Chapter 3: Suspicions / Equipment / Enter Nightmare

Written by Etnalla

Edited by Goald3n

"Because they....don't want to fight?" Lucky answered.

"Nope. Think about it. There are seven people who have handguns and two grenades each that makes fourteen grenades and forty-nine bullets total. The only weapon the three have shown is a large unwieldy sword, even if they didn't want to start a fight a well armed crowd of people like that wouldn't be as submissive as this. Think again."

"Hmm....they're afraid of the three?"

"Again, nope. Like I said with that much firepower there is not much for them to be afraid of." Said Judge looking thoughtful. "Okay, how about this. Do you remember seeing the weapons being distributed?"

"Yeah?"

"Well do you remember seeing where did they come from?"

"Sure, they came from...they came from..." Lucky felt a headache come on as he tried to remember. He knew he had seen the weapons being handed to the others. The weapons going from...someone's hands to one of the seven's. He couldn't remember. There were only three of them but Lucky couldn't remember which had distributed the weapons.

"You can't can you? When it's your turn to go up pay attention...which is apparently now."

Judge directed lucky to Vic who was motioning for them to approach. "You go alone. Remember, observe."

"Okay." Was Lucky's response.

Lucky stood up and went over to Vic who was waving away a happy Prince who had received his equipment. Lucky had forgotten to pay attention to what was happening so he didn't see what equipment Prince had gotten.

"Hey! Lucky! Sorry for the wait, but I got your equipment right here! The wait for your cool new gear must have been agonizing!" Vic was as loud as ever as pulled out a large duffel bag from behind him.

Wait. How long has that been there? Is that were the weapons came from? Ow, my head.

"Here you go!" Vic opened up the duffel to reveal an assortment of guns, ammunition, grenades and other objects. He rifled through the bag for a moment before bringing out a few objects which he presented to Lucky. A handgun with a almost too long silvery barrel, two egg shaped objects that were obviously grenades and a wicked looking knife with a serrated back.

Lucky looked oddly at Vic. He'd thought that there was going to be more given that Jack had told spoken about them receiving better equipment. Seeing Vic happily smiling Lucky was unsure whether or not to bring it up.

"I bet you're wondering about the something extra, huh? Don't worry I was just messing with you! got your real equipment right here!" Vic took out a second duffel—seriously why didn't Lucky see that—and brought out new stranger looking weapons: a large black box looking object that had sixteen holes on one side, six long metal colored cylinders and three sets of three rolled up paper scrolls.

Lucky gave the objects in front of him an amazed look. He didn't recognize any of them! Even though he wasn't sure what they did he was already excited to try them out.

"I bet you're just jumping to try these out! Hold your horses for a moment though, I gotta explain them to you first! Don't want you to go blowing yourself up!" Vic said as he picked up the black box looking object, looking much more serious than he normally was "This is called the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, it holds a total of forty-eight arrows and fires sixteen of them at a time. It might be a crossbow but don't doubt its power! It's strong enough to pierce through a boulder with no problem. The bolts are also covered in poison potent enough to take down an elephant so you probably only need one hit to take an enemy down. You push the button on the side to load it and push the same button to fire. It takes around three seconds to load so be sure to give yourself enough time. Also don't load it ahead of time, doing so will damage the mechanism and render it useless."

Immediately putting the crossbow down Vic then picked up one of the six cylinders and held it in front of Lucky. "This is a multi-type chemical grenade. It has three modes: Incendiary, Fragmentation and Flash; I'm sure the modes are self-explanatory. You activate the grenade by twisting the top." Vic twisted the top of the grenade causing it to pop up revealing the words incendiary, fragmentation and flash on its sides. He then twisted it some more causing the word incendiary to light up, he twisted it again causing fragmentation to light up, once more for flash to light up and one last time which caused the top to drop down. Setting the cylinder on the table Vic moved on with his explanation."That's how you select the modes of the grenades. One twist for frag, two for fire, three for flash and four to reset. To lock in your choice you just need to push down on the top, after which a button will appear on the top, press it to arm the grenade. Another thing you need to know is that each mode has a different activation. Frag will immediately explode upon impacting a hard surface, incendiary gives you five seconds to clear the area then takes about ten seconds to release the gas and ignite, and flash activates automatically three seconds after you arm it."

Vic then moved to pick up the paper scrolls. "Now, these are probably what you've been waiting for. These are magic technique scrolls."

Lucky was already floored by the first two: crossbow that could pierce a boulder and take down an elephant and six three-in-one sci-fi grenades. Those things could already be considered magic in their effects! And now there were actual magic scrolls!

