DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

"You've been back for a while now, haven't you?" Wade hissed at his phone. Zero chance someone like Play just came back at the right moment.

You got me lol (￣▽￣)ゞ

"Bloody hell, it's actually responding." Illy leaned in closer, hands going out to grab the side of his phone to get a better view at it. "You weren't taking the piss about having a guide. The feck. How did you start with this when we didn't?"

"You started with like twenty others, I had no-one but myself and this asshole." Wade shot back, shooing Illy away from getting at the phone.

Asshole? Really Michael? I thought we were friends o(TヘTo)

"Bullshit." Wade hissed, "I already know the only side you're on is your own."

"You seeming upset with guide?" Leon frowned at the screen, suspicion in his eye. "Why? Is not extra help?"

"As much help as it's been, it's also the reason I'm here in the first place." Wade said with a sigh, then showed Leon the full screen. "This… is Play. A god of games and stories, who's my sponsor into the game, at least from what the buff descriptions told me. Also a pain in the ass and unrepentant amoral asshole."

I'm just eating popcorn while I watch you run around a bit, why you always gotta be so hostile?

He glared at his phone. "So glad you're having fun watching us nearly die."

Was pretty entertaining ngl

Wade lost it for a moment, shaking the phone hard all at once even if he knew it was doing literally nothing. "

That's

why I'm hostile!" He ground out, then Leon's hand clamped down on his shoulder like a weighted blanket.

"We taking deep breaths now friend. In, and out. Is high stress situation, body has limit to energy for fight or flight - trigger adrenaline spike early, crash early too. Recovery take long time, very bad if real danger comes. Stay calm, stay focused da?" He turned and stretched a hand out to the scott, "Illy, water please."

"Sure, we gonna need to refill it soon, but enough to go 'round for now." She handed him a canteen, and Leon sat Wade down, forcing him to take a sip of water. Fingers snapped in his face, and Leon mimed taking breaths, hands exaggerating the motion.

"Right. Deep breaths." Wade muttered, following the Russian's motions. "I'm okay. I'm fine, I'm fine. Just lost my cool for a moment."

☆(>ᴗ•)

Leon snatched the phone out of Wade's hand like a viper, before he could even see what was on the screen.

Wade stared for a second at his missing phone, then was instantly and deeply aware these were two strangers in the end. They could easily overpower him for his goods.

Had

easily overpowered him for the only thing valuable on his person, the moment he'd shown it.

The giant looked over the phone, "Hmm, is this god... always like this? Is clearly trying to rile you up. Like bad friend telling you to come join gambling game."

"Worse, usually." Wade carefully said, reaching a hand out for his phone back.

Leon raised an eyebrow, holding the phone away. "Take deep breaths first, in control, da?"

"I'm good now, back in control." He took a few quick breaths, trying to battle down this new budding anxiety spreading over his rage like water over a fire. "Whatever Play wrote, I can handle it."

Wade reached a hand out again, hoping his sudden paranoia wasn't correct. Dreading it even.

Leon nodded and handed it forward.

Wade grabbed it, and the Russian let go without a second's thought.

Holding his phone again, Wade felt like a little bit of fear unhooked from his heart. They really could be trusted. The giant hadn't even considered just taking it, he really had been worried for Wade's mental health all this time.

The girl might be prickly about information, but neither had she tried to mug or hurt him at all.

"How you get phone here when all of us only have only clothing?" Leon asked in the meantime. "Does guide know?"

Wasn't me lmao

Wade raised a hand before Leon could ask the follow-up. "I can answer that one." He took one breath. Now was as good a time as any, he'd been worried earlier, but paranoia wasn't going to help him in the long run. Better he showed these two he was open about his side of things. "I got a blessing from some god that lets me read and understand languages, and bring items to and from this world. I went to sleep with my phone in my pocket, so it's here now. Sorry, didn't know if I could tell you this yet or not."

"Wait. Read and understand languages?" Leon asked, then turned to look over at the elf. She was currently taking a power nap, eyes closed, breathing steady. "Work on elvish?"

"I can sorta understand what she's saying, but I don't know how to speak back to her yet." Wade shrugged. "So limited usefulness."

"And why'd ya decide to tell us that

little

bit of detail now instead of before you numpty?" Illy popped up as expected, beady black eyes narrowed in accusation.

"Honestly? You all didn't want to tell me anything about the elf, or your abilities, so pot calling the kettle black here. And between the skeletons trying to eat us and running for our lives, I was focused on other things. There's two of you, and just one of me. And I've got a limp and a bad neck, of course I'm nervous as hell about revealing what I know." He looked over at the elf in question. "Plus all she's been doing is swearing and calling you monkeys, so not much help down there."

