I slowly regain my senses. The first thing I notice is the feel of itchy sheets on my torso. The next is a warmth on my side. Slowly opening my eyes. I find myself in the inn. The chipped concrete ceiling above is a dead give away.
Stiffly sitting up, I look to my side. Cheshire is snoozing next to me. Looking at the time, I see it is 2 in the morning. As quietly as I can be, I lay back down and go back to sleep. I'm still dead tired from yesterday's mayhem.
The shifting of the sheets wake me. Cheshire was trying to get out of bed without waking me. I let out a laugh, "This may be a firsts. You getting up before me." I sit up and look at her. She smiles and shakes her head.
Her face then grows serious. "What the hell happened to you?! You come into the room covered in blood and then just pass out! You almost gave me a heart attack!" I quickly apologize for how I worried her. I can see how me collapsing on the floor would scare someone.
I begin to explain, "Well... I was trying to get that nightmare out of my head, so I went and started to destroy the population in the tunnels. Before I knew it, I was across the sector. Not sure how that happened. I was closer to south town, so I stopped there to resupply and transport. I stumbled on an event at south town. At the entrance or exit of the subway was an army of ghouls. Would have pissed myself and ran, but the doors were blocked on my entry. I kinda went into an insane blood rage and killed them all. Most with a knife, so I got the shit beat out of me in the process." I start laughing at this point, 'The worst part of this was. There was an ARMY of players just about to enter the tunnels when I activated this. If I was say four hours behind, I could have avoided the whole thing!"
"That not funny!" She tried not to crack up at my continued laughing, "Anyways, even if you were to go mad, how did you take out an army, also by army do you just mean like 100?"
I shake my head, "500." she flinches at the number, "You are right though. During the fight, I got a new song. More of a battle cry." I open my skills and look for the song. It was under a sub category in my singing skill section. This is where the other buffs I know hide out. I know the songs by heart, but I may need to refresh my memory on what they do.
I find the buff "Rage of the Elves" and make the screen visible. Turning the menu, I let Cheshire read it. "How much does it increase everything?" I give her a shrug. I have no idea. All I know is I become really strong.
"Well, I should take a shower," I state. Looking down, I see that I have no shirt on. Only pants. I guess she took my shirt off to check for wounds. The remaining clothes are the color of dry blood. Cheshire tells me that she'll wait in the main room for me. Getting up from the bed, I step into the shower and blasted the cold water on myself. My pants are soon cleanish and the blood on my body is gone. Pulling the shirt from my inventory, also my hat, I drench those in water as well.
Putting those back in my inventory, I bring out my casual wear. Don't want to be wearing soaking wet clothing. Shaking my hair dry, I step out and leave to join Cheshire. We make some plans to go out and leave for the south. This is not the most pleasant place to be.
The noon sun finds us on the road crossing the 12 sectors to get to south town. On the way, I remember that I got a LA item from that dragon. Pulling up my inventory, I find it buried in trash mats from the zombies. "Necklace of fire" it adds a major defense against all fire attacks. Be it a flamethrower or napalm. The necklace is a bronze chain with a ruby pendant. Within the ruby is the shape of the dragon.
When we break for lunch, I give it to Cheshire. I don't really need it and she is the one that plays with fire on a daily basis. I just play with explosives that can be made into fire. She seems to really like the ruby it has. The next few hours were spent on the road. We could have stopped and teleported, but we wanted to have a relaxing drive for a change. I sang a few more songs and leveled up my singing skill to 450.
After an hour more of driving, we enter the starting city. Deciding to take another break here since we don't come here too often. Parking the car at a garage in the city. The one place where a car is safe. There are suppose to be some in later cities, but we haven't found anything related to a city yet.
Walking out of the parking area, we wander the streets for a bit. We pass some time joking around and generally just having fun before we have to head back to the front to train once more. I consciously keep us away from the west part of the city. When we were done messing about and I've sold my trash mats, we head back to the car.
I hop into the back and Cheshire back into the drivers seat. Leaning against the side, I watch the city go by and players going about their business. We get out onto the broken highway and continue or trip. Or we would have, but a group of cars start gang up on us. Grabbing the turret, I chamber a heavy round.
A man in the lead vehicle waves us to the side. I tell Cheshire to pull over. I'm rather interested in what these morons want. We slowly cruise to the side and stop. I keep the turret on the lead car as they pull up behind us. I call out to them, "Don't dismount or I will open fire! Now what do you want?"
