Veil Online - Book 3: An Epic LitRPG Adventure

by John Cressman

  “They look pretty big,” Diana whispered. While Jace had no issues seeing them with his Cat-Vision, he was surprised that Diana could. But the moon was out and with the reflection on the white sand must enable her to make out their shapes.

  The creatures were about seven feet tall, with the build of football linebackers. They weren’t quite bipedal, since their lower body looked like that of a lobster, with multiple short legs. Their “arms” were almost human-like but they were oversized, like gorillas, and ended in huge pincers. Jace could just make out their reddish hue that made them resemble crabs.

  “And armored,” Mika said softly. “Those shells must make them very armored.”

  “What level are they?” Diana asked.

  Jace squinted at the small groups that were coming out of the water. They were too far away from him to examine in his HUD. “Stay here while I Stealth over to them and find out.”

  Slipping into the shadows, Jace entered Stealth. He circled around the girls and stepped out of the foliage onto the sandy beach. Slowly, he crept closer to the creatures, who seemed to be coming out of the ocean endlessly in small groups. Given the number he’d seen so far, he was surprised the town hadn’t made a bigger deal out of them.

  He moved to the edge of a dune that partially obscured him from the area where they were gathering. He pulled up his HUD to see if he was close enough to examine them.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior

  Race: Krustacian

  Class: Warrior

  Level: 25

  The creatures were something called krustacians and they were level 25. That was higher than a normal group should be able to handle, but they’d held their own against the ninjen of the same level. They should be able to do the same against these creatures.

  That was provided they could penetrate their armor. Kraken’s claw should be able to get through some of it. And luckily, Mika had just bought that new katana, so it’s higher damage range would at least give her a better chance. He looked at the hard exoskeleton and doubted Luna’s claws would do much.

  Ducking back down, Jace circled back around to the girls and informed them of the creature’s levels

  “And you’re sure we can take them?” Diana asked.

  “If not.” Mika smiled and pointed north. “We’re only a short distance away from the graveyard.”

  “That’s reassuring,” Diana pouted. “I’m really not into the whole pain thing. I’ve had enough of that in my life and the stuff I feel here is much more intense.”

  “That’s because we’re at 100% sensory input,” Jace reminded her. “Which is actually 110% of human normal. They upped the sensory feedback because so many people play on lower settings.”

  “Remind me to thank them,” Diana said dryly.

  “So, we attack them?” Mika asked brightly, her katana already in her hand.

  “Yes,” he told her. “Now that you’re level 10, you should both see your skills going up again until they hit rank 20. Once they do, you’ll get another skill ability. At least, if that skill offers one.”

  He pointed out the dune he’d been ducking behind. “Let’s see if we can get to that dune and then I can pull them there. We want something far enough away that we don’t get adds while we’re fighting.”

  Luna looked up from where she was lying down. “Fish?”

  “Crabs,” he told the big cat. “They taste like fish. But they have a hard shell.”

  “Fish?” the cat asked again, more excitedly this time.

  “Yeah, basically,” he told the cat. He wasn’t sure if she could help them, but every little bit helped. Plus, she’d eaten an entire ninjen. Maybe the krustacian would taste about the same. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Luna and the girls followed him back to the dune without any reaction from the crab people. Once there, Jace told them to wait while he pulled the monsters over to them. It didn’t take long.

  He was only a few feet from the dune, when one of the krustacians noticed him. It clattered something with its claws, almost akin to morse code and then the two crap people with it both turned towards Jace. Not knowing what else to do, he waved to them.

  The crab like creatures rushed towards him faster that he would have thought possible on their multiple legs. Two of them even skittered sideways like a crap. Jace cast his Air Armor spell as he quickly retreated and by time he got back behind the dune, they were on him.

  “Fight me!” he used his Taunt and the creatures attacked him obediently.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU but you Dodge.

  With his new gear, his Defense was now a whooping 24, more than most level 30 tanks. The huge claws of the claw-warriors couldn’t quite penetrate his defenses. And considering the size of those claws, he was glad.

  He Feinted and attacked the center crab man, trying to drive his saber through the creature’s armor or find a weak spot.

  You critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 19 damage plus 0 acid damage.

  You critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 39 damage plus 0 acid damage.

  His first strike scraped along the krustacian’s thick chest shell but managed to score some minor damage. The second strike caught the thing at its neck joint, causing much more damage. The creature didn’t react to either strike and Jace wondered if the thing felt pain or simply lacked any ability to vocalize it.

  He noticed that his saber was pulsating again and appeared to be doing double damage against the crab man. They must be considered ocean dwelling creatures. Unfortunately, the blade’s acid did no damage against these things. The shell must provide them resistances to acid.

