“What the hell is that?” I asked.

The massive monster’s footfalls shook the snow from trees as it ran down the road towards us. It was so big that it would be able to easily peer into the second floor windows of the resort. There was no way we could fight back against something that huge. It looked like a god-damned cave troll from Lord of the Rings after going on an anima bender.

“We’re calling it a capcaun,” Rho said through comms.

“You’re giving these things code names based on monsters from Romanian mythology, aren’t you? I found a book in the gift shop and I saw a bunch of really familiar names,” I said.

“The monsters that have shown up so far are so close in form to the actual myths and legends from the area that whatever is happening in the Carpathians appears to be ancient. It’s likely the originator of these myths,” Rho said.

“Why are they coming back now?” Xiphos asked.

“That’s what we’re counting on your team to figure out,” Rho said.

Xiphos grunted. “We can’t fight that thing. I don’t know about you all, but I’m running low on ammunition, and we’re got barely any healing supplies left.”

“Then we’d better see what was in that supply drop, yes?” Naginata asked.

Right! The supply drop. I headed over and held out a hand to open the loot table as the ground shook with greater intensity beneath our feet.

A plethora of ammunition and healing items awaited me.

“You can see a running tally of our inventory, can’t you Rho?” I asked through comms.

“Yes we can. We receive information about everything integrated with the system,” Rho answered.

“Can you see the box of matches I’ve got?” I asked, curious about one thing.

I knew I was wasting time, but this seemed an important thread to pluck while I had Rho’s attention.

“I don’t see a box of matches. I can see the folklore book, the Molotovs, your ammunition, and the other stuff you’ve got in your inventory there. But no matches.”

“Huh, I must have dropped them,” I lied.

So they could see anything I put into my inventory, but they couldn’t see things that I just jammed into my pockets. I felt like that was an important distinction. Even though I had no idea how this system really worked and how it had been integrated into my being, I felt like I needed to understand it.

Understanding it would be the key to breaking it. Just like I’d done back on Mori Island by grinding out a crazy amount of levels in my creative nexus inside my own head.

I handed out the rifle ammunition to the rest of the team and left the sniper rounds in the supply drop.

“How are you going on ammo for Tasha, Stiletto?” I asked through comms.

“Good for now,” Stiletto said.

“There’s another dozen rounds in the supply drop if you need it,” I said.

“I’ll run it up to Stiletto,” Khopesh said. “We’re going to need his cover fire to take that thing down.”

“High-powered rounds might be the only thing that can pierce its hide,” Xiphos agreed. “Restock Stiletto, Khopesh.”

“On it,” Khopesh said. He took the rounds from the supply drop and booked it back into the resort building.

A couple more useful items awaited us: three smoke grenades and a pair of sunglasses. Xiphos, Naginata and I took one smoke grenade each. The glasses looked like basic Ray-Ban Wayfarers, right down to the company logo on the arms. They were the same kind I wore back in the real world.

Wayfarers

5 Armour

+5% chance to parry melee attacks

+enhanced long-distance vision

Had EDGE Command just used an off-the-shelf pair of sunnies and imbued them with battle-ready properties?

I guess that made sense. If they could do it to humans, then why couldn’t they do it to brand-name sunglasses?

“I think these are for Naginata,” I said.

She was the one whose abilities skewed toward parrying enemies. Xiphos grabbed the sunglasses and looked them over. It was interesting that the item window only displayed when I had the sunglasses in my possession, and when Xiphos accessed the same window, it only appeared to her.

“Naginata wouldn’t gain the full benefit from these,” Xiphos said. “She already has parry bolstering abilities in her arsenal, and her class skill would render these useless. These would be better to go to Khopesh or yourself, and since Khopesh is playing delivery boy, you can keep those for now.”

I wasn’t going to argue. I slipped the glasses on and the glare shining off the snow from the nearby mountainside subsided immediately. I hadn’t realised I’d been squinting to block the glare out until that moment.

The long-distance enhancement kicked in immediately as I looked over at the capcaun. It was less than half a kilometre away now, kicking up a plume of snow behind as it thundered along the road towards us.

The capcaun looked like a mix between the aforementioned cave troll from the depths of the Mines of Moria, with a little bit of Incredible Hulk thrown in for good measure. The skin had a red hue, almost like the beginning stages of a sunburn that was going to be agonizing the next day, and it had a big shaggy black beard matted with blood and dirt.

At that moment, a brand new mission objective appeared in my view.

New Mission Received: Ogrepowered

Objective: Survive the capcaun’s onslaught

Optional objective: Kill the capcaun

Reward: 1000 experience points and a supply drop

Optional objective reward: 1500 experience points and a prestige supply drop for the EDGE who deals the killing blow

“Damn that’s tempting,” Khopesh said through comms. “What do you think the odds are that we can take that thing down?”

“Slim to none,” I said. “Do we have a plan, Captain?”

Xiphos swallowed nervously. “Just like the mission objective says - try not to die.”

Then the capcaun arrived into the resort area and promptly tore a street light out of the ground. The damn thing grinned at us as it slapped one end of the street light – the end of the post still ringed by asphalt and concrete - against an open palm.

