The four leaders of the Pandas, Phantom, Jerkhan, monstrous Kronk, and Gor, who resembled a winged demonic killer, came together to talk.
“Damn that Russian! He must be punished!”
“What’s the guarantee that after he gets the money, he won’t blow up the juggernaut just for the lulz?”
“Who is he, anyway?”
All eyes met on Phantom. The unspoken leader of Pandorum was silent, his eyes narrowed, his lips pursed. He was standing with his arms folded back, tall and straight-backed, and the wind ruffled his hair. His face was impenetrable, but I felt as if I could read his thoughts.
Phantom, who had an odd resemblance to the Magister, was clearly very smart. The charisma emanating from him chilled me to the bone. He was dangerous and sharp, like the edge of a rapier.
The deal was simple. By losing the juggernaut, the Pandas would forfeit one-fifth of their combined military power that used to be unchallenged. Their immaculate kill rating would go down the drain under the weight of the juggernaut’s cost. The victory at Atrocity would turn out to be pyrrhic, turned by gossip into a defeat. The loss of a juggernaut was a global-scale event; enemy trolls would make sure to broadcast that all over the forums. A rumor would start that Pandorum was past its prime, boosting the morale of their opponents. So Pandas weren’t invincible after all! Maybe we should test them, too? That might very well become the first step to a new epic war.
And money? What did five million mean to the richest alliance of Sphere? Small change. A fully-fitted Ragnarok cost way more. Getting it back would be the number one priority; as for money, they might always try to get it back.
“What should we do, Phantom?”
“I’ve already transferred the money,” Phantom said in an icy tone. “Get the juggernaut, fools.”
“Seven?”
“Five.”
“What the fuck?”
“Calm down,” the leader of the Pandas snapped, a nasty smile on his face. “You can get it back. There are ways; you must know that.”
Jerkhan burst out laughing, and Kronk gave a knowing chuckle. Only Gor wasn’t amused—the Ragnarok belonged to Oblivion, his clan. Most likely, he would have to recoup the expenses.
The money came nine seconds after my ultimatum. Five million in virtual currency appeared in my account with a pleasant jingle, immediately making Cat one of the richest players in all of Sphere. Phantom was an upsettingly quick thinker. He had immediately figured everything out and made a decision. I really didn’t like his last phrase, either.
I broke off my connection with the shadow, stopped the recording, and saved it as a video file. Then I sent a message to the Pandorum Council channel.
“Thanks for shopping with us. It has been a pleasure! I hope it’s not our last deal. Oh, by the way, I hope you aren’t going to swindle the poor merchant, stalking him, making his life hell, finding him in real life, et cetera? You’re not like that, are you? Well, in any case, I have a small video for you.”
I linked the recording of their conversation into the chat.
“I guarantee complete privacy of our deal, but if you decide to complicate things, this video will turn up. All of Sphere will learn how the Pandas ransomed their juggernaut from a no-name player for five mil!”
Damn you, you son of a bitch!
You were kicked out of the Pandorum Council channel.
Your reputation with Pandorum Alliance increased to Ally.
Dammit, I hadn’t gotten the chance to tell them to carefully unload the Bells back into my barques! They were actually worth a whole lot of money.
Chapter 3
HOVERING ABOVE with a team of his fighters, Tao watched Panda scouts land on the deck of the jury-rigged juggernaut. Several dragon riders flew to meet them, but the PROJECT group easily put some distance between them.
They weren’t going to fight. In truth, Tao hated the entire situation: PROJECT HELL had started a conflict against Pandorum and, like it or not, played the decisive role in capturing the juggernaut. They were the ones to take down the Ragnarok crew and kill Gor, throwing him overboard. A satisfied smirk came to Tao’s lips, unbidden—it was a good fight with nice tasty kills. But the PROJECT leader knew another thing: the Pandas never forgot grudges. They were dangerous enemies, and Cat underestimated them.
Cat... Tao had to give him credit—Cat never lacked for courage and cunning. A coward would have never risked boarding and hijacking a juggernaut from under the nose of the strongest alliance of Sphere, not to mention blackmail them, speaking with living legends as equals. That required composure and self-control, and the merchant had those qualities in spades. He had quickly risen, becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Tao didn’t like that at all. On top of burning envy, the PROJECT leader couldn’t accept being a pawn in someone else’s game, a weapon in his enemy’s hands. Tao still hadn’t forgotten the bitter defeat in Eyre when the Crown was just within their reach. He remembered Komtur’s mocking laughter as he revealed the trick with the Err and dropped the Steel Guard on the PROJECT raid; the shame and the forum posts about the scandal with the thieves from DarkNet. Tao didn’t doubt that all of that had been HotCat’s handiwork. The worst thing, however, was that he, Tao Hell, the leader of a powerful clan (he considered PROJECT HELL the top combat clan of Dorsa, and it wasn’t far from the truth) had become an errand boy for a four-month-old newbie, the Watchers’ clerk!
HotCat: This is it. Your kamikaze can log in and leave the Ragnarok. They won’t be hurt.
