“Not at the expense of my own life. That was also part of the deal.” The large monster was technically an [Unbound Entity], despite their contract. Death even once would be the end of his life.
Luckily, Wraith was far more powerful and intelligent than his younger brother had been. It was part of what had spurned this deal. Rather than continuing to let such a weak human slip out of his grasp, Wraith had made a deal.
“More of your kind has found us,” Wraith said. “What is it about you that causes them to feel such ire that they need to chase you, even to this desolate region?”
“I have that effect on people,” the dark-haired teenager said.
“How fortunate for me that you attract a never-ending supply of foolish people. I’ll go enjoy myself then.”
The [Greater Red Demon]’s wings unclasped from the front and swung wide. Tree branches were knocked away without regard. The strength of a Rank Twenty-Five was monstrous. Requiem measured his traveling companion on the same level as Freakinstain’s Cliffy. Only the big guy was faster and smarter, without the obvious weakness of a magic spell being channeled into it.
“Bring me back some shoes!” he shouted to Wraith’s fading form.
Screams came forth from the woods as Travelers were abruptly torn in two.
Among the [Greater Red Demon]’s abilities was an [Invisibility] skill. It served well in situations like this one. Wraith didn’t bring back boots, but then, Requiem had never truly expected him to.
Quest Group: [Valhalla Knights]
Task: [The Peace Keep]
Total: 715 active members
Details: Your guild has been charged with maintaining a civil environment in and around [Haven Valley]. This includes working with Locals of all walks of life. Points are tallied at the end of each week.
Primary Goal:
Creation of defensive structures
Bonus points will be provided for:
Alliances made
Monsters defeated
Locals kept alive
Total territory kept peaceful
Points will be removed for:
Local and Traveler death within defended area
[Haven Valley] had several roads leading to it. One of them had been destroyed by the colossal [World Eater] that Shazam, among others, had fought off. After a few weeks, the ground closed up, leaving behind a scarred landscape where no plants grew.
Along the path out of town was a small army of Travelers. Armed escorts from [Valhalla Knights] were moving a train of players up into the hills. These people wished to exchange two of their deaths for gold and other items before using [Save Yourself] in town.
Not everyone played Continue Online to battle or experience grand events. Some people simply wanted a place to learn new skills or live in another world. Some used the game’s high-speed time compression to have vacations or hang out with loved ones for longer.
“Come on! Anyone wishing to exchange deaths for gold needs to do so over here!” A bald man with sharp teeth was waving his arms to direct traffic. That seemed to be his lot in life lately. Urgot missed dungeon-crawling with his guild.
“This is such a bullshit job, Urgot,” another man said. He carried a large spear with an absurdly ineffective topping. Gaston thought the weapon looked cool despite its imbalanced nature.
“It’s not our problem. Our job is to keep the deaths outside the border, remember?” Urgot sighed. He turned slightly toward a fading sun and tried to soak in the last few rays.
“We should just kill them and take the tokens on our own,” Gaston grumbled.
“No, this way we keep all the player killers out there, fighting over tokens. Plus, our guild gets a cut of the sales from those cashing out, and our guild doesn’t lose points for killing them ourselves.” The other man, Urgot, looked almost like a crocodile in human form. He kept his lips carefully pulled down to hide sharpened teeth. “It’s bad enough Trillium created this three-strike system. There’s been a whole group of people trying to kill players upon logging in.”
People kept marching. Some were coming down from the mountain pass, having already died or not found a sale. Many players had shown interest in selling a death for goodies. Others held on in hopes that prices would be driven up. No one knew how long the event would go on, so finding the best point between sales and risk was difficult.
“Yeah, but that League of Shadows guild took care of them, right?”
Urgot marched farther up while Gaston went back down into the valley. Downhill was his favorite part of the entire journey. On the way back, he would try to get those who’d recently resurrected from the [Bind] point to gamble away their gains.
