eFate: An MMO Story Chapter 42: Wolf Den Caverns 1

With a shimmer of light, three figures appeared in a small copse of trees. Peering around quickly, they verified that no one was around. Satisfied that the area was clear, one of the figures opened his mouth.

"You guys ready to head back to the wolf den?" asked one of the figures, a tall, skinny human in his late teens. His black hair and pale skin contrasted sharply with the red leather he was wearing, giving him a dangerous appearance. A sword hung on his back while a dagger could be seen at his waist. His features were fairly sharp, as if he was ready to cut into whoever stood in his way.

"Yeah sure. Hopefully those guys come and deliver us some more items," the second figure laughed, testing the string of his bow as he did so. This new speaker was even taller than the first, wearing the same red leathers but with a quiver of arrows strapped to his side rather than a dagger. On his back was a sword, while a pair of daggers were strapped to his thighs. As he looked up from his bow, his face came into view, with dark black hair and olive skin it was clear that he was of asian descent. His face, slightly rounder than the first figure's had a mischievous grin etched on it, as if he was excited at the prospect of whoever 'those guys' happened to be, reappearing to deliver their group more items.

"As long as they're as easy to kill as they were last time," the third figure piped up. Shorter than his companions, he too was asian. Unlike the other two who were humans, the third speaker was an elf, though even the slim elven form didn't allow him to compete the first figure in regards to slimness. A sword hung in a sheath at his side, while a large wooden shield with a metal boss on the front hung from his left arm.

"I'm sure they didn't magically get way better at the game overnight Gio," said the second figure, rolling his eyes at Gio as he did so.

"True, they did kinda suck," Gio admitted.

"As long as Jun can take out their leader like he did last time it doesn't matter even if they played all night and gained a ton of levels," the first figure chimed in, running a hand through his hair as he did so.

"Yeah, just keep their fighters away from me and we'll be fine," Jun replied with a grin.

Gio sighed, "Yeah well you two aren't the tanks. It's not easy keeping them from charging past to get at Jun. You sure you can't help tank Ryan?"

"I can help with the frontline if you really need it. But I think it's better for me to kill their mage like I did last time. They're scrubs anyways, just focus on staying alive and me and Jun will kill them all," Ryan laughed. Jun echoed the sentiment while Gio just sighed, cracking a smile as he watched Jun imitate the expression on their opponents leader's face as he'd died, his eyes open comically large and his mouth gaping like that of a fish.

Checking their gear, the three began to head east, following the path towards a set of caves they'd discovered the night before.

"Oh yeah, did you two get Eric's rune file?" Ryan asked, absentmindedly attempting to draw a pair of runes in midair as he walked along.

"Yeah I got it," replied Jun.

"Same," said Gio.

"I can't quite seem to get the spell right. Every time I cast it it fizzles," said Ryan with a frustrated expression, watching as his runes shattered into small shards of light for the umpteenth time.

"You sure Eric didn't send you the wrong runes just to screw with you? Seems like something he'd do," Jun suggested.

"To you maybe, I'm fairly sure Eric would send the right runes to the rest of us," Ryan retorted, continuing his attempts to cast the spell. As his runes shattered once more he sighed, stowing the wand in his storage, "I'm nearly out of mana. You guys want to try and see if you can get it? I wanna see if it's me or the runes that are the problem."

Taking out their wands, Gio and Jun began to mimic Ryan's previous actions, cheerfully chatting as they approached the cave system. Just like Ryan, Gio failed to cast the spell, his runes shattering into motes of light as his spell fizzled once more. Just as Ryan was about to suggest they give up, a dim glow lit up the forest nearby. Turning, Ryan and Gio beheld a pair of glowing runes emitting a dim glow near the tip of Jun's wand.

Pointing his wand towards a nearby tree, Jun fired the spell, a blade of wind emerging from the runes and howling towards a nearby bush. Cutting right through the bush, the wind blade continued, not stopping until it slammed into a stone almost thirty meters away.

"Guess he gave you the right runes after all," Gio commented dryly, observing the path of destruction the wind blade had left in its wake.

Ryan whistled, "Damn. Now I really want to learn this spell. I wonder if I'm not high enough level to use it yet?"

"It didn't work until I put in almost double the mana I used for Flame Strike. Try forcing out more mana," Jun explained, reading the description of his new spell as he stowed his wand back in his storage pouch.

"I'll try later, I think we've arrived," said Ryan, pushing aside a branch to reveal an enormous cave looming large only a few dozen meters from the group. As the three emerged into the clearing, a loud howl sounded, a trio of wolves leaping down from where they'd been sunning themselves on top of the cave entrance.

