New Game Minus: The Complete LitRPG Fantasy Trilogy

by Sarah Lin

  For a moment, the man was vulnerable, dust from the ground getting onto his shiny black shoes. Bloodwraith didn't hesitate and struck with all his power.

  His sword hacked through the man's arm and dug deep into his side before tossing him to the ground. Bloodwraith grunted as he felt his hands stinging - the figure had been far more durable than a thin unarmored man should have been. It hadn't been enough to stop his swing, but still...

  Now the Outsider lay on the ground in a growing pool of blood, his severed limb lying in front of Bloodwraith. Just in case he had some kind of regeneration, Bloodwraith grabbed the limb and jammed it into his bag. Then he raised his sword to the man's neck.

  "You've lost, Outsider!"

  "Fuck, fuck, fuck..." The man grunted and clutched at his stump. "Why is it so difficult to turn off pain in these worlds?"

  "Do you understand your situation? If you don't surr-"

  "I do. You're the one who doesn't understand."

  Abruptly the man dissolved into a blur of light. Before Bloodwraith could react, it twisted into a blob that hovered in the air, then formed a humanoid shape. The being of light quickly faded to a body: the same man, with his arm intact and his clothing spotless. When Bloodwraith tried to cut him across the neck, his blade passed through harmlessly.

  "That was one hell of a trick, I have to admit." The man gave Gharavi an appreciative nod, but then his hands flickered rapidly. "I'd like to talk to you later, but for now I'm afraid I can't let you damage the veil any more."

  Though she was sweating from the exertion, Gharavi tried to fire another gray beam. She didn't have a chance. Her weapon jerked into the air out of her hands and her body did the same a second later. Her necklace began to glow and she let out a cry of pain as if it was burning her. The man frowned and began flicking his invisible boxes again.

  At that moment, a flood of Mearas swept past him. He staggered, but less this time, only slightly disoriented. Bloodwraith still lunged to attack him.

  Without warning, he pitched over backward, slamming onto his back.

  As he struggled to get up, he saw the man looking down at him with a slight smile. Meara was trembling in place, not going still but clearly struggling against whatever power was trying to bind her. The man didn't seem concerned, focusing on Bloodwraith.

  "Do you think you're going to win this by stabbing? That's not how this works."

  There was no power holding him down and his body could move fine, but when he tried to rise it was as if a great weight held him back. Bloodwraith realized that it was his Extra-dimensional Bag... instead of being nearly weightless, it was so heavy that it was impossible to move. When he tried to shove it with one hand, it didn't even budge.

  "Ah, you figured it out quick. The Extra-dimensional Bags we give out to players are special, and that means we control their exact properties. Yours now has the weight of everything you're carrying inside it, so you're not going to be able to lift it easily."

  Bloodwraith started to untie the Bag, but at that moment suddenly it became as light as a feather. His body straining against the weight jerked into the air, then the bag became heavy again and he dropped back down. Only by twisting in the air did he prevent it from falling on top of him and potentially pinning him to the ground or worse.

  Though the man opened his mouth to say more, he was swarmed by Meara. This time many of the copies appeared distorted and bloody, rushing through his body only to turn and smash into him again. Bloodwraith couldn't even see through the swarm.

  Another Meara appeared beside him, flickering feebly. She opened her mouth and for a moment only distorted sounds came out, then he heard her softly. "His power... it's like he's touching exactly the same systems I do... I can disrupt him, but only a little... can only stop one thing... should I help you? ...or Gharavi?"

  "Gharavi is the priority, but first..." Bloodwraith touched his Extra-dimensional Bag and found it was entirely light. As he untied it from his belt, he glanced to Meara. "Can you only partially resist his control so that it has some weight, but only a little?"

  "I think so..." Meara's glance at him showed that she didn't understand, but she acted anyway. Soon he felt that the bag weighed about as much as a small rock.

  "Okay. When the time is right, stop resisting him and let it return to its full weight. Then go help Gharavi."

