Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2)

by Scottie Futch

  <<< * >>>

  You have been poisoned! You are slightly paralyzed and your movement speed will decrease over time.

  <<< * >>>

  That was all it took for the battle to shift completely. The blades were poisoned with a paralytic substance. The goblins laughed gleefully as they attacked Scott now. They did very little damage with their knives. Instead they were satisfied with slowly cutting him apart.

  He would try to block or parry their strikes, but his decreased speed prevented him from moving quickly enough. He took shallow, but painful, cuts to the hands and his arms. Each time a blade struck he would be hit with more paralyzing agent and his speed would decrease further.

  Rhea had her armor on and managed to avoid a similar fate for a moment. It was proof against their daggers. However, it did not matter in the end. She could not use her magic and her opponents were easily twice her level, possibly more. She received a shallow cut along her cheek. The paralysis hit and she began to slow down.

  “Scott! Scott!” cried a tiny voice inside his mind. Ero had woken from her nap due to the sensation of pain that she felt through her bond with him. The fights with the boars had not been enough to rouse her, but her master was in serious danger now.

  Scott found it hard to think or move now. The goblin players gleefully sliced him up. They were taking their sweet time, making it hurt. The hateful bastards could have killed him easily. He suspected that they were actually higher level than he was. It was like fighting two sadistic mini-bosses at the same time.

  “Scott, use my power!” cried Ero inside his mind.

  “You can’t yet... Need four days, remember?” Scott spoke aloud. He was losing his battle with both the goblins and his consciousness and fell to his knees. He felt a knife blade slide cruelly across his shoulder, lightly flaying his flesh. The pain was muted due to the numbness throughout his body, but the damage was racking up.

  “No, my lesser powers! Use my power, you know how! They don’t count as using magic! You can use them.” cried the girl.

  He felt a swift slash cut across his face. Blood began to pour from the superficial wound. His head drooped. At this point even breathing was difficult. It was hard to think, hard to do anything. How did he use Ero’s power? He knew it, he thought he knew it, but it was so hard to think of it.

  It came to him like a flash of light. He envisioned the tiny fairy and called upon her to banish his status effects while boosting his abilities, and did so in the only way he could think of at the moment. He threw back his head and screamed. “Ero, Power!”

  “The hell? Ero Power?” asked one of the goblins. Was he some sort of pervert?

  Ero cried out loudly and then Scott cried out immediately afterward. A bright red burst of light flared outward from his body. He suddenly began to feel a lot better.

  <<< * >>>

  You have activated a special guardian ability, Power. It can be used once per day. The effect will last for ten minutes.

  All status effects are nullified.

  You will regenerate health and mana at accelerated speeds.

  Your attributes have increased by forty percent.

  Your attack speed has risen by ten percent.

  Your attack and defense power have risen by twenty percent of total capacity.

  <<< * >>>

  Scott immediately tried to thank Ero, but she did not respond. The once per day ability, Power, had granted him ten minutes of greatly increased combat potential.

  A goblin murderer tried to attack him again, but this time the outcome was drastically different that previous assaults. Scott’s above-average stats for his level combined with his attribute boosts to make Scott far more formidable than before. The knife flashed down and skittered off his flesh like it had struck metal. A bright red zero floated upward from the sorcerer’s body.

  The players were using weapons designed to do little damage. They were tools of fear, an item used to perform weak attacks that maximized the pain inflicted. Even hard strikes would only generate enough force to do a few points of damage to the man before. Now they were completely useless against his flesh. He might as well have been wearing full body plate armor.

  “Surprise, asshole.” said Scott before launching his body upward. His fist rocketed upward in a powerful uppercut that slammed into the jaw of the confused goblin. The creature’s jaw shattered like he had been hit with a sledge hammer. The murderer was sent flying backwards with great force. A bright red number three hundred forty flared above his head.

