Glitch Boxset

by Victor Deckard

  > Name of the psi-power: Disarming

  > Description: Dark energy yanks on a foe’s weapon, tearing it off their hands and sending it flying some distance away.

  > The stats of the Stasis psi-power:

  > Level: 3 out of 3

  > The distance at which the weapon is hurled is 3 yards

  > Mana consumption is 70 points

  I then learned the Telekinesis skill and continued wandering around subway tunnels. Slaying another rat, I noticed me receive fewer experience points than before. Mutant rats were too weak for me now. I decided to leave this place after getting one more level.

  The experience bar was slowly but surely filling. It seemed like much time passed before I finally leveled up. First of all, I upgraded the Telekinesis psi-power.

  > Name of the psi-power: Telekinesis

  > Description: The Telekinesis skill allows the player to pull or push any object or person without physical interaction. The heavier the object is, the slower it is moved.

  > The stats of the Telekinesis psi-power:

  > Level: 3 out of 3

  > The force of the psi-power is high

  > Mana consumption depends on the weight of the object being pulled. Minimal Mana consumption is 10 points per second

  The Teleportation was still unavailable for unlocking. I had to learn and upgrade one of the two skills on the previous level of the skill tree first, the Harm or Jammer.

  After some thinking, I settled on the latter.

  > Name of the psi-power: Jammer

  > Description: The Jammer skill allows the player to jam all the eclectic devices within a given area, including the contraptions created by other players.

  > The stats of the Jammer psi-power:

  > Level: 3 out of 3

  > The circumference of the area is 2.5 yards around

  > The duration is 30 seconds

  > Mana consumption is 150 points

  The Jammer might be an extremely useful skill against Engineers capable of creating battle drones. Now I could learn the Teleportation. I spent the last point to unlock the skill. Still, it allowed me to cover a distance of only three yards at a time. Guessed it wasn’t all that far, but I settled for it for now. After getting one more level, I would upgrade the skill to transfer myself farther.

  It was time to split the subway. It took me some time to find the way out. Finally, I got outside. It was the dead of game playing already. In the distance, I could hear lots of various sounds. The game was rife with sounds of gunshots, the roaring of vehicles revving, and enraged screams of monsters within my hearing. The game was filled with players once again.

  I decided to pay a visit to the vending machine to buy some vigors. After looking around by force of acquired habit and making sure nobody was nearby, I looked at the crystal to consult the map. After that, I set off.

  I wasn’t skulking down the street, the way I had before. Now I strode in a confident manner. I no longer was a fledging novice. Rather, I was a well-experienced player who had gotten a feel for the game. Even distant sounds of random gunshots didn’t freak me out anymore. Being armed with a good weapon and having various psi-powers at my disposal, I could now handle myself.

  I was dead wrong.

  My phony self-assurance rendered me less sensitive to my surroundings and made me unable to think clearly. Which was why I came to a stop and directed my gaze toward the window of a nearby building at which a human silhouette appeared. He seemed to be staring in my direction. I should immediately have activated the Shield or at least run away. It wasn’t until I saw a round black object being loped out of the window that I burst into a race. But it was already too late.

  I managed to run only a couple of yards away when the grenade went off. The explosion behind my back sent a shock wave that hurled me face-first onto the sidewalk. A quick glance at my UI told me I’d lost nearly one hundred HP.

  Grunting in pain, I delved into my bag for the stimulators. Taking one of them out, I brought the end having a tiny needle sticking out of it to the naked skin on my left forearm and depressed the red button. The word “Empty” replaced the word “Full”. The drug added fifty points to my HP. Tossing the empty stimulator away, I pulled out another one and administered the shot to myself.

  All of that had been done within three seconds. When I rose to my feet, two players burst out of the building, assault rifles with attached grenade launchers in hand. Skull-designed balaclavas concealed the gamers’ faces.