The man, with a sneer, hops out of the car and starts walking at us. Staying to my word, I sweep the ground in front of him. Large chunks of the asphalt jump up and slam into his shins. He had a surprised look on his face. What? Did he not expect me to keep my word? "Dude! What did I just tell you?! Now stay where you are and tell us what you want or go away."
"Do you have a permit to be on these roads?!" A permit? What is this?
"No! What the hell are you going on about permits?!" He goes to draw his rifle. "Dumbass! I still have a mounted weapon trained on you! Don't just reach for a gun you fool." He stops and glares at me.
"By order of a sergeant of the liberation army, I demand you dismount and relinquish yourself to the army for fines." I couldn't keep a straight face. I tried believe me, but I didn't have the will. The sergeant frowns at my snickering face. From behind me, I hear Cheshire fighting back a similar bout of laughter.
She calls back from the seat, "What right does the army have to fine us? We are way more powerful then all of you and you are at a disadvantage in this exchange of words." It sounded arrogant, but never the less true. We did have them at a disadvantage too. What the guy didn't notice was that the rounds I sent out were heavy-duty stuff. Looking at the four vehicles they had, I know for a fact, that my rounds could tear apart their engine before they could try anything. That's is to say if I could accurately use this tank of a gun.
"You dare threaten the army!" He calls over his shoulder, "Arrest these criminals!" I take this as the call of hostile action it was and blow apart the lead vehicles engine as Cheshire floors the accelerator. The other cars begin to give chase. I take out the first's front tires in an accurate sweep of the turret. This caused them to swerve into wreckage on the road. The next one got their engines shot up and the last kinda just gave up.
Flying down the highway, we decide to just teleport to the south town. This permit thing is stupid, but I don't want to be on the road when more army members come along. Pulling into the nearest forest to the first town, we hide the car deep inside. Dismounting, we run to the teleporter and get to south outpost 12.
Arriving at the new town, we immediately go looking for some quests. The Experience we get from the quests will help Cheshire level up some more. We arrive at the general goods store. They have a quest marker above their head.
"Hail craftsman, Do you need any assistance?" I almost always start a quest with an... odd greeting.
"I need some strong and willing people to take these materials across town. They are hot metals that need to be given to the armorer before they cool. Make haste for they only stay heated for three minutes!" A bag appears on the table. Grabbing it, I sprint out of the room while Cheshire takes the quest as well.
I vault myself up to the rooftops using some nearby rubble and jump my way across the town. It is rather large, so there are many condensed buildings. Leaping over streets, I consult my map for the location of the objective. Going the right way. That could have been bad. After a minute of dangerous leaps and dives, I jump off the building and land in front of the target. The NPC jumps back from fright.
"Here's the heated metals from the goods store." getting over the surprise, she, for it is a woman, snatches the bag and puts it in her inventory.
"Thank you sir. As a reward, I shall allow you access to my more advance wares." Cool! I wait around the store for a bit and see Cheshire come barging down from the rooftops. Guess she took the same way as me. The NPC thanks her too and goes back to tend her stand.
I walk up to her and ask, "May I see these advanced goods you have?" A screen pops up in my view. The goods are metal plated leather armor. Leather. For a gun game. Looking at the stats, I am impressed. They are a good deal better then our quest gotten one. Also as a bonus, they weigh pounds less then our current armor.
I buy a pair of boots, gloves, and upper body armor. Putting them on, I notice that unlike my scales, they cover all my torso. Like the boots, they are covered in jet black metal plates. The leather seems to be tough and sturdy. I look at the gloves and see that they are finger-less and made from a softer leather. The knuckles and top of the hand is the only section that is plated. Cheshire grabs the same set.
We head back to the general store to turn in the quest. We each got a thousand bucks. While I'm here... I purchase a large hoodie and slip it over my armor. If I don't want to wear a hat to cover my ears, I can always put the hood up.
We leave the store satisfied. We do still need to find a quest though. After searching for a bit, we do find the quest. It is to clear out an overruned police station. The enemies are bandits and at the end is something they worship as a god. Sounds interesting.
Purchasing a room at the inn in advance, just in case it runs out of space, we head out to find this station. Cheshire leads because once again my rifle is not suited for this kind of thing. I love it and all, but it can be inconvenient at times. Room after room we clear. The operation is going smoothly as we clear the bottom and second floor. Once all is cleared, then we move onto the basement. Opening the door, we file into the room. Only to stop dead in our tracks when we see this "God" they worshiped.
It is... A giant rat. Not knee height giant. Size of the room giant. It lets out a battle squeak which shook the room. Oh god. If this wasn't so terrifying, then it would be gut-busting hilarious. Unload our clips into the giant creature, we spread out. The basic attack the thing has is sweeping with its claws, biting at us, and spinning in a circle while it lashes out with its pink tail.
