Rebirth Online 2

by Michael James Ploof

  “What’s that?” I asked, seeing that Nanaya had heard the tiny footfalls as well.

  “Just crystal lizards, they’re mostly harmless, unless you attack them,” she explained. “But up ahead we’re likely to run into some mean dudes, so be on your toes.”

  “What kind of mean dudes?” said Kit.

  “That kind,” said Trinity, pointing at a tall stone creature that suddenly appeared on the ridge above us.

  “Get down!” Nanaya yelled and pulled me with her to the ground.

  A second later a pulsing laser beam slammed into the ground where I had been standing. I peeked over the rock we had dove behind and saw the creature leap from the ridge.

  Stone Cyclops

  Level 33

  It landed ten feet in front of me in a crouch like a superhero, then aimed its single, glowing eye at me. The thing had no face, just the lone eye that spewed a beam of concentrated fire. I conjured my fire shield and crouched behind it as the laser slammed into me.

  “Sam!” Kit screamed as she extended an arm toward the stone cyclops.

  Vines shot out of her hands and wrapped around the creature’s head, and with a yank she sent the thing stumbling to the side. Trinity charged the creature, and my sense of danger screamed in my head. She may have been fierce, but she was only a level one now, and her attack did zero damage to the creature. It batted her to the side and she slammed into a big shard before falling in a heap. I growled and unleashed a Magic Bolt that hit the creature in the chest and sent him staggering back. That terrible beam issued from its eye, tearing through the stone and kicking up red hot pebbles that left us all scrambling to avoid them.

  I released another Magic Bolt that took the cyclops in the shoulder, and he retaliated with a blast from his laser eye that slammed me into the jutting stone. Tweak had run to Trinity’s side, and Kit was still attacking the creature and dancing around the beam that dug into the stone at her feet. I searched for Nanaya and found her in mid shift.

  The succubus’s wings and horns disappeared, her smooth red skin changed to scaly brown. She grew at least three feet in height, her mass doubled, then tripled, and by the time she was done shifting, a tall troll stood before me.

  Nanaya charged across the rough stone, leapt over hissing blue fissures, and came down on the stone cyclops with her sword held high. The blade sang through the air and sliced off a chunk of the creature’s head. As it stumbled back from the blow, Nanaya spun and sliced at its hard chest. The blow sent sparks flying, and the cyclops staggered back, tripped up by Kit’s vines, and hit the ground like a felled tree. Nanaya leapt onto the thing’s chest and came down hard with her sword, stabbing it through the lone eye.

  I let out a victorious howl as the cyclops turned to ash, but my celebration was abruptly interrupted when Tweak was scooped up by the skeletal hand of one of the fat slugs and promptly tossed into its mouth.

  “Tweak!” I screamed and ran toward the slug, unleashing Magic Bolts at its black, beady eyes.

  As it reeled back, I glanced quickly at its stats.

  Eternity Slug

  Level 35

  One of the long arms reached for me, it's boney fingers twitching. I leapt over it, spun in the air, and released Arcane Lightning. The slug recoiled, and that’s when Tweak came shooting out of the creature’s ass.

  “Run!” I cried as the slug turned toward my half-digested friend.

  Tweak screamed and ran for his life as a long, boney arm stretched out to snatch him up.

  “Hey you fat fuck!” Nanaya said beside me. She threw her sword, and it sailed end over end before sticking right in the oozing creature’s bulbous head.

  The blow didn’t kill the monster, however, and Tweak was scooped up again. Trinity growled in frustration, and Kit bombarded the slug with nature spells, but nothing deterred it from having another taste of Tweak.

  I hurriedly popped the top off one of my mana potions and drank it down as I tried to avoid the creature’s bony hand. The long fingers reached for me and I dodged to the right and let loose a Fireball that took a chunk out of the slug’s veiny body, but it continued to slither toward my friends.

  Trinity grew tired of trying to stay out of the fight, and together the girls unleashed holy hell on the slug. I backed them up with a steady barrage of Fireball, Arcane Lightning, and Magic Bolts, which kept the creature on the defensive, but only dropped its health to about 50%.