  I recognized them at once. These two players had murdered me once the day before. After that, I’d been unfortunate enough to run into them again and they would surely have wasted me again had a level 15 mantis not charged at them.

  The last time I’d encountered them, their levels were 5 each. Now one of them, Frozen, had reached level 9 while the other, Croc, had leveled up to 10.

  “Freeze, asshole,” One of them barked. “Unless you want some more. Drop your gun, get down on your knees, and put your hands behind your head. Now!”

  The last time I’d run into them back in the shopping mall, these two guys had made another player, Flynn, kneel in front of them and give them everything he had, but although he’d submissively obeyed them, they’d decided to blot him out anyway. So I knew better than to comply with their demands.

  Yet I wondered why they bothered with all that stuff if they killed their victims anyway. Who knows. Maybe they consider themselves real tough guys when bitchslapping the weaker players, as it were. Maybe they got a kick out of it. Or they themselves might be bullied in the real world so the sight of a player kneeling in front of them in the game might make them feel better or something. Anyway, I didn’t have either time or desire to mull over that.

  “Listen to me, meathead,” One of them spoke up. “Drop your piece, you hear me? I’m gonna count to three. When I hit three, I’ll fire.”

  He waited for a second and then said, “One.”

  What do I do? Should I try and engage them? But did I have a bit of a chance of defeating them?

  “Two––”

  Or maybe I just should chicken out of it and run away from them?

  “Three!”

  I made up my mind.

  Chapter four

  I broke into a run. Still, I didn’t turn on the Acceleration so that the PKs could catch up. But I activated the Shield, all right. The two players opened fire as they ran. Bullets hit the power dome one after another and soon destroyed it. It hadn’t lasted long. I didn’t reactivate it since I almost reached an intersection. Taking the right turn, I ran a little farther down the street and came to a stop to get my bearings.

  The PKs didn’t show up yet. Looking around, I found a seemingly appropriate place for a vortex trap to be set at. After I placed the trap, a faintly shining spot appeared on the blacktop. I put another beside the first one and looked around for a good place to hide myself.

  It was no good fighting the PKs in the open. There were two of them and their levels were higher than mine was. So I would’ve certainly been defeated had I played fair. In order to deal with them, I had to resort to dirty tricks.

  On crashing into the nearby building, I found myself in a dimly lit room. All the windows were boarded-up. I walked over to one of them and took a peek through a crack between two boards. Due to the boarded-up windows, it would be quite difficult for the PKs to spot me while I had gotten myself an adequate view of the street.

  Finally, the twosome turned up. Although I couldn’t see them from where I stood yet, their rising footsteps were within my hearing now. The two guys certainly were running down the street toward the building I was in. They would get stuck in my vortex traps in a couple of seconds.

  Yet the footsteps ceased suddenly. What had happened? Either they’d noticed the vortex traps or somehow found out I was about to ambush them.

  I still couldn’t see them so I just pricked my ears up for any sound from the outside. An almost imperc
eptible sound came from the street, a rustle of fabric or something. And then the PKs came into view. They were on either side of the street. The PKs forged forward toward the building I was in, their assault rifles at the ready.

  Their having split thwarted my plan. I’d hoped they’d get stuck in the vortex traps and become sitting ducks. But now I had to conceive another plan real quick.

  It was all quiet suddenly, which brought me back to the present. Croc, who was across the street, kept on creeping down the street, constantly looking around as if expecting someone to jump him out of nowhere. However, the other player, Frozen, must have come to a stop since I didn’t hear either his footsteps or rustle of clothes any longer. It made me feel uneasy. Why had he stopped moving?

  Succumbing to my anxiousness, I went over to another boarded-up window, running a risk of being noticed. One of the boards had a small hole in it where a bullet might once have ripped through. I peeked out through it.

  I managed to make out the second player, Frozen. He stood quite close to one vortex trap. If he took another step forward, he would trigger it. Still, the player seemed to be in no hurry to do so. He just stood there looking around. He might’ve sensed that there was some kind of trouble.

