Neck-Deep In It: A LitRPG and GameLit Series.

by Jason Cheek

  I mentally chuckled at that thought since I didn’t see any extra time coming my way in the near future. Still, hearing about the Druid form’s spirit-enhanced abilities made me wonder if there was a spirit-realm that players could somehow interact with. If so, what might a player be able to do there. It was an interesting thought.

  Not only that, if the Umbra Hunter’s natural weapons and defenses could penetrate physical and magic armor using this spirit ability, then why wouldn’t there be a way to enchant regular weapons and armor to do something similar. A defense against all physical and magic attacks across the board was nothing to sneeze at. Before I could consider the topic further, I saw the last of the Kayden Troopers heading out the gate. Shelving the discussion for later, I turned back to Krishna.

  “So, what’s the plan,” I asked, as a new bell began to ring in alarm on the top of the wall.

  “Overlord Ironwolf,” Guard Leader Stonier suddenly spoke up, “the enemy is within two thousand yards of the wall.”

  “Thank you, Guard Leader,” I said, looking back to Krishna for an answer.

  “I don’t know if you’d really call it a plan or not?” Krishna began as I cut him off.

  “It has to be something, otherwise all of you wouldn’t have been waiting by the eastern gate for me to arrive.”

  “God, could you be any slower?” Angie demanded as she smacked Krishna in the thigh, “just freaking tell him already!”

  “Get off my back woman,” Krishna protested, as his girlfriend turned to me with a knowing smile. Like most couples, she obviously knew how to get under his skin, I silently thought, as she addressed me in a no-nonsense tone.

  “Look,” Angie was pointedly looking between me and Fylreh, “we have four Druids and three Wardens that are all level 40. Meaning, we can mount a seventy-two-person raid if you included our zombies and manifest pets.”

  “That’s actually seventy-six if you include all of our mounts,” Krishna corrected, giving Angie a “duh” look as he cut back into the conversation. “Also, we have a number of guildmates who are close to hitting level 40, so if our riders’ level up and our guild takes up the rear-guard position-”

  “It’ll quickly give us a larger mounted force to harass the Orcs with,” I said, understanding where they were going, “which is something we’re going to need to have any hope of not being overrun while falling back to Darom.”

  “That was what we decided as a guild before logging out last night,” Angie explained, as a number of Uten Syn players nodded in agreement.

  “Sounds like the beginnings of a plan,” I said, surprised in spite of myself as Krishna and Angie high-fived each other at my words. It wasn’t like any of them had grown up watching war movies or playing 4X strategy games to build up their tactical acumen what with being born visually impaired. As the rest of the Uten Syn guild excitedly clapped each other on the back at hearing my words, I could only shake my head in amazement at the incredible change that had come over the guild in such a short amount of time as a tightness I hadn’t noticed earlier slightly eased in my chest.

  This might just be the break we needed, I silently thought, as my mind continued churning over the problem we faced. Though, as of yet, I still couldn’t see a clear way through. The problem with the entire evac was that it was going to take us a minimum of two days to make it back to Darom. I don’t know what my friends’ thought was going to happen once night fell, but I didn’t see the Orcs letting us set up camp and rest in peace until morning. While the hardcore players in our group might be able to handle the strain of a forty-eight-hour stamina run, even with Ayda’s magic, I didn’t see my Kayden Troopers being able to run and fight throughout the day and still be able to continue on through the night … let alone repeating that all over the following day without a break to rest.

  Letting out a mental sigh, I shook the unsettling thoughts away. All that I could do for now was to create as many options as possible. With everyone’s help, I’d hopefully be able to come up with a working plan before tonight. Nodding towards the backs of the Kayden Troopers that were disappearing into the tunnel underneath the wall, I began clapping my hands to get everyone’s attention.

  “Alright people, we’re running out of time,” I shouted out, “let’s get moving!”

  “You heard Star,” Krishna called out from atop his Stag as the Uten Syn players began to slowly get moving.

  “Get in your groups and move it Uten Syn!” Angie’s shrill voice cracked out like a whip, as I unconsciously flinched at the intensity.

