Saharan Successor

Vol. 1 - Chapter 31 - Alley of Desolation

.

.

.

"Motherfuckers, they sabotaged the race with this shipwreck. Now what?"

Saying that, as he was staring intently at the track, he noticed that the chariot driver slowed down his horses and started passing the obstacle course that was brought about by the green chariot and white chariot.

"Good, there's still a race going on." commented Mathias getting back on his seat after seeing the blue chariot safely escape from the trap.

Dulandal, who was still on his feet with his brother Roland, looked toward the red driver, who was making his way out of the shattered pieces of the chariots collided with one another.

"Perfect, now go, you aren't that far from the blue one."

Looking at Dulandal, who showed his supporter side for his favorite team, he gave a smile before turning his gaze at Jeanne that was thoroughly captivated by the Hippodrome and the chariot race.

'There are still 3 more laps to go before the finish. Lucky kid, the reds seem to be as professional as the blues. We will soon erupt into the tense feeling of suspense.'

"How is it, Jeanne? Your first Hippodrome attendance and race?"

"Shhh, we will talk after the race is over." said Jeanne while placing her finger on Mathias's lips, shushing him.

Feeling confident on the Blues, the chariot drivers also responded to his faith, reaching first place on the first lap, while the reds were close by, following after their behind.

'This feels like a football match where both teams are on 1-1, and it's going at the last minutes of play. However, there is a difference. The atmosphere here amplifies this anxiety even more.'

Thinking that minutes passed, and the racers were once again back at the shipwreck, with the blue slowing down to pass. Yet, at that moment, the red chariot kept a higher speed when entering the turn, and by what Mathias could call it, sheer luck bypassed the obstacle.

The audience erupted in cheers, mostly the red supporters, with one even louder next to him holding a prestigious title, Prince Dulandal.

"Yess, that was marvelous overtaking. Hah, bite the dust, blue one."

Still, Mathias chose to keep quiet, but his emotions were boiling his insides, accumulating more and more, until he woke himself in the third lap where the red chariot had a decent lead forward.

The Hippodrome was getting quiet with the coming of the last lap. The red supporters had a smirk on their faces, basking already in the victory of their favorite, barely containing their arrogant words.

With the horses galloping at top speed and with the red chariot having the lead, the driver followed suit approaching a safer route to detour the obstacles doing what the blue driver did three laps.

However, the horse's neighs coming from his back made him panic and shout.

"You fool, are you looking to shipwreck with me here?"

"That's out of the question. I am just taking the win from you. Since you got comfortable in the first place and abandoned the high-risk stratagem."

Hitting the horses with power until their neighs could be heard even by the top lounge spectators, their increased the speed, even more, detouring the obstacle in such a manner the chariot was about to collide with the walls of the Hippodrome.

"Faster! FASTER!" shouted the blue driver to his horses while whiplashing them.

In the process, his chariot looked to be drifting away from the walls and also dodge the shipwreck made by whites and greens.

"That crazy bastard!!! He did it!" said Mathias getting on his feet when he saw the blue driver overpass the red one.

Nevertheless, he could see his hands gushing with blood from the way he grasped his horse's harness. Emotions inside of him finally took over his calmness, and he got to the fence to cheer for the blue one. To his surprise, even Jeanne got on her feet to join him in cheering for the blue one.

"Arghhh, those stupid whites and greens had to sabotage the race! Otherwise, the red one wouldn't have lost." said Dulandal with a hateful tone when thinking of how the whites and greens collided with one another at the start of the race.

"Young prince, keep watching to the end of the race. Show sportsmanship, even if you hate to lose. Such a race is never over until the end."

Dulandal gazed at Mathias with surprised eyes and shited his attention back on the track, where he saw the red driver also push his horses to their extremes, with his hands also splattering on the ground.

"Bastard, I will not lose like this! After leading the entire race? For you, a sneaky rat to take the win home. RUN MY HORSES! RUN!"

Slowly the red chariot started getting closer to the blue one that they were almost shoulder to shoulder.

Those chariot drivers took the breaths of everyone in the large Hippodrome, with only their four horses, chariot, and their mastery in the art of commanding the horses. However, this still wasn't enough to stop the young prince from shouting and creating a chain reaction.

"So this is what you meant by saying to keep watching. LET'S GO REDS!" shouted Dulandal with enthusiasm before his voice was drowned by the rest of the people.

.

.

From this intense race, the winner could be seen, reaching the finishing line, where the blue one finished first followed to seconds later the red one.

