World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh

by Vasily Mahanenko

  You were granted access to the control block for the castle

  protection system.

  Would you like to turn it off?

  No, of course not! Instead, I added myself and Gelian, gave us admin access, and made sure there wouldn’t be any problem digging through the goodies that awaited. But I certainly didn’t turn anything off.

  I didn’t even have to hack anything since I had complete access to the control block. A few long seconds went by, and then the game finally had some good news for me:

  You completed your part of your deal with the balancing

  force.

  Leave the Tsarter base. Gelian will clear the location containing the Last Chance dungeon in 6 hours.

  Chapter 23

  “MARK, STILL, why do it?” Squirrel asked yet again. I could only sigh. There were no more words, no arguments that could get past her iron-clad why. It made sense — there were just a few days left until the dragons blood was pumped out and the game disappeared. Or rather, until the noa mining was kicked into high gear. Then, the game would disappear. By the rules of the world, if we survived the owner leaving, we would live for a veiy long time. So, really, why? Why did I need to break into the dungeon, resurrect Villian, try to destroy the dragon? Wouldn't it have been better to cross my arms and wait for the release to wrap up?

  No, it wouldn't!

  As soon as I gave control of the Tsarter base to the four-armed balancing force, it pulled out all the women and closed off access to me. It probably closed off access to everyone. That turned the site into an impenetrable monolith of game and real-world metal. Although, Gelian did one thing for me: it gave me a transport LTS so I could get the women somewhere safe. It even taught one of them how to fly it. But as soon as I saw the women, I felt a stirring in my pants. There were forty-seven of them, any of which would have won the Miss Universe pageant sans makeup. They were stunning. No, perfect. Young, adorable, and unforgivably beautiful. Huddling together in expectation of a trick, it took them a long time to realize that their long nightmare was over. In fact, it was only when I got them all loaded into the vehicle and told them we were off to see other people that many of them broke down. I had to wonder how Villian and its troops had picked them. The green lizards presumably had their own concept of beauty, so how did they know what Earthlings thought was the ideal?

  Gelian kept two women, both succubuses, for itself. I hadn’t doubted that someone in Tsarter would find themselves slave girls like that. It’s actually great to have someone with you who you think is that beautiful, especially when they can satisfy all your sexual needs.

  There wasn’t much choice where to go, so I headed toward the nearest safe point where there were definitely going to be people. We were off to see the troops. Of course, that also let me see Squirrel again. After telling her about my plans, I was surprised to hear her push back vehemently. She didn’t understand the point of risking everything to destroy the owner. It would have been much simpler to sit there safely and rebuild Earth from the mins of whatever was left. I'd just brought a bunch of women that could help repopulate the planet, after all. Humans weren’t going to go extinct.

  What also surprised me was that many people, even some of the troops, shared her opinion. Maximov, as a general, was all for a full-on attack, but a number of his subordinates leaned toward leaving well enough alone and not provoking the enemy.

  But that wasn’t me at all. Victory' was in sight. We needed to stop the enemy and get back everything — if we stopped the release, Earth wouldn’t have ten or twenty thousand years. We’d have the millions that lay ahead until the planet crashed into the sun. Needless to say, all my arguments led to the same point with Squirrel: what happened in ten thousand years had nothing to do with us. We were going to die, so what did it matter what happened to the planet?

  I flew off without saying goodbye. At some point, I’d realized there wras no longer a place for me there. The people were rebuilding their lives, there was no alien threat for the first time in twro months, and the regular inter-personal problems were starting to pop up. Some were too arrogant, others were too stingy7, more were too sensitive, and yet others wanted something more than what they had. With no common enemy, they were slipping back into old habits.

  Gelian hadn’t lied to me — the location with the dungeon really was a wasteland. The balancing force itself was sitting next to the entrance lazily paging through a magazine. Where did it get that?

