CWD: GA ~ Forty-Two

The Dinner Party left through the main doors and emerged into the bright sunshine. A frosty wind was sweeping in from the north, letting the world know that it would start snowing any day now… and their first winter wasn’t going to be fun. At least they had the guildhall. Private dwellings and other buildings would come later, which meant they needed to keep firewood in mind. Nacho shook his head ruefully. “There is always something to be done.”

Old Bill liked to chop wood, but wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Neither was Young Bill. The two weren’t related, but they were practically the father and son of sourness. The Bills were on his mind because they were chatting with Mayor Dan in the middle of Main Street, the avenue of rock lined with tents that connected the guildhall to the eastern guard station. The path culminated at the rope ladder connected to the low adobe wall. At this point in the day, only a few people were in their tents, since most were out either hunting or dungeoneering.

Reuben and Brie stopped to talk with Abby and some of her friends, all guild members, while Nacho continued down Main Street to where Mayor Dan and the Bills were talking. A snatch of their conversation caught his attention as he approached. Mayor Dan leaned on his battle axe. “But is it fair for you to take advantage of the benefits of the guild without being a member of the guild?”

Young Bill wore the Elktopus hide over his t-shirt. “We try not to, but we were up here just like you. We shouldn’t be forced to join something that came after we did.”

Old Bill took off his Royals cap and swiped a hand over the wisps of sweaty hair. “We don’t know this Nacho guy from Adam. I’m not signing anything until we make sure this isn’t another Juxtaposition trick. Mayor, you were going to build the walls anyway, so it’s not like we’re forcing you to do anything, and you can’t force us.”

Nacho approached the three of them carefully and joined the conversation. “You’re right. We’re not forcing you, and we don’t want to force you. Now, I figured if you definitely weren’t going to join the guild, you’d have taken off by now, like Kala.”

Old Bill grunted and replaced his cap. “That Kala and her old man had issues, and don’t even get me started on that Myron guy—what in the abyss?”

A crashing sound interrupted them as trees suddenly toppled and slammed into each other, creating a thunderous reverberation. A demonic *moo~o~o* followed—the angry cry of a Holstein mixed with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The Bove had arrived.

It hit the mountain like a meteor and started climbing, the power behind the Bove’s hooves cracking the stony face and causing the entire mountain to shudder. Its leathery wings flapped as it clattered up the side of the mountain, lowered its horns, and bashed right through the adobe wall.

The Calamity-class monster was bigger than the last time they’d seen it. Its inner reptilian mouth had busted out through the cow’s natural teeth and head, the black and white Holstein hide stretched around the lizard maw. Its horns had also grown thicker, as had its hooves—the keratinous monstrosities had taken on edges like battle axes. Even more horrifying, its back-end snake tail had grown; now the mouth was half as big as the one on its face.

People scattered from their tents; the correct response, given the horrific monster coming for them. The smell it released was even worse: a thousand pounds of cow manure shoved into rotten sausage casings, along with a vague chemical smell, caused by the Putrid Mana leaking from its orifices.

Nacho’s heart dropped into his stomach.

In the time it took them to realize what was happening, the Bove had made it to the top of the mountain. The monster lowered its head and charged through tents, which put up no more resistance than wet paper, as it targeted Nacho, Mayor Dan, and the two sour-faced Bills.

Unsurprisingly, the Juxtaposition seemed thrilled with the situation.

Hey, Player, welcome to Active Combat! Looks like you’re udderly outclassed! Health Regen won’t work, and the Store is closed during Active Combat. Here’s hoping this is a missed-steak!

Young Bill had the best reflexes of the bunch, and he sprinted away without a sound. Mayor Dan and Old Bill stood still, shocked like deer in front of a runaway concrete mixer. Old Bill was weaponless, but Mayor Dan finally moved to lift the battle axe. Shaking himself from his frozen panic, Dan shoved the older man behind him and bravely raised his weapon.

The cook had his knives, but that was it. He knew it would take a hot minute for his friends to run over. The main problem was that the mayor and Old Bill didn’t have a minute, and if Dan tried to use that battle axe against the Bove, he’d only make it angry.

