The idea behind this shop was ridiculous, but John had to agree, there were some useful items here and there. Every item in every pile had a small paper slip acting as a price tag sticking to it, and John slowly passed through the piles, pulling out what caught his eye.
"What prevents us from taking stuff and leaving without paying?" Asked a masculine voice somewhere behind him.
"You see that black line around the entrance?" Someone replied, making John turn and look there as well. "If you cross it without paying for the items, the dragon statue above the arc will burn you to a crisp."
"Oh, I wasn't thinking about… you know…" the man stammered, pulling three golden rings from his pocket and returning them back into a pile.
Idiot, John chuckled and continued with his shopping.
At first, he was enamored by all the items around him and the prospect of walking out fully decked in ornate gear, and he would have done exactly that if he didn't have access to the Al'drul's emporium, but unfortunately—or fortunately—he did, and was able to resist the allure of spending every single last pile he had.
Sighing, he returned the marvelous leather armor created from dark-red hide embroidered with a golden ornament of a griffin back into the pile. It was valued at seventeen hundred whites, which wasn't a reasonable price to pay with his current budget.
He wasn't willing to overspend, but two fairly cheap items caught his eye, and felt worth the investment. The first was a finely made chainmail from some dull-grey material with very little weight and a small problem in the form of a one-inch hole in its side covered in dried blood, and the second item was a simple club made from dark-green wood, for the total of just seventy-six whites.
"Guys," John asked no one in particular, "how do I pay for the items?" And got an answer from a woman next to him without her even lifting her head from the pile she was currently shifting through.
"Place 'em on the counter and use the yellow crystal."
"Thanks!"
Walking there, he joined another queue and quietly waited for his turn.
"Not a big spender, eh?" Said the guy behind him, nodding toward the items in his hands.
"Huh?"
"I found this great sword and shield for two hundred and man, I can't wait to test them on those walkers. You should also…" The guy continued with his self-gratifying rant for another three minutes with John only giving out the polite mhms and ohs until finally got his turn, paid for his stuff, and got the fuck out.
Getting the chainmail on proved surprisingly easy, because the links were so fine it felt like putting on a rough sweater and he could even wear it over his shirt, right under his leather jacket.
Done with the shopping, there was a second building he was interested in, the big tree house, but as he was coming closer, something felt off. Pretending to admire the buildings, he carefully observed his surroundings and noticed the annoying guy from the queue trying and failing to suddenly blend into the closest group of people.
Hmm, was he following me?
As he was looking around, the off-putting feeling started to fade away, and he shook his head and continued the last few meters to the hand-carved door of the tree house.
Damnit! What is going on?
Something was wrong. His gut was giving him a warning, and he couldn't figure out why, so he abruptly turned around and looked for any incoming dangers, yet found none. The people minded their own business, and the guy who was following him still stood in the same group of people. Staying still with his back against the wooden house, the feeling of wrongness lessened but stayed as a constant companion whispering in his ear about an unknown danger he was about to face.
Gritting his teeth, he decided to stall his pursuers inside the tree, but as he turned and was about to push the door open, the feeling changed into a short spike of absolute dread, followed by a sudden silence and a painful ache deep inside him.
"Fuuuck!" He clutched at his chest and took deep breaths until he calmed down and was able to stand without using his hands for support.
What just happened, he didn't understand, but the aftereffects were the exact same feelings he experienced in the Al'drul's emporium, and maybe a valuable clue for the future. Now though, he had to figure out the problem, and by the last spike he felt, he figured he was just about to make some horrible mistake.
Could it be? He stepped further away from the house, and carefully watched the whole building. Every time his gut gave him a warning, he was heading toward it.
"Excuse me, could you tell me what that building is?" He walked to a person who had just left.
"Hm? Oh, that is the House of healing and respite. The best place to go after an excursion to heal your injuries and relax." He replied with a content smile.
"That sounds great," John agreed, but asked one more question, "and who is doing the healing?"
"Some chick with plant-like green hair and bark-like skin. I think she called herself an avatar of something."
Nodding, John thanked him and left the house alone. He wasn't certain if it was the reason behind the warnings, but wasn't about to risk it either, and rather walked back to the hotel lobby to see the current time.
Four minutes past eight.
Seeing a small library on the other side of the lobby, he picked the first book that caught his eye and sat down, spending the remaining minutes relaxing and reading an old fiction.
[Congratulations! You are among those who have obtained the Apocalypse deck and survived the first twenty-four hours.
Rewards: Fate is increased by 2.
Special conditions met: Land a finishing blow on at least 50 skeletons.
Rewards: Fate is increased by 1.
Special conditions met: Land a finishing blow on at least 10 Rothounds.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Rewards: Fate is increased by 2.
Note: The first day is behind you.]
[Congratulations! You are among the top 100 humans on the Fate-ladder.
Everyone will get a rare body modification card Identify monster and ash according to their placement, those who are already in the possession of Identify monster get a special choice instead.
1: Sparrow - 22 Fate
2: Reaper - 17 Fate
3: Doomhammer - 14 Fate
4: Gai Uhn - 13 Fate
5: Ginger - 13 Fate
6: Boris - 13 Fate
7: The boss - 13 Fate
8: Katuška - 13 Fate
9: Kun'arl - 13 Fate
10: Valerie - 12 Fate
…
…
13: Sgt. Harrison - 12 Fate
…
…
100: Silverhand - 9 Fate
Rewards: Stack of 1500 white and 25 blue piles of ash.
Note: Stay tuned for the next episode of Fate-ladder in two days, now for more exciting news…]
[Make a choice!
1: 500 white ash.
2: First half of the upgrade token for Identify monster card.]