  “I can’t say I’m happy with how things turned out,” Gelian said frankly as soon as I landed. “A lot of the players got away, and I don’t have the least interest in chasing them dowm. The mechanisms wrere cleared, the owner’s servants wrere taken out, and that drone is all yours. I don’t have access to it. Basically, the job is done. You’re welcome to head into the dungeon.”

  I looked over wThere it wras pointing. Not far aw^ay, a metal pillow was hovering in the air. It belonged to the real world, and that immediately told me who it belonged to — the owner. The dragon had decided to send an eye in to see for itself what was going on. Unable to help myself, I waved and drew a thumb across my throat. I could only hope that gesture meant the same in the owner’s world, and not something else like an invitation to join me at our wedding. And while I really wanted to pull out my pistol and gun the thing down, I held back. First, I only had three clips left. And second, it w7as better to let the dragon think I was useless against its equipment. It’s free to wonder how I was able to take out Lirkun. Even Gelian didn’t really know, and that was good with me. The less your opponent is aware of, the longer you have to live.

  “Up to you,” Gelian said with a shrug when it realized I wasn’t going to do anything. “All I can do is warn you. The location is clear, and nobody will be showing up. Oh, and the grille wasn’t part of the deal — you have to take care of that yourself.”

  “Of course,” I said before stepping over to the real-world metal. Just in case, I gave Fang a try. It didn’t elicit so much as a spark — my faithful dagger wras powrerless. On the other hand, I had something else that was going to be far more effective.

  I took some time going through the pictures in my multitool before finally stopping on something that looked like a circular saw. The blade and its fine teeth were perfect for the situation, so I printed it out, pressed the button, and held it against the grille. That time, sparks flew, the pleasant smell of burning metal hit my nostrils, and the first link was cut in a matter of seconds. I stopped the saw and glanced down at the blade. It looked to be in great shape. Not far away, I heard Gelian s shocked whistle, though I wasn’t about to explain to the function what was going on. I got lucky, okay?

  A couple minutes later, and the grille collapsed noiselessly to the ground, disappearing into it completely. It struck me that with its mass and the speed it was building up, the only place to look for it was going to be a kilometer and a half below the surface. Down where the game ends. But the dungeon entrance was wide open. I deactivated my tool and dropped it into my pouch, and that was when the game suddenly activated. The owner was letting me know7 it hadn’t sent its drone over on a lark.

  The game owner applied the Outcast penalty to you.

  The game owner paid the creator a penalty for applying the Outcast penalty to a natural release player.

  Monster levels reduced by l (current level: 2).

  Note! Outcast cannot be applied to personified noa.

  I laughed, unable to help myself. Yes! I’d been sure the dragon’s patience would run out sooner or later. It definitely knew I’d bought those little thingies so I could turn back into a regular player, and sheer naivety had led it to believe I’d used one right awray. Ha! Of course, I’d known full well I couldn’t do that. Sure, later, when everything was over, but not then. The dragon obviously didn't want me to head into the dungeon given that it had taken that risk. Soon enough, the monsters were going to lose all their levels and turn back into people.

  After taking off my f
ew game items to leave myself in nothing but my belt and pouch, I stepped resolutely into the shimmering film.

  You entered Last Chance.

  Before I even had time to look around, my subconscious pulled off a few maneuvers: I went invisible, my body leaped into the air, and I pressed myself against the stone ceiling. Once there, hanging upside down, I was able to see where I was.

  The dungeon turned out to be a multi-level maze without any walls to speak of. The narrow perches in the harsh-looking spider web skirted an enormous cave. They intersected, dropped down a level, and dead-ended in the most unexpected of places. And while my perception didn’t work, I was able to zoom in on one of the little bridges and see a small device on the underside with wires running away from it. It was a mine. As soon as I stepped on an invisible trigger or hit a trip line, the bridge would end its existence along with my owm. That's the traps Verloven was talking about. None of the bridges in the wiiole mess had railings, so it was also easy enough to just trip and plummet down to the bottom, winch was wThere my objective wras. About a hundred meters below me, perhaps even more, I could see a mound. Zooming in, I saw7 a small lamp, the kind they summoned genies with in all the cartoons. And there, my perception told me everything I needed to know. It wras what I’d come to collect.

