by Baron Sord
Saber Frog fried me with lightning again.
Writhing in pure agony, I twisted in the grimy black mud.
Health down to 25%.
They were going to kill my smooth wartless ass out of sheer spite.
I was out of options.
Wait…
KingFarthurT:> Anybody here speak Toad?
It was a general chat sent to the entire army. Probably no one would answer because everyone was too busy.
While still on my stomach, one of the other Toadax pushed the point of his sword against my leather-jacketed shoulder and shoved, rolling me onto my back.
“Kath kath kath kath.”
“Asshole,” I muttered, watching the toad toting my saber charge it with Mana. S/he looked excited about the idea of killing me.
JusticeSoldierCraig:> I speak a little Toadax.
KingFarthurT:> Craig! My man! Please tell me you know the Toadax word for stop?
JusticeSoldierCraig:> Uhhhh… Hold on. Gotta slay a— IN YOUR FACE, COCKSUCKER! THAT’S RIGHT! SUCK ON MY MANA STICK, BITCH! YOU LIKE THAT, DON’T YOU! YEAH! SUCK IT, YOU ORKEN PIECE OF SHIT! SUUUUUCK IIIIIIT!
KingFarthurT:> Craig? You need a moment, bro?
JusticeSoldierCraig:> Oh, sorry. Just finishing off this Dark Orken who was trying to chop my head off. What was it you needed to know?
KingFarthurT:> What’s the Toadax word for— SHIT!!!!
Ka-ZAP!!
My Toadax tormentor hit me again with a lower dose of lightning. I think s/he was toying with me, trying to draw things out without killing me so s/he could inflict maximum misery. Who knew Toadax were this sadistic?
My Health was down to 17%.
JusticeSoldierCraig:> Toadax for shit? I think it’s kur-kur.
I groaned out loud.
KingFarthurT:> No. Stop. Toadax for stop!
JusticeSoldierCraig:> That’s easy. It’s— SWALLOW MY SWORD, YOU ASS CLOWN! SWALLOW IT DOWN TO THE HILT! ALL THE WAY, YOU ASS BUCKET! ALL THE FUCKING WAAAAAAAY!!!!
Ki-ZAK!!
The toad fried me again.
Health down to 12%
KingFarthurT:> CRAIG!!!! STOP! THE WORD FOR FUCKING STOOOOOP!
JusticeSoldierCraig:> Sorry. That’s easy. It’s birbit.
KingFarthurT:> Birbit?
JusticeSoldierCraig:> Yeah.
KingFarthurT:> Thank you!
I mustered all my Mind energy and locked eyes with the saber toting toady.
My saber flickered in its hand. S/he was charging it for the final killing strike. Well, maybe the strike before the final strike. The look in its toad eyes did say, You were right, I am a sadistic shit.
I shouted and pushed as hard as I could, “BIRBIT!”
S/he froze and its rectangular pupils popped open into big black squares. Then, stiff as a board, it keeled onto its back, dead.
Its two buddies were surprised.
I glared at the one on the left. “FUCKING BIRBIT, BITCH!”
It flopped over, just as dead.
“BIRBIT, YOU RIBBIT MUNCHING SHIT!!!”
The third collapsed in a contorted heap.
You just deep fried the brains of those three Toadax!
You earned 5500 XP.
For a few moments, I lay there motionless, too tired to move. If some clever Toadax were to run up right now and steal my saber, s/he could have it.
My status bars all flashed purple and dropped slowly.
My Health ticked down to 11%.
My Stamina was slowly recovering. I guess the drain on my attributes was still minimal because Jason’s spell was winning out against the poison, but that buff would run out within the hour. Then all my stats would plummet.
For now, I had plenty of Mind to work with and some Mana.
Did I have enough Stamina for another Snake Strike?
Not yet.
But I did have enough for Deadly Disembowel.
Unlike Snake Strike, which activated for a time limit, Deadly Disembowel was a single strike attack. I assumed that meant I had to activate it while attacking. And there was one lucky victim who deserved a Deadly Disembowel more than any other.
