The Red Plague: A LitRPG Trilogy (The Last Warrior of Unigaea Book 3)

by Harmon Cooper

  One pink blast later, and their weapons crumble before my very eyes.

  “Thanks, Sam!” I shout, moving into action.

  Instakill!

  I follow up with a swipe that takes the second merc’s head off.

  Instakill!

  Infamy + 1!

  Infamy + 1!

  Three more kills for the bonus points, I think, as the sellsword who I electro-shielded lifts his hand to logout.

  I sheathe my sword and toss two of my throwing knives at the coward. One misses, the other gets him in the eye socket.

  -69 HP!

  Now that he can’t logout – due to the game mechanics of being injured and in combat – I turn my attention to the hitwoman trying to engage Wolf. She swipes with her pike, and Wolf leaps out of the way just in time, snarling all the livelong day.

  Seeing his opening, Wolf goes for her leg and yanks the pike woman to the ground.

  Running now, I leap into the air, my Splintered Sword overhead and upside down.

  Instakill!

  Infamy + 1!

  My downward momentum drives the three prongs of my weapon into the woman’s armor, which to her disadvantage is actually made of hardened leather.

  “Oric!”

  I fall backwards just in time to avoid an ax attack. The ax passes just above my face; I watch in slow motion as it moves over me, feeling the gust of air coming off it.

  Time tumbles forward and Wolf slams into the guy. Wolf goes for his ax hand, and starts whipping his head around after he’s clamped onto the guy’s wrist.

  I roll to the right, get to my feet, and bring my sword down as if it were a guillotine.

  Instakill!

  Blood mists the air.

  Infamy + 1!

  Smack!

  I hear a sickening crack, and look to my right to see the last two standing mercs flying backwards as Lothar gives them the tree-trunk-as-a-baseball-bat treatment.

  “Fuck yeah!” I shout as the two struggle to stand.

  “Metastasize wound!”

  A blast from Sam’s wand quickly kills the two, whose internal injuries cause their bodies to bloat and twist into crime scene worthy postures.

  “One more to go!”

  I move over to the guy whose eye socket now belongs to one of my throwing knives. I stand over the sniveling merc, as snot runs out of his nose and down his chin.

  “Please, don’t!” he cries, his face a bloody mess.

  I show him the number four with my fingers. “See that? That’s how many of your little band of mercenaries I just killed. Now you’re a Player Killer, and you know what that means.”

  “I’m five,” he whispers.

  “Yep, because I’m not killing your baby leader. Actually, I have no idea what we’ll do with him. Probably just leave him here.”

  Their baby leader logs out.

  “Don’t know how he managed that, but there it is.” I crouch before him. “To be more honest with you than I should be, especially considering the fact that you’re moments away from death and what I say doesn’t matter anyway, because seriously, who the fuck am I? Unigaea is doomed if we don’t try to do something to stop the Red Plague. The giant, the wolf, and the mage – those people, as far as I can tell, are our best option. You don’t see the Proxima Company doing shit. So in a way, you and your colleagues are disrupting a pretty important mission.”

  “Just do it already if you’re going to do it,” he sobs, his fists clenched together at his side. “I don’t care what you have to say!”

  “Stop playing with your prey,” comments Sam, and I can’t quite register the tone of her voice, but knowing Sam, she’s likely just fucking with me.

  “Fine, fine.”

  Instakill!

  Infamy + 1!

  Bonus attribute point received!

  (^_^)

  I pull up my attributes list and send the point to STRENGTH.

  Attributes

  STRENGTH: 14

  WILL: 13

  DEXTERITY: 13

  MIND: 11

  SPEED: 14

  “Getting stronger,” I tell Sam as I flex my biceps.

  She laughs. “For each point you put in STRENGTH, you appear to lose a point in MIND.”

  “Not according to my stats, and I don’t feel any dumber.”

  “But you look it.”

  Sam walks over to Lothar, who now sits on his meditations box with a gloomy look on his face.

  “Reeling from the fight?” she asks.

  “Something like that.”

