Rise of the Crimson Order: A Crematoria Online LitRPG Novel

by Matthew J. Barbeler

  I didn't have a chance to ask. Ellie opened the battle with a Courageous Shout, then threw her hammer at the alpha to the right of the matriarch.

  I immediately cast my Expose Weakness ability at the alpha to the matriarch's left and was happy to see that it worked! I had tried to use the ability on Grundle, but it wasn't high enough level to use on a boss monster. But then again, these two alphas might not be classified as bosses. An information panel opened in my view as the alpha bounded towards us.

  Roach Hound Alpha

  Level 7

  These creatures serve two functions. They are the male consorts of the Matriarch and ensure that she can propagate her clutch. It is a symbiotic relationship in which the pheromones secreted by the Matriarch cause their armor to grow thicker and encourages the growth of lance-like spines to better defend her with. They are her mates and her guards. They will protect her with their lives.

  Well, that cleared things up. This would end with a pile of bodies, human or roach hound.

  They did have a weak spot though. They had smaller spiny crests like the matriarch, but they didn't cover their necks entirely. The neck flashed white. If we wanted to inflict a critical hit, we would need to play this smart.

  James hurled a fireball at the matriarch, which hit her right in the side of the face. She quickly retracted her tongue, protecting it from the blaze. The flames crawled up her crest and across the front of her face. The flames blinded her, and she began to thrash wildly. The ground shook beneath her unrestrained fury.

  The alpha screeched and snarled a cacophony of canine and insect noises as it thundered towards us.

  "The weak spot is the neck, right behind the crest. That's where we need to attack them!" I shouted.

  Ellie held her ground against the single alpha, and I was impressed at her strength. She dug in and kept the monster at bay with her shield. She changed up her tactic and tried to attack the alpha's neck as it tried to get past her shield. She would have to keep that damned thing busy while James and I finished off the other.

  The other alpha slammed into me head-first.

  Stupid!

  I should have been paying attention to the threat right in front of me! One of the spines growing from the small crest on its head tore through the fabric of my shirt and pierced the skin beneath. The pain was explosive, and suddenly I was in the air. The alpha had used its momentum to get its head under me and throw me into the air like a rodeo clown.

  I tried to turn around in the air, but there was only so much I could do to control my descent. To my luck, James went on the attack, which caused the alpha to turn to face him.

  Instead of being impaled on the larger spikes growing from the alpha's ridged back, I hit the beast in the flank. The ridged chitin tore through cloth and flesh, but at least I wasn't impaled. My health bar dropped by about a third, and I wanted to take a few steps back to let my health start to regenerate, even though it regenerated much slower in combat.

  That wasn't an option, though. With the alpha's attention focused right on James he couldn’t land any decent hits on it. He struck what blows he could, then spun out of the way of the alpha's attacks. One of the attacks caught him in the small of the back. Red oozed through the fabric of his jacket.

  I rushed towards the alpha. My sword was held over my shoulder with both hands, tip pointed forward. I threw my whole weight into the strike, hoping that the tip would sink deep into the alpha's neck.

  That didn't go to plan.

  The alpha turned on me with its head lowered, ready to toss me up into the air again. I aborted my attack, rolling to the side.

  I landed hard. The ground wasn't forgiving, and the alpha was on top of me in a heartbeat. I saw nothing but gnashing mandibles and slashing claws. My health bar continued to drop with each passing second until the attacks abruptly stopped.

  The alpha went limp, falling on top of me. It crushed the air from my chest, and I struggled to catch my breath. Just when I thought that I was going to suffocate the weight shifted!

  I could breathe again!

  James held his hand out to me, and I took it gladly. He lifted me to my feet with a strength that I didn't expect, but I probably should have. It was obvious that he was a much higher level than us. I was incredibly grateful that he was with us on this mission.

