Mature Content Warning: Foul language, and highly graphic violence. Also, Fairygasms.

Author's notes: Sorry this took so long. The weather and a recent illness took their toll. There is only the epilogue left. I'll post that Monday. However, I will not be able to update this story for a week to ten days after the epilogue goes up as I will need to do the rewrites, expansions, and formatting to get the final version ready for publishing. That is no different than last time, but I do feel the need to warn you. Other stories will be updated a bit in the mean time. :)

Chapter 12: Nerf! Nerf!

Tension, a nervous sensation in the air, jade green eyes gazed upon a man who was uncertain of his place in the world. A soldier by trade, a sorcerer by choice; the man sat silently and awaited his coming fate.

“Scott...” said Rhea. She looked at him, first with confusion and anger, and then with eyes filled with an emotion that could only be called pain.

“Rhea, it’s not how it sounds. OK?”

“How does it sound? Tell me?” Her eyebrows pressed together slowly and her nostrils flared. She bit her bottom lip then started to breathe in and out heavily at a slightly faster pace.

Scott rubbed the back of his head and took a deep breath. Before he could answer, however, Ero spoke up. “It’s great to meet you! Scott thinks of you all the time, and you sure are as pretty as he thinks.”

Rhea blinked then turned toward the chatty fairy. “What...?”

“Ero is a guardian spirit that I bonded with just before I was faced with a hard battle in the mine. You know about that, though... Right?” asked Scott.

Rhea gasped loudly. She understood what he was saying. “The battle in the mine... Of course! She’s the fairy from that spring!”

“Yes! Scott named me Ero and bonded with me. He bought me ice cream and held me when I was dying, and he lets me eat pie, and ....” said Ero in a rapid fire manner. The tiny elf spread her arms and legs wide and thrust them forward for emphasis with each new thing that she mentioned.

“Dying? What happened during that battle?” asked Rhea.

“You don’t know?” asked Scott. She was supposed to be a goddess and someone responsible for a lot of what was going on around him. Her family ran this place didn’t they?

“No, I have been busy back home. I’ve been stuck doing family business related things. I only knew that you prayed to me at the spring and I gave you something that would let you finish off that pack of monsters from a distance.” said the girl.

“Oh, then you don’t know about Karsh and that goblin army!” exclaimed Scott.

“Goblin army?” asked Rhea.

“Yeah! Scott crushed an entire army of goblin soldiers and their captain. He even received an official title.” said Ero excitedly. The girl did pretty much everything with great excitement.

“A title? That... How? What title did you get?” asked Rhea.

“Uh... I’m apparently known as Scott the Unbreakable Sorcerer.” He rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously after saying it.

“Unbreakable? You... That... You would have had to defeat over five hundred monsters of similar or greater level in a single battle!” Her eyes widened to an absurd and comic degree.

“Well, Ero helped with that, but I did defeat that many. I also took down their boss.”

“How did you even trigger a battle like that in the first place?” she asked.

“Well, I wanted to gain a few levels while you were gone. I figured that if I made it to level ten I could upgrade my status a bit and we could hunt the monsters in the mine easier. It was taking a while, though. So... I decided to try and bring the monsters to me. I ran through the mine yelling to get a little attention.”

Rhea slapped herself on the side of the face in a gentle manner. “You... That... I can’t leave you alone for even a few days can I?”

Scott laughed softly then shook his head. “Did I ever tell you that I’m a moron?”

“I am well aware of this fact, but still...” replied Rhea.

“So, that was how the battle started. I assume that you killed enough of those goblins to frustrate them?”

“Yeah. I was stuck on the platform near that mine office in the mine. You know the one?”

“I do. Yes. I recall that you shared a scene of the ramp leading to the third platform was out?” said Rhea.

Ero fluttered over and sat on Scott’s shoulder. Rhea looked at her and the winged girl waved at her expectantly. The elf nodded at her and the fairy clapped her hands twice before she smiled happily.

Scott nodded at her. “Yes, the ramp was broken down. I blew it up to buy some time. I used the boomerangs to kill a lot of the monsters from a distance. When Karsh showed up, however, he brought about two hundred higher level goblins with him.”

“Karsh? Was that a boss monster? I don’t recognize the name.” said Rhea.

