The God Machine: An Isekai LitRPG, page 32
“What does that even mean?” Luke asked.
“There’s no such thing as an ocean-bound ship docked in Valtira. They just don’t make the trip from this port, which makes sense really, when you consider that you can go a thousand miles north of here and shave two thousand miles off the journey. The continents are way closer up there, and I guess sailing cold water is less dangerous.”
“Oh, I see. So we’re talking about a trip north of here. Damn, a thousand miles though. I guess I could walk it. If there were decent roads the whole way and nothing bad happened, I could do that in a few weeks. Maybe even less.”
“I don’t think so. A thousand miles is the ship route. The land route is almost double that on account of the Skymaw Mountains. You’ve got to go the whole way around them. There are no safe passes, from what I can tell.”
Luke shuddered at the idea of hitting up a mountain pass. The last thing he needed was to encounter another jumbo elemental. That thing had been the most terrifying, overwhelmingly powerful monster he’d ever met. It served as a stern reminder that, whatever the risks involved, Luke needed to gain a lot more levels.
“So the first leg of the journey is to get up north to a place called Sicanti. For that trip, fifteen gold. Maybe twenty if you get a big cabin on an expensive passenger ship. From there to cross the ocean is going to be more, maybe thirty or forty. The closest port I could find is in Naldrin.”
That was still a lot, but maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought. He’d sleep in a hammock with the crew if that’s what he had to do and it saved him some money. Once he actually got to the eastern continent, he’d walk the whole way, barring any other options. But it still looked like he needed to come up with fifty gold at minimum just to get across the ocean.
He’d rather not do that in Valtira, so he set his first goal at fifteen. That was only a few weeks of fighting, maybe a bit less if they got real lucky with the bets. Then he’d get the hell out of there before the hammer of the gods came down on his head. Once he made it to the next port, he’d worry about funding the intercontinental trip.
“There you are,” a new voice cut in. Luke looked over and saw Fatty making his way over to them. He frowned and tried to remember the man’s name. It started with a V or C maybe. No, that didn’t sound right.
“What’s his name again?” he asked Zea in a whisper.
“Sideon.”
“Oh, right.” Damn, he’d been way off.
“Come on, I want you back in the staff area until your fight starts. You’ve got half an hour.”
“Uh, alright. That’s okay, Zea?”
“Yeah. Normal stuff. Remember what I told you about not trusting that rat fucker Zammin.”
Sideon started laughing and clapped Luke on the shoulder. “Come on, Aldrick. Let’s get you ready to fight.”
Luke momentarily blanked, until he remembered that he’d given that alias out. He followed Fatty out of the bar part of the building and past the pits. There were already a few people sitting on the bleachers bullshitting, and he saw a pair of guys down in one of the pits circling each other.
“Ignore them,” Fatty said when he saw Luke looking. “They’re just warming up. It’s not an official show unless you can place a bet. Speaking of, are you going to be wanting to put some money on your own fight?”
“Zea said she’d handle all the betting.”
“Oh, I’m sure she did. Smart woman, that one, even if she does cuss like a sailor sometimes. All fighters have the right to bet their fight fee on their own match though. Double or nothing. I promise you, you’re not going to get better odds with the bookies.”
Luke took a second to consider that. It might piss Zea off, but he didn’t really care. It was his money. “You mean my cut or the whole thing?” he asked.
“Your cut,” Fatty said seriously. “Don’t go gambling money that’s not yours. I’d hate to have to send the boys around to teach you that lesson.”
“Fair policy. Alright. Just my cut of the fight fee. Zea can bet her own money when and where she wants.”
“That’s a good lad! Nice and confident!” Fatty started laughing, and his belly rolls jiggled. Luke honestly couldn’t figure out how the man was so big. The system provided them with stats! Without even trying, Luke was more yoked than anybody he’d ever seen in his life. He looked like a Goddamn movie star after they were done airbrushing the photos. Well, maybe not his face. But his abs! The abs were amazingly defined.
