Harbinger (Nova Online #3) - A LitRPG Series

by Alex Knight

What? Her account? That’s... He trailed off in thought, considering the implications of the offer.

  “Why would I want your account?” Odditor asked.

  Zelda gestured to the hallway they’d come from.

  “You have many trophy accounts out there. Players who were first to explore new systems. Players who reigned supreme in PVP tournaments. Players who were acclaimed pirates and criminals. But your collection is incomplete.” She let the end of the sentence hang in the air for a long moment. “You see, my friends and I recently completed a Nova first.” She changed something in a menu, and then all at once, the title they’d been awarded for what had happened at the Grinder appeared above her head.

  Zelda

  Free Warden

  Class: Blast Warden

  Faction: Unaffiliated

  Level: 50

  Title: Destroyer of Worlds (record holder for most opposing players killed in a single battle)

  “Now, not only is my account among the most-wanted in-game, but it’s tied to a game-wide first and has a unique title to show for it. But…” Zelda paused, and it was clear she had Odditor’s interest now. He was leaning forward slightly and, for once, staring intently. “But this isn’t just about that, is it? You have pretty much everything you could want in-game. My account may make a unique and rare trophy, but having it doesn’t actually mean all that much to you. No, I’ve been thinking about this, and I think you ask for ante for a different reason. What has value to someone who already has everything?” She smirked, then answered her own question. “Taking value from others. You know the database is important to us and that’s why you want it. You don’t need it. You don’t have interest in it. You desire it only insofar as it hurts us to lose it.”

  She’s right. Holy crap, she’s right. Kaiden’s mind reeled as Zelda spoke, but everything she said made sense. Odditor had everything he could possibly want in-game, so why make people ante up? Because he enjoyed taking the things they valued.

  “You don’t want the database because it’s valuable. You want it because it’s valuable to us. But you aim too high. We’ll never risk the database, period. So, I offer my account instead. You want the chance to take from us something valuable – priceless, even. Well, here it is.”

  Odditor had listened intently, eyes focused directly on Zelda. The rest of the world might as well not have existed in that moment for how focused he was.

  “I had you, had you pegged as the smart one,” he said, nodding, then all at once shook his head emphatically. “But you’re wrong. An account is not priceless.”

  “No, most aren’t. If a player loses their account, they can just make another. But there’s more to an account than that, isn’t there? There’s a time investment. And time is something I really don’t have the luxury of.” Zelda was gaining steam as she spoke. Her words were confident, passionate, and above all, logical. She was just right, Kaiden couldn’t deny. Odditor listened with rapt attention.

  “It’s taken months to level this character,” Zelda continued, spreading her arms and looking down at herself. “To build this account into what we need it to be. If I lose it, I’ll have to do all of that again. But that’s time I don’t have. Time we don’t have. The Party will find us in the real world eventually. We’re in the middle of a tenuous balance, frozen in a perfect moment where we have the potential to strike a killing blow against them. But any number of factors changing can ruin that. We don’t have the luxury of waiting. If I lose this account, I’m going to be a detriment to the group, and above all, I’ll be useless in the pivotal fight to come.” She paused, eyes wet. “Everything I’ve done up to this point has been to finish what Bernstein started. To complete the task he gave his life for. This account is just as vital to that as the database because it’s the means by which I can achieve my goal. Without it, all I can do is sit on the sidelines and hope.” Zelda let her hands fall to her sides, then took a step forward and looked directly up into Odditor’s eyes. “You want me to stake something that matters, something priceless. Well, here it is.”

  Odditor smirked ever so slightly, then bowed his head a fraction of an inch.

  “I guess you are the smart one after all.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  She did it! She actually did it!

  Kaiden fought to contain his excitement as they all moved into Odditor’s broadcast room.

  Monitors filled the wall in front of them, each showing the viewpoint from one of the dozen or so drones Odditor used to film every aspect of the labyrinth. Everyone was there except Zelda, who was making her way to the entrance to the labyrinth.

