by Atlas Kane
He swung around, axe in hand, and came face to face with his quest’s objective. And Cade wanted nothing more than to shit his only pair of pants.
5
Heroes Scream Too, Dammit
Cade stared into the glinting yellow eyes of a Nilgathi Drakeling. He knew what it was called because as soon as he laid eyes on the fifteen-foot lizard with corded muscle and shining scales, his brain automatically shouted, What the hell is that?
The information came up, nice and tidy, below the creature standing before him.
Nilgathi Drakeling
Level 6
Predator Mega Fauna
Cade couldn’t help but wonder, If that is a drakeling, what does a drake look like?
In a shuddering breath, it coiled, stepping sideways, sizing Cade up and looking very close to striking out at him. The beast’s mouth was stuffed with rows of white teeth, some protruding out sideways. At the front of its shark-like mouth, two large fangs hung down. Those would need to be avoided. Its scaled body was sleek, and bony ridges marched down its spine and crowned its head in a fringe of armor. It was a stunning creature, as beautiful as it was capable of violence.
Most terrifying of all was the drakeling’s eyes, vivid and intelligent. An unthinking monster would have attacked immediately. Instead, it searched him up and down, assessing its new opponent for weaknesses. The yellow orbs flicked around in its skull, looking like the eyes of a wild cat.
Cade gripped his axe in sweaty palms. Upgraded Attributes or no, I’m entirely too squishy to be facing this thing.
It lunged, swiping out with its claws, probing him for weakness. It found plenty. Cade threw himself backward, narrowly avoiding the blow, but falling over his own feet, clumsy with terror. Yet though his first reaction was a failure, Cade did manage to roll backward over his shoulder and fall into a crouch. He clutched his weapon and surveyed the extent of his enemy, trying to suppress the panic in his core.
Never in the long and twisted years of childhood, not in basic training or in Iraq, nor even in the nightmares that followed, did Cade think he was in direct danger of being consumed by another being. First time for everything, he thought, not at all relishing the experience.
It snapped out, this time intent on tasting its quarry. Cade struck back with his axe, cutting the beast’s jaw. He could do this, he just had to keep his head. The drakeling charged, this time slashing out twice with its paws. The first, Cade dodged, grateful for his incredible Dexterity once more, but the second tore gashes in his shoulder, vibrant blood painting the moss-covered ground.
He grunted, and his eyes watered. The pain lanced up his neck and into his face, some nerve having been damaged by the attack. He ignored it as best he could. It would be a lot worse if the thing bit him. The drakeling was incredibly fast, but Cade did see a pattern in the way it moved. It would creep forward, tense, then let fly, its final movements far too fast to avoid entirely. But he could work with that.
So the next time it crept forward, Cade waited until its legs tensed. Then he countered, swinging his weapon down at the beast’s head at the same time it lunged forward. The blade bit deep into one of the drakeling’s eyes, lodging in the bony ridge of its skull. It yanked its head back, plucking the axe neatly from Cade’s grasp.
Holy shitbirds! What in the hell am I gonna do now? Cade cursed. He found himself facing a dragon-thing, a huge fucking lizard - which was option number two if he remembered correctly - and completely unarmed.
The drakeling flung its head around, thrashing in pain as it tried to free the axe. Finally, it slammed the haft of the weapon into an embankment, shoving the blade in deeper. A loud crack announced the beast’s orbital bone popping. The beast hissed, and a fresh torrent of blood sprayed in the air.
The axe tumbled to the ground below its feet.
Blue blood showered the ground. The thing almost killed itself. Hell yeah! Point one for the shirtless hero! But Cade held off celebrating as the monster found him with its good eye and opened its mouth. A spark of light formed in the back of its throat, and Cade knew exactly what was about to happen. Thank god for too many movies, he mused as he leapt to the side, his empowered legs launching him ten feet away, then tucking into a roll. It was an elegant maneuver and almost enough to spare what followed.
