Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 28

  Here we go, I thought. But to my surprise, the group stopped in front of me. I guess they figured they had me cornered and I had no choice other than surrender. A female knight, wearing a suit of plate with a blue hue to it, stepped out of the line and leaned casually on an enormous axe.

  “End of the line, Jack,” she said in a tone that made my skin crawl. This was obviously someone used to being in power. I inspected her.

  Alice The Feared—Level 68.

  She was high, but not as high as me. Not that it mattered. With the rest of her troops behind her, she’d have the advantage over me easily.

  “I don’t know about that, Alice,” I said with a smile. It’s best to never show weakness in the face of danger. “That’s a lot of low-level newbies you’ve got with you.”

  “What would you rather fight?” she asked me. “A thousand duck-sized elephants? Or one elephant-sized duck?”

  Was she serious?

  She pretended to yawn and stretch, showing me just how confident she was. If she wasn’t a part of Bleed, and I wasn’t a marked man, she actually seemed like someone I could get along with. But that wasn’t the case. Right now, I was simply a ticket home for every one of the players standing before me.

  “All I see in front of me are a bunch of sheep,” I growled. “Is that what you are, Alice? A sheep?”

  “I’m a lion,” she replied. “In sheep’s clothing if you’d like.”

  “You’re a follower,” I spit. “And a coward.”

  “Are you challenging me to a duel?” She laughed.

  “No. I know you would never accept,” I replied. “You need your guild. All of you do.”

  “Right now, all I need is for you to die, Jack,” she retorted. “So I can go home to my family. And you—you are all alone.”

  “No, he’s not.” I turned around to see him standing behind me, an acid arrow dripping from his bow.

  “D!?” My heart dropped and soared at the same time. He’d come back for me. Normally, I’d have been overjoyed, but right now all that meant was his life was in danger.

  “Hey, I couldn’t let you take all the glory,” he replied with a smile as he loosed his arrow.

  The shot struck Alice in the chest and dealt decent damage, but it wasn’t going to be enough. Quickly, I grabbed my wand and cast Menace on her, then switched back to my sword as her troops charged.

  “You’re going to get yourself killed!” I shouted as they raced towards us.

  “And how is that different than what you were going to do!?” he asked me as I raised my sword.

  “I had a plan, D!”

  A plan that still might work.

  As the first line reached me, I activated Battle Cry and sent them flying back. I sidestepped an arrow and vaulted off a rock, using Warrior’s Charge to launch myself into the air. I raised my Executioner’s Blade high above my head as I soared towards them.

  Just like the Necromancer, I thought with a smile as I brought my blade down.

  The Flame Strike was massive. Sword abilities scaled with your sword skill, and at 375 I was nothing to scoff at. A torrent of flames ripped from the ground like the very fires of Hell had been unleashed upon Carrethen. It engulfed Alice’s entire army and sent them scattering everywhere, many of them already at critical.

  But not Alice. She was still above half, and threw herself in my direction, sweeping her axe in an enormous arc in front of her. I tried to roll out of the way, but the blow just caught my helm and knocked me to my side, draining my health substantially.

  I swung out with a Broad Strike but missed completely. She was fast and used some kind of skill I’d never seen before. It was some kind of shadow step ability, that sent her skipping to the side in the blink of an eye, her body a total blur.

  She reappeared beside me and brought her axe down on my back with all her strength.

  The blow registered a critical hit and dropped my health to half.

  I ducked and rolled and stumbled to my feet, just as a group of Bleed players leapt onto me.

  “Got him!” one of them cried as I hit the ground.

  I could tell by their strength that they weren’t very high level. Battle Cry was off cooldown, and I used it again. The force sent them high into the air, flipping and twisting above me like something out of an anime.

  Warrior’s Charge got me out of their reach and I struck out again at Alice with Frenzied Slash. It hit hard but as she leapt back, someone from her group instantly hit her with a heal spell.

  D fired another arrow to distract her, and I followed up with a series of attacks that stripped at least a third of her health. But again, another member of her group instantly healed her.

  “Coward!” I screamed as I brandished my sword in front of me, readying myself for her counterattack.

  “It’s pointless to resist, Jack,” Alice said with a demonic smile. “We are simply too much for you. This is our world now.”

  Alice raised her arms, and the rest of her group fired a volley of arrows straight at me. There was no way to dodge them all. I took the brunt of them, and heard a few more hit D.

  Where are the others? I selfishly thought as I watched my health drop. They were doing exactly what I’d told them to do. D must have snuck off without them noticing. I doubted it would make any difference if they were with us anyway as I saw reinforcements break through the tree line.

  “It’s over, Jack,” Alice smiled as she dashed towards me, her axe held back behind her as she readied an attack.

  Another volley of arrows streaked towards me, and I tried to roll out of the way, but more of them hit me and dropped my health even more. D cried out and fired another acid arrow, but it was hopeless. We were losing—we were lost. There was nothing we could do.

  Time seemed to slow as I spun around and looked at D, his bow held high, another arrow ready to fire. His health was approaching half as well, and as another row of arrows struck him, it dropped even more.

  “Aaaah!” Alice roared behind me and I knew her blow was about to land.

