Chương 49: Message Received. Prince Neco is a sociopath who needs to get got.

Prince Neco is a sociopath who needs to get got.

Murdge drew everyone's attention when he let out a booming laugh and crushed an ability orb in his hand. With his other hand, he pointed at Carthage. Ability orb activated (Murdge) A Door Out Is A Door In: Merge two adjacent enclosures in the voting room. Suddenly, the forcefield between Neco and Carthage's adjacent enclosures made a sizzling sound and disappeared. Carthage and the two women were so surprised they didn't move for a crucial moment.

A blood-red sphere rose from a dimensional pocket near Neco's shoulder, and they were all scanned with a flickering light. George received a message from his Combat Log. [Combat Initiated. Neco: Glideform automata activated. Scan activated. Target: Carthage, Maggie, Sycorax.] Carthage reached to his waist to draw the weapon holstered there, but Neco was faster.

The prince merely raised his hand as if to wave at the group now sharing his enclosure, and a metal bolt shot out from a pocket in the sleeve of his tactical armor. The bolt pierced the center of Carthage's forehead and disappeared into his skull, snapping his head back. [Neco attacks with a breech bolt. Carthage: fatal damage. The Wager Stone status effect "enmeshed" is inactive for Maggie and Sycorax. Wager Stone bond is broken. Combat Resolved.] Then, they all received a notification.

Two new players have joined the trial: Big Maggie Jones, Two-Bit Healer Sycorax, Backstreet Cutpurse Maggie dropped to her knees and shook Carthage by the shoulders. Sycorax's eyes flashed back and forth as she read the notifications scrolling through her vision. Nod drew George's attention to the player count on the scoreboard. Scoreboard: Red Team: 14 Blue Team: 16 Total Players remaining: 30 >>When Carthage died, the number of players on the Red team dropped by one, but then both teams rose by one.

Neco bent forward and put his hands on his knees like he was talking to two children and said, "Well, I'm on the Blue team. What team are you on?" Sycorax held up her Blue team card. Maggie buried her head in Carthage's chest and cried. Neco made a playful frown at the other woman sobbing over Carthage's body and asked Sycorax, "How long did he have you bound with the Wager Stone?"

"Too long," she said. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"That sounds sad," Neco said.

"You're free now, though. What are you going to do?" Sycorax just looked down at the Blue team card in her hand. Then Neco jerked his head at Maggie and said, "How about this? Kill her, and I'll let you live. We can be roommates. If not, you both get to die." Sycorax looked at Neco's face to see if he was serious. He gave her a little smile and made a shooing motion with his hands.

"Go on," he said.

"Show me what you got." Sycorax slowly looked down at Maggie but didn't move. You could almost hear the thoughts tumbling through her mind. She looked up at Neco again, but his face had gone entirely blank. >>That is grim. >>I am glad Cassie can't read minds in here. >>George, Cassie lives in a savage world and has twelve years of reading minds under her belt. She's seen some shit. >>I bet if anyone tries to properly mess with our little Cassie, they'll have their last bad day. She's been trained for this.

She is not a greenhouse flower. >>And I will remind you again… >>She is not your daughter, and she is not your responsibility. Sycorax quietly reached some decision point and crossed the enclosure to Carthage's body. She bent down beside Maggie, putting one hand on her back while the other slid into the holster at Carthage's hip, drawing his weapon. [Combat Initiated] Neco's words must have registered with Maggie because as the gun came free of the holster, she snapped her head up and looked at Sycorax.

"Syc—," Maggie began, but Sycorax stepped away and fired Carthage's gun at her. The gun spat out a red beam that went through Maggie's gut as she began to stand up. It left a black spot on the ground, flickering briefly with a tiny, candle-like flame. [Sycorax: Attacks Maggie with laser maula. Maggie: Medium damage.] Maggie slumped down onto the floor, clutching one hand to her belly. Then, her hand began to glow with a white light. [Maggie: Ability activated—Violent Delights: Transfer minor wound to an enemy. The enemy must be in the melee range—long cooldown. Maggie: Fully healed. Sycorax: Medium damage.] Now, it was Sycorax's turn to crumple to the ground. She let out a scream, and blood started to run out of a wound in her belly that matched the one she had given Maggie. >>Only 32 seconds left in the resolution phase. That all happened fast. Maggie staggered to her feet and stepped on the back of Sycorax's hand that was holding the gun.

Sycorax tried to push Maggie's leg off with her free hand but only succeeded in leaving a bloody handprint on Maggie's leg. Maggie pried the pistol out of her hand.

"How many times did we do that trick, Syc?" Maggie said.

"You dumbass." [Neco: Ability orb activated—Back Atcha: Reflect one attack at the enemy who initiated the attack. Triple the strength of the attack and improve its effectiveness upon reflection.] She pointed the pistol at Sycorax, then she quickly shifted her aim to Neco and squeezed the trigger. A red beam flickered out at Neco and then refracted back at Maggie as if it had hit a prism. Three beams shot back at Maggie from where the first beam had hit Neco. They hit Maggie in the gut, the chest, and the forehead.

[Maggie: Fatal damage.] >>Whoa. Neco saw that coming and activated his ability orb. That dude just gets scarier and scarier. >>16 seconds left. Neco stepped into the neighboring enclosure and stretched a hand down toward Sycorax as if he were going to help her up. She raised her hand to take his, but then another bolt shot out of his sleeve and sank into her chest, disappearing into her chest without a sound. [Neco: Attacks Sycorax with breech bolt. Sycorax: Fatal damage. Combat resolved.] Sycorax coughed, and blood came up. Neco stood over her as she gasped for air and then fell still. He walked back into his enclosure and looked around the room with a small smile on his face. His gaze settled on George and his eyebrows bounced up and down—a gesture that might have looked friendly in another moment, but on him it read as sinister. >>That was a message. >>What? >>It was a message. To us. To the room. That's why he did it like that. >>Message received.

Prince Neco is a sociopath who needs to get got. >>We can't let that happen. >>Oh yeah… the whole death trap thing. Right. The new player tally reflected the events of the past two minutes. Scoreboard: Red Team: 13 Blue Team: 15 Total Players remaining: 28 Then, the timer on the Resolution Phase ended, and the mysterious, bald Concatenating Cipher disappeared.

Resolution Phase—Vote Ranking The Ephemeral Flower of Victory: 25 Murdge the Auctarium: 24 Dragonmaw: 3 Pine: 2 Razza said, "The Ephemeral Flower of Victory is eliminated. The third hunting round will now begin." George caught Cassie's attention, held up his ability orb, and nodded at her. She got it. Her teleportation orb appeared in her hand. She raised her eyebrows at him, and he gave her a thumbs up. The timer reached zero, and the voting room disappeared.