The next morning, Atlas, Wang Bo, and Stu gathered all of the freed actors, actresses and recruits and set off on the road.
“This is going to be a long trek back,” said Atlas.
“I’m not looking forward to it,” Wang Bo replied, sharing the sentiment of the newly freed citizens. It was a 20-kilometer journey back to Fort Bone, and this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park—literally. It was a walk through the wasteland, fraught with undead, bandits, and monsters of all types.
“Are any of you ready or able to fight still?” Atlas asked the group.
Several of the warriors in training responded, “We’re fine. We weren’t hurt too badly during confinement.” They didn’t want to, or need to, mention that none of them wanted to fight if possible. They all just wanted to get home.
“Good. There’s plenty of extra gear from the bandits, and we’re going to need you all to help carry that, as well as prepare for any fights. The three of us will take point, but I need some stronger people to help watch the flanks and rear.”
‘‘‘
Atlas kept a vigilant eye on the road as the group headed towards Fort Bone. After a few hours of uneventful travel, a mob of skeletons erupted from the forest. Wang Bo swung his staff with precision, cracking one in the knee. “Emperor cripples beggar,” he announced. The skeleton crumpled, reaching out futilely towards Wang Bo. The freed captives, some of whom had never encountered the undead, were terrified. While Fort Bone was built from bone, the sight of animated skeletons was still unnerving.
“Fucking get your head tight. Don’t panic!” Atlas shouted. His twin swords made short work of the skeletons, slicing through them with brutal efficiency. His bright pink armor gleamed in the morning sun, adding a strange contrast to the grim scene.
The warriors in training fired crossbows from the sidelines, their shots occasionally hitting their marks. Atlas thought, ‘I don’t care how many they kill as long as they don’t shoot me in the back.‘
“Leaping dragon descends!” Wang Bo jumped into the air, and brought his staff down. Another skeleton was brought down. Mana coins spilled out of the bones.
Stu protected the group while deftly firing the crossbow.
SHWIP!
Another skeleton fell. It’s kneecap blown right off. Atlas finished the fallen skeleton with a stomp of his foot.
Eventually, the combined might of the Portal Crushers overcame the skeletons. With their hands already full from the bandit loot, Atlas chose to leave the bones behind. They did loot the mana coins though.
‘‘‘
After the skeleton attack, everybody was on edge. Atlas, Wang Bo, and Stu were accustomed to this kind of action; for them, it wasn’t that big of a deal. But escorting all the freed captives back to Fort Bone was a huge pain in the ass.
‘Escort quests are always the worst in games,‘ thought Atlas.
Luckily, they were met by a group of adventurers coming through the forest.
Stolen novel; please report.
The adventurers took one look at Atlas and said, “Holy hell, who are you?”
They raised their crossbows protectively.
Atlas introduced himself.
“Aren’t you like the big, big boss of Fort Bone? What are you doing out here? And why do you have so many captives?” the adventurers asked. The crossbows slowly lowering.
Atlas quickly cleared up the confusion and explained how he had killed all the nearby bandits. “Oh, that’s great,” the adventurers said. There were five of them. “Why don’t we escort you back? We were heading to Fort Bone anyway.”
“Great, thank you. I’ll buy a beer when we get back. That would be a huge help,” Atlas responded.
“We can take the perimeters if you don’t mind taking point,” the adventurers offered.
“That’s fine,” Atlas agreed. “That’s what we’ve been doing anyway.”
As they started heading out together again, Atlas whispered to Wang Bo, “Wang Bo, get ready. We’re going to be attacking these guys.”
Wang Bo replied, “Really?”
“On three, let Stu know,” Atlas instructed.
Wang Bo traveled across the group, whispered something to Stu, and returned to his position. Atlas, seeing that everyone was ready, yelled out, “Three!”
The three of them spun around, crossbows in hand, and fired at the group of five adventurers who had been escorting them.
‘SHWIP! SHWIP! SHWIP!‘
The crossbow bolts punched into their bodies.
“What the hell?” one of the adventurers screamed as a crossbow bolt shattered his arm. The other two who hadn’t been targeted by crossbow bolts pulled their swords and rushed towards Atlas. That was their last mistake. Atlas swung his swords with superhuman might, chopping off their hands.
“Arg!”
“My hand!”
Atlas followed up with more quick slashes, and the two adventurers hit the ground. Surprise still showed on their faces. Falling down in combat was a death sentence in the wasteland, something that Stu was happy to help with. He used his twin maces to crush their skulls, putting the adventurers out of their misery.
BLERGH!
Seeing more dead bodies, some of the citizens of Fort Bone vomited noisily.
The Fort Bone citizens were panicked. “What’s going on? Why did you attack them?”
Atlas quickly explained.
“They were bandits.”
In his head, he thought, ‘This new bandit king achievement is pretty useful. I disliked these guys immediately. There was almost a stench of blood upon them. I wonder how many adventurers they’ve killed with their we-will-help-you-escort routine.‘
“Loot the bodies,” Atlas ordered Wang Bo.
Wang Bo and Stu started looting the bodies. They didn’t ask Atlas what was going on. They figured he would tell them on the way back. Out of earshot of the citizens, Atlas explained about his achievement.
‘The less normal citizens knew, the less secrets they could spread.‘ Atlas realized just how valuable a secret way this way of identifying hidden bandits was.
After the bandit attack was successfully foiled, they continued trekking towards Fort Bone. Wang Bo finally broke the silence.
“Atlas, I can’t wait any longer. You’ve got to tell me one thing.”
“Oh, what’s that?” Atlas asked.
“Why is your armor hot pink?”
Atlas stopped in his tracks, causing a domino effect among the group. “Fuck,” he muttered. He turned around and resumed walking.
‘Okay, this is the stupidest thing I’ve got to explain,‘ he thought.
“Well... There’s... spray paint that you can buy, and... I thought it would help with the armor. Give it a nice cohesive look.” He hoped the group would buy his half assed reason.
Atlas thought , ‘I can’t explain how I’m using mana coins to bulk up the armor as a defense. That’s a secret, and I’m not telling anyone. Not even the Portal Crushers.‘
Wang Bo pressed on, “But why would you make it bright pink? It doesn’t help in the forest, or the wastelands, or the dungeons. It even literally has glitter sparkles in it. Look, you’re shining right now in the sunlight.”
“Well... it wasn’t called bright pink when I bought it. And it was half the price of the other colors. It’s actually Red Fairy Red.”
“But it’s bright pink, not red.”
Atlas gritted his teeth. “It’s Red Fairy Red!”
Stu chimed in, “It’s like a unicorn threw up on your fucking armor. Pink, Atlas. It’s hot fucking pink. Did it come with a matching tutu? A tiara too?”
Wang Bo said, “Pink is very popular in China. You will make many friends amongst the other little school girls. I will get you a Hello Kitty backpack too.”
Atlas just gritted his teeth again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the universe, the Red Fairy was rolling on the floor laughing while counting the mana coins she had made from Atlas.