It was raining again in the morning, it was weak rain. Dan put on new leather armor and went out into the yard.
The players looked very interesting. Five were wearing medieval armor modified to fantasy style. The rest of the players wore "Mad Max", as they now called leather jackets reinforced with iron plates and even spikes. Everyone wore the same kind of dark cloaks over their armor.
Some broke into pairs and started to warm up with their weapons. No skill, the fights to look like a miserable waving of clubs and parrying attempts. Dan shook his head, they need to find teachers. In this game, you can"t become a master swordsman if you just put in a point to develop the skull.
Michael talked to the dwarf about something and led the group out of the castle.
They were walking along a soaked up road towards the village. If the road hadn"t been overgrown with gra.s.s, they could have drowned in the mud. This section of the road was safe, but everyone was careful and often looked around.
Soon, Dan saw the village. It was about fifty yards to the wooden wall. When it was five yards to the gate, the group turned and began to circle the village on the left side.
When Dan ran past the darkened, densely standing wooden timbers, he noticed traces of some chopping weapons and deep scratches on some of them. Apparently, locals are often annoyed by uninvited guests. This kind of defensive structure did not surprise him much. Ordinary beams are dug into the ground and protect the s.p.a.ce.
"Take a step," Michael shouted.
Next, the terrain was poorly studied. They were walking quietly.
The forest had changed, now it was dominated by large trees, and the road went up a hill. Dan and Nick were walking nearby. Dan asked:
"Look, Nick, I was wondering, how do you feel about the difference between leather armor and this iron armor?"
"There"s no difference. I"ve got 40 strength, and I feel the iron armor like the same leather jacket. Although... a little uncomfortable. The system didn"t get any wises. And that"s good. There"s no limit when a cla.s.s can only wear a certain armor cla.s.s. If you have the strength, wear whatever you want. Really, there is one funny thing about it, Dan. I feel more secure in the iron, though it"s probably a purely psychological opinion in my head."
There"s been a tougher situation with the weapon. All the sensations with the weapon felt good. Dan felt the weight of the weapon. On impact, he felt the kickback in his hand, and on long stretches, there was fatigue and pain in his aching muscles.
With armor, there was a favorable solution to the system. And that"s a good thing. If there had been complete realism, they wouldn"t have survived here.
Dan looked around and realized that if they were attacked now on this section of the track, the players would not notice the beginning of the attack. Thick trees were growing almost close together.
Nick whispered:
"Don"t worry, Dan. My cla.s.s has an advanced "Adaptability" skill that allows me to adapt to the natural environment. I have two points, and I can now hear what"s happening a ten yard away. It"s a wild feeling, to be honest. But if anything comes near us, I"ll hear it."
Dan calmed down and asked another question:
"Nick, why do you develop strength? You have a way of dexterity."
"The game isn"t exactly normal. It imitates real life. In games, bow requires dexterity. And the damage depends on dexterity. But in reality, in normal life, if you don"t have the strength, you can"t pull a bow. What kind of scout am I in the woods without a bow? I"m not Legolas, but I" m ready to play Robin Hood.
Attention, Dan, there"s a view of the cemetery now," said Nick.
Players came out of the woods and saw an ancient cemetery.
The road rolled down a hill and rested on a low stone fence that surrounded the cemetery with an uneven ring.
The cemetery was huge, it filled almost the entire valley. Dan saw the long rows of stone tombstones. Many of the tombstones were broken as if something had exploded inside them. There were many small stone buildings, John said they were crypts. And there were a lot of different statues.
Grey figures wandered slowly between graves.
Dan counted about a hundred dead. But how many undead are hidden between the crypts or inside the crypts? How many more skeletons will come out of the graves? Clear the location? It"s easy to say.
Michael asked quietly:
"John, where to go now?"
"On the way to the cemetery gate, there"s a watchman"s house at the entrance. When we were here, it was empty."
Players started coming down the road, throwing wary looks at undead figures.
"Michael, aren"t we missing the caravan?" asked Dan.
His desire to fight in the cemetery has decreased.
"I gave Turin detailed instructions. We"ll all make it. The caravan will stay in the village for two weeks until security restores the health and strength to get back. If we are lucky with the trophies, we will have time to realize them."
Regeneration of health!
The game was merciless in this matter. Potion vials rarely fell out.
