25_One man army

The battle was going well at first. If we ignore the exploding plasma buss, and the huge hole in their defenses that is…

Despite all that, the enemy did seem quite out of it, all of them suffered the side effects of some sort of substance abuse or another. And most of them didn't even reach the barricades, let alone do anything else.

The majority of the invading force had fallen unconscious, haphazardly spread around the battlefield and loudly snoring or looking at their hands, as if seeing them for the first time, while blabbering incomprehensible nonsense. However a decent amount of raiders did manage to reach their camp. And those individuals looked awfully familiar.

Skeletal bodies, black spiky leather jackets, hunched postures, flaming sculls, and… a bigass tattoo of a scull painted on their sculls.

Herman knew this man, or men in this case… this was one of the raider generals… Scull destroyer or something… The man and his clones appeared entirely resistant to the effects of the drugs, alcohol and other various substances flowing through the raiders veins (or closest equivalents).

The skeletons did drag their feet and walked akin to zombies than real men. But most probably that was due to the carefree nature of the raider, rather than any drug induced fugue.

"FIRE!" Beth commanded from atop the barricades.

A flurry of crossbow bolts peppered the invaders from head to toe, each projectile hitting their targets and sticking into their leather jackets, making them appear like walking porcupines.

The skeletons halted their advance, slowly looked at each other, then down at their new spike decorated bodies.

"Lol duuude, that's hardcoore." A skeleton said, lovingly admiring his new look.

"Aweesome! Cool as fuck! Epiiic." The army of skeletons congratulated themselves at their fancy spike decorations. Then continued their slow advance towards the camp as if nothing had happened…

As Beth and the rest of the camp defenders continued to futilely shoot more bolts, the time for the mote had come.

Herman’s and the Plant’s work was about to be put to the test.

___

The skeletons stood hesitantly at the edge of the mote, shifting uncomfortably and scratching their sculls with indecision.

"Hey dudes, this way!"

A lone skeleton said to his comrades pointing towards the half melted flaming remains of the buss. It and the remains of the metal barricades had sort of formed a path through the mote, past the barricades and right to the camp’s courtyard.

The defenders didn't pay it too much mind since that whole area was still burning in green plasma inferno, and nobody in their right mind would dare go through there.

The raiders went through there.

However they did not remain unscaled, their cool new spiky decorations had quickly turned into charred pixels. After brief moment of lamentation at the demise of their new cool spikes, the skeletons began advancing again. This time though they finally met real opposition.

"Chaaargeee!" Jimbo roared.

The massive giant and the army at his back rushed at the skeletal invaders, brandishing their weapons and screaming murder with all their worth.

"WRAGH!"

Jimbo crashed into the ranks of the skeletons, driving them down and stomping over the fallen ones with his giant feet. The rest of his people surged after him, slamming into the skeletons and trampling them underfoot. They struck with ruthless efficiency, cutting each one down before driving straight into the next.

The battle ended far more quickly than expected. Each skeleton collapsed with a single hit, its surrounding flame flickering out and leaving only a heap of lifeless bones and scraps of leather rocker attire behind.

In a very short time, the entire raider army was defeated, the mighty strike of Jimbo finishing the last skeletal invader and spilling his bones across the courtyard.

…

"W..we won?" A hesitant voice from the crowd of defenders said, breathing heavily, his eyes wide as saucers from the shock of the battle.

Everyone looked around, hesitant to declare victory at the all too easy fight, but as time stretched on with nothing happening, people began to lower their guards and hesitantly congratulate themselves.

"We won."

"We actually did it!"

"Buahaha!"

"Victory! VICTORYY!"

The chorus of voices roared as one, among the makeshift graveyard of bones and leather.

“Hiissss!” Heartsun growled at a skull that had rolled to the place where Herman and the other plants stood. They have been told in no uncertain terms to stay there, and not interfere with the fighting unless implicitly called by Jimbo or Beth.

It was clear that neither of them trusted Herman or the plants, so they have been conveniently shoved out of the way, where the humans wouldn't have to worry of being stabbed in the back.

"Hmm…" Herman hesitantly kicked the scull, after nothing else happened, he picked it up with both hands and squinted his eyes in suspicion at the tattooed scull.

"Psst, Herman! You want me to tell you what the System inspect skill says about this guy?" Slippy whispered from his place inside the human’s pants pocket, his digital avatar conspiratorially waving for attention from the corner of Herman’s digital overlay.

"Amm, I guess so, just don’t overdo it with the details please. There is something awfully shifty about this situation, and we don’t have time for a lengthy number chanting session."

"Okey dokey." The slip chirped. Visualizing a blue screen directly inside the man’s digital overlay.

Scull_Crusher_15

Race: Undead

Health 100%/100%

Mana…..

Herman flung the skull away in a panic, instinctively waving a hand in front of his face as if to close the info screen.

He was a fucking idiot. The fight ended way too easy, and the remains of the invaders haven't turned to pixels, and as soon as he saw the 100% health, all puzzle pieces fit into place.

"It's a trap! IT’S A TRAAAP! Get away from there!!!" Herman shouted at the celebrating defenders, desperately urging them to move away from the graveyard of bones.

And of course as is the way of the universe, just as countless others before him shouting the same words, the warning came far too late and served nothing more but to cause more drama and panic.

In an instant, pinpoints of red ignited in the skulls eye sockets, then the flame burst into fierce, blazing light.

"Weghehehe…" A slow creepy laughter came out from the fallen skeletons.

"Too late…" all the skulls spoke as one, their raspy, gravelly voices making everyone’s hairs to stand with dread.

WHOOSH!!!

