Terramyr Online: The Undiscovered Country: A LitRPG Adventure Page 43

  “My base programming?” Brian joked.

  Freya frowned. “I was going to say your core. You are a kind soul, deep behind that armor you wear.”

  He scoffed. “I don’t think I would be here if all my friends were safe,” Brian said.

  Freya squeezed his hand. “You would. I know it. Somewhere, deep inside your soul, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you let Rored have his way with Prirodha. And besides, even if you could live with that, there would always be the chance that Rored could use these portals to come to your world.”

  Brian ceded the point. “That I would not allow,” he said flatly.

  “Precisely my point,” Freya said. She leaned close and kissed his cheek.

  They sat silently for the next fifteen minutes before Mike appeared back at the save point. He looked around and saw the guards, but Brian was quick to call out to him and calm him down.

  “They saw you all leave and thought you might return with invaders,” Brian said. “I have told them the portals to our homeland are peaceful. That the portals made by the builders before us will help us in the fight against Rored.”

  Mike glanced warily from Brian to the guards.

  Come on, Mike. Don’t be dumb.

  Mike nodded after a moment. “We mean none of you harm,” he said. “We do depend on these portals though.”

  Hagatha stepped forward. “If you will stay behind, then we will let him go,” she said, pointing to Brian.

  Mike nodded and moved to sit on the bench. Atheron moved closer to him and sat nearby, but the two said nothing.

  Brian quickly relayed everything he had told Hagatha about the portals, and then he exited the game after updating his save file.

  Once free of the VR connection, Brian noticed that all the others had logged back into the game. He’d need to be fast to avoid holding up the group. He first made a stop at the toilet. Next, he tore into an emergency MRE and ate the meal as quickly as he could, washing down every tobasco-drenched bite with a hefty amount of water.

  He spent a total of ten minutes out of game, glancing to his headset every few seconds, worried it might explode or something if the save point went down with him on the outside. He found he was more worried about being trapped out of Prirohda than he had been about being stuck inside. He wasn’t about to admit that Freya might have been right about him, but the thought of not helping the others pushed him to wolf down the meager meal as quickly as he could.

  Knowing it would be some time before he’d come back out of the game, he rushed to the bathroom once more to rinse his mouth, splash some water on his face, and ensure his bladder was as empty as it could be. He changed into fresh clothes and then sat back in his chair. Taking the VR headset in his hands, he paused, staring at the equipment for a few seconds and trying to make sense of it all. Before his mind had really settled on any sort of rational explanation for everything he and the others had been a part of, his hands moved toward his head and secured the equipment into place. He felt a quick rush as the connection was made. His senses dulled for a moment, and then once the connection was fully established he saw the main user interface.

  [CONTINUE?]

  Brian confirmed his decision and moved back into the game. He found Rhonda, Mike, Augustin, and Chris waiting for him in the library. Hagatha and the guards were still there, but from the look of the light in the room it was now the next day in game.

  Hagatha eyed him for a moment and then gestured for him and the players to leave the library. The guards stayed in the room, however, which unnerved Brian a bit.

  “You won’t try to destroy it, will you?” Brian asked.

  Hagatha shook her head. “Not unless someone other than you six tries to come out of it.” Her stare told Brian she was fishing for a reaction. His confident smile and quick agreement to the idea must have been the right move, because Hagatha smiled back and seemed much more relaxed. “And of course, if Rored comes here for the portal we will stop him.”

  The group walked outside and were met by seven warriors. The leader was the other woman that Brian had met with Hagatha when they first arrived at Bielshire. Her name was Sonji. She was Hagatha’s cousin, but she’d apparently been raised in Hagatha’s home from the age of six, so they were more like sisters. It made sense that she would be the one escorting them. Brian would have to take special care to ensure Sonji’s survival. He didn’t doubt her fighting abilities, but he didn’t want to take any chances of incurring Hagatha’s wrath and losing the save point.

