Elemental Warriors Online

Jerry The Mouse King

Cassius and Rose fell right into step with each other, their path lit by the street lamps and the full moon of the night sky. You would expect the city to be quiet, but it was still very much active. Cassius took a deep breath as the fresh city air assaulted his nostrils.

This was nothing like New Abuja as the air here carried faint traces of food, trees and iron rust. New Abuja just smelt like smoke and blood.

“I hope you know where we’re going. We should have asked for a guide or something.” Cassius asked.

“ just follow me.”

And that was it, for the past twenty minutes of their trek through the city, Cassius was not able to get her talking, she gave short replies and went straight to the point and her stupid monotone voice was annoying. Cassius was about to give her a piece of his mind before they turned past another street and a theater was right in front of them.

Obviously this building had seen better days, there were countless amount of dirt and rubbish littered all over its entrance and most of the street from there. The sign used to spell its name was missing a few letters, so instead of Nutcracker it spelled Nuter.

All in all it lived up to expectations.

“At least the building is still standing” Cassius commented, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Of course at that moment the massive twin doors at the entrance fell down with a bang, the noise reverberating through the night as cats hissed in fright and dogs barked in startled surprise.

“ well most of it any way.” Rose replied.

Cassius was stumped for a moment, did this girl just make a joke. Wow I guess you never really know anybody until you know them. But that did not make much sense to him though.

“Get ready.” Rose said, as she equipped brass colored knuckle dusters that you would not expect to see on a girl of her size. Her casual beginner cotton shirt and pants were exchange for a leather armor and jerkins, at least that’s what Cassius thought those leather pants were called….right?

Her white tail had patterns on it, like she was a tiger, and Cassius noticed her white cat ears for the first time, on top of her imprecise multiple colored hair. Her ears twitched a bit, before she looked up to him with her black eyes, scary black cat like eyes.

“are you ready?” she asked.

“ yeah lets go.”

Cassius took a deep breath to gather his courage. Now let’s see what combat is like in this game. As they approached the fallen doors, Cassius could not help but feel the electricity in the air, the excitement. The blood lust.

Cassius has not been in a fight in three years, ever since his Grandfather caught him hanging around a few gang kids, fighting for money. Even with his cancer, his Grandfather had cried when he saw the state of the bruises on Cassius's body.

Nana was many things, a die hard lecher, a pervert of the highest order, former spy master of New Abuja’s defense force and a once accomplished Author. But he had never cried before.

And Cassius was more clear on that than anybody in the world. Even when his grandfather was dishonorably discharged from service, lost the rights and royalty of his books due to rigged law suits, lost his wife and son, Nana never cried, not even once. Not until he saw his grandson littered with bruises and scars.

The guilt and shame of that incident will always follow Cassius for the rest of his life, but he was hot blooded and reckless. He needed the adrenaline from a fight to help him feel alive. Three years of training did not curb his need for punching people. No instead it grew with each passing day, and today finally he could feed the beast within.

Cassius took point, as they approached the collapsed and mottled booth were tickets were once sold from. They kept a simple and tried formation. Attacker in the front, supporter at the back. But this was not your typical RPG.

As soon as Cassius went past the booth, a massive mouse on bipedal legs burst out from the wreckage and headed straight for Rose. Cassius gave chase, even if it was only a distance of about five feet, the mouse man got there first, and ran right into a punch.

There was a crunch as Rose swung her hands with practiced ease. Each descent her knuckled fist made slowly turned the head of the mouse man into mashed potatoes. Finally she stopped, her cute and innocent face was now stained with its blood. Cassius shivered.

[[MOUSEMAN: SCOUT DEFEATED

RECEIVED ONE RUSTED DAGGER, AND TWO PIECES OF MOUSE MEAT.

10 EXP GAINED.]]

Okay first of all that’s gross. Second mouse meat? Cassius was sure that thing would not get near his lips if he could help it. The loots were assigned automatically so thankfully they did not have to sift through the not disappearing mouse man’s corpse to get any loots.

Cassius walked past the fallen doors and his breath hitched in his throat. They were in a theater all right. But each rows of seats were filled with multitudes of mouse men. Not to mention at its better days, this theater had the capacity to seat at least a thousand people. Each and every one of those seats were filled with mice.

And on the stage, sitting on what was most probably a prop throne was a brown mouse that was almost two meters tall. He was wearing a red velvet robe, a crown made of bones and holding a scepter.

On his head the words.

[JERRY THE MOUSE KING: LEVEL 20 COPPER BOSS.]

And right beside him were two of his lackeys.

[STUART AND DESPEREAUX: LEVEL 17 ROYAL MOUSE GUARDS:]

Okay now that was just ridiculous. Cassius could feel his eyes twitching desperately, as he tried to reign in the string of curse words that were stuck in his throat. Rose how ever had no such formality.

