Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 182

I watched the terminal to pass the time. The more I watched the weird script pass by, the more I started to realize a pattern. The script abruptly changed for a moment, flashing to read 'HELP ME!' before going back to the other weird one as if it had just been a fluke. 

Before I could think too deeply about it, I heard a noise. The flapping of wings came from beyond the haze along with the heavy sound of something being dragged across the ground. My grip on my rifle tightened as I took full advantage of Dexterity to boost my reaction speeds.

A shadow appeared against the haze, quickly revealing Corvid as he flew towards me. Gripped tightly in his claws was something long with a bulbous head. It looked like a snake. “Caw!”

Corvid dropped the thing at the entrance to the cubicle. It was indeed a snake, though it looked… wrong. The creature was made of wood. It was as though a tree branch dropped off of a tree and came to life. The head was entirely crushed, leaking a familiar black substance that I saw on the bot at the entrance to the sub-level.

Corvid triumphantly perched on the divider wall between cubicles, holding his head high. “Caw!”

”Good job.” I praised the bird. I poked forward toward the wooden snake thing with the barrel of my rifle, nudging it around. More of that black… sap? Was it sap? Sap seemed like the right word for it. But it wasn’t biological? Hmm… Anyway, more of the black sap leaked out of the creature as I moved it around.

Although the thing was dead, it wasn’t the cause of the haze or the fear-inducing aura. I could still feel horror in the back of my head, though its effects had been re-suppressed somewhat by Cold-Blooded. The heartbeat also continued to beat in the distance, eerily echoing in the large camber. 

“Did you find the source of the heartbeat?” I looked up to my avian companion.

His feathered head nodded sharply. A wing popped up pointing towards the offices. It wasn’t exactly where I was headed… but well, I really didn’t want to keep walking around in this fearful haze. I’ll go check it out. See if I can’t fix or kill whatever is causing it.

Before that though… “How dangerous is it?”

Corvid tilted his head in thought for several long moments. Eventually, he pointed towards the wood snake and spread his wings. “Caaaawwww.”

”Lots of snakes, eh?” I looked down at the thing. Then I fired a shot into it, instantly shattering the bark as the corpse exploded into splinters and splattered sap. At least they weren’t bulletproof. 

I gave up my stealth advantage with the fired shot, but it wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway since Corvid already killed one of the snakes. Speaking of, I offered my hand to him. “You combat capable?”

The avian flapped over, landing on my hand as I stroked his feathers. He shrugged slightly. “Caw.”

Better than nothing I guess. “Stick around with me and watch my back, okay?”

He tapped his chest several times with his wing. “Ca- caw-caw!”

Before heading onward, I set up a few simple traps around the corpse. There was a high chance something would come to investigate the noise. It was a perfect opportunity for a trap to thin the numbers

Since I was dealing with snakes, I didn’t do anything too crazy. I set up several nooses made of rope, which would pull whatever stepped onto them into the air and suspend them. I also set up one of my precious grenades to explode on a tripwire. Hopefully, the explosion would draw even more snakes over.

With that settled, I hefted my rifle once more and stalked forward toward the abominable haze. Shortly after, I heard several shapes slithering in the darkness. At least four, but probably closer to seven. All seemed to be coming from the offices.

I ducked into a cubicle, activating the rest of my stealth Perks I’d left inactive earlier. Since I’d been against robots that couldn’t see me, I hadn’t seen a point for Stalk and Lethargic Presence. I wasn’t sure if they’d affect the wood creatures, though I activated them just in case.

A minute later, as the slithering grew louder, one of the snake creatures flicked past the cubicle’s entry. The thing sped by without even a glance toward me, looking far more intimidating than the dead one had. Still, I could take them. Probably. 

I carefully edged forward, dodging a few patrolling snakes. Now that I knew what to look for, I recognized the signs of their passage. Interestingly, they looked as though they were guarding something with the patrols and the investigation group. Was it their nest?

