Pearl of the South (World of the Changed Book #2): LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  I felt nothing. Again, people were dying. Again, it was my fault. I could worry about that later. On the other hand, what I did realize was that I needed to catch the players on their way between villages rather than in the act of killing the villagers.

  That was easy enough.

  Drone found three vehicles packed with players. They were heading toward a town, having just finished up with a village. Judging by their shouts and laughter, they were in a great mood, definitely not expecting any retaliation. Makes sense. Who in their right mind would risk going after thirty of them together?

  Buying the mines and remote controls cost me six hundred and sixty thousand coins. I just wished it had cost another six thousand — that nice little number would have described the situation perfectly. Without even stopping, I flew overhead and dropped a couple mines into each vehicle, the lot of them detonating before the players could even figure out what was going on. There was no sense stopping for the phones. And I ignored the rockets slamming into the ground behind me. Five was reacting to my movements, though it was having a hard time predicting them.

  Oh, hey, I can use that!

  I banked hard to the right. The first dungeon was just a kilometer away, and Drone told me Seven was there standing guard. Before I even got close, I saw the platform hovering above the shimmering film that marked the dungeon’s entrance. And judging by the antennas whirling around, the robot was keeping close tabs on everything going on in the vicinity. The red dots right by the entrance to the dungeon were intriguing, though I didn’t have time for them. I’ll figure out who that is if I survive. Zelda didn’t have much time left, so I needed to make a decision.

  Improvise or make a run for it? That was a silly question. The only places I could run to were where they were slaughtering humans on an epic scale, which left the way forward as the only one for me.

  I bet everything on the element of surprise. Valkyrie gave me 10% values across the robot’s entire body — its reserve and auxiliary systems were apparently all being pushed to the max. Accelerating, I soared toward Seven like Superman, the hand holding my pistol thrust forward. Valkyrie kicked as it launched a burst at my opponent, and…

  The energy was swallowed up by an invisible force field. I had the presence of mind to wheel off to the side, continuing to fire as I did, but a shadow appeared next to Seven. My perception told me immediately who it was. Villian, the Tsarter leader. The robot fired off rockets, and I had to turn hard to the side. I was forced to turn my fire on them, too. Villian shot off after me, its flight skill much better than mine, at least judging by its speed. Ignoring the fear, I pushed my drives as hard as they would go, not forgetting to continue shooting at the mercenary. But while it was possible to harm the robot, Valkyrie was useless against level 22 named items.

  The alien was gaining on me. Nobody shot in my direction; it just got closer and closer. Icy fingers gripped my chest — as soon as Villian got within range, it was going to hack into my suit, block me, and finish the whole charade. That was why nobody was in a hurry. Even my invisibility proved pointless, as Villian just mirrored my aerobatics without falling behind in the least. To the contrary, he came ever closer.

  My brain frantically searched for a solution. I have to even the odds. The only shot I had was if I could do something about the incredible advantage Villian’s levels gave it and —

  The dungeon!

  The solution came so suddenly that I nearly lost track of where I was, and my opponents were able to gain more ground. A kilometer away, the shimmering entrance to the second dungeon beckoned. The game would even us out at level 15 — the alien wouldn’t be able to hack me. Sure, I wouldn’t be able to hack it, either, but that was secondary. Most importantly, I was an infiltrator. And a demolitions expert, damn it! Where better to show off what I could do with explosions than in the closed space of an underground labyrinth? The game was on my side, too. Soon, all the other players would be forced out of the location. I just had to survive four more hours.

  The tree rushed toward me. It was scary how fast it came, in fact — I knew I only had one shot. Raptor told me Villian was in range and already trying to hack my protection. The probability wasn’t great at just 15%. His levels totaled 475; mine were 400… Where did that bastard find the cash? Just the jump from 100 to 110 was enough to bankrupt anyone, and it had all four of its attributes up nearly to 120. They’re probably not even primary… It was a lot.

  Another mine appeared in my hands, and I cursed as I flew into the tree roots. There was no time to hit the brakes, and I swooped into the shimmering film at full speed. The space around me blurred for a few moments as the narrow tunnel appeared, only that didn’t slow me down, either. I was carried forward, throwing monsters right and left as I went. Or are they spiders? I couldn’t tell.

  A sharp turn appeared in front of me. Realizing I wasn’t going to be able to stop or get around it, I just threw out my arms to take the hit. There was an unpleasant crunch, and the mine dropped out of hand as it went limp. But my head still hit hard. I lost consciousness for a few seconds, and when I woke back up, I noticed a spider trying to bite through Ulbaron. The futility of its efforts had enraged it to the point that it let out a squeal. Again, my arms snapped, that time as the bones slipped back into place, and I howled. There was both pain and frustration in my voice. How had nobody thought to add painkillers to the game? Why did the players have to deal with all the joys the creator’s twisted imagination had for them?

