Rise of the Crimson Order: A Crematoria Online LitRPG Novel

by Matthew J. Barbeler

  Then the Sanguinari parasite surged out of the boar's mouth. The pressure of the parasite's emergence caused the bulging eye to explode out of the socket, which now hung limp on the end of the optic nerve.

  The parasite was thicker and more primal looking than the ones we had seen before. It was almost as though the parasite grew to a size which was defined by the host.

  As disgusting as it was, the emergence of the parasite was good news. Severing the parasite acted like a self-destruct system in the Sanguinari, and now we could end this battle decisively. Except, the Crimson Initiate had disarmed me!

  I looked around for my Acid-etched Sword but couldn't see it. It had to be somewhere near the dead initiate skewered by the boar.

  "If we cut that parasite, we win!" I shouted. The boar's attention snapped towards the sound of my voice as though it thought I was challenging it. "I need to get my sword! Can you take the heat for a minute or two?"

  "You bet!" Ellie shouted, then taunted the Blood-gorged Boar. "Over here, you filthy animal! I spit-roasted your mother!"

  I stifled a chuckle as both I and the boar broke into a sprint. The boar's hooves shook the ground as it stampeded towards Ellie. It had completely forgotten about me.

  My sword was sitting unceremoniously in a pile of boar shit. The handle was thankfully unblemished. Sword in hand, I turned back just in time to see the boar collide with Ellie's raised shield. Her shield pulsed with light as the boar slammed into her, and she did not topple. The beast pushed her back through the slop beneath her feet, but Ellie kept her balance.

  The boar reared back, and Ellie slammed Paragon's Might down on the unbroken side of its face.

  Bones crunched. The boar roared. The Sanguinari parasite snaked around the side of Ellie's shield and tried to sink its jaws into Ellie's leg, buckling the steel armor.

  I crossed the distance quickly, and the sharp edge of my sword sliced through the thick muscle of the Sanguinari parasite.

  The boar reared back; tusk hooked under Ellie's shield. Her shield went flying across the pit, and the boar's flailing forelegs slammed into Ellie's chest.

  She flew backwards and landed in the muck, then rose unsteadily.

  The boar fell to its side, and its last breath rattled out of its ruined mouth. I gained a chunk of experience points, which boosted me up to Level 9!

  You have reached Level 9!

  You have received 1 Primary Attribute Point to distribute.

  I rushed over to Ellie's side as she struggled back to her feet. Allocating my next point could wait.

  "Ellie! Are you okay?" I asked.

  She stood on unsteady legs. "I will be. Help me," she said.

  Ellie held onto my arm for support as she fished a healing potion out of her inventory, then drank it. Strength flooded through her body, allowing her to stand on her own again.

  "Let's see if this beast had anything good on its loot table," Ellie said.

  "Good plan," I agreed.

  Upon inspecting the boar, I saw a couple of useful items.

  Boar Chops x 2

  These fresh boar chops can be cooked for a fresh high-protein meal.

  Healing Potion

  This potion will regenerate 66% of your maximum health over 15 seconds.

  I wanted to swear. This boar felt strong enough to be a boss monster. It should have dropped some decent loot, but all I got was some meat and a healing potion. I hadn't even gotten any silver for the kill.

  "Anything good?" I asked.

  Ellie shook her head. "Just a healing potion, and some vendor trash. The trash is worth 25 silver though, so that's nice. But..."

  "But?"

  "This creature was powerful. Almost as powerful as some of the bosses we faced in the Stagnant Hive. Yet, I don't think it's actually a boss monster. I think this is just how powerful the monsters here are."

  "That doesn't bode well."

  "No, it doesn't," Ellie said. "Now come on, we need to figure out how the hell we're going to get out of this pit."

  "Just a second," I said. "I just leveled up. Let me add my next point first."

  "You do that while I figure out how we're going to get out," Ellie said.

  I was pretty happy with how my stats were looking, but there were a couple of parts that I didn't like. My Strength was still at its starting value of 5. My Dexterity and Endurance were still sitting at 6.

  I decided to sink one more point into Dexterity, which would make the use of my flintlock more effective and would allow me to avoid damage in combat.

  Lucas Hutchins

  Investigator

  Level 9

  HP: 212

  Strength: 5

  Dexterity: 7

  Intelligence: 8

  Charisma: 7

  Perception: 9

  Endurance: 6

  Resilience: 6

  Fortitude: 8

  After I was done assigning the next point, I checked over my gear bonuses and saw that I had extra points sunk into a bunch of attributes that I hadn't been actively tracking, and they were starting the add up. The bonuses I got from my Stylish Detective's Garb and my Acid-etched Sword really boosted my stats.

  With those stats factored in, my stats looked even better.

  Lucas Hutchins

  Investigator

  Level 9

  HP: 212

  Strength: 5 (+3)

  Dexterity: 7

  Intelligence: 8

  Charisma: 7 (+2)

  Perception: 9 (+1)

  Endurance: 6 (+1)

  Resilience: 6 (+1)

  Fortitude: 8 (+3)

  Even though I hadn't been dropping points into Strength, the bonuses from my gear were helping me keep up. My Fortitude had grown nicely too, although it didn't look like the Fortitude bonuses given to me by my gear had any effect on my base HP. Only my raw score affected the HP growth I gained each level.

