The hunter known as Kurkuril surveyed a tall building.
He'd been on this new planet for nearly two "weeks" now, all while doing what was needed to keep a low profile as he searched for hints about the final objective seeded in this geographic area.
The entire competition was based on an old fable from some long dead culture and streamed to numerous systems — though it was too contrived for general consumption, as nearly the entire thing was contestants searching for clues to the location of one big final fight. Most of it was boring for all involved.
The relative obscurity of this event worked in Kurkuril's favor. It meant there wasn't too much money in it, so competition wouldn't be too high — perfect for giving his latest "upgrades" some testing.
Kurkuril was never in it for the money anyway, so this suited him fine.
Throughout the hunt he tried to draw as little blood as possible, but that wasn't out of fear of the locals, and certainly not out of decency. The local species had weapons that could be a concern, but their typical law forces didn't have access to anything too threatening.
The main issue was if they started attacking — he could be exposed to others seeking The Mountain, who would love a chance to eliminate distracted competition before the main event.
It wasn't easy to collect the hints, but his thoroughness paid off. Everything pointed here.
He could see why they would choose this place. It was truly picturesque, which is something the producers look for. A massive building, with a large natural park in its shadow. He was sure that there was some sort of statement being made there, but Kurkuril wasn't one who paid much attention to anything outside of that which was relevant to his goals.
Kurkuril knew that these buildings always had staircases or elevators inside, but if someone had beaten him here, those would be watched and potentially trapped. He proceeded inside with caution. He was wearing a loose-fitting human "hoodie" with a backpack. His gait and mannerisms were finely controlled to appear as human as possible.
Despite this being his first true-death competition, he felt no fear.
His success in core world matches had earned him a fortune of new augments from rewards and sponsorships — not even counting his new secret weapon, which made him feel invincible. If anybody needed an immortality field for this upcoming fight, it would be those foolish enough to go up against him.
Even with all of that, he went all-in and spent even more from his own pocket on anything that would give him an edge. He could have bought a ship, but instead opted to spend that money on traps, medical supplies, and a few extra-powerful weapons that promised to make the battlefield inhospitable for any potential threats in a wide area.
With all these purchases he could barely afford a ride, much less a ship. But that was okay.
Two outcomes were most likely: either he wins and buys himself a vessel, or he's somehow forced to withdraw and just takes the ship from the fool that brought him here. There was a distant third possibility that would render the need for transportation moot, so it wasn't even worth considering.
He took a long hard look up the edifice, searching for climbers. He considered that climbing was rather rare in this society, and anyone doing so would likely attract a great deal of attention. That, and showing his back to the enemy was a likely way to die without knowing what killed you.
He decided to try inside first.
He watched civilians go in and out of the elevators, presumably not being decapitated by some sort of trap. He was trying to think of what sort of traps would ignore civilians when he noticed ash-like particles raining from the sky around the building.
The particles froze mid-air and started reflecting a light from on high, illuminating the entire building in crimson. A long blaring horn could be heard not only from anyone in the building, but likely for several blocks around.
Right after The Mountain officially made itself known, the elevators exploded.
The blast evaporated anyone within close proximity and sent Kurkuril flying backward through the entryway. He handsprung back onto his feet.
No point in being subtle now.
He could suddenly hear weapons and screaming of all sorts from all directions. He bent down and leaped from the sidewalk into the newly opened glass wall of the building's 2nd story. Despite taking minor flesh wounds from shattered glass, he knew this path was the safest open to him.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He scrambled to find the elevators on the 2nd floor, but when he pried open the doors the shaft was too damaged to get through at this level. He was just about to jump back out again to find a way to climb to the next floor when he found a staircase.
He ripped open the door and immediately started sprinting up the stairs, each hand suddenly filled with a long, thin, curved blade.
Those evacuating the fastest unfortunately died the fastest as well, as he slashed his way through.
This kept going for some time until an explosion rocked the building. Smoke bellowed down the stairs and enveloped him. He groped for the nearest doorway and slammed through it, opening into a hallway of half-walls and workstations.
There was a crowd waiting for him, which he literally tore a hole through as he sprinted for the nearest windows and leapt.
