World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 39 The Secre

"Here we go," I said. The wolf had been killed not far from us, and one of the mentors went to pick up its pelt and claws. Now was the perfect time to attack. "I'll cut off his hands, you finish him."

I waited for the Major to nod affirmatively and get ready to attack. An archer was approaching us. If he had specialized in long-range combat, it was likely that he had invested most of his points in dexterity. My attack was one 135 together with the effects of the Holly vapors and points invested in a blow. It was unlikely that his endurance and armor combined exceeded sixty points. I could make it. But I didn't want to take risks. If I fail, we would have to flee or fight to the bitter end. This would either be a waste of time, or unnecessarily gained experience and levels.

Why not make sure first? I spent ten endurance points and tried to cast Mental Confusion on the archer. As expected; he didn't have any magical defense. He froze, and I only had to jump up and strike the joint of his leather armor which was unprotected. His hand fell to the ground, blood pouring from the wound. Another blow and another hand went flying.

"Mikhail, finish him off!" I roared. While the Major was getting out of the bushes, I rushed at the second enemy who was still trying to figure out what was going on. I wasn't going to give him a chance to get his bearings; another ten endurance points were lost and my health dropped by a hundred, but the enemy didn't even resist. I cut off his hands and made sure that the Major, who had immediately reached level 19, finished him off. I then moved to the newcomers that were huddled together. Six people, more than Petrovich had asked for.

"Will you go willingly?" People in front of me looked so pitiful that the there was no point in using intimidation.

"What do you want?" The first to speak was a puny boy who took a couple of steps forward, s.h.i.+elding the three girls that seemed to have shrunk even more behind him.

Innokenty. I read the name. Suddenly an old man that was standing a little to the side took out his knife and stabbed himself in the heart. Like Fox did once. I didn't get his name. The body that that fell to the ground was missing all system info. Well, since there was someone with a strong will among them, I couldn't take any more risks. Prisoners were quite scarce. I cut off ten more hands, not without difficulty, this was quite heavy work, if I do say so myself. Making sure that no one could quickly send themselves to resurrect, I sent the Major to accompany the screaming and moaning prisoners back to our base, I then checked their mentor's bodies. Just like I thought; standard weapons, except for the bow that, judging by the damage, was quite good. I took it with me.

We spent four hours or so making a couple of fairly large circles in the forest to somewhat confuse any possible pursuers before we finally we reached the base. Our prisoners walked silently the entire time, not daring to say a word. Some of them would whine quietly from time to time; but overall, they seemed to have been tempered by this world. In the reality that we all had left, such peace of mind would be unthinkable. Well, I could even somewhat understand how our prisoners were feeling now. Some were really scared, while others decided to take advantage of the situation and gain more information about the world.

As it turned out, no one had been sleeping at the base. They were all sitting around the campfire and chatting about something. So, I was right when I thought that the second group went to meet another group of newbies. There were two new faces among five people already familiar to me.

"These are Sergei and Lena," the Redhead was the first to notice our arrival and immediately introduced the newbies. "Who's with you? More people? Wait, no, don't come to the base! There will be more than twelve of us then!"

I had just thought how my guesses were close to the truth when Petrovich took the initiative.

"Say that you will join us, and I will let you go," almost shouting the phrase he pushed aside Dasha who was sitting next to him and approached the captives. However, his approach worked. One of them remained silent, but the other four said "yes" in barely audible voices. And that seemed to be enough.

There was a terrible roar and the earth began to crack. A huge, blind muzzle emerged from the abyss.

Earth Dragon

Legendary creature

Level 19

The monster that looked like a huge worm wasted no time and rushed at us.

"We're done for!" Dmitri whispered, not even trying to move.

The worm-dragon hovered ten yards above the ground, opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing shriek. Everyone was still shocked with its sudden appearance, and only Petrovich threw his lance at the monster, hitting it right in the throat. The weapon disappeared into the bottomless gorge.

And that was exactly what Petrovich needed. Letting out a sigh of relief, he s.n.a.t.c.hed a flask with some red liquid from his pocket and threw it into the gorge after the lance. And what an effect that created! It looked like live flame burst from a broken bulb and engulfed the giant's body, which almost instantly burned to the ground.

"Scarlet Flame Elixir," the redhead was not only confused, but, perhaps for the first time since I came here, angry, and he intended get some answers. "That's worth at least a hundred points! Where did you get it?"

But Petrovich had no intent on wasting time talking. He ran up to the still burning remains of the formidable monster and began to look for something in them. Right, the beast could've dropped something valuable. Something flashed under the schemer's feet. So much happened in just a couple of seconds. No one had the time to move.

Lance tempered in the blood of the Earth Dragon.

So that's what the newbies, the potion of unknown origin, the seemingly pointless lance toss into the jaws of the monster were all for — it all was to get a new power. While the lance was still lying on the ground, I managed to glance at its features — with 190 attack power it was dangerous even for me. If I am not careful while the old man is under the effect of Rage, he could kill me with a couple of blows.

Meanwhile, our satisfied leader silently came back, lit the tip of his lance on the campfire and a sent one of the newbies' head flying with one quick move.

"Keep calm, don't panic," Petrovich immediately hid the eerily clean lance. "Sergey will resurrect in a moment, but a weapon like this is rather unstable. If I don't kill people, the dragon blood will destroy it. One volunteer a day, and we will have the strongest weapon in the area. We could even change the world!"

Did this really not bother anyone except me? Call a corpse a volunteer, add some power demonstration, and everyone is happy?

"Cat!" It seemed that it was my turn. Are we going to fight or negotiate? "I promised you a reward. It's all yours!"

After making a few turns in the air, the battered book fell into my hands. Petrovich got much stronger and still decided to give away such a valuable thing — I couldn't understand that. Trying not to lose the sight of him, I slowly looked down. Everything fell into place. He really did give me the promised skillbook, one with a magical skill at that.

"As promised. Sorry though, the skill is useless as people don't have magic in this world, but books about it can still be found, though rarely. I hope that you're not offended." He was mocking me and provoking a conflict. Did he want me to start a fight? Where did he get this unhealthy craving to paint himself a good ruler? Especially after everything that he had done?

"Thank you, I'm glad that you kept your word," I answered, my voice calm. Today was the first time I let someone twirl me around their little finger. All because of a d.a.m.n book. It should never happen again, though the reward didn't upset me.

Fire Flow Spellbook

A stream of flame comes out of your hands, burning all enemies in front of you.

Flame length: 2 inches

Type: support

Cost: 10 health per second