“He’s not here,” Villian said in a confused voice. “I don’t get it… From what I can tell, this is where he should be.”
“Seems strange to me, as well,” Seven replied.
“Where are you going?” Villian asked suddenly. “Until I find the guy, you aren’t going anywhere. Oh, by the way, clear the area around you with lightning every thirty seconds. That will knock even him out of invisibility.”
“Like this?” Seven asked, and my heart practically stopped. Spasms gripped my body; for a few seconds, thinking was out of the question. Raptor told me my camouflage was gone. If the platform hadn’t been sitting on top of me, I would have been spotted without a doubt.
“That’s perfect! If Mark tries to sneak up on you, he’ll be a goner. Okay, I need half an hour. Don’t forget — every thirty seconds. It’s important…”
Important was right. The time split for me into two parts: five seconds of hell, during which my heart stopped beating, and my body did its best to lift the platform, and then twenty-five seconds spent cursing everyone and everything as I waited for the next round. The robot worked with clock-like precision. There wasn’t a single delay, the hits coming every thirty seconds exactly.
I stopped thinking about what was going on in the dungeon after ten electric shocks. Before that point, I was hearing the shouts, orders, and explosions, but they all gave way to a focus on survival. In fact, if I’d had the opportunity, I would have gladly given myself up. All I wanted was for the torture to stop. But nobody was listening to me, and when my consciousness returned, there was a new round waiting for it. Around and around we went for thirty minutes.
I didn’t notice when it stopped. Bracing itself for the next hit, my body was surprised when it didn’t come. I didn’t even really listen to whoever was talking in the background. Still acting on reflex, I laid there in frozen expectation until it occurred to me a minute and a half later that I’d missed three rounds. The torture was over, and I was finally able to hear what was going on.
“…everything here. That’s the only way we’ll be able to smoke him out.” The voice belonged to Villian.
“The general approved the loan, so I’ll start forming the mines,” Seven said. I heard metal clanging down onto the rocks.
“Easy, you useless hunk of iron,” the mercenary shouted angrily. “The explosives need to be set exactly like this. They’ll destroy everything here, and Mark won’t have a shot at surviving.”
“Fair enough. That will take twenty minutes.”
“In that case, there’s nothing else for me to do here. Finish up and get out. Oh, and…I have a personal question for you — do you need these players? I checked them all myself, but Mark is too unpredictable. He might be able to replace someone. Five is checking everyone at the exit, but…”
“Understood, Villian Po,” the robot replied after a short pause. “I’m not attached to my servants. I can always get more, so go ahead. The dungeon will be mined exactly the way you said.”
Yet another chill ran down my spine. Are you kidding me? With the unlimited resources at their disposal, the bastards had decided to destroy the entire dungeon just so I couldn’t hide out there for the remaining couple hours. It’s just a good thing they don’t have one of Verloven’s pool balls. I was going to have to do something. Mess things up for them? That wasn’t going to work — as soon as I got into a pitched battle, Villian and Five would show up. I need to get out somehow. But the how was the question.
Raptor’s report popped up again. It had scanned Seven long before, finding all the robot’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition, it had found something interesting: there were cavities in the platform. Two were storages, and one was an empty slot for an expansion. Seven had apparently decided not to find something for it. Regardless, there was enough room for an average-sized person to fit. Someone like me.
No, that’s crazy… How can I risk it? It’s… I didn’t have the words to describe how ridiculous the idea was.
Although…
If I decided to give it a try, the biggest question was how to get inside. That’s impossible!
Any of the storages on the sides of the platform offered access to the hollow. And the storages in turn were accessed by small hatches turned toward Seven. Even if I were able to get past the robot using invisibility, how would it not notice one of the hatches opening all of a sudden? That would have looked awfully suspicious to me.
Wow…this is a tough one. And I had to find an answer in just a couple minutes.
“We’re done with the far areas,” one of the players replied. “Should we start mining in here?”
“Yes,” Seven replied. The platform shuddered, and I gripped the small protrusions with arms and legs. Any quick movement would have shaken me off, but Seven liked to keep things smooth. The platform took off half a meter above the ground and headed toward the exit. Activating my invisibility and leaning my head back to see where we were going, I just about smashed face-first into a rock — there wasn’t much room under the robot. But that gave me an idea. Two hundred thousand coins later, I had two mines at my disposal. How else I am going to distract Seven’s attention from the open hatches? Of course, by giving it something more important to think about. I let go of the platform, crashed to the ground, and waited for it to completely clear me. Once it was past, I activated the mines. One got a ticket far back the way we’d come, over where the boss had once stood, while the second found a spot near the robot. Jumping to my feet, I dashed forward, counting down the final seconds.
