by Reed James
Twist nodded in agreement with Haîcze's sentiment.
Marcus grabbed Shelley by the arms and kissed her. The girl melted against him, her body quivering. He released her and then pulled Haîcze to him and bestowed a similar kiss. Shelley swayed, her cheeks blushing red. She fanned her face with her tray.
“Don't get buggered by a goblin, boyo,” Okzira called from her smithy. “Not before I can make you something special.”
“I plan on going through life without being buggered,” Marcus said.
“It's a treat,” Twist said. “Sure you don't want me to strap one on and peg you?”
“Very,” Marcus said, giving her a flat look. “I do the fucking.”
“And do it so very well, my Lord Marcus,” Dëshoma gushed.
“Shall we depart?” Kulrigiizhai said, the talk of sex exciting her already inflamed pussy. She needed a distraction. Exploring a new land and facing dangers were just it.
“Right, right,” Marcus said. “We have a world to mend. Maybe we'll find the clues out there.” With that, he stepped into the Shardpool.
The others, Kulrigiizhai included, joined him. She didn't feel any water around her feet. Marcus focused for a moment, harnessing the power of the Shardpool, then the world turned blue around the elf. The magic seized her.
* * / *
Maria du Marne
As the blue engulfed the human Warrior, she wondered, Why did you become a paladin, Marcus?
Those words of his, boasting about fixing the world, seemed an idle comment, and yet... He felt different to her than the man she'd first met in the Temple of Shuwëmeri. He'd started off lighthearted, seeming to be a Shardhunter merely for the amusement of risking his life and exploring dangers. Not much different from Twist and her desire to find more loot.
The question itched at her as the blue faded.
The Airy Plateau appeared. She shuddered as she stood amid knee-high, yellow grass. Though it didn't look dry—the dun hue was more like its natural color. They appeared to be on a cliff edge. Misty clouds rose around them, vanishing over the edges. Things grew hazy in all directions, the clouds surrounding them while the sun shone above them.
“Not much here,” Marcus said as he cast his gaze around.
“You think we're high up?” Éjyona asked. “I mean, those are clouds.”
“The Airy Plateau is a series of buttes that thrust up from a plain below,” Iris reported. The pixie hovered in front of Marcus. “The cliff walls are always surrounded by misty clouds that make climbing up and down them difficult. It is a mile or more to the ground below. The humans who live on the plateau were said to build rope bridges to connect the various buttes. Some of the plateaus could be quite large, others not much bigger than a building.”
“Right,” Marcus said and drew on his kite shield. It looked imposing against his left arm. A wall of steel to guard the party “Well, let's see what we find.”
“Yes,” Maria agreed. Maybe the Tear of Ethileri is here. She drew her Black Iron Rapier and her parrying dagger. The sword had an elegant shape to it, long and narrow. When it moved, there was a faint blur around it, like shadows bled off the dark metal. Her eyes scanned around. “There's a hill in that direction, Marcus.”
She pointed to her right. Through the mist, she could just make out its shape. She'd always had a keen eye, better than others in her village. It was sometimes joked she had the vision of a mapmaker. She never did get lost.
“Sounds good,” Marcus said, drawing his ax and taking point. He strode with martial prowess.
Maria hurried a few steps to fall in at his right, her normal place. She might have shifted to a more damage-focused class than a protective one, but she still wanted to walk at his side. Her boots cut through the grass. Dëshoma and Kulri followed them with Éjyona taking the rear. Twist walked on Marcus's other side, though not as close as Maria did.
Iris buzzed around them, her delight obvious. It buzzed from her fluttering wings. She quivered in delight as they mounted the hill. A lone tree, a scrubby thing with twisted branches and pale leaves, grew from the top. The slope appeared steeper than it had first appeared. It raised them higher over the rest of the terrain.
From here, they could see the edges of the butte they stood on. They appeared to be close to the eastern edge. The purple barrier engulfing it was closes behind them and fading into the mist in most other directions. She could make out other plateaus before them, just hazy shapes and what looked like a bridge.
“I think we should—” Maria started to say when something screeched above their heads.
