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Sin in the Family (12)

  QUEST: CRADLE of Ice (UNIQUE)

  Destroy the research drive (Complete)

  Destroy SIN (1/2)

  Destroy the CRADLE and close the GATE

  Reward: None.

  Unlike other players, technomancers had a permanently altered view of the world.

  The System fed them information which gave them a permanent HUD of their environment. It ranged from simple things like temperature and humidity to quest tracking. At the moment, she knew that it was -12oC in the control room with 14% humidity. She did her best to ignore the mysterious readout that ticked away in the corner of her view.

  Having a constant HUD was like looking at the world through a computer screen. And as a consequence, Eunice was used to looking at a constant output of data.

  But not like this.

  The screen was displaying a massive amount of data, beyond anything she’d ever seen before. And, thanks to her skills, the system was displaying more data in her HUD. Some of the data was related to climate while others were coordinates like longitude and latitude. None of it reflected their current location or, potentially, anywhere else in the world. According to the data read out, it was raining in Antarctica while the temperature in Seoul was well over 100oF.

  “What the hell is this?” she whispered.

  System access, admin control.

  The screen blinked before returning with a simple prompt asking for an input.

  Gate shutdown.

  It was a common misconception that the technomancer class gave her control over computers or other forms of technology.

  Reality was more complicated.

  Her class allowed her to communicate directly with the System which governed classes and skills in their world. But the System also contained endless information about everything in the world even if it wasn’t directly related to the System.

  That meant while Eunice might not understand the interface language for the computer system governing the Cradle, the System did. And by referencing the system, she could operate the computer terminal as well as the people who designed it. It was like having a permanent cheat sheet.

  Or it should have been.

  Instead, there were blanks. Black boxes that the system wasn’t able to translate.

  Eunice scrolled through the data coming in from the gate and noticed the lack of a pattern in the data. In some sections, the System translated the information easily and readily. In others, it just stopped. As if there was nothing there to be translated.

  Or as if the System doesn’t want me to know what it says, she thought. As if the System is censoring itself.

  It was a chilling thought.

  Willow’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Can you shut down the Cradle?”

  Eunice shook her head. “No... Yes. Maybe.”

  She turned her attention back to the screen and tried to figure out what she was looking at.

  The sounds of battle in the next room were tempting, but she kept her attention on the terminal in front of her. It wasn’t that the computer system was particularly interesting or even the hurried tone of Willow’s voice. It was the small indicator that had appeared in her vision the second she stepped foot in the silo. At first, Eunice mistook it for a temperature readout but that wasn’t right.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Six numbers laid out in a row with the rightmost number ticking down. It couldn’t be the time, it didn’t match up properly and the numbers were ticking downard, not up.

  It dawned on her that it was a timer.

  For what, she wasn’t certain. But whatever it was, she had the feeling that she didn’t want to know what happened if it ticked down to zero.

  ***

  Jinyoung swung his sword and missed by a wide margin. The counter attack came swiftly, but he was able to shift his weight and avoid the strike altogether. There was a small opening, but he already knew it was a trick. Seunghyo had done the same thing with Muyeon only to whip around and deliver a swift kick to her chest.

  Each time he knocked her down, she took just a little longer to get back up. And that meant Jinyoung spent just a little longer dealing with Seunghyo alone.

  Thus far, his battles with monsters had increased in difficulty exponentially. Even the stone golem in the Black Shrine seemed cute compared to the sin wraiths and Frostbitten he’d faced against in recent days.

  But Seunghyo was beyond anyone or anything he had encountered.

  The old man had been powerful under the effects of sin, but he was wild and untamed. Almost like a beast himself. Seunghyo fought with a controlled viciousness that was frightening to behold.

  Jinyoung watched as Hana’s ex-husband deployed feints, dodges, parries and counter attacks against himself and Muyeon with alarming accuracy and efficiency. Judging by the power behind his blows, Seunghyo was most certainly stronger than them. But his years as a pathfinder and decades as a combat player shone through.

  His [scan] ability told him the attack was coming, but Jinyoung still had trouble moving quickly enough to parry the sideswipe. But it was a clean parry, a perfect one even. Seunghyo committed to the attack, but Jinyoung was able to divert the attack and send his opponent off-balance. And just for a moment, he was open.

  Jinyoung twisted his sword arm around, [charged] and thrust the short sword forward towards Seunghyo’s torso. It felt like a clean strike, one that would no doubt pierce through and deal devastating damage.

  Just for a split second, Jinyoung mumbled a prayer and asked for Hana’s forgiveness.

  It was hard to see what happened next. The sword twisted in his grip in one moment and in the next, he was sailing backwards through the air until he skidded across the rubble strewn floor before making hard contact with the wall.

  Seunghyo just stood there, staring at the sword he held in his clawed hand (edge first) with an almost curious look on his face. Then he turned his horrid glowing eyes on Jinyoung before tossing the short sword back to him.

  Jinyoung stared at the sword. The message was clear. Get back up. Fight.

  But before he could reach out and take hold of the sword, a pair of armored hands grabbed Seunghyo and drove him into the ceiling before dropping him onto the floor where he landed with a boom.

  Muyeon threw punch after punch, most of them landing before a hand reached out and caught one. Seunghyo caught the fist as easily as he might catch a ball. The return was just as ferocious. Each blow pushed Muyeon backward until she toppled under the force of the blow. She tried to block, but it was no use. She was being beaten back and clearly outmatched in hand-to-hand combat.

  But, the entire exchange looked wrong. Until now, he hadn’t seen Muyeon attack with anything aside from…

  “Where’s the spear?” he said aloud.

  It wasn’t anywhere to be seen. It could be that she hadn’t summoned it back, but then that would leave Jinyoung completely unarmed and defenseless. Hana’s sword and his own had no effect, but the spear might give him a fighting chance.

  [Scan].

  The pulse of energy washed out like a wave until he spotted an indicator pointing under a pile of rubble.

  He scrambled to the wreckage and worked as quickly as he could to clear the chunks of concrete and tiling until he saw the cold blue light flashing weakly underneath.

  Without hesitating, he reached out to grab the spear and felt the cold blast into his arm. It felt like everything below the shoulder was submerged in ice water.

  Jinyoung turned back to see Seunghyo beating on the stranger. Whatever strength she had left was gone. Her arms were raised in a semblance of defense, but it was clear that she was running on fumes.

  He didn’t have a choice.

  Jinyoung [charged].

  Somehow, the cold was worse. It felt like it had invaded his entire being. Like he was engulfed in the spear’s power and at its mercy.

  But when he [dashed], he immediately felt the difference. The power of the spear flowed through him and carried him further. At the end of the [dash], he extended the spear and thrust as hard as his numbed arms would allow.

  Seunghyo must’ve sensed something because he shifted his weight at the last moment. Instead of piercing through his opponent’s body, he cut through his shoulder. But the spear cut deep. Past the blackened flesh that looked cracked and hard, human blood bled out underneath.

  For a moment, Jinyoung was filled with hope. If Seunghyo could be hurt, then he could be killed.

  It was a sobering thought.

  Seunghyo dove straight at him, but Jinyoung pulled back easily with a [dash]. He [charged] again and let the skill fill him with ice and power. Each of Seunghyo’s attacks came quickly, but Jinyoung leapt out of the way each time.

  Whatever powered the spear was powering him now. Yes, it was cold. Colder than anything Jinyoung had ever felt, but it was numb. For the first time since he returned, he wasn’t thinking about the time he’d lost with his loved ones. The fact that his little sister had grown up without him didn’t trouble his mind. And the gnawing ache of seeing Seah with Cyrus felt like nothing.

  He was cold.

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