Daemon Venator

Chapter 1 - Strategy Is Survival

I was slowly walking through a mountain pass, sword drawn, sweat dripping down my face. Why did I accept this quest?, I thought, if I die on this quest, I'm so screwed. The death penalty was complete loss. If you died, you lost everything, your levels, your experience points, all of your items, the only thing you kept was your account, though it didn't really matter because most people quit after a complete loss and stopped playing. I had only accepted the quest because the reward was neptune's trident, an extremely rare item, and extremely expensive. If I could get ahold of it, I would be able to sell it and finally have enough gold for the new class that had just been released, the Arch Assassin. The class was a dual wielding bad-a. It had the most skill sets out of all the classes released so far, and it was the only class that could dual wield daggers, I wanted it so badly, I actually accepted this quest that was pure suicide. No one had ever completed this quest, and everyone tended to avoid it. But I had thought maybe, just maybe I could be the first to complete it.

At first it was just low level imps and goblins all out in an open valley, it had been so easy to eradicate them all with my short sword. That was when I got full of myself and got really cocky. I decided the quest wouldn't be very difficult and that I could just rush through it.

I ran toward the opening of the mountain pass and immediately regretted it. When I was ten feet from the entrance, out stepped an Orc, one of the strongest enemies throughout the game, it was at that moment I finally understood why no one had ever completed this quest, the orc was level 100, to defeat this beast, you needed at least four to five players, and this quest was a solo quest, so that was impossible. I ran through strategies in my head, deciding it was too late to back out now. After a while I could only come to one conclusion. Me being a level 45 rouge, there was only one strategy with even the slightest chance of me coming out of this alive, and it involved me using my speed skill to its absolute limit.

I assessed the orc was slow, but one hit from its huge battle axe and I would surly be done for, so I would have to get behind it and attack, the moment I reached this conclusion, the orc charged. Its giant legs shuttering the ground with each step, within seconds it would be on me and it would all be over, it was now or never. When it was inches from me, I dove underneath its legs, praying it wouldn't decide to stomp on me.

It seemed like eternity as I was mid air swiftly flying beneath its legs, and finally i was far enough behind it where I could strike it. I quickly spun around, swinging my sword out as i did so at it right leg, my sword connected, but did little damage to the monsters health.

I pulled my sword back as the great beast started turning around, I just barely dodged its blade of destruction as it landed inches from me, I stumbled back losing my balance, but catching it again before I toppled over.

I backed up a few paces and ran to the side of the monster, then around behind it again before it could attack, turning around once again, this time I aimed a little higher, reaching for the neck, attempting to slash the beasts head off.

My sword connected, but only slid halfway into the monster's neck. I cursed under my breath, I wasn't strong enough to bring it all the way through. I attempted to pull my sword free, but it was stuck. The monster begun to spin around with an ear piercing roar that chilled me to the bone, I bounded off its back just as it turned around, sending me flying through the air, landing on my arse. Cursing under my breath once more, I threw my feet under me and took off in a run across the field, attempting to put as much distance between the Orc and myself. Just as I thought I was safe I heard the monster let rip another roar, and a few seconds later I heard it throw its battleaxe at me, it just barely missed my head by half an inch, it made a woosh sound as it flew by, landing in the trunk of a nearby tree. I turned around once more to find the orc right in front of me charging, attempting to crush me with its giant legs. I jumped to the side, just narrowly avoiding the attack.

The beast began reaching for its weapon, and that was when I saw my chance, I jumped high in the air, landing on its shoulder. With the last of my strength I kicked at the blade still imbedded in the creature's neck, pushing it all the way through. The Orc stopped moving, I jumped from its shoulder, landing a few feet away, moments later the Orc fell to the ground with a loud thump, finally still. I crouched down and crept over to pick up my sword, putting it at the ready, waiting for something else to come out of the pass. I stayed crouched, silent for a few minutes before finally deciding nothing else was coming out. I stood there, completely bewildered as to how I was able to defeat such a giant beast with my low level, I must have the luck of the devil I assumed. The Orc despawned then, leaving a bag of gold and an orcish shield where its body had been. I walked over and picked up the bag, 53 gold, said the menu. "All that for 53 gold?" I said to myself, "Not much of a reward for slaying such a huge beast."

I lifted the shield, glancing at the menu, not expecting much, but I went wide eyed with what I saw. It read, Fire Resistance:75 Defence:85.

I stared in wonder, I wasnt aware there was a fire resistance enchantment, if it did exist, it couldn't be accessed by players, that was for sure, meaning it could only be spawned. I slid the shield into my equipment screen, equipping it to my avatar.

Strangely, it added no extra weight, meaning I could still use my speed and stealth skills, but it did lower my attack by a few points.

I decided I would keep it as I started heading the the entrance to the pass, stopping at the entrance. This was it, I thought, as I took my first step into the opening. At that moment an axe came down on my shoulder, it was smaller than the Orcs, but it brought my health down to two percent.

I quickly ripped the weapon out, charging at the attacker blindly, swinging my sword. I connected with something, feeling the sword pass through whatever it was without much trouble. As it fell with a thud to the ground, I gazed upon it. It was simple Imp, but how could such a creature have brought my health down so low? I wondered. It despawned, along with its weapon.

I opened my inventory and looked through it searching for a hp potion. As I scrolled down to where they should have been, I only saw an empty box. I stared in wonder, they were gone...

I pondered it a bit and decided I must not have gotten any at all, and that I should just keep moving forward. So with sword at the ready, I walked forward, either to my death, or victory.

And thats how I ended up in my current position.