Perla Online, Book Two: Shella (A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure)

by Shawn Wyatt

  I refused to drown because of Scarlet's obstinance. "We can help," I said. "We've fought monsters like this one before."

  “My men can handle this,” she said. “There’s no way I’m going to let you free only so you can stab me in my back in the chaos.”

  Her stubbornness would get us all killed. “You’re the pirate, not us,” I said. “And your men can’t handle this. All you’re doing is throwing away their lives!”

  A one-sided battle raged on the main deck. Men slashed at the tentacle, but their attacks dealt next to no damage to the limb. Its HP bar stayed well within the 90% range.

  The Arciteuthis launched one man into the waves with a flick and crushed another under the weight of the limb. His face contorted and he screamed as the acid burned his flesh.

  My stomach turned at the sight. “I'll tell you how we traveled between realms if you let us go."

  Scarlet didn't respond. It took the loss of another three of her crew members before she sighed. “Release the prisoners, and bring them their gear.” Scarlet gave the command to the two pirates that remained on the bow: the mage and another, nameless pirate.

  "And the bear," Evey growled.

  Scarlet quirked an eyebrow, amusement clear on her face. "And the bear."

  The grip of the spell vanished. I sighed and stretched, my body sore from the prolonged binding.

  A man emerged from a hatch on the deck, Boris in tow. The bear sniffed the air with suspicion, but roared with happiness when he saw Evey and charged forward. He bowled over the nameless pirate. Evey threw her arms around his neck and murmured into his ear.

  Scarlet drew a pistol and aimed it at Boris. “If any one of you betrays me, the bear dies,” she said.

  "And you would too," Evey said. Her glare alone could have killed.

  “No one is going to betray you,” I said. I tossed aside the makeshift armor and pulled my gear back on. I had missed the familiar weight of my guns at my side. “Not that it’s going to matter if we don’t kill this monster.”

  Bastion, Evey, and Wish had equipped their gear. Bastion brandished his gleaming sword, the flames along its surface pulsing in time with his heart. Wish wore her usual leather jacket and fingerless gloves. Evey stood beside Boris, an arrow already nocked in her bow, its tip a promise of death.

  We were ready.

  The battle below had turned even more one-sided. The Arciteuthis shrugged off damage and knocked men into the waves. And that was with a single tentacle. The monster's core had not surfaced from the waves.

  "Don't get knocked off the ship," I said. I squeezed the trigger and felt the force in my wrists as the two Desert Bullets exploded from the barrels. The rounds slammed into the Arciteuthis' tentacle and splattered acidic ichor across the deck. For the first time, the monster appeared to flinch.

  Evey followed my attack with an arrow, but the shaft protruded from the tentacle with no effect. The monster's HP had not wavered.

  I sent another round toward the tentacle, this one unenchanted. The bullet hit home, but the monster shrugged off the attack.

  "Physical resistance," I called. "That's why the pirates did almost no damage. Use magical attacks."

  Wish stepped forward, feet shoulder-width apart. The Arciteuthis churned the waves beneath the ship. The deck heaved and bucked as Wish turned her palms forward and out. Thick tendrils of pulsating energy crept from her fingertips and seemed to taste the air—before they burst forward and wrapped around the monster.

  The tendrils closed tight around the tendril. "Hit it now!" Wish shouted.

  I loaded a blue-ringed Caster Shell into each pistol and fired. The rounds slammed into the decayed skin and shattered into shards of ice.

  Bastion leapt onto the main deck. The flames along the length of his blade raged higher than I had ever seen. He raised the weapon over his head and brought it down in a wicked arc in front of him—and cleaved the end of the tentacle clean off. It writhed on the deck, separated from the body.

  The Arciteuthis screeched. The sound pierced my skull and forced my hands to my ears. Wish staggered back and her spell vanished, but she grit her teeth and resumed her stance, the arcane words already on her lips.

  I loaded two more Caster Shells and fired. Evey loosed an arrow, its tip ringed in golden light. She caught my eyes and nodded.

