Even if he went on to help ahead, he highly doubted he could be much help, given he hadn’t any armor on to protect himself. With so many of those respawning monsters he would be dead in an instant and then he would respawn far away in those rocky ravines halfway from here to the village, and have to find his way back here. But James had brought him here. He didn’t know the secret roads that led to Atlantis.
Armor.
He had to get some, but he didn’t know where. Typically, as James had said, they could be custom made by blacksmiths or found in armories. Finding either in the middle of a battle like this however would prove to be a challenging task, and he had no time. The grim thought crossed his mind that he'd have little choice but to take a chance fighting the Voidspawn with nothing but his loincloth to ‘protect’ him. He tightened the grip around his spear and started to plod along the road, ready to strike at whatever came at him.
Just then, a prompt appeared in his NR enhanced vision.
System Alert!
The Seer Stone has detected a foreseeable outcome in an upcoming scenario. Do you wish to activate your foresight skill?
Yes | No
Allan smirked, having entirely forgotten about the unique milky-white stone in his inventory. Allan chose ‘Yes'. The instant he did however, he almost regretted his decision.
With a tiny flash of light, the curious Seer Stone suddenly appeared in the palm of his left hand. His eyes locked with it, and felt drawn to it. A feeling of dizziness overwhelmed him and vomit rose in the back of his throat.
A blinding flash of light emitted from the tiny object, and when his sight returned he found himself spinning through a tunnel of swirling colors. Tiny streaks of light flew past, accumulating in frequency and velocity until another blinding flash of light sent him stumbling to the ground.
Shaking the dizziness out of his head, he stood and blinked rapidly. When his sight returned, he was standing in the exact same spot as before the strange episode.
What was that all about?!
A strange sensation overwhelmed him as his avatar began to move forward against his will.
Wait! Stop! I'm headed right towards the Voidspawn!
Allan began to panic as his legs continued to propel forward, and his HUD flashed with a brief moment of static.
There’s that glitch again.
One of the Voidspawn leaped into his path.
Threat Detected: Level 6 Voidspawn
HP| 600/600
Strengths: Long black tentacles allow for speed and easy subduing of prey. Head is covered with gnashing mouths full of razor-sharp teeth to allow for rapid devouring of trapped prey. Head is also covered with eyes to allow for 360-degree sight with intense focus. Will not remain killed.
Weaknesses: Can be subdued into a temporary liquefied state, but has a five minute delay before it is able to regenerate.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He could see that James was outnumbered one to three, yet he carried on valiantly with minimal damage. Allan’s movements were controlled as he barreled spear-first into the Voidspawn that stood in his path.
[-60 HP]
A screech erupted from the creature and its hundred gnashing mouths snarled at him. Yet his avatar stood rooted to the ground defiantly. Yet, on the inside, his skin tingled, fear gripping his heart. His pulse quickened. His blood rushed to his head. He wanted to turn and flee in terror, but he couldn't control his movements. All he could do was watch the events unfold from the back of his mind. It felt as if he were watching a movie. A horror film, at that.
His avatar slashed his spear at one of the approaching tentacles.
[-10 HP]
He jumped when the tentacles lashed out under his feet. He slashed and jabbed, stabbed and thwacked.
[-10 HP]
[-20 HP]
[-10 HP]
[-10 HP]
None of his attacks made much of a dent in the monster. It continued to retreat and then came flying back at him with even greater speed and stamina. Meanwhile his own stamina levels weren’t getting any better.
To his side, his friend was losing ground, with sweat dripping off his brow. Their eyes met for a moment and they reverted to their fighting. Yet in that brief moment a lot was said. Defeat.
A razor-sharp tentacle hit its mark, severing an artery in his right leg.
[-200 Damage]
Allan crumpled to the ground, his avatar's pain receptors tricking his brain to ‘feel’ the virtual pain. Another blow landed, lopping off his right arm at the bicep. Blood was spewing everywhere.
[-400 Damage]
CRITICAL HIT!
Allan screamed out in pain as his HUD began glitching erratically with several flashes of static, but the pain didn't last long. Seconds later a third razor-sharp tentacle came soaring at his neck.
GAME OVER
Cause of Death: Decapitation
[-200 XP]
That was aggravating! I even lost a significant amount of XP!! I'll make sure to file a complaint with CyberBolt Entertainment.
System Alert!
This completes your foresight into a foreseeable outcome. You will now be returned to your save point.
***Disclaimer: If you change the circumstances in your upcoming scenario, you will effectively change the outcome***
Another flash of light, and Allan found himself flying through the same dizzying tunnel. After a few moments the light particles accumulated into another blinding flash, dropping his avatar back onto the ground. He looked around, and immediately realized he was back at the same place and time as before the first System Alert popped up.
That's trippy! How am I going to prevent that horrifying scenario from repeating itself?
Just then, he caught a glimmer of silver to his side. The fallen avatar of a fully armored player that he did not recognize lay against a brick wall. He looked around for the fallen player's conqueror, but nobody was in sight. It would appear this player was the unfortunate victim of a Voidspawn attack
Allan’s glinted at the impressive armor. Perhaps the player had an unlocked inventory?
As he approached the fallen avatar, a prompt appeared.
Opportunity Alert
Do you wish to loot this fallen player's inventory?
***Disclaimer: only unlocked items are available to loot (item locking is a service only available to Premium Members)***
Loot Body | Leave Body
The wounds on the avatar's neck were bloody still, which meant his death had occurred just recently. This player might have known he would die, but it was an in-game death. He would respawn somewhere else… and the in-game death would cost him a 10-minute game lockout penalty.
----------------------------------------
© Copyright 2022 R.M. Mulder. All rights reserved.