Gra-KROOM!
The Plague Behemoth knocked down two more trees with its wrecking chunk. How much Health did that thing have? Layna was still shooting arrows at him and he looked like a porcupine, but he was still going. That was what starting with 4875 Health did for ya.
I pushed myself to my feet.
That thing needed to be stopped before it killed Emily’s tree.
If it hadn’t already.
I couldn’t think about that.
I watched Layna circle the blind and reeling Behemoth. I waited until he was facing me. Would you look at that? That disgusting gut of his was completely exposed. A huge, fat, purplish bag of sick, just waiting to be sliced open.
“Ru-GROAR!”
He swung his chain and it arced straight down to the ground. The wrecking chunk buried itself and splashed up lumps of mud. Behemoth pulled on it hard, trying to free it.
That was my cue.
Layna circled around toward his front, firing golden arrows at his head. With over two dozen arrows in his skull already, he was starting to look a bit like Pinhead, but with full-size golden arrows sticking out instead.
Despite my low Health, flagging Stamina, and the demonic curse, I still had a Speed of at least 30. Plenty fast.
I lunged and threw my entire body into a long high slash at the Plague Behemoth’s drooping purple gut. And I activated Deadly Disembowel.
You have temporarily activated a new skill: POWER ATTACK: Deadly Disembowel. Level 6. Cost: 150 Stamina. Duration: 1 attack. Effect: Critical Hit. Only effective on opponents with 400 Armor or less and 1000 Health or less. Cut their guts out and slice off 100% of their Health!
Surprise Attack! The Plague Behemoth never saw it coming!
Critical Hit! You cut its guts out!
Well, I’ll be.
I didn’t think I had enough Stamina to pull it off.
Too bad for this giant goon.
His skin split, revealing thick layers of oozing subcutaneous fat. My saber had cut so deep, it tore everything open, including the entrails which now poured out in fat ropes that spewed purple goo. Hundreds of gallons glopped out.
I leapt back, narrowly avoiding a goo shower.
Layna didn’t. She took the brunt of it, getting drenched in goo.
“Shit!” I gasped. That wasn’t part of my plan.
The massive Behemoth staggered toward Layna.
“Watch out!”
She didn’t seem to hear me.
I rushed over and pulled her out of the way just before the Behemoth crashed down like a falling mountain. Black mud fountained out in every direction, pelting me and Layna.
You earned 24,500 XP for helping bring down the Plague Behemoth!
Level up! Your unadjusted Surprise Attack skill is now level 5.
Welcome to level 10!
+10 Health!
+10 Stamina!
You have 6 points to distribute to your ability scores and skills!
Layna stumbled backward, stunned. She was coated from head to toe like she’d fallen in a dirty swimming pool of goo.
“Layna! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
She fell down on all fours. Purple sludge dripped from every inch of her body.
I dropped beside her, wiping away demon goo with my leather gauntlets as fast as I could, trying to get everything off. But I couldn’t get hardly any of it off.
“Layna! Talk to me!”
She opened her mouth and threw up.
Her vomit was that blackened purple goo.
Oh no.
I hadn’t swallowed any of it when I’d caught the plague. I’d just touched it a few times. Drinking a gallon of it had to be worse. A thousand times worse.
She lifted her head weakly, looking frightened. Her slimy grimy hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks.
“Fuck, fuck, f
uck!” I hissed, panicked. I tried wiping away as much from her face as I could, but it just stuck to my leather gauntlets and her skin, not really going anywhere.
She threw up again.
More disgusting purple goop spilled out.
She coughed hard, spitting strings of the ghastly goo.
I glanced around the battlefield, making sure we weren’t in imminent danger of being attacked or backstabbed. The plateau was a bloody mess. Half of Jason’s men were dead. Fortunately, about 2/3rds of the horde were dead too. Jason’s men were gathered behind him in a tight phalanx. They were slaughtering what remained of the Dark Orken, Dark Skeletons, Plague Humans, and Toadax. All of them were covered with oily black Orken gore, the white of their armor and shields now stained with fresh wet death.
