PLAYER''S NOTEBOOK
1. This book has 50 pages.
2. The first 49 pages are shared. Anything written down will show up across all the notebook of your teammates. All writings in this section will disappear after 3 days.
3. The 50th page is reserved for game announcements.
4. If this book is lost or destroyed, you will receive a replacement after 24 hours
"...It is as I thought," she said, scanning the writing. "Have you noticed before?"
She turned her eyes to me.
"Huh¡?" I stammered.
"You have it as well. A hint to the truth of this world, right here."
The hairs on my arm stood on ends. If there was a hint, I certainly didn''t see it.
"Diamond is a lie," she said simply. "There is no going home there. They bait us with false hope, watch us claw forward, ever clinging to an empty promise."
She wrapped an arm around my shoulders. A shadow of a smirk flashed over her lips. I squirmed stiffly, not knowing whether to stay, to run, or to fight.
"And?" I asked. "You''re saying we''re all stuck here forever?"
"There is only one way we can get back to earth," she whispered to me. "And it''s through the one closest to freedom. The nemesis to existence, 6E12."
Chapter 28: Now Beg For Your Life in Spanish
Wait, what? No going home in Diamond? And 6E12 saving us all?
"Hold up," I said to the black-dressed lady. "Not to be rude, but where did you hear all that from?"
"I''m glad you asked," came a male voice behind me. I startled around, to find a teenage boy slightly younger than myself. He had jet-black bangs, black eyeliner, pale skin, and wore a black hoodie and ripped jeans. He had no expression on his face, except a blank one best described as totally-done-with-life.
"Welcome to the Guild of Truthseekers," he said to me. "You''ll like it here."
Oh no, cultists!
I instinctively shuffled away from the pair of dark-dressed strangers, now ready to bolt off at a moment''s notice.
"Haven''t you ever wondered?" the lady asked, approaching me, matching my slow retreat. "How Legend players exist? If players really went home in Diamond, then no one should be able to progress beyond Diamond. Such an obvious paradox. The masses refuse to wake up to even the simplest revelations, content to sleep together in the darkness."
"I dunno," I said. "That reasoning seems like a bit of a stretch."
Maybe I should just start running.
"Rule 2 in your notebook," the lady said. "It says, ''Anything written down will show up across all the notebook of your teammates.'' Right? Notebook of your teammates. Notebook, singular."
"What''s your point?" I asked.
"It should''ve been plural. Meaning, the rules contain a grammar mistake. We aren''t the pawns of some omniscient god. But rather, the one forcing us to play these challenges is a mere, fallible being just like us. And like us, they can be beaten."
"...OK," I said. "This is definitely a stretch."
"The founder of our guild was blessed," the lady said. "She wore the Crown of Foresight, and she heard the future''s whispers. 6E12 will come, destroy this prison, and we will be freed."
The teenage boy nodded. "We never met her because she went up to Gold a year ago, but all the other followers swear she''s legit."
"Shut up Jayden," the lady whispered, then turned back to me. "Come, insightful one, and we shall show you the entire truth."
"Uh, no thanks," I said.
"Please," the lady said. "I know this is all very sudden. But trust me, you''ll see that we mean no deception."
"Come on," the boy said. He reached his hand out, as though he wanted me to grasp it and follow him. "Our base is only 20 minutes from here."
Nope nope nope nope.
I ran. And they freaking gave chase!
"Please, wait!" the lady shouted, stumbling through the streets behind me. I considered slowing them down with a Frost Missile, but immediately decided that initiating combat one-versus-two was the worst idea I''ve had today. Instead, I ran toward the wall circling Ring One, toward the exact spot where Mr. Atlas had his shift as a watchman.
After several minutes of running, I neared the wall and saw him atop its battlements.
"ATLAS!" I screamed. Thankfully, he had his axe and armor already equipped. He seemed to notice me.
Mr. Atlas lowered himself down the wall using his grappling hook. I ran to his side. He was wearing the badge of the Guard''s Guild, a shining, engraved medallion of silver on his chest. The lady and boy stopped several yards away, looking between Mr. Atlas and me.
"Cultists!" I reported to Atlas.
"We''re not cultists!" the boy yelled. To my surprise, he sounded genuinely hurt.
"Screw it!" he said to the lady. "Screw this. They never listen to what we say. Now everyone''s gonna hate us. We''re all gonna die..."
"Shut it Jayden," the lady said. "It''s fine. Let''s go."
She gave me one last, regretful stare, then turned and left with the boy.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
My heart felt heavy. Had I done something wrong?
"Guild of Truthseekers?" Atlas asked me.
"Wait, you know about them?"
"They annoy townsfolk with a bunch of conspiracy theories. Otherwise, harmless."
I told Atlas the things they tried to convince me about.
"Sounds like the usual," he said.
"You think they might be right?" I asked.
"You never know," he said. "But do yourself a favor. Don''t waste time on conspiracy theories. If they turn out correct, you can start paying attention then."
Mr. Atlas chaperoned me home. On our way, I told him I was out to buy soap, because the one back home was too scratchy.
"Simmer some water," he told me. "Melt the soap. Strain out the exfoliant. Now there''s body wash. Also, don''t walk alone at night too much."
I thanked him as he dropped me off at our house. His body-wash recipe worked well, and I managed to cook up a glass bottle''s worth of liquid soap. Call me Edward Elric, ''cause I just did me some alchemy.
I passed the soap bottle into the bathroom, to a still-waiting Saber.
"Here''s your gamer-girl bath water," I told her.
So that was Friday night. On Saturday, I stayed in bed to rest. Saber hadn''t even hurt me that bad, but I felt a bit emotionally drained. On Sunday, Saber, Jack, and I visited the phone-charging person Josh told us about. She lived in a quiet corner of Ring Two, at the end of a cul-de-sac street. A young girl, looking about 16 or so, came out to meet us. She wore an oversized black zip-up jacket with the hood over her head, and she had Apple EarPods in her ears. She carried a snack bowl with her.
"We heard about you from Josh," Saber told her.
"Yeah," I said. "Josh said we''re ''real ones,'' so we get the privilege of meeting you."
She took a chip from her snack bowl and ate it. "Cool. Let me see your phones."
She took our phones into her hand and began to shake them up and down vigorously. About 15 minutes later, she handed them back. My phone powered up, and I saw it now had 48% battery.
"Arm''s tired," the phone-charging girl said. "That''s all from me today. Gonna be 40 bucks each."
We paid her. She went back inside her house, and we also left.
"I like her," Saber said.
The next day was Monday, which meant Hei and Saber and I had to go back to the Combat Institute. Tanin, our recruiter, greeted us with a smile.
"How was your guys'' weekend?" he asked.
"Nothing major happened," I said, before Saber got the chance to mention anything about Headmaster Fink. "Right, Saber?"
"Ehh," Saber simply mumbled.
After settling us into a classroom, Tanin made us read a newcomer''s brochure about guild rules and regulations. It was mainly boring stuff, like "don''t accept bribes," "all Institute expenditures must be accounted for," and "don''t harass other Institute members." I wondered if Fink violated that last one.
The rest of the week was devoted to role-specific job training. For me, that meant spy lessons in preparation for me infiltrating the Spanish-Speaker''s Guild. I learned some espionage tricks, like the code words the Combat Institute used to communicate. A couple random spots around the town were our designated "dead drop" zones, where we could drop off key items or letters. Hei would remain at the Combat Institute as my partner. He''d be in charge of monitoring our team notebook, in case I needed to send any urgent messages. I had to use code words though, so Mr. Atlas and Jack wouldn''t find out. They might still get suspicious, of course, so using the notebook was a last resort.
Also, I got trained on anti-torture techniques, which was pretty badass, but also made me really nervous about my upcoming job. Apparently if they tortured me to extract information, I could give cop-out answers. For example, there were certain pieces of information about the Combat Institute I was allowed to provide to our enemies, such as demographic statistics and layouts of public buildings. However, the true secrets of the Institute must never be surrendered.
"Don''t worry," Tanin told me. "Under severe suffering, your mind disassociates from your body, so that helps a lot."
"Uh¡" I said. "Thanks I guess?"
"Relax," Tanin said. "We''re just preparing you for the worst-case scenario. This is actually a pretty low-risk mission, you''ll be fine."
But, as they say, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
I spent the weekend practicing body-language concealment techniques, such as how to look by turning my eyes and not my head. And then, it was Monday again. This time, I did not go to the Combat Institute for work. Rather, I walked alone to the Spanish Speaker''s Guild Hall.
It was an innocuous-looking, charming sandstone mansion surrounded by an elegant metal fence. I entered through the gates of the fence, then proceeded into the main hall, all the while working to keep my nerves at bay. A friendly receptionist-lady greeted me in Spanish and directed me to fill out a newcomer''s sign-up form. Thankfully, the form was bilingual in English and Spanish. I submitted the form, then waited around in the guild hall for them to process it. The whole while I discreetly scanned my surroundings, but I saw nothing much beside a few passers-by.
Soon, the receptionist gathered me and two other newcomers into a side room.
"Hola, bienvenidos," she welcomed us. "Some of you may prefer Spanish, or maybe English. But this is everyone''s first day, and I just wanna make sure you''re all feeling welcomed." Then she repeated in Spanish, "Es el primer d¨ªa de todos ustedes, y quiero asegurarme de que todos se sientan bienvenidos. A veces, voy a hablar ingl¨¦s para los pochos."
"All right," she said, switching back to English. "Today we have three new members with us. Hooray!"
Just act natural, I told myself. Stick to simple phrases. Minimize the amount you converse with everyone, and just pretend to be introverted. Good plan. I ought to blend right in.
The receptionist flipped through the paperwork we filled out earlier. "Let''s learn everyone''s names. So, today we have¡Alfonso Iglesias, Maria Calderon, and¡El Luchador Loco. Huh. Well, it''s good to meet everyone.¡±
So far so good. They wouldn''t suspect a thing.
Chapter 29: My Wholesome Inquisition, Where Absolutely No One Gets Tortured
After the quick introductions, the Spanish Speaker''s Guild receptionist allowed the three of us newcomers to mingle among ourselves. We played a few board games, including a small tournament of Connect Four. We helped ourselves to coffee and cookies from the guild lounge. All the time, I acted out my part as the shy, non-talkative mage girl. In the late afternoon, we three decided to head out.
"Adios Maria," El Luchador Loco bid me farewell. I waved goodbye back at him.
I had been so nervous through the day, but by the end of it, I almost¡enjoyed myself?
I continued to hang out at the Spanish Speaker¡¯s Guild for the rest of the week. On Wednesday a guild member had their birthday, so we helped decorate, and someone brought cake to share. On Friday, a senior guild member approached me. He introduced himself and asked about my story. I told him that things hadn¡¯t been easy. He told me that things would never be easy here. He talked of his cousin, who had died in the Summer Challenge, and how his heart still hurt over the loss. He told me he was doing his best to be grateful for those he still had. I comforted him with a hug.
The following Monday, I returned to the Combat Institute, to give an oral report to Tanin.
¡°The guild has about 80 members,¡± I informed. ¡°But only about thirty are active.¡±
¡°Go on,¡± he said.
¡°They have a side room with board games. And they have another room with snacks and coffee.¡±
¡°¡Alright?¡±
¡°They¡¯re planning on starting a poetry club next month, and so far four people have expressed interest. They''re trying to compile, like, a collection of Neruda poems from memory.¡±
¡°Cut to the chase, girl,¡± Tanin said. ¡°What did you learn that¡¯s actually important?¡±
"The poetry club''s a pretty big deal. People are pretty hyped about it, you know? I mean, the whole Spanish-Speaker''s Guild is more of a social guild, I guess.¡±
¡°Wait, what?¡±
¡°They¡¯re mostly just there for the community. And to hang out. Most of them have jobs from other guilds."
¡°Oh, well,¡± Tanin said. ¡°That¡¯s mildly embarrassing on our end. I guess that¡¯s the end of your mission then.¡±
I pursed my lips. How anticlimactic.
"You''re still gonna employ me¡right?" I checked.
"Yeah, of course. I''m not that much of a douchebag."
Tanin brought me to the Institute cafeteria, where he bought us coffee. We sat down to chat about my next steps.
He leaned an elbow on the table. "So. Besides Spanish, what else are you good at?"
"I''m a decent sniper. I''m decent at magecraft. Right now I have 30 Arcana Points, without any boosts from potions or items. So I could join the Research Division."
"Oh. That''s not bad."
"My ring allows me to purify water. That''s why I almost joined the Cleaner''s Guild, before you took me."
"Alright, good. You''ll be our janitor for now."
"...Eeh? What about the Research Division?"
"Takes too long to get in. If you wanna get paid now, janitor it is."
Starting life in another world: How I learned magic and became a guild janitor.
Hei, as my spying correspondent, also ended his mission. He told Tanin he''d like to join the Expedition Division. Should I tell him about how much of a prick their headmaster, Ms. Fink, was?
"Are you sure?" Tanin asked Hei. "Just between the two of us, it''s not a place for everyone."
The Expedition Division had the lowest survival rate out of any group within the Institute, Tanin explained. Their job was to collect information during challenges. Which meant diverting attention away from actually surviving and winning. Some of them let themselves get hit by enemy attacks, just to figure out how much damage they did.
"In return, they get all the glory," Tanin said. "The brave, brave heroes that sacrificed themselves for progress."
"Let''s not join them," I pleaded with Hei. He nodded.
"Of course," he said. "Glory won''t bring us back to our world."
Maybe that explained why Ms. Fink had a stick up her ass. She had probably lost more comrades than anyone else in town.
"In that case," Hei said, "I''ll be a janitor too."If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
His decision was a strategic one, it turned out. Being janitors allowed us to scout out stuff that happened around the Institute. First day on the job, he planned his schedule so that he cleaned through the Combat Division''s courtyard right as they held their weekly duels. I joined him in observing them. An axe-wielding warrior was squaring off against a wind mage while a dozen more combatants watched on the side.
I gave Hei a playful nudge. "Think you could take them on?"
"Sure, I can beat any one of these."
I chuckled. "Shut up."
He continued to stare at them without blinking, as though he were trying to memorize every detail of the battle.
Saber, meanwhile, straight up got a job as a Doctor of Strategic Studies. And in 9 months, she could apply to become a Professor of Strategic Studies. Lucky. Or at least I thought so, until I heard how much her supervising professor overworked her. Heck, he''d even make her come in during weekends to help research existing literature. Poor Saber nonetheless defended her professor.
"It''s not his fault," she told me. "He''s also getting pressured by his higher-ups. And that includes the Headmaster of Combat."
"How''s your headmaster?" I asked.
"I don''t know. He''s always wearing an iron mask, and doesn''t talk with us commoners. We barely know what''s going on in the department. He just doesn''t communicate."
And so, we all settled into our work routines, Monday through Friday. In the evenings, Saber would continue to drill us on MOBA concepts in preparation for the next challenge. She''d spar with us, and teach us theories on how to play the challenges properly.
"Suppose the enemy team has high burst damage but low sustained damage," Saber quizzed me late one night in the comfort of my bedroom. "What stats should you buy? What type of potions?"
I had already tucked myself into bed, though I was still awake. "Hmm¡Arcana Points," I replied.
"What else?"
"I think that''s about it."
Saber whimpered in resignation.
No, I couldn''t just buy Arcana Points and nothing else, she explained. Burst damage countered squishy mages like me, so I''d need to consider getting a Potion of Max HP, to raise my HP by 200 and re-counter the burst damage.
Saber, in her baby-blue pajamas, scribbled on a blank page in our shared team notebook.
Burst > Squishy
Durability > Burst
Sustained damage > Durability
"And sustained damage dealers are usually squishy," Saber said, "so they''re countered by burst. Some players will have both sustained damage and durability, but they''re usually melee and lack mobility, so they''re countered by range. And mobility counters range."
"Oh wait yeah," I suddenly realized. "It''s just like in video games. It''s like these challenges are modeled after vide¨C oh. Wait."
Saber gave me a slow, deep nod. That was probably her polite way of saying, took you long enough to realize.
"Shut up," I mumbled.
"I didn''t say anything..."
I had known for weeks, if not months by now, that the challenges were based on MOBA games, which I didn''t play. But I hadn''t made the connection that knowledge from other games could be used for these challenges. I played a decent amount of RPGs, and some battle strategy games, and the whole time I hadn''t thought to apply the principles from them to our challenges. At least, not to this degree.
"What if a player is durable, has sustained damage, and is also mobile?" I asked Saber. "What counters that?"
"Nothing probably," Saber said. "That sounds overpowered. They might have specific weaknesses to exploit, but usually those sorts of characters don''t have direct counters."
I wish I knew that when I asked the distant lady''s voice for powers, so I could''ve asked her to make me a durable-mobile-sustained-damage-dealer. Instead, I just got water and ice manipulation. Which wasn''t shabby, but I really missed out on what could''ve been.
Sometime during the day, when Hei and I finished our cleaning jobs early, we''d go together to the Combat Institute''s library. I had imagined it to be a big library, like something fitting for a prestigious university, but no. Though the room itself equaled a basketball court in size, it had scarcely any books. In total I saw about¡eight shelves? And all of them were sparsely stacked.
"Books are hard to make," a librarian gentleman explained to us. "Our town only has one printing press. The engineers were working on a second one, but the chief engineer passed away during a challenge."
He recommended to us The Silver Player''s Guide to Challenges, one of the most popular books around. It had only forty pages, but contained some of the most important info we needed to know. Hei and I checked out two copies, both to read ourselves and share with our teammates.
We read that your progress toward Gold depended on both the number of games you win, and also how hard you win them. For example, if we were to always win with all five teammates surviving, we could get to Gold in, say, four seasonal challenges. But if we only won with two survivors, we''d hardly get closer to Gold at all. You could technically get to Gold in as soon as a month, but that required participating in the seasonal challenge multiple times. And that was because the seasonal challenges occurred over a period of 20 days. So every day, only 5% of the player-base would be whisked away into arenas to participate. The loophole was to join a team that went early, win, quit the team, then join another team that went later, and so on. This way, a player could play over ten games a season. But the book harshly cautioned against such tactics, since more often than not these tricks simply meant a swifter death for those that tried them.
The book also detailed 11 different robot types that could potentially show up as enemy players in the challenges. The two Hei and I faced in our Bronze challenge, the Mace-bot and the Archer, were listed. Apparently the Archer had an ability that raised its attack speed, but I just never noticed.
According to Tanin, since the publication of this book, four more robot types had been cataloged by the Expedition Division, for a total of 15.
Soon, the days grew colder, and I began to button up my coat more. Trees'' leaves blushed dull gold, and the farmers of Ring Three reaped their harvests. Fall had arrived, and with it, 20 days of death games.
I checked page 50 of my team notebook, where announcements were written.
CHALLENGE BEGINS IN 1 DAY
YOUR TEAM''S SLOT: DAY 2
Our team took the day before our challenge off from work. We reviewed our strategies, reminded ourselves to read the shared team notebooks, and rested. And we had a will-writing party, which culminated in everyone sealing their will inside an envelope, which we then gathered and stored together in a kitchen cabinet.
All of us went to bed early, including Mr. Atlas who technically needed no sleep.
And when we awoke to a bright flash of light, we found ourselves back in the arena, inside the walls of our castle-like base.
Chapter 30: Fall
Mr. Atlas in the top lane, Jack mid, Hei and I bottom lane. And Saber in the jungle. We assumed our tried-and-true positions from last time. And just like last time, when I arrived in lane, I sneaked into the bamboo grove to the right of the path.
Our opponents soon arrived as well, a pair of robots. One of them I recognized as the Mace-bot model from last time, who wielded a shield and had outsped my aim with its wheels. The other one wore a green cloak, wielded a heavy crossbow, and had a second, smaller grappling-hook crossbow on its belt. The Silver Player''s Guide to Challenges dubbed it the Ranger. Its first level ability was an AoE bomb arrow that ruptured organs with its blast. Range 90 meters, 10 seconds cooldown. Its second level ability was a grappling hook that allowed it to zip around. It had more range than Mr. Atlas''s, but was too weak to pull other targets toward itself. I hoped our intel advantage would be enough to keep us alive.
I reported our enemies in my team notebook. Mr. Atlas had written that he faced the Centaur robot, a mobile tanking unit, in top lane. Jack faced the Assassin robot in mid lane. Saber planned to clear out her jungle camps from bottom to top, and she told Mr. Atlas to prepare for her arrival in 30 minutes. Could Hei and I exploit those bits of info to our advantage somehow?
Before I came up with anything, the red and green golems arrived in lane. As the Ranger cocked its crossbow and took aim, I launched a surprise Frost Missile at it. The Ranger ducked, an instant too slow, and the Missile tore a chunk of wood off its shoulder. In retaliation, the Ranger fired a bomb arrow at our entire golem wave. The explosion deafened me, even from this distance. Thankfully, Hei dove out of the way and avoided the blast. Our golems, meanwhile, had chunks blown off.
If the Ranger took out our golems too quickly, it and Mace-bot would hit level 2 before us. That''d put us in danger of an all-in assault from them. I leaped out of the grove to help Hei by shooting at the enemy golems with my crossbow. The Mace-bot ran into the now-unoccupied bamboo grove, disappearing from our sight.
The second wave of golems soon arrived. We reached level 2 at the same time as our enemies. I cautiously stayed on the left side of the lane, away from the grove, wary of any sudden Shield-Charges from the Mace-bot.
I slinged spells at the Ranger, wearing it down with dents and tears. It launched a bomb back at me. The blast knocked me tumbling back. The world spun, my ears rang, and a deep ache began to radiate from my chest. Through the smoke I saw Hei rushing at me, shouting something I couldn''t hear.
"I''m alright," I tried to say as I got back up and fired another Frost Missile at the Ranger. I had survived worse.
Eventually, the fourth golem wave arrived. Once we killed a few of those, we¡¯d hit level 3 and unlock our third abilities. And likewise for our enemies. Knowing this, I used the AoE damage of my Vortex Shield to weaken the enemy golems. Hei, also, used the energy-burst from Voidstep to damage them. Soon, we were ahead of the enemy by two golem kills. No doubt we''d hit level 3 first, and they weren''t even backing away yet in precaution. We¡¯d exploit their carelessness for all it was worth.
I aimed my crossbow at an enemy golem. This would be the last kill we needed to level up.
"Plan A in five seconds," I told Hei. He responded with a nod.
A stone pillar erupted out of the ground behind me. It bludgeoned me in the spine, with sheer force that sent me airborne. I flew forward, then tumbled hard into the cobblestone lane-road. My back felt like a rib or two had shattered inside. As I gagged, I sputtered sparse drops of blood.
I¡I knew what that was. That was an attack from the Burrower, a jungler robot that sneaked underground for short distances and manipulated stone to attack. I struggled back to my feet as the Mace-bot emerged from the bamboo grove, heel-wheels deployed and Shield-Charging at me. I raced back toward Hei and the safety of our tower. I fired a single Frost Missile at the Mace-bot to slow it down, but it swerved out of the way. It approached nearer, nearer¡If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
I attempted to conjure a Vortex Shield, but it hadn¡¯t gone off cooldown yet.
The Mace-bot slammed its heavy, metal shield down upon me. The blow knocked me down once again to the ground. I feebly tried to shield my head as the mace battered me, as the Ranger¡¯s arrows buried into me. The world spun, and my legs went limp. The most I could manage were hoarse yelps. My HP fell fast.
From behind, the Burrower emerged, a bear-like behemoth with massive iron claws that could tear through bedrock. It slammed them down at me.
As the claws came at my face, Hei dashed to my side and repelled the Burrower with a Graviton Thrust. He pulled me up by the hand. We retreated toward our tower, chasing our slim chance at escape.
The tall grass near us rustled. I saw, hidden among the stalks, the tip of a black hood.
I recognized it as the Assassin robot. Wasn''t it supposed to be in mid lane, with Jack?
It stepped out of the grass, swift as wind, and placed a hand on the grip of its sheathed shortsword. The air around us stilled. I knew that stance. The book we read called that move the Final Whisper.
I wanted to shout for Hei. But I knew, there was nothing he could do now.
In the blink of an eye, the Assassin dashed past me, with only a glowing trail marking the passage of its blade through me. I watched as a bleeding gash opened on my stomach. Then, the Assassin''s blade pierced into my back, and its tip jutted out from my chest.
I screamed, pleading for it to stop as it twisted its weapon inside me. It hurt. It hurt so much.
?©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?? ??©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?
I startled awake in tears. My vision faded in and out, and soon I saw that I lay in a grassy field, in a scarlet patch stained by my own blood. By my side was the vending machine, with its soft electric hum and healing aura. A tightness seized my chest, then I realized I was hyperventilating.
Death Ward. My Death Ward saved me.
[HP: 75 / 680]
It''d be a while before I had enough HP to get back into action.
A beam of light rose from the ground beside me. When it faded, Hei was there, bloodied and unconscious. I wanted to help wake him up, but his wounds scared me; they looked grievous enough to have already killed him twice. But the healing of the vending machine washed over him too, and I decided it''d be best to leave him be, so his injuries could stabilize.
I reported in my notebook that both Hei and I lost our Death Wards.
¡¸Red team has destroyed a bottom tower.¡¹
Now we lost our tower as well.
It wasn''t fair. How were the two of us supposed to survive against what was practically their entire team? If only their jungler came, we''d have made it out injured but whole. But against four of them? At that point, they just wanted us dead, and there wasn''t a thing in the world we could do.
I waited for my HP to heal up. With the little gold I had, I managed to buy a single Potion of Arcana. What could we do next? The Ranger and Mace-bot were surely level 3 by now, and they''d likely be laying siege to our inner bottom-lane tower soon. We could go out to face them. But if all four robots returned to ambush us¡
This time, we''d end up dead for real.
But what other options were there? Stay inside the safety of the walls, and wait for the rest of our team to lose three-against five? Saber was strong, but if she couldn''t beat a single Headmaster Fink, she had no chance of equalizing two absent players. Not against these ruthless robots in Silver.
Perhaps I should''ve taken a Potion of Max HP instead, so I could just stay under our inner-tower, defend it, and keep myself alive. But I had already spent my gold. Please, please don''t let this be the blunder that''d get everyone killed.
Regardless, I had to go. My HP was almost full again, and my wounds had closed. I grabbed my crossbow and headed for the bottom-lane gate.
"Wait up," Hei said. He had sat up quietly, still within the healing aura.
"Stay here," I told him. "I''ve got it covered."
I had Vortex Shield to protect me. I had safety from range. He had neither. And between the two of us, I dared say I was the more cautious. Once he healed up, he could join me. Until then, I''d need to play it safe alone.
He stood up and bought a Potion of Physical Damage. "Sophia. If anyone should stay, it''s you. I just hit level 3."
"...Huh?"
"I need you to believe me," he said. "Right now, I''m the strongest person in this arena."
Chapter 31: This is It Then
Hei told me the name of his third ability.
"Schwarzschild Trident," I repeated. Information about it entered my mind. That was a trick we learned from the Institute; you could mentally examine the abilities of any teammate.
| SCHWARZSCHILD TRIDENT |
| RANGE: |
120 meters |
| COST: |
150 Mana |
| COOLDOWN: |
50 seconds |
|
You throw an immaterial trident. Upon hitting an enemy player, it deals 20 damage and applies the Seal of Schwarzschild debuff.
Seal of Schwarzschild: 10 second duration. Gravity distorts around the target, slowing them by 30%, reducing their damage against you by 30%, and increasing your damage against them by 30%. If the target drops to 0 HP, the ability''s cooldown is reset.
|
"That¡that''s it?" I said. "Hei. This doesn''t change the situation. It''s just a minor buff. And, and the enemies will be level three as well."
"With this, I''m practically invincible in a one-on-one."
"No you''re not!" I held him by the shoulders. "It''s just 30%! And what if you miss the trident? What if three of them catch you at once? Use your common sense!"
"Sophia!" Hei shouted. "I''m not going to get caught. I''m not going to miss. And even if I do, you''ll be there to bail me out, won''t you?"
I huffed and turned away. "Don''t try this mushy crap with me.¡±
I thought I knew him well enough, after so many years together. He had always been reasonable, and even when we had disagreed, I could understand his line of thinking. But not now. His words, his overconfidence, made no sense to me. And I hated it.
"Whatever, let''s go," I said, knowing we could scarcely do much else. "Just don''t push your luck."
We headed down bottom-lane together again. We had walked with each other so often recently. Every morning, we''d go to work together. We''d walk through the tree-canopied path that led to the Institute, and one the way we''d chat about combat tactics and our lives back on earth. And in the evenings, we''d return to our house, tired but content, lost in our own little world as our surroundings blended and dissolved into the crimson glow of twilight. If we were to die now, let us at least die together.
Sure enough, when we neared our inner bottom tower, the Ranger and Mace-bot were already there with a wave of red golems. The tower slowly killed off the golems one by one, but it had also been chipped and fractured. The sharp-eyed Ranger trained its crossbow on us, but we knew its bolts hadn¡¯t the range to reach us. We set our sight on the enemy golems at our tower, and our attacks made quick work of them.
The golems died. I leveled up. My third spell was revealed to me.
| COLD GRENADE |
| RANGE: |
90 meters |
| COST: |
90 Mana |
| COOLDOWN: |
15 seconds |
|
You form a bead of cold energy and launch it at a target location.
You can then give a command for the bead to burst. After a 0.4 second delay, the bead bursts in a 10-meter radius, freezing all targets for 2 seconds and dealing 60 (+80% Arcana Point) magic damage. The bead lasts until you create a new one.
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I clasped my palms together. Cold air swirled between them, condensed, and distilled into a cloudy sphere the size of a marble. It shone from the inside with a sharp, blue radiance. I parted my hands and launched the bead into a pouch on my belt, pocketing it. Three of the four enemies we encountered had been melee. It made sense to keep the Cold Grenade on my person, as a defensive option should they jump on me again.
Instead of attacking us, the robots backed off into the nearby woods. Hei ventured forward, to the edge of our tower''s range, and returned after scouting.
"They just started channeling Rings of Recall," he said to me in a low voice. "Two seconds out of sync. We ambush in 18, 17, 16¡"
Hei counted down. When he reached the single digits, he conjured into his grasp a trident, one longer than he was tall. A white glow outlined its silhouette, but the weapon itself existed as pure blackness, without discernible depth or volume.
"...Two, one."
Hei sprinted forward, and so did I. As I approached the woods, I caught a glimpse of both robots with their palms against the ground, surrounded by circles of orbiting runes. But in the blink of an eye, the Ranger finished channeling its recall and vanished, leaving the Mace-bot alone.
Hei hurled his trident. It struck the Mace-bot in the torso, and all three spiked tips sank in deep. Space vibrated and twisted around the entry wound, and the colors there grew darker and warmer, until the chest of the robot turned a deep, dim red.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
¡Gravitational redshift?
The Mace-bot collapsed to the ground, seemingly crushed by its own weight. Its joints creaked as it struggled back on its feet. It began running away into the deeper forest, and deployed wheels. Before it could speed up, Hei Voidstepped in front of its path, splintering the robot with a burst of purple energy. He then plunged his spear into the robot''s chest. The sky darkened. The earth trembled. Gravity shifted and flung the Mace-bot into a nearby boulder. Hei rushed toward his downed opponent, then followed up with a series of vicious thrusts and cuts, each one accelerating as they neared the robot''s body. The steel of his spear flashed like fierce lightning. By the time I closed in with a Frost Missile prepared, he had already ripped the robot to scraps and pieces. The robot''s remains dissipated in a puff of mist, leaving behind a broken Death Ward, as well as the Schwarzschild Trident. Hei picked the trident up.
"Bruh," I voiced.
As I stood there, quite awestruck, an announcement came from the sky.
¡¸Green team has destroyed a mid tower.¡¹
Oh, not bad. I wondered if Jack and Saber did that, to take advantage of the enemy mid-laner who had headed down to bottom lane earlier.
"What next?" Hei asked me.
We could try marching our golems to the red bottom-lane tower and destroying that, but the risk seemed too high. Four of them could ambush us again, but this time we wouldn''t even have a nearby tower to run to.
"Let''s go mid," I said. "Take down the inner mid tower with Jack."
We made our way to Jack under the cover of the jungle. When we arrived, we saw him and the Assassin robot near their golem waves, between the green mid tower and the pile of rubble that used to be the red mid tower. This robot did the exact thing we wanted to avoid: extending too far away from the protection of ally towers. So alone and vulnerable. I gestured for Hei to follow as I circled around, sneaking across the river. I dashed on to the mid-lane to cut off the robot''s escape route from behind.
I formed a new Cold Grenade and launched it. The robot barely had time to notice before the icy bead landed at its side. I pressed an imaginary trigger-button with my thumb.
The bead exploded into a sphere of dense, white fog, which dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. The robot, and the nearby red golems, had all become encased in ice.
Hei hurled his trident, and I followed up with a Frost Missile. Jack shot a Vacuum Wave at the immobilized foe, then dashed in with a dagger thrust.
The Assassin-bot exploded into smithereens.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
"Assassin had no Death Ward?" I asked Jack as we ran up to each other.
"Already killed it once," Jack said. "It went off into the river, then came back later at half health."
Yeah¡gee, I wondered where it could''ve gone.
¡¸Green team has destroyed a top tower.¡¹
Nice job, probably by Saber and Atlas.
"Do you still have your Death Ward?" I asked Jack.
"Yeah."
"Can you go defend bottom-lane? We both lost ours, so we''ll group with Saber and Atlas top for safety."
"Sure," Jack said. "Try not to die."
Such a move would leave our mid tower unguarded. But if our enemies diverted their forces to taking it down, they wouldn''t be able to hold off our four-man attack on top lane. They''d get our outer tower; we''d get their inner top tower, and likely their top golem-fabricator too. I''d consider that a winning trade for us.
Hei and I crept through the foliage of the jungle to get to top lane. We found Mr. Atlas and Saber already beginning the siege on the inner tower, with a massive crowd of green golems at their aid. A single robot, the Ranger, defended against them. As it saw Hei and I approach, it fell back, relinquishing the tower. We managed to collapse the structure in a minute after that, then we marched on toward the enemy''s gate, where their golem-fabricator sat. The Ranger had reconvened with two other robots, the Mace-bot and the Burrower. The three of them rallied before the golem-fabricator, awaiting our approach.
"Everyone''s level?" Saber asked. "I''m 4."
Good. From what I had read, you didn''t get any new abilities at levels 4 and 5, but still received the usual boost to total HP and Mana. Level 6 was when you''d unlock your fourth and ultimate ability, but I doubt we''d get to that point in this match.
We all shared our new third-level abilities. Saber''s was a toggle ability:
| HERO OF THE STORMS |
| RANGE: |
20 meters |
| COST: |
10 Mana per second |
| COOLDOWN: |
3 seconds between toggles |
| Wind and lightning surrounds you, dealing 20 damage per second to all targets within, and slowing them by 40%. |
¡First "Smite," now this? Alright, just watch her ultimate ability be called Durability of the Ancients 2, or some crap like that.
As for Mr. Atlas''s third ability¡
| SHOTGUN |
| RANGE: |
20 meters |
| COOLDOWN: |
3 seconds |
| You shoot, dealing 70 damage. |
I noticed he had arm-mounted cannons on both gauntlets now, and not just the one he used for his grappling hook.
Once we familiarized ourselves with what one another could do, we advanced toward the castle gate. There, the three remaining robots ¨C the Ranger, the Mace-bot, and the Burrower ¨C awaited us. I began with a combo of spells - Frost Missile to slow, Cold Grenade to Freeze, and Vortex Shield for additional damage. As my magic immobilized the three enemies, my teammates charged ahead. The ringing of steel overlapped with thunder and cracks of gunfire; their weapons whirred about in synchrony, like a singular whirlwind of destruction.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
All three remaining robots died in a matter of seconds. The red Base-Core shattered on its own, releasing a brilliant flash from within.
As the light faded, we found ourselves back in the living room of our apartment, and Jack was there too.
Oh shoot. We all made it. Our first challenge in Silver, and once again our team managed to get everyone out alive.
But something extra was in our room that hadn''t been there before. On our table sat a small chest, made of lacquered wood and trimmed with silver.
Saber ventured forward to open it.
Chapter 32: Arcane
Saber gingerly opened a crack in the lid of the chest. I leaned forward to get a better view. She took out a necklace of silver chain, with an eight-sided coin attached to it. Upon the coin was a graven eye.
| PSYCHIC SCREAM PENDANT |
| If you inflict the Silenced condition upon an opponent, deal an extra 30 damage to them. Requires attunement. |
"Oh wow," I said. "That''s kind of useless for us."
We sold it on the market for $8000 and split the profit. Someone really, really wanted their 30 damage, I supposed.
Thanks to the income from the sale, I finally had enough money to buy the Magus Battlehat. To attune to the hat, I had to wear it for five hours straight. I did, and at the end of that period, a gentle coolness spread over the velvety fabric of the hat. A small shard of ice had appeared on the side of the hat, affixed there by a silk ribbon that hadn''t been there before. I gave the ice-shard a tug. It remained securely in place. Pretty cute.
| SOPHIA - Level 3 |
| HP: |
770/770 |
| MP: |
600/600 |
| Arcana Point: |
30 (+9) |
Nice.
With some of the money I still had left, I visited the phone-charging girl to get my phone charged. She came out a minute after I knocked on her residence''s door.
"Ahoy," I said. "How''s it going?"
"Just hanging in there." She gazed aside for a moment, as though to organize her thoughts. "Josh died in the challenge."
Josh. We had met him at the museum, and he had been the one to introduce Saber and the rest of us to this girl. I thought we''d get to see him again. I had planned to thank him for helping us, maybe offer him a kind gesture of sorts in return. Of course, everyone knew we were playing a death game, but after months spent living day-to-day in Silvercreek, even such basics became easy to forget.
"Oh no," I murmured. "I¡I didn''t know. I''m sorry."
"I''m just letting you know," the girl said as she took my phone. "I''m not upset or anything about it. Josh and I weren''t friends. I don''t have friends here."
She began shaking my phone to charge it. When she finished, she went back inside without asking for payment. Nonetheless, I slid a 50-dollar bill under the door.
I applied for a job transfer to the Research Division at the Combat Institute. It got approved, perhaps because I was now level 3. I visited Tanin''s office to give him a two weeks'' notice before I switched jobs.
"Congratulations," he said. "The Institute had been the slightest bit cleaner while you were around."
"Thanks for taking me in," I said with a slight bow. "Huh. I haven''t thought of it before, but what division are we currently in?"
Tanin worked directly under the Headmaster of Logistics, he explained. All janitors worked under the Logistics Division as well.
"Our headmaster is known as Khan of the Bloody Fingers," Tanin said.
"He''s an assassin?" I guessed.
¡°No. He¡¯s just known for getting finger injuries a lot.¡±
¡°He''s a fist-fighter?¡±
"No, no, he gets his fingers injured out of combat. Slams them in closet doors, burns them while cooking. One time he tried lifting a barrel, and it slipped and tore the skin off his thumb."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
I blinked in disbelief. ¡°...How did he even survive? Not even here. Like, in the real world?¡±
¡°You know?" Tanin said. "Joining this death game probably raised his life expectancy.¡±
"He sounds like the most pushover headmaster ever," I said.
"I know, right? He''s not even a regent of the Institute. We have five divisions with five headmasters, but only four regents who get top-level executive authority. They''re currently filled by the other four headmasters."
To be honest, I hadn''t much of a clue what regents were, besides the fact that they sounded like important people.
"You think Khan''s salty?" I asked. "About not being a regent, I mean."
"Deep down? No doubt."
Huh. So even in a life-threatening fantasy world, people still had career discontents. I mean, even I did.
Now that I''d be transferring to another division, I doubt I''d see Tanin much anymore. And I''d see Hei less at work, too. He had joined the Combat Division, where Saber worked.
"Before I go, I want to ask you a question."
Tanin leaned back in his chair. "Fire away, chica."
"Remember the interview question you asked Saber? The last one."
"No."
I rolled my eyes. "You asked her how to win the game, and wanted her to give a single word as the answer."
"Oh yeah! That was a pretty brilliant question, huh."
I disagreed, but allowed him his moment of pride. "Is there even a correct answer?"
¡°Well? To most people, this is a fighting game, where the strongest win. That, I hope you¡¯d agree, is not an accurate understanding of our situation.¡±
"But like, fighting is still pretty important," I said.
¡°Saber sees this as a strategy game," he continued. "She is a strategist, and a formidable one. But even she misses the big picture." Tanin rose up and circled around the tight floorspace of his office. "This is a death game, my dear Sophia, and the victors are those that live. Gather resources, forge connections, gain influence and power. anything to keep on living. It worked well enough for the Institute''s regents, present and past. Some of them are horrible fighters. Some are horrible strategists. And yet, not a single regent had ever perished in Silvercreek. Many had gone up to Gold, but as far as anyone remembers, not a single one has ever died."
"You think it''s because they''re rich?" I asked.
"Who knows. They keep their secrets well."
As I spent my last two weeks as a janitor, I noticed one or two absences among my colleagues. They''d be here one day, then gone the next, and they never returned after that. When I asked Tanin about them in private, he told me they had probably died in the challenges.
"Or maybe they went to Gold," he said. "Or maybe they went off to a different guild. Excuse my non-answer; the Institute is quite horrible at keeping these sorts of records."
At the end of the two weeks, I transferred to the Research Division. Professor Phoenixcourt, my new boss, greeted me in my office. Yes, my office. It was on the second floor of the Institute''s lecture hall. It scarcely had enough room for a desk, a sink, and a bookshelf, and it barely reached half the size of Tanin''s. But it was mine.
The professor was a tall, middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie. He wore half-rimmed glasses and had spiky, jet-black hair.
"Already dressed like a researcher," he said when he saw me in my white coat. "If you ever damage it in an experiment, talk to Tanin Fatebreaker in the Logistics Division. He has a few trinkets that can patch things right up."
Huh. That had to be the same Tanin I knew, right?
Over the next few days, I settled into a comfortable rhythm with the professor. He talked little outside of debriefs and introductions, and he left me to work alone for the most part. A week into my job, I proposed to him that I''d like to write a book.
"It''d be about magecraft, but from a modern perspective," I explained. "For example, how you can stabilize projectiles by imparting spin on them."
"A similar book has been written by a psychic-sorcerer two years ago," Professor Phoenixcourt noted. "Though he approached magic from a psychobiological angle." He glanced up at my hat, with a dispassionate attentiveness toward my hat''s ice crystal. "I''ll assume you are an elementalist. If so, you could cover magecraft from the physics and chemistry angles. That would be a great contribution to the existing body of literature."
My ambitions were set high for the book. In the introductory chapters, I planned to provide a brief overview of the mechanics of destruction. You know, stuff like Newton''s laws, momentum and kinetic energy, mechanical impulse and pressure, thermodynamics, and the likes. In the latter chapters, I planned to provide examples of how physics principles could be used to boost spell power. The only example I had right now was adding spin to my Frost Missile. One example honestly seemed underwhelming, so I took time during work to experiment with other ways of empowering my spells.
I tried shaping my Vortex Shield into blades of water when launching it, but I didn''t have the necessary control to perform such a feat without Arcana Potions. I took a bunch of oranges from the cafeteria, so I could add citric acid to my Vortex Shields for burn damage. That didn''t work either. When I spent an entire week optimizing the shape of my Frost Missile to minimize aerial drag, I finally boosted my Arcana Points by a measly two. And that week left me really, really tired. The next Monday, I barely had the energy to write anything while at my desk. So I decided to head outside and touch grass.
Literally. The autumn air felt great, and I indulged myself to wander on to one of the manicured lawns within the Institute campus. I sat down, breathed in the bright, earthy notes of the morning air, and stroked the soft, short grass. They still sprang green, though in a few weeks they''d wilt with the coming of winter. I plucked a few blades and held them close to my eyes, and examined the jewels of dew hanging on the green stalks.
And then an idea came to me.
Pykrete.
Chapter 33: Winter
I first heard about pykrete from MythBusters, which was a science TV show that aired on the Discovery Channel. Pykrete was simply ice with fibrous materials suspended and frozen inside. The classic pykrete used sawdust as the source of fiber, although you could also use shredded paper or stuff like that. A tiny amount of such materials, spread throughout the ice, increased its durability by about threefold.
I grabbed a handful of dew-moistened grass from the lawn. I aimed up into the sky, casting Frost Missile. A crystal of ice formed and grew, enveloping the blades of grass within its refractive facets. It sparkled dazzling-green in the sunlight, like an emerald. With a push of my palm, I sent it darting off into the air.
| SOPHIA - Level 3 |
| Arcana Point: |
40 (+12) |
Heh. A 10-point increase. That was more like it.
Ever since then, I made it a habit to stuff one of my coat pockets with finely shredded paper, so I could always make pykrete missiles.
I added this as an example of magecraft in my book''s manuscript. And though I hadn''t come up with any new tricks since then, I met a few other mages in the Research Division. I mentioned to one of them, a light mage, that light of longer wavelengths had better atmospheric penetration. In other words, red and yellow light maintained their intensity better over long distances, compared to blue or violet light. That raised her Arcana Point by 1. A tiny amount, but I listed it in my book as an example nonetheless.
Across the course of weeks, and with much labor, I finished my manuscript. It only ended up being a measly 40 pages, but people here measured lifespans in months, so it didn''t make sense to devote too much time to any single piece of writing.
Once I felt ready, I went to Professor Phoenixcourt''s office. I stood in front of his desk, clutching my thick stack of manuscript-papers with both hands. Nervousness built up, the way I''d feel when submitting a finals essay.
"Have you thought of a title?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said as I handed my manuscript to him. "Magic Engineering."
When I said that, a faint glow pulsed across my manuscript before fading away.
| MAGIC ENGINEERING - Manuscript |
| Reading and understanding this manuscript grants you +5 Arcana Points permanently. You can only benefit from this manuscript''s knowledge once. |
"...Eeh?!"
"Great!" the professor said. "It looks like you have crafted your very own magical item. Congratulations, Sophia."
Confused yet excited, I began to pace circles around Phoenixcourt''s office. "Is this supposed to happen?" I asked. This whole time, no one told me we could craft magic items on our own! I had imagined that every magical thing was found by someone as loot after a challenge.
"It certainly is a rare occurrence," Professor Phoenixcourt noted. "You''re in a very, very small percentage of people who will ever create a magical item. Less than one in a hundred, no doubt."
"Woah," I said. "I think I''m feeling pretty special right now."
"And you are." He flashed one of his brief, rare smiles. "I am very glad to have you as a collaborator."
Professor Phoenixcourt agreed to help me get a book deal, so we could publish the book for others to read. The book would be priced at around $1500, and I''d get a $120 royalty per book sold.
"I was expecting a bigger share," I told the professor. "I mean, I''m still happy, of course."
He gave me a half-nod. "A lot of the cost goes towards printing fees. And the Institute will take a decent share too, as the official distributors and marketers."
"Have you ever thought of working solo?" I ventured. "Seems like you could get way higher royalties if you published on your own."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The professor smirked. "Now remember. The Institute is paying you good money each month for your research. You won''t get that working by yourself."
"Oh yeah, huh."
Soon, we ironed out a deal with the Institute and the Printer''s Guild.
Meanwhile, Hei had been doing well for himself as a fighter in the Combat Division. Saber had mentioned how it''d be overpowered for a single player to have the combination of mobility, plus durability, plus sustained damage. Well, that was Hei, as long as he landed his Schwarzschild Tridents. And he always did. He had his tricks, such as using Voidstep''s purple energy pulse to conceal the Trident as he threw it. Or he''d hold the Trident in throwing-pose for seconds on end and feint throws, until his opponents revealed patterns in how they dodged about. At least, he said the patterns were there. I couldn''t tell. All in all, the Combat Division recognized Hei as the strongest duelist among their level 3 members. There were only about seven or eight of those, but Hei''s standing was still impressive.
Sometimes it felt like he''d make a better sniper than me. I brought the question up to Saber, when the two of us were walking home from work together one day. She agreed that between Hei and me, he had the better aim.
"But you''re not really a sniper," Saber then added. "You can afford to miss, since you have many spells on short cooldowns. Think of yourself more like long-ranged artillery. But Hei''s trident needs a minute to recharge, right? He needs to hit with it, or he won''t get another chance."
"Huh," I noted. "I never thought about it that way."
The days were short now, with the arrival of winter, and the sun had mostly set by now, at six in the evening. Hei generally left work hours after Saber and me, so he''d go home alone. He''d often come home at 10 or 11 P.M., after pushing himself to exhaustion in duels and drills and workouts. All in a single-minded endeavor to survive here and make it home. But selfishly, I wished we''d get more time to spend together.
Despite the much colder weather, Saber still wore her customary armor, the same one she had worn throughout summer''s heat. Only now, she added a scarf to her ensemble, plus a pair of wooly mittens. She left her gauntlets at home nowadays due to the sheer amount of paperwork she had to handle as Doctor of Strategic Studies. I myself had bought warmer clothes, thicker pants and gloves and boots, and a wool sweater to wear under my coat.
On our way back home, I stopped on top of the stone bridge that went across the river in town. It had begun to snow, for the first time since our arrival.
I leaned over the side of the bridge and watched as fresh snow peppered down upon the river''s dark and frozen surface. The white snowflakes drifted down, neither quickly nor slowly, but at a timeless, hypnotic pace. You could lose yourself watching them fall.
"It''s been half a year, almost," Saber said. "We''ve made it pretty far."
Yeah, she was right. We had been together here for a while now. And I had grown accustomed to taking people in my team for granted, as though we had progressed enough to outgrow death.
I watched as she pawed at the falling snow with her mittens, trying to catch a flake or two as they danced their ways down. After a few swipes, she showed me a tiny sliver of frost in her palm.
"Oh wow," I said. "You actually did it."
She cracked a childlike, happy grin.
A tall, scantily-dressed figure stopped near us. He, too, looked out from the side of the bridge at the evening winterscape. Even in this weather, he had his chest bared.
Wait.
That was the druid from Bronze, who had made his party search up our house. When did he get to Silver?
He had all four followers still with him, all alive and whole. I even saw the annoying mage who wore a robe embroidered with stars, the one that had searched under my hat, then accused me of harboring kitchen knives in the¡well, kitchen.
"...You," I said to the druid, taking a step away.
"You appear to be faring well," he said casually.
I shrugged. "You can say that."
"How is Robert Atlas?"
"He''s¡he''s fine, I guess." At least, I thought he was. He was drinking through bottles of liquor every week, but maybe he had always been that way.
"Good for him." The druid''s beard hid any expression he might''ve shown. "And good for you," he said with a single nod. "I have high hopes for Robert, not that he''d care. Be careful in the Winter Challenge."
He continued across the bridge with his followers, leaving Saber and me behind.
"Huh," I whispered. "That was slightly less confrontational than I expected."
"Maybe taking care of the rabbit farm brought out his gentle side," Saber guessed.
A week later, the Winter Challenges began. Our party would go on Day 17. This time, I noticed the gradually but steadily increasing absences around town. The fruit-cart merchant on my way to work went missing. A new owner inexplicably took over the Eat Cow Tavern, where Saber had once brought us for dinner. When I went to look for the phone-charging girl, her house was empty and evicted. A notice pasted to the front door reported she had honorably died in the challenge. It said she had been a member of the Combat Institute''s Expedition Division.
And then, our team''s appointed time came as well. We entered the arena once again, to stand trial against the creators of this game. I emptied the Potion of Austerity down my throat.
Hei and I marched to bottom lane, where we met our opponents. Up against us stood the Archer robot, who had an ability that boosted its attack speed. That was the same Archer we faced in Bronze, except more skilled in every way this time around. By its side stood the Barrier-bot. We had both read about it in the library. That one''s first ability allowed it to conjure a force-field around an ally or itself to absorb 90 damage. Its second ability launched a spherical barrier as a projectile, which dealt damage and temporarily swallowed and imprisoned targets on hit. Its third ability was an antimagic field that "Silenced" all enemies within, preventing them from using any Mana.
In other words, it specifically countered mages like me.
[Part 2 Finale] Chapter 34: Turning Point
I couldn''t do much level 1; the Barrier-bot managed to negate all of my Frost Missiles with its force-field shields. So instead of focusing on damaging the robots, I helped Hei with killing the enemies'' golems. The barrier bot, armed with a crossbow of its own, mirrored me and began to do the same. Not bad.
Hei and I managed to hit level 2 first by a hair. The Archer backed away knowingly, but its Barrier-bot ally stayed behind. I clutched a handful of shredded paper from my pouch and froze them into a pykrete Frost Missile. The Barrier-bot shielded itself in response. With my free hand, I conjured and fired a Vortex Shield to weaken its barrier. Then I launched my Frost Missile. The icy shard shattered the force-field and hit the robot, denting it and freezing it lightly. Hei teleported in to strike the slowed enemy. He unleashed a torrent of thrusts, interwoven with feints that threw off the robot''s attempts at dodging. Soon, the Barrier-bot''s frame and joints gave way, and it fell apart upon the cobblestone lane. Its battered frame disappeared, leaving behind a broken Death Ward token. Excellent. We managed a small but crucial victory, and without Saber''s help.
When the Barrier-bot came back into lane, it played cautiously. It stood so far behind its Archer ally, the Archer was practically facing us 1v2. And even with the Barrier-bot''s protection, the Archer''s HP quickly fell to half from Hei''s and my continuous ranged attacks. When we were one golem kill away from reaching level 3, I aimed a Frost Missile at the Archer. It turned to face me, then it dodged, tracked my aim, and re-dodged. Good. I had its attention. In the meantime, its Barrier-bot partner retreated.
Hei casually snuck in a spear-throw at an enemy golem, finishing it off. That leveled us both up.
Hei Voidstepped behind the Archer and used Graviton Joust to knock it into the midst of our golems. I fired spells at it, one after another, and Hei finished it off with a series of vicious, whipping swipes from his spear. The Archer, too, disappeared and left behind a broken Death Ward. We killed the rest of their minion wave, then Recalled to heal up and spend our earned gold on stats-boosting potions.
"Nice work," I told Hei. I managed a tense smile. As well as we had done thus far, it was too early to celebrate.
When we went back into bottom lane, we found our golems fighting the enemy ones in the midpoint between our towers. Both opponents had reached level 3. For the time being, neither us nor them made significant attacks, besides finishing off golems for the gold bounty.
I checked my notebook. Saber reported, a minute ago, that the enemy jungler was going downriver toward bottom lane, where we were. She included a proposal:
"dont fall back; bait for my countergank"
To "gank" someone meant to ambush them in a lane you weren''t stationed in. Usually, the jungler would be the one coming to lanes and ganking them. Proper ganks won games; the numerical advantage from a 2v1, or a 3v2, often led to kills.
You could counter a gank with another gank of your own. Saber called it the "countergank." Those took coordination to pull off. First, someone had to know that a gank was coming our way. Saber already took care of that part.
We saw the enemy jungler at the edge of the river. It was the robot unit known as the Gladiator, who would immobilize its enemies with a thrown net, then close in for the kill with its shortsword. Hei and I turned and ran, feigning retreat. I grinned as the Gladiator and our own bottom lane opponents gave chase and pursued us past our ally golems. We had completed the second step of executing a countergank: Luring them in.
Saber, who had hidden in wait behind the nearby foliage, charged out from behind them. She darted into the middle of their formation and erected a crystal wall, bisecting their forces. The Gladiator and Archer were trapped on our side with Saber, Hei, myself, and our squadron of golems. The straddling Barrier-bot, meanwhile, found itself isolated on the other side of the wall.
That was step three of the countergank: The counterganker makes her appearance, and exploits the opponent''s overconfidence to win.
And we did. The Gladiator stood no chance against Saber''s blazing Smites combined with Hei''s onslaught of thrusts. Soon it fell to 0 HP and disappeared, leaving a broken Death Ward. Meanwhile, I sniped the Archer''s head off in a shootout, finishing it off for good. When Saber''s crystal wall came down, I saw that the Barrier-bot had already retreated back under its tower.
Now at a 4v5 disadvantage, the enemy team took to riskier plays to regain their chance at winning. The Zombie Giant had just spawned at the bottom river cove, halfway between the mid and bottom lanes. The Gladiator, with the help of the Barrier-bot, decided to battle it.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The Zombie Giant, we learned from town, was a powerful monster camp. It would appear only after an hour had passed. And while stronger players had a shot of defeating it alone without dying, the usual strategy involved sending at least two players to bring it down. The prize for killing the Zombie Giant was a Death Ward, awarded to whoever dealt the finishing blow.
Saber, Hei, and myself waited nearby, crouched among the tall reeds by the river''s edge. The Gladiator and Barrier-bot warred fiercely against the giant, and they traded blow after blow, until both sides showed bruising and lacerations. I checked their HP.
Zombie Giant ¨C [HP: 430 / 2200]
Gladiator ¨C [HP: 450/ 980]
Barrier-bot ¨C [HP: 770/ 890]
"Let''s do it," Hei whispered to us. Then he charged in.
Saber followed right after. I launched a Cold Grenade into the river cove, at where our enemies were. The magical bead floated on the surface of the water, for an instant, before exploding. The blast encased the Gladiator, the Barrier-bot, and the Zombie Giant in thick ice. My two teammates managed to close the gap and land their first attacks on the robots before my freeze wore off. But instead of fleeing, the robots made a last-ditch attack on Hei, and brought him down to 130 HP before they died. Saber then took out the Zombie Giant with her Smite.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
¡¸Green team has slain the Zombie Giant.¡¹
"Hei!" I shouted. "What the crap, you almost died!"
He wobbled as he stood, leaning on his spear for balance. "It''s OK, I''m fine."
"No you''re not! You''re at a hundred HP!"
"All according to plan," he said.
Ughhhh. If he wasn''t already at death''s door, I''d have slapped some sense into him. He wasn''t even a tank; why was he charging in first?
We Recalled to buy stat-boosting potions, and to heal up.
¡¸Red team has destroyed a mid tower.¡¹
Soon, Jack teleported into our base as well.
"You alright?" I checked.
"My Death Ward''s gone," he panted. "Tower down."
"It''s alright," Saber said. "Stay here. There''s only two of them left. We can handle the rest. If we need you, we''ll let you know."
And we did handle the rest. I managed to buy so many Potions of Arcana, my spell combos practically blew up everything in my path. Enemy golems got deleted, the undead in the jungle got deleted, the robots could barely take a spell-combo before they either had to flee or straight up died. Our team grouped in mid lane and mowed down all the towers in our path, then blew up the enemy''s Base-Core.
We won the match and teleported together back to the living room of our apartment. All five of us made it back. What was more, we had all reached level 4 out-of-challenge as well.
I sprawled out on the carpet, breathing a deep sigh of relief. Sweet, sweet victory. We had just earned another three months'' lifespan for ourselves. This time hadn''t even been as bad as Fall Challenge. I had certainly gotten stronger, especially with my higher innate Arcana Point and my new Magus Battlehat. And the others improved in their own ways as well. At the very least, everyone had a better grasp on their level 3 abilities this time around. We still couldn''t let our guard down in future challenges, of course. But at this rate, as long as we played our cards right, we had a very real shot at making it to Gold together.
"You''re all the best," I told my teammates.
I looked around for any loot. This time, we didn''t get any chests. Instead, a flower sat on our dining table, one that hadn''t been there before.
It was a tall, healthy sunflower growing inside a clay pot.
| SEEKFLOWER |
| For 200 Mana, you can ask it for the location of a person. If the person is in the same plane of existence as you, the Seekflower will turn to face their current location. Otherwise, the Seekflower will close. |
"Oh shoot," I said. "That''s pretty nifty. Where''s Saber?"
The sunflower tilted around to face Saber, as though she were the sun.
"Where''s Waldo?" Jack asked. The sunflower''s petals folded together and closed. So cute!
I supposed that was its default response, when it couldn''t properly fulfill a prompt.
"Where''s the Legend person¡Dionysus?" Saber asked. The sunflower remained closed.
I whispered to Hei, "When the Diony is sus." He shook his head in disapproval at my meme.
"Where''s Reens?" I asked. "The healer we met back in bronze." The petals opened once again, and the flower pointed to the southeast.
"Oh wow!" I said. "She made it here too. I wonder how she''s doing." I wanted to visit her some time, but it''d be a bit creepy if I relied on the Seekflower to find out her location. Wasn''t that kinda, like, stalking and doxxing her at the same time?
"Where''s that one other Legend?" Jack asked. "The¡nemesis to existence, or whatever the cultists talk about? 6E12?"
The sunflower tilted. It pointed at somewhere outside our window, showing the way.
Chapter 35: In Lucid Reverie
Chapter 35: In Lucid Reverie
The Key will appear in the coldest night
The gate will open and 6E12 will arrive
He will lead us to the edge of existence
He will overcome the final challenge
And the prize he will earn
Is our freedom
-Teachings of the Guild of Truthseekers.
The sunflower pointed toward the east. It told us that there, we would find 6E12.
I picked up the flower pot. I walked out of our door, then followed the lead of the flower.
"Sophia," Hei called out to me from behind. The rest of my team followed as well.
I had heard the story of the Pied Piper and his magic flute. With his music, the piper enthralled rats and children alike, leading them along wherever he pleased. That story came to mind as I followed the lead of the flower, as though it had put me in a trance. But I knew no magic had charmed me. My own desire alone puppeted me along.
I had to know.
We walked away from the town center, past the restaurants where we used to eat, past the bridge of our daily commutes, past the farmer¡¯s stalls near the edge of town. We passed our neighbors, acquaintances, and strangers on the road. They receded behind us, one by one, until we had passed them all.
We followed the flower into the wilderness outside of town. I glanced back. At this distance, I saw Silvercreek from afar and in its entirety, with its grids of farmland, serpentine rivers, miniscule buildings, and plumes of ashen smoke. I remembered what it truly and fundamentally was.
We didn¡¯t come here to live. We came here to die.
The Seekflower''s blossom bowed as we followed its lead. It still pointed east, but now diagonally down. We didn''t know what that meant, but we followed it. To where?
To salvation, to disaster, or to something else entirely?
Uncertainties tugged at me from every direction. Yet I stopped not for the briefest moment. And neither I, nor my teammates, spoke.
We soon arrived at the entrance of a humble, earthen cave, at the foot of a hill perhaps a mile outside town. The cave''s mouth sloped down into the earth, and stairs of stone and dirt paved the way down, wide enough for us to walk down single-file. At the bottom of the stairs, about ten feet down, an iron-grate door barred further passage. Beyond the door was darkness.
I took a step down the stairs.
"Sophia," Hei said. "What are you doing?"
Good question. I stopped in my tracks to look back at him. At my team.
Hei knelt and shielded his eyes from the gray, winter sun. He squinted down at the rusted iron gate, and into the shadows on the other side.
"There might be traps," he said. He stood back up and took my hand, and tried to lead me away from the stairs, but I stood in place.
"Shh," I said. I thought I heard something. Footsteps from within the cave?
Thump. Thump.
A flicker of torchlight shone from the other side of the gate.
"Who''s there?" a deep voice boomed from inside. Before I could decide whether to stay or run, the figure of an armored man had shown himself behind the gate. He looked straight up at us. Or I thought he did; his visored helmet concealed his face and eyes. Heavy plate armor covered him from head to toe, and a curved sword with a basket-hilt hung at his waist.
"Greetings, fellow swordsman," Saber said to him. "To whom may I owe the pleasure today?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"I am the guard here. Why are you here? Anything you''re looking for?"
Saber nodded. "We are in search of ¨C"
"¨C Herbs," I interrupted. "The hills here are where we forage for wild roots. There''s plenty of stuff we couldn''t find in the markets."
I didn''t know if Saber was gonna straight up tell him we were looking for 6E12. I doubted she''d be that careless, but why take the chance?
"Well, go look for your herbs," the guard said to me.
"That''s what I would be doing," I said, "but you do realize how weird it is to have a random basement here, right? Can''t blame me for being curious. What''s this place for? Prison?"
"No prisons here. This is private property. Please continue with your personal business."
"Come on, let''s go find our herbs," Jack said to me. Then he shouted to the guard, "Sorry for bothering! We''ll be on our way now."
I took one last glance into the cave entrance. The iron gate had not one, but three locks on it. And with that, we departed, and walked away until the guard and gate were out of sight.
"Might as well forage a bit," I said, bending down to examine the grasses, which were flattened against the earth and half-alive in the cold. I wanted to stay here, close to the cave and the answers it held. I knew it''d be unwise to press our luck right now, to force answers from the guard. But still, it felt wrong to return home empty-handed.
Not far in the distance, a patch of baby-blue dandelions grew, still vibrant and thriving. I had seen them when I entered the arena for the first time, way back at the beginning of our adventures in this world. I didn''t think they''d exist outside the arenas as well.
"What do those do?" I asked, pointing at the dandelions. "Are they edible?"
"Mild sedative," Jack said casually. "It''s what they use for sleep-syrup at the drugstore."
None of us brought up the elephant in the room, which was 6E12''s presence here in Silver. I wanted to. But everything we had just discovered, all of it happened so unexpectedly, I didn''t know what to say, or even where to begin. We needed to talk about it all, absolutely, perhaps later tonight. But right now I could scarcely form proper thoughts about the situation, much less sentences to express myself. Same probably applied to my teammates.
I strolled over to the blue dandelions, then squatted down. Their stalks were delicate and frosted. I dug at the dirt from where one of them grew, until the root became exposed. I made sure to pull the whole plant out gently, so the branches of the root would stay attached, in case those happened to be the medicinal parts. Maybe we could plant a couple of the dandelions on our windowsill.
"Hold on," Hei said.
I stopped halfway through excavating my second flower. "Yeah?"
His brows furrowed, and his lips pursed together tightly. But he said nothing.
"What is it?" I tried asking one more time.
"I''ve seen the guard before. I know that sword."
I blinked dryly. "You''re kidding me."
"It''s a basket-hilted scimitar. They don''t make swords like that."
"You wouldn''t know. Maybe they''re just relatively uncommon, and ¨C"
"That basket-hilt was for a left-hand grip. I''ve only seen a sword like that on one person before. Sophia, what''s the chance that it''s someone different, with the same kind of sword, but they also happen to be left-handed? No one in town makes basket-hilted scimitars. It''s completely unheard of. That''s a European hilt, with a ¨C"
"Do you know him?" Mr. Atlas asked. "Is the guard someone you know?"
Hei took a deep breath. "We...I remember seeing a man with that sword on my way to work. I''ve seen him at least twice."
Mr. Atlas scanned the area. We had more than cleared earshot distance of the cave, and no one else was here. Around us, the fields stretched out, vast and vacant, damp and chilled with molten snow.
"Does he work at the Combat Institute?" Atlas asked in a hushed voice.
Hei thought for a moment. "I wouldn''t know."
That night, I asked Hei to accompany me to the Soap Shoppe, where I had met the two black-clothed members of the Guild of Truthseekers. The lady and the teenage boy. Maybe they didn''t really know the whole truth about 6E12. But even half-truths could help us right now. I told Hei about everything that had happened between them and me last time.
"We shouldn''t tell them about what happened today," Hei said to me as we loitered about the shop''s entrance.
"Yeah, of course not. We just need to find out everything they know. Not the other way around."
"Guild of Truthseekers!" I shouted into the night. "Where you at?"
They were nowhere to be found. I considered using the Seekflower to find them. But once again, that''d seem like doxxing and stalking them at the same time. And I wasn''t that desperate. Yet.
I returned to work the next day. But my mind was hardly present with me in the solitary room of my research lab. I grew restless, rose up, and wandered to the cafeteria, and helped myself to a steaming-hot cup of coffee. It was the afternoon, after lunch, and few people visited the cafeteria at the moment.
So far, I had a few options forward regarding 6E12. I could continue to look for the Guild of Truthseekers, and I ought to find them eventually. I could try to look for the guard, to get a lead about who he was working for. Or maybe¡
"My dear Sophia!" Tanin greeted me as he walked up. I had been so lost in thought, I didn''t even spot him in his dazzling orange blazer.
"Hey Tanin," I said. "Looks like we both made it. Alive out of the challenge, I mean. Nice seeing you again."
"You probably won''t be seeing me for much longer," he said with a tilt of his head. "It''s about time I got promoted to Gold. Didn''t happen this time, so almost certainly it will be the next challenge. If I survive, that is."
I smiled. "Good luck. I''ll try to catch up to you one day."
Hold on. What if I asked Tanin? Was this a horrible idea? A decent idea? At this point, it felt like I couldn''t quite think clearly.
"Do you know about the cave outside of town?" I blurted out. "The¡the one to the east."
Tanin gave me a surprised, friendly chuckle. Uh. Should I really have asked that?
"Oh yeah," he said. "I think that''s an outpost of the Expedition Division. How did you find it?"
Chapter 36: Unheard Pleas For Death
Tanin had sounded cheery, even casual. But deep down, my blood chilled. The Expedition Division was¡harboring 6E12? Certainly, Tanin wouldn¡¯t know about 6E12 being in the cave, right? But how much did he know?
"What''s the cave for?" I ventured.
I noticed Tanin staring at me. His smile had faded. Did I overstep? I shouldn''t have said anything incriminating yet. Things ought to be fine.
¡°Girl, you alright?¡± he asked. ¡°You seem¡very concerned.¡±
As I froze, holding my cup of coffee in the air, Tanin stood up. He patted me on the back.
"Come," he said. "Let''s get somewhere with a bit more privacy."
Drat. My expression had given me away. Or perhaps my tone. I wondered how much he could tell.
He led me to a vacant classroom, and I followed in a daze. Once we entered, he bolted the door, then shut the windows and curtains.
"Relax," he told me. "You''re not in trouble. But I''ll need you to listen very carefully."
I scarcely relaxed at all. This was the perfect place for him to "take care of'''' someone who just happened to know too much. Was that his aim here? I doubted it. But my judgment felt completely defunct right now, my sensibilities overwhelmed by revelations, as a man long-imprisoned in darkness would stagger when stepping back into sunlight.
I remembered the first time I followed Tanin into an empty classroom, back when he first invited me to the guild. Unlike last time, we were on the second floor now. And the windows no longer opened ajar for me to use for escape. But these windows'' frames were wood, and a Vortex Shield ought to blow them apart. Add in Cold Grenade as disengage, and I had a chance, even in a one-on-one. Based on his 940 max HP, I''d assume Tanin was level 5 at the highest, and¡
"Sophia, relax," Tanin repeated. "I''m on your side. As I have been all these months. Please trust me."
"Enough with the ambiguity. What are you getting at?"
He strolled across the front of the room, from one end of the blackboard to the other. "You''re curious about the cave, aren''t you? I don''t know how you found that place. It''s quite well-hidden. That makes me think it should be left alone. I''m not sure if someone told you, or if you caught a glimpse of something there. Perhaps something you weren''t meant to see. I hope I''m not too far off?"
"Tell me what you know," I ordered. I didn''t know if that made sense to say; my head felt light. My mind was practically operating on autopilot right now, and I hated it.
Tanin narrowed his eyes. "I am simply a wise man who knows nothing."
"That''s an obvious lie."
He paced a small circle behind the lectern, each of his steps measured and silent. "Remember what I told you before? This is a death game. Your job is to survive. Not sate your curiosity, not get 100% completion. I''ve got an idea of what you''re planning, my friend. And I can tell you right now, this is how you lose the game."
I backed away through the aisle left between columns of desks. Away from Tanin. His eyes stared into mine, piercing and stern.
¡°What do you think I¡¯m planning?¡± I questioned.
¡°The Expedition Division is full of curiosities,¡± he said. ¡°Numbers that don¡¯t add up. Inordinate levels of secrecy. I don¡¯t know what you saw at the cave, but you¡¯re trying your hand at playing detective, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Tanin, I¡¯m not trying to start trouble. I didn¡¯t even know the cave was connected to the Expedition Division. But I just want to¡¡±
¡°No buts!¡± He hissed. ¡°Remember all the spy training I¡¯ve put you through? The cyanide pills, how to spot assassins, how to survive torture? Because if you wanna sleuth against the Institute, that¡¯s the world you¡¯re getting yourself into. You know better than this.¡±
His words came out raw and pained, almost pleading. My chest felt tight. And yet¡what if¡
¡°Tanin, do you happen to know¡¡± I began.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"¨C Nope, nuh-uh. Not another question for me. And if anyone asks either of us, we''ve never had this conversation today. End of story."
"Do you know about the Guild of Truthseeke¡ª"
"I don¡¯t care!¡± Tanin growled, and he slammed the lectern so hard I thought it''d break.
It shocked me; I had never seen him angry before. And I hadn''t expected him to lose his temper. But I¡I knew this topic was important. What they were hiding in the cave. Who they were hiding. I wanted him to be aware. We deserved to know.
Moments passed. Tanin''s rage gave way to a look of bewilderment, then a blank, empty stare. He grew pale and eased himself into one of the chairs, where he slumped down.
The room fell silent. No candles or lamps were lit here. The sun casted shafts of crisp light through the windows of the classroom, but we were both in the dark. Shadows hid his eyes. But he gave a single, knowing nod, as though he had pieced together what I was getting at.
¡°So that¡¯s what it is," he sighed. "Couldn¡¯t blame you for being curious, I guess.¡±
Maybe I owed him an apology.
On second thought, no, I didn¡¯t. 6E12, the one prophesied to put an end to all these meaningless death games, was right outside our town. How despicable would it be, to bury our heads in the sand. To turn a blind eye, to flee from the sunlight and cower back into Plato''s proverbial cave, content to gaze at mere shadows.
¡°Well?¡± I asked.
Tanin slowly stood back up. He held onto the edge of nearby desks for support.
"Take care of yourself, kid,¡± he said. ¡°I''m rooting for you."
Tanin often spoke like that, in vague phrases with inscrutable intent. I used to ponder over them, and had spent much effort deciphering the phrases he used to utter to me. But now I simply couldn''t bother to. Did he want to ally with me? Or leave me be? If he had anything important to say, then he should''ve made it clear.
Still, I think he liked me. Enough to not want to actively screw me over, I''d imagine.
He walked out of the room, leaving me alone in the darkness.
In the afternoon, I returned to my research office. I hadn''t much work to do, except make a few edits to my book. Several mages had already bought and used it, and my royalties were trickling in. But so was feedback. People spotted mistakes, pointed out inconsistencies, and asked for clarifications. And Professor Phoenixcourt tasked me with making the necessary corrections; we''d release a Second Edition version soon. He estimated that the revisions would allow the book to provide two additional Arcana Points on top of what it already did.
Before getting to my edits, I left a message in my team notebook. I asked everyone to get together for a meeting. All of us had cultivated a habit of checking our notebooks semi-regularly now, at least once a day. We used it like a group chat, something like a Discord channel.
The Winter Challenge and the discovery of 6E12, combined, had exhausted us. We hadn''t even gotten together to talk about next steps yet, and right now we desperately needed to. A meeting between Hei, Saber, and myself would be easy enough to set up; we were usually all home by 11 P.M., plus we all worked at the Institute. Not that I''d want us to discuss anything 6E12-related while we were on Institute grounds.
I had always respected the Institute a little, but my attitudes were quickly shifting to one of distrust. Or at the very least, uncertainty.
Mr. Atlas, meanwhile, left the house around 5 or 6 P.M. on weekdays. Jack''s presence in the house had no discernable patterns. Those two were the most difficult to get a hold of.
Saber and Jack responded to me within the hour, agreeing to meet as a team. Atlas and Hei replied a few hours later, and we managed to set up a meeting tomorrow afternoon, at 4 P.M. Those of us working for the Institute would need to leave work early.
I folded my arms atop the desk, then leaned forward and buried my face in them. I had been sleepless much of last night, and though wearied right now, I wasn''t the slightest bit drowsy. Tiredness blanketed over me, fogging over my mind and trapping me in a wakeful but dream-like state.
It had been half a year, almost, since I arrived in Silver. The moment I had begun to feel a sense of stability living here, the Seekflower appeared. It changed everything. I knew I still had the option to ignore it, to go on and live life as I once did. But how could I? Sure, like Tanin pointed out, trying to get to the bottom of this mystery had its risks. And yes, I could very well die. There was a chance of that happening. But then again, how much better were my odds of surviving every single Challenge, all the way up to Diamond?
If I found 6E12, maybe I wouldn''t need to get to Diamond. Maybe he''d end the game, right now, for myself and for everyone else. And we''d all go home alive. That was what the Guild of Truthseekers told everyone. I didn''t want to trust them fully; who knew how reliable they were. If I had to put a percentage on it...would the chance of them telling the truth be 50%, at least? These were the things we''d have to figure out at our team meeting.
Eventually, the time for that meeting came, the next day. All five members of our team gathered in the basement. We had shut and bolted the door leading outside; not even wind seeped through. A pair of oil lamps, hanging from the ceiling, flickered and illuminated the stone walls and dirt floor of the room. We sat in cold chairs that circled a wooden table. In one corner of the basement, sitting upon a dusty shelf, was our Seekflower.
"The cave apparently belongs to the Expedition Division," I began simply. "Of the Combat Institute. At least, that''s what I''ve heard."
¡°That confirms it then,¡± Saber muttered. "It¡¯s the Expedition Division,"
¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°¡Are you sure it''s them?¡±
Saber¡¯s lips trembled. Her blue eyes, unfocused and unblinking, stared down into the table¡¯s surface.
¡°They came for me today,¡± she confessed. "They came to find me."
Chapter 37: Crossroads
My hands clamped tight on to the edge of my chair. I stared straight into Saber''s eyes. In them danced the flicker of the lamps. I found no fear there. Confusion, perhaps, and certainly concern, but there was no fear.
"...Saber," was the only thing I managed to say.
"Two of them came to me today," she murmured. "They were friendly. But they asked me whether I went outside the city recently."
"What did you say?"
"I said yes. I told them I was out by the hills, picking herbs. They asked what I saw there, and I told them nothing much. They asked me who I was with. I told them, just friends. And they said there''s been some security concerns outside of town. I received an order from the Headmaster of the Combat Division not to leave town until further notice."
I allowed myself a shallow exhale and looked around at our other teammates.
"The Expeditioners made it pretty obvious they own the cave," I said. "Don''t you think?"
"It''s only obvious to us because we already suspect them," Hei said. "It''s the final nail in the coffin, in terms of evidence."
That was true. Banning Saber from leaving town was a case of the Streisand effect, where attempting to suppress knowledge only leads to the opposite effect. It was like how celebrities would try to remove unseemly photos from the internet, only to draw more attention to those photos because everyone noticed the Herculean efforts involved in their removal.
Mr. Atlas laid his forearm upon the table. "Do you think the guard at the cave recognized you?" he asked Saber.
She gave a shrug. "I think it has to be that."
The whole time, Jack merely listened. He just sat there, scarcely even moving.
"What are your thoughts?" I finally asked him. Partially because I wanted to help him be included in the discussion, and partially because his tacitness was beginning to bother me a little.
"There are too many unknowns at the moment," he said simply. "I know it''s a big deal. I''d be lying if I said it wasn''t." He turned to look at the Seekflower in the corner of the room. "Hey. Where''s The Witch of Roses?"
The flower''s petals folded close. The Witch wasn''t in this plane of existence.
"Where''s Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies?" he asked once more. The flower did not respond.
"Where''s Doublerift?" Hei checked. Once again, the flower remained closed.
"Looks like it''s just 6E12 that''s here," Jack said. "But that''s all we know. We don''t know if he''s actually gonna free us, like the Truthseekers said."
I gave him a nod in agreement. "That''s why we need more intel. Everything we''ve been working at, we''ve been working off assumptions. Challenges? We continue with them, because we assume we''ll get home once we reach Diamond. But, I mean, who knows anymore if that''s real?"
"I''d assume it is," Hei said.
"The Truthseekers would disagree."
"They have nothing to back up their claim."
And neither did we, I thought. We had no proof getting to Diamond would win us the game. But, really, if almost everyone in Silver agreed that it would, then surely no one had found evidence to the contrary, right?
"We''re starting to go in circles," I admitted. "It''s not much use speculating like this. How do we gather more intel?"
Mr. Atlas shut his eyes for a moment. He squared his jaws. "The risk is too high right now. We can''t make any moves yet." He glanced to Saber. "Especially you, you''ll have to be a goodie-two-shoe as far as the Institute is concerned."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Saber bit her lips. "OK."
"That goes for everyone else too," Atlas continued. "We''ve all just been at the cave. Their eyes are on us right now. Give it a week, or better, a month, and we''ll worry about 6E12 then."
I could understand his rationale, and could even agree with him partially. But his approach felt too relaxed, too passive. We didn''t know that much about the entire situation, but what we did know was already a game-changer. 6E12 was in Silver, that much we knew. He was the promised liberator, according to the Truthseekers. We knew exactly where to find him. We more or less knew he was being housed by the Expedition Division. And for one reason or another, the Expedition Division wanted to keep it all a secret.
Even without all the answers, these were huge informational advantages we had. Did we really want to sit upon our knowledge, and do nothing at all? What we now knew could prove sufficient to alter the future of our entire team. Or even the future of this entire town, or even the future of the untold hundreds, thousands, of other players stuck in this game. Out of everything we could do, we were choosing inaction.
"There must be something for us to do right now," I finally said.
"Sure," Mr. Atlas said. "Go to work. Save up. Once the time comes to act, we''ll likely need money."
I sighed quietly, deflating, acquiescing to Atlas'' proposal. "What does everyone else think?" I asked.
"We have until the next challenge," Hei said. "I mean, before we''re forced to risk our lives for anything. We can afford to wait."
So be it then.
"I''m worried something''s gonna go wrong before then," I admitted. "Of course I see the dangers of getting too nosy right away. But opportunities come and go. What if 6E12 disappears next week? There''s a risk of us wasting the opportunities we currently have. It feels like no one''s accounting for that risk."
"I know," Mr. Atlas said. "Risk of opportunity cost. If it makes you feel any better, I''ll draw out a risk-assessment chart. With probabilities, cost-benefit weights, all those fancy numbers. I''m not convinced it''ll show us anything besides what I''ve already told you."
He sounded like he could be my dad.
I sank back into my chair and stared up into the ceiling. There had been no shouting, no blames, no accusation at all throughout our discussion. Even so, adrenaline had worn me out, made me breathless and sweaty by now.
"It''s fine," I told Mr. Atlas. "I understand."
That more or less concluded our discussions. One by one, we awkwardly stood up, then headed out of our basement together.
Over the next few days, life returned to relative normalcy. I did my best not to overthink the matter regarding 6E12.
Soon, a week passed. I bumped into Tanin a couple times. We exchanged pleasantries, talked about our individual work, talked about our housemates and food. One morning, we chanced upon each other at the front gates of the Institute, and we exchanged tips on where to buy groceries. He mentioned that the farmers'' market, which opened in Ring Three on weekends, often sold the freshest and cheapest produce.
"Tradeoff is, you gotta wake up early and walk all the way there." He chuckled, and his breath fogged in the cold morning air. "And that''s just not for me."
It felt like our relationship was still the same as before, prior to me asking him about the cave, prior to our exchange in the empty classroom. I could rarely get a read on Tanin''s intent, but this time I could sort of tell. He wanted to maintain the relationship we had. What else he thought, whether about 6E12 or about my potential endeavors around that, I wouldn''t know. But I knew he wanted to continue being friends. And you know what? I''d be down for that as well.
"Anything on your schedule this afternoon?" I asked. "Hei''s gonna fight in the 4th-level tournament. For the first time."
Tanin arched his brows. He rubbed his palms together excitedly. "Oh my. I''ll make time for that. He was the strongest duelist among the level 3''s, wasn''t he? You two make me proud."
When the time for the tournament came, Tanin and I met up and walked over together to the courtyard of the Combat Division. You''d think the Combat Division would be the biggest and most important division of the, well, Combat Institute, but nope. It was the second largest. The Logistics Division beat it by a handful of members.
By the time we arrived, the first contestants (neither of them being Hei) were already getting their equipment ready. One of them was a girl with brass knuckles; she wore a white martial-arts robe. The other duelist wielded an assault rifle.
"I wonder how this is gonna go," I whispered to Tanin.
The audience stood around the perimeter of the courtyard, and we settled in a vacant spot among them. Many of them were from the Institute, although people from other guilds often came to watch these tournaments as well. The prize for first place was $500, so the fights usually got pretty intense and exciting, nothing like the usual, half-hearted sparring people around here did for practice. As I looked around for Hei, someone tapped me on the back.
I startled around, to find a teenage boy slightly younger than myself. He had jet-black bangs, black eyeliner, pale skin, and wore a black hoodie and ripped jeans. He had no expression on his face, except a blank one best described as totally-done-with-life.
"How''s it going," he greeted me flatly.
Wait. It was him. Jayden.
That one cultist from the Guild of Truthseekers.
Chapter 38: The Hecking Tournament Arc (which actually is just a single chapter)
Tanin did a little wave at Jayden. "Friend of yours?" he asked me.
I managed a smile. "We''ve seen each other around the neighborhood."
"You wanted to talk?" Jayden asked me. I shot him a glare. No, not now around dozens of onlookers!
"Maybe tonight," I suggested. But I stared at him so hard, it was basically a command. He seemed to realize as much.
"Cool," he replied flatly.
"Let''s focus on the tournament," I said, then I continued to look around for Hei.
The tournament was held in the format of a single-elimination bracket. Each match was just a single round, one-versus-one. To win, you needed to get your opponent below 200 HP. At first it sounded way too scary to me, considering 200 was just a few hits away from death. But, as it turned out, it was impossible to drop an opponent below 30 HP without actual killing intent. Hei had assured me it was failproof, that it really was impossible to accidentally kill anyone without really, really meaning to. He hypothesized it was some sort of special safety net, baked into the fundamental workings of this world by whoever designed it.
Nonetheless, they had a healer on the sidelines, to take care of the wounded after each match, and to handle emergencies during the match.
Though going for the kill was strictly forbidden, knockouts were fair game. The exact HP threshold for a knockout varied from person to person, and from occasion to occasion. According to the Combat Division, knockouts were known to occur as high as 100HP. On the other end, people could still be standing even when they were down to 30.
Back when I had first learned about knockouts, a few weeks ago, I had gone to ask Saber what HP she was at when she passed out during our fight against the Stone Giant, that first serious fight we fought together. Our team scarcely talked about that battle nowadays; none of us remembered it fondly. But Saber confirmed she only had 20 HP when she had fallen unconscious.
The ring of a bell snapped my attention back to the present. The first match had started. The contestant with the assault rifle blasted away on full-auto, but the martial artist deflected all the bullets with a flurry of fists, then closed in for a multi-hit combo that quickly ended the match.
"That wasn''t fair!" the gunner complained. He looked down bitterly at the rifle in his hands. "This thing is literally useless!"
The referee, a middle-aged woman wearing plate armor and holding a spellbook, shrugged. "Yeah, she''s got projectile deflection. Unfortunate matchup, better luck next time."
Huh. Projectile deflection? That could really screw over Hei''s trump card, his Schwarzschild Trident. In normal challenges, where everyone started at level 1, it was partially balanced by being his third unlocked ability. But in duels, he''d often use it as his opening move, to weaken his opponents right off the bat. I wondered how well he''d fare without it.
The tournament bracket was sketched out on a blackboard on wheels, which stood right beside the referee. She recorded the martial artist''s victory and advanced her to the next round. Thankfully, Hei wouldn''t have a chance to run into her until the grand finals. But first place got $500, and second place got nothing, so Hei losing to her at the very end of the tournament would still be a shame.
