The figure who seemed to find my appearance amusing was not a human.
Something I probably could have assumed, based on this whole situation - but it was still odd to see a System-orientated monster who seemed to prefer cackling and didn’t want to break my skull open. At least not immediately.
He was ape-like, reminding me of a yeti. Long arms and coarse white fur. A lengthy face with plenty of teeth shown as they continued to take amusement with my presence. While I tensed, ready to see if he was going to attack, more shapes started to appear around the top of the stands.
More yetis, although these were smaller and more of a dark gray compared to the near-white of the main antagonist who wouldn’t shut the fuck up.
I scowled at the ringleader, waiting for them to do something. An audience wasn’t expected, and I was starting to wonder what happened after I was done. Assuming I wasn’t dead, anyway.
The head yeti stopped laughing as the last of his kin settled down. With his eyes bright, he looked around the gathering. Hands clasped to the edge of the wall, he leaned forward and grinned at me once more. Then spoke.
Although, I didn’t understand him. A mixture of hoots and grunts, he ended whatever speech he had prepared with an inflection - also raising a single finger. I was willing to read between the lines.
“Yeah. Stage one. Let’s go.”
My response was met with whoops and hollers from the entire audience. Imagine an existence where you just waited around for someone to come fight in front of you. Where did they go after I was done? They must be closer to NPCs, like I discussed with Richard earlier. Set pieces, but no less dangerous.
These skillbooks better be worth this.
The leader held up his arm and screeched, causing the rest of the rabble to fall into silence. With all of the grandeur he could muster, he extended his long arms toward the gate opposite me - and grunted.
An earthy creak rolled through the silence as the wooden door rose upward into the rocky ceiling.
This was supposed to be three weak Elites called Krull. I wasn’t sure if that was the fantasy race name, or they shared some title. I took a few steps back and adjusted the grip on the axe handle.
Actually…
As the gate continued to rise, I went into my Inventory. Found one of the disgusting vials of Rat Juice and selected the apply option - glad enough that I didn’t have to handle the liquid manually. In closing down the STAR windows, I could see that the sharp edges of the Threadcutter now glowed a sinister green. Similar to how that crossbow bolt looked last night.
A growl came from the darkened entrance as the gate met the apex. I rolled out my neck as the first shape moved into the light. Bipedal monsters covered in fur. Spotted and sandy like hyenas, but with a pig-like face. Tribal armor made out of bones and thin wood painted with red and blue stripes.
I adjusted my footing as the other two followed the first in. They were barely over four feet tall, but the spears they held were a good couple of heads taller than that. Judging by the look on their stubby faces, they were looking forward to eating my body after killing me.
At least if I got them with Rat Plague, then they wouldn’t be able to keep me down. I grinned at them as they arranged themselves on the other side of the arena. Spread out, probably intending on flanking me. Seemed we had to wait for the go-ahead of the yeti leader.
He held his right hand up and grunted, a renewed silence falling across the area. After three long seconds, he waved it downward like a flag and screamed out. The audience roared with life and the Krull snarled at each other. High energy.
I tried not to think about what decisions led me to this moment. Sure, I was impulsive and a risk taker at times, but not violent… unless pushed to it. Any further self reflection would have to wait until I was done with the fight. The Krull made their move.
The two on either flank moved in, while the middle one stayed back. I circled to the right to avoid getting pinned where they wanted me. The small monsters were quite quick on their feet, and it was no time at all before the first lunged at me with his long spear. Something that I easily deflected given how obvious the attack had been - but it was the second Krull that was the problem.
My strafing had earned me that slight amount of time and angle to make their teamwork inefficient, and the follow-up intending to catch me recovering from the block was slightly too slow to pierce my torso. The bladed tip of the weapon still caught my left arm as I deflected it, slicing through shirt and skin easily.
If they were taller with longer arms, I’d probably be fucked at this point. Thanks to their stature, my step into a twirl with Threadcutter was enough to get me in range to be a threat. The first Krull ducked below the arc of the axe, while the second braced their spear up to block my swing. His wooden weapon split in half from the attack, my axe only barely slicing through part of his unarmored flesh. A paper cut, almost.