“Yeah, but it was strange. After I managed to barely beat him his body did not disappear. He had his name above him in glowing red letters and he was cited as a known murderer.”

Rhea’s jaw dropped open. She stared at Scott for a few brief seconds then said, “That was no boss monster! That was a player who was under the player-killing penalty.”

“I killed another player?” asked Scott. He had not even thought of that. Of course, he did not know about this world actually being designed as a real-life divine massive multiplayer online game, either.

“Yes, it seems so. It’s good to know that you can handle yourself in such a situation. How did you manage it though?” asked Rhea.

“Well, the player killer guy caught me off-guard. Without Ero I would have died.”

“Really?” asked the high elf.

Ero nodded then warmly hugged Scott’s neck. Rhea’s left eyelid twitched a little but she said nothing.

“She used her greater power to restore my health while driving back the army. Her storm of emotion ability greatly weakened the entire army, Karsh included. Most of the goblins only needed one or two hits to drop them.”

Rhea stared at Scott then looked at Ero. “That shouldn’t be possible. Even the usage of a greater power implies a strong and intimate bond. Your synchronization rate must be incredibly high.”

“I really like him. He is very nice to me.” Ero snuggled against Scott and sighed happily.

“I don’t get her attachment... but I have enjoyed having her around. She’s a really sweet girl.” said Scott.

“I see.” Rhea’s lower lip slipped forward a little and she looked down at her hands.

“Yeah, we are total BFFs.” said Ero.

Rhea blinked. “BFFs?”

“Uh huh. We’re best friends forever and ever and ever and... I hope we can be good friends too. Scott really likes you!” exclaimed the fairy excitedly.

Scott’s face turned bright red and he reached up to pluck the fairy from his shoulder. “Ero...”

“No, no... Let the dear little thing speak.” said Rhea. Suddenly, the man-stealing fairy was speaking great wisdom.

“Wha...?” asked Scott.

“Scott likes me you say?” Rhea looked at the fairy curiously. She reached out her hand.

Ero fluttered over to the beautiful elf maiden. She landed in Rhea’s palm and looked up at her. “Oh yes! You should see the dreams he has had. They’re really interesting.”

“By all means, tell me about them.” replied Rhea.

“Hey now....” said Scott. The conversation had suddenly taken an embarrassing turn.

Rhea looked at him and then spoke bluntly. “I’m a little mad at you. This could help.”

“You just want to hear about my dreams.” muttered Scott.

“Would you rather reenact them?” she asked with a smirk upon her lips.

Ero giggled. “I don’t think he has tentacles, but he might be able to find heated massage oil.”

“Oh my!” exclaimed Rhea. Tentacles and hot massage oil? Just what were these dreams that Scott had been having?

“Geeze, don’t say it out loud.” mumbled Scott.

“OK!” Ero fluttered up to Rhea’s shoulder and started to whisper into her ear. The elf’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She stayed that way for a full minute while Ero described Scott’s dreams in detail.

After the fairy finished relating her supposed master’s fantasies to his sort-of girlfriend, Rhea closed her mouth then unleashed a silly little grin.

Scott snorted at her then pulled a bit of the bed sheet up to dab at a bit of drool coming out of the corner of Rhea’s mouth. “Perverts, I’m surrounded by estrogen powered perverts. Did I do something in a former life to deserve this?”

“Probably, no one man should be this lucky.” replied Rhea.

Ero sat down on Rhea’s shoulder then leaned against her neck. “Yeah, how did you get so lucky that you have two beautiful women who want to spend their time with you?”

Rhea nodded her agreement at the statement, though her lip quirked slightly. She was not exactly interested in sharing her somewhat boyfriend, but she wanted to show a unified front of solidarity.

Scott rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I’m out numbered. Great.”

“Isn’t it?” asked Ero. She giggled at him then hugged Rhea.

The elf smirked at the sorcerer. Let him squirm a little. That’ll teach him to survive impossible battles and bond with busty naked fairies. Still, there was one question she wanted answered. “Anyway, what’s with that whole fairygasm business?”

“Oh, that? Ero acts weird when I give her experience and her level increases.”