  There was some quiet sound. It was Croc who called out to Frozen, motioning him over. He seemed to have found something curious and was eager to show Frozen that. Frozen turned around and started for the other shoulder of the road where Croc waited for him. Frozen was gradually getting farther and farther away from the vortex trap he’d almost gotten into. Dangit! That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

  But then it occurred to me what I had to do. I should’ve thought my sudden idea over, yet I didn’t have enough time for that.

  I resorted to the Telekinesis skill I’d recently unlocked, tugging at Frozen. He then was lifted a meter up in the air and pulled back toward the nearest vortex trap. He flailed his arms and hands in a futile attempt to turn around. The other PK realized something was dangerously wrong and dashed after his pal, looking around for any sign of danger.

  It was too late for Croc to come to his bud’s aid. When Croc made it to the median strip, Frozen had already crossed one vortex trap. He also activated the other one with an accidental wave of his one arm. Both traps went off simultaneously, ejecting two vortexes of dark energy in the air.

  One of them snatched Frozen and had him revolving around. The PK freaked out and started yelling. Croc stumbled to a halt, dumbfoundingly staring at his mate being revolved up in the air. They’d likely never encountered such a thing as a vortex trap.

  There was no time to lose. I loaded my handgun with armor-piercing bullets, for they boosted my gun’s damage by twenty-five points. This done, I burst out of the building. Frozen was still revolving above the ground. Croc whirled around trying to figure out their enemy’s whereabouts. His back was to me when I’d split the house.

  Whipping my pistol up, I opened fire. Croc spun around the instant the first shot went off. He even managed to turn toward me before the first round hit him. Not that he moved that fast. Just the velocity of armor-piercing bullets sucked.

  Croc brought his assault rifle to bear on me. Before he could get off a shot, I employed the Stasis. The player instantly froze as a translucent, silvery dome had him circled in.

  One PK was immobilized and the other was still in the vortex, being ceaselessly whirled around. I could’ve taken advantage of this and taken off. I should’ve paid heed to my first thoughts. Yet I got under the impression that I could actually defeat both PKs on my own. Which was why I dumped the whole mag in Croc.

  Still, none of the rounds hit him. After entering the silvery dome, they slowed down to a crawl, getting no farther than a couple of inches into the Stasis field before checking their movement. Then I got aware that I’d gotten it somewhat wrong. The bullets inside the dome were still moving toward its target, yet their velocity was way too sluggish. It’d take them an awfully long time to reach Croc. Not that it mattered.

  Once the Stasis field disappeared, they’d instantly regain their velocity. If Croc survived such an onslaught, it’d really amaze me.

  With Croc out of commission, I could turn my full attention to dealing with Frozen. I swapped mags, dropping the spent clip and shoving the fresh one into the grip of my pistol.

  On turning around, I was surprised to see Frozen standing on the ground already. The two vortexes had faded away into nothing some time ago. Frozen was pulling the trigger––

  The grenade exploded right in front of me. The shock wave shoved me backward. It was a wonder I survived the explosion. After healing myself with the Biokinesis, I opened up on Frozen, holding the pistol in front of me with both my hands while lying on my back.

  The player seemed shaky on his feet. His vision must have been spinning hard. He was barely able to stand. When I opened fire, he leaped to the side so as to get out of the line of fire. Thrown off the balance by his abrupt movement, Frozen got flattened across the blacktop. All my bullets harmlessly went over the splayed body. Darn, the velocity of armor-piercing rounds was totally horrible. One could easily dodge it. Perhaps this ammo had been designed for use only against slow and cumbersome targets covered with thick armor.

  Swearing under my breath, I reloaded my pistol with ordinary cartridges and opened fire once more. Some of the bullets ripped into Frozen’s spread-eagle body. He let out with a shout. Yet he seemed to have cried in anger, not in pain. Cursing, Frozen struggled to get to his feet. His head was apparently still reeling.

