The Heroic Villain 2

by Charles Dean

  “Worth my while . . .” the mage in red, who was standing on Bonnie’s left, muttered while looking down at her. “She’s not even my type,” he thought aloud.

  At those words, Thomas apparently decided to take action before the mage could make up his mind. “KILL HIM!” Thomas yelled. “Don’t let him get to you! He’s capable of warping people’s minds! Just look at what he did to the girls!”

  “Yeah, I saw it with Trish. He stole her right from me even in the middle of a fight. We have to kill him before he talks even more!”

  “Ha ha ha! Kill me? You pathetic worms think you have what it takes to defeat me?! Well, be prepared to taste death, you scum!” Lucas bellowed, slamming his staff on the ground like he was about to cast a spell. The effect was immediate: everyone flinched, getting ready to duck as they anticipated a boss-level NPC spell.

  But Lucas hadn’t cast anything. He wasn’t an NPC boss with an amazing game-ending spell. He was just a regular player with a very large health and mana pool from the extra levels granted to him through a fortunate glitch. He merely laughed again as they flinched away and then turned around and carefully jumped through the doorway before hurrying to Lilith and the guards waiting for him.

  Lilith, who had listened to the whole thing, was covering her mouth, and she looked like she was doing her best not to laugh loud enough for Thomas and his people to hear.

  “COME BACK HERE, YOU BASTARD!” Thomas shouted, and Lucas could hear them rush toward the door.

  “Why should I bother? I’ll just go steal a few more women! THEY’RE ALL MINE!” Lucas cried, laughing loudly, baiting them to lose their wits.

  “YOU STU--”

  BOOM! Thomas’s shout was cut off by the sound of a loud detonation. Wooden debris, fire, some metal shrapnel, and chunks of flesh sprayed out in all directions from the doorway.

  “What in the hell did you put in that thing?” Lucas asked Lilith as he watched the entire doorway get shredded.

  You have killed Jaime. You have been awarded 2402 EXP. A Forest Stalker bow, 10 armor-piercing arrows, and 11 gold have dropped upon death.

  Lucas peeked around the corner and saw that the bomb had worked wonders. The archer was lying here and there in barely recognizable pieces, reducing the enemy count from six to five, and Thomas and the robe-wearing weirdo had been knocked down.

  “They’re down!” Lucas shouted while standing up and pointing his own staff at Thomas. “Get ‘em, men!”

  Just then, Linnaeus barreled through the window behind Thomas’s gang in a spray of broken glass. He was protectively clutching the new Ant-Dragon in four of his hands and using his arms to prevent any glass from cutting the monster.

  “I see the signal was an invitation to a feast! Now, this is a proper and gentlemanly way to extend such a greeting,” Linnaeus called out as he put Eri down. He tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck, and then extended his arms and wings as wide as they would go. Unfortunately for Linnaeus, there just wasn’t enough space for him to do anything. The room was rather tight, and the ape beast, who relied almost exclusively on speed and mobility, was too big. His wings were pushing against both the ceiling and the floor, and he was left nearly immobile after stretching out. He didn’t even appear to be able to make use of his tail effectively to attack anyone since it would have had to maneuver all the way around him before it could hit anything in front of him.

  Eri, however, had no such issues. Lucas’s little would-be ground dragon ran toward the scattered body parts from the player that had just been killed, completely ignoring everything and everyone else in the room.

  Lucas didn’t wait for anyone else and chose that moment to attack. He rushed out of hiding and began channeling Wind Wall, hoping to blow the deceased archer’s mage buddy out the window.

  “Can you really afford us?” the mage next to Viola asked immediately upon seeing Lucas.

  “I can definitely give you what you deserve,” Lucas answered with a smile as he began concurrently channeling a second Wind Wall. He launched both spells simultaneously a moment later, but it only served to throw the mage back into one of Linnaeus’s waiting wings rather than out of the building. Linnaeus took the non-physical combatant as fresh prey and quickly grabbed the man with his three left arms, wrapped him up tightly with his left wing, and bit down on the mage’s head. The mage screamed out in shock and pain, but it was futile against Linnaeus’s far superior strength.

