The door to the prison cell opened.
Byron clenched his fists, preparing to fight whoever or whatever came through the gates.
Saleeta walked in. She held a rifle in each hand, and blood and gunshot wounds covered her body as she took a few steps into the cell before she collapsed.
Chetaara ran to her side and cradled Saleeta's head in her lap. "No!"
Saleeta coughed. "I-I told you I would...save you."
Chetaara stroked her cheek. "You did. You saved us all."
Saleeta's eyes rolled up as she went limp.
Chetaara leaned over her, sliding the eyelids closed. "She betrayed us and lied to us, but she was still Nikora, and all life is to be treasured. I hope she will be forgiven in the Great Temple."
Byron grabbed the rifles from her hands. "All right, the doors are open and we're armed. This is our one shot. Make it count."
He tossed one of the weapons to Scarlett. She caught the gun, and snapped back the bolt.
She licked her lips. "Yeah, let's fuck some assholes."
They all charged out of the prison and into the night.
Death Troopers lay in front of the prison door, dead from gunshots. More Death Troopers came running towards the gates.
Byron and Scarlett fired a spray of laser bolts. The soldiers scattered while a few fell before the gunfire.
150 XP
150 XP
150 XP
Death Troopers shot at hi, and he activated his shield to get some of the bullets to reflect back. He dove to cover behind some boxes before unleashing another spray of fire.
The Nikora let out a collective roar as they swarmed out of the prison. Some were hit by laser fire, but the rest pounced onto the soldiers with their claws out. The Nikora outnumbered the soldiers, causing the Death Troopers to fall under the attack.
Once again, Khloe surprised him by bending down and picked up two bodies of the Death Troopers, one in each hand. She hurled them at the oncoming Death Troopers, knocking them to the ground in a heap.
Nikora began to rise from the Death Troopers, carrying the Necrosi weapons instead. They turned the rifles onto the next wave of soldiers. The flood of laser fire that came at them lit up the night until the soldiers fell, and the survivors began to retreat before the attack.
Chetaara held up her rifle and turned to face the other Nikora. "This world belongs to us! Nikor for Nikora, death to the Empire!"
The other Nikora cheered and held up their own rifles.
OBJECTIVE SUCCESSFUL
+15,000 XP, +5,000 CREDITS
Byron turned to the crowd and held up his hands. "You all heard Saleeta. She said the Empire has some sort of weapon. We need to find it and stop it before they trigger it. Chetaara, you take the ones on this side, search the west compound. Princess, you take the Nikora on this side, search the east compound. The priority is Commander Skarr. He has to be the one who'll trigger the weapon. Captain Kurrs is the secondary target. Any Death Troopers you find, either round them up or kill them."
"Kill 'em," Scarlett yelled and the others took up the call.
Byron pointed to Xana, Scarlett, and Khloe. "You three are with me."
He began to walk as the Nikora broke into teams.
Scarlett hopped alongside him. "What's our mission? Blow some shit up?"
"Not quite." Byron walked towards the smaller building. "We need to find Otis Accolade."
NEW OBJECTIVE: STOP FIRESTORM DETONATION
REWARDS: 34,000 XP, 50,000 CREDITS
Scarlett pouted. "Aw, man, why'd we get the boring assignment."
Byron went to the door and paused with his hand on it. "Might not be boring."
He pushed it open to face five Death Troopers, all standing in a row in front of a door made of iron bars.
"Fuck," Scarlett murmured.
Byron dove out of the doorway as the Death Troopers opened fire. Laser bolts flew through the doorway and shredded the frame.
Khloe yelled, "Use your shield code or fireball code!"
He shook his head. "It's still gonna take a few more seconds to recharge!"
"Um, I can take care of them if they stop shooting for a second." Xana touched her necklace, stripped naked, and vanished into the night.
Khloe took a deep breath. "Okay, one distraction coming up."
She ran away from the building to a mining cart nearby. With ease, she picked up the mining cart, and carried it over the entrance again, running faster with each step until she finally hurled the mining cart into the building.
