Cyberserk & Vampiress

Take it as it comes

Tom and Lord of Fear were engaged in a fierce trade. The man asked for time to make a decision. Dan gave serious thought to the dangers of stealing souls.

"Huge greedy flying lizard. Your greed is greater than your wingspan! Am I asking for the impossible? No! I'm asking you to share some of your defense. Give the mage at least ten points of defense!" 

"Harmful stupid phantom. This is the first time I've met such a brazen double. I will not give up a single flake of my defense. The mage will get my service and combat skill. That's enough," hissed the outraged dragon.

"Why would a mage need a warrior's fighting skill? Is he going to rush into battle to pound his opponents with his magic wand? Don't do me a Stupefy to the brain, Harry Potter!" Tom waggled his finger at the greedy dragon reproachfully.

"I don't know your garrypotter, but he's no match for my skill at mental magic. I am Lord of Fear and I am a great ally. Do not frighten me with the monsters of this world. I have fought ancient dragons. Everything is decided by chance. I know the taste of victory," snorted Lord of Fear.

"Listen, dragon. I want to know about your battles. Has no group of elves ever been able to defeat you? Elves are masters of disguise. If a group of assassins suddenly strike from invisibility, you could be killed," the clone looked at the guardian of the castle with interest.

"Ugh! The eared narcissists have got a sass. They tried that trick. I've had many dreams of defeating my enemies in this castle. I know all my opponents. The elves could not harm me with their tricks. Have you fought beside an elf?"

"It was a miserable show," laughed Tom. "There was an orc, a vampiress, and an elf in our group. Stupid suckers. No desire to act as a team. Words cannot express my disappointment."

"Koreima is good. A weak fighter but a good girl," Dan shouted in defense of the young vampiress.

"I think he has a crush on that bloodsucker," whispered Tom. "For love's sake, give him some of your speed."

"I'm willing to give the mage some speed if he'll give up his nefarious theft of souls," the dragon suddenly agreed.

"A little is how much? How much of your speed are you willing to give?" Tom immediately jumped at the chance to boost the attribute with a new artifact.

"A very small portion of my speed I can give. I have to take care of my kind's honor. I cannot look like a weak ally," Lord of Fear proudly proclaimed.

"You are more greedy than a gnome," shook his head at the clone.

"Gnomes are good folk. You haven't encountered many Mice. One group of mice managed to trouble me," the dragon admitted.

Tom fell silent and thought that the influence of the mice he had long ago reconsidered. These cunning and crafty creatures have captured much influence in the Grossroads. Phantom looked cautiously at the tribe of mice. He knew the old rule. Dangerous is the enemy you know nothing about. Gnomes and mice were the most secretive nations of the Grossroads.

Tom heard footsteps and turned his head toward the entrance. Dan's boldness and audacity pleased him. The swordsman entered the hall and approached the two creatures who were discussing the number of properties of the future artifact.

The man stopped and smiled.

"It is a pleasure to greet you, Lord of Fear. I see that you can be a strong ally. I have made up my mind. I will take it," grinned Raven.

"I will devour you now, swordsman and mage, Den Baron Raven," sighed the dragon. "Now I know who Human is. Human is the dumbest of all the new creatures of the world. Dumber than an orc."

Lord of Fear fell silent and stared intently into the man's eyes. The dragon grinned.

"Give me one reason that makes you challenge this world," the dragon asked.

"Time to live, time to lie, time to laugh, and time to die. Take it easy baby. Take it as it comes," whispered Dan Raven. "Besides, I can always refuse to use that ring."

"That, too," the phantom agreed with his friend.

"Humans are strange creatures," the dragon concluded. "First we make a treaty. Then I'll create my new masterpiece for human."

Dan and Tom did not object. Raven was disappointed with the day. At first, it seemed like an interesting adventure, but at Zangar Castle it turned into an unpleasant series of boring acts. Had he turned into too much of a power player? If so, then was the joy of the game lost forever?

Dan Raven repeated the words of the oath after the dragon and was sure that Tom had checked the text carefully. Then the Lord of Fear asked to be left alone. The magic of the dragon kind is too dangerous for human and phantom. The process of creating an artifact is a professional secret.

The clone noticed the sadness on the man's face.

"Are you upset that we are in the business of stealing souls?" Tom put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I've become indifferent to it. I thought there were rules to the game. I signed some kind of agreement without even reading it. But you know very well my agreement with the game world. Tom, I'm just a lazy student. Some of my problems have to be handled by educated professionals. You're my lawyer. You're worried about the ring problem? Keep in mind that we could cancel the Precious bonuses at any time. We'll get through this together," the young man grinned.

"It feels strange. I feel threatened by the process of stealing souls. But I'm not afraid for you. We'll experience the power of the first punishment and draw conclusions," smiled the clone.

At that moment there was a low clang in the dragon room. The friends looked toward the entrance to the hall. A few seconds later a small ring rolled out of the hall and hit the wall of the corridor. 

Dan walked over to the artifact and picked it up.

[Sanctuary of Lord of Fear. (Ring, Rank 7 - Epic).

Level 14 - Level 100. Developable: 0/176100.

Requirements: Level 14.

Possession: Personal.

Durability: Indestructible.

The following characteristics will be adjusted according to the user level.

Strength: Increased by 23%.

Speed increased by 23%.

Intelligence increased by 23%.

Body increased by 23%.

Skill: Lord of Fear. Summons an ancient dragon that fights at your side. 

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Skill: Dragon Strike. Damage increased by 300%. Cooldown: 1 minute.

