“Help!” Baltos shouted as two swordsman hit him with everything they had. His health started to plummet as I raced to his side, slashing at both of them as fast as I could.
Battle Cry knocked them back, but more of the group leapt into us like the frontline of a football team. I fought back as hard as I could, but we were simply overwhelmed. My health was dropping, but not as badly as Og and Cavey, who were both already at half.
Og frantically scrambled for a Health Kit, but a swordsman hit him with his own Warrior’s Charge and interrupted him. Cavey tried to heal him, but he was hit by a frost spell that froze him in place while the rest of Bonecrusher’s forces took the opportunity to attack.
I whirled around to see D being jumped by three melee characters, and quickly leapt to her aid. Slashing out with everything I had, I used all my skills to try and fight them off. One of them, obviously lower level, leapt back as his health plummeted, but the other two weren’t giving up as easily.
I stepped in front of D and took their attacks for her, then struck out again, doing my best to fight them off. But we were simply outnumbered.
My health was approaching half, and I had no choice but to try and heal. I jumped up onto the ruined wall where Wrack was still firing down and booted him right in the chest and sent him tumbling over the other side.
He crashed down into a massive group of Undead Warriors that immediately aggro’d on him.
“Ahhhh! Help!” he shouted as he scrambled to his feet. They swung at him with savage determination, and by the time he was able to run, a quarter of his health was missing. I watched in horror as he sprinted out of the ruins, pulling more and more of the mobs with him as he raced back towards the battle.
“Oh, no…”
As he rounded the corner, every camp of the Undead Warriors was chasing after him. They spilled into the fight like a horde of zombies.
My group was first in their path, and although they were chasing Wrack, they started to go after anyone standing in their way.
One of them hit Og hard, and I watched as his health dropped to well below half. He screamed and tried to get out of the way, but at least three others swarmed onto him. His health was dropping fast.
It was chaos. My group was being destroyed.
The Undead Warriors cascaded across the battle, indiscriminately attacking everyone, even Bonecrusher’s men. Health pools plummeted, and all I could do was watch in horror.
This is it, I thought. This time, we’re out of options.
75
Quickly, I swapped to my Executioner’s Blade, falling back onto the only strategy I had to deal with multiple mobs.
I heard someone cry out beneath me and looked down as Og’s health vanished.
“No!” I roared as his lifeless body collapsed into the snow.
I threw myself off the walls and raised my sword in the air. There was a space between the two groups of players and it was filled with the Undead Warriors. That was where I was aiming.
My blade hit the ground and fire roared from the snow as my Flame Strike went off. But the warriors were too high level, and the damage just wasn’t enough. A few of them turned on me, but the rest kept up their attacks on my friends, flames dripping from their tattered armor.
“Help!” Xavier roared. I spun around to see him below critical, two Undead Warriors on him, lashing out at him with chipped hatchets. I dashed over to him and hit the first one with a Frenzied Slash. The damage was good, but not enough to kill him. All I succeeded in doing was getting his attention.
He turned at me and swung. I leapt back, letting his blow swing harmlessly over my head. But the other still had Xavier in his sights. It swung out again, knocking Xavier’s halberd aside, then hit him with some kind of special attack, removing all of Xavier’s remaining HP.
Xavier’s eyes went blank as the life drained from his body, then collapsed onto the ground in front of me.
This can’t be happening! I thought as I watched in horror as he fell.
Mechanically, almost unthinking, I swatted an axe aside with my sword and dodged another blow.
Someone cried out behind me, and I watched as Bonecrusher’s health disappeared and he toppled over backwards into the snow.
We’re all going to die, I realized as the world seemed to slow down. It was like something out of a horror movie. There was nothing I could do.
The fight between players fell apart as the Undead Warrior swarm crashed through their ranks, devouring everything in their path. Bonecrusher’s men went down, and I watched as at least three of them headed for D.