  With one alpha dead, we turned our attention to the other one. James stopped just ahead of me and summoned another fireball. The flames leaked out of the tips of his fingers, running like rivers of blood on fire, and formed into a globule of liquid flame in the palm of his hand. The Matriarch had almost put the fire out, but James was ready to hit her again.

  The side of the matriarch's face was burned. The armor there was cracked, and bits of angry red and white flesh shone through. James's fireball sailed through the air and slammed into the matriarch's side.

  The fire caught and spread across her flank. She forgot all about us and started clawing at the fire crawling across her body.

  As we ran towards Ellie, I saw her falter. Her shield arm slipped down, and the alpha seized the opportunity. It slammed one of its clawed arms into Ellie's side as she was trying to raise her hammer for a strike. My stomach lurched as I watched Ellie fly through the air and land in a barely moving heap.

  "Ellie!" I shouted, crossing the distance with renewed vigor.

  I couldn't let her die. I just couldn't!

  I activated my Expose Weakness ability on the alpha, boosting our damage and revealing its weak points. The same as last time, the weak point was on its neck, between the armored shoulders and crested head. The alpha rushed towards Ellie, who was in no position to defend herself. I ran right towards the alpha and hoped to catch it before it reached Ellie. My wounds hurt, but I pushed through James was behind me, keeping pace.

  "When I give you the signal, we need to split! You go left, I'll go right, and hopefully, we can confuse the alpha enough that one of us can get a decent shot in!" I shouted as we ran.

  "All right!" James called back.

  We ran past Ellie, then I shouted. "Now!"

  I broke to the right, and James went left.

  The alpha did a double take, looking at me, then at James, then back to me. It spun in place, claws tearing at the soft ground, and focused on James.

  The alpha rounded on him and launched itself forward. James spun away, deftly striking the roach hound in the flank with a precision strike. The alpha roared and rounded on James again. I joined the fray, using my Acid-etched Sword to slash at the back of the Alpha's legs. They weren't weak spots, but I was still inflicting damage. The passive bonus I got from my new sword still worked wonders. The armor around the monster's back legs cracked and split as I slashed at them. One of the Alpha's legs faltered, and the beast stumbled.

  The alpha it whipped around at me in a heartbeat. Suddenly it was on top of me, and I was desperately trying to raise my sword up into its guts.

  No soft underbelly, though.

  The tip of my sword just slipped across the armor plates, searching for somewhere it could sink in deep. I felt something grab my ankles tight. Damn! Was that the matriarch?

  Whatever it was pulled on my ankles hard, causing me to slide under the alpha. I expected to see the burnt maw of the matriarch but instead saw the grinning face of James.

  "That's twice," I said, grinning.

  "I'm sure you'll return the favor someday. Pincer movement again?"

  "Yeah!"

  The alpha rounded on us, and we split apart again. James went left, I went right, and my heart soared when I saw Ellie striding across the matriarch's chamber towards us, hammer in hand. The alpha hadn't noticed her and would remain oblivious as long as we held its attention.

  "Hey!" I yelled. "Come and get me!"

  The alpha lowered its head and charged towards me, like some bizarre rhinoceros in miniature. I side-stepped it, saw a message appear about my Dodge skill increasing, and tried to mimic the motion James had done earlier. I spun back, lashing ou
t with my sword, but it hit higher than I was expecting it to. The edge of my sword cracked the surface of the armor plating but didn't do any lasting damage.

  I looked over to the matriarch as I renewed my assault on the alpha. Time seemed to slow down as I met the matriarch's eyes.

  The fire was out.

  It stalked across its chambers right towards us.

  "We've got incoming!" I shouted.

  Ellie bellowed a challenge at the matriarch.

  "Stay away from them you bitch!" Ellie shouted.

  I grinned like an idiot. Hearing Ellie quote Aliens in the heat of battle was one of the best things that had happened in Crematoria Online since I logged in. Ellie had her shield raised and continued hurling her hammer towards the matriarch as it stalked towards her.

