To Kill Gods or Die Trying

Chapter 29-Orc Samurai

November 5th, 2301

We fought in the swamp, we fought in the jungle, and now we find ourselves in a bamboo forest. It brings a certain sense of peace and calmness. The indestructible chutes—trust me, we've tried—reach for the stars infinitely, preventing anyone from jumping, flying, or crossing. I feel like this is going to be a good battle—once we get out of this damn maze.

Essej sits down and sighs. "Dead end," he huffs. Great. Lost in a maze. This isn't a kitty maze either. This is an ultra-hard maze.

"Hand me the map," Margot orders suddenly. Essej hands Margot the scroll. She zooms in and studies it vigorously, her eyes jumping across the walls and following the lines. "We're here," she says placing a finger on a dead end in the labyrinth. Sure enough, we're at a dead end with the turn we just came from to the right, and beyond that, a T-intersection.

Margot lays the map down on the floor and we huddle around her to see. "The boss is there," she says pointing to the square garden clearing in the center. She takes that finger, places it on our location, and traces the path to the clearing. Impressive. It would have taken me ten minutes, while she did it in seconds.

"Good job Margie," Havanna praises as everyone applauds. She scoffs.

"I used to always play puzzle games as a kid. That was before I discovered video games," she explains.

"Welp, let's get to it then," Essej says cheerily.

Margot steps in front of Essej. "Good one, man. I'll take lead," she says taking the map from his hands. We snicker at her classic bluntness. The group follows Margot, and after a never ending amount of left and right turns, we make it to the square garden in five minutes.

Orc Samurai Demigod.

The garden is 100 feet by 100 feet, providing us a good field to fight. The Orc is in the center of the grassy field meditating. He sits on his knees, gripping the handle to his machete-katana hybrid planted in the ground with his right hand, and his left hand out in front of him, palms facing up, with force energy evaporating upwards.

Essej and the other Samurai meditate exactly like that—usually at night for an hour before we sleep they make a triangle and meditate, for "good mana restoration" as Essej claims.

Essej scoffs. He and the Samurai step forward, past the rest of us, to face off their demigod. Eyes closed, the Orc speaks in a rough tone.

"The rules of combat are simple." Essej nods, "Then let us honor them."

The demigod stands up, seven feet tall, robust, dark green skin, and decked out in some Samurai armor plates, extremely baggy pants, and a traditional Samurai haircut with muttonchops. "Then let us fight."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the hell is going on?" I ask. "This isn't your fight anymore," Essej says.

"What? Sej, what are you talking about?" Havanna asks.

"It's roleplay rules of the game. If a Samurai is to meet another Samurai, then it's their fight and their fight alone. If any player attacks the opposing Samurai while an ally Samurai fights, that player will deal no damage," one of the Samurai explains.

"When the hell was this enacted?" Alo asks in a high-pitched voice of bewilderment.

The Orc finishes the rules. "Under the code of honor, I will not attack any warrior except for the Samurai."

I scratch my head. Essej is strong. I'll be honest, if I had a duel with Essej, he would win. He knows real-world fighting, magic, swordsmanship, and personally trains his Samurai. Being a Berserker is basically blocking and swinging a sword. Being a Spellsword takes so much skill and Essej goes above and beyond. I have faith in him. But the three of them? We've had moments where the entire raid group has almost died under the power of one demigod.