Damian stood up and looked around. He immediately saw Luna and turned his head from side to side, obviously looking for Jace.
“Jace,” Damian called out in an almost sickly sweet tone. “Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!”
Jace had a bad feeling about this in the pit of his stomach, but they had gone too far now. The island was tiny and even a cursory search and Damian would find them. No, it was too late to turn back. Damian was here and they would have to face him: one way or the other.
“We’re not coming out,” Jace yelled back. “Not with your airship around. You could have a small army up there!”
Damian cast a glance at the airship and seemed to chuckle. “You don’t really think I’d need an army to deal with you and your...uh… wives, are they? Three wives, right? At least, that’s what the nice gnome at the patents office told me. I have to admit, I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Jace had expected Damian to do some research into him but hearing him say it aloud made that uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach grow. He bit back the feeling of dread. He needed to play his part. “We want to deal. We just want to be left alone.”
The dark elf’s face split into a crocodile grin as he held his arms open. His tone was still that sickly sweet, almost condescending tone. “That’s why I’m here! To make a deal!”
“Then follow Luna!” Jace said. “And no tricks. I have a teleportation ring. Try anything and we’ll disappear!”
“Start leading him to the cave,” he told Luna through their mental link.
Luna turned and began slowly walking towards the cave. Damian didn’t move at first but then Jace saw him shrug and began following her. “A teleportation ring? That must have cost you most of whatever little inheritance you received with that tiny little estate you were given. What was that title again? Baronet?”
Jace knew Damian was baiting him and he kept quiet. He watched as Damian got closer and began retreating further down the tunnel, towards the main chamber keeping just out of eyeshot of the hacker.
“A tunnel,” he heard Damian’s voice echo down the lava tube. “I wonder where this goes...”
Damian had to expect some sort of trap, but he was probably too cocky enough to believe that a bunch of lower level characters could do anything to him. And he was right. Without the level 95 Mordred, they wouldn’t have a prayer. But now, if they could get the scroll off before Damian could do anything, they’d have him!
Reaching the chamber where they had prepared the ambush, he turned towards the girls. Charlena, Diana and Mika were spread out on the spot they had chosen to make their stand. Jace gave them a meaningful look. “He’s coming down the tunnel now.”
Walking over, he saw that Mika looked ready for a fight, her hand on her katana. Charlena gripped her bow with white knuckles, obviously nervous. Diana looked terrified. The woman was pale and looked like she might turn and flee at any moment. Not that there was any place to go. Damian now blocked the only exit. Their only way out now was his teleportation ring.
Reaching the girls, he whispered. “Remember, play it cool. And whatever you do, don’t look where Mordred is hiding.”
He gave a pointed look to Charlena, whose eyes kept flitting over to the pile of rocks where Mordred should be hiding. The elf blushed and looked embarrassed. “Sorry. I won’t do it again.”
Jace turned around when he heard Damian’s booted footfalls getting close to the chamber. Luna, who had been walking in front of the dark elf, sped up and trotted over to Jace. The orange tabby cat crouched down next to him, her tail bushy twitching back and forth.
“Good girl,” he sent to her.
Damian stopped just outside the chamber and made a show of producing a pair of glasses. “It’s not that I don’t trust you Jace, but… well, I don’t trust you.”
The dark elf put on the glasses, which Jace knew must be some sort of magical scrying glasses to see invisible and hidden players and objects. Damian around, his gaze lingering in the corners of the chamber. When his gazed past the pile of rocks Mordred would be behind, he didn’t even pause.
“Isn’t double crossing your forte?” Jace asked, unable to help himself. “I mean, you did have me killed.”
Damian’s head snapped back to look at Jace, and he pulled off the glasses. His eyes narrowed and he took several steps into the room. His gaze traveled across the line of women behind Jace before his face split in a grin. “One of them is a real person, isn’t she? That’s how you know what happened to you.”
