Prisoners of VR

In the dark forest where one's naked senses had been inhibited; it was hard to keep track of things. The uVR Earths of everyone whirred at extreme clocked rates, employing artificial intelligence to convert the data transmitted by Sonic through Rahu Sastry into a form suitable for their perspective.

Every soldier was positioned near Rahu, but their line of sight, position, etc. were all different from Sonic and Rahu.

The sense of smell and sound was transmitted from Rahu through his position-obtained through his Liger's senses. In a forest with a vast array of scents, even being placed a couple of metres apart resulted in a lot of variations.

It was even worse for the data transmitted by Sonic, their canine android. The sonar data was centred around its body. The positions of every soldier were dots around it.

Therefore, artificial intelligence had to be employed to tailor the offset into the calculation to create imagery in which the recipient soldier observed sonar data with him as the centre. This offset value changed with every step the soldiers took, for the distance between them and Rahu, and between them and Sonic varied constantly according to how they moved.

It expended a lot of brainpower to tally things through in real time. And now, as thousands of birds flew towards them, forming rivers of feathery flesh in the air, the minds of the soldiers were further overclocked to process all the information.

"Shoot radially outward! Avoid friendly fire!" Rahu shouted, "Just focus on the birds farther away. Leave the ones in your proximity to me!"

"This is absurd!" Chandan Kumar initially thought all the birds were a product of Induced Reality. He pointed his rifle at the incoming target and spewed dozens of bullets, observing through sonar multiple bird bodies falling to the ground.

The data relayed by Rahu also indicated a dense scent of blood, nauseating him, "They are all real!"

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Chandan Kumar was worried. He was a forest officer, in charge of the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest. His job description wasn't just geared towards safeguarding the forest perimeter, but the livelihood of the birds living here was also part of his responsibility.

Many endangered bird species thrived in this reserve forest. And now, as he gunned them down, a stifling sense of anger and loss pervaded his being, 'I'm killing the very birds I risked my life to protect until now.'

The muzzle flashes from his gun lightened up the forest, but his sight didn't pick up anything. It didn't feel real, unable to see the bullets slam his target. For a moment, Chandan Kumar hoped this was merely a dream.

At this point, he would be happy to consider this to be part of a DOVA Agent's sick Induced Reality experiment, "The birds...!"

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The finger pressing the trigger cramped in response to his suffocated emotions, causing the muzzle flashes ejecting out of his gun's nozzle to die out. Taking up the chance, dozens of birds flew towards him, brandishing their beaks and claws, releasing sharp screeches.

"Don't stop!" Rahu's voice resounded loud and clear in Chandan Kumar's head, transmitted through his Augmented Reality interface.

A bird with a wingspan reaching sixty centimetres approached Chandan Kumar, only four metres away from clobbering his eyes. At this moment, Rahu's uVR Earth's jade glow brightened, for a moment pushing away the darkness in the minds of everyone.

Induced Reality-Dark Room!

The bird that approached Chandan Kumar was unable to feel its body, seemingly trapped in the void of space. It could neither flap nor utter any cries. In the real world, its body collapsed to the ground, limp. It was unconscious.

Until the effects of Dark Room wane, it would be unable to regain consciousness.

In a couple of seconds, his brainwaves spiked and influenced the brains of birds one after another, plunging them into the effects of Dark Room, thereby neutralising them.

'My efficiency is dropping.' He frowned, sensing conflicting brainwaves being transmitted by the surrounding trees. The farther away from his position, the weaker his brainwaves got, taking significant time to influence a bird with Induced Reality.

'My effective range is barely five metres. And it's slowly shrinking.' He was worried. Electric currents were beginning to flow through the tree stems, reaching the branches too. Their intensity was gradually increasing as a nervous system was being created in them through electric lines.

Gradually, the forest was becoming more and more akin to a DOVA Agent's brain, releasing stronger brainwave emissions. The entire scenario didn't make sense from a logical perspective. But somehow, a human brain was being carved in the trees, treating every single tree as a neuron while the forest became the brain.

[Moving Entities: 17,398]

The artificial intelligence in Sonic relayed the data after crunching the numbers for a while, stunning everyone. This was just the number of birds that were targeting them in their vicinity.