No one else was quite as chunky as Sideon, or really, chunky at all. Most everyone was in extremely good shape, and Luke wasn’t just looking at the other fighters. Everyone he’d met had been some variation of fit, except for this guy. He kind of wanted to ask where Sideon put all his AP, but mindful of the conversation he’d had with Zea, he kept it to himself.
“Alright, here we are,” Fatty said, leading Luke into the back room. There were five other people there, two men and three women, including Zammin. “Someone will come to get you when it’s your turn. Probably … third round, I think.”
“Tall-boy!” Zammin called out, racing over. “You showed up. Good. Come on, let me introduce you.”
The dwifkin grabbed Luke’s hand before he could even start to protest and dragged him forward. He couldn’t have done it if Luke fought him, but he let himself be hauled around until he was standing in front of a man, of a sort. He was somewhere over seven feet tall and probably weighed three times as much as Luke. His skin was apple green, and there wasn’t a single strand of hair anywhere on his body, which was entirely naked. Thick, corded muscles stood out on his … everything.
“This is Tantoro,” Zammin said.
“You are very naked,” Luke said.
“Yeah, you should see it from my angle,” Zammin said. “It’s a cultural thing, I think.”
Tantoro made a low rumbling noise, like two rocks scraping together, and said, “We wear only the hides of our own kills, and only if the kill’s level equals our own. I have grown too old and too strong and cannot afford to take on more of the curse.”
“Well, that’s … I don’t know what to say here.” Luke looked over at Zammin, who shrugged back.
“Ostals have a lot of rules. I don’t know. Makes it easy to unleash the ballbuster on him.”
“So you are the new fighter. Strong, for one so young,” Tantoro said.
Luke had learned not to rely too strongly on his XP sense, but Tantoro didn’t give off much stronger of an aura than Zammin did. In fact, none of the fighters did. He didn’t think there was a single one of them over level 15. Maybe XP-hiding skills were more common than he’d thought. Or maybe the levels were accurate, and they just had higher-ranked skills honed over years of use.
“That happens sometimes with humans,” one of the women said. Luke glanced over at her, and his brow furrowed. She looked as human as he did, except for a pair of horns growing out of her hair and the electric-green color of her eyes. She ignored the look and kept talking, “They get overeager, addicted to the AP. Why worry about the consequences years down the road? Foolish.”
“Not quite what happened to me, but okay,” Luke said.
“Ignore her,” Zammin advised. “No one plans for the future like Revara.”
Before anyone else could reply, Fatty came in with two more humans. Both were in their twenties, both looked nervous, and neither of them said a word. “We’ll call you up in a few minutes,” Fatty told them. “First fight of the night. Just as soon as everyone gets seated.”
“Ooh, openers. We haven’t had new ones in weeks,” Zammin said. “That must be why your fight got bumped back.”
“That or because Tantoro refused to do another opener against a no-name,” Revara pointed out.
“The fight fee is too low,” the big green guy agreed. “Though now that I’ve met you, I look forward to our match.”
“Same, I guess?” Luke said. He didn’t actually like fighting that much, truth be told. That didn’t seem like the kind of trivia that would go over well with this crowd, so he kept it to himself.
Zammin made introductions for the new trio, though Luke promptly forgot most of their names. The other two newcomers were low level, maybe 7 or 8 he thought. It was no wonder they were the opening act. They both looked like farmers, and Luke was willing to bet their AP hadn’t been spent on combat skills.
Fatty showed back up after a few minutes and dragged them off. “This is boring,” Zammin said. “I hate waiting for last billing.”
“Feel free to trade with me,” another fighter said. She was vaguely human-shaped, except what visible skin she had was dark blue with red-and-green markings on it. Luke wasn’t sure if it was natural or some kind of tattoo. Her hair was blindingly silver, cut short and split by two horns coming up out of her head.
“Yeah, I’d love that last billing bonus. What’s that, an extra six silver?”
