Allisium

Chapter 18

"Run, damn it!"

“ I'm going full speed! I answered wheezing.

Gina ran effortlessly, just like Zen did when he and Greek had to run from the clan that was chasing them in the Initium forest. It was evident that the redhead had invested in agility points, so she was also a path user.

And he had kept it a secret.

"You're going to have to tell me some things," I scolded him.

“Dead people do not talk. Runs!

He was barely jogging and he was more than five meters ahead of me without effort. The agility boost was too noticeable for newbies like me. Some other adventurer had passed us at full speed, showing the difference in level existing on that planet. Those who really had something to lose were already far from the hell of blood and murder that was brewing in Initium.

As Gina had rightly said, it was a spark that caused everything to precipitate.

The idea that Allsium was going to kick everyone who was in Initium at the time out of the system, in order to prevent a collapse, spread like wildfire among the adventurers. Some, seeing what was coming, decided to leave the capital to take refuge in caves, cabins or hostels in any corner of Initium. Less in the capital, anywhere.

But the Allsionistas, thrown out of joint by the very thought of having to leave Allsium and face real life, even for a short time, caused serious disturbances in the hotel. They murdered employees and destroyed everything in their path. Hotel employees from any world of lawlessness were hard users in real life: they needed the money and they used to work both in reality and in virtuality. Unfortunately, many of them had been left without their most important source of income.

All for a revolt that began to pay just for sinners.

The mob, enraged and incited by the Allsionistas, began to rage out of control as soon as the first worker fell. Some put the cry in the sky for what had happened, while others defended that the system had pushed them to do it. Both factions had provoked a true pitched battle that the system could not withstand. It was impossible to imagine that so little could cause so much.

Society was sick and we were in danger.

With the epicenter of the war at the hotel, getting to the room was out of the question. I dared not think what would have happened if I had returned to Allsium a few minutes later. Perhaps not going back would have been a better idea, but it was impossible to imagine that this could turn into a civil war.

I ran like I had rarely done before, even more than when that dinosaur from Tveirland tagged me as a potential breakfast. Now we were being hunted by thousands of human beasts with only one purpose: to kill and save life at the cost of others.

There were pushes, falls and little time to react. Mobs stomped on and butchered the bodies of those unfortunate enough to stumble and fall, causing crowds and more deaths in a capital with already narrow streets. Leaving that immense square meant entering a kind of labyrinthine routes that, for the most part, ended up being tributaries of the forests. In one of them Greek and I saved our lives after that persecution to which the members of that clan subjected us.

However, at that time the borders were useless, since the system did not recognize security anywhere on the planet. No matter where you looked, in the city itself or in the forest itself, there were potential enemies everywhere. The adventurers themselves, whether they were Allsionists or not, had caused the system to collapse, thus starting combat mode throughout Initium.

“Where we go? “I asked for”. I can not anymore!

"If you want to turn into mincemeat, go ahead, but I'm not going to die in this shitty place, you hear me?"

I looked back. The hotel was already far away, emitting threads of gray and white smoke, rising into what seemed to be a sky even darker and sadder than usual. The landscape was bleak and the tides of adventurers running for their lives would never be forgotten. It was a historic day in Allsium, one of those that would long be remembered in the still young life of lawlessness.

Behind us the adventurers ran for their lives. They were travelers who, like Gina, had sensed what was going to happen and decided to flee before everything exploded. We had an advantage over the others, a few minutes of gold that, at least, allowed us to think about what to do next.

"We have to get to the car rental stand," he suggested.

"Won't it collapse?" “I had less and less air in my lungs and it was terrifying for me to speak.

“It will take time for all this chaos to get there. I have a free motorcycle rental for a month, I got it as a gift for completing a rank B mission.

“So let's go. Is far?

"Three kilometers," he said.

It wasn't even a joke.

"Go ahead, it's impossible for me."

Three kilometers was too much for someone who was already burnt out. Not even maintaining that pace could he continue for another two hundred meters.

Gina was silent, perhaps she was weighing the possibilities that we both had to get out of there alive. The mob was advancing faster and faster and those who were ahead were the worst. They wielded great swords and heavy equipment, but far from affecting their movements, they seemed to be going even faster than Gina. The Allsionistas had also invested in agility, or perhaps had taken pills that temporarily increased speed.