  Looking around at the Uten Syn players, I was unsurprised to see everyone rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off. There was almost a Drill Instructor quality to Angie’s voice that made people unquestionably leap to follow her orders. Hell, even the flying squirrels were quickly returning to their perches.

  “The bitch voice,” as I like to call it, was a technique that I was extremely familiar with from my time dating Julie. She’d always use such a tone to get what she wanted. Though, in this situation, I had to admit it was working like a charm, especially with Julissa and Monica helping everyone find their preplanned groups. However, within moments, groups of players were following after my Kayden Troopers.

  Doing my best to ignore the heebie-jeebies that ran down my spine with each barked order, I nudged Neysa with my knees to get me closer to the silent Guard Leader standing next to Krishna. “Guard Leader Stonier, once we clear the gate go ahead and seal up the portal.”

  “Umm,” Guard Leader Stonier gave me an uncomfortable look before continuing in a questioning tone, “What about the royal cavalry units that are still battling against the Orc’s vanguard?”

  “They’ll be entering the city through the Western gate,” I quickly assured her, giving the Guard Leader a quick rundown on what I needed the royal forces on the wall to be doing while we were pulling this maneuver off. While I probably didn’t need to spell all of the specifics out, I didn’t want to risk missing the opportunity to take down as much of the enemy as possible, especially since my ass was going to be on the line. Also, this was another twist on the plan I was slowly building in my head to reduce the number of Orcs in the vanguard that would be hunting us down. I just didn’t know if it was going to work or not. As I came to the end of my spiel, the guardswoman snapped to attention.

  “By your leave, I will ensure your orders are carried out personally Overlord Ironwolf!” Guard Leader Stonier assured me as she snapped to attention.

  “Carry on,” I said, casually returning her salute. As the guardswoman hurried off to carry out my orders, Gaelin and Franky rode up on their Stags.

  There was a moment of confusion with Krishna as he sent one of his guildies off to join the other group, before offering a hand to Phoenix. As the red-headed beauty climbed up behind his back, I was of two minds of bringing the ferocious Barbarian along with us. While we could definitely use her skills if the shit hit the fan, we really needed to be focusing on leveling up more of the Uten Syn players to forty.

  Shrugging off my concerns, I gave Phoenix a welcoming smile as she unslung her short bow and gave me a two-finger salute. It was too easy to get worked up about the littlest of things when you were focused on tweaking every last advantage. The last thing I wanted to be was one of those raid leaders who went batshit crazy and began shrieking at their friends like a maniac. An all-too-common occurrence amongst pro-guilds when they were running major raids. Besides, my friends and I had made a name for ourselves by coming up with unique strategies and builds while keeping it fun.

  Feeling the tension leave my body, I popped my neck as the thrill of the coming battle began filling me with excitement. It was similar to the rush I’d get before an FPS ladder match, except that it was a whole-body experience for The World. Well, that, and if you took a hit it hurt like hell. Talk about motivation for winning, I thought with a snort.

  My musings were interrupted as two female Druids came running up. I watched curiously as both
women easily sprang up behind the two Wardens’ backs and locked themselves in place with their muscular thighs. The players’ physical prowess was notably improved compared to when I’d first met them just two days ago. Not really a big surprise after nearly forty-plus hours of nearly straight fighting.

  Our group was complete a moment later when a mixed group of eight Druids and Wardens came running up. Without batting an eye, Julie, and Monica came to a stop next to Lyeneru and Angie as the other four Uten Syn members stood back. Sharing a mutual grin, the women dramatically raised their arms as if they were posing, before triggering their transformation.

  I had to admit it but it was impressive as hell to watch as all four Druids’ blurred as one. Though it happened in the blink of an eye, there was still a sense of morphing that could be discerned by the eye. Simultaneously, the women’s armor merged into their skin as their bodies fluidly bent forward onto all fours and began to grow in size. At the same time, thick strands of black fur began sprouting out of their skin as pure-white fangs grew from their now black lips as four massive creatures appeared where the women had been standing a moment before.

  The Umbra Hunter forms looked fierce as all get-out and were only a third smaller than Neysa. Meaning, they were large enough to have looked me directly in my eyes if I’d been standing in front of them. Each spirit creature had a vaguely Panther-like shape, but unlike normal monsters, their bodies had a ghostly consistency to them as if they weren’t completely in this reality. It partially reminded me of the Shade creatures that had attacked us when we were evacuating Domenic, except without the weird morphing tentacles. The memory sent a cold shiver down my spine that I quickly dismissed as I focused on the dark blue, rune-like tattoos that shimmered across their glossy hides in squirming patterns that seemed to move with a life of their own.

  Curiously enough, I noticed Shadow Fang seemed to be extremely interested in the Umbra Hunters as well. As soon as the four Druids had transformed, he’d popped out of shadows around them and was sniffing at their shimmering forms. As I was wondering if his interest had something to do with his Shadow Strike ability or not, a loud snort from the Centauride at my side caught my attention.

  “That’s unnatural,” Fylreh tried to neutrally say, though her flaring nostrils easily showed her internal distress at the unnatural creatures.

  “No way, that’s wicked cool,” Phoenix purred under her breath, to which I nodded in silent agreement, while the remaining Druids mounted themselves up on the Umbra Hunters’ backs.

  “Relax, Fylreh,” I reassuringly said, reassuringly gripping her upper arm, “they’re with us.”

  “They reek of Shades!” Fylreh said through clenched teeth, as her tail agitatedly flicked from side-to-side in annoyance.

  “Good thing they’re on our side then,” I replied, as the Centauride yanked her arm free and stomped the ground with a front hoof at my dry sense of humor. By now, she knew me well enough to know how I used jokes to deal with stressful situations. Though somewhat unhappy at my flippant attitude, she managed to get her natural aggression toward the spirit creatures back under control even though her tail continued to irritably swish back and forth.

  “Too bad the rest of us can’t learn to be a Druid,” Phoenix griped, as she knuckled Krishna in the ribs, “because I’d learn THAT magic tree in a heartbeat.”

  “What-eeeverrr,” Krishna dismissively said, dragging out the word while the Barbarian silently laughed behind his back.

  “Makes me wonder what kind of Stealth bonuses they get,” I thoughtfully murmured, mentally reviewing everything Lyeneru had said about the form, while the other two knuckleheads continued talking smack. While she hadn’t mentioned it one way or another in her spiel, being a person of The World, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d held back some information about the form. Though I agreed with Phoenix that it was bunk on one level, it did make a certain kind of sense that V-MMORG kept the Druids as a unique race available to only certain players and not something that just anyone could learn like regular magic trees. Realizing we were taking too long, I leaned forward on Neysa’s back and gripped her sides with my knees as my eyes swept out over the raid making sure everyone was ready.

  “Alrighty people,” I called out, grinning like a fiend as I thumped the Silver Dire Wolf’s side. It was finally time to have some fun. “It’s time to kick ass and take names!”

  Chapter Five

  (Star and friends heading out of Palnisdale’s Western Gate.)

  “Heeyah!” The wordless cry ripped from my lips as Neysa sprang forward in a rush. Slipping past the three Stags and four Umbra Hunters, she raced for the tunnel of the Eastern gate while Kitano, Shadow Fang, and a trail of zombies chased after her. I swear, it felt like I’d pegged out the throttle on my Kawasaki Ninja as I propped my torso up and held on for dear life as I tried not to crush Helgath underneath my bulk. Before we reached the entrance of the tunnel under the wall, Fylreh and the rest of the raid came pounding after us with shouts of excitement.

  The roar of clopping hooves followed us into the tunnel as their thunderous echo momentarily drowned out all other sounds. The deafening racket only lasted for a second, before we shot out the far side of the gate. Speeding onto the frozen fields before the city walls, the undead Orc zombies easily took up flanking positions to either side of us while Kitano and Shadow Fang followed close on Neysa’s heels. As the rest of the raid came charging out of the tunnel a few seconds behind us, there was a horrendous thumping sound that rang out from the walls behind us as what looked to be every catapult on this side of the city flung a barrage of flaming death high into the sky.

