《ArmS: The Last Human [dropped]》 Prologue - Fidmeialath of cream puffs "This is it, soldiers!" an extremely loud voice woke me up. I had fallen asleep while sitting down and was dreaming of cream puffs. It was a nightmare. My five-year-old daughter was feeding me cream puffs until I couldn''t breath, then she suddenly turned into one of those abominations. Weird thing was instead of killing me, it kept on feeding me cream puffs. Those disgusting sweet little things. Shaking my head to completely wake myself up, I felt a knuckle land on the top of my head. "I know you are tired soldiers, but do not let your guard down!" The noisy man was my superior officer, the captain of my squad. "You do not know when those bugs would suddenly attack." A few years ago, an alien species descended on Earth and consumed almost everything they set their eyes on. They ate concrete buildings and metal structures, including the humans inside. They were called Fidmeialath, because they were making buzzing noises that sounded like, "Feed me! Feeeeed me!". The Armored Suit was developed to combat them. It was shortened to ArmS, and soldiers were trained to use them. ArmS provided exceptional physical boost, increasing a soldier''s physical strength, reflex, reaction speed, and firing accuracy. Paired with the specially developed plasma rifles that never runs out of ammunition, they were able to hold the aliens back. But it didn''t take long before the aliens adopted strategies to adapt to the situation. Once again, humanity was pushed to the brink of extinction. Desperate, humans built a spaceship to take the last survivors to a far away planet with the same atmosphere as Earth. Me and my squad were now protecting the area where the spaceship will be launched. We took our posts after the long lecture, and received a radio transmission, congratulating us on a job well done, and that the spaceship Last Light was about to take off. That was when everything went wrong. "What the f¡ª¡ª!" a voice cursed in the radio as I felt a large tremor. I turned around and saw something I would never forget for the rest of my life, which was probably limited to at most an hour from now. "Feeeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeee!" an ear-piercing buzzing sound shook the air. It was a Fidmeialath, but it was not an ordinary one. Normally, they were around 3 to 7 feet large. This one was taller than the Empire State Building. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "Aren''t you a bit overkill!" I screamed as I put my helmet on and readied my plasma rifle. I dashed in the direction of the giant Fidmeialath which came out of the ground near the spaceship. Bright glowing bullets rained into the air as we all shot at the alien. The damage we were doing was too small compared to its huge size. "Shit! It''s going down!" another voice crackled in the radio. What''s wrong with it going down? Weren¡¯t we trying to bring it down? My thoughts were disrupted as the giant form bent its back and opened its mouth, revealing a circular hole lined with thousands of giant sharp teeth. It then went down on the spaceship, gulping it whole! "Noooooooo!" I screamed my lungs out, continuing my rapid fire at the alien. It soon disappeared into the hole it bore into the ground. Nothing was left behind. No Last Light. No last hope. "There''s more of them!" "Gaaah!" "Stay away!" "I don''t wanna die!" "Noooooo!" "Mamaaa!" "I''m still a virgin!" Voices crackled in the radio as my squad members died one by one. I turned around to see a black wave approach. It was a horde of Fidmeialath. Filled with madness I raised my plasma rifle and rained bullets at the approaching wave, killing as many as I could. "Hahahahaha! Die you bugs! Die! I''ll kill you all for taking everything away from me! My wife, my daughter, my family, my friends!" Bullets continued to fire as I seem to hear some sort of movie music playing in my ear with a sad melody. "Enjoy it... while it... lasts." It was the captain. It seems like he played the song through the radio before he died. "I appreciate it," I said. There was no response. I was the last one alive. This was the end of humanity. "Feeeeeed!" "Feed me!" "Feeeed meeee!" Those were the last things I heard along with the crunching sound of my bones. * * * Your character traits are randomly generated. Your name is "Aiwans Screuiundaz." Your class is Soldier. ... .. . Character Creation successful. ... WELCOME TO BATTLEWORLD! Chapter 1 - Rampaging Level 1
Error: Your character data is corrupted.
