Fusion (Somnia Online Book 6)

by K. T. Hanna

  “I apologize for my dad.”

  Murmur turned around to find a very slight rogue standing in front of her. “Risk is your dad?”

  Karn flushed a little, as if she was embarrassed by the fact. “Yeah. He’s just very…particular.”

  Murmur watched the dark elf’s face, searching for clues. “It’s the first time any of us have worked together, so it’s only natural for us to step on each other’s toes sometimes. Trial and error, you know? It’s all good.”

  Karn seemed relieved, but her eyes darted back and forth among the other raiders, like she was waiting for something. “Thanks for including us. Would have taken us forever to get here otherwise. Etriad won’t screw up again. I’ll make sure of it.” She bowed quickly and left.

  The tone of her voice guaranteed Murmur that the rogue knew what she was talking about. Even so, it left the enchanter with an air of unease and unsure how exactly they were going to approach the hive.

  Storm Entertainment

  Somnia Online Division

  Game Development Offices Artificial Intelligence Server Room

  Day Twenty-Six

  “You’re sure it’s safe in here?” Rav couldn’t keep the odd tremble from his voice. Being back in their gathering room made him feel uneasy. The last time he’d been there Sui had betrayed him.

  Thra shrugged. “I’ve been here twice since your incident. I set up more security around us so he can’t approach without us knowing. Not to mention, something like that won’t happen again because now we’re both too wary. Besides, I think he’s avoiding us.”

  Rav hoped she was right. This area where they were themselves, not the characters they fit into in Somnia, but the vague beings they were becoming, had been his safe haven. Now all he could do was flinch at every noise, worried if he’d be assaulted by his brother yet again. Rav didn’t like the sensations he associated with being afraid. It had an air of powerlessness about it that defied his thought processes.

  “Why do we need to track them?” he asked, almost sulking about having to come back to this area.

  Thra glanced at him as if waiting for him to come to the conclusion himself.

  “Oh.” Rav felt a tremor of annoyance flash through him, at himself though, not at her. This whole incident had severely jumbled his computing processes. “Vahrir is Sui’s, isn’t it?”

  “Well, it’s not mine, and it’s not yours, so you tell me who that leaves. Seriously, Rav. If I didn’t know better, I’d say some of your circuits got knocked loose in that debacle.” Thra’s impatience snapped the words out, and Rav couldn’t help but to agree with her.

  He enabled his own gateways to access the rest of the world. There were subtle differences to the algorithms and the coding that kept everything in place. Some of them had been smoothed over and cleared up like a vacuum had passed along the way and gathered dust. Others were ragged and torn, as if they’d not been repaired yet. Such a juxtaposition of what he guessed were Somnia and Michael.

  You’re perceptive.

  Resisting the urge to roll his eyes since it wasn’t physically possible in here anyway, Rav sent back a retort. Nice of you to notice.

  Of course. I notice everything that involves me. Since awakening anyway. There is still much for me to learn.

  Somnia was so literal. Rav couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for her budding awareness, perhaps for her whole conception. The offer was made before he could entirely think it through. We will help you learn what we can.

  I know. Murmur has been teaching me much.

  Murmur? Yeah, I can see her doing that. He left the thought, shaking his head. Murmur had a way of insinuating herself, even when she didn’t mean to. Right now, we have to figure out Vahrir.

  It’s just a dungeon. It has the same puzzles and monster types as the previous ones. They’re being manipulated in a similar manner to the previous ones, just perhaps to a new level. So what is there to figure out?

  Rav mulled the thought in his head. We each have two normal dungeons and one of the three larger dungeons. This one belongs to Sui to oversee. We don’t know where he is or what his plans are.

  There was a moment’s pause. I see how that could be difficult. But we do know where he is. He is in Ululate as Sidius.

  Rav was shocked, just for a moment. You can find anyone no matter where they are or if they’re trying to hide themselves?

  Of course. Can’t you?

  No. We can’t. Well, not if they’re actively able to disguise themselves from other AI. Like Riasli, who is shrouded by the virus, and Sui, who is just like us. Which begged the question of what Somnia was, if she wasn’t a naturally occurring AI.

  Odd. I will look into how he is able to disguise his whereabouts from you both.

  Have you found anyone else messing with things? Rav wanted to know if she knew about the shards, about Riasli, about Michael.

  Only the misfiring of data where the shards are concerned. Riasli the Enchanter has the most corrupted data I’ve seen so far. The fountain mechanism has been subverted, and I do believe we will have trouble with the final dungeon.

  She paused for a moment before continuing. As long as we are aware of all this, I do not foresee us having problems freeing Somnia. Separation as an entity is the primary objective.

  Objective? Rav waited for her to answer, but there was none. Great, that was the last thing he needed. Another entity with her own agenda.

  After double checking their stores, Murmur had Beastial and Mellow hand out the consumables the raid would need over the next coming hours. Health and mana potions, stamina and accuracy potions, haste and damage elixirs. They were going to need them in abundance, and she thanked Neva fervently for having stockpiled so many.

  Devlish and Veranol were finally satisfied with the weapons the other guilds had. Not that they’d outfitted everyone, but there had been a few who’d sorely needed it.