  Valkyrie leaped into my mangled palm, and I had to activate it mentally. My fingers weren’t moving yet. Although, to be fair, I had expected more damage. The collision was a hefty one, and Ulbaron wasn’t the lightest piece of equipment. Could that be my steel bones finally coming in handy?

  Congratulations!

  You’re the first player in this location to enter Gurval’s Trail.

  1 free attribute point available.

  Level +1 (229).

  ***

  10 players entered the dungeon, synchronization complete.

  The messages appeared right when I shot the spider. While I couldn’t see where the mine was, I could sense it, and so I activated it before dashing off down the tunnel. I needed to hide.

  “Ah, so that’s how you boost dungeon levels!” I heard Villian’s voice echoing down the passageway. “Personified noa. That was a mistake, Mark Derwin — I’m sure you knew about that. Well… Just means we don’t need you anymore. I suggest we use the dagger.”

  “Agreed!” The second voice belonged to Seven. “Five gave us the go-ahead. Mark Derwin won’t be getting out of the dungeon alive.”

  Chapter 16

  “I IMAGINE you’ll be fine on your own. You won’t need my help, will you?”

  Villian was speaking in a low voice, but the echo still carried throughout the entire dungeon. Seven’s reply did, too.

  “No, we’ll be okay. The general appreciates your help, Villian Po. Your time in the hexagon has been approved despite the failure. Give me the dagger — I want to try it out on Mark.”

  “Smart idea. Here you go. Just remember, it doesn’t work on corpses — you have to grab Derwin, and then you can stick him with this thing. Anyway, I won’t distract you. You only have four hours left.”

  “We’ll only need one. See you, Villian Po.”

  “Goodbye, robot with the unpronounceable name.” I could hear sarcasm in the Tsarter leader’s voice. “I imagine this will be our last meeting — I don’t have any more reason to be in your hexagon.”

  The conversation ended there, replaced by the measured footfalls of the players marching deeper into the dungeon.

  “Mine!” one yelled. Everyone froze, waiting for direction from Seven.

  “Pull back so we can — ”

  The general’s spawn wanted to detonate it, but it was too late. Unwilling to let my property go to waste, I triggered it myself. The dungeon shook, a wall of fire roared down the tunnel, and the players found it suddenly nice and toa
sty. At least one of them turned out to be made of flesh and bone. Fire didn’t bother robots, but the shriek of pain was a joy to hear. Sadly, I didn’t get a kill, but I at least did damage.

  29 players entered the dungeon, synchronization complete.

  A bot suddenly ran by, eyes bugging out and legs pounding. Another one followed it. And then another. I stepped to the side, letting the herd rumble by. None of them touched me; presumably, none of them even noticed me. Their attention was focused entirely on the entrance and the group of players who’d entered — from what I could tell, the monsters were rushing over from throughout the entire dungeon, beckoned by some kind of summons. I was even pinned to the wall a couple times as thick worms appeared out of nowhere to inch by. From the direction of the players, I heard shots, explosions, and unpleasant guffaws. Why run around the narrow tunnels when you can just have everything come to you? It wasn’t a bad ability. Or was it an ability? I assumed Seven had some kind of device that did the summoning. I want one of those…

  It took Seven and its henchmen a tick more than five minutes to clear the first round. And it would have been faster if it hadn’t been for some of the bots crawling too slowly to keep up. When one earthworm big enough to swallow me whole wiggled by, I hooked a mine onto it. But that didn’t end up giving me anything. The robot had professionals at the entrance, and one of them shouted a warning as soon as the worm appeared. The group immediately began firing away at it, following up with some grenades. I ended up just triggering the mine and scattering internal organs around the tunnel. Of course, they disappeared a couple minutes later when the game kicked out a message:

  You destroyed the first round of monsters.

  The dungeon has been updated, monster levels bumped up twice (current level: 3).

  Before I could blink, there was another stampede down the tunnel. The bots that time were pale ghouls capable of freezing my blood with their howls despite the protection Ulbaron offered me. Still, they didn’t present an obstacle for my pursuers. Seven had brought in a powerful arsenal, and it was when a horrifying beast made up of ten interwoven bodies rushed by that I realized I had to get moving. With the second round done, the general’s spawn was going to move right on to the third, the fourth… That group wouldn’t have a problem with a hundred rounds! They were in a great position even the boss would have a hard time attacking. And that meant I needed to find a good hiding spot while they were still busy, as I suspected they were going to start work clearing the dungeon with their grenades as soon as they ran out of bots.

  And that was a problem I needed to take care of quickly.

  The narrow passageways and the niches that lined them were out of the question. If a grenade went off next to one of them, I would have been fried even wearing Ulbaron. Or baked? Cooking was never my thing. Regardless, I needed an open area, and there weren’t many of them in the dungeon: two small caves and one big one.

  You destroyed the second round of monsters.

  The dungeon has been updated, monster levels bumped up twice (current level: 5).

