Atha stared at the letter he had received. The guild had gotten rid of a dungeon core, but at the price of fifty of their best. He sucked in a breath. What sort of horror had waited for them in Puebleque?
The Naga read the word wendigo and shuddered. Everyone knew what those were. Once humans, or any race, really. Then, cannibals. Boss mobs that started off as ordinary people.
Atha slithered to the bathroom. He needed a nice, hot, bath to get his mind off all of this. Because, every adventurer was worth at least five soldiers. And the army stationed at Huergaz had left it to secure Puebleque.
As the Naga soaked in the water, he tried to think about what sort of barrier he could create that could make the tunnels unbreachable. It had to be something that could withstand a swarm after a swarm. But, also, something that could be removed and reused.
For the adventurers could not be forced to take the long trek from Puebleque out of the tunnels. There were fifty dungeons from there to Huergaz, and the guild would bleed at each one.
No, the army could handle the dungeons. And, some other guilds of Alcandino could step up. Atha had heard rumors that the guild masters of the Canos and Allos adventuring guilds were sending adventurers to Puebleque, on the orders of the king. But, could they fight their way to the abandoned border town?
In any case, Atha needed to make a new barrier. One that could be better than all other barriers. And, he needed to make sure he made enough so that the Huergaz adventurer's guild could be supplied with the barrier stones.
Atha heard a knock on the door, and he straightened in the bathtub.
"Bog, is that you?" Atha asked. He didn't sense any mana from behind the door, so, he guessed it must be the goblin behind it.
"No, Atha. It is me, Norrix. May I come in?" Atha looked down at his naked body. Most Naga went around naked, but he liked to don on clothes.
"Just a moment," Atha got out of the bathtub, dried, and put on a nice, white cotton robe that covered his chest. The tail, he could do nothing about. And, he didn't want anything to restrict his movements, anyway. "You can come in now, Norrix."
Norrix entered the bathroom and looked at Atha. Decked in white, the Naga was a vision. He forced that thought to the bottom of his mind. Atha did not appreciate it when Norrix tried to make advances towards him. Besides, he had come for a different reason.
"Atha, you forgot to feed me," Norrix spoke, feeling shame well up in him that he had to depend on another for his daily meals. But, it was either that or hunt. And Atha did not like him going on too many hunts.
"Sorry, Norrix. It is just that, I got some troubling news. Fifty of the adventurers died fighting a wendigo boss mob," Norrix's eyes widened. Fifty?
"What rank were they?" The vampire asked. Surely, the boss mob had gotten into the ranks of the F or E adventurers?
"A and up," Atha replied gravely. He rolled up his right robe sleeve, and offered his wrist to the vampire. "I am thinking of making a barrier that can withstand swarms and protect the tunnels, now that Huergaz no longer has the army to guard it."
"The army has left?" Norrix went to Atha on shaky legs. He had not expected that. Had not dared to think it, not even in his darkest moments.
"Yes, to escort the new settlers of Puebleque. But the Canos adventurer's guild might come to Huergaz to protect the city," Atha didn't think that the capital would be left to fend for itself. Norrix gently took Atha's hand in his, and brought up the Naga's wrist to his mouth.
"Atha, I am going to do something stupid, and I want you to cover for me," Norrix said, lips brushing on Atha's skin.
"Do what?" Atha did not like this. If Norrix knew that what he was going to do was dangerous, then, he shouldn't do it.
"I am going to enter a dungeon contract with Belle, and have her restore me my mana," the vampire was looking into Atha's eyes, with such determination, that the Naga could only stare.
"That could kill you," Atha whispered. He did not want to see Norrix dead. He was a friend, and the Naga found his occasional kind gestures endearing, now that he was sure that the vampire would never force himself on him.
"I'd rather die and not watch as something bad happens to you, Bog, Kraedor and the leprechauns, than live long enough to hear your screams,", and the vampire bitt down. Atha sucked in a breath. He had not thought that Norrix thought so much of him.
"Norrix, can you teach me how to fight?" Atha's archery was going along nicely. He knew the arrow barrage, the mamba strike and Leander's variation of the arrow barrage. But he knew that, if even a single mob brought him down to the ground, his darkest moments might repeat, instead of him mercifully dying.
Norrix hummed his agreement. He drank his fill and patted Atha's head.
"Don't go back in the water yet. Wait until the bite marks close up," the vampire reminded him, as he always did. Atha nodded and watched him make a couple of uncertain steps towards the door.
"Norrix, I want to come with you," Atha spoke, and he slithered after Norrix. He did not want for Norrix to be alone, in case he...
"You don't have to," Norrix spoke, but he opened the door and held it open for Atha.
"I want to," Atha told him, and they got to the forest together.
A dungeon contract, for someone with mana, is akin to a drug. You get a pleasant feeling, mana in its purest form, and the dungeon core gets another mob.
For someone who had their mana connection severed, it is akin to torture. Because, what took them their entire lives, growing the mana connections, happened in seconds.
Norrix lost consciousness, just as he had predicted, and Atha was left by the vampire, with a hand on his chest. Listening to the faint heartbeat. He prayed silently, to whoever was listening, that Norrix awoke. Because, if the vampire died in an attempt to protect the inhabitants of the farm, Atha would never forgive himself.
