The Saiyan Gamer


Chapter 36: The Healer

I didn't have much time to process the strange new vibe in the group before we came across a massive crowd gathering. They were in chaos, and flying above them was Omato, who looked as calm as ever. Observe revealed to me that he wasn't nearly as calm as he wanted everyone to believe.

"Alright!" Omato yelled to the crowd a few moments after we joined. "The escape routes didn't work!"

"What the fuck were those monsters down there?!"

"My kid turned into one of them!"

"We should have stayed to fight in the beginning!"

"SHUT UP!" The chief yelled loud enough to silence everyone. "I understand your frustration, but this is NOT the time to panic! The plan to escape failed, yes, but we must adapt! I have no idea what those creatures are, but they seem to feed on Ki!"

"Our plan to escape failed but we will fight another day," He took a deep breath, before continuing, "The Tuffles weapons are made of a metal that ignores Ki, but any sort of normal armor will defend against their bullets decently well. Armor will also hopefully protect you from those creatures' bites."

His eyes scanned the crowd until he found me, and he motioned me to join him. I paused for a second as the crowd turned to me, but then made my way to where he floated above us. He nodded to me, an understanding passing between us. "I understand that most of you don't typically wear armor, but I have a solution to this."

"So what are you getting at?" Brussels' voice came from above as she floated down. Behind her, a group of fighters followed, and there were many. Quite a few of them looked pretty roughed up, but alive.

"What I'm saying is… We have no other choice but to fight," He said, and immediately the crowd roared with a mixture of reactions. Some were excited, some were rageful, and the minority were those who just fell right back into a panic. I wasn't sure where I stood.

"Sprout, how much metal would you need to craft everyone some armor?" Omato turned to face me, as the crowd became background noises.

"Uh…" I thought back to how many Meta-Wolves I'd killed, and then at the mini-map. It wasn't nearly enough. "I need quite a lot more than I already have."

"Shit…" Omato grimaced before his eyes widened and he turned to the group. "Everyone meet us at the weapons shop! If you encounter those monsters, kill them without hesitation! Do not blast them with Ki!"

I looked back over my shoulder at Turles with Raditz, and could see that they were already on the move away from the crowd. If any of them saw Raditz, it was obvious what they'd do.

'I'll stay with them,' Zaria told me, and I nodded in her direction, before flying off with Omato at break-neck speeds to the weapons shop.

"Will this be enough?" He asked as we entered. There was an abundance of metals, but even then, I still wasn't sure.

"I'll try my best," I immediately began collecting all of the weapons as fast as I could. Behind us, the sound of fighting broke out in earnest.

"What are we going to do once we give out the armor?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"We have to open the walls…" He said, a grimace on his face. "Your armor will give us a better chance."

"Will it be enough?" I asked, looking back at him. I didn't receive an answer.

"Alright," I took a deep breath and looked down at the weapons and metals that I collected. I threw in multiple Meta-Wolf skins in there too, before putting my hands out. "Here we go!"

Would You Like To Rapid Craft?

Yes/No?

Yes. For a second, the room was brighter than the sun, but once that second passed, there was countless armor. Not all of them were complete, but there was enough to make sure that most of the wearer's body was protected. Omato put a hand on my shoulder and nodded his head, before destroying the wall behind him and looking out at the people who had gathered. It was clear that in the short amount of time we were in there, whatever makeshift shield that people had used to stop the monster's pursuits had begun to fail. Mind-numbing screeching filled the air.

"Everyone grab some armor and prepare to fight!" He yelled, and the crowd obeyed.

"Wait!" I called to Omato as he prepared to fly off into combat. "I have armor specifically for you."

He raised an eyebrow at this, but I didn't waste any time. I put my hands out and in a second, thick Meta-Wolf armor formed around his body. It was big, dark, and bulky, but I knew that it wouldn't weigh him down at all. He was more than strong enough to lift armor made from Nymerio's fur.

"It's extremely thick, so you don't need to worry about anything getting through," I told him as he studied me.

"You don't have to worry about me, I'm the parent here," He said, looking down at the armor. "If anything, you should have this armor."

"No," I replied quickly. "You're our best hope at surviving this shit. You need it."

Our staring contest continued for a few seconds before he sighed. "You get that stare from your Mom. Alright, I'll do it your way. Make sure you put your own armor on too, alright? And make sure your brother has some too."

