Realm of the Nine Circles: The Grind: A LitRPG Novel

by P. Joseph Cherubino

Kalmond waited again, and when he jumped safely to the next space, the pace increased again. It took him several seconds to figure out when to jump again. When he did, he found both companions safely behind him. He took longer this time deciding when to jump, and the pace increased slightly.

  “We paused for four seconds,” Najeel yelled. “And the pace increased. We can’t pause longer than four seconds.”

  “Shit!” Kalmond shouted and jumped instinctively.

  Martin screamed, and Kalmond turned back just in time to see Driskroll’s health bar flash above his head nearly empty.

  “One more of those…” Martin shouted, and Kalmond leaped.

  “It’s a waltz!” Najeel screamed.

  “Why do I care,” Kalmond screamed back and jumped again, not bothering to turn back.

  But as he jumped, he detected the pattern, one, two, three. Distracted by the pattern, Kalmond paused longer than four seconds, when he jumped again, one of the columns nearly impaled him. He cursed Najeel in his head, then jumped again. Where the tunnel turned again to the right, he caught sight of the last hammers. Three jumps later, they all stood safely at the bend.

  Najeel cast a healing spell over Martin as Kalmond stood catching his breath. He drew his axe once again as the tunnel widened, turned to black stone, and took on a jagged appearance. The look of it made him nervous.

  When the beast bounded from the shadows, he was certain that the Realm read his thoughts. The charging iron boar knocked him off his feet, but Kalmond managed to score a critical with cloudsplitter that stunned the beast and took 5000 hitpoints from it, shaving a good half off its health bar.

  The iron boar nearly knocked Martin back into the hammering stone, but he pulled short, just barely. It was not so for the boar. One of the columns smashed its skull against the wall with a spray of gore that splattered across Kalmond’s forehead as he rose to his feet.

  “Damn, that was almost me,” Martin said.

  “Yeah,” Kalmond replied. “Watch what you think. This place is responding to us directly.”

  “Why do you say that?” Martin asked.

  “Because I was thinking we haven’t fought anything in awhile and iron boars popped into my head.”

  Najeel stood silently with his eyes closed tightly. “I am testing that hypothesis,” Najeel said. “Let’s move away from this deathtrap.”

  “Wait,” Kalmond said as Najeel moved forward down the passage. “What did you think of?”

  “A tiger,” Najeel said. “And I don’t see one yet so—”

  The roar came with a streak of black and yellow stripes that covered Najeel from head to toe as he slammed against the wall and rolled under the tiger. Only one desperately waving arm was visible with fingers that spread and clenched as the tiger mauled him. HIs muffled cries of help managed to poke through the lusty violence of the tiger’s growl.

  Kalmond brought cloudsplitter down on the tiger’s back, scoring a solid 3200 hit points and Martin danced in with flaming sabers that scored a critical to the tune of 4200 points. Najeel managed to bring out his dagger and got a couple of shots in for 1000 points each. The tiger screamed, this time from pain, and lunched at Kalmond, who finished it with an overhand power strike from cloudsplitter that split its skull neatly in two. Kalmond looted the tiger as soon as it hit the ground, scoring a pelt, claws, a healing potion, and 200 circs.

  Najeel rose shakily to his feet and healed himself, bringing his health bar up from a thin line of red.

  “Please don’t do any more empirical testing, Doctor,” Kalmond said respectfully, but firmly.

  Najeel just nodded his head and followed Kalmond as he lead the way down the dark passage that widened until the adventurers proceeded in a row with Najeel in the center.

  “You love that fireball spell,” Martin said. “Your hands look like tiki torches.”

  “But practical, don’t you think, in this dark tunnel?” Najeel replied, raising his hands high.

  “Shush,” Kalmond hissed, cupping an ear to his hand and leaning forward. “Did you hear that?”

  The tunnel floor rumbled beneath their feet, and the light from Najeel’s double-handed fireball lit the round, gaping maw of the giant worm with its multiple rows of teeth dripping with saliva. Najeel’s aim was perfect, but that only meant the dead-center aim let the fireball pass through the worm’s mouth where it disappeared with a sizzle and the smell of burning flesh.

