“Yeah, you handle the back, I'll handle the front. I am totally down to change it up in the future, but let's just stick to the plan for now; I have a feeling these fights are going to get more difficult.”
Chapter Twenty: Two Alphas United
Iris and I turned out to be wrong about the next fight. It was the easiest fight my Fighting Party had ever participated in, and we won it in a matter of minutes.
The opposing team had two Alphas, and they also had all fire-based mythcrea. A dragon, two fiery pixies, a wolf with flaming eyes, and a fire nymph known as a Lampad.
Only their Hunters weren't fire-based, and even then, those two wore fire armor, which made it look like they were flaming stunt doubles.
Now, it was a hot fight, but it didn't last for very long after Fujin extinguished everyone. His power was strong enough to take out four of the mythcrea in his first attack.
For her part, Altsoba simply cloned herself into a female version of Fujin, complete with blue demon face and cloud to float on, and did the same attack, freezing the fire dragon.
The Hunters, two rogues, didn’t stand a chance against Aya and Magnus’ blade work. Lady C. simply stood back and provided distraction by rushing in, taking cheap shots, and zipping away. Aya took the role of finisher, cutting them down while Lady C. distracted them.
If the last two fights were anything like this one, we were home free.
We were going to win this tournament.
Our avatars respawned in the resting quarters. Sagelock was there in his top hat, nodding as he took me in.
“You are doing very well,” he said, floating aside to reveal a treasure box. “You may wind up winning your division! And to think, you will be able to join the incredibly gifted few who have access to EverLife.”
“We got lucky,” I said.
“And modest too!” He laughed long and hard. “We will see how you do in the next fight,” he said as his form faded away.
Aya and Lady C. stood near the window, watching a fight take place below. There was a lot of fire in this fight as well, and I realized that if I’d had a different Fighting Party, our last fight might not have gone so well.
“You were right,” Iris said she moved next to me, “we did get lucky.” She was still smiling, her eyes soft and relaxed behind her thick glasses.
I wanted in that moment to give her a hug, but I refrained from any gestures, and behaved myself. Besides, I hoped to avoid whatever ire might come from Lady C.
“Show me the money,” I said as I opened the chest that Sagelock had given us.
Nope, there was no cash in this one, but there was a certificate that granted me a free consultation with a world class Dojo designer from Miles, Yards, and Peter Meter Architectural Firm, and fifty thousand Proxima dollar gift certificate to put our shared vision into place.
“When we get out of here, you two are getting cabins,” I told Aya and Lady C.
If the others were jealous, they didn't show it. They were focused on the refreshments, Sun Wukong eating from a bowl of chicken wings, and Fujin enjoying a platter of grilled fish.
I got this weird notion that this was like my band, like we were in the green room, awaiting our next performance.
We were all instruments in some way.
Some members were midrange, others were treble, there were those that played the lower bass notes, like Rose, and there were those who added graceful accents to the music, like Magnus. There were the two conductors, the two front men, Iris and me, and our first chair soloists, Aya and Lady C.
It was a fun way to think about my Fighting Party, and what I had created, what we had created over the last several days.
“You look like you're thinking about something,” Iris said as she took a sip of the nourishing liquid.
“Does that stuff taste good?”
“It tastes wonderful. Just because you can't get any nourishment in here, doesn't mean that things don't have taste. That's one of the more amazing things about what they've done in the Proxima Galaxy.”
I moved over to the table of refreshments and tried a few things. Damn, they do taste good.
I was starting to cut a piece of cheese when the lights dimmed above us.
I made the split-second decision to take Rose this time instead of Sun Wukong.
I will do my best, the bearadillo said after I made my sudden announcement.
Aya walked over to me, and gave me a curt little smile. “Remember, we have to win.”
“Sometimes it's not all about winning, but we'll do our best.”
She shrugged me off. “No, we have to win.”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Our avatars respawned on the battlefield.