But really, what were the chances of the two of them, out of everyone else, meeting in the finals?
?©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?? ??©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?
After numerous rounds, Hei and the martial artist met in the finals.
"Dang it!!" I shouted out loud.
"Geez-Louise," Tanin whispered. "Calm down, girl."
"I refuse," I replied with a huff. "Hei, you hecking got this!"
¡I honestly wasn''t sure if he hecking got this. The martial artist had 3 abilities. First, a supercharged punch that stunned targets on contact. Second, a leap kick that traveled up to a whole 40 meters, then caused an AoE shockwave explosion when it hit. She didn''t even need to hit the opponent for the shockwave to happen; kicking the ground worked just as well. Her third ability was a defensive guard-stance that negated all projectiles for 2 seconds. She could still move and attack as usual during this time window, and the projectile negation was omnidirectional. Her health was 880, and she had a blazing fast attack speed. Based on her performance thus far, Hei likely couldn''t compete without his Schwarzschild Trident. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The bell rang. The match between those two had begun.
Hei started by conjuring his Schwarzschild Trident. Right off the bat. Not hiding his intent at all.
Over the past months, we had learned a couple things about the Trident. No, Hei couldn''t use it as a melee weapon to stab people. The skill''s description said it had to be thrown. And no, Hei''s Ring of Weapon Recall didn''t work on it. So he couldn''t throw it to bait out the projectile-deflection stance, teleport it back into his hand, then throw it again once the stance wore off after 2 seconds. And, when we tested, even if he Voidstepped forward to try and catch the Trident after throwing it, the Trident would just slip intangibly out of his grasp. He literally had a single throw, one per Trident, and that was it.
The martial artist hopped left and right, keeping her eyes on Hei. In response, Hei charged forward in a straight line. Mid-stride, he teleported behind the martial artist with Voidstep. Right where she couldn''t see. He wound back his arm and took aim to throw his Trident at point-blank range. A dark sheen engulfed the martial artist''s brass knuckles ¨C the tell for her activating her projectile-deflection ability. Not only did she react to Hei''s sudden teleport, she also anticipated that he''d throw the Trid¨C
But Hei did not throw the Trident. A feint! Instead, he went for a jab with his spear, which the martial artist scarcely dodged.
Yes! I pumped my fist. Hei actually managed to bait out the one move I was worried about.
But it was too early to celebrate. The martial artist drove a left-hook into Hei''s flank, crumpling him instantly. Hei fell to his knees, only to be met with a kick to the face, then rapid jabs. I winced in vicarious pain.
He couldn''t even dodge or defend himself. That initial hook fist was her signature stunning blow.
By the time the stun wore off, Hei was down a couple hundred HP. He repelled the martial artist away with a spear thrust empowered by Graviton Joust. A wave of power burst as the spear rammed into her, launching her back through the air.
That was when Hei finally threw his immaterial Trident. It skewered the martial artist in midair. Right before she landed, right before she could touch the ground and dodge.
Hei closed in, spear-strikes fierce and swift. The martial artist, despite her being slowed and weakened and imbalanced by the Trident''s gravitational distortion, took her stand. She weaved about, and bobbed, and traded blows with her fists and kicks. But alas, the brass knuckles vs. spear matchup wasn''t a winning one, and Hei quickly gained the upper hand. Not that I expected the brass knuckles vs. assault rifle matchup to be favorable either. But that assault rifle did feel nerfed compared to real life. It only did, what, 30-40 damage per bullet I think?
With a last few shaft-whips, Hei knocked the martial artist down, bringing her to 170 HP. I hopped and clapped until my palms hurt, and the rest of the audience applauded also. Hei had won the tournament.
"How is that trident remotely fair?!" the assault-rifle guy groaned. "I swear, this game is 100% not balanced properly¡"
The martial artist, though wounded and cut, was still conscious. She staggered over to the sideline to be healed. Meanwhile, the referee handed out the cash prize to Hei, erased the blackboard, and drew a new bracket for the tournament of 5th level players. Hei counted the money, then gave me one big thumbs-up. I one-upped him by returning two.
"Let this guy fight with the level 5''s," the martial artist asked the referee, pointing at Hei. The referee stroked her chin.
"I want to see his upper limit," the martial artist added.
The referee pursed her lips, then scanned around the crowd pensively.
"Sure," she finally said. "I''ll allow it." She looked to Hei. "How are you feeling, young man?"
"I''ll try," he said.
?©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?? ??©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?
¡Well, long story short, Hei ended up winning the 5th level tournament as well. When he defeated his last opponent with only 230 HP left himself, there was silence. Applause came after a short delay, but I could tell the crowd was more shocked than hyped.
I pinched myself to make sure this was all still real.
Ow, that hurt.
I knew Hei was strong. I knew dueling was his niche, and he''d been practicing day and night to get better. But still. He was now among the best duelists known to the Institute. Everyone better than him had either gone up to Gold, or they never showed up to compete today.
Since Hei already won $500, the referee decided to award the prize money of the 5th level tournament to the runners-up. And that officially concluded the day''s tournaments. In the unofficial meet-and-greet that followed, the small crowd, me included, recovered from the initial disbelief at Hei''s victory. Discussions and idle talk began all around, and many people had things to say about Hei and his abilities, and they debated about his strengths and weaknesses. A small group of new fans had gathered around Hei, chatting him up.
"Heck yeah!" I cheered at him. "That''s my overpowered-anime-protagonist childhood friend!" I ran past Hei and gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. As I did that, a faint gleam pulsed over his body.
Wait a minute. Did¡did he just level up to 5?
Chapter 39: Beer (and No Beards)
The referee explained the situation to the audience. A level up from sparring had only happened once before in recorded history. That previous one, also a member of the Combat Division, had the habit of training day and night, much like Hei did. It was generally accepted that it took a ton of effort to level up even a single time apart from challenges. And, really, to most people it wasn''t worth it. What mattered was how strong you were during challenges, not during everyday life. There weren''t many things to fight in Silvercreek, anyways.
"Were you trying to level up?" I asked Hei.
He nodded. "Figured if I trained hard, it''d happen sooner or later."
Tanin walked and gave us congratulatory finger-guns. "Your team is really special," he said to me. "You, with your magical item crafting. Saber being a Platinum MOBA player. And Hei here, surprise after surprise."
"Huh," I said, "we kinda are really impressive, aren''t we." I didn''t mean that in a braggy way. I always knew we were a strong team, but it hadn''t occurred until now just how many one-in-a-hundred, top-tier players were bunched together in our small party of five.
Tanin gave his head a shake of disbelief. "I swear it''s like, whoever runs these games, really does play favorites. Some teams are straight-up put together to win."
We''ve had our casualties, too, but I didn''t disagree with him.
"You think it''s the distant lady that runs these games?" I asked him.
"The who-what now?"
"You know. The lady that talks to people in the void-dimension, when you first receive your powers. She''s got the distant voice. And she also does the announcements during challenges."
He pursed his lips for a moment. "Oh. Yeah. It''s probably her. Judging by her tone, she''s got head honcho energy."
Jayden, the cultist, came up behind me and tapped my shoulder.
"We can meet tonight outside the soap shop," he said. "Let''s aim for 8 o''clock." I whispered a confirmation, and he hurried off.
After a bit more socializing, the crowd began to disperse, and Hei and I slipped out by ourselves discreetly. Hei''s fans would''ve followed us if they could. And while I thought they were pretty awesome to have around, Hei wasn''t used to so much public attention. I strode beside Hei with a bit of a pop in my step, savoring how light my heart felt in that moment. After the tension and stress of the past week, I needed this.
"Where do we go now?" I asked him. "We need to celebrate your epic-gamer achievements."
Hei shrugged. "Wanna head home? I''ve still got $500 cash to store."
"Come on, that''s weak-sauce. You can do better than that. Anything you''ve always wanted to do? Might as well check something off your bucket list today."
"Huh." As we walked he looked down at the path in thought.
"Anything at all?" I checked.
"I want beer," he said simply.
That caught me off guard. "I didn''t know you drank."
"It''ll be my first time."
"You''re 18, right? Isn''t that underage?"
"In America, yeah. But we''re not there anymore."
Fair point. I wondered if Silvercreek even had alcohol age restrictions. Probably not, considering we didn''t even have proper law enforcement, only a Guard''s Guild that mostly concerned themselves with protecting people and property from crime, and not much else. I had to admit, Silvercreek was surprisingly stable and safe considering this place''s giga-barebones legal system. But then again, this was a small town, where a bad reputation meant being shunned from teams or guilds, and that in turn could be a life-ender. When I first arrived in this town, I had guessed there''d be around 800 people here. But over time I realized the population was closer to 3,000. Still small enough that no one could quite escape their reputation.
Hei and I went to a pretty fancy pub in Ring One, where they sold craft beer by the mug. The menu was extensive, and most mugs were priced quite high at over $10. They had names for alcohols I had never heard of before. Thankfully each one came with a short description, though a lot of the descriptions scarcely cleared things up.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
IPA - Dry and hoppy, with an unapologetically earthy aftertaste.
Um, what did those words even mean?
Hei ordered a "stout," which was described as "tasting like coffee." The waiter then asked if I wanted anything.
"Maybe later," I said.
We had seated ourselves indoors, in a corner by the fireplace that flickered and crackled. The pub was quite vacant at this late-afternoon hour, and we practically had half the pub to ourselves. Our wooden table had been cleaned quite spotlessly. I folded my arms across the surface and put my head down to relax, and I took in the smells of pine and lemon-scented soap. I glanced at Hei from the corner of my eye. This close to him, I could see the white hairs that now peppered his temples. He definitely didn''t have those before. I leaned toward him and sighed.
Soon, Hei''s order arrived. The stout-beer was a dark-brown liquid, served in a glass goblet and capped with froth. It did look like foamy coffee. Hei took a shallow sip, then put the cup down. I waited for him to drink more, but he did not.
"What''s wrong?" I asked.
"I don''t like it," he muttered.
I pouted. "You were the one that wanted beer. That''s why we''re here!"
"I guess I just wanted to try," Hei said. "It''s not as good as I thought."
"Nerd," I teased. "What, want me to finish it for you?"
He pushed the goblet over to me. "It''s yours if you want."
Taking his offer, I raised the goblet to my lips. This was my first time drinking as well. Both of us were relatively sheltered teens, I supposed. I shut my eyes and took a cautious sip.
It tasted¡weird. But not bad. It really did remind me of coffee. I drank a couple more gulps.
"This is alright," I said. "You''re missing out."
Hei cracked a wry smile. "It''s all yours."
Hei ordered some pub food for us ¨C piping hot fries with ketchup, and tiny burgers with fried eggs inside. As I ate and drank, the buzz and dizziness began to set in.
"Where''s your old hat?" Hei asked me.
"Sitting around in my drawer. Do you prefer that one?"
"Just curious," Hei said. "I like this one better. It makes you look¡uh, badass."
I could help but smile. "You bet your butt it does."
I took my hat off to examine it. I thought it looked pretty. The dark, velvety fabric took on hues of violet and gold in the candlelight. It was simple yet dignified. And the translucent ice crystal attached to the side of the hat pulsated with a cold aura. If I really paid attention, I could notice faint glowing waves, like polar lights, dancing and refracting within the facets of the crystal.
When we finished everything off and went back into the streets, the sun was only beginning to set. So it wasn''t too late, considering sunsets happened early in winter. The air was refreshingly cold, and the alcohol heated me up from inside. I began to walk home, but heard Hei chuckle behind me.
"What''s so funny?" I asked.
"You aren''t walking straight anymore."
"Am too," I rebutted. I began walking along the edge of the pavement, just to prove my point. But after a few steps, I began to swerve, and had to squat down before I lost balance. I laughed at myself, freely, as if no one were watching.
Hei came to help me stand back up.
"Guess you''ll have to carry me home," I said. "Piggyback ride?"
Hei looked me up and down. "Really?"
I put a hand on my hip. "You can handle me, right? Do you even lift bro?"
"I ¨C"
"You got a strength boost ever since we started the game, didn''t you? Actually, how much do you lift?"
"What kind of lift?" he asked.
"I dunno, the normal kind ¨C hey, don''t you roll your eyes at me!"
"Sophia, you''re shouting¡"
"Well yeah," I dismissed. "How much can you normal-lift here?"
"840 kilos bench press," he muttered, avoiding eye contact.
"Cool, I''m basically weightless then." I positioned myself behind his back. He squatted down the tiniest bit to let me on.
"...You owe me $10 for this," he said in a low voice.
"Yeehaw!" I shouted as I jumped on board. I strapped my arms around his chest like a backpack, and he supported the rest of my weight by wrapping his arms under my thighs.
We embarked on our journey home.
I couldn''t remember much from the trip, besides the gentle sway, and his warmth, and my woozy intoxication. At one point or another, I fell asleep.
When I came to, I was laying belly-down in my own bed, tucked under blankets. Night had fallen. I still felt a bit woozy, and now I had a slight, pulsating headache.
¡Dang it, I guess this was my first hangover.
Oh shoot. Wasn''t I supposed to meet the cultists by the soap shop? What time was it now?
I checked the clock on my bedside table. I bought it not too long ago for $390.
Oh no. Half-past eight.
I ran downstairs, leaning on the rails for want of balance. Crap! Would Jayden have left by now? I hate my life ¨C
I let out a shallow gasp.
In our living room, sitting on the couch, were both cultists from last time. The boy, Jayden, and the young lady that had accompanied him.
In between them, there was a tablet of stone.
Chapter 40: Alice / Alice
I looked at the cultists sitting on my couch, in my living room. The rest of my team was nowhere to be seen.
"HEI!!" I screamed.
Thankfully, he ran out from the kitchen, carrying a plate of sliced pears.
"How did they get in?!" I asked, pointing at the intruders.
He looked startled, more at my screaming than at the cultists.
"We knocked," Jayden said.
I glanced back at Jayden. "...How did you find where I lived?"
"We asked people," he said.
I facepalmed.
"They were looking for you," Hei informed me. "This is Jayden. He often comes to watch the Combat Institute tournaments. And that''s his sister, Sarah. They''re from New Zealand."
Hold up. Hei knew them?
"Hei," I checked. "You know what guild they''re in, right?"
He put the sliced pears down on the coffee table by our couch, and took a seat beside Jayden. "No."
"We met Sophia a few months ago," Sarah told him in monotone. "Jayden and I are in the cult¨C I mean, Guild of Truthseekers."
Hei froze for a split second. "I see."
"Yeah," I confirmed. "These are the Truthseekers I was looking for."
Hei leaned forward. His fists were clenched and white at the knuckles. He scanned around the room; all our windows were already shut and curtained. We had the privacy we needed.
"Saber is upstairs in her room," Hei told me. "Atlas and Jack are out. Mind if I join your chat?"
I gave him a stiff nod.
"You seem serious about this," Sarah said. "It makes me feel warm and happy." Her voice remained an unenthusiastic monotone.
"You can say that," I said. Neither of the cultists knew about our Seekflower, nor about our recent discoveries around 6E12 and his connection to the Combat Institute. And we had no reason to tell them. At least not now. Just let them treat us as they would any other potential recruit, and we ought to be fine.
After a brief moment of silence, Sarah held the stone tablet forward toward me.
"What''s that?" I asked.
"The words of the founder. These are her visions."
Sarah''s arms quivered as she held the heavy tablet out toward me. Noticing her ostensible strain, I walked up and took it from her. It was a well-polished, rectangular slab of dark stone. Upon it were carved lines of text. I sat down on a wooden stool opposite of the couch.
"The founder made this?" I questioned.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"The words are hers," Sarah said. "This is a copy of her original writing, which was on paper, and was destroyed."
"Do you know for sure that the tablet matches up to the original document?" I asked.
"It''s 100% accurate," Jayden said.
"How do you know?"
"I carved it."
"He also destroyed the original copy," Sarah added. "He spilled soup on it, and then the dog ¨C"
"Shut up," Jayden said. He then shot me a glance. "Just read the tablet."
I rolled my eyes. How did they survive in Silver for this long?
The room sank into uncomfortable silence. I decided to shift my attention to the carved words on the tablet. There was something strange about them, though I couldn''t put a finger on it.
it''s a huge city / so empty and lonely and endless / where are you / where are you / i can already see the bejeweled train / and it carries on / it sinks into the nothing / alice we never wanted you / there is hoarfrost on the passenger''s cage / his wrists are bound by human sacrifice / discarded by rulers in grayed colors / they captivate our lives / roaming and sickeningly fair / we await the key that appears in the coldest night / the gate will open and 6E12 will arrive / he will lead us to the edge of existence / he will overcome the final challenge / and the prize he will earn is our freedom / why are you alice please no / alice / alice
"Alice," I whispered out loud before I realized it. "...Alice?"
Sarah shrugged. "We still don''t know who that is."
Hei got up from his seat. He came over to read the tablet as well.
"This doesn''t seem very parseable," I said.
"You can say that again," Sarah said. "We Truthseekers have been working, for years, to figure out what this all means. The founder herself had some guesses. But she doesn''t remember her own visions after having them. She scribbles it all down, in real time, as her eyes are rolled back and she sees what she sees."
I scan across the words on the tablet, over and over, double and triple-checking for any potential detail I missed. "What does the founder think it all means?" I asked.
"She''s convinced the bejeweled train is a metaphor for Diamond," Sarah said, "or something like that. And, then, the ride simply never ends. You''ll never return home. Most of us agree with her interpretation."
"There are 20 slashes," Jayden added. "But we don''t really think that''s important."
"Alright. What''s the passenger''s cage, then?"
Sarah crossed her legs. She looked at the pear slices Hei prepared, but did not touch them. "We don''t know," she admitted. "But we do have a strong idea of who the passenger is. If you think about it, if the train is Diamond and beyond, then the passenger is at least Diamond-ranked. And also male, we think. Considering the rest of the vision, it''s pretty likely the passenger is 6E12, and he''s trapped in a cage somehow. And when he''s released, that''s when he''ll help us escape the game."
"Right now, we''re trying to figure out what the key is," Jayden added. "That''s probably the most important part. Once we solve that, we might have time to worry about the human sacrifices and the gray rulers."
And then it hit me. I finally realized what was so strange about the words on the tablet. It was the font.
It was the same font as the title on the cover of my book. And¡and it was also the same font on the eviction notice. The one that was pasted on the front door of the phone-charger girl when she died. The one that mentioned that she had died honorably as a member of the Expedition Division. I hadn''t made the connection up until now. My book''s title, this tablet, and the eviction notice. All the same font, and as far as I can remember, also all the same font size.
The font was likely Consolas. It was distinctly recognizable; each letter took up the same width.
"Jayden," I asked. "How did you carve the letters on this stone tablet? Did you print on it first, before you started carving?"
"Kinda, yeah. You can tell?"
I gave a shallow nod. "How did it go? You gave them a manuscript of what you wanted to print out, right? And they printed the text directly onto the tablet?"
"We gave them a manuscript. I don''t know how they got the ink onto the rock."
"I see."
"Focus on the visions," Sarah chided us.
But I was. I was focusing on the visions that the founder had recorded.
The puzzle pieces, once scattered, now settled into a pattern. Maybe the founder''s visions truly were legitimate, after all. Because now I see the truth hidden behind her words. Or at least, one of the possible truths.
Tomorrow, I''d test my theory out.
Chapter 41: Human Sacrifice
The cultists insisted that I join them.
¡°You''ll have fun with us," Sarah said in monotone. "You know, solving the riddles and stuff." She gazed at me, her eyes inexpressive yet given intensity by her thick, black eyeliner.
"Yeah, no thanks," I said with a forcedly casual shrug. As much as the Truthseeker''s Guild might be of help to me, I needed to keep my distance. If the Combat Institute already suspected our party of knowing too much about 6E12, getting associated with the Truthseekers on top of that might be enough to get us all "disappeared." We had to walk the razor''s edge between caution and action.
After an additional round of recruiting attempts, and my refusal, they conceded. Jayden stuffed all of the sliced pears into his mouth. The two cultists then made their leave.
"...You figured anything out?" Hei checked with me after they made their exit.
"I think I''m on to something. But it''s too early to say."
We went to bed for the night.
The next morning, I made a visit to the Printer''s Guild hall. Time to verify my hypothesis.
The Printer''s Guild was based at the edge of Ring One; the guild hall was essentially a print-house. Inside, tools and sundry machine parts filled the shelves lining the walls, and the pungence of ink and oils scented the air. I met the guildmaster, Taka, by the printing press.
"Well, well, well," she said with a smirk. "If ''tis not Sophia of the Arcane Tome. What does thou seek, that thou hast come unto my presence?" She stood in one shadowy corner of the room, leaning against the wall and with her arms folded. Her mismatched eyes, one yellow and one red, glinted in the darkness.
"Morning Taka," I greeted.
If we hadn''t already worked with each other to get my book printed, I''d have mistaken her for another cultist. Taka looked more like a cultist than the actual ones. She wore a dark robe with red trims, and iron skulls sat upon her shoulders as pauldrons. Her hair was a pallid blue and fashioned into princess curls. On her back was a two-handed great-sword, taller than herself. Though that wasn''t saying much, considering she had the stature of a middle-schooler.
She pointed a finger at me dramatically. "Hast thou finished thy redactions of the manuscript?"
"Not yet. The second edition will be ready in about two weeks."
"Mua-ha-ha. So it shall be. Let the mortals of this forsaken town wait a while longer."
"I''m here to check the author''s copy," I told her.
"Very well. Gaze upon thy work to thy heart''s content."
She led me into the backroom of the print-house, where they kept all the manuscripts given to them to make prints of. Whenever anyone wanted something printed, they''d give the Printer''s Guild an author''s copy. Usually that would be a handwritten manuscript, and the guild would use that as the blueprint for what to print. Like homework assignments, an author''s copy was marked with the author''s name, as well as the date of when it was processed. The Printer''s Guild kept all past authors'' copies as insurance. If anyone were to claim they made a printing mistake, they''d refer back to the authors'' copy. If the printed document matched the original manuscript, the printers would thus prove their innocence.
The windowless backroom, where they kept all the authors'' copies, was lit by a single gas lamp. Rows of shelves, decked with folders, filled the room. Taka left me there, alone, to do my business.
So far so good. I closed the door behind her, then started hunting the shelves for the manuscript I wanted to check.
It didn''t take long before I found my target: the phone-charger girl''s eviction notice.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Her name was Rhea. The author''s copy was submitted this winter, by Headmaster Fink, and had four pages total. Three of those were death-notices for expeditioners that lived alone, like Rhea. The last one was a notice for three expeditioners who had lived in the same house, and had all died in the Winter Challenge. Everyone received a eulogy that extolled their valiance and the Expedition Division in equal parts.
A chill crept down my spine. My theory might actually be correct.
And then I found the Expedition Division''s death notices for last year''s Winter Challenge. Once again, the author''s copy had been submitted by Fink. This copy had just a single page reporting the deaths of three expeditioners that lived together, then all died together.
I checked if there were any notices for Spring Challenge, from three years ago. And indeed there were ¨C four pages. Three separate death notices for expeditioners that lived alone, and one for three expeditioners that lived together. Just like this winter. And¡once more, it was submitted by Fink.
Summer Challenge, four years ago. Three pages. Each reported three deaths, for nine total. Submitted by Fink.
Winter Challenge, five years ago. Six pages, all separate deaths. Submitted by Fink.
I recalled the words of the Truthseeker''s tablet. His wrists are bound by human sacrifice.
Alright, alright.
I calmed myself down, before my death-grip could crinkle the papers I held.
I put away all the manuscripts I had dug up. That was enough sleuthing for now. Thankfully, I hadn''t been found out. Now to make my exit.
I headed to the door. When I reached for the doorknob, the door swung open.
I let out a startled gasp. Taka, on the other side, screamed out loud.
"You scared the crap out of me!" Taka scolded. "Thou¡um, thou mustn''t scare me like that!"
"I mean, same to you," I sighed. My heart had almost skipped a beat. I gave her a headpat to calm her down.
"A-anyways," she said. "Did yo¨C uh, didst thou find that which thou seekest?"
"Yup," I said. "Thanks for your hand in our partnership. I''ll update you once the second edition is ready."
And with that, I left the print-house. Bright daylight dazzled me as I returned to the streets outside.
OK, OK, I think I got it figured out, this whole deal with 6E12. My logic was sound. Wait, hold on, did I do my math properly? Yes, yes I did. Alright, Sophia. Where were we again?
That was right. The human sacrifices mentioned by the tablet. I was almost certain those were the Expedition Division members that died. And, and¡
I took out my team notebook and penned a message, "Hei, I''ll see you at home for dinner ¨C Sophia"
The rest of the day was uneventful. Hei returned early from the Combat Institute at night, and we ate dinner together as planned. Afterwards, I took him into my room and closed the door. Before I shared my suspicions with anyone else, even our other teammates, I wanted to check them over with him.
"OK, I need your help," I said. "Headmaster Fink has been here for five years. How in the world is that possible?"
Hei took a seat on the edge of my bed. "Wait...what?"
"That''s when she submitted her first request to the Printer''s Guild. As far as I can tell."
"That isn''t normal."
Both of us realized as much. In Silver, you either won, or you died. Fink obviously won, for five years straight, yet¡
"...How hasn''t she ranked up to Gold yet?" I asked without stating my own guess. I wanted Hei to come to a conclusion without me biasing him. Just so he could sanity-check me.
He shook his head. "That shouldn''t be possible. The longest anyone lasts here is three years. And a half, at most."
"Unless¡?" I asked.
He gave a dismissive nod. "I know, the Expedition Division has a high fatality rate."
We both knew that progress toward Gold depended on both the number of games you won, and also on the number of teammates that survived. The fewer survivors, the slower the progress.
"Progress this slow is unheard of," Hei pointed out. "She''d need three, even four, teammates dead after every challenge."
"Exactly," I said. "The magical number is three. I just noticed today, but deaths in the Expedition Division come in multiples of three. Think about it. Every challenge, Fink joins a team of five. Three of them die, making it so she barely progresses towards Gold. And then she survives with one other player. Someone so strong, she can win with him every time. No matter who the other three are."
Hei stared at me.
"You''re kidding," he said.
By his look of shocked realization, I could tell he had come to the same conclusion as me.
Chapter 42: Pandora
I explained my theory, part by part, to Hei.
Headmaster Fink, I hypothesized, kept 6E12 inside the cave to the east of town. That was where the Seekflower had led us. Every challenge, Fink would form a team consisting of herself, 6E12, and three other expeditioners. 6E12 would kill off the three other expeditioners during the challenge, then proceed to win with Fink as the only other survivor. Due to the three casualties on their team, Fink would barely progress toward Gold. And that was on purpose ¨C she wanted to stay in Silver. As long as she was here, she''d win every time with 6E12''s help.
Hei closed his eyes, frowning. "Hold on. This seems¡"
I allowed him a moment.
"Why would 6E12 agree to this?" he asked. "Why not just help Fink get to Diamond, so she could go home¨C"
He gazed blankly into the walls of my room.
"Unless there really is no way home," he said.
I couldn''t confirm or deny that. But based on what the Truthseekers told us, perhaps 6E12 was trapped against his will. There is hoarfrost on the passenger''s cage, their tablet had said. His wrists are bound by human sacrifice. Was the Expedition Division''s cave the cage? Or was the cage metaphorical? What did it mean, that his wrists were bound by human sacrifice? Was that literal or figurative?
"It''s hard to say," I finally admitted. "Regardless, we need to be careful about Fink."
Hei squared his jaws. "How certain are you about this theory?"
Good question.
"I''m about 20% certain I got everything right," I conceded. "But I''m 85% certain at least half of it is right. Should we tell our teammates?"
"Maybe. Though I think it''s safer if they don''t know."
I''d agree. What if they leaked our secret knowledge by accident? I could envision Saber doing just that.
"We''ll keep it under wraps for now," I said. "I don''t have a next-step planned out yet. We''ll probably need to sit around a bit longer, so not much point in them knowing everything."
That concluded our discussions for the night. The next morning, I resumed my usual work routine. I arrived in my office at 9AM and began to work on edits for the second edition of my book.
I could hardly bear to keep working for the Institute. Was Fink really keeping 6E12 in the cave, and sacrificing her teammates to keep herself alive in Silver? Did the Combat Institute know? Were they complicit? This whole time I could''ve been working for murderers. And working with murderers.
The day passed uneventfully, until the late afternoon, when Professor Phoenixcourt came to my office to visit.
"Hello Sophia," he greeted me, his figure looming as I sat at my desk. "How are things progressing?" he asked.
"A bit tired," I answered while stretching out my legs. "I''ll need a week or two before I can finish the revisions."
"Ah. Actually, you''ll need to place the edits on hold. The Combat Institute has a special mission for you."
Wait. What?
I jerked so hard, I almost fell over in my chair.
The professor handed me a sealed envelope.
"Yes, it''s quite sudden of them," he said. "I don''t know the details, but it''s an urgent request. Take as long as you need with it."
With that, he left, and closed the door behind him.
This¡this was unusual. Nonetheless, I opened the envelope. Inside was a letter:Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Dear Sophia,
You have been invited to be a part of a secret mission :) The Combat Institute has recently discovered an underground lake, to the west of the town. They will need your help, as a water mage, to perform water purifications upon various sections of the lake :)
The Institute insists you accept the offer. No one else will do¡it seems like they really want YOU :)
You have been instructed to not share this information with anyone, not even Hei or Saber! The underground lake, I''m told, is a huge resource, and the Combat Institute insists on keeping it hidden from the public eye for now.
Four days from now, at 2 A.M. please come by yourself to the back gate of the Combat Institute campus. A wagon will be waiting to take you to the underground lake. Expect to stay about two months at least. How exciting! Take care of yourself kid. I''m rooting for you.
Yours truly,
Tanin Fatebreaker
I sensed the danger lurking behind those words.
More or less, the Combat Institute wanted me gone.
What that meant exactly, I wasn''t sure. Were they gonna kill me? Keep me busy at the underground lake, effectively in exile? Would they abduct me but keep me alive? Torture me until I told them everything I knew?
The letter said the underground lake was to the west of town, whereas 6E12''s cave was to the east. Maybe they suspected me, and just wanted to keep me occupied and away. No killing, no prison-time. That''d probably be the best-case scenario.
But why would they suspect me this much? How had they found out? Did someone snitch on me? On my team?
I could simply decline to go. Perhaps sprain my ankle or something, and use that as an excuse to stay in town. Surely, they wouldn''t come to my house and drag me out of bed, right?
But if they really wanted me gone, they''d get me one way or another. If I were to decline this invitation, they could switch tactics and send assassins after me.
¡In which case, I really shouldn''t sprain my ankles on purpose.
If I suspected the Combat Institute of meaning harm against me or my teammates, I could perhaps go to the Guard''s Guild, or the City Hall, to seek amnesty. But that''d only work if those organizations were to take my side over that of the Combat Institute. My chances there were not good.
That night, I managed to catch Hei and Saber at home. I showed them the letter.
"This seems like a trap," Saber commented. "There are too many smiley faces."
"It almost certainly is." I shuddered saying that. "I''d like Atlas and Jack to know as well. Once I see them."
I could use our team notebooks to coordinate a meetup again, but at this point I wanted to avoid paper trails if at all possible. Even something like "Hey Atlas and Jack, let''s meet for lunch today!" might draw further suspicion from the Combat Institute if they saw it.
"At the very least, you two should know," I told Hei and Saber. "I¡I''m thinking, maybe they''ll target you as well." My words came out raw, jagged. "Oh my gosh. I''m sorry."
"This isn''t your fault," Saber muttered.
Was it not though?
"We should take the next few days off work," Hei proposed. "It''s too dangerous to go back to the Institute."
"But that''d raise their suspicion," I pointed out.
Hei studied the letter. "Tanin says you''ll be gone for months. It''s natural you''d want a vacation with your team before leaving."
That made sense. It still felt too obvious; the Institute would likely see through my intent. But there weren''t any safer options, were there?
"I might end up leaving for the underground lake," I began, mumbling, scrambling for a cogent plan. "If that happens, I''ll report daily in my notebook about, um, what I had for lunch. The number of words I use will match the number of letters in the day of the week. So, so, say, it''s Monday, which has six letters. Right? S-so I''d write something like, ''I had a sandwich for lunch.'' That''s six words, right? If I ever stop reporting those, something has happened to me. I don''t know. Maybe you should flee town if that happens."
"Sophia ¨C" Hei said firmly. "You are not going on that trip."
"You could defect to a rival guild," Saber suggested. "I think the Trader''s Guild often gets into land disputes with the Combat Institute. And once you''re in, it''s unlikely the Combat Institute will do anything to you. They''d risk starting a guild war."
But if the Combat Institute found out about me doing that, they''d certainly think I was working against their interests.
"Ugh!" I choked out. "I''m so sorry, guys. This isn''t how I wanted it to be."
"Sophia," Saber began. She reached out to clasp my hand. "Please," she said, "it''s not your¨C"
Knocks sounded on our front door. I flinched, as though I had heard a gunshot.
"It''s OK," Hei said. "I''ll go check."
Saber accompanied him down the stairs. Moments later, they came back with a folded piece of paper.
"Someone slipped this under the door," Hei said. He unfolded it, and we took a look together:
HI SOPHIA :)
YOU WILL DIE IN 7 DAYS :)
MEET ME TOMORROW NIGHT OUTSIDE THE CLEANER''S GUILD HALL :D
Chapter 43: Broken Fingers
Saber was the only one who went to work the next day. She only stayed at the Institute for the morning, to hand in vacation notices for Hei and herself and me; then she left well before lunch.
In the afternoon, the three of us convened at home, where Atlas was as well. I told him everything that had happened with me recently. Including the note that had been slid under our door last night.
"What do I do?" I questioned him.
His chest heaved with heaviness. "Beats me. Sophia, you know more about the situation than any of us. What do you think?"
"I don''t know, that''s why I''m asking you!" I blurted out. "Do I go to the Cleaner''s Guild or not? Do¡do you not have a clue whether this is safe?"
"It''s a risk you''ll be taking," Atlas admitted. "If you go to the Cleaner''s, I''ll keep an eye on you from a distance. I''ll call in the city guards if things go wrong."
A paralyzing lightheadedness, born of anxiety, gnawed at me. I tried to focus, but to no avail.
"I''ll go," I murmured.
And with that, I went to my room and closed the door and crawled into bed. I didn''t know what I was doing anymore. If I really were to die¡I mean, was I really going to die? I wanted to throw something against the wall. Dread frayed my nerves. I had a headache now. Part of me just wanted to forget everything and go to sleep.
And I did.
I spent the rest of the day phasing in and out of sleep, pathetically useless. At this point, I scarcely knew what to try. I heard the others conversing downstairs. Maybe they''d be able to come up with something.
Soon, night came. Mr. Atlas and I set out together at 7PM for the Cleaner''s Guild. I wore a new coat I hadn''t worn in public before. And I hid my Magus Battlehat under the coat, so no one would recognize me. On the way, I activated my level 3 ability, Cold Grenade. I conjured a bead of solidified ice magic and stored it in my pouch. If I had to flee or fight, I''d need it.
"The Cleaner''s Guild is visible from the Ring One wall," he assured. "I will watch you from there. Keep an eye on your team notebook."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
When I arrived at the Cleaner''s Guild, there was no one standing outside. The mysterious note only said to meet there at night, but hadn''t specified a time. I wondered if that had been on purpose.
Half an hour passed as I stood waiting. My heart beated hard. I periodically looked up at the walls around Ring One, to scout for Mr. Atlas. I might have seen him once, but the darkness made it hard to tell the guards apart at this distance.
A while later, a man approached me. He wore a nondescript white tee with jeans. A surgeon''s mask covered his face.
"Your name?" he asked.
I studied the top half of his face, but couldn''t recognize him. "Who are you?"
"Seven days," he replied in a low voice.
I swallowed. "Sophia."
He gave a curt nod. "Follow me."
After a moment''s hesitation, I did. I looked for Atlas one last time, scanning across the top of the walls, but did not find him.
The stranger led me through the nighttime streets, away from the bustling and lights near Ring One. We took a turn into an empty alley in Ring Two, where the dark wind chilled me. The moon shone bright and lit the streets with its cold cascade. When I glanced behind me, I caught sight of Mr. Atlas tailing us. I checked my team notebook; no one had written anything down.
"Where are we going?" I asked the stranger coldly.
He did not reply.
After a few more twists and turns, he stopped at a rusted iron door. Here, cobblestone walls fenced off the street on both sides. There were no windows, nor doors beside this one. The door was an unremarkable flat slab with a peephole. The stranger opened the door and motioned me in. I entered, into what was a dimly lit room packed with barrels and casks. A cellar? The barrels stacked densely one upon another, blocking my field of view. The stranger closed the door behind me; he did not enter.
"Name?" came a smooth, baritone voice from behind a wall of barrels. It had a light accent I couldn''t recognize.
I ventured around the corner, knees half-bent in a battle stance.
Before me was a man with bandaged hands. He gave a stern, polite smile.
The man was middle-aged and bespectacled. He wore a white, collared Polo shirt, with a pair of creaseless cargo pants. Behind his rimless glasses were the deepest, darkest eyes I had ever seen. He approached me, with steps methodical and calculated like the movement of a surgeon.
"It is good to meet you, Sophia."
The creases of his face were sharp, like razor blades. I reached for the Cold Grenade in my pouch.
"Put your hand down," he said. His voice rang, cold as iron. The smile on his face remained all the same.
My hand fell back down to my side, shaking.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said. "I am Khan of the Bloody Fingers. Headmaster of the Logistics Division." He looked at his injured fingers and gave a half-hearted, businesslike chuckle.
"Sophia," he repeated my name. "What do you say, the two of us put an end to these pointless games?"
Chapter 44: Khans Academy
Tension hung wire-taut in the chilled air. I neither thought to fight or run. I merely stood.
"What do you want?" I asked curtly.
Khan gave a slow, measured nod. "If you desire answers, allow me to explain. You will find that I am unlike the Truthseekers. I do not play with riddles or puzzles. I will speak frankly, as is befitting a partnership between adults. And I expect you to do the same."
His dark eyes searched me. When I gave no response, he simply smiled that dispassionate smile of his.
"I want you to free 6E12," Khan said simply. "And with that, free everyone here."
The weak lamplight of the room contoured him, giving him color and form but only in part. Much of his figure remained in the shadows.
"You believe the teachings of the Truthseekers?" I questioned.
"I know them to be factually true," Khan said. "And I surmise you have been discovering much for yourself. 6E12 is held captive by the Expedition Division. Do you know what for?"
He wasn''t asking me; he was testing me.
I weighed my words. "Fink¡she uses him to win challenges."
"Partially correct," he said. "It is more accurate to say, all the regents use 6E12 to win challenges. Fink facilitates the process, but all four regents actively participate."
That¡that made sense. For a few seasonal challenges, the eviction notices listed six or even nine dead expeditioners. There could be more deaths that wouldn''t be listed on the eviction notices ¨C if the dead expeditioners had housemates still occupying their house. If three expeditioners died in each of the regents'' games (while the regent and 6E12 survived), then there''d be 12 deaths total each season, across the four regents.
"What about yourself?" I asked. "Do you participate as well?"
"Fink only lends 6E12 to the other regents," he said matter-of-factly. "I, as you may know, am not a regent. I had never seen 6E12. Nor do I know where he is kept. If I did, I could''ve freed him. And you, my friend, would not be stuck in this world right now."
"Haven''t you tried sending people after Fink?" I checked. "To see where she goes during challenges? You''d find 6E12 that way, right?"
"Ah. That''s the thing. Around the time of challenges, the Expedition Division, and the regents, meet here at the Institute. They do not leave town. Fink included. And yet, they somehow manage to get 6E12 on their teams. How do you think that is possible?"
"Perhaps they have a portal somewhere," I guessed, "hidden in the Institute, and they use that to get to the crypt where 6E12 is."
"Portals. That would be very impressive."
"...Actually, wait." I remembered how back in Bronze, Hei and I had been by ourselves when the challenge started, and we ended up getting transported to the arena, where we reunited with the rest of our team.
"They don''t need to be physically present with 6E12 to enter a challenge together," I explained. "All they need to do is be on the same team."
"Ah, but 6E12 needs to be on four different teams for every challenge. And team membership can only be conferred through physical contact, plus a verbal agreement. So, tell me, how does 6E12 rotate across four different teams each season?"
"Maybe 6E12 never switches teams," I pointed out. "Instead, everyone else joins or leaves his team. Maybe 6E12 has a single teammate in town. Say, Headmaster Fink. When the time comes, Fink recruits three teammates from the Expedition Division, through physical contact, to form a party of five with her and 6E12. And once they finish their challenge, Fink gives membership to the next headmaster, and then relinquishes her own membership. Then, then¡uhh, the next headmaster recruits their own three teammates, and the process continues. At any point, as long as a single person in the Institute is on the same team as 6E12, they don''t need to leave town to join a team with him. Uhh¡yeah. I think that''s right."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
"Good. A little wordy, but your logic is sound."
"I''d hope so."
"And you know where they keep 6E12?" Khan asked.
"I do."
"Well then. Do tell me."
Not yet. That piece of knowledge was my bargaining chip.
"Before that, I need answers from you," I stipulated. "Was it you who left the note, saying I''ll die in seven days?"
"That was me."
"Are you the one ordering my death?"
"I am not. The one wanting you dead would be Fink." He pursed his lips. "To be clear, I am using you. I know you are desperate, and I have Fink to thank for that. I am offering you a chance to live, not because I care deeply about you, but because I need your service. Free 6E12. Sophia, you can save everyone trapped in this world, including yourself. That is my proposal."
Well then. Khan didn''t lie when he said he''d speak frankly.
"Why don''t you free him yourself?" I questioned. "I''ll tell you where 6E12 is, and you can take care of the rest."
Khan scoffed. "Why not me? Because, you see, I am a coward."
"That is not to say I will not help you," he continued. He reached his bandaged fingers into his shirt pocket and took out a tiny envelope, about the size of a sticky-note. It had the drawing of an eye on it.
"I will give you this," he said, holding the envelope up for me to see. "This envelope is linked to my pockets. Whenever you are in trouble, reach into it. The eye-diagram will activate, and I will see everything around you in a 100 meter radius. I will then send you a gift through the envelope, as befitting your situation. This envelope will allow me to send you three items before its magic wears off. As you are on your mission, I will be in the treasury of the Logistics Division, where the strongest magic items of the Combat Institute are stored. Even if your life is in danger, I can surely find the right item to provide you."
He held the envelope out for me to take. Gingerly, I approached him, closer and closer. I finally took hold of the small envelope, but he did not let go.
"Do we have a deal?" he inquired of me.
I gave a firm nod. "6E12 is kept in the caves to the east of town. The Expedition Division has guards posted there."
Khan loosened his grip on the envelope, allowing me to take it. He let out a short chuckle.
"When I helped them fund the caves, Fink told me she''d use them as crypts for tombs." He shook his head. "For the dead expeditioners, she said. Such trickery, under my very own eyelids."
Khan informed me that there were a total of three caves, all supposedly crypts. Of course, only one of them had 6E12 inside.
"I hope you can find the right one," he told me.
"I should be able to." With the Seekflower''s help, of course. But Khan didn''t need to know about the flower. "Well then, what''s the plan?" I asked him. "There are guards there. Do I, just, fight my way through the cave until I find 6E12?"
"If you''d like. I''d recommend something a bit stealthier. Dress yourself up as a guard, perhaps? You''ll need keys to get through the crypt as well. But Tanin calls you a talented spy, so I''d imagine you''ll manage. Again, if you find yourself about to die, use the envelope."
Khan gave me some tips on how to infiltrate the crypt. First, the crypt''s guards had keys on them. And so did Fink, if I wanted to steal them from her. The guards usually worked in pairs at the crypt, but they were run-off-the-mill warriors, and could be taken out in an ambush. Fink, meanwhile, should not be confronted in combat. She was one of the strongest players in all of Silver. One of her abilities let her turn invisible while leaving an illusory duplicate behind. That ability had a very short cooldown, making the real Fink near-impossible to hit.
So that was the trick she used on Saber.
"Again, I will recommend you handle this stealthily," Khan instructed me. "Especially when you are dealing with Fink. She will kill you without breaking a sweat."
Fink. She certainly sounded like bad news. And Khan said she had planned to kill me in seven days, but had she really? Or was that just his bluff, designed to force me to side with him? Regardless, even if Khan was a self-serving liar, at least he saw me as an ally. Or perhaps just a pawn. But if being someone''s pawn would save my life and perhaps the lives of others, then so be it.
"You have my partnership," I told Khan. I reached out to shake his hand, but then remembered his injured fingers. I gave him a formal bow instead, and he reciprocated the gesture.
"Now," he said, "go and save the world."
Chapter 45: I Know, I Know Ive Let You Down
I left the cellar, then exited the alley. Not far away, Mr. Atlas watched me, his armor glistening in moonlight. I jogged to him.
"Is everything alright?" he asked as we walked away together.
Should I tell him? Khan didn''t say I had to keep the mission a secret.
"I met¡" I began, but caught myself halfway. We were in public.
"Let''s talk later," I said.
We arrived safely at home. I checked behind us, in case we were being followed. But thankfully, I saw no one.
Hei and Saber were waiting for us on the living room couch. When I came through the door, they got up and practically jogged over.
"Is Jack here?" I asked while taking off my outdoor boots.
"Haven''t seen him today," Hei said. "Who did you meet with?"
"Khan," I answered. "Headmaster of the Logistics Division."
I proceeded to tell my three teammates everything Khan and I had discussed. Who knew if that was a bad idea.
Mr. Atlas rubbed his temples as I wrapped up my account. "Are you going to do what he told you?" he asked.
"I guess. Not sure I''ve got many other options."
"Take the night to think it over," he advised me. "And that goes for all of you. We will discuss things tomorrow morning."
It was past ten o''clock. I retreated to my room to rest and think; the meeting with Khan had completely exhausted me mentally and emotionally. My hands still jittered from lingering adrenaline.
In terms of options, three people on our team were Combat Institute members. We could infiltrate the Institute, steal the keys for the cave, then do a stealth mission like Khan said to free 6E12. There''d be guards at the crypt-cave, which was an issue. Two guards, if Khan''s intel proved right. I could bring a teammate along to take care of them. Hei seemed like the obvious choice. He was 5th level, the best duelist out of us, and the one I''d willingly entrust my survival to. He could Voidstep through doors. And Tanin had coached him in subterfuge, back during our Spanish-Speaker''s Guild infiltration.
Jack seemed like a valuable teammate to bring along as well, but at this point he had been out of the loop for too much. Hei and myself ¨C a team of two ¨C was likely the right number for a stealth operation. Maybe Atlas and Saber could stay behind and act as support, to send us relevant info through our shared team notebooks.
I also had a few additional cards up my sleeve.
First, I had Khan''s magical envelope.
Second, like Saber mentioned, I could ask for aid from the Combat Institute''s rivals, the Trader''s Guild.
Third, I could enlist the help of the Truthseeker''s Guild to¡actually, no. Sarah and Jayden seemed kind of useless.
Third (for real this time), perhaps I could use Atlas'' connection to the Guard''s Guild. The risk there was huge. Unlike the Trader''s Guild, the Guard''s Guild had no known conflicts with the Combat Institute. What if they sided with Fink against me? Perhaps it''d be best to avoid them for now.
Soon, weariness weighed me down and sank me into slumber.
The next morning, I reconvened with Hei, Atlas, and Saber.
"I''ll look around town to see if I can find lockpicks," I said. "Then, I''ll go straight to the cave. Hei, can you come with me?"Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Of course," he said.
Thankfully he didn''t refuse. Truth be told, my plan revolved around him. The lockpicks were a backup option. My main plan, meanwhile, was for Hei to Voidstep through the metal-grate gate, knock out the guards, take their keys, and open the door from the inside. We could then proceed onward from there. Teleportation, in this mission, was indispensable.
"Are you sure about this?" Mr. Atlas asked.
I shook my head.
"There are too many unknowns," I admitted. "Who knows what it''s even like inside the cave."
"Check with the Builder''s Guild?" Mr. Atlas suggested. "See if they have a blueprint."
"Oh yeah, huh."
The town had multiple Builder''s Guilds, and one of them had likely been outsourced the job of constructing the crypts. It''d be no small task, and I wagered they''d keep careful records, including diagrams of the crypts'' floor plans.
I went up to my bedroom, where I kept my $15,000 savings in cash. I pocketed about $12,000, in 500-dollar bills, in case I needed hush-money or a bribe. That ought to be enough.
I also conjured a Cold Grenade and stored it inside my pocket.
"Keep an eye on your notebook," I said to everyone in the house. And with that, Hei and I left.
I made my way to one of the Builder''s Guilds, one that specialized in non-housing projects. They handled walls, bridges, and canals for the farmers. Maybe I''d have some luck with them. Their guild hall was a weighty, cylindrical tower of black stone, erected in Ring Two near one of the rivers. As I was about to enter, I asked Hei to wait outside and keep an eye on the surroundings.
I entered the reception hall of the tower. Chandeliers lit and warmed the place. The floor was faded wooden tiles, and the walls were the same hefty, black stone as on the outside. A clean-shaven man, in a tie and dress suit, greeted me from the reception desk that faced the entrance.
"Good day ma''am," he said. "How may I help you?"
"Hello." I said with a slight bow. "I''m from the Combat Institute, Logistics Division. Would you happen to have worked on the, you know, crypts outside of town?"
He drummed his fingers on the polished marble desk, as though in thought. "You would be right," he finally replied.
"Awesome. Would you mind if I review the floorplan for those real quick?"
"Of course. Can I get your name please?"
Oh crap.
"I''m¡well, you can call me Maria." I hadn''t stammered too hard, had I?
"Maria. Last name as well, please."
"Calderon," I said in a friendly tone that belied my unease.
"And, do you have a permit letter?"
"Oh, I didn''t know you needed one." Relax, I told myself. Treat this like a normal conversation.
"That''s alright," the man said with a smile. "Please hold on for a second."
He took out a cell phone and dialed someone.
Huh. How did he manage to get his phone charged?
"Hi, uh," he began talking to whoever was on the other side. "We''ve got someone interested in the floorplan for the crypts¡Do you know a Maria? Calderon. Logistics Division."
I strained my ears and managed to make out the faint sound of a woman''s voice on the other end. The man listened to her, occasionally answering with "mhm" or a "yes ma''am."
¡He couldn''t be talking to Fink, could he?
Halfway through the call, the man pointed a finger at the middle of the room. His hand glowed with a white radiance, and the air chilled.
A wall of ice erupted from the floor behind me. It bisected the room, cutting me off from the entrance and the windows. My heart sank.
"She''s here," the man spoke into the phone. "Hurry up."
I spun around, searching for an exit. A stairway led up to the second floor.
"Stay calm," the man told me. "You aren''t in any trouble. We''re just taking extra precautions at the moment."
Extra precautions, against what? Me?!
The man pulled a lever behind his desk. The noise of clockwork seeped through the stone walls of the room. Then came the deafening ringing of bells. An alarm.
This wouldn''t end well.
I bolted straight for the stairs. If memory served, there ought to be windows on the floor above. As I made my way up, the man shouted something at me. But the bells'' din ate up his words.
An open window greeted me as soon as I reached the second floor. I sprinted to it, then looked out. Passers-by were evacuating the area, likely alerted by the alarms. But Hei remained, and he saw me, and he came running.
I climbed onto the windowsill, balancing myself precariously. Cold wind whipped across my face and billowed my coat. Then, I jumped out. Hei leaped up, caught me in mid-air, then landed on one knee, safely cradling me. Before I had a chance to explain the situation, a swarm of a dozen or so armored guards appeared around the street corner. They dashed straight at Hei and me.
"Run!" I shouted. I sprinted off, with Hei right behind.
The guards gave chase.
Chapter 46: Gamers Rise Up
I ran, mustering every last ounce of strength in my legs. My lungs ached from exertion. Icy patches on the streets made me skid; I fought to maintain my balance. In the corner of my eye, I saw Hei still beside me. Farther behind came the footsteps of the armored guards and their shouts for pedestrians to move aside.
At least I thought those were guards. But who knew if they were actually from the city''s Guard Guild, or if they were Fink''s private soldiers, or something else entirely.
One of them recited an incantation in what sounded like Latin. Wisps of violet light began to streak through the air, before solidifying into a swarm of translucent, floating chains. They darted at me.
I made a sharp turn to dodge them, but it was no good. The chains homed after me, slithering like eels, until they closed in and wrapped around my body and tightened. I fell hard to the ground as our pursuers closed in. Hei tried to pull me up, but in vain. The chains had dug snugly into the ground, anchoring me there.
"Stay away!" I screamed at the guards. They did not stop, but instead closed in with swords and batons and handcuffs. Hei summoned his spear. I clenched my teeth and waited until the guards closed in.
Then, I flicked my thumb, activating the Cold Grenade inside my pocket.
Blinding white consumed my vision; frigid air licked at my skin. The chains around me loosened and disappeared, and I got up and began running again. Looking back, I saw the host of guards I had frozen solid with my Cold Grenade blast. The ones farther back, unhindered, circled around their unmoving comrades to give chase. It was then that I noticed. None of them wore the badge of the Guard''s Guild, the silver one Mr. Atlas always had on him. Then, who were these people? If they were Fink''s henchmen, how had they arrived so soon?
Hei was still running by my side.
"The Eat Cow Tavern''s up ahead," I gasped. "Go through there."
The two of us were frequent customers. We knew our ways through the turns and corners, through the front gate and back exits. And the two of us could easily slip through the gaps between tables, whilst the same gaps would be chokepoints for a swarm of guards.
We did as planned. I took the lead and bolted through the entrance of the Eat Cow Tavern, reassuring the tavern staff with a quick wave as I ran past them. We were on a first-name basis by now, and despite their concerned looks they didn''t stop me or Hei. We snaked our ways through the tavern and exited to a busy market street behind the building. I looked back and saw no guards behind us. They were likely still inside. Hei and I hid behind a large vegetable stall to catch our breaths. We could still hear the distant ringing of alarms.
"Where do we go?" I whispered to Hei.
He scanned our surroundings. "Ring Three? We could hide in the farmland."
What about the wilderness outside of town? Either way, we were in deep trouble. I reached inside the envelope Khan gave me.
Come on, Khan. I needed one of your gifts right about now.
I reached inside the envelope. At first it felt empty, but then my fingers found what seemed like a slip of paper. So the envelope really was magical.
I took out the paper slip and examined it. Upon it was a line of text.
"Just keep running! :)" it said.
What the crap!! Khan was actually useless!
I wondered if I made the wrong decision teaming up with him.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
The earth rumbled. An armored arm bursted out of the ground right under me. Before I had a chance to gasp, it grabbed my ankle and dragged me down. And I sank into the earth as it suddenly liquefied into mud.
Hei slammed his spear into the emerging arm, piercing through armor and drawing blood. The hand let go of me, though I was already knee-deep underground. I thrashed, desperate to free myself, only to sink deeper into the sucking mud.
The arm receded into the earth, then an entire person, one of the armored guards, emerged from us not too far away, caked in soil and arm dripping with blood. He had some sort of magic for swimming through the ground, apparently.
People around us shouted and cleared away chaotically. Many drew their weapons. Meanwhile, the dozen or so guards had caught up. I gritted my teeth and launched a Cold Grenade at them.
A swordsman in their midst stepped forward. With a stroke of her sword, she bisected the grenade in mid-air. The two halves fell to the ground, where they disintegrated uselessly.
Ethereal, violet chains formed and bound me while I remained half-sunk in mud. They squeezed so tight, I could barely breathe.
I spared one last look at Hei. Maybe this was it for me.
"Run," I choked out.
But he didn''t heed my plea. Instead, he Voidstepped behind the guard with the bleeding arm, wrestled him down, and poised the point of his spear above the guard''s neck. The other guards circled around me, with drawn blades and nocked arrows and readied spells.
"Let her go," Hei spat. "Or else."
The muddied ground began to dry, and I floated out to the top. Just as the chains around me expired as well, a pair of guards shoved me down. They pinned my hands down with their knees, so my palms were forced to face downward at the ground. I couldn''t even aim my spells now.
"Help!" I screamed at the crowd around us. "They''re¡gangsters!"
It was worth a try. If these really were private soldiers sent by Fink, that practically made them gangsters, didn''t it?
A couple people stepped forth from the crowd. One of them was my neighbor; he had his crossbow drawn and aimed at one of the guards behind me.
"Put your weapon down!" a caped guard barked at him. "I am captain of the security forces of the Combat Institute. Sophia of the Research Division is under arrest for further questioning. If you interfere, we will resort to force."
"She did nothing wrong," Hei hissed, still holding that one guard hostage at spearpoint.
The captain glared at Hei. "She''ll answer to the Institute''s jury. As will you."
"This isn''t right," my neighbor said, his voice quivering. "You work for a guild. You, you can''t just arrest people. How is that even legal?"
"Put your weapon down," the captain repeated. He raised a hand at my neighbor. A ball of blue fire ignited in his palm. Even as I laid flat against the cold, hard earth, I felt the searing heat.
At that moment, the wind shifted.
Soft peals of thunder echoed across the street. A flash of lightning shone from the rooftop of a nearby house. I turned to look.
There stood Saber, shrouded in storm.
In one hand she held her sword. In the other, she carried the Seekflower. The flower pointed straight at me.
"Let them go," she ordered the guards. "This is a direct order from Headmaster Khan."
¡Was it? Or was Saber just bluffing? Either way, I breathed a tentative sigh of relief. Or as much of a breath as I could manage, whilst the guards held me against the coarse, freezing ground.
"Professor Saber," the guard captain answered. "With due respect, you will need to show me Khan''s order in writing." He looked up at her, squinting his eyes against the wind and lightning. Her third-level ability, which created a 40-meter wide thunderstorm around her, certainly looked cinematic, though I wondered how long she could keep it up before running out of mana.
Saber fell silent. There was no way she''d have been able to get anything from Khan this fast. And, considering the Seekflower, she had probably headed straight for me.
"I will do you better," she said. "Citizens of Silvercreek!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of eyes converged upon her.
She raised the Seekflower above her head.
"This flower locates anyone you can name," she said. "Let me show you. Seekflower, tell us all! Where is 6E12?"
Slowly but surely, the flower turned to point eastward. In the direction of the crypt-caves.
"The Combat Institute betrayed us all!" Saber bellowed. "The Expedition Division is a lie, a coverup for human sacrifice. Headmaster Fink keeps 6E12 in the caves outside of town, and binds him with the death of the expeditioners. The Truthseekers were right all along! Everyone! Fink is arresting Sophia, because Sophia knows the truth ¨C that we are all mere pawns of the Institute. Rise up and defy the oppressors that plot your slaughter. Rise up, you who wish to be cattle no more! Free 6E12. Win the death game!"
Chapter 47: To Save the World
Saber leaped down from the rooftop and landed in front of the guards and me. The wind and lightning around her dissipated.
"Let her go," Saber commanded them.
The guard captain scowled at Saber, then at the Seekflower.
"Seekflower," he asked, "where is Jordan?"
The Seekflower turned slowly, to one of his subordinates. The crowd mumbled among themselves, and I heard a loud gasp.
I saw the captain''s finger twitch, as though involuntarily.
Before I knew it, his hand burst into blue fire, and he swung his burning fist at the Seekflower. The flames swelled, licking the air with menacing heat, scorching my eyes with their brilliance.
Saber intercepted the blow with the flat of her sword. The scream of metal synchronized with a splash of inferno. The crowd began to scream.
Pinned down as I was, I couldn''t tell what happened next exactly. But I think someone tackled the guards holding me down, and before I knew it, I could move again. I rushed toward Saber''s aid, where she parried punch after punch from the guard captain. Before I reached her, someone in the crowd ¨C likely a mage ¨C had blown the captain away with a great blast of air.
Saber took the opportunity to pass the Seekflower to me.
"Run to the cave," she huffed. "Take Hei."
I looked into her panicked eyes. "What about you?"
"I''ll follow soon. Just need to make sure no one dies here."
I hated leaving her behind, at a time like this. But I gave her a nod. Hei, as though understanding the situation, tossed his hostaged guard aside and came running. The guard captain, recovering from the knockback, rushed toward me with wide eyes and fiery fists. Saber stomped the ground; a great and crystalline wall rose to block his advance.
"Go!" she shouted at Hei and me.
And with that, we sprinted off to the east.
At first I heard footsteps chasing behind, though I dared not slow down to check whether those belonged to the guards, or to civilians that wanted to join us, or both. But after a while they faded away. And soon, we had already made it to Ring Three, where scarce few farmers worked the fields outside, tending to swaths of low-growing vegetation. They merely stared at us, for brief moments, as we ran past. I turned back to check the path behind us, and saw no one.
"The guard tried to burn the flower," Hei said as we ran.
"I know," I panted. "No idea what he was thinking."
Did the guards already know the truth about 6E12, yet chose to side with Fink nonetheless? I didn''t have attention to spare on idle theorizing; we had a cave to raid. I passed the Seekflower to Hei momentarily, to free my hands to conjure a Cold Grenade. I fetched my Magus Battlehat from under my white coat and put it on. And as customary nowadays, I had my crossbow at my waist. If battle broke out, I''d be ready.
My eyesight sharpened, until I could see the wave of every tree branch, and the flight of every bird in the sky. My hunter''s eye was back. I felt my body lighten, until running became acheless, effortless. And my focus had never been crisper.
At my side, Hei fell into step with my footfall, and even our breaths seemed to sync. The two of us, on one last mission together in this world.
Hold on, everyone. We''re coming to save you.
We soon left the town behind. Heavy clouds hung overhead, and it began to snow.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
We eventually arrived at the cave. We slowed and quieted our steps as we approached the stairs leading down to the iron-grate door. Just as I remembered, three separate locks kept the door shut. On the other side of the door, in the mouth of the dark cave, stood a lone guard. Just as he began to wave at us, I threw my Cold Grenade through the grates of the door and detonated it.
Frigid white vapor bloomed inside the cave, for but an instant. Hei Voidstepped behind the now-frozen guard and pinned him down. I closed in, conjuring a Frost Missile as I neared the gated entrance.
"Hei?!" came the guard''s voice.
Oh. Wait.
That was the assault-rifle guy from the tournament. The one that got wrecked by the martial artist girl in the first round. Sure enough, his dark, metal rifle sat leaning against the cave wall not far away.
He was in the Combat Division, right? Did he work directly for Fink or not?
Another guard came running, a girl with spiked plate armor. She pointed her trident at Hei.
"Wait!" the rifleman shouted. "What''s going on?"
"Surprise raid," Hei said. "Human trafficking suspected here."
"Put your hands behind your head," the trident-girl ordered Hei. Her plate armor glowed orange, as though heated upon a furnace. It made her look like a crab.
"No, it''s fine," the pinned rifleman assured. "Hei''s a good guy, I think. And he''ll kick your ass."
"Criminals in the Institute are likely hiding a missing person here," I explained, still on the other side of the door. I decided to go along with Hei''s narrative, and left out the details about 6E12 for now. "Please cooperate with our search. As soon as we make sure everything is alright, we''ll head out."
The rifleman voluntarily freed his keys from his belt-loop and passed them to Hei, who then let him go and opened the gate for me. As I entered into the darkness of the cave, my eyes adjusted just enough to see the trident-girl staring daggers at the rifleman. Hei locked the door behind us.
"The Institute sent you?" the trident-girl interrogated me.
"Saber did," I said plainly.
"Ah. You got a written perm¨C"
"No paper trail," I cut her off. "Surprise operation, you know, with lives on the line. Now let me ask the questions. Any suspicious activities around here? Secret rooms, where they might keep a prisoner?"
"Not really," the rifleman answered. "I mean, there are mostly just coffins, and all that sort of thing."
I checked my Seekflower. It pointed downward and ahead.
"Stay on guard," I said. "Follow me."
We twisted through several chambers of carved stone, all lit with what seemed to be strangely undying torches mounted to the walls. In some were rows of dilapidated tombstones. In others were coffins of metal or stone. But no sign of secret chambers. As we followed the Seekflower, we eventually arrived at a featureless, solid wall.
"...Well?" the rifleman asked.
"You''re the guard here," I replied. "Well?"
"I don''t usually come here. I mean, I just guard the entrance."
I sighed. These guards¡really weren''t professionals, were they?
The Seekflower still pointed diagonally downward, which meant we had to go even lower somehow. I bent down, to check for anything suspicious on the ground, like a trapdoor, or any sort of strange gaps. But there were none.
"Stand back," I told everyone as I conjured a Cold Grenade. When they cleared the area, I detonated it right under my feet.
The cold smoke of the grenade expanded outwards and cleared. In that instant, I checked for wind, for the slightest vortex in the dissipating plumes. If I found one, that''d indicate wind, and perchance airway into an adjacent, hidden chamber. But I found nothing.
Should I use Khan''s envelope? But what if he were to send me something as useless as last time¡
"This coffin has a keyhole," the rifleman piped up. He had knelt down at one of the coffins not too far away.
"...Don''t they all?" I asked.
"I don''t think so," he said. He tried several keys on his keyring, but none of them would fit inside.
Hei raised his spear high, then slammed it down on the coffin''s stone lid. A pulse of gravity burst out, resonating within the caves and shaking me to the core. But the lid cracked. I ran up to check, covering my mouth and nose from the dust of shattered stone. Inside the coffin, there was no bottom panel. Instead, hidden there was a stairway that led down. A narrow one, wrought from coarse, solid rock. Glowing white gems jutted out of the walls periodically, lighting the path down. And it was a long, long descent. Despite the stairway being straight, I couldn''t see the bottom, even as I squinted and peered. But the Seekflower pointed right down the path.
I shot a glance at the guards. "You know about this?"
"...Never knew," the rifleman stammered. He took a shaky step away. "This is getting kinda scary. Want us to wait up here? While you two check it out?"
I shrugged. "Hei?"
"Sure," he said, stepping over the rubble of the shattered lid. He took the first steps down, and I followed him, descending together into the unknown.
Chapter 48: This Place Is Not a Place of Honor
After minutes of walking down the stairs without seeing the bottom, I worried that it would continue down forever, like some sort of otherworldly, bottomless abyss.
But eventually, and with patience, we finally reached the end of it, likely a couple hundred meters underground. Before us was a wooden door, locked with a padlock.
"How much do you think it cost to make this place?" I whispered to Hei.
"Hard to say."
But really, I wondered why they had dug this place so deep.
I put my ear against the door to listen. No noise came from the other side. As I drew my crossbow, I gave Hei the go-ahead. He bludgeoned the lock with the butt of his spear. A few solid blows broke it off the door.
We went through. Inside was a stone-walled room, lined on either side with grand, metal cupboards. Glowing rubies jutted out of the ceiling, casting their crimson glow upon everything here. Hei cautiously approached one of the cupboards and opened it using the shaft of his spear.
Inside were glass bottles that all contained a colorless liquid. They were labeled. I got closer and strained my eyes to read them under the brutally red light.
"H2SO4," I told Hei. "Sulfuric acid? Why are there so many bottles of it?"
I had tried to sound composed, even casual. But my voice came out shaking. And my whole body shook. I knew we weren''t supposed to be here, and my nerves screamed unceasingly for me to leave.
"The Seekflower isn''t pointing down anymore," Hei noted. Instead, it pointed straight at one of the metal cabinets that stood flush against the wall. This one was locked, but Hei once again broke it open without much trouble. And inside ¨C to neither of our surprise ¨C there was no back panel, but rather a hidden passageway through the wall. Hidden doors really seemed to be a theme here. Hei led the way through, and I followed.
The room on the other side was empty, with a closed wooden door on the wall opposite to us. At this point, closed wooden doors were the least of our concerns.
Beside the door were lines of text graven into the wall. The words had been carved in large and angular letters, and the text stretched from the ceiling to the ground:
This place is not a place of honor¡
No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here¡
Nothing valued is here.
What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us.
This message is a warning about danger.
The danger is in a particular location¡
The center of danger is here... ahead down this path.
The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
The danger is to the body, and it can kill.
The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically.
This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.
"W-well?" I stammered, eyeing the text, then the door. "Do we still go?"
¡But what was I saying? We had already risked our lives, and the lives of our comrades, to come this far. How shameful it''d be, for a scary message on the wall to turn us back. Of course we''d still go.
"No," said a voice behind us. A woman''s voice.
I spun around, only to see a swarm of swords flying into me. They tore into my flesh and knocked me back into the wall. My vision darkened for a moment as I watched my own blood spray out.
But I didn''t fall.
Gritting my teeth and choking back a cry, I launched a Frost Missile at the voice. And even through my blurred vision, I could see the pine-green dress, the silver hair, the bob cut. Headmaster Fink.
She dodged; my attack brushed against her arm and opened a tear in her dress. Hei Voidstepped behind her, into her blindspot. Fink''s floating swords withdrew out of me, back to defend herself, but it was too late. He thrusted his spear into her back. Its spearpoint, glistening with blood, jutted out through her chest.
But only for a moment. Fink dissolved into smoke, and even the blood on Hei''s spear vanished. I had half-anticipated it, the illusory duplicate. And Hei probably did, too. But even so, I could see how much he now trembled, staring ahead with empty, wide eyes.
For all the training and drills he had put himself through, he probably never trained to kill.
"Surrender," Fink ordered. Her voice rang right beside my ear, much too close. I felt her breath on my skin.
Fink ¨C the real one ¨C appeared out of thin air behind me, close enough that the fabrics of our clothes touched. She held a silver blade to my throat.
"Don''t try your Cold Grenade," she added. "Your wounds weren''t fatal. If I have to, I will kill you. And I will kill Hei as well."
Disregarding her threat, I formed a Cold Grenade and detonated it as fast as I could. She slashed at my neck, but the freezing blast stopped her right as the blade met my skin.
I maneuvered away with a thin, bleeding scratch on my neck. I followed up with two crossbow shots and a Frost Missile into her center of mass. Hei gathered streaks of light and darkness in his palm; he tightened his grip, forging the energy into a Schwarzschild Trident. He hurled it at Fink, piercing her through, and charged in. With all his weight behind him, he jutted his spear into Fink''s abdomen. Gravity pulsed through the weapon and into Fink. The surge of power flung her back into the wall, like a ragdoll.
I checked her HP.
[HP: 722/1150]
So she wasn''t invincible, after all.
I shot crossbow bolt after bolt at her, and Hei charged in to press his attack. Fink''s swords darted at him, but he weaved past their strikes with blistering-fast legwork. Hei''s spear raced toward her throat.
A silvery pane, like a half-transparent mirror, materialized in front of Fink to block the blow.
Hold on. Was the mirror another one of Fink''s abilities? How¡how many did she have again?
A swarm of translucent, gray hands shot out of the mirror''s surface. They grappled onto Hei, pulling him in. He swung his spear at them, but his strikes merely phased through.
Hei Voidstepped, vanishing in a burst of light. But the mirror and hands vanished as well. And when Hei appeared on the other side of the room, the mirror and hands appeared right with him. The hands still clenched onto him, drawing him toward the silver pane.
I shot at the mirror with my crossbow. I launched a Frost Missile and Vortex Shield at it. All my attacks passed through and hit the wall behind.
"Drowning well," Fink muttered. "Crescent eye. Mirror of loss. Offer a flower to the dreamer of dreams."
I turned my crossbow on Fink. Before I had a chance to properly aim, her silver blades impaled me on all sides. They twisted within my flesh, carved into my bones. Pain seared me blind and senseless, and before I knew it, I had fallen to the ground, contorted and screaming soundlessly.
The last thing I saw was Hei disappearing into the mirror.
Chapter 49: Maw of Leviathan
Fink drew her swarm of silver swords out of my body. They floated in the air around me, aligned to strike once more.
"What in the world were you doing here¡" Fink said, sounding more upset than anything else.
I mustered no reply as I remained curled up on the ground, in a puddle of my own blood. The room spun as I fought to maintain focus.
As discreetly as I could, I reached into Khan''s envelope, inside my pocket.
Khan. Please. I''m begging you. Don''t leave me here to die.
But the envelope remained empty. Nothing appeared inside.
Fink scoffed. "What''s that, a magical item? Keep in mind: If you kill me, you''ll never find out where I took Hei. Not that you can kill me, if you tried."
When I collapsed, I had dropped the Seekflower''s pot, and it had fallen upon the ground and shattered. The soil spilled out of the broken vessel, and the flower''s roots became exposed. But as it laid sideways, the flower still pointed toward the closed wooden door.
"Where is Hei?" I croaked.
The Seekflower turned to point straight up.
Fink approached me. I shuddered with each step she took. But instead of doing anything to me, she merely picked up the Seekflower, then took my crossbow.
"Don''t worry about him," Fink said. "The one in trouble right now is you. How did you learn about this place? Who are you working with?"
I checked my stats.
| SOPHIA - Level 4 |
| HP: |
295/860 |
| MP: |
138/650 |
| Arcana Point: |
40 (+12) |
She was right. I was in trouble. Another barrage of blades or two, and I''d be gone.
I tried to calculate if I had enough Mana left to cast both Cold Grenade and Vortex Shield. But I just couldn''t think right now. My mind was drawing blanks.
¡Where did we mess up? I thought we had it. I had done so much planning, and came up with so many ways to get an advantage over Fink. Then my plans and contingencies all fell apart. How did the Builder''s Guild know to summon Institute guards against me? What did Fink do to Hei? And why hadn''t Khan sent me anything through his envelope? He had pretended to be so forthright, so dispassionate and viciously noble. But all he did was coerce me, and my friends, into this suicide mission. And he had left me to die.
"Sophia, allow me to ask again," Fink said. "Who are you working with?"
"It''s Khan!" I blurted out.
I couldn''t take it anymore. My throat tightened. My eyes stung. And the frustration, the grief, the fear I had held back all flooded over me at once. I broke down into sobs, shaking on the ground as Fink stood over me.
"Why are you doing this?" I spat at her between gasps of air. "Why can''t you just leave everyone alone?"
I heard a soft exhale from Fink. With a snap of her fingers, her swords disappeared into thin air. She put the Seekflower and my crossbow aside, on the ground. And she knelt down and stroked my shoulder, and she brushed my hair out of my face. Her touch was gentle, but it still made me shudder.
"Don''t worry," she told me. "You''re safe now. I''ll protect you from Khan, if you promise to cooperate. I will protect Hei, too. And Saber, and Jack, and Atlas. Khan is a jealous man, and he''ll spare no one from his ambition. How did he make you come here? What was it that he told you?"
Amidst my uncontrollable sniffles, I tried to give an answer. "You''re keeping 6E12 in this cave. You, you use him to win challenges. You let the expeditioners die, so you can stay in Silver."
Fink gave me a nod. She pursed her lips into a sympathetic, not-quite-smile.
"Knowing the wrong truths is more dangerous than knowing nothing," she said. "I will tell you a secret, Sophia." She tenderly placed a hand on my cheek, to turn my face toward her own. And she looked into my eyes.
"This is a zero-sum game," she said. "There is no saving anyone. Nor can you harm others, without helping in equal measure."The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"...What?" I asked. That made no sense.
"The difficulty of this game is self-adjusting," she said. "When less people die in challenges, the challenges become harder. When more people die, the challenges become easier. Regardless of how many players you help, or how many lives I sacrifice, the end result is the same. The survival rate of any challenge is between eighty-four and eighty-seven percent."
"So you let your teammates die."
"And in exchange, others will live. The expeditioners know they''re risking their lives when they joined. And in exchange for glory, they sacrifice themselves to help others. Not through the knowledge they gather, but by lowering the difficulty of the challenges, through their deaths. Perhaps the robots in Silver would''ve killed you, or your teammates, had it not been for the deaths of the expeditioners. Does that make sense?"
I wanted to shake my head. Logically, it almost made sense. But¡but it still felt so wrong.
"I''ll need you to be a bit more open-minded," Fink asked. "I''ll guarantee you''ll live as long as you''d like here. With 6E12, we can make it happen. I''ll just need you to tell Saber, and everyone else in town, that you were mistaken. You have fallen for the conspiracy theory of the Truthseekers. But now, you''ve become informed. And together we''ll bring Khan to justice."
"...What about my teammates?"
"I''ll give them all the equipment they''d need to get to Gold, even Diamond. They''ll be able to go home. Of course, you can join them too."
Go home.
"And if I refuse?" I asked. "What if I''m not alright with the human sacrifices you''re doing?"
Fink sighed. "I already told you. It''s not human sacrifice. The number of deaths in challenges is constant ¨C"
"Still though." I eased myself up a little on my elbow. "What if I''m not OK with that? What if I want to free 6E12, so everyone can go home?"
She scoffed. A single silver blade reappeared in her grasp.
"You will not do that," she stated.
Maybe Fink had her points. Just maybe. But to feed everyone a lie and betray countless teammates, to extend my own lifespan season by season¡I couldn''t stomach it. I didn''t care if there was some grand balance, that somehow helped lower the difficulty of the game. Expending human lives like a resource¡like livestock¡I''d rather die than accept that.
Plus, I wasn''t here for Khan''s sake. I came to set 6E12 free. To save all the players.
Perhaps I wouldn''t make it. But at least let me fall fighting for my convictions.
I launched a Cold Grenade at Fink. As the spell froze her solid, I snatched my crossbow, and the Seekflower, and made a dash for the stairs.
I had to find Hei, then regroup with the others. Selfishly, I wanted to see them just one more time.
A silver sword darted past me, bisecting the Seekflower. I strained to keep running. But Fink''s footsteps were already approaching. I turned back, to return fire with my crossbow and Frost Missile. She blocked the projectiles with her forearm, suffering mere bruises.
I made it to the foot of the stairs.
A multitude of swords pierced into my back, ceaselessly.
[HP: 240/860]
[HP:185/860]
[HP:130/860]
I turned around to conjure a Vortex Shield.
[Not enough Mana.]
Oh.
One more sword pierced through my leg.
[HP:75/860]
I fell to my knees. Fink raced toward me, a sword in each hand, poised to run through my chest. Upon her face, only rage remained.
Ah. Guess I shouldn''t have expected anything else.
I reached one last time into Khan''s envelope.
This time, I felt something.
I took it out. It was a small pill, like a gilded capsule. I had seen it before at the museum.
[Ultima Elixir. Allows the user a single use of their ultimate technique.]
I resigned myself to fate.
As Fink closed in, I crushed the elixir between my teeth and swallowed it. It tasted bitter, like poison.
Almost immediately, my entire body grew stone-cold, and I thought I''d die right there. My vision distorted and darkened. The world turned silent, as though I had gone deaf. And every part of me numbed, until I no longer felt anything. Not pain, not gravity, not even the ground beneath.
Everything around us ¨C the stairs, the floor, the ceiling ¨C faded from my sight. Only the two of us remained, Fink and me.
Time decelerated to a crawl. She inched forward mid-stride in her sprint, weightlessly advancing in slow-motion. But my thoughts sped up. Memories flash through my mind''s eye, as vivid as the day they happened.
I saw Hei and myself on the mountain, cornered by wolves. There, I had casted my first spell.
I saw Becky in her last moments, as she faded into motes of light upon her bed.
I saw our team destroying the enemies'' base core at the end of our first challenge.
I saw us moving into our house in Silvercreek, and all the time we had spent together.
And then I saw the present once more. Only now, it wasn''t just me and Fink. In the air between us floated an ethereal, translucent book, bound in blue leather and shimmering like aurora. It opened itself and showed me its last page. Upon it was an incantation.
With every last ounce of strength, every last ounce of conviction, I recited it.
Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn.
Solstice of the desolate land, drink the blood of kings.
Do not ask the tide from where it comes.
Do not ask the moon to where it returns.
O creatures of dust,
Heed the supplications of this asymmetrical world
And forfeit your lot among the living.
Final spell,
Maw of Leviathan.
Chapter 50: 6E12
Trails of light darted beneath me, leaving iridescent arcs that intersected to form a magical diagram. The geometrical construct extended outward from me, encompassing Fink, encompassing the entire room.
A great, invisible force bore down upon my whole being.
Fink thrusted her dual swords at me. But the silver weapons disintegrated into fine smithereens.
And Fink¡
Her body collapsed into itself, contorting in ways a human shouldn''t. Her mangled form compressed into a sphere. Then it unfolded violently. Her blood shot out in jets, through where her body had orifices, and through where there were none.
She practically exploded.
| MAW OF LEVIATHAN |
| COST: |
0 Mana |
| COOLDOWN: |
Unknown |
|
You create an octagon around yourself of size 3142 sq. meters, designating the area within as the Maw of Leviathan.
The pressure of the deepest abyss then crushes targets within for 300 (+200% Arcana Point) magic damage.
|
I thought there''d be nothing left of Fink. But I was wrong. In front of me, her tattered, bloodied body remained.
The moment of clarity I had during the spell wore off. The full burden of my wounds once more threatened to knock me out cold. I leaned against the wall to avoid falling over.
I checked her HP.
[HP: 47 / 1150]
If I killed her off here, I wouldn''t be doing anything wrong. I''d be acting in self-defense, after all.
But I needed answers from her. And¡did she really deserve to die? Wasn''t she just doing what made sense in her own sight?
¡No.
Leaving her alive wasn''t worth the risk. If Fink woke up ¨C or if she was only pretending to be passed out ¨C she''d easily kill me if my guard was down. I really wish I had a way of disabling her, like a pair of handcuffs, or a way to disarm her. But nothing came to mind. Perhaps I could lock her inside one of the metal cabinets, the ones with hydrochloric acid inside. But she could just slash her way out¡I think¡
Lightheadedness overcame me. I stumbled, falling to one knee. My vision faded in and out, and my ears thumped with ringing and the sound of my own labored breathing. I was still on death''s door.
I lowered myself to the ground, then crawled over to her while holding my crossbow.
"Sorry Fink," I whispered. "Don''t blame me for this."
I aimed my crossbow at her forehead. My hand shook wildly, and I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream so loud that it''d wake me up from this nightmare.
But this was real life.
I pulled the trigger.
There was no triumph. This was not victory.
The crossbow bolt nailed Fink in the head.
[HP: 30 / 1150]
¡What? How did she survive that?
I shot Fink again.
[HP: 30 / 1150]
After an interlude of shock, both at her survival and at what I had just done, I remembered. Hei had told me about this, long ago, when we discussed the tournaments he used to enter. It was impossible to reduce someone to below 30 HP without true killing intent.
I wondered which part of me was holding me back. How long would I need to try, before I''d finally muster the conviction to kill her?
I gave up, and instead I knelt down by her.
Her blood-stained dress had a fold, like a sort of pocket. Inside I found a ring of keys; there were at least ten of them. I scrambled to pick it up with my tremoring fingers, which were as slick with blood as the keys themselves.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
My arms and legs felt cold and numb. I began to feel drowsy. Desperate for a vestige of clarity, I bit my own tongue. The pain brought me back enough to stand up.
My bleeding had mostly stopped. Mostly.
With Fink''s keys in my hand, I left her mangled body behind. I hobbled toward the locked wooden door. After trying several of her keys, I found one that opened it.
Beyond the door, there was a massive cliff, about the area of a stadium.
Upon the cliff was a single metal box, tall and wrapped in chains. It had a lid of sorts on the front, so it resembled an upright coffin.
On the left side of the cliff, a pile of glass bottles littered the ground ¨C some cracked, some intact, all visibly empty, far as I could tell in the dim light here. There must''ve been dozens, if not hundreds of bottles. They were just like the hydrochloric acid bottles I had seen earlier.
And beyond the cliff, there was nothing. Just pure darkness, that stretched on and on. All-encompassing, hollow nothingness that dwarfed even the cliff itself.
Making haste, I approached the box to examine it. Who knew what troubles might arise if I spent too long here.
Sticking out of the box''s back, through a pair of holes, were two small hands. Their palms faced outward, into the darkness beyond the cliff. Each finger was trapped inside a metal tube that was attached to the surface of the box, so that the hands could not move at all.
Black veins ran across the hands, as though irredeemably diseased. I grew sick.
"...6E12?" I spoke. "Hey. I''m here to free you."
There was no response.
I noticed an inscription on one side of the box.
Dear Fink,
This is my gift to you, as promised. Now we''re even.
Or are we, really? Think carefully about it.
As long as you take good care of him, he will be your ultimate weapon. The spike will do most of the work keeping him in check, but to cancel out his regeneration, you''ll need to swap out the acid bottles every six months. And do point those palms away from yourself at all times. If you need to be a little extra persuasive (ahem), try upping the acid dosage.
This device is purely mechanical. Don''t mix it with any magical modifications. The protective glyphs inside will cause most magic to fail.
Of course, if you truly, truly don''t have the heart, you could open the box and set him free. Though do give me a heads-up beforehand; I''d imagine he''d be quite upset at me, hah. But come on now. I know the sort of person you are. And that''s why I''ve chosen you.
Good luck.
A date marked the end of the anonymous message. This was written seven years ago.
I grew nauseated. My knees began to give.
Hang in there, I scolded myself. Just a bit longer.
"6E12, is that you in there?" I asked again. "I''m here to set you free."
With what little strength remained, I unbound the chains that wrapped the box.
And finally, with one of Fink''s keys, I opened the lid.
Inside, there was a boy, no bigger than Becky.
His back faced me, and his hands stuck through the holes on the box. His skin was sickly pale beneath streaks of dried blood. His clothes were mere scraps, tattered and rotted away. A metal band, like a gag, covered his jaw.
Four bottles of hydrochloric acid hung on the ceiling of the box. Pipes of an unknown, transparent material extended out of the bottles, and led into the boy. A thick metal spike jutted from the interior of the box, skewering through his chest.
And yet, he breathed. He breathed in shallow, spasmic gasps.
Something inside me broke, and my body began to move on its own. My cold, bloodied fingers tugged the transparent pipes out of his flesh; clear acid and blackened blood flowed out intermixed. With the butt of my crossbow, I battered and pried away at the box''s holes until I could free his hands. I unlocked his gag. And finally, I pulled him off the spike. He was in no condition to stand, so I tried to hold him up, but I myself sank to my knees under his weight.
I tore at the seams of my coat''s sleeve, until the sleeve came off, and I wrapped it around the boy''s torso. It scarcely helped to stave off the bleeding. But, already, the boy''s wounds were closing and healing on their own, miraculously.
Tears once again streamed down my face as I held him, breathless and past the point of exhaustion.
"It''s OK now," I choked out. "We can go now."
The boy looked at me with shimmering, brown eyes.
"Yes," he replied in a soft whisper.
The darkened veins in his hands faded away, and color returned to his skin.
"D-do you know where we are?" I asked him. He shook his head.
"We''re in the game," I said. "We''re in the death game. We''re outside of Silvercreek. And we''re underground." Despite all my pain, I managed a smile. "Let''s get out of here. We can be free."
His lips parted.
"...Free?"
I nodded. "Yes. We can finally be free."
Slowly and unsteadily, he extended a palm upward, as though reaching for the sky far, far above. And he muttered something. A faint shadow shot out of his hand.
Everything above us vanished.
Hundreds of meters of rock and earth, thousands of tons, all gone in an instant. Reduced to nothingness.
A massive hole had opened up from where we were, leading all the way up. I could see the sky on the other side. A cold, distant, crimson sunset.
The boy began to rise into the air. He extended a hand to me.
