Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  Step one, find a tunnel that went up. Step two, stab Requiem Mass now that I was no longer restricted by the summoning ritual. Step three, free Xin. With three simple steps, everything would work out. It had to.

  The tunnels up were amazingly peaceful. All of the undead creatures that had plagued us on the way down were gone. Not one mole or set of roots popped into being. Each twist and turn kept me jumping, waiting for something to scare me, but my path stayed clear. Frankenstein must have recalled everything he had to fight against Requiem. I wasn’t sure how much I liked the older Traveler. He could have easily killed me but didn’t, so that said something.

  I used [Blink] as often as possible to speed up the traveling time. Wings only went so fast despite all my practice. It was easily hours of high-speed movement before I made it to the exit, winded but alive. Finally, I got out to the top and found a hastily erected camp.

  “Whatis this?” I shouted in confusion.

  Requiem’s jar of goop that he had been cradling for days was sitting there, almost completely empty. I looked inside and saw signs of scrape marks on the sides. He had clearly dipped something into this.

  I stabbed at it with the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift]. A small box popped up.

  System Notice!

  Enchantment material found. Applying enough of this to an item will make it take on a new property. Grade: High Quality

  Well. That was neat. I focused and tried to curve the edge of my weapon a bit. The [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] ended up looking like an exaggerated butter knife. Soon I had scooped out what little remained and slathered it on my one item.

  Enchanting the loincloth seemed questionable. I would fill up the bowl with water and bathe in it if that might help my own stats. Anything to get an edge over Requiem. There was no telling what bonuses he might have gained.

  Enchantment received!

  [Recall] added.

  This skill allows you to concentrate on a [Bound] item and teleport it to your side. This skill will reduce the item’s durability.

  System Notice!

  Items with low durability will do less damage or prevent less harm. Please take care of your items to ensure maximum efficiency.

  Neat. Requiem might have gained the same ability. He might have gained increased damage or any other number of things. I took to the air and made my way toward Requiem Mass. It might take a while, I might only have one life left, but the young man and I would meet again soon.

  I may be tiny and have a low health bar, but no longer was I bound by his rules.

  Session Thirty-Seven — Baby Don’t Hurt Me

  Traveling was a lot easier out here in the open. There was so much free room. A landscape of undead and rotting creatures didn’t lend itself to flying beings. I took advantage of my vertical freedom to skip the drawbridge and track down the two players.

  They were easy enough to find. I just had to follow the trail of dead bodies and girly shouting. Requiem had plowed through a river of undead creatures. Bits of monsters hung all over the castle drawbridge. At least seven different rats were floating belly up in the moat. Frankenstein was screaming in horror. Every few seconds, the goofy Traveler used that burst of speed to wiggle from one location to another. Requiem and his stupid blue-glowing body was always close by, pressuring him.

  I watched them dash down one of the castle corridors. Stained glass windows were between us. Using [Blink] to get through would be easy enough if there was a good opening. Part of me hoped that Requiem would get backed into a corner and I could pop in behind him.

  My mind ran through the possible methods. Using an [Unexpected Strike] would cause a ton of extra damage. The moment I attacked, Requiem would know my position. I opted to keep watching the two whittle away at each other.

  Frankenstein kept sending half-rotted animals after Requiem Mass. Giant monster rats tried to gnaw on his face. Monkeys of questionable bowel control gibbered and clawed. Moles in the courtyard threw mud piles. We had been fighting the Traveler’s minions this entire time and I hadn’t known.

  This goop on my [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] might come in use. I wasn’t sure how the game justified having a weapon that could change shape and be thrown. Maybe I was so terrible that the Voice of Balance said, “Whatever.”

  Part of me felt happy each time my character learned something new. Now was a good time to practice. Requiem was running along a causeway after Frankenstein. I put the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] into spear form and got ready to lob it. If I stayed at a distance, he might not notice my weapon among all the other chaos. The attempt missed wildly by clattering into the courtyard below.

  “Ahh! Nononnodamnno!” I tried to say it quietly, but my voice carried.

