CHAPTER SIX
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What eventually shook him from his cultivation-trance turned out to be something not even a jaded veteran like himself could easily ignore.
The terrified screams of children.
Snapping his eyes wide, he was immediately greeted by a scene of imminent carnage.
Stuffed animal constructs converged on the shivering huddle of kids with an almost agonizing slowness. Their hitching gate, dead button eyes, and comparatively oversized rusty blades could’ve likely served as nightmare fuel for a child of any age. The fact that they were off-brand facsimiles of a popular children’s franchise likely only serving to further heighten the unadulterated horror and subconscious betrayal of the moment.
Hmm. I think I’m beginning to understand why the creature might prefer to haunt this tutorial in particular. This right here must be like an all you can eat buffet.
Focusing more on his immediate surroundings, he noted idly how he was being cradled by one of the eldest girls. Well, he said eldest, but she couldn’t have been any older than five years old, and was barely any larger than he was besides.
Needless to say, it made for an uncomfortable seating arrangement, and wasn’t helped in the least by the iron grip she maintained on his ribs, nearly succeeding in crushing the life from him where these creatures would surely fail. On the bright side, he found it was a lot easier to swivel his head when he had something for it to lean onto.
Only seven of the monsters approached, each a different color of the rainbow. He wouldn’t bother listing their assortment of “weapons,” even if he did memorize the look and make of each at a glance.
Why?
Because there simply was no need.
It’s a good thing I failed to swallow the bead of mana in time, or else I really might have been in trouble.
Breaking off a fraction of the potent liquid, he quickly fashioned the drop of mana into one of the simplest shapes possible. A needle thin mana dart.
Then, with a speed of execution only possible in one who’d spent years striving for perfection in the craft of mana engraving, he carved the runes for [Lesser Acceleration] [Lesser Impetus] and [Lesser Detonation] respectively—the lines so fine they would’ve been easy to miss with the naked eye. He didn’t even need to tap into his soul palace to do so. He could’ve carved them by heart with his eyes closed, the runes were so basic. That done, he angled his head towards the nearest of the constructs, parted his lips ever so slightly, and loosed.
+—|-Ailing ShareBear-|—+
•[Lvl 1]•
The tiny missile disappeared into the forehead of the neon green ShareBear. The thing staggered back a step. Shook its head in confusion. Crossed it’s button eyes to try and see the tiny hole that’d appeared between its brows. Before its bulbous head exploded in a rush of matted fur and stuffing.
•-|—(You have slain an enemy: Ailing ShareBear [Lvl 1])—|-•
Experience Gained. Participation Points Gained.
[+10 Participation Points]
Richard only noticed this from out of the corner of his eye, however. His attention already fixed on the second closest bear—mind swiftly wrapping up the last of the engravings on his second dart.
Richard opened his mouth, released the needle thin dart, and soon a second geyser of stuffing was raining down on the clearing.
•-|—(You have slain an enemy: Ailing ShareBear [Lvl 1])—|-•
Experience Gained. Participation Points Gained.
[+10 Participation Points]
Richard managed to release four more darts in rapid succession before the last of his mana droplet was finally exhausted. He frowned in consternation at the last ShareBear standing—swiveling its head side to side in obvious confusion as to what had befallen its fellows.
Hmm. I’d intended to use that droplet to replenish my mana pool. Without it, it’ll be hours before I have enough mana to attempt that trick again.
And, as the ShareBear finally came to its senses, and hesitantly began to limp their way once more, Richard suddenly realized that he might have overestimated his abilities by the tiniest margin. Despite his years worth of experience, despite the terror he might have elicited on a battle field, despite his reputation as one of the trickiest opponents to properly pin down, even within S grade circles, there was quite literally nothing he could do to stop this level one grunt from planting its rusty shiv in his unprotected chest.
It was a humbling experience.
He never much cared for being humbled.
It was just as he was beginning to consider the irony he might actually die to a level one monster after everything he’d done to prevent the end of humanity, when the most unlikely of saviors stepped up to his defense.
A young boy, eldest of their ragtag bunch at six years old, stepped forward. Bending down to pick up one of the discarded weapons, a rusty cleaver, the little Asian boy, clearly terrified if his trembling was anything to go by, let out a ragged cry before charging headlong towards the animate stuffed animal. Of a comparable size, it looked like an even match. However, for all that they were dogged in their shuffling pursuit, the lvl 1 monsters could not be said to be especially fast on the uptake.
