“Hey, how are you still alive?” I asked, nodding at the jungle. “That whole place is toxic!”
“Did you forget?” Crag said, chuckling. “I’m undead!”
Only then did I remember that he wasn’t only the much searched-for D-class Threat, he was undead too! Tiamat hadn’t removed the curse from him! Seemed it was time for Tobias to come home…
“Alright, listen, I have an offer – come grind here.” I turned the farsight mirror toward the stone forest of Terrastera and the beast god Sobek, frozen as if asleep. “On Terrastera. The offer’s open only for one day. Less, even. After that, the acid rain will come back.”
“I don’t think the acid rain will bother me… Terrastera! Holy cow!” The dwarf’s grubby face split in a smile. “Count me in! But… My respawn point is set at Shak. Can you pick me up? The Axe Blade tavern, at the edge of the capital in the dwarf district.”
“Didn’t know you guys have your own district in Shak. Sure thing, meet you there.”
Next I activated my Faded Coin to contact Grokuszuid. Unlike the farsight mirror, the magical goblin mechanism allowed us not only to talk to each other, but also to transfer items and even open a portal.
I let the goblin know about the special auctions for the Demonic Games champions’ rewards.
“It will be done,” the auctioneer answered. “And… My congratulations, Scyth! I read of your glorious victory over the demonic hordes in the Commonwealth Herald.”
“There’s something else.” I pulled out Eileen’s legendary. “Four items for special auction. I want to sell them back to their former keeper only, nobody else.”
The auctioneer studied the armor, chuckled:
“The Auction for Special Sales and the Goblin League in general do not tend to do business with the undead…”
“Mr. Grokuszuid?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, although he probably couldn’t see it under my helmet. “Come on, aren’t you goblins famed for your flexibility? Anyway, I’m not trying to help the undead out, just empty their pockets. I want to sell only all four items together for… let’s say five hundred million. No haggling. And that’s pure profit, your commission is on top of that. If Eileen doesn’t agree, then let her know the items will be disenchanted.”
“My my, Mr. Scyth…” Grokuszuid grinned, baring his big sharp teeth. “I like the way you think. Alright, I’ll get to it.”
I said goodbye to the goblin, wrote up a message for all my allies in the Demonic Games asking them to hold up their end of the bargain – put up their essences for sale – and sent it to each of them. The answers started to come in before I even finished sending them all out, and the first were from Quetzal and Hellfish. Both were brief: “Sure thing, kid” and “No problem.”
Next I contacted Crawler.
“You’re on Terrastera?” he asked, looking at the scene behind me. “All of Dis is talking about what happened in Darant…”
“You’ll get all the juicy details, but not now. Right now I need you to pick up Hiros on Mengoza. The timer for the good weather here on Terrastera has already started. It’s time to grind.”
“What about Bomb?”
“He can decide for himself. It’s optional.”
“Irita? Patrick?”
“Rita needs to pack for moving to the base. As for Patrick… I don’t think so. We don’t need to level up everyone a little, we need to level up ourselves a lot.”
“What about the others?” Crawler named no names, but I knew who he meant.
“Nothing. That’s all, over and out.”
My heart started counting down. I remembered how, back when I was a legate, I bust my balls in the final hours before Mogwai resurrected, trying to get my level as high as I could before the battle in the Lakharian Desert. That encounter hadn’t taken place, but the next one – with the Destroying Plague – was just around the corner.
With that thought, I jumped to Shak. The total silence of the place of power was replaced by a cacophony of roars, voices and clattering. The noise and the jump knocked me off balance for a moment, disoriented me. A huge ogre with a horn on his forehead bumped into me, knocking me over. I jumped back up and ran straight into a vampire. Baring his teeth, he hissed:
“Too much health, human? I can lower it!”
I instinctively jumped back from his lengthening fangs. Merrick, a level 274 vampire, studied my profile and dropped his jaw.
“Scyth? The Scyth?”
“Yes, yes, and yes – to all three of your questions,” I answered, switching my profile to hidden as I walked. “See ya, Merrick!”
Taking off into the air, I headed for the Axe Blade tavern using the coordinates Crag had sent me. “Can I get a selfie, Scyth?” I heard from behind me. “An autograph?”
What? Where were the cries of ‘Threat! Threat!’ Swearing, I sped up and chose the image of the first orc I saw for Imitation. Funny – I used to hide so I wouldn’t be recognized and attacked, whereas now… Hmm, actually, the reason was still the same. Only this time they were attacking to get an autograph.
The thought reminded me that I wanted to test out my epic alert ring. I stopped, entered Crag into the enemies list and flew on.
Even from a bird’s-eye view, the size of the structures in Shak was astounding. They were as if built for giants; even the walls of the houses looked like they could survive a direct hit from a gnomish tank.
