Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure (27 page)

“Shit!” he yelled as more knives came aim towards his head. 
He lifted his shield and yelled, “Rondo, you fucking spam!”

Rondo had moved a considerable distance from Sam and had his
stolen Soul Fire in hand.

“Shit!  No you don’t, you cheap asshole!”

Sam quickly equipped his bow and lined up a quick shot.

“Come on, come on, come on!  Don’t miss, don’t miss, don’t
miss!” Sam offered up his prayer to the gods of fortune and loosed his arrow. 
He watched its trajectory and silently cheered when it found Rondo’s eye
socket.  The malevolent Cutthroat fell to the ground, dropping his ill-gotten container
to the ground next to him.  The ghostly Soul Fire spilled out of its container
and covered the ground in a brief azure glow before fading out completely.  The
silver container was left barren and began to slowly crack and wither away into
dust.  Rondo began to fade away as well.

“This can’t be ... all because of ... his family ... never liked
killing ... children.  Can you really ... call me evil?”

Rondo faded away completely leaving Sam with his soul mist
which engulfed him and increased his soul count by five thousand.  He also left
Sam with a unit of solid Quintessence and a glowing black orb had floated where
he had died.  It looked like some kind of spirit.  Sam quickly went over to
pick it up and gained all of the gear that Rondo had previously equipped.  He
didn’t have time to read it all, because he wanted to get over to the king as
soon as possible.

The king and Caesar still looked to be in a deadlock.  They
were both breathing hard and looked heavily damaged.  The king’s armor was
dented all over, bloodied, and sliced open in more than a few places.  Sam
could now see Caesar’s pale flesh as his armor was also riddled with many more
large cuts and gaping holes thanks to his reckless style of fighting.  Both
combatants swung their massive swords in one hand and clashed blades.  They
pushed forth in a test of strength with neither gaining an advantage.

“Your skills, they are better than my soldiers’, murderer. 
I am impressed.  You can take that to your grave at least,” said King Herke.

“I am not impressed by you old man.  Is this all you can
muster?” goaded Caesar.

The king took the challenge to heart and came at Caesar with
overwhelming force.  He bludgeoned through Caesar’s single sword defenses with
a series of brutal overhead two-handed strikes that Sam knew he himself could
not block.  Caesar backed away from the king’s fury and fell to one knee.

“You sealed your fate when you associated yourself with that
devil Rondo, though your deeds were enough to ensure you’d meet your end by my
sword.”

Caesar lifted his sword to block as the king swung his sword
downwards.  Caesar displayed a crazy level of strength when his sword block
slowed the king’s finishing blow down enough so that he avoided being split in
half.  The blow had only managed to split Caesar’s vulture skull helm in half.

Blood flowed down Caesar’s face from the top of his head and
he looked up at the king with the same icy blue eyes and a look of pure hatred
on his face.  The king looked surprised and for the first time scared.  Sam
wondered if the last blow had tired him out too much and put him at a
disadvantage.  He got his Rapier out and ran towards the pair.  Something was
off.  For some reason the king looked completely stunned in place.  Did Caesar
activate some kind of Spellcrafte with his stare?

“My boy ... you—”

Caesar pushed the king’s sword aside and knocked him
backwards as he rose up to his feet.  He brought his sword down across King
Herke’s left shoulder, chest, stomach, and right side.  The king’s blood
spilled forth as he fell backwards to the ground and landed on his back.  His
crown fell off and rolled to the side and the once mighty king looked up at
Caesar, tears in his eyes, and held his hands up into the air longingly.

“My boy ... my heir ... my little king ... Caesar,” the king
said as he faded away into a white mist that was absorbed by Caesar.

Sam couldn’t believe what he had just seen or what he had
just heard.  The whole situation was fucked up.  Sam healed up with his Soul
Fire and walked up to the madman.  Despite Caesar’s overwhelming power, Sam
knew he was on his last legs thanks to the king’s valiant efforts.  All he
wanted now was an explanation of what had just occurred.

“Caesar!” Sam yelled.  The bloodied blood knight didn’t even
acknowledge him.  “What the hell happened here, Caesar?  What did the king
mean?”

