Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG-Chapter 241

The conversation with the scouts, planning routes, and figuring out the plan going forward was a long one. Mainly, they picked my brain constantly for alternative routes and pathing. It got to the point that I decided to just draw out the entire section of the Underground as I remembered it.

Thankfully, my skills in creating 3d models had only grown since I started using printers. It took most of the day, but I transferred about a quarter of my knowledge of this area down onto a holographic puck. Not everything, but enough for them to plan, reroute, and work around any issues they might find in the field.

I spent most of the day with the High Lord and Inquisitor. They did other things, of course, mostly leaving me be as I worked to transcribe what I knew. The Blue Wolves even brought me food and drinks whenever I asked, as if I were some princess with servants at my beck and call… Is this how the rich felt?

I could get used to this… or not. Once in a lifetime event here. Unless I start making enough money that I could spend it all on servants. Or, like, brainwash people into serving me like the Circle did. That was out of the question, though.

Anyway, the first part of my day was nice. The second part? Not so much. Patrols. Endless patrols. A bit of fighting, though the real drain was walking through the city for so long. Crazy how much the mood changed between the AEZ and just a few blocks passed the defensive line to the Corporate Quarter.

Honestly? It felt deeply isolating. Just a few blocks away, the city moved as it normally did. Normal life was right there, and yet I was stuck here on the edges of the AEZ, patrolling endlessly.

And so a couples days passed with much the same. Patrols, scouting, and combat against the invading monsters. Before too long though, the High Lord called a meeting of the Crusade. Of course, with the sheer number of us, having a single meeting with the entire Crusade was impossible. We were split into large groups, each called for separately.

Our group was the third, with about an eighth of the Crusade all stuffed into a seminar center back past the defensive line. None of the Squires were in gear, finally having some time away from the front line.

Lykos stood on the stage, waving his hands towards the gathered Crusaders. Wolf sprites flanking him broke into a howl, quieting the assembled group. His voice came across the speaker as a massive, massive hologram of the city popped up behind him. “Everyone here?”

His head tilted as he looked past everyone before slowly nodding. “Good. The Circle bastards have held ground long enough. It’s about time we take it back, yeah?”

A roar of approval rose from the gathered Crusaders. For most of us, Aythryn City was our home. We were born and raised here, and it was a straight slap in the face that the Circle thought they could just do whatever they wanted. I felt goosebumps down my arms from the sheer bloodlust radiating from the Crusade.

”Here’s the plan.” The map zoomed in, illuminating a section of the ruined city around the base of Mother’s tree. “We need to take this section here. Most of their AA, outside of the Vine Serpent, are also scattered across this section. We take this back, we open up air support again.”

The massive map zoomed out, drawing a line around three sides of the chunk. “We surround this section, pound it for a couple days with artillery, and then go and clean up. Additionally, scouts indicated almost all of the Circle’s human cultists are present here. It’s likely their HQ. We clear this, and our worries drop to just monsters and the entity summoning them.”

The map zoomed out, highlighting a several block wide path toward the front line. “The actual frontal defensive line will be up to other groups. This group, alongside another one, is responsible for holding the path so they can’t counter-encircle or cut off our logistics.”

The map zoomed in on the path, highlighting several tall buildings. The surrounding buildings all around the tall ones blinked red and then crumpled. “We’ll be blowing apart these buildings, clearing sight lines, and making it even harder to sneak a force up on us. We’ve got the City Council’s, as well as the FSA’s, approval for this plan.”

Another section was highlighted, and defensive lines grew up from the rubble. “The military is providing artillery. Sentinel has likewise agreed to provide artillery support. You’ll also be responsible for defending these artillery teams.”

I eyed the map, picking apart the plan with some of the extra context clues I was exposed to. To be frank, hitting the entire section of the city with mortars wasn’t the greatest idea. It’d work, but it makes any chance of reclamation impossible. Likewise, demolishing skyscrapers to clear sightlines was horrible for reclamation.