Urgot had five players behind him. They were from all walks of life. A nervous elderly couple was marching ahead of the younger people. The pair looked almost eager to get this over with.
Another guild member of [Valhalla Knights] was at the top. He pointed out locations to the newcomers. “Come on! Post your selling price here! A record of all prior sales is listed here! No refunds!”
Urgot waved at the thin man trying to direct traffic. Behind him were a few small buildings being used as sacrificial floors for anyone who successfully agreed on a deal.
“Tell me these guys don’t creep you out a little,” Alucard whispered to Urgot. “Letting themselves go through death for gold?”
Most people in [Valhalla Knights] had killed other Travelers. Once a person started raiding or fighting over rare monsters, murder happened. Urgot wasn’t blind enough to call it defense or claim it was justified. People wanted what they wanted. But the entire situation, where people lined up asking to be slaughtered, was on another level of disturbing.
“God, yes. The whole process is sickening. I don’t even know where the player killers go afterward.”
“Between you and me, I’ve been feeding names to those League of Shadows people,” Alucard whispered to his guild mate. The two generally got along, and most of the time they trusted each other.
“Gaston and I were just talking about them. I think they’re just as creepy. I walked into a room of seven people named Shadow, and they all stared at me until I left.”
“It’s the all-black clothes, plus they’re an entire army of sneakers. I mean, how many rogues do we have in our guild? Twenty? They’ve got, like, fifty or something.” Alucard started counting on his fingers. Not because he needed them to get past the number four, but because the man had been drinking while up here waiting. Babysitting people was boring.
“Keep moving! Keep in line. Don’t touch the constructs!” Urgot shouted at various people.
Travelers looked at him and narrowed their eyes. The buyers roaming past various sellers were unaffected.
“You’ve heard the rumors, right? That their leader is working with Hermes and our Sword Princess? Don’t you find that weird?”
The two of them didn’t have much to do but wait for people to want an escort back. Their guild had brought over dozens of giant constructs that were made by crafting specialists. Each one could easily handle a Rank Ten player. Most of the people coming up here trying to sell their deaths weren’t Rank Ten in anything, much less real fighters.
“Nope,” the bald man said. He didn’t have the spare time to find it weird. Unlike Alucard, Urgot had a real life to handle. That meant working, commuting, and if he was lucky, spending downtime in the shared ARC unit.
“Come on. That Hermes dude comes out of nowhere, gets trained by her firsthand, then she spends another month escorting him around.” Alucard threw up his hands. He wasn’t the first person in their guild to find the whole situation strange.
Most people knew that Shazam rarely talked to anyone. Even her guild messages were curt. She rarely gave orders and operated mostly as a figurehead to [Valhalla Knights]. Despite their detached association, the guild as a whole had mourned her absence and assumed her dead until the woman returned.
“Then this Hermes guy shows up again, teleports into a standoff, protects one Prince
ss, holds the other hostage, and manages to stop the war.” Alucard started fidgeting. When Urgot didn’t answer, he typed in guild chat, which the bald Traveler had turned off.
Anyone in [Valhalla Knights] could communicate through their guild chat system. It operated a lot like any other chat room on the Internet. The only catch was a slight delay had been built in to cause people farther away to get the news slower.
“Yeah, look, even SniperX agrees. It’s the same guy. People saw him all over the map delivering letters. Then he kills that legendary NPC, Commander Strongarm, and gets sent to jail by the father of those two princesses.” The thin man’s rant had started to run out of steam.
“What, you don’t believe in coincidences?” Urgot asked after it became apparent Alucard had stopped. The bald man’s body moved a bit slower now that the sun had started setting.
“I’m just saying, the guy’s gotta be on one hell of a quest chain. ‘Cus I ain’t seen nothing like that,” the thinner member of [Valhalla Knights] said.
