Chương 13: The Exley Escape

Ch. 13: The Exley Escape The ogre could not fit through the small cavern entrance. He bent down and slowly stepped under the low ceiling where he towered over Lee and Wesley. He held up Lee's weapon. A handaxe.

"What it do?" He asked her.

"It's an axe, man," She said. He brought the axe down on Lee's face. She didn't flinch as he stopped short.

"Tell me." She said, "You could kill me and that'd still be a normal axe. I think it's like a +2? That's about it." He held up Wesley's baton.

"What it do?" Wesley looked at Lee, he needed her prompting. She kicked him.

"It's a baton. If you touch an opponent with the tip then it freezes the opponent in place for two seconds."

"Nice, dude." Lee said to Wesley, then to the ogre said, "Looks like you've got one really nice magic weapon and and decent axe. How about you let us go?"

"Go?"

"Like the board game." He chuckled and said, "More weapons on the way."

"That might be true, but there are about five of them. One of which is incredibly powerful. Like… too powerful for this dungeon. You mess with us, you're not going to survive."

"I have goblins. Many goblins." Lee gave another smile and said, "My guys will tear through your guys like paper. And then they'll kill the core." He got a little closer. He grabbed Lee's moppish curls and pulled her up, exposing her neck.

"And if I stay like this? If my new axe here? Then will they kill me?" The blade was magically sharpened. Even something as simple as him placing the axe caused blood to ooze from Lee's skin.

"That… might work," Lee grumbled.

"Tell me what axe do." She stayed silent but the sharp of the blade undid her resolve, "It's a hand axe, but if you turn the handle to the right, it grows into a great axe. When you turn it to the left, it shrinks into a hatchet." The ogre was satisfied. He let go of her hair and Lee dropped her head down.

"If things go good, you both alive," he walked up to the entrance again, slipping through the mouth and placing the barrels back as a barricade.

"But I like it when things don't go good." He let out a throaty laugh before leaving. He muttered something and Lee and Wesley could hear two goblins stand guard on either side of the barricade.

"Why'd you do that?" Wesley asked.

"Why'd you?" Lee asked, "This guy's only keeping us alive until there's no use for us. Let's not lose reasons to keep us alive." Wesley said nothing. Lee thrashed her head. Her mop of curls flopped around with wild abandon.

"What are you doing?" Wesley asked. She continued to shake her head.

"I was worried he'd find it when he pulled my hair." A teensy metal object dribbled against the stone. It was a metal hairclip with sharpened point and it landed in front of Wesley.

"I keep it in here in case things go sour. Pass it over."

"You're escaping?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah, that guy's got no intention of letting us live. Best to risk it." Wesley shook his head in disbelief but reached over to the hairclip with his foot and pulled it back, before passing it over. Lee turned and let herself fall off the wall. Wesley passed the hairclip to her. She picked it up and started raking her rope with it as best she could.

"It's hard to get an angle on this," She said.

"Do me first," Wesley said, "Plus, I'm a bravo I can fight our way out of here."

"Fine. Scooch closer." He dropped too and kicked against the ground to wriggle his hands closer to hers. Lee had a better angle on his rope and was able to burn through the thread faster.

"Can you go a little faster?" Wesley asked. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Calm down. We'll get out of here."

"Are they all big like that?"

"That ogre is huge. Way bigger than I'm used to. You really have never been in a cave biome? They've got to be like the most common kind." After a pause, Wesley said, "I'm newish."

"You're newish? How newish?"

"Not important. What is important is that I've crushed simulators up to a Charlie, and my starting read was a bravo. Not to mention the weapon I have is one of the best money can buy." Lee stoped raking the rope, "How new, Wesley?"

"I got the top rank on my in my tutorial tar pit and, oh yeah, did I mention who my god was?"

"You know what else you didn't mention?"

"It's my second raid."

"Your second raid!? You mean you did the tutorial tar pit and that's it?"

"My instructor said I did the best he's ever seen. And as I mentioned… my god is Ozid! The manticore god. He's one of the top four. I've got one of the strongest gods backing me up and once I get my weapon, it'll be absolutely over for this pit.

"The way you condescended to Kayla this whole time and you were on your second raid. You should really examine where your confidence comes from."

"Just work on the ropes, sweetheart."

"Yeah, alright, jackass. See how your other raids go after the report."

"Report?" he asked.

"Yeah. The raid report. When Kayla inevitably writes how you pulled me into active danger. I'm sure the higher ups would love to hear that."