The Fairy whimpered a little then scissored her legs together. “It just feels so good having Scott’s passionate experience burning inside me.”

“Does it now?” asked Rhea, her left eyelid twitching slightly. Otherwise her face was cold and impassive, like a beautiful statue sculpted from ice.

“Mhmm... Oh yes. Just the memory of it makes me... Oh... does it make me!” Ero gasped loudly and fell backwards on

Rhea’s shoulder. She slowly slid off and landed on the bed, but did not stop gasping loudly.

“Rhea... I...” Scott started to say something but she shook her head.

“I understand. I’m not thrilled, but I get it. You have a powerful synchronization rate with her. A little too powerful, considering what that is supposed to mean.”

“Huh? What’s it supposed to mean?” asked Scott.

“You don’t know?” she asked.

Ero gasped again and made a soft moaning sound. Scott rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“You’ve forged an unbreakable and intimate bond with her, somehow. That should take a long time. Whatever happened at that spring caused her to desire your company so much that she views you as far more than just a best friend.”

“My BFF is so good to me.” whispered Ero, before she giggled and moaned once more.

“Right...” said Rhea. She frowned at Scott then crossed her arms over her impressive and angry chest.

“Nothing happened down there but a little discussion.”

“That’s not possible. She would not be fairygasming like that if she wasn’t pretty much the guardian spirit equivalent of your wife at this point.”

“Wife?” Scott stared at Rhea in confusion. He was just friends with the fairy!

Rhea sighed loudly. “Yes, even if what you say is true... it is obvious that she has deep feelings for you. At this point she’s closer to you than I am...”

Scott reached out and took Rhea’s hand. She looked away from him and sniffed a little.

The sorcerer had a choice to make. He could either say something or do something. He was a moron, but he was a moron of action. He pulled Rhea toward him and wrapped her in his arms.

The surprised elf stared at him with wide and confused eyes. “Scott...?”

He smiled at her. “Who’s closer to me?”

“I...” She could not look away from him. What was he saying? What was he doing!

Scott slid one hand up to cup the side of her face. Her cheeks turned bright red as he began to caress her with his thumb. He did not speak at that moment. Instead he leaned in and softly kissed her on the lips.

Rhea’s eyes began to sparkle due to the tears that began to form. Her softly shimmering eyes closed gently and she slipped her arms around him.

Scott clasped her lips gently between his and drew them softly back while caressing her face. His other hand massaged her just below her armored breastplate.

Ero looked up at them then smiled. It was nice to see them together. She did not know how Rhea felt about Scott, but the sorcerer had been struggling with his feelings for the elf. Of course, what she really wanted to know was when the fairy was going to get a little of that sweet action.

~*~

Breakfast was long over by the time the trio made their way down stairs. Lunch was just being served, so they ate quickly. Rhea needed to go do her business related elf stuff later that evening and they wanted to do a little hunting. Ero decided that she was full and chose to take a nap inside Scott’s mind.

After lunch they left town and began to slow, but pleasant, walk south. Their target was the boars that hung out in the plains south of town. They were low level monsters, it was doubtful that Scott would gain any experience at all from. That did not matter, however. It was time spent together that did matter.

While they walked along they spoke of simple things. They talked of the past and considered plans for the future. After about ten minutes they passed by a small farm. They waved at the farmer and his wife in passing, and the happy rural couple waved back.

“They seem happy.” said Rhea.

“Yeah, they do.” said Scott.

The elf flexed her fingers while they walked along. After a minute passed she casually bumped his hand with hers. The bridge of her nose became slightly flush with color in the process.

Another few minutes passed and her hand bumped his again. This time, however, he instinctively clasped her wayward fingers. Rhea’s blush spread quickly from her nose and down to her entire face. For the remainder of their short walk to the fields south of town, they spent their time hand in hand.

It took around an hour before they saw the first thunder boar. Scott was quite surprised by what he saw. The thunder boar was more like a pot-bellied pig than a raging slab of bacon. The small pig grunted at him then stomped its tiny hoof.

“It... It’s adorable.” said Scott. Sure, that was not the most traditionally masculine response that he could have made.

However, what did you call a small pig with a pot-belly, large anime style eyes and a ribbon on its tail?

