As he looked up into the gruesome features of the hobgoblin, Pete realized that this boss was much bigger than any of the others he had faced thus far. There was also a curious intelligence behind those huge eyes that belied the words the brute had spoken earlier.
The hobgoblin grinned as he leaned in close, showing rows of mismatched teeth that were badly chipped and rotten in places, with golden plates fashioned from Belch Bucks that had been hammered in place covering cavities here and there. When Coin Lord Grindle spoke, his voice was a deep hiss that was more troubling than the harpoon jutting out of Pete’s body.
“They can’t hear you when you are in the cabin with me, boy,” the hobgoblin hissed. “But this is a show, after all, so I won’t tarry long.”
He yanked the chain, and Pete cried out as a stab of excruciating pain throbbed through his shoulder. Blood poured from the wound, and Pete found that his breathing had suddenly become difficult. He thought about pulling out another medkit but realized that healing the wound would do no good while the harpoon was still stuck through his body.
“This world, your people,” Coin Lord Grindle continued. “You have already been sold. What little wealth and worth you possess has been divided up among the high houses of the Dominion, with taxes offered to the Tongsly Belch Corporation. This world has already been divided up and delivered to new owners.”
Pete tried to comprehend the hobgoblin’s words, but the mix of excruciating pain he was feeling and the sudden shift in the figure’s demeanor were baffling. He spat blood, mind racing as he tried to think of a way to get clear of the harpoon.
“I tell you this,” Coin Lord Grindle continued, “because I cannot speak openly of such matters, not outside the dampening field I have built within this cabin, at least.”
He motioned to the dashboard that sat to his left, with dozens of buttons and switches all blaring with chrome and vivid red, sitting beneath two garish, chrome-plated handlebars.
“Why?” Pete spat, knowing then and there that his only option would be to trigger the berserker ability once more and hope that it would be enough to allow him to fight his way out of the situation.
Rumbling laughter spilled out of the hobgoblin’s mouth as he jerked Pete backward, twisting him so that a stab of pain shot through Pete’s chest and back.
“Were you not listening, little one? I seek to confide in the dead, where I can speak plainly and not hide behind the speech and mannerisms of a dullard. The System forces us to play our parts, and mine is that of a mentally deficient brute whose only interest is in mindless slaughter and acquisition.”
It took everything Pete had within him to respond, but he gritted his teeth and spoke, seeing that there might be another way out of the situation.
“If you don’t believe in any of this shit, then why do you keep doing it? Why torture humans?”
The world lurched around him as the hobgoblin yanked him forward, gruesome teeth uncomfortably close, hot, fetid breath causing Pete’s eyes to water as the brute growled.
“Do not misunderstand, worm. I speak with you because this is one of the few occasions where I am able to let my guard down, but I do not require you to bleat your responses. Only listen.” He grinned, and Pete saw the hate in his dark eyes.
“You are meat, human, gristle to be chewed up and spat out. And that is precisely how it should be. Yours is an inferior species, and this is a backwater world with no right to exist within the Dominion as anything other than a staging ground for this season’s contest.”
He lifted Pete’s body, and Pete screamed in agony.
“I flay your people and fuse them to this vehicle because it pleases me to do so, because you are meat and nothing more, because in this cosmos the powerful crush the weak, and the insignificant deserve nothing more than to be ground between the teeth of the mighty.”
Pete felt anger rise from within. Just another thug preying on humanity. Another brutish invader that Pete was going to have to put down if he was going to survive and if humanity was going to have any hope of survival.
He cursed under his breath, spit and blood bubbling at the corners of his mouth as he prepared to trigger Blood Overdraft, but Coin Lord Grindle triggered some kind of ability, slamming a palm against his chest and then shoving that same hand against Pete’s chest. He felt a stab of agony as the harpoon pulled at his shoulder and back, and warnings began showing all over his vision.
>> WARNING! INVASIVE ABILITY EMPLOYED!
>> INVENTORY HAS BEEN COMPROMISED!
>> WALLET HAS BEEN COMPROMISED.
>> TOTAL WEALTH REDUCED TO ZERO BELCH BUCKS.
>> ALL HEALING AND BUFF ITEMS REMOVED FROM INVENTORY.
