The wolves summoned by Melissa had all fused together to form one entirely new entity.
Standing 3m tall upon its hindlegs, with its every massive plodding footstep causing the earth to tremble, Akira thought it looked like a Gundam. Only—instead of metal—it was constructed entirely out of a mass of snarling, howling, squealing low-level wolves. With its head, in contrast to its hulking enormous frame, being that of a lone, cutely yapping wolf pup!
Vash sprinted across the front lawn, into the suburban street lined with sleek gray sedans, spun between a succession of cookie cutter clean suburban homes.
The being lumbers in pursuit of the mage,
Lifting its slightly bulged, round-barreled shape right arm...it is revealed to be a cannon.
"JEE-SUS KURAISTU!" Vash yelled with a last-ditch lunge forward, narrowly escaping the ensuing blast range of an exploding family dog-wolf projectile missile. Landing flat, splayed out on his chest across the sun-heated asphalt, he feels the warm touch of blood trickling down his leg from a shrapnel wound.
Akira and Kiko turned to Melissa. "What the Hell is that thing?" Akira asked.
She shook her head, suddenly harried-looking. "Umm…no. This is bad. I didn't expect to encounter the [Wolftron] here. If someone kills enough of a certain mob type, they accrue a [Wild Bounty]. The higher the bounty, the more aggression they'll face from enemies of that mob type, and if the Bounty gets high enough…"
"Then you get [Wolftron]," Akira filled in the blanks, and she gave a tense nod.
Kiko urged, "can't you call it off, using your [Mother of All Wolves] skill that lets you command wolves?"
"It game doesn't count it as a wolf anymore, but a whole new species."
"So there's no other option but to put it down," Akira said.
Pig-people in their nice suits and hats and dresses were pouring out of their houses, screaming, fleeing from the barrage of explosions.
Some…weren't fast enough. Yet none had any means to reasonably fight back.
During the ensuing chaos, Vash had limped away to find cover behind a low terrace wall.
"Fireball Storm!"
A basketball-sized orb of fire floated above Vash's head, and rapidly fired off shots of fireballs at the [Wolftron]. Some of the countless wolves that made up its body screamed in pain, disintegrating into pixels from the blasts. Like peeling the scales off a giant, furry fish.
BINGO! He thought. If I shoot it enough times, its entire body will crumble!
This surge of confidence would quickly be stifled, however, as the puppy dog head of the [Wolftron] then shifted: its adorable eyes now honed directly onto Vash.
ARF! ARF! *pant pant pant*
It raised its arm cannon and fired off a volley of shots, with less than a second of delay in between each firing, filling the air with a moving curtain of thick black smoke.
Akira had watched Vash's attack, and come to the same conclusion.
"I need gold coins, and lots of them," he said urgently. Each individual wolf comprising the [Wolftron] might still count as a separate target for his [Love Prices].
"There's money in my purse!" Kiko told him. "I left it in the bedroom! Hurry!"
"I'm faster. I'll get it—" Melissa began to disintegrate into her [Pollination Form], but was stopped by Akira suddenly gripping her on the shoulder.
"No, stay here," he said, having remembered that Melissa could aid in someone's recovery with her [Blessing Pollen] skill. "If Vash survived, he'll definitely need healing!" He pointed to where Vash had been moments before—the surrounding air still too thickly clouded with smoke to see through—as the [Wolftron] had since ceased in its attacks and resumed its deathly march down mainstreet.
"Fine," Melissa agreed: even though she still hated Vash's guts, he certainly didn't deserve to suffer and die.
While she conjured a gust of wind to blow the remaining smoke away, Akira turned to Kiko.
"I'll get the purse. You stay here, and put out some fires."
"Akira-sama…I wish I could do more. I wish I was stronger, with a rarer class."
He smiled at the sweetness of her words, pulling her close, and kissed her on the lips.
"Whatever you are, whatever you become…it will always be enough."
She looked slightly relieved. He could feel the love in the way that she looked at him. "Stay safe, darling."
He nodded. "You too." Then swiftly turned, and bolted for the house. "I'll be right back!"
After he was gone, Kiko wondered if he literally meant she should put out fires. Like…with her [Watermold] skill. She quickly looked around—saw all the burning houses and destroyed cars—and searched for a water source…ultimately settling on a sewer lid.
She rolled up her sleeves, heading toward it. Time to get dirty.
Melissa had cleared the smoke, to reveal the craterous ruin of what had once been a beautiful green lawn, the terrace wall completely obliterated.
And all that was left of Vash…was his trusty [Scorchbrand Slugger].
"Oh, no! VASH!" All the venom she'd felt toward him previously at once melted away.
After picking up the [Slugger], being barely able to heft it across the ground with both arms, she noticed the door to the house with the destroyed lawn was left ajar, a trail of blood leading in from the doorstep—scarring the face of a WELCOME mat—the sound of pained groans and moans and mumbled curses entertwined with rap poetry lines coming from within.
