Rise of the Crimson Order: A Crematoria Online LitRPG Novel

by Matthew J. Barbeler

  Okay, damn. That answered two questions. I couldn't just cast it in preparation for my next attack. I had to actually be in striking distance, which meant that I would strike my active target as soon as I activated the ability. With the Inkbound Initiate trying to keep me at bay using their gale force attacks, I didn't know whether I would actually get a chance to test out this new ability.

  Using it with my flintlock would be useless. The initiate would just blow the slug away with her wind bursts.

  As I tried to formulate a plan, I saw Ellie moving towards the Inkbound Initiate from behind.

  Ellie hurled her hammer at the Inkbound Initiate, but the tattooed Sanguinari must have heard the thrum of its approach. She spun and blew the hammer to the side with the force of her wind. Flakes of her skin were peeling away from her arms, whipped raw by the furious force she summoned.

  I closed the distance between myself and the Inkbound Initiate while she was focused on Ellie.

  Ellie was certainly the more immediate threat. She could attack over distance, and she was a formidable sight in her Judiciary plate. Compared to the threat Ellie posed, I was nothing.

  Or so the Inkbound Initiate thought.

  I reached melee distance, and the Inkbound Initiate's weak spots were illuminated. A strike to the head would land a critical hit, but so would a direct hit to the warding bands that encircled for forearms. Those bands had attracted all manner of rocks and small pebbles, which made a strange kind of sense. To stop the Inkbound Initiate being blown away by their own abilities, they needed a connection to the ground beneath their feet. The rocks and dirt had been drawn to her warding bands.

  With my Acid-etched Sword in my right hand, I activated Precision Strike, and my body moved on its own. My Concentration Points dropped by 50%. Damn! I should have smoked some of that Focus Powder when I got it. Reducing the cost of Precision Strike by half would be a lifesaver. I only had one shot, but luckily I made it count.

  The Inkbound Initiate had one arm raised towards Ellie, and the other was rising to join it. I took two steps to the side of the tattooed initiate and pivoted on the ball of my foot. I spun, slashing the Acid-etched Sword horizontally, right through the warding bands.

  The rocks, pebbles and dirt fell to the ground as my sword bit flesh.

  The result was instantaneous.

  The force of her unbound magic lifted her off the ground and rocketed her through the air like a balloon with a hole in it. She landed hard into the stone. Her blood spread out from the ruin of her body. She gasped for a few final breaths around the tubular bulk of the Sanguinari parasite that moved weakly between her lips.

  I rushed over to the Inkbound Initiate and ended the parasite's miserable existence with a slash of my sword. The host went into a seizure, shaking their broken body over the sharp stones until they fell still.

  We moved immediately to loot the bodies, but we didn't have a chance. The drawbridge over the chasm was lowering.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The Power of Blood

  Two figures stood in the open gate on the other side of the chasm. One short, the other tall, holding hands. The details of their faces were impossible to see. Both figures were shrouded by the flickering firelight of a bonfire behind them in the receiving area of the barracks. They looked like a parent and child, holding hands, getting ready to cross the road safely.

  There was something oddly familiar about the way the adult walked. They moved with a swagger that I swear I had seen before. The man and the child emerged from the shadow. My heart soared as I realized exactly who it was.

  "James Treborn, you magnificent bastard!" I called out.

  He was holding the boy's hand, and I knew who it was even before I saw his face. John Byrne, the kidnapped boy from the Allurian Orphanage.

  Somehow, James had reached him before us!

  "I bet you weren't expecting to see me," James said.

  "We thought you'd left us for good," I said.

  "How did you get here?" Ellie asked suspiciously.

  I was so happy to see James that I hadn't given it any thought, but Ellie's question was a good one. How did he get to Sanguinaria?

  That's when I noticed something strange about James. His eyes were bleary and red, just like the other Crimson Initiates we'd just fought. He had a brand-new suit, too. He wore a buttoned jacket over an armored cuirass. His forearms and lower legs were covered in gauntlets and greaves.

  "James," I said as the realization hit me. "No."

