Warren barely managed to duck under an orc’s hammer swing, the stone head of the weapon grazing his scalp. He lunged forward and drove his sword with both hands into the creature’s chest. A grunt escaped the orc’s lips as it was skewered by his bde. But even impaled, the orc didn’t stop fighting. It dragged itself down the sword, murderous intent bzing in its beady eyes as it groped for him.
He ripped the bde free and kicked the orc back. Or at least he tried to kick it away. The impact of his foot barely moved the creature, and it felt like he had struck a brick wall.
Still, it gave him just enough space to escape the orc’s grasping hands. He had no illusions about what would happen if the creature reached him—the orc had meaty hands the size of dinner ptes that could easily squeeze the life out of him. And he couldn’t rely on his shield to protect him; it had already failed under repeated blows from the creature.
Suddenly, the orc stiffened and then toppled forward to sm face first into the ground. Kassandra nded lightly on the creatures’ back before leaping away into the darkness.
He reached up to wipe the sweat from his brow. As he did, he gnced over at the orb representing his energy. He estimated it had been full for nearly two minutes. Which, along with the original round of summoning, meant that the cooldown for the Ring of Vsiiang should be finished.
Warren touched the artifact and watched as his energy refilled before a second orb appeared. He immediately selected the Duskwalker minion card and his Energy drained down to zero. A split second ter, a storm of dust swirled in front of him and a wild west gunslinger with glowing eyes stepped out.
Duskwalker immediately stopped and looked down at himself.
“What the fuck?” the man said in a gravelly voice. “Who the hell dressed me like a cowboy?”
“I don’t have time to expin what’s going on,” Warren said, backpedalling away from a massive orc advancing on him. “But you need to kill the orcs!”
“Huh?” Duskwalker pushed his cowboy hat back to scratch his head. “Did you say orcs?”
Warren gestured at the one raising its club in front of him. “Shoot him!”
Duskwalker only stared dumbly at the creature, not reacting to its presence.
“Shit,” Warren swore. “This isn’t good.”
A cry of pain from nearby made him snap his gaze over to the side. As he did, he caught sight of Kassandra going down under a flurry of strikes from a trio of orcs. The creatures relentlessly pummeled her with their fists and clubs. She tried to raise her dagger, but one of her attacker’s knocked it from her hand.
Warren darted toward his friend, but then something smmed into his side like a truck. His body folded around an orc’s club before he was sent flying head over heels.
Landing hard on the grass, he rolled for a few feet before coming to a stop. He tried to suck in a breath, but his lungs refused to obey. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he sucked in an aching lungful of air.
He tilted his head to the side and watched as Kassandra disappeared into sparks of light. The orcs had killed his friend. Rage flooded his veins as he staggered to his feet. He would kill every st one of these damn monsters.
He would make them pay for hurting Kassandra.
Warren gred at Duskwalker, who still hadn’t moved from his original position. The orcs who had taken out Kassandra were now stomping in his other minion’s direction. If the gunslinger didn’t do something soon, he would die as well.
“If you want to stay alive,” Warren snarled. “Then I suggest you start shooting.”
“This isn’t real.” Duskwalker replied, cradling his face in his hands. “This is some sort of CIA mind control experiment. They found my blog and now I’m trapped in a bck site.”
“I order you to attack!” Warren roared.
As the words left his lips, a tremor traveled through Duskwalker’s body. The gunslinger reached down and ripped both six shooters free from their holsters. His face had become sck, and he moved with robotic precision as he opened fire on the nearby orcs.
The bullets tore through the unprotected creatures, mowing down three in the first volley. Duskwalker’s guns bzed away, another orc dropping as it charged at Warren. Without missing a beat, the gunslinger flipped the guns open, ejecting the spent bullet casings. He then quickly thumbed in fresh ammunition into the cylinder.
Warren looked for a target for his sword. If he could find an injured orc to finish off, then he could heal himself with the Sword of Deimos' ability. But none remained standing nearby. The guns Duskwalker wielded were incredibly deadly, blowing bloody craters into the orc’s bodies.
Stepping forward, he winced in pain. At the very least, he had some bruised ribs. In the worst-case scenario, he’d broken a few ribs, and one had punctured his lung. Right before he could order Duskwalker to spare one of the creatures, a final shot ran out, taking down the st remaining orc.
Scanning the front wn of the resort, Warren searched for any living creatures. But nothing stirred in the darkness. Piles of bodies surrounded him, and the stench of burned flesh hung heavy in the air.
He had won the battle, but it might have cost him his friend.
A notification fshed in his vision as he sank down to the ground, gingerly holding his chest. He quickly scanned the wording.
The Eternal Emperor sends his praise for defeating Mongrel Orcs – Level 2. In a show of the emperor’s boundless generosity, he has granted you a reward.
Please choose from one of the following:
One (1) Poor Quality ArtifactOne (1) Common Quality Card UpgradeWarren was in no mood to choose a reward, and he tried to dismiss the prompt. But the text remained stubbornly in his vision. Apparently, he couldn’t dey choosing one of the options.
With a grunt, he staggered back to his feet. As he was examining the prompt, Duskwalker had stumbled over to his side. The gunslinger had dropped both of his guns on the carefully trimmed grass and held his hands out in front of him.
“What’s happening to me?” The man looked stricken as he gazed at Warren with wild eyes. “I’m pretty sure I remember getting killed by some floating eyeball thing. Next thing I know, I’m dressed like a guy at the rodeo.”