"Join me," he said. "Tell me you will."
"I will."
As I took his hand, I began to rise up into the air as well. It felt exactly like a flying dream. We floated slowly up, and it felt like I was leaving my pain, my weariness, far down below, back in the dungeons.
And¡I think the boy just made me his teammate. I blinked to check the color of his HP bar, and it was indeed green:
[HP: 9838 / 6E12]
Wait. Why would he have his name on his HP bar ¨C
And then it hit me. 6E12 wasn''t just his name. It was his max HP.
In scientific notation.
6E12 stood for 6,000,000,000,000.
Chapter 51: Overnight Story
The sun was setting behind the barren trees, casting an orange glow on the snow-covered forest. The air was still and silent, except for the gentle crunch of snow underfoot. 6E12 and I left parallel tracks of footprints in the pristine snow as we departed from the massive hole he had blasted through the ground. The beauty of the setting sun was marred by the uncertainty of the future and the weight of all that had come to pass this day.
The hot flesh of my wounds felt the chill of the winter air. Unresolved anxiety tugged at my heart still.
I scanned the landscape for Hei. But he was missing.
6E12 squinted his eyes, despite the dimness of the sky. He lagged a few steps behind me.
"Can you walk?" I asked him. Though bloodied and shoeless in the snow, he nodded. I wished I could carry him, but I was in no condition to. I settled for giving him my coat, which was the least I could offer. He draped it on wordlessly.
"Do you know where Hei is?" I asked him. "He has a spear. And black hair."
The boy shook his head.
"He was with me trying to break you out," I added. "But Fink¡pulled him into a mirror."
6E12 stared dumbly at me without response.
I took my attention off him momentarily to check my team notebook.
Saber reported that the situation in town had been largely diffused. The Institute guards had tried to detain her, but she simply refused, and they left for the time being. Atlas and Jack were with her.
And Hei left a message too: "Sophia is deep inside the cave with Fink. Send help. - Hei"
Had he written that after we were separated? So he was still conscious, after the mirror took him.
I penned my own message in the notebook: "Hei, where are you? I defeated Fink. I''m on the surface. 6E12 is with me, and we''re safe!! - Sophia"
I waited for a response. 6E12 huddled beside me, which made me uneasy. Sure, we were teammates now, and he hadn''t done anything threatening to me, but I still feared him. His sheer power eclipsed comprehension. In comparison, even with my ultimate ability, I was no more significant than an ant.
Hei soon wrote a reply: "Somewhere in the forest. I can''t find the cave. - Hei."
Thankfully, even though I was now on 6E12''s team, my team notebook still worked.
I wrote, "Everyone, meet back in town, back home? - Sophia"
Hei agreed. Nothing else had been written by our other teammates yet in the meantime.
We had to meet up. There were questions that needed to be asked, and questions that needed to be answered. I hadn''t the slightest clue what 6E12 knew, and what he didn''t. But first, perhaps I ought to let him rest a bit and have a warm meal. Not to mention get his wounds looked at and cleaned. And considering the weather, I''d definitely need to get him proper clothes.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Shall we go back to the city?" I asked, peering toward Silvercreek. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon now, and the sky darkened to a shadowy gray, bar a thin rim of crimson in the far reaches of the west. In the twilight, countless glimmering dots of torches or lamps shone in the city. Sparsely in the outer farmlands, then densely toward the center.
"Don''t make me go," he said, looking toward Silvercreek.
"But we don''t have anywhere else to go."
"There are bad people there."
I gave pause. "It''s fine. We can deal with them."
Bad people? Did he mean Fink? It wasn''t like he had reason to be afraid of any Silver players, now that he wasn''t locked up inside a torture coffin.
"Say," I began. "You''re a Legend-tier player, right? Did you get the chance to return to the real world, when you reached Diamond?"
He nodded. Halfway through the nod, he began to tear up. I held him close. I wanted to tell him it was alright. But nothing had been alright for him in these past years, had they?
"Let''s just get everyone home," I finally said. "Let''s put an end to this nightmare."
His glistening eyes looked up to me.
"How?" he asked.
Wait. What did he mean, how?
I stepped back from him.
"W-wait," I stammered. "You know how to get everyone out of this game, right? I, I mean, that''s what I''ve heard¡"
"Who told you that?" 6E12 asked me. "Is that why you came to set me free?"
"I mean, originally, yeah, that was probably the main reason. I didn''t know you were trapped like that, though. Inside that box. If I knew, I''d probably have come sooner. I''m sorry I didn''t."
He did not reply, and he merely stood still, unmoving. Flakes of snow peppered his matted, dark hair. I wondered what to do with him. If he wouldn''t return to the city, should we camp out here with him? And¡he was going to get us all out of the game, wasn''t he? I really needed to check with Khan right now.
Suddenly, I noticed movement.
It wasn''t too far away, at the mouth of the cave, where we had entered from. I squinted my eyes to see a bloody figure emerging from inside. It was Fink.
She turned to us, and she must''ve seen us too.
The three of us stared wordlessly at one another.
Slowly, 6E12 raised his palm at Fink.
"No!" she screamed. "STOP!"
Instead of retreating back into the cave, or running away, she dropped to her knees, groveling.
"It wasn''t my fault!" Fink yelled as she pressed her face against the ground. "The Institute! They forced me to do it all!"
The wind whipped flakes of snow through the air. 6E12 stood in perfect stillness, palm still pointed at Fink.
"For countless years," he said, "Nothing except pain."
Fink shook so much that she was practically convulsing.
"If I could," 6E12 continued, "I''d have begged you for death a million times."
"Let me show you the ones responsible," Fink pleaded. "I know their names. I know where they are."
A shadowy flame coalesced around 6E12''s hand.
"You are all the same," he sighed. "I¡I don''t care anymore. Nothing here is fair, anyways."
Fink peeked up. "I¡I¡"
"Reality, be rent."
A barely visible pulse shot out of his palm.
And Fink was simply erased from existence, without a trace.
As I stood dumbfounded, 6E12 rose into the air. Wisps of shadow swirled around him, like a cloak, and he flew off toward the city.
Chapter 52: Pandora Vox
| REALITY REND |
| RANGE: |
500 meters |
| COST: |
50 Mana |
| COOLDOWN: |
1 second |
|
You shoot a matter-erasing wave from your palm, dealing damage to all targets equal to 75 + 100% of the target''s HP.
|
That was 6E12''s ability. Absolute, unconditional destruction.
He flew toward the city, clad in shadow-like flames, high in the air like a dark cloud. I pursued him on foot. Each step sank me ankle-deep in snow, and I stumbled and panted as the distance between us grew.
"Wait!" I yelled, my voice barely audible over the howling wind. "What are you doing?!"
Exhausted and struggling to catch my breath, I fell to my knees. I jotted down a curt message in my team notebook: "6E12 killed Fink, now heading towards town. Be careful. - Sophia"
After a few moments of rest, I forced myself to rise and continue the pursuit.
I didn''t know what he had planned. But I was scared. I was scared of what he might do. And as the one who rescued him, if there was anyone he''d listen to, it''d probably be me. That was why I needed to be there, to stop him. Or die trying.
6E12 slowed down as he reached the farmlands at the edge of town. A small band of townspeople, carrying lanterns and torches, congregated on the road outside their houses. They looked up at the sky as he passed. But he paid them no heed.
Some of them joined me in tailing him. And as we ran, the crowd snowballed, picking up more and more people along the way, as 6E12 led us toward the center of Silvercreek. Soon, even a city guard joined us.
"That''s 6E12," I panted to tell him.
"You can''t be serious," the city guard said, his eyes wide with shock. "The, the rumors early today about him¡I¡what''s going on?"
"I don''t know," I said, my heart pounding. "But we need to be ready for anything."
The guard nodded and ran off.
By the time 6E12 reached Ring Two of Silvercreek, alarms began to ring in the night, all over town. Squads of guards ran through the streets, many joining the ranks of the crowd following directly underneath 6E12. A captain with a booming voice shouted at him to halt and identify himself. But 6E12 did not heed the command.
I needed to find Khan. He ought to be at the Combat Institute, at the center of town. He told me he''d be in the treasury of the Logistics Division, where he''d fetch magical items for me if I ever reached into his envelope.
I sprinted toward the Institute campus. 6E12 seemed to be heading there too.
Sweat dripped down my face, blurring my vision, but I pushed on, fueled by desperation. The muscles in my legs burned with exertion, but I refused to slow down.
I made it to the Combat Institute before 6E12.
The tall, stately buildings loomed over the grand lawns, all blanketed white by the snow. Even at this hour, the Institute was half-alive with activity. Various windows of the Main Hall were still lit, and I could see people inside. I could hear them laugh and shout. A few students making their way through campus turned to me as I ran up. Farther away, a pair of boys were putting twig-arms on a snowman; they turned to look at me too.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
A shadow fell from the sky.
In an instant, the Main Hall vanished. All of it disappeared, and everything and everyone that was inside. All that was left was a massive, gaping crater, dark and empty. Where the building once was, I could only see the backdrop of the lightless, nondescript sky.
The silence that followed was deafening. For a split second.
Then, around me, those who were still alive began to scream. They ran. I heard them cry.
No. This was a dream.
This had to be a dream.
I saw 6E12 descend from the sky. I saw him land in the middle of the crater. As though possessed, I approached him, until I reached the edge of the crater. I didn''t know what I was thinking. Or rather, I couldn''t think anymore. My head had gone blank, as though I was about to faint.
I lowered myself and slid down into the crater. I jogged up to 6E12 and grabbed him by the wrist.
"S...stop!" I managed to say, my words barely audible over the ringing in my ears. 6E12 looked at me, his eyes shining like icy rubies.
"You...you were supposed to save us," I pleaded, my voice breaking. "You were supposed to get us home."
He tugged his arm free from my grasp, without a hint of emotion. With that, he scanned the campus around us, and rose once again into the air.
The town''s guards arrived behind me, screaming and scrambling. They raced about, waving and yelling for everyone to evacuate the campus.
I thought 6E12 was on our side.
This wasn''t how things were meant to be.
Someone, anyone. Please help us.
In the distance, another building vanished in its entirety. All that remained was emptiness.
More wailing. So distant. So despaired.
Glowing, multicolored streaks shot up from the ground. Those were countless attacks, whether spells or projectiles. They ascended, accompanied by the war-cries of countless men and women. I thought I heard familiar voices among them. The attacks converged upon 6E12, who now hovered far away, his silhouette barely visible in the night sky. The attacks engulfed him within explosion after explosion, burst of light after burst of light.
But then a shadow shot down, from 6E12 to the ground.
The attacks ceased. As did the war-cries that came from that direction. As though nothing had happened, 6E12 continued on his path.
"Make it stop," I whispered. Deep down, I knew I was responsible for setting him loose.
"Make it stop!" I screamed my lungs out. I couldn''t take it anymore.
Breaking out of my trance, I raced after him once more. I didn''t care if he''d kill me. I really couldn''t be bothered to care.
He had slowed down, as though to survey the vicinity. At this point, multiple buildings of the Combat Institute had been reduced to craters. I couldn''t see anyone else around, besides him. Everyone else was gone.
6E12 eventually landed near a stairway that led into the ground. That was the entrance to our underground auditorium. By now, there shouldn''t be anyone left inside¡right?
He reached out his palm at the auditorium.
"NO!" I screamed. I fired a Frost Missile into him, but of course it did nothing.
He looked at me from the corner of his eye.
"You can''t do this!" I begged him. "They are innocents! They had nothing to do with you!"
He merely shrugged and shifted his attention back to the auditorium. Shadowy energy gathered in his palm.
I reached a shaking hand into Khan''s envelope.
Hah. As if he could be of any help.
I felt something at the bottom of the envelope. I took it out.
It was a tiny, withered rose bud.
As though coming to life at my touch, it bloomed. And within the center of the flower, there was a single, miniscule eyeball. In shock, I dropped it to the ground. When it tumbled to a standstill, the eye stared at me, then looked around.
A golden shaft of light shot up from the rose, piercing into the sky and splitting the clouds. When the light faded, the rose was gone. In its place was a stranger who had materialized.
A lady, not much older than myself.
She had chin-length, chestnut-brown hair that was immaculately combed. She wore a black blazer and matching dress pants, and in her grip was a slender, curved blade. She turned her head to look at me. The pupils of her hazel-gray eyes bore a vague, quiet weight.
Then she turned to 6E12, and he likewise turned to her. He pointed the shadowy energy in his palm at her throat.
"Witch," he spat. "So this is where you draw the line."
The lady replied, in a voice I knew all too well:
¡¸Yes. And I hope you don''t cross it.¡¹
Chapter 53: Endgame - Prelude
The lady and 6E12 faced each other, statuesque in the darkness. The falling snow around them slowed to a halt, as if even the elements held their breath. The lady spoke, her voice soft but laden with undeniable weight.
¡¸Would you like to go home?¡¹
6E12''s eyes burned with furious crimson as he glared at the lady. His outstretched hand shook as he clenched it into a claw, as though he longed to tear out her throat.
¡¸You can return now. It''s what your mother would have wanted for you,¡¹ the lady said, her voice solemn.
"Shut your mouth!" 6E12 spat. "You let her die. You let everyone die. I thought you''d come. I waited for you, every day, inside that cage. You didn''t care then. Why do you care now?!"
I could feel my legs shaking beneath me, my body trembling with exhaustion and fear. The lady looked back to me and waved for me to step away. I did my best to move.
I knew her voice. She had given me my magic. She was the announcer. She was the one who had guided us through our journey.
"You only came because your game is threatened," 6E12 hissed. "You don''t care about who lives or dies. Hypocrite. Utterly disgusting."
¡¸You know that''s not true.¡¹
"You will die here. Today. Know that you deserve a thousand times worse."
6E12 thrusted his palm at her, launching a wave of shadow.
¡¸It doesn''t reach me,¡¹she said in a calm, composed voice.
As the blast of shadow threatened to swallow her up, it turned a sharp bend and veered off into the far horizons.
The lady raised the sword in her hand, and pointed it toward the sky.
The snow stopped. The clouds fled.
Beyond the clouds, there was no sky to be found. No moons or stars. Just an empty, pitch-dark void.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
¡¸Cosmos, howl,¡¹ she spoke in a barely-audible whisper. ¡¸Galaxies, burn. Matter and dark matter, quake, decay, and shatter. I compel thee, strange worlds that never were, into existence. I command thee, potentiality and boundaries, to burst.¡¹
Her sword shined bright, glistening with white-hot starfire. Its light flowed into the cutting edge, coalescing into a thin, blinding line.
6E12 fired blast after blast at her. She dispelled each one with a single swing.
¡¸You are in front of me.¡¹
With a barely audible pop, 6E12 was teleported before the lady.
She cut across his torso, in an upward diagonal swing. A crescent of white flames erupted from the edge of the sword, sailing forth, and raged into the darkness overhead.
Blood splattered from 6E12''s chest and vaporized into steam. Behind him, a thin band of stars had reappeared upon the dome of the sky ¨C following the shape of the cut''s arc.
She made another swing. 6E12 ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Once again, starfire shot out of the blade, razed the sky, and restored starry dots in its wake. As though the sword had taken the celestial might of the heavens, and released their power back with each stroke.
I fled.
My feet pounded the earth as I ran for my life. And when my steps faltered, I stooped to a frantic crawl. Light and shadows raged behind me as the two of them clashed again and again. I thought my eyes would go blind from the flashes. The earth shook like a boat in the storm. Tempests blew and toppled trees. Bursts of flames momentarily lit the night back into day. And after every attack I thought that surely one of them must''ve died. But the battle raged on, a neverending exchange of annihilation.
I had endless questions about what was going on, and who these two really were. But answers were a luxury right now, and curiosity could well kill me. I had no part in this battle. A gnat, a mortal, had no place in the crossfire of their cosmic struggle.
But fate had its own plans.
A loud explosion sounded behind me. The tattered body of the lady came careening out of the sky, and it crash-landed in front of me. The impact cratered the ground and sprayed debris into the air.
She no longer had her sword. Blood soaked her clothes, her lips, and the ground beneath.
6E12 descended from the sky, hovering down. He bled horribly from one eye, and still from the massive gash across his chest.
He pointed a finger at the lady''s head. A white, trembling mote of light formed at his fingertip.
¡¸No,¡¹ the lady said. ¡¸Don''t do it. Stop.¡¹
There was something in her voice I hadn''t expected.
Fear.
But 6E12 paid her no heed. The mote of light grew more brilliant.
He launched it into her.
"Synapse, break."
Chapter 54: Farewell (II)
6E12''s shot the shining mote into the lady''s head. White light burst out, blinding and overtaking all senses. I closed my eyes and fell to the ground ¨C or at least what I thought was the ground. I didn''t know if it was still there. Even my sense of touch, even my sense of orientation, were lost in the staggering light.
I uttered the name of the attack to check its properties.
| SYNAPSE BREAK |
| RANGE: |
1 meter |
| COST: |
200 Mana |
| COOLDOWN: |
15 seconds |
|
You trap the target inside an illusory reality of their own memories for 1001 days. While trapped, the target is unable to move, perceive, or use any active or passive abilities.
|
I ought to be fine. 6E12 was technically still my teammate, so none of his attacks should affect me. But it was so, so bright. The light pierced through my eyelids, and my eyes burned even while they were closed. My head spun, as though I were tumbling, falling ever deeper and faster into the sea of whiteness.
As I sank into the light, it gradually turned iridescent. Then dizzying patches of colors began to fade in and out of vision, ceaselessly morphing.
From the colors I heard voices that were not my own, nor did they belong to anyone I knew. They were the voices of children, in the distance.
The morphing colors sharpened into an image, a scene I had never witnessed before.
¡A schoolyard?
Before me was a field of grass. Far away were children, playing and shouting. By my side was a single girl, alike the rest in age ¨C eight or nine at the oldest. She had chin-length, chestnut-brown hair. She wore a sort of uniform. A dress shirt and plaid, maroon skirts. The pupils of her hazel-gray eyes bore a vague, quiet weight. She did not turn to look at me, nor did she acknowledge me.
It was her, the lady. But much younger. Were these her memories? Why would I be seeing these things?
I tried to move, to scurry away from the blast of light. But I realized I no longer had a body. Here, I simply existed, formless, only able to perceive. And yet, I felt cold and heavy.
¡No, that wasn''t what I felt. What I was feeling was loneliness.
The forms and colors and voices faded away into light, but the loneliness remained. Another scene took form.
The girl, now a teenager, sat alone in the darkness of her room. Heels on the chair¡¯s seat, legs hugged to her chest, her laptop on the desk before her. Upon its screen were countless lines of code. She rubbed her eyes. The glow of her screen weakly lit her room: her unmade bed, her nightstand with only a lamp on it, her clock running past midnight.
She ran the program she had written. A window popped up on her screen, and within it was a map with three lanes. Tiny animated stick figures ran across the map and fought.
A video game.
Night after night, she toiled alone. Until finally, a classmate joined her. He''d work by her side, after school at the library, and late into nights together at her house. He''d share his vision for their game: that a million fans would play it, that they''d hold tournaments, with uncountable seas of cheering audiences. And when she''d given up on herself and on their game, he''d be there.
"Alice," he confessed to her, "I''ve looked up to you this whole time. You''ve given me something to be passionate about. So, now, you can''t just...you can''t just give up on our dreams!"
Together, they began to shape the game into something truly amazing.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
The two of them enrolled in the same college, where she studied computer science, and he studied computer animation. By the time they graduated, their game was finally polished, and ready to be released.
But it never was.
The summer after graduation, while he and she were traveling together, a traffic accident took his life.
As for her, Alice, she barely survived.
I saw her immobile upon a hospital bed. Tears welled up in her eyes and overflowed. She cried out for her friend, desperate to believe she hadn''t lost him. But now, her most grief-fueled pleas were nothing more than hoarse whispers. The accident had caused severe damage to her spine. It completely paralyzed her legs. Her arms could still move. But as weeks passed, her condition worsened, and what little control she had of her arm began to vanish.
She opted to undergo a spinal surgery to halt the deterioration. And while the doctors were hesitant to undertake such a risky procedure, they understood her determination, and they proceeded to carry it out.
She did not survive.
Once again, everything faded away, into the light. Strange shapes and noises appeared, then disappeared, over and over, too blurry to distinguish. In them I caught glimpses of memories, as though they were whisking past me at fast-forwarded speed.
I didn''t know how long it lasted. For me, minutes perhaps. But the memories must''ve been enough to last years.
Finally, things slowed down, and the visions once again became clear.
The lady now sat on a train, dressed in a black blazer and matching dress pants. Her injuries were gone; her legs seemed to be working once more.
There was nothing outside the windows of the train, nor was there any ground or rails under it. Beyond the cabin of the train, there was only pure darkness.
Across from her sat a boy and an older woman.
The boy. That was 6E12. In much healthier condition, but I recognized him nonetheless.
¡¸Congratulations,¡¹ Alice said to him. ¡¸You''ve won the game.¡¹
6E12 took the hands of the older woman into his own, clutching them. A slow smile crept onto his face. He said something to her in a language I didn''t recognize, except for one word. Mama.
¡¸You really impressed me,¡¹ Alice said. ¡¸Out of anyone, you were the fastest to reach Diamond.¡¹
"Well, thanks for making me so strong."
¡¸That wasn''t intentional. I do my best to keep things fair and to never help any player. If you were too strong, then that''s just a balancing mistake on my end.¡¹
"Did you think about nerfing me?"
Alice shrugged. ¡¸Whatever powers people get, they get.¡¹
The vibration of the floorboards accompanied the monotonous humming of the train''s engine. The harsh, artificial light flickered every now and then. Alice glanced down the aisle of the train, where sparse other figures sat far away.
¡¸6E12, what will you do now?¡¹
"I''d like to return to Silvercreek. I want to help as many players as possible."
¡¸You know we''re limited to 52 resurrections a year.¡¹
6E12 gave a slow, pensive nod. "So maybe I won''t be able to save anyone. But I can give them hope. Let them know they''re not alone, and there''s someone who cares."
¡¸You''d give them morale, in exchange for your own return?¡¹
"If I can help even a single person, then it''d be worth it."
¡¸But you''ve worked hard to win the game. You''ve truly earned your passage back into the world of the living.¡¹
6E12 clasped his hands. He looked down and sighed softly.
"But this game isn''t about getting back, is it? That''s not the goal of the game."
The slightest quiver played upon Alice''s lips. Her fingers grasped the hem of her blazer.
"You didn''t create this world to save people, did you?" 6E12 continued. "With or without it, you can only bring back 52 people a year. When you made this place, all you wanted was to give everyone a second chance ¨C not in the world of the living, but right here. You wanted to give everyone a chance to live again as who they want to be. Without a past. Without needing to live up to expectations about their future. They can all live as heroes, if they want to. There is no growing old here, or shortage of food." He snuck a look at his mother. "Or incurable disease."
Alice closed her eyes. She returned a quiet smile.
¡¸Did you have fun here?¡¹ she asked.
"Yeah," 6E12 said. "I think this place¡it''s truly beautiful."
The figures and colors began to fade into light. The engine''s roar grew distant. And soon, the world was dark and cold again. I found myself back on the snow-blanketed ground, in the campus of the Combat Institute. In front of me, 6E12 hovered above Alice.
She lay perfectly still upon her back, as though frozen. Her eyes were open, but a glowing film of aura covered them.
"Goodbye," 6E12 muttered.
With one final blast of shadows, he erased her from the world.
Chapter 55: Collapse
Just a moment ago, Alice had been there. But now she was gone. Disappeared, in an instant, as unceremonious and abrupt as death could be.
I breathed shallow, labored breaths, my body quivering and sprawled out on the snow.
Was this it?
After all our toil, all our sacrifices, was this the end of the death games?
The supposed game-master, Alice, was dead. What now? Could we finally go back to the real world? Were we free?
I waited for something to happen. For the world around us to fade away. Or for me to wake up on the mountain trail back in my hometown. Or for a portal to open, leading back into the real world.
But there was only the night wind that blew and blew.
I looked to the empty space where Alice once was. Then I lifted my eyes to 6E12. He hovered, silently, expressionlessly.
[HP: 4540 / 6E12]
What now?
6E12 shot me a glance with his remaining, uninjured eye, then left me behind. He lifted a hand at another building of the Combat Institute. A blast of shadows shot out, and the building disappeared.
He resumed his rampage. Where there were buildings of the Institute, he erased them. As people fled, he erased them as well. It no longer felt like a battle or even a war. It was an apocalypse unfolding before me. There was no point in fighting against the inevitable.
I squatted and watched 6E12 as he demolished the world. Once he had utterly razed the Combat Institute to the ground, he moved on to the rest of the city. He destroyed the Town Hall. Several other guilds. Even the Trader''s Guild, who had once opposed the Combat Institute. I could scarcely guess at his motive.
The darkness and cold made me drowsy. I wanted to sleep. Perhaps I could die in my dreams, without knowing or feeling anything. If everyone else was going to die, I might as well.
I closed my eyes. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to find some small measure of comfort in the darkness. The screams and shouts in the town blended with the wind, sounding so faint and distant.
We had come so far, all of this town, through all our struggles and battles. We had all endured pain and fear; we had clawed out for ourselves an existence, a life in this little town. We wanted shelter, so we made our homes here. We earned ourselves warm meals. We had found jobs we were passionate about. And we dared to be happy, to feel like we belong, even to love those that fought by our side.
But it''d all end tonight.
Is it lonely where you are, Becky? It''s alright. We''ll come for you soon.
Footsteps crunched in the snow at my side. I opened my eyes to see 6E12 standing there.
"Were you a member of the Combat Institute?" he asked coldly.
"Yeah," I replied, without much thought.
"What division?"
"Logistics."
"Before Fink caught me, they were building an underground bunker," he said. "Do you know where it is?"
"Yeah."
"Show me."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"What will you do there?" I asked.
He didn''t give an answer.
I watched fresh snow pepper down. "Kill them?"
"Yeah. That what I''m thinking"
He said it half-heartedly, as if he were just pondering out loud about plans for an evening alone.
"Find it yourself," I said.
6E12 stood by my side, silent, as though what I said had hurt him. He simply walked away, without a word. I watched him search through the dark, desolate campus, examining crater after crater. Deciding that I had nothing much to lose, I trailed behind him.
It didn''t take much time before he found the bunker entrance some distance away, at the northeastern corner of the campus. The entrance was a sliding metal door horizontally upon the ground itself, leading down into the bowels of the earth. Countless shoe-prints stamped the snow around it, all leading in. A lone guard stood outside, without a weapon in hand.
"Is this it?" he asked me.
"These people have nothing to do with Fink," I muttered. "What''s the point? What are you planning to do after this? You kill them, then what?" I doubted I had any chance of convincing him.
He continued forward toward the entrance without heeding my words. The guard shouted at him to stop, but of course he didn''t. It was a voice that sounded familiar. Then I realized; it was Professor Phoenixcourt.
I wondered if I should shout at him to run away. But what use would that be? If 6E12 wanted him dead, he had no chance of surviving.
The professor bent down and traced a glowing glyph in the snow. Thin pillars of light sprang up in a ring around the bunker entrance, like bars of a cage, walling 6E12 off.
6E12 walked up. He touched a finger to one of the pillars. Arcs of lightning burst out at the site of contact, but it did nothing to stop him. He simply held the pillar in his grasp, for a moment, and it disappeared.
"That''s my professor," I implored 6E12. "Please just let him go. He''s on our side."
6E12 craned his head around to look at me. "Which department does he work for?"
"Research," I said. "Nothing to do with Fink. I swear."
"...Sophia?" Phoenixcourt said. So he had recognized me.
I wanted to tell him this wasn''t my fault, and at the same time, I wanted to apologize for everything. But how meaningless would those words be in the midst of all this destruction?
My throat tightened. "Professor¡please, I ¨C"
"Have you no esteem for me?" the professor interrupted, his voice cold and stern. "That you''d beg for my life, in front of an enemy. Far be it from me! To run, while my students desperately pray for a protector!" He turned to face 6E12. "I know who you are, monster. As long as I still draw breath, you will not touch a single soul under my care."
6E12 furrowed his brows. "Tch." He aimed his palm at Professor Phoenixcourt and began forming an orb of darkness.
"Radiant dipole," the professor recited. "Yggrasil''s diseased topology. Thou Nine Maidens of the measureless sky, sacrifice the accursed singularities upon thy altar, and blot all potency with blood. Mana Void!"
A massive gray dome, larger than a house, suddenly manifested around 6E12 and myself. It was translucent, seemingly immaterial, and glowed with a quiet, pulsating aura. The shadow in 6E12''s palm dissipated. I sensed a stillness, a heaviness that weighed me down.
"Area-of-effect Silence debuff," 6E12 mused. "Impressive for someone in Silver. How long does it last?"
The dome dissipated after nine seconds. That was all the professor was capable of. I couldn''t blame him; the spell was already better than anything I could manage.
The wisps of shadows re-ignited in 6E12''s palm and he aimed toward Phoenixcourt once again.
"You''re his student, right?" 6E12 asked me. "I''ll let you say your goodbyes."
I stepped in front of 6E12, blocking Phoenixcourt from him.
"Shut up," I hissed. "Is this how you repay me? I set you free, and you¡you destroy everything I care about? You''re worse than Fink!"
By the wildness flashing in his eyes, I could tell I hit a nerve.
"Say that again," 6E12 growled in a low voice. "Say that again, and I''ll ¨C"
A blast of purple energy erupted beside us, sending me crashing back into the frozen ground. From the blast, a spearman emerged, and he pierced 6E12 in the flank. Time seemed to pause as the spearman hung mid-stride in the air. Thin arcs of electricity wisped from the spear into 6E12. The world seemed to darken, if only just for an instant.
A shockwave exploded from the spear-tip. It launched 6E12 back like a ragdoll.
The spearman who had just arrived ¨C it was Hei.
As 6E12 tumbled to a stop, Hei conjured his Schwarzschild Trident, that immaterial weapon colored the deepest black and outlined in the brightest white. He hurled it at 6E12 and skewered him through the chest.
Dozens of yards away, stretched out on the ground, 6E12 let out a shrill, crazed laugh.
Chapter 56: Break the Unbreakable
When I first started first grade, I had no one. Well, no one except Hei.
When no one came to talk to me, when no one tried to understand me, Hei called my name. Sophia, Sophia. He invited me to play together in the mountains at the edge of our city. There, we chased each other across the fields and dirt trails, and together we explored the wild, green-maned slopes. There we were free. When we exhausted ourselves by dusk, Hei took me to his home to play Final Fantasy 7. Our party¡¯s mage-girl died, I got upset and cried, and we called it a night at that point. Since then, we had kept each other company. And eventually, in middle school, we beat every boss in the game.
Ruby Weapon, an optional superboss, was the last one that remained undefeated. It was a giant tentacle monster with ridiculously overpowered offense and defense, and it easily steamrolled through our party. Hei and I put our heads together to come up with multiple strategies on how to beat it, but nothing worked.
"Just level up more," I suggested. I mean, it seemed quite obvious if not intellectually underwhelming.
"That''s cheap," he said, twiddling the sticks on his controller.
"No it''s not," I protested. "Raw effort is the least cheap strategy there is, don''t you think?"
He pursed his lips. "Hm. I can kind of see that."
So we leveled our party to level 99, and then we beat the Ruby Weapon. And Hei ended up taking my endorsement of raw effort to heart more than I myself ever did. From then on, he had a habit of level-grinding every game where level-grinding was viable, be it Pokemon, Final Fantasy, anything. And in some ways, he adopted the same philosophy of raw effort in real life as well.
One time in middle school, I accidentally let my Samoyed puppy run out through the door on a rainy evening. I had bolted out after her, shouting in pursuit, but she only ran farther and farther. I was so afraid, and I told Hei before I told my parents. Back then he still lived nearby in the same neighborhood. He called the police. And he rode out on his bike, clad in a rain-poncho, in search of the puppy. Almost an hour later, he walked back to my house, one hand pushing his bike along and the other cradling the soaked dog. And he had been thoroughly drenched himself. I thought he''d catch a cold for sure.
"What the heck," I said, taking the puppy back into my arms, my voice shaking with relief. "You actually found her. But you called the police, right?"
"Oh, right," he said. "Guess I''ll need to dismiss them."
It turned out he had combed through the neighborhood three times before spotting the puppy. And when he approached, she had run away. But the next time he found her, a thunderclap distracted her enough for him to grab her. It honestly sounded like a futile effort that somehow managed to work out in the end.
"But you could''ve just left it to the police," I pointed out. "You really didn''t have to go by yourself..."
He shrugged, his silver poncho glistening. "You looked like you were about to cry. I couldn''t just sit and watch."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
That was the Hei I knew.
And it looked like he hadn''t changed much, for better or worse.
In the present, Hei charged full speed ahead toward the fallen 6E12, his spear raised to strike. 6E12 staggered up and gathered shadowy energy in his palm. I recognized that as Reality Rend.
"Hei!" I screamed. "Stop, that''s a one-hit kill!"
6E12 launched a blast of darkness at Hei. But it missed ¨C Hei made a sharp turn to the right to narrowly avoid the attack. And before 6E12 could fire a second spell, Hei closed the gap and plunged his spear into 6E12''s chest. But 6E12 remained unfazed.
I checked 6E12''s HP.
[HP: 4350 / 6E12]
6E12 fired blast after blast at Hei. Hei danced between the beams of destruction, his turns so rapid and fierce, I thought his legs would snap. His footwork was just like Saber''s, erratic and dance-like, but accelerated to a blistering pace Saber''s heavy plate mail couldn''t have allowed her. His spear weaved back and forth, thrust after thrust, its point flashing silver. The spear grazed against 6E12''s neck, opening a bleeding scratch. It tore off a piece of his clothes and shaved off a lock of his hair. And then the spearpoint stabbed through 6E12''s leg, and then his torso, and then his shoulders¡
[HP: 4020 / 6E12]
6E12 backed away to dodge the flurry of blows, but they came too fast and too numerous. Hei was chipping away at his defenses, slowly but surely.
"Synapse, Break!" 6E12 shouted. A white light flashed upon his fingertip.
"Back off!" I screamed at Hei. "One meter range!"
Hei leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. But 6E12, with his other hand, took a chance to fire Reality Rend.
Two simultaneous attacks, one melee and one ranged, proved too much to dodge.
The shadowy wave of Reality Rend blasted Hei. But he faced it straight on, unrelenting. He pushed the point of his spear through the torrent of darkness, parting it, until the spear-tip emerged on the other side and pierced 6E12''s palm.
[HP: 3350 / 6E12]
That was right. Schwarzschild Trident granted Hei 30% damage reduction. Even an attack that dealt over 100% HP damage became survivable. The blast had bloodied him, but nothing worse. Though at this rate, I wasn''t sure he could take another hit.
6E12 cursed beneath his breath as he yanked his hand free from the spear. He turned his back from Hei and ran. As he ran, his footsteps soared airborne, and he took flight into the sky. Hei managed to hit several more spear throws before 6E12 ascended out of range.
[HP: 2970/ 6E12]
In the air, 6E12 took time to catch his breath. He managed a scoff, before aiming his palm once more toward Hei, who stood helplessly upon the ground still.
What now? Do we run? Hei''s Voidstep was likely coming off of cooldown. If he could use it to teleport and break line of sight, there was a chance we could¡
In that moment, a golden aura rippled across Hei''s body.
Wait. Did he just hit Level 6?
But how?! Don''t tell me, that exchange of blows gave him all the XP he still needed¡!
Hei lifted his face to the skies. Upon his back, there was a pale and surfacing glow, as though something grand and magical was about to sprout out of both his shoulder blades. It felt powerful. And in some ways, it felt familiar.
A pair of wings burst out from him.
They were a dazzling white and made entirely of ice, and they were covered with translucent scales instead of feathers. Their countless, crystalline facets refracted the cold light of the moon into an iridescent, multicolored flame. And they certainly looked big enough to fly upon.
"Ultimate ability," Hei announced. "Wings of the Ice Priestess."
Chapter 57: The Last Technique
Hei flapped his wings of ice, and with a tremendous gust, he soared into the night sky.
From up above, 6E12 blasted down at Hei with wave after wave of darkness. Hei veered sharply, dodging one, then corkscrewed midair to avoid another. He dove down, then ascended sharply, then Voidstepped, weaving through the attacks as though he had trained his whole life to fly. And as he flew, he accelerated until he became a silver blur, like an arrow, in the starry expanse.
6E12 flew higher, fighting to keep his distance, but Hei was too fast. Hei closed the gap with each passing moment, until the two of them collided.
Hei rammed spear-first into 6E12. A jet of ice shrapnels erupted from 6E12''s back, as though from an exit wound.
6E12 pulled himself away, briefly tumbling before regaining control of his flight. He shot another blast at Hei but missed. His aim was getting sloppy, I could tell ¨C he was trying too hard to predict Hei''s movements and aim his blasts at where Hei would be a split second later. But how could he? Hei had honed his movement to be chaotic, unpredictable. Any pattern that seemed to be there was an intentional red herring, a false promise he fed his opponent.
Hei maneuvered above 6E12 and plunged his spear down. A burst of gravity sent 6E12 careening toward the ground. 6E12 stabilized and stopped his descent in the nick of time, only to be met with an arcing, followup slash from Hei.
6E12 aimed his palm at Hei. Shadowy energy gathered within. But just as quickly, it dissipated.
Now that he flew closer to the ground, I could tell his hand had been frozen solid, encased in ice that glowed with a strange, gray light. And I noticed, just barely, that the ice was sucking into itself the last wisps of that shadowy energy.
Hei followed up with a series of lightning-fast jabs. 6E12 conjured a mote of light in his remaining hand. Hei grazed 6E12''s wrist with the tip of his spear. And like an infection, gray ice grew upon the wound and spread across his arm and hand.
The light in 6E12''s hand vanished.
Hei ascended, only for a moment. Then with a mighty beat of his wings, he dove down to pierce through 6E12.
And pierce through, he did.
The sheer force sent both of them crashing back into the ground. 6E12 lay sprawled out on the snowy terrain, pinned down by Hei and his spear.
[HP: 2230/ 6E12]
Hei had whittled him down so much. A little more, and I could coordinate an attack with Phoenixcourt ¨C and possibly the players inside the bunker ¨C to take him out for good in one, final volley.
Yes, 6E12 was a victim. Yes, I felt sorry for him, and I had once even put my faith in him. But after everything he had done, and everything he showed himself capable of doing, I had no reservations left. Pity wouldn''t be enough to stop me from taking his life.
"Curse you," 6E12 spat at Hei.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
And then 6E12 laughed. So carefree. So mockful. So¡triumphant.
I shuddered. Something felt horribly off.
"You think I need my arms to win, against you?!" 6E12 cackled. "Know your place!"
Then, for the first time, I noticed it.
All around us, the ground was etched with intricate, barely-glowing crimson lines. They twisted about, connecting and branching out, forming a massive, runic circle centered on 6E12. It must''ve stretched for hundreds of yards on every side.
Inside the strange, arcane diagram, the ground trembled. Then the ground flickered. For an instant, the ground had straight up vanished beneath us. I had felt myself falling for the briefest moment.
The crimson lines grew brighter beneath us.
"Hei!" I shouted. "Get out of here!"
I began to run.
If this crimson diagram was like my own Maw of Leviathan, then anything inside would be targeted for obliteration.
Hei followed behind me. Stubborn as he was, he had thankfully chosen to back off for now. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me into the air. We flew as fast as he could toward the edge of the gigantic, crimson circle.
Patches of ground vanished beneath us, leaving nothing but the bottomless abyss in their place. Then, one of Hei''s wings disappeared.
We tumbled into the ground; Hei wrapped his remaining wing around us to cushion the landing. I helped him up and we continued to run on foot. We inched closer and closer to the circle''s edge as the runes and diagrams beneath us grew more violently bright.
I finally made it out. But as Hei reached the edge of the circle, he crashed into what seemed like an invisible wall. As though agitated by the impact, the wall turned visible for a moment.
It was a force-field, a faint cylinder of red light, stretching up from the perimeter of the runic circle and reaching into the skies far above.
Hei initiated a Voidstep, but the runes on the ground flared around him. He ended up reappearing in the same spot, as though 6E12 had somehow negated his teleportation.
¡Why him, and not me? How did I manage to get through?
I remembered. After this whole time, I was still on the same team as 6E12. None of his abilities affected me.
I knew what I must do. I reached back into the circle, through the force-field, and grabbed Hei''s hand.
The first condition for adding someone to your team: physical contact.
"Tell me you''ll join my team!" I shouted, practically begging. "Just do it!"
Verbal confirmation was the only other condition.
If he joined my team, he''d be on the same team as 6E12 too. Then, at least for the time being, he''d be granted friendly-fire immunity.
And by the sudden stare from Hei, he seemed to have realized as well.
He blurted out, "I want to join your te¨C"
Crimson light suddenly consumed everything. A great force blasted out from the runic circle, sweeping me off my feet. But I didn''t let go of Hei. I never let go.
I landed on solid ground, a few yards back it felt like. The snow cushioned my fall. And the light died down, and I could see again.
I lay on my back, breathing hard. From the corner of my eye, I saw that everything inside the circle had utterly vanished, except for an exhausted-looking 6E12 who still hovered in the middle, above the bottomless pit he created.
Thankfully, I still held Hei''s hand in mine. I squeezed it so, so tight. I thought I''d have lost him. To think that he''d face 6E12 head on, and push that force of nature to its limits¡
"You''re out of your mind," I scolded him, though it came out sounding more like praise.
But then I realized.
The hand, severed at the wrist, was the only thing left of Hei.
[Part 3 Finale] Chapter 58: Banishment, This World
Why, Hei? What were you thinking?!
I don''t know. I''m not too sure myself.
You can''t just rush in like that all the time! Ugh. I mean¡there''s no point talking about it now, is there?
Sorry for messing up, I guess.
You better be. If anyone among us could''ve made it back, it was you.
I never dreamed of that much. All I wanted was to spend my last days with you. So¡thanks for that.
Come on. This is not fair. Please, I need you. You can''t leave me here.
Take care of our friends. And take good care of yourself, Sophia. You need to win.
The snow was a white, solemn blanket upon the earth, burying the past and all that was gone. I lay there, still clutching the severed hand of my dear companion. My first friend.
His final cry echoed in my ears. The shock of his loss was a weight that pressed upon my chest, making it hard to breathe. Tears fell from my eyes, an overflow of the despair that threatened to drown me. I could feel the cold seeping into my bones, a numbing reminder of the finality of death. The landscape was a blur, a wash of nondescript darkness. Alone in my grief, I clutched desperately to his severed hand, to all I had left of him. As though if I squeezed hard enough, if I waited long enough, Hei would somehow return.
Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned to see 6E12, the entity responsible for this destruction, slowly floating towards me. A surge of anger and fear rose within. I should have left him to rot in that cursed cage of his.
I rose to my feet, still clutching Hei''s hand. My gaze met that of 6E12, and in his blank expression, I saw a reflection of my own pain and loss. Why? What did he have to be sad about?
Hei''s gray ice still encased both his hands. If the ice indeed sealed away his attacks ¨C Reality Rend and Synapse Break ¨C then I might as well try and bring him down before the ice thaws. Perhaps my efforts would be futile. But if I ever stood a chance, it was now.
"You are my enemy," I muttered. And with that, I was no longer a teammate of 6E12. He could now damage me. And I could now kill him. Or at least, try.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
I raised my palm toward him and formed a Frost Missile. I charged it with spin as he closed in, now a mere dozen yards away.
I steadied my aim. "Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn."
The air around us began to shimmer and crackle. Though I could tell, this was not the effect of my magic. And then I heard a familiar voice ¨C
¡¸Cosmos, howl. Galaxies, burn.¡¹
A strange, warm glow radiated from the ground beside me.
It was a rose, made entirely of fire, sprouting out of the desolate earth. It shone so bright, my eyes hurt looking at it.
6E12 shuddered. He aimed his palm at the rose, but shot out nothing. I caught the slightest manifestation of shadows in his hands, before that dreaded energy was sucked into the gray ice.
¡¸Matter and dark matter, quake, decay, and shatter.¡¹
The rose bloomed and expanded into a ball of flames, and the flames coalesced into a solid shape. A familiar figure. Alice.
She was wounded and bleeding, but she still carried her curved sword. A brilliant, single-edged blade, glowing white-hot.
She continued to speak.
¡¸Creature of dust, hear the judgment of the queen who never was, from upon her throne of fire! With this blade I sever thy fate. Ignite, edge of Eden.¡¹
She swung her sword. A flash consumed all.
The night lit white with absolute brilliance. 6E12''s form disappeared instantly within the light. The world, too, disappeared. And that was the last thing I remembered before passing out.
I didn''t know how long I fell unconscious for. When I woke up, it was bright.
I was still lying down. But now, it wasn''t on the ground. It felt much softer, much warmer. A bed? Where was I?
The room was filled with the familiar scent of¡cookies? And the warmth of the blanket on me felt like something I had awoken to many, many times before.
I blinked my eyes open.
It was a small bedroom, with flower-patterned curtains. The glass pane of the window was cracked open slightly, letting a gentle breeze in. The door, meanwhile, was closed. Beside the bed was a nightstand, with an alarm clock, a lamp, and¡allergy medicine?
Wait.
This was my own bedroom. Back home, where I lived with my parents.
I shot out of bed. I checked my hands, and I touched the world around me, to make sure this was all real. And¡and Hei¡
I no longer had his hand with me.
"H-Hei?" I ventured to ask. My heart ached, like a knife was being twisted inside my chest.
"Hei? Are you here?" I tried desperately. I felt hot tears well up once again.
A weak sigh came from outside my room. I bolted out of my bedroom, into the living room of what was apparently my house. An injured, bleeding figure sat upon the couch that was against the opposite side of the wall.
"Hei?!" I shouted. But then I realized it was not him.
Instead, it was Alice who looked up and greeted me with a smile.
Chapter 59: The Infinite Suburb
Chapter 59: The Infinite Suburb
Alice breathed in weak, shallow gasps. She looked at me with glazed-over eyes. Her businesslike clothes were torn, her skin streaked with blood. I stood there in pajamas and slippers, silent as the tension between us grew taut as a bowstring. And though she said not a word, I knew that things would never be the same. Not as they once were in Silvercreek.
¡¸My memories. You saw them, didn''t you?¡¹
I kept my eyes on her, not knowing what to expect. At this point I knew nothing. Not what had happened, nor what would happen, nor whether she was friend or foe.
She leaned back into the seat of the couch, her frame completely limp.¡¸It''s fine. ¡¹
I looked around. Were my parents home? Was anyone else here?
¡¸Sophia. You must have a lot of questions. About the game. Or your situation. Or your friends.¡¹
She paused to catch her breath. She seemed on the verge of passing out from her injuries.
¡¸But let me ask you something instead. What do you wish to be the truth?¡¹
I couldn''t decipher her intent. If I told her my wishes, would she make them real? Did she even have that kind of power? The burden of the unknown weighed upon me. I wondered how much my next words would alter fate.
¡¸Well?¡¹
I had clenched my fists so tight, my nails were digging into my palms.
"Everyone is back home," I said. "I''m back home. Hei is back home and, and, he''s alive. And everyone else too. My team, all the teams." I looked down to the flower-patterned carpet. My mother had picked it out when we moved in, when I was only a child. To think I''d see the familiar prints again. And to fear that, despite being inside my own house, I hadn''t yet truly made it back¡
"Please, I just want it all to be over," I murmured. "I''ve been through so much."
Alice took a drawn-out exhale. She shakily eased herself up from the blood-stained couch. Despite her injuries, she managed a shaky but dignified walk over to the front door.
"So?" I asked as she was about to head out. She already had her hand on the doorknob.
Alice glanced at me. She gave her head a single, gentle shake.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
¡¸Sophia, welcome to Gold.¡¹
She swung the door open. At once I saw the dense fog outside. Other houses showed their colors and silhouettes within the fog, but I instantly knew this wasn''t my neighborhood. I recognized none of these houses. And even if this house was truly mine, I knew I wasn''t yet home.
After everything, after all my struggles, all my mistakes, all the things that had been sacrificed in the name of going back to our world...
I was still only in Gold?
This was absurd. I couldn''t help but let out a broken laugh.
"You''re kidding me."
Alice stepped out into the fog.
¡¸Be brave. I have high hopes for you. And¡play around with your final spell, once you get it again. I designed it just for you.¡¹
She departed, leaving me at the doorstep. Her uneven footsteps grew quieter as she receded farther and farther away, still hobbling.
Nothing she said helped at all.
No. I wouldn''t let her go just like this.
Not when she was the one responsible.
Not when she had taken everything from me.
I ran out into the thick mist, chasing after her. My steps pounded against the cement pavement that seemed to continue on and on. I passed numberless houses, on this side of the asphalt street and on the other, each emerging from the fog, then staying for a moment inside my range of vision before vanishing once more behind me. One house with a twisted metal fence. Another house that was run-down and small and covered with vines, and another painted a pale blue with small windows. All foreign to my memories, all without any signs of residents. Minutes passed as I ran. The whole time, I never came across a single person or animal. Nor were there any sounds except my own panting and footfall.
But as I raced forward, her figure continued to fade away, ever more distant, ever harder to see even as I squinted into the nondescript, silver fog. And before I knew it, she was gone.
I stumbled to a stop, bent over with exhaustion.
I was alone. More alone than I had ever been.
Should I shout for help?
I turned back and beheld the path I ran here on. If I backtracked, would I make it back to my own house?
What if I couldn''t find it?
Beating back my fears, I began my lone journey down the road, back in the direction from where I came.
Not before long, I finally saw the familiar shape of my house, in the distance in the fog: a two-story building with slanted maroon roofs and a small tree in the front yard. It was little solace, but solace nonetheless. I quickened my pace as I neared.
But then I saw it.
A humanoid shape, standing barely visible in the thick fog. Right beside my open door.
It seemed to turn its face toward me. And then it came running.
Straight at me.
Fear gripped me so hard, I neither thought to fight or run. My heart thumped against my chest, threatening to burst. I thought I''d die right then and there.
And that would be the end of it all. I¡honestly wouldn''t mind. Or rather, I no longer cared.
If my time had come, so be it. I had already given it my all for so long.
But then, as the humanoid shape came closer, I recognized who it was.
I saw Saber running towards me.
She practically crashed into me, and she seized me in an embrace. Tears ran down her face, even as she tried to silently choke back her sobs. I hugged her back, as tightly as I could.
At that moment, nothing could¡¯ve made me let her go.
Chapter 60: Gold
Still leaning together, Saber and I took refuge inside my house. I shut the door against the all-encompassing fog outside. It felt as though the fog had swallowed us whole.
The air in the living room was stale and still. The only sound was the gentle humming of the overhead light fixture and the shuffling of our feet as Saber and I moved about the room. By the dark circles under her desperate eyes, and her disheveled hair, and the slight tremor of her hand, I could tell she hadn¡¯t been doing well either.
But here we were, the ordinary suburban house I had grown up in. The beige walls were adorned with family photos, but now they seemed like distant memories. Mother. Father. Did they miss me now? The furniture was familiar and comforting, but it was also a reminder of the life I had lost.
¡°Sophia,¡± Saber said in a raspy voice. ¡°Thank goodness. I thought I¡¯d never see you again.¡±
Saber stood before me, her blue eyes glistening. She was still dressed in her usual plate armor, but now it seemed out of place in this suburban setting.
¡°What happened?¡± I asked her. ¡°Did you¡just wake up here too?¡±
Saber told me she had been around for what felt like a day. But it was hard to tell; the sky neither brightened nor darkened while she had been here. As the hours passed, it merely maintained the same shade of nondescript, misty gray. But thankfully, she had spawned in her house that was across the street from mine.
¡°I heard voices so I came,¡± she said. ¡°Was I so glad to see you. Who was the other person you were talking to?¡±
¡°It¡¯s kind of a long story,¡± I said. ¡°Her name is Alice. The creator of this game, I think.¡±
I huddled up on the couch, and Saber sat down beside me. I told her what happened. How 6E12 was freed, how he killed Fink, how he razed the town. I told her about Alice¡¯s arrival and her battle against 6E12. And I told her how Hei came to our rescue, and how he fought, and¡
¡°¡And then he was gone,¡± I whispered. I forced those words painfully out.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Saber stared out, but not at me. She seemed to be staring into the wall, into nothing in particular.
¡°He didn¡¯t die, did he?¡± she asked.
¡°¡What?¡±
¡°I mean, he just disappeared. You didn¡¯t see him die, right?¡±
I clung on to the fabric of the couch seat. And I didn¡¯t know what to say. I felt confused, caught off guard. Maybe even a bit angry at the bizarreness of what she was saying.
¡°Did you see him die?¡± Saber asked.
¡°All that was left was a single hand!¡± I exclaimed, on the verge of coming apart. ¡°Saber, please¡¡±
¡°Did you see the hand melt into light?¡±
That gave me pause. Did I see it melt into light, as all corpses did here?
Did I?
Saber placed her hand on mine. "Sophia, I want to make a promise to you. I will help you find Hei. If he was teleported to somewhere far away, I¡¯ll help you find him again. If he was banished, we¡¯ll free him together. If he was sealed away, all of him but his single hand, we¡¯ll undo the seals. We''ll find answers and we''ll find Hei. He¡¯s my friend too, so I promise you that."
Saber sat beside me, huddling close. Lost as we were in this world consumed by sorrow, she must¡¯ve been saying these things just to comfort me. Yet still, I couldn''t help but feel a glimmer of hope at her words.
"In return, please promise me one thing too,¡± she continued.
¡°Huh?¡± I asked.
"No matter what happens, no matter how hopeless it may seem, I want you to keep smiling. Can you do that for me?¡±
I couldn¡¯t help but let out a stifled laugh.
¡°That¡¯s so¡¡±
¡°Corny?¡± Saber guessed.
¡°I wasn¡¯t going to say that.¡±
¡°Well, regardless. Where¡¯s all your equipment?¡±
That was a good question. I was wearing nothing but pajamas, while Saber had her full gear equipped.
We set out to explore my house. It was a place of refuge, a place of comfort. And yet I didn¡¯t even know why it was here. Was this a perfect copy of my real house? As we moved from room to room, we found nothing of much significance, until we stumbled upon the pantry and the fridge. To our surprise, there was food enough to last us a few weeks, but no more. Saber confirmed her own house had even less to eat.
"We''ll have to venture out," I said, my voice heavy with resignation. ¡°Sooner or later.¡±
At last, when I checked the master bedroom, which had belonged to my parents, I found my gear inside the closet. My crossbow was there, as was my Battlehat and coat. Before I could take proper survey of all that I had found, Saber tapped me on my shoulder.
¡°Look,¡± she said. ¡°Is that a laptop?¡±
¡°¡Eh?¡±
Upon the desk my father used, indeed, there was his laptop.
Strange. I didn¡¯t remember seeing my own laptop inside my bedroom.
I walked over.. Gingerly, I flipped it open and pressed the power button.
The screen lit up with a familiar, musical jingle.
Chapter 61: Finding My Laptop in the Fantasy World
Of all the things I expected to come across in this fantasy death game, a working laptop was certainly not one of them.
I beheld my father''s personal laptop, powered on and functioning.
"That''s strange," Saber said. "I don''t remember seeing my computer in my house."
But rather than the usual login screen, I was greeted with a welcome message, the kind you see when you turn on a new computer for the first time.
The computer prompted me to set up an account.
"Seems like it was hit by a factory reset or something," I said.
After rushing through a quick setup, I managed to log into a freshly-created account. The default wallpaper greeted me. No files or installations could be found.
"Is this what your computer is usually like?" Saber asked me.
"It''s not mine," I explained. "It''s my dad''s."
Wait. Neither Saber nor I found our own laptops here. But somehow, we found my dad''s? What was the logic in that?
Saber frowned, deep in thought. ¡°Do you think this place can replicate physical objects, like our houses, but not data?"
¡°I have a theory," I said. "Maybe Alice has access to our memories, and based things here off them. I don''t know what''s on my dad''s laptop, so she just decided to make it a fresh installation."
The computer showed a weak Wi-Fi signal. I tried connecting to Google. However, after a long wait, the page failed to load. Saber and I tried several more popular websites, but none worked.
"I''d be really surprised if we could actually connect to the internet," I said.
Still though, I wondered whether the laptop could prove useful, despite not having internet access. At the very least, it had a text editor, so we could record information. But that hardly seemed any better than just writing things down on paper.
"You have phone chargers here, right?" Saber asked.
I did. I took her to my room, and there we found a charger. I plugged it into the wall and began charging my phone. After a few minutes'' wait, the screen lit up.
"It''s working," I said.
"Yeah." Saber took her phone out, eager.
It''d be a while, though, before my phone battery would go up to any decent percentage.
"Anything you want to do in the meantime?" I asked her.
"I''m¡actually kind of tired. I was thinking of getting a little rest."
"Yeah, of course."
I nodded, feeling the exhaustion hit me like a wave. It hadn''t been long since I woke up. But all I wanted right now was to sleep. A deep, dark tiredness seeped through my bones. I felt weary, spaced out, and numb all at once.
We settled down in separate rooms, I in mine and Saber in my parents''. I crawled into bed, but there was no sleep to be found.
I could still hear the screams echoing across the decimated Combat Institute. Voices of friends and strangers, all fading into the night. Pleading for mercy. Pleading for an answer. Why had it all turned out like this? Where did it all go wrong? And, really, whose fault was it?
I still remembered the time Hei first called my name.
Sophia, Sophia.
I still remember the first day I spent with Hei. We went to the mountains at the edge of our city. At night, he took me to his home to play Final Fantasy 7. Our party¡¯s mage-girl died, I got upset and cried.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Let''s play something else!" I sobbed. Or, at least that was what I tried to say with my then-broken English. Hei, naturally, didn''t understand me. He got worried at my breakdown and his parents sent me home that night.
It wasn''t until much later, in middle school, that the two of us finally finished the game.
"Well, that was kinda crappy," I said as the credits rolled. I knew everyone would sing praises about Final Fantasy 7, but I wasn''t sure I enjoyed it all that much. This was the game that had semi-traumatized me since childhood, and frankly the final victory didn''t make up for all the suffering it put me through.
"Games are supposed to¡" I stammered, searching for words. "When you play a game, your decisions are supposed to matter. What''s the point if the mage girl stays dead no matter what you do? It''s like Cloud said, she''ll no longer talk, or laugh, or cry, or get angry. What''s the point of playing if we can''t even change anything?"
Hei thought for a moment. "We got to see the ending, I suppose."
In the present, I stared out into the blank fog outside my window. I felt cold.
"Hei," I whispered, "if you could hear me, can you let me know you''re still there? That you''re still out there, somewhere?"
I waited for a sign, half-expecting something to happen. But nothing did.
I wondered what it''d be like to leave this house behind. To walk away into the fog, as far as the road would take me. I wondered what I''d come across, if anything. I wondered how lost I''d get, and how alone. But in a way the idea thrilled me ¨C to throw all reservations and fear to the winds, to finally cast off all the worries plaguing me ever since I set foot in this world. To entirely disregard my survival, my future. Without a care as to what would happen next.
But no.
I couldn''t leave Saber behind.
Restless, I rose out of bed. I walked softly to my parents'' room, where Saber lay in bed, still wearing her plate armor.
"Hey," she said, still awake apparently.
"Couldn''t sleep?" I asked.
"Seems not. I think this place is bad for my sleep cycle. It''s always bright outside. Or, more like, semi-bright."
I sat down in bed, near her legs.
"I don''t wanna be alone," I admitted.
"You''re not," Saber said. "I''m here. I got you."
In that moment, when I felt like giving up, when I had already lost myself, when I no longer knew what to expect from the world, her voice was truly beautiful. I allowed myself to breathe and exist there.
Minutes passed. Perhaps two, or five, or ten. Eventually, we heard a series of knocks on the front door. It startled me.
"Should we go check it out?" I asked an equally alarmed Saber.
"Alright. Don''t open the door until we get a clear sighting."
I put on my coat and Magus Battlehat, and I picked up my crossbow. And I reminded myself that I had been one of the most talented mages in Silver.
We made our way downstairs. From the peephole of the front door, I saw a trio of strangers outside. One man in plain t-shirt and shorts, alongside two armored women ¨C one clad in steel, and the other leather.
"Hello?" I asked, loudly so my voice would make it through the closed door.
"Hi!" came an enthusiastic, female voice. "Are you new here? We saw a beam of light a while ago in this direction, so we''ve been checking houses all around this neighborhood."
"She means the light beams that come down from the sky," a male voice said. "We get those whenever someone arrives from Silver."
"They know," the female voice chided.
"How would they?" the man responded. "They just got here."
Were these other players? Were they in charge of finding newcomers and introducing them to Gold?
"Excuse me," I said. "Who are you?"
"Oh, how rude of me," came the guy''s voice. "You can call me Brandon. These are Sylvia and Reina. We met in Silver and have been hanging out together since."
"What business do you have with us?" Saber asked, her voice stern. "Just here to say hello? Is anyone else with you?"
"Not really," came the female voice. "It''s probably a surprise if you just came from Silvercreek, but there''s, like, no one here. Really, there''s like barely any people. And, well, that''s because someone discovered a loophole a while ago."
I furrowed my brows. "...What?"
"Yeah," the female voice said, "basically there''s this exploit that lets you beat the game. Kinda. And everyone''s abused the heck out of it already, so they aren''t here anymore."
"What are you talking about?" Saber interrogated. "No one has mentioned anything like it."
"Well, yeah, of course not in Silver. The exploit only works in PvP matches."
"PvP stands for player-versus-player," the male voice explained. "It''s something that you can''t do until you reach Gold, since you can only fight robots before."
I tightened the grip on my crossbow.
"Shut up Brandon," the female voice chided again. "They know what PvP is."
"Sheesh, chill," Brandon said.
"Anyways," the female voice began again. "The trick is to get into a PvP match. And then the solution is so obvious, it''s actually kinda lame how long it took people to figure it out."
"Get to the point," Saber said. "What''s the exploit?"
"It''s the simplest thing ever," the female voice replied. "You see, the only winning move is not to play."
Chapter 62: The Only Winning Move
Hesitantly, I laid a finger upon the knob of my front door.
Were these strangers trustworthy enough?
I looked to Saber, who returned a hesitant nod. Finally, after extended deliberation, I ventured to open my front door - or at least the inside, wooden door. Like plenty of houses around my neighborhood, my house had a double-layered front door, a metal-grate one on the outside, and a solid, wooden one on the inside. This way, if we only opened the wooden one, we''d be able to get fresh air while still keeping our house locked. And like now, it allowed us to see eye-to-eye with strangers without too much risk involved.
I took a closer look at the three strangers. On the left was the lady that had been introduced as Sylvia. She had jet-black hair in a bob cut and plain plate armor. Upon her chest, she wore the badge of the Silvercreek Guard''s Guild, a shining, engraved medallion. Just like Mr. Atlas''s, but a bit more beaten-up and dinged. Noticeably, she didn''t carry any weapons on her, at least not visibly.
"Hey, it looks like you''ve gotten yourself a Magus Battlehat," she said with beaming eyes. "So did my old teammate." She had been the female voice that spoke to us through the door. I returned a polite smile.
The guy in the middle was Brandon, who looked about college aged, and had red hair that curled wildly, like fire. He had a Beatles t-shirt, cargo shorts, and red sneakers. Surprisingly, his clothes were perfectly clean and in mint condition. No tears or holes at all.
And to the right was Reina. She looked young, possibly fifteen or sixteen. She wore brown leather armor, and she had her golden hair in a short ponytail. I didn''t remember hearing her voice. Out of the three of them, she was the only one with a weapon ¨C a wooden crossbow strapped to her back.
"I get it if you''re cautious," Brandon said. "Gold feels a lot different from Silver. The whole setup can be pretty unnerving, especially if you''re, like, someone who just came. It can be a bit of a culture shock." He looked to Sylvia.
"Is that the right term?" he asked. "Culture shock?"
She shrugged. "I don''t think so."
"OK, yeah, whatever." Brandon turned back to us. "Anyways. Yeah, this place doesn''t have the kinda vibe Silver does. It creeps people out, you know, puts them on edge. I think it''s by design that it''s hard to trust people in Gold. ''Cuz guess what, here, trust is what lets you win." He gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "I know we''ve teased you enough with all the suspense, so I''ll get to the point."
Finally. Reflexively, I scuffled a half-step toward Saber, apprehensive about what he''d say next.
"Gold is the first rank where you can opt for PvP matches," Brandon explained. "You can do it in place of an ordinary Challenge against robots. In fact, PvP lets you rank up to Platinum faster. But the price is your own humanity."
Sylvia nodded. "Some players wanted to progress so bad, they were willing to kill others. The thing is, PvP will happen even if one side disagrees. If one party challenges another party to PvP, they''ll all get dragged into a match, regardless of what the second party wants. So you''ve got gangs of strong players that banded together, looking for the weakest teams to challenge. Things were bad."
"Mhm," Brandon agreed. "But eventually people realized something. What if you started a PvP match, get teleported to the arena, and, just¡didn''t fight? I know it''s hecka obvious in hindsight, but at first it blew everyone''s mind."The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"What happens if you don''t fight?" Saber inquired.
Brandon shrugged. "That''s the good part. Nothing happens."
"Remember Bronze?" Sylvia asked us. "People were just in the arenas, hanging out and all that. You catch fish from the river. You get the fruits from the trees. You can build yourselves nice little houses."
"That''s what happens if no one fights," Brandon said. "The golems will still spawn, of course, and so will the undead in the forest caves. You just gotta leave those alone. But the rest of the land is all yours. More than enough for ten people. Or six, if you do a 3v3 PvP. You can also do a 1v1 PvP, but personally I think that''s a bad idea. It''s hard living the rest of your life with just one other person."
"Wait," I said. "The rest of your life?"
"Yup, it''s what it sounds like," Sylvia said. "In exchange for staying alive, you give up your chance to go home. You''ll live inside the arena for the rest of your days. I think it''s pretty chill, but obviously it''s not for everyone. The worst case scenario is if people do PvP with the intent of going pacifist, but after days, or weeks, they change their minds. And then they realize the only way to get out from the arena is to kill the opposite team. And sometimes, that''s what happens. Very rarely, though. Most people who enter a pacifist match ¨C that''s what we call it ¨C stay alive and happy there."
So that, there, was the catch. Safety in exchange for freedom. We''d live out a simple existence inside the walls of the arena. We''d have food and water. We could build shelters inside our bases. But in exchange for survival, we''d give up everything else outside those walls. We''d never return home, never see our friends or family again. And if Hei really were alive, like Saber suggested in her attempt to comfort me, I wouldn''t be able to¡
"If you''re interested in a pacifist match," Brandon said, "I suggest we get to know each other better. We''ll need to trust you, and I''m sure you''re thinking the same. And we wanna figure out everyone''s personality since we''ll be living in the same arena."
"This is a lot to take in," Saber said with a stern face. She glanced at me. "I think we''ll need to consider things and take some time."
"Yeah, definitely," Brandon said.
Reina nodded in affirmation. She still hadn''t said anything.
"These seem like nice people to you?" Sylvia asked Reina. Reina gestured back with her hands ¨C sign language?
"She thinks we''ll get along," Sylvia said cheerfully.
Reina signed something else.
Sylvia scoffed. "She said the gender ratio''s gonna be pretty skewed."
"Not gonna complain," Brandon said. "Take your time. But Spring Challenge is coming up in a few weeks, so let us know before then. The robots here are pretty strong compared to Silver."
"She''s got the Magus Battlehat," Sylvia said to Brandon. "I think she can handle herself better than we can."
"Is it strong?" Brandon asked.
"Boosts Arcana Points by 30%," Sylvia said.
"Oh wow, no wonder she made it to Gold." He turned to Saber and me. "Great work, you two."
A beam of light shot down from the sky. It shone down close by, upon a small residence only a few houses from my own. And in the light-shaft a human-like silhouette descended.
"Oh shoot!" Brandon exclaimed. "So many new arrivals. What''s up with that?"
Brushing his question aside, I resolved to open my door. I raced toward the beam of light to get a better look, tightly clutching my crossbow.
Saber and the three strangers followed me.
It was hard getting a proper look at the figure through the mist, but the bright shaft of light helped somewhat. The humanoid shape resembled an adult man. Something seemed off about his body.
Then I realized. One of his legs was missing.
"Wait," Saber said, squinting at the figure.
"Hm?" I asked.
I saw the concern in her eyes.
"That''s Tanin," she whispered.
Chapter 63: We Lonely Few
The beam of light shone down directly upon one of the nearby houses. When Tanin''s silhouette touched the roof of the house, it sank inexplicably through. As though, for a moment, the roof had turned immaterial.
With that, Tanin disappeared into the house, and the beam of light faded. The curtains were drawn, and I couldn''t see inside.
"That your teammate?" Sylvia asked. Her metal armor clanked as she caught up to my side.
"Just an acquaintance," I told her. "I''m not sure where the rest of my team is."
I ventured to knock on the door of Tanin''s house a few times. It was a small, two-story house, painted a nondescript gray. It had few windows, all heavily curtained, and no yard. There was no doorbell either.
"He might be unconscious," Saber said as she approached. "From his injuries."
The three strangers observed from a distance.
"Should we wait for Tanin to come?" I asked Saber. Though maybe he couldn''t make it down the stairs, I thought.
Saber pursed her lips. "It might be a while."
I supposed she was right. In the meantime, I snuck a look back at the three strangers. I hadn''t locked the door of my house. Thankfully, they hadn''t gone inside to steal or pillage anything.
I suddenly remembered something.
"Saber," I said, "Wait. You still have your team notebook, right?"
"Hm? Yeah. If you''re wondering, no one''s said anything new there. I wrote a message but no one replied."
I took out my own notebook. And she was right; nothing new was to be found there. There were some writings from back in Silver. I saw Saber''s report that the situation in Silvercreek had largely been diffused. That was back from when I had left to raid Fink''s dungeon, and Saber stayed back in town to deal with the guards.
I saw Hei''s old message ¨C "Sophia is deep inside the cave with Fink. Send help. - Hei"
I shuddered. That was the only thing I had left of him. The only proof that he once existed. But like all writings in the notebook, it would fade away after three days.
"Maybe everyone''s team membership has been reset," Saber said. "Maybe that''s why we can''t see their messages. Sophia, will you be my teammate once more?"
She offered her hand to me. I blinked at her, and noticed that her HP bar was orange. A sign that we were no longer teammates.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Y-yeah," I said. I held on to her hand, and after a brief moment, her HP bar became green once more.
We were a team of two, at least for now.
When the next challenge happened, we''d hopefully have found a third teammate, to fight in a 3v3 match, or three more teammates, to fight 5v5. There was also the option of Saber and I fighting alone in separate 1v1s, though I wasn''t sure that was what I''d want. We could try recruiting Tanin as our third teammate. But could he even fight? One of his legs was gone.
Maimings were rare in Silvercreek. Most injuries would be healed completely over time, thanks to passive HP regeneration. But I knew for a fact, some people really did lose body parts for real, and they never got them back. Usually it was something minor like an ear, finger, or eye. I couldn''t recall seeing anyone with an entire leg missing.
Perhaps once someone lost their leg, they simply couldn''t survive past the next Challenge.
Of course, there was also the option to try a pacifist match with the three strangers. I did not like their idea. Even if they were completely trustworthy, would I truly be willing to live out the rest of my life with them, inside a death game arena? I''d never see my family or friends again, except for Saber. And our teammates would be on their own, without me, and more importantly without Saber and her expertise.
And the moment someone wanted to escape from that caged existence inside a pacifist PvP arena, the only way out was to kill their opponents.
I wondered if it was even possible for Saber and I, as a team of two, to enter a 3v2 pacifist match with them. Actually¡
"If you were in a team of two," I asked Saber, "Can people still challenge you to PvP? Since the only formats are 1v1, 3v3, and 5v5s."
"We could ask them," Saber said, tilting her head at the three strangers.
"I''m not sure I want to ask them," I said.
"You still don''t trust them?"
"Not completely."
But there were questions I did trust them with answering. Such as questions about the surrounding neighborhood, and what to expect from the nearby houses. They could still lie to us, but they''d have less reason to, compared to lying to us about PvP mechanics.
I heard a thud.
It came from inside Tanin''s house. From up on the second floor.
Then came a grunt of pain. It was Tanin''s voice, all right.
Saber shot me a worried look. In concern, I ran to Tanin''s front door.
"Tanin?!" I shouted. No answer came. I gave the doorknob a forceful twist. Surprisingly, it wasn''t locked.
I knew it was not good to enter other people''s houses without permission. But who knew what could be happening to Tanin right now. Was he dying? I had no way of knowing.
Inside, the house was minimally furnished. Nondescript gray carpet covered most of the floor, and in the living room there was only a couch and dining table. I raced upstairs, and Saber hurried after me.
The sound of Tanin''s hoarse breathing came from behind a closed door. I cracked it open.
It was a bedroom with a single bed. Blood streaked across the bedsheet. And upon the floor, right down from the edge of the bed, was Tanin, collapsed into a heap. Crude strips of cloth were wrapped around what remained of his leg, which was a stump half the length of his thigh. It still bled, soaking through the cloth, pooling into the carpeted ground.
I tried to say something. But my tongue was frozen in shock, and I grew sick in my stomach.
Tanin looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. A deep, guttural sound came out of him, as though he had been choked.
"Sophia," he heaved. "You really had to ruin everything, didn''t you?"
Chapter 64: Rot
The bloodstain on the carpet expanded outward, spreading, reaching toward me like crimson rot.
Tanin''s eyes were wide as they stared at me, and empty, except for my own reflections in them.
Filthy. So utterly filthy.
¡°W¡¡± I wanted to ask him something. About what happened to him. About how he got hurt. But I could hardly speak.
¡°I just graduated college,¡± Tanin said, slurring and panting. ¡°I just started my job, in a web-dev team. There were eight of us, all new graduates. We used to eat lunch together. Three of us were sent here.¡±
Tanin tightened the bands of cloth wrapped around his leg, until the flow of blood slowed and became imperceptible. Saber¡¯s footsteps came up the stairs. She reached me, and looked toward Tanin, and gasped.
¡°One was a graphic designer,¡± Tanin said. ¡°He was in Bronze, and he got caught up in a rebellion. An ice mage froze him, froze his heart. And he was in my arms, and he told me, Tanin, please, I don¡¯t wanna die. Please Tanin. He begged me. But there was nothing I could do. And the other, the programmer, she said we had to live on. We need to fight and survive, she said. That meant more than anything else.¡±
He grunted and propped himself up on an elbow. Gritting his teeth, he managed to sit up, on the ground, soaked in blood. He leaned against the frame of the bed for strength and caught his breath.
"The two of us made it to Silver," he said. "And we joined the Combat Institute. She was a prodigy, always has been. She made a small fortune at the Institute. Then she moved to a small farm at the edge of town. And when you look at her smile, you could tell she was happy."
He closed his eyes. In the half-light of the bedroom, his brows looked dark and heavy.
"I thought we''d make it back together," Tanin said. "That''s what I thought."
"It¡it''s OK," I said. I knew it wasn''t, but I had to say something. Anything. "We''ll find a way, Tanin. You''ll recover. We''ll make it out of here, together."
Tanin looked at his severed leg, then at me.
"You know I won''t," he said.
"We''ll carry you," I argued back, shaking my head, clenching my fists. "I''ll roll you into Bottom Lane on a wheelchair if I have to. And we''re gonna win, dang it! Please, Tanin. We''ll make it work."
"Sophia," Tanin said, cracking a wry smile. "Do you know my abilities?"Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"No¡"
"Of course not. No one''s needed to know. I''m a 1v1 mode specialist, Sophia. That''s all I''ve played in the past year. And my speciality was sprinting."
"We''ll help you," I promised. "We''ll figure out how to fight 3v3 together."
Behind me, Saber gave an empathetic nod. But even now, I already doubted if things would work out at all.
"I''ll be honest with you," Tanin said. "I still like you, Sophia. I used to root for you. I might be disappointed, but I don''t hate you. If I dragged you down, I''ll hate myself until the minute I die."
With a heavy sigh, he crawled his way back on to the bed. He looked down at his stained sheets and closed his eyes.
"Please don''t talk back," he said. "I want some time alone."
I stood dumbly in the room, until Saber took my hand to lead me away. She took me down the stairs and outside Tanin''s house. She closed the door behind us.
Sylvia, the armored lady, approached to meet us.
"Hey, uh¡" she trailed off as she looked at our faces. The corners of her lips dropped.
"...Well, let me know if there''s anything I can help with," she finished, and backed away gingerly, leaving us to ourselves. Her two companions waited for her to join them in the distance.
Saber and I went back to our house. Minutes passed as I sat on the couch, trying to collect my thoughts, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. Yet at the same time, all I wanted was to sleep, to forget, to stop thinking.
It must''ve been at least half an hour before a red glow shone from our team notebooks, interrupting our silent thoughts.
"What was that?" I asked.
Saber flipped through her notebook.
"I think an announcement," she said.
I checked page 50 of my notebook, where all the announcements were made. Sure enough, I found something.
CHALLENGE BEGINS IN 14 DAYS
PLEASE FORM A TEAM OF VALID SIZE
My blood chilled. I knew Spring Challenge would be coming. But this soon?
"Saber," I said in a low voice. "Should we¡"
I cut myself off. She simply looked at me, inviting me to finish.
"...Would you be upset if you''ll never make it back?" I asked, my voice shaking. I hated the sound of those words. What a horrible question to ask my friend.
But Saber only returned an easy, understanding smile. She folded her hands gently upon her lap and looked out the window.
"I have nothing to go back to," she said.
"Don''t say things like that," I scolded her.
"But it''s true." Saber placed a palm on the side of her waist. "My kidney has already failed. My passive HP regeneration, here in this world, is what''s keeping me alive. This world is my only home."
She never mentioned that to me. Not one bit. The whole time, had she been fighting, pressing forward, without the desire to even make it back alive?
"Saber¡tell me you''re kidding."
She gave her head a shake. "I''m dead serious. Sophia, I know you''re thinking about a pacifist match. About staying peacefully in the arena, with Tanin, and those three. As long as you''re sure that''s what you want, I''ll gladly spend the rest of my days with you."
Chapter 65: Ive Already Fought My Hardest, So Is It OK to Just Settle for the Second-Best Ending?
Over the next few days, I waited for a miracle. But none came, except for the one we were already given.
The miracle of the pacifist matches.
A way out of these endless death games.
I thought maybe Mr. Atlas or Jack would beam down from the sky. If they did, we could perhaps brute-force our way through the upcoming challenge. Or maybe Tanin''s leg would begin to heal. But nothing of the sort happened. The date of the next challenge drew closer. I knew, and Saber knew, and Tanin knew, that the three of us had slim chances of surviving a 3v3 match versus the robots here in Gold, given that Tanin was in no shape to fight.
"We''d love to partner with you," Sylvia told Saber and me one day after lunch, "for a pacifist match. But we''ll need to decide soon. If you aren''t up for it, I''ll understand, but we''ll need to move on. Me and my friends will need to find another team of three that wants to pacifist-match, before the challenge starts."
We sat in the driveway of my house. I still felt hungry, despite having eaten. Food was running scarce inside my pantry, and we had to ration sparingly.
"I understand," I admitted. "At this point, I''m honestly not opposed to your plan."
I looked towards Saber. She gave a weighty nod.
"Then let''s move forward," she said.
"You need to be fully sure," Sylvia told me. "Once you''re in the arena, there''s no turning back. Can you promise me you won''t regret anything?"
"I¡I don''t know," I admitted. "It''s a bit scary. I''ve barely met you and your friends. Now you''re saying we''re gonna live together forever."
Sylvia chuckled. "It''s not any easier on our side. You think we should all get together, get to know each other a bit more?"
That would make sense to do.
The next day, with what rations we had left, the six of us ¨C Sylvia, Brandon, Reina, Saber, Tanin, and myself ¨C prepared a meager potluck for dinner. Well, I''d call it dinner, but since no day-night cycle existed here, it was mostly just my designated meal before I''d go to sleep. Tanin had a different sleep schedule, so for him it''d be lunch.
I hosted the meal at my place, since my house was the largest one around here.
I made and brought instant ramen, and Saber helped make grilled cheese sandwiches. Tanin delighted us with hot spaghetti and meatballs. He lived downstairs nowadays for the most part, and he''d move around by sliding on an office chair with wheels. He also had a mop he used as a makeshift crutch. Though he did have to get help from Reina in the kitchen.
As we ate, I talked about my life back home, about my like for video games and cheeseburgers, and about the life I led in Silvercreek.
"Saber and I are pretty nice people," I said as I helped myself to precious morsels of meatballs. "I can clean things really well, with my Ring of Water Purification. I used to be a professional janitor in the Combat Institute. So you can count on me to keep our places clean."
"I can help with construction," Saber said. "I''m pretty strong physically, I think."
Neither she nor Tanin brought up the fact that the Combat Institute was gone now.
Sylvia used to be an elementary school teacher back in our world. She grew up in a rural town, and had experience with farming. Brandon was a third-year college student studying Business. He liked "non-American football" a lot and also liked board games.
"I, uh, I can also help with construction," he said, sneaking a glance at Saber, before looking around the group and giving a smile.
Huh.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
And Reina was still in high school. She didn''t talk much, Sylvia explained, since English wasn''t her first language.
"Reina can speak English," Sylvia said. "She''s just a bit shy about it though, but don''t worry, she definitely understands you."
At the end of dinner, all of us confirmed our intent to enter a pacifist match together.
Sylvia gave me a wink. "No regrets?"
"No regrets," I said. "Thank you for¡partnering with us, I suppose."
"I know it''s not an easy decision. For anyone. And things won''t always go smoothly in the days ahead. Your trust in us ¨C our trust in each other ¨C means a lot. It''s what will see us through."
With our plans to start a pacifist match confirmed, we began to plan out the logistical aspects.
Unsurprisingly, Sylvia''s team had spent much longer thinking through the details.
"You should bring tents and sleeping bags if you have them," Brandon explained to Saber as they sat together on the couch. "Really, anything you can carry, since the things you carry, like, on your person, is what you get to bring into the arena. You want somewhere nice to stay the first few nights, while we''re still building up proper shelters."
Saber stroked her chin in thought. "Maybe we could set up a tent in the corner of our base?"
"That''s exactly my plan!" Brandon said with a grin.
I think I had a tent and sleeping bags in the garage. Saber didn''t have any, but my tent had been large enough for my whole family, so she could camp in with me for a while.
Before we parted ways, Sylvia instructed us to gather any seeds we could find. Her team had been collecting seeds for crops. Brandon saved rice, appleseeds, and oats from his food supplies. Reina had seeds from an orange, plus two potatoes. Even though we''d have pine-melons and fishes inside the arena, it''d always be great to have more variety, especially if we were going to spend the rest of our days there. Tanin managed to harvest seeds from a sickly tomato plant he had. As for me, I had oatmeal, but Brandon already had that covered. So there wasn''t much for me to contribute.
We scheduled to begin our pacifist match in three days.
That gave me a bit more time to poke around on my computer. I wanted to bring it, even though there''d be no internet or electricity inside the arena. Who knew, maybe someday we''d build a primitive generator or something.
The computer still couldn''t connect to the internet. But I did manage to find a bunch of software disks on my dad''s bookshelves, and installed practically anything I found onto the computer. Microsoft Office, some tax-reporting software, some physics simulator my dad used for his engineering job. There was also a backup disk with a bunch of his work files, old bank statements, and an installation of the Python programming language.
Surprisingly, all the installations worked. I wondered how Alice, the game-master, managed to replicate even the disks inside my house, down to the level of precision needed to install softwares from them.
Soon came the day of our departure into the arena. Before I left, I penned a note and taped it to the inside of my window, so anyone walking by could see:
To whomever may find this message,
I am Sophia the ice mage. Saber is with me, and so is Tanin. If you find this message, it means that I have left for a pacifist match with Sylvia, Brandon, and Reina. We''ll be inside an arena for 3v3, but we won''t be fighting. Instead, we''ll spend the rest of our days there in safety. Tanin is injured, and we could not find another teammate. We didn''t have many other options available to us.
To all my friends, I am thankful for how far we''ve come together, up until now. Thank you, Jack and Mr. Atlas. Thank you, Hei, if you are still out there. I love you. Do your best!
Nothing could make me happier than knowing you''re still carrying on. Know that I am carrying on, too. Inside our arena, I''ll be with our friends, and we''ll work to find our own happiness. In a way, getting to this point is our own small victory.
It''s been a good run. We''ve made it. We''ve survived.
I''ll miss you. If anyone makes it back, please let my parents and friends know I won''t be returning, but I''m doing well. You can reach them at 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX.
My dearest regards,
Sophia
As I stood outside my house, checking how my note looked to passers-by, the rest of our group walked up to me. All our supplies had been gathered. The last to arrive was Tanin, hobbling along on one leg. He looked weary but he smiled at us.
"Are you folks ready?" Sylvia asked everyone. We were.
And with that, she cleared her throat.
"Sophia, Saber, Tanin," she announced. "I, Sylvia, and my teammates, Reina and Brandon, challenge you to a three-versus-three match!"
A flash of light consumed us. When the light faded, the perpetual mist that engulfed everything disappeared, and with it the infinite suburb was gone as well. Once again I saw the sky, the clouds, the bright and beaming sun.
The soft, grassy field under my feet waved in the gentle breeze.
I looked to my left and right. Saber and Tanin were there.
Around us were the tall stone walls of our base.
We had returned to the arena once more.
[Part 4 Finale] Chapter 66: Thank You
In the days before we initiated a pacifist match, our two teams had finalized the logistics and rules.
First off, the 3v3 arena, which were entering, had the exact same layout as the 5v5 arena. Usually you''d send a single player into each lane, but of course that wasn''t the case here, since we wouldn''t be fighting at all.
In fact, the first and foremost rule was to never go near any of the lanes, and never interact with any of the golems marching down our lanes. Those were, as Saber occasionally called them, our "minions". On their own, the golems from either side would fight along the midline of the map, locked in perpetual stalemate. Killing even a single one would upset that delicate balance.
"In theory, it shouldn''t be too disastrous," Saber had explained to us. "Worst case, the golems on one side wipe out the golems on the other, but then they march to the opposing tower and die to the tower''s laser attacks. And then the golems will reset to stalemating in the middle. It''s like a self-repairing system, kind of."
The second rule was to meet the opposing team only near the river. Traveling to the opposing base was out of question; laser-firing towers guarded each of the three entrances. They fired automatically at any "enemies" within range, and they didn''t care that we had no plans to fight.
The third rule was to only forage on our side of the river, unless given explicit permission otherwise. Pretty straightforward; we didn''t want anyone hoarding all the food. That being said, we did plan to start a shared, communal farm by the riverside once we settled down. And we could create a common area, between the lanes and near the river, where all of us could live together.
In the first hour or so after we arrived in the arena, Saber and I kept ourselves busy setting up shelter. For now, the tent we brought would have to do. We began to pitch it in the back corner of our base, near the vending machine. There, the walls of the arena blocked the winds.
"We should build a log cabin soon," I told Saber and Tanin. "Saber''s pretty strong, so she can probably carry logs around without much trouble."
"I can also Smite down some trees," she added.
