October 23, 2024 Floor 55: Grandzam
"I have to train?" I asked.
"That's right! You me and one other guy are gonna form a party. Then we're all gonna go clear the dungeon on this floor." The guy said.
"Hold on Hegde! Percy and I are already—"
"I can't do anything about it ma'am. Besides, as second in command, you know we can't ignore the rules. If he's going to be joining us, then it's my job as commander of the front lines, to take the kid out and evaluate his skills." Hedge said.
"But that's ridiculous! He doesn't need evaluation he's stronger than you!" Annabeth complained.
"Kid in 30 minutes, I want to see you at the western gate, Horahhh!" Hedge screamed and left the room laughing.
Annabeth sighs and puts her head down. "We finally had the chance to be alone..."
I pat her head. "I'll be back soon. Think you can wait for me?" I smile.
"Just be careful." She said softly.
Walking through the western gate, I see Hedge waiting for me. He spots me and pulls someone out from behind the wall and waves. Octavian stands there looking away awkwardly.
"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Yep!" Hedge grinned. "Look at it this way, we're all in the same guild, so I figured now is a good time to get along." He cackles.
"About the other day..." Octavian bows and sound like he's reading from a script. "I apologize for my behavior. I was rude to you and I-I promise it won't happen again."
"Yeah... sure." I said.
"Alright ladies time too focus!" Hedge said. "Today, I'll be checking out how you react to dangerous situations so... I'm gonna need you to hand over all the crystals in your storage."
"Even my warp crystals?" I asked and Hedge nodded.
"Awesome. Now lets go clear a dungeon!" Hedge said.
"Yay..." Octavian and I both said in a dead voice.
Floor 55: Dungeon Entrance
We are walking in the bottom of a cavern, giant rock walls on both sides of us.
"This looks like a good place to take a break." Hedge said, and Octavian and I plop down on some flat rocks near us. "Chow time ladies!"
He throws us a bag and a bottle of water, and a dusty bread roll sit in it. A quick vision of Annabeth telling me to say aw with one of her sandwiches flashed in my brain. I sigh and take a drink from the glass bottle. I look over and see Octavian smirking and chuckling as I drank. I throw the bottle and it shatters into pixels. My body goes limp, unable to move at all. Paralysis poison takes me and Hedge down at the same time.
Octavian stands up and starts to cackle insanely. "Poor sad old Hedge! I always knew you were a colossal idiot! But this proves your even dumber than I thought! Hahaha." He pulls out his sword and slashes onto Hedge. Octavian's green cursor turns orange. "Here's my plan. Our party was walking along when—" He slashes Hedges paralyzed body again. "We were attacked by this gang of criminal players who appeared out of nowhere!" He slashes again. "You both fought hard, but you were killed in battle!" He slashes again. "It was just me against all of them! And somehow I courageously and single handedly fought them all off! HAHAHAHAHAH" Octavian keeps stabbing and slashing Hedge. He stabs down and digs his sword deep into Hedges back, Hedge shimmers and explodes into pixels dying.
Octavian pants and turns his head to me. 'Hehe... you know, I just killed an innocent bystander because of you. How am I gonna live with myself?" He said with a deadpan and cocky voice.
"From over here, you looked like you were having a blast." I said. "Why the hell would a guy like you Join the Demigods?! You'd be more at home with one of the criminal guilds."
"What an interesting observation... you have sharp eyes." He opens his menu and takes his gauntlets off, a small tattoo on his arm.
"Your with Laughing Coffin... the murder guild?!" I said, struggling to be able to move again.
"That's where I got the skill to paralyze bastards like you. Where is my head? I better stop talking or the poison will ware off, and we wouldn't want that. Time to die, Percy." He raises his sword above me and stabs me in the gut digging and twisting the sword. My health starts to drain. He raises his sword again and stabs my leg, again digging and twisting around. "How's it feel? Come on, I wanna know how it feels knowing your about to die like a dog! What is your tongue paralyzed too?" My health reaches halfway through and turns to yellow.
Rachels face the moment she died pops in my head. "Is this the end?"
"Come on now! It's your last chance to say something! You really are going to die!" He takes the sword out of my leg and sticks it back into my gut. My health now in the red. My eyes get heavy and close. I force them back open and a image off Annabeth flashes in front of me. I manage to move my arm, grabbing his sword. "Heh... why do you keep struggling? Are you afraid of dying after all?"
"No... I'm just not... ready yet." I said through gritted teeth.
"Is that so... hehe... That's the way I like it!" I struggle taking out the sword, my health getting down to the last little bit. "Die! Die! DIIIEEEEE!" my grip loosens, a bright flash and a scream rings out.
"Heal." A quivering voice says. My health bar shoots up from 3% to 100. "I made it... I made it in time, thank god." Annabeth says with a shaky voice. "I was tracking your position on the map the whole time. Then I saw Hedge disappear. I got worried something happened. But your alive... I'm not dreaming am I?" Her voice even more shaky.
"No... Your not." I smiled weakly. Octavian struggling to his feet behind us. Annabeth stands up.
"Hang on, I'll finish this." she said coldly.
"Annabeth, I can explain everything. We were just training and all of a sudden there was this—" Annabeth cut his cheek making him stagger back. She hit with a lighting fast combo draining his health. "I give up, I surrender!" He cried. "Please don't kill me, I'll leave the guild. You'll never see me again!" Annabeth hesitates, and Octavin slashes her sword out of her hand. He raises his sword and brings it down to her, I block with my wrist, my hand flies off. Using my other hand, I use a skill and shove it straight into his chest killing him. "Damn you... you murdered me..." Octavian explodes into pixels dying. I fall to my knees.
The sound of Annabeth slowly walking up to me gets closer. "I'm sorry. This was... all my fault wasn't it?" She starts to cry. "I'm sorry... but I-I sh-should have sta-stayed away from you..." She says through tears. I reach out and grab her arm getting close and I lean in and kiss her. She tenses up, but relaxes into it. Our lips slowly part and I drop my head to her chest.
"Annabeth, my life belongs to you. I'll give it up for you. I want to stay with you till the end." I said, my voice shaking.
"I promise, I'll do anything to protect you too, forever. No matter what, I swear." She says softly.
"I'll do everything I can to make sure you get back to the real world. Annabeth... could I, stay with you for the night?"
