Back in the Game

by Christopher Keene

  I shrugged. “Beats me. All I know is that I have to get to the top of the lighthouse and take out any monsters I find. You wouldn’t mind taking a fall for me just this once, would you?”

  David smirked. “I’m not that much of an idiot, Noah. If this is a new dungeon, I’ve got to check it out first!”

  I had first thought to recruit him, but knew that he wouldn’t want to knowingly get in the way of Brock’s goals. He was too loyal for that. However, if I managed to convince him that he was doing Brock a favor by taking a fall, he would do it. I could call David many things, overly emotional, quick to overreact, trusting to a fault, but disloyal wasn’t one of them.

  “There’s a problem about that. Monsters can’t leave their designated floor, and since the Chaos Engine labeled you as one, I don’t think you can go very far,” I lied. “Come on, man. Do this for Brock. Aren’t you sick of him never being around because he’s being chased from place to place all the time?”

  David laughed. “The way he keeps on breaking the law, though, I’m beginning to think he likes it.”

  I forced a laugh as well. “But you wouldn’t want to see him in jail if he got caught, would you?”

  His expression became concerned. “Well . . . no.”

  I gestured a hand out to him. “So by taking a fall in this dungeon, he’d have his charges dropped. Even if he gets caught, they can’t prosecute him.”

  “You serious?”

  I nodded, feeling I was finally convincing him. “I hope so. It’s still Wona after all, but they’ve signed a contract and everything. Even if they decide to go back on their promise, we would still have the paperwork to hold against them in Brock’s defense if he does get caught.”

  David was nodding, as though thinking I was making a good point, but still seemed to be weighing it up with the possibility of exploring a new dungeon.

  He sighed. “You know I’m not good with all this business crap. If there’s a chance it can get Brock out of hot water, I’ll let you kill me. Just don’t get me dragged into this fight between you two. I’m Switzerland, I want nothing to do with it, you hear me?”

  “Okay great, just unequip your Diamond Armor,” I said, trying to sound amused, but I was actually a little worried about it. “I couldn’t blast my way through that thing even if I wanted to.”

  Brock spread his hands, as though just remembering I hadn’t seen it before. “I know, right? I got it from Diamond Hollow, it’s pretty badass.”

  “It sure is.” I waved him on to hurry him up. “Come on, take it off and I’ll make this quick. I have a set of moves that will waste you in a matter of a seconds.”

  “Stop bragging,” David whined. “We already know how much you’ve improved since you started.”

  He made his shining armor vanish into his inventory. As soon as it was gone, I pointed my Boomstick at him and froze him into a block of ice with my Ice Coffin spell. Not wasting a second to let him feel the cold, I shattered it with a Plasma Beam. As far as magic went, that combination of level two attacks was more effective on individual opponents than my Wildfire spell, and that was a level three ability.

  David broke into shards of ice, dust from the floor flying up from the explosion. I lowered my gunstaff in the silence of the hall after he was gone. I felt cold from doing it, but it had to be done.

  Dice sniggered and moved forward to where David’s armor and mace had dropped. “Your friend’s an idiot, but at least he had some good items.”

  “Don’t touch them!” I shouted, and he stopped, raising his hands innocently.

  I moved in and picked them up, storing them in my inventory. “I plan on returning these to him when we see each other next.”

  “Fine with me,” Dice returned and started forward. “Not like I have any use for Heavy gear.”

  I followed him as we made our way to the spiraling stairs at the back of the lighthouse. “David’s loyal to his friends, unlike you who’s loyal to whoever's paying you, considering how quick you were to ditch Bitcon.”

  He shrugged, as though not finding this offensive. “Bitcon was never my friend, I can admit that.” He then caught my eye. “Still, I never killed Bitcon.”

  Guilt ran through me at his words, but I held it down. This was only the second floor, and I had to wall myself off from these emotions if I was to complete the dungeon successfully. I was just glad David could be talked into dying without the confrontation turning into a fight. There were other teammates that, if I ran into them, wouldn’t be so easy to convince.