“Buqueeee!” cried the kawaii pig, as Scott thought of it. That thing was so adorable that it had to be called cute in multiple languages!

Of course, just as with the rabbits from earlier, the cute thunder boar proved to be more dangerous than it appeared. The thunder boar raced toward Rhea, the one that its senses claimed was less dangerous. Just before it reached her it leapt into the air to try for a hard tackle.

The elf neatly side-stepped its rapid charge and slipped her sword out at precisely the right time and upward angle to bisect the leaping sausage. The boar landed in two separate locations then kicked feebly before it died. After it turned into motes of light they received the typical battle report.

Congratulations!

Your party killed a thunder boar.

EXP + 0

Fayth + 4

Ability Points + 1

Item(s) Acquired:

Pig Skin X 1 (Poor quality)

“That was great.” said Scott. He clapped his hands and Rhea took a bow.

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all night.” replied the girl.

They took off again and began to search for more boars. They fought nearly forty of the things that afternoon. They were weak but plentiful in the area. Some were a little larger, others were a bit smaller. None of them gave Scott any experience but he did earn another thirty-six ability points by the end of their trip.

The sun started to dip low on the horizon. It was time to head back. Scott had not gained much from that hunt, but he did not mind. Rhea had enjoyed herself and showed off a little, which was a reward in its own right as far as he was concerned.

The sorcerer and his elf love interest walked hand-in-hand toward town. There was little to fear in this part of the world, not at their level anyway. The strongest monsters outside of the mine were the pigs and they could do little damage to Rhea and no damage at all to Scott. Even without his weapons and armor, he was far beyond their limited powers.

They spoke of simple things along the way. Their conversation continued happily and soon they could see the farm house from earlier just up the road.

“What do you want for dinner?” asked Scott.

Rhea smiled and squeezed his hand. “Anything but pork chops.”

He laughed at her and started to respond, but his response died on his lips. The background music changed from a soft, almost romantic travel score, to a more dangerous and edgy tune.

You have entered a specialized dedicated combat zone! Special effects have been activated.

Special Effects:

No log-out

No Escape

Magic Nullification

“What the hell!” exclaimed Scott.

“A special battle zone? Scott, watch out!” Rhea dropped his hand and readied her sword.

A loud, cruel, laugh echoed from the house up ahead. They turned toward the sound and saw a large brutish looking creature walk out. The orc, as Scott suspected from the tusks and green skin, strolled casually out to the road. Above its head a bright red name appeared. That name was ‘Aen.’

“What are you doing?” called out Rhea. Why would someone set up a special zone here? Common bandits would not go so far. Special zones required zone crystals and they were expensive items to purchase.

The orc snorted at her then replied, “Don’t worry your pretty little head, girl. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Seven more guys, each with a bright red name floating above their heads, strolled out of the house in a casual manner. Two more of them were orcs. The rest were some sort of goblin.

“Scott... These people are all known murderers and your magic won’t work right now. Be ready.” said Rhea.

He nodded to her and took up a fighting stance. Her warning was unnecessary. It was obvious from the change in the atmosphere and the way that these people were acting. They meant them harm.

“Well, since the party guests have arrived... Let’s start the party.” said the apparent leader of the group.

The massive orc pointed one ham-fisted hand toward them. “Get ‘em, boys.”

Four of the goblins howled with blood lust then streaked down the road toward them. They were fast, damned fast. The goblins reached the trapped couple in only a scant few seconds.

Scott ducked under a flying leap from a green skinned goblin, only to be forced to block and redirect the strike of another. The leaping goblin quickly recovered and swung its black blade at him with precise fury. He span around the blade and tried to take advantage of the creature being off-balance, but its comrade lunged forward with its own knife. He was forced to move out of the way again.

Rhea managed to parry the strike of one incoming goblin and deflect the attack of the other. However, her excessively high agility could not save her from her opponents entirely. It was clear from the start that they were at a higher level than her. She had the agility of an elf who hunted zealously, but they had the agility that nearly matched her own.

One-on-one, either of the goblins would have been a problem for Scott and Rhea. Two-on-one made it inevitable that they would take damage. Despite the level difference, it was Scott who received the first strike.

