Chapter 3

Wyatt raced through the forest, ducking under low-hanging branches as he ran. After a few minutes, he heard movement from behind him, and when he glanced back, he caught sight of Saeko sprinting to catch up with him.

“What are you doing?” he called back to her. “I thought I told you to stay at the camp.”

“I owe you for saving my life,” she said, breathing hard. “That means something on Ganymede.”

Wyatt wanted to argue, but instead simply shook his head. He didn’t have time to fight with her, and she might actually help with his plan.

Another ominous song reverberated through the forest and made the leaves shake on the surrounding trees. They must be close now. After another few paces, they stumbled to a stop as they came across a wide swath of devastation cutting through the forest. Nothing but churned up soil remained in the strip — it was as if orbital weapons had blasted the land clear.

As he stepped out of the undergrowth, he spotted the source of the devastation a short distance away. A monstrous creature—which looked like a blue whale had been crossed with a hairy crab—lumbered through the forest, sucking up everything into its mouth. Trees, bushes, and any beasts unlucky enough to get in its way disappeared into its gaping maw.

Over a dozen people were fleeing from the creature, and as he watched, a man tripped and fell in the path of the land whale. A woman turned back to try to help him to his feet, but the creature charged forward and slurped them down. Ragged screams filled the air before suddenly cutting off.

At the sight of the monstrous creature, any thought of his plan to find its weak spot went out the window. There was no hope of defeating this creature with traditional methods. But maybe he could still save the people being pursued. “I want to draw its attention!” he shouted to Saeko.

She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Didn’t you just see what happened? And you want to get its attention?”

“While it’s chasing me, I want you to get as many of them back to the cave as you can.”

“How do you know we can trust them?” she asked. “What if they want to steal your rocks?”

“We’re all in this together,” he said, ignoring her jab about his supplies. “I have to believe they’ll want to work together.”

“And I thought I was naïve,” she muttered. “Fine, I’ll bring them back to your cave.”

The land whale let out another piercing whistle, and the air in front of it shimmered. The sound wave slammed into the people fleeing from it, and many of them flopped to the ground like marionettes who strings had been cut. Only two remained standing—a broad-shouldered man and a waif of a teenage girl. The man desperately tried to drag the others away until the creature galloped forward like a nightmarish centipede. At the sight of the monster bearing down on them, the last two survivors gave up and disappeared into the trees.

Wyatt could only watch with impotent rage as the land whale gobbled up nearly a dozen people. Mercifully, there were no screams—the sonic blast had either stunned them or killed them outright.

“So much for your plan,” Saeko said. “And if we’re going to be fighting monsters like that thing, you’re going to need a bigger rock.”

“There are still two left alive,” he grunted. “I’m going to save them.”

“You’re really crazy, aren’t you?”

No, I’m not crazy, he thought. I just have a lot of blood in my ledger.

He raised his pointed stick and rushed towards the land whale. When he neared the creature, he reared back and hurled the make-shift weapon at it. He watched with dismay as the missile simply bounced off its heavily armoured leg.

Well done, Lars said. I believe you have successfully drawn the monstrosity’s attention. However, I must inquire as to what you plan to do now.

“I may have thought it would do a bit more damage,” he muttered under his breath. “And I’m open to any suggestion you have.”

The land whale spun around—almost impossibly fast—and regarded him with unblinking eyes.

A voice in his head shouted,

Minor Boss Fight!

The Cetacean Crab consumes anything in its path—including you! Good luck with your boss fight, contestant. And remember, if you’re going to die, at least try to make your last moments dramatic for all the viewers watching at home.

“Oh shit,” he whispered. “It’s a boss.” He’d suspected there were boss creatures in this world—deathmatches often had powerful artificial lifeforms which offered special rewards. But he hadn’t planned on facing one so early and essentially unarmed. Though, if he was honest with himself, he doubted stone weapons would do much against such a massive creature.

Wyatt did the only thing he could do—he turned and ran. Thankfully, Saeko had disappeared, and she should be escorting the survivors back to their cave. Now he just needed to make sure he didn’t get turned into a meal by this hideous creature.

He raced through the forest, the sound of uprooting trees and a terrible sucking sound growing ever closer. When he craned his head over his shoulder, he spotted the gaping mouth only a few paces behind him.

With a burst of energy, he pulled away from the pursuing Cetacean Crab, but he couldn’t keep this pace up long. He needed to come up with a plan.

