Ambush Read online

  Mustering his courage, he readied himself and ducked just in time to avoid another tentacle the creature had lashed at him.

  Looking at its head made his heart tremble. Hundreds mouths with a lot of sharp teeth gnarled at him as it moved towards him. For a squid-like thing, it had tremendous speed. It made it that much harder for him to retreat. He could not have matched it if he had decided to run.

  Now he understood why his friend was acting on edge. The mere presence of these Voidspawn had done away with his usual jovial nature. One slash and he would be down for the count. It would cut clean through his avatar's muscles. There wouldn’t be a shred of it in his body.

  He jumped and threw himself to the side, no matter how much it hurt when he fell to the ground.

  [-50 Damage]

  Great. I got hit.

  Duck, bend and a roll on the ground later, he was already feeling tired. After a series of curses, he hid behind a pillar and picked up a small abandoned club, which was just sitting there on the ground, and hit the monster over its head. It screeched loud enough to make him cover his ears, but he didn’t let the moment go to waste. Taking the opportunity, he ran down the street to his left.

  Even though he felt out of breath, he ran, not once stopping. He did not care about the growing pain in his leg, one he had ignored. It seemed the steely claws had left behind a gift. It had sliced open the skin on his avatar's left leg. Only now had he realized the pain. It surged hot through his skin, yet he did not relent.

  One look behind told him that the creature was closing in. It was picking up speed.

  He stooped to grab a stone and threw it at the monster. He continued doing so until he hit one of its many eyes. The Voidspawn reared and wailed, its tentacles smashing through the brick roofs of the desolate houses.

  Matt had no idea how to defeat the beast. At his level, he didn’t have the knowledge to even send it away. He wondered how his friend was faring. Matt knew he was expected to attack from the flank, but how could he? This miserable beast seemed intent on making him its target.

  Freaking Voidspawn!

  His eyes caught sight of a slightly opened door that led into a dark house. He ran towards it and when a tentacle tried to get in, he hacked at it with his spear.

  [-10 HP]

  The tip of his weapon grazed the steely claws, flickers of yellow flame blazing, a retching sound echoing through the walls. He ducked as the tentacle lashed. His reflexes strong enough, he jabbed at the tentacle as it whooshed above.

  [-30 HP]

  The creature shrieked somewhere, black drops of blood, thick as tar, oozed out of its wound and fell on his head. Feeling the wetness in his crisp hair, Matt staggered and drew his spear out quickly. The tentacle swished here and there, smashing the door to wooden splinters.

  He ran deep inside, finding a stairway that spiraled downward. As he raced down the descent, the stairs groaned so loudly that he was worried they were ready to collapse. But it wouldn't matter. The fall wouldn't be that bad as compared to getting skewered by one of those tentacles.

  The pain returned again with a bang, forgotten due to the adrenaline rush when the creature had attacked him at the door. His downward trod turned into an agonizing limp. His face contorted into a tight-knit frown.

  Why does this virtual pain have to feel so real?!

  As soon as he reached the basement, he looked around. The floor had some unused boxes lying strewn about, most of it holding clothes and other unnecessary items some NPCs apparently had discarded.

  If only I had another healing potion!

  He breathed deep and took out a white cloth from one of the boxes and wrapped it tight around his wound. Although not deep, the cut was long, ranging from his upper thigh to his knee. Warm blood trickled down its sides. He felt weak and sat himself down on an empty crate covered by a wooden plank. Thankful, he caught his breath, hoping that the monster had decided to move on. There was no sound upstairs either and no sign of the tentacle. Perhaps the Voidspawn had moved on. He hoped so.

  Looking around, he saw a narrow passage leading underground.

  He strode towards the opening and saw that it stretched far, connecting basements of one house to the others on this side of the street. He raised his brows in a deep furrow, wondering what purpose they could serve.

  Weren’t the houses vulnerable this way?

  On the walls to either side were runes inscribed, the language same as that on the gate. Again, he wished he could read and understand it. Why there was a need for an ancient lexicon in such an game as this, he could not tell. He decided that soon he'd need to find out how to decipher the language of Atlantis.

