by Arthur Stone
He glanced upward, and a plan surged into his mind, though he had no time to vet it. He rushed from the obelisk to the wall along which the quasi was bouncing back and forth, cursing as he went.
That wall, like most of the ruins, was not in prime shape. Using a collapsed side of it, he pulled himself up. He ascended up high, trying not to look down.
Then, he was atop the crest of it, high enough to look down at the beast.
He was not in time. Barely not in time. The next hit, as casual as it was, sent the Janitor flying for real. His size and strength would not save him. He would not be getting up.
His time was up. With the Janitor handled, the beast would turn to deal with its final enemy.
Without counting Maple. In the fight that was about to begin, Cheater would die so quickly that he would barely have time to count to one.
So he jumped. From six stories up, he jumped. Right onto the back of the beast.
This was not an enraged suicide attack: He knew what he was doing. In the air, he activated Tranquility, choosing the monster’s right shoulder as the target. If the creature was right-handed, it would lose time before it realized the nature of the paralysis.
Not that its being left-handed would be so bad, either. Either way, the beast would be unable to budge.
The jump was desperate. If he were a few milliseconds off, he might fail. The monster’s back, neck, and head were studded so densely with spikes that Cheater compared the elite to an oversized, murderous hedgehog.
Despite his calculations at a last-second dodge, one spike punched into his side, and another tore open his pant leg. But he stayed on.
Then, he was rushing forward and up. Clinging to the thorns with one or both hands, he heaved himself onward, coming dangerously close to the razor-sharp elements of the beast’s armor. His Strength and Agility were pushing their limits. He was proving that the experience he had spent on them had not been a waste.
The carcass of the creature trembled maliciously as gigantic muscles tensed and parts of its armor creaked. It was trying to twist around and throw off the insolent human on its back. But the sphere of immobility held better than any natural grip. Since the monster was likely experiencing the phenomenon for the first time, it passed through a moment of confusion—allowing Cheater to reach its neck.
Establishing himself on a mound of muscle, Cheater held a spike with one hand and reached for Choppa with the other.
At that point the beast realized it was about to go the way of the dodo and twitched violently, finally trying to use its paw. Thankfully, the invisible pest was no longer hiding among the long, twisted spikes on the back.
But it was too late, and it attempted to move the wrong arm.
As usual, Cheater was in luck: the beast was right-handed.
His blade flashed as it plunged into the side of the sac below, hiding beneath a bone shield shaped like a giant, inverted cartoon toilet. With a hole so small at this stage that no one bigger than a chipmunk would be able to use it.
A crunching noise followed as the sword pierced deep. It cut into the mighty armor and through the pliable insides.
Then, he twisted. The move required his whole body. He sacrificed his balance and risked falling. All to twist the weapon during the last moment of the Crushing Blow, the sword’s special ability.
The sphere of Tranquility popped. The creature found its freedom, and finally did what it had been so frantically trying to do all along. It jerked, rotating nimbly and so fiercely that Cheater could not keep his perch. One hand lost its grip on the smooth spike, and the other released his sword.
His flight was short and swift, and he hit the wall—his bones breaking and his mind losing its grip on the world. Darkness took him.
Chapter 34
Life Nine. March’s March
Note: The battle is over. Due to your personal contribution in the final stage of this protracted battle, you receive credit for full presence in the first stage of the battle, without reducing the participation of the other members of the party. Average experience awarded during the first stage will be converted to distributable experience. For the first stage, you receive: +2649 distributable base stat experience, +3398 distributable bonus stat experience.
Note: Some players were too far for the duration of the battle, or for certain stages of the battle. See the archive for a full description of their participation and the penalties incurred.
Note: Party victory! A flock of extremely dangerous infecteds has been destroyed. In common battle, you defeated three monsters more than 150 levels stronger than you. A rare victory! +8000 distributable base stat points. +12500 distributable bonus stat points. +1464 Luck progress points.
+75 distributable meter points. +9 personal inventory cells, +117 grams personal inventory cell weight. +260 grams personal inventory special cell weight. You can place any number of unbound items in this cell, except prizes from slain monsters. +1945 grams personal cache weight limit. +330 grams personal cache special cache weight. +2243 Humanity points.
Note: You have destroyed an infamous flock which has terrified players for many years, easily wiping out the heroes who made attempts in the past. All players in your party will be congratulated in the global achievement feed, and all players will be notified in the special event chat.
The message continued for a long time.. This was only the beginning.
And that was the summarized message. Only those numbers the System considered most important were displayed.
Experience had shown that players generally agreed with the System’s judgment in this regard. These numbers conveyed all kinds of numerical improvements to the characters in the winning party.
