Supreme Lord of Soulnight

The Dark Sidhe

Only the echo of their footfalls can be heard as they went deeper into the Dark Caves. From time to time, nocturnal animals like bats flew above their heads, screeching and baring their fangs at them. Liwan couldn’t help but marvel at the technology the developers of the game used. They provided players like him an almost life-like experience of the environment.

“Something’s changed,” RagingInferno remarked in a quiet voice.

“What?” B-Champ asked.

“Uhmm…the noise? Or the lack of it? Where have all the screechy bats gone? Or those rats skittering the cave floor here and there?”

“Keep moving,” Blade urged the team.

“B-But—”

“But nothing. Regardless if we’re plunging into danger, we keep going. We’re here for the most dangerous creature housed in these caves, aren’t we?”

“Right.”

“So let’s go. I don’t want to stay up late tonight. We have a quiz tomorrow.”

“Quiz? What quiz?” Shadowstrikes butted in.

“Something that sounds like History?”

Shadowstrikes groaned. “I’ll be sure to fail tomorrow.”

“Wait, you guys are classmates?” Valeria asked.

“Yeah. We’ve been together since we’re toddlers,” RagingInferno confirmed.

“Cool. How old are you?” It was B-Champ who asked this time.

“We’re all sixteen.”

“What school? B-CHamp and I goes to Rickfort Prep School. How about you?”

“We’re from Acacia Hills High School. Rickfort? Wow. They say kids there are pretty loaded.” Shadowstrikes whistled.

“Not really. Some are charity cases, like me. B-Champ’s dad pays for my tuition.”

“You’re not a charity case, Val. My dad sponsored you because you have so much potential, straight A’s since primary grade. And it’s the least he could do for his best friend’s daughter.”

Valeria scoffed. “We’ve got a Dark Sidhe to slay and captain needs his beauty sleep. Quit dilly-dallying!”

Valeria elbowed her way towards Blade’s side, witch light in hand. She gave Blade a quick look before heading off by herself.

“Let’s go. She might encounter the Dark Sidhe by herself. We need to catch up with her or else our preparations for this day will go to waste,” Blade reminded the team members.

They moved as if of one mind and managed to catch up to Valeria. It wasn’t because they moved fast. But only because she stood unmoving on her spot, as if transfixed.

“Val? Why did you stop?” B-Champ asked.

There was no reply. They saw Valeria frozen on her spot, eyes widened in alarm. Her mouth was open as if she was about to speak a word of warning to her team but it didn’t happen. Her hand clutching the witch light remained suspended by her side, just a little above her waist.

“s**t!” Blade exclaimed and immediately stepped back. “She’s petrified. She cannot speak to our communication channel, the system is blocking her as part of the effects of the spell. The Dark Sidhe is surely lurking nearby. Be careful where you put your feet, you might trigger one of her petrifying orbs.”

How could he forget such important detail? Liwan wanted to slap himself for being careless. He got overconfident because of the his knowledge from the future. But he realized that knowledge is a two-bladed sword, he must wield it carefully as to avoid getting injured.

Then a humming sound came swirling inside the cave, the voice pleasant to the ears. Along came with the sound was an illuminated figure of a woman dressed in layered white gossamer silk. Strapped on her back is simple black bow with an equally black string. Even without seeing the weapon close, Liwan knew there are carvings on the bow’s limbs.

And that weapon is the most obvious identification of the Dark Sidhe.

“Be on your guard, that’s our target! Jay, fiery blow! Now!”

RagingInferno’s broadsword glowed red, the red so vivid against the darkness of the cave. Then he slammed the broadsword’s tip on the floor, the force creating multiple cracks on the earth easily. Molten fire flowed from the broadsword, finding their way into the damaged surface.

“Watch out for Valeria’s recovery and get in position,” Blade directed his team. Everyone moved to their respective spots, waiting for Valeria.

The Dark Sidhe’s petrify spell lasts to up to fifteen seconds, depending on the defense of the character receiving the damage.

Then they heard successive popping sounds, like multiple caps of soft drinks bottle coming loose. It turned out those were the sounds created by the buried petrifying orbs. RagingInferno’s AOE skill disabled the petrifying land mines the Dark Sidhe set-up.

