[Denial] served no purpose. There were too many people. Xin’s backup of bone missiles kept firing in a rhythmic pulse. I counted them coming every third beat. Feet stepped again to get into a new position, and an unexpected slash dug into my stomach. Pain jolted through the ARC. My latest assailant froze mid-motion as one of Xin’s projectiles ended his digital existence.
“I don’t know! That one’s got an altered aura! It says he’s almost a fucking Voice!”
“What are you pussies waiting for? Do you want to live forever?”
Their words keep on buzzing while I dashed around. I used [Blink] every time the cooldown finished. [Power Armor] twisted on in short bursts. Metal clanged as my huge blade hit off walls, often with people’s body parts or weapons shattering.
“You pussies see that notice! Charge like your loot depends on it!” One of the people in the rear waved his weapon, and a crowd flooded into the hallway. “Goddammed scrubs! You’re lucky we even carried you this far!”
They surged forward like a tide of lemmings. I tossed [Morrigu’s Echo] a final time. A cramped crowd of players couldn’t deflect the bolt as it sailed through weaker players in the back. Messages flashed of critical hits, skill stats comparisons, and various Paths I had earned over the last few months.
“Heads up!”
Xin’s shout of warning made me step left and fade backward. A huge-ass hammer swung through, then smashed into the wall, causing sparks. I jabbed out with [Morrigu’s Gift] but missed. My eyes turned back to see Xin’s situation. She stood facing a charging player that had slipped by me.
Dusk’s blast of fireballs filled the room beyond. Gears screeched on one end of the hallway. I grasped at the wall with one hand, stepped upon a fallen Traveler’s body, then [Blink]ed toward my wife.
With a disturbingly casual disregard, I ended another Traveler’s virtual life. Endless messages of stupid player versus player tokens being awarded flooded part of my ARC interface. Crackling filled the hallway, and I heard one of the players shout from damage that hadn’t been caused by us.
Electric flares crawled through the far end of our weapon-and-player-lined hallway. People were charging at me while screaming obscenities that made no sense. [Awareness Heightening] drug out their cries into a dull drone.
I huffed while backing down the hallway toward Xin. People kept rushing as objects flew by. A line of throwing daggers clinked off my shield, then clattered to the floor. Each one shocked my arm with numbness.
I heard shouts from SheHulk. TinkerHell’s chanting filled the dome. I winced as a close blast of fire splashed off the wall.
“Get away!” I yelled at Xin.
She nodded. We were the only ones moving sanely in a sea of slow motion. My chest flared with a spike of pain. This situation needed to get back under control. ARC feedback had become more powerful on my device since I activated [Morrigu’s Gift] at [Haven Valley].
“Don’t wait!” I waved at Xin.
She ran and started descending the metal ladder. One stupid part of my mind hoped my wife had remembered to wear clothes under the black robe.
Another blast of fire hit. I stepped back and hugged the wall, just outside the sight range of those charging down the hallway. One foot twisted right, and [Camouflage] activated. I felt thankful the Rank Three version actually blended in with walls of any color.
A Traveler burst through and stared down. Crackles of light could be heard from the hallway. People were screaming, and the sound barely registered. Two more came out, and I lifted my foot back in a swing. The aggressive action made [Camouflage] fade away, but my metal-covered boot had already connected with the enemy’s backside.
The man wearing lighter armor went flying. [Morrigu’s Gift] skewered a person to the left. I glimpsed the still-flying Traveler and saw wide eyes as he went straight into the giant mechanical arachnid.
[Sage’s Guardian #4] went from calmly attacking SheHulk with three metal arms to enraged as the raider slammed into its face. Two arms lifted and pulled apart the offending player in a rush of gore. The coloring of our dome’s roof changed to the next stage of green. Gears on the mechanical spider changed as well.
“What phase?” SheHulk yelled while ducking behind her shield.
The giant spider tapped her shield hard enough to send the Hispanic woman sliding backward.
I huffed for breath while fighting the fourth man. He kept blocking every sneak attack, change of weapon, and other ability. The man’s Path or general skill had to be high.
