The surrounding Karjok gasped.

  “Now you’ve done it!” Silas thrust his tentacles up.

  I couldn’t quite pry the octopus king off my face, nor could I see anything. He slapped me repeatedly but did pathetically little damage, so I wasn’t concerned, just annoyed.

  “Please don’t hurt him, Chancellor!” Silas pleaded. “I mean, there’s no question he deserves it, but go easy on him. He is a lower life form, after all.”

  All of it sounded muffled to my ears from the face-hugging dignitary.

  “I’ve not forgotten the thrill of combat!” Chancellor Hachem roared. “I fought in the Briny Scourge. I’ve sacrificed limbs for the sake of honor!”

  When I found my footing again, I just stood still and decided to endure it. I sure hoped Sync was accessing the data point and doing something more productive than laughing hysterically at this new diplomatic incident.

  Chancellor Hachem crawled around my head, slapping me from every angle and roaring war cries while I folded my arms and waited it out. Eventually, he moved enough that I could see again.

  Sync capitalized on the opportunity and accessed the throne’s data point. Beneath the junk that made up the throne was a pump house terminal that acted as the access point.

  “I hope you’re proud of how you’ve handled this situation,” Silas accused. “You have the political acumen of a sea slug.”

  “I’m indifferent as long as we get what we need,” I retorted.

  Sync backed away from the terminal and observed the rolling holographic script. Yellow lights flashed on the terminal and blinked down at the ground. Another set of lights flashed red, then blinked out of sight, followed by a holographic hazard symbol.

  “Okay, enough.” I snatched Chancellor Hachem off my leg while he attempted to slither back to my torso for some kidney kicks. I tossed him back onto the throne, which he clung to as if primed to leap at me again.

  The surrounding Karjok awaited his following words with palpable tension. Everything went still. I’d no doubt ruined my chances at continuing the Karjok mission, and I was thankful for that.

  “Let that be a lesson to you!” he blurted. “But I must confess… you are a worthy opponent. It’s been some time since I had a good spat with an impressive foe. Makes me miss the glory days.”

  The consortium burst into cheers while Silas arched his brow ridge. “Hmm, very well handled. Here I thought you’d crumble under the considerable might of the Karjok.”

  | Affinity Increased: Chancellor Hachem |

  | Affinity Increased: Silas |

  | Respect Increased: Karjok populace |

  “What?” I muttered, “Karjok don’t make any sense.”

  Silas shrugged. “From where I’m sitting, humans don’t make any sense. That was a perfectly logical turn of events.”

  Sync bit her lip to suppress a laugh.

  I blinked. “Please tell me you got what you needed. I can’t take much more of this nonsense. Also, what’s with that hazard symbol on the terminal?”

  “You remember how I said hacking the game sends up a red flag? Case in point. That’s why I try to do it only when necessary, so be ready. I don’t know what’ll happen, or if anything will, but it might.”

  “Thanks for the warning… I guess?”

  Scuba Boy Steve casually stepped toward one of the piles of loot.

  Sync’s face darkened as she typed on her WHIM, exploring the information. “This doesn’t make sense. It’s the information we needed, but…”

  I tilted my head back and groaned. “But what?”

  “The kill code I wrote into the game… it’s been fragmented, altered, and it contains more information. That… shouldn’t have happened. It’s as though we’d need every fragment to access Lucretia instead of just one. As Lucretia became active and aware, it seems the Relics evolved, too.” She shook her head and muttered, “Lucretia couldn’t destroy the code, so she broke it apart and hid it instead. That’s incredible… but also terrifying.”

  My jaw hung loose. I only sort of understood what she was saying. This was all way below my pay grade. “So… what does that mean for us?”

  “It means we need to find all of the fragments, starting with the first one. That will give us direction to find the others.”

  “Like a quest?” I groaned. “Sync, I’m trying to get out of this game, not explore the entire AllVerse in a protracted hunt for AI horcruxes.”

  Chancellor Hachem tapped his chin. “You seem to be in distress. While it grieves me, there’s still the matter of finding a seller for the contraband and liberating our people.”