"Of course," I agreed, as my own armor appeared on my body. It was odd having to wear it after so long, but it still felt comfortable. "See you later?"

He nodded his head in response, although neither of us was convinced of the answer. He put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair, the action causing a flurry of emotions in me. I nodded my head, unable to speak, and a sliver of a smile appeared on his face before he turned and flew off.

This wasn't the time to deal with emotions, though. I quickly located Root, who had just put on his own armor and immediately pulled him to the side. I formed a helmet for him and shoved it into his hand.

"Listen, we're going to stick together," I told him, as I formed my own helmet. "Omato's going to open the barrier and Tuffle's are going to start flooding in. So we're going to meet up with Turles and the rest of them."

He was about to respond when suddenly a loud roar erupted next to us. The sound was far too close to stand idly, and we split up instinctively, just in time to avoid a massive fist from crushing us. Once I turned to see what it was, I was disgusted to see one of the monsters, but this one unlike the rest. His body was easily four times the size of an ordinary Saiyan, and he looked as bloated as a ball. His body was glowing bright with Ki, and it was clear that he'd eaten a lot. His body morphed as it moved, and it didn't take an idiot to realize who it had been.

"Thorn?!" I yelled up at the infected Saiyan/Skrull hybrid. It turned to face me, seeming to get even angrier at the sound of my voice. "Shit!"

Above me, I could hear the sound of the metal walls unfolding, and I cursed to myself. We'll have to make this quick.

He charged at me, his massive arms crashing into the ground where I stood a moment ago. Last time I was weaker than him, but this time I held the advantage. As I moved and dodged his attacks, I realized that they were sloppy. Definitely, unlike the Thorn that I fought a few weeks ago. Their brains seem to be rotting as much as their bodies.

Root rushed in at him from the ground, as I evaded in the sky. Root slid underneath an arm that tried to grab him, before unsheathing his sword and boosting himself forward with ki. His sword slid into Thorn's leg, easily slicing it off before he flew up and out of his reach.

These monsters aren't particularly strong, but they're still extremely dangerous. An enemy that could defeat you with a single attack was something that you can never underestimate. They were especially dangerous due to their numbers. I could already imagine how being swarmed would feel.

Thorn dropped to one knee, and I dropped from the sky towards his head. Many arms lifted up to defend him, but I began to spin vertically as I descended, my speed enhanced by [Lightweight]. Just before the moment of impact, I activated [Meteor Fist], and the combination of the two skills gave me enough power to slice through all of his arms and deep into his thick neck.

I was sure that if I'd been using the Fang of Flame it would have been enough, but with this random sword, it didn't quite cut it. Thorn, or what was once Thorn, looked down at me and his mouth opened, Ki pooling above his tongue, but as he did, Root came down from above and his sword finished what mine started.

Thorn's bloated head hit the ground with a loud squelching sound, but even still, his body jerked. I flew out of his range with wide eyes as the body began flailing wildly in the air.

"It's still alive without a head… Can these things die at all?" I wondered aloud.

"GET DOWN!" Root yelled at me. Trusting him, I cut my Ki and allowed myself to fall to the ground, just in time to dodge a Tuffle bullet that would have struck me in the head. I wondered if my helmet could have even saved me from that. Those bullets looked far more powerful than the ones from earlier, and faster too.

As soon as I touched down though, we were immediately swarmed by more of the infected. Some looked fresher than others, and those ones were typically a little stronger. The only thing that saved us was our teamwork and the fact that they didn't have much sense in their brain.

We fell into a pattern of Root taking out their legs and me finishing them off by cutting out their eyes or their heads completely. We were forced to stay on the ground, as above us, Saiyans who were flying were being shot right out of the air like flies. After clearing a small group, another Saiyan came falling from the sky, landing in front of us.

The armor around his chest was pierced through by whatever special bullets that they were using. His eyes rolled back in his head, and yet, we watched as his skin went pale and he began to stand up. Foam spilled from his mouth and his eyes went glassy. I shared a look with Root before we moved in and decapitated him.

"So… I honestly don't have any fucking words…" I panted, the exhaustion already getting to me. I still had attribute points to spend, but I hadn't even had a proper moment to even think about using them. "So we can turn into them without even being bitten? Shit… That must mean…"

I looked at my mini map in horror, and my theory was confirmed. The number of the infected seemed to be the same, despite many of them being wiped out. When one was killed, another would pop up. I stared at the sea of red, only to notice that a singular green dot was sweeping areas. In seconds, dozens were being dropped.

