She was right. If this was something she wanted to do, I feared my presence would be more of a hindrance than a help. But I’d come to rely on her. I’d been taking her presence for granted, and now she was leaving. But still, going at it alone? That was suicidal.
“You need to do this? Even if you end up dead?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “You need to understand something. My whole life I have been in that back seat. I have you to thank for helping me realize what I can do. But you being gone for those days was also really important. It showed me I can do this without your help. I don’t want to leave the party. Like I said, it’ll mess up the personal space. But maybe this new guild system will be a good compromise.”
“What if you get lonely?” Donut asked. She was about to start crying. “And what if Mongo wants his Aunt Katia to scratch between his feathers?”
“Until we figure out how it’ll work, I won’t leave the party. We’ll see each other every night in the personal space,” she said. “And I won’t be alone. Louis and Firas, Gwen and her team, Daniel and a few of his friends, and Florin have all agreed to help me. We’re going to be a pretty big party.”
“You and Gwen are always fighting!” Donut said.
“Bautista?” I asked. “Since when have you been talking to Bautista?”
“I’ve been talking to him since that day we rescued him on the Iron Tangle. He’s… very lost, and he needs this, too. Same with Florin.”
I wanted to argue. I wanted to say, please don’t leave me. But it was clear she’d already made up her mind.
“At least you’ll have the Twister with you,” I said. “And this.” I pulled the sword from my inventory. The Left Fang of the Green Sultan. The magical properties of the deadly saber only worked when it was matched with its brother. It was half of Eva’s main weapon, and she’d dropped it. “Make sure you return it to its rightful owner.”
Katia picked the saber up and regarded it. It glinted with green, venomous light. She nodded, and the sword disappeared into her inventory. “I’ll make sure of it.”
We watched the timer click down. Two seconds after it hit six hours until level collapse, phase three would be implemented.
Imani, Elle, Louis and Firas, along with a whole mess of changelings were going to open up a portal to the sixth floor. This was on Imani and Elle’s bubble.
This was going to be the first feral god we summoned outside of a bubble. Even as far away as it was, it was ridiculously dangerous.
Louis and Firas had braved the lacuna and managed to actually find the proper world. The only other crawler they’d brought with them was Britney, the sole-surviving member of the water quadrant other than Chris. The Ukrainian woman had latched onto Firas for some inexplicable reason. They’d ferried a house full of changelings to the distant bubble. There were so many of the changelings, including adults who’d survived the Orthrus attack, that they didn’t all fit onto the house. They’d transformed into geese and coasted alongside the flying machine, like a caravan.
Once the portal opened, the changelings would return to the sixth floor.
The journey of the Twister from our bubble to Imani and Elle’s world was thankfully uneventful. The turkey was now dead, having been successfully killed by Prepotente, who’d gained eight levels in the process, bringing him up to 55 and making him the highest in the dungeon. The last recap episode showed him gnawing on the universe’s largest feather and screaming over and over while Miriam Dom the vampire shepherd stroked his hair.
Mordecai insisted that the portal would not allow crawler passage from floor to floor, even if it was just one floor down, so we were sending the Twister through with the changelings, but without Louis and Firas. Immediately after, they were going to go through the regular stairwell where hopefully they’d be able to recover the flying house. Imani and Elle would return to the club, hand off the gate to us, and also go down the stairs before the portal in their bubble expired and summoned the feral god.
With the gate back in our possession, we’d then implement the final phase.
Li Jun: Carl, we’ll be going down in a minute. That other bubble with the tentacle monster is still intact. It’s not moving around so much anymore, so I think it’s going to stay put.
Carl: Okay, guys. Be careful.
Li Jun: You too. That woman is here, by the way. The one with the shopping cart. She just pulled up out of nowhere and entered the stairwell. She didn’t talk to us, and she went down before the six hour mark. I don’t know where she came from. She’s only level 12.
Carl: Yeah, that’s Agatha. We just ignore Agatha. Best of luck to you. If this guild system is what I think it’ll be, look us up.
Li Jun: We will.
A moment passed, and the six hour mark hit.
Imani: It worked. The changelings are through. On our way back to the club.
Louis: God, I hope they don’t wreck the Twister. That Skarn kid is a good pilot, but he’s a little shit. I caught him charging a gold coin to the other kids so they could fly it. Bonnie the gnome kid said she wanted to install some upgrades, so we need to find them as soon as possible before they ruin it.
Carl: You two be careful. Stay sober. The hunters will be gunning for you right away. Keep your eyes open.
Firas: Thank you, Carl and Donut. Katia, see you in a bit.
Imani and Elle rushed into the club. They both looked exhausted. We needed to hurry. Katia walked up to Elle and gave the floating woman a long hug. She pulled back. “You guys be careful, okay?”
“We always are,” Elle said. She gave me a little wink and patted Donut on the head. “I’m looking forward to being able to mix it up with you guys again. This floor was a real drag having to do it all myself.”
“Come on,” Imani said, all business. “We need to go.” She paused, then looked me in the eye. “Send me a message, one way or the other.”
I nodded.
Elle pulled the three gate pieces from her inventory and handed them to me. “Here you go.”