The sorcerer performed a low sweep to try and take one of the goblins off its feet. However, the wiry creature leapt up to avoid the attack and stabbed forward with its blade while still in mid-air. Scott managed to narrowly avoid that strike, but he was out of position and could not avoid the hard downward stab of its companion. The blade bit deeply into his thigh. A bright red number twelve floated upward from his body signifying the amount of damage that he had taken.

Scott cried out in pain, but the true horror of that attack made itself known afterward.

You have been poisoned! You are slightly paralyzed and your movement speed will decrease over time.

That was all it took for the battle to shift completely. The blades were poisoned with a paralytic substance. The goblins laughed gleefully as they attacked Scott now. They did very little damage with their knives. Instead they were satisfied with slowly cutting him apart.

He would try to block or parry their strikes, but his decreased speed prevented him from moving quickly enough. He took shallow, but painful, cuts to the hands and his arms. Each time a blade struck he would be hit with more paralyzing agent and his speed would decrease further.

Rhea had her armor on and managed to avoid a similar fate for a moment. It was proof against their daggers. However, it did not matter in the end. She could not use her magic and her opponents were easily twice her level. She received a shallow cut along her cheek. The paralysis hit and she began to slow down.

“Scott! Scott!” cried a tiny voice inside his mind. Ero had woken from her nap due to the sensation of pain that she felt through her bond with him.

Scott found it hard to think or move now. The goblin players gleefully sliced him up. They were taking their sweet time, making it hurt. The hateful bastards could have killed him easily. He suspected that they were actually higher level than he was. It was like fighting two sadistic mini-bosses at the same time.

“Scott, use my power!” cried Ero inside his mind.

“You can’t yet... need four days, remember?” Scott spoke aloud. He was losing his battle with both consciousness and fell to his knees. He felt a knife blade slide cruelly across his shoulder, lightly flaying his flesh. The pain was muted due to the numbness throughout his body, but the damage was racking up.

“No, my lesser powers! Use my power, you know how! They don’t count as using magic! You can use them.” cried the girl.

He felt a swift slash across his face. Blood began to pour from the superficial wound. His head drooped. At this point even breathing was difficult. It was hard to think, hard to do anything. How did he use Ero’s power? He knew it, but it was so hard to think of it.

It came to him like a flash of light. He envisioned the tiny fairy and called upon her to banish his status effects while boosting his abilities, and did so in the only way he could think of at the moment. He threw back his head and screamed. “Ero, Power!”

“The hell? Ero Power?” asked one of the goblins. Was he some sort of pervert?

Ero cried out loudly, and then Scott cried out immediately afterward. A bright red burst of light flared outward from his body. He suddenly began to feel a lot better.

You have activated a special guardian ability, Power. It can be used once per day. The effect will last for ten minutes.

All status effects are nullified.

You will regenerate health and mana at incredible speeds.

Your attributes have increased by forty percent.

Your attack speed has risen by ten percent.

Your attack and defense power have risen by twenty percent of total capacity

Scott immediately tried to thank Ero, but she did not respond. He immediately grew concerned for her.

A goblin murderer tried to attack him again, but this time things were drastically different. His above-average stats for his level combined with his attribute boosts to make Scott far more formidable than before. His attack and defense had increased by a tremendous amount. The knife flashed down and skittered off his flesh like it had struck metal. A bright red zero floated upward from Scott’s body.

The players were using weapons designed to do little damage. They were tools of fear, an item used to perform weak attacks that maximized the pain. Even hard strikes only did a few points of damage to the man before. Now they were completely useless against his flesh. He might as well have been wearing full body plate armor.

“Surprise, asshole.” said Scott before launching his body upward. His fist rocketed upward in a powerful uppercut that slammed into the jaw of the confused goblin. The creature’s jaw shattered like he had been hit with a hammer. The murderer was sent flying backwards with great force. A bright red three hundred forty flared above his head.

He had been slain outright due to its low defense. Scott’s attack power was several times higher than the agility focused player’s total defense including their light weight leather armor. The nature of a sorcerer allowed them to have attack and defense four times higher than their strength and agility. Even before, if he could have hit them he could have hurt them badly. Their agility was too great to overcome at the time because they were just a little above him in level and stats. Now, his agility was closer to their abilities.