  Wolf now rests on his haunches, still panting. I bring my hand to his head and slick his fur back. “You’re just as good at fighting as you were before you died.”

  He cocks his head at me.

  “Once you get your next level, I’m putting all the points into MIND, okay? Hopefully we’ll be able to have a genuine conversation. Or maybe if I put more of my own points in MIND, I’ll be able to understand dog speak.”

  He sneezes, and licks his lips.

  “You’re the coolest, Wolf.”

  I turn to see Sam with her hand on Lothar’s knee. The giant is genuinely feeling terrible about what he’s done; I suddenly regret giving him shit just moments ago.

  “It’ll be all right, buddy,” I say as I approach them. “And thank you. You saved my ass back there with that tree stump.”

  “I did?” he asks, tears welling in the corner of his eyes.

  “You sure fucking did. Sam would have been forced to use her reverse time spell again if you hadn’t thrown it.”

  Sam shakes her head. “I don’t know if I should use that one again.” She shows us her hourglass necklace; I see that the fissure has now grown from the top to the bottom bulb.

  “Shit, Sam.”

  “Shit is right.”

  “We have to be careful with all your spells,” says Lothar. “I don’t think you should be using as many as you used just now. That isn’t helping.”

  “But I have to be useful and I’ve tried using a weapon; I can barely swing a sword, which is odd, considering my last avatar.”

  “I never met your last avatar but I’m sure she was a fine specimen.” The giant removes his glasses, and starts to polish them on his robe.

  I crack a grin. Can’t help it.

  “What?” he asks, peering down at me.

  “Former Sam was indeed a fine specimen, Lothar, the finest specimen I’ve encountered in Unigaea.”

  “Interesting. Was she finer than Deathdale?”

  My eyes go wide and I swallow his surprise question with a loud gulp.

  “Because Deathdale was beautiful too, even with her eye patch.”

  “Shit, of course she was, I mean, of course Sam is finer! Time to change the topic! So who is ready to check for loot? Anyone? No? Just me? Well, I don’t want to be the only one dumpster diving. Yes, that’s what I call checking for loot. Wait, no it isn’t. Okay, let’s go!”

  My face redder than a McStarbucks during the holidays, I turn away from the two and whistle for Wolf. He trots over, I mount up, and scoot back, making room for Sam.

  “Are you coming?” I ask her.

  “You’re an idiot, Oric.”

  (^_^)

  “So you could go to your ship right now?” Lothar asks Sam.

  We’ve been traveling for a few hours now, and haven’t encountered much aside from a group of traveling merchants, a shaman selling voodoo dolls, and, of all things, a phallically enhanced snowman crafted in the shade of misplaced boulder.

  It isn’t snowing now, but it is cold enough in the shade to keep things frozen, which includes the anatomically correct snowman as well as a few patches of frozen grass.

  “Yes,” Sam tells the giant. “The wristband I used earlier to level up is what takes me to my ship.”

  “And can you bring people with you?”

  “I can, but I’m afraid you’re too large. My ship is big, but you’ll retain the size you are here in Unigaea, and only the docking bay cou
ld hold you. And even then, it may not be large enough.”

  “What about me?” I ask.

  “I already told you I’d show you.”

  “Wolf too?”

  “I don’t think Wolf would enjoy being on a ship traveling through the Proxima Galaxy. It can be, um, quite the experience for the first timer.”

  “He’s a super dog; he can adjust to anything.”

  Sam scoots a bit closer to me as Wolf picks up his speed.

  If he’s fatigued, he’s not showing it, and with only a few more hours of daylight, I believe we’ll be able to cover some pretty good ground today. Still won’t reach Tagvornin, but we should arrive late tomorrow night. And of course, there are the villages that surround the city. We’ll be able to get info there.

  Speaking of villages, it isn’t long before we pass one that has been completely razed. I see something burning in the distance and I point to it.

  “You think it’s a pyro afflicted?” I ask Sam.

  “Can’t tell. Lothar?”

  The giant lowers his meditations box and pops it open. He brandishes a monocular, adjusts the brass ring around it, and focuses on the flaming speck in the distance.