Error: Starting zone can not be specified. Now transporting to random location.
Error: Equipment data unknown. Recorded as generic items [ Armored Suit ] and [ Pulse Rifle ]
System Notice: You have entered a battle zone, [ Second Arena ]
System Notice: You have been automatically registered into the battle roster.
My helmet''s visor projected multiple warnings I could not understand. "What the hell... is going on..." I moaned in pain. My head was aching so much I couldn''t see straight. What was I doing? What just happened? "What''s a newbie doing here?" "His name appeared on the battle roster just now." "Is he worth a lot of points?" "Whatever, I got first dibs on the newbie!" I looked up as I heard those voices. I was surrounded by fellow soldiers wearing ArmS, but there was something weird. Their ArmS didn''t look similar to the standard ones we used our squad. Furthermore, instead of the fatigue paint used for camouflage, theirs were painted with bright multi-colors. "Soldier, what''s your affiliation?" I tried to ask one of them, the one approaching from the front. Without answering, he raised his rifle and pulled the trigger. * * * POV: Dextrose Today, I logged in again to Battleworld to test the equipment enhancements I made yesterday. The game was released just a week ago. It was a virtual reality game, but unlike other VR games that were fantasy-themed, Battleworld was sci-fi. The setting was a futuristic world, where combat between players was a sport. The gaming flow was simple. Earn money to get better equipments, and raise your level to equip them. Then join the arenas to compete against other players, to test out your skills and equipments, and to gain fame. At first I wasn''t interested. Being a female player, I was constantly pestered by other male players in almost all VR games I played. But Battleworld does not restrict the gender of the player. In fact, the game has playable races without a gender.
Name:DextroseLevel:17
Race:NewtypeGender:N/A
Class:Scout
Health Points:450/450
Weight Limit:2000
STR:20AGI:42
VIT:20 + 5DEX:40 + 10

Equipments:
Main Weapon:Twin Moons (Dual Pistol) +10D
Sub Weapon:Dagger
Armor:Basic Armored Suit +5V
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The race [ Newtype ] looks just like the [ Human ] race, but they don''t have a gender specification. It was weird because no matter how much you edit the face during character creating, it would always end up looking like both male and female. The body structure was slim and well-toned, but that doesn''t really matter because it will be covered by the armored suit. Another major difference between the [ Newtypes ] and [ Humans ] were the stat points received for every level. [ Humans ] only receive 5 points per level, while [ Newtypes ] receive 6. All the other races receive a total of 5 points per level. Although there is a point advantage for [ Newtypes ], the equipment available for them are few. Yesterday, I enhanced my equipment using the ores I got from grinding. I upgraded ten points to [ DEX ] for my dual pistols, to improve firing accuracy, and five points to [ VIT ] for my armor to increase my maximum health. I joined the [ Second Arena ]. The current setting was [ Abandoned City ], and it was perfect for my class, [ Scout ]. I prioritized on distributing points to [ AGI ] and [ DEX ], to improve my movement speed and accuracy. In the [ Abandoned City ], I can make use of the corners to hide and ambush others, and use hit-and-run tactics. Everything was going well when something wierd happened. The arena was currently occupied by players with levels ranging from 15 to 20, but a Level 1 player joined the arena, a player by the name of [ Aiwans Screuiundaz ]. Looking at it closely, that name is quite provocative. It might be a troll. Some of the players have gathered in the area where the Level 1 player spawned. He has not moved from his location yet. I hid inside one of the broken down buildings and observed the situation. The other players were discussing what to do, when one of them got impatient and approached the newbie. "Soldier, what''s your affiliation?" the newbie asked the player approaching him. He was even wearing an armored suit with standard military camouflage as paint. Yup, he''s definitely trolling. The