Catching his breath and wiping the tears from his face, Max saw the body of Serhmy nearby. The elf's body had stopped bleeding, and the boss’s corpse had vanished.
Glancing at the middle of the room, Max saw a wooden chest with goblins etched on the outside waiting to be opened.
Ignoring the chest, Max stood up, taking a deep breath and letting it out.
There was still the message he needed to deal with.
[ Consume has successfully consumed two skills. Choose which skill to consume ]
[ Would you like to learn [Backstab] or [Stealth]]
Moving toward Serhmy’s corpse, Max weighed the options.
[Backstab] sounded great, but what if it wouldn’t work with a spear? He would also have to be in a party, and he wasn’t sure he could do that for a while.
Goblin crap… those other three are probably outside waiting for me or Serhmy.
That made this decision easy.
[ Consume has learned the skill [Stealth]]
Max felt the usual rush of knowledge flowing into his brain after selecting it.
18-Year-old Human Male
Spear Handling - Common
Berserker - Common - Cooldown 23:56
“Holy dwarf ball! Uncommon!”
Max didn’t care about how much noise he was making. Everyone in here was dead.
Looking down at Serhmy, Max wondered how high-level this elf must have been for an uncommon skill.
[Skill Description - Stealth]
Stealth - Uncommon Skill: The user may activate this skill while not in combat and vanish from sight. The user may still be found by other skills not limited to sight detection. Attacking will remove the user from stealth. Looting and portals may be used while active and will not break it. Duration lasts for twenty-five seconds and has a one-minute cooldown after expiring. It may not be activated while wearing plate armor. Must remain crouched while stealthed and moving.
Reading that description, Max wondered what the difference between common and uncommon was. Not knowing would bother him, but perhaps he might find out down the road.
Serhmy had died with a shocked look on his face. Kicking Serhmy’s head, Max inspected the elf to see what items and loot he might have worth taking.
“Mother goblin clucker… my backpack.”
Max groaned, knowing he had left his backpack with Faylen and the others.
Thinking about them made him momentarily worry about what would happen if they ran into each other. Were the three of them as powerful as Serhmy had been? He knew Faylen had two skills. Did all elves have two skills?
Grumbling, he started pulling items off the dead elf. Multiple daggers were hidden in different spots, a coin purse was found and Max couldn’t believe how many silver coins were in it when he looked. Not wasting time to count, he put it with the rest of the stuff.
“He didn’t have a backpack,” Max muttered as he stripped the clothes off the corpse, ensuring nothing was missed.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Inside a tunic, Max found a broach and his eyes widened when he touched it.
“Hohoho… a temporal storage.”
He had seen one of these as a teen while taking his turn at the bank. The manager had shown him and the other teens who were with Max a collection of temporal vaults.
Fidgeting with it a little bit, Max finally found the spot to press to activate it and saw a small box appear before him. The purple swirling mist had ten outlines for storage spaces; seven of the ten were already taken up. One of them was a large backpack. Reaching into the space, he thought about the backpack, and soon, one basically the size of his own appeared in his left hand. Setting the pack on the floor, Max began to dig inside, finding too many things to deal with at the moment.
Laughing, he grabbed the weapons and pouch he had pulled off Serhmy’s body and stuffed them into the backpack before putting it back inside the temporal storage.
He then put the broach beneath his armor and clipped it to his undershirt.
Giving the elf’s head one more kick, Max moved to the chest and lifted the lid. Inside that purple glowing space were two items. Another silver ring and pair of leather bracers that seemed to glow. Taking them out, Max stared at the black colored leather they were made from. Three gold stars were etched into each bracer. He set them on the ground momentarily while taking off his old ones. He put the new ones on as quickly as possible, tightening them and staring at how they looked on his forearms.
Doesn’t stand out at all…
As the chest dissolved, a timer appeared where it had been, made of blue light and floating in the air.
Grabbing his spear, Max left his shield behind, knowing it wouldn’t provide any real defense.
Jogging to the portal, he took a few deep breaths as he prepared himself.
Crouching down, Max moved to the portal, his vision going dark.
“Where the hell is he?”
That was the sound of Brindle shouting as Max appeared in the area near the pillar. His eyes adjusted and he saw Lucia, Brindle, and Faylen all looking around.
“That bastard killed the boss. Why would he do that?” Lucia asked.
Not wasting time, Max began moving as fast as he could toward the tree line. There was no telling if he would make it, but he had to try.
As he moved off, he heard Faylen talking.
“That stupid fool probably activated the boss. I told Serhmy to wait, but he was pissed, and you know it. He wanted to kill…”
Max was out of range and uninterested in listening, as escape was more important.
He glanced over his shoulders and hurried as fast as his body would let him.
