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

  The thought flashed that the belt was something unusual, as it wouldn’t cut. Until now, nothing had been able to withstand the black blade, but this was not the time for musing. It was time for him to drop off this perch. Jack freed his blade from the wound with a jerk, pushing of with both feet, and flew toward the stones. The giant began to ever so slowly tilt over and fall onto its back. Jack landed with such a crack, his vision would have darkened if he’d been able see before the landing. But he was so drenched in the giant’s blood, that there was now a solid, crimson veil in front of Jack. He could only see the message:

  You receive damage!

  You lose 8 hit points!

  The club thudded to the ground, then the giant landed so hard that the image inside the virt-helm jumped. Jack guessed at where the hulk lay and, blinking vigorously, crawled away from it.

  When the game deigned to roll back the red shroud and Jack could see again, he sat down and looked around. Lisa was backing away and pulling the senseless old-timer through the gravel. The giant was sprawled so that it blocked the trail and red streams continued to flow out from it. Ruger splashed through this puddle to the supine enemy. He hopped up on the limp, unclenched hand and wobbled up the arm. Then he stood on its chest and raised his sword.

  Cliff Giant Health: 93…

  Health: 73…

  Health: 53…

  With each blow, the mob’s health dropped and Ruger continued hacking at the dying enemy with an exceedingly intent expression.

  “Lisa!” Jack called out. “Leave the old man! Over here!”

  Ruger had stopped hacking and was staring into the defeated giant’s face.

  “Yes!” he yelled. “This is it! Look at me, giant! Look into my eyes!”

  Jack, leaning on his sword, rose heavily. Lisa approached cautiously and hid behind him, just to be safe.

  “He used to demand that I look him in the eyes during rituals, too,” she explained in a whisper. “He wanted to see the person’s eyes as they died. I suppose Ruger likes the moment when the signs of life disappear. You see how he’s savoring the moment? Or something like that. Sometimes he mumbles that he’s searching for ‘that one look’. He’s always searching for it.”

  “Watch the stats, too,” Jack ordered. “As soon as Ruger catches his high, raise the giant up.”

  “What do you mean? It’s enormous!” Lisa’s eyes widened. She was probably imagining herself lifting the dead giant.

  “Not in that sense,” explained Jack, “with necromancy. Use the Rod of Despair.”

  “No, no, that’s not it,” Ruger muttered indistinctly. When Jack raised his voice, he caught his last words, “Hey, my Rod! El, bring it here.”

  Lisa flinched. No doubt the general’s commanding tone was too familiar to her, and she shuffled slowly toward the dying mob.

  “But, sir…” Jack began.

  “Oh, stuff it with the ‘sirs’. In the game, we’re on a first-name basis! You can call me Ruger. Why are you lifting the rod, huh?”

  “Ruger, at the top of the mountain, there are two more giants. We were barely able to defeat one.”

  “And?”

  “If we summon this one as a zombie…”

  “Ha!” a smirk brightened Ruger Eckerhart’s wicked face. “Ha ha! El, hand me the Rod. You don’t have enough mana for it anyway.”

  Ruger jumped from the giant’s breast, collected the artifact from Lisa and, pointing it at the dead enemy, began to weave a lengthy, intricate spell. Jack had already seen it before. When Lisa performed it, though, the spell sounded detestable. But when Ruger recited it… In fact, was unclear whether the magic would work on the giant or not, but it was worth a try, of course.

  For a moment, the necromancer worked his dark magic with no observable effect. Then a tremor ran through the mammoth corpse. It was barely noticeable at first, but slowly became more dramatic. The blood-soaked body began to twitch.

  “Rise!” Ruger bellowed, shaking the Rod of Despair.

  He likely used this tone to issue orders in combat. Even Lisa gave a little shiver. But the dead giant carried out the order. It pulled its big meat hooks up, flipped onto its side and rose ponderously. It was formidable, covered in red streaks, with its split back.