  When Tweak was once again unceremoniously discharged from the slug’s backside, the creature turned its attention on me. Clumps of flesh hung from its scorched body, but the stubborn bastard wouldn’t die. It surprised me with its sudden speed and snatched me up in its skeletal fingers, leaving me unable to get off a spell due to the crushing force.

  “Sam!” the girls cried out, and more spells hit the slug, but it was no use, I was pulled toward the gaping maw and tossed inside.

  Then everything went dark.

  A putrid stench assaulted my nostrils, and my skin began to burn as I floated in the slug’s acidic mucus. I cried out in terror and pain as I slid down the creature’s throat. The pain increased as the acid ate through my skin and attacked my muscles. I thought that I would surely die, but then I remembered Tweak dropping from the slug’s ass looking half melted.

  “You ate the wrong fucking mage!” I screamed into the monster’s guts, then with all the energy I had left I conjured a Fireball and released it with a cry of rage.

  The spell lit up the creature’s innards for a heartbeat, and in that moment, I saw Tweak floating in the sewage of the slug’s stomach. My Fireball ripped through the slug’s stomach wall, and light poured in from the gaping hole. I grabbed Tweak and pulled him into the current of acid spilling out.

  We hit the ground in a puddle of steaming acid and mucus, and Kit instantly began healing us with her nature magic. My mind was reeling from the pain, but I managed to get off another Fireball. I aimed it at the already existing hole in the creature’s side and it blasted through the opposite end, spraying the stones with glowing blue ooze.

  I dropped to my knees as the slug fell over on its side and let out one last gurgling breath.

  “Fuck this place!” Tweak screamed as he writhed in the goo covering his body.

  “I second that,” I said as I shook from the experience.

  Kit healed us to full health and used a cleansing talisman to remove the funky goop from our bodies and clothes. Tweak was still reeling, however, and his antics were attracting more attention from the surrounding worms.

  “Shut up!” I warned him and pointed at the boney-armed slugs. “Let’s get moving.”

  Nanaya led us up the steep incline, and we kept a lookout for more of the stone cyclopses. I didn’t know how walking up the side of the mountain in plain view was ‘sneaking into the castle’, but I trusted that Nanaya knew what she was doing. Trinity, however, didn’t share my feelings.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked, following closely behind Nanaya, who was still in her troll form.

  “The plan is to sneak into the castle. I already told you that,” Nanaya answered annoyedly.

  “This doesn’t feel like sneaking,” said Trinity, and Tweak grunted in agreement.

  “Well, there is no real way to sneak into the castle, I mean look at the friggin garden of slugs, and besides, we were spotted by the cyclops. They know we’re here, so I’m going to create an illusion that will make it look like we’ve been killed. Once I enable the illusion, I will then cast a spell that will make us all invisible.”

  “Why didn’t you just make us invisible in the first place?” Kit asked, and again Tweak gave a troubled grunt of agreement.

  “Because, the cyclops can see through such enchantments. We need to save it for when we have successfully moved past them,” Nanaya explained.

  I could tell that having to explain things to us annoyed her, but that was how my guild rolled. We all relied on each other, we all looked out for each other, and we kept each other informed. I
f Nanaya was going to become a part of the guild, then she was going to have to learn to play well with others.

  “Good plan,” I said as we reached the halfway point up the mountain.

  The exertion made me breathe a little heavy, even though my strength and stamina had really climbed over the last few weeks. My guild and I were still low level compared to what was possible in the game. Hell, everyone was. But given how much my stats had already risen in the past few weeks, I was excited to explore the higher levels. I could already lift more than I would have been able to do in the real world, and I could run a half a marathon in game like it was nothing, but there was something about the Underworld that was so smothering, so tarnished and dirty, that it weighed on the spirit like an invisible fog. I could tell that the others could feel it too, Tweak and Trinity probably more so then the rest of us.

  “We’ve got company,” said Nanaya.

