Enter System, page 27
part #1 of Natural Laws Apocalypse Series
That should give me another dart if I'm right, he thought, and we're going to need the damage here.
Reggie squeed again.
“Flame arrow! You guys have got to trade spells with me.”
Figuring that the quickest way to get the young mage into the action was with spell talk, Marc responded.
“Well then, let's see what you've got to trade. Show us,” he said, gesturing towards the troll.
Reggie went into action, his hand gesticulating, something most of Marc's spells didn't require, then he punched towards the troll and held his fist out.
Water condensed out of the air around his fist, then it jetted out towards the troll, fast enough that it could strip paint. As Reggie gestured diagonally and down, the water jet raced across the troll's torso, opening an inch deep slash along its path.
Damn, that's a decent spell, Marc thought. I'm sure as hell willing to trade with him, even if that's the only thing he's got.
Now the troll had closed in on the fighters. It was attacking with its hands and feet, the claws on the hands sending out slashes and the feet kicking out to knock the tanks off their own feet.
“Rob, Crenelation coming up!” Marc screamed.
Then he cast his newest class spell for the first time. The stone block that rose was waist high on Rob, and arrived just in time. The troll kicked towards Rob, not having seen the spell take effect, and slammed its foot into the stone. The stone didn't move, the troll screamed, then it started hopping around on one foot for a moment.
“Rob, strength,” Marc called.
Then he began the Blessing of Strength spell, targeted on the tank.
Meanwhile Doug had put out another two Mana Dart spells and Reggie had used his water jet spell a second time. The archers were firing over and over, but their arrows were slowly driven out of the troll's flesh by its healing.
Marc peered at the troll when he finished casting. Most of the wounds it had taken were healing or had healed, although the two charred holes from his Mana Darts hadn't healed in the slightest. He was hit with an inspiration.
“Give me as many wounds on his torso as you can in the next ten seconds,” Marc yelled. “I can maybe stop the regeneration.”
The archers sped up, shooting arrow after arrow at the troll's chest. Doug managed another Mana Dart in the time frame, and Rob jumped up onto the crenelation and drove his pilum straight into the troll's shoulder. Then he jumped up and supported his weight on the pilum, tearing it back out as the troll swatted at him, sending Rob flying with his pilum in his grip where it had torn out of the troll.
Before Rob hit the ground, Marc saw him glow with a golden light and he hoped that it wasn't too late. The healers were on the job though and he couldn't worry about that. He started casting his Fireball, modifying it on the fly. It would do a little less damage, but it would still be fire damage. At the same time it should be large enough to engulf the troll's chest when it arrived.
Just before he finished his cast he saw Jeff appear behind the troll, driving his gladius up under the creature's loincloth. The troll had already been back on both feet after its hopping episode and now it let out a high-pitched squeal and turned, kicking.
Jeff caught the foot on his side. Instead of flying away like Rob had, Jeff simply spun several times before running into the wall of a house. Once again he began to glow with a golden light, but now Marc couldn't pay attention as released his Fireball spell.
It almost appeared to move in slow motion as it raced towards the troll, that's how intently Marc was focusing on it. He really hoped he was right and the flames would stop the healing factor. He'd ended up targeting it lower than he'd originally intended, trying to cover the wound Jeff had left since that had to be incredibly debilitating for the monster.
The fireball spread out as it flew. He'd gotten the dimensions right and it wrapped around the creature's lower torso, some of the flames looking like they'd made it around the loincloth as well.
Then time sped up for him again. The troll roared in agony. It wasn't dead yet, but it was certainly suffering. Rob stood up and raced back towards his place in the line. Jeff didn't bother to stand up, but he pulled out his throwing knives and started hurling them at the troll.
“One more like that and I think we've got him,” Marc yelled.
He heard the groans, audible over the sound of combat even, but the archers renewed their rapid firing and the tanks circled in on the troll, striking it over and over. Doug sent another pair of Mana Darts flying out and Reggie managed his Water Jet spell once more.
This time, Marc changed the mana variable to the fireball spell. He left the changes he'd made before, but tried to pump it back up to full damage with more mana. When he thought the troll had enough wounds, he yelled for the tanks to back off and began his cast.
When the fireball roared out, he realized he'd missed something in the equation. The fireball was noticeably larger than he'd intended.
“Get back! Big fire!” he yelled, watching as the tanks tried to scramble back farther.
This time there was no slow motion for him, it was like watching a train wreck about to occur. Three of the tanks had flung themselves backwards, leaping as far as they could. Rob had simply ducked and covered behind the crenelation and Marc hoped that would be enough.
The fireball hit and exploded with a roaring noise. Not only did it wrap around the troll, but it also extended several feet out from it, bathing the troll in flames. Its actual body caught fire so when the fireball dissipated there still flames dancing over the troll as it tilted and began to fall.
Your skill, Mana Manipulation, has increased in skill level (7->8)
Your spell, Fireball, has increased in skill level (1->2).
