by Charles Dean
“Boss, do you wanna stop him?” Bonnie asked in a hushed voice. “He’s kinda ruining your image and making you sound like a greasy, creepy playboy.”
Lucas considered the question for a moment, but before he could answer her, the silver-furred Were-Wolf girl started walking straight toward him.
“What the hell are you doing?” one of the were-kin behind the girl asked. “He’s an NPC. Why are you even treating this seriously? Come on back. Let’s just stick to the main quest.”
The girl shrugged. “They look to be having fun over there . . . I wanna have fun and be taken care of too. Is that so wrong?” she protested. “Why I gotta stick with y’all when it’s usually a freakin’ sausage fest, and y’all just creeping on me and treat’n me like a crappy player?”
“What?!” a guy next to the first exclaimed. He looked something like a blue-eared Were-Rat.
“I play t’have fun; that look’n fun. Also, who knows? Maybe NPCs will be better company. Later!” she said, her voice becoming more confident. She sounded even somewhat angry at her previous group, and after telling them off, she began walking toward Lucas and his people.
Charisma-induced conversion of a female player toward your goal mid-quest has triggered a special effect from your title Enemy of Man. For the next hour, the title will provide an increase of 200% Charisma versus women and a decrease of 100% Charisma versus men. Any additional bonuses from items, skills, or classes to Charisma will only improve your Charisma versus females.
Notification: Your Charisma check versus women within the surrounding area has exceeded the standard cap of 1000. You are the first player to break the Charisma cap. Due to the nature in which you have broken the cap, your title Enemy of Man has risen in rank from Enemy of Man to Bane of Mankind.
New Title: Bane of Mankind
Effects: 50% bonus Charisma in all interactions with women. 50% Charisma penalty in all interactions with men.
For the remainder of the original effect, all Charisma checks versus women will automatically succeed, and all Charisma checks versus men will automatically fail.
All non-player women will automatically do their best to ensure your survival and will receive randomized stat bonuses based on their previous assumptions of you. All female members in your party will receive a temporary 10% increase to Hit Points and damage while aiding you in combat.
Charisma checks . . . Lucas sighed as he read through the notification. Of course. I kept thinking of this as a more fluid system, but it is still a game. Of course, it would have to do checks to see if a person’s dialogue succeeds, and what they say probably helps because it just adjusts the difficulty of the check. If the AI were too realistic, there is no way ninja-boy Jake woulda ever gotten a girlfriend.
“Woah, boss, I don’t know what just happened, but I’m liking this party with you even more,” Bonnie said, suddenly much perkier. She pulled out one of her daggers and gave it a few quick swipes through the air as if testing something.
“I’m certain I’ll be able to keep you alive now,” Lilith said. “I definitely feel stronger.”
“I’m going with him too,” one of the NPC Human townswomen said as she got up and started walking toward Lucas.
“Same,” another woman said, and she was echoed by a few more. In a matter of moments, Lucas had gone from gaining one extra harem member to over forty as the women kept pouring toward his side. As expected, with each that left the mob, another man started spouting hateful obscenities at Lucas. What had originally been a calm, patient, and expectant crowd silently judging him and listening to his speech was now a very riled-up and angry mob of over 150 men who all appeared to want nothing more than to rip him limb from limb.
“What the hell?” someone shouted. “This is just some lame event. What are you doing, Suzie?!”
“Betsy, come to your senses! He’s just an NPC!”
“Leela, WTF?! Don’t walk out on your guildies here for some creep!”
“CAIT?! CAIT?!”
“Jane, seriously, will you stop this already?!”
The cries of random players continued as a number of their female party members left their guilds and parties to join him for some reason--one that didn’t fully make sense to Lucas unless it was just curiosity about what would happen if they did. He could count at least ten non-Humans among the fifty people that had now switched sides. The almost entirely all-male remainder of the mob angrily looked on at Lucas. Even though he had a rather sizeable group now, he was still outnumbered three to one at least, and the majority of his team were players. Even with the mass change of sides, the fight didn’t look like it would be easy, and he was really thankful for the stalling he had gotten away with so that Liu could get closer.
“Damn,” Bonnie grumbled.
“What? Worried about a little competition now?” Lilith asked, looking over at the Were-Fox.
“. . . No,” she responded, her eyes darting to the floor. “I’ll be fine.”
“YOU KNOW WHAT?! SCREW YOU ALL!” one of the guys shouted as he decided he didn’t want to wait and see if any more of the female players would decide to change sides. As his obscenity echoed over the crowd, he used his staff to create a large boulder, one that was easily three or four feet in diameter, and sent it careening toward the newly formed crowd. “JUST DIE ALREADY, YOU TRAITORS!”
Linnaeus jumped forward and intercepted the boulder with all six arms while using both his tail and his feet to help him create traction as he stopped it. “I think you have all outstayed your welcome at my brother’s home!” he shouted, hoisting the boulder above his head and throwing it right back at the mage. A new boulder that had been summoned by the same mage smashed into the one Linnaeus returned, stopping both with a loud crash. Seconds later, Linnaeus vaulted over the pile of rubble and landed giant-primate-feet-first on top of the mage and crushed him into the ground.
