The red health bar above Auden’s head is still a third full. What the hell? I know I must have done at least 150 points of damage. How much has this guy invested in his constitution?
The random firing stops and I hear Rothfus’ voice, “It appears as if the blinding effects of the flash bomb are wearing off ladies and gentlemen and may be a turning point in the fight.”
Auden rubs his eyes and blinks a few times. His vision must be clear now because he looks right at me, still lying on the floor, and smiles wickedly. He points his laser Gatling gun at me and pulls the trigger. I activate Roll to avoid the fire but am repeatedly hit before I can get out of the way of the lasers. From all the red 5s that float away from me, I’m sure I’m at least down to half health. As I get to my feet, I expect to be blasted apart. Instead, I hear a clicking sound and look up to see Auden looking down at his gun which is out of ammunition.
I take the opportunity to open my inventory and grab the small laser pistol there. I only have a skill level of two in Handguns and nothing in lasers, so I don’t expect to hit very often. But it’s sort of all I have left.
Auden in the meantime has dropped the massive two-handed gun and equipped a large double headed hammer. Smiling at me he says; “Now it’s time to show you a real hammer.”
He raised the hammer over his head, intent on smashing my skull in, and takes a menacing step forward, only to impale his right foot on another floor trap. Auden grimaces and small red five floats away from him.
I smile at Auden, raise the laser pistol, and pull the trigger. A green bolt of energy flies from the pistol and races right past Auden to hit the chain link fence behind him and disappear.
Auden laughs at my poor aim, and I see his feet glow red, then he bends his knees and jumps into the air. I watch him fly into the air, and the hammer in his hands glows red. I recognize a special attack when I see one and activate Roll. My body flies backward, and I feel myself rolling backward along the ground. Even as I’m rolling, I feel the impact of Auden’s hammer as it hits the ground where I was just standing. The floor shifts under me, and I’m knocked out of my roll.
As I get to my feet, I see Auden pulling his hammer from the small crater it created as he slammed it into the ground. Ouch, that must have been one powerful special move. Auden turns his head towards me, the vicious smile still on his face, and I squeeze off a few more shots at him as I back away.
Unfortunately, I have some stormtrooper level shooting skills apparently because only one out of ten shots seem to hit where I’m aiming. Auden seems to shrug off even those rare hits as he chases me around the ring. I realize I’m about to run into my floor traps and I leap to my left onto the chain link fence. The move reminds me that I absorbed the Spider Climber ability from those zombie scalers. I feel a steady drain on my TP but disregard the pull as I feel myself stick to the fence. I crawl along the chain fence like your friendly neighborhood spider-man until I’m on the other side of the traps where Auden started the fight.
Now sticking to the wall, I continue to shoot at Auden from an elevated position as he stares incredulously at me from the floor below. A few red fives float away from him as a couple of green lasers hit him. The small pains snap him out of his surprise at my mobility, and his feet glow red again. I’m ready to crawl out of the way when I feel my feet slip from the wall.
Time seems to come to a crawl as I slip from the wall and I realize that with all the abilities I’ve used, I must have run out of TP and the spider climber ability turned off. As the floor approaches, I catch movement in front of me and see Auden flying through the air, his red hammer raised above his head for a deadly blow.
As the hammer strikes, time returns to normal, and bones break as my body caught between the hammer and the floor. A red fifty-nine floats away from me as I lay broken on the ground and the edges of my vision redden. I know that I’m dying and it’s not pleasant. Pain radiates through my entire body, and it’s even worse when I feel my limp form being picked up.
Auden’s face is mere inches from my face as he taunts me, “You thought you could insult and challenge me in front of all these people? Now I’m going to show you why everyone is afraid of messing with me before I kill you.”
Rothfus’ voice reaches my ears over the speaker system, “Oh no, folks. The fight isn’t over, and Auden doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to let it end.” Auden’s hands glow a sickly green, and I hear Rothfus continue, “And…yes, he’s activating his family’s signature ability—Steal.”
Auden looks around at the crowd while still holding me up and yells, “Steaclass="underline" Hammer Time.”
The crowd gasps as a green glow envelops my body, and I feel something being torn away from me. The glow travels along Auden’s arms and flows into him. His eyes glow green briefly, and his grin only widens as he sees the realization dawn on me of what he’s done.
I feel myself drop to the ground and can barely raise my head enough to see Auden walk away from me to the other side of the ring. Holding his large hammer in his hands, Auden looks at me and yells, “Hammer Time.” Auden’s arms swing automatically, and they throw the large weapon. The last thing I see is the hammer arcing through the air, speeding downward towards my face. I hear a sickening crunch, and then everything goes black.
Chapter 31
When I next open my eyes, I find myself staring up at the ceiling of my bedroom. I wonder for a moment how I got there; then the memories come flooding back. I sit upright, and my hands grasp my head, frantically searching for the damage caused by that massive hammer. I breathe a sigh of relief at not finding my skull crushed. Standing up, a quick examination of my body assures me that I’m whole and unharmed.
That’s one thing I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. Dying and respawning. It’s happened a couple of times now. Every time I wake up in a state of shock and I have to reassure myself that I’m not still broken and bleeding. It must have something to do with the sudden change in stimulus in my mind. One moment I’m in pain, dying. The next I’m whole and unhurt lying in bed.
I shake my head to clear the cobwebs and sit back down on the bed. I pull up my most recent notifications to see what finally got me.
Hammer Time has been removed from your ability list.
Auden Arschloch III has killed you.
Respawn in 3...2...1.
You’ve respawned at your default location, your home base.
You lose 1920 XP. XP needed to next leveclass="underline" 4913.
After I read the notifications, a burning sensation begins to grow inside me. My fists clench, and my face feels hot.
Dammit. That rich ass knocked me back to the beginning of level 7. I lost the same amount of XP that I earned fighting that zombie boss.
As the pressure builds up inside, my vision goes red. When it clears, the room is trashed. My mattress is leaning against the wall. My dresser is knocked over, and my clothes are thrown all over the room.
I feel my phone vibrate. Checking it, I find that it’s Lillian calling. I automatically tap the red button and send her to my voicemail. While I don’t feel nearly as angry anymore, I don't feel like talking either.
There’s a flash of light, and my bedroom door turns green. It opens, and there stands Lillian, still in her party dress. She walks into the room, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. I can see she’s holding her cell phone in her right hand. Lillian looks around the room. Her gaze pauses on the overturned dresser and the clothes everywhere and looks at me questioningly.