by Jakob Tanner
I hurried over to him and he put his hand on my shoulder. “We’re almost there mate. We get through this last tunnel and we’re home fr—”
Two Skren bandits hurried down the passage with sharp spears pointed directly at us. Worse, charging behind them was a large bulkier Skren with an eye patch and a large sword. The caption above him made me shiver.
[Skren Bandit Leader].
8
The Skren bandit leader ran towards us, gripping his two handed great sword, keeping the blade behind his head, ready to slash us once in range. The Skren were already scary but this guy was terrifying: he was three times the size of the other Skren we had seen. He had broad bulky shoulders and a hunched back. His arms were thick and muscular. He was unnatural even for a Skren. There was something grotesque about him. He had an eye patch over his right eye and one of his fangs was golden.
Skren Bandit Leader
Level 8
HP: 610
MP: 9
“So uhh,” said Shade, scratching the back of his head. “If you have any good ideas now would be the time to speak up.”
What? I had been following under his lead. As a thief, he specialized in heists and escapes but as for actual head to head combat, he didn’t know what to do. Time to put my gamer brain to the test.
“Okay, let’s stick together and take out the small guys first. One at a time,” I said. “Once they’re gone, we’ll focus on the leader.”
The Skren squad charged at us. We had mere seconds before their blades made contact with our flesh. I whipped out my arm, charging an energy ball in my hands. I threw it out towards one of the lesser bandits. The blast of bright mana knocked him in the chest, taking out 5% of its HP. The blast forced the bandit to stumble behind the others, disrupting their triangle formation.
“Die prisoners!” yelled the bandit leader. He swung his great iron sword, spinning on the floor in a circle. He caught enough wind his body took the shape of a sword tornado. He rippled across the ground towards us, covering ten meters within a second. Both Shade and I jumped to either side to dodge the whirl of the blade. The bandit leader crashed onto the ground and quickly jumped up, out of breath and disoriented. Great, the ability had a kickback time. But right now the leader wasn’t my focus. Now was the time to take out the annoying guards.
“Go for the one behind,” I yelled to Shade.
We ran around the middle guard towards the one I’d shot with the energy blast. A stab of pain came from my ribs as I took a jab from the other guard’s spear. He clearly didn’t like us ignoring him. But I kept my target. The weakened bandit cowered as Shade and I approached it from either side. It didn’t know where to point the spear so it held the wooden staff close to its chest, near its heart full of fear. It cried out as Shade did a quick stab at the creature’s chest, taking out a chunk of HP.
“Aim for the head,” I said, gathering the energy to form another ball. I fell into a crouch, gripped my charged up arm for aim and balance, and shot the energy blast right at the creature’s head. The blast flew across the air and hit the rat in the chin, scraping across its face in an uppercut attack. Its jaw flew backwards until it was facing the ceiling. A tooth dislodged from the rat’s mouth and went flying out into the cavern darkness.
Critical hit!
The creature’s HP bar steadily depleted as Shade piled on attacks with his rusty sword, jabbing the creature in the stomach and ribs. Blood overflowed through the holes in the bandit’s leather armor.
“Distract him,” Shade panted. “I have an idea.”
I charged up a big energy ball and shot it at the creature’s face. The blast of light knocked back the creature’s skull. Shade jumped forward, transforming into a hazy silhouette for about a millisecond, before reappearing right where he’d been standing. He now stood with his rusty sword in one hand and the Skren bandit’s spear in the other. Shade had pulled off his Steal ability mid-battle, leaving our opponent unequipped. Amazing.
The bandit lifted his empty hands in horror. He was now defenseless. I pulled my sword out from its sheath. The bandit’s eyes bulged in fear at the sight of my weapon. I gripped the handle and lunged forward at the dying Skren.
Something knocked into my back sending me skidding across the dirt. A horrible pain coursed through my entire body. My back stung. My HUD showed I had lost more than 50% HP. I spun around. The bandit leader was about to decapitate me with his massive sword. I rolled out of the way and scrambled to my feet. Both the bandit leader and his guard headed towards me with their weapons raised. I didn’t like this two on one scenario. Not at all. Beyond my approaching enemies, Shade delivered the final death blow to our target Skren, yanking his blood drenched sword out of the dead bandit.
+87.5 EXP!
The ground at my feet glowed and all my aches, pains, and bruises disappeared. My HP and MP fully replenished.
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP
You have (3) unused attribute points that can be applied to any of your five base stats.
I closed the prompt on my HUD. I didn’t have time to deal with distributing attribute points. I had a rat pack to kill.
The leader and his crony crept towards me. My drawn sword and magic hand made them weary of making any quick moves. There was no reason to rush; they would overtake me with force eventually.
Too bad they had forgotten about my friend.
Shade moved silently behind my attackers. When his shadow loomed over the smaller Skren guard, he jammed his sword into the creature’s skull. Red blood sprayed onto Shade’s whiskers and face. The rat bandit let out a horrible scream and Shade ripped the sword out of the creature’s skull and then thrust the blade back in. Pieces of brain flew through the air.
