Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 229

Unlike the Drop Chutes, there was no gentle bleed of momentum before hitting the ground. I plummeted, slamming into the bottom of the shaft with an insane amount of force. Only- the force scattered just as I hit, magically stolen away so it wouldn’t deal any damage.

It was… alright, I guess. I prefer the Drop Chutes. Mainly since I had more control over them? Or maybe since I just trusted mechanical more than magical means? Still, it was cool to see the magical side of things for once.

The ventilation shaft opened and dropped down into a small boiler room of some sort. I looked around, expecting to see the Inquisitor and other Squires. Nothing. Did they go one ahead?

Insight constantly tingled, as expected from a place full of Adept cultists. It felt like magic was continually being cast around, enough that Insight slowly but surely overloaded my senses.

A frown came to my lips as I headed for the bulkhead door separating this place from the rest of the ship. Surely at least some Crusaders should’ve stayed back to secure the entrance, right? And this would've been the ideal spot to store the injured until assistance could arrive. So why-

I froze as I looked out into the hallway, immediately activating my Perks without any hesitation. Shadows grew from my body, covering me and making my form merge with my surroundings. This would be the first test of Illusive, but I had a good feeling it’d pair well with Stalk and Lethargic Presence.

I dropped low, activating my Blinder as well. The reason for my sudden fright was thanks to the hall's shape. It wasn’t a T-junction like the map had shown. It was a straight path out. So either Eidetic Schematic, the original map, or the ship was wrong. 

The map being incorrect was the most likely solution, but I couldn’t shake a feeling of unease as I stepped out into the hallway. Rooms lined it, and it opened out into a cross junction ahead. Plants grew along the ceiling, and vines dangled down the walls. 

Signs of a fight marked the metal walls, with vast sections of the vines cleanly cut off. More noticeable were the corpses of Circle plant monsters scattered around. About a dozen of them, looking similar to the humanoid bark monsters I saw in New Tress City. A Crusader definitely passed through here at some point. Why’d they leave in such a rush, though?

Footsteps from ahead made me slide into an open doorway on instinct. I threw a knife at the light switch, shutting them off as I fully hid myself in the darkness. The shadow wisps gently stilled, making my body match the surrounding darkness till I could barely see even myself.

From the end of the hall, a man stepped into the corridor. He was large, built like a tank, and covered in tattoos of the Circle. His shirt was gone, revealing toned muscles and the subdermal armor underneath. His chest had flashing chrome highlights all along his skin's surface, drawing attention to it. 

Chrome limbs and chrome eyes added to the look, at complete odds with what I’d generally expect from the Circle. Maybe one of their elite muscle? He was far more menacing than the squads that’d come after me, at least. Guess I wasn't that big of a priorty in the grand scheme of things.

The brute held a massive silver longsword in his hands. It looked like one of the Crusades. Did this guy kill a Crusader and steal it? How? There should’ve been a thousand members of the Blue Crusade down here all together? How’d he force a one-on-one?

My threat level for the menacing guy spiked sharply. If he could kill a Knight and take their sword, there was a good chance he could split me in two without much effort. A frontal fight would definitely end in death.

He turned my way, seemingly feeling my gaze as he stared down the hall with a mean glower. His mechanical eyes whirled, though I had no fear he’d see me. My blinder was active, and I’d already confirmed it was effective against chrome. Unfortunately, it didn’t end there as he carefully started coming my way.

Do I continue hiding? Let him pass? Or… do I go for an ambush? I could wait till he passed by the doorway, and then make my move. He was an enemy anyway; if I could take care of him, it’d be one less combatant prowling the ship.

I had the advantage. He didn’t know I was here, couldn’t see me, and there was a good chance I could take him out in one blow if I timed things right. A Blaze round to the forehead would get past any protections and directly cook his brain if it hit right.

Patiently, ever so patiently, I waited for the guy to come down the hallway. Familiar tension mounted with each of his heavy steps. Soon, he was right next to me, glancing into the room I hid in. Time slowed as my grip on my weapon tightened. As always, I felt that comfortable spike of hyperfocus as he stared right at me- right through me. Then he continued without pause.

As he passed, I crept out of the room and aimed my wrist gun at the back of his head. I had yet to figure out how to get it connected to my Neural Link, I’d need quite a bit more knowledge in coding for that, so I’d settled for a simple trigger system for now.

Just before I could pull the trigger, a phantom sensation of my top half separating from my bottom half iced my insides. On instinct, I used Burst Step to throw distance between me and the guy. My legs ached as a significant gap separated us immediately.

As I moved backward, I saw the man move extremely fast, slicing through the space I’d just been in. His eyes moved far too fast to be human, likely sped up by some kind of mental processor like what Knight Persha had. He was fast enough to look fast even with Dexterity active. He must have been a literal blur if I didn't have the Perk.

I dropped my attack plans entirely, slinking into a relatively deep shadow to hide. Not that it'd matter since Blackout was the main source of my invisibility now. The man, emotionless, stared down the hall toward me as my legs turned to jelly. If I’d been even a moment late… could Quick Healing even help being bisected? 

“I swear- hmm… bastards have me on edge.” The Circle cultist backed away slowly as I held my breath, still watching vigilantly. His sword was raised into a defensive posture as he headed for the far end of the corridor. He quickly turned down the T-junction, leaving me alone in the hall.

How’d he know? It wasn’t noise, Fox’s Paw ensured that. Thanks to the Blinder and my Perks, it also wasn’t a visual cue. So... how? Did he- did he feel me moving behind him? Some kind of battlefield instinct, perhaps? Going against veteran fighters was entirely different from the normal riff-raff I fought. How terrifying.