1 point Endurance regenerates 1 point HP per minute. 1 Point Intellect regenerates 1 point HP per minute.
The cla.s.s inquisitor gave a regeneration bonus. 1 Point Spirit regenerates 1 Point HP and 1 MP per minute.
But the monster attacks were scary! A Level 1 skeleton dealt Dan 190 points of damage in one blow! It was a critical strike. The skeleton would normally shoot 50-70 HP points. A level 19 ghoul has taken 570 points of damage. Dan had Endurance 22, that"s 2200 health points. Spirit 35. Regeneration is 57 points per minute.
Ron of his "Prayer" was recovering 100 health points, but it cost 30 mana. His intellect was at an initial level.
There was no Healer specialist in the clan. The muddy situation with the G.o.ds in this world was alarming. Michael talked Ron out of taking the Priest cla.s.s. There"s no telling how the system would react if a player accepted faith in the local G.o.d.
Dan was worried, he didn"t expect to meet a few hundred dead in the cemetery. He clenched his fists and tried to crush the rising panic and fear.
*
[Resurrection time point detected. Link? Yes/No]
*
"Push "yes"," Michael said.
"Won"t the main point disappear?"
"No. I"ve got an extra point on the menu in addition to the main point."
Dan confirmed the binding and looked back at Nick and John. There was no sign of fear on their faces, and Dan respected that. He knew their story.
John worked for a security agency, Nick was a cop. In their old lives, they had hand-to-hand combat techniques. They found themselves in this world in this cemetery six days ago. It was by accident that they met and were tested together. With starting capital in the two traditional clubs, this pair of fearless guys staged a big riot in the cemetery. There were a lot of excavated graves around, the guys lured skeletons into them, and then they threw dead bodies at the tombstones. They lured four skeletons and two ghouls into them. But then the banshees came in, and they miraculously escaped from the cemetery.
John was badly injured, but Nick spent his potion on him, and they managed to get to the village.
The system gave them both a 10 in strength and dexterity, a +2 in strength and dexterity. It gave a pa.s.sive "shoulder to shoulder" skill. This is a 5% increase in strength per group fight from the total strength of the partners. Nick got the potion later spent on John.
They even collected trophies in the form of rags, dust and some crystals, for which they received 22 silver coins from the village shop.
And in the evening, whipped Michael and Alexander crawled into the village. They agreed to stick together.
Dan smiled, the boys managed to survive here, so it"s not that bad.
The group went through a small gate and entered a house by the wall. Dan noticed that the house had no windows, the room was empty and small. The small room was dirty and dusty.
John started showing the cemetery plan on the ground:
"The nearest skeleton was just a few steps away. There"s a straight, wide alley from the entrance. It leads to a sculptural composition. From the composition there are three paths in each direction, like beams."
"There"s a little problem," said Nick. "The monsters have grown in levels. The weakest skeleton is at least 3 levels. Nearby, I saw a lot of excavated graves. Last time we saw the hums there, they"re faster than skeletons, and they"re trying to attack in packs. I suggest we start on the south side. The grave slabs on the other side are complete."
"Then that"s what we"ll do. Stay closes to the stone fence and pay attention to everyone. Remember, the skeleton activity radius is 10 yards (9.14 m). The ghouls can see you from 50 yards, and then they"ll start screaming and calling their own. Zombies react as skeletons do when they approach 10 yards (45.72 m). Banshees are the most dangerous, they roam the cemetery at random, and we know little about them. All right, guys say your prayers and let"s go. The experience isn"t going to pick itself up," said Michael.
*
Dan walked carefully past the tombstones and stone statues, which were decorated with strange symbols. Through every third grave were statues of human height. Nearby, there were crypts, also decorated with miniatures of creatures. d.a.m.n statues! Because of the cloudy weather and pressing atmosphere it seemed that their look burns their back, but it was necessary to turn to the face and the unpleasant feeling disappeared.
Skeletons in dirty rags and rusty remnants of armor wandered at 30 yards (27.43 m) to the left and ahead, they had no weapons.
When the players got close to those creatures, Dan immediately realized that this undead was special. The castle had skeletons with clean bones. They looked scary, and that was it.
The atmosphere in the cemetery was disgusting. The air was soaked in the smell of rot and the vile stench of decayed meat. It"s a cemetery! Where did the semi-decomposed corpses come from? Magic.
