Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

care, and to be honest, Murmur felt safer knowing the ranger was backing her up.

“That’s bullshit, Murmur. You’ve just got it into your head that you know everything better than everyone else.” His tone was snide, filled with acid, and his face contorted into an expression she’d only ever seen on Jirald before. “You better hope you keep your friends close enough, because if you keep going like this, they’re all going to be enemies.”

He didn’t wait for a response, but turned on his heel and went back to his newfound little group. The gathering appeared to have grown larger. Dalvin and Cardishan stood with them now, and Murmur felt like a heavy stone dropped to the bottom of her stomach as she watched them.

“What the hell was that about?” Merlin asked quietly. Murmur ignored the question for a moment and chose instead to make her way back to the loot she’d been going to view originally.

“I’m not sure. He’s been in a bad mood this entire dungeon,” she said quietly, trying to convince herself of how much of it wasn’t Jinna, that it was just Jirald playing some sort of tic-tac-toe with the damned virus and spreading it through the headsets. She had to look at it that way, because the alternative…

If she let herself think for even a moment that Jinna really felt that way, she’d cry. And right now, she just didn’t have time for it. Reaching out and trying to calm herself wasn’t working right then, so having Merlin there helped. At least a little bit.

“I can talk to him. Hell, let me go and talk to him. That’s not okay in any way.” Merlin’s anger was visible in the way he held his body, the way his brow contorted and how he seemed ripcord ready to rip the rogue apart, but she shook her head.

“It’s okay.” Those words took a lot more effort to say than she’d anticipated. All she had to do was agree with him, but she couldn’t because that might risk Merlin too. And if there was anyone she couldn’t afford to risk with infection, it was her group. Her constant group. Not Merlin, or Devlish, or Beastial, or Havoc, or Sinister.

If Jirald managed to tackle any of them…she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

Somnia Online

Continent of Curet: The Glacier Lakes Dungeon

Version 8.4282.5 - Triggered by Murmur of Fable

Early Day Thirty-One

Jirald watched as Jinna laid into Murmur, and the smile that crept across his face held no happiness at all. In fact, he’d probably call it gloating, and damn did it feel good. He watched as she paled at Jinna’s words, as she clenched her fists, and as Merlin apparently didn’t appreciate what had been said either. But neither of them pursued their guild rogue, and neither of them looked back once they walked away.

Not as much of a reaction as he’d wanted, but still, better than nothing. He’d managed to spread his dissatisfaction further in this raid. Now they had six people. But Risk was becoming a problem, far more resilient to the influence of Jirald’s hatred than he’d expected. Not to mention Karn was constantly in her father’s ear and extremely adept at avoiding any and all contact with Jirald…

Never mind. They’d be prepared to turn on her by their next fight. And he was certain that their next battle would be their last. Or at least, their last in this dungeon. Six or seven people turning against the raid leader upon tackling the final boss of a game. They’d never defeat it, and he’d get to absorb any and all of the getashis he managed to retrieve from her, for whatever reason he wanted.

“What’s the plan, then?” Jinna growled out when he got over to the group. “I’m sick of this shit. I want to get what’s coming to us now, not later.”

“Patience,” Cardishan drawled out. “We can’t act until the next dungeon, right?”

Jirald turned and looked at the witch, still not entirely sure why it worked on him and apparently not on Mellow. Although Mellow had been a friend of Murmur’s for years. Whatever, though. Maybe some of Fable were more prone to suggestion than others. “Well, we can’t act, but we can definitely make things uncomfortable. Pick at her leadership and whittle down her confidence in herself.”

Risk moved at the back of the group, his arms crossed as he bit his lip. Something about the way he fidgeted made Jirald want to go over and put his arm on his shoulder again, but Risk wasn’t fond of physical touch. Maybe one more boss fight and he’d try again. He couldn’t afford to lose the leader of Spiral. After all, he had the actual leader of Exodus.

He moved back to where he’d been sitting and watched the group of them discuss their plans and motivations, and the things they disliked about how everything was run. It was so easy to manipulate people into believing what he wanted them to, especially when they were stuck in a situation that was out of necessity and in no way ideal.

But something set him on edge, like he was being watched, and he turned to figure out just where the sensation was coming from.

Snowy stood at Murmur’s side, his eyes glowing a strange and subtle red as he watched Jirald. No matter how the rogue moved, those eyes followed him, and understanding shone in them, like he knew exactly what it was the man was up to. It was chilling.

Jirald shook himself and made himself stop jumping at shadows—at damned AI dogs, for crying out loud.

But Snowy’s gaze didn’t leave him, penetrating, like he could see through everything all at once. It shook Jirald down to his core and took away all of the joy he had at seeing the raid slowly turn against Fable and its leaders.

If he hadn’t known Snowy was just an AI, he would have expected to be torn apart in the next fight. But as part