The Death Troopers screamed and yelled as the cart crashed inside. The laser fire ended for a few seconds before it started back up again.
A few seconds later, loud screams followed the clang of metal against metal inside.
Byron took a chance to lean into the doorway.
The Death Troopers had been cut down to three while the remaining soldiers lay on the ground with their armor sliced open. One of the three soldiers had his head sliced off by a sword floating in the air. The other two soldiers spun around in a panic.
Byron fired at the two Death Troopers, burning holes in their chests.
150 XP
150 XP
He straightened and walked into the prison entrance as Xana reappeared. The green girl shook blood off her swords before holding them at angles, ready to strike again.
He nodded and kissed her cheek. "Nice."
Her green cheeks turned a little pink before she nodded back.
As Khloe came up alongside him, Byron leaned over and kissed her, too. She just giggled.
Khloe turned to the door to the main cells, took hold of the bars, and grunted. Her big ass flexed along with her thighs until she finally gasped and stood up straight again. "I can't budge it."
Byron looked down at the body and began sifting through them. "One of these guys has to have the keys to the door. Locked doors in games always have key cards nearby."
The three of them searched the bodies of the soldiers, one by one. Byron finally found a red plastic square in the hand of one of the Death Troopers. He pushed the card into a slot next to the door, and the bars slid away.
They walked down a hallway lined with prison cells. Most of them were empty, but a few had Nikora sitting or crouching in them. When they found an occupied cell, Byron would unlock the door and free them.
They finally reached one door at the end of the hallway.
Byron tried pushing the red keycard into a slot, but the door just buzzed. "Must be another card around here somewhere."
They looked around but found nothing.
Khloe studied the door for a moment, then reached out and took hold of the bars. She grunted as she tore the doors off its hinges, and threw it aside.
Byron flexed his hands. "Man, I gotta boost my strength stat."
Khloe put her hands on her wide hips while smirking. "It's totally worth it. I got this awesome strength buff from this guy named Squod."
"I know Squod. He was holding out on me." Byron shook his head, and headed deeper into the building.
They walked down a staircase, curling its way into darkness. It reminded him of another dungeon from a castle, and he aimed his rifle down to try to shoot any weird creatures that might be hiding in the shadows. The staircase ended in another door.
Khloe raised her fists, but Byron tried the keycard and the door opened.
The cell on the other side had very little light, just enough to let Byron make out someone crouching in the darkness. When the shadowy figure raised its head, a face came into the light.
The face of the old man Byron had met on the train station blinked several times as if unused to seeing. "Byron? Is that you?"
Byron took a step inside. "Yeah. Are you Otis Accolade?"
The old man's wrinkled face broke into a smile. "I knew you could do it. I knew you were the one."
∆∆∆
Commander Skarr snorted as something pounded on his bedroom door. He barely moved as he growled, "Go
away."
The voice of Captain Kurrs came through the door. "You need to wake up, sir! The shit's hit the fan! We gotta move, now!"
Skarr sighed and opened his eyes. He lay in his plush bed that had to be fitted with industrial supports for his massive bulk. There was a time in his younger and thinner days when he could have just climbed out of bed and opened the door. Those days were long gone.
"Help me up," Skarr roared.
He turned his head to see the Nikora females in his harem climb up from where they lay on his floor and surrounded the bed. Working together with grunts and groans, they lifted him into a sitting position and helped him drag his legs to the edge of the bed. When he had been positioned properly, he pushed a button on his bedside table.
His support harness walked out of its charging station like a mechanical spider, and opened its waistband to embrace him. When it had locked into place, he tapped buttons to use the harness to carry him to the door.
When he opened it, he gasped.
Captain Kurrs leaned against the doorframe with one hand on the door and the other on his crotch. Blood stained his armor as he breathed heavily. Five Death Troopers gathered behind him.
Skarr narrowed his eyes. "What happened to you? What's going on?"
