Ripcord Online: (LitRPG Series Book 1)

by Brian Simons

  I took a few steps toward a small crater in the ground, a small indentation in the rocky earth from which to launch my plan. I took the cactus from my inventory and set it up like a flowerpot supported by the rocks. My rusty switchblade slid into the cactus’s top easily, carving a small hole and revealing the plant’s internal reservoir of water.

  I pressed a spring ivy leaf into the cactus and stood back, willing it to Grow into a long, powerful vine. The roots pierced the bottom of the cactus, draining the water from it, but that was fine. It had served its purpose. A thick coil of spring ivy was now firmly rooted in the ground. I took the tip of the plant and ran, stretching the vine across the mammoths’ path.

  I faced the stampede and crouched low, keeping the vine along the ground. Drew looked at me, then at the edge of the mountain wall. It was well within running distance. We hadn’t seen in the dark of night just how close we had been to our destination.

  “Go if you want to,” I said. “I’m going to fight.” I decided after leaving the plantation that I was through running.

  Drew ran up behind me and raised his bow, nocking an arrow and aiming it ahead.

  The animals didn’t seem to see us. The first mammoth barreled past us without turning its skull toward us. We dodged aside to avoid being flattened out by another one. Then a mammoth approached what I considered to be the perfect place along the vine I had laid down. I raised the vine quickly overhead, causing a diagonal strip to rise from the plant’s base like a green tripwire.

  When a foot landed just in front of the vine, I let it go.

  The spring ivy whipped through the air, coiling tightly around the mammoth’s foot. The creature spun around and crashed onto its side, its foot tethered in place. Other mammoths rushed past it on their chase after the shrews.

  Drew and I managed to avoid being trampled, and had snared an enormous beast we could use to level up again. I was just shy of celebrating when another mammoth crashed into our prey. The two mammoths collapsed into a pile of disconnected bones.

  The other skeleton beasts left their fallen friends behind and passed us by. Then the pile of bones began to jostle on its own accord. Foot bones drew back together, leg bones stretched above them. The skeletons reassembled.

  The newly formed creature had eight feet, a skull on either end, and ribs packed tightly together. The skeletons had commingled into a massive monstrosity. The conjoined mammoth got to its feet and charged at us with lowered tusks.

  Drew and I dodged in opposite directions. The monster had separated us. The mountain was directly behind me.

  Drew shot arrows at the head nearest him but they sailed through the gaps in the animal’s bones.

  “It’s hard to hit,” he yelled. The mammoth stomped on the ground, sending vibrations rippling through it.

  “Maybe this was a bad idea,” I yelled. I held my sword out. I doubted my blinding Pollen attack would affect something with empty eye sockets. The monster lowered its head to charge at me, but then pulled back. Its rear head was trying to charge at Drew.

  “It’s conflicted,” I yelled. I ran up to it and slashed my sword out, slamming the wooden blade into a dense tibia bone. If the monster’s HP bar budged, it was imperceptible. “It can’t make up its mind.”

  “I can,” Drew yelled. “We need to get out of here.” He started to run toward the face of the mountain. The mammoth swiveled toward him, and by extension, toward me.

  I followed Drew’s lead and ran toward the mountain. The mammoth charged at us, slamming its tusks into the rock face as we skirted out of the way. I ran my hands over the sheer wall in vain. I couldn’t find a handhold.

  “We can’t climb it here,” I said. The monster prodded the ground with one foot, gearing up for another attack.

  “So come on,” Drew said, gesturing along the rock wall. He seemed to think we could follow the wall with a two-headed mammoth behind us until we could find spot to climb up.

  “Give me a boost,” I said.

  “So you can leave me behind?” he asked.

  “No, trust me,” I said. Drew gave me a very untrusting look and held his hands out to propel me up the rock wall. I found a handhold, and then a toehold.

  The skeleton crashed into Drew, knocking a tusk into his back and leaving him writhing on the ground in pain. He lost a solid chunk of HP.

  I leapt from the wall and grabbed the monster’s other tusk. I curled my legs around it and shimmied up towards its face.

  The mammoth shook left and right to jostle me loose, but I held firm. I climbed onto its skull, using its nose hole for a handhold. I placed one foot in each eye socket and held tight. It was like riding a mechanical bull, but from its face. Then, still perched on its skull, I took my sword out and jammed it into the space at the base of its skull, severing its head from its spine.

  The skull fell and I rolled off of it before it crashed to the ground. The bone monster had lost exactly half of its HP. It spun around so that its other head faced me, but I ran around it. It kept turning to try to face me, but I ran in circles until I was directly behind its rear.

  I ran toward it and jumped up, grabbing hold of its pelvis and kicking at its leg bones until I was able to scurry up to its spine. It reared on its hind legs, but my grip was tight. I climbed along the stretch of vertebrae until I could sever this head from the monster’s body too.

