Trojan: An Epic LitRPG Adventure (Afterlife Online Book 3)

by Domino Finn

  Chadwick stiffened at my approach. He lunged at the banker and put a knife to his throat. "Stop right there, Protector."

  I slowed with my spear out. "You're in Black Hat territory," I warned.

  "You're doing business outside Oldtown, business in my districts, and I'll get a cut of it or else."

  "You're not getting a damn thing, you greedy bastard. Don't you see what's happening here?" I sneered. "Or maybe that's exactly why you came. An uprising in the city is too good an opportunity for a sniveling vulture to pass up."

  "I'll get my cut," he insisted, "or I'll cut his neck. Your choice."

  I worked my jaw as I reviewed my options. It was Drummond who made the call.

  "Over my dead body!" A small whittling knife materialized in his hand. He stabbed it into the gangster's stomach, doing more to surprise than wound.

  "No!" I snapped into action.

  Chadwick's blade sliced the banker's throat. Drummond fell to his knees, clutching his leaking neck. The gangsters rushed me.

  Level 4s and 5s didn't stand a good chance against a 10, but Oldtown was becoming a war zone. I'd lost track of Errol and was alone so they figured me for easy pickings. With ten of them to fend off at once, maybe they were right.

  I activated tornado spin to set them on their heels, rolling out of the maneuver with the dragonspear already puncturing a gangster's side. A dagger came at my back. I twisted and crossblocked.

  Disarm!

  As the gangster leaned to recover his dropped weapon, I smacked the spear across his temple, critically injuring him. Two more blades came at me. They clinked together on my old position as I dashed out of the kill zone, slapping swords away.

  23 damage

  Health: 174/300

  I grimaced and rolled away from the blow. I triggered a deadshot to instakill the cutthroat who'd damaged me. Unfortunately, I was greeted with an error sound. A quick glance showed I had plenty of spirit left, but the precious second of confusion left me exposed.

  24 damage

  18 damage

  Health: 132/300

  I rolled away from the incoming blows. My deadshot skill was grayed out. It was only when I noticed spinshield was also disabled that I realized what was happening. I'd overloaded both those skills in the Arena. Overloaded skills didn't just cost more SP, they required massive cooldowns.

  I crossblocked again. Backed away and repeated the defensive maneuver as Drummond hacked out a lung. Chadwick's men pounced and it was all I could do to fend them off.

  "Aaaargh!" yelled a wild-eyed Stigg, spittle spraying over his giant black beard. The berserker barreled into the line, wooden bo staff knocking gangsters down like they were bowling pins. Caduceus waved her bone pick.

  [Caduceus] cast Minor Heal

  Health: 230/300

  "Damn you!" snarled Chadwick. Any iota of a chance he had was immediately dashed by the reinforcements. No match for us in a straight fight, he turned to retreat.

  The gangsters followed their boss. Drummond was dead and I was pissed, so we took chase. They hurried for the southern border of Oldtown, as if escaping our immediate influence would be their salvation. It was their doom instead. When they approached a border turret, the smart weapon sensed their hostility and opened fire with shards of slate. The fleeing gang shielded their faces against the onslaught, but one by one began to succumb to their injuries.

  [Slate Turret] dealt 57 damage to [Gangster]

  [Slate Turret] dealt 39 damage to [Gangster]

  [Slate Turret] dealt 54 damage to [Gangster]

  Damn, these automated defenses were no joke. Chadwick's last man fell, a pincushion of little stone shards. Unfortunately, the boss-man himself passed out of range and jumped into the distant ruins. He'd escaped Black Hat territory.

  "Let him go," urged Caduceus. "He's just a distraction."

  I scowled as I watched the rotund man getting away. He deserved to die.

  The physicker's voice pleaded urgency. "You can deal with him another day."

  As I swallowed back my anger, a single arrow whizzed by my head. I instinctively flinched then smiled as I recognized the sound. The arrow nailed its target. The fleeing silhouette of the upstart gangster tripped to the ground.

