Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 76

Chapter 76The man wore what I would expect of a desert dweller. Baggy clothing capable of blocking out the sun and yet thin and light enough to keep cool. A mask clung to his face, a staple for this part of the world. He gripped his rifle tighter in his hands, his knuckles turning white with the pressure.

I placatingly raised my hands and flashed the most innocent smile I could. “Woah there, friendly! Friendly! Athena Alexandria sent me.”

“Athena?” The man frowned, and what I could see of his face sinking with emotion that seemed to work through his entire being. There was an equal amount of rage and maybe fear? Hard to tell with the many conflicting Cues. The mask covering the lower half of his face also didn’t help. The moment passed and his face twisted into a calm facade, though his eyebrows were still knit tightly in poorly disguised anger.

I held my hands further apart, watching the Scouter’s camera overlaying my HUD for the other guard. She maintained her position, though she seemed to grow twitchier with every second that passed. 

I hadn’t noticed before since I only used it up close, but it was kind of difficult to make out any details with the camera being of a poor quality. They really cheaped out on their robots’ optics, huh? Something else I needed to think about when rebuilding the device. Of course, assuming I had enough Rayn to get better supplies. I really hope this group has that box.

”Chill mikato, I mean no harm. Athena-.”

”Quiet! Let me think…” The man snapped at me as he lowered his rifle entirely. His face twisted into a grimace as he tapped his foot against the ground. “Okay. Okay, follow me. No funny business though. No one here will hesitate to put you in the sand. ”

”Chek chek, after you.” I slowly lowered my hands, subtly activating Hidden Hands as I kept my hand close to my gun. Now that I had an in, there shouldn’t be a fight. Keyword: shouldn’t… though my chances of getting out of here alive if things went south were incredibly low.

So things just couldn’t go south… and it isn’t like I’m an enemy. We, the Leper-Khans and I were both hired by the same person, so we be allies… . There was blood in the air though, and I couldn’t say with a hundred percent certainty that things would go down the way I logically expected considering the state of the group.

I followed him through the narrow passage by the machine, feeling an increasing sense of claustrophobia as I entered the path to their camp fully. In the Scouter’s overlaid HUD, the woman flinched as the man came in, looking like she might shoot at any moment. “Tabur? What’s going on?”

Now that I was closer and didn’t have to contend with the grainy view of my Scouter’s feed, I could see the hints of chrome under the bandages, the edges seeming to ooze a constant stream of blood. They were too covered up to tell what kind or even what corp made them, but they looked like they were still active.

The man seemed to imitate me, placatingly lowering his hands. “Relax, Cota. Would you take her to the elder? I’ll- I’ll stay and keep guard.”

The injured woman’s shoulders dropped as her entire complexion seemed to fall. ”What’s the point? It’s not like we’ll even be able to stop that- that

if- when it comes back-“

Tabur coughed lightly, cutting the woman off before I could get any more details. Still, she had said enough. That . What an unsettling statement. Was it just one entity that wiped out the entire camp then? Just what could’ve one-sidedly turned over a camp of Nomads without much of a fight? I only knew the common monsters of the dunes, and nothing came to mind that could accomplish such a feat. 

Definitely wasn’t Dune Walkers, that much was sure. They were powerful, but they moved in groups… it could be a variant I guess? Did Dune Walkers even have variants? Gah, I should’ve done some more re

The sound was haunting and caused an immediate headache to form as I clutched at my ears. Before I could recover from the screech, my chrome eye glitched out, only returning to normal as silence descended upon the camp. Well, it's mostly normal. The camera’s connection had been cut off entirely, leaving me with no eyes on the way into the camp. I should’ve had several more minutes of battery.

The silence that followed was deafening, unnaturally so. It felt like the entire world had been put on mute, the sound waves trapped as they trembled in the air. An unnatural chill followed the screech, turning the desert air cool enough that I could probably see my breath if I wasn’t wearing a mask.

Everyone in the camp froze, several bursting into terrified tears as they moved. Most fell to the ground, gripping their heads as they just laid out. A couple ran into their tents as if they were trying to hide. Hide from what exactly- 

My body froze up, locking together as Insight sent a cold so dominant and powerful it was all I could feel. It wasn’t a mere warning of danger. It was death. Death was imminent. There was no escape. Only death.

The cold was overwhelming, but I had already faced death once. Twice. An uncountable amount of times back when learning Fox’s Paw. This much wasn’t enough to keep me down. I shook off the shocking chill as best I could and stood up.

I looked towards the elder of the remaining Leper-Khans, finding his face frozen in a sheet of white. He chartered as a strangled cry came from his throat. He slammed his eyes shut, throwing himself to the ground. Sand and small rocks flew from his impact site. “D-don’t look at it. Whatever you hear, don’t open your eyes!”

All around me, the Leper-Khans followed in as they closed their eyes and tried to just curl into a ball and disappear. For a moment, the cold warning of imminent death faded, replaced with a small glimmer of hope.

If it was just the man telling me to not look at whatever was coming, I would have ignored it. Not looking at your attacker was incredibly stupid. How was I supposed to fight back if I couldn’t even see what was attacking me?

And yet Insight more than backed up the man’s claims; the deathly chill pushed me to just close my eyes and follow the rest of the camp. To curl up and not react to anything.

I followed the man’s advice, closing my eyes as the chilly air seemed to only grow colder. I dropped to the sand, the warmth remaining in it comforting my body as my whole body felt like chattering worse than when I activated Cold-Blooded. 

A moment passed as the unnatural silence stretched on. The only things breaking it up were hushed whispers around the camp and several people sobbing uncontrollably. 

It was suffocating. And then something changed. Oh, how I longed for silence.