“It’s not enough!” Trinity cried as she shot arrow after arrow at the impossibly strong monster.
“Keep firing!” I said as I watched Nanaya break free and fly behind the wyrm.
The monster looked infuriated with the white dragon, and it ignored the steady volley of arrows and sprang from the pit, revealing its true size. The thing was as long as a train, and it had so many legs that I soon lost count. When it’s body finally fully emerged from the pit, the long tail swung our way and slammed into the group, sending every one of us flying through the air. We were unceremoniously deposited on the rough stone floor, and the moans and cries of the more unfortunate of us rose up like a chorus of calamity.
“Get up!” I bade my fellow fighters as I struggled to my feet. The blow had knocked my health down to 72%, and I knew that it had been enough to kill many of the level zeros. But in the Underworld, no one really died, they just lingered in a pain-filled state, staring dreadfully into space as death flirted with them but never answered their prayers.
The groans and pleas of the injured tore at my heartstrings, and rage filled my mind, body, and soul.
Cecilia and Kit were frantically healing the injured and downing mana potions, but there were just too many to help. Less than half of the fighters rose to their feet amidst the sea of contorted bodies, but those who did came up fighting. The wyrm was still chasing Nanaya around the chamber, and we resumed our steady attack of enchanted arrows.
“Spread out!” I bellowed and moved away from those lingering in their eternal death throes. We had made a mistake by staying together before, and I knew that another swipe of that powerful tail would end our little revolution pretty damn quick. But the group heeded my advice and fanned out around the cavern and took cover wherever they could.
Now that we were a harder target, the wyrm focused its attention on those who were already out of the fight. It pounced on them with its many clawed feet and smashed them to a pulp with its thick tail. I felt for the players, but there was nothing I could do to stop their torment, and it was taking the attention from the rest of us, which was just what we needed.
Nanaya continued to pester the wyrm until it finally got a hold of her and brought her to one of its gaping maws. I shot an arrow straight up into the wyrm’s maw as it lunged to bite her in half, and my efforts paid off. The wyrm’s head jerked back with the blow slightly, and it was just enough to spare Nanaya from being bit in half. Instead, the razor-sharp teeth tore through her wings. She cried out in pain as the wyrm threw her against the wall. I cringed when she slammed into the wall and fell broken to the stone floor.
Trinity shared my anger and charged the wyrm, leaping up onto its long body and hacking away with her enchanted sword. Ember, Cecilia, and Kit followed her lead, and I found myself racing after my girls with bloodlust fogging my vision. I hacked at one of the legs and was rewarded with three beautiful words that appeared on my interface.
Soul-Shatter Strike!
To my surprise, the leg that I had hit suddenly exploded in a shower of gore. I growled like a beast and began hacking away at the monster. Its health was now down to 23%, and we could all sense that victory was close at hand. The rate of arrows slamming into the wyrm intensified, and the beast began to weaken. It moved a little slower and began acting confused, so I took advantage of the situation and ran along the creature’s back. It bucked like a bull and tried to twist its long body to shake us free, but the girls and I moved quickly as we ran toward the head. I was the first to reach one of the three necks, and I stabbed my enchanted blade deep. I didn’t get a Soul-Shatter strike until the fifth try, but when I did, I was rewarded with a spray of gore as the center head exploded. Trinity and Kit attacked the head on the right, while Cecilia and I went for the one on the left, but even after the three heads had exploded, the damn thing kept fighting. We leapt off the writhing, headless wyrm and ran for cover as the other fighters riddled the body like a pin cushion.
Finally, the creature’s health bar winked out, and the thing suddenly turned to ash.
“Sam!” Kit called to me. “Come quick, its Nanaya!”
Chapter 20
I ran to Nanaya’s side and my heart broke when I saw the extent of her injuries. She was in her succubus form, but both arms and legs were broken, and only stumps remained where her wings had been. The worst of it, however, was the long gash in her side. I could see her white ribs and torn muscle exposed, and I knelt beside her and offered what support I could while Kit and Cecilia began to heal her.
Nanaya cried against my chest as I held her close, and it was many long excruciating minutes before her pain subsided. Once it did, she continued to cling to me and cry. Cecilia and Kit had other people to heal, and they left us alone there in the dark corner of the cavern.
“Are you alright?” I asked Nanaya.
She sniffled and looked up at me with glistening eyes. “I’m sorry, I should be used to such pain by now, but…”
“It’s all good,” I assured her. “That bastard really did a number on you.”
I helped Nanaya to stand, and together we returned to the main group and tried to help those still suffering. It took Kit and Cecilia an hour to heal the fallen fighters, and by the time they were done, the two women were completely spent. It was decided that we could all use a little rest, and we all settled in behind the tall stones at the end of the cavern.
The battle had taken a lot out of me, but I was too amped up to sleep. I stood watch for three hours half expecting a horde of ghouls to charge our little group, but the time passed without incident. As I waited for the others to rest up enough to move on, I thought about the fight that we still had ahead of us. We had almost been wiped out by a single wyrm, and there were still legions to deal with before we even came close to Kincaid.