Nacho’s extra Small Blades skill wouldn’t do much against the Tier one monstrosity, but the HungerCry Knives could pierce the Bove’s Putrid Mana-reinforced skin, thanks to their special ability to carve meat one Tier higher than his own. He raced across the dirt and stone, tackling Mayor Dan and Old Bill and flinging them to the side as he spun up and over them. He landed just to the side of the Calamity’s trajectory with both knives ready. “Come on, Bove. Let’s get those wings off you so you can be ground beef!”

His shouted challenge drew the Bove’s attention, and it abruptly changed course, hooves clattering like tank treads across the stone. It apparently decided not to use its horns, instead opening its big lizard mouth in an attempt to chomp Nacho in half. He got lucky, dodged its bite, and laughed as he twirled his knives. “I've been getting out of practice; let’s do this!”

The Bove twisted around, managing to bash Nacho in the head with the side of its horn, and the too-cocky cook went flying across the stones, taking a third of his maximum damage from that grazing blow.

The malevolent cow bellowed cacophonously and rose up on its back legs in an attempt to crush Nacho underneath its front hooves. At that moment, Brie raced forward, full-on glowing from Reuben’s Positive Vibes and likely a healthy dose of Nacho’s pocket pancakes. Her Splatter Mallet looked like a tiny stick next to the Bove, but she brought it down on one of the Bove’s horns… snapping it off and causing reddish-black blood to pour from the small wound left behind.

The Calamity’s scarlet eyes flashed in confusion. It had mowed through every party, every settlement, every little collection of frightened people; eating them without any victims managing to deal a single point of damage to it in return. But this time, it had met someone who could make it hurt—even if just a little.

Losing a horn drove the Bove to complete bewilderment, and it turned on clattering hooves and fled, clacking all the way to the edge of the mountain. It scampered like a scared heifer toward the ruins of the adobe wall it had demolished and flung itself off the mountainside. Wind gusted under its wings, and the Calamity glided down through the break in the trees left by its destruction on its way up. The frightened bovine hit the ground running, pulling its wings in tight and fleeing for all it was worth.

Nacho burst into laughter at the sheer fact that they had survived. Blood was leaking from a gash on his forehead and slowly drying on his face, and he barely cared. “We broke off one horn, and we’ll break off the other. We have it on the run, and now we have some information and a blood trail to follow. Brie… how many Health Points does the Bove have?”

“You’re not gonna like this.” Brie hefted the hammer on her shoulder. “It has two hundred and twenty-two Health Points. According to the message, I have to do fifteen percent of the total health in a single blow to get past its natural armor, and between my stats, Positive Vibes, and the sandwich I just ate… I just barely managed it.”

Old Bill was brushing off his jeans, but paused at her explanation. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘you ate a sandwich’?”

She explained, without much humor, the benefits of Nacho’s cooking. He should’ve already known about it, or maybe it had been purposeful ignorance, but Old Bill approached Nacho. “Well, kid, you saved my life—you went up against that thing with just a couple kitchen knives despite probably knowing they wouldn’t do squat. Fine. I’ll join your guild, so long as you stop trying to get yourself killed to make me join you.”

Other people had walked up to join in the chatter about the skid marks in the stone from the Bove’s deadly hooves. Reuben jumped at the opportunity to command an audience, and Nacho spotted a definite glow about him as he talked.

That was the Marketing ability at work, and it was clear that there was no way any of his listeners were above level three. “People, you’ve seen us in action. We’ve talked. We want to build more walls to keep things like the Bove out, and we will do so without or without you. We would prefer to do it with you. This is the last chance to join in as a founder… will you please ally with us?”

“Enough already.” Young Bill had crept back over after sprinting away, unable to meet anyone's eyes as he raised a hand. “I will.”

Several others did as well. Brie’s face shone with a proud smile as she gazed at her fiancé. “That Reuben is something else.”

“You just love him for his Marketing Skill,” Nacho teased her as he wiped away a stream of blood.

“You know better than that.” Brie kept on staring at Reuben as he started to sign people up, though she absentmindedly gripped her hammer a little tighter. “Do you know where that thing is going?”

Thanks to Taye, Nacho did. It was going to run back to safety near Muddy River. Luckily, he knew of the only place that could possibly fit such a massive creature. Of course, going in after it had only meant death in the previous version of the game. They had to get to the Bove before it holed up in its lair.

“You know what? I think we might have a chance.”