The Crystal Crusade Read online

  “Yikes,” Yumi-D said. “Time for plan C.”

  “What happened to Plan B?”

  “Fighting the troops,” the Stalker said. “Also known as the suicide measure.”

  Even with Yumi-D’s and the Stalker by my side, I would lose against the onslaught of Sunbleeder troops.

  “Fall back,” she said.

  We hurried through the buzzing streets, zigzagged across a back alley and found a food shop with fresh goods.

  “A bakery?”

  “It’s just a safe spot for our resistance cell.”

  “Resistance cell?”

  We crossed the front area of the bakery, and passed the showcase where an NPC nodded our way. In the back room, we opened a wooden door leading to a basement where players and NPCs had gathered. An update greeted my HUD.

  New quest update: You have met the Resistance, a local rebel cell fighting against the Sunblood Syndicate. They’re asking you to join their escape.

  Reward: contextual EXP, affiliation points with the resistance

  Do you accept their invitation? (Yes/No)

  I pondered. If I joined now, my affiliation with the Syndicate would drop further. On the other side, I already pissed the Sunbleeders off by killing a handful of guards and sabotaging their beloved plant. Trying to leave the city on my own could lead to player death, which I wasn’t willing to risk. The NPC woman in the room stepped forward with a pressing voice. “Why are you taking so long? This should be a simple decision.”

  The players in the round understood, but the NPCs didn’t. They really believed they were part of a rebellion fighting an evil syndicate. I didn’t care about the good versus evil aspect; I just wanted to make money in the near future.

  So I made my final decision.

  39

  “I’m in.”

  The NPC hugged me and the other players at least shared a smile. Yumi-D cheered while Stalker Mort gave me an approving nod. “You’re standing on the right side of history.”

  “Sure.”

  The NPC leader continued. “There’s a secret tunnel connecting us to the township’s sewer system. It’s probably our last escape route.”

  The quest update entered my vision.

  The Sunblood Syndicate has laid siege to Varmegarden. Join the resistance and escape the city lockdown through the sewers.

  Thank tech this VR world avoided odors, or this could have been the most disgusting quest so far. Yumi-D, the Lancer called Ritter, and Mort the Stalker joined us. Jill. the NPC, accessed the secret gateway behind the wall. Seriously, this universe had more mysteries than I had time to debunk them. We rushed through the dark passageway as Yumi-D ignited a micro-lantern, powered by—you guessed it—Reepo crystals. The light illuminated up to 10 meters of our vision range.

  “Follow me.” Yumi-D said as if she had played this mission a thousand times before. She led us around the elevated passageway where streams of crap flowed to our right. I wasn’t a sewer expert or anything, but the color of the feces fluid alerted me. A flickering violet shimmer.

  “Is the town population hooked on beetroot?”

  Mort said, “It’s infested from Syndicate’s Reepo plant. They’re diverting some of the waste into the sewer system.”

  “So it’s basically Reepoop.”

  No one laughed. “Looks like a case for the Environmental Protection Agency.”

  The NPC turned his head. “Our city doesn’t have that.”

  “Yeah, I know. It was just—”

  Forget it. The NPC didn’t get my American reference, no problem.

  We crossed another corner when high-pitched shrieks rang out in the distance and echoed through the tunnel. They sounded like a mangled siren, but my co-players took it more seriously.

  “Ready your weapons,” Yumi-D said.

  I activated my gunblade without question. As we neared the intersection of the sewers, something moved in the liquids, and it wasn’t piles of poop. This object had a long, slender body with cascading scales. It looped through the floods like a snake on steroids. The target pointers circled around it.

  Enemy: Infected Snakeworm

  Type: Reepotile

  HP: 100-120

  Weakness: Sharp weaponry, fire

  Drops: Fangs, poison samples, scales

  Ugh. My first reaction was to evade, but the passageway was so narrow only two people could walk next to each other. I would barely be able to sidestep any incoming attacks.

