On the Lost Continent (AlterGame Book #2) LitRPG Series Read online

  On the Lost Continent

  a novel

  by Andrew Novak

  AlterGame

  Book#2

  Magic Dome Books

  AlterGame

  Book # 2: On the Lost Continent

  Copyright © Andrew Novak 2017

  Cover Art © Vladimir Manyukhin 2017

  English translation copyright Krystal Diehl © 2017

  Editors: Neil P. Mayhew, Irene Woodhead

  Published by Magic Dome Books, 2017

  ISBN: 978-80-88231-32-5

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

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  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  I’M JACK the Tramp. That’s my registered name in the virtual world of Alterra. It’s a stunning place, Alterra. A huge continent, with kingdoms and principalities, wars, heroes, mages and necromancers. Anything you can find in reality, you can find it there. Secrets, danger, terrifying beasts. There are even some things that our world lacks. It’s beautiful and carefree there… Diverse landscapes and blue skies. Over the ghettos, where the omega-citizens huddled, the sky is always yellow from fumes. The sky above the Blighted Wasteland that surrounds our tiny, cramped community is yellow from dust.

  Omegas are the descendants of the Gendemic survivors, the series of disasters of unknown origin that battered the Earth and brought about the end of civilization. The only known pocket of the bygone splendor of civilization is New Atrium. Inside its glittering towers live people of a higher order. The alpha-citizens, the source of all blessings that exist in the ghetto — canned goods and medicines in humanitarian consignments containers. What’s more, the alphas share the virtual grandeur of Alterra with us.

  New Atrium, surrounded by the impregnable Barrier, and the ghetto resting at its base. That’s it. All that’s left for us in reality. Unsurprisingly, everyone is drawn to Alterra.

  In one of my expeditions in the Blighted Wasteland, I stumbled upon a stalled truck. The driver had been dead several decades already, but I know for a fact that he was a standup guy. Because in that pickup, I found something with real value — aged whiskey and a console with an old version of Alterra. Thanks to this unexpected gift from the past, I was able to get my hands on an incredible rarity, the Tear of Azeroth, King of the Demons. This discovery was the beginning of a grand quest, one of a kind.

  The Night Goddess Necta appointed me as her Servant, armed me with the Black Sword, and sent me on my journey… But it turned out that my discovery awoke something up in the game. It soon became clear that I wasn’t the only who had managed to find the old quest chain. There was the necromancer Ruger Eckerhart — a dangerous competitor, powerful mage, and alpha citizen to boot. As if that weren’t enough, I had a guild hounding my every step. I’d taken the Tear of Azeroth right out from under their noses. It became clear that, without allies, I wouldn’t finish the path of Dark Service. A merchant of Alterra’s secrets, a player by the name of Egghead, led me to another alpha, the light mage Sartorius. He had long been searching for a road to the Great Mysteries of Alterra, and my Service to the Dark might just have been that road. Our third companion was Eloise, the former servant of the necromancer Ruger, from whom she had stolen the Book of Bacchus. This book described the way to the forgotten continent, Gaerthon.

  Sartorius hoped to find his Great Mysteries on Gaerthon, but I want to continue Service to the Dark. As for Eloise… It didn’t matter to her where we went, as long
as she was with me. Honestly, I felt that I didn’t really want to unravel the mysteries of the game without her. The three of us started a guild, sailed along the great river Chand, fought with bandits, savages and beasts in the Fasheer marshes. We fended off pursuers from the Gravedigger guild. Yeah, good times.

  Eloise and I succeeded, though it’s a shame that Sartorius couldn’t finish the journey. And at the very last moment, just as the lost continent came into sight, alphas seized us. Someone from their administration in New Atrium didn’t like the game world becoming larger and that omega-players would have access to Gaerthon. It was a mystery. Why was the second continent hidden from everyone? Why did the cryptic rulers of New Atrium decide to tweak the program so that Gaerthon remained hidden in a fog of oblivion?

  Help came from a source I couldn’t have possibly expected. Ruger Eckerhart, retired general and incredibly influential alpha, turned out to be a romantic. Who’d have thought it? As it happened, the secrets of Gaerthon drew him as strongly as they did us. And he was the one to make the alphas leave the path we forged to the lost continent open. Not to mention the small bit about him saving Lisa and me from death. Not a player death, either. A real one.