  Out of the blue, bullets clanked off the blacktop around me. It was Croc who opened up on me. He was in horribly bad shape. His whole body was peppered with bullet holes, his clothes saturated with blood. The wounds on his frame bled profusely. For all his seemingly severe injuries, Croc was still alive and eager to fight. It was obvious that both PKs played the Soldier class, which was extremely tough and robust. Croc apparently had an abundant amount of health points.

  Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of my class, Warlock. I was able to recover my HP up to only fifty percent when a bullet caught me in the chest. It took about twenty points from my health. A pang of pain shot through my body, breaking my concentration and terminating the action of the Biokinesis psi-power. Darn it! I activated the Shield as I got to my feet.

  Bullets smacked against the bluish power dome. Frozen, who finally come to his senses, opened fire with his assault rifle, adding to the onslaught on my Shield. It wasn’t going to last long, for sure. It was really nerve-racking.

  I quickly sized up the situation. His cool-headed attitude notwithstanding, Croc probably didn’t have much HP left. What with all his numerous wounds bleeding, his health was surely reducing.

  Speaking of Frozen, he appeared uninjured, yet he was much more pissed-off than his pal was. It was him who had been subjected to the vortex trap. And he hadn’t liked being revolved around in the air a bit, no sirree. So he had a score to settle. Cursing out loud, he held the trigger down, unleashing the stream of fire on the Shield.

  I cast a glance at my UI.

  > Mana: 450/900

  I had only half mana left. Still, it probably might be enough if I worked out a good strategy to take the twosome out.

  One of them discharged a grenade launcher. The rocket-propelled grenade popped the power dome. I instantly created the Flare and shied it toward Croc. Then I made another one and pitched it at Frozen.

  The first glowing ball reached its target and detonated. Croc got dazzled. He set about sweeping his assault rifle in an arc, back and forth, back and forth, trying to bring it to bear on a foe he couldn’t see. The player was dumping his whole mag into anything but me.

  I gripped the butt of my pistol with both hands and began firing at him, aiming for his head. One bullet punched him smack-dab in the middle of his skull-designed balaclava. He clapped his both hands to his face and slumped to the ground, dropping his weapon. Concluding that he was
done for, I shifted my full attention toward Frozen.

  He’d already regained his ability to see and was eager to deal with me. He managed to get off one shot before being swept backward by the Surge of dark energy. I immediately opened fire, some of the bullets tearing into his body and the others clanking off the blacktop all around him.

  Something exploded right in front of me. The blast threw me off my feet. I collapsed to the ground, barely alive. I had shy of five percent of HP left. I tilted my head slightly to see Croc, who was lying on his back, pointing his assault rifle at me. It was he who’d just discharged his under-barrel grenade launcher.

  I found it unbelievable that he was still alive and capable of fighting back. The Soldier class had the unheard-of amount of HP, if you ask me.

  I sized up the situation in a second and realized there wasn’t much I could do now. I had almost no health and little mana points left. I activated the Shield, using up the rest of my mana, and staggered to my feet as the twosome simultaneously opened up with their assault rifles. Took the last, third, simulator from my bag and administered the shot to myself, restoring fifty health points. Not that it really mattered.

  Both PKs discharged their grenade launchers. The Shield popped. I remained still. There was no point in running away. With less than five percent of HP and no mana whatsoever, I wouldn’t have gotten far. Instead I aimed my pistol at badly injured Croc and commenced squeezing the trigger in the hope of wasting at least one of the two PKs before getting killed. I had no way of knowing whether I managed to pull it off since the next moment Frozen discharged his grenade launcher once more and everything went dark.

  I revived in a Resurrection Pod inside some building. Before getting out, I wanted to check on my current level. Casting a glance at my UI, I saw a digit 7 above my health, mana, and fatigue bars. So my level had dropped from 8 to 7. Shoot.