>> STATUS DEBUFF: FINANCIAL VULNERABILITY
Your Strength and Defenses have been reduced by 50%, and any healing received from allies is reduced by 50% for the next 30 seconds. No offensive abilities can be triggered for the next 30 seconds.
Pete had no time to consider what had just happened. The hulking hobgoblin wrenched him up and flicked his body sharply to the left, triggering some inner mechanism with the harpoon so that the barbs holding the spear through Pete’s body retracted and it slipped free as he sailed through the air.
He spun, trying to lessen the impact of his fall by sticking both hands out in front, but the momentum carried him too hard against the road and his left wrist cracked sharply, bone breaking as he fell hard and crumpled to a heap after rolling over several times.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
On instinct, he tried to summon a medkit.
>> ITEM NOT FOUND!
“Fuck!” he blurted, though the word came out like a muffled gurgle.
The ground shook around him as Coin Lord Grindle’s mammoth form leaped from the Fleshcycle, and he landed just in front of Pete. The brute was still holding the bloody harpoon, but he tossed it away carelessly as he loomed above, grinning a wicked grin.
“I is gonna paste you mucky muck!” he boomed, his voice thankfully no longer amplified by the Fleshcycle’s speakers. “I is gonna rips your hands and feets off one by one and hits you wif ‘em!”
Pete tried to trigger the berserker ability.
>> ABILITY NOT AVAILABLE!
“Damn it!” he spat, trying to get to his feet, cradling his broken arm in front of his wounded chest.
A flash of white appeared as Coop climbed up the hobgoblin’s legs and tried to bite the brute’s nose off. Coin Lord Grindle moved with terrible speed, plucking the ferret off his body and holding Coop in his meaty grip, his eyes still locked on Pete.
“I am gonna strip your skin off, mucky muck, and break your bones!”
The hateful intelligence that looked back at Pete was worse than anything he’d encountered so far. This wasn’t some mindless brute, some programmed game enemy that had no real awareness of what he was doing. The brief moment of lucidity they’d shared together revealed the truth.
Grindle was completely aware of what he was doing. He was a willing participant in the carnage. He was an evil bastard that needed to be put in the ground.
The hobgoblin seemed to sense Pete’s intent. He shook his head, clicking his tongue as Coop struggled desperately to get free.
Wolfy appeared on the opposite side of the brute, lunging for his free hand and grabbing onto it with sharp teeth. Coin Lord Grindle barely noticed the attack and didn’t seem the least bit concerned about the meager damage he was sustaining. His eyes stayed locked on Pete’s as he gripped Coop tighter.
Amid the noise of the surviving Noob Riders and their tortured vehicles, Pete still heard the sound of bones cracking as the hobgoblin boss crushed Coop’s neck and tossed her aside like a discarded ragdoll. She fell to the ground, tumbling over and over until she came to a stop lying on her side, limbs splayed, chest perfectly still.
“NO!” Pete boomed, pushing himself to his feet. “You’ll die for that you fucking—”
The blow that hit him square in the jaw was enough to break several teeth and lift him off the air. Pete felt his neck crack as a group of muscles in his back and shoulders strained under the sudden shock of the blow. When he hit the ground, he was only dimly aware of the fact as the world around him shuddered and he hit his head hard enough to make him see stars.
Pete was distantly aware of the sound of a gunshot and thought he could even hear the casino-style bells of the slot rifle, suggesting that Craig had joined the fight. There were other sounds as well, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of them.
[Sam] I’ll get Coop, Pete! I think she’s still alive. I don’t… I don’t know. But I’ll try to get her out. But you need to get up. You need to move!
He would have laughed if he could manage it. Pete was reasonably sure that his jaw was broken, and his hands had gone completely numb. A bright red skull icon displayed in the corner of his vision was the only thing he could see clearly. It flashed angrily, reminding him of the brutal debuff that had crippled him, but it hardly seemed necessary given the excruciating pain he was suffering and the fact that his body wouldn’t respond to his command.
>> WARNING: FATAL INJURY DETECTED!
You have sustained a fatal injury and require healing immediately. If you do not heal within the next thirty seconds, all vital brain functions will cease, and you will be removed from the Dominion Ultrimax Contest.
