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A Bureaucrat walks into a Dungeon
Ch 20 Ashes to Ashes, Bones to Dust

Ch 20 Ashes to Ashes, Bones to Dust

Eric looked at Kendra, then the other agents. “A rift just fell, the US has been invaded, I know none of you are soldiers, but I'm going to try to help.”

Kendra looked at Tilly, who nodded, “We are with you.” Then she looked at the other agents, “This is not an official FBI action.”

The blonde woman, Agent Hill, said “I took an Oath to defend the US.” She gulped, “But I hope the military will be there too!” The other agents nodded.

Kendra got on the phone with Special Agent in Charge Gonzalez, “Sir, one of the rifts has fallen, we are nearby and mobile, and would like to support the military.”

“Volunteers only, understand?” He told her.

“Yes sir, volunteers only.” She agreed. Back in the vehicle, Kendra pulled out a large crate, opened it, and started handing out magazines of 9 millimeter rounds. She had about 20 to distribute.

“Holy fuck Parks, planning a war?” Agent Miller jokingly asked.

“I was recently in a gunfight where a lot of people ran out of ammunition-by chance, at the location we are going to. Now, anyone know how to shoot an M-16?” The guy who had just gotten Warrior as a class took it, and Miller got the shotgun. Then they started driving.

The van shuddered and shook as Kendra tried to follow the route the Humvee's had taken a week ago, finally they got close and heard the screaming roar of a fighter jet. Eric watched as it fired a stubby, finned missile towards the rift. “I guess we weren't needed after all,” Eric smiled, then his smile faded as the missile spun in the air, moving back towards the plane that fired it. He saw two dark shapes launch from the cockpit just as the missile struck. An orange fireball engulfed the plane and ejecting pilots. Eric saw one parachute open but the other seat plummeted to the desert soil.

The group in the van saw a rough line of military vehicles, including what used to be a tank, but was now a smoking wreck. Dozens of troops hid behind them, rising to fire into a mass of skeletons expanding out like spilled milk on the kitchen floor. Eric could see multiple beings in purple robes, he cursed, last time he had only been able to kill one, and that was just luck.

Eric desperately needed more mana. Checking his stats, he decided to put 2 points into Int, and 2 points into Con. But after he put points into Int, the system gave him a message:

2 attribute points spent on Charisma due to hidden trait.

Eric cursed, then he put his last attribute point into constitution. 4 more HP was 4 more HP, and the 8 MP from the intelligence would help.

He saw King up on the line with the troops. About 50 feet back, Colonel Melendez was squatting with Young, Abdullah, Sanz, and a Major Eric hadn't seen before also squatting or kneeling in a rough circle. They were actually drawing plans in the dirt as they organized their forces. Eric decided to check in with them first, and the Agents followed him.

“Sir, we came to help,” Eric said.

Melendez gaze snapped up, seeing it was Eric he demanded, “You are the only one who has killed one of the purple ones, how did you do it?”

Eric stammered, “I have a spell called Sun Bolt, undead don't like the sun, and King got me to put everything I had into it. But still, well, if I put everything I have into it and they don't kill me in the half a minute it takes to use my skill several times, I can only take out one. It won't be enough. I counted three of them at the rift.”

“Four,” The Colonel corrected him, “If they are weak to sun, do you think they are weak to fire too?”

“We can hope?” Eric shrugged.

The Colonel turned to his company commanders, “OK, regular Army is fifteen minutes out. We just saw what happens to air support, and we have seen what happens to a tank that uses its main gun. Luckily, we have a crate of incendiary grenades. Thoughts?”

“Sir, they seem to be able to reverse weapons, the tank gun, the missile, I don't know why they aren't reversing our bullets, but do we need to worry about grenades bouncing back?” Major Sanz asked.

Young called, “King, get back here.” They quickly updated him on their idea and concerns. “You have fought these before, what do you think?”

Lashawn thought a second, “Eric hit that thing with a spell as it was about to light him up, and the purple guy's spell failed. Eric, do you think you could be on distraction duty?”

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“I'll do my best,” He agreed, fear making him sweat. He and King jogged up to the line, and a soldier lugged a crate of grenades to where the Captain was watching the undead.

It was hard to hear anything over the noise of near constant gunfire. The skeletons seemed to just accept their role, soaking up bullets to take land and expand their hold. Eric could see skeletons climbing over the burned out vehicles of the company that had been tasked with defending the rift.

Once he had the grenades, King pulled 2nd platoon into a huddle, “OK, on my signal, you all throw, get as close to the guys in purple as you can, don't worry which one. We just need to buy time, the regular army will be here soon.”

“Hooah!” They shouted, grabbing a grenade each, and spreading out along the firing line. Eric stayed close to King, with Kendra and Agent Hill next to him. His eyes strained to mark each of the skeletons in purple robes and keep track of them in the chaos of moving white bones.