"Your pet Saleeta," Kurrs snarled. "She betrayed us. Stole my sword, stole some guns, damn near bit my dick off, and freed the prisoners. They're running all over the compound, killing everything in sight. We gotta trigger the Firestorm bomb, right now."
Skarr felt dizzy with confusion. "Of course. I have fallen into complacency, thinking the Nikora were under control. I have been foolish to trust the Nikora traitor but all our plans remain in place. We can use the emergency access to the mines. Come."
He waved to his harem. "Follow me, ladies."
Kurrs thrust out a hand. "We're not taking those pussies, are we?"
"These women are the only satisfaction, the only benefit to this position. I will not leave them behind."
He shoved past Kurrs and used his harness to make his way through the living quarters to the entrance. "Besides, when I'm finished, they will be quite valuable on the slave trade, because the Nikora will be an endangered species."
∆∆∆
Byron stepped into the prison cell. "Yeah, it's me. I can't believe you're here."
Otis chuckled as he climbed awkwardly to his feet. "I told you I'd see you soon."
"But how are you in the game? What happened?"
Otis looked down at his shaking legs. "I-I'll have to give you the abridged version. I wish I could tell you more, but we don't have time."
"Let's get out of here." Byron turned.
Otis grabbed his shoulder. "No, wait. Byron, I don't have long. I have to tell you the truth while I still can."
"Don't have long? What's wrong?"
"It's just the way it has to be. Look, you know my name, so you probably know who I am. They call me the designer of Venus Online, but I'm more like just the programmer. The technology that made Venus Online possible, it wasn't mine. I was hired by the true architect of Venus Computing Solutions, the CEO Thomas Works."
Otis lowered his eyes. "When I came aboard the project, the designs for the virtual reality technology were fully formed. Works said he was the one who had developed the pod, the neural interface, everything. When I saw it, I couldn't believe it. The tech was way beyond anything I'd ever seen before. I suspect Works didn't design it himself, but he wouldn't tell me where he got it from. He had the hardware, but he didn't have the software to run it. That's where I came in. I designed the programming language to generate the world, and coded it."
He grinned up at Byron. "I gotta tell you, those were fun times. Works had wanted to make a game out of it, but wasn't sure what. I loved science fiction, so I came up with the world for Venus Online. I wrote the quests, designed the NPCs, all of that. The artificial intelligence code was already there to run the pods. I just coded it into living beings."
Otis nudged Byron with his elbow. "Also put in the sex. I mean, what's the point of a virtual reality game if you can't fuck a robot, right?"
Byron laughed, despite himself. "Uh, Otis, we gotta--"
"Listen to me." The grin faded as Otis took a deep breath. "It wasn't long before I realized something was wrong. Our animal testing worked great, and human trials went well, and we had a system in place for players to disconnect at will. But it wasn't working. The game also became more brutal, more violent. The first time someone died in the pods, I ordered the whole project shut down but Works ordered it back online. When we started beta testing, that's when the lockouts started."
He looked over at Khloe and Scarlett. "It drove me crazy. People dying in my game, and they couldn't even leave if they wanted. I took my complaints all the way up the chain, but no one listened. I didn't want to be a part of it, but I wanted to find a way to reverse the effects. So I stayed. And then, one night, I found it."
He tightened his grip on Byron's shoulder. "I was running a search in the code, and discovered someone had been rewriting it. Whoever it was put in a subroutine that could remotely disable the exit, and also overloaded the neural network if someone died in the game. That's when I realized it wasn't an accident. They wanted people to die. That was the last straw. I got all the files together that I needed to prove it, and was prepared to take it to the government to shut the whole thing down. But Works caught me."
His eyes narrowed with anger. "Works is insane. He said he had a grand vision for Venus Online, that it wasn't just about playing the game. He said it was about world domination. He was rambling about how Venus Online was the future, and it was going to spread to the real world. He said the more powerful the game became, the more powerful he would become. I discovered he hadn't even stopped the beta testing, but had been secretly recruiting hundreds of players in countries around the world."
