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

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Boss abilities integrated with your abilities.

  ***

  Available abilities:

  Summons. Description: Summon 50 level 12 creatures for 1 minute. Recharge time: 5 minutes.

  Hypnosis. Description: Influence the minds of all creatures in the dungeon with willpower less than level 80 and force them to come to you. When they reach the boss, they are swallowed alive. Duration: continuous.

  Trembling earth. Description: Cause a local earthquake that destroys 50% of the dungeon. Single use.

  Gurval’s spittle. Description: Shoot a sticky, corrosive substance that envelops and immobilizes opponents. Can erode defenses through level 6.

  Grenade blocker. Description: Passive ability. Keep explosive devices from exploding using your willpower. No game grenades can detonate in the main cave. (Note! This does not apply to mines, and your opponents have been informed.)

  I swallowed hard. Somewhere in the background, a glimmer of hope appeared, and I reached out for it with both hands. The rows of buttons and information windows danced in front of me, though I didn’t take my eyes off the one for hypnosis. I couldn’t decide whether or not to press it. And it wasn’t fear or excitement; I just wanted the moment to wait as long as possible. Checking out the other windows, I noticed a video feed, presumably from the creature’s eyes, or whatever passed for them. The feed moved to focus on one of the ways into the cave when I mentally pulled a lever. There were shadows there — Seven’s players had showed up without waiting for their leader. Chuckling evilly and holding my breath, I pressed a button. Shall we?

  Give in… You’re weak… Give in… You’re weak…

  It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that as a player, though I’d never had the chance to be the one saying it. A new window popped up — eighteen players had been hypnotized. Not bad for the first try! I hit the next button.

  Give in… Come here… Give in… Come here…

  The players didn’t have a shot. None of their friends, the ones who were able to stand up to the boss’ summons, jumped in to stop them or knock them to the ground. Instead, jerking around like marionettes, they got to the boss and crunched unpleasantly. I was more than happy not to watch them get swallowed up.

  Seven’s platform appeared from around the corner, and I quickly fired a glob of spit at it. The boss jerked, something white flying out, though it kept right on digesting the hypnotized players in the meantime. I wasn’t sure what it did with the energy it got from them — there weren’t any bars or values to check. Anyway, whatever, what about that shot?

  The platform froze for a second before perking back up and diving around the corner. All I had time to see were the arms getting to work pulling the sticky substance off it. I sighed heavily. There wasn’t anything else I could to do Seven, and summoning the creatures right then seemed like a waste. But as the robot dove around the corner, I did notice a few deep gashes in its body. If I can land another hit, would that bring it down? It was worth a try.

  Raptor finally gave me something, proving how indispensable it was over short distances. A few red dots coming over to the boss from the other side grabbed my attention. While I’d been working on the general’s spawn for a few seconds, its fighters had taken the time to try and outflank me. If I’d actually been the boss or not had a powerful scanner at my disposable, I probably wouldn’t have noticed them. They’d hidden themselves almost flawlessly. But only almost flawlessly.

  The boss couldn’t see the targets, so it was basically guesswork. I even thought I sensed the creature complaining about wasted ammunition. But as soon as the substance it was spitting hit home, all was forgotten — instead of splattering on the rocks, it hit two bodies. The cave resounded with the wild screams of players being eaten alive. And they couldn’t even move, as the spittle held them tighter than dry resin. Their invisibility went first, followed by their armor, and then the spittle ate through their skin and all the way to their bones. I saw the whole thing happen, though the only thought that went through my mind was that shooting players with the spittle was costing me money. By destroying their outfits, the substance destroyed the coins I would have gotten from them, too.

  I had to shoot three more times before the players smartened up — they weren’t going to get close enough to set a mine. At that point, they switched tactics, tossing mines right into the room and triggering them as they flew through the air. The fact that they weren’t grenades meant the move wasn’t against the rules. But I had my agility and pistol shooting, so I caught them in midair, shooting them down and tossing them back into the tunnels. In fact, I was able to cover both tunnels at once by staring at a point between them and relying on Raptor as well as my peripheral vision.

  Half an hour went by before I got another message:

  15 players entered the dungeon, synchronization complete.

  Hypnosis kept on working in the background, though none of the newcomers succumbed. That’s a shame… Seven was apparently bringing in the heavy artillery. But that’s when something strange happened — everyone started ignoring the boss. No more mines came flying in, nobody tried to creep into the cave, and nobody flashed by the entrances. Instead, they all started roaming the rest of the tunnels looking for the fugitive. I heard explosions, shots, shouts, and odd howls that curdled the blood in my veins and gave me the urge to take off running. It was only the hulk pressing down on me from above that kept me in place. And when it all climaxed in an enormous detonation, the ground shook, and rocks dropped from the ceiling. The wave of fire coming from the mines was so powerful that the remnants even reached the cave I was in.