  Damn it! They were so fast. Too fast. The monsters raced past toward the entrance yet again, hurrying to answer the call and blocking my path. The smaller caves were just barely bigger than a basketball court, and I couldn’t find a good hiding spot no matter how much I scanned. The rocks there weren’t big enough to keep me safe from a wall of fire. That just leaves the main cave.

  I got luckier there. It wasn’t as big as a soccer field, of course, though it was at least three or four times as big as the other two. And for the time being, it was empty. The previous round of monsters had all run off; the new round hadn’t spawned, yet. And there were plenty of crevices around the edge where I could hide and wait out the clock. But still, I ignored them — Seven was no fool. It was also able to think, and as soon as it finished killing off all the monsters and showed up in the main cave, it would know exactly where to find me. A few mines or grenades, and I would have been blown to smithereens right along with my hiding spot.

  And that meant I had to hide somewhere nobody would guess. Right out in the open. For example, how about the middle of the cave?

  It wasn’t the greatest of ideas, but my exhausted brain couldn’t think of anything better. The cave floor was perfectly even and didn’t react in the least to Valkyrie. Every shot was swallowed up, flakes skipping off to the side as though laughing at me. And so, I was forced to head back to the store and make a purchase with a heavy heart.

  Vibroknife V-VI. Description: Ignores all types of armor through level 6. Blocks regeneration through level 6. Blocks 2 random abilities. Rendered inert by magnetic fields. Requirements: Melee weapons (60), agility (60), strength (60), monster knowledge (70), anatomy master (70), resilience (60). Cost: 4440000 coins.

  My heart practically stopped when I turned over the enormous sum, though there was no way around it. I needed something to dig with, and while Fang was temporarily — or even permanently — unavailable, I needed a replacement. That left just a bit over two million in my account. Or, as I’d taken to calculating it, twenty thermal mines. Of course, it was silly to count in mines, but that was the place my life was at right then. Ha! Twenty whole mines! That wasn’t even enough to blow up half the dungeon.

  You destroyed the third round of monsters.

  The dungeon has been updated, monster levels bumped up twice (current level: 7).

  Things went much faster with the vibroknife. The stone couldn’t stand up to it in the least, and I soon had huge chunks flying to the side. Of course, I did have to pause when the next wave of monsters rushed past. Just like the two previous rounds, they dashed right off toward the dungeon entrance, and I waited for them to leave before going back to my hole. Once it was finished, I collected the debris and hauled it over to a small niche in the wall. I worked on that until it no longer looked suspicious, at which point I headed back over to lie down in my hole and activate everything I had for camouflage. It was just a shame I didn’t have Drone nearby to give me a third-person view of how I looked. Anyway, I was still going through with it — I hadn’t been able to come up with anything better.

  You destroyed the fourth round of monsters.

  The dungeon has been updated, monster levels bumped up twice (current level: 9).

  Final round. Single combat.

  Suddenly, it got dark and hard to breathe. It felt like a slab of granite was pinning me to the ground, not letting me move so much as a finger. And as I panicked, it was hard to keep myself from making a move. Raptor scanned the area and told me what the hell had just happened — the dungeon boss had appeared right on top of me, pinning me down with its imposing girth. If it hadn’t been for the hole I’d dug, I would have been pancaked on the spot. The creature must have weighed several tons. Now I see why the cave is so big. It had to be for such a monster to live there.

  Ulbaron helped me through the first few seconds and then adjusted, adding some strength. Sadly, that didn’t make things much better. The boss was in no hurry to answer Seven’s call, enjoying its spot on top of me. It probably isn’t even able to leave. It’s hard to go anywhere when you’re half mushroom.

  Once I decided that nothing that bad was going to happen, I used device control to scan the area. I needed to know when my guests were going to be showing up. Despite its 170-meter range, Raptor was acting up inside the dungeon.

  You’re trying to hack the defenses of the Gurval’s Trail boss.

  Sum total of your skill levels: 410 (device control: 100, hacking: 110, perception: 100, anatomy master: 100).

  Sum total of the Gurvail’s Trail boss’ skill levels: 200 (hacking protection: 50, resistance: 50, resilience: 50, willpower: 50).

  Probability of successful hack: 51.22% (1 — 200/410).

  Attempt 1… Successful.

  ***

  You gained access to the dungeon boss.

  Would you like to destroy it?

  My jaw practically dropped. In fact, it was a good thing I w
as pinned down by the beast’s bulk — that was all that saved me from a dislocation. Of course, I don’t want to destroy it!

  Would you like access to the boss control functionality?

  Note! If you accept, you will no longer be able to receive a reward for beating the dungeon.

  Screw the reward! I wanted to control that thing. Here I am with assassins coming after me, and I’m playing games…but screw that, too! I’d take care of them when they showed up. In the meantime, I studied the functionality I’d just gained access to.

  You are controlling the dungeon boss.