I stood up, slowly making my way to the cross intersection as I continued to watch behind me in case the brute returned to finish me off. It was a forced stalemate between us, one that would end as soon as he figured out my tricks. With a veteran like that? No telling how quick he’d adapt if I couldn’t take him out in one shot.

Maybe… maybe I don’t try to attack anyone? At least, until I make it back to the Crusade. How’d that guy even slip past the thousand or so Crusaders that were supposed to come down here and clear this place out in the first place?

I went left at the cross junction, going in the complete opposite direction from the Circle cultist. No way I wanted to meet that guy again. That, and up ahead reeked of blood. It was so overwhelming and strong, I could smell it even from here.

The hall was rather short, ending in an open bulkhead. I moved for it, stepping beyond it into another corridor. Unlike before, this one lacked the plant growth I would’ve expected.

My unease deepened as I looked at the hall. The metal here was different, too. Most people wouldn’t notice, but the shade of the walls here didn’t quite match where I just came from. That, and the hall was slicked with blood. If such a bloodbath occurred, why didn't it spill over the bulkhead?

I checked the first room, flinching back at my discovery. It was filled with horrifically slaughtered corpses. They were already in a state of decay, most of them wearing Sentinel’s copper and red colors. The original inhabitants of the Phalanx, no doubt. Through all the bodies, though, I could make out the rooms' original purpose. It wedged confusion even deeper into my head.

While the hall I’d just come from had boilers and mechanic rooms, officer quarters lined this one. It didn’t make sense in the slightest. I thought through the map, my head spinning in confusion. There wasn’t a single spot on it that had boilers right next to officer quarters like this. 

The map they grabbed must’ve been really wrong. Maybe the Circle hacked their records? Or did Sentinel simply give out a false map? Both were plausible, if unsettling. My grip on my rifle tightened.

I crept forward, pausing as I heard voices. One sounded in pain, and the other was crying. I kept low and in the shadows as I approached, stumbling across two Circle members hiding like rats in one of the officers’ quarters.

One was big and bulky with exposed chrome, like the brute beforehand. Likewise, the woman had a Crusade sword in hand. How had they managed to take out so many Knights in a short time? Knights weren't pushovers in the slightest. More importantly, how had I not seen even a single Crusader yet but found multiple cultists?

The woman was down on the ground, her face completely emotionless, as a guy in tactical gear similar to the ones that hunted me crouched over her. The smaller guy was desperately pressing bandages into her side, trying to stop severe bleeding. Judging by how fast the bandages turned red, it was a losing battle.

“I- I’m sorry! I didn’t recognize you.” The soldier wept as he pressed the bandages down tighter.

The woman groaned, shifting slightly as her chrome eyes moved toward me. Just like the last guy, she couldn’t see me, and yet I felt a chill down my spine. “Not- not your fault. Stim in my bag.”

”I should’ve-“ The soldier cut himself off, going for a bag lying off to the side. He pulled out a stim and slammed it into the woman.

Do I… do I attack? They were both down. Incapacitated. Two Circle terrorists ripe for the culling. Both were weak, out of it, from what looked like friendly fire. Gonks. They let just anyone into the cult these days, huh?

And yet I found myself backing away, heading for another bulkhead leading into a different hall.  It could be a trap. The woman could be acting more hurt than she was. I underestimated the last Circle brute and would’ve lost my life if not for Insight. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Especially since something about this all felt horribly wrong.

I turned left once more, intent on looping back to the drop to reorganize my thoughts. I passed the Bulkhead-

I flung myself behind a makeshift cover, completely taken aback by the sight in front of me. I should’ve looped back to the boiler section, but instead I found myself in a corridor filled with makeshift cover. Circle cultists were everywhere, dead on the ground. Most were torn apart brutally, obviously having experienced a horrifying fight. 

I entered behind them, and they had all died watching the other direction. An ambush site gone wrong? Up ahead, past all the cover, I spotted the tell-tale signs of destroyed plant monsters. One of the Crusaders must’ve come through here.

I would’ve been fine continuing, except a for massive plant monster sat up in a cross intersection. It was injured, leaning against a wall as sap poured out of it from multiple wounds. That itself was odd.

How had one of the plants survived? There weren't any Crusader corpses around, so they couldn't have killed their attacker. And how could this be a cross intersection? It should be a T, no? It didn’t make sense no matter how I looked at it.

I glanced into one of the rooms lining the hall, catching sight of munitions storage. That definitely didn’t make sense. The map was wrong, but it couldn’t be this wrong, right? Nothing made sense… Unless…

I glanced back at the bulkhead I came through as I drifted deep into thought. Unless this was all some spatial distortion. It’d make sense why I hadn’t seen the Crusade yet if I was being teleported around. If the bulkheads were randomly connected, it’d also make sense why the map was so wrong.

I thought through it, overlaying the places I’d been through with the mental map of the Supercarrier. Separately, they lined up with sections all over the ship. It was only an issue when I tried to connect them. If they weren’t physically connected in the first place, but rather bound by a spatial distortion? It all lined up.

I stared at the circle monster whimpering in the intersection. If they could distort space to this extent, making the entire ship into a RNG door maze, what else was the Circle capable of?

Now that I think about it, why would a plant monster whimper? And why would it be worried about its injuries? All the monsters I’d seen so far were brutal berserkers, uncaring of their bodies.

Should I- should I use Aetherial Perception? Just a quick glance to figure things out, nothing more? A quick glance wouldn’t draw Mother's attention too badly, right? 

My hesitation stretched for a few moments longer as I slowly looked toward the plant monster.