  I saw the cyclops a second later. It stood watch on a large boulder that was wedged up against a formation of jutting crystals. The cyclops’s body was massive. It stood ten feet tall and was comprised entirely of amethyst crystals and white stone. The single eye on the faceless creature scanned the mountainside slowly like a searchlight in the fog.

  “It hasn’t seen us yet,” said Kit. She was glancing around and searching for a way around.

  “Yes, it has,” said Nanaya. “It’s baiting us, waiting for us to get closer before striking, and the guards up in the castle are probably watching the feed through its eye.”

  “The last one wasn’t too hard, and now we know their weakness,” I said as I prepared a Magic Bolt.

  “Yeah, a big sword to the head,” said Nanaya.

  Together we charged the cyclops with Kit at our backs. Trinity and Tweak stayed at a safe distance, Tweak happily and Trinity grudgingly. I unleashed a Magic Bolt, while Nanaya spun her sword through the air toward the waiting cyclops. At the same time, Kit unleashed her snagging vines, and soon the cyclops was reeling back from the attack. The laser that shot out of its eye was thicker than the last cyclops’s, and we were forced to break up and jump for safety behind the nearest boulder or natural shelf.

  The cyclops had the high ground, but there were three of us, and we were already working well together. We fell into a familiar routine: Nanaya engaged the monster and kept dancing around it to keep the laser at bay, while I bombarded it with a steady barrage of spells that slowly ate away at its health and armor, and Kit split her spells between Nanaya and the cyclops.

  Not to be left out of the mix, Trinity moved behind the creature and climbed the ledge. I could only guess what she had in mind, but if I knew my badass tank, she intended on helping with the fight and proving herself a valuable part of the team despite her handicap.

  When I saw her emerge from behind a large boulder almost directly above the cyclops’s head, I knew what she had in mind and reacted accordingly. Nanaya had noticed Trinity as well, and she too began slowly moving the creature back under the jutting stone shelf. Kit tangled up its legs while I hit it with a Magic Bolt that finally depleted its armor and sent crystals exploding from the impact.

  “Now Trin!” I yelled to my warrior, and the boulder precariously sitting on the ledge above the cyclops began to move.

  “It’s too big for her,” said Kit, and from her hands long snaking vines erupted like Spiderman’s webbing. The vines wrapped around the boulder, and little Kit pulled back on them with all her might.

  When even that didn’t cause the boulder to move, Tweak grabbed ahold of the vines and yanked hard.

  The amethyst cyclops looked up just in time to see the boulder crash into its head. The boulder slammed the cyclops into the ground, causing it to explode into a million pieces.

  “Good job, Trin,” I said as the warrior walked to the edge of the shelf and smiled down at us.

  “Yay Trinity!” Kit sang.

  “Not bad for a level 1,” said Nanaya. She held out a glowing gem and glanced at us all. “I believe that was the last cyclops that we’ll see on this side of the mountain. You guys ready to fake your deaths?”

  Chapter 17

  We stood on a ridge near the top of the mountain, about fifty feet from the sheer wall of the castle’s ramparts. Nanaya nodded, indicating that she was about to enable the illusion, and a moment later a bright burst of light erupted farther down the mountain.

  Our heads swiveled toward the bright light, and as we watched, a black winged demon emerged from the portal that had been created.

  “Remember, it’s not real, just make it look good,” said Nanaya. “When it hits you with its spells, you’ll become invisible.”

  The demon flew high into the air and swooped down toward us. I played my part, howling and unleashing a Fireball that barely missed the creature. Tweak ran out onto the nearest ledge and leapt into the air, and I began to doubt his sanity as he collided with the demon like King Kong crashing into a circling helicopter. The two spiraled down to the stone in a heap of flailing wings and flying purple ape fur before landing with a thud right in front of us.

  Trinity charged the demon as Tweak wrestled with it, but the demonic illusion shot a spell out of its right palm that vaporized her on the spot—or so it seemed. I could see Trinity with my Fire Sight and saw that she was alive and well and staring down at her hands with a grin on her face.

