“Tania?”
Children ran rings around the fires and darted in and out of the chamber. None answered his calls, however, and he was forced to press on into a foul-smelling passage. These people were living in squalor and probably had done so since the fall of the Frost Magi.
“Tania? Inez?”
Nick began using the girl’s real name, figuring he had nothing to lose. A sea of blank, hopeless faces greeted him in almost every room. His panic grew when the timer fell below ten minutes. He needed to see about freeing Picello, otherwise he wouldn’t be coming back to Oakshield Junction at all.
“Inez!” he yelled, grabbing a passing child by the arm. “Are there any more children here?”
The poor kid’s eyes were dead with trauma.
“They came to take workers,” he stammered. “For the mines.”
Nick resisted the urge to hit the wall in frustration.
“Where?”
“Hammerhorst,” the boy blurted, about to cry.
“Come here, boy,” Nick said, wrapping him in his arms. He wasn’t sure why he did it, he just felt desperately sorry for the way these people were living. That stew wasn’t going into their mouths - it was for Borscha Lang and his corrupted mages.
Letting the child go, Nick considered his options. There seemed little point in remaining down here. He’d failed Gideon, who had infiltrated a Syndicate facility for nothing. Right now he was standing beside his daughter’s Immersion tank but could do nothing to save her.
With a heavy heart Nick clambered back up the tower. As he stepped over the corpses of the mages he’d slain, he heard a soft rustling at his back. He spun around, but it was too late. A female pixel runner had twin blades crossed at his throat.
“Move and you die,” she sneered. “Tell me what you know about those bells.”
Nick couldn’t decide if the runner was a DEX or STR build. Her curved scimitars were DEX weapons, sure, but they looked heavier than usual. Her armor looked mid-weight. Heavy enough to repel most physical damage but light enough to allow for a range of movement. She was a Corsair, one of the newer Oakshield disciplines. All Nick knew was that they rolled a mix of STR and DEX points, allowing for versatility in a range of game situations. He tended to avoid such generalist builds, preferring the strong advantage that specialization yielded.
Still, this pixel runner had come a long way and that demanded respect. Her name was theblueraven and she looked like she’d happily kill him in a heartbeat.
“Thought you’d collect your bounty, right?” Nick said with unexpected bitterness. “You mercenary types make me sick.”
theblueraven looked confused. “I don’t take bounties, Stanners. Not unless the target is a fucking troll.”
Nick blinked - he hadn’t expected that. He needed to keep talking if he wanted to stay alive.
“All I know is the bells are linked to Picello somehow,” he said. “I rang the first.”
“I answered it,” theblueraven said. “From the north bell tower.”
“There’s one more,” Nick said. “At the top of this tower.”
“I was hoping that was the case,” theblueraven said. “I need your help reaching that last bell. Otherwise Picello will never break free.”
“What if Vanen attacks?” Nick asked.
theblueraven’s eyes narrowed. “Then I guess we’re all fucked.”
Nick smiled. He couldn’t argue with that.
“Got it,” Nick said. “Where are the other runners?”
“They’re preparing to mount an assault on Borscha Lang,” she said. “I told them I wanted no part in it. At least not until Picello is free.”
“Pixel runners working together,” Nick muttered as he followed theblueraven up the stairs. “Doesn’t seem right.”
The Corsair spun around, looking at him urgently. She was pretty, in a petite, elfin way, with punky black hair and a nose ring. Normally female characters screamed ‘male gamer’, so Nick took it all with a grain of salt.
“Do you trust me, Stanners?” she asked.
Inexplicably, Nick found that he did. It was foolish and reckless, but for some reason all his usual alarms weren’t ringing.
“Lead the way,” he said. “I got your back.”
She nodded and continued up the stairs. It was strange to be working in tandem with another human player. Of course, he’d been forced to cooperate with KainDestroyer18 in the last series, but that was in the thick of battle. This was like a shared mission, and he couldn’t deny that he was warming to the idea. If his Love points were any indication, so were the viewers.
