Enzo came crashing down from above, slamming his lance into the ground and releasing a wave of energy that sent the orcs flying in all directions. The two flanks had finally caught up as well and were pressing into the orcs, who were only slightly stronger than the human defenders. Mostly. For every red and brown orc, there was an officer leading groups of gangsters.
I stormed toward Enzo as an arrow struck my left shoulder, almost knocking me over. I looked up at the balcony and saw the woman standing there with her bow pointed at me. She drew another arrow and shot it at me, but I blocked with the halberd’s blade, only to be caught by Enzo’s lance.
Damage Notification:
You have received 618 damage from Enzo
“What do you think? Bastard! How do you like my damage?”
I wanted to say something stupid, but then I’d be lowering myself to his level. Instead, I showed him what real damage was. His body suddenly shimmered, and armor appeared, hugging his body perfectly. It was identical to something I’d worn a long time ago. A tyranitaur set.
“You do realize that I’m far stronger than you, right?” I said, swinging my halberd at his shield. It deflected but sent him staggering backward.
“I don’t care if you had a God with you! I have my defense system! Sooner or later you’ll run out of those filthy creatures, and it will gut you!”
“Oh? So you can’t control it at will?”
He sneered and spat at me as the tip of his lance shot out toward my face. It started glowing and picked up speed suddenly, striking out like a cobra. I dodged to the side and caught it with my ear. What the hell? I could have sworn that I’d anticipated the attack correctly, but it was a glancing blow instead.
“What? Are you surprised?” Enzo hissed. “Let me show you something else!”
His lance pulled back and shot out again, the tip striking eleven times, every attack aimed at a different spot on my body.
Damage Notification:
You have received 432 damage from Enzo: You have received 481 damage from Enzo.
You have received 467 damage from Enzo.
The damage wasn’t anything special, and he only struck me three times, but there was something off with his speed. Why wasn’t I able to keep up with him? Something was definitely off. Then I remembered my debuff, which put me at about two points on speed. Anyone with a decent level or set of gear went over that.
I turned and sent a Swipe at several greenies who were closing in on me, cutting them down and restoring my shield. A sharp pain erupted from my side as I felt something dig into my skin.
Damage Notification:
You have received 5,000 damage from Enzo
“Motherfucker!” I cursed and swung the halberd in an arc and was struck by another arrow from overhead.
Deciding I’d had enough, I lunged upwards and slammed my weapon into the balcony railing, but barely missed the woman.
“No! Marissa! Are you alive?” he yelled and charged, slamming his shield into me. I suddenly couldn’t move as he kept stabbing at me. It was a strange sensation, almost as if I were paralyzed. I checked the notice message and frowned.
Damage Notification:
You have received 419 damage from Enzo
You have received Stun debuff for 5 seconds.
The five seconds ran out, and I kicked out at Enzo’s shield. It caught him off guard and sent him tumbling to the side, giving me a second of reprieve. He wasn’t strong, but with my nasty debuff, I was so much weaker than I should have been.
I donned my double-jump boots and jumped straight up, then on top of the balcony. The woman called Marissa lay there, unconscious. She must have hit her head hard or something, but she was alive. I grabbed her by her throat and picked her up, knowing very well she wouldn’t die from something like that unless I squeezed so hard her neck snapped.
“Come back here, you coward! Leave my woman out of it!”
I stepped toward the edge and held her still body suspended above the ground far below.
“Stop this shit, and we can finish this with a duel!” I yelled, squeezing her neck lightly. Enzo’s eyes went wide, and he bared his teeth, looking like an animal. “Last call, Enzo. Even if you did manage to defeat us, what are you with no servants?”
“Enough! Fight me like a man!”
Another beam shot out and went straight for me, but at the last moment, I made a snap decision and pulled Marissa closer toward me. Enzo’s silent scream caught in his throat as he stared as the beam passed through her chest. I dropped her body, and it fell in slow motion, or that was what I expected it felt like for him. To me, it was three whole seconds.
I jumped after her, and the pain was still ever present. My health pool was down to just over 60%, and there was no way in hell that I’d show that kind of bastard my back. He’d had his chance and enough offers to play nice.
I dropped from overhead, using Bash. The halberd started glowing and vibrating as I came crashing down. He put his shield up to defend against the attack and attacked me with his lance at the same time, throwing me off-balance. The tip of his weapon punctured my collarbone, but the mass of my halberd punched through his shield and then his body.
Enzo shuddered and let go of his equipment but remained standing on his feet. He didn’t say anything to me, and he didn’t try anything. His eyes dropped on Marissa’s body. With what looked like his last ounce of strength, he fell over and crouched next to her, kissing her forehead.
Tears formed in the corners of his eyes, and he sobbed. Death was never an easy thing, especially one of someone you loved. I even felt for the bastard, so I stepped over to him, propped the man up against the side of a building, and put her in his arms.
Again, he didn’t look up at me or say anything. All that he did was stare down at her. I wanted to say something to alleviate some of his pain, but he cut me off as his hand reached for something inside his subspace. Without so much as a single warning, he pressed down, and everything first turned white and then went black. I lost consciousness.