That must be Omato… I looked for Brussel and could see that her group was doing decently as well. If decent meant that we were being killed off slower than expected. My eyes went to find Turles and Zaria, only for my heart to almost explode.

What looked like a massive purple dot was moving towards their location at insane speeds. At the same time, another one was going toward Dad. What the fuck is a purple dot?!

"We've got to go," I told Root, before blasting off without warning. I stayed low to the ground and using the mini-map, I avoided as many infected Saiyans as possible. The ones who got in my way, I sliced through without hesitation.


POV Change

Omato had seen a great many things in his lifetime. From bombs small enough to fit on the tip of your finger, to metal monstrosities the size of mountains. But he hadn't seen anything like this.

The Tuffles had somehow found a way to weaponize corpses. He'd expected many things, and that was not one of them. The village was entirely overrun, with living corpses coming from below and the Tuffles surrounding them. They weren't sitting idle either; a continuous rain of sniper fire picked Saiyans off midair along with those who tried to escape.

He moved in a blur, even to himself. With precision, his dual blades sliced through the grotesque bodies of the infected Saiyans surrounding him, but the more that he put down, the more seemed to rise up. They tried to reach for him, biting and gnawing long after their heads were detached from their bodies.

"You've lost, Butcher."

Omato skidded to a stop as the metallic voice of a Tuffle spoke to him. When he looked up, a woman wrapped in blue armor descended from the sky towards him. In both of her hands, she held what looked like flat metal rings, both with a strange blue glow to them. If she hadn't been a Tuffle, he would have dismissed them as harmless, but he'd learned long ago not to underestimate a Tuffle.

She was coming to face him alone, which suggested several things about her. Omato regarded her for a few seconds, waiting until she touched down a few feet ahead of him before he spoke.

"Lost?" Omato asked as he stood to his full height. His face was baked in blood, mud, and soot, making his burning scarlet eyes ever more apparent. "We haven't lost until the last Saiyan who called this place home is dead."

"I can arrange that," The Tuffle replied in a clipped tone. Although her voice was calm and collected her body language betrayed her.

"You're confident. You wouldn't be coming to face me on your own if you weren't," Omato slowly began to circle her, eyeing her like a shark. "But you're also young and inexperienced. And with inexperience comes fear and uncertainty."

"Your superiors sent you to kill me, but you aren't sure if you're strong enough to do it," He went on, watching as her grip on her weapons intensified. "You've trained, but I'm willing to bet that you haven't fought a Saiyan as powerful as me."

"Funny, coming from the weakest of The Three," She scoffed. "I am more than enough to deal with you."

Omato watched her closely, before looking around him briefly. That was when he saw them, far off into the distance. He scowled as he turned back to her. "If that's the case, call off the snipers."

This time she laughed. "I am more than capable of dealing with you. They are just in case. Never underestimate a Saiyan."

He continued to frown, the situation becoming direr. The snipers alone wouldn't be a problem, but while in the middle of a fight with an opponent of unknown strength? Extremely dangerous. One slip-up could mean the end.

"It seems like we've run out of things to talk about," He decided as he paused back where he started. His grip tightened on his frozen sword and Ki pooled into it, turning it bright white with a tint of blue. "Will you surrender?"

The Tuffle woman dropped into a fighting stance, and the eyes on her mask brightened. "Over my dead body."

"If you insist."


Sprout POV

When we approached where Turles and the rest were on the mini-map, I felt an eerie calm. They were in a two-story house and compared to the rest of the village, it was silent. Not a single one of those monstrosities was here, just my friends, and a massive purple dot.

I blasted through the front door and scanned from left to right, seeing nothing. Upstairs. I flew straight up, through the floorboards, and I found them immediately. My heart dropped into my stomach as I realized what a purple dot meant.

Boss

Level ?

Admiral

Blerry

Species - Tuffle

Gender - Male

Age - 23

HP -

200 (Unarmored)

? (Armored)

Blerry, along with his twin sister Bloom, was made an orphan by the Great War. Not unlike most orphans of the war, the twins were sent to a government-funded orphanage where they were trained specifically for the next war. They quickly climbed the ranks and were hand-picked to be on elite squadrons. They excelled even beyond this, being placed with royalty.

This is the second time that he's met you, and despite hating you before, now his emotions are neutral. He doesn't want to hurt you, but he will incapacitate you if he has to.

He is currently feeling confident in his ability to capture you.