I wondered what the three players on the other team could do. Did they have any skills that would be useful for construction? But those would only help us if we wanted to build something in the common area. They wouldn''t be able to contribute to any projects inside our base.
I began to break a slight sweat as I worked. The sun felt wonderful on my skin; I had spent way too many days within the nondescript, numbing fog of the infinite suburbs. I took off my pointy hat and strapped it on my back. The wind ruffled my hair.
It felt good. To have mornings again. To see the sky. And somewhere near, there were birds chirping their cadences. I took a quick break from work and strolled to the gate of our base. A line of our golems ¨C green ones ¨C marched down the lane. I waved at them. One waved back with its stubby stone arm.
"Stay safe out there, OK?" I said, then chuckled to myself. Poor things. They didn''t know we no longer had to fight anymore.
Outside the base was the forest. There, the pines bore pine-melons. The earthy fragrance of the wilderness blew over me. A cloud lazily drifted, casting its shadow across distant fields and trees.
During this first week, perhaps I could make Tanin a prosthetic leg. It didn''t have to be fancy or anything. Heck, a wooden peg-leg would do. Just something to help him get back on his feet again, literally.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I might as well start early. A sturdy, oak-like tree grew nearby. I shot off one of its branches with a Frost Missile, then dragged the branch back into our base. It was a thick, heavy branch, certainly large enough to make a leg out of.
Before noon, I finished setting up the tent with Saber.
Our team laid out our supplies. Between us we had bedrolls, clothes, cookware, rations, and some seeds. Tanin also brought along a large plastic storage box with wheels, which we''d use for storing water.
For lunch today, we''d forage for pine-melons. I could also try my hand at fishing.
I helped check on Tanin''s leg inside our tent. The wounds had already closed, and he hadn''t the slightest sign of an infection. Even though our HP regeneration wasn''t capable of restoring limbs, it still did a great job of healing up injuries nonetheless.
"Sophia, be real with me," Tanin said in a low, measured tone. "You really feel OK about all this?"
I sat cross-legged on the tarp flooring of the tent. Frankly, that question hadn''t really crossed my mind since we arrived in the arena.
I combed my hair behind my ear. "Remember when you gave Saber an interview, way back? About how to play this game. And when I asked you what the correct answer is, you told me. The victors are those that live."
Tanin glanced aside. "Is that so?"
"I mean, I don''t really feel victorious now. Not after everything I had lost. And¡everyone."
I stopped. If I said another word, I''d break into tears again. I had grown so accustomed to crying over these past weeks.
"But in the end, you still made it," Tanin finished my thought for me. "And so did I."
I gave him a nod. Before my feelings became overwhelming, I crawled back out of the tent.
Tanin''s plastic crate sat nearby. I decided to go to the river to fill it up. Possibly bring back a couple fishes as well.
By this point, I knew the layout of the arena well. From challenge to challenge, some minor details would change, such as the exact number of branches on a tree. But most things were consistent, from the shape of the river, to the locations of tree-groves and clearings, to even the size and shape of boulders across the arena. So I had no trouble navigating to the river. It shimmered with beautiful shades of teal in the light of midday.
To my surprise, Brandon called my name from upstream.
"What are you doing here?" I shouted across the river at him.
"Check this out," he said. He made a thrusting motion with his palm down at the river. A thread of web shot out of his wrist into the waters. Then it retracted, carrying a fish back into his grasp.
"Bruh," I said. "Spiderman?!"
"That''s what I picked as my power," he said. "And¡oh yeah! Before I forget."
Brandon clumsily waded across the river to me. At several points he looked like he should''ve fallen over, but didn''t. I guess he had sticky feet like Spiderman, too.
"Here," he said, offering me a burlap sack he had slung across his back. "This is for Saber."
I cautiously opened it up. Inside was a pair of small, live rabbits. They seemed panicked out of their minds, but were otherwise fine.
I stared at the little critters, then back at Brandon. "...Eeeehhhh?!"
"She, uh." Brandon scratched the back of his head. "We were talking, and, uh, she mentioned she was thinking of getting a rabbit farm. I thought that was pretty cool. The rabbits are for her. And for you too, I guess. Do what you wanna with them. Just let her know she can''t milk the rabbits. That''s what she asked me, if rabbits can be milked. I already told her no, but make sure she doesn''t, just in case. That''s not how rabbits work."
I opened up the mouth of the sack, then lowered it into my plastic box-cart. That seemed to have calmed the rabbits down a bit. Water and fishes would need to wait until my next trip.
"Sure thing Brandon," I said with a grin. "I''ll let Saber know you got these for her."
With that, I started on my journey back to our base.
Over the past days, I had thought of this pacifist match as an ending. But really, it was a beginning. Of a new life, of new relationships. It was a chance to put our bloodied pasts behind.
Of course, we''d never forget the ones we had lost along the way. And the ones still fighting out there for the right to live. And the ones whose fate we didn''t know.
We''d always keep our dear comrades in our hearts. The ones we had entrusted our lives to. The ones we had fought to protect. The ones who were there to see us smile.
To every one of them ¨C
Thank you.
Chapter 67: Lets Breed Ekko and Jinx!
Chapter 67: Let''s Breed Ekko and Jinx!
Saber foraged pine-melons for lunch. It had been weeks since I last had those. They tasted great, like honeydews, with subtle grassy notes layered on top. I ate in big bites, and the juices ran clear and free down my chin.
I had also caught a few fishes by hurling a Cold Grenade into the river, freezing a section of it, then chipping out blocks of ice with fish still stuck inside. It wasn''t the most efficient way to catch fishes. But it''d have to do, until we found time to make nets. The fishes would be for dinner, once we had time to start a proper fire and cook.
I wondered if we had to worry about overfishing. I doubted it; the river was a couple miles long, so there ought to be enough fish to feed the six of us indefinitely.
In the afternoon, Saber and I constructed an earthen wall that fenced off about a bedroom''s worth of space, in one corner of our base. It reached up to my thighs, and I could comfortably step over. We''d use it as our animal enclosure. For now, the only residents there were our two bunnies, courtesy of Brandon.
"I''m going to name them Ekko and Jinx," Saber decided.
I watched as the two rabbits frolicked inside the pen we had just constructed for them. They had finally calmed down a bit.
"If we want to start a farm, should we get more genetic diversity?" I asked her. "We can''t breed only the two of them, since then their babies would just, like, commit incest."
"That''s a fair point. How many do we need?"
I estimated eight.
"I''ll need to catch them by hand," I pointed out. "If I try to immobilize them with Cold Grenade, they''ll just die."
"Bummer. We''ll figure out the farm later then."
I agreed. We definitely wanted crops and domesticated animals, but that wasn''t top priority, since we had a steady source of food from foraging and hunting. Not to mention the rations we brought with us from the suburbs.
What about shelter? We had a tent, but it''d be nice to set up a house soon. A log cabin would easily take months to build in real life. But here, Saber was superhuman, with bull-like strength even at level 1. And my Frost Missiles would make short work of cutting down trees. I knew I had some capacity of reshaping the projectiles. Instead of the regular, dart-like missiles, I could shape ones into a flat blade?This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I began to conjure a Frost Missile, imagining it to be in the shape of an axe head. To my surprise, it came out exactly as I had imagined.
Sometimes, I''d forget how experienced I was as a mage now.
On the opposite side of our base, Tanin had set up a second, smaller tent next to Saber and mine. He hadn''t mentioned that he''d bring his own tent, but it was nice that the three of us didn''t have to all squeeze into a single one. He had also started a small campfire near our tents. The gray wisps of smoke rose higher and higher, eventually fading away into the clear, blue sky.
Saber and I spent the rest of the afternoon fetching logs from the forests nearby. By evening, we had a dozen or so logs hauled into our base. Tanin pan-seared fishes for our dinner, and we ate heartily, appetites worked up by labor.
After a long day of building and planning, Saber and I were ready to take a break. We decided to go for a swim in the river as the sun began to set.
The water was cool and clear, and we waded in up to our waists. I splashed the cool, crisp water on my face. We dunked our heads under the water and swam around, enjoying the weightlessness. After a while, we made our way back to shore and sat on a nearby rock to dry off. The sky turned pink and orange as the sun dipped below the horizon, and the stars began to twinkle above.
From the river, we could see all three lanes. The golems were all fighting at the midpoints of the lanes, between the towers, like they were supposed to.
As night fell, we returned to our base. I changed into pajamas, and even Saber exchanged her armor for sleepwear. And Saber and I huddled into the sleeping bags inside our tent. Tanin, meanwhile, sat outside by the dancing, crackling campfire.
"Night, Tanin," I bid him, and tucked myself into my sleeping bag.
The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was Saber''s soft, tired snoring.
Throughout the night I must''ve woken up and went back to sleep several times, the way I would on a long plane trip. I always tried to sleep through those 12-hour, 14-hour flights. I''d doze off after takeoff, then wake up, thinking the trip was nearly over, but invariably only a couple hours would''ve passed. That was how I spent this night ¨C I''d wake up, expecting dawn, only to realize it was still dark, then fall back asleep.
Eventually, some time during the night, Saber called my name.
"Sophia," she said gently. "Are you awake?"
"No."
"..."
"OK, that was a lie," I said while stifling a yawn. "Yeah, what''s up? It''s still dark¡"
Saber looked at her phone, which still had battery left. We had made sure to fully charge all our electronics before the start of this challenge.
"...That''s the thing," Saber said. "It''s still dark."
"Huh?"
"It''s already noon," Saber said. "But the sun still hasn''t come up."
Chapter 68: So Long and Good Night, So Long and Good Night
We waited inside our tent. And we waited. But the night didn''t end.
The sun had set yesterday at 7 P.M. Now it was almost 3 o''clock in the afternoon. It had been over 20 hours, but not the slightest crack of dawn had yet breached the pitch-dark sky.
The moon was nowhere to be seen.
Tanin joined Saber and me in our tent.
"How long is it going to last?" Saber asked him.
"Beats me," Tanin said. "Sylvia and them might have an idea. Nights could last a few months, up in polar regions. That''s the worst case if we''re talking about earth. Here, hard to say."
We grew hungry and ate. We grew cold and kindled a campfire outside our tent. The wind blew cold through our tents. Saber trembled from the cold, and our breaths fogged. Despite the ice magic in my veins, I still felt a noticeable chill. I fetched our bunnies from their enclosure, and gave one each to Tanin and Saber to keep everyone warm.
"We need to meet with the other team," I decided. "This worries me. A lot."
"It could be foul play," Tanin said.
He didn''t elaborate, but I knew what he meant.
Sylvia, Brandon, and Reina were all strangers we met weeks ago. And while we had bitten the bullet and put our trust in them, there was always the chance that we had made a mistake. Perhaps this lengthened night was their doing. As much as I wished to believe in them, I had to remain on guard.
"Should we go survey the lanes, then?" I asked. "To make sure they hadn''t made a move."
The others agreed. We geared up for battle and left the safety of our base. The three of us went out together, with Tanin leaning upon Saber. I led the way, using the flashlight of my phone to scout. The battery would last us an hour, probably less.
As per our prior agreement with Sylvia''s team, we did not approach the lanes. Rather, we came near, stopping by the shore of the river next to the middle lane. The golems fought at the halfway point between the towers, as they were supposed to. We saw no signs of the other team, not even tracks or footprints upon the lane. Both towers were undamaged. We then walked over to near the top lane, then the bottom lane. Likewise,they appeared untouched, as we scouted them from a distance. We stopped by the riverside near the bottom lane.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Far away, across the river and on the other side of the arena, a column of smoke rose up, barely visible in the darkness. It seemed to come from inside the other team''s base.
"Looks like they''ve also started a fire," I said.
I knelt down and felt the temperature of the river water. It was ice-cold now, after nearly a full day without the sun''s warmth. With my cold tolerance, I could probably cross it without much issue, though Saber and Tanin might suffer from hypothermia if they waded through and didn''t dry themselves afterwards.
I took a few steps into the river, testing how well I could cross it. When my feet plunged into the icy water, I nonetheless shivered. But it was manageable.
"Don''t go," Tanin said. "You could be walking straight into their trap."
I sighed. He was right. The hair on my arms had stood up; I knew danger could be lurking behind any corner.
"We can''t just wait around either," I pointed out. "If they wanted to screw us over, we''d just be giving them the first-strike advantage."
"You don''t know that," Saber argued. "For all we know, they''re just as confused as we are."
"I''m being hypothetical," I said. "Like it or not, we need to assume the worst."
Saber pursed her lips. "Sophia, please. You know nothing will work out if there''s no trust between everyone. Is this ¨C a few extra hours of night ¨C all it takes to break our alliance?"
"Kindly, shut up," Tanin said. "If you wanna ¨C"
"You shut up too," I cut him off. "Look. We aren''t supposed to touch the lanes. We don''t want to cross over to their side of the river." I lowered my voice to a whisper, in case anyone was listening in on us. "We still have the caves with the zombies. We''ll farm those. If they want to play the waiting game, we''ll just level up in the meantime, get gold and potions. And if they''ve been innocent all along, no harm done either."
Tanin scanned the surroundings. "If they anticipate that, they''d be waiting at the caves, to strike soon as we get there."
"Unlikely. There are four caves on our side of the arena. They have better things to do than stake out one of them, waiting around."
Tanin shrugged. "Fair."
We began our trek to a zombie cave, the one right to the north of the bottom lane and on our side of the arena. We were careful not to make any sudden movements that might give away our position. The darkness was thick around us, and the only sound was the crunching of our footsteps over the dead leaves carpeting the ground. We kept our eyes peeled for any signs of movement, but all we could see was the dense forest that surrounded us.
Soon, the cave came into view. It was an opening, about the width of a truck, into the bowels of a stony hill. I couldn''t see inside since it was dark, and I turned off my phone-flashlight, so the zombies wouldn''t be alerted. I readied a Frost Missile. Zombies were usually rather weak, to the point that Saber alone could clear a cave without much trouble.
We carefully surveyed the perimeter of the cave, on guard for any signs of movement. When we confirmed there was no one outside, we charged in through the mouth of the cave, all three of us at the same time. I quickly turned my flashlight back on, scanning from one wall of the cave to the other.
But it was empty. There was not a single zombie to be found.
We only found smoldered dirt on the ground and the stench of burnt flesh.
Chapter 69 (Nice): No Return
Saber flung her sword toward the earthen ground, sinking its blade a third of the way in. I heard her grit her teeth.
"Those blasted¡" she growled, her words bitter like venom.
I had never seen her furious before. Indignant, perhaps, and frustrated too. But I couldn''t remember her showing this sort of unbridled hostility. And, after deducing for myself, I could see why she was angry.
In all likelihood, we had been "counter-jungled."
I had heard about it while at the Combat Institute, and Saber must''ve explained the concept to me in the past as well. At a surface level, the idea was simple: Counter-jungling meant killing the jungle monsters ¨C the cave zombies ¨C on the enemy''s side of the map.
Normally "Junglers" like Saber would farm the monsters on their own side of the map, to stay close to their base, their allies, and the protection of their towers. But they could also attempt to sneak over to the enemy''s side of the map and farm the monsters there instead, to deprive the opposing Jungler of precious gold and XP. It was a risky maneuver ¨C unless you knew the other team wouldn''t be there to intercept you.
If our guess held true, someone from the other team, someone with fire-based powers, had just taken our monster camp for themselves. For them, this would be a silent accrual of resources, of combat potential. And almost certainly, it''d be a breach of our truce.
Was it the only explanation? No. But unfortunately, it was the most likely explanation.
I looked over to Saber, who had now closed her eyes, brows furrowed. I approached her cautiously.
"You think the¡the other team did it?" I ventured.
"There''s no doubt this was malicious." She extended and furled her individual fingers, as though doing mental calculations. ¡°Tanin, Sophia, go siege top lane. I will siege bottom lane alone. If more than one of them comes for you, back off.¡±
¡°Saber, are you sure you want to do this?¡± Tanin asked.
Saber headed for the cave exit. ¡°We¡¯re already behind. We can¡¯t afford to hesitate.¡± A shiver lined her voice, perhaps from the cold.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Were we really about to openly start the war? Only minutes ago, Saber had been the one attempting to preserve our tenuous peace, yet now she had made a 180 on her stance. I needed to know she was in her right mind before I followed along with her plans.
Though for her, who had vouched for Sylvia¡¯s team more than anyone else, who had put her faith in them more than anyone else, the possibility of betrayal must¡¯ve stung utterly.
¡°We can check to see if any of them has flame-based magic,¡± I pointed out. ¡°It looks like the zombies were killed by fire.¡±
Saber stared back at me with dead-set eyes.
¡°Sophia. The next time we meet them, they¡¯ll be there for our lives.¡±
Saber began to run off, and ordered us to assume our positions in the top lane. I hurried off into the night, with Tanin''s arm slung across my shoulder as he hobbled along. Miraculously, he kept up with my running pace. But I could tell, he paid for his mobility with mana.
This all felt like a surreal dream. Everything we had hoped for, everything we had banked on, all came tumbling down in a matter of minutes. Faster than I could process. Everyone knew our peace was a fragile one. But still, I thought we''d¡
"Focus," Tanin reprimanded. "Our enemies are gonna be a level up, likely more. We need eight golem kills to hit level 2. Then I''ll get my ranged attack. What are the abilities on the other team?"
I told him Brandon could launch webs, and likely had adhesive limbs. But that was all I knew.
We soon arrived in the top lane. There, we found no one else, except the golems fighting in lane. Tanin took the lead and headed into the fray. He clumsily punched and kicked at the enemy golems, but his attacks did sufficient damage, and soon he racked up several kills. I hadn''t expected him to be a no-weapons, purely physical fighter, if that was indeed what he was.
I joined in as well, launching crossbow bolts and Frost Missiles at the enemy golems. These golems had red orbs in their chests, just like the enemy golems I had fought in my previous matches against the robots. I wondered if it was simply a 50-50 chance that we had been assigned to be the green team, as we were used to being.
Soon, we killed all the enemy golems, and even the ones that came after them, and we hit level 2. As we battled alone, in the dim illumination of my phone''s light, no one came to stop us. The forest around us stretched out, dead silent. I checked my team notebook to see if Saber had written anything down. She hadn''t, which surprised me. Out of all my teammates, Saber had always been the most consistent when it came to communication.
Snow began to fall from the sky.
We eventually hit level 3. We ushered our own golems to the enemy''s top tower and began to chip away at it, over and over. The stone tower cracked, crumbled, and finally collapsed into a ruinous heap.
And then we heard a voice. A male voice, announcing aloud from everywhere at once, as though the arena itself had spoken:
¡¸Sophia and Tanin have destroyed a top tower.¡¹
Chapter 70: There Will Be Bloodshed
We had done it. We took down the first tower.
Amid the broken stones, amid the dying hope, I knew one thing with certainty. By the end of this, at least half the people in this arena would be dead. To think that I''d need to end lives, to save my own¡
I forced myself to focus on my magic and my crossbow and the dim, dark path ahead. With the announcement of the tower''s fall, our enemies now knew our presence and our onslaught. They''d be on their way here now, if they weren''t already tailing us. The shadows around us, of trees and bushes, could easily conceal the silhouette of one of them.
"Recall to base?" I asked Tanin. "Let''s do hit-and-run."
He agreed.
We probably caught up a bit to our enemies in levels and gold, but they likely still remained ahead of us. A direct clash bode ill for us. Tanin and I fell back to behind our own top lane tower, then channeled our Rings of Recall. After 30 seconds of gathering up magic, the rings activated, teleporting us back to our base in a flash of light. We had farmed up plenty of gold as well, and I bought several potions from our vending machine. Tanin drank potions that boosted his movement speed. And miraculously, even on crutches, he could now move faster than I could.
¡¸Saber has destroyed a bottom tower.¡¹
We heard the male announcer''s voice once more. It sounded nothing like Alice''s, and I briefly wondered why Alice''s voice was no longer used for announcements.
Saber, too, returned to our base not after long.
"Still no sight of them," Saber said.
That was a good thing¡right? They hadn''t been around to stop our offense. But what were they planning? What had they been up to this whole time?This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"Should all of us go mid?" I asked. "Get that tower too."
Saber frowned for a moment. "Too obvious. If they siege our top and bottom lanes, we''d take one tower and lose two at best. Tanin, can you fight by yourself now?"
"I''ll manage."
"Good. Go defend mid lane. Just farm the golems and stay safe. Sopia and I will keep pressuring top and bottom. It''s the quickest way to catch up in levels."
"And if they ambush us three-on-one?" I asked.
"Run."
I shrugged. Her plan was far from failsafe, but I knew that winning from behind often required making these sorts of gambles.
"Good luck," I said before the three of us all went our separate ways.
Saber let me take the bottom lane this time and she headed top, to mix up our positions. I jogged down the bottom lane, accompanied by no one besides files of our ally golems. I had rarely felt so alone in the arena. Almost always I''d have fought alongside Hei at least, but now I had no one but myself to rely upon.
The moon had finally revealed itself in the sky. A crescent barely thick enough to light the ground.
I conjured a Cold Grenade and clutched it tight in my palm. I darted into the trees to the side of the lane''s cobblestone road, to conceal my presence. Not before long, I crossed to the enemy''s side of the arena. Our golems had already pressed onward, almost reaching the enemies'' inner-bottom tower. But in their path was Brandon, frantically driving them back with fists and webs. I blinked twice to check his HP.
[HP: 510/580]
Wait. Why was his max HP so low? Don''t tell me, after this whole time, he was still level 1. Were our deductions wrong? The missing zombies in the cave¡had Brandon and his team not killed them, after all?
He turned right toward me as I hid among the trees, several dozen yards away.
"Saber!" he shouted out. "Is that you?!"
Drat. He somehow sensed my presence.
"Saber! Please, why! What are you doing this for?!" he cried out, pleading for an answer while I bit back my tongue, while I fought to ignore the ache inside my chest.
"We could have gotten along!" his voice pierced the night. "I trusted you! I¡I even liked you!"
Had they been innocent all along?
Ah.
Either way, we no longer had a future here.
I conjured a Frost Missile and took aim.
Chapter 71: Treachery
I aligned the Frost Missile at Brandon''s chest. Even if he knew someone was here, he''d have no idea it was me rather than Saber. He wouldn''t be expecting an attack from this range. He wouldn''t know to dodge.
After the Frost Missile lands, I''d follow up with a Cold Grenade. That had less range and traveled slower, in a parabolic overhead arc rather than a straight line. Despite its large blast radius, it was the easier attack of the two to land. But once I slowed him with my Frost Missile, Cold Grenade would become near-impossible to dodge, as long as I aimed well. And after I froze him solid, I''d fire my Vortex Shield for a sure hit.
Frost Missile, Cold Grenade, Vortex Shield. In terms of reliability, it was one of my more optimized spell combo sequences. It wouldn''t kill Brandon right away, not at his current HP. He''d be bloodied, perhaps even mangled, but he''d be alive. After my barrage of spells I''d need to close in and finish him off with my crossbow.
"I surrender!" Brandon shouted in my direction. "Please, Saber! Are you there? I know you don''t want to do this." He stood alone in the darkness; the golems to the side heeded not his plea in the least.
"This isn''t who you are!" he yelled, voice hoarse and desperate.
The Frost Missile spun like a drill as it floated in front of my outstretched palm. I couldn''t remember my plan anymore, about which spell to use next, about how to win the fight.
This wasn''t right. I was about to shoot my innocent friend to death.
But what else was there for us to do? We had already started the fight. The damage had been done, the towers toppled. The precarious balance of power had been broken. Even if we stopped, the golems wouldn''t. On the now-asymmetrical map, it could easily be a mere matter of time before one team''s golems took a few more towers, then the enemy''s base.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The ground beneath me bulged. A faint, reddish glow seeped through from under the surface.
Magma erupted from beneath me. I screamed, dodging aside as the flaming geyser splashed outward. Pain seared my feet and legs, and I crumpled into the forest soil several yards away.
[HP: 620/770]
The vegetation around me burned.
From the smoldering eruption-hole, a figure clad in armor crawled out. I knew that silhouette.
Sylvia.
[HP: 1250/1250]
Hah. So that explained who farmed all those cave zombies.
Right here, right now, no explanations were given or needed between us. Not during this fight to the death.
I didn''t wait to fire my crossbow at her. Then a Frost Missile. Then Cold Grenade, which nailed her dead center. Then another crossbow bolt, then Vortex Shield, then a third bolt. That was my max damage combo at mid range.
But she had 1250 HP. Even with my maximum firepower, I had no chance of bringing her down. And she could already be level 6, armed with her Ultimate ability, whilst I was still level 3.
I scrambled up, turned, and ran. Branches ripped at the blistering skin on my legs. Each step on the ground felt like flaming coals under my feet. I gasped for breath and sweated from the pain.
I heard Sylvia''s voice behind me. I couldn''t make out the words this far away, but it had the rhythm of an incantation. I turned back, to see that an array of stone lances now hovered in front of her. The first one launched itself at me. I tried to block it with the frame of my crossbow, to little avail. The force of the impact knocked me airborne.
I careened into the dirt some distance back, disoriented, gritting my teeth, having the breath knocked out of me. I noticed too late that the rest of the lances now flew toward me. One after another, an entire swarm.
For a split second, I saw them drill into my body, rip apart my limbs. As the excruciating pain began to register, my life came to an end.
Chapter 72: Great Power
I woke up, gasping, surrounded by darkness.
The ground under me felt soft and cold.
Snow.
I squinted my eyes and looked around. The walls around me, and the tents not far away, revealed that I was back in our base. My Death Ward must''ve saved me. My one precious chance to respawn.
How long had it been?
I could find neither Saber nor Tanin as I looked around. At least our Base Core was intact.
I eased myself up. I had woken up next to our vending machine, which slowly soothed the burns on my body. My clothes had already been mended, likely by the magic of the Death Ward. I gingerly rolled up the leg of my pants. The skin only turned out to be red and tender, not scorched off as it had likely been earlier. And the frigid air eased what pain remained.
My HP refilled gradually. I ought to be ready for action in a few more minutes. Hopefully, my absence from the battlefield wouldn''t be too much of a hindrance to our team.
I opened the team notebook to report that I was fine, and would be back in action soon.
¡¸Saber has destroyed a top tower.¡¹
Good. As I confronted our opponents one-versus-two in the bottom lane, at least that freed up my team to attack the rest of the battlefield. Was a tower worth my Death Token? It felt like a losing trade, but still, better than nothing.
Saber soon returned to base, in a flash of light characteristic of the Ring of Recall''s magic.
"It was Sylvia," I told her. "She took the zombies. I think she used her Ultimate ability on me."
Seeing me on the ground, Saber knelt down. She eased me up slowly and dusted the snowflakes from my eyelashes. "Is she level 6?"
"Seems like it. HP in the thousands, ridiculously strong offense. Flame-based abilities."
Then it clicked.
"Her abilities," I said. "Burrowing with lava eruption. Stone spears. She''s just like the stone giant we fought back in the beginning."
The one that killed Becky.
"...What does that mean?" Saber said with a thoughtful frown. "Did she copy its abilities? That''s too strange to be a coincidence."
"I don''t know. Maybe the two of them just have the same abilities, because Alice designed things that way. Maybe there''s no further implication. Where''s Tanin?"
"Still out there, somewhere. He hasn''t contacted me yet. Still alive, apparently. We should get back outside. Sophia, can you defend our bottom tower? Just play it safe, freeze the wave near tower."
Freezing the wave meant to make sure the ally and enemy golems fought near a consistent location on the map, without the line of confrontation pushing one way or the other. It took careful planning to execute, though nothing I couldn''t handle.
I needed to make sure the enemy golems would fight ours just outside the firing range of my bottom tower. If they ever marched into firing range, they''d die to the tower''s laser. Which could easily weaken the enemy golem''s forces too much, and cause our ally golems to beat them back. I didn''t want that. I needed to keep the theater of battle near my own tower, so I myself could stand under the tower''s protection and farm XP and gold safely.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
If the enemy golems dwindled too much in numbers, I''d need to attack them less, so they wouldn''t get pushed away. If the enemy golems grew too numerous, I''d need to kill some off to prevent them from pushing into tower range. If an enemy player came and tried to kill off my ally golems, I''d need to match them and kill off enemy golems in roughly equal measure, to maintain a balance of forces. It was essentially a balancing act, to force the golems into a draw at a location where I can farm them without excessive risk.
Freezing offered safety at the cost of offense and battlefield presence. While I farmed and froze the wave, I couldn''t help take any enemy towers, or help in any fights elsewhere. Saber and Tanin would need to cover the rest of the map by themselves, two-on-three. But wave-freezing was likely my best option right now. If I got caught by Sylvia again, without a Death Ward, I could die permanently.
After buying and drinking a couple more potions from the vending machine, I once again ventured out of our base and headed to the bottom lane. Thankfully, when I arrived, the golems were already fighting not far from the tower''s range. I just had to get them a little closer, then keep them there. Once I hit level 6, things ought to get much easier. I''d have my own Ultimate ability, Maw of Leviathan. If it had been potent enough to take out Fink, it''d do a number on Sylvia too.
As I tended to the golems in combat, meticulously checking the numbers on both sides and calculating how much I needed to attack the enemy ones, someone emerged from the forests nearby.
Sylvia.
As she laid her eyes upon me, she held her hand out. Pieces of rock flew up from the ground and assembled themselves into a sword of stone in her grasp. The seams between its individual shards ignited with a golden, fiery glow, like veins of fire.
"Don''t move," she said. "I know you wouldn''t want to burn to death. Stay still and I''ll make this painless."
I nearly laughed.
"Traitor," I spat. I conjured a Cold Grenade in my palm. "You''ve planned for all this, haven''t you? From the first day we met. Figuring out how to gain our trust. And when we rested with our guards down, you took our jungle camps. And then you''d take our lives for an easy victory. Is that it?"
"And that''s how I outplayed you. Isn''t that the whole point? This is a death game, and I played to win."
"We could have all lived in peace!"
"If only. Already, this arena is freezing over. There will be no more light, or dawn, or sun. Even you, with your ice magic, will die of hypothermia in a day''s time. That''s the design of the creators. No life can be sustained here."
"And you lured everyone in knowing that. You didn''t even care if your own friends would die in battle."
"Of course they won''t," she said. "Because I will finish you off myself."
I flung my Cold Grenade at her. She slammed her blade into the ground, opening a fissure, and she sank in. A split second later, the ground under my golems grew red hot. A fountain of lava erupted, knocking my golems down to their fiery end. The enemy forces, unhindered now, advanced towards my tower.
I had to back off. I didn''t have the firepower to fend off both her and her golems. Even the tower''s lasers might not be enough to swing this fight in my favor.
I turned and ran.
"Too late," Sylvia said. She snapped her fingers.
Four wolves, made from stone and clad in fire, leaped out of the woods behind my tower. They prowled toward me upon the road of the bottom lane, cutting off retreat.
Sylvia summoned her stone spears, those massive, razor-sharp spires.
"I want to save my teammates too!" she shouted at me. "I have a family back home too! Don''t take this personally, Sophia. you''re honestly a pretty nice gal."
The stone spears flew forth, converging upon me. I summoned a Vortex Shield, feeble as it might be. I had never excelled when it came to defense magic.
I was sent flying off my feet, into the air.
But not backwards, by the impact of the spears. I flew sideways. And I landed in someone''s arms.
"...Brandon?!" I gasped, realizing.
I looked down. Stuck to my waist was a string of web, and the other end of the string came out of his wrist. He had pulled me towards himself, out of harm''s way, Spiderman-style.
He looked at Sylvia. And I could tell, he was angry.
Chapter 73: DotA
The forest was dark, and the snow now fell heavily. The trees towered up, dark pillars stretching into the sky.
Sylvia''s wolf-golems prowled at a distance, their fiery manes crackling and smoldering.
Brandon held on to me. His hands shook stiffly. His lips had turned blue with cold. He only wore two hoodies, one layered on top of the other. Frosted lashes rimmed his dark, sunken eyes.
"What are you doing here?!" Sylvia shouted at him. "Get away before she kills you!"
"What?" I interjected. "I''m not gonna ¨C "
"I saw you," Sylvia interrupted me. "It was you, with your crossbow on Brandon! You were about to murder him, in cold blood, before I stepped in to save his life!"
I shook myself free from Brandon. And he shrank away from me.
"You just want us to roll over and die, don''t you?!" I yelled back at Sylvia. "Just sit by as you level up to 10, raiding our caves, then let you kill us all?"
Sylvia swung her stone sword through the air, as though she could swat away my words. "Shut up, you liar!"
"I already overheard everything," Brandon said.
"I heard everything you had said, Sylvia. And you too," Brandon spoke as he turned to me. "If we''re gonna have to fight and die, can''t we at least be honest with each other?"
I wondered what went on inside his mind. Did he expect that I''d try and kill him still? He was only level 2, and half-frozen already.
"Get away from her," Sylvia repeated sternly at Brandon. "This isn''t your fight."
¡¸Saber has destroyed the Top Fabricator.¡¹
Sylvia spat out a curse and ran off, away from me and Brandon.
She knew she had to leave and defend her base. Immediately.
"BRANDON!" she screamed. "Go back!"
Brandon stared hard into my eyes for a moment. And when I didn''t respond, he ran away. I let him go.
But Sylvia. I had to stop her retreat.
Her stone wolves had fallen apart now, back into lifeless rubble on the ground. I wondered how long it had taken for their magic to expire. But now, without them around, I was free to pursue Sylvia. Once again, I rushed into enemy territories, keeping my eyes peeled for her.
I stood no chance against her in a 1v1. But if my guess was correct, she''d be trying to return to base using her Ring of Recall. It had a 30 second channel time, and all I needed to do was prevent her from channeling. And keep myself alive, of course.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Sure enough, I found her among the trees of the forest, centered inside a blue, glowing runic circle. The darkness of the night made it easy to spot.
I fired a Frost Missile at a 45 degree angle, at a nearby tree. The projectile snapped the tree in half, then ricocheted into Sylvia. She flinched and let out an arrested yelp.
The runic circle faded as her concentration broke.
She yelled curses at me, into the night. She conjured her stone spears once again and shot. But not at me ¨C she fired at the broken tree, where the Missile came at her from, where the noise came from.
I concealed my presence, hiding behind a snow-laden shrub. Ordinary snipers risked revealing their position with every shot they made. But not me. Not when I could rebound my attacks from any angle.
Sylvia''s stone spears rocketed through the woods, felling trees. She now fired them in erratic directions. One pierced through the shrub mere yards away from me. I stiffened my body to be as still as I humanly could.
And then she ran off, or so it sounded like from her footsteps. I peered out from my hiding place and squinted my eyes. I spotted the blue glint of the runic circle, now a fair distance away. She was trying again. This time, she had summoned four wolves which encircled her snugly.
Meat shields, huh?
I could try to hit them with an AoE attack, or even ricochet my Frost Missile off one of the wolves into her. But either way, I''d need to shoot at her in a straight line, revealing my location.
If I messed up and she came after me, with all her wolves, I wouldn''t live. We had crossed far into her side of the map, far away from the cover of my towers. And I doubted Brandon would be here to save me a second time.
But¡there was one flaw in Sylvia''s defense.
I angled a Frost Missile upwards, at a tree branch high up in the air between the two of us. And I fired.
The Frost Missile hit the branch and ricocheted back down. My calculations were off, and instead of hitting Sylvia, it nailed one of her wolves. I quickly repositioned myself.
Almost. I almost had it.
Before I could take a second shot, Sylvia dispelled the rune circle and ran off. She must''ve realized that attempting to channel the Ring of Recall, here in these woods, couldn''t be done while I was near. I followed her, at a safe distance, practically out of sight. It was by her footprints in the snow that I tracked her, and by the distant firelight of the wolves that followed her.
I realized she was attempting to get back to base on foot. I hurriedly penned a warning to Saber in our team notebook. My handwriting was horrible as I wrote while running.
It wasn''t before long that Sylvia had made it back into base. Our ally golems had already marched into their base through the top lane, and Sylvia rushed in without paying them heed.
Saber hadn''t replied yet. Was she inside there? She had to be; otherwise our golems would''ve been easily cleared, even by just Brandon.
After a moment''s hesitation, I dashed into the enemy base as well.
As soon as I entered, I saw and heard the clash of blades. In the middle of their base, Saber and Sylvia were trading blows. A dome of lightning surrounded Saber as she fended off Sylvia''s volcanic sword and her swarm of wolves.
Saber''s armor had been pierced. Her face, stained with wounds or soot. Her blood stained the snowy battlefield. She was down to under 200 HP.
I rushed up, threw every spell I could. Sylvia managed to avoid the brunt of the blast, but her wolves were caught in the attack. It was a mere matter of seconds before Saber''s stormy aura struck them down.
As the stone-forged beasts collapsed, a golden glow pulsated across Saber. She looked back at me.
"Thanks," she said.
So that was it. Just like with the stone giant we fought at the beginning, these summoned wolves granted XP upon death.
Sylvia sank into the earth.
The ground under Saber bulged, glowing red-hot. That was Sylvia''s lava-burrowing attack.
"Saber!" I shouted. "Step back!"
But Saber simply stood her ground.
"Ultimate ability," she announced. "Defense of the Ancients."
Chapter 74: To Our Dying Day, Stuck in the Haze
Saber took a battle stance, her armor gleaming in ethereal moonlight. Crimson veins of lava spread across the snow-covered ground beneath her, ready to erupt at any moment.
A golden glow began to emanate from her fingertips, as if the very essence of sunlight had been captured within her grasp. She slammed her palm into the ground. From all around her, shimmering rays shot out of the earth, coalescing into ethereal walls and towers. Almost immediately, a fortress of light had formed around her. Its crystalline spires stretched toward the heavens. The walls, fashioned from luminescent sheets of condensed energy, formed a square enclosure with Saber at the center. The fortress of solidified light stood resplendent, its sheer brilliance enough to rival daybreak.
A geyser of lava burst up from under Saber. Sylvia emerged and thrusted her obsidian-sharp blade at Saber''s exposed neck.
The lava splashed down explosively. Snow sizzled and melted under the heat, exuding a blast of steam.
When the steam cleared, I saw Saber. She stood completely unscathed. Her bare hand was stretched out, halting Sylvia''s sword-point in her grasp.
[Defense of the Ancients
COST: 100 Mana
COOLDOWN: 15 minutes
DURATION: 15 seconds
You conjure a fortress of celestial energy, a protective sanctuary for yourself and your allies.
The fortress is an impenetrable structure with 20,000 HP. The area within the fortress measures 40 by 40 meters. All allies within take 50% reduced damage, and you take 99% reduced damage.]
This ability¡this seemed straight up broken.
Saber pressed toward Sylvia, her bladework a blur of whirling steel. She had completely abandoned her usual footwork, that measured and evasive dance, for a linear onslaught. Sylvia endeavored to respond in turn with parries and slashes of her own, as though to take advantage of the openings in Saber''s guard.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Except Sylvia didn''t know. Saber no longer had any openings in her guard.
As Saber''s ally, I had access to information on all her skills. But the other team? I doubt they''d be able to guess. They could infer that the fortress was some sort of impassable terrain that trapped combatants within. But they had no way of knowing about Saber''s massive defense buff, except by paying attention to her HP.
Sylvia didn''t seem to catch on. She traded blow after blow with Saber, as though it was an exchange she could win. She sent out her stone wolves. She fired her lances, those fearsome weapons that ended my previous life. But Saber took all those attacks head on, suffering scarcely a scratch.
I remembered I wasn''t here just to spectate. Seizing the chance, I blasted the enemy golems with my spells. Once I brought them down, our ally own golems advanced and proceeded to siege the lone tower defending the opponent''s base core.
Brandon and Reina did not intervene. Judging by Reina''s HP, she had been level 1 this whole time. Behind in XP and gold as they were, even the two of them together couldn''t match me. Reina merely stared at me blankly, expressionlessly. As though if she looked into my eyes long enough, I''d stop. And Brandon. He had run up to Saber''s fortress, uselessly banging his fists against the walls. But those walls stood firm without even a tremor, keeping him outside.
The walls eventually faded away on their own. By that time, Sylvia had already fallen, bloodied and lacerated and scorched with lightning.
[Sylvia: 85 / 1250]
Saber looked down at her foe. "It''s over. There''s no need to fight anymore."
Sylvia must''ve known as much. Even if she still had her Death Ward, she wouldn''t regain consciousness and heal up in time to stop us from bringing down their tower and base core. This game was essentially over.
Sylvia did not struggle, nor stop us, as we proceeded to demolish their tower. As she bled out on the ground, she merely looked at Brandon and Reina. Her chest heaved as she fought for air.
"My bad," were the only words she muttered.
No response came in return, except for a shallow nod of acknowledgement from Brandon. Reina had sat down in the snow, leaning against their vending machine. She buried her face in her knees, trembling silently.
Saber and I began to attack their base core, she hacking away with her sword, and I unloading my crossbow into the great, crimson crystal. At that moment, Tanin arrived behind us. He stood at a distance. He didn''t help or speak.
As he watched us, I asked myself if we were really going to do this.
Saber struck the base core with an overhead blow, cracking open a fracture that threatened to split the core in halves. Brandon stood not far away, watching her as though paralyzed.
"I really thought we could''ve been friends," he said to her.
"We can still be," Saber replied. Her voice came out solemn and cold.
Brandon closed his eyes. He sighed, and his breath fogged white as it rose away.
"I guess it''s been nice knowing you," he said. "It''s been nice knowing you all."
Saber then shattered the base core with one final blow.
Chapter 75: Twin Shadows
The moment that Saber cracked open the base core, the entire arena shook. Its walls and spires trembled, and I fell to my knees as the ground quaked. An expanding wave of dim, crimson energy rippled out from the broken core. It hit everything around us. It hit our opponents.
I managed a glance towards Sylvia, who still remained prone and bloodied on the ground. She shuddered only once before disintegrating into glowing, lifeless motes of light. And then Brandon, too, vanished, sparing a pleading gaze to Saber in his last moments. And Reina, as she clutched her head, cowering alone, faded away as well.
As did everything else. The sky, the trees, and the ground beneath all disappeared, suddenly, and all that remained was an empty, dark void.
I fell, and that was the last thing I remembered.
When I regained consciousness, the light was pricking my eyes. It wasn''t bright sunlight, but the muted, filtered luminance we received through the thick fog of the suburbs. It was nonetheless much brighter than the darkness of night I had grown so accustomed to.
We had returned from the arena.
Saber and Tanin sat on the ground besides me, upon the concrete pavement near our houses.
There was no one else here.
¡°Nice work,¡± Tanin said. He exhaled a long, tired, shaking sigh.
Neither Saber nor I responded.
I guessed this was it. PvP. We beat our opponents. We won, and they died. We killed them. Whether they were guilty, or innocent, we killed them all.
Something within me felt sick. I wanted to throw up.
In a flash of light, a trio of items appeared, one in front of each of us. A dagger for Saber, a gun for me, and a strange, metallic stick for Tanin.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I suppose this was our loot.
My gun looked like a sort of steampunk device, constructed from steel and copper.
| ARCANE RAILGUN |
|
55 (+40% Arcana Point) magical damage. 2 second reload. 65 meter range.
Special ability: Electromagnetic Pulse ¨C You detect all metallic objects within a 50 meter radius. 1 minute cooldown.
|
It had the rough shape of a rifle, slightly shorter than the length of my arm, perhaps about the size of a submachine gun. Tubes and wires ran along its length, and a sleek, steel barrel was its bore.
Tanin¡¯s stout metal stick turned out to be a prosthetic of sorts.
| ARTIFICE LIMB |
| This device serves as a fully functional replacement of a lost leg. Every 8 hours, the device toggles between Overdrive and Cooldown. During Overdrive, your attack and movement speed is increased by 20%. During Cooldown, your attack and movement speed is decreased by 20%. Requires attunement. |
And¡Saber¡¯s dagger? It looked plain, except for the blade¡¯s slightly blueish hue.
| TWIN SHADOWS |
|
+15 Physical Damage.
Special ability: Twin Shadows ¨C The dagger summons forth two friendly, immaterial rabbits. One will run to you, and the other to your nearest ally. They grant you and the ally 50% additional movement speed for 4 seconds. 4 minute cooldown. Only useable by Saber.
|
Three loot items, all seemingly tailor-made for us. We never received such plentiful rewards after any previous Challenge. Perhaps this was the norm in Gold. Or perhaps this was the prize for our bloodshed. Sylvia, for what it was worth, did mention that PvP matches offered greater rewards for their victors.
And¡I was now level 6, as my permanent level outside the arena. As was Saber, judging by her now-increased HP.
As I looked to her, Saber yelled. A broken, anguished, guttural noise, more beastlike than human. Bent over and on her knees, she clutched on to the handle of the dagger.
¡°Sophia,¡± she choked out, her words mixed with weeping. ¡°Sophia. Sophia.¡±
¡°I¡¯m here,¡± I muttered back, softly.
But Saber only continued to call my name.
Chapter 76: Seek Flower
In battle, you never get to think about much. You bury your fears. You bury your panic and still your trembling hand. And you try to remember the important things ¨C strategies and counter-strategies, your strengths and weaknesses. The range and feel of your weapons. How to dodge, and how to time your attacks. All propelled by a singular, certain conviction: "I must live." And so you trample upon the ones in your way, without judgment of their guilt or innocence. You pitch your strength and wits against them, to contest your right as the survivor.
But now the battle was over. And the blood cooled, and our enemies were dead and gone. And now I began to wonder.
Must I live?
In the days after our victory, I spent much of the hours in bed, craving sleep, waiting for sleep, in futility. My bedroom, in the infinite suburb of Gold, caged me as a mimicry of the life I had lost. A reminder of who I once was. That girl, who once wondered what to study in college, who just wanted to play video games with her friends, no longer existed. If I were to return home, I would no longer be her.
Saber, who locked herself in my parents'' room, had been awfully quiet. Sometimes I feared that she was no longer in there. I couldn''t feel her presence, the way I had been able to while we slept in adjacent rooms, in our old house in Silvercreek.
I''d still hear her sometimes, when she ate, perhaps once or twice. She didn''t eat frequently, if at all. I wanted her to come see me in my room, to let me know it was still alright for us to talk. But the whole time, she kept herself behind shut doors.
I didn''t know how long we spent like this. Perhaps three days. Or maybe a week. But, eventually, a knock came on our door. It stirred me out of my numb wakefulness. I found my new railgun-rifle on the bed next to me. I hadn''t fired it yet, and I hoped I wouldn''t need to now. But I clutched on to it, cautiously, as I went downstairs.
When I checked the door, it was just Tanin, thankfully.
"You look horrible," he said.
"Good to know." I lowered the railgun to my side, letting it slump my shoulders with its weight.
"Sophia, did you see the new visitors around?"
I scanned the streets outside. I saw no one but Tanin.
"Calm yourself," he said. "They''re inside my house. They''re my old teammates from Silver."If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"...Why are they here?" I asked.
"For me."
Tanin invited me over to meet them. When I hesitated to leave the house, he seemed to have noticed.
"Let me get them," he told me. "And stow your gun, please."
He walked away. His dress pants covered up his new peg leg, but I could see the contour of the thin, angular frame under the folds of the fabric.
A moment later, two men exited his house. Both looked to be about his age, and they each wore chainmail. One was bald, with a thick beard. The other had curly blue hair. The blue-haired man carried a sunflower in a pot.
Wait a minute. Could that be¡
"Is that the Seekflower?" I asked, startling the trio.
"A Seekflower," Tanin said. "There are a few of them in Gold, apparently." He turned to the other two. "That''s Sophia, she used to work under me in Silver. Not a bad girl. And Sophia, these are Roger," he said, glancing at the bald one. "And James," he said towards the man with blue hair.
"I see," I said.
"Heard you''ve been keeping Tanin alive," James said. "You and that Saber. Dr. Saber."
"Professor now," Tanin corrected. "We promoted her after you got out of Silvercreek."
"Not bad."
"You might probably have guessed," James, the blue-haired man, said to me, "but we''re here to pick up Tanin. I reckon you might be interested in tagging along."
Not exactly. Not after what happened the last time I decided to put my trust in strangers. Sure, these might''ve been Tanin''s friends. But to me they were still strangers.
"Where are you taking him?" I asked.
"The Bounty Hall," Tanin said. "Not to turn me in, of course. Right?"
James scoffed. "As if you''d be worth anything. The Bounty Hall''s the closest thing you''ve got to a society. A bit over a hundred members. Nowhere else are you gonna find that many people in one place. Here, people can wander for days without seeing anyone. Some had died that way, lost and starving. Again, if you''re interested, feel free to tag along."
"...Can I use the Seekflower?" I asked.
James cocked his head. "Looking for someone?"
"My teammates."
James looked to Tanin and Roger. Roger returned a wordless shrug.
"Go for it," James said. He held the potten sunflower towards me.
I checked my team notebook one last time. As before, I had received nothing from Hei, or Mr. Atlas, or Jack.
"Your team probably dissolved when you came up to Gold," Tanin said. He seemed to read me perfectly. "Unless you promoted together, you don''t get to stay together. That''s why they had to borrow the Seekflower to find me."
I nodded in acknowledgement. Then I took a shallow breath.
"Where''s Hei?" I asked the flower.
In response, its petals began to move. They folded inward until the flower closed into a bulb.
Chapter 77: Its A Long Way Forward, So Trust in Me
Tanin tightened his lips.
"Is Hei dead?" he asked me.
The petals of the Seekflower bunched together, unmistakably shut. A sign that Hei could not be found. I had asked the Seekflower, looking for an answer to ease my aching doubt. But it only confirmed my fears in the worst ways.
"He''s¡he''s¡" I fumbled for words, for thought. It felt like my mind had blacked out.
I knew Saber had once comforted me somehow, telling me things that had given me hope, even convincing me Hei might be still out there. But as I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, those words became like a distant dream, one I could no longer remember or grasp.
"What use is there, scaring yourself like that?" said Roger, Tanin''s bearded teammate, with a raspy, flat voice. "If you don''t know anything, you don''t know."
"No, YOU don''t know anything!" I shouted back, scarcely keeping my anger and grief in check. "You don''t know me. You don''t know him. How many times, tell me, have you seen your closest friend sacrifice themself, to protect you? Just shut up!"
Tanin put a hand to his waist and made a soft "tch" sound.
"You''re still here," he said to me. "So at least Hei did manage to protect you."
Roger folded his arms and stepped away with a dismissive scowl. As if he were so hardened and above it all.
"Who knows," Tanin said. "Maybe Hei''s in Gold still. Or Platinum. Or he''s made it back home, waiting for you. At the end of the day, in his eyes, your life was worth saving. What will you do with the life you''ve kept?"
"I''ll find him," I spat. "I''ll find him, wherever he is."
"That''s all?"
"I''ll find Jack and Atlas too."
Tanin tilted his head. "To bring the party back together?"
"It''s my own business," I huffed. "Not meaning to be rude."
"No offense taken."
I evened my breathing. Recollecting my wits and my emotions, I turned once again to the Seekflower.
"Where''s Atlas?"
The Seekflower turned to point down the street.
So Mr Atlas was still alive, and he was here. I had no idea the flower was pointing East, West, North, or South, and I had no idea how far away he''d be. But I knew now, I had a chance to see him again.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Where''s Jack?" I continued.
The seekflower turned about sixty degrees clockwise.
"Looks like they''re in the direction of the Bounty Hall,'' James said. "Though I doubt we''d come across them on the way back."
"How far is your place?" I asked.
"A five day''s trip, if you know where you''re going. About eighty miles give or take. But without the Seekflower, you''re gonna get lost, and that''ll easily turn into a two week journey."
"How much are you willing to sell it for?" I asked.
"This flower?"
I nodded.
James chuckled. "This is a treasure of the Bounty Hall; I''m just borrowing. If I don''t get it back, we''ll both end up with bounties on our heads."
"Bounty Hall is a hard-ass place, huh."
"You think? We kill people, throw men in cages for pay. Some of us swear we''re good guys, just trying to dish out justice, or whatever they say. But c''mon, let''s be real here."
"Can I go to the Bounty Hall with you?" I asked.
"That''s gonna be two hundred dollars," James said. "Upfront."
"Deal."
"Darn. Should''ve named a higher price."
I scoffed. "Too late."
Traveling alongside them had two advantages. First, I''d be able to find the Bounty Hall, which sounded like one of the more important locations in Gold. Second, I could query the Seekflower everyday on our journey, to triangulate both Atlas and Jack. Right now I only knew their direction relative to ours, but by querying the flower from multiple locations along the way, I''d be able to work out their exact locations, just like a mapmaker would. The trigonometry and calculations would get wonky, but I had my own laptop now, so ideally I''d just have to plug my measurements in and let Excel handle the sines and cosines and tangents. Or something.
Tanin''s group allowed us eight hours to prepare before setting out.
When I headed back into my house, I found Saber sitting upright on the couch in the living room.
"Hey Saber," I said. "You came down."
"I heard you shouting," she said.
"It''s Tanin''s friends. They''re here to pick him up, get him into another guild or something. I''m thinking of tagging along."
"They''re strangers?"
I sighed. "To us, at least."
Saber gave me a glance that told me she didn''t like this idea. And after what just happened when we trusted strangers, I couldn''t blame her.
"They have a Seekflower," I explained. "We''ll be able to find Jack and Mr. Atlas."
Saber rose to her feet. She looked at my house. The shelter and supplies we''d be leaving behind.
"Let me go back to my house first," she said.
"We have a couple hours."
We went about, collecting and managing our supplies. In the end we packed four suitcases full between the two of us, of food and water and clothes. And we brought our tents, kitchenware, bedstuff, and various other things. Most of our supplies had already been gathered for the PvP Challenge, and our things had returned to our house when the match was over. So finding everything to bring wasn''t much trouble. And of course I brought my laptop and charger.
Soon it was time for us to go.
With softly gritted teeth, I went into my house one last time, checked that I had everything with me, then exited the front door and locked it.
The others stood waiting in my driveway.
¡°All set?¡± Saber asked.
I slid my house keys into my inner pocket. I nodded.
With that, we set off, leaving the neighborhood behind.
Chapter 78: Platinum Disco
If not for the Seekflower, our journey through the infinite suburbs would¡¯ve been terrifying. We walked for hours on end, with no change in scenery. No sign we had progressed at all. The perpetual rows of vacant houses passed us, appearing from the dense fog ahead of us and fading away behind us. No Sun, or stars, or other landmarks lent us a sense of bearing. The Seekflower alone led us along, like a lifeline in the grasp of blind, desperate men.
Palpable unease prodded at Saber and Tanin, made them silent and stiff with caution. We talked seldom throughout our journey, until James, Tanin''s blue-haired warrior teammate, began chatting as we walked.
¡°No way it isn¡¯t intentional,¡± James said. ¡°They made Gold the most hostile place to stay in, and then they made it the first place where you can do PvP matches.¡±
¡°You think there''s intent?¡± Roger, Tanin¡¯s bearded friend asked.
¡°Whoever designed this world really wants bloodshed. You wanna get out of here? Better kill a bunch of people to progress. Else, you¡¯ll be stuck for years, if you even survive.¡±
Roger glanced at James. ¡°You think this place is worse than Bronze?¡±
¡°Me, I¡¯d take Bronze any day. If I had to rank them, it¡¯d go Gold, Bronze, Silver, Platinum. Worst to best.¡±
¡°You haven¡¯t even been to Plat.¡±
"Fair."
As we continued on, James explained to us the perils of this realm. It wasn¡¯t just other players trying to kill us.
¡°You gotta know where to find resources,¡± he warned. ¡°Water is easy enough, just find a hose in one of these yards. The kicker is food. Sometimes you''ll see a fruit tree in someone''s front yard. They''re rare, but when you really need them, that''s how you keep yourself alive."
"Do any of the houses have food inside?" I asked.
James clicked his tongue. "That would make a lot of sense, wouldn''t it?"
"They don''t?"
"Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don''t. If you break into a random house, you better hope you don''t find food in there."
I frowned in confusion. "...What?"
James licked his lips, then sipped water from the plastic bottle he had on him. "See, some of the houses belong to somebody. And they''ll have things to eat in them. And that''s fine. The problem is when you go inside a house that doesn''t belong to anyone, and there''s food inside."Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
"Isn''t that better though?" I asked. "Since you''re not stealing in that case. More like, just foraging."
"You''re missing the point," James said. "There are three kinds of houses. First, ones that have an owner. Like the ones you left. Those have stuff inside, to keep the owner alive. Then, there are houses that don''t have an owner. They''re completely empty. But the third type are houses with a negative number of owners. Or at least, that''s how people explain them. Like the first kind, they''ll have supplies inside. But if you walk into one of them, you will not be able to exit again."
My footfall slowed to a stop. "What happens?"
Roger shrugged under the weight of his packs. "No one knows. They just don''t come back. And they aren''t gone, either. Least we don''t think they''re completely gone. You don''t see them again. And if you shout to them, they won''t answer."
"The only sign that they''re still there is the Seekflower," James said.
"Let me guess," Tanin said. "Even after they disappear, if you ask the Seekflower to find them, it keeps on pointing in the direction of the house they went into?"
James chuckled. "Smart guy. But wrong. After they disappear, and you ask the Seekflower where they''ve gone, the flower will always point in the exact opposite direction from the house."
"Not disturbing at all," Tanin quipped. He gave me a pat on the back, to get me marching again. I obliged.
"Not disturbing enough to keep people out apparently," James said. "People get desperate when they''re starving. One moment of weakness, and they''ll smash windows to get in for a can of Pringles. And that''s the last you see of them."
"The workaround isn''t hard," Roger added. "If you need to eat, just farm."
James rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Sherlock. I''m talking about lost people. Wanderers. You think they''ve got time to wait for, I dunno, tomato plants to sprout?"
Roger gave a grunt. "That''s why you don''t wander."
"Hold on," Saber said. "What do you know about Platinum?"
"Nothing much," James said. "But based on things I''ve heard? Apparently it''s nice enough that plenty of guys there don''t even care about getting back to Earth anymore."
As we walked along, I kept querying the Seekflower about Jack and Atlas''s whereabouts. Thankfully the flower''s pointings along various points of our path converged, intersecting around one blob for Jack, and another, farther blob for Atlas. I measured the angles, using the perpendicular roads as my axes, and jotted down notes and diagrams in my team notebook.
We took a break and sat down by the edge of the pavement. I plugged my approximations into my computer, and had Tanin run some math calculations for me.
"I did my graduation project on sensor systems," Tanin said. "Lots of measurements, localization, error bars. It''s your lucky day."
Tanin managed to shrink down the location estimate of Atlas to about a quarter-mile radius circle. As for Jack, he discovered something more.
"He''s on the move," Tanin told me.
"Really? You can tell?"
"Yeah, looks like he''s going in a straight line too. Probably down one of the streets. And what''s more, he''s heading straight towards us, steadily."
Saber overheard. She jogged to us and peered at the screen from over my shoulder.
"How close?" she asked.
Tanin double-checked his equations.
"He should be here in ten minutes," he said.
Chapter 79: For His Neutral Special, He Wields A GUN
When I finally saw Jack coming down the road, towards us, I screamed his name. That gray hood, that light-footed gait. It had to be him. Someone else was by his side. Not Atlas, nor anyone I could recognize from this distance. But out of the two pedestrians heading our way from afar, one of them was Jack, I knew that much.
Saber, too, shouted. She began to run up, and I followed after her, ever the less athletic of us two.
And Jack must''ve heard. I saw his chin lift, and he pointed at us, and he said something to the man beside him. And he gave us a big wave.
Finally. After who knew how long, we had finally reunited. Jack, our teammate and friend. Still alive. Thank goodness.
Saber ran into Jack with a big hug, and she picked him up and spun him around.
"Dang it!" she gushed, overwhelmed and seemingly about to cry. "Jack!"
"Hey, easy there kiddo," Jack said as he laughed. "Great seeing you two." He gave Saber a pat, then found footing as she lowered him back on the ground. I ran up as well and held them both in a wide embrace.
"I can''t believe it," I breathed. "It''s actually you."
The man that accompanied Jack observed us several yards away. He waved awkwardly at me with a smile. He certainly looked familiar¡
"And Gunther!" Saber said to the man. "You''ve made it here as well!"
Wait. He was the guy from the Combat Institute who wielded an assault rifle. He had fought in the tournament, and afterwards Hei and I ran into him while he was guarding Fink''s dungeon. I hadn''t recognized him at first without his iconic weapon.
How did he get here? And¡was the gunman''s name really Gunther? Like, really?
"Professor Saber!" Gunther greeted with a slight bow. "I''m so relieved. I never thought I''d see you again."
"Why not?" Saber asked playfully. "I''m not gonna kick the bucket that easy."
"No, I mean in that sense that ¨C"
"I''m sure we all have a lot to talk through," Jack interrupted. "But first things first. Saber, Sophia. Have you written anything in your team notebooks?"
"Pfft." I gave a quick sigh. "A heck ton. I''m assuming you''ve gotten none of it?"
"Certainly not. And it looks like your HP bars are orange. So we aren''t part of the same team anymore. What do you say, the four of us form a group for now?"
"Heck yeah," Saber said. "Like old times. Gunther was a pretty stellar student, so I''d be happy to have him join us too.¡±
¡°We met by chance, and he tagged along with me since we both had you and Hei as mutual friends,¡± Jack explained to Saber. ¡°So seems like this is the playoff.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Oh wow. I always knew Saber had students ¨C she was a professor, after all ¨C but it felt weird actually realizing one of my peers in the Institute was her student. It made me see Saber in a slightly more elevated light.
Gunther was elated to join us, and we formally inducted him and Jack into our party. We now had a team of four, now that Tanin had formed his own team of three with his two friends. Things could get a little awkward come next Challenge since you couldn''t enter the arena as four people, but that''d be fixed once we found Mr. Atlas as well and formed a five-man band.
"What were the chances of us running into each other?" Jack chuckled.
"Well pretty high actually," I said, "considering we were looking for you."
I shared a bit about how Saber and I ran into Tanin, and how we then met Tanin''s two friends. And, in a well-timed manner, the three of them were catching up to us as well.
Jack squinted. He pointed at James.
"Wait," Jack said. "That guy has a Seekflower."
"I know," I told him. "That''s how we found you. And we''ve got positions for Mr. Atlas as well."
"Sick. Your luck really is something else, Sophia, Saber."
"All good?" Tanin checked as he walked up to me.
"Yeah!" I said. "This is Jack," I introduced. Though they had already met before, I think.
"You''re the recruiter guy from the Institute," Jack acknowledged.
Tanin nodded. "That was indeed me. And that''s¡"
He looked to Gunther. "That''s someone from the Institute as well, right? Pretty sure I''ve seen him around the cafeteria."
"Nice to meet you, Tanin," Gunther greeted. "I am from the Combat Institute. I had Professor Saber for her Introduction to Laning Phase class."
Tanin smirked at Saber. "Was he a good student?"
Saber tapped a finger on her chin in thought. "We didn''t have time to finish the semester, but his grade average was an A- I think?"
"Not bad," Tanin acknowledged.
"Gunther, right?" James asked him. "Good to meet you."
"Hey, yeah. Nice to meet you too." Gunther extended his hand for a shake. "What''s your name?"
"Excuse me for a second," James said. He stepped away a bit to lay the Seekflower down by the pavement. The whole time, he had been holding it cautiously with two hands, like how someone would hold a delicate infant.
"Firstborn star of winter," James suddenly recited as he clasped his hands. "I call upon thy austerity. Unveil thy majestic form, the embodiment of frost and blizzard, and shape our destiny upon this frigid stage."
The ground froze beneath us, all around. A thin, continuous sheet of glistening ice built up across the streets and pavements and lawns, stretching outward for about twenty or thirty yards in an oval. It was almost like a skating rink.
"What are you doing?!" I shouted at him. As I reached for my new railgun in panic, Roger clutched my wrist.
"Calm down," he ordered. "This is not a fight. It doesn''t have to be."
"Dance upon the sunken graves," James continued. "Turn dreams to naught and still the hearts of the plunderers."
A short fence of ice manifested around the frozen rink. Roger had stopped me from drawing my weapon, but he couldn''t stop the others. Jack, Saber, and even Tanin had gone into battle-stances, weapons at the ready. Gunther summoned his gun assault rifle of thin air.
"Explain yourself," Tanin ordered James.
"This is a barrier technique," James said in a calm voice. "Until it is dispelled, it will freeze the heart of the first person who attempts to exit. But do not worry. As long as we all stay inside, it is completely harmless."
Tanin stared to James, then Roger.
"...And your aim is?" Tanin asked.
"Gunther of the Combat Institute," James declared. "Wanted by the Bounty Hall for theft, sabotage, and forceful resistance. Worth forty thousand dollars. Dead or alive."
Chapter 80: Dont Talk to Me Or My Gun Ever Again
The air hung frosted and taut as Gunther aimed his assault rifle at James'' chest. James stood tall and unflinching, his muscular build covered in chainmail. Bluish-white energy swirled and compressed into his open hand, solidifying into a spear of twisted ice.
Roger, with one hand still around my wrist, summoned his own weapon with a burst of grayish vapor. A heavy, flanged mace.
"Go for the setup," James simply said. Roger returned a curt nod, then charged in toward Gunther. The air around his mace seemed to distort and suck inward, into the weapon''s black-iron head. Gunther quickly redirected his rifle at Roger, who zigzagged out of aim and closed in. He lifted his hefty mace, then struck down.
Saber bashed his weapon aside with a jab from her sword-pommel. The mace smashed into the ground near Gunther, pulverizing the carpeting of ice and cratering the asphalt below. Roger shot her a death glare. He reached out to seize Saber by the throat. SHe leaned away to dodge, then grabbed his outstretched wrist. In one swift pivot, and borrowing her backwards momentum, she threw Roger over her shoulder. The man managed to hit the ground feet-first and standing, and he swiped his arm free of Saber''s grasp.
"Don''t get in our way," Roger ordered her.
But Saber stepped between Roger and Gunther. She held out her sword in front of her, tip pointed up and slightly forward. A defensive stance.
"I apologize," she replied. "He is a student of mine, you see. Let''s put away our weapons and discuss things like civilized people."
James tightened his grip around his spear. He closed in towards Saber and Gunther, pincering them between himself and Roger.
"The Bounty Hall does not negotiate," James said. "He has stolen from our comrades. The guilt is his alone to bear."
"Y-your guild takes everything," Gunther barked back shakily. "You grab everything you find like it''s your right. How are we supposed to survive? What are we supposed to survive on?!"
"Is that true?" Saber asked Roger.
"Excuses of a thief," Roger replied simply. "Now sheath your sword, paladin. This is your last warning."
Saber kept her guard up. "I''m afraid I must protect my friends."
James gave his spear a forceful twirl. Its tip left behind a shimmering, white trail. "And I''m afraid that''s obstruction of justice. Sorry it has to turn out this way, I was beginning to like you." He wound his arm back, poised to throw the spear.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Drop it," I snapped. I raised the sights of my railgun to his skull. Without hesitation, he hurled his spear at me. I sidestepped and squeezed my trigger. A bolt of pure arcane force shot out of the railgun''s bore, and it manifested itself into a glowing, translucent tetrahedron. James stretched out his hand, and with a flare of cyan rays he conjured a hexagonal shield of ice. It took the shot for him and shattered into powder.
"SOPHIA! JAMES!" Tanin shouted. James and I kept our eyes on each other.
"James! Roger! Listen, you can''t fight this," Tanin insisted, his voice low and edged.
James scoffed. "My friend, we fight these for a living. A couple new arrivals from Silver is a warm-up."
"No, you don''t understand. These are the cream of the crop. They''re on Fink''s level. You need to let this slide."
"That''s not how we do things here," James replied. "Your buddies from Silver are on thin ice. Literally. They aren''t just opposing us. They''re going against the whole Bounty Hall."
"Starting to sound like you''re just a gang of criminals," I scoffed. I conjured a Cold Grenade inside the bore of my railgun and readied it for fire.
James crafted a new spear of ice. "You think so? Then you ought to be scared. Take us down, and you can bet you''ll have a six-digit bounty of your own. Still wanna act feisty?"
If there was one thing I hated, it was threats. Screw anyone who thinks they could manipulate me.
"Oceans, roar," I muttered beneath my breath. "Darkness, mourn. Solstice of the desolate land, drink the blood of kings."
Trails of light darted beneath me, leaving iridescent arcs that intersected to form a magical, eight-sided diagram. The geometrical construct extended outward from me, encompassing everyone. The ever-present fog of the suburb cleared around us. The clouds overhead swirled and darkened. I continued my incantation.
"Do not ask the tide from where it comes. Do not ask the moon to where it returns. O creatures of dust, heed the supplications of this asymmetrical world and forfeit your lot from among the livi¨C"
"You win!" James said. He tossed his spear to the ground, where it shattered into little pieces. "You''ll make this a meaningless death for all of us, you absolute muppet. Roger, hunt''s off. We''ll let someone else handle this mess."
James touched a finger to the frozen ground below. The rink of ice beneath us began to melt away. And the ice-fences around the perimeter, too, thawed and broke apart and toppled.
"Thank you for understanding," Saber said. "James. Roger."
"You think this is where it''s over?" James asked. "Your troubles are just about to start. And oh boy, will they ¨C"
A burst of gunshots interrupted him. Before any of us could react, Gunther took off running. He sprinted behind the corner of a house, then disappeared out of sight.
And then we realized what he had shot.
Upon the pavement, where James had left the Seekflower, was its remains. The pot irredeemably broken, the soil scattered, and the flower itself torn to shreds by bullet-fire.
Chapter 81: A Thorned Promise
Gasps rippled through the air. In the stillness that followed the gunshot''s echo, all eyes were riveted to the shattered remains of the Seekflower. The harsh crack of gunfire still rang in our ears as we took in the sight of the once vibrant flower, now nothing more than a scatter of shrapnel and dying petals over the melting battlefield.
James shattered the silence. His voice simmered with a controlled anger that sliced through the frigid air.
"You three have really done it now, haven''t you?" His steely gaze roamed over us, accusing and challenging in equal measure. "Not content with merely interfering in our operation, you''ve gotten the Seekflower destroyed. A loss the Bounty Hall won''t ignore."
Jack''s eyes darted between James and the ruined flower. "What? I didn''t touch a thing," he protested. "None of us did."
Saber, with a weighty sigh, stepped forward.
"Jack did you no harm," she said. "Sophia only moved to protect me. I made the first move, and if anyone should shoulder the responsibility, it is me alone."
"And you certainly shall," James replied.
Tanin''s figure slumped, a tangible manifestation of frustration. "This isn''t your cross to bear, Saber," he said, the lines of his face etched and grim. "It was Gunther who broke it, not you."
"No way she isn''t an accomplice," James said.
James, that bastard. To think that I once believed him to be a reasonable man.
My gaze snapped to him, demanding his full attention.
"Do not report this to the Bounty Hall," I commanded with a stern authority that invited no argument.
James scrutinized me with a raised eyebrow, his arms folded over the expanses of his armored chest. "And if we don''t comply?" he challenged, the tone of his voice a mix of derision and curiosity.
"You''ll be leaving over my dead body," I shot back, my gaze unyielding, squarely meeting the dare in his squinted eyes.
He responded with a dry chuckle, and his shoulders shook in silent amusement. "You really believe you can stop us? Count again. Gunther abandoned you; now it''s a three-on-three. We have been navigating Gold far longer than you. Survived things you''ve never seen. We''ll take our chances."Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"It''s absolutely not a three-on-three," Tanin objected. "Oh heck no. I won''t be lifting a finger in this fight. I have no obligations towards the Bounty Hall."
"Tch," Roger said. "We came all the way out to save you, and you won''t even help us?"
"What I don''t understand is why you take this all so seriously." Tanin tilted his head at Roger, then James. "What''s in it for you? Why this blind, unshakable loyalty to that Bounty Hall of yours?"
"We deal with the enemies of the people," Roger replied tersely. "And we deal with the enemies of our own. That is the Bounty Hall. That is our justice. And we cannot tolerate compromise."
Saber steeled her voice. "And who determines the guilt?" She pointed at the scattered remnants of the Seekflower, her sapphire eyes blazing with an indignant fire. "Are you suggesting that a life should be ended over any theft or vandalism? That anyone that opposes or disagrees with you is guilty of death? How is that just? Biased justice is no justice at all."
"There is no unbiased justice," James told her annoyedly.
"Roger, James," Tanin said, his voice low and heavy. "If you won''t consider reason, I might as well throw my lot in with Sophia and Saber. Forget bringing me with you. You and I, we part ways here. I''ll follow them to find Atlas, and you can forget any respect I ever had for you."
Sighing deeply, James pinched the bridge of his nose, the lines of his face hardening into a mask of reluctant acceptance. "I am obliged to report this to the Bounty Hall," he conceded. "The Seekflower is gone. They will not leave this disaster unaccounted for. But to help, I can give you some advice. On how to survive the hunt, that is. Count yourselves lucky."
James'' gaze slid towards me, a glimmer of sympathy in his frosty eyes. "There''s an abandoned supermarket on the other side of the house you were staying at. It''s too far from the Bounty Hall, dismissed as a strategic point. There''s enough food and water, and you''ll probably find ragtag factions to keep yourselves company."
Jack, however, wasn''t appeased.
"And what, you''re still gonna report us? Put a bounty on Saber''s head?"
"Report this, I must. The outcome will be for the Hall to decide."
"Very well," Saber conceded. "We will head to the shelter. But for our own safety, we''ll take Roger with us, as a navigator. And a token of goodwill."
At this suggestion, Roger visibly balked.
"You''re insane," he said. But Tanin put a hand on his shoulder.
"Do it for me, Roger," he implored softly.
"They could kill me," Roger protested.
"They wouldn''t," Tanin assured. "As much as you wouldn''t kill me. I swear to you, on my own life."
Finally, after a moment of tense silence, Roger nodded.
"Fine," he said. "I''ll do it for you, you bastard."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Tanin shot him a glance. "I love you too."
Chapter 82: Liminal Spaces
Roger, Saber, Jack, and I set out through the dense mists, traversing through endless rows of suburban houses. Roger, our reluctant guide, led us through the labyrinth streets, his gaze sweeping over the terrain, as though searching for invisible signs for when to turn and when to continue.
I convinced him to make a quick detour to look for Mr. Atlas. I still had Atlas¡¯ approximate location triangulated on my computer. Roger took us to that area, begrudgingly. After searching across several street blocks, we couldn¡¯t find him. Not even when I shouted his name did he respond. Perhaps he left the area. Perhaps he was asleep inside one of the houses. Without the Seekflower, we couldn¡¯t tell.
¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± Roger told us after about thirty minutes. ¡°Wander too much, and we¡¯ll all get lost.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a bounty hunter,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Isn¡¯t finding people your job?¡±
¡°No Seekflower, no mission for me,¡± he said flatly.
I conceded. The suburbia was unforgiving to the unwary, and as much as I wanted to get our group back together, we couldn¡¯t risk getting everyone lost.
¡°You can put up an ¡®Alive Only¡¯ bounty for him,¡± Roger suggested to me. ¡°Down the line someone might take the job.¡±
Wait, but wouldn¡¯t we want to hide from the Bounty Hall? I still had little idea how that organization really worked. I looked to Saber and Jack. Jack shrugged.
¡°Maybe we will,¡± I told Roger. He didn¡¯t answer, and we continued on in silence.
Roger, against all expectations, proved to be an effective leader. His gruff exterior hid a focused, tactical mind.
"We¡¯ll need to take a detour," he advised us, his voice a hoarse rumble. "Direct route crosses Bounty Hall patrol."
¡°Roger that,¡± I quipped. Saber giggled behind me, and the two of us did a high-five.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
Roger veered slightly away from Saber and I as we continued walking.
Jack cracked a wry smile. ¡°So he really does care about us.¡±
¡°Oh hey Jack,¡± I said, giving his arm a tap. ¡°You better not go running off by yourself like in Silver. If you get lost, I swear I¡¯ll beat you up when I find you.¡±
¡°Oh, but you¡¯ll look for me.¡±
¡°And beat you up,¡± I added with a pout. After all the effort we went through to find him, the very thought of losing him again made me upset.
¡°Heh.¡± Jack folded his arms. ¡°I¡¯ll take that trade.¡±
I still had a ton of questions for Jack. Like how things had gone for him since arriving in Gold. Whether he still needed to do the upcoming Seasonal Challenge, which Saber and I got to skip since we finished a PvP challenge. What he thought we should do next. But those questions could wait until we were safe and on our own.
I caught Roger watching us with a strange expression on his face, one I couldn''t decipher, especially since his beard obscured his mouth. I wondered what he was thinking about us. Was he beginning to grow tired of us? Was he beginning to like us? I couldn''t tell, and for now, it didn''t matter. All that mattered was that he brought us to the abandoned supermarket. We¡¯d simply part ways after.
Halfway through our journey, the uniform suburban landscape began to break somewhat, giving way to wider roads and the occasional larger plot of grass. And eventually, we saw it. Up ahead, dominating the view was a colossal, block-like building ¨C our destination. A wide, dark gray box shrouded in mist. An abandoned supermarket, as described by James. A monolithic structure that would be our sanctuary, our hideout from the Bounty Hall and its relentless pursuit.
Roger brought us to a halt at a distance, where we took in the sight of the imposing edifice. We found ourselves a stone¡¯s toss from the edge of a vast parking lot. It was barren of any vehicles, and it spread out before us like an asphalt sea, with the supermarket on the other side. A few blocky shapes dotted the parking lot sparsely. They were too far to see properly in the poor visibility, but they seemed like shacks or tents of sorts. I couldn¡¯t see anyone else in the vicinity.
Roger turned to us, his gaze firm. "This is as far as I go. From here, you''re on your own." I heard a soft tiredness in his voice.
"Got it," I said, offering him a small smile of gratitude. "Thanks for getting us here."
¡°Thank Tanin,¡± he said. ¡°If you ever meet him again.¡±
He turned and left without any further farewell, or even a wave. I watched as he receded away in the nondescript gray.
Then I heard a whistling.
From who knew where, an arrow whizzed past me. It pierced Roger through his back, scattering links from his chainmail. Roger fell to the asphalt ground with a sickening thud.
Chapter 83: Guess I鈥檒l Not Die (Shrug)
The sickening thud of Roger''s fall reverberated through my chest. For a moment, time stood still, then it hurtled forward with ruthless velocity.
I began to dash toward Roger, but Jack caught me by the wrist.
¡°We¡¯re not his allies,¡± he hissed. ¡°Don¡¯t make them think we are.¡±
I felt a strange knot tighten in my stomach, a mix of guilt and frustration. I knew he was right. I knew if I ran up to Roger¡¯s aid, the next shot would likely go to me.
Shadows darted about in the mist. They must¡¯ve gotten their sights on us. Were these the people of the other factions? Surely they weren¡¯t agents of the Bounty Hall, were they?
"It''s OK," Jack whispered, his voice barely audible. His hand remained on my wrist, squeezing gently.
I drew a shaky breath, forcing myself to focus. My gaze slid to Saber. Her blade was drawn. And she had positioned herself to guard our flank. If we really needed to, perhaps we could fight our way out of this with her on our side. But I doubted it.
Jack, still scanning the vicinity, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Please Listen! We¡¯re not with the Bounty Hall! We''re neutral party!" His words reverberated off the silent asphalt and into the mist. "We¡¯re not with that guy!"
I had my railgun slung across my back. Slowly, cautiously, I pressed a button near its grip to activate its metal-scanner ability.
Flashes of cobalt-blue light shone through the mist, as though I was seeing stars. But these lights had shapes. Shapes of sword or armor, some hidden behind nearby shacks, some in empty space. Some of the flashes fell outside the boundary of my peripheral vision, yet I saw them distinctly too ¨C all 360 degrees around myself. And soon after the flashes appeared, they faded away.
I found eight distinct clusters of equipment. Eight combatants. Most were behind cover, but some of the flashes occupied what otherwise looked like empty space. Were those invisible foes? Now I doubted we had a chance of winning this at all, with Saber or without.
"Drop your weapons," an unseen voice commanded from the mist.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"What are you planning to do?" Jack asked, his voice steady, masking the undercurrent of tension. "We come as refugees. We came to the supermarket in search of shelter.¡±
No answer came. But I heard distant shuffling of feet that drew ever closer.
¡°Are you one of the factions here?¡± Jack asked. ¡°We¡¯re just lost people. Looking for a group to join.¡±
¡°Drop your weapons,¡± the same voice echoed dispassionately. ¡°We can work something out.¡±
"Let¡¯s surrender," I whispered. Jack gave a tacit nod at Saber. She clenched her jaws. Then, she slowly lowered her sword to the ground. I did likewise with my gun.
¡°Raise your hands above your heads," the same voice spoke.
We waited with our hands raised, staring into the mist, hoping we wouldn''t meet the same fate as Roger. I saw his finger twitch. He was alive and conscious I¡¯d assume, considering he had most of his HP still left. Perhaps he was staying down to avoid further aggression.
From the mist, figures emerged, their outlines hazy and blurred. As they neared, the details sharpened. A few men appeared out of thin air. They were armed with all sorts of weapons. Some wore armor; others were dressed in thick, layered clothes.
They confiscated our weapons, and they bound our wrists with handcuffs.
¡°We¡¯re not gonna fight,¡± I told them as they snapped the metal rings shut around my wrists.
¡°You came with bounty hunter scum,¡± said the man handling me. He looked about middle-aged, with a disheveled, graying beard. He carried a crossbow at his waist and wore a leather jacket. ¡°Can¡¯t trust you too much, yeah?¡±
¡°Oh, that guy.¡± I looked to Roger. ¡°He¡¯s a defector from the Bounty Hall. You really didn¡¯t have to put him down.¡±
It wasn''t really true, but I hoped the claim would keep him safe, if these were an opposing faction. If rumors got out that Roger was actually a defector from the Bounty Hall, he''d find it harder to return. Perhaps he''d have no choice but to genuinely defect to our side, which might be a good thing in the long run. It was a manipulative tactic, one I hated to have used, but I convinced myself it was for the best.
Once they cuffed us all, even the bleeding Roger, they marched us through the mist towards the colossal building, like we were criminals. The gray fog gradually gave way to the looming silhouette of the supermarket. Its cold, blocky exterior loomed over us, devoid of any writings or brand logos.
The pavement near the glass-doored entrance was littered with tents, makeshift barricades, and clusters of people. They stared at us as we passed. Directly in front of the entrance stood a haphazardly-constructed fort, crafted from wood and corrugated metal, and guarded by a dozen people or so. One of them in particular stared at me. I looked back. He carried a thick wooden staff wrapped in vines, and the top half of the tiger''s head laid upon his own, so that the beast''s teeth wreathed his forehead like a crown. His bare flesh bulged with great muscles, and a thick, white beard hid his jaws and neck.
Wait a minute.
¡°You¡¯re Atlas¡¯s kid,¡± he called out to me. ¡°Girl from the hospital, right?¡±
That was the druid we met in Bronze.
Chapter 84: LCS
Before I could reply to the druid, startled as I was, strong hands forced me onward. They led me past shelves stocked with bulk commodities ¨C paper towels, detergent, garbage cans, and the likes. I glanced back over my shoulder, catching the druid''s eye. He was looking back. There was a wariness there, a caution that mirrored my own.
What was he doing here? And how long had he been in Gold for?
Our captors brought us to the front of what appeared to be a pharmacy window, an opening in the wall into a separate room. Heavily armed guards stood on both sides of the window, and a wire fence had been crudely bolted over the window-opening. Inside sat a middle-aged man, chin peppered with grey stubbles. He waved us in. Guards escorted us through a door around a corner, and we came face-to-face with the stubbled man.
The air was thick with tension and the smell of coffee. A long table, covered in maps and scattered documents, occupied the center of the room.
¡°Do you know where you are?¡± the man asked, matter-of-factly.
¡°Some sort of base, I reckon,¡± Jack said.
The man sat down on the surface of the table. He propped a foot onto a nearby chair.
¡°You¡¯re not wrong,¡± he said. ¡°We are the Liberation¡¯s Call Syndicate.¡±
Wait. I had heard that name before.
But only as a whisper in the shadows. I had never thought I''d encounter them face-to-face. Their motives were as cloaked as their identities, and I had heard practically nothing about them during my stay in Silver ¨C except the identity of their leader. At the helm of the Syndicate was Doublerift, one of the five Legends. A man who ranked among the likes of 6E12.
¡°¡Are you Doublerift?¡± I ventured to ask the man. He stared at me wide-eyed for a second, then burst out in a reverberating guffaw.
¡°Am I?!¡± he said. ¡°If only I were! Resource disputes? Street skirmishes? You think I fight those for fun? If I were bloody Doublerift, those bounty bastards would¡¯ve been wiped off the map yester-year!¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
¡°Then who are you?¡± Saber asked him. ¡°And what are your goals here?¡±
¡°Commander,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯ll call me. And you¡¯ve got no business knowing my plans. If you wanna join my side, you join as a soldier, you keep your head down. Doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re bloody Alice,¡± he spat. ¡°you¡¯ll be a grunt, that¡¯ll be what you start as.¡±
I froze for a second.
¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°You know about Alice?¡±
¡°Pfft.¡± He gave me a side-eye. ¡°Surprised?¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± I admitted.
The commander gave a bored yawn.
¡°Get them to jail,¡± he ordered the guards. ¡°We¡¯ll sort them out later.¡±
We were ushered away to one of the supermarket''s storage rooms, one with a high ceiling and heavy iron doors. Inside were rows of barred cages of metal. In each was a bed, plus assorted other pieces of furniture. Only a few had people inside.
I was pushed and locked into a cage at the back of the room. In there, surprisingly, I had a king-sized bed to myself, foam mattress and all. Not to mention I also had a leather office chair, a stylish glass desk, a stationary bike, and a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper.
¡°This is kinda nice for a prison,¡± I admitted to the rest of my team.
¡°We just throw random stuff in there,¡± one of the guards responded. ¡°Got something nice? Good for you.¡±
As the thick, metal door shut behind us, Jack glanced around the cell, bewildered by the unexpected accommodations. His cage had a wooden cabinet and a Christmas tree, among other things.
"They really decided to wing it huh,¡± he mused.
In the following days, the Liberation¡¯s Call Syndicate, or LCS as they preferred to be known, brought us meals with commendable regularity. Most of it looked like frozen dinner. Despite being armed for combat, the guards around us acted more like reluctant hotel staff than enemy soldiers. They often got bored, made awkward small talk with us, and asked if we needed them to fetch anything.
The only one they didn¡¯t talk with was Roger.
As I laid on my gigantic bed one evening before lights-out, the door to our storage room swung open. A large, muscular figure loomed at the entrance.
It was the druid.
The wardens nearby stepped aside for him, and they closed the door behind him.
Hal walked up to my cage with folded arms. He gave me a gruff smirk.
¡°Been a while,¡± he said.
Chapter 85: Attack on Costco
"Druid," I began, keeping my voice steady despite the unease creeping over me, "What are you going to do?"
His muscular figure blocked my sight of the door at the far end of the prison room.
"Easy, Sophia," he grunted. ¡°Name¡¯s Hal.¡± He crossed his arms while holding on to his vine-wrapped druidic staff. "Just here to chat. Nothing sinister."
"And you''re with these guys now? The LCS?" I asked, scanning his stoic face for any hint of a response. My heart oscillated between hope and caution.
