by Deck Davis
The smaller one ignored his friend. “Now,” he said, and shifted the M16 in his hands. “What have you guys got for me?”
“Got for you?” said Ash.
The soldier smiled as though he was greeting an old pal.
“Yeah, you know. Food, rations, bullets. I’m taking everything I can get.”
The way he smiled and the light tone in his voice made it seem like a friendly request, but the M16 he pointed told a different story. There was something downright creepy about this soldier’s eyes. There was a red glow to them that Ash suspected couldn’t have come from anywhere but Rapto. That, or the army had started issuing fancy eye contact lenses.
The two soldiers approached the pickup, taking cautious steps. The smaller one kept his gun pointed at Ash, while the other walked to the driver’s side of the vehicle. When he saw Tony’s body on the ground, he stopped.
“Holy hell. Think we popped this one,” he said.
The taller soldier got down to his knees to get a closer look at Tony. The man was so big that when he was crouched, Ash could still see his head over the bonnet. As the soldier put his gun on the floor and looked at the fallen man, Ash heard a bang.
The soldier’s head exploded in a mess of blood that spread across the already-red bonnet of the pickup. Pieces of his brain rained down on the cracked stone with a squelch.
The smaller soldier instinctively turned around just in time to see Tony get to his feet with his Glock gripped in his palm.
Without giving him time to react, Ash punched the smaller soldier in the head. He connected with the man’s temple, and although he knocked him off balance, Ash got the impression he’d hurt his own knuckles more than the guy he had hit. He shook them, as if that would get rid of the pain.
The soldier recovered himself and grappled with Ash. They struggled against each other by the side of the car, and Ash felt his strength start to wane.
“Screw this,” he said.
He raised his boot and planted it in the soldier’s stomach, forcing him back a few steps.
He was about to scorch him with Ignis, when a tremendously loud booming sound shook the land around them.
“It’s the fucking troll!” said Tony.
Ash turned around. Yep, there it was alright. Perfect. A thirteen-foot tall hunk of pure muscle was currently cross the plains and heading toward them. The ground seemed to tremble on its approach. Its body rippled with pure, granite-carved muscled. This thing could squash them all with a finger.
“Troll?” asked a soldier. “Jesus goddamn Christ.”
“You stupid gimps drew it here,” said Ash. “Maybe if you hadn’t sprayed the mustang with bullets none of this would have happened.”
“Enough scratching our ball sacks. Get yourselves together,” said Tony.
The troll moved fast for such a large hunk of crap, though that was mainly because its giant legs meant it could take large steps. The closer it got, the more he saw that its skin was so tough it looked like stone. It’s impossibly large, floppy cock swung with each step. Resting on the troll’s shoulder was a crow with wings like black glass.
The soldiers opened fire on the troll, but their bullets ricocheted off it like pebbles thrown at a shark. Their rifles cracked with each press of the trigger. Ash was so close that it was deafening.
On and on the troll stomped, shaking the ground with each thud of its feet.
As the troll got closer the stench of its skin became rife; one of treacle-like sweat and troll piss.
Tony reached under the mustang and grabbed his rifle. Blue light glowed on it, but when he ran his hand along it, the light turned red. He raised his gun, squinted down the sights and fired.
The bullet penetrated the troll’s skin, boring a tiny little hole on its bicep. Ash was pleased to see that it was more effective than the soldiers’ regular guns.
“Okay, you’re not a blue…”
“I’m a Mage Survivalist, okay? That’s the class I got. Now, will you quit pestering me about it?”
“Then why lie about it? I don’t give a shit if you’re a mage or not.”
“Helps to keep a few cards close to your chest.”
“Does that meant you trust me now?”
“That means you need to shut the hell up and help me deal with this thing in front of us!”
The other two soldiers left the jeep and joined their friends. Although they were scared, their military training kept them calm. They fired burst after burst, aiming for different parts of the troll each time. The bullets sprang back off its stone armor.
“This isn’t doing anything!” said one of them as he squinted down the sights of his gun.
The troll walked relentlessly forward, showing no more sign of discomfort at the bullets than a bear would if a fly flew into it.
Ash had 390 HP. It was enough for a few Ignis level 2 blasts, and there was no time to mess around.
He aimed at the troll’s face, catching it on the cheeks with one fire ball and singing its eyebrows with the other. The troll gave no sign that it was hurt. Damn. At this rate, he’d be out of HP before the troll even felt anything.
“FF, any chance I can get a little info on this thing? Ignis doesn’t seem to be doing much.”
Sure thing, ballbag.
Troll – Level 9
Strengths:
Tremendous Power
Stone skin
Blood Roar
Weaknesses:
Crow
“Blood Roar?” asked Ash. “What the hell’s that?”
It turned out that there was no need to ask. Now just twenty feet away, the troll opened its mouth and screamed. The air in front of it seemed to vibrate. The sound was tremendous, louder than gunfire.
