Chapter 6
A not so great introduction
The round leapt from Star's sniper rifle, streaking across the air as Star kept his vision trained on the target. The only sound that came from the round was a light crack in the air due to the round breaking the sound barrier as it exited the barrel. Star watched as the man he had targeted suddenly dropped to the ground. But something did not seem quite right about it so Star kept his sights set firmly on the area that was now crowded by at least fifty men who were looking about trying to figure out where the attack had come from. Then, to Star’s astonishment the commander that he had targeted stood up and turned to look in Stars direction. Star almost could not believe what he was seeing, this rifle could punch straight through up to an inch of steel, yet his target looked uninjured.
“Magical armor?” He muttered to himself as he changed targets to what looked like a group around a siege engine. The group was around the area where the giant balls of fire kept being launched from so Star assumed it must be a siege engine there, though he saw no sign of any machinery. After finding the individual that looked to have the fanciest hat and uniform Star let loose another round. This target dropped and did not stir once the round hit.
Star smiled to himself as he started targeting individuals on opposite ends of the army, adding in random grunts here and there as he picked up the pace and let fly round after round without letting up.
It took several minutes and at least fifty casualties before the enemy's leadership really knew that they were under attack from an unseen enemy. And once they did realize it took nearly thirty minutes of Star dropping target after target before the fanciest dressed people started to hide inside tents and under wagons.
Star continued firing on any target that presented itself for nearly an hour more until finally the army had managed to find enough cover for Star to no longer have easy access to targets. He looked at his kill streak and found that he had killed five hundred Justin Kingdoms soldiers, thirty lieutenants, a colonel, and several dozen different rankings that Star had no translation for. But he knew that he had done some serious damage to the enemy army so far. The siege spells had stopped going off and Star decided it was time to play around with one of his favorite weapons of all times. His beloved Mortar.
After setting up the Mortar and selecting his high explosive incendiary rounds, Star trained the sights on the biggest tent and dropped the round down the pipe then covered his ears. The whoomp followed by the dreaded whistling of the falling round sounded as the first round crashed into what Star assumed was the command tent. He smiled happily as the round hit and the tent disappeared in a fiery BOOM.
“I Love things that go boom!” Star said to himself as he adjusted his sights and took aim at another tent. Though this time he did not wait to see the round hit before he took aim on another target and launched another round just as the last round detonated. Star cackled madly to himself as he unleashed hell upon the primitive army that had never before been subject to weapons of such power. Star could hear men and women screaming and what sounded like orders being shouted loudly. Suddenly a fireball the size of a house was flying at his position and Star instantly stowed his mortar in his inventory then dashed to the south as quickly as he could.
A half second later the area Star had just vacated was bathed in liquid flames. And Star felt the heat wash over him blistering the skin on his neck. Star rolled and ducked through the trees, moving as quickly as he could to get into another position. He quickly found a new vantage point and what he saw made his butthole pucker hard enough to make a diamond. A full third of the enemy forces were charging towards his position with gleaming shields raised and battlecries echoing across the landscape.
From their pace Star knew that the approaching force would overtake his position in at least six minutes. He quickly pulled out his WarPad and looked for a weapon that could help him take the five thousand plus soldiers that were charging towards him. He selected a Gatling gun with armor piercing fifty cal rounds and reluctantly spent his finite pool of money on the setup and equipped it. The Gatling gun was fed via a backpack mounted belt and as long as he did not run out of cash he would be able to fire continuously. Fortunately for him because of his infinite ammo premium purchase, he only had to worry about the cost of the gun.
Star then swapped his gear out for a full flack jacket bomb suit and took aim as he stepped around a tree. The barrels of his gun whirring ominously as he leveled it on the ranks of approaching men. After a breath, Star engaged the firing mechanism and the Gatling gun belched out rounds faster than tickets sold for the IHeart Music festival.
Star swept the barrel back and forth and swaths of soldiers fell as the armor piercing rounds cut through not only one man in their paths but three or four sometimes. He saw near the rear of the encroaching hoard a building ball of flame and redirected his aim at the offending ranged weapon. Letting at least a thousand rounds pound into the area before suddenly the massive fireball exploded and flame washed the ground around it with a vengeance.
By this point the soldiers closest to Star could see him directly and were beginning to loose javelins and arrows in his direction. Most of them still falling a hundred or so feet short. So Star, not wanting to be rude to his customers obliged them by returning fire. He could see limbs flying, ripped from their bodies by supersonic projectiles passing through their armor and soft flesh.