But the drakeling swiveled its head, following Cade’s movement. The final dregs of the gout of flame singed his back. Blisters rose instantly and crackled across his back. The beast had cooked him. Ignoring the pain, Cade spun and blinked his eyes, hoping to clear his head. This fight wasn’t over yet.
The drakeling crawled forward, tensing to attack. Then as its claws darted out, Cade ran at the attack, leaping underneath the blow just in time. He rolled toward his fallen weapon. As his back scraped the ground, the moisture eased his pain at the same time it peeled away some of the blisters already forming there. He growled at the pain, pushing aside the wave of dizziness that nearly overwhelmed his senses, and snatched up his trusty blast-axe.
Then his mind began to work. Cade had one skill that could hamper this psychotic lizard, slow it down just a little bit. Why in seven hells hadn’t he used it already? The drakeling snapped at him once more, its jaws clicking shut inches shy of Cade’s body. Only having one eye made its aim poor, however. Cade side-stepped the attack and swung down at its other eye, willing Culling the Pack to activate.
The axe glowed a sickly, pale green, and though the blade did not sink in as far, Cade saw a shudder pass through the beast’s body. It roared, a trickle of its cobalt blood dripping in its good eye.
When it moved again, the drakeling was noticeably slower. Suddenly, Cade found himself capable of dodging much easier, and he avoided two more attacks, countering by swinging his axe into the beast’s ribs.
A feeling of exhilaration swept through Cade. I’m winning, god damn it. Fear me and fear McGregor, you big, ugly reptile! Another pass brought Cade close enough to slash into the creature again. Blue blood marked the sky. He was more than stoked, and just about to shout a victory cry and leap on the thing’s back, when it stilled, its scales shuddering, an aura of power beginning to blossom around it.
“Oh shit,” Cade grumbled. He knew another skill was being activated, and some terrible change to the fight was about to happen. When the drakeling moved next, it was faster, its moves precise and unyielding. In a world with skills, it’s hard to know if and when you’re winning, Cade thought sagely as the beast changed its tactics further and whipped its long tail around, smashing him in the ribs.
The world spun as Cade flew through the air. He landed with a smack, his back wet with the trickle of water that ran down the face of the embankment. The cold water felt refreshing, but when he tried to breathe, his chest erupted in pain. More than one rib was broken, and he was not entirely sure if he could stand.
The Nilgathi Drakeling did as he’d wanted to do just a few moments ago. It tilted its head back and trumpeted in the air, celebrating its impending victory. The sound was like something a raptor might make, somewhere between a goose honking and a lion screaming for blood. Then it rounded on Cade, taking careful steps toward its fallen foe. Cade could almost see the thoughts in its one functioning eye. He had fallen before and somehow gotten back up. Cade was stronger than he looked, so the beast was being cautious.
That was way too smart for his taste, and he didn’t feel like being eaten quite yet. He pushed up on his elbows and spat blood at the drakeling. But when he tried to lift himself up, he heard a grinding in his sternum. His ribs weren’t just broken, they were shattered. Trying to rise again caused him even more pain, and he fell back against the embankment with a splash.
Seeing his weakness at last, the monster moved in for the kill. Cade could not whack it with his axe any longer, but this was no ordinary axe. This was McGregor. He flipped the weapon around, holding the axe-head in his right hand. Then as the drakeling twisted its head sideways, mouth gaping and sweeping in to devour him, Cade unleashed the charge
d blast.
A ball of condensed force, no bigger than an acorn, leapt from the end of his blast axe, sinking into the depths of the beast’s belly. The weapon had a modest kick, something like shooting a 7.62 rifle. Held loosely in his hands with no buttstock, it rocked back a bit, his elbow pushing into the soil behind him. Modest as the kick was, a crackle of pain lanced through him like lightning.
The drakeling snapped its teeth, its eye wide with fear and the knowledge of what had transpired. Then it took a few tentative steps backwards, slumping to the ground as it did so. It coughed, a gout of blue blood pouring out on the ground before it. The dying beast’s paws flailed out, scoring the soil in its desperation to survive.