The young boy was before the ShareBear before it’d even seemed to register his presence. And was tipping the cleaver forward in an overbalanced diagonal swing before the monster remembered that it had a weapon in its hand. It’s weakly raised arm a rather pitiful defense. One which the boys cleaver sheared right on through with little to no resistance.
The monster staggered back, now missing an arm but otherwise unharmed. It glanced down at its stump, then at its working arm, rusty shiv still in hand, then up at the boy. They shared a look with one another, before the ShareBear took a single step forward. The boy stumbled back, his brief window of bravery having entirely left him. The monster, heartened by the sight, brandished its shiv menacingly. Taking another limping step, ready to finish the job it’s brothers had started.
And that was when a second someone barreled into the monster from the side. A frantic ball of frizzy red hair bearing the stuffed animal to the ground. Something flashed as it was raised high and then brought down hard. Again and again. Over and over. Each stab of the knife slamming into the helpless ShareBear with feral intensity.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Until eventually, amidst a cloud of disemboweled white innards, the second eldest of the children rose to a seated position, attempting to blow a lock of hair from her eyes and failing spectacularly.
"If ye’re gonnae kill ‘em, ye shouldnae stopped. Whit’s a’matter? Yer da’ never took ye huntin’ ‘afore?”
+++
*DING!*
•CONGRATULATIONS!•
You have successfully beaten back the tenth wave of the incursion!
Enemies Slain: (99/100)
(Bonus points will be awarded at the end based on individual contributions)
*DING!*
Even Though Victory May Seem Near, Know That Sometimes There is Reason to Fear.
You sense that the army that now lies dead at your feet is not quite all the enemy has to offer. You begin to question: if these are all the soldiers, then where is their leader? You have one hour to prepare for the final boss encounter.
(HINT: Be sure to prepare accordingly within the allotted time! Elites are much stronger for their level!)
Time Remaining until Boss Encounter: 59:59
Upon hearing that their ordeal was finally over, or at least momentarily postponed, Robin and the others promptly slumped over in exhaustion, and got very well acquainted with the stuffing strewn lawn. All except for Denise, of course, who immediately rounded on Marlene, rusty hatchet still in hand and blood clearly up.
“What. The fork. Was that?!”
Robin knew she couldn’t just lay there and watch as the irate woman stomped towards the trembling girl, so with a groan, she once more heaved herself to her feet.
“Denise…” Robin tried.
“No! Don’t ‘Denise’ me! I want some motherclucking answers from the little church mouse! So tell me, little miss sunshine. What. The cluck. Was that?!”
Marlene seemed to shrink back with every clipped word uttered.
“Do you have any idea how lucky you are? Because, I swear to god, if anything had happened to those kids, you sure as shirt wouldn’t be leaving this place alive. I can assure you of that.”
“Denise! If there was ever a line, you just crossed it! I mean seriously?! Death threats? Is that what we’ve come to? It hasn’t even been a full day yet! There’s no need for-”
“Oh, please, don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same. Maybe you would’ve called it something else. Something clinical like, ‘a reallocation of resources,’ but don’t kid yourself. Point is, you wouldn’t have trusted her far as you could throw her, and those who don’t work, don’t eat. That’s more true in this world than it ever was in the old one.
“You’d starve her out politically, socially, and then literally, if she was never given a chance to earn her keep. Then maybe, after long enough, you’d feel ready to, ‘give her a second chance.’ But by then she’d be so weak and malnourished that she’d die in the first wave, saving all of us the trouble. Me personally? I just prefer to skip the extra steps.”
Robin paused, trying to find a chink in the woman’s logic, her disturbingly insightful dissection, and finding that she couldn’t. There was no point denying it. If Marlene had gotten any of the kids killed, she really wouldn’t have trusted her. Did that mean she would have stone walled her out completely? To the point of indirectly getting the girl killed? She’d like to say no, but until it happened, it was hard to say. As it was though…
“But she didn’t, though, did she?” Robin responded calmly.
“But she could have!”
“But she didn’t.”
The woman pursed her lips in frustration.
“Yeah, well, not because of any outstanding performance on her end. Tell me, how did they avoid getting overrun anyway? Did anyone see? Because, last time I checked, they were surrounded by the little rainbow f- ugh!” she cut herself off. “The little rainbow… monsters,” she finished rather lamely.
After looking around, and only receiving equally confused shakes of the head in response, it seemed that no one managed to catch what exactly saved the kids in the end.