  Lucas didn’t have time to relish the fact his double channeling had worked nor attempt to attack anyone else. One of the other mages began casting a spell that Lucas recognized as Shadow Pillars, and Jake rushed forward. Two monstrous columns of shadow shot out of the floor and disappeared into the ceiling. They began spinning around in preparation for attack, but by the time they reached their full rotation speed, Lucas was already out of harm’s way. He had ducked behind the first intact bits of wall he could find and scrambled to hide before the black shadow crystals started popping out of the pillars. Seconds later, he heard the shards slam into the wall he was hiding behind.

  “Idiot, he’s taken cover. Shoot the soldiers!” Thomas yelled, and a second later, Lucas heard one of his own men scream.

  “I better get that money!” Lucas heard the other mage call out. The warning was followed by a sudden shriek, and Lucas risked poking his head out to see what was happening. The Fire Mage had ignited the ground underneath the nearby Shadow Mage and created a large wall of Fire that blazed in place and scorched the mage. The heat was intense enough for Lucas to feel the temperature change instantly from where he was outside the room, and he was immediately concerned when he saw that the attack also engulfed Linnaeus. The monster stopped gnawing on the man’s head and howled in pain and rage, almost dropping the man from his clutches completely.

  Lucas started channeling Exploding Tear and popped out from behind the wall. He didn’t actually think that the Water attack would help him fend off much for long, but he was hoping it would let him block any attacks from the Shadow Mage and help him put out the fire around Linnaeus. As he launched his attack, he noticed that Lilith and Jake were locked in combat. She dodged a few of his slashes only to have her own piercing thrusts surprisingly blocked in kind. If someone had asked him before the fight started, Lucas would have expected the fight to swing heavily in Lilith’s favor, given how skilled she appeared to be, but the two seemed a lot more evenly matched than expected.

  The last remaining member of the opposing group, Thomas, was infuriated. “What the hell?! This can’t be!” he howled at Lucas’s troops as they filed through the shattered doorway and surrounded him. “How can you serve that monster?!” He pulled out a sword and stepped forward, slashing at one of the guards. The moment he made his move, Steve lunged in from the side and slashed Thomas in the back. The wound wasn’t deep, and it barely penetrated Thomas’s expensive-looking black leather armor, but it seemed to enrage the man, causing him to flail around with his sword again.

  “We got this one, Baron Lucas,” Steve said. Thomas turned toward the guard and slashed out wildly only to have two other guards stab him in the back.

  Being surrounded is no joke, Lucas thought as he walked into the room. He was really happy with the way the fight was going so far. He hadn’t lost anyone, he had gained a potential--albeit questionable--ally for the moment, he had gotten rid of another one of the enemies with the explosive door trap, and Lilith and his men seemed more than capable of dealing with the handful of players. The battle looked to be a success from Lucas’s perspective, and he was glad for it since this was only the first of dozens of battles to come before nightfall.

  He made his way around the combatants toward Viola and Bonnie, who were still each crouched on the ground trying to make themselves small, and then stumbled forward several steps when the building was shook violently from an explosion from below.

  You have killed Wanda. You have been awarded 1420 EXP. A steel dagger, a lucky rabbit’s foot, and 32 silver have dr
opped upon death.

  You have killed Tucker. You have been awarded 1372 EXP. A wooden round shield and 26 silver have dropped upon death.

  You have killed Byron. You have been awarded 1501 EXP. An average athlete’s elixir and 2 gold have dropped upon death.

  You have killed Chondra. You have been awarded 1499 EXP. A Shaman’s Cure staff and 13 silver have dropped upon death.

  Crap, are more people showing up already? I don’t have much time then. Lucas darted toward Bonnie, channeling a Scorching Skull as he ran. The room wasn’t too large, not nearly as massive as the throne rooms he had fought in previously, and he had to weave around obstacles as he made his way past Lilith and her opponent, around the soldiers circling Thomas, and toward the corner of the room.

  The Shadow Mage, who was desperately trying to avoid the Fire Mage’s continued walls of flames, finally seemed to give up. He stopped all attempts to fight back and grabbed at Bonnie on the ground. “Screw it!” he shouted as he manhandled the girl.