"What's the total population of the birds in this reserve forest?" Rahu asked Chandan Kumar.

"This should be most of them." Chandan Kumar groaned, "The forest isn't large enough to house any more birds."

"Argh!" The soldiers shrieked whenever a bird collided into them. Even though the birds fell unconscious when they approached a five-metre radius from Rahu, the momentum behind their flight still carried them to the soldiers, causing a crash.

Their protective gear defended against that, but it still wasn't a good experience to feel living creatures slam into you.

"Ugh!"

"Gah!"

"It hurts!"

Suddenly, voices of pain resounded in their communication network.

'What just happened?' Rahu was confused, unable to detect anything either through scent, sound or even through Sonic's sonar. No projectile had slammed into the soldiers, but for some reason, they shrieked in pain, as if they had been stabbed with needles.

'There's only one explanation.' Thinking as such, he shouted, "I won't be able to provide defence for three seconds. Keep up your guard."

Induced Reality-Inverse Perception!

Rahu focused on the soldier that had shrieked first, observing a glowing object, resembling a feather. The tendrils on the feather seemed to be made from silk, glossy and faintly luminescent. Its sharp end had pierced the soldier's back, preventing him from noticing it.

Rahu deactivated and reactivated his Inverse Perception, observing the feather vanish for a moment, 'It's indeed a product of Induced Reality.'

"There's a DOVA Agent here." He announced, stunning everyone.

Induced Reality-Synchronised Brain Wave!

His uVR Earth's jade glow brightened further as his brainwaves radiated long distances. A second later, he grunted and deactivated it, 'There are too many interferences.'

The minds of all the birds were targets of the Synchronised Brain Wave. Even for him, going through that many bird minds in this situation would melt his brain. Once he ignored the birds and tried to detect any other type of brains, all he could find were those of his allies.

Without determining the source of the Induced Reality, even Rahu wouldn't be able to defend against the feathers.

"Sir, we need to retreat!" Deepika shouted through their channel, "We cannot defend you against a DOVA Agent's attacks, especially in this situation where we're relying on you to act as our senses."

"The birds had already blocked our retreat path," Ashok announced as he focused on the sonar data. He dropped the gun when a feather pierced his palm. The pain paralysed the wrist area, preventing him from moving his fingers for the time being. "I'm hit!"

"If retreating isn't an option, then..." Rahu alternated his Inverse Perception to the sights witnessed by his soldiers, changing every second as he observed luminescent birds shuttle between the trees. He pulled up information about birds from his database and inferred based on the short few images he captured, concluding, "Emus?"

"Chandan, were there any Emus here?" Rahu asked.

"Nope," Chandan Kumar replied, "Emu isn't a native species. They're only found in our country on Emu farms."

'What should I do now? Retreating isn't an option. We cannot defend against the Emus either.' Rahu felt troubled, 'Unless I find the source, we're helpless against their attacks.'

"Chandan, point me in the direction of the monolith," Rahu said after observing the way the Emus behaved. Immediately, a response appeared from Chandan Kumar in his Augmented Reality interface.

Staring in that direction, Rahu focused all his brainpower and unleashed a condensed beam of brainwave.

Induced Reality-Synchronised Brain Wave!

The beam pierced through the electromagnetic radiation abundant in the region and travelled for hundreds of metres before slamming into the monolith, chancing upon a target there. When he received the feedback, Rahu's eyes lit up, "Got one!"

Induced Reality-Liger!

Right next to the monolith in the centre of the forest was a large-trunked tree. And tied around it were thirteen people in total. Originally, there were eleven people there-five poachers and six soldiers.

But now, the robed duo too joined the circle. The Liger was induced on the mind of a poacher as it appeared beside him and observed the group. All thirteen seemed malnourished, their cheeks sunken as if they had gone hungry for a week.

Their eye sockets were pronounced, painting an eerie picture, especially among the six soldiers that were supposed to be able-built. They now seemed like poor farmers that had gone on a hunger strike. The Liger observed everyone as Rahu was alarmed. 'Why is...'

"The uVR Earths of all 13 people..." He muttered in disbelief, having truly underestimated his dead brother's plans, "Why are they glowing jade?"