  "I'm sorry, kid. You were never meant to make it this far," James said. "I thought you'd both perish while we fought the roach hounds, but you proved far more resilient than I expected. Then, you managed to survive in Dregswyk unchaperoned, which was highly unlikely. You even managed to stop the assassin I sent to kill you both in your sleep, and now you're here."

  "Why?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Why would you do this?"

  "You know too much." James shrugged. "I needed the case of John Byrne to be assigned to me, but you waltzed in and took it. The further we got, the more you found out, and the more certain I was that I'd have to kill you. And then you stumbled across a friend, and suddenly I was outnumbered."

  Ellie and I looked at each other uncertainly.

  "You could have killed us both," Ellie said.

  "If I had been at full strength, I probably could have taken you both out without much bother. But I hadn't fed for a couple of days, and those roach hounds got a couple of lucky shots in."

  "What do you mean you hadn't fed?" I asked.

  "Oh, come on, kid! You're smarter than that! I'm one of the Crimson Order! Surely you've figured that out by now. John knew me from my work with the orphanage and asked to join us. He stole something from the Rat King for me and paid the price! I couldn't let him rot in that cell. He needed to receive the same blessing that had been bestowed on me."

  John Byrne stood beside James silently, grinning at us. His eyes were lined with red, and his outfit had a number of dark maroon stains on it. Dried blood.

  James sighed. "Unfortunately, the Crimson Queen has found the boy unworthy."

  James handed the boy a vial filled with an iridescent liquid. It looked red, but when it moved in the light it had a metallic blue sheen, like two-tone paint. The boy took it, uncorked the vial, and lifted it to his lips. He hesitated for a moment as his Sanguinari parasite emerged from between his lips. The undulating fanged mouth homed in on the scent of the blood. It grasped the vial gently in its jaws. Its central gullet opened as it upended the vial. It drank deeply, pulsing with the effort. It dropped the vial to the ground, which shattered on the stone.

  James grinned like a wolf as John began to shudder uncontrollably.

  The parasite returned into the boy's body, slurping back into his mouth like the world's thickest spaghetti. His face contorted into a grimace before he let out a yelp, then doubled over.

  "The wondrous thing about the Sanguinari is its adaptability," James said as he took a couple of steps away from John. "As long as it finds something living, with blood flowing through its veins, the parasite can survive and thrive! The essence of all living things is in the blood, and it tells a story that you and I couldn't possibly understand. But the Sanguinari can. It can read all of the hidden wonders locked away to the eons and bring them out to play."

  John fell to his knees, then pitched forwards, arms reaching out to break his fall. His back heaved with effort as his body began to change.

  "The most wonderful thing is when the Sanguinari ingests blood from a particularly powerful creature, they metabolize it using the body of the host. It can augment the host, granting them wondrous abilities. Wondrous, and sometimes monstrous."

  The boy's spine cracked as it re-shaped itself. His knees crunched as they turned the opposite way. Flesh was sundered as new limbs of horrible dimensions grew from his sides. Where his skin could not stretch, it tore. John Byrne's face sunk in between his shoulders, then his mouth split apart and reveal
ed insect-like mandibles.

  His eyes remained human, but everything else about his shape was not. His forearms bulged with mass, then split along the tibia and fibula, hardening into pincers. Each half of the newly split pincers had vestigial fingers that still moved and twitched on the tips. The Sanguinari parasite snaked out of the mouthparts and tasted the air as a newly grown tail rose from the back of the malformed monstrosity.

  "This blood was harvested from a Dire Scorpion in the Akani wastes," James explained. "They are powerful creatures, with a venom that can fell a wild Oliphaunt five times its size."

  If a Dire Scorpion was this big, and an Oliphaunt was five times as large, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to travel to the Akani Wastes. I watched in horror as John kept mutating. His soft skin hardened into plates of armor. New eyes, black as midnight, sprouted around his human eyes. He was now more insect than human.

  "You monster!" I shouted. "You've turned this innocent young boy into some kind of sideshow freak!"