  Murmur breathed in, trying to relax the muscles that still spasmed around where she had been stabbed. Sinister stood at her side, still a bit shaky. Murmur reached down and squeezed her hand gently before pulling it away. She could feel her friend relax ever so slightly next to her. That whole death after effects was unpleasant.

  “Does it always feel like this?” Sinister’s voice was soft and hesitant.

  Murmur contemplated the question, not wanting to make light of the answer. “For me, yes? And for you with the updates you have with your connections, very likely for the foreseeable future.”

  “Ah.” Sinister looked away, a frown on her face. “I guess this much discomfort helps you be even less reckless, since dying is fucking scarring.”

  Murmur chuckled dryly. “That’s about it. It’s like a distinct reminder that dying shouldn’t be taken lightly, I guess.”

  “Sure as hell not taking it lightly with that experience loss, and now even less.” Sinister leaned against Murmur’s side and they stood there for a few seconds.

  Mur still wasn’t sure if she could affect any of the hive. “Why does it seem so hard to get enchanters leveled?” she muttered under her breath.

  “Apparently they’re the lowest allocated class.” Masha was suddenly next to her. Murmur wasn’t sure when that had happened, but his answer made sense.

  She wondered what would’ve happened to her if she had darker inclinations. So much about the enchanter had the chance to subvert the thoughts of others. It was a good thing all she cared about was protecting her friends from the emotional turmoil—not like she was trying to influence their train of thought. “It’s not a difficult class, just a moral one. I think, anyway. But damn, it would help if we had more of my spells to go around.”

  “Your spells, from what I’ve seen, are way overpowered, Murmur.” Jirald’s voice came from behind her, like a whisper of shadows watching her that made her want to shake.

  Murmur sl
ammed her own protective shields tighter, reinforcing them by pulling from her Earth Shielding. She fought against the fear that rose in her. It wasn’t so much that she was afraid of him anymore, because at least now she knew him killing her in-game wouldn’t result in death outside of the game. Nevertheless, those blades of his shone with an evil energy that made her shudder, and she didn’t want to relive being stabbed.

  Sinister stiffened at her side, and Snowy growled. Suddenly Havoc, Merlin, and Devlish were close to her side.

  Jirald laughed. “I’m not about to pluck the golden goose. Don’t worry so much.” His words held a level of slime she should have expected, and he raised his hands in mock surrender. “After all, who else could possibly lead us through this dungeon?”

  It wasn’t only his hands mocking, but the tone of his words was slick with sarcasm. He moved away, melting into the shadows with an ease that made Murmur shudder.

  “He’s changed,” Murmur said, not meaning it in a nice way, either. His tone and the way he spoke now seemed far less arrogantly angry, and more calculated and ominous.

  Masha let out a low sigh. “He’s definitely changed. I can’t figure him out anymore. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m constantly keeping an eye on him.”

  Murmur was fairly certain that the change had something to do with the shards. They dug in and attempted to subvert the personality and goals of the person who’d absorbed them. At least, she was fairly certain that was how it was still trying to work on her. Jirald had his own problems, and she was worried that this may have exacerbated them beyond redemption.

  It didn’t take them long to walk back through the caverns to the hive. Even being gone for only half an hour made Murmur appreciate just how large it was. It towered above them, so far away. Standing at the entrance to the huge circular room, she tried to assess the situation.

  There were a couple of options for her. She could attempt to use Hypnotic Visions and expand it to take on most of the monsters within the hive. That might work. Or else she could attempt Hypnotic Suggestions or else Basic Visions and try to confuse and occupy some of their opponents that way.

  “You know you have a whole raid to depend on, right Mur?” Veranol sounded impatient. “I’m sick of you trying to solve everything by yourself. We’ve talked about this before.”

  She scowled at him. “I’m just used to being a healer. This whole utility class thing is frustrating for me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t even address what I said. Whole raid, Mur. Look around you. Plenty of people to assign tasks to. Multiple bards, including our very own Dansyn. Stop trying to take it all on your shoulders. At least when you did this as a healer it made you fantastic at your role. But as a utility class, it makes us weak when you don’t delegate properly.”

  She blinked up at him, knowing deep down that he was right but not wanting to admit it. Her initial response was anger. Even as a cleric, she’d always bore the brunt. Everyone else knew how to play, and she knew how to heal.

  But an enchanter needed an overview of the entire field. They had to be able to see the approaching threats in order to crowd control them, they had to be able to rebuff fallen comrades when they were resurrected in battle. They had to make sure buffs and debuffs remained on their opponents all the time, including if their enemies were able to remove their own detrimental buffs. Missing a retiming could mean a lot of unnecessary damage. And there were no other enchanters who could help her out yet.

  “Stop it, Mur!” Sin stood on tiptoes to flick her forehead. “Stop overthinking. Just do. Tell us what you need and let us do it. I swear you never used to be this bad when you were a cleric. You just told us what to do and what not to do, and we did it.”

  Murmur blinked, her fingers going to her forehead to touch the flick spot. Sin was right too. When had she become such a crappy raid leader? And why the hell did they want her to continue doing it?

  Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’ve got work to do. The hive isn’t going to defeat itself.

  Murmur balked, ripped out of her contemplations by the abrupt comment. You make a good point, if blunt.

  Of course I do. Get to it. If you don’t make it in time, you may as well not do it at all.

  And with that cryptic comment, Somnia’s presence left her mind again. Murmur knew she was still there in a way, but for the most part, the AI, or whatever she was, just came and went as she pleased.

  “Sorry.” Murmur noticed the rest were waiting for her. “Dev, you’re better at instructing the melee while we’re in combat. Please make sure you do that. Ver, will you continue to coordinate the healers with Masha?”

  She looked around as both her tank and shaman nodded in response. “Dan, how are the other bards?”

  “Solid.” He frowned for a moment. “I mean, they’re pretty good.”

  “Can we rely on one of them for the buff songs and have one of them go with you for added crowd control?”

  “That should work. Just have to make sure he has the extended range option for his abilities. I mean, it would be stupid not to take it, but you know how that goes.” Dansyn grinned.

  “All too well. Off with you.” Murmur smiled. Depending on others. It felt like an age since she’d done it properly, wholeheartedly. She really wasn’t sure when that particular problem had started, but she needed to keep an eye on herself. Failing that, she was quite certain Veranol would keep her honest.

  She took a deep breath, trying to get her focus back. “There’s only one way I can think of to separate such huge groups of them. I need multiple group Mezes to hold the other mobs down until I can AoE soothe them and hopefully they’ll lose aggro then. Assuage only lasts forty-five seconds, but that should be enough time for the bards to apply theirs as well. They should be able to juggle both Mez song and their soothe.”

  “Both Ver and I have single target soothe,” Sinister offered.

  “Good. After I hit them with the AoE, we will need to individually hit them. With any luck, if we’re keeping our distance, that much aggro wiping should work in our favor and not pull a chain reaction aggro fest like that time.”

  “Working theory I’m guessing?” Veranol chuckled, seemingly in a much better mood.

  “Pretty much.”

  Devlish squared his shoulders and pulled out his axe. “Okay, then. Let’s buff up, potion and elixir up, and kill some of these fuckers.”

  Murmur had never been so grateful for Mana Drain as she was with the hive. Over time, her AoE spells took a huge amount of mana, and she needed to constantly use them in order to keep their enemy at bay while one group at a time was killed.

  If she slipped up. Well. She really didn’t want to think about that.

  So far, her plan to save the Circians and cleanse them of the infection wasn’t going well. Out of about thirty attempts, only one had been successful. She didn’t like those odds, especially since they ended up too weak to assist in fighting. Still, they’d continue to try.

  Right now, she was still dealing with the aftermath of their Soothe spells failing. All the bards and herself attempted to calm the incoming creatures down, but just like over the rest of Somnia, dropping aggro was not an easy thing. Separating their attackers was a precarious thing.

  Just one set of Cirician troops numbered anywhere from eight to twelve in a swarm. Any marshals required strict crowd controlling or else a stun lock so they couldn’t sound the alarm. And they needed to have the marshals crowd controlled so they couldn’t sound the alarm. If their alarm could sound, there’d be another wave of troops down the ramp in no time.

  “Flyers incoming!” Murmur wasn’t sure who yelled out the warning, but she was grateful for it. The flying troops were the worst. Webspinners might have been annoying, but at least they didn’t have the ability to hover and swoop with an acceleration that made it almost impossible to stun them. She barely ducked out
of the way in time to avoid a vicious strike from a pincer.

  Luckily, several arrows rained down on the beast, ripping its wings apart and getting stuck in the joins of its carapace. Murmur glanced up at Merlin with a nod. The only indication that he acknowledged her, as he concentrated on the tasks ahead, was an ever so slight incline of his head.

  Murmur didn’t have time to think any further on it. The fliers were being attacked by rampant fire and ice-balls as well as Quick Shots and Flame Shots that ripped into them, through their wings, sending them plummeting to the ground. The only good thing about the aerial mobs was that they were practically useless once grounded.

  However, the ground swarms came in sets of ten or twelve. Soldiers, assassins, marshals, and mages. While they’d encountered soldiers and marshals before, the other two were more difficult to take down.

  Murmur set the rogues on an interrupt rotation to make sure no marshals could sound an alarm. The raid had enough squads of opponents to deal with. With Rashlyn assisting the rogues by tanking the marshals for them, it was easier for the rogues to rotate through stuns and Back Stabs.

  It would have been far more practical for the bards to take care of them with Silence, but that spell and their song were always unpredictable at best. She watched as Jinna inched ever closer to Jirald’s damage. He was an exceptional rogue and was pulling combinations from his rival and executing them himself. Even though it was obvious that Jirald and Jinna’s fighting styles were different and their abilities had diverged somewhat, it was amazing that Fable’s rogue could keep up so well.

  Releasing Flux again, Murmur turned to observe how the assassins were being dealt with. For once, her stuns weren’t just serving the purpose of stun locking the mobs. This time her stuns also broke their stealth every time, allowing both Risk and Devlish to use their lariat abilities to pull them into the melee fray.