  Satisfied with my growth so far, I closed my menu.

  "You done?" Ellie asked.

  I nodded.

  "All right. Let's get out of here."

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Boar Chops

  Ellie used Paragon's Might to knock a ladder made of bone down into the pit. We climbed out of the pit and found a crudely constructed hut that looked somewhat like the squats in Dregswyk.

  The parasites could survive on blood alone, but the hosts needed food. I hoped that the boar handler had something in his house that we might be able to eat. The Boar Chops I looted were in my inventory too, but they wouldn't be of any use until they were cooked.

  Technically I hadn't learned any kind of cooking skill since logging in, but I didn't think that would be an issue. The skills system seemed to take into account any innate talent you had for specific actions.

  Back in the real world, I spent most of my time by myself, so I had to learn how to cook. Some coders I knew lived on a diet of instant ramen and brewed coffee, but I couldn't do that. There's a certain joy that comes with sharing food with others, but there's another joy that comes with realizing that you can cook restaurant quality food for yourself at home for a fraction of the cost. Plus, you don't have to wear pants when you're eating dinner at home.

  It is recommended when you're frying, though. You don't want a glob of molten grease landing somewhere it can do permanent damage.

  I hoped that we might find some cooking implements in his hut. A good meal would give us a chance to rest, recover and mentally regroup before continuing.

  Going through the things inside the hut might also give me a chance to find out more information about what the Crimson Queen has planned for Eldin. Unearthing some new leads would give me some more experience points, which would go well towards reaching Level 10. I had only just hit Level 9, but I had a feeling that something good was going to happen when I hit Level 10. Something good usually happened when you hit milestone levels like that.

  The smell hit me before I even reached the open door to the house. It smelled like I'd wandered
into an abandoned abattoir. The scent of spilled blood permeated everything, dried and flaking into dust.

  My stomach heaved. There was a ragged, stained rug on the floor. I covered my mouth with my hand and stepped into the hut. The rug crunched under my feet. Whatever had soaked into it had dried and made it brittle.

  There was a rack of weapons inside the door. I inspected them one by one, but none of the options were better than the Acid-etched Sword I had picked up in the Stagnant Hive. Every weapon in the rack was of low quality, and each of them had a damage penalty applied if they were used in combat. The sword was rusted, the axe had a chip in its blade, and the handle of the quarterstaff was splintered.

  Against the far wall was a cast iron skillet, hanging from a metal hook. I couldn't see a stove of any description, or any food supplies, but it would be easy enough to break up one of the wooden chairs. There was bedding in the corner, but it looked more like some over-sized beanbag than any bed I had ever seen. There were dark stains all over it, the same color as the rug.

  Standing in the doorway I opened my menu and navigated to my list of case files. I selected the case file titled Uncovering the Crimson Queen's Plans, then used my Find Clues ability.

  The room lit up with items outlined in purple smoke.

  There was a collection of jars on a shelf below the skillet. Each of the jars was marked by the sigil of the Crimson Order. That symbol which had begun our journey in what felt like an eternity ago. Some of the jars were still full, but most were empty. The lids were still closed on the empty ones, but they had been chewed through by the parasites. The sign of the Sanguinari jaws that pierced the metal lids was unmistakable. I picked up one of the full jars and inspected it.

  Jar of Blood

  The sanguine parasites prefer to feed on live hosts, but in a pinch, they will drink fresh blood harvested from almost any source. These jars of blood allow one of the Sanguinari to keep their parasite fed in between live feeds. The sanguine parasites can survive on blood alone, but their hosts cannot.

  Well all right, then. Fast food for parasites.

  Next, I inspected the hearth. There were a few small personal items lined up on the mantel. There was a sketch of a man with thick muttonchops next to a boar, and near that was a pictograph of the same man with what looked like his family. There was a woman with long hair tied into a ponytail and two children. A little boy and a little girl.

  They looked about the same age, so maybe they were twins.

  Someone had lived here in this hut, and that person had a family. Had he joined the Sanguinari willingly, and brought this picture to remind him of his family? Or was he taken against his will and implanted with one of the parasites? We would never know.

  A couple of other items sat near the unfolded sketch. There was a tiny thimble, too small to fit on an adult finger, and a small stitched plushie of a dog. It was crudely cut and stitched, and I got the feeling that maybe the little girl had made it for her brother. Along with those items, there was a golden ring, scuffed from being worn on hands that did hard work. Probably a wedding ring. The entry that appeared in my Investigations Journal lumped all these items into one category.

  Personal Knick Knacks

  Whoever owned these items clearly loved their family but found themselves separated.

  There was a small desk next to the hearth, right beside the bed sack. A stack of papers sat on the top of the desk. The letters were all out of order, and it was hard to piece together exactly what had happened and in what chronological order. But the main gist was simple; someone named Commander Urdred had commissioned several experiments to judge the viability of Sanguinari parasites within a variety of hosts.

