《The Bartender at the End of the Universe》Ch 226: Stabbing a Forced Ally in the Back...Again
Advertisement
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The wolf didn't let up his attack. He pressed on again and again. Each strike carrying the same fury as the last one.
"Right! We should..." Og'drimun hesitated. "Uh, should we actually do anything? He seems pretty focused."
I mean, I don't know, bro. Death shrugged. Anything could be going on in that head of his.
"Then I say we should..." there was another pause, before Og'drimun called out. "We should keep defending our friends right here."
"Whoa!" the tiny demon called out in surprise as a shockwave from the wolf's attack knocked his skeletal mech and/or friend back with him inside.
Sid pulled his hand away, and then his eyes flashed open. The next moment, his body went limp, and he crumbled to the floor next to the corpse of the old man in the mechanical coffin.
"I tried to warn you." The young girl's voice scolded.
"What...what is happening to me?" Sid groaned as his body twitched ever so slightly on the floor.
"Safeguards of course." she explained. "Upon killing him command has transferred to you. Of course, that comes with more stringent requirements."
Several mechanical arms descended from the ceiling. They were holding wires, syringes, and several strange pieces of metal.
Sid was helpless on the ground as he was stabbed with the syringes. The metal was pressed against his body and latched around onto him. Wires were plugged into the metal, and sparks flew into the air where they connected.
Sid's eyes rolled back into his head as his body started to convulse.
"Stay calm. You are merely reaping what you sew." she said softly.
"Seems he's still at it." Sentenza mumbled as he stood at the edge of the tunnel.
In front of him was the large chamber with the fleshy room to the side. A hairless wolf missing a leg was attacking a giant metal orb with a sword made from ice as a cold mist followed him around. And near the fleshy room was a fuzzy ball of evil sitting inside the rib cage of a skeleton that was holding a scythe.
Advertisement
It was quite the strange scene, but nothing too far-fetched with what the cowboy had seen recently.
"Wwwhhhaaattt iiiissss tttthhhaaattt?" Bakade asked as she pointed a bony claw towards the strange, square room.
Sentenza scratched the back of his head with the barrel of his gun as he clicked his tongue. "That's uh...it's...hmm..."
He fidgeted around and reached up with his other hand to scratch his neck as he lowered his gun. "Best I can say is it's that demon's mess."
"Oooookkkaaayyy?" Bakade sighed as she looked out at the battle in front of her.
Nugget stirred slightly, as the chill from the wolf seemed to reach them even there.
Sentenza glanced over but didn't seem overly sympathetic about the chicken's situation.
"Any idea who that is?" Sentenza asked as he pointed towards the wolf.
Bakade shook her head. "Nnnoooo. Hhhheeee iiiiissss rrreeeaaalllllyyyy ssstttrrrrooonnnggg. Aaaaatttttaaaccckkkeeeddd mmmmeee aaaannnddd Nnnnuuuggggeeeettttt, bbbuuuttt nnnoooowww iiiisss fffooocccuuusssseeeedddd oooonnnn aaaatttttaaaaccckkkiiinnnggg ttthhhaaattttt ttthhhhiiinnnggg."
A glint of anger twinkled in Sentenza's eyes. "You don't say." he grumbled as his eyes peered straight at the wolf.
Without another word, Sentenza leaped down and with seemingly no effort, he began to slide down the wall on the heels of his boots. His balance was perfect as he kept an eye on the wolf. He pulled out both of his guns, and opened fire.
Twelve shots. Each fired one after the other in perfect rhythm.
They didn't head towards the wolf. Instead, they slammed into the side of the giant metal ball. All of them hit the exact same spot. With each pushing the one before it in even further.
The wolf seemed to ignore that completely. Nothing changed as he continued to try and crack open the giant machine.
Sentenza made it to the bottom of the circular wall and nodded as he almost instantly reloaded both of his pistols.
Advertisement
"Wwwhhhyyy dddiiiddd yyyooouuu dddooo ttthhhaattt?" Bakade asked as she landed next to Sentenza. "Aaaarrreee yyyoouuu tttrryyyiiinnggg tttoooo mmmmaaaakkkkeee eeennneemmmiiieeessss?"
