Smiling smugly, Ethan took a moment to congratulate himself on his own cleverness, then he ran for the door again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another player in black running his way.
After a few more seconds of running, another hail of bullets zipped past, forcing Ethan to duck low. However, the door with the three keys was close now, so Ethan put on a burst of speed as he ran for it.
“Stop, you miswired fool!” Jude yelled as he closed in on the door. “If you step through that door, you’ll become an enemy of the people. Escaping to the real won’t keep you safe from Red Revolution!”
Ethan had to admit she had a good point, but he didn’t dare slow down. Lily had told him this was his only real option. As bullets smashed into the projectors around him, he glanced over his shoulder and saw two enemy players sprinting in his direction. One of them had a rifle ready, and the other was firing a pistol.
The rows of projectors ended before they got close to the door, creating an open stretch that was about thirty feet across. Ethan knew getting through that open area without being shot would be next to impossible, so before running past the last projector, he reached for his quiver and threw a javelin at his pursuers. It didn’t hit either of them or even come that close. Instead, it slammed into the ground between them and exploded. The resulting shockwave hit both players with a wave of dust and small piece of debris, knocking them off balance.
Taking advantage of their surprise, Ethan dashed for the door. He closed the distance quickly at first, but the enemy soon recovered and began shooting again. Bullets zoomed past him, forcing him to slow so he could turn and activate his arm-mounted energy shield. Twisting around to protect his back with his shield was awkward but also the right move. Several bullets smashed into it and were deflected away. Ethan didn’t feel safe though. The shield wasn’t large enough to cover his entire body. His legs were still exposed.
As Ethan neared the door, several more bullets bounced off his now-faltering shield. It was quickly becoming overloaded. That was when a shot hit his right foot. Burning pain flared up Ethan’s leg, and he immediately tripped over himself as his foot went stiff.
“Hacks,” Ethan swore as he dismissed his shield and rolled across the ground. Instead of trying to catch himself, he threw himself forward into the roll. He was almost within reach of the door now.
There was a crash as Ethan came to a sudden stop. His rolling body had hit the door, so he quickly reactivated his energy shield as he crouched defensively. Once the glowing shield burst into being, he managed to climb to his feet. Glancing at the door, Ethan grimaced from the pain. He really hoped he could open this thing quickly.
Thankfully, there was a panel nearby. When Ethan placed his hand on it, the panel glowed green and a message appeared on his display.
3/3 Data Keys detected. Entry permission granted.
A split second later, the pair of double doors slid open with a hiss. White light filled the chamber on the other side, concealing most of it from sight, but Ethan didn’t have any other option but to step inside. More bullets slammed into his shield as he pressed a second panel on the other side of the door, which caused the door to begin to close.
“See you never!” Ethan yelled at the two players in black armor who were now sprinting across the open space right before the door. A second later, the door snapped shut in their faces with a satisfying whoosh sound. Ethan was completely cut off from both his enemies and allies. Whatever obstacle lay before him, he would have to face it alone.
CHAPTER 32
THE TRIAL
Ethan let out a deep sigh of relief and then turned to face whatever new horrors were waiting for him in this new room. Thankfully, nothing leapt out to attack him right away. White light beamed down as he looked around. He was in a small round chamber about twenty feet across. The light came from a small light in the center of the ceiling. It was all very plain, and there didn’t seem to be anything dangerous around. However, there was an exit on the far wall that led into an empty white hallway.
There was nowhere else to go, so Ethan cautiously walked into the hallway and followed it. He tried to stay focused on his immediate situation, but it was difficult. Allies he’d trusted had betrayed him, and no one on his team was as they’d appeared. He felt like a fool who had bumbled into a situation that was way over his head. He desperately wanted both answers to his questions and to find some way to protect himself from the trouble that was undoubtedly headed his way. Just thinking about the real made his heart ache from fear, but the only thing he could do was keep moving forward. He needed to keep climbing the tower so he could find a save point.
After about fifty feet, the passage ended at a door with another panel next to it. Ethan placed his hand on the panel, and the door immediately opened, revealing a large dark room. Ethan tried to peer through the darkness, but he could only make out a few vague shapes. Yeah, this was probably where things got dangerous.
Ethan activated his helmet light as he stepped through the door, but then two things happened. First, the door behind him slid shut and then the lights started turning on. Starting above his head and moving across the chamber, row after row of lights on the ceiling activated with a series of dramatic clanging noises.
“Drama is bad,” Ethan muttered sourly. It was probably building up to something he wouldn’t enjoy.
This new illumination also revealed a path running through the center of the room flanked by two lines of steel obelisks. These structures were over twice Ethan’s height and covered in blinking lights that came to life at the same time as the lights above them. The entire chamber had a very techno-industrial feel, like he was inside a giant computer or something.
As Ethan watched, the darkness was pushed back in increments until the far wall finally came into sight. It was covered in wires and large plastic tubes. Glowing computer screens jutted out in random places, and in the very center was a huge brain. Its pink tissue pulsed and rippled as Ethan twitched in surprise, although after another second of observation, Ethan realized the brain tissue was actually covered by some sort of transparent casing and not exposed to the air. The entire bulbous organ was bigger than a car.