  Requiem didn’t notice thankfully. Building a new skill from scratch on a [Red Imp] would take a long while. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the weapon coming back to my hand. Triggering new skills was always a pain in the neck. [Blink] took around seventy different attempts before I could aim regularly. Thank goodness being down in that pit of a dungeon gave me plenty of time.

  “Get away! You’re ruining everything!” Frankenstein shouted loud enough to be heard over the groans of undead monsters.

  “It’s just a little pain! Come on!” Requiem Mass and his silly blue aura dodged around one torn-up rat and slashed at a mole. “You’ll hardly notice!”

  There wasn’t enough time for seventy attempts on weapon [Recall]ing. Not when one successful usage took ten seconds of idle behavior. Plus, each [Recall] ground down the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] and its durability. The spear was back in my hand and looked to be at seventy-five percent or so from one use. I checked out the [Regeneration] progress while both Travelers chased each other around.

  One minute of the Travelers trying to kill each other equaled about five percent [Regeneration] on my weapon. That wasn’t enough for repeated [Recall] attempts. In Requiem’s world, that was a dead rat monster and a heavily wounded mini bear. The ursine bundle of undead-themed nonsense had tiny round ears and a slashed face.

  “No! Lilly!” Frankenstein ran to grab one of the bear’s fluffy disconnected ears. He cradled it while sniffling.

  “You named a bear Lilly?” Requiem paused his destructive rampage to stare at Frankenstein.

  “Yes! She’s cute, and you’re ruining her!” Frankenstein’s body vanished and dark red wisps of energy coalesced in a new location. He grabbed another piece of the bear named Lilly. The dive brought him amazingly close to Requiem’s stabbing blade. “Ahh! I’ll get you for this!”

  “Not at this rate.” Requiem was smiling.

  I tried to keep out of the main picture in case a [Red Imp] flying above them would be too obvious. Stealth was not one of my character’s skills. If I ever had to do this again, I would ask the Voices for someone sneaky.

  “Shut up!” the goofy Traveler yelled. He sounded near sniffles.

  Something flashed like a camera going off. The bright moment made Frankenstein shudder. His clothes seemed to be made of smoke much like Jean’s.

  “Really? You’re, like, forty and telling people to shut up?” Requiem said.

  I took advantage of the distraction to throw another spear at the back of Requiem’s head. My wings faltered for a moment, making the shot go wild. It landed on one of the mostly incapacitated mole creatures. A small box displayed minor gains.

  “Shut up!” Frankenstein was overly emotional about a bunch of mindless creatures. These undead things were all gross. “You’re a jerk!”

  Requiem swung a blade down and chopped at another undead rat. An overabundance of the things bounded along the castle grounds, even with all the destruction. More were scaling up the walls with monkeys riding their backs.

  “This is why we can’t work together. You’re a child.” Frankenstein grabbed another bit of some monster’s body and clutched it to his chest.

  Lilly, the mini bear, growled and charged at her enemy.

  “Really? This from the man who is sad his
teddy bear is falling apart? Or how about the fact that you betrayed me and refused to give me your piece of the key?” The younger Traveler emphasized his disgust by sidestepping Lilly and pushing her over a rampart’s edge.

  “We could have completed it together, you unstable little brat!” Frankenstein tried to dodge away again. His clothes were a mess.

  “Why would I work with you?” the younger one asked. His cheek kept twitching every time Frankenstein spoke.

  “Because we could have been done!” Frankenstein whined.

  Requiem snarled and dove for Frankenstein. Frankenstein tossed all the body parts at Requiem and did that squiggly energy running. The eyeball pendant around my former master’s neck flashed brightly, and energy went everywhere. It was as if the red foggy abilities abandoned Frankenstein when he was afraid.

  Was that the point of Requiem’s necklace? Had we gone down there to get him a piece of equipment that would counter Frankenstein’s squiggle things? Part of me felt terrible for helping make myself obsolete, but I should have expected it. The one day I chose to ignore my “kill Requiem” mission and all good intentions backfired. At least my [Red Imp] self was now a free agent. With one life to risk it all.

