Rise of the Crimson Order: A Crematoria Online LitRPG Novel

by Matthew J. Barbeler

  Inkbound Crimson Initiate

  Level 10

  The Inkbound Crimson Initiate has been bound to an elemental affinity through the art of arcane tattooing. Along with the increased strength and combat efficiencies given by playing host to one of the Sanguine Scourge, the elemental affinity allows the Inkbound Initiate to use one of the elements to attack or defend themselves.

  Right. Well, it looked as though my work was cut out for me. The Inkbound Initiate's parasite waved in front of her face, never still. Had it observed what had happened when I severed the lanky Initiate's parasite? The Inkbound Initiate's jaw looked like it was almost dislocated, like a snake trying to swallow a meal that was too big for its mouth.

  The black lines on her arms crackled with power. She had bands running across her arms horizontally, too. Just like James. That seemed to be one constant of how these arcane tattoos worked. The power needed to be offset by something that protected the user, and from what I had seen so far, it looked like this Inkbound Initiate's affinity was to electricity or shock damage. That meant that those bands were probably grounding bands.

  The Inkbound Initiate clenched her fists, and blue sparks radiated as the power intensified.

  If I could somehow disrupt the grounding bands, I thought I might be able to turn her own powers against her. I needed something to take her down quickly.

  I think she had the same idea. She lurched towards me, eyes bugging out of her head as she rushed towards me. The bottom of her eyes were lined with red, as though summoning forth the parasite caused the pressure within her body to rise, bursting blood vessels. She leapt into the air with a grace I didn't expect and came down with a fist aimed right at my chest. I raised my sword in an attempt to defend against the blow, but that was the stupidest thing I could have done.

  One of my hands was holding the leather-wrapped hilt, and the other was touching the flat metal surface of the blade. I knew my mistake an instant before the Inkbound Initiate's electrified fist made contact.

  The shock rushed through me and blew me off my feet. Both of my hands snapped open the second the shock abated. My sword fell at the Inkbound Initiate's feet as I flew backwards, tumbling to an awkward stop six feet away. My head felt fuzzy and my vision was blurry. My health bar was sitting at under 20% now. Black shadows crowded the edges of my vision.

  I needed to end this, but now I was without my sword. All I had was my flintlock, but I couldn't be sure that I would be able to hit the Inkbound Initiate where I needed to from this distance. Even though it was a bad option, it was the only option I had.

  I loaded the pistol, going through the careful lock-step process that was becoming second nature to me, as the Inkbound Initiate hobbled towards me. The last shot had blown a hole in the back of her thigh, but it hadn't stopped her. It had only slowed her down. She left my sword on the ground behind her. Was it the parasite or her that was driving her decisions? The only way I could get in close was if I let the parasite latch onto me, but the last one had drained my health so quickly that it would be suicide.

  I let the Inkbound Initiate come. The parasite snaked towards me, then quick as lightning, slammed into the other side of my neck. The jaws clenched shut, and I used my left hand to grab onto the parasite and pull the initiate closer. Her eyes bulged wider, and I hoped it was in shock, as she saw the flintlock rise to the underside of her chin.

  The sparks on her arms ignited, sending a jolt through my body as my health bar plummeted.

  I pulled the trigger.

  The parasite went limp as the top of the Initiate's head exploded into the air. I fell backward, health bar sitting at 11%.

  Ellie had fared better than I had. One Crimson Initiate was down, and the other was in the throes of a death fit at her feet. The last Crimson Initiate fell still. We gained a chunk of experience.

  "Well that was a hell of a thing," Ellie said, breathing heavy.

  "Maybe we should have through this through a little," I replied.

  Ellie nodded slowly. I got the feeling that neither of us wanted to admit that maybe we'd done the wrong thing following the assassin player through the blood portal. We weren't prepared for this. We needed to be stronger. We needed equipment. Potions, food, and other usable items. Rushing head-first through the portal put us at a serious disadvantage.

  I glanced back at the stone wall that we had emerged through. It was too late for us to turn back.