Otis began to limp towards the door of the cell. He leaned on Byron as he said, "He took all the files I'd saved, said they were intellectual property. The night I met you, that's the night I'd been kicked out of Venus Computing. I was trying to figure out how to stop Works when I met you that night. And I knew you were the one."
Byron and Otis made their way to the staircase as the old man said, "I'd written a storyline into the game about the Outsider. I just thought it would be a fun little mystery. The game needed its Luke Skywalker or Captain Kirk, the hero. To be honest, I'd planned to have it turn out to be me in the end. But when I met you, I realized I could turn the Outsider into a Trojan horse, a way to shut down the game from the inside."
Otis paused and patted Byron on the chest. "The code on the card I gave you, that was meant for me. It provided a special login with root access to break the limits of the game. I have a neural variation that makes it dangerous for me to use Venus Online, but I planned to use the code when I figured out a way around it. But when you used it, you became the Outsider. You have no idea of the power you hold. But you will, my boy. You will."
He began to limp again. "When you logged in, it triggered some sort of alarm at Venus. They caught me, and Works decided to punish me by forcing me into the game. Into this hellhole. Right now, my body is in some basement level of Venus Online. And I'm dying."
That was when Byron noticed a slight flicker to Otis' body. The edges of his face seemed distorted.
"Dying?" Byron grabbed the old man's arm. "We gotta get you a doctor or--"
Otis shook his head. "I-I'm already dead, son. My body went brain-dead a few minutes ago in real-time. I felt it. But because of the time dilation in the game, I'm still here. A ghost. I don't have much time, though. Maybe a few more minutes. But I knew you would come and save me."
He laughed. "Me dying right now, it makes the story more...more dramatic, right?"
The flickering became stronger as he stopped to face Byron. His voice turned raspy. "Byron, I had a little bit of control over the game. I was able to send you the message, and repair your NRG implant, and a few ot
her things. But I can't help you any more. It's up to you now, and finding the way out, it won't be easy."
He held up a finger. "Lady Necralia, she's the key. She's the...boss character. I didn't write her into the game. Someone else did. Something called the Orb. It's just what it sounds like, a motherfucking ball that talks. It just showed up in the game one day. Maybe Works put the Orb in, maybe Works is the Orb, I don't know. But the Orb has taken control of the game. It took some crazy player and turned her into a super-user, but Lady Necralia, she's still the boss. And when you kill the boss character, the game is over. That's your way out."
The color faded from Otis' body, leaving him all gray. "You have to kill Lady Necralia. When you do, the game will shut down, and everyone will be free. It's all up to you. But...I can give you...one last gift."
Otis flickered one last time before melting away into smoke. As he did, the game text flashed.
MISSION COMPLETE: RESCUE OTIS ACCOLADE
+10,000,000 XP
+10,000,000 CREDITS
LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 25 MARINE!
XP MULTIPLIER ACTIVE
ALL XP EARNED NOW DOUBLED
"Holy fuck," Scarlett yelled. "You're a level twenty-five now?"
Byron didn't react, just watching the smoke faded away into the night air. He had barely met Otis, and now the old man was gone before he got to know him. He still had a lot of questions. Who or what was the Orb? Why was Venus Online trying to kill people? How did a virtual reality game lead to world domination? But at least he knew what to do.
He closed his eyes. "Let's go save the world."
Chapter 22
BY THE time Byron walked out into the prison compound, all the Death Troopers seemed to be dead. The Nikora had control of the camp, and walked around freely. Some of them dragged or carried the corpses of the Death Troopers to dump them into piles. Others handed out pistols and rifles to any Nikora who didn't have them. Other Nikora just stood in groups, singing some sort of victory song.
When Byron came out, they all stopped to clap and cheer.
Mine Shaft: A LitRPG Sci-Fi Harem Adventure (Venus Online Book 4) Page 15