But a Rat Plague icon appeared above his head, and the slight wound festered.
Before I could take advantage, the spry first monster had scurried past me, threatening to surround me between the three of them.
Speaking of the third…
It was a risk to take my eyes away from the pair in melee distance, but doing so probably saved my life. I flinched, moving from the thrown spear at the last moment. Glancing blow. Warm blood ran down from my forehead, threatening to blind my right eye.
They were pack hunters. Once I was distracted and tied up, the background monster was meant to stick me like a wild animal. Then the others could shred me once I was hurting.
I hated feeling trapped.
Angrily, I lashed a kick out toward the one with the broken spear, knocking him back. I twisted and brought the axe up to block the stab from the Krull behind me. Shaft against shaft, I slid my weapon down his until I cut into his arm.
He yelped and backed up just as the third collided with me. Rather than seek out his thrown spear, he grabbed and pulled at my shirt in an attempt to bite me. Little asshole was sticking just under my left arm, so I couldn’t get a good swing at him with my axe. I let go of the Threadcutter with my left hand and grabbed at the tuft of hair atop his head to pull his mouth away from my exposed flank.
The plagued Krull hunched over and vomited. I turned, pulling the hair of my assailant back to twist him around as I swung my axe haphazardly. It didn’t have much power behind it while I was using it single-handed, but it was enough. The sickly monster took the sharp blade straight to his head while he continued emptying his stomach.
Snarls came from the creature in my grip as the slain one dropped to the ground, spasming. I was fed up with the smell of wet fur and the scrabbling of his small hands. While the other Krull clutched at his wounded arm, I dropped Threadcutter and punched my captive in the face.
I was a scrapper. That couldn’t be denied. Never had a decent punching arm, though. That didn’t stop me from wailing into the ugly mug of the monster with all that I had. After two more strikes, I twisted and threw them over my hip - still holding onto his hair. While they flailed and tried to remove my grip, I socked them in the face a few more times for good measure. Best fucking therapy ever.
Magic Hammer appeared in my hand as my arms burned from the effort. Some impromptu dental work and then a strike to the temple. I glared at the wounded Krull behind me as I dropped the slumped monster from my grip. My knuckles were bruised and ached already. I wiped the blood from my forehead with my bracer so that it didn’t run into my eye with all the sweat that was forming across my brow.
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The last remaining monster had lost all confidence. Still clutching at his bloodied arm, he glanced wildly between the other two, who were dead. His eyes darted to the crowd, cheering and whooping, and then down to his dropped spear.
“Think you’re quick enough? Lucky enough?” I grinned and turned slowly to face him.
He didn’t need to understand the words to get the context of what I was saying. The confident grin, despite the blood soaking my shirt. How I had violently ended his companions. My posture as I readied for him to make the first move. I didn’t need Killing Blow to freeze him in place.
This was all me, and I was reveling in it. In control and with the upper hand.
He moved.
But he was too slow. As he bent down to grasp at the spear, I was over beside him with a quick two-step. Hammer blow to the head that stunned him. He flashed red.
I pulled the spear from his grip as he stumbled backward. Gave it a quick twirl before swiping it in a wide arc. The blade cut through his throat and he toppled over, arterial blood spraying into the air like a brief fountain before he fully collapsed.
The crowd went wild.
I was already working a bandage around my arm. The brief spike of dopamine was crashing as my body now registered how much pain I was in. I tried to tune the audience out so that I could chastise myself for getting into this situation. This sort of recklessness was how I ended up getting bitten by a zombie.
This was the opposite of control.
I sighed and shook my head, the wound above my brow already sealed up. The System wanted to wave some messages in my eyes, so I allowed it.
[Stage 1 Victory]
[Reward: 100 Gold, Common Skillbook (Random), Common Equipment Chest]
No skill upgrades, and I was still some experience away from hitting level 5. While the yeti leader tried to quieten everyone, I figured it was a decent enough time to see if the reward had been worth it.
