Doubtful, I pulled out the blue sword. To my surprise, once it got near the phylactery, it started shining blue once again, emanating heat waves—hot enough for my friends to need to step back. I took aim and lowered the sword onto the necromancer’s crystal.
You dealt 4,120 damage! The phylactery of Fokial the Lich was destroyed! The spirit of Fokial the Lich was destroyed!
Receive 25,000 XP.
Receive a free attribute point!
Current XP: 9,960/67,500
Special quest complete: Phylactery.
You receive Fokial’s Spellbook!
You receive 3 Phylactery Shards.
You receive 50,000 XP. Current XP: 59,690/67,500
“Whoa, that’s some experience!” Flame buzzed. “I’ve leveled up!”
“Gratz!” Valkyrie patted her husband’s neck. “Ta-dam! Me too, actually.”
“Everybody has!” Helga nodded. “Even twice for me, I’ve never gotten so much experience!”
“And me,” said AlexOrder, surprising me. “My congratulations, guys. I kinda think that this quest is designed for a group of a higher level and better equipment than ours...”
“So, how about we finally get some sleep?” he said, looking us over. “It’s after two already. Let’s use stones to get back to Eyre.”
You use Soul Return Stone...
Return failed! Transporting via soul stones is forbidden in this area!
CHAPTER 13 CARNAGE
“I don’t get it. Is it the same for you guys?” Flame asked. “The stone didn’t work!”
“Mine neither!” I told him, nodding. “What the hell?”
“But that’s...impossible,” said Valkyrie, confused. “Soul stones can be used anywhere...”
“Maybe the instance is bugged?” Helga suggested.
“That’s very odd!” AlexOrder said, furiously scratching his beard. “I remember similar effects...but not here, that can’t be possible!”
“So what are we going to do?”
“I suggest we get out of here on foot,” said Alex. “We can’t leave our characters in the dungeon. The mobs could start respawning after reboot. If we can’t leave from the outside, we’ll break camp, exit the game there, and figure it out tomorrow.” No sooner said than done. For lack of anything better, we headed toward the exit, which was far from close.
Dawn was already breaking when we crawled out of the tomb on the hilltop among the menhirs. A new day had started. I breathed in the fresh air, relieved, and turned my head into the cool breeze that smelled of the sea. I could hear seagulls crying in the distance.
“Oops!” Valkyrie said, surprised. “There are players at the bottom. And they are—”
“Surrounding the barrow,” Alex finished her thought. “Radio silence! I’ll be the one to talk! Talk to each other in the group chat!” They had noticed us, too. A few players were scaling the hill up toward us. I recognized them. Crap, crap, crap! It was our old “friends,” the Brotherhood of Whip, who had been contracted to kill me! All in all, they were ten or twelve, three of them wearing the colors of Gorgon, a strong Eastern clan with a reputation for making trouble.
“We’ve been waiting for ages!” rasped out one of the three who had approached us, a tall woman named Snow. The wind scattered her platinum white locks over the pauldrons of a full plate, and she rested her hand on the handle of a heavy two-handed sword. She was no beauty, with a long scar on the left side of her face, and a cruel piercing glare directed by clear blue eyes. She was accompanied by Strife, my old pal, and a Gorgon nicknamed Boltcutter.
“And there were we thinking you’d go through the main entrance!” she continued in a mocking tone. “How cunning of you! Did you get good loot, at least?”
“I think you’re somewhat mistaken. This is not your territory!” AlexOrder replied. “This land belongs to our alliance. Do you want a war?”
“We don’t give a damn whose territory it is!” Snow shouted. “Watchers, Butchers, or some other dip-shits! We have a contract for that newbie’s head.”
“Hi, Kitten!” she said, turning to me. “I’m glad you’re not alone, actually—more ears for us to collect!”
“You’ll answer for those words!” AlexOrder warned her, growing pale. “You’ll be KOS-listed. Gorgons, I warn you too!”
“Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch!” Snow burst out laughing. “KOS list of the North Alliance. How scary!”
AlexOrder: Things aren’t looking good. There are ten players + four “pawns”.
HotCat: Who the hell is this Snow? Why so cheeky?