Illy stared him down for a half second, then gave a slight shrug and nod. "Ach, fine, reckon that's fair on your end. I had a feeling knife-ears was talking mad shite about us this whole time. Can't blame her." Illy looked over to the elf who was still taking a quiet breather, she seemed relaxed enough as if hearing the humans squabbling about like this meant there wasn't any real danger. Background noise preferable to dead silence. "Nutty situation for us all. Least we have some way to cross that bridge now, rather than later. I'll take any help I can get."

"I think it very good news." Leon said, hand rubbing Illy's head. "Insulting people is how you make friends and speak to people! You two good friends real soon."

Illy batted his hand off. "Ah piss off asshole. As for him, better than charades, innit? Even if he can't speak elvish. We can make this work."

"What are your blessings then?" Wade asked. If he had gotten Market, what had Illy and Leon gotten? "It should be in your buffs page."

"Says I'm sponsored." Illy said, and Leon also nodded. "I get access to THE GAME, and that's all it says. No other blessings anywhere I can see."

Wade frowned, then took his phone out but got a ping notification ahead of time.

Divine Blessings are powerful, archaic things Michael. I am but a humble divinity of games and stories, little old me can't grant a blessing ♡(>ᴗ•)

"So you're a weakling then." He said, feeling a tad bit petty.

Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, guess you'll find out when you find out, huh?

Now he couldn't tell if Play really could give more blessings and just didn't want to, or if that god was dicking around again.

Wade turned to the other two. "So, since I've got a blessing that could help us talk to the elf, and I let you both know about it for basically free, how about you return the favor now? How'd you end up with an elf helping you in the first place? Play mentioned this city's been sealed off from everyone for centuries."

He had five dollars bet in his mind the elf had been yanked by the System, same as they had. And Wade never bet something as sacred as money.

"Sealed off? Excuse me, but what in the feck?" Illy asked, and Wade fast forwarded through all the details he'd learned about the Nathir. All the other two here could add onto the shared knowledge, was that the main city was equally abandoned, and had been for decades likely. Possibly centuries. Skeletons were everywhere, all of them Nathir Slaves. No bones from the Nathir themselves, so the jury was still out on what the hell the Nathir were. All the three could come up with was: Big. And opulent.

"And the elf?" Wade pressed. "I think I deserve to know by now."

Leon and Illy shared a look between them. "Bit of a story that," Illy said, fidgeting with one of her daggers. "Let's just say things went south in more ways than one. It's just not something I can talk about right this moment."

As in, they might once they could trust him more. Wade narrowed his eyes, this wasn't a fair trade. "I told you about my language skills, I could have kept that secret and been all the safer for it. I showed you Play, and told you everything I've learned so far. Think I earned a bit of goodwill. I'm not going to get rolled in the mud here and stepped over."

"Is complicated." Leon added, his usual cheerful demeanor dimming slightly. "Very complicated."

So not even he was willing to talk about it yet. But Wade caught the undertone from that - something had happened, something they weren't ready to share, and it's likely less about trust and more about something else. He took a deep breath, debating if he should push forward or not.

"You'll tell me sometime soon, when you can?" He asked instead, looking for a promise rather than an immediate demand. That seemed like a good enough middle ground. He was new to the group and he had no plans to get himself kicked out, or attacked.

Illy and Leon shared a glance. Leon gave a small nod back to the girl. She seemed to deflate slightly. "Fine, feck. When we think it won't make you panic to hell and back, I'll tell you."

"I don't think there's much that would make me panic right now."

Leon answered for her. "Is devushka's cross to carry. Not easy thing, trust me. But do not worry, I would tell if it was important."

Wade nodded, finding himself oddly trusting the Russian more than the Scot. "At least, whatever brought her here, I'm glad she's on our side. Maybe we can put our heads all together and get more answers, Play's about as helpful as a lead life jacket."

Hey! I've been super helpful! (; ̄ Д ̄ )

That did not sit well with Illy, and she was already at the phone's throat. "Twenty-two of us woke up in this hellhole and you think that's helpful?!"

I only brought Michael here, the rest of you, you're technically the competition. idk what the rest of the gods are planning

She yanked Wade's hand until the screen was eye to eye with her."Who brought us here if it wasn't you, bampot!?"

Your sponsors. They're other minor and lesser gods from this world, just like me. Everyone gets one mortal. As for why you? You're gonna have to ask them yourself next you see them.

"How many players in total?"

From my stat screen, showed me 100 total players currently in the game. 99 now, someone got eliminated already lolol

"Not fucking possible. I saw with my own eyes golems splattering people in groups." Illy said, turning her head to Leon who gave a sad nod.

well idk, that's what it says on my screen here.