Hal shrugged. "More or less, I suppose I¡¯ve become one of them, been here a couple weeks. And I took on the job of bringing you lot into the fold. Thought you¡¯d prefer me to random folks you¡¯ve never met before."
"Recruiter, huh?" I asked.
¡°Give me a bottle,¡± he said nonchalantly, pointing toward the back of my cage. At my rationed 12-pack of Dr. Peppers.
I went and slid one out of the carton, then passed it to him in between the bars.
I pouted with a hand on my hip. "Your dignity¡¯s gonna let you steal from an inmate, huh."
Hal made no response to my quip, but merely took a gulp, and concluded with a satisfied sigh.
He tapped his staff on the ground, trice.
It began to glow, the twisted vines along its length pulsating with a silver light. The same light rippled outwards along the ground in concentric circles, then formed a wispy, immaterial dome. Within the dome were Hal, Saber, Jack, and myself.
Everything else outside felt strangely distant.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
¡°Silence spell,¡± Hal told us. ¡°Can¡¯t hear anything outside, and they can¡¯t hear us.¡±
So we could now converse without prying ears. Strange, though, that he excluded Roger.
¡°So. Got questions for me?¡± Hal asked us.
¡°What is the goal of the LCS?¡± Saber ventured.
Hal let out a scoff, running a finger through his beard. "Don¡¯t know."
¡°But you¡¯ve been part of the organization,¡± Saber asked, a tinge of disbelief coloring her inflection.
Hal shrugged and chugged his Dr. Pepper. "Most of what we do is gathering power and resources, just like any faction. That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been doing. And if you join, that¡¯s what you¡¯ll do. But as for their end game... if they''ve got one beyond just expanding, they¡¯ve kept it under wraps. Heck, none of us here knows much about the big man in charge. Doublerift. I doubt even the Commander¡¯s got the full picture."
"And you''re fine with that?" Saber asked. "Being part of something you don''t understand? Working towards goals you don¡¯t know?"
Hal shrugged again. "Look, kid. It¡¯s easier to survive when you¡¯ve got warm bodies around you. That¡¯s why most of us are here."
His gaze passed over each of our faces. Despite the dim light, I could see a glint of concern in his eyes. "You should consider joining too."
I looked to Jack and Saber. The silence hung heavily between us.
¡°Is that what we want?¡± I asked the two of them.
¡°¡If we join,¡± Jack asked, turning to the Druid, ¡°how permanent is that decision? Can we leave any time we want?¡±
¡°Any time,¡± he said. ¡°Long as you leave behind your belongings. All you¡¯ll have left is the necessities you went into Bronze with. Everything else, the LCS claims. Money, magic items, everything.¡±
I sat down on the edge of my bed, arms folded. ¡°That¡¯s pretty harsh¡¡±
¡°So you better think things through,¡± Hal replied.
The ground beneath us trembled.
Dust rained down from the ceiling, and the lights flickered on and off. The guards and prisoners around us scurried about, seeking shelter or means of self-defense. But we heard nothing.
With a wave of his staff, Hal dismissed the dome of silence. Shouting, distant and near, filled the air.
"What was that?" Saber questioned, already on her feet, her voice bristling with anticipation.
The door to our prison room burst open, and a lady skidded through the hallway. She held a crossbow in her hands.
¡°We¡¯re under attack!¡± she yelled. ¡°Out, now!¡±
¡°We evacuating everyone?¡± the Druid shouted at her.
¡°No time,¡± the lady panted. She looked at something outside we couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Bounty Hall¡¯s breaching the perimeter. We gotta abandon base.¡±
For the first time in days, I saw a smile play across Roger¡¯s lips.
Chapter 86: A Very, Very, Very Chilly Reception
Hal, despite the orders given to him, released us. He unlocked the cages for Saber, Jack, and myself.
But he didn''t free Roger. Nor did he need to, I surmised, considering that the intruders would likely be the ones doing that.
He led us three out of the storage room, into the chaos of the shopping aisles. Spells and arrows shot through the front entrances, shattering the gigantic glass-paned doors into smithereens. The fortification outside the entrance, from what I saw, had already been knocked down and set aflame. Members of the LCS hauled massive, metal shelves to the entrance, then toppled them over for barricades. I wondered if that was wise at all.
Hal spared a quick glance at the chaos, then beckoned us to follow him in the opposite direction.
"Back exit," he told us. We were joined by a small but steady stream of LCS warriors as we evacuated away from the frontal onslaught. Hal led us on a small detour, to a separate locked storage room, from where he retrieved our weapons and gave them over. For me, both my railgun and my deprecated crossbow.
I overheard shouts in the distance that announced the siege had yet circled around to the back side, leaving us a way out.
"Is this a lure?" I asked Saber. "Is Bounty Hall leaving the back open on purpose?"I knew of historical battles, where tacticians would leave an easy out for their surrounded opponents, only to corral them into a deadlier trap.
"Hard to say," Saber half-shouted over the din of escape and the clanking of her armor. "This is a huge building to surround."
I supposed she was right. The Bounty Hall had a bit over 100 members, and I doubted they''d risk their entire fighting force in a single skirmish. Even if they could outgun the LCS here, they wouldn''t have the coverage needed to properly encircle the entire supermarket without gaps.
Thankfully, when we made it out the backdoor, an uninterrupted stream of escapees led the way before us. No sign of battle here. Perhaps the LCS only wanted to retrieve Roger, possibly other prisoners, and seize the supplies ¨C not kill everyone here off in a bloody slaughter. Nonetheless, I had my battlehat snugly worn, and my finger around the railgun trigger.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
We soon made it away from the site of the supermarket. I could still hear the distant sound of battle raging over there - explosions, the toppling of stone, and occasionally the noise of some indiscernible magic. But we had fled too far to hear any screams.
The group around us, perhaps a dozen people or so, stopped on the front lawn of a suburban house. One of the strangers in the group walked up to the front door, and managed to open it with a pair of keys. She waved us in.
I looked to Hal for confirmation.
"Lucky us," Hal said. "Didn''t know her house was this close."
"If I lived right here, I''d have joined the LCS too," Jack pointed out.
Hal nodded at us to go ahead and take shelter inside.
"You know her?" I asked Hal.
He thought for a moment. "Work friends."
The living room of her house turned out to be pleasantly spacious, at least sufficient to fit all twelve-ish of us without too much trouble. It had modern decor ¨C white walls, glass tables, granite countertops by the kitchen, and a dark-gray marble floor that lent weight to the space. The owner of the house scurried about to draw the curtains close. Someone flipped on the light switch. Instantly, the homeowner hissed at them to turn it back off.
Everyone seemed to have gotten the gist of things, and conversation settled down to hushed but hurried tones. I suppose we were here to wait it out in stealth-mode.
"How long will we be here?" I leaned in and whispered to Hal.
"Beats me," he said.
My teammates joined Hal and myself in one corner, where there was a dark-blue armchair. No one took it, perhaps out of politeness, and we all ended up standing in a semicircle around it. We said little. I listened in to the conversations rallying back and forth among the strangers in the room. They talked about their abilities, about sustenance, about plans to regroup with the rest of the LCS.
Suddenly, a familiar chill crawled down my spine.
The ground froze beneath us, all around.
A thin, continuous sheet of glistening ice built up across the marbled floor, stretching outward across the kitchen, and then the entirety of the house. It even crept outside, onto the yard and all-around, until a large oval encompassing the house became carpeted in ice, like a rink.
A short fence of ice manifested around the frozen domain.
This technique! Wasn''t it¡
I scanned the room for James. Anyone that remotely looked like James.
But no trace of him could be found.
Chapter 87: Emergency Meeting
Panic erupted in the room as the temperature plummeted. Potent magic had just been cast, and these people knew. Already, someone was bolting out the door.
"Everybody, don''t¡ª" I tried to shout a warning. ¡°Don¡¯t get past the fence!¡±
But my voice was drowned in the chaos. The person had already crossed the front lawn. She cleared the fence with a facile hop.
She only took two steps on the other side before falling over. When she rolled across the cement streets from momentum, I saw it. Out from her chest, from where her heart ought to be, jutted multiple dagger-like spikes of ice.
The room went still. All eyes turned toward me.
If only I had been clearer in my warning.
"I-I''ve seen it used before," I muttered. "This ice rink¡ªit traps you. If you leave, it''ll kill you."
A stranger, a man wearing a leather robe, stared and pointed a finger at me, then at my hat. "You did this!" he spat. "You''re an ice mage!"
Oh no. My Magus Battlehat. He must¡¯ve noticed the small shard of magical ice adorning it, and he assumed the worst.
¡°Listen! This isn¡¯t me,¡± I replied, trying to stay calm, even as several people in the room began raising their weapons. ¡°This isn¡¯t my technique. I know what this is. This is someone from the Bounty Hall.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Her magic doesn''t look like this," Hal added.
¡°How do we know you¡¯re not both Bounty Hall plants?¡± a man in plate armor accused.
¡°I know her,¡± Saber said. ¡°We just arrived recently from Silver. Plus, we have no more reason to trust you either.¡±
Jack cleared his throat aloud.
"Everyone. Listen. We got to figure out who we can trust," he announced in a low voice. I¡¯m glad he spoke up. At the moment, I was thinking the same thing, but certainly these people wouldn¡¯t be quick to trust me.
¡°How about this,¡± Jack continued. ¡°All of you, say who you know here. And I don''t just mean who you recognize. I mean who you can vouch for. And ask them personal questions, make sure it¡¯s really them. In case we have a shapeshifter that¡¯s infiltrated us."
Shapeshifting. Could that be one of James¡¯ powers? Was he among us?
There was a murmur of assent from the group, followed by wary glances. I hadn¡¯t know Jack could be an effective leader like this. He moved to close the ajar front door. It¡¯d be inconvenient indeed if the perpetrator slinked away without us noticing.
A trio of warriors came forth. They confirmed themselves to be part of the same team, said they had been since Bronze. And Hal, in turn, verified that he knew them all as well.
A quick count confirmed there were ten people left here right now. My group was a team of four, between Saber, Jack, Hal, and myself. If these three warrior were genuine allies, we already had a massive numbers advantage. Seven against three, at worst. So far so good.
The doorbell rang out of nowhere.
I jumped. I looked to the door, my nerves on edge. Everyone else had turned to look too.
One of the three warriors ventured to look out the peephole.
¡°No one¡¯s there,¡± he shakily said. Even so, he had his grip around the handle of his sheathed sword.
He slowly, cautiously opened the door. As he said, there was nobody outside. But as the door swung open inwards, we all saw a paper notice taped to the outside face of the door.
SPECIAL CHALLENGE IN PROGRESS
1 HOUR TIME LIMIT
OBJECTIVE: KILL SABER
Chapter 88: Skill Issue
Already, a stranger in the room, a lady with an eyepatch and leather armor, had drawn her rapier.
"That''s her," she said, pointing the tip of her blade at Saber. "We need to take her down."
Saber''s face went blank. She was utterly lost, frozen there.
My body moved by itself, before I knew it. I dove in front of Saber, fencing her off with my outstretched arms.
"No one make a move," I told the room, my voice edged and low. I stared down the woman with the rapier.
"She''s your ally?" the lady said cautiously. "You know the rules. It''s between her death, or all of us." Her scowl was bitter, pained.
"Just wait," I pleaded. "We can figure something out."
"This does feel off," someone said. It was one of the three warriors, who had confirmed one another to be teammates. This one wore a Greek-style bronze helmet, and a matching bronze chestplate. "Challenge announcements usually show up in team notebooks. Not random signs on doors."
"Usually?" the eyepatched lady asked. "So you''re saying this could be an exception."
"If it''s not a real challenge announcement, how did the sign get there?" someone else asked. "No one was outside to put it up."
"I don''t know," I shouted. "MAYBE MAGIC?! Telekinesis?"
"It''s fine," the rapier lady sighed. "I totally get it." She sheathed her weapon and slumped her shoulders. Though her brows remained furrowed, and her hand remained on the rapier''s grip.
"Yeah," I said. I let myself take a much-needed breath. "This is all too convenient. The Bounty Hall attacks, and right away we get a special challenge. Even this ice-rink ability belongs to someone in the Bounty Hall. There''s no way this challenge isn''t just one of their ¨C"This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Nova Quickdraw," the lady muttered.
As soon as I heard her, I felt in my gut what I needed to do. Before I fully analyzed her words, before I weighed the possibilities, I had already conjured my Vortex Shield, in front of both Saber and myself.
I saw a blur and heard a clap of thunder.
The lady had maneuvered behind me, her body crouched low in a battle-stance. Her blade whipped out of its sheath. Before my eyes could register all that had happened, she had already thrust her rapier into Saber''s abdomen.
All in an instant.
Force erupted from the rapier''s blow, like an explosion. It flung me back in the air. I caught a glimpse of Saber catapulting off in the opposite direction, having taken the brunt of the attack. The gray marble floor underneath us cracked and shattered. The walls around us scattered outwards as smithereens. People around us yelled and ran.
"Saber!" I screamed.
I rolled to a stop a few yards back. Rising back up, I squinting my eyes to see through the cloud of debris. The rapier-wielder had disappeared in the commotion. The corner of the house we stood in had been completely demolished. There was no trace of Saber here.
But I looked out farther, past the fallen walls. And I found her, upon the ground, all the way on the other side of the street.
Way past the fence of the ice rink.
Then, I saw it. From her chest, from where her heart ought to be, there protruded spikes of ice. Blood drenched her armor, pooled upon the pavement under her.
But I also saw something else. Ethereal walls, barely visible, but materializing and becoming more vivid by the moment. They were the golden, translucent, luminescent walls of a massive fortress centered around Saber.
¡When did she cast her Ultimate? In the instant, right before the ice pierced her heart?
She eased herself up. Even from here, I saw her chuckle. And I couldn''t help but smile too, in spite of how scared I was. Her reaction time was inhuman.
Saber drew her longsword and coated it in radiant, overwhelming light. She twirled it, slicing air, adroit as though she hadn''t been injured at all. The protection of her enchanted fortress must''ve let her tank an essential insta-kill.
The rink of ice around the house began to melt and crumble away.
"I know you''re there, whoever you are," Saber challenged. "Will you come and face me? Or shall I find you myself?"
Chapter 89: Guilty Strife
As Saber waited for an opponent to reveal themself, one of the strangers in the house took off and ran, and he waved along two of his teammates. They managed to leave the perimeter without obstruction or harm.
Was this confirmation enough for them, finally, that the whole "Special Challenge" had been nothing more than a farce? That they could leave alive without taking down Saber?
And as they fled, others scurried away as well, perhaps to safer shelters.
Only six remained: Hal, Jack, me, the owner of the house, the rapier-woman that attacked Saber, and Saber herself.
I pointed my railgun''s bore at the woman with the rapier.
"You''re not going anywhere," I told her.
I didn''t know if she had just been brash in her efforts of self-preservation, or if something more sinister was at play. For all I knew, she could''ve set this whole incident up, acted the part of a LCS victim, and tried to use the lie of a "Special Challenge" to get away with attacking Saber without repercussions.
The homeowner, too, brandished throwing needles from the folds of her clothes.
"That''ll be $200,000 for repairs," she threatened.
"Rapier-gal might be a LCS plant," I mentioned to the homeowner. "What now? Do we capture her?"
"Our prisons in the supermarket are compromised," Hal sighed. "We''ve got an empty mall sighted farther out. It''ll be a couple days'' travel, but that''s our backup base. I''ve never seen her around the LCS before, so take caution." He pointed at the rapier-gal with his druidic staff.
The rapier lady remained silent.
The fortress of light around Saber faded. And with it, the spikes of ice jutting from her chest melted and crumbled. From here, I could tell the holes they had punctured through her chest plate. But her bleeding had already been stymied. I checked her HP. Thankfully, she had only lost a third of it, from both the rapier thrust itself, and the internal ice-spikes combined. Relief washed over me. But it was not the end of my anger.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Give me a reason to keep you alive," I snarled at the rapier wielder. Then I turned to Hal and Jack. "She''s a liability no matter how you cut it. Either she''s an undercover Bounty Hall Agent, or she''s reckless enough to get us killed."
"Pop her head off," the homeowner spat. "I''ll take her loot. You, you''ll take revenge for your friend over there."
I almost liked that idea, despite knowing that we''d potentially be killing someone who had only attacked out of self-preservation, because she had been duped by some third party. I wondered if desperation had already chipped away at my better judgment.
Actually, you know what?
I jogged across the street to get to Saber. Seeing me, she lowered her sword.
"Oh my gosh," I said, finally loosening my guard a little. But not too much. The enemy could still be near. "Saber, does it hurt?"
She finger-flicked me on the forehead. Owie.
"You think?" she scoffed. "Felt like my internal organs just got put in a blender."
"Oh man." I shuddered. "You''re certainly hiding the pain pretty well. Big battlecries, sword stance, you know."
She put a hand to her waist. Now, listening to her breathing, I could identify her shallow, struggling breaths.
"I try my best," she said.
"Wait," I told her. "I just gotta make sure."
I shifted my grip on my railgun to press the metal-scanner ability. Sure enough, flashes of cobalt light danced all around me, indicating the presence of metal. The lights streaked behind me, in the shape of the woman''s rapier. They lit up under the ground, in the shape of pipes. They were in the walls of the buildings. The cobalt lights, of course, covered all of Saber''s equipment.
And the lights manifested in the shape of a massive sword, floating in the air right behind her. One I didn''t see with my naked eye.
I fired my Frost Missile at it, without a second thought. As the projectile left the barrel of my gun, the sword swung. It cleaved my missile in half.
Shapes and colors emerged around the sword, from out of empty air, like ink soaking through paper. The outline of a man manifested, then more and more of his body.
Had he posted the Special Challenge notice, while invisible? Had he been the one to conjure the frozen rink? He didn''t look anything like James.
He had spiky blonde hair, and wore no armor ¨C only a black, sleeveless knit top, and black baggy pants. In his hand was the biggest, most ridiculously oversized sword I had ever seen.
I conjured a Cold Grenade in the barrel of my railgun. "...You''re behind all of this, aren''t you?"
"Stay out of it, kiddo," he said. "This is between me, and this bounty right here." He tilted his head in Saber''s direction.
Crap. So James really went ahead and posted Saber''s bounty after all.
I launched the Cold Grenade and encased him in ice, right then and there.
Time to beat his Cloud Strife-ass into the ground.
Chapter 90: Mom: "We have Cloud Strife at home." Cloud Strife at home:
The stranger, who looked way too much like Cloud from Final Fantasy, met my threat with a wink in return.
No way the real Cloud would do that.
"Please call me Cirrus," he said, with a little grin and a tilt of his chin. "You must be Sophia, darling."
"Eew!" I shouted. He was literally named after a cloud! This clown must be the biggest knockoff I had ever seen in my li¨C
He swung his massive sword at Saber.
I pulled the trigger on my gun. The Cold Grenade launched.
An instant too late.
Saber leaped back, almost simultaneously. A trickle of blood crept down the side of her neck - thankfully the wound had been only a scratch, from what I could tell. A matching trickle dripped from Cirrus'' outstretched, frozen weapon. Ice had also engulfed the rest of his body.
He was fast with his sword. That thing must''ve weighed over a hundred pounds, yet he swung it with the speed of a fly swatter.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
No time to waste, then.
"All in!" I shouted to Saber as I backed away to a position more favorable for ranged combat.
She understood, and quickly leaped in with a thrust at the frozen man''s chest.
As I circulated my magical charge through my railgun, I felt a single shard of solidified arcane force materialize in its barrel. With a hard squeeze of the trigger, the shard fired out and plunged into Cirrus'' chest.
This was the second time I used the gun''s basic attack. The projectile proved nothing fancy, but nonetheless more potent than any crossbow bolt I''ve dished out.
But basic attacks alone wouldn''t be enough. As Saber continued to assail the frozen stranger with slashes and Smites, I weaved in my spells, firing a Frost Missile from the gun, then launching a Vortex Shield with my free hand. I managed to get a second railgun shot in before Cirrus broke free of the ice encasing him. He charged straight at me. I was the squishy mage, after all, and I had just used my one defensive spell.
But often, defense is not the job of the mage.
He closed the gap between us almost instantly, but it was time enough. Saber slammed her foot down, causing a golden, crystalline wall to erupt between me and him, right as his blade neared my face. I heard it clank hard against the crystals on the other side. The wall fractured, and shards of crystal broke off, but for now I was safe. And I had just enough time.
"Final spell," I breathed. "Maw of Leviathan."
Chapter 91: Greater Theft
Trails of light darted beneath me. They carved through the pavement, scorched the lawns of grass, left iridescent arcs that intersected to form a familiar diagram. A gigantic octagon fifty meters across, a geometric inscription of raw arcana force. Its perimeter engulfed Cirrus within, along with Saber and several adjacent houses.
My bones creaked as I readied the spell. My legs bent under its immaterial weight. And Saber, who stood next to me, staggered for a moment as the spell''s pressure bore down upon her too.
A flash of panic glinted in Cirrus''s eyes. He dashed away, attempting to escape the glowing octagon. But it was no use. The activation of this spell is instant.
The snap of a finger was all it took.
The ground beneath us fractured and cratered. The houses nearby imploded like origami in a clenched palm. Trees compressed into masses of splinters.
Within fifty meters, unrelenting pressure crushed the suburban landscape into a spatter of indiscriminate destruction.
And yet, Cirrus stood.
Not completely unharmed. As he turned back to face me, I saw a trickle of blood from his nose. And a smirk on his lips.
Before my shock wore off, he dashed behind me. I''d have missed it if I blinked. I instinctively leaped away. He smiled without making an attack.
And then I felt it. A warm trickle down my abdomen. I looked down.
My stomach had been sliced wide open. Blood spilled out, incessant.
I only felt a dull, distant pain, coupled with a numbness that now spread across my body.
¡What just happened? When did he attack ¨C had I completely missed it? Was his weapon poisoned?
"You''re hesitating," I heard Cirrus say.
A blur flashed across my vision, accompanied by the scream of steel and a splash of blood.
My shoulder. Before I realized it, Cirrus''s blade had sank into my shoulder.
"Sophia!" I heard Saber''s shout from right behind. In the corner of my vision was her sword, intercepting Cirrus''s oversized weapon as that behemoth extended past my back. Saber had blocked the overhead blow from behind me, or at least the brunt of it. If she hadn''t, my entire arm would''ve been chopped off.
My mind was going blank. Cirrus''s speed. His durability. He made Headmaster Fink look like a joke in comparison.
A clash of blades rang at my side as Saber and Cirrus swung. It startled me back into my senses, if only a little. I had to fight.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I fell back and fired my railgun at Cirrus. Hal rushed towards us from across the street, his arms morphing into thick, branching, grasping roots. They grew out and reached for Cirrus, but he diced through them with a flurry of slashes.
As he turned back to Saber, a near-invisible projectile darted into his unguarded flank.
It wasn''t even a projectile, so to speak. Just a distortion, a tremor in the air, scarcely visible. The tremor had entered his body, thumping and vibrating like a second heartbeat.
Jack''s Vacuum Wave.
Jack himself jumped in, finally, thrusting his dagger at Cirrus. Strong as Cirrus was, he couldn''t defend against everyone at once. Jack''s stab made it through the guard of Cirrus''s sword, and scratched him as he tried to dodge.
A scratch was all it took.
Soon as the dagger''s steel drew blood, something inside Cirrus popped. For the first time, I heard him grunt in pain.
Vacuum Palm had two parts. The first was the direct hit. The second was Resonance. Vacuum Palm embedded its latent energy into the target. Any melee attack from Jack would trigger it, releasing shockwaves that ripped the target apart from the inside out.
Cirrus staggered. Saber took the chance to circle around and thrust her swordpoint into the soft spots behind his knees. He returned with cross-slashes that cleaved through both Saber and Jack. And though he stood his ground, he let out a quick cough, sputtering blood.
Whatever damage we had done, it was catching up to him.
But he dealt us wounds in equal measure. Jack had suffered gaping cuts, and Saber''s armor had been battered, and her blood leaked through. Hal, who fought at a distance, had only wooden stumps left of his transformed arms.
My own head grew light, whether from blood loss or the poison. Even with all four of us against Cirrus, I wondered if we could outlast him.
In a single arcing swing, Cirrus swept back Saber and Jack. He leaped back to disengage.
"Busybodies, all of you," he spat. "Your precious little paladin can live another day."
"You''re not running away," I snapped. I aligned my railgun''s sights to his skull.
"Running away? Oh no. I''m just taking what I need, and I shall bother you no more."
He pointed a finger at Saber.
"Final ability," he said.
"Oh no you don''t ¨C" I fired a Frost Missile at him, but he blocked it with his other hand.
"Greater Theft," Cirrus declared.
His pointing finger curled inward. Something, like a wisp of vapor, flew from Saber to him. Before I could fire a second shot, he had faded into thin air.
Invisibility again? As if the same trick would still work. I activated the metal detector on my railgun. A flash of cobalt light lit up down the road, then turned around a corner. There he was.
I fired several more shots from my railgun, then a Cold Grenade. The shots found purchase, I''d have estimated, but the Cold Grenade caught nothing within its radius. Did I misaim? Had he dodged it?
And with that, my metal-sense expired. It''d take a minute before I could use it again. Drat.
"He went that way," I told my team. "Should we chase?"
Saber stared at me. Or rather, past me. I checked what was missing on her. She still held her sword in her hand. And her armor, far as I could tell, still had all its pieces. Did Cirrus steal her Twin Shadows, her magical dagger? Its speed-boosting special ability would''ve been indispensable if we were to pursue him. I wouldn''t be surprised if he took it as an act of self-preservation, if he had intel on what it did.
But I saw it. The dagger rested against Saber''s hip, secured by her belt.
"Sophia," Saber called out to me, her words soft, her breath shallow. "I¡I can''t see anymore."
Chapter 92: The Unseen Blade Is the Deadliest
Jack and I guided Saber across the street, one on each side, holding on to her arms. She blinked frantically, squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them as wide as she could. I couldn''t find anything physically wrong with them.
"Can you see anything at all?" I asked. I waved my hand in front of her face, hoping she''d at least glimpse a blur or silhouette.
She shook her head. I had dreaded that response.
"It''s pitch black," she told me.
I wondered how long the ability would last. In the meantime, we were vulnerable. Cirrus could be anywhere, waiting for an opening to strike. The nearest safe haven we knew of was the empty mall Hal mentioned, several days away. The journey there, a perilous navigation on its own, would prove deadly with Cirrus potentially stalking us. He might even rally backup.
My team of three, plus Hal, returned to the half-decimated house. The homeowner lady sat on a couch in the living room, amidst specks of rubble and splinters. Debris and ruination carpeted the floor likewise, as though this place had been struck with a hurricane. I couldn''t find the rapier woman who had blown her house up.
"Where''s the rapier lady?" I asked.
"Slipped away," she answered blankly. She stared out ahead, at the missing wall of her house.
"Let''s go inside a bedroom," Hal proposed. "The bounty hunter''s invisible. Bad idea for us to be staying out in the open."
The homeowner remained in silent stupor, for a couple seconds. She then wordlessly led us farther into the building, into a dark room with a queen-sized bed and a desk. Opaque curtains were drawn over the windows, and a thick maroon rug covered much of the floor. She let us in and locked the door behind.
"Well then," she said.
The five of us formed a circle facing each other. Saber clung on to me, her grip trembling as she seized the fabric of my white coat. She was no stranger to injury, and in our adventures she had stared death in the face more times than I could count. In battle, she''d stand brave as any other.
To see her desperate and scared like this, trapped in total darkness, broke my heart.
"Sophia," she cooed.
"I''m here." I gave her hand a squeeze.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
She fumbled around and managed to feel out the metal, headband-like circlet that guarded her forehead. She lowered the thick, solid band down to her eyes to blindfold herself.
""Make sure my eyes are covered," she murmured. "If he really stole my sight, he might see through my eyes."
Even now, Saber still kept a clear head about her. I leaned in and squeezed her in a hug. I needed her to know I was still there. That we were all still there by her side.
"How long will her eyes be like that for?" Jack asked, towards Hal and the homeowner.
"Don''t know," the homeowner said. "I don''t know who the swordsman is."
"Bounty hunters keep their repertoire a secret," Hal added. "They''ll mix their innate skills with item abilities. They''ll make you guess which is which."
"He did say Greater Theft was his Ultimate," I pointed out. "Unless that was a lie to throw us off?"
"And the ice rink, then that''s an item ability," Jack pointed out. "I''ve seen someone else use it before. James from the Bounty Hall."
"Oh, him," Hal said. "I''ll have to record that down."
"The blindness shouldn''t last long," the homeowner said. "If it did, then why hadn''t he gotten out of Gold yet? Would be overpowered."
"That''s a good point," I said. "So maybe¡thirty minutes max? Could we wait it out?"
"Worth a try," she said. "Then what? Are we all heading to the abandoned mall?"
"Not sure we''ve got other options," I said. "If we stay here, we''re just sitting ducks, right? We should set out as soon as Saber can see again."
"Or before Bounty Hall gathers here," Hal added.
I activated my gun''s metal-scanner, just to make sure. Luckily I sensed no presence around the house. I reminded myself to spam the scan off cooldown, once per minute, for maximum security.
I couldn''t deny that it exhausted me, along with everything else that had happened previously. I asked that we take the opportunity to rest, so we could embark fully refreshed. The others proved sympathetic.
"Can I take a quick nap?" I asked. I couldn''t remember when I had last woken up, but at this point my eyelids had grown heavy, and my consciousness threatened to drift off. The adrenaline of battle was beginning to expire. The subsequent exhaustion was starting to kick in.
"I''ll keep watch," Jack volunteered. "Then you take second shift?"
I gave a weary nod. "Sure, thanks."
Saber would join me in resting, since she wouldn''t be able to do any lookout duty. We had never needed to take shifts before, not when we had Mr. Atlas with us. He didn''t need to sleep, thanks to his magical Ring of Vigilance. I wondered what he was up to now. Where he was now. How he was doing.
The others left the bedroom to Saber and myself. It was a simple bed, with a solid wooden frame and olive-green sheets. Clean, creaseless, smelling faintly of fresh citrus. While we were caked with dust and dried blood.
I eased Saber into bed and draped the blanket over her armored frame. She insisted on keeping her armor on, in case enemies were to arrive. I let her.
I took my spot on the bed beside Saber. I settled in, quieted down. Her armor sang with soft, metallic scraping sounds with each breath she took. It was rhythmic, like a lullaby, and precious. I let it carry me off into sleep.
Chapter 93: Five-Bullet Russian Roulette
I woke up to Saber''s soft groans. I couldn''t tell if she had woken up, not with her eyes blindfolded. She sounded like she was in pain.
"Saber?" I whispered to her. "Saber? You alright?"
The groans petered out. She began to breathe more evenly, and deeply.
"Thanks," she said. "Just a nightmare."
I didn''t blame her. After everything she had been through, I doubt she''d have much peace of mind, even in sleep.
I vaguely remembered napping by my father''s side when I was little. He, too, would vocalize grunts or whimpers when he dreamed unpleasant dreams. I used to wake him up, too, when I heard him make those noises. He never said thanks, nor did he ever get mad at me for waking him up.
"I had a dream," he would simply say, without elaborating. Then he''d shut his eyes again.
"Here," I said to Saber. "Let me take that off."
I eased her headband up, off her eyes. She squinted, then opened her eyes.
"Can you see?"
"Are my eyes open?" she asked me.
My stomach sank. I had feared this. I had hoped things wouldn''t have turned out this way.
"Yeah," I told her. I waved my fingers in front of her face. "Can you see my hand?"
"Still pitch dark," she said.
My head sank on to her chestplate. My hair cascaded across the blood-spotted metal. I held on to her, desperate. Impotent.
Now, when she needed help more than ever before, I had nothing to give.
Two quick knocks sounded against the closed bedroom door.
"Come in," I said. I eased myself up into a sitting position.
"Been six hours," Jack told me as he peered in. "Saber''s sight back yet?"This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
I shook my head.
"Yeah," he said. "Hal feared as much. He said Cirrus wouldn''t have run off after wasting an Ultimate to steal her sight, if the effect ended right after." In a lower voice, he added, "Might even be permanent, who knows."
I doubted it. I really wanted to think that wasn''t true. If we somehow found Cirrus, we should be able to get Saber''s sight back, right? Perhaps we''d have to kill him, but so be it. After everything he had done, he could hardly blame us.
"And, Hal told me Bounty Hall''s about fifty, sixty miles from here. Roughly three days of travel normally, but superhumans like Cirrus will manage it in much less."
"Point is?"
Jack took an uneasy glance aside. "If he goes back for reinforcements, he might be back soon. Soon as I wake up, we''ll need to get moving."
"You''re saying they''ve got no reinforcements in the vicinity?" I pointed out. "Despite the onslaught on the supermarket just now."
"Who knows," Jack said. "If Cirrus could rally those allies, we''d already be dead. Hal thinks their whole mission was to retrieve Roger and take over the supermarket. That they can''t add on a third objective, not without taking on unnecessary risk."
"And if Saber hasn''t recovered when you wake up? We just venture out into the open, with an invisible assassin waiting for our missteps?"
Jack bit his lip. "Yeah. Unless you want to stay cooped up here forever. Best case scenario, we leave while Cirrus went back to get reinforcements, and we get to the mall before he catches up."
I furrowed my brows. "And if he never left? If he had been waiting outside the whole time, to ambush us as we leave?"
"Then we die." Jack shrugged. "It''s a gamble."
"A losing gamble," I pointed out.
He scoffed. "We already lost when we sided against the Bounty Hall. All we can do now is play our hand. Anyways. I better get to resting."
He gave me a pat on the shoulder as he walked past me and into the bedroom. Saber remained upon the bed.
"I''m a light sleeper," Jack told me. "I''ll make sure Saber''s alright."
"Thanks," I said. I closed the door, leaving the two of them inside.
I found the others not in the living room, but in an adjacent bedroom with its door scarcely cracked open. Strange way to keep watch, though I supposed the living room was no longer defensible with much of its walls obliterated. Hal had just lain down in the bed. The landlady, sitting in a chair in the room''s corner, greeted me with a slight, cautious nod. I sat down on the carpeted floor, in the opposite corner. I leaned my railgun against my shoulder, with its stock resting upon the ground.
Our shift passed wordlessly. Once in a while, I''d scan for metal in the vicinity using my magical gun.
We waited. At first I felt nervous. Soon, that subsided into a mind-numbing monotony. I charged my phone and checked the time, once every few minutes, waiting for Jack and Hal to finally wake up.
Relief eased me when the two of them stirred from their sleep. We assembled in Saber''s bedroom, and the landlady asked for a few minutes to pack her things.
She didn''t take long, and packed lightly. She only glanced back once, with a sigh, as we journeyed off towards the mall, leaving her house behind in the thick fog.
Chapter 94: Im Breathing in the Chemicals
I still didn''t know who Hal''s teammates were, but as we walked, he jotted things down in his team notebook, and read from it as well. They were probably members of the Liberation''s Call Syndicate, I''d wager.
"Do you have a team?" I asked the landlady.
"Yeah," she said simply, and did not elaborate.
Hours had passed since we left the house. Hal led us, and he made twists and turns through the neighborhood to throw off potential pursuers. Disappearing around a corner makes you much harder to track when the visibility is only a few street intersections, like it was in the dense fog here.
I spammed my gun''s metal detector as often as I could. I never found anyone with it. Its 50 meter radius scan felt enormous when I first got the item, but now I was beginning to feel its limitations. Plenty of enemies could have engagement ranges much farther than that. I wondered if there was any way to get the range up a bit, maybe by adding on a satellite disk or something.
"You know how I wrote a book back in Silver, right?" I asked my companions. "Magic Engineering. Granted 5 Arcana Points."
"Oh yeah," Jack said. "How did you do it?"
I shrugged. "That''s what I''m wondering. How does magic item creation work? Does it just¡happen?" I turned to Hal and the landlord. They had been in Gold for a while longer than me, I supposed, and they''ve had chances to rub elbows with all the experienced Gold players.
"Do you know?" I asked them.
"Doesn''t happen often enough to find a pattern," Hal said.
"I''m surprised people haven''t experimented more," I said. "I mean, once you crack the code, you can basically make infinite magic items for yourself, right?"
"Doubt the game''s exploitable like that," Hal said. "Would''ve happened long time ago if it was."
I shrugged. "I guess that''s ¨C"
"Shush," Hal interrupted. He stopped in his tracks, and barred us behind him with an outstretched arm. And with his other hand, he pointed at a spot in the mist.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
I scanned the surroundings. Nothing metallic seemed to be there.
But then I saw movement in the fog. Something tiny was closing in on us. Approaching.
I raised my gun at it. With my free hand, I clutched on to Saber''s arm.
The new arrival turned out to be a little gray mouse.
Hal didn''t waste a moment. A thick, barbed vine shot out of his wrist. He swung it overhead in a half-crescent, then whipped it down upon the critter. The mouse, unsurprisingly, splattered into a splotch of gore on the road.
"Get back!" he shouted at us. I shuffled a couple steps back, confused.
The remains of the mouse erupted into a crimson cloud of vapor. It engulfed Hal''s vine whip. In seconds, the lengths of the vine touched by the vapor had already rotted into a dark green sludge.
The cloud continued to spread, expanding without diluting.
"To the left!" Hal shouted to me. I turned and saw another mouse. I took aim with my gun.
No, wait. It wasn''t alone. I counted two¡three.
I fired a Cold Grenade towards them, and the explosion of frigid air caught several. But even frozen, they all managed to burst into red clouds. I counted four bursts. There must''ve been a mouse I hadn''t even seen.
"We''re under fire from Bounty Hall Elite," Hal spat at us. "These are her bombs. Gotta scatter."
"They''ll just pick us off!" I shouted back.
Hal whipped at something I couldn''t see. But I knew his blow found purchase when a crimson eruption bloomed in the distance.
"No choice," Hal replied. He stepped back from the great, deathly clouds that now surrounded us. "Cluster together, and we all die."
"Surrender?!" Jack asked, eyes wild with desperation.
"Bounty Hall only pays for kills," Hal retorted curtly with a quick shake of his head. "Now go!"
I had no choice but to run off while holding on to Saber''s hand. I headed straight ahead, in the same direction we had been traveling in. The others fanned out at the intersections. I heard the landlady''s scream from behind me, but I dared not look back. I dared not slow down.
Please. Please, everyone. Just save yourselves. I''m sorry.
Saber, though blindfolded, kept pace with me even as I sprinted. The occasional stumble, the occasional stutter in her steps never led to her falling; she seemed to catch and rebalance herself mid-fall without slowing down.
"Hang in there," I pleaded with her.
We just had to keep our bearings, keep our pace. Hopefully, we''d be out of this mess soon ¨C
From around the corner of a house, a mouse darted out and cut off the path ahead of us. It only let out the briefest squeak before exploding.
I tried to turn away. I tried to drag Saber along.
It was too late. The scarlet vapors smothered us both.
Chapter 95: Still Wandering in the Deep Mist
The crimson vapors stung my eyes, my skin. Inside the putrid, opaque cloud, I could no longer tell where we were going.
"Hold your breath!" I screamed to Saber. The vapors entered my lungs, choking me with their acidic pungency. My chest seized up. It felt like I was drowning under hot oil.
Our only escape was to press on ahead.
I ran, stumbling, clutching tight on to Saber. Several steps later, I felt the cool air at the edge of the vapors. Only to hear another squeak at my feet, and a pop as another mouse blew itself up right next to us. The scalding chemicals sprayed out, dissolving my skin. And it wasn''t alone. As I struggled forward, blind and melting away, the mice swarmed at us. And they burst apart into clouds of vapor, one after another, engulfing us in new plumes sooner than we could escape previous ones.
I checked my HP.
[HP: 190/1040]
My adrenaline barely kept the pain below a maddening level, but it couldn''t block out the fear.
Perhaps this was it for us. Pitiful, meaningless deaths. Our remains to litter the streets and then rot away.
A storm rose around us. Peals of thunder rumbled next to my ears. After a moment, the air cleared. I forced my eyes open against the sting and the gale. A cyclone, filled with light and lightning, swirled around us. Around Saber. It covered a considerable zone, stretching from one side of the street to the opposite. Mice approached us, but the wind buffeted them to an unsteady crawl, and the bolts of lightning burst them open while they were far away.
This was Saber''s third ability, Hero of the Storms. It provided constant area-of-effect damage. At this time, I couldn''t have asked for a better lifesaver. I wanted to thank her, but the vapors had scathed my throat and I couldn''t seem to talk.
Even as the mice blew up away from us, their vapor mixed in with the wind. We had to keep moving. I dragged Saber along. Her protective shroud of wind wouldn''t last forever, and we had to find shelter soon.
We could try breaking into a random house. I still remembered what James told us, while we were still journeying with him. Here in Gold, there were three kinds of houses. First, ones with an owner. Those had supplies inside, to keep the owner alive. Then, there were houses that didn''t have an owner. They were completely empty. But the third type were houses with a "negative number" of owners. Like the first kind, they''d have supplies inside. But if you walk into one of them, you would disappear ¨C ceasing to exist, or worse.
I activated my metal scanner. All the houses around us had something inside them. Which meant none were guaranteed to be safe. The small glint of hope before us was flickering out.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
It''d take a minute before I could scan again. I trudged on with Saber, buying time until I could fire off the next scan. The mice still came at us, but Saber''s storm fended them off. She had enough mana left to keep it active for barely over a minute more.
Before time ran out, I managed to scan the surroundings again.
Within 50 meters, there was still no empty house.
My stomach churned. Our choice was either to stay outside and get melted by rats, or risk a fate worse than death.
Wait.
To our right, and slightly behind us, was a house with two people inside. At least, I thought there were people. I sensed them as suits of armor on the ground, and weapons within their grasps. I saw, as a faint outline, a crossbow bolt sticking out the wall. I could tell the front door, wrought from metal, was slightly ajar. And inside the garage rested a great bundle of metallic objects, far more abundant than inside any other house. Was this a player''s supply stash, and the site of a raid?
The evidence lined up well enough. I took a sharp turn towards the house, sprinting fast as I could to shake off the mice. I tugged on Saber, guiding her along.
We soon arrived, right as Saber''s mana ran out and her stormy shroud extinguished. Through the ajar front door, I saw two decomposing corpses inside. Morbid relief washed over me, knowing that those who died inside had left corpses. This house wasn''t of the third type, where people who entered simply disappeared. I quickly slid in with Saber. Checking behind us, I found no mice in the vicinity. Then I shut the door.
The lock had been smashed. But there was a cabinet by the door. I leaned my body against it to shove it against the door, to serve as a barricade. It ought to keep the mice out for now. But any human would easily barge through.
A closer glance at the two corpses confirmed that they had fallen to each other in battle. One had a crossbow and a severed leg. The other, an axeman, had a bolt in his skull. Their blood had dried on the rustic wood flooring, but there seemed to be no sign of decay yet.
I checked my HP.
[HP: 180/1040]
And Saber''s¡
[HP: 270/1250]
If any bounty hunter came through that door, we''d be done for. I could only hope that the mice weren''t smart enough to be used for scouting. And that no one on our heels had a Seekflower with them.
I eased Saber on to the living room couch. We had to collect supplies here, rest back up, and set off as soon as we could. I''d need to write a message to Jack through our team notebook, to check on him, and let him know we were still alive here.
"Are we safe?" Saber asked me.
"Ye¨C" I tried to whisper, but an aching cough interrupted me. I covered it with a sleeve, only to spatter it with my own blood.
My throat and lung still burned. I must''ve at least taken in a couple gasps of the caustic vapors, and my insides were damaged and bleeding. I checked my HP once more.
[HP: 170/1040]
Damage over time. I wondered how long it would continue for. I wondered if I''d even survive.
"...Sophia?" Saber asked, in a small, afraid voice. "Is everything alright?"
I eased myself down to sit on the ground. I leaned my back against the couch, right next to where she sat. The exposed parts of her skin had turned red and tender. Perhaps blisters would form later.
"Yeah," I said, with what remained of my voice. "Just need some rest."
Chapter 96: All She Ever Wanted
Minutes passed, then hours. Over time, my bloody coughs only worsened.
My eyes stung. Patches of my exposed skin grew red and warm and painful, though they did not blister. First degree burns, it seemed like. Running them under the cold tap water helped soothe the burning sensation, and offered a rare glint of relief.
Saber seemed to be doing slightly better. She hadn''t breathed much of the vapor in, thankfully, and her natural HP regeneration seemed sufficient in keeping her external wounds in check. She had dozed off on the couch, hair disheveled, her headband slung across one eye. Her skin took on a reddened flush, much like mine. Her HP was going up, albeit at a snail''s pace. At this rate it''d take her days to fully recuperate.
We didn''t have days.
I wrote to Jack in my team notebook.
Jack! Saber and I are safe inside a house. Are you alright?
Jack had never been one to respond quickly to shared team notebook messages, not during our battles inside the arena. But within minutes, inked letters magically began appearing in my notebook, right below what I had previously written. It was his handwriting, alright. I leaned back, glad that he was still alive and out there somewhere. Soon, a complete message had been scrawled into my notebook, as though by an invisible pen:
I''m fine. Got separated from Hal. Landlady''s gone I think. Where do I find you?
I told him our house was a right turn from the path we had been on. I mentioned that the house had milky-yellow curtains. It had three floors, which was unusually tall for a building in Gold. I remembered it had red tiles. And, reactivating my metal-scanner, I realized it had a weather vane on the rooftop. I mentioned all of those things to him.
I''ll be over ASAP. Hang in there.
Jack had penned that, in a hurried scribble. I replied,
I''ll be alright. Be careful on your way.
I wrote that, but I really didn''t know if we''d be alright without him. I shut my notebook with a soft thud.
"Have you heard from Jack?" Saber asked from the couch. I hadn''t realized she had woken up.
"Ah ¨C he''s alright. He''ll be heading over."
"Thank goodness. How are your clothes? You should probably give them a wash."
I looked down at myself. Utterly bloodied and contaminated. She was right. Who knew how much of the toxic vapor my garments had soaked up. I looked around the house a little, and managed to find a washing machine. I pressed the power button. The machine lit up with a musical jingle.
"Oh wow, it still works," I said. "The washing machine, I mean."
"Seems like most appliances do," Saber pointed out.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I undressed and stuffed my clothes inside, then wrapped myself in a seemingly-fresh towel I found in the bathroom. As the washing machine began to spin, I let myself catch a breath, only to cough up blood again.
[HP: 170/1040]
This wasn''t good. My HP hadn''t gone up at all. It had stopped going down, but I was getting no farther from death''s door.
I rummaged through the kitchen, looking for medical supplies. Cooking utensils cluttered across the countertops and inside the cupboards. Pot lids, unwashed dishes, knives stained with blood. I finally found a medicine cabinet in one corner, with burn cream and pain medication inside. Those would have to do for now. I took a painkiller pill, then applied the burn ointment onto my skin.
"Aspirin," I said to Saber, holding a pill to her. "Say ahh."
She sat up slowly, and when I put the pill against her lips, she proceeded to swallow it dry.
"And burn cream," I said. "I can get some on your neck." That area seemed to be the most swollen part of her skin. "Hold still for a sec."
I applied a dab of the ointment to my fingertip, then gently rubbed it to her neck. I could feel her tense up. She stifled her breath.
"Does it hurt?" I asked.
Saber choked back what sounded like a sob.
I stopped. She leaned away, noiselessly, and slumped against the couch. Teardrops crept down her cheeks, from her blinded eyes.
I stood there, beside her, in the dim living room. The world was silent, except for the muffled, listless whirring of the washing machine behind us.
"Saber," I finally ventured, calling her name. "I''m here."
She responded with a quivering sigh.
"It''s always like this," she told me in a soft, eerily even voice.
Weak, nondescript light filtered through the faded yellow curtains. The tired floorboards creaked as I sat down by her side.
"All I wanted, from this world, was a second chance," Saber said. "I willingly gave up everything. My past. My life back home. I had no future there. I was only a burden to mom and dad."
Her strength on the battlefield made it easy to forget that she had once been a frail, broken girl. Back on Earth, she had been terminally ill. The only thing that kept her alive, in spite of her failing organs, were repeated and intensive medical interventions.
"I had left behind everything," she said to me. "Is that still not enough? What else do I need to do, just to stop being a useless piece of trash?!"
"Saber, that''s not who you are ¨C"
"I know who I am. This is just like back home, hooked up to the dialysis machine. Everyone tending to me, just to keep me alive until they can''t anymore."
"This is different," I contested. "Listen. We''re gonna find Cirrus, and we''re going to make him give back your eyes. And you''re gonna be the best fighter on our team, as you''ve always been."
"You won''t find him. He''s stronger than both of us, and he''s invisible."
"I''ll figure something out," I promised. "I might be able to modify my railgun''s scanner somehow, to increase its range. Cirrus can''t hide from that."
"And when you find him?" Saber questioned, raising her voice.
"I''ll kick his ass," I replied plainly.
"Don''t throw your life away like that. Sophia. Please." She took pause. Her hands clutched around her knees.
"I''m happy how far we''ve gotten together," she said. "I think it''s time we parted ways. Don''t get dragged down by me."
But I knew that wasn''t an option.
"I need you," I confessed. "I really, really can''t go on without you."
And I would not go on without her. Not after every moment we''ve been together. Not after all she had done for me.
"So," I added, "You can bet we''ll make it through."
I looked to her, yearning to once again see her faint and fleeting smile. The one beautiful thing left in this wretched world.
She must''ve known. Through her tears, she gave me a nod and the smile I so desperately needed. A genuine thing. I''d give my life to protect it.
Chapter 97: Miracle of Science
Wearied by pain, I flitted in and out of sleep, content to sink into the couch. Content to yield to it my wakefulness. I ought to be keeping better watch, I ruminated during the fleeting lapses of my consciousness. But I convinced myself it wouldn''t matter. If enemies came our way, seeing their approach would do us no good. We were in no condition to fight or run.
Knocks on the door startled me full awake.
I jumped up from the couch, and Saber likewise jerked upward. Despite her lack of sight, she managed to find the grip of her sword as it rested against her hip. I scrambled to grab my gun.
"It''s me," a muffled voice came from outside. I recognized it as Jack.
Thank goodness. The one thing I had been hoping for. His arrival.
I looked out the peephole to confirm, then quickly pushed aside the cabinet barricading the door to let him in. He slipped through the doorway, out of breath but otherwise in seemingly good shape. Soon as he entered, I shut the door once more and barricaded it. Hopefully no one had trailed him here.
"You''re at 180," was the first thing he said to me. He was staring right above my head, presumably at my HP bar. And then he scanned the rest of the room. Saber on the couch, equally injured. The two corpses on the ground that we still hadn''t cleared yet. And then back at me, at my gun and the towel wrapped haphazardly around my body. Only then had I noticed that the towel''s white fabric had been dirtied thoroughly by my bloodied coughs.
Jack, glistening with sweat, slumped down at the dining table. "You said you were OK," he said to me. "So that was a lie."
I checked back on my notebook messages.
"I said I was going to be alright," I corrected him. "And I am."
He peered up, a pained, frustrated look in his gaze.
"Hun, a stiff breeze could kill you both."
"Well thanks." I rolled my eyes. "I certainly wouldn''t have noticed without you saying."
The washing machine beeped a musical tune. It had completed the washing cycle, and the drying cycle too.
"Let me go change," I said, dismissing myself to fetch my clothes and retreat to an empty bedroom. Junk cluttered the floorspace inside: Empty water bottles, unwashed clothes, an infrared dish-heater, and an assortment of electronics chargers and cables. I fully re-equipped myself, coat and pointy hat and all. As I smoothed my attire over, two quick knocks sounded on the door.
"Come in," I said. As I had expected, it was Jack. He eased the door close behind him.
"We should talk," he said.
"I mean, yeah. What''s on your mind?"
Jack stood with his arms folded, in the corner of the room. "I should be asking you. What do you have planned, if anything?"If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Rest up, and set off, I suppose."
"How long to rest?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Until we''re at two-thirds HP?"
"How long''s that gonna take?" he asked.
"I don''t know."
"We''ve gone over this," Jack sighed. "We can''t afford to stay in the same place. The Bounty Hall will get reinforcements. Cirrus could''ve fetched a Seekflower by now. One of their top killers is in the area, whoever sent the rats. We can''t stay here. Not for more than five, ten more hours, I reckon. Can you heal up by then?"
"I don''t know," I admitted, exasperated.
Jack rubbed his temples. "Sophia. That''s the best you can give me?"
"Saber and I are poisoned," I explained. "Our HP regeneration is messed up. It''ll probably wear off soon. Ten hours sounds doable."
"And if you don''t get better in ten hours?"
"We''ll figure something out," I said.
"We''ll need to do better."
"Then why don''t you come up with something!" I hated being questioned like this. As though I, alone, had the job of getting everyone out of here alive.
But Jack merely nodded. He closed his eyes, then opened them slowly, raising his sight up to meet mine. A heaviness weighed down upon the room.
"I will need to be honest with you," he said slowly. "You''re out of commission. And Saber too. If anything happens, I know you need me to bail the both of you out. And trust me, if I could, I would give anything to get us all to safety. But I can''t. We''ve messed up too much."
My stomach churned. Deep down, I feared he spoke the truth.
Jack lowered his voice to a bleak, bitter whisper. "If the Bounty Hunters come for Saber, there is nothing I can do. She is blind and on death''s door. She can''t run. If they come, it''s over."
He looked to me. I merely stared back in silence.
"I know you know it," he continued. "We''ll need to shelter her here. We''ll set off, go find the abandoned mall. And then our best shot is to bring a rescue party back for her."
I bit my lips. Jack asked the impossible from me. I had already promised her, that I''d stay at her side.
"...And if the bounty hunters find her first?" I pointed out.
"Let''s hope they don''t."
"We need to do better," I replied, throwing his words back at him.
"Well be my guest," Jack spat. "Are we just gonna stay here and die together? Look, I had no bounty. I was fine. The rats went for you and Saber. But they''re not targeting you. Nor me. The only one they''re after is her. The best shot we have of reaching the mall, is the two of us. I don''t have the strength to save you both. But please, I''m begging. Let me at least save you."
I closed my eyes. I was tired. How much was my life worth? So much that Hei should sacrifice himself to save me? So much, that Saber should sacrifice herself for my safety?
Hei. If only you were still here. What would you do? Surely you''d be able to do something. Right?
"I''ll save us all," I told Jack. "If the hunters come, I will kill them all."
"Sophia, stop. This is suicide. You¡ugh. What the heck are you saying?"
"Why should I be the one running away every time?" I cried out. "Why can''t I choose to save anyone? Hei¡Hei had the choice. He saved me again, and again, and again. And I¡"
"You''re not Hei," Jack whispered to me. "And you don''t need to be him. None of us can be him."
I knew that. I knew I was never in the same league as him. I would never have been able to face down 6E12, the way he did. The things he did were impossible for me.
But even so. Even so, I too could fight for a miracle.
"Give me ten hours," I told Jack. "I''ll make something happen."
"What are you gonna do?" he asked, frowning.
I glanced at my railgun, then at the dish-heater on the ground. I shall do what I do best. I shall create a magical item. Something to surpass even the Seekflower.
A radar.
Chapter 98: Bringing Electrical Engineering into an Isekai Fantasy World
I asked Jack to take Saber upstairs, up to the third floor, where she could rest, and he could keep serviceable watch over the vicinity of the neighborhood.
"You better make this worth it," Jack said to me before departing with Saber. "Ten hours. That''s as long as I''ll wait."
That was how long I had to figure out a way to survive.
We had few options, if any. We had no way of taking on the Bounty Hall in a straight up fight, not after what we had seen from Cirrus and whoever sent the exploding rats. The odds stacked doubly against us while we bore severe injuries. Neither could we outrun the Bounty Hall, not without venturing out of our shelter while on death''s door.
Our best bet was to keep playing our game of cat-and-mouse, and beat them at it.
But according to what Tanin mentioned during our travels together, Seekflowers weren''t exactly rare in Gold. The Bounty Hall, as the strongest organization around, was bound to have multiple. They were the key to navigating through the obscuring fog of the massive suburb. They''d also be the key, I reckon, to tracking down bounty targets like Saber. And that made them our biggest problem.
The Seekflowers had a crucial weakness: their mana cost. Each time you used a Seekflower to find someone, it''d cost 200 mana. Even a mage would run out after five, six uses. It wasn''t something they could spam. Even if they had a small party to pass the Seekflower around in, they wouldn''t be able to use it more than twice or thrice an hour, I''d reckon.
Meanwhile, my metal detector had a cooldown of just one minute. As long as we could see them coming, as long as we could decipher their trajectories, we could change our courses to evade them.
The problem: The Seekflower had infinite range. My detector, meanwhile, had a range of 50 meters.
At least, it did for now.
I had ten hours left. I''d bet it all on one project, on boosting the range of my metal detector. Tenfold. Twentyfold, even. Enough to see our enemies coming before they get close.
My gun and its metal-detection feature had names. The railgun was the Arcane Railgun, and the metal detector was the Electromagnetic Pulse.
The pulse, I noted, came from a stubby antenna sticking out the top of my railgun. A thin, metallic stick roughly the size of a pen. As far as I could tell, it served both as the pulse-emitter and the receiver.
A radar, as far as I could remember, worked similarly to echolocation. A radar has an antenna, which sends out an electromagnetic pulse, then detects the "echo" as the pulse bounced off nearby metallic objects. In the case of my railgun, the echoes would then be magically transmitted to my visual cortex. Or something along those lines, but the end result was that I''d be able to "see" all the metallic objects around me as cobalt-colored auras.
Which was part of the problem. I wasn''t interested in seeing all the metal objects. I didn''t care about the water pipes under the ground, or the street lamps overhead. If I wanted to watch for enemies, I''d only need to scan at eye level. 360-degree spherical coverage was a complete waste of the power of the electromagnetic pulse, the EM-pulse.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Which was where the dish-heater would come in. Specifically, the dish part. The parabolic reflector dish.
I brought the dish-heater into the garage. There, I found various tools: Hammers, saws, screwdrivers. Well-stocked with all the usual. I put myself to work to detach the dish from the rest of the heater. I loosened screws, then sawed furiously at soldered joints.
The dish''s purpose was to reflect the infrared radiation of the heater in a single direction, so you could heat up a specific part of the room. Satellite dishes functioned very much the same way. A dish concentrates all the energy of an EM-pulse into a single direction, into a beam. Furthermore, it catches the bounceback echo and funnels everything it intercepts into the antenna. Thus, a dish serves double-duty to enhance the range of a radar.
As I sawed through the second soldered joint out of a dozen, a cough interrupted my work. A trickle of blood ran down the corner of my mouth.
[HP: 165/1040]
My condition was worsening. I doubted that physical labor did me any good.
I set the saw down on a table and waded to the corner of a garage. I leaned against the walls, gasping for air, then sunk down until I sat on the cement floor. The tightness and pain in my chest made it hard to breathe. Black splotches danced across my vision, and my head felt light.
This wasn''t going to cut it.
I needed a break. Maybe thirty minutes. Then back to work.
And that was what I did. Half-conscious, in the corner of the garage, with only the hum of a bare bulb overhead to accompany me. The floor felt damp and cold. Though I didn''t mind, being an ice mage and all.
Though - that gave me an idea. I was a mage. Why did I need to saw through things with my hands?
Fifteen more minutes, I alloted to myself. Just enough rest to stabilize my condition.
At the end of it, I stood back up, still light-headed, but marginally better. I grabbed my railgun, walked up to the dish-heater, then aimed it at one of the soldered joints attaching the dish to the wire-grate covering it. I steadied my hand. A glancing shot should do the trick.
I squeezed the trigger.
A bullet of arcane force blasted out of the bore. It tore clean through the wire-grate, and thankfully didn''t damage the dish itself.
Looking good.
I fired shot after shot at the grate, until I knocked its last bits off the dish.
The door to the garage swung open. It startled me, and I almost dropped my gun. But I knew better, and managed to regain my grasp and aim it through the doorway.
It was just Jack, thankfully. He had a scowl on his face, and a drawn dagger in his grip.
"What''s going on?!" he asked, scanning the room.
"Just working," I told him, recovering from my own shock. "No worries."
He sheathed his dagger cautiously. "Sounded like there was a fight. And you look half dead."
"Just doing metalwork. Is it loud?"
"Quite," Jack said with an uneasy nod. You''ll need to keep the volume down."
"Sorry. Will do."
And with that, Jack left me to my task.
I had made progress. With two last railgun shots, I managed to free the dish from the rest of the heater. I picked it up. The prize of my sweat and blood. And I held it behind the antenna of my railgun for a test run.
A faint glow pulsed down the length of my railgun. The same glow that I''d see upon leveling up. Something had happened to my weapon.
I held my breath and checked its new stats.
Chapter 99: Just One More
The railgun''s attack remained the same. The metal-detection range had increased from 50m to 80m. The coverage was cut by half, from omnidirectional to only forward.
Not good. I''d need to do way better.
Perhaps I could try charging up the EM-pulse with my raw arcane energy. I held the gun up, aiming forward into the garage door. I closed my eyes and visualized my magic as waves of coldness that flowed down my extended arm and into the antenna. But the frigid waves only pooled around it, unable to be absorbed. After a while, they dissipated into the air.
Worth a try, I suppose, but the antenna had no way of taking in my own power.
What else could I try? Perhaps the parabolic dish''s alignment was off? I tried several different placements, but none led to any improvements. And being able to test-fire the EM-pulse only once a minute slowed down my work. Which, considering my ten-hour time limit, certainly didn''t help.
What about capacitors?
A capacitor is a device that stores electric energy, somewhat like a battery. But unlike a battery, it can release all its stored energy in an instant. For a stronger EM-pulse, I could power the gun with a surge from a large capacitor.
My gun ought to already have its own capacitor. It was called a "railgun" after all, and you couldn''t build a railgun without a capacitor, as far as I knew. I set it down on a plastic bench. Its exterior was platings of copper and steel, with sparse exposed lengths of tubings and wires. If I were to find a capacitor on the gun, I''d need a look inside.
I managed to find a screwdriver nearby, and removed the screws on the chassis of the gun. I carefully lifted the top half of the chassis off.
Underneath, I found an indiscernible mess of wiring and devices. Parts I had no names for.
I sighed. This could take a while to figure out.
I rummaged around the garage, looking for tools that could help. Voltmeters, soldering irons, wire cutters. After finding nothing except electrical tape, I had an idea. I used the metal-scanner feature on my gun. It revealed a plier inside a box under the desk, which I could use to cut the wires if needed. But that was all it found.
I retrieved the plier, then stared at the exposed circuitry of my gun, then back at my plier. I didn''t really have any idea better than reconnecting the wires until I figured some pattern out.
Did I really want to risk breaking my primary weapon, permanently? Just for an unlikely shot at improving my metal detector?
Coughs seized me. I bent over, covering my mouth as blood spattered out.
[HP: 165/1040]
I couldn''t afford to worry about the future. It was going to be all or nothing, for a chance to survive right now.
I cut the first wire inside my gun. And then I tried to use it to see what happened.
The gun could still fire its railgun, but the EM-pulse stopped working. That didn''t help much, but at least that was information. I recorded it down in a notebook. A new, red, college-ruled school notebook I found in the garage.
And so I tested, cutting wires and taping them back together in different combinations. I isolated components to see what each did. I tried to figure out the input and output ports, the ground-voltage points, the power sources and everything in between. I recorded down all the results in my notebook. It was like solving a puzzle that was never designed to be solved.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
I went through countless cuts and re-connections, until my head grew numb, until my hands shook with fatigue. I found what I thought was the power supply, and what I thought was the capacitor. Minutes passed, then hours, as I ran test after test, as I lost myself to the endless experimentations. I grew unaware to the passage of time; the drip-feed of discoveries strung me along.
The door opened with a creak. I jerked around to find Jack there.
"Everything alright?" I asked. "How''s Saber?"
He clenched his jaw. "We need to move. Just spotted a stranger on the street, about five houses away."
My blood chilled. "Crap. Did they carry anything on them? A Seekflower?"
Jack shook his head. "They were holding something; might have been a Seekflower. Hard to tell through the fog. They walked around a bit, then went away. Almost like they were scouting."
"That''s¡really not good," I said.
Jack looked at me, at the bloodstains on my sleeves, at my disassembled gun.
"Sophia, we''ll need to head out," he insisted. "It''s not safe here."
"How''s Saber?" I asked.
"HP in the high 200s. Still can''t see."
I looked down at my notes. I had made progress. I already had a couple ideas of how to hook the capacitor up with the antenna. And the parabolic dish¡now that I thought about it, I could use my computer to calculate the optimal alignment, couldn''t I? I just had to take a picture of the dish, then use geometry to find its focal point, which is what I need to align the antenna with.
"Can you take Saber with you and escape?" I asked. "I''ll wrap things up and catch up."
Jack''s eyes widened. His brows furrowed ¨C I was scared that he''d shout at me. But he never did.
"You''re asking a lot from me," he replied in a low voice, pained and defeated. "I don''t even know if I can even make it out by myself."
My head drummed achingly. I hated that he was right. I wanted to curl up. To scream in frustration.
"I''m¡I''m sorry¡" I said.
"It''s not your fault," he sighed. "Just how the game goes. I''m heading out. You should too."
Easy for him to say. He was at full HP. Saber and I were one or two hits away from death.
"Let me run one more experiment," I asked. "It won''t take that long. Please. Trust me. I''m really close to making a radar."
He examined me, then looked around at my workbench.
"Really?" he asked, his voice laced with skepticism.
"Trust me," I repeated, practically begging. He dropped his shoulders and sighed.
"Good luck," he said, and left the room. I muttered a soft "thanks" back as he eased the door close.
I immediately got back to work, connecting the wires from the capacitor to the antenna circuit. The capacitor connected to the power supply of the railgun circuit, which in turn was the avenue through which the gun could intake my own magic energy ¨C how it manages to get a +40% AP damage scaling. After hurriedly joining things together with electrical tape, a pulse of light emanated from my gun. Another upgrade?
| ARCANE RAILGUN |
|
Upgraded special ability: Electromagnetic Pulse ¨C By spending 100 mana, you detect all metallic objects within 400 meters in front of you. 1 minute cooldown.
|
Yes! Finally! Now that was a number I could work with. It wasn''t a massive range, but it''d have to do for now. We didn''t have time to push the range farther with any parabolic dish adjustment.
I fired an EM-pulse as a test. Immediately, streaks of cobalt lit up in my vision, designating metallic objects found. The lights extended far away, across neighborhoods and past multiple street intersections. And best of all, I didn''t even see anyone there. We had no bounty hunters near us for now, at least not in that direction.
I bolted upstairs. I needed to let Jack and Saber know. We were safe. And we finally had a way to avoid the Bounty Hall.
Drip drip drip drip
As I neared the third floor, I thought I heard tap water.
"Hey!" I shouted as I swung open the door to the bedroom where Jack and Saber were. "Jack, I told you I won''t take long ¨C"
Drip drip drip drip
A pool of blood covered the floor around Saber''s bed. She was sprawled out on top, motionless. Blood poured out from her severed neck and trickled down.
Jack stood upon the frame of the open window, halfway outside the house. He balanced himself with one hand clutching the frame. In his other hand, he held Saber''s decapitated head.
Chapter 100: Goodbye, Dear, Dear Friend
Jack looked at me, for a brief moment, before leaving.
I watched as he slid out the window with Saber''s head. He landed on the ground below.
I watched as he fled away through the streets.
And when he was gone, I turned back to Saber. Or what remained of her.
And I closed the windows, and I drew the curtains. A thick, obscuring fabric, heavy and milky-white.
"Saber?" I spoke her name, hoping for a reply. For a miracle. "Jack?"
No reply came.
"...Saber?" I asked once more. But I was all alone.
This couldn''t possibly be the last of her. Not like this. Not this senselessly. There¡there had to be some way around this¡
I checked my bag for a Death Ward. Had I ever stashed one away? Surely, after all these adventures, I must''ve received a Death Ward medallion on some occasion?! I forced myself to remember, but no memories came to mind.
¡What about Saber? Perhaps she had a Death Ward. She must''ve had one. She needed to. Perhaps, under her thick and sturdy armor, she had a Death Ward stashed away, one we had both forgotten about. I turned around to check on her person.
But I only caught the fading silhouette of her body, as it dissolved into motes of light. The motes danced about, slowly drifting away, vanishing.
"NO!" I cried, reaching out, clutching at the motes. "Stop! DON''T!"
The little glimmers slipped through my grasps, immaterial like shadows, distant and unreachable like stars. I screamed for her, begged her to stay. Saber. Saber. You can''t leave now. Not after coming this far.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
I saw, through tears, the motes of light fade away. All, but one last, miniscule spark.
It quivered in the air, and it drifted slowly, unsteadily towards me, and it stopped in front of my chest.
"...Are you there?" I asked, choking on my words amidst sobs I could no longer hold back.
It didn''t answer. But I looked into the light, and I remembered.
I remembered when we demolished our first turret together. She hugged me so tight that her pauldrons dug into me.
When the stone giant, our first real enemy, cut her down. Her blue, lifeless lips as she fought to live.
When the crowds flooded to our little cabin in Bronze. How she tried so hard to be brave.
When she trained me and taught me how to survive.
The times we walked to work together, back at the Combat Institute. The times we walked during summer. The times we walked during winter. How she tried to catch the snowflakes in her mittens.
The times she came to save Hei and me, again and again in the arena. We could always count on her ganks and tactics.
The time she cried out in the shower, like a little child, because her soap exfoliated her skin too hard. Saber scared me for no reason, that asshole.
The times I huddled by her side in Gold, after I had lost Hei. When we thought no one else was out there for us anymore.
And for a short time, Saber and I had two pet rabbits. We had built a pen for them, inside the arena. For a few days, we had two rabbits.
The final mote of light, which stayed behind to keep me company, finally faded.
Goodbye, Saber.
This isn''t right. If anyone deserved to make it out alive, it was you. You should''ve been the one to live on.
There''s so much I wanted to say to you still. I''m sorry I couldn''t.
I couldn''t repay you for everything.
Goodbye, my dear, dear friend. My dearest Saber.
I sat down in the corner of the room, hugging my legs against my chest for warmth. Colorless white light seeped through the cracks in the heavy curtains. There was silence.
Please don''t leave me.
Chapter 101: Death Wish
In the days after I lost Saber, my memories became muddled, frayed. I spent many hours flitting in and out of sleep, or at least I thought I did. The things I did while awake mixed with the things I did in dreams. In those days, I had vivid dreams. Hauntingly vivid. No one was left to tell me what was real and what wasn''t. Perhaps I had cooked and eaten a meal. Perhaps I had only dreamed of doing so. Perhaps I had left the house and found a stranger picking apples from the yard across the street. Or maybe that never happened.
I dreamed of high school, of the days before graduation. I couldn''t remember much from that dream, other than that Hei and Saber were there. I think we were having lunch together inside the cafeteria. Ham and cheese sandwiches, with chocolate milk. We never had chocolate milk at school.
When I woke up, I found myself crying.
The only thing left that felt truly real was the radar, and the moments I spent with it in the garage that smelled of diesel and rust. When I took a picture of the parabolic dish, and when I modeled its shape on my laptop with mathematical functions ¨C the various measurements, the equations to add and multiply ¨C those were too technical, too complex to have been the product of dreams. I could never multiply while asleep. I''d spend hours at my makeshift workbench, half-aware and half-awake, laboring like an automaton under the light of the bare and humming bulb.
In the days when I could no longer remember, in the days I could no longer smile, my radar was the only thing left.
Every time I thought about that, it''d make me angry.
Who knew how long I spent on it. Hours, certainly. But I couldn''t tell how many days passed, or even weeks. In those days, the radar became everything I knew. I lived for it more than I lived for myself. With every last ounce of awareness I had left, I tweaked the parabolic dish, and I connected and disconnected and reconnected the sensor''s circuitry. In the beginning, the metal detector only had a range of 50 meters. Bringing it up to 400 was challenging, but took mere hours. Going beyond that took much longer.
I didn''t know how long it took exactly, but I only stopped working on the detector when I ran out of food.
The house had been large, with a well-stocked kitchen. But I had eaten everything, leaving only a mound of wrappers and trash in a corner of the living room.
I wondered what was left for me. Except the metal-scanner on the railgun.
My gun sat upon the workbench, half-dissected, its innards a mess of wires and tape. I had attached parts to the circuit that I no longer remembered. There must''ve been a couple capacitors added in, I''d wager. Screws and spare parts were littered around it. I picked up the pieces, examining and reassembling everything, hoping I could still remember how to piece it all back together.
I seemed to have remembered enough. Once I was done, only two screws and a single metal ring were left unused. I doubted those mattered much anyways.
I checked the stats on my reassembled gun.
| ARCANE RAILGUN |
|
55 (+40% Arcana Point) magical damage. 2 second reload. 65 meter range.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Upgraded special ability: Eye of Odin ¨C By spending 150 mana, you detect all metallic objects in a 10 degree cone in front of you. 512 mile range. 1 minute cooldown.
|
The range was massive, mathematically. It had increased beyond my expectations. I waited, internalizing the fact. I thought I''d feel surprise. Or accomplishment. Or closure. But I¡I think I felt nothing.
Now what?
I held the gun up, as though it would give me an answer. When none came, I decided simply to use it. I pressed the button near its grip to activate the metal scanner.
For a brief moment, I saw everything. Countless frames of buildings, countless lampposts and signs as far as the horizon could stretch. I saw several sets of weapons and armors that floated in the air, as though worn by humans. All manifesting as blueish lights, before fading away.
Once the minute-long cooldown was off, I activated the radar again, this time in a different direction. I saw the same things as before, more or less. I then fired it a third, then a fourth time.
The fourth time, I found a massive building, far away, with a crowd inside. Among the crowd was someone with a purse of coins, and the most ridiculously oversized sword I had ever seen.
I could remember it, clear as day. That blade belonged to Cirrus. The man who took away Saber''s sight. And I saw, too, the metal of his belt buckles and zippers and buttons. Just as I remembered.
A thought crossed my mind.
"Maw of Leviathan," I whispered to myself.
| MAW OF LEVIATHAN |
| COST: |
0 Mana |
| COOLDOWN: |
10 minutes |
|
You create an octagon around yourself of size 3142 sq. meters, designating the area within as the Maw of Leviathan.
The pressure of the deepest abyss then crushes targets within for 300 (+200% Arcana Point) magic damage.
|
I always thought the shape had to be a neat, equilateral octagon centered around me. But if I learned anything from working on the radar, it was that omnidirectional shapes were among the most inefficient.
Never before had I realized that this ability had no maximum range. Only a maximum area.
I knelt down and pressed my palm to the ground. I sent my mana beneath the earth, imagining a line connecting Cirrus and myself.
Trails of light darted beneath me, leaving iridescent trajectories that intersected to form a magical diagram, a triangle.
Three sides used. Five sides left.
I visualized a second triangle around Cirrus, where I had seen him. Another three sides.
And with the remaining two sides, I connected my triangle to his, with a thin, thin corridor. There I had it: an enclosed octagon.
I clenched my fist, pulverizing whatever was inside the triangle on the other end.
Something as durable as Cirrus would survive no doubt, but I bet he was in pain now. Perhaps a broken bone. Perhaps a bruised lung. Maybe a crushed eye, even. Hah.
No matter. In just 10 minutes, I could cast the spell again. Even if he survived this one, he''d have to survive the next one too.
And the next.
And the next.
Chapter 102: MC Really Steals? (No Dignity)
By the time I finished spamming my Ultimate spell, my Mana had run completely dry.
But more importantly, I had killed Cirrus.
With my Eye of Odin metal scanner, I watched him crumble in snapshots. After the first hit, he ran and hid in an underground bunker. Finding him in his subterranean shelter was no trouble for me. He must''ve been wondering who even attacked him, and how. After my second and third Ultimates, I could tell he was desperate. He scoured cabinets, dug through metal flasks, probably looking for something, anything, to restore his HP. And perhaps he found a potion or two. It wasn''t enough, however. My next couple casts of Maw of Levithan crushed him to a pulp.
My last metal-scan caught his equipment disintegrating. Just like Saber''s equipment, and her body, did as she passed away.
I wished I could''ve seen Cirrus'' death with my own eyes. Hear his last words, his screams. Was he afraid of me? Did he despair? Beg for forgiveness? I wondered what it was like, to face your destruction, knowing there was nothing you could do.
My stomach grumbled. I was hungry.
I had run out of food. Instead of looking around for supplies, I had used up all my energy killing Cirrus. What for? Revenge would be my first guess, but I didn''t know for sure. I had been stuck in a stupor for days, weeks now, and more often than not I had no real reasons for doing anything I did. I had Cirrus and his Bounty Hall to thank for that.
Perhaps they were going to trace me back here, if anyone noticed the thin magical line that connected Cirrus to me, when I casted Maw of Leviathan on him. No matter. I''d be leaving this house soon anyways.
Once my Mana regenerated a bit, I used the metal scanner once more, this time in a direction away from the Bounty Hall. Hundreds of houses showed up, or at least their metallic parts did. Most of the houses were empty. Some had supplies, and what seemed to be people inside, judging by pieces of armors or zippers or buttons. But I found a couple houses with trash ¨C bottle caps, discarded aluminum cans, and batteries ¨C and no people inside. And among them, I found a few with what seemed like unused supplies, such as cans in the fridge. The nearest such house was around two miles away.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
I gathered my belongings and set out.
As I left my house, the light outside stung my eyes. Even the dim light of the foggy suburbs made me squint. I hadn''t been outside the house for ages. It felt weird. Everything was bright, and the air outside felt different too.
I had to be on guard, in case enemies hid nearby.
I abandoned the area without seeing anyone, thankfully.
A brisk and tense walk later, I arrived at the house with cans in the fridge. I had no idea who the owner was, or where they were, but I hoped they wouldn''t mind me borrowing a bit of their food to survive.
Borrowing? More like stealing, I supposed. But considering the sheer amount of murder that went on around these parts, I doubted stealing food to survive made me the villain here. Right?
Eh. Whatever.
I walked up to the door and shot out the lock. The force blew the door swinging open.
Inside was dim and silent, and smelled faintly of decay. As far as I could tell, no one was there. I entered cautiously.
The interior was unremarkable: boring white walls, and carpets of the most nondescript shade of gray. A row of trash bags lined one corner of the living room, and I could tell that''s where the odor came from. I jogged to the fridge to check what was inside.
Bingo. That thing was packed full.
Bags of granola, canned spam, whole packs of Mountain Dew, spinach spreads, blocks of cheese, packs of saltine crackers, white bread¡the list went on. There were some fruits and vegetables in bags, but those had already gone moldy.
I wondered why anyone would put canned food into a fridge. But I had seen weirder things since arriving in this world. After a moment of deliberation, I decided to take a block of cheese, the saltine crackers, a bag of granola, and two cans of spam. Those were probably the most energy-dense foods.
I could probably take more, but my selection ought to last me a while. If I was going to steal food to survive, I should take only the bare minimum I needed, I thought. Which seemed like an odd thought to have, right after killing someone in cold blood.
Eh. Whatever.
Hunger got the better of me, and I opened and ate a pack of crackers on the spot. Perhaps the sugars were feeding my famished brain, but as I ate, an idea suddenly came to me.
How did I not think of it earlier? Had I been so blinded by spite, that I''d forget about even my own teammates?
I picked up my railgun, aimed, and fired a radar pulse towards the horizon. All metal objects in that direction registered to me as blobs of cobalt light. I concentrated. I needed to find someone, or rather something very specific that belonged to them. Thankfully, I remembered its shape well.
Mr. Atlas'' oversized axe.
Chapter 103: This Chapter was Not Sponsored by 7-Eleven
I searched across the land for my knight. For the one friend I had left, after I had lost everyone else.
I exhausted my Mana, over and over, to fuel my metal-radar. My body grew faint, and my breath grew short, as I spent every last drop of magic I could recover.
But soon I found the shape of his axe. And the shape of his armor. That grand, familiar silhouette. Only fifteen miles away!
I set out at once. Fifteen miles. I could cover that in a single day.
As usual, the journey itself was unremarkable, merely hasty steps through nondescript streets flanked by anonymous houses. After five miles or so of brisk walking, I reactivated the radar, to make sure Atlas hadn''t wandered too far. And thankfully, he hadn''t. He appeared to be inside some sort of building. Single-story, on the larger side, with many shelves and freezers.
A store, perhaps? Impressive that he managed to find one. As far as I could tell, stores in the suburbs of Gold were exquisitely rare. So much so, that groups of warriors would kill to take over one.
When the building came into view at long last, I had grown tired and sore from walking. But through the mist, I saw a small convenience store, and there was no sign of carnage.
It was a lone 7-Eleven, small and quaint, amidst a sea of residential buildings. I scanned one last time, confirming Mr. Atlas to be inside. Shaking off my nerves and fatigue, I focused my senses and entered.
Mr. Atlas was right there, at the cashier''s counter. He looked to me as I stared back.
"Sophia," he simply greeted. My name, said in an easy voice. As though nothing had ever gone wrong. As though this was simply a day like any other. I approached him, stupefied. It all felt like a dream. He held his arm out, for me, and allowed me to walk close, close enough to lean my head against his chestplate.
And there he held me.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Are you hungry?" he asked me.
"Just thirsty," I said, feeling the solidity of his chestplate, convincing myself he was really there.
This felt too surreal. Too simple. Too perfect.
"Meal on the house," Atlas said to me, then showed me to a door at the corner of the store. "Get some rest in the backroom. How long have you been awake for?"
"I forgot," I said. The baffling normalcy of our reunion seemed out of place. It was as though I was back home on earth.
Atlas brought me into the backroom, a plain, unadorned room filled with shelves of goods. In one corner was a mattress on the ground, and a plastic chair and cheap plastic table. He prepared me a tray of chicken strips, battered and fried, alongside a tall cup of Pepsi. I sat at the plastic table and finished everything, in silence, as he manned the store counter in the main room. And when I finished, I fell asleep before I had a chance to get out of the chair.
I didn''t know how long I napped for, or slept for. But when I woke up, I was tucked into the mattress-bed, with a blanket draped over me.
It still all felt so surreal. But waking up cleared my head enough for me to know that right now, this, everything around me, was real.
I looked around to regain my bearings. The bed sheets were clean and crisp, as though freshly washed, but without scent.
Which made sense, I suppose. Mr. Atlas didn''t need to sleep, thanks to his magical Ring of Vigilance, or whatever it was called. Even if he kept a bed around, he''d never need to use it much.
Thinking back, I could sort-of recall him carrying me into bed and tucking me in. That part felt like a recollection of a dream, but I suppose it really did happen.
I found my railgun and mage hat neatly on the table. I donned the hat, but left the gun there, and then I walked out of the backroom.
Mr. Atlas was still there, standing at the counter.
"Atlas," I said. I had my wits about me again, and I knew the gravity of the situation. We had much to discuss. Me, and my only friend left in this world.
He looked me up and down, as though inspecting. I saw him blink twice to check my HP.
"Awake," he said, "and alive."
"Mr. Atlas, I think we need to talk."
"I think so too, Sophia. Where do we start?"
I looked around the store. Foods and drinks crowded the shelves. How did this place not get plundered yet?
"First of all, why are you here?" I asked him.
He shrugged, and the corners of his mustache lifted in sync with his pauldrons.
"I run the store," he replied simply.
Chapter 104: Accidentally Taking a Massive W
Mr. Atlas, apparently, ran the store. And all the battle-hardened murderers, all the warring factions, paid him money for goods.
"...But¡how?" I asked. "Why don''t they, the Bounty Hall, just take over your store?"
Mr. Atlas went over to a cooler and fetched himself a can of soda. "They''ve got money. What''s the point of being rich if you never spend it?"
That made some sense, I suppose. To them, Atlas''s products probably cost mere chump change. Maybe it just wasn''t worth the risk of fighting him.
"And I see you''ve heard of them," Atlas added.
"The Bounty Hall?" I asked. "Yeah. Fought them even."
"Thought you''d be more cautious than that. They''re dangerous enemies."
I exhaled a solemn sigh. "I was cornered. Had to do it."
"Mhm," Atlas said. "Take anything you want, by the way." He gestured towards the store''s shelves. "Don''t be shy¨C"
"They took Saber."
His hand halted in the air. His finger twitched, visible through his gauntlet.
"I see," he said.
A lump caught in my throat.
"They took Saber," I repeated. It was the first time I told anyone. And it hurt so, so much. "They took her life."
I knew that wasn''t true technically. Jack killed her, and the Bounty Hall forced his hand. Which was worse. Not only did they take Saber, but even Jack too. He was now dead to me.
I had grown weary of grief; instead, I channeled my pain into anger.
"I''ll make them pay," I swore.
Mr. Atlas nodded. "Alright. So be it."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
He confessed to me that he had considered joining the Bounty Hall. Being a shopkeeper wasn''t horrible, he admitted, but life was perilous here without powerful friends.
"Sounds like I won''t be doing that anymore," he said.
"Have you considered joining the Liberation''s Call Syndicate?" I asked. "They seem a bit nicer."
"Oh," Atlas propped his table on the cashier''s counter. "They''re no less power hungry. No less willing to kill. Arguably shadier, too."
"If I join a faction, it''s the only option left," I pointed out. "I killed Bounty Hall people. I bet they want me dead now. Though¡purely hypothetical, but is there any chance the Bounty Hall and LCS wipe each other out eventually? I mean that would be ideal, if we can somehow nudge them in that direction."
"The Bounty Hall can be dismantled," Atlas said. "But not the LCS. Their chain of command goes beyond Gold. Their presence here is just a shadow of their core organization."
"Bummer. You think so?"
"Heard enough to know." He checked his phone for a brief moment. "Sophia. The next Seasonal Challenge is coming up in 15 days. I''m sure you''ve heard of the PvP mechanic by now."
"Yeah. In place of an arena battle against robots, we can fight other humans."
"Right. If you want to fight, now''s the time."
I began to pace about as I pondered his words. I grabbed a bottle of apple juice from a shelf and took a swig.
"As in? Kill a couple Bounty Hall members, then use that to prove our allegiance to the LCS?"
I wondered if that would even work. They were rival factions, right? If I offed a couple Bounty Hall members, maybe that''d buy me enough favor with Jal, that druid, and his colleagues.
"It''s a risky maneuver, admittedly. I know I brought it up, but it''s likely safer to just do a normal Seasonal Challenge. Find a third party member, go for 3v3, that''d work out. And we won''t have to shed blood."
"We''re killing killers," I pointed out. "Who can we take out to earn the most brownie points? Actually, who''s the Bounty Hall leader? Don''t think I ever found out."
A frown crossed Atlas''s brows. "An elusive man. The deadliest hunter of them all, they say. Impossible to track, impossible to avoid, and impossible to defeat."
"I mean, if they''re that good, why are they in Gold and not Platinum?"
"Who knows. Not a single target ever survived his hunt. He''s good enough at killing to move up from Gold. But he''s also good enough at killing to want to stay.
"Does the leader have a name?" I asked, taking another sip of apple juice.
"He''s an enigma. Few know of his name, though I''ve heard rumors in my dealings." Mr Atlas scanned the area outside the shop. Seeing no one there, he leaned in and lowered his voice. "That man goes by the name of Cirrus."