Zammin shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind if Sideon wasn’t so much of a hard-ass about keeping us all here waiting.”
“Well he wouldn’t be if you’d ever showed up for your matches on time. So thanks for fucking that one up for all of us.”
The noise picked up, and the fighters all stopped talking. About two minutes later, it got quiet again. “Quick fight,” one of them commented.
“Newbies. They’re not going to last, no matter who won.”
There was a chorus of agreement around the room, except from Luke. Tantoro looked over at him and shook his head. “No fight promoter wants a fight that only lasts a minute or two. That’s why they went out first. They are a preshow.”
Fatty showed back up and hauled off two of the ladies, including the one with the blue skin. “Settle in,” Tantoro advised Luke. “These two always take at least half an hour. Then it will be our turn. It will be fun.”
Luke looked up at the big green fighter, who was sitting calmly and serenely, listening to the sounds of the crowd. “Yeah. Fun.”
Name
Luke Bennet
Level
21
XP
29501/34079
AP
0
Bloodline
SysAdmin
Strength
40
Agility
32
Stamina
26
Perception
29
Skills
Mace Mastery (2)
Sword Mastery (1)
Unarmed Martialist (2)
Power Strike (1)
Life Surge (1)
Peripheral Awareness (1)
Counter (1)
Twitch Reflexes (2)
Stealth (1)
Survivalist (2)
First Aid (1)
Wood Carving (1)
Leatherworking (2)
Thalian (2)
Disguise (2)
Deception (1)
CHAPTER 48
Luke walked behind Tantoro as they followed Fatty out of the back room. The previous fight had gone on even longer than anticipated, which didn’t seem to surprise any of the other fighters, but now it was finally his turn. He was about to step foot into the ring with a seven-foot-tall naked, hairless green man.
They passed through a gap in the bleachers and hopped down into the pit. Tantoro walked over to the halfway point and stood there, hands crossed over his chest while the crowd cheered for him. Luke glanced around and saw, perhaps not surprisingly, more than a few women cheering. In fact, they were the ones howling the loudest.
“Alright, folks!” Fatty yelled, cutting through the noise, “We all know who’s here for this fight, so pipe down and let’s get it started. We’ve got another new fighter for you, as you can see. Aldrick here sparred against Zammin himself and held his own. He even got a good hit or two in, so let that serve as his credentials. But no reason to take my word for it, not when you can see him in action yourselves.”
The crowd started cheering again, though to be fair, the loudest were a group of women positioned at the front row along the centerline of the pit. Fatty let the noise wash over them for a second before cutting in, “Will this newcomer give our resident exhibitionist a challenge? Or will he be crushed into the dirt?! Let’s find out!”
Luke glanced around at the bleachers again, looked over at Fatty, who had a hand raised up in the air, then to his opponent. Tantoro was now visibly aroused, which brought some heat to Luke’s cheeks. “Are you for real with that?” he asked.
“Battle is in my people’s blood. It is only with the utmost willpower that we live to see old age.”
That was not a sufficient explanation to start a fight while at full mast, not in Luke’s mind at least. The refusal to wear any sort of clothes did not help matters, though Tantoro’s fan club seemed to like it.
“And fight!” Fatty bellowed.
Tantoro charged forward, his arms open wide and his stance low. He was set to tackle Luke, something that Luke wanted to avoid at all costs. Even if he outmuscled the green man, size and leverage were important advantages, not to mention … other considerations.
Luke leaped backward to dodge Tantoro’s grab, skirted around to the side, and flicked a low kick at the other fighter’s knee. Tantoro shifted expertly, not even trying to dodge the attack, and instead caught it on the meat of his leg. When Luke’s foot connected, the ostal fighter surged forward, pushing back on the offending limb and trying to throw Luke off-balance.
