A normal day? In my new life as an Alpha, yes, but even a week ago, I couldn’t even have imagined a day shaping out the way this day had started to turn. It started out poorly with a fine, but it was definitely looking up.
“I want to take us to dinner tonight,” I said. “Stupid, I know, but come on, I really made a lot today and even if I do poorly tomorrow, I’ll still come out ahead. I have enough to pay you back and pay the citation.”
“I know you do,” she said with a smile. “So sure, take me to dinner.”
I heard Lady C. clear her throat and I turned to look at her. She was still conversing with Aya, but I could tell her attention was on my conversation with Iris. How I was going to handle the three of them going forward was anyone’s guess, but that was for a future version of me to decide.
The walk continued, the hill was a bit further than I had anticipated, and Iris and I discussed restaurants in Brooklyn that we wanted to try.
It was Aya who took my attention away from Iris. She gasped, and immediately unsheathed her blades.
I saw the shadow before I saw the actual mythcrea.
“It’s a fucking giant,” I told Iris.
“Where?”
“Standing in front of the Great Hill.”
Iris gulped. “How did I not see that? Its imprint is huge!”
Lady C. unsheathed both blades.
“How do we do this?” she asked.
But I was still focused on the Yaksha. Now that we had moved around it some, I could more clearly make out its features. The four-story giant had the face of a buddha statue, calm, collected and incredibly soft. He wore robes and stood with a bowl in his hands, holding it as if it were a lotus.
“It’s called a Yaksha, and beneath its name it says Dojo…”
Iris nodded excitedly. “This mythcrea isn’t for your Fighting Party; it’s for your Dojo! You have to capture this one.”
“But it looks so peaceful,” I said as my power activated. My hand warmed, the light swirling around it.
“How many tokens?”
“Eight. If I get it, we’ll be at the next level.”
“Get it, Chase!” Iris said.
“I have fought a Waringtla giant before,” Aya commented, “and another from Tael. They are big, but easy to kill. Stab and they die.”
“We’re not killing it, we’re capturing it,” I reminded the confident woman with her aggressive dragon blood.
“Hmmmm…” Lady C. stepped in front of me. “Can I check one of my books really quickly? I think I read something about capturing a giant, or at least battling one.”
Aya shouldered her aside. “Fictitious accounts have no place in real world combat.”
Lady C. started to protest but I stopped her with the wave of my hand. “Check your books, and as she does, Aya, tell me how you envision doing this.”
The Metican warrior sat on the ground cross-legged and a stack of books appeared next to her. People passed around us, and a kid dribbling a soccer ball actually passed through her, but she remained steadfast in her concentration, flipping through books, her finger pressing onto the page as she scanned through.
Aya shrugged. “To take out a giant, you must first bring it to its knees. So that would be our focus. If we bring it to its knees, I can use my blade to partially decapitate it. In the air, this will be too difficult. I suppose I could stand on its shoulder, but that requires a high level of balance, which I have, but focusing on my balance will reduce the strength behind my attack.”
“We’re not trying to cut its head off,” I reminded her.
“Yes, but it is the easiest way to kill a giant, unless you can stab it in the heart. That way also works. Or simply stab it a lot so it bleeds to death.”
“What are they doing?” Iris asked.
“Sorry, I should have updated you,” I said as I turned to her. “Lady C. is looking through her books to find a passage she read on capturing a giant and Aya is explaining to me all the different ways to kill a giant.”
“But you don’t want to kill it.”
“Your real-world girlfriend doesn’t have the heart of a warrior. It is sad,” Aya said. “Another way to kill it would be to…”
Lady C. slammed one of her books shut. “ To bring it to its knees, where it will be easier to capture it, we need to confuse it. I knew I had read about that somewhere. This is the precise technique that Jagraj the Giant Slayer used when he attacked the city of Tael.” She showed me her book, Jagraj and his Short-Lived Reign by Lothar Shane. “Trust me, Chase.”
