Origin ARS 5 (9 page)

Success:
Defeat the Hellions 40/40

Failure:
If you flee the area before the task
is complete.

Reward(s):
20 Silver Fayth, Special Equipment,
1 Salvation Crystal

[—]

"The hell? Is this how quests are given in
this world? That's pretty neat." Instead of a screen popping up, he
had received a letter.

The other items in the metal box were
doll-sized versions of gloves and common equipment. Scott reached
in and carefully took out an item that looked like a tiny brown
leather vest. He was greatly surprised when it shimmered then
expanded in his hand.

"Whoa... Now
that's
neat!" Instead of
an inventory screen they had something like this? Amazing! They
were right about the place being both fantastic but focused on
realism. It had game mechanics like this, but they were all
integrated into the world instead of floating around in a
distracting manner.

Scott stared at the reddish brown leather
vest in his hand for a moment. He was attempting to use the skill
[
Analyze
]. It was a class skill that would allow him to
recognize simple items. Eventually, he would even be able to sense
the abilities of his opponents.

Instead of a screen popping up in front of
him he felt a strange connection to the garment, like he somehow
understood it better. He still did not know what its stats were. He
would need to analyze it further before he had a good idea of what
it could do. The only thing he could tell for certain was that it
was a light leather vest, it was of standard quality, and he could
probably equip it without reducing his combat ability.

Scott put on the vest then took out a pair of
strange looking pants that expanded to a size that would fit him.
After analyzing them he recalled what they really were. They were
chaps, specifically batwing chaps. They were a leather item meant
to be worn over the top of his pants.

Batwing chaps were cut wide with a flare at
the bottom for easier leg movement. They had several straps along
the waist and thigh that were used to fasten them, and were the
same color as the vest. Upon further inspection he noted a second
set of straps near the bottom flare.

His ability to analyze items was still low,
but he could tell that this was a customization option. It also did
not take long to realize why they existed. He would need to kick a
lot. He might trip on his own chaps if he performed a lot of fancy
footwork in a low-position. The straps would allow him the
protection of the leather armor, and the ability to kick like
normal as the flare would be negated.

There were a few other items in the box. He
pulled out a leather strap that had a wide oval-shaped metal disk
on the front. It was sewn together tightly in a complete circle.
Scott slid the headband over his head and positioned the disk in
front. It tightened when it was put into place and he sighed in
relief. It actually helped his headache a little due to the slight
increase in pressure.

The other items were a light brown cloth bag,
a light brown leather belt, and a pair of leather gloves with a
hardened leather band across the knuckles. He equipped them all
then nodded.

Scott performed a few experimental punches
and kicks. The new items were light weight, not that their weight
would have mattered much with his level of strength anyway, and
felt comfortable.

He put the envelope back into the letter and
then the envelope and his money into his little bag. When he did so
he was delighted to see that the letter shrank down to the size of
his pinky. The little bag could hold a lot more than it seemed!
Though the coins remained the same size, about the size of an
American nickel.

After looting the metal box he tried to pick
it up and take it with him. It refused to budge no matter what he
did.

The metal cot proved to be comfortable when
he checked it, a little too comfortable. He wanted to take a nap as
soon as he sat down. Scott had to force himself back to his
feet.

"Man, this is great!" Scott smiled to
himself. The headache aside, everything he had seen of this world
had him excited.

There was nothing else to do in the room, so
he moved to the only exit. Scott took a deep breath then released
it slowly. There were forty monsters in this area that he had to
deal with before this mission was completed. They should have
levels equal to his stats, but were low grade monsters. He was not
certain what that meant, but he was about to find out.

Scott opened the door and stepped out into
the subterranean transit authority building. The first thing he
faced was a wall. He stepped further out and turned to see the door
close behind him on its own. The door faded partially from sight.
It was like it was trying to enter stealth mode. Perhaps it was
doing exactly that. It led to a safe room after all.

He looked around and noticed that he was
currently in a dead-end corridor that had little in the way of
decoration. There was a sizeable map on the back wall that caught
his attention. It held the floor plan for the building.

The old Scott, the one who thought he was a
badass gamer, would probably just wander around and fight monsters
for their loot. However, the new and more balanced Scott remembered
a bit of his military training. He needed to know the strength of
his enemies, their position, how smart they were, and various other
things. In short, he needed intelligence. There was one place that
seemed to offer it. Scott traced a route from his current position
to the security room on the second floor.

According to the map, the transit authority
building was neither particularly wide nor was it tall. It had
three floors.

He left the map behind and headed down the
corridor as quietly as he could. He slipped close to the wall and
listened carefully as he moved. It was not long before he sensed a
nearby presence. It felt relatively strong. He knew that it might
be a difficult fight.

Scott stopped near the edge of the corridor
and listened carefully. He heard voices.

"Stupid humans." muttered a low-pitched
voice. The dull sound of something meaty being kicked could be
heard.

"Their meats taste good though." said another
low-pitched voice, with a laugh.

He could not be certain, but he thought there
might be only those two monsters up ahead. He had no idea what they
were exactly, but that was part of the challenge.

Scott took a risk and quickly poked his head
around the corner and then it back. They had both been facing away
from him. They were humanoid and somewhat large, but he could not
be certain what they were otherwise.

He quietly took a breath then spun gently
around the corner. He had to defeat the monsters that had taken
over this building. That was the task at hand. This battle would
tell him what he would have to contend with in the near future.

"You think boss will get the city to pay?"
asked one of the two monsters.

"Who cares as long as he pays
us
?"
asked the other creature.