  Evey, Bastion, and I could hurt the monster, but that meant nothing if it put us in danger. Wish could bind the Arciteuthis' movement, but the cast time made her vulnerable. We had to keep its attention focused on us.

  The creature drew its wounded tentacle from the deck and sank into the water. Another tentacle shot out of the waves, straight for the side of the ship—meant to pierce the hull.

  The crack of a cannon rocked the ship and a cannonball slammed into the tentacle. The appendage dropped back into the waves.

  At least I knew where Scarlet had disappeared to now.

  I peered into the waves for any more sign of the creature, but even the sea had calmed.

  Evey turned toward me, but whatever she had to say died in her throat. Her eyes grew wide. "Behind you!"

  I caught no more than a glimpse of the tentacle before it slammed into my side. The blow launched me from the bow. Sky and ship blurred together before the deck rose to meet me.

  No air remained in my lungs. I fought for oxygen, but my chest rebelled. I groaned in pain and glanced at my HP bar. It flashed an ominous yellow—over half my hit points gone.

  Bastion grabbed the back of my shirt and dragged me behind a pile of barrels. "I've got you," he said. The Prophet of Truth gave me a once-over for more serious injures before he breathed a sigh of relief. "You just need to catch your breath."

  I shook my head and pointed toward my chest. My ribs felt like someone had taken a warhammer to them. Bastion frowned, placed a hand on my chest, and a second later golden healing energy bloomed over me. My HP bar crept back, point by point, and I drew the sweetest breath I'd ever drawn.

  "That freaking hurt," I said.

  Bastion laughed. “You flew a good twenty feet into the air. I don't want to know what the landing felt like." He pulled his hand back. "Alright, you're back to full. Get back out there."

  "Thanks." I loaded Caster Shells into my guns and turned my attention to the fight. A tentacle launched itself at Evey and Wish, but Boris intercepted each of its strikes. The bear made a good tank when he wanted to.

  The only way the monster could have hit from behind was if it was under the ship. I'd seen enough movies to know what a kraken did. If the Arciteuthis tried to pull the ship into the waves, there wasn't much we could do to stop it.

  The monster's HP had fallen to 63%. I fired one shot at the tentacle, and a not-insignificant amount of HP fell away. Critical hit. The tentacle drew back, and the monster rose above the waves for the first time.

  It had the head of an octopus, but with a savage, ten-foot-diameter beak. Eyes the size of soccer balls stared at the Privateer's Fall. The mottled flesh sloughed off its decaying form, the effect of the necromantic energy that suffused the creature.

  “Hit it with everything you’ve got!” I shouted. I slipped another Caster Shell in the pistol—my last one—and took aim. I had an ability up my sleeve I hadn’t used yet.

  <<<>>>

  Bombardment

  You love the smell of burnt Kobold in the morning. This ability utilizes a Caster Shell that splits apart and rains down in multiple explosions that damage all targets in a 30ft radius.

  <<<>>>

  The ability might do enough damage to drive the creature away. I knew the party had no hope of killing the Arciteuthis, but I only needed it to flee.

  I activated Bombardment with a thought, and a crosshair-shaped translucent circle appeared in the water. The game's aim assist has kicked in. When I moved my pistol, the circle moved. I centered it over the monster and squeezed the trigger.

  A single shell soared into the air and slowed at its apex before it burst into a dozen, smaller shells.
Each rocketed toward the creature in a rain of death.

  Every shell exploded on impact with the Arciteuthis. Bombardment was meant for multiple targets, not a single creature. The damage spread out over a large area. The Desert Bullet shell that powered the ability turned the ocean into steam.

  Evey and Wish launched a cascade of arrows and spells into the cloud. Scarlet and her men followed with a volley of cannon shots. Inside the cloud, out of view, the Arciteuthis screeched again.

  As the steam cleared, the shell fell silent. Tension crept up my spine as I waited on any clue the monster had fled. Other than the creak of the hull, nothing made a sound. When the steam cleared, the Arciteuthis was gone.

  “Is that it?” Evey asked.

  “I think so. At least for now.” I sat down hard on the deck. “We drove it off.”