Both the bandit leader and the dying guard turned to attack Shade. I summoned an energy blast and shot it at the bandit leader this time. I hit the large rat in the shoulder and did a modest twenty hit points of damage. The creature returned its attention to me as Shade took on the dying bandit. The leader growled. It ran at me and then leapt in the air. Its shadow covered the ground at my feet. In the air, the creature held its sword back, the force of his jump added more and more energy and weight to the swing of his blade. If the sword hit me it would be an instant kill. I jumped out of the way as the bandit leader’s sword crashed into the ground, a cloud of dirt bursting from the impact.
It took the leader a moment to recuperate. I returned my sights to the normal Skren bandit. I powered up an energy ball and shot it off at the back of the Skren’s head.
Critical hit!
Shade did a quick jab at the creature’s ribcage. He strafed to the side and did another jab. He then twirled behind—so quickly the Skren didn’t have time to register what was going on—and did a final stab in the back. A fountain of crimson blood burst out the bandit as it toppled over onto the ground.
+87.5 EXP
The Skren leader let out a bellowing scream. It shook the cavern walls and small bits of rock fell from the ceiling. A coat of red energy swirled around the bandit leader. Shit—it must’ve entered a new powerful mode when its two minions were defeated.
The large rat creature sheathed his great sword behind his back and pulled out a rapier. In a flash of a second, he was right in front of me, the top of his sword coming straight for my face. I lifted my blade to block the attack. The rat’s one yellow eye bulged and its snout rippled into an antagonistic growl. It pushed its sword against mine. As our blades clashed, the creature leant in and bit my shoulder. I kicked it in the chest and its teeth dragged through my skin. The creature stumbled backwards.
My shoulder burned with two red streaks of torn flesh. The bite had taken a quarter of my HP off. My body pulsed with pain and my vision darkened.
Poisoned (Debuff): You have been poisoned! You lose 2 HP per 3 seconds until poison wears off (Duration: 1 minute)
Yikes. 40 HP gone in a minute. I would be left with ju
st over 30 HP. If I took a single hit from this thing I’d die. The shock of the poison ached through my entire body. My muscles and limbs tensed and throbbed from the pain.
Shade had lunged the sword into its ribs, shaving off another 20 damage on the rat leader. They danced with their swords. The clash and clang of metal echoed through the cavern as the cat man and rat bandit battled away with their blades.
“Watch out for its bite,” I yelled. “It has poison fangs!”
“Gotcha,” Shade replied, dodging an attack and rolling to the side. He lunged, shooting his sword forward. The bandit leader parried. He kept his back to me and I took the opportunity to power up an energy ball and shoot it at the back of his neck. The hit did 20 damage. The fur on his body struck out in pain.
The leader rolled away from us and sheathed his rapier. He then pulled out his great sword from behind him. “Prepare to die scum.” He held the sword in front of him, holding the handle with two hands. He pointed the sword out to us and unleashed his spinning AOE attack. The whirl of blades rushed towards Shade, knocking him back and taking more than a third of his HP off. It ricocheted off Shade and flew towards me. I sprinted towards the shadows of the wall and crouched into stealth. The sword tornado bashed into a wall of rocks.
The bandit leader stood up, muddled and confused. Following the creature’s super ability, his great sword had magically returned to its position slung on his back. His body stumbled in a dizzy stupor.
“Hey! Any chance you can steal the leader’s great sword?” I said.
Shade shook his head. “Too big to steal mid-fight and I wouldn’t be able to wield it anyway.”
Damn, Thief class must not be able to wield heavy weapons.
“Okay—new idea. Try and steal the rapier before it wakes up, that way he won’t be able to deal too much damage between AOE attacks.”
Shade grinned. “You know you’ve come a long way since I met you five minutes ago.”
He winked and ran ahead towards the dizzy bandit. He yanked it off the guy and the sword dematerialized into Shade’s inventory. He jumped back and hacked away at the bandit leader, whittling away its health. I fired off another energy ball. The last one I’d be able to use in a while as I waited for my MP to regenerate.
The bandit leader was at less than half health when it returned to proper consciousness. It attempted to grab its rapier and stopped, confused at the fact it was missing from its sheath.
“Looking for something,” laughed Shade, unleashing another attack at the creature.
The bandit leader growled and pulled out its great sword. He swung for Shade, delivering a bloody streak across his chest. I ran behind the creature and went for a stab attack. My blade sliced across the creature’s back. I did a pitiable 5 damage. A pain pulsed through me, making my legs wobble. The poison made it difficult to think and aim properly.
The Skren turned towards me and swung his sword at my head. I jumped back and dodged the attack.
Shade ran up and slashed it in the back. It screeched in pain and rage.
The bandit cooled and gripped the sword with two hands and held it in front of him. Uh oh. He was preparing the AOE attack.
“Run!” I yelled and headed towards the cavern walls. If we triggered stealth in the shadows, the tornado targeting would be skewed and it wouldn’t hit us. Victory was ours if we survived this next attack. All I had to do was not get hit. I darted for the walls and felt the gust of the sword tornado behind me. I strafed and strafed, barely outmaneuvering it. I was about to dodge it again when a burst of poison screwed up my footing and I twisted my leg, falling back. The sword tornado grazed me, skidding across my skin, taking out 30 HP.
