Chapter 8: Enemy Contact II

Pavel opened up with his rifle but the hits did not seem to bother the beast or to slow it down. It charged at Lars who quickly jumped to the side, swinging his blade at the attacker. A howl of pain proved Lars had hit his mark. As the beast turned towards Lars, Marcus saw an opening and with a few big steps closed the distance ready to strike the flank of the monster.

A weird, piercing cry came from the large beast and it turned its head towards Marcus. He had just time enough to raise his arms as a claw, bigger than his head, swiped him with brutal strength. It felt like his arms were ripped clear off and he was thrown on his back. Arms still attached but with deep gashes in his armor he took a deep breath. And then he saw it.

Over the back of the wolf monster peered another set of eyes. A creature much smaller, with thick white fur and beady red eyes looked at Marcus lying in the snow. It showed its row of white sharp teeth, nearly as if it was smiling. “There is another creature on its back!” Marcus shouted while trying to get back on his feet. Just a heart beat later Pavel appeared a few meter next to him and went full auto on the smaller critter. A hail of bullets executed the little devil on the spot. The large monster howled in rage lashing out on Lars and Pavel while Marcus finally got back on his feet.

For a moment Marcus took a deep breath, ready to join the others, and that saved his life. In a split second he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes and an instinct older than humanity made him brace and protect his head. Something collided with him and smashed him to the ground, pain radiating through his whole body. He felt stinking hot breath and a maw of daggers closed around his head ready to crack his skull. His helmet bent and Marcus could feel his head being crushed. The growl of the beast intensified as the heavy helmet stopped the beast from feasting on Marcus’ brain. It started to drag and throw Marcus around who was still unable to defend himself.

After several seconds the beast finally let go and Marcus threw himself around just in time to see the big jaws coming down again. Without thinking he hit the big snout with his right fist. Impulse Hammer came out without any effort and the beast jumped back in pain. Still on the ground, Marcus desperately tried to get up before the next attack, as Lars jumped over him. His blade was soaked in red and danced over the body of the enemy. The beast howled and another of the smaller creatures jumped from its back onto Lars. It clawed and bit the tall man causing him to lose his sword. While Lars was fighting off the little devil, the other predator prepared to attack once more.

Marcus moved forward without thinking and shouted “Here you filthy mutt!” More his waving than his insults seemed to draw the attention of the bigger monster, it lunged at him jaws wide open. This time Marcus was prepared, and for once not on the ground. He stepped back and let the attack go wide and dropped a vertical blow onto the massive skull in front of him. Something cracked and the eyes of the beast went wide. It staggered and Marcus followed up with one, two, three, four...”It is dead Marcus. You can stop now.” Lars voice reached him through the haze of exhaustion and adrenaline. He stopped and turned. Lars stood over the corpse of the small critter and Pavel joined them cursing in polish while working the mechanics of his rifle.

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As the thrill of battle slowly faded from Marcus the team secured the area and informed Russo and Janette about the events. The two had also taken down another beast combo.

Over the next hour they confirmed the portal was secured and placed surveillance systems to monitor it remotely. On the way back stories of their encounters were shared and Marcus inspected his helmet. Deep grooves and puncture holes showed how close he had come to death. Marcus promised himself to never cheap out on armor protection in the future. When they departed the helicopter the whole team gave him a hearty pat on the shoulders and only much later he really understood the meaning of it. He was now part of the team.

Over the next days training continued and he had to write a short report about the mission. But more importantly, he had leveled up. The singular best thing for a class holder. The big beasts must have been worth a lot of experience points because he had directly jumped to level 4. Which meant three more crests into vitality, bringing him to eight. Thanks to that boost his beaten body recovered even faster and he was fully healed long before the rest got back to 100%. Upside of a vitality build.

Eventually Russo called him into his office for a debrief. The room was small and had barely any furniture or other decorations. Just a desk, some chairs and a PC.

Marcus took place and Russo started without delay. “I read your report. Very detailed.” Marcus felt like there was some hint he did not fully grasped. “You did well for your first actual combat encounter.” the “old man” sized him up. “This was far more dangerous than one would hope for a first encounter, especially for a level 1.” He continued without taking his eyes of Marcus. “Are you aware how close you came to dying?” The question came fast and without any emotion.

Marcus thought for a moment and remembered his torn helmet. “Yes.” Russo nodded. “And do you think you or anybody else did something particular wrong?” Marcus thought again for a moment and just shook his head. Russo continued to pierce him with his eyes.

“This is the reality of combat. Even if you and everybody else does everything right. You can die. Just like that.” After finishing the debrief Marcus left the office with a head full of heavy thoughts.

At the same day the others prepared a surprise party for Marcus’ first successful mission. There was cake and laughter and Marcus was happy to be there with everybody still alive.

Later, back in his room, he sat in the darkness with many thoughts on his mind. A familiar set of colorful circles and symbols was on the wall. For the first time he completely ignored the symbol in the middle of the vitality circle. His eyes rested on four other symbols.

“When that beast put their jaws around his head I nearly lost it.” Lars admitted. It was late at night and everybody except the youngster was gathered for a drink. “Yeah, I thought we lost him right there. But then he came up again and even finished one of those things off.” Pavel added and the rest of the team listened in silence. “He did well. Damn. He did great, much better than I did in my first real battle.” Pavel took a sip from his beer. “He directly pointed out those pesky monkey riders and even drew that wolf thing away from you Lars when you were monkeying around.” He joked and everybody laughed, even Lars. “But for real, that was a tight spot. With my gun empty and me unable to reload…” Pavel trailed off but Lars gave him a fist bump. “We would have made it somehow but Marcus stood his ground like a real tanker.”

After a few moments of silence Lars added “He does not have any strength.”. “You sure?” Janette asked not convinced. “If you grapple with somebody you get a really good sense how strong they are and he might be big but I doubt he has spent even one crest on strength.” Lars replied.

“He does not use weapons, he does not scale strength. What is he spending his crests on?” Pavel shook his head and opened up another pack of sweets. “It’s not dexterity, I can tell you that.” Janette stole some sweets from Pavel and hid behind Luca to avoid retaliation. “Vitality. Given how fast he recovered from that beating it can’t be anything else.” Luca’s words just spelled out what the others already suspected. “But that is no long term strategy…” Pavel started but Luca stopped him.

“We trained yesterday and he got a hit in. He is improving fast.” he pulled his shirt up and his ribs up to his shoulder showed a blue, purple color. Janette gasped and Lars put down his drink. With a thoughtful look Lars slowly spoke “Either he is not really a Fighter or…” he paused and Luca finished the sentence “...or Fighters are not going to stay on rank 162 much longer.”