  I looked around. The pirates had fled the deck. More floated out in the waves. Most had gone below deck with Scarlet. I realized Quinn had also slipped away during the fight.

  The hatch the deck opened, and Scarlet climbed up from the darkness. She swept her eyes over me and regarded the party for a moment, then nodded. “You did well in driving the creature off. And you saved my ship. For that, you have my respect.”

  “Cut the crap,” I said. She feigned surprise. “You took us prisoner, tried to ransom off our friend, and then tried to extort information from us. The only reason you aren’t trying something now is because half of your crew is either dead or trapped in a bottleneck behind you, and you're too smart to pick a fight you can't win.”

  Scarlet laughed and threw her hands up in mock defeat. “You’re right. You five hold the advantage right now. And those two,” she said, pointing at Evey and Boris, “look more than ready to take my head off. So yes. You are welcome to leave. But I truly do wish to know more about the realm you came from, and whether it is possible to travel between them at will.”

  “And if I don’t answer, you’ll continue to hunt us down, right?”

  “No, of course not. Like I said, you have my respect. If you wish me to leave you in peace, then I will."

  “You can’t blame me if I don’t believe you.” I met her eyes. “You’re a pirate. If you want something, you take it. And we’re the only ones that have the information you want.”

  She sighed. “You’re right. I’d grown used to living like that. But I will leave you alone. Maybe it's time I change my ways." Her voice had taken on an innocent quality. "I can even give you gold or items to prove it to you.” Scarlet called over her shoulder for her men, but their only answers were shouts.

  “I don't think so," I said. "Wish?"

  The Invoker looked up and grinned. She knelt with her hands on the deck of the ship, and frost crept out from her palms and down the hatch. “Frostfield,” she said. “It’s a crowd control spell that binds a target’s feet in place. It only lasts for a short time, but I’ve got a lot of mana left. I can hold them there for as long as I want.”

  “I don’t trust you,” I told Scarlet. “So no. You won’t be bring anything up from below the deck. We can talk, right here, right now. The only person I want to come up from below decks is Quinn.”

  The Swashbuckler emerged from the hatch half-a-minute later with a sheepish expression. He looked around and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “You’ve got a lot to answer for,” I said.

  Chapter Nine: Privateer's Fall

  “Ren, I can explain.”

  I held up a hand to silence him. “You betrayed us. Sold us out to pirates. Was that your plan all along? Or did she make you an offer sometime farther down the line?”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it when I leveled my pistol leveled at his face.

  “The way I see it, we have a few options. One, I let Boris have an early dinner.” I gestured in his direction. Boris looked at Scarlet and licked his lips. “Or two, you and Scarlet take this ship and crew and leave Tarawi. Find a new base of operations.”

  The first rays of the sun raced across the waves as the morning light rose on the horizon. Holes riddled the hull of the Privateer's Fall, courtesy of the Arciteuthis. One hole revealed a pile of stacked gunpowder barrels.

  An idea came to mind. I moved my aim from Quinn to the barrels. "Or option number three, I take one shot and sink this ship.”

  “Are you insane?” Scarlet asked. “The blast would kill you too.”

  I shrugged. "You'll kill me the first chance you get. I plan to escape from this facade of a world, but if that's not an option, you can be sure I will take you down with me."

  Scarlet narrowed her eyes. She hadn't called my bluff yet. I had used my last Desert Bullet round in the fight. Nothing short of an explosion would detonate those barrels.

  The Pirate King held my gaze for a long moment—so long I began to wonder if she knew the bluff. Then her shoulders slumped in resignation. "As you wish. I'll leave this place." A gleam flashed in her eyes. "You know, a man with your conviction would make a fine pirate."

  "Give me a break," I snapped. "Someone with your resources could do a lot of good in this world. You could help players survive until they can escape. You choose to be self-serving instead. I don't want any part of that."

  “Did you ever think some people don’t want to leave? That their lives are better here than they were in reality?” Scarlet's soft question held a surprising intensity.