“They’re all real,” Jace countered, growing angry. He remembered how dismissively Damian had talked about the people who had been inserted the last time they’d met in Whitecliff, as if that justified his actions.
His former coworker just chuckled and shook his head. “They’re not real. They’re not alive. They’re just ghosts in the machine. Like you. Just a bunch of 1’s and 0’s.”
“And that justifies stealing their money?” Jace asked angrily. “And making their lives a living hell?”
“You always were melodramatic,” Damian rolled his eyes. “How can I steal from dead people. They’re dead. The dead can’t own property. They can’t own money.”
“That was money I worked my whole life for!” Diana said from behind him. “You don’t have any right to it!”
“And that was my grandmother’s inheritance,” Mika said. “It does not belong to you!”
Damian smirked and then chuckled. “So those two are inserts. Does that mean the red-head is the real girl?”
Jace swore silently. Had Damian just played them? Had the hacker been goading the girls into revealing themselves? He motioned to the girls with his hand. “Don’t say anything else. He’s baiting us. Whatever you’re up to, it won’t work.”
Damain threw his head back and laughed. “You always were a slow one.”
The hacker took another step towards them, the mirth vanishing from his face. “Did you really think I came here to make some sort of deal? The redhead complicates things, but I can deal with her later. It’s time to say goodbye Jace.”
“Yes it is,” Jace grinned. “Now!”
His shout caught Damian by surprise and the dark elf started, looking from Jace to the girls, obviously expecting an attack. Then he spun as Mordred appeared with the scroll in hand. He had been reading it quietly but he said the last word aloud as the scroll burst into blue light. “.. Claudo!”
Blue light from the scroll streaked towards Damian. It looked like Damian might be trying to cast a spell or perhaps he was just getting his hands up defensively. Either way, it didn’t matter. The magic shot forward, encircling the dark elf. It spun quickly, and as it did, the blue glow intensified for a brief moment and then dulled into a translucent blue sphere around him.
“It worked?” Diana asked from behind him.
Jace looked at the figure trapped in a translucent sphere and nodded. He felt a grin spreading across his mouth. “It worked! We did it!”
Charlena ran over to Mordred and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him. Jace smirked. Obviously, they had no problem with the intimate setting in their HUDs.
He was about to turn to Mika when they heard laughter. Turning around, Jace saw that it was Damian laughing from inside the sphere.
Chapter 53
Damian was still laughing. As Jace looked at him, the dark elf brought his hands together in several exaggerated claps. “Very good, Jace! Very good! Honestly, I didn’t think you had it in you.” The dark elf glanced around at the girls and his tone became condescending. “Or was it one of the girls who came up with this idea?”
The dark elf’s eyes moved to Mordred and then widened in surprise, the laughter immediately trailing off. “Mordred?” Damian looked from Jace to Mordred. “But that was your avatar.” His eyes went even larger and he shook his head. “That’s not possible. You can’t be in the game. You’re dead. I killed you.”
“You tried,” Mordred retorted, h
is face hurt and angry. “I thought you were my friend.”
Damian smirked. “You? My friend? You should have figured out by now that I don’t have friends. And I don’t need friends.”
“So, you tried to kill me?” Mordred demanded.
“What else was I supposed to do?” Damian shrugged calmly. “You found out about my modifications to the insertion routine and were going to tell the boss. You left me no choice.”
Mordred just shook his head. “This time you won’t get away with it.”
Damian just smirked calmly. Too calmly. Something was wrong. Damian must have something else up his sleeve. Were there high level players on the airship? Were they waiting for some word from him to come in here and free him? Jace wracked his brain to think of what he might have missed. Was there some other way out of the spheres of imprisonment that he didn’t know?
The dark elf yawned from inside the sphere. “Well, this has been fun. But I think it’s time to end this.”
Jace tensed as Damian moved to the inside of the sphere. The dark elf reached out and pushed on it the side of the sphere with his hands. Jace held his breath and felt his brow furrow as he watched Damian. Did he really think he could just push it? Or was he trying some sort of spell? Had Jace missed something.
