Ch. 7 Need To Get Stronger

As we stood there in front of the Rift I took a look at everyone around me. Their gear looked amazing. Their weapons and armor had a faint glow to them, along with runes etched into small spots on their armor.

Zach saw me checking out their gear and smiled "Blue Dragons go all out when we break a Rift." I nodded and resolved to do my best in this raid.

We entered the Rift in our order of battle positions.

As we entered I felt as if I was walking through a wall of fire. It burned, it hurt so bad I was almost in tears. Then the pain stopped not even a second later, but it felt like years had gone by.

Once on the other side of the Rift I checked my body over, there were no burns, there wasn't anything visible on my body. As I did so Zach explained "I should have warned you. Rifts that have opened are violent things. The magical energy containing them wants to be released, so it builds up pressure until it opens once a day for 10 minutes, then it closes back up. If a Rift isn't closed within a week after it opens the first time, then it will stay open the next time it opens.

When you enter, it attacks your mind, knowing you want to close it. Some kind of defense mechanism of some sort at least as far as we know."

The thought made me shiver. If it was this bad coming through the Rift how bad would it be further in?

As that thought entered my mind I heard a guttural war cry. It wasn't the higher pitched squealing of the Goblins, but a lower deep pitched war cry.

"Well boys and girls, we got Orcs in here." And before I could ask what he meant I saw a line of thirty Goblins rushing at us with six big hulking greyish green figures coming at us.

The Orcs were huge, almost 7 feet tall with greyish green skin. Their eyes were a dark red, almost bloodlike and they had tusks that sprouted from their lower lips. Their muscles made Sean's look like a child in comparison. 'We have to fight these brutes?'

I couldn't wrap my mind around it until I saw Sean and Burt square their shoulders and push out their shields.

The line of Goblins was about to try and spread out before Sean and Burt both yelled out taunts. The Goblins turned and focused on the two tanks and then the second line charged in.

Zach was again a whirl of blades, his twin swords flashing and spinning in his hands as he reversed his grip over and over, decapitating and stabbing Goblins left and right. The others weren't near as flashy in their attacks, but no less deadly.

Sean slammed his shield down on a Goblin's head and it popped, spraying blood everywhere. These sights were all I could see of the battle as I stood there frozen by how well these people were taking care of the Goblins.

Michelle was throwing out green arrows that dripped a liquid that ate holes in the ground. Maria was holding her staff and shooting searing red beams of light. When I finally raised my bow to take a shot at one of the Orcs, Zach got to it before me and threw his sword in the air, spinning it and then catching it and planting it in a downward strike in and down the Orcs neck.

Zach turned and saw me watching then flashed me a grin.

Sean walked up to me "I know it's a lot to take in, just remember all of us are level 12 or higher. We took this Rift because Open Rifts are more dangerous than unopened ones."

I shook myself out of my internal musings of astonishment then asked "More dangerous?"

He nodded "When a Rift has opened then usually there has been enough time for the creatures in the Rift to spawn something much more powerful. We don't know how exactly as it's a dangerous thing to let Rifts open just to study them. When it does though, the level of the Rift increases a couple of levels. It can read as a level 8, but I would guess this Rift is a level 11 or 12 at least."

I nodded dumbly. He headed back to the front of the group and we continued on. The next group of Goblins was much smaller, but they took us by surprise. They had been hiding in a small tunnel that we couldn't see as we walked by, the angle of the entrance was placed in such a way you could only see it once you were past a certain point.

Maria and Michelle were the first ones to see them and two magical shields went up in front of them. I didn't have a shield I could use, but Bella stood in front of me as I brought my bow up and took aim.

I knew they were just Goblins, I had killed about 20 or more so far, but my hands shook. I didn't like being this close to the fight.

One of the Goblins was just about to reach me as it leaped into the air, then Bella jumped up and tackled it to the ground, scratching and biting it as two more charged at her.

My hands steadied, Bella was in danger, not me. I pulled back on the string and released. A blue arrow shot forth from the bow and slammed into the shoulder of one of the Goblins.

My arrow landed true in the Goblins shoulder. It stopped and turned, then charged at me. I pulled back on the string again and fired another arrow. It stopped the Goblin for a brief moment. The Goblin jumped at me and I let loose 10 Force Missiles.

They hit and threw the Goblin back into the wall, finally killing it just as the third Goblin sailed through the air. A short sword flew right over my head and slid through the Goblins chest like a knife through butter and sent it back three feet and to the ground.

Looking around I realized the Goblin ambush was over and most of the Guild members had stood back to watch mine and Bella's fight with the three Goblins. I felt Bella's mind reach me as she nuzzled my leg. She was hurt, the Goblin had stabbed her in her right front leg.

Maria came up and put her hand on Bella before a glowing golden light encompassed her and she was healed. I nodded my thanks and Sean walked over.

"Not as easy as the Goblins you fought before were they?" I shook my head "Not even close. This bow is more powerful than the Crossbow I used on the ones that escaped the Rift, but was barely enough to hurt them."

He nodded at that "Yeah, the stronger a Rift is the stronger the creatures are. You're probably at least 4 or so levels below these Goblins, so your weapons won't do as much damage inside the Rift. It's something to do with your Mana Density being lower than theirs."