“We’re going with Lady C.’s plan.”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The giant took notice as soon as the two Huntresses approached. It reminded me of the way a wildebeest would become alert when a pack of lions began circling around it. He tensed up, his bowl disappearing and beautiful golden armor forming on his body.
Like a Buddhist temple in Thailand, Yaksha’s armor was incredibly ornate. There were stupa-like cones on his shoulders and he now wore a pointed hat with a deep red jewel in the center of his forehead.
The sun, which was moving closer and closer to setting, created a corona of light around his head. A great staff materialized in his hand and he carefully dropped into a battle pose.
“Oh shit,” I whispered as Lady C. approached him from the front. The giant immediately lost track of Aya.
“I wish I could watch this,” Iris whispered.
“You will, soon. I’m winning this tournament to get you that code.”
“No,” she said, her focus on the digital imprints wavering before her. “Go to EverLife.”
“I don’t even know why EverLife is so important. It’s just a Proxima world.”
“It’s more than that, much more. There’s just so much exclusivity involved, and…” She turned to me. “You can’t pass this opportunity up.”
“Iris, I’m getting the code and that’s final.”
She protested, but I told her we could discuss it later. We had a giant to capture, and I wanted to make sure I was ready.
The tension in the air was palpable.
Lady C. flourished her blades the way that a predator would lick its lips, her eyes trained on her prey, her prey waiting for her to make the first move.
The standoff lasted quite a while. Lady C. would roll to the balls of her feet and Yaksha would bristle, his staff aimed at her.
“Aye!”
I gasped as Aya came in swinging from behind.
The giant turned to her, and as he did, Lady C. cast Bomb Cyclone, only the spell didn’t create a large enough cone of flurries to fully confuse it.
It did, however, stir up a mist that stretched to his chest and also obscured Aya, who was close enough to the giant for him to stomp her.
She suddenly backflipped out of there as Lady C. screamed in a language I’d never heard her speak.
The giant flipped back around, just as one of Aya’s throwing knives grazed against the side of his neck.
He grunted, turned back to her, and Lady C. disappeared into the frosty mist covering his legs. A couple of swipes at his ankles and she was out, just in time for him to turn back to her and drive his staff into the earth, causing a quake that forced her to the ground.
“Aye!”
Another blade passed the giant’s face, this one taking a very small slice from his cheek. Rage boiled over him as he turned back to Aya, his shoulders heaving as he sucked in big breaths of air.
Back on her feet now, Lady C. disappeared into the mist again to deliver a few more tiny blows to his ankles. While his body was heavily armored, Yaksha wore sandals, which made reaching his ankles relatively easy.
She was out again as he turned to her, stumbled, caught his balance, and roared this time.
“That’s one pissed off giant,” I said as my hand glowed.
“Is it time to capture him?” Iris asked.
“It might be awhile, but I’m ready.”
My assumption turned out to be right.
Lady C. and Aya attacked and distracted the giant for another fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes in which he tried to stomp them out or strike them with his staff, his face growing redder and redder.
Finally, as the Thulean moved in for an ankle attack, he turned to Lady C. only to be struck by a bolt of chain lightning. Aya’s attack connected, the lightning surged through him, and the giant faceplanted.
I jumped as he did, avoiding most of the quake, but still having to hold my legs steady through some of it as I landed.
Aya approached him, both hands on her blade as if she was planning to cut his head off. Lady C. came to his other side, and both Huntresses kept him at bay as my hand charged.
I released my net of light and captured the giant.
Chapter Eighteen: Suiting Up and Better Together
I brought up the PD to USD exchange and cashed out enough Proxima Dollars to get us a nice meal.
Proxima Dollars: $13,250
Spent: $17,500
Loan: 0
Seven hundred and fifty PD was worth about sixty dollars, which would get us back to Brooklyn and get us something to eat. I’d have more money soon, especially after I visited my Dojo and sold the half-dog half-man and the Kappa.