Michael looked at the players:
"Are you ready? First we test skeleton summoning skills for the fight. Chain the monsters one at a time. Who has the appropriate skills? Here you go."
Leo raised his sword towards the nearest skeleton and whispered something.
A ring of white mist flashed at his feet and at the feet of one of the dead men for a moment. The creature turned and wandered slowly towards Leo. The filthy smell was coming with that skeleton.
So, it was now Knight"s challenge. John and Nick giggled, Leo must have had a phrase of activation with pathos, "I call you, you unclean creature for a righteous fight". These two tricks chose the path of traps and blows to the back, they could be understood.
Alexander stepped forward and covered himself with the sewn, he prepared a sword to strike. When the skeleton was four yards away, the Warrior"s body was lit up with a red light. And in the same second the leaves and garbage from under his feet splashed in all directions, and the Warrior hits the skeleton heavily with the shield.
On impact, the monster turned several times in the air and flew away seven yards. From Alexander"s armor there was steam. Under the drops of light rain it looked impressive.
The flying skeleton climbed sluggishly and again shaved slowly to the players. He had a third of his life gone.
The bad news was that other skeletons turned to the noise, they slowly moved towards the players.
The leader commanded the order:
"Nick and John are covered, Leo and Alexander are killed, and we meet the others. We"re not leaving this place. We start the attack when the creatures come up to five yards. Beware of skeletal jumps."
The test of the players" skills has begun.
Skeletons didn"t cause much trouble, the main thing was to knock them down, and then they were literally smashed to pieces.
Dan realized he was missing an attack from a distance.
It turned out that only three players could successfully attack one enemy at a time. There wasn"t too much room to swing a sword of weapons.
And then everyone realized another unpleasant thing!
Magicians are dangerous to allies!
"Gandalf, burn!"
"Fireball!" screamed the magician.
Above his outstretched palm there was a rapidly burning ball of fire. The small ball had reached the size of a soccer ball. The ball of fire and whistling from the howling flames went towards the skeleton. An explosion broke out that set the creature on fire and threw it away a couple of yards.
The skeleton crashed into Leo. The knight stood and tried to understand why he took 200 damage. The skeleton bones almost knocked him down.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" shouted the knight and finished the skeleton with one blow. "Gandalf! I"m talking to you! Watch out for friendly fire!"
"Wow," muttered the magician.
The damage from the fireball was 200-300 damage, but it hit everyone around, didn"t take apart enemies and allies.
Raw skeleton"s bones were quickly extinguished in the rain. Due to the noise, the group was reacted to by five dead men, who had previously wandered around in peace.
And the stench grew stronger! Dan croaked his face from the disgusting stench of smoldering rotten meat and old shreds of rotten clothes. He got dizzy. But he didn"t have time to faint.
"Spiritual Power", "Punishment"! Increasing his strength and increasing damage and protection. And into battle.
Dan clenched his grip on his fists and jumped to the skeleton. Why wasn"t he practicing box or karate?!
He hit the skull that rotten teeth were rotting.
[Critical hit! You have dealt 410 points of damage]
Take this! He"s excited again.
Dans already figured out that his buffs don"t work on other players. Inquisitors! All for himself, all for a personal fight against evil.
He reactivated the boosting binder and punched the bone hand that the skeleton stretched out in his direction:
[You have dealt 190 points of damage]
Michael jumped up to the skeleton and killed the creature in two strikes.
[You got 100 experience points]
*
Leo called the creatures a few more times, and it repeated itself.
Experience dropped 40, 50 points to accomplices and 100 directly to performers.
Dan had already realized that the system was paying close attention to the amount of damage each combat partic.i.p.ant was taking. It depended on the amount of experience gained.
That makes sense. It"s brutal. It"s okay.
On average, it didn"t take long to destroy one skeleton.
Most of the time it took to wait for the skeleton comes close to the players.
Dan saw how scout combos work. The guys would speed up for a while and smear themselves in motion and give a few quick shots with daggers. But the damage was weak. It was clear, their cla.s.ses were locked in a battle with the enemy in the flesh. You have to use crushing weapons against skeletons, it"s a cla.s.sic of the genre.
Nick and John were not embarra.s.sed, they jumped up and hit, and then made room for warriors and a soldier with a knight. The boys were ordered to keep a close eye on the neighborhood. That was their main task. No one wanted Banshee to show up suddenly.
