Travail Online: Transcend: LitRPG Series (Book 3)

by Brian Simons

  She hadn’t seen them coming. She couldn’t have even if she turned her head. One second, they were a hundred feet away, sitting idly on wooden columns of their own. The next, they were sealing her up in a wad of webbing. She might die here, a victim of lag, but at least she had succeeded in one thing.

  >> Buff added: War Cry. +5% to Strength and Spirit in combat.

  43

  She did it. She got enough players to join their side that Daniel had an army. They had an army. Coral had changed the tide of the battle. Elf and drow players had teamed up on their NPC counterparts, turning an elven civil war into more of a player vs. NPC battle. Already players were helping Sybil and Sal beat back NPC enemies and reducing the battle’s head count.

  Lag, however, was still an issue. When Daniel looked back he saw Coral hanging upside down with two spiders encasing her in a silvery body bag. It was also starting to get dark again. Sybil’s song must be wearing off.

  Daniel ran toward Coral, leaving a half-dead drow behind. She had an arrow in hand, gripping the wooden shaft and trying to saw away at the spider webbing but getting nowhere.

  He reached up a hand toward her. “Let me pull you down!”

  She held her hand toward his, but her fingers slipped through the space his hand occupied. “Take my hand!” he said.

  “It won’t work,” she said, straining to reach for him. “I think it’s your Steelskin, and my Shiftwalking through metal.”

  Daniel knelt down and pounded the ground. He finally had Coral back on the team and it was like they walked on different planes of existence. If he didn’t act quickly, he’d lose her again. He couldn’t give Coral his iron longsword, and the spiders and their webbing were too high to reach.

  Instead, he threw his weight against one of the wooden poles Coral was strung up between. He ground his feet into the dirt and pushed with all his might. He felt it tipping, its wide base lifting half an inch from the ground. He continued to push as blood rushed to his face. Finally, it tipped far enough to let gravity handle the rest. The column toppled over, snapping apart the web line the spiders worked on and sending them to the ground. Coral dangled from the opposite column on a thin strand of webbing for a second before it snapped. She tumbled onto the grass and tore the webs apart to free herself.

  “I’d help you up,” he said, “but…”

  “That’s okay. Thanks for the assist, iron man,” she said.

  “Wrong metal,” he said. “I’m a man of steel.” He swung a sword at a nearby arackid and chopped off three of its legs. It scrambled in a circle, unable to move forward while Daniel stabbed his sword through it.

  >> Arackid dies. You receive 240 XP.

  Onik limped toward them with two injured drow NPCs chasing behind. Then a massive female arackid tackled them with enough force to kill both drow, wiping them from the battlefield.

  Onik rolled his dice. “Yahtzee!” He stabbed his sword upward, lodging it in the space where the female arackid’s head connected with her thorax. The creature’s HP evaporated under the power of Onik’s doubled damage. Her severed head fell to the grass and rolled once before vanishing.

  Sybil ran toward them, with Sal close behind. The ogre panted when he came to a stop, his face drenched in soot-black sweat. “Look at this!” Sal said. “I ate a spider leg!” He opened his mouth and took aim, sending a long, stringy wad of webbing from his throat. It landed on a drow archer with a splat, immobilizing his arms. “I call it Spitterwebbing!”

  “The lag is getting better,” Daniel said, “as the NPC count goes down. But now the arackids are coming.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?” Onik asked. “You need the XP for that skill you’re working on.”

  “It won’t add up fast enough,” Daniel said. “I got too used to the XP from those blighted mobs. At this rate, I’ll need to kill a ton of arackids.”

  “We could roll for it,” Onik said. He stabbed an arackid in the side as his dagger glowed blue. His dice must have given him some magic attack on that one.

  “What does that mean?” Daniel asked. He kicked upward and clipped a spider in the jaw, stabbing its belly as it reared back.

  “Double or nothing,” Onik replied. “High roller gets the other’s XP in addition to their own for a set time. We could wager a minute, or an hour. It’s up to you.”