How much had he just grown? He could not answer that question at the moment. There was one thing he wanted to find out above all others. Where he had respawned. Which region. Nothing and no one could be trusted. Despite all the measures he had taken, the System might have decided to send him far, far away once again.
Where was he?
Congratulations to you and your party members! You have succeeded despite many obstacles. You receive +1 to your life counter; +10000 base stat progress points; +14000 bonus stat progress points; +0.11 to any multiplier you select (or divided among multiple multipliers); +1500 Humanity; +2 primary personal inventory cells, +24 grams primary personal inventory cell weight; +105 grams personal inventory special cell weight, which can include any unbound items without limits (with the exception of loot items from monsters); +1000 grams personal cache weight; +150 grams personal cache special cell weight. You receive a special perk: Reflect Control (4% chance that a control ability targeted at you will reflect back to the enemy party or flock, 8% chance that the control ability will reflect back on the enemy who cast it; 12% chance that the control ability will have no effect; 16% chance that the control ability targeted at you will refill your meters by 10%). Note: Only one of these options will apply.
Note: This is your fourth global achievement! Bonus: +2 bonus levels to all stats, +0.03x to multipliers for all stats.
Note: Personal victory! Extremely dangerous infected destroyed. All other players in the party are considered to have not participated in this fight; however, the player Janitor receives an extraordinary bonus, and the players Clown and Beetle receive special bonuses.
+1349 Strength progress points, +4537 Agility progress points, +2545 Speed progress points, +746 Endurance progress points, +6583 Willpower progress points, +1966 Luck progress points, +3442 Humanity points.
Note: For the first time in the history of the Continent, a monster of this level was defeated by one player, using a melee weapon! A great individual achievement! A special event message will be sent for all players to see. Congratulations!
This is your second great achievement! Bonuses: +1 to life counter; +14000 universal progress points; a significant upgrade to one of your abilities’ bonus perks (your choice); a significant reduction to the cooldown times of two of your abilities (your
choice); +2000 Humanity, +1 to all hidden stat levels.
That was an incredible battle. You, a strong warrior, have defeated a powerful villain while demonstrating your qualities as a Class III Hero. New opportunities have been unlocked! Please select three rewards. You have fifteen total attempts to select rewards. Note: While rewards for Class III Heroes are not as limited as rewards for Class II Heroes, remember that a hero must always exhibit modesty.
Mother in heaven, where is the information I want?
Where am I? The rushing waterfall of bonuses did nothing to lift his mood. He did not process them. They bypassed his reason, filtered out by his crocodile brain, which only wanted to learn one thing.
But the mind always tries to put things in order, no matter how hard a beating it takes. Little by little, things began making sense. To an extent, at least.
Something was wrong. He had not respawned for a long time, but his memories of the process were intact. Never before had he felt such pain during respawn. Even at the very beginning, his cursed knee had not immediately complained. He had gotten up strong and healthy.
What was wrong this time?
That was it: He was still alive.
This was a victory message. A victory message! Choppa had dealt the killing blow.
So the creature had begun to writhe in agony, and when anything of that size writhed, it did so mightily. Even a world rodeo champion would not have managed to hold on.
He had let go, and flown off.
Now, he knew what to do next.
He opened his eyes.
Maple was just above him. The girl had her palms over his face and chest. Healing him.
Yes, he had survived. Questions about his own condition could wait. “Maple, how are the others?”
His own voice seemed strange, quiet, muffled, but she understood. “There are no others. You were thrown through a hole in the wall. Lucky. There are thick bushes behind that wall—you hit hard, but it didn’t kill you. I’m guessing you have a lot of Endurance, too. You’re tough to kill.”
“Everyone?” Cheater mumbled, searching for the words he wanted. “No... time?”
“You mean no time before their icons turned black? Well, I got to Janitor in time. Clown scribbled in chat that now he had seen everything. Then he died, off to respawn. I don’t know what he saw. What he was talking about.”
“I’ll tell you about Clown later. He’s a character. What about the Janitor? Why didn’t you heal him?”
“He was in very bad shape. Worse than I’ve seen with a quasi to be. I had no idea how he was still alive. He forbade me to help.”
“He asked you to heal me first?” Cheater clarified.
She shook her head. “No. He just refused treatment. Said that was the way it had to be. He said he refused treatment so that you’d know he could be trusted. So that you would stop being afraid that he was going to kill you. And to make things easier for you. He was still alive when I found you, but he has since passed.”
“That’s what he said?” Cheater blinked.