I was ecstatic, even with the fine I had to pay and the money I owed Iris, things were going my way. Rather than splurge, Iris and I had an easy dinner at a roadside gourmet hotdog stand before parting ways.
Iris wanted to rest at her own place, and after what happened last night between Lady C. and me, I felt the same way.
We planned to meet up in the Dojo as soon as we got home, and I was surprised to find Alex awake and sitting on the couch once I arrived home.
“Hey,” he said.
“I thought he was a corpse,” Aya commented.
“He’s the sleeping guy,” Lady C. said. “Hi, sleeping guy.”
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” the big man said. His beard was wild and what was left of his hair was combed over his dome. He had on a vintage shirt that read Spew Gorge and a pair of black boxers.
“Nothing to report back,” I said as I stopped in front of my door.
“Same here,” he said. “Cool, we’ll talk again soon.”
“Men are incredibly strange creatures,” Aya commented as soon as we were in my room.
“What do you mean?” I had already set up my NV Visor and was seconds away from logging in.
“You two live together and hardly speak.” Lady C. sat down on the edge of the bed. She scooted back a bit, exposing more of the flesh of her thigh.
“It’s common in New York,” I explained as I put the visor on. “People want to live here, but no one can afford to live alone. So we pretend we’re living alone. Weird, I know, but it works. See you two at the Dojo.”
The NV Visor did its thing after that legendary Brian Eno tone.
Sine waves appeared, and I was instantly transported to the Dojo, again at the center of the field. I could see Yaksha the giant in the distance, well past the meadow, contemplating the horizon. I would need to get to know him better, but now wasn’t the time.
I opened the mythcrea exchange and unloaded the Adlet and the Kappa. The Adlet was worth quite a bit at ten thousand Proxima dollars, likely because it was rare and came with four tokens.
I sold the Kappa, worth a measly two thousand PD.
Proxima Dollars: $25,250
Spent: $17,500
Loan: 0
I then checked my own, simplified stats, as well as Aya and Lady C.’s stats.
“You look so busy over there, scrolling through all your menus.” Aya approached me and stabbed her buster sword into the ground.
“Not funny,” said actual Aya, who stood behind me. The face of the Aya standing before me started to melt away and I smiled at Altsoba, my Fighting Party’s shifter.
“That was a great trick,” Lady C. said. She stood to my right, her hands on her hips. “But don’t you even think about turning into me.”
“I thought it was interesting,” Aya said as she approached the shifter. “Can you turn back?”
Altsoba did as instructed and Aya reached her hand out and touched her own face. “My skin is the same too…” she mumbled to herself.
Altsoba nodded as her form changed back. She was dark skinned again, now wearing a tight leather tunic. “I have something new to show you, Alpha,” she said as she turned to me.
“What’s that?”
She nodded over to the Dojo, at her room. “The mirrors you gave me have unlocked a new power.”
She turned into Ophelia, the undead woman who was always by Magnus’ side. Altsoba’s hand charged, she stepped back, and let loose a fireball, which flew for a good ten yards before losing steam and creating a small grass fire near the meadow, which scared off a family of bunnies.
Lady C. clapped. “You’ve unlocked the ability to use others’ magic abilities!”
Aya nodded, clearly impressed. “That’s much more helpful than just turning into them.”
Altsoba’s face turned back into her own, but she kept Ophelia’s body. “Thanks,” she said, her eyes narrowing at Aya. “I’ll be ready for the tournament tomorrow.” With that, she turned back to the Dojo.
“What did I miss?” Iris asked as soon as her avatar spawned. She was in her Iris best, an oversized sweater, tights, and a pair of light-up Converse, which she’d clearly chosen to match the deep purple and blue streaks in the sky above us.
“Altsoba can now use magic.”
“You mean she can use the magic skills of the form she takes?”
“That’s right,” I told her. My hand came up and I immediately transferred four thousand PD to Iris, the equivalent of $320.
