by Dante Steel
“Why does the dragon stick by his side?” Gary asked. “Or is that a hack too?”
Haru grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, at the end of the game, the supervillains you’ll face… Look, I shouldn’t be telling you this…”
“It’s the least you can do,” Gary grumbled.
Haru sighed. “Yes, yes. Well, the supervillains will all have dragons or other strong creatures in their armies,” he admitted. “It is supposed to be something only the avatars at the highest of levels will be able to handle.”
“Basically, the dragons are primed for a supervillain to lead them, and that’s what Smaug is.”
“Basically, yes.” Haru sounded miserable.
“Highest of levels meaning?”
“Three hundred at a bare minimum.”
“In your opinion, what level?”
“More like four or five hundred.”
Gary let out a muffled curse. “I’ll never catch up to him.”
“The man does not seem to sleep very much at all, no. He gains so many levels each and every day and night. It’s remarkable.” At Gary’s glower, Haru added, “Remarkable but also pathetic.”
Gary sighed. “Not so much pathetic as driven. What I don’t understand is why does he kill the other gamers? What purpose does that serve?”
“We never intended for gamers to kill each other,” Haru said.
“What happens when a gamer kills another one? I’ve heard different things.”
“We thought it best to make it truly unpleasant for the one killed to encourage gamers to stick up for themselves and uproot and weed out those prone toward picking on the weak.”
“And what happens?” Gary asked firmly.
“You lose ten levels and the points associated with them.”
“How are you supposed to fight back if you lose all of that?” Gary demanded.
“The point of the game is to work together and form teams. Look at all of the teams with superheroes: Avengers, the Justice League, X-Men, Teen Titans, and so on. The thought was that it would help to bring the teams closer together.”
“The thought was stupid,” Gary grumbled.
Haru narrowed his eyes. “You have no notion what it is like to create a game. There is none like it.”
“Perhaps there’s none like it because some of the portions of the game are stupid.”
“There is no need to be insulting.” Haru sniffed, lifting his nose into the air.
Gary sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Sorry, man,” he mumbled. “I’m just under a lot of stress.”
“So am I and my team. None of us have been sleeping well. We’re doing our best to try and determine how to bring you back, and it’s not easy. Nothing like this has ever been done before.”
“If Samuel August could figure it out—”
“He was a genius.”
Gary’s stomach twisted into knots. Since the age of ten, he had been trying to forge his own path so much that he clung to isolation instead of living in foster families, which meant his school work suffered some. Samuel had been an orphan through his own actions at the same age, but he had used the system to further his education to the point of becoming a genius. Gary couldn’t help resenting the man all the more.
“His brain doesn’t work like yours does, like mine does. Without his notes, we can’t replicate what he did—”
“Or reverse engineer it.” Gary nodded glumly. “You already said.”
“But we’re looking into it,” Haru rushed to assure him. “Please don’t give up hope.”
“Just keep gaming, leveling up, and prepare to face off against supervillains on a horde of fully grown dragons that will be ready to char me to death or bite off my head like I’m a chocolate bunny.”
“You might want to avoid metal when facing dragons,” Haru advised.
“Why?”
"Dragons like to hoard shiny objects, especially gemstones but also metal. Weapons, armor, you name it. In fact, the stronger you become, the less effective the weapons will be."
“Because you want the game to be less about the swords, axes, and guns. You want it to be superpower versus superpower.”
“Yes. The weapons were only meant to help in the beginning while you’re still developing and training your power. We couldn’t have the gamers start out as a superhero. Every superhero has its origin story.”
“Yeah, well, so does every supervillain,” Gary muttered. “Soon, it’ll be time for the saga that is Smaug to come to an end, and I’ll handle the script myself.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next morning, Gary woke with a stiff neck and a headache. He hadn't slept nearly long enough. In fact, he wasn't sure what had woken him.
He sat up, rubbed his neck, and realized he wasn't alone.
"Nicoletta," he said with a slow, shy smile.
"Gary, we need to talk," she said.
"Sounds serious."
"It is." She bit her lower lip. "Jorge wants to file a missing person report on you."
"But I'm not missing," he protested. "I'm right here."
"It's the only way to possibly save your job. Your apartment is gone. Your landlord is already leasing it to someone else."
"I guess I can understand that."
Gary winced. He was still hoping to make it out of here one day, but now, he had no place to go. Yeah, sure, Gary was leveling up in the game, but he was taking huge steps backward in real life. What if he had no place to live and no job to return to once he finally made it back home?
"Jorge took all of your stuff to his place, and he knows you're here, playing all of the time…" Nicoletta shrugged and glanced away.
Gary stood, grew dizzy from his headache, and had to sit back down, at least moving to the side of the bed. Nicoletta walked over to him and rubbed his back. Once she sat down beside him, he leaned against her, drawing from her strength.
"He doesn't understand that you're in the game," she whispered.