Star wasn’t sure how many he had put down, but suddenly his Gatling gun stopped firing and he looked at his inventory page then at the gun. The barrel had gotten so hot that it had melted and he would have to buy another one. He quickly put his destroyed gatling into his inventory and swapped his gear for his stealth suit as he turned and fled into the forest. Before he got more than a few paces he ducked to the side as arrows passed through the space he had just been occupying. Luckily for Star Claymores were one of his free consumables and he took the time to set them every few yards as he ducked and weaved through the forest.
It was not long before Star heard the first claymore go off followed by the sound of men screaming. Star decided that he was far enough away from them now and circled around while swapping out his sniper rifle for his favorite M-4 Variant.
As Star circled around he heard the men following him set off claymore after claymore until they had detonated every one he had placed down. Star calmed his heart rate as he finally emerged from around a bramble of bushes and saw his enemies searching desperately for him. Calmly taking aim at the closest target, Star began laying waste to every soldier he could see. Swapping out mags as fast as he could as he put down soldier after soldier until they suddenly got smart. And by got smart Star meant that they decided to run away from the one man army that was facing them with apparently lethal magic that seemed limitless and created a sound like thunder as their fellows fell to the ground around them after every clap.
Star gave chase as the soldiers began retreating to the fields before the walls of Dragons Roost their numbers greatly reduced and their breaths coming in great panicked gasps as death stalked them in the form of a super soldier from the future. Star ignored any please for mercy and continued dropping man after man as he followed their retreating forms through the hundred or so yards of forest. The sight that greeted Star once he could see the field again made him smile.
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Apparently the forces of Dragons Roost had decided to take advantage of the destruction that Star had been raining down on the human soldiers and had fielded their own army which was fully engaged with the human army. Star jumped up to a branch on the tree nearest him and swapped his M-4 for his silent sniper rifle and started unleashing round after round into the human army, again picking the fanciest dressed soldiers he could find.
The battle raged on for nearly two hours before the remainder of the human Army broke and began fleeing in every direction as quickly as their feet could carry them. As soon as the retreat began in full Star felt his WarPad buzz in a familiar manner.
Congratulations on participating in your first large scale battle!
Your contributions to the battle have been calculated.
Rewards: +5 to each stat, one free item from the store.
Level up x2 10 free stat points to distribute.
You have killed 4783 enemy combatants. Would you like to loot all? Yes/No
Star almost absentmindedly clicked yes and was glad that the auto sort worked to move the items into the different folders. He knew that he was going to have to go through it and sort all of the items before long but right now he had more pressing matters to attend to. He quickly dumped his stat points evenly across the five separate stats bringing them up to 59 a piece. The 60 point threshold was just around the corner and he was excited to level up again. He hopped out of his tree and was surprised to find Amy waiting for him on the ground below with her eyes wide as saucers.
“Everyone is ready to get into the city. But before we head out across the field there is something that I must tell you...” She said, casting her eyes to the ground and wringing her hands as if she was absolutely terrified to say what she was about to say. “When we get out there, it is most likely that my uncle will be in charge of that army... Humans are only welcome in Dog’s Run kingdom in a few select circumstances. You don’t actually meet the requirements yet, but I will convince them that you do so follow my lead and don’t countermand me.”
Amy seemed hesitant and though Star asked how she would convince them she would say no more on the subject. So Star followed her to where the rest of the refugees were huddled among the trees and guided them to the edge of the forest where they were greeted by what looked like an entire battalion of armed and armored beastkin. Star made sure to put his weapons into his inventory, save for his combat knives strapped to his chest, hip and boot. Amy was at his side and the moment that he and the large group of refugees were spotted one of the soldiers shouted for them to stop.
Star halted mid step and Amy huddled close his side in a way that Star was not accustomed to and did not know how to interpret. But she had said to follow her lead and so he leaned back into her, supporting her weight against his side as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. It was oddly comforting to hold someone close after having just mercilessly slaughtered nearly five thousand men, so Star did not mind the closeness of this person he barely knew. But he did not have time to dwell on the small comforts of the moment as the soldiers began herding the group of refugees towards the gates of Dragons Roost.