  “I’m not rolling away my XP!” Daniel said.

  “You could level faster,” Onik said.

  “Or not at all,” Daniel said.

  “There’s thrill in the uncertainty,” Onik said.

  “There’s thrill in earning what’s mine and keeping it,” Daniel replied.

  Onik shrugged and kept fighting against arackids while the others did the same. The spiders circled them, pinning their small group into a confined space. With a lunge of fang and bristle, an arackid lifted an elf player from the ground and threw her across the battlefield. She landed with a thud and then started to fade away.

  There were too many spiders. Across the darkening glade, male and female arackids attacked to kill, then fed on the corpses of their enemies. Occasionally they started to feed before their player targets were dead. A handful skittered closer as Daniel brandished his sword at them.

  “I could charge,” Onik said. “If I cleared a path you might follow into the open so we could regroup.”

  “There is no open,” Daniel said. “It’s a sea of spiders. We’ll never reach Sivona, let alone escape.” He lifted his sword and aimed at an arackid leg, hoping to disable the hairy mob.

  >> Buff increased: War Cry. +10% to Strength and Spirit in combat.

  Daniel paused. Somewhere, more allies had joined the fight, but he didn’t know where. With the diminishing number of players on the battlefield, he expected his buff to go down, not up.

  A stringy-haired leshy rammed into the arackid nearest Daniel and knocked the mob on its back. The leshy ripped off a bristly leg and started beating the spider with it. Whether they just liked a good fight, or they truly believed Sybil when she said Sivona was the one ruining their forest, they were fighting alongside them now, a few dozen of them, plucking spiders apart and pounding them into a chitinous pulp.

  This battalion of gangly leshies didn’t even bother killing half of the spiders, just beating them into submission and roving onward toward the next spider still on its feet.

  “I’ll take your leftovers, thanks!” Daniel said, running toward a near-dead arackid and thrusting his sword through it.

  >> Arackid dies. You receive 278 XP.

  This is going to be easy pickings, he thought. Leshies flipped over arackids in their wake, and sent others scurrying back into the trees for safety. Daniel chased after, killing one, two… twenty overturned spiders and ignoring the sad twitching of the stumps the leshies left behind after ripping legs off their joints.

  “Daniel!” Sal yelled. He wound up his maul and swung at an arackid like a golf club, sending the mob toward Daniel. It was a high level arackid with just a sliver of HP left. He sliced it in half in midair.

  >> Arackid dies. You receive 389 XP.

  “Almost there!” he yelled.

  Sivona’s voice boomed across the battlefield. “Stop this, Tawn. Join me. Serve me again. Your only alternative is defeat.”

  “You,” Tawn yelled, “are not more powerful than me. I will control you!” He lowered his wand, breaking the spell that Sivona so nonchalantly shielded herself against.

  Instead, Tawn swung his wand in Daniel’s direction and fired a green beam that landed inches in front of him. Daniel stopped short, giving up the next dying arackid he planned to slay.

  “And you,” Tawn said. “You ruined my homecoming. You’ve meddled for the last time. One more level and my power may rival Sivona’s yet!” He shot magic at Daniel again, but he jumped out of the way.

  “Hey Tawn,” Sybil said, “guess who has her voice back. Sal jumped in front of her as Tawn shot a nasty-looking spell. A cylindrical green beam shot Sal in the stomach, forcing br
ight green welts to grow from his graying skin.

  “You can leave, or you can die, Tawn. The longer you stay in range, the weaker you’ll become.” The phrase Exile appeared above Sybil as she flipped open her minotaur songbook.

  Pack your bags, love.

  We can’t stay here.

  I know you’re loathe to go.

  But people hate

  What people fear.

  This place is not our home.

  Take my hand and

  Leave with me,

  Before they bring the hounds.

  You musn’t cling

  To memories.

  Away is where we’re bound.

  If you won’t come,

  I will not wait.

  The men with swords are nigh.

  History may

  Vindicate us,

  But first comes genocide.