Sagelock descended from the great chandelier above us, the crowd roaring in approval, beating their red handkerchiefs in the air as he twirled and relished in the applause.
The other Alpha stood on the opposite end of the battlefield. She was a middle-aged woman, in a pencil skirt and high heels. She wore a flapper hat, and long, dangly earrings.
Her Hunters appeared, their bodies outlined in red.
I immediately checked their handles.
[Tagvornin Warrior, Level 9]
The first Hunter had a shaved head, his war armor accented by fur. In one hand he held a longsword, in the other a club with spikes on the end.
He locked eyes with Lady C. and offered her a sinister grin.
“He’s a Tagvornin warrior,” she explained, “from Unigaea, like me.”
Iris’ glasses flashed as she looked at a map of Unigaea. “Ah, I see, your hometown of Metica is near Tagvornin.”
“I will rid of us our Tagvornin problem,” Lady C. said through gritted teeth, “just as I have done before in my hometown.”
The other Hunter was a male mage, with a handle that gave away his ability.
“Ophelia, the mage is yours,” Iris said and I nodded in agreement.
[Lume Mage, Level 11]
I had grown used to the magic classifications used in the Monster Hunt app. They made sense, especially if you examined the word closely.
Of course, I could have figured this out just by the fact that his eyes lit up with bolts of electricity.
But by this time, the other mythcrea had started to form.
Shit, I thought as I took in the form of a spider with a body the size of a cow. Its handle appeared.
“It’s called a Tsuchigumo,” I told Iris. “Level Six.”
“That one is mine,” Altsoba said as her form morphed into a spider with red markings.
Lady C., who stood in front of Altsoba, made a sound in her throat and moved away.
The giant spider had long black legs and blue accents on its body. It also had the face of a man, a stringy mustache reaching from its nose to the ground.
The next mythcrea to grab my attention was a man with eagle features. His handle labeled him “Garuda,” and his wings lifted him into the air as soon as his avatar took shape.
“Fujin, take that one, Garuda!”
The Japanese wind god nodded with pleasure.
A furred dragon with a barbed tail appeared in the air. It dropped to the ground and bellowed, the brown and orange fur around its neck rippling as it cried out.
“Rose,” I said, “that one is yours. Peluda, Level Seven,” I told Iris so she could research it.
There were two more mythcrea left.
The first was a magnificent porcelain statue who carried a staff. His handle read Galatea, and he was at Level Ten. Next to him was a woman covered in vines, with a handle that read Dryad, and who was at Level Nine. She would clearly be using earth-based magic, or Terra.
“Magnus, take Galatea. Aya, Dryad.”
“I will hack the vine woman down in a matter of moments,” the Thulean bragged. “Who should I take after I kill her?”
“Just take her out first, then we'll see who you can go after next.”
She rolled her eyes, and I could sense Iris grinning next to
me. “Okay, whatever you say, Alpha.”
The fight began, and as it did, Iris shouted, “Sigil Curse!”
Ophelia zapped the alpha with her magic, hoping to derive some advantage from her spell. It missed, and in the time it took her to do this, the Lume Mage cut her down with a bolt of lightning the size of a pillar.
Not only did Ophelia hit the ground, lightning also caused her to spin wildly, which eventually kicked her back up into the air, and over to the left.
Magnus was already focused on trying to cut down the man made of porcelain, but as I had seen before, he tensed when he saw Ophelia fly out of the corner of his eyes.
“Whoa!” I gasped as the two spiders collided.
Altsoba in spider form was on top, her mouth ajar and another jaw extending from her mouth, like something out of one of those classic Alien movies. The second jaw dripped with saliva and poison, her eight legs clenched tightly around the body of the enemy spider.
The enemy spider quickly got the upper hand as it severed her extended jaw with one of its legs, which had grown into a sharp blade. Cue a terrible screeching sound, and a gush of boiling purple blood.
