Top Five, or is it Seven?

Chapter 6. Here I introduce even more main characters in the best way possible.

Stunned only a little but feeling lots of pain I stagger up onto my feet and look in the direction of my attacker. It was a big muscled dude with a large hamaxe in his hands covered in templar armor. He stood there smirking at me satisfied with the damage he’s done. Behind him stood 4 more people meaning that they must be the top 5. The one furthest to the right was the wizard I took out earlier leaning heavily on his staff. The one next to him was a tall girl holding a thin shortsword of silver with light armor. The one furthest to the left was another girl holding onto a bow and a staff with paper armor on. The one next to her was a well balanced guy with a hatchet and a short sword wearing light full body armor. The one in the center who held the hammer said “You must be the newcomer who didn’t have to take the test. Well just to let you know we’re a little pissed off about that and would like you to prove your worthiness by battling each of us one by one using your own weapons. By the way my name is Bryant to the left is Crystal and Ford and to the right is Magnier and Sunday, we are the five best adventurers of Jackiller’s familia.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you all but how will this work? I mean do I have to beat all of you or what?” I ask.

“Umm, well… Hold on a sec” Bryant says before turning around to his group to discuss how this was going to work.

After a minute or two he turns back around and says ”You’ll have to beat at least 3 of us, okay?”

“Got it, so I’m gonna guess that you’re either first or last”

“You’re right, I’ll be your first opponent” he says while walking up to the center of the room.

“Okay now it’s time for me to get serious” I say while taking out the one other sword I’ve been carrying from when we first came to this place. I whisper to it “It’s time to come out and play the light has passed and it’s the night of day” and then it changes form into a large shield sword.

“Interesting, is that a magic weapon or is it the work of some clever engineering, no matter it doesn’t make any difference”

I cast a spell of protection right before I enter the battle. The battle was fierce, despite his size he was pretty fast. He was a lot about frontal and downward attacks on me but because my weapon also doubled as a shield I was good at keeping him at bay. Although there were many opportunities for for me to strike I still did very little because of his armor. It kept on like this for a while and I was beginning to become tired which was bad. That’s when it finally hit me that he was wearing templar armor, which I’m quite experienced in making and remembered where all the weak points were. I wait for him to strike down at me so I can fake out and then hit the biggest weak point in his armor. He was entirely taken off guard as he didn’t seem to expect anyone to know about such a weakness but it was all too late for him to do anything about it now because I finish the attack and he crumples to the ground. “And my name is Jakob Pumpkin King” I say to them all “The son of Drakon De Diable”

“Well it’s nice to have a name to apply to a Devil” Crystal said “You’ll be going against me next” and then she steps up into the center.

“Well seeing your weapon choice I know the battle style I’m gonna use” I said while slamming my shield sword, Night and Day, into the ground and grabbing the knife I always carry around with me everywhere(I sometimes even sleep with it) and get into my fighting stance.

Crystal says after seeing my stance “That’s a very odd fighting stance you’ve got there but just to let you know I’m an expert in close quarters combat so prepare to lose”

Oh my self, you wouldn’t be able to imagine how many people have said that to me and then di-I mean lose. I say in reply “It’s only weird because I’ve developed this fighting style myself”

“Interesting” She says with a perverted smile on her face(Persain would’ve killed her right than and there if she was here)

“Okay enough with your fantasizing, ecchi” I said flat out seeing that look on her face “Let’s fight”

“Okay fine” she said disappointed and embarrassed.

She goes in for the first attack with her staff and hits me in the gut saying “what all that talk for nothing”

I grab the staff and shove her off after being caught off guard then say “Just a little surprised that’s all”

“Okay” she said while going in for another two strikes.

With the knife in my left hand I swing it into the staff to block the attack and then jab her kidney with my other hand stunning her a bit allowing me to strike with my knife. She blocked it in just enough time to step back and dodge my sweeping kick then says “So you do have real skill in CQC” delighted.