  Mika had disappeared briefly and then reappeared as she sliced her katana across the things armored back.

  Mika Knightly critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 10 damage.

  She let out a groan of frustration as her slice mostly slid off the krustacian’s slick shell. Then Diana used her wand to shoot the crab man while Luna clawed and bit at it.

  Diana Knightly shoots Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 0 magic damage.

  Luna bites Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 3 damage.

  Luna claws Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 0 damage.

  Luna claws Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 0 damage.

  Like his acid damage, the magical damage from her new staff did nothing against the creature and Jace guessed it must have high resistances to elemental and magical damage due to its shell. Just great.

  “They’ve got resistances,” he yelled to them. “Spells and acid aren’t going to affect them. Diana, save your mana for healing, if I need it.”

  The crab men attacked again, snapping their giant claws at his arms and legs.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU but you Parry.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 3 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 4 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 2 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Even though their pincer claws only did a small amount of damage against him, it was the worst pinching sensation he’d ever felt and he jerked his arms away from the seeking pincers even as he cursed. Feinting again, he tried to aim at the more vulnerable joints this time.

  You critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 36 damage plus 0 acid damage.

  You critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 44 damage plus 0 acid damage.

  His attacks managed to penetrate the inner joints of its arms but still the acid damage didn’t seem to affect it. Then Mika and Luna hit the krusta
cian from behind.

  Mika Knightly critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 9 damage.

  Luna bites Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 0 damage.

  Luna claws Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 0 damage.

  Luna claws Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 0 damage.

  Mika’s katana couldn’t seem to cut deeply enough in the shell to do any real damage and this time neither Luna’s claws nor her teeth found a soft spot on the creature’s body.

  The krustacians didn’t waste any time and came in with their pincer claws, trying to snap at him.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior pinches YOU for 0 damage.

  Jace managed to avoid the claws and then struck back with his normal Feint/Stab combo, while Mika and Luna attacked its back again...

  You critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 28 damage plus 0 acid damage.

  You critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 34 damage plus 0 acid damage.

  Mika Knightly critically hit Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 23 damage.

  Luna bites Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 4 damage.

  Luna claws Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior for 1 damage.

  Cobalt Lagoon Claw-Warrior dies.

  You gain 250 experience.

  They moved onto the next claw-warrior and, after Jace suffered a few more pinches from the crab people’s claws, they finished the remaining two off. Once the things were dead, they searched the bodies only to be disappointed at finding nothing at all.

  “Really?” Diana said with an exasperated tone. “These things don’t drop anything at all?”

  Jace shrugged. “Some monsters don’t. Or some only drop rare loot. We might still find something interesting.”

  “Do we still want to farm…” Mika had begun to ask but a loud crunching sound caused them all to look at it’s source. Luna had managed to use her paws to hold one of the arms until she had bitten it open with her teeth. She was now happily ripping the stringy white meat out of the thing’s arms and chewing.

  She looked up with what Jace could only assume was a feline grin. “Fish!”

  Chapter 25

  The fight had pushed both of the girls to level 11 and Jace was almost to level 7 in Swashbuckler. They continued to pull groups of two to three of the krustacians until morning. Unfortunately, no boss appeared and none of them dropped any loot. It was disappointing, but it happened sometimes.

  Sometimes, in VEIL Online, you could camp monsters for days and get no loot and no boss spawn. They’d been lucky at lower levels, but at the higher levels, the game became more of a grind. There was less reward for the work. And still people played, slowly building up their “retirement” plan.

  When morning finally came, Jace had something even better than a little extra loot, he had reached level 12 in Swashbuckler and both girls were at level 14. Best of all, when he had hit level 10, he had unlocked a new Swashbuckler ability. The description had been very confusing and he hadn’t taken the time to look at it until they called it quits.

  Once daylight hit, they stopped their farming and decided to return to the town. The three of them began walking back to the town with Luna trailing behind. Mika was so happy about her new level, she was practically skipping.

  “So,” Diana said as they walked, “what’s this new ability you were frowning so hard about earlier?”

  Jace laughed mirthlessly and called up his HUD. He brought up the ability in his character sheet and read it off to the two of them.

  Lucky

  Swashbuckler Ability

  Special: You are lucky. This manifests in many ways at unusual times.

  Description: Your daring exploits and near misses with death have made you lucky.

  “You are lucky!” Mika said brightly.

  Jace shrugged. “Yes, but what does that mean. I looked through the logs after each fight and I didn’t see anything that indicates that the ability was used. I even tried activating it but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that directly. There’s no cost. No duration. No information at all really.”