  We survived and the lost continent awaits us. Secrets, mysterious prophecies, deadly enemies — this is a game worth playing. A life worth living.

  A life worth risking.

  Chapter One

  The Lost Continent

  “RUN! SAVE YOURSELVES! They’re back!”

  “And you said there was nothing going on here,” Jack turned to Lisa, glancing at the people buzzing about on the shore.

  Granted, it was much more fun in Alterra than where they were in reality right now, in the dark basement of Simon’s House. They entered the game in a tiny little cellar under the demolished house in the middle of the Blighted Wasteland.

  The Dead Wind navigated along the coast of Gaerthon for more than an hour, bypassing the shoals and rocks jutting out of the water, like sharp fangs. Nothing grew on the coastal stones, belted by a white line of surf, and there was no sign of movement on the cliffs rising behind them. Each time they skirted another giant stone, the passengers became more convinced that this was an island, and a small one at that. The islets and sheer, towering cliff faces formed a labyrinth and the channels between them resembled giant cracks, as though the earth here was split at the seams.

  The Dead Wind rounded another rock and a gently sloping beach opened before them, when screams sounded in the distance. There was vegetation here, wildlife, and even natives. Natives, who were presently tearing up and down the shore, shouting frantically, climbing into boats and hurrying away from the land. Chickens squawked and sheep bleated as they became entangled under running feet.

  Yep, it was a large island. Possibly even a terminus point of the mainland. Steps of craggy rock grew out from the ocean and the farther from the shoreline, the higher they climbed. There were green groves in the valleys between them and a tall mountain that loomed over it all, capped with the remains of a city. Its battlements were surrounded by a conglomeration of buildings. Their empty windows gazed blankly at Jack.

  “Wind, take us there! Head toward the shore!” Jack commanded.

  “Yes, master,” the demonic ship answered in its sepulchral voice. The invisible helmsman shifted their course and the black schooner surged forward to cut off the chaotic exodus of fishing boats.

  “Hey, what’s happening?” Jack called to a man in one of the boats as the Dead Wind caught up with the flotilla of frightened fishermen.

  “Giants! They’re comin’ back again!”

  Fisherman Tuphus, Scand

  Expertise: 25

  Health: 35

  These are small folk here, Jack thought, reading the stats of his new acquaintance. The color of the text above his head indicated that he was an NPC. Yeah, okay, and who else would they meet on Gaerthon? After all, the way here was closed to players.

  “What sort of giants?”

  “Wicked ones, m’lord! They live in the ol’ city up top. Three of ‘em. Sometimes they come down and grab anyone who can’t hide. Now they’ve dragged off Elder Nevil. Oh, we lost our elder! The wicked giants will gobble him up! Sir, you look like a mighty warrior. Maybe you can save the poor old man?”

  You receive the quest “Save Elder Nevil from the giant”.

  Reward: Unknown

  Accept/Reject

  “Alright, I’ll try,” Jack nodded. “So, you say there are only three giants?”

  “Three, sir, but they always come down from the mountain one at a time. Hurry, because if the monster carries the elder away to his mountain, he can’t be saved!”

  “Yeah, this is me hurrying,” Jack grumbled. “Didn’t you notice? Wind, make berth at the shore!”

  After the ship stopped at the surf line and the anchor chain unrolled with a clatter, Jack jumped into the waves. He plodded to the shore in the waist-high water. There were no more people left, everyone was hurrying out to sea. Only chickens and goats were wandering on the pebbly beach. Jack looked around. No trace of the monster or the elder. Lisa came to stand next to him and shook out her sopping cloak.

  A path led to the city sitting on the high mountain summit. It snaked along the furrowed side of the cliff, emerging and disappearing again into the crevices. Surely, they would be able to catch up with the giant if they kept to the trail.

  “Well, let’s go look?” asked Lisa.

  Jack strode off toward the deserted village. The newcomers walked along a street lined with squatty buildings. Everything here was small, poor, and as expected, forsaken by God. Jack even had a flash of hope that this place wasn’t home to especially large giants. He and Lisa rounded one rocky crag, then another, as the trail climbed toward the city, meandering along the slopes.

