The Magister: I’m here. What’s wrong?
HotCat: I found Svechkin. He’s not asleep. He doesn’t want to give up the Compass. What should I do?
The Magister: Got it. He’s probably bullshitting you.
HotCat: I have no time! What should I do?
The Magister: If you can’t convince him, then kill him, Cat. Kill him and bring me the Compass.
Chapter 17
The Magister: Oleg, film everything and send me the video. Got it?
THE MAGISTER’S ORDER was clear and couldn’t be misinterpreted. Chills went down my spine, and I realized that it was worse than I had thought. Most likely, Svechkin had told me the truth—the Magister didn’t even try talking to his former colleague. He must have known that it was pointless. Kill him, bring the Compass... The worst thing was, I couldn’t act up. I still remembered Mr. Leo’s cold eyes behind the glass of his stylish pince-nez.
But the developer’s argument was weird, too. Destroying Sphere because it was hypothetically dangerous seemed like overkill. It was an entire world—hundreds of worlds—with millions of living NPCs scarcely different from us. How could we simply butcher it? Why? Weldy’s sad face flashed before me, her green eyes wide with fear.
“Why? It’s our destiny,” Svechkin said. “It’s essential for the survival of millions of players. Do you realize that their lives, including yours, are at the whim of the procedural generator? Do you want to one day leave your capsule as a drooling vegetable? This isn’t speculation but a realistic outcome. We did research; there were secret projects with codenames...”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t trust idealists,” I interrupted him. “You’ll die here, too. What’s your profit?”
“Profit? You mean my reasons?” Rocky chuckled. “Personally, I’d love to derail Andrei’s plans at any cost. Avenge what he did to us. Prove that we can fulfill our mission even beyond the grave.”
His only eye flashed through the bandages, and I realized that he truly hated Balabanov with the blind all-consuming hatred that drove a man to unspeakable things. It was unhealthy and frightening.
Well, Cat. It’s time to play. I had always been proud of my composure, the ability to hide my emotions. I turned around, feigning hesitation and rubbing my chin, and burst into movement, immediately drawing Aelmaris. A traitorous sideways slash! I had no other way of defeating the developer other than catching him unaware.
Miss! I had honed that attack, trying to make it unstoppable, but Rocky—Svechkin—managed to react in time. The sword cut through the air, and he side-stepped it, quickly moving aside and answering with a sharp stab aimed at my face.
The Gravekeeper was clearly a master fencer. Esperanza, the deadly art, the dance of flying steel... I would be dead if he hadn’t given me a few lessons. I already knew his signature attacks and tricks and dodged the blow almost automatically, mirroring his movements. The blade missed my cheek by half an inch.
I had only one chance—spam him with a barrage of quick strikes, forcing him to use his weapon to parry Aelmaris, and push him to the wall, depriving him of the ability to maneuver, as the cave was too small.
The burning blue blade furiously swished through the air, pressing on Svechkin despite his pirouettes and swerves. He couldn’t block my attacks without risking losing his dagger and rapier and had to show off his miraculous dexterity. With quick lunges, I blocked off his escape route, driving him into a corner. Even a master couldn’t stand against the flaming sword in close quarters, and realizing it, the Gravekeeper sharply pushed forward, counter-attacking. I had expected that, immediately parrying the sneaky blow from his curved dagger. The triangular blade disappeared in a bright flash, and Svechkin threw the scorched hilt aside, screaming in pain.
And I, having received a powerful kick below the belt, bounced to the entrance of the cave and fell on my back, holding my sword above me. How had that sly dog managed to do that?
“Just one question, Cat.” I heard Svechkin’s voice coming from the depths of the cave. “You seemed like a good guy... Why?”
“Nothing personal. The Magister told me to kill you and take the Compass. Sorry, I really didn’t want to do that,” I replied, scrambling to my feet and activating Flaming Bolide. However skilled the former developer was, he couldn’t survive an explosion of True Fire in the cave.
“Idiot! Why did you tell him that I wasn’t in stasis? I thought you were smarter.”
The fiery bead at the tip of the sword swelled to the size of a soccer ball and kept growing. Svechkin saw that and rushed through the open passage into the room with the Key, pressing something and diving under the falling fake wall with the symbols of the Seven Brothers that used to disguise the entrance. Damn trickster! A second later, my Bolide hit it and loudly exploded. The stone floor beneath my feet shook, and a cloud of fire, dust, and debris flew out of the mouth of the cave. I easily dodged it, pressing my back against the cliffs outside.
Had anything survived back there? I didn’t get any messages about Svechkin’s death! I stepped into the cave, thick with acrid smoke, holding my sword in front of me and activating another Bolide, just in case. My opponent might be simply stunned, and all I had to do was finish him off.
The opposite wall was completely smashed with a gaping hole with melted edges in the middle of it. Behind it loomed a corridor full of clouds of raised dust. I aimed the second Bolide right there, letting the fiery bead fly free. There were no obstacles anymore; the Gravekeeper would surely die. I didn’t want such a fate for him, but there was no choice.