Whether it was the side-switching women, both players and NPCs, or the angry mob that was now certain Lucas was somehow the devil, both sides were starting to unload everything they had on each other. It was hard for Lucas to see much of what was going on. He didn’t have the vantage point to make out much of the battlefield from where he stood. The women were not only a large obstruction to his view, but also created a wall between him and his foes that was nearly impossible to shoot a spell through without hitting one of them. Not having many alternatives, he started firing the only spell that would go over their heads and didn’t require him to aim properly: Exploding Tear.
Since Exploding Tear could be fired like a mortar, just like Rock Lob, Lucas began shelling the giant balls of concentrated, exploding water at the enemies one after the other as fast as he could while trying to keep an eye on what was happening around him.
Bonnie seemed to be trying to figure out what to do with herself as the ranged casters on both sides were blasting the melee fighters who were trying to engage. She hesitated, gripping her daggers tightly at her side as her eyes darted from player to player while looking for an opportunity that didn’t seem to present itself. Similarly, Lilith chose to hang back with Lucas, but she didn’t seem nervous or anxious like Bonnie did.
The pyromaniac magician Lucas had bought pushed his way in front of Lucas, and his staff glowed the color of a hot ember as he lit one Fire Wall after another at the enemy lines while cackling maniacally.
“This is what I’m talking about!” he cheerfully cried. He was so enthralled by his work burning the field all around him that he didn’t even flinch when a Lightning Pillar, one of the more advanced spells, came crashing toward him. He just casually stepped to the side and allowed the turbulent shaft of energy to consume the next closest target, a beautiful Dokkalfar woman. She, like Bonnie, had been trying to decide when to go forward and use the large two-handed maul on her back.
Just as the pillar of twisting Lightning pivoted and turned to consume another one of Lucas’s new crew, it suddenly fizzled out. It took Lucas a second to see what had happened, but th
e answer was soon obvious. The caster had been sniped. He wasn’t completely dead, likely due to resistances and a fairly large health pool, but one of the skilled archers on Lucas’s side had somehow managed to put three arrows in him. One shaft sprouted from his chest, and two others had struck through the wrist of his staff hand, causing him to drop his weapon.
Several different animations began appearing after that as casters started summoning mostly mid-level area-of-effect spells. Giant spinning Shadow Pillars, walls of fire, torrential rains, and large Lightning columns twisted through the lines of players. Bodies were thrown about, shocked, burned, and dissolved by the dozens, and then both sides’ long-ranged attackers began firing off salvos of arrows, each archer doing their best to bring down the opposing mages before they completely wrecked the closely-pressed groups. It was an incredible sight to behold, one that the melee fighters got to watch quietly as they hesitated to even take a single step forward.
Lucas looked over at the Blood Guard that had come with him, and an idea struck him. He knew that the thought was rather stupid, but he wanted to follow through with it simply because he couldn’t stand only being able to fling Exploding Tears over a wall of friendly players like the lowest-damage form of artillery.
“Bonnie, if you’re not going out there, I need you to start grabbing the injured players who have joined our side and drag them back into the dungeon. Get them patched up as soon as you can. Don’t worry about it if you don’t have anything to heal them with, just start moving all the injured into a random room on the first floor and then station four of our door sentry guards on the inside to make sure that, if anyone gets through to them, they won’t be sitting ducks. If you can find another stealth-dependent player in the group to help you, do so. We need a medic hut as soon as possible, and it might give us an advantage since they’re clearly not doing that.” Then, in a lower and hushed voice, he added, “Also, try to pick a room that has a bed so that it will look tempting when you bring back players.” He wanted the players to bind there so that, if they died, they’d lose experience and potentially some gold and an item, but not too much time before returning to the field.”
“Got it, boss.” Bonnie immediately darted forward and grabbed an injured caster near the front lines with five arrows in her and then ran back into the building. A handful of other melee fighters noticed what she was doing and began copying her. They grabbed up injured mages and archers and then disappeared into the building with hurt magicians on their back.
“As for you”--Lucas looked over at the Blood Guard--“go wild.”
He didn’t know if the Blood Guard would actually even get a single kill, but that wasn’t the point. Linnaeus was able to create a good bid of pressure on his own by diving into the enemy crowd, but it simply wasn’t enough, even with the added spells. No matter how much he was enjoying the light show, Lucas needed to break that wall of players and end the melee stalemate. The full-blown battle had only just broken out, but it was already obvious that his side was going to lose. A few of the mages were already dead, and his melee line was useless. So long as neither side made a move, they would continue to remain that way. No one wanted to stand out and get struck down first. So, in order to end the standoff, Lucas decided to send his new guard to do just that.
The Blood Guard nodded witlessly and then raised up his large zweihander and charged forward without a sound. The second he broke past the little concave line of archers and casters, the enemy did exactly what every melee fighter feared: they focused on him. Arrows streaked toward him, and while one struck him in the chest, he dodged past others, darting from side to side and zigzagging straight toward the enemy lines. Lucas grimaced as the Blood Guard zipped past what would have been a well-placed arrow and cringed as he watched the projectile clip a pretty bunny archer on her side.
