Knowing the guards would aggro if he threw the little man while inside the town, regardless of the bug, Raine kept up his pace. Due to the difference in attributes, Richtor’s friends had to run to keep up. Whether out of inquisitiveness, concern for their friend still slung over Raine’s shoulder, or because they had nowhere else to go, they scuttled behind him like ducklings waddling after their mother.
MercilessLee followed as well, spewing profanities, and promises of pain, torture, and even death with each step. By the time they reached their destination, his shouted condemnations attracted a sizable crowd of curious players. For the first time since their meeting, Raine locked eyes with the detestable bastard, shooting him a wink that promised suffering if he were to follow. He then passed through the gate, leaving the suddenly stiff fool stuttering in his tracks.
Richtor’s friends hesitated less than a heartbeat before following. Their only alternative was standing next to Lee whose face was crimson with rage.
“Wait, please stop!” Deloralicious pleaded as her feet brought her out of the safety of the town.
Kevinsbakon’s muscled mass quivered with fear but he kept up as Raine brought them further from the safety of the walls, “Yeah, you gotta listen to us! It's dangerous out here!”
TwistedReligion wrung his hands, staring at the self-proclaimed scout of their party like a drowning man would a lifesaver, “crap-crap-crap. Milks, you see anything?”
“Duh! You blind?!” Milkdud pointed into the distance where twenty wolves were pursuing a familiar figure in a basic cloth tunic. Seeing SanctimoniousNut so soon after he betrayed them, each member of the group growled a furious expletive and turned back toward town.
MercilessLee threw his arms out, standing in the center of the gate, cackling madly, “And so it begins! Once we take all that pretty gear of yours, we'll find your home and play with you until even your mommy won't recognize you. You'll beg me for a single day without a beating but I'll never give it! I'm going to—” Raine tuned him out.
He dropped Richtor, who immediately shot to his feet in preparation to run from the throng of wolves along with his friends. Raine’s arm extended so quickly that none of them could follow it with their eyes. The flash of light that coalesced into a solid metal spear caused them to hesitate long enough for him to speak, “Don't run. I came here to help you and that's exactly what I'm going to do. If you run now, you'll only end up cowering from people like him the rest of your lives. I won't stop you and I won't chase you. Make your choice, stand bravely in the face of death, or run and hide forever.”
If even one of them holds their ground that would be a huge win. Finding people with true courage isn’t done every day.
Richtor’s voice was strained as he hesitated, “Can you really beat that many?!” He held his throat, the memory of it being torn open all too fresh. The others were no different, each of them facing recent trauma with panicked expressions and whimpers of fear that traitorously crept from their mouths.
Behind them, Lee continued to spew threats, promising a bleak future that seemed to have no escape. Meanwhile, the crowd had pressed in around the gate, eagerly watching to see the events unfold, though they gave the little man a wide berth.
Chances to learn what someone was made of weren't easy to come by. Bravery and tenacity were an absolute necessity in ZionLine. To continually throw yourself into the meat grinder that was leveling took both in spades. If they didn't have what it took, then there was no point investing time and resources into them.
He decided to give them one final push, and then leave the choice up to them, “Stand behind me, and I'll show you the truth of this world.”
Kevinsbakon fell to his knees, the will to press on nowhere in sight, yet he did not run.
TwistedReligion showed the most promise, finding something within Raine’s few short words that resonated. He stood with a clenched jaw, swallowing hard, trembling, but on his feet and ready for whatever happened next.
Milkdud spun around to run. Upon seeing MercilessLee between him and the safety of the walls, a realization struck that the crazy bastard was more afraid of Raine than the wolves, and that knowledge barely won out over his fears. He faced forward once more, glaring daggers at SanctimoniousNut who was nearly to them with the pack on his heels.
Richtor shook like a leaf until Deloralicious wrapped her arms around him from behind. Suddenly, his fear evaporated and he patted her hands on his shoulders, then stepped out of her reach. He stood next to Raine, his cracking voice betraying him, “I can keep one of them busy at least, let me help.”
All five are sticking around? That’s… fantastic. Who would have thought my little brother was such a good judge of character?
Raine didn't respond, he merely waited patiently for the grinning SanctimoniousNut to pass before he jabbed his spear in a seemingly casual thrust toward the throng of beasts. Rupture exploded forth, enveloping the wolves in two overlapping waves of rippling energy that first weakened them, and then turned their bodies into paste in an explosion of gore.
The bits and pieces of meat falling from the air splattered across the road, creating the only sound that could be heard. The onlookers stood dazed, completely unable to understand what their eyes were telling them. From the VRVod tutorials posted on the forums, to the immersing realism, everything they had seen of ZionLine painted the picture of a nitty-gritty, martial arts versus monsters world. The slaughter they witnessed stood in stark contrast to what their brains knew should be possible.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Raine had not used some flashy sequence of peerless maneuvers to weave between his foes, dealing death wherever his weapon landed. He had merely extended his spear and activated a skill. The sight was sobering, to say the least. The moment of quietude came to a close when one of the onlookers burst into excited rambling. It was clear the woman was talking to her live broadcast as she faced away from the scene of slaughter so her viewers could see her face. She gushed over the newfound realization that ZL was, in fact, a game. A game with skills that could easily overturn the difference between a regular person and a martial; something the forums were claiming was impossible up until this point.