  Odditor had accepted Zelda’s account as ante instead of the database! Acting as the middleman, Whenstone now held both – the piece of the database and the login information to Zelda’s account. In theory, he could break the terms of the agreement if he wanted to, but Kaiden didn’t have much concern that would happen. In order for Odditor’s ante game to continue with everyone who wanted to run the labyrinth, there needed to be a reliable middleman.

  She did it! Kaiden thought again. She did it. It was only then that the gravity of the situation started to settle in. He’d been so excited he’d forgotten what came next.

  “Huh. She’s... actually doing this,” Kaiden said aloud instead of through comms, not wanting to psych Zelda out. “She’s risking her account. Everything.”

  “It’s all on the line now,” Thorne said with a nod. “Brave of her. She’s risking a big sacrifice for us here.”

  “Don’t mess up!” Titus said to Zelda through comms.

  “Thanks…” she said back, turning to look up at the camera drone filming her. Her face filled the main monitor for a moment before the drone zoomed out, revealing the massive labyrinth in front of her.

  It was a gargantuan thing, easily a couple square miles of high-walled corridors, twists, turns, and who knew how many traps and nasty surprises lying in wait. It was open-topped so the camera drones could get overhead views when needed, but from watching Odditor’s streams, Kaiden knew most of the filming angles would be from right up close to the action.

  All around the edge of the labyrinth there was a massive trench, its bottom far out of sight. A bridge stood in front of Zelda, spanning only half the distance across.

  “You got this,” Kaiden said to her through comms. “But we’re going to be here to help however we can.”

  “Appreciated,” she said. “I’ve got a few ideas I’d like to try out in there. But if you guys come up with anything on the fly, don’t keep quiet.”

  “All right, all right,” Odditor said from his commentating desk positioned directly in front of the wall of monitors. He clapped his hands together. “Let’s get this underway, huh? The objective of this game of ours is simple. You must retrieve the flag at the center of my labyrinth and carry it to where you stand now.”

  “I’m ready if you are,” Zelda said.

  “Ah, but first, the rules! I know you all brought stimpacks, but their use is strictly forbidden in my labyrinth. Your stimulant chambers will deactivate once you cross the bridge, as will health regeneration. You have only the health points you take in with you.”

  “Annoying, but fair enough, I suppose,” Zelda said.

  “Secondly, as we discussed, streaming this live would likely bring that pesky Warden Corps down on us. Since this, this is a… special occasion, and I cannot abide interference, I will broadcast your run tomorrow.” He looked pained as he said that, but carried on. “Thirdly, while many speculate otherwise, I do not control my labyrinth. My creation is a sentient, living thing. Or, well, a sentient, living digital thing.” He waved a hand at the semantics of it all. “Suffice it to say, my job is simply to commentate. Everything the labyrinth does is a reaction to you, my little lab rat. This includes the mobs it releases, which will scale based on your level.”

  Huh. That’s interesting. I wonder how he managed that?

  “Now, aside from these rules,” Odditor said, “it gives
me great pleasure to say that, within my labyrinth… anything goes.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Zelda said. The camera captured a close-up of her face as she did. She was smirking slightly.

  She has something in mind, Kaiden knew. But knowing her, it wasn’t just one something, but several.

  “Well, then.” Odditor leaned forward in his chair. “Let… let us begin.” He flicked a switch on his control console and a little blinking red dot appeared in the corner of the main monitor.

  We’re recording. No turning back now. Kaiden made sure to turn his proximity chat off so he’d only be speaking to the others via comms.

  “Well, uh, hello there,” Odditor said to the viewers who’d be watching tomorrow. “The menagerie is hungry once again. It’s time they were fed, wouldn’t you, wouldn’t you agree? Today we have a special challenger.” The camera had been showing a wide shot of the labyrinth but now it began zooming in slowly on Zelda. As it did, she drew more and more into focus.

  “You may have heard of, of her before. She’s something of a celebrity right now and I don’t think you’ve even heard the half of her story.” Odditor was clearly in his element now, having too much fun building up the suspense.

