Warbreaker's Risk: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure (The Connected System Book 2), page 31
The zombie’s head exploded.
Loch used the momentum of the swing, carrying the axe over his shoulder, to swing his body around. Onyx reached the end of its arch, Loch adjusting the path of the return swing, taking it around to the side, cutting into the next zombie. Onyx bit deep, slicing easily through rotting flesh and bone.
The top half of the zombie fell to the ground, the bottom half continued to walk for a couple of feet before collapsing. The arms were flailing, head turning to try and find Loch. He stomped down, smashing the now unmoving head.
Shaking zombie flesh and brain matter off his boot, Loch twisted to the side, hopping out of the way of the last zombie. He kicked its knee, breaking the bone and causing it to fall. Onyx finished it off.
Loch felt tired, not just from the fighting, but using a lot of Spirit. It was regenerating, but not fast enough.
Giving the woods one last look, making sure there was nothing coming out, he turned back to the rest of the fighting. Brian had killed one of the Gaunts, leaving just two. One fighting him and the other fighting Jenny. She was tiring and blood dripped down her arm. Piper clutched her wand to her chest, the weapon drained of its power, the young girl helpless to do anything else.
Loch used Windstep, taking the last of his available Spirit.
Onyx bit deep into the Gaunt’s back. The monster stiffened, the axe head almost penetrating through its body. Jenny took advantage of the opening, stabbing her blade through the monster’s neck. The blade of the sword did penetrate through the neck, blood exploding as it burst through flesh.
Loch had already turned, stepping away and into the throw.
Onyx flew straight and true, striking the last Gaunt in its shoulder. Lightning bolts crackled on impact, shocking the Gaunt. Brian’s club struck its knee, the Gaunt falling to the ground. The large man kicked it and then again before swinging the large club down onto the Gaunt’s chest. The monster’s body spasmed before laying still.
YOU HAVE SLAIN LEVEL 7 GAUNT SWORDSMAN.
YOU HAVE SLAIN LEVEL 5 ROTTING ZOMBIE.
YOU HAVE SLAIN LEVEL 7 SKELETAL FIGHTER.
YOUR ABILITY STANCE HAS REACHED RANK 2.
STANCE RANK (2) (ACTIVE ABILITY): A WARBREAKER CAN SHIFT THEIR STANCE TO GAIN MORE ATTACK OR DEFENSIVE POWER AT THE COST OF SPIRIT. OFFENSIVE STANCE: +23% ATTACK. DEFENSIVE STANCE: +23% DEFENSE. COST: 75 SPIRIT TO ACTIVATE. 10 SPIRIT FOR EVERY 10 SECONDS ABILITY IS ACTIVE. CAN SWITCH BETWEEN STANCES AT A COST OF 100 SPIRIT.
Loch was surprised that it had taken Stance that long to rank up. It was an Ability he used in every fight. The gains for going to Rank Two weren’t much, just an additional 3 percent to Attack and Defense. Duration and Spirit cost hadn’t gone down. He was a little disappointed in that Rank up. Hopefully, the next time it ranked up, there would be more drastic changes.
YOU HAVE EARNED THE ACHIEVEMENT GAUNT’S BANE RANK 1.
GAUNT’S BANE RANK I: YOU HAVE FOUGHT AND KILLED OVER A DOZEN GAUNTS. YOU HAVE EARNED +2% TO ATTACK AND +2% TO DEFENSE WHEN FIGHTING GAUNTS.
“That was something,” Jenny said, taking a step back, shaking slightly. She quickly sat down before she fell down. “Wow.”
She watched the multi-colored sparks of Spirit drifting up from all the bodies, following them as they danced through the air. Piper got the least amount entering her body, Jenny was after that. Brian got a large amount, but it was Loch that got the most. Easily twice what Brian had gotten. Loch felt his bar filling, so close to the end.
“You’re a beast,” Brian said to Loch between deep breaths, also sitting down. “I can see why that Class is called Warbreaker.”
Loch didn’t answer, walking the short distance to Piper. He was limping, clutching at his side. Sweat ran down his face, down his side, into the wound, stinging it. Piper was looking at the wound.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I was going to ask you, but yeah, I’m fine. Or will be once this heals up.”
She nodded.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded again.
“Pipes?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking away from the bodies. “I’m not hurt.”
A redirection, not the answer she knew he had been looking for, but still a correct response to the question.
“I know we’re all tired,” he started, removing his hand and looking down at the wound.
It was pretty much healed. He was still exhausted, but not as bad. No way could he use any Abilities for a long time. They weren’t just on cooldown, but his body wouldn’t do it. He’d overused his Spirit Reserves. It would take time to fully regenerate.
“But we can’t stay here. We need some distance between us and that,”—he waved at the tree—“Loot the bodies quickly.”
He leaned down, kissing the top of Piper’s head.
She smiled. It was forced, but still a smile. He’d take it.
Loch crouched down at the closest Gaunt. It had a decent-looking sword. The few pieces of leather armor were tattered. Not worth even attempting to scavenge. A quick search found nothing else.
