Corpse Run: A LitRPG Adventure (The Crucible Shard Book 3)

by Skyler Grant

  “Lea, you are a beautiful woman covered in glowing runes who can see the future. You might not jump naked out of airships and slaughter armies, but you are something special. You are far more than Cobalt’s love interest. So am I. We’re our own stories and they’re going to be great ones”

  “Well, I hope you know that after that, you aren’t getting a bit of sleep tonight.”

  I hadn’t the night before either. It was absurd how tired I was getting. Perhaps I should have sunk my point this last level into Endurance.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The next day saw us arrive at the Desert of Alkari. Barren scrubland ended in a magnificent city where towering minuets of brass caught the light in a brilliant display. Beyond the city were sand dunes, seemingly going on forever.

  Everyone had gathered on deck to watch our approach.

  “I bet they have a kickass marketplace,” Ashley said.

  I looked towards Lea, who seemed far less exhausted than I was this morning, “Do you know anything about the city?”

  “The City of Brass. The City of ten thousand sins. The land of spinning coins and forbidden fruits.”

  “I need to hire whoever does their publicity. Right now our tourism slogan is something like ‘Galea, where the girls are pale and only sometimes covered in spiders.’”

  “Galea, where one good night can last forever,” Ashley suggested.

  “Galea, where tan lines aren’t an issue,” Walt said.

  “Who is in charge?” I asked.

  “Damned if I know. We came here once or twice to gamble and get drunk, but we weren’t exactly hanging out at the palace,” Lea said.

  “Thinking of checking in at the palace first?” Ashley asked.

  “I was, but I don’t want to get stuck playing diplomat unless we have to. Let’s hit the city first and see what we can find out, then only visit the palace if we need to.”

  “We’re close enough I can teleport us down,” Walt said.

  Lea moved in and gave me a powerful hug, “Good luck. It will be awhile until we see you again. We need to find Cobalt, and then she wants to find Maria.”

  “We’ll see each other again. Walt, find us somewhere out of the way.”

  Lea released me and Walt reached out. The world shimmered.

  Group Teleport

  The three of us materialized in a laneway. From above there had looked to be many beautiful parts of the city, this wasn’t one of them. The alley was littered with debris so bleached it might have been sitting in the punishing sunlight for decades.

  “Scenic,” I said.

  “You wanted somewhere out of the way, we are somewhere out of the way,” Walt said.

  “You should have had Lea scry us a proper landing point,” Ashley said.

  “Good advice a minute too late. Let’s start walking and see if we can find some people.”

  There is something liberating about finding yourself lost with no destination in mind. The thrill of a map unexplored. Whatever direction you go is bound to be leading towards adventure.

  Ten minutes later it seemed we had hardly gone anywhere at all. One alley turned into another and they all had the same washed-out look.

  “Are we just going around in circles?” I asked.

  “No,” Walt said.

  “You sure?”

  “Some of us can keep a map in our heads. We’re not. The city is just that uninteresting.”

  We turned a corner into another alley. This one actually had people in it. Five cloaked figures with blades drawn formed a half-circle around a powerful-looking man backed up against a wall.

  “Sweet. People. Can we kill them and take their knives?” Ashley asked.

  Several pairs of eyes turned in our direction. At least it wasn’t me making enemies for once. I quickly checked the stats of those present to see what we were dealing with.

  Cutpurse

  Level 13: Type: Human HP: 140/140

  Cutpurses are the backbone of the Thieves Guild. Quick and agile they are more suited to lifting coin pouches than a prolonged fight.

  Clubber

  Level 13: Type: Human HP: 140/140

  Clubbers are the strong arm of the Thieves Guild. When you need something or someone broken you call a clubber.

  Earthquake

  Level 14: Type: Human HP: 200/200

  Earthquake is an adventurer. Lacking any earth-related powers, the name comes because he is a potent physical force.

  There were two Cutpurses and three Clubbers, while Earthquake was the man against the wall.

  “They’re thieves. Do you really want to go murdering your fellow thieves?” I asked.

  “I’m an assassin. We’re basically the same class. You all know that to get gear for yourself, you must kill things of your own class. Right guys? They get it,” Ashley said.

  Two of the thieves remained facing Earthquake, while the rest turned to face us.

  “I think they do,” I said.

  One of the clubbers said, “We were just having a private conversation with our friend here. Now, while at night we might be favorably inclined to skinning you and stealing everything you own, in the daylight hours we do try to be friendly to tourists.”

  Well, that was wordy, and creepy.

  “I like them,” Ashley said. “Maybe we should help them kill the other guy instead.”

  Fistquake

  “Fistquake!” Earthquake screamed, completely unnecessarily as his fist connected with the jaw of one of the cutpurses, sending him soaring across the alley and crunching into the opposite wall.

  Knife Toss

  The other cutpurse tossed one of his knives burying it deep into Earthquake’s shoulder.

