I froze when I felt the eyes of the rest of my party burning into my back. I slowly turned around, laughing timidly.
“Haha, sorry… It just seems like Ruoming’s party already took this node…”
“What?!” Yue exclaimed, practically mirroring my reaction. “I thought you told us that they would be going for the throne.”
“Well, I obviously thought that was what they were going to do…”
“So, what does this mean?” Wei asked. “If you had that insight about the citadel because of your knowledge as the god of fate and fortune, does that mean that Feiyu, Ruoming, or someone else in that party possesses similar knowledge?”
“No way. That’s impossible,” I said confidently. Unless, Song Ruoming had read almost the entirety of Surviving My First Run and had it practically memorized by heart.
[Observers Chat]
Aslan: Gosh, I can’t believe so many people managed to read Surviving My First Run without getting blocked. It’s pretty incredible! Kudos to them!
MoldyBlanket: Tbh I don’t remember a thing about nodes… good thing I got blocked. I would’ve died by now
Peenut: Wait I don’t either
Aslan: Me neither. Does anybody know?
Socrates: It was a lot later. There was no mention of nodes in this arc, but in later chapters, the functioning of a citadel is explained, and it operates through the heart, which controls the nodes, which controls the citadel
Aslan: You read that far? What a big fan that we have here!
Aslan: Or should I say had… When did you get blocked?
Socrates: It doesn’t really matter. I did like it a lot, though. At least I still get to enjoy this story and see it to its end.
Peenut: I got blocked much earlier. I’d be at a really big disadvantage if I was going through the arcs right now.
MoldyBlanket: Maybe Peijin secretly read super far!! That’s how she knows so much!
Succulent: Owl is definitely a reader. You can tell because of how closely he sticks to the original story. Ruoming and Peijin are definitely way different.
I was hesitating now. Honestly, I had figured that maybe Ruoming had just really loved Surviving My First Run and read a super significant chunk. Maybe even all of it. But, it sometimes felt like Ruoming even knew more than I did, and I could no longer tell if it was just my insecurities talking.
Yue hissed through her teeth. “So, what’s the plan now? Only one party is going for the throne. As far as I’m concerned, if Owl manages to sit on it, we still lose the arc. Not to mention he becomes our divine ruler or something.”
“Yeah, I know that much,” I raised my voice. “Just, give me a second, okay?”
I chewed on my lower lip, swinging Zhige back and forth mindlessly.
“Regardless of the situation, there’s no time to waste. We have to collect all the node pieces before Ruoming does or Owl destroys the throne. Yang, I want you to figure out where the next map location is. Use your staff to get a view.”
I turned to Wei, grasping his large hand in both of mine. “Wei. How are you feeling?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“If you don’t feel up to it, just let me know. I couldn’t survive what you did. Just be honest with me.”
“I always have been.”
“Peijin, if you ever catch me lying, you can lop off my head.”
“There’s no need for all that.”
Yang descended from the staff. “It’s not too far from here. It looks like there’s an Arabian royal palace maybe a minute west, and we’ll arrive.”
“Then come on, let’s go,” I ordered, facing the direction that Yang had gestured toward.
However, the node’s blue screen flashed before me, the text flickering. My eyes widened.
[AMERICAN NODE]
Alter Layout: Yes
Trap Frequency: 9/10
Location Size: 10/10
Location Firewall: 10/10]
At once, the view before us stretched by thousands and thousands of feet, and the placement of each building changed. It flickered before us every second.
A giant pit opened up under Amelia’s feet, and she let out a loud cry. I quickly reached out and caught her, pulling her into my chest to protect her.
But in the next second, a massive building erupted out of the ground, slamming into the both of us. I let out a pained grunt and squeezed Amelia tighter around me. The building disappeared, and we fell toward the ground again.
“Shit!” I exclaimed as the ground beneath us now tilted. It was like the desperate frenzy of my own dungeon room, when the room began to spin.
Finally, it all came to a halt, but now that the trap frequency was almost maxxed out, I kept myself still.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Why the hell would Ruoming max out traps if his party isn’t immune? I swear, he’s trying to take all of us down with him.”
I let out a heavy sigh, chewing on my lower lip. “Yang. Can you go up and check where the Arabian royal palace is now, and if you can see it?”
Yang was practically green with motion sickness now. “Y-Yes.”
He planted his staff into the ground and balanced on the top, shooting up into the sky until none of us could see him anymore. A few seconds later, he dropped back onto the ground, shrinking the staff in his hands.
“Peijin,” he said.
“What?”
“It’s all blocked off. There’s a massive wall there now.”
I pursed my lips before I let out a frustrated curse under my breath. “Let’s get there and try to get through it. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Ruoming’s party will also be trapped in whatever location they’re in, and they’ll have to lower the firewall eventually.”
Yang nodded nervously. “But, what if they’ve split up? They could be getting to every node first.”
I shook my head back and forth. “Then we’ll have to do a really good job of protecting our node piece. They’ll have to come to us at some point and take it if they want to create the heart. I’m worried about what Owl is going to make of all of this,” I grumbled.
I took a single step forward when the ground erupted beneath my feet, and I let out a surprised scream. I was instantly covered in a grotesque layer of impossibly sticky slime.
Thankfully it wasn’t a dangerous trap, but it reminded me nonetheless that the situation was far more precarious now.
[Observers Chat]
MGirl193: Who gets slimed in an apocalypse. Dead.
