Finally, after a stressful wait, the moment came. The sun descended beyond the horizon, and they met Redroar a mile south of the camp. She had a tower shield on her back. "Can't wait," she rubbed her hands, which meant she was as impatient as them.
"We retreat at the first sign of trouble," Peter insisted. “And this stays between us.”
“No!” Redroar covered her mouth with her right hand. “You mean I can’t tell my competition the secret of the fog, giving them the chance of making money instead of me?”
“Yep, exactly,” Peter pretended to miss the sarcasm and turned his back to her, leading the way.
Walking slowly toward the beach resort, they entered the fog obliquely before reaching it to avoid prying eyes. For the first thousand feet, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Faint scratching and screeching sounds alerted them something was approaching.
When Peter directed his boat light, now powered by a Mana battery, toward the noise, thousands of monsters were running at them over the sand, as big as rats but with characteristics mixing the rodents with crabs. Redroar planted her shield in front of her, and a forcefield erupted around, half a circle ten feet wide. The monsters disintegrated when the light or the force field touched them. In under a minute, all were gone.
There was a torrent of small notifications in Peter's HUD, telling him about earning a single Experience Point per creature. Soon, the gains went to zero. He reached level twenty-four, nevertheless, which made him half happy, half angry. All his adventures from the previous two days didn't reward him with so much XP.
"When I first came here, I noticed a town a bit farther below," Peter said.
They continued hiking at a light stroll to conserve energy and watch their surroundings. Turning around a dune, they finally were in sight of the objective. Anything but the ruins Peter had surveilled on his first trip, the town was now fully erected and majestic. The buildings were not very tall, but the roads were large and paved with giant stones, and every single wall or column was painted blue or red.
"Looks better than my village," Redroar said matter-of-factly.
Hundreds of people roamed the streets. Women with white porcelain skin, wavy long tresses, and muscled, tall men with reddish skin and short hair.
"Definitely Minoan," Peter said.
"Like the Greeks from the Iliad?" Regina asked.
"Those were the Mycenians, they came later. It is said the Minoan culture was the real Atlantis."
"Whoaa, you’re so smart!" Regina exclaimed, grabbing Peter's arm in awe and kissing his cheek. He felt that his geekiness was finally worth it.
"What do we do?" Redroar asked.
"I dunno… The legend says they had a labyrinth with a powerful beast in it, a Minotaur."
"Aha… and what kind of beast is that?"
"A giant bull with a human body."
"Bull?"
"Like a bilghie."
"Easy peasy," Redroar said. "Let's go."
Peter didn't share her enthusiasm but felt they had a chance if that place conformed to the legends he knew. Albeit they advanced in plain sight, no one in the town turned to look at them. Only when they pass an invisible line did things change.
A light wall, a force field, went up behind them, closing the way back. It was circular, so there was no escape on the sides either. On the top of the tallest building in the town's center, a throne made of stone appeared. On it stood a bearded old man with a shining orb in one hand and a crown on his forehead. A king. He looked somehow weird, his image flickering on and off.
Warning: You cannot exit the Dungeon until you clear it.
"Welcome to Atlantis, adventurers," the man bellowed, his voice reaching them easily. "You have two paths in front of you: the path of friendship and the path of war. Which one do you choose? Vote."
"Friendship?" Regina suggested.
"Friendship," Peter said.
Redroar growled. She was discontented but in the minority.
"You have voted for the path of friendship. Answer a simple riddle, and you can access Atlantis's treasures."
"I'm great at riddles," Peter gloated.
"What's the last digit of Pi?" the old king asked.
"Fuck!" Peter gasped.
"Wrong answer. You have chosen the path of war!"
Quest: Conquer Alantis by reaching the royal throne and claiming the Orb of Atlantis for yourself within fifteen minutes, or be disintegrated.
"Double fuck," Redroar yelled.
"You see the Quest?" Peter asked.
The king raised the orb, and its light grew, bathing the town like a new sun. The town's men wore bronze armor and had shields and spears. The women's hair floated up, their eyes lighted in an ominous light. The next second, they screamed.
The HUD showed a brief message: Syrens' Scold. Mental attack.
Peter's knees mollified. The women were still pretty, but their screams were like every scolding from his mother, teachers, Ariana, and whoever was fused in one giant accusation about every wrong thing he did. He wished there was a sea around so he could jump in it and drown.
"I love you," Regina said, kissing his cheek. That brought him back. Regina and Reroar were unaffected.
“That attack is so sexist!” Peter complained, rubbing his forehead.
"We have incoming. Use your skill to jump to the throne!" Redroar yelled.
A wave of warriors was running at them, spears and shields at the ready. Peter tried to Warp toward the palace, but instead of moving, he just phased in place.