The monolithic and angular buildings matched the inhabitants of the dark ones’ capital, whose entire manner was sharply different from that of humans. In the market square, I saw the whole variety of the races of the Empire – orcs, minotaurs, trolls, ogres, vampires and shapeshifters. The ever-present goblins were there too, but most of all, my eyes were drawn to a group of sauroks – humanoid reptiles that were rarely chosen due to their racial penalties. I’d only seen such players in Yoruba.
If it weren’t for the coordinates Crag had sent me, I would have been wandering around lost like the last time I visited Shak. There was no logic to the placement of the buildings: a small round hut stood right next to an enormous six-floor building with a bunch of structures stuck onto it haphazardly all the way up. Bridges led from that building to a neighboring one, which looked more like a wooden beaver’s den. Most people used the bridges, with only the street urchins running along the filthy streets below.
I flew to the tavern, hung above the entrance and messaged Crag to come outside. The Empire’s watering holes weren’t to my taste – too loud, too crowded, and everyone was too aggressive, the staff and fellow customers alike.
I didn’t recognize Crag right away in the elf girl Tauriel who walked out, and he didn’t recognize me either in my disguise as Havier the orc, but the Gondolin Alert Ring couldn’t be fooled! My finger burned. A fine red beam blazed out from it to the elf, right at Crag’s forehead. He didn’t even realize he’d become a target.
“Well, well, well… Tauriel, Guard Captain at Mirkwood, right?” I jibed, landing next to my friend.
“Alex? Is that you? Damn, you scared me! I had to use a Transformation Potion,” the warrior explained.
We embraced and, without separating, teleported to Mengoza. The ring continued to burn my finger, so I removed Crag from the enemies list.
“Our new fort,” I said. Some workers passing by glanced interestedly at the ‘elf girl.’ “Drop that disguise, or you’ll start rumors…”
“Heh-heh.”
Crag shook his breasts, stunning the workers, then turned into a dwarf. We mounted up on our mechostriches and headed for the boys. I deliberately didn’t fly or summon Storm. I wanted to have a serious conversation with Crag along the way.
“Why didn’t you let us know right away that you were available? We would have taken you in!”
“You were at the Games, and who knows what those other guys think of me? From their point of view, the way I left can’t have looked good.”
“I told them why it went down that way. You know, after everything that’s happe
ned, I totally forgot that you’re undead! You don’t have to worry about climate debuffs! And as it happens, I need to lay a teleportation route… Two routes, actually: on Holdest and on Terrastera. Can you take a beacon to them?”
“Holdest and Terrastera…” he said thoughtfully. “No way on the first, Scyth. I won’t go to Holdest. No offense, but the legates are there. If they find me, they’ll eliminate me right away.”
“The undead don’t touch the undead…”
“You think they won’t find a way to kill me? Direct damage won’t work, but they can bring friends, or cast area-of-effect spells… No, don’t even try to convince me.”
“What about Terrastera, then? I’ll send you the coordinates for an instance. You and I can complete it together, I promise…”
“What’s there?”
“Something that will allow me to help some people out. Or non-people, depends how you look at it. Well, wanna help?”
“Heh… Of course, it’s just… I’ve been real bored. Can I join the clan? I’ll do it, either way, run to Terrastera and die, I don’t mind. But if you bring me back into the clan, you’ll have two Threats instead of one.”
“Hmm…”
I couldn’t tell him that we had Hiros and Bomber, too. Not yet, anyway, but there was a way.
“Welcome back, Toby!”
Crag, level 435 dwarf warrior, has joined the Awoken clan.
The dwarf’s eyes darkened while he studied the clan tabs.
“Let’s see… All the old crowd… The workers, uh-huh… Irita?”
“Overweight from Tristad.”
“Oh yeah, I remember. Who’s this Hiros character?”
“I’ll introduce you…”
“And Polydeuces?”
“Big Po,” I answered dryly, failing to hold back a smile.
“What?!”
“Story for another time, bro. When you move to the clan base, we’ll tell you all about it.”
“Nether, shame I was away so long! This isn’t the usual dumb grind with Modus’s stuck-up raiders! Me and Big Po in the same clan! Crazy!”
Crawler, Hiros and Bomber were already waiting for us on the shore. After finding out where we were headed, Bomber dropped everything and jumped to us. The kraken will wait, he explained. But a boost like Terrastera is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Well, alright, twice-in-a-lifetime for me.
Our returning clanmate was met with everything short of applause. The boys hugged while Hiros darted his eyes at the undead dwarf in alarm, obviously wondering whether he could defeat him.
“Now…” I said. “Crag, Bomb, Hiros, I suggest you show each other your wrists. To avoid misunderstandings later… And for your mutual safety.”
A minute later, all three had recognized each other’s status and become mutual ‘subthreats.’ After a little teasing, Bomber summoned his kraken.
“He comes to my call instantly,” he said. “But we have to swim to the quest destination. Makes no sense, right?”
“Bomber-san must understand that divine paths and plans are unknowable to mortals,” Hiros noted.
