“You’re one ugly motherfucker, you know that?” I muttered.
“Oh, I know. All of you humans have the same opinion on anything other than yourselves, but to me, well, you’re all so very beautiful. Or rather, beautifully juicy.”
Fetrasch brought his weapon up, and once I got a better look at it, I realized it was actually a monstrous femur bone. Maybe from something like a tyranitaur.
“What now?” I asked. “Are we going to duke it out?”
He shrugged and put the bone back down again. “I just came to greet you, if you will. See, you’re one of the three who can provide me with some fun inside this rift. If I kill you right away, the challenge will be so much less, don’t you think?”
“Then why are you here?”
“To give you a proposal. Are you interested in hearing it?”
“Tell me,” I replied as calmly as I could, but my voice wavered slightly.
“I will sit back for fifteen whole days, and you will have free rein within that time. Make use of it to kill the others if you want any chance of winning against me. If you decline, I’ll kill you here and now.”
It wasn’t usually an easy thing to catch me off guard, but this thing sure had managed to, and with great ease at that. But fifteen days? Two weeks to scan through all the zones and even catch others outside and kill them? Now that was something I wasn’t so sure of.
“How many did you kill so far? By yourself.”
He looked up at the sky as if mocking me. The bastard didn’t even feel the need to keep his guard up in my presence.
“Twelve. The boost I got from them was pretty weak since their Gods were pretty weak, but anything is better than nothing, right?”
Twelve people, aliens, or whatever you wanted to call us. If he killed as many, his base stats would have risen by 120%. I bit my lower lip and nodded slowly. “How will I know that you’ll keep your word?”
“Easy. We can use the rift as a witness if you agree?”
“And we have to fight in fifteen days?”
“We don’t have to fight, at least not until everyone else is dead. I’d like to keep you until last if that’s alright with you,” he mocked. The issue was that I understood him clearly, but since he was a damn alien creature, I had no idea how sarcasm, mockery, or anything like it would sound to my ears, as it wasn’t getting translated.
“Alright with me, huh? Give me a year. You’re already so far ahead that it wouldn’t matter if I killed the rest, I would never be able to catch up with you anyway.”
He frowned and clenched his fist tightly around his weapon. “A year?” he asked slowly, drawing the words out, but I nodded. “A year without doing anything?”
“Didn’t you just say that you’re so strong that I won’t stand a chance anyway? What’s a year? You can just enjoy food and drink and—women? Do you have women?”
Fetrasch narrowed his eyes on mine and nodded. “I have twelve of them back in my zone so—alright. I’ll agree not to work on my power for a whole year, but once the year is up, you and I will have that fight. Agreed?”
I nodded and let out a sigh I didn’t know I was keeping in. “Agreed.”
“Oh, wait, let me add something really quickly. You’ll have to beat this one first.” He laughed as his hand shot out to the side, and he pulled another alien-like creature out of—nowhere.
“You want us to fight?”
“Yes, why? Don’t you like fighting? I feel you’re pretty strong yourself.”
“I win, and I get my year?”
He pointed his finger at the sky and drew a sign, something I didn’t recognize. “The rift will be our witness and judge.”
A flash of light struck the clearing, and numerous shapes appeared. Most of them floated to one side with only several others floating on the other. I noticed Veles on the side with the fewer shapes and did a quick head count. Five in total, while on the other there were nine. A shimmering white circle appeared around us and encased both the newcomer, Fetrasch, and me.
“What the hell is going on?” I whispered more to myself than anyone else. My eyes met Veles’s, but she didn’t say or do anything. Instead, a figure appeared floating overhead. I recognized the dark shape at first glance.
“Krajolik? What’s going on?”
He looked down at me and smirked. “A bet has been invoked using the rift and all the Gods involved in the game as witnesses. If you win, you’ll be free to do whatever you want for a year while Fetrasch will be confined to his zone, unable to get back to his own world, into another zone, or get any kind of power-up for the duration of a standard human year.”
“And if I lose?”
“You die and your zone will belong to Menalis, your opponent. Since both of you have a patron and starting zone, there’s much more at stake. If you win, you get 10% of whatever power she has at her best, with all possible buffs from people who live in her zone, her God, and her own buffs, items, and potions. You will get all contents from her zone inside a special pouch that will disappear once you’ve retrieved the items, and you’ll get two achievements, of which one is a rather special one.”
“And what about the people inside the zone?”
“They’ll all die.”
I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath as I felt like losing my mind. What the hell had I gotten myself into? What’s more, the bastard had baited me into this battle!
“Fetrasch,” I yelled, “you’ve made a mistake, you filthy Zanoxian! I’ll rip your guts out with my bare hands!”
His face grew sinister as his lips curled up again. Damn nasty alien bastard!
“Well then, since there’s nothing else to wait for, why don’t we—”
“Wait! Part of me is missing. I’m not whole, and I demand my other half to be present.”
Krajolik stared at me intently and then nodded. He snapped his fingers, and Scar appeared beside me in all his newfound glory. He was easily two feet taller than he used to be last time and looked as dangerous as a damn tyranitaur.