"Mana Density?" he nodded at my question "Your level. It's the 'System' showing you your Mana Density. For instance, I'm level 15, so my Mana Density is higher than theirs. So I do more damage to them then they can do to me. Stats also come into play to help balance it, but inside a Rift, higher Density affects yours and your opponents damage and resistance."

I nodded as a realization dawned on me. "It's because of the ambient Mana in the air right?" he nodded and clapped me on the shoulder "Bingo. Alright enough chit chat, I've seen you have balls, now I want you to see what you'll be in for when you finally join up." he said with a grin and we headed deeper into the Rift.

Five more ambushes, thankfully Zach or another of the melee DPS saw them in time. It was almost an hour before I felt a tremendous power coming from the cavern ahead.

Sean stopped us and made a few hand signals, I saw one guy nod and walk towards the wall, then he disappeared. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. Nope he was gone. 'Wait, did he just use stealth? Holy cow stealth works. Yesssssss.' I punched the air, in my head of course.

A minute later he appeared again right next to Sean and whispered in his ear. Sean nodded and motioned everyone to move back. We kept moving until we were out of earshot of the cavern, or at least I thought we were.

Sean spoke up then "There are about 50 Goblins in there, 18 Orcs and a Twin-Headed Ogre. Maria, Michelle, I want you two to start the festivities. Use your ace in the hole, take out as many Goblins and if you can Orcs. Zach, you will stay back a bit and keep an eye on the new guy. If you see a chance to get the Ogre alone, take it."

He turned to the rest of the group "Burt, you better use your Fortify spell. The rest of you, take out the Goblins first. Odellin, you and Bella will stay out of the fight. Only use your Force Missiles to help keep the pressure from overwhelming Burt and I." I nodded when he was done, along with everyone else.

When we got back to the cavern, I finally saw the force arrayed before us.

'Nope, nope and double nope. I could barely kill one of these things, but that, nope.' went through my head as I saw the monsters arrayed before us.

Zach put a hand on my shoulder and said calmly in a low whisper "I remember my first Open Rift too. Trust me, you will be fine. Just stay back here." then he leaned down to Bella "You too girl. I would hate to see you hurt, especially since you're so cute."

Now I know it shouldn't have been possible for her to understand him, but I felt her blush and preen in my head.

He turned to Sean and gave him a thumbs up, then Sean nodded and turned and both he and Burt stepped forward. Michelle and Maria were powering up a massive fireball. Not two seperate ones, no apparently they could both pour their mana into one.

They threw the fireball into the cavern, it had reached the size of a beach ball. When it exploded, all hell broke loose.

You know the saying 'No plan survives past the first 3 seconds?' or something like that, well it was not true in this case.

Half of the Goblins and Orcs were blown away and became cavern wall decorations, but the rest...the rest of them began glowing.

The Ogre was casting a buff spell on the rest of them and they grew at least a foot each and more muscular.

Goblins leaped at Burt and Sean, Orcs threw spears the size of pool noodles, but not limp. The Ogre himself continued chanting, keeping the buff going.

Burt and Sean didn't seem phased though as they taunted all they could. The other melee DPS moved in from the sides and began hacking and slashing with extreme precision.

Maria and Michelle were tearing into the ranks of Goblins and Orcs with what I assume was an Acid Arrow spell and maybe a variation of Flame Strike from D&D (Dungeons and Dragons).

Then I noticed Zach wasn't near me. Before I could call out though I heard Sean's pained scream. A maul as long as I was tall was tall was slamming into his shield over and over again from one of the Orcs.

I gathered my wits and put both hands forward, shooting 40 Force Missiles at the Orc. I didn't know how many it would take to kill it, but I knew how many I could use. They all slammed into the Orc in rapid succession, making him begin to lift up off the ground little by little from the force of the blasts.

It was then that I heard it. The Orcs and Goblins were all dead and our group was looking slightly haggard, but alive. However, what I heard was the distinct sound of metal on metal as short swords clashed with 7 feet of sword.

Zach was not blocking the attacks from that huge sword, but instead flowing around it and using his own blades to guide it in such a way to throw the Ogre off balance.

I watched in amazement as Zach was going toe to toe without flinching against this 10 foot tall behemoth. I was very aware of how powerless I was compared to them.

After about another minute of watching this Zach took an opening as the Ogre extended too far. He thrust one of his blades up into it's armpit and twisted, the arm went limp. It dropped the sword then and he jumped up, flipping his swords over in his hands and reverse gripping them. Then as he came down he drove them straight into the sides of the Ogre's neck.

The Ogre dropped after that and everyone cheered for Zach, who turned and bowed to us, I was impressed.

We gathered all of the bodies together and their weapons, then the Mana Stones and Sean handed me three. "Normally we distribute the Stones evenly between us all, but since you're not part of the Guild I'm giving you your kills."

I nodded and took the three Stones, each of them half again as big as any of the other stones I had. They were all green stones.

No I didn't crush them all right there. I wanted to but I decided against it until I got home and though more about what I truly wanted my 'Build' to be.

Walking out of the Rift I definitely was happy the pain was no longer there.

The surface of the Rift was again a solid black color, like all the other Rifts.

I sighed and shuddered before Sean walked up. "You didn't do half bad in there. Very impressive. When you hit level 10, give us a call." he said and shook my hand before walking away.

I turned towards my car and began walking, Bella waddling right beside me. 'Alright, time to get stronger.'