  The players kept up their endless fighting down a stairwell. Both were well-below half health according to [Identification].

  “Stay back! I’m warning you!” Frankenstein had backed into the castle’s inner courtyard.

  “Or what?” Requiem stalked closer. His body gave off the deeper blue hue while one sword trailed ash. The lighting made his face look twisted, especially since he sounded so young.

  From above, it was clear that Frankenstein was not at all happy. The man turned and started shouting to one of the archways, “Cliffy! Here, boy! Come to Papa!”

  “More undead fodder?” Requiem sounded disgusted.

  “No! This one is special.” Frankenstein gave one of the best evil villain laughs I had ever heard. My [Red Imp] body joined in out of some diabolical gene buried in this racial code.

  An absolutely giant rotting dog slowly padded in from one of the doors leading outside. I had never seen this huge creature before in any session as the [Red Imp]. It was enough to make me whistle slowly. Not to mention he had named it Cliffy—how neat was that?

  “I’ll get you yet, and your little dog too,” Requiem said.

  There wasn’t a trace of humor in his words. I, however, was nearly bursting and trying not to laugh.

  “Sic ‘em, boy!” Frankenstein said.

  The dog didn’t move right. It bounded on three good legs and one that was terribly broken. PoserMan and his wingtip coat adopted a strange pose. He pressed his hands together and crossed his legs on the ground. Out of his body shot another round of red energy linking between him and Cliffy.

  Requiem tilted his head and swung both swords again. “What are you doing?”

  I was asking myself the same thing. If my teenage years of video games were any hint, Frankenstein was channeling power into Cliffy. There were no clear indications of other players’ buffs most of the time. Continue Online happily told me what I had going on, but other people were a mystery.

  After five seconds, the dog was larger. After ten seconds, it was faster. Requiem couldn’t sit around letting Frankenstein continue to charge up the creature. I could at least see mana dropping down on Frankenstein’s bar. He changed his pose a bit, and the blue bar leveled off.

  Requiem once again tried to charge toward his nemesis. The big undead dog, Cliffy, got in the way and snapped uneven teeth at his face. I cheered from up above as the young Traveler lost health points. He pulled back from the beast and switched out his swords.

  Frankenstein was humming as part of his strange pose. Requiem dodged again and managed to get away from the dog’s repeated lunges. It would take me a lot of practice in order to avoid that kind of repeated attack, even with [Blink].

  Maybe. I did have lots of experience with Requiem.

  If I knew him, he would be throwing materials into the air. There, he was tossing those short blades in an arc. I flew over to catch them. That brief bit of practice with Shazam, catching cards out of the air, helped. This was more of the same.

  I managed to grab six and redirected them over Requiem’s head. Seeing small [Unexpected Strike] windows pop up for minimal damage gave me pleasure. It was enough to put a dent in the Traveler’s health bar. I used [Blink] to hide quickly before he looked up.

  Cliffy tried to give a ferocious growl, but it failed due to half his jaw being in shambles. Some of the projectiles that I missed struck Frankenstein as well. My help was keeping things vaguely even.

  “What?” Requiem was confused. He pulled out one of his swords from the hammer space that Travelers used. Then he tossed more blades like basketballs with his free hand.

  I blinked out and grabbed the newest projectiles quickly. I didn’t have enough time to risk dropping them on Requiem’s head though. They were put to good use as throwing practice from the side instead of letting gravity take control completely.

  “What is going on?” my former master demanded.

  Frankenstein hummed while his giant rotting dog swung again. The two danced back and forth all over the courtyard. Cliffy would swing an enormous paw and do more damage to the surrounding mortar than anything else.

  Requiem elevated his aura to the next level. He shouted, which made the young man’s hair stand on end. The last time he used these abilities, Requiem could move faster and hit harder. Eventually, it built up to the black hole ability, then fatigue.