  Earthquake didn’t even acknowledge the injury as he said, “Booyah! Shake shake baby! Mess with the Earthquake, I’ll rock your fucking world.” He landed another punch on one of the bruisers.

  Sapping Blow

  With a well-practiced motion, one of the clubbers stepped up behind Earthquake and delivered a blow to the back of his head that sent the adventurer to the ground.

  “We stepping in?” Ashley asked.

  “He seems totally crazy. I kind of like that.” Then I called, “Back off him or this will get violent.”

  “You don’t count that well,” said one of the cutthroats as he rubbed his jaw.

  Bag of Tangling

  One of the cutthroats threw an item to the ground and suddenly vines were springing up from the soil, thorns digging themselves into my calves.

  I glanced down—and when I looked up again the cutthroats were gone. I couldn’t move my feet, but nothing had immobilized my upper body, so I readied my shield and Intemperance. I’d had enough experience with sneaky bastards when I was fighting pirates to know what was coming. Even now they’d be slipping up behind us. There was nothing I could do about that, but knowing the hits were coming didn’t mean we couldn’t hit first. Only two were stealthed.

  “Hit the brutes,” I said, even as I let loose a spell.

  Smite

  Aimed Bolt

  Dimension Tremor

  I let loose a spell engulfing one of the attackers in flames even as a bolt from Ashley’s hand-crossbow and a shimmering wave of force from Walt hit the others.

  The fire quickly spread from mine to catch the robes of the other brutes, setting them on fire. I knew my fire could spread now, but hadn’t seen it happen yet.

  Each looked down about a quarter of their health bars. Not bad as first strikes went.

  Double Backstab

  I felt daggers plunge into my back. Even knowing that they would be coming didn’t make the blow any less painful. It did mean that I was ready. As soon as those knives sank into my flesh I swiveled my body to deliver a forceful blow of my sword and I felt it slice satisfyingly deep into the flesh of one of the Cutthroats.

  Smite

  I channeled the spell through Intemperance, causing the flames around the sword to flare with extra intensity, forcing that explosio
n of fire into the guts of the thief.

  The Cutthroat screamed, flames flickering out of his mouth as his body convulsed, and he dropped dead to the ground.

  Play with fire and get burned. I had a catch-phrase too.

  Teleport

  Walt materialized at my feet, nearly dead. I guess he’d been the recipient of the second backstab.

  Lay on Hands

  I healed him and looked around at the situation. Me and Ashley still seemed to be immobilized, although Walt’s teleport looked to have freed him. That made sense since it severed the vines from the ground.

  “You good?” I asked.

  “Am now,” Walt said.

  “Teleport with Ashley. We need her mobile.”

  Walt rose to his feet and stumbled away. The Clubbers looked to have put out their fires and were moving towards me, while the remaining Cutthroat had stealthed again. Earthquake was getting back to his feet.

  I unleashed another Smite at the central Clubber. He cried out as flames wreathed him again, but this time it didn’t spread to the others.

  Group Teleport

  Walt and Ashley vanished. Good. Ashley was our most potent offensive force so long as she was mobile.

  “Hell yeah! Shake and bake baby. Shake and fucking bake,” Earthquake said in a bellow, as he charged forward with his arms to his sides, plowing into the brutes from behind, sending them tumbling to the ground.

  Bringing Down the House

  Backstab

  The missing Cutthroat appeared behind Earthquake and buried his dagger deep.

  Backstab

  Ashley appeared behind the newly appeared Cutthroat. While his backstab had hurt Earthquake, hers took the Cutthroat in the neck and I saw a severed head wearing an expression of astonishment go tumbling past.

  Distortion Field

  Space rippled around the Clubbers on the ground, twisting and churning in ways completely unnatural. If they weren’t knocked to the ground it would have been easy to get out of the field, but instead they lingered within it and I heard bones snapping.

  Smite

  Smite

  I sent several more spells against the prone forms and again they ignited.

  One perished, and then another, finally leaving just one much the worse for wear and trying to get to his feet.

  Aimed Shot

  Ashley’s crossbow bolt took him in the eye and he went sprawling backwards.

  Yeah, I could count. Five and zilch, that was my count.

  “Did you see that? They went crash and bang, and then they went woosh—and dudes! That was so badass!” Earthquake said. Wow, this guy was excited.

  Ashley started to loot the corpses. I guess it was up to me to make conversation.

  “Yeah. We’re cool. I’m Liam, my friends are Walt and Ashley.”

  “Earthquake, ’cos I totally rock the world,” Earthquake said, gyrating his hips wildly.

  “He’s as bad at names as you are,” Walt said.

  “Liam is a pretty lame name,” Earthquake said. “I mean, with all the wooshing you should be like… Captain Fire.”

  “He was Admiral Flame for a while,” Ashley said, tucking a set of daggers into her pack.

  “Really? Woah! An Admiral is even better than a Captain,” Earthquake said.

  It really was. This guy understood.

  “So why were those guys after you?” I asked.

  “I rumbled with one of them robbing some dude a few days ago,” Earth said. “They don’t like that.”

