Half-fleshed faces and giant limbs reached out for me. My arm pumped wildly, throwing the ball of fire into the crowd. Monsters growled and barked in pain. One fell down then was immediately set upon by its former peers. My feet touched down as I fell. My shin bumped rock and cause me a small wave of pain that I tried to suppress. Limbs grasped at me, desiring my [Dipped in Starlight] body. I quickly looked up and used [Blink] near a wall. Barking noises followed me in the wake of a disorienting spin.
[Charge] crawled across the pathway looking like a glowing-assed baboon. Chunks of our path crunched under its powerful and oversized palms. My new position made me victim to gravity, and I fell. [Blink] couldn’t trigger again fast enough, and I tried to dig into the wall with a large blade. The motion only stalled my fall a little bit as I hung on. [Morrigu’s Gift] was the wrong shape for such an action.
“Sscrew thiss!” Viper shouted. He threw blades at the boss, but they sank in without doing any damage to the creature’s health bar.
I took a breath and tried to steady myself. [Awareness Heightening] was in effect, but it didn’t change the cooldowns on my abilities. My fingers tightened, and I once again [Blink]ed, this time above the enemy [Charge]. [Morrigu’s Gift] slid across flesh but failed to find purchase. My legs locked around an arm, and I spun the blade to hack again. As we tangled, I ended upside down, banging into its chest with my forehead.
“Throw the bodies over the edge!” I shouted to Viper. “Distract the lesser ones!”
Dusk flew overhead and flung fire around, illuminating enough of the scene. Small spiders clung to a burning web up above. I would have been happy were there time to appreciate the death of so many bugs.
[Charge] went crazy and beat me, the ground, anything within reach. I shifted [Morrigu’s Gift] to one hand while my other hand anchored into the creature’s broken flesh. Dizziness swept through my head as we banged around.
Viper was tossing legless [Heavenly Body Clone]s over the edge. Barks echoed through the cavern as some of the more complete monsters tried to dive after the fresh sources of food. Dusk sent small balls of fire after them. Heat seared through the room as Viper hissed.
The walkway was taking a huge beating. Formerly smooth paths were now jagged or outright missing in places. I heard cracking above us. Monsters of various shapes flooded over the edge of the pit in their mindless dives.
[Charge] grabbed me with its hands. My free foot struggled but found a solid platform to activate [Power Armor]. Metal banging preceded a sudden expansion of my toga as it hardened under the monster’s grip. Portions slid out in stages as [Charge] tried to squeeze me to death and lift my body toward its face. A final chunk slammed tight over my head just in time.
“Sshit!” Viper hissed in surprise.
[Charge] grunted from the effort of chewing on my head. He was like a giant child gnawing on a jawbreaker a size too big. My vision narrowed to one small sliver that drool and bad breath could still make it through. The pressure around my chest loosened. Deep barking noises rattled my eardrums. I tried to see a location to [Blink] to, but nothing was visible except for nasty glowing teeth and bits of white blood from the dead [Heavenly Body Clone]s.
Status effects for [Deafened] and [Dizzy] came up. I swung wildly, unable to fully appreciate the neatness of [Power Armor]. [Awareness Heightening] made each moment with my head in this creature’s mouth feel like an eternity. Seeing anything past this visor while my arms were pinned was impossible. I didn’t even have time to consider where [Wild Bill] had gone.
The monster chewed. Viper was saying something. I could hear smaller barks in the middle of other ones. I shifted [Morrigu’s Gift] to a one-handed short sword and tried to jab the monster. I couldn’t see its health bar, and all the chewing was starting to make progress even on my [Power Armor].
My other hand stuck out, one foot pressed hard against the monster. My knees ached from trying to push back. Using [Recall] brought [Morrigu’s Echo] into my free hand. I couldn’t tell what shape it held, and [Dizzy] screwed up my concentration. Both weapons flailed at the monster, and the barks sounded strained.
A solid stream of blue shone through a hole in [Charge]’s cheek. The energy didn’t hit us but did get the walkway.