  “Shit!” Kalmond shouted, realizing at once that there was only one way out, and that was through. “Follow me,” the dwarf shouted and met the worm’s charge.

  The mouth spiraled closed behind them, and the worm rumbled and stopped its forward charge. The three ran through the worm’s esophagus splashing digestive fluid underfoot

  “Gah! Martin yelled from the rear. “This smells nasty. Like my burps when I eat baloney.”

  “You eat that crap? That is nasty,” Kalmond replied. “I thought you were a health nut.”

  “It’s a weakness; I’ll admit,” Martin said.

  Kalmond turned around to deliver a stinging one-liner but forgot about it instantly when snakelike ganglia reached out from the walls and wrapped themselves around his arm. He screamed as the tendrils secreted acid that burned through his iron boar armor. He wished he’d taken along the plate mail, but he really thought his raid would load him down with loot.

  Najeel hesitated, not wanting to use his fireball so close to Kalmond. Martin rushed up with a short sword, and Najeel stepped aside. The orc made short work of the tendrils, but the acid attack took away a significant amount of armor rating. Kalmond quickly pulled up his stats to discover the +9 armor was now a +6.

  “I...I’m sorry,” Najeel stammered. “I couldn’t find the right weapon fast enough.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Martin said. “It’s a team effort. We’re both new at this. Kicking yourself will only make you mess up next time. Live, learn and move on.”

  Najeel set his jaw, and Kalmond found the look was alluring on the sculpted face of the female avatar.

  Martin, ever observant, fixed Kalmond with a crooked grin and said, “Jesus, kid. It’s a damn avatar being played by a middle-aged science nerd.”

  “Don’t judge me,” Kalmond said, trudging forward, deeper into the worm.

  The worm’s interior provided uneven ground underfoot as each step brought a reaction from a living passage. The deep pink of the walls, pulsing with thick red veins, shivered as the adventurers passed and the rings of muscle grew thicker and closer together.

  “We’re leaving the esophagus,” Najeel observed, voice deepening with concern.

  “We were in the esophagus?” Kalmond asked.

  “Forget that,” Martin replied. “How do you recognize worm anatomy from the inside?”

  “I want to know how you know so much about worm anatomy, to begin with,” Kalmond said.

  “I remember my highschool biology class,” Najeel said. “We may face difficulty ahead.”

  “You mean more difficult than being eaten by a giant worm?”

  “Eaten maybe,” Najeel said, “but certainly not consumed. That will come later.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Kalmond replied, setting his jaw.”

  “Just what is your plan?” Martin asked, hurrying forward.

  “The worm is the tunnel, and we’re going through it. One end and out the other.”

  “Oh, shit,” Martin replied.

  “That may become an actual proposition,” Najeel said. “But I imagine the anus is quite some distance, judging by the length of the crop.”

  “I thought you said esophagus,” Martin replied.

  “I said we left the esophagus. This is the crop. You can tell because of the bulging walls and that narrow end.” Najeel pointed with his arm past a clear difference between the two chambers.

  Quicker than he could react, the ribbed wall snapped closed around Najeel’s forearm. He drew back a smoking red arm nearly stripped clean of flesh. To his credit,
Najeel merely gritted his teeth. But it was Najeel’s turn to stay Kalmond’s hand when he bellowed and prepared to swing cloudsplitter.

  “No!” Najeel barked. “That may make the entire crop contract, crushing us all.”

  “That doesn’t sound pleasant,” Martin said.

  “I’m worried about the intestine,” Najeel said.

  “Well, who wouldn’t be,” Kalmond said with a wry smile.

  “So far, this creature is very much like its real world counterpart,” Najeel observed as he skillfully cast a healing spell over his mutilated arm.”

  “This is the real world for me,” Kalmond said. “I might die and everything.”

  “Why did you have to say that,” Martin moaned as the walls constricted in waves that ran back, then forward as the creature trembled.

  The wall muscle opened again to reveal an ant-like insect with a translucent, milky shell that equaled Kalmond’s height. It lunged forward on four hind legs and snapped at the dwarf with two large, round claws studded with chunky, molar-like forms.