There must exist a way to defeat the boss, Lars said, uncharacteristically earnest. The OSC would not put an impossible challenge in the trials. Such a thing would be poorly received by the audience.

“How the hell do I defeat something two storeys tall and with armoured legs?” he whispered under his breath. “I don’t even have my spear anymore.”

Should I come up with a plan of action, I will inform you. Lars replied.

As Wyatt continued to run, he desperately tried to think of a way to slow the creature chasing him. Maybe he could lead it to water and attempt to drown it? But he quickly discarded that notion—he’d need deep water, and the cursed offspring of a whale and crab would most likely be able to swim.

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Think, damn it! If I die here, all of my plans were for nothing.

A long run after eating almost nothing for an entire day was taking its toll on him. He couldn’t keep sprinting for much longer, and when he faltered, the Cetacean Crab would swallow him like an appetizer.

From behind him, he heard the skittering of legs slow before stopping completely. He stumbled to a halt, sweat pouring down his face, and glanced back to see why his pursuer had stopped. Had it grown tired as well?

As he watched, the creature let out a low whistle, and then a stream of greenish gas erupted from its rear end. The whale body almost seemed to deflate, and after a moment, it fixated its eyes on him once again.

It has to digest everything it eats, he thought to himself, an idea taking shape in his mind. And the prompt said it eats everything in its path.

Wyatt angled his course back toward the cliff. If he made it there, he might have a chance of defeating the Cetacean Crab.

He ran liked he’d never run before, adrenaline pushing him further than he ever thought possible. And yet, even with all his effort, the land whale stayed stubbornly on his tail, nearly catching him several times before it again had to stop to pass gas.

As he ran, he managed to increase the distance between himself and his pursuer. But what he was calling a land whale in his mind was still uncomfortably close. Before long, he finally reached the camp, and when he burst out of the forest, he spotted Saeko sitting with a young woman and a middle-aged man.

Saeko surged to her feet at the sight of him, and then her gaze snapped over towards the sounds of breaking trees. “Did you seriously bring the monster here?”

“Get in the cave,” he shouted, turning towards the nearby rockslide. “Hide in there until this is over!”

While the others scrambled into the relative safety of the cave, he raced towards the rockslide. With reckless abandon, he clambered up the slick boulders as the Cetacean crab charged into the clearing.

This had better work or I’m dead.

He kept climbing, ignoring the sharp edges slicing his palms and digging into his shins. All that mattered was getting higher. He needed to get as high as possible. Behind him, he heard the terrible sucking sound resume, and when he risked a look back, he saw the whale-like mouth devouring the giant boulders of the rockslide.

I must admit, I am impressed with your ingenious plan, Lars said. Also, I must apologize. I did not think of this course of action.

The land whale continued to consume everything in its path as it scrambled after him. With each step, its stomach distended more from the endless stream of boulders it was ingesting. Nearly halfway up the rockslide, it staggered to a stop.

The creature groaned and swayed, letting out a low whistle. Like dominos, one leg after another snapped off from carrying the weight of the rocks in its belly. But it doggedly struggled after Wyatt. It only gave up the chase after the last of its legs had broken, and it let out a plaintive cry before collapsing to the ground.

Wyatt cautiously moved towards the creature, but when it didn’t stir, he slid down the rocks to its side. He gave the gaping mouth a wide berth before grabbing a heavy rock and clambering onto its back. The skin felt unexpectedly dry and raspy—he was afraid it would be slick like a whale’s—but it was easy to stand on.

Once he reached the creature’s head, he raised the rock above his head. With all his strength, he smashed it down and grimaced as blood splashed onto his hands. He continued until the land whale had finally stopped moving.

Minor Boss fight victory!

Somehow, you managed to survive a boss fight and even made it look good. Don’t forget to loot the creature.

Then an additional notification appeared.

New Title: Goliath Slayer (+2 Strength +2 Durability)

First Contestant to Slay a Minor Boss

While everyone else was running around like chickens with their head cut off, you set out to murder a beautiful and intelligent Cetacean Crab. You monster.

Reward: Bronze Loot Box

“How the heck am I supposed to loot it?” He glanced down at its enormous body and wondered if he had to somehow tunnel inside to reach the rewards. In past death matches, credits and loot were automatically awarded after a kill. But it obviously didn’t work that way here.