The pair hared up the staircase, dispatching sentries on the way. It was extremely easy to fight with theblueraven by his side - they complimented each other perfectly. All she had to do was engage the enemy and Nick was free to pick his targets with the Bow of the Damned. The only risk was hitting his comrade in the back, a very real possibility in Oakshield. When it inevitably occurred, theblueraven was hit for over 150XP. She scowled at him.
“Stanners, we need to be Bonded,” she snarled, holding her palm out. “Stop fucking around will you?”
Nick didn’t know how to respond. He’d never really seen this before and didn’t know it was possible.
theblueraven rolled her eyes.
“This ain’t a cash grab, FuckAss, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I … I don’t know how it works.”
“We Bond, we can’t kill each other,” she said impatiently. “Gear can be traded. Love and Hate points are split down the middle if we survive.”
She looked into his eyes. “If one of us dies, the other bites it too.”
Nick had lost count of the times he’d felt alone and forgotten in the world of Oakshield Junction. In theory he should’ve been wary of Bonding, but the truth was his soul was crying out for it.
“Where do I sign?” he blurted.
“Join palms, imbecile,” theblueraven snapped.
Nick did as he was told. A blue halo enveloped their hands.
“Bonding will last the entire series,” theblueraven said. “If you’re not cool with that, we can cancel at any time.”
“Shut the fuck up and let’s move,” Nick said, glad to get one back on the sharp-tongued Corsair. She smiled. It blew away her perma-scowl and threw sparks into her eyes.
The pair pressed on until theblueraven motioned for Nick to stop. They were standing on the mezzanine level of a wide, circular hall. Several prisms of light blue light shimmered on the floor below - Nick counted seven of them. Each contained a trapped pixel runner.
“I told them Lang was too powerful,” theblueraven muttered. “So much for their group assault.”
“It’s a trap,” Nick said. “They want us to attack those prisms. Draw us out.”
“Could be right,” theblueraven admitted. “But we know better, don’t we?”
Nick nodded. He could see a tall, muscular mage at the end of the hall. He carried a great morning star like he knew how to use it.
“Borsha Lang,” Nick said. “Let’s keep moving.”
theblueraven agreed wholeheartedly. They found a narrow, musty ramp further along the mezzanine and ascended without hesitation. Directly above the main hall they entered the bell chamber. Suspended from a thick wooden beam, the bell itself must have been fifteen feet tall and just as wide. Much bigger than the one Nick had encountered earlier. theblueraven disappeared into the gloom.
“I found the spindle,” she reported. “I need your help lifting it.”
“I thought you Corsairs were strong,” Nick teased, helping her lift a brass spindle taller than he was. It was his way of dispelling the tension - the timer was down to five minutes.
“We’re cutting it fine, Stanners,” the Corsair said. “This had better work.”
“On my count,” Nick said. “Three … two … one.”
The pair ran the spindle head into the bell, creating a colossal vibration. Nick and theblueraven were thrown from t
heir feet as the bell began to swing. Ancient magical forces were rising from a deep slumber. The bell seemed to align itself with the other two, causing the entire tower to hum with energy.
“Back to the hall,” theblueraven said urgently.
The pair descended the ramp to the mezzanine, weapons at the ready. Borscha Lang was still pacing back and forth in the darkness. theblueraven gazed on the imprisoned pixel runners with something like hunger.
“Look at all that XP,” she said. “Just a few arrows from that bow of yours and we could win this thing on our own.”
Just a fews days ago, Nick would’ve agreed with all his heart. But now … Gideon’s desperate plight had changed something within.
“I’m not touching them,” Nick said with conviction. theblueraven looked at him like he was crazy.
“You do realize they’ll try and kill you if those prisms go down?”
“They can try,” Nick said. “But at the end of the day, it’s us against the game. Pixel runners against the Syndicate.”
A weight had been lifted from Nick’s shoulders. Pixel runners were no longer enemies to him. Sure, he’d engage them if they attacked, but from now on he saw them as potential comrades.
theblueraven shrugged, moving on quickly. Nick approved - that was a good skill to have.
