The soldiers at Mike’s feet swarmed towards him. Though they seemed harmless at first, as they approached, their arms and hands transformed into small blades, with which they began attacking his legs. The figures on the walls of the castle coordinated their attack with those of the foot soldier, pivoting and firing arrows from their arms that had now become small crossbows. All of the weaponry was tiny, the swords the size of toothpicks and the arrows no larger than the smallest pin used for sewing. Due to his relatively high Toughness, many of the weapons simply bounced off of his skin. Still, others found their way into his flesh, their stinging bite felt more like getting a splinter than stabbed with a sword.

Danger Premonition constantly warned him of the attacks, but the sheer number of attacks being levied against him meant that he had no chance of dodging most of them. Going on the offensive, Mike lashed out with his feet, sending hordes of small creatures into the air with every kick. Rather than decreasing their numbers, he found that for every 10 kicked away, 20 took their place, as the once innocuous villagers poured through the castle gate and converged on his location. The evident bloodlust caused the bodies to press closer around him, their forms trampling each other as they sought to bring him down. The press of bodies caused them to pile onto each other, allowing their swords to reach higher up his legs and making it hard for him to kick out effectively.

Reaching down, he scooped a few into each hand and through them at the enemies shooting him from the walls. The bodies hit their targets, sending small arms, legs and torsos flying in every direction. Satisfaction turned to horror as he saw the small bits of metal be absorbed into the floor, small bulging veins tracking their progress as the disparate body converged and formed anew, rising out of the floor unharmed.

Cursing under his breath, he pushed aside the notification prompting him to upgrade Ax Throwing to Body Throwing, it still seemed like a very niche skill, however strong it appeared in the current situation.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The past two days saw a sharp decline in Bart’s once steady income, mostly due to his soul contract, which were now required for any bet people wanted to make with him. The news that he could force people to do something had spread rapidly throughout town, and he had gained some enemies. Chief among those was Gregorvich, the now level 9 adventurer, who had first refused to pay up on a bet. Word was that he was about to ascend to the next Zone, but first he wanted to become champion of the arena, which Bart believed he could easily do. He was well known as the strongest adventurer around, and had somewhat of a cult following. At Gregorvich’s right hand was Grawl, who was still seething about the money that Bart apparently “stole” from him, at least that is what he was telling people.

Between the two of them, Bart’s popularity and income was at a relative minimum, although still much higher than when he had been stealing from trash cans. There was still a large number of Arena junkies who lived for the thrill of watching someone else put their life on the line, while they put their daily savings on the line. These addicts were perfectly happy to sign whatever Bart put in front of them, ensuring that Bart had a steady income for the foreseeable future.

It wasn’t Bart’s lack of income that was nagging at him though, it was the sting of people hating him. They called him a monster for his contracts, but they followed two people who had stiffed him, showing their lack of honor. It wasn’t right that others could get away with lying and be praised, while he was chastised for just wanting to get what was his due.

Bart sat in his stand early one morning, doling out his contracts, as was becoming his custom, when the two man came and stood before him.

“30,000 silver says that I make it all the way to the top today.” Gregorvich said, his rippling forearms bulged as he leaned them on the edge of the stall.

Bart used his new ability, Soul Sight, to peer into the man, confirming what he already knew: Gregorvich was the strongest adventurer in the village. His soul glowed right behind his navel, it’s fire a deep blue that dwarfed any soul he had seen so far, Bart’s own soul included.

Realizing he was gazing deeply at the man’s midsection and afraid to look the fool, he said the first words that came out of his mouth, “Oh, is that so?” His voice stuttered slightly under the pressure of feeling scrutinized, and it made his already worthless sentence garner a few chuckles from those nearby.

“Yes, it is so. And I am willing to bet on in. The question is, are you?”

Bart could only think of one way of getting the best of the hulking man, and he didn’t think that Gregorvich would fall for it, so rather than move forward, he tried to get Gregorvich to be the one to back down.

