[THE NEXT DAY]
Before leaving the city of Avalor, Arthos made a quick stop at the Scanvengers guildhall. The beautiful building stood empty, bringing back happy memories of his family. He made his way to the conference room where ornamental swords were hung on the wall.
'Well…it's better than nothing…these swords are about the same as training swords.' Arthos thought to himself as he grabbed supplies and gear for the trip.
It had been close to 48 hours since the NAVA servers had gone offline…the secondary facility in Nevada had managed to boot-up and servers were starting to come back online. During this time, Arthos headed north towards the border of Avalor and Camarax at a quick pace.
'I wonder what happened to Wain and Kristan…I hope they made it out of the facility ok. I have no way of contacting them right now since everything seems to have gone offline. I'm sure they made contact with Percy and Hector…my biggest problem right now is that I can't access the system since I'm no longer an avatar…I wonder if the other players will see me as an NPC, mob, or as another player?'
Millions of questions arose in Arthos' mind as he made his way north. He figured there was no point in worrying about these things. Instead, he focused on the tasks ahead.
'The shopkeeper and his companion Pompy are neither NPCs or players…and based on his story, it's reasonable to believe that he is a real person…a citizen of Avalor. If that is true, then that means other people live here in this world as well. That would also support the old man's story about other Kingdoms and the possibility of war.'
'War breaking out would be bad for everyone…not just the players, but the real people that live here in this world. I better hurry and find this archer named Kay…something tells me there is more going on than what the old man told me…but I will find out soon.'
A few hours later, Arthos reached the outskirts of a small village. Since he longer had access to the system, he was unable to pull up a map and verify his location…but he felt certain this village was located along the border between Avalor and the neighboring country Camarax (according to what the shopkeeper told him).
From a distance, the village looked large and heavily fortified with a 12-foot wall of timber stakes banded together. In addition to the wooden palisade, the village sat on an elevated plain which gave it extra protection and a strategic defensible advantage.
Arthos spotted smoke from a distance in the same direction as the village. He hurried his pace. As he sprinted forward the smell of smoke, farm animals, and oak hung heavy in the air. A moment later he heard shouts, screams, violent roars, and the village bell…something was wrong.
The village was under attack.
A group of 100 orcs circled the village. Some were equipped with swords, others with axes, and some with clubs or similar blunt weapons. They spread out circling the village probing for weakness along the palisade wall. They smashed their axes and weapons with ferocity against the wall of wood. A small group of 20-30 orcs concentrated their attack on the village gate facing the south while the rest spread out around the wall, smashing and hacking the wall like ravenous wolves.
"There's too many!" Shouted one soldier.
THUMP
The soldier was struck by an axe which caused his body to split in two. The body fell inside the village which was accompanied by terrified screams.
Three soldiers equipped with light armor were desperately defending the wall near the gate. They hurled stones and similar objects at the invaders. Undeterred the orcs continued to batter the gate with relentless force.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The gate pulsed with a violent furry…like a heartbeat under tremendous strain. Each attack rippled across the wall encouraging the orcs to attack even harder. The villagers and soldiers desperately tried to reinforce the gate from within using crossbeams and stakes.
An archer dressed in green jumped onto the walkway on top of the wall and rained arrows down at the intruders.
Thuck, Thuck, Thuck
The arrows struck their targets with violent force. One large orc was struck by three arrows in the chest along with two arrows on the arms…it roared violently and charged straight at the archer. It jumped high enough to touch the top of the palisade…and it swung its hammer with violent force intending to smash the archer like a bug.
The archer easily dodged the blow while simultaneously releasing three additional arrows…each striking the orcs head. It staggered for a moment then collapsed dead.
Despite his skill, the archer was struggling to shoot arrows fast enough to stop the invaders.
Thuck, Thuck, Thuck
The arrows rained down on the orcs. Most did not bother blocking or evading. Instead, they quickened their pace attacking the wall with renewed vigor.
Arthos reached the gate and swung his sword deep into a nearby orc's back. The training sword, however, lacked the sharpness and durability to cut through the orcs thick skin. The orc released a painful grunt while turning its body quickly and it slammed its axe down on Arthos. He nimbly evaded the heavy strike and counterattacked with a thrust to the orcs neck impaling it through. The orc rattled a death cry as it toppled over.
Three orcs rushed at Arthos, they swung their axes and clubs with ferocity, but their attacks were slow and predicable. Arthos nimbly evaded the attacks and countered with thrusts to vital spots like the neck and heart. He struck the first orc with a thrust to the chest which killed it instantly. The second he struck with a diagonal slash to the neck. Unfortunately, the sword didn't have enough cutting power to slice through. The orc roared a painful cry and swung diagonally while the third orc swung his club horizontally.
Caught in a box, Arthos rolled on the ground evading the horizontal strike but was forced to block the diagonal axe strike.
CLANG!
Metal flashed against metal. The force of the impact pushed the orc back while causing Arthos' sword to snap in two. Seeing their advantage, the orcs smiled as they pressed their attack with another set of strikes. Unarmed, Arthos closed the distance between himself and the nearest orc. He grabbed the orc's arm in mid-swing and using the orc's momentum along with his incredible strength, pulled the orc in one quick jerk toward his companion's axe swing.
THUMP!
The orc was struck by his companion's axe through the chest killing it in the process. Provoked by frustration, the orc released its hold on the axe and proceeded to launch a volley of kicks and punches at Arthos. He expertly dodged and blocked the attacks while countering with punches and kicks to the stomach and face. The orc managed to catch his leg mid-kick and flung Arthos like a rag doll.
He nimbly curled his body into a ball and landed on his feet 30 feet away.
'It's useless to fight barehanded…these orcs must be B-rank some are A-rank. If only I had my sword. Think…think…how does the system work? How does it generate our inventory? Inventory is not shareable…unless you form a close connection like a guild.'
Arthos continued to think while the orc calmly reached for its axe.
'Inventory is not shareable…it's tied to each hero…why is that important? Could it be mana related? Like a key opening a secret vault? Mana…I need to use my mana. Focus, focus on the inventory.'
In that moment he felt it…like reaching into an invisible closet…a tiny pocket dimension only accessible by him using his mana as a key.
He pulled out his sword…the Oath Longsword (A-rank longsword) which he acquired during Scavengers guild's first official mission. His hand rested comfortably on the familiar hilt of the sword like a hand entering a tailored glove.
The orc charged straight at Arthos like a crazed bull.
FWAP!!!
The orc was cut clean in half.