  Like Siena . . . or Brock.

  Because of how wide Apollo’s Lookout was, it took a good ten minutes of walking up the stairs before we made it to the third floor. It seemed my thoughts had jinxed me, for what I dreaded turned into reality. As soon as we entered from under the opening in the ceiling, I saw the red headed Warrior standing in the middle of the dusty floor.

  Chapter 30: Reclamation

  Siena wasn’t happy to see me, but she was even less happy to see me with Dice. Her eyes went vacant for a moment, and I suddenly realized she was using the item tracking software she had gotten from Data. When she was finished, she looked up again, and her glare had become a joyful sneer.

  “That bastard still has my Ruby Edge,” she said, as though announcing him. “I’ve finally caught you.”

  Like David, her visible stats showed that she too was counted as a monster in this dungeon. My suspicions had been correct. Having one friend show up due to a dungeon’s Chaos Engine was very unlikely, but possible. Two was another story. However, unlike David, I knew I couldn’t talk my way out of this one. Still, I tried.

  “Siena, I—”

  She cut me off. “I’ll get to you next. At the moment, this bastard has my attention. This is a Tertiatier dungeon, is it not?”

  I nodded.

  She bared her teeth in a grin. “Perfect.”

  A long Reaper’s Scythe flashed into her hand as Dice stepped out into the middle of the floor, Ruby Edge flashing into his own. Granted, Siena was one of the best players in the game, but fighting against a Wanted and Hero rank with a Color Blade was going to be no easy task. I could only watch in anticipation as they circled each other.

  “You’re a Range Niche,” she taunted. “How long do you think you can last in close combat with a Warrior?”

  Dice smiled and scratched his chin. “It depends on how much you know about the Shockwave ability.”

  “It’s a wind magic ability that crosses over to the Warrior and Range Niches and allows strikes to extend in a sonic boom from the arc of a slash.” She shrugged and caught my eyes. “It’s an ability for cowards.”

  Dice nodded. “Then you should also know that the stronger the weapon, the more powerful the Shockwave is, right?”

  Siena inclined her head in a challenge. “So . . . ?”

  Dice didn’t hesitate. His Ruby Edge began to glow and he swung it down in Siena’s direction. A red wave of energy shot from the Color Blade toward Siena. She leapt out of the way as dust exploded up around where she had been. Dice didn’t give her time to recover. He swung again and Siena dive rolled to the side and jumped as a wave of red light shot toward her feet.

  Each wave of light shook the floorboards, causing dust to rise up around Siena’s side of the room. Soon she was barely visible through the cloud and Dice was swinging waves at her blindly. Although I had seen her move before, I couldn’t help but be shocked by Siena’s speed. As she ran around the edge of the room, Dice followed her with several more Shockwaves.

  The attacks continued to build even more dust around the edge of the hall, giving Siena even more cover to hide in. Instead of going the same way she had been running, as Dice had assumed from the way he continued firing Shockwaves in the direction she had been running, from the gentle swirl of the dust, I could see she had turned to run the other way.

  She’s trying to catch him off-guard.

  I first thought I should warn him, but I couldn’t. I was compelled to
see what Siena would do. When Dice’s back was to Siena, she launched herself out of the dust, spinning her scythe behind her like a flag as the dust swirled around her in her attack. It seemed she intended to slice him right through middle, but Dice spun and brought about his Ruby Edge in a counterstrike.

  Their blades clashed high and low, Dice spinning in his attempt to intercept an attack that hooked around his sword and tore open the skin on his upper arm. His Hit Points took a dip, but not as much as Siena’s did when Dice’s Ruby Edge caught her ankle.

  She jumped back and he fired another Shockwave at her. Siena danced around it and charged forward again. Dice struck away her first slash and then backed off, defending himself on the back foot.

  For a Range, I was impressed with how he managed to keep up with Siena’s speed, but from first-hand experience, I knew Siena’s scythe wouldn’t last long against a Color Blade.