“All right, so what happens now?” Ethan remarked as he warily walked forward. This was obviously the boss room. Something was going to attack him. That was how Worldshift and pretty much every other game worked.
Ethan flinched when a sharp hissing noise suddenly filled the room. Steam shot out of several pipes around the brain. The white vapor made seeing difficult, but Ethan quickly noticed that several of the big pipes on the wall were moving. At first it was subtle, but then the pipes spasmed and ripped themselves off the wall, transforming into eight long metal and rubber tentacles. A humming noise echoed through the chamber as the huge brain floated into the air, revealing that the tentacles hung from beneath it. Finally, one of the folds of gnarled tissue on the front of the floating organ shivered and rose. It was actually an eyelid, and there was an eyeball the size of a human head beneath it.
“Yep, that’s the boss,” Ethan remarked with sigh. This probably wasn’t going to be fun.
The giant brain oriented on Ethan and floated his way as its metallic tentacles rose and spread out aggressively.
“I can do this. Lily said so,” Ethan reassured himself as he began planning his next move. He really wished he still had some teammates to help him. Why did everyone have to betray him? This didn’t seem like a one-on-one type of boss. It had probably been designed to fight a small team.
The humming grew louder as the brain closed in on Ethan. It looked dangerous, but there was some distance between them, so Ethan decided to try attacking from a range. He drew a javelin from his quiver and tossed it at the boss’s central eye. It was the obvious weak spot.
As he threw the javelin, Ethan twisted his body around so that the throw was as powerful as possible. He also reached for the Origin and grasped the rune he associated with pushing force. The glowing symbol blazed
in his mind as it dumped power into the javelin. As the weapon left Ethan’s hand, it ripped through the air with impossible speed, creating a loud sonic boom.
The missile blurred as it shot toward the eye of the boss, but the boss responded quickly. It stopped and raised a pair of tentacles in front of its face, and a row of round energy shields popped into existence along both tentacles. The shields overlapped, creating two long lines of glowing defensive power that covered almost all of the creature’s face.
Ethan’s javelin slammed into the center of one of the boss’s tentacles. There was a loud cracking noise and a flash of light from the energy shield, but the crystal projectile ricocheted away, leaving the brain monster unhurt.
As the boss let its tentacles drop and float forward again, Ethan frowned thoughtfully and studied his foe. Maybe an explosive javelin would knock the brain off balance and open its defenses? He reached for his javelin quiver in preparation for another throw, but something caught his eye, so he froze. Was the boss’s eye glowing now? It was. Actually, it was noticeably getting brighter too…
“Hacks!” Ethan cursed as he dashed for the nearest pillar. As he moved, he raised a hand and activated his hookshot. Instantly, a line shot out and slammed into the top of the obelisk, sticking there.
As his reel pulled him, Ethan sprinted to the side and jumped. By moving perpendicular to the obelisk that he was attached to, he was able to swing around it even as the reel pulled him toward it. He also pushed on his own armor, using the force rune to give himself more speed as he hurtled through the air.
After covering dozens of feet in a mere moment, Ethan disconnected his line and fell toward the ground. When his feet touched the floor, he tucked into a rapid roll to put another obelisk between him and the boss. Careening to a rough stop that made his armor bounce and grind against the floor, he then threw himself against the tall metal object.
Ethan’s head spun as the sudden stop made him feel dizzy, but he was just in time. There was a loud thrum from the boss and then overwhelming bright light burned through the air around Ethan. The brain had charged up and fired some sort of energy beam from its eye, but Ethan was protected from a direct hit by the obelisk between him and the boss.
After a few moments, the beam died down, and Ethan peeked out at his enemy. The boss was still floating forward, and he wasn’t that far away now, but his eye wasn’t glowing anymore. It didn’t seem like he would be firing another beam anytime soon.
“All right, new strategy.” Ethan grunted as he got to his feet. The enemy’s shields could protect it from ranged attacks until it could return fire, so it was time to get in close. Ethan would have to be tricky about it though.
Once he stepped out from behind cover, Ethan pulled out a javelin and drew power from the Origin as he hurled it at the floating brain headed his way. He didn’t stay stationary though. As soon as the weapon was out of his hands, he ran to the side.
When his javelin slammed into the brain’s raised shields, Ethan activated his hookshot and fired it. The hook hit one of the tentacles hanging from the front of the brain and stuck. Blinded by its own glowing shields, it took the brain several seconds to figure out what was going on. By that time, Ethan had drawn another javelin and thrown it at an obelisk behind the brain. The missile hit the bottom of the metal structure and stuck there. Confused by the sudden tug on its tentacle, the boss tried to raise the limb but failed. Ethan had attached the javelin to the end of the hookshot’s line. Now the brain was tied to the obelisk behind it, which severely limited its movement.
An agitated hum filled the air as the brain tried to tug its tentacle free. Ethan took advantage of this time and threw another javelin. The boss still had one of its shield arms up in front of its eye, but that wasn’t where Ethan was aiming. Instead, the crystal projectile sliced through another hanging tentacle. The limb was cut right off and fell to the ground with a wet splat sound.
