Travail Online: Resurrection: LitRPG Series (Book 2)

by Brian Simons

  “Here,” she said, handing him the qualia gear she had crafted earlier. The Strength bonus was better suited to a melee player anyway.

  “Thank you,” he said and equipped them immediately. Their beige color looked odd paired with the rest of his iron armor, but function was more important than form.

  “They supposedly have some special property, but I can’t tell what it is,” she said.

  Coral was relieved that she hadn’t needed to use any MP on the battle with Vernagi. She was also happy Daniel had gotten the XP for the fight. She had finished off some boss fights the previous week and walked away with all the XP for those battles. It hadn’t seemed fair, but it’s how the game was structured.

  In fact, very little about Travail seemed fair.

  The group made it back up to the landing behind the main door from the temple’s sanctuary when Marco appeared, as if proving just how unfair Travail could be. He blocked their exit, his golden robe hanging from a gaunt, frail body. His pointed bishop’s hat rested on a mop of gray hair. His face was beset with wrinkles.

  “Marco?” Sal asked.

  “I cannot let you interfere,” Marco said.

  Coral stepped forward. “Marco, whatever Vernagi did to you, it’s over now. She’s dead.”

  Marco’s eyes darted back and forth. “It’s too late,” he said. “Sagma approaches. The work must be completed.”

  “Marco,” Daniel said. “This is crazy, look what Sagma has done to people.”

  Marco tapped his staff against the ground. “Alms for my master?” The orb began to glow.

  “We’re not falling for that!” Sybil said.

  “Guys,” Sal said. “Can I have some money? I really need it, for Sagma.” He grabbed Sybil by the lapel of her shirt. “I’m good for it, really, just give me the money.”

  “We’re taking the gold back,” Coral said, gesturing to the locked door that led to the upper levels of the tower. “We have the key.”

  “The money doesn’t matter anymore,” Marco said. “It’s almost noon.”

  He was right. Coral glanced at the in-game clock. It was 11:40 a.m.

  “We don’t have time to go up,” Coral said. “We have to go outside.”

  Marco still stood in the doorway. Coral raised her bow and heated up an arrow. Daniel stepped aside. “If you don’t want that robe melted to your skin,” she said, “you’ll move.”

  Marco hesitated, but stepped aside. “Sagma’s will is unstoppable,” he said.

  The group ran through the temple, past the pews, through the stone corridor, and into the open desert. There, standing four stories tall, was a creature that looked like a giant eagle with all white feathers. Coral gave him a hard stare.

  >> Sagma. God of Wisdom.

  At his feet stood a woman in a purple leather vest and matching skirt, with tattoos glowing green along her skin. “Alua!” Coral yelled.

  Alua looked up at Sagma once more before walking over to Coral. “He still won’t speak to me,” she said.

  “We found the Timescryer Scroll,” Daniel said. “We stopped Vernagi from reviewing the historic battle between Sagma and Podonos. That still doesn’t mean Podonos will win again this time.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Alua said. “Is that Marco?”

  Marco walked with a hunch toward them. His pace was slow. He seemed like he had aged several decades in just a few days.

  “Look,” Coral said. In the distance, a dark shape was getting larger. The ground began to rumble.

  “I wish he hadn’t come,” Alua said. “It’s Podonos.”

  Not one to shy away from a challenge, the god of power was a charging bear as large as his aquiline brother. He skidded to a stop before the tower, showering everyone in sand.

  “You should never have returned!” Podonos yelled. His voice was a deep growl.

  Sagma spread his giant wings, revealing a muscular body covered in down. He jumped into the air and perched atop his tower. Looking down at Podonos he spoke in an oily voice. “You were always jealous of me, brother. Always so quick to tear down my accomplishments. I suffered it for ages until you went too far. My only regret is not ending you sooner. That time, however, has come.”

  “Bluster.” Podonos yelled. He scratched at the stone tower, but couldn’t climb it to reach Sagma.

  Sagma leapt from the tower and soared through the air in a high circle like a vulture scoping out its next meal. He dove at Podonos.

  The bear god swiped his paw in the air and smacked Sagma off course. He careened toward the sand but caught himself before he crashed into the ground, swooping upward again toward safety.

  Other players were gathering in the area to watch. Many of them had the same debuff over their heads that Sal did. They were here to support Sagma. Still, others had no debuff. Yet.

  Sagma flew in front of the sun, casting a shadow on Coral. It was a brief but welcome respite from the harsh sunlight. Sagma began flapping his wings furiously as the phrase Incisive Wing appeared over his head.

  Feathers shot off of his wings toward Podonos, but the feathers morphed into daggers in midair. Several of them tore into the bear’s flesh and stayed there for a moment before falling from his fur coat and morphing into feathers again. There was no way to tell how much damage Sagma’s attack did, but it looked like it hurt.