  “Go to the top of the mountain!” the necromancer commanded. “Kill the two giants! March!”

  The monstrous zombie tossed the club up onto its shoulder and, staggering just a little, stomped off down the trail. Ruger, swishing the Rod, marched close behind.

  “Where am I, good people? What happened to me?” asked a trembling, aged voice.

  It was Elder Nevil, who Jack had somehow managed to completely forget. He’d finally regained consciousness.

  “You’re safe, Father,” Jack assured him, leaning over the old man. “Well, as safe as you can be in the thick of these wild places inhabited by necromancers and giants.”

  Jack examined himself. The red textures hadn’t disappeared and, naturally, he looked more than a little fearsome, but his appearance did not affect Nevil at all. The old man had strong nerves.

  “The giant, yes! I remember the monster grabbed me! Where is it?”

  “The giant is dead,” Lisa announced.

  “Yes, we killed it,” confirmed Jack. “And you… well, let’s just say that we’ve carried you to a safe place.”

  “You are great heroes!” the old man let out a deep sigh. “Indeed, there are still people in our godforsaken world who are capable of such a feat! Please, accept my gratitude! Only…”

  “Only what?” Jack echoed.

  After all, he hadn’t received any messages about the reward, which meant they had to wait for the quest to continue, right?

  “Only, if this deed is within your power to accomplish, would you not rid our island of this scourge entirely? I know I ask for the impossible,” the old man murmured, “but I am the elder of my people. My duty is to care for my clansmen. While the remaining giants still live, we can never have peace.”

  Attention! Quest progression in “Save Elder Nevil from the giant”.

  Kill the remaining giants.

  Reward: Unknown

  Accept/Reject

  “I’m already working on it,” Jack replied proudly. “Wait here, old-timer. I’m going to the top of the mountain, and I’ll return to you after I take care of the giants. We need to talk. I am, you see, not from this place. I don’t know anything about it and I have many questions for the local elder.”

  Jack and Lisa passed the slowly paling pool of giant’s blood, walked along the trail that wrapped around the rocks, and the elder soon disappeared from view. They were silent for several minutes.

  “To hell with it, maybe? Let’s not go to Ruger?” asked Lisa.

  Jack sensed the strain in her voice. She was afraid of her former master. Without Ruger around, she could put on a brave face, but now her fear had become evident.

  “Why? We returned the Rod of Despair to him and everything’s set right. Doesn’t that sort of make us not enemies anymore? He even laughed.”

  “It’s even worse when he laughs,” Lisa grumbled. “I already have chills running down my spine. Did you see how he looked into that giant’s eyes? He likes seeing death. Do you know how many times he’s stared at me that way?”

  “Seventeen, that’s what you said.”

  “What I said… Words can’t express how he draws the life from you, as if he were an actual necromancer. At least, that’s what it felt like.”

  “I won’t let him do anything to hurt you,” Jack promised, although he wasn’t positive that he would be able to stand up to Ruger if it came down to a fight.

  But then, the general was in quite an amicable mood. At any rate, if he wanted to cause trouble, he could have done it at any point.

  Lisa didn’t continue to argue, just sighed repeatedly – and the closer they got to the summit, the louder it became. With each loop of the path, the city at the top emerged from behind the slope, a bit closer each time. Th
ey could discern the crumbling masonry of the walls and the gaps for arrow slits. Everything was pale-colored, both the stones and walls lying like sun-bleached bones.

  “Well, that sucks,” Jack said gruffly. “Not a single crossroads. The trail loops around, but doesn’t cross any other road.”

  “So, what? Why do you need another road?” Lisa asked offhandedly.

  Before Jack could reply, a gate arch rose up on the trail ahead. Ruger was standing in front of it like a black hole in the bleached, sunbaked vignette. The necromancer swished the Rod of Despair and a slam echoed from the other side of the wall following each flourish. Jack would have likened Ruger to the conductor of a large orchestra, that is, if he’d ever watched one before.

