The air in our cave thickened once again, turning into a third-generation space marine. It was even more advanced and dangerous, with even more duplicate modules. Once again, it sensed we were there and started to turn. I quickly threw my arms around it, keeping it from moving. An electric shock hit me with such force that I nearly lost consciousness, but I held on until the message I was waiting for finally popped up.
You’re trying to hack the defenses of a creature spawned in Letio Durvale.
Sum total of your skill levels: 600 (device control: 150, hacking: 150, perception: 150, anatomy master: 150).
Sum total of the dungeon creature’s protection: 400 (hacking protection: 100, resistance: 100, resilience: 100, willpower: 100).
Probability of successful hack: 33.3% (1 — 400/600).
Attempt 3… Successful.
***
You gained access to the dungeon creature.
Would you like to destroy it?
Of course not! Where’s my control functionality?
Surprisingly, my new marionette didn’t have any abilities. And the system didn’t even warn me that I might not get a reward for beating the dungeon. Of course, the boy was able to shoot, defend itself, and follow my mental instructions exactly, but there weren’t any summons or insidious attacks I could use. It doesn’t even have any grenades! There was only the blaster, though it was definitely a good weapon.
“Well? What are you going to do with just one of those?” Grust still didn’t get what I had going on. Admittedly, even for me, the idea wasn’t fully formed, though I gestured for him to be quiet and stepped out into the tunnel.
A three-bot patrol was walking nearby. They hadn’t gotten to our cave yet, as they were still around the corner. No good. Picking up a pebble, I tossed it into the far end of the tunnel. They troops shot first before heading over to see what was going on. Just in case, I had my new marionette stand at the entrance, blocking the way into the cave, and got myself ready to fight. But there was no need. As soon as the patrol saw my space marine, they calmed down. The shooting stopped, and instead of turning back around the corner, they came over to check the tunnel.
When the monsters came up even with the entrance to the cave, it was my turn to act. I jumped forward, burying Fang in the back of the far bot. It instantly began to shrivel up, though I wasn’t paying any attention. Instead, my marionette threw itself against the nearest bot and pinned it to the ground. I took care of the one in the middle. By the time it turned, pulled up its blaster, and took aim… It took me just one try to hack its defenses and gain access. Jumping back down onto the ground, I placed my palms on the struggling third monster and waited the two seconds it took to grow my little army.
“Damn.” Grust was clearly impressed when two more two-meter beasts armed with blasters followed me back in. They were as obedient as puppies.
“You’re telling me,” I grunted, though I wasn’t nearly as positive about it. I knew exactly what my limit for extra devices was — fifteen, with one already taken up by Drone, wherever it was. And while everything was fine with the three fighters I had, it was the first time I was trying anything like that. I wasn’t just connected to them; I was them, completely controlling their every movement.
“Let’s go. We need another ten of these bad boys.”
Getting my hands on them turned out to be almost embarrassingly easy. There were plenty of three-bot patrols, and they didn’t react at all when they saw my marionettes. The assumption was that they were all on the same side. From there, I followed the usual script. My team dropped them to the floor, while I ran over and took control one by one. The whole process took between one and three seconds. Ten minutes, in other words, and I couldn’t fit any more in my little army. Thirteen level fifteen fighters was an impressive force.
Suddenly, I heard a gong, and my detachment twitched and looked off to the side. Other bots ran past, not paying Grust or me the least bit of attention. Their footsteps rattled through the air, there was an explosion a few seconds later, and I understood what was going on. Villian had gotten ready for the higher-level fighters by mining the entrance and using some kind of summoner that made the dungeon monsters forget what they were doing and dash over to their death.
But the good news there was that I knew where my main adversary was. All I had to do was march forward behind my troops.
“Where are you going?” I asked in surprise when I saw Grust dash forward. “Get back here!”
“But what about…?” My partner stopped, his eyes jumping back and forth between my army and the bend the bots were disappearing around.
“We can’t do anything against Tsarter. They have named armor at level 22, and their boss is past level 30. Your Swallow will just tickle them. So, we have to stick with the original plan.”
“Oh, we have a plan?”
“Of course. We have a plan, and we’re following it.”
We headed back to the cave, and I sat right down on the floor to concentrate on my marionettes. I didn’t want to explain to my partner that my head was splitting, and that I just physically couldn’t go running around the tunnels. No matter what you do, including mass control of other units, you need practice. Jumping right in because it seemed like a good enough idea didn’t get you far. But there was another reason we were staying in the cave — if my troops met their end in a bloody fiasco, I didn’t want Grust to see it.