  Podonos countered with an ability of his own, Ursa Major. Small flakes glinted in the sky above, getting larger and falling closer. They were falling stars, peppering the ground with small meteorites as players dove for cover. The constant barrage of rocks from the heavens forced Sagma to the ground.

  Then the bear and the eagle wrestled in the sand. Blood speckled the landscape as beak scraped fur and claws scratched feathers off of wings. Marco had his staff trained on Sagma. He was a high level healer now. He replenished Sagma’s HP as quickly as it was lost. Sagma reared back his head and aimed his beak at Podonos’s neck when the bear god began to glow green.

  Alua stood alone, aiming a glowing ring toward the fight. She was shielding Podonos from further harm.

  “Sing,” Sagma yelled. “Sing, my choir!”

  Sal opened his mouth to sing, as did the other players that had been hypnotized by Marco’s staff. The word Canticle appeared above all of their heads as they launched into a wordless melody. Several buffs appeared above Sagma’s head. It looked like his Strength, Defense, Spirit, and Intelligence had all been improved.

  “The sun!” Daniel yelled. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, its rays reflected off the crimson crystals that lined the top of Sagma’s tower. The reflection cast a faint red light across the sky that appeared rust-brown to Coral.

  “We have to do something,” Coral said. “The sun is powering the crystals on the top of the tower. At noon, it will be at its peak. I don’t want to find out what happens then.”

  “So what do we do?” Sybil asked.

  Just then, Sagma sank his beak into Podonos’s neck. Blood poured out through the wound and puddled in the sand. Podonos laid still for a moment, but breathing. Sagma screeched triumphantly before the growing crowd of players.

  Alua was on her knees. Her shielding spell had faltered.

  Sagma raised a claw to slice into Podonos’s skin when he stopped and cocked his head to the side. Another shape was in the sky now, with enormous wings spread out.

  A creature alighted in the sand next to Podonos with the face of a man and the body of a lion.

  “One cannot sit apart from the world forever,” Hiber said, “if he is to escape his own solitude.” Then he jumped from the ground and slammed his head into Sagma’s chest, knocking the bird onto his back. Sagma scrambled for a moment in the sand until he righted himself.

  A chorus of players continued to sing their strength into Sagma.

  “Everyone!” Daniel yelled to the players that were not under Sagma’s control. “Don’t let Podonos die!” A few players stepped forward to cast healing spells. Daniel wasn’t hoping for a miracle, just a steady re
plenishment of HP to keep Podonos alive until they could figure out how to end this fight for good.

  He turned to his friends. “We have to stop that hymn they’re all singing.”

  “We can’t kill them,” Coral said, “they’re like Sal. They don’t know what they’re doing. We attack to disable, that’s all.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” Marco said from behind. He clocked Coral on the head with his staff.

  >> You’ve been hit! 281 Damage.

  Another cluster of crystals began to radiate under the sun, intensifying the red light blanketing Travail.

  Coral’s head throbbed. “Marco,” she said. “Stay out of this.”

  “You can’t take this away from me!” he yelled. “I’ve finally found my place in this awful game. After everything I had to endure from that woman, I deserve a little success.” He swung his staff at Coral again, but she rolled out of the way.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Marco,” she said. Daniel and Sybil helped Coral surround him. He stood in the middle of the three players, but his eyes were trained on Coral.

  “Alms for my master!” he yelled. His staff throbbed with red light, but nothing changed. They had all broken their visors, preventing his coercive light from penetrating their eyes.

  “Fine,” he said. He dug the end of his staff into the sand and the phrase Religious Fervor appeared above his head.

  Sybil jabbed her spear forward and knocked the staff from Marco’s hand, but it was too late. The spell had been cast. She and Coral fell to the ground, Entranced.

  35

  Daniel fought against the dullness that was washing over his mind. He wanted to give in, to fall into a catatonic awareness from which he could watch the world without being a part of it. He felt his mind wash over with pleasant numbness, his worries and fears evaporating like shallow water under a hot sun.

  He struggled against that inviting feeling because he knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that it wasn’t right. That he needed to maintain control. Everything about the desert had preyed on their minds. They had been put to sleep, into a stupor, brainwashed, and now entranced. Daniel refused to succumb to Marco’s last attempt to betray his own former friends. He blinked away Marco’s spell and came back to his senses.

  >> Congratulations! You have improved your Focus ability to 3. +9% total resistance to mental debuffs.

  Marco had his staff in hand again. He raised it, about to smash its red orb into Coral’s head. Daniel rushed at him, pushing Marco to the ground and knocking the staff out of his grasp.

  Another set of crystals added a layer of red light to the sky. Hiber and Sagma wrestled in the air while players sang to their airborne god.

  Daniel pounced on Marco and pressed his sword against his former friend’s neck.

  “I’m through tolerating this,” Daniel said. “You’ve always been a whiny immature ass, Marco, but I looked past that because you were my friend.”

  “But you don’t need me anymore,” Marco said, “now that you’re new girlfriend joined the group.”