Illy narrowed her eyes, "Fine. We'll figure that one out later. Are ye telling us there's one hundred gods in your world running 'round?"

Gods? Maybe closer to a thousand probably, nobody knows the official count. Tons are feral beast gods you know? But there's way more than one hundred that know how to speak. Gets complicated when civilization starts being a thing. We're one big happy, happy family~

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"How do we win? What happens if we lose?"

Well technically you already know the win condition - defeat or subdue all other players~ As for losing...

The text paused dramatically.

I got no idea, so try not to lose, yeah? (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

"Half our group's probably getting their heads kicked in while you're fecking with us, you think I'm playing games here you absolute roaster?! Is that it?!"

Yeh. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

Wade already could tell what the answer was before the text even showed up. It was basically bait for someone like Play, but he was far too late to hide the phone before the text popped up.

Illy's hands start squeezing the phone as if it were a throat. "Get tae fuck! What happens when they die out here?!"

Wade saw Selena flash open one eye, as if checking on Illy. When she saw the girl shaking the phone everyone was huddled over, she seemed to consider it innocent enough and closed her eyes again, going back to her peace and meditation.

Play, on the other hand, chose violence.

Oh ho~ And why are you so fixated on that missus? You curious about what happens when

you

get killed... or when

you're

the one doing the killing? I mean aren't you curious why it says only one player's gone?

"You answer first, and I'll consider answering that one." Illy hissed back.

Leon's giant hand wrapped around Illy's wrist before she could spike the phone into the ground. "Phone is only connection to information. Breaking not help. We find out rules, play game, beat game, go home. Also, is not your phone, would be rude."

Ayy that's the spirit. Good friends you found Michael

Wade turned the phone his way. "You want us to play your game? Give us something actually useful: What Leon asked earlier, why are we here?"

Depends on the god. Everyone's got their own goals.

"Why did you fucking throw me out here alone then?" Wade hissed. "Everyone else got help, a group,

something

."

Experience gains are faster and the loot doesn't get shared.

"Fuck you."

Hey hey, that hurts my feelings. (╥﹏╥)

"Did other gods know we would be thrown into lethal difficulty?" Leon asked. "Were we put into same room on purpose?"

Eh, I'm guessing they probably see this as a chance to fix things. System's powerful enough to bypass even the Nathir wards, so this would have been their only chance to get someone on the inside.

"Fix things?" Leon asked, head looking over. "What are we being sent to fix?"

Maybe THE GAME picked a lot of sappy sentimental types compared to the other gods out there. Maybe they put you all together in hopes you'd survive a little longer working together, help save this world or something. idk, I'm not them

"Save this shitty world? From what?" Illy shoved past Leon to get closer to the screen, then yanked the phone and started yelling into it again. "Listen here, I don't even know what world I'm standing on, let alone how to save the bloody thing. Half our lot's probably dead, and you're sitting there typing wee faces like this is all a laugh!"

Leon yanked Illy up and away before she could start being violent. Just in time too. "Illy, deep breaths. Remember, phone is only means of answers, da?" She struggled in his arms for a second before going limp. He set her gently down on the ground, reached to tousled her hair and yanked his hand back as she tried to bite him like a piranha.

Wade was occupied asking Play further questions in the meantime. "If the other gods are possibly trying to save this world, are you really not going to work with them at all?"

Why would I?

He paused, more shocked about that answer. "You really don't want to do

anything

to help your own world?"

Earth is a paradise, Michael. I've got all the stories and games I could ever want here. No reason to try and go back to a broken world that never cared about me or mine.

The only story I want to see played out in Azdrial

is how it ends.

"Holy shit you really are a psychopath." Wade pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to think through this logically despite his growing urge to throw his phone out the window, or just hand it off to Illy's tender care.

Unfortunately Leon was right. Play was their only source of information. Giving it to the scottish girl was not an option.

Plus that phone cost him a hundred twenty dollars, so he'd rather die first. "You're not worried at all about the rest coming after you for not joining them at all?"

What are they gonna do, kill me? I'm already living on Earth. And talking about that, didn't your friends tell you about the security golems? Maybe you should get yourself ready for that instead~

"They already found us?"

Wouldn't it be poor security if an entire horde of skeletons could run around without being spotted? Don't you think?

Wade turned to the two, "The golems you guys had to deal with, can they find us here?"

Illy and Leon shared a look. "I think not." Leon said, but it was clear he wasn't completely certain of that. "We hid from golems before in houses, so it work."

Wade looked over at the elf. Still meditating soundly. "Can she fight golems?"

Leon shook his head. "No. She very skilled, but not that strong. Game shows her as level twenty five, weakest golem was level sixty."

"...are you physically stronger than she is?" Wade asked, more curious about what the levels in this game really meant.