  Behind him, a window smashed and the shards of glass floated in the air for a moment before they broke against the walls. The sight of a speeding tentacle sent him running along the passage as quick as his feet could carry.

  He was running short of breath and the air in the passage was quite musty and foul. He wanted to ascend from this rut of a path he had taken and longed for an exit, desiring fresh air. Yet there was not a sight of opening.

  Behind him, the tentacle closed in, the walls breaking on the side that faced the street. He turned left as he reached a dead end and just as he had done so, the steely claw of the tentacle smashed into the wall, missing him by inches. Seeing that it took its own time removing it from the wall, he quickened his pace yet again.

  It was strange that there was no opening into the other basements, otherwise he could have climbed upward. Every section of the wall was closed in.

  The ceiling turned wooden and in front of him a ledge that connected the two walls. He jumped, clasping it tight with his hands and swung atop it. He looked on as the tentacle passed underneath. And then he looked forward to the way he had come and saw the wall splintering. He hit the wood hard above with his left hand and the butt end of his spear.

  After a few tries, the ceiling came loose and he jumped out, just in time to slash at one of the monster’s hundred mouths and escape the two tentacles that intended to lash him.

  [-30 HP]

  A deft jump on the Voidspawn’s mushy head and a somersault later, he landed on a lone alleyway between the house from which he had jumped loose and a four-story building of composed of red brick. The only way he could see was to climb it.

  He pushed himself onto a nearby window sill and crept up a rusty old pipe that connected the roof to the ground below. With quick movements of his feet, he lifted himself up, every time missing the lashings of the Voidspawn’s tentacle by an inch. As he reached the roof, he found the monster couldn’t reach it.

  It tried to climb, but he kept hitting at its eyes with the pebbles he found on the floor. These pebbles wouldn’t stop the Voidspawn however, and he'd eventually run out. He had to think of something else. Luckily for him, he found a tumbler of pitch nearby, probably abandoned by construction workers. He lifted it by the handle and with a grunt he heaved it into his arms and emptied it on his pursuer. The Voidspawn screeched and bashed its tentacles against the alley, cracking the once magnificent road.

  He then grabbed a torch and the flintstone and steel set from his inventory. Lighting the torch, he threw it down at the creature. The fire met the pitch and it burned through the skin of the Voidspawn. The tentacles swished hither and thither, hitting houses and buildings alike. The mouths of the Voidspawn opened wide as if to consume the reddish yellow flames, but as if on some cue, the Voidspawn disintegrated into black goo, the tentacles slithering inside the puddle. The only thing left there was the fire and it spread. Smoke belched from the road below.

  Incinerate: Difficult

  Instant Kill

  [+170 XP]

  Skill Unlocked: Incinerate

  Delivers an Instant Kill when you light your opponent on fire. Chances of Instant Kill are 50%. Greater chances for Instant Kill increase with higher levels. Requirements: Level > 7, Agility > 4, Intelligence > 4, Willpower > 4

  Congratulations!

  Yo
u have defeated a Level 10 Voidspawn. In addition to your gained XP, for your bravery and prowess you will be rewarded with the following:

  +1 Agility

  +1 Intelligence

  +1 Willpower

  He heaved a sigh of relief but he knew that the monster would just respawn within a few minutes. He had to get as far away from this part of the city as possible before the creature rose from the ‘dead’ to enact its revenge. He'd likely need to gain several levels before facing that creature again. He probably wouldn’t be so lucky next time.

  Quickly pulling up his HUD, he accessed his character sheet to check how close he was to Leveling Up again.

