Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

chapter 203

We headed for the hallway opposite where the Corrupted Dryads came from. It was one of two accessible hallways and the one that should lead the way back up to the Lang Tower. Assuming I was lined up, that is. I was expecting a guard or something, but other than a semi-permanent-looking lift platform, there wasn’t much to the entrance.

”Looks like a lot of movement through here.” Dev commented as he crouched down and looked at all the rubble kicked aside. Lots of foot traffic.

“So these are the kidnappers?” Persha asked as she kicked aside a rock. 

“Probably.” Every sign pointed towards the circle at this point. I already figured it was them, but every little bit of evidence was nice to get. It would make reporting back to the Inquisitor.

I moved over to the lift platform and messed with the controls. It was a simple enough mechanism. I sabotaged it, making sure it couldn’t go up or down. No point in leaving a way for either reinforcements to come or our enemy to leave. 

We backtracked toward the central area, passing by the large space to go down the tunnel the Corrupted Dryads came from. It looped back a ways before merging into a cave entrance, with the rest of the building caved in. 

I thought through the map of the Underground. This should enter into quite a large cavern, with several caves branching off into other sections of the Underground. It’d be the ideal spot to set up camp, especially with several plant guards at every entrance. “Large chamber up ahead.”

”Anyway we can scout it out before going in?” Dev asked as we paused just before entering the space. “I- I’d rather not go in blind.”

I thought for a moment before pulling out my drone’s case. I looked down at Droney V.2. Or should it be Droner V.2? The last one so bravely sacrificed itself back in New Tress City. Hope this one lasts a little longer. “Just give me a beat.”

I connected the drone to my deck. I’d practiced flying it a couple more times since that radio tower, so I was confident I could fly it without running into anything. Course, I wasn’t as good as Yonrow, but I should be good enough.

With the simple controls of my deck, I got the drone up and flying in minutes. I smoothly flew the silent drone down the tunnel, watching the video feed on my deck the entire time. The rest of the group piled in behind me to get a better look at what we were dealing with.

 The large cavern on the other side was filled with greenery of all kinds, looking as though someone opened up a garden down here. Long vines dangled from the roof covered in glowing bulbs that illuminated the space. Plants covered the ground level of the place, most of which were bright, luminescent pink. Some kind of growery, maybe?

Or at least, it was growery on the surface. Rusty cages lined the walls, almost all of them empty. I flew to the side of the cavern, careful to keep out of sight and take advantage of the darkness.

The few people inhabiting the cages looked drugged out of their minds, their eyes glazed over as they stared off into space with dopey smiles on their faces. Probably didn’t even know what was happening. Sad, really.

People, Circle members probably, stood all around the chamber. I counted thirty-five, though there could’ve been more hidden in the greenery. About half of them looked like Adepts, and the other half definitely had glimmers of chrome. Weak chrome though, as if they went back alley diving.

All were geared and looking for a fight. About half of them watched the entrance we were on, all of which were the chrome ones. The other half were spaced evenly around the fields of plants. Adepts liked to hold the range advantage, no surprise. Made it easier to cast spells. Regardless, they knew we were here and were ready.

I was worried about one guy in particular. He stood near the altar, wearing a dark green robe, unlike the rest. Seemed to be maybe the leader? Or maybe it was just a distraction. It was a common enough tactic to have all members of a group look the same so the leader couldn’t get assassinated.

As I flew up, I noticed runes and lines centered around the middle of the place. An altar covered in dried blood sat in the very middle, with the runes and lines spreading out from it to fill the entire chamber.

”Is that-“ Tyler, the Squire, paused. He just mutely pointed toward the side of the chamber, where hundreds of corpses sat piled up like trash. All, without fail, had horribly contorted expressions on their rotted faces.

“Human sacrifice.” Persha spat off to the side. “Must be trying to cast some kind of black magic ritual.”

「Request - Owl’s Principle of Study - Received

• Find out the purpose of the ritual

• Reward: 1x Knowledge Token」

I’ll do it if I can, but no promises. I doubt they’d just have paperwork of their master plan lying around. That's like how to fail a conspiracy 101. No one was stupid enough to do that... right? I guess if the Inquisitor were here, he'd probably find such a paper...

What’s a Knowledge Token though? That was new. As I approached that Interface Expansion or whatever they called it, the eidolons were getting more and more interested, it seemed.

“What’s the plan?” I asked as I carefully flew the silent drone back to us. I used the rocks and deep shadows as cover to get it back.

”Do we have enough time to go around to a different entrance?” Dev asked. 

I thought back through the map. “Maybe thirty minutes? And no telling what we’ll run into on the way.”

I looked toward the entrance of the chamber and flicked on Aetherial Perception. I hadn’t told the others yet, but the feeling in there? Bad. Even from here, I could tell something was off. There Aether had a sickly green pitch to it, though it was super dense in there. No telling what was going on.

One this was for sure though- I didn’t like it. It gave me a similar vibe as back in New Tress City. It was like there was some behemoth monster in there. Watching. Waiting. I didn’t like it one bit.

I could go in and try to eliminate a few of them by myself… I had no qualms about killing this bunch. They were basically Scavs, using and abusing other people to accomplish their own twisted goals. Worse, even, considering they were using some kind of Black Magic. Hell, I didn’t even know Black Magic was a thing until just now.