“Three! All of them need at least three!” TinkerHell’s lanky form ran around, casting with short chants. Each one sent frost spikes at the beast.
Gears slowed briefly upon being struck, allowing SheHulk time to recover her stance and press forward, or giving TinkerHell time to cast a heal.
“Whatever plan you have won’t work!” the man attacking me yelled. He had two skulls on his clothes like Nam Redrum. “There’re too many of us, and we’re constantly resurrecting! You have no healers! You have no people watching from outside! You have nothing!”
Each explanation accompanied a scrambled defense on my part. The wound in my shoulder hurt like mad. I rallied myself enough to push the man back, then pinged with [Sight of Mercari]. A name popped into existence back in town again. Now I knew what was happening—someone out there kept bringing back dead players.
“Message from Awesome Jr. His dad’s under siege! They have explosives!”
“They’re resurrecting!” I yelled to the others who may not have heard my enemy’s demoralizing boasts.
Xin laughed from below. The man fighting against me looked down in confusion long enough for me to slide [Morrigu’s Gift] into his gut. He turned back in time to see [Morrigu’s Echo] chop through his head. The weapon jerked halfway as its durability started to give.
[Leadership] was in effect for us. My health bar ticked up once. Both shoulders ached and my arms tingled. I took a few deep huffs of air while surveying the mess below. [Sight of Mercari] showed a load of people near the wall outside. My health kept recovering while the spider hammered faster upon SheHulk’s shield.
The people outside ran away in unison. Something bad was coming.
“Babe,” I failed to yell.
One of the dome’s walls exploded inward. Rocks went everywhere, spraying the inside of our fighting zone. Xin’s arms went up, and I stumbled into another [Blink], appearing in front of her with far less coordination than desired. We fell to the floor and rolled.
Immediately projectiles from outside poured into our dome. Fire rained with arrows and rocks. The ground thudded, and wires in the walls melted together. Electricity above skipped right into deep purple as the fight took on a new level of difficulty.
My efforts hadn’t been enough. A few hundred stupid tokens were in my inventory now, and they amounted to nothing. How many people had I killed? How many Travelers were still against us? Names showed up everywhere, and all I could do was scramble to cover Xin while trying to block her body from attacks raining about the dome. Her eyes were wide, and the material falling about us kept coming in slow motion. Each item collided with the ground in exaggerated thuds.
I closed my eyes, then activated [Blink] again. The world tilted sideways as our new position left us a few feet off the ground upstairs. We slammed into the floor, jarring my shoulder even more. Pain hissed through clenched teeth, and copper dripped across my tongue.
“Shit!” SheHulk’s words were a bit faster. “You miserable pig fuckers should go find someone your own size to pick on!”
TinkerHell spoke, but her words didn’t make it through.
“Fuck, yeah, I am!” There was a clang of noise that sounded like a huge bell gong. “Time for the last resort!”
Both girls were chanting in [Lithium]. Xin’s ears perked, and she turned to look out from under me. The [Sage’s Guardian #4] looked to be pounding away on a giant yellow bubble that had formed around them.
TinkerHell’s chant made
her breath freeze and staff glow with blue energy. SheHulk’s body twisted as she took huge breaths. Each exhale went into a stream of chanting that only increased the short woman’s size.
Soon she was taller than me, and I think even taller than Leeroy had ever been. TinkerHell behind her looked less substantial. Almost liquid in her movement. Whatever they were doing clearly involved busting out ultimate special moves.
Xin’s mouth hung open. My own jaw dropped. Both girls radiated an insane level of danger that made my heart race. It could have been the ARC feedback, or my brain cells screaming that SheHulk should not be ten feet tall or made of pure muscle with an aura of gold.
I wanted a neat super move like that. Maybe I could trade [Wild Bill] for a power-cleave sword from the heavens or something. Seeing them transformed brought a measure of happiness to me. We could do this, maybe.
“SheHulk smash!” Her words dragged out.