“I only deal in bets backed by a Soul Contract now” he said smugly. The two men in front of him had publicly denounced the practice and he hoped it would be enough to get them to turn away and save him some face.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Bart couldn’t help but hate the smug grin plastered on the typical jock face. He had never been at the top of the ladder growing up, and he hated that even with all of his wealth and power, there were still those who could make him feel small and insignificant. Throwing caution to the wind, he turned and pulled out a contract from a drawer.

“Very well, but let’s up the stake’s a little. I have here a contract that hasn’t been tested yet. In addition to the 30,000 silver, the loser will also be drawn and quartered by the System, causing them an excruciating death and a trip to the countdown timer. Is that agreeable to you?” His voice grew stronger as he spoke.

Gregorvich, Grawl, and the surrounding crowd seemed stunned by the contract. Nobody said a word, and for a second it looked like maybe Bart could walk away from this awkward situation after al.

“Unless you are scared.” Bart didn’t recognize his own voice as the words came out of his mouth. Surely he wouldn’t be stupid enough to egg them on when his backup plan was shoddy at best, but it was too late. Both men rocked backwards as if slapped, and agreed to the contract with the same bravado Bart had seen the football captain use when approaching the head cheerleader in highschool.

Bart awkwardly fumbled with the contract, causing the men’s smugness to return, as he indicated where Gregorvich should sign the contract. It was only once the two walked away and he looked over the contract that his awkward facade disappeared. He had done it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mike stood with his hands on his knees panting as he watched the torrent of bodies crest the nearest hill and run towards him. Things were not going well. Despite pulling out his axes and smashing the creatures to bits, they just kept reforming. This was the fourth time he had been forced to jump out of the press of bodies and find a place devoid of the small creatures. He was faster than the small creatures, his relatively giant stride combined with his high Dexterity meant that he was always able to get away. The real problem was that he knew he wasn’t actually getting away.

He was sure he could make it back to the cave entrance, but he wasn’t sure he could climb back up the shaft, in fact, he was pretty sure he couldn’t. And even if he could, the small statues could apparently walk on any surface that was made of the metal coating this cave. He had learned this the hard way during the last tussle when the small forms had started dropping from the ceiling and onto his head. Another reason he couldn’t escape the dungeon yet, even if he was physically able to, was that, by his estimates, the valley was going to be destroyed in just 12 more hours, and he really needed to finish off the dungeon boss first.

Straightening up, he used his spare seconds to finally use his analyze technique on the nearest figurine.

Name: Justin

Monster Type: Quicksilver Villager

Level: 4

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 6

Charisma: 7

Toughness: 8

Luck: 8

Abilities: Self Salvage: Upon dying, all parts of this creature touching Quicksilver will reassemble, causing it to completely revive.

While their stats weren’t amazing, they were far superior to hobgoblins at a similar level. Their Dexterity in particular was impressive for their small size. Their only weakness appeared to be their low Strength, which wasn’t that big of a weakness when it was apparently impossible to kill them in this cave. Mike surveyed his surroundings as he once again put distance from himself and his pursuers, there wasn’t a spec of this dungeon not covered in Quicksilver. Pivoting around, he launched himself towards the masses, their metal bodies didn’t even flinch as his large form pummeled towards them.

Grabbing the nearest villager, he once again turned around to put space between them so he could experiment. Grabbing the small appendages, he ripped them off with a small clinking sound. Sure enough, the limbs didn’t turn to liquid metal and recombine, but sat in his hands. Despite that, when he checked his kill count on his Character Sheet, he found that he still hadn’t made any progress towards his next level.

Frustrated, he put every piece of the figure into his spatial storage bag, then ran towards the horde and grabbed another individual for testing. He would just keep breaking it down into smaller pieces while he watched his Character Sheet for a confirmed kill. As he opened his sheet, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw that his kill count had already increased. Apparently, the spatial storage bag counted as removing them from the proximity of Quicksilver and the kill had been valid. Throwing the other villager into his bag, he turned towards the multitude of creatures with newfound purpose.