Origin ARS 6 (29 page)

"Without Thunder Reign, the Storm Tyrant doesn't seem as strong," said Scott.

"That summoned beast is probably the only reason that he has a chance to do any real damage. The eldritch armor knights that attacked here seemed to be around level twenty-five to forty. Pretty standard low-end cannon fodder," said Rhea.

They continued to discuss the Storm Tyrant for a time. Rhea revealed all that she knew on the subject. Level design, event coordination, and creature placements were not her department. Most of her direct knowledge came from actively exploring the world.

Their conversation stuttered to a halt a few minutes later when Scott noticed something on the C-Vision. "Hey, is that the idiot trio?"

Rhea and Herbert looked at the screen alongside Scott, each of them eager to see if it was true. As it turned out, Scott was correct.

Clarence screamed bloody murder as he ran down the street, an arm in one hand, and a leg in another. A quartet of armor knights appeared before him, and he fell back. Even from the great distance that the camera man was positioned at, it was obvious that Clarence was terrified. He unleashed what appeared to be a scream, but his outcry was drowned out by the sounds of battle. Massive axe blades fell upon him with brutal efficiency. The constant nuisance who had for a time been known as
First Guy
, lay dead on the street. His various bits and pieces were strewn about with no regard to his former humanity.

They watched the grisly scene for a moment. It was a stark reminder of the fragile nature of life in this world.

"You know. We're all still together for a few hours," said Scott. "Want to make the most of it?"

The trio looked to each other, and then nodded. Rhea would leave soon to return to work. Scott, would be fighting the monstrous hordes of the Storm Tyrant alongside people he had never met. Herbert? Well, Herbert just wanted to dance.

For a time, the vagaries of life in a fantasy world would tear them apart once more. Now, however, they had a few more hours to spend in each other's company. It was the little moments that allowed for the greatest of joys, and granted reminders of what each of them fought for throughout their lives.

###

Thank you for reading Origin ARS Volume 6! Life has been a strange roller coaster of late, but I am proud to have presented this volume for your enjoyment.

See you next time with another moderately exciting adventure in the world of ARS. (It's probably going to be more exciting than I just let on.
Shhh
. Tell no one. It's our little secret.)

~ Scottie Futch

Discover Other Works by this Author

Many people ask me if I currently write other stories in this multiversal setting. The answer is yes. I do in fact write other stories that involve a man named Scott running around in a game-themed reality. I write several of them in fact.

Most of my current stories can be found in an exceptionally rough form at the website, Royal Road Legends. Even this story, Origin ARS exists in rough draft form there. Most of my stories have what some might call a
Mature
rating. Be warned.

Two notable stories that I currently work on there that have less of the romance angle and more action, are:

1.
Galactic Fist of Legend
– A story designed to work as an interdimensional death game parody. It features a Scott who runs around in a zombie apocalypse, and parody versions of places such as Metroid, the Mushroom Kingdom of Super Mario Brothers, and recently it hit chapter twenty and began a short parody version of dark souls type of games.

Think about what you might read if someone wrote a LitRPG death game that operated thematically similar to concepts such as Gantz, Terror Infinity, and strangely enough... Captain N: The Video Game Master. Be warned, the writing is still exceptionally rough, as are all of the stories on that site with few exceptions.

2.
Earth Tactics Advance
– One of my LitRPG in the modern day stories. It is my stab at a turn-based, tactical, survival horror, dating sim. The apocalypse happened, now everyone has to survive each battle for their lives one turn at a time. Also, monster girls want to date you. If you're strong enough to get their interest.

There are other tales of interest to be found on
Royal Road Legends
as well. Some of them are even my stories.