Any funds or loot you currently have in your possession will be transferred to the Tongsly Belch Corporation unless you give it to other members of your party before you expire.
This time Pete did manage to laugh, a gurgling hiss that Coin Lord Grindle interpreted as mockery. The huge hobgoblin leaned down close, grabbing Pete by the neck and lifting him up into an awkward kneeling position.
Blood flowed down from Pete’s mouth and spilled from the wound in his chest and various other abrasions. His vision swam and his arms hung loose at his sides. He thought he could make out Wolfy attempting to bite through the hobgoblin boss’s thick armor, but the hellhound barely made a scratch and Grindle didn’t seem to care. Occasional shots of gunfire bounced off the armor too, and Pete presumed that Craig was attempting to intervene, though he couldn’t see or hear the little goblin.
The only two things Pete could actually hear were the thudding of his own struggling heart and the growl of Coin Lord Grindle’s voice as the big brute held him up and showed him a closed fist with four shiny gold rings on the fingers, each one featuring a Belch Buck that had been polished to a brilliant sheen.
“What yous laughing at, mucky muck?! What yous think is so funny?”
[Nero-Private-Pete] Pete! Can you hear me?
[Pete-Private-Nero] Yeah.
[Nero-Private-Pete] Good. That’s good. While I cannot specifically aid you in this fight, Pete, I feel it is my responsibility as your tutor to urgently remind you that there are certain abilities you may have access to which you have not utilized yet, abilities that are not currently countered by the debuff you are suffering.
Something flailed about in Pete’s mind as he desperately tried to understand what Nero was saying. The hobgoblin was still talking, shaking his body violently as he asked his questions and demanded answers, not that Pete would have been able to utter a reply anyway. The boss seemed utterly incensed, or perhaps this was all just part of the show.
[Nero-Private-Pete] The ability I refer to specifically relates to a certain item in your possession which links to your class.
Mind racing, blood pouring to the ground, and his body on the verge of shutting down while Coin Lord Grindle continued to shout at him, Pete searched through his inventory in the hopes of finding what it was that Nero was referring to.
>> WARNING: Death imminent! Seek healing immediately!
It took far too long to find the exclamation mark hovering above the Red Ledger symbol. When he mentally clicked on the mark, it showed, among the various abilities the book possessed, the Settle the Books ability.
>> SETTLE THE BOOKS
Once per twenty-four hours, the Red Ledger may be opened in mid-combat to “settle the books.” When triggered, this ability will restore 5% Max HP per 100 Thrift spent, and the healed individual will gain +15% Lifesteal for 10s, gaining healing for any damage they are delivering. Settle the Books can also be used to heal an ally.
>> AVAILABLE THRIFT: 1900
“What yous got to say for yousself, hooman!” Coin Lord Grindle boomed, shaking Pete so violently that one of Pete’s slack hands whipped up and punched him in his own face.
Somewhere in the midst of all that pain, Pete experienced a peculiar moment of clarity. He heard the hobgoblin hiss a whispered growl so close that it was likely no one else could hear it.
“You can’t die already, you pathetic worm. I need to make a show of killing you. If you die now, like this, the System will tax my fee and I’ll be demoted!”
And there it was, the real reason for all this shouting, for tossing him around like a ragdoll and parading about. The big hobgoblin clearly overestimated how tough humans were, even with game-enhanced physiology.
Rather than replying, Pete triggered Settle the Books and poured as much thrift as he could manage into the ability. He sensed the strange tome open up, its pages unfurling as it stretched its covers wide like the jaw of a great beast. All of this was simply a mental impression, of course, and Pete couldn’t say whether it was real or simply an attempt by his fevered mind to make sense of what happened next.
He heard a roar of triumph which sounded like that of a lion as a sudden burst of power and healing flooded through his system. Coin Lord Grindle blinked in confusion, still holding Pete by the neck but flinching as a flare of violent red light filled Pete’s body, healing power cleansing his system of fatigue and injury.
>> 1800 THRIFT SPENT
>> 85% LIFE REGAIN ENGAGED
Pete didn’t wait for the announcements to finish. He triggered Blood Overdraft, gritting his teeth as he rammed the blade up into the flesh of Coin Lord Grindle’s right arm.