Handing the sword to Piper to put in the satchel, he moved on to the next. The wound in his body still hurt, small spikes of pain with each twist of his torso, but at least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. The debuff icon in his vision was gone.
“Cerie? Which Stat helps with the natural Health regeneration?”
“Endurance and Willpower,” she replied, her green glow a little dimmer.
She’d tossed some spells during the fighting, doing her part to help. It would take her some time to fully recover. Maybe she’d have to return to the Codex Band.
“I do not know how each contributes, but just know that both influence how fast your body can naturally heal and how good a job it does at it.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I am sure you have noticed some lingering pain after your wounds were healed?” Loch nodded in response. “The Adapted body’s natural regeneration is not perfect. It heals the outer wound but not fully the inner. Even once a wound has been fully closed, healed up, there is sometimes lingering pain.”
“Phantom pain,” Brian grunted. He placed his foot down on the chest of a Gaunt, pulling at the leather shoulder armor it wore. He pulled, his foot pushing down into the body. With a growl of annoyance, Brian stepped off, shaking his boot to get the blood and flesh off.
“Eeeww,” Piper muttered.
“Sorry.”
Cerie’s eyes glowed green as she accessed her database.
“Yes. It is quite like phantom pain. Your body thinks it should still be hurt, so it creates the lingering pain.”
Loch nodded. It made sense.
For the first time, one of Cerie’s explanations made sense.
“Loch,” Brian called.
He was over by the first Gaunt Loch had killed, crouched down. Quickly walking over, Loch stood on the other side of the Gaunt, looking down, not seeing what Brian saw.
“There,” Brian said, pointing to the Gaunt’s hand.
A ring. Slim band, dark metal. A man’s wedding ring.
“Didn’t the fairy say the Gaunts were made?” Brian stated. “When making something, you need to have the ingredients or a base to start from. Think we can assume what the base for these things was.”
Loch nodded, too horrified and angry to say anything.
Someone had turned humans into the Gaunts.
Chapter Thirty-Four
They moved rapidly down the road. Not running or jogging but walking as fast as they could to still be able to watch for ambushes. The looting had taken longer than Loch had wanted, but they had managed to get a bunch of new swords. The Gaunts’ weapons weren’t the greatest, none of them enchanted, but they were still swords and better than what most at the camp had.
The weapons did take up more room in Piper’s satchel.
Loch’s original plan had been to scavenge from some of the houses on the way back, along with the police station. The station was still in the plans, but now he had chosen to avoid the houses, except for when camping for the night. It was passing up some potentially needed and valuable supplies. But there just wasn’t any more room.
And speed was important.
They had to get back to camp and start training the survivors.
They needed to find a better place to stay, something more defendable than the churches.
Loch kept thinking of the high school and the large brick building on top of a hill. A small hill, but it still sat perched on a hill.
Like a castle.
The perfect place?
Not quite.
But better than anything else he could think of.
The idea that the Gaunts were created from humans terrified Loch. Had they been dead when it happened? He hoped so.
Cerie had started to explain how it happened, but he had stopped her, not sure he wanted the specifics. It was bad enough knowing that it could happen. And the fairy had hinted that this was not the only type of transformation she knew about.
There were other creatures in the larger Connected Worlds that were capable of transforming Connected into something else and taking control of them when it did.
Loch had never liked anything that made him lose control of his own actions. Not even medication for when he was sick. The idea that there was some force out there that could change an entire person and control their minds. That was a nightmare for Loch.
They had to figure out who or what had done it and end that person or thing before any more people got transformed. There were so few humans left and were losing more each day. They couldn’t afford to lose any by transformation.
The small group still moved cautiously, but did so faster. Loch wanted to cover more distance before calling it for the night. The added weight of the overfilled backpacks didn’t help. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Piper about five feet behind. She was moving, one foot in front of the other, keeping pace but Loch could tell she was fading fast.
They hadn’t even stopped for lunch, eating on the move.
The sun was nearer to evening then to lunch. He estimated it to be around five. Still a couple hours before dark. Before the Connection, he’d rarely go to bed before ten or eleven at night, sometimes even staying up until midnight. Now, when it got dark, bed was soon to follow. Even when it was only seven or nine. Without television or the internet, why stay up so late? It was crazy how quickly things could change.
He started looking for a place to camp for the night. Could they possibly make it to the police station? Maybe if they kept pushing.
“Pipes, want me to take your pack?”
She looked up from the road, taking a couple of seconds to focus on him.
“No, I’m good,” she said once she registered what he had said.
Loch knew she really wasn’t. He could see it in her face. She was thirteen, asking her to keep up with him and the other two while carrying a heavy backpack, it was too much. He felt bad. But if he stopped now, she’d be mad and feel guilty, knowing it was probably because of her.
They passed a house that would have been perfect to stop at. A one-story ranch with limited ways in, easier to defend. But Loch kept them moving.
The police station was on the left. He could see it, finally, just ahead.
Loch shifted the second backpack hanging from his shoulder, the weight off balance, dragging at his side, banging into him with each step. He’d insisted on taking it from Piper about fifteen minutes ago, give or take. It was hard to tell minutes without a working watch.
She had tried to protest but had ended up agreeing.