“Look,” she said, pointing to an altar set into the back of the hall. A large ball with a bronzed, burnt texture sat there. Borscha Lang was watching it with an intensely agitated expression.
“Picello is rising again,” she said excitedly, readying her twin scimitars. “Cover me, Stanners.”
Nick was of a mind to let Picello take care of Lang, but the Great Mage might be vulnerable when he emerged from his prison. This was the critical moment. Nick watched theblueraven dart in between prisms on her way to Lang. One thing was certain - she didn’t lack courage.
He dropped to one knee and lined up his target. Lang was right on the edge of the bow’s range. His first arrow arced gracefully and struck the mage in the chest. He staggered just as theblueraven arrived with her scything scimitars. She attacked with dexterous skill, timing her rolls perfectly and hitting hard with those sharp blades.
Lang snarled and raised his right hand, emitting a fiery shock wave from his body. theblueraven was thrown back against the wall, taking heavy damage. Nick loosed another arrow, but Lang was now in motion and difficult to hit at range. What’s more, a phalanx of Ember mages were now advancing along the mezzanine, alerted to his presence.
Nick used the natural curve of the hall as cover as he backed along the mezzanine, loosing arrows as he went. One by one the mages fell. Still they came, reinforced from an unseen location. Nick was busily ripping through their ranks when he was hit from behind. A second cluster of mages had flanked him from the other side of the hall.
Trapped, Nick had no choice but to leap down to the hall floor. This took him uncomfortably close to Borsha Lang, who wasted no time in swinging his great morning star. Caught on the wall, Nick received a pulverizing blow to his chest, dragging his HP to dangerous levels. That was a brute of a weapon, dealing physical and magical damage. The ultimate STR / MAN melee weapon.
Taking cover behind a column, theblueraven was also doing it tough. Her HP bar wasn’t much longer than Nick’s. He used the last of his stamina to roll away, joining his comrade in cover.
“Another hit from that morning star and we’re fucked,” he panted.
theblueraven looked Nick up and down.
“Who would’ve thought,” she said wryly. “Mr Strength Build has become a hipster.”
“This isn’t the time,” Nick grunted as Lang turned their cover into a pile of rubble. The pair retreated into the center of the hall. It was only a matter of time before Lang cornered them.
“Dexterity,” theblueraven said. Her body froze for a moment, then suddenly she was naked. “I can’t tank this guy anyways.”
Trying to ignore the flesh on display, Nick agreed with the move. This game had been rigged from the beginning. Knowing Nick was likely to roll a strength build, the terrain had been prepared accordingly. None of the pixel runners who had made it this far were Knights or Barbarians. The Strength Builds would’ve been slaughtered back at the Silver Sentinel gates.
Even now Lang’s Ember mages were spreading along the mezzanine, preparing to cast Prism Lock like they had with the other runners. Nick and theblueraven needed to slay Lang - now.
“Run a feint to his left,” Nick said. “I’ll shoot you in the back.”
theblueraven nodded, knowing exactly what he intended.
“See you in hell,” she said before rolling from an incoming blue sphere.
Nick was forced to evade his own Prism Lock attacks, tracking his partner’s movement carefully. Lang moved to crush the Corsair with his morning star, but theblueraven executed a perfect reverse roll. Nick rolled laterally and fired through her body. Lang didn’t see it coming, taking the shaft in his belly.
At this range the shaft dealt over 200 damage with residual unholy. theblueraven rolled to the side as more Prism Locks came her way. There were more than twenty Ember Mages on the mezzanine by this stage and the timer had reached the final thirty seconds.
“How dare you defile my temple!” Lang roared, smashing his morning star against the stone floor to intimidate the pair. “Picello is a relic, a fragment of history. Vanen will not be denied!”
With that, he executed a vicious leaping attack against theblueraven. Without her armor weighing her down, she boldly rolled under his legs and emerged unscathed. Nick loosed an arrow into Lang’s kidney area as the villain swung his weapon in a devastating arc designed to kill both runners at once.