Players were making a lot of noise, weapons. .h.i.tting the bones pretty loud. All that was left was to thank the system for the rain that m.u.f.fled the sounds a little. The concentration of creatures increased in the area where the players started the fight. Everyone realized that they would soon have to change the place of the fight.
When the knight finally mastered his ability to summon the enemy to a fight, it was time to test the inquisitor"s abilities.
"Dan, try pulling that pretty boy over there."
Michael pointed to a strange dead man who appeared in the distance.
Dan singled out a picture from the "Autodafe".
*
[Word/Gesture?]
*
When he started working with this skill, a strange memory of a funny and dangerous man in a strange black and yellow diving suit appeared in his head. In Dan"s head, the name Scorpio became clear.
And that Scorpio was screaming:
"Get over here!"
It was impressive, but Dan thought the Inquisitor would have to lead a very cautious life and confront monsters. He wouldn"t give away his presence with loud screams. Dan chose a gesture.
*
[Make a gesture to attach it to skill]
Dan just pointed his finger at the creature he"d chosen, and then pointed under his feet.
[Copy that]
*
A white silent flash went off, and Dan was in the middle of a circle of light with a radius of ten yards. They used skill pictures to show a recovery time of 47 seconds. That"s not bad.
Dan looked ahead and got colder. The creature that was chosen, it wasn"t a skeleton.
*
Zombie
Level: 6
Life: 4000
Description: Many undead types can be born into more dangerous creatures, and zombies are one of them. Unlike ordinary skeletons that lose their flesh, zombies preserve their bodies. The flesh of zombies becomes elastic and plastic, which gives them increased protection from any kind of stinging and cutting weapons. This body also gives the zombies incredible physical strength.
To become stronger and more dangerous, zombies attack living beings. The flesh of the unhappy victims soon becomes the "building material" for a new zombie body.
Zombies seem clumsy, but they are not, a sharp blow from this seemingly slow undead can kill a warrior in full dress. Zombies are stupid, but they"re monstrously powerful.
You must destroy this creature before it finds dexterity and a particle of mind.
A zombie can turn into Draugr.
Burn the remains of the defeated zombie, or the creature will be reborn again.
*
"The Cognition of Evil" was a surprise. Such a detailed description of the enemy pleased. Perhaps in the future Dan will be able to see both the strength of the enemy"s strikes and his main abilities. But even now he understands the main threats from the enemy:
"Guys it"s a Zombie! His flesh is like rubber, increased protection from cold weapons, and it is better not to get caught under attack. He can hit fast and hard! Don"t look at him walking slowly! He can be sharp when he attacks. What do I do?"
"Keep the zombies away from Dan. Warriors are throwing zombies on the offensive. Leo, can you drop your enemy"s defense with a vow?"
"I"ll try," said the knight.
"Ron, use "Prayer", keep a close eye on the Inquisitor"s health. We will cut the creature slowly. My and Alexander"s swords have been improved with stone, should be cut. Other hit zombies on the sides, but they don"t come close. Hit and run!"
The soldier gave the orders and everyone was prepared to meet a new dangerous opponent.
The creature crossed the circle and headed straight for Dan. The Inquisitor was sick of disgust again. The zombie stank! But that wasn"t the worst part. It was a woman! She was crying. It wasn"t tears that came out of her eyes, but pus. Her eyes were white and dilated. Black pupils looked into Dan"s eyes like two guns. On the dead woman"s head, the remains of gray hair were moving slightly. When a player looked at him, he got even worse. They were worms! The ugly white worms were swarming at this dead woman"s skin remains.
Her lips weren"t completely decomposed, but they weren"t hiding the splintering of her teeth. The teeth were white, clean and strong! And it scared the h.e.l.l out of her. That creature wanted meat!
Dan froze in shock and watched the zombies roar their teeth in a bloodthirsty smile and approached him.
Suddenly, help came. Alexander got in the way of the zombies and repeated his "Strike". The b.i.t.c.h only threw it back a couple of yards, it didn"t even fall. Alexander saluted the dead woman with his sword, and at the same moment his sword lit up red. The sword penetrated the neck of the creature and cut through her a little. The warrior tried to pull out the sword and scolded:
"b.i.t.c.h!"
The sword didn"t give in, it got stuck in the flesh of a zombie.