Power Level - 10,500

Only half of Kakarot's body was visible, the other halfway shoved firmly into a wall. Not far away from him, Turles was sitting slumped over against the same wall. Jitsuki was also unconscious laying flat on the ground, and despite seeing Zaria on the mini-map, she was nowhere to be seen. Rue was in the corner of the room, staring with wide eyes at the assailant in front of both of us.

Blerry was easily recognizable. His blue armor clung to his body like a skin suit, and his neon weapons shun with light. Gine stood against his chest, and in his left hand, he held a weapon that was pointed at her throat.

"Is this where they are?" Root asked me as he floated up. Immediately upon seeing Blerry, he threw his hands up and Ki began to form.

"Shoot me and I will kill her," Bloom spoke calmly, his metallic voice making my skin crawl. My mind raced as fast as my beating heart. "I'm just here to talk."

"Yeah right. You bomb our town, send those monsters out there to kill us, and now you just want to talk?" Root growled, his anger spiking slightly with his power level. Ki swirled around the room and the floorboards started to pick up. "Fucking di-"

"Wait!" I pushed his hand down and he looked at me in anger and frustration "He wants me."

"What?" Root asked, now confused. "Why would they want you?"

"I don't know, but if he wanted to kill them, he would have done it before we got here," I explained. I didn't have time to tell him about the encounter in Mossgrove, nor did I particularly want to.

"You're right," Bloom revealed, not to my surprise. "Let's go somewhere private, shall we?"

"Sprout, don't go with him," Root said, glaring at the Tuffle in distrust. "He's just trying to split us up to kill us separately."

"I wouldn't need you separate to kill you, trust me on that," Bloom replied as his weapon dug deeper into Gine's neck.

"Okay, relax! I'll go with you as long as you agree to let my friends live," I decided, putting my hands up. As long as Gine wasn't hurt.

"Deal. Now put these on," He ordered, before throwing a pair of handcuffs at me. I caught them and sighed, recognizing them as the Ki-suppressing ones.

"Spro-"

"It's alright Root. Just wake up the others and survive as long as you can," I said, as I glared down at the handcuffs. "Let's go, Tuffle. I'll put these on when we get out of here."

Root was definitely against the idea, but he listened to me and took a step aside when Bloom approached me with Gine still in his arms. We exited the house through the backdoor, and I put the handcuffs on. I felt the Ki drain out of me and I groaned.

"I have a few questions," I said, as we walked towards the edge of the village. He stayed silent, so I continued. "What the fuck do you guys want with me? There's no way that you came all this way just because there was a chance that I'm half-Tuffle, so what is it?"

"H-Half Tuffle?" The unconscious Gine was beginning to wake up. "Sprout, what's going on?

Ignoring Gine, Bloom answered. "You're more important than you think."

That definitely caught my attention. As we hopped over the border and into the forest, I asked, "I'm important to the Tuffles?"

"Trust me, I was surprised too," He went on. "I'll explain it all on the ship. Until then, just behave, alright?"

I stayed silent for a few seconds before my eyes fell on Gine and a new question arose. "Wait, why are you still carrying Gine?"

When he didn't answer, I ran in front of him and blocked his path. "I asked you a fucking question! Why do you still have Gine?! You said you'd let all my friends go if I came with you!"

"Unfortunately, The Healer is too big of a target to let go," He said, and the moment those words left his mouth, my heart dropped to my feet. "You'll understand later. No more questions."

"A… A target?" I could barely hear my voice as he walked past me. "Her power level isn't even 1000… Why is she a target?"

"I said no more questions, didn't I?" He continued to walk as he spoke.

"Sprout! Don't go with him, alright?!" Gine suddenly found her voice, shouting from her place in his arms. She struggled but he was clearly too strong for her. "Let him kill me! Fight!"

"You don't get to speak, fucking bitch. Do you know how many people have died because of you?" Bloom growled, before throwing her to the ground hard enough to knock the air out of her. "In fact, I think I'll kill you right now."

My body moved on its own and even without my Ki, I was standing in between them, glaring up at him. "Don't you dare touch her!"

Effortlessly, he threw me out of the way. I hit a tree and slid down, powerless to stop what was about to happen. His left arm formed a large blue blade and he lifted it above his head. "You'll forgive me later."

And with that, I watched helplessly as he stabbed right through Gine's chest.

My vision burned scarlet.

I'm going to tear you apart.