Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

ones Leon or Rachel had? Why hadn’t he become a god? The video recording made it perfectly clear that he was still very much human.

Rachel… Leon’s thoughts wandered to how much she’d changed over the past five years.

Just then, Merlen walked in wearing his usual silk shirt.

“What’s wrong with you? Get some food in you—Rebecca told me yesterday that you stopped eating. You’re going to get an ulcer! Really, I know.”

Leon laughed. The Golden Hand’s treasurer worried about their business more than Leon did.

“I was just thinking about her, actually. Sagie is too big a threat, and he isn’t going to stop until he kills me. I saw his eyes the day he said he was going to. It’s personal—vengeance for his parents.”

“And what are you worried about Rebecca for? She has a squad strong enough to take down a god. And they already have their strategy worked out.”

The young god calmed down slightly. Merlen was right—it wasn’t worth getting so worked up. On the other hand, Rachel had really changed since she became a saint. Leon’s deification had done wonders for his intuition, and that showed most when he was working with a variety of information. Rachel was better at evaluating people and understanding how to behave around them. Her behavioral model was changing, as was the way she dressed. It was more a natural ability than just throwing together some pretty rags too. She had a sense of style, she knew how to carry herself around different people, and she’d mastered the art of adapting to her environment. She’d put more work into it over the previous five years than Leon had. And he could see that she would be a worthy life companion and a reliable support when times got tough. Leon and Rebecca Ruzh had been through a lot together in and out of the game, though they both had the same thought on their mind when Sagie reappeared. It wasn’t the money; it was the fact that he wouldn’t stop until he had his revenge.

Nate, the head of Leon’s personal security, burst into the room. He couldn’t have looked happier.

“Sagie showed up in Kurg! They’re about to start the feed in the virtual space, and they’re almost ready to spring the trap.”

All three of them logged out of the game and headed to the personal virtual space. The room had been created to look like an operational headquarters for the game.

On an enormous monitor, the tree was shown from four angles. The entire altar area was covered by the magic negator, and the five-meter disk that made up the respawn point had been rolled right up under the tree.

A subordinate started briskly talking his way through what was going on.

“The subject appeared directly in the tree. We got replies from three seeker spirits who were assigned to this zone that he was there, though the second target is nowhere nearby. All squads involved report that there’s a battle going on in the tree.”

The opponent stayed off the screen. After visual confirmation, they were going to activate the magic negator and send in the close-combat fighters, archers, and spearmen. The mages were going to attack from range. Allies had sent four saints with support groups, and Leon’s saints were going to arrive in just a couple of minutes.

No sooner had the young man finished his speech than the light on all four screens started to fade. Night fell, and Leon’s heart skipped a beat.

The boy could control light?

At the top of the tree, where the branches started, the light, instead of dying out, actually grew stronger. Suddenly, the picture on all four screens turned crimson, almost as if the world had been doused in blood. Even the flash of light that struck a couple of seconds later appeared red.

“Turn on the negator and the soul trap. Hurry!”

Merlen reacted faster than Leon. The young god was struck mute when the world was enveloped in red tones, stunned that it was happening again.

They could see that the fifty-meter-wide trunk of the tree had been split in half. The replay showed that it had been sliced right down the middle by a giant guillotine blade made entirely of light, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter.

When it hit the ground, the blade exploded, scorching both halves of the trunk. A smoking, meter-wide gap yawned between them.

Merlen, seeing the red cloud drift into the air, asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“Damn, who can even do that? Who is he fighting?”

The silhouette of the boy appeared in the smoke at the very top of the tree, and it was attacked by the archers, mages, and everyone else there before a second could pass. A wild, inhuman shriek broke out. One attack tore his arm off; enchanted arrows thudded into his body. Every spell that was cast hit home.

To everyone’s surprise, the boy grew a new arm. Script appeared on one of the screens.

Undead, Sagie, mage, Level 913

Sagie turned, looked at one of the mages, and made a normal gesture for a magic attack. Nothing happened. He tried again, though the result was the same. The lich looked down at his hand, then at the operator working the magic negator. People were filming the battle from there, the safest spot in the field.

An enormous, light spear flew down from above and split the lich in half, though his health bar didn’t drop at all. All he did was try another pass at the unseen opponent in the crown. His magic was blocked by the negator, however, and the lich was rendered no more dangerous than any other high-level undead.

After glancing back at the operator standing next to the negator, he screeched violently. And then, to everyone’s shock and amazement, half of his body slid down the trunk of the tree. It