"Curses!! After all this preparation and investment in the horse's training and new chariot, I still lost. Ahhhh, I am so pathetic right now." said the red driver, grasping the harness of the horses with only a hand while the other one was dripping blood.

"Otrinus, this is life. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you win. You were close to beating me, and for an upcoming racer, this is glorious in itself. Raise your head. You will have your chances to shine in the future, at least when I retire from racing."

"Shut up, Heraclius! I don't want to hear your soothing words and especially about you retiring. You will retire when you lose against me!" shouted Otrinus, the red chariot driver, full of emotion.

Heraclius, the driver of the blue chariot, laughed out loud while waving at the public and later shouting toward Juander.

"My Emperor, we the proud Blues are still victorious and keeping our oath to you!"

The people in the tribunes looked at the Imperial Lounge where only Juander and Marie were inside and focused on Juander, who was on his feet applauding.

"Heraclius, you shall still remain the Champion of the Hippodrome after this victory. I shall await your next performance in three months."

"I will not disappoint, Your Majesty!" shouted the blue racer before doing one more round with his chariot saluting everyone in the tribunes and later turning toward the chariot exits.

.

At the same time, he was doing his saluting, Mathias patted Dulandal shoulder. After seeing him bitter for the loss, he said to him.

"You don't have to give me your pocket money. I am satisfied enough with how the race went to not care about that bet."

Dulandal looked at Mathias after doing a deep breath calming the red aura that came from his body, later shaking his head he said.

"A loss is a loss. Don't take pity on me, here let me give you the money for the bet."

Saying that, he took out a bag from his pocket that seemed heavy from the first glance. Passing the bag to Mathias, the latter received a notification from the system.

.

[An outstanding achievement has been done by the player]

[You have won a bet against Prince Dulandal of Saharan Empire]

[Rewards: 1000 gold & 500 Reputation Points with Saharan Empire & Affinity with Dulandal raised by 5]

.

Taking the bag, he placed it in his pocket before sending it straight to the inventory, and with a calm voice, he told Dulandal and the other princes.

"I doubt we will have the chance to meet again, but it was a pleasure seating next to you, Dulandal, Roland, little Edan, and also seeing your passion for the races."

Taking Jeanne's hand, he bowed at the princes who also bid their farewell to him and later departed from the Hippodrome.

.

Dulandal had a bitter face while Roland was laughing at his expenses, making the latter shift his gaze on him and retort.

"Stop laughing, Roland! You saw it too, how that shipwreck messed up my chances of winning. The reds would have won if not for that."

"I guess you are right. Even I have nothing to reproach to the chariot driver after seeing them bleed for their own victory. Let's get to father and wait for the citizens to depart before taking our leave." said Roland with a calm voice, later turning his head at the kid with black hair and appearance reminiscent of his mother, Marie.

"Edan, did you like the race?"

"Yea, it was fun, especially the shipwreck." replied the young prince with a quiet, timid voice to his eldest brother, Roland.

Like this, the three returned to the Imperial Lounge and noticed Juander staring at them with a smile while at his back was Marie that had a fake smile.

"It seems you had your own fun experience, sons."

"If you call losing money a fun experience, your sense of humor is off the charts, father." said Roland in a joking tone that had Juander chuckle a bit.

"Haven't I told you about Heraclius? Until he retires, he will remain unchallenged. Nevertheless, the young man Otrinus riding for the red team also pleased me with his talent. When he gets to Heraclius age, he might be an unbeatable champion."

"Tsk, at least it was a close race. Bask in victory, father, because my reds will soon take the top spot." declared Dulandal, which had Juander smile at him, before turning to walk from the lounge.

'It seems he changed a bit after coming back. I can hear some humbleness in his tone when addressing his defeat. Sigh, but what will I do with Benoit? Since Aria's death, he started distancing himself from his brothers and even me with each year.'

'What should I do, Aria? I don't wish to see our sons walk the wrong path.'

.

.

The sky darkened with the time the citizens attending the race left.

Mathias also managed to make his way out together with Jeanne, escaping from being pushed around by the crowds.

Getting out, he saw some fights start between the Red team supporters and the White and Green, who in their eyes sabotaged the race, rather quickly turning the atmosphere violent.

"Let's not linger here too much. I don't want to be hit in the head by some crazy person."

"Ahh, but why are they fighting with one another? It wasn't the fault of the whites and greens for the reds lose. It was clearly an accident." said Jeanne with a perplexed voice, wanting to find reason with the situation at hand.