Our Skin-Walker might have held her own had it not been for another pillar-sized blast of lightning that killed her instantly.
“We have got to take that damn mage out!” I said to Iris.
“Fujin?”
“Maybe after he handles Garuda. Shit, I don't know, everyone's engaged!”
The fur covered dragon tried to lift Rose into the air, but the bearadillo was too heavy, and as soon as the dragon tried, she got the upper hand and body-slammed it back to the ground.
They both tried to maul each other, which almost look like an adult bird feeding its baby as their jaws connected, but the dragon’s tail was long, and it was able to grab Rose by her back legs and drag her away, lift her into the air, and slam her against the ground.
“Now!” Iris cried. “Toxic Tornado!”
Fujin’s eyes went white as a shrapnel-filled wind whirled around him.
The attack took Garuda’s wings off, shrapnel cutting through his feathers and sending him flying to the ground. Fujin followed behind him, still surfing on his cloud as he arrived just above the once winged creature.
He didn't need to use any special move to finish this off. Fujin procured a twisted dagger from his belt and hopped from his cloud onto Garuda’s back, killing him swiftly.
“We got one,” I said, slightly out of breath with all the action happening before me.
As Iris called for Fujin to go after the mage, Aya did exactly what she’d said she’d do.
While the Dryad gave her trouble at first, the earth-based mythcrea was unaware of the Thulean’s ghost limbs, which continued to work in her favor.
A great root tore from the ground and whipped at Aya.
She caught it with her limbs, flipped around it, and once she got to the thicker portion of the root she began running along it.
Limbs in action again, she broke right just as a series of sharp vines flew in her direction.
“Duka duchaka!” she screamed as she kicked off the ground, performed an aerial to avoid more vines, and landed directly beside the vine-encased Dryad.
The Dryad’s body separated at the waist and the crowd screamed with approval.
I couldn't quite figure out what the crowd was cheering for. Sometimes, it seemed that they cheered for blood and guts, your typical crowd.
But there were other times when they booed for the same thing. Nor did I understand why they were tossing handkerchiefs, or what this signaled.
At any rate, the opposing team's Alpha was not happy.
She also wasn't happy when Lady C. cut off the Tagvornin’s right arm.
To his credit, this didn't stop the berserker from trying to club her to death. The rest of the battle was so dynamic that I’d paid little attention to the fact that they'd been going at it, trading blow for blow, since the start.
Still, cutting your opponent's arm off was a game changer, and having Aya join you at your side was an even bigger game changer.
I could tell by the look on Lady C.’s blood-streaked face that she didn't want any help, but boy did Aya’s appearance turn the tide in her favor.
As Fujin went for the Lume Mage, as Rose and the furry dragon continue to whip around, and as Magnus still tried to figure out how he could get a hit in on the porcelain statue man, Aya and Lady C. took on the Tagvornin Hunter.
It was pretty much over when Lady C. activated her fire swords, swinging them around her body, sending flaming bolts towards the Tagvornin Warrior. Her ghost limbs propelling her forward, Aya came down behind the warrior and pressed her sword through his stomach.
“How’s that for teamwork?” she called over to me, a wild look in her eyes.
“Good!”
“Magnus, Ophelia, drain Galatea!” Iris shouted, her glasses lit up like Times Square.
Brilliant, I thought as the fated couple cast life draining spells on the indestructible porcelain statue.
It worked like a charm. Soon, the porcelain was cracking, and pieces began to fall from its body.
Homestretch, I thought as Lady C. and Aya took out the Tagvornin warrior.
Fujin was giving the mage hell, which only became worse when Lady C. immediately turned towards the mage and hit him with her Ice Explosion skill.
About the only thing left to slay was the furred dragon, who lay next to Rose, wheezing. Both were pretty bad off, and neither were able to move. A portion of Rose’s throat had been ripped out and her bearadillo armor was missing several of its bands.
