Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  “Sstay alive!” Viper hissed in a panic. He had another blade in his hand quickly. Without [Awareness Heightening], the man looked insanely fast.

  A much larger than expected creature appeared. His body was now on par with a bobcat, instead of a smaller house cat. Everything else looked the same. Obsidian-colored skin, golden flecks running a stripe down his chest. Even the wings felt nostalgic after my time in Advance Online.

  “Dusk, thank the Voices you’re all right.” I tried not to get overly excited.

  The bigger [Messenger’s Pet] wasted no time and ran over to me. He purred and drove his head into my side. My situation felt better by far, despite the disorienting fact that he had almost doubled in size.

  “Yeah. I missed you too,” I said. The little guy could have visited me in an Atrium if I had accessed one, but Mother had rather firmly suggested I avoid logging in an ARC until last night.

  “What’ss that?” Viper looked extremely disturbed and had backed up to one of the dungeon walls.

  It took all my [Acting] skill along with [Act: Straight Face] to keep from laughing at the man. “A friend, and maybe our way out of this mess.”

  Dusk tilted his head and locked on the mess of bodies. The not-as-small head pulled to the other side, and he sniffed. I was happy to have made progress in completing my mental checklist for this first day in the dungeon. Next would be finding a safe corner to pull out the [Messenger’s Tube] and check for those promised communications regarding Xin.

  Where was she? Was she in the game? Waiting for me to press Yes and let her into the Atrium? I shook my head and tried not to be upset. Everything that had happened was a result of my own choices. The best way to handle things involved moving forward one step at a time.

  “All right, Dusk. I’m not sure how much you’ve seen, but I’ll talk anyway.” I missed the little guy; he was a great sounding board.

  A small question mark appeared about Dusk’s head as he looked at me. One cheek pulled back in a vague imitation smile. Even the imitation dragon’s tail looked to be wagging just slightly, whereas most of the time he looked indifferent while searching for creatures to fight.

  Voices above, with his new size, the range of creatures he could hunt down and maul had increased. I pitied the next nest of [Coo-Coo Rill]s we came across.

  “Why are you wassting time with a pet? We need to hide, or prepare an ambussh.” My teammate sounded nervous and his eyes glowed in the dungeon light.

  “This little guy is probably smarter than the two of us put together, trust me. Let’s finish looting while I catch up Dusk.” I ignored anything further from Viper and explained our situation to Dusk.

  During Viper’s loot fiesta, I whispered to Dusk about the dungeon. All attempts at explaining things came with a confused series of exclamation marks that were visible even down here. Going farther into the dungeon had amplified the odd blacklight feeling to everyone.

  Viper finished searching the dead players for gear. They were convicts like us, but they might have some items. He got two pieces of plate gear from the guy who had lured us down here. I came behind him with my poor skinning skills and tried to gather materials.

  We managed to clear all the bodies except for Squisks’. A man who was willing to try to bring us down with him deserved to be cast aside. He was left there to rot.

  “So can you find us a safe spot?” I asked Dusk at long last. “Something better than a path to the Grand World Crossroads this time.”

  Dusk surveyed the area. Viper subtly glanced at the short creature. We watched as he stood on hind legs and sniffed the air. He looked around a few more times.

  “Usselessss. I sshould jusst kill you now and find a place to hide.” The other Traveler’s neck bent too far to the left.

  It was enough to distract Dusk. He grimaced at my makeshift partner and curled back his lips in disgust. The two of them stuck their tongues out at each other, which made my face freeze and hands drift toward weapons.

  “I would prefer if we got along, at least until we’re out of this dungeon.” I had seen Dusk die in that other world. Now I knew he wasn’t immune to pain. He had a character stat window just like I did.

  “What then can you offer worth my continued attentionss?” he asked before tensing toward Dusk.

  Dusk hadn’t ceased his standard mixture of animal noises, part snake, cat, and bird. I put a hand on his much higher head and scratched between his ears. The motion distracted him from the hissing match.

  “You implied players like to hide goods for other people as payment, right?”

  “Yess.”

