BladeDust Online: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 1) Read online

  Both of our heads bounced up and down. “Yes. That's the stuff we are after,” Tommy replied.

  “Fine,” he said. “Where is Samson?”

  “He said he would be waiting for us to come out with the gold. Said he would be hiding right outside of the cave.”

  “He probably ran off when he saw me coming,” Dante replied. “Do you think he cares what happens to you two? I could have killed you both. And I still could.”

  “Thanks for not killing us,” Tommy replied.

  “How much gold does he think I have?” Dante asked.

  “Seven gold coins.”

  “Very well,” Dante replied while reaching to his side. Suddenly, he opened his hand, and there were eight beautiful gold coins in it. “One more than he offered. You can have these,” he said while pushing them towards me.

  “But master?” the troll yelled. “We will go hungry without your life savings.”

  “Oh shut up. Eight gold coins don't make up my life savings. You don't know everything about me.”

  The troll's eyes doubled in size. “Who are you?” he asked with a confused face. “If we have more gold, then why have you only fed me bread? How could you do this to me? I don't think our relationship will ever be the same again. Not after learning this information. It just can't be.”

  Dante flicked his hand with annoyance while the fire in his other hand went out. “Just take it,” he said.

  “Really? Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Samson is an idiot,” he laughed. “I have way more than eight gold coins. This is mere chump change to me.”

  I grabbed the coins and expressed my gratitude. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “Do I just stick these in my inventory?” I asked.

  “This is the first time you have earned gold?” he asked with a wrinkled forehead.

  “Yes. Yes it is.”

  He sighed. “It's all controlled by your thoughts. Just pull up your inventory mentally, and put it in the bag icon. Everything here is second nature. No more difficult than moving your legs in the real world.”

  “Wait?” Tommy asked. “Four of those are mine.”

  “I already put them in my inventory,” I replied.

  “Pull them out,” Dante said. “Just mentally pull them out.”

  I did as Dante commanded and watched four gold coins appear on the ground. Tommy picked them up and put them in his inventory. “See, you guys are getting the hang of it,” Dante laughed. “Easy isn't it?”

  I grinned. “Thanks again.”

  Dante held one finger into the air. “There is one condition,” he said with a stutter.

  Damn. I knew this was too good to be true. “That would be?”

  “I need a favor.”

  Okay?”

  “Did you add Samson to your friends list?”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “Great. I want to rough him up a little. But, I can't do it unless he comes down here. His village is considered a safe zone.”

  “You're going to give him a beating?” Tommy asked.

  “He deserves it,” Dante replied. “Nothing too major. Just a few shocks with my magic. He's my cousin, but he can be a real scumbag sometimes. You can't just let people walk all over you here. Even if they are family.”

  “Fair enough. So what do you want us to do?” I asked.

  “Lure him in here. I would go out there, but I don't want anyone to see this. Tell him that I am gone and you need his help. Do whatever it takes to get him in here.”

  “Okay. Should I send him a message?”

  “Yes. That would be perfect.”

  I opened up my messages. Crap, I had not replied to poor Todd yet. The truth was, I didn't know what to say yet. First I would do this, then I would reply to Todd. I began to type a message and read it out loud to Dante:

  “Hey Samson. We are in your cousin's cave. Sorry it is taking so long. Your cousin came back and we had to hide. But, he is gone now. The problem is, we can't find the gold! Sucks doesn't it? Can you help us? Your cousin just left. I can meet you at the entrance of the cave. Hurry so we can get this gold! Thanks.

  Walker.”

  “That's perfect,” Dante chuckled. “Let's see how long it takes him to answer.”

  Suddenly, a new message alert popped up in front of me. I opened it:

  “What? How can you not find it? It's so simple. Just start digging under his bed. Just find the gold! Hurry! I already left my hiding spot after seeing him come back. I am surprised he left again, he must really be depressed tonight. Keep me updated and hurry because I'm sure he will be back soon. He doesn't like to be out in public for long. He just likes to drink his problems away as fast as he can. Then, it's back to the cave to hide. Tick tock, tick tock! Hurry!

  Samson.”

  A serious look came to Dante's face. “Drink my problems away? Do I look drunk to you?”

  My head went from side to side. “Exactly,” he replied. “Back to my cave to hide? He is such a loser. Even on the outside world he was a loser. Message him back.”

  I read out my next message before I sent it to him:

  “Dude, we have the gold! We are still digging the last two coins up though. Get over here asap! We will meet you at the cave entrance. Hurry.

  Walker.”

  “Perfect,” Dante laughed. “He is so desperate. All of this trouble for eight measly gold coins?”

  A new message alert popped up in front of me and I opened it:

  “Excellent! I am on my way now. Meet me out front. I will be hiding behind the large bush on the left side of the cave. Be there in literally two minutes! I am running as we speak!

