Amelia the Level Zero Hero

It had only been half an hour since Arthur and Jax had left Wolfwater. Not a lot of time had passed, but it was not like they had a lot of time either. Both men realized this fact, and they voiced their worries clearly.

“At this rate, we’re going to be too late,” Jax said as he glanced around at their surroundings. “The Astrad Kingdom will fall before we even reach Grat-ra’zun.”

Arthur pursed his lips, looking back. Wolfwater was no longer within view. Even though it had not been a lot of time, they left it far behind them, over a dozen miles away. But despite both their speed, they weren’t Amelia. They couldn’t just cross the continent in a second.

“What can we do?” The bartender shook his head. “We’re traveling as fast as we can, and I don’t even know where we’re going—”

“You’re traveling as fast as you can,” the Forsaken Archer corrected Arthur. “I am simply matching your pace because you are so slow.”

Arthur raised a brow at that. “Wait, what do you mean I’m slow?”

Jax just scoffed. “If it were up to me, I could swoop you up and carry you to our destination by the end of the hour.”

“I don’t believe you,” Arthur said flatly.

“Oh?” The elf grinned. “Do you want me to prove it to you?”

And as the words left his mouth, Jax grabbed Arthur and leapt into the air. The two of them went soaring high over the canopy of trees as the bartender blinked a few times.

“I… what?” Arthur glanced down, seeing the world around him expand.

While they weren’t accelerating through the air nearly as fast as Amelia could, the speed was beyond what Arthur was capable of. And it certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. Especially since he had dueled the elf numerous times and thought he had a good gauge on Jax’s top speed.

“But how?” the bartender asked.

Jax rolled his eyes. “A Skill, of course. [Hurricane Jump]. I learned it from the last time I sparred with Amelia.”

The two of them landed, before the elf took off jumping again. From their vantage point in the air, Wolfwater was barely in view. Glancing back, Jax whispered.

“I may not be as strong or as fast as Amelia right now. But one day, I will catch up with her…”

—--

Just as Jax had said, it took an hour for them to arrive at their destination. Not that Arthur knew where they were. It looked like any ordinary mountain range to him.

But this was apparently where Grat-ra’zun had fled to, and this was where the two men were going to recruit the Elder Dragon’s help.

“And you’re sure he’s in here?” Arthur asked, peering into the cavernous entrance.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a 10,000 year old Lich King?” Jax snorted as he strode forward. “Don’t ask stupid questions— where else would a dragon nest?”

The bartender rolled his eyes, trailing after the Forsaken Archer. “I already told you this before a million times, I am not Ar’elith any longer. Now, I am Arthur.”

“Wrong,” Jax said with a grin. “You’re just an idiot.”

Arthur only snorted in response.

The two men had gotten to know each other quite well over the course of the last few weeks due to all their sparring sessions. So Arthur knew Jax’s brusque personality was mostly just a front, and the insults the elf dealt out were just banter.

Jax led the way as they navigated further into the darkness. But as they turned the corner down a rocky hallway, the elf’s eyes flickered.

“Watch out!” Jax called out as he leapt back.

But Arthur blinked, too slow to react as he stepped forward. “What’s wrong—”

And there was a flash of light. Arthur felt a sharp pain run through his body as a crimson aura washed over him. Jax watched with round eyes as the bartender’s body stiffened.

Then Arthur screamed as he began convulsing where he stood. His flesh melted, revealing his bones underneath as they began to turn to ash.

Jax winced, looking away.

And the screaming faded away. When the elf looked up again, all he saw was a pile of goo lying on the ground. But he didn’t mourn the death of his friend. Because…

A flash of purple light overcame the puddle that was the remains of Arthur. And slowly, the former Lich King began to reform. He was still a partial skeleton when he forced himself back to his feet and coughed.

“How interesting,” Jax murmured, inspecting an invisible barrier that was blocking them from further entering the cavern. “I have never quite seen a spell like this before.”

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“You know, I would prefer it if you showed a little bit more concern when I am quite literally liquidated,” Arthur panted out.

The elf waved a hand dismissively. “You can regenerate, you’ll be fine.”

And while that was very much true, considering that Arthur was now back to his normal self, practically unhurt, he still found the experience of being turned to goo quite painful.

“To wonder what this is…” Jax continued inspecting the barrier.

And Arthur stepped up next to the elf. “It’s a death barrier— an incredibly powerful spell. It was commonly used by Level 70 [Archwizards] back when I was a Lich King. It will kill anyone who so much as touches it.”

“Is there any way around it?” Jax asked curiously.

Shaking his head, Arthur raised his hand. “Around it? No. But through it?”

A crackle of electricity ran through his fingertips. A savage grin crossed through his face, and a purple lightning bolt shot out, shattering the invisible barrier as the entirety of the cavern shook. The mountain rumbled for a moment, before Arthur faced Jax with glowing eyes.

“Yes,” the former Lich King replied as the death barrier collapsed ahead of them.

Jax stared at the destroyed barrier, before snorting. “Show-off.”

—--

Jax and Arthur both continued to make their way through the tunnel, but this time, they were both more wary of traps. Well, at the very least, the Forsaken Archer was on the lookout for traps. On the other hand, the immortal bartender just bumbled forward, almost stupidly running into trap after trap.

“Shit—” Arthur cursed, caught in a glass-like prison that glowed with a dim light.