  He had been slain outright due to his low defense. Scott’s attack power was several times higher than the agility focused players’ total defense. That difference in capacity included their light weight leather armor. The nature of a sorcerer allowed them to have attack and defense four times higher than their strength and agility. Even before, if he could have hit them he could have hurt them badly. Their agility was too great to overcome at the time because they were just a little above him in level and stats. Now, his agility was closer to their abilities and the difference showed.

  “That mother fucker just killed Gan!” snapped one of the smaller orcs.

  “Fuck him. He was one-shotted by a sorcerer seven levels below him, he deserved it.” said Aen.

  “Yeah, but at this rate he could kill all of them.”

  They watched as Scott pressed his sole remaining opponent using a series of powerful combination strikes. He had not managed to hit his opponent cleanly, yet. However, one good strike would finish him.

  “What? You scared?” asked the hobgoblin, Redfang. He was the only goblin not currently in the melee.

  “Scared? No. Why let that guy kill our people though?” asked the annoyed orc.

  Aen shrugged. “Let the fool have some hope. He’s stronger than I thought he would be, but he still doesn’t have a chance.”

  Aen whistled loudly then shouted. “Forget the elf. Take out the sorcerer.”

  The goblin players attacking Scott and Rhea immediately turned toward Scott. Rhea tried to go after them but she only took three excruciatingly slow steps before she fell to her knees. The paralysis poison had reached dangerous levels within her body.

  Scott slipped around the attack of the closest player, and attempted to strike him in the side of the head. Unfortunately, he narrowly dodged the strike.

  Three-on-one it was impossible for him to dodge, even with his heavily boosted stats. Their knives did no damage, but it was hard to line up a killing blow.

  After a series of strikes skittered off of his flesh Scott stopped fighting altogether. He stood in place impassively and stared at the closest goblin.

  “What’s he doing? Is he giving up?” asked Redfang.

  Aen smirked. “No.”

  The group leader casually said, “Rode, get ready.”

  “You serious?” asked Rode.

  “Yep, looks like that guy is tired of screwing around, and I agree.” said Aen.

  The goblins laughed as they slashed at him. Even one critical hit would be all it would take to end the fight. If he chose not to move then he just made it easier for them.

  Scott watched them briefly then smirked. The next goblin that attacked him was met by a rude and deadly surprise. Scott allowed the attack, but just before it would connect he moved into its arc and slammed his hands forward to deliver a double palm strike to the murderer’s chest. The full-power attack hit with great force and easily shattered its rib cage.

  “Dammit! Call an admin! Nerf, nerf!” cried one of the other goblins as he saw his guild mate go down in a single strike. What was with this cheat-like fighting capacity?

  Scott whipped his body around and delivered a brutal spinning back fist to the screaming goblin player. His face caved in from the power of the blow and he fell back. He died before he ever hit the ground.

  “Nerf that.” said Scott.

  The last goblin jumped back and shook his head. “The hell man! You cheating bastard.”

  Scott snorted
at the player and started forward to finish things. However, life would not be so kind. Just as he reached his final, current, opponent his shoulder was struck by a powerful force. He was sent spinning to the ground.

  “Wha...?” asked Scott. He felt his shoulder and realized that there was a crossbow bolt sticking out. He managed to get to his feet just in time to see the goblin smirk and jump to the side. An orc wielding a massive warhammer appeared in front of him running at full-speed.

  The oncoming monster moved at a speed far too rapid for Scott to match. It seemed like everything happened in slow motion, but the encounter lasted only a brief few seconds.

  Scott was unable to move his right arm due to the bolt in his shoulder. He tried desperately to block the oncoming attack with his good arm, as he had no time to dodge the monstrosity coming his way. The hammer swung forward in a horizontal arc and slammed into the hapless sorcerer with explosive force. A bright red number one hundred sixty-eight flared above his head and floated upward.