Stopping its advance, the brain shuddered in pain. Ethan didn’t let up. He raised his hand and fired a hookshot at one of the brain’s shield tentacles. This time the brain reacted quickly though. Lurching backward, it tried to pull Ethan toward itself so it could grab him. Thus, Ethan was forced to disconnect the line and try something else.
He charged the boss and shot a hookshot at the side of its brain case. The brain lurched forward to grab him, but Ethan threw himself to the side as he activated his reel. With the line taught, he swung away from the creature’s outstretched tentacles and around to the back of its brain case. Another push on himself using evoking gave him all the speed he needed to perform the maneuver with incredible speed.
As soon as he reached the brain’s back, Ethan spun around and disconnected his first line while he shot another at the transparent brain case in front of him. A quick activation of his reel then pulled him in, allowing him to cling to the back of the boss. Grinning, Ethan pulled out his energy blade. It extended and came to life with a hungry whine as Ethan stabbed it into the boss’s brain case.
As the blade sliced through armor and into brain matter, the boss trembled. Its humming grew angry and jarring as it counterattacked.
Several metal tentacles rose and reached for Ethan. Some of the limbs had large bolts on them that crackled with electrical energy, but Ethan simply dodged the first tentacle and then cut the second one off with a slash from his blade.
Unfortunately, the brain still had many limbs left. As the next few closed in on Ethan, he was forced to detach his line, sheathe his sword, and throw himself away from the back of the boss. He rolled across the ground for a moment before jumping to his feet and spinning around to face his enemy. Thankfully, he was out of reach of the brain’s tentacles now, and it was still facing away from him.
“Not bad,” Ethan remarked as he reached for his quiver. That had been a good trade of blows for him. The brain was wounded now and had lost some limbs.
As the brain spun around to face its nimble foe, it kept both of its shield-covered limbs in front of its face. The shields glowed with orange light as they protected its weak spot, allowing the boss to orient on the player without worry.
Ethan hesitated as he considered his options. Obviously, he needed to attack again, but doing the same maneuver again would probably be a mistake. The brain could learn and counter his movements. Ha, that was funny. Of course it could learn. It was a brain.
That was when something important occurred to Ethan. “Shit. Oh, no.”
The glowing shields wouldn’t just protect the boss’s eye, they would also hide the glow of its charging beam.
Ethan immediately ran as he looked around for somewhere to hide. At the same time, the boss raised one of its shield arms. This revealed exactly what Ethan had expected to see, a huge glowing eye.
The beam of energy lashed out at the fleeing player, striking with speed far beyond his ability to dodge. One second Ethan had both feet on the ground, and the next, he was lifted into the air and surrounded by blinding orange light.
Next came the heat and the pain. Blazing power tore through Ethan’s armor and into his flesh, roasting him. Ethan screamed in agony, but it was quickly stopped as his brief flight ended and he slammed back into the ground. Ethan heard cracking and snapping as he rolled across the floor and the pain intensified.
“Oh, God,” Ethan whispered as he lay on his back. He must have blacked out for a moment because he didn’t remember how his roll had stopped.
He really hated the designers of this game. Why the crack had they removed the pain limiters? It was sadistic. Ethan’s everything hurt. There was too much pain for him to even process. It felt like his bones had been beaten with hammers.
Groaning, Ethan tried to lift his head and open his eyes. He couldn’t lie around. The boss would still be after him. Thankfully, Ethan’s eyes opened without a problem. He hadn’t been struck blind, even if the simple act of lifting his head hurt way more than it should.
Looking himself over, Ethan saw that his armor had been blackened
by the blast and also had several new holes in it. That wasn’t great, but all his limbs were still attached. A brief experiment also reassured Ethan that he could move them.
Ethan turned his attention to his interface. It was giving him an overview of the damage and a lot of other information, but after making sure his armor’s power core was still intact, Ethan glanced around for any sign of the floating brain that had just brought him low.
The boss was floating about two hundred feet away as it tried to free itself from the lines Ethan had used to tie it in place. Apparently, its beam had thrown Ethan across the entire room. Ouch.
Mustering his will, Ethan injected himself with some med-gel and painkillers before scrambling to his feet. He barely had the strength to move and almost fell when he limped to the nearest obelisk to take shelter from any further ranged attacks from the boss. Thankfully, it wasn’t very far, and he was able to bite his tongue and deal with the remaining agony that tore through his body when he moved. Pain wasn’t a big deal right now. He had much more serious things to worry about.
However, once Ethan was behind the metal object, he stumbled and almost collapsed. The effect of the painkillers was getting stronger, but Ethan knew he wasn’t in fighting shape anymore. He was screwed. There was no way he could beat the boss now. He’d messed everything up again.
Behind Ethan, he heard a loud snap, so he peered around the obelisk and saw the brain had finally managed to get itself free from Ethan’s line. That was bad. As Ethan watched, the floating brain turned and moved toward him. Soon, the powerful boss would attack him again, and he was the next best thing to defenseless.
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 37