Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 26

As they watched Raksha, the octopus lady who was the highest-ranked person on their world leave, Ernest turned his attention to Aaron with araised a brow. “So, this is what you’ve been up to, is it? Going and making yerself some allies, are you?”

“Me?” Aaron blinked. “Nah, mate. She just rocked up out of the blue. If anything, I thought she was going to attack. An alliance with the thal’kesh?”

Aaron grimaced as he considered the concept. If there truly were divine rewards that required teamwork, he wasn’t about to just dispel the idea. Then again, he found it hard to believe that such an arrangement could work long-term. The thal’kesh gave him a vibe of superiority, and his instincts told him that they wouldn’t accept equality with humanity. And he certainly wasn’t going to submit humanity to their rule.

Ernest coughed as he listened to Aaron, and then turned toTerry Cadillac. The big man had brought some of his people, from the looks of it. They all had the same black vests with a snake on the back, and they were currently checking and securing the adjoining passages.

“Perhaps we should move on,” said Ernest. “Some might still take the chance to ambush us here. After all, that quest map maker only just disappeared.”

“Move on?” Aaron probed. “Is there something else you wanted to talk about?”

Aaron wasn’t too worried. If they were on the same team, an ambush would be truly insane. Right now, they represented almost half the top 10 rankers on their world.

“Two girls for one dude?” Terry interrupted. “Not bad, brother. You’re doing alright for yourself,” he added as his lingering gaze swept across Talia and paused on Soohyun. “I like mine a little bigger, if you know what I mean. But I have to admit, I’m a little jealous. Two top rankers? What an achievement!”

“Aaron!” Talia said, bundling her fists up.

“Hey, Terry!” Aaron snapped his fingers. “Leave them out of it, please? Look, we’re not looking for a fight. But you need to be a little more respectful, okay? And stop looking at them like that.”

“Oh, sorry, Mr. Aaron. Didn’t mean to offend you, brother!” Terry raised his hands apologetically. “They’re yours and I ain’t touching them. I’ll keep my eyes to myself. Bro’s honor, and all that,” he added with a chest thud. “But you got my respect, brother! I swore to what you did in the trials. You’re one crazy motherfucker!”

“His?” Talia said, gnashing her teeth. “We don’t belong to anyone.”

“Let’s just not talk about them at all, alright, Terry?” said Aaron, stepping between them before things could get violent. “Talia, we can handle this later.”

Terry winked and zipped his lips, and Talia scowled, but backed down.

Aaron groaned internally. But while Talia wasn’t his girlfriend or anything like that, she was 100% entitled to her anger. But it wasn’t worth getting into a fight over. Not right now, at least. Not with all the threats that currently face humanity, and especially not with Raksha, one of the greatest of those threats, lurking nearby. There was a certain pragmatism that was required, and Aaron’s face turned serious as he considered their next steps.

“Let’s get serious,” Aaron said. “I’m thinking about what Raksha said. If there are multiple stages to this tournament, or whatever comes next, and we’re going to need to work together, we need to think about that.”

“Yeah, about that,” Ernest said. “There ain’t no way we’re working with Darius. That’s a fool’s game. That man ain’t someone to be reasoned with. I know. I’ve met the man, and I wasn’t lookin’ for a fight when I did. He ain’t about to form a friendish alliance, no matter what’s at risk.”

“You met Darius outside of the trials?” Aaron asked.

“Yes siree. I did. And he’s gotten so much worse. He’s got some new Skill, too. We were fighting his forces for some time.”

“We?”

“Mmhmm. Me, Johan, and our people. They’re all gone now. Everyone I survived the Tutorial with. Snuffed out just like that,” Ernest snapped his fingers. “But I ain’t here to get sentimental with you. I’m here to warn you, and everyone else who thinks they got a chance of turning our world into something. You see, those undead warriors he was making were strong enough, but deeply flawed. I fought them enough times to know. And there was a time when I thought we were getting the better of him.

“We weren’t. You see, the thing is, he’s gone and got himself some new Skill. And it’s a scary one. From what I’ve seen, it lets him turn one undead warrior without any flaws. They benefit from everything that makes the dead strong, without taking any of the usual flaws the dead have. But that’s not what really makes me concerned. You know the System as well as I do. The System doesn’t just give you a cheat Skill, does it? It gives you an opportunity. The ability to mold your Skills into something more. Whether it’s Skill upgrades or mutations, it matters little.”

