Power Fantasy

by Scottie Futch

  Scott itemized everything in his path and collected numerous useless trinkets of little value. However, his equipment points steadily rose due to that fact. His item points were approaching the ten-thousand-point range now, but the day had gotten away from them. They were about to set out on the road again when something happened that he had not seen for a while.

  Optional Objective Verified!

  There is a powerful beast menacing a survivor group. Locate and Eliminate the beast.

  Time Limit: You have fifteen minutes to engage the beast.

  Direction to the event: North West, one half mile.

  “Hey, I just picked up a mission,” said Scott.

  “A mission?” asked Saiko. “What is it?”

  “There’s a group of survivors nearby being menaced by something referred to as a powerful beast,” he replied. “I need to go see about that, but don’t want to put the others in harm’s way if possible.”

  Scott made a quick save while Saiko responded to him.

  “If it’s that strong, you might need help,” said Saiko. “Is that a problem this time?”

  “It didn’t mention a limitation like that,” he replied.

  She nodded to him, then went to tell the others. Scott finished up in the area then joined them.

  “If it’s strong, it could kill us and we might not be able to do anything,” said Momoko.

  “True, but I’m going either way,” said Scott.

  There was a brief discussion among the group, and they decided to split up. There was a shopping mall nearby that Summer knew about, which might serve as a good place to rest. If nothing else, they could meet up at the police station the next day.

  The mall’s name sounded a little familiar, to him. It was probably the local equivalent to the shopping mall in the series. Scott pulled Summer aside and told her to be careful. There was a guy in the series who tried to rape the character she resembled. He told her alone in an effort to safeguard her feelings. At her insistence, they told the rest of the group as well.

  “Is it really safe to go to a place like that?” asked Rei.

  “Honestly? I don’t know what to tell you. We’re getting close to the end of what I can guess, and even that isn’t a guarantee,” said Scott. “Nowhere is safe.”

  “We can’t go there, though,” said Otakun.

  “Eh?” asked Scott. It took him a moment, but he realized that Otakun was making a joke about his world traveling. Scott grinned at him then nodded. “Should have seen that one coming.”

  Saiko remained with him, while the others drove off. It seemed in that moment, that perhaps they would get their little temple scene after all. Just, not at a temple.

  “Ready?” asked Scott.

  “Yes,” said Saiko with a nod.

  He set out at a quick trot and glanced back to her “We need to move fast. There’s a time limit.”

  “Right!” said Saiko. She quickly caught up to and then ran a bit ahead of him. Her level was still nearly twice his level, after all. Most of that would no doubt be in agility.

  They ran off in the general direction of what they believed to be the danger area and avoided the zombies along the way. Time was short, and they would be cutting it close as things stood.

  The sound of gunfire echoed through the later afternoon air. “That’s it!” called out Scott.

  Believing that to be the sound of the survivors mentioned in his mission, Scott led Saiko toward the origin of the sound. Several more shots rang out followed by an explosion.

  Scott slowed to a halt and took a moment before he moved forward again. Saiko looked at him oddly.

  “Quick Save,” said Scott.

  “Ah…” she said with a nod.

  The duo hopped a fence and ran toward what looked to be yet another one of the omnipresent convenience stores in this town. These things were literally everywhere, as were the zombies.

  “Damn…” said Scott as they drew close to the scene. Three people were huddled atop the store’s roof while a big ass zombie occasionally chucked heavy objects at them from below. One of the people looked like they might be a police officer, but it was hard to tell at their current distance.

  “Think you can keep those zombies from piling up around the store while I try to take down big boy?” asked Scott.

  “Can you do it? We don’t have any of those Molotovs, right?” asked Saiko.

  “We’ll do it,” said Scott with more confidence than he felt. There was no way he would back out now. He needed his points, and those people weren’t going to make it if no one helped them. Besides, that thing was not too far from the shopping mall if what was told to him proved true. It could easily wander over there in the night and they would be in a similar situation.

  “Right!” exclaimed Saiko, suddenly more confident. If he thought they could do it, then why not?

  They ran forward then split off with Saiko running off to one side. All the zombies were focused on the store, so it left him with a perfect chance to head right to the boss.

  The creature was even bigger than the last one, which had been larger than even Scott was now. He leapt in with a powerful overhand strike aimed dead center at the thing’s back. It never even realized he was back there until the brush axe violently tore into its spine. Had it been a natural creature that would have been the end. However, for the behemoth it was merely a deep flesh wound.

  Black blood spurted sickeningly from the blow and oozed down its back. The beast roared then spun around in place intent on crushing whatever had dared to attack him. Scott hopped back like a cat, easily avoiding its fists. His agility had been heightened by the costume but having multiple skills that aided him in combat when he wielded his brush axe provided the true bonus.