  Last Chance relic.

  A game item set in the midst of reality. Just then, I thought to glance at myself, and I found that my newfound figure was gone. Once again, I was the lanky, gangling guy I’d been two months before. Even my teeth were back the way they’d been — I could feel the gap. If it hadn’t been for my ability to fly, I presumably wouldn't have been able to hang from the rocks the way I was.

  At every point where the bridges intersected, there were armed people. Two months of painful suspense had done nothing to lessen their resolve or appearance — they were well-fed, focused, and, worst of all for me, staring in my direction. I heard an order barked from far off.

  “We have an incursion! First group, move in to clear. Find the

  alien!”

  Heavy footfalls broke out on the bridge that led to me, and a squad of four soldiers appeared. Two were ahead and armed with shields; the two behind them wielded automatics. They stopped right under me, having gotten all the way to the shimmering film, one of them barking into his radio.

  “Clear!”

  “The alien is invisible. Use your infrared goggles.”

  My jaw dropped when I heard how quick-thinking the person giving the orders was. One of the troops strapped on a device and began looking around, finally exclaiming in surprise with a finger pointed in my direction.

  “Got him. He’s on the ceiling!”

  His squad mates began wheeling their automatics around in my direction, and that was when I activated my sacrificial offering. It was in self-defense. But no messages popped up — there, in reality, the game couldn’t tell me about what I was doing, though that didn’t change how deadly the move was. All four soldiers crumpled into dried-out mummies.

  “First group, report in!” the local commander called through the radio. “Is the target down? Does anyone see them?”

  “Visual contact! Four two hundred. The alien isn’t there.”

  “Take out the bridge, everyone to the ninth level! The alien is invisible, so all squads put on infrared goggles. Find it! Snipers, in position. Don't let it get any lower!”

  Everything happened so quickly that I barely had time to react. The bridge leading away from the cave at the entrance, not to mention a few7 of the pathways around my level, lit up with fiery explosions. The remnants of the shock waves reached me, knocked me off the ceiling, and flung me against the wall. I landed so hard my back began hurting, in fact. Am I bleeding? I was also knocked out of invisibility.

  “Alien acquired!” a spotter called in the radio. “Marker up!”

  A red laser dot appeared on my chest, and I leaped to the side despite the searing pain. I was used to it — injuries had become old hat for me in recent times. Stone flakes flew up behind me as several bullets slammed into the spot where I’d just been sitting. The snipers were on their game. But the laser followed me, and I had no choice but to go invisible again and dash back toward the other side in the hopes that they wouldn’t keep firing there. But while a few stray shards did hit me, they just resulted in scratches. I dropped to the floor and crouched behind the rocks, trying to even out my breathing and stop the shaking. So, you wanted to take on the army, did you? Thought you were so str'ong? When you come up against real killers, you suddenly don’t feel so big.

  The radio crackled again.

  “Target lost! Taking over in the infrared spectrum. The alien is behind the rocks.”

  “Use rocket launchers! Brace for shrapnel and cover the relic.”

  I looked over in panic at the shimmering film behind me. Should I just get out of here while it’s not too late? My common sense was screaming at me — the enemy I was up against was not one that would fall for my stupid tricks. The best of the best could take me out without breaking a sweat. The four I’d dropped had just been a misunderstanding.

  Glancing over at the remains of the troops, I decided to try one

  more Crazy Ivan before getting the hell out of there.

  “There it is!” Once again, the marker lit me lip, though the snipers were just a bit too late. I ducked out of my hiding spot, headed over to the bodies, picked up the radio, and dove back behind the rocks. That was when they caught me. Bullets slammed into the stone around me once again, though I was out of reach. Only a stray piece of shrapnel would have been able to get me. Happily, I got lucky, and the bullets just buried themselves in the rock.