A dull ache coursed through my body. I felt pretty good considering I had no idea what was going on. Nothing except that something had happened, and I didn’t have a clue what it was. Nothing but… a flash? Bright white light and then darkness.
My eyes fluttered open to gentle candlelight. The scent of incense hung heavy in the air. It wasn’t aggressive, but just present. A voice whispered off to my right, where the largest source of light was located. I recognized the place as our bedroom. Everything was the same as I’d last seen it.
Melina sat there, tapping her fingers against the tabletop, and looked out through the window. Her disheveled hair told me she wasn’t in the best state. Something must have happened. No, someone must have happened. Me.
“Chocolate for your thoughts?” I said, my voice not much louder than a whisper. Her head shot around, and she almost jumped me, landing on the other side of the bed.
“You’re awake! You’re really awake!”
A sudden sensation flooded my right side. A more intense pain than I’d felt moments ago when I woke up. And then it amped up even further.
“What’s this pain?” I muttered as she laid kisses on my forehead, my cheeks, and my lips. They were soft and smelled of peppermint.
“You were… wounded when you took the Green Dragon Gang’s base. It was a pretty big clusterfuck, Vik.”
“How big?”
“Let’s say that half of the orcs died. Including Grawl’s brother, who saved you at the last moment.”
“Saved me from what? Mel, what the hell happened?”
I tried to push myself up to sit, but I couldn’t. Her hands shot around me, and she helped me sit upright against the bed. I looked down and froze. I was wrapped in bandages, but I could see it. Part of my right arm was missing.
Melina looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “Enzo detonated a dirty bomb just as he was about to die, and blew the zone to shit. You were standing right next to him, according to
the orcs.”
Images flashed back from the battle. Every single one crisp and clear. I couldn’t help but chuckle and close my eyes, as I felt like dying. I let him do it. I even wanted to give him a death he didn’t deserve, and instead, I fucked myself and my new allies. An even worse thought crept in my mind.
“How long have I been out?”
She looked back at me and tried to grace me with what looked like a fake smile. I didn’t blame her, as none of it was her fault. It was mine. I had offered to clean the greenies, and I did. But at what price?
“It’s been nearly four months. Most of your side was blown away and your arm up to your shoulder, but for some reason, it’s slowly regenerating. Who knows, maybe you will even get it back one day.”
“One day, huh?” I muttered as I stared back at the wrapped stump. “Do you know how long we have left?”
“For what? The battle?”
I nodded as I put my good arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. She smelled like chamomile.
“Just under three months.”
“Hah, now that’s what I call shitty luck. What about the orcs? Where’s Anton? Where are the others?”
“Everyone is good. They’ve been coming every day to check up on you. To see if you’re better.”
“And Kade?”
“Same. He was here the other day with Linda.”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to remember something important regarding Sylmar. Yes. Farz. Riftbreaks.
She seemed to read my thoughts and put her hand up to stop me. I did.
“Vik, there are many things that happened, but do you really want to talk about them right away?”
I let out a sigh and shook my head miserably. Yes. I was miserable. I also knew that I’d overcome this—whatever it was, but I had the right to feel shitty. I had the right to feel like a mess, at least for a day. A week. Maybe even a month. I’d earned that much after giving it my all and barely escaping death so many times over.
“Can you unwrap me?” I asked and moved my legs off the bed. I sat upright with my feet planted on the floor, feeling the smooth grain in the wooden floor.
“I can,” Melina replied with a half-subdued voice. “It’s time to rewrap it anyway.”
I took all of her in as she got up and pulled her hair back, then produced a hairband and made a ponytail. She had a short kimono on, one just like when we first met.
“Hey,” I said, drawing her gaze. “I’m glad you’re still here.”
Her face lit up, and she nodded as her hands traced down my back. She pulled at one of the bandages, and they slowly unraveled. Cool air touched my still open wounds, and it sent shivers down my spine.
Most of my skin was still open, but some of it had already closed and regrown. Melina traced her finger down the breathing burnt tissue and injected a trace of Enma into me. It was such a familiar feeling, one that felt like a long-lost lover.
“What the—what’s—wait,” I muttered, trying to pull on my Enma, but it wasn’t working. Both my Enma and my Bura had become merged into a single entity. One that I had no idea how it worked.
“I have no idea, but I can’t feel your Enma at all. It’s there, but—I have no idea. I thought maybe you’d know when you woke up.”
“What about Veles? Where is she?”
Melina let out a sigh and shrugged. “I have no idea. She came to check on you a week after the accident and shook her head when she saw you.”
“Did she—say anything?” I asked, feeling as if someone were tying a knot in my guts.
“That you cost her a lot and that she shouldn’t have trusted you.”
“Nasty bitch,” I cursed. “This could have happened to anyone!”
“It could have, but it happened to you, love,” Melina whispered. “She did say something else. Do you want to hear?”
I nodded. “What is it about?”