  "Not an option," Ellie said, as though she knew exactly what I was thinking. "Unless we figure out how to use their blood magic, we're stuck here. We're probably going to die here."

  "Well, at least the scenery's nice." I motioned towards the dead things hanging from the hooks in the ceiling.

  Ellie raised an eyebrow. "You're broken."

  "We all are, in one way or another. But don't worry, I'm sure we'll find another way out of here," I said.

  "It's only a matter of time until they find us. The moment they realize we're not like them, that we're not infected by those things, we're dead."

  "Then we need to make sure they think we're part of the Crimson Order," I said. "I wonder if we can take their outfits. We'll look the part, right?"

  "Right. How do we know that will even work?"

  "We don't, but do we have any better ideas?"

  Ellie made a contemplative sound. "How much do you know about parasitic organisms?"

  "Admittedly, not much."

  "Okay, well that's what I think these things are. They're parasites that bond with a human host. It's a symbiotic relationship. Those monsters gift the host wondrous power in exchange for giving it somewhere to survive and thrive. Lots of parasites in the real world change behaviors of their hosts in small but noticeable ways. We have no idea how these things reproduce. I could be infected right now."

  I pointed at the wounds on either side of my neck. "If you're infected, then I'm infected too."

  Ellie laughed dryly. "Maybe. Maybe not. Just remember what happened when they found us. They could tell we weren't infected. Some parasites release pheromones so that other infected hosts can subconsciously tell which other hosts are infected. Maybe that's the same here."

  "That's terrifying. So there's no point in taking their uniforms, then?" I asked.

  "I doubt it," Ellie said. "But let's see what else they have on them."

  We inspected the corpses of the Crimson Initiates but didn't find much of use. We found a handful of silver, a couple vials of blood, and one healing potion.

  "Not much at all," Ellie said. "That's not good. We have to gather our strength before we move on. We need to recuperate. Come on, let's find somewhere safe."

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The Ring of Blood

  We found a place to lay low for a while. Another band of Crimson Initiates wandered past, but we managed to remain hidden. Ellie and I tended to our wounds. She had a couple of bandages in her inventory and we used those to bind our necks. The sites of the wounds coagulated more quickly than they should have, which led me to believe that the parasite had clotting agent in their spit.

  Our health bars rose back to full, but we were both hungry and tired. The only way out of the Sanguinaria Outskirts would be to find another blood portal and force one of the Crimson Order to open it for us.

  There seemed to be no shortage of initiates here. Singling one out and forcing them to do what we wanted was the hard part.

  After we rested, Ellie and I went out looking for another pack of initiates. We were inside a cavern, not as large or as grand as the one that housed Dregswyk, but still quite large. Trails had been carved out from the rock floor either by now-dry rivers or some kind of giant rock-eating monster. Ellie and I climbed up the side of one of these trails and tried to find another pack of initiates from above.

  I heard an animal squealing further on in the distance. Ellie and I crouched down behind an outcropping of rock and tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. It sounded like someone slaughtering a pig and doing
a messy job of it. It almost sounded like the pig was winning.

  The murmur of conversation reached us as we crept forward.

  I couldn't make out any words, but the tone was mocking. Taunting. Someone was making fun of something.

  The situation became clear as Ellie and I slowly made our way through the boulders that dotted the rocky high ground. We crested a ridge and saw more members of the Crimson Order below us. Three were standing around the edge of a rocky pit. From the angle we were at it was difficult to see exactly what the hole was, but it appeared to be a man-made pit edged with viewing platforms. The three Sanguinari were all Crimson Initiates.

  "What you think they're doing down there?" I asked.

  "Nothing good," Ellie said. "It sounded like some kind of animal before. Do you think they're torturing it?"

  "It wouldn't surprise me."

  Ellie exhaled sharply. "Kidnapping kids was bad enough, but they're torturing animals too? That's it. We need to take these punks down. We're taking this Crimson Queen down too."

  "There's only three of them, and we're both at full health. We could probably take them. We do have the element of surprise."