After a dramatic series of twitches, it died silently, just a few feet in front of Cade.
“That’ll teach you, fucker. Don’t open your mouth if you don’t want to get fed,” Cade mumbled, bloody flecks wetting his lips. Then he let his body go slack, the pain too much to bear any longer.
Time passed, and Cade might have napped. It was a short nap of course - he was awfully tired - and having one’s body broken here and there tends to make one pass out a bit. But when he woke again, it was cold, dusk finally beginning to settle over the forest. When he tried to move, his ribs were almost completely healed.
Cade stood up and stretched out his body. A rumble of doom resounded from his gut, and he rolled his eyes. At least he had the pears. He found those first and ate the rest of his store of food, too greedy to save any.
Then he approached the hulking form of the Nilgathi Drakeling. He laid a hand on its scaly hide, still warm, and gave it a shove. The thing was incredibly dense. Wanting to make use of the carcass somehow, but not knowing how other than hacking it to bits, he decided to risk summoning the demon once more. Another headache wasn’t exactly appealing at the moment, but he needed help.
“Pablo, I need you,” he said, wincing. “Are you there?”
This time, an electric pop snapped in the air beside him, and the little purple cloud appeared. “Yes, Caderick. What is it you... wait, what are you doing in the jungle? Why take such foolish risk, and why on Earth have you waited so long to summon me?”
Cade sighed, hands on his hips, and he tried to explain. “I was sent by some dick named Vormer who sent me on a quest. Now, before you yell at me again, I didn’t have any say in the matter. And I did try to summon you. You didn’t come though. Some weird sound crackled around me and my head hurt. That’s all.”
“What? Wait, you tried to summon me? I didn’t feel anything at all. That could only mean… oh dear. I believe a god has interfered. Only Aten would do such a thing.”
Finding out that a god was now trying to mess with him hadn’t made his day any better. “Shit, Pablo. I didn’t do anything to this god, I swear. I haven’t even seen him. I did piss off the dude that worships him, but that was unavoidable. There’s only so much asshole I can take.”
The demon fumed awhile, emitting odd growling noises. But after a few moments, his voice was somewhat less disturbed. “I don’t know why Aten would act in such a manner, but the chances of it happening again are slim. He must have expended a great deal of power to do so. Now, what is it you need, Caderick, besides getting your unarmored hide back to Tanrial?”
Cade got to the point. “I was just wondering about loot. Everything else in this world feels like a damn video game. What about that? Do I use my axe to hack stuff off, or is there a loot menu?”
Though the demon did not have eyes, Cade felt a thread of judgement. “You’ve already done half of the work. Touch the thing, then think about looting it. A very simple system indeed, one that requires considerably less thought than you seem to think it does.”
Is this little shit playing word games now? Less thinking about thoughts then. Got it. Biting his tongue, Cade answered, “Thank you, Pablo!” Hands still on the drakeling, he thought, loot.
A window appeared before his eyes, with several items listed.
2 Nilgathi Drakeling Fangs
1 Nilgathi Drakeling Eye
12 Nilgathi Drakeling Meat
20 Nilgathi Drakeling Scales
5 Nilgathi Drakeling Hide
Cade smiled, but then realized he didn’t know how to pick any of the things up or take them away. Growling, he asked, “What do I do now? And please, less sarcasm.”
“You mentally prompt the items you wish to take into your Inventory. Everyone has an Inventory here in Antinium, and though it is spatially accessed, meaning you do not need to physically carry the items, there is a limit to how much can be carried. At the present, you have 100 out of 100 units of Inventory space available.”
Giving the items a mental command to jump into his Inventory, the list vanished. As soon as he did so, the beast’s carcass before him transformed. Portions of its body were removed, blood covering the ground, its mouth torn open and its skin and scales pulled back to reveal gory musculature.
“Gods!” Cade shouted, falling back on his ass. “That is insane. Okay, great, now for the rest.”
