The Black Dragon: A Fantasy LitRPG (Dragon Kings of the New World Book 2)

by Dante Doom

  “Hmmmm,” Kylian said. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea then.”

  “I vote for being evil,” Dolly said. “It’s way more fun that way.”

  “I’m torn here,” Capello said. “On one hand, I like the fact that bad guys can kill the most amount of people without getting in trouble, but on the other hand, we have the opportunity to kill an actual dragon. How many people can say that?”

  “I have no idea,” Van said, “but assuming other players have done this quest, it’s doubtful that you can actually kill King Bikorn. He’ll probably run away or something.”

  “Well, we better choose soon,” Bidane said. “The clock is ticking, and the game will be kicking us all out soon.”

  “Fine, fine,” Van said. “I think we’re going to have to go with the good option. Let’s try to kill the big, angry dragon.”

  “Yes!” Capello said. “I knew you were the best leader ever.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Bidane replied as she grabbed her staff and lifted it high. “I’ll cast a Protection from Fire Spell, but this is literally the last spell I can cast until we get some serious rest.”

  “Alright, team,” Van said. “Our new mission is simple: we’ve got to liberate these peasants. We’ll have one shot at this, so we need to be extremely careful. Sang’s our ranger, so she’ll be the one to throw the gem. I’ll try to distract the dragon by talking to it, and the rest of you, just be ready for whatever happens.”

  While Van wasn’t particularly a big fan of the idea of fighting against the dragon, having a gem that could instantly kill it would be perfect for the situation. Still, he knew there had to be some kind of twist involved. He sighed heavily, wishing that he could remember how the quest was supposed to end.

  The team made their way back to the castle with the gem in their possession. Van’s nervousness was growing stronger with each passing minute. The castle was still as empty as it had always been. There was no one around, and no one impeded them from being able to reach the inside of the castle’s court.

  The dragon was awaiting them eagerly; he was fully alert and awake, pacing back and forth. His massive spiked tail swung with each step that he took. Van became acutely aware of how big the dragon was now that it stood to full attention.

  “You return!” King Bikhorn cried. “With my gem, as well! I am pleased!”

  “Of course,” Van said as he walked up to the dragon. “I am so thrilled to present to you this gem, so that you are able to—” He stopped talking and pointed behind the dragon. “Holy crap, what’s that over there?”

  The dragon stared at him blankly. “Really?” it asked. “I am a thousand years old, so do you really think that would work on me?”

  This response startled Van. While he had been expecting the dragon to fall for his Distraction skill use, the creature had instead spoken to him… like a real person. Van’s mind darted back to the dragon’s reaction when it had first seen Van. It had mumbled something about things getting more interesting upon seeing Van and, while it had tried to act like it was just giving the standard NPC speech, Van had known there was something off about it.

  “We tried!” Van said as he leapt out of the way of the inevitable torrent of flames that would be coming his way. “Now, Sang!”

  Sang ran forward, gripping the gem tight. She pulled her arm back and lobbed the gem in a perfect throw. The glowing turquoise gem sailed through the air, but before it could reach the king, it exploded, crashing against some kind of invisible force field that surrounded the dragon.

  “Oh crap, run!” Bidane shouted as she scrambled out of the chambers as fast as she could. Dolly, Kylian, and Capello were close behind her. Only Sang remained—she had drawn out her bow and was ready to make a final stand.

  Van tried to run to where Sang was, but felt the sharp sting of claws raking across his back. He fell to his knees and, before he could get up, he found himself being grabbed by the dragon.

  “Hahahahaha,” the dragon said as he lifted Van up. “Now, that is some serious guts, I’ve got to say. Trying to kill me?”

  Sang fired a few arrows at the dragon, but whatever force field surrounded King Bikorn was strong enough to cause the arrows to bounce off harmlessly.

  “That was certainly one of the more entertaining things I’ve seen so far,” Bikorn said as it held Van close to its face. The large, yellow eyes seemed to pierce Van’s very soul as he squirmed to escape.