"Tell that to idiots with their testosterone spilling up their balls. They couldn't care less about your opinions, worse you might get picked up for siding with their enemies, so you better lower your voice and start not acting like a Saintess with people that clearly don't deserve kindness." remarked Mathias, grabbing unto Jeanne's hands, and moving out from the escalating conflict.

She didn't put up much resistance, as she found his words reasonable, aligning with what Julius taught her in the past about human nature being a conflicting concept like darkness and light.

With the sky getting darker with each minute, the people walked up to light the lamps on the alleys. Everything seemed normal after moving away from the Hippodrome. Yet, with the two walking side by side, entering an alley that had some people lighting the lampposts, something seemed off. It was only those plumbers.

As he entered inside this alley, he suddenly heard a notification window popping up, calling out something unexpected to him, while his surroundings also started being closed off.

.

[You entered the Dungeon 'Alley of Desolation' and have been affected by the following restrictions.]

[Jeanne level changes from level 135 to level 25, and her skills will be changed accordingly to her level]

[Clear Dungeon Condition: Survive for 15 minutes. Kill all the enemy in sight]

[Dungeon Clear Reward: [3] levels and a random reward based on the reward the NPC's received to target you.]

[Dungeon Clear Failure: [-3] levels with 50% for Jeanne being kidnapped or killed.

.

"Mathias! Something is wrong with me! I can't feel my powers! Has Goddess Rebecca abandoned me!?" cried out Jeanne feeling herself weakened by the effects of the instance they have entered.

He panicked for a slight moment when reading the notifications and hearing Jeanne that was crying out while also drawing Ragnius out from his inventory and gazing straight at the 4 plunders on the lampposts that revealed their faces wearing a creepy smile.

"It was truly, as the Mistress has told us, that you will come around this zone. Perfect, we can finish the mistress quest even faster."

Mathias saw them take from their waists daggers and swords, point where his body tensed up and with a forced calm, he said to Jeanne.

"Jeanne, please calm down. You were not abandoned by the Goddess. Think what spells you can use and help me out fight against those bandits that want to harm us."

"Ahhh, yes. I will try remembering what abilities I can use."

As she said that, Mathias, who unleashed 'Raven's Movement' dashed toward the unknown people without even caring about what story they had to tell and why they targeted him.

Along the way, he opened his Status Window and pushed everything onto STR, STA, and only a sole point into AGI, increasing slightly his power.

*******************************

Name: Mathias / Class: Beginner

Level: 11(3700/8700) / Title: none

Health: 1054/1054/ Mana: 296/296

.

Strength: 55(+6) / Stamina: 40(+4)

Agility:24(+2) / Intelligence: 55(+18) /

Stat Points: 0

******************************

Once he arrived at them using Corvus's signature movement speed, it had the killers slightly surprised. Then he swiftly followed with a basic spear strike on one of the 4 guys, an attack that was dodged timely but which revealed the names of these guys, along with their level and HP gauge.

[Irenaeus– Lv.25], [Medrod – Lv.25], [Doruk – Lv. 25] [Aubert – Lv.25]

'Who would send such high-level NPC's to kill Jeanne and me. Don't tell me that even those NPCs got their levels set to Lv.25, just like Jeanne?'

"Impressive attack speed you got there, noble bastard. Also, for some reason, you use Crow's unique footwork. Could it be you are related to Welf family? I doubt you should be dead along with the rest of the Duke Welf's family."

"Hmph, you ask me questions, for a killer, you sure got guts."

"What can I say? I am a curious person by nature. If it wasn't for her request, I wouldn't even be bothered to kill two insignificant noble kids." said the one called Irenaeus, that seemed to be the leader of this group, the one Mathias attacked first.

"Boss, stop wasting time on cheap words. Let's end them faster before the Red Knights spot us. We have 15 minutes to act."

"Aye, don't worry, this boy, while looking decent, is just a brat." commented the leader of the assassins before dashing toward Mathias and slashing with his sword.

Mathias reacted fast as he entered the [Middle Guard], blocking the fast attack that pushed him back toward Jeanne while also dealing a considerable amount of damage.

[You have suffered 75 damage.]

"Mathias! I know what spells I can use." said Jeanne, running toward Mathias and holding him by his back.

"Go on, tell me what you can do, so I can plan ahead. Those people are dangerous. I doubt I can take them on my own."

Jeanne, who panicked from the start and had her arms trembling at Mathias's back, listed the spells she could use.