  The Blood-gorged Boar was just the last in a long line of tests. Almost all the experiment requests included a date in which the beast in question would be delivered and was matched with a report of the outcome.

  From the information I read, it seemed as though the parasites needed hardy hosts to survive and thrive. They were implanted into several domestic animals common in cities, such as dogs, cats and a few species of vermin, but all of those were deemed non-viable. The parasites ravaged their insides. In some situations, the parasites even started to feed on the host instead of other food sources.

  One line stood out to me in the handler's correspondence back to Commander Urdred.

  Infiltration using domestic pets as surveillance and infection vectors is non-viable. The risk of discovery is too high. It would be better to rely on the few human hosts that we have integrated into the Eldin and Dregswyk populace to provide intelligence. Our people are well hidden. We cannot allow the Emperor or the Rat King to know of our existence until it is too late for them to resist.

  A long, drawn-out breath escaped me as I read that statement. This was something that both the King Malidar And Emperor Erodwulf would want to know about if we ever made it back to Crematoria. I took that letter and folded it up. I slid it into my coat pocket, and it disappeared into my inventory.

  I left most of the pile of letters where they were, because eventually the bloody remains of the boar and the Crimson Initiates would be found. I wanted it to look like we had slain him and the boar and moved on. I didn't want to raise any suspicion that we knew about their plans.

  They would know if we stripped the place clean, but would they notice one single letter from a stack? I doubted it.

  Ellie came into the dwelling behind me. "What are you doing? Ugh! It smells horrible in here!"

  "You won't believe what I just found," I said.

  "What did you find?"

  "A missive from someone called Commander Urdred. Here, read it." I took the letter back out of my Inventory and handed it to Ellie.

  She went to say something, then took the letter from me. Her eyes darted over the words, then widened as she continued reading. She finished the letter, folded it soberly and handed it back to me.

  "Wow," she said. "We knew it was bad, but not this bad. We need to get this back to King Malidar right now."

  "Agreed," I said. "But before that, I think we should take a minute to eat and rest. The only way we're going to get out of here is if we find another open Blood Portal. That means we're going to need to convince one of these initiates to open one for us, and they're probably not going to be very happy about that."

  "Right," Ellie said, exhausted.

  "I'll cook up those Boar Chops. We'll take a few minutes to regroup, and then we'll keep going. We can't risk going into the next encounter unprepared."

  Ellie considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, let's eat. Shall I break down that chair for firewood? I'll build a campfire outside. I'm not eating in here."

  I smiled. Great minds think alike. "Good plan."

  Ellie grabbed the chair, and I took the skillet off the wall. "Take this with you. Warm it up, and I'll be out to start cooking in a second. I just want to do one final sweep of the domicile."

  Ellie scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "Domicile? Really?"

  "Fine," I said. "Hovel."

  Ellie shook her head laughing as she walked back outside.

  There were a bunch of other clues wreathed in purple haze left in the hovel, but they were mostly all reports of the outcome of individual experiments on different species. I saw every playable race within Crematoria Online listed as being compatible with the Sanguinari, with one caveat.

  It seemed as though the Dawn Elves, specifically those who have taken oaths as Lightsworn, have a resistance to the Crimson Queen's control.

  I had no idea what a Lightsworn was - I'd only heard vague details about them. Anyone who mentioned the Lightsworn Dominion had spoken about them like they were a problem half the world away.

  I stumbled across a bag of supplies amongst the clues. A handful of silver, one healing potion, one vial of anti-venom, and a small pouch full of something called Focus Powder.

  I transferred everything but the focus powder away into my inventory. An information panel appeared a
s I inspected the Focus Powder.

  Focus Powder

  When smoked by an Investigator, this powder increases the efficacy of the Precision Strike ability. It reduces the cost by half.

  That would certainly come in handy when I unlocked the Precision Strike ability, which would probably be at something stupid like Level 25. I stuffed the Focus Powder into my coat pocket - the same one that held my pipe and matches.

  I gave the hovel a once-over for any more clues, then a notification appeared at the bottom of my view.

  All Clues found! 1200 experience points gained!

  That was a lot of experience points, and the amount was probably tied to the level of the place. The Sanguinaria Outskirts didn't seem like somewhere a Level 9 Investigator should be. Still, I wasn't going to complain. I glanced at my experience bar and was happy to see that along with the little bit of experience I gained for every clue I discovered, the bonus for finding all clues had rocketed my experience almost to Level 10.

  I found a spice rack close to where the skillet had been hanging from the wall. The jars were filled with leaves and powders that I didn't recognize, but I eventually settled on two jars that looked like they were filled with salt and pepper. I gave each of them a sniff to make sure.

  Ellie had broken the chair down and gotten a fire going. The flames were low, but the dry and brittle wood caught quickly. There had been a steel frame holding the chair together, and Ellie had used that to fashion a metal stand to go over the fire. The iron skillet sat there, ready to cook.

  I took the Boar Chops out of my inventory and placed them into the pan. They immediately started to sizzle. I seasoned the raw side with salt and pepper, and the smell of the sizzling meat made my mouth water.

  "How long has it been since our last real meal back in Dregswyk?" Ellie asked.