For him, this was a simple choice. Five hundred whites were nice, but not enough to forgo a chance to upgrade a very useful card.
Give me the second option!
The next announcement popped up just a couple of seconds later, and as he read through it, he thought about how fucked humanity is about to be.
[Attention!
The Relentless assault is about to begin. In the following forty-eight hours, five waves of monsters will attack shelters and congregations of more than fifty people.
You have fifteen minutes to prepare before the first wave begins.
Note: Band together, and fight for a place in this new and exciting universe, or run away and look for safety in isolation.]
The atmosphere around him was shifting by the second, and soon dozens of people were running around in mounting panic. He, on the other hand, still sat on the couch, frozen with indecision.
Staying independent and keeping his abilities hidden was becoming second nature, but now the System was trying to force his hand. He could probably leave, get far enough to avoid it and hunt on his own… but what would be the point, he had to ask himself. If the price for his power and safety was the whole world collapsing, it just wasn't worth it, and after remembering the dead bodies of Rick and Tamara, he steeled his resolve.
Leaving the lobby, he looked around and joined the small crowd forming behind the closest wall, waiting for more specific directions. Those came a couple of minutes later, when a giant bear of a man with long dark hair and a well-groomed beard, followed by two other sharp-looking men and one woman took charge and started splitting up the crowd into four smaller groups. Using his deep voice, the giant called for all close-combat defenders to join him and take positions in front of the gate, outside. The other three designated leaders started calling for strikers, supporters, and destroyers, leaving John uncertain about the correct group to join.
"Excuse me, I use two minions to attack from a distance, do I belong to support or the strikers?"
"Hm?" The leader of the strikers, a woman with a round face framed by short-cut sandy hair, asked in return, "What is your party's role?"
"I don't have one?" John replied in a questioning tone but seeing her raised eyebrow clarified, "I prefer going out alone. All I need is a visual from a distance to be useful."
"Oh? Come then, show me if you are right or full of shit." She led him to the blue crystal on the wall next to the gate. "Go on, show me your ID."
Shrugging, he placed his palm over the gem and made a blue screen pop out above it, showing his information.
[Name: John
Main card: my own
Second card: also my own
White ash: a pile
Blue ash: a small pile
Your desired role: staying independent
Your previous occupation: a job
Current party: none
Current role: none
Dept: 0]
Huh… I must admit, I wasn't expecting that… you know what? Go through those doors," she pointed at the entrance to the first house behind the wall, "and climb to the first floor and enter the only accessible apartment. It will lead you to a small balcony, giving you a good view over the whole street." And she turned back and started ordering the rest of her group into positions on the wall and in the same building.
It took another couple of minutes before everyone was organized, and John watched everything slowly fit together like a well-oiled machine. In the front were two lines of fighters holding shields and led by the big guy, who was currently being helped into a black metal chest plate. The top of the wall was mostly filled with strikers and a couple of supports, and across the street in the other house were stationed people designated as destroyers.
Standing there in silence, John could feel the morale dropping as fear of uncertainty began to take root, but as their leader finished the last strap of his chest plate and equipped a pair of massive black gauntlets, he raised his meaty hand and waited for the group of people to quiet down.
"My fellow survivors, we are facing a great challenge today. The undead are about to descend upon us, and it will take every ounce of strength we have to stand against them."
After taking a short pause for the first words to sink in, he continued, "But I want you to remember one thing, we are not alone. We are not just a group of individuals, struggling to survive against overwhelming odds. We are a team, a family, and we will stand together and fight as one.
We have overcome much already, and we will overcome this too. We will not let fear control us, or let the monsters take what is rightfully ours. We will fight with every fiber of our being, and we will emerge victorious.
For humanity! For life!"
His voice echoed through the street, and for the last shout, everyone and even John joined in.
"For the Valiant’s stand!"
As if to prove them wrong, a hundred meters ahead the air shimmered and tore apart with a loud crack, forming a massive sickly green portal.
And so it begins…
After a couple of seconds, the portal stretched wide enough to cover the whole highway and from there, the first zombies stepped out. The beginning of the assault could be described as the beginning of a heavy rain, starting gently with a few zombies here and there, but as the minutes passed, the trickle changed into a steady stream.
John's tactic was to paralyze a target fifty meters away with his wisp and make it crumble apart with his dagger far enough to avoid the other abilities and secure the kill for himself. On average, he was able to kill one zombie every eight seconds and repeatedly added another line to the dull light show of white ash piles zipping to those who were landing the finishing blows.
The strikers and the front-line defenders had no problem stopping the early assault, but as the numbers increased, the destroyers joined in, breaking the constant flow with devastating area-of-effect skills. The latest was a combination of a fiery explosion and some kind of rock detonation, which covered the whole width of the street in shrapnel, and sent over a dozen white balls flying toward the opposite building.
Another interesting thing John noticed was the tactic of the supporters, who rushed into the front line and released a thick wall of thorn bushes, freezing the ground, or releasing other effects to hamper the advance, and ease the pressure on those who were holding the downpour at bay.
Their leader wasn't all talk either, and held the middle of the line, using his massive frame to deliver devastating strikes with his gauntleted hands. Paying careful attention, John saw the small wisps of dark smoke radiating from his hands and guessed his ability to be something like the Overwhelming might. His guess was proved right five minutes later, as his gauntlets lost the smokey trails, and the giant pulled out a mace with a tower shield to protect himself until his ability refreshed.
His leadership and teamwork created an impenetrable wall of flesh upon which the zombies crumbled by the hundreds, unable to put a single dent in, and only served as a steady stream of disposable currency for everyone participating in the defense of their new haven. Unfortunately, after the stalemate lasted for another fifteen minutes, the stream of zombies petered out, and the first Rothound stepped through the portal.