I was saved thanks to the weirdest and most unexpected thing I ever saw in Hell.
"The Dwellers hide deep in the system just to survive, and this dude drives around blasting music?" I summed up, watching the carriage disappear in the distance.
It felt like stumbling upon a glitch. I had to take a closer look.
I started running in its direction. I was barefoot, but that didn't slow me down.
The carriage wasn't moving very fast, so with some luck, I could catch up.
I ran for a few minutes through the forest until I saw the carriage a few dozen yards away. It was stopped, and there was someone beside it.
A person dressed in black. Short... and wearing a hood.
"No, no, no." I thought as I slowed down and hid behind a tree.
The Brute was there.
"If she sees me, I'm dead... and the merchant too. No way she'll pass up the chance to get all that equipment." I thought.
I threw a quick glance. They seemed to be talking.
"She's not attacking him?" I wondered.
Then I saw her walk around the carriage and head towards the other side of the forest. She disappeared suddenly.
She was gone.
The carriage started moving again.
"She didn't attack him? Do they know each other?" I tried to make sense of this anomaly.
I got back up and continued following the carriage, while stealing glances at the other side of the wide dirt road, where the brute had gone.
Maybe she was looking for me? If that was the case, she was going in the wrong direction.
I followed the carriage for almost an hour. According to my map, it was getting closer to the intersection where the pit was, the one where a Drifter had fallen before disappearing.
"Is there a connection between the merchant and the missing Drifter?" I wondered.
I walked about twenty yards behind the carriage, alternating between walking and running as its speed varied with the terrain.
Sometimes the path was flat, sometimes a bit rocky. The large wooden wheels of the vehicle looked sturdy, but the carriage slowed down when faced with an obstacle, probably to avoid damaging them.
It was while walking in the forest that I spotted someone crouched behind a tree in the distance.
A man, he had his eyes fixed on the carriage and hadn't noticed me.
I hid behind a bush and observed the situation.
Was it a potential customer? Or an ambush? The answer didn't take long.
The man ran to stand in front of the carriage, and he wasn't alone; there were five players blocking the road.
They all seemed fairly well-equipped, armed, and wearing armor or robes. It was clearly an ambush.
I quickly analyzed the different players with my screen.
A level 22 Knight, a level 19 Mage, another Mage at level 14, a level 12 Assassin, and a level 16 Brute. They appeared organized, with the Mages positioned towards the back and the Knight and Brute in front, while the Assassin stayed slightly behind.
If they hadn't attacked yet, it was most likely because they wanted to intimidate the merchant and seize all the equipment, including the carriage, without damaging it.
"Almost logical that he's being attacked. He's practically walking around with a sign saying 'plunder me.'" I thought.
It was unfortunate for him, but there was nothing I could do, even if he had helped me.
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"Well, did he really help me? He could have just taken my chain and left me with my boots. He wasn't really generous." I thought.
I had time to think as nothing was happening over there, near the carriage.
The merchant didn't seem willing to surrender.
The players seemed unprepared for this; they looked at each other without knowing what to do.
It looked like one of their first ambushes.
"ALL RIGHT, WE'RE GONNA FORCE YOU OUT!" the Knight shouted.
He pointed at the carriage, and the two Mages cast their spells.
One of the Mages made hand gestures, and a beam of blue light shot out from her palms. It struck the front of the carriage, just above the horses.
She probably wanted to keep the animals alive.
The other Mage seemed to be talking to his staff, then a jet of fire burst out of the glowing orb at its tip.
The beams were continuous and lasted for about ten seconds.
When the Mages finished, they looked tired.
I couldn't see the front of the carriage, but judging by their shocked expressions, their spells had no effect.
Suddenly, the rear door of the carriage opened.
I watched attentively.
From the darkness inside the vehicle, I saw something emerge. Something shiny gray, made of metal. A big arm, and then an animal face.
It was a huge gorilla covered in metal. I couldn't tell if it was a robot or an armored animal.
It slowly stepped out, and then the door closed.
It circled the carriage and stood facing the players. Once again, they looked lost.
"What a terrible idea to launch an ambush without backup plans." I thought.
The gorilla let out a strange, piercing cry. It sounded like a bird, but deeper and more metallic.
It sent shivers down my spine. Then it lunged at the Knight. The latter sidestepped and struck the beast's ribs with his sword. It had no effect.
The gorilla punched him, and his body flew and hit violently a tree with a dull thud.
The Mages attacked, probably out of panic, but the creature dodged and grabbed the two exhausted players by their feet.
It spun them around and around before flinging them away. Their frail bodies flew tens of yards before crashing to the ground farther down the road.
Only the Assassin and the Brute remained.
No, the assassin had disappeared, he had fled.
"The smartest one of the bunch." I thought.
Only the Brute charged, swinging his club and yelling.
The gorilla lifted its hind leg, supporting itself on its massive front paws, and delivered a blow to the player's head.
It was a downward strike that slammed the Brute's head into the ground.
The gorilla looked at the player with curiosity, then proceeded to repeatedly strike him with its paw.
It was an act of completely unnecessary violence, considering the player was already dead.
Suddenly, the Knight reappeared, looking worse for wear but still alive. He ran toward the gorilla to attack. At that moment, a small robot that I hadn't noticed, near the gorilla, opened its mouth and spewed fire.
The jet was much more impressive than what the previous Mage had cast.
The robot looked like a chicken. It was tiny, about the size of three apples, yet it emitted a powerful jet.
The Knight was caught off guard and couldn't move, completely paralyzed by the intensity of the flame. It was a monstrous display of power.
When the small robot ceased its attack, the Knight was blackened and charred. He collapsed to the ground, his body smoking.
The ambush had been completely destroyed in an instant.
What's worse, the Merchant hadn't even needed to leave his rolling bunker.
I felt dumb for thinking that the Merchant wasn't a viable class. And I started to understand why the woman in black hadn't attacked him.
This Merchant was dangerous. And the fact that the system didn't even explain the strengths and weaknesses of this class, as if it wasn't meant for combat, was a deceptive act. I would have thought that a player from this class would be an easy prey.
I could have died too, because of this belief.
The rear door of the carriage opened again, and another robot appeared.
It was about 4 feet tall, slender, holding a metal shovel, and wearing a large hat that looked more like a disk. It limped as it walked.
The fire-spewing chicken-like robot perched on the carriage roof, seemingly standing guard.
The gorilla went to retrieve the corpses of the players it had thrown earlier.
Another robot emerged from the carriage. I recognized this one; it was the robot that had taken off my boots. It went to remove the armor and weapons from the corpses.
Once done, the robot with the big hat started digging a hole. It worked extremely fast.
Then the gorilla pushed the equipment-stripped corpses into the hole.
In about fifteen minutes, the situation had gone from an ambush to a burial.
When everything was done, the robots returned one by one to the carriage, and the door closed.
The vehicle resumed its slow progress.
After witnessing this spectacle, I understood better why the Merchant felt confident enough to play music in such a conspicuous vehicle.
He was looking for customers or bandits to plunder. In either case, he was gaining points.
Much like the Brute who attacked me, he was most likely a high-level player who roamed an area where he didn't have much to fear.
I opened my map, remembering that he had mentioned a marked area on it.
I saw a red cross to the north, not far from where the village of Hermine was located.
He wanted to buy my small chain, but what I was interested in, was reclaiming the one I had sold him.
In the end, I hadn't lost everything; I had found a way to acquire equipment.
Maybe even a better chain. But for that, I needed to earn PP.
A lot of PP.