player, probably thinking of the same thing, raised his rifle and pressed the trigger. What happened afterwards, it was something I could never forget. He dodged the bullet, letting it barely scrape his armor. Then counter-attacked with a rifle I haven''t seen before. A glowing bullet shot out and hit its target, leaving a wide gaping hole on the player''s chest. Wait! What?!? What sort of Level 1 equipment can do that? It pierced right through a player with 15+ level. And that player had full health points before he was hit! But before that, how could he dodge a bullet at that range! The other players probably saw the anomaly, and one of them shouted, "Cheater! Take him down!" With movements impossible for a Level 1 player, he quickly ran behind some debris formed from broken walls while dodging the shots fired at him. "Traitors of Humanity, I will take you all down and feed your corpses to the Fidmeialaths!!!" he shouted from behind the wall, retaliating shots every now and then. It didn''t take long before the players'' numbers were reduced to less than half. It was to be expected, each shot he made hit a target and took all their health points away, while he dodged bullets, and those that do hit could not penetrate his armored suit. Fed up with the absurdity of the situation, the rest of the players left the arena. "What the?!? Where did they go?" He started running around the place, looking for them. But they were not here anymore. I trailed him, until he finally gave up searching and entered a broken down building. Chapter 2 - Shocking like a Shocktrooper POV: Aiwans Screuiundaz Everyone suddenly disappeared. Even the corpses of those I killed earlier. Something''s definitely wrong. I entered an abandoned building which probably used to be a mini-grocer. I looked over the shelves hoping to find something edible. I found some packed snacks, but they were all already expired. As I tried to salvage the store, something caught my eye. It was a magazine rack. Among the torn and rotting articles, there was one magazine that seemed readable. "What the heck is this!" I shouted in shock. The date on the magazine was wrong. I was pretty sure I was in the 31st century, but the year the magazine was published was 8089! This place also looks abandoned for quite some time, so the magazine should already be an article of the past. "Just what''s going on?" I thought as I sat down on some rubble. I was exhausted, my memories are in disarray, and the current situation doesn''t help. Suddenly, I heard a sound near the entrance. My instincts kicked in and I dived forward and rolled on the ground. Noticing that I was clearly visible from the entrance, I tried to make my way to the back of the store and hide behind the shelves, but the headaches attacked again and added to the exhaustion I was feeling, my knees went numb and I stumbled on the ground, rolled a bit, hit some shelves causing them to collapse. I accidentally dropped my gun and I was pinned down. I could force my way out with the help of the ArmS, but the intense pain boring through my skull made me unable to do anything. "Uhhh... what are you doing?" A figure appeared through the entrance. It was one of those traitors from earlier! Are they using a stealth function? Damn! I let my guard down! Will this be how it all ends? I haven''t exacted my revenge against the Fidmeialaths yet! The figure approached me, then when I thought it was all about to end, it squatted in front of me. The gray visor on its helmet cleared and revealed a pair of beautiful emerald eyes. Man? Woman? It was hard to tell. "How''d you manage to get yourself stuck in there?" it asked. Even its voice was androgynous. I have never met someone like this. "What are you?" I asked under my breath. "You don''t seem to be... human." The eyes looked a bit surprised. "That''s right. I''m not human. I am a Newtype." It sounded strangely happy. Newtype? Are they humanoid weapons developed by the Fidmeialaths? Or are they the ones who led the Fidmeialaths to Earth? As I was pondering on what it said, it reached out to me. I panicked, uncharacteristic of me, but in my situation where a lot of things doesn''t make sense anymore, I couldn''t help but lose my calm. I pushed it away with my free arm and screamed, "Stay