SS1 1.1 – Pukin' Dogs
I clearly remember the Little Bird I flew suddenly losing power, and then plunged to the ground and everything turned dark. However, when I opened my eyes I found myself standing in the middle of small room. I still wore my uniform, but I suffer no injury. I also felt some kind of disconnection with the world, so I guessed I already left the world.
It’s just that I had no idea about my current location. The wall, the floor, and the ceiling around me were all white, without any clue if it was hell or heaven. Fortunately, I didn’t need to wait for too long to find out. A young man with white suit suddenly opened the door and entered the room.
While having a friendly smile in his face he approached me and then casually said, “Mr. Nathan Peres, welcome to afterlife. My name is Gideon, and I want to present you an offer.”
I instantly creased my brows. “What kind of offer?”
“Let’s call it, a ticket to avoid imminent death.”
“Mr. Gideon, are you saying I’m still alive?”
“Short of, my Boss freezes the flow of time exactly just before your Little Bird hit the ground in full momentum, and moves you to this room.”
“Well, give me the detail about the offer so I can decide it.”
“Basically, you will start over as 20-year-old Nathan Peres, but you will bring over every knowledge and skill from your past life in earth. In return, you will carry a duty to hunt and eliminate monster that threaten humanity.” An 8-inch tablet suddenly appeared in Gideon’s hand and as he handed it over to me he continued, “The detail is in this tablet. You can study it yourself.”
“What if I refused the over?”
“My Boss will put you back to your Little Bird and leave you to your own very fate.”
“I see,” I replied as I took the tablet.
“Please take your time to study the prospect of your second life,” Gideon said before leaving the room.
I then sat crossed leg in the floor and studied the detail in the tablet.
---
I was not a religious Jew, and maybe that’s the reason why I didn’t experience serious shock or heavy convulsion after finding there was omnipotent being that was rather different from the belief I had in mind, or the fact that there was another life other than in earth.
Long short story, the place where I would have my second life was Planet Argus. There were six main races in this planet: human, elf, dwarf, beast folk, demon race, and monster. Each race had their own kingdom, and I would start my second life in Kingdom of Farwell. It was one of the three kingdoms under human rules.
As someone who didn’t possess magic aptitude to use magical means, I would hunt and exterminate low-level monster using firearm, explosive, and man-portable weapon system. The rule for weapon selection was simple.
If I did my hunt using only firearms I could have two types of caliber for my firearms. While if I included explosive and portable weapon system in my arsenal, I could only use one type of caliber. I could also join or form a hunting team to diverse the weapon of choice and tactic.
If I agreed to accept my second life, I would receive 200.000 mollar as sign-up bonus. One mollar was equal to 1 USD in earth, and through the tablet I received from Gideon I could use it to buy firearms, military equipment, and other things from earth.
Without second thought, I decided to carry my hunt as sapper and use my second ammo slot for access to use explosive and man-portable weapon system. Then, I studied the low-level monsters that would become my primary target and determined the weapon system and equipment I would use.
A moment later, as I finished my study Gideon entered the room and cheerfully asked, “Have you decide?”
“I accept the offer.”
“I see.” After a smile Gideon said, “Other than the sign-up bonus, I will convert your house, savings, car, and other asset from your life in earth into mollar and add it to your tablet.”
“Thank you,” I happily said.
Most of money I made when I served in IDF went into my savings, so the amount was rather big and I was super glad that I didn’t lose it. A moment later, I found my balance in my tablet changed from 0 to 386.000 mollar.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Then, in a drop-dead serious tone Gideon said, “Folk who accept the offer rarely suffer from lack of mollar as long as they regularly hunting monster. However, lot of hunters from Planet Earth didn’t last for more than a year. Many even die in their first month.
Also, Planet Argus is a place where the strong prey on the weak. Human is not exception to this rule. Be careful when joining a hunting team.”
“Understood and thank you for the advice.”
“Well, after you finish your shopping and preparation, I will send you to Planet Argus right away.”
“Understood.”
---
Karmen was one of post town in Kingdom of Farwell. It located in the western border, right next to monster danger zone. It was also the town where I would start my second life. The journey to this town went in a blink of one eye.
I just closed my eyes and when I opened them, I already stood in the middle of platform, and not far from the platform I found two people casually stood. One was a middle-aged man in office suit, while the other one was a young man in ranger green short sleeve combat T-shirt and Marine pattern woodland tactical pant.
“Welcome to Karmen, venerable hunter. My name is Torrak. I’m the manager of House of Hunter in this post town,” The office dude casually said. “I have prepared your personal quarter.”
“Nice to meet you Manager Torrak,” I politely said. “My name is Shimon Bergensen, and you can call me Berg.”
“Fresh meat,” The young man with Marpat tactical pant said in heavy tone. “Are you ex-mil?”
“Yeah.”
“What unit?”
