The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series by Dan Sugralinov (e book reader free .TXT) 📕

things changed: a couple of weeks ago both Hinterleaf and Scyth were sworn enemies, and now the old man was calling in concern his ally. Too late, the horse already bolted! If Modus’s people had helped Scyth on day one, who knew what they might have achieved together?

Just before Guy Barron Octius was about to go onstage, his comm bleeped with a short message marked ‘Burn after reading.’ It was from a sender who called himself Scorpio, and it contained just two words: “CoC, Octi.”

Octi… There was only one man left alive who still called him that.

Chapter 14. Venus Is Ready

MY NEW ASSISTANT Donald had left me five minutes ago, and I was already sitting on the floor, leaning against my capsule, trying to think rationally.

What would happen if I didn’t complete Behemoth’s quest and destroy the Nucleus of the Destroying Plague? For me personally — nothing. I might even raise my Threat level to the maximum as a result, build all five Sleeping Temples, get a reward from Snowstorm and go on to live a quiet life. I’d go home, finally see my parents after missing them so much, then go to university…

From Alex Sheppard’s point of view, whoever he was half a year ago, nothing deadly had happened. So what if I got knocked out of the Demonic Games? You couldn’t win them all, and the prize wasn’t all that important. How much had we prepared for the Holy War, how many hopes had we pinned on our victory, and for what? We gave up the temple without a fight, then easily got it back. There must be a chance that something else could be used in place of Concentrated Life Essence. Although, when I thought about it, I didn’t even have to stress too much over that. I could just let events go where they may, but spread a warning through the internet for all non-citizens: don’t turn undead! And that would be that, the problem of the Destroying Plague solved. As for what the Nucleus would do in the game, that was none of my concern. If it was so important to the Sleeping Gods, they could find themselves a new Initial.

A little calmer, I got up and started to get dressed. But all the same, my relief felt petty, pathetic. As if I was walking away from something important.

As I headed for the exit from my immersion room, I put my hands in my pockets and felt a crumpled piece of paper. I grew wary; there shouldn’t be anything there. Just in case there were monitoring devices, I climbed back into my capsule, unfolded the note and read the message, hurriedly written on a napkin in a thick and uneven hand:

The greens have a divine for jewelworking. Kusie ready to split for three. +2 to current craft rank, need 2,000 perception. Venus is ready.

 

Right. Apparently, Irita or Crawler had gone to Kinema and found some mighty artifact for Meister. Just a shame it was all for nothing now. My ambitious plan had failed before it even started, and all thanks to my own impulsiveness! I could have easily contacted my friends another way! What was stopping me from passing a coded message during an interview, letting my friends know how and where to contact me? Idiot! Halfwit!

That rare insult that Navalik the goblin had hurled at me in the Ordeal reminded me that it was time to wise up and not mess things up any more for Kerry, who had already lost her job because of me. I stepped into the bathroom, read the message again, crumpled up the paper and flushed it down the toilet. Thanks, Kerry! It was no help to me anymore, but even if I was thrown out of the Games, I wouldn’t forget the help and I’d try to somehow repay her.

I walked over to the door to leave, then stopped with my foot raised. A thought was running around in my head like a nimble little mouse, and I couldn’t seem to catch it by the tail. I went back into the room, took a can of soda out of the fridge, took a sip of the tongue-tingling liquid and started thinking. The first thought was the obvious one. That the note was a set-up by Snowstorm. It was important to them that I got the answer, because just asking to make contact is nothing. Otherwise I should have been disqualified the moment I said hi to my parents. But I’d already gotten rid of the note, and I hadn’t taken it out within sight of the cameras.

Now was the perfect time to think about what the message meant, figure it out and make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Alright, the Green League has an artifact for which Meister the jeweler, aka Joseph Rosenthal, theoretically might sell his soul. Kusalarix was willing to exchange the artifact for three… Couldn’t be million. For three priest positions? That must be it. Nothing else came to mind. But what about Venus?

Venus is an ancient Roman goddess of beauty and love. In ancient Greek mythology, she was called Aphrodite. My childhood girlfriend and neighbor Eve had that nickname in the sandbox. But what could Eve O’Sullivan have to do with anything? What was she ready for? I might have thought it meant Kusalarix, but the goblin woman had already been mentioned.. What else? I started to think of whether there were any languages in which the ninth legate Eileen’s name could translate to Venus, but changed my mind — Ed would have made a simpler association. Hell, I’m not as smart as the guys sometimes think either. Maybe Ed meant the ninja Hiros? They might have already brought the guy to the base… I wouldn’t be surprised if Bomber gave Hiros a nickname like that. But no, how could I know it even if he had?