AlexOrder: I’ve heard of her. She’s the leader of the Brotherhood of Whip, a former Gorgon. Very strong.
Valkyrie: What are we going to do?
AlexOrder: I wrote in the alliance chat to the Varangians, but almost everyone’s asleep ATM, it’s not our prime time. Others are a long way from here. The three Varangians on duty have left the castle to help us, but it’ll take them at least an hour to get here.
AlexOrder: We have no chance. The Gorgons are pros, going by their kill rate. I’ll try to stall them...
Flame: It’ll suck if we lose the loot!
Valkyrie: Don’t jinx it, Ivan.
“So, have you contacted your Chip and Dale?” asked Snow, getting closer to the top. “Are they flying here already? Thing is, they won’t make it in time. We’ll frag you up for good!”
“Have you set a stone-jammer?” Alex suddenly asked. “You got money to waste?”
“Frags are beyond money!” she snorted in response. “Not to mention that your Cat’s ears are worth a tight sum!”
“We have an offer, Watchers!” Boltcutter who was following Snow shouted out of the blue.
“Give us Cat, we’ll cut a dozen ears off him, and you can go wherever you want!”
HotCat: What if we do that? They did come for me, after all. I don’t want to draw you all into this...
Valkyrie: Don’t even think about it.
AlexOrder: HE’S LYING. They’ll kill everyone anyway. The Gorgons never keep their word.
“What say you?”
“Go to hell!” Flame yelled. “Freaking griefers!”
“Oh, look how our frag’s crowing!” a member of the Whips laughed.
“We’re wasting time here!” Snow shouted. “Come on, guys! Let’s get to business!” They charged all at once, from all sides, at the top of the hill among the menhirs and started attacking us. Arrows filled the air. Thanks to their archers, we were stuck with our backs against the stones, unable to stick our noses out to the side. The first enemy to appear between the rocks got hit by two throwing axes, in the head and the shoulder. One-shotted by Ivan and me! Liberty trainers had worked the blue out of our gums, and for good reason.
Still, the enemy was too numerous, led by Snow. Valkyrie’s first arrow broke against her metal breastplate, dealing no damage, and the second got reflected by the Whip leader’s two-handed sword. Following her, a few more Whips and Gorgons reached the hilltop, yelling triumphantly.
Alex stopped one of them with his Rune of Chains, then drew his sword and engaged Snow, trying to push her back down the slope. Blades clashed. Flame and Valkyrie covered his back, protecting him from the rest of the enemy. I was left to deal with one of the Gorgons, Boltcutter, a buzz-headed tough cut-throat. A snake-haired medusa bared her teeth on his round shield. He tried to catch me in a net, but I dodged it deftly and countered the attack by hurling a throwing axe at his head. Boltcutter effortlessly reflected it with his shield, then gave me a bloodthirsty smile and viciously spun his claymore around himself. He was a tough nut to crack, a veteran, and he was starting to pressure me, making me turn my back against the edge of the hill, where the enemy archers were about to climb. It was my last throwing axe. I grasped the silver grip of the mysterious sword with my fingers, and once again, like back inside the dungeon, I sensed it trembling with anticipation, the blistering heat burning inside the blade.
Boltcutter stumbled abru
ptly—Clover Richie, who had appeared out of thin air, tangled his legs with a well-aimed and unexpected throw of his bollack. The halfling’s wonderful tool ensnared the Gorgon warrior like a bolo, hindering his movements. I had to grasp the opportunity. Pulling my sword out of the sheathe, I leapt at the enemy, aiming at his most vulnerable spot—his unprotected head. The blade was burning blue, emitting a pulsating light. Boltcutter was a pro. Despite the halfling’s sudden attack, calmly and skillfully he parried my blow with the broad blade of his shortsword. And then, the same thing happened as it had back in the dungeon with the lich’s wand: when my sword met even the slightest resistance, it destroyed Boltcutter’s weapon, leaving only a grip with a melted stump in its wake, and skewered my opponent. I only just caught the expression of utter surprise on his face, before he was incinerated, leaving only his shield, the remains of his sword, and smoking armor lying on the ground.