After a ridiculous amount of time later, we have it on its final bar of health. This thing can really take some hits. I take a glancing swipe... and dish out some hits too. My health lost about 20% on that one hit. After another tedious hour, the boss fall dead and explodes. I got the last attack item and Cheshire leveled up from the fight. Looking at the item, it is a new pistol. A great one. The name is "Police Beretta 9mm" it also comes with some flavor text, "This once belonged to the late police chief, who stood valiantly until the beast of the dark devoured his life."
I look at this new pistol. It has much higher stats then my 1911. "Yo, Cheshire! I found you a new sidearm!"I hand her the 9mm, which she switched her old one with. A message pops up in front of us telling that the job is done and now we have to turn it in. We climb our way out and head back to the quest giver. The reward we got was more EXP which gave Cheshire another level and put more a few thousand away from my own level up. That boss had given us a lot of experience points. The other part was more money. Standard rewards for clearing quests.
Heading back to the inn, I sing the song of celebration for our latest victory and accomplishments. It seems like an appropriate moment for it. The song end and Cheshire laughs. Looking at her, I see her looking behind us. Fuck no. Turning my head back, I see a crowd of people following us. Staring. Cheshire looks at me and innocently defends herself, "Hey, I didn't know they were following either. I was just listening to the song."
I hear foot steps approach us. A man arrives next to us as we walk. It is that leader from the army from the event. I swear if he tries to recruit me again. Unfortunately for him, he did ask, "Would you ladies like to join our guild? We can give you some armor and protection. We also could use your singing skills to boost the moral of the troops." Called me a lady. KILL! I repress the thought while Cheshire to deny the request.
I do however ask the man, "What is this guild called anyways? I never asked last time you tried to recruit me."
He stares at me for a bit until a expression of recognition crosses his face. "Oh... Uh we are the Dragon Force. One of the new clearing guilds. This floor will be the first for us. Anyways, we found the new boss room, so we will be hosting the next boss meeting." He seems to puff his chest out at the end.
"Where and when is this meeting?" Cheshire asks him. He looks at us for a bit.
"Why? Are you going to join the fight?" He asks, seeming to not believe we are front line fighters.
Taking it as insult to our strength, I tell him off quietly, there are still a group following, "Join shit! We've been fighting in most boss fights since the first guy." He shakes his head in disbelief and tells us the time and location of the next meeting. It is tomorrow at the plaza. Going to call it an early day, we head off to bed.
We join the meeting as it starts. DF Leader is on the stands tell us about the boss. It will be a Giant humanoid that wields a wooden club the size of a car. Once the description is out of the way, Diabel takes the stand as always and works out a battle plan. Calling Cheshire and I up, he hands us a few satchels of explosives. "This is next tier explosives. They work near the same as yours, just shoot and they explode. We require you to plant them at the boss's feet at the beginning like always."
Nodding our acceptance, we go and take our seats. We are to meet for the trucks at high noon today. Which we do. Taking our usual back seats. We are again with Kirito, but next to him is a giant man. He introduces himself as Agil. From the looks of it, he is a LMG support class.
I sing the song of battle. We will need the buff to get the bombs down quickly. Once the trucks stop, we all dismount. After saying their customary little speeches, we enter. Cheshire and I sprint forward and get to the boss. I chuck my explosive down and pass Cheshire as she throws hers. A second later, a massive explosion sounds from behind. Something slams into my back and knocks me on my chest. Rolling with the heat wave, I get to my feet and turn.
I see Cheshire rolling across the floor, leaving a bloody trail. With all the strength I could put in my frozen and pained limbs, I run over, slapping a crystal over her body and pick her up. She is so light. I carry her behind the lines as the main force open fire. Sliding behind cover, I survey the damages.
I nearly burst out in tears. She is missing an arm, leg and has giant chunks of shrapnel in her. The new armor she had is ripped to shreds. Her health is already in deep yellow. I bust another crystal over her, then pull the shrapnel out. Another crystal as I finish. Her health is still dropping. Another crystal as she enters red, then another, then another. I grab for more, but there aren't anymore and her health was still dropping.
I hug her close, begging for the health to stop moving. It was still going down. Nonononono! what do I do?! As tears run off my face, I start singing a tune that is playing in my mind. Singing an unknown song filled with sorrow. For many minutes I sang. The rate her health goes down slows, but does not stop. The song was healing her, but not enough. Voice cracking, I continue to sing, surrounded by gunfire and screaming.