away from me! Monster! Bane of Humanity! You should just go back to wherever hellhole you came from and rot!" That was a stupid thing to do. It got mad. It stood up and aimed its two handguns on me and started firing. "Gu--! Fu--! Sto--! Qui--! Ga--!" I couldn''t get a word in as the impacts of the shots on my helmet rattled my brain. Surprisingly, they couldn''t penetrate my armor, but the shock of the impacts reverberated in my head. After a while, the firing stopped. "Shit, I just wasted a lot of money with those heatclips." It squatted again and said, "So are you a cheater? What hack are you using?" The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I couldn''t hear what it said after that. The unbearable pain of my headaches and the shots had caused me to faint. * * * POV: Dextrose Did he log out? I thought as I expected his avatar to disappear. After a while, he was still there. What the heck? "There''s no use on pretending to be unconscious. The system logs you out if you become unconscious in the game," I said as I kicked his head. He was strangely limp. "Heeeey!" I knocked on the helmet. There really was no response. I tried to lift the shelf that had fallen on top of him. It was too heavy. Then I found the rifle he was using. I picked it up, and found that it was strangely heavy. Is the STR requirement high? But if it is, how could a Level 1 like him use it? So he must really be cheating. His equipments are probably late-game items which he got by hacking, then modified his character data so that he could equip them. That must be it. I aimed the rifle at the shelf on top of him fired, hoping he won''t get hit. The recoil of the rifle was strong enough to almost knock me back. As the surrounding dust cleared, the part of the shelf on top of him had already disappeared. It disintegrated. What the heck is with this overpowered weaponry? I dragged him out of the remaining rubble and inspected the armor he was wearing. Both the armor and rifle wasn''t in the item database released by the game management. Are these hidden items? Special prizes for future events? Something felt out of place. Oh, that''s right. He''s unconscious, but the game has not logged him out. A system bug? Probably because he was using a cheat, the system bugged out on him. Serves him right. As I continued to inspect his armor, I found a small crack on the area near his butt. A thought came to mind involving the bathroom designs in the game, and I shook my head to remove the disgusting thought. Suddenly I heard a small sound coming from him. Did he wake up? "Fi...ii..." I strained my ears to figure out the exact location of the sound. "Fiiii....iii..." It seemed to be coming from his butt. Don''t tell, me he''s farting in his sleep? "Fiiii....miiiii..." The crack on his butt increased in size and a small egg-like thing rolled out. The egg had spider-like legs poking out from its sides. I picked it up, and thought, ''Did he just lay an egg?'' Then the egg broke and an insect that looked like the cross of a spider and a cockroach jumped out and tried to snap at my fingers. I immediately threw it to the side and point my guns at it. "Feeeed Meeeeeeeeeee!" -------------------------------------------------- I was aiming for something like a mix comedy action story, but i guess i dont have much talent when it comes to comedy. Forgive my poor humor. I just noticed that the Fidmeialaths are like cy-bugs in wreck-it ralph. It''s a coincidence!!! They''re just similar! They''re not the same thing! Chapter 3 - What Adults Do In a Private Room POV: Dextrose ¡°Damn it, no bullets!¡± I realized as soon as I pressed the triggers of my dual pistols. The strange insect started moving toward me with an unimaginable speed. I have never seen a monster like this in the hunting fields. In the first place, it was strange to have a monster inside the arena. Was this another result of the cheat he was using? He was causing a lot of bugs in the system! And here¡¯s one bug, literally! I tried stepping on it, but it dodged with nimble movements while buzzing with a high-pitched noise. Was it saying ¡®Feed Me¡¯? Now, that¡¯s just creepy. Pun unintended.
Error detected in battle zone [ Second Arena ]. All players within the zone will be forcefully brought out.