  It wasn’t like before. The creature was much stronger and more durable than he was, but his stats had grown. More importantly so had his skill and power. His strength was not much higher than the average man, but his damage output and defensive powers were greatly enhanced. When the beast came in swinging, Scott danced around the blow and slashed at its meaty thighs. His blade bit deep, black blood and bits of flesh erupted into the air.

  Up on the roof top the three survivors watched aghast as this ridiculous looking man fought the creature using nothing more than a garden tool. His movements were electric, and his outfit shocking.

  Saiko did her best to keep the zombies occupied, but several of them went for Scott. The noise being made by the battle drew them like a moth to an all you can eat buffet, or something like that.

  She twirled to the side then lashed out at two of her rotting opponents with skill and precision. One, and then the other fell. Over a dozen had already been destroyed, but there were easily several times that many remaining in the area.

  A snarling pack of them came for her but a swift slash shattered a reaching arm causing it to flop wildly before it hung limply just below the elbow. A quick side-step left her in position to crush the back of its skull with a meaty impact that caused its left eye to pop out and dangle obscenely from its ruined face. In anime Japan, even wooden katanas could do amazing things.

  The other zombies in that little group fared no better. They were equally matched. One blow from her would destroy them, but one bite or heavy scratch from them would be her end. It was a dance of the glass cannons, each capable of ending it all for their opponent with great ease. This, of course, meant she was in no position to try to help Scott at the moment.

  A roar split the air like thunder as the beast barreled toward him. It had given up all pretense of fighting with a semblance of intellect and instead focused on brute power. However, that just made the situation easier for the barbaric battler. Dodging the beast was a little harder due to its increased aggression, but when he managed it there was a wide opening on its back.

  Scott tore into its spinal column once more, this time heavily damaging it. The creature slowed a little, but true to its zombie nature as long as even a sliver of its connections rema
ined it would be able to move its limbs. While that made no sense from a natural perspective, it was the way of things.

  Before he could capitalize on that fact, however, several zombies came at him. Scott was forced to dodge around to avoid their grasping hands.

  Precious time was wasted, and the big guy recovered enough to come after him once more. Slowed by its damaged nerves, for some reason, it was no longer raging. It came at him with fists flying instead of a simple charge.

  A cold meaty fist swung his way, and Scott did his best to deflect it. However, the angle was off, and their disparate strength worked against him. He only managed to nudge that fist far enough away that it impacted his shoulder instead of his face.

  He cried out in pain as he felt his shoulder nearly pop out of its socket. He nearly felt the wrenching pain of being bitten by a zombie, but thankfully the big bastard followed up with a powerful punch to the side of his head that impacted with enough forced to send him flying sideways out of the immediate reach of the hungry critters.

  Scott was stunned for a brief few seconds and forced to shake his head to try to keep himself awake. A series of status effect windows appeared before him that spoke to the power of that blow.

  His brush axe had gone flying one way, and he’d been sent the other. During his time of distraction, the zombies had reoriented themselves and were staggering toward him even now. Thankfully, a bullet to the head staggered the beast enough that it was temporarily uninterested in the meat below. It began to rage and wave its fists at the survivors on the roof.

  This gave Scott just enough time to realize his predicament. There was no time to escape, and he was too rattled to even find his legs at the moment. However, there was one thing that he could do.

  During his training in the forest he had not used certain abilities that often. However, he had learned that using them in rapid succession would greatly boost their effects. He needed some breathing room, and a chance to shake off these status effects.

  Scott took in a deep breath. For a split second he knew overwhelming terror as his Cool Under Pressure trait deactivated, but before that second came to an end a white-hot rage overtook him. He released his breath in a powerful shout. More specifically, the Shout skill granted to him by his costume.

  His abilities increased tremendously by his anger; the power of his voice exploded outward like a claymore going off. Zombies were literally torn apart as he used up most of his energy in a single explosive roar that cleared the immediate area. The force of that shout was so undeniable that even the big bastard was staggered by it and the few intact windows of the store shattered.

  Most of the energy that he possessed was gone, but in the brief few seconds he had left, he experienced an extreme adrenal surge. His injuries were ignored, and his status afflictions did not cause him difficulty.

  Scott rushed forward wildly, barely able to control himself due to his rage, and leapt into the air. Her performed a brutal flying double drop kick to the side of the thing’s head that caused it to snap sideways. It fell over, neck broken, even as Scott dropped to the ground.

  The damage, though extensive, was nothing compared to what he might have managed had he used his weapon. In that state, he could barely think. Much less make a plan such as that.

