"Let's see," Chris tapped his interface a couple times, "a level three Guardian and a level two Swindler…"

Bazel adjusted the Xanadu Gun on his shoulder and watched the man-horse as he looked for a job they could do. He mumbled to himself as he poked at his interface and frowned every so often.

"Ah!"

Bazel jumped at the noise. He never considered himself an easily frightened person, but he was being spooked a lot in the dungeon.

"Here's one that pays well." Chris tapped the interface and nodded, "look it over and tell me if you're interested."

Bazel heard the "ding-dong" noise and summoned his own interface.

The old Laconian shepherd, Lysander, has been called to battle! While he's away, he needs someone to look after his sheep and make sure they're not eaten by those pesky giants. Do him a solid, would you?

Task: Protect the sheep for one day.

Reward:

1000 Credits

2000 Experience Points

Note: A bonus of 150 credits will be paid for every giant killed. A fee of 150 credits will be taken for every sheep lost.

Accept Job?

Yes / No >

Bazel scratched his cheek and looked up at Chris, "Why would a shepherd go to battle?"

"Asked the Beggar with a gun." Chris smirked down at him.

"This is great!" Samara said, "We could make a lot of credits on this job."

"Or lose everything we have," Bazel pointed at the line about the punishment for letting sheep get eaten.

"I'm sure we can handle it." Samara reached out and pressed the option to accept the job.

Bazel wished Samara had considered the consequences of failure a bit more. If the job went south, they could end up in debt. Bazel was earning pay for the first time in his life, and he wanted to hold on to what he got.

Now that I think about it. Samara is quite the spendthrift.

She bought his cannon and some expensive medical supplies without considering cheaper alternatives. She also bought him clothes, shoes and pizza. He was a bit worried about the state of her funds.

"Mister beggar," Chris got Bazel's attention, "since this is a group effort, you both have to accept the job."

"Oh," Bazel looked back at his interface and put his finger over it, then paused.

"What's the matter?" Samara asked.

"I just thought of something," he looked up at Chris, "giants are just really big people, right?"

"Eh," Chris shrugged, "I mean, they look like people, but they don't really have any intelligence."

"Still…"

"Don't worry about it too much," Chris said, "here in the dungeon, they're no better than pests."

Bazel had a feeling he was going to regret it, but he reached up and pressed the "Yes" option anyway. Both Samara and Chris wore big smiles like they were proud of him.

"Very good!" Chris stamped his foot which made a very loud sound on the marble floor, "Now this is a time-sensitive operation, so I hope you don't mind if I teleport you."

"That's fine." Samara answered.

"Then, good luck!" Chris tapped his interface.

Before Bazel could reply, the world around him changed instantly. He was standing outside on a grassy hill overlooking some woods below. No sensation accompanied the teleportation, but it still made Bazel jump at suddenly being in another place.

"You're here." A gruff voice said from behind.

Bazel turned and saw a man in jeans and a t-shirt. The shirt had a picture of a helmet with a large plume on top. He held a spear in one hand.

"I'm Lysander," he said and waved at a herd of sheep behind him, "my sheep."

Samara stepped forward and introduced them.

"I'm Samara and this is my partner Bazel. Thank you for letting us do this." She stuck her hand out, "I can assure you, your sheep are safe as long as we're here."

"Whatever." Lysander ignored her attempt at a handshake and started to walk away, "Do a good job."

"Oookay." Samara watched him walk off and turned to Bazel, "not much of a talker, I suppose."

"Are we still in the dungeon?" Bazel looked around at the idyllic scenery, "I can't even tell anymore."

"As far as I know," Samara shrugged, "a lot of places in the dungeon look like they're outside."

"Interesting."

Bazel studied the area and the sheep who were happily eating grass nearby. He started to wonder what was real in the dungeon. If the sky was fake like he believed, then how could the grass grow without real sunshine and rain? Maybe if the grass itself was fake, it wouldn't need those things. But if the grass was fake, then what were the sheep eating?

Were the sheep real?

"Hello~" Samara waved her hand in front of his face, "Everything okay, buddy?"

"Sorry," Bazel snapped out of his stupor, "I was just thinking about how weird this place is."

"Tell me about it."

"So what do we do now?" Bazel asked.

"Unless the giants show up, nothing."

Samara removed a book from her inventory and sat on the grass. Bazel sat down as well and put the Xanadu on the ground beside him, glad to be rid of the weight. He occupied himself by watching the sheep as they grazed.

They looked like real sheep.

Bazel leaned back and looked up at the sky – or maybe a ceiling. It also looked very real, and he could feel the warmth of the sun on his face. The clouds that passed over occluded the sun and cast shadows on the ground. A breeze blew across the pasture, tickling his skin.

In the nearby woods, a flock of birds made noise as they took flight. Their excited chirping and flapping wings could be heard even at a distance.

"Something's coming." Samara said as she stood up again. She put the book away and pulled out her mace.

"What is it?" Bazel stood up and held the Xanadu by his side, "The giants?"

"I think so."

Bazel fiddled with the switch on his gun, he pressed it but nothing happened. He summoned his interface and looked at the status screen, and saw that his aether was still full.

So I can't even use it until I use [Drain Strength].

