Chapter 96
The Gate
Loose shale ground under Ken’s boots.
He ignored the aching protests from his body.
Who has time for pain when there is a giant beam of light in the sky?
He glanced back over his shoulder.
Garuke kept pace a few steps behind, gait smooth and silent, gliding over fallen logs and slipping between the flora.
A branch smacked Ken in the face.
It broke with a sharp crack.
He turned back ahead.
A soft snort broke up the calm, even breathing from behind him.
Bastard.
The beam stood ahead, just a few miles distant.
White, endless, humming like a plucked wire.
“That thing better take me home..”
A double-tap of bone clubs rang out, just before five horned boars burst from the underbrush. Tusks gleaming under eyes burning with rage, the ground thundered under their charge.
Ken’s still nearly empty Core spun up, the minimal chi running through his channels.
Gotta use as little juice as possible…
Nice, I was getting bored.
“Heh.”
He met the leading beast shoulder-first with a minimal burst of chi.
It spun into Garuke's whirling weapons.
Ba-dum Ba-dum-CRACK!
Both orbitals crushed before the swine could recover, the rest of the skull soon following under the rhythmic assault.
Ken threw a backfist, knocking the next animal tumbling to the side.
He stepped through and spartan kicked the next beast.
It stopped dead with the snap of bone, legs going limp.
The 500 pounds of momentum carried through.
Ken was launched.
After tumbling across the ground, he rolled back to his feet, right heel throbbing.
Just in time to take a charge to the stomach from the second boar.
The tusks ground painfully against his ribs, but failed to penetrate his Gi.
His arms wrapped around its thick throat, legs splaying, using his best pig takedown defense.
Fucker came out of nowhere!
Boots dug in, grinding the pair to a halt.
A 12-6 elbow cracked its skull, splattering his beautiful Gi.
“Ewww,” he wiped at the offending offal, the shadowed fur whisking away the grime easily.
He winced as he rubbed his ribs.
Lifting his Gi, he saw that while the tusks didn't pierce the fur, it did break his skin.
More blood.
He sighed.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Oh well.
Dada-dada-dada-da-da-daa-Ding!
Garuke played a boar’s spine like a xylophone.
It struggled to turn on the drummer as waves of percussion reverberated through its body, its nerves misfiring in the chaos.
It finally fell, its bones shattering like glass.
He’s both catchy and terrifying.
The fifth boar ran squealing into the night.
Garuke twirled his ivory clubs, droplets flicking off staining the dirt crimson, weapons sliding smoothly home into their loops.
He turned, giving Ken a nod.
Ken stared at him.
Insects chirped in the humid night air.
Slick fucker still ain’t breathing heavy.
He nodded back.
They turned as one, racing towards the glitch in the sky.
The closer they got, the more alive the forest became.
Both roars of victory, and the deathcries of defeat, echoed amongst the trees.
Be it luck or skill, nothing stopped or slowed their breakneck pace.
They crouched behind some shrubbery, staring at the blinding clearing before them.
Both of their mouths hung open, pupils reflecting the solid white beam stretching into eternity.
The whole world was washed out in the bright light.
Something about it... just breaks the brain.
As they watched, a large owl swooped silently through the air, heading right for it.
Owl’s got balls.
It didn’t deviate its path, silhouette growing smaller until it just disappeared.
Ken squinted against the glare, searching the base of the pillar.
There’s no body.
It's just gone.
So not the universe’s largest bug zapper.
He stood, turning, “Let's go.”
Garuke was gone.
Where the–
Thonk.
A rap rang through his skull.
“Ouch!” He vigorously rubbed the top of his head as a bone club fell to the ground, shining in the dirt.
He looked up.
Garuke was kicking violently, face purple, dangling ten feet above him.
He was slowly rising, vines crisscrossing his body, growing and constricting.
“Hah! Not breathing so well now are ya!?”
The orc’s eyes narrowed as he started kicking more violently.
Ken cratered the ground, leaping, and kicking off a trunk with a shower of bark.
He crashed through the tangled vines like a living machete, the explosion of wood blaring in the night.
The force drew the creaking shriek of wet wood, ripping a gnarled ball of vines from the canopy of the tree.
Garuke gasped for breath as he fell, smacking into the ground with a thud.
Tumbling through the air, in a cloud of wooden hail, Ken questioned his actions.
Definitely didn't think this through.
Flying through the air, he crashed into a neighboring trunk, leaving a decent face-print in the bark.
He fell gracefully as a human plinko ball, breaking through the branches, thudding into the ground with a grunt.
“Arrg...”
Laying there, he slowly gathered himself, brushing at the splinters in his face.
The sound of cracking wood broke its way through his disorientation.
Garuke was in a fury, chest heaving, a pile of wood chips around his feet.
Ken smiled.
Finally broke his composure.
Tearing at the twisted ball of vines with his bare hands, orcish curses grunting out between his tusks.
The vine creature wriggled and writhed, squealing in agony, seeping purple sap onto the earth.
As the creature stilled, Garuke stopped his bestial rampage.
He rose to his feet, lungs billowing.
“You good Gary?”
Garuke closed his eyes.
He took a small inhale, held it, and gave off a big whooshing exhale.
Over and over he did it.
The fucker even has a technique to breathe?
I’m definitely not going to steal it.
The orc opened his eyes, his breathing having calmed.
He nodded.
Ken turned, taking a step towards the light.
Something grabbed his planted heel, yanking, tripping him to the ground.
He looked back expecting to see more roots.
Nothing?
He looked up.
Garuke was sprinting to the beam, a low melodic laugh ringing out.
“YOU FUCKER!”
Ken’s Core spun up, a jet engine whining in the night.
The orc laughed louder.
