7.2

“Ethics are a foolish consideration.” - The Mad Mage Khao

While Dustin and Celine were handling their magic, Tai was out in the city, hanging around a martial school, and browsing their catalogue of Martial Arts.

All of the stuff for browsing at the front were basic things, Tai already knew the theory for most of them, the real core arts of the school were only given to disciples.

Still it was a decent refresher for her.

“Bah!” a snort suddenly interrupted her. Tai glanced towards the source, an old drunken human, clad in casual clothing and chugging a bottle, yet there was a way the disciples in the school respectfully stepped out of the way that told her he wasn’t a simple drunk.

“You idiots are all wasting your time!” the old man cried out, spittle flying from his mouth. “Hye’s got a bunch of immortal fuckers, what use are you learning fighting for!”

“Master Gawn,” a disciple said respectfully, “please don’t drink in the school, it’s…”

“Screw off!” the drunk said as he sidestepped the disciple, stomping off into the school.

Tai simply paused, the recent events still fresh in her mind.

‘Does that Governor have Travellers?’

In a tavern filled with rambunctious chatter, Noam threw a dart, the projectile landing squarely in the centre of the circle.

“Now you try,” he told Johnny, giving the last few darts to him.

Johnny felt the smooth surface of the dart, feeling the pointed and sharp tip of the object. Without a word, he raised his arm, trying to mimic the posture Noam had moments ago.

With his eyes on the target, Johnny threw the dart.

It flew and landed in the outer ring.

“Ay good first shot,” Noam said. “First time I didn’t even hit the target.”

“Really?” the child asked.

“Yeah, I was fucking bad at it,” he explained.

“You are better now,” Utoqa said from the side.

“Yeah I know,” Noam replied, “it just takes a lotta practice is all.”

“Are you good at throwing darts?” Johnny asked Utoqa.

The lizardfolk paused for a moment, taking a spare dart on the counter.

With a smooth and deadly precise throw, Utoqa landed the dart right in the centre, right next to Noam’s dart.

A smile crept on Noam’s face as he picked up another dart, “That a challenge?”

“No,” Utoqa replied.

“Let’s make it one then,” Noam laughed as he threw the next dart.

It slammed easily in the centre, but before Noam could whoop, a voice interrupted them.

“Are you the people from the Hearth Church?”

The three of them turned to see a group of people wearing armour and carrying weapons.

The tavern had turned silent.

“I mean look at him, green lizard, purple tiefling, that’s the kid we need,” another replied to the person.

“Hand over the kid then,” said a man in attire Noam recognised as distinctly eastern.

Earth eastern, the man even had a katana on his belt.

“Why should we? Acquiescing to a kidnapping in broad daylight isn’t my style,” Noam replied, glancing at Utoqa, his eyes then moving to Johnny.

“Fucking hell just let us get this fetch quest done with,” one of them muttered.

“Wait, I have high Charisma, I can still convince them,” a woman in mage’s robes said, before continuing, “This isn’t a kidnapping, don’t you know there’s a problem with the Hearth Church? It’s not safe for a kid there, we just wanted to tell you that.”

Noam raised his hand to cover his mouth as he had a sudden coughing fit, “Do you think we’re idiots? Saying that right in front of-”

Noam dashed forward with an unnatural speed, fist punching right into one, knocking him down. At the same moment, Utoqa grabbed Johnny by the shoulder as he ran away, leaping over tables and chairs as he did so.

“Get the lizard-” the large man’s voice stopped to a gurgle as Noam stabbed Celigarn into his neck.

“Blood!” the dagger yelled in ecstasy.

“Oh shut up!” Noam yelled at his dagger as he dropped it.

Emanating from him was a beat that sounded oddly like the cough he had just had. As the person under him bled to death, he drew his hook swords, the Travellers around him did the same.

Utoqa was behind Noam, running deeper into the tavern.

“That lizard is running in the wrong direction,” the woman said, raising a wand. “We can catch him later-”

Utoqa stopped by a wall, drawing his axe, Gift, he chopped at the wooden wall twice, leaking in outside light before directly running through the hole with Johnny in tow.

“Travellers aren’t cha?” Noam asked casually, “Don’t you think there’s better jobs to be done than this?”

Even with his casual appearance, he was swiftly taking in his enemies. The man with the katana who he was just going to call katana dude, the self proclaimed high charisma woman with a wand, the man with a hood and daggers who had complained about fetch quests, and finally the large unarmed corpse who was already fading to light.

“Next time, I’m talking,” the woman said.

“No no,” Noam said, “You sounded just as stupid as the other two.”

The woman was instantly set alight.

Noam dodged two thrown daggers as the katan dude parried his sword. With a kick, Noam leapt off of him, avoiding the dagger slash from the hooded figure behind him as he somersaulted behind them.

Noam had set up Beatbox Inspiration with the fake cough, greatly increasing his Agility. He had activated Breathless as well, since he figured three on one was rather fair.

Right now, they could barely keep up with his speed.