  Samson.”

  Then, an alert message popped up in front of me:

  Congratulations!

  Your Persuasion skill has increased by 1 point!

  Persuasion level is at 3

  Nice! I guess I was on my way to becoming a shady little liar. Well, if it could help me, I didn't mind it at all. Eventually, I would be able to manipulate anyone to do anything. Well, I hoped so at least. I looked over at Dante and noticed he looked upset. “It's sad that my cousin is this pathetic,” he mumbled. “Now, it's time to teach him a lesson he will never forget.”

  “So how are we going to do this?” I asked.

  “You go out front with the gold. Stall him for a moment and I will come out there. Then, I will grab him and bring him down here. You two should stick around. I think you will enjoy this.”

  I looked at Tommy while wondering how we got ourselves into such a screwed up situation. “Let's go up there,” I said.

  Tommy followed behind me. We walked towards the entrance and I laughed. I couldn't help it. That ugly little elf did deserve to be punished. First off, he didn't tell us about the mini troll. Second, he wanted us to screw over a level 119 character. We could have been killed. So, I was thrilled to see what Dante was about to do to him.

  Chapter Twelve

  We waited outside in the darkness. “Samson?” I asked. “Are you here?”

  Tommy slowly looked around in all directions. I looked to my left and tried to locate a bush. “He said he was hiding in a bush to the left of the cave.”

  “But which left? Did he want us to look left when exiting the cave? Or, did he want us to look to the left when entering the cave?” Tommy asked.

  “I don't know. Just feel around in the bushes.”

  We began to feel around in a large patch of bushes near the cave. But, there was nothing. “Oh, I think he's coming,” Tommy said while pointing ahead.

  Sure enough, it was him. He was really running fast too. “We got the gold,” I yelled.

  He dropped to the ground with panic. “Keep your voice down,” he whispered. “Show me it. Show me the gold.”

  “Not so fast,” Dante commanded.

  “Cousin? What? What are you doing here?” Samson asked with a look of disbelief.

  Dante didn't reply. Suddenly, Samson's body became stiff. His feet
went into the air while he hovered in place. Dante had both arms into the air as he smiled. “You thought you could steal my gold? Did you really think I was that stupid?”

  I felt sorry for the ugly little elf. Dante had full control of him, and there was nothing he could do. “Caught you off guard didn't I?” he asked. “Didn't have time to prepare any resistance spells did you?”

  Then, he lowered his body to the ground. “I can explain,” Samson squealed. “These two are responsible for this. They took me hostage and made me do this. You gotta believe me.”

  “That's a lie,” I yelled. “You know it is.”

  “Why didn't you run?” Dante asked. “If they held you hostage, why didn't you run?”

  Samson struggled to come up with a reply. “Because they held me hostage. With rope, just like the old western movies. They tied me to a pole.”

  Dante laughed. “Do you really expect me to believe that these two noobs held you hostage?”

  “It's the truth cousin!”

  “Oh shut up. Just stop talking. You are so pathetic. Did you know that?”

  “I'm pathetic? Oh that's funny,” Samson laughed. “I'm not the one living in a cave with an overgrown rat. Am I?”

  The troll hissed in the distance as Dante held his hands into the air. “You are just too dumb for your own good.”

  “Wait? What are you doing?” Samson asked.

  Dante flicked his hand and sent a fireball flying straight towards Samson. “This will teach you,” he yelled.

  There was a boom. The fireball had hit Samson, and he wasn't moving. Smoke oozed off his body as everyone was quiet. “Samson?” Dante asked.

  I blinked. Then, I did it again. “Samson?” I asked.

  “Are you dead?” Tommy asked.

  There was no reply. I took a step closer to him. Then another. Oh crap. I couldn't believe what I saw. His ugly little bat face was gone. Was that why he spent so much time painting his face? Did he subconsciously know that this was how he was going to die? Was he painting his face in hopes that someone would remember it? I cleared my throat. “I think somethings wrong with Samson,” I yelled.

  “Is he breathing?” Dante asked as if he didn't want to check for himself.

  Breathing? He was dead. “Um, it's debatable,” I replied.

  “What do you mean?” Dante asked.

  “Are we going to have a funeral?” Tommy asked.

  “A funeral? Why would you say that?” Dante asked while taking a few steps closer. Suddenly, Dante collapsed on the ground.

  I looked at Tommy and he looked at me. “Should we leave?”

  “Don't leave,” Dante replied. “Please, don't leave me.”

  “Master,” the troll yelled from his cage. “Would this be a good time for us to cuddle? Remember when your pet dragon died? Remember how we got to cuddle?”

  My eyes popped open. This was getting too weird for me. I wanted to leave, but I didn't know how to do it.