Maple shrugged. “He was in terrible shape, his thoughts jumping all over the place. But I do believe March forbade his survival. March was afraid he would be unable to resist the temptation. There are lots of white pearls here, and that’s exactly what Janitor needs. March trusts you more. You are supposed to collect all the loot and bring it to him. That’s probably the main reason Janitor refused. He’s a member of the party. He was following orders.”
“You should have healed him,” Cheater mumbled, lost in thought.
“I did as he said. I never force anyone. Do you forgive me? I didn’t know that I should have healed him anyway.”
“Oh, there’s nothing to forgive,” Cheater assuaged. “Forget about it. I’m not Gang. You don’t need to treat me like I have authority over you.”
“But you must kill me.”
“Kill you?” Cheater gaped.
“Yes. March trusts only you. But please, do it in a way where there’s no pain. I’m always scared to die. Every time.”
“What are you talking about?” Cheater was raising his voice and coughing—painfully.
“Shh! Don’t shout. Your ribs are broken.”
“Will they heal?”
“Of course. I’ll make sure of that.”
“And then you expect me to kill you for it.”
“Well... That’s what March said. Or what he hinted at, anyway. You’re the one who collects the pearls. No one else is to be around when you do.”
“I didn’t hear him say that. And March can go to—” he coughed again. “Don’t worry. No one’s going to kill you.”
“But—”
“No buts. While I was lying here, near death, you had a hundred opportunities to kill me. You could still do it, right now. So why am I still here?”
“I’m not a killer. I’m a healer.”
“Then heal me quickly, and I won’t fear you killing me, either. Which means you can stay.”
* * *
The healing was not quick. Maple’s ability could stabilize a person teetering on the edge of death, but beyond that, healing was not instant. Cheater had to lie still for several hours before the healer allowed him to get up, yet still she asked him not to strain himself too much.
He had plenty of time to think as he rested. During that time, he also studied March’s proposed route, and read his notes several times over. First, the boss had insisted he visit the site of Nut’s explosion. Many beasts lay dead there, including large ones. Apparently only biters and stronger were accepted into the Trinity’s flock. Manmincers and elites of all stripes were all there. All dead, and mostly blown apart. But the boss thought that a significant amount of loot could still be collected in those killing fields.
Cheater rejected this idea. Even though he had only seen them from a distance, he knew that the explosions had been massive. Shredded pieces of the dead would be mingled with soil and debris. Even with Flash of Omniscience, it would take him a long time to find the contents of their sacs. A day, at least.
And a day in the borderlands was a long, long time. In addition, the oil base was still on fire. He would hate to find himself in the path of another flock, heading for the plume.
It was too risky. Plus, the treasures he could hope to obtain would pale in comparison with the loot from the Quaternity.
He would collect it, and they would travel east at all speed.
Cheater’s first action upon getting up was the most enjoyable part of life on the Continent.
Collecting the loot.
This was the first time he had encountered trouble on this account, except of course the episode with the Unnamed One. These beast’s sporesacs were mightily protected. The hole in their shield was barely more than symbolic. His hand could not fit through.
Maple’s could. She pulled everything out, down to the last spore. Cheater hastily examined the spoils as she did so, collecting the white pearls and tossing everything else into a sack.
The whites were by far the most valuable items, and he would stash them in his inventory. The books and stories said that the chance of getting a white pearl from an ultradire was at least 50%. Some reports mentioned cases with two pearls, or even three. The maximum he could expect from the Quaternity, then, was 12. That was worth about 12 million spores.
A fortune. A little less than Cheater had made on modifications, but comparable.
He did hope, though, that the first three would yield more. They had died with Smile of Fortune active. When his Luck was astronomical.
That had run out before the death of the fourth. Yes, Helping Hand had extended Smile to almost three minutes’ duration—but their landing, searching, and dying had taken a bit longer than that.
That fourth elite yielded two white pearls.
The other three gave them fifteen more.
That meant, in total, they received five more than the maximum of twelve.
Cheater could level plenty of complaints at March. H
e had made mistakes, and he was arrogant. But one thing could not be ignored: he was a virtuoso at earning money.
As long as he had an honest partner.
* * *
The boat had to be abandoned. It was designed to traverse level landscapes, but they could not take it down the slope leading to the Second Steppe. The slope was little more than a landslide, and on foot they risked breaking their legs or drowning in deep mud. An inflatable hovercraft was about as good in that terrain as a child’s tricycle.
The descent through this dangerous stretch took about an hour. It could have gone more quickly, but Maple twisted her leg in the middle of the trip, and Cheater was dragging all kinds of heavy objects: his backpack with modifiers and assorted loot from the Quaternity, his sword, his rifle, and the Nold’s turret, which he had managed not to lose during the adventures he had experienced.
