The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series

by Victor Deckard

  Echo ignored me. There was a quiet hissing sound, and then the metal tube slid up, revealing another one beneath. This one was made from transparent glass. We now could see the whole of Alyson within the tube.

  Maya gasped.

  There was a huge monster inside the glass tube. I was not even sure how to describe it. It had the upper body of Alyson. The girl did not have arms or legs. The rest of the monster was a spider’s body. In other words, armless and legless Alyson’s body seemed to be fused with that of a giant spider.

  “What the fuck have you done to that poor girl?” Thomas yelled at Echo in rage.

  “I’m so glad you asked,” Echo said. “I’ll happily answer your question, warrior. As I said before, I learned something about genetic biology from Mor. I have been conducting various tests in this lab, splicing one species with another. The creature in the glass tube is actually my very first successful application of the knowledge I have gotten from Mor. The creature you see in the glass tube is the human gene spliced with that of the giant spider, which I created by using the sample of the DNA you, David, and your former teammates provided to me.”

  “You are fucking sick, Echo,” Thomas said.

  “Let me assure you I cannot get sick, because I am no human,” Echo replied without any emotion.

  “You are a monster,” Thomas said.

  This time, Echo ignored the guy.

  “Alyson’s alive, right?” Maya asked.

  “Yes,” replied. “Moreover, the creature’s fully functional. To demonstrate it, I am going to wake it up.”

  “Wait,” I said in a weak voice. “Don’t do it.”

  I was no keen on witnessing Alyson wake up only to realize she had been turned into a monster.

  The AI ignored my request, of course.

  The glass tube slid backward, freeing the creature. The giant monster straightened its arachnid legs, getting up. The creature was huge, about the size of a two-story building.

  Then Alyson opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, then looked around before settling her eyes on us.

  “David?” she said. “What is going on? Where are we? What is this place?”

  “Alyson,” I said in a weak voice. “I—You—”

  I fell silent, having no idea what to say. I felt like I was going to be sick.

  Alyson glanced between my teammates and asked, “Who are these people, David? Where is Nate?”

  The last thing that she remembered was getting back to our space station with Nate, Vlad, and me after we failed to prevent Vlad from destroying a mining colony, which Echo called a pirate base.

  No wonder Alyson was now wondering what this place was and where Nate, whom she loved, was.

  Alyson realized that something was terribly wrong. She realized she was looking down at me as if she were standing on some sort of elevation.

  She looked down at herself and gasped when she saw that she had neither arms nor legs and that her naked upper body was kind of fused with the body of a nasty-looking enormous spider.

  Alyson screamed in horror.

  “David, what is going on here?” She cried out, tears flowing freely out of her eyes. “What happened to me? David, please tell me what happened to me!”

  “Echo, you have to undo what you did to that girl,” Thomas yelled at the AI in rage.

  “Unfortunately, it cannot be undone,” Echo said. “If I try to detach Alyson from the spider’s body, she will surely die. This cannot be reverted.”

  “Echo?” Alyson said in a whining voice. “Is that you?”

  “Yes, warrior,” Echo said without any emotion. “It is nice to meet you again after so many months.”

  “Months?” Alyson said, perplexed. “How much time passed? What is happening here, Echo?”

  “It would be a waste of time to explain everything to you, warrior,” Echo said. “The only thing you need to know is that I have turned you into a very powerful weapon. You have been weaponized. Again. The first time was when nanotrites were inserted into your body. This time, however, you will be way more powerful and dangerous than you were before. ”

  “What?” Alyson said. “I don’t understand. I—”

  Echo did not let her finish her sentence.

  “Kill David and his teammates, Alyson,” Echo.

  “What are you talking about?” Alyson cried out. “I’m not gonna hurt David, Echo! He’s my friend.”

  However, the enormous arachnid monster suddenly lurched forward, right at the four of us. The monster lashed at me with one of its razor-sharp front legs. I ducked in time to avoid being hit by it. The huge spider took a swing at me again, but this time, I used my Active Ability to blink away from the monster.