  Dante watched as Samson's body disappeared and left one gold coin behind. “I don't want his gold,” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

  “Can I have it?” Tommy asked with eager eyes.

  Dante pounded on the ground and began to grow angry. “I cannot go to UnderDead and find his soul. I don't want to leave my cave. Samson was right all along, and I just couldn't admit it.”

  Dante let out a loud roar. “If you two were never born, this would have never happened.”

  His head was face down. But I knew it wouldn't be down for long. “Let's get out of here,” I whispered to Tommy. “Slowly walk backwards.”

  Me and Tommy slowly edged backwards as Dante continued to grieve for his cousin. “I just wanted to teach him a lesson,” he mumbled.

  He was still on the ground and we were nearly at the cave exit. My heartbeat turned into one constant flicker as we turned around and ran. “Master,” the troll yelled from the distance. “They are escaping.”

  There was a boom that came from the cave while we ran as fast as we could. My eyes were locked on to the lights of the village. “Hurry,” I yelled. “The village is a safe zone!”

  We went as fast as we could. But then, Tommy began to huff and puff. Then, it hit me too. “Oh no,” Tommy yelled. “He's coming. Look! Look behind us!”

  I turned my head and saw Dante running towards us. Fire was in his hand. “We gotta go,” I said. “We can't rest any longer.”

  We began to run again, but it wasn't long before my stamina once again dropped. “Crap. Our stamina sucks. It sucks really badly.”

  Dante was getting closer. But, the village wasn't far. Again, we began to run. Suddenly, the ground beneath us rattled. A huge chunk of dirt flew into the air. “I'll kill you both,” Dante screamed from behind us.

  “We are going to die,” I yelled to Tommy.

  “I don't wanna be a lost soul,” Tommy screamed back.

  We weren't far. Less than a hundred feet away. Again, Dante threw another fireball. It blazed over our heads with a gust of wind. We both fell to the ground as we arrived at the village. “He can't do anything to us here,” I said.

  Within moments, Dante had arrived at the village. He stood over us. “Cowards,” he yelled. “You did this and you will pay.”

  I huffed and puffed. “How is this our fault?”

  Dante looked frustrated. “It's simple logic. If you two were never born, this would have never happened. That's how.”

  “Oh come on. That's stupid logic.”

  “It's a fact. And a fact is a fact.”

  “Well, you can't hurt us here,” I replied. “So you might as well leave.”

  “At least you came out of your cave. You should be proud of yourself,” Tommy said.

  Dante laughed. “Oh I will get you. Just wait and see. It'll happen when you least expect it. When you finally let your guard down, I will be there. I have your names, and that's all I really need.”

  “Oh yea? That's all you need?” I asked.

  “Yes. I will figure out a way to kill you both. It's not that hard really. Killing two noobs will be easy. You're lucky I missed you with my fireballs. I normally don't miss. The stress of losing my cousin altered my magic.”

  I raised up. “Don't blame us for your pathetic family problems. Okay?”

  Dante became furious. He didn't say anything though. Instead, he gave us a creepy smile. Then, he walked backwards while holding the smile in place. Eventually, he disappeared into the distance. “What a psychopath,” I said.

  Tommy sat up next to me. “I'm so tired. Where are we going to sleep? Can we get a hotel or something?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “We could probably afford an Inn.”

  We both climbed to our feet and watched some little skinny guy play a flute. Honestly, it was a pretty lame song. “I'm a hopeless romantic,” he said with a gasp of air. “This song comes from my heart. Tips are accepted.”

  I rolled my eyes and walked away. Crap. I needed to answer Todd. I felt really bad about my delayed response. He was the only player we had met that actually seemed like a cool guy. I pulled up my messages and began to type one out:

  “Hey Todd. I am really sorry for the delayed reply. We had a crazy day today. It's a long story, but I can tell you later. I am sure you have bigger problems considering you are a “lost soul” now. BTW...I have no idea how we can find your soul. Let us know how we can help you. Thanks

  Walker.”

  I looked over at Tommy. “I just sent Todd a message.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I literally just sent it,” I replied.

  “Okay. Let's find somewhere to sleep.”

  “I'm sure there is an Inn somewhere around here,” I replied. “I'm super tired too. Now that we have some gold, we gotta get straight to business tomorrow. Let's do a quest or two and then bring the peasants some gold. Then we can begin our search for Todd. We will grow our army during our journey.”

  We continued walking. Many characters zipped by us but didn't say
anything. I scanned the area for any sign of an Inn. Then, I saw something. It was Samson's home. “Wait,” I said with one arm out. “We don't need an Inn.”

  “Yes we do,” Tommy replied. “I gotta get some sleep.”

  I laughed. “Samson is dead. Think about it.”