  We’re doing to die, I thought as I spun around and raised my sword.

  But then, something happened I could have never predicted. One of the Bleed players threw himself at me like some kind of maniac. He slammed into my side, knocking me over, but even worse, knocking me out of the way of Alice’s attack.

  I looked up as the blade cut through the air, straight towards D.

  With his health as low as it was, and his level not being as high, and only being clad in studded leather armor, that blow would surely kill him. And Alice was too committed to her swing to pull back. Not that she wanted to anyway.

  I slammed into the ground and stretched my hand out in D’s direction as if there was something I could do to save him. But there wasn’t. It was hopeless. I’d failed, and not only was I going to die, but so was D.

  “Noooo!” I screamed as Alice’s sword closed in on my friend—to end his life.

  65

  Revelation

  It’s all your fault, I thought as the blade closed in. I felt like crying, but all I could do was scream and watch my friend die.

  But then, somehow, Alice stopped, her blade a hair’s breath away from D’s neck.

  No, that’s not right. It wasn’t Alice that had stopped. It was everyone. Everyone but D and me. My scream faded, and a chill ran through my body as I realized what had happened.

  “Jack, Jack, Jack,” the chilling voice spoke. “No, no, no, this just will not do.”

  I turned around to face him, The Ripper, who was standing tall and smug behind me, weaponless as always. I wanted to attack immediately, but I knew it was no good. I was still 51 levels beneath him, and it wasn’t like he would fight fair anyway.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he replied with a shrug. “Doing what you cannot—protecting your friends.”

  With a wave of his hand, D was instantly returned to full health. Not only that, he cast some s
ort of high-level armor spell on him as well. A black cage swirled around D, raked with purple bars and cobalt-colored sprites. It solidified, then disappeared.

  “What is this?” I snapped. “Why do you always show up when we’re in the middle of a fight like this? Are you trying to save me?”

  “Save you?” The Ripper laughed. “Jack, I set this entire server against you! Why would I want to save you?”

  He had a point. But I still wasn’t buying it. The last time he’d appeared was in the Crimson Catacombs when we were outnumbered by The Mercenaries. And now, when D and I were outnumbered by Bleed and about to die, he’d appeared again. If he didn’t want to save me, then why did he—

  That’s it!

  Revelation hit me like a firework going off inside my head.

  “I get it,” I said slowly, letting a smile form on my lips. “You’re not here to save me.”

  “Like I said—”

  “You’re here to save D.”

  My words hung in the air and The Ripper froze as still as Alice was frozen in the air beside him. I turned and looked at D, who was looking more confused than I’d ever seen him before.

  “I get it now, D,” I told him. “This guy knows you. Whoever he is, he knows you and he doesn’t want you to die. Isn’t that right, The Ripper?”

  For once, it took The Ripper a moment to answer, and when he finally spoke, his voice wasn’t as confident as before. In fact, he sounded shaken.

  “Detective Jack, huh?” He snorted. “Have you ever thought about the fact that I might enjoy watching you both and want to keep you around longer for my own amusement?”

  “Absolutely not,” I replied instantly. “No, this is something personal. You saved D for a reason—twice. So, what is it?”

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you lemmings,” The Ripper replied arrogantly. “This is my world. I can do what I want!”

  “Wait—lemmings?” D repeated. I turned to him and saw a look on his face I’d never seen before. It was as though the D I had always known had melted away and I was staring at the person behind the game. “Lemmings?”

  The Ripper actually shifted uncomfortably as he looked at D. It was almost as though he’d uncovered something. He walked right up to The Ripper as though he were no longer afraid.

  “Norman? Is that you!?”

  What!?

  The Ripper didn’t respond. In fact, he actually looked away. For the first time since he had appeared, the god of Carrethen was actually acting as though he wasn’t all powerful. D on the other hand, was behaving like a fire had been lit under his feet.

  “Norman!?” he shouted again. “Is that you!?”

  Silence.

  “Answer me!”

  Was this really happening? Was it possible that D actually knew The Ripper? D always knew someone behind the scenes of the games we played—developers, coders, someone on the website development team, so in a way it made sense. But judging by his reaction, whoever this Norman fellow was, they did not get along.

  No one spoke. Alice still hung frozen in the air, and the rest of her guild stood still behind her. Finally, The Ripper turned around to face D.

  “Hello, Jane.”

  Jane!?

  “Wait—what!?” I stammered.

  “I knew you were a sicko,” D spat back. “But I never thought you were completely out of your mind.”

  “I’m the one that’s out of my mind!?” The Ripper roared. He sounded hurt, betrayed, like someone who’d been left behind by their friends. “You’re one to talk! You said you weren’t looking for a relationship, and then I find you with him!?”

  The Ripper pointed his hand at me and instantly, I was pulled towards him at top speed. His gauntlet closed around my throat and squeezed, preventing any sound from escaping my throat. His eyes were seething with hatred.

  “Let him go, Norman!” D growled. “Let—him—go!”

  “You’re in love with him,” he replied. He almost sounded like he was about to cry.