"Three sets of three different types of scroll. Of course this time you can only pick one. Don't look so disappointed now! Magic scrolls cost leagues above what technology costs. The three types of you can pick from: Fireball Scroll, Earth Shield Scroll or Dark Net Scroll. Again, the names are pretty much self explanatory. All you need to do to activate the scroll is open it and point it in the direction you want to cast the spell. Pretty simple. So! Which one do you want!?

Staring at the nine scrolls in front of him Lucky didn't know what to pick. All three sounded so fucking good! He just couldn't decide! Fireball sounded good, he already had the grenades for that but he was tempted at the prospect of being able to possibly kill more wendigos. Before he wouldn't have even dreamed of trying to attempt hunting one but given his new equipment he might actually have a shot! Maybe he should get Earth Shield, if something went wrong then it just might buy him enough time to save his life. He didn't know what to think of Dark Net, it didn't seem that useful he thought.

After thinking it over Lucky decided to pick Earth Shield. You could never now what kind of danger might happen so an extra life was always a priority over an increased offense.

"Good choice! When I was a newbie Earth Shield was something I would have killed to have! Here, take the guns and regular grenades as well. It would be shame if you wasted your special gear on a random animal or something."

"No no no! It's okay! This is way too much already. The others might think it's unfair." Lucky hurriedly stammered out his refusal. He didn't know what Judge was going on about earlier. There was nothing suspicious about them. The items they gave him were definitely bound to save his life.

"Don't worry about that. It's up to us who gets the items, and your considered and elite prospect anyway." Vic assured him.

"But–" Lucky tried to protest but Vic cut him off.

"How about this, when we get back from this mission why don't you just pay me back in points, and if you don't have any ranked rewards will do!" Vic flashed a smile and patted Lucky on the back. "Deal?"

"Yeah! Deal!" Replied Lucky smiling back.

"Good! Can't wait to what enhancement you'll get! You're definitely gonna be part of the main team!"

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Lucky walked back to Judge carrying his equipment in the slings that came with them.

"So," Judge asked. "Notice anything?"

Lucky shook his head and replied. "I don't know what you're trying to say, Judge. Vic just gave me equipment that will help keep me alive. What reason is there for me to doubt their motives?"

Judge leaned back and sighed. "You really are naive, aren't you? Or maybe just stupid. Still, I shouldn't expect much from a regular person."

"Regular person? Well, doesn't someone think he's special. I don't know where your from but not trusting people isn't how you lead a happy life."

"Happy? If that happiness is born from naivety then it's not real happiness. That's probably why idiots seem so happy all the time. Don't worry though. I don't think you're an idiot, at least, not completely." Judge said lazily.

"And why should I care about what you think of me?" Lucky was already getting annoyed at Judge's laid back and arrogant attitude so he couldn't help himself from snapping.

"Because," Judge said, staring right at Lucky. "That's just how you are. Anyone can see that you're just a child that wants attention—no matter where it comes from. Acting so docile and passive, even with what's happening, the degree of submission your showing far exceeds anyone else's.

Lucky sat there not knowing what to say. He was offended at Judge's assumptions! Judge was practically calling him a submissive bitch to anyone that would pay him attention! Why did he even bother coming over to talk to him? All Judge did was bring up unfounded claims and insult Lucky.

"I don't think I want to talk to you anymore." Was Lucky response.

"Again, so freaking passive. You're not really like this, I hope." Judge looked thoughtful for a moment. "Never mind. You'll see it soon enough. It looks like the mission's about to start."

Lucky turned and saw that everybody had already taken their equipment and was crowding around the entrance of the cabin. Right in front of the door stood Vic, Miria and Jack, addressing the crowd. He was about to go over but he stopped and looked back at Judge.

"Wondering if I got my equipment, Lucky? It's right here." Judge opened up his jacket to show the grenades and scrolls strapped to his chest on a holster and the Godly Zhuge Crossbow slung across his hip. Before walking off he questioned Lucky again. "Two more questions, when did I go up to get my equipment? What are you wearing?"

When did Judge go up to get his equipment? Only Vic was handing them out.... Ow, my head. Why is that a problem anyway? He got the weapons he needed in the end. What right does he have to criticize his saviors. What am I wearing....what's that supposed to mean?

Lucky looked down at what he was wearing: A large insulated jacket, waterproof fur lined gloves, insulated winter pants and heavy snow boots. What was so strange about that? Isn't that what you would be wearing when you would go out into the snow?

Why am I wasting my time thinking about this. I better go over to the others. Don't wanna miss whatever they're saying.

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"Okay, so now that everybody has their gear I guess it's time to start the mission!" Vic said as he pushed down on another button on his watch. "I hope your ready, cause the fun is about to begin!"