Scott noticed that they both wore what looked
like heavy rain coats with the hoods up. It was impossible to see
what they looked like, or their equipment. He had no real choice
but to attack from behind and hope for the best. The corridor they
were in now was too small to slip around them so that he could get
a better look from the front.

He leapt into the air and launched a powerful
flying kick that caught the monster on the left side square in the
back. The impact elicited a beautiful crunching sound upon impact,
but despite the force of the strike the creature only staggered
forward a few steps and shouted.

"What the hell!" snarled the creature before
both it and its companion turned toward Scott. He could see them
clearly now. They had dull red skin, bright yellow eyes, and small
horns jutting from their forehead. They also wore expressions of
surprise and anger. Two small tusks jutted up from their lower jaws
adding to their monstrous appearance.

"A human? Eat that bastard!" roared the
hellion that Scott had attacked. The creature then lifted its arms
from behind the raincoat like outer garment and revealed its
weapons, a set of twin pistols that did not appear to be made of
metal.

Scott's eyes widened in terrified fascination
as the monster that he had attacked opened fire with its
twin-pistols. Each shot missed him completely, but the little
bursts of light made a surprisingly adorable
Ka-pew! Ka-pew!
sound.

The gun-wielding beast roared in frustration
when his ammunition ran out and he was forced to try and reload.
"Stand still meat!"

"He
is
standing still you idiot! Stop
trying to look good cuz you got two guns!" snapped the other
hellion. He whipped out a massive battle axe that he obviously
could not have been hiding under his coat.

A hint of relief washed over the sorcerer. An
axe was something that he could deal with easily. Scott
half-stepped back to avoid the hard swing of the monster's
horizontal attack then rocked forward and launched a hard palm
strike that slammed into the monster's nose.

Disappointment settled in a moment later and
he frowned. He had hoped for a clean break, but all he accomplished
was bloodying its nose a bit.

"Fucker!" roared the hellion before rushing
forward in a sloppy charge.

Scott slipped sideways and kicked out at the
beast's legs in the passing. Its knee buckled and it fell forward
in a heavy heap.

"Shit!" snapped the other hellion as he
fiddled with a spherical device. The sorcerer would not allow him
to do whatever it was that he intended to do. It could not possibly
work out well for him.

Scott rushed forward and launched a hard
straight punch toward the hellion's head. Surprisingly, the beast
snapped its head sideways quickly and then whipped its right arm
around it a circle to knock Scotts arm sideways before he could
recover. The entire sequence of events had taken far less than a
second but Scott was already off-balance and open to the beast's
next attack, a hard rising knee strike to his solar plexus.

The sorcerer gasped as some of the wind was
knocked out of him, then cried out in surprise when a sharp elbow
rammed down to strike his shoulder blade. He was unable to recover
due to the rapid-fire counter-combo and the finishing blow from the
monster came in the form of a hard spinning left hook that slammed
into the back of his head with great force.

Scott was heavily staggered by the rapid
strikes and was knocked to the ground, dazed by the heavy blows.
Obviously, the hellion was a gun-fighter that specialized in
firearms and unarmed combat. It proved to be a devastating
combination.

"Fucker wasn't much." laughed the gun
wielding hellion before he lifted his boot. The creature's metal
clad boot rocketed downward and slammed into Scott's back with
bone-crushing force. The strength of these monsters was as hellish
as their name.

"Save some for me." muttered the other
hellion as he rose to his feet. Blood poured freely from his nose
for a moment before he held it closed and began to breathe through
his mouth.

"Why? It kicked your ass. These meats is
mine." said the gun-hellion.

"The hell they is! If I hadn't kept it busy
it would have killed you."

"Really? Cuz' the way I see it, you didn't
land a single hit and I smashed it on my own."

The hellions were a physically strong race
with lots of vitality and stamina. However, they were not
particularly bright in comparison to other humanoid races. They
were smarter than an average ogre, but not by much.

The monsters began to argue heavily about who
got to claim the corpse despite the fact that their meal was not
among the deceased. That proved disastrous for the brutes as Scott
was given time to recover.

"I killed the human! Its meats is mine!"
shouted the gun-fighter.

"You sure it's even human? It don't smell
human." snorted the other hellion.

"Don't care. Meats is meats." muttered the
gun-fighter.

"You gotz no class, fucker. These meats is
wasted on you." snapped the axe hellion.

"Oh? I gotz no class?" snarled the gun
hellion. "
Me?
"

The meat that the two monsters fought over
recovered enough to form a stupid, but logical plan. Scott launched
a feeble kick toward the shin of the axe hellion then went
limp.

Neither monster noticed the origin of the
kick, and had thought the meat to be dead and well-tenderized. So,
it was natural that the axe hellion came to the conclusion that he
did. "No class fucker! You kicked me!"

"No I didn't! Stop saying lies." snapped the
gun hellion.

Soon the
conversation
devolved into a
shoving contest. Finally, the axe hellion snarled at the gun
hellion and swiped at him with his axe. "You don't touch me, no
class fuck!"

"I gotz class you assbag! You the one with no
class!" snapped the gun hellion.

"Me?! I got class! I'm softsticated as hell.
Ugly shit." snorted the axe hellion.

The gun hellion stopped for a moment then
snickered. "Yeah, you
soft
alright." He ran his tongue along
his upper lip. The other hellion shuddered in disgust and caused
him to step back. That was all the gun wielder needed to see. The
axe fighter was weak meat! He made a kissy face at the axe hellion
then launched a hard right cross toward the face of the axe
fighter.

The axe hellion was not able to dodge
completely, but it did not matter. He took a punch that skipped
across his cheek, but managed to ram his axe handle up with under
his former companion's chin with enough force to stagger him.