  “Come on!” Ruger urged under his breath.

  Jack drew near and looked through the gateway. A familiar back, laid open by his sword, was weaving its way along the road leading to the summit. The dead giant occupied the entire thoroughfare between the buildings, swinging its cudgel rhythmically left and right. Another one of the massive monsters armed with a similar chunk of wood was visible beyond him, except this one was alive. The living giant didn’t display any aggression toward its deceased brother. It simply milled around, unable to pass along the road to the gates, where the necromancer was waiting. It growled with each impact but could do nothing about the zombie giant standing in its way.

  Ruger threw a quick glance over his shoulder, pulled a phial with an azure liquid from his inventory and gulped it down, replenishing his mana pool. Then he spoke:

  “You can return to your flea house now. I withdrew the bounty of two hundred panbucks on Jack the Tramp and Eloise.”

  “The bounty for capturing us in reality? I thought as much, that’s your job,” Jack replied.

  “It’s mine. Now there’s a new message traveling those channels. If anyone attacks you, I’ll…”

  Ruger fished for another elixir. The necromancy was draining his mana rather quickly.

  “Then you’ll look into their eyes?” Jack finished for him.

  “Yep. You catch on quick, don’t you? Well, alright then, go about your quests and I’ll keep close, so I can peer into your enemies’ souls. Hopefully, they’ll be more interesting than these giants.”

  “This is just the beginning, though. Just the first little encounter on Gaerthon. It’ll get better later on, for sure.”

  Lisa kept quiet. Jack didn’t know what to say, either. It was good the threat had passed since they couldn’t sit in the basement of Simon’s house forever. The batteries would die. Not to mention their water supply was limited.

  The building next to the giant collapsed with a crash and the formidable form of another monster emerged from the clouds of dust. The second living giant, apparently, had been trying for a while already to pass the one who was just milling about. It finally decided to simply break through the building. The dilapidated masonry gave way easily. The zombie turned toward its new enemy and, when it stepped away, it became evident that it had already laid out the first one. The living giant had sensed an enemy inside its agro zone and was trying to advance toward the gate, but the zombie stepped into its path and began battering it with the club, steadily hammering away at its hit points.

  “So, how did you wind up in Dargoth?” Jack ventured. “I mean, on the quest with the Book of Bacchus?”

  “Necta’s devotees in the temples started giving out odd tasks in connection with Service to the Dark. They said true servants of the Night Mother should give aid to those who walk the path. Getting the Book of Bacchus from a forgotten temple, for starters. The whole thing didn’t last long and then the priestesses returned to their usual script.”

  “I see.”

  Jack didn’t bother asking for clarification. Even without it, it was clear the general felt that taking part in Service to the Dark in a secondary role wasn’t respectable enough for him and he’d been trying to make a grab for the quest. Ruger was not the sort of person to help others, even at the command of a goddess. Then Eloise had stolen the Corrupted Book from him, and that’s where it all began.

  A few minutes later, the dead giant had dealt with the living one, and Ruger finally let him rest in peace. The zombie brought down yet another building as it fell to the ground. A couple minutes more and the giant bodies began to grow pale and melt away. After they disappeared, they could see that the street where they had been standing was reminiscent of a city square. The trio slipped between piles of scattered stone. There was a modest drop at the spot of the encounter. Clubs and bracelets, each of which would serve as a belt for an ordinary person, and similar rubbish.

  Jack spotted the same cable that had been belted around the first giant’s waist. He remembered the Shadow of the King hadn’t been able to cut through it. Something about it wasn’t what it seemed. So, he went first thing for the giant belt. The fabric in his hands unfolded into a tattered sheet, above which read:

  Cloak of Theokrist

  Level: Rare

  Increases concealment by 20%

  The three bracelets weren’t as interesting, but still unusual.

