Terramyr Online: The Undiscovered Country: A LitRPG Adventure Read online

  The second giant didn’t miss though. A heavy vibration shook Brian as the staff struck him and sent him skipping across the stone floor, directly in the path of the axe-wielding giant. Brian’s HP bar dropped by a quarter, as did his stamina.

  Brian barely managed to stop and then roll to the side as the axe came crashing down. Sparks exploded from the stone floor as the giant roared angrily.

  He could see that each frost giant had orange letters above its head. He scrambled to his feet and pulled Flaming Death out. He ducked under a whirling chop of the giant’s axe and then landed a solid strike on the giant’s leg. The giant’s HP dropped by a third, and then the HP bar flashed red once and the HP dropped again.

  Susceptible to fire damage! Brian realized.

  The giant lifted its axe to strike, so Brian moved away, but he had forgotten to keep track of the two giants with staffs. A glancing blow sent him back a few feet and tore another twenty percent of his HP away.

  By this time, Brian could feel the heavy vibrations from behind and knew the yeti king was close. Above his head the bats had stopped shrieking, but they were fluttering around just below the stalactites. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be keen on attacking the giants or creating another diversion.

  The first three giants formed a semicircle as if to corral Brian.

  He turned around and saw that the yeti king was sneering at him. The stone blade came sweeping downward with blinding speed. Brian jumped back, missing the stone blade, but then had to drop to the ground and roll to avoid a staff being swung at his back by one of the other giants.

  Switching back to the bow, he took a blind shot at the bats. He missed.

  He ducked under another staff swing and sprinted toward the poisoned arrow.

  The yeti king made a weird motion with his left arm that Brian only just barely noticed out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t realize what it was until a stone hit him in the back and knocked him to the ground.

  His HP dropped to forty percent, and his stamina dropped to a third.

  Brian fired another arrow at the bats. He hit one, and like the first, this one shrieked terribly. All the giants covered their ears, giving Brian a moment to gain the advantage. He jumped to his feet and ran for the poisoned arrow, but this time two barb-tail bats darted down for him. He was forced to dodge out to the left, farther away from the arrow.

  Another stone came soaring at him, but he avoided it by diving into the pool of water. The strange turquoise water clouded his vision a bit, but he could now clearly see the purple creature that had been in the water with the giants. Its bulbous body was covered with ghastly bumps and deep crevices that sort of gave it the look of a large brain, except it also had long tentacles with small blue suckers on the ends that sparked with some sort of electrical current. A single eye in the front turned and looked at him. A sound, like that of a humpback whale, erupted from the creature as it used its tentacles to swim into a deeper part of the pool. With one tentacle it pointed to a downward sloping cave, and with another it beckoned Brian to follow it.

  He considered his options carefully. Go with the strange monster that seemed to be the giants’ prisoner, or swim back up and take on a group of frost giants in hand-to-hand combat. Just then he noticed an oxygen bar in the top right of his HUD. It was draining slowly, but if he was about to try hiding in a cave, he’d want to fill it to max capacity first. He swam to the surface to replenish his oxygen. In the brief moments above the surface, he saw the two staff-wielding giants barreling toward him. He also saw the two giants from the kitchen room above enter into the big chamber.

  Time to go!

  The oxygen meter hit full and he dove below the surface. It occurred to him that the weird brain-looking thing was just luring him into a trap, but he figured he could fight one large monster with a higher possibility of success, especially since the dot above its head was a light yellow.

  He swam down into the cave as the giants splashed into the water behind him. He could hear the staff stabbing through the water at him, and the big creature cried out in its whale-like voice. It sounded terrified. Brian swam as fast as his character could go through the water. The tunnel around him grew darker, but there was enough light that he could see the channel walls.

  He turned around and saw one of the giants reaching into the cave.

  Great. I’m going to drown here. He turned and swam onward. The channel went down and then curved around to the right. It sloped upward sharply, a few glowing crystals lighting the way as he ascended and found a small chamber. He broke the surface of the water and his avatar gasped for air as the oxygen bar, which had nearly depleted, refilled.