However, no explosion came. With the booming sound of a bell, the global chat informed,
WARNING! THE THIRD OF THE SEVEN HAS APPEARED IN THE WORLDS OF SPHERE! BALANCE HAS BEEN BREACHED!
Svechkin had decided to take his Key! A wall of blue fire blocked off the corridor, and my missile soundlessly disappeared in it, while several bright blue stars flew toward me with a drone-like buzzing. Attacked from all angles, I didn’t see any other way to save myself except for escaping into Shadow. There, I fell on the floor, pressing against it, and quickly crawled toward the exit.
The stars, which looked like blinding balls of fire, were present in the Shadow Plane as well, moving along a complex trajectory and clearly looking for their suddenly absent prey. Self-guided throwing shuriken? Another cheat of a weapon for the Seven Brothers? However, they didn’t seem to be able to see through the Shadow, cruising around the cave.
The Gravekeeper stepped out of the dust in the destroyed passage, touching his hat with one hand and the hilt of the sheathed rapier with another. The seven stars stopped spinning and returned to their master, creating a levitating circle around him.
“You’ve left me no choice, Cat!” Svechkin accused the darkness. “Now, the Balance...but there’s no point in explaining it to you. Where are you hiding? Come out! Are you in the Shadow Plane? It won’t help you...”
I didn’t answer, slowly getting up at the entrance. I was torn between two urges—running away and trying to attack the Gravekeeper from the Shadow Plane. Both seemed hopeless, but what else was I to do?
“I’m going to teach you a lesson,” Rocky continued. “I’ll show you how to use a flaming weapon.”
In one movement, he transformed the shuriken into something akin to a spiked chain—a string of stars on a cord of blue light. He tested it, giving it a wide swing several feet in range. Whoa, I didn’t expect it to have such reach! That was beyond the abilities of my sword. Too bad that, unlike him and Aelmaris, I didn’t know what his Key was capable of. Did I even have a chance?
The stars burned blue, just like my sword. After testing the improvised whip a few times, Rocky started spinning it at such speed that a blazing circle of True Fire formed around him. Anybody next to him would have been incinerated, whether a single person or a dozen. My crude sword tricks couldn’t possibly compare to that.
With a sharp swoosh and the smell of melted stone, fiery strokes appeared on the walls where the sta
rs touched them. The Gravekeeper swung the chain in every direction at every altitude, trying to reach all corners of the cave and hit my invisible body. How could he know that I was even there instead of running toward the ship?
The Shadow Walk timer was counting down its last seconds. Svechkin’s stars had already come uncomfortably close to me a few times. I had to do something or flee, although the second option meant only delaying the inevitable—I couldn’t run far from the Isle of Madness. I clenched the Resuciato pyramid in my hand, marking myself for resurrection. It was clear that I couldn’t fight Rocky directly. The only chance was surprising him by pulling off a gimmick. Now!
I burst out of the Shadow, parrying Svechkin’s spinning disk with a slash of Aelmaris. When the weapons clashed, the star metal howled, showering us with a cascade of white sparks. The blade of Aelmaris got momentarily caught in the coils of the flaming chain, and I pulled it back, trying to disarm my opponent—and almost collapsed, not finding any resistance. The chain broke into fragments as easily as it had assembled, and the stars immediately swarmed me, impatiently hovering in the air.
“This is it, HotCat,” the Gravekeeper said, adjusting his hat. “Say hello to the Magister!”
The shuriken lunged at me like angry bees. I managed to repel two of them, but the rest pierced my body in several spots without any effort, as nothing could stand against True Fire. I crumbled into grey dust, not even feeling any pain. A mangled half-plate armor fell out on the rock-strewn floor, followed by several other inventory items. So that’s what my victims felt like.
You received 3500 True Fire damage from NPC Rocky (Gravekeepers)! You died.
Resuciato held your soul! Do you wish to resurrect? 59…58…57…
The Soul Forge Gem, with its 30% chance of resurrecting, didn’t proc as usual, but Resuciato got its job done. I mentally thanked Yota for such a powerful artifact. Too bad I had only four charges left...
A dead player’s shadow was still visible. If Svechkin noticed that I was still there, it would arouse suspicion. I used the blinding flash, the falling ash, and the cloud of flying dust to slip behind his back and out of his sight.
The hovering stars immediately faded, as if turned off, and fluttered to Svechkin’s open palm. He was really good at handling them, like a card shark shuffling a deck. I felt a pang of envy. Well, no matter; sooner or later, I would learn.
Surprise! As I watched him rake the dropped loot with the toecap of his boot, a disgusted expression on his face, I used Resurrection and quietly returned from the dead. We were standing awfully close to each other, but unlike the Gravekeeper, I was prepared, and a short stab with Aelmaris put an end to this drawn-out fight.
You dealt 3500 True Fire damage to NPC Rocky (Gravekepeers)! NPC Rocky dies!
Attention! Your Soul Eater ability was resisted with hidden ability—Soul Armor!
That developer was no fool—he had protected his soul against being stolen! What was that hidden ability? Or maybe one Key couldn’t be inside another? Honestly, I had planned on locking him inside the sword and dealing with the problem in a calm atmosphere after mulling everything over. Alas, it was not to be, and I was forced to improvise.