Luke hopped backward to help disperse the unexpected countermomentum and keep his balance. That tiny break in his defenses was all the opening Tantoro needed to close the distance again, and this time he got Luke’s arm around the biceps with one of his giant hands. He heaved, pulling Luke toward him, and tried to wrap his human opponent in a bear hug.
Luke was having none of that. He might have been able to plant his feet and resist Tantoro’s pull, but that would leave him vulnerable to a follow-up attack, and unfortunately, [Twitch Reflexes] wasn’t doing much to help. Tantoro’s attacks were fast but also very visible, which left the skill very little to work with. [Unarmed Martialist] was pulling most of the weight in this fight by helping Luke predict oncoming attacks before they started and respond accordingly.
[Counter] also had something to say, namely that in response to the pull on Luke’s arm, he needed to jump forward with it and plant both knees in Tantoro’s chest. Luke didn’t even have time to think about whether that was a good idea before his legs started moving. He slammed into the other fighter as hard as he could, which was more than enough to send Tantoro staggering backward but not enough to actually get free of the vise grip on his arm.
Luke dropped down, found his face uncomfortably close to a flopping green sausage, and pivoted in place. Tantoro had to either twist with Luke to keep his hold or let go. The ostal didn’t have his feet set to move with Luke and didn’t have the leverage to prevent the spin. Luke broke free, completed the pivot with another kick at Tantoro’s knee, and darted out of the big man’s reach.
They went back and forth for a few minutes, Tantoro’s greater range giving him an advantage, but Luke’s higher agility helped him even it out. He knew he had a higher strength stat than his opponent did, but he was also confident that if Tantoro managed to take it to a grapple, he’d lose anyway. [Unarmed Martialist] would be of limited help and the rest of his skill set would be basically worthless. It would come down to pure muscle power on his end against what he suspected was a highly ranked grappling skill.
Luke got in a few good punches, one right on Tantoro’s face that split his lip, but the green man’s defenses were superb and his reactions quick enough to keep Luke from really setting himself and putting his full power behind any single attack. He could technically use [Power Strike] without a weapon, but he never had and wasn’t sure what kind of feedback it would give him. Plus this wasn’t a fight to the death, and accidents could happen.
Then misfortune struck. Throughout the day, the pit had been torn up and churned, and this last fight hadn’t helped matters. Luke’s foot slipped just enough that he had to catch his balance, just enough that Tantoro managed to clap both of his hands down on Luke’s shoulders and drag him forward. The big man threw himself backward, taking Luke with him.
He hit his back, Luke pulled in close, and continued to roll until he was on top of the human. Luke struggled to rise; he knew he could lift the weight if he could just get his limbs coordinated. Tantoro wasn’t having any of that though. He expertly kicked Luke’s legs out to keep him from getting back up to his knees and pushed him belly down into the ground.
“It was an excellent fight, my new friend!” Tantoro said from his position on Luke’s back. “Quite exciting, and you are most slippery prey!”
Considering the position he was pinned in and the fact that he could feel the ostal’s erection grinding against him, Luke felt entirely justified being creeped out. “Man, we are not friends,” Luke said. “Maybe if you put a pair of pants on.”
He wasn’t going to escape on his strength stat alone. Agility was basically out the window with the compromising position he was stuck in. It was time to play the trump card. Luke kicked [Life Surge] on and felt power shoot through him like lightning. With a roar, he heaved and, heedless of the joint lock Tantoro had on his arm, swung his whole body around.
There was a look of comic surprise on Tantoro’s face as Luke threw him with the strength of one arm alone, but before he could recover, Luke sprang on him with a dropkick to the chest, followed by a solid pummeling with his fists. Tantoro got his arms up to guard his face, but Luke still slipped in a good blow every few swings.
By the time [Life Surge] gave out, Luke was on his feet, chest heaving, while Fatty screamed something in the background that was completely drowned out by the crowd. The only part of it he got for sure was that the fight was over, and he was pretty sure he’d won. Tantoro lay on the ground groaning, and Luke reached down to help him up.