"Gaaahhh fire, fiiireeee , aaaaaaa!"

In an instant, the bone piles strewn across the battlefield erupted into a storm of flames that surged upward and swallowed the defenders standing on them. Fire swept over the humans, sending burning figures stumbling through the camp, dropping their weapons and screaming in agony.

Others threw themselves to the ground in a desperate attempt to smother the flames, but the bone covered earth only quickened their deaths, their bodies bursting into clouds of ash and pixels.

Others were pinned in place by skeletal hands rising from the ground to clamp around their ankles and hold them still until the flames consumed them. And finally a few unfortunate others managed to jump into the mote, the piranha infested mote. The flames did not survive the encounter with the water, neither did the people…

The skull Herman had just thrown lay a few meters away, half embedded in the sand. Its eyes flared open, fixing on the all too vulnerable body of Heartsun.

"Oooh plant duude, extra flammable!" The scull said, as he opened his mouth wide...

Whoosh!

A burst of red flame shot at the sunflower chieftain. The attack landed, but instead of the burning vegetation and the smell of baked sunflower seeds Scull_Crusher_15 expected, he saw the old man from before take the hit.

In the blink of an eye, the geezer had somehow moved in front of the plant, shielding him with his own body.

"Ah well…" The scull mentally shrugged, then rolled away in search for the rest of his body.

Meanwhile Herman stood very very still. What the hell had happened, he should be dead right now, or at least burning around in agony. Instead he was completely unharmed, not even a speck of ash adoring his clothes.

"Flutter flutter, squeel flutter." A shocked, grateful and very concerned Heartsun and other concerned vegetable plants fussed around him. Them just as amazed to see him alive and standing as he was himself.

Something in Herman’s mind clicked, this and all other suspicious events finally stirring his mind to the logical conclusion. There was some real System fuckery going on here. And through all of it there was one consistent parameter, one being which constantly intervened to explain or distract him from the event. If his suspicions were correct, it would happen again in …

3..

2..

1..

"Ohh heyy, we survived didn't we , hehe, I knew that drinking all that water was good for humans. Right? I mean why else do humans drink water if not to resist incineration? Especially in the desert." The digital slip said unconvincingly, his voice full with anxiety and fear.

"Slippyyyy… I know you are responsible for this." The human said, as if scolding a young child.

"Y..you do?" The slip said, sniffing guiltily, his voice breaking up as if he was about to break down and start sobbing.

"Sigh… Slippy, I… I am not mad, but I thought we already spoke about this. We are friends, are we not? Friends tell each other the truth. Whatever it is you are hiding, it affects both of us. I promise not to get angry no matter what, just please, be honest with me."

"Aaaaaaa! It burns ! IT BUUURNS!"

A flaming worker gang member passed near the corner where Herman and the plants were. The man fell down and rolled on the ground, where bunch of vegetables began to throw buckets of water on him.

"God dammit!" Herman swore. As usual his mind had gotten distracted, ignoring everything and everyone for the sake of a single thing.

"Ok Slippy, we will talk more after the battle is over and we are out of the camp. For now just tell me, whatever is that is happening to me, will it keep protecting us from the raiders?"

"Y..yes I think so…" Slippy hesitantly replied between quiet sobs.

"Then that will have to do for now." Herman said with a resolve in his voice.

And with that, an unusual idea took shape in his mind. Grabbing a bucket and holding it ready, he uttered the dreaded words.

"Summon fish…"

___

Jimbo and Beth were doing their best to rally the panicking people and save as many as they could. The two of them were surrounded by a small group of worker survivors at the base of the Inn. Many of them were still aflame, and he and the others did their best to help.

The machine innkeeper had offered her assistance to take care of the wounded, some sort of fancy fire resistance soup, but as usual her help came up with a price tag. And since they had already spend all their money on other things, she refused to help.

So instead of helping with the magical soup, she rushed out of her inn and joined the humans in smothering the burning survivors with sand.

No one trusted the vile mechanoid, and they made that clear at every turn. Staple ignored them and kept helping.

A massive hand clasped around her chassis from behind, hoisted her off the ground, then flung her with brutal force. She tore through the inn’s doors in an explosion of splinters, shot across the room, and finally smashed into the kitchen wall, making the entire inn shake with the impact.

"Stay out of our way machine if you know what’s good for you." Jimbo shouted, then put the disobedient mechanoid out of his mind. He had better things to worry about than dealing with the arrogant automaton.

Just when Jimbo and Beth thought they were getting a handle on the disaster…

The flaming inferno at the center of their camp subsided, the flames revealing the skeletons within, now fully reassembled and staring back with wide grins.

Then, as one they began to slowly advance yet again.

___

Jimbo looked at his people. Most were screaming in agony from their wounds, others lay blissfully unconscious. The rest were weary, frightened, and in no condition to fight. Yet what choice did they have?

It was either that or surrender to the mercy of others and become XP farms. The raiders said they would eventually go away, but Jimbo wasn't born yesterday. 1As soon as they realized how profitable this venture of theirs was, they would establish a permanent “farm” here and charge the whole internet for the privilege of easy leveling.

His people would be slaughtered like animals, over and over again until they completely lost themselves and their minds shattered.

No!

If there was even the faintest chance to avoid that fate, they had to take it. No matter the cost, they would fight!

With great effort, the giant rose to his full height, ignoring the searing pain in his charred legs. He looked down and saw Beth shakily standing on her feet, yet still confident and proud as ever.

She met his gaze, her eyes filled with trust and unwavering resolve.

The rest of his people shared the same looks. No words were needed. Everyone understood what was at stake, a fate far worse than death awaited them all if they failed.