Chapter 105

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Mount Merder, Merder Stadium, Atlanta - 4:24 PM

I heard people crawling up on the other side of the spire long before I saw them. This would be either Adrenaline Junkies or Most Valuable Prisoners, though I was leaning towards the former. The sound of gunfire in the arena had quieted down a lot. It was hard to tell over the winds buffeting the roof of Merder Stadium, but I knew well enough now that the gunners would be the first to go. The one that would last was Jamie, but very few people down there could match her.

Walking towards the sound of the commotion, I pulled out Vernon’s Smash Stick once again and peered over the edge. As I predicted, Noah and Lucy from the Adrenaline Junkies were climbing towards me. It was especially impressive from the Raging Hulk since she was in full catcher’s gear, minus the mitt. Since I still had time, I made one last loop to make sure that no one else was close to reaching the top before returning.

“Hey, kid!” I yelled down at Lucy. “Catch this!” Using Vernon’s Smash Stick, I began striking the edge of the spire. Small chunks of rocks started falling at first, but bigger chunks followed.

“You asshole!” Lucy yelled back, rage filling her voice. If I could see her through all the falling rocks, I would have seen her start to swell in size through her class abilities. It wasn’t a big change this early on, but she could get truly giant once she was powerful enough.

All that strength went to waste, however. It didn’t take long for the rocks falling to have my intended effect, and she was soon knocked off of the inadequate handholds the craggy spire offered. She screamed on the way down.

“Lucy!” Noah called, reaching for her as she passed by. He caught her by the wrist and grunted from the effort but didn’t fall himself.

“Thanks, Noah,” she said.

“Don’t thank him yet,” I cackled as I reactivated Shield. Jumping off of the edge, I passed right behind Noah and grabbed his shirt on the way down.

Both members of the Adrenaline Junkies began screaming again as I pulled them down. Noah tried his best to cling to the wall and Lucy attempted to grab my leg, but I swung them away from the spire and let go. They flew off towards the ground, screaming all the way, as I activated Slow Fall. I fell gently towards the spiraling path while they plummeted to their deaths. A scary way to go, for sure, but just like Joanna they would be fine.

The moment I got the notification for two kills, I looked towards the crowd. “Meow, meow!”

A lone blond figure standing in the clearing caught my eye, and I squinted to see Jamie Summers standing down there with her pistol aimed right at me. I waved at her, and she hesitated. There was no way she couldn’t tell I was falling at a speed unlikely to hurt me, let alone kill me. Instead of firing, she lowered her gun. She pointed at me, herself, and then did a circle in the air.

I gave Jamie a thumbs up, and she promptly began ignoring me in favor of running up the slope towards where the Tag Team Champions were currently tossing around one of the road sign clad Diamond Breakers. While the woman hadn’t said anything, I knew her well enough to know what she wanted: one on one, but only after all the distractions were gone.

Which in itself was just a ploy to have her other teammates climb Mount Merder without having to worry about me. Blake and Charlie were around here somewhere waiting for things to slow down. A smart, if boring, play. The mandatory quest screen didn’t say anything about being the first to climb the mountain, only that the objective was to reach the top. A win was a win, though speed did lend to a better placing.

I landed on the trail circling the spire and started running upwards, heading that way to make sure I hadn’t missed anyone. Once I reached the top and confirmed no one was even close, I started wheeling my way down. It was bumpy, but not to a degree where my Heelies would be hindered in any way.

On my way down, I ran into Albert and Louis, who were ascending. The two bruisers from Atlanta’s Worst Team skidded to a stop the moment they saw me, and the Raider patted his friend on the arm. “I’ll take care of this one, Louis. You get on up there!”

“Yeah? You?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. “You think you’ve got what it takes to take down the Warmonger?”

“This one’s got an ego, doesn’t he?” Louis barked as Albert started running towards me. I knew his plan wasn’t a head on collision, so I stood still for him.