  A reflexive swipe from cloudsplitter cast hot blue sparks against the flesh of the tunnel wall and the blade bounced off without causing so much of a scratch. The claw snapping closed inches from the dwarf’s head produced a wave of distress with its complete lack of damage.

  Martin rushed in like a blur behind his whirling, flaming sabers. Ting, ting, clang! The sabers deflected wildly with each hit, and the insect thing kept coming. It charged at Najeel, who quite sensibly dodged to the right, avoiding another snapping claw.

  Going after Najeel attack exposed the insect’s back, and Kalmond brought cloudsplitter down between the shoulderblades, this time scoring a double critical that split open hard shell to expose clear, gooey liquid. The monster screamed and whirled, and it was Kalmond’s turn to back up to the fleshy wall where his back met soft tissue that yielded, then pushed back, sending him straight at a snapping claw. Cloudsplitter countered the claw with two strong dwarf hands on the haft.

  Martin thrust forward with his flaming saber, finding a soft spot between shell plates. The blade sank deep with a hiss of hot metal and rank gray smoke. The creature whirled again towards the source of pain, and Kalmond again brought cloudsplitter to the wounded insect’s back for the kill. The creature screamed and collapsed, nearly knocking Najeel off his feet as he fumbled with a magical long sword.

  “Maybe you should stick with spells,” Martin suggested with a surprising lack of snark.

  “This character has a surprising lack of spells, but they are very high level,” Najeel said, looking off into space at a menu system only he could see.

  “She’s a specialist,” Kalmond replied. “A warrior mage who focuses on three spells at most so she can also work on armed combat as well.

  “And this gives me an idea,” Najeel said. “But first, tell us your plan for getting through this worm.”

  “I didn’t want to say because you’re not going to like it,” Kalmond said. “But my plan was to get to the end of the worm, then cut our way out.

  “That,” Martin said, “sounds gross.”

  “Yeah, so let’s get it over with,” Kalmond said, looting the insect quickly. The bug yielded several precious gems and its pincers and antenna which had unknown magical properties. Kalmond pushed up to his feet and trudged on.

  The gullet narrowed at its far end where another sphincter pinched closed. The stoppage allowed the fluid they sloshed through to rise. It reached their ankles quickly, causing a few points of damage that increased the longer they stayed in contact with it.

  Kalmond raised cloudsplitter, then hesitated. “When we slice this thing, it reacts badly,” he said, staying his axe and stroking his beard.

  “How do we get this thing open?” Martin asked.

  “Well,” Najeel said. “We’d better come up with a solution fast before the anterior sphincter closes.

  The sphincter behind them closed, the chamber contracted, and the fluid rose to their thighs.

  “Use the wind spell!” Kalmond said. “Increase the pressure.”

  To reduce the volume of the chamber while hoping to dilute the digestive liquid, Kalmond activated his level one water spell and held it. The ploy worked, as the damage notices slowed.

  “Another excellent intuitive solution,” Najeel remarked.

  “Less ass kissing, more solution,” Martin said, giving Najeel a little shove to the shoulder.

  Najeel put away his sword and activated his lower level wind spell. The air pressure in the chamber grew nearly unbearable before the posterior sphincter finally let go. The party flew forward in a great gush of water, air and digestive fluid that brought them into the intestine on a fast flood.

  “It’s got indigestion now!” Martin exclaimed as he struggled to get on his feet and failed.

  In the intestine, the walls changed from pink to angry red with short flagellin covering the walls. The little waving arms grew longer as an increasing flow of digestive fluid carried them through the second worm segment. Kalmond gave up trying to stand and leaned back, using his arms as paddles to guide his path.

  “It’s like an amusement park water ride!” Kalmond yelled.

  The walls shrank and expanded in a wave. One of the antibodies burst out from a thick patch of flagellin, landing atop Kalmond. A fat claw snapped at Kalmond’s neck, nearly decapitating him. A fan of blood covered the milky white claw and continued to paint the antibody as one claw withdrew and the other hammered down to finish the kill.