So they had reached a deal. Tao gritted his teeth and wondered about the terms. Money? Most likely, although there was no way to be certain when it came to Cat. That would give him a link to Pandorum, allowing the merchant to pull that string as well. HotCat was making some dangerous connections.
Tao: Party leaders two and five, log in and calmly leave the juggernaut. DON’T BLOW IT UP.
Peacemaker: The Pandas?
Tao: Won’t touch you.
Tao’s lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes became dangerously narrow. No, Cat. You wouldn’t get yours. He created a personal communication channel with Svoy, the leader of the second group, one of the pillars of PROJECT whom Tao trusted implicitly. Svoy would always back him up and carry out any of his orders.
Tao: Svoy, are you here? Where did you log in?
Svoy: I’m here. I’m in the cargo hold next to Ragnarok’s powder room.
Tao: Don’t log in yet.
Svoy: Got it.
Tao: You have a diamond subscription, don’t you?
Svoy: Yes.
Tao: Can you turn on kill rating anonymity?
Svoy: Of course, I can, but why?
Tao: Listen closely. You’re going to leave the clan temporarily—I’ll invite you back later. Turn on anonymous kills. Log in on my command. And then...
* * *
Keith Borland was hurriedly raising the reefed sails while his crew and several Pandas moved the Crystal Bells, carefully putting them into special pyramid-shaped stands in the hold. The last PROJECT members who played the part of suicide bombers left the juggernaut and joined Tao, hovering in the sky nearby. I watched them leave with a distant look, and they quickly turned into black dots on the horizon. The contract was fulfilled, their duty done. In contrast, Pandorum ships were descending, and the deck of Ragnarok was full of frantic activity.
“How much is left?” the Octopus yelled to Astr, who was carrying the latest bomb.
“Not much. Ten minutes of work, I guess.”
Borland looked around, a little bit nervous at how close Pandorum vessels and dragon riders were to him. I wanted to finish up as soon as possible, too, and go somewhere far away, preferably to a place with cold dark beer and smiling waitresses instead of vicious-looking warriors glaring at me atop their monstrous mounts. Weldy, whom I had sent away with Ellaria, was probably already home, in Eyre.
Suddenly, the deck of the barque shook. I was only able to remain on my feet by grabbing the neare
st mast, and the Bells around me chimed as they rolled down the deck. What was going on?
As I glanced toward the Ragnarok, I was blinded by an unexpected flash. Debuffs started blinking furiously, and in a fraction of a second, my health bar was toast. The last thing I noticed was a wave of brilliant light descending from the juggernaut.
The Ragnarok exploded.
* * *
Tao was already far away when he saw it happen. A giant fiery bubble, unbearably bright as it blotted out the sun, eclipsed the juggernaut and the cargo barques docked to it. Its reflection fell on the shocked faces of the surrounding players, while a blast of hot, dry wind struck next. The blooming orb of fire consumed the Ragnarok and grazed the other two Pandorum flagships. Lesser vessels lit up like candles and came crashing to the ground.
The PROJECT’s voice channel and Courier chat burst with messages—mostly explicit exclamations.
“Whoa!” Tentacle gasped. “Fancy that! How many were killed? I hope someone recorded a video!”
Tao didn’t react, focused on watching the results of his work. Svoy hadn’t failed him; he did everything right. Nothing remained of the Ragnarok and Cat’s cargo barques, only a scorched crater left on that spot, while the forest below burned, felled by the explosion. Islands of fire revealed the crash sites of the small ships. One of the juggernauts had survived; its dome was gone, and its sails burned, but it was steadily gaining altitude. The other wasn’t as lucky. Leaving a smoky trail behind it, it rapidly descended like a shot-up airplane. A few seconds later, it fell down, shaking the ground, and broke in two from the collision. Tao automatically shut his eyes, expecting the reactor to detonate, but there was no explosion. The juggernaut froze, smoking and fuming.
“That was brutal! The Pandas will lose their shit,” someone next to him said. “We need to get out.”
Tao couldn’t agree more.
* * *
Slowly, I closed my eyes and opened them again. It was a failure, an epic fail. I was a ghost at the respawn point in the Lower Quarter of Eyre, the Rose Square. The red lines in the combat log told me that I had died by getting a certain amount of damage at once. The space around me was full of other specters—I was clearly far from the only dead player.
It wasn’t possible in Sphere, but in real life, I definitely would have gotten a nervous tic. Why had it exploded? Had someone set me up? After getting the money, I had planned on peacefully parting ways with the Pandas. Win-win: I got the gold, and they got the shield. Everyone would be satisfied. But after something like that, they would never let me alone. I felt as if I was sitting on a powder keg.
Fine, I had one option left. The kill list button flashed in the corner of the interface. I opened it to see the kill rankings and learn who had caused me so much grief. The person who killed the Ragnarok had to be there, whether they had done it intentionally or simply dropped a Bell due to being all thumbs.
But when I saw that line, I felt as if a bucket of ice fell down my shirt. The player who had blown up a juggernaut collectively worth more than twelve million gold was anonymous, just like me.