I took the three items and pulled them into my inventory. I turned to Katia. She had entered the Desperado on the ground level, and this was where we were going to separate. I pulled her into a tight hug. Donut was suddenly there on my shoulder, also rubbing up against Katia. Katia wrapped her arms around me, widening them like the flaps on a stingray, hugging us so completely, it felt as if I was being wrapped up like a burrito. This would be the last time we were together on this floor.
We stood like that for several moments.
Phase four had officially begun.
34
I don’t know why this journal came to me, but I don’t feel it will ever be enough. I have done my best, adding little things here and there to the meager, mostly-useless recipes. How many generations before this book truly has enough information to make a difference? Too many, I fear. As the first to receive these words, and now, as the author of the second edition, I feel inadequate. I have not done enough.
I have decided to accept the deal. I don’t know what will become of me, but I swear on the name of all my fallen brothers and sisters, one day I will make them pay. It seems those who live outside our world can exist for thousands of years. I don’t know how this is possible, but if I survive my 100 seasons of servitude, I will do everything I can to end this horror. I don’t know if I have the strength, but I will do my best to not be broken.
This will be my last entry into this book, but I am not yet done with the enemy. As long as I have breath, I will fight.
Time to level collapse: five hours, 30 minutes.
I took out the two watches and clinked them in the winding box. I placed the box right there into the sand dune atop the bowl, about ten meters away from the stairwell. I dug the box in so it wouldn’t shift and get messed with. If the box moved more than five feet in any direction once it was set and counting down, the gate would get canceled. It was completely dark out here. Th
e only light was the distant sliver of a dead bubble, glowing from within like they’d accidentally nuked themselves, and the world was now irradiated.
A light breeze that smelled like cooked turkey wafted across the world.
Langley and his archers were now the only other crawlers left up here with me and Donut. Langley stood beside me, watching as I pushed the box deeper into the sand. I stood and wiped my hands on my boxers.
“What’s your plan?” I asked.
Langley cracked his neck. He was now level 32. He’d gained eight levels since I’d first met him. “We’re going down there, and we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Katia asked if we wanted to work with her new team, but I am thinking we might join up with some others. We’ll see. There are many large groups forming. The Popov brothers are looking for archers. They wish to hunt down team Cichociemni, who have been preying on weak crawlers. We need to break up the player killer groups before they get too strong, so we might join up with them.”
I shook the man’s hand, and I wished him luck. The group turned and left.
“They all lived,” Donut said. “Not those weirdos in the other quadrants, but all the ones in our quadrant made it.”
I reached over and scratched her head.
It was just me, Donut, Mongo, and Juice Box. A few dromedarians remained, rebuilding their town a short distance away. I watched as a pair of camels on stilts worked to lift up a new wall.
“It’s not going to matter for them, is it?” Juice Box asked. She was currently in the form of a buzz-ard, and it was disconcerting talking to her like this. “This world isn’t real. All of that construction is for nothing. In a few hours, this will all cease to exist.”
I didn’t respond.
“I can’t lose them,” Juice Box added after a moment. “They’re all I have left. Remember our deal.”
“I will do my best,” I said. “I promise.”
The only quadrant in this whole bubble that still contained mobs was the water quadrant. Katia and Tran were down there. She’d announced they needed to train as much as they could, and they were going to go shark hunting.
Katia: By my calculations, the gate you just placed will open in five hours and four minutes.
I looked at the clock. The level would collapse in five hours and 27 minutes, giving us 23 minutes once the gate opened. Gates stayed open on their own for twenty minutes unless all three pieces of the gate went through them.
Carl: That’s cutting it pretty close.
Katia: Hey, it’s your plan, big guy.
Carl: True enough. Aren’t you going to miss this stuff?
Katia: Ask me in five and a half hours.
When we’d looted the letter and papers from Ghazi the mage, it’d contained more than just a group of coordinates. At the back was a list of scenarios that showed what would happen if different parts of the gate were brought through an open portal. The very last scenario showed a method of keeping the gate from unleashing a monster into the world. That required us to leave one watch on one side, another on the opening side, and the winding box inside the gate. It’d basically ruin the artifact, but it would make the portal safe.
But it was the second-to-last scenario that had intrigued me. If the first watch was left in the box, and it was taken through the portal, but the second watch remained on the opening side, it’d result in a feral god appearing on both sides of the portal.
The plan, as I loudly and happily explained, was straightforward. We’d open a portal to the ninth floor, I’d keep the second watch, and we’d send Juice Box through with the rest. That would result in a feral god appearing on the ninth floor and hopefully trashing the area where it was summoned.
I remembered when Prince Stalwart had made his stupid little video after he’d killed Manasa the singer. He’d been in a castle overlooking a field of soldiers. This was right after the ninth floor had opened. Since there was only one pre-built castle on the faction wars playing field, we now knew in which of the nine locations where their army was located. Thanks to the book of coordinates, I knew exactly where to summon the gate.
Seven of the nine factions had sued to stop this from happening. They knew the armies weren’t yet strong enough to hold back an attack from a feral god, especially if a second god was summoned to their location. The ensuing chaos would be enough to flatten their fortifications and kill their armies.