Maria threw her gaze skyward to see a flock of red-feathered vultures diving down at them. The birds had long, bare necks and were adorned with crimson feathers. They had a mean look to them, focusing on them like they were food.
Twist and Éjyona Vanished from sight while Maria and Marcus Yelled out their defiance. The shout sent a shiver through Maria, giving her a temporary buff to her attack. The vultures dived closer. She tensed, ready to dodge their attack while Marcus readied his shield. Kulri's arcane chanting began.
Éjyona re-appeared and fired her gun. The loud crack boomed across the plateau. The lead vulture screeched in pain, struck with a solid hit. Blood rained down with the diving birds now. Then Kulri's spell finished.
It was a new spell Maria had never seen. Three shards of purple, arcane energy lanced up into the sky, striking three of the diving birds and ripping through their flesh. Feathers burst. They screeched in pain. The lead bird, already wounded by Éjyona, went limp, plummeting as a corpse now.
“Don't waste all your Points and abilities!” Marcus roared. “We have a full day ahead of us!”
Then the vultures were on them.
One slammed talons into Marcus's shield, claws scratching across the metal. He threw it back and hacked at it, his ax slashing at its belly. Maria dodged, so nimble and free in her leather bra and thong. Her rapier stabbed, catching the bird in the side and loosing a spurt of blood.
More vultures swooped around them. Dëshoma cried out in pain, blood spurting from her shoulder. Éjyona's gun fired, striking one of the vultures wounded by Kulri's spell. It screeched and fell to the ground, cawing as it died.
Twist appeared before Maria; the sinuous dagger the Thief had looted from the dead cultist ripped open another wounded vulture's belly. The dragonborn grinned as the bird hit the ground. She twisted out of the way of another, narrowly missing its claws.
The flock surged around the hilltop. Maria danced and flowed. It felt so natural to move this way now. She had no armor slowing her down. She glided from attack to attack with Twist. The pair of them stabbed. Marie's rapier flashed as she dodged pecking beaks and talons.
“Fucking birds!” snarled Marcus as their claws scraped over his iron armor and shield. His ax slammed hard into them.
A wing severed, hewn from the bird by his ax. The vulture spun and hit the ground with a crash. He stepped on it. A bolt of arcane energy struck another while Éjyona's gun cracked. Maria stabbed with smooth thrusts.
And then the vultures were all dead. Maria panted. She hadn't taken any damage. Marcus had a scratch to his face and Dëshoma a minor wound on her arm. Maria felt the experience fill her up, bringing her that much closer to Level 12.
“Not a bad little ruckus to warm up the blood,” Twist said, nodding to Maria. “Like how you fight now.”
“Me, too,” Maria said, grinning.
* * / *
I surveyed the plateau. Twist poked over the dead vultures. She found valuable parts on them, cutting them off. They would be sold to Haîcze. It was trash loot. In MMORPGs and other such video games, it didn't always make sense for monsters to drop gold coins. So creators came up with their own way to still give players a monetary reward.
Trash loot.
Even in this world, it existed. So was this another world for real, or had I entered the game in real. I crossed the Digital Barrier, but was that what I thought it was? Did I p
ass through my computer into another world or enter the server the game ran on? But this place was too real. It couldn't be a simulation. Nothing was this good, least of all some adult game.
And yet... Even when I was playing it in VR, Iris's AI had been very responsive. I wanted this place to be real. It felt real. I was falling in love with these girls. They were all finding places in my heart. I couldn't believe they were just ones and zeros on some hard drive somewhere.
And it wasn't like any of these girls could help with these questions.
I sighed. I was here. I would believe it was real because I wanted to. People thought my world wasn't real. That crazy billionaire Elon Musk believed we were in a computer simulation. That the odds of us not being in one were so much he just had to assume we were. It was crazy, but I felt real in my old world.
And this one felt real, too.
Maybe that was all that mattered. For my mind to believe. Perhaps it was a lie, but it was an amazing lie. Adventure. Sexy women. Danger. A chance to save the world. To be a hero in truth.
Damn, this was so much better than reality.