  Ellie nodded "If we play this right, we can take two of them out at once with stealth attacks, then finish off the last."

  "Can you get into stealth?"

  "Well I don't have any stealth skills but sneaking up on them will still give us a damage bonus. There should be enough cover around here to mask my approach. You get into position close to them and I'll attack from further away. I'll attack from long range using Staggering Blow from stealth and if it doesn't kill the Initiate, at least it'll knock them into the pit. Whatever's in there can finish them off."

  "Then, when they realize what's happened, I can strike from stealth and finish another one off," I said. "I'll take that one standing furthest from the edge of the pit. One stealth shot from my flintlock should be enough to finish him off. If not, I'm going to need you to come and save my ass."

  "You know it."

  I grinned like an idiot. Ellie and I made a pretty great team. We both crept down the slope, edging closer to the group of initiates. As we got closer, I began to hear clear snippets of conversation.

  This was an opportunity for us to listen to what they were talking about. I motioned to Ellie to hunker down for a moment. I pointed toward the group of Initiates and cupped my hand around my ear, hoping that my meaning would be clear. Ellie pressed herself flat against a nearby rock and nodded.

  I focused on the Initiate's conversation and tried to follow it as best as I could.

  "-a success I think."

  "The bonding has definitely worked. It looks stable. Do you think Initiate Morris felt much towards the end?"

  "Doubtful. He would have been unconscious before it started eating him."

  "Do you think this has solved our problem?"

  "Maybe. I just don't see how they're going to be able to breed enough swine and bind them to our cause in time for the attack."

  "Mounted troops will be necessary to stand against the Imperial Cavalry. We cannot win this war without a counter to everything the Emperor may resist us with. We will reduce the Empire to ashes."

  "Unless, of course, we can make the Emperor join our ranks."

  One of the trio chuckled. Cold fear crept over me as I listened to them talk. The Sanguinari were planning an attack on Emperor Erodwulf, or worse, turn him!

  The group of initiates started talking about less important things, then. They talked about which of the new initiates were taking to their new gift with aplomb, and which of them were being rejected by the gift. Just being infected with one of the Sanguinari parasites was not enough to guarantee that an initiate would survive. Sometimes the Sanguinari parasite would feed on the willing host instead of granting them entry into the ranks of the Sanguinari.

  "Shall we?" Ellie asked in a whisper.

  "Yeah, I'm sick of listening to them talk." I pulled my Antique Flintlock Pistol out of the holster and started loading it. After finishing the loading process, I got a notification showing that my Reload skill had improved. I held the pistol at the ready, and Ellie gave me the signal to get into position.

  From her vantage point, she would be able to rise up behind the rock and hurl her hammer at the enemies, but I needed to get a bit closer to make sure my shot hit its target.

  How was it that Ellie's hammer always hit its target? Was she just that good?

  Yeah, she probably was.

  I crept forward as quietly as I could towards the three Crimson Initiates standing outside the ring. Flintlock in hand, I approached one from behind and readied myself to strike. I looked back at Ellie's position and nodded to her. She loosed Paragon's Might at the Sanguinari furthest from me. He turned around at the sound of the hammer just in time to be taken in the chest by it.

  He screamed as he fell into the pit.

  At the same moment, I rose to my feet as the Sanguinari in front of me turned towards the sound of his comrade's scream. I raised the flintlock to his temple and fired. I didn't need to worry about the accuracy rating of my weapon when firing it from point blank range.

  The other Sanguinari snapped its attention to me at the sound of the shot. This one wielded a deadly weapon. A flail. The iron ball on the end of the weapon was covered in savage spikes, attached to the handle by a long chain.

  I holstered my pistol and drew my sword, but the Crimson Initiate was too fast. As I raised my sword to block the incoming flail strike, I realized my error. The chain portion of the flail wrapped around the blade of my Acid-etched Sword and held tight. The Sanguinari warrior pulled backwards and the sword flew out of my hands. With an easy flick of the flail, the Crimson Initiate dumped my weapon over the edge of the pit.