“Bomber-san understands that, sure, but still thinks it’s a load of horseshit,” the titan answered.
Crag smiled deviously and summoned his pet by the name of Fatcat – a massive level 402 Ursai Liger, a cross between a tiger and a lion. Its hide was like a lion’s, only in red and green stripes. Its mane was woven into a braid. The animal was nine feet tall at the shoulder.
“Your birthday gift to me,” Crag chuckled. “Fatcat comes with me everywhere I go now. Leveled her up good, right?”
The boys and I exchanged glances and summoned our own pets: the needlers, Storm, the Montosaurus, Sharkon and Crusher.
“Have fun, guys,” I ordered mine.
Our pets encircled the dumbfounded Simba. Iggy jabbed his needle at him and chittered out a welcome. Monty roared, breathing out flame, and the liger growled fearsomely back. The dragoness bristled with lightning and scraped a gigantic claw along the newcomer’s forehead. The liger flattened itself to the ground and nervously twitched its tail.
Crag looked over my pets and chuckled:
“Well, guess I haven’t leveled her up as high as yours.”
“Hold on… Don’t change the subject! You named your beautiful liger Fatcat? Seriously?!” Bomber laughed. “Fatcat? So lame.”
“Look who’s talking, you chose Whatchamacallit,” Crag fired back with a smirk.
Hiros’s narrow eyes shot open, defying all his efforts to maintain equanimity, and his eyebrows raced up his forehead. The ninja was maskless. He looked like he was feeling terribly awkward, but still stuck to his unspoken rule of keeping his face bare when talking to allies.
In the meantime, the two warriors decided to have a fist fight and I had to call them to order:
“Come on, guys, we’re wasting time! Let’s cut to the chase. Listen to what happened to me…”
I told them in brief of my encounter with Eileen. Nobody was surprised at her level 854; that was news only for me, isolated in the Demonic Games. Her level had already caused global announcements and a media frenzy. The boys had just assumed that I must have already seen the earth-shattering news.
“What are they saying online?” I asked.
Hiros turned out to be the best informed. This was just what he’d wanted to talk about when he met me at the tavern earlier.
The potions for resisting the heat of the Lakharian Desert and the venomous mist of the Ursai Jungle had started the clock. Soon, the inevitable would strike – the boundary of the frontier would move deeper into the unexplored lands, and the top players would approach level 500. The top players of the main player base, that is. The legates of the Destroying Plague and I had already crossed that threshold.
That day’s Disgardium Daily included an article about this global development, in which the author recalled the words of Mike Anderson at the opening of Distival: A year of incredible achievements awaits us! Disgardium will never be the same again. New forces have appeared in the world, and a great deal is going to change very soon…
The process had already begun. Dis had lived in expectation of Mogwai hitting level 400 for years. Years! In the past few months, previously unachievable levels had now become ordinary. Many had already reached them thanks to Nergal’s Summons. I got to level 500 by breaking the game mechanics, just by being near Shazz when he was disincarnated and getting an ocean of experience from the former legate.
Eileen had reached level 600, 700 and 800 in mere weeks. Probably by leveling up Plague Boost, or maybe she found an area with mobs at a higher level than in the desert and the jungle. In any case, she didn’t keep the secret to herself, she shared it with the other legates.
“Damn…” Crag said, thinking. “With that head start over everyone else, she’ll stay in the top spot for a long time yet.”
“If it weren’t for Nergal, and if you’d stayed with us, then Eileen would be trying to catch up to you right now,” Bomber said. “I wonder, could the life essence have taken away her skills permanently?”
“I doubt it,” I answered. “Debuffs don’t carry over into our new bodies after we respawn. The essence probably just blocked her connection to the Destroying Plague, depriving her of her abilities, but I’m sure she got them all back after reviving.”
“Hiros is sorry that he was not by Scyth’s side when he met the legate girl,” the ninja said, looking truly repentant. “Hiros could have protected the Initial of the Sleepers and given him time to get away.”
“Hiros has a high opinion of himself,” Crawler chuckled. “Damn, I can’t believe I’m sitting with four Threats gathered in one spot! A! D! E! O!”
“My class went up, as it happens,” Bomber shared. “Ain’t it a shame the temple on Terrastera is so far from the sea? If it were closer, I’d be more use! Anyway, c’mon, let’s try it. Let’s see how much stronger we get…”
“Alright. Invites sent,” I said. “Let’s see if our abili
ties stack with Crag’s.”
Bomber, level 489 Warrior, has joined your group.
Hiros, level 396 Ninja, has joined your group.
Crawler, level 492 Mage, has joined your group.
Crag, level 435 Warrior, has joined your group.
Synergy activated: all main stats multiplied by 3!
“So… How do we test it out?” I looked around the area, saw a shark’s fin, ran off toward the water. Looking back, I shouted: “Back in a sec!”
Enemy of the Inferno (Disgardium Book #8): LitRPG Series Page 15