“That mother fucker just killed Gan!” snapped one of the smaller orcs.

“Fuck him. He was one-shotted by a sorcerer seven levels below him, he deserves it.” said Aen.

“Yeah, but at this rate he could kill all of them.”

They watched as Scott pressed his sole remaining opponent using a series of powerful combination strikes. He had not managed to hit his opponent cleanly, yet. However, one good strike would finish him.

“What? You scared?” asked the hobgoblin, Redfang. He was the only goblin not currently in the melee.

“Scared? No. Why let that guy kill our people though?”

Aen shrugged. “Let the fool have some hope. He’s stronger than I thought he would be, but still doesn’t have a chance.”

Aen whistled loudly then shouted. “Forget the elf. Take out the sorcerer.”

The goblin players attacking Scott and Rhea immediately turned toward Scott. Rhea tried to go after them but she fell to her knees. The paralysis poison had reached dangerous levels within her body.

Scott slipped around the attack of the closest player, and attempted to strike him in the side of the head. Unfortunately, he narrowly dodged the strike.

Three-on-one it was impossible for him to dodge, even with his heavily boosted stats. Their knives did no damage, but it was hard to line up a killing blow. Still, it did not take long for the sorcerer to go all-in and take a hit in order to deliver one.

The next player than struck out at him, met resistance but did not damage. It was clear at this point that they must be hoping for a critical hit, or they were just stupid. Their attacks did nothing. Scott moved into the attack and slammed his hands forward to deliver a double palm strike to the murderer’s chest. The full-power attack hit with great force and easily shattered its rib cage.

“Dammit! Call an admin! Nerf, nerf!” cried one of the other goblins as he saw his guild mate go down in a single strike. What was with this cheat-like fighting capacity?

Scott whipped his body around and delivered a brutal spinning back fist to the screaming goblin player. His face caved in from the power of the blow and he fell back, dying.

“Nerf that.” said Scott.

The last goblin jumped back and shook his head. “The hell man!”

Scott snorted at the player and started forward to finish things. However, life would not be so kind. Just as he reached his final, current, his shoulder was struck by a powerful force. He was sent spinning to the ground.

“Wha...?” asked Scott. He felt his shoulder and realized that there was a crossbow bolt sticking out. He managed to get to his feet just in time to see the goblin smirk and jump to the side. An orc wielding a massive warhammer appeared in front of him running at full-speed.

Scott could not match that level of speed as the powerful player was already upon him. He was unable to move his right arm at all due to the bolt in his shoulder. He tried desperately to block the oncoming attack with his good arm, as he had no time to dodge the monstrosity coming his way. The hammer swung forward and slammed into the hapless sorcerer with tremendous force. A bright red number one hundred sixty-eight flared above his head and floated upward.

He was knocked back by the brutal blow and flew through the air to slam against an invisible barrier a few feet behind him. He bounced off and hit the ground, completely crushed.

“Scott...” Rhea reached toward him feebly, before collapsing to the ground. She was conscious, but completely unable to move. All she could do was stare helplessly at the man she loved, lying on the ground in a pool of rapidly spreading blood.

The sorcerer felt pain unlike anything that he had ever felt before. The power he had gained from Ero was both a blessing and a curse. It immediately healed status effects that popped up after that hit, and his health continued to regenerate. Every second that passed restored one point of health and one point of mana, a truly incredible rate of regeneration for someone of his level.

However, he had been instantly knocked into a severe critical state. He was not allowed to pass out and become unconscious, however. The power of Ero prevented that, but that also meant that he felt every bit of the pain. He had several severely broken bones. Mechanical issues such as a shattered sternum could be healed over time, but they would still prevent him from moving much for the moment.

“Feh, weak ass punk.” said Rode, the orc who had nearly one-shotted the annoying sorcerer.

“Alright, gather them up. Bring them here.” called out Aen.

The goblin walked over and snatched up Rhea, while Rode strolled over and grabbed Scott by the hair. He turned and casually walked back to the group leader while dragging Scott through the dirt. When they reached Aen, Rode pulled

Scott up by the hair and showed him to the larger orc. “You wanted this thing?”

