More Than A Game (Epic LitRPG adventure)

Chapter 6: Gringvort part 4

Everyone else got the message about all the bones and stuff as well, and that tripped up the group. The skeletons used that against us, and our front line began taking hits. The first two skeletons started smacking them in the head, but that was only part of the problem. Right behind those two, were six more.

"Hunters, fire!" Oygolinn's cry rang out. "Rodriguez, heal us! Flosi, get over here! Hagen, Liutix—to the left and right flanks. If you're attacked, get them to target someone else and run for the hill, so you don't trigger more of them!"

I dashed to my left as the archers fired and scanned the area to make sure we wouldn't be outflanked. Meanwhile, things were hopping at the front of our group. Oygolinn's command couldn't have come at a better time, as it shook the archers out of their stupor. They quickly took out two of the first three skeletons and heavily damaged the second trio, making them easy pickings for the three swords of our tanks. When the first fell, I leveled-up.

"Archers, switch to the next three!" shouted Oygolinn as he himself fired at the far group. As he continued loosing arrows, he stepped back, covered by our swordsmen. "Rodriguez, heal the tanks!"

The three hunters also turned their fire on the far targets. The strategy was a good one: only two got to the swordsmen, and they didn't last five seconds against their three swords.

"Fall back," commanded the leader once all the skeletons were piles of bones on the ground."

"What about stripping them?" asked the archer named Kerv, who until then had been quiet.

"Flosi," said Oygolinn, nodding to the piles of bones.

Collecting trophies didn't turn out to be that hard. You just reached your hand out to your opponent's remains and everything he had turned up in your backpack.

In our case, sure, every time, the question popped up, "Do you need this item?" And you took a second to think before replying.

This time, none of the nine skeletons yielded anything interesting—just bones, shards of rusted swords, and a few grave centipedes. A bunch of crap... Although somebody decided they needed it. Who could possibly have taken it all?

"All right, we need a new strategy. We won't split into groups of three," announced Oygolinn. "They'll overpower us since they're in trios, too. Swordsmen, you'll be in the front taking the skeletons on in the center. I'll be right behind you, also working in the center, with the three other hunters working the left and right flanks. You two," he said to Liutix and me, "watch the flanks. If the hunters are threatened, you know what to do. Rodriguez, focus on healing the tanks. Move out!"

And that's how it went. The next nine skeletons were a piece of cake. The archers spread out to the point that only every third skeleton made it to the swordsmen at all, and even their health was in the red. You could almost hear them creaking out something like "Ah, you got me, you living scum," as they crumbled into heaps of tiny bones before Flosi's sword could cleave into them.

I was quite happy with how things were going, as I leveled-up three more times and got another message:

You unlocked Strength of the Strong, Level 2.

To get it, destroy 19 more enemies that are 10 levels or more above you.

Reward:

Daredevil, a passive ability, Level 2: +0.6% to the damage you do with all weapon types

Worthy Reward, a passive ability: +2% chance of finding rare items on defeated enemies

To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.