Reborn evolution a litrp.., p.16
Reborn: Evolution: A LitRPG Series (Warlock Chronicles Book 2), page 16
“They’re over there!” David shouted, pointing in the direction of a crevice in one of the rocks.
Lokk looked closely and noticed some movement in it. This had to be the secret passage through which the Beiges entered the base.
“Lokk! What are you waiting for?!” Leshy’s voice rang out. “The vanguard is tired. Take your group and finish them off while the guard and the Werewolves run around from the opposite side to catch the stragglers.”
“Roger!”
***
The crevice.
He and five of his fastest allies encountered some serious resistance from the surviving Beiges. They had no more bronze weapons, but they fought no less fiercely. The rest of Lokk’s group was quick to arrive, gradually crowding the enemy and killing them with spears one by one.
Feeling that victory was imminent, Lokk rushed forward, swung his spear and...
...and he came face to face with her. Tall, slender, with a green braid adorned with spikes...
Willow
Faction: /
Level 39
After capturing their base, the Beige faction ceased to exist. Lokk froze with his spear raised to strike, and stared at the girl like an idiot.
“Hello,” was all he managed to say before he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
Since when did Cupid use stone daggers?
Chapter 15
Me and my Host
She woke up in the morning. The rays of the rising sun pierced through her half-closed eyelids and burned her sore eyes. The ground under her was cold and wet from the night’s rain, which had washed away the dried blood off the grass.
“Damn, I hope I didn’t catch a cold,” Susan whispered.
Her whole body seemed to ache. It didn’t just hurt, but burned like she had been torn apart and put back together again.
Vomiting... Foaming... The Pilgrim’s clawed limbs... It was all a blur.
Blood had stopped flowing long ago, and the wounds had begun to heal, but the pain... the pain didn’t go away.
She couldn’t get up on her own, so she lay in her own vomit for another two hours, twisting and cursing as waves of pain shot through her body.
Two hours later, the battered army returned to the base.
***
I hid the Werewolf’s corpse a couple of yards away from the base and, having tamed a small but sturdy bird, I spent the rest of the night sitting on a nearby pine tree, watching Susan, the only living thing in the midst of a field of dismembered corpses, guts, and dried blood.
I was relieved that I had managed to stop the Pilgrim from consuming Susan’s soul. She was yet to play her role in my plan.
Burgundies, who returned home victorious, found the base in a state of complete disarray. Leshy cursed fiercely, Chief ordered the place to be cleaned and the dead buried. The players healed their wounds and whispered among themselves as they tried to understand what had happened.
Clearing the base proved to be an extremely difficult task, and not because the people were squeamish (by now, the squeamish ones either died or learned to deal with the sight of blood and guts). The Werewolf corpses were thrown over the barricade, while the players were buried in the clearing near the base. The Pilgrim’s corpse turned out to be too heavy even for Jell. The numerous limbs got in the way of transport as they kept getting stuck on things and scratching people. Some were afraid that they might catch some infection or disease. Who knew what kind of poison its claws were coated with?
In the end, a special stretcher was built to carry the body. Those who were the least wounded were chosen to drag the corpse to the forest and throw it into the prepared bonfire. With an awful smelling pillar of smoke rising from its body, the Pilgrim was finally put to rest.
Several of the healers ran to assist Susan, bringing her to a relatively stable state with the help of numerous decoctions that Alchemist was happy to provide. With their help, she was soon able to get up on her bandaged legs and, leaning onto other players, make it to the nearest hut. Leshy joined her after a couple of minutes, on whose neck one very vindictive parasite had already taken its usual place.
“Things turned out to be a little bit more complicated than we thought,” Leshy began, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know how, but the Beiges got their hands on bronze weapons. Their players met us in that narrow passage... The fuckers! We lost seventeen players and thirty Werewolves. There were about forty of them even though we took care of most of them in the last skirmish. Fifteen of them managed to escape in the end.”