Without the pack, she had gotten some of her strength back and was able to make it the last mile.
The building looked the same as it had before. Empty, with no one having tried to enter.
They stopped at the edge of the station’s parking lot, Loch setting the two backpacks down, taking Onyx from where it hung off his belt. The axe grew to full size.
“Wait here,” he ordered.
Jenny took up a position near Piper, turning so she could look east and west down Route 4. Brian moved about twenty feet away, crossing the road to stand at the intersection of a road, looking down its length.
Walking into the lot, Loch searched the few windows, looking for movement.
Nothing. He checked the garage, seeing that the door locks hadn’t been touched, the side man door still locked. He did a quick loop around the small station, making sure it was the same as when they had last been through.
At the front, the main door, he tried it again. Still locked.
He still felt like he could force it open with his new strength. If not him, then Brian.
But how much damage did he want to do to the door?
The plan was to ransack the place and take everything of possible value, even some stuff that might only be valuable in the future. The door didn’t need to close behind them. Even if they stayed there for the night, it should be easy enough to secure the door.
Loch concluded that he didn’t care how much the door was damaged as long as it still hung from the hinges. Taking a step back, he raised his leg, lining his booted foot up just below the lock and handle.
With as much strength as he could, Loch slammed his foot into the door. There was a loud splintering, the door blasted open, and a piece containing the metal of the knob and lock fell to the ground.
He had Bulwark activated, the energy shield held in front of him as the door swung back and forth, finally settling in a half open position. Nothing was launched at him, no spells. Nothing jumping or charging.
It was dark beyond the door. Just a little light coming in from the windows.
Using the axe to push the door fully open, Bulwark’s shield leading, he stepped into the police station. One of the few places in Northwood that he hadn’t ever been in.
The door opened to a small vestibule, a glass wall with a door separating it from the rest of the building. That door led to an open office area with three desks, filing cabinets, bookcases, and some chairs. At the far end was a short hallway that led to the second door, another vestibule with solid walls controlling access. In the other corner was the holding cell, Northwood not equipped to keep people locked up for long before transferring somewhere else. Three offices lined the back wall. A door led to what Loch assumed were the stairs leading into the storage basement.
He tried the glass door, finding it locked. There was probably a switch by one of the desks that would unlock it. A small pass-through and intercom had been installed.
Turning Onyx around, he aimed the hammerhead at the glass by the lock. One swing, the glass shattered but didn’t break, turning into hundreds of small pellets held together by a film. Bulletproof glass. Loch should have figured. Using the hammerhead, he pushed at the glass enough to bulge it out by the lock. Snaking his hand in, careful not to cut it, he twisted the mechanism until the lock clicked. Pulling his hand back, wondering why he was being so careful when it would just heal in seconds, Loch pushed the door open.
He quickly moved through the small building, opening all the doors, and making sure nothing was hiding. Satisfied, he went to the front door, calling the others to come in.
Jenny and Brian each picked up one of the two backpacks he had set aside. Piper led them in. She went to one of the desk chairs and sat down, leaning back, stretching her legs out in front of her. Cerie flew around the office area, examining everything. She floated down onto a desk, various papers still covering it, flipping through the papers as she quickly read them.
“What was this place?” she asked, moving on to another stack.
Brian and Jenny started going through the offices, taking a longer time to search them, as Loch worked on securing the doors.
“A police station.”
“What is that?”
“Police were the enforcers of the law,” Loch explained. “They captured criminals and others that broke the laws.”
“So like Guardsmen or Watchmen?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Loch grabbed one of the chairs. Closing the exterior door, he jammed the chair under the knob. He couldn’t figure out a way to secure the inner glass door. He had done too much damage entering.
“This building is small to house guards. There are no barracks.”
“In our world the police didn’t sleep at their station. They had homes and families. Northwood in terms of land was pretty big, but we had a small population. There were only three or four full time officers.”
“Three of four officers were in charge of how many soldiers?”
“Not that kind of officer,” Loch sighed. “That was just the name given to a policeman. They were called police officers. They weren’t leaders of soldiers like an officer in a military unit.”
“Ah, I see.”
And she probably did, unlike when he got an explanation from her. Loch figured her database helped fill in her understanding. And she had said that some of the other Connected Races had sent scouts to Earth to learn all they could, programming her database.
He walked away from the door, giving the tired-looking Piper a smile. She gave one that turned into a wide yawn.
“Jenny, come here, please.”
He had been about to ask Brian to join him but remembered the earlier conversation with Jenny. He did need to involve her more. She was close to reaching Level 5 and getting her Class. Loch was a little surprised that after the last fight, she hadn’t Leveled.
But there was nothing consistent about how the Connection handed out Experience.
Quality over quantity.
“What’s up?”
“Let’s check the basement.”
They stood in front of the door. Loch glanced at Piper, who still looked relaxed. She caught his look, sitting up straighter, hand on the wand she’d put on the desk. He nodded. Brian was at the other door, club in hand, watching.
Standing on the hinge side, Loch grabbed the doorknob. Jenny moved to the wall, just out of sight from the door, her new sword in her right hand. Turning the knob, Loch stepped back, pulling the door with him.
