Capítulo 44: Bowser's Transformation
Slivia was now busy replenishing Troni and Brunar's MP, as they had to rely on their learned skills and techniques to quickly finish off the injured lizards. With Rydel taking the defensive and Maynard busy with the pack leader, something had to happen to tip the scales of battle.
Jack's mind was running on all cylinders trying to come up with a solution to their current predicament. With all his focus on searching for a solution, he almost overlooked Bowser's comments.
'Me help!' Bowser yelled proudly.
Torn and not wanting to endanger the fox pup, Jack was reluctant. 'Bowser, I'm not sure you should do that. The lowest level lizards are at least lv. 13 and most are closer to lv. 20. I'm sorry but I don't think you should.'
Ignoring Jack, Bowser leaped off Jack's shoulder and dashed into the perimeter of fire. Jack yelled, 'Bowser! Come back!'
Everyone was surprised by the dashing fox as he passed the two samurai and neared the oncoming horde of lizards. But before they could yell or chase after it, the fox howled and its entire body was bathed in flames. Bowser tripled in size, looking like a blazing fire wolf with a foxtail.
Jack instantly felt Bowser's power double, becoming lv. 16. Without any warning, the flaming fox bit off a lizard's head and pounced towards its next target without prejudice.
All the lizards stilled momentarily, hesitating to near Bowser and the powerful bloodline that they sensed. The pack leader and Maynard both noticed the change in the battlefield, perplexed at the sudden outburst from the fox pup. Furious, the pack leader screeched and commanded the scared lizards to charge forward.
Fearing their leader more than Bowser, they continued the charge. With the addition of Bowser to the battle, the advantage fell to Jack's party as the lizards were again being killed faster than they could enter the circle.
Sighing in relief, Jack calmed his mind and returned to his search for a faster solution. Bowser's interference was a huge help but Jack didn't want to rely on it. He would bet that Bowser's explosion of strength wouldn't last for long, and he wanted to be ready for that moment.
The good thing was now Jack was gaining bursts of EXP again and nearing lv. 9. If he could reach lv. 10, then his arrows would finally start to affect the lower leveled lizards and he could bet on his lv. 2 bow skill to bridge the level gap.
After a couple of minutes and the slaughter of another dozen lizards, Jack reached lv. 9 and was waiting for the moment he broke through to lv. 10. Sadly, Jack's bet on Bowser's temporary power boost was right and Bowser's doubled power began to decline. The surrounding lizards noticed his ferocity diminishing and they swarmed the fox.
Using the last of his boosted strength, Bowser escaped the lizards and dashed back to the party like lightning. Returning to his normal self, he jumped onto Jack's shoulders. 'Tired…'
'Good job Bowser, you did your part.' Jack cheered him up as he let Bowser close his eyes and rest.
Looking back to the battlefield, Jack drew his bow and fired at the oncoming lizards. They were back on the defensive now, and Jack wanted to know how much damage he could do as a lv. 9.
The arrows were able to pierce the tough scales, but only the low leveled lizards were slowed from injuries. Any lizard over lv. 15 was only annoyed by Jack's arrows but they could power through the minor injuries without much trouble.
Shaking his head, Jack cursed the fact that he hadn't reached lv. 10. If he could reach that level, he'd probably gain enough skill points to upgrade bow to lv. 3 and be able to help the party. But without that, he was practically a burden that would need protecting.
Seeing the battlefield in perfect balance, neither side having an advantage, Maynard decided to go all out. At the current rate, he would eventually finish off the pack leader with about half his MP left. But being impatient, Maynard began to activate his high-level skills with disregard for MP cost.
The pack leader felt the raise in Maynard's attacks and went on the defensive, wanting to drag this out long enough for his horde of lizards to eradicate the party. Not giving the pack leader much hope, Maynard's two katana began to emit a blood-red glow, sending shivers down the pack leader's spine.
"Bloody cross!" Maynard activated his trump card skill, spending a third of his max MP in the process, leaving him with only a fraction of MP remaining.
