The Dead Fortress

by LitRPG Freaks

  Table of Contents

  Join Us for More Fun!

  Chapter 01

  Chapter 02

  Chapter 03

  Chapter 04

  Chapter 05

  Chapter 06

  Chapter 07

  Chapter 08

  Chapter 09

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  the Dead Fortress

  -World of Samar: Book III-

  A “LitRPG Freaks” work by Jared Mandani

  The Dead Fortress

  Copyright © 2017 LitRPG Freaks

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

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  Chapter 01

  So close, the entrance was so close, calling to him, pleading for him to slip through. No one would notice his absence. He could go to her, be by her side…

  “Bishop!” Jimmy hollered. “Cover, man! What are you doing?”

  “Damn!” Bishop shook his head sending his braided hair flying as he drew back on the string. Instant Shot came to his fingers like second nature, and he aimed it up and over Jimmy and the other ranged DPS, into the fray of swarming flaming hornets.

  They had stumbled into the hive while tracking down two lost villagers for their current quest. Two new ones popped up to wipe out the hive, kill the queen, and collect the larvae. All morning long, Bishop had struggled to focus. His body was here in this new territory, exploring with his guild, but his mind was back in Burning Glade, seeing that open crevice leading into the demon realm. The past few nights he had dreamt of that world, the green flames, the demons within it. This past weekend had been one of the hardest he had endured while here at the gaming facility.

  The need to sneak into the lab and log himself into the game was so strong, he found himself standing in the hall outside his door come Sunday night. Panicking, he’d sprinted back to his room and buried his head under the blankets. He failed at convincing himself he wasn’t slowly losing it.

  And he was failing in telling everyone else, too.

  He drew back on his bow, drawing on his Rain of Thorns.

  Bishop.

  He misfired the shot that went wide, missing the swarm of hornets completely. Maverick roared as her beast form was stung. Calista yelled her battle cry and launched herself into the center of the hornets, trying to draw them off Maverick. Jimmy threw Bishop a confused look, but he grunted and attempted the shot a second time. It landed where it was meant to, placing a bleed effect on all the hornets, aiding in knocking down their health faster.

  He moved forward, pushing deeper into the grove of hives with the rest of his guild. Willy growled as he lunged forward, protecting Calista’s weak side. Since she had joined their guild, the wolf had taken an extreme liking to her. Not that Bishop was complaining. She enjoyed it, too. The wolf and she fought well together, moving like a single unit of mace and ax, beside claws and fangs. Bishop ignored the worried look Jimmy gave him and focused on the fight.

  “Drawing out the Queen!” Calista warned.

  The ground rumbled beneath their feet and the largest hornet Bishop ever thought to lay eyes on burst out of the central hive. It towered over them all, its stinger the size of a child. Thankfully, it appeared too heavy to fly, but the giant insect was still terrifying. Bishop waited for Arthur, Calista, and Maverick to charge in first and pull aggro, yet he kept his fingers ready to fire.

  Bishop…come to me, Bishop…

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a cloaked figure moving through the trees. He whipped around to the right, bow aimed at… nothing.

  “Bishop! Get it together, man,” Jimmy begged. “Almost done here.”

  Bishop glared into the shadows, but there was nothing there. Only trees. He was losing his mind. He knew it. Somehow, this game had gotten into the deep recesses of his subconscious and was driving him insane.

  Calista yelled and the giant hornet screeched in reply. The force of the sound sent the fighter flying back into the tree line, her life knocked in half. “Watch her scream!” Calista yelled as she pushed to her feet and rushed right back into the fight without hesitation.

  Bishop needed to get it together, fast. He shut his eyes and counted to ten, tuning out the sounds around him. He was with his guild, they were alone in this grove, and he had one big hornet to kill. When he opened his eyes again, he glanced around, confused. The Queen? When did they draw her out of the hive?

  The fuzziness in his mind cleared and he was quickly firing Increased Swift Bow followed by Silent Arrow when the Queen built up her attack to scream again.

  “Watch the interrupts!” he said. “Call them out!”

  Calista graced him with a wide smile before her face screwed up in a vicious snarl and she attacked the hornet Queen. Maverick slammed her massive paws into the ground, shocking the Queen and stunning it for a few seconds. Bishop unleashed his Fiery Arrow and the Queen’s health steadily depleted with the full focused attack. She crumbled under the weight of her body and Arthur finished her off with a slamming attack from his Warhammer. The hornet exploded in a burst of guts, covering them all.

  Jimmy gagged and the others cursed and wiped the oozy guts from their faces. “That’s disgusting. Seriously? Because taking on a giant bug isn’t bad enough,” he mumbled, gagging again when he breathed in and it got in his mouth. He coughed and sputtered. Bishop slapped him on the back as everyone else laughed.

  “It could be worse,” Bishop informed him.

  “I fail to see how,” Jimmy grunted, wiping his mouth on the only clean part of his robe he could find, the bottom of the backside.

  “She could’ve flung stingers at us, or more of her larvae,” Calista offered, sheathing her weapons at her hips. “And you? What was with that freeze up back there? Thought maybe you got stung and we didn’t notice?”