A flashing timer appeared in the corner of his vision. Ten seconds were left, and the trees felt so far away.
It flashed two seconds as he made it to a tree and darted behind it, feeling himself appear.
Taking a few deep breaths, he waited a moment and began running deeper into the woods. He had about two more minutes before the dungeon shut down completely, and he needed to get as far away as possible.
He was a sweaty mess when he reached town. He had stopped running multiple times to allow himself to recover some, but fear of the three finding him kept those breaks short. The guards outside town had smirked at him, but he had just waved, not wanting to talk or risk an explanation. He had no clue what to do next.
The whole way, only two things stuck in his brain. Talk to Peter and get out of town.
“By the gods, boy, where did you come from, and what happened to ya?”
Peter had jumped a good foot off the ground when Max had appeared behind him. No one else had been nearby, but Max didn’t want to take a chance.
“We need to talk. Privately.”
Peter saw the look on Max’s face and cocked an eyebrow before he nodded.
“Follow me, I know just the place.”
“Sit down and tell me what happened, boy. You look more timid than a rabbit who hears dogs barking.”
Max dropped into the chair Peter pointed at, grateful to be in an office and out of the inn's main room.
“This will sound crazy–”
“Crazier than how ya look right now? Just spit it out already,” Peter demanded as he interrupted Max.
“Faylen and her party tried to kill me. One of them tried to use the boss's room as a trap, but he died. I activated the boss who ended up killing him and then I killed the boss.”
Peter glanced at Max and saw his leg bouncing as he sat. After all this time, he could read the boy and knew that was no lie.
“That explains the bracers then. What about the other three? They just let you go?”
Shaking his head no, Max took a deep breath and let it out.
“I made it out before them, running back to town the whole way. They got my pack and my stuff.”
Stroking his beard, Peter brought his two eyebrows together as he thought. A few seconds passed, and the dwarf walked over to a shelf and grabbed two mugs and a small glass jar.
“We need to drink and then figure out how to protect you. If what you say is true, then that means there are some of the Zealots of Thuyja in town. They don’t like humans,” he paused and chuckled, “or dwarves, but they hate humans. They don’t usually kill in plain sight, and what yer saying makes sense. It explains why they have been here so long.”
Max nodded and watched Peter pour something he recognized as hard liquor into a cup.
“Serhmy was the [Rogue], and he told me as such. Said they had killed many. He talked, which allowed me to think and use the boss.”
Peter stopped pouring his drink, turned his head toward Max, and smiled.
He then started roaring in laughter as he picked up both cups and gave one to Max.
“I shouldn’t laugh, but you used yer brain. The boss’s skill?”
Peter laughed again, holding out his cup and waiting till Max clinked his. Tilting his head back, Peter drained the cup and moved to set it down on the shelf.
“Smart. Real smart, Seth. I bet that elf didn’t know what to do.”
Max took a sip and shuddered as he made a face.
“Yeah. I lost my shield after the boss broke my arm and shield. I used my only healing potion and killed the boss before it turned on me. I then killed the elf since the boss had cut off his legs.”
“Did you attack first?” Peter asked, his voice going low.
Shaking his head, Max tapped his left shoulder.
“He threw a dagger at me. I saw him go red and knew I could fight back.”
Peter nodded and began stroking his beard again.
Neither said anything for a minute as both of them watched the other.
“You need to run. Like now,” Peter said when he finally spoke. “I can tell the guards I know what I suspect, but if I mention you, they will require you to testify. Things will get bad for everyone.”
“Yeah, I don’t need that kind of attention.”
Peter snorted and then moved toward his desk.
Max shook his head no. “I got some and owe you more for what you are doing now.”
“Bah, you don’t owe me nothing. Going to get your stuff?”
“They have my key. If I go and get it, they will know I’m alive. Better to let them think I’m dead.”
Nodding, Peter started to rub his hands together. “Actually, that’s a perfect plan. I’ll tell my friends, and we can watch and see if they come for your stuff.”
Max nodded and pulled out the goblin boss’s ring.
“I can’t turn this in, can I?”
“Not anytime soon. People be coming back to town. You go in there and turn it in, everyone will know.”
“Ok then,” Max said as he stood up and set the cup on the desk. “Peter, I owe you my life. Someday, I’ll find a way to repay you.”
Max moved toward the red-headed dwarf and held out his hand.
Peter grinned and shook it well before slapping Max on the arm.
“Get out of here. I need to hurry and find my friends before this place gets full.”
Nodding, Max headed toward the door and looked back at Peter as he opened it. “Someday, I’ll come back. When I do, I expect my same room.”
Peter laughed and waved at Max as he left.
“Fricking elven zealots,” Peter muttered after Max left. “Always someone trying to ruin mah business.”