Or, almost no one.
“I saw!” piped a tiny voice.
“Yeah, me too!” chimed another.
“Me me me! I know! I know!”
And so began an unintelligible cacophony, in which each of the children tried in vain to communicate whatever fantastical event they believed they saw. Robin looked down at the jubilant display with an expression of purest befuddlement on her face.
Had they really been in mortal danger just a few seconds ago? A testament to the mental elasticity of youth, she supposed. Mind numbing terror one second and twenty one questions the next.
“Hold on! Slow down! One person at a time! You, uh? Alice, was it? What was that you said? Something about… super spit?”
The girl, five year old Alice, nodded her head vigorously, hitching the one month old baby higher in her arms before he could wriggle free. Robin tried not to laugh. The girl was nearly bent over backward trying to hold up the comparably sized baby.
“They don’t believe me, but I saw it! I even told them I did, and even I almost didn’t see it, because I thought it was the wind but then the scary Mr. Bear thing’s head went all boom and that’s when I knew it was for really real.”
“I-I’m sorry?”
The girl rolled her eyes in exasperation. Shaking the little infant as if to illustrate her point.”
“He spit super spit to make the Mr. Bears go boom!“
There was a moment of silence following this pronouncement. Even some of the kids looked at the infant dubiously. The actual infant meanwhile, elbows somewhere near his ears and toes nearly touching the ground, looked, for his part, absolutely miserable.
+++
Standing over the unconscious body of the werewolf elite—shirtless, panting, and with a massive gash down his side—Daniel Clark only had eyes for one thing, and one thing only. The gleaming crystal dagger glinting in his hands.
+-|—Imperial Regalia: Syphon Soul Dagger [Lvl 1]—|-+
[Legendary]
Effect 1: Any kill made with this weapon gives 50% bonus experience.
Effect 2: [HIDDEN]
Effect 3: [HIDDEN]
With a thought, Daniel dismissed the dagger’s description, knowing he’d be back to staring at it religiously as soon as he was done here. Feeling the gentle rise and fall of the mob’s chest, Daniel swiftly bent down and slit the beasts throat. He then felt around until he thought he’d located its heart, then plunged his knife in hilt deep, just to be safe.
•-|—(You have slain an enemy: INFECTED WEREWOLF [Lvl 7 ELITE])—|-•
Experience Gained. Bonus Experience Gained for Slaying a Monster Elite.
*DING!*
•-|—You Have Gained A Level. You Are Now [Lvl 1]—|-•
[+2 free points]
•-|—You Have Gained A Level. You Are Now [Lvl 2]—|-•
[+2 free points]
…
•-|—You Have Gained A Level. You Are Now [Lvl 6]—|-•
[+2 free points]
“Hahahaha!”
Daniel stared at his new level, a giddy disbelief he’d never before experienced—like bubbling laughter just barely suppressed—turning his persistent grin manic and wide. He looked up as the notifications faded away. Looked out over the torn stretch of blood splattered clearing, and the bodies sprawled therein. Each of them lying in pained exhaustion, or else sleeping the sleep of a more final variety.
He looked down at his special dagger, then over at his level, then up over the stretch of near comatose bodies, that same wide grin practically plastered on his face.
“A couple more levels couldn’t hurt,” he chortled to himself.
Hopping down from his perch atop the beasts hairy chest, he practically skipped towards his very first victim. The body builder in the orange jumpsuit was currently trying, in vain, to rearrange his intestines so they’d fit back in his belly where they belonged. Daniel caught the guys eye, saw the accusation burning there, the pain, the defiance.
He whistled.
“Demoted from alpha pack leader to sheepiest sheeple of them all in barely a day, huh? Have to say, I bet that stings. Not as much as the whole… spilled guts situation though, I’d imagine.”
The man spat at his feet, grimacing with the movement.
“You motherf-“ the man groaned, suddenly doubling over in pain. “You didn’t help us. Just swooped in near the end. Took the kill for yourself- you selfish son of a-!”
He never got to finish that sentence.
On account of the dagger planted in his left eye, naturally. Daniel sucked in a deep breath of anticipation…! Then slumped when no level accompanied the kill. He had gotten an experience notification though. So maybe… his eyes drifted towards the bald headed Latina from earlier, now slumped against a tree with a nasty looking puncture wound in her left side.
This time, when they locked gazes, he wasn’t met with any form of defiance. No. In that moment of mutual, crystal clear understanding, all he saw in her eyes, was fear.