“Not really, he’s too small. Should throw him back and find something bigger, more fight to it.” said Aen. The orcs, hobgoblin, and sole surviving goblin all laughed at the stupid joke.

Scott bit his tongue and waited while he regenerated. He could do nothing at the moment but wait and regenerate. He tried calling out to Ero again, but the fairy girl still did not respond.

Aen gestured toward the house. “Take them out back. You know what that little shit Karsh wanted.”

“Stupid bastard lost to this guy.” said the surviving goblin.

Rode snorted at him. “So did your three buddies. Don’t act cocky. He’s a weak little fish to me, but compared to you he was a killer shark.”

The goblin player looked like he was about to comment on that but one look from Rode silenced him. He looked away to avoid the orc’s gaze.

“Yeah, too bad he’s human.” remarked Redfang.

The other’s agreed. If he were of a monster race they would have tried to recruit him on the spot.

“Ah well, that’s enough of that. Let’s get moving.” said Aen.

Erghe, the other orc, took Rhea from the goblin and slung her over his shoulder and walked off toward the back of the house. Rode simply dragged Scott by the hair.

Once they arrived in the back yard Scott was dragged to the porch. He tried to struggle when they put a rope around his neck, but his regeneration had not restored his limb motion yet. He was close, but not close enough.

“Feisty, but it won’t do you any good.” said Aen.

Rode tossed the free end of the rope over a porch beam then walked behind Scott. He pulled casually and the sorcerer was forced to stand up. Soon he was forced to stand on the tips of his toes.

Rhea was taken to a spot directly across from him. Erghe sat down on the grass and placed her limp body in his lap. He pulled her chin up and placed a dagger at her throat.

“It’s like this. You’re going to die here. She’s going to die here, too. The Corpse Rats don’t take kindly to people screwing with our business.” said Aen.

Aen gestured to Erghe. The orc slowly slid his dagger across Rhea’s throat. The slice was not too deep, but blood began to flow. A red number seven flared above her head.

Scott cried out. “Let her go you fucking asshole!”

The orc laughed then pointed at him with his dagger. “You should worry about yourself, asshole.”

Rode jerked back on the rope and Scott was taken off the ground. He struggled but that only made things worse. He started to regain motion in his left arm, but it would not come soon enough.

A red number one floated upward from Rhea, and then a few seconds later another one appeared above her head. She had been inflicted with the bleeding status. They were going to let her bleed to death while Scott was forced to watch!

Scott was choking due to the rope around his neck. He was in a similar position to Rhea. He was slowly losing health each second due to asphyxiation. The regenerative effect of Ero’s power overcame that issue to some extent, but it would run out soon. He would die here.

The sorcerer tried to swing his body back in an attempt to kick at Rode, but the orc simply swatted him back. He lost several points of health in the process and his vision started to go dark.

Scott and Rhea watched each other as they continued their slow march toward death. The sorcerer’s eyes moved toward Aen.

The orc noticed his look. “I bet you want to know why she’s involved.”

Scott tried to glare at the orc, but he was having trouble doing even that. His vision had started to fade in and out.

“Well, I’ll tell you. When we reported to our guild that you seemed to have a cute little girlfriend, Karsh wanted you to suffer more. You cost him a lot of money, you know. It’s nothing personal on our end, but he’s the guild leader’s brother.”

Scott continued to look at Aen. The orc frowned at him. “You think we like doing this sort of shit?”

The sorcerer’s accusing gaze continued to bore into Aen and the orc’s face screwed into a hateful mask. “Cut that shit out.”

What Aen did not know was that Scott could no longer turn his head. He had no choice but to look at him. However, the Orc was annoyed by what he thought was an accusing look. Why should he care if this guy and his girl died like this? He was just some asshole that had screwed with the guild.

After a full minute of Scott’s supposedly accusing stare Aen called out, “Fuck it! Just kill the bitch and then do him.”

When Erghe did not make a move or say anything, Aen turned to him. “Erghe?”

The Orc sat silently, Rhea still in his lap bleeding out. Aen stared at him for a moment and then took a step back in surprise. Erghe’s body fell backwards and hit the ground but his severed head continued to float in the air.

“What the hell? Erghe!” called out Aen.

A beautiful girl scantily clad girl in red appeared. She was holding Erghe’s head.