Tony quickly traced the air with two fingers, generating a shield of yellow light in front of him and Ash. One of the soldiers ducked to the ground with his hands over his ears, but the other three took the brunt of the scream.
Nothing happened at first. Ash wondered if Blood Roar was just intended to make the troll’s enemies piss their pants. Then, the three men began screaming in such a pain-filled way that it chilled Ash to the core. Bubbles began to appear in their flesh, and smoke drifted from their skin.
It seemed that Tony’s shield was enough to protect he and Ash, but that didn’t help the soldiers much.
One of the solders shouted something, but this was cut off when his right cheek exploded. Blood splattered onto the ground. Steam drifted off it.
“FF, what exactly is Blood Roar?”
He boils the blood in your veins. A nasty way to go, by the look of it.
“Please can you start telling me this before I have to ask for it? Would have been nice to know.”
Like I said, I’m here to serve.
The smell of freshly-boiled, iron-tinted blood was so thick that he coughed. The troll faced Ash and Tony now.
The soldier who’d covered his ears got to his feet and sprinted over, joining them behind the shield.
“You okay?” asked Ash.
The soldier ignored him.
“Hey, dick face, why didn’t the scream hurt you? And don’t tell me it was because you covered your ears.”
“FORGOT TO WEAR MY EAR PLUGS,” shouted the soldier. “THEY DEAFENED ME WHEN THEY STARTED FIRING.”
Ash turned his attention to the troll. The stone-skinned beast was stomping toward them, evidently set on squashing them underfoot. Maybe that meant that its Blood Roar skill had some kind of cooldown after use. What about Stone Skin, though? Was that passive?
He fired another Ignis blast. The flames scorched through the air like a meteor, clipping the troll on its chest. The flames burned out when they touched its stone-like skin.
This isn’t working. My HP’s gonna drain.
Then he remembered. FF told him that the troll’s weakness was crow. That was a pretty weird weakness to have.
He stood up.
“What are you doing, numbskull?” said Tony. He tried t
o yank him back down behind the shield.
Ash batted him away. He gathered a level 2 Ignis and aimed not at the troll, but just to the left of its head.
He unleashed his purple arcane ball. It rushed through the air like a meteor. Just a second later he heard the satisfying squawking sound of a crow being burned to a crisp. The blackened bird toppled off the troll’s shoulder and hit the floor.
Had that done anything? It was hard to tell for sure. The troll didn’t seem to be very perturbed, that was for sure.
“Okay Tony, fill the fucker full of holes.”
“Got it.”
“WHAT?” said the soldier.
Ash mimed shooting at the troll.
“OKAY!” said the soldier, and raised his M16.
The troll roared, and its face twisted into an expression of fury. It raised its mighty arms and brought its fists down on the ground. Tremor lines ran through the dirt. It sounded like an earthquake. Within seconds the earth cracks reached just a few feet in front of Ash.
The ground exploded. Stones flew out. Ash ducked to the ground, but a chunk of rock clipped his forehead. His vision blurred for a second.
50HP lost!
As Tony and the soldier aimed their weapons and pulled their triggers, blue-tinted magic bullets mixed with regular metal ones. With the crow dead, the troll had lost its Stone Skin power, and the bullets ripped through him like a kitana through a porno mag.
“What’s its HP count?”
95 / 780, answered FF.
Easy, thought Ash. Just a few more bullets…
Click.
Click.
That was the sound of two magazines running empty.
“Arrrrggguuuhhhrrrtthhhhh!”
And that was the sound of an enraged troll about to run into its last stand and take out all the humans who’d killed its crow and peppered it full of holes.
God damn it, was there no stopping this thing?
Nothing for it. He was going to have to blast it with the best Ignis he could must and hope for the best.
He raised his palms. His forehead throbbed, and he felt wet blood drip down his face.
As the ground shook with the creature’s steps, Ash grew another level 2 Ignis. The force of it was so strong that his hands shook. This time, he aimed it at the troll’s chest and let it loose.
The ball of fury crackled as it flew through the air…
…and missed its chest.
Instead, the arcane ball had hit the troll’s groin, catching his pubic hairs on fire. The troll screamed as the hair sizzled and the flames spread to its penis.
It ran in circles, thudding over the ground. The air filled with the sour scent of burned troll pubes. Finally, its screaming stopped, and the troll crashed face-first to the ground.
Ash’s HP was so low that he felt like he might just collapse to the ground. He forced himself to stay upright. The beast might not be dead yet, he told himself.
The troll smoldered on the ground. Thin wisps of black smoke rose from its burned hair. Tony took shaky breaths and kept his rifle trained on it. The ground around them was cracked and littered with bullet casings. Two dead soldiers lay just across from him, their flesh burst and torn from the troll’s blood roar.