  Muted whale sounds came from the far side of the chamber. Brian looked and saw two smaller versions of the brain-like creature. They were huddled where the water was shallow, half of their bodies out of the water and half in. Near them was a small path of dry ground. Brian moved toward it and spied a pile of small animal bones near the juvenile creatures. From the size and shape of the bones, Brian guessed there were bats, mice, and even some salamander creatures that had become meals recently.

  The water sloshed behind him.

  The two juveniles began to hum excitedly.

  Brian turned to see the parent creature walking toward him on its tentacles. How it managed to support its weight on those soft, fleshy limbs he had no idea. The body expanded and contracted rapidly, as if laboring for breath above water. The single eye locked onto Brian. A clear set of eyelids blinked once.

  I’m not about to become baby food. Brian equipped his sword and backed toward the far wall. The strange creature walked toward him. It made a sound like it had before, but out of the water it sounded much softer. The creature began to glow softly as white, pink, and orange hues rippled through the bulbous body. The eye shifted upward, and then it pointed with a tentacle.

  Brian looked up. Near the ceiling was a small chute. He wouldn’t have seen it without the creature’s glowing light—the room was too dark otherwise. The rock wall appeared to have enough handholds to make it to the chute. Brian turned and thanked the creature, then ran to the wall and started climbing.

  He could hear shouting through the tunnel. It sounded like his friends had made it to the main chamber. If that was the case, then they were in great danger and needed his help.

  He clambered though the tunnel on all fours, squeezing through the narrowest parts and sliding around rocky growths that impeded his passage. When he reached the end of the tunnel, he was a good forty feet above the ground. Possibly out of reach of the giants. He equipped his longbow and quickly surveyed the scene.

  One of Kyra’s Fangs was already dead, as was one of the satyr body guards. The good news was that one of the kitchen giants was already dead too. A fraction of a second later, Shuggra and Sonji took down the axe-wielding giant.

  [+1,300 XP]

  Nice, it still counted my hit against the giant before Shuggra and Sonji finished it off!

  Brian set an arrow to the string and fired at the yeti king, who was engaged with Chris and Shuggra. The stone blade swept down at Shuggra, but she gracefully leapt over it and slashed the yeti king’s leg. Chris rushed in from the side and stabbed the giant in the ribs. The arrow hit home a second afterward.

  The three blows knocked the yeti king’s HP down to half, but his HP bar started to flash red as he went into a rage.

  Shuggra managed to raise her shield in time, but the yeti king swatted her aside with his sword as easily as hitting a golf ball. She slammed into the far wall and her HP bar dropped to just a sliver above death. Rhonda darted to her side and administered a health potion.

  Chris managed to score another hit, but the yeti king kicked Chris away from him; he bounced across the stone floor a few times and his HP dropped to a third.

  Brian fired two more arrows.

  The first struck the giant in the back, who turned just in time to catch the second arrow in the face. The arrow flashed yellow, signifying
a critical hit. The giant stumbled backward with maybe a fifth of its life remaining. The yeti king howled angrily and started running toward Brian.

  Beyond the yeti king, Brian could see Freya and two of the Fangs engaged with the taller kitchen giant. He came down with a hammer made of stone and crushed one of the Fang warriors into the ground. Her HP was gone. Brian aimed an arrow at the kitchen giant. Freya sliced the giant’s leg and rolled just out of reach of the hammer. The second Fang warrior came in hard and fast, striking the giant twice.

  A magical fire bolt streaked across the dark cavern just as Brian released his arrow.

  The fire bolt struck the giant in the head. Its HP was now barely more than ten percent. Brian’s arrow pierced the giant’s neck and dropped the monster.

  [+975 XP]

  Brian then turned back to his more immediate problem. The yeti king was nearly to him. He fired a quick arrow and took the yeti king down to ten percent with a shot to the chest. He set another arrow to the string, but the yeti king threw a stone that had Brian scrambling away.

