I carried Bell back down the corridor and towards the secret elevator, being careful not to trip on the two corpses I’d slaughtered on my way downstairs.
Just as we were about to reach the subterranean foyer a blaring alarm rang out around the room deafening me. It filled the room with an air raid-style siren that rose and fell in a way that made it impossible to tune out.
Shit, I must have triggered the alarm! I thought, picking up the pace as I headed purposely towards the elevator.
I felt a hard prod to my cheek and looked down with a furrowed brow. Bell gazed up at me and opened her mouth but I couldn’t hear anything over the raring siren.
She looked frustrated and then her eyes brightened and a chat notification popped up on my HUD.
Bell: Go down the corridor to the left.
Kaleb: Why? The exit is this way.
Bell: They have a vault down there, it’s where they keep the skins.
I thought for a moment, suppressing the urge to shudder, and then nodded. If I could reach that vault I could adsorb whatever map pieces the Morningstar Collective had acquired and that would piss them off royally.
Also, it would help me in my never-ending quest to complete The Celestial Map, which I had no interest in ever pursuing because, despite a certain system achievement I once got, I was not a genocidal maniac.
The system had given me the quest after I’d accidentally killed an adventurer named Brad and adsorbed his map piece. It sounds worse than it was ok?
Bell smiled feebly back at me and we headed down the corridor she had indicated, a confused-looking Panda trailing behind us. I rounded a corner and pushed through some swing doors to find an absolute blood bath.
The corridor was littered with the sliced and diced corpses of guards and casino staff alike. Blood and viscera splattered the walls and the floor was slippery and scarlet. It was hard to tell where one body ended and another began as limbs and torsos were mixed and matched in the carnage.
It was like a horror movie and the stench was inescapable.
Carefully, I picked my way through the mess and headed towards the open vault door at the end of the corridor. It was a typical metal vault door that loosely resembled a gear and was way too thick to blow open with dynamite or a skill.
Yet, the door hung loosely off its hinges as if someone had done exactly that. Stepping inside I saw rows of empty shelves. Whoever had done this had stolen the skins.
I was beginning to think that someone else had set off the alarm that rang all around us.
***
Approximately 30 minutes earlier…
“Where is she?” The short haired man and his panda exclaimed simultaneously attracting the attention of the bustling crowd in the main club room.
The Samurai also couldn’t help but stare in their direction as they spoke a little too loudly with the man in the trench coat.
From the expression on his face, he wasn’t used to working with such amateurs. He seemed to be a man to which subterfuge was second only to breathing. The batman wannabe, on the other hand, was loud and obvious - a man after her own heart.
The Samurai valued forwardness, it either showed a distinct confidence in oneself and a willingness to tackle things head on, or idiocy. She had yet to see which one of these applied to the armoured man.
It’s almost time, Chrysus spoke into her mind.
He had been with her since she had entered this god-awful hive of scumbags.
The boy with the panda will lead you to the vault, just don’t let him see you, her God continued.
She didn’t reply. Chrysus was a god, he was inside her head, he didn’t need her to speak to be able to understand her intentions.
The feeling of his mind touching hers was strangely intimate and took some getting used to. However, it was also comforting to carry a divine being of such great power inside of her. She accepted him fully and when he was with her it was almost as if their souls merged. They were one.
He was also a constant reminder of her goal. She would become a god – the strongest being in this world capable of challenging anyone, even Chrysus.
“… But yeah little lady, that armour of yours would look great on my bedroom floor, what do you say?” A small, broad, and rich noble asshole said from the opposite side of the booth she was occupying.
Stolen story; please report.
He and his friend had joined the Samurai a short while ago and though she had no intention of engaging in such frivolous conversation, he did make good cover to help her blend in better.
“Your insides would look great on my bedroom floor,” she replied calmly, “what do you say?”
The nobleman’s eyes widened as he realised he’d been hitting on the wrong type of person and began to shrink down in his seat.
The Samurai smirked and made to leave, signalling her wolf familiar with her hand. The man with the panda had left and she intended to follow him. He was her ticket into the subterranean facility.
Dancers, servers, and patrons alike, moved willingly to the side as the Samurai walked across the club. Noticing the man and his panda summon a discreet elevator in the corner, she decided to keep her distance lest they spot her.
Once they entered the elevator, she made her move.
Midnight Slash (common)
Unsheathe your blade in an instant 10-foot leap to slash through foes. This skill imbues the wielder’s blade with dark mana.
Activating this skill has a medium mana cost.
Activating her Midnight Slash skill, the Samurai leaped forwards, slicing through the doors like butter and landing with light finesse on top of the elevator.
She winced as Pocco jumped through the opening and she caught him. Had she missed, her familiar would have hit the roof loudly, alerting the man and his panda to their presence.