  “Here they come.”

  Yumi-D shot a few bolts into the stream of Reepoop, but the snake creatures swam fast. I threw a smoke banger into the water and hoped it would still detonate, but the fluid simply swallowed the device and nullified their effect. Useless.

  Screeaaach.

  A mutated snake form hissed from the violet water and shot toward my direction. I swung the gunblade and missed the swipe. Damn, those Creepos moved fast. A new one jumped out of the water and aimed at Yumi-D when Mort grabbed the snake in midair and sliced its head off with his curved tactical blade.

  “Assassin dexterity,” he said with a winning smile.

  Must have trained his reflexes to max.

  Up the stream, more creatures whooshed toward us.

  “Too many. We better hurry toward the exit.”

  We ran twice as fast and ignored the mutant snake group zigzagging after us. With no TechMage in the team, we had to rely on our own buffs and items.

  I flipped the new spike mine from my gear pack, and placed it on the ground behind me. I increased my distance from it and then looked back, waiting for the perfect moment. When the first snake hurdle out of the stream, I remote-activated the charge with the help of my Machine Spirit.

  Spikes shot out the mine and pierced the suckers with fatal damage. Most snakes lost half of their HP upon impact; when the bleed damage kicked in, it wiped out their rest of their lives.

  Snake killed.

  Snake killed.

  Snake killed.

  Splatter effect deluxe. The bloody pieces bounced off the tunnel walls or drowned in the violet poop flood.

  “Good work,” Yumi-D said as she paced behind the NPC.

  I burned through my stamina reaching the tunnel leading out of the city. The only problem? Rusty bars blocked our escape route to the freedom outside.

  “We need your service again,” the NPC said with fearful eyes.

  “Rusty bars. It’s almost too easy.”

  “Don’t get too cocky.”

  Yumi-D was right. Another screech echoed through the tunnel. This one sounded deeper and more mature. The new pack of mutated snakes was led by the mother creature. A worm at least three times the size of a regular sucker, sporting multiple rows of piranha-like fangs. Just like its mutated offspring, the mother snake had no eyes but slimy skin with tender spikes. Yumi-D went full commander mode. “Ritter, keep the brood at bay. Mort, aim for the mother and try to flank her with a slice attack. I’ll give you support fire.”

  The brood ripped through the violet stream we found ourselves in. Five seconds, and they’d reach us.

  “Focus on cutting those bars open.”

  I did, but slicing these metal things took longer than expected. I cut three and reached for the fourth when a bite gored my neck. One of the snakelings had bypassed the squad defense and fell in love with my jugular.

  “Get it off me.”

  I aborted my slicing session and spun around while my vision darkened. My upper-right HUD told me I was poisoned, hence the green glint at the edges of my eyes. My health ring had drained when Yumi-D snapped a bolt, used it as a light melee weapon, and stabbed the sucker like a wild noodle. The Lancer had no shield but did have a two-hander and used it to slash the mother snake, causing massive damage.

  Good, keep them busy.

  I quickly sliced the last bar and opened a man-sized hole for all of us. The stream of the violet-infested water swallowed us and spat us out into the outside wastewater below. Our bodies plunged into the violet piss l
ike water corpses.

  Worst. Escape. Ever.

  The poison tore through my vision and drained my life. I swam to the riverside and pulled myself out of what I figured had to be stinking water considering the foul looks of it. The Lancer divided the water like Moses in the Red Sea and pulled the NPC out. The Stalker and Yumi-D followed and reached the land with me.

  Their gear glimmered from the violet sewage water.

  “By the way, you’re dying.”

  She was right. I rolled sideways, took out a health potion to prevent critical mode and gulped down the medicine against low-ranking Reepo infections. The stats shot up and cleared my vision from the crimson and green shimmer.

  The quest update showed up in my HUD.

  You have escaped Varmegarden’s sewage system without raising the attention of the Sunblood troops.