  As long as Dice can stay in the battle, it will only be a matter of time before Siena’s scythe breaks.

  Dice struck back and the power behind his blow cut the long blade of her scythe cleanly from the shaft. It severed into the floor at his feet as he began his offensive barrage. She was left wielding only a pole, but she spun it like it had been her intended weapon all along.

  Despite Dice swinging his Ruby Edge at her again and again, she spun and struck it away, using some fancy footwork to spin him, luring him toward the place where her scythe blade still stuck into the dusty wood.

  She hasn’t given up on using it yet.

  Her intentions seemed obvious, but in the blind heat of the fight, Dice didn’t notice the blade in his determination to hit her. Finally, he landed a devastating blow that drove her to the floor, her Hit Points lowering to the ten percent mark.

  She rolled to a stop right next to the severed blade, hiding the length of it underneath her. She turned to see Dice standing over her, his Ruby Edge glowing like it did just before he executed a Shockwave.

  “A coward’s attack, huh?” he asked. “Well, this coward just killed you.”

  She tongued the inside of her check. “Oh yeah?”

  Twisting, she pulled the scythe-blade from under her and stabbed it into his leg, making him stagger. The Shockwave from his swing hit the dust on the floor next to her, blinding me to whatever happened next.

  I heard grunts from Dice through the cloud. All that was visible to me was Dice standing over Siena one moment, and Siena standing over Dice holding the scythe-blade the next, after the dust had faded.

  “Support!” Dice called to me, now on his knees.

  Whatever she had done with that blade, both players had less than a tenth of their Hit Points left. As much as Dice was trying to become my teammate, I couldn’t help but freeze as Siena raised the blade over him.

  “Noah, support!” he cried again.

  I furrowed my brow, comprehending what had just happened. “You couldn’t even win with a Color Blade. Why would I want you on my team?”

  Siena grinned and her wide, bloodthirsty eyes lowered to Dice beneath her. Dice’s own eyes darted from me to her. Before he could call out again, Siena sank the long scythe-blade into his chest, relinquishing the last of his Hit Points.

  Dice vanished in an explosion and the Ruby Edge fell from his hand, clattering onto the dusty floorboards. Without hesitating, Siena bent down and picked it up, reclaiming what was originally hers.

  I’m always underestimating you, Siena.

  Despite thinking this, Siena’s Hit Points were so low that it would only take a single blow from me to finish her off. The monster status that showed up every time I looked at her reminded me of what I had to do.

  She'll never work for Wona. Data has offered her a Hero rank a few times now and she always refused.

  “Just do it already,” Siena murmured and turned to face me with a sour expression. “Come on, Noah, get it over with.”

  I didn’t know if she knew about what I had to do here, but it really didn’t matter in the long run. I raised my open hand to cast a Plasma Beam at her.

  “I’ll give the Ruby Edge back to you when I see you next.”

  Siena spat. “Don’t bother.” She grinned at me threateningly. “I’ll kill you and get it off you myself.”

  Fair enough.

  I cast my spell, the beam of light shot from my hand, and Siena was no more. On the bright side, neither was Dice. I moved forward and picked up her Ruby Edge from the dusty floor before making my way to the stairs at the back of the room.

  — ACQUIRED ‘RUBY EDGE’ —

  Chapter 31: Feelings

  Although I felt bad for killing David and Siena, it still felt amazing to be finally holding one of the Color Blades. I was glad it was the red one as well. As vain as I was to think so, it suited my red Captain’s Coat perfectly. I was a scarlet Spellcaster now, a red battlemage of both cloth and weapon, the perfect Catastrophe leader for Wona.

  I walked up the staircase, my leather boots making hollow thuds against the dead wood. Coming to the fourth floor, I wondered who would be waiting to face me there. I didn’t have to wait long, for as soon as I emerged from the opening in the ceiling, a bullet pinged off the wall right beside my head, making me duck.

  “Whoops! I thought you were a monster. Hah, remember going with me to buy these guns, Noah? Brock was right, they really have grown on me,” Chloe said, her eyes suddenly widening when seeing what was is my hand. “Is that the Ruby Edge?”