  “Coral’s a fine player and a good person. I wanted you to get to know her. There was room in this group for everyone. You ruined that, no one else.”

  “You forget that I’m twice as strong as you are now, Daniel. You’re not in charge anymore.”

  Marco rolled Daniel onto his back and brought his hands around his throat.

  “Always acting like everyone’s fearless leader,” Marco said as Daniel tried to pry Marco’s hands off his neck. “Who made you the boss of everyone? Decreeing where everyone should go, what they should do next. You act like you’re still a high level Fighter, but you’re not. You died, Daniel. And now you’re nothing. And you’re going to die again.”

  Daniel couldn’t breathe. His stamina gage started to run down, the same as when he was underwater. If he passed out from lack of oxygen Marco would have an easy time killing him, and then move on to Coral and Sybil as they lie Entranced in the sand. He brought up his sword and prepared to stab his old friend through the heart.

  Then the ground quaked. Hiber and Sagma landed with a crash. Hiber’s scorpion tail was raised. Sagma turned his head to the side and locked eyes with Marco. Blood Offering appeared above Sagma’s head and a strand of magic that looked like lightning snaked across the air until it connected with Marco.

  His gray hair blackened, his wrinkled skin softened and tightened. His ceremonial hat fell from his head.

  Marco’s hands loosened their grip on Daniel’s throat as he lost strength. Daniel saw, as he looked up at the young, pained face, that Sagma had sapped him of hundreds of thousands of XP, demoting him back to his original class.

  >> DivineMarco. Level 1 Votary.

  Daniel pushed Marco off of him. He wasn’t a threat anymore.

  Hiber struck Sagma with his tail, no doubt injecting some terrible venom into the god’s veins. Sagma, now stronger than ever before, laughed and pushed the manticore off of him. Hiber slid into the sand.

  An occasional -2 appeared above Sagma’s head. He was too strong for the venom to do any serious damage now.

  Sagma took a step toward Podonos, when Daniel pointed toward the sky. A series of small gray dots on the horizon were getting larger.

  “Can everyone fly except us?” Sybil asked.

  “You’re awake!” Daniel yelled. Coral was standing there too.

  “When Marco lost his levels, whatever spell he had cast on us broke,” Sybil said.

  “Is that Lyla?” Coral asked.

  Lyla and dozens of other orcs were flying, literally by the seat of their pants. Their clothing was covered in small wings.

  “They must have made sets of wyvern armor after we left,” Coral said. “And recruited orcs from other tribes, because there are so many of them.”

  “Lyla!” Daniel yelled. “Stop their song!”

  Another row of crystals beamed into the sky. Soon everything would be bathed in crimson. It was 11:58 a.m.

  The orcs landed behind a row of players and started casting silencing spells on each of them. One by one, the players stopped singing, a Silence debuff appearing above each of their heads.

  Podonos stood on shaky feet and swiped at Sagma, but the eagle leapt into the air and avoided the attack. He was preparing to use Incisive Wing again.

  “Soon,” Sagma said, “my army will be millions. Then I will be the most powerful god!”

  “Sybil,” Daniel said, “can you slow this down? We need more time!”

  “Can do,” she said. The word Yesterwind appeared over her. She had boasted about having a windstorm somewhere in that songbook that would cause a Slow debuff, but Daniel hadn’t seen it before. He hoped it would decelerate the battle and force Sagma out of the sky before he killed Podonos with his special attack.

  Sybil cracked open her songbook and began to sing.

  As I stand bones pop and creak,

  My brittle form well past its peak,

  My heart and soul far too antique,

  To rollick with the rest.

  But I recall once dancing lithe,

  My hips and shoulders come alive,

  Held close, a twirl, a dip, a dive,

  A beat held in my breast.

  With every blink and every sleep,

  I worry I’ll take that final leap,

  My feet too slow at last to keep,

  The rhythm manifest.

  Yet I close my eyes and grin,

  If I should go out with the wind,

  At least I’ll dream of how I’d spin,

  To the music I once blest.

  The winds gathered quickly, forming a cyclone in the distance. A natural disaster should elicit cries of panic, but so many players had been muted by the orcs that there was almost no one left to scream. A Slow debuff appeared above most of their heads.

  The cyclone approached slowly, kicking up a powerful wind that got more forceful each second. Against an onslaught of wind and sand, everyone hit the ground. Everyone but
Coral.

  Sagma tried fighting the wind, but it was no use. He landed back on the ground and covered his face with his wings, protecting himself from the tiny bullets of sand kicked up by the wind. The storm roared on.

  “We have to take out the crystals,” Coral yelled, “before it’s too late.”

  “We’ll never get up there in time,” Daniel yelled back.

  Coral tried to keep her footing, but the wind kept blowing her backward. Daniel worried that she would get blown away, or sucked into the cyclone and spit out. Sybil had dropped to one knee, singing into the wind with her spear dug into the sand for stability.