I brought out the skillbook first and opened it up to learn the magic.
[Repair Garment 1]
[Cleans and repairs an unequipped magical item in your Inventory. 10 minute duration]
It was hard to be mad at it. Given how my morning had been, it was a useful utility skill that I would sure get a lot of use out of in my adventures. I was hoping for something to help keep me alive… or even a curse removal would be nice. A shrug was all I had the energy for in response.
The equipment chest was disappointing, as expected.
[Red Flip-flops]
[Slightly faster than other Flip-flops]
It left a… sour taste in my mouth. All that effort for a one-item laundromat and footwear that would be better used as a projectile. The monsters didn’t even have any loot on them, but I took one of the spears. Non-magical.
The raucous energy of the crowd was dying down now, as the arena leader got them under control. I gave him a humorless smile. “Thanks for the exercise, bud. Wasn’t worth the bloodshed.”
He raised his hands up. His right angled toward the doorway where the monsters had come from, two fingers extended. His left gestured toward the exit, his empty palm seeming to signify giving up. Maybe I was reading into that too much. A slant that tilted me slightly.
I ran my tongue across my teeth. All still there. The next fighter was a level 4 Elite. Uncommon loot. That meant magical gear, at least. I really wanted another useful skill - and to level up.
“Fuck it, bring on the next clown.”
My survival—along with the other halfwits I had collected along the way—was reliant on me grabbing as much power as I could. That required risk and a little self sacrifice. Well, that was a good way of framing recklessness and self-destructiveness.
Was that the real reason I wanted to get stronger?
I shook the errant thoughts from my head and took Threadcutter over to my position in the arena. The monsters cheered for me. They didn’t really care who won, they just wanted a good show. What was their fate once I was finished here? Or even when the fate of the world had been decided?
Not really my problem. Richard owed me an explanation or two, but my sole focus was not getting beaten to death in the next five minutes. Maybe even for the rest of the day. A little treat for myself.
As I applied another bandage to top myself up, a thrumming hiss came from the darkened tunnel ahead. The gathered onlookers hushed, almost crouching down behind the lip of the upper walls.
I rolled my neck and limbered my aching shoulders out as the next challenger stepped into the light.
A’l-Ghar the Hungry was perhaps the ugliest thing I had seen to date. Some weird amalgamation that was half squished angler fish and half shaven wolf. It clambered out from the arena monster storage with a look in its wide yellow eyes that said it despised the light. Once fully in the arena, it sat hunched over like an awkward frog.
It looked dejected, like it didn’t want to be here at all. Not one fighting bone it its weird body.
I glanced up at the yeti and he raised his hand. Once more into the fray. I tensed and got into position, not entirely sure what I was doing - but faking it enough to make it. With the crowed murmuring in anticipation, the signal came down. Fight time.
Rather than act out, the monster in front of me just… deflated. As if he was an inflatable chair someone had pulled the plug out of. I stood, rather confused, as A’l-Ghar continued to shrink down. What even was this-
I spun as soon as I noticed it, but my reactions weren’t quick enough. The monster slammed into me from the side, his amphibian-like body emerging from a tear in the air. Some manner of portal? Any further time to mull over that was cut short as I hit the dusty ground hard. I rolled through the dirt and righted myself to my feet. I’d landed on my right arm weirdly and my forearm felt numb.
The monster had scrabbled at the ground where I had landed, but seemed disorientated. Slow to follow my actual movements. Given their disdain for sunlight, they might be somewhat blinded out here in the open. While he snarled in my direction, I stepped closer to the center of the arena. One side of the fighting pit was slightly shaded due to the positioning of the sun, and I wanted to keep far away from that.
I braced myself as the monster recoiled backward, as if he was about to pounce toward me, but he did not. A purple glow bloomed in the air right above his head. Before I could decide what to do about that, the ball of light zipped toward me like a baseball. I twisted the axe to attempt to block it with the flat of the blade, but the orb burst against my arms.