Jax had easily avoided that trap by actually watching his step and staying back when he saw the spell circle interwoven onto the rock ground. Now, the elf looked on as his companion was turned to ice. Only for Arthur to break free with a purple blast a second later.

Landing with a shuddering breath, Arthur glared up at Jax as the elf simply strode forward.

“You know, it would be a lot easier to avoid these traps if you bother to point them out maybe a second before I activate them.” Arthur dusted the bits of ice and frost coating his body,

Jax shrugged. “It’s more entertaining this way.”

“Seriously?” Arthur narrowed his eyes, still shivering as he walked after the elf. “You do realize we’re in a rush, right? If we activate every trap on our way to meet Grat-ra’zun, we’re never going to make it to Astral in time—”

And right as the bartender spoke, he tripped over a rock, falling forward. Jax’s eyes went wide as a spell circle flashed right below Arthur. All at once, even more spell circles began to glow around the two men, surrounding them from every direction.

“Another trap? But this time…” Jax sucked in a sharp breath, realizing that he too was trapped.

Arthur looked up as he opened his mouth. “This is what i meant—”

And a bolt of acid shot out of the ground below him, immediately melting his face and interrupting him. No scream came out of his mouth because he didn’t have a mouth any longer, let alone a face. Realizing that, Arthur flailed on the ground as he touched his neck where his skin was still melting.

Jax’s eyes flickered, before he swept his gaze around at the spell circles surrounding him. He easily deduced that each spell circle was going to fire a bolt of acid at him— perhaps even multiple at once. And considering there were thousands of these spell circles aimed at him from all directions, he would end up like Arthur if he just stood there and did nothing.

But unlike Arthur, the elf could not regenerate.

So the Jax raised his bow, cackling wildly as he reached for his quiver. “Come on, do you think this is even a challenge for me? [Eternal Sting Of The Death Bees]!”

And he leapt into the air as his bow shone gold. It was like an ethereal wing sprouted from the side of his bow. The wing buzzed like that of a bee, before thousands of arrows shot out with each passing second. At the same time, the omnidirectional hail of acid poured out at him, and he spun around, facing this deluge.

His arrows intercepted the bolts of acid before they could reach him, and the cavern flashed with a myriad of glowing colors as the projectiles clashed. After what felt like an eternity had passed, the mana powering the trap dissipated, and the spell circles vanished.

Jax collapsed to the ground, panting with a satisfied smile on his face. He was completely unscathed, aside from the perspiration pouring from his face. Next to him, Arthur began to regenerate from being torn to shreds.

“Come on,” Jax growled as he turned to the former Lich King. “We still have a long way to go before we reached Grat-ra’zun.”

Arthur picked himself up with a sigh. “Now are you finally getting my point? We can’t run into any more traps. You could get yourself killed too, you know?”

“I know,” the elf replied, before glancing back with a crazed look in his eyes. “And that’s exactly why we should keep activating the traps. Let’s go.”

“I—” Arthur started.

And he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I almost forgot you were an insane masochist.”

—--

Jax and Arthur continued tackling trap after trap after trap set up by the Elder Dragon. Whether it was a blast of true lighting, a storm of particles, or a pit of black fire. They managed to face it all until they approached the end of the tunnel. There, the cavern opened up to a massive chamber.

Arthur almost thought that this was the end of all the obstacles in their path— that they would finally reach Grat-ra’zun. But then the cavern around them began to rumble. Like a powerful earthquake was shaking the entirety of the mountain.

“What’s going on?” Arthur asked, taking a step back hesitantly.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jax said as he sneered and strode forward bravely. “We activated another trap.”

“But this is—” the former Lich King started.

And he could sense the mana coalescing in the air around them. The immense buildup of mana that led to the creation of this spell was beyond anything he had ever seen in his past lives. Arthur’s eyes went round, and he watched as chunks of rock began to crash into each other ahead of them, creating something out of thin air.

“That’s a… Greater Earth Elemental,” Arthur realized as he stared at the golem made of stone rising to its feet ahead of the two of them.

Jax’s brows snapped together, and even the crazy elf paused for a moment. “A Greater Earth Elemental? Are you being serious right now?”

“Yes, I—” Arthur hesitated, seeing the spell come to an end. The golem now stood before the two of them, towering tall over both the elf and the bartender. “What do we do? That’s an SSS-ranked threat. We can’t possibly defeat that.”

And for once, Jax didn’t know what to say. He glanced between the former Lich King, then looked ahead at the Greater Earth Elemental. He opened his mouth, trying to formulate a response as the golem took a lumbering step forward.

But before either Arthur or Jax could react, they heard the beating of heavy wings approach them from above. Looking up, they saw a shadowed figure descend from above.

A hulking crimson mass came crashing down before the two of them. A red dragon right next to the Greater Earth Elemental, scales glittering, smoke puffing from its maw. It spread its wings wide as it brought its head down until its gaze was level with both Arthur and Jax, staring at them with slit-like pupils and golden eyes.

And it bellowed, “WHO DARES WAKE ME FROM MY SLUMBER?”

For a moment, Arthur cowered and Jax tensed. They almost forget the reason why they were here— to seek the Elder Dragon’s help. But then Grat-ra’zun blinked a few times, before rubbing his eyes. And he frowned.

“Wait, you are—” the Elder Dragon started. “The Forsaken Archer… and the First Lich King”? What are you two doing here?

Grat-ra’zun stared at them in confusion. Jax and Arthur exchanged a glance, before the two of them began to explain.

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