  “What do you say we steal them while they’re unguarded?” Both Dusk and I pulled back our cheeks in equal smirks.

  “I’m lisstening.” Viper tilted his face to one side to bring us into focus. The narrow slit of his eye widened to take in more light.

  “Dusk, do you think you can find some treasures for us?” I said while thinking about my own [Treasure’s Gift]. Hopefully we could find one small pile of items squirreled away by other players. Once Viper was on board, I could get breakfast and take care of reallife needs.

  Dealing with Dusk had grown a lot easier months ago. Now, most ideas in his head came with comical thought bubble projections. Above his head, two cupcakes showed.

  “Yes, of course, I’ll get you cupcakes,” I said.

  Viper muttered in confusion while Dusk turned toward me. His eyes looked into mine, then back at the path we had arrived by. My eyes closed briefly to drown out the visual overlap activating [Sight of Mercari]. According to it, team four with Big O was already on the way down. After that would be Android Seven and his partners. I longed for a quiet corner of the dungeon, but based on Dusk’s sniffing, that wasn’t going to happen.

  “What’ss that?” Viper asked.

  “Fellow Travelers on life’s road,” I muttered.

  “Sshit,” he said, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  One of the groups ahead of us went toward the dungeon’s western side. Another group traveled farther away. This place was almost big enough that a dozen people could roam, but if we were all alive at once, we would be hard pressed to avoid each other. Viper and I had to contend with too many factors for other players to be our only concern.

  Dusk sniffed, and an exclamation mark appeared in the thought bubble above his head. A treasure box showed shortly after, complete with golden coins. Using the [Messenger’s Pet] to hunt down treasure was certainly a new application.

  “Lead the way,” I said to the large-cat-sized dragon. He wasn’t going to fit in my hood anymore, and that made me kind of sad.

  “You got a pet bribed with cupcakess?” Viper fell into line behind me.

  “What do you use?” I turned to check on him.

  The man seemed completely perplexed by our situation. Part of me couldn’t help but smile. Sure, he wanted to get the most of this dungeon, but so did I. I was easily willing to work with someone for safety and split the resources. Logging out would leave an autopilot active in a dungeon, and autopilots were often prone to stupid actions. Mine had eaten a slew of [Ghost Mushroom]s and ended up seeing sound as splashes of color.

  Additional monsters like the ones prior popped up, but with Dusk helping, we made quick work of them. Viper insisted we stop and gather their energy or whatever that crystal of his did. After a while, he figured out which question to ask.

  “You. You’re an Ultimate Edition Usser, aren’t you?” he said.

  I shrugged but didn’t answer out loud. It always sounded like an excuse compared to the months of work I’d put in learning new skills and changing from a passive, depressed man going through the motions to a person who defeated monsters in rapid succession. Almost a year’s worth of game time, months of real world time. I had changed, dammit.

  “That explainss the weird itemss. You got ssomething during your trialss, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” I said, annoyed that my efforts were boiled down to “pay to win”
gaming.

  “Ahhhhh.” He let out a long hiss.

  We fought another small pack of the legless creatures with monstrous arms. Bits of blackened blood stained the leather armor given to me through King Nero’s pity.

  As we traveled on, my irritation grew. My efforts being discounted hurt, but we hadn’t yet found a safe spot to hide. My bladder was full and my belly rumbling. To top it off, the [Messenger’s Tube] practically glowed with communication from the Voices above. Hopefully soon Dusk would reach his destination, and I could set about getting things sorted.

  Snake eyes followed us as Viper gathered loot while my inventory stayed nearly empty. The price of loot was small for a measure of freedom and cooperation. One that didn’t hurt to pay.

  Coldly inflicting mental pain on two other players without hesitation, that was another issue entirely. I tried not to let the worry about what fresh hell this game had in store for me down here. But I knew that summoning Dusk would make it all bearable.

  Session Seventy-One — Nightmares and Dreams

  My head throbbed from repeated usage of abilities. [Blink] was bad enough due to losing my anchor in space repeatedly. It required me to look at a target location and imagine being there, and how the game picked that up was beyond me.