  “No.” I holstered my pistol and sighed. I felt bone-tired. “And I don’t care. How long do you think you would survive here? You die here, your body dies in real life. But the reverse is true. You die in real life, you die here. Every day here is a race against time. How long until someone pulls the plug?"

  "You don't know that for a fact," Scarlet said. "No one knows what happens when we did. And this world is just like the real world. It favors strength. And on Shella, I am strong."

  "You would choose a power fantasy over your real life?"

  The Pirate King scoffed. "Can you honestly say your life IRL is better than here?"

  “I can. So can Evey, and Wish, and Bastion. We all have families waiting for us. Have you ever considered the players in your crew? They have someone waiting for them, too.” My voice had taken on a hard edge. I'd never thought someone might prefer this fake existence. "If your real life sucks, change it. But if you die here, that's it. Play at being a pirate all you want. This isn't a game."

  Scarlet held a thin smile on her face, but her hands clenched into fists. If she had ever shown weakness, it was in the privacy of her own cabin. And I suspected she despised herself for it.

  "Get off my ship," she said. "I gave you my word, and I'll honor that. My crew will leave Tarawi by nightfall, but I want you out of my sight. And take him with you." She pointed at Quinn.

  "If you aren't out of sight when the moon rises, I'll finish what the Ship Killer started."

  I turned without another word and gestured to the rest of the party. Bastion descended first, then turned and beckoned for Quinn to follow. "Try to run and I'll break your legs," Bastion told him. The dejected Swashbuckler made his way down the rope. Evey and Wish followed behind him.

  Boris looked at the rope, then turned his huge head to me and whined. “I don’t know you can climb that,” I said. “Just jump.”

  And jump he did. Boris launched himself from the bow of the ship and cannonballed into the water beside the rowboat, dousing its occupants. They sputtered and shouted, and I allowed myself a small smile. I was glad not to be down there.

  Before I descended the rope, I turned and gave Scarlet one last glare. She stared back, but the fierce strength in her eyes had gone, replaced by an inscrutable, almost thoughtful, expression.

  I didn't know the circumstances of her life, but whatever they were, they gave her strength—the kind that made it possible to survive in this world.

  I sighed when my feet landed on the rowboat. It felt like days since I first boarded the Privateer’s Fall. Evey glared, the expression somewhat diminished by the lo
ck of wet hair that clung to her face. “Funny how you weren’t in the boat when Boris jumped.”

  “Just good luck, I guess. I dropped a few points into it when I leveled.”

  Her punch knocked off a few hit points.

  I laughed and waved off any further physical assault. "Let's go," I told Bastion. "I want a hot meal and a soft bed."

  He leaned back, his voice low. “So what are we going to do with him?” He inclined his head toward Quinn.

  “I haven’t decided yet. I’m too angry right now to think," I said. The laughter had helped clear my head, but I needed more time to decide. "I want to give him a chance to explain, but we probably aren't the only people he betrayed. I’m sure the townspeople have a jail they can lock him away in.”

  The rowboat lurched forward and almost tumbled me from my seat. When I looked behind us, Boris had leaned onto the back of the boat and begun to kick his legs.

  Wish started to giggle. “Look. It’s an outbear motor.”

  The laughter that followed broke the tension and put us all at ease, at least for a little while.

  It didn't take long to reach the shore with Boris’ unique assistance. He had an abundance of energy after his imprisonment inside Privateer’s Fall. We had almost reached the shore when a flock of messenger birds rose ship, now no more than a speck on the horizon, and flew into the city.

  I watched the birds approach. “That’s either the order to depart, or a bounty on our heads.”

  “Do you really think Scarlet is going to keep her word?” Evey asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t trust her. And I can’t help but feel like she has something else planned for us.”

  Evey nodded, a grim look on her face. "I can't believe she wants to stay here."

  The rowboat bumped against the low stone wall that ringed most of the city. I grabbed hold of it and hoisted myself up and over. “A lot of people look for escapes from reality. They usually aren’t as literal as this,” I said. “But aren’t all gamers searching for a different world, in some way or another? At least one to visit for a little while?"