Leshy looked expectantly at Susan. She stared at the ceiling in silence.
“Susan, Lokk... Lokk died.”
“What?” the news brought her out of her daze.
“I’m sorry. They say that one of the Beiges used either a mental or physical skill to confuse his group and slow it down. When he was killed, our people were stunned and the Beiges ran away through a secret passage.”
“There’s a hell of a lot going on here,” Susan said, finally coming to her senses. “You’ve seen it yourself... A Pilgrim came running with one of the runaway wolves. All this? This is all their doing. The wolves that were in the base joined their brother and attacked us. I managed to lay low and take a dose of AO-1. From there on, it’s all a blur, but I know that I killed the Pilgrim and that one wolf managed to escape. It looked... strange. As if it had mutated. With a huge jaw like a crocodile’s. Some nasty shit, I tell you.”
“The Pilgrim and a wolf, you say?” Leshy muttered with a frown. “They deliberately attacked us?”
“Yes.”
“That’s very strange,” he said thoughtfully.
Initially, he thought that the Pilgrim was behind everything but the conversation with Graybeard made him doubt his theory and attribute the attacks to the Beige faction. For all he knew, they could’ve somehow managed to control both the Pilgrim and the Werewolves. But if that was true, then how was it possible that the beast attacked at exactly the same time that the Beiges were defending themselves? If they truly controlled the beasts, they would’ve used them to protect their base.
No, something wasn’t right here.
***
Despite the losses, the Burgundies were awarded for their victory. The biggest reward, perhaps, was the huge boost in development, which allowed the faction to jump a couple of levels and enter the Iron Age. The second was the unplanned transformation of the players. And the third was the end of a two-front war and the opportunity to attack the Grays with everything they had.
Bronze was malleable, and most of the weapons made with it were discarded or melted down after one battle. But iron, iron was much sturdier. Swords, maces, and armor will last for years (if necessary)! It’d turn most mobs into punching bags! And then there was machine production. Back on earth, humanity had only recently exited the Iron Age, entering (by some estimates) the Age of Polymers that was cut short by the disaster. But now, the Burgundies could not only continue from where humanity had left off, but go even further beyond. Who knew what kind of technologies were just waiting to be studied and discovered?
But such thoughts were for people like Alchemist or David. Leshy, on the other hand, kept himself grounded. He was a practical man, after all, not a dreamer. For him, iron meant more advanced weapons and tools of production. The first step was to strengthen the already powerful army. The second step was to make better hunting and farming gear, which would give the players more free time to train.
The system didn’t let the Werewolves down either. They had gone through the first change quite some time ago, acquiring anthropomorphic traits that increased their intelligence. After several, so to speak, incidents, the Burgundies realized that these creatures could be of use to them. Unfortunately for the Werewolves, with the advancement in weaponry, their usefulness began to decline. It was one thing to attack a low-level player without a weapon or shield, but quite another to attack an armored player with a weapon. Therefore, they had to be turned into weapon-wielding warriors if they wanted to continue being useful to the Burgundies. This was exactly what the Grays did with their Goblins, having put the maximum number of points into their intelligence at the very beginning.
As if by magic, all the Werewolves rose to their hind legs at once, only occasionally shifting their weight from one long leg to another. In addition to clarity, something new appeared in their minds — images, not yet full-fledged thoughts, expressed in words, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.
This was extremely bad news for me, as I’d now have a much tougher time taming them.
The Grays were now the Burgundy faction’s number one target. With all the bonuses and equipment they got, they could easily wipe the floor with us. But this required preparation. Namely, the search for iron and the production of new weapons. They were sure that we already had bronze, so Leshy didn’t want to risk attacking until they were sure that they had better weapons than us.
Soon, the Burgundy army would be marching through the rye fields around our base. They were strong, there was no denying that, but they weren’t invincible.
The first act of the show was over. The intermission was coming to an end.
It was time for the second act.