I spit my drink, laughing.
"Oh," I wheezed, and Atlas fetched me a napkin to wipe my chin.
"OK then," I said. "That probably makes things a lot simpler."
Chapter 105: When the White Mage Is Sus
The man that reigned over this realm was dead. And I killed him.
I hardly believed it, but the same Cirrus I blasted off the face of the world was the mastermind behind the Bounty Hall. Mr. Atlas asked me if I was mistaken.
"I don''t think I am," I replied with a shrug.
That changed everything.
Forget about siding with the Liberation''s Call Syndicate. I might be able to bring the Bounty Hall down myself, if I wanted to. If they couldn''t even protect their leader from me, I doubted the rest of them stood much of a chance.
"You reckon they''ll let me become the new leader, since I killed the previous one?" I asked Mr. Atlas, half-jokingly.
"Honestly?" He stroked his stubbled chin. "I think you''re not far off."
I laughed. "...You''re kidding, right?"
"No, no. I''m quite serious. Though I''m not sure. Here''s what. One of the Bounty Hunters is a regular here, comes by every week. Next time, I''ll check with her."
"Wait," I said. "So there''s a chance I''m the new Bounty Hall boss right now?"
"Doubt it''s that simple. I''ll be sure to let you know when the regular comes."
And so I waited. Over the next few days, I helped with Mr. Atlas'' shop. Customers seldom came, but when they did, they''d often buy things in bulk. Overall business was slow, and I had much time to spare with Atlas. We played cards to pass the hours, and we''d take turns going on strolls near the neighborhood. Mr. Atlas'' store sold Magic: The Gathering cards for some reason. I used to play with Hei back in the real world, and I had spent at least a hundred dollars building my own deck. Here, Mr. Atlas let me open as many packs as I could find, since he never managed to sell any of them anyways. I showed Mr. Atlas how to play, and we battled against each other for a couple matches. But he didn''t seem fond of the game, and we soon went back to playing Poker. And once we got bored of that, Atlas got me into chess.
I''d hide my hat and wear a face mask, in case any came looking for me in particular. I was Sophia, the girl that took down a crime boss. I doubted the Bounty Hall would forget about that, for better or worse.
But thankfully, far as I could tell, they had stopped their manhunt for me. At least for now.
One day, as I was in the store''s backroom, reading Atlas''s chess manual in bed, he shouted for me.
"Sophia!" came his voice from the storefront. "Come meet the regular!"Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Geez! Don''t say my name out loud! The Bounty Hunters were after me, this customer was one of them. Did Atlas want to get me killed?
Keeping my nerves in check, I donned my Magus Battlehat and hoisted my gun. I kicked open the door to the storefront, a Frost Missile loaded into my barrel.
Indeed, there was a customer. The alleged regular from the Bounty Hall.
"...Reens?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.
She returned a surprised stare, then smiled and gave me a shy wave.
No way.
Reens, our ally from back in Bronze. She was the kind-hearted girl who helped us run our makeshift hospital in the cabin. And we really needed her help, considering she was the only healer we had. I had tried to invite her to our team. The only reason she didn''t join was because our team was already full with five people. In hindsight, we really ought to have ditched Jack for her.
I knew she had survived all the way to Silver. We found her with the Seekflower back there, but with everything that went on, I never had a chance to find her in Silvercreek. I had no idea she''d made it all the way to Gold.
"H-hi," I said to Reens, still incredulous. "Um. Hi, it''s been a while."
"Sophiaaa," she greeted, with the gentlest voice. "I miss you."
Mr. Atlas led us both to the backroom and sat us down. He caught me up on the details: Reens had been coming for a couple months now, to pick up snacks for herself and her friends at the Bounty Hall. They apparently managed to recruit her right after she spawned in her house in Gold, which by pure happenstance was right next to the Bounty Hall building.
"I heard they were hunting you," Reens explained, "so I volunteered to take your bounty. I''m technically supposed to kill you. But here''s the secret, I''m not actually going to do that." She gave the most mischievous smile she''d ever shown me. Which wasn''t very mischievous at all, but still.
"You sussy bounty hunter," I teased. "Sounds like you saved my life. But won''t you get into trouble? I bet the Bounty Hall wants me dead."
"Mm, not that much actually! A lot of higher-ups don''t like Cirrus. He''s been hogging the leader position for a really long time, and his rivals were getting impatient."
"I have a question for you, Reens," Mr. Atlas chimed in. "What''s the process of ousting a leader of the Bounty Hall? I know there''s some sort of way to challenge them in combat. Can someone become the new leader if they defeat the current?"
Reens explained the rules, which were a bit more complicated than that. Years back, internal strife plagued the Bounty Hall. Higher-ups assassinated one another left and right as they vied for power. In a desperate act of self-preservation, they banned assassinations within the guild, and placated rivals with an alternative: a member may take the place of a current leader by winning a PvP Challenge against them. To provide some semblance of stability, at least 6 months must pass after a successful challenge, before a challenge for the same position can be issued again.
It just so happened that no one had dared to challenge Cirrus for the past 11 months.
"So¡let me know if I''m right," I asked Reens. "Someone replaced Cirrus as the new boss. And if I defeat the new boss, I can become the new-new boss?"
"Mm," Reens mused. "I suppose you''ll need to be a member of the Bounty Hall first."
"And how do I do that?"
"Do you want to be a Bounty Hall member?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Congratulations," Reens said with a smile. "You are now a member."
Chapter 106: Hope Youre Ready for a Revolution
When you''re in a death game, it''s all too tempting to love your allies without restraint. I did. I loved them as myself. They were my comrades in arms, my fire-forged friends. Their life and survival were tied to my own. They had been my world.
So when I lost them, it felt as though I myself had died. After Hei was gone, I became someone different. Someone less than the person I once was. And again, after Saber was killed, the little bits that remained of Sophia withered away.
I wasn''t sure what was left of me after that. Just an empty husk? It seemed that way. I had no dreams left, and no desire beyond an unthinking instinct to survive. I killed, because I had nothing better to do.
So when I met Atlas and Reens, and learned of our chance at taking over the Bounty Hall, I drank up that ambition. I, who had no purpose left, clung on to that one goal and allowed it to consume me whole. I wasn''t proud of the fact. I wish I still had nobler motivations, like making it back to Earth alive, alongside the teammates I so treasured. But my chance at that happy ending was long past and gone.
I liked Mr. Atlas and Reens, but I wouldn''t devote myself to keeping them alive, as I did with my previous teammates. Atlas and Reens were my partners, and I''d save them if I could, but this was a death game. No one was safe. I knew not to love them too much. I knew how easily I could lose them.
The three of us spent the next few days devising our plans. We didn''t have long before the next Seasonal Challenge, and ideally we''d duel the Bounty Hall leaders before then. That''d allow us to be exempt from the Seasonal Challenge, and also give us control over the Bounty Hall. Two birds, one stone.
Reens explained to us the internal status of the Bounty Hall. She identified the three remaining leaders that would be left after Cirrus'' death. One of them would''ve become his successor, with the other two occupying similarly high positions.
"They''re very skilled bounty hunters," Reens explained. "You can think of them as assassins, mostly, and they''re good at fighting one-versus-one."
"Makes sense those sorts would lead the Bounty Hall," I commented. Cirrus certainly seemed like a 1v1 specialist. His Greater Theft was a deadly single-target debuff, and his invisibility and damage allowed him to pick off targets.
"I think our best chance at winning is to force them to a team battle," Reens said. "Three-versus-three."Stolen story; please report.
"So Mr. Atlas, you, and myself, versus them?" I asked. Reens confirmed with a nod.
"We''ve got a frontline fighter," I mused, glancing at Atlas. "I''m ranged damage, and Reens is a healing support, I think. So theoretically, in a 3v3, we''d have the advantage of a proper party composition."
"That''s right," Reens said. "Though at the start of the match, we''ll need to each go to one of the separate lanes and fight alone. But it''s 3v3, so there''s no Jungler to ambush us, so it''s easier to farm safely. We''ll just need to weather out until we collect enough resources, then we can group up to win."
"True," I said. In 5v5 matches, the early game usually involved 1 person in the Top Lane, one person in the Middle Lane, one person farming the Jungle, and two people in the Bottom Lane, with one of them being the "Support" that drinks the Potion of Austerity. This ensured maximal collection of all resources available on the map. In 1v1 matches, the arena would shrink to a single lane, and that''d be where the two contestants dueled it out.
3v3 matches, meanwhile, took place in the full arena, with all three lanes, just like 5v5. So it was natural to forego the Jungler and Support roles, and field one person in each lane.
"Can you manage on your own?" I asked Reens. As a healer, she didn''t seem like the type to be able to hold her own as a solo fighter. But she assured me she''d be fine.
"I won''t win, but I can avoid losing," she theorized. "My abilities are good for keeping me alive. Being a healer, and all that."
"If you say so," I said. "But be careful."
Mr. Atlas volunteered to take the Top Lane, as he usually did. Reens and I, meanwhile, both habitually went to the Bottom Lane as Supports.
"I''ll switch to Mid Lane," I volunteered. "I should have enough firepower to control the center of the map."
Reens agreed. She could survive just fine supposedly, but that wasn''t good enough for the Mid Lane. You wanted someone more dominant in the middle, the most important part of the arena that dictated the pace of the match.
"That settles it then," Mr. Atlas concludes. Reens and I returned affirmative nods. As the final solidification of our alliance, Reens inducted Mr. Atlas into the Bounty Hall as well, and the three of us joined a formal team.
We still had more to go over. I needed to learn Reens'' skills, and she needed to learn ours. Mr. Atlas also had his Ultimate Ability now, and I needed to learn that. And Reens had to tell us the abilities of the bounty hunters we''d fight against. But all those conversations would have to take place on the road.
Mr. Atlas packed us ample supplies. I stood with Reens outside the convenience store as he closed the shop. For the first time since I arrived, the lights inside were off, and the door was locked. It had been a welcomed, short season of normalcy. I wondered if we''d ever come back.
The three of us began our journey to the Bounty Hall.
Just us three, up against a hundred killers. I scoffed to myself. Somewhere along the way, perhaps we had lost our minds.
Chapter 107: The Hundred-Floored Guild Hall
When I hear about the term "guild hall," I have a certain pre-existing image in mind. It''d be a stout building, constructed from wood or stone. It''d have a medieval flair, possibly with arches or emblems on flags.
So I was surprised to see the great, brilliant light high up in the sky, while we were still a dozen miles away from the Bounty Hall building. It shone, oscillating in brightness, a single point of brilliance in the mist-blanketed sky.
"It''s a lighthouse," Reens explained. "A magical one. They tuned it with mana to pierce the mist."
The lighthouse extended fifty floors up, and fifty floors underground. Many members of the guild had their own floor.
"Why is it so big?" I asked. Such a massive building would''ve been sufficient for housing a thousand members. In comparison to the guild''s hundred-something headcount, their base seemed like overkill.
"They had the resources to make it big," Reens said, "so they did. I can''t remember the details. Oh, I knew there was at least one geomancer involved, with the underground floors. He was really strong, I heard. He''s not in Gold anymore. Maybe he''s gone back home. To Earth."
"Good for us then," I said. "At least we won''t be fighting him."
We had traveled at a moderate walking pace, but had made quick progress towards the Bounty Hall thanks to Mr. Atlas. His Ring of Vigilance meant he needed no sleep. And his dauntless strength allowed him to carry Reens and me as we rested, Reens on his back, and me snugly in his armor-clad arms. This meant we''d be on the move for twenty hours a day. Reaching the perimeters of the Bounty Hall took little time.
We soon reached the foot of the massive tower. It was a spire of jagged rock that pierced into the skies. Iron barred the windows, and firelight flickered from within. Several warriors roamed the courtyard surrounding the tower. I did not know whether they were guards.
All around the tower were plain, suburban houses. The Bounty Hall lighthouse looked remarkably out of place.
"Do we¡just walk in?" I asked Reens.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Yeah," she said. "Remember, you are both members now. And plus, the ground floor is open to the public. Just act natural."
I tried to as I climbed the stairs to the front gate. It wasn''t locked. With a hearty shove, Reens pushed it open.
The inside looked like a dungeon. I saw cobblestone walls, iron chandeliers, and carved stone pillars. A maroon carpet led from the entrance to a front desk. This place''s style was eerie, yet strangely nostalgic at the same time. Never had I seen a building like this since my days in Silvercreek. I liked it. Unlike the rest of the suburbs in Gold, it wasn''t an imitation, a mockery of the world back home. We were all stuck in a fantasy death game, so at least this tower''s appearance was honest about it.
"Well?" I asked. "Should we¡do the thing we came to do?"
Reens glanced around. "It''ll be underground," she whispered. "Second-to-bottom floor."
"Better not dally then," I said. Even though we were technically guild members, this place still felt like enemy territory. And for good reason. We had come to kill their leaders and take over. And going off what Reens said, we''d have to do it on the 49th floor below ground. Buried in the bowels of the earth.
We descended down a narrow staircase, ever deeper. Reens took care of the locked doors in our path with the keys she had on her. I looked at each floor we passed. Sometimes it''d be a lounge, or a tavern. Other times it''d be a corridor with doors on either side. We passed a floor with chains and iron maidens and cages. A torture chamber?
And then, about twenty floors down, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure walking down a corridor. He had his back towards me, but I could''ve known it was him from any angle.
Jack.
At once I felt a rush, a storm of myriad feelings, intense and indiscernible and overwhelming. Blood pounded inside my head. My body grew stiff, and my movement mechanical, as I continued down the stairs, thoughtlessly.
"...Hey," I finally said. Mr. Atlas and Reens turned around. I looked at their faces, trying to maintain a semblance of composure.
"Sophia?" Mr. Atlas asked. "You alright?"
"I need a moment," I said, as evenly as I could. "I need¡I need to take care of something real quick."
"If you need to, the bathroom''s seven floors up," Reens said. "Wanna go together?"
"I''ll manage," I told them. "Thanks."
I turned around, my hands clenched tight into fists. I ran back up to the floor where I saw Jack. I moved without much of a thought; my mind was still a tempest of white-noise and hysteria.
I brandished my railgun, which I had strapped to my back. I activated the metal detector. He was behind the fourth door on the left. An ajar door.
I walked up. Then I kicked the door open.
Chapter 108: You Cant Forget Love and Pride
I saw Jack''s face, once again.
I never thought I would. Not after what he had done. Not after he robbed everything good away from us and ran.
By his raised brows and startled gaze, he probably never expected seeing me again either.
The room was an obscenely long and narrow rectangle, and the far wall stood opposite the door, distant like the end of a corridor. Bookshelves, mostly empty, lined the walls on either side, leaving a dim aisle down the middle.
I closed the door behind us. Jack shuffled back, away from me.
"How did you find me?" he questioned.
"Why does it matter to you?" I replied.
Fate, that was what it was. I could''ve found him any time I wanted, with my upgraded radar, the Eye of Odin. But I never chose to. Rather, it was fate that led our paths to cross here, in spite of me.
I stared into his eyes, then at his subtly heaving chest.
"We have unfinished business," I said.
Jack continued to back away, slowly. One of his hands crept underneath his gray cloak. His leather armor glistened in the flickering candlelight that cascaded down from the chandeliers.
"Our business was finished," he told me, his words cold and edged. "We were all being hunted. And I took care of that, and we went our separate ways."The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I poured my mana into the railgun. Streams of frigid air and raw arcana swirled into its barrel, and they coalesced into a Frost Missile. The projectile spun, faster and faster, until it emitted a lethal hum.
"Sophia, get a grip," Jack snarled. "You were about to get us all killed. You, me, the two of us, we were the only ones that had a chance at making it out alive. She was beyond our help. But you didn''t see that, did you? You didn''t care to see that. You couldn''t save everyone, so you didn''t care to save anyone."
"The words of a traitor," I said.
He brandished his dagger and wound his arm back. A throwing stance. Baring his aggression, out in the open? How uncharacteristically forthright.
"I did all the work!" Jack spat. "I was the one who got my hands dirty! To bail us out, when no one else did!" Pain soaked through his voice as he spoke. "You had it handed to you, Sophia. You were free to live. I really wanted that for you. For us both. But you just had to throw it away, didn''t you?! You killed Cirrus. And marched yourself right through their gates! It doesn''t matter what happens to me here. You aren''t gonna make it out alive. And you''ve got yourself to blame."
Ah. Jack. Still speaking of "us." As though we were still the same team of bold adventurers, sharing an apartment in a quaint little city. Jack was there when I was looking for a job, and when I clashed with Headmaster Fink. He sat with me and gave me advice, I remembered. We rarely saw him around the house; him and Atlas were the two that didn''t end up working at the Combat Institute. Hei and Saber and I felt like our own littler group, since we spent so much time together. But of course, we knew that in the end, everyone was in it together. Against every peril, against the unknowable powers out in the world, all we could rely on was each other.
We had something good, Jack. But the death games and the bounty hunters took it away. And they took you.
My Frost Missile and Jack''s dagger flew forth, simultaneously at each other, as synchronized as our attacks had ever been.
Chapter 109: And I Must Scream
The dagger flew at me, scraping past my missile. I raised my hand, conjuring a swirling wall of water. The blade cut through my liquid shield with a violent spray. But its trajectory bent enough to miss me and embed itself into the wall right behind.
This corridor-like room was too narrow for either of us to dodge well. I looked at Jack. He had blocked my Frost Missile with his leather-wrapped forearm, but the shot pierced his light armor. Blood stained his sleeve and dribbled on to the damp, stony ground. My muscles stiffened. Was I really going to do this?
Jack didn''t give pause. He thrust his palm out at me. A distortion rocked the space between us, destroying what remained of my Vortex Shield. Sickening quakes passed through me, creaking my bones, rattling my organs.
Vacuum Wave.
70 meters range, 8 second cooldown. Deals 60 damage to all targets in its path, and applies the Resonance status effect. His melee attacks consume the Resonance status, dealing an additional 60 damage.
I began to conjure a Cold Grenade. Jack brandished another dagger from his cloak. Its silver edge glinted, polished and razor-sharp. He took a crouching stance.
His second ability, Slayer''s Dash. 50 meters range, 8 second cooldown. It lets him dash to a target within range and strike them for 100 damage.
I prepared myself. Jack leaped at me as a blur. His blade sang as it sliced through air.
A blast of frigid fog filled the corridor. That was my Cold Grenade.
Jack''s dagger, covered in frost, hung inches away from my eye. Behind its steely point was Jack, frozen mid-lunge, milliseconds before he could reach me. His dash was fast, but I knew how to anticipate his attacks, and time mine in reply. I doubt it''d work again. He was smart enough to mix up his rhythm and throw me off.
The pain inside my bones subsided. I assumed that meant the Resonance debuff had worn off. Good; I had thwarted the most damaging portion of his combo.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Jack writhed himself free of the ice. He still had two skills left, I assumed. A third skill, and an Ultimate ability. I knew about neither of those. I backed away and fired railgun shots.
Jack approached me with his dagger. He inevitably suffered a few shots, but he closed the gap faster than I could back away. His dagger twirled around me as I tried to guard myself using the railgun as a shield. Slashes and thrusts made their ways through my defense. My flesh burned as the knife sailed through.
His footwork was better than mine, and his attacks faster. Even as I tried to track him with the barrel of my gun, he danced circles around me. But for all his speed, his cuts were shallow, noncommittal ¨C
"Return," Jack muttered.
A terrible pain pierced my shoulder.
I looked down, only to find a gaping, bloody hole. My knees buckled for a moment, and I stumbled into a shelf, barely bracing myself against it. A slice of my shoulder had been completely gouged out.
Jack held two knives in his hands. The one he was wielding, and the knife he had thrown at the start of combat. The thrown knife had left a mark on the wall, where I deflected it into. The mark, the blade''s current position, and where I had been hit ¨C those three locations fell upon the same straight line.
I gritted my teeth. My body sweated in pain, even as I grew cold. Did the thrown dagger fly back into his hand, straight through me?
"Maybe that''s my Ultimate," Jack told me. "Or maybe just my third skill. Or even just a magical item. Who knows."
I sneered between shallow gasps. "Did you taunt Saber too, before you killed her?"
The cooldown on my Cold Grenade had worn off. I conjured one in the barrel of my railgun.
"Of course not," Jack replied. "She''d never deserve that. But you. You are strong. I can only beat you by being a monster."
Jack snapped his fingers. The walls and shelves around us evaporated like smoke, and the lights flickered out. Jack, too, faded away. I looked down and saw that I stood on nothingness.
All that remained around me was a dark, shadowy void.
I uttered an expletive ¨C only there was no sound. It was dead silent; not even my own voice reached my ears.
"This is my trump card," Jack''s voice suddenly reverberated, from all directions at once. "Designed for assassinating other assassins, and moreso, mages."
Was this an illusion? A pocket dimension? Jack never mentioned anything like this to me before. I could only assume the worst.
"Ultimate technique," he said. "Scream."
Chapter 110: Ending Light
As I stood in the dark, in the perfect silence, a single shriek shattered the world.
It came from behind me, a solid, overwhelming wall of noise. My head felt like it''d explode. I fell to my knees.
As soon as the scream began, it stopped. But its echo reverberated, lingering.
I knew that voice. It was Jack. I fired a shot in the direction of his scream. But I couldn''t tell if I hit anything.
The silence returned.
What was happening?
My mind raced through the possibilities. Alice, the architect of this world, cared about balance, so this Ultimate had to be beatable, somehow. If only I knew its effects.
I pushed my palm against the ground to ease myself back up. Where I could see only empty darkness, my hand felt something. The damp, stony floor.
So that must be it.
I clutched the parabolic dish on my railgun. I hesitated. Then, I wrung it off with a forceful twist. What I needed right now wasn''t range, but rather omnidirectional coverage.
I activated the Eye of Odin.
In the impenetrable darkness, shimmers of blue lit up. The presence of metal. I saw the silhouette of the chandeliers overhead. I saw the nails of the shelves around me, and the hinges of the door to my left. And to my right, near the opposite end of the corridor, was Jack''s figure, delineated by his buckles and buttons and zippers and daggers. Before the light could fade, I aimed my gun and fired ¨C gunshot, Cold Grenade, Frost Missile, gunshot. Both spells, weaved in between my gun''s 2-second cooldown. My optimized combo.
Another skull-splitting screech hit me. I felt blood trickle out my ear. I forced myself to stay calm, despite the sickening echoes of the scream.
The shriek came from where Jack would be, down the corridor.
And¡if my senses were right, it came eight seconds after the last one.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
A vibration-based ranged attack with an eight second cooldown. And the resonating echo afterwards.
This was just like Vacuum Palm, wasn''t it?
I began counting in my head. ¡Three, four, five, six, seven ¨C
Vortex Shield.
Just as I conjured a dome of swirling water around myself, a blast of noise smashed into it, blasting ripples across the surface. I fired towards the direction of the noise. Gunshot, Frost Missile, gunshot.
So that was his plan. Hide in the darkness and fire from range. In order to conceal his position, he wouldn''t even approach me.
In that case, this was the worst place for him to fight me.
I stumbled in the dark, towards the door. My free hand felt at the shelves to guide myself along. When I finally reached the door, I leaned my back against its sturdy, wooden surface. And I started blasting.
The surface of the door served as a guide, helping me orient gunshot after gunshot right down the corridor. I knew that Jack would have to be down there, somewhere. Maybe taking cover in the corner. Maybe trying to scale a wall. It didn''t matter. In this narrow corridor, he had to be somewhere in front of me, and if he didn''t want to engage, my spray of bullets would catch him sooner or later.
Then I felt it. The subtle, barely-perceptible vibrations in the ground. It was his approaching footsteps. He knew his only option now was to overwhelm me in close-quarters.
I planted my palm on the ground, its surface a reassuring thing in the darkness.
Maw of Leviathan.
Though immune to the spell''s effects, even I felt a tinge of the ocean''s crushing pressure all around me.
A wink of candlelight shone through the darkness.
The chandelier reappeared overhead. And so did the rest of the room, eventually, as the darkness dispersed. And sounds returned too. The first thing I heard was Jack''s labored breathing as he lay upon the ground, sprawled out in front of me. Multiple puncture wounds riddled his torso and limbs.
A puddle of blood surrounded us. I wondered how much of it was his, and how much mine.
He had 80 HP left. Myself, a bit over 200.
I raised my railgun to his forehead.
He looked up at me, his eyes glazed and swollen. He tried to talk but choked on blood. Jack turned his head aside to spit, then turned once again to stare at me.
"This is not who you are," he told me.
"I''ll show you who I am."
He looked miserable and broken. Physically, I mean. His body was torn, pierced and crushed. This was the worst I had ever seen him. Not ever in the arena had he been reduced to this. I did this.
His finger twitched feebly in the pool of blood.
"You''ll regret this," he said.
"I know," I replied.
I squeezed the trigger and shot him in the skull.
Chapter 111: Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der J?ger!
Jack''s unblinking eyes gazed up at the ceiling. Blood trickled down from his forehead, where I shot him.
Clack. I dropped my gun; my hand had gone numb and rigid.
[HP: 30/1150]
That was Jack''s HP.
Exactly 30. It was just like in the tournaments Hei used to attend in Silvercreek.
To win against your opponent in those, you needed to get them below 200 HP. At first it sounded way too scary to me, considering 200 was just a few hits away from death. But, as it turned out, it was impossible to drop an opponent below 30 HP without actual killing intent. Hei had assured me it was failproof, that it really was impossible to accidentally kill anyone without really, really meaning to. It was some sort of special safety net, baked into the fundamental workings of this world.
So why now?
After how far he had gone. After how far I had gone. Why, still, didn''t I want to kill him? He wasn''t a good person. Neither was I.
My legs gave way under me, and I fell to the floor. My wounds ached at the jolt. There was no response from Jack. He had gone unconscious, though his HP indicated he was stable for now.
In a twisted way, I liked it here. The two of us. Safe, and together. That was all I really wanted, wasn''t it? It hurted to ponder such things. I hated this world bitterly, hated this guild, hated myself for how pathetic and helpless I was.
I sighed. Slowly, I eased myself back up, and I picked up my gun. Mr. Atlas and Reens were still waiting for me. We had a plan together.
I took out my Team Notebook and left them a message:
Got into a fight. I took damage, but managed to neutralize the threat. Am alright for now.
I looked around. Blood stained the floor, the walls, and the shelves. And of course, Jack and me. If anyone discovered things as they were, it''d be considerably troublesome.
I conjured a Vortex Shield and launched the swirling wall of water across the room, as gently as I could. It soaked everything, diluting the blood into a translucent crimson. Then, I planted my palm on the flooded floor. My Ring of Water Purification began to vibrate on my finger. A shower of sparkles burst from it, cleansing all the liquid in the room. The blood-laced water all around turned clear. Some stains remained on our clothes and upon the grooves of the wooden shelves, but it wasn''t anything too noticeable.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Looking around, I found a large, beige tarp of a coarse weave. I dragged Jack''s unconscious body into a corner, behind a shelf, and draped the tarp over him. That would keep him hidden for now. It wasn''t secure, but time was scarce. I checked my Team Notebook. Reens had left me a message.
Be careful. We probably need to hurry along.
I wrote in reply, What''s the plan?
After a moment, came Reens'' reply:
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
That was clear enough to me. We had discussed things through, on our way to the Bounty Hall tower. And that little poem, which Reens borrowed from Tolkien, was both our code-phrase and our mnemonic.
Reens, Atlas and myself ¨C the three of us were the ring of usurpers who would soon rule over the Bounty Hall. Our first step was to find the current three leaders, in order to initiate a 3v3 PvP match against them.
The exact conditions for initiating a PvP match were a bit ambiguous. For example, could a party of 3 players initiate PvP against 3 other individuals, who were part of a larger team of 5? Apparently so, according to Reens; you could challenge a subset of a larger team to PvP. On the other hand, could a team of 3 initiate PvP against 3 other individuals, all of whom weren''t on the same team? That got tricky. It''d only work if those 3 individuals were "allies" in some sense. This was to prevent 2 exploits: First, it prevented player parties from avoiding multiplayer PvP just by disbanding the party temporarily. Second, it prevented parties from initiating PvP against arbitrary groupings of players. For example, if a party of 3 tried to initiate PvP against 2 individuals, plus an incapacitated hostage of the party''s own choosing, they would be unable to do so. This was because the hostage wouldn''t count as an ally to the 2 other enemies.
"The leaders certainly count as allies, I''m sure," Reens had assured us during our travel. Considering her own life was on the line, I''d trust in her assertion.
The last complication was the issue of distance: If the three leaders were in different locations, we wouldn''t be able to initiate 3v3 against them, even if they were allies. To initiate PvP, all participants had to be present; you couldn''t just start PvP with someone a mile away. That''s why we had to "bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." One way or another, we had to get them all close together. Close enough to be in earshot, at least.
I exited the narrow room, leaving Jack behind. I found no one waiting outside the door, thankfully. Perhaps Jack''s Ultimate helped silence the loudest parts of our fight. I hurried downstairs, and was relieved to find Mr. Atlas and Reens waiting for me.
"Sorry," I whispered.
"Welcome back," Reens replied. She checked my already-cleaned injuries, then she traced a glyph in the air. A gentle stream of healing light flowed out of her chest and entered me. Just like that, the worst of my wounds closed, and the pain soothed.
"Thanks," I said with a smile. "Save some mana, though."
Reens gave me a pat on the back. "We heard that two of them are together on the bottom floor," she informed me. "We''ll just need to find the third. Are you ready?"
"Let''s do it," I said. Reens returned a stern nod.
It was time for the hunters to become the hunted.
Chapter 112: In The Darkness Bind Them
Reens led us down into the depths of the tower''s basements, farther and farther, until we lost track of how far we had descended below the surface.
We only stopped until we hit the very bottom floor of the stairs. A heavy metal door, with multiple sets of locks, blocked our way. Reens fumbled around with her set of keys, matching them with various keyholes, until she had unlocked everything. With a grunt, she shoved the door open and led us through.
On the other side was a high-ceilinged, darkly lit room. The walls were gray and polished stone, featureless and austere. A shallow, glowing white pool in the center seemed to be the only source of light. Various tables and couches, mostly empty, were scattered about, arranged in seemingly haphazard orientations. Reens pointed discreetly at a pair of figures sitting on a couch, facing away from us. Those two fit her description of two of the leaders.
One of them was a woman wearing a circular wooden mask on her face. The mask was a plain disk, featureless except for the eyeholes. Her attire was a thick, feather-collared coat of dark red. That was Anastasia. Before rising to Gold, she had been the last Headmaster of Combat at Silvercreek''s Combat Institute. The essence of her power was straightforward; she was the best at wielding all weapons. This was an absolute ability she had come to possess. No one in the death games, not in Gold, not even in Diamond, could equal her raw skill with any weapon she laid her hands upon.
The other leader present, sitting at her side, was a man in a suit, though otherwise unremarkable in appearance. His name was Lore. Reens knew less about him. Rumors went that he was a duelist who wielded a golden rapier, though I didn''t see one on him.
The man turned around to face us.
"Security report?" he asked.
"All clear," Reens reported to him.
Was Reens a guard for the Bounty Hall? That explained how she managed to get us all the way down here with so little trouble.
"Go on," Lore said. "Why are they here?" He made a loose gesture at Mr. Atlas and myself.
"Guests of the Lady," Reens replied professionally.
The Lady. That was the third and last of the leaders, she had debriefed to us.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"Ohh," he said with a grin. "Guests on the bottom floor. What''s the big occasion?"
"I have not been informed," Reens replied.
"Don''t mind if I eavesdrop," Lore said. "Well then, on with it."
"Yes," Reens said. She then turned to us. "Please wait here. Make yourselves comfortable."
I returned a knowing look as she left, presumably to fetch the Lady. All we could do now was wait. The two leaders here looked at ease enough, their guards down. It was tempting to strike, but I knew better. Attempting to fight them outside the arena was suicide. They were overleveled, as far as Reens told us, possibly in the double digits. Bringing them and ourselves all down to level 1, inside a PvP Challenge, was our only shot at standing against them.
There were other people around the room, on about their own private businesses. I overheard discussions of bounty prices, and saw dollars forked across tables. Their presence was a good thing. We weren''t outright assassinating the leaders. We were challenging them, against their will, for their throne. And for that, we needed an audience.
Not before long, Reens returned. As she entered through the door, my chest grew tight, and I held my breath. The moment had come.
Behind her, was not a person, but a pure, white cat.
And behind the cat was a row of gray mice, disciplined like soldiers in their lockstepped march. I smelled a faint, acidic pungency from them.
I remembered that smell.
The exploding mice. The ones that almost killed Saber and me. Those that forced us into hiding, burned our skin and lungs.
So this cat was their master?
If not for her, Saber and Jack and I might have all made it, together.
The cat stared back at me, as I beheld it.
"That''ssss¡.Sssophia ¨C" it began to hiss, an unnatural imitation of a human voice.
Lore shot up from the couch. "Wait, WHA ¨C"
"Anastasia, Lore, Lady ¨C" Reens began.
The mice hissed and lunged toward me, bulging and ready to burst.
"¨C my team declares a PvP match," Reens announced.
Before the mice could explode, a harsh light drowned out everything. I heard shouts around the room. I couldn''t tell if those were of shock, distress, or excitement. The light drowned out those, too.
When the light faded, the dark and stale dungeon was no more.
The sky above us stretched vast and clear. Clouds rolled by upon the wind. The sun was bright, and its light felt good on my damp and clammy skin. The soft, grassy field under my feet waved in the gentle breeze.
I looked to my left and right. Mr. Atlas. Reens. Around us were the tall stone walls of our base. We had returned to the arena once more.
Never before had I been more scared, nor more exhilarated, to begin a match here.
Chapter 113: Three Blind Mice
As planned, I marched into the Middle Lane. Mr. Atlas went top, and Reens bottom.
I was not used to going into a lane alone. I used to play Support, after all. But in 3v3, there was no Support, nor was there a Jungler. There were three lanes, and the meta was simply one player from each team per lane.
I took my position under our team''s outer mid tower. The golems, our minions, were on their way there, several paces behind me. I looked around to see which enemy would match my presence in lane. None of us knew our matchups.
In the shade of the enemy tower, was Lady the cat. As I laid eyes upon it, its lips curled, as though smiling with satisfaction.
Reens told me about her skills. She technically had three separate normal abilities and an Ultimate, but her normal abilities were near-identical. Though each had a different Mana cost and cooldown, all of them summoned blind, exploding mice.
Her first ability summoned a mouse that sprinted in a straight line, then exploded when it hit something. It was her fastest mouse.
Her second ability summoned a mouse that she could control. Its tail sticked straight up, like an antenna.
Her third ability summoned a mouse without a tail. It was arguably the most dangerous of the three. This mouse was fully autonomous, and used its sense of heat and smell to seek out prey on its own. It had infinite range.
Reens didn''t have any intel on her Ultimate skill.
"I''m surprised," Lady said to me, a tinge of amusement in its voice. I could tell it was trying to suppress its natural feline hiss. "Sophia. The prey, now an aspiring predator."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
I did not answer. That thing deserved no answers except my bullets.
"I was hoping to fight you," it said as its eyes narrowed. "You, who once hid to save dear old Saber. Now you gambling away the lives of your friends. What changed? Hah, did you finally learn the trick of the game?"
My golems met hers at the midpoint of the arena. I fired my first shot at an enemy golem. Lady summoned a single mouse that ran towards my cluster of golems. I ignored her words; I needed to focus on strategy. Reens had told us that these Bounty Hall leaders were strongest when fighting against lone enemies. Right now, I was at a disadvantage. I didn''t need to win. Fighting her to a draw was good enough. Our chance to strike back would need to wait for when we would group up as three.
The cat tilted its head at me. "Good job, very good, you''ve finally figured it out," it hissed. "This is a single player game."
The mouse ran head-first into one of my golems. It bursted into a cloud of red mist. My golems, though made of stone, began to corrode away, as though eaten by acid.
"Bravo! You finally get it!" The cat stalked towards me and raised its voice to an elated, feral pitch. "These are games you play for yourself! You''ve reached the philosophy of the strong! No friends, only pawns. Isn''t that right, Sophia? Isn''t that what you''re teaching your heart to feel?"
I continued to shoot at the enemy golems.
"I wonder how strong your heart is," the cat mused, approaching me slowly. "You think you''ve lost everything? You think grief has hardened you, isn''t it so? Haughty little Sophia thinks she''s stopped caring! Entertain my curiosity. How far can I push you before you break?"
There it was. Where I wanted it.
I fired my Frost Missile at a dying golem, taking it out. The projectile then ricocheted into the cat''s flank. Its eyes widened with shock, only for a moment, before the impact launched it airborne like a ragdoll. It flopped back on to the ground with a bloodied thud. So much for catlike agility. For all its trickery, it was as frail as it looked.
It scowled at me, for but a brief moment. It was trying hard to keep its composure. I kept its center of mass in the sights of my gun. With the golem I just killed, I had gained enough XP to reach level 2. I conjured a disk of swirling water in front of me, violently swirling like a maelstrom.
"You should fear the one with nothing to lose," I finally replied.
Chapter 114: Cat/Girl
I launched my Vortex Shield at the enemy cat. The gyrating waters pulverized away its HP and sent it ragdolling back.
I''d feel sorry for that little thing. If it hadn''t been a premier assassin and a remorseless monster. I wouldn''t forget that anytime soon.
You usually wouldn''t associate summoner-type builds with assassination. But that''s what this cat, Lady, did. Reens had profiled her. Lady had low defense, high range, and medium damage. Not unlike a sniper. If it''s caught in a bad spot, it''ll die easily. With the Eye of Odin metal scanner on my gun, catching people would usually my forte. But two complications arose.
First, I had ripped off the parabolic dish from my railgun. I still had it, and could hold it up behind the scanner, but manually I couldn''t get the alignment perfect. My scanning range was crippled. That was not a bad thing, necessarily. The arena was a couple miles across, corner to corner. My scanner had a range of 512 miles. Having a more diffuse scan-beam, and trading range for a wider angle, probably worked in my favor, even if misalignment incurred a net efficiency loss.
Second, and more importantly ¨C Lady was a cat. It had nothing metallic on it for me to detect. Not even a collar with a buckle. Likewise, the mice it summoned were flesh and blood. My Eye of Odin was essentially useless in this matchup.
Lady had also leveled up to 2. It sent more mice at me, though I wasn''t worried. Its first ability conjured a mouse that ran in a straight line. I could avoid that by simply standing behind my golem minions. Its second ability sent a controllable mouse. I had two counterplays against it. First was cutting off line-of-sight between Lady and myself. The mice were all blind; if Lady couldn''t see me, it wouldn''t be able to guide the mouse towards me. The second counterplay was to stand within the firing range of my own tower. Unlike normal projectiles, the mouse was a creature and could be destroyed. Killing it as a player took a bit of effort, but the heavy damage of the towers would make short work of it.
Lady was walking with a limp now. I had done my fair share of damage, and retreated to the safety of my tower''s coverage. Unable to target me directly, Lady was only able to attack my golems. Meanwhile, I managed to nail the cat with a second ricocheted Frost Missile.
What was the next play? I had several options. Either try to kill it, or go back to base and spend my gold from farming the enemy golems. If I wanted a kill, I''d need to get to level 3, and immobilize it with a Cold Grenade for a full combo.
But before I could reach level 3, the cat did. It had unlocked its third type of mouse: the automatic homing one. I backed off, retreating closer to my tower.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The last of my golems fell. The enemy golems'' attacks, combined with the continuous, corrosive explosions of the mice, whittled them down fast enough. Now uninhibited, the enemy golems marched down the lane towards me. There were four of them. My tower and I should be able to deal with them without much trouble. Not to mention, my next wave of golems would arrive soon. I just had to wait things out and get to level 3.
The golems lumbered toward my tower to lay siege. I backed off, shooting at them, as did my tower''s laser orb.
A squeak sounded at my heels. I barely had time to jerk around and see the mouse.
It erupted into a crimson burst of vapor.
I ran away, attempting to escape the caustic red cloud. My eyes teared up, assailed by stinging pain. As I stumbled through the fog, a second burst enveloped me.
Crap! How many of them were there?
I didn''t know where I was going. If I moved too much, I''d exit the protection of my tower. But the tower wasn''t even keeping me safe! The mice must''ve snuck in while the tower was focused on shooting the enemy golems. I realized that was Lady''s win condition: escort its own golems to my tower, and have them take tower shots for the mice. That was Lady''s best shot at killing me, and I hadn''t figured it out until now. Was the cat taunting me on purpose, to make me attack it instead of its golems?
I heard a beam of laser from my tower, followed by the rumble as an enemy golem fell.
Did the tower prioritize shooting golems over the mice? Or would the tower switch its target to a mouse, only once it''s finished killing its currently-targeted golem?
I heard a laser fired towards something next to me, followed by a shrill squeak.
Another explosion bloomed, much too close. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath. The burning fog ate away at my skin, seeping in like venom. I stumbled and fell.
My head grew faint from the lack of air. What should I do?
That tower shot either failed to kill the mouse, or it blew up the mouse too close to me. Either way, I had already been hit three times, and the damage-over-time was taking me below half HP. I had to retreat for now. The outer tower was no longer safe, not with the enemy golems diverting its fire. I had to retreat back to the inner tower.
I ran. My lungs felt like they''d collapse from want of air. But I ran, and soon, I felt fresh wind. I dared open my eyes. Though they still stung, I was relieved to find myself outside the fog clouds.
The middle lane was the shortest. I shouldn''t need to go far before reaching the inner tower. My trajectory had been slightly off, and I had veered to the edge of the lane. But not too bad for navigating without sight.
I slipped as I stepped on to something soft and squishy.
A mouse.
As I fell, I found myself surrounded. One, two, three¡four mice, all climbing on to me.
I conjured Vortex Shield, pushing them back, but it was too little, too late.
In quick succession, they all burst.
[SOPHIA]
[HP: 0 / 680]
Chapter 115: Where The Shadows Lie
I woke up, as though from a nightmare.
The sky stretched high and vast above. Sunlight pierced my eyes. The world still swirled around me, as though I had been falling. My head hurt.
I sat up. I was next to the vending machine, back in our base.
[SOPHIA]
[HP: 89 / 680]
It looked like I had been saved by my Death Ward. I felt for the one-use item in my belt pouch, where I stored it, and found nothing. It had pulled my back from the brink of death, and was destroyed in my stead as it was designed to be. I remember vividly now, myself burning, and simultaneously drowning, inside the red fog.
I had to heal up and get back out to face that again. This time, things would be even harder. The cat would''ve had time to farm up, perhaps even hit level 4. I needed to be careful. Without a Death Ward, the next time I died, it''d be for real.
Once the healing aura from the vending machine healed me back over 650, I set out once again to the middle tower. It was after I exited the gate of the base that I heard an announcement broadcasted across the arena.
¡¸Red team has slain an enemy.¡¹
Red team. That was the opponents. I knew they just killed me, once, but certainly the announcement wouldn''t be this delayed. Did they kill someone else too? Reens? Mr. Atlas? I checked my shared team notebook. Nothing had been written from the others.
Hang in there, everyone. We had to endure. At least until the teamfights. That was our goal all along.
I reported my own death in the team notebook and marched to the outer middle tower. The detritus of my fallen golems was littered about. The red enemy golems and the mice chipped away at the tower, which had been fractured and corroded. It wouldn''t be long before it fell.
The cat was there, near its own tower, its eyes glinting and narrowed like crescents. Its HP was back to full, likely because it had recalled to its base after killing me. As I feared, it had reached level 4.
"Try attacking me again," the cat purred. "Let''s see how that goes."
I wanted to. I wanted to blast it with everything I had, but I knew I couldn''t. Saving the tower was my priority. I stood back at a distance, away from the enemy golem and mice, and helped my tower to kill them off. In the meantime, I scanned my surroundings to make sure no mice snuck around to me.
The cat sneered, baring its sharp teeth. "Atlas must be fuming mad at you. He was holding his ground, against Anastasia no less! The Headmaster Ascendant! But how could he have known that my mice would make it to him? Melt his skin off?"
It was as I feared. The death announcement wasn''t for mine. It was for Mr. Atlas.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
I gritted my teeth and fired a Vortex Shield, wiping out the last of the enemy forces under my tower. The next wave of my golems arrived to re-stabilize the clash of forces.
"Did you at least think to warn him?" the cat asked with a tilt of its head. "Tell him to watch out, after you left me unchecked?"
"Shut up," I muttered.
"It''s funny how people that care about you keep dying," the cat said. It winked at me. "Haven''t you realized, their common factor is you?"
I wished I could burn it with the heat of my glare.
I did not see the halberd blade that plunged into my flank. Not until I felt the pain, not until the blood sprayed out.
I recognized the one holding the weapon by her wooden mask and dark red coat. Anastasia, the previous Headmaster of Combat.
Why was she here?!
I knew. It was Atlas was no longer there to keep her occupied.
I gritted my teeth and fired a retaliatory shot in response. She ducked under it.
I had used all my spells on the enemy golems and mice. There was no way I could win this with just my basic attacks.
I fled, running as fast as I could back towards the protection of the inner tower. Anastasia pursued me with a flurry of slashes and stabs. I attempted to bash aside her attacks with the metal of my gun. But it was no good. Her halberd tip darted about twice, thrice as fast, outmaneuvering my every movement, ripping away at me.
When I finally reached the inner tower, I had dropped to 115 HP. And there was not a single scratch on her. An utterly one-sided exchange. I retreated farther, fearing that she''d throw her weapon, until I found refuge behind the shadow of the inner tower. There, I channeled my Ring of Recall to return to base. I had no other choice but to heal up once more.
When I appeared next to the vending machine, I was alone.
The situation was bad. Killing off the enemy forces in lane had leveled me up to 4, but by the time I got back out the enemies would likely be level 5. At level 6, they''d get their Ultimate abilities. If we wanted to fight them, it had to be before then.
An announcement sounded across the sky.
¡¸Red team has destroyed a middle tower.¡¹
Blast. I was hoping that wouldn''t happen. But it was inevitable.
A blue light flashed behind me. It was Mr. Atlas, wounded and panting.
"Did you see Anastasia?" he asked me, his words weighed down by fatigue.
"I¡I saw her at the middle tower," I managed to reply. I glanced into my notebook. Mr. Atlas had told us Anastasia was missing! I had been so distracted by the cat, I hadn''t even bothered to read. A sickening chill clamped upon my body. Our chances of making it out alive were crumbling. Because of me.
"Sophia, are they still there?"
"I don''t know," I said.
"Use your metal scanner."
Right. I had that. I did as Mr. Atlas ordered, and saw Anastasia''s halberd floating there, in her grasp.
"Anastasia''s there," I reported, my voice trembling. "Getting closer to inner mid tower. I can''t see the cat. My metal detector can''t sense it."
Mr. Atlas jotted something down in his notebook. "I''m calling Reens to come," he declared. "We''ll fight Anastasia together. And the cat, if it''s there."
"What if Reens'' opponent follows?" I asked, trying to steel my nerves.
"So be it," Atlas said. "We''ll fight them on our terms, on our ground."
"Can we force a fight now?" I asked. "I¨C I think we''re behind on leveling¡"
Atlas furrowed his brows. I could tell that he saw a slim chance at reclaiming this match, and he wouldn''t let it go.
"So be it," he said.
Chapter 116: 60 BPM
When we headed outside our base, Anastasia had retreated. My metal detector sensed her, not back on her side of the arena, but rather in our jungle, the area between the bottom and middle lanes.
In the jungle there were two caves, each with zombies that could be slain for XP and gold. After taking our mid tower, it seemed that she was en route to poach them. From what I detected, she was walking towards the cave closer to the middle lane, as would be expedient for her.
It worked out in our favor. Mr. Atlas and I would close in from the middle lane. Reens, as instructed by Atlas, would approach from the bottom lane in a pincer attack. Skilled as Anastasia was with her weapons, she shouldn''t be able to win against us one-on-three.
The issue was the cat. I didn''t know where it was. But even if it was with her, we''d still have the numerical advantage.
Mr. Atlas and I snuck through the shades and shrubs until we arrived at the mouth of the cave. The labored roars of zombies came from inside; they were fighting. I scanned the perimeter around the cave and was relieved to find Reens approaching as well.
Out of us three, she was the only one with a Death Ward left.
We quietly gathered beside the mouth of the cave. Reens was not injured at all. As expected of a healer. I conjured a Cold Grenade in the barrel of my gun, and I held up 3 fingers for us, as a countdown.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Three, two, one¡
I darted around the corner of the cave entrance. As soon as I glimpsed Anastasia inside, I fired the grenade. It hit the ground in their midst and exploded, freezing her solid. Her halberd was stretched out away from us, at an injured zombie now frozen beside her.
This was our chance.
I fired a Frost Missile, nailing the immobilized warrior, and then bouncing the shot to finish off the zombie. Mr. Atlas rushed in and unleashed a whirlwind of slashes from his axe at Anastasia. Reens stretched out her silver staff. A pure, white light shined at its tip.
"Linked horizons," she chanted. "Dedication of heart, arrow of the lotus. Shine forth, Arcana Scorch!"
The light blasted into Anastasia right as she broke free from the ice. It slammed into her chest, scattering into iridescent flames and knocking her back. That was Reens'' one offensive spell, which not only damaged the body, but also drained the enemy''s mana to refuel her own.
We managed to draw blood. Pressing the attack, I took aim with my gun.
A sudden breeze from behind pricked my ear. Instinctively, I conjured a Vortex Shield and spun around.
The golden point of a rapier pierced through the wall of water and scratched me.
As expected, Lore was here. He was Reens'' opponent in bottom lane, and her departure must''ve invited his attention.
I countered by firing the Vortex Shield at him. With an arcing swing of his blade, he bifurcated the surging tides. The two halves of my attack disintegrated as they rushed past him.
It was only then that I had the mind to notice the status message flashing across my psyche, right before it disappeared.
[Condition - 4/4 Time. After being hit by the golden rapier 4 times, with exactly 1 second between each strike, you will die.]
Chapter 117: Revolutionaries Wait for My Head on a Silver Plate
Lore glanced behind himself, at where the Vortex Shield had crashed against the cavern wall.
"Good job throwing off my timing," he said as he pointed his rapier at me. "Impressive weapon, isn''t this? I bet you regret picking a fight now. Perhaps we can talk this out?"
We had nothing to talk over. The death game had already begun, and it wouldn''t end without half of us dying.
"This is for Saber," I growled. I aligned my gun''s sights with his center of mass and blasted away. He endured the pelts and sprinted toward me, faster than I could retreat.
"The paladin?" Lore asked. "Don''t fault our cat for that. Only one guilty is Gamemaster Alice."
Anastasia raced towards me as well. Mr. Atlas intercepted her with a heaving swing of his massive axe. The steel of his weapon clashed with her halberd, over and over. She drove him back with each exchange of blows. Reens stood back, sending out wisps of healing light to Atlas and me in turn.
I managed to whittle Lore down to two-thirds health, before he lunged at me. I dodged aside. With a flick of his wrist, the point of his rapier chased me, and it managed a scratch.
[Condition - 4/4 Time. After being hit by the golden rapier 4 times, with exactly 1 second between each strike, you will die.]
The status was back. No matter how slight his blows, four of them in a row would decisively kill.
This was not good. I fired my Frost Missile at him. He weaved instantly to the side, his steps facile like a dancer''s, and the shot missed him. He thrusted. The blade burrowed into my wrist, its steel searingly painful. I grimaced and almost dropped my gun. Lore withdrew his blade, and after a moment''s pause, drew a shallow cut across my thigh.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
"I don''t blame you," he said, and he made a fourth and final slash across my chest.
Reens swung her staff in a wide arc. A runic circle of dazzling white light encompassed Lore and me, just as I expected. That was Reens'' third ability ¨C
[Blank Sanctuary:
You create a zone of nullification magic lasting 3 seconds. All special abilities, for both allies and enemies, are disabled within this zone.]
Lore had lowered his stance, as though he was expecting me to have died. I took the chance to fire several shots into him. Before he gathered himself to battle again, I had already made space between us. He pursued me. As soon as he stepped outside the runic circle, I froze him solid with a Cold Grenade. I took the chance to pelt him with shots while backing away. Lore soon shook free of the ice and began dashing toward me again, but now he was heavily bloodied. He weathered my projectiles, and with a forceful lunge, managed to scratch my shoulder. I kept firing back as he landed a second hit, then I nailed him with a Frost Missile. He extended his rapier at me for a third strike, but the Missile had covered him in thin ice, and slowed him enough that his reach fell short. That was enough to disrupt the rhythm of his attacks; I was safe once more.
At this point, I had enough firepower to take him out before he''d land another four full hits.
Meanwhile, Anastasia had shifted her attention to Reens. Mr. Atlas was desperately trying to keep her away, but Anastasia had outmaneuvered him and reached our healer. I had to finish Lore off quicky and join their fight.
"Hollow heart; thread of fears," recited Lady''s hissing voice. "Triad of all-encompassing plagues."
I jerked to look towards the mouth of the cave, from where the cat''s voice came. A tide of multicolored mist erupted out of its tiny body, in unbelievable volume, until the entire cave was flooded.
Lore simply scoffed at the cat. "Finally had enough farm?"
I tried to make a run for it out of the cave. But instead, I only stood in place, my body completely frozen. The mist swirled around me, its colors sickeningly gaudy. I looked around. Everyone else, even the cat, stood still as statues.
Finally, the cat lifted its paw, pointed at Reens, and made a beckoning gesture. As though possessed, Reens lumbered towards it.
"Ultimate Ability," Lady said. "Rave of the Pied Piper."
Chapter 118: Just a Puppet on a Lonely String
A new condition overtook me.
[Condition - Enthralled. While you are in the multicolored mist, Lady the Cat controls where you walk. You are otherwise unable to move. When you take damage, the condition ends. 3 minute duration.]
Three minutes?! Nothing I¡¯ve seen came close to being that absurdly strong. Not outside of 6E12 and Alice herself.
No. That couldn¡¯t be right. If she truly were utterly overpowered, she wouldn¡¯t be in Gold with us. There must be a catch somehow.
The cat raised its paw, pointed at Lore, and motioned. Like a marionette, Lore lumbered over to Reens, until they stood face to face.
¡°I heard you wanted to talk,¡± the cat said to Lore. ¡°Make it quick.¡±
Reens¡¯ eyes darted back and forth. I felt the panic in them.
Lore gave a soft sigh. ¡°I just wanted to set things straight before anyone dies,¡± he said. To Reens, mostly, but also to the rest of us it felt like.
¡°I¡¯m shocked it was you, Reens,¡± Lore said. ¡°To be the one to betray me. My own security guard. I always treated you fairly, right? I wouldn¡¯t call us friends¡but acquaintances, surely?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not about you,¡± Reens replied coldly, he form unmoving in the mist.
Exasperation crept across Lore¡¯s face. ¡°So what is it you want? Power? Money? Safety?¡± He grunted out a curt laugh. ¡°You could¡¯ve just asked. Do I seem unreasonable?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not about me, either,¡± Reens said.
¡°Oh. I get it,¡± Lore spat. ¡°You backstabbed us to please the bitch over there.¡± He tried to glance in my direction, as far as he could turn while frozen in place.
¡°No. I am doing this for everyone we¡¯ve killed,¡± Reens said. ¡°And for everyone we would kill. When I win, I will disband the Bounty Hall.¡±
¡°That does it,¡± Lore sighed. ¡°Looks like I really have to kill you then.¡±
Lady tilted her head. ¡°You considered sparing her?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Lore shouted. ¡°Look, I didn¡¯t sign up for this nonsense!¡±
The whole time, Anastasia stood still in her dark red coat, her face veiled by her circular disk of a mask, her hands firm around her spear-tipped halberd.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
¡°Sophia and Atlas, right?¡± Lore looked towards the two of us. ¡°Do you have no ambition? You¡¯d let Reens do as she wills? Or let me guess. Had you all avoided the topic of what happens after this match?¡±
¡°Reens can disband the Bounty Hall,¡± I said. ¡°Serves them right.¡±
¡°A massive organization, gone to complete waste,¡± Lore protested to Mr. Atlas. ¡°Surely you see reason better than those two?¡±
Mr. Atlas shrugged. ¡°My job is to be here for them,¡± he said flatly.
¡°Cool,¡± Lore huffed. ¡°You know what, I¡¯m done. Hopeless, the lot of you. Let¡¯s get this over with. Lady, we¡¯ll take out the ice mage for good.¡±
¡°She¡¯s mine,¡± Lady said with a curl of her lips. ¡°She dies last.¡±
Lore shook his head. ¡°You really are a cat. Let¡¯s take out their healer, then.¡±
The cat began to weave its paw in the air, back and forth, like a conductor facing an orchestra. My legs moved unwillingly, and carried me toward the mouth of the cave. Mr. Atlas joined me there. Meanwhile, Reens walked stiffly to the dead end on the opposite side, as deep as the cave went. A host of mice scurried up and surrounded her.
¡°Reens!¡± I shouted.
¡°Run!¡± her voice echoed to us. ¡°We can regroup!¡±
Lore and Anastasia closed in on her as well.
¡°Dispel,¡± Lady commanded. The multicolored mist thinned and faded, and sensation returned to my limbs.
Deep inside the cave, the mice exploded one after another. I heard Reens scream. Lore and Anastasia and Lady all charged in toward her.
Mr. Atlas aimed his gauntlet at the cat. ¡°Get over here ¨C¡±
From the barrel affixed to the top of his forearm, a grappling hook shot out. It latched on to the cat¡¯s fur. With a tug of his wrist, the wire extending from the barrel snapped back, lightning-fast. The hook reeled Lady in at breakneck speed.
Mr. Atlas caught the beast as it flew into his hand like a baseball. He slammed it down into the earth.
¡°Now!¡± he yelled at me.
I unloaded my full barrage of spells on to the cat, chipping away its HP and freezing it solid.
¡¸Red team has slain an enemy.¡¹
They killed Reens. Her Death Ward would bring her back, but only this once. We wouldn¡¯t let her loss be in vain.
Mr. Atlas brought his axe overhead, and a red aura lit the weapon ablaze. With a roar, he slashed down upon the frozen animal. The steel of the axe found purchase, blasting apart the ground beneath with sheer force. The shockwave of the blow exploded outward, shattering stones and felling trees in its path.
Not one moment later, mice sprang out of thin air at Atlas¡¯ feet and exploded into red vapor. I backed away blindly, and only heard blasts fired from Atlas¡¯s gauntlet-shotgun. With teary eyes and burning throat, I stumbled away, peppering a few last shots at where I heard the cat¡¯s steps upon fallen leaves.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
Atlas barged out of the toxic cloud, not too far away from me. His HP was horribly low, barely above 100, and taking damage over time.
He coughed out blood. But with a rasped voice he said, ¡°We got it.¡±
The cat was dead. Or at least, we depleted its Death Ward. That left two Wards on their side, and none on ours. We no longer had margin for error, no second chances. But if we played this out carefully, we could yet win.
¡°Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± I said. We were in no condition to face the remaining two enemies. Atlas and I made a run for our base.
One-for-one. An equal trade of Death Wards. We were finally catching up to them. I got plenty of XP from killing the cat and had leveled up to 5. Once I hit 6 and get my Ultimate, I¡¯m sure we could retaliate for real ¨C
A halberd sailed through the air and plunged into Mr. Atlas¡¯s back. It cleaved through his corroded armor and pierced out from his chest.
Mr. Atlas fell to his knees with a soft thud.
[HP: 0/1100]
Chapter 119: My Mirror, My Sword and Shield
Between the rocks and the sunlit road, under the sparse shade of a sturdy tree, Mr. Atlas bled out. I held him up as he struggled to remain on his knees. Blood gurgled down his leaden body and pooled beneath us, staining the grass red.
I trembled by his side, helpless, as the wisps of his hair grew translucent.
"Mr. Atlas," I murmured. "No¡"
Even his steel armor began to feel immaterial, as though my grasp could sink through any moment.
"ATLAS!!" I shouted.
He merely pointed at the tree next to us. I clenched my teeth and dragged him over, until he could lean against its trunk.
The halberd''s shaft stuck out of his back, extending to the side of the tree trunk. The halberd''s tip jutted out of his chest, horrible and slick with blood.
No, please. It was happening again. Anything but this.
"You can''t," I told Atlas. "Don''t go."
The gaze of his eyes had gone blank and distant.
"It''s fine," he said in a quiet, raspy voice. "I think I''ll see Becky again."
The wind, warm like a spring afternoon''s, carried motes of light away from his body.
Mr. Atlas managed a shallow breath. "Couple years ago, during Christmas, I went to church to hear her sing."
I touched his face. It was no good. He had gone cold.
"She was a toddler back then," Atlas said. "She sang with the sweetest voice."
Not Atlas too! I knew death was inevitable. I had seen it happen over, and over. Still! Not Mr. Atlas, too!
"Come and go with me," he sang, "to my Father''s house."
His voice repeated in a hoarse whisper. "Come and go with me, to my Father''s house."
I clung on to him, hugging his armored body tight. I fought back tears, fought back the urge to scream. This was just like how we started off, when Becky lay dying in the flower-field. How Saber begged for a way to heal her. How she cursed herself that she couldn''t; how she cursed the world.
Mr. Atlas raised a shaking hand and combed through my hair. "After I lost Becky, I had nothing left to live for. Except you. And Saber, Hei. We had just met. But still I thought, let''s see how far I can get them."
I nodded, against his chest.
"Look where we got, Sophia," he said. "Is this alright?" He breathed out a sigh. "Did I do alright?"This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
Far away, from the river banks, a flock of birds took flight, cooing.
I reached up to his hand and gave a squeeze. "You were splendid."
And he was. Mr. Atlas, I¡
I¡
Wait, the river, and the river cove.
I gathered myself, then aimed my metal detector in the direction of where the birds came from. It picked up the equipment of Anastasia and Lore, the two enemies that survived. They were around the area of the river cove, fighting something together.
The Zombie Giant. A neutral monster camp that would spawn in the cove. That must be it. Saber, in her frequent lectures, had drilled it into my head: After scoring a kill, go for objectives. Take down towers, or even better, kill the Zombie Giant. The usual strategy involved sending at least two players to bring it down. And the prize for killing the Zombie Giant was a Death Ward, awarded to whoever dealt the finishing blow.
Possibilities raced through my head. Would it even be possible to¡
"...Wait here," I told Atlas. "I''m taking the Giant for you." I took his hand, and with a firm tug, I slid off his gauntlet. The one with a shotgun barrel mounted onto it. He looked at me in a daze, as though he couldn''t comprehend. We were running out of time.
"Wait for me!" I shouted, before sprinting off towards the cove. Regardless of how unlikely things seemed, regardless of how absurd my plan was, I must try. I raced through the forest, my gun in one hand, and the gauntlet in the other. I trampled through the grass, so fast that the trees blurred past me. Every ounce of strength I still commanded, I forced into my legs.
I hadn''t told anyone besides Hei, but I hated Final Fantasy 7. We first played it together as children. When our party¡¯s mage-girl died, I got upset, and cried, and made Hei play something else. It wasn''t until much later, in middle school, that the two of us finally finished the game.
"Well, that was kinda crappy," I said as the credits rolled. This was the game that had semi-traumatized me since childhood, and frankly the final victory didn''t make up for all the suffering it put me through.
"What''s the point if the mage girl stays dead, no matter what you do?" I had asked Hei. "What''s the point of playing if we can''t even change anything?"
He didn''t give me an answer that satisfied me.
It''s been years since then, and I never got the answer I wanted.
But I wasn''t that child anymore.
I wasn''t the girl who''d sit by and cry.
Hei, wherever you are, watch me.
The forest cleared near the shore of the river. A border of tall rocks separated me from the river cove, but I could hear the roar of the giant as it slammed at something near its feet. And I could see the top of its bloodied, decaying head, rising tall above the wall of rock. Its HP was nearing zero by the second. I ran up to the foot of the stout, sloped wall, as close as I could get.
I took aim with my gun, at the spot right above the zombie''s head. I waited for the precise moment, for the split second before its HP could reach zero.
And then, I launched a Cold Grenade.
The bead of frost magic arced over the stone wall surrounding the cove. It landed on the other side and erupted. The zombie stopped thrashing as the frigid blast froze it solid. For the first time, its HP stopped going down. If my aim was right, the Cold Grenade would''ve frozen Anastasia and Lore too.
The Zombie Giant stood two hits from death. I nailed its protruding head with a Frost Missile, then dropped my gun. With both hands, I aimed Mr. Atlas''s shotgun gauntlet. Near the wrist was its trigger.
It was big and heavy, even as it grew translucent. A weapon not my own. An ability not my own. If there was ever a miracle, please, let me have it. Just this once!
Bang.
The shotgun blast carved through the skull of the monstrous giant. The creature leaned away, for a moment, before collapsing into the river''s waters.
¡¸Green team has slain the Zombie Giant.¡¹
With a poof, Mr. Atlas''s gauntlet vanished from my grasp. I searched my pockets, fumbling to look for a Death Ward. But there was no Death Ward.
Not on me.
Chapter 120: Half a League Onward
I ran through the woods until a thick grove of bamboo sheltered me. There, I channeled my Ring of Recall to teleport back to base. A faint, cyan light began to surround my body.
I had done it. I think. I think I did it. Mr. Atlas, please¡
The light surged and momentarily blinded me. When it faded, I was back within the walls of our base, beside the vending machine.
Reens knelt at my side. In her arms, she cradled Mr. Atlas.
I reached out to him and touched his face. Solid. Bloodied, but no longer fading. He looked weakly at me and lifted his palm for me to see. In it was a broken Death Ward.
I could hardly believe it actually worked.
I sighed a shuddering sigh as the grief inside me melted away.
"You aren''t going anywhere," I comforted him. Mr. Atlas, I''m here. I''m here to save you.
"That was very brave," Mr. Atlas managed to say. "Sophia, thanks."
Relief bubbled up within me. But our match was far from over. The combination of our vending machine''s healing aura, plus Reens'' own magic, patched Mr. Atlas up fast.
We needed everyone, if we were going to win.
I scanned the arena. Though I couldn''t find the cat, I detected Anastasia advancing down the top lane, and Lore advancing down the bottom lane. Judging by the position of golems in the middle lane, the cat ought to be there, pushing its forces towards us. As much as we wanted to rest and recollect, our enemies left us no such opportunity.
Mr. Atlas rose to his feet and wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth.
"Situation, Sophia?" he asked.
"A three-pronged attack," I informed. "They want us to split up to defend. They want to force one-versus-ones."
"We''ll be playing into their hands," Reens pointed out. She was right, that solo fights were the specialty of our enemies. Saber called their tactic split-pushing, and there was no easy answer against it without three solo-capable combatants of our own.
"We''ll ignore them," I proposed. "Let them take our side towers. We''ll march down mid lane, blast straight into their base."
Reens looked to Mr. Atlas for support.
"We''re gambling everything," she pointed out to me. And indeed, we would be. If they got into our base first, through the top and bottom lanes, that''d be the end for us. Our only chance would be to beat them to the punch and destroy their Base Core first.
"If we can''t defend, we''ll have to attack," I said. "Besides, we''ve always been stronger together."
"You know what you''re doing?" Mr. Atlas asked.
"I know well enough," I replied. Seeing that we were all fully healed, I began jogging down the middle lane, and waved the others onward.
Not long after exiting our base, we came across the frontlines. Our golems were locked in combat against the enemy golems in the middle lane, and losing. At the back of the enemy lines was Lady the cat. Us three charged forward, reinforcing our troops. The cat was wary of the range of my spells, and stayed a great breadth away from us. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Our golems, though battered, overcame the enemy forces with our support. We advanced forward until we reached the enemy mid tower. The cat''s mana was running low attempting to match our output. What few mice it could spare sending were promptly nullified by Reen''s defensive magic.
The mid tower began to crumble as we laid seige.
¡¸Red team has destroyed a top tower.¡¹
They were ahead of us.
"Keep coming," the cat hissed. "Soon my friends will tear your base to shreds."
Not that we could stop them right now. Regardless of what the cat said, we had to press onward.
Mr. Atlas heaved his axe and charged at the enemy tower. With one mighty swing, he took out a great chunk of its girth. The tower began to lean, and it fell.
¡¸Green team has destroyed a middle tower.¡¹
With what remained of our golems, we proceeded forth down the middle lane. The cat was playing cautiously, and it fell farther back.
¡¸Red team has destroyed a bottom tower.¡¹
Lore, too, was matching our progress down there.
By the time we reached their inner mid tower, we met the next wave of their golems. Our forces clashed, and despite our firepower, our golems were the first to deplete. The previous tower had damaged them too much.
We stopped in our tracks. Without our golems, there was nothing to draw the fire of the laser towers. We couldn''t lay siege to it until our next wave arrived. It''d take minutes. We didn''t have the luxury of waiting idly around.
"Should we recall and defend?" Reens asked.
"We can''t risk splitting up," I insisted. "That''s how they''ll pick us off."
"You''ve grown so scared of death!" the cat sneered under its tower. "You''d rather stay here and lose, than dare at a chance for victory. I''ve thought too highly of you, Sophia. Amateur until the end!"
Perhaps it was right, in some way. My judgment might''ve been clouded because I was scared of death. Of my own death, and I was scared to lose Reens and Atlas too. Perhaps that was the wrong way to play this game.
But it didn''t matter. I only get to play this game once, so I was gonna do what I wanted. And that was to make sure everyone lives.
I finished off the last of the enemy golems nearby and leveled up to 6.
"Keep pressure mid," I bid Atlas and Reens. "Wait for our golems. I''ll buy us some time; be right back."
If someone should split from the group, it was me. I ran off the lane, and into the forests to the south. My destination, the bottom lane.
We couldn''t destroy any towers without our golems. But the same principle was true for the enemies.
Ordinarily, I could take out at most one of the enemies'' golem armies ¨C either Anastasia''s up top, or the one Lore led down bottom. And while I exhausted my spells taking out the golems, they could attack and kill me.
But three things worked in my favor.
First, the top and bottom lanes were the longest ones. They wouldn''t be able to reach our inner towers immediately.
Second, when golems marched, they marched down the center of the lanes. I could predict the exact path they took.
Third, my ultimate ability targeted a space within an arbitrary octagonal shape. It was restricted to an area of 3142 sq. meters, but I could stretch it as thin as I wanted.
I panted hard as I skidded to a stop. I had arrived in the bottom lane. Right between the enemy towers, where their attacks couldn''t reach me.
I planted my palm on the cobblestone ground. It felt warm and coarse to the touch. My strongest magic flowed into it, and advanced as a thin, thin strip.
Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn.
Solstice of the desolate land, drink the blood of kings.
Do not ask the tide from where it comes.
Do not ask the moon to where it returns.
O fourfold cardinal paths,
Heed the supplications of the victorious one
And shatter beneath the weight of oblivion.
Final spell,
Maw of Leviathan.
[Part 5 Finale] Chapter 121: Daybreak
I felt the crushing pressure of the abyss, for an instant, as my ultimate spell etched itself across the perimeter of the arena. It was an extension of my will: A thin, twisting line, bearing upon the entire lengths of the outer lanes. It gnawed into the ground, pulverizing cobblestone paths. It bit down into the enemy golems until they fell and crumbled to pieces, as if a gargantuan and invisible sword had crushed them all.
My work there, in the bottom lane, was done. I began jogging back once more, to rejoin my teammates in the middle lane. When I arrived, Mr. Atlas and Reens were already besieging the enemy inner-middle tower with a squad of ally golems. The tower''s base had cracked, and chunks of stone had been knocked loose. Lady the cat huddled at the base, bloodied and desperate, protecting and being protected by the precariously standing tower.
I sprinted at Lady. Soon, I was within the range of the tower, though it kept its attacks on our golems for now.
Mr. Atlas and Reens seemed to understand my intent. They pelted the tower with a barrage of attacks. Fissures shot up the body of the stone edifice; dust and debris rained down.
The cat backed away. It must know the tower wouldn''t stand much longer. But it was too late.
I shot the tower with a Frost Missile, chipping off one final block. The tower began to lean as it fired its final shot at an ally golem.
The Frost Missile bounced off the tower and nailed the cat. A veneer of ice froze over its limbs and fur. As its movement faltered, I released the rest of my spells at it in a volley.
The tower fell to the ground with an earth-shaking thud.
¡¸Green team has destroyed a middle tower.¡¹
Next to its rubbles stood me. And at my feet, down the barrel of my railgun, was the cat, injured and collapsed on the ground. Blood and dust caked its fur.
One more hit was all it''d take.
"Ss-sophia," it hissed, its speech even more feral than before. "Stop! We''ll sort this out like civilized people."
"Civilized"? You, of all creatures? The audacity.
I conjured a dart of solidified arcana in the barrel of my gun.
"No!" the cat growled. "Think of Saber! She wouldn''t want you to finish it like this! So unceremonious! So senseless a murder! Sophia, you can''t be satisfied ¨C"
I gritted my teeth and shook my head. And the cat understood, this was it.
"Keep her name out of your mouth," I said.
Bang. A clean shot, straight through the head.
The cat was right. This was unceremonious. Rushed, and without closure. I never had the chance to make her apologize to Saber. But this wasn''t about Saber. It was about me. And Atlas. And Reens. We had a game to win.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
Atlas and Reens advanced up to me.
"Side lane golems are dead," I reported. "We can press the attack mid."
Reens nodded. "Are¡are you alright?" she asked. "You''re shaking."
And I was. Had she not told me, I wouldn''t have realized.
"Yeah," I stammered. "Let''s get this over with."
We breached into the enemy base. Our golems marched with us through the middle lane gate, and there we demolished the enemy''s golem fabricator.
¡¸Red team has destroyed a top tower.¡¹
That must''ve been Anastasia who took down our inner top tower. She was still there, on the opposite side of the map, racing against us.
We advanced to the enemy''s base tower, the sole thing guarding their Base Core. And like the towers preceding it, it too fell to our onslaught.
¡¸Green team has destroyed the base tower.¡¹
Their Base Core stood before us. A large, crimson crystal the size of a car. All that remained for us to do was to shatter it. Then, we''d finally win.
Lore appeared behind the Core in a flash of blue light. He must''ve teleported back with his Ring of Recall.
He looked around. He saw the fallen base tower. He saw us destroying the Base Core. And he must''ve realized that Anastasia was nowhere in sight. He sighed and smiled.
He sheathed his golden rapier.
"Can''t even get a proper goodbye," he said.
We continued our attack on the Base Core, until cracks ruptured along its surface and extended deep down. A pale light leaked out from within, flickering with every blow.
"Goodbye," Reens said to Lore.
"Goodbye, Reens," he replied. "Well played indeed."
The Base Core broke open down the center. A white flash burst out, engulfing us all.
We won.
The light soon faded. When I could see again, the arena around us was gone. No more sun or sky. The three of us ¨C Atlas and Reens and myself ¨C had returned to the dark room, at the bottom of the Bounty Hall tower. Lore was no longer there. The walls of gray and polished stone, featureless and austere, surrounded us.
As did a circle of warriors. They hemmed us in from all sides. There were dozens, if not hundreds of them. Their stares converged upon us, and many had weapons readied in their hands.
We had just usurped their leaders. Now we had to win their loyalty, or die trying.
"Did you kill Anastasia?" asked a swordswoman. She sat near us, upon one of the couches scattered about the room.
"We defeated her," I replied.
The woman rose up, leaning upon her greatsword for support. With her free hand, she brushed aside her waist-length hair. Her steel-blue armor glimmered faintly, reflecting sparse spots of candlelight.
"A shame," she said. "I was going to challenge her."
This was it. I had to make my stand now. I had to seize the prize we risked our lives for, to claim the authority that was now ours. For Atlas, for Reens, for myself. This was our final step.
"Well, we just did," I told her. "And we won. Thus is the blood-law of this guild, that no challenge can be raised against us for the next six months. Let all who disobey be counted traitors!"
The woman clicked her tongue, as though annoyed.
The crowd shrank back. It was then that I realized that the circle of onlookers wasn''t centered around our party. It was centered around her.
"First you took out 6E12," the woman grumbled. "And now Anastasia too. How many times will you get in my way, Ice Mage?"
A bead of sweat ran down my chest. I blinked twice to check her HP.
[HP: 11,000/11,000]
The lady cocked her head ever so slightly.
"Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies," she introduced herself. "You must be Sophia."
Chapter 122: Coronation
Chapter 122: Coronation
Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies, faced me in the deepest layer of the tower.
Wait wait. Who was she again?
That name and title rang a bell. Wasn''t Sylvie the one that, uh, tricked us into a fake "pacifist match" when we first arrived in Gold? No, that was Sylvia, with an A. Wait¡
¡You gotta be kidding me.
Dionysus, whose voice held death itself captive. Doublerift, ruler over the Liberation''s Call Syndicate. Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies. 6E12, nemesis to existence. Alice, the Witch of Roses.
Before me stood one of the five Legends. One of the five players who had beaten the death game, yet forsook their chance to return home, and instead ventured even further beyond.
"...Y-you can''t fight me!" I blurted out. "Six months! That''s how long we need to wait ¨C"
"I''m here for Anastasia," she interrupted me. "No one mentioned you."
I froze. Did that mean we didn''t have to fight?
"Did you see Anastasia''s Ultimate?" Sylvie asked. Nervously, I shook my head.
"Embodiment of Victory," Sylvie told me. "For ten seconds, she will make no mistakes as a warrior."
My racing heart settled slightly. It sounded like she didn''t come here just to wipe us out.
"Anything that can be done right," Sylvie continued, "will be done perfectly right. She''ll predict your every move without fail, avoid every attack avoidable. Her bladework becomes so precise, she could shave the hairs off a mite. I challenged her to a duel of ten seconds. Yet twice she chickened out. Told me she wasn''t ready."
Sylvie paced around to the back of the couch, and gave me an empty glance from the corner of her eye.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
"Coward ''til the end," she spat.
"Well," I managed to speak. "I''d avoid fighting you too, if I was her."
"You think she could''ve stood a chance?" Sylvie asked.
"No."
Sylvie sighed out loud. "Shame."
She looked over at the bounty hunters that surrounded us in the dim room.
"Quit slaughtering your strongest," Sylvie ordered. "Pisses me off, the lot of you. All we''ve gotten in Platinum have been dogwater monkeys."
And then she turned to me.
"Don''t waste your potential. You''ve got one more match before you get to Platinum."
I had no idea how she''d know that. But I wasn''t gonna question her judgment.
"You''ll protect me?" I ventured. "From, like, assassins trying to usurp me?"
She paused for a moment.
"Fend for yourself," she told me annoyedly. "And you too," she said to Mr. Atlas and Reens. "You better do something about these degens," she said, gesturing at the crowd around us.
With a moody groan, she heaved her great sword and slashed through air. A tear opened in space, black with a white glowing trim, and she stepped in as though through a portal. The tear closed behind her and vanished.
Sylvie was gone.
Well, that wasn''t how I had expected things to go. But I wasn''t complaining. The crowd around us broke into hushed, tense whispers. I guess this was it then? I was now the leader of the Bounty Hall, alongside Mr. Atlas and Reens. Somehow this didn''t feel as victorious as I thought it would.
"Speech, speech," a lone voice in the crowd chanted. Might as well.
I cleared my throat, and the crowd fell silent.
Hey. That actually felt kind of cool.
"Look, we''re the leaders now," I announced. "Killing is on hold until further notice."
I waited for a reaction, but they just stood silently and stared at me. Crap. This felt so awkward. I don''t even know any of these people!
"Tanin, uh, are you here?" I asked. I searched the room for him, but didn''t find the man.
"He''s outside," a stranger informed me.
"Oh," I said. "I''ll talk with him later. But yeah, in the meantime, no killing."
What do I say now? Atlas? Hello?! Can you say something?
When I turned to him, he simply returned an encouraging smile. Thanks a lot.
"So," I forced myself to continue. "If you hurt us, Sylvie''s gonna come after you with a vengeance, so don''t do that. Thanks."
The crowd remained silent, but at least Reens clapped for me.
And she continued to clap for me, alone.
Clap clap clap clap clap.
Finally, the rest of the room joined in, crescendoing, until applause drowned out all other sounds.
Heh. I could get used to this. How long did I have until the next Seasonal Challenge, and having to ascend to Platinum? Three months? Might as well try out being an autocrat in the meantime.
Chapter 123: Is It Wrong to Politically Outmaneuver Girls in a Dungeon?
For the next few months, I ruled my own corner of the world.
The Bounty Hall had been the most powerful force in the realm of Gold. That didn''t change after we took over. I had been worried, even doubtful, that I''d have the sway to steer the entire organization. Truth be told, I probably didn''t. I had Sylvie the Knight of Anomalies to thank. If it hadn''t been for her interference, I could be facing assassins, coups, political rivals¡all those sorts of unsavory things.
Well, I still did face one political rival. And that was Reens.
She had wanted to disband the Bounty Hall. That didn''t change.
"How else do you justify everything we''ve done?!" Reens questioned Mr. Atlas and me one evening. It had been two weeks since we ousted the previous three leaders.
We were sharing a meal together in our private dining room, deep under the Bounty Hall tower.
I looked to Mr. Atlas and pursed my lips. He simply ate, in silence. I then looked back to Reens, who had grown indignant, even teary.
"I was willing to cross every line for this," she said, while fighting for control of her voice between frustrated gasps. "We''ve spilled blood. Sophia, please, you need to do the right thing."
To her, the only right thing was to get rid of this accursed organization altogether. And a few weeks ago, I would''ve agreed. I had hated the Bounty Hall with all my being.
"We''re responsible for these people now," I sighed. My stomach knotted. I had no appetite left for the lamb chops and mashed potatoes on my plate. Nowadays our fare was rich; as leaders of the Bounty Hall we had no need to scavenge for food. Buffets would be arranged for us, if ever we asked. I think it helped me a lot, at least. Three nice, hot meals a day supplied a portion of the comfort of life back at home.
"At least for now," I continued, "we''ll need time for everyone to get used to peace. When I leave, you and Mr. Atlas can do what you want."
While I was around in Gold, Mr Atlas would side with me, and Reens knew we outnumbered her. We were sympathetic to her cause, of course, and even supportive of it where we could align. We had restricted bounty rewards to just five per month, for the entire guild. We no longer took up new bounty request applications, and instead worked through our backlog, prioritizing the hunt of "justified" targets like murderers or traitors. We no longer accepted new members into our guild. But Reens wanted more than a half-measure. She wanted the entire bloodstained organization purged, completely and permanently. As soon as possible. During her short tenure in the guild, the mere idea of killing for money had grown abhorrent to her.
But we couldn''t disband the guild now. Dozens of members ¨C seasoned killers, many of them ¨C would suddenly roam the streets, looking for safety and stability. Who knew what they''d do when driven by desperation? Who knew what would happen to us three?
And we still needed to run our prison. The Bounty Hall''s cells contained criminals deemed too dangerous even by its own members. I despised the idea of letting them all go, or leaving them all to starve.
For one, Jack was now among the inmates. When it came to him, my judgment would just blank out, overtaken by an unparseable storm of emotions. Mr. Atlas assured me that keeping Jack in prison, for the time being, was the right call.
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I snapped back to reality. Reens and Mr. Atlas were both looking at me.
"I never doubted you mean well," I told Reens. "We''ll figure something out. Something that works. I promise."
"Lore used to say things like that," Reens mumbled.
I stood out of my seat and headed for the door. "Don''t compare me to him."
"Sorry," Reens said.
"It''s whatever. Let''s talk later."
As I exited, I met our maid outside the door.
"Please save my food," I asked her. "I''ll finish it later."
She gave me a shallow bow. I left the floor, and climbed several flights of stairs to reach the dormitories. There, I found Tanin''s door and knocked.
He opened a crack, and when he saw me, he opened wider.
"Mind if I visit?" I asked.
"My honor," he said as he made way for me to enter. "Something''s on your mind?"
His room was windowless and modest, yet tidy. I found myself a spot on a bench opposite his bed.
"So you''re pretty smart," I said.
He locked the door behind us. "That''s a respectable opinion."
"If your goal was to optimize for the welfare of everyone in Gold, what would you do with the Bounty Hall?" I asked.
"Take a democratic vote?" He shrugged. "Let the bounty hunters decide the guild''s future."
"Even if they want to keep killing?"
"There''s no saving people here," Tanin said. "I''m sure you''ve heard of the reality of things. Every year, only 52 players will make it back to Earth. That is the absolute rule of this game."
I slouched down and waited for him to continue.
"You can''t save anyone, Sophia. Everyone who doesn''t make it back, will die. If not in Gold, then in Platinum."
"So there''s no point in anything?" I asked.
"There''s point in letting people live freely," he replied. "If bounty hunters want to cull the ranks, what good is there in stopping them?"
I tapped my finger on the wood of the bench.
"That wasn''t the answer you wanted to hear," Tanin guessed.
"It really wasn''t."
"What does Atlas think?"
"Atlas goes with whatever I decide," I complained. "He''s too supportive, if that makes sense."
"I can tell. You really seem like the last thing he cares about."
"That''s not good. I won''t be staying long."
"He''ll be fine with Reens," Tanin said. "That''s what I think. You''re sort of like his surrogate daughter, if you don''t mind me saying. If he can surrogate a daughter once, he can do it again."
I smiled numbly. "Surrogate niece, more like."
"Is that it?" Tanin asked. "Well then."
I rose up and headed for the door.
"Oh, and before you leave," Tanin asked. "Did you get a reward for beating the previous guild leaders? Any sort of loot?"
"Yeah," I said.
"What is it?"
"Confidential, until I arrive in Platinum."
Tanin snickered. "Secret ace in the hole, I see. I''d do the same."
I left Tanin in his room. I continued to ascend the stairs until I reached the ground floor. The muddled light that seeped through the fog stung my eyes, for a split second. I headed out the tower and circled around to the small garden we had in the back. There, the guild had planted flowers of red and purple and white. I made my way over to one corner, where they kept a small cemetery.
"What do you think?" I asked. "What would you want me to do?"
I squatted down before a tombstone, one I had erected for Saber. Yesterday''s flowers were still there, alongside her metal circlet.
Those last few weeks in Gold fled past, hectic and often confusing. It was a time of relative comfort, mixed with uncertainty and frustration. In that strange tapestry of days, there were moments of happiness, with Atlas. And even with Reens. Despite our differences, we liked each other well enough.
But the time soon came for me to leave everything behind. Before I knew it, my last Challenge in Gold had arrived.
Chapter 124: And I Know Youll Be Watching Over Us, Until Youre Gone
Early in the morning before my next Challenge, Mr. Atlas took me to the top floor of the Bounty Hall tower. It was an observatory, and quite vacant. Most of the top floors were; the tower had no escalator, and fifty flights of stairs were no joke. The observatory was a simple and elegant room, with panoramic windows and marble floor. A pair of cushioned chairs flanked the entrance. Those were the only furniture in the room. Outside, the sea of mist extended in all directions. We had nothing to observe, really.
In less than an hour, I''d be whisked away into the Seasonal Challenge. My final one in Gold, according to the Knight of Anomalies. Regardless of whether I won or lost, I would no longer be here afterwards. This time, I had opted to enter alone, as a solo player.
Mr. Atlas and I looked out at the endless mist together.
"What will you do in Platinum?" he asked me.
"The Liberation''s Call Syndicate makes their home there," I said. "I''ll probably have to deal with them."
