“Ali watch them,” I growl out, slipping the rifle from my shoulder one last time and lining up a shot on the Salamander. This time around, I need to hurt it enough to draw it all the way which means I need to make the shot. I draw a few deep breaths, trying to get my thundering heart to calm and my breathing to slow. Already past the boundary of its ‘natural’ region, the Salamander will need a little more encouragement.
The first shot misses and I snarl, wishing I had spent more time at the range. I always said I would, but somehow never did. Too busy procrastinating. The second shot hits and the explosion is everything I wish it to be. The abandoned propane tank lights up behind the Salamander, too far away to do any real damage but scaring it slightly. Already annoyed with me, the creature charges forwards, smart enough to put the sounds of the gunshot and the annoyances it’s been facing for the last few hours together.
Bullets out, I toss the rifle to the side and hope I can retrieve it later. Rather than run immediately, I watch the Salamander charge me, waiting. Emboldened by the fact that I’ve finally stopped running, the Salamander picks up speed and when it is a bare hundred yards away I turn and sprint for the Ogres.
The Ogres are pissed, but without ranged weapons of their own, there’s little they can do to stop as I bring their end right to them. Just before I reach them, I trigger the QSM and let the club that’s swung at me pass through my body as I duck through their lines. A last, spiteful move makes me release the QSM long enough to plunge my knife into a creature’s back and then I take off, leaving the monsters to do their thing. As much as they’d like to chase after me, staying together to fight the Salamander is more important.
A safe distance away, I watch the battle unfold from hiding. It’s vicious and not nearly as one-sided as I would have expected. The Ogres hold their own against the Salamander at first, their oversized leader triggering some form of ability that wreathes its club in green as it smashes down on the Salamander. The blow does real damage which the other Ogres are quick to take advantage of, pummelling the dazed Salamander. At first, I almost think the Salamander might die without doing any damage.
That is until its entire body starts glowing red and it releases a cloud of red steam all around it. The Salamander seems to boil its own blood and releases it, scalding the surrounding attackers and driving them back. After that, the Salamander bites down on a female Ogre, ripping her arm from her body. The rest of the battle just gets bloody and nasty but half-way through, I realise something is wrong. It takes me a moment to realise what though.
“The kids aren’t here!” I snarl out towards Ali who is watching the fight with amusement, somehow having conjured up a bag of popcorn. He stops eating long enough to point before going back to ignoring me.
I follow his directions, sneaking from one building to another to find the children being guarded by the Ogre Youth. My eyes narrow, considering what to do, before I return to the main event. I smile grimly, the battle nearly over by the time I’m done, the badly injured Salamander roasting the last Ogre with its breath.
How do you like being cooked? A part of me is worried about the hateful glee that I’m exhibiting, but it’s a very small part. Once the Salamander is done finishing off the last of the main Ogres, I make sure it finishes the job, leading it by taunting it further to the children.
Part 2 complete, I smile humorlessly as the Salamander munches down on the Ogre Youth before I hurry away. I could end it here, revenge taken for the residents of the Junction. However, the rage is not quenched, my anger still needing a final outlet. The Salamander was a monster and it needed to die.
Part 3 was very simple in theory. In fact, I had made a big bet that it’d be the Salamander that was still alive at the end of the battle since I had built my little toy with it in mind. I’d hidden the weapon close on-hand and was grateful the Ogres weren’t familiar with human technology or too inquisitive as I find it untouched. Grabbing the shopping cart by its handles I wheel the contraption around to see the Salamander.
I cross my fingers, hoping this works and then shove, sending the entire cart hurtling towards the monster. It doesn’t understand what’s happening, but it does understand me running away which sends it chasing after me again, obviously wanting to finish me off at last.
Surprisingly, the first bump when it hits the Salamander head-on doesn’t set the entire thing off. The second, when its hind foot lands on the cart does. The cart is packed in layers. The innermost layer, what took serious effort, contains a bottle of home-brewed nitroglycerin. The bottle is sealed tight, packed with cotton around it to ensure that casual bumping doesn’t set it off. Around that, I packed half-filled gasoline cans interspersed with hair spray. Lastly, on the outside, I had a thin layer of nails, screws and nuts. This was my improvised bomb and what took the majority of my time to put together.
When it goes off, the improvised shrapnel does most of the damage as expected. The Salamander might be resistant to high heat and perhaps even partly resistant to the concussive force of the explosions, but there isn’t much it can do about the shrapnel that rips up from its foot and into its body.
Of course, I mostly figure that part out later. When the explosion happens, all I remember is sharp pain and the concussive force of the explosion throwing me forwards before blackness takes me.
When I wake up, I find Ali hovering over me with a worried look on his face. It disappears the moment I open my eyes, the unimpressed grump pulling back to his usual station. A slight twitch of his hand is all I see before my vision is filled with blue.
Congratulations!
You have been instrumental in the destruction of the Ogre Village (Newbie). Even down to the children. Who is the monster now?
+13,000 XP
Congratulations!
You have helped kill a Salamander (Level 108). You really shouldn’t play with bombs, next time they might go off at the wrong time.
+27,000 XP (XP apportioned according to damage done)
“Uhhh… Ali. Did the System just warn me off?” I eye the blue screen worriedly. Did Big Brother actually pay attention to what I did? Could they influence things if I tried something similar? Then again, I wasn’t exactly planning on doing this again. Half-remembered Youtube videos and chemistry classes were not the way to build bombs.
“Seems like it doesn’t it?” Ali replies as I dismiss that notification to keep going through the field of blue.
Title Gained
For killing a monster over a 100 levels higher than you, you have been awarded the title ‘Monster’s Bane’. All damage dealt to monsters of a higher level than you +15%
Congratulations!
For achieving your first title, you receive a bonus +5,000 XP.
Level Up! * 4
You have reached Level 7 as an Erethran Honor Guard. Stat Points automatically distributed. You have 15 Free Attributes to distribute.
Class Skills Locked.
My vision finally clear of the field of blue, I peruse my Status bars and other notifications slowly. Health is still below half and the little additional status icons tell me I’m concussed and exhausted. No shit. Still, no rest for the wicked and I push myself onto my feet, after which I proceed to vomit.
“That’s just nasty,” Ali sniffs and waits for me to mostly finish before continuing, “Now move it buttercup. Carrion creatures are coming soon and you need to finish looting.”
I grimace but get moving slowly, doing my best to not lose my breakfast again. Or is it lunch now? Dinner? Gods, I really don’t know and my head hurts way too much for me to care. Still, no complaints– I’m alive which is not what I was expecting. In fact, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t actually thinking straight these last few days. Who the hell lures a mini-dragon into a deathmatch with a group of Ogres that just wiped out a village by themselves and builds a bomb by hand?