Free Continue Online (Part 4, Crash) by Stephan Morse Page B

together. Without [Identification] I was unsure, but this beast was probably a [Larodeo] , which apparently combined ‘the’ and ‘rodeo’ together.
    The guard paused and glared at all of us. His hand hung above the electrical trigger button. I contemplated racing to log out of the ARC before another one hit. Dealing with pain when there was no choice was bearable, but this wasn’t Requiem.
    “Knight Middleton, shocking the Travelers does nothing to help them be rehabilitated, despite your beliefs,” the other knight said. There hadn’t been a system pop-up regarding [Rehabilitation] points as a result of being damaged.
    “It should. If the Voices left me in charge, I could shock them endlessly, one point per minute endured.” The man pressed the button again anyway, despite his orders. I gasped as limbs shook from the jolt of electricity. “Then even that child raping scum could be redeemed in a few months. I bet he would even thank me if there was some, stupid, skill.” A finger jamming jolt of pain accompanied each of the final words.
    “Knight Middleton, once again I will remind you that justice is not ours to dispense. We only follow the rules set forth.” The other guard’s tone sounded familiar. It was hard to place, almost as though it were from a half-forgotten dream.
    “Fine,” he said.
    “Convicts, for your own health, keep quiet until we reach the tower’s base.” The guard in charge didn’t turn to look at us. His words were oddly clear.
    Most of the other convicts flipped back to autopilot. They must have been checking on their characters when someone talked. The remote screen was good at seeing when things moved, but time dilation made it hard to track conversations sometimes.
    I decided to log out and get the rest of my sleep. We clearly had time to wait before anything super exciting happened and I needed to be rested before dealing with group treachery. What exactly might they do? Form alliances across teams? Lead other people to their deaths?
    When we were all chained down and sitting together in daylight it felt peaceful. Compared to frothing beasts in my face they were only human. Still, any one of these people barreling down on me in a game might turn ugly fast. That large man who shrugged off electrical jolts had to be skilled, or tough with a damage reduction. Those hands had been huge too, like, Iron sized, or Leeroy, and he sounded nothing like those two.
    He felt informative, but not friendly. The guy behind me, upon reflection, had been condescending and weasel-like. Inside the game, I had suppressed those impressions in order to listen and get my bearings in the new location. Thinking of being in the middle of all these literal criminals with unknown Continue Online abilities worried me about future prospects. My sleep was fitful and sweat filled.
    A few hours later I logged in, more nervous than before after a moment to reflect. I planned on fighting when needed, but it wouldn’t be fun or exciting. Battle blinded lust wasn’t one of my personality traits at all.
    The guards were far enough away that we might be able to risk conversation. Our two escorts had met up with another six people wearing bulky armor. The bus was heading to a harness platform of some sort. Looming up above in a swirl of brightly lit orbs was the tower that had been visible from a distance. It reminded me of the old Starry Night work only the very air around it warped with colors. It went up into the sky quite a ways.
    “Tower of Stars, that’s it, right?” I vaguely remembered Beth talking about it being a raid level zone. She died here more times than I cared to think about trying to beat this place again and again, but so far no one had made it to the top.
    “Stop three on The Wheel, average deaths per three-man clear, seven. Loot we get to keep, bound. The winner last round? Android Seven over there. Soloed the boss when all the other convicts were dead,” a man next to me spoke calmly. His