He found the monkey creature lying nearby and set his hand on it.
1 Marin Pelt
10 Marin Claws Long
1 Marin Gall Bladder
The resources offered were significantly less, but he wasn’t sure what was valuable in this world. So he took it all as he’d done with the drakeling.
Thinking he could handle the next step by himself, Cade thought, Inventory. Sure enough, a rectangle full of grid-like empty spaces popped up, the items he grabbed populating in a few of the boxes. As he’d expected, some of them stacked. The fangs and the scales for instance, showed the quantity of that item by labeling the corner of their box with a number.
“Well done, and congratulations on achieving Level 2! Most travelers do not level so quickly, though to be fair, most would have died after encountering such a powerful creature. That Nilgathi Drakeling was Level 6! Why ever would you accept such a futile quest?”
Pablo’s words were delivered in an earnest and concerned voice. And as he spoke them, Cade could only think of that shit-eating look on Vormer’s face. He had wanted Cade to die.
“I told you, Pablo. I was forced. A man that looks like a lion told me to go on the quest then threatened to put me in chains if I refused.”
Well, surprise, surprise, I am a lucky bastard. Standing back up, he shrugged off the rage boiling inside. Later. I’ll deal with Captain Douchebag later.
“Very well,” Pablo said in a defeated voice. “Usually my charges are given a great deal more opportunity to grow before being confronted with such danger. I am just pleased you survived and gained strength.”
“So, as glad as I am that I gained a level, how the hell am I supposed to know when it happens next time?”
“Usually, a subtle tingle will alert you to such a change, but I can see in your combat logs that your body was quite damaged when the beast died. You might not have noticed considering the pain you were in. It does happen. You can access your experience progression, or XP, by thinking XP.”
“Thank you, Pablo. I’ve got it. What should I do now though? Going back to the city only to be shoved around by Vormer again doesn’t seem smart.”
The demon hovered a moment, a bit of purple smoke drifting down from his shapelessness. “I am sorry, but I feel you must. The jungle is not safe at all for one of your level, especially alone. It would be in your best interest to make it back to the edge of the jungle at least, before nightfall. The grassy area circling the city shows the boundary where the protective barrier extends. No beasts can enter the zone if the city is occupied. More dangerous beasts than the drakeling will be out. If you wish to survive, either run back to the city as fast as you can or climb a very tall tree and pray to the gods you aren’t sniffed out. I would go with the first.”
Considering his limited options, Cade agreed with the demon. He would make his way back to Tanrial. But there was the matter of his leveling. “Sorry, before I get going, an
y suggestions about Attributes and upgrades? I don’t want to make a mistake choosing.”
“Dexterity and Constitution will help at the moment. Speed and endurance will go the furthest in keeping you alive for now. We can talk more later. The day wanes, Caderick. It is time to get moving or you may not live to see another day.”
Pablo disappeared after his ominous warning. A chill ran down Cade’s spine, and he wished again for a god damn shirt. Something about having your nipples exposed made feeling confident and safe more of a challenge.
He would head back, and if he ran, he could make it at least close to the grassland at the edge of the jungle. Before he did though, Cade could not help himself. He brought up his character sheet, grinning. At the bottom of his listed Attributes, he saw that leveling up gave him 5 more Attribute Points to assign. He dropped one into Dexterity and two into Constitution, wanting to take Pablo’s advice to heart. The run back would no doubt be a lot easier as well.
Finally, he put one point into Intelligence, knowing his weapon would recharge faster, and one point in Wisdom. The last was chosen simply because it was his lowest Attribute, his Lycan Metabolism reducing it by 2.
Finalizing the choices, Cade felt his mind and body shift once more. Pain shot through his body but less than before. Still, he was sweating, hands resting on his knees for several minutes before he recovered.
He next brought up his Traits options. The Base Traits were no longer available, and only two options were listed, one for each of the beasts he’d slain. Gonna need to kill more critters in the future if I want more options. One more for the honey do list.