As Alex fended off the two variant Zotari, he could hear the two others moaning and groaning. He really wished that he could have taken them off the board. He was on the back foot with just these two and didn’t want to get blindsided. That’s why Alex never understood the classic heroes position on killing. He hoped that didn’t get him in trouble back on Earth. It would be difficult to have to change his battle tactics depending on what planet he was on. He could see himself getting confused in the moment and killing someone when he shouldn’t, or not killing when he definitely should.

Better to keep it simple and just kill when it feels right. Not that killing should feel right. Now I’m confusing myself.

This was not the time to get sidetracked in his own thoughts. The brute was laying into him, but it was the grey Zotari that worried Alex the most. It had only landed a couple of hits so far, but they made Alex feel…weird. He couldn’t pinpoint what exactly he was feeling. It made him woozy and his vision kind of went diagonal and stretched. When the grey Zotari made contact with Alex, everything felt wrong. When it stopped touching him, everything snapped back so fast it gave Alex whiplash. He had to keep his distance as best he could.

Luckily for him, there was a large obstacle that was unwittingly blocking the grey Zotari any chance it could get. It was careful not to touch its companion. It appeared friendly fire was turned on for his ability. That was probably why it had hung back during the initial combat. An unexpected bout of vertigo could turn the tides of a fight, especially when both the attack and the backlash affected you. Alex might even have a little better resistance due to his durability than one of the normal Zotari would have.

The fighting continued with Alex attempting to keep the brute between him and the grey Zotari while the grey one tried to get past its hulking ally and the brute completely oblivious to everything. Alex would evade any attack he could and launch a quick counter strike in return. The huge frame of the brute wasn’t only an obstacle for its ally, it was actively hindering itself. Each swing brushed against the walls slowing it down. Alex was able to land many more blows than he took.

But he knew that he couldn't keep this up forever. The brute's resilience was remarkable, and the grey Zotari's frustration was mounting. He needed to escalate the fight. If he could goad the grey Zotari into making a mistake, maybe he could remove the brute from the fight for good. Alex just needed to somehow land a hit past the giant standing in the way.

Alex dodged a classic one-two combo by ducking underneath and to the side. A quick jab to the brutes knee had it crumpling to the ground. Alex seized his shot and…well he shot. A thermal blast rocketed out of his index fingers. One missed wide, but the other landed triumphantly. Its arrival announced by a scream and squelch. The grey Zotari’s skin suddenly got a lot darker as it was suddenly painted with gore. One hand slapped up to cover its eye, the other flailed and smacked into the brute.

That was actually super easy. I wasn’t expecting that to work exactly how I planned.

A deep grumble reverberated against the walls and the brute reared its massive head up. Unfortunately for Alex, he had been giving himself a mental high five and wasn’t prepared for its sudden reaction. Like a sledgehammer to the face, the brute’s head collided with Alex’s jaw sending him flying into the ceiling and then crashing back down. He rubbed the top of his head, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.

I’ll get the hang of this one day right?

“Not likely with your track record so far,” Nagaar said.

“Not helpful. I’m ignoring you,” Alex said as he rolled backwards to avoid a double fisted slam that left cracks in the floor.

“I just feel like you have made rapid improvements in a lot of places. Your battle strategy and focus were not one of those areas,” Nagaar said.

“Shut up,” Alex said.

“Who are you talking to?” the brute asked, its meaty fist swinging just over Alex’s head and into the wall. It wedged itself inside. When the brute pulled its hand out, shards of metal embedded themselves in its hand drawing blood.

“Mind your own business,” Alex yelled at the brute. An uppercut and a knee to the brute’s midsection served to silence the alien.

Alex went in for yet another blow, but was knocked off balance by a sudden swipe at his legs. The next moment, Alex was lifted off the ground. He kicked his feet to gain purchase as he struggled to pull the massive hand from his throat. He felt like his eyes would pop out. His vision was closing in and the only thing he could see were the bright white teeth of the giant Zotari. Before he succumbed to unconsciousness, Alex reached out to grab at the behemoth. He couldn’t get enough power to do any real damage. His arms could only just barely reach the brute’s head. That was all he needed, however. Alex channeled as much energy as he could and as quickly as he could into his hands. He could barely focus and could feel himself slipping. With his last bit of mental strength, Alex released the pent up energy straight into the brute’s temples.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

In an instant, Alex’s lungs filled. It felt like someone had put a blacksmith’s bellows directly into his mouth and pumped like there was no tomorrow. His lungs burned, but he wasn’t going to complain. He looked down and nearly vomited. He was used to seeing dead stuff by now, but the sight before him was on an entirely new level. Out of the two holes in the brute’s head poured out steaming strings of brain matter. It reminded Alex of when he had gone to the butcher and had seen them making ground beef. They stuck the meat in the top of this machine and cranked a wheel. It would pour out the other side in strings of meat that they would package as ground beef. The sight was awful, but the smell was way worse. It smelled like a garbage can full of rotten vegetables on a hot day.