With Kassandra’s fate still unknown, the st thing he wanted to do was expin the situation to the man standing in front of him. But he immediately softened at the thought of what Duskwalker must be going through. His doctor training kicked in and he prepared himself to break the bad news.
“First things first,” Warren said. “You were most likely killed by an alien.” When the man opened his mouth to reply, he held up his hand to stop him. “But then your soul was harvested by alien technology granted to me. Right now, you’re helping to drive off the invasion and retake our town.”
Duskwalker frowned, his brows knitting together. He turned around and kicked one of the orc corpses. “These things don’t look much like aliens to me.”
“That’s because they’re not,” Warren said. “Those were orcs. I don’t know why, but there are challenges seeded across what looks like the entire county. Maybe it’s provided in the hopes of giving humans a fighting chance?”
The man rubbed a hand down his face. “I have a girlfriend in town. What happened to everyone there?”
“I don’t know,” Warren said truthfully. “Most of the townsfolk were captured when a race called the Daskians conquered the town. But at least some escaped into the hills. All I know for sure is that they have my sister and I’m going to get her back.”
Duskwalker gnced down at his outfit. He plucked at his vest before looking up again. “And what about my outfit?”
Warren realized the next part was going to sound ridiculous, but he continued anyway. “Somebody named the Eternal Emperor granted me a combat deck for defeating one of the alien squires. Each deck has a theme and mine is superhumans. So far, it’s mostly been comic book stuff. The card for you is called Duskwalker, and I think you’re some sort of supernatural gunslinger.”
Duskwalker was silent for a minute before he stepped forward and thrust out his hand. “My name is Boone. Help me get my girlfriend back and I’ll do what I can to help you with your sister.”
Warren looked over at the timer for his deck—it was almost finished. At any second, Boone would disappear back into his void. He took Boone’s hand, wincing slightly as the other man enthusiastically shook it. “My name is Warren—"
Before he could finish speaking, his minion disappeared into shards of light, leaving Warren alone with the corpses.
He stood there in front of the hotel, the giant bonfire crackling nearby. If Kassandra was alright, then she should reappear at any second. But as he waited, nothing happened. Had she truly died in the battle?
“Why did you run off like that, Kassandra?” he muttered to himself. If she reappeared, he had no idea what to say to her. She’d completely ignored his orders and run straight into the orcs. She could have gotten them both killed.
A surge of relief washed over him as a familiar vortex of darkness formed nearby. Kassandra emerged from the shadows a second ter, once again wearing her tex catsuit. She looked around before her gaze nded on him. At the sight of him, she rushed over, throwing her arms around his neck.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered into his ear. “I thought I knew what I was doing, but everything went so wrong.”
Most of his anger vanished at feeling her supple body pressed against his own. He returned the hug, squeezing her tightly. “I was worried I’d lost you.”
But he still needed to know what had gotten into her. He gently disentangled himself from her embrace and took a step back. “Why didn’t you listen to me? I told you to scout the resort—not run straight into the orcs. You could have gotten yourself killed!”
She turned to look away in the distance. “I don’t know...”
His thoughts turned to her reaction when she’d heard about his new card. “Is it because you thought you’d be repced? No one, and I mean no one, can ever repce my friend. Any way, I have the option to take a second bodyguard. No matter what happens, I’ll never put you in the void and forget about you.”
“Do you mean it?” Her voice broke slightly as her eyes shone in the darkness. “You’ll never repce me?”
“Who could repce a tex wearing assassin like you?” he ughed. “But we’ve been friends since we were kids. Even if I get a superhuman card that can knock down cities, I’m still keeping you as my bodyguard.”
She rushed forward again, drawing him into a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I needed to hear that.”
This time, he had to physically push her off. Though he’d wanted to be mad at her for rushing off and disobeying his orders, she was dealing with a lot. Not only had she essentially died, but apparently, she’d also feared being repced with a more powerful card.
At the thought of that, he returned his attention to the prompt still hanging in his vision. “Speaking of more powerful cards,” he continued. “One of the rewards for defeating the orcs is a common card upgrade. Should I try it on you?”
“Really?” Her expression brightened. “I’d love that.” She pressed her plump lips together. “Maybe I’ll finally get some real armor? After I lost to the orcs, it reset my clothing. I guess I’m walking back to your dad’s old pce in high heel boots.”
“At least you’ll look stylish.”
She spped his shoulder pyfully. “All I know is that I’m walking behind you, so you don’t stare at me. This outfit doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”
“I would never stare,” he replied with feigned shock. “I’m a gentleman.”
“If you say so.”
Warren smiled warmly at his friend, feeling intense gratitude that the system hadn’t taken her away from him.
He then set about upgrading her card. He selected the ‘Common Card Upgrade’ reward and was presented with all the cards in his deck. The only one eligible was Kassandra’s, as the others ranged from common to epic.
As he selected the Nocturne card, the writing quickly changed.
Nocturne (Superhuman Deck)
Quality: Common
Energy Cost
1
Melee Attack
2
Ranged Attack
0
Defense
1
Health
1
Abilities: None
Warren looked over her new stats. The card had received an additional 1 point in Melee Attack and 1 point in Defense. It looked like she might never get a ranged attack, which was fine. But it also seemed like her health and defense were going to be kept low.
He supposed it made sense for an assassin to be focused on attack. She was sort of like a gss cannon. In her battles so far, she dished out a lot of damage, but she couldn’t tank many hits before she went down.
Now that the card upgrade had been dealt with, he needed to find the antibiotics for Valentina. He pressed a hand against his ribs and limped toward the hotel. He prayed the orcs hadn’t completely looted the building because he really wanted to find some strong painkillers.
