Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five - It's Doable

  I dove out of the office chair and crashed to the ground next to it. Just in time, too. A large chunk of something metallic (A wheel hub?) smashed into the chair and flipped it over.

  Staying on the dusty ground was nice and all, but not my idea of a good time, so I rolled across the floor, then jumped up to my feet only to duck again as something flew past my head.

  The kobolds weren't happy, so I decided not to stay. At least, not in the middle of the room. I flung a Shadow Bolt at the big guy, and he ducked to the side, avoiding it. It won me a few seconds to run off and around the outer edge of the room.

  I had two options. Stay and fight, or get the hell out.

  Actually, the latter of those was... not too easy. The kobolds had kind of accidentally positioned themselves between me and the entrance to the office. Or maybe I'd jumped in the wrong direction? Yeah, that was more fair they weren't thinking that many steps ahead, I don't think.

  I kept low, firing another Shadow Bolt, then another. Three in a row was starting to feel taxing, but the black darts shooting across the room with low thrums made the kobolds keep their snouts down, so I didn't care.

  Once I was behind cover--some large machine that I couldn't and didn't care to identify--I took a moment to let my heartrate settle while I fished out my revolver.

  Six shoots. Loud ones. That would attract attention to the building, though I wasn't sure if anyone would be stupid enough to come and poke their noses in to see.

  Could I nail all six shoots in a row? There were four kobolds out there, they were more or less still grouped up on one side.

  I poked my head around the corner, then back, just in time too, since something blurred by and cracked against the wall behind me.

  Glancing back, I found a foot-long piece of wood jammed into the tin outerwall of the building. Ah, crap, they were using arrows indoors? I supposed it made sense.

  The kobolds weren't subtle about their plan. Two of them circled around to my left, the other two held the exit and most of the room, both of them holding onto atlatls, ready to fling.

  I looked around for something to grab and fling at the two, anything to distract, when my eyes landed on a large breaker panel. One of them had a piece of tape next to it with LIGHTS written across it in sharpie.

  The two coming around to my left were approaching fast.

  "Fuck it," I muttered before running over to the wall. The two jumped at the sudden movement. It was the big guy and the little one with the backpack. Both of them were armed. The larger had a long wooden board with obsidian chips fixed to it, the little one had a long, curved knife made of knapped stone.

  I gripped the knob on the side of the breaker box and slammed it down.

  The lights came on all at once.

  If it wasn't for my new cyberware, I might have been blinded myself, at least for a second or two. But as it was, my eyes adjusted to the brightness instantly.

  The kobolds weren't expecting it. Big guy still had his torch, but it wasn't nearly as bright, and I imagined that his vision wasn't made for such sudden changes because he raised a hand to cover his eyes.

  I took three long steps closer, aimed my revolver up, then squeezed the tigger.

  The upper half of his skull splattered all the way up to the ceiling.

  Moving to the side with a quick step, I tugged my combat knife out, then swiped at the smaller kobold. He screamed at me and swiped in return. My blade met his fingers, and his angry scream turned into a pained one a moment before his knife clattered to the ground.

  I put some weight into my next cut, turning most of my body around at the hip and slamming the edge of my blade against the kobold's neck. Or at least his lower jaw. With the cutting edge and the strength I put into it, it didn't matter too much.

  I ducked back into cover, just in case, while the smaller kobold gasped to death beside me. It was gross, but I replaced my knife in its sheath, all bloody, and then two-handed my revolver.

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  When I came around the corner, I was already aiming. Two shots, one for each of the two kobolds waiting on the outside, then two more to make sure.

  The echo of the gunshots died down, and I scanned the room. It was nice and quiet. No monsters left.

  I wanted to start looting, but first, I reloaded. I didn't have all of my gear with me. I was dressed in civies, just normal clothes that wouldn't draw much attention to me, but that also meant no armour, no gear. My sword was in my bike, so was the rest of my stuff. I hadn't brought all of my guns though, since there was only so much room.

  Bit of a mistake, that.

  Was it worth sticking around? I'd kind of tipped the balance already. Whatever happened now, it wouldn't play out like the last few loops, or any of the loops where I didn't interfere at all.

  I looked at the portal. It had changed a little. The energy around it was more violent and chaotic, and there was a certain... flavour to it that was different than what was there before. That wasn't the right term, but it's what came to mind when I looked it over.

  Somehow, it was more disjointed than the portal in Podunky.

  I moved a little closer, a hand raising up to feel the currents of magic around the portal. IT was almost like a faint wind was blowing...towards it, but not?

  I had a small suspicion. Obviously, it wasn't anything I could prove, but maybe... when people talked about breaches, it was often in the plural. Portals that went wild tended to go off together. Like, three or four in a region would destabilize all at once. It was common.

  Did one portal breaching cause others in the area to do the same?

  I mean, it could be written off as coincidence too. What caused a portal to breach was time. That was very well documented. So portals in an area that wasn't maintained or guarded or checked over would always breach eventually. And if one went off, why not a few?

  I worked my jaw. I'd have to do some research into that.

  Later, because the portal ahead of me wiggled and then shifted.

  I backed up, reloading the last couple of rounds into my six-shooter as quickly as I could. Three kobolds stepped out, sniffing the air. Two larger ones, one average. All three had some sort of armour on. It was all tanned leathers and some studded gambesons of dubious quality, but it was armour, and their weapons were... if not well-made, then at least clearly better than just claws and teeth.

  I shot all three up right away, not giving them the time to argue or do anything smart.

  Right, they were starting to come out. I'd have to be quick about the looting.

  I reloaded again, then started checking the bodies. There really wasn't much to find. A few bangles and weird jewelry, but all of a quality that... left a bit to be desired.

  I wasn't interested in beads and weapons that were primitive a thousand years ago. I didn't feel any magic from them either.

  I decided to head out before things got a little too spicy. Only... I paused by the entrance, then shrugged and Reloaded.

  Okay. Time for another attempt, only this time, I'd be pressing into the portal before it breached.

  I suddenly found myself way back in the garage, next to my bike. Right... now, what did I need for this? More gear, that was for sure. My shotgun would be nice to have. Armour too.

  What else? I was going to be fighting somewhat intelligent foes, which made everything a whole lot harder. The kobolds I'd fought on my first solo outing had been E-rank. They weren't much tougher than the average human. Less, even. D-rank kobolds though? The bigger ones looked about as tough as the mid-portal boss that I'd found in that E-rank portal. Their gear was better, they all had weapons.

  Yeah, the portal was going to be a tricky one, but I was pretty sure I could take it on, especially with Fran and Becky by my side.

  ***