“Sshit! Android Sseven!” Viper’s loud hiss sounded muffled but close.
Had we walked forward? Had [Charge] tried to get Viper while still munching on me? Everything tipped to one side. [Charge] gave up his grasp on me and tried to stay upright.
Over the edge we fell. A second stream of blue came through while I tried to get my bearings. [Dizzy] made my eyes cross. A film of glowing slime made it harder to see. Viper was falling along with the rest of us.
I managed to [Blink] closer to the other player as all of us fell from the ledge. [Morrigu’s Echo] dropped from my hand into the abyss while I tried to get [Morrigu’s Gift] into a pickax shape.
Viper’s hand was close enough to clasp onto mine. The Traveler had an instant death hold. A message talking about [Constrictive Grip] flashed by. but I had no time to read the text. We were falling. Sparks flew as [Morrigu’s Gift] struggled to find purchase on the rock. Our path downward slanted enough and I pumped my arm into the wall, hoping that my fledging [Mountain Man] skills from training with Shazam might kick in.
“Hang on!” I strained to keep a hold of [Morrigu’s Gift] and Viper.
Dusk clung to a wall, chirping as we slid down. He might have been thinking something clever, but my vision of it was blocked by [Power Armor].
I almost regretted saving the other Traveler. With just me, I could probably have survived or even made it back to the top. Even neater, I probably could have found Android Seven, [Blink]ed to him, and pulled him from whatever perch he hid on. Still, going back up would have been a death sentence because of all the remaining [Heavenly Body Clone]s.
More energy blasts poured in from above. They were growing increasingly accurate. I tilted my head back and managed to see a body up above, glowing with blue light. That must be where Android Seven was, hanging from the ceiling and trying to kill us to take the boss loot for his own.
We slipped even farther.
“Viper! Will you be okay?”
I had no idea what he said. The man shook as another bolt of blue came down with more [Heavenly Body Clone]s. The grip on my free arm vanished. [Morrigu’s Gift] slid again under the sudden change of pressure. [Power Armor] still weighed me down. Dusk’s anxious chirping, undead monsters’ fading barks as they fell, and a hum of energy as we descended were all magnified under [Awareness Heightening].
I let the [Power Armor] go and felt a wash of grossness as my clothes turned back into a gore-drenched toga. My vision tilted down as I tried to get a handle on how far we were from the bottom.
Dusk dove and let out a fireball to light up the path. It vanished like a penny down an endless well. The bottom was far, far below. I looked back up and saw yet another blast of blue.
“Voices above, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves,” I grumbled and worked to halt my impending decent, but the weapon slipped.
Down I went. [Awareness Heightening] slowed time as I fell. My heartbeat was racing now, no longer a dull thud in the background. Moments like this were what nightmares were made of. Falling, dead bodies around me, death raining down from above. Dusk gave one chirp that was lost. I looked up and saw those two points of frozen starlight were growing faint in the distance.
My body jerked, and for a small eternity, I expected pain to radiate from my legs upward. My arm jerked in its socket and my side slammed into a wall. Those parts of my body hurt, and numbness shot down one leg as my kneecap jerked into something.
“I’ve got you,” Viper said.
He repeated the words a few times as I looked around, trying to find some place to [Blink] to safely. Gravity had driven the thought of trying a last minute change of direction out of my head. I ground my teeth and felt like a newbie, despite all that I had been given or trained for.
One foot at a time. Both legs slowly worked, and I stood. My health bar was under half. My mana barely existed. [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] clattered on the floor nearby. I stumbled to pick up my weapons and felt better.
“Hermess? Are you ssound?” Viper said. He must have climbed down somehow.
His words seemed off to me. I looked around and tried to figure out what had happened.
[Charge] lay there on the floor. One arm reached out awkwardly as it tried to grab a debilitated [Heavenly Body Clone] that had fallen with us. Gouged out chunks of flesh littered its chest and face from my wild stabs. Multiple smaller monsters looked like broken pancakes. I felt only mildly surprised when all these creatures managed to move arms and fingers in twitches. This fight had gone on too long. The boss barked one last time before my weapons gouged through the creature’s eyes.