Caesar stared at the spot where Herke had fallen.  Now that
Sam was this close, he saw it.  Caesar’s brow, the way his jaw was set, the
blue of his eyes and the harshness in them and even his fierce expression had
all strongly resembled King Herke’s.

“Regrettable.  It was all truly regrettable,” offered
Caesar.  Sam didn’t know what was going through the man’s mind, but he wanted
to make sure he knew what had happened before he moved on.  What surprised Sam
was that Caesar honestly seemed to be grieving.

“Why were you friends with, Rondo?  If you are who I think
you are then he killed you, did he not?” Sam asked.

When Caesar finally turned his attention to Sam, he looked
disgusted.  Sam could suddenly feel waves of fury emanating from him.

“No!  Rondo killed my little bastard brother, Philoke and
his baseborn whore of a mother,” he spat at Sam.

“So you were the one that the king shipped off to this
place, makes sense.”

“I WAS THE REAL HEIR!  IT WAS I, WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE
NEXT KING OF ASCHELUND, NOT HIM!” yelled Caesar who was now practically foaming
at the mouth.  “I WAS CHEATED, BY THIS LUDICROUS CURSE, BY THOSE DETESTABLE
NOBLES, AND BY MY PITIFUL FATHER WHOM I HAVE JUST SLAIN!”  He began laughing so
hard that his whole body shook.  “Yes, I have killed that fool.  The look in his
eyes when he saw me was so priceless, so worth the patience I have endured for
so long in this place.  Even better was the look he had when he knew his death
was approaching.  Oh the feeling of my greatsword cutting through his flesh! 
There has never been a better feeling.  What gorgeous art I had created with
his body, with a slash that opened him up for the maggots!  How I wish that he
was here now so that I may do it again and hang him up when I am done.  His
body would have been worth more than his wretched soul,” he said with a
rapturous whisper.

“Ooph!” he wheezed as he looked down at the thin blade
protruding out of his chest.  His blood cascaded down his armor and dripped
down to the ground from his armored faulds.

“Your joy doesn’t compare to what I feel right now gutting
you, you sick fuck.  Now, go rot in hell, where you belong,” Sam hissed into
Caesar’s ear.  “And tell all the demons and devils that Sarem sent you.”

He kicked Caesar off of his blade and watched him writhe on
the ground until he eventually faded away into a cloud of white mist that was
absorbed into Sam’s digital body.  Sam’s soul count had increased by ten
thousand and he was given a unit of solid Quintessence.

“Justice has been met.  In honor of the king.”  Sam bowed
and picked up the floating black orb that Caesar had left behind, which
contained his weapon and armor.  “Now, let’s get the hell out of this place.”

29
Special Announcements

“Way to go, Sam!” Alex cheered quietly to herself as she
watched Sam finish off Caesar on her monitor.  Sam’s victory over him and Rondo
and his subsequent completion of King Herke’s questline was an extremely
impressive feat.  It was even more impressive that he had managed it in
Survival Mode.  The other testers had largely decided to proceed forward
slowly.  Most of them were still grinding souls and leveling themselves, their
weapons, and their armors, but Sam was actually ready for the next area of the
game.

IMMORtAL_Kalika and SwordWrenchMan had done all this before
Survival Mode was active and Justinian89Thrills had completed the quest early
by killing the king.  Regal Deego had yet to finish.  She was glad that she
decided to stay up for the extra hour to see it.  The fatigue did finally seem
to be getting to her though.  She could barely keep her eyes fully open after
her latest cup of coffee.

It was strange though, there was a brief shift in Sam’s
brain patterns as he watched King Herke get killed by Caesar.  There was some
sort of attachment there and a real feeling of loss when the king was killed. 
It wasn’t strange for players to be so immersed in the game that they get
attached to characters, but the extreme spectrum of feelings that Sam was
feeling was abnormal.

She saw intense rage, melancholy, vindictiveness, and joy
when he vanquished Caesar.  Of course, it all made sense considering what he
had dealt with in the last few hours.  He’d been betrayed and thanks to Milner,
he ended up killing his best friend.  There was no way that Sam was in a stable
mental state right now, and her data was screaming at her, that that was the
case.  She only hoped that his mental state would stabilize soon, for his sake.