The [Sage’s Guardian #4] stabbed down, and Elane casually flicked its leg away with the now diminutive shield. TinkerHell was chanting more [Lithium], but it sounded like high speed—more so than normal. As if multiple people were chanting instead of one. Four circles formed rapidly, and ice flew out the doorway. Broken sides of the dome that had been blasted open went subarctic in moments.
People in the way turned into popsicles. Other players unleashed huge spells and abilities. Two of the enemy fighters grew in size as well, but nothing compared to SheHulk’s mass. Her armor glistened with bright light as she charged through them like a mobile wrecking ball.
Behind everyone trailed the [Sage’s Guardian #4], its body moving jerkily as it tried to stay upright on the now-slick floor. Its health bar showed near full despite its slipping motions. These bosses were excessively large and seemed designed to wear players down rather than brutally overpower them.
Those who were frozen from TinkerHell’s bolts could only watch as an angry giant Hispanic woman charged into them. Her form wrecked humans with as little disregard as the buildings last night were wrecked. People who were still mobile ran. They fled back down the hill, through the city, only to find a wall of spider [World Eater]s on the other side.
I came out behind them to see both girls stomping around. Ice bolts were fired off. Other players in the city attacked back. A large spider made of gears and wires lifted four of its eight arms to greet everyone as a potential enemy. I saw wide eyes on our attackers as they realized a boss-level creature was now loose
“Where do we want the guardian?” SheHulk’s voice came out like a ragged-sounding man’s. Or maybe it was a woman coming off a five-day bender with a bottle and smokes.
“I don’t fucking know!” TinkerHell shouted back with an annoying after-echo.
The energy bolts were going absolutely crazy. The wires drained most of the violent electrical arcs down the hill. Giant rolling spikes of electricity fizzled through three-foot-wide cords. I could see why these enemy players were able to get close enough to explode everything. Our own preparation had worked in their favor.
“Awesome says bring them together!” TinkerHell shouted a minute later. She started running toward the other breached dome.
[World Eater]s were on the far side of our player killers. They focused on those in the rear, casting support spells. I saw one person chain-resurrecting players in the back. Her green glowing body went down under an army of spiders that leapt twenty feet at a time to close in on prey.
We needed to pull out all the stops, and I only had one more trick to play. [Wild Bill] came off my head. The open pocket waved over my hand, and a small golden coin appeared. On it was a marble statue of a man, fist on chin. Atop its head sat a crown of laurels.
What did gold matter at this stage? I had a metric ton. Gambling had shot up in popularity as people tried to cash out with more money. The auction house was flooded with other items that were all over the board in prices too.
“No risk, no reward.” It had been so long since I risked anything with this hat, but the stakes were high enough that I had to try. Suffering side effects to get a boon of use would be worth it. “Xin, you’ve got to keep safe back here.”
“If you go, I’m going. We’re in this together until the end.” She held up the wedding ring. “Remember?”
My eyes closed, and I contemplated the insanity that fighting here would be. We could pull out [Recall] scrolls and go home to [Haven Valley]. But doing so would put us too far away to recover the key left by Michelle, which came with a direct cost in the form of AI lives.
“Okay,” I said, then held up the coin.
Money didn’t matter. Only advantages to help us get through this were important. I flipped the coin and prayed that a [Blabber Mouth] or [Stream of Consciousness] debuff wouldn’t come out. Being near Xin and displaying every single worry on my mind would turn out terribly. Pessimism was best kept to myself.
“Ray! Tails!” I flipped the coin.
It spun with an inaudible ring. After three attempts—which came down heads—[Mute], [Monochromatic], and [Unfortunate] were all applied. The world shifted to a slightly more black-and-white setting. My voice stopped working. On the third coin flip, I lost more luck, which impacted critical hits and loot drops. None of that mattered to me.
I mouthed the words, “Once more,” and flipped the coin in hopes that [Unfortunate] wouldn’t slam the fourth try. Hundreds of gold ticked away on a box, and my bags lightened slightly. This time, it came down tails.