When he stood up unsteadily on the Cetacean Crab, a new prompt appeared:

Loot the Cetacean Crab? (Yes/No?)

Wyatt clicked ‘Yes’ and then yelped as the body began to dissolve underneath him. He tumbled through suddenly empty space and slammed into a jagged boulder. The impact made the air rush out of his lung, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to inhale. He drew in a few more ragged breaths, and then pushed himself up into a sitting position, while nanites broke down the Cetacean Crab corpse.

After a few minutes, several large clay containers, a pile of a questionable-looking meat, and a bow were all that remained of the boss he’d just fought—that and the pile of boulders it had eaten.

Wyatt carefully picked his way towards the loot. The rockslide felt unstable after having been disturbed by the creature. When he reached the loot, he examined each item in turn. If he hovered his gaze over something, a prompt appeared.

Loot

* 100 Credits

* 158 Litres of Whale Oil

* 1 Ambergris

* 1 Elemental Bow of the Ages (Rare)

* 20 Kilos of Monster Crab Meat (Are you brave enough to eat it?)

Wyatt lifted the bow and another prompt describing the weapon appeared.

Elemental Bow of the Ages

Crafted by the hero Ghazal, the bow can imbue arrows with any of the elemental forces for additional damage. Originally used to keep rampaging orcs at bay, Ghazal and his entire village were eventually consumed by this very whale as he peacefully slumbered in his bed. It’s probably a good idea to not sleep too soundly in this world.

Wyatt slung the bow over his shoulder and then wondered how he would ever move the containers. He could probably drag them over to the cave. But they would be almost impossible to transport without pack animals. Were there tameable beasts in this strange land?

While was busy inspecting the loot, the others emerged from the cave. He left the items where they were for now and limped over to Saeko and the others. It felt like every inch of him was covered in cuts and bruises. He also feared the fall may have broken one of his ribs. As they approached, the survivors regarded him with awe, while Saeko looked incredibly annoyed.

“Next time you’re going to try to get me eaten,” Saeko said, glaring at him, “I’d like a bit of warning first.”

“It was sort of spur-of-the-moment decision after everything else had failed,” he replied with a grin. “At least we got a fair bit of loot out of it.”

The older man walked forward and clapped him on the shoulder. “I just wanted to thank you for saving our lives.” He rubbed a hand through his thinning hair and then blew out his moustache. “I’m Augustus, and this is my daughter Mabel. Of course, everyone just calls me Augie.”

At the mention of her name, the girl walked forward with her hands clasped in front of her. She stared at the ground and shifted her feet nervously. “Thank… thank you for saving us.”

“There’s no need for thanks,” he replied. “I was only doing what was right.”

“Not many people would have risked their life for us,” Augie said in his booming voice. “You took on that crab monster and gave us a proper chance to escape. It’s funny, when I was sentenced to these damned trials, I never thought anyone would be saving my life.” He released Wyatt and then scrolled his finger through the empty air. “And you managed to land me 100 credits as well. Now, if only I could find a pub to spend them in.”

Mabel stared at the air in front of her as she absently brushed back a strand of blond hair. “I got money, too, dad.”

“Seriously?” Saeko said, looking at each of them in turn. “Am I the only one who didn’t get any credits for killing the whale? That’s bullshit.”

Wyatt pointed at the nearby loot. “I imagine we can sell that for quite a bit of cash. That’s assuming there’s a place with a merchant around here somewhere.”

“The moment we find that place,” Augie continued, “I’m going to buy you a beer or three. The man who saved my life deserves to get drunk with me.”

“We might want to save our credits,” Mabel said, her voice like a mouse.

“Nonsense,” Augie replied, puffing out his chest. “What’s the point of living if you can’t enjoy it? Hopefully, any merchant we find will have other delights as well.”

Saeko bent down to gather up some of the branches that had been scattered in her haste to reach the cave. “So, what do we do now?”

Wyatt glanced around the clearing and then he let his eyes rest on the loot. “First, we need to get all the loot into the cave. And then we need to craft some weapons.”

“Weapons?” Augie said, his eyes brightening. “That sounds good to me. What are you thinking? Gatling gun? Pulse rifle? Vibro-blade?”

Wyatt held up a long stick and a rock. “I was thinking a stone-tipped arrow.”

“Well, damn,” Augie said, his face falling. “That’s a bit of a letdown, isn’t it?”