Excise: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 2)

by Ryan DeBruyn

  Then the two were moving again in quick questing strikes, each attack seeming to flow into the next. At one point, Sela had literally been forced to leave the ground with her feet, and if Rocky’s eyes had been correct, she used Ragnar’s front leg as a springboard to disengage from a tangle of limbs. Ragnar, who seemed like a clumsy oaf at first, was something entirely different.

  He wasn’t fast at all. In fact, Rocky assumed Sela would win numerous times based on her speed alone, but Ragnar would take one purposeful step forward, and his bulk would cut off her swing at her wrist or forearm, forcing her to backpedal. As Rocky began to get used to the speed of the fight, he started seeing that Ragnar was mostly in control of the combat. A half step by the hulking man forced Sela to react in a pattern that Ragnar seemed to control.

  Sela was only still in the fight because of her significant skill and speed, but if the copious amounts of sweat were anything to go off of, it wasn’t going to last much longer. “Come on, Sela! Don’t let him control the pace!” Rocky shouted an encouragement that helped him in basketball. He honestly wasn’t sure what else to say. How do you encourage a sword fight?

  Since I don’t have my sword, maybe a set of pom-poms?

  Sela tilted her head and looked down at Ragnar’s feet before smiling and nodding. Then she side-stepped left, and Ragnar had to adjust his feet to follow her. She kept strafing left, and Rocky grew confused as to what changed. It was very difficult to see a difference, as she circled her opponent. Then she changed from a strafe to a diagonal lunge again to her left. Ragnar switched the position of his feet and seemed to falter for a split second but deflected her quick questing strikes all the same.

  She retreated quickly before he could counterstrike and changed directions going to his right. Her smile grew. “Ragnar, how come you want to move in straight lines?” Sela asked mockingly.

  Ragnar growled and jumped forward at her, switching his feet again to try to pin her on his right. Sela, who had clearly been expecting this tactic, flung her body hard to her left, just barely managing to beat his lunging right leg and descending sword. As she moved, she switched sword hands, and suddenly, both combatants were standing stock-still as Sela held her blade to Ragnar’s throat.

  Ragnar smiled and pointed at her trailing right shoulder that had a small, bleeding cut on it. “It was to first blood…” he mocked, raising an eyebrow.

  Sela looked down and nodded. “You are very skilled, Sir Ragnar. However, we both know I chose not to cut your throat.”

  He bellowed a laugh out and nodded himself. “The competitor in me wishes to call this my win or a draw to save face, but what is left of my honor will not allow that.” He flipped his sword so the point was touching the stone floor and bowed his head, “Well fought, Lady. I concede to your skill and pray we can do it again someday. I have not had a fight like that in millennia.”

  Sela saluted Ragnar with the flat of the Dark Tidings to her forehead. “For my boon, I would like our party to be allowed to pass.”

  Ragnar’s face hardened, and he grimaced before looking around the room. “I have no love for Apep and would love for you to kill that prissy priest Apothis, however can we chat before I let you through?”

  Sela looked confused and glanced back at the group. Rocky nodded warily, expecting a trap and saw Amber, Zippo, and Smith narrow eyes as well. Ragnar also saw their reactions and smiled before holding out his sword to the group. “Do not fear. I will not attack you. Apep forced me into servitude, and I wish only a moment to ask a favor.”

  He handed his sword to Sela and then motioned with his head at the axe. “That weapon is also supposed to be loot for those who kill me. It is yours; I refuse to use the thing anyway!” Rocky raised his eyebrows and waited as the extremely competent warrior seemed to deliberate and grow embarrassed.

  “Spit it out, man,” Amber insisted. “It looks like you are about to ask Sela to prom or something.” Both Sela and Ragnar tilted their heads, confused by the statement. The others chuckled, and Zippo made a disgusted sound.

  “I do wish to have another duel with her in the future. Is this the prom you speak of?” Ragnar asked, confused.