  I raised it to show her. “I managed to get it for Siena.”

  She shook her head. “I thought you had something to do with us being drawn here when you weren’t replying to our messages, but even I wouldn’t have guessed you would find the blade before us!”

  This wasn’t entirely true, but I thought it would be useful to make it seem like that to get through to the next floor. “Well, I need to get to the top.”

  “And I see you have the whole Red Mage thing going on.” She raised her brow at my coat and said in a sarcastic tone, “Real nice.”

  “Chloe, I get you like to act cold and banter to cover up how you really feel with people, but I don’t want to fight you so I’ll be blunt.” I held the Ruby Edge out in front of me.

  Chloe aimed her guns at me from the sudden movement. “Is this a trick?”

  “No trick.” I dropped my hand. “Just the truth.”

  Chloe lowered her pistols, her expression suddenly open. “Go on.”

  “I’ve been given the opportunity to work for Wona, to be paid to play in the Drea—”

  “And so you have to kill off all your friends to do that?” she burst out in anger.

  I raised my hand again to calm her and she stopped.

  “Let me finish.” I waited until she blew the breath out of her puffed cheeks. “To do this I have to complete this dungeon and kill whatever’s on each floor. However, it’s also within my power to employ people for my future team under them, meaning I can allow others to get paid to play here as well. I don’t think Wona will make me kill my own team considering they’re encouraging me to recruit players to their ranks.” I looked up at the high ceiling as though shouting at God. “Isn’t that right?

  Chloe’s confused face became thoughtful, her gaze shifting to the floor. “What did you have to do to get that opportunity? I mean, they wouldn’t have just offered you this now for no reason.”

  “I have to give them the evidence that was on the Transfer Orb.”

  Her eyes glared into mine again. “So not to kill us then . . . just to sell us out and forget who was responsible for killing your girlfriend?”

  “I can see why it might look that way, but what we’ve been fighting for all this time has been based on a lie.” I had tried thinking of ways to say this so many times that I thought I’d finally found the right way to do it. “The crash that killed Sue was executed by a faction of Wona that went rogue, and Wona has promised to have them prosecuted for it. As for the beta testers who died . . . Brock’s old friends . . . each of them sig
ned consent waivers not holding Wona responsible for the drugs they took voluntarily. A bad outcome for some of them didn’t change that fact.”

  Chloe nodded uncertainly. “It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself of these things more than me.”

  “The president himself showed me this, Chloe.” I looked down, remembering Brock’s lie. “As well as the video of Brock signing his own waiver.”

  She bit her lip and her eyes shot around the hall. “I think I’m beginning to see where you’re coming from. The company wouldn’t do those things if they couldn’t cover their rear ends. And Brock . . . I’m a little pissed that every time we put our necks on the line for him it was based on a lie. Would they show me the videos as well if I was on your team?”

  I shrugged, but much preferred her shooting questions at me than bullets. “I don’t see why not.”

  “I’m still not sure about this, Noah. I mean they’re our friends, and—”

  “Listen, David and Siena have already failed to stop me, but they would never have joined Wona anyway, especially not Siena.” I said, remembering Data’s many offers to her. “But I want you and Keri at my side when I do this. I know how much you love to play here. Heck, with my frail body, being in this world feels more normal to me than reality. Spreading the evidence will not only cause Brock to break his contract with them and make him a criminal, but it might also destroy the very thing that we have all come to love.”

  Chloe seemed to think for a while.

  I’ve played my best cards. It’s all up to her now.

  Finally, she sighed and met my eyes. “To be honest, I never wanted the Dream State to get shut down. I was just playing with you because . . .” She looked down as though embarrassed. “And I didn’t think we would actually . . .”

  “You like me, I get it, and I like you, too. You’ve stolen two kisses from me already, and it only took me one to realize.” I gestured to the floor above us. “And you love this game as much as I do, so come with me and we can play here as much as we want and get paid to do it!”