Myriad pain signals reached his brain all at once causing him to cry out shamelessly. His hit points were obviously depleted, or close to it, from the power of the blow. It took several seconds for his mental state to stabilize.
Confident in his victory, the red robed bastard sauntered the zombie-mech across the parking lot like he owned the world. Today was proving to be a wonderful day.
"One punch? Really?" The red robed man laughed loudly, and in surprisingly good humor. It was a disturbing sight to see mimicked by a giant skinless zombie.
"I can't believe I wasted my greater summoning and my prepared spells like this..." The beast's head tilted slightly to the left then mimicked the hideous smile of its pilot. "Do they even make champions this weak anymore?"
Instinct, desperation, it did not matter what the true cause might turn out to be. Scott knew that he had to force his battered body to move. His injuries were not currently great, but they were numerous. He could not survive another hit like that. He had to escape the situation and restore his hit points if he was to survive this battle. There was only one way out that he could think of at the moment.
Scott struggled to reach a squatting position. It was not the perfect position for his purposes, but it would have to do. His movements were still sluggish.
"What's this? Are you trying to make your heroic last stand?" asked the giant zombie in a cheerfully condescending tone of voice.
A tense moment passed as they regarded each other from just outside of the giant's strike zone. Then, by some unspoken decision, the battle began once again. The giant mecha-zombie trotted forward in a bid to end things with another punch.
The red robed pilot did not realize his mistake until it was too late. From Scott's point of view the fist's movement seemed to slow to a crawl. His entire body suddenly flared in a bright blaze of light as he activated one of his newly gained abilities from the shroom soldier lifestyle.
He made a fist of his own then launched himself upward with enough force to blast a small crater in the ground when he jumped. He bypassed the oncoming fist, rocketed upward in a streaking blur of motion that was far too fast for his opponent to register, much less avoid, and delivered an incredibly powerful uppercut to the beast's jaw. Scott's momentum was barely slowed as he continued upward into the air.
Staggered by the explosive power of his super jump fueled uppercut, the abomination was rocked backwards. Its head was sent back at a crude angle and its chest became nearly horizontal before Scott redirected the force of his special ability back toward the ground. He turned the super jump into an improvised super stomp attack that struck the monstrosity with an even more powerful strike than the first.
Scott drove down into the beast's chest like a hammer wielded by an angry god. The wannabe zombie-Gundam struck the ground with all the force that the desperate champion could muster. A shockwave spread out from the impact zone that caused nearby cars to rock, car windows to shatter, and one car alarm to blare weakly. There was not much life left in it due to the state of its battery.
The reverse force of his stomp caused him to leap back and away from the beast. He landed heavily on the ground. However, the force of the motion stressed his ankles and shins slightly due to his lack of hit points to further cushion the fall. That factor alone was disconcerting. Scott was now practically naked before the power of this undead bastard.
Unfortunately, he could currently only know the amount of hit points he had for certain when he was at home. Out in the field he had to guess the amount of hit points remaining. At the moment he could barely sense the energetic feeling that the special resistance to damage imparted. If his hit points were not currently empty, they were close enough to be considered as a non-factor.
Panting heavily, Scott wanted to capitalize on the fallen status of his foe, but he was denied the chance. Several screaming zombies came tearing through the parking lot hell bent on eating his manly sweet meats. "You gotta be kidding."
Without much, if any, hit points remaining a successful attack by any one of those monsters might be a death sentence for him. Scott had no choice. Instead of trying another super stomp that might not have finished the beast off anyway, he pulled out his health restorative and quickly swallowed one.
It was time to get the hell out of here. Fighting the big bastard in an open area was suicide. He had used nearly half of his floral power on that super jump attack combination. If it ran too low there was a chance his power would cut out altogether, and then he would be nearly helpless. Only the exceptional boosts to his physicality provided by the ancestral garden forces allowed him to even do this much against the beast in a direct confrontation.
In order to survive, he would have to do more than fight this thing. He would have to outsmart the one piloting it. Scott gritted his teeth then raced toward the oncoming berserkers. It was time to change the battle field for one that was more suited to his skills and abilities.
Motion blur in full effect, Scott leapt into the air then stomped downward toward the closest berserker. It was not a super jump, it took no more energy than a normal jump. Yet, the power of the gravitas flower was not lost on the moment. He slammed down atop the zombie with great force then immediately bounded away. The berserker was crushed downward by the ferocious energy imparted by directed gravity and was left in a broken heap.
Like stepping stones across a pond, Scott hopped from one berserker to the next. He directed his movements by instinct. In this limited way gravity was his to control. His force of movement and direction lead him past the oncoming mini-herd and left him in the clear. Several battered corpses feebly clutched at the ground while he continued onward out of the parking lot at all possible speed.
Behind him a low rumbling laugh began to echo through the area. The giant undead mecha sat up inside the crated then spat into its decaying hand. Several dagger-sized teeth landed in its palm, a testament to the strength of the attack that it had received.