A sharp swing of the dead hand, a deaf blow, and Alexander repeated the recent flight of the skeleton. A warrior with noise, curses, and moans was rising from the dirty ground. He flew away for 5 yards and hit one of the tombstones hard with his back.
Ron stood by, reacted instantly and mildly with two words:
"Pater noster."
The dead woman paid no attention to the blade stuck in the neck and was not distracted by the warrior"s attack. The zombie went slowly to the Inquisitor again. This creature pulled its half-rotted, twisted fingers towards him. Dan thought it was whispering something. Her lips were twisted in a smile.
"Leave me alone, you b.i.t.c.h!"
Dan screamed in a frightened voice and quickly retreated from a living corpse until he stuck his back on the barrier. He turned his head and sawed only an empty alley behind him. At his feet the boundary of the circle of the Court was shining, caused by his skill.
It"s an a.s.s! It"s the most useless skill! It"s a dangerous skill...
And suddenly he was laughing at the thought that came to his mind.
"Judge not, that ye may not be judged, for in what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and in what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you."
Dan felt a wave of calm from those strange but true words.
The zombie came within striking distance. Dan was preparing to face the attack.
The woman hit the player in the face, but Dan pulled his head back and dodged the first punch of the creature.
"Spiritual Power", "Punishment".
His hands lit up with light, and he punched a zombie in the head as hard as he could.
*
[You have dealt 224 points of damage]
*
Deaf punch, pain in the beaten fist and another swing of the creature.
*
[You have taken 430 points of damage. You are Stunned duration 2 minutes]
*
It was like a hammer kicked the air out of him. The Inquisitor"s body soared above the ground, to the other side of the circle. The impact on the ground left a noise in his head and a sense of brokenness.
"Dan, run, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s coming at you again!" shouted Gandalf.
Ah... Huh... Joker. d.a.m.n it, he could only breathe a hard time. His eyes were all cloudy. Dan heard the heavy footsteps of an approaching creature. All he had to do was pick up the raw ground with bracelets chained in steel. Dan started walking along the edge of the circle on his knees like a wounded beast. From behind, he heard the growling and moaning of an angry dead woman who kept pace with him.
Dizzy, he heard swearing and screaming from the guys who were actively preventing the zombies from getting to him. He didn"t even try to look back and kept moving his limbs along the glowing line. His head was noisy, Dan couldn"t see well, and he was even worse thinking. He fell a couple of times when he caught the tombstones on his escape route.
Dan knew one thing. He had to get away from that creature!
*
[2000 experience points gained. "Cognition of evil" +1]
*
He was relieved to melt on the wet ground among the graves. The raindrops pleasantly cooled the skin.
"It turns out that the real wizards and magicians in our clan are you and Alexander! You both have learned the skill of "Flight"! Congratulations, guys," said John.
He leaned over the Inquisitor"s body and his hands helped the player get up out of a dirty puddle.
"Well-done, Dan, I had no idea you were a hardcore player. That"s an extreme cla.s.s you"ve got! Really, you"ve got to work on your tactical retreat."
Nick"s stern voice put Dan in a good mood.
"Hey, jokers, help him go. Good job, Dan. Group! We"re moving to a quieter place. We"ve done a lot here," shouted Michael.
The group has moved to another place with a small concentration of undead.
Dan was standing there chewing a piece of ham. Well-done, her cooking is delicious. It"s a shame the food doesn"t restore health. But Dan saw that the path of the Spirit gives a good bonus in regeneration.
Dan gave a clear voice and detailed descriptions of the new monster for guys. They started dealing with zombie remains.
He was looking at a zombie corpse oiled and burnt with fire.
Her ugly head was cut off from her body by uneven chopping blows. Dan saw a disgusting cut around her neck. Guys cut it off like it was sawed off.
Then, they went sideways and the fight continued elsewhere.
Dan and Alexander took time to rest to breathe. Ron was pumping them out with healing.
"And it was only level five," shook Alexander"s head.
Dan "pleased" him by repeating his words that a creature could eat a lot of meat and turn into Draugr. This information made the warrior shout out loud.
In a couple of minutes, the players joined the group.
Michael once again repeated the warrior"s military truths on the theme "Try not to die. Hit and run!" and the fight started again.
It lasted a couple more hours until they met a new creature.
*
Ghoul
Level: 4
Life: 5000
*
Dan read the monster"s description and spit on the ground.
He wanted to come home! He wanted a castle, a cozy chair by the fireplace!