Isaac’s mind reeled as he fell to his knees.
This…can’t be happening. It’s impossible! I never instructed Alveus to build outside of the area I had designated. I would have remembered if I had! He paused as an errant thought clicked into place. Wait…I don’t remember anything past the start of the hacking sequence! Did I fall asleep while my mind was still connected? Could that have created an overflow of ideas that somehow spread into the rest of BRYZ? No, no, no, the restrictions I set in place would have stopped it. But did I set any restrictions? I didn’t think of it at the time! What in the world have I done?
Suddenly, Isaac was aware of a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he noticed Tenshi was staring at him with a mixture of concern and wariness.
“Are you ill?” she questioned, helping him up.
“No, just…shocked beyond belief,” Isaac groaned, holding a hand to his head.
“Pull yourself together,” Tenshi emotionlessly cautioned him. “You said yourself there may be enemies nearby, we must remain alert.”
“You’re right.” Isaac sighed, cracking his neck to regain his wit. Still, he thought to himself, this is looking worse and worse. This girl was already able to narrow things down to my time zone. If a regular teenage girl could do it, then surely, she’s not the only one. At this rate, it might not be too long until I’m discovered!
Tenshi touched Isaac on the shoulder again.
“I know Tenshi, we have to keep moving.” Isaac sighed, rousing himself from his reverie.
“Isaac,” Tenshi continued flatly.
“Don’t worry about me, I was just going over the crazy events that’ve taken place” Isaac waved her away. “C’mon we should be careful, it’s a little too quiet, there may be enemies nearby.”
At that moment, a stone tomahawk whistled through the air, imbedding itself in the turf next to Isaac. In front of him, Tenshi pointed over his shoulder at what appeared to be close to a dozen short, grey-furred, pointy-faced humanoids, all armed to the teeth.
“I was trying to tell you.” Tenshi shrugged. “It would seem the enemy has already found us.”
“Muggmites!” Isaac exclaimed, backpedaling.
Fumbling, he quickly drew his dagger and adopted a combat stance as he sized up his opponents. “Let’s see…” he muttered, racking his memory. “Those should be Muggmites, a level 1 mob enemy with only 1 HP each. Their equipment is limited to cloth armour, and any combination of iron or stone hatchets, javelins, or daggers, each of which is capable of melee or ranged attacks. Their spoken languages are Muggish and broken Common, meaning talking our way out of this isn’t much of an option.”
“How do you know this?” Tenshi questioned
“Eh, I have my reasons, the main one being I’m a nerd,” Isaac deflected, chuckling dryly.
Scanning the hilltop again, he noticed that among the rank-and-file Muggmites, one stood slightly taller than the rest, and was holding a faintly iridescent short sword. Slipping closer to his companion without turning his back on their foes, Isaac muttered to Tenshi out the corner of his mouth. “See that one larger Muggmite in the forefront?” He nodded his head in its direction. “I think that’s the leader of the group. If I take it down, it might cause the rest of them to disband.”
“Can you hit it from here?” Tenshi asked, doubtfully.
“Well, it does have the high ground, but it’s a larger target than the rest, and judging by the way the grass is blowing, it looks like the wind is with us. Also, the second they start charging, they’ll be considerably less able to dodge, especially running down a slope like that” Isaac estimated, hefting his dagger. “Either way, I reckon my chances of success are pretty high.”
As if on cue, the lead Muggmite hefted its sword aloft and began to charge down the hill, it’s entourage of minions following it.
Breathing out, Isaac flipped the dagger in his hand, gripping it by the tip of the blade and letting it fly.
“You missed,” Tenshi stated the obvious.
“OK, time for Plan B,” Isaac returned.
“Plan B?
“Run!” Isaac exclaimed, grabbing her hand and taking off in the opposite direction of the monsters.
“Were we not to engage them in combat?” Tenshi asked, keeping pace with Isaac.
“Against that many? I don’t even have a weapon anymore; you must be out of your mind!” Isaac yelled back, between breaths. “Wait, they hate fire, I don’t suppose you have any kind of fire power, do you?”
“On it,” Tenshi intoned, detaching herself from Isaac’s hand and spinning to face the Muggmites, planting her feet firmly in the ground. Flicking her hair out of her eyes, Isaac looked on in awe as she reached into her waist-length hair, inexplicably pulling out a large bullpup-style automatic rifle.
“Not the firepower I meant!” Isaac shot in disbelief. “How the heck did you do that anyway? How many things do you have in that hair?”
“This is a virtual world,” Tenshi returned, dropping into a crouch and taking aim down its iron sights. “Is this sort of thing that uncommon?”
“Well…not really,” Isaac grumbled, slipping the belt to his sheath off and holding it in both hands. “Still, why'd you get to start with a gun, and I only got the basic level 0 dagger?”