“Thanks for remembering me.”
I wanted to hug the wolf, but before I could even give him a response, a loud boom shook the enclosed space and announced the start of our battle.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Four towers sprang to life, rising some ten feet into the air. The first two covered Menalis’s flanks while the front two were further ahead and much closer to me. Flames erupted from one while shards of ice flew from the other, both targeting me head-on. I dodged to the side and hurled my halberd at the nearest tower. It bounced off the flame tower’s shield and dropped on the ground, but I already had my sword out.
Scar rushed in and jumped atop the ice tower. The shards weren’t able to move in every direction with as much ease as the flames could, so it was a good choice. At least for a mere second. Lightning discharged from the tower to Menalis’s left, but Scar absorbed the attack.
Menalis scowled and even frowned, but she regained her composure quickly. At least I thought it was a female due to the long hair that dropped to her back. The blue-skinned creature stood on two slender legs that looked like twigs. She looked more afraid than I was, but having to face someone covered in tyranitaur armor and a giant wolf, well, that could rattle most people.
I swung my blade and struck the tower, only to feel the blade carry me off balance as the dome absorbed most of the attack. Still, a tiny crack appeared as the shield turned orange where I’d hit it before turning to blue. I switched tactics immediately and used my first skill.
Damage Notification:
You have used << BASH >>.
You have used 60 Enma.
You have inflicted 3,123 damage to Flame Tower.
The shield broke and disintegrated. I swung again but didn’t deal as much damage.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 597 damage to Flame Tower.
I moved from a normal attack to the new skill I’d gained earlier and felt my attack rise slightly with each
new strike. If the towers turned out to be damn tanks, I’d have a good time bringing them down.
Damage Notification:
You have used << SLASH >>.
You have used 20 Enma.
You have inflicted 1,199 damage to Flame Tower.
The tower shook slightly and stopped spewing flames both toward me and Scar, who was striking the ice tower with lightning and gnawing at it. He’d broken through the shield with ease and was busy ripping it apart. Interesting. The mutt had returned much stronger than he was before they left.
“You at rank five now?” I yelled as I dodged to the right, escaping a narrow lightning strike just as tendrils rose from the ground and grabbed my feet. Flames showered me and started draining my shield.
“Yeah! Hurry up so I can get stronger!”
I struck the tower two times in quick succession before I got sick of it and used focus. The shield started dropping rapidly as all four towers targeted me instead of the wolf, draining my pool by several percent every second.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 11,249 damage to Flame Tower.
Menalis shrieked as the tower exploded, but so did I in a way. The blast wave struck and sent me flying after eating through 17% of my shield points in a single hit.
“You alright?” Scar yelled after me as the second tower exploded. He was quick on his feet and managed to escape before the blast hit him, only to land on the third tower. I got up to my feet and darted for the woman and noticed overlapping shields. There was a strong blue shield where she stood, but to my surprise, she still hadn’t made a single step.
“Yeah! Why isn’t she moving?”
“The hell I know?” he growled as she screamed. Tendrils, thick as my legs, shot out from the ground as an inferno appeared out of nowhere and a hailstorm struck me from overhead, all while a howling wind shredded my shield.
I tried to move, but the tendrils kept me in place. Panic set in as my points quickly dried up, and the mini-dome surrounding my body evaporated. The scorching heat ate at my armor while the wind sliced into it. Chunks of ice, the size of my fist, bounced off me all while I couldn’t move.
I cursed under my breath and jumped, but I couldn’t get free. Double-jumped. A tendril broke, as the other elements had already weakened it, and I jumped out of the mass of elements that had been trying to kill me.
“Shit! This thing isn’t playing around!” Scar laughed as the third tower exploded. “I’m leaving the last one to keep powering up!”
I jumped again, using all my power to lunge at the woman, then double-jumped, propelling myself even faster. The sword leaned against my shoulder, ready to strike as I tensed my muscles and clenched my fists tighter. She dropped her hands to the sides and closed her eyes. Something glistened in the corners of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. A damn universal sign for crying, fear, and—a shitload of other bad emotions.
I crashed into her with my left shoulder, knocking Menalis off her feet despite the shield still holding. She staggered back and fell on her ass as her eyes shot open along with her mouth.
“Please! Kill me already! I don’t want to kill others! I can’t stand this anymore!”
“What the hell is she on about?” Scar asked as he landed next to me. “This is so—anticlimactic? Is that the right word?”
“Fuck that!” I cursed. “I can’t kill someone if they aren’t protecting themselves!”
“Neither can I. It just feels so wrong,” Scar muttered. “What the hell do we do now?”
I shook my head and let out a sigh. “I have no idea. Do we let her live?”
“Then we die,” he said weakly. “We have to kill her. Just look at all the divinities here. This isn’t going to end unless one side dies.”
I looked up at Krajolik and asked something that might change the situation. “What if she concedes? What if she loses everything but stays alive? Is that possible?”
