Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 230

I stared at the plant monster in confusion. Under Aetherial Perception’s enhanced sight, it didn’t look anything like the other plant monsters I’d seen so far. Under the twisting branches and brambles of the beast, I expected to see the twisted corruption of Mother.

Instead the creature looked much more natural. Much closer to a- a sprite. Yeah, a sprite. And from the energy coming off of it, not a weak one. That shape too… a large fox sprite? No- a wolf sprite? Electricity seemed to spark off of its presence, so definitely one of Wolf’s. After spending so much time with Lia, I was intimately aware that Wolf liked electricity.

From around the sprite, tendrils of dark green writhed in agony as they tried to infect its wounds. That is, until they noticed my gaze on them. They twirled, the actions shifting as if to become a shy and timid woman eagerly looking at her lover with a blush on her cheeks. With the creepiness of the vines, it failed spectacularly. If anything, it made me want to puke 

Slowly, ever so slowly, eyes from the abyss started to turn my-

I shut off Aetherial Perception with a harsh shudder wracking my spine. Mother was always just- just something else. Why would anyone willingly follow that perverted pile of tentacle-vines willingly?

What do I do about the wolf though? I stared at the illusion of a plant monster pitifully whimpering as it lay against the wall, leaking sap- no, blood. Leave it here? Would it even recognize me as a friendly? It was a sprite in the first place, right? They could be injured and killed, but it was closer to temporary banishment than actual death. Was it even worth approaching in the first place?

As for why it looked like a monster? Hmm… some kind of illusion spell? Added on top of the spatial distortion, it would become a true killer. A relatively basic effect like making your friendlies look like enemies would’ve been easily seen through if we’d all remained together. 

With us separated by the spatial distortion though? Tt would easily turn the Blue Crusade against itself. Especially considering the Crusade was full of meatheads who’d rather charge first then ask questions. Their chances of seeing through the illusion were tiny. They’d probably think closer to ‘ah! A worthy challenger approaches!’… and then brutally hack each other to death.

Hell, I’d almost blown a Knight’s head off as soon as I dropped down here. And I’m sure it was a Knight. Now that I could think about it—with the added knowledge of the illusion—it made sense. And those other two I’d almost killed were probably an injured Knight and a squire. No way they would've been able to kill a Knight and take their sword so easily.

I stared at the corpses around me, focusing on the subtle clues that gave the illusion away. All of them had Sentinel gear, so they were probably actually Circle members. The illusion was limited, probably because of its sheer scale. Sounds weren’t affected, at least as far as I could tell. And gear was only half hidden. 

I stood up from my cover, carefully approaching the wolf as I stayed low and in cover. I barely got down the hall before the illusion of a plant monster shifted, glaring in my direction. A growl built up in its throat, low and intimidating. The air crackled with electricity.

I raised my hands, dropping Illusive as my form reverted to normal. “Woah, woah! Friendly. An Illusion makes me look like a cultist, but I’m with the Crusade.”

The growling abruptly stopped and the monster shifted slightly in confusion. Even knowing it was actually a wolf sprite, with the illusion still active even approaching the thing made me feel uncomfortable.

I stared at the beast, shifting from foot to foot. “I- I’ll patch your wounds, okay?”

The aggressive writhing of its tendrils—which must’ve been the illusion's equivalent of its fur aggressively rising—halted. It still looked tense, as if wary of my approach. As for how I could read the emotions of a plant monster? Cues. Truly a blessing to pick up the Perk back then.

It still looked hesitant as I approached. I thought through Calming's motions, humming softly as I made myself as small and weak as possible. Honest Face hopefully helped sell the act as I moved slowly, gently raising my hands towards the wolf's face so it could catch my scent.

“Grrrrr!” It’s snout, looking like a mass of tentacles sloppily wound together, inched toward my hand slowly while its eyes watched me wearily. Its lips half pulled back, ready to chomp if I was lying or it picked up any hint of deception. It carefully sniffed my scent, its eyes darting around.

"Woof!" The wolf dropped back, the tension fading entirely. A tentacle representing its tail wagged back and forth erratically as it fully dropped its guard and looked up at me. If it was actually a wolf sprite looking at me, it wouldn’t have been that bad. The illusion of a plant monster looking at me with puppy eyes though? It sent chills down my spine.

”You recognize me?” I asked the sprite.

”Woof~!” The hound struggled to its side, exposing its injury for me to look at. 

It was covered in smaller wounds, and a massive cut exposed its internals. The cut looked like… maybe a blade had gotten through its tentacles- I mean fur? Maybe a Crusader passed through and attacked it? The wound would match a sword. It was a ghastly injury that probably would’ve killed any actual animal.

It probably held on through sheer will to get back to its summoner. If Fox was known for her mischief and Crow for his kleptomania, then Wolf was most definitely known for his loyalty. And, as tends to happen with eidolons, that particular trait infused the rest of the sprites under him. 

I pulled my medkit out of my bag, cleaning the wound and disinfecting it before attempting to stitch the flesh back together. It was messy, and the stitches didn’t go in as easily as I thought they would. Not to mention it was hard to see what I was doing through the illusion. The weak whimpers from the wolf with each failed stitch pulled at my heart strings even if my hands were deep into a tentacle mass that didn’t match.

Stitching wounds was… well, I wasn’t there yet. It was too ambitious. And this was a materialized sprite in the first place. It didn’t need something that would hold for a long time. I just needed something to keep the sprite together until its Magus sent it back to the Aether. Even disinfecting the wound probably wasn’t needed.

I shifted focus, pulling a stapler from my medkit. It was much faster and much simpler to stuff its internals back inside and then staple the wound back. Wrapping a couple of bandage to support, and my temporary treatment was done. 