Lucky for him, the pack leader didn't dodge but blocked instead. Unlucky for the pack leader, the samurai carved through the lizard's tail, aiming for the lizard's head. It was too late for the pack leader to escape as his head was cut into four.
Not wasting time, Maynard dashed further into the perimeter before the leader's carcass could fall to the floor. The lizards were caught off guard and were sliced into smithereens by the time they noticed their leader's head was missing.
The waves of lizards ceased and retreated after their leader was finished off. Jack's party didn't give chase, Just trying to catch their breath.
Troni's left arm was paralyzed and Brunar's right leg was completely numb. Rydel wasn't out of arrows, but he only had about one-third of his MP left, and that would be important in case they ran into more trouble. He had mana potions, but drinking too many in succession would carry some backlash.
Happy yet unsatisfied, Jack grinned. Thanks to Maynard finishing off the pack leader, his level was at the peak of lv. 9 but it hadn't yet reached lv. 10. So close to his achievement, he wished that Maynard or Rydel had killed just one more lizard.
'That makes thirty-one for me,' Rydel boasted.
'No fair! Ya didn't have to deal with that pack leader,' argued Maynard, not admitting his kill count of twenty-three lizards.
'I couldn't help it, that thing was stronger than me and only you could handle it,' joked Rydel.
It was common knowledge that beasts of the same level were naturally stronger than adventurers. Unless they had a way to jump levels or powerful battle techniques, adventurers would struggle a lot to fight an equally leveled beast.
Maynard finishing the lizard without a scratch on him was a testament to his strength. If it were a normal beast, Maynard wouldn't avoid minor cuts or bruises. However, he fought so carefully with the lizard's neurotoxin in mind. If he had been poisoned, the pack leader would have gained the advantage instantly. Hence, Maynard had to take his time with such a tricky monster.
Jack pet Bowser's head and asked, 'How close are we?'
With a few sniffs, Bowser remembered the trail. 'Ahead, we very close.'
Keeping that in mind, Jack examined the others in his party. Slivia was busy healing Brunar and Troni while Maynard was busy drinking a high leveled mana potion to recover his MP.
Seeing him finish the bottle, Jack's motivation to level up increased. Once he reached lv. 10, he would be able to start learning basic battle skills and techniques. They wouldn't do much for him in the long run, but anything was better than what he had currently.
"What's up with your fox?" Brunar asked, breaking the silence.
Rydel was the one who answered. "It's a descendant level fox, falling from the Inferno Fox bloodline."
"Tell the truth," blurted Brunar. "Sure, a descendant level beast is crazy powerful, but that little pup was able to fight and kill fully grown Light-tailed Lizards. Besides, the Inferno Fox was never recorded to have an ability that let it grow and explode into flames."
Understanding what Brunar was getting at, Jack hesitantly admitted the truth. "I can tell you the truth, but this information stays here and doesn't leave this mine."
"Fine," said Brunar, catching the hint that this was an association secret.
"Bowser is a Hell-flame Fox."
That sentence struck fear into the hearts of three young adventurers. Hell-flame Foxes only existed in legends, and each legend ended in the complete annihilation of a city or region. Slivia was especially conflicted, imaging the cute fur-ball she had often played with as an earth-shaking monster made of flames that wrought destruction.
"That's the truth, but you all know Bowser. That was the first time I'd ever seen something like that happen." Jack was startled by Bowser's earlier transformation like them, and they all knew it from Jack's shouting. "He's not some apocalypse waiting to happen, he's just the childish Bowser we all know."
"But how can you guarantee that?" Brunar questioned. "Can you promise that he would never outgrow you and forcibly break the beast seal?"
"I can actually, and Rydel is my witness to that." Jack's casual answer caught everyone off guard. "If you trust me, then trust Bowser too. We're a package deal."
Not wanting to reject the promise of both Jack and Rydel, Brunar accepted their ideology for the time being. Troni and Slivia also agreed, only distancing themselves a little from the fox pup.