“Well, they’re both Ultimate Edition users, and we know they get stuff the rest of us don’t,” said the bald one. He carefully ran his fingers over his skin. More than once he had scratched only to find out that doing so hurt terribly. “I’m starting to think I should cash out and go play another game until this is over.”
“Well, if you want to sell your tokens, I’ll happily kill you myself.”
“I may. There’s this woman I went on a date with. She learned I played and just shut down. Maybe if I took a month or two off, I could have a chance with her.”
“Maybe, unless you file your teeth in reality too,” Alucard said. “Ain’t no girl gonna kiss a mug like that.”
Urgot pulled his lips tight and said nothing.
Quest Group: Bearers of the [Legacy Wish]
Total: 5 active members
Details: Your group has been charged with recovering any items created by the first three Travelers to this world. If these items exist, their discovery may assist Locals in surviving their trip to the other side of the beam of light in [Haven Valley].
In addition, an increased number of people will be able to use the skill [Save Yourself] at one time. The exact total will depend on how many pieces are found, then brought together. Locals and Travelers without the [Legacy Wish] and holding on to the [Gateway Key] will be unable to complete this task.
But perhaps the search is in vain.
Total pieces recovered: 1
Session Eighty-Nine — Honeymoon Period
Nearly a month of real life had passed. My days were divided between delivering handwritten letters left behind by Mother, repairs for Trillium, and my new wife, Xin. She was the best part.
Xin hadn’t taken my last name as part of the wedding. We had no legal documentation tied to her existence that I was aware of. Her body didn’t even exist in reality. The short Asian woman had wholly transferred to the digital world, minus the ashes under my bed.
We were currently playing Continue Online, headed toward our next destination. Our path had taken longer than it needed to because we kept getting distracted by new experiences together. We stood at the precipice of the latest right now.
“Here we are,” I said to my new wife.
“Are you ready for what’s next?” she said with soft-sounding words.
“No.” My mouth felt dry as I looked in her direction. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
I could fight giant monsters and [Blink] around midair. Free-falling from insane heights into my Hermes game avatar posed little worry. Wrestling slobbering wolves felt like just another day. What Xin asked me to do now was borderline insanity.
“Trust me, you’ll like it.” Xin’s hips swayed as she walked away and wrapped straps of leather about her waist.
The dry spot in my throat refused to clear after multiple gulps. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I tried to back out at the last minute. “What if you get hurt?”
“Don’t be silly. This isn’t enough to hurt me.” She laughed at my worry, and I got depressed for a moment. “Of course, if you really can’t stand the thought, then I’ll do it without you.”
My head hung. I was being done in by my own worry. It felt like a reoccurring theme. I had worked so hard to be with her again, and the idea of letting such a simple request get between us for even a moment bothered me.
“Or you could just do it,” she said while raising her eyebrows.
Our adventures in reality had been much the same way. Xin talked me into all kinds of situations I wouldn’t try on my own. She was the adventurous one, especially in private. In front of a crowd, the woman deferred to me. I hadn’t understood at first, but the way she acted turned out to be cultural, at least according to Xin.
“Fine.” I wasn’t going to let her do this alone. Besides which, the sight of her being strapped into bits of leather and tight clothes was a great motivator.
My eyesight tilted downward. My own clothes were much the same. No longer did we stand in the robe-and-toga combination. Our weapons had been put away, and the trio of skeletons was being used for other things.
“Well?” she asked while smiling. This wonderful woman made life worth living. With every action, she pushed who I was to be someone better.
I took a breath, then looked at her again. This was insane. “Hold on, I’m working myself up to this.”
“Stop thinking and just go for it.”
Her comment made my nose wrinkle and lips purse. After a few seconds, I gave in and let her goading push me over the edge. Well, running and leaping got me over the edge.
I did exactly what Xin suggested and regretted it instantly. Gravity took over as my body left the cliff. The sudden lack of land beneath me wasn’t new, but at the same time, I had started going way too fast. My body shook while I resisted the urge to [Blink] to safety. I had no wings, and this wasn’t outer space.
