Iris and I exchanged glances.
I couldn't tell what she was thinking, and I would find out soon enough, but I got this feeling that she wanted to explore the myths behind the Steeple a little more.
Personally, I wasn't so interested in figuring out the secrets of EverLife, but if it made her happy and it provided something for our Fighting Party to do, then maybe it would be worth it.
“Now, I’ve told you enough just to give you a little taste of what's to come. We try not to spoil all the fun here at the information center of Kingdom Lume, so if you do have more questions, you can visit the library. Are there any other questions?”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
With the information in hand, and knowing just a little bit more about EverLife and its big mystery, we headed out to the streets, turning toward the shopping district.
Iris at my side, we let the others go ahead and found a central spot, near a statue of a lightning horse, to wait for them.
They each had a budget, and since we had about twenty thousand Proxima dollars, that budget mostly went toward the women, with Spew Gorge and Sun Wukong splitting the final five thousand.
“There may be some rare spices I can find here,” Sun Wukong said as he headed toward a food market.
“What about you, Spew?” Iris asked her goblin.
“First of all, I’m getting a fickin’ haircut. I want something a little bit more avant-garde, something that's kind of like a mullet, with shaved lines on the side. Yeah, I used to have a haircut like that back in Hyperborea. Then, I'm going to get myself some new clothes, maybe some armor, and some healing potions. I'm not as into healing potions as some other goblins I know, like my fickin’ stupid-ass uncle, but I do like to top it off every now and then.”
Iris laughed. “What do you mean by ‘top it off’?”
“You know, drink potions for the hell of it. It’s the taste, really. Also makes me digest food better. Fick. Just wait here. If I have any issues, you’ll hear about it.”
With that, the goblin waved his hand over his head and disappeared into the crowd.
“Finally, a moment to just breathe,” Iris said, her shoulders relaxing. “Do you ever get that feeling when too many people are around?”
“Story of my life, Iris,” I said as a goofy grin split my face.
“The Huntresses aren’t that bad, chatty, but not that bad.”
“Until they comment on everything that you do,” I said under my breath.
“You can make them disappear.”
“No, it’s fine, I enjoy their company, really.”
We sat on a concrete ledge in front of a lightning bolt statue.
There was a bookstore in front of us, and I could see Lady C. making her way over to it. She'd already purchased something, evident from the large bag she carried with her.
Because of her height, I could see Aya in the armor shop next door, trying something on as the sales clerk doted on her.
A man walked past, flanked by two orcs.
He had long blonde hair, and wore armor made of gold and silver. His pauldrons alone were something of a cosplay trope, and the fact that his armor completely exposed his stomach made me skeptical that it was any good.
Then again, Aya and Lady C.’s armor left little to the imagination.
The armored man stopped in front of the bookstore, just as Lady C. bent over to look through a basket full of small novellas.
Of course, Lady C. bending over in her tournament wear meant that she was showing her panties to anyone looking, including the man, who looked to his orcs, looked back at Lady C., and walked over to her.
His hand came back, and he slapped her on the ass.
“No, he fucking didn't,” I said as I stood, my fists already clenched at my side.
“What?” Iris asked.
“Hey!” I called to him, just as Lady C. turned to the man with both swords drawn.
She wasn't the only one that had drawn weapons. Aya was there with her buster sword pointed at the throat of one of the orcs, and Altsoba was there as well, the splitting image of Aya with a buster sword pointed at the other orc.
“Whoa,” the man in armor said as he raised both his hands. “Why is everyone acting so serious? I came I saw I conquered, I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to do here in EverLife?”
He's an Alpha? I thought as I realized that there was something different about him. Iris approached at my side, and asked me under her breath what had happened.
“Yeah, this guy decided it was a good idea to just go up and slap Lady C. on the ass,” I said so he could hear me.
“Wait a minute, are you telling me you have one, two, three, no, four hot bitches in your fighting party?”
One of the orcs laughed; the other one merely growled at Aya.
“Seriously? You going to bust my balls over this? Come on, man, we’re just having fun,” he told me. “You see what she's wearing, right? I just took it upon myself to give her a playful slap. How could I not? I saw this sweet peach just looking right at me.”
“Choose your next sentence carefully,” Aya or Altsoba said, it was hard to tell who was who. By this point, a small crowd had started to gather around, other Alphas and Hunters and Huntresses, all rubbernecking and hoping to see a fight go down.
“Look, I don't have time for this,” the asshole Alpha started to say. As he turned, he was lifted into the air and dropped onto the ground.
One of his orcs pulled out a club, the other a sword. They were ready to fight, even though they were severely outnumbered.
“That's enough of that,” a man in a collarless shirt said as he came forward, shouldering through the crowd. He wore official government clothing, a lightning bolt lapel pinned to his chest.
“Honestly, I was just about to go into this bookstore when these newcomers tried to attack me,” the long-haired Alpha told him.
“Is that so?” the city guard said as he turned to me, a sword and a shield appearing in his hands.