“Well…” Damian shrugged and backed up. “That didn’t work.” A wicked grin crossed the dark elf’s features. “But I think I might have something that just might.”
Damian produced a glowing sword that seemed to be completely made of pure light. Jace frowned and looked at Mordred who shrugged. Neither of them had seen anything like it. It looked like those laser swords from the old vidstreams.
“Nice, isn’t it,” Damian said, the evil grin still on his face. “It’s a little something I created myself. I had it hidden away and had to go retrieve it before coming here. You see, it’s not what I would call… part of the system. But that’s how I designed it.”
No one moved or said anything. Next to him, he saw the girls tensing, Mika’s hand tight on the hilt of her katana. Jace’s right hand drifted down to his own weapon. If Damian got loose, he knew they had no chance alone. But Mordred could kill him. His Assassination ability would be ready and could take out Damian in one strike.
Damian held up the sword, looking into its light. “I’m actually quite proud of this. It uses a polymorphic algorithm to stay outside of the normal game mechanics. As far as VEIL Online is concerned, this little baby doesn’t exist.”
Jace looked over at Mordred and saw he had his daggers in his hands. The vampyre looked over and nodded, silently letting Jace know that he was ready to attack if it came to that. This island wasn’t in any faction, so it was a PvP area. That meant, they could attack one another. And it meant Mordred could kill the dark elf, even though they were in the same faction. He returned the nod and turned his attention back to Damian.
“I know, I know,” Damian said. “You’re all wondering what my little toy does. Well, just think of it as a concentrated virus. Whatever it touches, it injects with a virus that will eat away at the game code in memory that is creating the item or person until there is nothing. Poof! Gone! Like this!”
The dark elf lowered the glowing sword of light until the tip of the sword touched the blue sphere which was imprisoning him. The moment the sword touched it, the sphere burst into the light that momentarily blinded all of them.
Jace blinked several times and when his eyes cleared, the blue sphere was gone. Damian was free. Glancing where Mordred had been, he didn’t see his alter ego. He had already Stealthed and was going to attack Damian.
Damian looked around and then suddenly flinched as Mordred appeared behind him.
Mordred Blacklock assassinates Alalorn Shadegazer for 0 damage.
The dark elf grinned and slowly turned around. Smirking, his voice dripped with sarcasm. “Oh, did I forget? I’m using the test pod at work right now and I’m logged in as the admin account. Nothing you can do can harm me.” Damian looked thoughtful. “I was actually surprised that the sphere of imprisonment worked, but since it wasn’t a direct attack against me, I guess the admin account doesn’t prevent the spell.”
Mordred was still standing there next to Damian, a look of disbelief on his face. Damian pretended to remember the vampyre assassin was there. “Oh, right. You’re still here. Let’s fix that, shall we?”
Damian lunged out with the sword of light. Jace saw his alter ego raise his daggers to deflect but as the sword touched them, they dissolved into light. The sword continued forward and touched his real self. When it did, light engulfed Mordred and there was another blinding flash. When it cleared, Mordred was gone.
“Jace! No!” Charlena screamed and lunged at Damian. The dark elf snorted, turning to face her.
“Charlena! Don’t! Stop!” Jace called out but the redhead was enraged.
As she rushed into range, Damian causally, almost dismissively, flicked the sword at Charlena. The tip of the sword hit her in the chest and just like the real Jace, she was engulfed in light. When it cleared, she was gone too!
“No!” Diana sobbed from behind them. “You monster!”
“Are they dead?” Mika asked quietly, her voice trembling.
Just then he saw Luna getting ready to pounce. The cat only understood that Damian was an enemy. She didn’t understand that he held a weapon that could utterly destroy her. He started to send a mental command but it was too late. He saw her leap at the dark elf’s back.
Damian saw the movement and spun, leading with his light sword. Willing himself into his HUD faster than he ever had, he tried to dismiss his familiar before she was destroyed. There was a flash, and Luna was gone.
