The API of the Gods Read Online Free Page B

the
cloaked man's corpse while my arm was still being repaired. I removed my helmet
to get a better look and I saw I was right. I knew him: Alfred, the second
golem controller, who had gone AWOL. He had talked about the possibilities of
human corpses vis-a-vis golem bodies, but I had pointed out rigor mortis might
make that impossible, in addition to being a just plain screwed up idea.
Apparently he had figured out skeletons would work better. Come to think of it,
that might also explain the missing ships.
    I vomited what felt like my entire
intestinal tract after that thought.
    Either the warlocks—there had to be more
than one down here—were jamming our farspeakers, or we had all gone radio
silent after my announcement. I suspected it was more likely the former. But
enough of us knew that if they knew our API, they could probably hear our
channels, too. I was security-paranoid with my golems, and I just killed the
guy who would know most how to deal with them so those were likely safe. Anything
else was suspect.
    I got up, retched again, and began
taking off my broken bracer. Warlocks explained any kind of odd behavior of the
daemon. And the more Ichor they had potential access to, the worse things they
could, and would, do.
    Words appeared over my vision: WARNING!
TIMER OVER!
    It had been an hour. And now we were
stuck in here.
     
    >>>  
     
    But how would I get the Ichor? This was
a perpetual problem with all my schemes, and it kept me up nights, thinking of
plans to get it and then the flaws with the plans, and then solutions to the
flaws and flaws with the solutions and then scrapping the idea altogether. I
struggled on, no matter what cost. I no longer sought any kind of relationship.
I might not even survive what I planned to do. But I would do it; I had to.
     
    >>>  
     
    Going through the control palace was
morbidly similar to one of those old dungeon crawl games. I mean, aside from
the lack of treasure chests to loot and resurrection spells in case of virtual
death. I nearly died two more times: another ambush and then stumbling on
another warlock, who was surrounded by orbiting rings of whirling knives.
    I was surprised when I counted at least forty
golems with me when I reached the door of the daemon nexus. Those orders I had
given earlier must have worked perfectly, or at least well enough for small
groups to be continually finding and joining me. Perhaps I should wait until—
    "Michael Arnold! I know who you
are!" The foreign voice broke through my farspeaker. "Come! I offer
parley!"
    I had a thought, a quick, deep thought. nearby.break("door").inside() . The golems crashed through the nexus door like linebackers
through movie glass and I charged in with them.
    The daemon hung from the vaulted
ceiling, a once beautiful form of otherworldly jewels now tangled with dark
webs stretching out into the shadows. From how decayed it looked, I was
surprised it even still worked.
    Under the wretched bulk was the wannabe
dark lord himself enthroned on a marble dais, complete with twisted staff and
hooded cape with absurd collar. I mean, he could rock the look, yeah, but—This
was someone who had let someone else kill innocents just to use their
skeletons. To hell with his fashion. I charged.
    Blades of icefire tinged with dark
emerged from his hands, and he leaped forward. I slowed while climbing the
stairs, and my golems formed around me. He might have more theoretical access
to Ichor, but we simply outnumbered him.
    He held his blades like a diagonal cross
in front, but did not advance. "Hold! We have much to offer each
other!"
    "Now that I killed your construct
commander, you mean?" I asked. ninja = random.choice(nearby) .
    "He told me about you. He said you
were brilliant. Brilliant, but dissatisfied with the so-called gods," he
said. He must have seen my twitch. "Have you ever considered a jailbreak?
Some way to get out of our virtual uni—"
    "I know what a jailbreak is, you
idiot," I said. ninja.flank(quiet