  “You’re insane!” D shouted back. “I’ve never even met him! He doesn’t even know that I’m—” D paused, turned to look at me. “That I’m a girl.”

  What!?

  “Bullshit!” The Ripper roared, dropping me to the ground like a piece of trash. “You’ve been gaming with him for two years and you’re telling me you’re just friends?”

  “You’re stalking me?” D replied. “How could you possibly know something like that? Are you spying on me somehow!?”

  “Stop dodging the question!” The Ripper bellowed.

  “I’m not dodging anything! I’m not in love with him! I’ve never even met him!”

  I lay there on the ground like I’d just been hit over the head by a Magnascar, trying to come to terms with the fact that D was actually a she.

  How could I have not known? I thought. But then—how could I?

  Instantly, I tried to look at my relationship with D through this new lens, trying to pick out any points in time that could have clued me into the fact that my best friend was a girl, but I only came up empty. The closest thing I could think of was D’s freak-out on me back at Fort Keth when I was dragging him—her across the wall before kicking her off the cliff.

  “You’re a liar,” The Ripper replied, looking at me with disdain as I picked myself up off the ground. “He’s no better than me!”

  “Is that what this is?” D asked, getting between me and The Ripper.

  Norman…

  “Some sort of show of your manliness? Are you trying to win me over or something? It’s never going to happen, Norman!”

  “I could protect you here…” The Ripper replied, his voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear him. “No one would be able to hurt you.”

  “This isn’t a game, Norman! People are dying because of you!”

  “Of course it’s not a game!” The Ripper screamed. If you could cry in Carrethen, he would have been bawling. “And that’s the point! This is my world, and no one can hurt me here. If you don’t want to come with me, fine! We’ll see how you feel after he’s dead!”

  The Ripper turned to me so fast I barely saw him move. He raised a hand at me like I’d seen him do back in the Catacombs when he massacred The Mercenaries.

  “No!” D shouted.

  This is really it, I thought as I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. You were right all along, D. We were never getting out of here.

  66

  A Big Adjustment

  Dying back at the Bandit Tower before The Ripper’s arrival was my only experience with death in Carrethen. Would I hear the rush of portal space before everything went black? Would my soul be whisked away into another realm of existence—the electronic void?

  D’s scream was somewhere in the background of my consciousness. My mind was quiet. Nothing mattered anymore. I’d done all I could, but there was nothing more I could do against a god.

  Here it comes, I thought.

  But it didn’t.

  In fact, nothing happened.

  Then, a sound like something tearing and I opened my eyes to see D and I were alone—aside from the frozen members of Bleed.

  The Ripper had gone.

  “What—” I stammered, almost unable to believe it. “Where did he go?”

  “Gone,” D said simply. “Now let’s get the Hell out of here before they unfreeze.”

  D didn’t wait, he just turned around and started running in the direction of the rest of our group.

  She! I reminded myself. She, she, she, she!

  I felt like my entire world had been turned upside down as we ran. Not only had I experienced a moment with The Ripper in which his humanity had been revealed, but I also learned that my best friend of two years was a girl, and I had been completely clueless.

  Also, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about it.

  I was never good with girls in the real world and had more gamer-girlfriends than real ones. In fact, I’d never even had a girlfriend.

  As
much as you try not to do it, you always end up flirting with the girls you game with. You buy them lootboxes or give them extra gold, or just try to do things for them like you would in real life. It’s just part of nature and being a guy. But my relationship with D had always been the exact opposite.

  D was always the one helping me out. Whether it was with items, knowledge she’d picked up from playing in Beta, or just being better than me 99 percent of the time and helping me get better. I guess maybe I’d been a bit sexist to just assume she was a he, but we’d never really asked each other many personal questions. In fact, I wasn’t even sure where D lived. All she’d ever said was somewhere on the East Coast.

  This is blowing my mind, I thought as we scattered a camp of Horngrin and came down towards the river.

  “Which way?” D shouted over her shoulder.

  “Jump across,” I told her. “And then head left. There’s a rock with a cave on the other side.”

  D easily leapt across the water and I followed. She let me take the lead and I retraced my steps towards the spot where I’d run into Cavey.

  “There it is,” I said, coming to a stop to point at the rock where Cavey’s hidden hideout was located.

  “Okay, let’s go,” D replied, taking a step forward.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said quickly, taking her by the arm. Her. It was a weird thing to say when the character standing in front of me was a lanky, dangerous-looking man. “Not so fast—Jane.”

  D sighed and hung her head. We’d never had an awkward moment together, but suddenly it felt like our entire relationship had changed.

  Would I ever be able to act the same around her again? Guys act differently around girls. That’s just how it is. It’s almost an instinct, and now, knowing now that D was a girl named Jane, a terrible thought came into my mind.

  How many embarrassing things have I said around her!? Please tell me I didn’t make any jokes about my dick!

  “I—I don’t even know what to say,” D replied, looking at her feet. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  “No, you don’t have to be sorry,” I said quickly. “I mean—it’s totally fine, don’t worry about that.”

  There you go already, I thought. I never would have apologized to the old D like that for simply saying something. But I was already starting to act differently, and when D looked up at me I could see she had noticed too.