“ Those f*****g bastards, how could they?”

Cassius could only nod in agreement. Picture this, a four foot plus, white haired cat girl, with blood on her face, emotionlessly cursing the games developers. Rose did not know this but she had just upped Cassius’s creeped out factor.

The rest of the mobs, were level nine to thirteen mouse scouts, soldiers and archers. Well they wont kill their self now would they.

Cassius moved forward to begin attacking, when a ray of light fell on him.

[YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED: +20% to all stats and stamina regeneration for the next ten minutes.]

Well this is good. Cassius said nothing but gave Rose a nod. It was a marvel to him how it was possible for a warrior to bless like a cleric, but everyone had their secrets. He did not have to worry to much about her since she was higher leveled and could defend herself. Cassius on the other hand was sure he could match her strength or even surpass it. After all vampires are most stronger at night.

The first mouse soldier reached him and thrust its spear to Cassius's midsection. This thing was twenty times larger than an ordinary mouse, but were still about the size of three year olds. They lacked speed, they lacked strength. But due to their higher level than his, Cassius's damage was impacted due to the level difference and a much better defense.

Cassius side stepped the thrust and swung his blade from left to right. There was a ringing of steel as Cassius separated the mouse soldier’s head from his neck.

[Critical strike: +13 exp.]

Cassius ignored the pop up as more Mice came up to him, they were standing by the entrance, so the mouse could not surround them. Not to mention due to the haphazardly scattered and arranged chairs, the mouse could not attack as a group, but three to five at a time. he could handle that amount. He used his sword to block an in coming arrow to his face, bashed in the archer who shot it. It was stupid enough to come right in front of him and shoot an arrow….seriously?

Cassius used the kick skill for good measure, sending the archer bowling into his comrades. Then he pounced on the fallen mouse men, slicing and dicing, stabbing and crushing them under his feet as he made a heap of mouse bodies.

Three courageous mice, climbed a stack of piled chairs and jumped with their spears, trying to flank Cassius. But they were seriously out of luck, he spun and used his [s***h] skill, cleanly decapitated all three mice in half, spraying himself with a shower of sweet, sweet blood and gore. Gross!

It took a moment for him to realize that he could taste their blood. And God it was one of the most heavenly thing he had ever tasted. He was sure a human or any other thing would taste better, but as this was the first time he had ever tasted blood it felt heavenly to him.

Cassius grabbed a mouse scout and used [bite] which left him immune to physical damage for five seconds. Then his passive skill [drinker] kicked in increasing his strength by 50% for a hundred seconds. Cassius was like a whirlwind as he attacked the mouse men.

His speed was already higher than them by a bit, they could move really fast, after all they were mice but Cassius was faster. He grabbed a mouse soldier and chucked him into a group of clustered mouse archers who were smartly trying to rally themselves and put up a sort of resistance to his wanton slaughtering.

What they got was broken bones and necks as their thrown comrade was like a bowling ball mowing down most of them, before continuing on to the wall and turning into a meat paste.

If the mice were smart they would have known this was the time to run away, but this mob of monsters were not as smart as the other denizens of this world. But they still kept coming.

Cassius could go on for as long as he could, but due to their sheer Number he was starting to take damage and his movement was getting sluggish. He was littered with hundreds of tiny cuts and wounds, his passive [regeneration] was not able to keep up with the amount of wounds he received. he may be powerful but he was not invisible.

He was about to ask Rose whether she had a Heal spell when he was doused in white light once again.

[YOU HAVE BEEN HEALED: STAMINA AND HEALTH RESTORED.]

Whoa, this Rose chick is defeating every typical warrior and healer stereotype he knew off. But with that out of the way, Cassius Continued to plow and cut through the mouse until he got to the front of the stage. He ducked a shot arrow which impacted another mouse in the face, then he took the spear of the shot mouse and threw it to the archer pining the mouse to the wall in an overwhelmingly grotesque fashion. Those two were the last of the grunts.

Cassius looked behind him, and was surprised by what he saw, while Rose seemed to be impassive to the whole thing Cassius was not. He had carved a path of c*****e and destruction from one end of the theater to the other. Corpses piled on top of other corpses, some pined to the walls, the ceiling, others smashed to a pulp, some sliced in two, others in pieces. Cassius ignored the string of level up messages and notifications from the system as he took in the amount of damage he had done.

At first he was surprised, now he felt really apathetic to the whole thing. Seriously who is going to feel sorry for a bunch of mouse men who he might add where not paying rent. Besides come to think of it, how could there be mouse this big in the city. Unless this was an instance dungeon of some sort. Hmmm whatever then, back to the slaughter.

What was standing between him and his prize, which is of course the head of jerry the mouse king was Stuart and his brother Despereaux.

