by Lucas Flint
“I know,” I said, stopping to listen for any sounds of an ambush or trap before continuing on. “But I take being a Hero seriously. Real Heroes help people who need it, even people who don’t like them. That’s what I believe, anyway.”
“Let’s just hope Targetman agrees and doesn’t decide to hunt you down like a pig,” said Cy. “He seems like the kind of guy who would get really offended by helped by one of his targets.”
“Which is precisely why I decided to run as soon as I gave Mechbeth my Health Drink,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at Cy with a wink. “Helping Targetman might have been the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean I want to be there when he wakes up. I’ll let him find me himself if he wants to.”
“Smart move,” Cy agreed. “But that fight with him really messed up our progress. How much longer until we reach the offices where Atmosfear and Master Haru are?”
I pulled open my map of the factory and looked it over. Interestingly, my map had updated now, showing me not only the general layout of the factory but also the positions of my Teammates and even spots where battles were taking place. The vast majority of the fighting was clustered in the very center of the factory, right where Goalem had made his dramatic entrance, although I noticed a few fights on the periphery and even some outside on top of the factory. From what the map showed me, Dillo and Hop were still dealing with the Elite Stalking Shadows outside, although it looked like they were only dealing with one now rather than two, while Funky, Recover, and Brawn were locked in combat with about half a dozen other Stalking Shadows, including one labeled [STALKING SHADOWS COMMANDER], which didn’t make me feel good. I also spotted several Ninja Guild members, including Riku and Aimi, stuck in combat with some Elite Stalking Shadows.
Luckily for us, the various members of the Task Force were separated fairly widely across the factory. Even better, none were on our way to the offices in the back. In fact, it looked like no one was back there, not even any of the Stalking Shadows. I would think that Master Haru and Atmosfear would both have a few token guards at least, but perhaps the ferociousness of the attack had forced all available Stalking Shadows to leave their established positions to defend the factory.
In any case, I wasn’t complaining. This would make it that much easier for Cy and I to reach their offices and take them out. Granted, we would still have to actually fight Atmosfear and Master Haru, but I was going to have to do that anyway, so I wasn’t very upset about that. Admittedly, both Atmosfear and Master Haru were probably very strong and high-leveled, but it was too late for me to turn around and go home.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my Infection rate had increased. It was now a solid 11%. That still wasn’t necessarily worth worrying about, but being reminded of my Infection caused me to notice my thirst. My teeth tingled when I thought about the sensation of sinking my teeth into flesh and spreading the virus I carried within me. I tried to ignore it, but it was very difficult. I found myself fantasizing about biting into the neck of another person and spreading the Z-Virus into their body and making them just like me. I had no idea what human flesh and blood tasted like, but my imagination was already supplying me with the details, even making my mouth water as—
“Boss, watch out!” Cry cried out as he shoved me to the floor.
Snapped out of my thoughts, I heard a dull thud above me and looked up to see several throwing stars embedded in the crate to my left. Looking in the direction from which they came, I saw four Stalking Shadows jumping across crates and conveyor belts toward us with amazing speed and agility.
“More of these guys?” I said as I rose to my feet and summoned my twin Ice Daggers. “Just how many members do the Stalking Shadows have anyway?”
I didn’t get an answer for that, because in the next instant the four Stalking Shadows landed around us and began attacking. This forced Cy and me to stand back to back, fighting off their attacks as best as we could. It was difficult to keep up with the speed of the Stalking Shadows, not helped by the occasional lucky hits they got, but we managed to defend ourselves well, although it meant we were pinned down in our current position and could go no further.
The two Stalking Shadows I personally fought took turns attacking, although occasionally they would both attack me at once in an attempt to throw me off. But my Dual-Wielding Skill meant I was able to hold off even two attacks at once. A notification appeared when I blocked a particularly vicious double assault from the ninja, but I ignored it in order to focus on surviving.