In that moment I knew that we wouldn’t be able to do this alone, and even with the help of others, there was no guarantee that we would succeed. There might have been thousands of real-world players down here, and if we freed them all we would have a massive army, but they were all level zero, and we only had so many bows to go around. Even with the help of the NPC characters from Rebirth Online who were down here as well, I still didn’t think we had much of a shot.
And where in the hell was Kincaid through all of this? I doubted that he was unaware that I was in the Underworld, and I didn’t think that he could be able to resist trying to reduce me to smoldering embers. But where was he? It was possible that he was watching my every move, enjoying my struggle, and lying in wait at the end of the road to finally put an end to my little rebellion. Then again, it was possible that he had worse problems right now. Like Nanaya had said, there was a boss for every level of the Underworld, and it was possible that one of the lower level bosses were making a move against Kincaid. I could only hope that was the case, and if it wasn’t, then I had to make sure that it became a reality.
If we could get the other bosses to move against Kincaid, we might just have a shot. I didn’t want to kill Arthur Gaines, but I seriously doubted that he was connected in any way to this new digital version of Kincaid. Unlike the corporation or Arthur Gaines’s father, I had no qualms about destroying the new Kincaid. Besides, there was more on the line than one man’s life. Everyone was still unable to log out of the game, and unlike me, their real-world bodies needed attention. I didn’t know what effect being logged in for so long might have on their real minds and bodies, but I knew that it couldn’t be good. There was also the issue of public opinion. The game was already seen as dangerous by many, and a lot of groups had already been trying to put an end to Rebirth Online. There were even rumors that entire countries were thinking about outlawing the game, which didn’t bode well for those of us who depended on it.
I knew that I was being selfish, and I knew that there was a real danger to the public, but the game was still in its beta phase, and glitches like this couldn’t happen forever.
“Want some company?” It was Nanaya, and she look
ed like she was doing a hell of a lot better.
“Sure,” I said. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I was so confident going into this, but now I don’t know.”
“We need more help,” I admitted, and she nodded in agreement.
“When we take the city, you need to kill the lord of the first level and take his place,” she said.
“What?”
“If you can kill him, you will become the lord of the first level. From there we will move against the second, the third, the fourth, and so on.”
“I don’t know, Nanaya,” I said with a small laugh. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”
“It is, that’s why some people try to get down here on purpose. Look at Kincaid, he was a real-world player, and now he’s Lord of the Underworld.”
“This isn’t the real Kincaid that we’re dealing with,” I reminded her.
“Even so, I believe it’s the only way. Sam, think about the power that you will possess.”
“I get you, but what will it do to me? I mean, this is the frigging Underworld. I don’t want to become some crazy demon lord. What if I forget myself?”
She leaned in and kissed me deeply. After a few tender seconds, she pulled away, and her beautiful eyes locked on mine. “Then I’ll remind you,” she said sweetly.
Our lips met again, and her tongue darted out to find mine.
“You two look cozy,” came Trinity’s voice from behind us.
I turned around to find her leaning up against a big boulder like she had been there a while. Her arms were crossed over her armored chest, and she wore a scowl that would stop any man in his tracks.
“Wanna join us?” Nanaya asked with a grin as one long claw trailed down my chin, neck, and chest.
“I prefer sausage over taco,” Trinity told her with a big helping of snarky to go along with her sarcasm.
“Is that so?” said the succubus. “I could have sworn that when I was riding Sam this morning, you had a pretty good time watching.”
Trinity ignored her and looked to me mocking boredom. “Shouldn’t we get moving soon?”
“We were just talking about that,” I told her. “Can you gather the others for me and bring them here? I’d like to tell you all about Nanaya’s idea and see what you all think.”
“Sure,” said Trinity, before offering Nanaya dead eyes.
We both watched her go, and the succubus gave a disappointed tsk, tsk. “She’s jealous.”
“Yeah.”
“Does she have a reason to be?” she asked me. Her demeanor had returned to the moments after the kiss.
“Well, they all have a reason to be, I guess,” I admitted.
“Why, are you falling for me?” she asked all doe-eyed.
I glanced at her and grinned, ready to share the small joke with her, but she wasn’t smiling, she was waiting for the answer, and she was doing it rather sheepishly. I wondered if she was faking this sudden vulnerability, or if it was a result of her recent pains. She was after all a succubus, and their job was pretty much to seduce men, but I didn’t feel like she had been trying to seduce me. Ok, maybe I should rephrase that, I didn’t think she was trying to seduce me as a means to some diabolical end. But then again, I could just be under her spell. I wasn’t falling in love with her, that was for sure.
Or was I?
“Not answering is like saying yes.” She made a cute face and laughed, and it was good to see her smile.
“I love everyone,” I told her, and she punched me in the arm, calling me a tease.
“Trinity is just looking out for me, you know that. But she could have been a little more sensitive after what you went through,” I explained.
“She has gone through something far more terrible,” Nanaya surprised me by saying.
“Well, I know, and I tried to talk to her about it, but she’s always trying to act so tough. I just don’t press the issue.”
“Maybe you should press the issue,” Nanaya said gently. “I’m not trying to get between you and your guildmates, Sam. If anything, I would like to make you all closer. I would like to make all of us closer. You should go to her, get her to open up.”