  Experience points trickled in and allowed me to level up to 11. A new skill point became available. This breath-stealing chase actually amounted to something good.

  “I’m too old for this shit,” I said and made at least Yumi-D grin.

  It took us a couple of seconds to deal with the surge of adrenaline in our real bodies. Another siren droned from the city above and told us to move on. We still resided in the enemy territory. But with no new quest nearby, I wondered where to go.

  Yumi-D could read my thoughts. “Let’s head to the headquarters of our resistance.”

  “Where’s that?”

  She shared the location on my e-scroll. “Have you ever been to Cloudkiss?”

  40

  “Have you ever been to Cloudkiss?”

  All eyes in the squad turned to me. Was this some kind of testing question? Even after all my contributions to the sabotage and escape quest, distrust lingered in the party.

  “Sounds like a romantic place.”

  “I’m serious,” Yumi-D said.

  “Like I said before, I’m fresh out of the Academy. Varmegarden was the first place in Fourlando I’ve visited outside my testing period.”

  That seemed to ease her worries, for now.

  “Can you show me that place on the world map?”

  “It’s not on the world map,” Yumi-D said with a wink. “But think of mountains and steep paths ripe with forests.”

  She became the de facto leader of the team again and marched on. “Let’s hit the Hope Road then.”

  We hurried along through the grassy fields.

  “Don’t tell me we’re going to walk there.”

  Yumi-D shared her map. One of the main roads leading to Varmegarden connected with the Hope Road, a popular trading and pilgrimage route. One end of its path snaked into the west side of the continent, leading to mountainous areas and canyons that were home to various temple sites. We doubled our pace when silhouettes of riders and caravans popped up on the horizon. It could have been a Fata Morgana since the heat shimmer blurred colors and objects in the distance, but the closer we moved toward the caravan, the more travelers showed up.

  “Wait,” Yumi-D said. “We have to make sure there’s no enemy presence.”

  Rangers have incredible sight and could scout the land kilometers away. I wondered if she wanted to specialize in the scout/sniping sub-class later on.

  “Looks clear,” Yumi-D said.

  We approached the colorful convoy consisting of hand-made wagons, cattle, pilgrims wearing stylized banners on their backs, merchants, and other NPCs I couldn’t identify. Not a single player had joined the caravan, which was no surprise. The convoy moved like a depressed snail trying to slime through molasses.

  “They’ll definitely never get charged with a speeding ticket.”

  “We’re not going to join them,” Yumi-D said and pointed toward the helm of the convoy. “See those fowls? We’re going to buy a couple.”

  “Let me handle this negotiation,” Mort said. “I’ve got experience with merchants.”

  He probably was equipped with negotiation skills, which counted as base skills and were accessible to every class. I joined the group discussion and watched as the Stalker reduced the price by 25%. Nice.

  These new fowls had flaming feathers, sharper beaks, and seemed smaller than the ones sold at the Academy. The stats also differed in terms of wearable weight, speed, stamina, amongst other values. The merchant, who also acted as the leader of the caravan, thanked us for the deal. A semi-transparent exclamation mark hovered next to his head, which meant he offered us a quest.

  “You look like sound warriors. If you’re interested in making some extra credits, why don’t you offer us your protection services?”

  Yumi-D chimed in. “What are you fearing?”

  “We carry valuable goods and worry about bandit attacks. Unfortunately, we’re not sanctioned by the Syndicate so we receive no guard protection.”

  Yumi-D looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “I thought we’re heading to the HQ?” I said.

  “It’s on the goal list. But making extra credits is always nice. We could certainly use it.”

  I pondered her statement. We had upgraded over the past quests and lost decent credits to remedies, repairs, and antidotes. Besides, another level up couldn’t hurt before reaching the hideout.

  “I’m up for it.”

  Mort and Ritter nodded, too, but they seemed less enthused.

  The quest menu updated.

  The merchant leader of the caravan offers you 1200 credits in exchange for protecting his caravan from bandits.