A wave of pain washed over my forearms as the energy dissipated, leaving a burning feeling down my skin - even beneath my gloves and bracers. It tingled and prickled like acid. As I grunted and bared my teeth, a notification came up to say that I had been poisoned.
My first use of Cleanse went out almost by instinct, three long seconds of casting, and then a twisting yellow light swirled down my injured appendages. Poison cleared. I glared at the monster as he sat charging up a second strike. The initial damage wasn’t terrible, but the poison was debilitating if left to run for even a handful of seconds. If he intended to keep barraging me, then I had enough time to Cleanse each poison, but my HP would eventually start cratering just from the initial impacts.
I dove to the ground to avoid the second blast. Rolled and launched my lit torch at the creature. He emitted an odd shriek as the bright flame landed right in front of him. I was already standing and moving forward while he recovered, Lightbulb by my side. Not that effective in the daytime, but I wanted to overwhelm the monster.
A’l-Ghar didn’t much care for the addition of further light sources. As I brought the axe down, he deflated again. I swung through the air and brought the weapon back up in a guard position, not bothering to strike the shriveled body. My eyes scoured the arena as I turned slowly.
Then I swung, striking the creature in the arm as he emerged from the portal. I hadn’t heard it, but knew exactly where he’d be coming from. He crashed into the dirt as his severed limb flopped uncontrollably. Wide eyes looked up at me in shock, and I brought my boot down on his head. Again and again. When I was sure he wasn’t going to try to hit me with a purple orb, I stepped back and put him out of his misery with Threadcutter.
I took a Health Potion as the audience cheered.
[Stage 1 Victory]
[Reward: 200 Gold, Uncommon Skillbook (Random), Uncommon Equipment Chest]
For them, it probably seemed like I had an easier job with the higher level monster. Sure, one-on-one was more straightforward, but I still chalked it up to luck. If I didn’t have Cleanse, I probably would have died. My arms flaked with dead skin as the magical potion healed the burns away. Another handful of seconds, and they’d have been third-degree. If I had taken a second blast or hadn’t been able to get rid of the poison, then I’d have lost my arms. I had guessed the portal direction figuring the monster wanted to push me toward the shaded area of the pit so that he could see better.
[New Passive: Elite Killer 1]
[Cleanse 2]
[Two-Handed Axe Mastery 5]
[New Passive: Blade Mastery 1]
I raised an eyebrow. My first level 5 skill, and the reward was… a passive that increased my attack speed with bladed weapons by 2%. Boring on the surface, but once that was leveled, it would be a decent general boost since it didn’t solely affect axes. Elite Killer added 1% damage to Elites, same as the Boss Killer one had. The upgrade to Cleanse reduced the cast time by 10%.
[Level Up]
[You are now Level 5]
[Received 2 unassigned stat points]
[Class choice available]
Even better. My work here was done and I could go and sort the System bullshit out back at the bunker. See what sort of Classes were available and recommended to me by the STAR.
Some of my bad mood washed away, and for a moment… I enjoyed the cheers of the weird monsters in the stands. I had survived and had been rewarded for it. My eyes went up to my prize winnings to see what I had gotten now.
[Intrepid Gloves]
[+1 Guile, +1 Knowledge]
As much as I could do with more stats, I was actually hoping the Luck set bonus from my Speed set gear would pay off in the long run. It hadn’t with this item, but it looked to be conveniently weighted for Bernie. An acceptable loss. I removed the skillbook and pulled a face as I opened it up.
[Adjustment 1]
[-2 Chosen Stat, +2 Chosen Stat. Resets at midnight]
The ability to increase my Stats at the cost of another sounded… okay. Net neutral at this level, but might help with meeting certain thresholds. I could set it once per day and it would remain in place until the next morning, so I could change my mind on a day-to-day basis. My mind hovered over casting the skill, but didn’t commit just yet.
Looking around at the cheering monsters, two questions were more important right now.
Exhaling through my nose, I switched to Chat to get some answers.