Legends of Orlea

Chapter 15

Zirem had an odd feeling of dread as they approached the castle that was the Tomb of Horrors. He gulped down that fear as they opened the doors; he wouldn't want to be distracted by something so trivial. However, that thought wasn't as trivial as he thought.

A massive lizard reared up in front of them, roaring and breathing flames. The leader dove out of the way, but one of the healers wasn't on time and was burned, losing half of her HP. She cried out, and the second mage sent a wave of water to extinguish the flames, but was too late to heal; the lizard was attacking again. 

More flames flew from its mouth, singeing the second healer and distracting him and taking his HP from him. The first healer cried out as another jet of flames took her down, and she exploded in shards before Zirem's eyes. He'd been too late to protect her.

The leader cried, "No!" and leaped towards the monster, followed by Zirem. "No! Get away from it! It's the mini-boss!" The lizard screeched, and blew flames. Zirem pushed the leader out of the way and took the damage, which wasn't too high. Only around 3 000 damage, and he had 23 567 HP, which meant he was still in the green zone. He also had the Battle Heal skill, which allowed him to regenerate HP during fights.

He cut the lizard twice, but it lashed its tail at him and he flew back, unable to stop the mini-boss from killing the last mage and damaging the tanker, who was also still in the green. The leader had tear rolling down his cheeks as he sobbed at the loss of two of his friends. The Tomb of Horrors wasn't supposed to be this hard!

Growling, the lizard readied itself to fire at the unmoving guild leader, but the tanker got into place as Zirem approached. The tanker's HP dropped into the yellow, but stopped as the lizard was distracted. Zirem slashed twice in a cross, then used Gaia's Final Fang. The swords flew everywhere, sometimes cutting the scales, sometimes passing right through the body.

Soon, it was decimated, but not before striking twice the tanker, putting his HP in the red zone. The bawling leader sniffled twice, then wiped his tears away, gripping his sword with anger and rage. 

As they encountered a massive Baaljesson, the tanker died, and they tried to turn back, but the giant lizard had re-spawned. However, Zirem killed it, and they walked back through the Centaur Forest to get back to Stigate.

The leader walked up the cliff that lead to the sea. He turned to Zirem, and spoke a few inaudible words, then threw himself over and into the sea. Zirem was too stipefied to react in time. He rushed to the side, reaching down, but it was too late, and he watched as his guild leader fell into the raging water, tears streaming down his face.

Zirem felt terror and disgust well up in his throat, a spider extending its legs throughout his body. He almost threw up, and he felt tears of his own rolling down his cheeks, leaving streaks in the thin layer of dirt and grime on his face.

Once again, he'd failed to protect his friends, and he couldn't even make up for it! It was his fault! They would never have gone to the castle if he, the "legendary warrior" hadn't joined them! They would have gotten stronger, and then tried to conquer the dungeon. It was his fault entirely.

He went back to the town, depressed and angry. Never again. He'd never again suffer that pain. Even if that meant cutting all of his ties with any other person he knew.

--------------3 months later---------------

No new weaponry. Everything he'd found was useless, or it was for a different class. He was now two floors lower than the frontier, which was floor 142. Growling, he cut through the last beast in the dungeon, and headed for the boss room. 

He reached it in a few minutes, but nothing opposed him, as if they could feel his presence, and had decided, based on that, that he was too powerful for them. So they left him alone. His Eco-Location was at max, which was 5500. He could now see with such precision that he could pretty much predict, based off the slightest movements of his enemies, what they would do. This made him almost invincible, unless one moved faster than the soundwaves could reach his brain, which was even faster than usual, even surpassing light-speed.