  You’d rather stay,

  Here unwanted,

  Than safely run with me?

  Then I shall take

  My leave of both

  My love and my country.

  With that amulet around her neck reducing her song’s MP cost by 12%, she’d be able to sing much longer. Daniel just hoped it would be long enough.

  Two drow NPCs sidled up to Tawn, short swords in hand. Coral shot arrows toward them to keep them from launching into an attack while Daniel sent a rolling wave of Blind and Slow debuffs with Fog of War. Onik rolled one large die, landing on a nine while the word Gore appeared. He rammed his horns into Sage Tawn, knocking the old mage back and inflicting decent damage.

  Tawn regained his footing. His lips began to move as he cast some new spell. Daniel had been up against Tawn twice now, and knew he preferred using wands for most offensive spells, though the wizard had cast lightning the old fashioned way. The only other magic of his own that he had cast was a whirlwind that let him and the other drow escape The Ersatz. Daniel prepared for some terrible spell to hurtle his way, but the Sage simply started to float in the air. Daniel thrust his sword at Tawn, who darted out of the way with ease. Daniel stared at Tawn while he aimed a wand back at him.

  >> You have Surveilled Sage Tawn, Level 99 Air Mage: 72,040 HP.

  “Air Mage?” Daniel asked.

  “Hence the wands,” Tawn said. “I refuse to let my class constrain my fate! Air is ill suited to power and control. It does, however, come in handy from time to time.” He conjured whirling winds that coalesced into storm clouds with small crackles of lightning in them. The strong gusts coming from Tawn’s tempest sent Coral’s arrows astray.

  Sal stood ready to hammer Tawn with his mouthy new maul, but the mage didn’t get close. He preferred lobbing spells from a distance. Tawn continued to float higher as he shot a torrent of fire with the wand in one hand and a beam of disease with the other.

  Daniel dodged to the side and swung his sword into the air, but Tawn stayed out of striking distance. Instead, Daniel turned on the drow that supported him, taking turns with Sal to whittle down one of them while dodging Tawn’s attacks.

  If Daniel stepped too far to the left, he would be subject to an intense flame from one of Tawn’s wands. Too far to the right and his Steelskin would boil over with welts. Worse still, the pain and damage would be magnified by his skin’s reduced resistance to magic damage. He focused on steering clear of Tawn’s magic beams.

  The others took aim at the second drow, but so far Tawn was untouchable. Only Sybil’s song did any damage, and at 1% of his HP each three seconds, Daniel wasn’t sure they had time to rely on her deadly melody.

  Onik’s blade finally took down one of the drow, but then Tawn’s beam of disease magic landed on the minotaur and turned his mat of brown fur into a mess of green, pus-filled boils. Onik fell to his hooves and lowed in pain.

  Tawn started to drift backward, relying on his one drow guard to keep Daniel at bay. After Sal thwacked him in the head with his hammer, Daniel stabbed him through the heart.

  >> Dark Elf Warrior dies. You receive 422 XP.

  >> Congratulations! You have reached Level 38. To apply your 11 skill points now, open your Skills and Attributes screen.

  Tawn was alone now, the rest of his army occupied throughout the battlefield. Daniel’s heart beat quickly. He had the skill points he needed now. He was eager to unlock the new skill he’d use on Sivona, but he couldn’t spare a moment to bring up his menu. Leveling up also bumped his max HP to 2240, including the Constitution bonus from his armor. It wasn’t much compared to Tawn’s HP, but it was something.

  Then the mage’s fire wand ran out of power. He tossed the useless stick to the ground and lingered in the air for a moment, digging into the bundle of wands that hung at his side.

  This was Daniel’s opening. He sprinted ahead and jumped toward Tawn with his sword held out. He came within inches of a good solid hit, but Tawn was too high, and floated backward too quickly. Tawn was kiting them, and it pissed Daniel off.