There was a good chance the City Council was planning on abandoning this entire section of the city, even if we reclaimed the ground. It’d likely turn into yet another slum. East End already wasn’t great, but now with this?

The plan itself felt a bit off, too. If anything, we were likely part of a distraction force. With such an upfront strategy, encirclement and mortars, it’d force the Circle’s attention to us. Especially if it was their main base we were attacking. It’d open a gap for us to exploit.

And, given they made me transcribe my map knowledge, there was a good chance we would indeed exploit the gap. With the enemy's eyes gathered on the Crusade’s typical ‘full frontal assault’, ambush teams would move through the Underground to strike priority targets and weaken the Circle’s foothold even further.

That wasn’t even mentioning the other groups throughout the city. They’d cause some chaos too, creating even more of a gap for the ambush teams.

Of course, that was assuming everything would go to plan. Clearing out enough space for the Crusade to even attempt an encirclement would be difficult. Mother was continuously cranking out large-scale monstrosities that’d attempt to hold the line against us.

The High Lord’s voice came from the speakers again. “The administrative teams will send specific jobs to your squads, but for now, that’s the big idea. Save any questions for them. Dismissed.”

Chatter immediately broke out. Hope tried to ask something, though her voice was lost in the noise. Inquisitor Ligh raised a hand and motioned towards the exit.

We left and regrouped at a small cafe further away from the seminar center. None of us, except Ligh, was in armor. It was the first time I’d ever seen these guys in casual clothes. Some pulled it off better than others.

Hope looked much more… mature? The armor really hid her curves, though she also looked much, much more depressed outside of it. Joshua looked every bit a shifty thief outside his armor. And finally Dev looked like a paranoid nutcase. He kept rubbing at where his armor should’ve been as if uncomfortable without it.

Inquisitor Ligh leaned back in his chair, sighing. “You heard the High Lord. Queshtions?”

”What are we, specifically, doing?” Hope asked.

“Hmm…” Ligh Strumgard reached into his pocket, pulling out a flask as well as a scrambler. He tossed the scrambler on the table and down the flask. “Ah, that hitsh the shpot… Shqure Dev-”

Dev flinched, pushing his chair back as if something triggered his sixth sense. “No- no, no. D-don’t tell me-“

”We’re going Underground.” Ligh immediately put down Dev’s feeble resistance. “I can’t show where exactly yet, but our role is a bit… different from the othersh.”

”Why’d we go to the meeting then?” Joshua asked as he sipped on a steaming hot coffee.

”To keep up appearances.” Inquisitor Ligh shrugged. “Lykosh idea. Smoke and Mirrors.”

That's… no way we were one of the ambush squads, right? Our group wasn’t among the best combat forces of the Crusade. Sure, Ligh might make up for that, but even he probably couldn’t hold our entire squad up to the standard that full Knight squads set.

I denied it… But there wasn’t much of a reason to go underground unless it was as one of the ambush forces. Unless, maybe, we were supposed to hold the line Underground? Wait, no, if that entire planning meeting was smoke and mirrors to catch out rats, then maybe nothing said during the meeting was true to begin with? Ugh- so confusing. I guess Lykos's idea was working if even his allies couldn't figure out the plan.

“So our actual mission, then?” It was my turn to raise a question, and I didn’t hesitate.

”Shecret. At leasht, for now. We’ll be shtarting just before the main force pushes towards the cult’sh HQ. You lot have the rest of the night off. We’ll be meeting firsht thing in the morning. I’ll shend you where later.” Inquisitor Ligh stood up. “Any other queshtions?”

Hope raised her hand. “Let me get this right. You can’t tell us where, or what we’ll be doing, only just that we’ll be Underground? What- uh- what do we need to bring?”

”Full equipment. Expect heavy resishtance. Hmm… leave some shpace, actually. We might have to cart some, uh, equipment to our deshtination.” He waved his hand. “Get some resht early tonight. I’m off. Got another meeting.”

