will give them access to the Forge. If they do, they will be unstoppable at the current state of the game."
Keith was confused, "I thought the Forge project was discontinued when we started creating dungeons?"
Tom felt guilty, "I reopened that project; you and Jake's teams already did the work so it would have been a waste not to implement it live." He peered at the monitors again. "We did tweak it though. However, if it is those two they will manage. We have to pray they don't get into that city."
"Jake, what are the requirements for the event they started?" Doug questioned.
"Well, " he paused to think, "They would have needed to pick a side between the Ivy and the Centurion Hunter. After they picked a side," he stretched and emphasized his next two words, "-would have- battled alongside one of the bosses to defeat the other. If they protected their chosen boss the event would be completed. The rewards would differ between the two sides. If they choose the Ivy plant they would have received an item that would give a quest for a hidden class, while the Centurion would give them access to the City of Ruin. Since they killed the Ivy by themselves they would automatically win over the Centurion and get access to the City anyway..."
The room's mood dropped, the game was not going in the direction they thought it would. A single pair of players just completed an activity that should have required between 80-100 players at the current state of the game. The power creep was too strong with the hidden classes.
"We can only sit, watch, and pray that things improve for us." Doug slouched back into his seat. The other game masters followed suit.
**** Lake Side ****
Both Mercury and himself leveled up quite a bit after killing the boss. He received the most experience points to date..
* Ding *
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Player has gained 54,485 base experience points.
Player has received an extra 20,000 experience points for killing the first ever boss!
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* Ding, Player leveled up to level 18. Gained 2 attribute points! *
* Ding, Player leveled up to level 19. Gained 2 attribute points! *
* Ding, Player leveled up to level 20. Gained 2 attribute points and 1 skill point! *
...
* Ding, Player leveled up to level 23. Gained 2 attribute points! *
He jumped up 6 levels and got 12 attribute points and a skill point! Mercury had jumped all the way to level 24 as well!.
James continued to get system notifications after his level messages came in. This time it was one able a new title, [It must be the one mentioned in the global announcement.]
* Ding*
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Title Gained
Name: Big Game Hunter
Effects:
1. 2% bonus damage to Boss tiered monsters
2. 5% bonus damage to violent and elite monsters.
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They both spent a little while going over the notifications they received while treading water. After they were done they hurried to get out of the water. So they quickly swam back to the shore and got out of the water.
They were excited, they received so much in return for their hard work. They looked at each other and then with a nod of their heads they walked over to the largest remains of the Devil's Ivy.
"Loot" commanded Mercury.
* Ding *
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Loot Style: Party Leader Distribution
Loot:
2 gold coins
2 Devil's Ivy Seeds (Unique)
1 Large Mana Crystal
1 Skillbook: Trapping Vines (Earth Mage)
1 Skillbook: Invigorate (Earth Mage)
First Kill Bonus:
1 Ancient Key (Unique)
1 Silver Key (Rare)
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"Wow, aren't you Mr. Lucky!" Mercury teased.
* Ding *
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Party leader has distributed the items,
Gained: 1 Gold Coin, 1 Devil's Ivy Seed, 1 Large Mana Crystal, 2 Skillbooks.
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James was displeased with the loot distribution, "This is not acceptable. The skillbooks alone are worth several gold coins each!"
The two continued to talk about the loot for some time.
* On the Westren Cliff Side *
Thirteen players were looking down at the gruesome battle scene. There were loose rocks, boulders, trees, decaying vines, withered leaves, and goo everywhere. With two people bickering back and forth.
"That was some battle those two put on." complemented a man in a traditional assassin's cloak.
Another man agreed, he was half visible and half covered in shadows. "Yes it was. It is safe to bet that those are Reaper and Blaise. The announcement went off just as the monster died."
Another assassin was eager, "Should we attack? They surely got some impressive loot!"
The only man who was not an assassin spoke up, "I don't think that would be wise."
The shadowy man looked at the robed man and was curious, "Why is that?"
"The hunter in the shadows to the north-east of us has been ready to strike since we got here," said the mage.
The eager assassin did not believe him, "Impossible, we are top grade assassins! We would have noticed someone's presence long ago."