" I can use 'Holy Fire' an ability that can hurt people using divine power,  'Holy Nova' an ability that can hurt all of them and heal you if you enter the area of the attack, 'Flash Heal' who can heal you for a considerable amount  and 'Holy Shield' that I can cast on you and me which will protect us for harm."

Seeing the killers going straight for him and Jeanne, he walked toward them while entering [High Stance], saying to her with an assuring voice.

"Cast on me 'Holy Shield' and on yourself, and slowly conserve your mana since it might take a toll on your resources."

"Yes, Mathias. Please be careful. [Holy Shield]"

.

Then after casting her divine spell on Mathias first, a bright white shield enveloped Mathias that looked closely like the [Arcane Barrier]. Taking a split second to look at the buff description he received, he noticed that it was a powerful buff.

[Holy Shield]

A divine shield that absorbs most forms of damage sent to the blessed person.

Shields the user for 50% of the incoming physical damage and magical damage.

Shields the ally for 90 seconds

.

'This is perfect. Isn't she powerful even for an Lv.25 NPC, or were those some of her spells in her arsenal?'

While being helped by the protective buff, even though he was still low-level, he knew that his attack power was comparable to a level 20-30 user or even bigger, and his defense was also assured by [Ragnius], [Saharan Hunting Boots], and [Direwolf Handler's Gauntlets'] that he gained from the Dire Wolf hunt in the Empar Forest

.

[Direwolf Handler's Gauntlets']

Rating: Rare

Durability: 110/110 Defense: 37

Attack Speed: +2%

Accuracy: +3%

.

.

The attack speed itself was, as the killer remarked, fast, and so, Mathias lowered his spear and unleashed the 'Sweeping Thrust' attack that used a light fast sweep attack dodged by three guys, but one that didn't estimate the range of Mathias spear accurately, was hit.

[You have dealt 154 damage.]

"Move away from his spear Doruk!" shouted Irenaeus to the one who didn't manage to block or dodge Mathias's attack.

Gritting his teeth, Doruk followed Mathias's thrust that went toward his heart with incredible momentum.

[Target blocked 'Thrust' attack, you only dealt 30% of the hit]

[You have dealt 73 damage to Doruk.]

"Good, you aren't so stupid as I thought." commented Irenaeus from the safe range, later dashing back to Mathias and unleashing a two-attack strike that flowed smoothly towards his stomach.

Mathias misestimated his speed and couldn't enter his guard stance. A weakness of the spear was showing itself to him when he was supposed to perform flawlessly, now with Irenaeus entering his range, bypassing his spear and also moving toward his blindside.

'Fuck, I can't bring Ragnius back and block. I have to dodge at least one strike with 'Raven's Movement'."

Yet it was then that Jeanne took off her shoes, sprinted toward his back, crying out with her angelic voice.

"[Holy Fire]!"

Instantly from her hands, a white light bolted in Irenaeus' direction, who was wearing a wicked expression while attacking the defenseless Mathias.

The light traveled faster and hit the killer before he could harm Mathias, pushing him back and setting his chest ablaze with a white fire.

[Your party member Jeanne hit the spell [Holy Fire] successfully, dealing 360 holy damage.]

"Phew, I did it just in time. Thanks the Goddess for my inspiration."

Irenaeus used his sword to remove a piece of the leather plating that was set on fire, later glaring hatefully at Jeanne and remarking coldly.

"Guys, we focus on that whore. She seems to be a Rebecca's Daughter or at least a candidate."

Mathias regrouped himself and unleashed a [Piercing Rain] on the wounded enemy that barely got on his feet and tried to hit him back as a counter.

"Bastard, you really got something against me?"

"I would be dumb to not target you, the weakest of the bunch." remarked Mathias in a cold voice as he sent the [Piercing Rain] attacks.

[Enemy blocked your attack.]

[Enemy blocked your attack.]

With two successful blocks of the 3-combo attack skill, one managed to bypass his block and accurately hit his stomach.

[Critical]

[You have dealt 430 damage to the target.]

With that hit connecting, he saw the rest of the guys dashing for him and Jeanne, point where he used sent a kick on Doruk balls, that hit him for mindboggling [100 damage].

"MOTHERFUCKER! YOU DIRTY BASTARD! HOW ARE YOU A NOBLE!?" roared in pain Doruk as he kneeled on the ground, looking with pure hatred at Mathias as he used Ragnius to jump toward Jeanne and take over her protection.

"Well, I am not really a noble." said Mathias to himself, looking sharply at the killers.

Taking the [High Stance] as those killers approached him, this image of Mathias protecting Jeanne was akin to a Tank protecting his healer in RPGs.