Finally, one of the Stalking Shadows thrust a little too deep, leaving his guard wide open. Without hesitation, I plunged one of my Ice Daggers into his chest, instantly killing the Stalking Shadow, who fell to the floor with a dull thud as his blood leaked out of his wound like a broken pipe.
But even as I wrenched my Dagger free of the ninja’s chest, I caught a whiff of human blood and my mouth started watering. For a moment, my eyes were locked on the corpse of the Stalking Shadow I just killed. I fantasized about cutting off bits of his flesh and tossing it in my mouth. I could just imagine crunching his skin between my teeth and gnawing on his bones, drinking his blood like a fine wine and—
“Boss, snap out of it!” Cy shouted suddenly. “Fight isn’t over yet!”
Shaking my head, I was barely fast enough to raise my Ice Daggers in time to block the dagger of the remaining ninja I fought. I caught his blade on my own and then thrust forward, sending the ninja staggering backward. Sensing an opportunity, I rushed forward and slashed across his chest, but the ninja bent over backward, Matrix-style, allowing my Ice Dagger to harmlessly pass overhead.
Then the ninja thrust his arm forward and stabbed his dagger somewhere near my spleen. Pain exploded in me as a new notification popped up in my view:
Debuff added: Stab. -1 Health/2 seconds. Duration: 1 minute.
Dang it. I swung my Ice Daggers at the ninja, but he yanked his knife out of my spleen and leaped backward, neatly avoiding my attack. When he yanked his dagger out of my spleen, more pain exploded through my body and I nearly passed out from the pain alone. The blood loss was horrible, staining my white-and-blue Costume and making me feel lightheaded.
Yet somehow, I didn’t care about that. Getting stabbed by the ninja like that actually made me feel angry. It wasn’t normal anger, either. It was the anger of a beast getting hit by its inferior. The anger rose within me, making me forget about the pain, the blood loss, and my own problems for the moment. A notification suddenly kicked in:
Buff added: Painless. Feel no pain from most basic wounds and injuries. Duration: 10 seconds.
What? Really? That was an interesting and convenient buff. I wondered where I got it from.
But I had no time to think about that. I just strut forward, slashing my Ice Daggers wildly before me, forcing the ninja to back up to avoid getting cut up. Although I still suffered from my Stab wound, my new Painless buff meant I could just ignore it in order to focus on taking care of my enemy. With a grin, I attacked the ninja as viciously and quickly as I could, taking great pleasure in seeing the absolute fear in the eyes of my victim.
That was when the ninja accidentally backed into a wall. The ninja had just enough time to look over his shoulder as if to confirm that he had walked into a walk before I thrust both of my Ice Daggers into his throat. The ninja’s blood exploded from his throat onto me as he choked for air, but that was the last thing he did before I yanked both of my Ice Daggers either way and took off his head completely.
The now-headless ninja collapsed onto the ground, his blood spilling all over the floor from the spot where his head had previously been connected to his body. A powerful sense of satisfaction filled me as I stood over his headless corpse. I still didn’t feel any pain from my wound, even though I knew it was there. I was thinking instead about how satisfying it had been to kill that ninja and how I wished his death could have lasted a little longer, if only for my own enjoyment. A couple of notifications popped up informing me tha
t I had earned 2,000 EXP overall from killing the two ninja, though that still wasn’t enough to take me to the next level yet.
“Boss?” said Cy behind me. “You okay?”
I whirled around to find Cy standing a few feet behind me. He looked a little worried, especially when he noticed the blood on my Costume and my Ice Daggers.
“Yeah, I am,” I said. “Where are the guys you were fighting?”
“I managed to beat them by shooting them out the window with Gust,” said Cy slowly. He looked at my Stab wound. “Are you sure you’re okay? That looks kind of ugly.”
I glanced down at my open wound and shrugged. “Oh. I forgot. I guess I must have gotten so caught up in the heat of the battle that I didn’t notice it.”
“That, uh, happens sometimes, I guess,” said Cy. “So are you going to drink a Health Drink or—?”
