Chapter 43

Etson City Hall, Etson - 4:57 PM

Fifteen people stared back at me from the hallway, weapons at the ready. “I don’t think you know who you’re fucking with, boy,” the big man in front said. “Father Alexander wants to talk to you. You’re coming with us.”

My grin faded into a cocky smile as I looked him over. The Etson Faithful’s top combatant, Arnold Jackson, had been the owner of a gym in the back alleys of the Square. Gray speckled his black hair and wrinkles covered his leathery, scar-covered face. While he was far from his prime before the system dropped, he used to be a big name in amateur boxing and his physique certainly had returned to his glory days. He also wore leather armor on his chest, arms, and legs with brass knuckles adorning each fist.

“I’m honored that he sends a fifteen man contingent to escort me all of four blocks,” I said, trying not to sound sarcastic but likely failing. “Wouldn’t want the Savior of the Square to get offed by some random trash mob. Actually, I like that: Savior of the Square. Kinda rolls off the tongue, don’t it?”

The woman in the robes moved around Arnold so that she could get a better view into the closet with the staircase. “What happened to your companions?” she asked.

The woman fiddled with the sleeves of her oversized yellow robe. Emily Trout was one of the Faithful’s inner circle, and thus was graced with better items than the rest. She had her long black hair tied up in a ponytail and kept glancing at me with suspicious green eyes. Admittedly attractive, but I wasn’t a “I can fix her'' kind of guy. Her class was Poison Mage, which allowed her to deal a lot of damage some might call unfair, and she was proficient in using enhanced Trat mucus to paralyze monsters. That was how she got the class in the first place, by using mucus much like I did against the Kingtin’s zombies.

“They’re changing; there were a few good things in that safe,” I said. Both Arnold and Emily glared at me in surprise.

“How did you know the combination?” Arnold growled, taking a menacing step towards me.

To his surprise, I took a step towards him in response and looked up at the man. He had a good half a foot on me and was much bulkier than I. If I had to guess, he built for more strength and constitution than dexterity, though he would have learned by now that dexterity was necessary. “I’ve got a spark of divinity in me, Arnold, and through faith I have made it this far,” I said jovially. “Go ahead and ask Emily, she was there when the good Father proclaimed it.”

“If that’s really what Father Alexander said, then the whole organization would know,” Emily lied. She snapped her fingers and motioned to the other combatants in the room. “Go and check if the safe has really been opened.”

The rank and file members of the Etson Faithful were a diverse group of men and women who had two full sets of armor between them. They carried a range of weapons, and the only uniformity was the “EF” painted onto whatever armor they had. Before they could take their first step, I Pushed the door so that it would shut loudly. The thugs jumped at the sudden noise.

“I’m sorry, the changing room is currently closed,” I said, feigning disappointment. “But if you like, I can give you a call next time I come across a Safe Room. Because, well, if you go down there and disrupt my friends then there may be an altercation. Then you’ll be really glad to have brought the healers.” I leaned around Arnold and waved to the five people in the back.

The healers were much more uniform than the thugs as each of them wore a white apron or smock with a red cross and "EF" on them. They were spread out so that there were three in the back and two in front. This formation usually meant the three could use some sort of ranged healing magic while the ones in front either had more constitution and were considered part tanks or only had touch healing. Either way, they weren’t my priority, and only one of them slowly waved back. I gave them a wink.

“You think we’re afraid of one man?” Arnold asked loudly. Then, he tried to loom over me. I tried to stop myself from laughing, but I ended up chortling anyway. “What’s so funny?”

“You, obviously,” I said, covering my mouth. I could feel my blood start to rush at the obvious provocation just like it had in the Safari Resort during the fight with Thomas. “Look, I know you’re one of the strongest guys the Etson Faithful have, but you have to realize that you’re out of your depth here. Right? It’s not just me, but everyone’s thinking it. Right guys?” I looked around, and everyone suddenly looked very nervous.

Arnold growled again, but Emily intervened and placed a hand on his chest. “We were sent to escort him back, don’t go beating him into a bloody pulp, Arnold.”

“Nobody talks to me that way, Emily, and you hear the shit he’s spewing,” Arnold spat on the ground in front of me. “He doesn’t have any plans to come with us.”