  “I’m sorry, David,” Alyson cried out. “I can’t control it! It moves on its own.”

  Now that I was out of the spider’s legs’ reach, the monster darted after one of my teammates—Maya. The blue-haired girl raced away from the arachnid, activating her Ultimate Ability called Ghost Walk, turning herself into a phantom. Now that she had no physical body, the monster could not hurt her. The arachnid kept lashing at her with its front legs, but they went right through her phantasmal body, dealing no damage to her.

  Nadia and Thomas were firing their weapons at the monster. Above it was its heath bar. Only it did not shrink at all when the bullets drilled into the arachnid’s body, because the creature had an incredible regeneration ability, causing the wounds my teammates inflicted on it to heal up almost instantly.

  A text message popped up in my field a vision.

  Thomas: This thing is a Raid Boss. Only I don’t know how to kill it. It’s bullet-spongy. We deal no damage to it at all. It must have some sort of vulnerable spot, though.

  Nadia: My hunch is that the vulnerable spot is Alyson. We need to kill her to deal with the monster.

  I texted my teammates back.

  David: No! Don’t kill her!

  Nadia: I’m sorry about your friend, David. I really am. What Echo has done to her is horrible. But there seems to be no way to kill the monster without killing Alyson.

  Before I could reply, Nadia texted me again.

  Nadia: Echo must be stalling, David. While we’re fighting this monster here, he’s surely trying to come up with a way of protecting the Main Control Room. You can move very fast. Get to that place and take care of the bastard, David.

  Nadia might have been right, but I had a feeling she also just wanted to get rid of me. She was well aware that I was not willing to kill Alyson. She was totally right about it. I just could not bring myself to point my weapon at Alyson. I would rather die than kill her. Nadia was aware of that which was why she wanted to send me away.

  However, while I was not willing to kill Alyson, there probably was no way to deal with the monster without killing her in the process.

  I glanced at my teammates. Nadia had employed her Ultimate Ability, forming a dome-shaped energy shield around her and the other two members of our team. The three of them fired at the giant spider. The arachnid lashed out at the shield with its razor-sharp front legs but was not able to destroy it. Yet the shield was not permanent. It would disappear after some time, and my teammates would have to run away from the giant spider.

  David: Are you guys sure you will be okay without me here?

  Nadia: Yes, David. We got this. Don’t worry about us. Get to the Main Control Room and take care of Echo.

  David: Guys, please—Do not kill Alyson if there’s the slightest chance of saving her, okay?

  There was a brief pause before I got a reply.

  Nadia: We’ll do everything we can to spare her, David. But I can’t promise anything to you.

  David: I understand.

  Nadia: Now go, David. Deal with Echo before he comes up with a way of protecting himself against us.

  I glanced at Alyson one last time.

  “I’m sorry, Alyson,” I said quietly before wheeling around and darti
ng out of the bio-genetic lab.

  I ran through the corridors and rooms of the space station, headed for the Main Control Room. Echo seemed to be enraged. He tried hard to stop me from advancing, activating various mini-turrets and other security system devices in my path. I dealt with some of them and avoided others altogether by employing my Active Ability.

  No warrior showed up. I guessed Lisa and her teammates had been the only warriors present on the main space station. It made perfect sense. Warriors resided on secondary space stations, not the main one.

  Finally, I made it to the door that led to the Main Control Room. It was close and locked, of course. I closed my eyes and employed my Third Eye skill to see through the door. I checked the interior of the Main Control Room. There were no enemies inside, but I spotted a few mini-turrets hidden in secret compartments behind the walls. I memorized their locations.

  Before getting in there, I texted my teammates.

  David: Guys, I just reached the Main Control Room. How are you doing?

  There was no reply. Either they were too busy sighting the enormous arachnid to give me a reply or they all were dead, having been taking out by the spider.

  Doing my best to stay calm, I waited a few seconds, then texted them again.