He slashed at the hooded man from behind, but his blade only bit into wood as a wooden chair was substituted, leaving the hood behind. By a far off table, the rogue, now revealed in leather armour, was already throwing his daggers towards him.

The mage had finally extinguished herself with a water spell, quickly raising her wand towards Noam, while katana suddenly sheathed his sword and entered a pose any anime watcher would know.

The woman’s spell hit first, “Chains of-”

“Self Infliction!” Noam Ottocorrected as the chains misfired and trapped the caster, just as the katana dude drew his sword.

He appeared right behind where Noam was, and everything from tables, chairs and mugs were sliced in half. Turning his head, he couldn’t find where Noam was until he heard a scream.

Noam had dodged down in that crucial moment, grabbing Celigarn from the floor and throwing it right into the mage’s throat.

“Ah! A woman’s wet and moist-”

“I said shut up Celigarn!” Noam’s yell allowed both to quickly identify his position, as he leapt down from the ceiling, spitting at the spot where the rogue was.

Wood greeted him again as the rogue quickly substituted himself with another chair, this time the chair was left with the leather armour of the rogue as it burned to a crisp from his spitfire.

Seeing the rogue only had normal clothes left, Noam said, “Please don’t use that again, no one wants to see your shrivelled dick.”

Anger flashed across the rogue’s face, but it quickly disappeared, as he pulled from his head a string of psychedelic words that quickly went alight in flame. “He has a mental attack!”

Noam tsked internally, ‘Resisted?’

The rogue was too slippery, so he had to target the katana dude. As he rushed them, he cast several firebolts as cover fire.

Katana dude sheathed his sword, preparing to do the anime attack again. While the rogue slipped to the side throwing daggers to stop the firebolts.

Noam’s hook swords, katana dude’s katana, the distance between the two quickly drew closer as both of them prepared to attack.

‘I can get him!’ the katana dude thought. The quick dash of his draw sword had a far longer range than Noam’s hook swords. He began to draw, but at that moment, Noam linked his hook swords.

At that moment, with both of his swords linked together, his range was extended enough that Noam’s blade reached first!

Like a great halberd, Noam’s blade decapitated the enemy before him.

But as the body fell to the ground, he realised something.

In that short moment, as the decapitated head was falling to the ground, Noam realised it wasn’t the katana dude’s head.

Where the rogue once stood was the katana dude, now wearing the rogue’s last layer of clothing over his robes.

The katana was drawn.

Noam raised his blades to block, tongue moving to insult himself and activate I’m Lit, but the words died in his mouth as the katana dude appeared behind him.

“Nothing personal.”

Noam’s hook swords were slashed in half as his head went flying.

Panting, the katana dude sheathed his sword as he picked up the dagger on the ground, hand tapping the air as he messaged someone.

Yone: Grab everyone from the guild, this questline is more difficult than expected. This one guy almost solo’d us. The lizard is on the run.

As he glanced at Noam’s corpse, he realised it was dissipating into soft light.

Cursing, he added one more message.

Yone: That guy was a player, this quest has PVP, and they might be higher levelled than us.

Utoqa dashed through the city, cradling Johnny in his arms.

“Who were they!” Johnny yelled.

“I do not know,” Utoqa simply told him. “Stay silent, we are being hunted.”

And he stopped in his tracks as he sniffed the air.

“Noam has fallen.”

Johnny looked utterly shocked. “He’s… he’s dead?”

Utoqa could not recognise the expression on Johnny’s face, so he simply answered, “It should not kill him.”

Suddenly, he heard something being whispered to him.

“I saw Noam’s doll die! What happened?” Celine’s voice echoed in his ear.

“We encountered hunters,” Utoqa said to the air, “they sought the young one, Noam fought, I-”

He paused, head jerking to the side like prey sighting his hunter.

“They have caught up to us.”

He emotionlessly drew his tomahawk, Gift, leaving only hand to carry Johnny.

Then he leapt. Gift bit into stone, as he climbed the building next to him, making it swiftly to the roof.

Seeing his attackers encircling them.

He pulled Johnny’s arms around his neck, legs around his waist before letting go, “Hold on.”

And Utoqa jumped.

Legs slamming into the cobblestone path, cracking it slightly as he ran off. Gift swiftly decapitated the first enemy in his way, but a wall of fire soon rose, blocking his way.

Not at all discouraged, Utoqa turned to the house beside him, climbing it quickly and leaping over the flaming wall as projectiles slammed into the ground behind him.

The flaming wall went down as his attackers, numerous in number, began chasing him.

Utoqa reached into his pockets, throwing out half a dozen web balls that exploded into thousands of baby spiders. Screams swiftly followed.

As Utoqa fled, Noam respawned, both his weapons broken as he began trading blows with the respawned rogue he had just killed.

Dustin and Celine were busily hurrying to the scene. Celine muttered to the doll of Utoqa and Tai, directing both to a meet up point.

Utoqa dodged attacks, he threw out Scavenged trinkets that brought him seconds and moments of time as he fled through the city.