Racing towards the party, the lead wolf leapt at Ryan who was just staring impassively at the lupine intruders. Just as the wolf's claws were about to tear into his leather armour, a blur arrived, slamming into the wolf and sending it flying with a sharp yipping noise.

Standing in front of Ryan, Gio stood tall, his shield held sturdily in front of him, "You wanna take out your weapons? Or are you just gonna stand around like Liam in a teamfight," Gio asked, swinging his blade at a second wolf to keep it at bay.

"It's fine, you got this," said Ryan, yawning as another wolf leapt towards him. This wolf was not as lucky as the first had been, with a whirring sound, an arrow exploded into its eye, the creature crashing to the ground and skidding to Ryan's feet.

"Nice shot," he commented, giving Jun a thumbs up.

"I'm not going to miss, I'm not you."

"Ouch. Hurtful," said Ryan in a monotone voice, drawing his sword and cutting down a wolf about to bite at Gio. As his blade sunk into the wolf's back, Gio's sword was emerging from the back of the final wolf's throat. With a gurgling sound, the two wolves collapsed to the ground, having utterly failed to even scratch the party.

"Sorry, want me to buy you a drink later babe?"

"As long as you don't buy the cheap shit again. The stuff you bought last time tasted like water."

"Are you two gonna keep flirting or help me loot these wolves?" Gio interjected, with a look that made it obvious that he was tired of his friends antics. With a laugh, Ryan and Jun walked over, bending down to retrieve their spoils.

"These monsters are too easy, it's like last hitting in League," Ryan complained as he looted the wolf he'd just killed.

"Hopefully there's goblins or something strong further down in the caves. Isn't that what that cute NPC chick told you, Gio?" asked Jun, retrieving his arrow from the wolf's skull.

"Yup, the villagers think there's something breeding the wolves further down below. The army won't investigate though as they have bigger problems to deal with. And the militia isn't strong enough to risk sending men down to check it out. So the wolves have multiplied," Gio explained.

"Well I hope there's an elite down there. Or even better an elite and some goblins. At the very least I want bigger packs further down. These guys are too easy to kill in small packs," said Ryan, nudging the body of the wolf with his foot. Jun nodded his agreement while Gio just sighed, "You guys say that. But I'm the one who has to tank them you know."

"Just don't be a scrub and you'll be fine, Gio," Jun said with a laugh, walking towards the cave. Laughing at his friend's antics, Ryan followed, leaving Gio to follow them inside.

The interior of the cave was surprisingly well lit with sunlight streaming in from holes up above, and miniature crystals that glowed dimly jutting out from the walls. The limestone walls shone with a pale hue, light reflecting off the slow streams of water that dripped onto the walls from above.

Following the path they'd tread before, the trio made their way through the caves, casually slaying red-maned wolves as they chatted about the game and the competition.

"I'm just saying, the more people we kill the faster we can get ourselves set up for the Kingdom representative tournament. We can also keep our opponents from leveling by killing them, it's two birds with one stone," said Jun. Firing a Charged Shot into the throat of a howling wolf, cut off mid-howl the wolf stumbled once before falling to the ground, its healthbar disappearing.

"Maybe we should let them howl? Perhaps they can summon reinforcements," Ryan observed, wiping his sword on the dead wolfs fur. Standing up he continued, "And I agree with you. We should definitely try to suppress our opponents, but like Mark said, we don't want to make too many enemies, at least not during this stage. Once we've qualified we'll be much more safe from the other teams in the kingdom."

"I don't mind killing small fries like the ones earlier. But we should probably avoid fighting large guilds and gaming studios. Mark will be pissed if we get smashed cause we picked a fight with Yuuki or Ravenholm. Also we could try letting them howl. This new shield is letting me tank them pretty easily," said Gio.

"Eh screw Mark. He plays it too cautious. We're not going to lose to a bunch of scrubs in a fair fight," argued Jun as the trio pressed onward.

"I get what he's saying though. We won't lose in a fair fight, but if they gang up on us then we could be in trouble," said Ryan. Gio nodded, "Exactly. You guys might be able to fight groups on your own. But some of us can only fight one or two enemies at the same time. And if we piss off a few guilds and they all come looking for us, do you really think the GMs are going to stop them?"

"Then we kill them until they're forced to stop. I just want to be able to kill who I want. If Eric's being a dick are you saying I can't kill him?" Jun asked. Ryan laughed, "You can try. He's pretty good at running away from you by now though."

"You've definitely given him lots of practice," Gio added with a grin.

Chapter end