Rise of the Crimson Order: A Crematoria Online LitRPG Novel

by Matthew J. Barbeler

  The pointed end of the blade landed in the layer of filth covering the ground. As I focused on it, an information box appeared in my view, giving me further details about the weapon.

  Acid-etched Sword

  Superior quality

  20 Damage (+2 Damage to Slash attacks)

  +1 Strength

  +1 Endurance

  +1 Fortitude

  The corrosive compounds in roach hound spit have sharpened this blade to a keen edge.

  Sell price: 6 Silver

  My currently equipped longsword was sharp on both edges, but this sword only had a cutting edge on one side. The roach spit had stained the blade of the sword slightly. A green pattern, deeper in some parts than others, covered the blade. The handle looked as though it was made of comfortable black leather, which remained remarkably untarnished.

  "That's a pretty nice sword," I said.

  Ellie was crouched over the body of the long-dead man from the ceiling. She was looking for loot.

  "Take the sword if you want it," she said.

  A bit of coin was distributed to me as Ellie looted Grundle's corpse. 20 silver. Not much, but better than a kick in the teeth.

  "You don't want the sword?" I asked. "It looks pretty good!"

  "No, Paragon's Might is the only weapon I need," she said, holding her hammer aloft.

  "Your hammer has a name?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "It sure does."

  "Well, all right then." I caught James's eye, and he shook his head. I didn't even need to ask the question, which made me glad. I didn't want to give up this sword to a non-player character.

  "I guess I'll take it then," I said and reached out towards the sword.

  It disappeared into my inventory and the game asked me if I would like to equip the sword.

  Yes, I most certainly did.

  My longsword with its simple scabbard disappeared from the leather belt loop that held it, replaced with a new scabbard. It was green with leather trim. I pulled the blade out of the scabbard and held it.

  It felt good in my hand.

  Perfectly balanced.

  The blade was sharp, and I loved the green tinge it had. The cutting edge had a wave-like pattern as though acid had eaten away portions of it in an intentional pattern.

  It was beautiful. I slid the sword back into the scabbard as James ignited the corpse of Geoff Grundle with a fireball.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Stagnant Hive: Swarm

  After killing Geoff Grundle, we followed the burrow and came to a section of the dungeon that appeared to be man-made. The burrow dug by roach hound claws reached a stonework wall. The wall hadn't stood much of a chance, and now there was a gaping hole in the side of whatever chamber awaited us. Ellie led us, which was smart. She had the highest armor rating of all of us, and she was proving herself to be a seriously skilled fighter.

  She reached the edge of the stonework and peered over it into the darkness. "There are stairs leading down. They look rickety and old, but I think we should be okay," Ellie said.

  Without waiting for us, Ellie started descending further into the burrow. James and I fell in behind her. The stairs spiraled down into blackness, and I felt like they could give way at any moment.

  "What do you think this is?" I asked.

  "In the early days of Eldin's construction, they discovered large resources of natural minerals in the earth," James said. "So they dug down into the ground, mining what they could to fund the growth of the city. But they delved too deep and had to retreat. There are many stories about exactly what they awoke down there in the depths. The only thing I know for certain is that they were all too eager to seal up these old passages."

  "We're heading down one of them right now," I said. "Is that such a great idea?"

  James shrugged. "Evil things can be vanquished, but there is always more evil waiting to move in where one evil is defeated. It's up to those who can stand against it to fight. If we didn't, the world would succumb."

  "So, what? Are you saying that we are destined to fight, or die? There's no chance for peace?" I asked.

  "What counts as peace for us is conflict for others. The history of our world is defined by the outcomes of the struggles of good versus evil. But you must realize, that good and evil are just matters of perspective."

  "I don't agree with that at all," Ellie said. "There are some things that are intrinsically good, and some things that are inherently evil. Some things aren't a matter of perspective."

  "Killing is one of those inherently evil things isn't it?" James asked in a knowing tone.

  "Of course it is."

  "I have to say, I'm with James on this one," I said. "Sometimes killing is necessary and can be done for good reasons."

  "Are you serious?" Ellie asked.

  "Let's say for a moment you are lost in the wilderness," James said. "You have no food, and your water is running low. You are not without weapons though. You have a bow and a quiver of arrows, and you happen to come across a rabbit grazing on grass. It's a matter of survival. Would you shoot the rabbit, and eat it? Or would you let yourself starve because it would be evil to kill the rabbit?"

  "Well, that's different. If it's a matter of survival, of life and death, then it's entirely different." Ellie's voice didn't sound as certain this time.

  "Let's imagine that it's not a rabbit then. It's a goblin. Would you kill the goblin and eat it to survive? Not that I'm advocating eating goblins, of course. I can't imagine they'd taste very pleasant."

  "That's different. You're talking about another race of people. They have emotions, you can talk to them, you couldn't eat them. They have just as much of a right to live and survive as I do," Ellie said.

  "Do they?" James asked.

  "Yes, of course."

  "Let me ask you a question," James said. "Let's say for a moment that goblin was friendly, and helped out gathering supplies for the local apothecary, which then, in turn, helped heal the residents of the little village. You might think that he was an upstanding member of the community, wouldn't you?"