  Then again, [Morrigu’s Gift] transformed shapes, and this entire world was in my head and digital coding. Advanced science clearly didn’t care one whit about piddly human limitations. I shook my head slowly and tried to focus on creeping through the dungeon.

  Dusk sniffed the ground ahead of us. I watched the area around us in case he might fail to notice something, but Dusk normally had an insane level of awareness. He could find any critter smaller than him in a ten-mile radius, and now he was bigger. We kept running into single monsters, but nothing big yet. Those other players had entered behind us, and things would start getting bad soon.

  “Any place close, Dusk?” I asked.

  “Yess. Tell your lizard to find a place fast.” Viper’s eyes shifted constantly as we turned corners.

  Our route led down a hallway, through four junctions, and to a two-story drop toward the dungeon core. Dusk leapt with barely a flutter of wings. I [Blink]ed. Viper had to use the handholds one level at a time.

  “He’ss not going for the bossss, iss he?” my partner asked.

  “No—” I checked the names in the dungeon. No players were nearby, but others were going down as well. “You’re not, right Dusk?”

  The larger imitation dragon turned to me, then rolled his eyes. One shoulder rippled as if to suggest the choice was mine. A huff of steam came from his nostrils and he went back to tracking a scent.

  “That’s probably a no.” I smiled and tried to [Act] confident. One hand stayed on [Morrigu’s Gift] anyway, in case Viper tried to stab me in the back. I felt uncomfortable with him behind me, but I couldn’t let him get close to Dusk either.

  If I died, that was fine, but if Dusk died, I might lose my mind again. Seeing him, Jeeves, and Treasure vanish in one go had been devastating. For a few brief seconds, I’d lost rationality and forgotten these virtual worlds were only real on the surface.

  Going down a floor made it even harder to see. Less light dripped through this floor’s ceiling. The creepy glow that illuminated Viper’s eyes was reduced to almost normal hues.

  “Is your beasst ssure?”

  Dusk laid back an ear and growled.

  “He’ss ssmart,” Viper remarked but didn’t apologize. He didn’t seem like the sort who gave a damn about others. Those mostly white orbs made me feel distrustful.

  “I told you,” I said, sticking up for one of my few friends in the world.

  It was odd that the people I got along with best only existed in a digital landscape. Dusk looked like an animal but felt far too complex to be compared to Mister Sniffles.

  This dungeon felt easy. A little over an hour into these depths, and so far, there had been no signs of traps or complicated puzzles.

  “This place can’t just be monsters.”

  “I’m not ssure. It’ss getting harder to ssee though. I worry what might be in the darknessss.”

  That worried me also. Using my [Globe of Light] spell would take mana which I was worried about spending. Without a scroll to light the area, we’d need wrap up the convict’s garb and set it aflame.

  “Do you have anything we can use for a torch?” I asked.

  Viper shook his head. He probably hadn’t been desperate enough to use clothing as a torch yet. It ruined the durability and would screw up the few points such an item would be worth. Maybe he had an ability to see in the dark.

  I grumbled again about being robbed of all my items. They hadn’t even given me a discount on the [Sinner] status after taking my gold and goodies.

  Dusk stopped and perked up. The bobcat-sized dragon swiveled a long neck around to peer behind us. One ear flicked forward as something in the distance drew his attention. Viper looked confused, but a short blade sat clutched in each hand. His body crouched low.

  I couldn’t tell what had my friend so enthralled. A hand sat ready with [Morrigu’s Gift] as I replayed one of the other convict’s words from earlier. Average players died down here, and that couldn’t be from team combat alone.

  Dusk hissed, and my stomach dropped. When he made those angry little squawks, our situation would get bad.

  Out from behind one of the earthen dungeon walls shuffled a much taller creature than our prior enemies. This human-shaped monster had legs that were nearly impossible to separate from the dim background. Flesh and muscle were missing from a shoulder down to the thigh.

