The Crimson Quest: A LitRPG Adventure Read online

  "You're not really an army," Johnny replied from behind me.

  I laughed. It made me realize how pathetic it seemed to have a small so-called “army”. It wasn't the look I wanted to have. Just a few kids pretending to be "tough" when they clearly weren't. Honestly, I was weaker than all of them. It was sad in a way. But I wouldn't be for long. I wasn't going to be like this bunch of losers. No, I wasn't. "You three, get out of here," I said calmly.

  The naughty broom-like guy was laughing at me. "You better get out of here," he laughed with both arms in the air. Then he moved closer until he was right in front of me. Her lips curved upward and they twisted d. They continued to shake until a few words finally left her mouth. "You better shut your mouth."

  I laughed.

  "What's so funny. Laugh again and I'll slap you right now!"

  I looked him straight in the eye. Yes, he was serious. Peer pressure was getting the better of him. His friends were watching excitedly before one of them cheered him on. "Hit him to the ground and ram his head into the dirt." Don't stop stomping until his head pops! Yes, he will be the Dragon's Eye Army's first casualty!

  What level was he? If he was one of the lower levels, I knew I could take him. I looked at his display statistics. Yes! It was level 2! I narrowed my eyes. "Do you know what I like to do?"

  His eyes turned serious. "What? What do you like to do?"

  "I like to laugh," I cried with a burst of laughter.

  His eyes widened in shock. Then there was a pop as he slapped me in the face. Damn, he caught me off guard. How much damage did his slap do? I looked at my health bar and saw that my level had dropped to 13/14. A point? This little sissy was weaker than a rat. Knowing this, I decided I was going to kick his ass. "You just fucked up," I yelled, pulling out my dagger. "I'm going to show your little buddies here how really punk you really are."

  He licked both hands before pulling out a long silver sword. Damn, where did that come from? Cosmo ran closer to me. "I got your back."

  “Thanks. But I don't need it,” I replied.

  I wasn't going to let this little punk get away with slapping me. I was actually going to slap him back. I threw my dagger in the air as he raised his sword in the air. Our eyes met. He was scared, I could see him. Then it hit me. It was neither a goblin nor a rat. He was a real player. What if he's a lot harder than I thought? I didn't know now, but I was about to find out. I wasn't going to let him do the first swing. I rushed forward but encountered a knee against my chest. There was a thud as I stumbled backwards. I held my chest and found it difficult to breathe. Without warning, I fell to my knees and I started to gag. “You look like a fly that has just been sprayed with poison,” he laughs. "Is that all you got?"

  I checked my health bar. Thin! 6/12? It did a lot more damage than the last attack. It had to be something he had learned. Johnny approached me and tried to help me. "Stop," I said pushing him away. "I don't need any help."

  "Okay. I just wanted to try and help you this time," he replied.

  I climbed to my feet. He expected me to say something, but I didn't. Instead, I just gave him quite a strength as he came back to swing. But it was too late. I threw him to the ground. "Enjoy those slaps, broom boy," I yelled over and over, slapping his face.

  “Stop,” he shouted. "Please!"

  I looked at his friends as I continued to slap him. “His new name is Slappy. Slappy, Slappy, Slappy, ”I yelled as my slaps became more and more frequent.

  I looked down at his face as my hand moved from side to side. Dude, I was getting good at it. It was almost like I was creating some kind of art. My emotions did the work while my mind watched. I slapped him over and over again until my slaps turned into a closed fist. One after another until his face was covered in blood. Shit. All I saw was blood. Where was her face? Had I severely destroyed her pathetic little face? Suddenly his body shriveled up and disappeared. Oh wow. I killed him? Did I kill the walking broom? Never mind. You might as well get your loot:

  Rubber balls

  Value: 0.0 gold

  Weight: 0.35 lbs

  Rubber balls? What kind of weirdo is playing with rubber balls? I threw the marbles on the ground. Cosmo gave me a five. “It was awesome man. I have never seen anyone slap someone to death.

  “I really didn't want to kill him,” I replied.

  “You were like a crazy animal,” Johnny yelled.

  I laughed. It was true. Somehow I couldn't believe what had just happened. Looking at his two friends, I could tell they were scared. I approached them. "Your boss is dead."

  "You are going to pay for what you did," one of them shouted, fist in the air.

  "We have to hurry," replied the other. “We have to find his body before anyone captures his soul. He's our leader. Without him our army is nothing.

  A strange thought occurred to me. What if they actually join our army? I shook my head. It was a bad idea. Where was it? I nudged Cosmo. “Do you think we could train them?”

  “Train them? Are you crazy?"

  "Why not? They are better than the peasants, aren't they?

  “Because we can't trust them. That's why."

  Maybe he was right. How can we trust them? I watched them while having a mental debate with myself. Could they trust them? I did not know. My eyes are fixed on the two characters. One was very thin while the other was slightly overweight. They had potential. There were real players alive while the peasants were just NPCs. But, they were sneaky. Could they trust them? Suddenly, blood splashed over me. "What the hell?" I yelled , looking at my dirty hands. "What just happened?"