  Lucky for me, that’s all it took to turn this thing into a ruined pile of lifeless bones.

  You have reached Level 27! Total skill points: 3. Total attribute points: 3.

  You have reached Level 28! Total skill points: 4. Total attribute points: 4.

  I may not be strong with a sword, but this thing turned out to be a good tool on occasion. I jogged over to Drew, who was just getting to his feet.

  “Good show,” he said, smirking. “Think you have the strength to scale this mountain now?”

  16

  The cold pre-dawn air numbed my fingers as I reached for higher and higher rocks toward the top of the mountain cliff. Climbing was tough, but once we got off the ground there were plenty of nooks and ledges for hands and feet. I took time during the quiet climb to invest my new skill and attribute points.

  CURRENT SKILLS

  Engraft (Tier 1) (MASTERED)

  Grow (Tier 10)

  Osmose (Tier 3)

  Pollen (Tier 7)

  AVAILABLE UPGRADES

  Grow (Tier 11): At tier 11, Grow improves growth speed noticeably while slightly increasing mana cost. [2.1 MP per second to cast]. Requires 1 skill point to unlock.

  Osmose (Tier 4): At tier 4, Osmose allows you to learn the essence of special rare plants. [16 MP to cast]. Requires 4 skill points to unlock.

  Pollen (Tier 8): At tier 8, Pollen has a 50% chance of blinding enemies. [2.25 MP per second to cast]. Requires 1 skill point to unlock.

  It was the rare and special plants that seemed the most useful, like spring ivy. I improved Osmose again to get access to even more plants, and that was it. I had mastered the skill. With that, I should be able to Osmose every last plant in Ripcord — assuming I didn’t mind spending a whopping 16 MP each time I wanted to learn a new one.

  I reached into my bag and felt for my unknowns.

  Silverthorn.

  An apt name for a plant with metal spikes protruding from its stem, its leaves, even the flower at end of its stalk.

  Molyranth.

  This one was just another flower, with three white petals forming a small bloom on a delicate green stem. They can’t all be winners.

  I also decided to put all of my points in Acuity.

  ATTRIBUTES

  Power 3

  Speed 6

  Acuity 17 -> 21

  HP 180

  SP 45

  MP 170 -> 210

  In the beginning I valued my ability to run away from a fight, but if chopping the skulls off those mammoths showed me anything it’s that I can hold my own now. My power is low, and I don’t have fancy sword skills, but I’m det
ermined.

  A large shadow swooped over my head too quickly to be a cloud. When I looked up though, there was nothing there, but I contorted my body as I twisted my neck to make sure. “Heads up!” I yelled. I accidentally dislodged a rock and sent it cascading down the side of the rock cliff. I didn’t know where Drew was, and I didn’t want to knock him in the head with it.

  I kept climbing until I found a narrow ledge. It was just wide enough to sit on and take a break. My arms were killing me. My legs dangled from the side of the mountain as I waited for Drew to join me.

  With our backs pressed against the mountain, we had an unobstructed view east. All the ground I had traveled since Cortina was laid out in one sweeping vista. I couldn’t tell from here where the desert ended and the steppe began, nor could I make out Alonso’s compound. Whatever was left of it, anyway.

  “Doesn’t it make you angry how hideous it is?” Drew asked.

  “I hadn’t really thought about it,” I said. There were plenty of things I was angry about, the lack of Ripcord’s luster wasn’t at the top of the list.

  “It’s like a cruel joke,” he said. “The commercials were all the same. Welcome to your best adventure. This isn’t an adventure. It’s a manhunt. And with all the talent they hired to create this ridiculous game, couldn’t they at least make it easier on the eyes?”

  “Maybe it used to be better?” I asked.

  “If that’s true, things are trending in the wrong direction.” Drew shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t used to be so negative.”

  “It’s a difficult place,” I said.

  “You’re looking for your wife,” he said. “Do you look back at your life and think it wasn’t really you? That it was some other person that lived those years and your memories are just a window on someone else’s life? I used to be a pretty upbeat, happy guy. With Roger gone... I dunno. We met in Ripcord and teamed up pretty quickly. We spent the last year traveling together, evading the Stricken, warding off danger. Now that it’s just me, it’s like I’ve lost that part of me that knew what was supposed to come next. Maybe I’m trending in the wrong direction.”

  “That’s harbinger talk,” I said. I didn’t know Roger, but I knew I didn’t trust a wicked slab of granite to declare him dead. Sure, I changed after Nadine died. I was angry and despondent for a long time, but I forced myself to look forward instead of backward. I gave myself permission to hope that I could still find her.

  I wouldn’t give up that hope now. Letting the fear of loss alter me from the inside out was exactly what the harbingers would want. I wouldn’t let them win. I hoped Drew wouldn’t either.