Ash’s pulse wouldn’t let up. He eyed the troll, hoping to God that it didn’t get back up.
“I think it’s done,” said Tony. “Good work, lad.”
Chapter Thirteen
Welcome to the United States God Damn Army
The ground was littered with spent bullet casings and blood stains. The smell of grilled troll was in the air, and Ash’s heart raced so fast he felt like it was gonna burst out of his chest.
The soldier collapsed to the floor on his back and took deep breaths. Tony changed his magazine and then leaned on his rifle and gathered himself. Ash had barely enough time to get himself together, before FF gave him a stat drop.
**Ignis level up to level 3! [MAXED]**
Target multiple creatures at once for the cost of 1 Ignis blast
Oh boy. This was a game changer. Up to now, if Ash needed to kill 3 goblins and it took 2 Ignis blasts to kill each one, it would have cost him 150 HP to slaughter the gang. With his new Ignis level, it’d cost just 50, since he wouldn’t have to aim at them separately. Being a blood mage came with its drawbacks, but he was starting to like the way it was turning out.
“How far apart do the creatures need to be for them all to get hit?” asked Ash.
A stone’s throw away. Imagine an invisible chain linking your enemies. Any of them connected to the chain get scorched by your Ignis. If the chain is interrupted by a car or a wall or something, that would stop the creature nearby from getting hit.
“Okay, let’s see the rest of it.”
Well, levelling up Ignis again has gotten you 50% toward your second Blood Mage tier.
“Cool, what else?”
Give me a chance, you impatient asshole.
“I thought we were gonna be nicer to each other?”
Yeah…sorry. Hang on a sec.
Ash waited, but FF didn’t say anything.
“And…?”
You didn’t use anything else in the battle, so your other skills stay the same. Although, hang on, killing the big bastard got you to level 8, giving you a new HP of 611. Can I suggest something?
“It’s about the only thing you’re good for. Go ahead.”
Up to now you’ve loaded most of your spare points into endurance to get your HP up. Not such a shit-brained idea. But maybe you better put some in intelligence this time. If you make your spells more powerful you might not need to cast as many, and that would save life force.
“Consider it done. Thanks, FF.”
FF was right. If he could get his Ignis level 1 powerful enough that it took just 1 blast to kill, say, a goblin, he wouldn’t need to fire as many times. He loaded 4 points into intelligence and 1 into endurance, boosting his HP up to 624 and increasing his spell power by 6%.
“WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?” asked the soldier.
Ash realized that the soldier had been watching him have the conversation with the voice inside his head. He’d started getting used to the craziness, so he was beginning to forget how absolutely mind-blowingly insane it would seem to others. It was strange how quick you could get used to things, but Ash had always prided himself on his ability to adapt. It was a skill any successful conman needed to develop.
“Tony, can you fill him in a sec, please?”
Tony leaned on his gun. “What do I look like to you, your secretary?”
“The beard makes you look like you shouldn’t be allowed near small children. Just fill the guy in, please?”
While Tony talked at an incredibly loud volume so the soldier could hear him, Ash walked over to the dead troll. Its flesh looked like melted plastic, and the stench of burned meat was overwhelming. First, he tried to loot it, but the troll didn’t wear clothes so there was nowhere for stuff to be hidden.
Next, he cast Life Drain, sending a purple mist of energy toward the carcass that seeped into its skin and then fed him, topping up his HP. The troll was so large that it filled his HP bar to the brim. They were really god damn lucky it had only been level 8; any higher, and they’d have been pummeled into mush.
The fact that they’d even seen a troll was worrying. He’d hoped that goblins and orcs would be the end of it, but trolls? What was next, god damned dragons? He thought of all the crazy monsters he’d fought in RPG games over the years, and grimaced.
Life Drain Lvl 2 increased to 65%
Life Drain 2 was be useful, since it meant he could top up his HP quickly in the heat of battle by draining several dead creatures at the same time. He was so close to the Blood Mage 2nd tier now that he could taste it. He left the troll and rejoined Tony and the soldier.
“NAME’S CHAD,” said the soldier. “TONY FUCKING SHORE HAS FILLED ME IN. SOUNDS BATSHIT INSANE BUT WHAT ELSE CAN I BELIEVE WHEN THERE’S A TROLL LYING OVER THERE?”
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Chad looked so young that Ash found it hard to believe he was even over the enlistment age. His face was pale. He looked like he’d been on the road for days. He had a muscled, athletic frame, no doubt from the rigorous fitness regime a solider had to keep.
Chad’s hair had been buzzed in the regular army cut once, but it looked like it had been a while since his hair last saw a razor. He had somehow managed to grow his hair long enough so that it was fuzzy, and it was a wonder that he’d escaped the anger of his commanding officer. He’d fastened a yellow smiley face badge to the breast of his khaki jacket.