That was the organization Hal the druid was a part of, which had been waging endless conflict with the Bounty Hall. In the past months Atlas and I had attempted to work out a truce with their leadership, with little success. They, the LCS, demanded handover of 50% of the Bounty Hall''s magic items. We could not accept those terms. Not even Hal, our ally, was able to help us secure a better deal.
To hand over our equipment would allow the LCS to break the truce without fear of retaliation. That was unacceptable. Even Reens recognized that much, and had agreed to maintain the continued existence of the Bounty Hall. The LCS was the one issue she had no answers for. They did not promote bloodshed, as the Bounty Hall had done, but they were nonetheless tyrannical in their plundering of resources. Without the Bounty Hall keeping them in check, they could soon take over Gold and control everything.
"And you''ll need to deal with them here," I said to Atlas. He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
"I''ll do what I can," he said.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Mr. Atlas''s hair had grown gray around the ears. I don''t think he enjoyed ruling over the guild, nor any of the politics Reens and I had gotten ourselves into. But out of us three, he was the best at it when he actually tried. Whenever we needed to settle internal disputes, or anything of the sort, Reens and I always went to Atlas when we doubted our own judgements.
"I''ll be waiting for you in Plat," I told him. "Don''t dawdle too long here."
"This is plenty far for me," he said.
"Don''t say that! It''s not over until we make it back."
An amused sniff escaped from his nose. As though I had been talking of hopes and daydreams and childish things.
"Do you have your equipment ready?" he asked.
"Of course," I said. But I couldn''t stop myself from double-checking. I had my Ring of Water Purification, my Magus Battlehat on my head¡of course, my railgun with me. The satellite dish had been properly reattached by the guild smith, so Eye of Odin was back in full force again.
I also had my new Ring of Pursuit, which I picked out from the Bounty Hall treasury. It would serve me well in the imminent Challenge, as well as the journey beyond.
And last but not least, there was the secret I had kept from the rest of the guild. It was a steel chain necklace whose pendant was a tiny, golden sword. I had kept it in my pockets this whole time, but now I wore it around my neck. It was the item I had earned from our last PvP match, Defense of the Ancients Mk. II.
"Where''s Reens?" I asked.
"Been busy, keeping track of who''s gone for the Seasonal Challenge and who''s returned. Want me to go look for her?"
"This is fine," I said. "It''s a long way down to our offices."
I walked in front of Mr. Atlas, with my back facing him. I leaned back into his chest, and draped his arms across myself.
"I''m scared," I whispered.
"This will be easy for you," Mr. Atlas replied.
"I don''t want to go."
Mr. Atlas held my hand. He gave it a light squeeze.
"A hero should be more confident," he said.
I allowed myself to close my eyes and rest. To be held there, like that, was the realest thing.
Not before long, a flash of light shone through my eyelids.
I looked around. Mr. Atlas was no longer there, nor was the tower.
I was back in the arena, in the walled base. Alone, as I would be from now on.
Chapter 125: DotA 2
In a one-on-one match, the only lane was mid. A straight, narrow path from your base to your opponent''s.
I marched out with my golems, down the only lane I could go. I soon arrived at my outer tower, and came face-to-face with my opponent. It was a robot that carried a flanged iron mace and a rimmed wooden shield. The Mace-bot, as it was known. What a sight for sore eyes. I had fought it before, back in Bronze, back before we had to duel other humans to the death. It felt good to face off against wood and metal once more. No bloodshed or cunning. Just an unfeeling, lifeless machine to pulverize.
I still remembered. Its level 1 ability was Staggering Blow, a heavy strike that stunned its target. Its level 2 ability was Shield Charge, which provided it a great burst of movement speed and defense. Until it leveled up to 2, it had no way of reaching me.
Our golems clashed in the battleground between our towers. I wasted no effort in driving the Mace-bot back with my railgun. As much as it wanted to last-hit my golems to collect the gold bounty, my attacks forced it back to the safety of its tower.
Not bad. It recognized it couldn''t win right now, and rather than rushing headlong into a guaranteed loss, it decided to cut its losses and wait. But even then, it ate several Frost Missiles from me; those had barely enough range to reach it via ricochet, even as the Mace-bot stayed under its tower.
Soon, its HP fell dangerously low. It retreated farther away from the tower and began channeling a Recall back to base. Presumably to heal up. But I wouldn''t let it. I held up my hand and pointed a finger at it, triggering my Ring of Pursuit.
[RING OF PURSUIT:
Special ability: Riftchase ¨C You open a portal leading to a target you''ve damaged within the last minute. 10 minute cooldown.]
The air at my outstretched fingertip warped and collapsed into a singular, bright spark. I reached out to touch it. When I made contact, my body suddenly turned immaterial, as though it had dissolved into light, and I shot forward towards the Mace-bot. The world around me whizzed past, blurred and glowing golden and frozen in time.
I veered slightly to the side, and chose a landing spot near the Mace-bot, in the grass to the side of the middle lane. The robot jerked to face me, only to be greeted by an onslaught of magic and artillery.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
The Mace-bot''s battered remains faded away, leaving only a shattered Death Ward behind. Taking the opportunity, I led my golems to demolish the first enemy tower.
¡¸Green team has destroyed a tower.¡¹
The Mace-bot soon respawned, but fared not much better. I had already accumulated advantages in gold, levels, and map control. Despite its desperate efforts at playing defense, it soon had to relinquish its inner tower and its golem fabricator. I pushed my troops into its base, to its last line of defense at the Base Core and the sole remaining tower that guarded it. As I laid siege to the tower, the Mace-bot charged at me in a desperate attempt at salvaging the match.
I could''ve backed off and played it safe. But really, against a mere bot, did I need to be that cautious?
Instead, as it swung its mace at me, I returned fire. The tower registered my aggression and fired a laser bolt at me.
The little golden sword that hung from my necklace released a pulse of warm, blazing light. It seeped through me and enveloped every inch of my being. I raised my hand to meet the tower''s laser. Brightness and heat burst out upon impact, but I felt no pain.
[DEFENSE OF THE ANCIENTS MK. II
You gain 50% movement speed and take 100% reduced damage. 10 second duration. 15 minute cooldown.]
The Mace-bot assailed me with heavy blows that merely bounced off. It soon realized that I was taking no damage, but it was too late. With no options left, the bot began to flee. I launched upon it every spell in my arsenal. Water and ice surged forth, ravaging everything in their path, reducing the robot to smithereens.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
The robot had no Death Wards left, and I no longer had any enemies left standing against me. In other words, I had won by elimination.
The Base-Core broke open down the center. A white flash burst out, engulfing everything. Then the light faded as quickly as it came.
This was it. I had beaten the last match of Gold. I had finally made it out of that dreaded, edgeless suburb.
Before my eyes could recover from the flash, I felt wind. A strong, cool breeze.
When I finally looked around, there was darkness, studded with countless specks of light.
The night sky, starry and vast, hung above me. Beneath me was sturdy cement.
And all around, as far as the horizon stretched, was a breathtaking cityscape. I stood atop the roof of a massive skyscraper overlooking it all. I saw bridges and roads, multicolored lights of yellow and white and red, and countless high-rise buildings, some taller than the one I stood upon, each splendid and sparkling.
So this was Platinum.
Chapter 126: Platinum
The pedestrian lights flashed green, and I crossed the empty road.
It had been a bit over a week since I arrived in Platinum. In total, I had seen cars on the road maybe four or five times. At this point I waited for the pedestrian lights mostly out of habit. It wasn''t like there were any cars driving by. And even if one rammed into me, I''d soak up the damage just fine. My HP was high enough now that I could shrug off a hit that''d splatter an ordinary human.
By the time I arrived in Platinum, I had reached level 10, thanks to all the fights I had been through near the end of Gold. My stats had grown substantially.
[SOPHIA
HP: 1400/1400
MP: 950/950
Arcana Point: 350 (+105)]
I continued down the crosswalk on the other side. The crosswalk, too, was barren, and I walked alone. This city felt even more deserted than the suburb back in Gold. I could roam the streets here for hours on end before running into anyone. I''d wager there were more skyscrapers here than people. The city spanned several miles across, and I doubted this place had over a thousand people. I was practically alone. The few times I saw others on the street, it was from afar, and I had steered clear of them to be safe.
And it was always nighttime. Strangely, the plants here, normal-looking trees and flowers, could survive without much problem. I chalked it up to magic.
At last, I arrived at my destination. McDonalds.
Generous lighting illuminated the restaurant, and the silence greeted me as I entered. Inside, it was empty and clean. A robot ¨C like the ones found in the Arena ¨C stood by the counter motionlessly.
"A Big Mac meal please," I said, and paid the robot $3. Footsteps rumbled in the room behind. After a short wait, another robot stepped out and handed me my order, packaged and warm.
Robots staffed the shops here. Food was reasonably cheap compared to back on earth, as were most other items. And I had a bit over $300,000 with me, taken from the Bounty Hall''s treasury while I was the leader.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I sat down at a table and began to eat. The Big Mac tasted just like back home. The flavored cheese, the salty meat and sauce, the pickles and bits of onion.
In this city, I was alone. I was lost. But each day, without fail, I would find the Big Mac. And it would find me.
If I persevered, I''d be back home soon. I''d be able to go back once I beat Platinum. That was a wild thought. At long last, the finishing line had arrived within reach. It had been a fantasy I dared not entertain until now. Mom. Dad. Are you still waiting for me? Soon, I could be back in the city I left behind. I''d be back in the neighborhood where I grew up and went to school. My friends and classmates would be there. I''d finally get to see everyone again. Almost everyone. But not the ones taken away by this death game.
The door swung open behind me. I jerked around while reaching for my gun.
"Wait!" cried a panicked voice. It was a human.
He stood frozen at the door, staring at me and my gun, chest heaving. He seemed young, perhaps high school or college age. He carried no weapon with him. Nor did he wear armor; he had on a simple navy-blue hoodie, unzipped to reveal a pine-green tee beneath. And he wore ripped jeans and skateboarding shoes. His brown hair was unkempt and had a slight curl. He lacked any semblance of a warrior who had survived until Platinum.
"What are you doing here?" I interrogated. Those words felt strange on my tongue. I realized, it was my first time talking to a human since arriving here.
"Uh, well," he began. "I usually come here to eat. Once a week. Kind of as my cheat meal."
He chuckled nervously and eased the door close behind himself.
"Well, uh¡" he continued. "That was, until you started coming. I decided to avoid you, since, you know, we don''t know each other. I didn''t know if you were a cold-blooded killer or anything."
"I don''t see a reason to fight you," I told him.
"I mean, I didn''t know that. Uh, anyways. I came back the next day instead, and saw you here again. And, uh, it turned out you came here every day, for, like, ten days straight. I was actually getting concerned."
"About?" I asked.
He shifted his weight back and forth. "I guess¡your mental health? Sorry, no offense. I just don''t know why you kept coming here."
I sighed. "Look, I like cheeseburgers."
"Oh. OK."
He walked over, slowly and cautiously, like if I were a gang member or something. "Mind if I join?" he asked with a sheepish voice.
I really, really didn''t know what to think of this guy. Looks might be deceiving, but so far he seemed harmless enough. Also, was I just holding up his go-to McDonalds this whole time? How was I supposed to know that?
"Do what you want," I finally said.
Ugh. I hadn''t interacted with anyone since arriving here, and my social skills were already rusting over.
He sat down opposite me.
"So," he said. "Mind if I take one of your fries?"
I sighed once more. "Do what you want."
Chapter 127: City of the Lost
"So, how did you get here?" the young man asked me as he took another one of my fries. "How did you manage to get through Gold?"
At first, I was considering whether to ally with him. Not anymore. He had taken a little over half of my fries by now. A third was my hard limit.
"I got lucky," I said dismissively. I took the cup of fries and pivoted the opening towards myself.
"That''s hard to buy," the youth said.
"You can literally go and pay for it."
"I mean, your story. You don''t make it this far just cause you got lucky. Plus, you look pretty fierce."
That''s because you stole my food, you fry-burglar.
"What about you?" I turned the question around. "What''s your name? And how did you get here?"
"I just played it safe, I guess. I''m sure you''ve heard of the Bounty Hall, and the Liberation''s Call Syndicate. I was in a party of three. We just holed up, best we could, and avoided interacting with anyone else. It was a slow grind. And not as smooth as I hoped. We¡well, you can tell I''m by myself now."
The distant roar of a car passed outside, perhaps a few streets away. And then it faded, and it was quiet again. The stranger was resting his forearm across the table, his hand half-eaten by his hoodie sleeve. It was strange, seeing a hand other than my own.
"What''s your name?" I asked again.
"You don''t need to know my name," he said. "And I don''t need to know yours. We''re in the City of the Lost. Here, we are all strangers. There''s a lot you can''t tell about this place at a glance."
He reached his hand out towards my fries. But then he paused and retracted his hand under the table.
"Go on," I said.
He reached out once more for my fries.
"Go on with your exposition," I clarified.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"O¨C oh." He retracted his hand again. "Right, yeah. You''re new here, right?"
"Relatively, yeah."
"Well then, let''s see¡what do you want to know about?"
"Let''s start with the society here."
"There''s not much of one, to be frank."
Which wasn''t a surprise, considering the severe underpopulation. People usually had more than enough money to spare, he explained. In turn, few held jobs, and guilds were rare. Many people, like himself, traveled alone.
"And the Liberation''s Call Syndicate?" I asked.
"The LCS is here, alright," the nameless youth said. "But they''re mostly in the shadows. If you see an ATM, you can try withdrawing money. That''s thanks to them; they manage the money supply. Every three months, after you win a Challenge, you get an additional 20k or so in your account."
"That''s surprisingly benevolent of them."
"It also makes them impossible to dismantle. Without destroying the entire economy, I mean. They do a lot of shady stuff behind the scenes. Extortion, threats of violence, outright robbery. Market manipulation, of course. Hard to say how much bad stuff they actually do. There''s no, like, news station or anything around here."
"Does no one try to fight back?" I asked.
"No one wants to upset the people paying you money," the youth pointed out. "I mean, some dare, like the Vigilantes. There aren''t many of them, but they''re pretty bothersome for the LCS."
"The leader of the LCS is Doublerift, right?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"And he''s a Legend? If the Vigilantes bother him, why doesn''t he go and just wipe them all out?"
That gave the youth pause. "...Good question. I honestly don''t know. But I think he''s scared of losing."
"For real?" I asked.
"If you''re like Bronze or Silver, Legends seem basically invincible. But this is Platinum. If Doublerift tries to take a bunch of Vigilantes on, he''s not guaranteed to make it out alive. Especially if he runs into their ultimate weapon, Truck-kun."
"Truck-kun?"
"Yup. That''s the strongest individual on the Vigilante''s side."
"Huh," I said. "What does it do? Is it a truck that runs people over?"
The nameless youth shrugged. "Beats me."
That was all he knew of the factions in Platinum. He hadn''t been here for long either, I surmised. We chatted a bit more, about the streets here, and where things sold for cheap. Once I finished eating, we walked outside. Before we parted ways, I asked him a question.
"Will you be back here next week?"
"I don''t have any plans yet," he said. "You?"
"Same, I suppose."
He nodded, and went on his way, and I likewise.
The night was quiet once more.
I returned to the McDonald''s the next day, and the day after that. Those times, I was there by myself. The next week, I went every day too.
I never saw the nameless youth.
Chapter 128: Lost Shadows
I made my base in an abandoned hotel. Looking from the outside, no one would be able to tell it was meant to house people. It was a tall and solemn edifice. Its facade of dark glass stretched featureless over silent, steel frames. I had picked room 2217 as my own; that was on the 22nd floor, in the top half of the building. It was a single studio room with a bathroom, and it offered me an adequate view of the surroundings. Across the street stood a half-constructed parking lot, unlit and painted with faded graffiti. From my room, I could see a slice of the sea.
There was no room service and no staff. If there was anyone else in the hotel, I had never met them. But it still had electricity and water. I had found the place only a day after I arrived here, and I picked it because it was free. It seemed safe enough as a hideout. I made sure to keep the curtains drawn most of the time, so no one could see that I lived here. Not that getting attention would necessarily be a bad thing, and I could relocate without much trouble. But at this point, I''d rather avoid surprises if possible.
The bed was large and had clean sheets. I slept a lot better than in Gold, despite neither having proper day-night cycles. In a corner of the room was a desk, where I kept my things. My team notebook was relegated to one corner where it collected dust.
Weeks passed by as I waited aimlessly for the next Seasonal Challenge. I didn''t really have much of a plan coming here. There wasn''t anyone I needed to protect, not anymore. Nor were there enemies I needed to hunt down.
I picked up an abandoned bike, which became my main mode of transportation. I rode freely over the pavements; it wasn''t like any pedestrians were around to walk on them anyways. The streets were always so quiet. I never came across anyone, ever since I met that nameless youth at McDonalds.
Naturally, the solitude caused some degree of unease, but I didn''t quite hate it. It was just another phase of the Death Game that I needed to weather through.
Things weren''t too bad, really. Shops lined the innumerable streets of the city. Most goods sold for cheap. I bought myself several much-needed changes of clothes, including a second white coat. I got a pair of binoculars, as well as a new, high-end laptop.
The only real expensive things were the magical items. Once in a while there''d be a magical item store, selling longswords or wands, sandwiched between apparel stores and cafes and what-have-you. I browsed through them a couple times, but few things caught my eyes. My loadout was already better than most things money could buy here. I had expected some overpowered loot for sale in Platinum, but the best equipment offered still felt middling.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
That was, until a new store opened, a few blocks inland of where I lived.
I wasn''t paying attention, and I didn''t know how the place got set up. Before it was just an empty room with glass walls looking in. But the next time I saw it, only a couple days later, it had turned into a fully stocked shop.
I wandered in. Now this place was more like it. Robots staffed the cash register, and magical glyphs guarded the walls and entryway. And the equipment ¨C actual endgame, high-tier stuff. In one corner was a golden set of plate armor that offered 50% damage reduction. Even with my funds from the Bounty Hall, I couldn''t afford it. And there were bows that dealt elemental AoE explosions on hit. That seemed like a game-changer for any archer.
What caught my eye was a mask that hung in a corner. It was white like porcelain, and decorated with gold and rubies. I had seen a replica of it before, once, in a museum in Silvercreek.
Mask of the Lost Shadow. +15 Arcana Points. Causes the wearer''s magical attacks to also corrode their targets, dealing 10% max HP as damage over 5 seconds.
It costed a hefty $84,900, but I could afford to pay the price if I really wanted to.
I had another problem: I only had one attunement slot left. Many combat-oriented magical items required "attunement," which meant forming a personal bond with the items. The process tended to be simple, such as holding onto an item for an hour. Any player could attune to a max of three items at once. My Magus Battlehat required attunement, as did my protective necklace, Defense of the Ancients Mk. II. My gun didn''t, despite the sweat and blood I had poured into it, and neither did my Ring of Pursuit.
That left a single attunement slot. Did I want to commit it to the Mask of Lost Shadows?
But hey. The mask did 100% max HP over 50 seconds. I could kill practically anything in under a minute. That must be worth it.
Footsteps sounded at the entrance. I turned to find three strangers. A man and a lady, both in suits and sunglasses, on either side. Between them stood a tall warrior with spiked plate armor and a skull-shaped helmet that encased his entire head. Red dots flickered within the dark sockets of the skull''s eyes.
If media literacy was ever a thing, these folks weren''t gonna be nice people.
They walked in lockstep towards me. I gulped and stepped away. They didn''t follow. Instead, the skull knight lumbered up and grabbed the mask.
"This is it," he said, his voice a low, hoarse rumble. He sounded like Darth Vader, except without the respiratory issues.
But you know what? People say not to judge a book by its cover. Did I really want to presume the content of his character, based on his fashion sense? Based on his voice, of all things?
"Excuse me," I said, as politely as I could. The skull knight and the two suited strangers turned to face me.
"I really like that mask," I explained, "and I got here first. Would it be alright if I have it?"
In perfect unison, the two strangers brandished pistols and aimed at my chest.
Chapter 129: The Power of a Late-Game Warrior
Two guns. Both of their dark barrels stared at my chest.
My first instinct was to shoot back.
Without lifting the barrel of my gun, I fired a Cold Grenade straight into the ground. I waved my hand, summoning a spiraling shield of water, right in time to block two pistol rounds from the strangers in suits. A short delay later, the Cold Grenade detonated, engulfing the shop in chilling mist. My foes froze solid. I took the chance to grab the Mask of Lost Shadows and retreat behind the store''s counter.
That bought me time to assess the situation. In that moment of fight-or-flight, I had chosen to fight. In hindsight, that seemed like the wrong choice. I wasn''t even in real danger. At this point, I could easily take several bullets and walk away with nothing more than scratches.
I heard the strangers writhe free from the frost encasing them.
"Let''s all calm down," I shouted. "I hand you the mask, and we all move on."
"Stand down, you''re outmatched!" the skull-helmed warrior roared.
Pistol shots pierced the counter next to me. I popped up, fired, and retreated back behind cover. Bullets and projectiles darted across the shop, decimating the walls and furniture. A bullet nailed my wrist, then bounced off, leaving a painful bruise.
Soon the enemy fire stopped. I had taken out both the strangers in suits, I realized. They weren''t dead, but their HP fell too low for them to remain conscious.
The skull knight shook his head.
"They should''ve listened," his voice boomed.
I frowned. "...Why didn''t you stop them?"
"I literally told them to stand down," the armored warrior said, his words echoing within his helmet.
"Oh. I thought you were talking to me."Stolen novel; please report.
"Wait. Was it not obvious?" The blood-red pits of his eye sockets stared at me.
"Not really," I said.
"Oh. Ahem. Well, do forgive them for their rudeness. We generally don''t threaten people with violence like this."
I nodded. "Mhm, I, uh, that''s good to hear."
"Yeah," he said.
One of the strangers with guns groaned while crumpled on the floor. The dust of our firefight began to settle and clear. I looked down at the mask I had snatched.
"So, I guess you can have this, and I''m free to go?" I asked.
The warrior laughed.
"Muhahaha! After you''ve beaten my subordinates to pathetic little pulps? My honor will not allow it!" He reached behind his shoulder and brandished a flanged mace. "Wizardling! PREPARE TO FACE MY WRAAAAAATHHH!!"
He charged into me with a shoulder tackle. I gagged as the impact carried me along and slammed me into the wall behind. I was squished, for a moment, before the impact broke me through the wall.
We went farther, into the next wall behind. And the next wall.
And then we were out on the streets. He had just knocked me through multiple stores.
I ached all over, but I could still fight. Despite his bulk, he moved faster than I could react. And I had lost my grip on the mask. It was probably buried back in the wreckage somewhere.
"That hurt," I wheezed. "Must''ve been a special ability. What''s the cooldown on that?"
"Fourteen seconds," he replied.
¡Did he really just answer my question? For free?
Was he lying?
As I was recovering, the knight charged at me, though this time slower. I ran away to keep my distance while peppering him with shots and spells. I fired my abilities at full power, strong enough to pulverize the asphalt road, but he took the bombardment without much issue. The knight roared a battlecry. He leaped into the air at me. A dark aura engulfed his mace, pulsating and flaring as he brought it down towards my head. I made a quick sidestep, narrowly avoiding the blow.
His weapon struck the wall of a cafe behind me. A wave of energy burst out, tearing through the wall, filling the entire cafe, and obliterating it from the inside-out. The building blew apart into smithereens, like it had just been hit by missile strikes.
All that remained of the cafe was a smoldering, rubble-lined crater. Bits of debris rained down from the sky with arrhythmic thumps and clangs.
So that''s how you want to play it, huh?
I planted my palm upon the fractured pavement. So be it.
"Final spell," I muttered. "Maw of Leviathan."
Chapter 130: Greatest Among the Thirty-Six Stratagems
I activated Maw of Leviathan.
First, came the sound of shattering. All around us, on either side of the street, the panes of glass on every tall building blew out. Walls cracked, streets caved in, the metal hull of cars scrunched like crushed cans. The warrior buckled to his knees. A short gasp was all he managed as my spell wrung the air from his lungs.
For a split second, I had subjected everything around us to the pressure of the deepest abyss, distilled and magnified by my own arcane might.
The debris rained down. Shattered glass and loose stone fell like hail. Lights went out for several blocks around us. Down the street, a narrow apartment toppled on to the road in a thunderous collapse of rubble and dust.
As he remained kneeling, a trickle of blood flowed out from under the warrior''s helmet. His grip loosened, and he finally dropped his mace with a clang. I pointed my railgun at his center of mass.
"That''s enough," I declared. "We''re all still alive. Swear to me that we''ll hold no grudges for what happened today, and we''ll walk our separate ways."
The warrior coughed shallow coughs as he struggled to speak. Another streak of blood flowed down his neck.
"You''re afraid to kill me," he muttered.
I tightened the grip on my gun.
"You fear retribution," he said. "You''re afraid the Syndicate will come after you, if my blood stains your hand. Am I right?"
I scoffed. He was not wrong.
"...Do you take me for a coward?" he asked. "That I''d hide within the shadows of allies, hugging their legs for a scrap of security?"
"You literally joined an organized crime gang," I replied.
In a flash, the warrior sprang up to me. His hand had already clamped around my neck before I knew it. I fired a Cold Grenade without aiming. The glowing, magical bead hit a wrecked car behind him.
"DON''T BELITTLE ME!" he roared in my ear.
Then, he jumped up.
The ground beneath cratered as we left it far behind. We rushed past the buildings and left their roofs far behind. The wind threatened to tear my skin off.
The acceleration was so sudden, I could not move a single limb against it, much less aim my gun.
We rose into the haze of a thick cloud, then pierced through. Above us was the clear night sky. Below, the lights of the city sprawled out, from one coast of the island to the opposite. The warrior held me underneath him.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
"Final technique," he said. "Dragon Descent."
Twin jets of dark flame shot out of his back. They blasted out, ablaze like rocket fuel, and propelled us downward. We began to plummet faster than we had risen. My stomach churned. We shook violently against the deafening wind.
And then, it was quiet. The shaking stopped. Facing upward as I fell, I could see a faint ring we had left behind on the way down. Guess we just broke the sound barrier.
The little golden sword that hung from my necklace released a pulse of warm, blazing light.
The warrior slammed me down into something solid. We broke through. For a moment there was nothing except the horrible turbulence and noise. But there was no pain. My necklace had activated to give me temporary invulnerability.
It stopped at last.
I regained my bearings. In the moonlight, I found myself in the center of a crater. The edges were many yards away. The warrior stood nearby, slouched and panting. The flames on his back had petered out. Above us, through the smoke, I saw holes through multiple layers of ceilings or floors. More than five, probably less than twenty. We had smashed through all of them without much resistance. This seemed like an empty general-purpose building. Had we not decimated it, it could''ve housed perhaps a thousand office workers.
As for me, I was fine.
"Now we''re even," the warrior panted. "I''ve roughed you up enough for a day."
Well, I mean, his last attack didn''t really do anything. But if he had enough, I had enough.
"Yeah," I said. "Got me scared for my life back there." I sat up slowly, still trembling from the fall. I found my railgun beside me; I had held on until the last moment.
"You''re not like the rest of them," the warrior said to me in his low-pitched voice. "You''re tougher. Stronger. And dare I say, more audacious. You have my respect."
"Guess I could say the same," I admitted. "You''re powerful, if nothing else."
The knight flicked his wrist. In a burst of black flames, his mace manifested in his grip. He stowed it away on his back.
"I know talent when I see it," he said. "Come, join the Liberation''s Call Syndicate. You''ll fit in among us. Better than those tools I have for underlings."
Great. First he tried to beat me up, and failing that, he was now trying to recruit me?
"Organized crime isn''t my thing," I replied flatly. "No offense."
"You''ll be able to reach heights you''ve never dreamed of."
"I don''t think I like heights anymore."
The warrior raised a gauntleted fist. "With our combined power, we can take over this world!"
"That''s generic as heck," I said. "Look, what if I say I''ll consider your offer? Will your syndicate let me stay alive at least, for the time being?"
Once again, the warrior brandished his mace. "You aren''t walking away until I hear your decision."
I wouldn''t have minded staying and chatting a bit longer. There were many questions I had for him. But I didn''t know the cooldown on his final technique. If we fought again, and he used that move on me once more, I might not be walking away alive.
This was goodbye.
Cold Grenade, burst.
Ring of Pursuit, activate.
A shimmering mote formed at my fingertip and I grasped it. My body dissolved into light, and the world around me froze in time. I felt my incorporeal form whizz past countless buildings and streets until I arrived at the wrecked car. There, I returned to normal, as did the world around me.
It was a neat trick I had devised during my days here. As long as I had a Cold Grenade somewhere in the world, I could detonate it to hit surrounding targets, then teleport over with my Ring of Pursuit.
As the strategists of ancient China wrote, escape is the greatest tactic.
Chapter 131: Big Bank
After my encounter with the Liberation''s Call Syndicate, I moved to another part of town. The shop where we fought was too close to where I lived. If someone tried to track me down to my hideout in the hotel, they''d probably have been able to.
By then I had already accumulated a hefty collection of possessions, from bikes to clothes to appliances. I wished I could drive a car and haul everything along, but alas, I didn''t know how to drive, nor did I have a car. The cars parked on the streets often seemed abandoned, but without keys, I had no way of starting them.
Following my established playbook, I found another abandoned hotel on the opposite side of town. This one was farther away from the sea, and instead stood a couple blocks away from a city park, which I could see from my new room''s window.
I planted a Cold Grenade in one of the new hotel''s storage rooms, then returned to my previous dwelling. Once I gathered and packed all my things, I detonated the grenade and used my Ring of Pursuit to teleport over while carrying my belongings.
It took only two trips to bring everything.
By the time I settled into my new home, the date of the next Seasonal Challenge was looming just a couple weeks away. I took more effort to hide myself; players often sought PvP around the times of Seasonal Challenges. They did in Gold, at least. I had no interest in participating in any. I was strong, but so were those who lived here. Like the skull-helmed warrior.
Before the Challenge, I searched the neighborhood for a magic item shop. I found one a 20-minute bike ride away from my residence, and in it was the Mask of Lost Shadows. This time, I bought it. Without issue.
It turned out I didn''t need to actually wear the mask to equip it; just having it on my person was enough. I strung it up to my belt, under my white coat, to keep it hidden.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Then came the day of the Challenge. I was transported to the arena, to fight a 1v1 match. In a 1v1 match, the entire arena shrank down to just the Middle Lane. A thin, long, rectangular arena. I marched to the outer Middle Lane tower and beheld my opponent, a single assassin robot.
I managed to land a few shots on it while we were both level 1. Then at level 2, I foiled its attempt to run in and stab me in melee. I was the first of us to reach level 3, and I took the chance to go all-in on the attack. My efforts scored me a kill on the assassin bot.
From there, the robot never recovered, and I easily snowballed my lead into a win by killing the robot a second time.
I breathed a triumphant sigh as the match finished, and I was transported back into my hotel room.
That wasn''t hard at all. I could do this again and again. My experience, skills, and items had pulled me so far ahead of the robots that the matches between us weren''t close anymore. A few more matches, and I''d be able to go home. I just had to play my cards right.
I rewarded my win by resting for the rest of the day. Well, day, as in 12 hours or so - there was no sun here.
The next day, I decided to visit an ATM on the other side of the park. The nameless youth had told me, everyone got 20K or so in their account after each Seasonal Challenge. And indeed I did. I withdrew my prize money and quickly stuffed it into my pouch. That made up for a bit of my expenditure in purchasing the mask.
With the money came a receipt. And at the bottom of the receipt, there was a special note.
Dear player,
Congratulations! You have been chosen as one of 20 lucky winners for this Seasonal Challenge. Please come to 3288 Locamore Rd., first floor, to claim your special magic item.
It is our pleasure to serve you,
¨C The Liberation''s Call Syndicate
"Hmm," I said. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm."
Yup, not suspicious at all.
Chapter 132: I Got a Courier to Retrieve Items
So, what do you do when a criminal finance syndicate tells you that you''re their lucky winner, and says to claim your prize at a location they specified?
On a nice day, your chances of a good outcome would already be slim. As for my case, well, I did just get into a deadly fight with them not too long ago.
In other words, this was the most obvious, low-quality bait I had ever come across. Did they really expect for me to show up? For an organization reigning at the top of the player divisions, I really expected more finesse from them.
But no matter. If this was how they wanted to play, I was gonna bite.
No, I wasn''t gonna go personally, of course. But for a price, I could commission a courier.
Few guilds existed in Platinum, but one which did was the Quest Guild. Anyone was free to post quests, and anyone was free to take them up. The guild, though staffed by a small team, did a fair job of curating the quests, such that indecent things like hit-jobs, theft, and even vandalism were banned. I was curious whether they''d let me post a retrieval quest involving a disreputable organization like the Liberation''s Call Syndicate.
Surprisingly, they did. Thinking about it, the Quest Guild probably wouldn''t reject every quest having to do with the LCS. If they did, they''d likely incur the syndicate''s ire.
I got myself a courier, and we scheduled a date for the operation. Through the help of the Quest Guild, we managed to communicate without needing to meet in person. I bought a pair of walkie-talkies and delivered one to her. I instructed her to turn it on so I could hear what was happening around her.
Soon came the date we agreed upon. She would get my supposed special prize from the LCS at 3288 Locamore Rd., first floor. Then, she''d drop it off at a location I''d specify within 500 meters of the building. Her quest would be finished there, I''d pay her through the Quest Guild, and I''d pick up the prize according to my own timing.
Now, the ball was in the LCS''s court. Would they present the prize? Or fail to, and tarnish their honor further, with the Quest Guild as witness to the outcomes?The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The breeze blew cold on the rooftop where I stood. It was thirty floors high, and a good four blocks away from the designated pickup building. From the darkness here, I had line of sight to the building entrance. I adjusted the focus of my binoculars until the view became clear.
My main objective was not to collect my prize, but rather reconnaissance. Between the walkie-talkie, the binoculars, and my Eye of Odin radar, I''d have a clear reconstruction of who would be inside that building, and what they were up to.
Anyone I could recognize, I could track. Anyone I could track, I could beat. Cirrus learned that the hard way back in Gold.
Down the lamplit pavement, a single pedestrian approached the building. Was she the courier? I couldn''t catch a clear glimpse of her face from this distance.
"Location?" I whispered into my walkie-talkie.
The pedestrian surreptitiously reached into her pocket, produced a matching device, and spoke.
"Around 80 meters from the entrance," came a woman''s voice. "Should I turn my volume off?"
"Let''s do that," I confirmed. "Keep transmission going. I''ll let you know where to leave the package."
"Understood."
With that, she concealed the walkie-talkie once more, then approached and entered the building. I lost sight of her.
Only static came through the speakers.
I waited.
Eventually, I heard the sound of muffled speaking.
No good. I can barely decipher anything when the walkie-talkie was in her pocket. Perhaps I could fire Eye of Odin in a bit. I strained my ears, but the wind whipped around, threatening to drown out the few words that made it through. My courier was being told to wait.
The wind grew louder. And stronger.
And then, a deafening crash quaked behind me.
I shuddered, dropping my walkie-talkie. Something massive had just fallen onto the roof. Reflexively, I brandished my gun.
Behind me was the skull knight. He had landed on one knee, cratering the roof with his impact.
I trained the gun on his chest. How did he even find me?
"You''re persistent," I spat.
"And you''re worth the effort," he replied in his low, booming voice. "Queen of the Bounty Hall. I won''t let you get away this time."
So be it. I''ve had enough of this creep. Today I''d settle matters with him, permanently.
Chapter 133: Break Bad
The skull knight stood up while I kept my gun''s barrel pointed at his chest.
"How did you find me?" I interrogated.
"How do you think?" he retorted. "Between us, you are the better engineer."
Perhaps he triangulated my walkie-talkie signal? Was he just trying to mess with my head, by reversing my question back at me? I didn''t have time to guess. For all I knew, he could''ve had a Seekflower in his possession.
"You can''t scare me," I said. "I know your type well enough."
The knight gave a curt scoff. "Do you truly? Tell me. What type am I?"
"Overconfident, yet preying upon the weak. You oppress and exploit. The Bounty Hall tried the same. I made them pay for it."
"Hm. We are not so different after all. You have the same eyes I once had. Scornful, and indignant." The knight extended an open palm to me. "Come to the Syndicate, Sophia. There you''ll find many like ourselves. With our powers combined, we will be unstoppable!"
"I''ll never!" I shouted. "I''m not siding with criminals like you!"
"Do not lie to yourself, mage. You want to usurp the order of the world. You want to topple those who stand upon your neck and make them pay. I see the ambition in your eyes! The reckless drive! Join us, and we will grant you power and influence beyond your wildest dreams."
I furrowed my brow and stared into his dark, crimson eyes.
"And what''s in it for you?" I questioned.
"Your hand in overthrowing this blasted world. Nothing more, nothing less." He clenched a fist at his chest. "With our combined might, we shall claim these realms as our own! We will be kings and queens! No master shall rule over us ¨C"Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"Sounds good enough," I conceded. "I''m in."
The skull knight''s arm drooped down to his side. "...Wait. Actually?"
"I mean, I think so?" I said. "Like, you sounded evil at first, but now that I think about it, maybe taking over this world isn''t so bad."
"Are...ahem," the skull knight coughed. "Are you sure about this?"
"What?" I asked. "Do you not want me to join?"
"I-it''s not that," he denied as he shook his head. "I mean, I just didn''t think you''d say yes right away. Look, I had this, uh, whole insult planned out to say right before you teleport away. Like, ''Curse you, you spineless mage! You won''t be able to run away forever!''"
I tilted my head. "That''s pretty tame, far as insults go."
"I mean yeah, it''s not like I hate you or anything."
I finally lowered my gun. It was getting awkward keeping it pointed at him. It wasn''t like I trusted him fully yet, but for the time being, I doubted we''d be fighting.
"Just to confirm," I said, "your org, the LCS, wants to take over the world?"
"That''s right," the skull knight replied.
"And to do that, you''re planning to take out Alic¨C"
"Wait!" he interrupted. And in a quieter voice, he continued, "You''re not supposed to say that part out loud¡"
"I mean, it''s pretty obvious, isn''t it?" I asked.
The skull knight slumped his shoulders. "Alright, look. If we''re going to be working together, I''ll need to get you up to speed. Which I didn''t really prepare for today. I only scheduled 15 minutes for this, because again, I thought you''d just run away. And, uh, I''ll need to get going soon. I''ve got a team dinner scheduled right after this, and my boss invited me so I don''t want to ditch him¡but look, I feel bad for ditching you right after you agreed to join¡"
"Maybe I could come too?" I proposed. "To the dinner."
"What if they don''t have enough food?"
I rolled my eyes. "I can bring my own. Do you know where''s the nearest McDonald''s?"
The skull knight walked to the edge of the rooftop and scanned the landscape. "I''m pretty sure there''s one that way," he said, pointing.
I sighed. "Let''s go."
Chapter 134: Legends Never Die
I piggybacked the skull knight across the city.
He was strong. More physically capable than any other warrior I had come across, I think. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop, faster than I had ever gone in a car. The wind around us whipped violently, and I wrapped my arms around him tight.
I took satisfaction in knowing I could match this monster in battle.
Nonetheless, I had to stay vigilant. The skull knight had been an enemy moments prior, and letting him take me places was risky. But I had a Cold Grenade planted in an underground parking lot far away, which I used as a hideout of sorts away from home. If things got dicey, I''d detonate the grenade and use the Ring of Pursuit to teleport over.
But if the skull knight had been earnest in wanting me as an ally¡what then? What would become of my life here? I now questioned my decision.
"Something''s on your mind?" the skull knight asked.
I didn''t know how he guessed that. But he was scarily perceptive.
"Just fearing for my life," I quipped.
"A little fear is natural. And healthy. But I promise upon my honor, we mean you no harm."
The knight''s armor clanked as we landed on a flat rooftop. He sprinted across it, then with a mighty leap took off into the sky, arcing towards the next building.
"So what''s it gonna be like for me in the LCS?" I decided to ask, shouting to raise my words above the wind''s roar.
"Most members have decent work-life balance," his bassy voice boomed out of his skull helmet. "Maybe 10 hours of activity a week? Though high-ranking staff like me are full-time."
"What rank will I be?"
"We''ll see," he replied.
Now that I thought about it, I probably had the skills to climb the ranks. My experience as co-leader of the Bounty Hall had prepared me. In terms of combat, I was one of the best assassins around with Eye of Odin and Maw of Leviathan. Not to mention I could duel this knight, a high-ranking staff by his own admission, to satisfactory results. If I put in the effort and hours, I could probably get to a comparable position as him. Not bad.
Part of me felt uneasy about getting so invested in joining a crime gang. Sure, I liked their nominal goal of taking over the world from Alice, but still. I wouldn''t be the top brass in charge, which meant unlike with the Bounty Hall, I would have more than my own conscience to answer to. Would I need to extort and threaten innocents? Would I be willing to?If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"What''s your name, by the way?" I said.
"I thought you''d never ask."
The knight leaped off the roof of a vine-covered apartment and landed in the alley behind. He eased me off his back, scanned the vicinity, and led us towards a slanted, metal-doored hatch that rested against the wall, and seemed to lead into some sort of basement. If I didn''t have the means to teleport away, this would be where I''d nope out and run.
"Well? What''s your name?" I repeated.
"So now you want to know. After I tell you I''m an important person. I see how it is."
I shrugged. "Fine then, keep your secrets."
"It''s Kevin," he conceded.
"That''s more generic than I expected."
"You know what? Just because I wear a helmet and you can''t see my face, doesn''t mean I don''t have feelings. You can''t dismiss people''s feelings just because they''re a big bulky melee build, Sophia. That''s unconscious bias."
The knight opened the hatch. We walked down a short and well-kept stairway, and arrived at an elevator, which we took to descend several floors. Upon exiting, we came face to face with a double door, wrought of polished metal and carved with floral patterns.
"Look sharp," he said, and pushed it open.
On the other side was a dining hall that screamed money. The entire space had dark marble flooring, which matched the dark marble walls. A massive, white stone table jutted out of the center of the floor, sharply geometric and weighty. A grand and sparkling chandelier hung over it. Baroque pillars of patterned stone flanked the two sides of the hall.
Around the table sat eight or so people. At the head off the table was a bespectacled youth with black hair and a bowl cut. He wore a white suit, and a white dress shirt underneath.
Something about him seemed familiar.
"Everyone, say hi to Sophia," Kevin the skull knight announced. An uncoordinated wave of greetings rose from the table.
"Hi everyone," I replied. This was getting quite uncomfortable. Kevin and I took seats next to each other. The padded chair creaked pitifully as he put his weight upon it.
There was no food on the table yet, but each seat had been given plates, cutlery, and a dark red cup of wine. I didn''t feel safe drinking mine, and decided to leave it untouched for the night. Even if it wasn''t poisoned, I needed to be as sober as humanly possible for this.
"Make yourself comfortable," the bespectacled youth said. His voice was quiet and wintery-cold, and colored by an accent I guessed to be Chinese.
"Glad to be here," I said with a polite, nervous smile. I looked to Kevin.
"That''s our boss," Kevin told me. "You know him?"
Wait. Hold on a second. I did know him.
I remembered now. I had seen him in Twitch clips.
That man was a professional League of Legends player. He had represented Gen.G Esports in the European scene. And with them, he had been crowned one of the best players of his continent.
A chill ran through me. I glanced at Kevin. "Isn''t he¡"
"Call me Doublerift," the youth said.
Chapter 135: Final 30 Days
Doublerift. Another one of the five Legends. I knew he''d be here, somewhere in the Liberation''s Call Syndicate, but I hadn''t expected to meet him so soon.
Considering his past as a world-renowned MOBA player, it was no surprise that he was one of the strongest humans in this world. Someone like Saber, who arrived here with decent skills at MOBAs, had blazed through the Challenges as our leader. Doublerift cranked up that same advantage a thousandfold.
"How much do you know about the nature of this world?" Doublerift asked me.
I furrowed my brows. Maybe it''d be best to be upfront.
"Some," I admitted. "Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond. Those are the subdivisions. When you get to Diamond, you get to go home. At least¡that was what I had heard."
"What you had heard?" Doublelift probed.
I thought back hard. I was sure that was correct. And yet, a sliver of doubt irked me.
"Wait, the Truthseekers," I recalled. "They were back in Silver. They said there was no escape. I think. But they''re wrong. I met¡"
"You met 6E12," Doublerift continued where I had cut myself off. "I am aware."
"...And he had reached Diamond. He told me he had the chance to go home." I wondered how much I ought to divulge. Should I tell them about the vision I had of Alice''s memories? Of her and 6E12 in the train, where they talked about his completion of the game? I had seen that, and more, back when 6E12 unraveled Alice''s mind in battle.
It had been so long, I had almost forgotten.
In those memories, I had seen Alice as a lonely child, with hazel-gray eyes that bore a vague, quiet weight.
I had seen her as a teenager, programming on her laptop. I saw a window pop up on her screen, and within it was a map with three lanes. Tiny animated stick figures ran across the map and fought. She was making a video game.
I had seen her first friend. He''d work by her side, after school at the library, and late into nights together at her house. He shared her vision for their game: that a million fans would play it. And when she''d given up on herself and on their game, he''d be there.
I had seen the traffic accident that took his life.
The same accident left Alice paralyzed. I had seen her, broken and decaying, in the final moments before her death in our world.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Waiters in sharp suits brought out dishes to each of the dinner''s attendees. It looked to be pasta. With lobster. I had brought McDonald''s for myself, in fear they wouldn''t have prepared for my unannounced arrival, but they set a dish in front of me too.
"I hope the food is to your liking," Doublerift said to me in a soft voice.
I had no appetite to eat right now.
"...Who is Alice?" I finally asked him. "You want to bring her down?"
Around the table, several attendees turned to look at me.
"Sophia!" Kevin the skull knight whispered softly. "We''re not supposed to talk about that out loud ¨C"
"It is no matter," Doublerift dismissed him. "We have long worked in secrecy. We''ve made riddles of our words. But no more. Now the stars are aligned."
What little noise remained in the room fell into a cold, discomforting silence.
"This is the endgame," he said, "and we will speak of matters plainly. Sophia, I will tell you the truth of this world. Listen closely."
The meal was left untouched on everyone''s plate.
"This place is not real life," Doublerift said.
He continued, his voice cold and even. "This place is known as the Boundary of Miracles. It exists between reality and imagination, between death and life. It''s been around for hundreds of years, if not more. Its workings are simple: It invites in those who will ''almost certainly die'', and attempts to give them a second chance at life. In the old days, the Boundary would gather four or five individuals a week. It only had enough power to return one to life, so it made its guests compete for resurrection. The competitions were simple. Things like riddles, or marathon races, or contests of brute strength. A single winner returned to the world of the living. The rest of them passed on."
"About 10 years ago, Alice arrived here. She won a game of riddles. But instead of returning to the world of the living, she made a bargain with the Boundary itself. In exchange for staying, she''d make the Boundary into a better place. She''d ensure everyone can have fun, even those who lost its challenges. She wanted the Boundary to be a place where the games would be as rewarding as the prize itself. And the Boundary listened. It allowed her to redesign the competitions into more and more elaborate death games, until they became what we have now. And yet, the basic principle remains the same. Those facing death are sent here. Every week or so, one player wins, and is sent back. What differs now is the number of invitees."
"It''s gone up," I said.
Doublerift gave a single nod. "Alice''s greatest flaw isn''t that she is cruel or uncaring. It''s that she loves this place too much. She wants everyone to have a chance to see it, to see her masterpiece. She wants them to experience a meaningful adventure in the death games before death comes for them. But to do so, Alice massively increased the number of individuals drawn into this realm, bringing in even those who will not ''almost certainly die''. That includes you. You were on a mountain before you came here. You had at least a 20% probability of surviving the hike. Yet¡according to the Witch, that is fine. In exchange for experiencing a ''fantastical adventure of a lifetime'' here ¨C as she''d like to think of it ¨C you lower your chance of survival from 20% to less than 1%. She thinks it''s a fair tradeoff. Sophia, if I may ask, how many friends have you lost to the death games?"
My breath grew shallow.
"A lot," I replied.
"As have I," he said. He looked around the table. "As have all of us. Come, eat. In thirty days, we will bring down this world."
Chapter 136: I Got Isekaid, And Now Im Up Against Truck-Kun?!
Doublerift reigned alone over the Liberation''s Call Syndicate. Directly under his command were three Champions and five Chief Officers. The Champions were the syndicate''s strongest combatants, and worked as solo units. The Chief Officers, meanwhile, each commanded a small squad of lower-rank members.
Within each squad, the Chief Officer worked with Seniors, who aided in overseeing the lowest level of recruits, the Juniors. The average squad might have around three Seniors and eight Juniors, plus a Chief Officer, for roughly 12 people total.
Altogether, the LCS had around forty full-time members, plus another thirty or so members whose involvement waxed and waned.
After meeting Doublerift, I spent the next week getting initiated into their ranks.
I got my work phone, which looked like an iPhone, and could be used to call other people in the syndicate. I met important people and memorized their names. We chatted, and they treated me courteously. I learned about the LCS bylaws, their secrets, and their resources. They had several hideouts scattered around the city, and several armories of magic items. Gathering strong magic items, including single-use consumables, was one of their main objectives. I was not allowed to pick one just yet. First, I needed to be assigned a boss.
I proposed to Kevin the skull knight, one of the five Chief Officers, to take me into his squad. He flatly rejected.
"You beat up two of my Juniors," he protested to me.
"...I did, huh," I admitted. To be fair, when that fight broke out in the magic item shop over the Mask of Lost Shadows, I had no idea that those two no-name minions could''ve been my future potential coworkers.
At the end of the first week, Doublerift summoned me to his inner court, where he sat upon a black leather throne behind a grand table. There, he assigned me as the fourth Champion, directly under his command.
"...Wait, really?" I asked. I was expecting to start as a Junior. Not right at the top of the food chain.
Doublerift furrowed his brows. "Do you have objections?"
I shuffled my feet. "I mean, I thought I''d have to work my way up or something."
Doublerift leaned back on his throne. "You led the Bounty Hall," He said flatly. "You took out Cirrus. Alice, the Witch of Roses, was crippled thanks to your actions in Silver. You will be the weakest of the Champions, make no mistake. But you''ve proven your merits enough."
"Thanks," I said. Then I added, "You know a lot about me."
"I have subordinates in many places."
I nodded. "I guess that''s not too surprising."
In the same meeting, Doublerift assigned me my first task.
"Are you familiar with fusing magic items?" he asked me.
"T-that''s a thing?" I asked.
"There was once a player who could," Doublerift said. "He called himself Haphaestus. Not a humble man, but undeniably talented. He forged himself a suit of armor from five separate magic items. The armor proved stronger than its components combined, yet it took only a single attunement slot."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
"I didn''t realize you could do that," I admitted. "That''s like, putting together an Infinity Gauntlet."
"Hephaestus easily won the game and returned home. His techniques were lost with him. Since him, many have tried to fuse magic items, all without avail." He pointed at the gun slung across my back. "Your railgun. How did you make it?"
I looked down at my weapon. "I mean, this isn''t really item fusion. I kinda just added on some electronic parts to enhance the performance of the radar."
"And what if you tried to add magical items as parts instead?"
I blinked.
"Well¡I''ve never tried," I said.
"You will try now," Doublerift said. "Take survey of our armories. We have many magic items, greater in quantity than strength. Bind them together into one. Concentrate their power. Forge gear that will make Alice bleed again. I expect a draft of plans in three days."
"That''s not much time," I pointed out.
"We do not have much time."
Ah. I wasn''t going to argue with that.
"I''ll see what I can come up with," I said.
And so I went to work. The first day, I spent a whopping 12 hours visiting the three armories scattered across the city. I brought my laptop with me, and made a spreadsheet of the items I could find. I recorded whether they needed attunement, and gave each a power level rating from 1 to 10. Most skewed on the lower end and needed attunement. If any item didn''t need attunement, or were particularly strong, someone in the syndicate would''ve already taken it for themselves.
On the second day, I brainstormed potential ways to combine the items. I combed through the rows of my spreadsheet. The combinations were practically infinite. Within that metaphorical mountain of hay, I had to find the silver needles, the ideas worth trying.
Suddenly, my work phone rang. It was Kevin.
"Hello?" I asked as I picked up.
"Sophia!" his deep voice boomed, hurting my ear. "Are you at the inner city armory?"
"No. Do I need to come in?"
"We need backup!" he shouted. "We''re getting raided by Truck-kun!"
Truck-kun. The strongest of the Vigilantes, of those who oppose the syndicate''s control. The fry-stealing boy had told me about them.
"I''m about four miles away," I said, "McDonald''s near intersection of Murray and 4th street. Can you send a driver to pick me up?"
I gathered my things and stood watch outside. Not soon after, a car raced down the road before screeching to a halt next to me. I jumped into the back row.
The driver turned out to be Kevin''s underling. One of the two I had beat up.
"H-hi," I said.
"Focus," he responded. He slammed the pedal, and we sped off.
Right. I checked my equipment. I had everything with me. Hat, gun, Ring of Pursuit and invincibility necklace. I put on my Mask of Lost Shadows to conceal my identity.
"Status?" I asked.
"We caught Truck-kun''s alone this time," the driver explained. "We''re rallying all LCS members in the area. Our goal isn''t defense anymore. We''re going for either kill or capture."
I gave a firm, unseen nod. "Let''s go," I said.
In a matter of minutes, we had arrived at a turn leading into a backstreet. The armory entrance was right around the corner. I leaped off, railgun in hand, and stormed around the corner.
I saw them.
Kevin lay in a pool of blood, motionless, in the middle of the street. His armor was cracked and battered.
Around him were strewn the bodies of his squad. Some seemed to be barely conscious. Others¡I couldn''t tell if they were still alive. One of them was slumped against the door into the armory.
Opposite us, there was a single truck, its engine rumbling. A battered, white, unremarkable vehicle. Its headlights glared down at its fallen foes. And at me.
The driver''s side window had been rolled down. A mechanical hand extended out of the window, holding a long spear drenched in blood. The spearhead was two-edged like a heavy dagger, and at its base was an embedded blue gem.
I squinted against the light to see the driver.
It was Hei.
Chapter 137: We, the Survivors
"Who are you?"
That was the first thing I said to the driver in the truck.
He replied, in a voice all too familiar.
"Get in! Hurry!"
I stumbled forward. The headlights were so bright, I could hardly see. The throttle of the engine overlapped with the blood-throb in my ears. I heard distant cars approaching.
Before I knew it, I had jumped into the passenger''s seat, propelled by raw instinct.
The truck sped off, leaving the scene of battle behind us. I stole a glance back.
Kevin the skull knight was still alive, at barely over 10 HP. And his subordinates, too. Cars from the syndicate poured into the backstreet. Soon, we had driven too far to see them, and their shapes were lost in the darkness.
The buildings and roads whooshed past us. I checked the speedometer; we had exceeded 140mph.
Dazed and breathless, I turned to Hei. I took in his eyes, his brow, the ridge of his nose, his parted, panting lips. The bead of sweat upon his temple. His staccato breaths. His hands upon the wheel, one white-knuckled and organic, and the other mechanical. When Hei had disappeared in front of my eyes, in his fight with 6E12, his hand was the only thing that remained behind.
Was this really him?
None of this felt real. His voice. His face. For so long, I had only heard and seen them in my dreams. I''d wake up from those dreams gasping and pained. Was this just another dream? I wanted to reach over and hold him. At least once, while I had the chance.
I wasn''t sure how long we drove for. It felt like half an hour; we crossed bridges and went through subterranean tunnels. At last, we parked inside the storage garage of what seemed to be a grocery store. The garage door closed behind us. A few other trucks were parked around us, and farther away, crates and tall shelves lined the floorspace.
Hei was looking at me now. Shakily, I took off my mask. A subtle twist played upon his lips. His eyes narrowed as he saw my face, and I could tell that something within him had broken.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
He leaned in and squeezed me tight. His arms wrapped around me. And I knew, pressed against his trembling chest, that he had missed me so.
"It''s really you," I asked, "isn''t it?"
"I finally found you," he said, and he stroked my hair.
I had so many questions. So many things to say. But for a while, we just sat there, and held each other.
Hei led me out of the truck, then to a door at the side of the garage. It led into a modest office with sterile white walls. Desks and cabinets lined one side of the room. Against the other wall rested a twin bed and a small couch. The room had another black door, with a glass window, through which I could see the aisles of the store proper.
"Do you want anything?" Hei asked as he headed for the black door. Before he could leave, I grabbed his hand.
"Please, stay with me," I asked. And I led him on to the couch. We sat next to each other. I was exhausted, and lost, and I let myself fall limp against his shoulder.
"You''re not, like, a clone or anything, right?" I asked. I tried to laugh, to make it sound like a joke. But my words stumbled out clumsily, caught tight in my throat, as I fought back against feelings that threatened to overwhelm me.
Hei lowered his head. His breathing was deep and heavy.
"When I fought 6E12," he began, "when he used his last technique, I thought it was the end. The world around us disappeared. I thought everything would be destroyed."
I still remembered that spell. A massive, glowing runic circle had surrounded us. And then, the ground itself started to vanish. We tried to run. I managed to escape. Hei was trapped within. And like everything else inside, he too disappeared.
"The name of that spell is Banishment: This World," Hei explained, his voice low. "It''s not a spell for dealing damage. It''s a sealing spell. It took me to a dark place. There was nothing there, except for the chunks of earth it sealed away too. I was alone, floating. Until¡that world broke apart. I think that was when 6E12 died."
"And you escaped?" I asked.
"The next thing I knew, I was here."
So that explained why I could never find him in Gold, even with the Seekflower. Hei fought 6E12, contributed to the kill, and survived the whole ordeal. That instantly ranked him up twice, straight from Silver to Platinum.
I let my shoulders droop. "You missed out so much in Gold," I said with a sad chuckle.
"Tell me what happened."
I ought to. But not now. There was no need for ugliness now. We had just met.
I was exhilarated, lightheaded, and exhausted, all at once. My body felt like jelly. I slid down, until my head sank into his laps. My sight was blurry, and my eyelids heavy. I felt warm.
"Gimme thirty minutes," I said.
And there I stayed.
Chapter 138: Toast To the Ones Here Today
With my head in Hei''s laps, I flitted into and out of sleep, tugged by fatigue, relief, and excitement in interchanging waves. I got hurt a lot in this world. I had lost a lot. But today I could say, with content, that I had gained something. It was like a ray of light in an unending winter night.
When I finally broke out of my drowsiness, I found Hei sleeping, his head drooped as he sat. It still felt warm near him. I wondered if I had him back for good. How long could we be together before he''d be ripped away again? I shuddered. Then I steeled my heart. As long as my life has yet been exhausted, I wouldn''t let him be taken away again.
Hei''s breathing stuttered. I knew that to be his waking-up noise. His eyes opened a crack. I gave him a smile, to let him know everything was alright.
"Rawr," I said.
He looked down and gave a friendly sigh. "Good morning to you too."
I got off his legs and stretched. After pacing a circle around the room, I decided to open the door to the grocery store. I could see why Hei chose to stay here. Over a dozen aisles stretched out in neat rows before me, stocked with food and drinks. There were refrigerated sections, as well as a small pharmacy in the far corner.
"Do you have to pay for things here?" I asked.
"You''re supposed to," Hei said.
"What if you don''t?" I asked.
Hei shrugged. "Never tried."
I forayed into the aisles, and Hei accompanied me a step behind.
"What do you usually eat?" I asked. "I might be getting a bit hungry."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"You just go for the frozen meals, huh," I guessed.
"Sometimes," Hei muttered. He sounded self conscious. Not that I''d be in any position to judge him, considering my main source of sustenance was McDonald''s. But still, I missed teasing him.
"Let''s get the gourmet frozen meals today," I said.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
We looked around the store. Hei managed to find a precooked lobster, packaged with a slice of frozen herb-butter. I found precooked mussels in a lemon sauce. It looked like we''d have ourselves a nice seafood meal. Hei picked a bottle of white wine. I looked around the produce section and snagged an Italian salad DIY pack. And we found fresh bread at the small bakery.
Robots manned the store, like other places in Platinum. The ones at the bakery let us use their oven for heating up the lobster and mussels, and for toasting bread. Once we finished the preparations, we sat at the grocery store''s coffee shop to eat.
Hei and I had never been great cooks, not back on earth, and not here. We never had a pressing need to learn, either. Mr. Atlas had been the team chef until the end of Bronze. In Silver, we had taverns and restaurants on each street, and food in those places was cheap thanks to the magic that aided production. In Gold I cooked a little, but the resources I had were too limited to make nice dishes with; the norm would be things like spaghetti with spam and ketchup. While I led the Bounty Hall, I managed to eat like a king for a brief while.
This meal was as good as any. The lobster turned out plump, and silkened by melted butter. I couldn''t help stuffing my face full. Hei really knew his way around frozen food.
"So," I began, doing my best to speak between bites, "what''s new with you?"
Despite having been promoted straight to Platinum, Hei''s path hadn''t been easy. We drank wine as he recounted how the LCS attempted to track him down and recruit him. Often their tactics bordered on stalking and extortion. Hei fought back by joining the vigilantes, a decentralized collection of players in Platinum who opposed the LCS.
"The vigilantes are hard to find," Hei said. "I don''t know where they are. We don''t coordinate much. It''s mostly guerilla operations. Taking over supply centers and such."
"That checks out," I said.
"Are the others here?" Hei asked.
I tilted my head. "...Hm?"
"Our teammates."
"Oh," I said. "I guess we aren''t really a team anymore. Mr. Atlas is in Gold; it''ll probably be a while before we see him. Jack should be there too, but he''s split off from us."
Hei nodded. And he waited.
"What about Saber?" he asked.
I looked down at my necklace, at the little golden sword that hung upon my chest.
"She did her best," I murmured.
He gave a shallow nod. We finished our meal in silence.
"It''s good to have you here," he finally said. "I heard rumors of an ice mage who came to the city."
"You knew it was me?"
"I convinced myself it must''ve been."
I leaned closer.
"Hei. I think there''s something I need to tell you. But you probably know. I''ve joined the LCS."
"How did they make you join?"
"That''s an ugly way to phrase that question," a voice said. A cold voice, from the opposite corner of the coffee shop.
I shot up from my chair. We should have been alone here¡!
In the shadowy corner, sitting with clasped hands at the table, was Doublerift.
[Part 6 Finale] Chapter 139: Endgame
Hei chopped through the air with his palm. The copper Ring of Weapon Return on his finger glinted, leaving a trail of blue flames. His spear, long and metallic, manifested amidst the fading fire.
Hei lowered his chin as he stared Doublerift down.
"You have 10 seconds to get out of my shop," Hei said.
"I am not here to fight you," Doublerift replied, his voice clear and cold as ice. The sheen on his glasses glared blank-white. He did not budge.
Hei moved his spear to the off-hand. His Ring of Weapon Return glowed again, and he stretched his hand out into the empty space beside him.
Wait. Did he now have a second weapon, besides the spear?
"Follow me, you both," Doublerift said with a thin exhale. He stood up from his seat, then headed for the front doors of the shop. I reflexively started walking in the same direction, and didn''t catch myself until a few steps in. The glow on Hei''s ring faded away, and after a pause, he followed too. His grasp on the spear had grown so tight, I swore I heard the metal shaft creak.
"I came here to clear up misunderstandings between us," Doublerift began. "Surely, after all the disagreements we''ve had, Hei, you''d have given thought to what my motives are."
"I know enough, crime lord," Hei said.
"Hei. Do I look like a happy man to you?"
"The most miserable I''ve seen."
"Then why do you think I''m here?" Doublerift asked.
Hei frowned.
Doublerift stopped at the sliding glass doors leading out. "I know you must think I''m a tyrant, ravenous for control and gold. And yourself, a crusader for the people''s justice, opposing my every scheme."
"Get out," Hei repeated.
Doublerift turned back to face us. "Everyone who can leave and does not, has a reason to stay. Why do you think I''m here?"
"Just say what you''re trying to say," I pressed.
"Make no mistake," Doublerift continued. "I take no joy in my dealings here. Were I concerned for myself, I''d have long left Platinum, and returned to earth. There, I do not fear death. There, a bright future awaits me. I am here because the people need me."
"You, and your money printing scheme?" Hei retorted.
"The people need me to free them from Alice," Doublerift said. "Before thirty days pass, I will destroy Alice, and I will destroy the foundations of this world."
Hei scoffed. "You want me to believe that''s been your secret play the whole time."Stolen novel; please report.
"Yes," Doublerift said. "Yes, I do. Alice must die. And after she does, I will bring everyone, Bronze to Platinum, back alive to earth. This world''s very essence will fuel their return, and in doing so, this world will perish. We will never lose another life to the death games again."
"You''ve never sounded more insane," Hei said.
"I tell the truth," Doublerift replied flatly.
I looked back and forth between them. I shuffled uneasily.
"I think I trust Doublerift," I admitted to Hei.
Hei studied me with a look of incredulousness.
"I really think he''s an unhappy person," I added.
Hei shrugged. "So be it. Doublerift, I will give you one month to prove your words. One month of ceasefire. You will leave us alone, and we''ll do likewise."
"I need Sophia for my mission," Doublerift clarified.
"Your mission is of no concern to me," Hei said.
"I''m kinda concerned about it," I said.
"We''ve given everything to make it this far," Hei reminded me. "We''ve almost won. Don''t gamble it all away for his scheme."
For the first time, I heard Doublerift laugh. It was shrill, caustic.
"Is this the man you are, Hei?!" he asked. "A coward among cowards? These games made your companions fight to the death. Alice killed your friends. You heard their dying pleas. Their regrets, their last wishes. And what do you do in response? You walk away. You let them down, and you walk away."
"It''s not our fault!" I fired back. "None of this is. And, it''s not like we can bring anyone back."
"How much longer do you think Atlas will last, in this accursed game?" Doublerift asked.
I flinched. "...What?"
"How long will Atlas be alive for," Doublerift said. "And Reens. And all your friends who you''ve saved. You and Hei can no doubt find your way back home. But what will the rest of them do without you?"
I thought Mr. Atlas and the rest would''ve been fine. But really, that was just what I forced myself to believe.
"You, Hei, Saber," Doublerift enumerated. "If anyone deserves to beat this game, you three do. But more so than anyone, Saber did. Despite being the strongest, she took on the duty of looking after those weaker than herself."
"Keep her name out of this," I spat.
"Well enough. I have made my point."
I clenched my jaws, tightened my muscles to stop shaking. I looked to Hei.
"Let''s join him," I said.
"Sophia," Hei almost shouted. "Come on. We''re all pawns to him."
"I''d call you my rook and queen," Doublerift commented. "Sophia and Hei. A team as fine as any other. Join me. We will be slaves to these games no more."
Hei, with spear still in hand, stared Doublerift down.
"Hei," I whispered. "I need you for this."
Hei''s speartip wavered. He held his breath, and so did I.
"I hope we don''t regret it," Hei finally said. "So be it. Thirty days is all you''ll get."
"Thirty days is more than enough," Doublerift assured. "Come, I''ll drive us back to base personally. Or do you prefer to drive, Hei?"
Hei dismissed Doublerift, and simply walked along towards the parking lot. I looked to Doublerift, back to Hei, and then to Doublerift once more. All this time, had he planned for his queen, his strongest piece, to be none other than Hei?
"Is this the real reason why you recruited me?" I asked Doublerift.
"I don''t know what you''re talking about."
That was as much of an answer as I expected.
Go ahead, play your game, Doublerift. We will be your pieces. We will fight your battles.
But make no mistake.
The one to decide the fate of this world would not be you.
It would be me.
Chapter 140: From Dust
Chapter 140: From Dust
Doublerift wasn''t strong. Not when he first started in this world. He had middling stats, and his abilities had been largely unremarkable back then. Like me, he lost his way in a thick mist back home, and wandered into his first walled arena. Like me, he met his first team there. They had been great teammates, with solid skills and reasonable competence, and as united as mine had ever been.
Three of them died in that first challenge. Doublerift, and only one other, survived.
"But you knew the game," I pointed out to him as I read his memoir. I didn''t mean for it to sound accusatory. Hopefully he didn''t take it that way.
"I treated them like my teammates," Doublerift said. "They were nothing like my teammates."
We were alone in his expansive library of dark wood shelves and maroon carpeting. The place was crammed with more books than he could humanly read. He had offered me a chance to peruse the shelves, in case any would prove helpful for our upcoming fight against Alice.
I re-read the beginning of his personal memoir. It was a thin notebook of less than 20 pages, handwritten from cover to cover. The text was terse and dry, and uncomfortably factual. Deaths were recorded, in no small number, each more like a police report than a war tale. I didn''t think Doublerift had intended for me to read this booklet in particular. But he didn''t voice an objection.
I thought he''d have it easy, being a professional MOBA player in his previous life. I thought he''d have been able to lead his team through battles effortlessly, like an even more experienced Saber. But as it turned out, he was too experienced. Back in the real world, he spent his time fighting alongside other top-level players. Doublerift completely overestimated what the average person was able to do or learn. The plan he gave his new and inexperienced team, in the first arena, fell apart upon initial contact with reality, because of their inevitable human errors.
Unlike Saber, Doublerift stood so far above those around him, that he could no longer understand or help them.
I put the memoir back on the shelf. The gray dust on its cover clung to my fingers; I felt dirty.
"Do you think people in Platinum are a bit more competent?" I ventured. "Compared to, like, people you met at the beginning." I wondered if I had asked something I shouldn''t.
"That''s an interesting question," he said. With his arms folded, he fell silent in momentary reflection. "I''d say, my inner circle now is reasonably competent."
Doublerift called his top staff his inner circle. It included nine people for now, five Chief Officers and four Champions, with me being the newest addition to the Champions. Hei, meanwhile, did not count as a member of the LCS. His official position was "contractor."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Which made sense. Though he had more than enough prowess to rank among the Champions, making him one would''ve been an organizational optics disaster. Hei had been their nemesis in Platinum just days prior, after all.
The carpet dampened the sounds of movement, and when we didn''t talk, I could pick up the noise of our breaths, or the gentle crinkle of turning pages. I wondered what hidden knowledge Doublerift might have held in his library, but for the most part, the books were mundane. I found a collection of Norse mythology, and one specific book on the Ragnarok. A battle of the gods which brings about the end of the world. In Doublerift''s library, it seemed like a not-so-subtle nod to his ultimate motives. I found a copy of The Art of War, which turned out to be a significantly thinner book than I had imagined. Interesting, but not what I was specifically looking for.
I wanted books on science and magic, my twin fortes, in order to help me craft a composite magic item, a fusion of the LCS''s many artifacts that would prove more powerful than the sum of its parts. That was the task assigned to me by Doublerift. After combing through a few rows of shelves, I finally found a section devoted to science. The books seemed like what you''d expect to find on earth: textbooks, professional manuals, and even a stack of encyclopedia volumes sorted alphabetically. Among the science books was a graduate-level coursebook on fluid dynamics, which caught my interest. Doublerift also had books on mechanical engineering, architecture, particle physics, botany, and material science. Material science could prove useful as well, but I decided to borrow all of those books. Who knew which one might spark inspiration for my magnum opus, my to-be strongest magic item. Plus, I doubted anyone would miss those books while they were gone.
I bid Doublerift good-day, and spent the night reading. But no ideas came to me.
The next day, I returned to the armory. I had meant to finish surveying it a couple days ago and take a complete catalog of what the LCS held within, but that got completely sidetracked when Hei had shown up out of nowhere.
The armory felt sterile and organized, like a professional, modern workshop. Uncatalogued armors hanging upright in one corner caught my initial attention, but I decided to start with smaller things. I rummaged through chests on the ground, and drawers along the walls. Unsurprisingly, most of the remaining equipment was rather mediocre. I found a silvered sword that granted 10% resistance to darkness damage, but took up an attunement slot, which was honestly more than it was worth. I found a shield cobbled together from galvanized square steel. It granted 5% damage reduction against physical attacks, at the cost of 5% movement speed. I found a dagger supercharged with electricity, which did extra damage but required attunement. Now that one could be useful, and might synergize well with my railgun. I found a ring that could shoot beams of concentrated flames.
Among other things, I found a Seekflower seed, buried deep in the corner of one drawer.
¡Skull-knight Kevin told me the LCS didn''t have a Seekflower on hand, ever since the vigilantes stole their last one. Did anyone know about this being here? How long had this seed been sitting there, utterly wasted? If there was one magic item I''d consider the most universally useful, it was probably the Seekflower.
I found a spare mug in the armory, then filled it up with soil from the pavement outside. After planting the seed in the mug-pot, I added a bit of water. A pulse of golden light emanated from the soil.
[Donate 500 MP to the Seekflower seed?]
Huh. I had never seen that system message before.
I stretched out my hand and channeled my arcane energies into my fingertips. How I had missed you, my overpowered, infinite-range, human-finding plant.
This was gonna be good.
Chapter 141: Be the Labor of My Love
I reached out to the potted seed, offering it my power.
The golden light from the soil brightened, then waned, sucking my mana toward the seed.
But then nothing happened. No sprouts formed; the soil didn''t even stir.
[Seekflower Bloom: 0.5% complete]
This could take a while.
Actually, you know what, I didn''t have time for this.
After a phone call, and a fifteen minutes'' wait, the door into the armory creaked open. Hei peeked in.
"Sup," I said. "Make yourself comfortable, I need to borrow your mana."
He looked around warily, as though checking if anyone else was here. "For what?"
I grinned. "It''s a secret."
I settled him down in an armchair and handed him the mug with the seed potted inside. As far as I knew, Doublerift didn''t assign him any tasks, so it wasn''t like he had much else to do.
"This doesn''t look drinkable," he said.
"Please do not drink it. OK so, all you need to do is, like, hover your hand over it, and let it take your mana."
Hei looked at me, then at the pot.
"It''s a Seekflower?" he asked.
"Dang it," I said. "Is it that obvious?"
"Lucky guess."
This was the reason I called Hei over, instead of some random underlings. It wasn''t hard to figure out what I was trying to grow, and I''d rather keep info about this new Seekflower to myself for now. And Hei.
That being said, I did have work for the underlings. I called up Kevin and asked to borrow three of his for the week. He was hesitant, until I managed to get Doublerift on the line too.
"I need research assistants," I explained.
"Let her have them," Doublerift told Kevin, who responded with an audible sigh of resignation. Kevin assigned several of his subordinates to me and gave their numbers. While Hei continued to feed the Seekflower mana, I called my new minions to assign them their first task: Look for plasma science books from across the city.
"You know what you''re gonna make?" Hei asked after I hung up.
"I''ve a rough idea," I said. "I''m pretty used to modding my Arcane Railgun, so I think I''m just gonna do that some more."
"Making a plasma rifle?" Hei guessed.
"I think that''s the general direction." I walked over to my Arcane Railgun, which I had leaned against the wall in the corner. It had served me well, especially its metal-scanner. I hated to risk it by experimenting around more, but I literally knew this gun inside and out, and if there was one item I was confident in working with, it was this. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Worst case scenario, if my experiments broke the gun, I''d need to downgrade to one of the Magical Crossbows the LCS had around.
I squatted down next to my gun to give it a good look.
"All energy can be turned into heat" I told Hei. "The LCS has a ton of items that put out energy in some form. Flaming daggers, electric blasts, sound waves, laser beams, you name it. I think I''mma convert all their energy output to heat, clobber them together, and cook up some really spicy plasma."
Hei sat in the armchair still. His mana had completely drained by now.
"That''s unexpected from an ice mage," he commented.
"Well. My magic can still be used to provide cooling."
Kevin''s underlings came back at the end of the day, and delivered about two dozen books. Way more than I had time to read, but better too many than too few. I thanked them, then headed out the armory. My work there was done until tomorrow. But I brought the Seekflower seedling out with me.
"You can come over," Hei offered me. "Back to the grocery."
"Sounds good," I said. I wondered if I should move in with him. We had about two weeks left before the final confrontation, according to Doublerift''s timeline. I''d rather not waste any nights alone. Not when after everything, I had finally found him again.
I got in Hei''s car. We visited a furniture outlet, grabbed a second bed for me, and then returned to Hei''s grocery store. We found dinner from the frozen aisles, ate together, and rested for the night. I set my bed in the store office, across the room from Hei''s. It was getting a bit cramped in there. All the better to keep us close.
While I slept, I held the Seekflower pot, feeding it my mana.
The next day, I made a tour of the LCS''s armories to gather all the magic items I wanted to use, a bit over 20 in total. Most were pieces of equipment with elemental emanations, like flaming daggers and all that. I brought them all back to my "main" armory, the one where I discovered the Seekflower. I began setting up initial experiments there, referring to the science books brought to me once in a while. Hei kept me company there.
A couple days passed that way. I pried the Sunstone out of the flaming dagger''s hilt, and peeled off blue dragonscale from an electrified armor. From each item I intended to use for raw energy, I harvested their core components ¨C magical gems, enchanted woods and metals, artifacts from mythical creatures. At the end, I mounted all those cores on to a mithril armguard. To synchronize their outputs, I attached electrodes to each harvested component, then drove a 120Hz current, mixed with my own mana, through them all.
"I''ll call this the Armguard Engine," I told Hei. "It''s gonna be the power source for my gun."
Before I had a chance to test my new creation, Doublerift texted me an emergency summon.
"We gotta go," I said to Hei, who was on the other side of the armory, doing what appeared to be spear drills with an imaginary spear. "Doublerift wants us in his throne room."
"For what?" Hei asked.
"I don''t know," I said. "But it sounds urgent."
Hei and I drove off through the streets. After entering an underground passageway and clearing several gates, we arrived at Doublerift''s inner chamber, his throne room.
To our surprise, the rest of his Champions and Chief Officers were also there. Eight in total, four on his left and four on his right, lining the side walls of the chamber. Doublerift sat front and center, behind his grand table of carved stone, upon his elevated dark throne.
Doublerift raised a hand. A blue aura circulated around his fingers, and the door behind us closed and locked themselves.
I snuck a glance at Kevin, who stood near us to the left. His skull helmet obscured any hint of emotion I could''ve discerned.
I steeled my nerves.
"What are we doing here?" I asked.
Doublerift leaned forward, his hands clasped upon the table.
"Please, take your positions," he said to Hei and me, gesturing us to the side of the rooms. We moved to join the duo-queues with the other Champions and Officers.
Doublerift cleared his throat. "Good. Let us now discuss the details of our final battle."
"Our main task will be to kill Alice," he continued. "However, there is one complication. She has achieved immortality."
Chapter 142: Challenger
I had seen Alice killed once before. 6E12 had erased her from existence.
She brought herself back to life in a matter of minutes. Alice was rebirthed from a fiery rose, breathing and fighting, despite every atom in her body having been unmade moments earlier.
That was her Ultimate Ability, Doublerift explained.
"It has no Mana cost and no cooldown," he told us, his inner circle. "It is an unconditional resurrection."
"Any downsides?" Kevin the skull knight asked.
"There are two," Doublerift said. "First, she is resurrected at 20% HP."
Kevin folded his arms. "But that hardly matters, if she can''t be killed."
"The second drawback is that her damage is halved for a year and a day," Doublerift continued.
But how much would that help with killing her, if she remained immortal? Plus, even with her damage halved, she still had enough firepower to kill 6E12. To obliterate thousands of HP with a single slash of her fiery blade.
"If she cannot be killed, then perhaps it''s simpler to destroy her mind?" asked a middle-aged man standing to the left of Doublerift. He wore a nondescript gray coat, half-framed spectacles, and spotted a cleanly trimmed mustache. His polite attire belied his status as Dr. Arseniev, the foremost of Doublerift''s Champions. The strongest combatant of the LCS, besides Doublerift himself.
"That is the backup plan, should our primary plan fail," Doublerift said.
"And our primary plan is?" Dr. Arseniev asked.
"Challenge her to a PvP battle," Doublerift explained. "Force her level to 1. Without her Ultimate unlocked, she will only have a single Death Ward to defend herself."
Dr. Arseniev narrowed his eyes. "I suspected as much. I''m assuming you''ll be fighting a one-versus-one match against her?"
"On paper," Doublerift confirmed.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
Dr. Arseniev glanced at Doublerift. When the latter did not speak, Arseniev explained, "Doublerift cheats."
Doublerift reached under his white suit, and brandished twin pistols. Across the room from me, Hei visibly tensed up.
Doublerift pointed his pistols at the ceiling, one in each hand. He pulled the triggers simultaneously. Dual bursts of energy shot out, one cobalt and one violet. They sliced through the air, leaving what seemed to be two floating gashes, torn into space itself.
"I will challenge Alice to a one-on-one match," Doublerift said. "But I can bring two of you with me. Once you are in my pocket dimension, you will be considered a part of my inventory."
"That''s pretty broken," I remarked quietly.
"We will need it to stand a chance," Doublerift said. "On top of her halved damage debuff. We won''t have long until that wears off."
¡Had it really been almost a year since Alice used her resurrection against 6E12? That was after the Winter Challenge in Silvercreek.
Since then, I was tricked into a so-called pacifist PvP match in Gold for Spring Challenge.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Then our battle with the Bounty Hall leaders coincided with the Summer Challenge.
Fall Challenge was my last Challenge in Gold, the one through which I had ascended to Platinum.
And not too long ago, I finished my Winter Challenge here.
So time was indeed running out. It made sense now why Doublerift wanted to slay Alice within a thirty day limit. Or, well, it was thirty days when he first declared it. We barely had two weeks left now.
"Dr. Arseniev," Doublerift ordered, "You will lead the LCS in my absence. Should this mission fail, you will take over and carry our efforts on."
"I take that you know who you''ll bring with you," the doctor remarked.
"My first teammate will be Hei," Doublerift stated. "The second is to be determined."
Eyes in the room converged upon Hei. I sensed shock, even indignation, among the gazes.
"You should explain yourself," Mei, The Champion Ascendant, advised. Her orange robes flowed weightlessly like incense-smoke as she turned to Doublerift.
"You are to stay here, and control the situation if any of Alice''s allies attempt to interfere. Hei is a duelist. I will directly employ him in the fight against Alice."
"And what if I were to reject your plan?" Hei interrogated.
Mei shot a glare at Hei.
"Our plan will fail," Doublerift said curtly. "You and Sophia have already stepped under my banner. Do not think Alice will spare your lives."
"This is ill-advised," Mei muttered to Doublerift.
"Our leader has his reasons," Dr. Arseniev said. "Those he brings with him become part of his inventory while the match persists. If he dies, everything in his possession vanishes."
It sounded like Doublerift wanted to force Hei''s loyalty by bringing him into the arena, where their lives would become entwined.
The assembly of LCS Champions and Chief Officers remained disquieted by Doublerift''s arrangements. Several more objected, yet Doublerift dismissed their concerns, one by one, and soon adjourned the meeting.
Hei and I left, and he drove me back to the armory.
"How do you feel about this whole thing?" I asked Hei once we were inside and alone.
He huffed. "I''ve said it, we''re all pawns to him."
"But we''ve got leverage," I told him with a hint of a smile. "He needs us more than we need him."
Hei regarded me with a glance of skeptical curiosity. "You''re thinking of playing a gambit?"
I rummaged across the contents of my workbench, found the mithril Armguard Engine power source I had built over the last days, and put it on. I snapped my fingers. There was a loud pop, and a flash, as plasma sparked against the base of my thumb.
"I want to try," I told him.
Over the next couple days, I continued my project of creating a plasma upgrade for my gun. I built a donut-shaped electromagnetic cage to store the plasma. I ran electricity through water to trigger electrolysis, and collected hydrogen to use as plasma fuel. Hei worked alongside me as my lab partner.
"Does heavy water count as water?" I asked him one day as we busied about.
He shrugged. "Is it?"
"Well, not according to my Ring of Water Purification," I said. "The ring separates heavy water from water. Electrolysis on heavy water produces a special hydrogen isotope, called deuterium."
I had learned that from the science books Kevin''s henchmen brought me.
"Is that a good thing?" Hei asked.
"Yeah. It''s basically premium grade fuel. But I can''t collect that much, so we''ll need to use it sparingly."
Every night, I continued to feed the Seekflower my Mana.
Soon, only eleven days remained of Doublerift''s thirty day plan to kill Alice.
That was when the Seekflower finally bloomed.
I carried the newborn flower to an abandoned hospital, then I descended into the underground electric room, where I was sure I''d be alone. I turned off my phone so no one could track me.
There, I readied myself. The moment had come.
"Where is Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies?" I asked the flower.
It tilted its head in the five o''clock direction.
I aimed the metal scanner on my railgun. I aligned the radar dish as well as I could. Steadying my hand, I triggered the Eye of Odin.
Sylvie''s armor and sword flashed across my vision as streaks of cobalt light. I found her on the ground floor of a building, some eight and a quarter miles away.
I planted my palm to the ground. Trails of light darted beneath me, forming a magical diagram, a triangle. I visualized a second triangle around Sylvie, my target, and I connected us both with a thin band of Mana.
"Final spell," I declared. "Maw of Leviathan."
Chapter 143: What Will You Do at the End of the World?
I waited in the underground electrical room, clutching my golden sword necklace.
It didn''t take long. A few minutes passed. Then, the tip of a blade sank through from above the ceiling. It sailed across the white plaster in a flash of steel, leaving a gash in its path. The lights flickered, and flakes of paint rained down.
I shook with excitement and grinned.
A second and third slash in the ceiling created a three-sided triangle, about the width of a person. With a thump, the triangle crashed down in a shower of sparks and dust. Down with it came an unmistakable figure. Slate-gray hair down to her waist, and steel-blue armor with golden trims. A greatsword adorned with gold. A cape of deep, bloody red. Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies.
"What?" she asked me. "You wanna fight?"
She strode slowly towards me, her chin cocked and her sword-tip dragging against the ground. Her glare was condescending and irritated.
"Just wanted your attention," I responded. I tried to keep my voice calm. I knew there was no equality to be found between us. But I still had to keep up the pretense of it, for my own benefit.
"Bounty Hall lass," Sylvie said to me. "I''ll let you piss me off this once. What you want?"
Ahah. So she didn''t decide to splatter me across the floor the moment we met. That had been my first major concern with this plan.
"Knight of Anomalies," I said. "What will you do at the end of the world?"
With a tug, Sylvie swung her sword in an upward arc and rested its flat against her pauldron.
"You cheeky little¡" she said. "You really want in, don''t ya? You wanna play with the big boys and girls?"
"Heh." I returned a smug smile. "I''m already in. This world will fall by my hand."
"Bull," Sylvie spat.
"Does it bother you?" I asked. "That in eleven days, this world will be gone?"
Each of the Legends had already beaten the game. They had a chance to return, but didn''t, because something kept them here. Alice wanted the game. Doublerift wanted change. As for Sylvie, I surmised she just wanted to fight.
"Is what it is," Sylvie dismissed.
"Your swordsmanship will soon be for naught," I reminded her. "Once we return home, none of who you are now will matter. Tell me. What deal did Doublerift make to placate you?"
Her dark blue eyes glinted, burning like the sting of ice.
"You got one thing right," she told me. "And one thing wrong."
I stepped aside towards an office chair by the wall, and I sat down and crossed my legs. "Enlighten me."
"Doublerift did make a deal with me," Sylvie said. "But I will not be going back with you."