  Tawn drew another wand from his belt. This one glowed with a pleasant pink light. Daniel recognized it; Sybil had stolen a similar wand from Tawn’s chamber and used it earlier in the forest. It had turned a tree to ash with its disintegrative magic. Daniel resumed dodging the magic energy Tawn shot at them and wondering how he could sink a sword into the wizened mob.

  As Tawn floated ahead, he left a trail of dust and disease behind, which Daniel continued to evade until finally his knee locked up and let out a loud grinding sound. He was more than steel-skinned now, the transformation was seeping into his joints. He tumbled forward from the inertia of his failed running and Tawn’s pink pillar of destruction swept over him.

  Daniel’s metallic body absorbed and amplified the power of that magic attack, causing more damage than Daniel thought one hit should be worth.

  >> You’ve been hit! 1733 Damage.

  He looked up at Tawn and watched the old mage stumble back in pain, losing control of the air magic that floated him above striking range. Daniel’s kobold steel skin had sent 5% of Tawn’s spell back at him.

  >> Sage Tawn takes 87 Damage.

  Tawn seemed to forget that Daniel reflected magic damage. It gave Daniel time to jump forward and stab his enemy with his sword.

  >> Sage Tawn takes 1036 Damage.

  Coral landed a few arrows in Tawn’s front while Sybil and Sal brought their own weapons to bear. Tawn was airborne again seconds later and resumed the disruptive winds he cast at them. After all of that, Tawn was just below 50% of his HP. If they could keep this up, they would knock him out. Unfortunately, Daniel couldn’t absorb another attack from Tawn.

  He was so busy strategizing that he hadn’t noticed Sybil stop singing until she pointed it out. “I’m out of MP!” she yelled.

  “Me too,” Sal said. “I’ve burpled my last bubble.”

  “Sybil,” Daniel said, “can you use those wands you stole?”

  “My aim with wands is awful,” she said.

  “But your magic attack is the highest,” Daniel said. He stayed in the lead, dodging Tawn’s attacks. Sybil shot blue and red spells from behind in seemingly random directions. When she finally sent a burst of magic toward Tawn, the mage’s wind magic redirected it, sending the ice-blue ball of energy into the sky where it exploded high above their heads.

  Coral shot arrows that never hit while Blat ran alongside her. Onik limped behind with his dice in his hand, but no time to roll them.

  With Daniel in the lead, just steps from the floating mage, he had to get rid of Tawn himself. He thrust his sword out again, but Tawn drifted out of the way and shot at Daniel. They each avoided the others’ attacks.

  Daniel’s only weapon was his own pain. They could keep chasing after Tawn, avoiding his attacks until their luck soured and their HP burned away one by one. What would happen to Farah then, once they died and left Tawn and Sivona to finish their war? Daniel wouldn’t risk it. He needed to end this.

  He stopped running and felt his joints lock up, but he didn’t care. “You want me Tawn, I’m done run
ning!”

  The Sage wafted forward and raised his pink wand. “Ashes to ashes.” Pink orbs fired in rapid succession at Daniel. He felt like his skin was peeling away and burning off. Coral and the others screamed behind him, but didn’t dare lay a hand on him. They might easily corrode as well, just from contact. Daniel’s HP bar shot down as his skin flaked off in ashes and dust. His cloak turned to powder wherever it grazed those magic bullets. His arms and legs no longer supported his body. Still, he clenched his teeth and stared at Tawn, defying the mage to sustain the same painful burn he was inflicting on Daniel.

  The Sage’s HP dropped slowly, taking only 5% of the hit Daniel took. Daniel’s only hope was that the Sage would overdo it and take excess reflected damage after an overkill.

  The disintegrating magic burned through Daniel’s flesh and he had an unpleasant flashback to the last time he died in-game. He wondered if burning alive was fairly universal as far as Travail deaths went.

  Daniel’s HP sank quickly, but stopped just before hitting zero. In the periphery of his vision, a phrase erupted from the trees, over and over. Dryad’s Blessing. Dozens of spells shot toward him, improving his HP and repairing his limbs, soothing his pain. The dryads also added to their growing army.