“You wanted to see us?” Kit said happily.
Trinity had returned with Ember and Cecilia as well, and I gestured for them to gather around.
“Nanaya has an idea, one that may help us gain enough support and enough power to defeat Kincaid once and for all.”
“Great,” said Ember. “Let’s hear it.”
I told them what Nanaya had suggested about killing the level one boss and taking his place, and then doing the same with the rest.
To my surprise, Trinity was the first one to say that she loved the idea.
“What?” said Kit. “I can’t believe that you think Sam should become some kind of dark master of the Underworld.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” said Trinity. “This is the smartest play we can make. We almost got our asses kicked by that wyrm earlier, and it is only going to get harder.”
“What about sneaking in there and tricking Kincaid into taking the enchanted artifact that Dr. Hamilton gave Sam?” Kit argued. “That was the plan all along until Nanaya showed up.”
“Good point,” I told her. “This is why I wanted to talk to you all about it. What do you think, Ember?”
“I vote for stealth,” she told the group. “We get to level 7, find Kincaid, get him to take the artifact, end of story. All this rising through the ranks shit sounds way more dangerous, and we would lose the element of surprise.”
“Speaking of that,” I said, glancing at Nanaya. “Kincaid must know we’re here, right? I mean he’s the dark lord.”
“He may be aware of your presence, yes,” she admitted.
“Then why hasn’t he attacked?” Cecilia asked. “From what I know about the real Kincaid, he would pounce on the opportunity to gank Sam while he’s at a low level.”
“Maybe he doesn’t care about Sam anymore,” Kit suggested. “Maybe he’s not like the old Kincaid.”
“Then why did he immediately go after Anna?” said Ember. “No, he cares about Sam.”
“Again,” said Cecilia. “Then why hasn’t he attacked?”
“He’s afraid of Sam,” said Trinity, and we all considered the blonde warrior’s suggestion.
“The Dark Lord of the Underworld, afraid of our Sammy?” Kit said in disbelief.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said with a laugh.
“I don’t mean it like that. You’re Big Daddy, you’re a badass mage with the magic stick. What I mean is, he’s the most powerful being in the Underworld, and it seems like he wouldn’t be afraid of anything.”
“Sam defeated Kincaid and trapped him in the Underworld,” said Trinity. “So, think of the new Kincaid that was created by the crazy power surge that put Arthur Gaines in a coma. The new Kincaid probably doesn’t know that he’s not really Arthur Gaines. All he knows is that he was one of the most powerful players in the game, and somehow Sam defeated him. If there is anyone that Kincaid fears, it has to be Sam.”
“But if he fears me so much, why hasn’t he sent his henchmen to take me out?”
“No one dies in the Underworld,” said Nanaya. “He can’t just take you out. He could capture you and trap you in eternal agony, but he cannot destroy you.”
“Fine, but if I were him, I would definitely take myself out of the picture as soon as possible.”
“There’s got to be another reason that Kincaid hasn’t acted,” said Ember. “Something that we haven’t thought of yet.”
“What are you all conspiring about over here?” Tweak asked as he emerged from between two tall rock formations into our little gathering place.
We brought Tweak up to speed, and he scratched his purple chin hair in thought.
“Maybe he’s using you,” Tweak finally suggested. Then he eyed Nanaya with scrutiny. “Maybe she’s working for him.”<
br />
“Excuse me?” Nanaya said with a scoff.
“It’s possible, right?” Tweak opened his arms and looked at us all with a raised brow. “Maybe Kincaid wants to use you to take out his competition. He really shook shit up when he deposed the last Lord of Darkness, right? And the other NPC bosses must be vying for his seat. So maybe he’s killing two birds with one stone and using Sam to shake shit up. That way he keeps Sam out of his hair, while at the same time keeping his enemies busy.”
We all looked from Tweak to Nanaya, and the succubus crossed her arms haughtily. “That’s ridiculous,” she said with an ironic laugh.
“Is it?” Trinity put her hand on the hilt of her sword and shifted her stance ever so slightly.
Ember, Cecilia, and even Kit stared at the succubus, waiting for an explanation.
“Sam, are you really considering what this purple fool is saying?” Nanaya asked.
She looked hurt, and I felt bad for not having an immediate answer for her. If she was one of Kincaid’s agents, what would happen if we exposed her? Would Kincaid finally appear and imprison us all since the jig was up?
“Sam?” Nanaya put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
I had a split-second decision to make, and I decided against pressing her further. If she was working for Kincaid, I didn’t think anything good would come of exposing her and foiling his master plan just yet.
“I trust Nanaya,” I told the group.
Trinity’s eyes just about popped out of her head, and she stared at me with indignance.
“You sure about this?” Ember asked carefully.
“I am,” I said, which gained me a beautiful smile of appreciation from Nanaya. “No matter what Kincaid has planned, and no matter if he knows about us or not, we’ve got to be proactive. We should go with Nanaya’s plan and start taking out the bosses.”
“You thinking with your big head, bro?” Tweak asked with concern.
“This is bullshit,” said Trinity.
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