I holstered Gravedigger and grabbed my newly crafted SMG. A shotgun wouldn’t do much good while keeping my distance and staying away from that monster was the only way we were going to stay alive.

“Spread out and take it down if you can!” Xiphos called out. I heard her voice in my comm unit and from right next to me. “Khopesh, you’re going to be able to take a hit from that thing once every couple of minutes. If you see any of your teammates in trouble, activate your ability and take the hit for them!”

“Yes, Captain,” Khopesh said. “Ammo delivered to Stiletto. I’m circling around back to take the creature by surprise. I’ve found some explosive shotgun shells on the top floor for Hatchet.”

“Good. We need some heavy ordinance to take this thing down,” Xiphos said. “Belay the pincer movement and bring the shells to Hatchet pronto.”

The capcaun launched itself towards us, holding the streetlight with both hands. It swung the post backwards, then swiped it laterally across the street. I leapt back just in time for it to miss, but Xiphos wasn’t so lucky. The streetlight clipped her and sent her flying backwards.

How much force could that capcaun put into a blow like that? A glancing blow had sent Xiphos flying like she’d been punched by a superhero.

One direct hit would probably be enough to end each one of us.

The concrete-tipped end of the street light slammed into the front of the stores on the other side of the street. The lamp post got stuck on something inside one of those stores, which made the capcaun roar in frustration as it tried to pull it free.

The monster’s voice carried all across the valley. It roared so loud that I swear I could feel the air warping around me.

What if we could use that to our advantage somehow?

I didn’t like our chances of being able to kill this thing, but maybe we could stop it. Trap it somehow. Then we could bugger off over to the other side of the valley where the EDGE Force facility waited for us. It would never be able to follow us there without crossing the valley on foot.

We focussed our fire on the capcaun’s back. I felt like my bullets were barely even hurting the damn thing as I sprayed SMG fire. Each bullet left a mark, sure, but some were just blackened smudges on its russet hide. Xiphos and Naginata’s assault rifles caused more damage, but the capcaun wasn’t even reacting to them.

Then a mighty crack rang out in the sky and a crater opened up on the monster’s back as Stiletto fired his sniper rifle.

The capcaun roared with shock and pain that time. It abandoned the lamp post and left it in the building before turning toward the resort.

Stiletto’s sniper rifle barrel poked through one of the open windows on the third floor. Another shot rang out and another crater opened on the capcaun’s chest with a spray of blood.

It seemed like we might actually have the upper hand until the capcaun picked up a nearby car and threw it right at the window Stiletto had fired from.

I watched as the pickup truck sailed through the air then slammed into the room where Stiletto had holed up. The truck left an ugly, jagged crater in the façade of the resort. The room and part of the roof had been completely destroyed.

“Ah damn it,” Stiletto said. “I guess I’m not going that way. That thing just collapsed the stairwell at this end of the resort.”

“There should be another stairwell at the other end,” Naginata said.

“I’ll take some more pot shots as I move,” Stiletto said.

The capcaun turned its attention from the resort back to us. It lifted another car and hurled it straight at Naginata. She barely managed to roll out of the way as the car slammed into the street, which sent a spray of snow up to obscure our vision.

Suddenly the capcaun disappeared from view. The sound of its furious panting made its direction easy to focus on, but if we couldn’t see the monster, then the monster probably couldn’t see us either.

“Come on, this way!” I shouted at Naginata, who was a dark blob about three metres away.

Kaiser blurred through the snow, immediately following to where I pointed: into the alley between two buildings. I ran after Kaiser until we reached the back of the single-storey shop. I grinned as Naginata joined us a moment later.

“That was too close,” she said, keeping her voice low.

I nodded in agreement, but said no more. She had a cut above her eyebrow from where debris must have hit her. The whole shop wall behind me vibrated with each step the capcaun took.

Another sniper shot cracked like a lightning strike, which made the capcaun cry out in pain and surprise again. The sound of grinding metal was followed swiftly by another almighty crash as the capcaun threw another car into the resort.

A strange plume of white rising from the side of the mountain caught my eye. I thought it was just a snow flurry picked up by a rogue high altitude wind for a moment. My newly enhanced long-distance vision dispelled that illusion as soon as I focused. All the noise and commotion down here had echoed up the side of the mountain and caused some of the snow to shift.

We couldn’t kill this thing, but we might be able to trap it.

“Damn, it almost got me that time,” Stiletto said through comms. “Where are you all? I can’t see any of you.”

“Khopesh and I retreated around the back of the resort,” Xiphos said. “It looks like the cable car is ready and waiting. If you can make your way down here, maybe we can stealthily board the cable car and disappear without it seeing us.”

I almost laughed. “Sure, and when it finally goes looking for us, we’re going to be stuck in a metal cage over a five hundred metre drop. It’ll snap the cables and we’ll all plummet to our deaths.”

Another crash of broken wood and glass came from the street behind us, followed by a roar. The capcaun was still searching for us.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Khopesh replied testily.

“I do actually,” I said. “But I’m going to need those explosive shells you found. We’re going to start ourselves an avalanche.”

There was silence on comms for a few awkward moments until Xiphos broke in.

“Khopesh, get those shells to Hatchet. Pronto.”