Jokah giggled. "Blimey, you got brains to go with that big cock. Sounds good, but there's only one way to find out. Go on."
He reached out with a hand he forced to keep steady and touched the first stone. When he didn't die instantly, he took it from the statue's tentacle.
The moment he pulled it free, the gray surface fell away like dust, revealing a glittering red gem like the others.
Jokah snatched it from his palm. Before he could even raise his voice, she pressed the four gems together.
A flash blinded Byron for a moment. When he could see again, he could only watch the statue sliding into the floor, exposing a new chamber on the other side.
A brilliant light flooded from the cavernous room, reflecting from mountains of golden objects stacked inside. Golden cups, statues, scepters and other decorations towered over him, and stretched off into the distance by at least a mile. As if that weren't enough, jewels in the form of necklaces, rings, and loose gemstones were scattered among the treasure.
At the center of the chamber, a pool of hot lava threw steam and smoke into the sulphurous air. A ramp curved up one wall to a pedestal mounted at the center of the lava pool.
It held a silver device that looked like an eyeball.
MISSION COMPLETE
+10,000 XP
+10,000 CREDITS
Jokah's boobs bounced as she squealed and jumped up and down. "Holy shit! Will you look at this fucking haul! Oh my god, I've never seen so much bloody gold in my life! I'm set, darling! And there's the Eye of Omega."
She drew her gun and aimed it at Byron. "Thanks! Don't need you anymore."
Chapter 22
Byron looked down the barrel of her gun. His breath caught for a moment, as his body anticipated the final shot.
Captain Jokah drew the gun back to her side and tilted her head. "Then again, you look dead on your feet already. And it's no fun performing without an audience to watch."
She reached out to pat his cheek. "Oh, I just can't get rid of you. I'll leave you alive just long enough to see the show then I'll kill you, I promise."
She turned around and began to skip her way up the ramp to the podium at the heart of the lava pit.
He wanted to rise up and attack her, but admitted she had a good point. He felt dead, and just wanted to lie there and quietly ache but he couldn't let her get away.
When she reached the Eye of Omega, she snatched it up and turned it over in her hands. "All right, let's see how this bloody thing works." She pushed a button on its surface.
Light shone out of the iris on the device. It threw a hologram of the Milky Way Galaxy into the air over her head.
She brightened. "Oh, I've got the whole Galaxy in my hand. Too lovely. Now what do I do?"
She reached out to the Galaxy, and the view zoomed in until it showed a single solar system of five planets floating around a tiny sun. She touched one of the planets. It disappeared in a pop of light.
"That was Tulova Minor." She reached into her bikini bottom to pull out Byron's tablet and tap the screen. "Ah, it's really gone. Oh, that's easy. I can destroy the universe with a wave of my hand."
She tapped on all the planets floating over her, and they vanished from the scene. "There. Just killed fourteen billion people."
As she broke into laughter, Byron grit his teeth. He had to stop her, but he didn't have any weapons. One shoulder had been impaled by a spear and one leg had a hole burned through it. He only had one good arm and good leg to start with. But he had to try.
He looked down at the artifacts scattered all around him. They gave him an idea. He scooped up a golden scepter and began to crawl towards her.
The heat from the lava pit flowed over him as he crawled up the ramp. When her got close enough, he slammed the scepter into her ankle.
She fell backwards onto her butt, looked down at him, and rolled her eyes. "Oh, you again. I knew I should have killed you sooner. Sorry, you've worn out your welcome."
She aimed her gun at him while giving him a warm smile. "For what it's worth, you've been an absolute dream. If you'd played ball, you might have been my First Lady."
He swung the scepter into her face.
She screamed as blood gushed from her face. Her foot lashed out to kick the scepter from his hand.
He grit his teeth and lunged to grab the barrel of her gun in his hand. She fought back and twisted the gun, but it flew from her hand.
They both looked down at the gun spinning through the air until it plunged into the sizzling lava.
She smirked as she climbed to her feet. "Well, that was dumb, Sweet Cheeks. I could've killed you fast. Now I'll have to do it slow."
She swung her foot, and he tried to block it with his arm. He forgot it was his injured shoulder, and it didn't move fast enough.
She kicked him in the nose, and he felt an explosion of pain along with the crackle of bone breaking.
"Payback's a bitch," she yelled.
Before he could make a fist with his uninjured arm, she grabbed him by his hair and slammed his face into her knee.
When he collapsed onto his side, she kicked him in the balls. "And that's for my arm."
His health bar dropped again:
HP
20/150
As he curled into a fetal position, she laughed again. "Oh, I knew killing you would be fun, but I wish you could at least put up a good fight."