Sentenza holstered both of his guns and methodically put a cigarillo into his mouth before he lit it. He took a long, slow drag off of it, and then let out a puff of smoke.
"Nope. Wanted to see for myself." Sentenza explained.
He pointed at the wolf. "He's clearly a killer, but he seems focused too. And when I attacked the thing he's after, he didn't seem to care. Means he's too focused to pay much attention to us."
"IIIIII ggguuueeessss?" Bakade shrugged.
"Also means this is our best shot to kill him." he added with a tinge of anger in his voice to go along with the threat.
Bakade turned to him abruptly. "Wwwwhhhaaattt?"
Sentenza's eyes followed the wolf's insane speed as easily as if he was watching someone walking down the street. "He's moving fast, but it'd be like shooting a guy in the back while he's staring down some sheriff."
a young girl's voice echoed through the underground chamber, "Update complete."
Hundreds of spider robots flew out of the giant machine as it started to unfold. They latched onto the wolf's blade as they froze solid. More and more latched onto each other, until enough had grabbed on that the small robots in the back weren't freezing completely anymore.
A giant hand reached out and grabbed the mass of robots as it stopped the forward momentum of the wolf completely.
Advertisement
- In Serial650 Chapters
The Power of Ten: Book One: Sama Rantha, and Book Two: The Far Future
(Author's Note: If you're wondering about the views, it's +1.8 million more on Webnovel, its original home. Updated daily starting Dec. 26, 2018, and continued with Book Three.) Some time ago, a planes-traveling archmage made up a video game to train some people on the planet Earth for the catastrophe he knew was coming. That game was the Power of Ten. The gods seized this opportunity to take the templates of some of those characters, and even their souls, for use in other worlds, and other realms. Sama Rantha is one of those characters, and is going to find out that being a Hagchild and having to survive after your Hag Curse fails to murder you at birth is much, much less fun than setting it as your Race at level One on a gamescreen. Join Sama Rantha on her Road to Ten, and letting her Hagmother know exactly what she thinks of her... ------ Warning: This book starts with a HARD OPEN! It was written as an extension of other stories that have not made it onto the Internet yet for National Novel Writing Month in Nov/2018. Book One/Sama Rantha: A traditionalist LitRPG in the fantasy world vein. The beginning chapters will be heavy with gaming terms and the supporting math as Sama exploits the rules as much as possible, minmaxing her heart out to get one up on the world trying to kill her. The math and rules lawyering tapers off, but are never eliminated, as Sama is going to do everything she can to exploit the rules of reality here and not die, while making sure those responsible for this get exactly what is coming to them... ------ Book Two, The Far Future (starting Ch. 286): The Warp, the final frontier; in the grim darkness of a galaxy far far away, there came a hagchild...QX! Sci-fi/Fantasy/psionics mashup, grimbright clashing with grimdark! Sama is sent into a setting she'd rather not be in, but the heart of a powergamer never says no, even in the crapsack galaxy of the Tellurian Empire. BOOK TWO IS COMPLETE WITH 357 CHAPTERS AS OF 9/2020. ----------- Book Three (updating daily): The Human Race (next Book!) - Urban Fantasy world. Three Power of Ten gamers come together in a world under the Shroud of the Cancer of Death. Whatever might happen when they do, and what might they find there? Book Three is complete with 500 chapters: right here. Book Four: Power of Ten is dumped into the Marvel Universe. Surely there'll be no changes to canon when that happens? A Fanfiction variant, with teeth! Dynamo The Original Sama Stories: Being posted at: over in this location. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Discord link: in zis location is always up if I'm online. Patreon for my supporters! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=25742531
8 786 - In Serial135 Chapters
Immovable Mage