  Sync could ramble all she wanted about evolving code and I still wouldn’t “get” it, but there was no mistaking the concern and fear in her eyes. And that meant my situation wasn’t good.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Hey, hey!” Fredrick scolded Scuba Boy Steve. “Back away from the goods, lad.”

  He held up his hands in defense, but his eyes stayed fixed on the loot and weapons the way I kept my gaze on Sync in a swimsuit.

  “So where do we go from here?” I asked her. “Or are we just screwed?”

  Sync narrowed her eyes. “Screwed? Not necessarily. This is just different than I expected. With this Data Point, I can locate the first two Relics.”

  I sighed with relief. “Good.”

  “You feel that? There’s been a shift… a strange turnover in the world.” Silas furrowed his brow ridge. “Look at the ripples in the water. Something’s happening.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m in no mood for a Karjok philosophy lectu—”

  BANG!

  A bullet pinged off the brick walls of the cistern, ricocheting into the wall next to my head.

  “Whoa!” I ducked out of reflex.

  “Found you!” a Harpy Eagle-headed bird man yelled.

  “Ah! The feather fellows have beset us!” Silas hollered.

  Chancellor Hachem slithered off the throne. “Protocol Zeta!”

  “Which one was that again?” a Karjok asked.

  “Grab the goods and flee!” Chancellor Hachem yelled.

  “Pretty sure Zeta meant we were supposed to attack,” Fredrick replied.

  “The order is the same, Neptune-darn it!”

  BANG!

  Another gunshot rang out, and another ricochet deflected off the wall.

  Sync and I dove into the water for quick cover and swam around one of the brick pillars while the consortium of Karjok exploded into fury, roiling the waters.

  Scuba Boy Steve snatched a rifle from the pile of loot, the moment he was clearly waiting for, and his attire instantly transformed into something Rambo would wear with no shirt, camo fatigues tucked into boots, bandoliers of ammunition, and a beret.

  “What the—” I blurted. “How come he gets to loot the pile and I don’t?”

  | Soldier Boy Steve – Level 35 NPC |

  | Occupation: Kills what needs killing and kills it well |

  For a moment, I feared we’d lost influence over him, but instead, Soldier Boy Steve hopped up and began laying down covering fire for us. He took cover behind a pillar and fired with expert precision. He nailed one Godfeather right off the bat, eliciting a loud squawk of pain.

  The Harpy Eagle must’ve been armored because the hit didn’t kill or disable him, and he returned fire. Ten more Godfeathers funneled into the cistern, also firing and transforming the area into a subterranean skirmish.

  Chancellor Hachem and a dozen Karjok swarmed the loot piles, and all the gear evaporated into their “inventory,” I guess. After they snatched the goods, they hurried toward us.

  “Build us a way outta here, Erik!” Sync yelled.

  “Yes! Quickly, please!” Chancellor Hachem pleaded.

  So much for the thrill of combat and fighting in the Briny Scourge.

  | Objective Updated: Get the Karjok to safety |

  | Bonus Objective: No Karjok Left Behind |

  | Reward: Unknown |

  With Sync’s current game and class, she was mostly useless in a fight unless she could snag powers from one of our attackers. With the amount of gunfire everywhere, good luck getting close enough to do that.

  But even though Sync couldn’t fight, her class was the only thing keeping Steve around. As much as I hated to admit it, he was one of the most resourceful people here, second only to me. The rest were Karjok, so… yeah.

  If only the Godfeathers were Shouldérmon… then it would be a massacre.

  More Godfeathers poured in behind them. I recognized one as the Barn Owl man who’d chased us on the bridge. He glared right at me and raised a revolver to blow me away.

  BANG!

  The shot missed by inches and ricocheted off the wall behind me.

  I skirted the edge of the pillar before he could shoot again and began constructing more subway tunnels out of the other side of the Karjok hideout. However, this time I built the rail platforms level with the cistern floor. That way the water, along with the multitude of Karjok, funneled down my new rail line.

  I ran ahead, followed by Sync and Soldier Boy Steve, escaping the ongoing spray of bullets. As we ran, Soldier Boy Steve ran backward and kept us covered. I built the rail lines as fast as possible to keep the river flowing and siphon the Karjok out of the cistern.

