Die Trying - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

"You've been back for a while now, haven't you?" Wade hissed at his phone. Zero chance someone like Play just came back at the right moment.

You got me lol (￣▽￣)ゞ

"Bloody hell, it's actually responding." Illy leaned in closer, hands going out to grab the side of his phone to get a better view at it. "You weren't taking the piss about having a guide. The feck. How did you start with this when we didn't?"

"You started with like twenty others, I had no-one but myself and this asshole." Wade shot back, shooing Illy away from getting at the phone.

Asshole? Really Michael? I thought we were friends o(TヘTo)

"Bullshit." Wade hissed, "I already know the only side you're on is your own."

"You seem upset with your guide?" Leon frowned at the screen, suspicion in his eye. "Why? Is not extra help?"

"As much help as it's been, it's also the reason I'm here in the first place." Wade said with a sigh, then showed Leon the full screen. "This… is Play. A god of games and stories, who's my sponsor into the game, at least from what the buff descriptions told me. Also a pain in the ass and unrepentant amoral asshole."

I'm just eating popcorn while I watch you run around a bit, why you always gotta be so hostile?

He glared at his phone. "So glad you're having fun watching us nearly die."

Was pretty entertaining ngl

Wade lost it for a moment, shaking the phone hard all at once even if he knew it was doing literally nothing. "That's why I'm hostile!" He ground out, then Leon's hand clamped down on his shoulder like a weighted blanket.

"We taking deep breaths now friend. In, and out. Is high stress situation, body has limit to energy for fight or flight - trigger adrenaline spike early, crash early too. Recovery take long time, very bad if real danger comes. Stay calm, stay focused da?" He turned and stretched a hand out to the scott, "Illy, water please."

"Sure, we gonna need to refill it soon, but enough to go 'round for now." She handed him a canteen, and Leon sat Wade down, forcing him to take a sip of water. Fingers snapped in his face, and Leon mimed taking breaths, hands exaggerating the motion.

"Right. Deep breaths." Wade muttered, following the Russian's motions. "I'm okay. I'm fine, I'm fine. Just lost my cool for a moment."

☆(>ᴗ•)

Leon snatched the phone out of Wade's hand like a viper, before he could even see what was on the screen. The giant looked over it himself, "Hmm, is this god... always like this? Is clearly trying to rile you up. Like bad friend telling you to come join gambling game."

"Worse, usually." Wade sighed, reaching a hand out for his phone back.

Leon raised an eyebrow, question unworded.

"I'm good now, back in control." Wade waved him off. "Whatever Play wrote, I can handle it. We got to get answers right?"

Leon nodded and handed it back without a fuss. "How you get phone here when all of us only have only clothing? Does guide know?"

Wasn't me, that's all Market's buff.

Wade raised a hand before Leon could ask the follow-up. "I can answer that one. Market's another god I think. Some old crazy homeless guy showed up on my shift and started talking nonsense about helping his followers get to earth where they'll be safe. I got a buff that lets me read and understand languages, and bring items to and from this world. I went to sleep with my phone in my pocket, so it's here now."

"Ah I see!" Leon nodded, then turned to look over at the elf. She was currently taking a power nap, eyes closed, breathing steady. "Work on elvish?"

"I can understand what she's saying, but I don't know how to speak back to her yet." Wade said. "So limited usefulness."

"And why'd ya decide to tell us that little bit of detail now instead of before you numpty?" Illy asked, arms crossed.

"Honestly?" Wade sighed, "Between the skeletons trying to eat us and running for our lives, I was focused on other things. It's only now that we've got time to actually address it. Plus all she's been doing is swearing and calling you monkeys, so not much help down there."

She stared him down for a half second, then gave a slight shrug and nod. "I had a feeling knife-ears was taking mad shite about us this whole time. Can't blame her. Nutty situation."

"Is very good news." Leon said, hand rubbing Illy's head. "Insulting people is how you make friends and speak to people! You two good friends real soon."

Illy batted his hand off. "Ah piss off asshole. As for him, better than charades, intit? Even if he can't speak elvish. We can make this work."

"Speaking of the elf," Wade turned to the other two, "How'd you even end up with an elf helping you in the first place? Play mentioned this city's been sealed off from everyone for centuries."

He had five dollars bet in his mind the elf had been yanked by the System, same as they had. And Wade never bet something as sacred as money.

Leon and Illy shared a look between them. "Bit of a story that," Illy said, fidgeting with one of her daggers. "Let's just say things went south in more ways than one. I'll tell you later."

As in, once they could trust him.

"I told you about my language skills, I could have kept that secret and been all the safer for it." Wade said. "Think I earned a bit of goodwill."

"Is complicated." Leon added, his usual cheerful demeanor dimming slightly.