He suspected as much, but he hadn't been provided with a chance to test it. He looked up at the woods and saw the tops of the trees bending as something moved between them.

"Do you have a plan?" He asked.

"Yes," Samara half turned to him, "I'll engage it first and try to get a couple good hits in. You use that time to drain its strength and prepare to shoot it. As soon as I give you the signal, take it down."

"Okay."

Right at that moment, the giant broke the treeline. The twenty foot tall monster had the appearance of a horribly disfigured and hunchbacked man. It wore an animal skin to cover its loins, but was otherwise naked. It carried a wooden club that Bazel suspected might be an entire tree.

"Here it comes!" Samara adopted a fighting pose with her feet spread apart and her mace raised in front of her.

The giant began running towards them, but even with its longer legs, it wasn't very fast.

Samara's body and mace began glowing with red auras and motes of light that danced around her – evidence that she had just used her skills.

The giant was still around a hundred feet away, lumbering towards them with the club lifted over its head. Bazel could feel slight tremors in the ground as it approached. The sheep behind them began making noises as they sensed the coming danger.

Bazel still wasn't sure he actually wanted to kill the monster. It didn't look completely human with its grotesquely twisted features, but it looked close enough to give him pause. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to consider other options.

Once the giant was about fifty feet away, Samara charged forward to meet it. The giant swung its club down to smash her, but she changed direction to dodge it at the last moment.

Clods of grass and dirt flew into the air as the club impacted the ground. Bazel's legs vibrated from the accompanying tremor. The sheep must have felt it too, they cried out even louder than before and bunched up with each other.

Samara ran up to the arm of the giant, grabbed her mace with both hands above her head and brought it down as hard as she could. The giant let out a guttural cry and tried to kick at her with its closest foot.

Samara dodged the large foot as well, and fell back a little. She looked over her shoulder and shouted at Bazel.

"Use the drain!"

Bazel came to his senses and focused on the giant. He held up his left hand and willed the skill to activate.

[Drain Strength]!

Red light swirled out of the giant and flew over to Bazel. Just like when he fought the rat, he could immediately feel his body becoming stronger. He grabbed the handles of the Xanadu with both hands and pressed the switch to load it. He could feel the aether flowing from his body, down his arms and into the gun.

The giant swung his club sideways, attempting to knock Samara down. She deftly ducked under the attack, ran up to the giant and struck it in the foot. The giant cried out again and stumbled backwards. Samara turned and ran to the side.

"Do it now!" She shouted.

Bazel pointed the Xanadu in the direction of the giant. The gun stopped pulling aether from him and made a "cha-chunk!" sound. He assumed that was the signal that it was ready to fire and pulled the trigger.

KA-BOOM!!!

A ball of fire and a cloud of smoke erupted from the barrel of the gun. The sound it made was the single loudest thing Bazel had ever heard, and caused his ears to ring. The force of the explosion made Bazel fly backwards a few feet before falling on his backside.

The giant let loose a deep baritone howl and fell to his knees.

Bazel scrambled back to his feet and observed the giant. It was bleeding profusely from multiple holes and gashes all over its torso. It had dropped its club and held its hands out – they were also mangled from the attack. Its mouth opened so Bazel could see the yellow crooked teeth inside. He thought it might be crying out, but all he could hear was the ringing in his ears.

The giant was mortally wounded, but it wasn't dead.

Bazel felt a bit sick at what he'd just done. Regardless of whether the giant was a monster or not, how could he feel good about causing it such pain? He watched the blood flow down the giant's legs and onto the grass beneath.

The giant looked straight at Bazel, eyes filled with hate.

The giant started to get up again, though it was struggling. It was clear to Bazel it intended to attack again. With no other option readily available, Bazel hit the switch to reload his gun.

The giant stood up and stepped forward, clenching its bleeding fists. Bazel put his feet apart in a wide stance and pointed the gun in its direction.

As the ringing in his ears started to recede, he heard the gun go "cha-chunk!" He pulled the trigger.

KA-BOOM!!!

Bazel managed to stay on his feet the second time, although the noise of the gun brought the ringing sound back fully.

The giant wavered for a moment, then fell straight back and crashed to the ground, causing the biggest tremor yet.

Bazel let out a breath he couldn't remember holding in and dropped the Xanadu on the ground. He stood panting for a moment and trying to quell his frayed nerves. The effect of the strength drain left him, making him feel weak and tired. The ringing in his ears started to die down.

It was only then he realized Samara wasn't anywhere near him. Bazel turned to look for her and discovered another surprise.

The sheep are gone!

Bazel ran up to the top of the hill and looked around frantically. On the other side of the hill, down in a wide riverbed, Samara was chasing the flock as they ran in terror. He suspected they had been scared off from all the noise.

The sheep all stayed together as they ran and followed the dry riverbed towards a copse of trees. Bazel noticed the tops of a few trees bending in opposite directions. Seconds later, another giant walked out of the trees and waved a club above his head.

The sheep were running straight towards him.

Oh no!

Bazel started to run over there, then remembered he left his gun on the ground. He ran back to where he dropped it and stored it in his inventory so he could run faster. He crested the hill again just in time to see the giant grabbing one of the sheep. Samara was running at the giant wielding her mace.

Bazel ran down the hill towards the flock hoping he could get there before any more of them were grabbed.