Truthfully, I didn’t really feel a need for a Health Drink, given how my Painless buff meant I couldn’t feel any pain. But seeing my Health bar steadily tick down as I lost blood convinced me to pull out a bottle and down it. My Stab wound closed and my Health bar rose back to full, although interestingly it didn’t do anything about my Painless buff.
“There,” I said, wiping the last drops of the Health Drink off my lips. “I should be okay. We need to keep moving. Don’t want more of those Stalking Shadows to catch up to us, after all.”
With that, I resumed following our map to the back offices, with Cy trailing behind me. I could tell he felt slightly apprehensive about following me, a feeling I somewhat understood, but not really. It wasn’t like I was going to kill him, after all. He was perfectly safe with me, him and his no doubt delicious blood and—
I caught myself. Whoa. Maybe he wasn’t as safe as I thought.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The fact that I had caught myself thinking such thoughts about my own Sidekick deeply disturbed me, although I didn’t say that to Cy. I just followed the map as best as I could, using the map to avoid walking into the battles raging on all around us. Although I enjoyed killing the Stalking Shadows, I knew better than to let myself get caught up in these battles. Killing Atmosfear and Master Haru was the only thing that mattered right now. Their minions were just a sideshow in comparison to the main event.
But my mind was still distracted by what I did earlier. Between feeling increasingly more bloodthirsty, as well as my Painless buff, I was beginning to realize that the Z-Virus was affecting me in more ways than I thought. The Painless buff was definitely nice—it felt kind of like being on the best pain pills all the time—but I realized that it was another sign that the Infection was getting worse. I suspected that the Painless buff was one of those things that all Z-Virus carriers got at some point. That explained how the zombies I had fought so far had been able to take ridiculous amounts of punishment without even slowing down, much less getting killed. I also now understood why Kuwabara had enjoyed being a zombie. If being a zombie meant you didn’t have to deal with pain, that was definitely attractive in and of itself.
But it was still a bad sign. I didn’t want to end up a zombie like the Stalking Shadows. It would mean giving up control over myself. Some people might like the idea of handing control over to someone else, but I didn’t. It just made me glad for Kids Mode again. As embarrassing as it might be, Kids Mode was probably the only reason why I hadn’t fully succumbed to the Z-Virus yet. With luck, I would also be healed of the Z-Virus entirely once the developers finished making the vaccine.
Luckily, we didn’t run into any other ninja on our way across the factory. Based on what the map showed, it looked like all available Stalking Shadows had been sent out to the scene of the battle. Even more encouraging, the number of fighting Stalking Shadows had dropped considerably. Dillo and Hop had finally entered the factory, where they had met up with Funky, Recover, and Brawn to take on a small team of Stalking Shadows, while the Task Force’s members were all still alive and active. Even the Ninja Guild members had clearly lost fewer members than the Stalking Shadows.
I couldn’t hide the grin on my face. By all accounts, it looked like we were winning, and handily at that. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got to the offices only to discover that Atmosfear and Master Haru had both fled. However strong they might have been, I doubted either of them would be able to withstand our combined might, even if they worked together and combined their Powers. I was becoming more and more convinced that victory would be ours.
Soon, Cy and I reached the stairs leading up to the back offices. We carefully climbed the stairs a few at a time, stopping every now and then to listen for possible threats or traps. But we didn’t run into anything dangerous and soon reached the offices themselves. There were about three of them and each one had a window that allowed the occupants to look out over the factory. Perhaps the windows were normally used by the factory overseers to keep an eye on the workers and make sure that product was being manufactured smoothly and on time, but now they were probably used by Master Haru and Atmosfear to keep an eye on the battle.
Crouching low, Cy and I made our way over to the first window. We peered inside but didn’t see anyone, so we made our way down to the second one and still didn’t see anyone. It wasn’t until we got to the third window that we found people inside.