“No, none of that is true, he assaulted one of my ... Huntresses,” I said, not quite sure how I was supposed to phrase that.
“He’s a fickin’ ass-slapping piece of shit,” Spew Gorge said as he pushed out of the crowd, a healing potion in hand. “Fick! I’m gone for a few fickin’ minutes and Lady Cassandra goes and gets her ass groped. Literally. Fick you, fick your orcs, and fick your nice haircut!”
The city guard nodded, glancing from Lady C., who had her normal innocent look on her face, to the Alpha, who, quite frankly, looked like a douche in armor.
“That settles it,” the guard said as he clapped his hands together.
“What settles it?” Iris asked.
“A duel. There’s only one way to solve this, and that’s a duel!”
Chapter Six: DUEL!
Our avatars disappeared and reappeared in a small stadium. The stadium wasn't packed, but there were some people in the stands, and as our forms took shape, a murmur passed through the crowd.
“What will you wager for your duel?” the government official asked.
I looked over at the other Alpha. He actually looked happy to be part of this little shitshow, which pissed me off because we hadn’t been doing anything nor had we been looking for any type of confrontation.
I checked my finances, and saw that the money that my fighting party hadn't spent had been redeposited into my account.
Proxima Dollars: $10,250
Spent: $71,500
Loan: 0
I was surprised that they’d only spent $10,000.
I glanced across the small battlefield to the other Alpha. A handle appeared next to his face indicating he was at Level Four, a level higher than me, but that didn't deter me any.
So I wagered all ten thousand, because why not make some money off of this asshole.
“Alphas step forward,” the government official said. We stepped forward and were instructed to shake each other's hands and introduce ourselves.
“Chase Kn
owles,” I said through gritted teeth.
“William Brooks,” the Alpha said with a cocky smile on his face.
“Chase and William, you will select three mythcrea each. There are no points or any system of the sort for the battle that follows. Winner takes all, including the ten thousand Proxima dollars that have been wagered. Now, go to your opposite sides, select your mythcrea, and we will begin!”
“Who should we select?” I asked Iris as soon as I approached her. “Also, sorry, I should have confirmed with you, but I bet the bank. Just seeing that guy's face …sorry, having Thad flashbacks here.”
Iris raised an eyebrow at me. “You're still thinking about Thad?”
“No, just, I hate cocky bastards. Anyway, who should we use?”
“You should fickin’ use us,” Spew Gorge said. “We're already here.”
“I wouldn't mind the opportunity to destroy those two orcs,” Altsoba said.
Sun Wukong, who was now eating a peach, took a final bite from it and smiled at me.
“Is that a yes?” I asked him.
He swallowed his bite of peach and nodded. “Ready and willing.”
I glanced across the small battlefield to see that one of the orcs, the one with the club, was eyeing Aya. And I knew that those two would have to go at it. The other one was simply glaring down all of us.
William’s other mythcrea began to appear. He went with a Level Six siren, a Level Twelve faun, and a Level Thirteen high elf.
“What do you think, Chase?” Iris asked.
“Up to you.”
“Aya, take the one that's looking at you. Lady C., the other. The rest of you, any preferences?”
“I fickin’ hate me a faun,” Spew Gorge said.
“Okay, but he's a much higher level than you.”
“Yeah? We'll see about that.”
“I've got the elf,” Altsoba said, baring her teeth.
“Sun Wukong, you have the siren,” said Iris.
The Monkey King’s tail lifted into the air behind him as he tightened his grip on his staff.
The sounds of the crowd had increased, their roars moving closer to deafening.
The sun was directly above us now, yellow as ever.
Actually, taking a closer look at it revealed that it was in the middle of a color change, from green to yellow, the green still visible if you looked closely. It wasn't bright like the sun in the real world; you could stare directly at it and not burn your retinas.
~~Alphas get in place!~~
I located the sound almost immediately. A man stood at the far end of the field with a cone to his lips, his voice ricocheting to the other side of the small stadium.
Iris and I shuffled over to the sidelines on the left, and William went to the sidelines on the right. We locked eyes again, and he smiled at me.
~~Let the duel begin!~~
Who knew that goblins could be that fast?
As soon as the announcement was made, Spew Gorge scurried over toward the faun, a bullet out of hell. The two collided, and hit the ground.
While the faun was more muscular and a higher level than the goblin, he still had hooves for feet, which made it a little more difficult for him to get back up.
And as I quickly learned, goblins specialized in shifty surprise attacks.
A cloud of pink smoke appeared around them: one of Spew Gorge’s gas attacks.
Smack!
Aya and the orc’s weapons met each other. The buster sword and his giant club were evenly matched, even with the edge on her weapon.
It seemed as if they both had baseball bats, and were just clacking them together until his feet were pulled out from under him. The orc cracked his chin on the ground, his big bottom incisors slicing into his cheeks.
As he cried out in pain, Aya quickly ended his suffering by driving her sword through the small of his back and twisting.
Even stranger, as Aya drove her sword into his back and turned it to the side, she actually looked over at me, as if to say, “Be careful with me, Chase,” or at least that was the vibe I got from her action.