Ignoring Isaac, Tenshi flicked the safety off and fired a hail of bullets at the Muggmite ranks, aiming at the leader. In response, the large Muggmite grabbed the mob next to it by the nape of the neck, blocking Tenshi’s barrage while the rest of the party scattered, breaking into flanking maneuvers.
Tenshi clicked her tongue and detached her gun’s magazine, reaching into her hair for a reload. Taking advantage of the break in fire, the head Muggmite broke into a dash, tossing the shredded corpse of its former ally ahead of it, hitting Tenshi square on and knocking the magazine from her hand.
“Tenshi!” Isaac yelled out, charging back in her direction and lashing out with his belt at the Muggmite, which it expertly parried with its sword. The monster quickly followed up with a sharp kick to Isaac’s knee, knocking him off balance. Striding closer for the kill, the Muggmite reversed its grip on its sword, preparing to stab. Rolling to the side to get out of danger, Isaac snapped out with his belt again, trying to keep the creature at bay.
Meanwhile, Tenshi had risen to her feet, but the remaining Muggmite minions had started to close in on her, keeping her on the defensive with their long spears and not giving her a chance to reload.
“You said they have only one hit point each, correct?” Tenshi asked, catching a spear between the twin prong bayonets on her gun, twisting it to disarm her opponent.
“That’s right,” Isaac affirmed, dodging a sword thrust and rolling to his feet. “But I’m a little concerned about this leader here; Muggmites aren’t supposed to be able to spawn with short swords.”
“He may have just picked it up somewhere,” Tenshi reasoned. She dodged a clumsy stab from a Muggmite, countering with a roundhouse kick to its neck and downing it. “These creatures are all going down after a single strike, so it would seem your data is correct so far.”
“All right, if that’s the case, I’ll try and restrain this guy for a second,” Isaac offered, holding his belt in both hands again. “If I do that, can you take him down?”
“Guaranteed,” Tenshi returned, smashing the butt of her rifle into the chin of another Muggmite.
“All right, on my signal then.” Isaac lowered his voice. He and the Muggmite leader both circled each other slowly, looking for an opening in the other. Suddenly, Isaac let go of the belt with one hand, making as if to whip the Muggmite again. In response, the Muggmite bobbed to the left, raising its sword for a strike.
“Psyche!” Isaac muttered grimly, dropping low instead and delivering a strike to the Muggmite’s wrist, looping the belt around it and stopping the slash.
“Now, Tenshi!” Isaac yelled, reaching out with his other hand to pinion the creature’s arm, taking a hefty kick in response. Planting a foot in a third Muggmite’s midriff, Tenshi sent it barreling into its companions, taking advantage of the break in combat to rush over to the Muggmite leader, bayonets first.
As Isaac looked up to see Tenshi charging the unprotected back of the monster, he glimpsed a slight change in the Muggmite’s face. The creature was smirking triumphantly at him!
“Tenshi, wait!” Isaac cautioned, but too late.
As Tenshi drove her weapon into the Muggmite, the creature twisted slightly so that only one of the twin prongs caught it. Then, with a dull glimmer, the monster’s iridescent sword gave a slight shudder, and then split off a perfect replica of itself into the Muggmite’s waiting left hand. In one smooth movement, the creature sliced through the leather of Isaac’s belt, then brought the blade around, stabbing Tenshi’s arm over his shoulder.
Isaac and Tenshi both fell back, one with a ruined weapon, the other with a bleeding gash in her body.
“Why is it not dead?” Tenshi grimaced, holding a hand to her wound.
“I think it may be an Aberrant,” Isaac groaned, looking at the now dual-bladed monster.
“Clarify,” Tenshi shot back, tearing a sleeve off of her uniform and tying deftly it around her cut with one hand.
“Occasionally, monsters spawn in this world with twice the combat potential,” Isaac explained, slowly distancing himself. “In addition, they have a higher chance of spawning with rare goods, in this case, an enchanted short sword. Since it was a mob Aberrant, it would take a total of two hits to kill it.”
“I don't think it will let us get a second strike in,” Tenshi grimly assessed.
As if affirming her, the Muggmite grinned wickedly, pulling a conch-shaped horn from its belt and unleashing a loud note.
There was a brief period of silence after the horn sounded, as if nature itself was holding its breath. Then, the dull rumble of dozens of footfalls sounded, heralding the arrival of backup.
“Chieftain Muggmite used Call for Help,” Isaac joked darkly. “It’s super effective.”
“I think it might be advantageous for us to flee,” Tenshi returned, flipping her rifle back into her hair, where it once again disappeared from sight.
Suddenly, a loud voice rang out from behind them.
“You guys look like you’re in a bit of a pinch.”
Isaac looked back, shielding his eyes to glimpse a lone armoured figure atop a hill, silver armour glinting in the sun.
“Need a hand?” The figure grinned.
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