  Bishop wracked his mind. He was stung? He didn’t remember being stung, but then he didn’t remember them pushing farther into the grove either, or seeing the Queen burst out of the central hive. “I must’ve been, sorry about that guys.” She eyed him suspiciously, but Arthur called out he was looting the rest of the larvae.

  “And look what we found,” Arthur added, digging into the hive. “I found our two missing villagers.” He reached in and pulled out two very confused men, covered in slime. They thanked Arthur weakly and he assured them the group would escort them back to the village. “Guess we’re done here. Ready for turn-ins back at the village?”

  The tiny village of Glendow was the first settlement they reached when crossing into the new territory. It was little more than a trading outpost along the road, but it gave them a decent number of quests to help explore the territory. By far though the most interesting aspect of this new area was the giant monolith obsidian square fortress towering over this territory and the one to the north where the LongBeards were. It was massive and straddled both regions. They asked a few of the NPCs what it was and were met with fearful stares and warnings to stay away from the Dead Fortress. They were given no other information. They decided that was most likely where the next dungeon would be, but Tavin told Bishop the only way to
reach the Demon Lord Mortagh was to enter the demon realm itself.

  Yes, slip into my world, Bishop…come to me…

  “Bishop?” Calista asked when he suddenly stopped walking, holding his head.

  Come to me…you cannot resist my call…not forever.

  “Bishop!” Calista said louder and gave him a hard shake. “Can you hear me? What’s going on with you?”

  “Huh? Nothing, just tired is all. What were you saying?” he asked, shoving a finger in his ear and wiggling it around. The ringing was terrible and his mind went fuzzy again. “Maybe I’m coming down with a cold in the real world. My ears feel blocked up.”

  “A cold, really? Ok,” she said quietly, but it was neither in agreement or disagreement.

  “What? What did I miss?” he asked as she started walking again.

  They hung back to the rear of the group, keeping the NPCs in the center for protection.

  “Nothing. During that fight, you just seemed distracted,” she said. “Like really distracted, and you missed a shot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you miss a shot by that wide of a margin.”

  “We all have our off days.” He frowned. He missed a shot? Did they see the same fight?

  “I’m worried about you. Maybe you need to talk to Dennis,” she suggested.

  Bishop nodded, but on the inside, a voice snarled and hissed in protest at such a notion. Dennis was a traitor. No, not Dennis. Daemyn. “Nah, I’ll be alright. We’ve been at this game over a month now. I expected it to mess with me at some point, right? Can’t be perfect all the time.”

  “No, but still,” she mused. “It’s weird.”

  “I’m fine, really. Let’s get back to Glendow and turn in. Might hit twenty-six today.”

  She eyed him funny. Even Willy nudged his hand and whined. Bishop smiled at him, scratching behind his ears. The voice in his mind didn’t return and he could at least be thankful for that. Missing part of the fight worried him. Was he blacking out and not realizing it? There could be a glitch with his connection, and his mind was being thrown back and forth from the game to the real world. But it sounded as if he was actively playing when his mind wandered away.

  Willy stopped, digging his paws into the dirt and snarled. He swung his head to the right, hackles raised, and gnashed his jaws.

  “What is it?” Calista asked, drawing her mace and ax. “Bishop?”

  “Possibly demons,” he whispered. “Or worse.” He whistled loudly and their group came to a subtle stop. He motioned his hand for Jimmy to keep talking, but then swung his arm out wide so they knew they were being followed by someone, or something.

  “I’m telling you guys, I’m beat,” Jimmy said loudly and yawned even louder. “But I can’t wait to turn in all this loot. Fetch us a nice pretty penny. Wonder if I can stuff the part of the Queen I got? Hang it next to the head above the mantel.” He rambled on as Bishop, Calista, and Willy inched back down the road. Once they were nearly out of sight, but could still hear Jimmy’s voice, they ducked into the trees, following Willy with his nose to the ground.

  Bishop rested his fingers on his bowstring, heart pounding so loud in his chest, he feared it would scare whatever stalked them away. Calista gripped her weapons fiercely beside him, her face set and ready for a fight. Rustling of leaves made all three of them pause and crouch lower, listening. There weren’t any voices but, when Bishop gently used his bow to move aside a branch, his lips thinned.

  Demon players. At least six of them, and all facing the road where his group stood, guarding two NPCs. None of them were Demon Knights; still, six Demon players was enough of a pain in the behind.

  Calista tapped his shoulder and motioned her jumping in the midst of them and drawing them to the road. She wiggled her fingers down towards the ground and pointed at him: she wanted cover until the others had a chance to attack. He nodded and nudged Willy with his elbow. He looked the wolf in the eyes and then motioned to Calista. Willy bowed his great, big furry head and sauntered over so he stood beside Calista instead. Bishop nodded he was ready and Calista snuck closer to the Demon players, keeping low. Willy crawled on his belly beside her, both of them so quiet, when Bishop lost sight of them, he couldn’t even tell where they’d gone.