Warning: You cannot enter the palace until the Champion is slain.
“I wonder who the champion would be…” Peter said sarcastically.
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Yeah, Inspector Clouseau, I think it’s the Minotaur. Keep your notifications about the battle.
The first line of warriors was there, and Redroar had to enter the fray to let Regina and Peter prepare. She activated her shield while flourishing her greatsword at the same time. How the lioness could use such a giant weapon in only one hand was a wonder. Her weapon easily cut the attackers in two, and she could pass through her protections.
Peter was equipped with his ballistic helmet and leather armor from the start of the trip, so he had to unholster his gun and shoot. The silver bullets went through multiple enemies, but the Minoans kept coming, and the ammo was gone in seconds. No time to recharge, though; the hoplites were turning around Redroar's shield to attack them from the rear.
Raising his hand backward, he summoned his cleaver-pole arm from storage. He began to fight in melee range, Phasing in place or Warping at close range to avoid the most dangerous attacks. Without the Barbarian's training, he would have died times over. It was a hard fight, nevertheless, and he got many stabs and cuts on his exposed parts: his hands and feet.
Bummer… If only I could use Terravolt without endangering the others.
Regina was healing them in real-time, with two dolls in her hand and the boat light hung on her neck by a rope. When did she get it from him? Peter didn't remember. When the light from the lantern fell on the Minoans, they didn't disintegrate like the crab rats. Instead, they froze in place for a couple of seconds. Enough time for Peter or Redroar to get a kill.
Peter’s mind shut off the System’s voice to analyze the situation. In the rear, the sirens still screamed, but the remaining men, about fifty, were retreating. The loud voices were annoying, and Peter considered recharging his gun and shooting some, but he couldn't do it. He considered himself a gentleman. Shooting at something that remotely resembled a woman felt unnatural.
The situation resolved itself when the women merged with the men. The Minoans' armor grew bigger, and so did their shields. Screaming women's faces appeared in their middle, with snakes instead of hair.
"Medusas! Those shields will stun us if we look at them," Peter yelled.
"And how do you propose we don't look?" Redroar yelled.
"I'll try something." Peter tried Warping behind the enemy lines, as close to the castle as possible. That worked. Slamming his fist into the ground, he activated Terravolt.
The attack spread in a round pattern but hit the force wall behind and bounced, becoming a larger semi-circle. The distance from the women was safe, though. About half of the remaining fifty warriors fell on the ground, dead on the spot. Many others were impaled on the spikes or stunned by the electricity.
Peter’s Mana was diminishing fast, and he cut the attack shorter than he wanted. The line of the enemies turned toward him, but then Redroar arrived at their back, cutting them down, two or three with each hit. The shields flared the eyes of the Medusas, but the Minoans didn’t manage to turn in time. Most attacks went up laterally because of their position.
Nevertheless, a couple hit Peter, and he found himself seeing only white and incapable of moving for three long seconds. A few hits smashed against his helmet, a thrust went in his thigh, and another in his ribs, but that one was stopped by the leather armor and caused only pain. Then, there was only stillness.
"Ahh…" he gasped, being able to see and move again.
"Stand still," Regina yelled, working over the doll representing Peter.
The pain relented, and the bleeding stopped, but he was exhausted. "I feel like a piece of shit squashed by a truck,” he complained, gobbling a Mana pill. “Good timing, Redroar.”
You have survived the first battle. Prepare to face the Champion. 00.59… 00.58…
There were many notifications about XP, but the ones that mattered were about him reaching level twenty-six. He had nine points to invest and put eight in Constitution and one in Charisma to get those into the Journeyman tier, briefly inspecting his stats.
Peter Hillden, Age: 25, Class: Impulse, Lvl. 26
Strength: 61 / Dexterity: 72 / Constitution: 42
Intelligence: 31 / Will: 41 / Concentration: 26
Charisma: 41 / Luck: 41 / Magic Power: 30
Tell Regina to invest her points in Constitution!
"But it doesn’t set until we rest!" she said aloud.
The ground rumbled, and a gate opened in the ground, sixty feet away, showing stairs going into the darkness beyond. The Minotaur appeared, starting with the tip of its horns and ending with the hooves. There was no surprise there. The size was over ten feet. It had no armor but a kilt around its hips and a spear in hand. Peter instinctively recharged his pistol.
At least we don’t have to go inside the Labyrinth, Peter tried to encourage himself.
"That's some big muthafucker bilghie," Redroar stated.