And they were hunting us.

Shouts resounded from all points of the Initium capital. The heartrending howl of death was approaching by leaps and bounds, the shots were beginning to chip off the facades of the buildings and they were whistling too close, like flies. He did not understand the reason for so much hatred and bloodlust.

A sieve, perhaps.

Getting rid of potential enemies under the guise of social catastrophe was an interesting plan for many of the most seasoned travelers in the illegal worlds of Allsium. A great advantage that they would collect in the form of missions, by receiving rewards for killing more than ten people in virtuality, killing them in less than a minute, or any other similar nonsense that the system could give away with its missions of a general nature. It was the perfect time to complete the bloodiest hidden missions and be able to get valuable rewards with little effort.

That was crazy.

And my legs had decided that it was the perfect moment to stop.

I tripped over a stone and fell face”first onto the cobblestones. If you weren't careful you could easily twist your ankle, it seemed like a city made by betrayal.

"I'll be right back!" Gina said.

He left with amazing speed. Perhaps he had invested in more agility points than he thought. It was clear that as a rookie she had nothing.

I leaned against a wall to helplessly watch the arrival of hundreds of adventurers. Some ran with tears in their eyes, sweaty and bloody, wanting to get out of that hell that Initium had become. Behind their backs the confrontations continued.

I could see, right before my very eyes, how a traveler died at the hands of a disturbed man with a knife, bloodshot eyes and hands stained dark red. Killing was addictive; It wasn't the first time that guy had done it.

He turned and looked at me, sneered, and came forward with the knife dripping with blood.

Nervous, I checked the inventory and saw that Greek and Dagon hadn't taken the Beretta . I chose it and it appeared in my hand loaded with ten bullets.

"Get away from here!" I was shaking, but I tried to bite the bullet.

His gaze did not change, he seemed to be in a trance. He wasn't even listening to me. He had gone crazy.

"I won't repeat it to you again!" The gun trembled in my hand.

I was not like Greek.

But it had to be.

I aimed at the head and pulled the trigger. The sound of the bullet, the sound of the casing coming out, the shell penetrating his head and the noise it made as he collapsed like a sack; All of that stuck in my head.

I had killed by my own hand in Allsium for the first time.

It didn't matter if it was virtual, the feeling was the same. That disturbed person would continue to live in reality, although if he was an Afronist he wouldn't take long to commit suicide. He would jump off a bridge, or perhaps from his bedroom window.

Maybe he was already doing it.

Shortly after, I heard a thunderous shout coming towards me.

More came, with the same bloodshot eyes and brandishing all kinds of weapons. Some carried shotguns and others carried baseball bats, but they weren't fighting each other, they had teamed up to kill. Perhaps they had formed a group, thus avoiding harm by mistake. The system warned, but did not stop.

I had nine bullets left.

Before I even knew if they were coming for me, I fired until the magazine was empty.

One, two, three, four... and so on, up to nine bodies fell to the ground; as many as bullets I had left. In the head, in the chest, in the stomach... most of them were accurate and lethal shots that would lead them to virtual death.

Another wave of adventurers was dangerously close. At my feet lay a mound of corpses. I stole everything the last one was carrying, which fell from a lethal shot to the head, and I verified that I no longer had any bullets left for the Beretta.

I opened the inventory and through the viewfinder I checked the items I had stolen from the dead Allsionistas. Most of them were useless in such a difficult situation, but among them I found a 12”gauge Remington 870 Express Magnum shotgun, a wonderful weapon for such a moment; In addition, it came with twelve shells.

Wielding a weapon stoked the adrenaline that emptying a clip had brought those Allsionista killers. I raised the shotgun and put my finger on the trigger. I waited for them to get closer, but a voice stopped me.

"Please don't shoot!" It was the girl who led the group that was approaching me. The Allsionistas are following us!

I came to myself, shook my head from side to side, and ran off with that group close on my heels. He came close to killing innocent adventurers.

“Run! I yelled as I let them walk past. There were four girls and three boys, but they were injured.

I stayed in the rear and fired as soon as a large group of deranged Allsionists came around the corner. Axes, huge hammers, menacing scythes… even weapons this heavy didn't stop them from running like athletes.

I fired as a warning.

Actually, I had gone for it, but I missed.

"How many are coming and what weapons do you carry?"