Just as the heartbeat started to override every bit of noise thanks to my proximity, an explosion went off in the distance. The haze behind me momentarily lit up as my grenade went off, hopefully shredding the group of wood snakes that went to investigate.

A great many hisses rose into the air. Thunder sounded in the air as something heavy moved across the floor. A flash of Insight hit me, feeling like chills wrapped around my entire body followed shortly by hundreds of bites and ice spreading through my veins. I immediately used Burst Step, ducking into one of the cubicles as I aimed my rifle toward the entrance.

A serpentine tide flowed through the recently vacated space as dozens of snakes slithered through like a flood. The fear once more overpowered Cold-Blooded as I stared at the tide of snakes. If I was caught in that… my finger tightened on the trigger, though sheer force of will kept me from giving my position away and firing.

Holding my fire proved to be a wise decision. Just as quickly as the flow of serpents came, it went. The thunderous slithering roved onward toward the explosion site. The cacophony of snakes moved to combat their enemy. Or at least, where they thought their enemy was. 

It was good for me regardless. Hopefully, that’d be the vast majority of the wood snakes guarding this place. With them gone, getting into the actual nest, where the haze and heartbeat seemed to emanate from, would be much easier. I set up another explosive trip in the aisle before slinking forward once more. 

Up ahead, the rows of cubicles ended. Wide open space obfuscated by the haze popped up. Along with the space came roots deeply entangled into the ground. They were broken here and there, almost as if something kept the roots from branching towards the cubicle farm.

Bones lay scattered all over the place. Great mounds of white lay up against the walls, with loose ones hidden amongst the roots. There were so many of them. Human, from the looks of things. Probably all the workers, if I had to guess. No one got out of this horrible place alive.

The overpowering heartbeats were so much louder here. I could feel the powerful thrums with every part of my body as I edged forward to the source.

And then I spotted it through the haze. I stood before a grim altar that the roots emanated from. It was a grotesque thing, one that made bile rise into the back of my throat kust from looking at it. 

Its base was that of a tree, with the roots surging up to the trunk. The trunk narrowed significantly, rising up to form ribs. Rotting skin wrapped around the wooden ribs as the tree turned into a human form just above where a person’s waist would be.

The skin covering the- the person’s organs had rotted off, revealing the internals. The organs were held in place by small branches and vines, wrapping around them as they held up the black organs. Organs that still looked like they were working, suspending the creature in a state of perpetual agony.

The half-tree person’s heart still impossibly beat in their chest, visible past the rotted skin. The thunderous heartbeat I’d been hearing ever since entering this place beat in time with that disturbing dark heart in their chest.

All around the figure sat fragments of clothes. They looked almost as if the clothes had burst off the person, scattering all around. I spotted a wallet and ID card mixed into the fragments and roots. Seeing the ID and clothes further wedged into my mind the horror of the situation. This had been a person at one point.

The abomination didn’t just end there though. Just above the person’s mouth, the rest of the head was hidden by the thick coils of a massive snake. The coils seemed to merge into the person’s body as the snake wrapped tightly around the person’s head. From the wooden scales of the large snake, a black substance leaked out similar to the sap. The oozing substance turned into a black haze before it could even hit the ground.

The massive snake’s body didn’t seem to be a part of the original tree figure as much as it seemed to be parasitizing off of it. It was like a leech that settled into a host. Probably the mother of all the rest of the wood snakes, if I had to guess based on the size difference. Maybe the brood-mother? If not, then it was at least important to their nest.

The snake, as if sensing my presence, lifted up from its tight-wrapped coils as its tongue flicked out. Dark eyes peered out, scanning the surroundings as I ducked into the shadows of the cubicle farm. It looked right past me, carefully watching its surroundings. It hissed loudly as its coils tightened, causing the disgusting heart to visibly beat faster.

From the mouth of the parasitized person came a soft cry of pain. “Kill… me… kill me… please.. just… kill… me.”

