The Ghost Shepherd

Joining a Team (Part 1)

Sly’s enthusiasm quickly died out once he found out that money went just the way it came, very fast. To double the size of his Space Folder, he paid 1000 E.C and he thought that he could get another upgrade for the same amount but he was sadly mistaken. The first upgrade was always the cheapest but the higher the amount of space that needed it to be folded and compressed, the higher the amount of space related Argonian cores that were needed.

The cost went from 1,000 for the first to 10,000 for the second and then it skyrocketed to 100,000, 500,000 and finally to 5 million. The fifth upgrade brought with it an increase of 32 times the original size of the Space Folder and got it very close to the size of a football field.

“Hey! you should check out the equipment store. Maybe you can get a mask or something for your eyes instead of that piece of fabric you have on. It’s embarrassing”

“Well, I also want to get something cool but let's see the prices first”

The majority of the equipment on planet Alpha was very basic, there were no masks like the one the Puppeteer had and the things that were available had many similarities to the goggles soldiers used that provided infrared vision and another setting that showed heat signatures.

“Are these the only models you have? I am looking for a pair of goggles that can decrease the amount of light that comes in and can replace this blindfold”.

“You can actually see?” said the clerk while waving his hands.

Nod…

“The items that you see on display are the standard edition for land soldiers, if you want something with just light reduction maybe you should try a vanity store?”

“Sigh… I’ll go take a look, thanks”

“Good Luck”

Sly left the equipment store and proceeded to the next one and then the next, there was no store left unseen by Sly but there was nothing that called his attention or more importantly that was within his price range. When he came out of the last store, he decided to ask Blackie for some cool gear next time he saw him

The Hotel at the Bunker was not for claustrophobics, on the first floor was the reception where you could pay 20 E.C for a night and to the side, there was a shuttle/tube like structure where a capsule/bed would appear and then after it was boarded by the client, it took off towards the second underground floor where there were hundreds of capsules arranged one on top of the other.

In order to prevent anything from happening on their premises, the capsules were dropped at random and not even the receptionist knew their positions. The hotel was very simple, there were no rooms with amenities, it was just a place to sleep where safety was guaranteed.

Sly felt tired from the day and took the rest of the evening to try and go over the videos of his fight against the two Argonians while K.C showed him a couple of different ways the fight could have gone.

Inside the capsule there was only darkness but to Sly it was like being in his mother's embrace, he felt cozy and warm and even though the movies were playing, he dozed off entering into a deep sleep.

During his sleep, Sly had another dream where he was an observer looking at the scene in third person. The memories didn't belong to the Abyssal Demon this time, instead, they belonged to the novice hunter whose spirit was swallowed by the core.

The scene was taking place in a jungle type place and Sly could make out that it was part of the zone he was currently at. He saw a lake in the distance but what really called his attention was the pack of 20 Dracos drinking water and playing around roughing each other up.

The young spirit's team was not as big but they had 7 close combat hunters and 5 range ones. There were 3 pyromancers and 2 cryomancers responsible for the initial volley and of the control of some of the creatures via freezing while the close combat unit engaged the free dracos, hopefully in a 1v1 confrontation.

The young spirit was a close combat fighter that used double Katanas as weapons. In his main hand, he had the E.F.S weapon and in the off hand he had a Katana that looked like an antique with a beautiful white handle.

The fight started when three fireballs the size of basketballs flew through the air and descended on the group of Dracos that were caught unprepared. The fireballs were not like the ones Sly saw in the video of the person who died to the draco. In the video the fireballs were the size of baseballs and after thinking about it for a second, Sly assumed it was due to the lack of time that the hunter had to prepare them.

BOOM...BOOM...BOOM

The fireballs hit the target distance but only one fell on a draco, the others hit the floor and the explosion from the impact wounded a couple more.

Rawr…

The leader of the group was massive, at least 8ft tall and weighed 500 lb of pure muscle. It was the first time that Sly saw a Draco act like a human and follow directions. The Dracos that had been disoriented by the sudden attack regained some of their composure and reinforced their skins before separating 5ft from one another and started to run in the direction the fireballs came from.

The dracos looked like a pack of well trained wolves and the giant leader was their Alpha. The draco leader did not started running with his pack right away and just observe the field for a couple of seconds before issuing another command to split the group in two and while 8 continue to chase the place were the fireballs originated from, the other 8 plus the leader move towards where the close combat group was hiding.

It was pretty sunny out and one of the people hiding took his knife out to get ready but the reflection of the sun was not lost on the Argonian revealing their location.

The leader of the young spirit’s group turn to look at teh culprit and screamed, "f**k!! You stupid i***t. Wait until this is over. Get ready and Kill the motherfukers"

Six people including the spirit rushed out of the forest and the one that caused the problem vanished like a chameleon among the vegetation.

The range group was able to throw another volley of fireballs at the 8 Dracos that were heading their way and it was followed by an ice lance and a freezing Ray that came out from a cryomancer that had a rocket launcher type weapon.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The new volley hit three dracos that were burned to cinders while the ice lance did not have much success and the freezing Ray managed to hit one that caught it with his chest and tried with all his might to resist it until it ended up frozen solid.

The drawback of the Freezing Ray was it's channeling feature, it had to be maintained on a target until it was frozen and that left the ability user open to an attack from the side.

The remaining 4 Dracos close the distance even more and two of them fast approached the person with the freezing gun that turned towards the first one and hit him with another Ray but the free one tackled him from the side breaking his bones on impact before it got on top of him and crushed his skull.

The second cryomancer didn’t miss the chance and use the ability Icy Fangs shooting a cone of ice right in front of him applying a cryonic suspension to the Draco before jumping backwards and throwing Ice Lances that had an increased effect each time they hit the Argonian in the head until it was dead.

The Pyromancers did not have many abilities to prevent the Draco’s from moving and their strategy was to kill them before the dracos could come close using their superior fire power. One of the Pyromancers threw fireballs while the other used the ability Flamestrike that created columns of fire that rose to the sky, the third just decided to pull out a plasma gun and forgone the use of his E.F.S to kill one.

Swooosh

The two Dracos fell to the floor but then the unexpected happened, the pyromancer that had the plasma gun shot the other two that were not paying attention and never expected to be betrayed by another alliance member.

“How did it go on your side?”

“No problems here, the Draco finished him” said the cryomancer that survived.

“Let’s go and join Chameleon and clean up”

The pyromancer had a grin on his face as they both ran towards the next battlefield. The close combat team were having a really hard time with the dracos that were being commanded by the massive leader. It was really lucky that a member of the team had a shield for his E.F.S and was able to take the hits while keeping the leader's attention on himself.

The Spirit that Sly swallowed was not doing bad himself, his enhancement seemed to be related to agility as he could dash in and out of the range of the Dracos with ease while swinging his swords in an attempt to cut his enemies but it wasn’t easy. They were outnumbered and a bad dash could cause him to be ripped to pieces by the sharp claws of his enemies.

When the two remaining members of the range team reached the area and saw the royal rumble that was happening, they knew that they had to help in order to thin the numbers a bit and maximize profit.

Swoosh

Ice Lances and small compressed fire spheres started to fly towards the more isolated Dracos which recandled the morale of the group.

KILL THEM… KILL THEM ALL!!!