"Now that the discussion's over and you're feeling better, let's hurry up and loot the bodies. We're racing against a clock, so we can't waste any time." Rydel turned and began to retrieve each of his many arrows among the strewn bodies he had killed. The others followed suit as they groaned from their soreness and began to loot the lizard bodies they had killed.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
TheSilverQuill
TheSilverQuill Thanks for reading and following the story! Also, a big THANKS to anyone who left a review or has given feedback in the comments. All feedback helps me shape the story accordingly and lets me better deliver my story.
Capítulo 45: Finding the Tomb
As the lizard bodies were looted, everyone was careful to preserve everything possible. The meat would be great for future meals, the bones could be sold as ingredients for crafts, and the skin was great for making quality cloaks.
What intrigued Jack the most was the neurotoxin, even asking everyone if he could have their portions of neurotoxin. Brunar turned him down and Troni did as well. Slivia wasn't given many corpses as her share to begin with, so she also said no.
Funny enough, the two with the highest kill count both willingly gave him all the neurotoxin they harvested. Including the small share of bodies he was allotted and with Rydel's gift of vials, Jack was able to fill fifty-seven vials with neurotoxin; one for each corpse. This was a lot if he wanted to sell them because they were worth about eight silvers each, but it might not be enough for Jack's plans.
Storing the other materials gathered from his three corpses, Jack mulled over a few ideas to use the neurotoxin. After a couple of minutes, a wicked grin speared on his face and he finished his thoughts.
Looking at Bowser, Jack asked, 'Are you okay?'
'Me okay, just tired,' replied Bowser. After activating his bloodline ability for the first time, Bowser was exhausted. He would need to rest until the next morning, incapable of getting up on his own until then.
Jack let Bowser rest, not wanting to disturb him further. He called to Rydel and Maynard, 'Let's get going, we need to hurry up and find that tomb. Bowser needs to rest so we won't have his help avoiding danger till maybe tomorrow.'
They nodded and called everyone together. Within minutes, they were following Rydel like before. Now that the lizards were gone, there was nothing in the surrounding area to threaten them. Taking advantage of this, the party rushed further until the cavern narrowed and they reached a dead end.
"Is this it?" asked Brunar, doubting that there was a tomb in the first place.
"It's here somewhere. We just need to find a way to enter it," said Jack.
"Got any ideas on how to make that happen?" Rydel asked the question everyone wanted the answer to. It was pointless to journey here if they weren't able to do that much.
"Hmm…" Jack began to feel the walls and examine them closely as his achievement junkie senses were tingling. Pulling out the dagger, he dragged the tip along the wall.
When they saw the dagger, the three young adventurers were filled with jealousy. The dagger was found here and it was a high tier weapon, yet the weakest person got it.
Not caring what they thought, Jack started banging the ornate dagger against the hard rock walls. Everyone was startled and some wanted to stop Jack from ruining such a valuable item. However, Jack continued to do so regardless of their reactions. After a minute of banging and clanging the knife against every part of the rock wall, Jack was stumped.
"What, that's it? No tomb?" mocked Brunar.
"Just wait." There were no holes or hidden slots on the wall. Nothing was activated when he brought out the dagger. Now, he could only resort to more unorthodox methods.
Without hesitation, Jack slit the palm of his hand with the dagger. Everyone was baffled as Jack let the blood ooze over every inch of the blade.
"Jack!" Slivia yelled in shock as she ran to his side.
"Trust me, this works all the time," said Jack, meeting Slivia's gaze.
Taking his word for it, everyone all remained silent. Rydel and Maynard were very interested in what was happening, wondering if this was some trick from ancient times. They all gave Jack their full attention, not daring to look away for different reasons.
With a now paler face, Jack smiled when he had lost enough blood to rub over the entirety of the dagger. He retrieved a bandage and covered up his hand immediately, not daring to lose a drop more than he would need.
"I command thee, show me thine owner." It was a simple recitation that every player in "A Hero's Tale" knew. It was a way to find the owner of fallen items, in the case that they might return the gear.
In the end, this was more common for the opposite reason, as a means to avoid the previous owners. That way they could visit a town and get a master of the item's respective field to unbind it from the previous owner and bind it to themselves, like having a master blacksmith unbind a weapon from the old owner and bind it to themselves instead.