  “I’ll tell you what... as you should know, a peasant army is of no real concern for me, and now that the gem, the only thing capable of doing me any harm, is gone for good, I’m going to be an exceptionally merciful dragon. You humans might be annoying, whiny, and frustrating, but I’ll be damned if you aren’t brave and tenacious, as well! For your mad courage in fighting against me, I, King Bikorn, hereby reward you with the rights to claim yourselves as a mercenary company.”

  The words ENTER MERCENARY COMPANY NAME immediately appeared before Van. He let out a sigh of relief. The test had just been for show! They hadn’t blown their chance at becoming mercenaries at all. He paused for a few minutes as he considered what to call their group. With a shrug, he wrote in the words: The Iron Dragon Mercenaries. The title had a good ring to it, and would make sense when they had a dragon for a mount.

  The game display immediately showed the stats and members of the mercenary company, and Van grinned. They had successfully completed the quest.

  “Nice work, pal,” the dragon whispered to Van.

  Van titled his head and looked at the dragon. “Huh? What did you say?”

  The dragon said nothing more, merely grinning at him. It dropped him on the ground and resumed its pacing routine.

  “Well, that surprisingly went well,” Sang said as she went over to check on Van.

  “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

  “They panicked and ran the moment the plan failed,” Sang said. “Such cowards.”

  “I don’t know if it’s cowardice when they literally have no chance of winning,” Van replied.

  “It’s only cowardice when you leave your own behind,” Sang grumbled. “Come on. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

  As they walked out of the castle, the experience point tally appeared in front of them.

  “Wow!” Van said, “That’s enough experience points to level up!” He quickly pulled up his character display and took a look at his options.

  Grinning, he saw that he would now have one of the more powerful bard spells for this level. He selected The Dancing Fool’s Song. This song would force any humanoid enemy who heard it to dance until the song ended. It was highly powerful, as it would make any enemy completely helpless. Plus, he could probably test the spell out on Sang, forcing her to dance. That would be hilarious to watch.

  Chapter Seven

  Van squinted as the case to the pod slowly opened. They had been inside of the game for the max amount of time allowed—nearly 19 straight hours—and as much fun as it had been, he felt exhausted.

  “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” said a familiar voice. Van looked up to see that it was Agent Neil hovering over him.

  “Neil?” Van asked, coughing a little. Hydration was accomplished intravenously when in the tube, but his mouth always felt incredibly dry after playing for such a long time.

  “In the flesh,” Neil said as he grabbed Van roughly by the arm and pulled him out of the tube.

  “Easy, easy,” Van said. “I’m up.”

  “We don’t have a lot of time here,” Neil said as he glanced around. Van realized that the operators who were monitoring the game and responsible for running the operation weren’t around. It was just him and Neil.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We’re hitting some snags in this operation,” Neil said as he motioned for Van to follow. “So, I figured I’d let you in on some state secrets.”

  They walked into Van’s bedroom. It was only marginally better than the one in the abandoned office building where they
had been hiding a month ago, but at least it had a softer bed.

  Neil slammed the door shut behind them and looked around nervously.

  “What are you looking for? This room is barely large enough for the both of us, let alone a third person,” Van commented as he sank into his bed. While he was interested in what Neil had to say, he was feeling sleepy from all of that gaming.

  “Things are heating up internally. I’ll spare you the politics, but this program is looking at an early death if we don’t find something juicy soon,” Neil said. “But fortunately for you, I’ve got us a way out of this mess.”

  “And what would that be?” Van asked.

  Neil grinned. “Agent Sang caught us an actual informant from Draco. He’s some Draco pro named Kenwar. You ever heard of him?”

  Van shook his head. “There’s too many to know them just by name.”

  “Anyway, we nabbed this guy a few hours ago. Gave himself up and wants protective custody from Draco. Says he knows all sorts of interesting things.”

  Van frowned. “That seems awfully convenient.”