  “You hear that?” asked Lisa. “Something’s going on over there.”

  Jack could also make out a crackle and snarl coming from around the bend. They broke into a run, rounded an outcrop… and…

  “Shit,” was all Jack could eke out.

  The giants here were big. Very. This one was simply enormous. Compared to it, even a troll from the wild lands of Stoglav would seem like a runt. And the bad news didn’t end there. The giant gave a ferocious roar, throwing its head back, and swung its huge cudgel. It was trying to reach an enemy attacking from above. A rider on a black gryphon.

  Ruger first descended and tried to jab the giant with his sword, then flew his pet into the sky and fired at his opponent with splashes of green fire. However, it seemed his magic couldn’t seriously injure such a large creature.

  Waving its club, the giant hopped up to reach Ruger. The earth trembled as it landed, rubble rolling down the steep slopes. Jack spotted a person in a voluminous white robe lying prone at the beast’s feet. This, of course, was Elder Nevil. And at this moment, lying under the giant’s feet, he was clearly in very great danger.

  “Try to drag the elder out of there!” Jack shouted, rushing toward the fight.

  “Wait! Stop! That’s Ruger!”

  But Jack was no longer listening and didn’t look back. Within about fifty paces from the giant, he swerved. He didn’t draw his sword. Even Necta’s weapon probably wouldn’t bring such a leviathan down if he hit it from below. Jack ran toward the cliff behind the giant. He and Lisa caught Ruger’s eye, but not the giant’s — not yet. The gryphon dove again, soaring on stretched black wings and clusters of green fire flew at the monster’s head. The giant roared again and brushed them aside with its cudgel. Whether the general guessed his intentions or not, his actions were useful to Jack. He began to clamber up the cliff where the slope was rather flat. The giant staggered under the pressure of the necromancer’s attack. Its club thrashed uselessly at the air, while the gryphon kept out of reach.

  Jack saw Lisa darting from one boulder to another, slowly making her way to the mammoth feet and the motionless elder. Okay, good, except at its great height, the closer she got, the less t
he stones would hide her from view. It appeared Ruger also realized this. He immediately swung his pet about, sending it into another banked turn and distracted the enemy.

  The giant stepped one foot after the other backward, back toward the cliff.

  Cliff Giant

  Health: 843

  Agro zone: 100

  Holy crap! There had surely been at least a thousand health at the beginning of the fight… Ruger had given this guy a good beating, but even at this rate, the battle would drag on into the night. Jack hurried even higher. Pebbles rolled out from under his boots, producing a rustling rockslide, but the giant didn’t notice. Though it did spy Lisa underfoot, who had already crept up to Elder Nevil and grasped the edge of his white robe. The giant let out a bellow and began to bow, readjusting its grip on the monstrous club. It was preparing to slam it down.

  Ruger dove again toward its head. The gryphon folded its wings and rushed into a steep nosedive. The necromancer shifted lower in the saddle, extending his sword arm. The gryphon’s scream was drowned out for a moment by the hoarse roar of the monster, and the great beast straightened sharply, switching back to its former opponent.

  Lisa backed away, dragging the old man behind her with one hand and the Rod of Despair in her other, splashing green flames. The giant tottered, but its club still managed to graze the gryphon, making Ruger’s strike a little off balance. The blade barely slipped along its huge pate. It moved on, trying to reach Lisa, who had ducked down. She released a stream of flame that scorched the tremendous feet, causing it to reel, and the injured gryphon lurched and landed somewhere away from the encounter.

  Jack drew the Shadow of the King, shoved off from the rock and leaped toward the monster. He held the sword in a reverse grip with both hands, raising it overhead in-flight. The black tip pierced the monster between the shoulder blades and inertia helped Jack plant the weapon deep in its body. Red textures gushed from the wound, mixing with the darkness that streamed from the blade. Jack hung there by the sword hilt and the blade ripped down the huge spine under his weight, sinking lower and lower. Jack slipped down, soaked in the giant’s blood. His opponent’s immense spine cracked and quivered stiffly. The giant began to fall, and Jack realized that he would be flattened between its bulk and the side of the mountain. He pulled his legs up, braced his feet against the beast… the blade of the sword bumped against a twisted cord, which served as the monster’s belt, and his descent ceased.