I swapped back to my Froleal’s Sword and leapt in to defend her.
I took the first blow from an enormous axe, but I could take more damage than she could. One swung out with his fists, but I used Battle Cry just in time to knock them back and stun them. D’s health was barely there.
“Use a kit!” I shouted at him, using one of my own on him. It restored his health to just below half, but as he tried to use his own, another warrior hit him with a stun attack and interrupted him.
I slashed at it with everything I had, causing it to stumble back, but there was no stopping the horde. My stun wore off on the warriors behind me, and they came crashing into me with full force.
A fireball splashed into them, and I turned to see Cavey with his staff aimed in their direction. His health was approaching critical. His lips twisted into a smile as one of the warriors fell before me. I smiled back, but that’s when an arrow struck him.
I couldn’t see who fired it—one of Bonecrusher’s men or one of the undead. But it didn’t matter. Cavey’s health vanished, his eyes turned vacant and he collapsed into a heap.
“No!” I screamed as another member of my party perished. It seemed impossible. Cavey had gone through so much, and even though I’d always been higher level than him, he was someone I’d looked up to—a leader, in a way I never felt I could be. Somehow, I just always assumed Cavey would be around, ready to defend Stoneburg again when we could muster up the numbers.
But now he was dead.
“Jack, help!” Baltos screamed from across the battlefield. In the corner of my vision, two of Bonecrusher’s men went down. Baltos was low and had three Undead Warriors ganging up on him. One swung out with an enormous club and knocked him to his knees.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it in time, but I had to try.
Using Warrior’s Charge, I scattered a group of the attackers in front of me as I raced towards him. I jumped off an icy rock, trying to boost my speed, but as I soared through the air I watched as one of the undead’s axes found its target. Baltos health vanished.
He fell sideways, tangled up in the bodies of the Undead Warriors all around him. It took him a moment to hit the ground.
I landed beside him and felt my legs give out as the horror of what was happening overtook me. If it had been possible to cry in Carrethen, tears would have been streaming down my face.
Despair poured out of me. I tilted my head back and howled like a wolf as Baltos died, along with every last bit of hope I had inside me.
The Undead Warriors immediately turned on me. I looked around to see most of Bonecrusher’s men lying motionless on the ground. He was flailing wildly, trying to keep two of them off of him, but it was pointless. A blow from a mace removed half of the tiny sliver that was remaining, and the chipped edge of a short sword pulled off the rest.
Everyone’s gone…
D and I were the only ones still alive, and we didn’t have much time left. I used Battle Cry again to get at least five of the warriors away from me, and moved to heal, but there was no time. The rest of the horde, without any other players to distract them, had turned their attention on us.
We have to run for it! I thought as I sprinted towards D, who was already trying to get away from the crazed mob attacking her.
“D!” I shouted, racing towards her.
“Jack!” she cried out. “Help!”
“I’m coming!”
&nb
sp; But as I ran towards her, something hit me in the ankles and took my legs out from under me. I spilled into the snow as several Undead Warriors spilled onto me, snarling and swinging at me with their weapons.
My health was draining fast. I tried to get them off of me, but more and more of them just kept piling on. I fought to get them off, but Battle Cry was on cooldown and there were just too many of them.
“Run, D!” I shouted. Her health was dangerously low, just above critical, and she was about to be overwhelmed by her attackers.
But it was too late. They leapt onto her and knocked her to the ground, just like they’d done to me. And they were going to hack us both to death. But then, a thought entered my mind like an electric spark.
The Ripper!? Where is he!?
The last two times D had been in mortal peril, The Ripper had shown up to save the day. So where was he now? Was it possible he just simply wasn’t paying attention?
I watched as D’s health bar began to drop. 25 percent—15 percent—critical.
“Come on, you son of a bitch!” I roared. And then, as if the universe cried out in answer, thunder cracked in the sky and everything froze around me.