“That is correct, yes,” I said, nodding. “The only way you’re going to take me to your boss is by force because I really don’t want to be ritually sacrificed to the system in order for the Vespae to lock you all in concentration camps, alright? I feel like it would be a real mood killer.”

“Joker really likes to hear himself talk,” Arnold huffed.

“Yeah, I find it helps take the edge off.”

Emily sighed and turned away from the old boxer. “Listen, Anthony-“

“Yes, Emily?” I asked, turning to her.

“We aren’t under orders to hurt you, Father Alexander really does want to talk with you,” she said, her voice a lot more even and friendly than it was before. “As soon as we’re back in the Square, he’s going to send messengers to get Thomas and Gloria so that they can join in on the discussion as well. I won’t sugar coat it, he and a few others will be pissed that you opened the safe and took what’s inside, but I’m sure we can look past it.”

Emily gave me a dazzling smile and reached towards my shoulder, placing a hand on me. “And there are a lot of people who want to thank you for saving the safe zone from the giant jellyfish monster.” She leaned in, her bulky robe pushing against me, and whispered in my ear. I let her. “I saw what you did, and I want to show my appreciation, too. But not here, surrounded by ash. Perhaps, back at the hotel…”

I sniffed as I felt my shoulder start to feel numb where she placed her hand, though it was only enough to give me some mild discomfort. It felt like some kind of paralysis effect, but the little tingle I felt slowly coursing away from the contact point made me guess there was a damaging effect mixed in. My smile remained as I looked her in the eye. “Stomach.”

Emily appeared confused by my words. “Excuse me?”

“Stomach,” I repeated. “That’s where I’m going to strike you if you try to poison me again. Unless you’ve unlocked the Kiss of Death skill, that might work on me. Normally I only give people one chance, but you can have a second because it could be fun to find out, you know what I mean?”

Sensing danger, Emily backed up into Arnold and looked from me to her hand. “Why aren’t you…”

“Because of the immutable truth, Emily,” I said. “You’re a Poison Mage, extra stat being toxicity. The robe you’re wearing gives you a plus five to the stat and allows you to give your poisons a little extra kick based on your constitution, which it sadly doesn’t increase. Do you-“

The door to the janitor’s closet burst open, inches from hitting me. Jeff stood there, rapier in hand and looking flushed from his run up the stairs. Behind him was Kayla and a growling Corwin. I stopped him with a hand. “Hey, took you two long enough. I trust there wasn’t any funny business down there while I was patiently waiting for you with our guests.”

“What’s going on?” Jeff asked instead of answering the question, though he couldn’t meet my eye.

“These are the members of the Etson Faithful I was expecting,” I explained. “They wanted to escort me to see Father Alexander, and I was about to explain the immutable truth to them instead. Or make out with Emily here, provided she has the skill for it.”

“Hey!” Emily shrieked. “You would be lucky, lucky to pull someone like me.”

“I have a feeling your long distance not-girlfriend wouldn’t like that, Ant,” Kayla retorted, poking her head out of the door to see what was going on. Her banter had a nervous tinge to it, which was understandable.

“Ouch, just putting my long distance not relationship out there for everyone to know, huh?” I chuckled. “Guess it’s only fair since I basically accused you of snogging each other down there.”

“Enough!” Arnold bellowed. He pushed Emily out of the way. “I’m already sick of this. If you’re so tough, then you won’t mind proving it.”

“Kayla, Jeff, don’t interfere, alright?” I said, looking back at them. They both gave me grim nods, and I knew they’d go against that in a heartbeat if I needed the help. I turned back to Arnold. “Are you sure you don’t want to learn about that truth I talked about first? Could help save you someday.”

“No,” Arnold spat with a shake of his head. “The only thing I need is to take you to Father Alexander, and we’ve got healers for after I rough you up.”

I raised my hand and tried to make a fist. It was slow going, but I could. Instead of potentially damaging my fingers, I opened my hand so that I could strike with my palm. “Just like everyone else, you get one,” I warned him. “The moment you try to take another, I’m slapping the shit out of you.”

Arnold looked down at me in disbelief before laughing. He reached down and tried to shove me back, likely to intimidate me, but found me a lot more sturdy than he expected. “Left cheek.”