Until in front of him stood an unarmed man, the person Noam first killed.

Seeing him, the man yelled, “See my Path, the way of Hospitality! Be my Honoured Guest!”

And suddenly, a golden energy field slammed down around them. It was in the crude shape of a house, squarish with a triangle on top.

Utoqa rushed to kill him, just as the man began using martial arts.

“Harden Hide! Ability Boost! Bear’s Endurance! Body Strengthening! Fortress Stance!”

As the flow of aura erupted within the man, Utoqa’s Gift slammed into his neck, biting blood but not biting deep.

“Heavy Blow!” The monk’s palm slammed into Utoqa’s outstretched arm, forcing the blade out as Utoqa leapt back, skidding to the barrier.

Utoqa tested the barrier, finding it ripple when he chopped at it, but not bend or break.

“Get off,” he told Johnny. He could not fight while Johnny was on his chest.

The monk wasn’t actively attacking him, so he recognised it for what it was. A stalling tactic while the rest of them caught up.

“I didn’t get my skills out quick enough, so I died first, but you’ll find me, the World, the hardest to kill of the Scarlet Samsara Guild!”

“I have never heard that name,” Utoqa said. It was not an insult, for he didn’t fully understand the concept of insulting someone. He neither had the emotions of hate nor knew how to utilise it in others. He was simply stating a fact.

So he rushed down the monk called World.

The World was quick, far quicker than someone of his size might suggest, but Utoqa was used to hunting large and swift game. Blood sprayed from a dozen different cuts, Gift dancing and slashing at the skin like a bee went from flower to flower. They were superficial cuts, Utoqa knew, but great beasts were not felled in battle but in starvation.

Punches answered him, slamming into hard scales but still doing damage as he was pushed back slightly with every blow. However the World was not the only tough beast in this arena.

They forced each other back, circling each other carefully until Utoqa once again went on the offensive.

His wild chop was met by the hardened skin of the monk’s arm, but what he didn’t expect was the claws that slashed towards his face. The World caught the blow in his forehead, just managing to save his eyes, but it was enough as blood from the wound blinded him for a moment.

Utoqa opened his jaw and snapped at the World’s neck. His serrated teeth biting into the man’s flesh.

It wasn’t a deep wound, Utoqa knew, but there was a pause, hesitation born from inexperience and shock. A Traveller may know how to fight, but few knew such pain. That hesitation cost him as Utoqa grabbed onto his shoulders, then, with a kick to the chest, Utoqa pushed himself off, tearing out bloody flesh as he fell back.

He chewed the strings of skin and fat for a bit, swallowing it. Before walking to the now weakened World, clutching desperately at his throat.

Without concentration, all his defensive martial arts had come to an end.

Utoqa stepped on him, holding him down as with Gift, he carved open the man’s chest and pulled out his heart, putting the object in his pouch as he turned to the outside.

As the World’s ability shattered, Utoqa knew the man had done his part.

They were surrounded.

“Fire Tornado!”

A spell with a long chant was finished and cast onto Utoqa’s location, enveloping him in cataclysmic fire.

When it dissipated, all that was left was a charred corpse.

A charred corpse that dispersed to light as Utoqa Survived the burns and flames, pulling himself out of the ashes and Traveller corpse he had used as a shield.

He leapt to Johnny, grabbing the child by the collar as he tossed him over his back.

His enemies were closing in on him. Too numerous to count, yet he felt no fear as he pulled out two daggers made from a spider’s fangs from his pouches.

Suddenly, one of the daggers crumbled to powder as another Utoqa stood next to them. Both Utoqa’s quickly glanced at each other, and together charged the encirclement!

The Utoqa not carrying Johnny dashed around the original Utoqa, his own Gift slashing the projectiles out of the air as they ran, all the while Utoqa prime was fiddling with the heart of the Traveller he had ripped out.

They swiftly reached the outer edge, enemy blades drawn and gathering to fight them, but Utoqa threw out the heart he had Scavenged.

Instantly, a house shaped barrier trapped the enemies in front, and the repli-Utoqa skidded to a halt as he held out his arms, using himself for a platform to throw Utoqa prime over the house barrier!

“Chains of Haider!”

But the moment Utoqa prime landed on the ground, the mage Noam had killed earlier finally reached them, casting the spell she was denied before.

Utoqa was chained to the ground, stopped and halted as enemies closed in. He took out the final spider fang dagger, putting it in Johnny’s hands as he brought his arm back and threw him into the air.

The dagger crumbled to dust in mid air as another Utoqa appeared and landed on the roof, skidding to a halt as he ran off, not even looking at Utoqa prime.

Lizardfolk did not have emotions in the same way a human may conceive of it. They did not feel joy, anger, sadness or hate. At a glance, they seemed only concerned with survival.

But they still held parental instincts, for the continuation of a species and tribe was necessary for survival.

Utoqa prime cut through his chains as the first repli-Utoqa joined him.

And both descended onto the surrounding players.

Now it was their job to hold them back.