  They’d like losing five even less, I imagined. Hopefully we wouldn’t stick around long enough for it to be an issue.

  “You know how to get out of these damned alleys? We’ve been wandering around lost.”

  “Totally. I owe you guys. There is a trick to it. You can’t just walk out. Whenever they look like this, it’s two left, two right, and one left to get back out.”

  “That isn’t linear mapping at all,” Walt said.

  I said, “It explains why we weren’t having any luck. I don’t suppose you’re an expert in ancient legends? We’re looking for something long-sealed away in the desert.”.

  Earthquake scrunched up his face. “You need Aria. She’s a tale spinner. She’s always telling old stories, so if anybody is going to have an idea it will be her. We need to hurry though. The streets aren’t safe after dark.”

  Quest Granted

  Tell Me A Story

  Aria can help you. Aria can destroy you. Go ahead, find her and crawl into bed with her. You’ll enjoy every moment until reality hits the next morning.

  I looked over the corpses. “They don’t seem all that safe during the day.”

  “Hopefully you don’t find out.”

  We set off with Earthquake leading the way.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Once we knew the trick of how to get out of the alleys it was quite simple. We soon found ourselves back on a main thoroughfare. The streets were busy with people dressed in brightly colored silks.

  Walt was scowling and said, “Nonlinear maps are stupid and pointless. We haven’t seen anything else set up that way.”

  Earthquake gestured around with a dramatic wave of an arm. “City is alive. Stay here long enough, you’ll figure that out. It likes to trap people, likes to hurt people. Never get lost and never be out after dark.”

  Well, that was a reassuring thought. Overhead the sun was already starting to near the horizon.

  “Not much of a trap, if everybody knows the directions to get out of it,” Ashley said.

  “We didn’t. If I were going to design something like this I’d also make it so those directions to get out can be changed,” Walt said.

  That seemed like a smart idea. Why fight an army, when you could simply trap them and let them starve to death? It might not work with the undead, but I could see it used against other foes.

  “Is there any way we could adapt something similar for the castle?” I asked.

  “Advanced magical trap design?” Walt shook his head. “Maybe. There has got to be some kind of crafting system for that.”

  “I haven’t messed with crafting at all,” I said.

  “Why craft, when you can kill?” Ashley said.

  Earthquake came to a halt and said, “She has the best ideas. You need me, you can find me at The Venomous Stag. For now I’m going to go shake some people until they bleed.”

  “I don’t think that is really a thing,” Walt said.

  “Just got to shake them hard enough,” Earthquake said. “Just head down the street. You want to find the Inn of a Thousand Cuts, sign of a bleeding man.”

  “Who names their inn that? Shouldn’t they be things like the Drunken Donkey or the Fancy Fish, or something?” I asked.

  Ashley scrunched up her face. “I want to call you the worst at naming things again, but I think you actually came out ahead there. Somehow.”

  Earthquake waved and lumbered off on his quest to inflict massive physical trauma. We met the best people.

  We resumed our walk down the street. As the sun got lower the crowds started to thin out. A number of windows were closed with sturdy shutters.

  The Disemboweled Merchant, The Flayed Purveyor of Meats, The Savaged Soldier—we quickly found it alarming how many businesses had signs depicting bleeding men.

  “This town has a theme,” Walt said.

  “Why couldn’t the theme be mostly naked women?” I asked.

  “You could have gone there with names. Something like the Seven Veils, that would be classy. Why did you go with the drunken donkey?”

  Really, I’d started with the visual. I could totally picture a sign with a tipsy donkey. Why was that so weird?

  We still hadn’t reached our destination and dusk was now fully upon us. The streets by this point were nearly empty, the other travelers in a considerable rush.

  As we passed the mouths of alleys I started to feel eyes staring at us, that tingling in the gut that comes when you know you’re being watched.
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  “Walt, can you conjure us a light?”

  Walt gestured and a swarm of fireflies came into being, surrounding us in a faint glow.

  Light dampened that sense of danger, but not as much as I’d have expected. As the shadows lengthened, the very architecture of the city seemed to be changing, taking on a far more sinister cast.

  “Am I the only one seeing this?” Ashley asked.

  “Some kind of were-city? Is there such a thing as were-cities?” I asked.

  “If it were a were-city, that would be something else turning into a city and not a city turning into something else,” Walt said.

  “Were-deathtrap?” Ashley asked.

  “I don’t think that is actually a thing. Is that a thing?”

  I started to think that it was. From the darkest of alleys there came the sounds of growls and the rending of flesh, and breaking bones.

  It should have been terrifying. It wasn’t. Instead I started to feel much like I did when I held Intemperance in my hands, an intoxicating loss of control.

  I wondered if this was purely in my mind, because the others seemed to be experiencing changes on a more physical level. Ashley was growing claws and her movements were shifting into a confident and deadly swagger. I wanted her so very much. Walt meanwhile had eyes which had started to glint green.