“Yes. I feel much better now,” I said, satisfied that this fight had gone a much different route from my encounter with the [Barricobbler].
This creature’s death was added proof of my recovery. Xin’s return only served as part of my improvement. My bravery and willingness to leap into combat and save someone with the abilities I had showed that I had changed. I was better. My eyes closed, and I dared to feel a little bit of happiness.
Session Seventy-Six — The Breach
Stabbing creatures with one arm barely functional was excruciating. I tried to use the trick Shazam had taught me to get my arm back into the socket. Each failure cost me health. On try number three, a message popped up as game mechanics resulted in success.
Rearming yourself the wrong way?
Total health loss: 30%
I grunted while flexing my fingers slowly. [Morrigu’s Echo] would be easier to wield now. Shoving a blade into [Charge]’s eyeball with the limb out of joint had hurt intensely.
My monster-ending spree didn’t stop with the boss. Other [Heavenly Body Clone]s were falling even now. Some piled up together. Luckily, [Undying] ones were subject to the whims of [Gravity]. Their bodies cast of a small amount of illumination, but most of it came from the now-dead [Charge]. [Dipped in Starlight] allowed me to finish them off.
“Well,” Viper said dryly after a glance in my direction, “that’ss that. Now we have to esscape.”
“If you’re full of loot, we need to survive and get back topside.” I heaved an exhausted sigh.
The boss’s dead body could result in all types of loot drops, but none of them looked interesting at this point. Continue Online didn’t operate by standard game structures, so I couldn’t just dig through endless bodies and come up with a ring of stupidity plus seven. Viper seemed to have some system, so I settled for re-deading the undead creatures.
“Hurry up,” I said after making sure two more [Heavenly Body Clone]s stopped moving.
They continued falling and creating an ever-growing pile. Briefly, my eyes trailed a path upward. Could we let them stack up, then climb them and walk back onto the ledge? No, that would take thousands of monsters, plus risk our loot. The idea was proof of my exhaustion.
I waved at the system menu to pull up a clock. Nearly four in the morning. Sunlight wouldn’t happen this early anyway. Four days in-game was twenty-four hours of awareness. I needed sleep, food, and sunlight.
“Almosst. All thiss is good for uss,” Viper said while gathering loot. “Pluss, now I know ssecretss to thiss dungeon.”
“Reckless disregard for personal safety?” I quipped before feeling flushed. Well-rested Grant would never say such a thing.
“Yess. And moving fasst. I’m ssure other convictss would pay me a hundred pointss at leasst.” He shrugged, then moved to the giant pile of bodies that kept increasing.
Selling information about a dungeon wasn’t my style. My life was more about moving from one destination to the next. If Xin’s jailbreak didn’t happen, I could easily do boss runs instead. Maybe. This one would have been impossible to solo. We were lucky Dusk’s pest control served well.
Pinging the area showed Android Seven far above. Big O’s group was nowhere near us. There were marks on the walls where Charge had clawed. Even this entire pit we sat in looked as though it had been widened out at the base.
My foot tapped. This floor felt far sturdier than the dirt and rock walls. Was there a paneling here or something housed down below? Had [Charge] liked to dig so much he’d hit a zone boundary for Continue Online?
I stabbed [Morrigu’s Gift] at the hard surface a few times, but the floor didn’t even scratch. This might be a mystery for another person with the luxury of time. I turned to Viper and said, “We need to go quickly before other players can respawn and get in our way.”
Viper nodded. “I’m full on loot, forty-six cores, and the essence stone is getting heavy too. Any more and movement will be difficult.”
I glanced over and saw him holding a little crystal near the dead bodies. Sparks of energy jumped between the deceased and his stone. I didn’t live the life of a normal adventurer, so cores, essence stones, and dungeon crawling loot was beyond me.
I shook my head. Boxes explaining boss fight results were waiting for my attention. Based on battle contribution and the fact that the two of us were still alive, I had gained about two hundred redemption points. I waved away the box.
