Pinta is a type of alien called a bristle. She is the vice president of Nova Client Services, LTD., a notorious medical collections agency whose primary client is the Viceroy system. They specialize in implant reclamation and indenture captures for delinquent medical debt accounts.
I yanked one of the quills from her, and I pulled it into my inventory.
“Kill me,” the alien Pinta croaked. “She’s coming back. Kill me. Please, please, please.”
No,I wanted to say,you should suffer.But that wasn’t me. It would never be me, and I needed to remember that because I kept wanting to forget.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay. Hang on.”
Donut: CARL, IT’S COMING.
System Message: Scolopendra has released the second of nine attacks.
A wheel appeared right there in the hallway.
“Oh shit,” I said. The club wasn’t protecting me from the attack!
The ox spot was gone, leaving eight spots on the wheel. It started to spin.Tick, tick, tick.It landed on the squiggles.
Sin of Consumption.
Er, not sure how this one is going to be treated as a “temporary” attack, but here we go. Everyone has a 30% chance to be hit.
“No, no, no,” I said as the mini wheel appeared in front of both me and Penny. It also appeared in front of the woman trapped in the web.
I landed in the green. Penny landed in the green. Relief filled me.
The alien landed in the red.
“Oh, thank the gods. Thank the gods,” the woman gasped as worms suddenly burst from all parts of her body and devoured her. She disappeared with a flash.
Screams of all types filled the dark halls.
“Carl,” Emberus yelled once again.
Donut: ARE YOU OKAY? THE RV TRICK WORKED!
Carl: We weren’t protected, but it didn’t hit us.
Penny: MORE SPLOOGE.
Mordecai: Just so you guys know, we’re okay, and game guides appear to be immune, but it looks like safe rooms are not safe from these nine-tier attacks. Bucket Boy was affected, but Mistress Tiatha was able to heal him in time.
We moved on. A level 13 snare trap sat in the middle of the hallway ahead. Something set by “the Kyryap.” I deactivated the trap and hesitantly moved to the stairs. More screams filled the halls.
Donut: OH NO, CARL! WE WENT OUT THERE AND THE MOUNTS WEREN’T PROTECTED THIS TIMEFROM THE ATTACK! GONK AND SWEETY BOTH GOT HURT! I’M GOING TO TRY TO SAVE THEM. THEY HAVE WORMS COMING OUT OF THEM!
Carl: I’m moving to Emberus now. Get ready.
We moved to a long hallway filled with numbered doors on either side. The hallway was empty, filled with flickering lights, soaked top to bottom with multiple strange fluids. Blaster and spell fire scorched the walls. Some of the doors were broken open, showing opulent, bigger-on-the-inside rooms. The orange webbing was everywhere. Penelope had stopped struggling and instead just sat there, snuffling loudly. I moved to the stairs, approaching the room with Emberus, which appeared to be a giant lobby.
Imani: We’re moving into the arena.
Florin: Holy hell, that Taranis god is huge. He’s standing over the bug. I think the floor boss got hit with the attack. It has a health bar already down halfway. Oh shit!
We hit the stairs, and then I was suddenly falling. Up was down, and we crashed hard to the ceiling before righting again, and I crashed back to the floor, Penny squealing. Guts and blood and all sorts of other liquids splashed all around me as Scolopendra tumbled.
A pleasant but glitched-out, clearly automated voice spoke over a loudspeaker.