  “He’s still alive!” someone shouted in surprise, and somebody appeared in one of the tunnels. Without a second thought, I fired off a blob of spittle. The body was dragged away and pulled out of the armor, but it was too late. The acid worked so quickly that it got through the suit and into the vital organs before anyone could do anything. That was one more down, totaling twenty-four the boss had taken out for me. That wasn’t bad for a cornered player, and I only had to hold out for another two hours. Time was on my side.

  Seven had that on his mind, as well.

  “So, he wasn’t in either of the other caves. Are you sure you didn’t miss a camouflaged passageway?”

  “Even if he were in one, the explosion would have taken care of him,” one of the fighters replied. The conversation was happening right outside the cave, which let me listen in. It was just a shame they weren’t inside — I had some spittle primed and ready to go.

  “You checked?”

  “No, but… I mean, it makes sense. Dungeons have a standard structure — there’s nowhere to make extra passageways.”

  “I told you to check! That’s an order.”

  Chills ran down my spine when I heard emotions creep into the robot’s voice. They were metallic, alien, and lifeless, but they were there. The troops dashed off immediately — Raptor showed more than half of them rushing away from the cave before they disappeared out of range. But Seven had more orders.

  “Mark Derwin could be in this cave. He’s unpredictable, so we have to take out the boss. Make it happen.”

  That order was again emotionless, with none of the players there for my blood capable of turning it down. And even with how prepared I was, they had a surprise for me. A group appeared from around the corner behind the protection of some kind of force field. My spittle just slid off it, hissing and sizzling on the ground. Not only that, but the players were snapping back — the boss’ body jerked as the chunks of energy slapped into it. Killing a level nine boss with a single shot was impossible, but knocking hefty chunks of health off was much more feasible. Raptor even started letting me know that things were dire. Another thirty seconds, and my marionette was going to meet its maker.

  In that case… It was time for phase two.

  Another teeth-rattling howl rang through the dungeon, only that time it didn’t have any effect on me. Two timers appeared in front of me, t
he first how long the summoned creatures had to live, and the second the recharge time. My little helpers looked like level one changed, modified dogs fed a diet of steroids and tossed out into the street. Jaws clacking, the pack split into two groups and dashed at the players. A hubbub burst out, with cries, shots, explosions, and another howl — my brain spun as I tried to cope with the avalanche of information I was being fed. Losing track of it all for a second, I wasn’t able to react. The first ten minions were killed thanks to me — when I gave the command for them to head forward, I didn’t think they would just bang right into the shield. I was assuming they’d try to go around it. On the other hand, once their numbers had dropped, I found it much easier to control them. Five dogs at each tunnel took on the shields to make sure the players there couldn’t relax; the rest headed for the flanks. It was perfect. The players definitely weren’t expecting the animals to ignore the obstacles they’d set up, and that let me finally see the machines they’d used to force all the monsters to the entrance of the dungeon. They were transmitters set on the back of enormous specimens a head taller than anyone else. The same characters were controlling the force fields.

  If I hadn’t pulled the maneuver with the dogs, summoning them probably would have come to naught. But as it was… A bloodthirsty smile crept across my face when the first monster crashed to the ground, downed by the dogs. Other fighters immediately jumped in, quickly taking out a few dogs, but that was my opening. The shield the monster had been generating dropped along with it. The boss began spitting away, not much caring who it hit. With just a minute to live, it didn’t matter if some of the dogs were taken out by friendly fire.

  New players began to appear from around the corner, the ones that had been sent to check the rest of the dungeon. Things were looking bad for the dogs — of the original fifty, I was down to ten. Shield-bearers appeared to cover their comrades and save at least a few of them from the acid the boss was spitting. And that, I decided, was the moment to bring my final weapon to bear.

  Trembling earth.

  The button disappeared, and the entire area suddenly fell eerily silent. The battle was still going on, but I couldn’t hear it. After they’d polished off the dogs, the players had split into two groups shielded from my spit by shields. At the same time, bolts of energy had resumed smacking into the boss’ body. But everything happened in complete silence.

  Then, thunder roared.

  That was the only way I could describe it. The dungeon shook so violently that even I was tossed around under the body of the hulk sitting on top of me. For a second, I was lost to reality, and when the aftershocks died away, the picture I got forced a gasp out of me. Almost nothing was left of the dungeon’s internal walls. Enormous stone slabs were lying on the floor, the final resting place of many of the players. But only many of them — my old friend was still standing there. Seven’s protection had stood up to the avalanche, and it decided to jump in while the boss was still recovering. Wing-like platforms appeared at its sides to send rockets hissing through the air.

  I didn’t have time to react. The boss didn’t spit, needing more time to recover, and hypnosis was useless against Seven. The dogs were long gone. With a flash of fire, I lost the connection to the boss.

  You lost the single combat.

  Player RN554-7 beat Gurval’s Trail.

  ***

  You destroyed 58 players while controlling the boss.

  Level +58 (287).