  Savage!

  [Dune] dealt 101 damage to [Chadwick]

  [Chadwick] is dead!

  "PvP in the city," laughed Dune as he approached. "Where has this been all my life?"

  I eyed the ranger with a huge grin. "Still kill-stealing, I see."

  "To be fair, I did tell you there'd be XP for the taking." He hurried to his downed target.

  The red robe laughed in vigorous agreement. "You always throw the best parties, Talon."

  "Are you drunk right now?" I asked.

  "Of course!" replied Stigg, half offended. "I wouldn't have the discourtesy of showing up to your pub's grand opening sober!"

  Errol hurried over when he noticed the commotion. "Missed all the fun, I see."

  Dune looted the body and hurried back to us as we cleaned out the rest of the gangsters.

  "We should move," said Caduceus, cool and collected as she topped off my health. "The turrets are a good countermeasure, but if that fat man could get through, they'll only slow down an army."

  "Is the city watch helping yet?" I asked.

  Dune shook his head. "Afraid not, friend. If individuals cross the line they can be dealt with, but the main force of enemies is only coming for you. Oldtown's yours, Talon. You're the one who needs to defend it."

  I chewed my lip and recalled the rogues across the river ignoring the townsfolk. They weren't only sparing the saints but the whole town, including the city watch. "Hadrian wants to take me out. This is a PvP war, and as long as it doesn't spill into the streets too much, the city watch might tolerate it."

  Stigg banged his wooden staff on the ground and started toward the northern line. "Shall we do the honors, then?"

  The group exchanged intrepid glances before heading into the fight.

  >> Minigame <<

  Tad Lonnerman paced the outskirts of the administrative area. There were several walled offices here. Christian Everett had the large corner room. The others were for Abbie from HR, the CFO, and the marketing director. A pack of them had headed to the commissary together, which meant they'd enjoy a relaxed business lunch out of his hair.

  The outside space was flush with cubicles for secretaries and assistants. While the company officers played a vital role in day-to-day operations, the administrative employees without dedicated offices weren't part of the skeleton crew and were on leave.

  Tad checked the clock on his phone. It was the third time that minute. He pushed the screen off with a huff and continued pacing, watching the CEO's office from a distance. Christian was a dedicated and passionate worker, a hands-on, boots-on-the-ground type of guy. He often took late lunches. This put Tad in an awkward position. If he waited too long, his coworkers would start returning from lunch. But he couldn't very well take action before Christian left. Tad was being pinched from both ends.

  "Tad."

  He jumped and spun at the voice. "Oh, hey Pete."

  The man frowned. "Are you looking for someone?"

  "Looking? No. Just taking a walk and trying to work through an algorithm in my head."

  Pete stroked at the air beneath his chin before catching himself and crossing his arms. Tad had noticed the affectation more and more recently. Pete was obviously troubled, but he had something on his mind other than Tad's presence in the administrative area. "Now that I have you hear, Tad, you mind if I ask you something?"

  The programmer did his best to act casual. "Shoot."

  "Do you know anything about item history logs?"

  "Sure. Events are fired that kick off and confirm transactions. Items log the ones related to them."

  "And would it be possible to fake a log?"

  Tad bit his lip. "Fake them?"

  "Yes. To hack a log and insert erroneous data."

&
nbsp; "Well, sure, I guess anything's possible. The output log's just a text file. But it'd be easy to catch mismatches with the game data. In certain cases, anyway."

  "I see... and—" The door to Christian's office opened as the CEO emerged to take lunch. "Excuse me."

  Peter intercepted Christian with hasty news. Judging by the looks on their faces, the discussion point was serious. Both men turned and entered Christian's office.

  "Crap."

  Tad really didn't have time for this. Not only had Saint Peter exited the sim, but he was suspicious about item history logs. Now he was getting Christian involved, and there was no telling how long they'd be.

