Spiteful Healer-Chapter 333: Pent Up
Even with his stream turned off, word got around fast that Aegis was back in Rene. Darkshot, Trexon, Amlie, and Rakkan arrived as a group through a portal at the altar, catching Aegis on his way back to the Keep with Lina.
“Did ya see our prelims? We knocked it outta the park!” Darkshot cheered, his viewership count rising rapidly the moment Aegis was nearby.
Aegis shook his head. “Missed it.”
Rakkan nodded along. “Pretty sure everyone did, with that attack on Mikael going on.”
Darkshot let out a drawn-out grumble. “You guys suck.”
“We’ll watch the main matches. What island is the next gladiator tournament being hosted on?” Aegis asked.
“Savringard. Airship leaves in a bit, Ren, Sapphire, Miranda, and Herilon are already getting ready.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Lina said, drawing attention to herself. “Those big guilds teaming up on Non-VGN folks, and all…”
Darkshot waved his hand dismissively. “They ain't gonna mess with us. We’re only participating in the tournament, not trying to start some rebellion.”
Lina did not look so convinced.
“What are we going to do about it?” Rakkan turned to Aegis.
Aegis furled his eyebrows. “About what?”
“About Mikael and the Aegis Coalition getting imprisoned.”
“Oh…” Aegis scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. “Nothing? It doesn’t have much to do with us, right?” He saw the look of disappointment on Rakkan’s face and felt the need to continue. “Mikael and those guys will be fine, they’ll sort it out somehow. I’m busy with classes, so committing to anything like that is unrealistic for me now.”
They arrived in front of the Rene Keep. Aegis pushed open the front doors and led the others inside, through the main foyer, and into the large dining hall. It was filled with rows of enormous rectangular tables and chairs tucked in. A few servant NPCs moved about, performing routine maintenance, but they were otherwise alone.
Rakkan entered with his head lowered, considering Aegis’ response. “Yeah… sure, I guess you’re right.”
“You should tell him about what we found!” Amlie nudged Rakkan. He looked momentarily confused, but came around to what she was referring to quickly.
“Ah, yeah! Remember the ruins of Almerak we explored, with those fragments? We got ‘em all. It unlocked a big, high-level dungeon filled with ancient text scribbled on the walls.”
Trexon’s lizardfolk mouth grew into a toothy grin, nodding along with Rakkan’s words. “Yes, we’ll be delving into the dungeon soon. Quinn thinks there may be discoveries to be made. Rakkan and Amlie have already agreed to join. Would you like to tag along?” He asked Lina and Aegis.
Lina’s eyes sparkled with adventure, hopping with excitement. It made Aegis’ response all the harder to dole out.
“As I said, can’t commit. I know how long those raids can go. Don’t want to hop in and out,” he said. It was impossible not to see the dejected shift in Lina’s mood. “You should go with them, though,” he smiled at her.
She looked as though he’d said something completely unimaginable. “Without you?”
Aegis nodded. “You can’t stay at level 155 training Rene guards forever, right?”
“But what about you? You’ll fall behind us all in level!”
“I’ll manage. I’ve got a lot of advanced skills I need to work on,” he gently took her hand in his. “I’m not the same low-level priest I was when you found me in the Orm forest. I can handle stuff on my own. I’m a big boy now,” he pounded his chest playfully, getting a chuckle out of the others. He could tell Lina still wasn’t satisfied, though.
“Go and have fun. I’ve still got some things I need to figure out for myself,” he used the most reassuring tone he could.
She reluctantly nodded.
“Awesome!” Amlie cheered. It’ll be my first time in a party with you,” She took Lina’s hands and spun her around in a circle.
“Me as well,” Trexon smiled at her.
Darkshot let out an exasperated sigh. “Sure, you guys go off and have fun in the exciting new dungeon right when I gotta head off to a gladiator tournament.”
“You could always forfeit and come with us,” Rakkan said with a sly grin.
Darkshot blew air through his closed lips. “Heck no. Gotta beat that new VGN guy that took the number one spot, show ‘em what’s what.”
Aegis clapped his hands together loudly and made off towards the kitchen, adjacent to the dining hall. “Let me make you all a parting meal. Got this recipe from the crafting mastery advanced quest.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
A short while later, he returned with steaming bowls of ancient soup, or at least what he believed to be the ancient soup recipe. The hearty scent filled the hall, and he placed one serving in front of each of his friends at the table where they’d sat. They were discussing Darkshot’s recent PvP performances when he got back, and the aroma of the soup tickling their nostrils grabbed their attention.
“Mm, that smells amazing!” Amlie exclaimed. One by one, they slurped it down.
“I wish you could cook like this in the real world,” Darkshot mumbled, mouth full. “Too bad I can’t use food buffs in the tournament. This is the best stamina regeneration one yet.”
Aegis eyed the buff as it appeared in his party interface over Lina, recovering a whopping 40 stamina every 15 seconds for 20 minutes.
Trexon raised his hand, but politely waited to swallow before speaking. “I’d like to place an order for our upcoming dungeon raid. As much as you can prepare.”
Aegis waved backward, already heading to the kitchen. “Fine, but I’ll need a portal when I’m done."