For some reason as they emerged into the mile long field between the gates and the forest it suddenly struck Star what he had done here. This wasn’t a game anymore, and he had just killed almost five thousand men. People who had families, lives of their own beyond this petty war that they were participating in at the behest of their leaders. Star felt his mind tumbling into a dazed stupor as he remembered how much fun he had had during what was essentially mass murder on his part. They hadn’t stood a single chance against him and he had done it all wearing a manic smile as he’d mowed them down like so many weeds on his lawn.
Star was deep in his own mind, contemplating everything as they walked. And Honestly had it not been for Amy guiding him, Star probably would have ended up wandering in circles for hours. As it was, Amy guided him as he walked and Star was soon pulled from his contemplations as he heard shouting and aggravated voices all around him.
Coming to himself Star took in his surroundings and realized that he and Amy were surrounded on all sides by several hundred beastkin warriors and they were parting like the Red Sea for a man walking towards them. The man stepped out of the circle of soldiers, he was broad shouldered with silvery hair and had wolf-like ears atop his head. He wore dark leather armor and had such an assortment of knives around his belt and strapped to chest that Star figured the blades would serve as another layer of armor for the man.
“Amy!” The man shouted in a voice that reminded Star of the drill Sargent from full metal jacket, “What are you doing leaning against a human as if he were your Alpha?” The man thundered, gesturing wildly at Star and Amy.
“Because Star is my Alpha! He has proven his virtue through the strength of his arms and the rightness of his deeds. I am here to request that he be tested and that he be granted the title of Alpha officially with all the rights that come with it.” Amy proclaimed loudly.
Star was suddenly frozen, he had no idea what was going on but it sure as hell sounded like Amy had just claimed him as a husband. Or as a leader of her pack, or something to that effect. Star’s heart started pounding as he considered what all the implications of what Amy had just said.
Star’s internal thought processes ground to a halt as the silver haired man appraised him with disdain in his eyes.
“I would never have expected you to put your honor on the line for a human Amy. Your father may not like this.” The man said in a gruff tone.
Amy slumped against Star and he saw a tear roll down her cheek, “It doesn’t matter if he likes it or not, he was killed. Along with most of the elderly and the pups in our village when it was raided by Justin Kingdoms men.” Her voice trembled as she looked up at Star’s face, “Star saved us shortly after the attack and preserved my purity in doing so.”
Star looked away from the woman who had until just a moment ago seemed unshakable and strong the entire time he had known her. He hadn’t even considered that her whole life had just recently been turned completely upside down just as his own life had. Star’s gaze fell on the silver haired beastkin man and drew himself up.
“There is no trial that you or any person can put before me that I will not overcome. And once I have passed these trials, I only ask how I can best be of service in the war against those who would take freedom from others purely for their own benefit.” Star shifted slightly in his stance but otherwise he remained where he was.
The silver haired beastkin chuckled a bit, “Amy you sure do have a terrible way of introducing people. Especially in introducing the man who avenged my brother's death.” He sighed and took a step towards Star, “I am Lupin SilverEye, Amy’s uncle. I thank you for saving her and the rest of my brothers.” Lupin extended Star a hand and Star shook it firmly, “You do realize what you have just been pitched into right? A Beta sponsoring a male as the Alpha of her pack is a huge event, especially when that Alpha is a human. Though I cannot take the challenge myself, you can rest assured that there will be many who will want to make you fail your trial.”
Star sighed, he really didn't know what was going on but it sounded like he would be gaining a title similar to royalty if he underwent the trial, “I look forward to having a challenge, though I will admit that I have no idea what all of this entails. She never ran any of this by me, all of this is coming as a total shock right now.”
Amy punched Star in the gut and Lupin grinned wolfishly. “Now now, you never want to upset your Beta. As the saying goes ‘a happy Beta makes for a happy Alpha. An unhappy Beta make the Alpha a bitch.” The silver haired Lupin laughed as he stepped in closer and threw his arms around Amy, pulling her away from Star and giving her a massive hug.
Star heard the man apologizing to Amy before he tuned them out. This was a family reunion and Star was going to respect their privacy. He pulled out his WarPad and opened the inventory. He cringed inwardly as he looked at it. Sighing, he dumped all of the inventory into one folder and then deleted his old folders. After doing that Star set about creating folder after folder each named for specific item types. Knives, swords, spears, axes, shields, and armor all got their own files. Then he set up folders for clothes, jewelry, food, coinage, paper, silverware, tools and a junk folder. Then he started moving inventory from the main page into their respective folders. Star had barely begun when Amy tapped him on the shoulder and began pulling him towards the gates to Dragons Roost.