Surprisingly, the players hadn’t set up at the entrance to the dungeon like the last time; they’d taken up a position in the second-largest cave. I ordered my troops into a formation I thought was perfect: four in front lying down, four kneeling behind them, and four more standing behind them. Twelve blasters aimed straight ahead, ready to gun down any opponent. One bot served as an expendable scout. Dropping it to the ground, I crawled it forward. Bots rushed by from the far corners of the dungeon only to end their journey around the bend in a hail of energy. When I got to the bend, I peeked out carefully to appraise the situation. Five Tsarter mercenaries were occupying the entrance to the cave, raining gunfire down on the onrushing space marines from behind a powerful shield. Like crazed animals, the latter ran up and only pulled their weapons out once they’d arrived. At least, that’s what they tried to do. Nobody actually let them get that far. Only a few red flashes smacked into the players’ defenses, not really presenting much of a problem.
Move out! Roll around and get into position!
I appreciated the synchronicity my forces moved with. Running out, the monsters summersaulted out from behind the corner and jumped to their feet, blasters aimed at the Tsarter shield. That seemed to me the best strategy, especially given the fact that the other doomed bots were still rushing by. My twelve fighters took up their positions and opened fire. The Tsarter defenses flickered and sagged, incapable of bearing up under the concentrated firepower. The few seconds of confusion that bought cost the mercenaries their advantage — four other dungeon spawn had time to pull out their blasters and make it to the shield generator, firing as they went. Not spending time to think up anything more tactical, they just threw their bodies at the device. The protective field blinked and disappeared, as did the monsters. The players were perfectly willing to show the game what they were capable of. Not a trace remained of the quartet.
But the job was done. Their protection down, the players were forced to rely on what they each had, and I concentrated my fire on just one of them. My marionettes fired with pretty good accuracy, launching three or four shots a second, so I had high hopes of beating through a single player’s defenses. A grenade was launched into the air. But my scout was still lying on the ground, and I used it to take care of that problem. My pistol shooting skill worked well enough for the blasters that knocking the flying object out of the air as soon as it appeared wasn’t too much of a problem. Just as it detonated, bathing the Tsarter group and their protection in fire, my relentless attack bore fruit.
You killed a player from the owner’s personal guard.
You can collect 1 named item in the store.
Level +20 (274).
10 free attribute points received.
One down! Of course, the battle had been a costly one for me, too — of the twelve marionettes in my detachment, only six remained. The space marines’ level fifteen didn’t have much to say against the players’ advanced weaponry.
One more volley, and the players disappeared inside the cave. The rest of the monsters finally arriving from the far corners of the dungeon threw themselves at the entrance only to die ingloriously to the concentrated fire coming from inside. A couple times, I noticed some kind of device looking like a camera poking out, and I immediately destroyed it. The idiot monsters never would have opened fire on something inanimate. And during the ensuing pause, I had an idea. If detonating that grenade helped kill one player, what if… My scout crawled away from the corner and trotted over to where I was. Once a plan comes to you, the best thing to do is execute right away.
The store started printing out mines. Stopping at twenty, since my commando couldn’t carry anymore, I also threw in a level seven camouflage field generator and an area scanner. The whole lot cost me a cool fifteen million. It wasn’t the time to cut corners.
Grust helped me load the marionette up with explosives, attaching them to its legs, arms, and body. Really, anywhere we could fit them. The load was a heavy one, and the poor guy couldn’t run nearly the way it had before. Still, nobody was coming out of the cave. That had me nervous, though it bought me time. Villian has something up its sleeve. I wonder if it has invisibility.
Oh, damn it. Of course, it does! The six troops I had still alive began randomly shooting up the tunnel, doing their best to hit my invisible opponent. Certainly, it might not have been there, but I couldn’t risk it. The marionettes didn’t need energy blocks, after all — the game covered their expenditures itself.
Finally, the scout was back in position. There still was no news from the players, and I didn’t like that one bit. Happy that I had some of my processing power back, I began scanning the area around me with device control. Blood began dripping from my nose almost immediately — the strain was taking a toll, though I wasn’t about to throw in the towel. Better get the problems out of the way now than have Villian and his dogs come after me.
Once I was sure the surroundings were clear, I pushed the scout forward under an unrelenting hail of fire from the blasters. The tunnel wasn’t that long, just thirty meters or so, but I didn’t risk getting right up to the entrance. One stray bullet, and my whole plan would have gone up in flames. And so, with that in mind, I stopped the scout a few meters away from the entrance and pressed it all the way up against the wall. Then, I had it pull out the camouflage device to disappear from all the scanners in the area. I was pretty sure even Raptor wouldn’t have been able to locate it.
The last part of my plan was to get my opponent to make a move. Assuming the problem was with my fighters, I sent them toward the entrance, keeping up their fire in the meantime. If anyone peeked out, they were going to get a very warm welcome.
But what I didn’t expect was for shadows to appear behind the group. Three mercenaries appeared on the scout’s scanner, they made a few quick movements, and the tunnel fell completely silent. All six of my space marines were down. Wait, what just happened?