"The higher ups read that!?'

"The raid report? Yeah, dumbass."

"Uhm, I can't have them read that. It's very important that they don't." She rolled her eyes, her hairclip went through another loop of rope.

"I… I have a small confession to make."

"I'm flattered but not interested," She said.

"My uncle… he's the one who got me in contact with Ozid. He's Flanagan Exley."

"W…what?"

"I'm Wesley Exley. I can't have my uncle find out about this. He stuck his neck out to get me these powers." There was still one last loop of his rope, but he pulled his hands apart and the rope snapped. He got up, pacing around the room. Lee was still on the floor, trying the hand the hairclip out.

"Now me. Grab an axe or something, that took way too long."

"Are you kidding me!? I'm not letting you out. Not until I… Not until I defeat the core. Then you'll be free and I'll be a hero."

"What!? Don't be dumb. Let me out of here and we'll both go. I promise I won't say a word, just… untie me."

"I can't. I can't. Not yet. I can kill the orc, then the core. He reached for a sword on the wall. The rustling alerted the goblins outside the door. Wesley pulled his foot back and kicked the barrel with all his strength. It slammed aginst the wall of the cave. He jumped out, catching the goblins by surprise. Before one knew what was happening, he tilted and sliced his sword clean through the goblin's neck.

As the second goblin braced his spear, Wesley dodged the attack, turned the point toward the goblin and slid it cleanly through the gap in the armor and into the goblin's heart. They both dropped dead.

"See!?" Wesley said, "Told you I'm good. And I haven't even used my buffs yet."

"Don't leave me," she said, "I promise I won't say a word! I swear on my life. Just help me out." Wesley scoffed.

"Yeah, my uncle told me about NPCs. Absolutely reeking of desperation. No way. Besides, you'll only slow me down. Just stay alive until I get to the core." He escaped down the corridor as Lee struggled against the ropes, yelling after him. Wesley slunk down the hallway, activating his screen. He searched under ' abilities' I'll choose Poison stab. Perfect. Adds poisoning damage to my weapon. Next, I'll do Lionclaw. Gives this common greatsword a +5 buff. Finally, I'll do Pounce for the speed boost.

His sword glinted as the Lionsclaw took effect. A noxious green auro surrounded it as poison energy ran through it. His insides bubbled with excitement as the speed boost worked its way to his legs. I'll move quickly. Striking him over and over again until the poison works its way into his heart. Then I'll finish him off. Wesley drooled at the plan he'd concocted. This would not only be an opportunity to show off his skill, this would likely get him to the next level and maybe even clear him for for higher raids.

Then there was the matter of Lee. Sure, he put her in danger but if he saved her it would even out. He worked his way through the dungeon until he got to a large empty space. At the center, the ogre toward over a table of goblins. One of the goblins pointed behind the ogre at Wesley, and shouted warnings in a language Wesley didn't understand. Wesley jumped down, landin on his feet and drawing on his speed boost to cut the distance between him and the table.

Three goblins with arrows nocked their bows and let loose.

"Get ready to fight me, big guy!" The arrows were slowed to Wesley. He got out of the way of two and lifted his sword up, letting the third arrow bounce off his blade. The ogre swung at him with Lee's great axe. Wesley jumped over the ogre, landing his blade on the skull of the goblin archer. The other two stepped back, attempting to gain distance to strike again. His blade worked quickly, traveling through the neck of two goblins at once. His body sensed it before it was happening.

He drew his blade and pressed it against his back, parrying a slice from a goblin. Wesley twisted and sliced the goblin's knee open. I knew I was good. Three more strikes and three more goblins downed. Wesley only had an archer and the big guy left. Wesley leapt forward, ducking under an arrow and felling the last goblin. He turned to the ogre and said, "I'm going to need those weapons back." This is it. Wesley thought, Just me and him. I'll strike, dodge, and strike.

Wesley dodged an axe swing from the ogre, he swung his blad and it sliced into the beast's right arm. The giant was undeterred. Wesley attempted to pull back, but he could not move. His eyes went wide as he realized what had happened. He looked down and saw his own baton pressed to his bare skin. He was frozen in place for two seconds.

"Meet the real big guy," The ogre said. Tendrils wrapped around hiis appendages. His arms, legs, and torso were covered. The two seconds were up but it was no use. All his strength could not even budget with the constraint of the core monster's strength. He was lifted into the air, where the giant mole monster's hallway of murderous teeth awaited him.