The swirling ash engulfed me, and Rocky’s rapier plopped down on the floor, covered with a foppish plumed hat. I hunkered down and closely examined the loot. Svechkin’s stuff didn’t include the Compass; he hadn’t dropped it, which meant that my plan had worked. I ended the recording, glanced at Rocky’s silent ghost, and said, “I think we should continue our conversation.”
The thing was, he couldn’t leave that place, thanks to the green icon of Resurrection applied by Resuciato. Svechkin was at my mercy.
“In short, we have a minute. There are several options. The first and the worst: I resurrect you, and we fight again. I have the first strike advantage. Sooner or later, you’ll drop the Compass. Second option: I resurrect you, you don’t do anything, and I explain what happened. You can attack me again, of course, but first, hear me out. Third option: you leave for your respawn point in a minute...oops, thirty seconds. Honestly, I’d prefer the second option. If you understand, nod as many times as the option you pick.”
The Gravekeeper’s spectral figure reeled. Seconds kept ticking, and I almost decided that he would proudly go to the resp point, but then he bent his head twice. Really, what was he to lose? As I materialized him, I pressed my finger against my lips and used the tip of my blade to point at the stone at the fireplace where we had sat during our conversation. The Gravekeeper obeyed, picking up his hat and rapier and probing me with his look. The shuriken, spinning slowly, formed a golden halo above his head.
The Magister kept showering me with messages. Apparently, he was eager to learn about our rendezvous. I sent him the video of the battle and went online.
HotCat: I did it. Here’s the video. The Compass didn’t drop.
The Magister: Wait, I’m watching... Why did you let him take the Key?
HotCat: Did I have a choice? The video shows how it happened. What should I do next? He went to his resp point.
Magister: Soul Armor? I see he played it safe... Do you know where his resp point is? Rocky, the Gravekeepers... It’s probably the faction island, the Tomb. He’ll respawn in 24 hours. Can you intercept him there?
HotCat: I’m not sure. I’m on the other side of the Sea of Terror. I don’t know how long traveling there would take. It’s a tough place.
The Magister: Find him and get the Compass!
HotCat: Hmm, I don’t remember agreeing to work as an assassin. It’s not my job, and it costs way more. Maybe you should find professionals?
The Magister: There’s no time to negotiate!
HotCat: He’s above my league! I won by the skin of my teeth, you saw it! The Soul Forge Gem procced. If not for it, I’d be at the resp point. I don’t want to get roasted again. Actually, everything’s not quite as you described it. We need to meet and talk.
Svechkin resentfully studied the scorched hole in his bandages left by Aelmaris.
“Is it possible to track you down with Clairvoyance?” I asked, ending the conversation with Balabanov.
“No, unlike you,” he replied. “It’s one of the features of the Compass. So am I correct in understanding that our battle was a show for the Magister?”
“Exactly,” I said, grinning. “Good fight, by the way.”
“Couldn’t you have warned me? I almost killed you. You got lucky.”
“Then, the fight would have looked unrealistic, and he might have suspected something. And if you killed me, it would have been even simpler. Of course, I would have failed the quest and lost my reward. As it is, however, it’s all fair: I tried and won, there’s proof.”
“You care about the Magister’s opinion and reward that much?” the Gravekeeper asked. “I thought I made it clear that you’re expendable to him.”
“The more I learn about your squabbles, the more I realize that I got into a real mess,” I told him, nodding. “You see, his people have my family and me under surveillance. I need to get off that hook.”
“You’re in deep shit, that’s true. Trouble begins with small mistakes,” Svechkin said with a sigh. “But I’m still not sure—which side did you choose? The Magister or us?”
“My own. I don’t care about your war and your global plans. I came here to earn money. I take it both Balabanov and you want the same thing—gather the seven Keys. The Magister’s fee is known. How much are you willing to pay for my help?”
Interlude: The Watchers
Sphere Herald newscast, Video Net
THE SCORCHED SHELL of the castle gave off a thick cloud of smoke visible for many miles. The battle inside was still raging—spells flashed in the air, and riders on flying mounts dashed through the billowing fumes—but the outcome was already decided, the defenders’ morale broken. The camera showed a bird’s eye view of the castle and then darted downward, highlighting the details: a star-shaped breach in the main gate, soot-black
towers resembling melted candles, and dozens of bodies peppering the inner courtyard. The corridors of the burning stronghold were swept in a desperate fight. The video was apparently filmed by one of the attackers, as the camera “danced” when the recorder’s flying mount maneuvered, escaping possible fire. A pleasant female voice commented on the events.
A large-scale faction war is heating up in Dorsa, one of the main Russian-speaking realms. Together with a coalition of players, the House of Darkness, the world’s most powerful faction headed by the goddess Ananizarte, launched a continent-wide conquest. Over the first week, the alliance destroyed more than ten castles of players unwilling to bend the knee and occupied and subjugated four independent Kingdoms. The northwest of Dorsa is on fire, with more than a hundred thousand non-playing characters taking part in warfare.
Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 22