  Amber just shook her head and continued, “Never mind that, just get on with your favor, is what I am saying.”

  Ragnar nodded, and his face actually reddened before he blurted out, “I would ask for saving! It may be pointless, but I would ask that you take my corpse out of here when you leave.” He paused and looked at everyone while taking a deep breath to calm himself. “I have been trapped in servitude to an enemy of mine for far too long and am losing hope for salvation.”

  You have been offered a quest!

  Request

  Party Quest – Request

  Release Ragnar

  Ragnar has asked for a chance at salvation. Find a way to rescue his soul from Apep.

  Rewards:

  Unknown

  Rocky read the pop-up and blinked in surprise at the vagueness of the quest and its origin. He wasn’t sure what he could do for Ragnar, though. “What exactly can we do to save your soul?” he asked hesitantly.

  Ragnar shrugged. “I don’t know. In the past, people have taken my body out of the Dungeons that Apep controls and given me a proper Viking send-off. That never worked, so I am hoping you will try something else.” He looked directly at Rocky. “Maybe this time it will work.”

  Sela looked at Rocky and shrugged before turning back to Ragnar. “We will try, Ragnar, but we are not sure how much longer this Dungeon will take.”

  Ragnar made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Worry not, this is the last boss room before the final floor with Apothis. Be careful with that one, though. He is very devious and will always try to find a way around his Dungeon boss constraints.” At the group’s surprised exclamations, Ragnar looked around, wondering what he revealed to cause the reaction. Then he simply asked, “Did you not know he was a Dungeon boss?”

  Sela shook her head, as did the others a moment after. “That is the only way Apep can give his minions access to new worlds. It causes a relatively large constraint due to the Etherverse laws and additional planetary system laws that are in place, but as you can see, he usually uses the Dungeon to create invading forces and corrupt populaces to his will,” Ragnar explained to them all.

  A brief pause followed before he resumed, “The laws on most planets will only allow him to take a certain number of Dungeons on a surface before he must conquer new Dungeons or Territories to expand. Here on this planet, it is actually a single Dungeon at a time.” His eyebrows rose and he smiled. “I have never seen such well-worded and stringent laws to limit his power before. It is almost like it was written specifically for him… but this planet cannot be too old, so how that is possible, I do not know.”

  Sela was smiling but kept mum about the details, so Rocky and the others followed her lead. “Alright, Ragnar, does Apothis have any weaknesses?” Rocky asked with a bit of hope in his voice.

  “Well, I saw he was low on health when he popped back into the Dungeon a few days ago. So, I assume he has been using his Champions and sacrificing his health,” Ragnar answered quickly while raising a single finger. “That is the only weakness I know of. He is quite a powerful Necromonger with a myriad of spells at his disposal, but he often overuses his Champions for the shock and awe they provide.”

  Then Ragnar chuckled. “The little slimeball also loves to teach every captured servant to be a shadow of his class. I am sure you have met his little dolls already.” The group grew red in the face with anger, realizing he was insulting converted humans. Seeing this, Ragnar laughed harder. “Oh, get off your hill of indignation. They are dead, and their souls belong to Apep. If I can’t make fun of them, who can?”

  The group wasn’t mollified by Ragnar’s uncaring attitude, but they also didn’t make an issue of it after they saw his pained eyes regarding them. “We will destroy him and try to save you, Ragnar,” Sela acknowledged finally, and Ragnar smiled.
>
  He used the same salute again. “May your blood breed true and your line live for generations.” Then in a quick motion that made Rocky jerk forward in an attempt to needlessly defend the group, Ragnar picked up his sword, reversed it, and fell on it.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The group stood stunned as the grating of the door on the other side of the cathedral reverberated into the silence. Rocky stared at the growing pool of blood that was coming from the body of Ragnar and felt mixed emotions. In some ways, this Dungeon boss was his enemy, but it also seemed like Ragnar was another victim of Apep, like many of the people who lived in this particular geographical area of the world. Long moments passed as everyone stood still to assess the suddenness of the situation.