On the other side of the window were three figures. Two I recognized easily: Atmosfear and Giggles. Atmosfear looked similar to the last time I’d seen him, with his red and silver body armor and his Roman centurion-style helmet. The only difference now was that Atmosfear had a long, black cape running down his back, as well as what looked like a large ax by his side. Giggles also looked pretty much the same, though the hilt of his dagger looked different. Perhaps he had gotten a new weapon since the last time I saw him.
The third figure, however, was new to me. He was clearly a ninja, garbed in black and purple, although unlike his fellow ninja he wore a high tech visor over his eyes. Due to the fact that he was sitting down behind a desk, I couldn’t tell how tall he was or what else he might have had. Knowing ninja, he probably had all sorts of different weapons on him to help him deal with a variety of situations.
But, although I had never seen the man, I had zero trouble recognizing him as [STALKING SHADOWS MASTER HARU]. And it looked like he and Atmosfear were having a big argument.
The glass must have been soundproof because I couldn’t hear what they were saying. But I could see Atmosfear waving his hands back and forth, pointing sharply at Master Haru every now and then and one time even slamming a fist down on the table. Master Haru, to his credit, did not seem to be very afraid or worried about Atmosfear, although based on the way the bottom of his mask moved, I could guess he was responding to whatever Atmosfear’s complaints were.
“What are they talking about?” Cy whispered to me. “Looks like Atmosfear is upset about something.”
I cracked a grin. “Probably about this attack. The map shows me that the Stalking Shadows are losing. They’ve lost quite a few of their own men while our side has barely lost anyone. They won’t be able to hold us back for much longer. Soon these guys will have to retreat, which means not only abandoning one of their Hideouts but also losing access to the artificial Z-Viruses they’re producing. No wonder Atmosfear is upset.”
“What should we do?” Cy said, not taking his eyes off the two arguing Villains. “Should we attack while they’re distracted? Or wait for the rest of the Team to catch up with us?”
I glanced at the map. “Everyone is in the factory now, but the rest of the Team is too far away to get here in time. We need to attack now before these guys get away. We’ll bust down the door and use Blizzard like how we did the last time we defeated Atmosfear. In such a small, enclosed space, even Master Haru won’t be able to dodge it.”
Still bent over, we made our way past the window and stopped in front of the door. A quick twist of the handle showed that the door was locked, but that was easy to fix. I put my hand on the door and, looking at Cy, said, “Ready?�
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Cy nodded. “When you are, boss.”
I smiled and nodded in return before looking at the door again. With a soft sigh, I activated Freezing Touch. Ice exploded out from my hand and completely covered the door from head to foot. As soon as the door froze, I reared back and kicked it right in the middle.
The door shattered under the impact of my kick and Cy and I jumped into the office. Our sudden appearance caused Atmosfear and Giggles to whirl around to face us, while Master Haru even rose from his chair as if he was going to make a run for it.
But I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t even engage in any banter. I just thrust my hands forward and shouted, “Cy, now!”
Powerful winds exploded from Cy’s hands, sending papers, books, and knickknack's on the shelves flying about. It also made the Villains stand still. Master Haru clung to his desk, while Atmosfear stood his ground and held his hands over his head to protect himself from the flying objects. Giggles’ robes whipped about him wildly, but he just said, in a deadpan voice, “Oh, no. Not this ag—”
With a yell, I activated Blizzard. My Energy bar dropped to zero as cold energy exploded from my hands and combined with the air to form a raging blizzard. Snow suddenly started falling from the ceiling, covering the whole room in a thick layer before being scooped up by the winds and covering Atmosfear, Giggles, and Master Haru. Giggles cried out in pain as the snow engulfed him, while Atmosfear tried to fight it off only to vanish underneath the snow as well.
The last I saw of Master Haru before the blizzard overtook him was a look of complete and utter surprise on his face.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
The blizzard seemed to last an eternity, but really it was probably only for a couple of seconds. Then it vanished, allowing Cy and I to see the results of our combined attack for the first time.