Oh no.
My HP bar slid down to 18. The poison debuff would last another thirty more seconds. It would kill me, feast upon my dying flesh.
The bandit leader emerged from its AOE attack, stumbling and dizzy.
There was only one last hope now. I rushed the dazed bandit leader and flung my arm forward, thrusting my sword at its undefended head. I took off a bunch of damage. Shade was right behind me slicing at its back. I grabbed the creature by the snout and jabbed my blade into its eye over and over.
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
Critical hit!
I was at 6 HP now. I had three seconds. I kept jamming the sword into the creatures eye, generating critical hit after critical hit. C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. I had one second left. I wasn’t going to make it. I went for one last stab. This was it.
Critical hit!
A horrible screech echoed through the room. A shower of lights filled my HUD. My HP and MP bars replenished as the prompts rolled in.
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP
You have (3) unused attribute points that can be applied to any of your five base stats.
9
“Time to go,” said Shade.
Screams emanated from the encampment below. The Skren were still taming the giant mollusk.
I headed over to the dead rat bandits. I scanned their bodies and equipment, seeing if any of it was worth taking off them.
Skren Bandit
Rough Leather Vest (DEF: 7. Durability 6.5/10)
Rough Leather Shorts (DEF: 6. Durability 7/10)
Rough Leather Boots (DEF: 2. Durability 8/10)
Thin Rusty Rapier (ATKP: 8-12. Durability 7/10)
None of the stats were better than what I already had but the rapier and vest would catch me coin at a market somewhere. I opened my five-slot inventory and discarded the useless cloth starting gear and yanked off all of the Skren bandit’s clothes. Along with the two rat tails (crafting materials and loot trophies stacked in your inventory) I’d be completely full. I’d have to buy a bag or an inventory increasing enchantment. Item management was always a pain in the ass otherwise.
Once I’d stripped the bandit, I kneeled over and cut off its tail and then let it dematerialize into my invisible inventory. I ran over to the other bandit and did the same. I eyed up its equipment but when I pulled off its boots, my inventory refused to take it. Equipment did not stack in your inventory like the rat tails did.
My greedy eyes turned to the dead bandit leader.
“Shall we?” I said to my companion.
“Even I know we should retreat to the woods,” the thief sighed. “But you know me too well. The great sword will fetch a mighty price at the market. It would be a pity to leave it behind.”
We walked over towards the bandit leader, soaking in its puddle of blood on the ground. We were two meters from it when its arm twitched. I grabbed Shade by the shoulder.
“Stop. Did you see that?”
“A newly born corpse does funny things,” explained Shade, shrugging off my arm.
A burst of blood shot out of the rat leader’s shoulder. A piece of bone burst forth as the skin of the corpse bubbled in odd contortions. The clawed finger of the creature dug into the ground, gripping it for balance. It pushed itself up right. The rat face was there but red fleshy tentacles oozed out of both of its eye sockets. The creature’s skin shriveled and bulged.
“What is happening?”
Shade shook his head. “We need to run.”
I scanned the creature but its information was disconcerting.
Skr3n B^nd1t L33der
Level ??
HP: ??
MP: ??
What the hell? Something wasn’t right about this thing. It gurgled and burped and purple puss drooled out of its mouth.
“Shade?”
But the thief was already meters ahead of me, dashing away.
I turned to run but the demonic creature in front of me screeched. I was unable to move. What was happening?
Paralyzing fear (debuff): You are so scared you are paralyzed (immobility duration: 1 minute)
“Shade!” I yelled. “Come back. I can’t move.”
The crea
ture waddled towards me. It lifted up its arms and pointed at me. Its arm stretched and mutated, turning into a tentacled pincer. It touched my right arm and my whole HUD went deep red.
Instant kill!
You are dead!
10
I woke up. My eyes bulged with terror. I scrambled to my feet.
Whatever just happened to me—there were no words to properly describe it. It was like I had existed in eternal nothingness for hours, days, possibly even years. It was what solitary confinement did to you: it messed up your sense of time, order, and reality. My stomach wrenched. I knew no amount of therapy would ever let me forget what it was like to die. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. To exist in a plane of reality where nothing was all, where there was only absence.
It was made worse by coming back to life. At the time I wasn’t able to consciously think through the horror. Now the concept became worse and worse in my mind.
A prompt appeared in my HUD:
Quest Failed: Escape the Bandits!
You failed to escape the Skren bandit encampment without dying. Better brush up on those stealth skills rookie!
Damn. I failed my very first quest in this game. Not a promising start. I closed the prompt and took in the next one.
Death’s Punishment (Debuff): You feel the horror and pain of death. You lose all EXP gained towards your next level. You gain 30% less EXP on kills (Duration: 6 hours). All ATKP and MTKP damage reduced by 10% (Duration: 6 hours). HP and MP regeneration 10% slower (Duration: 6 hours).