  DarkForce: Player Stats

  Name | @Andrex

  Class | Warrior

  Level | 11

  Experience | 4,120

  XP to next level | 180

  HP | 650/1,100

  Mana | 75/100

  Strength |Total: 14 | Original: 5 | Level Ups: 1 | Bonuses: 8

  Agility |Total: 8 | Original: 5 | Level Ups: 2 | Bonuses: 1

  Stamina |Total: 12 | Original: 7 | Level Ups: 5 | Bonuses: 0

  Intelligence |Total: 7 | Original: 1 | Level Ups: 3 | Bonuses: 3

  Willpower |Total: 9 | Original: 2 | Level Ups: 6 | Bonuses: 1

  Matt sighed. He didn’t have much further to go before he could attain Level 12, but going up against that Level 10 Voidspawn again would be difficult.

  I gotta get out of here..

  Chapter Nine

  Armor Up

  Just then out of the corner of his eye he saw a swirl of dark matter rising from the pool of black goo down at the base of the building.

  Run!

  As he ran across the length of the roof, far below he saw a line of battered NPC townsfolk being led through the streets by two players he recognized.

  What are they doing here?

  @hellekith and @BlondeWarrior were in Atlantis. It'd been a long time since he had interacted with them. Waving both arms in the air, he yelled to them from the roof. When they looked up, they waved back.

  “Hey! What's up?” @hellekith shouted. “What are you doing up there?”

  “Tired of fighting a freaking Voidspawn,” he shouted as he pointed behind him. “It's back that way, probably hunting me now. Do you know of alternate route to the gates?”

  “I'm afraid not.” @BlondeWarrior cringed apologetically, “Your guild mate @doomsday16 is fighting several Voidspawn just past the gate, and unfortunately the path behind you is the only way through.”

  “Dang it. In that case, I need your help subduing this thing again.”

  “I’m sorry, but we can't. We're currently on a quest to save these NPCs first. And I doubt you could match the rewards.” she raised a taunting eyebrow.

  @BlondeWarrior, despite young and new to the game, definitely looked out for herself first and foremost. He may not like her fighting style, but a lot could be said for how quickly she had gained Level 25 in such a short span of time since the game's release.

  The Non-Player Characters could help them fight the Voidspawn, but if the battle became too intense the game's parameters would send them running and fleeing back to their homes.

  “If you stay above ground, running into Voidspawn is inevitable.” Matt said, “And I imagine you'll get penalties for each NPC killed in such a battle. But if you lead the people underground, there may yet be hope.”

  @hellekith grunted. “Ah, brilliant idea! Why didn't I think of that?”

  Matt smiled. “No judgment here. It happens! You're in the thick of things.”

  @hellekith pointed the way to the gates. “Maybe, but you need to go to your friend. We will make do.”

  Matt nodded. They had talked too long.

  “Fair point!” he said. “Good to see you guys again!”

  @BlondeWarrior waved too. “See you on the other side!”

  She then led the townspeople down the street, disappearing around a corner.

  @hellekith shouted at him. “And get yourself some decent armor!”

  He too disappeared around a bend in the direction he had come from, leaving him alone on the roof.

  An augmented message popped up in his HUD.

  @doomsday16: Where are you man?! You were supposed to back me up!

  @Andrex: Sorry, had to subdue a Voidspawn. Now I'm lost. I need you to activate your homing beacon.

  @doomsday16: On it!

  Moments later, an icon popped up on the mini game map in the bottom left corner of his augmented vision. He was positioned just past the inner city gates. The path to reach @doomsday16 however would force him to confront the same Level 10 Voidspawn again.

  Deciding that he had to move forward when he heard screeching sounds in the distance, he jumped onto the roof of another building and then climbed down a stairway that spiraled down to the road. The stairs clanked with his every step. He cautiously rounded each corner until the gates were visible, and just past them he could see a lone armored warrior fighting a group of Voidspawn. @doomsday16 was brave fighting that many of those creatures simultaneously, whereas Matt had tired of fighting just one of them.

  Even if he went on to help ahead, he doubt he could be much help, given he hadn’t any armor on to protect himself. With so many of those respawning monsters he would be dead in an instant and then he would respawn far away in those rocky ravines halfway from here to the village, and have to find his way back here. But @doomsday16 had brought him here. He didn’t know the secret roads that led to Atlantis.

  Armor.