  “Sonji will take you to the mountains where the frost giants have their lairs. If possible, she will help you slay the yeti king,” Hagatha said. “The other warriors with her will follow her commands exactly. They are well trained, and seasoned explorers of the area. Stick close to them, and your chances of survival will be much better than venturing out on your own.”

  They left the city quickly, stopping outside the main gate just long enough to retrieve Pan and his three bodyguards. They were found in one of the stone houses drinking the last of the wine. Pan was playing his aulos while his three bodyguards danced around the room.

  When Pan saw Brian and Rhonda he stopped playing and jumped up from the table.

  “Ah, my sweet! I knew you wouldn’t leave me here forever!”

  “I am not your sweet,” Rhonda said.

  Pan frowned. “How long do you intend to play difficult?”

  Rhonda sighed and turned around to leave the house.

  Pointing at her, Pan looked to Brian. “Does that mean I’m wearing her down?”

  Brian snickered and shook his head. “I think it means you’re wearing her out.”

  Pan grinned just a little from the corner of his mouth. “Is that the same thing? Because I can work with that.”

  “No, no it’s not,” Brian said. “It means she tires of you.”

  Pan wrinkled his nose. “Preposterous. How could she be tired of me?” He put away the instrument and clapped his hands. The bodyguards stopped dancing and moved to pick up their weapons from the table where they had left them. Pan and Brian walked out together, and Pan bleated softly. Brian turned to see him staring at Sonji. “Well, if she thinks she is tired of me, then perhaps I should give someone else a turn,” he said. “I’ve never kissed a blonde woman before.”

  “I wouldn’t try it,” Brian said.

  “Well of course you wouldn’t,” Pan said. “I mean, look at you, how much could you really have to offer a woman anyway?”

  Brian snorted and started to tell Pan that he’d likely get stabbed trying to kiss Sonji, but he decided to keep his warning to himself. Let the goat get stabbed. Maybe he’ll shut up then. Honestly, he makes Barry’s bragging seem pleasant by comparison. Brian only got two steps away when a pang of guilt slapped him. Barry was essentially dead, after all.

  Pan sauntered over to Sonji and smiled wide.

  “We have eleven rhiquin,” he said with a sweep of his hand. “I’ll let you ride mine with me. Perhaps... we can get to know each other on the journey.”

  “What happened to me being his sweet?” Rhonda asked.

  Brian shrugged. “He said he’d let Sonji have a turn while you continued playing hard to get, or something like that.” He turned back to her and smiled. “Why, you jealous?”

  Rhonda laughed and shook her head. “Oh no, I’m just fine with it. Sonji will probably cut his head off though if he tries to put the moves on her.”

  “I’ve decided I can live with that,” Brian replied.

  “Come, ride with me,” Pan insisted after Sonji didn’t respond to his first offer.

  “I make it a habit not to consort with goats,” Sonji said.

  “Ah, but have you ever consorted with a satyr?” Pan said as he puffed out his chest and made a dramatic gesture to highlight his figure.

  “I’d rather spend an evening kissing a hist rose,” she said.

  Brian laughed.

  “What is a hist rose?” Rhonda whispered, leaning in clo
se.

  “Looks like a flower, but instead is a deadly parasite that bites, releases a paralytic, and then sucks you dry,” Brian replied, not wanting to draw Sonji’s attention.

  Pan had heard Brian’s laugh though and glanced back to him and flicked his ears. He then rushed in and puckered his lips at Sonji. The warrior grabbed his jaw, pushing his mouth shut with her left hand, punched his stomach with her right, then twisted sharply to throw the satyr face-first into the snow.

  The three bodyguards pulled their bardiches and started to charge, but seven Fang warriors pulled bows and had them trained on the bodyguards well before they could ever get within striking distance.

  Pan slapped the snowy ground with his right hand and then pushed up to his knees. “That was an interesting mating ritual you have,” he said. “I have decided I do not find it pleasurable. I will seek company with someone else.”