"Guess I can stop waiting to see if he was stupid enough to press the advantage," laughed the red robed bastard.
Within the confines of his cockpit, the robed man viewed two screens. "Show diagnostic analysis." Information rose up on the screen to show him exactly what damage had been taken, if any.
[Status]
Energy-Saver Mode: Active
Hit Points: [21913 / 22456]
Shield Energy: 4895/5000
Attack: 207
Defense: 214
Operational Time Limit: 36:45:13
[Structural Integrity]
Head: 98.63%
Torso: 97.5%
Left Arm: 100%
Right Arm: 100%
Left Leg: 100%
Right Leg: 100%
[--]
"So, the little shit was hiding his power." A feral grin slowly spread across the robed man's lips. "Guess that means I shouldn't hold back, either."
He laughed once more then said in a commanding tone, "Activate combat mode."
A loud roaring sound emanated from the beast. The color of its eyes shifted to a brilliant red. Twin cones of light beamed outward from those hellish eyes. Everywhere that the monster cast its gaze, the night was lit up by a bright red flare.
The beast's left arm began to pulse and then to wriggle. The fingers curled back even as several large veins popped out from the arm giving it the appearance of having large hoses slightly hanging off. The palm split open and two gun barrels slid outward. One barrel sat atop the other and was smaller in diameter giving it the appearance of a rifle barrel perched atop the barrel of a shotgun.
The changes continued. The fingers on the right hand melded together then the entire forearm merged into one hideous sword. Its edge was curved and serrated, perfect for tearing and intimidation.
He checked his operational time then snorted. It had dropped to five hours now that the full combat mode had been initiated. Still, that should be enough time to finish things.
"Game on, you little speedy shit," said t
he red robed man with a wild laugh. "Game on."
Chapter 16: Strike of the Cobra
Darkness, a source of fear for humanity since its ignoble beginning. In recent years, mothers tried to soothe their children's fears. There was nothing hiding under the bed. There were no monsters hidden in closets. There were no beasts hiding in the darkness of night waiting for the moment to strike.
Times had changed. No mother living in the current world would dare deny that there were things in the darkness that would devour her children. At the moment, a certain champion would have loved to have someone's mother lie to him about the things that hid in the dark.
Scott ran as best he could through the ever darkening streets. The day had nearly come to an end. The dark hours of the night were soon to be upon him. It would not be the darkness of a modern city at night. No. It would be an omnipresent darkness that only those who lived far beyond a modern city would ever witness.
He leapt atop a wrecked car then spring-boarded forward at a high rate of speed to reach the second level of a nearby apartment building. Scott needed to get out of sight as quickly as he could. He heard the heavy footsteps of his approaching death and knew that being out of sight was the only way to handle the situation.
The heavy metal music that suddenly begun to play when the battle started at the mall was subdued now. It had moved back into the background. It was like when a party was going on in someone's college dorm room, but the party goers decided to shut the door. It was still there, but lessened by the thin wooden barrier.
Scott's breath came heavy as he slipped along the side of the building's second floor. He needed to come up with a plan, but he didn't know where to start. His weapons were next to useless, and his only real damage dealing option was a close combat concept that would make the fight play out like a mongoose fighting a cobra. He would have to hit the bastard many times, but one good strike from his opponent would spell Scott's end.
Direct combat was out, or at least a last resort. He was forced to consider alternatives. However, while he did so the background music began to grow louder. The footfalls of the monstrous zombie mecha grew louder at the same time. His doom drew closer with each passing step.
Could it sense him, somehow? Were his movements merely predictable? He had to know.
The champion moved as quietly as he could in the darkening twilight. He slipped around one corner of the building and then moved forward to peak around the opposite corner. Scott's chest rose then fell quickly after he drew in a sharp involuntary breath. It was there, but it was different. The undead monstrosity seemed to be even bigger than before. Now it also sported a sword arm, and what appeared to be an arm fashioned into a gun.
Eyes, red as the blazing sun at dawn, cast their hellish gaze on the landscape. The music grew louder and the monster grew bolder. It began to attack cars, and then the closest buildings.
The monster's blade slide along the asphalt and produced a loud scraping noise that made Scott bite his lower lip. "Come out little one. Daddy has a present for you," said the monstrosity in a surprisingly cheerful voice.
Scott knew that he could not mount a proper offense at his current location, so he moved out once more. He slipped quietly down the back stairs and then ran toward a derelict convenience store on the far side of a short parking lot.
The music died down again for a short time as he ran, but once he reached his newest goal it did not take long for it to begin to grow in volume once more. The heavy footfalls of the beast came louder even as the music did. Scott's nose wrinkled in agitation. He grimaced at the realization. Before he merely considered it possible, but now he was certain. The bastard could hear the music as well. The red robed man was using it to track him.
Scott looked around quickly then started to run toward a small collection of houses on the other side of the road. A loud whistling sound caught his attention. He looked up in time to see a blue mass of energy streak downward toward those buildings like a comet. It splashed down in the center then exploded with incredible force. The houses were blown completely apart in the process, and a smoking crater was left behind among the ruination of what he had thought would be a good next hiding spot.