  "I suppose so," Ellie said.

  "What if the goblin was a brute? What if he had a cave near a road that was frequented by merchants, and he killed those merchants, selling their wares as his own? Would you still think that he was an upstanding member of the community? Or maybe, would you be doing the world a favor by killing him before he could kill others?"

  The only sounds I could hear as we descended were the creaking of the rotten stairs and the crackling flame of James's torch. Ellie fell silent.

  James broke the silence.

  "My point is that killing the rabbit and killing the goblin are no different from each other. The only difference is how we justify the action to appease our own moral compass. There is no such thing as good and evil, only survival. The sooner you learn that the less likely it is that Eldin will eat you alive."

  "I understand," Ellie said. "I don't like it, but I get what you're saying."

  The smell that rose from below us was acrid and burned my nostrils. It was the smell of rot and ammonia, likely from the hive's waste, mixed in with an insectile stench that reminded me of cockroaches living under the floorboards of the house I grew up in.

  It sounded like there was an army of roach hounds down there below us. The sound grew louder as we continued down further for what seemed like forever, but I kept reminding myself that we were only a couple of levels below the recommended threshold for this dungeon. We would be fine. I had no idea what level James was, but it felt as though he was a much higher level than us, with access to abilities that might be able to save our bacon in a pinch.

  We kept climbing down the rickety old stairs, and I had almost given up hope that we would ever reach the bottom. Then, the stairs stopped. There seemed to be light cascading into the chamber below from somewhere other than James's torch, but shadows dominated the landscape. The bottom of the chamber was a good fifteen feet from the last almost-rott
en stair.

  "If we go down there, how do we get back up?" I asked.

  James clicked his tongue. "Good question, kid. I'm not quite sure. We've come this far, and I don't much like backing down on something once I've committed to it. If we balk and run with our tails tucked between our legs, this affliction could spread. We need to burn it out at its source."

  "I'm sure there'll be a way out. If all else fails, we can just drag all the roach hound corpses back here and use them to climb back up," Ellie said.

  She mentioned piling up corpses so nonchalantly. Her idea was sound, though. How many corpses would we need to climb that high?

  "Let's do it," I said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

  "They could start eating us while we're still alive and I might never get out of this fucking game," Ellie suggested with a shrug.

  "That's not a very comforting thought," I said.

  "This isn't a very comfortable situation," Ellie replied. "Besides, if you expect the worst, anything else is just a nice surprise."

  "That's true," I said.

  That seemed like a pretty bleak way of looking at the world. Things in the real world weren't good for anyone except the rich, and most people needed to manage their expectations. The other alternative was constant anger, and that was no way to live life. I wondered whether James's sobering comments earlier had anything to do with her bleak mood.

  "Right, I'm going for it," I said, then leaped off the side of the stairs.

  I landed in the center of a huge open space. Shafts of light came down through cracks in the roof of the chamber. Despite feeling like we were deep underground, there must have been a way to escape back to daylight close by.

  Nothing came scuttling out of the shadows towards me immediately, so I used the opportunity to load my flintlock pistol. There would be enemies again soon, and if I could take one down with a single bullet, that would work in our favor. It would also go towards leveling up my Marksmanship and Flintlock Weaponry skills.

  Ellie landed beside me with a thump that I felt vibrate through the floor. Her heavy armor kept her safe, but it also weighed her down. James landed on my other side, but he landed with a grace that I didn't expect. It was as though he floated down, using the air as a cushion.

  The chamber was vaguely rectangular in shape, with one corner that had completely collapsed in on itself. A channel was carved into the bottom of the chamber. It looked to be some kind of aqueduct. Whatever had once been transported down the shaft we had descended must have followed along this channel.

  Towards the end of the chamber, near the shafts of light, was another pack of roach hounds. Just as I noticed one of them, they noticed us. There were four of them this time. This was the biggest pack that we had encountered so far. But after dealing with Grundle, I had a feeling that we would be okay. Besides, I wanted to try out my new sword!

  Ellie opened the fight with her Courageous Shout, which buffed us even stronger than before!

  Courageous Shout

  12% attack speed increase

  12% damage increase

  James summoned a fireball to distract a single roach hound. Buffed by Ellie's shout, we were ready. We followed a similar strategy as last time. Ellie used her strong defenses to take the hits while James and I dispatched the enemies one by one. This time, Ellie kept one roach hound at bay while also hurling her hammer at whatever roach hound was trying to flank James and me. Her awareness of the battlefield was impressive.

  James always kept one roach hound on fire, which freed me up to use Expose Weakness on each roach hound one by one until they all fell. The damage bonus I got from my new Acid-etched Sword felled the beasts even quicker than last time. I focused on using slashing attacks aimed at the weak spots because that gave me an even greater damage boost.

  Even though they outnumbered us, we triumphed by working together and following our strategy. We gained another chunk of experience, but not enough to reach the next level. I was so close to Level 4 I could almost taste it!

  After the roach hounds fell, I checked for loot, but just like the last pack, there was nothing but infected roach hound meat.

  "Where to now?" Ellie asked.