When he was just a few feet away from me, the Raider threw himself off of the edge of the trail. He spun in the air, grabbing the meat hook off of his belt, and tossed it in my direction. It corrected its course on its own so that it would latch on to me, but I wasn’t having any of it. Raising my hands, I made it seem like I was going to catch the hook.

Instead of attempting it, which would have got me caught by the skill, I made the motions with my hands to make it seem like I was redirecting it. What I really did was use Orbit to change its path towards Louis, and the man screamed when he saw the meat hook coming for him. Albert had a shocked look on his face like he couldn’t believe it.

The hook was just about to pierce through Louis when he disappeared completely, causing the skill to fail and return to its owner. Further down the trail I could see Walter, Atlanta’s Worst Team’s Intervention Specialist with a look of relief washing over him. I heard Louis reappear behind me, the dirt crunching under his feet, but my eyes were on his healer.

I dashed away just in time as a plume of dirt and broken rocks showered me. Louis had attempted to smash me when he returned from Walter’s spell, but all the Mauler managed to hit was mountain.

The Intervention Specialist went pale as he saw me running towards him at top speed. His eyes focused on Albert, who I heard hit the ground and slide down the hill, and I went to one knee.

In an entirely predictable move, Walter chose to put the stunned and confused Albert directly in my path to save himself. The Raider looked at me with dull, uncomprehending eyes as he tried to get over the fact that he was no longer tumbling.

I grabbed onto Raider’s armor on his wrist, hooked my arm around his leg, and rolled. His Constitution was mighty, and he resisted my throw, but it was not high enough to stop me. In his stupor, the much larger man wasn’t able to react in time and once I was done rolling he was flying off the side of the mountain again.

“You bastard!” Louis roared. I looked up from my back to see him coming towards me and a quick glance showed that Walter had started to run away.

A notification about Albert’s demise sprang up, and I looked towards the crowd to get in a quick, “Meow!”

With very little time, I adjusted my feet and planted them firmly on the ground without getting up. I activated Divine Messenger. My Heelies wheels shot me forward just in time to avoid another heavy, mountain-breaking strike, and I Pushed my Ringmaster’s Hoodie upwards until I was standing on my feet again. I caught up with Walter in no time and grabbed him by the back of his vestments.

“Wait, wait, please! Don’t-“ he started until I lifted him over my head and slammed him down at Louis’ feet. The Intervention Specialist’s body glowed as he healed himself, and I quickly lamented that I didn’t have Pull to bring him back to me. His Constitution was a lot lower than the bruisers he was given to heal, and I knew it would have worked.

Since I couldn’t do that, I Lifted Walter by a shoe just as Louis tried to jump over him. The two collided and their combined weight made it so that I couldn’t lift either of them. They fell to the ground as I took a step forward and pulled out the Writhing Belt Whip. As they scrambled to get up despite each other, I made sure that the Nonlethal Enchantment was activated before going to town.

“Get off me, Walt!” the Mauler yelled, grabbing onto his healer and pushing him off. He grunted in pain as my whip struck his back, but continued to struggle. Louis fought through the pain, but Walter clutched onto the bigger man to use him as a shield. I aimed specifically so that I wouldn’t hit the healer’s arms, content to let him hold on with a fear-induced death grip.

The second lash bit through the animal hide armor Louis wore, revealing his back, and a third caused him to scream in pain. Snapping open my inventory, I pulled out a javelin. Raising it high, I threw it at the prone man from point blank range. With his hit points critical, Louis disappeared and the weapon continued on to strike Walter.

“Meow!” I sang.

Walter coughed and sputtered in pain as it caught him in the gut, and he tried to pull it out. His eyes were wide with fear.

“Sorry, mate,” I said, waving a hand. “I just don’t have the Air Steps to give you a dramatic elbow drop right now so it’s off the mountain you go.”

As he was protesting, I reached down and grabbed Walter’s leg before casually tossing him off of the side. “Meow!” I roared.

I swiped away all three of the notifications I got for killing Albert, Louis, and Walter just in time to start taking fire. Bullets peppered the rock face beside me. Shield was still up from earlier, and I took two to the side before I started running back down the slope.

