Юрий Третьяков – Algoritm of oblivion (страница 11)

“Quickly here!” – Max did not recognize his voice, changed by the game to a higher one. “The temple is here!”

The girl reacted first, she took a short run, pushed off her foot from the wall of the building and in one jump jumped over both the dwarf and the zombies surrounding him, spectacularly landed on the crawling monster, piercing his head with the studs of her heels and simultaneously plunging short curved blades from both hands into the two nearest enemies. The Darks hit in the head did not get up. After that, she rushed to run to the temple. The dwarf made a lunge, clearly fueled by some kind of magic, scattering opponents and ran after her.

Breathing heavily, they burst into the temple, slamming the massive doors shut behind them.

The dwarf was bleeding, the elven woman didn’t look much better than him. Dozens of dark figures surrounded the temple, and their number was growing rapidly, they fought and howled behind the doors of the temple, but none of them was able to step on its territory. They hissed and raged outside, reaching out to the strangers, but were not able to set foot on the sacred ground.

“How did you get here? The location is not easy. What can a lonely, unarmed child do in a temple in the middle of a cursed city?” Darriel pointed the crossbow at Max. “What class do you have and what tasks did the system give you?”

“Wait, wait,” the dwarf stood between her and the boy, “We came here to help, to help him level up, remember?” The dwarf smoothed his red beard, taking another sip from a bottle of green potion, which caused his health bar to fill up quickly. Although his iron armor and chain mail still clearly needed repair.

“Maybe he lured us here on purpose,” Darriel continued, “It’s ‘Dream’, they can’t do without unexpected twists and crazy quests. Something is clearly wrong here Redbird. Maybe it’s a hidden monster killing quest. And he’s that monster. The temple is clearly damaged, look at the shards of glass. This clearly happened recently, most likely during the shelling of the city by wall-battering machines of the Lights before the next assault. That’s how he woke up. If he’s the ghost-keeper of this place, he’s just waiting for us to turn away so he can tear our throats.”

“You see monster hunting quests in everything, calm down already. We are on holy ground.” The dwarf objected, trying to calm her panic.

“In a cursed city,” Darriel did not give up.

“But we don’t receive damage from the cursed land here, which means the place is still sacred. And the cursed cannot enter here, which means he is normal. Look at those,” the dwarf waved towards the crowd of zombies outside the temple area, which had become noticeably larger during the conversation and was in no hurry to disperse, “they are not able to go to the holy land.”

“And by the way, yes, this is another argument against him,” said Darriel, “they don’t react to him.”

“What?” the dwarf was surprised, “how is that?”

“Even now, when we move around the temple, the damned feel it and try to get closer and move, but there is no such reaction to him. The temple would have been plastered with zombies even when we approached it if they had sensed a living person inside, got it? We wouldn’t even have entered.”

“Are you implying that they can’t come here because of him?” – asked the dwarf.

“Maybe. Ordinary cursed ones avoid the territory of bosses,” replied Darriel.

“Guys, wait, I don’t have any curses and I’m definitely not a monster, at least I don’t know about it.” Max raised his hands in conciliation. “This is my start to the game. I appeared here.”

“Strange… it turns out that the artificial intelligence of the game made you a super difficult start.” The dwarf scratched his beard. “This location is not recommended to visit until level 20.”

“Accept the request to add to the group, I want to look at your characteristics. You have nothing to hide, do you, Max?” Daria-Darriel did not calm down.

Player Darieel invites you to join the group: Yes\No?

“Okay, but how do I do that?” Max asked, feeling insecure.

“Just agree, verbally,” Darriel replied.

“I agree,” said Max.

Quest “Allies\Enemies” Completed.

Description: In the cursed city you met a group of adventurers, uniting with them you found new allies.

Type: Random event.

Reward: Experience +15.

Experience to the next level: 1140 (+15) \1200

Now, Names and brief characteristics appeared above the heads of the new comrades. Just as Max’s characteristics must have become visible to them.