76
Last Resort
Like ragdolls, the Undead Warriors spilled off of me like they’d been drained of their programming, falling to the side like a physics experiment to test a new game engine. As I stood up, I saw him.
“Again, Jack!?” he bellowed, striding quickly towards me. As he did, he waved a hand behind him and restored D’s health to full. I tried to get to my feet, but before I could, The Ripper reached out and snatched me by the neck and lifted me into the air in front of him. “How can one man be so completely inept at protecting his friends!?”
“Let him go, Norman!” I heard D shout as I struggled against his iron grip. I tried Battle Cry, but it did absolutely nothing. My feet weren’t touching the ground, but I tried Warrior’s Charge anyway. Again—nothing.
“Why!?” The Ripper roared. “Why do you care about such a pathetic little loser?!”
“He’s my friend!” D snapped, racing over to my side. She slammed into The Ripper, trying to knock me free from his grasp, but she simply bounced off him like he was made of steel.
“He’s more than that!” The Ripper shouted back.
“He’s not, Norman,” D snapped. “I’ve never even met him!”
“Good,” he smiled. “Then you won’t mind if I kill him.”
The Ripper released his grip on me and I fell to my knees. I snatched my sword from the snow where it had fallen, and swung out, connecting with The Ripper’s chest. It was a good hit, but the damage barely even registered.
It wasn’t a shock. He had 51 levels on me and probably the best armor in the game.
“Oh, you can do better than that, can’t you!?” He laughed, backhanding me against the side of the head. The blow knocked me into a backflip and I landed hard, flat on my face, a quarter of my health gone. “Okay, tell you what. I’ll give you ten levels. Let’s see how that goes.”
With a wave of his hand, I leveled up ten times. The sprites and colors announcing a level-up almost glitched as they swarmed around me as the game tried to keep up with my character gaining so much experience so quickly.
“Come at me!”
I screamed and dashed into him with Warrior’s Dash. Of course, the stun didn’t go off, and the damage was minimal. I used Frenzied Slash, but it was like attacking an enormous stone wall.
This isn’t going to work, I realized as I leapt back before he could strike me again.
Quickly, I swapped to my wand and cast Menace. I smiled as the black cage formed around him, but as it started to collapse into him, it exploded into pieces that slowly scattered away like ash.
“What…?”
The Ripper’s laugh rang out like he’d just performed the world’s greatest joke.
“Not a bad idea, Jack!” he said with an approving nod. “A hybrid sword-mage character. Too bad my Magic Defense is too high for such a low-level spell.”
Before I could blink, The Ripper’s body seemed to fade, shuddering out of existence briefly. Then, he was standing in front of me.
Such speed!
His next attack came down on my head. It was a closed fist that hit me like a thousand pounds to the skull. It was as though he was trying to break me in half.
The force drove me into the ground, and I heard the ice shatter beneath me. A crater formed around my body as half of my remaining health vanished.
“Pathetic,” The Ripper replied, but I knew he wasn’t talking to me. “How could you date someone like this, Jane? Oh, I’m sorry—D?”
I rolled onto my side in time to see D fire an acid arrow straight at him. I knew he could have stopped it midair, but he didn’t. He let it hit him, and I understood why. The damage didn’t even register on his health pool.
His back was turned to me, and I took the opportunity to attack. Dashing into him, I let loose with everything I had, activating all my cooldowns. Any other player I’d run into in Carrethen would have been close to death, but all I was able to do was remove an almost imperceptible sliver of health from his bar. The Ripper didn’t even bother turning around to face me.
“Why would you lie to me, Jane?” he asked.
“I never lied to you, Norman!” Jane hissed. “And I don’t have to tell you anything! You’re a creepy, weirdo stalker!”
“Mmmm,” The Ripper mused slowly. “You girls are all the same. Lead a guy along, then smash his heart to pieces.”
“I never led you on, Norman,” Jane replied. “You’re—you’re crazy.”