  She started to ask a question, but at that moment there was a blinding flash of light. All the other copies of Meara became trapped in spheres and started to flicker away. The one nearest him faded too, but his bag stayed the same weight. Since she had trusted his instructions, he would have to trust that she would fulfill her end of the plan.

  "This is why I've always said a proactive policy would pay for itself." The Earthian man seemed to have recovered from Meara's attack, raising his hands to his boxes again. "Now we have NPCs tapping the system and accumulating EXP... oh, come on, are you going to swing that sword at me again?"

  "No." Instead, Bloodwraith hurled the Extra-dimensional Bag skyward directly overhead the man as hard as he could. Given the strength of his body enhanced by all his equipment, it shot high into the air. Assuming it would work, Bloodwraith hurled himself back.

  At the top of its arc, the Extra-dimensional Bag suddenly regained its full weight. That mass began to plummet downward, accelerated by the full force of gravity. The man had a second to look up before it hit the ground in an explosion that knocked Bloodwraith off his feet and sent him tumbling several times over the wasteland.

  When he got to his feet, he noticed that they had some peasants watching from the city. They looked like they had no idea what to make of the fight, but even if they did, they weren't likely to help. No, they would just keep cowering and he would have to rely on his allies.

  He saw that Meara was still nowhere to be seen, but Danniah and Gharavi had both dropped to the ground. Bloodwraith moved to help Danniah up, while Izzy scampered over to Gharavi. Both of them appeared stunned, but unharmed by being suspended in the air for so long.

  "Are you alright, Danniah?"

  "I'm fine, just..." She took a deep breath as she picked up her mace and shield again. "It was like something just picked me up. It didn't hurt, but I couldn't get down..."

  Bloodwraith patted her on the shoulder while he looked over at Gharavi. She nodded grimly at him and raised her axe staff, refocusing for another attack. Izzy shifted nervously but readied her knives.

  There was still dust covering the area where the Extra-dimensional Bag had struck, but Bloodwraith didn't think for a moment that the man had been killed. No, he fully expected him to emerge at any moment unscathed. But first, Meara dropped out of the air, nearly falling before he caught her.

  "He's back..." Her voice was even fainter than before and she sagged in his arms. "I can't resist any more... buy some time..."

  That was a good strategy. Though their opponent could clearly use the boxes to cheat, they had proved that Meara and Gharavi could make him vulnerable. If they used their techniques again, the other three could strike when he was weak. Bloodwraith had no idea what his odds were, but he decided that he had to play them.

  "Points for tenacity, but this is getting obnoxious." The man emerged from the cloud of dust, as untouched as before. "Are you thinking that you can win if you kill me in one blow? I'm afraid that's not going to work."

  Bloodwraith raised his greatsword in the Earthian's direction. "And why not?"

  "Because this isn't the real me. When I entered this world and realized there could be a threat, I lodged myself in the core architecture. These are only copies - it hurts a bit when you kill them, but the system is just going to manifest a new copy."

  Though it sounded mad, Bloodwraith was willing to believe his words. If that was really true, then he wasn't sure what could be done to fight against him. Still, he had to consider that it might be a bluff, or that Meara's power might be able to prevent the new copies.

  The conversation had allowed Meara to gather he
rself enough to stand on her own, while Gharavi had drunk a potion and seemed ready to fire again. Staring over their group, the man let out a heavy sigh. "God, you're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"

  "I know it's probably useless to say this," Bloodwraith said slowly, "but I don't suppose you'd prefer to discuss this like civilized people?"

  "What?" The man stared at him, then lowered his hands from his boxes. "No, I'd much rather talk than fight."

  Everyone stood in silence for a while, since Bloodwraith had honestly not expected that response. Could it be another trick? Still... the expression on the man's face looked sincere. Plus, they'd proved that all the combat so far hadn't exactly been effective. Bloodwraith looked at his companions, and though Gharavi and Meara looked angry, they were willing to accept that it was a better plan.

  "Okay, you're still suspicious, I get that." The man gave them an awkward little wave. "Hi, my name is Alan. Who are you?"