  There was no more video, so all I could do was listen as Seven started pulling back the fallen boulders. Judging by the screams, some of the players pinned beneath them were still alive. Finally, I heard the robot bark an order.

  “Clear the mines at the entrance right now — another hundred players are on their way. We need to take out all this rock and find Mark Derwin. He survived. Again. But for the last time.”

  Chapter 17

  MY CHEST tightened in frustration. Those overjuiced bastards! I’d had all kinds of plans for the boss, and Seven had taken him out with a snap of its fingers like some kind of unfortunate misunderstanding. A few rockets, and that was all she wrote. The dungeon was beaten. Of course, I appreciated picking up the levels, but what was the point if I was next in line?

  Or maybe, they won’t find me. The voice that rang out gave me hope. Someone was reporting back to Seven.

  “We checked every nook and cranny. He isn’t here. Not in the walls, not in the ceiling, not on the floor. Either he’s somewhere in the tunnels, or he left the dungeon.”

  “Impossible. Five is keeping an eye on the entrance, so Mark can’t get out even if he uses invisibility. He’s here. He’s definitely here. There’s no such thing as miracles; there’s only stupidity and unverified information. We have to find him.”

  “There’s no such thing as miracles? After that battle, nothing would surprise me. There aren’t that many ultras who can take out all those players, especially at their level. And this was a simple boss in a simple dungeon.”

  “Get to work. Mark is still alive. Check every nook, every tunnel one more time. He found a niche and camouflaged it somehow. Go through the cave again, everything the same as the first time, and report back every hour. Go.”

  Whoever had been chatting with Seven headed off. The boss’ bulk was driving me crazy, though it was also my salvation. Soon, I heard another voice, and my heartrate picked up when I recognized it.

  “So, things aren’t so great around here.” Villian was openly mocking the robot. “I’ll admit, I was wrong — we meet again. Five doesn’t like how long you’re taking. Show me the video of what happened.”

  There was a couple minutes of silence. I was even able to get my breathing and heartrate back down to normal by the time Villian started talking again.

  “Okay, got it. You don’t understand anything, of course.”

  “What should we be understanding, mercenary?”

  “Just to take one thing, Mark was here in this cave controlling the boss until at least the final explosion. You can’t be more than ten meters away to connect to its functionality — he had to be right up next to it. Take a screenshot five seconds before the explosion. See that rock? I think that’s Mark. Camouflage is everything to him.”

  “You can’t control bosses!” Seven was stooping to emotions yet again, though Villian just snorted.

  “Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean it can’t be true. Sure, not all bosses can be controlled, and not all players can control them, but a simple dungeon like this is easy enough when you have the skills Derwin does. That’s funny… I can sense him, and pretty close, too. No more than sixty meters away… Ah, it’s a shame there aren’t any walls here — that would make finding him so much easier.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “As painful as it is to admit this, Mark’s camouflage is better than anyone we could get here in the time we have. That means we’re going to have to be painstaking about how we do this. I’m sure about myself, so I’ll need to check you. And then I’ll have to personally scour every rock, and if we still can’t find him, we’ll blow up the dungeon. That will take fifteen hundred mines. Can you handle that?”

  “The general approved a loan,” Seven replied after a pause. “If we haven’t found Mark an hour from now, I’ll buy the mines.”

  “Excellent. In that case, don’t move. We’ll start by checking you.”

  “A complete scan?”

  “If we need to, though I think we can stick to looking for foreign mechanisms.”

  A minute went by before Villian said anything else.

  “You’re clean. Don’t move — let me check your undercarriage. Okay, nobody there, either. Now we need to be careful. I’m going to get rid of the boss, and I want you to immediately take its place. That’s the only way we have of sticking you where Mark definitely isn’t. I’m not sure about the rest of the ground. I’ll have to check it — Mark is tricky.”

  “Your methods are unusual, but I’ll go alo
ng with them. Find him.”

  The boss’ hulk evaporated, and I just about had a panic attack as I instantly activated my invisibility. But it turned out to be unnecessary, as Seven’s platform came slamming down on top of me. It was even worse — the boss had been lighter.

  “Are you sitting right down on the stone?” Villian asked with groan. It was apparently bending over to check. “Excellent. You took the boss’ spot, which means Mark definitely can’t be underneath you. I’ll take care of the rest of the ground myself. Get rid of everyone else so they don’t bother me and throw up your protection. It’s going to get awfully toasty around here.”

  Villian wasn’t lying. There was a strange hiss, a bubbling, and a gurgling, and then the stone I was lying on began to heat up. And while it was easy enough at first, it got worse and worse with each passing second until I started feeling the burn. And that’s with Ulbaron and my impenetrable skin! I would have started fidgeting if it hadn’t been for Seven turning on its protection and really pinning me down. There was barely room to breathe. I’d been through a similar hell, if not so hot, and it was only three minutes later, with the stars in my vision spinning, and space around me beginning to swirl, that the torture stopped. Seven turned off its protection. I took a deep breath, no longer caring if anyone heard me.