Stepping out of his car and into the deserted parking lot, Jake looked into the instance’s generated store. Through the darkness where the light of the street lamps couldn't quite reach he saw two crimson lights staring back at him.
Jake kept the same load out as before, porting his tub full of gear into his Inventory, putting his motorcycle helmet on, then picking up his metal bat. The only difference was that he was bringing a few LEDs with him this time.
With a headlamp strapped to his helmet, Jake stepped into the instance, then into the store.
Ding!
He flashed his light over the clerk’s booth and looked inside. The remnant on the other side of the glass wasn't pounding against it anymore. Now, it was just staring at him.
He could feel the difference the night had brought to the creature. It felt so much more aware. The dark was its natural habit and it was no longer just a husk, but something sinister.
As Jake walked deeper into the store, the clerk followed him with its eyes. In preparation for the fight he was about to have with it, he placed LEDs down along the room’s edges, then summoned his chainsaw.
After putting it down on the ground to give it a proper rev, he ported it back into his Inventory. He wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to handle porting a running chainsaw into his hand, but he wanted it ready just in case. Hopefully, his Infomercial Product Weaponization would make up for his missing Chainsaw Juggling skill.
With a fresh can of bear spray in his Inventory ready to use at a moment’s notice and his metal bat in hand, Jake approached the clerks door as quietly as he could. He knew the door was locked from having checked earlier, so he raised his bat to smash the handle.
Before he could even get a chance to swing down, the door flew open and banged against the wall. The clerk remnant came running at Jake with fury painted on its face as if to say, “Not my door, you heathen!” He didn’t even have time to react before it grabbed him for a tackle. It ran into him hard enough that they slid a few feet.
As soon as they came to a stop, Jake ported his bat into his Inventory. With the clerk already on top of him it was more of a detriment than a benefit. He immediately replaced it with a hunting knife and a can of bear spray.
A fist like concrete collided with Jake’s helmet as he pulled up the can to point it in the remnant’s face and sent him into a daze.
HEAVY DAMAGE!
A second fist came down quick after and knocked him back out of it.
HEAVY DAMAGE! x2
Cracks as red as the monster's eyes were crimson branched out in front of him.
Jake gave the monster a face full of bear spray and stabbed it in the gut with his hunting knife. The remnant covered its eyes in response, but only with one arm. It punched down with the other.
Its fist cracked the tile next to Jake's head. He’d barely been able to dodge it in time.
Definitely putting points in agility, Jake thought in a hurry.
At the moment, he was facing a bit of a dilemma. The monster had him straddled and he didn't think he could just overpower and throw off a monster who could crack tile with its fist like a metal bat. Unless he dumped points into his strength stat that is, but he wasn’t about to do that.
It was time for his secret weapon.
Jake ported the bear spray back into his Inventory and switched it out for a jagged decorative rock that barely fit in his palm. He smacked the remnant across the skull with it, staggering it enough for him to push it off.
The bloodied monster quickly recovered, but Jake had another surprise ready for it. It reached out for Jake as he stood up, but Jake turned around with his metal bat in hand and hit it square in its jaw.
The remnant stumbled back, but Jake didn't follow. For a time, the two of them just stared at each other, neither approaching the other. Jake could see that that last hit—and the one from the rock—had gotten it thinking. The monster was cautious of him now.
The remnant wasn't a mindless beast anymore now that the night had come, it was a hunter, waiting to pounce on its prey at the most opportune time. But would it give up on that if there was a chance its prey would get away?
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Jake slowly moved away from the remnant , never stepping, just sliding his feet against the tile. He wasn't going to risk tripping over anything.
The remnant's play was to keep staring at him, just as it had done behind the counter. Its eyes were hungry, sinister, and focused.
Ding!
The automatic door ringed as Jake moved in range of its sensor. At first, the remnant showed no reaction, but as Jake moved outside almost touching the edge of the instance, it charged. Its instincts wouldn’t allow it. It couldn't let him go.
That’s why Jake waited for it, ready in batting position, just at the edge of the door sensor’s range outside.
The remnant came through the door with its arm raised to guard its head from his swing. It was desperate, but it wasn't dumb. Just as Jake had expected.
Instead of slamming its arm, he took an underhanded swing and hammered the monster's unguarded chin with his bat. Its head shot back violently and its leg's became like jelly as it fell forward onto Jake.
