Within minutes, we had left Phillips Hall behind us and began walking back to the Carolina Union. An eerie silence had fallen over the central campus like the momentary calm before a fierce storm.
We used the debris of South Hall as a barrier to provide cover while we crossed the central quad, and we passed through the narrow alleys east of the quad while heading south toward the Carolina Union. With my hand gripped tightly around a piece of technology far too advanced for any Human to understand, I led that group of five college students toward our destination.
I turned a corner and saw a group of more than a dozen muscular humanoid creatures. They had green skin, wore poorly-made clothing, and wielded primitive weapons in their hands. The creatures clearly shared a common ancestor with Humans and Nephilims, but they must have evolutionarily split off much earlier.
[NEW ENEMY DISCOVERED: URUK]
The System recognized them as Uruks, the prototypical form of Tolkien’s Orcs. I wondered for a moment if these creatures were the inspiration for those famous literary monsters, but my inner monologue was cut short. Some sound alerted the Uruks, and they all turned toward us in unison.
With a series of deep animalistic screams, the Uruks charged us. Immediately, I began firing at the Uruks with my laser pistol while moving sideways to get out of the line of fire.
A fusillade of inaccurate bolts of crimson energy crashed into the Uruks. Several of them fell, but it quickly became clear to me that they were much sturdier than the Diluvians. I put two deep craters into the chest of one of the Uruks, but it kept moving as if the wound didn’t bother it.
I was able to hit them with an [Alchemist Bomb] before they managed to reach us. By depressing the button on the side of the bomb and setting it to “Impact” before throwing the bomb, I was able to instantly render three of the Uruks into large chunks of ragged meat.
“Sleep!” Simon shouted, causing two of the Uruks to immediately fall to the ground.
“Battle Trance,” Carlos declared, strengthening his own body.
The Uruks reached us, and I no longer had the privilege of paying attention to the other members of my group. I only had time to focus on my own survival. Five Uruks had managed to get into melee range, and another group of a dozen Uruks had been drawn by the sound of our fight.
One of the Uruks swung at my head with a large two-handed sword. The attack was fast but predictable, and I was able to duck out of the way. As the Uruk faltered and overextended, I fired from the hip and dug a burning hole into the monster’s chest until it fell to the ground dead.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The other group of Uruks had managed to reach us faster than I anticipated, and two more of the orcish monsters reached me a second after I looked up from the recently slain corpse lying on the ground.
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My knife flew to my hand and stopped the first Orc’s blade in its tracks. The blade of the second Orc struck my armor and bounced off harmlessly.
The Orcs were big, but they were sloppy. I plunged my dagger into the first Orc’s wrist and violently wrenched its blade out of its hands. The second Orc approached me once more, but I twisted the arm of the bleeding Orc, forcing it to stumble between me and my attacker.
A wicked smile appeared on my face as the second Orc retreated, fearful that he would accidentally strike his companion. The two Orcs were exactly where I wanted them, so I aimed Dismas at them both and began unloading my gun as fast as I could.
The two Orcs fell to my vicious fusillade, but something was wrong. The recoil from Dismas was much less than usual, and each shot created a bright flash of light that forced me to squint to not affect my vision. I looked over at Dismas, and I realized that I didn’t recognize the gun in my hand. I had never seen a gun like that. It was as if the gun had been created some time in the future.
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I was completely drenched in blood, but there was no time to focus on that. Three Uruks were still close enough to use their heavy blades effectively, and the two Uruks that had been put to sleep by Simon were starting to wake up.
Seeing that Carlos was holding his own against the Uruks in melee range, I retrieved an [Alchemist Bomb] from my [Inventory] and threw it at the two standing Uruks like it was a fastball. They were reduced to a fine red mist before they could get to their feet.
The sound of a circuit shorting out emanated from somewhere nearby. I looked around just in time to see Simon recoil as his shield generator fizzled out. The Uruk who had just destroyed Simon’s shield raised its two-handed sword once more.
My laser pistol was still in its holster, and the other three members of my group were busy fighting the two surviving Uruks. No one could hope to kill that Uruk before it could attack Simon.
“Magic Arrow,” I chanted, and three bolts of energy flew out of my empty hand.
The Uruk’s blade came down a second before the bolts of energy could reach it. The blade struck Simon’s shoulder and kept going like it was passing through air. Simon fell to the ground in two separate pieces. His pained scream turned into the sound of a deflating balloon as his lungs were bisected, and he died instantly.
Half a second later, three bolts of energy speared into the Uruk’s body, and it crumpled to the ground. Less than five seconds after Simon was killed, Carlos cut into the final Uruk, and the battle was over.
Having not yet noticed Simon’s corpse, Carlos smiled and said, “Well, that was… easy.”
Carlos spotted Simon’s bisected body, his eyes looking skyward, his face forever trapped in an expression of agony.
“Oh.”
[URUKS (20) DEFEATED! +800 EXP, +800 CREDITS]
[TOTAL CREDITS: 2,210₪]
[LEVEL UP!]
[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 1460]