The dagger lit up, surprising everyone further. Jack was also surprised; he had no clue what would happen after the recitation. The previous owner was dead, and he didn't expect a small window to appear on his screen for ten seconds like in-game.
Glowing red, the dagger trembled in Jack's hand and absorbed all the blood on its surface into the blade within seconds. After absorbing the blood, the red glow intensified and nearly blinded everyone for a second. The light then died down and faded away as if it had never existed in the first place.
Staring at the dagger, Jack wasn't sure what to do next. He checked his surroundings, but nothing had changed.
The others present were all in a weird state of mind. Jack could've done anything, no matter how strange, and they wouldn't bat an eye. It was like their expectations were overloaded and they no longer had room to process or question anything else.
They all stood there for a couple of minutes more, but nothing happened. Eventually, Brunar spoke up, "So, is that it? Is there anything else?"
This time he wasn't mocking Jack, Brunar was genuinely curious if Jack had anything else to try. Jack was far more mysterious than he had originally judged, and Jack demonstrated a lot of weird knowledge that wasn't normal for newbies to know about. Brunar had begun to reevaluate Jack, slowly but surely.
"No, I got nothing," answered Jack with a sunken smile. Out of habit, he threw the dagger away, like he had always done in-game when an item failed to bring him something. But when Jack threw it at the wall, it started to glow again. It was dim and almost nonexistent, but they could see it in the dark cavern.
Jack's lips twitched up as he picked up the knife and pointed it at the wall. When facing the dead-end nothing changed but facing the blade to the left side wall made the blade glow brighter. Inching closer, Jack determined the entrance to the hidden tomb with unwavering precision.
He approached a spot about four meters from the dead end and pressed the dagger against it. That spot on the wall began to glow and vanish in front of everyone's eyes.
As the wall vanished, an entrance carved from stone appeared behind it. With a narrow entrance, it would only fit one person. The stone it was made from was completely different from the mine walls, striking a resemblance to carved marble. In big print at the top of the entryway, there was a sign proving Jack's success.
"G0blin_Sl4yer"
Not waiting for the others, Jack ran into the tomb energetically. No one blamed him, only following him in one-by-one.
The tomb wasn't too spacious, but it was big enough for the six of them to walk around comfortably. Unlike most of the party had hoped, there wasn't a mountain of riches waiting for them inside. Instead, there was a sepulcher in the center of the room and a few chests to the side of it.
What shocked everyone was how fast Jack was able to loot the chests, storing all their contents before the others had finished entering the tomb.
Jack had an idea it would be something like this because this was a common hero's tomb from the game, a place where players always visited and plundered on a regular basis. There was no mountain of wealth only because the entombed player didn't have one. Maybe he had been killed and looted or he was just too low leveled to amass that much.
No matter the case, Jack was fixated on how the ancient hero was entombed here after he had died. This led him to wonder how a practically immortal character in a fantasy game could die in the end. It's true that G0blin_Sl4yer was low leveled, but that wouldn't keep him from respawning at the last cathedral or church he had visited. There were too many plot holes in the story that was unraveling before his eyes.
"Hey! You can't just take it all!" Brunar yelled.
Jack's wandering thoughts returned as he looked to Brunar and tossed him a coin. "Fine."
"Hey! I said you can't just—"
"Brunar!" Maynard interrupted his disciple, but he did so in awe, not anger.
Pausing due to his master's interjection, Brunar looked at the coin in his hand and his jaw dropped. "Platinum!"
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES
TheSilverQuill
TheSilverQuill
Thanks for reading and voting! Another one is on the way.
!! SPECIAL NEWS !!
Webnovel reached out to me about a contract for "The Achievement Junkie" and I'm wanting to take it. This guarantees I will finish "The Achievement Junkie" no matter what happens, all 1200-1300 chapters I have mapped out for it.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
200+ Ranking de
Poder 
0 Pedra de
Poder Você também pode gostar
Comentário de parágrafo