What do you call a mage incapable of casting spells? In this story, we usually call him Terry. When the boy is accepted into Arcana Academy, his talent in the pillars of mana foundation awes everyone. All the bigger is the eventual disappointment when Terry turns out to be an utter failure at spellwork. Diagnosis? Major aspect impairment. No cure. Ever. Faced with expulsion, Terry is blessed with the unexpected kindness of others. Terry loses his spot in the Academy but in exchange, he finds a home with a family. Terry starts to train as a pure mana cultivator but never stops looking for his own path as a mage – day after day, season after season, always searching for compatible spellwork… Until finally, Terry’s perseverance earns him a single spell – the only spell he will ever be able to cast. Disclaimers: Chapter Frequency: I aim for one chapter a week. Chapter Length: I try to keep chapters between 3000 and 6000 words. Binge Preference: I plan for 30 chapters per arc. If you want to binge a complete arc, then that is the number to wait for. I will also add a line to chapters indicating the beginning and end of an arc. Advanced Access: I have created a patreon page with early access to four chapters for patrons. What to Expect: Progression fantasy with a western fantasy setting and with eastern fantasy elements. A main character that is forced to explore a very narrow path of magic due to a permanent condition. A main character that is a part of a larger cast. A main character that is growing but won't become the strongest around anytime soon. A story following a single main character but with introduction or theme setting scenes without the main character. What Not to Expect: Edgy grimdark characters – I will never write a sexual violence scene or gory descriptions of torture. I hate reading it and I would hate writing it even more. Romance – romantic relationships will never be the focus of the story and only appear in the background. The main character is preoccupied with other stuff. Other forms of relationships (family, friends, companions) play a bigger role. Cover: The cover art was commisioned from redditor Linh-Nguyen87. The font is alita brush by Inovatype Typefoundry. Overview: 001–030 Arc 1, Cultivating Perseverance: complete. 031–060 Arc 2, Undying Defiance: complete. 061–090 Arc 3, Unyielding Fury: scheduled for publishing. 091–120 Arc 4, Savage Hope: scheduled for publishing. 121–150 Arc 5, Self-Made Fate: first draft in progress. 151–180 Arc 6, Heretic Style: sketching in progress. Further Arcs are still in the sketching and idea collection phase.
8 200 - In Serial89 Chapters
Lich God Deidre
Twenty-five-year-old office worker, Deidre, is killed after getting T-boned from a drunk driver. She gets dragged away from the normal afterlife by an unknown force and is instead reincarnated as the Lich God. Deidre, dying with lots of regrets, now tries to live her new life by fulfilling all the things she didn’t get a chance to do previously. However, as the Demon King, Fyren’s plot is revealed bit by bit, she learns that the nice life she tries hard to get used to might not last forever.
8 157 - In Serial11 Chapters
The Mighty Fountain
Colossal in size and scope—lovingly constructed to evoke a frontier that never was—The Mighty Fountain depicts a forgone age, where a consortium of Gnomes, Elves, Dwarves, Frognari, and Goblins, maneuver to take control of a wild and untamed continent. A hundred years have passed since the downfall of humanity. The lost race of tyrants and sages left behind a singular, extraordinary legacy: the mighty fountain—and its world-changing alchemic water. Kate Redrock—Crafter Gnome of the Ashvale—and her unlikely band of heroes find themselves at the center of a transcontinental struggle to control and exploit the powerful substance. Will she be able to resist the allure of power or will she too be corrupted by the call of immortality? Her journey will take her across a windswept frontier, aboard dwarven railroads, and deep into dense, ancient forests. She’ll meet adventurers, dignitaries, magnates, and mages. In time she herself may become something of each, but not until she collides headlong with a destiny so large it will crush nations and forge new ones in their place. Come discover a land where outlaws and kings clamor for a taste of alchemical power. Kate’s ascendance into the corridors of power marks only the beginning of a journey that stretches to the far reaches of the globe. Climb aboard an iron-hulled steamer for parts unknown… a spellbinding mystery waits around every bend.
8 103 - In Serial11 Chapters
The Rise of The Emperor of The Dreadlands
Dane Carter was the son of the genius robotic engineer who was making various breakthroughs every year. Dane lived a rather ordinairy life compared to the money he had, even though he had rich parents. All was well until one day, when a group of hired thugs attacked attempted to murder his father after they were going home from a late night dinner. He ended up dying to save his father and thought it was all over until he awoke where his journey would begin. His journey to become the Emperer of the Dreadlands.
8 145 - In Serial6 Chapters
HABITAT
400 years ago, everything ended. Anything we had left, we burned to keep ourselves warm. We sacrificed some to save all of us. We turned ourselves into monsters to keep us safe. Even our children. Now it's time to start over.
8 170