  Cord of Strength

  Level: Rare

  The belts were strips of distressed leather with scarlet patterns, which emanated a soft glow with each movement. The buckles had a greenish cast, like aged bronze. When Jack placed them into his inventory slots, question marks flashed over the item icons. Hmm, hidden properties. But usually the question marks were white. These were red. Odd. Very odd.

  Jack glanced around furtively as he picked up his loot. Ruger wasn’t looking in his direction. He had picked up a white blade and was studying it. Bone, by the look of it. One of the giants had been using the little thing as a dagger.

  “A nice little thing there,” Jack said carefully. “Will you take it?”

  “I’ll nab it for the collection,” Ruger gave the white blade a couple of experimental swishes. “A bone sword. This is a necromancer weapon, all right. I sent you a request. Reply to it. In the future, you call me if you come across something interesting. But now it’s time for me to go back. I left the ship anchored at sea and right now, all Beelzebub’s stats are reduced by 50%. The giant snagged him.”

  “Beelzebub?”

  “My gryphon. Hey, you haven’t released the coordinates of Gaerthon to anyone, right?”

  “Not planning on it,” Jack declared. “Let them find it on their own.”

  “Good call. If you reveal this secret, I’ll snap your neck.”

  Jack opened the menu and created a personal contact with Eckerhart. At this, Ruger lost interest in the conversation, put the white blade away in his inventory, and summoned his gryphon.

  As Beelzebub climbed into the sky, gaining altitude with difficulty, it became clear what he had meant by a stat reduction. The black pet was laboring, its wings flapping with visible effort, and it was clear that it wasn’t flying at maximum speed.

  Lisa let out another sigh, this time with obvious relief. She clammed up while Ruger was around, but now she proceeded to prattle on, as if she were rushing to compensate for her previous silence.

  “He’s going to show up in the game tomorrow, now. That’s how it usually happened. He’d only log in at night if there was a reason, like a particularly important ritual in Necta’s temple or something like that. Usually, though, more often in the mornings. And Beelzebub will have recovered. He’ll be like new in 12 hours. Another reason for Ruger to wait until morning. Now what’re we going to do? Back to Nevil? And why did you need a crossroads? And who is this Theokrist? The cloak’s owner?”

  “Good question.”

  “Which one?”

  “Whichever. First, I want to find a temple of Vecta and go down to the basement. This is a city, and temples are usually in the main square. Let’s go!”

  But they had to abort the trek to the center of the fallen city. They’d taken only a few steps up the hill, when a strong gust sprung up. From nowhere, dark, leaden clouds slid across t
he sky with frightening speed. Within a couple of minutes, the sky had grown inky black and stormy. It looked especially grim over the sun-bleached ruins. Thunder crashed and a dazzlingly bright flash of lightning struck the mountaintop, followed by another, and another. The ruins trembled. Somewhere at the top, buildings were collapsing, the rocks under their foundations set into motion. The entire mountain shivered.

  Jack and Lisa tore down the slope along the shaking pavement to the gates. The city collapsed, lightning lashed the mountaintop again and again, and the image wavered in front of their eyes. Black interference bands ran across their vision.

  “What’s this?” Lisa shrieked. Jack could just barely make out her voice over the sound of thunder. “It’s not in the game! It’s outside!”

  “The antenna!” Jack realized. “I fastened the antenna up top, on the debris of Simon’s House! Someone’s destroying the antenna!”

  Chapter Two

  A Shadow at the Crossroads and Fire From the Sky

  THE PICTURE in the virt-helm shuddered one last time and the image disappeared, replaced by hissing static. Then a line flashed:

  Error 307: lost signal

  You can enable logging analysis if you continue to receive error messages.

  Jack whipped the helm off and blinked furiously. The only illumination in the dark basement was the winking lights of the power supply unit. He switched on a flashlight. In the wan light, Lisa’s face seemed pale, nearly as pale as in the game.