Supreme Lord of Soulnight

Fallen Warrior

For three consecutive days, Liwan’s team repeatedly challenged the twin sisters, the Dark Sidhe and Cassiopeia to complete Valeria’s equipments. Everything the monster bosses drops went to their inventories and stored to the vault for safekeeping.

Everything went on smoothly as planned, except that back in the real world, Anne Marie has started to be a nuisance to Liwan. He almost dreaded going to school everyday because the girl seemed to have staked her claim on him. No matter how he avoided her, she seemed to be there at every turn. And it’s not cute, no matter how his friends convinced her that it is.

“I can’t believe you’re hiding from that girl,” Jayson remarked.

They’re at the school’s roof top, killing time until everyone has left. From there, Liwan could see Anne Marie at the school gates waiting. He’d bet his pinky fingers that Anne Marie’s waiting for him. She’d put on a pretense that she wanted him to walk her home, which he always flat out refuses to do so. What is she, a five-year old child? He’s got no time for such nonsense.

Liwan clicked his tongue. “I don’t like her anymore, is that too hard to understand? I don’t know if she’s just playing dumb, or this is just one of her devious games. Whatever it is, I am not playing with her anymore.”

“Even us find that hard to believe at first. Ever since you fell from that tree, it seemed that everything about you changed, including your feelings for Anne Marie,” Denver observed.

“I don’t know, man. I just woke up one day not giving a s**t about her. I realized she’s not worth it. Looking back at those times where she made a fool out of me, something in me clicked. And then, bam! Nothing.”

Because I have known her true colors.

“Alright, enough about Anne Marie. She’s the least of your problems now. Are we going to hunt Stagra tonight?,” Jayson asked.

Liwan bobbed his head up and down.

“It’s high time for your character to get proper equipment. I’d like to dress everyone up before we hit level seventy. We’ll be challenging the leader boards then. We will need a very attractive record to entice people in joining us.”

“Alright. Same time?” Denver confirmed.

“No. It’s an hour later than the usual. I still have to finish my home work and help around the house a little.”

“Helping around the house got your mother a shock. She was complaining to my mom the other day when they bumped into each other at the supermarket,” Jayson said, laughing a little. “She turned pale when my mom told her I’ve been studying too. She’s convinced we three ate something weird for us to turn around.”

“Sounds like my mom, too,” Denver agreed.

Liwan sighed.

“I must be a horrible son to my mother all my life.”

Denver put on arm on Liwan’s shoulder.

“Tone it down. Just take out the trash or something. Mothers just love to nag but they actually want their children to be comfortable and not to worry about things not related to studying. Mine nags at me for washing the dishes last night. Isn’t it weird?”

Liwan could only agree.

*****

That night, their team warped to Enorcal as planned. The boss Stagra’s territory borders Enorcal and Rionas——the Mudlands. The Mudlands used to be the largest lake in the whole of Soulnight but for some unknown reason, all forms of life disappeared, along with the large volume of water that the lake used to hold. What remained were rotting water plants and stretches of knee-deep mud.

As time went by, a new ecosystem thrived in the land of mud. Surprisingly, the mud never hardened and remained moist until today, thus people refer to the once lake as the Mudlands.

The Mudlands is ruled by a boss popularly known by the name Stagra, a ten-foot tall hulking giant with human-shaped rock for a body. He wields a broadsword made of red steel, forged by his clan’s forefathers under the fires of the flaming mountain called Virze located at the northern part of Arkta.

Stagra’s back story in the official game guide suggests that he was once a Warrior who committed murder and was punished. He slayed the town’s governor because of a woman. He was cursed by an Invoker who was an ally to the people of Enorcal and was banished and wandered to the area now known as the Mudlands.

Rumor has it that the drying of the lake was his revenge against his people who forsaken him, depriving the whole of Enorcal who was then dependent on the lake for their livelihood and other resources.

It was also the advent which brought a wave of change in the lives of the people of Enorcal. They can no longer fish on the lake, thus more and more people turned to forging and farming as their primary trade.

“Here’s the game plan,” Liwan said. “Magical attacks first then physical, strictly alternating. Stagra was once a Warrior, naturally his defense is strong, not to mention his attacking power. If we want to have a shot of defeating him, we must disable him first before attacking him physically.”

“Who would be the principal attacker then?” RagingInferno asked.

“None. This time, we need to overwhelm this boss with our strength or we’re meat paste. Valeria, you attack from a distance. One blow from Stagra will send you back to the town square. We cannot afford to lose one of our members from start to finish. At this point, you can now use your bow’s ultimate skill, Black Rain to put him to sleep while we hack him into pieces.”

“Okay.”

“Jay, you’ll pair with Denver. I’ll be B-Champ’s partner. You only have to watch out for Shadowstrikes’ timing to deliver your own attacks. Try to keep an eye on his speed to time your blows. Denver, keep in mind that RagingInferno is a damage type character. You’d have to work together in this,” Liwan added.

“Understood.”

Blade turned to B-Champ.

“Buddy, you’re stuck with me. What I advised Jay will also apply to the both of us since my character is built for speed like Shadowstrikes. You okay with that?”

“Yes, captain. No problem,” B-Champ responded.

“Alright. Since everyone is set, let’s go get that weapon from Stagra’s hands.”