What happened next would be remembered by fans for years to come. Besieged on all sides, Nick and theblueraven only had one move left, but they executed it in perfect synchronicity. Nick quick-equipped his plunge dagger and rolled forward under Lang’s morning star. theblueraven also rolled forward, sliding under the spiked weapon as it completed its wide arc.
Nick was the first to reach Lang and had a split second to trigger the back-stab animation. He whooped with joy as the blade sank into the small of Lang’s back for tremendous damage. The Ember battle mage as too strong to be knocked over, but theblueraven went to town with her twin scimitars. She sliced so hard at his abdomen that his guts spilled free in a stinking pile. Defeated, Lang sank to his knees. His HP bar read zero but he was muttering an incantation under his breath.
“Quick!” theblueraven cried. “He’s calling the dragon!”
Nick leaped forward and sliced at Lang’s neck, sending him to the ground once and for all. Staring down at the pair with disturbingly blank faces, the other Ember mages had stopped attacking.
“They’re under a Charm of some kind,” the Corsair said, panting.
“Is Vanen on his way?” Nick asked, fearing the worst.
The prisms holding the pixel runners flickered and faded. Nick and his Bonded partner stood before their rivals. The bells had stopped. The air was pregnant with unimaginable violence. The only sound was the occasional crack from the cinder ball on the altar. Picello was breaking free after months of incarceration.
A nerve-shredding shriek erupted right outside the Tower of Old. Nick had just enough time to exchange a glance with theblueraven before everything went dark.
+2
The mission was over. Nick let himself drift to the top of the Immersion tank. He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or angry. He was glad he didn’t need to face the Great Dragon Vanen, but it was more like a stay of execution. The dragon would be waiting for all surviving pixel runners when tomorrow’s session began. It was going to be a long, tense night.
Joe, the Syndicate technician, helped Nick from the heavy gel. He didn’t seem like such a bad guy. Then again, with Mike Szorka watching his every move, that was hardly a surprise. Nick’s bodyguard was standing ready with a towel. One look at his stony face and Nick knew something was wrong.
“Where’s Gideon?” he asked immediately. “I couldn’t find Inez.”
“Gideon’s dead, boy,” Mike replied. “News report minutes ago. Syndicate gun him down.”
There was nothing to say. Nick had been praying that Gideon got away. The news of Gideon’s death made everything seem hopeless. No matter what he did, the Neutron Syndicate would win at every turn. Gideon Popov, his guardian angel from the inside, was gone forever. Surely it was now impossible to save his daughter from enforced NPC slavery in Oakshield Junction.
“You need food?” Mike asked, watching him closely.
“I need to lie down,” Nick mumbled, trudging tiredly down the hallway.
He took a blisteringly hot shower to remove all trace of the gel, focusing on the steady drum of water on his back. As he climbed in between his crisp, clean sheets, he could hear Mike seeing the Neutron technician to the door. In just a few short hours Joe would be back to help launch Nick into yet another gallery of death.
Ignoring his wrist pad’s soft chimes, Nick closed his eyes and tried to think about simpler nights when it was just him and his Sentinel gaming unit. That was another life. Stuffing his mind with ninjas and fighter pilots, he drifted off to sleep.
It was midnight when he woke - he’d gone too early. Now he’d stay awake for hours and start the next day tired. Admonishing himself, he activated his wrist pad. It felt weird, but his popularity was sky-high. The news casts were plastered with stories of his supposed romance with theblueraven, whose real identity was unknown.
Gideon’s failed infiltration of Neutron’s facility in Phoenix was buried underneath all the froth and bubble, a minor news story. The Syndicate had issued a statement defending its right to use lethal force against “terrorists” like Gideon Popov. Nick felt sickened, but the tone of the story came as no surprise. No one seemed powerful enough to question the biggest gaming corporation on the planet.
Dexterity Build: A LitRPG Saga (The Complete Dexterity Build Cycle) Page 5