The leader interrupted the eager man, "Delta, he is right. There is a man near the waterfall, he was here long before us. He was watching the fight until we arrived; he readied his weapon and has been prepared to strike us ever since."
Delta seemed to have understood something, "Is that why you told us just to sit and watch?"
The leader acknowledged Delta's correct statement. "It is safe to assume that whoever is in the shadows is very strong; it is not common to be able to maintain such a high level of stealth for so long."
"I can see why you are the leader of this group of yours," praised the mage. "My contract time is nearly up. If you want to continue farming we better move on now."
One of the other assassins got upset, "What do you mean your contract is almost up! We hired you for 10 hours! It is not our fault you wanted to stop to watch the fight! You better reimburse us for the lost time!"
The leader stretched out his arm to cut off the angry assassin. "While I don't agree with how Gamma stated his opinion, I do agree with it. We can talk about new terms if you wish."
The robed man turned away from the canyon floor to look the leader in the eyes. "I am a busy man; Alexander from Solemn Sword has booked me for the remainder of the week. Do you really want to pick a fight with that man? You guys are new and just budding."
The leader was not happy about the hidden threat in his words. "I understand; let's move out."
The 11 other assassins unhappily followed their leaders and the mage followed behind. He took one last peak behind his back and looked at the side of the waterfall and smiled.
** Near the Waterfall **
The archer finally lowered his bow and relaxed his arms. He had held his position during the whole fight so his arms were tired. [Phew, any longer and I might have had to rest.]
He looked down at the duo, [I can't believe they actually pulled that off.]
He had been following them ever since the fight with Scarlet's group. He was nearby and saw the smoke cloud from the explosion. He nearly passed out when he took his spyglass out to examine the massive plant when it first appeared. [A bronze tiered Boss, huh? While it is the lowest tier boss, it would have been impossible for anyone but those two.]
**** At the canyon floor ****
After much compromise the two finally found an agreement. The two bickered like a married couple for several minutes to reach this point.
"I will accept everything you gave me. In return, we will split the gold from the skillbooks 60/40. 60 for you and 40 for me. The buy must be in person and they must let me watch them cast the spells a few times. I can't learn them directly but I can recreate them later on. The Invigorate skill is priceless for earth mages."
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Name: Invigorate
Level: 1
Grade: Rare
Function: Roots form at the user's feet rooting them in-place, while rooted the player is healed periodically.
Skill Information:
[Active]: Summons healing roots from the ground. Player is held in place either until the skill ends or the player moves. While rooted to the ground, the user gains 10 HP every two seconds for 40 seconds.
Costs: Active - drains 15 mana per second
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Mercury agreed to James's proposal, "Deal! As for the keys, we will wait and see."
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Name: Ancient Key
Grade: Unique
Function: Unlocks a hidden city.
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.
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Name: Silver Key
Grade: Rare
Function: Unlocks any silver chests, limited to one use only.
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The ground was shaking the entire time they were talking about the description of the loot. The shaking and the rumbling noise got louder and louder.
They both looked towards the cave entrance and small debris started to fall within the cave. The rumbling sounds turned into the sounds of heavy footsteps.
Mercury was worried, "Footsteps? They sound heavy."
Then, they saw something block the cave's entrance.
* Shatter *
The cave entrance was destroyed and a massive humanoid creature appeared. It held a massive bow in its left hand and had a quiver of large arrows slung across its back. There was a black dagger attached to one of its calves.
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Centurion Hunter (Event)
Grade: Silver Boss
Level: 40
Hp: 150,000/150,000
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Mercury's, James's, and the hunter's jaws dropped and eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Another boss! This time it was much stronger!
It looked furious! "Behr bei jeer lue balaster nue serf!" It roared!
Mercury was spooked, "Is it talking?!"
James recognized the language. He read about it in one of the books from the library! "He is speaking Der'hims! The ancient language of Centurions!"
James took a second to translate, "He is asking where his prey went!"
"His prey? The Ivy?!" Mercury had a bad feeling. "Can you communicate with it?"
"Not well." He took a step closer to the Hunter. "Krilis, dead". James responded.
"You know of Der'hims, human?" The Centurion used human speech.