  Chapter 8

  Alan? The box god's name was Alan? Bloodwraith blinked, still looking for a trick, but eventually lowered his sword.

  "We're the true inhabitants of this world. All we're doing is defending ourselves."

  "Well, you're also stealing AdventureCorp property." Alan quickly raised a hand. "But hey, I'm not judging. Listen, I want to talk, but we're getting an audience and this is a bad place, particularly if that Aesidh asshole notices and comes back. What do you say to relocating?"

  "And you think we'll trust you in that?"

  "It's your choice." The Earthian man tapped something in front of him and an oval-shaped portal appeared in the air. While they were all surprised, he stepped back through it. "I've been able to leave whenever I want. So your options are following me and discussing this in a civilized fashion, or you can stay here and wait for me to come back in force. Believe me, I'm here to find problems, not live out a power fantasy - I can do worse than this."

  He made a decent point, but Bloodwraith was still a bit uncomfortable entering an unknown portal. The others moved closer to him and edged toward it. Once he got a better angle, he could see that through the shimmering oval was... a busy tavern? It appeared completely normal, throwing him off for a moment.

  "I don't think it's a portal to anywhere fatal, but it's not normal magic," Gharavi said. Meara nodded in agreement.

  "It's using the power of the system directly, but I think it just takes us to some special location. One like the Forest of Beginnings, I think."

  "That's a good comparison," Alan said from the other side. "Think of it as a little pocket dimension, like your Extra-dimensional Bag but for people. Once we're done, you can come back out right where you started. Let's not leave it sitting open, though, okay? This world doesn't like spacetime twisting."

  It still rubbed him the wrong way, but Bloodwraith decided that they had to do it. Even if they killed Alan, it would only accomplish a few of their objectives. Talking to him and getting real answers to their questions, however, could potentially make a huge difference. Even if the other Outsiders from Earth were enemies in the end, he needed information about them.

  Bloodwraith stepped through first, bracing himself for an attack, but none came. On the other side, he was surrounded by the sounds and smells of what appeared to be a normal tavern. The others came through after him and he tried not to flinch when the portal closed.

  Alan, however, just smiled at them. "Great, thanks for being reasonable about this. Now we should be able to talk things out."

  That might be difficult, over the noise of the crowds around them. Bloodwraith saw burly fighters, elven arches, dwarven warriors... and not much else. The inhabitants of the tavern all seemed rather similar. When a buxom serving girl flounced past them Bloodwraith didn't pay much attention, since there were more important matters at hand, but he definitely noticed when a second identical girl passed the next moment.

  "Yeah, everything in this place is artificial. That's actually pretty obnoxious, let me tone it down." Alan raised his hands in front of him and this time Bloodwraith actually saw a white box pop into being. The Earthian touched a small symbol that seemed to slide along a line and as he did so, all of the adventurers and serving girls around them popped out of existence a few at a time.

  Once the symbol was all the way to the left, the bar was completely empty except for their group. Alan took his hand away and the box disappeared before turning to them and smiling directly at Bloodwraith. "Alright, you're the one with our system, right? You're seeing boxes as a player character?"

  "...that's right." If they were doing this, he saw no reason to lie.

  A moment later he started to reach for his sword as Alan summoned another white box and began changing options rapidly. Before Bloodwraith could act, the tavern suddenly stretched horizontally in either direction, new floor growing out of nowhere.

  It carried all of his allies away from him, leaving them abruptly standing in the other half of the tavern with a long stretch of empty floor between them. The bar and walls had stretched along with it, but there was something strange about the space in between. When Danniah started to move forward, she seemed to be walking in place, failing to get any closer.

  "Sorry about that, but I need to talk to him first." Alan waved at the others. "You can eat the food on the tables if you want. It won't fill you up, but it still tastes okay. Anyway, I'll get to you later."

  Though Bloodwraith wanted to object, he recognized that he didn't have the power to enforce his demands. Since the Outsider was being cooperative, it might be best to play along with him. He looked across to the others, but though Gharavi appeared furious, they were unharmed. Izzy even crouched on one of the benches and began poking at the food.