  Ten minutes and an order of magnitude more clock checks later, they hurried from the office. Tad ducked behind a distant cubicle.

  "I need you back in there," prodded Christian. "Just a few more days. You're my eyes and ears, Pete. I need you to handle this..." Their voices trailed off as they headed for the Superdome.

  It was now or never.

  Tad hustled into the CEO's office and posted behind the spartan desk. The workstation was fortuitously unlocked. Access should only take a minute. Unfortunately, the hub was closed and had to boot up.

  Tad rapped nervous fingers on the desktop as his eyes ran over paper documents that lay mid perusal. Rocket launch timetables. Financials for outsourcing partners in usability and support and QA. It was like he'd said, Christian Everett was always involved in a handful of secret projects.

  Tad flinched as the speakers chimed, announcing the hub had successfully booted. He hurried to access developer privileges, but before he could get there, a stunned CEO reentered his office.

  "Tad." Christian Everett stiffened, eyes running to the documents on the table. His lips tightened. "I can't say I ever expected this from you."

  1440 Advanced Warfare

  Errol and I hurried to the line with Dune's party. On the way up the road, a couple of enemies were unlucky enough to cross our path.

  [Bandit] is defeated

  [Rogue] is defeated

  52 XP awarded

  1 DP awarded

  "Anyone know what this defense point is?" I asked.

  Everyone shook their head. "You're the one running the headquarters," pointed out the ranger.

  Talon: Hey, Kyle, you see anything in the sanctum controls about DP?

  Kyle: Are you coming on to me, bro?

  Talon: Get your mind out of the gutter.

  Kyle: Why so srs? Besides, I think I figured it out. The defense menu is active. We're showing a grand total of 1 defense point.

  I opened my map screen and saw much of what I usually did, except the zoom level was focused on Black Hat territory and the immediate outskirts. There were green dots for friendly positions, whites for neutrals, and a jumble of reds congregating on the main thoroughfare north of Oldtown. I mulled over the possibilities.

  Talon: Holy crap. We've got a full defense grid.

  Kyle: Yup. Impressive is an understatement.

  Black Hats crowded the northern line. With the gargantuan city walls to the west and south, the river still on fire, and a connected string of high buildings along the thoroughfare, the simple walkway to the west gate area was now the only viable entrance to Oldtown. The Brothers in Black had enough numbers to start an advance. Lash and Conan were directing our forces into position to hold them off. I chuckled as I enjoyed a top-down view of the battle.

  My extended menu display wasn't just limited to a real-time map, either. Now that I was in Black Hat territory, other aspects of the sanctum master panel had carried over. Despite my inability to directly affect the upgrades, I could view the socket and pearl display.

  Socket Manager

  Feather: Dove

  Wind:

  Water: River

  Earth: Dirt -> Shale

  Unused: Bone

  Talon: Kyle, the turret placements aren't doing much good where they are. Why don't you swap out the dirt pearl and fit the shale pearl directly into the earth socket?

  Kyle: I got ya. One wall, coming right up.

  Earth: Shale

  The turrets sank into the ground. A wall of sharp stone rose at the mouth of the north entrance. The rogues at ground zero were upended. Those unfortunate enough to be stranded on our side of the wall were immediately cut down.

  The new wall was a decent choke point, but not much more than that. Far from a robust fortification, the Brothers in Black scaled it with hooks or slipped around it altogether. Our party ran into the fray and defended the line.

  Lash's cleaver took an enemy's leg off at the knee. The thief fell at my feet. "About time you joined us," she barked.

  I brought my spear down on the flailing rogue to finish him off. "It's called being fashionably late."

  Caduceus gave Lash a quick heal. "I see you're outnumbered by testosterone. Us girls gotta stick together."

  Conan grunted and buried his axe in some bloke's head. "Where is that old witch anyway?"

  "Working on it," I said.

  Talon: Izzy, status update?