“Be careful Cassius, those two are stronger than all the other mouse we have been facing.” Rose cautioned.

“Oh, well then that’s good for us, I have been seriously bored. I mean can you imagine all those other mobs we killed did not even put up a fight. Hopefully you both wont disappoint, Ehhhh Stuart little and Despereaux the soup knight.”

It seemed they did not like the names they were given at they charged at Cassius. They were faster and sure to be stronger, also they were armored and had better equipment. They both used axes that was definitely to big for their four foot six frame. At least they were taller than the others if that was compensation enough.

Cassius side stepped Despereaux s***h, it seemed he was faster than Stuart. he used [KICK] again and Despereaux flew like a rag doll, pulling up the wooden floor boards of the stage. Cassius parried Stuarts attempt to cleave him in two and poked the eyes of the mouse man.

He gave an ungodly screech as he dropped his axe to massage his burning eyes. Cassius used [s***h] and took of his head with his hands still attached to it. Another screech sounded out as Despereaux, with chips of wood sticking out of his skin wailed in sadness of watching his brother die.

He ran full tilt at Cassius raising his axe in the air, Cassius ran to him and angled himself slightly to the right, when they were six feet away from each other. Naruto activated his [STRIDE] skill for the first time. His speed increased by thirty percent. And then he flashed past Despereaux so fast all that was seen was the glint of his sword. The head of his opponent along with the broken handle of his axe landed on the floor.

Cassius was stuck in a pose, with his sword extended from his body, it was almost like a samurai’s finishing sword maneuver. For that moment Cassius felt his coolness and awesomeness had reached a new high. He could not help but bask in the afterglow of such an awesome finisher. Though he could have sworn he heard Rose mutter dork. But who care’s, at least he didn’t until a pocket of air picked him and slammed him on the ground, using his body to carve a trench in the ground, much like the late Despereaux a few minutes ago.

It hurt like a b***h, and Cassius was very much inclined to pay the bastard who did this to him back. It seemed the king has decided to fight. Good Cassius was going to make sure he enjoyed what came next.

“Let’s get down to business jerry mouse, there’s a big bad cat here and his name is Thomas.”

Jerry's reply to that was to screech some unintelligible words sending a stream of fire at Cassius. Cassius stepped aside Narrowly escaping being turned to ash. It was times like this that made Cassius remember why he hated the caster class. Cowards the lot of them, can’t ever fight man to man with anything.

Cassius ran straight ahead for jerry, his speed getting him close enough just in time for jerry to turn around and smack Cassius with a tail just as long as his body and thick too. Cassius felt his ribs crack from the whiplash, and the damage was even more stressed when he crashed through six rows of chairs.

For a moment Cassius could not feel his legs or even move his body. He was showered with white lights once again and he felt his spine pop and his ribs shifting. The pain was so much he could not help but cry out.

Cassius knew he had to play his card right. Jerry was stronger and faster than he was, even with all his elevated stats. So he had to fight smart.

“Cassius are you okay. You should get up Jerry is heading your way, and please be careful I am almost out of Spirit from the previous heal. I wont be able to do much if you get that injured again.”

Rose's words would give the impression that she was worried about her partner. And it would have meant something if she was not so damn emotionless.

Cassius was brought out of his musings when another blast of air threw him off his feet and into the air, heading for a head on collision for the balcony and more rows of seats. Cassius righted himself in the air, and used his racial ability [CLING], his feet stuck to the wall almost as if it was the floor it self.

Sometimes it paid to be a vampire, then you could do cool s**t like walking on walls and stuff. Jerry apparently did not like that, as he unleashed a barrage of fire and wind spells trying to get Cassius off the walls. Cassius ran round the theater destroying even more of the theater in the process, thankfully for some reason the fire was not catching on. Cassius was thankful for that, because a fire at this point in time would be a hassle.

The [CLING] skill was deactivated and went into cool down, Cassius slipped, but quickly caught himself by using [SHIFT]. His bulk compressed and the purple cloud from his transformation bought him enough time as jerry was confused by his disappearance. Cassius shot out with his top speed, and collided hard with jerry's midsection. So in a way a bat just performed a spear.

Jerry was not tossed like a rag doll like his former now late compatriots. But he was pushed a good way back as his quite unnecessary in Cassius’s opinion. Hp bar came down by 30% well that was a bummer, because now Cassius had a splitting headache and he could not even take out half his opponents health. Cassius scurried his tiny body to the mouse king’s neck and bit down hard. Sweet nectar flowed down his throat as the blood of jerry flowed down his throat in sweet endless rivulets of ecstasy.

Cassius did not want to get lost in the feeling induced by drinking blood, but it was hard not to do so. Jerry was slamming his hairy fist on Cassius's tiny body but various strings of the word immune floated into the air, all of a sudden Rose came bounding over strewn over chairs and ripped carpet, using a base ball slide that would take her under the wide open legs of Jerry who was currently occupied with Cassius.