Buff gained: [Silent Threat]
Details: You give off no sound. All abilities that require hearing an opponent are mitigated by this ability. [Stealth]-type abilities can be activated once every ten seconds while in combat. [Stealth] abilities which have a hide penalty will be reduced accordingly. Aggressive abilities can be used without causing an immediate deactivation of [Stealth].
The ground near me vibrated. I looked up at a long line of players charging our way. Xin’s robe showed flashes of red runes. We hadn’t been fighting long, and her bone skeleton formations were running low on whatever mythical fuel made them go.
I grinned. The ability itself might be workable. If I understood right, any of my normal actions that broke out of [Camouflage] would still reveal me, but be delayed. An invisible sword could wreak insane levels of havoc.
One foot stomped down, then twisted. The world around me faded, then [Blink] went off. My body appeared in the middle of four players, but no one noticed. Their eyes were glued on the empty space where I had been.
[Morrigu’s Gift] ended more lives than ever before that day.
Elation rushed through me, along with a slow thud in my chest. All this excitement after being hospitalized weeks ago made me nervous. The ARC’s feedback level had been cranked too high.
But beyond those problems, Xin’s life was in danger. The people attacking us needed to be removed. I kept charging farther and farther out, chasing down everything that looked remotely violent.
A voice shouted over the crowd. It carried past all our swords clanking and the sounds of people screaming as ARC feedback told them about mortal wounds. Mechanical arachnid attacks and SheHulk’s thunderous stream of hatred were drowned out by one person.
“Hermes! The Messenger! It’s a pleasure to finally meet the man who started such a glorious quest for us!” the man said in a voice that rang over the battlefield.
I felt as if we were simply a crowd of people sitting in a conference room while he motivated us. Nam Redrum held his arms wide open as if coming for a gruesome hug.
I turned. At some point, I had gotten farther from Xin than I ever expected. She also looked distracted by enemies nearby. Small bone shards fired into spiders that ventured near. [World Eater]s were an actual threat to her.
“Hold him down!” Nam shouted.
Most of the guild who had protected this town was dead. Two of the [Sage’s Guardian]s were going berserk. One lay broken, twitching uncontrollably.
Someone threw a powder in my direction. Dodging it
was impossible as the substance spread through the air like a net. I tried to [Blink], but the air around me fizzled instead.
[Escape Barrier] applied.
Personal special distortion abilities are [Locked]! Triggering such abilities is impossible until the [Escape Barrier] fades or you travel outside of it.
I took a breath. This was beyond my [Depth] by far. One foot twisted again to activate [Camouflage], but a sword jabbed in my direction rapidly. Without [Blink] to relocate, I couldn’t take real advantage of the synergy between abilities.
Shazam’s training and my own experience weren’t enough to stack against this many player killers. Some of them had been at this for years. Only offbeat extra abilities given to me by the Voices kept me competitive. That and experience didn’t make idiots into fighting geniuses.
Xin’s body twirled. An angry set to her jaw accompanied two bone shards blasting off. The giant skeleton, half broken from fighting, swung weakly to drive back other players. Its attacks barely tapped the encircling players and certainly didn’t deter Nam Redrum’s approach.
System Notice!
[Blink] unavailable, [Escape Barrier] in effect!
There were six people on me, and I couldn’t get around them quickly. Twisting to move failed. We were out in the open, and these were people hardened to kill other players. My earlier success must have come from Xin’s backup, small hallways, and them being unprepared. I needed better statistics. I needed more skills and perfect reactions. There was simply no time to create new skills with the server crashing around us.
My breath caught as all the ways I had wasted time once again occurred to me. Most thoughts were half formed or self-berating as I waved my weapons back and forth, clanking against incoming attacks.
Slightly farther away, TinkerHell and SheHulk were fighting back to back. The tall blonde had wounds all over, and chunks of her hair were outright missing from being pulled or slashed out.
I tried to make it out of the circle but failed. Xin’s face snapped toward Nam Redrum. The leader of all these player killers marched forward without a care. His hand batted away bones flying at him as Xin chanted [Lithium].
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