While she was talking I go in to grab her staff but she dodged and went to go counter it but had to parry my knife to prevent it from slashing her. She then ducks down and lands a powerful blow right into my diaphragm knocking the air out of me. While stunned she goes to land another blow on my head but I punch the staff making it crack and bounce away into another direction leaving a clear shot at her pelvic pressure point. That leaves her limping back to evade my next attack and then to counter the next but I block the counter and land a clean cut on her right arm. I finally got her on the defensive with that last blow and go into a full on attack, hacking slashing, and jabbing rapidly and accurately leaving her constantly stepping back and blocking as many of my attacks as she can. She started to have cuts all over her body and the cut on her arm was starting to bleed even more leaving her energy constantly draining. She leaps back and blocks one last attack from my knife with her staff but it snaps in half. Her leap created a distance of about 20 ft and then she quickly draws out her bow and starts firing arrows at a speed of about 10 arrows a second. I saw arrows start whizzing past my face and leave me covered in a few more cuts. But after a few hits I start dodging, hitting, parrying, and catching arrows out of the air to throw them back. Crystal wasn’t expecting me to have reflexes that were that fast nor was she expecting me to be able to throw them back at her because the first few throws made contact. She was now on the move again having to fire arrows at top speed while dodging the arrows that were launched back at her. This caused her accuracy to drop greatly and I was able to progress even faster to her now. She became so flustered when I got within 6 feet of her that she misfired a shot that hit Bryant. With that I was able to land a series of jabs and slashes on her to render her defeated. After that I walk back to Face my next opponent Ford.

He said “It’s an honor to meet the son of the Dragon weaponsmith, your father made my armor before he departed, I’m hoping to see you live up to his legacy” then he got into his fighting stance.

“I hope for your honest judgment of my work in the near future” I reply “Tis a pleasure to meet you” then I put my knife away and take out Obsidian and prepare to fight.

I approach him with caution not know his fighting style so I wait for him to make the first move. After a few seconds I make the first attack and that’s where everything went terribly wrong in this battle. He deflects my first strike and then like a flash strikes me with his shortsword right in my stomach. I didn’t go down right away from that though. I grab his wrist and impale his arm with Obsidian. It proved immediately effective but not good enough because he then slams his hatchet into my right shoulder. Oh the pain was unbearable but I still had to fight so I use my ripper skill and thrust my hand into his kidney area piercing through his flesh and ripping out some muscle with a loud splish as blood poured out of the wound but he was a lot like me when it came to how we thought when it came to fighting, give it all you’ve got before you bleed out. So he takes the flat end of his hatchet and then smashes it on my head leaving me the loser of that battle. Right after the final blow Persain bursts in through the doors saying “Jackiller that b*****d, because of him Jakob is close to dying again” and she gasps seeing all the blood on the floor with Ford on the ground holding his wound.

“Oh no! This went too far too fast” and Persain runs to Ford first because he was worse off than me. She kneels down next to him and said “Be still I’m here to help you not fight” then begins healing him right after. After about 5 minutes she had stopped Ford’s bleeding, loosely closed the hole I made, and sealed all his other cuts. She then speeds over to my side saying “It hasn’t even been two frickin days since the last time you almost died” and instantly starts to heal my wounds. It took her a bit longer to finish up with me because my skull had caved in and the bleeding was slowed too much because of my protection charm. After she finished with me she goes on to heal the other two as well as the wizard. When she finished with Magnier I finally came to saying “Damn it I guess I lost”

Persain flips out on me saying “What the f**k were you thinking going all out and ripping a giant hole into that guy’s side and using full force on those other two, what if you killed them or worse, what if they killed you, Jerk!”

“Sorry, but nobody was going to die, right?” I say looking in the direction of the others.

They replied “Right”

“See Persain” I say

“But still the both of you went too far” she said indicating me and Ford.

“So did I lose?” I ask them.

“Yes you did” Ford replies

“Wait” Said Magnier and they all turned around and talked amongst themselves until Bryant said “Well then that settles it”

“Settles what?” I ask

“Well from what Magnier told us you defeated him and his entire wizard squadron while he was leading them meaning that you have defeated at least three of us, while also having defeated everyone else in the entire familia… So congratulations you have just earned a spot amongst our ranks” Bryant said while giving me a pat on the back.

“Well that’s great and all but unless I ca-” I was cut off.

“And who may we ask is this beauty of yours” Magnier asks

“Hi nice to meet ya. The name’s Persain so may I ask to whom do I owe the pleasure” She says with confidence.

“The name would be Magnier and the rest would be Bryant, Ford, Sunday, and Crystal” and they all introduce themselves.

“As I was saying, I’m not going to join jack s**t if Persain isn’t going to be there with me” I finish.

“Why of course she can be among our ranks, for she is easily the best healer we’ve ever seen and um…,Thank you by the way” Ford said blushing a little.

“Watch it!!!” I growled at him.

“Well whoever she is I hope it doesn’t prevent us from having a little fun” Crystal said with a tantalizing look on her face again “You have just got to teach me that fighting style of yours” and that’s when Persain intruded “What kind of fun ehhh, I’m perfectly fine with him teaching you how to fight but don’t try to pull anything pervy”

“Umm, I’m standing right here”

“I know” Persain went to go kiss me but I quickly said “The clock strikes midnight twice” and Night and Day came flying in between us.

“Hmph” Persain exclaimed.