”I could go in and cause a distraction from one of the other entrances, split them up. I’m good at sneaking around.” I offered. The darkness and rock outcroppings would make it easy to get past the guards. From the way they were holding space, the group wasn’t exactly competent at keeping watch.

"I could take on all the chromed guys. The Adepts complicate things though..." Perhsa sighed. "Maybe a distraction would be good."

"Adepts require a lot of concentration, usually... we could abuse that. They've been dealing with drugged-out civilians and scurrying around like rats too. They're probably soft." Dev... actually made a good point for once.

”Hmm… you got more Molotovs, Squire?” Knight Persha asked me as she rubbed her hands together. At the very least, it looked like one of us had a plan.

I dug through my bag, feeling around inside. About three, though all still need to be filled with gasoline. “Three.”

”And everyone has a respirator?” I could practically hear a vicious sneer as Persha clapped her hands as we all nodded. Guess it was standard equipment for the Crusade. “Good. Here’s the plan.” 

— — —

Donny had a simple life. He was once a great Adept, working under Raijin to mine in the Aether. It was a simple job that paid well and had great benefits. He couldn’t have asked for more. Being in the tiny percentile of people who could actually use the Aether had quite a few benefits.

And then that all came crashing down once Raijin found he was pocketing rare crystals to sell at Night Markets. That was the kind of thing they couldn’t tolerate. But, like, if they didn’t want him to try and make some extra money on the side, they should just pay him more in general.

Thankfully, he’d made some friends in his time with the corporation. He managed to flee just before a hit squad came to make an example out of him. His decades of studying magic hadn’t been pointless. His friend that warned him though? Well… it’s said that his body was still dangling somewhere in the Underground.

He thought it was over- all over. And then the Circle approached him with promises of eternal life and revenge against those who ruined him. That was years ago, and since then he’d steadily risen through the ranks of the cult. 

That’s how Donny found himself here, below Lang Tower amongst a field of Enron flowers. His gaze fell on the mounds of corpses off to the side of the chamber. It was unfortunate, but Mother needed the sacrifices. If anything, those druggies had no one to blame but themselves for being addicts. 

“Who do you think it is?” One of the other, lesser members asked him as he conjured and toyed with a ball of ice.

”Maybe the Crusade. They’ve been poking around recently.” Donny replied as his attention turned back to the main entrance of the chamber. Crusade or whatever, he'd kill them all the same. For Mother.

The forward guards had all been wiped out. It was an unfortunate loss. Corrupted Dryads were hard to come by these days. The Dryads had all but been wiped out under Mother’s orders. They weren’t so easy to get a hold of anymore.

Donny sighed deeply, wondering if it was just another rabid beast attack that wiped out the guards. Again. There’d been nothing else since the initial strike an hour ago, and the Underground was notoriously unpredictable. Could’ve been anything, not just an attacking force. Wouldn't be the first time.

He felt a chill go down his spine as subconsciously fixed his posture. His hand dropped to his trusty wand. Donny’s eyes flicked around, trying to find the source of the chill-

There. Six red glowing eyes peered down at him, seemingly filled with malevolent intelligence. The Leader’s bird and supposedly the cursed beast responsible for the cult’s latest scheme. At least, if background rumors were to be trusted. He thought it was kinda bullshit though. No way that bird-brain came up with all of this.

The gaze only fell on him for a few moments before the eyes disappeared into the dark. Donny barely held a sigh of relief. The beast always made him uncomfortable. It was almost as if it knew exactly what he was thinking at any given moment.

Shadows flashed as the Glowbulb vines up above shifted. Donny nearly flung a Chain Lightning at it on reflex, though barely managed to hold himself back. No point in wasting his magic. It was just a breeze.

Those damn breezes though… ever since the ritual, they’d been coming and going more and more frequently as if something massive were breathing. Seriously unsettling.

Donny turned his attention back to the entrance. Already, they’d set up a guard of twenty people watching it. Those chrome domes were mere meat shields for the rest of them. A bunch of bastards lulled into the cult’s plans, though they’d never actually become True Children like the Adepts. Tragic, really. A life without Mother?

Donny toyed with his dark green cloak, the only distinguishing feature elevating him from the common rabblery of the cult. Maybe he should order a squad to go investigate-

“Fire!” One of the Adepts called out in surprise. “The Enron Flowers!”

He looked over. A section of the flowers used to make Euphoria were slowly burning up, their pink petals turning black under the flames. Pink-black smoke rose from the flowers, slowly filling the place.

”Over here too!” Another Adept called. This one was actually somewhat competent as he tried to summon water and put the fire out-

Only for the fire to explode under the water’s touch and spread even faster. The Adept let out a horrid scream as what looked like acid splattered on him from the fire. Was it a grease fire? Donny opened his mouth to shout orders-

Something stabbed into his shoulder. He stumbled forward, trying to reach back and pull whatever it was out. A shock of cold spread throughout his body as his muscles locked up. Before he could even do anything, his entire body went numb and he collapsed to the floor. 

In the distance, he saw one of the other entrances explode as despair started to set in. This wasn't just a small strike team. They were getting raided by a large group. It was only a matter of time.

For all his strength and magic, he could do nothing as the fire slowly approached across the burning field.