  The round hunk of granite shattered just inside the tunnel. Had this been real life, the shrapnel would have ripped Brian apart, but his avatar took no damage, despite feeling a vibration from the impact. A massive hand gripped the tunnel.

  Brian scooted away on his backside, then pulled the string back to his face.

  The giant’s second hand grabbed onto the tunnel and it groaned as it pulled itself upward.

  As soon as the yeti king’s eyes came above the lip of the tunnel, Brian fired. His arrow struck the monster in the eye. Its head snapped back, and then a second later the hands released their grip and the giant fell over.

  There was a massive thump, and the tunnel shook once more.

  [+2,600 XP]

  Nice. The yeti king was worth double the other giants. Even splitting the experience points with the others that had engaged the yeti king, this kill was worth almost as much as taking down a giant by himself. He rushed to the opening.

  Sonji, Augustin, and Shuggra put down one of the staff-wielding giants.

  At the same time, Atheron, Mike, Freya, and Little Man brought the last staff wielding giant down. As the thing fell, Little Man grabbed its ankle and shook violently while tugging. The body disappeared, and Brian assumed that meant Little Man had eaten it. The blue wolf howled triumphantly.

  That left only the giantess, but she was huddling in the back of the chamber, crying and pulling at her hair. Climbeing down, Brian looted the yeti king.

  [+2 health potion]

  [+1 frost giant tooth]

  [+1 frost giant crown]

  The body then disappeared.

  Brian used one of the potions to restore his health. Mike, Augustin, and Rhonda quickly looted the other giants.

  “You get the key?” Mike shouted.

  Brian shook his head. “No key on him.”

  “Maybe she has it,” Rhonda said, pointing to the giantess in the back of the chamber.

  Sonji and her remaining warriors wasted no time in forming up and approaching the giantess.

  The giantess threw small stones at them and started to scream.

  Brian figured they could handle her on their own, so he went to the gem pile. He was a tad dismayed when instead of looting every single gem, he was only able to interface with a single inventory list.

  [+1 diamond]

  [+5 sapphire]

  [+16 ruby]

  [+20 emerald]

  [+3 opal]

  [+4,500 GP]

  Not a bad haul. Brian smiled as the group caught up with him.

  “Find the key there?” Mike asked.

  Brian shook his head and pointed toward the giantess. Sonji and the others were almost upon her. Their weapons were drawn, and they didn’t appear to be in a negotiating mood. “Maybe the giantess has it.”

  “AAAAAAAAAAH” The giantess screamed so loudly that all the bats in the chamber began to flutter and shriek. Everyone had to cover their ears.

  A massive fissure appeared in the ice wall at the back of the cavern. The thunderous crack echoed in the room and a blast of rancid, warm air flooded the throne chamber. The giantess screamed again, even louder than before.

  The entire chamber shook as something pounded the ice wall from the other side.

  “What... was... that?” Augustin asked.

  Boom!

  The chamber shook, and bits of ice fell from the broken ice wall. Bats shrieked and flew about as if panicked. The giantess suddenly found her courage and used the leg bone of a mammoth to knock a few of the Fang warriors aside before sprinting away.

  “Don’t let her escape!” Brian shouted.

  The others formed a line across the chamber, as if preparing to play the most unfriendly version of Red Rover ever known to mankind. Weapons, magic, and bows all stood ready to make sure the giantess didn’t break through.

  Brian fired, striking the giantess’s leg. Mike zapped her with a fire bolt, and Sonji managed to shoot her from behind with a bow, but her HP was still slightly above half, and she showed no sign of slowing down.

  “For Khullan!” Shuggra shouted.

  The half-orc warrioress charged out from the line, heavy sword ready to deal the death blow. The giantess raised the leg bone and fixed her gaze on Shuggra. It was an impressive sight. The giantess was slightly more than double Shuggra’s height and size, but the half-orc continued charging and crying out to her god for strength. The bone weapon came down like a club, but Shuggra leapt forward, tucked into a roll, and then propelled herself upward to stab the giantess through the lower abdomen. The giantess’ HP bar dropped to zero and she fell, her body skidding to a stop just a few yards before the line of heroes.