  Do you accept his request? (Yes/No)

  We all confirmed and joined the caravan which suddenly picked up speed.

  The leader said, “We thank you for your commitment. If we reach the Holiplaze without collateral and lost goods, I might give you an extra reward.”

  He stressed the last part and winked. We mounted our land fowls and matched speed to the caravan. I glanced into the distance where the flat prairies met the azure skies of Fourlando. Calm lands wherever I looked, but that would change pretty soon. The Reepo infection plagued every part of the continent and its isles.

  Yumi-D’s forceful voice interrupted the landscape gazing. “Dash, you guard the left side of the caravan; Mort, the right. I’ll continuously scout the area and see if I can spot any enemies in the distance. Ritter, you pick up the rear.”

  I had never participated in a convoy protection quest before, but her plan sounded reasonable. My fowl galloped toward the left flank of the caravan. The route toward the temple destination updated on my e-scroll. A red, zigzagging line marked on my map. Eighteen percent of the path already lay behind us.

  Another visual sweep around the plains showed no incoming enemy, which I appreciated. A little time out from the constant running and action allowed me to ponder my tactics. I was desperate for new class-specific skills. Gunblades and mines weren’t enough to dominate the quests. I couldn’t wait to reach Level 12 and get the useful Chainlink skill, which allowed me to use the most versatile weapon I’ve ever seen in a game.

  “Dash.”

  Mort used his ping device and talked to me. “You joined that field mission in Montobay, right?”

  Since I had fared well during that operation, there was no harm in admitting it.

  “I watched the stream online,” he said. “That Lancer guy pretty much assumed control of all player squads. What was his name again?”

  Even if Alzheimer and fire floods burned my brain, that name would have lasted forever.

  “Rokkit.”

  Mort snipped his free hand while controlling the fowl with his right. “That’s him… Rokkit. He’s gaining a lot of traction lately. Streaming views are off the hook. Rumors say he’s aiming to be a pro player, but he never commented on it.”

  To be frank, I didn’t care. In the beginning, I wanted to join Rokkit’s squad because of his skill set and L’ocean, but ever since I ventured on my own, I enjoyed the new freedom. It was refreshing to work with capable players who weren’t constantly putting me down.

  “Mor
e power to him,” I said and didn’t bother to hide my lack of interest. “One thing is certain though—you guys make for better teammates.”

  Mort sent me a smile across the distance. “Maybe we can become the new dream team.”

  “We already are.”

  The night and day cycle kicked into motion. The former light blue sky morphed into a darker tone. Up high in the clouds, the glimmering orb of the Violet Lunar towered like an infected jewel. I imagined it being an evil eye, watching our every step. Seriously, no matter from which location I gazed at it, whether it was the Academy, Varmegarden, or this Hope Road, the Violet Lunar always seemed to look at me, the player.

  41

  For better or worse, we finished the route without complications. The 100% update showed up on my map.

  You have successfully protected the caravan.

  ‘Protection’ was the wrong word. I just rode alongside on my fowl and got paid for it. I guess not every defense quest ended up in fighting—another sign that the world of Fourlando contained more surprises than any other. Still, the merchant paid us 1200 credits each and blessed our ongoing journeys. Even better, I upgraded to Level 12 and gained two more undistributed skills to spend.

  “Easiest quest ever,” I said to Yumi-D as we left the Hope Road and focused on the path to the mysterious Cloudkiss location.

  “Stay vigilant. We’re still in the danger zone.”

  The whole game was a danger zone to me, apart from the safe space of the Academy.

  “Where exactly is the hideout?”

  Yumi-D charged ahead with Mort and Ritter before calling back, “Follow us and find out.”

  After a long ride, we reached a steep path snaking across a mountain, maneuvering around stones, moss, and slender trees. No walkable path in sight, but the fowls’ strong legs could easily traverse the vegetated forest.

  “Welcome to Cloudkiss,” Yumi-D said in the middle of the ride.

  “Where?”