“You’re just going to kill people like me,” Juice Box had said when I explained the plan to her. By this point, Louis had opened her eyes to the reality of her existence. She was now fully aware of who she was and of her place in this world. She was even more aware than Fire Brandy had been on the previous level. “If these people, these game masters are truly immortal in this place, then what’s the point? How is this a blow to them?”
I’d shrugged at the time. “If you were going to die no matter what, which would you prefer? Die as a puppet, or die while striking back against those who are doing this to you?”
“I suppose,” she’d said, but she didn’t seem convinced. Eventually, after Donut spent some time working on her, she agreed to the plan in exchange for a promise. A promise that I would attempt to bring her people with us down every floor from now on. I’d told her I’d do my best, but it would be difficult.
“I have seen you do the impossible,” she’d said. “I have faith. Just promise me you’ll try, and I will carry your box through the portal.”
In the distance, a mighty, monkey-like screech filled the lacuna, echoing strangely. This was far, far off. It was likely the feral god getting summoned over on Imani and Elle’s now-empty world.
“Carl, I’ve decided I don’t like giant monsters,” Donut announced. “I’ll be much happier when we’re done here.”
A second roar filled the darkness. This was a different sound. A different creature. A deeper roar. The sky rumbled and flashed a few times, like a distant thunder storm.
The sky went from sheer darkness to a series of pyrotechnic flashes and bursts. Several seconds later, the sound of the clash reached us. The world rumbled under our feet.
“Whatever we summoned on Imani’s world also summoned a god,” I said, watching the distant lights. Since the feral god wasn’t protected by a bubble, whatever this was should be over soon.
Zev: Hello, crawlers.
Donut: HI ZEV!
Zev: Just so you know, there was yet another last-minute legal challenge to what you’re about to attempt. It, again, failed. They almost won the injunction, but the Valtay Corporation sent in an attorney to assist Borant’s position. They had some interesting legal arguments regarding you, Carl. Apparently, since you now own stock in a company based in the Skull Empire, the lawsuit needed to be filed in a different court. Taxpayers who are not in arrears are afforded different protections. It was enough to dismiss that last-minute effort.
Carl: Borant and the Valtay working together? Wow.
Zev: It’s no surprise since the sole plaintiff for this one was the Skull Empire, and even though we are currently at odds with the Valtay, neither entity is a big fan of the orcs.
I bit my lip, not allowing my sudden anger to bubble over into the chat. A lawsuit. A lawsuit because I was threatening their goddamn toy soldiers and imaginary fortifications. A goddamn lawsuit.
The ground rumbled again. Was that a third monster? It sounded like an angry bellow. Actual words being shouted. Thankfully it was still far off.
Zev: Anyway, I’ve been asked to pass on a message from my boss.
Carl: Okay. Let’s hear it.
Zev: This is directly from the politburo, who have recently replaced the board of directors as principal controllers of the Borant Corporation. This is a direct quote. “Crawler Carl and Donut. While we approve of what you are planning, we wish to make something clear. Game-breaking antics that directly affect sponsors will not be tolerated in the future.” That was the whole message. It came from the top.
I tried to suppress a grin. I copied t
he message and pasted it into my scratchpad just in case they decided to nuke the message string later. A deep sense of satisfaction replaced my anger. The goddamn mudskippers approved of what we were planning because it meant the other sponsors were going to lose a metric fuck ton of money, which would in turn force them to spend a ton more to make up for their losses. And since nobody could actually die on the ninth floor, it was all in good fun for everybody involved. Something everybody would laugh about after it was all over and done with. After all, it was just money, right?
Carl: Tell them I said fuck you very much, and if they don’t want the game “broken” maybe they shouldn’t give us the tools to break it.
Zev: Crawler, you know such language is not acceptable. Best of luck to you.
Donut: BYE, ZEV!
Almost as soon as the message from Zev ended, we received another message.
Gideon: Hey, uh, Carl and Donut?
Donut: OMG HI GIDEON!
Gideon was a crawler who was pretty active in the chats. I’d only met him once. He was some sort of human tank class. I couldn’t remember his details. We hadn’t needed to save him because his team had popped their bubble early. He’d been there during the last fight on the previous floor, and I knew the man could handle himself. I couldn’t remember where he was from. Donut liked him because he’d once said he was allergic to dogs.
Carl: Gideon, you shouldn’t be out here. Go down the stairs.
Gideon: I’m about to go down, but I wanted to warn you. Two god things just rolled past my world while beating the shit out of each other. One was a giant, hairless gorilla thing, and the other, I think the real god, was a snake with the head of a bald guy. Kinda looked like Woody Harrelson. You know, the guy from Cheers?
Donut: HE WAS IN THE ZOMBIE MOVIE I LIKED. THE ONE ABOUT TWINKIES.
Gideon: Yeah, so the Woody Harrelson god killed the monkey god, and they both disappeared. But just before he killed him, he threw the gorilla against one of the bubbles with a monster inside. I could see the bubble pop from here, and the monster got out. I think it might be headed in your direction. It’s carrying a very large whip.
The Gate of the Feral Gods Page 51