I don’t think I can eat ground beef ever again. Who am I kidding? I don’t know if I can eat ever again. Well at least I don’t have to deal with that guy anymore.

With the brute out of the picture, dealing with the grey variant was actually incredibly easy. Alex just made sure to keep his distance. Anytime the Zotari tried to close in, Alex would just send a concentrated burst out to push it back so he could continue to pelt it with his finger guns. After a few more minutes of this cat and mouse, Alex stood victorious over his foe. The Zotari was a steaming pile of holes. Alex had only been hit by a few more strikes from it, but it seemed that the effects compounded the more he came into contact with the alien.

He collapsed and sat against the wall, clutching his head. He pressed his eyes closed as tightly as he could to ward off the growing headache. His headache started to grow more intense when a sudden scraping sound echoed through the silence.

*If I ignore it, it will go away.*

Another scrape. Then another. A few moments of silence and then another. He could hear heavy breathing. Alex peeked out from behind his hands to see one of the injured Zotari attempting to crawl up the stairs.

“Oh I forgot about you guys,” Alex said.

The Zotari turned in alarm. It didn’t blanch, but it was considerably lighter in color. It frantically tried to climb up the steps, but couldn’t make any headway. It appeared the brute had paralyzed the Zotari from the waist down.

“That’s rough buddy. I know how that feels. But I also can’t let you warn everybody else. I’m sure we weren’t too quiet, but still. I need as much time as I can get.”

Alex then sent a couple finger shots its way. Fortunately for it, it would never have to deal with paraplegia. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t have to deal with anything ever again. The other Zotari had succumbed to its wounds at some point, so Alex didn’t need to add another helpless victim to his growing list. It’s the small victories.

Alex took a second to recover, but quicker than he would have liked got back to his feet to continue his search for the engine room. He knew that somebody had to be heading his way to check on the noise and that it was only a matter of time until they found him. The quicker he moved, the less time they had to track him down.

He followed Krizzik’s rough map until he ended up in the general area of the engine room. He had to duck into some side rooms multiple times to avoid approaching patrols, but largely avoided them. There was a close call when he hadn’t heard the oncoming group in time and had to literally dive across the hall and scurry into a room. He hadn’t even had time to close the door. If they had looked his way, they would’ve been able to see him just standing in the doorway. He didn’t dare move, but he felt extremely silly and exposed. Luckily, they went right past him.

Alex entered a seemingly normal doorway, but when he stepped inside, he could tell he had made it. There was a long, cylindrical opening about fifty feet in diameter with a cylindrical shaft running through the middle about ten feet in diameter. It appeared to extend all the way up the tower. A small outcropping of stuck out from the doorway giving a place to stand. Alex could barely fit on it. He suspected that a walkway would telescope out from it and reach to the other side. He didn’t have access to any of the controls and therefore couldn’t test his theory.

Like in the hallways, the walls glowed from a red light. Elongated hexagonal patterns decorated the walls in a bright red. He wasn’t sure if they served a purpose or if they were just for show, but Alex thought they looked sick. As far as he could see the pattern extended.

This is where Krizzik’s information became a little spotty. It could guide him to the spot, but where the best location to actually place the explosive was completely up to Alex. He looked up, then down and realized how little he knew about this kind of stuff. He didn’t even know much about how Earth machines ran let alone alien technology.

There was a small ledge on the shaft that was most likely where the walkway would connect to when it extended. Right now it was no longer than a foot. With no idea of the best location to place the bomb, Alex decided to plant it on the shaft and hope the explosion would carry through the opening until it met something that would cause a chain reaction. Alex leapt across the chasm. It was hard to judge the strength he would need to make the leap. Too much and he would slam into the shaft, possibly knocking him off balance. Too little and he would make it.

Fortunately for Alex, he gauged the distance correctly and landed on the ledge. He planted the bomb and armed it. Just as he was about leap off, he remembered to grab the remote detonator from the bomb.

That would have sucked. Glad I remembered that.