  At the entrance to the labyrinth, Zelda shifted from one foot to the other, looking impatient. Kaiden couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through her mind as she waited.

  “Today’s competitor has taken a break from her seemingly full-time career of being a thorn in the Warden Corps’ side to join us. She’s a one-woman force of chaos.” He paused, and the camera angle now showed Zelda’s face clear as day. “Or maybe she’s just grachnid lunch? Today’s competitor is none other than Zelda the free warden, and it’s time to find out what she’s going to be. Victor? Or victim?” With that, Odditor waved his hand over the holotable and the bridge in front of Zelda whirred and extended until it spanned the rest of the trench to connect with the entrance to the labyrinth.

  Zelda didn’t hesitate, leaning forward into a jog and making her way into the labyrinth.

  “Titus,” she said through comms as she crossed the bridge. “Do me a favor? Start a timer as soon as I set foot in there.”

  “You got it.”

  She stepped off the bridge and officially entered the labyrinth. Titus nodded and his eyes flicked off to the side, looking at a timer only visible to him.

  Towering walls rose on either side of Zelda. From afar they’d looked like they were made of some sort of patchwork of stone. With a closer view now, however, Kaiden could see they were anything but. They were stone, but veins ran through them all along their length. And not veins of minerals, but veins of – well, it looked like blood. Or maybe oil? Kaiden didn’t know how much was stone and how much was machine. On stream he’d seen them move – it was a fairly common trick of the labyrinth’s to reconfigure itself – so probably they were mostly machine. Still, Kaiden couldn’t deny there was an organic look to them.

  The whatever-they-were-made-of walls guided Zelda ahead, forming a corridor that, like the rest of the labyrinth, was open to the sky. The sun of the star system they were in shone down with morning light that created long shadows from the towering walls of the labyrinth. And Zelda as well.

  “Kaiden,” she said as she jogged. “My shadow’s off to my left, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Remember that for me. Or better yet, screencap it.”

  Not sure why that’s relevant, but sure. He snagged a quick screencap of her in the corridor, shadow stretching off to her left side.

  She continued down the corridor, then slowed as it came to an end at an intersection. She had two choices: turn left or turn right. Both directions just led to another corridor, each about fifty paces long before ending in intersections of their own. Zelda contemplated a moment then peeled off down the right-side corridor.

  “Which path to choose? Which path, hmm?” Odditor asked to his stream.

  “Thorne, make sure I take the right-most route at every intersection I come to. I have a feeling things are going to get hairy down here, so you’re going to be my navigator.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said, her voice taking on the sharp, precise tone she’d used when she’d been a warden captain.

  “This way, she doesn’t get lost,” Kaiden said, thinking through her plan aloud. “She’s going to keep herself aligned with the same wall the whole way.” Work through the labyrinth slowly but surely. He wasn’t sure why he’d expected anything less analytical from Zelda.

  “It’ll work as long as this is a simple labyrinth. If it has islands – smaller sections that aren’t connected to the exterior wall – then we’ll have a problem. But we’ll tackle that issue if it arises,” Zelda said, then slowed as she reached the next intersection. She was staring down two options again. Not right or left, though. This time, both turns forced her to the left.

  “Still gotta go with the right-most,” Thorne said.

  “A calm start so far, it seems,” Odditor said. “But I think we all know that’s not, not the way this game of ours goes.”

  As he spoke, Kaiden spotted something several paces in front and off to the side of Zelda. A rough spot in the dirt floor where the ground had been disturbed.

  “On your left,” Kaiden said, making sure Zelda saw it.

  “I see it,” she said then raised her hammer-gun and fired an Improved Warden’s Bolt at the patch. It detonated with a burst of electricity and a series of piercing shrieks filled the air.

  Grachnid assisted kill – 1,000 EXP gained!

  Grachnid assisted kill – 1,000 EXP gained!

  “Grachnid burrow,” Zelda said, scowling at the now caved-in trap. “Thought as much.”

  “Nice!” Titus cheered.