Name: Darriel (Ally) Race: Dark Elf Age: 32 Level: 21 (Master 1st stage) Class: Monster Hunter

Name: Redbird (Ally) Race: dwarf Age: 38 Level: 18 (Senior weaponsmith apprentice) Class: Weaponsmith

For some time, they studied new information about each other. The girl was a “dark” elf, or as they were also called drow, perhaps this explained her non-standard appearance for fair-skinned and clear-eyed elves.

“Time Keeper? What kind of class is that?” the archer was surprised.

“But now we know for sure that he is not a vengeful spirit,” the dwarf remarked.

“What kind of classes do you have, are they unique? I didn’t see anything like that in the task of choosing a game class,” Max asked.

“No, we have the most common ones,” Redbird waved his hand, “her ‘Monster Hunter’ is just one of the subspecies of ‘hunter’ or as it is also called ‘archer’, and ‘weaponsmith’ is a type of ‘merchant’, a craftsman selling his own goods, but I see one like yours for the first time, which god became your patron, Einar?”

“Einar?” Max raised his eyebrows in surprise, “why are you calling me that?”

“That’s your game name… I see it in your statistics. Role-playing is important for the game, those who do not immerse themselves in the Lore receive penalties from the system, so I advise you not to violate the game rules and respond to this name. So what god do you have, the one you serve?”

“My divine patron?” Max remembered the completion of the recent quest. “It’s the One.”

“It’s amazing, I’ve never heard of the One interfering in the affairs of people, accepting sacrifices, or giving quests,” said Darriel.

“And what kind of god is that?” Max asked.

“The supreme deity of the local pantheon. He is also called the Incomprehensible or the Creator, he is everywhere and nowhere, he is the law of the universe, order and chaos, he created all the worlds and retired, he is the god of balance, time and higher justice,” Redbird flashed his knowledge of the game lore.

“Redbird, my quest is closed!” the archer exclaimed, “the one to find a weapon capable of stopping the advance of the Light Alliance into the dark lands.” She finally lowered the crossbow, “He’s the weapon!”

“A boy with level 11? How will he be able to destroy the Alliance’s army of mercenaries? The gods truly have an inexplicable sense of humor,” the dwarf smirked.

“Artem, aren’t you overdoing it? You’re talking like a fifty-year-old,” Max laughed.

“I am almost fifty here in the game, so everything is within the rules. And what are your special abilities? What is your background, why did you appear here, are there any hints or tasks?” asked the dwarf.

“I don’t have a background, or rather I don’t know it. And from the skills: Teleportation,” Max replied.

“Really, show me?!” the elf admired.

“I haven’t used it even once yet. And I don’t know how to use the abilities,” Max confessed.

“Okay, it will happen at the right moment in the plot, you just need to move on,” the dwarf explained, “the game system calculates and prescribes each character their own unique story.”

“Yes,” the elf continued, “For example, Red’s parents’ caravan was attacked by bandits in childhood, and he scattered them with his magical surge of rage, thanks to which he and his family managed to escape. But then it reflected badly on him. Circumstances determined the choice of his unique ability, and this is a military ability, it is useless for a merchant. Therefore, he is 48 and he is still not a master weaponsmith. It’s hard to compete with those who have the blessing of the gods when you don’t.”

“And why not just become a warrior then?” Max asked.

“dwarf society is divided into castes, warriors are lower in the hierarchy of their state than merchants, so he must continue the work of his parents, despite the fact that he does not have the abilities for this,” Darriel replied, without thinking about the fact that her words might offend the dwarf.

“Is it necessary to spill other people’s secrets like that?” the dwarf quickly wound up and fell into a rage, “dwarfs live for 300 years, I will still have time to become a master. And you,” the dwarf poked a finger at Darriel, “with your sick head and visions will suffer for the rest of your life. She thrashes on the floor for half a day and there is no use from her.” he nodded to Max, “She groans like a cat in March! The chosen one must come… the weapon of retribution… it is nearby.” the dwarf rolled his eyes and waved his hands in the air depicting a fit.

The crossbow string clicked, the arrow grazed the dwarf’s cheek and pierced into the tree behind him.