  “No! Don’t you dare!” Bonnie cried. Unlike Viola, she had been bound with rope, and the bindings kept her from squirming free from his grasp. Even as she struggled against him, the mage was easily able to hoist her up.

  “If I’m going to die, one of you bastards is going with me!” the mage laughed, dragging both himself and Bonnie through the Fire Mage’s flames as he started pulling her toward the window. “We’re going to go jumping!” The Shadow Mage’s health had deteriorated to the point where the Fire was now leaving horrid burn marks across his skin and melting his clothes.

  “Cancel the Fire!” Lucas ordered, trying to save Bonnie, and the mage did as commanded.

  Viola leapt up and slammed into the Shadow Mage in an awkward tackle that broke Bonnie free but sent both Viola and the Shadow Mage crashing through the window. Lucas, not more than six feet from the incident, watched in what felt like slow motion as Viola twisted around to flash a face full of woe while she and the Shadow Mage smashed through the glass window panes.

  “It’s the only way I can free my mind of his curse!” she cried as she fell away. Half of her words were barely audible as gravity kicked in and pulled her toward a quick death on the ground below.

  You have killed Niklas. You have been awarded 2477 EXP. A silk robe, a leather bracer, and 12 gold have dropped upon death.

  Party member Viola has died.

  Lucas had never lost a party member before this except the ones he had killed himself, and he didn’t know how to react. He rushed to look out the window only to see her mangled corpse on the ground below, feet and arms and knees and elbows jutting out in all directions.

  Even in the end, she still played the part, Lucas thought, confused as to what to feel. Turning around, he realized that Viola hadn’t been looking at him at the end, but rather at Thomas, who had also watched the scene. She probably just did a real number on him, he thought, seeing the young man’s eyes turn red and bloodshot as he let out a scream.

  “YOU FILTHY FRICKING FIEND! IM GOING TO MURD--”

  The intelligible part of his screams was cut short as Steve stabbed him in the lower back, adding yet another cut across the young man’s body.

  You have killed Jimmy. You have been awarded 2376 EXP. An Elemental Balance staff and 10 gold have dropped upon death.

  Upon seeing the death notification, Lucas turned to watch as Linnaeus finally began feasting upon Human brains after crunching through the mage’s skull.

  “This is a dish truly meant for only kings,” Linnaeus said. “Though ‘tis a pity about your woman, brother. A noble man like yourself will face many worse tragedies, however, as you right the wrongs of the ignoble institutions seeking your gallant heart,” Linnaeus continued on, but his high and mighty voice and pretentious words were soured by the fact his tongue only managed to spit them out between slurps of the mage’s cranial cavity.

  Lucas then looked over at Bonnie who was now lying on her side and struggling roughly against her bonds. He could see anger and frustration, not unlike Thomas’s, on her face.

  “It’s a shame really,” Lucas said, continuing on and pretending as if he were completely unfazed by Viola’s death as he once again turned back to Thomas. “She was such a good chess piece. It was fun bending her to my will--both her mind and her body.” Thomas’s rage was so intense that Lucas could almost taste it, and he thrilled in seeing how far he could push him.

  He found the situation somewhat amusing. Being the bad guy by choice had forced him to put on this face, had forced Viola into this situation, and had inevitably led to Viola’s fall. Yet, despite all outward appearances, from an objective point of view with all facts known, Lucas knew that Thomas was the bad guy. Even if it was just a game, Thomas had taken two women against their will and locked them in a room. Everyone thought that they were NPCs, so the treatment his friends had received was probably not the best. Players were notoriously unkind to NPCs. Even if this group’s boss was one of the ultimate white knights and kept his men in line, that didn’t make his actions excusable by any means.

  “How could you throw away your humanity like that!” Thomas lobbed the accusation at Lucas as he righted himself, doing his best not to let the dozen small cuts keep him down.