  He had to get some, but he didn’t know where. Typically, as @doomsday16 had said, they could be custom made by smithies or found in armories. Finding either in the middle of a battle like this however would prove to be a challenging task, and he had no time. The grim thought crossed his mind that he'd have little choice but to take a chance fighting the Voidspawn with nothing but his loincloth to ‘protect’ him. He tightened the grip around his spear and started to plod along the road, ready to strike at whatever came at him.

  Just then, a prompt appeared in his augmented vision.

  System Alert!

  The Temporal Artifact has detected a foreseeable outcome in an upcoming scenario. Do you wish to activate your foresight skill?

  Yes | No

  Matt smirked, having entirely forgotten about the unique hourglass-shaped artifact in his inventory. Matt chose ‘Yes'. The instant he did however, he almost regretted his decision.

  With a tiny flash of light, the curious Temporal Artifact suddenly appeared in the palm of his left hand. His eyes locked with it, and felt drawn to it. As the sand spilled from the top chamber, a feeling of dizziness overwhelmed him and vomit raised in the back of his throat.

  A blinding flash of light emitted from the tiny object, and when his sight returned he found himself spinning through a tunnel of swirling colors. Tiny streaks of light flew past, accumulating in frequency and velocity until another blinding flash of light sent him stumbling to the ground.

  Shaking the dizziness out of his head, he stood and blinked rapidly. When his sight returned, he was standing in the exact same spot as before the strange episode.

  What was that all about?!

  A strange sensation overwhelmed him as his avatar began to move forward against his will.

  Wait! Stop! I'm headed right towards the Voidspawn!

  Matt began to panic as his legs continued to propel forward. One of the Voidspawn leaped into his path.

  Threat Detected: Level 6 Voidspawn

  HP| 600/600

  Strengths: Long black tentacles allow for speed and easy subduing of prey. Head is covered with gnashing mouths full of razor-sharp teeth to allow for rapid devouring of trapped prey. Head is also covered with eyes to allow for 360-degree sight with intense focus. Cannot be killed.

  Weaknesses: Can be subdued into a temporary liquefied state, but has a five minute delay before it is able to regenerate.

  He could see that @doomsday16 was outnumb
ered one to three, yet he carried on valiantly with minimal damage. Matt’s movements were controlled as he barreled spear-first into the Voidspawn that stood in his path.

  [-60 HP]

  A screech erupted from the creature and its hundred gnashing mouths snarled at him. Yet his avatar stood rooted to the ground defiantly. Yet, on the inside, his skin tingled, fear gripping his heart. His pulse quickened. His blood rushed to his head. He wanted to turn and flee in terror, but he couldn't control his movements. All he could do was watch the events unfold from the back of his mind. It felt as if he were watching a movie. A horror film, at that.

  His avatar slashed his spear at one the approaching tentacles.

  [-10 HP]

  He jumped when the tentacles lashed out under his feet. He slashed and jabbed, stabbed and thwacked.

  [-10 HP]

  [-20 HP]

  [-10 HP]

  [-10 HP]

  None of his attacks made much of a dent in the monster. It continued to retreat and then come flying back at him with even greater speed and stamina. Meanwhile his own stamina wasn't getting any better.

  To his side, his friend was losing ground, with sweat dripping off his brow. Their eyes met for a moment and they reverted to their fighting. Yet in that brief moment a lot was said. Defeat.

  A razor-sharp tentacle hit it's mark, severing an artery in his right leg.

  [-200 Damage]

  Matt crumpled to the ground, his avatar's pain receptors tricking his brain to ‘feel’ the virtual pain. Another blow landed, lopping off his right arm at the bicep. Blood was spewing everywhere.

  [-400 Damage]

  CRITICAL HIT!

  Matt screamed out in pain, but it didn't last long. Seconds later a third razor-sharp tentacle came soaring at his neck.

  GAME OVER

  Cause of Death: Decapitation

  [-200 XP]

  That was aggravating! I even lost a significant amount of XP!! I'll make sure to file a complaint with CyberBolt Entertainment.