"Do you?" he asked quietly, desperately.
After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.
He placed his fingers beneath her chin and lifted it so he could kiss her. Other than a few kisses, lots of banter and teasing, and him dicking around behind closed doors, Gary hadn't been overly physical with any of the girls. He had wanted to talk to Nicoletta alone, and now was his best chance, only she was talking about something else that was most likely more important than his burning desire to fling her backward, mount her, and give her everything he had.
"Gary, what are we supposed to do?" she whispered.
"A developer has come to see me several times. He and his team are trying to get me out of here." He hesitated and then blurted, "That guy, Smaug? He's human too."
"I knew something had to be off about him. What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," Gary said miserably.
"Hey, is everything okay?" She brushed his hair back from his forehead.
He closed his eyes, relishing her touch. "I feel like an ass," he admitted.
"Why?"
Gary paused, deliberated, berated himself, and then took her hand and placed it on his bulge.
"Why does this make you an ass?" she whispered. The way she bit her lower lip made her so damn sexy, and it took everything in him to not thrust his hips so that she would be rubbing him.
"Because I want you, and I want…" He couldn't bear to look at her.
"I know."
"It's wrong. It's selfish. It's immoral. It's a hundred thousand different things."
Nicoletta placed a finger to his lips. "The others don't know the truth yet."
"No."
"You told me."
"Yes."
"Even though we didn't know each other that well before the game."
"I knew about your past."
"Through Jorge, not me."
He nodded.
She shifted and sat on his lap, facing him. "You've been stuck in the game a long time."
Gary
groaned, hugging her tight to him. "I don't want to know how long."
"I understand that, respect that. None of this can be easy on you. It's just… Gary, I don't blame you for liking Elena and Olivia. They're great."
"You don't want to share me."
"I do, and I don't," she murmured.
"Right now, it's just the two of us," he whispered.
"Please, Gary," she whimpered.
His headache all but forgotten, Gary stripped her clothes and she him. Then, she pushed him down onto the bed and rode him hard and fast, and he came quickly. Nicoletta wasn't nearly done with him yet, and he reached up to fondle her bouncing breasts. She was so wet, so tight, and his balls tightened. If she didn't stop, he might orgasm again. When her walls clenched around him as she found her release and screamed his name, Gary couldn't hold back any longer. He gripped her hips, rolled her over, and pounded into her until he did come a second time.
Their bodies slick with sweat, they lay in bed together. Gary's hand began to wander after only a few moments, and she parted her legs. Her folds were so slick as he slipped a finger and then another inside of her.
"I want this for real," he whispered in her ear.
"I do too," she said, her eyes shining.
She reached up and cupped his face, her lips forming a perfect "O" as he continued to finger her to the point of her coming again. Both hands held his face, and she pulled him down for a long, passionate kiss.
"If the only way to have you is to share you," she murmured, "then so be it, but only with Elena and Olivia. No one else."
"Are you sure?" he asked, his chest tightening. "I don't want to lose you."
But I don't want to lose them, either.
"You don't want to lose them, either," she said.
He drew back, startled. "You can read my thoughts?"
"Your face. I know you want us all. You basically have a near constant hard-on when we're around."
He flushed. Only two days ago, Nicoletta had joined the party late. Elena had been bathing in a stream, and Gary was doing his best not to stare. He wasn't sure how she could wash without rusting her metal parts, but she could. The magic of the game. Not that he was thinking about that. He was thinking about droplets rolling down between her boobs as she washed her entire body including between her legs, and he had started to jerk off right then and there, hiding behind a tree, when Nicoletta had arrived. He had tried to play off what he had been doing, but there was only one thing a guy could be doing when he had an erection and a hand down his pants.
Olivia had made it clear from the start that she wanted him and the others. Elena was the only one he wasn't entirely satisfied would be on board with the whole thing. Considering he had thought of being with her first after that amazing sex dream, Gary knew he would always wonder what it would be like to make love to her until he could actually experience it firsthand.
"You have to think I'm an ass," Gary muttered.
"I think you're a guy," she said. "I think you're facing an impossible situation, and you're forming bonds with people to stay sane. Any guy would turn those bonds sexual."
"I don't just want to be any guy," he muttered. "I want to be better than that."
"You are. Trust me. I wouldn't want to be with just any guy, and I sure as hell wouldn't contemplate what I am if I thought you were just a walking dick."
He laughed.
She ran her hand over his chest and down lower, chuckling. "You really are hard almost all of the time."
Gary groaned. "Don't tease me," he said, squirming. She was stroking him way too slowly.
"But teasing is so much fun," she said with a wink.
"It really isn't. You're going to be the death of me."
"Never," she promised. "Now take me from behind." And she got onto all fours, her perfect ass high in the air, waiting for him to take.