“Second Platoon, send them to hell!” King yelled. As the grenades arced, Eric used Sun Bolt, sending one bolt to hit each of the purple robed skeletons. As the grenades began to fall, one of them suddenly jerked to the side, missing a scowling skeleton. The area around the rift erupted in fire, and Eric saw one of the purple robed skeletons was badly hurt.

Eric used a Sun Bolt, concentrating all four blasts on the damaged purple garbed foe, and as the blasts of magic hit it, it crumbled into a pile of debris.

But that was when the thunder hit. One, two, then three blasts of lightning hit the vehicles the soldiers were using as cover. The vehicles shorted out, and a few troops leaning on the vehicles fell to the ground, twitching. Eric saw one foaming at the mouth before medic reached him, using a healing spell.

“Kendra, shoot out the windows of this car.” Eric exclaimed.

“What? OK,” Kendra fired two careful shots, destroying the windows of the Humvee they were using as cover. Eric looked through the window, hoping it would be harder to see him, and spotted a purple robe. Hoping it was already hurt, he used Sun Bolt, four blasts of yellow light flew through the cockpit of the car before slamming into the lich, as Eric dove for the ground to hide from any retaliation.

The vehicle Eric was hiding behind jolted sideways and buzzed as lightning struck. Acrid smoke came from the flash fried paint and battery. Eric got to his knees, peering through the window gap, and locked eyes with the purple robe who had sent the blast. Eric used another Sun Bolt and then tried to drop before any return fire, but was too slow. Some of the power of the blast was absorbed by the metal cage it had to pass by, but Eric was hit in the head by a blast of power and dropped.

His head felt fuzzy, but he realized he had a healing spell, using lesser heal on himself. That still didn't get him to full, but a second casting did. He looked to see if the other guy was worse, only to see a group of soldiers suddenly rise up among the skeletons.

The troops around him cheered, having seen their comrades appear in the middle of the enemy force. “cease fire,” was called, and the guns became silent. But so were the soldiers mixed in with the skeletons. The men and women just moved outwards from the rift, towards the line of troops Eric was supporting.

Eric saw something odd about the neck of one of the soldiers in the bone mob, and looked closer. The man's neck was torn open, dried blood coated his uniform, making his desert camo almost purple. His eyes were blank, and his mouth gaped open.

“Fuck, that's Sarah!” Someone shouted, and the noise of gunfire resumed. Eric heard screaming and cursing, the troops furious that they had to fire on their friends. Then there was a 'whump,' sound, and skeletons flew in every direction as a mortar round exploded. Vehicles were arriving, filled with soldiers and supplies.

Eric looked at the foes, and saw the three purple robed beings together, communicating somehow. He tried to tell which was worst hurt, ending up deciding based on the damage to the robe, and sent a Sun Bolt. It wasn't enough, and a blast of lightning hit the car he was hiding behind. Then another, and Eric smelled gasoline. “Run,” Kendra yelled, throwing him away from the vehicle. She and the other agents dove to the ground as another blast hit the car and it exploded, twisted metal and fire flying in every direction.

'Whump...BOOM' Another mortar round was fired, this time aimed at the three purple skeletons. Distracted by their attacks on Eric, they didn't respond quickly enough, and were blown through the air. One broke into splintered fragments as it hit the ground, and the other two were badly damaged. Eric and his friends were not much better, but Eric attacked anyway. Sun Bolt took down one of the last two robed skeletons, but the last one pointed at Eric.

Then a beam of light burned into its skull, dropping it. Kendra was kneeling in a firing stance, her beamer in hand.

With the leaders destroyed and the regular army on site, all that was left was cleanup. Fragmentation grenades and mortar rounds turned the skeletons into so much calcium rich fertilizer, and gave a second death to Charlie Company. Once nothing moved in the mass of white sand and shattered bone, soldiers moved forward to collect as much of their comrades as they could. Tagging their friends for burial.

The regular army agreed to guard that rift, and set up multiple 50 cal machine guns and a much larger perimeter. Eric used his healing spell until he ran out of mana, then he and the Agents went home.

Eric had leveled, as did Kendra, and the Agents with them had jumped to level 3. He later learned that King and Guidry hit level 5 and most of their troops made it to 3rd level. No one knew why the skeletons had invaded though. Just that if they did again, the Army would be waiting.

Eric and Kendra drove the somewhat worse for wear van with the other agents (and Tilly) in the back, Eric intending to still provide the meal he promised. Once they got to his house Eric began to pluck and prepare one of the giant birds, cutting slabs of meat from them. As the smell of the cooking spread, the Agents moved closer, eager to taste the feast.

As the group ate Coltroraptor, potatoes, and salad, Agent Miller pulled out his phone and laughed. “North Korean soldiers are surrendering to the Chinese, they aren't even at war!” He laughed.

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