  Drew pushed himself up and turned to face the mountain. “Let’s get to the top of this sucker. But I’m going first this time. I don’t want any more rocks in my face.”

  “It was one time!” I said.

  I kept climbing, and it wasn’t long before I pulled myself up to the top. The mountain had peaks a little ways from here on either side, but this area was smooth and flat. Drew was a few yards ahead of me, jogging toward the opposite side of the mesa.

  “Look at this view!” he said, beckoning me to join him. The rainforest was below, its dense green canopy hiding untold hues of exotic plants below. Beyond it, a deep blue ocean stretched to the horizon. This side of the mountain had water and life, in stark contrast to the valley of death we had just crossed.

  Another large shadow appeared, covering a twenty-foot area. I looked and saw its source. A massive bird flying to one of the mountain peaks. I pointed toward the bird. “We should be careful,” I said.

  “Too late,” said a voice behind us. I spun around. There were twenty or so children, most with crude weapons, some without. Each had a rope cinched around his or her waist, with a long tail of rope stretching behind them.

  “We’re not here for any trouble,” I said as one kid, a teenager by the look of him, pointed a spear at me. He was dressed all in red.

  Individually, these kids probably wouldn’t be able to beat me or Drew in a fight. With twenty of them on one side, I wasn’t so sure. Some of them were mages, others were archers or fighters. All of them looked dirty and scared.

  “We’ll see about that,” the boy said. I took him to be the leader. He was a head taller than the other children. His red shirt and pants hung from his lanky frame, with thin brown arms exposed under rolled up sleeves. “Tie them up,” he said.

  “Absolutely not!” Drew said, nocking an arrow.

  A row of archers held arrows in taut bowstrings. Two children approached each of us to tie us up with rope they had untied from around their waists.

  “Drew,” I said, “it looks like we’ve trespassed on their home. I’m sure we can work this out if we behave.” Drew held his arrow for a few more seconds but relaxed his bow and put the arrow back in his quiver.

  “This isn’t necessary, though,” I said. “Let’s just talk this through.” They ignored me and tied my hands together inexpertly with rope that was frayed and worn. All it would take is one stalk of silverthorn to saw through these ropes. I would need access to water to Grow it, but I wasn’t worried about staying a prisoner for long.

  “Take them inside,” the boy said. The older children helped us to our feet and pushed us along toward a mountain peak. A hole in the side of the rock looked like it led to a small cave. I couldn’t see what was in there though. Maybe I had misjudged this situation.

  We made it most of the way toward the cave entrance when that familiar shadow fell over us. Everyone readied weapons, or at least bare hands. Everyone except Drew and me.

  The enormous bird we had spotted earlier swooped down at our group and I dropped to the ground, flat. The bird let out a loud squawk and opened its long, curved beak. It pinched a small child by the shoulder and tried to fly away with her in its mouth.

  Archers loosed their arrows, but the avian didn’t flinch. Other children rushed forward and grabbed the girl’s long rope tail and pulled at her, trying to free her from the bird’s grasp.

  It was a tug of war, with a poor little girl caught in the middle. Eventually the bird released its beak and the girl fell hard and fast onto the stone mesa. She looked bloodied and broken, but she still had a third of her HP. The children rallied around her and helped her toward the cave as the larger kids pushed us a little faster than they had before.

  As we approached the cave’s entrance, the shapes of twenty or so makeshift beds took form. These children lived here. And as far as I could tell, it was just them. The leader flicked a few small balls of fire from his hand and lit the cave with them. They hovered in the air. I assumed he was spending a small amount of mana per second to sustain them, but it was a neat trick nonetheless.

  “What was that thing?” I asked.

  “Garuda,” the boy said. “If it’s not one thing it’s another.”

  “We’re not one thing,” I said. “We’re just passing through, on our way to the rainforest and,” I looked over at Drew, “the ocean.”

  “I don’t even mean you,” the boy said. “We finally found a place the Stricken won’t come, and what do we find? A man-eating garuda.”

  “The Stricken doesn’t come here?” Drew asked.

  “No,” the boy replied, “and maybe that’s because we have a garuda problem. Who knows. I’d take this dumb bird over the Stricken any day though.”

  “I wouldn’t bank on a bird keeping the Stricken away forever, no matter how big it is. Have you tried defeating it?” I asked.

  “Have we tried defeating it?” the boy repeated slowly. I felt the ridiculousness of my question set in. I had insulted him.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was going to offer our help, but I didn’t want to presume anything.”

  “I don’t know what help you could be,” the boy said. “Adults are always trouble. You come here, you think we can’t take care of ourselves, that you need to rescue us from the mountain, like any of you have a clue how to survive in this awful place.”

&nb
sp; “Some of us are still learning that as we go along, but our hearts are in the right place,” I said.

  A teenage girl approached the boy from the side. “Timothy, she’s still bleeding from the neck,” she said. “Can you cauterize the wound?”