***
The state in which they found Susan was very similar to Leshy’s. He was now more than certain that someone had tried to poison him using AO-1. But why that drug? Why not any other poison? Why not a knife to the heart?
“So...” Leshy paced around the Mead Hall, saying his thoughts out loud to himself. “I’m being drugged... Good thing I ordered David to stay with me the previous night. But who could possibly be behind this? Either someone from the faction really doesn’t like me, or there’s an imposter among us. This someone is probably connected to the attacks as well. Whoever they are, they managed to take control of the wolves several times and strike a deal with the Pilgrim. Or even take control of it. They must’ve taken control of the White Pilgrims during the raid as well. I doubt it’s the old man, this wouldn’t be profitable for him... Aside from him, there’s only one more person I know who could do something like this — Loki.”
My heart skipped a beat and I found myself hiding deeper in his fur.
“But he’s dead,” Leshy continued. “I’m absolutely sure of it. There’s no way that he rose from the dead. Someone with a very similar set of skills as him is working against us. But who?”
***
The situation was starting to get out of control. Leshy had almost figured me out. Had he known about Evacuation, I would’ve been fucked. Thank God that he had no clue that such a thing as resurrection was possible. Still, I wasn’t out of the woods just yet. He’d be more careful from now on. One day, he’d scratch his neck and fish out a very odd-looking mosquito. Without a second thought, he’d swat it and end me for the second time.
More bad news, for me that is, was that the Connection was now at forty-five percent. My plan to control him via my parasitic skills had been thrown down the drain. Fortunately, I had a plan B. It was risky, but I was out of options and had to act quickly.
Within an hour, all of Leshy’s men were searching all the buildings and the corners of the base. After a lot of thinking, Leshy concluded that whoever was working against them was unlikely to be a member of the faction. First of all, the oddities began only after he had returned to the base. And second, the Valley wasn’t far from the base, but it wasn’t close either. And third, all of them were accounted for during the raid — eighty of them were at the Beige base (he had counted himself), and twenty of them, accounted for by Susan, were sitting back home and waiting for them. So who could’ve led the Gray Pilgrim to the base? Only an outsider.
But whoever they were, they hadn’t made an HQ at the base. Determined to find the culprit, Leshy sent his men to check the nearby area.
After several hours of walking around the base, the group reached the lake located next to the Mound. It was then that I noticed how weird it was that the water was crystal-clear even though the lake had no river or springs bringing in clean water. It probably drew water from an underground source, like one of the many rivers I had heard murmuring in the Hall.
That’s right! The Hall!
“Take five, boys,” Leshy said.
The players, taking their Werewolves with them, scattered around the lake to stretch their tired legs and enjoy the fading warmth of autumn. Leshy decided to take a walk. He had a lot to think about.
I was shaking with anticipation. My head was buzzing with all sorts of ideas.
Finally, I smiled. Or rather, I tried to. Insects weren’t really the most expressional of beings. Which was a pity.
***
The forest. Tall pines towered above us, piercing the fluffy clouds that were hanging very low today. In the crown of one of the trees, you could spot a saber-toothed squirrel, diligently gnawing on some pine nuts.
A second later, obeying my suggestion, the squirrel jumped right at Leshy.
Jumping back, Leshy was about to catch the rodent, but the bastard ran off, squeaking mischievously. Grunting, Leshy waved his hand, giving up the chase. The squirrel suddenly stopped and turned to him, waving its hand as if beckoning him to follow it.
Intrigued, Leshy followed to a slab overgrown with moss and adorned with faded symbols. Leshy looked at it in amazement, trying to figure out what these hieroglyphs meant, but, like me, he could only guess. The squirrel jumped on the shoulder of a symbol that looked vaguely human-like, invitingly wagging its tail and beckoning Leshy to come closer.
The player shrugged and bent down to the squirrel, handing it a pinecone. Instead of taking the treat, the rodent bit his finger, making Leshy swing his other fist to smash the squirrel’s skull. But the drop of blood that slid from his finger onto the slab had already activated the mechanism. At the last moment, the squirrel jumped to the side, and Leshy, with a cry, fell through the ground.