At last, Valeria can finally move and speak. She let out a string of curses on the group’s communication channel. The men pretended they did not hear anything but remained vigilant and ready on their spots, waiting for Liwan’s instructions.

“Hah! Let me get a piece of that b***h!”

“You’ll have your revenge, Valeria,” Blade chucked, cracking his fingers. “B-Champ, you’ll deal with the first blow. Then Valeria, followed by Shadowstrikes and RagingInferno. Use physical attacks first. Magic attacks are pretty useless at this point. Got it?”

“Yes!” Everyone chorused.

“On three,” Blade gripped his sword tighter. “One, two, three!”

B-Champ came shooting towards the Dark Sidhe. He raised his fist and showered the monster with his quick punches for five seconds before Valeria came and slammed the but of her staff on the Dark Sidhe’s midsection.

B-Champ and Valeria, being partners for so long moved in perfect unison with each other. Their timing complimented each other. It’s as if they’re of one body instead of two. Even when they stepped back waiting for their skill cool downs to come to an end, they did so with precision.

When Valeria and B-Champ withdrew, RagingInferno came from the above with his jumping cleave, followed by Shadowstrikes’ spinning knife attack. By the time the two finished delivering their attacks, Blade delivered his straight stab to the Dark Sidhe. It caught the monster clean, having been affected by RagingInferno’s stun from the jumping cleave.

“Valeria!” Blade screamed.

“Ready!”

“Go!”

B-Champ and Valeria came again, repeating the same attacks they used the first time. The Dark Sidhe retaliated from time to time in between exchanging blows with the members of the team. But Blade and his team mates kept the momentum solely in their favor, never letting up. Liwan reminded them from time to time to replenish their hit points with potions. They keep at it until the Dark Sidhe’s hit points dropped to fifty percent.

“It’s armor is finally failing. Time for magic attacks. You ready team?”

“Yeah!”

“Keep the rhythm and pattern of attacks as planned.”

They kept the monster busy for quite a while. When he glanced up at the wall clock, he realized he’s been playing for three hours and a quarter. Only then that Liwan noticed the gradual setting of numbness in his hands but he ignored it. He reminded himself that he’s no longer the old Liwan but the sixteen year-old kid of eight years ago.

Most probably the numbness is psychological, carried over from his twenty four year-old state of mind. Because he never felt such thing in his hands when he was sixteen. In fact, he’s at the peak of his hand speed at that age, with no symptoms of any fatigue.

“Li, it’s down to twenty,” Shadowstrikes’ voice brought Liwan back to the matter at hand.

Right. It’s not the time to let his mind wander. He looked at the Dark Sidhe’s health bar.

“Fall back now! It’s going to aggro.”

Everyone heard him and did as instructed. His team mates stopped attacking the monster and put considerable distance from the Dark Sidhe. They all converged on one side, away from the Dark Sidhe’s aggro radius.

The Dark Sidhe unstrapped the black bow from her back, knocking an arrow and pulling the string close to her chin. Then she let go. A sharp whistling sound came. Then from above, multiple black arrows rained down the area inside the radius of her attack. The earth where the arrows struck turned black as if tar was spilled.

“Aren’t we going to attack?” Valeria asked.

“Wait,” Blade said, watching the Dark Sidhe. “Her aggro is not finished yet. There’s still another wave.”

“Oh.”

“We don’t want to get stuck with any of her filthy arrows,” Shadowstrikes murmured.

“What’s the effect of that ultimate skill?” B-Champ asked.

“Eternal sleep,” Blade answered.

“What does it do?” It was RagingInferno.

“Put you to sleep. Then she’ll hack you into tiny pieces and make a quiver out of your skin.”

“Nasty bitch.”

“She’s quite bad-ass,” Blade agreed. “Too bad she met us.”

His team mates chortled like happy monkeys.

A few moments later, the team emerged from the Dark Caves with Valeria wearing a black bow strapped on her back. Back in his room, Liwan crossed out one item in the team’s shopping list.