James tried to keep his cool. If what he read was right, Centurions treated the hunt as a holy activity and a right of passage for several things. "I read about it in an old book."
The Centurion gripped it's bow harder, "Look at what you've done to the Devil's plant. It is ruined." it fumed.
James looked around in panic. "He had no choice; it was kill or be killed."
James knew that his last sentence would provoke a response from the Centurion. It was their life motto.
It fell for James's manipulation, "Human is right, if you are weak you are killed but if you are strong you kill."
Mercury looked at James with hopeful eyes. She saw that James knew how to reason with it.
"Murk'ull de funzu alaku bei krilis. Just as you shall die, humans" it spat out.
Their hope was dashed, especially when they saw a notification from the system.
* Ding *
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Your party interrupted the event miniquest - "Kill or be Killed"
The event will disappear and the surviving boss will become enraged.
Failure penalty will not activate.
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The Centurion became enraged! "I needed the stock from the Devil's grass to cure my wife. She was poisoned. You ruined the plant and must pay for my wife's death."
A blood red aura formed over the Centurion. It grew in size and it's stats increased.
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Enraged Centurion Hunter
Grade: Gold Boss
Level: 85
Hp: 450,000/450,000
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The Centurion pulled an arrow from behind its back and drew its bow. Just as it was about to fire on Mercury and James a rouge arrow hit the top of the Centurion's bow and caused its arrow to miss the duo.
They looked just behind them and a large crater was formed from the impact of the arrow the Centurion fired. They looked towards where the rogue arrow came from and there was a person falling down the cliff by the waterfall.
[Fleeing Shot]
The person shot another arrow mid-freefall. The Centurion used its massive fist and smashed the arrow into splinters. "Damn bug!" It had aimed and fired an arrow at the falling person but missed.
The skill the person used caused the falling person to move backwards. They flew into the waterfall and disappeared.
Losing its target the Centurion turned back to the duo, who had started running towards the water. They knew the lake ran deep and hoped they would find somewhere to hide.
They jumped into the water and swam downward. Hoping that the deeper they went the less accurate the arrows were once they entered the lake.
When they reached the halfway mark they saw the mystery person waving them to come over. They didn't think twice and quickly swam over. They passed under turbulent water and dodged sharp rocks to get there.
They both recognized the person that they were up and personal with, it was Talon! Talon started to swim to the surface and the two followed.
They all surfaced one after another. But before anyone could speak Talon put a finger up to his mouth to indicate to them to be quiet. He then pointed to the cave's shore.
What they found themselves in was a hidden cave inside the waterfall. Talon found it when it launched himself into the waterfall. Initially his back hit a rock wall but when he fell into the water there was an opening at the bottom.
They quietly moved deeper into the cave until they felt it was safe to talk.
"I thought I scared you away earlier." Mercury was the first to talk.
Talon proceeded to toss her a throwing dagger to Mercury, "Here is your dagger back. I did receive your message and left. The explosion, however, made me want to investigate."
Talon turned to James, "Who knew you would butt heads with Oblivion as a solo player." He looked at Mercury right after then continued, "or should I say as a duo?" he teased Mercury.
* Shing *
Mercury's axe blade was pressing against Talon's neck, "You will keep everything you saw to yourself, got it?"
James lightly touched Mercury's shoulder and shook his head in disagreement. "Let's not fight, he did help up after all."
"Humph! He is more like a stocker. Why does it seem like he is following you around? You mentioned that he helped you out when you just started, no?"
Talon was laughing, "I just find him entertaining is all. He has caused so much trouble already."
James wanted to get more serious due to the situation they found themselves in. "I don't know if the Centurion will be smart enough to figure that the waterfall doesn't really have a wall behind it. We need to figure out where the cave leads."
He then started walking deeper into the cave. Mercury and Talon just looked at each other, then Mercury shrugged her shoulders and ran in front of James. She didn't forget to put on a sultry walk to tease James with.
Talon had no end to his surprise, no matter how much he saw he could not believe he was seeing this side of Reaper, [Just what on earth is going through her head…]
He knew he didn't have the same liberty as James so he didn't pay attention to Mercury and looked around the cave as they went.