  James looked at me with pity. "Kid, you're not going to make it in this town. You've got no perspective, and not even half of the facts. The fact of the matter is that John's parasite was beginning to reject him as a host. It was feeding on his body. He was already dead. His body just hadn't caught up. But this way, the remaining days of his life can serve a purpose. He is an example of the power that the Crimson Queen wields.

  James looked down at the mutated kid, then back to us. He smiled. "Now he's going to use that power to destroy you both!"

  A Quest Update message appeared at the bottom of my view.

  Quest Updated: The Rotten Heart of Alluria

  Objective complete: Find John Byrne

  You have found John Byrne. Corrupted by the Crimson Order to become a fearsome beast, he is now more Dire Scorpion than human.

  New objective: Destroy John Byrne.

  James took a few steps back from John as the power of the Dire Scorpion settled within John's new hybrid body. I immediately cast Expose Weakness on John and analyzed the information that appeared.

  Sanguine Monstrosity

  Level 12

  An incredibly dangerous foe, with snapping claws, a stinging tail, and possessed by a Sanguinari parasite. It used to be human, but now it is an unholy abomination.

  Ellie and I fell into battle stance and readied ourselves for a fight.

  Chapter Forty

  The Sanguine Monstrosity

  The Sanguine Monstrosity rushed towards us. Ellie had her shield raised and held her hammer ready to throw, but the scorpion wasn't rushing towards her. It was coming straight for me! Ellie used her Courageous Shout, which infused us both with vigor. The Sanguine Monstrosity would have been too big and too fast for me to reliably get a shot in, but I had a new trick up my sleeve.

  I held out my loaded flintlock pistol towards the rampaging scorpion and waited until it got close. My Expose Weakness ability was active, so 25% of my Concentration Points were being used. The monster's claws were almost at me when I activated my new Precision Strike ability. My Concentration Points dropped by another 50%.

  Damn it!

  I had been so distracted by James's reappearance that I had forgotten to smoke some Focus Powder. Now I'd have to last the whole fight with Precision Strike costing me 50% of my Concentration Points every time I wanted to use it.

  Time slowed as my focus was channeled into my aim. I was aware of every movement that the creature made. The monster's head bobbed up and down as it moved, and the tail lifted higher, ready to strike. I aimed down the sights, which were aimed at the creature's head, and pulled the trigger.

  The shot rang out like a thunderclap. The slug slammed into the monstrosity's skull, right between the two human eyes, between the two armored plates which covered the monster's brow. In one smooth motion I holstered my pistol, drew my sword and launched myself out of range of the snapping claws.

  The sound of Ellie's hammer thrummed through the air. It slammed into the Sanguine Monstrosity's side.

  The one-two punch of headshot and side smash caused it to stumble.

  "Strike now, while it's stunned!" I yelled. "It's an insect hybrid, so the weak spots are between the plates of armor, and it's a human too, so aim for the head!"

  Ellie and I both rushed in. She caught her hammer as she ran, and I focused on chopping away at the monstrosity's spindly legs.

  We'd both learned from fighting against the roach hounds. Remove the legs, reduce their mobility. I focused on big horizontal strikes, so I could get the full slash damage bonus from my Acid-etched Sword.

  My Concentration Points regenerated much slower in battle than they did out of combat. I would be able to launch another Precision Strike soon, but I didn't want to completely deplete my resources. I needed to keep some up my sleeve in case of an emergency.

  The monstrosity recovered from its stun quickly, but I felt like we had managed to do some decent damage to it. Its stinger shot forward, right towards Ellie. She managed to block it, but it made her stagger.

  I kept my focus on doing as much damage as I could while Ellie was taking focus. Ellie's shield only covered a small part of her body, and she was so focused on defending against the stinger's high strikes that she left her legs exposed.

  One of the scorpion's claws grabbed her by the ankle in a crushing vice grip. Ellie cried out as it took her leg out from under her. She went down hard. She held her shield tight over her chest because that damned stinger wouldn't stop trying to envenom her. Now she had to contend with the other claw, which was snapping towards her head.