  My eyes turned around in panic. Then I saw him. One of the figures wearing red leather pants had an arrow stuck in his head. “Take him out,” he mumbled with broken words. "I have an arrow in my head."

  Wow. He was still alive. If I had had a camera, I would have taken a photo. It was something you just didn't see every day. However, the poor soul suggested that I extract his arrow. "Shoot it. It'll slip right away, I think.

  "How much does it hurt?" Like, on a scale of 1 to 10. How bad is that? ” Johnny asked.

  I bit my lip. I had no experience removing arrows. But I knew I had to help him. Of course, we had our differences, but no man deserved to have an arrow sticking out of his head. I grabbed the arrow and I tried to remove it. Man, that was really stuck in there. Again, I shot it. Suddenly he slipped right away. "I did. The arrow was pulled out, " I yelled , holding it up in the air. The figure collapsed. His body started to seizure, then he died. He let it fall. loot. I really didn't want to take it, but I still wanted to see what it had.

  Rubber balls

  Value: 0.0 gold

  Weight: 0.35 lbs

  More rubber balls? Well, I guess his day of rubber ball play with a broom boy was over. I threw the marbles on the ground. "They're coming," Cosmo yelled, pointing at a group of figures in the distance. There were maybe seven or eight figures dressed in white. They walked slowly in a "V" pattern as if they had nothing to worry about in the world.

  "Why did they shoot him?

  "It's a pack of Soul Flies," Cosmo replied. "We have to get out of here!"

  Soul flies? I didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound like good news. Johnny and Cosmo ran past me towards the stream between the hills. I started to run, but realized that the other character in the red leather pants was all alone. My eyes met his. "What are we doing?" He asked.

  I rolled my eyes. "Come with us," I yelled as I started to run.

  "Are you going to kill me?" he asked with worried eyes.

  “No,” I replied. "Not if you don't try anything stupid."

  We both started down the stream. "Wait," I shouted at Co smo. "We arrive."

  Johnny and Cosmo slowed down so we could catch up with them. "Why are the Soul Flies walking so slowly?" I asked.

  "It does not matter. They will catch up. Believe me, ”Cosmo replied with a short breath.

  Our footsteps splashed in the shallow stream as we got clos
er and closer to the hut. "It's not far," Cosmo yelled, pointing forward.

  In less than five minutes, we had arrived at a cabin built with tree branches. In addition, there was a thick layer of mud. Cosmo knocked on the door. There was no answer. Again, he pounded. Still no answer. "What are we going to do?" I asked with panic.

  Cosmo didn't answer. Instead, he kept knocking on the door. "It's me Cosmo," he shouted.

  The door opened. "Do you have any gold?" You better have some gold this time, ”replied a black shadow.

  "Of course," Cosmo said, dragging us into the cabin.

  The door slammed shut. I looked at the character. He was old. In fact, I would say he looked like he was at least eighty years old. "Did you take your whole family with you?" Is that right?

  He had a very hoarse voice. Like he's smoked over a thousand packs of cigarettes or something. “We're all friends,” I replied with a smile.

  "This guy is not our friend," Johnny replied with his finger. "He's pretty much our enemy."

  I looked at the figure in the red leather pants and examined his face. He had a very sly look at him. Almost like he's up to something right now. He brushed his brown hair away from his eyes. "My name is Ronald."

  Ronald? What sort of mom names her child after a clown known for his burgers? "Nice to meet you Ronald," I said with my hand.

  Ronald looked surprised. "Thanks," he replied. "Thank you so much."

  For a while, I almost let Ronald cheat on me. But then my photographic memory replayed a memory inside my head. Ronald was actually the one who wanted my head to explode. Yes, I remembered now. Of course, he was nice now that his boyfriends were dead. But I knew the real Ronald. Oh yes I did. The Ronald who wanted to see my head sank into the ground. And for that, I could never forgive him.

  The old man started to walk back and forth as I examined his house. It was very basic. Just a little square room with a bunch of beans in the corner. Guess the guy really loved beans because there were more of them than I had ever seen in my life. The beans were n't even in a bag. They were just piled up. "Sit on the floor," said the old man with outstretched hand.

  We all sat on its dirty floor. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. There was a tiny beetle on the ground struggling to drag the bean. I shook my head. How could this beetle live such a depressing lifestyle? Has her whole life been stealing the old man's bean supply? If so, it was truly a sad life he was leading. I didn't know and didn't want to think about it anymore. I watched the old man as he started to speak. "How much gold do you have?"

  “More than enough,” Cosmo replied.

  The old man laughs. “You were here not long ago. You work fast these days, don't you? "

  A strange look came to Cosmo's face. “Let's do it quickly. Do you have what I need? "

  The old man stood up. He walked over to a large wooden chest and opened it. "You should really buy them in advance," he replied, holding a bottle in the air. “It would save you a lot of time. So you wouldn't need to go back so much, would you?