I leaned back, wiping my my hands on a dead cultist’s clothes. As I cleaned up somewhat, I spotted the sprite trying to stand once more.

”Take it easy, little guy.” Don’t know why I called him little, actually. As he stood up, I realized the wolf-plant-beast was much bigger than he looked on the ground. His height stood just above my hips. He would've been extremely dangerous if not for his wounded state.

”Woof…” His tail-tentacle still wagged like a plane propeller as he stared up at me. Or should I say just stared at me? I wasn’t that much taller than him, so he wasn’t exactly looking up.

“Can you find your Magus?” It was the secondary reason I decided to help the wolf sprite. The sooner I could get with Crusaders, the better. Especially with a Magus. They’d hopefully have some insight on how to disable the illusion. The longer it stayed active, the more damage the Blue Crusade would do to itself.

“Woof!” He barked happily and pointed in a direction. I was entirely turned around with the whole spatial distortion thing, so I had no idea where he wanted to go.

“Chek. I passed by some other Crusaders on the way here. Let’s stop back by them, and then head to find your Magus, okay?” Now that I knew what was going on, I really wanted to go back and help the wounded Knight.

The wolf nodded its head and then moved behind me. I went back the way I came from, holding onto the wolf’s fur as I passed through the bulkhead just in case the distortion tried to separate us.

It worked… kind of. As we passed through the distortion, we came out into an entirely new hallway. The wolf stayed with me, but this new hallway was different from the ones I’d been in.

“Never mind…” So much for helping the fallen Knight.

The new hall stretched forward, with the remains of a plant monster laying on the ground. It was surrounded by dead Circle cultists in tactical gear. Sword marks told me enough of what I needed to know. They looked like actual Circle members too. They had Sentinel weapons instead of Knight Security stuff. 

Hmm… the fighting seemed like it picked up at some point, going towards one of the other bulkheads. Lots of sword marks and scorch marks as if two heavily armed opponents had gone at it. No sign of them though. Probably got sent elsewhere by the special distortion. No telling where, but it was good for me.

I analyzed our surroundings and mentally compared to the map, placing us somewhere in the hall of an armory. We hadn’t moved by much, but we were still on the other side of the ship from the injured Knight. The chances of getting back to her were, quite frankly, too small to keep trying.

The doors were like roulette. There was no telling where I’d pop out if I kept going through them. Something needed to change if I wanted to make any progress. I had an idea on how, but not the capability to follow through.

Basically, if the doors were the problem, then stop going through the doors, right? Burn through the walls and just head through like that. Except, I didn’t have the supplies to burn through the walls. Well, not through multiple walls. I could rig something up with the canteen or my Blaze bullets, but it’d take time. Too much time.

Going in a straight line to the sprite’s Magus would be way quicker then walking through doors and hoping for the best. It had its own risks, but it was the best path at the moment.

So, since I couldn’t go back to where I was, I needed to readjust my plans. I need to find a new Knight. They'd be able to cut through the walls with their fancy swords. And I needed to avoid the Circle’s actual members if I ran into them. Both would be difficult, especially with this damn illusion magic still active-

Do the circle members see each other as enemies too? Surely not, right? That’d backfire spectacularly. Hmm… amulet, where is the amulet? I rifled through my backpack, pulling free the Circle necklace. I hadn’t put it on earlier since I was with the full Crusade, but now?

I slipped it on over my neck, and immediately the tentacle plant monster turned into a cute wolf with beautiful black fur. Two metallic looking spikes poking out of his spine, sparkling with electricity.

This makes it easier… if I can find a Knight and convince them to help me, I'd be in the clear. With a Knight by my side, it’d be much safer for me to move around. I’d already left some of my safety behind by bringing the wolf alongside me… And I can make them cut through the wall. 

Hmm… I stared down at the wolf for a moment, my head tilting. My issue was finding the Magus, which is why I wanted the wolf to stay with me. The wolf wasn’t exactly sneaky though, which messed up my usual tactics. It was dangerous, but if I left him I wouldn't be able to find him again.

Hmm... I hadn’t thought of this earlier, but I had a tool that was perfect for this job. With a thought, Crow’s Celestial Compass coalesced in my hand, its form solidifying from the shadows. 

「Crow’s Celestial Compass

• Find a Hallowed Haven

• Find a Hostile Harbor

• Find a Dimensional Dissonance

• Generate a Dimensionally Dissonant Dart

  • 3 charges

  • Regenerate 1 charge a week」

I hadn’t used it much—at all, actually. Hadn’t really needed it. The whole Hostile Harbors and Hallowed Havens thing were too confusing. The third feature though? I’d finally get a use out of.

I pulled the wolf into an armory after picking the lock. It was small scale with a couple racks of submachine guns and several handguns. “Stay here, okay? I’ll come get you and head for your Magus once I find a Knight.”

“Woof!” The wolf tilted his head quizzically and then retreated to lay down behind a rack of guns. He looked a little relieved as he pulled some of the pressure off his wound.

I looked at the compass, eventually figuring out how to pull out a dart. The Dimensionally Dissonant Dart was a small ruby crystal, filled with fractal patterns throughout. The crystal dart seemed to hum with an unsettling energy. The ruby needle of the Celestial Compass immediately shifted to point directly at the sharp dart. 

Good, things were finally coming together. I placed the ruby crystal in front of the wolf. “Keep this with you if you have to leave. It’s how I’ll be able to find you again.”

The wolf whined sadly and then nodded his big head. A smile came to my lips as I lightly ruffled his ears. With a new goal in mind, I felt much better about getting out of this alive.