Or maybe she’d just changed since he’d left to go to med school. She had become a sheriff’s deputy, after all. Maybe this was how she was trained to deal with a dangerous situation.
I hope she isn’t going to do something reckless.
He put his speculation on hold as they neared the end of the private drive. The resort was even more impressive than he had imagined; the grounds had been meticulously landscaped, and a low stone wall surrounded a sign with ‘Seymour Mountain Resort’ emblazoned in metallic letters. Near the front doors, a roaring bonfire had been built, the flames sending embers swirling up into the dark sky.
Glancing over at Kassandra, he realized that she hadn’t slowed her pace. Seemingly, she was planning on ignoring his orders to scout the resort grounds. From the look of it, she was going to charge right into the higher-level orcs.
“What the hell are you doing, Kassandra?” he muttered under his breath.
Most likely, nothing would happen to her if she fell in battle. Otherwise, a combat deck wouldn’t be all that useful. He imagined she would be returned to the void she had described until the cooldown finished.
But like so much else surrounding the alien invasion, he had extremely limited information. What if his wristband just harvested another soul to replace any fallen minion? While he felt fairly certain she would be alright, a sliver of doubt remained in his mind.
“Kassandra,” he called out in a low tone. “I told you to scout the area only!”
Kassandra continued her advance, ignoring his words. If there were orcs out there in the darkness, it was only a matter of time until they spotted her.
Warren cursed as he took cover behind an ancient willow tree. The dangling branches helped to conceal him from view, and the thick trunk could provide some protection from missile weapons. If she was dead set on hurling herself into battle, then he needed a protected position to call his deck from.
What is she thinking?
He watched Kassandra reach the low wall surrounding the sign and she duck down behind the stonework. After a second, he spotted the reason why. Nearly a dozen orcs had emerged from the hotel’s front entrance and were heading toward the bonfire.
While they were only level 2, they looked far more dangerous than their level would imply. Each of the humanoids stood at least 7 feet tall and had hulking frames. It was as though someone had pumped a neanderthal full of steroids, dyed their skin green, and then loosed them on the world. All the creatures carried an assortment of primitive weapons in their hands.
He waved at Kassandra, trying to get her attention. As he did, he felt his frustration mounting. Why was she risking herself like this? A single hit from one of the Mongrel Orcs could probably kill her. And there were at least ten of the creatures ringing the bonfire.
She either didn’t see his signals or ignored them as she slipped around the side of the wall. She kept low to the ground, her dark clothing helping her to blend into the shadows as she crept up on the creatures.
Meanwhile, the orcs had spread out around the roaring fire, handing what looked like a bottle between themselves. One tried to snatch the bottle from another, only to be pushed into the bonfire. The orc that it had tried to steal from shouted something in a guttural tongue.
As the burning orc dragged himself free, the rest of the creatures descended into raucous laughter. The creature tried to put itself out by rolling in the grass, but the fire only spread across its body, making the others hoot with mirth.
Without warning, one of the orc's laughter cut off with a gurgle. Kassandra had reached them unseen.
She ripped her blade free from the side of the creature’s neck and vaulted back. Landing lightly, she darted to the side to avoid the swing of a heavy club. She responded with a spinning kick, her foot catching the orc in the mouth; the creature let out a groan, its jaw deforming as it collapsed to the ground.
Warren raised his brow as he watched Kassandra move through the creatures like the grim reaper. Within second, three orcs were down, with at least one mortally wounded. As he watched, she plunged her dagger into another orc’s chest before leaping away.
Kassandra dodged a spear thrust and slashed her dagger across her attacker’s arm. Her blade bit deeply, slicing through muscles and tendons, and making the orc drop its weapon. The creature howled as it grabbed its forearm and reeled back.
But she wasn’t fast enough to avoid all the attacks. A rock thrown by one of the orcs caught her in the shoulder. The impact knocked her sideways, and she landed heavily on the ground.
Without thinking, Warren took a half step toward Kassandra. He hated leaving her to fight without his help. But he needed to remain unseen, otherwise the orcs might shift their attack to him, and their plan would fall apart.
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He breathed a sigh of relief as she spun around on the ground and caught an approaching orc’s legs with a sweeping strike kick. The impact sent the creature sprawling, and she did a rising handspring to get back on her feet.
Warren had no idea if she had learned these moves in deputy training or if this was part of becoming a minion. Either way, he couldn’t help but be impressed.
Kassandra knocked aside another club with her dagger before leaping up to drive her knee into the orc’s chest. The creature’s ribcage warped around her knee and it let out a pained grunt. She followed up her attack with an uppercut to its chin.
Before the orc could recover, she sliced her blade across its belly. The creature staggered back, doing its best to hold its innards inside.
But while the orcs didn’t appear overly intelligent, they were quickly learning to not attack her one at a time. They formed a circle around Kassandra and raised their stone weapons. While she was faster than the orcs, there was no question they were stronger. And with no room to manoeuvre, there was only one way this could end.
Warren stepped out from behind cover and activated his combat deck.