  There were two different passages leading away from the chamber we stood in. One burrowed through a broken section of ground near the collapsed corner. Another stone doorway stood nearby. It was caked in organic goo, dried to opaque yellow in spots, and still moist, malleable and clear in others. It was the same stuff that Grundle had tried to trap me with. The passage beyond looked to be coated in the stuff, turning the passageway into a cylindrical burrow. Whatever was down that way would be big.

  "I vote that we clear out the burrow under the collapsed section over there," I said. Then I pointed at the stone archway covered in hardened goo. "Whatever is down there is probably nasty, huge, and full of rage. That's the same stuff that Grundle tried to use on me."

  "I agree," James said. "I've seen this kind of nest before. The matriarch will be down that path. She makes the hive comfortable for herself. She'll be looking after either a clutch of roach hound eggs or a litter of roach hound puppies."

  Ellie dry-heaved.

  "Roach hound puppies?" she asked. "Gross!"

  The color had fled from her face.

  "It all depends on the dominant traits of the matriarch." James shrugged. "If it was a roach first, then it'll lay eggs. If it was a hound first, it'll have a litter of live roach puppies. Either way, it'll be bad news for us. If we clear out that burrow first, then the matriarch won't be able to call on anything that might be lurking down there for back-up. Once we attack the matriarch, anything we haven't killed anywhere else in the hive will come running to defend her."

  "What are we waiting for, then?" Ellie asked.

  She had composed herself remarkably quickly. She didn't wait for us to answer before marching towards the next downward burrow. I didn't need her to shout to feel more courageous this time. Her fortitude to face the monsters down here inspired me.

  We came face to face with another patrolling roach hound defender in the cramped burrow. We had to approach it in a different way this time. Ellie's shield acted like a bulwark, and we slowly but surely whittled the Roach Hound Defender's health down to zero. It tried to raise an alarm by calling for help, but Ellie surged forward with an interrupting Shield Bash to silence the monster's cries. I couldn't manage to get any bonus damage on it this time around though. There just wasn't enough room in the tunnel to slash effectively.

  We stepped around the fallen roach hound. I briefly inspected the corpse but found nothing but more than raw roach hound meat. James burned it as we passed.

  The burrow seemed to spiral downward, and we encountered another two defenders. We defeated both roach hounds, and they didn't have much of note on their corpses either. I was hoping for something a little bit better than experience for killing these things. The sword I had gotten from Grundle was good, but I was hoping for more. Maybe some gold, or something that I could sell. I hadn't gathered much in the way of currency since starting Crematoria Online, and I was pretty sure that the time would come very soon where I would need to pay for something. I didn't want to have to rely on charity or put myself in a situation where I had to say no because I didn't have the funds to cover what I needed.

  One last defender waited for us along the burrow, and we killed it easily. The 15 experience points it gave me were enough to cross the threshold into Level 4!

  You have reached Level 4!

  You have received one Primary Attribute Point to distribute.

  That was an easy choice to make. One more point into Fortitude would compound in the higher levels, so I opened my character screen and allocated the point.

  Lucas Hutchins

  Investigator

  Level 4

  HP: 138

  Strength: 5

  Dexterity: 6

  Intelligence: 7

  Charisma: 6

  Perception: 8

&
nbsp; Endurance: 6

  Resilience: 6

  Fortitude: 7

  We reached the bottom of the burrow. It opened into a room carved out of the earth itself. The ceiling rose above us in a slope. There were cracks in the ceiling where white shone through from the world above. These roach hounds were closer to the surface than I had originally realized. That made it even more important that we destroyed these creatures. We couldn't allow the Bleed to spread above the streets.

  My focus shifted to the bottom of the burrow - there was a chest sitting on the other side of the room! It was covered in that same hardened ichor that Grundle had spewed on me. The chest's lid was sealed in place. But that wouldn't keep me out of it. Where there was a chest, there was treasure. And where there was treasure, there was usually gold.

  I started to cross the room towards the chest but suddenly got a very bad feeling about what I was doing. I hadn't taken notice of the rest of the room. I had seen the chest and immediately started towards it. I stopped in my tracks, but it was too late.

  I could already hear them coming.

  That's when I noticed the small cylindrical holes that covered the sides of the burrow. A horde of small roach hounds came crawling out of those holes in a rage.

  "They're coming out of the walls! They're coming out of the god-damned walls!" Ellie shouted.

  This shocked me a little and made me chuckle.

  "Did you just quote Aliens?" I asked.

  It was one of my all-time favorite movies. It wasn't one that I expected Ellie to have even watched. It was a classic, but the product of a bygone era.

  "I design movie posters!" Ellie shouted as the roach hound horde poured into the room. "I've probably seen more movies than you!"

  "We need to continue this conversation later," I said. "But this game isn't over yet, man!"

  Ellie grinned at me, a fierce but amused grin. She used her Courageous Shout ability again, buffing James and me, and then the battle truly began.

  There were so many of the damned things! The horde of roach hounds swarmed over us. They were much smaller than the other roach hounds we had defeated earlier, but their sheer numbers made it almost impossible to completely defend against.