A cheer started to go up, strangling itself back into silence as the troll caught its balance and stood. It looked around, fury visible on its face, and caught sight of Rob as the tank stood up again. With a roar the troll swung for him. Rob managed to interpose his shield at the last moment, but it was rent by the troll's claws which continued into Rob's arm.
“Damn it, what's it take to kill this thing?” Marc exclaimed.
Then he cast another Mana Dart of the flaming variety, the three darts racing forward and striking the troll in its face just as Rob drove his pilum into the creature again.
This time when the troll started to fall, it kept falling, collapsing to the ground as a charred mess.
* * *
Chapter Twenty
There was silence for about ten seconds as everyone stared at the troll, waiting for it to move again. When it didn't, the cheers went up again. Meanwhile, Marc trotted over to Jeff, who was pulling himself to his feet.
“Hey Jeff, take its head? I'm not a hundred percent sure it's actually dead, but if we decapitate it...”
Jeff pulled his gladius out and ran over to the troll.
“Happy to oblige. I owe this fucker. He tried to use me like a top.”
Several seconds of hacking at the neck of the troll left the head separated. Jeff turned, then kicked the head like a soccer ball, sending it flying back among the houses.
The cheers had stopped as Jeff worked, then there was a whistle of admiration from Ron.
“You guys don't screw around, do you?” he asked.
Marc shook his head.
“No clue if that thing would've stood up again. I figure burning it down and taking the head should do the job though.”
He bent over and looted the troll. Not even looking at what he got from it, he simply registered that the loot function had worked which confirmed that it was dead.
“Alright, everyone who participated in combat, come loot this thing. Then we need to get moving,” Marc yelled.
Jeff walked over and kicked the headless corpse, then started laughing.
“Hey, that worked! You can loot things by kicking them while you think it.”
Marc grimaced as half the remaining people that still had to loot did it by kicking the corpse.
Harmless, really, he thought, but why does it bother me like that? Nothing's really bothered me much for days.
Once they were all done, the combined groups headed towards the people they were going to shepherd to the Safe Zone. Marc waited just long enough to watch the troll's body decay away then trotted over to join them.
“Okay, we have a set path to take. I think I saw some signs of life downtown earlier, as in people, not spawns, so we want to go that way in case they want to come along as well,” he said.
Allan nodded.
“This way people,” he said, pointing.
Marc quickly asked Ron if he'd be willing for his people to take rearguard while his group and Jayden's would take the lead. Ron nodded and he and his people dropped back. There was a lot of damaged equipment from the fight with the troll, but nothing destroyed to the point of uselessness.
Hopefully it will all regenerate in the Safe Zone, like my shield did after it was holed by the Mana Darts, he thought. I suppose that assumes it's all stuff that's been Systemized though.
When he reached the spot he'd seen the curtains twitching earlier on, he called a halt. He put his fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle.
“We're headed back for the Safe Zone now. If anyone wants to come along, now would be the time!” he yelled.
He waited, willing to give it up to two minutes, but in under one, a door swung open. A small group of people came out of the door, led by someone who was wearing what looked like a martial arts practice armor and carrying a bokken. The wooden martial arts sword had a matching wooden scabbard hanging from the person's belt, which he was happy to notice, was brown.
So, a martial arts student? Marc thought. Pretty advanced at brown belt and he... no wait, she... has a bokken. I bet that's why that group survived. I wonder if any of the others picked up a class? Huh, I didn't think they normally wore a belt outside their armor, I wonder why?
“Hey, is that bōgu?” Felicia called out.
She got a nod from the person leading the others out through the door, although they didn't turn to look at the speaker, instead they were watching all the nearby building exits.
“Um, what is bōgu?” Marc asked.
“That's the armor she's wearing,” Felicia said. “It's training armor for Kendo. That's probably where the bokken is from too.”
“So, she might actually have a class and know what she's doing?” Jeff asked, interjecting himself into their conversation.
“Hopefully,” Marc said. “The more classed people we can get, the better.”
Meanwhile the small group was making their way over to Marc. He assumed that was since he'd been the one calling out.
“Hello?” the armored individual said, tentatively.
“Hi there. Looks like you managed to keep some people alive through all this?” Marc asked.
He couldn't see her face, but her body sagged as though either in relief or sadness.
“Not enough of them,” she said. “We lost three.”
He looked at the four people with her. There were two younger boys, probably in their low teens, an older girl who probably would've been a junior or senior in high school, and the older woman who was probably in her forties. All the faces he could see held a family resemblance and Marc was guessing that the armored woman probably would have one as well, if he could see her face.
He had no idea of her age or anything else though, the armor not doing anything more than providing a vaguely feminine outline to allow him to determine her gender.
“Well, that's a lot better than some places have done,” Marc said, trying to comfort her.
She straightened and sheathed her bokken. Evidently his words had done enough to convince her that he and his group weren't going to be trouble.
Although shouldn't the sheer numbers have told her that anyway? he thought.
“We're headed back to the Safe Zone we created. You're welcome to join us, all of you,” Felicia said.
“Felicia?” the armored woman said.