  "Hey, ugly! Over here!" I shouted, trying to get the scorpion's attention.

  It didn't work.

  My Concentration Points had regenerated back up to the 60% mark. If I used Precision Strike again, that would leave me with 10%, and the next Precision Strike wouldn't be ready for some time.

  But if I didn't get its attention somehow, Ellie was dead meat.

  I launched myself onto the Sanguine Monstrosity's back, right under the arch of its tail. I could barely keep my feet under me, but I needed to get rid of that damned stinger!

  I had a theory, based on something I had seen in the roach hound dungeon. Ellie had managed to crack the Roach Hound Matriarch's armor and made her own weak spot. If I could do the same here, then maybe another precision strike would do the trick.

  Trying to keep my feet, I slashed up towards the bulbous segmented stinger. I missed on the first strike, and the second strike was barely better than a glancing blow. The third strike hit home. The flesh between the two segments of tail split apart. Fresh blood flowed from the wound. It glowed bright white. A brand new, freshly made weak spot!

  I got ready to use Precision Strike to try to sever the stinger, but the Sanguine Monstrosity had other ideas. The tail lashed forward, right towards Ellie! The pointed stinger slammed into Ellie's thigh, right through the armor.

  Ellie cried out in shock and terror as the stinger pulled free from the wound. It dripped with fresh blood. A shiver passed through the Sanguine Monstrosity at the sight.

  The Sanguinari parasite emerged like a snake from its burrow. Its fanged maw was sheathed by a covering of flesh, which pulled back as it reached towards Ellie, who had gone completely limp.

  Paralyzed.

  The Sanguine Monstrosity grabbed her by the chest with its other claw, holding her still. The Sanguinari parasite shot forwards and latched onto her neck. It started to feed.

  "No. No!" I shouted.

  A beast this enormous would be able to drain Ellie dry in moments.

  I focused on the new weak spot and activated Precision Strike.

  Time slowed, and my focus on the new weak spot was unwavering. My Acid-etched Sword slashed in an upwards arc towards the weak spot. The edge of the sword hit flesh and passed straight through. The stinger tumbled through the air, and the response was immediate and violent.

  The Sanguine Monstrosity bucked beneath me. The Sanguinari parasite slurped back into the
creature's mouth and it threw Ellie to the side. She rolled to a stop.

  She didn't stir.

  The Sanguine Monstrosity reached back towards me with its claws, trying desperately to snatch at me. I drove the edge of my sword down into its back. I focused on driving my sword deep into the creature's back, not to kill it, but to secure a handhold out of range of its claws. They snapped towards me in vain as my sword sunk deeper into its flesh.

  I held tight to the sword's grip as it tried to buck me off. All I needed to do was hold on until I had regained 50% of my Concentration Points again. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when that happened, but I knew I'd figure out something when the time came.

  "I'm impressed, kid." James's voice, coming from somewhere behind me. "When you came to LSI, I thought you were a dullard. Not more than half a brain between those ears. But seeing you in action? Well, you've surprised me. Maybe I've underestimated you."

  "Yeah, you have!" I called back. The focus I needed to keep was evident in my tone. "Once I finish this abomination off, I'm coming for you!"

  James laughed. "I'd like to see you try, but I'm afraid you won't get the chance! There's no way you'll be able to survive what's coming next."

  Oh no.

  "John! To me!" James called. It stopped trying to buck me off and headed towards the sound of James's voice with me on his back!

  James held another vial in his hand. He uncorked it and held it out towards the Sanguine Monstrosity.

  The Sanguinari parasite shot out of the creature's mouth and took the vial hungrily. It drained the blood from the vial and went very still.

  I thought about going in for a kill strike but decided that getting the hell out of there was the wiser option. My Concentration Points were at 42%, but I knew that I wouldn't have long to live if I stayed where I was.

  I pulled my sword from the Sanguine Monstrosity's back and I rolled away. I scrambled back to my feet and rushed over to Ellie. The vial of anti-venom and the healing potion I found back in the hovel would help. I desperately hoped that I wasn't too late.