Ashes of the Fallen

Then his eyes seemed to widen as he looked over the details, glancing at me once then back at the ring. I knew what he was thinking, he wanted it. He only hesitated because we were both tanks and could use it equally.

"Roll ye for it?" he asked, somewhat expectedly.

"Hah, nah," I replied with a smirk. "You keep it, it will benefit you more right now."

"Ye sure?" he asked again, not wanting to take my kindness for granted.

"Yeah man, you're the main tank, 'grats," I replied with a nod.

The others looked on, a bit confused as to what had just transpired. I didn't even bother to include them in the discussion but, that was only natural. Items went to who could use them at this point, then it was split by value after. Everyone would get their equal cut eventually, and we had been running together for almost a week.

Plus, they were all from the same guild.

To deny their tank a tanking item, would be pretty stupid.

I was content with my decision.

"Right," he said with a nod of his own. "Thanks."

The others looked at me but I ignored them as I combed through the rest of the items on the floor. Barik ended up filling them in on the ring and its properties and they didn't have any complaints. It was expected, anyways.

As I started to gather the random swords, spears, shields, bows, axes, and jewelry, I finally came across the one unique item in the entire dungeon.

The halberd that belonged to the [Goblin Chief], the one that easily cut-up three people, was lying on the ground next to the corpse of the comparatively large goblin waiting for someone to grab it. It was a two-handed weapon, an axe, and a spear, all in one. The [Chief] had used a variety of skills from both the Axe and Spear proficiencies, such as [Heavy Swing], [Heavy Thrust], [Lunge], and [Quick Thrust], and the last one that caught Barik, [Jab 'n Hook], was one that belonged to the Halberd tree specifically.

That meant, you could utilize three different proficiencies with one weapon.

In itself, that was a bit broken.

Triple the amount of abilities compared to someone using a regular spear… well, there were drawbacks. The weapon was heavier, larger, and definitely more cumbersome. There was also the appearance factor, and it didn't really look as cool.

Yeah, aesthetics were important in an MMORPG.

Well, I was white with red blood stains and somewhat fluffy on top of hardened leather, but I didn't care much for appearance. Everything was practical, and cheap. Fur kept me warm in the harsh winters, the leather offered some minimal protection for the time being, and it at least all fit within the realm of a winter warrior.

Yeah, my fur coat was pretty badass though.

I liked that one, quite a bit.

"You taking that halberd?" asked Alan as he walked over and stood next to me.

"Oh, hadn't thought about it," I replied honestly. "Was just thinking of its usefulness, wasn't really thinking about actually taking it and using it."

"You lost your two-handed axe last time, didn't you?"

"Ah, it's been repaired," I answered with a shrug. "My one-handed axe fits better with the shield combo anyhow, so there was little reason to bring along the other axe."

"Take it," said Barik, having crept up behind me.

"We can split the other stuff mate," offered Ethan in addition. "Might as well take what you can use, I know I'm not coming back to this shit hole again."

Hah, yeah.

He had a point there.

"I don't see any of us returning here really," I laughed out half-heartedly. "Alright, I'll take that and we already split most of the loot earlier so, I'm headed off now."

"Right, have a good one," said Barik, with slight smirk.

Giving them a partial wave, I grabbed my stuff and headed towards the exit, parting with only a simple phrase, "night guys." By the time I reached the exit, I had fiddled with my bag and set all of my items inside, the only thing left was the halberd that was in my right hand. It was considerably heavier than my other two-handed axe, but that was understandable. Really, it was expected to be heavier, so that was normal.

What caught me off guard was that it was enchanted… and not only that.

It wasn't a simple regular weapon.

"Wait this…" I mumbled to myself, stopping right before the portal exit.

In my hands, was a named weapon.

That [Goblin Chief] dropped a [Defiled Halberd of Reaving].

The properties and stats were nearly identical to a normal axe and spear in damage, as most weapons were considerably close in damage range, but the durability was exceptional. A [Rare Grade] item of [Good Quality], with a special effect added on… it was something else, really. Both named portions of the Halberd seemed to have its own effect, with "Defiled" incurring a penalty to one's Vitality, to the order of minus eight-percent. On the other hand, "Reaving" gave a bonus of plus twenty-percent to [Execute] success, which was already quite high on its own.