Krajolik remained silent for what felt like an eternity but was in fact a mere heartbeat. His eyes, however, were as cold as steel. “This battle will have one winner and one loser. The time limit is sixty minutes after the first attack, so you still have over fifty minutes. Don’t bother me with other… stupidities. Please.”
I did the stupidest thing ever in my life and put my sword away; then I walked over to the woman and sat down. She looked at me with concern in her eyes, but it evaporated quickly.
“What? Do you want to gloat?” she hissed after her expression changed once again.
I shook my head and looked away, unable to meet her pained face. “No, I don’t. I want to get to know you if that’s alright. I want to remember you so when I kill that damned Zanoxian, I can tell him about you. Who you were and what kind of… person you were.”
Menalis opened her mouth as if to say something but then burst out into laughter. It took her a long minute to stop, and it was only then that I looked her in the eyes again. She didn’t look afraid anymore, and the will to die was gone as well. I might have made the biggest mistake in my life if she still wanted to fight and had managed to prepare a trap for me, but I didn’t think so. Her pleading earlier had been genuine, I was sure of it.
“My first human tried to kill me, so I killed him in return after he didn’t give up. The second pleaded after first hitting me with something from afar. I killed him with as little pain as possible, yet here you sit, another human, and you want to get to know me. What irony.”
“We aren’t all the same, Menalis. If we were, you’d be dead already. Instead, we’re sitting here and talking.”
She looked away for several seconds and then took in a deep breath before she continued, “I was looking forward to getting into communion with my partner in seven days. Now he’ll never even get peace since my corpse will be rotting in this zone. Is that the kind of thing you wanted to know?”
I nodded and looked down at my hands. “It is. See, I already died once to my brother. He killed my wife and took my newborn child before killing me. Isn’t that great?”
“And you were revived? How?”
I shrugged and acted as if I had no idea. It wouldn’t be fair to tell her, as she’d plead to the Gods to save her as well.
“I have no idea, to be honest,” I whispered. “But it happened, and here I am, trying not to die for the second time around.”
I felt Veles’s and Krajolik’s stares the most, but everyone present was already getting annoyed if not angry. They wanted to go back to whatever they’d been doing, even more so the ones on the right. Now that I thought about it, the angry ones felt… weak? No, that wasn’t exactly it. Were they the patrons of those who’d already died in this round?
“Good luck. I really hope someone like you manages to win this time around, you know? I lost all my family the day this thing happened back in my world. Now I’m left all alone, all except for the one who stayed by my side.”
“Do you have a picture of him? Maybe I can give him your message if we ever meet.”
“No, there’s no need for that. I’m already at ease right now, human. It’s funny how your name coincides with victor, someone who won a duel.” She chuckled and wiped the tears away.
Menalis looked more and more human with every new second and word she said, but all things had to come to an end, especially this. Sure, we had over forty minutes to chat, but I could see she wanted to get it over with. Who wouldn’t want to? I sure would. Sometimes torture to the mind was far worse than that to the body.
I got up and picked my halberd up that lay nearby after having bounced off against the tower earlier. She closed her eyes and sat there with a broad smile on her face. Both my hands wrapped tightly around the shaft as I stood there, but I couldn’t do it. I tried so hard, yet I couldn’t swing the damn weapon for the life of me.
“Viktor!” a voice rang out from the far end of the dome. “Kill her, or I’ll kill you and all your people right here and now!”
“We have no chance of winning,” Scar hisse
d inside my mind. “Do it, or you’ll lose Melina and the child!”
I froze and just stood there, unable to breathe or move. “What child?”
“There’s a second life signature inside her, and it’s not Lana. Don’t do anything stupid!”
“What will it be?” the Zanoxian scum yelled again. I felt him moving closer, but I couldn’t reply. My tongue was twisted into a tangle of words that wouldn’t come out no matter how hard I tried.
“Why are you torturing me, human?” Menalis asked as she knelt. “Here, just strike here several times, and it’s over,” she whispered while pointing at her neck. “Go on. I want to see my family again.”
Scar nudged me with his snout, and I stepped in closer but far from ready to end her life. Why was it so hard? Because I knew it could well have been me if my luck had been any different.
I gritted my teeth and slammed the halberd down against her neck. The shield cracked but held, so I pulled it back and hammered the weapon down again, hitting the back of her neck with the edge of my halberd. The blade only passed partially through her defenses, and blood gushed out as I pulled the weapon back. Menalis cried out and dropped on her chest, but she was still very much alive. This damn system! This damn game!
“Fuck all of you!” I screamed as the halberd came down the third time and cut through her spine and exited at the front. The head dropped and rolled for several feet before it stopped and stared up at the sky. No, it wasn’t the sky, the eyes stared right at me. They were now lifeless and unmoving, but I knew they’d been meant for me.
A wave of power washed over me, one unlike anything I’d felt before, and one of the Gods beside Veles disappeared and reappeared next to the other group on the right. Several notifications popped up before me.
Notification:
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Friend or foe? Foe!
Crafting Death: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 2) Page 30