  [+975 XP]

  Shuggra hefted her sword high into the air and shouted something that sounded like a victory prayer in orcish. The only word Brian understood was “Khullan,” which Brian knew to be the name of the orcish first god, their creator.

  Slam!

  Crack!

  The ice wall exploded apart, spewing bits of sparkling ice shards outward. It was almost pretty for a moment, before a massive gorilla head emerged from the hole. Its thick, pinkish nostrils flared, and it sniffed the room as its yellow, crazed eyes locked onto Shuggra. Gargantuan, furry hands reached through from the other side of the opening, gripped the stone walls, and then broke them apart to enlarge the tunnel enough for it to wriggle through.

  It moved like a gorilla, setting its weight upon the knuckles of its meaty hands and stepping forward with its stubby, but insanely thick back legs. Its fur was white as the snow outside had been, and its furless chest and hands were black. The gorilla was enormous. Each arm was larger than a full-sized passenger van, and it only barely fit inside the chamber without hitting the stalactites. Its body was about thirty feet across at the chest, and each move caused the whole chamber to quake.

  A red dot appeared above the head.

  “Guys,” Augustin called. “This is the biggest HP bar I have ever seen.”

  Brian could hardly believe it. The HP bar stretched across half of his HUD.

  “Please don’t tell me that this is the yeti king,” Brian asked.

  As he spoke, the words “Yeti King” appeared above the gorilla in bright red letters.

  “Brian, what have I told you about keeping your mouth shut?” Mike asked.

  Brian turned and launched an arrow at the beast. He struck it, but the HP bar didn’t budge.

  “For Kyra!” Sonji shouted. She and her warriors charged the yeti king. The gorilla swung its massive left arm backward, catching two of the Fangs and killing them long before their bodies bounced off the wall at the back of the chamber. The yeti king then swept its arm forward and caught a third warrior in its hand. Sonji hacked at the monster’s back leg, but it didn’t even seem bothered by her as it threw the captured Fang warrior into its mouth and began to chew.

  “How are we going to beat that?” Rhonda asked.

  Brian
knew what to do. He turned and ran for the arrow on the ground. “I have an idea!” he said.

  The yeti king roared and slammed his fists into the ground. The roar acted like a breath weapon, knocking all of the heroes to the ground, and many of the barb-tailed bats too. The fist pounding split the ground with several cracks running the length of the chamber.

  The yeti king charged as Brian and the others all scrambled to their feet.

  Brian glanced over his shoulder to see the yeti king swat barb-tailed bats away like thick, fleshy flies that died instantly upon impact. Reaching the throne, the beast ripped it from the ground and hurled it. The throne hit several barb-tailed bats as it coursed through the air toward Brian. He had to leap to the side to avoid it. The throne struck the ground and shattered into dozens of pieces. Unfortunately, it also knocked the poisoned arrow farther from Brian’s reach.

  By this time the others had split up. Mike was zapping the yeti king with a myriad of spells, Rhonda used a couple of minor explosion potions, and Sonji was firing her own arrows at the beast. Despite landing multiple hits, the HP bar hardly moved at all.

  Brian pushed himself up and sprinted toward the arrow again.

  He glanced over his shoulder, noticing Pan for the first time in the chamber. As Brian might have guessed, Pan was retreating, but at least the satyr prince was using a hand crossbow to fire at the monster.

  There was a horrid, blood-curdling scream as the yeti king caught hold of one of Pan’s bodyguards. The poor thing never stood a chance. The yeti king threw him into his mouth like a piece of furry popcorn and chewed.

  Brian reached the arrow, dropped to his knee, and moved to set it to the string just as a barb-tailed bat dove at him and swung its tail: Brian reflexively lifted the bow to block it. The monster ripped the bow from his hands and flew out through the tunnel leading up to the kitchens. It shrieked, apparently calling the others of its kind, for they all answered with an ear-piercing screech and then flew for the exit.