  Mika looked thoughtful but Diana grinned wickedly.

  “Maybe it means you’ll get lucky,” Diana said seductively and flicked her eyes from Mika to Jace and then back.

  The two of them got her meaning and they both blushed, although Jace entertained the thought a little longer than he probably should have. He really liked Mika, maybe more so than Charlena at this point, but she hadn’t really shown him that she liked him the same way.

  And they’d been so busy with trying to get to the Help Desk and then fleeing the city and Damian, he really didn’t have time to think about a relationship or what that would mean. He was also not sure he could do anything intimate in the game.

  In-game sex was definitely a thing, both with players and non-players, but it required a consent from all parties when they were players, or just the player when it was with a NPC. Unfortunately, the part of the HUD that allowed you to give consent was the same part that controlled sensory input. Since he didn’t have one, he assumed he didn’t have the other.

  He glanced at Mika walking next to him. She’d never really hinted that she wanted to take their relationship to the next level. Well, she had kissed him. Several times. But there was a world of difference between kissing and more intimate encounters.

  “Thinking naughty thoughts,” Diana said from his other side.

  “What? Huh?” he stuttered, as he realized something must have been showing on his face. “I mean... No.”

  Diana gave him a knowing smile and he turned his head to look straight ahead, trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks.

  They made it back in town and stopped a tavern that had not appeared to ever have closed, judging by the passed out sailors in front and at some of the tables. They grabbed a table and each of them ordered breakfast.

  They didn’t serve waffles, so Mika ordered french toast. Diana ordered an omelet and Jace ordered a full halfling breakfast. Luna looked at him expectantly until he ordered a salmon fillet for her.

  “I can’t believe you can still eat,” Jace said, looking at his familiar. She’d eaten several of the huge crab men carcasses. Maybe not the whole thing, but enough that Jace would have been sick for days. And that was if he could have eaten that much at all.

  “Fish good,” was her only reply.

  Just as the barmaid walked away, there was a squawking from the door. Someone had just entered and a large black bird came flying in the open door. The bird circled the inside of the tavern and then landed on their table. The thing turned towards Jace and began speaking. “Jynx Knightly. Got your message. We will meet you there. At the place we told the others about in Whitecliff. Charlena.”

  “Repeat?” the bird squawked.

  “Yes,” he said, and the bird repeated the message.

  “Repeat?” the bird squawked.

  “No,” he told the bird and the thing jumped into the air and flew out the still open door.

  “You heard that too, right?” he asked. It’d been a long time since he was on the receiving end of a message raven. He couldn’t recall whether the magic of the message was for his ears only or if anyone in hearing distance could hear it.

  Mika and Diana nodded. Diana looked at him with a questioning look. “Did I hear that right? Did she say ‘we’ will meet you?”

  Mika looked at Diana and nodded and Jace followed suit. “That’s what I heard too. But I’m not sure who the ‘we’ is?”

  The barmaid returned with their food and the group immediately stopped talking. The NPC barmaid wouldn’t care what they were talking about, but Jace didn’t want anyone that Damian might be able to interrogate or bri
be later.

  Waiting until their food was in front of them and the barmaid was gone, they each took a bite of their food. Jace sighed with contentment as he bit into the delicious sausages. After days of pickled fish, the tavern food was pure bliss.

  “You don’t think Charlena’s bringing the servants do you?” Diana asked, washing down a bite of her omelet with some mead. “I mean, we only brought them because we thought the city was going to be destroyed.”

  An uncharacteristic worried look crossed Mika’s face. “Do you think she means Damian?”

  “What?” Jace was shocked to hear her say that. “You don’t really think she would work with Damian, do you?”

  “No,” Mika shook her head. “I mean, do you think she knows that Damian might be following her or know where she’s going?”

  “Oh,” Jace muttered. That was a possibility. She may have run into Damian or he might have actually approached her to get information. Jace slammed his fist on the table as he swore, causing a few people to look over and Mika and Diana to start. “I forgot to tell her Damian’s character name. He could have come right up to her and she would never even have known.”

  Both Mika and Diana’s expressions changed from surprise to alarm. Diana pursed her lips. “So, she could be leading Damian right to us.”

  “Yes,” Jace growled. “How could I have been so stupid? Of course, she wouldn’t have known what he looked like.”

  “Is there anything he can do to her?” Mika asked, her voice full of concern. There hadn’t been any love lost between the two girls and Jace suspected he was the reason. But Mika was a gentle soul and he knew she didn’t wish the other girl any harm.

  “I’m still not sure on how he can really harm any of us,” Diana said. “I mean, we’re in the game, right? What can he really do?”