The cabin doors were thrown back violently as the snow flooded in and the roar of the snowstorm filled the room. The temperature in the cabin dropped immediately and everyone felt the chill seep directly into their bones. Outside the cabin the snowstorm was raging. All they could see was a wall of spinning white and the blurry outline of trees in the background. The winds howled even more furiously and snow rushed into the cabin. Within seconds the cabin lost any resemblance to its former self as snow covered nearly every surface.

The sudden rush of wind knocked a few people of balance, Lucky among those few. As he fell backwards he felt a hand grab him and pull him back up. The snow made it hard to see his face but the voice was enough for Lucky to know who it was.

"Seriously, Lucky Lucky Boy! What are you doing! You're not gonna make it if this is enough to stop you!" Shouted Prince in his face.

"Thanks, Prince. Sorry for falling..." Lucky replied.

"Don't worry about it! We special recruits have to stick together. Two is always better than one!"

Lucky was about to respond but Vic's shout stopped him.

"Forward! All of you! If you stay here any longer the snow is gonna fill room. Leave and survive! Finish the mission and I'll see all of you back in God's Dimension!" Vic's voice resounded even through the noise of the storm. In fact it even looked like his shot pushed away the snow and wind a, making it much easier to see.

It was supposed to make it easier to find their way but what Lucky saw made his blood run cold, even colder than the snow was making him. There were wendigos outside the cabin. And not just one.

What looked to be a hundred of skinny corpselike creatures stood by the tree line. Their empty milky white eyes stared at them like predators observing their prey. The wendigos were in all shapes and sizes. The majority looked to be about half the size of man looking like feral children with limbs that looked more like skin draped on bone, visible ribs and sunken stomachs. They were hunched over and crawled on all fours their wicked looking talons pressing into the hardened snow.

Those must be the runts thought Lucky. And those must be the warriors.

Behind the runts stood the warriors. They were much larger than the runts, about the height of a man. What was most different was, that while they still looked like corpses, they seemed to be much more well built. Their arms and legs were much thinner and longer. Large hands that had claws nearly twice as long as the runt's. Their faces also looked much less human: elongated skulls with small horns growing out the top in a ring and mouths filled with sharp yellow teeth. They stood slightly hunched resting on the backs of their large hands like gorillas, but the length of their arms made it so there was no difference in their height.

And those....must be chiefs. Lucky fought hard to suppress the fear rising in his heart. This wasn't what he had expected at all. In the game the wendigos were never this many or as fierce looking. If the runts looked like feral children and the warriors like monsters then the chiefs were straight up demons.

There were only twelve chiefs that Luck could see but each of them emanated a presence that everyone could feel. The chiefs were all much taller than the warriors, towering over them like giants. They were perched up on the branches of the trees watching the cabin. Their bodies were more filled and had bellies that protruded outward, what appeared to be bones jutted out of their the arm's sides like icepicks while their legs had a piece of bone growing along the front of the leg like a blade. Their skin looked rough and grainy like wood, and had hard spikes growing out of it. The horns on their head grew out and twisted into a crown that was decorated with leaves, feathers, and sticks. Their faces were hidden behind simple painted wooden masks that hugged their faces.

Lucky regretted thinking he could fight them. It didn't matter what happened, he would never be able to stand up to these monsters. His gear didn't matter, he was going to die. Everyone else in the room appeared to share his sentiment and collectively took a step back. Only for them to be stopped by Vic.

"Don't worry! They're easy! Just go!" Vic shouted.

Nobody moved. They were all too terrified to.

"Fine," Vic said. "I guess you need a little push."

Lucky only saw Vic wave his hand slightly before he and all the others were pushed forward by an unseen force. It carried them out of the cabin and right into the snow.

Disoriented, Lucky shook his head and looked up...only to look right into the eyes of a runt. Its pale eyes spoke only murder as it looked a him. He lay in the snow paralyzed with fear, staring at what was sure to be his death. Lucky wanted to move. He wanted to run, but it was like a nightmare. The ones where you were helpless and the air felt solid.

Suddenly, the runt fell back screaming, and a person appeared at his side.

"Better get up now, idiot." Said Judge, looking as calm and unemotional as ever. "Seriously, if you die now then I'd have wasted my precious ammo. Hurry and get up."

Lucky didn't need to be told a third time. Who knows what the wendigos would do now. He immediately got to his feet and started running alongside Judge. It was at this moment that whatever Vic did to push the storm back faded and the snow and wind rushed back in. He couldn't see where he was going, but he wasn't going to stop running.

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Authors note

Editor’s note

Confused ain’t ya! Haha, don’t worry guys things will be clear soon. Anyone up for guessing what’s going on? Remember leave a rating so our author gets some rep and a comment!