As the announcement appeared, my vision blurred and changed to that of the battle zone lobby. I was inside one of the private waiting rooms which looked like a Videoke room, comfortable long seats around a table, and a TV on a corner. It costs a little bit of in-game money, but at least it could give me some privacy and allow me to concentrate and gather my focus before entering a battle zone. ¡°Why are you here!?¡± Even before I could relax, I was shocked to find the cheater sitting in the seat on the other side, with his head resting on top of the table. This was MY private room which I paid with MY money, so why the hell was he here? I smashed the butt of one of my pistols on his helmet only to felt a soft repulsing force before the impact. Outside of the battle zones and hunting fields, the general areas were non-violence zones. I sighed as I sat back on the seat. Just what the hell is going on? After looking at the unconscious figure in front of me, I suddenly remembered the strange insect that he pooped out. Did it also got transported here? I bent under the table to check if it was there and also under the seats. That¡¯s good. This room is cockroach and spider free. Still, the previous events left me confused as to what was truly going on. After about ten minutes, he finally woke up. At first he was looking around like a mad man and started blubbering nonsense. ¡°Calm down!¡± I yelled at him, hoping to keep him still. ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± he screamed, not giving any heed to a single word I said. He reached out to his back only to find that his rifle was gone. ¡°Where did you hide it?!¡± I tilted my head in confusion. That¡¯s right¡­ Where was his rifle? Oh right, since he wasn¡¯t holding it, it should have been directly sent into his inventory. ¡°Have you checked your inventory?¡± ¡°Inventory? What the heck does that have to do with anything? Don¡¯t try to fool me with your words!¡± He then took a combat pose which reminded me of those action-themed military movies. I sighed as I couldn¡¯t really decide if this guy was still continuing his troll act or if he¡¯s actually a crazy person. ¡°You open your menu like this. The inventory should be present among the options. Click that.¡± I showed him the proper gestures of opening the game menu interface. At first he didn¡¯t move and just continued assuming his combat stance. We just stared at each other for almost ten minutes. It was amazing how he could keep still in that uncomfortable posture for so long without moving an inch. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. In the end, he lowered his arms then stood properly and tried doing the same thing I did. Although I couldn¡¯t see it, the menu should have appeared before him. ¡°What the fuck is this!¡± As usual, his reactions were exaggerated. After a while, it seemed like he finally got the inventory opened. Every time he clicked the air in front of him, he made annoying ¡®oohs¡¯ and ¡®aahs¡¯. Finally, the rifle materialized in the air in front of him which he grabbed with swift movements. ¡°Raise your hands, traitor, or I¡¯ll blast you to smitherins!¡± he said as he pointed his rifle at me. I sighed and tried to say something, but he suddenly tilted the gun to the side and pulled the trigger, shooting a hole through the seat¡¯s backrest just beside me. Hey! This is a non-violence zone! How could he damage objects?! ¡°That was the last warning! Do as you¡¯re told!¡± I felt a strange fear and raised my hands. ¡°Good. Answer my questions. First, where am I?¡± ¡°In a private room in the battle zone lobby.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t play word games with me!¡± ¡°It¡¯s the truth. Why don¡¯t you take a peek outside.¡± I motioned to the door at the side. Still facing me, and his gun accurately pointed at my head, he inched towards the door and opened it slightly and looked outside. There were people standing and talking outside while watching wide screen displays hanging on the walls, showing the events on different arenas. He closed the door and faced me, but he didn¡¯t say anything. His silence was a bit unnerving. ¡°How come¡­ there are so many people here?¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about?¡± His question was strange. His voice also had a weird tone as if he couldn¡¯t believe what he just saw. ¡°I¡¯m doing the questioning here! Answer!¡± He suddenly got enraged and pushed the rifle at my head. Damn, be careful with that thing! ¡°This is one of the central cities! There¡¯s bound to be many players here!¡± ¡°Cities? Players?¡± He started mumbling to himself. ¡°How about Fidmeialaths? Where are they?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t play the fool! I¡¯ll shoot!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t fucking know!!!¡± Damnit! I so want to knock this bonkers in the head and put a bullet through his gray matter! He seemed to calm down as I heard him take deep breath. ¡°Fidmeialaths are insect-like aliens that can eat anything.¡± I suddenly remembered the insect that he poo¡ª¡ªthat came out of his butt¡¯s cra¡ª¡ªthat came out of his armor¡­ Was that what he was talking about? ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any of that, but if you¡¯re talking about monsters, the game have them and they¡¯re out of the hunting fields.¡± I decided to also mention about the thing from earlier. ¡°There was also that one that looked like a spider crossed with a cockroach and hatched from an egg. It came from a crack in your armor.¡± Suddenly, he dropped his guard and inspected his armor and found the crack near his butt. Brain, no more butt crack jokes please. ¡°Where is it now?!¡± The sense of urgency in his voice was high. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Probably left in Second Arena¡­¡± Something strange was going on, and it seemed like things were just about to get worse.