A root rose up off the ground, seemingly aiming for the heart of the person. Just before it could execute the trapped soul, the massive snake on top lunged down and tore it into shreds easily. It was stuck attached to the person's head, but it would be a major threat if I approached.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding as I looked at the abomination. The base of the horrible altar was covered in thousands of torn branches. A chill went down my spine. They must’ve been here for decades, trapped and tortured like this; their body slowly rotting from the inside out as the snake used them like a nest.

The big snake hissed, flicking its head to look at a mound of bones. A group of smaller snakes slithered out at the command of the larger one. The brood-mother seemed to be giving out orders as the smaller ones split off to patrol more of the space.

What to do… what to do… I needed to kill the snake, at least. It’d take care of the haze and make it easier for the Crimson Company to come down here. Without a central intelligence instructing the wood snakes, they wouldn’t be much of a threat. 

As for the person… they were beyond saving. Even if I safely managed to extract the snake from their body, could they even be considered in a state of living? If anything, this would be a mercy killing.

An explosion came from behind me as my hand tightened on the rifle. Something tripped the other tripwire Already, I could hear the distant slithering of the waves of snakes combing back to investigate. It was now or never. I raised my rifle and shot off a burst toward the black heart.

The snake reacted to my shots, using its own body to block the fire. My bullets bounced off the larger snake, though not without doing some damage to it. I made a motion to Corvid and moved around, firing shots to distract the snake. 

The snake continued to body block, shifting to provide the heart maximum coverage from my fire. With its malevolent gaze on me, Corvid took the opportunity to fly towards the horrible abomination and strike at its heart. The snake batted Corvid away- or at least attempted to. The avian easily dodged, flapping back to me. It snatched a snake that'd just been about to ambush me as I pulled one of my last grenades out.

Throwing Weapon Master showed its worth as I perfectly threw the grenade at an arc upward. It looked as though the snake would move to block it, so I quickly fired upon the grotesque altar of agony with my rifle. It didn't seem particularly smart as it decided to ignore the grenade in favor of my bullets. It moved, opting to block the bullets instead, giving my grenade the perfect gap to fall right into place.

The grenade exploded at the base of the trunk, fire erupting as it sent shrapnel blitzing into the rotten organs of the person. The dark heart burst, ending the cacophony of heartbeats that'd been playing since I first stepped into this space.

Sound returned to my surroundings. Or rather lack of sound. The ever-present fear lifted as a sigh of relief escaped the figure’s broken mouth. It slumped down, dropping to the ground as the roots all over the place rapidly withered.

The massive snake let out a screech as its body hit the ground, incoiling from the person's head. It stretched out, seemingly trying to escape the mass of withering life. The coils gave way to a long body as it slithered away.

With the coils gone, I spotted the snake’s tail deeply embedded into what had once been the person’s eyes. The withering effect slowly spread to the tail as the snake tried to jerk free of the abomination it’d been living off of. Only, the parasitic link it forged couldn’t be broken so easily. 

It couldn’t break free as its body withered into a husk of what it once was. Its eyes blazed with malice as it switched direction, aiming for me. The massive snake lunged at me-

Only to snap back as I used Burst Step to back just out of range. It stared at me in hatred as the withering slowly spread up its body. It went still, dying without its host to sustain it. In the distance, the mad rush of serpentine bodies racing towards me stopped entirely. I peeked down a row of cubicles, spotting one of the wood snakes. Its body lay withered entirely as if its life force was linked to the mother.

The haze lifted slightly as every screen in the cubicle farm shut off. Absolute silence reigned in the large space. I moved into one of the cubicles, dropping onto a chair as I took a few moments to just breathe and think through the horror of my experience.

Corvid dropped onto my lap, nuzzling into my stomach. I idly petted him as I shut off Cold-Blooded. Without the nullifying effects of the Perk, my stomach rumbled. I had a mere second before puke rushed up my throat.

For nearly an hour I tried to calm myself down. The constant fear going away helped, but every part of me felt high-strung and yet drained at the same time. I looked towards the fallen altar of agony, making a quick decision as I headed back up towards the exit. I needed a break... and it wouldn't hurt to restock in case there's something else down here.