  Below us was a symphony of carnal destruction. A hulking beast huffed out hot breath. Sharp tusks rose from a bloodied snout, which was pierced by a heavy iron ring. The enormous boar's eyes were red-rimmed, just like all the other Sanguinari we had faced so far. The beast was surrounded by the corpses of two freshly killed Crimson Initiates, and some other men and women who weren't wearing the same uniforms.

  The unworthy.

  The flail connected with the side of my head, and I toppled into the pit.

  Time slowed as I fell. I twisted to look at the giant boar, which was already breaking into a sprint to skewer me with its tusks, and then back up to the edge of the pit. I didn't expect to see the flail-wielding Sanguinari following me down, but there he was, falling through the air. Ellie followed him, shoulder forward and hammer in hand.

  We all landed into a heap, and the Crimson Initiate was the last to his feet. The boar slammed into him. The tusk tore through his guts and erupted from his back before slamming into the side of the pit. His parasite slid weakly out of his mouth before falling limp.

  The boar shook its head to dislodge the dead initiate from its tusk, and then when the body landed a Sanguinari parasite launched out of the boar's mouth. The jaws snapped hungrily shut into a patch of exposed skin on the Crimson Initiate's neck and the boar drained him dry.

  I cast my Expose Weakness ability on the giant boar as it fed.

  Blood-gorged Boar

  Level 10 Beast

  This boar has been infected with the Sanguine Scourge and has recently fed. All of its abilities deal more damage, and it has increased health regeneration. With deadly tusks and a hide almost impossible to pierce, this creature is a formidable opponent. Approach with extreme caution.

  "I think I'm going to be shit out of luck in this fight," I said. "The boar's hide can't be pierced. Its attacks are stronger, and it regens faster because it's blood-gorged."

  "That's okay. You run interference. Keep it busy and I'll disable it."

  "How the hell am I going to do that?"

  "Have you ever watched a bullfight?"

  "That's been outlawed for years."

  "Yes, but there are still videos of it!"

  "I don't go out o
f my way to watch videos of people torturing animals!"

  The Blood-gorged Boar finished sucking the Crimson Initiate dry. Its parasite detached from the dead Crimson Initiate and swung towards the sounds of our voices.

  "It's going to charge one of us, but you need to make sure it charges you!" Ellie shouted. "You're much more agile. You can get out of the way more easily than I can. Then, I'll use crush damage to break its legs out from underneath it."

  I swallowed.

  It was a good plan. A good plan that put me right in harm's way.

  I waved my arms over my head. "Hey! Over here, you porker!"

  The Blood-gorged Boar focused on me. Its parasite withdrew back into its body as it lowered its head.

  The incoming charge sounded like rolling thunder as the boar ran at me. Ellie stepped away from its path as I readied myself to dodge.

  It was so damned fast!

  I leaped out of the way just in time. The hot air of its breath washed over my legs as it passed by.

  It squealed in frustration as it tried to slow itself down. One of its back legs stumbled, and then it was struck by Paragon's Might, which took the leg right out from underneath it.

  The boar let out a roar but got back to its feet all the same. I backed away. A crazy idea was forming in my head. It had trouble slowing down, and I planned on using that to my advantage.

  I crossed the pit without taking my eyes off the boar. It lowered its head for another charge, and I started to walk backwards even faster. Towards the stone wall of the pit. Ellie saw what I was doing. We locked eyes and she gave me a thumbs up.

  Then the boar launched into another charge. I stared the beast down as it rumbled towards me. The stones shook beneath my feet. The boar closed its eyes as it reached the point of no return, and I leapt out of the way.

  The beast slammed into the rock wall of the pit with a sickening crunch, followed by roars of pure shock and agony.

  Paragon's Might flew through the air and slammed into the boar's broken face as it wheeled back towards me. Its head was cracked to the side again by the flying hammer, and something in its skull broke. When it turned back to us, one of its eyes was bulging out of the socket like a bobble-eyed goldfish, and its jaw hung loose.