Dusk crawled carefully down a wall and sneaked over to a nearby crevice. His face poked through, and he happily murmured before vanishing.
“Watch for Android Seven,” I said to Viper while pressing a hand to my head. [Dipped in Starlight]’s status message flickered while my body felt heated.
Dusk squawked. I faded out briefly while staring at Viper. The man managed to look up while barely tilting his head. His eyes bugged out a little, and Viper’s body bowed. Then he shook and returned to a normal posture.
I pretended not to have been staring in hopes that [Act: Straight Face] might keep me from appearing disturbed. The crevice pass led to a steep ramp up. My ball of fire showed fairly solid walls, but our path was narrow. Dusk was small and wiggly enough to not be thwarted. Viper and I followed my [Messenger’s Pet].
One of my arms felt distorted and kept getting stuck in the walls. Viper grumbled a bit. I tried to use [Blink] to get farther up the walkway, but the system happily told me no.
Warning!
Self-preservation has disallowed this action. Further attempts to meld your arm with a wall will result in damage.
“So what are you in prison for?” I asked Viper as we crept our way upward. Each step ached and my fingers were barely responsive.
“Bodyguard. A player bribed me with two hundred gold to let him in for a ssecret meeting. Then killed a persson. Who knew letting NPCss die had conssequencess?” Viper said from behind me. He moved slower than I did. “Ended up with a thousand pointss to work off.”
That explained why he was calm working with me. Bodyguards probably had all sorts of quests that interacted with questionable people. It would only be a matter of doing the job and getting paid.
Our path kept going up. My ankles hurt. My knees buckled, and my damaged arm failed to prevent a spill. Viper got caught in the slip as we dropped a dozen steps. He hissed at me but said nothing.
“Only a thousand? You’re lucky.” I dusted off while trying to ignore the glowing white of my skin. [Dipped in Starlight] still flashed.
Barks from half-broken [Heavenly Body Clone]s echoed far below us.
We traveled another twenty feet before Viper asked, “How many criminal pointss did you get sstuck with?”
“Seven thousand.”
We were almost level with [Charge]’s floor. Our path tilted up unceasingly. I lifted the fireball and winced as my weight shifted. Light bounded up the hallway.
Viper hissed a low to
ne. He settled on saying, “That will take ssome time.”
“Maybe.”
“Ah. It’ss time for my flight. The car iss here.”
My upward climb halted. Turning to look at Viper didn’t reveal much in the way of his expression. He never seemed to have much positive or negative tone. Everything felt almost passively “observed.” Even now, he looked barely annoyed at the idea of leaving his character.
“I should take a break too. Have a safe flight.” I tried to sound professional and polite but couldn’t feel much of anything.
Continue Online’s reality disappeared as I logged out of the ARC. Dizziness hit when I stood. Lingering sensations from Hermes made walking hard. I inched toward the kitchen while clutching the wall. Everything in my two-room home felt too open. Still, I might have claustrophobia by later today. Four mental days in a cave system couldn’t be helpful.
Food went down without thought about taste. I gulped two glasses of water as I tried to focus. It was too early for coffee. Middle age ruined my ability to pull all-night sessions.
Only one goal mattered right now—escaping with Viper and our points. An hour, maybe more, of awareness would get me through. Afterward, I could give into the exhaustion threatening to drown my mind.
I logged back in and felt immediately depressed. Our characters were standing in front of a dead end. My eyes closed briefly, and time skipped. I was in no mood for such nonsense. Another message sat off to the side, flashing for attention.
[Convict Brand: Docile Binding] activated!
This function of the [Convict Brand] will slowly reduce Traveler abilities and stats. Complete restriction of abilities will occur in twelve hours. Docile Binding can only be initiated through an approved user of the [Brand Anchor].
“Oh no.” I groaned. We had under two hours to make it to the surface before the first restrictions kicked in. Would my abilities shut off as well? This was not neat at all! “Dusk? Can you be unsummoned or something?”
The little guy, who I still thought of as tiny despite his larger size, chirped a few times then did a circle. There was no message box above his head that might help.
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