Legendary Rule

by Bruce Sentar

  It whipped around and let loose the arrow at point-blank taking Ajax in the shoulder. It hurt, causing more pain than Ajax had been expecting from the small bow and arrow.

  And it was bleeding like a real wound. That’s when Ajax noticed the oily sheen on the blood; he’d been poisoned. These little green shits had poison on their weapons.

  Pain fueled anger filled him, and Ajax swung as hard as he could with a Power Strike. The blow hacked clean through the goblin’s throat, the head flying off into the mess of fighters. The stump squirted goblin blood and for the first time, Ajax wondered if he should turn the gore setting back up.

  Ajax spun spotting one of the goblins trying to get to Sky and rushed to stop it. He charged into it, shoulder checking the little guy down and aggravating his shoulder wound.

  But he’d succeeded in taking the pressure off her so she could continue to unleash her rain of arrows at the charging line of goblins. The goblins started to thin out in the trio’s area between Missy’s whirlwind attack and Sky’s never-ending arrows. Somehow she’d gotten a full barrel of arrows placed at her side.

  Ajax laughed at the ridiculousness of whoever came up with the barrel. Sky shot him a grin before returning to raining death down on the little green shits.

  “Sky, start helping the guards. We can clean this up.” Ajax jumped in between a new group of goblins. There were four of them - three with swords so small they’d only be daggers in Ajax’s hands. The last was bigger than the rest and had a large grisly looking ax. They all came swinging at the same time.

  Ajax rolled away, dodging the large ax and only taking a few scrapes from the sword-wielding goblins. The worst pain was from his wounded shoulder. He couldn’t help swearing as he came up swinging with his ax.

  One of the smaller goblins took the shaft in the face and cupped his nose which had started to pour out blood. The others stepped in trying to stick Ajax in the gut.

  He turned sideways, avoiding getting skewered, but he still saw two damage indications pop up in front of him.

  He stole a glance at his bars as he danced outside the goblin’s range, but the two with little swords followed him. <24/100>. Shit, that arrow must have done some work. A red -1 ticked across his screen and he switched his vision to his status effects and saw one that looked like drops of blood. It was clearly some sort of bleeding status.

  He decided to change strategies and activated sprint to draw them further away before turning around and running past the two chasing him with swords to slam into the larger goblin.

  The creature was stunned by the body check but didn’t go down like the others. Ajax grabbed the ax with his left hand and used a power attack on the goblin’s forearm. He had to hold his ax closer to the head to use it with one hand but it did the trick and bit down to the bone in the goblin’s arm.

  It let out a garbled noise as it lost its grip on the weapon and Ajax snatched it up. Ajax saw his energy bar was almost gone and used the last of it to step behind the larger goblin and start striking it with a flurry of swings from both his old and new ax. The unarmed goblin got in a few punches but they didn’t do much. Ajax kept hacking quick shallow wounds chipping away at the large goblin’s health.

  It went down, and Ajax panted, taking a moment to restore his energy. He scanned the field and saw there weren’t anymore goblins spilling out of the forest. They were starting to thin out and a few were retreating back to the woods.

  The two smaller goblins got to him shortly after he downed the large one. <18/100>. Ajax had to focus on dodging these two. He kept backing up to dodge their swings and pokes. Luckily they were in sync of their attacks, so he could dodge them both then take a swing with his weapons chipping away at them.

  One of the goblins stopped swinging and switched his rhythm so they were alternating. Were they learning? Ajax had a crazy feeling that they were getting better as the fight went on. They separated and started to flank Ajax.

  Ajax started dodging to the sides of the pair to use the other goblin’s body as a shield. The goblins were clumsy, and he was able to use them against each other while he jabbed the one within his reach to score small strikes.

  He kept going for what seemed like a long time, realizing he was getting tired and needed to make some progress. He finally whittled the first one down. He then stepped forward and ducked low around the remaining goblin’s swing, swiping at the back of the goblin’s legs. The ugly bastard went down on all fours from that move, and Ajax ignored the new window. Dropping the ax like an executioner, he used both hands to swing his ax down hard, severing its head.

  Ajax thought he was done, and turned to Sky. She was on the ground, a goblin rogue standing over her with twin daggers.

  He lost it and tackled the rogue to the ground, beating him with the butt of his ax till he stilled.

  Rolling off the goblin, Ajax gently rested Sky’s head of his lap. “You okay?”

  She groaned in response and opened her eyes. “Fucker knocked me upside the head; just stunned bad.” Something in his expression must have caught Sky’s attention, as she quickly shifted to a gentle expression. “I’m not dead. It’s okay.”

  Ajax helped her up and started looking back and forth now wary of another goblin rogue. Sky noticed his shoulder and tore off a strip from her shirt. “You need to try and bandage that shoulder.”