The level of the fog dwindled around us, giving us a glimpse of a sea of grass-covered “islands” rising out of the mist. They went on for miles. I could see bridges connecting some, while others appeared barren. They were all different sizes. Shapes. They stretched so far. It was a lot of ground to cover. On some of the distant plateaus there looked to be buildings. Humans were supposed to live here.
Well, we weren't going to cover it by standing here.
“Let's go,” I said. “Twist, Haîcze can clear this place out once we've eliminated the threat.”
“Just one moment,” she said as she sawed at a beak. “There.”
In video games, it didn't take any effort to loot. That was something different about this place.
Before the mist swallowed everything up again, I fixed the direction of the bridge leading off this plateau to another in my mind. I aimed us for it, using a lone tree as a guide. It thrust out of the yellow grass. Spotted around the terrain were bushes with prickly leaves that reminded me of holly. It even had succulent, ripe berries on it.
“Shame no one's an herbalist,” said Maria. “Those are red spice berries. I bet Shelley would be thrilled to have a fresh supply.”
“She has herbalism,” noted Dëshoma. “Once we have secured these wild lands, perhaps we can escort her to collect and forage for various herbs and berries.”
“There are patches of lemongrass here, too,” Kulri noted, pointing out wild clumps of even yellower grasses amid the duller blades.
I smiled. Of course there would be resources around. Probably metals that could be mined if we had that right collection skill. I spotted a curious rock that seemed to have shiny veins in it. Probably iron given the level of the area.
It was strange that Shardhunter classes didn't get any collection or crafting skills. Then I paused. No, this was also based on a harem game. You were supposed to collect a bevy of sexy women, or hunky men if that was your thing, and use them to build your party and resources.
The fog grew thicker. Visibility dropped the closer we came to the bridge. It had vanished entirely now as we passed the tree. I struck out in the right direction, I hoped, feeling my party collapsing closer together, Maria's arm almost brushing mine, Twist now only an arm's reach away. I could practically feel Dëshoma breathing on the back of my neck, Kulri's footsteps whisking close.
“How am I supposed to shoot anything in this?” muttered Éjyona from the back.
Maria paused. “Is there something out there?”
“A beast approaches,” Kulri said. “It's hard to pinpoint. The fog is muffling sounds. It is before us. It's—”
A roar shattered the silence of the fog. Bestial, like a grizzly bear on steroids. Pissed and angry. The ground shook. Lumbering steps thudded as I set my shield before me and advanced, my ax held in hand.
A shape appeared.
I activated my buff, Yell, as Twist disappeared with her Vanish. Maria shouted out, buffing herself, too.
Then the beast lunged out of the fog. A massive, shaggy bear with fur the color of gray stone. It snarled, eyes maddened. A foul stench, something rotten and diseased, clung thick in my nostrils and mouth. It reared before me and swiped with its claws.
I set my shield. The massive paw struck the edge of my shield and battered it to the side like it were nothing. The claws raked across my face and neck. Pain burned, the blow throwing me off my feet to hit the grassy ground. Blood spurted red in the air before me as my Hit Points dropped in half from the critical hit.
“Lord Marcus!” Dëshoma cried out.
“Fuck me,” I growled as the bear raised its paw to batter down on me. I hefted my shield, catching the blow on it. Claws scratched down iron as I forced myself to stand, pushing back against it. Blood spilled down my armor, the pain throbbing through me.
With a mental command, I activated my Flamedust Boots. Fire rippled up my body, blazing across my skin. It surged down my arms. When it hit my ax, the blade burst into flames. I snarled and swung my weapon, unleashing my Holy Strike on the bear.
Divine energy burst into the beast. Flames sizzled on its fur as I cut into its hide. A small amount of the Hit Points I had lost rushed back into me. A few drops, two points. Nothing compared to the forty-five I'd lost.
My armor rung, struck by the edge of Dëshoma's bible. Her healing energy rushed into me, restoring half the Hit Points I had lost, mending the jagged wounds to my neck and face. The bear roared and slammed claws into my shield again.
