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THE OUTLAND 64
- Froze, gas to the ring! - Accepted.— Antaeus, did you change weapons?- Yes, I found some fart. Antaeus lightly waved the rifle complex. - Cover Faye. Fey, to the elevator.- There is! - The fighters barked and, half-bending behind the armored boxes, they ran to the far wall of the hall.Bad restrictions, invented by who knows who and why, finally fell - all other things being equal, my motley, diverse company was still much better equipped and learned. In any case, it never occurred to anyone to stand at full height or lean out from behind cover without first securing a grenade or distracting fire from the flanks. The fighters of the Conquista outnumbered us, but under such conditions, the victory of the national team became only a matter of time.So in the end it happened - the barking shots of antediluvian gunpowder weapons fell silent, the oppressive impression of someone else's presence disappeared ... The elevator doors slammed shut, and Fey ascended fifty meters up - to th
THE OUTLAND 65
Antey is a psycho, that's for sure. No, I certainly could not make such a decision with a tip - and he was waiting for my answer here and now. And this is when I don’t know more than half of the team by name!“I need time to think. I shook my head. “Of course, we are all here like to stick our heads in the devil’s mouth, but ten of us against the whole planet ...- Don't think too long. Antaeus grinned as he finished his beer in one gulp. “Conquista will start counting casualties and sites, and with the KSC, it’s a matter of several hours to understand that it was not possible to take the Far Search base.“Okay, I understand you.Save the game. Go out. Unlike Tlally, where time doesn't care about you, Far Search could still be paused, figured out what was what. It definitely shouldn't have been hot. What was to be done was to visit my wet magician under the bridge. Moreover, the units on the clock have changed to zero, the time of the game session in the CV should already be reset. Ho
THE OUTLAND 66
Soon the familiar crossroads leading to the summer residence appeared. Farther. In principle, if you continue in the same spirit, this trip can become quite safe. No. Pah-pah-pah, so as not to jinx it. It's better to increase my vigilance too and pray that the session does not expire until I get to the right point.Here to the right.I started getting to know the area. About a week ago, a corpse truck was supposed to pass here, carrying an unlucky miner hitman. Hmmm, it's funny to even hear that. But let's hope that the corpse was not eaten by scavengers, not dragged away into the forest by some predators, and so on. Because if it turns out that someone carnivorous is grazing there, I’m in big trouble, because I still haven’t raised a single level, I haven’t armed myself with anything, and of all my abilities, I’ve only had a distraction that didn’t work twice. Not a magician, but a laughing stock.Here again to the right.The night forest was filled with sounds, smells and sensations
THE OUTLAND 67
No, most definitely, this place was not at all reserved exclusively for my deceased miner as a last resort. Take, for example, the sweetish smell of decomposition that reigns over the clearing - even in the darkness of the night it became obvious that ... ahem ... Thomas had enough waste, and for some reason the Great Church did not consider it necessary to start a separate cemetery for storing victims. Fools. I don’t think that Thomas and his comrades were completely stupid and uneducated - in the end, anyone would not be trusted with the title of the first governor of Khaang on earth. I should, in theory, understand that the restless ghoul has an unpleasant habit of rising and roaming around until the paladins take it away, or stick to some cemetery under the command of a lich. And from here, it seems, all such restless livestock had already dispersed - the clearing breathed dead peace. But, you know, you yourself know who takes care of someone who is safe. Just in case, breaking
THE OUTLAND 68
Yes, don't panic! This is simply the next step in the evolution of the most ordinary skeleton. Okay, two skeletons at once. The mace did very well with them, but where is that mace now? And my class, to put it mildly, is not hand-to-hand at all! Again, negative thinking. Once again - I'm not unarmed, I can fight back if I follow her movements. And if I break at least one paw, I can run away! Hounds, though undead, are extremely slow to regenerate limbs.But the lich... The hound is always a faithful companion of the dead man who raised it. If I hear any creepy sounds like laughter or whispers, I spit on the hound and its attacks, and immediately rush into the forest! Lich is almost impossible to deal with.Another jump, another roll to the side. The hound grinned mockingly and trotted to the side, trying to outflank me. Attacked the wrong one! Another leap and I simply stepped aside, slamming the stick into the creature's backbone. There was a characteristic crunch, the creature lost
THE OUTLAND 69
Just a boy of about thirteen in a once white, but now rather gray shirt smeared with grass juice and knee-length short pants, barefoot, disheveled. In his hands is about the same stick as the one that the hound had just gnawed. What is he doing here? To the nearest village stomp and stomp.- Guy, leave immediately, it's dangerous here!I wanted to say this, I even opened my mouth, but what happened next happened too quickly - he somehow instantly appeared next to me, hit the staff with a force with a stick, knocking it out of my hands. He buzzed somehow offended, flew to the ground, and I fell to the ground, feeling that for some reason there was absolutely no strength left."Attention, severe blood loss detected! You should get enough sleep and food! Attention, necrotic infection detected! You should see a doctor or get enough sleep!"Thanks, very timely.- Wait here! - The boy shouted and rushed out of sight to the hound, with the same crazy speed, turning into a blur during the mov
THE OUTLAND 70
“It's just,” I began, choosing my words carefully, “I've only seen this before with fighters in a special condition.Combat trance. Or frenzy, if you like.- I'm not a fighter. The boy looked away. - I'm just good at something. Can you get out on the road on your own? I would like to get here. - To the road?No. The victory over the hound, the return of the decoration - all this does not cancel the fact of the hunt for me. And in my current state, I suppose even a lame chicken will defeat me. - Clear. Well, what should I do with you? You can’t leave here, you yourself will definitely die ...The guy was thinking, and out of the corner of my eye I caught some movement in the seemingly disordered dump of bones. Where a dozen skeletons lay, something moved, forcing them to turn, to line up in some common figure.- What is it? I interrupted, pointing impolitely at the skeletons.- It? That's what you did, motherfucker!— Yes, what have I done?Yes, cleaning is cancelled. — The boy hurri
THE OUTLAND 71
- Well, sorcerer, how do you like my home? - Zhdan with a satisfied look looked around the only whole room left in the place of the ruins. Well, as a whole - relatively, of course. All four walls are in place, and as a roof, he dragged spruce branches, which protect well both from rain and from possible frosts. Otherwise, it was really quite comfortable here - a cleanly scraped table, littered with scrolls, the floor was covered with rugs, even glass remained in the window, and in the corner there was a kind of fireplace with a chimney leading to the roof. Well settled, nothing to say.- I like. – I answered without trembling. “But tell me, please, why did you bring me here?” “What, should I have left you to be eaten by a knuckle?” The guy winked. "Or let the staff eat you?"- Of course not. By the way, I never thanked you for...- Oh, it's empty. He waved it off. “I couldn’t leave a man in trouble. Somehow this is not good. But honesty for honesty. Come on, you first tell me how you