So he did.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nicoletta had to leave shortly after they finished their love-making session, and for once, Gary didn't feel bereft at being left alone. His headache had gone away while they had gone at it, but it was returning now, and he dragged himself out of bed, dressed, and made his way over to the tavern. Honestly, he was getting sick of the food here. They should move onto another town. Maybe the others had more food choices. There were only so many bread bowls and stews and chicken on a stick that he could handle.
Elena joined him, and they went on several quests together, leveling as they went. He found himself unable to broach the subject with her, either about him being in the game or the harem. His fear of losing her meant that he couldn't bring himself to talk about any of that. Gary would rather not have her in that capacity than not have her in his life at all.
As they gamed, they teased and joked, laughed and even cried. Gary told her about his parents and some of his favorite memories, and she told him about the time she had upset her mother.
"My mom was very strict when I was growing up. She never wanted me to make any waves. When I was thirteen, I was allowed to walk home from school. It was about a mile. Every afternoon, I would pass by a woman jogger. This one guy would always shout comments at her from his porch. One day, it wasn't just him. He was there with a few of his friends, and they were all making comments. I was so sick of it that I shouted at them for a full minute. The guy stomped off his porch and towered over me. He was trying to intimidate me." Elena shook her head. "Somehow, I hadn't been scared at all. Naivety I guess. But a cop car drove by, slowed down, and the guy went back to his porch. After that, he never said anything again to that jogger, and soon, he stopped coming out on his porch to watch her."
"That's amazing. Why did your mom have a problem with that? You stood up for someone. That took courage."
"She was worried for me, afraid that something bad could've happened. Dad used that as a way to get my mom to agree to me taking karate lessons. My dad was always my biggest supporter. Mom loved me in her own way, but…" She shrugged.
"She didn't understand you like he did."
Elena nodded. A horde of massive wild boars was in the field below the hill they stood on, but they stayed there to finish their conversation.
"He died when I was fifteen. I hadn't received my black belt yet. I was only a month away from my brown belt."
"How did he die?" Gary asked.
"A heart attack. My dad did everything right too, exercised, ate relatively healthy. Genes, though. You can't help what you're given."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too. My mom couldn't afford for me to finish karate, so I had to stop."
"You never got your black belt?"
"Oh, I did. After college, I moved out, and the first thing I did after getting a car was to sign up for classes."
"That's amazing." He did his best not to look at the hand she had said she only recently regain some strength in.
"It wasn't easy for me. I could punch with my weak hand, but it had no power, and when trying to grapple or spar, it was so hard, but I managed. I'm actually a second-degree black belt now."
"That's impressive. How old are you?"
"So rude," she teased.
"Wait, I asked you before, didn't I?" At her nod, he wracked his brain, and he snapped his fingers. "You're twenty-four."
"That's right. A year younger than you, old man."
"Haha. You could probably kick my ass in real life."
"I would like to meet you in real life," she said without looking at him.
His cock twitched. "Oh, yeah?" he asked, trying to play nonchalant even though his heart was hammering in his chest.
"Yes."
"And do what? Hang out? Play some more?"
"I don't know. You seem like a cool guy. Most of the guys I know are jerks. I go to the gym and lift weights a few times a week, and it's taken months, but I finally got it so that none of them will approach me unless they're offering to spot me. Otherwise, they would hit on me." She grimaced. "Or they would say that I was working out too m
uch, lifting too much, that no man would ever want me, was I into women…" Elena rolled her eyes. "As if a woman can't want to be strong."
So many questions ran through Gary's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to voice any of them.
"What my point is…" Elena shut her mouth and shrugged. "Wild boars incoming. We've been spotted."
By the time they dismantled the last of the wild boar, Olivia had joined them. When she would flirt with him, Gary tried to discretely glance at Elena to see how she was handling it, but she didn't seem to worry about it or be bothered by it. Was Elena into him? What if she wasn't? He shouldn't be so hung up on having all three of them. There were so many other things he had to consider. Still, he couldn't ignore his growing feelings, and Nicoletta wasn't wrong when she said he was hard almost all of the time.
The next day, Gary spent by himself. Before Elena and Olivia had logged off, they both said they couldn't play today. Elena was taking part in a craft show, having gotten a table so she could sell some of her desserts. As for Olivia, she had finished her paper, but she had some finals to study for, and he did not want her to get too sucked into the game. She had offered to play for an hour or so, but they both knew an hour would turn into two into three…
For the most part, Gary always avoided the other gamers. It was almost a subconscious thing at this point. He was somewhat surprised when a group of five gamers in distinct superhero gear approached him.
"Hey, you've heard about Smaug, right?" a guy in a red cape and black leather asked.
"Yes," Gary said warily.
"We're going to take a run at him," a woman said. She wore a tight leotard, no cape, mid-thigh length boots. Her gloves reached her armpits, and her lack of armor made Gary wonder if her arms and legs were wholly metal. She might share the same ability as Elena.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Gary said. "He's killed so many gamers."