  The Godfeathers pursued us, firing with reckless abandon as if they had unlimited ammo.

  Steve took a shot to the arm and grunted.

  “Steve, you’re bleeding!” Sync called.

  “I ain’t got time to bleed,” he replied and kept firing.

  “We can’t do this forever,” I yelled. “I gotta build up to street level. Can’t use the rickshaw down here. We’ll lose the water, though.”

  “I’ve got a plan!” Chancellor Hachem called, “Activate Proposal Sigma!”

  The Karjok swarmed us and climbed onto Soldier Boy Steve, Sync, and me. After mere moments, all three of us were coated in Karjok.

  “Not a great plan, Hachem!” I growled.

  “Oi, stop crowding now,” Silas yelled from my shoulder. “There’s room for everyone.”

  Fredrick shuffled onto my right shoulder, opposite of Silas, as the rest of them settled elsewhere on my body. My nightmares had been fully realized.

  Being covered in Karjok forced me to run significantly bow-legged, but incredibly, I maintained speed. Only game logic works that way.

  Chancellor Hachem clambered atop my head, tentacles draped across my face and over my eyes. “This way, human! Build! Build! Look out!”

  “Uncover my eyes, and you won’t need to direct me!” I shouted.

  “Oh, right you are!” He parted his limbs from my eyes.

  The Karjok covering Soldier Boy Steve healed his wounds with gratuitous slaps, and we all sprinted up my ascending hallway of rail tunnels. Some of the Godfeathers flapped the large sets of wings on their backs and soared closer.

  Bullets pinged all around us. I wondered if the Karjok enveloping me would block the incoming bullets. It would be great if they did, but if one got killed, I’d lose my mystery reward.

  I’d just reminded myself that I wanted out of this stupid world, not to stick around for pointless rewards, when a bullet struck my right shoulder.

  Red numbers spouted from Fredrick and my shoulder, accompanied by a splatter of glitter. Fredrick cried out, and I winced.

  The bullet had passed through Fredrick and struck me, but it didn’t feel like it had hit with full force, so the Karjok were sort of like living armor.

  “Neptune’s shell pasties!” Fredrick hollered. “Don’t get shot. It hurts.”

  “Yeah, I felt it too,” I said through gritted teeth. Even despite the steep incline and the fresh bullet wound, I realized I was making good time running along my tracks toward the surface.

  I wondered if all my recent rickshaw running had strengthened my legs and latently improved my cardio… but that didn’t make sense. I hadn’t seen any stat increases aside from what I’d already allocated for myself, yet the incline wasn’t bothering me nearly as much as it should’ve, and I was way ahead of Sync and Soldier Boy Steve.

  “Don’t just sit there,” Fredrick barked. “Heal me!”

  Silas and the others slapped him to heal him, then they did the same to me. It happened alarmingly fast with all of them working on it at once. As much as I hated it, being coated in Karjok might make me nearly invincible.

  But I couldn’t celebrate just yet. The Godfeathers flew after us instead of running, and they were catching up.

  The very next rail line I built shot us out onto the street and into oncoming traffic amid the biggest Schmidt-show I’ve ever seen, but my focus immediately shifted to the flaming car with knives stuck into its side careening toward me.

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  break--Royal Road. They call us the Critical Hitters.

  In the desolate desert of the North American Sector, the government harvests the Soul Energy of siblings Eos and Maxima in secret.

  When their powers attract the attention of a dangerous criminal organization, their routine lives are shattered. Eos and Maxima must search for freedom and the truth about their past as hostile forces close in.

  The answers they seek lie behind one word—!

  Occam's Favor

  A grizzled ex-mech pilot is drawn back into the Everwar, a decades-long conflict raging across Jupiter’s moonscape.

  This time he refuses to fight alone, bringing a crew of misfits and a mech powerful enough to rewrite the war itself.

  is a can't-miss power-scaling mech series. Read it now!

  ------

  Dungeon Crawler Carl Audio Immersion Tunnel for Soundbooth Theater, and he's the lead writer for the Dungeon Crawler Carl Role Playing Game.