"Oh? The music's still playing? Guess he wasn't over there..." said the gravelly voice of the undead behemoth, though its tone was quite cheerful.
The whistling sound came again. Scott immediately realized what that meant. There was only one other large building that would be within the distance of the music. Certain that it would be the next target, he turned toward his only other option and ran like hell itself was trying to bite him in the ass. He barely made it a dozen steps before the next explosive energy blast rang out.
The convenience store was made of sturdier stuff than a few dilapidated houses that would have been old and worn even before the apocalypse. Still, it did not stand a chance. The building exploded forward in a shower of brick and mortar. Scott was sent flying with great force and ended up being knocked into a nearby ditch. It was a large drainage ditch that sat on the side of an old abandoned railroad track running parallel to the road.
"Damn. Aim was off," muttered the red robed man as he bore witness to the crater that was created well behind the convenience store. It had done its job, but most of the explosive force was wasted.
Scott's vision swam for a moment. Blood leaked slowly from several large cuts on his back, a silent testament to the loss of hit points he'd regained from taking a restorative. He no doubt lost several in that explosion, but for the moment he was only battered, not broken.
He blinked as he realized something. The blast sent him flying toward a large storm drain. Scott's eyes widened and he mouthed the words, "The sewer..."
This city had a strangely spacious sewer system beneath it. If he could get down into it, there might be a chance. He immediately began to crawl toward the gate with as much stealth as he could muster.
"Music's still going..." muttered the robed man, "Where the hell is he?"
The red lights beaming from the monster's eyes scoured the area. Scott remained hidden from casual view due to his position. Soon, he managed to pry the grate up and entered the sewers. While the bastard above fruitlessly searched the landscape for the one he sought. His prey leaned heavily against the sewer sidewall and walked away from the battle on shaky legs. After a few minutes passed, the shaking ceased. His movements became stronger even as the music died down.
The night was coming. He had to be ready to fight the monster in the dark. More to the point, he'd come up with a few ideas on how to fight back. The cobra had struck. It was time for the mongoose to dance.
Chapter 17: Dance of the Mongoose
Night had come, and with it came the darkness promised earlier. Twin red headlamps set to the highest light levels swept across the area in search of the elusive prey. The red robed man seethed inwardly. Over an hour had passed since he lost track of the champion. Only now had he begun to track him properly once more due to the music's resurgence. Sometime after blowing up those buildings, the music died down. It had taken him far too long to find a proper trail, to make the music build once more.
"Come out and face me, you little shit," muttered the man. Less than sixty percent of his mecha's power remained. The operation was taking too long, and using the heavy gun drained a large amount of his operational energy.
There was no quick way for him to recharge his summoned beast on this world, not anymore. If he did not finish this battle soon, he'd be forced to withdraw and prepare new spells. It would take days to perform the necessary rituals to restore his powers.
He strode heavily down the highway, his headlamps swinging from side to side while he scanned the area. He passed a small lumber yard that he gave no concern for and continued onward. On a fence nearby a sign that read: Caution Flammable Materials, could be seen next to a gate that was slightly ajar.
"The highway overpass?" he asked thoughtfully. Up ahead, he caught sight of a high bridge that formed an o
verpass. Numerous vehicles were abandoned both above and below it. The closer he drew to the area, the louder the music became. "Bet the bastard thinks he has a trap set up..."
Red Robe looked to his system statistics then frowned. "Do I risk it?"
With a shrug, he powered up his secondary weapon, the heavy gun, then fired off a massive shot toward the overpass in a lazy arc. It splashed down with a thunderous explosion that rocked the area. Cars flew sideways and the entire overpass shook from the force of the blast.
"Well, if he's up there... He ain't happy," said the robed man with a laugh. The music did not die down in the slightest, however.
Red Robe moved forward confidently. He would get the rat this time. No matter where he scurried, it would only take one good hit to finish things.
He took his time moving forward. Several minutes passed while the beast searched the area with its headlights. Red Robes' prey was nearby. The music told him so.
It was not until the giant undead mecha reached the overpass that its pilot noticed something odd. It was barely noticeable, but there was a scent in the area. Encapsulated inside of a rotting mecha, one might think there would be many terrible scents. However, it was not the scent of rotting flesh, or methane, that Red Robe smelled. "Is that gas?"
The zombie mecha's head lashed left and right. Soon the lights fell upon the sight of a small trickle of fluid that trailed downhill from an overturned fuel truck. "Bah, nothing to worry about. Just an old wreck."
He continued onward. Thinking to check above before worrying about the interior of the overpass, he bid the beast reach upward and converted his weapons back into hands before he gripped the rails. An awkward pull-up brought the creature upward toward the top of the overpass. Red Robe just wanted a quick peak since he had already bombed the area. Walking all of the way around would be tedious.
Galactic Fist of Legend Page 22