Did Doublerift intend for her to stay here? That couldn''t be possible, not if this world would be destroyed as he planned.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
"So, the deal," I began. "Let''s talk about that first. Is the deal for you to stay out of the fight with Alice?"
Sylvie planted her greatsword into the ground.
"Is that a guess?" she asked.
"If he got you to fight alongside him, I doubt he''d be asking for my help."
"There''s more to it. The bargain is this: I get to fight Dionysus, and he gets to handle everything else."
Dionysus. That was the last of the Legends. The only one I had never met, and an utter wildcard to me.
"Doublerift never mentioned Dionysus," I told her.
Not many people know about Dionysus'' loyalties, Sylvie explained. Alice relied on him as her closest ally, and her secret trump card. Doublerift pretended to hold no knowledge on the subject, to give the appearance that he was misgauging Alice''s forces, and to thus lure her into a false sense of security.
"Just in case there are spies in his ranks," Sylvie said.
"And he''s counting on you to deal with Dionysus for him."
"Doublerift is giving me a chance to fight another Legend one on one. Otherwise I''d never get to duel any of them alone, not at full power."
"And what about after the fight?" I asked. "You said you won''t be going back home."
"I''ll be going back home. Just not with you."
I narrowed my eyes. Did she mean¡
She grinned. "Where do you think I''m from? The answer is neither here, nor there, but elsewhere entirely."
"And where is that?" I questioned.
"You would not know of it, even if I said its name. What is it to you, where I go afterwards?"
I considered the possibilities.
"You are right," I said. "It does not concern me, as long as you leave, but I will propose you another deal. If you survive your fight with Dionysus, I want you to ensure all the surviving Legends return to Earth."
She raised an eyebrow. "What do I get in return?"
I knew something felt off about her, back when I scanned her with Eye of Odin. Something that set her apart from myself, Doublerift, and every other person around here. Even though I found her in Platinum, she didn''t have a single electronic device on her body.
Plus, the deal she had with Doublerift felt way too one-sided. Would she really be willing to give up the sword forever, just for a single duel with Dionysus? Of course, the assumption there was that she''d no longer be fighting once she returned home.
"What''s the technology like where you''re from?" I asked Sylvie. "Do your people still fight with swords?"
She scoffed. "I thought you had no interest in my home?"
"Nonetheless, entertain me, and I will make your time worth it. Do you have guns?"
"No," she answered.
"Electronics?" I asked.
"We don''t need them."
¡No need for electronics?
"What''s stronger there, swords or magic?" I probed. I had no idea if they even had magic. But let''s see how she''d answer.
"In a fight? Nothing beats cold steel."
Heh. I found it hard to believe. But that more or less confirmed my suspicions. Somehow, Sylvie came from a different universe entirely. A fantasy world, where someone like her would fit right in. To think there were other worlds, besides this one and Earth¡
¡Though if there were two universes, a third existing shouldn''t have come as an utter surprise.
I gathered my composure. My work here wasn''t done yet.
"Here''s my offer," I said. "Rid all Legends from this world. Before you leave, I will show you something you''ve never seen. Something stronger than either swords or magic."
"I know your technology, Earthling. Your guns and radar."
I laughed.
"Oh no," I said. "I''m talking about something else entirely. Something strong enough to kill Alice."
I reached into my pouch and pulled out a small metal canister. I twisted open the lid and showed its contents to Sylvie.
Inside was a fine, black powder.
"Explosives?" Sylvie said.
"Nothing that simple."
"What is it?" she asked.
I screwed the lid back on, then stored it away. "Help me, Sylvie. And I will show you fear in a handful of dust."
Chapter 144: The Strongest Weapon
By the time Sylvie left, I still had my head on my shoulders, plus a total of four limbs.
So overall, things didn''t go that poorly.
I couldn''t remember her exact phrasing, but whatever she had said, it sounded like I had her on my side for now. I made her swear, upon her honor, that our dealings would be secret from everyone else, including Doublerift. Including Hei, even. I hated keeping secrets from him, but this time, him knowing would only complicate things.
I doubt he''d respond well learning that I intended to stay behind.
Preparations for the fight against Alice kept me busy in the subsequent days, and Hei too. Several times, I thought he''d be there to help at my armory, but he had to spend the day sparring and planning with Doublerift.
In the meantime I made fair progress on my plasma rifle. The previous ring-shaped container I crafted to house the plasma soon met its limits and melted when I pumped in too much plasma. I went back to the drawing board, and designed a new plasma storage chamber. This time, I spared no expense. I melted the glass off of a Thunderlord''s Mirror in Doublerift''s possession, and forged the glass into a container of the same shape as before - a hollow toroid, a donut-shaped cage for the plasma. Running a current along its surface created a magnetic field that repelled plasma away from the walls of the container. Thanks to the clear glass, I could now see the vibrant, violet ring of plasma that spun within.
At least under controlled conditions, I could get the plasma temperature up to 13,000 degrees Celsius.
I still had to devise a way to use the stored plasma for attacking. Did I want to directly shoot bolts of plasma at my enemies? Or would it be better to convert the stored energy into some other form ¨C say, electricity ¨C and weaponize that instead?
Soon, only three days remained before our fight with Alice.
Doublerift arrived at my armory unannounced. I was alone there when he came.
"Close the door," Doublerift ordered. I saw Kevin the skull knight outside, as though standing guard. With his gauntleted hand, he swung the door shut.
Doublerift paced across my workshop until he stood before the gun on my workbench.
"Are you done with the weapon?" he asked, examining my work.
"Almost," I reported. "I just welded the Mask of Lost Shadows to the heat sink. It should be able to infuse percent-health damage to the gun''s blasts. But I need to fix a couple things."
"Finish it up by tonight," he ordered.
"Best I can promise is tomorrow night."
"You''re jeopardizing our operation."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"I need to win as much as you do," I told him. "Even if I didn''t care about the operation, Hei''s gonna be there fighting with you."
The cold gleam of Doublerift''s spectacles flashed as he turned from the gun to me. "Have it ready tomorrow morning. We need time to practice with it before facing Alice."
"Unless," I said. "Unless I am the one to wield it. You, me, Hei. Us three will face Alice together and bring her down."
I could not tell his expression, not from his stony face, not from his icy gaze.
"The gun is mine," I said. "I used it, I remade it. If there''s anything to know about this machine, I''m the one who knows it. You will not find anyone that''ll wield it better than me."
Doublerift sheathed a hand into his pocket. "Three days from now, I will flatten this city. I will cause destruction so great that Alice will be forced to interfere. Before then, I will have you and Hei in my pocket dimension. Your next time outside will be in the arena against Alice."
"...You''re really letting me join the final fight?" I asked.
"You and Hei know how to fight alongside each other," Doublerift said. "Now, don''t make me change my mind."
"Thank you for this opportunity," I said.
Thank you, Doublerift, indeed.
I knew your plans. I knew your willful omissions.
You never intended to save everyone, did you?
We will bring everyone, Bronze to Platinum, back alive to earth - those were your words. So what then of the others?
I shall do what you lacked the bravery to. So trust in me, Doublerift, and thank you for this opportunity.
I spent the night alone in the armory, laboring without sleep. By the time it was morning, I had become heavy-headed, and my hands were jittering. The only things that accompanied me were the incessant hum of the fluorescent light overhead, and my cup of cold coffee.
Around noon, Hei came to visit.
"How long have you been here for?" he asked.
I gave him a weary smile and waved him over. "Come, you''re right on time."
I had progressed ahead of schedule.
Together, we examined the fruit of my endeavors. What was once my Arcane Railgun had now become a plasma cannon. It had previously been slightly shorter than the length of my arm, perhaps about the size of a submachine gun. But now it stood as tall as my chest. I had upgraded its steel barrel with heat-resistant mithril. A new shoulder stock, containing the Armguard Engine that powered the cannon, had been affixed to the back of the device. And of course, mounted to the side of the cannon, was its most important upgrade: the donut-shaped plasma storage chamber, oriented vertically and compactly against the cannon''s body.
I tightened a final few screws. A faint, iridescent glow pulsed across the surface of my weapon. It was complete.
[JORMUNGANDR: 55 (+40% Arcana Point)(+10% enemy max HP) magical damage. 2 second reload. 65 meter range. Requires attunement.
Special ability: Eye of Odin ¨C By spending 150 mana, you detect all metallic objects in a 10 degree cone in front of you. 512 mile range. 1 minute cooldown.
Special ability: Plasma Storage Chamber ¨C Each second, the cannon gains a stack of Plasma Charge, up to 20 charges. The next attack or spell consumes all charges to do 10 (+10% Arcana Point) additional damage for each Plasma Charge.]
"At full charge," I told Hei, "it''s basically Ultimate-level damage right at level 1. Pretty sweet, right?"
Hei drew a thin exhale. "So this is your strongest weapon."
"Actually, it''s my second strongest weapon." With a secretive wink, I reached into my pouch and pulled out a small metal canister. The same one I had shown Sylvie.
[DEUTERIUM FUEL CELL: Single-use. Temporarily upgrades the Jormungandr plasma cannon.]
Chapter 145: 🏖? The Beach Episode 🏖?
Hei debriefed me on what he had learned from Doublerift about our upcoming fight.
"Our main goal is to stop Alice from reaching level 6," Hei explained. "She is a melee combatant. You and Doublerift are ranged, and I can be too. We''ll focus-fire her as much as we can, before she levels up."
"What does Doublerift do?" I asked. "Besides opening the pocket dimensions."
"He mostly just shoots and teleports." Hei rummaged through the backpack he had brought with him, and took out a few sheets of paper to show me. Upon it were his diagrams and notes, with much of it being Doublerift''s abilities ¨C how much damage his skills did, their range and cooldowns, and his general habits of how he used them. We also had info on Alice''s skills, though the details there were partial, with Doublerift''s speculations filling in the gaps.
"You actually took notes," I remarked. I don''t think he ever did that back in school.
Hei helped me review the pages until late at night, when he took his leave. I opted to stay at the armory and attempted to memorize the notes, until I studied myself to sleep.
In the morning, I received a call from Doublerift summoning me to his throne room.
It was the final day before our faceoff against Alice. In less than 24 hours, we''d confront the architect of this world, and the master of these games. Part of me felt uneasy about how little we knew about Alice still, beyond what Doublerift had told us.
When I arrived at Doublerift''s underground throne, Hei was already there. We spent the day rehearsing for the fight ahead, checking our equipment, and reviewing our plans. The rest of the LCS had spread across the city, preparing to orchestrate its destruction in order to incur Alice''s attention and arrival. We spent the day cramming in as much practice and planning as we could, and Doublerift dismissed us late at 8PM.
"Eat and rest," Doublerift ordered us. "Meet me at 11:30 outside the armory. Our operation will commence then."
"You want McDonald''s?" Hei asked me as we left.
"Sure, why not."
He drove us to the nearest one. I got a Big Mac meal. Hei decided to get the same thing.
We sat down and began eating.
"I don''t even remember if it tasted like this back home," Hei said.
I took a bite of the burger. The meat was a little dry, but it was nonetheless delicious. "Either way, it''s still good."
I wolfed down my meal, and Hei finished soon after. We still had three or so hours before the operation.
"Now what?" Hei asked as we made our way back to his truck.
That was a good question. Lately, every day had been a rush. Now that we had time, I wasn''t even sure what I wanted to do.
I sank back into the shotgun seat. "What''s the most deserted place around here?"
He tapped a prosthetic finger on the steering wheel. "I don''t think anyone lives in the ocean."If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Let''s go there then," I said.
Without a reply, Hei started the engine. We drove through the dark and empty streets, through this hollow city, until we reached and passed its outskirts.
At the end of the road, the horizon opened up in front of us: The starry sky, the white and sandy shore, and the ocean that stretched out as far as the eye could see.
We parked the truck there and walked on to the beach. The ceaseless sound of waves rumbled not far away, blown to us upon the sea-scented wind.
We were alone here.
I walked forward, towards the water, until the sand beneath my feet grew damp and dense. Hei trailed a half step behind me.
Skyscrapers, distant and silent, painted a jagged skyline behind us.
I thought I''d have been able to spend more time with Hei. We never quite made up for all the time we had been apart. This wasn''t like Silvercreek anymore, where we''d work eight hours a day, and have nights to ourselves, and have weekends to ourselves. Here in Platinum, we were always busy. Even while together, it felt like it was never about him, or me. It was always about tasks and objectives and missions.
Not tonight. Not now. I wanted to end things without regret.
I sat down on the sand and watched the waves arrive and depart, and searched for stars among the clouds. Hei sat down at my side.
"When was the last time you paused and looked up at the sky?" I asked.
He did not reply, but he lifted his head up.
"It''s very high," he said.
Soon, we''d leave this night sky behind, and this city too.
"It''ll be like waking up from a dream," I said. "Will you remember everything that''s happened?"
So that I wouldn''t have to remember all of it alone.
He held up his mechanical, prosthetic hand, and opened and closed his fist. "Gonna be hard to forget with this."
"I imagine you''d get your hand back once you go to the real world?"
"That would be nice," he said.
I hated these death games and could not wish for it all to be over sooner. My struggle to Platinum had never been about the journey, only the destination. We had lost too much along the way for the journey to be cherished.
And yet, I had been happy too, hadn''t I? I hated to admit it. As we clawed forward desperately to survive, we had fleeting days of happiness too, and fun adventures, in this secret and strange world that only we knew of. I wanted to watch Saber catch the first snowflakes one more time. I wanted to attend a tournament and watch Hei win one more time, then celebrate and drink myself tipsy and have him carry me home.
But Saber had left and carried on. And I supposed Hei would too, soon.
Without much forethought, I began to sing a song for Hei. It was a pretty song, I supposed, and easy on the lips. It just came to me, so I didn''t think too much about the lyrics and the meaning, or those sorts of things.
Hei leaned in, close enough that I could feel his warmth.
My voice, alongside the rumbling waves and his soft breaths, was a lonely thing.
The rest of our night passed like a blur. I remembered napping on his shoulder at some point. I shed tears at some point. And some time before or after that, we had stepped into the water and swimmed. And I had written something about him in the sand.
When our time was over, we returned to the armory, where Doublerift stood waiting. We knew what we had to do.
Doublerift opened two portals, each leading into one of his pocket dimensions. Hei and I marched in, one into each. Then the portals closed behind us.
I didn''t have much space in the pocket dimension. It felt like being trapped inside a sack woven from smoke. Beyond the smoke, I could see a blurred image of the outside world, as though looking past Doublerift''s shoulders.
He held his phone to his ear.
"Commence the operation," I heard him say, in a muffled and filtered voice from the outside world.
A crimson flash lit up the sky to my left.
In a matter of seconds, that end of the city disappeared behind a curtain of flames.
Chapter 146: The End of the World
Dr. Arseniev was perhaps the man I feared most, more than any other in the LCS. More than Doublerift.
As I beheld the west of the city engulfed in flames, I counted my fear justified.
Arseniev could do many things, but above all else he reigned as this world''s supreme alchemist. A few explosions, triggered across that end of the city by oil barrels, was all the help he needed. Once the initial flames built up, all he did was wave a hand towards the sky, and force the air to gain an ignition temperature of 60 degrees Celsius.
I still did not understand the full extent of his powers. But I knew, he could just as easily set fire to a human.
A terrible rumbling shook the ground, accompanied by noise like unending thunder. They radiated here from the west end of the city, where the skyscrapers stood tight together. Buildings toppled into each other, one after another, raising plumes of smoke into the sky. My previous home, the abandoned hotel where I stayed, was among those edifices. Mei the Champion Ascendant had been stationed there. Her palm strikes, resonant with astral waves, could split open the bowels of the earth. Kevin the skull knight was ordered to give her aid. Together, they made short work of swathes after swathes of buildings.
To the north, in front of us, a massive, hundred-headed worm towered above the skyline. I knew it to be Gosu the Embodiment of Pestilence, the third of Doublerift''s champions. With its many maws, it spewed out jets of corrosive bile, reducing its surroundings to fluorescent green sludge. Gosu could take on many forms through his advanced shapeshifting. But for destruction, this monstrosity that stood hundreds of feet high ranked second to none.
On the south of the city, Doublerift stood watch over the destruction, on top the tallest spire there. Hei and I took shelter inside his pocket dimensions, watching over his shoulders as the decimation unfolded outside.
The south was the only part of the city that remained intact. At least for now.
Through the streets, dozens of residents fled towards us. Many bled, and many suffered burns. But they were all alive.
In this world, it was impossible to kill without killing intent. And it seemed like the Champions had left everyone alive. I wondered how much those poor, lost players running in the streets below knew what was in store. There would be no next Challenge for them. No future here.
I felt sick.
They were far away from us, and we could not hear them scream. We simply watched, alone, as the world we knew crumbled to pieces.
The destruction in the rest of the city raged on and spilled towards us. Entire sprawls of the cityscape had already been leveled. The fraction that remained intact, around us, shrank by the second.
Lightning struck to the west, near the edge of the safe zone. Then, lightning struck again in the same spot. And again, and again, in immaculate rhythm.
When lightning struck the ninth time then faded, a lone man hovered in the path of its trail.
Lightning struck a tenth time. In that instant, the man had moved in front of Doublerift. So close, I could see the strands of his curled, blonde hair.
A purple robe, thick and billowing like thunderclouds, clad his body. A crown of golden antlers sat upon his head. His face was youthful, and a thing of utter beauty that made me lightheaded. And his eyes - they had been sewn shut with threads of gold.
"I''m sorry," the man said to Doublerift with an empty smile. "Could you please explain the meaning of this?"If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Wait.
That face, and that voice.
He had changed and grown, but this was a man I knew. Back when 6E12 unraveled Alice''s memories, and I saw her past as a student and game developer, I had heard the same voice.
"Alice, Alice," it had once said. "I''ve looked up to you since the day we met. So now¡don''t you dare give up on our dream!"
This was Alice''s friend, who worked on her game by her side, after school at the library, and late into nights together at her house. He had shared his vision for their game: that a million fans would play it, that they''d hold tournaments, with uncountable seas of cheering audiences. And when she''d given up on herself and on their game, he''d be there.
I knew who he was. I had seen it all, through 6E12''s ability. Together, he and Alice had shaped their video game into something truly amazing.
The two of them enrolled in the same college, where she studied computer science, and he studied computer animation. By the time they graduated, their game was finally polished, and ready to be released.
But it never was. For he had died in a traffic accident, and Alice died months after.
What I didn''t know, was that he had come here after death.
"Where is Alice?" Doublerift asked.
"Sorry to disappoint you," the man said with a shallow, elegant bow. "But tonight, you''ll have to settle for yours truly."
A wreath of golden ivy grew out from his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he flung it at Doublerift.
The air between us distorted, for a moment, and the wreath slowed to a stop mid-flight.
"Viscosity multiplier twelve million," Dr. Arseniev''s voice came from behind us. "Please save your strength, I will handle Dionysus."
Jets of blue flame propelled out of the doctor''s hands and feet, keeping him aloft in the air, not far from us. Doublerift silently leaped off the spire, leaving Arseniev with Alice''s companion.
The man with eyes sewn shut, Dionysus, scrunched his nose. "Know your place, mortal."
He pointed a finger at Dr. Arseniev, then curled it. The doctor''s back arched; his limbs contorted. Dionysus then flicked sideways. Like a ragdoll, Dr. Arseniev followed the same trajectory and careened through a skyscraper. He tumbled out on the other side, then cratered into an adjacent building.
He had softened the impact at the last second, by transmuting the building to mud. Even then, Dionysus had made a bloody mess of him. One of his arms hung at a limp, unnatural angle.
He raised his remaining hand up against Diyonysus. The robed Legend burst into flames, but only for a second, before he conjured an airborne wave of red liquid to extinguish the flames.
Dr. Arseniev''s eyes glowed. A gray sheen crept over Dionysus''s skin, and in a matter of seconds his body had turned to stone.
"Radiant dipole," Dionysus'' disembodied voice boomed across the sky. "Yggrasil''s diseased topology."
Color faded from the world around us.
"Thou Nine Maidens of the measureless sky, sacrifice the accursed singularities upon thy altar, and blot all potency with ichor. Mana Pyre."
Dr. Arseniev''s gagged, and retched. A wave of black flames spilled out of his mouth, mixed with smoldered blood. He doubled over, peeling off the cratered building, and collapsed into the streets below with a muted thud.
His HP had fallen to a mere 25. And his MP¡had gone down to -200.
He was no longer moving.
The stony sheen vanished from Dionysus, and he had recovered to normal. With his own lips, he recited a second chant.
"Whispered untruths of creation, sever the binds of fate. All flesh, all beauty, all desire, be my arrow."
Countless shafts of light, pointed and barbed, jutted down from the sky. They pulsated in every color imaginable. Something was horribly wrong about them. I squinted my eyes, for I instinctively knew, that fully looking upon them would''ve been my undoing.
The point of a sword breached out of Dionysus''s chest.
Behind him was a knight, and her blood-red cape. She was our trump card, and the one counter Doublerift had planned against Dionysus,
Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies, had arrived. A pair of wings on her boots kept her aloft.
Dionysus turned his face back towards her. The golden stitches upon his eyes snapped open.
"How rude," he chastised.
Chapter 147: We Are the Warriors That Built This Town
The Knight whirled her blade faster than my eyes could track. Steel flashed in crescent arcs in the sky, in arcs preternaturally grander than the length of that sword.
I thought Dionysus, whose chest the blade had pierced, would''ve been torn asunder. But in the blink of an eye, he had disengaged. Aside from the wound on his chest, he suffered only scratches, thin lines beaded with blood on his flawless skin.
The spears of light jutting through the clouds, which Dionysus had conjured, eroded away into glowing, fading tatters.
"Slow down," Dionysus breathed. "We can talk this out, Knight of Anomalies. Did Doublerift bribe you? What are you after?"
Sylvie glanced down at her blade. With a quick flick, she swung the blood off its mirror-polished length.
"I want you to fight for your life," she replied, a cold demand bearing neither malice nor compassion.
She charged in, stepping upon the air as though it were solid ground. A streak of cold light trailed her blade, and it clashed against an iridescent forcefield Dionysus summoned around himself. The blade glanced off, its force shearing through the air and scoring a gash into the distant clouds above. With an effortless whirl, Sylvie recovered from her swing and delivered a dozen more blows that blew through the barrier.
Dionysus retreated, sidestepped, and erected myriad constructs of multicolored light ¨C domes and panes and stacked shields of empyrean hues. In the brief respites his defenses afforded him, he channeled blasts of raw, burning mana towards Sylvie.
The clashes of their blows filled the sky with thunderous bursts that hollowed holes in the clouds. Their movement left trails of arcane glow across the air, numerous and overlapping and intractable like the speed of lightning. Stray blasts and swings smashed nearby buildings to rubble, leveled entire city blocks.
In the Chaos, I caught a twitch from Dr. Arseniev.
He rose up slowly to his feet. He wiped the blood from his chin, and raised his sight to the battle raging above.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He raised a hand up, his palm moving back and forth. After a moment, I realized he was tracking Dionysus''s movements.
Crimson lights seeped out of the ravaged ground beneath him, and formed the pattern of a fourfold runic circle. And in his hand, he produced twin orbs of fire, one red and one black, encircling each other like binary stars.
"Weeping stagnation, perpetual cycle," he incanted. "Parallel existence of the condemned one. White cat, black box, lambda of prime uncertainty ¨C"
Sylvie''s blade sent down a slash of wind. It cleaved clean through the runic circle and carved a ravine a hundred feet long. It missed Dr. Arseniev by a hair.
The message was clear: Interfere, and die.
As the city continued to crumble beneath the weight of battle, Dr. Arseniev simply walked away.
This battle was not for him.
Just before he disappeared beyond the smoke of destruction, he turned his head skyward once more. But this time, not at Sylvie or Dionysus. I followed his sight, and spotted a break in the night sky. A warm and building glow, pushing back the darkness.
A golden shaft of light pierced down from the clouds. It struck the ground, nearly a city block away from us. The light faded, revealing a lone lady standing where it had struck.
Alice stood atop the debris and detritus, the broken and ruinous road.
She had chin-length, chestnut-brown hair that was immaculately combed. She wore a black blazer and matching dress pants, and in her grip was a slender, curved blade. She turned her head to look at the battle in the sky, and at the destruction down below. The pupils of her hazel-gray eyes bore a vague, quiet weight.
Those were the eyes that could no longer stand to watch her world crumble, and her companion pushed to his brink.
There she was, the one we had been waiting for. This battle was for her. The battle was for the warriors who built this town.
Doublerift raised an open hand toward Alice and clenched it into a fist. The space between the two of them crumpled and disappeared, as though that portion of reality were a painting folded inward upon itself. He now stood next to Alice.
Shock had no chance to color her face yet.
Doublerift seized her arm.
"I declare a PvP match, Alice the Witch."
As soon as he said those words, a harsh light drowned out the world and took us away.
Chapter 148: The Final Challenge
I blinked and squinted my eyes against the light.
The sun shone bright overhead.
Doublerift had released me from his pocket dimension.
I was on my back, upon the soft tufts of grass of the arena. Next to me, Hei had just picked himself off the ground.
The breeze blew. A gentle sound.
Not far away, in the sunlight, stood the walls of our base.
This was our last Challenge.
I rose to my feet.
Doublerift led us towards the exit gate. Now there was only one exit. Doublerift had initiated a 1v1 against Alice and smuggled us in. In a 1v1 match, the entire arena shrank down to just the Middle Lane. A thin, long, arena. There was nowhere else to go.
I followed.
I wondered if things could''ve ended differently. What if I didn''t walk down this path? Perhaps there existed a world where we never discovered 6E12, where we simply continued to take on the Seasonal Challenges as a party of five, the same party we had back in Silver. Maybe we could have all made it to Platinum. Maybe we could have all made it back.
Perhaps there existed a world where I had convinced Saber to ally with the Bounty Hall. Then she''d probably still be here. Would I have joined the LCS if I still had her by my side?
This was the path I chose, and in so choosing, I had forsaken all other endings. I wasn''t completely sure where I was heading. I truly wanted to believe I was headed towards a future where these death games would be no more. But I was taking a final step into the darkness, a plunge deep and unknowable.
The only path left was forward.
As we exited the gate, Doublerift passed me a Potion of Austerity, the classic support item. When consumed, it grants a player 80% of gold earned by nearby allies, provided the player had not earned gold directly from golem kills within the last minute.
He handed Hei a Ring of Recall. Since this match was registered as a 1v1, there was only a single Ring of Recall provided to our team. Likewise, the three of us were given a single Death Ward. Doublerift kept that for himself.
The cobblestone road of the Middle Lane stretched out ahead of us, with lush grassland and beautiful groves of trees bordering its sides. Far in the distance, I could make out the artful architecture of our Towers, more like spires of a palace than forts for battle. A dragonfly crossed our path. The grass shimmered in shades of green, gold, and teal blue, all subtly glowing with a gentle, living radiance. There were trees that looked like pines. We used to harvest pine-melons from them. The arena would''ve seemed serene, if I hadn''t known of all the blood spilled here. The lives lost to the enemies.
Alice would be stronger than all the enemies we had faced yet. It wouldn''t be a fair fight.
But this world had never been fair.
I reached out, and grasped Hei''s hand, and glanced at him with a brave smirk. "Ready to go home?" I asked.
Home. Our families. Our friends. The city we lived in. All the things we once lost. We were so close to getting them all back.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Yeah," Hei said. "Let''s all go back."
Soon, we took our places under the Outer Tower. Alice waited for us, on the other side, under her Tower.
Doublerift narrowed his eyes.
"This is where I would''ve told you it''s nothing personal," he said to Alice. "If that wasn''t a complete lie."
¡¸Is this all for revenge?¡¹
Alice''s voice came from all across the sky. It was the same voice as the announcer.
"This is a hundredfold beyond revenge," Doublerift said coldly. "You are a stain upon this world. I have long dreamed of the day you die. Come, gamemaker, and play the death game you''ve created."
Alice drew her slender, curved blade from its crimson sheath.
¡¸I have always been playing.¡¹
Alice''s golems advanced towards us. Ours came to us, too, from behind us. Soon, the golems on both sides passed our respective Outer Towers, to meet in the middle and battle. Alice followed behind her shield-golems, somber and calm.
She was moving into position to farm our minions for XP and gold. The moment she levels up to 6, we''d lose. Level 6 was when she''d become immortal through her Ultimate. We had to win the game before then.
Doublerift dashed forward, matching Alice''s advance. As the only one on our side with a Death Ward, his job was to take the most aggressive position.
Doublerift took out a black cube from his suit pocket. He tossed it into the air.
"Inverse Pandora," he declared. "Confirm target, Alice."
That was the only item Doublerift brought with him from the armory. It was the only one he needed.
A purple pulse of power collapsed into the cube, like an implosion. A second pulse followed, stronger and larger.
Then came a third and final implosive pulse. It rocked the earth and sky, and ripped multiple objects from Alice''s body. Several rings from her fingers, a strange glowing locket, a feather made of emerald, and a pair of daggers from her waist. And most importantly, about a dozen Ultima Elixirs.
The black cube sucked in all those objects, then vanished in a burst of light.
Doublerift''s item, Inverse Pandora, was only useful in PvP. Once a target was selected, it would confiscate all magical items that the user and target brought from outside the arena. The sole exceptions were their starting equipment: Doublerift''s guns, and Alice''s sword.
It was just as Doublerift predicted. Alice carried plenty of Ultima Elixirs with her. Each one was a free resurrection. If he hadn''t gotten rid of those, we''d have no chance at victory.
The first ally shield-golem fell to under a quarter HP. Alice took a step towards it and raised her sword. Doublerift drew both of his guns and fired.
Volleys of bullets, blazing with golden mana, rained down towards Alice. She dodged several, got hit by several, then found cover behind her frontline of shield-golems.
I sprinted towards the edge of the lane and shot a Frost Missile. It ricocheted off a shield-golem to hit her.
Alice swung her blade down in a vertical slash. A wave of flames erupted forth, brilliant and pure crimson. Doublerift ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack.
That was her first ability, and the one we knew most about. Edge of Prometheus. 1 second cooldown, deals full damage to the first target it hits, and half damage to all targets behind. 75 meters range, the same as Doublerift''s guns.
I was safe from the range of my Frost Missiles. Doublerift, meanwhile, was in danger.
He weaved in and out of the 75 meters range, watching Alice''s footwork and adjusting his own instantaneously. Alice sent wave after wave of fire at him. He''d take cover behind our golems, then feint stepping out into the open to bait Alice''s attacks. Everytime one of our golems got low on health, Doublerift stepped forward and shot Alice with full firepower.
That was a tactic Saber taught us. Do not let the enemy last-hit golems without making them suffer for it.
Golems fell on both sides, only to be replaced by more than arrived. Gunfire and inferno ravaged the battlefield. Doublerift shifted his stance countless times every second, switching between offense and defense positions seamlessly. In terms of skill, he was every bit the superior between them. My long range Frost Missile only helped to solidify our lead. But as well as he could dodge, Alice nonetheless grazed him with the occasional hit.
Both their HP fell. Doublerift''s to around half, and Alice''s to barely a third. At this rate, we could force her to retreat. She''d miss out on XP, and we had a chance to take her Outer Tower.
I almost missed it amid the maelstrom of attacks, but a soft, white glow pulsed across Alice. She had reached level 2 first.
Her lips parted, and she spoke.
¡¸Red team has slain an enemy.¡¹
Doublerift''s body burst into flames for but a moment, before he was turned into ash.
Chapter 149: Execution
Doublerift''s ashen remains thinned and faded into nothingness. In its place was his broken Death Ward.
That was the only one we had. It had done its job; Doublerift should have been transported back to our base with 50 HP. Enough to live, but he''d be heavily wounded. Hei and I needed to fend off Alice alone until he''d recover and rejoin us.
We knew about Alice''s second skill, Proclamation. It was a power unique to her who was the voice of the game. With words alone, she could teleport, destroy towers, and negate attacks. Doublerift told us about those things. We never knew it could be used to kill.
¡Did it have a cooldown? What prevented her from using it again to kill us too ¨C permanently?
Hei charged in towards her, his spear hoisted and aimed at her chest.
"Be careful!" I screamed. "She''s melee!"
A swordsman. Thus far, she hadn''t even needed her physical weapon to fend us off.
I gritted my teeth and followed, and stopped at the max range of my gun. 65 meters away from Alice.
I didn''t have Doublerift''s absurd range. I couldn''t contest Alice''s 75 meter reach on her flame strike, Edge of Prometheus. If I wanted to do real damage, I had to risk my life. We had no other choice.
I shot bolt after bolt of raw arcane energy at Alice. She ate hits to the chest and stomach. Instead of returning fire against me, she unleashed a flaming slash at the approaching Hei. He leaped to the side, avoiding the attack, but the flames singed his clothes.
Hei thrusted his spear at Alice. She swung her blade to deflect.
Steel rang against steel, followed by a spray of blood.
Hei had opened a gash on Alice''s wrist with the edge of his spearhead.
Alice swung back, her blade glowing with smoldering heat. Hei was quick to retreat, stepping out of her swings, and keeping her at bay with his weapon''s greater reach. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Their weapons clashed over and over. Alice made up for her shorter weapon with her crescent bursts of flame. But Hei weaved left and right, his reactions so fast as to resemble precognition. The flames could not touch him.
And try as Alice might, she couldn''t avoid all of his advancing hits. Not while being pelted down with my arcane bolts and Frost Missile.
Alice launched a wave of fire at me.
It came, roaring like a storm. I dove aside.
It was too late.
The flames engulfed me. Pure heat overtook my senses. There was some pain. But more than the pain, it was the pure heat that overwhelmed me.
¡What was this?
The wave of fire passed over as quick as it arrived. But it left something. A status effect.
[Condition - Death Sentence. 1 minute duration. After receiving damage from Alice, while the target is under 1000 HP and within 75 meters of her, Proclamation can be used to instantly kill the target.]
[SOPHIA
HP: 410/590]
Alice''s pointed at me.
Her lips parted, and she spoke.
¡¸Red team has ¨C
Hei plunged his spear into her bowels. Time seemed to pause. Thin arcs of electricity wisped along the weapon''s shaft, into Alice. The sky seemed to darken, if only just for an instant.
A shockwave exploded from the spear-tip. It launched Alice skyward and back, like a ragdoll, into the tower behind her.
¨C slain an enemy.¡¹
Hei turned back to me, a look of despair carved into his face.
But I was fine.
"Her instant kill is 75 meters range!" I shouted. "Only works on enemies below 1000 HP!"
Hei didn''t interrupt her ability, I believed. He just knocked her too far away for her to use it on me.
Alice''s voice sounded once more across the sky.
¡¸I am fifty meters forward.¡¹
Alice vanished without a trace, and just as quickly reappeared among the brawling golems. Next to Hei. She pointed her finger at me again.
My blood ran cold. Without thinking, I ran. I sprinted away, until I stumbled beneath my own tower. Way out of range.
But no Proclamation had sounded against me.
¡Was she just trying to scare me off? Was Proclamation still on cooldown?
Despite Hei''s ferocity, he couldn''t drive her back on his own. He had kept himself safe. But he couldn''t protect our golems. One after another, while I fled, they had fallen to Alice''s flames.
A soft, white glow pulsed across Alice. She had reached level 3.
We had no idea what her third ability did.
Chapter 150: Mine
Hei struck at Alice with his spear. His blows followed one after another, chaining together into a torrent of flashes. Alice fended off the onslaught with her sword, but she couldn''t match his ceaseless, erratic tempo.
A stab slipped through her guard and into her chest.
But there was no blood. No wound. Only a muted, stony glint across her body. The Red Tower behind her shook. It then glowed white, before disintegrating into motes of light.
A translucent, smaller mirage of the tower manifested, centered around Alice and surrounding her. It faded in and out of sight like vapor. Hei struck out again and again at Alice, but all his attacks bounced off that airy, immaterial tower.
I checked her stats.
[HP: 670+4740/1200]
A shield.
¡¸My third ability is Origin Reprisal,¡¹Alice explained to us plainly.¡¸I can claim the power of anything that belongs to me.¡¹
¡In that case, she now had the durability of a tower. A shield that blocks 5,000 damage.
Hei continued to chip away at her defenses. Though the tower around Alice was incorporeal, it nonetheless began to crack beneath the fury of his strikes. But Alice simply ignored him and attacked our golems instead.
She was buying time for herself. As long as she farmed to level 6, she''d win. There was no need to deal with us if we couldn''t kill her before then.
Naturally, her own golems died in the fray as well. Hei and I reached level 2 with the XP we gained. I now had Vortex Shield, and Hei had Voidstep to teleport. But how much would those even help?
Hei charged at Alice, then disappeared in a small flash of light. A shadowy pulse exploded above Alice.
Slightly to the side, right against the wall of the immaterial tower.
¡Did he just try to teleport inside? It looked like the hologram-like tower blocked even that.
Alice swung up, unleashing a wave of fire. Hei kicked off the tower''s surface, as though it were solid, and twisted out of the way of the flames.
At the very least, Alice couldn''t use Origin Reprisal for free. She gave up her tower for this, didn''t she?
We soon reached level 3, catching up with her. I had my Frost Grenade now, which I could use to stop her movement. And Hei''s got Schwarzschild Trident.
He conjured the trident into his grasp. It stretched longer than he was tall. A white glow outlined its silhouette, but the weapon itself existed as pure blackness, without discernible depth or volume. When he hurled it at Alice, she did not dodge. Instead, the tower blocked the blow for her. The trident stuck out of the tower-mirage, its three prongs having bitten deep into its stone.
Space vibrated and twisted around Alice. The colors of her body grew darker and warmer, until her entire figure turned into a deep, dark, red. Almost like a shadow. She dropped to one knee under her own weight. The holographic tower around her quaked, and pieces of its cracked surface fell off.
Hei thrusted his spear once more at Alice. The speartip accelerated as it neared her, empowered by tides of crushing gravity. It struck the tower, this time sending fissures across its walls.
The gravitational warping induced by the trident would prove dangerous, even for someone with the durability of a tower. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
[Schwarzschild Trident
RANGE: 120 meters
COST: 150 Mana
COOLDOWN: 50 seconds
You throw an immaterial trident. Upon hitting an enemy player, it deals 20 damage and applies the Seal of Schwarzschild debuff.
Seal of Schwarzschild: 10 second duration. Gravity distorts around the target, slowing them by 30%, reducing their damage against you by 30%, and increasing your damage against them by 30%. If the target drops to 0 HP, the ability''s cooldown is reset.]
Alice stopped attacking the golems. She held up her palm at Hei. A red orb manifested in her hand and began to glow. Instinctively, Hei fell back, and began strafing sideways in anticipation of an attack.
A split second later, the red orb shot out a brilliant beam of energy. It was an instant laser beam.
Hei took the attack to the chest.
"No!" I screamed.
He tumbled back, trailed by scorched smoke. The thin armor on his torso had been seared black.
"Teleport out!" I told him.
Alice''s pointed at Hei. Her lips parted, and she spoke.
¡¸Red team has slain ¨C
Before she could finish, Hei Voidstepped away. He reappeared closer to me, out of the range of Alice''s instant kill Proclamation.
It was the first time he had gotten hit.
Alice charged up a second shot of laser. Was Hei still in the range of that orb?
She must have borrowed the tower''s attack, just as she had borrowed its defense. The tower''s laser shot was unavoidable.
I fired a Cold Genade at her. The icy bead exploded at her feet, freezing her solid with a burst of frigid mist before she could launch another attack.
I took the chance to retreat with Hei. We only had seconds before she thawed, but we made it all the way behind our outer tower. We ought to be safe there for now.
I checked his HP..
[HP: 710/850]
140 damage, with a single laser shot, at 30% damage reduction.
"150 meters range, 200 damage," I told Hei. "Her laser attack should be the same as the towers."
Hei gritted his teeth. "When''s Doublerift coming back?"
I didn''t know. And Alice had just reached level 4.
She now had the power of a living, walking tower. Her laser attack was unavoidable, and it outranged all our abilities. Not even Doublerift could survive more than a handful of shots from it. And once we took damage, we''d be marked for her instant kill.
Just then, the tower around Alice vanished.
The Outer Red Tower, the physical edifice, reappeared behind her. It emerged completely unscathed.
None of the damage had transferred over.
I remembered now. We had seen this ability before. Back in the fight against 6e12.
Back then, she had reduced the night sky to a lightless, empty dome. Her sword shined bright, glistening with white-hot starfire. Crescent of white flames erupted from the edge of the sword with each swing, sailing forth, and raged into the darkness overhead. Each cut restored a thin band of stars. It was as though the sword had taken the celestial might of the heavens, and released their power back with each stroke.
The Outer Red Tower disintegrated once more into motes of light, and simultaneously the immaterial tower reappeared around Alice.
[HP: 930+5000/1400]
It was as I feared. Her Origin Reprisal ability merely absorbs its sources of power, without expending them. Once Alice finishes using the ability, she restores what she absorbed back to their original state. And then she could start the loop all over again.
It was an utterly unfair ability. But fighting Alice had never been fair.
I reached into my component pouch and took out my Deuterium Fuel Cell. I had been saving it as a surprise, final maneuver, for after we destroyed Alice''s Death Ward. But we no longer had the luxury of waiting.
"That''s the upgrade for your plasma cannon?" Hei asked.
I inserted it into my weapon, Jormungandr.
"This isn''t really meant to be a plasma cannon," I told him.
The fuel cell''s deuterium atoms flowed into the plasma storage chamber of my weapon. In there, those atoms shattered into ions and electrons. I fed the device my mana, filling the chamber with heat and pure, condensed arcane power.
Ions collided against primordial particles, obliterating their own mass and releasing bursts of energy ¨C a billion-billion microscopic bursts, each further accelerating subatomic collisions. It was a self-propagating, self-intensifying chain reaction that generated heat surpassing even that of the sun.
"This is a fusion reactor," I said, and pointed the barrel of Jormungandr at Alice.
Chapter 151: Jormungandr
The mythical Jormungandr was a snake so large, it stretched longer than the world itself. It dwelled deep in the sea, encircling the earth, and made a ring as it gnawed upon its own tail. It is said that when it released its tail and the serpent-ring broke, the world would end in a final war.
[JORMUNGANDR (MK. II): 100 (+100% Arcana Point)(+10% enemy max HP) magical damage. 2 second reload. 150 meter range.
Special ability: Eye of Odin ¨C By spending 150 mana, you detect all metallic objects in a 10 degree cone in front of you. 512 mile range. 1 minute cooldown.
Special ability: Plasma Fusion Chamber ¨C The weapon has 1 charge. While the charge is held, you gain 100 Arcana Points. You can consume the charge to empower the next ability you cast. Once the charge is consumed, Jormungandr Mk. II reverts back to Jormungandr.]
I aimed my gun at Alice and fired.
A single dart of condensed arcane energy shot out. It nailed the hologram-tower around Alice. She stumbled a half step back as the dart left a fractured crater upon the tower, as though the hologram were truly made of stone. The impact rocked my chest like deep thunder.
I took the chance to run forward, into the range of her laser. Hei joined the charge, one step ahead. Alice fired a beam of laser at me. It seared me in the abdomen. But I could take a hit like this. Alice wouldn''t be able to shoot down the both of us.
Blue light leaked out from my skin and coalesced into floating, almost solid shapes and patterns: lines and arcs arranged to form complex geometric constructs, and strange runes and formulas orbited around them. The plasma ring inside my weapon''s glass chamber grew white with unbridled power.
The air around me crystalized into a swirling snowstorm. Cobalt wisps of mana seeped out of my skin like fire. Hoarfrost grew upon my clothes and hair. With each advancing step, I spreaded ice upon the ground beneath.
I focused my mind.
The storm fell silent. The arcane flames snuffed out. The runes in the air converged into my weapon. Jormungandr rattled as I compressed all my might into its barrel for a single, devastating spell. I began my incantation.
Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn.
Fourfold testament. Lone sparrow.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
I compel thee, ceaseless void, to devour.
I command thee, storms of a thousand winters, to rage.
Alice stepped back.
I formed a Frost Missile at the tip of the gun''s muzzle. I willed it to spin around its central axis, to add in-flight stability to the projectile. It began to rotate unsteadily, then accelerated into a rapid, vicious spin.
I pointed the projectile toward Alice, and took aim, and pressed the trigger. The Frost Missile blasted forth, in a surge of cold light and cackling air.
¡¸It doesn''t reach me,¡¹Alice proclaimed.
The Frost Missile took a sharp and sudden turn upwards, and veered harmlessly into the sky.
I was hoping she''d do that. I knew Alice could stop any attack. That was why I saved my weapon''s single skill empowerment for after she wasted her Proclamation on a decoy ability.
I continued my recitation.
O creatures of dust,
Heed the supplications of this dying aeon
And return to the oblivion of desolation.
Ascended spell,
Cold Grenade.
The last iota of power I mustered coalesced into a pale blue bead inside Jormungandr''s barrel. The plasma ring inside its reactor flickered.
Then, the ring broke.
With a muted cackle, the pale bead of the Cold Grenade shot towards Alice. Air seemed to warp around it, as though its density pulled everything inward.
Alice saw it coming. She dodged sideways, out of the path of the projectile. The Cold Grenade landed upon the ground a distance away from her.
By then, Hei had already closed in.
He veered towards the Cold Grenade, scooped it up, then disappeared in a flash of light. In a burst of darkness, he reappeared in front of Alice, so close that he could touch her.
I triggered the detonation of my Cold Grenade. It''d have a 0.4 second delay until the blast.
With a swipe of the hand, Alice dispelled the tower around her, restoring its physical form to where it once stood.
Far in the horizon behind her, the walls of her base disappeared. At the same time, a translucent replication of those walls erected themselves around Alice, towering into the sky. They folded inward, as though crumpling space itself, until they coalesced into overlapping and intersecting barriers that surrounded Alice as a layered dome.
She had used her Origin Reprisal to maximize her defenses ¨C
[HP: 955 + 500,000 / 1400]
Hei held the Cold Grenade in his palm and thrusted it into the dome-shield.
Take this. My greatest creation. The culmination of my struggles against the orchestrations of this world.
Receive it in full measure, Alice.
The Cold Grenade broke open with a simple, instant flash.
There was no noise, no shockwave. There was no explosion.
Everything in front of Hei turned a pure, powdery white, stretching from his extended palm to the opposite end of the arena.
The Outer Red Tower shattered and fell, frozen to the core as soon as it had reappeared.
The barrier around Alice was gone. She herself remained, still like a snow statue. Then the wind came and blew her away as fine, icy powder.
Chapter 152: World Final
After Alice turned into icy dust, and the wind blew her away, all that remained was her broken Death Ward.
We had just destroyed Alice once. Do it again, and victory was ours.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy.¡¹
¡¸Green team has destroyed a tower.¡¹
The tower behind her, too, shattered and fell into stony debris, frozen and white.
Hei gazed to his outstretched palm, then to the destruction beyond. Grass and trees and bushes had all been reduced to white powder like Alice. Even the path of the lane had become cracked and jagged and buried beneath ice, all the way up to the gate of the enemy base.
"...I didn''t know you could do this," Hei said. I caught up to him from behind.
"Me neither," I admitted. After all, this was my first time unleashing Mk. II.
A burnt-smelling smoke seeped out of Jormungandr. Its handle felt hot in my grip.
[Condition - Overclocked. After being upgraded to Mk. II, Jurmungandr cannot be upgraded again for 30 minutes.]
I didn''t know this debuff existed. Not that I ever had a chance to test the Deuterium Fuel Cell before this match. It was my secret weapon after all, and I doubted I could''ve tested its full power while under wraps.
"Let''s hurry," I bid Hei. "On to the next tower."
We needed to push our advantage as much as we could while Alice was out. Soon she''d regain consciousness in her base, heal up, and come for us again. Hei and I marched our golem troops to the Inner Red Tower and began to chip away at it.
Footsteps raced towards us from behind. I spun around and saw Doublerift.
He glanced at the barren snowscape.
"Welcome back," I simply said.
"You did this," he said to me. "You took out Alice."
"For now. You''ll need to cover me before I can do it again, I''ve got a cooldown."
Doublerift was still level 1, but his firepower helped us advance. We pressed our attack, blasting away the enemy golems and structures. Amidst bullets, spell blasts, and strikes of steel, the Inner Tower fell too.
Right behind it sat Alice''s golem fabricator. We smashed it into pieces. Now no more enemy golems would spawn. With the path now cleared, our golems marched through the gate and into Alice''s base.
We had reached the last stage. Victory was in grasp, but so was defeat. Without enemy golems spawning, there was no easy way to gain XP on the 1v1 map. Hei had reached level 6, and I had hit level 5 myself. Doublerift barely managed to reach level 3, but at least he caught up some.
The meadow inside the enemy base sprawled out before our eyes. Across the field was the Base-Core, a large, crimson crystal, embedded in a raised stone base.
A single tower remained, guarding it. Alice stood by her final tower, her sword drawn, as though she had been awaiting us.
Something was missing.
A faint golden glow seeped out of Alice.
"...Her vending machine''s gone," I informed. "She must''ve absorbed it ¨C"
Before I registered it, Alice leaped as a blur. By the time I could track her movements, she was in front of me, so close I could see the pupil of her eyes. She swung her blade up at me.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
White-hot flames surged as a towering crescent. I barely had time to conjure water and create a Vortex Shield. The attack burned clean through. The flames engulfed me in a blaze of pure heat. My body was lifted off the ground and thrown backwards, before crumpling into a heap. A smoldering wound stretched from my shoulder to my hip.
Hei and Doublerift had rushed on ahead, bringing their offense upon Alice before she could score another free hit. Her HP ¨C
[HP: 8000 / 8000]
¡No way.
She had sped up, so much that she now outmaneuvered Hei. The strikes of her blade shook the earth. And each of her flame slashes now burned even the ground, leaving behind gashes of lava.
Her stats had all been raised to absurd levels. Did she absorb the power of the potions within the vending machine too?!
She drove Hei and Doublerift back from the final tower. Hei landed his Schwarzchild Trident, but it didn''t matter. He could scarcely damage her. Doublerift sprayed bullets from his gun. He opened portals, golden rings leading into the abyss. Countless more bullets rained down through them upon Alice, volley after volley. But it didn''t matter.
"Take the tower!" Doublerift shouted at me.
That was our only option. Take the last tower, then the Base-Core. We didn''t need to take down Alice. We just had to win the game. I marched my golems forward and began the siege.
Alice dashed at me with her sword aflame. Doublerift clenched his fist, crumpling the space between them. Distances distorted, space warped, and before I knew it Alice had been brought next to him.
I continued the siege, chipping away at the tower with my golems. Alice ignored Doublerift and rushed back at me. She sent a flaming slash. I managed to dodge out of the way, but half my golems perished in the inferno. A dim glow pulsated across her skin. She had reached level 5.
She closed in. I didn''t have time to demolish the tower.
Hei Voidstepped in front of her. With a forceful thrust of his spear, he repelled Alice. The ground beneath him depressed as he unleashed a blast of gravity. Alice did not lose her footing, but she skidded back dozens of yards.
"Help Alice!" Hei shouted at Doublerift. Doublerift raced towards me. With a wave of his hand, all his portals converged their fire upon the tower. It began to crack under our onslaught.
Alice charged at me once more. The only thing keeping her at bay now was Hei.
She veered sharply to one side to pass him. But Hei dove at her with his spear extended. A pair of wings bursted out of his shoulders, dazzling white and made entirely of ice.
Alice lifted her blade to block. Hei''s spear drove her back, even as her heels dug furrows into the ground.
"Ultimate ability," Hei announced. "Wings of the Ice Priestess."
Alice unleashed a flaming slash at Hei, but he moved out of the way.
The flames seemed a tad weaker. I noticed that her blade, and the hand holding it, had been covered with frost that glowed with a strange, gray light.
Besides the mobility of his wings, Hei had another power through his Ultimate: debuff application on hit. Not even 6e12 had been able to resist its effects when they had fought. Not even his destructive blasts, which erased the world itself, could function after a few strikes from Hei.
If we couldn''t take Alice out, the least we could do was make her harmless.
Hei rose into the air, before diving down at Alice once more. Alice met him with fire and steel, with heat and force enough to reduce hills to valleys. But Hei kept up. He drifted and darted through the air, managing turns every bit as tight as he could on foot. His ice tempered her blaze ever more with each clash.
The final tower cracked and shook. Stones rained down. Any second now, it would fall.
¡¸I am fifty meters forward.¡¹
As those words left Alice''s lips, she reappeared beside Doublerift and me.
But it was too late.
¡¸Green team has destroyed a bottom tower.¡¹
The announcement, in her own voice, sounded as the tower leaned over and fell. It rocked the arena as it collapsed into the ground.
Before us, her Base-Core stood exposed. All we had to do was take it out. I rushed on to the stone platform surrounding the Core, and took shelter behind the crystal from Alice. I readied a Frost Missile at the Core.
Instead of coming after me, Alice pressed her hand upon the Base-Core.
¡¸Origin Reprisal.¡¹
In a flash of light, her missing vending machine returned to where it was supposed to be, at the corner of her base.
Her Base-Core crystal, and the stone platform around it, vanished.
There was no soil nor stone beneath the platform. There was nothing beneath the platform.
The Base-Core and platform had disappeared, revealing a bottomless pit beneath.
I saw Hei rushing toward me as I fell in. But he couldn''t reach.
I fell deeper and deeper down, together with Alice.
Before I realized it, I could see the arena above me. A floating chunk of land, with the sky as its backdrop.
And under us, there was only the shapeless void.
As we tumbled down, Alice looked to me and smiled.
Chapter 153: Dont Weep For Me
We had left the world behind. Even the sky faded away above us. Here it was silent, except for us. Here it was dark, except for our faintly glowing forms. I couldn''t tell if we were still falling, or if we had stopped. We simply existed within the nothingness.
¡¸Did you have fun here?¡¹ Alice asked me.
"No, I hated it here." I held my gun tightly still.
Those words boiled my blood as I spat them out. In these games I had been hurt so many times. I was scared, so many times. All around me, people died. Saber. Saber.
Saber.
"I hated most of it," I said. "Some parts were good. But I hated most of it."
Alice looked at me and tilted her head. Her chestnut-brown hair billowed weightlessly, framing her face.
¡¸What would have made it more tolerable?¡¹
"If no one had to die."
¡¸Everyone has to die.¡¹
Those words angered me, because I had no immediate retort.
¡¸Death spares no one. You cannot save a person from death. All you can do is save them from their life. Perhaps you wish to save others from a short life. A truncated life. What I want is to save them from a life without significance.¡¹
"I guess I was significant here," I muttered. I lowered my gaze, my head weighed down by my hat. "I''ve probably done more important things here than I would''ve back home."
¡¸And everyone here has been granted powers far beyond mortals. They''ve lived in a fantasy world. Things that humans had long dreamed of, and would even give their lives for.¡¹
I remembered firing my first Frost Missile, against the wolves on the mountain. How exhilarating it was. The first Frost Missile was magical, and powerful, and it was wholly mine. I had made it spin to impart stability. I was proud of what I did. And I had been so determined to save myself and save Hei. I wanted to win so, so bad. And I won.
Across the void, Alice faced me, waiting.
"...I want Saber back," I told her.
¡¸I cannot return her. But don''t be dismayed. Did you know that she was happier here?¡¹
"Shut up," I whispered.
¡¸She was happy to have fought by your side. To have the chance to be your friend.¡¹
My arms shook. My throat felt tight.
No matter what words came from her mouth, she couldn''t change the pain I had endured. I hated this world. I didn''t need a philosophical, moral reason to. I hated this world because it hurt me. It hurt me, and it hurt the ones I cared about.
Today, I''d bring it all down.
Alice still hadn''t made a move yet. And I doubted she could. Gray-glowing frost still covered her sword and body. Hei had sealed away much of her offensive output. But the ice was thawing. She was content to delay our inevitable fight. But so was I; I had mere minutes left before I could use a Deuterium Fuel Cell again.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Let us fight at full power, then.
¡¸What will you do if you win?¡¹ Alice asked me after a moment of silence.
"I''ll try to make things happier around here, I suppose."
The slightest line creased her brows. And then she returned a half nod.
¡¸You can certainly try.¡¹
She shook the last remaining flakes of frost off her sword. It began glowing red hot.
I took out my second Deuterium Fuel Cell and inserted it into Jurmugandr. The ring-shaped plasma chamber began to hum as a pure, white glow overtook it from within.
Droplets of water, sparkling like diamonds, materialized out of the void. They coalesced into streams, and the streams started circling my hand in complex, weightless orbitals. The streams grew into surging tides that enveloped my arm, then spread across my whole body. Sheets of torrential water enveloped my limbs. Intricate bands coursed around my hands and feet. A swirling, singular maelstrom was my chestplate.
"Ascended spell," I declared, "Vortex Shield."
Alice sliced her sword through the air, and flames burst from its edge. A wave of fire struck my liquid armor. The armor ejected a blast of steam, blowing the flames away.
"Leidenfrost Effect," I explained. "Your flames are useless here."
Like my usual Vortex Shield, this full-body version granted me a shield that protected my HP. Except instead of shielding for a couple hundred damage, it shielded me for a couple hundred thousand.
"Can you still use your Proclamation to kill me, if you only manage to damage my shield? I wonder."
Alice gave no reply. Instead, a faint ripple of flames expanded from under her. She dashed at me, upon the formless void as though it were solid ground, each step accompanied by a burst of fire beneath her feet. Despite my defenses, I had no reason to let her engage me in melee. I forced twin jets of water to spout out of my back. Propelled by the recoil, I rocketed away from her. And just as quickly, she stepped upon the immaterial void, climbing towards me on a trail of fire.
I shot Frost Missiles and bolts of arcane force. Her trajectory twisted and weaved through the projectiles, and she deflected them with the flat of her blade.
¡¸I am a hundred meters forward.¡¹
She warped beside me. With a forceful swing, she sank her glowing blade into my armor. The currents of water deflected her strike, and vapor consumed the blade''s heat. I stretched out my unoccupied hand. The waters covering my arm accelerated, from steady streams to a furious and destructive funnel, revolving thousands of circles per second and faster than any weapon.
"Vortex Shield, launch."
The water on my arm shot forth. It drilled at Alice''s flank, repelling her away.
She bled.
I couldn''t just play defensive. My normal Vortex Shield lasted 3 seconds. This version lasted much longer, but only at three minutes. I had to defeat Alice before time ran out, even if it meant sacrificing my defenses. Each piece of armor was individually launchable and dealt a thousand damage.
Before she could reach me again, I sped away upon my jets. We tore through the void, ever accelerating. The trails we etched, one of water and one of flames, interwove and crossed and collided in grand arcs and lines. Crescents of fire lit the void, and barrages of spells volleyed back with matching ferocity.
I launched away the armor on both my arms. Both my legs. My helmet. The armament around my hips. Little by little, I wore Alice down. Soon, she had just under 700 HP left, and I had expended all but my last piece of armor, my chestplate.
I fired that too.
Perhaps she had finally caught on to the rhythm of my maneuvers. This time, she stepped aside just in time to avoid my attack.
Without my chestplate, my Vortex Shield had ended. I no longer had the water jets to propel myself with. I no longer had a shield to take damage for me. Smoke seeped out of Jormungandr as the plasma chamber dimmed. It had overheated; the buff had worn off.
Alice knew, and she closed in, as swift as ever. She delivered a horizontal slash across my abdomen. And just as quickly, she uttered a proclamation.
¡¸Red team has slain an enemy.¡¹
I let loose a soft exhale.
So this was what it came down to.
In her haste, Alice must''ve missed it. Her slash had left no wound on me. And without a wound, her Proclamation did nothing.
The tiny, golden sword on my necklace glowed with a warm light.
[DEFENSE OF THE ANCIENTS MK. II
You gain 50% movement speed and take 100% reduced damage. 10 second duration. 15 minute cooldown.]
I aimed my gun at her, point blank, and unleashed my final round of spells.
Chapter 154: Diamond
Jormungandr bullet, Cold Grenade, Frost Missile, Jormungandr bullet, Vortex Shield, Jormungandr bullet.
That was the most damaging combo sequence I knew. Six full attacks, in four seconds.
I didn''t even need the last few hits. Halfway through the sequence, Alice''s HP had already fallen to zero. But I kept firing.
Her bloodied body went limp. Wounds riddled her chest. She dropped her sword into the void. I screamed and kept firing, even after I had finished the sequence. Even after I knew I had won.
¡¸Green team has slain an enemy,¡¹she told me. That was when I stopped. I heard her words not from a disembodied voice from the sky. Those were the struggling, raspy words of a dying girl.
Her body grew translucent. Pieces of her drifted away and dissolved into motes of light. The mastermind behind these games, finally at her end. After all that she had given, after all that she had taken, it was me who killed her. I looked her in the eyes. The light had left them, and she did not look back.
"What last words do you have?" I asked, my voice shallow and trembling. My whole body was shaking.
¡¸You played well, Sophia.¡¹
...Was that all? After everything she had done, after everything we all had been through, did she have nothing to tell me besides that?
What remained of her faded away into nothingness.
The void began to emit a high-pitched hum. A blue light lit the darkness all around.
I blinked. When I looked around after the light faded away, Hei and Doublerift were by my side.
The night sky hung overhead, aglow with the flames of destruction. The fallen city of Platinum surrounded us. We were back.
The battle was over.
"What happened? Where''s Alice?" Doublerift was the first to speak among us.
I collected myself. I was still shaking, and I felt lightheaded.
"I think I killed her," I said.
As soon as I spoke those words, an invisible force lifted me off the ground, then flung me sideways. The world blurred and spun as I was tossed against my will through the air. I fell into something hard. When I regained my senses, I realized I had crashed into the base of a skyscraper. The brick wall behind me cracked from the impact. The pain and nausea began to register.
When I looked up, I saw Dionysus staring down at me. Rage twisted his face into a monstrous form. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I conjured a Cold Grenade to defend myself, and took aim. But he pointed a finger at me. Every fiber of muscle in me went limp. Jormungandr fell from my hands, and the blue bead that was my Cold Grenade rolled out of the barrel harmlessly. No strength remained in me, not even for my heart to beat.
Countless shafts of light, pointed and barbed, filled the air around us. Their tips were all converged upon me. They pulsated in every color imaginable. Something was horribly wrong about them. I wanted to close my eyes. I wanted to look away. But I couldn''t move. And each moment I spent looking at them, I grew sadder for the man in front of me. If my death would ease his grief, I supposed I deserved it.
A flash of steel cut through my vision. It came from behind Dionysus, a horizontal slash that crossed his neck.
With my blurred vision, I saw Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies. She stood behind Dionysus, drenched in blood, her sword outstretched.
"...You''re still alive," Dionysus gasped.
"That makes one of us," she said.
The shafts of light around me shattered and disappeared. Strength returned to my body, and my heart began to beat again. I coughed, choking on air.
Dionysus'' head tilted sideways for a moment, before falling off his neck. Then and there, he died.
I grabbed Jormungandr, and aimed it at Sylvie. She had no right to just kill him with an attack from behind ¨C
"Snap out of it," she told me. "His light arrows brainwashed you."
Before I could reply, Doublerift knocked the gun out of my unsteady grasp.
Hei came running to me too. He put an arm behind me, and I allowed myself to sink into it limply.
"Give her a couple seconds and she''ll be back to normal," Sylvie said.
I inhaled and exhaled, and took time to collect myself. It was as she said. I think my mind was my own again.
Doublerift and Sylvie looked at each other.
"You survived," Doublerift said.
"Barely. Dionysus got my HP down to single digits, so I had to get rid of my HP bar."
And that was when I noticed, Sylvie didn''t have an HP bar anymore. She was the only one among us without one. I had no idea how her abilities worked. They didn''t call her the Knight of Anomalies for nothing, I supposed.
The survivors of the city emerged from the surrounding wreckage. They flocked towards us, uncertain and cautious. Many had been wounded.
"It is over," Doublerift told them. "Alice is dead. The games are over. From now on, you are free."
Among the survivors, I spotted familiar faces. There were several members of the Liberation''s Call Syndicate that Doublerift ruled over. Kevin the Skull Knight was there. In his arms he carried a limp, fading body. It belonged to Dr. Arseniev. Doublerift approached them.
"He''s gone, boss," Kevin told Doublerift.
"You did well," Doublerift said.
Dr. Arseniev did not respond. A moment later, he dissolved into motes of light.
"And I''m not boss anymore," Doublerift told Kevin.
As more and more players gathered around us, the distant sound of a train horn filled the air. Without much thought to it, we all followed in its direction.
A couple blocks away, we found a train. It was a red train, modern and sleek and unblemished. It stretched for several cabins long along the shattered road, without a track. Its engine was running. Its doors were open. Bright white lighting lit the inside of the train, and rows after rows of seats lined its two sides, with an aisle down the middle.
I had seen it before, in the memories of Alice and 6E12.
The train was the final rank, Diamond. It was that train that would take us home.
Doublerift approached the door of the train. He turned around and looked at the assembled crowd. He looked at us, at Hei and me.
"Congratulations," he said. "You have survived the death game."
Chapter 155: Here We Are, Dont Turn Away Now
Doublerift arranged for 52 passengers to board the train back to Earth. There''d be 25 people in the first cabin and 25 in the second cabin. In the third cabin, Doublerift seated just Hei and me.
52 returnees was the maximum that this world, the Boundary of Miracles, could fuel naturally in a year. After this trip, no one else would be able to return to Earth for another 365 days, at least not normally.
Doublerift intended to break that rule, by breaking the Boundary itself. He''d siphon this world''s energy to fuel additional transportations back to Earth, and in doing so, cause this world to wilt and disappear. Everything that had happened here, all that we had seen ¨C with the death of the world, we could bury it all.
I sat next to Hei on the train. It was just the two of us in the cabin. The upholstered seat was soft enough to sink into, and I had grown tired. But I was awake as ever, my heart thumping. I settled my weight on Hei''s shoulder for comfort. He allowed it, and wrapped an arm around me.
We were finally here.
There was nothing outside the windows of the train, nor was there any ground or rails under it. Beyond the cabin of the train, there was only pure darkness. But we knew that in a matter of minutes, we''d arrive back on Earth.
"What will you do when you get back?" I asked him.
Hei faced forward, his gaze empty and still.
"I never really thought about it," he said.
"You were gonna go to college, right?"
"I was. I''m not sure anymore."
His hands, both his own and his prosthetic one, were clenched into fists. I gave them a quick pat.
"Lighten up," I told him. "You don''t have to be so tense anymore. Can''t make friends acting like that in college, you know?"
The vibration of the floorboards accompanied the monotonous humming of the train''s engine. The harsh, artificial light flickered every now and then. Hei leaned back in his seat with a thin exhale. And he smiled.
"You''re right," he said. "This is what we''ve always wanted. You, me¡we''ve made it, haven''t we?"
I nodded.
"We''ve won," he said.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I rubbed my head against Hei''s shoulder, taking in his warmth. "You know, Tanin once told me something. This is a death game, and the victors are simply those that live."
"Yeah."
"Are the victors simply those that live?" I questioned. "Did we win? What have we gained?"
"We''ve survived," Hei said. "And we''ve saved all the people here."
"That''s not winning," I told him. "We haven''t been playing to win. We''ve only played to lose as little as possible."
Outside the window, a spot of light manifested in the empty void. The train veered towards it. As we approached, I made out the spot of light to be a portal. On the other side was a sprawl of rolling hills, shrouded in mist, and a large red bridge behind them. I recognized it; we were heading towards Earth, towards San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We would be home soon.
"Hei, I want you to go back to your family," I said, and I echoed his smile from earlier. "Your mom and dad, and your brother. And say hi to my parents for me. Tell them to wait for me."
"Sophia¡what are you talking about?"
"I''m going back to Platinum," I murmured. "I''m going to take control of the world and make things right."
My voice trembled, like that of someone who was afraid. But despite the lump in my throat, despite the forming tears, I gave him the biggest, bravest smile ever.
"Hei, I''m going back to win," I said.
His mouth hung open.
"Sophia, please¡"
His voice cut through me, sharp and desperate.
"It''ll be OK," I promised.
"We can go home," he said to me. "We can already go home, right now."
"I know," I managed to say in a whisper. My chest felt like it was going to collapse in. "And you should go home. You''ve earned it. I want you to go back, and wait for me. Even if you''ll miss me."
His tenseness made me think he''d fight back. But to my surprise, he gave a slow, shallow nod.
"What will you do here?" he asked.
"I''ll make this world the best thing it can be. I''ll make it a place where people can be happy. I''ll let them choose if they want to go back or stay. I''ll still need to figure out how to do it. But I''m gonna do it." I swallowed, and I looked straight at him. "Do you trust me?"
"I do," he said. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "And I want to help you do it. I want to stay here. With you."
I chuckled. Hei, you little rascal. After all our efforts, I couldn''t even send you back home. Not without going against the dreams I just told you about.
I held him in a hug. I squeezed him so, so tight.
"Thank you for everything," I said.
I still had a Cold Grenade in the destroyed city of Platinum, the one I conjured during my brief fight with Dionysus. I detonated it. In the corner of my mind, I sensed it hitting the building it was next to. With gritted teeth, I activated my Ring of Pursuit.
"Here goes nothing," I told Hei.
[RING OF PURSUIT:
Special ability: Riftchase ¨C You open a portal leading to a target you''ve damaged within the last minute. 10 minute cooldown.]
A portal opened, and I dove in.
The train continued on to Earth without us.
Chapter 156: To Take My Throne Above
Some say the universe is infinite.
I never particularly cared; I''d never get close enough to the edge for it to matter. But that wasn''t the case here. During my time with the LCS, I learned that each sub-world ¨C Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum ¨C had a size and a boundary. The worlds were often vast, and realistically you''d never arrive at the boundary unless you put in tremendous effort to explore. But the Boundary of Miracles was finite, both in scale and power. The only reason it could be so expansive, was because Alice fed it the life force of every player who had perished within.
Doublerift''s library contained detailed notes on the matter, which I helped myself to in the little time I could spare. Each sub-world was like a dome, and once you arrived at the edge, there''d be an invisible wall stopping you. Everything you could see beyond that dome was merely a projection, a magical hologram. If you journeyed far enough into the wilderness of Silver, you''d come across the invisible wall. If you left the city of Platinum and the island upon which it was built, and sailed far enough out to sea, you''d come across the invisible wall.
The wall was practically unbreakable.
And yet, here and now, out in the ocean to the east of Platinum, a massive piece of the world had been broken through. A hole stretched from the watery horizon up to the sky, jagged like a smashed mirror, and surrounded by fractures that radiated out to touch the stars.
It was a hole in the world itself. On the other side was the void.
Hei and I stood at the eastern shore of the island, upon the beach lapped by waves. Behind us sprawled the ruins of the city. We looked out towards the hole in the world, our next destination.
Sylvie walked up to us from behind, still bloodied. Her wounds did not diminish the proud swagger in her gait.
"Back so soon?" the Knight of Anomalies said to me.
"You knew I''d be." I glanced back. "Don''t forget our agreement."
She raised her sword and pointed it at the dimensional hole. "Doublerift''s there. He''ll erase this world soon."
"Please take us to him then," I asked her. "Ensure Doublerift returns to Earth, and I will show you my full power."
Sylvie sheathed her sword. She unceremoniously grabbed me by the back of my collar.
"Hang on tight," she said, before grabbing Hei likewise. After a momentary crouch, Sylvie sprang up into the air, and she dragged us along with her. Her cape fluttered loudly in the headwind.
Among the three of us, she was the only one with unlimited flight. And she was fast. It only took a matter of seconds for us to cross miles of seawater. I had to grab on to her wrist, fearing my collar would tear off. We soon arrived at the rift, and darted headfirst into the void, leaving behind the lights of the night sky, and the sounds of the ocean and wind. There was nothing here.
Nothing except us, and a faint yet growing spot of light up ahead. As we flew toward it, I made out the light to be a glowing, iridescent rose flower, floating in the darkness. It was gigantic, easily the size of a building, and shining with a multitude of colors. Its petals had the appearance of crystal, yet bent and wavered like delicate fabric.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"That rose there," Sylvie said, "is the image of the Boundary of Miracles."
"I see Doublerift," Hei remarked. "Set us down."
At its base stood a human, barely visible from this distance.
Sylvie slowed and descended. We landed onto an unseeable surface, yet one vaguely solid beneath our feet like ground.
Only a few yards away was Doublerift, by himself.
The petals of the flower towered above us all. Now I saw it ¨C the crystalline rose was slowly fracturing. The fragments that flaked off were turning into pure energy and flowing into Doublerift.
Doublerift''s head turned at our arrival, though not enough to see us.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked coldly.
"We will not continue with the plan," I told him.
He slowly reached both hands into the inner pockets of his suits. "Have we brought a tyrant down, only to raise another?"
"You will not win against us," I warned him. "So let''s talk it out. I am not here to take over the world. I''m here to fix it."
"There is nothing you need to fix," he enunciated, slowly. "We will send them all back. And then we will walk away."
"Send whom all back?" I interrogated.
Doublerift held his stance, his hands poised inside his suit. "Everyone from Bronze to Platinum."
"That''s not everyone," I told him. "What will happen to those newcomers who are still in their first arena, before Bronze?"
"You are splitting hairs," Doublerift dismissed.
I looked up at the gigantic rose towering above us.
"You can talk, can''t you?" I asked. It had talked to Alice somehow. It had run games before she arrived. There must''ve been some way it could communicate.
And then, it came. An unmistakable, affirmative answer that rang in my psyche. The others turned to look at the rose. Did they hear the reply too?
"How many players are there in each tier of the death games?" I asked.
The answer came to me. To us, I think.
In Bronze, 400.
In Silver, 2,300.
In Gold, 500.
In Platinum, 400.
Before Bronze, 200.
I could feel that these were approximations. But approximations sufficed.
"What will happen to them, once the world collapses?" I asked.
The rose''s reply came clear as any word could: They will perish, along with me.
It was just as I anticipated.
"200 is only five percent," Doublerift pointed out. He must''ve heard the same answers as me.
"You cannot throw away everyone else''s future for them," he continued, frustration amplifying his voice. His brows furrowed.
"You do not decide what it means for everyone to have a future," I said coldly. "Not you, who treat 200 lives as chaff. Return to Earth as a legend, Doublerift the Liberator. And trust that I will take good care of things here."
Doublerift scoffed. He brandished his twin pistols from under his suit. "I''ve made promises to the dead and living. I won''t turn back on them now."
I loaded my final Deuterium Cell into Jormungandr. The plasma ring blazed with white heat that rivaled the luminosity of the rose.
"I know that," I said.
Chapter 157: All the Things That You Would Change
In a sense, Jormungandr did not suit me. Its fusion reactor channeled the powers of nuclear fire, in direct opposition to the element of my own mana. My ice and water magic could never fully benefit from Jormungandr''s empowerment. But I had one spell which did not incline against the fusion reactor''s nature, but rather synergized with it. Nuclear fusion relied on two conditions above all else. The first was heat.
The second was pressure.
"Ascended spell," I declared. "Maw of Leviathan."
I stretched out my hand. My arm, my whole body surged with heat, until I couldn''t help but tremble.
Doublerift wasted no time. He fired countless bullets of blazing mana. He warped space, folded and twisted it until I could no longer tell up from down. He was everywhere and nowhere at once. He forced open hundreds of golden portals all around us, and from each he launched volleys of bullets. The world became an incomprehensible tangle of streaking projectiles, millions of disjointed rays piercing every inch of air. It was impossible to dodge, and impossible to aim back.
But I didn''t need to dodge. And I didn''t need to aim.
I activated the ability of my necklace.
[DEFENSE OF THE ANCIENTS MK. II
You gain 50% movement speed and take 100% reduced damage. 10 second duration. 15 minute cooldown.]
Doublerift adapted quickly. In the corner of my eye, I saw him open a new portal, one unlike the previous ones he had created. This was a cobalt gash carved into space, an entryway into his pocket dimension.
As he was fleeing to take shelter within, I fired my spell.
[Ascendant Maw of Leviathan
COST: 0 Mana
COOLDOWN: -
You create an octagon around yourself of size 3142 sq. kilometers, designating the area within as the Ascendant Maw of Leviathan.
The pressure of star cores then crushes targets of your choice within, dealing 5,000,000 (+200% Arcana Point) magic damage. Targets made of atoms undergo fusion reactions, taking doubled damage.]
A noiseless flash burst from Doublerift and consumed everything.
At once, his bullet-beams dimmed away. His portals flickered and closed. Space contorted back to its innate dimensionalities, so violently that it felt like it shattered.
Doublerift, bloodied and seared, had dropped to 1 HP. I had intended for that spell to knock him out without killing him, a nonlethal strike as permitted by the laws of this world.
But I didn''t anticipate that he''d still be standing.
He looked at me. The light of consciousness remained in his eyes, though it was fading.
I lowered my gun.
"Be proud of what you did," I said, "Doublerift the hero."
He took an unsteady step forward, then fell.
I walked up to him. Despite his injuries, he breathed steadily still, and even slowly regained HP. He was stable.
"Please take him back to Earth," I bid the Boundary of Miracles, that great rose towering over us. Within a few seconds, a train materialized out of the void. Its door opened for us, and I carried the now-unconscious Doublerift in, and set him upon the seats. He was still holding on to his guns. I pried them out of his stiff grips.
"Don''t let him teleport off like I did," I told the rose. "But make sure he''s healed by the time he gets off."
A psionic acknowledgement rippled through my mind. The rose was surprisingly compliant towards my demands. I wondered if it had much of a will of its own, given how freely it bent to the will of Alice before me.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"And Sylvie," I said. "I think it''s time for you to be on your way too."
Sylvie seemed underwhelmed by my final attack. She probably wanted something more grandiose than an instant, unceremonious flash of light. But she lived up to her end of the bargain, and boarded the train as well to depart.
"Goodbye," I said to her. "You were a fine partner."
"That''s right," she agreed.
It turned out I didn''t need her help dealing with Doublerift after all.
The train departed, leaving Hei and me with the rose.
It was quiet.
The death games were over. I supposed we could finally say we had won. The rules that bound us would no longer be. Ahead of us, the future stretched out, a blank chapter. My heart swelled. Was it fear that I felt, or hope? If I had to give an answer¡well, Hei staying here had probably changed the answer for me.
I took a deep breath and looked over at him.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"Tell the rose what you wish for," he replied matter-of-factly, as though that should''ve been obvious.
"I know that," I said. "I mean, what do I ask for?"
He shrugged. "All the things that you would change."
Hei stood by my side now, at the forefront of this world. Was he really just gonna leave it all to me?
I pouted. "You''re hopeless."
I sensed a faint jingle from the rose. Was it¡was it laughing at us?
I suppose I ought to make my requests while I still could.
"I guess I''m in control of this world now," I said to the rose.
It echoed an affirmative answer into my mind.
"First off, stop bringing more people here. There''s too many of us here already."
It answered in affirmation. So far so good.
"There are 3,800 people here, right?" I asked.
Around, the rose seemed to answer.
"How many of them want to stay?"
Unknown, the rose answered.
"Can you read their mind?" I asked.
No, the rose answered.
"OK, so let''s assume 3,000 of them want to go back, and the rest are fine with staying. We can send back 52 a year. What''s 3,000 divided by 52?"
Unknown, the rose answered.
Wow, it sucked at math.
"Sixty, right?" Hei answered.
"Around 58, yeah," I said. "That''s how many years it''ll take to send them all back. Crap. That''s longer than I thought."
"People will also die of natural causes," Hei pointed out. "You won''t need to send all 3,000 back."
"OK but," I said, "if they want to go back and they die here, that''s kind of bad, no?"
Hei sighed. "We''ll figure something out."
"Do we just get rid of the Seasonal Challenges and all the arena stuff?" I asked.
"Keep them," Hei said. "Just make it so the matches are nonlethal."
"So you survive either way? What''s the point then?"
"I don''t know," Hei said. "Maybe winning lets you go back sooner."
"So they''ll still fight one another to claw their way back."
"Ban PvP," he proposed. "Then they won''t have to."
"Why not just do something nonviolent then?" I asked. "Like, just make them compete in chess or basketball, and the top 52 players each year get to go back?"
"We can consider that," Hei said begrudgingly. "People here build their lives around fighting in the arena. You can''t just make that irrelevant."
I looked at the rose.
Unknown, the rose answered.
I gave a defeated exhale. "Thank you, very helpful."
I shuffled my feet, then looked at Jormungandr. Not gonna lie, I liked that gun. I had accomplished so much, come so far. Maybe Hei had a point. We shouldn''t just remove all combat. I bet that would crash several economies, among other issues. Weapon merchants would starve or something. As would the Combat Institute, I''d imagine. Speaking of¡we should probably start moving players to Silvercreek. Bronze had no real infrastructure, Gold was depressing as heck, and Platinum¡well, we just blew that up.
"Anything else I should take care of?" I wondered out loud.
Someone is waiting for you, the rose answered.
?©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?? ??©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤?
The world was dark and empty. A young boy floated weightlessly in the nondescript void. This was no longer the world of the living, yet neither did it belong to the dead. The true body of the boy was on some mountainside, wounded and unconscious and surrounded by monstrous wolves.
He was the most recent arrival to the Boundary of Miracles. He was the last arrival.
I hovered through the void and approached him. But he''d only see a silhouette of me through the haze.
I presented him with three glowing objects. A sword, a book of runes, and a longbow, each full of power and potential.
When he reached out to take the sword, the other two items began fading away. He could only choose one. The sword of the warrior, the spellbook of the mage, or the bow of the ranger.
A glint of fascination lit up his face. He seemed to understand what was happening. The boy raised his chin, looking past the items and at me.
"Am I going to be a hero?" he asked.
I smiled back. ¡¸Only if you want to.¡¹
Chapter 158: Christmas Eve [END]
In the evening, the town twinkled with golden candlelight. The fresh snow blanketed the cobblestone paths and the trees. There was the dark sky, and the crowd in the streets, and the two of us.
We had exited the rebuilt Combat Institute campus through the side gate. From there, we''d have a quick walk home through Silvercreek''s market street. It had been a long day, hadn''t it? We had worked hard. We had gotten a lot done today, hadn''t we?
The sweet scent of baked goods near the town square warmed us. I surveyed the sea of faces.
Mornings and evenings had passed, and spring and autumn, and mosaics of small and happy moments. And like before, Hei, you took my hand.
It had been almost a year since we defeated Alice. Tomorrow would be Christmas.
We walked through the inner parts of town, on a road flanked with buildings on both sides. There was an office, an armory, and a bookshop. Pedestrians bustled loudly about, and many stopped by the open-air grocery stalls set up by the roadside. Wagons threaded carefully, slowed by the crowds. We heard caroling from an adjacent street. In the markets, we found and bought baked ham, a bean casserole, and a pine-melon pie.
Almost no one knew me to be the world administrator. To the public, I was just another citizen. Professor Sophia, of the Research Division of the Combat Institute. And research was what I spent most of my time on nowadays.
Over the course of the year, I had come to understand the Boundary of Miracles better.
The Boundary was not a powerful world.
For example, no new human life could emerge from the Boundary of Miracles. Pregnancy was beyond the capacity of this world.
With its own powers, it couldn''t support multiple, vast subworlds as it once did. But during Alice''s reign, the Boundary had confiscated the life forces of deceased players, converted them into magic, and used that to fuel its realms. Now that I had stopped the death games, I was forced to make changes to the world.
First, the subworld of Bronze no longer existed. Nor did the foggy suburbs of Gold, or the metropolis of Platinum. Silver remained as the only place, as the limit of what the Boundary could sustain now. I had transported all remaining players here.
Second, I stopped the magic that had been in place to prevent aging. People would be allowed to grow old once more. What remained, though, was the magic that prevented diseases.
Third, I capped the maximum player level at 8 to reduce magic usage.
Lastly, since player abilities heavily taxed the Boundary''s magic, I had to cut down MP regeneration by half. But no more than that. Despite Silvercreek''s population boom, we''ve had no shortage of food or housing. That was thanks to our guilds, and their members with superhuman strength and stamina, and their ferromancy and geomancy and plant magic. We needed a place where people were free to find happiness.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
This was what we fought for, what we persevered for. What we died for.
Out of the 3,800 players that remained in Silvercreek, 1,600 wanted to go back to Earth. I adopted Hei''s idea to keep the Seasonal Challenge. Participation was now voluntary for those who wanted to return to Earth; winning challenges allowed you to return earlier.
I was also researching the pistols Doublerift left behind. The world-train could currently make 52 trips a year, carrying one player back to Earth each time ¨C but what if we let a player use Doublerift''s guns, to carry two more players along in pocket dimensions? We''d be able to send back all queued returnees in 10 years, rather than 30. I had conducted experiments all but confirming the feasibility of this trick, though I needed an actual run to ensure it works¡
But, ah, that was a problem for another day.
We arrived at the front porch of our house in Ring Two of Silvercreek. We had harvested wreaths of holly to decorate our door and windows.
We were home.
Lamplight came from inside. I opened the door.
"Hey, we''re home," I announced.
And came a now-familiar echo, "Welcome back," in Mr. Atlas''s voice.
He emerged from his room with metallic clanks. He now wore a suit of golden plate armor, befitting his station now as the captain of the Guards'' guild.
"Did you find Tanin and Reens?" Mr. Atlas asked.
After I left Gold, Mr. Atlas had worked closely with those two. He had been extra busy arranging security for the past few days, so he tasked me with helping him deliver presents to them.
"Tanin''s gone on vacation," I told him. "I left your present on his office desk."
It was a gift wrapped in paper, tied with a ribbon, and shaped exactly like Mr. Atlas'' bottles of liquor. I wondered what could possibly be inside.
"Not sure where Reens is," I continued.
"You still have the Seekflower?" Mr. Atlas asked.
I puffed my cheek. "We''re not using that to track friends down¡"
I hung my mage hat by the entryway. Hei patted the snowflakes off it.
"She might be in the Winter Challenge," Hei remarked. "One of the combat trainees has her as a teammate."
"Your trainee''s lucky," Mr. Atlas said. He took the foodstuff from us and laid them out on the dining table, which had already been set. He grabbed his kitchen-axe and began to carve the ham.
Mr. Atlas was right; whoever had teamed up with Reens was indeed lucky. She would downplay her own prowess, but her might was widely acclaimed as an ex-leader of the Bounty Hall. Hei would''ve been subjected to the same infamy, had he not gone by the moniker Truck-kun in Platinum. Like Reens, I think he didn''t care for the public eye. Sometimes it was hard to tell what he wanted. I think he didn''t exactly know himself.
We had all been struggling to survive for so long, that now with our lives back, it wasn''t easy knowing what to do with it. Mr. Atlas kept himself busy with the logistics of running the city. I had my research, not to mention my duties of piloting the Boundary of Miracles. Hei, who once fought and brought down Legends, now worked as a coach at the Combat Institute. Between the three of us, he probably had the biggest adjustments to make.
"Any wishes for the coming year?" I asked Hei.
He shrugged. "I might adopt a cat."
The three of us ate dinner together. I stuffed myself with food. We drank wine by the hearth for warmth, and watched the snow fall outside, and talked late into the night, and treaded through old memories. We lit a red candle to celebrate. The candlelight would illuminate us through the night. And it would still be there in the morning.