“Mines!” The players reacted instantly, though there just wasn’t enough time for them to handle them. Everyone dashed back, with Seven shooting forward, exactly the way I’d been planning for it to happen. The platform banged against some rocks, it groaned like a creaky old washtub, and two things happened at the same time.
The first was that the mines burned through their fuses and exploded, sending flames ripping in every direction. Seven hadn’t gotten far. That meant the platform was sent forward even faster, as the shock wave picked it up and slammed it into one of the few remaining walls. After a terrifying crash, rocks came raining down on the robot’s body.
The second was that I landed on the platform right as the detonation happened. As soon as the blast was about to reach us, I got ready to open the hatch. Slamming into the wall just about knock the wind out of me and threw me off the platform, though I hung on for dear life and… And I didn’t have to open anything. The hatches banged open themselves. And it wasn’t even just the hatches to the storages; the engine hatch opened, too. Seven’s arms quickly reached over to close them, but it was too late. I was inside. It had taken me just a few moments to get my bearings, dodge the arms, and hurl myself into the dark hole.
Silence fell. Seven righted its platform and eased away from the wall.
“Who activated those mines?” The robot was livid, ready to tear everyone there to pieces. Pulling my vibroknife out of virtual storage, I began cutting a hole in the back of my space. I was careful to cut near the walls, too. Who knows what kind of system Five has set up? I figured it might check the storages, and so I needed to be safe.
“They weren’t ours! That was all Mark!” the players shouted. Seven didn’t reply, just heading toward the exit.
“Finish mining,” the robot finally shot back. “You have ten minutes. Go!”
Once the hole was cut, I pulled the panel carefully toward myself. It easily gave way to offer access to the flying machine’s inner workings. Getting inside was a challenge — I had to monitor every movement to make sure I didn’t touch the body, and I even tossed Ulbaron, Raptor, and Valkyrie into storage. My knife and universal protection followed them to leave me without a single game item. I’d remembered Villian, who had checked Seven for foreign devices, which meant they’d be doing the same thing at the exit. The hardest part was getting the panel back in place. I had to turn around, my agility and flexibility paying dividends, and then hold it in place wit
h one hand. My phone was in the other. Although… Taking a deep sigh, I squeezed the latter with my fist, turning it into a pile of junk. The game understood me correctly and disintegrated the broken device.
That left me with absolutely nothing from the game. There were just the nanoparticles in my body, and if Five was able to detect them, all I would be able to do was tip my hat.
“We’re done mining the dungeon.” Regardless of Seven’s threats, the report came back twenty minutes later. Just ten were left until the alien players were left without access to the location. Almost there.
“You’re late,” the robot said, its tone presaging nothing good. And while I didn’t see anything, the screams told me it had disposed of its erstwhile aides. Suddenly, its voice rang out through the dungeon.
“You were a worthy adversary, Mark Derwin. If you’d accepted the game, you would have been awarded a high-ranking position in the next release. Goodbye, enemy!”
That was a nice little confidence booster. Pride in humanity warmed my innards just as something cloudy flashed in front of me, though it immediately disappeared. The robot had stepped out of the dungeon.
“Don’t move,” I heard Five order. Its voice I could have recognized in a crowd, so I closed up and even stopped breathing. “We need to check you.”
With a flash in my head, Drone returned to my control. It was still hovering invisibly. There was no picture, as I would have needed my phone for that, but I could see the red dots. Sixty-two players were crowded around the dungeon entrance ready to gun down whoever stepped out. Although, I could tell Villian wasn’t there — it wasn’t showing up on Drone’s scanner.
“No foreign devices,” the mercenary said, confirming my guess. “But we need to do a visual check. This isn’t going to be pleasant.”
“Go ahead,” Seven replied. Suddenly, my heart stopped from yet another electric shock. Again? Seriously?
“The outside is clear. That just leaves the storages.”
“Do you want to get inside me, too?” I heard sarcasm in the lifeless voice, though Five quickly laid down the law.
“If need be. Open up.”
The hatch slid open, bathing the storage with light. And while I couldn’t see what Villian was doing, I heard the report a moment later.
“Clear! You can let Seven out of the cage.”
“Mark Derwin is still alive,” Five said.
“In that case, he somehow survived the blast. Did you mine the dungeon exactly the way I told you to?” Villian wasn’t just a passive participant; he had some authority behind his voice.
“Yes, I personally checked,” Seven replied. “We did have to make some corrections after two mines detonated and shifted two clusters, though that didn’t change anything.”
“What mines?” Villian asked worriedly. “Show me the video!”
Nothing happened for the next couple minutes, after which the mercenary cut loose with an enraged tirade.
“You all can’t do anything! He tossed two clusters away and hid between them. He survived!”
There was much more, of course, though a lot of it I just didn’t understand. The key takeaway was that Villian was unhappy.