You dealt 2,540 damage to Boltcutter (Gorgons)!
Boltcutter is defeated!
Receive 600 XP.
Sword ???? receives ???? ????! Current value: ???/???
At that moment, though, I hardly had a moment to read or analyze the log. The only thought pulsing through my mind was how to protect my friends, who were desperately fighting off the attackers… friends who had been ambushed because of me.
Snow overcame Alex’s resistance and knocked him to the ground, wounding him. The rune master got up not without some difficulty and only just managed to stop her assault with a rune I hadn’t seen before, which encircled him in a ring of spectral fire. Strife had caught Valkyrie in a net, and somebody was choking Helga with a long whip. Flame got thrown to the ground by two or three of the enemy, who were trying to find a weak spot in the dwarf’s armor, while Clover Richie lay helplessly, pierced with a spear. As I looked over my companions, I felt wild fury and a fierce desire for revenge. Enraged, I rushed into the thick of the fight, hacking and slashing without distinction, and each of those strikes ended in the death of my opponent.
You dealt 2,780 damage to Strife (Brotherhood of Whip)! Strife is defeated! Receive 124 XP.
Sword ???? receives ???? ????! Current value: ???/???
You dealt 3,160 damage to Vandoom (Brotherhood of Whip)! Vandoom is defeated!
Receive 430 XP.
Sword ???? receives ???? ????! Current value: ???/???
They were trying to defend themselves, but I didn’t care. Their weapons were no match for my blade, and all that remained of my enemies were piles of dust scattered by the wind.
You dealt 2,940 damage to Grendel (Brotherhood of Whip)! Grendel is defeated!
Receive 150 XP.
Sword ???? receives ???? ????! Current value: ???/???
Snow turned back, laughing hoarsely. She still had no idea what was going on. A lightning-quick sweep of a two-handed sword—its blade swished above my head, burning my skin with a fleeting touch, cutting off a few strands of hair—was countered by my block, tried and true, and the same look of shock and confusion appeared on her face as her espadon broke the moment it met my sword.
You dealt 1,987 damage to Snow (Brotherhood of Whip)! Snow is defeated!
Receive 366 XP.
Current XP: 60,994/67,500.
Sword ???? receives ???? ????! Current value: ???/???
The armor of the leader of Brotherhood of Whip, still smoking and scorched from the inside, fell onto the trampled ground.
“Cat, look out, behind you!” I turned around and, without looking, cut down one more Gorgon warrior with a diagonal strike, who was raising his morningstar above his head, and then, adding another blow, I kicked his remains down from the slop of the hill.
You receive a rare achievement: Carnage! (Kill more than five players with melee weapons in less than a minute).
Receive 10,000 XP!
Receive a free attribute point!
Current XP: 3,694/100,000.
I finished off two more NPC Whips henchmen, who were fighting above Flame’s body, and Valkyrie immediately shot down their crossbowman, who had made the mistake of reaching the hilltop. Alex, who was barely standing, threw a Rune of Chains into the last of the enemy, who was trying to escape. I caught up with him and took him out.
“They’re fleeing!” Valkyrie rasped. Her face was scratched and covered in blood. “They’re going to the respawn spot on their mounts!”
Alex sat down, his back against a menhir. He was in rough shape after fighting Snow: his chainmail had blood all over it, as did everything else around him. He was nursing his stomach with his free hand. The others were even less fortunate. Flame’s motionless body was lying on the edge of the barrow, Helga’s neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and Clover Richie’s body was nailed to the ground with arrows and a spear. The halfling was still breathing when I knelt above him. He smiled a happy smile.
“Pack me up, Master, while it’s not too late... It was a cool trip! Necromancers…” I used Compress Artifact, turning the NPC back into a statuette. Like players, NPCs were immortal, but after death, they needed a 24-hour cooldown until the next summoning, so it was better to prevent their deaths. Richie got away with severe injuries—he had only a few hit points left.
Flame: I’m down, Helga too. We’re at resp point.
AlexOrder: We’re okay. Cat wasted almost all of them.
Flame: We got it already. There’re with us at resp point!
Helga: They’re shocked. What should we do?