She looked around and saw Milner enter the room once again
with Stephen at his side.  He had been recording himself and projecting his
image into the games of all the testers, talking to them, and apparently
motivating them like he had done for Sam and her other testers Jake and Dan. 
The only place he could do that was in the Scan Room.  She had no clue what
technological voodoo he pulled to get that thing working as smoothly as it did,
but she had to admit that it was impressive.

It didn’t require any further rendering from the programmers
whatsoever.  They were all focused on the shit-show that was Phase 2.  Milner
wouldn’t be impressed by Sam’s results in the least.  He would be more so
looking for a perfect run from Sam, meaning that the fact that Sam wasn’t able
to keep King Herke alive or kill both Caesar and Rondo effortlessly would be
held against him.  The man’s standards were impossible to achieve and it made
her really fear for everyone involved in his test.

Milner and Stephen walked past her talking ardently.  She
caught them saying something about the bodies of the testers.

“They’re already dead, but we tapped them again as a
precaution.  A standard procedure,” Stephen said with a grimace on his face.

She stood up to hear them better, but continued to stare at
her monitors so that she appeared less conspicuous.

“I know all about your procedure, but it’s not good enough. 
I need those bodies burned,” explained Milner.

“Listen, I saw to the preparations myself.  Those rounds
have been mixed and dipped to produce effects that are highly concentrated.  Believe
me when I say, nothing’s getting up after we’re done with it.  Remember, my
people have been doing this for a very long time.”

“Yes, centuries apparently, but you all have also had the
nasty habit of putting your belief in God for as long as you’ve been active. 
Blame the scientist in me, but I just don’t leave anything to divine
intervention.  Now, take all those bodies that you’ve tapped and burn them. 
The disposal facility is below.  Alphonse will show you.  Speak of the young
devil.”

They stopped halfway up the aisle and waited for the young
man coming from the doorway.  The boy looked fresh out of high school with a
shock of blond hair atop his head and thick rimmed glasses on his face.  Alex
couldn’t help but to stare at him as he walked by, taking note of his barely
visible face freckles, light brown eyes, and of how nicely he was dressed in
his grey micro check suit sans blazer.

“Alphonse, I need you to show Stephen here where the
disposal facility is.”

“The incinerator, sir?” asked the young man.

“Yes, what else would I be referring to?” replied Milner
with snark.

“You had a freaking incinerator installed in this building?”
asked Stephen incredulously.  “I can’t imagine why you’d even think you’d need
that.”

Hearing them talk made Alex more and more nauseated.  They
were sick, all of them.  Especially Milner.

“It was already here.  It’s the reason I picked this
particular building.”

“I see.  You really are a sick freak, you know that?” said
Stephen with overt disgust in his tone.  It was the first thing he got right as
far as Alex was concerned.

“I prefer to think of myself as someone who thinks ahead and
plans accordingly.  Now go, both of you.  I need you to do this as quickly as
possible.”

“Before I go sir, I came to tell you that no one has
reported any of the testers missing as of yet.  Their vehicles and mobile
devices have also been disposed of.  Everyone was shuttled over from facility A
so that’s their last known location as far as GPS tracking is concerned,” said
Alphonse.

“And what’s the status of that facility?” asked Milner.

“It’s set to be destroyed at your command, sir.”

Destroyed?  Just who the hell were these people?  Who was
footing the bill for all this?  And why?

Wait
, she thought,
that’s probably the same
facility they had us shuttled from as well
.

The only reason they’d want to destroy anything would be to
cover the whole situation up.  Friends, loved ones, and other curious minds
would come looking for all of the testers and other people working on the
project once that happened.

Even if he blew up that building, it was to be only a
matter of time before the authorities would check this building next
. 
They
have satellite imagery for goodness sakes!  They can stop this madman as long
as we can buy some time for them to find us.

“Good, keep me updated of any reports of missing testers or
staff.  You two can proceed now.”

Stephen followed behind Alphonse, grumbling as he went.  On
his way out, he made a show of staring at Alex menacingly and threatened, “You
better forget everything you just heard, girl.”

She gave him one cursory glance and continued to watch her
monitors.

“You should listen to him, Ms. Madura.  Learning too much
about our operations may prove dangerous.  You just want to continue playing
your role.”