“The two—world-hoppers. They both reincarnated and are a part of your daughter’s life now.”
Something deep within broke, and it was as if someone had opened the floodgates to pain and an ache I had forgotten about. No, it wasn’t quite pain, it was sorrow. It was sadness. But it was also relief that I hadn’t died. Worst case, I could learn to live without an arm.
“Did she say when she’d be back?”
Melina shook her head but then shrugged. “Does it matter? There’s no way to defeat the Zanoxian in the state you’re in, so we might as well live the rest of our days to their fullest, right?”
I frowned and stopped, moving my stump around. It itched as if a million ants were walking around and biting into the flesh.
“I’d like to see our family in an hour. Can you tell them to prepare the usual?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
It had taken a little longer than an hour until they laid their eyes on me since I wanted to take a bath first, but that wasn’t the only reason. I needed some time for myself. I needed time to rethink what it was that I’d been doing for the last year and why.
I stared at my stump and moved it around. The pain had even mostly disappeared, but the ache to hold a weapon in my right hand was all too real. Most of it evaporated when I saw the expressions on my closest friends’ faces. They were elated.
Rita was the worst of the lot. She grabbed me like a predator and put her arms around me, squeezing the life out of me. Donald just tapped my shoulder and pressed his head against mine. They were acting pretty strange, even if I had been almost mortally wounded.
Mark, luckily, just hugged me quickly and stepped back to let Sarah in. She planted a kiss on my cheek and flashed me a broad grin. The woman was as cheerful as always. There were several others present, though. One of them was Grawl. The orc chieftain sat across from me and took up the whole far end of the table with his bulky body.
He remained quiet until we were done, and even then he just stood there, observing us.
“It’s good to see you, Grawl,” I finally said, addressing the elephant in the room.
“Likewise, Viktor.”
“Oh? No Viktor human anymore?”
“Hah!” he snorted and grinned wickedly. “I’ve had some time to practice speaking your language. It could be better, but it could be worse.”
“Indeed.” I smiled and nodded at him. “But I’m sorry about—”
He cut me off by raising his meaty hand and holding two fingers up in front of us. “You are this finger,” he said, pointing at his index, “and I’m this one,” he added, pointing at the middle finger. “We are as close as these fingers. Brothers. You have given me a new home, and I have given my brother to save your life.”
“Wait, what? You gave your brother to save me?”
“Indeed,” he said and nodded. “We could speak with a thought, and he was telling me about your bravery. I told him to stay close and to save you. He gladly accepted his destiny, so please honor him. Honor the others who have fallen.”
I thought for a moment and brought up what I knew about their culture. They worshipped bravery and power, battle, and conquest. There was one thing they would like beyond anything else, I was sure of it.
“Do you think a large statue of your brother and several of the fallen would be a good start? Right next to our portal so everyone can see who saved me.”
His thick eyebrows rose, and he slowly nodded. The two tusks seemed to shine as if they’d been polished to a high gleam. Despite what he said, there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes. Sorrow for those he’d lost.
“It will have to be enough. We rarely honor the dead, but this is—you honoring them.”
I nodded, understanding what he was getting at. And I agreed, in all honesty.
“Why don’t we start this off with a drink? I sure could use one,” I said and stared at the pitchers sitting on the table.
Rita dropped to her knees, and she immediately started pouring the cold brew. A smile crept up my face at the smell. I stopped and stared at the glass. There were so many occasions
when she had done the same, yet never had I managed to smell the stuff before it was close enough to my nostrils.
I stayed quiet and waited for her to finish. My left hand fidgeted with the glass, but I was aware and precise enough to grab hold of it even with a shaking arm.
“To us. To this place, and to life. To the dead and those who will never be forgotten.”
“To us!” the others almost boomed as one.
“To you, my love,” Melina took over. “And to our friends and family.”
“Cheers!”
We drank and ate. I had no idea how much I’d missed the stuff, but I was more than glad to wrap my teeth around the meat Rita had prepared. It was delicious. Once we were done, they started briefing us on everything. There wasn’t much to say, though, but Mark took it on himself to tell me whatever he could.
“Sylmar has pretty much recovered while Farz is lagging behind,” Mark said calmly. His demeanor changed along with his expression. “We’ve extended as much help as possible, and the military has been doing everything it can. They’re still a month out until everything can resume to—well, they’ll be able to function again to a degree.”
“That’s better than I anticipated,” I muttered. “The orcs there really did a number on them.”
“They did,” Grawl said with a low tone in his voice. His hands twitched as he spoke. “But I need to stress that it wasn’t us who did it.”
“Wait, what? Did anyone blame you?” I snapped.
“No, but the looks humans give us are… unfriendly.”
“Well, fuck them!” I cursed. “Whoever dares lift a hand against a brother of mine will lose that hand!”
I found myself suddenly standing with a balled fist and teeth bared.
“Hey, what the hell are you getting worked up about?” Melina demanded as she pulled me to sit back down. “Kade has it under control. Besides, they’re getting a ton of chocolate every month.”
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 25