He stepped out of the instance and let the monster fall forward. It phased through him on its way down and hit the ground outside the instance silently. Just like the pictures and the other items the goblins had thrown out of his generated treehouse, the remnant had a holographic filter over it too. It looked like a projection of a drunk man passed out on the ground.
Using his [Crude] Dimensional Manipulation, Jake opened a portal above the remnant’s head like the one he had created when trying to rescue his generated pictures. He ported his hunting knife from his Inventory in his hand and prepared to stab the monster in the back of its skull.
Jake’s eyes went wide when he heard the remnant suddenly start screaming on the other side of the portal. It scrambled to its feet, knocking away his hand and the knife with it. Jake fell back. The remnant smashed through the portal, collapsing it as it ran back into the safety of the store.
Jake looked at his arm. It had still been on the other side of the portal when it collapsed. From his fingertips to just above his elbow, his arm was covered in the holographic filter. For some reason, there was also a book in his hand now.
When he tried touching his ghost hand with the hand he still had on this side of reality, it just went through. He could still feel it and there wasn’t any feeling of it fading away… yet… so that was good.
After picking up the knife with what was now his ghost hand, he tried summoning a portal for them back to this side of reality. The portal didn’t work for his arm,the knife, and the book going through the front, but it worked when pulling them through backwards.
[Dimensional Manipulation]
Portal Generation Proficiency has increased slightly!
Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the book in his rescued hand burned away to ash.
Jake breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s not do that again,” he said. Getting experimental with his dimensional powers when he had ‘caveman who's just discovered fire’ levels of control over them felt more than a little dangerous.
Ding!
With his arm successfully rescued, Jake reentered the instance and the store. He didn’t see the clerk remnant right away, but when he checked inside its booth, he found it cowering under its counter. It was pressing a panic button over and over again.
"There's no one coming, buddy," Jake told it before thinking otherwise. He didn't have any reason to assume that spawning reinforcements was something that wasn't possible. Best to finish up before he had to find out the hard way.
Jake swung down on the remnant again and again, but it barely defended itself. Instead, it focused mostly on tapping the button.
Either it had taken too much damage to the head or taking a step out of its reality had legitimately spooked it. Whichever one it was, Jake was going to put it out of its misery.
You have slain a Clerk Remnant at night!
Enemy: Level 5
As Jake took the final swing, he heard the store's backdoor bang against the wall. His kill notification faded to clear his line of sight.
"Dismiss," Jake said, sprinting for the booth's door. A remnant , no doubt stronger than the clerk, was coming straight at him from the backroom. He switched out his bat for a can of the bear spray and fired as soon as he reached the door. The remnant stomped through a cloud of it and didn’t even flinch.
It was only a few steps away now. Acting more than thinking, Jake ported in his chainsaw. With a grunt, he swung it, almost losing balance from the sudden weight in his hands.
The chainsaw roared as it tore into the remnants and the remnant cried out. But it didn’t stop. It plunged its arm through the chainsaw’s blade and grabbed Jake with its other arm.
“Woah!” Jake managed a shout before the remnant raised him up and slammed him against the wall. He lost his grip on the chainsaw and it fell, clanging against the ground.
HEAVY DAMAGE!
Even with one arm, the remnant ’s strength was overwhelming. Before Jake had even felt gravity pull down on him, the monster swung him back and threw him across the room. He crashed through one of the store’s windows and landed on the concrete out front.
HEAVY DAMAGE! x2
STUNNED!
Warning!
HEALTH IN CRITICAL CONDITION
What Jake had just suffered was about the equivalent of being hit by a car and then being sent flying by it. It was a very good thing that The System protected him from most of the pain.
Crimson lines streaked before his eyes and red haze field the edge of his vision. Jack was shocked. He'd lost his breath too, but it wasn't only because of the damage he'd taken. The monster had thrown him to the edge of the instance. Just a little further and the damage he’d taken from hitting the pavement would have been real.
Yes, the points he’d put into Vitality would have helped, but it was still more likely than not that being thrown against one of the gas pumps would have broken his back. With no one around, he’d have been left to bleed out in a deserted parking lot.
Screw the bonus level progression, screw the bonus tokens, and screw the bonus pay. This wasn’t worth the risk.