“Aya…” I started to call out, but the Thulean warrior had already approached the dragon.
It looked over at her, tried to move away from her massive blade, but ultimately failed.
Red handkerchiefs filled the air as the crowd clapped and whistled.
We were the victors; it had been a hard fight, but we’d persevered, and there was only one more fight to go.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
“Damn,” I said as our avatars took shape back in the posh locker room.
“You have done well for yourself,” Sagelock said as he leaned into me, bearing his pearly whites. He still had his top hat on, but it tilted to the side now, partially covering his right eye. His black and white face paint had started to fade, revealing cracks around his eyes and lips.
“We got lucky again.” I turned to Iris and smiled. She was slightly out of breath, the excitement from our last battle getting to her as well.
“Well, the treasure is yours, and remember, if you win the next fight ...” Sagelock twisted into the air until he was gone, vanishing like smoke on a windy night.
“This is it, everyone, we’ve got one more to win,” I said as I popped open the treasure box. I was rewarded with a prompt telling me that I had received thirty thousand Proxima Dollars and two thousand real dollars.
Proxima Dollars: $46,250
Spent: $24,500
Loan: 0
With the three hundred I had already received, twenty-three hundred was enough to buy a used Rickenbacker Bass. It was definitely enough to maybe get the tubes on my amp fixed.
Iris smiled at me, reading my mind. “You have to get it fixed. You can get a cheaper bass for the time being.”
“I need to get your Juno fixed too,” I said, recalling her vintage keyboard that Thad had wrecked.
“That's not necessary yet ...”
“We're going to get everything again, I promise, Iris.”
“You two are so sweet together,” Aya said as she sipped some of the health potion punch. She said this just loud enough for Lady C. to hear, which was starting to get a little annoying.
“I think you are cute together too,” Lady C. said, her voice faltering.
“Everyone heal up,” Iris said. I was glad that she hadn't taken part in the banter between the two Huntresses. It was better that way.
The lights above us dimmed, and I ha
d to make the decision as to who I would bring to the final fight. “It would be good to have a tank,” I said to Iris, who knew exactly the conversation I had started.
“I think Fujin was really helpful in that last fight.”
“I agree, and I think Sun Wukong could be helpful as well. Magnus?” I asked her.
She nodded. “You have two people that are wielding swords, and wielding them better and better with each fight. Yeah, have Magnus sit this one out.”
“As you wish,” Magnus said as he stepped away from Ophelia. She turned to him, reached her hand out and he kissed it once, wishing her luck.
The lights dimmed again.
This was it, the moment all this had led up to.
I didn't deserve to win this tournament; I knew that others had trained longer and harder than I had. And I had gotten enough from this tournament already, a good amount of cash and the promise of some serious Dojo redesigning.
But I wasn't going to back down now.
We were too close to taking it all.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The roaring crowd became a blur once I laid eyes on our final opponent.
My heart sank. “This isn’t good ...”
Iris stepped forward. “It’s them, isn’t it?”
Across from us were the two brothers that had defeated us in the last tournament. They had dressed up for this occasion, both in white suits and black bowties. The bigger one with brown hair had a red bandana tied around his sleeve. The shorter one with blonde hair had tied it around his head.
Their Hunters stood before them.
The first was a devil, and now that I could see his handle, I saw that he was at Level Twelve. He had the requisite horns, an ugly goatee, a bowtie, a spattering of hair across his tight chest, and hooves for legs. A typical devil, pretty much naked save for a loincloth and a stupid white bowtie.
His counterpart, the Warlock, was at Level Thirteen. He wore the same robes he’d worn last time we’d seen him, only these ones had white trim at the sleeves. His eyes glowed green under the hood that covered his face and I recalled instantly that he was a necromancer.
“Take the necromancer out first,” Iris reminded me. “We don’t need undead popping up.”
Monster Hunt NYC: A Fantasy Harem Adventure Page 24