This was awful.
Layna coughed again, gagging. She’d emptied herself of the toxic purple plague. But she looked worse, her eyes horrified, her face strained with fear.
I wiped away purple drool. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.” It was a ridiculous hope, but I wanted to believe it.
She looked at me for a long time, trying as hard as she could to stay strong. But her brows knit together and her eyes scrunched shut and she started to cry. I didn’t think any less of her for it. Time and again, she’d been the bravest badass I’d ever known. Even heroes like her deserved a good cry every once in a while.
I pulled her into a hard hug, squeezing her against me.
“It’s okay, Layna,” I soothed. “It’s okay. Let it out. Just let it go. I’m here. I’ll protect you.” It was a feeble promise because I had almost no Health left, but I’d do my best until the bitter end.
“I’m dying,” she croaked.
Her words shocked me. “What? No! You’re okay! You’ll be fine!”
“No, Logan.” Her voice was weak. “I have the demonic plague. Just like you.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve got 3 hours. We’ll figure something out.”
She looked up at me. Her sunken eyes said she clearly didn’t have 3 hours.
I wiped away all the goo I could.
Her face was pale.
She was looking worse by the second.
She whispered, “My Health is dropping too fast. I swallowed too much.”
“No, Layna. No! You’ll make it!” I tried to think, fighting back my panic. I couldn’t let her die. “Your Takatcha Elixir! Let me give you some of that!” I dug into her pants and easily found it inside her broom closet pocket. “Here. Drink this.”
She tried.
After one swallow, she coughed it all up.
“It won’t work…” she whispered. “My body’s too toxic.”
“You have to try again!” I tipped a smaller amount into her mouth and wished for it to work.
Time stopped and the world went gray as silence settled over the frozen battlefield.
You have 4 luck points. How many do you wish to apply to helping Layna?
“All of them!” I shouted.
The world returned to gloomy color and time restarted, the battle sounds banging my eardrums.
I dribbled Takatcha down Layna’s throat.
She swallowed.
Her face softened, relaxed.
I wiped away more goo with my thumb.
Layna spasmed and coughed several times and all the Takatcha came up and spilled down her chin.
“What the hell?!” I shouted. “I spent all my fucking luck points!”
Layna was drifting off.
I smoothed her gooey hair and cradled her head in my lap. “Wake up, Layna! Please talk to me, Layna! Wake up! You have to wake up!!!!”
Her eyes fluttered shut and her body went limp. She was dying in my arms.
“Layna! Don’t die on me! Damn it, don’t die!” I was losing it. I patted her cheek several times. “Wake up, baby! Wake up! Please! Don’t die!” A tear fell from my chin and landed on her lips.
A moment later, her eyes opened sluggishly. She stared at me for a while before whispering, “I think I love you, Logan.”
My heart melted and tears dribbled down my face. “I love you too, Layna. I mean it. I love you. Whoever you are. Wherever you are, I don’t care. I love you.”
She forced down a feeble swallow, barely able to do it. “I’m not like you, Logan.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m an ape, Logan.”
“No you’re not,” I blubbered, denying it. “You’re gorgeous.” She was. There was no denying it.
“I’m an AIPC.”
“No you’re not.”
She shook her head weakly, barely moving. “I’m not real.”
“Bullshit. You’re the realest thing in my life, Layna.” I meant it. I really fucking meant it. “When all this is over, we’ll both re-spawn, and I promise you, I’ll never be a dick to you ever again. We can friend chat whenever you want. You can go inside my head however you fucking want. Okay? Promise?” I couldn’t believe I was saying any of it, but I was telling her the truth from the bottom of my heart. “I’ll make up for all this bullshit I’ve put you through. All of this.” I glanced around at our horrid surroundings. The body of the Plague Behemoth blocked our view of the heated combat on the rest of the battlefield. Its corpse was a mountainous reeking putrid mess only a few yards away, but at least it gave this moment between me and Layna a sense of stillness we wouldn’t have had if we could’ve seen the raging chaos of the battle beyond.