Secrecy was less important now that she had a way into the basement, but Chrysus had insisted that she stay as far away, and as unobtrusive to the man and his activities, as possible.
Once the elevator reached its destination she waited for a moment, peering through the small gap between the edge of the roof and the open, elevator door.
She watched as the man gesticulated in his exchange with the two guards before mercilessly slaughtering them with… was that poison?
The men he had killed all had bubbling lesions on their skin. She felt herself grin as she looked over the bodies from above. He was dangerous. She liked that.
Then, after he left, she pulled herself from her hiding place, dropping through the elevator roof hatch.
Good work my vassal, Chrysus said. His presence had never left her mind and she knew that he had been watching her every move. What we’re looking for should be down the corridor to the right. No need for secrecy now. Eradicate anyone that stands in your way, get what we came for and leave.
She nodded, her grin widening as she brazenly pushed open the door that had been indicated to her. Stood before her was a group of twelve guards who all turned towards her with wide eyes.
Catching them off guard certainly took the sport out of the slaughter, not that she enjoyed it any less. The Samurai drew her blade menacingly as the guards fumbled with their own.
“Sic ‘em Pocco,” she said and the wolf darted forward, latching onto the leg of the closest guard who screamed like a little girl.
“Shit! Get her!” Another guard yelled and the rest charged towards her.
She ducked underneath a slash from the first guard, then had to roll out of the way of a second, slashing at the ankles of her attacker as she rolled.
He screamed and dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks startling his comrades. Before they had time to gasp, the Samurai was back on her feet and she let out a myriad of two-handed slashes which she controlled perfectly.
Blood splashed and drained from wounds, severed limbs and a single decapitation. Guards screamed and she laughed maniacally as her red armour glistened with the crimson blood of her foes.
She parried an attack, kicking out at a guard who stumbled back into the waiting jaws of Pocco the wolf. Then, a different guard locked blades with her. He was stronger, but she had more skill. As the blades were held in a stalemate, she moved one of her hands to the back of her katana’s tip and leaned in with all of her bodyweight.
As she leaned, she felt contact with the neck and shoulder of her opponent and she dropped down, pulling away in a devastating slashing movement. The man dropped to the ground, bleeding out from deep cut that split him open shoulder to chest.
The fight lasted moments and she didn’t even need to call upon her active skills. It was a little disappointing.
However, she was there for a specific purpose and fighting was secondary to that. At the end of the blood-soaked corridor was a large, metal vault door.
Use your new skill, Chrysus said.
She nodded and drew her blade, holding it firmly above her head before activating the skill.
Heavenly Slash (Rare)
Channel mana into you blade to unleash a devastating single strike. The more mana you add, the more effective the attack.
This skill has a high mana cost.
This skill has a high stamina cost.
Imbuing as much mana as she could into the strike, she slashed down with devastating destructive force, forcing the vault door from its hinges. With a smirk, she sheathed her katana and pulled the broken door open.
Inside the vault was shelves upon shelves of skins, just as her master had said there would be. It was gross, but useful.
Perfect, he said inside her head, as I thought, the Morningstar Collective has been busy. If anyone was going to have the resources to begin collection in earnest it would be them. After all, they do have portals to every major city. Adsorb them all and return to me.
“Yes master,” she said, replying for the first time since she entered The Morningstar Hotel and Spa.
A notification popped up in her interface almost immediately and she accepted it.
Do you want to adsorb 4,837 map pieces?
Y/N
The sheer amount of death that went into collecting this many wasn’t lost on her. That was almost half the pieces needed to complete the map in single raid.
I bet that idiot Yaldabaoth never expected someone as skilled as you to come to loot his hoard, Chrysus chuckled in her mind. The fool probably didn’t even know the value of what he’d been collecting.
“This puts us one step closer to achieving your goal,” The Samurai replied.
Indeed it does, Chrysus said proudly, if everything goes to plan we’ll be ready by the end of the year. The next phase relies on my high priest tournament going to plan. I’ll need you at the top of your game my… disciple.
“I thought I was a vassal?” The Samurai replied, her voice was reserved but her mind was racing.
You have too much potential to waste on a mere vassal¸ he replied and then exited her mind.
The feeling of the god leaving her was dizzying experience. She felt an odd sense of loss, but at the same time was ecstatic at the new promotion. With Chrysus’ help, she would ascend to godhood and rule this world.
He would regret helping her when she cleaved his head from his neck one day. However, until that day came she would serve and revere him to the best of her abilities. That was her duty as a Samurai.
As she exited the vault Pocco came trotting up to her wagging his tail which sprayed blood with every swish. The wolf brought the Samurai a beautiful femur and it was very proud of it too.
She bent down to pat the wolf. It was so cute. Then headed back to the elevator. An alarm blared out mere moments after it began ascending back to the main floor. She hoped she would get to fight her way out.