So not even he was willing to talk about it yet. But Wade caught the undertone from that - something had happened, something they weren't ready to share, and it's likely less about trust and more about something else. He decided not to push it, he was new to the group and he had no plans to get himself kicked out, or attacked. "Well, fine, I guess. Whatever brought her here, I'm glad she's on our side. Maybe we can put our heads all together and get more answers, though Play's about as helpful as lead life jacket."

Hey! I've been super helpful! (; ̄Д ̄)

That did not sit well with Illy. "Twenty-two of us woke up in this hellhole and you think that's helpful?!"

I only brought Michael here, the rest of you, you're technically the competition. idk what the rest of the gods are doing

"Who brought us here if it wasn't you, bampot!?"

Your sponsors. Duh. They're other minor and lesser gods from this world, just like me. Everyone gets one mortal. As for why you? Dunno.

"How many players in total? I know I have a quest for finding 22 others down here, but is that everyone in THE GAME?"

From my stat screen, showed me 100 total players currently in the game. 99 now, so someone got eliminated already lolol

"So there's one hundred gods in yer world running around?" Illy asked.

Maybe closer to a thousand probably, nobody knows for sure. Tons of gods are feral beast gods you know? But there's more than one hundred that know how to speak at least. Gets complicated when civilization starts being a thing, we're one big happy family~

Leon tapped the screen. "Okey, what is THE GAME?"

Aww, why so many questions to ruin the fun here? Where's your sense of adventure?

Wade rolled his eyes at that. "My sense of adventure died somewhere between getting kidnapped out here on a whim and skeletons trying to eat my eyes out."

"But telling player count is not spoiler?"

Naw, all the other gods know the same thing I do. That's basic info.

Illy was next, yanking Wade's hand until the screen was eye to eye with her. "How do we win? What happens if we lose?"

Well technically you already know the win condition - defeat or subdue all other players~ As for losing...

The text paused dramatically.

That would be a spoiler (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

"Half our group's probably getting their heads kicked in while you're fecking with us, you think I'm playing games here you absolute roaster?! Is that it?!"

Yeh. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

Wade could see her hands start squeezing the phone as if it were a throat. "Get tae fuck! What happens when they die out here?!"

Oh ho~ And why are you so fixated on that missus? You curious about what happens when you get killed... or when you're the one doing the killing?

"You answer first, and I'll consider answering that one." Illy hissed back.

Maybe they're dead for good, maybe they're not. Part of the fun is finding out…. Want to take a gamble?

Leon's giant hand wrapped around Illy's wrist before she could spike the phone into the ground. "Phone is only connection to information. Breaking not help. We find out rules, play game, beat game, go home. Also, is not your phone, would be rude."

Ayy that's the spirit. Good friends you found Michael

"Fine." Wade turned the phone his way. "You want us to play your game? Give us something actually useful: What Leon asked earlier, what's THE GAME? Why are we here?"

The game is the game: A way bigger fish having fun with Azdrial for shits and giggles. As for what your goals are? Depends on the god. Everyone's got their own goals.

"Why did you fucking throw me out here alone then?" Wade hissed. "Everyone else got help, a group, something."

Experience gains are faster and the loot doesn't get shared. Duh.

"Fuck you."

Hey hey, that hurts my feelings. (╥﹏╥)

"Did other gods know we would be thrown into lethal difficulty?" Leon asked. "Were we put into same room on purpose?"

Eh, I'm guessing they probably see the game as a chance to fix things.

"Fix things?" Leon asked, head looking over. "What are we being sent to fix?"

Wellll… If I were in their shoes, I'd be hoping you mortals uncover something new down here that hasn't been found before. Maybe they put you all together in hopes you'd survive a little longer working together. Most of them were the sappy sentimental types compared to the other gods out there.

"Save this shitty world? From what?" Illy shoved past Leon to get closer to the screen, then yanked the phone and started yelling into it again. "Listen here, I don't even know what world am standing on, let alone how to save the bloody thing. Half our lot's probably dead, and your sitting there typing wee faces like this is all a laugh!"

Isn't it though?

Leon yanked Illy up and away before she could start being violent. Just in time too. "Illy, deep breaths. Remember, phone is only means of answers, da?" She struggled in his arms for a second before going limp. He set her gently down on the ground, reached to mussel her hair and yanked it back as she tried to bite him like a piranha.

Wade was occupied asking Play further questions in the meantime. "If the other gods are possibly trying to save this world, are you really not going to work with them at all?"

Why would I?

"You really don't want to do anything to help your own world?"

Earth is a paradise, Michael. I've got all the stories and games I could ever want here. No reason to try and go back to a broken world that never cared about me or mine. No, the last story I want to see played out in Azdrial, is how it ends.

"Holy shit you're a psychopath." Wade pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to think through this logically despite his growing urge to throw his phone out the window, or just hand it off to Illy's tender care.