Rose curled her tiny fist, and gave a thunderous punch, Jerry definitely did not think that her fist was tiny as he gave a high pitched squeal. He fell to his knees clutching his groin as big fat drops of tears fell from his eyes. Even Cassius whose bat form went into cool down curled his toes and scrunched his face in sympathy. Then he shoved his sword through Jerry's skull effectively putting him out of his misery.

Cassius turned and gave Rose a scathing look. She looked back at him, shrugged her shoulders, and with as much emotion as she could muster, which is nothing mind you, and said.

“ Don’t judge me, it was the only way, and besides if you were in my position you would do the same thing.”

Cassius appalled by her remark, put on a face of shock and said.

“I would never, we men have a code. Even with animals, never go below the belt.”

Rose snorted in retort.

Truth is, she was right, Cassius would most certainly do the same thing if he was in her position. The code be damned. He has always taken any advantage given to him. He gave no quarter to his enemies and if kicking you in the balls is going to help Cassius win, then you can be damn sure he will kick you in the balls.

[[SYSTEM ALERT:]]

[YOU HAVE SLAIN JERRY THE MOUSE KING.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED 500 EXP, FIFTY SILVERS, THE BONE CROWN OF THOMAS THE CAT, SPIKE'S COLLAR, ONE GREY STAFF OF THE SCURRY, JERRY'S FANG, JERRY'S TAIL, JERRY'S FUR AND ONE BEGINNER SPEED POTION RECIPE.]

[YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 22]

[MAIL SYSTEM UNLOCKED]

[BITE HAS LEVELED UP TO BEGINNER LEVEL THREE]

[STRIDE HAS LEVELED UP TO BEGINNER LEVEL TWO]

[DRINKER HAS LEVELED UP TO BEGINNER LEVEL TWO]

[SHIFT HAS LEVELD UP TO BEGINNER LEVEL TWO]

[s***h HAS LEVELD UP TO BEGINNER LEVEL SEVEN]

[KICK HAS LEVELED UP TO BEGINNER LEVEL FOUR]

[YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TWENTY STATUS POINTS FOR GETTING TO LEVEL TEN AND TWENTY.]

[CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE NOW RANKED 15,465 IN THE LEVEL RANKINGS.]

[GUILD MISSION COMPLETED. REPORT TO CINDY FOR REWARDS. ]

“Okay Rose lets share the loots. All those lackeys we killed dropped a lot of junk. But they could be sold. So we have thirty rusted daggers, 600 copper which is equivalent to 12 silver, not including loots from the guards and king. Also we have twelve sets of mouse prayer.

They are sets of armor, which includes shin guard, leather vest, boots, gloves, arm guards , and a bandana. I have no use for those, I rather get a better armor. The rest of the equipment’s are the random pieces that were not enough to complete the sets. Then we have mouse meat, a whole lot of mouse meat. And Fifteen old wooden bows. So how do we share this stuff.” Cassius asked.

“All those are in your inventory” Rose asked.

“ Yeah they are” Cassius replied a little surprised by her questions.

“ I have the same in my inventory too, so do what ever you want with yours.”

Cassius nodded in agreement. They did kill hundreds of mouse, even though he did most of the work. Naruto planned to put all the sets of armors in for auction, with the system setting the prices automatically. If a lot of people bid on it, then the prices would rise.

Next both Despereaux and his Brother Stuart dropped two axes that are apparently made from the same giant double bladed axe.

RODENT KILLER:

TYPE: WEAPON(AXE)

CLASS RESTRICTION: WARRIOR ONLY

LEVEL RESTRICTION: 40

GRADE: IRON

ATTACK: 165-200

DURABILITY: 100

Rose, had no use for the axe so Cassius took it with almost undisguised glee. He put the axe up for auction so fast it did not have time enough to settle on his palm.

Next the brother each dropped three silvers, so that was shared equally. As for the kings loot. Cassius took [Bone crown of Thomas], for some reason the crown glowed. But even more surprising, Rose could not see it. Rose took everything else, she needed the staff for her healing(weird, thought, she was a warrior). Spikes collar would help her defense. Cassius will not put such a collar around his neck, much too kinky. Everything else were alchemical ingredients she needed. They shared the silver equally, then headed back to the guild.

Cindy gave them some extra money, and sent them to an inn to rest. Thankfully Kabiru and Monkey were already asleep. Cassius and Rose hardly spoke a word to each other after that. They added each other as friends and went to their respective rooms to log out. As soon as Cassius logged out, he took the helmet off his head, his entire body was stiff from sitting in one place all day. He had a bath ate some food, and then he was out like a light, dreaming of blue hawks and pink dragons.