  Saiko recovered from her shock as that voice had overwhelmed her a little as well. A large concentration of the zombies in the area were flailing around on the ground or dead outright. However, Scott did not seem to be able to do more than to struggle weakly on the ground. He had completely used up his remaining strength and now suffered due to his afflictions.

  A few shots rang out, killing the big bastard at last, but only one shot rang out after that. It killed a zombie crawling toward Scott.

  The survivor shouted out to them that she was out of ammo. Scott barely heard her. All he could hear was the rush of blood in his ears, and the sound of his own pained breathing.

  Chapter Eleven

  Scott drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. Every time his eyes fluttered open; he saw a different concerned face hovering nearby. The backdrop changed regularly as well. Eventually, that backdrop became the ceiling of a store. There was also background music, cheesy retail store music that tore at the very foundation of his soul.

  “What do we do now?” asked a familiar voice that he could not quite place.

  “He’s my husband! I won’t leave him here!” insisted another familiar voice. This one was almost recognizable.

  “He can’t travel, and it’s already been two days,” insisted a masculine voice.

  Searing pain lanced through his chest as that last thing caused him to try to sit up. How had it been two days? He had not been to the white room he was sure of it! Thoughts of the white room cleared up the mental fog that obfuscated his comprehension. The familiar voices now had names.

  “I won’t leave him,” insisted Summer.

  "We can't take him with us like this," said Tosh.

  “He’s bound to recover at some point soon,” said Summer with a determined expression.

  “We don’t know that!” insisted Tosh.

  Of course, it would be Tosh. “Bro, my ass…” muttered Scott to himself.

  He couldn’t blame the guy. He and Jade wanted to search for their families. Being stuck wherever they were for a couple of days because of him was bound to grate on their nerves.

  Scott reached out with his good arm and grabbed a nearby bed rail. He exerted all the strength that his feeble body could muster and dragged himself up into a sitting position.

  Sweat poured down his face and chest, though it was not due to the exertion. A chill ran through his body despite the fact that he felt like he was burning up. He was obviously ill on top of having serious injuries.

  No one had noticed him yet, due to their continued arguing. So, he took the chance to check his status.

  Scott Ambrose

  Level: 73(93)

  Costume: Barbarian

  EXPERIENCE POINTS

  Item EXP: 11265

  Equipment EXP: 4160

  Skill EXP: 4237

  Trait EXP: 1456

  Waifu EXP: 5297

  World EXP: 1612

  DYNAMIC ATTRIBUTES

  Hit Points: [575] | 112/112

  Energy: [230] | 54/54

  STATUS ATTRIBUTES

  Strength: 14 (18)

  +Endurance: 15 (23)

  Agility: 11 (13)

  Mind: 11

  Spirit: 11(17)

  Luck: 11

  TRAITS

  Cool Under Pressure

  COSTUME TRAITS

  Unwavering Spirit

  Powerful Frame

  SKILLS

  Itemization [0]

  Identification

  Edged Weapon Mastery [5]

  Wilderness Survival [0]

  Camping [0]

  Mining [0]

  Negotiation [0]

  Thievery [0]

  COSTUME SKILLS

  Rage

  Shout

  Frost Resistance

  Weapon Appraisal

  Axe Mastery

  Sword Mastery

  Hammer Mastery

  Spear Mastery

  The moment he opened his status window, another window appeared as well. This one held a warning for him.

  Warning!

  You are significantly injured. Your maximum hit points and energy have been greatly reduced. Your status afflictions are numerous and dire. As such, for your convenience, they have been consolidated into three severe multipurpose afflictions.

  - You are Severely Battered. Your dislocated shoulder was treated. Your open wounds were tended, and you are no longer bleeding. However, you must continue to treat this affliction, or it will take several weeks to fully recover. [A Med Kit is recommended]

  - You contracted a mild case of the necro-erotic life form curse. Your attributes and disease resistance buffs were high enough to resist this minor variation of the affliction. Howev
er, this resistance was not high enough to eradicate it from your body. As a result, the curse was defeated but the affliction was instead translated into a serious Blood Infection. You need to treat this affliction quickly. It is fatal. Currently, you will lose [23] points from your maximum energy points per day. If your maximum energy points reach [0], double that amount will be taken from your hit points each morning after your autosave. [Some sort of powerful antibiotic and a Med Kit are recommended.]

  - You have mild cognitive impairment. This affliction prevented your awakening in the loading area until the damage was reduced to minimum requirements. Strenuous activity can exacerbate this affliction. Treat it immediately. [Pain Killers and a Med Kit are recommended]