Things were coming to a head. The Ripper was about to break. I could see it. I had to do something, but there was nothing I could do. He’d made me level 85 and automatically assigned all my experience, but I still couldn’t touch him. I needed a Hail Mary.
“I thought my little experiment here with Jack would be more interesting,” The Ripper said as he slowly turned to me. “But it was more pathetic than anything. Not only did he almost get you killed many times, he got all of his friends killed. Look at them.”
He’s right, I thought as my heart sank. The lifeless bodies of my friends lay all around me, along with the corpses of Bonecrusher’s group. Gehman, Shorros, and now the rest of them. All dead because of me.
“You got them killed, Norman!” Jane snapped. “All of this is your doing, not Jack’s.”
The Ripper laughed. “Well, when you’re right, you’re right. I was hoping for an actual fight out of this scrub, but I just can’t wait any longer.” The Ripper kicked my legs out from under me and I collapsed onto the ground. “How many times will I have to save her, Jack?”
I didn’t know what to say—or what to do. I’d never felt so hopeless in my life.
“Just let us go,” I told him. “Then you won’t have to worry about saving her at all.”
“And just let her leave me!?” he replied, sounding almost amused at my suggestion. “No, no, no, that won’t do.”
“I’ll never be with you, Norman!” Jane shouted, but he waved his hand dismissively over his shoulder.
“That’s what you say now,” he replied, hitting me hard with a palm strike that brought my health below critical. He turned back to Jane, ignoring me like I was an annoying insect to be swatted away when he saw fit. “Just wait until you’ve been here for years. You will see—only I can truly protect you.”
Do something!
I was panicked. I knew I only had moments left. He was going to kill me, there was no doubt about that.
But what was I supposed to do? His power was unmistakable. And beyond the sheer amount of strength and levels he had over me, he was also in control of the entire world. He could bend game rules as he saw fit. Nothing I could do would ever be able to contend with that.
How many more people would die if he was allowed to continue his insanity and continue ruling over the inescapable world of Carrethen? How many other player
s had lost their friends, loved ones, or family members?
It had been my mission to stop him, and now I was only moments away from complete and total failure.
But then, I remembered something D had told me, and a plan began to formulate in my mind.
A Hail Mary.
A last-ditch effort to stop The Ripper, and there was no guarantee it would even work.
He stepped towards me, and I heard D shout at him.
“Stop it, Norman!” she roared. “If you kill him, I’ll never forgive you!”
“No one can predict the future,” he replied. “Only time will tell.”
I was out of time, outmatched, and out of options. Only one remained.
Quickly, I opened my inventory and found the item I needed. Sacrificial Stone of Binding.
I selected it and the item appeared in my hand. As The Ripper stepped towards me, the clouds above him turned blood red. He’d only ever used his fists against me, but this time, he drew an enormous sword.
It was impossibly huge and curved like a scimitar. As he shook it, flames sprouted from the edges. Embers and wet flames dripped from the metal as he approached.
I aimed the item at The Ripper and activated it. The stone chimed as if trying to work, but an error flashed in the bottom of my screen: Invalid Target.
“No!” I screamed. The Ripper’s admin status had shielded him from the use of the stone. He was completely invulnerable, even to an ancient item from an alpha version of the game.
And then, inspiration hit me like a hundred levels of Wisdom and Focus pumped directly into my human brain. I knew what I had to do. I only had moments left to live, but The Ripper could not continue his reign of terror. I knew D would never go with him, she wasn’t like that. D would never give in, never surrender. She’d fight and fight and never surrender, and there was no telling what that would drive Norman to doing. He was psychotic, and I couldn’t leave her fate in his hands—I just couldn’t let that happen.
“Let me add a little bit of ceremony to your death,” The Ripper said with a smile as he raised the burning sword that would end my life. Bits of flame fell from the steel and sizzled when they hit the ground around me as he brandished it high above his head like a medieval executioner.
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 32