  A clap of thunder sounded, and a blurred streak crossed the dwarf’s fading vision. The sounds of battle grew muffled as life slipped away without even his health bar visible. Kalmond thought that was the end until something tugged at his leather pauldrons and somehow anchored him in the flow of digestive fluids.

  The tinkling of a healing spell brought back sight, sound and unfortunately, smell. Somehow, Najeel managed to hold Kalmond back against the rushing river with his boot heel against one of the muscle rings while he cast a spell at the same time.

  “I thought that was it,” Kalmond said, taking hold of one of the muscle rings to give Najeel a break. The flow of digestive fluids slowed, but the worm’s contractions only increased.

  “I think this thing is moving,” Martin said, sloshing his way back to the pair, making headway only by reaching from ring to ring and pulling himself along. He had to grasp the muscles between contractions, but he made it.

  “It has been moving all along,” Najeel remarked. “Only now it seems to be going faster.

  “It will take us where we want to go,” Kalmond said.

  “How can you be sure?” Martin asked. “Because it has to. The dynamic quest engine is still in play; only our thoughts are factored in. Think about it.”

  “That makes sense,” Najeel said. “But let’s stick with the intuitive approach. Don’t give the problem too much thought. It’s not your primary strength.”

  This time, Najeel took the lead, stepping over the rings as they contracted. The others followed, and their pace was dictated by the undulations of the worm. After a while, they worked out a rhythm that made steady progress.

  “I hope we don’t see any more of those—” Martin began.

  “Don’t say it!” Kalmond barked.

  “Right,” Martin said, clenching his jaw. “Sorry.”

  They braced themselves, but no antibodies came. Instead, they reached what appeared to be the end of the line.

  “This is the final sphincter,” Najeel said, staring up at the bunched muscle.

  “It looks just like a giant a—” Martin began, but his observation was interrupted by a rumbling. The worm stopped, and the walls trembled. A muscle gate snapped shut a few segments behind them, then bulged outward ominously.

  “The fluid is backing up behind that,” Najeel said. “We have to open that sphincter now.”

  Kalmond couldn’t help himself. He bellowed laughter at Najeel’s statement and wiped away tears.

&nb
sp; “This is the grossest damn thing I’ve ever done,” Martin said, folding his thick orc forearms across his chest.

  Kalmond slugged down a mana potion and cast his level one water spell. “Najeel, use your wind spell and increase the pressure in here.”

  The chamber filled with water quickly, and Martin tossed Kalmond several more mana potions. Soon, they were up to their necks.

  “Don’t stop!” Kalmond yelled, but the last word came out in bubbles.

  Through the cloudy, stinging liquid, Kalmond caught glimpses of Najeel casting his a windblast spell with the last of his mana.

  Gurgle, gurgle, boom! Filled the world inside the worm and the chamber finally opened. Kalmond curled into a ball and tumbled in the flow as they rocketed through the nether parts of the worm.

  With stars before his eyes, Kalmond landed shoulder-first against the hard tunnel floor and caught sight of the narrow end of the worm retreating into the darkness in the opposite direction. As he skidded to a stop in the slick, reeking effluent, his first thought was of the quest.

  “We have no idea how long we were in that worm,” Kalmond said.

  “We still have time,” Najeel said with smug confidence.

  “How can you be so sure?” Kalmond asked.

  “Even I know that one,” Martin replied. “If it was past deadline, the Realm would just disappear because the system would crash.”

  “But where are we?” Najeel asked, looking around.

  The walls were shinier here, with silver specular highlights glinting in the half-light. The silver veins were gone from the rock, and as Kalmond took it all in, he noticed the texture was much different.

  “This looks very much like the cave where I fought Mylos in the Realm World War.” The Dwarf drew his axe and headed down the passage in the direction of the worm.

  “Why that way?” Martin asked with folded orc arms. He stayed put.

  “Because that’s the way the worm wanted us to go.”

  “But it took us back the direction we came from, remember? It was coming towards us in a two-way passage.”

  “One,” Kalmond said, losing patience. “We have no idea how many times the worm turned. Two, this is pretty much a dream, so it’s pretty much what I say it is.”