The ex-boxer scowled. “You ain’t shit,” he said as he raised his fists, taking his stance. I knew that Arnold was considered an out-boxer back in his heyday, meaning he stayed at range and threw longer punches, but with the new boosts from the system he preferred the style of a slugger. It made sense, he had the long arms needed for the former, but it was so easy to fall into the latter. Despite his stance, I continued standing there as if we weren’t about to fight.

He sneered at me, and sent a probing jab directly at my face. It landed, much to his surprise, and caused some damage thanks to the brass knuckles he wore. In a flash my right hand was raised and coming towards him from a wide angle. Arnold raised his arm to block, but I twisted my hips and put my whole body into it. My forearm connected with his and knocked it out of place, allowing me to slap his left cheek with an overwhelmingly powerful strike just as I had warned. The attack made my hand sting, but I ignored it.

Arnold recoiled from me, dancing back a step. “Right cheek,” I told him, rubbing my own where he struck me. If it had been a serious punch instead of just a probing one, I never would have taken it head on. It was great for mind games, though.

“You shut your mouth,” he growled, taking a step in and launching a real punch my way.

I kept my eyes on his brass knuckles. It just looked so slow. In my mind, I knew that Arnold was a fast fighter, but the difference in dexterity was so great that it seemed like he was reaching out for a friendly fist bump. I guessed that his dexterity was around ten, far lower than my own. I ducked the punch and brought up by my left hand for another slap. He raised his arm to protect his face, but I used Drop on his brass knuckles mid-swing to prevent it, and my palm struck with enough force to unbalance him.

The enforcer spat blood on the floor, and I shook my hand to lessen the pain. “The rest of you can join in. As long as you don’t go after these three, I won’t deviate from what I say I’ll do, but there’ll be no more of this one chance business.” I began at Arnold and Emily, then started pointing at the thugs. “Right side ribs, stomach still, left knee, right shoulder, right side of the chest, straight to the balls, Derek, the other three can get hit, I dunno, in the leg or something.”

“What did I do!?” the thug named Derek exclaimed.

“You know what you did,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at him. He shrunk back. I looked at Arnold. “You doing alright, buddy? It was just two slaps and a shift in your whole world view, walk it off.”

“Get him!” Emily screeched. There was only a little bit of hesitation before everyone came at me at once.

Rightfully, Emily tried to back into the crowd as a thin cloud of green gas appeared around my head. It smelled like rotten eggs and followed me, but it wasn’t thick enough that I couldn’t see where everyone was. My lungs started to feel like they were burning. It would take some time to build up into something truly debilitating, but I wasn’t going to let it make it that far.

I ducked under Arnold’s attempt to grab me, striking him in the ribs with my elbow and knocking the wind out of him. My eyes stayed on Emily, but I was still aware of everyone in my peripheral vision. I redirected a baseball bat with my arm and Shield before kicking the wielder in his thigh. He stumbled away, groaning in pain, and I was at the Poison Mage.

"Hello," I said as she tried to flee. Reaching out, I hooked my arm with hers and pulled her back. A sword clashed with Shield along my back, but I ignored it for now.

"Let me g-" Emily's shriek turned into a groan of pain as my knee connected with her stomach. Her robe, bulky as it was, took the brunt of the blow but she still doubled over from the pain. The poison cloud surrounding me disappeared and I took a deep breath of fresh air.

I jumped backwards, avoiding another downward strike from the sword. I spun, ducking under another strike from Arnold and lifted my leg to strike the swordsman thug with a vicious kick to the shoulder. His sword dropped to the ground as I planted my feet and took another punch from the boxer.

My Shield shattered as a fist connected with the side of my head. I grit my teeth but grinned, forcing my hand into a fist. I turned to Arnold before he could retract his arm and slid under his guard. I threw a punch at the same place I had hit him with my elbow. He fell backwards onto the ground.

A golden healing glow enveloped Emily as the others came for me. Once she stopped groaning in pain, I sidestepped a knife and kicked out, catching the mage in the stomach once more and causing her to collapse onto the wall. A thrown knife embedded itself halfway in my shoulder, causing me to grunt in pain before it slammed the rest of the way in via a skill. “Looks like someone’s a Knife Master,” I said through gritted teeth as I looked at the man who threw it at me.