"There are many," answered one of them. He was running, but he was limping on one leg. He wasn't going to last long in his condition. They go killing everyone they find! We were in the square when…

"There are more than two hundred, for sure," said his companion. He was bleeding from his shoulder, nothing a few days of rest or an immediate cure couldn't fix. They wouldn't have it at hand, otherwise the one with the limp would have taken it. We have no weapons! We have killed a few, but the online store service has also fallen. Nobody can buy weapons and neither ammunition. We are lost!

I couldn't stand those kinds of people who all they did was cry and wait for their asses to be saved. I wasn't a hero and I didn't like to kill, but I didn't expect anyone to solve my problem either. In any case, with the store service down, it would be impossible to get out of such a compromised situation.

The Allsionistas continued to sprint forward in a mad dash, kicking and gobbling up their own comrades, if they could be treated as such. An enraged mob running over you must have been a horrible and undignified death. Every time I looked back, one of the Allsionistas was gobbled up by their own and scuttled out of sight under a swarm of legs that crushed limbs and heads without even blinking.

He had never seen anything like it in his life.

The boy who was running next to us stumbled and fell. The entire group stopped and one picked it up while the others yelled for them to get going immediately.

I avoided looking at their faces, I didn't want to have nightmares when I remembered the moment.

I overtook them.

“Run! Don't stop! I yelled at everyone. They were young, maybe my age.

A real shame.

"Get up, Mark!" one of the girls yelled. Henry, help him!

The kid couldn't do anything, they didn't have priests on them. If they didn't even carry weapons to defend themselves, they also couldn't face the desperate fury of more than two hundred bloodthirsty people. Two hundred pairs of legs, hundreds of drums resounding at the same time throughout the city between screams and howls of terror uttered by the unwary travelers, who watched helplessly as their virtuality in Allsium came to a sad end.

But that would not be my destiny.

I left the group lost in a sea of screaming and crying. Ten meters, twenty, thirty… The more I got away, the closer the Allsionistas got to them. It was a gruesome spectacle to witness the extinction of that group. Impossible to avoid retching and even vomiting when seeing the reflection of terror and impotence on their faces.

They ended up swallowed by the mob when it ran over them; some lashed out with machetes and bats, and blood stained cobblestones as shreds of clothing flew through the air. One of the girls, the last to disappear, looked at me with eyes full of incomprehension and panic, tears running down her bloody cheeks and her friend's arm in her hand after a sadistic Aphronist had lopped it off.

I looked away just as a razor sharp sword was aimed at his neck.

I came to as best I could, caught my breath, and rage surged through me. If he wanted to survive he had to run like never before.

Initium, the first planet of lawlessness, was at war; turned into a tomb for newcomers that had surprised even many a veteran. They helplessly attended a crisis generated by enraged Allsionistas who forced the error in the system's security.

In some secluded alley shots and the crack of steel were still heard; they were adventurers who struggled to preserve their virtualities.

If I looked straight ahead, gray was the constant, and if I turned around, blood red followed me. An easy choice if I didn't want to be swallowed up among the Allsionistas like that group of adventurers.

The Allsionistas were gaining ground; the fast ones trampled the slower ones and left them behind with broken bones and shattered skulls. Meanwhile, I came to a large plaza that branched out into more Zen streets, perhaps there the Allsionistas would separate and it would be easier to give them the slip.

I only had a hundred meters to go.

When I arrived, I saw that a group of four people were waiting, sitting on a fountain. The water, of course, was also gray.

"Hundreds of Allsionistas coming!" I yelled at them. Run or they will kill you!

"My, only one survived," said a plump boy, much shorter and fatter than Dagon. It looked like a huge barrel.

“Psé, the system has run out of steam. How many players will have died? A rather thin boy answered, with long hair tied up in a brown ponytail. He was wearing a cowboy hat and a very long beige coat. His style sounded like something to me, he seemed to dress like some video game character, but I wasn't there to take stock.

"How long until they arrive?" asked an attractive brunette stretching.

"Thirty seconds, maybe a little longer," I said, moving past them and fleeing toward one of the CalleZenes. What are you waiting for? Flee!

“You go ahead. The fourth member of the party stood up and cracked his neck and knuckles. We have a general S”rank mission to accomplish.

They must be crazy, so I preferred not to waste my breath.