  This time, I received a reply.

  Nadia: It’s done, David. The monster’s dead.

  I took a deep breath before texting her back.

  David: What about Alyson?

  There was a brief pause before she replied.

  Nadia: She’s dead too. We had to do it. There was no way of defeating the monster without killing Alyson. I’m sorry, David.

  So Alyson was dead. Again. Vlad had killed her first. Then Echo had brought her to life only to turn her into a monster to be killed by my teammates. I hated the AI so much. I could not wait to deal with him.

  As to Alyson, it was probably for the best that my teammates had to put her out of her misery because there had been no way to separate her from the arachnid’s body.

  David: It’s okay. Where are you now, guys?

  Nadia: We’re headed for the Main Control Room. Should be there in a few minutes. But don’t wait for us. Deal with Echo. It’s high time we took care of the bastard.

  David: On it.

  I used my Ubiquitous skill to blink through the door into the Main Control Room. The mini-turrets showed up and opened fire on me. It took me a couple of minutes to deal with all of them. Once the room was secured, I located the main computer console, which sat in the middle of the room, and dashed for it.

  I took out the flash drive Thomas had given me and stuck it in. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone enter the Main Control Room. Figuring it was one of my teammates, I did not look up from the computer monitor. As Thomas had told us, all I needed to do to deal with Echo was launch his virus app stored on the flash drive.

  However, before I could do that, my Passive Ability kicked in, and I heard the mysterious voice talk in my head.

  You are in danger. There is an enemy a few feet in front of you, aiming her weapon at you.

  I glanced up and realized that the person whom I had taken for one of my teammates was actually Lisa. She was pointing her assault rifle at me. I ducked low half a second before she opened up.

  The slugs zipped over my head. Now that I was out of sight, Lisa concentrated her fire on the main computer console. Echo must have ordered her to either kill me or destroy the main computer console so I would not be able to take care of him.

  I could not let Lisa destroy the main computer console. Since I was crouched behind the computer console, I could not see her. As Lisa continued to discharge her weapon, I closed my eyes for a second to use my Third Eye skill to see where exactly she was. I then used my Active Ability to blink next to her and immediately employed the Phaselock skill on her, putting her inside a dark energy sphere. Lisa could not do anything anymore. She just stared at me with a perplexed look on her face.

  “I can kill you now,” I said. “Though I’d like not to. In just a moment, I’ll destroy Echo once and for all. So we don’t have to fight anymore.”

  Lisa could not reply, because the dark energy sphere still affected her. I blinked back to the main computer console and launched Thomas’s virus app stored on the flash drive. It got to work immediately. The computer virus was spreading like wildfire all over the computer systems of the main space station, taking control of them and simultaneously deleting the AI named Echo.

  “No,” his voice emanated from all the loudspeakers in the room. “You do not understand what you are doing, warrior. I am the only one who can still save this organization. You have to stop—”

  He suddenly fell silent. The virus app finished its work. It had happened surprisingly fast. I checked the computer monitor and saw that Echo was gone. He had not been just deactivated; instead, he and all the backups of him had been completely erased.

  Echo was gone for good.

  I took a deep breath. The job was done.

  I was going to text my teammates to tell them this when I noticed something interesting on the monitor screen. I read the information and realized that now that Echo was gone I had full control of the space station. I pressed some of the buttons, taking some precautionary measures.

  My Passive Ability kicked in once more.

  You are in danger. An enemy in front of you is aiming her weapon at you.

  Had to be Lisa. The sphere of dark energy must have already disappeared, enabling her to move again. Yet I did not use my Active Ability this time. No gunshot followed, because I had already taken care of the situation. When I finally looked up from the display screen, I saw that Lisa was still aiming her weapon at me. She was absolutely motionless, though. Her face displayed resolve, but in her eyes was a confused look.

  “You’re probably wondering why you can’t move,” I said to her. “Echo’s gone. Completely erased. I have full control not only of this space station but also of all the secondary ones and even the nanotrites in all the warriors’ bodies.”