  Tweak was the next to be hit by one of the spells, and Kit followed soon after. Nanaya and I squared off with the demon, who had risen to its full height and now leveled us with a murderous glare. The demon’s eyes burned with living flame, and had I not known that it was an illusion I would have been shitting my pants.

  We fought the demon with convincing vigor and desperate pleas to one another before being hit with the glowing spells, and when the dust settled the demon disappeared.

  “Now let’s hope this works,” said Nanaya with an ironic laugh.

  We moved up to the smooth wall and the succubus waved Kit over.

  “Think you can get a vine up there for us to climb on?” she asked, pointing up to the battlements.

  “I can do one better,” said Kit.

  She made an intricate gesture with her hands and then shot them upward. Vines sprang from her palms and wrapped around each other to create a ladder, while at the same time expanding upwards until they were clinging to the top of the battlements. Kit tied the bottom of the vine around a boulder and looked up at her work with satisfaction as Nanaya started up.

  “Nice work,” I told Kit as I followed the succubus.

  She went first over the side of the wall, and I followed cautiously behind. The wind hauntingly blew through the battlements as I poked my head over the stone and quickly surveyed my surroundings. I counted a dozen large gargoyles and my heart sank, but then I realized that they hadn’t spotted us.

  So far, the invisibility spell was working.

  I helped Tweak, Trinity, and Kit over the top and we all crouched down behind Nanaya. The succubus pointed at the trap door in the rampart floor about twenty feet away, placed a finger to her lips telling us to be quiet, and slowly started for the door.

  We followed her across the ramparts quietly, watching the gargoyles closely as we went, and upon reaching the trap door, we slipped down into a low-lit room. Nanaya was at the door peeking out, and I hurried over to her and listened closely for anyone approaching.

  “The way is clear,” she whispered.

  “How do we find Ember and Cecilia in this place?” I asked quietly.

  “They’re most likely in the dungeon,” said Nanaya.

  “And you know where that is how?” Trinity asked skeptically.

  “I was once an inmate. Come on, it’s this way.”

  Nanaya went left down the hall, which was made of the same dark stone as the rest of the castle. The place was sparsely furnished, and there were no guards to be found down there in the barracks, which I found disturbing.

  We left the inner chambers of the wall in exchange for the subterrane
an staircases and halls, all of which were eerily quiet. I couldn’t tell if the lack of activity in the castle bothered Nanaya or not, but she kept on leading us down into the deep dark depths. When we finally emerged at the bottom of a long staircase and peeked through the iron bars blocking the way, we heard something—the pleas and anguish of the dying.

  “Is it just me?” Trinity whispered, “Or does it feel like this was a little too easy?”

  No sooner had she said it than a shuffling of feet sounded on the stairwell behind us. More guards came rushing toward the iron gate from inside the dungeons, and Trinity scowled at Nanaya.

  “You bitch…” she growled.

  “I had nothing to do with this you idiot!” Nanaya howled back.

  I tried to formulate a plan, but the NPC’s coming for us were all level 35 and up, and there were dozens of them.

  “Stay calm,” I said as the guards drew closer. When they walked into the torchlight, I saw what the titles floating above their heads read: Night Howlers.

  The creatures resembled werewolves, but they were much shorter than the large beasts depicted in American film and literature. Despite their squat stature, these dog men looked extremely vicious. Their wet maws were full of wicked looking teeth, and their too-big hands ended in long claws. Some carried whips, others bore red hot branding irons, swords, or daggers, but all their eyes glowed with mysterious power.

  One of the wolfmen grabbed Nanaya roughly, and I tried to get his attention to spare my girls too much harm. I punched the hairy bastard square in the snout and then leapt on him and began pummeling him with hammer fists, but my valiant effort was short lived. The other wolfmen grabbed me and tore my robes to shreds with their powerful claws. One bit me in the hand as I tried to cast a spell, nearly taking my thumb clean off. A sword hilt slammed into my face and I went down hard. I lay there on the ground staring at my guildmates as they were dragged past me and into the dungeon, and the last thing I saw was Nanaya in tattered clothing trying to fight the wolfmen off.