"Vash? Are you here? PLEASE don't die! I'm sorry I sent all those wolves after you."
*cough* *cough* "BAY-BEE…girl…" His voice was faint; weary. She found him collapsed on the floor, in the retro chic kitchen, propped up against a low cupboard.
One whole side of his body was covered in blood. His shades had been shattered.
Melissa had a quavering look, like she was about to cry but hiding it beneath an angry facade.
"You big dummy!"—she growled—"Why are you always so reckless?!"
He coughed, in what seemed like an attempt at a laugh judging by his crooked smile.
"Because…You Only Live Once. YOLO. So you've gotta…" *cough* *cough* "Make it count."
Melissa sighed. "You're really useless, did you know that?" She knelt beside him, her hands flowing green with the healing power of her [Blessing Pollen] skill. "I don't know how you've survived this long without me."
Me neither, he thought, but lacked the will currently to say.
Deep down, in the pit of his soul, he'd always known Melissa would never return to him.
That for her, each reincarnation was like starting over from a blank slate, with all the keepsakes she'd gathered throughout her many lives being tucked away in old forgotten storage rooms inside the temples built in her honor across the land. And the people she would meet, even the lovers she'd had, being swept away with the tides of time.
That what she wanted…was something permanent. Something that would last forever.
"Fami…ly," Vash murmured, though she couldn't even hear it.
Melissa had employed the use of her [All in the Family] to make him the happiest man in the world, once. A gift he had so thoughtlessly squandered. Now because of his stubbornness, a [Wolftron] was rampaging through a village, slaughtering innocent people.
Feeling his life slowly returning to him, he clenched his jaw in righteous anger.
"I'll make it right, baby. I swear."
Melissa sighed. "Just don't do anything stupid."
Akira found the purse in the bedroom, and plucked out four gold coins in total. Four bullets for his gun. Four shots at bringing down the Wolftron.
This is what he tried to avoid: getting too involved with the game world. Letting it wrap its fingers around his brain like those days when he was a kid without a care in the world, huddled around the flickering screen late at night playing Final Fantasy, or that long string of big-name MMOs that all gradually died out over the years. He used to be a gamer, but not anymore. At least that's what he had told himself.
He was always a gamer, though, loathe as he was to admit. It was simply in his DNA.
Only now, he wasn't that same kid anymore...because now, he had a responsibility. He had people near to him that he wanted to protect, and a village to save.
Akira Maximilian…was now a family man. Err…or squirrel. Or whatever.
Corpses were littered across the once-tranquil lane when he exited from the house, coins in hand, strolling at a calm pace into the middle of the street.
Kiki was nearby, funneling sewer water to douse a flaming house, but froze when she saw him.
She smiled, thinking he looked so cool: like a businessman with a plan.
The [Wolftron] had stalled in its reign of terror at the end of the street, too; as if it could sense the arrival of—finally—a worthy opponent to match its power.
Arf! The pup that served its central controller yapped. (You're gonna die!)
Akira grinning while tossing one of the coins up and down in his hand, biding his time to strike.
The [Wolftron] raised its arm cannon and he became still, locking the coin in his palm.
What he was planning…he'd seen this in a movie before.
A red light flashed in the depths of the [Wolftron]'s cannon, and that's when he made his move:
"Love Prices!"
He targeted one of the individual wolves that made up the [Wolftron] with his command:
"CRAWL INSIDE OF THE ARM CANNON!"
The targeted wolf locked eyes with him—the skill had landed—however…
FAIL! The words appeared as a large pop-up window.
"Shit!"
KABOOM! It fired its family dog-wolf-blast.
"AKIRA!" Kiko screamed, fearing the worst. When suddenly, a fireball came sailing past to intercept the family dog-wolf-missile in midair, just before it could reach him.
Vash had emerged onto the street, his wounds recovered enough that he could rejoin the fray.
"Go on, pupil," he said, giving a wink and a thumbs up. "Give it another try!"
Akira tried his [Love Prices] again but once again it failed, and he was saved by Vash again.
He had two coins left: two more shots. The suburb was a warzone lined with deep craters and fissures, the pig-people long since evacuated.
Akira reached for another coin. But when the [Wolftron] fired again, unexpectedly, he dropped it.
"Shit…one more coin left."
He could feel that this was it: his big, crowning badass Hero moment.
He had come so far, in such a short period: from starting out teasing someone, for risking their life to save others...to becoming a real Hero in his own right.
In that moment of clarity, his fourth and final [Love Prices] did not fail.
His timing was perfect: the wolf he chose for his target obediently hurrying into the [Wolftron]'s arm cannon, just as it was charging up for another shot—causing it to JAM.
Aroo? The puppy at the head of the beast tilted its head to the side, confused. (What's this?)
…
KABOOOOOOOOOM!
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Wolftron slain! EXP + 150
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