  I fell silent for a second to let it sink in. I then continued, “So I’ve just made a few adjustments here. Now every warrior who points their weapon at me or my teammates will be paralyzed for a minute. That’s what happened to you.”

  Lisa did not reply, because the debuff was still affecting her.

  “So, as far as I’m concerned, Echo’s dead and not going to revive anytime soon,” I said. “I’m gonna repeat what I already said. We’re not enemies. It was Echo who made you and your teammates attack us. You didn’t have a choice but to comply. We did kill two of your teammates, but again, we did it only because we didn’t have a choice too. As to Marina, we let her go as soon as she surrendered. We spared you as well since you were no threat to us anymore. The point is, we are not enemies, and now that Echo’s dead, we don’t have to fight anymore. But it’s your call, of course.”

  Lisa moved slightly, which indicated that the debuff had just worn off. I was ready to use my Active Ability as soon as I realized Lisa was about to fire at me.

  However, she slowly lowered her weapon and then dropped it to the ground.

  “You are right,” Lisa said. “We don’t have to fight anymore.”

  Judging from the look in her eyes, she really felt this way. She was not just saying what I wanted to hear from her.

  “Poor Marina,” Lisa said quietly. “I’m really glad you took care of Echo. I only wish I could deal with him myself.”

  At this moment, three people burst into the room. I looked past Lisa and saw Nadia, Maya, and Vanessa Craig. As soon as Nadia spotted Lisa, she pointed her gun at her.

  “Nadia, no,” I cried out. “She’s on our side now.”

  “Oh, really?” Nadia said, still suspiciously staring down her iron sights at Lisa.

  “Yes,” I said. “Echo’s gone, so we don’t have a reason to fight anymore.”

  “Echo’s gone?” Vanessa asked as s
he darted toward the main computer console.

  “Yes,” I said. “He and all his backups were completely erased. He no longer exists.”

  As Vanessa began to look over the information on the monitor screen, Nadia and Maya walked up to me. I glanced at the door. Thomas had still not shown up.

  “Where’s Pinky?” I asked.

  “Gone,” Nadia replied grimly. “That Alyson-monster killed him before we were able to take care of the creature.”

  I closed my eyes. Another loss. Another friend of mine got killed. Hopefully, I would not lose any more of the people I cared about now that Echo was gone.

  Vanessa’s voice brought me back from my grim thoughts. I opened my eyes to look at her as she said, “Guys, it’s really done. There’s no trace of Echo anywhere. You did it. You eliminated him. This is amazing. You did an awesome job, guys. Thank you so much!”

  “So what’s now?” Nadia asked.

  “Now I’m gonna have to clean the mess Echo made,” Vanessa said. “When we just started, we had only one space station, this one. The organization grew surprisingly quickly, so we acquired several other space stations—the secondary ones—that were used by the warriors as their bases of operation. That was when we ran into financial problems. The organization had become too big, and we were not ready for it. So I guess we’re gonna have to return to what we started with. I’ll have to lay off some of the workers and sell all the secondary space stations.”

  “What about us, though?” Nadia said. “Are we fired, huh? That what you meant?”

  Vanessa shook her head and smiled.

  “No,” she replied. “Warriors, especially so experienced and reliable like you, are too hard to come by. So I hope you’ll continue to work at The Weaponized, this time for me, not Echo. We have to restore the reputation of the organization.”

  “I’ll stay,” Nadia said simply.

  “I’d like to stay too,” Lisa said as she walked up to us.

  Vanessa nodded, then looked at me and Maya.

  “What about you two?” She asked.

  The blue-haired girl looked at me, waiting for me to speak up first.

  I gave the matter some thought. As Thomas had once told me I had been born when I woke up in a teleportation chamber on one of the secondary space stations. By this point, I could hardly remember anything from real David’s life on Earth. But that was okay. My own life was here, in this world.