  I hoped that Frankenstein would be able to push him far enough. If Requiem wasted that ability, I could clean up after them. With heightened speed, Cliffy and his red energy bonuses were losing ground. Soon the creature was down another leg and couldn’t intercept the enemy Traveler anymore.

  I “oopsed” a rock into the side of Requiem’s head. I kicked blades captured from Requiem’s earlier attack over the edge of the wall. Next, bits of dead moles slid off to hopefully make it seem as though the place was falling apart. Cliffy’s onslaught against the walls might have knocked things loose above.

  The dog was falling apart under Requiem’s assault. It charged in what had to be a suicide run.

  “Go!” I shouted.

  Requiem twitched and tried to use a screen of smoke. My [Dark Vision] saw right through it and showed the Traveler trying to dodge. The giant undead creature didn’t care in the slightest and curved to intercept.

  The young Traveler in his leather gear turned the blade and swung. It curved into the creature’s neck as a giant head descended. From my angle, the dog’s mouth had opened wide and half swallowed Requiem. I felt hopeful for the first time in days. Had the undead beast finished off my enemy?

  First the dog’s working front leg lost traction. The hind one soon followed. They rag-dolled outward as if they had no functional muscles left. I raised a tiny hand to my mouth and tried to understand why the big head stayed up in the air.

  “Well, that was useless.” The younger Traveler sounded muffled and strained.

  The dog’s jaw was trying to close but failed. Requiem turned his sword even more and detached the last few strands connecting the head to its body.

  Then the heavy head was heaved from Requiem over to one side. His blue aura flickered like a lightbulb stuttering. Requiem shuddered, then kicked one leg, shaking off goo. The red energy connection between the dog and Frankenstein shattered as the head fell to the side.

  “Darnit!” I muttered. That would have been a perfect chance to [Blink] down and stab him. Sadly, I had been lost in the fight. A few months of playing this game was not enough to completely break years of listlessness.

  “Pathetic. I was never afraid of these minions of yours.” Requiem cracked his neck and rolled both shoulders. Undead body chunks were littered across his gear and hair.

  “But… but… but…” Frankenstein looked pitiful next to the other player. It was strange to see a man who s
eemed to adore his minions become reduced to this. His clothes remained pristine despite the battle.

  “Anything else?” Requiem slid his blade along the dog’s back and cleaned it off. The biggest chunks of the beast fell off.

  I took stock of how my ex-master was doing. Neither one had much health, but their fourth of a health bar was still slightly more than my full one. Voices, I would love to have my Hermes body with some of these skills. Then I could just [Blink] down and swing the real [Morrigu’s Gift] into his face over and over.

  “No, then? Very well. Here’s the ultimatum. Give me your piece of the key and forfeit the quest. That, or I’ll kill you and take it. Either way, I win.” The younger Traveler pointed a smoking sword toward Frankenstein. Ash dripped down and scattered as it hit his clothes.

  “No, I can’t, I can’t do that.”

  “I know your weakness, Freakinstain. I know why you always stick around this forsaken castle instead of in Othello,” Requiem said.

  I perked up and tried to figure out what he was talking about.

  “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Frankenstein may be able to act the fool, but he was a terrible liar. Even back in the room with that giant face, it was pretty clear that Frankenstein had no clue how to talk to people. He might also be a touch crazy. The jury was still out on that one.

  The giant undead dog lifted its head weakly and tried to growl. Severed tendons looked gruesome. Cliffy’s head moved independently of his body. Both halves bent muscles which no longer connected in order to bite at Requiem.

  “Under here is where the shrine is, isn’t it? The one to the Voice of Blood.” Requiem stomped one foot. Small vibrations shook the remains of mortar and bodies.

  “Nooo. No, there’s no shrine. Nothing of the sort.” Frankenstein scrambled backward.

  “See, I think there is. And I’m going to kill you, break that shrine into tiny pieces, and sell them to anyone who wants a piece of the action.”

  The young man’s words served to set off Frankenstein. “Seriously? You’re taking this game way too far.” Frankenstein’s tone changed a little. He sounded disappointed while standing up.