  “Yeah, that’s one all right. It’s waving to us.”

  “One of the afflicted is waving at us?”

  “Yup!”

  “We should keep moving,” I say immediately.

  Lothar takes another look at the pyro afflicted. “To be honest, I’ve never seen one actually communicate with someone before.”

  “We should at least try to see what the person wants,” adds Sam.

  “Are you two serious? I’m not going to sit here and say I just fought off a band of these fuckers a few days ago, but yeah, you get my drift. We should keep moving. We don’t want to get involved with the afflicted if we can help it.”

  “Please, Oric. I’ll just metastasize the person’s wound if they try to attack us.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” I say after I’ve thought it over, “Lothar, you go forward first. Sam and I will stay behind – besides you are the most diplomatic of all of us. I will keep my crossbow gun trained on his or her head. Any funny moves and boom! Headshot.”

  “I’m the most diplomatic?” he asks.

  “Sure, why not? Sam, you stay back as well, and be ready to get any pyro afflicted that may come next. They move in waves,” I say as I narrow my eyes on the flaming person in the distance. “And do not, I repeat, do not let them touch your skin. Weapons are fine, but if they touch your skin, you become one of them.”

  Lothar’s eyes light up. “Ah, children’s rhyme written by Olivas! If they touch your skin, you become one of them; if you become one of them, the flames burn within; within and without, the flames spit and shout; the flames keep ablaze and your dreams fade away; so keep your hands to yourself, for the good of your health!”

  “A children’s rhyme about pyro affliction?” I shake my head in disbelief.

  “You’re the one who quoted it,” Lothar says as we turn to the burning person on the horizon.

  “I was unaware. Wolf, hold on.” I hop down and tell Sam to stay on. “If anything happens, I want you to get as far back as you can. In fact, maybe it’s better for you to ride Wolf in battles, because he can get away quickly if need be.”

  Sam scoffs. “You act like I’m some type of invalid. I have magic, you know.”

  “I just … ”

  I think of Deathdale dying, and Sam’s death in her previous avatar. Even though Deathdale’s was her own fault.

  There’s nothing you could have done, I remind myself, guilt causing a sinkhole in my gut.

  “You just what?”

  “I just want you to be safe, that’s all.”

  Sam’s eyes soften. “I know you do, but treating me like some fragile doll won’t help. If it’s my time to die as this avatar, then so be it.”

  “All right, everyone stop.” I look from the scholarly giant to Sam. “What’s our end game here? What could we possible gain by going to greet one of the pyro afflicted?”

  Lothar shrugs my question off. “The mystery that is Unigaea is in a constant state of unravelling, even if it is ultimately the result of an advanced algorithm played like a finely tuned harp by the Obelisk.”

  “Any response to that, Sam?” I ask as I pinch the bridge of my nose.

  She smirks.

  “Fine, fine, you two win, let’s get this over with.”

  As we walk through the razed village, I equip my St. Lucia crossbow pistol and load a bolt. I bring it up as we near the pyro afflicted person, who looks to be female.

  Her outline flashes red and a reticle appears on her forehead.

  Sam and I stop, Sam still mounted on Wolf.

  Lothar nears the pyro afflicted woman, each step slower than the last.

  “You waved at us,” he calls down to her once he is about thirty feet away.

  “I did,” she calls back, flames lashing out of her charred lips as she speaks. The fire burns on every part of her body yet her form is visible, her eyes completely white.

  Something isn’t right.

  I glance left and right, looking for any signs of movement. About the only thing good about the pyro afflicted is that they’re easy to spot.

  It’s then that a realization strikes me.

  “It’s the Obelisk,” I whisper to Sam.

  “You sure?” she asks.

  “I just know it.”

  Lothar smiles at the burning female. “My name is Lothar Shane, and my companions and I are traveling north to the Rune Lands.”

  “These are the Rune Lands,” says the woman as I approach Lothar.

  “Hey, big guy!”

  Lothar looks over his shoulder at me and hisses. “What happened to the plan?”