"You want a fight?" he growled.
His burned leg wouldn't hold his weight, so he leaned on his good leg to swing it into her. The kick hit her ankles and knocked her to the ground again.
When her head hit the ground, he swung a punch with his good arm into it. She blocked it with her metal arm and punched him with her other fist.
HP
10/150
If he wanted to win, he would have to try to fight beyond just punching and kicking.
Byron grabbed her metal arm and twisted it. He meant to try to flip her, but he still hadn't gotten used to his increased strength. Instead of flipping her, the arm tore apart at the elbow, leaving it dangling by wires.
She stumbled to her feet and glared down at him. "That's twice you ruined my arm. That's so bloody annoying."
She let out a shriek and charged at him.
He kicked her in the chest with his remaining good leg.
She stumbled back and fell.
Her metal hand caught hold of the ramp's edge at the last minute, leaving her dangling over the boiling lava.
The shattered arm burst with a spray of sparks as the wiring began to tear.
She giggled. "I'm really falling for you, Sweet Cheeks."
She laughed wildly as her mechanical arm broke loose.
Byron could only watch as she plunged into the fiery lava below. Her scream cut short as she plunged into the pool of flames.
He exhaled, waiting again for the feeling of regret but it never came. She deserved to die.
He looked down at the ancient intergalactic weapon, lying on the ramp beside him. It couldn't be allowed to exist any longer.
Byron took the Eye of Omega and hurled it into the volcanic pit. It landed and floated for a moment before it sank into the lava.
MISSION COMPLETE
10,000 XP
240 CREDITS
LEVEL UP!
YOU ARE NOW MARINE - LEVEL 6
He slowly turned, climbed up to his feet, and made his way out.
=×=
As he staggered out of the temple, the alien warriors were all gone. Instead, Chetaara, Scarlett and Xana came running out of the Icarus towards him.
Chetaara threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. "I knew they could not destroy you."
Scarlett punched him on the arm. "Yeah, you're the shit, baby."
Xana said nothing but reached up to kiss his cheek.
He looked up at the Icarus. "How'd you get out? What about the other pirates?"
"Whadda you think?" Scarlett formed her hands into guns and jerked them in the
air. "We popped a cap in their punk asses. More important, what about the treasure? And the weapons? And Blueboobs? But mostly the treasure."
He closed his eyes. "The treasure's all there. Jokah is dead, and I destroyed the weapon."
Scarlett clenched her fists. "Yes! We're rich!"
"No. We're gonna call a museum to come get it."
She made a face. "Ah, you're no fucking fun."
Chapter 23
Byron came onto the bridge of the Icarus, rotating his shoulder. Even though they had used medpacks to heal him, it still felt a little sore.
Chetaara, Xana, and Scarlett sat in front of the console, watching the planet below. They all squealed, rushed to him and threw their arms around him.
Scarlett wiggled her hips. "Feeling up to a little hanky panky yet?"
He hugged her with a wince. "Not quite."
She pouted. "Aw, come on. I'll do all the work."
"Let an injured man rest, will you? What's the status on the treasure?"
She went to the window and pointed at a large starship in orbit. "Well, the Donal'a Museum of Interplanetary Studies is here to collect it. Their nerds say there's a shitload of artifacts from thousands of worlds. It'll take them centuries to go through it all. And it's all worth billions of credits that could've been ours."
"Are you still mad about that? Let it go. I'm not stealing anyone's treasure."
Xana sat down at her console. "Um, I was also able to pinpoint a communications signal from the moment you heard Accolade's voice. The location was encrypted, but uh, I know someone who might be able to decode it. That will give us the source of the signal."
"Good work." Byron sighed. "We need to get more gear if we're gonna save Accolade. Guess we need to do another mission."
Scarlett bounced her eyebrows. "Well, I got a big surprise for you, baby. The museum wouldn't take no for an answer. They insisted on giving us point-zero-five percent of the value of the treasure. Which is still fucking huge."
"What?" Byron tapped his bracelet to check his account.
The display read:
5,012,000 CREDITS
Scarlett rubbed her hands together. "We're rich, and we've got our ship back. What are you gonna do next? And don't say we're going to fucking Disney World because there's no Disney World in space."
"Nope." Byron clenched his fists as he looked out at the stars. "We're gonna gear up and we're gonna find Otis Accolade. And get the hell out of this game."
Chapter 24
Molly Jones walked down the hallway in Byron's apartment building with her phone against her ear. With her other hand, she pulled out a set of keys. "Bro, this is the tenth voicemail I've left you and it's your last chance. I'm now outside your front door. In about ten seconds, I'm coming in. If you're not gonna unlock the door, at least cover up whatever it is you're doing."