Twist appeared out of her stealth, her knife plunging into the bear's flank. Blood spurted from the wound and bled down its gray fur. Maria rushed in from the other side while three purple, arcane shards shot past my head to bury into the bear's chest. Éjyona's gun boomed.
The bear took the blows without stopping its flurry of claws. They slammed into my shield and drove me back.
* * / *
Maria du Marne
The human Duelist activated her Black Iron Rapier's once per day ability.
It became smoke and shadows as she thrust forward and delivered a Precise Strike with her blade, burying into the bear's flank. Her blade passed smoothly between its ribs. It roared in pain as she delivered a powerful blow. Her weapon had sunk deeper than it should, penetrating its thick hide as if it weren't there and delivering triple the damage it should have.
The bear roared and swiped a claw at her.
Her parrying dagger would never block that. Gasping in shock, she activated her new ability learned at Level 11: Fleet-foot. It let her stab her blade and deliver a wound while retreating back with a quick flurry of her booted feet. Her rapier scored along the bear's tough hide, leaving a bleeding gash.
Claws slammed down in front of her face. The bear snarled at her, fangs exposed by pulled-back lips.
“I'm the one you're dancing with, fucker!” Marcus snarled, his burning ax blazing with divine light. He slammed it into the bear's shoulder. A deep hit that burst with white energy.
The bear turned from Maria, drawn back to the armored Marcus. Éjyona's bullet struck its other shoulder. Purple shards of arcane energy shot from the songbird carved at the end of Kulri's staff. Maria rushed back in and thrust her rapier forward, piercing the hide.
As her blade emerged, she noticed patches of blighted skin around its stomach and groin. Black-purple skin peeked through thin fur, the spots almost bald. Her brow knitted as she stared at them, wondering what they were.
Is it diseased?
* * / *
“Don't let up!” I cried as Maria stood bemused for a moment. I had pulled aggro back on me. The bear's teeth crunched into the rim of my shield. “Maria!”
“Right!” she cried and rushed in, her rapier a blur.
On the other side, Twist unleashed a flurry of attacks, her knife a blur as she cut into the beast's hide with the serpentine blade. I slammed a Hard Strike in the beast's fa
ce, cutting through fur and skin, exposing its heavy skull.
The thing was a tank. Damage slammed into it only to be shrugged off. The third barrage of Kulri's Arcane Shard spell lacerated the chest and neck. Blood spurted and ran down the bear's coat. It slashed and hacked at me while Dëshoma's healing magic flooded into my body, healing the wounds that ripped down my arms and tore into my legs.
“That's it, you bastard,” I snarled, retreating back before its fury. “Just unleash all that punishment on me.”
With a bellow, the bear attacked with another flurry of claws. They ripped across my shield and glanced off my cuisses guarding my thighs. The claws slipped past my defenses, scratching my arms, my legs. Hit Points bled off of me.
“Lord Marcus!” Dëshoma cried, pressing her bible against my back and sending her loving, healing energy flowing through me.
“Let's try this!” Éjyona cried.
Three rapid shots from her gun, way faster than its slow fire rate, slammed into the bear. The bullets struck its head, tearing through more of its fur to expose its bloody skull. The bear staggered and, to my surprise, it fell down on the ground. Not dead, but stunned. Its eyes were glassy, its legs twitching.
“That worked,” Éjyona gasped in shock. “I didn't think I could stun it.”
“RNGesus was on your side,” I muttered.
“I have never heard of that title,” Dëshoma said. “Which god doth it belong to?”
“The most important one,” I said, grinning. Random number generators, RNG, controlled the backbones of a game. It decided who'd get lucky crits, who'd stun a monster with only a small percentage of success, etc. Some players would jokingly pray to it as a god or savior.
Stunned, we made short work of the bear after that. It was a shame to hack it down while it couldn't fight back, but it had torn into me. It could have killed me if it had hit me with another crit before Dëshoma healed me.
The moment it died and the battle ended, XP rushed into us. I felt that surge of growth and then trembled as I hit Level 12. All our points restored. Hit Points, Magic Points, and Technical Points. No new skills or upgrades, but we were stronger. Had more resources. We could go longer now in the adventuring day.