AlexOrder: Don’t res, stay there! We’ll loot you.
AlexOrder: We’ll use stones to get out. You do the same from resp point.
Flame: Easy to say. Soul stones don’t work!
AlexOrder: They will soon.
“Cat,” he turned toward me. “There should be a gizmo somewhere nearby, probably near their camp—looks kinda like a big globe. You’ll know it when you see it... It’s a stonejammer. It’s blocking teleporting to this island. You need to destroy it!”
“I’ll cover you,” Valkyrie said, standing up. “They might leave the resp point.”
“No!” Alex laughed, his voice coarse. He was twirling the remains of Snow’s weapon in his hand—an elbow-long grip and one-third of a melted blade. “They won’t come! They have no weapons. Our Cat has broken their toys. That was nasty… So no need to worry, Cat. In the meantime, we’ll loot. PKers usually drop good stuff.”
He was right. When a player of good or neutral karma gets killed, they usually drop one, maybe two items. “Red” player killers with negative karma might drop all their equipment. It’s a reminder to play nice. Still, it doesn’t reduce the number of PKers.
I found the stonejammer inside the Brotherhood’s camp, which bore the marks of disorderly retreat. They had set it right next to the main entrance into the Tombs of the Necromancers, probably to watch it in comfort. The device reminded me of a glass globe on a stand wrapped in lots of colored wires—a complex technomagical tool that quietly buzzed and flickered. Unable to withstand a blow from the star metal sword, the artifact produced a mournful crunch and broke into several parts, while I gained 2,000 more XP. What a day! First, a phylactery, and now a stonejammer.
HotCat: It’s done. I broke it.
AlexOrder: Good. Time to use stones. Flame, are they gone from resp?
Flame: Nope, still here. They don’t even resp.
Helga: They’re calling us cheaters
Flame: And bug users!
AlexOrder: Let them eat dirt, we don’t care.
AlexOrder: We’ve finished looting, got some good stuff. Let’s meet tomorrow at Karn's, before your training session—we need to discuss this! And now, get out and good night.
He was right, we’d got carried away; it was already past three o’clock. Time to sleep.
INTERLUDE ADMINS
New Tokyo, Headquarters of Sphere of the Worlds corporation, smoking room.
“Hi, Vic.”
“Heya.”
“Did you get a call from a Marina, a girl from the forum?”
/>
“A community manager? Which one?”
“Marina’s the busty one, D-cups, all legs! The one who did that thing during the company party...”
“Hahaha! Now I remember. I thought the name was familiar, anyway... yeah, she called and wrote me today. The forum is in uproar.”
“Did they clear it up?”
“Well, how should I put it... We already knew about it. This bug has cropped up before. We wrote an entire report on it to the Jap-man.”
“And?”
“Nothing. Our built-in editor can’t remove the items. It displays an ‘Invalid operation’ error message, and that’s it. They’re hardwired into the program code, and you know who the author is…, it’s a real can of worms. We can’t figure it out yet.”
“Have you tried the in-game methods?”
“Of course. It’s useless. It’s a personal item with a “true possession” flag. It’s bound to the character for good. Can’t be stolen, dropped, or traded. Even the owner will get a nasty surprise if he tries to get rid of it, haha!”
“What are these items? What’s their purpose?”
“No idea. Maybe they were necessary for an update or a DLC. I don’t know why they’re hidden so deep, though. There’s no record of them—all the Seven Brothers documentation perished along with Balabanov. We can only guess.”
“Damn.”
“Uh-huh. And it gets better, Fyodor—we still don’t know their stats and properties. It’s all cleverly encrypted: only the “true owner” can see them. We have no idea how to get to them or where they’re kept. We can only assume that there are seven of these items, just like the Brothers. So far, two have come up.”
“I have a bad feeling about it. These items are bugged as hell.”
“The situation’s under Jap-man’s personal control. He said he’d figure it out, and got into a capsule. As for the bug—well, you know, it’s not critical. Nothing bad has happened, just an imba item that got into the hands of a lucky player. There are game breakers worse than that, even without bugs, as you well know!”
Cat's Quest Page 19