Unfortunately Leon was right. Play was their only source of information. Giving it to the scottish girl was not an option.

Plus that phone cost him a hundred twenty dollars, so he'd rather die first. "You're not worried at all about the rest coming after you for not joining them at all?"

What are they gonna do, kill me? I'm already living on Earth. Best they could do is kill you Michael. (＾▽＾)

And talking about that, didn't your friends tell you about the security golems? Maybe you should get yourself ready for that instead~

"They already found us?"

Oh I have no idea, but wouldn't it be poor security if an entire horde of skeletons could run around without being spotted? Don't you think?

Wade turned to the two, "The golems you guys had to deal with, can they find us here?"

Illy and Leon shared a look. "I think not." Leon said, but it was clear he wasn't completely certain of that. "We hid from golems before in houses, so it work."

Wade looked over at the elf. Still sleeping soundly. "Can she fight golems?"

Leon shook his head. "No. She very strong, but not that strong. Game shows her as level twenty five, weakest golem was level sixty."

"Only reason we're still alive out here is because the elf's a better fighter than both Leon and I put together." Illy said, "And so long as we support her, she can fend off the wildlife. We keep her covered, she handles anything that comes at us. Though them golems are different - cannot kill the bastards proper, but you can hit weak points. Things like their leg joints can make them less of a danger."

Wade looked over at the elf, head going over all he knew. And one thing wasn't quite clicking up. He turned to the phone, "You said there were a lot of Nathir shelter cities out there, why did you and twenty some other gods all pick the exact same one to start with? Was it the only location the System allowed or is there something special about this city in particular?"

There was a pause before the next text appeared, as if Play was considering how much to say.

Eh, guess I can tell you this one for free. Nathir shelter-cities are built all over the world and sealed up - but this one's special. Last I heard, it's the one everyone thinks was a military base. Hence why I picked it - think about what you could do if you looted a Nathir weapon early on? Nobody knows how their stuff works and it's leagues above modern weapons ╰(▔∀▔)╯

Illy deflated. "Feck. I knew we were in the pit."

Were they in the installation that had been used to explode this world's sun? Was the weapon itself here somewhere, or just the research and development tea-

There was a deep thud far outside. He thought he was imagining it, but the slight shaking and noise was steadily getting louder.

The window rattling was the real sign something was coming. It started vibrating from something far, rhythmic.

"Get the light." Illy hissed. "Get the fecking light!"

Leon raced down the small corridor inside the housing unit, finding the first door he could, opened it up and tossed the light inside. A moment later, the entire room was plunged into dim darkness as Leon sealed their only light source shut.

The noise outside started getting closer.

"Get the feck away from the window, shite, hide." She'd gone paler than usual, even her freckles seemed to lose color. "Hide."

"What's going on?" Wade started to move, but he would swear Illy teleported to him. She tackled him away mid step, one hand over his mouth. "Mmf!"

"Shut it." She commanded. "Not a single breath of noise."

Selena leaped up on her feet on the next shake of the ground, eyes flying wide open, spear in hand. She looked left, right, then to the group and raced over to hunker down with them all. Her lips moved in a silent prayer, though Wade couldn't make out any words.

"We heard this sound before." Illy spoke in a near whisper, after a few moments. Her eyes stared toward the window. "In the mansion. Saw it squash a few blokes into paste first, and second floor bedroom with them. Through roofing tiles, floorboards, beams, carpet, front porch - these guys do not give a single feck."

Leon crouched back, hiding along with the rest of the crew. "Blyat. Is the big one."

The window rattling increased, on and off as each footstep the golem took was shaking the ground. Either it was running in a brisk jog, or it had more than two feet.

Then Wade heard alien gibberish, coming from a booming loud rumble, rattling through even the thick window.

"WORKER DISTURBANCE REPORTED. REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES." The language was alien to him in a different way compared to elvish, but he could understand all of it again.

"WORKER DISTURBANCE REPORTED. REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES."

Wade leaned slightly upwards, trying to see through a small part of the window what was coming up the streets. He didn't need to wait long.

Heavy plates with glowing runes decorated the sides of the creature. Six legs let it move quickly, while some kind of spinning sphere floated above the main chassis, connected by glowing ethereal strings of blue. Taller than two stories, with a set of additional gear and items all affixed on it's rear. It looked like a demented magical mech-spider. And the thing continued to scuttle forward down the street, eventually coming to a stop by their hiding spot and the manhole cover they'd climbed out of, one foot stomping over the dead skeletal arm.

He snapped back behind the wall, heart racing. The other two seemed unphased by the golem, Leon silently swearing to himself in russian.

Wade took another peak.

"Identify."

Level 122 Nathir Security Golem - 82%