  Sela eventually broke the solemnness, "A true warrior is someone who can give their life for something bigger than themselves." She knelt down and flipped over Ragnar's corpse before closing his eyes. "We will succeed where you have failed, Ragnar."

  Then his corpse vanished, and Rocky felt a small weight added to his bag of holding, and just like that, the group began shifting around as if broken from a trance. Sometimes, the saying 'out of sight and out of mind' is so painfully real, it's terrifying. In this situation, as Amber went and picked up the massive axe and brought it back, Rocky could truly see the moment on everyone’s faces where they were no longer solemn or affected in any way by the sudden death of a man fighting eternity.

  He felt his stomach fall out.

  If we die in this world, will we be forgotten as quickly? Joe, Alex, Oliver, Phil, Patrick, Nick, Jeff, Jack… At this moment, I am starkly aware that millions have already been forgotten.

  During his contemplation, he heard Smith say, “You are some sort of sword-wielding badass! That was very impressive!” This was accompanied by a pat on her shoulder.

  His dour mood was further cut off when Zippo called back from looking into the new open doorway, "Umm, guys, there is no hallway on the other side of this. It's just a solid wall with a lever." The group all turned and slowly made their way over to Zippo's side, where Amber handed over the massive battle axe. Rocky could tell she was struggling with the weight of the object due to her high agility and dexterity build.

  He Analyzed the Sword and the Ax.

  Great Ax of the Vanir

  This Ax is extremely heavy and unwieldy but has an edge that will never dull.

  Quality: Excellent

  Stats: Unknown

  —

  Ragnar’s Longsword

  This sword is far too big to be used as a longsword by most living beings. Its craftmanship and history is ancient.

  Quality: Excellent

  Stats: Unknown

  He blinked at the level of the quality of the items—they were higher than anything else he had seen to date, but since they were locked and unwieldy, he tossed them into his bag unceremoniously. Mid-sigh of disappointment he reached the group who were all studying the ‘exit’.

  A single look at the 'exit' was all it took to see the very obvious lever that was set back in a cubby hole. The bar was ominous only because it was so inviting. After all the traps in the first hallways from the day before, the group just stood there like Zippo, staring at the jutting stone. Rocky cleared his throat and questioned with a slight break in his voice, "So, anyone else for looking around the rest of the room before we pull that thing?"

  The group nodded, but before they dispersed, Sela put up her hand. "I will take a look at the lever and see if it is obviously trapped."

  For the next forty-five minutes, the group checked the entire room, looking at weapon racks, cracks in the floor, walls, and even examining the ceiling, but they found nothing. Sela spent ten minutes studying the lever before she had joined the group with a shrug to Rocky. “The lever looks trap free, at least in the immediate area around it.”

  That's how a sweaty, nervous Rocky found himself looking at his clone, who was implying he should kiss his butt while simultaneously holding the lever and glaring at the group. "You sure no one has any rope?" he muttered, thinking about every Dungeons and Dragons campaign he was ever in.

  No wonder an adventurer’s pack always has rope.

  Knowing he had the bag of holding and that if anyone should have brought rope, it was him, Rocky grit his teeth and apologized mentally to his clone. With one last glance at the group, the clone pulled the lever and sprinted out of the alcove. A heavy, grating sound of a gear sliding against an internal mechanism sounded and was followed by an ominous silence.

  The heavy breathing of the group could be heard as everyone looked around to try to spot something that changed. A massive crack sounded, and all heads jerked to fix on a spot just outside the alcove. Where the wall met the ground, a split was forming and expanding horizontally, starting out slowly, but then the ground they stood on trembled and jerked down half a foot. Everyone cried out in shock, and Rocky could hear someone screaming very loudly.