“Well well well” Jackiller said while slowly clapping “Good job Jakob, I honestly wasn’t expecting you to be able to take down the entire familia as well as three of the top five, well done indeed”

“You’d be lucky if I don’t kick your a*s right here and now in front of your top members for pulling that sort of B.S. back there” I threatened him while grabbing his collar.

“Calm now, it was all for good reason, I mean look they already trust your skill and you mortally wounded my top adventurer, Ford” He soothed.

“Still, a little warning would’ve gone a long way”

“That was the point. To see how well you handled such situations on your own”

“Whatever, just don’t do it again, got it!” I let him go.

“Soooo, now that it’s tomorrow, I think it’s time for Persain to be tested” Jackiller snapped his fingers and all around us the room changed shape.

When it finished changing it resembled an extreme version of an obstacle course. “Persain, you have to go through this entire course in a time of 15 minutes or less in order to pass and enter my familia” Jackiller said “Starting....Now!!!”

Persain was taken aback and she didn’t know what to do and panicked “W-where do I start!?!”

“Over there quick” Ford pointed to the starting point.

Persain rushes through the starting line and begins to rocket through the course like a jet on steroids. Persain is about halfway when Jackiller yells “Five minutes!” which caused her to panic again.

“Okay-okay” she replies while progressing through the course at an even faster pace.

The burst of speed dampered her agility however. Going along the course at top speed made her to stumble a lot causing her to fall a few times.

Just after Persain finished Jackiller exclaims “Wow, record timing Persian. You completed the course in 9 minutes flat while putting on the impressive spurt of speed halfway through the course too, well done”

“W-wait I finished in 9 minutes? How’s that possible when you said I had 5 minutes left” Persain asks.

“I ment 5 minutes as in it’s been 5 minutes since you started” He says with a crooked smile.

“Oh you are sooooo dead” Persian exclaims throwing a punch at Jackiller.

“Whoa there” I stop her fist from making contact “As much as I want to do the same thing I think we should go get something to eat…“

“Okay, but do we have any money?”

“I, umm… don’t think we were left any. Uhh, what’s even used for money here?” I ask glancing at everyone in the room

“Where did you guys come from, if we may ask?” Sunday asks

“From a land far far away, kay” I reply

“Jackiller, are they sort of like you?” Ford asks

“Umm… Let me see… How should I put it?” He mumbles to himself quietly

“Well all I’ve got to say is yes and no”

“Hmmm?” They all respond.

“Yes Jakob is like me but a bit different and no because he hasn’t been here as long as I have and he’s also chosen a different path than me making him a lot more like you guys”

“I guess that answers our question. So did you come from the same place as Jackiller or what?” Sunday asks

“Wait a sec. Jackiller told you guys about all this and that?” I aim the question at Jackiller

“Yes, Jakob, I told them all about it… as best I could. But I only told them and they’re the only ones that know, so keep it here, got it” He answers me

“In that case then I might as well tell you how I ended up here” and with that I tell them our tale.

By the time I finished it was early noon and I could hear the bustle of people walking around outside.

“Man That sounds gnarly” I got from the entire group with similar comments

“How did you live through that? I mean I heard from Jackiller about the power of the sin gods but I would’ve never thought” Bryant wonders

“Well the thing is, is that we choose to suffer pain and we choose to be able to be injured in such a way” I clarify

“Yeah but why?” Jackiller asks “Why do we do it?”

“Because it’s one of the things that makes it worth living” I answer “You’re the one that helped me realize that”

“Glad to hear”

“Hold on, does that mean that you have two other girls living with you?” Sunday asks

“Yes it does… Why?” I say while thinking about saying “”Interested?”

“Just curious” She replies

“So you have more than one lover hmmm?” Crystal casts

“Nice try, I not letting you have him any time soon” Persain teases

“Does that also apply to everyone else?” Ford pushes

“Keep going and I might have a new set of armor to display in my hall”

“Knock it off the both of you” Persain says flattered

“Ugh. You guys are making me sick. Jakob don’t you have a shop to clean up?” Jackiller complains

“You, you, you, you, and you can all go with Jakob and Persain and help them clean and set up the Dragon’s Pub for it’s grand reopening” Jackiller says as he points to the top five

“Wait, but I don’t wanna work” Crystal moans as Jackiller walks away into a door

“Are you really going to reopen the Dragon’s Pub” The rest of the group asks me

“Why wouldn’t I? It sounds as if running the shop could be fun”

“Really, that’s amazing. Dragon’s Pub was one of the very best pubs in town” Sunday compliments

“But first, does anyone know where I can grab something to eat?”

Author's Note

This is the last chapter of book 1. Leave comments for me if you want me to post the first chapter of Book 2: Dungeon 24. Thanks for reading. L8TR