  Ajax backed up to the wagon keeping an eye out while she tied the bandage roughly around his shoulder. He winced when she tied it off but did his best to turn it into a smile. “Thanks.” Ajax grinned at her focused expression as she examined the bandage. Some of her blue hair had come free and hung messily around her face. Sky was gorgeous, the focused expression only making her more so. Ajax smiled and wondered again how he’d gotten so lucky to party with these two.

  She looked, up catching him. She smiled and shot him a cocky grin.

  A green +5 went across his vision distracting him. He checked, and the blood had disappeared from his status bar. He was left with only six health left. One good blow from a goblin would be all it took to take him out of the fight.

  Ajax let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Staying in the back with the wagon Ajax held up his hand and started casting Magic Missiles from the backline to help Missy. She was like a bull in a china shop, spinning through goblins before they even managed to swing out with their weapons. The goblin bodies started to pile up on the ground as the fight started to tip heavily in the caravan’s favor.

  One of Ajax’s Magic Missiles drilled into the back of a goblin that was charging Missy, and then the field of battle was finally calm. No more high pitched battle cries of the goblins, no more clang of steel. The fight was over.

  Ajax leaned against a wagon and slid down panting. Sky came over and crossed her legs on the ground, leaning against the wagon with him. The blue-haired beauty didn’t seem injured at all.

  Missy came bounding over, her beginner's tunic plastered to her curves now wet with blood. He wasn’t sure how much of that was hers but her health bar was just slightly under half. “That was amazing! A tad dizzying, but once I got the skill the dizzy spells got better.”

  “You mean you did half of that without a skill?” Ajax stared at her. That meant she was quite literally just spinning around with a sword.

  “Well, I really wanted a melee area attack, so yeah.. I was trying to make the spell. And, look how great it is!” She gestured over the carnage that the guards had already started picking through.

  “We better get out there before they take all the loot, beauties.” Ajax got up wincing and offered Sky a hand. She took it with her head low to hide her blush. She seemed completely okay flirting with Ajax earlier. Why was she suddenly getting so shy? Did he do something wrong? He caught Missy watching him with a big grin.

  Ajax looked back and forth between the two girls. They were giving encouraging smiles to each other. He wasn’t sure what to think. If they teamed up on him… he was screwed.

  CHAPTER 15
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br />   The caravan needed to recover after the fight. They moved just far enough to be clear of any scavengers that would be drawn to the carnage. Ajax thought it would be dangerous to stay put considering there were still goblins that got away. Remblaar was adamant that they wouldn’t be back after that battle.

  They had finished looting the goblins and came out pretty well off, though none of the equipment the goblins had worn was an upgrade for them. But the experience and coin, which they had converted all of the loot to, was a pretty penny.

  The merchants had been happy to buy off all the gear, and Ajax had the suspicion that he had been ripped off. He didn’t know the value of the goods though. In the future he’d need to find someone more fair to run all his goods through. He suddenly realized there would definitely be a merchant class out there soon. Money ran everything and someone was going to be taking advantage of that.

  Ajax pulled out some of his trail rations and began to chew watching a small stream of green threes fill his health bar. When he got above eighty percent, most of the pain in his shoulder went away and he took off the dirty bandage. The wound had closed, and he watched as the surrounding bruise paled with each bite of his trail ration. He flicked open his character screen.

  Name: Ajax

  Level: 6

  Health: 106/120

  Energy: 130/130

  Mana: 0/100

  Strength: 13

  Agility: 12

  Fortitude: 12

  Stamina: 13

  Wisdom: 10

  Intelligence: 11

  Charisma: 10

  Skills >

  Sprint 1

  Power Strike 2

  Magic Missile 1

  Meditation 1

  Axe Mastery 1

  He was coming along slowly, but he still hadn’t used his stat points from leveling. He wondered how he compared to the girls; they had been doing more exercising while he’d been trying to figure out magic.

  “Phew” Missy sat down at our fire. The whole caravan had circled up for the night, but the trio didn’t seem welcome at the other campfires. They had decided to make their own. They had their tent to retreat to Ajax’s personal space when the time came to sleep, but until then, they’d stay at the campfire.

  Surprisingly Sky made a fire with some tinder and spinning the stick in the groove of a larger branch. He didn’t really expect that skill set in any woman from the modern-day.

  Missy had pulled off her boots and was giving herself a foot message “I can’t believe it’s only been five hours outside the game.” She looked over Ajax’s shoulder to see a few guards spreading out of the caravan’s camps to keep watch. Ajax wasn’t surprised that the captain did not seem to want ‘the adventurerers’ to stand watch. “Look, we got out of night watch tonight. I suggest we all do a quick log out to do some real-life maintenance. We wouldn’t want to starve during this quest.”

  Ajax had to agree it was a strange feeling. He had been in here two days but that was only to five hours outside. He really wanted to see the time outside to confirm the time dissonance was real. Suspicion had been in the back of his head this whole time that he’d log out and it was all a big joke.

  “Yes, let’s do that. We can pretend to sleep in-game, so get in your tents and logout. No more than 30 minutes outside before we get back in here. If you are back early come out by the campfire and we can discuss skills and training.” Ajax started organizing the group; it came naturally. His dislike of poor organization had usually pushed him to be the leader of the party back when he played games in the past. He didn’t leave any room for discussion and went back to his tent to log out.