  “It is,” Neil said. “It’s convenient enough for me to wonder what kind of grift Draco is running. It could be a simple double-agent thing, or it might be more complicated. But still, the first rule to counterintelligence is to never let your opponent know that you’ve caught on. So… we’re hooking up a new pod and sending Kenwar in with you guys.”

  “I’m sorry, you’re doing what now?” Van asked.

  “This Kenneth guy is really smooth. Easy going, calm and unflappable. He seems to think that he’s completely fooled us. So, I say we act like we take the bait. He’s claiming he can lead us to one of the decision makers, someone who’s a core member of Draco. He’s also telling us that he knows a work-around that will let him shut down a player’s ability to log out. According to Sang’s reports, you guys have been trying to build a group to go capture someone important, right? Now we can be sure that he can’t escape. The best part is, since he’ll be locked in the pod, he’ll have to tell us the truth.”

  “And if Kenwar betrays us?” Van asked.

  “Not if, my friend. When. When Kenwar betrays us, we’ll see what it looks like! We’re transferring him to our facility right now. Once he’s inside of these doors, he’ll be at our mercy. He might think he’s so smart, but the moment he gets into our pods, we can choose whether or not he’ll get those very important saline drips pumping through his arms. Essentially, he’ll be our own prisoner if he tries anything funny.”

  “Neil, this seems like a terrible idea. On all accounts. Don’t forget, Draco still has some method of killing people trapped inside of the pods.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get you. That’s why I’m here to ask you to do something for me.”

  “What?”

  Neil grinned again. “I need you to flip in Draco’s favor. I want you to be our own double-agent.”

  “A double-agent? That’s a little crazy,” Van said. “I’m not really cut out for the spying kind of life. I could barely lie to my own team about my name.”

  “Espionage isn’t about lying, my friend; it’s about gaining trust. If your mark trusts you, they’ll be the ones to convince themselves that you’re on their side. Since Kenwar is already convinced that he’s pulling one over on us, he’s confident. You can use that confidence to take advantage of him. All you gotta do is make him feel like he’s suckering you, and he won’t even notice as you gain access to all sorts of information!” Neil said with a grin. “It’s the perfect plan!”

  “It’s a terrible plan,” Van said. “It’s terrible and I won’t be a part of it.” He paused and looked at the stone-cold expression on Neil’s face.

  “Do I really need to resort to violence and threats to motivate you again?” Neil asked. “I thought we were past that.”

  “Hey, if you smack me, you’re going to be on probation! All I gotta do is tell Sang and she’ll complain about you!” Van said. He had taken precautions to make sure that his two CIA buddies, Neil and O’Hara, wouldn’t be able to physically accost him anymore. One such precaution was that Sang was to be fully informed of all of the threats levied against him. She would take his side in case of an emergency.

  “Argh, fine, whatever,” Neil said as he stood up. “You’ve got a choice here, Van. Either you can step up and be a team player, or you can cost us this mission. It’s up to you. With the brass breathing down our necks, we don’t have a lot of options. My strategy might not be the best idea, but it’s something. Sang won’t be able to pretend like she’s a double-agent due to the fact that she’s not a gamer. You’re the perfect guy for this job because you have a vested interest in gaming. Kenwar will think that your love of the game has driven you to join Draco. We’ve got one good shot at this. Whatever information you can steal from him during your conversations will get right to our superiors. We can prevent a full-blown internal investigation and, best of all, we can keep the operation running.”

  Van slowly nodded at that. Neil was making some level of sense. “It’s just really risky…” Van said. “What if Kenwar’s plan hinges on getting us back into the game with him? What if there’s some way he can hurt us?”

  “Then he’ll be committing suicide. If you guys die, he dies,” Neil said. He leaned in close to Van’s face. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  Van sighed. “Alright, if this is really the only way we can keep the mission going, fine. I’ll pretend to let him flip me, or whatever.”

  “Great!” Neil said. “Well, get some rest. You’re going back in first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Don’t I need any kind of training?” Van asked.