He smashed through, using his suddenly hooked blades to grab the lip of the ceiling, swinging and spinning his way up onto the outer edifice. The blades adapted once more, this time taking on a serrated pickaxe-like form as he used them to ascend ever higher.
Kurkuril made it up two more floors when a projectile whined past him and exploded, sending glass and shrapnel raining down. His cloak, shoulders, and forearms were shredded.
He turned to see his assailant — an insectoid creature with four spindly arms. It had used one set to activate a shoulder-mounted launcher.
This would be Kurkuril's first real kill since he got here. The pathetic locals didn't count.
He held on to the lip of the next floor with his left hand and pointed his right arm downward. A large bracer on his right arm protruded outward, forming a long barrel which spewed globules of capsule-powered gel-acid in a wide cone, focused on the insectoid.
The creature used its powerful legs to spring upward — but did so straight through the stream of acid. It shot right past Kurkuril and away, no longer having the claws required to make purchase.
More fire came from below, which caused Kurkuril to once more go into the building and ascend as far as the stairs would take him. The stairway was filled with a cloud of bladed bat constructs, so he had to find another way or risk getting diced.
Rather than try his luck climbing the opposite side, he first tried the elevators again. There was a long shaft going almost to the top. He noticed a few other open doors on the way up — perfect ambush spots, but better than being exposed to ground fire.
He climbed the shaft.
As he reached the bottom of the first open door, he pushed backward, then kicked off the back wall, shooting through the aperture into a flying tackle with blades at the ready. He caught his opponent off-guard, who died before they even stopped rolling.
He laid a trap and moved back to the shaft.
He would repeat the same cycle twice more, killing a total of four more combatants — with only the last one being prepared to fight back. He found himself in a few situations that may have been fatal prior to his last upgrade, but he was now able to calculate and react far faster, which allowed him to sustain only the moderate wounds required to give himself a fatal advantage.
He took a moment to apply healing gel to his more grievous injuries, lay more traps, and slot another capsule into his acid spammer. The flesh wounds sustained from the climb had all but sealed by now, just in time to get a new batch.
He knew with certainty that the final door was trapped — if not by other contestants, then by the producers.
He found another broken window and climbed to the top that way instead.
As he ascended, he peered through the window into the last floor, which had a perfect view of the last open elevator door. He was just in time for the show, as another less-cautious combatant leaped through the open elevator doorway…
…and into four evenly spaced hunks on the ground, joining what might have been two or maybe three others judging by the remnants. Only fresh blood showed where the wire trap had been placed.
Kurkuril couldn't see anyone alive. He quietly pulled himself to the top of the building.
The roof was bathed in red light as a fist-sized ruby known as the "Heart of the Mountain" slowly descended from the sky. It would still be several minutes before it was ready to be claimed.
He immediately saw several combatants. One was desperately trying to gain distance using some sort of plasma whip, while another chased with a void-black spear. A third combatant was halfway between the distracted pair and Kurkuril — on his knees, applying copious amounts of healing gel to a stomach wound that refused to close.
Kurkuril had to act fast.
He sprinted toward the whip and the spear, dispatching the third combatant without so much as a passing glance. The moment the one with the whip saw him running up, the one with the spear also reacted.
Kurkuril aimed. They both dove off the building with a spray of acid immediately behind them.
Kurkuril quickly loaded another capsule and ran to the edge to finish his quarry. He peered over and saw them both helplessly falling away — even if they recovered, they wouldn't make it back in time.
He felt his blood rushing. Victory was so close.
Unfortunately, the single moment he spent reveling at the edge was several moments too many.
Somebody landed behind him, immediately putting him into a wristlock.
He whipped around as fast as he could to find a cobalt blue giantess sporting a massive, gnarled scar on her half-shaved head. She towered over him.
His new gift gave him the ability to process truly amazing amounts of data, as well as formulate and simulate responses in an instant. Unfortunately, these predictions relied on her not already having him by the wrist — and the two being at least close to the same level of physical strength.
While he was still processing his options, she quickly twisted the arm and tore it off with all the difficulty of pulling a dry leaf from a tree.
Kurkuril was stunned in disbelief, and for a quarter moment completely dissociated.
Her other hand was glowing as she pulled it back and slammed him down and away — the force of her blow shattering glass around the entire block. He was sent through the lip of the roof, into the sky, and through one of the buildings across the street.