Alex took her eyes from her monitors and gave Milner a stare
filled with ice.

“Maybe you guys should just have your conversations outside
then so that I can’t accidently hear them.”

“I’m not concerned with you hearing me.  It’s what you do
with that information that concerns me.  Remember what you signed up for and
the consequences for breaking our pact,” said Milner.

Alex nodded her head, thinking of Randy, and went back to
staring at her monitors.

“I do want you to hear what I say next, so pay attention
please.”

She watched him go to the center of the room as one of the
other armed guards with a mask joined him from the front.

“May I have your attention, please?” Milner yelled.

All of the voice chatter from around the room died down and
everyone stood up and focused on him.

“We are nearing the moment when the time released second
area of this alpha build is accessible to each of the testers.  We will soon be
unlocking the Stone Lands, to the south of the Assassin’s Forest.  I would like
you to communicate this with all of your testers, but do not tell them anything
else about the area, not even its name. 

“Keep in mind the penalties for revealing this information
to them.  Soon after that, we’ll be allotting breaks
en masse
.  All of
you who have worked more than fifteen hours straight will be escorted to a
resting area where you will be able to sleep for as long as you need.  There is
also a cafe that many of you already know about.  During your resting period,
we will have other staff members take your places as consorts to the testers.”

He looked around the room at all the faces of the worried developers,
including Alex’s.  She knew that there would come a time when the testers would
have to move along to other areas of the game, but to do so now when many had
just had their morale shattered would just ensure the deaths of a great many of
them.  She didn’t think that they were ready especially with all the challenges
that were presented in the Stone Lands.  She also didn’t think it was fair that
their most trusted lifelines would be out resting while they were off to this
new area.  Feeling suddenly hot, she stood up and raised her hand.

“Sir, when will the Stone Lands be open to the players?”

Milner looked right at her, blankly.

“Soon.”

That wasn’t at all what she needed.

“Are these breaks of ours mandatory?”

“I’m afraid they are.  All of you have already worked much
longer than you should have, with this abrupt shifting to the next phase of the
project.  Not only will the quality of your work drop in these situations, but
so will the quality of your health.  I need fresh and alert employees for all
of this to succeed.”

Damn
, she thought.  Even though she really needed the
rest, she really wanted to be there for her testers.  Sam, Dan, and Jacob
needed her.

“I can see what you’re getting at Ms. Madura.  The next area
won’t be opening for another couple of hours.  If you’re a light enough sleeper
you’ll be able to come back in time to assist your testers personally.  Is that
satisfactory?”

The only thing that would be satisfactory would be for
Milner to end this hostage madness, but his answer was good enough for the
question she asked.

“Sure, thank you,” she said unenthusiastically.

“Now, I’ll also be ready to announce a new stipulation to
the game very soon.  I think many of the players will actually like this one.  However,
I’ll wait until they are acclimated with the current environment before doing
so.  Alright, carry on everyone,” he said as he walked towards the exit.

Alex was left to wonder what he had planned.  At this point,
what would the testers actually like about the game?  Was it another contest? 
Milner was as hard to predict as he was to understand.  All she could do was
wait and watch and provide support to those who came to rely on her.  Hopefully
her testers would accept her help when the time came, especially Sam.  As
Milner walked by, one burning question came to her mind and she had to ask it.

“Milner.  I have to know, what’s all this for?  Why go to
such extreme lengths for a videogame alpha test?”

Milner stopped in front of her office and stood in the
doorway looking bored as he stared at her.

“Ms. Madura, I see you aren’t heeding my earlier warning,
but I can appreciate a curious mind.  If you’re lucky, you’ll never know the
true reasons behind this test.  I think most people are better off blissfully
unaware of the dangers that surround them.”

“That may be true for most people, but I’m more interested
in the truth, especially if it involves my contributions,” she told him.

“For your sake, I’ll tell you only what you need to know
about this project and what our aims are.  We are simply looking to cultivate
the best players in our game, by any means necessary.  Through the hard fought
efforts of the testers and developers, we will accomplish that goal and that is
all you need to know.  Now remember that and keep in mind that in here, too
much curiosity can make you a risk.  And I won’t tolerate that.”

He turned and left the room leaving her with just as many
questions as before.