“Every Skill is a pathway to a bigger opportunity. So, I ask you. What happens if one day our necromancer friend gains the ability to turn more than one of these monsters? What about dozens? Or hundreds?” Ernest paused and glanced around. “Now you get it, don’t you? This isn’t a man we can reason with. He don’t need a crew. He can just turn the dead into his own obedient crew. No upstarts. No talking back. No rivalry. Even if he said he was gonna join us, you can be assured it'd only be temporary. And the moment he could turn us into his own loyal, undead warriors, he would.”

Aaron had no love for the necromancer and wasn’t surprised to hear that others didn’t trust the idea of alliance with him. But Ernest’s description of the man’s threat even made him slightly uneasy. And of course, he agreed with the conclusion.

“I see. You make good points,” Aaron said. “I doubt Darius is the kind of guy that’s going to want to work with others if he believes he can achieve the same things on his own.”

“You said that you believe he can only turn one of these powerful undead at a time. Why’s that?” Talia asked. “Do you know who his elite warrior is?”

“I do,” Ernest tilted his hat at Talia. “Who else? Johan. And it’s one scary fucking combination.”

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Talia and Aaron shared a glance.

“You don’t know, do you? Hah,” Ernest shook his head. “Slimy bastard. Johan wasn’t just some leader. He had some mental Class, a strong one. He had basically turned himself into a hivemind, controlling everything his people did. They couldn’t say no if they wanted to. He got what he deserved, but I wish Darius didn’t have his body.”

“So, Darius can’t just raise the dead, but now he has control of Johan as a minion at full strength, with the ability to control minds?”

“Yes siree. Spot on. And like I said, he’s ain’t just some minion anymore. Johan is 100% loyal. His mind has been fiddled with. But he’s not a blank slate, not some zombie following orders.”

“What are you saying?” Talia said. “How do you know all this?”

“Who do you think he sent after me? Johan, of course. I even had a few close calls. I can tell you, his brain’s all there, despite the fact that I put a hole in it. He thinks. He has goals and complex plans.”

“Wait, you shot him in the head?” Aaron said.

“Yep, and I shoulda done it sooner. Long story, and it ain’t important. Not anymore. We got bigger fish to fry.”

“If what he says is true…” Talia said.

“Yeah, I get it,” Aaron said. “So, what’s your plan then?”

“Simple,” Ernest said, pulling a cigar from his spatial storage and lighting it. “We work together. Build an alliance. We’ve got an entire year after this dungeon to prepare ourselves and take Darius out. And I recommend that we do that before the next stage.”

Aaron nodded. “Right. If we’re going to, then I agree. The best time to do it would be before this grand tournament thing gets any further ahead. But what about Raksha?”

“She makes an interesting proposition. I’m not against the premise,” Ernest said. “But I won't let it get in the way of taking down Darius. And I recommend you do the same. And it’s not just about the threat of his minions. I’ve seen the corruption he is spreading across our world. And I'm not even sure we can fix it. That taint, we’ve tried to push it back, me and Johan. And we got nowhere. Luckily, it's a fucking big planet. But still, we don’t want him spreading the stuff across the entire world, do we?”

“No, I don’t think we do.”

“Agreed,” Talia nodded.

She turned to Soohyun, causing everyone else to do the same.

“Me?” Soohyun said, looking up with a start. “Yeah, me too. I agree.”

“And me, brothers! I’m fucking in! Terry fucking Cadillac to save the day!”

“Good,” Ernest said, puffing smoke. “Right. So, even if everything Raksha said is true, we’ll have an entire year between the end of this dungeon and the start of the tournament stage. The plan goes like this. First, we find each other. Then, we form a coalition and scout out Darius’ territory. From there, we can plan our attack. If everything goes to plan, then we can look toward our top ten. Maybe even decide who we want participating in this grand divine tournament, or whatever it is. Whaddya think?”

“Works for me,” Talia said, looking at everyone besides Terry.

“Same here,” Aaron said.