  I examined the bottle in the old man's hand. what was that? It looked like some sort of potion. Blue liquid that sparkled. "What is that?"

  Cosmo walked over to the old man and grabbed him. "Nothing," he replied with a stutter. “Just a basic health potion. That's all."

  There was something strange in the tone of his voice. My gut told me he was lying. But why? Why would he lie about it? "So, is this a healing potion?"

  "Yeah. Just basic stuff," Cosmo replied quickly.

  "I've never seen a healing potion that looks like this," Ronald replied.

  Cosmo laughs. "Why is he even here?" Who brought him here?

  “I did. He now had here to go. It was either with us or with the Soul Flies.

  "Either way, it would have been good for me," Cosmo replied casually.

  Ronald put a hand on my shoulder. “I am grateful that you let me come with you. I will not forget it.

  "No problem," I replied. "What about the weapons? We're going to have weapons, right? "

  "We need some of your bases," Cosmo shouted at the old man. “Just a few basic swords and armor. Nothing special. Just something to strengthen a few peasants.

  The old man sank back down into his chest. Then he dropped a few swords on the ground. One sword was long and had a golden hilt. Another was short, but thicker, and had a wooden handle. Finally, there was a sword with a red hilt. In the middle of the handle was a blue stone. “It's awesome,” I said.

  "Go ahead," Cosmo replied, pointing to him. "You can have it."

  "Really? But, how much gold is that?

  "Don't worry. I've got you covered.

  Wow. Was he serious? "Thanks! It's going to be awesome."

  I grabbed the sword and opened my inventory. I equipped it and checked the stats:

  Miststone Longsword

  Slot: left or right hand

  Level: 3 (beginner)

  Weight: 9 lbs

  Damage: 19

  Oh yeah! 19 damage? It was pretty good. I held the sword beside me and I smiled. "I can't wait to use it."

  “We're going to use it soon enough,” Cosmo replied.

  "But how can you afford all of this?" How much gold do you have

  “This man owes me a favor. Is not it true?

  The old man looked at the ground then climbed back up to Cosmo. “He gets an extreme reduction. He's a frequent customer here. Always coming back for the same. Is not it true?

  Cosmo didn't answer. Instead, he went back to business. “I want 3 MistStones and 7 Crest Swords. Agreement?"

  "You have it," the old man replied. "What about the armor?"

  Cosmo chuckled. "You want me to buy everything you've got, don't you?" What kind of connection can you give me? "

  “I have already given you a 'plug-in' on your main purchase. You know, why you really came here, ”the old man replied with a sly laugh. "But, I'll give you the armor for a good price if you take ten." But, only my iron. I have too many of them like I am right now. Half of what you normally pay for 10 coins? It sounds good? "

  Cosmo looked pissed off. "Yeah. It will work. Drop them and I'll take them.

  There was a strange energy in the air. I didn't know what it was, but something was strange. The old man placed ten pairs of the same type of iron armor on the ground. "Take one," Cosmo ordered.

  I had to admit it was exciting. It was exciting to have my first sword and my first piece of armor. "I appreciate it," I replied, grabbing a pair.

  I opened my inventory to equip myself and consult the statistics:

  Basic iron armor

  Location: chest and arms

  Level: 2 (beginner)

  Weight: 23 lbs

  Defense: 06

  Pleasant. I have equipped it. Wow. I instantly wore shiny iron armor. I hit it with my hand. Yes, I felt pretty solid. I actually had a defense now. I was sure a rat could never hurt me again. And for that, I was grateful.

  “What am I? Don't I have some tips? Johnny asked behind me.

  “Take a sword and a piece of armor,” Cosmo replied.

  Johnny looked excited as he grabbed the items. I looked at Ronald. Did I really want to give him something? After the way he provoked me? I didn't know . But maybe, could it really be of use? Maybe I could turn him into a vicious little warrior? It was possible. Still, I didn't like the idea of giving him a gun. At least not yet. We started to come out of the old man's hut. The moment we opened the door the old man yelled something at Cosmo. "Bring more, okay?"

  Cosmo didn't answer as he left the cabin.

  Chapter sixteen

  "What did the old man mean?" I asked. "When he asked you to bring some more?"

  "He's half crazy," Cosmo replied before changing the subject. “Keep an eye out for the Soul Flies. They may still be there.

  Oh shit. I forgot about those guys. Ronald walked beside me. I slowed down and let him move slightly in front of me. Yes , he would be a good shield in case another arrow c
ame our way. I hated to think of it that way, but if it had to be me or him, I wanted it to be him. Besides, he probably secretly wanted me dead. There was no way he went from hating me to actually loving me . He was sneaky. A very sneaky little guy. But he wasn't going to cheat on me. My eyes scanned the area as we continued down the shallow stream. We walked another fifteen minutes before we achieved anything. Don't we need a lot of health potions or even a healer? How was our peasant army going to survive without a healer or health potions? "How many health potions do we have?"