Immediately, brightly glowing cards filled his vision. He had drawn four cards, and they swooped into position on his right side.
He quickly glanced over his options.
- Nocture – 1 Energy
- Duskwalker – 2 Energy
- Sword of Deimos – 1 Energy
- Lab Accident – 3 Energy
The system operating the cards seemed to sort the minions together on the left, while the other cards appeared on the right. He was grateful, since it would be easier to keep track of during a battle.
He paused as he held up his hand to summon Kassandra as Nocturne. While he hadn’t called Duskwalker yet, the gunslinger had far superior stats to his friend. And it might be nice to have some long-ranged firepower against the orcs.
But would he be able to explain the situation in time to his new summon? How do you tell someone in the middle of a battle that they’ve been reincarnated as a minion in a card game? And that they were expected to attack a mob of attacking orcs?
After a second’s hesitation, he instead selected Nocturne. She reappeared in front of him from a storm of light, landing in the usual epic pose.
She shot a dirty look back at him. “Why did you activate the deck? I had that situation under control.”
“The orc that was about to bash your brains in might have disagreed.”
Kassandra opened her mouth to reply, but when he pointed at the orcs, she shut it. She reached down and drew her dagger from its sheath with a hissing sound. Then she sprinted toward the mob of orcs charging at them.
Like the Wizened Milbark, using his deck had activated something in the creatures. The moment he’d drawn his hand of cards, the orcs had descended into some sort of berserker rage. En masse, they had charged in his direction.
His original plan had been to wait for his energy to refill before using his artifact to gain a total of 2 energy. Then he could have summoned Duskwalker. But the orcs would be on top of him long before then.
Reaching for his finger, he touched the Ring of Vlasiiang. As he did, he felt a surge of power and the orb representing his energy immediately refilled.
He selected the Sword of Deimos, and the strange sword took shape in his hand. This time, the blade blazed with darkness, a swirling black hole at the center. Did it change every time he used it?
Raising the weapon, he prepared for the orc’s charge. Kassandra had planted herself in front of him, but she couldn’t hold all the creatures off by herself.
The wall of orcs crashed into his friend, breaking like the waves on rocks. She moved with acrobatic levels of dexterity, easily doing backflips and kicks that most humans could barely dream of. Within seconds, two more orcs were down, leaving only six remaining.
One of the hulking creatures slipped past Kassandra and stomped toward Warren. He lifted his weapon and waited for its attack.
As it reached him, he fell into a guard position, his body almost acting on its own. Somehow, he knew instinctively how to strike it. The knowledge must have come from him increasing his Melee Skill when he’d leveled up.
His blade sang through the air as the orc’s club descended. Their weapons crashed together, the impact sending him reeling back. The orc was incredibly strong. His hands ached from the blow, and he tried to prepare himself for the next swing.
But as he raised his sword to meet the descending club, the orc stiffened before flopping forward like a felled tree. From behind the creature, Kassandra appeared, her blade dripping blood. She had stabbed the creature in the back.
“I could have taken that one,” he said, slightly annoyed.
“Now you don’t have to.” Without even looking, Kassandra ducked under another orc’s attack.
Warren watched her dart back into the darkness before going to work on the orcs with ruthless efficiency. The orc's number slowly dwindled until only three remained standing.
But Kassandra hadn’t emerged unscathed. One of her arms hung uselessly at her side, while blood flowed from a wound on her face.
Warren strode forward, his weapon held high. With the Blade of Deimos, he could keep Kassandra in the fight indefinitely, as long as she didn’t suffer a killing blow.
He kicked off an injured orc's grasp as it clutched at his ankle before he drove his weapon into its back. Like during his fight with the Wizened Milback, he immediately felt a soothing energy flowing through his veins.
His gaze darted over to Kassandra and was relieved to see her wounds healing. Her injured shoulder rose slightly before popping back into place. And the blood on her face faded before disappearing. After a second, it looked like she’d never been injured.
He took another step forward—intent on finishing off another orc—but froze as the door to the hotel banged open. From inside, nearly a dozen more orcs poured out.
“Shit,” he muttered to himself. The icon on the map had said the Mongrel Orcs were level 2—not how many there were. He’d assumed it would be a fight like the Wizened Milbark, but instead, he was facing a horde.
He needed more firepower.
But the Ring of Vlasiiang didn’t come off cool down for at least another minute—though it was hard to estimate the length of a round. Why didn’t it come with an easy-to-read number?
I should have used the ring to summon Duskwalker instead.
“Fall back,” he shouted to Kassandra. “We need to find a more defensible position.” If he could limit the number of orcs who could attack at one time, he might be able to keep the creatures at bay by using the Sword of Deimos to heal them.
“Are you crazy?” she shot back, her blade weaving through the air to keep the orcs at bay. “I can handle them.”
“I don’t want you to get surrounded again,” he shouted. “In another minute, I can summon you some backup.”
“I’ll give you the time you need.”
Before he could reply, Kassandra dove into the mass of enraged orcs. All he could do was curse and watch the battle unfold.