Even though he barely knew Ernest, Aaron felt inclined to believe him. He had met Darius enough times that everything he said tracked. More importantly, his explanation reminded him of other warnings. Especially if there was something going on with the Death God.

“Oh yeah, me too,” Soohyun said as Talia glared at her.

“Fucking good shit!” Terry bellowed. “I never wanted that weedy nerd on my team anyway! But before we go, I had my own reasons for tracking you down.”

“Your own?” Aaron questioned.

For whatever reason, he was surprised that Terry Cadillac apparently had something important to say. The man didn’t give him that vibe, but then again, he was a top ranker, and there had to have been a reason he got that far.

“It’s about my base. We call it the Oasis. It’s a big fucking town in the middle of a desert. My brothers and me, The Desert Pythons, made it our own. It’s a fucking paradise. Good hunting grounds and plenty of resources. More resources than anywhere I’ve seen! That’s the reason we picked it. We didn’t notice at first. Thought we just got lucky. But then I started to sense something,” Terry gestured at the ground.

“It was under us. Beneath the ground itself. Something powerful. Source of all the resources, I think. Me and a couple of Desert Pythons went down there. We didn’t get far, though. Down in that tunnel, we came across a bunch of powerful D-grade beasts, and at the center of them was a C-grade monstrosity. Fucking huge son of a bitch. Terry Cadillac doesn’t usually ask for help, but I can’t kill that thing alone. And worst of all, it’s getting bigger and stronger. I think it's sucking up whatever is causing all the resources to spawn. And if it isn’t stopped, who knows how big that fucker is gonna get.”

Aaron glanced across at Ernest and then back to his team. “Alright. Well, I guess we need to do both.”

“We’re going to work with him?” Talia slumped and groaned.

“Hmm, don’t like this,” Ernest said. “Sounds like a distraction. But if you help me, I suppose I’m in.”

“I knew you’d be up for it, brothers!” Cheered Terry. “Here, let me update your System map. We can trade locations.”

Incoming request to share map details with Terry Cadillac

Accept: Y/N?

Aaron eyed the man for a second as he read the prompt.

Talia seemed to figure out what was happening and just sighed.“Just do it. Saving humanity comes first. I can give him a beating later, if necessary.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

Aaron agreed to the prompt and shared the location of Dober with both men. Ultimately, for all Terry’s theatrics and Ernest’s somewhat shady persona, he wasn’t too threatened by either man. For one, he believed them. But also, Dober wasn’t some weak state that could be pushed around. Between him, Talia, and Soohyun, there was a decent chance they already represented their world’s strongest alliance.

“Good shit, brothers! Come find me and the boys, and we’ll throw back a few brews after we fuck Darius and this beast up! You’re gonna love the Desert Pythons!”

Dungeon Announcement!

With the defeat of the first boss, the eighth temple has been claimed by Aaron Dober and his party!

Eight Temples remain unclaimed!

Claim a temple for your chance to move onto the next floor!

“Would you look at that?” Ernest said, eyeing the notification. “So, it’s official. We’d better get moving, Terry. Don’t want to miss out, do we now?”

“Not a chance, bro! Let’s move!”

“You two are in a party?” Aaron said. “I suppose we’ve got free spots in ours, if you want them.”

He wasn’t entirely sure about offering their spots, so they could risk-free move onto the next floor. But if they were going to be in an alliance, he figured a little goodwill might go a long way.

“Not a chance, bro!” Terry laughed. “Got three of my top pythons with us. Not leaving my bros behind. Not for nothing! Besides, no one can stop me and Ernest, can they?”

Ernest raised a brow and tipped his hat. “Nope, no siree.”

Aaron nodded. He had been a little concerned at first when he saw the floor quest. Needing to align all nine temples meant they needed at least eight other competent parties, and he wasn’t sure how much infighting their world would experience. But it seemed like that was an unnecessary fear. There was still plenty of strength on their world.

“We'd better move too,” Aaron said. “We might have claimed the temple, but we still need to align it.”

“Right,” Talia said. “Let’s move out then.”

“Following,” Soohyun said absently, glancing back at the two men as they cleared out with the pythons. “You know, your sleeveless look matches them, Aaron.”

Aaron glanced down at his bearskin hoodie, then back up at the Desert Pythons.

“Fuck,” he said with a sigh.