Leon shrugged, but nodded. "She carry heavy armor, so maybe little unfair. But I can tell when I lifted her."

"Don't mistake pure strength for skill. Only reason we're still alive out here is because the elf's a better fighter and far more deadly than both Leon and I put together. That's where the levels come from in my opinion." Illy said, "And so long as we support her, she can fend off the wildlife. We keep her covered, she handles anything that comes at us. Though them golems are different - cannot kill the bastards proper, but you can hit weak points. Things like their leg joints can make them less of a danger."

Wade looked over at the elf, head going over all he knew. And one thing wasn't quite clicking. He turned to the phone, "You said there were a lot of Nathir shelter cities out there, why did you and twenty some other gods all pick the

exact same one

to start with? Was it the only location the System allowed or is there something special about this city in particular?"

Think you probably already know~ What's your intuition telling you?

"Project Dying Light." Wade said, thinking back on his quests. "You said the Nathir blew up the sun. Does this city have something to do with that?"

Bingo bango. This was one of their more fortified and hidden cities so it had to be important. Maybe the forge where they built the weapon itself. Only one way to find out: Through a few hundred lethal war machines guarding it all. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

Illy deflated. "Feck. I knew we were in the pit."

If you get discouraged, just think of all the loot and levels you can get!

Was the weapon itself here somewhere, or just the research and development tea-

There was a deep thud far outside. He thought he was imagining it, but the slight shaking and noise was steadily getting louder.

The window rattling was the real sign something was coming. It started vibrating from something far, rhythmic. Selena's eyes flew open, and she bolted off the wall, running straight for Illy, shield angled between the window and the scottish girl.

"Get the light." Illy hissed as Selena took a guard position over her. "Get the fecking light!"

Leon raced down the small corridor inside the housing unit, finding the first door he could, opened it up and tossed the light inside. A moment later, the entire room was plunged into dim darkness as Leon sealed their only light source shut.

The noise outside started getting closer.

"Get the feck away from the window, shite, hide." She'd gone paler than usual, even her freckles seemed to lose color. "

Hide

."

"What's going on?" Wade started to move, but he would swear Illy teleported to him. She tackled him away mid step, one hand over his mouth. "Mmf!"

"Shut it." She commanded. "Not a single breath of noise."

Selena seemed to understand that one implicitly, ears giving a quick agressive waggle as she hovered over the group. Something to the effect of

'stay quiet or I'll silence you myself'

Wade thought he saw small fangs in her mouth when she gritted her teeth for a half second during the movement, but that was all he got to see.

"We heard this sound before." Illy spoke in a near whisper, after a few moments. Her eyes stared toward the window. "In the mansion. Saw it squash a few blokes into paste first, and second floor bedroom with them. Through roofing tiles, floorboards, beams, carpet, front porch - these guys do not give a single feck."

Leon crouched back, hiding along with the rest of the crew, Selena easily allowing him to slide in by her shield. "Blyat. Is the big one."

The window rattling increased, on and off as each footstep the golem took was shaking the ground. Either it was running in a brisk jog, or it had more than two feet.

Then Wade heard alien gibberish, coming from a booming loud rumble, rattling through even the thick window.

"WORKER DISTURBANCE REPORTED. REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES." The language was alien to him in a different way compared to elvish, but he could understand all of it again.

It repeated a few times over, the intonations clearly made by a speaker of authority browbeating a lesser. Worse than a lesser; a farm animal. This had all of that

naturally

built-in. What kind of people had the Nathir been to have developed a language like this?

"Think it's a warning telling everyone to stay indoors." He whispered, "Least that's what I think the blessing's telling me."

Illy and Leon nodded and Wade leaned slightly upwards, trying to see through a small part of the window what was coming up the streets. He didn't need to wait long.

Heavy plates with glowing runes decorated the sides of the creature. Six legs let it move quickly, while some kind of spinning sphere floated above the main chassis, connected by glowing ethereal strings of blue. Taller than two stories, with a set of additional gear and items all affixed on its rear. It looked like a demented magical mech-spider. And the thing continued to scuttle forward down the street, eventually coming to a stop by their hiding spot and the manhole cover they'd climbed out of, one foot stomping over the dead skeletal arm.

He snapped back behind the wall, heart racing. The other two seemed unfazed by the golem, Leon silently swearing to himself in russian.

"Definitely lying about us staying indoors." Illy said. "Once they know where you're at, they will break buildings without a shred of hesitation to get to ya. Happened to the others."

Leon's hand reached out and patted Wade. "If it not chasing here, it not spotting us yet. Bad eyesight at distance. Stay calm, is okey."

Wade took another peak.

"Identify."

Level 122 Nathir Security Golem - 82%

It was most certainly not okay.