I couldn’t help the cry of pain that left my lips as I Pushed the knife out of my body, Spinning it so it was pointing at him, and sent it back at the thug who threw it. It sunk into the right side of his chest, knocking him back. I redirected a baseball bat with my open hand and used it to block a sword strike at my arm. Jumping in the air, I kicked at both of their legs and knocked them over, getting the sword wielding thug in the knee. My back hit the ground, but I kipped up immediately after.

The glow surrounding Arnold diminished and, before he could get up, I was beside him and kicked him in the chest again. He coughed, spewing blood everywhere as the healing hadn’t been enough to top him off yet. A part of me knew that it would be dangerous to go on against them much longer, but another part of me knew that there were healers for that.

Emily had started to stand, having been healed again, and I strode towards her uncontested. The three I hadn’t hurt yet couldn't approach because of the limited space in the hallway, and Derek had actively hid behind the healers. I spun Emily around, pushing her against the wall with one arm and turning my hand into a fist.

“That’s enough, Anthony,” Kayla called out. My fist stopped just as it touched the robes, but I didn’t strike her. Emily flinched away from me and I could see the genuine fear in her eyes.

“Well, I guess that’s the end,” I said, trying to make my voice even. My body was still screaming at me to fight, but I forced my hand to relax as I backed away. Pain coursed through my fingers from using them too much. It was annoying, but I used it to try to calm myself.

I heard Arnold take a step towards me, but when I turned I saw that Jeff had the point of his rapier, Killer Sting, pressed up against the boxer’s neck. “You really don’t want to continue this, man,” Jeff warned. “Let it go.” Even though his weapon was at Arnold’s neck, Jeff kept glancing at me as if to check my condition.

Taking a breath, I stopped between Kayla and Jeff. Corwin leaned up against my side, and I stroked his fur. “The immutable truth,” I said, my voice dark until I corrected it. I spoke with a much more even tone after. “The immutable truth is that my stats are higher than yours. My stats are higher, my class is stronger, and my gear is better.”

I looked from Kayla to Jeff. “That goes for you two, too,” I said, making my voice gentler. “And stats don’t affect everyone the same way, either. Ten strength on Emily is going to look different than ten strength on Arnold, just like it’s going to be different between the Vespae and, say, a giant eldritch jellyfish. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s still something to consider.”

“Should you be lecturing them?” Kayla whispered to me.

“Might as well,” I said with a shrug. “The higher your numbers, the safer you are. That’s why I hunt strong monsters and boss monsters almost exclusively. The higher the level of danger, the better gear and more points you get. But don’t get arrogant, there’s always a bigger fish or a bigger boss. Ya’ll get me?”

A round of murmured acknowledgments greeted me, and I nodded. Arnold was still sizing up Jeff and his rapier, the blond man was nearly his size, and everyone else had the good sense to look like they were about to flee. “Alright, then ya’ll be safe out there and remember that Arnold attacked me first.”

I closed the door that lead to the janitor’s closet and activated Broken Boundary. When I opened it again, a silver light enveloped the doorway. “Kayla, Jeff, get inside, it’ll take you to a safe space.”

Kayla hesitantly stepped inside after calling for Corwin, and he followed her through. Jeff backed away from Arnold, rapier raised high, but lowered it once he made it to me. He gave me a questioning look, but I just tilted my head towards the door. Jeff nodded, and stepped inside. I moved to follow them, but paused.

"And if you're going to fight someone fifteen on one, don't do it in a small ass hallway," I said before leaving.

Passing through the Broken Boundary didn’t feel like anything but walking from one room to another despite effectively being a form of wormhole. There was no stretching or discomfort, and I appreciated that. I nearly ran into Jeff on the other side of the door as he looked about the dining car.

“Excuse me,” I said, walking past them and towards the sleeping car. Kayla put her hand on my shoulder, and I jerked away before I did something impulsive.

“Ant, are you okay?” Kayla asked worriedly. “This is the second time I’ve seen you like this.”

“I’ll be fine once I calm down,” I said, not looking back at them. “You, uh, you can use those points tickets at the food screen. It’s technically a shop since you usually have to pay for meals. I’m going to use the bathroom, and we’ll try heading out again. We’ll avoid the Square for the time being, but upgrade your skills and stats now because we’ll be away from the safe zone for a while.”

“Okay, we’ll be right here,” she said gently.

“Thanks for the lesson, man,” Jeff added.

Slowly, I nodded and headed to my room to clear my head away from the people I didn’t want to accidentally hurt.