OrangePeels: I thought she turned into slime and exploded
Seatdiv: Are you both stupid
“Aw, what the hell,” I whined, immediately disgusted by the substance. I slowly blinked my eyes open and opened the Azure Dragon store, quickly purchasing a skill to get all the gunk off of me.
Yue burst out laughing, slapping her knee and doubling over. “That’s what it looks like when traps are maxxed out? Oh god, I hope that happens to you another dozen times. It makes you look extra ugly.”
“Excuse me? At least I don’t look like a wet long-haired chihuahua.”
“A chi—what? What the fuck does that even mean?”
“It just means you’re too stupid to understand it.”
“No, it just means you’re too stupid to insult people properly.”
“Hey—”
“We can use my staff to get to the wall quickly,” Yang said. “Everyone, grab hold of it.”
I grabbed onto the staff. Wei and Amelia did just the same. I shot Yue a glare. She glared back, intentionally stepping on my toe as hard as she could.
“Is that supposed to hurt?” I asked Yue, staring down at her shoe. “I think my physique level is too high compared to your strength level.”
Before our fight could escalate any further, Yang lengthened the staff as tall as it could go. It slammed against the synthetic sky, no longer able to tear through it. Once we were all the way up there, I took in the view around us.
What was previously a massive map location seemed infinite now. But, the wall stretching to the ceiling was still apparent in the distance.
[POLL #2
Which party should receive the first bump of spiritual energy?
- Peijin’s World Dominion
- Major Arcana
- Bohemian Grove]
I scoffed out of frustration, quickly turning away from the screen. So what, now they were giving us boosts like we were the gods?
“Let’s get to the wall. There will be some way to get through it, and they’ll have to drop it eventually. It’s not like they can stay locked up in their zone either,” I ordered Yang.
He nodded and tilted the staff toward the wall, sending us falling toward it. Amelia was clinging onto her dire wolf, who was desperately clawing at the falling staff, and I quickly grabbed onto both of them.
“I got you two,” I reassured them, pulling them toward my chest as we landed on the ground right at the base of the wall. Yang quickly shrunk his staff, bringing it to his side.
I lifted my hand and touched the wall. It was made of a hard material like stone. I brought Zhige up to it and pressed into it to test its strength.
It warped slightly under Zhige’s spiritual energy. I pressed Zhige more firmly against it, but the blade began to tremble slightly in my hands.
I cocked my head, grumbling incoherently under my breath out of frustration. “Wei, can you give it a shot?”
Wei pulled out his sword with complete grace, his sleeves flowing loosely around his arms as he cleanly brought his sword in front of the wall. He gave it a sharp strike, but his sword bounced off of it.
“It’s about twenty feet thick, but it’s loaded in spiritual energy, too. I doubt any of us could break through it.”
“Well, shit,” I tapped my foot. “I can try to use the seals. But last time, I had the spiritual energy of the demons in my blood to make it effective.”
I rememebred the poll that was just issued, pulling up the current results.”
[Polling ongoing…
- 15%
- 64%
- 21%]
“Chang,” I shouted loudly into the sky, “When does the second poll end?”
He poofed before me immediately. “It’s longer. But it looks like you guys are gonna lose it anyway.”
I glared at him but didn’t say anything else, staring at the dismal poll results instead. Why was there such a disparity? It was evident from the last poll results that my party was the second fan favorite, and that Bohemian Grove was lagging behind. So, why was there such a big lead from Ruoming’s party?
I turned back to my party. “They’ll drop the wall shortly. They’re planning something in whichever location they’re in right now. That’s why they’re restricting our access to it. So, once the wall drops, we’ll likely bump into them and need to be prepared for whatever stunt they pull off?”
“I’m ready,” Amelia said firmly, placing a small hand on her chest. “I can always bring out the serpent.” She looked up at me expectantly.
“Wei, you’re our trump card,” I said bluntly, turning to him immediately. “So, conserve your energy. How good is your control of the Aethyrs?”
“Minimal.”
“Then make it adequate. Yue and Yang—you two are going to have to deal with the rest of Ruoming’s party. I’m not worried about Bohemian Grove. They’re not our competition. Amelia, you can use the dire wolf to support Yue and Yang. Don’t get involved in the fight.”
“But—” Amelia protested.
“Don’t argue about this, Amelia,” I quickly silenced her.
I knew I was being way too harsh with them. It was apparent by the silenced look on their faces instead of the typically snarky remarks and questions I’d come to expect. But, if this went wrong, there would be nothing to feel bad about because there would be no party.
I paced around nervously outside of the wall, running my hands through my hair. I was always a competitive person at heart, even if I was incredibly lazy and could hardly put my passion to use.
But, my anxiety at this moment far surpassed some petty desire to be an enviable person. If I lost this arc, I would lose my credibility with the gods who had so loyally been following along with my party’s story.
I’d be nothing more than Ruoming’s bitch. I could already envision the smug look on Feiyu’s face, too, when he realized that he put me in my place.
“Ruoming and Feiyu, you are such smug bastards,” I cursed them, slicing Zhige across the wall. “Everything’s on the line for me.”
Only a cut was left behind by my strike before it was quickly filled in as more rocks appeared to smooth over the slice.
Suddenly, the ground beneath our feet rumbled. A giant ravine split open beneath the wall, tearing further apart and sucing the border back into the ground.
Song Ruoming had opened the barrier.