  The jerking motion changed instantly to a steady descent, accompanied by the grating of stone. Sela punched Rocky in the arm. "Stop screaming and scaring me! Idiot…" she teased, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

  That scream definitely sounded feminine. I won't put it past myself to scream that way but…

  Rocky laughed, trying to get rid of the nerves from the moment before, as the massive stone elevator lowered them ever deeper into the earth. Zippo, who was very pale, stuttered, "My heart feels like it wants out of my chest."

  Smith chimed in, “I knew it was an elevator all along.” He was grinning broadly in his best impression of a comedian.

  Amber looked around. “I thought we were all going to die a horrible death!” she added with particular emphasis, which killed the mood, and everyone groaned while glaring at the oblivious woman.

  “What?” She asked cluelessly

  They pulled some trail rations out of the bag of holding as the elevator continued its descent deeper, and the group all ate distractedly as they rode it down.

  It continued deeper still as the group handed back the wrappers to Rocky who put them back in the bag. At one point, Zippo left the group to pee on the wall, which left a rather amusing watermark that continued up as they fell away.

  Rocky was examining the trail because at about ten feet away from Zippo, the water just seemed to vanish as something absorbed it. It was a good piece of information to know about Dungeons and the distance away from objects, creatures, bodies, or loot that you had to be before it absorbed them. Then he considered if that was true of all Dungeons or was unique to each one.

  He stumbled as the elevator slowed down and continued to apply unseen brakes until it jerked to a stop. The group looked around and held their breath. If Rocky was to estimate, they could be a few kilometers under the crust, and the atmosphere both mentally and physically felt heavy.

  Once his senses acclimated to the depth, he heard dripping water and could smell the pungent, cloying odor of sulfur heavy on the air. There was a tunnel that exited the room in the same place as the lever had been above. Rocky tilted his head and broke the onerous silence, “Take a look around the room. There should be another lever to go back up.”

  The group did so, and it was Zippo who again found the lever, which made the group sigh in relief. It appeared that they had an exit if needed. Sela looked at the door and asked, "It looks like there is a fire of some sort burning in there?"

  As they exited the elevator room, Rocky immediately found the fire. It appeared that this level had some sort of lighting installment that looked strangely like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. The right turn in the hallway made it impossible to see further into the other rooms, but what Rocky could see of the first room made his stomach do a few somersaults. The 'hallway' wasn't actually a hallway. It was a door that opened up into another room. The room had a pathway that was raised up from the ground, and below the path was murky, bubbling water.

  He sucked on his teeth as he looked at the cloudy, steam
ing water and considered, from his position now on the left side of the doorway, he could see another door that led out of the room to the right. Rocky circled his position and saw another door that led left once he reached the right side of the exit. It would appear it was a maze of some sort with some sort of incentive to not fall off the pathway.

  He used Analyze on the water and was surprised when it did return information.

  Deuterium Oxide

  This substance used to be water, but due to its heavy use as a coolant, it is now something different. This substance is highly irradiated and is boiling hot. Its effects are unknown. Further study is needed to gain sufficient information on its full list of properties.

  Maybe jump in and see what it does?

  Rocky raised an eyebrow and shook his head before speaking the obvious, "Let's not fall into the boiling, heavy water." Luckily, Rocky had some idea what the substance was after reading the description. It was the water that had been used in cooling the nuclear power plant, and he felt himself shudder thinking about the radiation they were all standing in.

  Luckily, the Atlantian system would have warned him if it was detrimental, and a quick double-check of his de-buff bar showed nothing new. At least it was one less thing to worry about, but he doubted that falling into the substance would be kind to his health and de-buff bar.

  Sela nodded and asked her customary, “Is everyone ready?”

  At everyone’s stiff nods, she began the slow study of the doorway and the floor just inside of it. As she stepped over the threshold, a loud pang reverberated through the air, and she grimaced. It echoed off the walls, and the audible noises of surprise that followed it made the group’s eyes widen. It wasn’t the harsh, crude noises of aggressive monsters but the sharp intake of breath from human beings that made the group weary.