  He was knocked back by the brutal blow and flew through the air to slam against an invisible barrier a few feet behind him. He bounced off of the barrier and hit the ground. His chest had been completely crushed and he could not move at all. Somehow he had survived, but the damage was extensive and he would not be long for this world if it were not for the regenerative ability that he had awakened by calling upon Ero’s power.

  “Scott...” Rhea reached toward him feebly, before collapsing to the ground. She was conscious, but she was also completely unable to move. All she could do was stare helplessly at the man she loved while he lied on the ground in a pool of his rapidly spreading blood.

  The sorcerer felt pain unlike anything that he had ever felt before. The power he had gained from Ero was both a blessing and a curse. It immediately healed status effects that popped up after that hit, and his health continued to regenerate. Every second that passed restored one point of health and one point of mana. It was a truly incredible rate of regeneration for someone of his level.

  However, he had been instantly knocked into a severe critical state. He was not allowed to pass out and become unconscious, however. The power of Ero prevented that, but that also meant that he felt every bit of the pain. He had several severely broken bones. Mechanical issues such as a shattered sternum could be healed over time, but they would still prevent him from moving much for the moment.

  “Feh, weak ass punk.” said Rode, the orc who had nearly one-shotted the annoying sorcerer.

  “Alright, gather them up. Bring them here.” called out Aen.

  The goblin walked over and snatched up Rhea, while Rode strolled over and grabbed Scott by his hair. He turned then casually walked back to the group leader while dragging Scott through the dirt. When they reached Aen, Rode pulled Scott up by the hair and showed him to the larger orc. “You wanted this thing?”

  “Not really, he’s too small. I should throw him back and find something bigger that has a little more fight in it.” said Aen. The orcs, hobgoblin, and sole surviving goblin all laughed at the stupid joke.

  Scott bit his tongue. He could do nothing at the moment but wait and regenerate. He tried calling out to Ero again, but the fairy girl still did not respond.

  Aen gestured toward the house. “Take them out back. You know what that little shit Karsh wanted.”

  “Feh, that stupid bastard lost to this guy.” said the surviving goblin.

  Rode snorted at him. “So did your three buddies. Don’t act cocky. He’s a weak little fish to me, but compared to you he was a killer shark.”

  The goblin player looked like he was about to comment on that but one look from Rode silenced him. He looked away to avoid the orc’s gaze.

  “Yeah, too bad he’s human.” remarked Redfang.

  The other’s agreed. If he were of a monster race they would have tried to recruit him on the spot.

  “Ah well, that’s enough of that. Let’s get moving.” said Aen.

  Erghe, the other orc, took Rhea from the goblin and slung her over his shoulder then walked off toward the back of the house. Rode simply dragged Scott toward their destination using his hair as a hand-grip.

  Once they arrived in the back yard Scott was dragged to the porch. He tried to struggle when they put a rope around his neck, but his regeneration had not restored his limb motion yet. He was close, but not close enough.

  “Feisty, not bad, but it won’t do you any good.” said Aen.

  Rode tossed the free end of the rope over a porch beam then walked behind Scott. He pulled casually and the sorcerer was forced to a standing position. After a few more pulls he was forced onto the tips of his toes.

  Rhea was taken to a spot directly across from him. Erghe sat down on the grass and placed her limp body in his lap. After getting her paralyzed body into position, he pulled her chin up and placed a dagger at her throat.

  “It’s like this. You’re going to die here. She’s going to die here, too. The Corpse Rats don’t take kindly to people screwing with our business.” said Aen.

  Aen gestured to Erghe. The orc slowly slid his dagger across Rhea’s throat. The slice was not too deep, but blood began to flow. A red number seven flared above her head.

  Scott cried out. “Let her go you fucking asshole!”

  The orc laughed then pointed at him with his dagger. “You should worry about yourself, asshole.”

  Rode jerked back on the rope and Scott was taken off the ground. He struggled but that only made things worse. He started to regain motion in his left arm, but it would not come soon enough.