No matter how effortlessly the Blood Guard moved or how much he dodged, it was impossible to completely avoid the rain of barbs and spells. Dozens of arrows that he couldn’t avoid careened off his armor, and several more brought forth large red stains as they cut through what little bit of exposed skin he had. Spells exploded around him and behind him, but the points that Lucas had sunk into his defenses were apparently worth it. Despite the constant storm of damage and a Lightning spell exploding in his face, the Blood Guard didn’t seem even the slightest bit fazed. He crossed the no man’s land completely undeterred and sliced into the first mage he reached with his large zweihander. Unable to shy away from the attack due to the press of bodies behind him, there was little the man could do to stop the large sword from almost cleaving him in two. The mage’s health pool stopped the attack from being a complete one-shot, but it wasn’t nearly large enough to withstand two such attacks from the emotionless killing machine. The Blood Guard stepped back a half step, ripping his sword free from the mage’s body and followed up his first attack with an overhanded diagonal slash that tore through the mage’s neck and into his chest.
The throng visibly panicked, obviously struggling as they tried to figure out how to handle a rampaging swordsman in their midst. Archers couldn’t get a clean line of sight on the Blood Guard due to his positioning at the front of the crowd, and casters couldn’t risk firing off an area-of-effect spell without wounding dozens of their own. It was only a brief moment of hesitation, but the slight lull in attacks was all the opportunity Lucas’s melee fighters needed to seize the opportunity. They surged forward across the street, raising loud battle cries, rushing to engage their new enemy.
Likewise, fighters began pressing through the crowd as the useless archers and casters began pushing back to create some space between themselves and the Blood Guard. A few of the earliest to arrive even launched themselves onto the Blood Guard in a poor attempt to subdue him, but as far as Lucas could tell, it was little more than a suicidal gesture.
In a moment, sword wielders, spear masters and every other type of close-combat-classed individual was locked in combat. The ranged combat had begun to collapse, and even Lucas’s new pyromaniac companion, who had previously rushed to the front to try and get as many kills as he could, was backing up rather quickly and abandoning his channeling as an angry double-bladed-axe-wielding barbarian came straight at him.
Since the other side outnumbered Lucas’s own, and Lucas had already sent a few of his close-combat specialists to handle medic duty, he knew his side wouldn’t win, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t trying to play the good guy; he was trying to get much-needed Blood Goddess Reputation Points. In just a few moments, he had harvested the 12 points he was missing when the fight began. Now, he could buy the Weapon of the Blood Servant. He didn’t know what it would be or what stats it might have, but he didn’t care. He needed damage. He couldn’t stand around feeling inept while everyone else battled around him. He desperately wanted to join in even if just for his own fun, to kill and dominate his foes like he used to in Hesse.
Weapon of the Blood Servant has been purchased. Would you like to withdraw it now?
“Now is when the fun really starts,” Lilith said, suddenly popping up on his right, licking her lips as she twirled her blades and prepared to engage in combat with a man who was rushing at them full speed, apparently dead set on being the first one to strike Lucas down.
“My thoughts exa--” Lucas began to agree with her, distracted from his intention to withdraw the staff from the system store, but he wasn’t able to finish his sentence as an arrow tore into his cheek, ripping through the flesh and shattering several of his teeth before shooting out the other side. His vision flashed as pain exploded through his mouth, and his subconscious desperately hoped that the shaft somehow passed through completely. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be that easy. The arrow’s shaft had splintered, shattering pieces into his mouth and leaving the back half of the arrow still firmly jutting out the side of his face.
Lucas wanted to scream out in pain. This was one of the most torturous feelings he had experienced since he first started living in this fantasy w
orld, but he could barely grunt. He didn’t have cheeks anymore to hold in the air needed to talk, his tongue had been practically cut in half by the arrowhead, and he couldn’t even close his mouth now due to the pooling blood and the foreign object still present. Lucas couldn’t even so much as ask for help. To make matters worse, as he tried to recover from the sudden shock, he spotted a crazy man dashing toward him who was covered from head to toe in plate mail. He weakly tried to dodge out of the way of the man’s shield as it slammed forward, but the pain was so intense that it blocked his senses. His dexterity had been demolished by the sudden wound, and no matter how hard he tried to get his body back under control, he could feel the lag between any will to act and the resulting action. Even his field of vision narrowed from the adrenaline rush that surged through him to try and numb the agony.
Freaking hell! Lucas tried to yell as the inevitable happened: the large armored man crashed into him full force and sent him flying back through the air. He thudded to the ground, and Lucas’s momentum and weight created the necessary force to flop his body across the dirt like a ragdoll.
Lucas struggled to right himself even enough to see where the next attack was going to come from when another arrow zipped past him, flying inches in front of his face and almost clipping him right in the nose. His head automatically turned to follow the projectile’s path to the spot it stuck in the dirt beside him, carrying his gaze away from the armored thug bearing down on him. Lucas didn’t even see the rim of the brute’s shield as it crashed down hard into his stomach, driving the air from his lungs and forcing him to double up in pain. Somewhere above him, he was dimly aware of the six-and-a-half-foot tall man letting out a guttural roar at the same time.