  Pan stood up, brushed himself off, and looked to his bodyguards with mock surprise on his face. “Haven’t you ever seen the Bielshire mating ritual before?” he asked. “That’s how the women here show their affection sometimes. Nothing to worry about.” He clapped his hands twice and the bardiches were put away.

  Mike and Augustin could barely keep themselves from laughing, and Chris just sat atop his rhiquin, watching the whole thing with seeming disinterest.

  “My sweet,” Pan started as he walked toward Rhonda. “It appears that—”

  Rhonda shook her head and cut him off. “I was going to ride with Krestin,” she said. “Perhaps you could ride with one of your bodyguards. After all, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you while Sonji leads us to the frost giants.”

  Krestin didn’t miss a beat. He approached immediately and helped Rhonda atop her mount, then joined her. Brian moved to his rhiquin and found Freya waiting for him

  “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not ride with a satyr either.”

  When all of the rhiquin were mounted, the Fangs doubled up with each other. The players each had their companions—except Augustin; Pan rode with a bodyguard; and the other two bodyguards rode on the last rhiquin.

  Once everyone was ready, they charged the rhiquin westward, skirting along the southern slopes of jagged, snowcapped granite peaks that towered above them. Sonji didn’t seem as concerned with how safe the path was. She and her warriors took point, slaying arctic sabretooth tigers with their arrows and galloping onward to leave the bodies in the snow.

  The gamer in Brian had a hard time not stopping to loot each corpse, but this was no longer a game of pleasure. He was eager to get to the yeti king and move the quest along to the game’s end. The sooner they were all safe, the better. Fortunately, Little Man happily munched on a downed animal here and there, which would harvest some of the meat and hide if Rhonda cared to interface with the animal’s inventory. The wolf was a spectacle to watch running across the snow though, his stark black and blue fur and green spikes contrasting sharply against the bright white snow. He would sprint out ahead of the rhiquin on occasion, then circle back and run alongside Rhonda’s mount. He never strayed so far from her that he couldn’t be back to her within two or three seconds though—an ever-watchful guardian. Brian was sure they were going to need it.

  They traveled two hundred and ten in-game miles over the space of ten real life minutes. Other than the seven arctic sabretooth tigers, no animals came close to the rhiquin thanks to their supersonic defense.

  Sonji stopped the group at the base of a particularly tall mountain and pointed to the top.

  “This is the last set of caves we have to explore,” she said. “The entrance is near the top, but it will be too steep for the rhiquin. We should go on foot.”

  “I’ll see about that,” Chris said. He urged his mount up the base of the mountain, but only made it a few hundred feet up before the animal slid down several yards.

  “Half-orcs,” Sonji muttered softly.

  Brian dismounted and reached up to help Freya down before gathering with the rest of the group.

  “Come down from there,” Sonji called out.

  Chris ignored her and charged up another way. Again, the rhiquin slipped. After a few more embarrassingly unsuccessful attempts, Chris turned the rhiquin around and joined the group on foot.

  “Have fun?” Mike asked.

  Chris shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

  Sonji shook her head. “Actually no, it wasn’t. Even if you could get the rhiquin to the top, their supersonic defensive sound would have alerted the giants to our presence. We’d be ambushed well before we reached the cave’s entrance. If you had waited two more seconds, I would have told you that sooner.”

  Brian smirked, imagining Chris blushing behind his black mask.

  “We should go up in three groups,” Sonji said. “You don’t want to hunt giants by huddling together in one group. It would make us easy targets.”

  Brian turned and looked at the others. They were an eclectic bunch to be sure. Together they were formidable, but deciding how best to split them up would be slightly challenging. “Freya and I can go with Sonji,” Brian said. “Maybe Rhonda and Krestin should come with us as well.”

  Mike piped up next. “I can take Pan and his three bodyguards.”

  Sonji shook her head. “No.” She looked at Brian. “You should take Freya, Pan, and his bodyguards. Then I’ll take three of my warriors and join Kolvurin and Atheron.” She pointed to Mike and his mercenary. “The rest of the Fangs will join Zaglug, Shuggra, Demetrius, Sylendra, and Krestin,” she said gesturing to Chris, Rhonda, and Augustin. “That is two groups of six and one of eight.”