“Ahhhhhh!” I screamed. Ground far below me had already started vanishing in the distance.
“Woooooooo!” Xin yelled seconds later.
Xin and I had built hang gliders out of bone, game world magic, and reusable all-purpose fabric we’d received from SweetPea. Xin’s grand idea had been to find the tallest cliff, then leap from the top to cover distance faster. Walking up the steep incline had been easy, but trusting myself to a hobbled-together glider felt frightening.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” My voice turned girly. My head tilted back frantically, checking the contraption for breaks.
Of course it might hurt if I crashed, but death was theoretically impossible no matter how high we might climb. I didn’t really exist in here, not like Xin did. My body lay calmly inside an Alternate Reality Capsule. Both arms were lifeless, and my nightclothes were probably a mess.
My wife laughed loudly. People for miles could have heard her delight.
Checking for other people would be easy enough. Now that the system was slightly stable, I could use my spatial abilities without much worry. But right now, I didn’t trust myself to check the area with [Sight of Mercari]. If my eyes closed, then the glider would probably tilt down and nose dive into the unforgiving dirt.
“We need earmuffs!” I shouted.
“What?” she yelled back.
The game mechanics probably kept me level more than any actual skill. My legs tried to stay straight in the harness. A bar under my hands wobbled anytime my grip slacked. The bone framework connected back to a tail which would let me raise or lower myself.
“These goggles!” My voice stayed high to try to pierce through the wind. “They’re doing nothing!”
The ground grew steadily closer. We wore some face protection, but it didn’t help much. My hair went everywhere, and my cheeks were being flattened. Our speed bordered on insane. I briefly thought about the safety of my spaceship cockpit and would have preferred being chased by a [Leviathan] again.
“Follow Dusk!” Xin’s glider hung a good forty feet away from mine, but her voice carried. T
he woman’s body maintained a calm steadiness I couldn’t muster.
Dusk, my gluttonous [Messenger’s Pet], glided ahead. He looked to be finding thermal currents which lifted his body. I doubted physics worked so easily, but the game world might have built in a method for people like us.
“I can’t see anything!” My arm wobbled momentarily while I pointed. Parting with the steering bar terrified me. I tried to remember [Blink] would save me if I fell.
“Trust Dusk!” she shouted and tilted her glider ahead of mine.
Fighting against the wind made no sense, but she had spent endless hours training to pilot everything under the sun. Xin could probably do loops around me.
I followed after Xin, as I always did. The initial fright finally started to fade. My breathing steadied as we followed the [Messenger’s Pet] into a long updraft.
Our flight managed to cover quite a few miles in a matter of minutes. Dusk’s guidance along updrafts worked together with high base stats to keep us afloat. Every few minutes, my arms would wiggle and the glider threatened to dip.
“Over there!” Xin pointed at a stretch of sand near a giant lake.
“Okay!” I turned and pointed the mess of cloth-covered bone downward. My heartbeat raced as the ground grew even closer. Our speed had been faster than I’d expected.
My feet stuck straight out. The ground hit, then my knees buckled. The glider’s front tipped straight into dirt and sand. The bar banged against my face, and a message displayed, proudly telling me how much I hurt.
I groaned while trying to right myself. A sneeze escaped as my eyes watered. My arms slowly struggled to get upright. I closed my eyes and triggered [Sight of Mercari]. No one else was nearby, besides Xin. Being safe from random player killers made standing less urgent. My next attempt to stand resulted in stumbles. Straps from the chest harness kept tripping me up.
The ARC-inspired feedback lingered. Other system messages started appearing, and I eyed them while wiping my face.
Attention!
Your recent sky-high adventure was enough to receive a reward and a place on the leaderboards. This challenge has only been discovered by 40,431 Travelers. In time, your record will be removed. To stay competitive, you will need to fly again for greater glory!
Continue Online The Complete Series Page 169