“Luna!” Mika yelled and drew her katana.
Jace looked on in horror at the space where Luna had been. He had tried to dismiss her but he didn’t know if he had gotten to the option in time. Was Luna gone? Forever? Burned out of existence.
Jace drew Kraken’s Claw, hate filling his eyes. He wanted to make Damian pay. He wanted to make him suffer. The problem was. He had no idea how.
Damian tsked. “Aw. Was that your little kitty cat?” He laughed and Mika started forward until Jace held out an arm, blocking her way.
“Oh,” Damian continued, taking a step towards them. “No, sadly, those two players aren’t dead. Their characters are gone. Permanently. If I’m lucky, the feedback to their pods caused brain damage.” He held up the sword in front of him. “This little baby even purges the backups. Your cat though, it’s gone for good.”
Furious, Jace took an involuntary step forward but stopped himself. He had no Defense against that sword. And even if he did, Damian was logged in as the admin account. The admin account controlled the entire game. It was basically god-mode. He was completely invulnerable from harm. No blade could pierce him. No magic could directly affect him.
Jace gritted his teeth together, knowing there was nothing they could do. All they could do now was run away and keep running. He went to activate his ring to teleport them away. Best to run and fight another day.
Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing happened. Damian laughed. “Oh, I brought along a handy little item. I’m sure you’re familiar with an anchor bracelet.” Damian held up his wrist to show a silver bracelet with runes inscribed.
Jace swore. He hadn’t even considered that Damian might think to bring one of those. Truth be told, Jace hadn’t even remembered they existed until the dark elf mentioned it. They were mostly used in PvP to prevent enemy players from teleporting away. Since Jace didn’t care for PvP, he’d never had any use for one. Obviously, Damian had found a use for one.
Damian waved his hands, speaking arcane words. Jace hadn’t heard the spell before but a wall of ice erupted from the ground behind them, cutting them off from the ledge. The dark elf laughed. “In case you were thinking of trying to kill yourself and respawn.”
Jace swore and Damian laughed again. That had been precisely what Jace had been about to do. Now
they were trapped. Damian had outsmarted them. He had outsmarted him.
As if reading his mind, Damian snickered. “Did you really believe you could think of something I wouldn’t think of first?”
“Jace,” came Diana’s panicked voice. “What do we do?”
Not knowing how to answer, Jace stayed quiet.
Looking from Diana to Mika, Damian smiled. “You know. I’ve decided to kill you last, Jace. I’m going to make you watch me delete them first and then I’ll kill you.”
Jace growled but held himself back. There had to be something he could do. He brought up his HUD and scrolled through his spells and abilities. He saw the sword of light go from left to right.
“Eenie…” he heard Damian say and then moved the sword from right to left, pointing at Diana. The older woman whimpered and pushed back against the ice wall.
“Meenie…” the dark elf continued and moved the sword to Jace’s otherside where Mika looked at him defiantly. Jace kept looking through items, abilities, anything that might help. But what would affect a person who was invulnerable?
“Miney…” the sword of light went to back to Diana.
“Mo…” Damian grinned and moved the sword back towards Mika. Just then, Jace’s eyes caught sight of something.
Disarm
Swashbuckler Ability
Description: A special attack against an opponent’s weapon that causes it to go flying.
Note: This ability cannot function when holding a weapon in your secondary hand and therefore cannot stack with Two-weapon Fighting.
Jace’s eyes darted across the description. Disarm was an attack on the opponent’s weapon. That meant it wasn’t an attack against the enemy itself and maybe, just maybe, it would work. It didn’t matter. He was out of time and he had to do something.
Activating the skill, Kraken’s Claw slammed into the sword of light just before it hit Mika. The blade caught the crossguard of Damian’s sword first, part of the weapon that was glowing but then slid off and touched the blade. His sword, which had served him so well in so many battles, exploded into fragments of light.
Veil Online - Book 3: An Epic LitRPG Adventure Page 33