  “Ouch. Murdered in their sleep,” Odditor said, his tone somber. “How, how rude.”

  First trap down, Kaiden thought. Though it hadn’t been much of a trap. Not on its own, at least. But the labyrinth had far harsher tricks, Kaiden knew.

  “Onwards, then,” Zelda said and jogged forward, being sure to give the remains of the burrow a wide birth. “I know there’s more difficult things in here than th—” She slid to a stop all at once, nearly toppling over, but catching herself at the last moment.

  “What’s up?” Kaiden asked as she backed cautiously away, eyes on the ground.

  “Pressure plate.” When she was ten steps back Zelda fired an Improved Burst Arrow at a spot on the ground. As it hit, there was an audible click and a series of spikes thrust up from the ground. Spikes as long as Zelda was tall.

  “Ooh buddy,” Titus said, frowning. “That was close.”

  “Good eyes on this competitor,” Odditor commentated. “Doesn’t miss much, does she, stream?”

  As quickly as they’d shot up, the spikes slid back into the ground. The pressure plate popped back into place with a soft click.

  “Maybe I’ll try not to step on that,” Zelda said as she eased around it, eyes to the ground in case there were others. Looking down as she was, she didn’t see the little red light embedded in the wall beside her. Just as Kaiden was about to yell a warning she crossed in front of it and the wall beeped.

  Zelda looked up sharply at the noise, and then twenty paces behind her one of the walls groaned and a door appeared near its base. It slid open and three monstrous forms stalked out.

  Grachnid Punishers

  Level: 50

  Quick facts: An elite member of the grachnid hive-mind, grachnid punishers are the preeminent hunters of their species. With maxed-out dexterity and strength stats, they excel in chasing down prey and pounding them to a pulp.

  Kaiden’s visor read out some details on the punishers as Zelda raised her hammer-gun toward them. The grachnids Kaiden was used to were massive, insectile things with too many legs that each ended in sharp points perfectly designed for impaling. The punishers, however, were still insect-like, but in addition to their spear-tipped legs, they each had two chitin-covered arms tuck
ed into their chests. At the end of each was a bulbous claw.

  The punishers looked around for a moment, antennae on the tops of their heads working back and forth, until they spotted Zelda. They turned toward her in unison and a clacking, cracking noise filled the labyrinth.

  Their claws, Kaiden realized. The punishers were punching their claws together with quick, almost hydraulic-like bursts of movement. With each impact, little shockwaves poured out from them and stirred up the dirt beneath the creatures’ feet.

  “Probably best not to get socked by one of those guys,” Kaiden said.

  “Can’t say I disagree,” Zelda said and began to back away. Then, all at once, the ground was moving. Dirt fell away with a hiss and a pit opened up at her back. At the same moment, the punishers screeched and charged as one.

  “Go, go, go!” Titus shouted as Zelda readied to jump across the pit. It’d stopped expanding, but was still far too wide for a normal jump to cross; and, as more light illuminated the pit, Kaiden could see it was brimming with the same spikes that had been triggered by the pressure plate earlier.

  “Uh-oh,” Odditor said, letting out something that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. “I guess there’re some fights you can’t, can’t run from.”

  Zelda sprinted toward the punishers and Kaiden heard himself gasp.

  “It’s three against one!” he shouted through comms.

  “I’m not fighting them,” Zelda said as she slid to a stop, then turned back toward the pit. “Just getting a running start.”

  The punishers were nearly on her when she started sprinting back toward the pit. Several clawed fists jabbed forward with explosive force, but stopped just short of her back.

  Zelda reached the edge of the pit then flung herself forward in a jump. But there was no way she would make it. She was a blast warden, not an enhanced or power warden. She didn’t have the movement abilities to clear such a distance.

  What she did have was an Improved Kinetic Grenade on the end of her hammer-gun. Just before she hit the peak of her jump, she threw it downwards. It exploded against the bottom of the pit and a wash of flame along with a concussive blast carried Zelda up and flung her the rest of the way across the pit.