  “It was easy,” Lucas answered nonchalantly. “It was fun. That woman? She was fun. She may be gone now, but all good meals are cleaned from the plate in time . . . and she was among the best. Her flesh was delicious, her body soft and supple--perfect to entertain a man through a long night.” Honestly, he must have seen Viola naked in one of the hot tub booze parties that the team had taken on many an occasion back on Hesse, but the two of them hadn’t even so much as hugged.

  “You . . . No, she wouldn’t . . . You couldn’t . . . You--”

  “I think it’s time for you to die now. I’m done wasting words on someone who won’t be alive long enough to appreciate them. Go and meet your beloved in the afterlife. Just know what she’s done when you kiss her and how she begged me for more.” Lucas turned to Steve and said, “Finish the job.”

  Steve replied with a curt nod and instantly led the group of soldiers in the merciless attack on the mentally broken and screaming Thomas.

  You have killed Thomas. You have been awarded 1102 EXP. A poem entitled “Ode to an Alfar Goddess” and 2 silver have dropped upon death.

  You have killed Jake. You have been awarded 1799 EXP. A fine steel wakizashi staff and 5 gold have dropped upon death.

  No sooner had Lucas’s men finished off the weak kidnapper than Lilith had landed a death blow. Her timing made Lucas wonder whether she had possessed the ability to do that since the start of their fight or if the moment of the kill really was that coincidental.

  Congratulations! You have finished clearing your dungeon of all those with hostile intentions against you. You may now access all of the dungeon’s functions. Would you like to open up the dungeon management display now?

  Yes, bring it up, Lucas thought and immediately went through the series of commands to open up the map tab. Most of the rooms were just harmless hotel suites, but some of them showed occupants. There was a chance that they were actually residents or guests, but there was an even greater likelihood that they had been hired by the skeezy guy from whom Lucas had acquired the hotel in order to keep up the appearance of a legitimate business.

  On top of the images of everyone in their rooms on his floor and the floors below, Lucas could also see thirteen people on the ground floor. Eleven were clearly his own people since they showed up as blue dots on the HUD and had their combat statistics listed on a little note next to each name. The remaining two were red, and Lucas was able to watch as his eleven blue dots struggled against the two red ones in real time. Since he had left twelve guards to hold that door and only eleven still remained, he could only assume the extra guard had already died.

  “What’s he doing now?” Lucas heard Lilith asking Bonnie as she cut her out of her bindings.

  “Don’t know. He does this
on occasion,” Bonnie answered. “He is probably just acc--” Bonnie immediately stopped herself. She had likely just remembered that half of the purpose of what Lucas was doing was to become an NPC boss for players. It wasn’t exactly a secret--Lucas was sure several people knew already, or at least had a suspicion--but Bonnie and the others were under strict orders from Liu to not “break the immersion” of those interacting with the group. “He’s just focusing really intently on his power, likely finding a replacement for the girl we just lost.” Bonnie stood up and walked over to the window as if she were silently mourning at the site of Viola’s death.

  “Ah! Neat!” Lilith chimed happily. “Usually, it takes people years of poor education, well-placed emotional appeals, and graphic images of the right victims being repeatedly shown to them to brainwash someone. If everyone could just focus for a bit and instantly control another’s mind, it’d save a lot of people a lot of money on advertising.”

  “So, one of you guys gonna pay me now?” the Fire Mage asked, looking around at Lucas’s group.

  Lucas just ignored the mage and everything else happening as he put his mind back to work on the dungeon. While the hotel had no Territorial Income, likely because all the income his other territories were earning was being channeled to the main dungeon he had built on Hesse, it did have a fat cash supply. Each player that died had left behind some type of coin, and even after his guards, the traps that Lilith had planted earlier, and the people they had killed with Thomas, the dungeon had 312 gold, to be specific--quite the respectable mount. Underneath the gold was another option tab, Blood Goddess’s Reputation Points, with a small 17 listed beside it.

  What in the heck is that Reputation for? Lucas hadn’t seen the number on any stat screen before. He mentally clicked on it and tried to access whatever in-game options those points were connected to, and when he did, he was instantly supplied with a list of items and effects that looked like the menu at a restaurant, complete with all of the items organized by price in descending order. The cheapest item was 5 points, and it was simply “Blood Hound.” The description under Blood Hound was as follows: