Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

Well. On top of that, it was staring at us. The one gross eyeball kept rapidly switching its gaze between the doorway, Requiem, and me. This must be how microscopic beings felt under a magnifying glass.

  I wanted to retch. It squirmed even more than the icy cockroach and was way too big.

  A giant ball of flame came down from above and smacked me in the face.

  Notice!

  We lied about the fireballs. Lucky you!

  “Joy. Fireunder a tree. Makesperfect sense. Floating eyeball thing.” My own eyes were rolling.

  At least the [Maze of Midnight] had had a theme. I wasn’t sure exactly what this dungeon followed, but there had to be more than earthen tones to the place. I flicked away the pop-up box and stared at Requiem. He was looking up still.

  “Loot. Precious loot,” Requiem said happily. He spun one sword in his hand and waved the other.

  Down came [Detached Vitreous].

  Session Thirty-Five — Dodging the Issue

  “Go left!” Requiem yelled.

  I went to my left, which ended up being straight ahead. One of the little undead mole creatures popped up, and I flew by stabbing at it.

  Requiem tested [Detached Vitreous] with a fireball. Liquid flame splashed off it but didn’t do much damage. At least the giant eye with its gross dirt didn’t regenerate.

  “These things!” I dodged clumps of dirt being fired at us. A giant eyeball was enough on its own. Adding in the undead moles and their dirt throwing was unfair.

  “Stay near them.” Requiem spun his blade and slashed at the eyeball’s feelers. “We’ll use the boss.”

  “Okay!”

  That was not easy to do at all. Flying was still weird in many ways. Requiem’s idea of friendly fire was good though. Being a [Red Imp] meant I would survive the fireballs, but these undead moles would probably get lit up.

  An unexpected burst of blue ice swirled into being. It leaped from the eyeball’s backside toward me.

  “What? Ice!” I yelled and scrambled to get out of the way. “Notjustfire!”

  “Really? I didn’t notice.” The Traveler’s hair stood up as he yelled a battle cry. Requiem charged the eyeball creature.

  He was certainly doing more damage than I was, but the [Detached Vitreous] didn’t care. I watched the squiggles on the eyeball’s back twist together. They convulsed and knotted then straightened at once in my direction. Green light swam up from the eyeball’s depths and shot down the root-like veins toward me.

  “Its back! Theycome from there!” I said while jabbing with my pitchfork.

  “I know.” His words were fairly clear despite the madness about us. The undead moles and their stupid “eeeeees” were killing my ears. “I’m watching them.”

  “So aimthe firemaking ones overhere!” I shouted while somersaulting over another blast of the blues.

  “I’ve got to do everything around here,” Requiem grumbled while swinging the ash-trailing blade and creating a cloud on one side of [Detached Vitreous].

  He dodged the other way, and the giant eyeball tracked him. Another series of veins was facing in my direction. They did their twisty knotting thing, and a ball of flame swirled into being.

  “Fire! Fireisgood.” I tried to hug one of the undead moles. Part of me was annoyed that Requiem’s constant use of me as a grappling imp was paying off.

  “Eeeehhhg…” The mole’s annoying squeal died off as it was burned to a crisp.

  “Fourmore!” I shouted happily.

  No, there were seven more. The undead moles kept popping up around us. Each new one made the same stupid noise.

  “You handle them. I’ll keep the eye facing this way.” Requiem was surprisingly calm during combat.

  “Okay!” I was not. It was either me as a [Red Imp] or me as an easily excited player, but everything was racing. My heartbeat pounded loudly, the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] stabbed into anything that moved, and undead moles were aggravating.

  Two crackling roots shot out of the ground and reached for the cavern’s ceiling. A bolt of green, which was new, hit the ground nearby and splashed onto my side.

  Poisoned!

  You are losing 1% health every five seconds until cured.

  “Ahfuckme reallywhat. Thisis nonsense!” I shouted while looking around. There was a timer on the poison, but it was minutes away.

  The wings over my shoulder kept distracting any attempt at situational awareness. I jabbed one end of [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] into a root wall and pushed off. The added momentum sent me headlong into a ball of flame to regenerate health.

  Requiem hacked at the eyeball as it spun around to take in our battle scene. The Traveler took a moment to slash at the roots in the back. “Got the poison ones.”

  “Leave thefiremaking ones!” I shouted while dodging a few clumps of dirt. This was a mad situation, and being a [Red Imp] did not provide enough health.

  “I know how to play, thanks,” Requiem said while swinging at the giant eye. His attacks were on point, but the giant thing had an overabundance of health.

  “Stupidhead doesn’t know eyeballs come intwos,” I muttered.

  Two eyeballs might be enough to do Requiem in. I did a quick calculation of all the flying objects and our little extra undead attackers. That black hole move would probably still kill everything.

  “Don’t jinx us,” he said while waving another trail of ash.

  I glanced up anyway. Nothing was visible, but the few seconds available between projectiles wasn’t enough to get a solid look. Hopefully any other giant ugly eyeball was hanging around elsewhere. I hadn’t figured out exactly how boss spawns in dungeons worked. This was only my second one.

  “Almost there,” Requiem muttered. The eyeball turned to stare at me while shooting streams of ice and fire at Requiem. “Just a few more.”

  “More until what?” I asked. This time, it wasn’t an attempt at confounding the Traveler. I was honestly perplexed.

  “Shut up. Fly upward! As high as you can!” Requiem shouted.

  “Why?”

  “Not now, you stupid imp! Just follow orders!” Requiem was worked up. Seeing him agitated made me smile.

  “Eeeeee!” The moles kept screaming their constant noises.

  Part of me longed for the days of video games on a computer screen. Something where their annoying sounds could be turned off.

  I flew toward the ceiling. Requiem bravely, or foolishly, stayed where he was, swinging at the [Detached Vitreous]. Most of the small mole things were dead, and another two roots had popped up in the cavern. The young player was using the obstacles to hide behind, which caused them to take damage. I saw health bars as I turned to look down.

  That also made me realize exactly how high I had flown. I gulped for a moment, and the world spun with vertigo. Below me, the giant eyeball grew closer. The veins on its back wiggled and spurted blood. Requiem could be seen smiling. He seemed to be lobbing small blades into the creature’s back.

  One giant tear crossed the eyeball’s front. It seemed to be swaying as it climbed up toward my much smaller frame. I turned back toward the ceiling and put more distance between us.

  “To your left!” Requiem shouted at me.

  The eyeball turned abruptly in midair and gazed at the Traveler. Fireballs spun out of the creature’s back in my direction, which I happily caught. Free health was always nice.

  The Traveler below threw up another wall of ash and vanished. [Detached Vitreous] swiveled back around to me. My tail was twisting back and forth with nearly the same ferocity as the giant eyeball’s veins.

  “Comeonstupid stupidno brain!” I shouted. Requiem’s order had steered me close to the ceiling’s surface a few hundred feet above the floor.

  The eyeball hesitated as the ceiling grew closer. It seemed to be blinded by the giant gash that Requiem had inflicted. I kept up my stream of insults to give the monster something to focus on.

  From below, a long stream of fireballs came up. Their heat was far beyond Requiem’s
normal intensity. Portions of the monster’s health bar chipped away, but it still had a lot left. Smoke billowed out from behind the eyeball and filled the cavern roof.

  Part of me wondered exactly how the thing was flying to begin with. At least I had wings. The game’s creators clearly didn’t care one whit for the laws of physics.

  “Drop it!” Requiem shouted, his sword tip pointing at something nearby. “Drop it quickly!”

  I turned and tried to find what he was talking about. My vision wasn’t hampered by the smoke at all, which was strange to me. A small box floating off to one side talked about [Red Imp]s and [Dark Vision] alterations due to living in volcano-filled plains. I didn’t have time to read much.

  “Okay!” I bumped my head on the ceiling and did a swift lap around the giant stalagmite that Requiem had pointed at. There was a clear crack in one side.

  I focused for a moment, shifting the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] into spear form, and hoped it wouldn’t be damaged forever. My tiny arms and wings fluttered and yanked the weapon back and forth, trying to dislodge the spike.

  “Over here, you big fugly rotting eyeball!” Requiem shouted.

  I glanced down to see that most of the ash and smoke had cleared. The Traveler was trying to get [Detached Vitreous] to turn away from me.

  I wiggled the weapon even harder and gasped in happiness when the cracking started. A few more yanks on the weapon’s hilt succeeded in releasing the giant stalactite from the ceiling. Part of me felt absolutely giddy as the giant eyeball spun around. The [Detached Vitreous] looked at me, then at the falling spike, and back at me. If there had been eyelids or a face, the expression would have been one of shock.

  Instead, there was a squishing sound as the spike entered one side and the orb popped. Bits of entrails flew everywhere. The [Detached Vitreous] seemed to be struggling to stay afloat despite clearly being dead. The effect was a body that lowered to the ground slowly.

  One item amid the chaos of gooey eyeball guts caught my attention. Time seemed to compress, and with every fraction of a second, my synchronization meter jumped up. Messages of [Greed], [Greed], [Greed] flashed wildly. I took it as a sign from the Voices and dove for the loot.

  “Mine! Dibs dibsdibs,” I shouted and flew with all my speed toward the falling body.

  A few weak fireballs and icy blasts splattered from the dead eye toward the ground, but none impeded me. My chubby arms shot out and grabbed the item. I got something in my hands and a message box popped up.

  Significant [Greed] demonstrated. Rare loot received!

  Synchronization 74%

  Whatever it was fit into one palm. The [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] had somehow transformed into a tiny pitchfork and was being held by my tail. I slapped both hands over my chest and held on while tumbling. The shift in weight from gravity taking over sent me falling even faster. Both wings were frantically beating while the remains of [Detached Vitreous], a giant portion of the ceiling, and I landed with thuds.

  I was cackling happily. That one item grab had sent my completion percentage up by four percent. Being [Greedy] had paid off. At least it seemed to pay off until Requiem approached.

  “What’s that?” He stabbed one of his swords right next to my tiny body. I flinched and tried to roll away. A heavy foot stomped on my tail and prevented escape. “I asked you a question, imp.”

  “It’s mine!” I shouted. “Not yours, giantstupiddummy.”

  “Everything you own is mine unless I say otherwise.” Requiem cleaned off his other sword slowly. There was a gleam in his eyes that made my teeth chatter.

  By rolling a little, I could see that everything down here was dead. Roots that had shot into the air now looked wilted and charred. Tiny undead moles were in shambles all over the floor. I could clearly see pools of green, blue, and red dotting the landscape.

  “Oh, it’s safe. I’ve made sure it’s just you and me in this room,” Requiem said while leaning over me. His smile was utterly false.

  I nodded and tried to focus on jerking my tail away from him. The game made it twist and turn, but there was no escape. He looked especially cruel when it was apparent that half the dead monster’s guts were hanging all over his body. The second foot near my face must have landed in some mole’s head.

  “So what did you get?” Requiem said.

  “Noneya, twerp,” I muttered.

  He quickly slapped me across the face, and I saw my percentage bar go up a bit more. Messages of [Defiant] and [Self-Serving] popped up.

  “Try again. The truth this time.” He seemed bored with this whole process of beating me. It certainly never got him results.

  “I don’t want to tell you,” I answered. That was a completely true statement.

  Another slap in the face rewarded me with pain.

  “You misunderstand the nature of our arrangement. I am the master, and you are the servant. How many times must I remind you of this?” Requiem asked. He slammed the cleaned sword into the ground rapidly. It was much closer to my face than the first one.

  I smiled. Death was a release from character, and there was nothing frightening about that to me. Most physical pain was very transitory in the world of Continue Online. However, dying might mean this precious item would be left behind. Another option might help me secure the loot.

  “Tell me what you have?” Requiem demanded again.

  I ignored him and clenched my teeth as pain shot through me.

  Resistance is Futile

  Total health loss: 33%

  “Nnngh.” Noise escaped me. I closed both eyes and focused on my body shifting from one spot to another. The thought replayed over and over, showing me under Requiem at one moment, then elsewhere another.

  [Blink] triggered, and the world spun. I found myself standing with one foot squishing into something’s leftovers. Looking around caused brief vertigo. My [Blink] had placed me on top of the broken ceiling’s remains with the dead eyeball chunks beneath me.

  “What? Where did…” Requiem sounded confused from somewhere behind me.

  I stared at the object in my hand and promptly used [Identification]. The results made me grind my teeth in annoyance. Still, the percentage bar increase had been my primary goal. Once things settled with Requiem, then I could look at the Rank increase and hope it was worth revealing my secret ability.

  Skill Used: [Identification]

  Results: Seer’s Tear

  Category: Precious

  Details: Not much information is available about this object right now. It’s said to reveal information beyond what normal people can see, but without the other half, no one will ever know.

  Note! This item is part of a set. Without both, no effects will reveal themselves.

  Turning it into a bound item like the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] was impossible. There was only one way to prevent Requiem from taking it, so I swallowed the [Seer’s Tear] quickly. The object hurt going down. My health dropped a few more percentage, but the synchronization bar went up. It was a win all around for me.

  Requiem was yelling from behind me. I hadn’t heard his words over the sensation of my insides trying to digest a marble-like object. My face slowly straightened out as I turned to face my contractor.

  “What? Whatdo youwant jeez?” I said while tapping my foot.

  “What was that?” Requiem was ignoring the dead bodies around us for once and looking directly at me.

  “Stupid. Itwas dumb butnow, it’s mine.” That was all the answer regarding the [Seer’s Tear] I would provide Requiem. This loot truly was useless on its own, and Requiem would never let me get the other half.

  “Not that, you obnoxious little imp. How did you get over there?” he said.

  “Also nonya,” I said happily.

  “I order you to tell me during the next ten seconds exactly what you used.” Requiem had weeks in-game of herding around my [Red Imp]. The teen could actually nail down an order fairly well when he tried.

  “I blinked.” My sharp teeth c
ut at each other. The ARC relayed irritated feelings into action. I missed the days of Carver’s delayed reactions to all my internal thoughts.

  “Blinked?” Requiem tilted his head. “How long have you been able to do that?”

  “Since before you were born,” I answered truthfully. Part of me was giddy that the Voices let me get away with such clear abuse of the system.

  I saw him pause again.

  “Fine. Whatever it is, that’s your one loot. Everything else is mine.” Requiem growled and grabbed both swords out of the ground. He didn’t even bother cleaning them a second time. Both vanished into his player inventory.

  We spent the next hour cleaning up after the dead bodies and inspecting everything nearby. Requiem seemed to have a beginner mining skill and set about digging through rubble for nearby veins and loot. I was bored enough to log out and take a break.

  Once outside the ARC, I shook from the adrenaline rush. Fifteen minutes of real life passed and it wasn’t enough to calm my body down completely. I paced around the house and grabbed at my hair.

  The one trump card I’d had was ruined. [Blink] was no longer a hidden skill to save for later. Knowing Requiem, he was planning ways to abuse my [Red Imp] character even more. Could he do anything special with the [Blink] skill? I had no good ideas at this point. A noise in the background was distracting me.

  “Someone answer the damn phone!” I shouted.

  Maybe the irritation flooding me was caused by hunger. Not one sweet piece of food had passed my lips in the weeks of Continue Online. I normally had grab-and-go food or lunch bars. Soreness from the EXR-Sevens stacked on top to make everything unbearable.

  I grabbed part of the door frame to my room and tried leaning into various stretches. They were nearly useless inside the ARC. Reallife muscle stiffness couldn’t be resolved by lying in a bed all day. Especially not one that put my physical body through endless muscle spasm cycles to simulate cardio and light weight lifting.

  The ringing kept going. “Someone get the phone!”

  It took me a moment to realize that I was alone. There was no one to answer the phone but a computer or me. I sighed and felt foolish. Part of me had been so dazed by being in the ARC with the prospect of Xin that it felt like old times. Back when I had a job with a staff of coworkers.