  The machine hummed as the black liner deflated, it gently laid him back down on the chair frame. The PIU hissed and whirred as the lid slid away. Ajax grabbed the edge with one shaky hand and had to practically drag himself out of the machine. He felt like he was discovering new muscles in his body every time he moved. He wasn’t just sore; he ached as if he’d just tried to do couch to 5k in an afternoon. Then decided it was time to go to one of those HIIT classes, the expert one. His body felt wrecked.

  Ajax staggered to the kitchen and started a pot boiling for his free ramen; he’d made it so many times he was on autopilot. His mind elsewhere.

  He’d been so scared that they would lose Sky during that fight. When he saw her helpless on the ground with the rogue over her, he was genuinely worried. Part of him knew that she would respawn and it was just a game, but it felt so real. It caused him to care for his companions far more than he would in any other game. It was almost too real.

  Then, there was the fight itself. Missy and Sky played a much larger role than he did. Both of them took down dozens of goblins, while he took down less than ten. It was likely because he fought with an ax when he was planning to be a mage. He didn’t have enough mana to truly fight like a mage yet though.

  Sighing, that was his fault really. He had held onto those stats from leveling. At level 6 he should have thirty stored up, yet his total stats only amounted to seventy-one. He had almost half again his stats sitting idle, wasted.

  Flicking up his character menu, nothing happened. Wait, he wasn’t in the game. Nothing happened, but it made Ajax shudder. He’d been in the game less than a day and he was already confusing the two. What would happen to everyone in a month?

  Never mind, he’d deal with the potential embarrassment when it happened. He needed to really become a caster; he needed to set a path forward. He’d become the best damn mage.

  The sizzle of his pot boiling over broke him from his thoughts. Food first, then back to the game.

  ***

  Sarah sighed, watching Ajax pixelate and vanish in front of her. They were going to take a break, but she didn’t feel like she needed one. She twirled her pink hair around her finger. She’d taken a few nutrient-rich loafs before logging in and had some tech attached that would tell her if she needed to log off and hydrate.

  She looked over at Sky and saw that Melissa hadn’t logged off either. The two stared for an intense second.

  “So coincidence? Yeah?” The tension had been a bit high since they met back in the starting zone. How could she have screwed this up so badly?

  Sky ignored the faint “So, he’s the guy you wanted to use my name with?” Her expression cooled to a purposeful expressionless mask.

  Sarah had been bracing for this conversation. Of course Ajax would somehow end up also grouping up with Melissa. Melissa was very good at taking opportunities that came to her. Sarah should know; they dated for a while after she gave up boys. She needed to play this right.

  “Yeah he is. He is the same one I was hung up on back then.” She’d never lied during her relationship with Missy. She had always been hung up on Ajax.

  Melissa's face broke into a smile. “Good for you. Don’t worry I won’t ruin this. I want a chance too though.”

  What? Sarah couldn’t help chuckle to herself. She finally had Ajax’s attention pretending to be Missy and now the real Missy was going to compete with her. At least that’s what she thought, until Missy spoke up again.

  “Don’t get me wrong he’s cute, and he might grow on me. But I want another chance at you. Though I’ll admit I’m also curious what wins out: my fame or the real me.” Melissa’s smile turned tired. Sarah knew she already guessed which would win and was sad for it. Sarah knew that Melissa was tired of fame. It had done things to her personal life that she regretted.

  “That’s fair, but let's not make it exclusive. I want Ajax, but you can join us.” Sarah had her own worries about what would happen when she had to come out to Ajax. She knew having a few other girls on her side would really help, and she wanted to see Ajax squirm. She’d borrowed a harem book or two from Ajax, and she was damned sure she was going to snag him this time. Getting a few girls to join her would make coming out that much easier. Sharing didn’t bother her as long as she was a part of it.

  “Oh, that would be interesting.” Melissa tucked her hair ba
ck thoughtfully. “You aren’t scared of the competition are you?”

  Sarah smiled “On the contrary, I welcome it.”

  They studied each other for a moment trying to understand the other’s motives. Missy gave up first “This place needs a makeover, it’s so… spartan.”

  “Ha, it’s so like him. You should see how minimal his apartment is.” Sarah laughed. It really was all Ajax.

  “Well the least we could do is spruce up the place a bit.” Melissa looked about the sparse personal space. “Yeah, if we are going to stay here a while it needs a girls touch. Care to join me?”

  Sarah didn’t mind. It needed a makeover. And she was expectant at what Ajax’s reaction would be.

  CHAPTER 16

  It had taken him less than 15 minutes to stuff his face and get back into his PIU If he was honest, it was much more comfortable being back in the game. He noticed the clock said 1AM, and he had checked his iLids while he was out. The time dissonance was real. There were major implications of having more time in the game. He, however, couldn’t think about those now.