***
“You bastard!” Leshy whispered angrily, lying on his back and looking up to where the squirrel was peeking down the small opening in the ceiling.
The squirrel flipped him off (as much as it could with its tiny hands and fingers) and disappeared from sight, leaving the enraged Leshy all alone.
Looking around, Leshy realized that there was no way that he could climb the steep stone walls. There was no point in calling for help either: his team was about a mile away from the slab so they wouldn’t hear him. That, and he also didn’t want to give away his presence. Only God knew what kind of beasts lurked in the dark.
He had no choice but to walk along the corridor that looked as it had been carved in stone by someone long ago. He walked cautiously, constantly listening and looking back. The strange signs that were painted on the walls intrigued him, making him pause here and there to get a better look at some of them.
Following the symbols, he ended up in the Hall that greeted him with the light of its magic torches. Walking slowly, Leshy stopped at each of the Hall’s still residents to observe their unusual appearance. But when he came to the fifteenth monument the red carpet that ran between the two rows of statues suddenly flew up. An invisible force threw him several feet away, revealing a metal circle located in the center of the Hall.
The circle suddenly turned blue, and the keyhole in its center shone even more brightly. Appearing in the air above it was a translucent image of a huge curved key. All this was accompanied by the strained mechanical hum of devices hidden under the old stone.
Astonished, Leshy looked at his third hand, which tightly gripped a metal object covered in curved lines. The trinket, Alastor’s favorite toy, was drawn to the image of the key like a magnet. An invisible force pulled at it, trying to yank it out of Leshy’s hand. When he finally released the fragment, it immediately flew over to the image, freezing somewhere in the area of the key’s handle.
This went on for a minute, then the hum subsided and the blue glow abruptly stopped. The image disappeared, and the piece fell to the ground with a clatter that echoed throughout the Hall.
After standing there for a while and thinking about what just happened, Leshy continued to wander around, while I carefully detached from him, and, trying to remain unnoticed, hurried to the altar.
I had to prepare the stage for the main actor.
***
Leshy paused at the last monument, carefully examining the statue of a man, and then looked down at the plaque on the pedestal.
“Hm, it’s like the Rosetta stone...” he mumbled as he leaned down.
Name: Homo Sapiens
Homeland: Milky Way, Solar System, Earth
When he was done with the statues, Leshy climbed a low staircase and found himself in front of a pile of stones on which a ten-pointed star was drawn in red paint.
Connection: 45%
Casting a brief glance at the pile of gnawed bones lying near the altar, Leshy focused on the unusual stone pile and jumped back. Black smoke rose from the rocks, though he saw no fire.
“What is it this time?” he wondered as he took a few steps back and prepared himself for a possible attack.
A yellow symbol flashed directly over the ten-pointed star, visible even through the thick curtain of smoke. An equilateral triangle, in the center of which was a square, with two perpendicular lines in the center. From the darkness behind the symbol, emerged the outline of a tall, anthropomorphic figure in a hooded cloak, glowing eyes peeking out from under it.
“Leshy, servant of the Burgundies,” it spoke in a thundering tone, “are you ready to give up your soul?”
Leshy, taken aback by the strangeness of this entire scene, luckily had enough wits about him to not freeze up completely.
“Mental Attack!” I mentally activated the ability.
After all the XP, points, and levels (most of which went into my ESP abilities) I gained after killing the Burgundies, I could now only pray that the skill, coupled with the forty-five percent Connection, would allow me to finally get into his head.
Unfortunately, three levels, three walls, at first glance unbreakable, protected his mind. However, in a few moments, they started to shake. The first wall shattered, and the second collapsed like a house of cards. Invisible forces rushed to the third, the thickest and tallest. They slammed into it with full force and cracked it. The next attack made an impressive dent. The fourth one finally broke through the wall, allowing the invisible forces to get inside.