  Neil shrugged. “There’s nothing that you can learn about espionage between right now and seven in the morning that will help. Try to let him talk as much as he likes and always act like you’re conflicted. Should work like a charm.”

  “Is everything we do around here so ramshackle?” Van shouted as Neil walked out. He sighed heavily and looked at his bed. This mission was getting more complicated by the minute.

  “I’m starting to wish none of this had ever happened to me,” he mumbled as he fell onto his mattress. Things had been so much easier back when he was just a simple gamer, trying his hardest to become a professional player. Now he was stuck working with a Draco spy who might have the ability to kill him and Sang at any moment. As Van drifted off to sleep, he felt deep regret overtaking him. Maybe things would have been better if he had just chosen to walk away from this job once and for all.

  Van’s sleep was fitful that night. His dreams were increasingly focused on the conversations that he had been having with Sang and Neil. In his dream, he was carrying a massive bag full of bricks. He knew that no matter what he did, if he dropped the bag, he would be in a lot of trouble. Yet, he also knew that, if he kept carrying the bag, he’d eventually fall over dead from exhaustion. The dream was troubling enough that he woke up with his fists clenched around his sheets. The piercing scream of his alarm continued until he managed to tap the snooze button. The alarm repeatedly blinked 7:00, eliciting a groan he couldn’t hold back.

  “Hey, you awake?” Sang asked as she poked her head in the door.

  “You ever hear of knocking?” Van mumbled as he tried to roll over. It was way too early for him to even consider getting out of bed.

  “Sorry, champ, but we gotta get up,” Sang replied. “Lots to talk about with the team.”

  “I’ve heard we’re getting a new friend,” Van said as he slowly got out of bed.

  “Yeah, I’m not so happy about it, but O’Hara says it’s for the best,” Sang said as she dropped a tray of eggs and vegetables on the nightstand. “This should help you out a bit.”

  “So, what are your thoughts?” Van asked as he slowly began to eat. He was hoping there’d be some Cwake with his breakfast, but to his dismay, there was no drug to be found. Ever since they’d begun working with multiple branches of the government, Neil had stopped supplying Van with
the life-giving pill. He supposed it was for the best, since he would easily have traded away his future health just to feel awake right now. Perhaps that was what addiction was like.

  “Well, he’s obviously up to something, but then again, it’s impossible to tell just what he’s going to be doing,” Sang said. “So, we’re going to have to work with what we’ve got. Just keep an eye on him.

  Van paused to consider whether Sang knew that he was supposed to be doing some kind of double-agent shenanigans. Perhaps Neil would have left her out in order to sell it more. He didn’t want to say anything, just in case he was supposed to keep the arrangement secret, so he merely nodded instead.

  “Anyway,” Sang continued, “we’ve bought ourselves some time with the higher-ups with his presence. They’re willing to give us about a week’s extension before we have to give a formal report.”

  “Formal report? Is that bad?” Van asked.

  Sang shrugged. “Well, if we have a good deal of information to show the government that Draco is up to some seriously shady things, we’ll be in the clear. However, if we don’t have anything to show except for accusations and the testimony of the two of us, well… this senator isn’t going to be too happy with us.”

  “Ugh, this job is just getting better and better, isn’t it?”

  “You learn to deal with it,” Sang said. “I’ve rarely ever had a job in the CIA not immediately get derailed due to politics, either internal or external. It’s just something that you constantly have to worry about when you’re in the government.” She shifted around a bit more. “So, what’s our next step for our merry band of adventurers?”

  “Well, since we’re a brand new mercenary company, we have the ability to participate in any kind of war, regardless of the side. All we have to do is declare paid allegiance to a kingdom and we can fight for them, and receive money and fame. Since it’s the war season, it’s a good idea for us to head toward the Kyriss and Melvania kingdoms. They’re twin nations that were founded by a guild that ended up splitting up. Those kingdoms will fight at the slightest provocation, and they tend to always be at war during this time of year. Whoever we join, there’s going to be plenty of fights and experience points for us.”