Taking the spear in both hands, the beast charged directly at Redroar. Peter shot all its bullets at it, but they passed through the monster like through water. It was Phasing as it ran. The lantern's light did nothing as well. Redroar raised her shield and prepared her sword for a downward strike, but the beast was on her before that, and it stabbed her abdomen with his weapon, also using a Phase.
"He countered my Time Read," the Barbarian yelled, gripping the shaft with her left hand and headbutting the Minotaur. The monster shook its head, losing its grip on the spear, and Warped back, wobbling on its feet.
"I can't heal you with that inside!" Regina yelled at the Barbarian.
"He copies the skills we used!" Peter shouted. Within two seconds, he took out his javelins from storage. He threw them at the monster, using the Kinetic Impulse to deliver more force. All three hit the monster's torso, burying deep in the flesh. The Minotaur was still confused by Redroar’s headbutt.
"If I pull this out, I'm dead," Redroar said, her voice trembling. The spear's head was on her other side, and the butt had a smaller blade of its own. Any movement back or forth meant more organs destroyed and more bleeding.
"Heal her when I say so!" Peter yelled at Regina. "Now!" He grabbed the shaft and Phased the weapon out of Redroar, taking a jump back.
"Uh…" the Barbarian moaned, falling on her knees.
Regina was pumping Heals with all her power, her face wrinkled in concentration. Shoving a Health pill in Redroar's mouth to add more oompf, Peter turned to face the monster, flourishing his cleaver and putting the Minotaur's spear into storage to deprive the adversary of his weapon. The situation was dire. Their toughest warrior was incapacitated, the healer busy, and he was the last one able to fight.
The Minotaur charged again, snorting a plume of heat and blood droplets from his snout. Peter had to Warp to avoid the attack. It was not the monster's hands that caused the problem, but the horns and his own javelins sticking out of the beast. If there was any close combat, he risked being impaled by accident.
Fuck…
A game of hide and seek ensued, with both participants shifting in and out of the real space. The only brief Terravolt attack Peter managed to squeeze in did nothing, the Minotaur dancing on top of the spikes and shrugging off the electricity. Nevertheless, Peter managed to hit the monster with a warped weapon attack because of the delay offered by the twisted terrain. His polearm got stuck in the Minotaur, and the beast profited to stab him in the left shoulder with the back of the javelins.
Peter groaned and jumped back, bleeding profusely. At the same time, the Champion stopped and heaved, diverting his attention toward Redroar, who was struggling to get back on her feet with her greatsword in hand.
Suddenly, appearing out of thin air, a monster jumped at the Minotaur. Large as a grizzly, it had giant chicken claws and weird fangs: Regina's Teddy Bear, grown and brought to life.
"Sic'em, Pandy Panda!" she yelled.
The giant humanoid bull warped away, but the teddy bear followed, wrapping its members around its foe. Nevertheless, despite having fangs, it had no jaws, so all it could do was hang on and scratch the Champion with its chicken claws.
"I can't keep Pandy on for too long," Regina screamed.
"Can you make the doll headbutt it?" Peter yelled, remembering how confused the monster had been by Redroar’s hit.
"I sure can!"
Letting his neck backward to gain momentum, the Grigri doll projected its head into the Minotaur's forehead. The beast yelled in pain and fell on its back, blinking, his eyes turned white.
Peter took the monster’s spear out from the inventory, jumped forward, and Phased the weapon through the Minotaur’s chest and into the stone slabs below, passing through the Grigri. The latter repeated the headbutt, caving the minotaur’s skull. The beast gasped and remained immobile while the Grigri returned to its normal size but with a large hole in its body.
"Don't worry, Pandy," I'll sew you back in no time," Regina promised, gathering the remains of her doll before healing Peter.
"Strange… a bull had its weakness in the head," Peter said, pulling his weapons from the corpse, grimacing a bit from the pain in his shoulder.
"My skull is stronger than a bilghie's," Redroar stated.
"And Pandy has a marble inside its head," Regina added. "That's tough."
Slowly, the monster's body began to dissolve into specks of light, leaving behind a core the size of a pomelo.
"I'll store it for now, and we'll see how to split it later if it's OK with you," Peter offered.
"As long I get the money, I’m good," Redroar said.
You have vanquished the Champion of Atlantis, Lvl. 50 Elite. You gained +2 Levels. One of you shall come forward and claim the prize.
On top of the building, the king stretched his hand, offering the shining globe.
Peter took Regina in his arms and Warped up, but Redroar was there moments after, climbing the building in no time. "It should be mine," she said. "I did almost all the fighting."
"No offense, but my Pandy was essential to the victory," Regina said, staring the other woman in the eyes, a showdown of stares.
Taking the Minotaur’s spear, Peter plunged it into the Dungeon Core, Phasing. The sphere broke into dust.