No clan, a string of question marks instead of a nickname. There was no need to guess: he had a diamond subscription like my own. So what was the conclusion? It was a setup and a calculated one. For Pandas, I was a scammer, having taken their money and still blowing up the ship while killing a lot of their own. What a nasty situation.
In the meantime, the players kept respawning. Most of them were red-karma Pandas, and groups of city guards immediately poured into the Rose Square. A scuffle broke out around the respawn circle, quickly turning into a real battle. Pandorum players were trying to summon their birdies and fly away, while the guards and local players took them down, making use of their momentary confusion. It was hell. I decided against becoming corporeal and used a Soul Stone to escape.
Upon logging out in my inn room, I collapsed on the bed. The tension of the last several hours had taken its toll. My head was throbbing. Jerkhan was raging in my personal messages. Once again, I got added to the Pandorum Council Chat. I tried to explain myself, but they didn’t want to hear me. When I got fed up with reading their cursing, I activated the language pack to write a message.
HotCat: Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
Phantom: A whirlwind? Today you’ve pissed against it!
My only consolation was the seven-figure number in my account. Still, I had to act quickly. That long, long day was yet to be over.
The streets of Eyre were in turmoil. The local respawn point was the closest to Ragnarok’s crash site, and all the dead Pandas were respawning there. Most likely, they wanted to get back and get their stuff from the place of their death. I didn’t even want to think of the chaos going on there. Swarms of vultures would rush to the crash site, hoping to loot the dead and the juggernaut’s priceless modules. Some of them were bound to get rich, and some weren’t. A real battle for the bodies was about to break out. Good. It meant that the Pandas would be occupied for some time.
HotCat: Keith, come in.
Keith Borland: Hey...what was that?
HotCat: Ding dong! It blew up, don’t you get it?
Keith Borland: I’m at the resp point. All mine are dead. Why the hell did you blow it up, you psycho? You had a good deal...
HotCat: I had nothing to do with it. I was standing next to you, actually.
Keith Borland: Yeah...who did it, then?
HotCat: I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. Listen, can you drop me off at Condor on your skiff? Right now.
Weldy. She had become a target once; she might become one again. I had to get her out of Eyre.
I found her with a broom in the middle of her magic shop, trying to clean up the wrecked place. Frederick was circling her legs with an air of utmost importance; I breathed out in relief as I saw him safe and sound. He must be an NPC rather than an ordinary cat.
When she saw me, the girl smiled, blowing away a stray lock of hair, and made a helpless gesture.
“Here...trying to clean up. Did you come to help me?”
“No. Pack up. I’ll take you away from here. It might be dangerous. The Pandas...”
“The Pandas? No!” I saw fear in Weldy’s eyes; she was about to cry.
I came up to her, put my arms around her, and looked in the green pools of her eyes, ready to burst into streams of tears. She was trembling.
“Do you remember what happened after they put the collar on you?” I asked her quietly. “When the Pandas took you to their fortress?”
“I do. But it’s all blurred, like a nightmare before dawn,” Weldy said after a pause, nodding. “I was like a puppet on strings. It felt as if it was happening to someone else. Still, I remember it, yes.
“They didn’t do anything to me. They were simply trying to frighten me,” she continued. “Especially that nasty woman you killed... But I was there. I saw what they did to the other prisoners! They...it was horrible, HotCat!”
At last, she burst into tears, and I tried to calm her down, hugging her and stroking her blond hair. Weldy didn’t deserve the hardships she had to go through because of me, and I was going to make it so the Pandas or any other scumbags would never be able to single out the weak line in my chain.
“Pack up. You cannot stay here,” I reminded her. “Take only what you need.”
Frederick gave out a resentful meow somewhere below. I let Weldy go and got down on one knee to pat the black cat on the neck. He hesitated for a second, inspecting me with his yellow lamp-like eyes, and finally rubbed his head against my hand, meowing quizzically.
“Of course, we’ll take you. How can we not?” I told him, smiling.
* * *
“Is this the Cloud Castle?” Weldy asked, excited, as the elegant towers and enfilades of Condor, the clan stronghold of the Watchers, came out from the swirling haze. Once again, I marveled at its beauty and impregnability. The Cloud Castle, built on the slopes of one of the tallest cliffs of the Northern Belt
, proudly soared above the snowy foothills covered with mist.
A patrol of birdies broke away from the main bastion to meet the skiff. They could see us through the crystal, but proper procedure was paramount. Three mounted fliers in a triangle, acting as a well-oiled machine, flew around us in a wide arc, making sure that we weren’t enemies.
Keith moored his skiff next to a new frigate recently brought in from the docks of the Forgeworlds; Komtur’s order had been finally completed. I helped Weldy get out of the boat as she kept spinning her head in delight. Everything was new and different to her—the ornamental gallery that wound around the castle and had an amazing view, the green round thujas lined around the corridors, the various trophies—stuffed monsters and their heads that adorned the castle walls in spades.
Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 4