“Not bad, Mark. Not bad at all!” Villian called through the tunnels. “Interesting move, and let me be the first to congratulate you. By killing Bardin, you freed up a spot next to me. But what are you going to do next? You’re out of marionettes, and the next round is the boss. Think you’re going to control it? Sweep the dungeon! There’s one more monster stuck somewhere, so find it, and the pearl will be ours.”
Red dots lit up on the scanner. I’d figured that was why it hadn’t been picking anything up — the players had been hiding under a protective dome. Half of them headed toward the entrance; the other half rushed off toward the far side of the cave. And that’s when it hit me that there was a second way out. You idiot! For some reason, I’d been thinking that the players had run themselves into a corner by hiding in the cave, but that was just another mistake on my part. I’d lost the marionettes for the same reason — they’d been outflanked.
Whatever, we’ll keep going. Waiting for the crowd of players to leave the cave, I activated the detonators. And that was when I actually ran out of marionettes.
You destroyed the third round of monsters.
The dungeon has been updated, monster levels bumped up twice (current: 17).
Final round. Single combat.
***
You killed 4 players from the owner’s personal guard.
You can collect 4 (5) named items in the store.
Level +80 (354).
40 free attribute points received.
***
You destroyed 8G7-4, the fifth spawn of your hexagon’s general.
Level +5 (359).
5 free attribute points received.
Player GRN7-5 promoted to GRN7-4.
Oh, not bad! No sooner had the sound of stones raining down died away, than Villian’s furious voice rang out.
“Mark Derwin, you’re dead! You hear me?! I’m going to rip you in half with my bare hands!”
Finally, we were done with the you’re going to be with me and the I’ll train you in the next release. Villian was showing its true colors. Well, you’re down to just three minions. We were going to see what it could do with them.
“Really, Mark, what’s next?” Grust asked.
“You’ll see,” I replied with a bloodthirsty smile as I searched my consciousness for access to the mines I’d set earlier. “Let’s do this.”
Boom!
Chapter 23
Congratulations!
You won the single combat.
Letio Durvale cleared.
Level +3 (362).
Reward generated.
Rainbow pearl materialized.
UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS TIME, the dungeon didn’t make me the sole recipient of the prize regardless of the fact that I’d killed the boss on my own. Whatever it was, it hadn’t been capable of standing up to ninety thermal mines going off at once. But I did have to hurry — Villian could also read, and it was presumable dashing over to the main cave. I need to meet it there.
“Stay here and hide under this dome!” I barked at Grust as I tossed him a level six camouflage field generator. I hope that’s good enough for him to stay hidden from Villian and the rest of Four’s underlings. Certainly, they were going to find him eventually, as they’d either search the whole dungeon from top to bottom or head right over to the cave. My money was on the first option — it gave me more time to maneuver. As far as I was concerned, I sprinted off toward the main cave. It was tough to still call it that, of course, as the explosion had turned once-imposing walls into piles of rubble. But yet again, I got lucky. All the other entrances were blocked, meaning the only way to get to the boss was by venturing into range of my device control.
An enormous pirate’s chest sat in a deep crater right in the middle of the cave. Jumping over and lifting the lid, I didn’t bother to read the names or descriptions of the items before tossing all five of them into my virtual storage. I’ll have time for that later if I survive. In the meantime, all my attention was drawn to a small, shimmering sphere the size of a tennis ball. It looked a lot like noa, in fact. Also sporting rainbow colors and flashing lightning, it was hovering in the air next to the chest. All I had to do was grab it for a message to pop up in my brain:
Mark Derwin collected the rainbow pearl. Information sent to all players in World of the Changed.
I wasn’t thrilled about that. A hundred million to one, everyone was going to come at me trying to get their hands on it. By the way, what’s so special about it?
Rainbow pearl. Description: Unique item used to turn all attribute and skill points into free attribute points while retaining levels and restoring the body to the first backup. All
points can be reused. The item’s special property depends on the player using it. For players who are personified noa, using the rainbow pearl completely restores their original body and transfers their mind to it. Once the game is complete, the player will not be destroyed. Cost: None.
It took everything in me not to use the pearl right then and there. No, I can’t! As long as I was personified noa, the owner couldn’t slap penalties on me or make me a pariah. If I turned back into a person, I’d get hit with absolutely everything it could throw at me. Not right now. As soon as I knew the game was about to end, I was going to use it. Of course, so long as I could hang onto it. The pearl categorically refused to find a new home in my virtual storage.
Dropping it into a jacket pocket, I crawled out of the crater, made my way across the rubble, pressed myself against the wall, and headed back, scanning the area as I went. I needed to make sure I was close to the cave where my partner was when —
Pearl of the South (World of the Changed Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 30