She hit the button to hang up the phone.
For the thousandth time, she wondered if she was overreacting. They had been meeting at the same deli every morning for breakfast for years, but it wasn't the first time he hadn't shown up. Still, he had never failed to call or text when he wasn't coming to breakfast, and he hadn't been answering his phone.
For anyone else, this might not have been a big deal, but Byron was a creature of habit. In fact, their last conversation had been about his refusal to take chances and break out of his routines.
More important, she had a weird feeling about him, like something was wrong. She usually went with her gut, and if it said Byron was in trouble, then she would go with it. She already owed him her life when he saved her from the fire as kids.
She found her spare key for Byron's apartment and unlocked the door.
She took a deep breath before she walked inside and called out, "Man, you better have a good excuse--"
Her voice caught in her throat.
What looked like a huge white egg stood in the center of the living room. At first, she thought it might be some weird artwork or sculpture but it seemed to be made of plastic, and had wires running down its sides. She could see something glowing inside.
"Byron?" she yelled. "Why is there an egg in your living room?"
She looked around, as if he might be in another room, then remembered he had a studio apartment. If he wasn't in the bathroom (and he wasn't), then he wasn't here.
She turned, about to leave and see if maybe he was at work or had shown up at the deli, after all.
She froze and looked closer at the glowing object slightly visible through the egg's translucent walls.
It looked like Byron.
She tried to pry open the sides of the egg, but the slick walls had nothing to hold onto. She looked all around the egg, and only found one single red button. She pushed it.
The egg split in half down the center, and the curved walls swung down to the floor on hinges.
Byron lay on a couch inside the egg, eyes closed as if he was sleeping. A cluster of wiring surrounded his head.
Molly narrowed her eyes. "What is this?"
Coming Soon:
Mine Shaft (Venus Online Book 4)
Bonus Material
Excerpt from Venus Online Official Manual
Pages 16-19
Once you start playing, you'll meet other characters; humans, aliens, and robots. Most of them will be NPCs (non-player characters) controlled by a sophisticated AI system, but there will be other characters controlled by players like you. Our AI is so good, you might not be able to tell the difference! That's why you'll be able to see a red light that appears over the heads of real players.
There are a wide variety of NPCs in the game. Some will fight with you, some will fight against you, and some might even fall in love.
The one thing most NPCs can't do is break character. To keep the simulation as real as possible, the NPCs can't and won't acknowledge or even understand that they're in a virtual game. One exception is your VERA robot assistant who will answer any questions you may have about the game.
You'll quickly discover you can be hurt in Venus Online and even die, but don't worry! Death is just a minor (but painful) inconvenience. If you die, you'll respawn on your ship, minus any loot and gear you've collected.
The interface is designed to be as minimal as possible. Most actions like walking and eating can be achieved by just doing what comes naturally. Other actions like checking your stats can be performed by tapping on your bracelet. If you need to know something, text will appear in front of you. Only you will be able to see it.
Now that you know the basics, let's get into the world you'll be spending a lot of time in. In Venus Online, you'll explore a universe filled with adventures. You should find out what you're getting into.
History
A thousand years ago, Earth was trapped in its own solar system, unable to join the other worlds throughout the universe until the Day of Discovery. On that day, Horatio Stanford carried out the experiment that successfully transported an object into and out of hyperspace. His experiment launched the Hyperspace Race that led to multiple countries expanding into space. It didn't take long before humanity discovered they weren't alone in the universe.
Within a decade, Earth faced a devastating war with the Voloxx that caused humanity to flee the Solar System as refugees and vital records were destroyed. As they settled on other worlds, the location of the Earth was lost, but other planets have been colonized by humanity instead.
Politics
There are two major political powers in the Galaxy; the Necralia Empire and the Republic of Allied Worlds.
The Necralia Empire is a massive alliance of worlds under the dictatorship of Lady Necralia. The Empire has been expanding for decades from the planet Necros, conquering other systems with frightening speed. The Necralia Empire has the most deadly weapons, powerful ships, and well trained soldiers you will meet in the game, but don't worry! As a new player, you won't have to deal with them until you reach level ten. At that point, you can choose to join her armies or fight again
st them.
If you decide to fight against the Empire, you'll probably be working with the Republic of Allied Worlds. The Republic is a collection of planets that formed an alliance to oppose the Necralia Empire. While the Republic has a large number of governments working together, they don't always agree. Yet they still meet together at the Allied Center on an undisclosed planet to organize against the Empire.
Treasure Chest: Venus Online 3 (LitRPG Sci-Fi Harem) Page 15