  When Alan sat down at a table, Bloodwraith sat down opposite him. It had a variety of food and weapons lying on it, but at another manipulation of white boxes, all of the objects melted away.

  "Alright, now we can talk." Alan shifted back into a slightly slouched position, examining him thoughtfully. "Who are you really? That's Raigar's body, but you're not him."

  "No." He didn't like to admit it, but perhaps honesty was necessary at this stage. "I am Bloodwraith, formerly one of the subordinates of the Master Lich."

  "Is that so? How did you end up in this body?"

  "I used a magical artifact that exchanged our souls."

  "Ah, so that's what it was. Damn local magic gumming up the works." Alan sat forward with a smile. "That was actually the only part I didn't know. As soon as you calmed down and came here, I was able to read your character sheet. So I appreciate that you didn't lie."

  Since Bloodwraith had seen no such thing, he had to assume that Alan could still access different boxes that remained invisible. He disliked being deceived, but couldn't blame the Outsider for wanting to verify his honesty. Hopefully that would help the conversation move more smoothly.

  "I have to ask, though, what happened to the real Raigar? Or let's just call him Randall instead of his stupid handle - that was his real name. Did he die as soon as he transferred into your old body?"

  "He didn't," Bloodwraith said, "and I have a feeling you know that."

  Alan smiled. "You got me. But I honestly don't know exactly what happened between the two of you after that. I'm guessing that's how so many artifacts and a Return Point ended up getting used?"

  If the Outsider knew this much, Bloodwraith decided to be direct. He briefly told the story of their time in Manascas, leaving out as much as he could but not lying about the details. Fortunately, when he discussed the heavy use of artifacts, Alan seemed irritated.

  "God, that's such a waste. The asshole paid for a heavily seeded run, but we figured he didn't have the patience to use it all. And we would have been right if he hadn't stashed so much."

  "Is he really gone?" Bloodwraith asked. "Ever since you said that you were making copies of yourself, I've been wondering. Is the real Randall still alive in your world?"

  "Oh, that can't happen. I mean, may
be it's theoretically possible, but the cost would be ridiculous." Alan paused, fiddling with another box. A serving wench appeared for just long enough for him to grab a beer from her, then disappeared. He took a drink and answered carefully. "The cost of manifesting copies is also rather high, so we only use it in critical situations. No, Randall is actually dead."

  "Is that... an act of war? He was from your world, yes?"

  "Sure, but he was an asshole." Alan shrugged. "You've met him, right?"

  Bloodwraith took off his helmet and gave a heavy sigh, which got an immediate laugh.

  "Yes, I think you got to spend some quality time with him. That wasn't a bad imitation earlier, by the way. You didn't have a chance of fooling me in the long run once I started accessing system data, but you had me uncertain for a bit."

  "Forgive me if I'm not in the mood to chat. Why are you trying to erase my world? Why are you controlling it in the first place and using it for these mindless games?"

  After staring at him for a while, Alan sighed and set down his mug of beer. "Alright, fine, fair enough. Those are some pretty big questions, though, and I'm not just going to hand over valuable intelligence to someone who might still be my enemy."

  "Then why did you agree to talk to us? What do you think can be accomplished?"

  "Ah, I can answer that. The thing is, I think that we can work together. The body you've stolen is built with a very powerful system of gathering strength, so under normal conditions I'd need to recover it. Too much power invested, you understand. But if you agree to work with us... well, that would count as recovering the power too. Maybe that way we can both get what we want."

  "I see." Bloodwraith sat forward and steepled his fingers. "I refuse to throw myself at such an offer without more information."

  "Yeah, that's reasonable. What do you want to know?"

  "What manner of world is this 'Earth' you and Randall come from? Is it truly a hellscape of boxes and numbers?"

  Alan stared at him for a second, then burst out laughing. "No, you've got it wrong! Our world is pretty much exactly like yours, though with some significant differences when it comes to magic. The system here isn't to make your world more like ours, it's to make it less realistic. Randall and the others like him are here for fun."