“What’s the problem? After an explosion like that, he’s at least hurt. We can head back in and finish him off.”
“Oh, sure, go right ahead,” Villian shot back. “No, be my guest! Go kill Mark. You have all of five minutes to make that happen.”
“The dungeon is locked,” Five said. “The lock will disappear in 24 hours. You made a mistake, and that’s unacceptable, so I’m demoting you three ranks. When the general has more spawn, you’ll be in the tenth position. Okay, listen up, everyone! We’re leaving. Mark Derwin won this battle, and we have five minutes to leave the location.”
The platform jerked, and the buzzing in my head disappeared. Holding out my hand, I waited until the game printed out my phone. One minute for it to appear, a couple seconds to figure out the picture, and another moment to make a decision.
Seven was flying directly toward the nearest border. It was ten kilometers away, though that left it with plenty of time. Let’s fix that. My level six vibroknife was in my hand six seconds later, and I quickly cut through a few wires.
The robot’s speed dropped precipitously. That gave me time to print out Raptor, which suddenly felt weird — I’d never held it in my bare hands. It had always been integrated into Ulbaron. Shaking my head to clear that thought away, I went back to Seven. The robot’s arms had already opened the engine hatch to look for the problem, and I decided to give it something else to think about.
Raptor showed me which blocks were most important for flight. As soon as I pierced them, the platform dropped to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” someone asked in alarm. “Need help?”
“My platform is acting up. It needs repairs after the explosion and the collision, but I’ll be fine. Go ahead.”
The robot’s arms worked even faster, and the damaged blocks regenerated themselves right in front of me. The wires did, too — they connected to each other, the platform taking off once again. That should have been enough to fly off, only… Good try!
One more slash with my vibroknife, and the flying machine plumped back down onto the ground. That time, I decided to take it yet another step farther. Drone told me there were no players nearby, meaning that even Villian wasn’t within 170 meters. This should work. While Seven was working on repairs, I touched the platform with my bare hands and closed my eyes. Let’s do this!
You’re trying to hack the defenses of player RN554-7.
Sum total of your skill levels: 410 (device control: 100, hacking: 110, perception: 100, anatomy master: 100).
Sum total of RN554-7’s skill levels: 400 (hacking protection: 100, resistance: 100, resilience: 100, willpower: 100).
Probability of successful hack: 2.4% (1 — 400/410).
Attempt 1… Unsuccessful.
“Mark Derwin?” I never got tired of hearing emotion creep into the lifeless voices. They were so…unnatural. Unreal. Artificial. Yes, you bastard, it’s me. I just wasn’t planning on replying.
Attempt 5… Unsuccessful.
“Stop it, Mark! We need the pearl, not you. We can make a deal!”
Oh, sure. I heard Five mention what you all think of deals. They generally ended with humans in the ground.
Attempt 10… Unsuccessful.
Player RN554-7 is trying to hack your defenses. Probability of successful hack: 0%.
Ha! You shouldn’t have gotten stuck at level 100, you idiot. It was the robot’s own fault.
Attempt 15… Successful.
You connected to player RN554-7’s main functionality.
Block, immobilize, keep it from sending messages. And get me my repair kit!
Control seized over LTS-VI.
LTS-VI. Status: Force field power supply module damaged. Would you like to fix it?
Of course, I would. Right now!
The modules and wires regenerated again as if acted on by a magic wand, and I immediately sent the LTS flying into the air with all the protection it could muster. We hurtled off away from the border and deeper into the location. Still, my fears turned out to be unwarranted — Five didn’t open fire with its entire arsenal. It was almost as if nobody had even noticed the loss of Seven. Over the fifteen seconds it had taken me to hack it, the robot had apparently been too busy fighting back to call for help.
Non-natural players can no longer be located in hexagon 118, location 32.
155 players were destroyed and penalized for the next 3 releases. Their locations were added to your map.
Player RN554-7 is considered your loot and will be destroyed as soon as it regains control.
I came in for a landing, setting LTS down among the rocks, and sent Drone around in a circle to see what was going on with the other humans. At first, I was worried there wouldn’t be any left in the location, though the scanner started picking up red dots marked as people. The mo
re I explored the location, the more I counted. When it was finished, Drone came back to give me the good news. Sure, quite a few people had been killed. Of the million and a half that had been transformed back, just over a hundred thousand remained. But they were alive. I was thrilled.
Nobody was going to be thinking about Wart anymore. The aliens would have all their attention focused on me, worried as they were going to be about my next move. And they want to know what it is? There was a clever little idea I was playing with, one that made full use of my abilities as an infiltrator. Where is this bastard’s phone? It was time to go big or go home.
Pearl of the South (World of the Changed Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 23