  I’d never worked a radio before, though it didn’t seem like much of a challenge. Hitting the button, I started talking.

  “This is Mark Derwin. I’m human — hold your fire! Again, my name is Mark Derwin, a human. Don’t shoot!”

  “It’s on the channel. Switch to the backup!” A terrifying silence fell. The troops were still talking, though I had no idea which channel to switch to or how to switch to it. Still, I was sure someone was listening to me, so I kept going.

  “My name is Mark Derwin. Two months ago, a game called World of the Changed was rolled out on Earth. It modified the entire planet, occupying everything down to a depth of a kilometer and a half. Almost everyone turned into monsters, though a few of the ones with phones stayed the same to fight for the planet. But not only have wre been up against the game and the dragon who owns it, we’ve also had to take on an army of actual aliens. The ones who came with the game.”

  I talked and talked, going through the events of the previous two months. Everything I’d been through, everything I knew about the game. I even told them why I was there and what kind of device they were guarding. A little while later, I realized I hadn’t eaten any rockets. And nobody interrupted me — there was nothing coming from the speakers.

  “I panicked and used sacrificial offering to kill these four,” I said as I wrapped up the long story. “Now, I’m sitting behind these rocks trying to decide if I should make a run for it and enjoy my last few days on Earth or risk my life trying to get Villian and find out how to turn off the protective dome. The end.”

  “Stand up and remove your camouflage,” someone ordered a little while later. I followed their instructions, though I was shaking with fear. One shot, and I would have been a dead body. A real one, with no chance at corning back.

  “Show us you can fly.”

  I wanted to tell the soldiers I wasn’t a circus animal but decided against pushing them. Just like at sea, I wasn’t able to fly, though I could hover a bit off the ground since there was no wind in the cave. There I was, a perfect target.

  “Come down to the lowest level so we can talk.”

  The radio disconnected, and I leaped forward, grabbing hold of the next level down. The jump was a good one — I wras able to grab the edge of the bridge without falling, though the momentum carried my legs for
ward. Strong arms grabbed me and hauled me up. The barrel of an automatic was thrust against my chest.

  “One move, and I shoot,” said a surly voice from behind the helmet. “Walk forward.”

  I wasn’t about to move. Following the long, winding paths, we headed down, the defenses on each level better and better. It got to the point wrhere the bridge intersections and ladders leading to the next level down were covered by machine guns. And there were lots of soldiers. Too many of them, in fact. When I'd shown up, I’d been counting on a couple dozen starving people I’d be able to get by without much trouble. That was very different from the multi-layered and well-organized defense I'd found. My perception told me nothing, though I caught a few glimmers in the darkness. Those have to be ti'ip lines, other traps, or something else capable of blocking off access to the next level down. The local army was surprisingly well prepared for all unpleasantries.

  “Hand over your weapon,” the soldier accompanying me barked roughly, and I took off my pouch without asking any questions. The pistol, button, and multitool were pulled out, after which the pouch was returned. I was told to cover myself. Apparently, they had fierce women there to go along with the fierce men — nobody wanted to get their spirits down with a view of my naked ass.

  Next, I was taken to a small tent with multiple partitions where the leadership was waiting for me. The average age was around forty, there were no women, and the faces... It was already bordering on cliche. All of them were resolute and firm. The group of people gathered there looked confident in their strength, though the one in charge was a step above them. While it wasn’t so much that he was a monster on the outside, as his appearance didn’t really differ from the others, the way he carried himself in the group told me he thought himself morally superior. A wolf in a pack of mongrels. And not even a mangy wolf, but a veteran alpha wolf forged in the fires of life.

  “What did you say the ship’s name was?” he asked, and I involuntarily pulled myself to attention. After giving the name of the ship in the northern sea, I awaited my fate.