“Who the hell are you? Why did you kill Erghe?” asked Aen.

“Oh, sorry. Did you need this guy for something?” asked the girl.

She placed two fingers at the corner of the decapitated orc’s mouth and pulled his lips down into a frown. “Oops, my bad.”

A loud outcry from behind Scott caught Aen’s attention next. The sorcerer immediately hit the ground as Rode fell back. The orc had a large spike sticking up out of his eye. He was dead before he hit the ground.

The ninja-girl leaned down and pressed a few spots on Rhea’s body. Her bleeding effect stopped. Amazingly, she even started to regenerate.

“Shit!” cried Redfang as he saw several dark-clad figured appear out of thin air.

“Not a bad shot, Gambol.” said Sharde in praise of her comrade’s throwing skills.

“Oh, I try.” replied the ninja master with a smirk.

A dozen high-level ninjas rose up all around the remaining members of the Corpse Rat guild.

“You... Shit!” snarled Aen. Why had this happened?

The ninja-girl took a step forward and then blurred out of sight before reappearing in front of Scott. She gently removed the rope from his neck and pressed a few spots on his body. His regeneration continued at an even more accelerated pace than before.

“Who the hell are you people!” snapped Aen.

“Sharde?” asked Scott while he looked up at his unlikely savior.

The girl smirked at him then pulled out a battle fan. She turned toward Aen then gestured toward Scott with the fan.

“The ice cream pervert is correct. I am Sharde.”

“Do you understand now?” asked the ninja-girl before casually tossing aside Erghe’s severed head. She had not bothered to drop it until now.

“Sharde! You... Aren’t you the leader of Crimson Shadow?”

“Oh, you’ve heard of us? How nice. Our public relations campaigns must be working.” said Sharde.

She turned and called out to Gambol. “We should give the PR ninjas a bonus.”

“Sounds good.” he said while raising his thumb.

“Why are you involving yourselves in this? Did these people hire you?” asked Aen.

Sharde opened her fan and placed it in front of her face. She fanned the air delicately. “Why, whatever do you mean, dear sir? My happy little group was merely out for an evening stroll while enjoying fine company and the nice weather.”

“You lying...” began Redfang. He was cut off by the sudden impact of a spike that penetrated his temple, killing him instantly.

“Lady Sharde never lies, she merely tells the opposite of the truth at times of her choosing.” stated Gambol seriously.

Sharde said, “Oh ho ho ho.” and fluttered her fan once more.

“Dammit!” said Aen. What could he do in this situation? He was severely outnumbered and even the weakest of her ninjas was easily higher level than he was.

“Do you bastards think you’ll get away with this?” snapped Aen.

Sharde closed her fan then slapped it down into her free hand. “Yes.”

That was the signal. Gambol threw two spikes that slammed deeply into Aen’s thighs, easily penetrating his thick steel armor. The orc cried out in pain but found that he could not move. He was paralyzed while standing up! His legs had been locked in place.

A dozen ninjas raced into the yard and began to hurl throwing stars at Aen. The remaining goblin was killed off quickly, but Aen was cut apart by dozens of small thrown weapons moving at speeds far too swift for him to avoid or deflect.

He tried to avoid them but only succeeded in falling backwards. Soon, he was a mass of torn bloody metal. Once he reached a critical state the assault ended.

Sharde casually walked over to the downed orc and placed her foot atop his chest. “I win. Please praise me.”

“Why?” gasped out Aen. What was the connection between these people and the sorcerer? Was he in their guild?

Sharde smirked at him. “Why not?”

Before he could ask her anything else, she leaned down and slapped her fan against his forehead. The casual action finished off the orc, neatly cracking his skull. “Bad boy.”

The ninjas cleaned up the area and gathered the items of the fallen players. Gambol leapt up and easily cleared the distance between him and his guild leader. “So, what do you think we should charge them?”

Sharde turned to look at Scott then unfolded her fan with a flick of her wrist. “Oh, I’ll think of something.”

“Really, now?” asked Gambol.

Scott’s eyes widened when she blew a kiss at him then winked. The ninja-girl placed her fan before her face then fluttered it slowly before laughing out, “Oh ho ho ho ho.”

--