Only Raine truly understood the martial skills, honed by years of practice, required to perfectly execute Rupture, but he saw no reason to crap all over their parade.
“Th-th-that was amazing!” TwistedReligion threw himself toward Raine to shake his shoulders but missed completely due to a lightning-fast sidestep.
Raine hustled through the field of disheveled corpses, tapping the few orbs stuffed with coppers that had dropped. His steps took him down the dirt road away from town, “C'mon, we can talk more once we're on the way.”
“Wait! We gotta deal-crap that son of a foot fungus is already gone. Did anyone see where he went?!” Milkdud spun in a circle, trying and failing to find SanctimoniousNut.
Deloralicious grabbed both Kevinsbakon and Milkdud by the arms, practically dragging them along after Raine. For several minutes, the adrenaline-fueled laughter experienced after narrowly avoiding certain death filled the ambiance surrounding the ecstatic group. Once the chemicals pumping through their systems faded, the pervasive sickness that always followed stole their enthusiasm. They trudged after Raine with heavy steps, which at least were hastened by a slow and steady expenditure of Discipline.
He led them toward an area he knew would be perfect for their training. Of course, having the location leaked by the two goons following them would be annoying, so he had the group go ahead while he doubled back and attracted a group of prairie raptors to take care of them.
By the time Raine rejoined them, they had recovered from the chemical crash and Richtor latched onto him, nearly in a panic, “Where are you taking us? Were they really following us? What are we going to do about Grifden spilling where we live? Our lives are over now, we're so screwed.”
Kevinsbakon was on the verge of tears, “Yeah man, I’m kinda losing my mind over here. The corpus aren't going to help when we tell them some guys want to kill us because of something that happened in a game.”
Raine was more than happy with their performance, and all too eager to throw them a lifeline, “One problem at a time. For now, I'll lead you to a place you can safely level up to ten. Once we're there, you should log out and move out of your apartments. That guy is definitely the type to follow through with his threats.”
“This can't be happening, how did everything get so bad so fast?” Deloralicious’ frown morphed her face, her fear more than understandable.
“Things would have gotten this bad no matter what you did. Either you joined them, allowing them to control every aspect of your lives, or you fight back and they come for you until you give in anyway.”
Milkdud shook his head, unwilling to accept reality, “What about my job? I've only got two more days of vacation.”
Raine shrugged, his tone soothing, “Quit, I'll pay you each a salary of two million creds if you work for me.” Raine had been drafting contracts for each of them while they ran and sent them copies through ZL’s interface.
They all tried to speak at once, but TwistedReligioun’s boisterousness won out, “W-what the hell, you're serious?! Two million is way too much, how are we worth that much? That’s more than lawyers make!”
To the Raine of two days ago, that much would have been mind-boggling. After conning that sucker and dumping nearly five million into ZLO—which had already tripled since then—he was now sitting on a decent nest egg of capital to start up his guild. And it just so happened he had five excellent candidates that he had no intention of losing.
He waved off their outbursts, “The salary is just to get you on your feet, the real income is in the equipment clause.”
It only took Deloralicious a moment to locate the section he was referring to, “It says we’ll owe you, or your representative guild, fifty percent of all equipment sale proceeds? How much are you expecting that to come to?”
“Even if I explained it in detail, you wouldn't understand. It’s enough to know it will be significantly more than two million. So, what do you say?”
“Raine, what the hell is going on here? First, you send Mom all those creds, and now this? I’m not even thinking about signing this until I have some answers!”
It may have been a long time since he was on good terms with his brother, but that didn’t mean Raine didn’t know how to speak his language, “Check clause twelve.”
Once again, Deloralicious found it first, her exclamation sounding like she had just inhaled a lungful of helium, “You’re going to hire national-level martials to train us?!”
“No, no way. None of this is real. I know you! There’s no way you can afford any of this, I refuse to believe it!” Richtor’s foot crashed into the dirt path, his head shaking repeatedly.
“All right, fine. I’ll cave,” Raine patted the air in a calming motion, “You know that contract I told you about? It’s worth more than I’m willing to say but I put almost all of my advance into ZL’s stock the moment I got it. Check the charts. What I sent Mom is less than a hundredth of what I have now. Happy?”
They checked the stock and were shocked to see it skyrocketing even at that moment.
“Oh, uhm. Yeah, okay. So… how do I sign this thing?” Richtor replied in a daze.
“Finish reading it first, idiot!” Deloralicious snapped, cuffing the back of his head.
While the others were reviewing the contracts, Raine opened a call, “Morts, can you please run a search for two houses, one in Carter for you and me, the other in Lincoln for five people. Prioritize security and direct access to a HyperLink. Keep the cost under one million unless you find something particularly enticing for around that price. Also, they have to be available within the next two hours.”
“Understood, Master. I have located seven destinations in Lincoln, and one in Carter.”
Raine narrowed his eyes when Morty failed to sling a clever barb his way, “Only one? Let me guess, there’s something that interests you there. Well, that’s fine, I’ll take it. Send me the list of the others.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Morty sent the file and Raine browsed through the options. They were all decent enough. Locked within gated neighborhoods for the wealthy, they boasted additional top-notch security systems and twenty-four hour corpus patrols that would help keep his first party safe while they delved into ZL for extended periods.
As for Raine’s new home, it quickly became obvious why Morty wanted it badly enough to be polite for an entire conversation.