  It was a truly awesome sight. Between the height of the walls and the number of catapults releasing all at once, the air was nearly filled with a wave of what had to be at least fifty lobbing shots that slowly passed over our heads with a roar of flickering flames. The tumultuous sound of their passing was so intense that it drowned out even Fylreh and the Stags’ pounding hooves and left smoking trails twisting through the air as wide as a horse. Although, with the distance and speed involved, it was almost like the burning shots were moving in slow motion as they plummeted back to earth and slammed into the front ranks of the advancing horde.

  The resulting explosion was surreal. Not having a chance to scan the frozen slope ahead, I was stunned to see that the wall of Orcs were so close as flaming chunks of debris and burning body parts erupted into the crisp morning air. As the horde’s vanguard was rocked back on their heels from the ferocity of the attack, I caught sight of the Royal Cavalry units, that were formed up across the slope, begin their charge.

  The numbers being deployed against the horde’s advance was another surprise. When I’d first met Lance Leader Warf and his unit, there’d been less than six hundred troopers under his combined command. Now though, there had to be thousands formed up on the slope above, I thought, as Scout Leader Tanner led a force of Royal Scouts two thousand strong to a stop just outside of the horde’s effective range. Forming up in a crisp line, they let loose with their short bows into the enemy lines. Without the Orc Warriors’ shield wall in place, the iron-tipped arrows rained down onto the Orc’s jumbled ranks with devastating results as the horde’s Group and War Leaders bellowed out urgent guttural commands.

  It was into that chaotic mass that the Royal Heavy Cavalry charged with Lance Leader Warf at their lead. While the heavily armored Lancers were easily three times larger than the number of Light Cavalry that were backing them up, it was still a pitiful force in comparison to the massive horde that covered the top of the slope. Even so, the opening bombardment from the city walls had effectively opened a temporary breech into the enemy’s massed ranks, leaving thousands of injured Orc Warriors open for slaughter. A perfect opportunity for a well-thought-out strike.

  At first, I was worried Lance Leader Warf was going to disappoint me by leading his Heavy Cavalry units in for a frontal charge like the Rohirrim did at Minas Tirith in the movie The Return of
the King. While that had worked out stunningly-well with Hollywood’s movie magic, in reality, a cavalry charge such as that wouldn’t have made it through more than a few rows of tightly packed enemy, before slowing down and being slaughtered. So, I breathed a sigh of relief when the mass of Heavy Cavalry units suddenly cut a nearly parallel course to the front of the horde. Like an unstoppable tide, the Royal Heavy Cavalry began trampling over the stragglers and downed Orcs slaughtering everything in their path. Within seconds, thousands of Orcs were being slaughtered by iron-shod hooves and iron-tipped lances as the riders cut through everything in their way.

  Even with this being an MMO-style game where getting a lance ripped through your head wouldn’t instantly kill you, the stretched-out double-ranks of heavy lances that were continuously passing by meant that the same Orcs were taking multiple crits. In that brief moment of watching the carnage unfold, I came up with several workable strategies that could hopefully be added to our own playbook of mounted attacks for the future. It also made me appreciate the skill that these men and women had been using to continuously hold the line throughout the night to slow the Orcs advance.

  Our group was still a football field’s length away from the action when the true cost of the blood these troopers had to shed, throughout the night, became readily apparent. Up and down the charging line, animalistic shrieks of agony pierced the thunderous rumble of pounding hooves as clumps of riders and their steads began going down across the front of the horde. In the brief moment of disarray, the riders’ heavy lances snapped like cheap toothpicks as riders went flying from their saddles while their Horses of Palnisdale skidded and rolled head over heels across the rough ground.

  At first, it was hard to discern what had happened. That was, until it occurred right before my eyes. I was currently watching Lance Leader Warf’s group slaughtering the enemy, when a solid wall of stone suddenly shot up out of the ground before his group. It was easy to understand what had happened after that. Without any chance for any of them to alter course, they plowed into the obstruction at a full gallop and wiped out in a chaotic mass of flailing bodies.