“You don’t have to do that now…” she started to say.
“I want my balances to be paid in full before I do anything else. After a couple more swipes through the currency menu, I converted thirteen thousand PD to dollars to pay my fine, and give me a little breathing room.
Proxima Dollars: $8,250
Spent: $17,500
Loan: 0
“Our budget for tournament clothing is seven thousand PD,” I announced.
“That’s hardly enough for a corset,” Lady C. said with a frown.
“It’s plenty,” I told them. At least I hoped it was plenty; I didn’t know how much clothing would cost in the Proxima galaxy. “Especially with Iris as our stylist,” I added. “She’s very frugal.”
“Thanks?”
“So let’s get some new clothes,” I said. “Um, how do I do that exactly?”
“In the marketplace,” Iris said. “You know what, never mind. Let me do it for you. I’ll show you options and you three can decide.”
“I love shopping even though I never go shopping,” Lady C. said, suddenly excited.
“Let’s get this over with,” was Aya’s remark. “I want something fierce, tight, and the back must be open to provide room for my konoshlo.”
“I always wondered how those things work.”
She turned to me and looked at me playfully. “Come find out for yourself.”
I approached her and smoothed my hand across the skin on her upper back. I felt two invisible bumps, and as I touched them, they began to grow in size.
“Very cool.” I got the sense that Lady C. was watching me closely, but I didn’t look over at her to confirm this.
“Okay, so you want something sleek with an open back. How’s this?” Iris snapped her fingers and an outfit appeared on Aya’s slender form. It was a tight black suit with a side stiching that matched her hat. On her shoulders were elaborate, web-like epaulets and it featured an open back. The front was also open, definitely leaving too much exposed, but that seemed to be the point of fantasy armor.
She turned, and I saw that it nicely framed her ass.
“It’s a good fit,” Aya said as she pretended she was on a catwalk. She took a few steps f
orward, spun dramatically, and returned to us.
Lady C. nodded. “It’s definitely hot. Let’s see what you can do for me, Iris. I have requests too.”
“Sure.”
“I want cat ears, a black mini skirt, a halter top, and shoulder armor.”
Iris frowned. “That’s not so elegant.”
“Really?” Lady C. started to pout.
“Let me try a few things…” Iris said as a tight black outfit appeared on Lady C. It was similar to Aya’s, but as she was the bustier of the two, the bodysuit was filled to its limits.
“I want to show my legs,” Lady C. said. “Something sexier, less black.”
A golden corset with dragon scale armor took shape on her body as well as a nearly transparent pink skirt. Gauntlets and boots that matched the armor over her torso also formed.
“Shorter,” she said, and with a flick of Iris’ hand, the skirt became shorter.
“What do you guys think?” she looked to me and slowly turned around, giving me a peek of her ass cheeks.
I gulped loudly just as Iris glanced over to me. “If it makes you happy and it’s cheap, that’s all that matters to me.”
“Last but not least…” Iris smiled at me as a black suit appeared on my body. Underneath it was a white dress shirt and a black tie.
“This is pretty sweet,” I told her. She’d even given me a pair of black Vans to go with it. I loosened the tie a little and was good to go. “How is our budget looking?”
“Press ‘accept’ and you’ll see.”
[User_Iris is sending you a request for payment of seven thousand Proxima dollars. Accept?]
[Yes/No]
I selected “yes” and my bank numbers changed yet again.
Proxima Dollars: $1250
Spent: $24,500
Loan: 0
“We pretty much broke the bank again,” I announced to everyone, “but at least we look good.”
Iris chuckled. “I’m going to get some rest. You?”
“I want to do a little team-building,” I said as my suit disappeared and my body armor formed. “It’s time for a little more training.”
“Yay! We get to kick your ass again. Can we wear our sexy outfits while we do it?” Lady C. asked.
Monster Hunt NYC: A Fantasy Harem Adventure Page 21