  A red number one floated upward from Rhea, and then a few seconds later another one appeared above her head. She had been inflicted with the bleeding status. They were going to have her slowly bleed to death while Scott was forced to watch!

  Scott gagged and choked due to the rope around his neck. He was in a similar position to Rhea. He was slowly losing health each second due to asphyxiation. The regenerative effect of Ero’s power overcame that issue to some extent, but it would run out soon. He would die here.

  The sorcerer tried to swing his body back in an attempt to kick at Rode, but the orc simply swatted him back. He lost several points of health in the process and his vision started to go dark.

  Scott and Rhea watched each other as they continued their slow march toward death. The sorcerer’s eyes moved toward Aen.

  The orc noticed his look. “I bet you want to know why she’s involved.”

  Scott tried to glare at the orc but he was having trouble doing even that.

  “Well, I’ll tell you. When we reported to our guild that you seemed to have a cute little girlfriend, Karsh wanted you to suffer more. You cost him a lot of money, you know. It’s nothing personal on our end, but he’s the guild leader’s brother.”

  Scott continued to look at Aen. The orc frowned at him. “You think we like doing this sort of shit?”

  The sorcerer’s accusing gaze continued to bore into Aen and the orc’s face screwed into a hateful mask. “Cut that shit out.”

  What Aen did not know was that Scott could no longer turn his head. He had no choice but to look at him. However, the Orc was annoyed by what he thought was an accusing look. Why should he care if this guy and his girl died like this? He was just some asshole who had screwed with the guild.

  After a full minute of Scott’s supposedly accusing stare Aen called out, “Fuck it! Just kill the bitch and then do him.”

  When Erghe did not make a move or say anything, Aen turned to him. “Erghe?”

  The orc sat silently, Rhea still in his lap bleeding out. Aen stared at him for a moment and then took a step back in surprise. Erghe’s body fell backwards and hit the ground but his severed head continued to remain in position. It looked as though it was floating in mid-air!

  “What the hell? Erghe!” called out Aen.

  A beautiful scantily clad girl in red appeared suddenly. She was holding Erghe’s head casually by the hair..

  “Who the hell ar
e you? Why did you kill Erghe?” asked Aen.

  “Oh, sorry. Did you need this guy for something?” asked the girl.

  She raise the decapitated head up, looked at it for a moment then turned it toward Aen. She placed two fingers at the corners of the decapitated orc’s mouth and pulled his lips down into a frown. “Oops, my bad.”

  A loud outcry from behind Scott caught Aen’s attention next. The sorcerer immediately hit the ground as Rode fell back. The orc had a large spike sticking up out of his eye. He was dead before he hit the ground.

  The girl leaned down and pressed a few spots on Rhea’s body that her armor did not cover. Her bleeding effect stopped. Amazingly, she even started to regenerate.

  “Shit!” cried Redfang as he saw several dark-clad figures appeared out of thin air.

  “Not a bad shot, Gambol.” said Sharde in praise of her comrade’s throwing skills.

  “Oh, I try.” replied the ninja master with a smirk.

  A dozen high-level ninjas had risen up all around the remaining members of the Corpse Rat Guild.

  “You... Shit!” snarled Aen. Why had this happened?

  The ninja-girl took a step forward and then blurred out of sight before reappearing in front of Scott. She gently removed the rope from his neck and pressed a few spots on his body. His regeneration continued at an even more accelerated pace than before.

  “Who the hell are you people!” snapped Aen.

  “Sharde?” asked Scott while he looked up at his unlikely savior.

  The girl smirked at him then pulled out a battle fan from her ample cleavage. She turned toward Aen then gestured toward Scott with the fan. “The ice cream pervert is correct. I am Sharde.”

  “Do you understand now?” asked the ninja-girl before casually tossing aside Erghe’s severed head. She had not bothered to drop it until now.

  “Sharde! You... Aren’t you the leader of Crimson Shadow?”

  “Oh, you’ve heard of us? How nice. Our public relations campaigns must be working.” said Sharde.