  Until her battle cry broke the silence.

  She leapt out of the brush and landed in the center of them, placing a forced aggro on the players. She sprinted out of the trees, dragging the six players with her, and Bishop stood, shooting his AOE Rain of Thorns on them. He heard the rest of the guild yell as they joined in the attack and Bishop rushed to follow, targeting one player at a time with Fiery arrow, giving them a bleed and a burn.

  The road was in chaos when he burst through the trees to see Benji standing guard in front of the NPCs while trying to keep up heals. Arthur, Calista, and Maverick took up the main assault while Giles and Bishop fired continual rounds of Instant Shot. Giles let fly a trap, sticking three of the six to the ground where they stood making them vulnerable to Arthur’s power attacks. He swung his Warhammer down, obliterating one of them, but one broke away from Calista’s hold and latched on this back.

  Cursing, he staggered backwards, and Bishop rushed in to yank the player off, Slashing down his back. His life took a small hit and he turned his attention to Bishop instead. He brought up his bow to block the first hit, watching his life deplete by a quarter. He grunted and shoved the guy backwards, but he kept on coming.

  A shadow moved out of the corner of his eye and he turned, trying to follow it. The same shadow as before…he had to follow it…had to see where it would lead.

  “Bishop!” Arthur yelled as he charged in and tackled the Demon player to the ground, finishing off with a fierce blow to the head. “What are you doing, man?”

  Bishop blinked furiously. Why was he on the ground? His life was nearly gone, too.

  The fight continued around him as Arthur yanked him to his feet and jumped right back in. Bishop found his next target, picking off the Demon players with the least amount of HP. His Fiery Arrow was followed up with Penetrating Shot. When the last Demon player fell to Maverick’s mighty swipe of a paw, Jimmy and Giles went around to loot the bodies. Coins clinked into his pouch, but it was something else Bishop grew excited about.

  You have received: 6 Demon Shards.

  He was up to twenty-three now, almost halfway to receiving his first-tier upgrade for his attacks. He, along with the others, were anxious to up their attacks, preferably before the next dungeon. Entering the Demon realm was going to be different and dangerous to say the least. Having some extra fire power wouldn’t be a bad thing. This was the third group of Demon players they’d run into since stepping foot in this territory.

  “You think there’s an outpost nearby?” he asked Jimmy.

  “Maybe. You want to look for it, attack it?”

  “I doubt we could take it with just our group. I’m just curious where they’re all coming from. That Fortress, they could be coming from there if it is the entrance to the Demon world and the next dungeon. You think?”

  “Possibly. At least, we got Demon Shards from this lot. The last two groups gave us squat.”

  “Yeah, good thing.”

  Bishop waited for Willy to come back to his side so he could feed him a nice chunk of meat for doing so well today. He ate it and licked his chops. Then, with an excited yip, he bolted out into the forest.

  “I guess I’ll see you later,” he murmured, grinning as the white flash of fur vanished.

  “You still don’t know where he goes?” Calista asked, falling instep beside him.

  “No. I figured he hunts or goes back to his pack.” He longed to follow the wolf, but something told him it wasn’t his place. Willy was as wild as any real wolf and was with Bishop when he wanted to be, not the other way around. “I still have so many questions about this game.”

  “We’re only a quarter of the way through it,” she said. “We’ll get answers soon enough.”
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  “Or thrown in prison at Weston.”

  She nudged him. “Don’t worry, I’d break you out of jail.”

  “Well, aren’t you sweet.”

  “What else are girlfriends good for if we can’t save our men’s butts. Right, Maverick?’

  Maverick’s hand shot up in the air in agreement and Jimmy hung his head.

  They returned to Glendow and turned in the quests for the hornets and finding the lost villagers. Bishop grinned when he heard the dinging sound.

  You have reached level 26.

  “Fantastic. Four more to go until the dungeon.” He stared around the trading post, found a seller, and sold what items he had no use for. Eventually, he needed to find a way to access his bank. He could travel back to Weston but, without knowing how far Godfrey would go with arresting him and the other half-breeds, he wasn’t willing to risk that trip, yet. Eventually, they would have to go back to the house, but so far, they managed just fine.

  Once everyone’s bags were cleared out and they were ready to move, they exited Glendow and reached a fork in the road.

  “North or south?” Jimmy asked, peering up one path then the other, the Dead Fortress looming over both roads.

  “You decide,” Bishop said. “We trust you.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Benji teased and Jimmy glowered at him, lifting his staff.

  “Want to duel again, Benji? You might win this time.”

  Benji rolled his eyes. “If you couldn’t summon that damn demon of yours, you wouldn’t have won so easily. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Did you purify yourself recently?” Maverick asked.

  “Yes, mother,” Jimmy answered. “Did it before we left. Let’s go north. Get us closer to this Dead Fortress. Could be interesting.”

  “Or it could get us all killed,” Giles chipped in. He’d died the day before when he accidentally stumbled into a camp of orcs while out gathering raw materials. By the time the rest of the guild arrived, Giles was on his last lick of health and died before Benji could heal him.