Ring of Sanctuary Lord of Fear created by a dragon from his flesh and magic]

"Modest and neat. Combat skill is excellent. You'll like it," the young man held out the artifact to the phantom.

Tom examined the object's properties and returned the ring to the man.

"Equip him. Let's not delay and see how it pairs with the Precious. I don't see how two rings with the same property will work," the clone admitted.

"First we finish our affairs!" The Lord of Fear roared from the hall. "I will not waste my powers in resistance. My sacrifice is voluntary. I ask the human to kill me."

Dan shook his head and drew his sword. An unpleasant day. An unpleasant quest. 

The swordsman entered the hall and approached the dragon. He immediately decided to use his strongest skills to get the job done quickly.

Rage of Ars. Cut of Kornelius. Double Strike. Traitorous Strike. Destructive Strike. Devious Attack. Normal attacks were enhanced with the Bosskiller achievement up to 132%. Damage of 160 points could partially overcome the dragon's defense and dealt 60 points of damage. Only Cut of Kornelius could be applied every 2 seconds. Dan felt disgusted and unnatural. Beating the dragon was not pleasant for him. It was not the act of a warrior. It was the act of a butcher chopping a carcass. But the swordsman's torment ended quickly. It wasn't even a minute before he was able to deliver the fatal strike.

The huge body of the Lord of Fear disappeared, and the dragon's head and the scroll were left on the floor of the hall. The swordsman picked up the scroll.

[Dragon Strike. Damage increased by 300%. Cooldown: 1 minute] 

"Sly and greedy, monster," laughed Dan.

He hid the scroll in his inventory and touched the big boss's head and wished it away in his inventory. Sometimes this trick worked with some of the big things of the world.

The congratulations from the game system did not evoke any positive emotions.

[Congratulations! You have defeated the Lord of Fear! Reward: 7200 experience points! Special reward for defeating the Lord of Fear boss: the Dragon Strike skill scroll. The player improves the achievement Boss Killer Rank 2. All boss damage increased by 133%!

Congratulations! You have completed the Kill the Dragon quest. Reward: Unconfirmed title Viscount. Ring of Sanctuary of the Lord of Fear] 

Dan shook his head at the avarice of the system and hurried to deal with the confusing new title. The new information didn't appeal to the player. The only obvious benefit of the new title was that the title Viscount Zangar gave him the ability to move freely to Castle Zangar. When Dan decided to check the castle properties he saw a huge list of things to do that required an economist or an experienced player in games like building a Castle or Stronghold.

Tom walked over and winked at his friend.

"That must have been frustrating. But you keep in mind that I had this disgusting sensation that stretched for dozens of seconds. I felt like a nasty rat sneaking up on a noble creature to bite it with its filthy teeth," Tom scratched his chin and continued to recall the sad events of the day. "Get it over now. Equip the Sanctuary. We've got a case to solve."

The swordsman didn't mind and placed the new artifact in the second cell to equip the rings. Each player could only equip two rings.

Nothing horrible happened and the world didn't erupt with thunder and lightning to punish the vile soul stealer. Dan looked at his character status.

[Character: Dan (Human)

Affiliated Location: Earth 

Title: Viscount

Profession: Swordsman. Blacksmith 

Level: 14. 6280000/176200

Attributes: Strength 11 (+4+4), Speed 11 (+4+4), Intelligence 7 (+65+51), Body 18 (+4+8). 

Free Attribute Points: 0

HP: 1700/1800

MP: 1050/1210

Weapon Mastery & Skill: Weapon Mastery: 7. Magic skill: 5. Expand Skills.

Free Skill Points: 13

Profession Talent: None

Achievement: Boss Killer Rank 2. 33/100. Dungeon Explorer Rank 42] 

"The new ring did not increase the percentage to 73 points. It separately took the attribute data into account and increased it by 23%. The funny thing is it requires very few experience points to develop. Only 176,000 experience points. I need that much experience to level up to 15, too," Dan said.

"You have six million experience points. But I don't think it's necessary to develop our dangerous toys. Now I'd advise you to die once after you level up any ring," suggested the clone.

"Let me renew you. So you can study the information about the new title. This is an area of knowledge I've never been interested in. Economics and politics never appealed to me," Dan looked at his friend and applied the Phantom skill. 

Tom immediately picked up his katana from the floor. He returned the rest of the artifacts to the swordsman when they gave the dragon time to work on the artifact.

"Ugh! I feel like we got a mountain of trouble from this possession. I don't want to be in charge of the new household. We need help. And representatives from all the nations of the Grossroads will want to give it. It seems to me that we are about to become provocateurs and aggravate relations between vampires and gnomes," laughed the clone.

"Koreima might try to get involved in the management of the household. Castle Zangar's mistress is solid and then her elders will get off her back," Dan nodded his head.

The friends froze and looked toward the entrance to the hall. The noise of the approaching crowd reminded them that now they were not the only ones who had the opportunity to leave Zangar Castle. 

"Our Lord of Fear proved to be outrageous greed. He ate the throne! How will you meet all the poor losers? You are a viscount without a throne. Pathetic," the phantom chuckled at his friend.

"I don't think a viscount is entitled to a throne or a crown. You're the one with the local knowledge of the aristocratic way of life. Tom, we have time to escape," the young man hinted at the possibility of escaping the unpleasant continuation of a nasty day.

"We've got a quest to finish. Let's show these losers that human is cool," the phantom made a spirited and stern face. But his voice betrayed the unserious mood of the clone. "An unconfirmed title isn't a cool thing, though. It's a fool' thing."