Glancing towards the forest, I caught the last muzzle flash before the man behind the gun had to reload. I squinted and saw the Most Valuable Prisoner’s David on one knee. Behind him was Lucas, the MVP of his team, staring at me. He pulled a knife from his belt, which started glowing red, and casually tossed it at me.

If I didn’t know what to expect, I wouldn’t have been able to react. It cut through the air at a speed rivaling one of my Pushed javelins and headed straight for my heart. The knife slammed into my Shield, causing me to take a step back, but didn’t stop.

This was an ability with a long cooldown called Calculated Strike. So long as you had time to watch your target, which Lucas clearly did since I was taking out all of Atlanta’s Worst Team, it was a guaranteed hit no matter the distance.

With my high hit points, I could likely survive the attack to my heart but I also didn’t want to risk it. Not with Sara watching me, at least. I grabbed the knife’s pearl hilt and attempted to pull it away from my Shield, but the ability didn’t let me pull it back too far. My other hand was still holding the Writhing Belt Whip, so I shoved it into my pocket as best I could before putting my free hand in front of the blade.

Releasing Shield and letting go, the knife immediately slammed into my hand. I grunted in pain but managed to pivot as my hand slammed against my chest, piercing through me but not quite making it to my heart. I still took damage, but not critical damage. Ignoring the pain in my hand, I grabbed the knife just as it started getting pulled back towards Lucas.

As a Knife Master, Lucas would have to go through a lot of trouble in order to actually lose his knives. Once marked, he would be able to know exactly where his weapons were and be able to recall them if they had been thrown. That was what he was doing now, and I let him.

But I was coming along for the ride.

I didn’t struggle against the pull, instead allowing myself to get dragged along with it. Both David and Lucas’s eyes went wide at my act, causing me to chuckle. They were not ready for this.

I placed my hand on my Writhing Belt Whip for the stat increase just as the Gunner brought his M1 Garand to bear. Placing a Force Field in front of him so my Shield had more time to get back to full strength, I continued on my wild ride.

The Force Field took three shots before it shattered, leaving David pausing as he looked at the place where the shimmering square had hovered in front of him. He reached out and, feeling nothing there, raised his rifle again. I Pushed the knife forward, accelerating me to the point where he could only get one shot off before I sailed over his head and directly into Lucas. A burning pain erupted in my chest, but I fought through it.

I let go of the knife and lost sight of it as it continued into the forest. Lucas and I tumbled to the ground and slid a good fifteen feet before we collided with a tree. Pinning him down with my open palm and straddling his stomach, I raised my fist before immediately realizing that a punch would go against my restrictions. This slight delay was enough for him to pull out his knives, and I heard David shift behind me.

Instead of punching or dropping my elbow on Lucas, I grabbed him with my good hand and shifted so that I could use him as a shield. A knife entered my gut and slashed against my thigh, but four bullets in quick succession from a panicking David pierced through the Knife Master’s back, causing him to scream in pain.

Throwing my head back, I slammed my forehead against my grappled foe’s nose, using my Thick Skull passive to my advantage, and he disappeared just in time to hear the M1 Garand’s clip hitting the ground.

I shifted onto my back and looked towards where the crowd would be. “Meow!”

“What the fuck, dude?” David screamed, and I laughed at his outburst.

Scrambling to my feet, I ignored the pain in my body and dove behind a tree closer to David. He had decided that reloading his rifle would have taken too long and pulled his sidearm instead. The sound of bullets slamming into the tree behind me filled my ears, but I could pick out the Gunner’s movements as he tried to move to get a clear shot.

Shifting slightly so that I could get into a better position, I pulled out the Endless Smoker from my inventory followed by the 20 Constitution red chili paste right after.

[[Item]]

Endless Smoker

This item spouts a steady column of never-ending smoke. Various materials can be put inside the Endless Smoker, and the item will use that to produce smoke instead.

Just as I was about to drop one into the other, the sound of David screaming filled my ears. The silence that followed was ominous before it was broken by a few words.

“Stop your hiding, Warmonger. Get on out here.”