  Skill Used: [Identification]

  Race: Heavenly Body Clone

  Traits: [Imperfect], [Undying], [Cannibal]

  Details: Heavenly Bodies belong to a race that visited from another universe. Only three ever reached the surface of [Arcadia]. This creature is a madman’s attempt at channeling power from the [Tower of Stars] above in order to recreate these beings. This creature is attracted to the dead bodies of lesser [Heavenly Body Clone]s, and cannot be truly killed. There are rumors of a method to destroy them, but the exact method is unknown.

  “Sshit,” Viper said.

  “You see that? It’s impossible to kill!” I didn’t like that kind of message. In all my time playing this virtual reality game, monsters who didn’t die had never come up.

  “Ssshit, seven dayss of running?” He voiced a thought completely different from my own.

  “Viper, throw some body parts of the lesser versions at it!” I snapped at the part-serpent player. Being trained to react suddenly to Continue Online’s crazy world had taken a lot of time with Shazam. “Dusk, we need that safe spot!”

  Viper didn’t throw anything, but turned and ran ahead of Dusk. A single slit of eyes was visible as he hauled down the hallway. Dusk squawked, then tried to shuffle off as well. I debated for a few seconds too long about hitting the creature with my weapons.

  Voices, but they moved fast. The shuffle from before must have been an act because a few seconds later, long arms were reaching toward my body. My [Speed] and [Reaction] weren’t enough without [Awareness Heightening] to completely avoid fingertips raking across my chest and face.

  That’s not how manicures work

  Total health loss: 70%

  I spun, got a line of sight on where Dusk was fleeing around the corner, then [Blink]ed. My landing footwork was poor, and the limp from before ached just wrong. A second thud of pain jolted my shoulder as I tumbled into a wall.

  Loud, angry walrus barking echoed behind us. I managed to keep [Morrigu’s Gift] in one hand and pulled myself upright with the other. My mind tried to piece together what was happening as we ran down a corridor of the dungeon. Another [Heavenly Body Clone] came out ahead of Viper. Bones shone through on its arm with an obvious glow.

  Viper cursed, then leaned back in a slide to get under the creature’s outstretched arms. Dusk spat a ball of fire, which made the creature bark
in anger. I ran by, stopped, spun, and held down my hat. Both feet went up onto my tippy toes and one hand went behind me for a moment.

  “Grrh!” the monster shouted in my face.

  I smiled, pleased with the resulting system pop-up, then chased after the others.

  Running with Style

  +2 [Attractiveness]

  +1 [Coordination]

  “Viper! We need to get rid of the loot!” I shouted ahead.

  All those little monsters had been easy because they were bait. Stupid players would pick up the loot and attract these other monsters that couldn’t be killed.

  “No! We have to figure something out! Or we’ll never escape being convicts!” Viper said. “You disssstract them! I have all the itemss!”

  “They’re following you!” I said while stomping over a legless monster. Part of me wanted to leave the snake man behind and try to kill the boss, but I had hoped to use Viper as a decoy for the other players.

  “Sshit!” he said while hugging the right side of a corridor to get past yet another swift-moving glowing creature. “Sshit, sshit, sshit, I hate thiss game!”

  Dusk got distracted and dove for one of the half-bodied versions with no legs. Fire bubbled in his mouth as he chewed on the thing’s face.

  I felt disgusted and increasingly dizzy. Dead [Coo-Coo Rill]s had been more than enough. Voices help me if he brought one of these back to the Atrium. He couldn’t do that, could he? If I had to log back into Hermes and see these weird decomposing clones piled around me as presents, I might just barf.

  Dusk’s sudden veering to the left distracted me enough to run into a wall again. Dimly lit areas were the bane of my sanity. Once again, I debated the [Globe of Light] spell but worried that those monsters might hone in on the light. Seal barks echoed in the distance, and a pair of shuffling feet ran past me toward where Viper had gone.

  Dusk looked up from his conquered monster and tilted his head. Question marks appeared and then faded out. I stared at him for a moment then back down the turn we had missed. All the [Heavenly Body Clone] creatures were rushing down the hall—at least six of them now—but none seemed to care about the slightly overweight man wearing grubby leathers.