My only response was a shit-eating grin.
I still didn't know what was going through her mind when she did the things that she did, but I was fine with that.
“Yooooooy!” Spew Gorge shouted.
The faun now had the upper hand, and it took only a few seconds before he drove his small dagger into the goblin’s throat.
Spew Gorge started choking on his own blood, and even as he died, he still managed to get a few more scratches in on the faun, scratches that left the hoofed fantasy forest creature in some serious pain.
The faun fell immediately as a throwing knife from Aya cracked him on the back of the head.
Well, that solves that, I thought as I turned to watch the siren attack Sun Wukong.
The siren hovered in the air, her wings beating as waves of sound exited from her open beak. She wore next to nothing, her voluptuous form covered by white fabric accented with silver.
As she continued her attack, her wings beat lightly in the air, which almost made it look like she was pushing waves of sound forward with her wings, when in fact she wasn't, it was seriously all coming from her mouth.
The sound waves increased in visibility, and they continue to pummel Sun Wukong, who remained in his unbreakable form.
As I'd seen him do before, he could take his unbreakable body form in pretty much any position. This time he was leaning against his bow in a casual gesture, akin to leaning against a wall with your arms crossed.
Meanwhile, Altsoba was engaging the high elf, the highest leveled one of them all.
Most of the elf’s attacks were centered around light magic, and for some reason, they weren't working on Altsoba in her stone creature form.
The ground shook as our shifter ran toward the high elf, jumped, and morphed into a fire dragon midair.
The dragon form she’d taken was more of a Chinese-style dragon, with a very long body and small legs, slithering through the air like a snake as it confused the high elf.
Altsoba’s dragon’s shadow crossed over Lady C., who was engaging the other orc with a single blade.
“What’s she doing?” I asked Iris.
“I think she's toying with him!” Iris called back, her eyes fixed on the action.
A cyclone of snow and ice engulfed the orc.
The ugly fucker with a serious overbite roared as it tried to cut its way through the blizzard swirling around it. As I watched Lady C. slowly creep around her whirlwind of confusion, I caught William cursing at his own Hunter.
I stared at him long enough for him to feel that someone was watching him. He glanced over at me; I gave him a smug smile that said, Who's the bitch now?
He punched his fist into his hand.
Iris laughed. “Wow, what a little fucker.”
“I know, right? He brought this upon himself,” I said as Lady C. finally used some of her more powerful abilities.
It wasn't like one of the cartoons where someone gets shocked and you can see their bones inside their body, but it wasn't far off, and wisps of electricity filtering out of the dark cloud over the orc only made it seem more like a cartoon.
Or at least an anime.
The orcs down, the siren’s attacks all but useless, the faun down – my fighting party was quickly moving in toward the kill.
Aya directed her attention toward the high elf, who continued to try to shoot Altsoba’s dragon form out of the sky.
The high elf was so consumed with trying to hit her target that she didn't see Aya approach from the side, sword drawn.
And even if she had seen the Thulean badass, she wouldn't have been able to stop Aya's attack, which again relied on her ghost limbs to pull the elf’s feet out from under her and drag her before she recovered from the surprise to the kill zone.
One bloody sword later, and all we had left was the siren.
Her face was turning red, and once that redness started spreading to
her throat, the siren finally stopped her attack.
She was out of energy. Her wings beat just a little more slowly than they'd been beating before. It wouldn't have mattered if she stayed in the air or not, mostly because Altsoba was still in her Chinese dragon form, but she fell almost immediately, and Sun Wukong was waiting for her when she did.
The Monkey King gave her a soft tap on the head with his bow that caused a ripple to cascade down her body, killing her instantly.
The government official suddenly appeared, and congratulated us on our win. “Now, will the two Alphas please come to the center of the field.”
I cleared my throat. “Three Alphas,” I told the official.
“Oh, I see, there are two of you.”
I rolled my eyes.
How hard was it to tell that there were two of us? Rather than tell him off or get annoyed, I simply asked Iris to go instead of me. “I went last time, you go this time.”
The government official seemed cool with this, and as Iris approached William, he offered her a broken smile.
They shook hands, and as they did, he leaned in and said something to her, something that caused Iris to react.
And boy was it a reaction.
The crowd roared with approval as William fell to his knees, his hands covering his groin.
Iris came back to our side of the battlefield, dusting her hands off.
“I thought I was the one that got to sucker-punch people,” I told her.
“It wasn't a sucker-punch, it was a sucker-kick.”
A grin cracked across her face as our guild finances flashed, letting me know we were up ten thousand.
Proxima Dollars: $20,250
Spent: $71,500
Loan: 0
Couldn’t beat that.
Chapter Seven: The Midnight Library
Iris and I awoke in her bedroom/living room. I waited for the NV Visor to power down, watching as the Proxima logo pixelated away and the Brian Eno tone sounded off. We hadn't done more shopping after the duel, mostly because people were looking at us while we walked around, aware that we had just won a fight.
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