The sound of battle soon stops, but Cheshire is still hurt bad. Her health has stopped decreasing in the low-low reds, but is not moving back up. My healing was the only thing keeping her alive. Ever so slowly, the damage of the explosion wore off and her health started to increase quickly. Later judging the rate of how fast her health increased, I would find that the health went up 5% a second. Even with her health full, she is still unconscious and barely breathing. Her arm and leg are back thanks to the healing.
Slowly, I pick her up and stand. I try to walk, but I start coughing. Blood spurts from my mouth. Looking down at my chest I find why. I hadn't noticed in my panic, but I had a giant chunk of metal sticking out of my chest. Seems the song was keeping us both alive. Keeping Cheshire supported in one arm, I reach around and tear the metal from my back.
That done, I open my menu and take out a teleport crystal. Holding Cheshire close, I say the south town and break the crystal. A flash of light and I'm back in the plaza with Cheshire still in my arms. Numbly. I stagger back to our room and lay her on the bed. Covering her with the sheets. Once that is done, I collapse to the floor. My health is in the low reds from my wound. The bleeding effect close to knocking me out. My battle healing is leveling up quickly as it heals the wound in my chest, but it's not quick enough to stop the damage before 5% hits.
I wake from my sleep in pain. Groaning, I sit up from the cold blood-stained floor. Whoops. I drag myself to my feet and check on Cheshire. She is now sleeping soundly. No longer just breathing in those shallow breaths. Relieved that she is okay, I drop my head onto the bed and fall asleep.
I awaken once more as Cheshire stirs from her sleep. She stiffly sits up from the bed. I keep my head on my arms as I watch. After stretching and looking around confused for a second, I ask her in a quiet voice, "How are you feeling?"
She slowly answers me, "I feel fine... Didn't I die?" She gives me a confused stare.
Still in pain from the wounds, I stand up and quietly tell her, "You almost did. The explosives most have been faulty. The bomb by all rights killed you more then six times over. I used all the crystals I had and I sang a song of healing to keep you alive." Tears start to leak down my face as I recall the earlier event. "It was so close."
She gets up and we bring each other into a gentle embrace. Her arm touches the wound on my back, making me flinch. "Let us not touch there," I weakly joke. She draws back and takes a clear look at me. Her face paling.
I have a still clear open wound on my chest that I notice is just now starting to close up. Everything is covered in blood and part of my hoodie is scorched off from the fire. I look Cheshire over and notice something that turns my face red. Her naked torso is exposed. The fire and shrapnel took off both armor and undergarments.
Turning my head away, I mention this to her. She switches into a plain T-shirt. I looked back and noticed that the ruby necklace was still around her neck. It and the new armor had saved her life. She also takes out a healing potion from her inventory and hands it to me. I drink it and see that my health leaves the low yellows thanks to it.
We just sit on the bed for a while until Cheshire breaks the silence. "How did the explosives go off? I just tossed them on top of yours like always and then it exploded." I put my head in my hands. I know what happened.
"That dumbass probably put active landmines in the bags. I never pull the pins in mine. It never mattered if it was active or not." I punched myself in the head out of frustration. I should have checked what was in the bags. Exhaling my anger out, I take off my upper clothing and inspect the damages to my armor. There is a gaping hole in the front and back. The back is also burned beyond repair.
I begin to tell Cheshire that we may have to go cloth hunting. I never got that far as her lips crashed into my own. We kiss until we have to stop for air. Things escalated from that point on and well into the night. The filters did not stay on for the night.
A flash of light rips through the room. A beam bathed in flames falls in front of the door. The inn is on fire! Jumping from the bed in a panic. I look back to get Cheshire. She was standing next to the bed, covered in her own blood and ash while screaming, "It wasn't enough James! How could you let me burn?!" as she continues the screaming, her arm melts off and falls to the ground. A spurt of blood jets from my chest as the limb hits the ground. Metal shrapnel is sticking out all over my body. Before my eyes, the skin around the metal melts to the floor.
As I fall to my knees in agonizing pain, I hear voice scream from all around, "You failed to protect anyone! You will burn for your failure!" My feet catch fire and slowly, agonizingly slow, the fire crept up until I became a pillar of hell fire.
I flinch awake. Checking to my side, I see Cheshire's form sleeping curled up to my torso. She has both her arms and legs. My chest isn't melting and the inn wasn't burning. Sighing in relief, I drop my head back onto the pillow. That was a bad one. A really bad one. I wipe the tears from my eyes and lay awake, waiting for Cheshire to wake up. Just enjoying her presence.