  Brian nodded. “Very well.”

  His group marched up the slope. The climb on foot wasn’t nearly as difficult as the rhiquin had made it seem. Of course, that was likely more to do with the fact they were scaling a snowy mountain using game physics, but it was still nice not to worry about thinning oxygen, plummeting temperatures, or slipping and falling down the treacherous mountainside. That said, there were steep patches that couldn’t simply be walked over or ascended by jumping. Brian had to find a way around a sheer rock face and a deep pile of shale at its base.

  Pan attempted to scale the rocky slope, but even he hit a sticking point and had to slide down to the shale pile. Brian picked his way around to the left and led his group upward.

  Off to his right about two hundred feet, Rhonda and her group were already much higher. Rhonda was even stopping along a point of rock set in a nearly-impossible-to-reach position to forage a strange red bush that had black berries on it.

  Leave it to Rhonda to pick berries while hunting giants.

  Brian’s path took him farther away from the other two groups, leading him around toward the western side of the mountain. The wind was harsher here, and the snow started to flurry around them as they reached the western side. Pan mumbled something about the snow being less pleasant than he had hoped, but Brian ignored the satyr and moved onward, keeping his eyes fixed on the summit a few thousand feet above him still.

  The wind grew so loud that it was hard to hear his own voice when he called back to check on the rest of his group. “Everyone still with me?” he asked.

  “My rate is going up,” Pan yelled over the howling wind. “I think ninety percent of the loot is a good price for this particular climb.”

  Brian shrugged. “Feel free to wait at the bottom then,” he said.

  Pan stopped climbing and turned around to look downward. “I just might do that,” he said. “After all, why climb a mountain to fight giants when I could lounge on the back of a rhiquin and wait for you to bring the gold to me?”

  “It’s a good point,” Brian said. “Go ahead and go back down. Giants can smell fear anyway. Too bad though, I heard Sonji was just starting to like you for your bravery.”

  Freya laughed, quickly masking the noise with a cough as Pan spun around and sprinted to catch up with Brian, stopping just in front of him and poking a furry finger in his chest.

&nbs
p; “If Sonji likes courage, then she will love me yet! I am the most courageous satyr that ever lived!” He turned to his bodyguards. “Isn’t that right?”

  The bodyguards all glanced to each other and then gave halfhearted nods.

  “Well, then I guess you’ll have to climb the whole mountain and show her you can find the cave,” Brian said.

  Pan nodded. “Well of course I must, and I shall.” He turned around to face the trail and took in a big breath. “Up we go! Follow mighty Pan, he knows the way. Pan will keep you all safe. Never fear.”

  “How did you know that would work?” Freya asked after they let the bodyguards get ahead of them.

  Brian shrugged. “I figured the only thing he talks about more than wine or money is... women.”

  Freya laughed again, the sound drowning quickly in the roaring wind. “You’re a shrewd man.”

  “We need all the help we can get.” Brian shrugged. “Pan might be useless, but his bodyguards appear to be good warriors, and they go where he goes.”

  They continued up the mountain, winding their way around toward the northern face. A long, low horn sounded over the wind, and a dark shadow fell over them. Brian looked down at the shadow. It was a round shape, but it seemed to be getting smaller with each passing second. It started out big enough to cover the whole group, but then retracted, almost as if some kind of a trap was closing around them. A moment later Brian realized what it was.

  “Boulder!” Brian shouted. He turned and grabbed Freya, jumping behind an outcropping of rock. Pan and the other satyrs leapt in all directions as a massive boulder slammed into the trail where they had all been only a moment before. Equipping his assassin armor, he rushed out from the rock outcropping and up the hill.

  Through the blustering wind and driving snow he could see a form about twenty feet tall bending over and grabbing a great hunk of stone from the side of the mountain. Brian entered sneak mode since the giant had his back to him and scurried up the mountainside.