The Inquisitor left, leaving us four Squires sitting around the table. The silence stretched on for a long while. Dev was the first to break it. “I- I don’t know if I can keep doing this.”

Joshua patted him on the shoulder. “This will probably be the last time you ever have to go Underground. Don’t worry about it.”

Hope shot Joshua a look. She raised a hand, cupping her mouth slightly so Dev couldn't see her lips. ‘That’s what you said last time.’

Dev seemed lost in his own world, rocking slightly as he rubbed at his arms. He seemed to be spiraling as his rubbing turned rougher and rougher. His eyes glazed over slightly as they took on a vacant look. Almost like he was having a PTSD flashback.

Joshua sighed, grabbing Dev’s arm roughly as he stood up. “Let’s go to the firing range, yeah? Practice for tomorrow.”

Dev shook out from his spiritual thoughts. His hands twitched fiercely before he slowly stood up. “Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah, that sounds good.”

The two left, leaving just me and Hope. If nothing else, Joshua at least knew how to help Dev. For being a thief, he was oddly considerate of the paranoid Squire. Then again, judging a book by its cover never ended well.

Hope raised a coffee cup, tipping it to me before taking a drink. “What do you think?”

”About?” I tilted my head slightly as I wrapped my hands around my own warm cup of coffee. Or, at least, what passed for coffee these days. It was probably some synthetic compound.

”Just- I don’t know…” Her lips tipped into a frown as she sighed deeply. “About the plan, I guess? If we can even call it that.”

“Could be worse? Could be a straight frontal assault all the way to the tree.” It’s about what I would normally expect of the Crusade.

“Right? Honestly, I’m impressed we aren’t doing that for once.” She shrugged, laughing lightly. The dark aura that seemed to radiate from her lifted slightly as her lips lifted into a light smile. “What are you gonna do after this is over?”

I looked down at my own cup, staring into the dark liquid. “Sleep for a week or two.”

Probably. The interface should be upgraded by then. I checked it out of the corner of my eye. Halfway finished now. No telling what all would be in store for me, and I’d definitely get some levels from this, if nothing else. Maybe even a trait point if I were lucky?

I was looking forward to it… Although it didn’t quite cover up the dread I felt towards the close future. I just hope it all ends well, and everything can go back to normal. If not- well, I guess I’ll just have to adapt like usual. Adapt to a new normal.

I suppressed a chuckle. Who knows? Someone else might be getting the interface soon. Probably be Hope or Inquisitor Ligh if anyone, right?

Hope nodded her head seriously, the bags under her eyes seeming to bob with the motion. “I hear that. I could sleep for a month and it wouldn’t be enough.”

I shifted away from my thoughts as I traced my finger around the lip of my cup. ”You?”

“No clue. Probably just work more. Hey, um…” Hope cut herself off hesitantly, rubbing at her hands. Gone was the confident young woman I’d always known. “W-want to go, uh, get c-coffee sometime?”

I motioned around us. “Aren’t we already-“

”I mean, outside of work. Doesn’t have to be coffee. Just- just something? It’s been a really long time since I’ve done something with friends.” Her head drooped, her dark hair covering her face. Peeking out of her hair, I spotted the tips of her ears turning red. “M-mine stopped talking to me after I became a Squire.”

“Yeah, I’d love to.” My schedule was clear after all of this anyway. It’d be weird getting used to life without pressing matters hanging over my neck like the reaper's scythe.

Really, ever since I’d gotten the interface, my life had been deeply entwined with the cult. It’d be nice to be free. To go out and just go do something because I wanted to, without any pressing worries like my bank account.

Friends though, huh? I shifted uncomfortably as we continued to chat about this and that. Eventually, though, we both left to turn in for the night. Tomorrow looked to be a busy day.

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AN: There's an arc vote over on my Patreon for what comes after the Circle arc. It'll be up for about a week and open to all if you want to go vote.

Patreon.com/lostrain

It should be the topmost post.