  James and I finished the last alpha in a flurry of strikes. I focused on doing slash damage with my Acid-etched Sword. James used his nimble strikes with almost surgical precision. The Alpha turned to do a sideways strike against both of us. It snapped its horrid jaws towards me and kicked out blindly with his back legs.

  The damn thing got lucky. It's sharp insect-likes jaws clamped down on my left forearm, and at the very same time, its back legs connected slamming into James's chest.

  My arm exploded with pain as James was thrown backward. I could feel every individual little sharp point and ridge of the thing's mouthparts trying to tear my flesh from bone. The pain focused me. I was just lucky that it hadn't gone for my sword hand. I brought the pommel of my Acid-etched Sword down on the alpha's eye. The compound insect eye crunched inward.

  The monster shrieked as it recoiled from me. The jaws came away from my arm with an agonizing tearing sensation.

  James was already on his feet and coming in for another attack, but he looked hurt. The tattooed skin on his forearms was smoking badly now. The color had drained from his face, and his lower eyelids were rimmed with red. There was a smear of blood in the corner of his mouth.

  Damn.

  Those alphas really packed a punch, or kick, rather. The poor guy probably had a couple of broken ribs. The alpha seemed to have forgotten all about us, focused on the all-encompassing pain of its shattered eye. James circled around to the left of the Alpha, and I circled around to the right. While we were getting into position, I decided to cast Expose Weakness again.

  A message appeared in the center of my view.

  Your Expose Weakness ability has reached Apprentice Level.

  Yes! Did that mean that I might be able to use it on boss monsters now?

  I would have to try it out after we finish this one off. Once my Concentration Points recovered.

  We both raised our weapons and struck in unison. James thrust his sword point first into the Alpha's exposed neck, scoring a critical hit. I brought my sword down in a diagonal cut, right behind the crest. James's strike held the roach hound in place, while my powerful downward slash cut through the chitin, bones, and tissue that held the roach hound's head to its neck. With the head removed its body still kicked and thrashed.

  With both alphas vanquished, I turned my attention to the matriarch. She looked like something out of a bad 80s science fiction film. She moved with the practiced grace of an apex predator. She was two-quarters roach, one-quarter hound, one-quarter something else that I didn't want to think about, and 100% ugly.

  She was the only thing standing between us and finishing this dungeon.

  I used my Expose Weakness ability on the matriarch and this time it worked!

  Two places on the matriarch's body were marked as weak spots. The soft underside of her abdomen, right in the center of her back legs, and the slender neck that held her crested head aloft.

  That made sense. Huge boss monsters like this needed an obvious weak spot. But it usually meant that if their weak spot was obvious, then their attacks would be even more deadly.

  Roach Hound Matriarch

  Level 9

  The Roach Hound Matriarch is the leader of the hive and the source of a clutch of new infant roach hounds. Afflicted with that The Bleed for quite some time, there's just no telling what other creatures the Matriarch has consumed and taken in as part of her. Extremely dangerous. Do not approach.

  I swallowed. She was four levels above me, and three above Ellie. This was going to be tough.

  "She's Level 9, but if we focus our attacks on the soft spots under her butt and at her neck, we can finish this!" I shouted.

  "Level 9? Oh man," Ellie said.

  "We must triumph. You see those egg sacs at the back of the chamber?" James asked. "They're full of developing roach hound pups. Every single one of them is a vector that will allow The Bleed to be passed on, and all of them most burn!"

  The arcane symbols on James's forearms erupted. Tongues of flame actually exploded from his flesh as he summoned another fireball and lobbed it at the egg sacs.

  A message appeared in the bottom of my view.

  New notes have been added to your case file: Arcane Tattoos

  I would have to look at that later. The matriarch lashed out at Ellie with a savage swipe of a clawed arm as the fireball hit. Ellie tried to brace herself against the impact, but there was nothing that she could do against such power. Ellie went flying back across the chamber. While she was in midair, she managed to throw her hammer at the matriarch and score a hit right between her eyes.