But I heard that they were still talking to each other.

"Hey, hey, you mean there aren't too many?" the cowboy asked.

"Are you cracking up already?" answered the kite.

"Come on guys, in five seconds you're entering the plaza," the one who appeared to be the leader reported.

"Adalbert, you start!" “The girl was addressing the fat man while he was jumping and continuing to warm up; he looked like an athlete.

“IM coming.

"At my signal we move." The leader turned and looked at me for a couple of seconds. If you're going to stay looking better move away a little. I might splash you.

I hallucinated. Were they crazy or did they want to play pimp? If it was the latter, it was not necessary at all, since they only had me to confirmGreek.

I decided to take a few steps away and take cover behind a stone bench. He had wasted too much time talking, he should try to run away when those four caught the attention of the Allsionistas.

So maybe he would run away and be able to stay alive.

"Having sworn allegiance, must I live in servitude?" the burly soldier cried.

A phrase that made me remember.

"My turn to dance!" said the cowboy.

"Living in the past is useless," replied the leader.

"It's amazing what a person can forget... but more amazing what they can hide," the girl ended up saying.

All of this was a shock to me.

I immediately realized.

They were reciting lines from some of the most famous characters in the Final Fantasy saga .

There were geeky people, but I had never found anyone in Allsium who dressed and recited phrases from the most memorable characters from the Final Fantasy saga . It was a hoot, but also a pity that they were completely crazy.

Hundreds of Allsionists poured into the vicinity of the square. The rumble of their footsteps and shouts was like the advent of the end of the world; it was scary to be there. He had no idea how he was going to get out alive, but those four crazy people didn't seem too worried.

I needed to see whatever they had planned.

The Allsionistas appeared with red impregnated in their clothes, with blood dripping from their weapons and with a thirst for more.

I began to tremble and admit that my life in Allsium had come to an end.

“Course ! _ shouted the tin man who called himself Adalbert. He did it for Adalbert Steiner, the protector knight of Final Fantasy IX “. Ready, Kinneas?

"More than ever," replied the one with the ponytail. He dressed as Irvine Kinneas, the sniper from Final Fantasy VIII . He pulled out a strange weapon that looked like a rifle, but this one had five barrels, quite a sight to behold. Auron! Tifa! I'll need you to hold them back as they fall!

"Count on it!" they both said.

One imitated the great guardian from Final Fantasy X and the girl imitated the martial arts expert Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII .

Geeks was an understatement.

Both received a protection spell from the man of steel, Adalbert; it would temporarily increase his stamina parameters. Tifa braced herself and began to jump and chop with her fists while he pulled out a huge sword and braced himself by throwing it back, ready to unleash a swing at the right moment.

"I've got them in range!" “Kinneas had thrown himself on the ground, well behind Adalbert and especially the vanguard formed by Tifa and Auron.

They had formed an isosceles triangle.

“Now! Adalbert yelled.

Kinneas fired and immediately a tremendous cloud of smoke rose: he had used smoke bombs. There was nothing to be seen in that alley, though I figured the Allsionistas would keep advancing despite everything. They came out of there coughing, some crawling, but they started running again, as if nothing had happened. The large Allsionista block, however, had broken up, allowing Auron and Tifa to give them a warm welcome.

Tifa's fists burst bones and organs and her blows rumbled like thunder. The strength that girl had was incredible; Allsionists were flying long distances and crashing into the alley walls. Some turned back toward the maddening mass of Allsionista, only to be trampled into mincemeat amid piercing screams.

The thunder of the girl's fists was joined by the whistling song of a great sword that did not cut, but opened trenches and destroyed everything in its path: cobblestones, legs, arms, heads... The Allsionistas saw how their bodies and those of his companions broke in two almost without effort. Allsionista fell by the dozens, but it was still insufficient to contain the hundreds that continued to arrive. Once the smoke dispersed, another great angry mass was formed again, running at full speed towards the square.

"Fall back!" Adalbert ordered. He was several meters behind Tifa and Auron, who were the spearhead. It's my turn!

The tin soldier enveloped himself in a golden aura, a protection spell, and began to run towards them at great speed, something shocking for such a plump boy. Tifa and Auron, seeing him coming, did a huge backflip and landed on the spot where Adalbert had started. If it was strategy, it was certainly very well rehearsed.