  “It’s changed,” I say as I walk past him. “Obelisk, I’m glad you could join us.”

  The burning woman grins. “Hello, Oric.”

  (^_^)

  “Obelisk!” Lothar takes a knee and bows his head to the NVA Seed. Embers flutter off her burning skull as she greets the giant.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lothar.”

  Sam approaches on Wolf, her wand still at her side.

  “And Sam Raid,” the Obelisk says, her voice raspy. “I am glad to see you were able to bring Wolf back.”

  I feel that familiar pang of guilt in my chest. I don’t want to start accusing the Obelisk of anything, but she could have done something, she could have …

  It was your fault, Oric.

  I steel myself with a nod. What’s done is done.

  “There has been a change in plans.” The Obelisk places her flaming hands behind her back. “Governor Florin Talonas of Stater has decided to ride north with his armies.”

  “Ride north? Why would he do that?” asks Lothar. He swings his meditations box around and takes a seat on it.

  “He’s trying to take the Rune Land,” I say bitterly. “It’s a power play.”

  “At a time like this? Surely he knows of the source code bomb.”

  “He does,” says the Obelisk. “I have visited him.”

  “And?” I ask.

  “And.”

  “What kind of answer is that?”

  “He told me he would do what he has to do to solidify his power, no matter who gets in the way, even if the entity in the way is me.”

  “Talonas is an RPC,” Sam says. “If the world is destroyed, he’ll be destroyed.”

  The Obelisk turns to the west and holds her chin high. “Florin is of two beliefs. One, the Proxima company will get a handle on the Red Plague. If that doesn’t happen, he believes that he will be able to control it with the First Artifact.”

  “The First Artifact?” I glance from Sam to Lothar, both of whom shrug.

  “I was created at the same moment Unigaea was created, the world’s Adam and Eve. The First Artifact is a scepter I made from algomagic, the first and only of its kind.”

  “Algomagic?”
<
br />   “Algorithmic magic,” says the scholarly giant. “Basically a cool way to say advanced neuronal coding.”

  The Obelisk nods in agreement. “It was the very first thing that I created, long before there were cities and walls and beasts and colorful NPCs.”

  “What could Florin possibly want with it?” asks Sam.

  “He believes it has the power to destroy the source code bomb.”

  “And does it?” I ask.

  “I don’t know.”

  I stare at the burning woman for a moment, trying to sort out all the questions coming to me. I start with the most obvious. “And you say Florin has the First Artifact now? How did he get it?”

  “The Artifact was hidden in plain sight, inside one of the monuments at the entrance to the Solidus Academy.”

  “Which one?” Lothar asks.

  “The Vampiric Mermaid Statue, the one in the Courtyard of the Fallen Scholar. There are hundreds of replicas across the land, and I figured that it would be as good a place as any to hide it.”

  “Why didn’t you hide it on Hashmonean?” I recall what I’ve seen of the island, which isn’t much. Just a lagoon, really.

  “I didn’t want people to come after it, and I didn’t want to destroy it. No one knew of the item, but I thought – and rightly so – that eventually someone would come to my island looking for treasure. Not that they’d get it, but I didn’t want to provide any added incentive.”

  “So you put it in a statue?”

  “Hidden in plain sight. That is, until the meteor attack happened, and it was uncovered during the cleanup process.”

  “And now Talonas has it?”

  The Obelisk shakes her fiery head. “Actually, an Arcane Warlock named Broken has it.”

  I look skeptically from the Obelisk to Sam. “His name is Broken? Could he have thought of a lamer name?”

  “Broken is no laughing matter,” says the Obelisk. “You may have wondered who brought on the meteor attack that destroyed most of Solidus. Now you have your answer.”

  A series of images come to me – Deathdale rising to meet the meteors, Wolf and I surrounded by Solidus soldiers, the fire raining down from the sky. If a single warlock caused that, he must be one of the most powerful to ever walk the face of Unigaea.

  As if the NVA Seed is reading my mind, she answers my next question before I can ask it. “Broken is at level 83, making him the most powerful Player Character in this world.”