  Izzy: Bandit and Artax have us. Galloping back to the city. The rogue force on the eastern front is very thin. Giving us a little trouble but I think they're just for show.

  Glinda: Don't listen to the crazy woman, Talon. It's a madhouse out here.

  I chuckled.

  Talon: She's not crazy, just confident. And rightly so.

  Lash nodded at me in recognition of the update. Everyone besides Dune's party was in our brigade. They read it themselves. To further improve our coordination, I selected lower-level Black Hats and added their parties to the brigade as well.

  Talon: All for one and one for all. XP sharing for everybody! Long as you live, anyway.

  Grim chuckles emerged from the crowd of defenders.

  I sidled up to Lash. "Aren't we missing a member of Bravo Team?"

  "Crux is a pacifist," she replied.

  "That's unacceptable today."

  A last group of cutthroats surged past the wall in a unified rush. Members of our line fell to the coordinated strike. Lash and I ordered the defenders to back away slightly and regroup.

  Conan roared, Tarzan and Chewbacca all in one, before powering up with a mote of red energy.

  [Conan] used Blood Frenzy

  The barbarian lumbered through the assassins and hurled them this way and that, bashing and slicing with his axe and free hand. It was a sight so demoralizing that some of the Black Hats, myself included, wondered if we should run. Lash, who was accustomed to the display, rallied the forces to move in and sweep up the leftovers.

  The rush was over.

  "They're holding back," I reported, eyeing the enemy positions on the map. It seemed the bottleneck had stymied them enough to give them doubts. While they regrouped, there was a lull in the action.

  Caduceus and another healer tended to the wounded. Others chugged health potions. After this battle, I resolved to bolster the number of Black Hat healers. Our meager staff was a regrettable oversight, but an understandable one given our recent war against the Oakengard priestship. Clerics generally weren't welcome in Stronghold.

  The enemy formation on the map spread out. Many of them were still focused on the main passage, but a contingent headed east to the marketplace and crossed the bridges into the Foot. Others fanned out into the line of buildings walling off Oldtown. A narrow alley sliced along the west wall. While it didn't lead directly into Black Hat territory, the ruins along the west side of Oldtown would provide a secondary staging area and plenty of cover for incoming forces.

  So much for a single bottleneck.

  Talon: Kyle, we need another wall at the western alley.

  Kyle: No can do, bro. We can only build within the headquarters.

  I grumbled and gave orders for the defenses to widen. I sent watchers along the eastern buildings, heavier hitters toward the west alley.

  Kyle: I do have some good news, though. Looks like we can spend defense points to repair structu
res and build traps.

  Talon: What kind of traps?

  Kyle: Remember those caltrop plans Izzy found in the library?

  The Shorehome army once again charged the wall. "Incoming!" I yelled. Black Hats hefted weapons in response.

  This time, rogues flew over the wall in greater numbers. Vaulters came in as a first strike, scrambling our line. Other mercenaries hammered at the shale with pickaxes. The sudden push threatened to cut us off from our spreading forces.

  "Fall back!" cried Lash from the western line. Conan and the others remained in formation as they begrudgingly drew away from the side alley. Cutthroats rushed in. "There's too many of them, Talon! We need to regroup the main force."

  Cracks snaked across our single wall. "We can't. This is gonna be a war zone inside a minute."

  "So repair it like Kyle said and back us up!" Bravo Team continued their measured retreat.

  My eyes flitted to distress calls from the eastern buildings. Ninja-clad assassins were scaling down from high windows. With the interconnected buildings forming a barrier impossible to vault, the Brothers in Black had opted to go through them. The rogues that breached were hardly an imposing force, but our natural defenses now resembled a leaking dam, one getting closer and closer to bursting.

  Talon: Kyle, get those caltrops out here.

  Kyle: Buying them is no problem, DP is coming in from our kills, but we need boots on the ground to place them. Someone's physically required to be in the drop spot.