“Sapper, IDF Yahalom.”
“Last rank?”
“First lieutenant.”
“Have you killed an armed opponent in close range?”
“I have.”
After looking at MPX in my hand, Sig P320 in my right waist, and RPG in my back, the man with Marpat woodland tactical pant said, “Michael Cunningham, 2nd LT, force recon platoon leader, 31st MEU, USMC. You can call me Mike.”
“Nice to meet you, Mike.”
“Yeah, and a little suggestion, you can put back your RPG to your inventory.”
“Understood.” Wasting no time I put back my RPG to my inventory.
“Are your weapons chambered in 9 mm?”
“No, it’s chambered in 6.5 x 25 mm CBJ.”
“Do you have family in earth?”
“No.” I firmly replied. “My mother passed away when I was in fifth grade. My father passed away two years ago.”
After a short ponder Mike said, “In thirty minutes, my team will assist a hunt for minotaur. You can join to get a hang of our job, or you can rest in your personal quarter.”
“I will join the hunt.”
Mike then turned his gaze to Torrak. “Do you mind if I take him?”
“Not at all,” Torrak casually said.
Mike then turned his gaze back to me. “Follow me.”
“Aye.”
Wasting no time I followed Mike.
---
Mike took me to a small preparation quarter, and inside the room I found four men were busy preparing their weapon and gears. They wore Marpat woodland tactical pant like Mike, but different color of combat T-shirt.
One think that was very distinct from these men was that they were very young. They also had baby face like boy’s band. However, their bearing and the way they handled their weapons and gears told me one thing. They were seasoned combatants rich of life and death experience.
“Berg, this is Pukin’ Dogs, my team for the last two years. We start it with seven members, but we lost two good folks in our first mission,” Mike casually said. “Everyone, this is Berg, IDF sapper officer. Introduce yourself, your old unit, role, and weapon system.”
“McKay, force recon, sniper and scout. My primary ammo is .338 Lapua Magnum,” A dude with brown hair and lean body calmly said, and then he pointed at SAKO TRG-42 in front of him. “I pair it with this baby. My secondary is 6.5 mm Grendel. I use it with M249, Mk.12 SPR, and MCX SBR.”
“Sanchez, force recon, demolition, bobby trap, and coms,” A Hispanic dude with short curly hair and small body frame continued the introduction. “My primary is .300 Blackout. I use it with M249, MCX DMR, and MCX Rattler. I use my second ammo slot for 81 mm mortar, Mk.19 AGL, HK M320, and Claymore.”
“Tim, 10th group, USSF, machine gunner, sniper, tracker, and climber,” An Indian dude with Mohawk haircut casually said. “My primary is 6.5 mm Grendel. I use it with M249, Mk.12, and MCX SBR. My secondary ammo is .50 Cal. I pair it with M2HB and McMillan Tac-50.”
“Matt, 5th group, USSF, anti-tank and anti-low flying,” A white dude with muscular body said. “My primary is .300 Blackout. I use it with M249, MCX DMR, and MCX Rattler. I use my second ammo slot for man-portable like Carl Gustav, Javelin, and Stinger, along with Claymore.”
“That’s one hell of line-up you have here,” I genuinely said.
“Yeah,” Mike casually replied. “We use various weapon systems, but it won’t cause logistical issue because each individual can use their tablet to buy their own ammo and equipment anywhere anytime.”
“I see.”
“And just friendly reminder,” Matt said as he looked at my MPX-PDW. “You can use pistol round for low-level monster like orc and goblin to some extent, but to kill mid-level like minotaur you will at least need .300 Blackout from close range and 6.5 mm Grendel from mid-range, using pointed-tip steel round.
Mince the body with volume of fire to outmatch their self-healing ability, or repeated headshot to destroy their brain.”
“Understood,” I calmly replied. “I plan to kill the mid-level using bobby trap or shoulder-fired system, but if it doesn’t work I will switch to bigger round.”
“Well, just don’t die until then,” Matt casually said.
“Yeah,” I briefly replied.
Mike then explained to me the prep I had to make for the job. Other than firearm, extra magazines, combat knife, individual radio, potions, and water canteen, we put everything else in the inventory.
We also didn’t wear ballistic plate and ballistic helmet because low-level monster like orc and goblin applied deadly poison in their edge weapon and they were very good at targeting unprotected parts. Ballistic equipment won’t help us from such primitive but effective approach. It would only hinder our mobility. Investing on healing potion, stamina potion, and antidote potion would help us more.
As for mid-level monster, they were strong enough to render ballistic gear useless. Protection gear being produced using magical engineering could withstand heavy blow from them to some extent, but only people with magic aptitude could use it properly.
And so, we had light combat loadout using chest rig and tactical belt. As for the head gear, we wore ranger green short cap or Marpat boonie hat. After that we went to link-up with team that asked our assist.
*****