Aegis worked tirelessly over the next hour, mass-producing the soup at the highest quality using all manner of new techniques he’d learned during his advanced cooking quest. When he’d finished, he wished them good luck in the tournament and raid respectively, and accepted a portal from Trexon to the City of the White Tree, in Kalmoore’s underrealm.
It’d been quite some time since Aegis had last been here, and a lot had changed. Namely, the population. No longer were they solely dark elves walking about the streets and branches of the magnificent, upside-down white tree. High-level players were seeking out quests, and NPCs from Kordas and Rene were walking around, getting along with the locals.
He gawked at the scenery briefly before moving forward to his intended destination, the outer walls of the city.
A brief exchange with the White Tree guards, and they permitted him to leave, opening the gates for him to step out into the wastelands over the magma moat surrounding the city.
It’d been a very long time since Aegis had been on his own. He had his experience bonus from the Light of the Stars skill, mithral equipment, and everything primed and ready to be leveled up.
He was confident in his ability to sustain himself, given his stat allocation, equipment, and skills. His plan was simple: test his limits and be as efficient as possible in gaining experience, so that despite his university classes, he’d still have the chance to keep up with his companions, or in the case of Darkshot and Rakkan, who were already level 170, catch up to them.
To pull that off, he’d have to be a little bit reckless.
He wandered the wastelands until he heard the stomping of a creature in the distance, hidden in the darkness of the wastelands. It let out a familiar set of echoing, gurgling cries, so that he knew he’d found what he was looking for.
[Void Hydra - Level 200]
. It was as terrifying as he’d remembered. Three long necks adorned with the corpses of dark elves, their eyes glowing. Spiked tail, and eyes that granted a debuff for staring into them. Before it spotted him, he spotted it.
The light from his shield, the Star of Eirene, was enough to illuminate it in all its horrifying glory. He fastened the straps of the shield and limbered up his legs and arms; it’d been a while since he’d had a real fight in the game world, and for these particular monsters, he had no idea what to expect.
When he activated his Aura of Beauty and Aura of Healing, the monstrosity took notice of him. He whipped out soup from his inventory, gulped it in one go, and cast Bless on himself.
He was ready. With Lina gone, he was missing out on a 25% experience bonus, but he’d meant what he said to her. He wanted some time to clear his head and think about his future, and what better way to do that than to punch something?
Feet dug into the dirt of the wasteland, his right fist raised with the Bless enchant glowing on it. The hydra let out a deafening roar that echoed across the wastes, stomping its two feet towards him.
His unarmed skill was only level 30. He’d only recently beaten the intermediate quest. His Light of Eirene granted no experience towards offensive skills, so it and smite were far behind his others. He had a lot of work to do.
The three heads of the hydra behaved differently. The center one shimmered with void magic, the left veered back to strike, and the right came at him from down low with a sweeping motion.
He projected his shield to block the sweeping head, and braced the attack of the left head as it sprang forth at him like a striking cobra.
You take
31,653
crushing damage.
You take
35,144
crushing damage.
His shield arm pinched to his chest, sending a distinct crunching sensation through his bones. He held his footing as best he could, but slid back several feet from the impact. A few seconds later, the pain subsided.
“Oh, crushing attacks, how I didn’t miss you,” he muttered through his teeth. The void beam shot forth from the third mouth. He dashed forward, ducking underneath it, narrowly avoiding it from clipping the top of his head. He tapped himself with his right hand to cast a heal, as, despite his mithral equipment, this high-level raid boss had nearly killed him in a single hit.
Most people would take that as a sign to flee, but a smile grew over Aegis’ face. He knew that with high damage came high skill experience.
Before either of the three heads could prepare their next strike, he continued forward and lunged at the beast, aiming between its two front legs. He slammed his shield into it with his left hand, causing a flash of holy light from the Bless skill. The damage was modest, but nothing compared to what his companions could do.
He followed it up with a punch from his right arm, using his measly level 30 unarmed skill. The damage was laughable, but the notification was pleasing.
Level Up!:
Unarmed Combat has reached
Level 31
!
By size comparison, Aegis was an adorable little puppy, but he didn’t care. The hydra lifted its enormous foot in an attempt to stomp him out. Aegis disengaged while casting heal on himself and sending out a barrage of smites. The holy bolts dispersed on the scales of the creature, like throwing sand at a dinosaur.
With some distance, it veered its three heads upward, roaring once more. This time, the many dark elf corpses dangling off its neck had their mouths agape, screaming along with the roar.
Aegis would be lying to himself if he said it wasn’t unnerving to face this thing alone, in the middle of the wasteland, with no one to rely on but himself. But at the same time, it felt exhilarating. As the fight went on, he was reminded of how exciting The Shattered World Online could be, offering thrills and challenges unlike anything in the real world.
He couldn’t help but constantly compare it to his university classes, especially nanotechnology.
When the screaming stopped, the heads poised themselves to strike once more. This time, the left one was charging the beam, and both the right and middle were coiling back to thrust themselves forward at him.
The Hydra was elite; he knew it would attack unpredictably, but as long as he could avoid getting hit three times in a row, this would be the best experience possible to raise his skills fast.
Aegis took a sharp breath before re-engaging it.
.
!
Chapter 333: Pent Up
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