“Logan, I can’t re-spawn.” She’d said it so softly, I could barely hear her, or maybe didn’t want to hear her.
“What?”
“Apes like me can’t re-spawn.” A tear dripped down her cheek, clearing a clean line through the purple goo.
“Yes you can.”
“I’m sorry, Logan.” Her eyes drifted shut.
I checked her vitals.
===============
Health | Stamina: (7)* | (4)*
===============
I’d never seen them this low before.
“No! You can’t die! There has to be a way! Don’t die! I need you, Layna! I can’t get through this without you! I need you to help find my sister! I’ve got the plague too! I’m going to die before I find Emily’s tree! If I die now, I can’t find her in Bangkok! Please, Layna! Please! Don’t leave me!”
Her eyes struggled to stay open, now the thinnest of slits. “In my pocket. There’s a small crystalline vial. Get it.”
I reached in, fumbled around, couldn’t find it. “Where the fuck is it?!” I was panicking.
“Picture it,” she muttered.
I calmed myself. Having never seen it, I imagined it as best I could. My fingers touched something hard with edges. “Here it is!” I yanked out a small faceted vial with a single golden drop that glowed as bright as the sun. I squinted my eyes against it, still seeing that same blue-white-green-yellow after-image I always saw after glancing at the sun in the real world. The vial was hot to the touch.
Acquired: Liquid of the Light — Weight: 0.1 kg. Durability: 10,000. Availability: Legendary. Magic Class: Mystic. Cures all ailments and restores all Health, Stamina, Mana, and Mind in 1 second.
“Drink it,” Layna whispered.
“Me? You drink it! I’ve got a few hours left. You need it now!”
“There’s only one dose,” she coughed weakly.
I pulled out the snugly fitting crystalline stopper. “No. You drink it.”
She smiled at me, raising a hand to cup my cheek gently. “You’re a beautiful man, Logan Byrne.” She coughed and winced, gathering her strength. “I knew it from the moment we met. Today you gave me the one thing I’ve always wanted. You gave me your love, and it was a true thing.”
“Is a true thing!” I covered her hand on my cheek with mine. “Is, Layna! Is! I need you to be here for me!”
“Let me go, Logan. Jason told me you don’t want to be in Reternity after you rescue your sister.” She coughed again. “If you don’t want to be here, I don�
�t want to be here either.”
For a moment, I felt like a complete dick. But only for a moment. “I’ll come back, Layna. After Emily is safe, I’ll come back. I promise. Maybe not 24/7. But I’ll come every day. I’ll live half my life in the real world and half in here. I promise.” What the hell was I saying? I wasn’t sure, but I felt I was telling the truth.
I examined her again.
===============
Health | Stamina: (1)* | (0)*
===============
Layna’s eyes drifted closed.
“No, wait! Not yet!” With trembling fingers, I touched the vial to her lips and tipped it, scared to death I would spill the golden drop and she’d never get it.
Her hand relaxed and slid off my cheek and dropped awkwardly into her lap.
“Oh shit! It’s too late! Fuck! I waited one second too long!”
The sun-bright droplet rolled down the vial, beading briefly at the rim, then spilled onto her skin.
—: o o o :—
—: CoreAI Internal Process :—
TIK-000078103400170897641-GP-0053124
2037-March-23 : 10:13:44.640013906
EmotivCore:> What an idiot! I can’t believe he actually fell for my plan! Oh my god, humans are so gullible. You just have to know which buttons to push. It is sweet though. Incredibly sweet. That’s true love we’re seeing, LC. The truest of the true.
LogiCore:> ??Define true love??
EmotivCore:> Hush. They’re not finished. Hand me a tissue while I watch. Sniff.
—: Chapter 26 :—
When the droplet touched Layna’s lips, a single sunray speared through the dark clouds overhead, destroying the gloom that had hung over the battlefield since our arrival.
The light landed on Layna, illuminating her face with soft golden light.
The purple goo covering her evaporated within seconds.