  The hammer flew back into Ellie's waiting hand as the matriarch stumbled around, clutching its head. Ellie had landed like a god-damned superhero!

  "Now is our chance," I said. "Attack it while it's disoriented!"

  Both James and I broke into a sprint to get to the matriarch before it regained its focus. Its four rear legs were almost double the width of ours. I would have had a better chance to sever one of those with an axe than with my sword.

  Nevertheless, I had to work with what I had.

  Ellie had recovered as well, and she was running back to join the fray.

  She hurled her hammer back at the Roach Hound Matriarch's head, and she hit it again with a skillful strike.

  Ellie was fantastic with that hammer. Was that something innate to her class? Or was it something unique to the weapon itself? Whatever the case, I couldn't argue with the results. The matriarch stumbled from the force of the strike, extending our window to attack.

  I ran around the stomping back legs of the matriarch and focused on doing as much damage as I could to her weak spot while she was distracted. I used my Acid-etched Sword to slash great gashes into the soft abdomen.

  I had to keep moving though because the moment that I inflicted damage the matriarch would spin and try to stomp the place that I had just been.

  James saw my strategy and joined in.

  Just when the matriarch was turning to try and get me from one side, James would strike from the other side and capture her attention there. I would do the same when she was honing in on James.

  All the while, Ellie tried to keep the matriarch's attention focused directly on her, periodically disorienting her.

  With one cut, a bit of the matriarch's guts spilled out of the wound and fell to the ground. The matriarch bellowed at the pain, but her strength was leaving her. Her two rear legs buckled under her weight. They fell limp underneath her, and her abdomen fell to the ground. The weak spot was blocked now, but that was fine.

  I saw a way that I could end this.

  Without thinking too much about what the consequences might be if it went wrong, I leaped onto the back of the matriarch and used her spiny carapace to climb up to the back of her thorax. She reached back to try and snare me with her spindly arms, but James and Ellie stood defiantly in front of her, attacking her to keep her focus.

  The matriarch surged forward, and I almost lost my footing. James and Ellie avoided the strike, and the matriarch seemed to run out of steam. Blood pooled beneath her from the numerous wounds that had been inflicted upon her by our party.

  I grabbed onto a hooked spine on the back of the crest
then readied my sword for an attack. I brought the sharp edge of my sword down onto the soft connecting tissue of the Matriarch's neck. Not quite armor, and not quite skin, it was something in-between. Whatever it was, it couldn't hold up to the sharpness of my blade.

  The first strike only sunk a little into the flesh, the second sunk deeper. The third, even deeper than that. On the fourth strike, the blade passed through thick meat and sinew, and the Roach Hound Matriarch became a Pez dispenser that opened the wrong way.

  It wasn't candy that came out, though. It was a spray of blood and gore.

  The fight went out of the matriarch immediately. The body thrashed after the head was removed, and I launched myself as far away from her as I could get. I hit to ground hard and rolled. I got back to my feet as quickly as I could and was shocked to see Ellie and James running towards me. Both of them had massive grins on their faces.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Fatewoven

  You defeated the Roach Hound Matriarch!

  200 experience points gained!

  You have reached Level 6!

  You have received one Primary Attribute Point to distribute.

  Well, hot damn! This single dungeon had leveled me up three times!

  "We did it!" Ellie shouted, raising her hammer into the air.

  I fell back onto the ground and watched the last moments of life spasm out of the Roach Hound Matriarch's corpse.

  "I hope she dropped some good loot," Ellie said.

  "I sure hope so," I said. "I just leveled up again. Level 6!"

  "Oh, sweet! I leveled up too! Level 8!"

  James didn't respond to our talk about the mechanics, but he did talk about the achievement. "Well done, you two. Defeating the Matriarch was no mean feat. Take a rest. You've earned it."

  I took the moment of respite to allocate my next primary attribute point. I decided to sink it into Intelligence to keep it on par with the growth of my Perception attribute. I was happy to see my HP growing.