Felicia just looked confused until the woman took off her helmet.
“Natalie? Is that you?” Felicia said.
Natalie nodded her head.
“I wish I'd known you were responsible for the Safe Zone, we would've responded to those signs we saw. If we had, my dad would probably still be alive.”
“I'm not, Marc is mainly, but it was a group effort,” Felicia said. “I didn't realize that people wouldn't trust the signs. I mean, it's insane out here, but the mention of the Safe Zone in the initial message said they were safer, so I thought people would swarm to them.”
“Yeah, well, that same message also told us that we couldn't trust other people. So we didn't and we paid for that lack of trust,” Natalie said, sadness tinging her voice.
“Well, let's get all these people back, Marc. We need to be moving,” Felicia said.
Marc whistled again and caught a hint of movement across the road in an alley. It looked low to the ground and a quick glimpse showed him four legs and gray fur. Not that that meant it was safe, but he only saw one creature and thought that it wouldn't be a problem at all even if it attacked.
“Let's move it out. The sooner we get moving the quicker we get you all back to the Safe Zone,” he called out.
* * *
The rest of the trip back went quickly and easily with nothing else to slow them down. When they passed Conner and the recycling crew, he got a quick wave. They were a short ways down a side street, working on another house, but the road leading there and back to the Safe Zone were all clear of cars now, so Marc was sure they'd spent a fair bit of time working on metal recycling earlier on.
Once again, they reached the gates and Marc cycled each person through, listing them as a resident so the gargoyle wouldn't take offense to their presence. He'd done some checking and if a resident took hostile action against another resident in the Safe Zone then they'd lose their resident classification, unless they were defending themselves against someone else's attack.
That should make Conner's job easier. Anything involving physical damage will leave it obviously apparent who's at fault, he thought.
Once he'd cycled everyone in, he took the time to pull up his notifications. The light had been flashing for a bit, but he found it easy to ignore now if he wanted to. He hadn't leveled, but he did freeze when he saw the loot he'd picked up off the troll.
Actual gold pieces? he thought. Troll blood? Troll skin? And...
He just stared at the message that accompanied the loot listing.
For the first kill on a rare spawn worldwide, you've been awarded an additional drop:
Monster Core
It looked much larger in his inventory than the first one they'd found had, so he looked around to make sure no-one was watching and then pulled it out. Sure enough, this one was the size of a small plum while the previous one he'd found on the Hobgoblin was about the size of a normal marble.
He stared at it and its stats popped up.
Monster Core
Item grade: rare
Item quality: Excellent
If Marc remembered right, the item qualities went: junk, poor, common, uncommon, good, excellent, masterful, legendary. He'd seen the list somewhere in his help files and tried to memorize it, but he wasn't sure he'd remembered it all. Even so, the quality level of this core was significantly better than the last one.
That one is common and poor quality and will still provide power for the original Safe Zone and three expansions, along with the gargoyle. What could this one do? Marc wondered.
He quickly put it back into his inventory and went to find Felicia. When he did find her, she was apparently in a serious talk with Natalie. Natalie had shed her armor and was wearing a martial arts Gi now. Noticing that Felicia seemed to be comforting the other woman, Marc veered away.
Alright, I could tell Rob instead, but he's not much for planning, which is what I want to do right now. I want to try to figure out what we can do with this core and plan for it. I could talk to Jeff, he'd understand the importance, but he'd urge me to sell it and split the proceeds.
Marc glanced at his inventory to look at the core again, and noticed something else as well. He had yet another System token. When he checked this one it was listed as a rare.
He went back to his logs and pulled up the kill message for the troll. Sure enough, right at the end there was a message about additional rewards for the first rare spawn kill on the world.
So, I got the core and we all got rare System tokens? I'll have to ask the others about that, see if they got the tokens also, he thought.
On that note, he did head out to find Rob. When he did, the tank was talking to a few of the people they'd just brought in, not the ones who had already gained classes, but some of the others. From what Marc could make out, they'd wanted to ask about getting classes and Rob had been the first classed person they found that wasn't one of the adventuring party that had been protecting them.
“Because they said we didn't want to do it, and they didn't want to talk about it at all,” one of Rob's crowd said as Marc approached.
“Are you asking Rob about getting classes?” Marc asked.
He got a bunch of nods.
“We've got that covered for you. Tomorrow, I'll have Al give you an introduction to what we know about the System. That includes how to get yourself a class,” Marc said. “Okay? I need to talk with Rob for a minute first though, if you don't mind.”
Marc got a bunch more nods then, plus a couple of audible acknowledgments, not to mention several angry glares. Ignoring those, he drew Rob aside.
“Rob, do me a favor?”
“Sure, what do you need?”
“Just check your inventory for me. Did you get another System token? A rare one this time? I think it dropped from the troll, but I don't know if we all got one or not.”
Rob got a vacant look on his face for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
“Sure did. Hey, what are those good for? I know you and Felicia used some to get the guns to work with the System, and those were lesser ones, weren't they?”
