Javy and Travis had their journals out as Gary kept watch. They were each on the inventory page. Besides basic health potions and temporary boosts, Travis wanted to catalog the force multipliers and game changers. This was going to be their toughest fight regardless of how calm the Sheriff seemed.
Travis filtered by rarity. He had become quite comfortable navigating his journal using just thoughts. It could be clunky, and you had to really focus, but it worked.
Inventory
Consumables - Potions/Scrolls ‘Rare’
- Speed Boost - Tier 4 (potion)
- Strength Boost - Tier 4 (potion)
- Heal Party - Tier 3 (scroll)
- Bow Force (10) - Tier 3 (scroll) [gives...] -Time Slip - Tier 3 (Potion) - (4)Accuracy+Damage - Tier 2 {Ranged} (scroll)
........
It was time to stop being cute. They were going to use everything they had, like Javier's skill that allowed him to ‘call out’ a stationary target then hit it with 100% accuracy. Or the scroll that turned 10 arrows into concussive shots, which at the right angle and strength could take someone's head off. That last past was speculation, but it seemed plausible.
For Travis, he had his new Merc skills and upgraded attributes. His armor also boosted the TSE (Triple S Enhancement) skill, which added strength, speed, and smarts to his already formidable base numbers. He wasn't sure what it meant to add ‘smarts,’ but he just went with it at this point.
Being able to wield two primary weapons was going to be a boon for Travis, and he really wanted to practice with his sword on this trip. Unfortunately, in a battle like this, he had to use whatever was best because they had no room for error.
Come to think of it, almost every fight ended up being one for survival, so what else was new? They didn't have many "easy levels" like Clyde spoke of where the monsters were under leveled.
In terms of strategy for this fight Javier thought they should take advantage of their stealth and ranged skill by trying to take out the leadership with their first blows.
It wasn't that Travis thought it was a bad idea; he just didn't know what surprises the enemy had in store for them. Furthermore, he could sense some type of magic around the Lich and his bodyguard.
He tried to get across his sense of the situation to Javy, “Look, man, I am all for quick strike tactics. Even if it went bad, we could disengage and fall back. But I'm telling you, brother, there is some type of force field being cast.”
Javy looked at Travis with a questioning look, “Umm, a magic shield, comprende?”, Travis answered without any frustration.
“Si, si. Something that can block bullets and arrows.”
Travis nodded his head. “You saw the leader concentrating, right? I am pretty sure it's a shield, and I don't know how I know.” Another team member would have pressed for details, but Javy just took things as they came and moved forward, particularly when he was working with Travis.
Travis was not the only one who didn't know why he got these types of internal reads on things happening around him, neither did the DM. Unintended consequences were starting to make themselves known across the entire world. When you have a planet designed to be observed without anomalies and under strict laws of physics, then throw that all out of the window in the course of a day or two, strange shit is going to happen. The DM didn't setup for such a skill nor does he have any idea what to do about it.
“I need to test what type of magic he is using, and FUCK, why didn't I bring Clyde.” Travis made sure not to say that within earshot of Gary who would undoubtedly have taken it personally.
“What are you thinking? I can do whatever you need, Major.” Javier had a habit of calling him Major during times of consequence.
Travis looked at him; he knew Javy was almost always ready to take one for the team, or more specifically for him. He wanted to be sure himself though. The system or the game or maybe even Lucy may have given him a power which imparted information unto him, but he needed more.
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“Okay then, Gary and I will take cover behind the building here and set up a minor defense position. You fire in on the leader; best case, you hit him and we will move up and attack, worst case, it hits the shield and you fall back. We at least take pressure off the front line, then we blow the whistle (to call the Slayers in) and slowly pull back.”
“Use your ‘Calling the Shot’ skill; he seems to be pretty close to immobile.”
“Roger that. How long should I wait to fire?”
“Not long, if you have a clear shot and he isn't moving fucking take it.”
They were cut off from the rest of the battle, but there weren't any whistles being blown; that had to be a good sign. They could only see the backline of the skeletons and the four elites.
Javy was getting ready to move forward, that is when Travis felt a surge of magic.
“Shit, it's not a shield....”
He didn't have time to finish. An odd-colored light, red but mixed with black and purples from the looks of it, hit the ground only about 25 yards from where he was. It was in front of the building that he was behind.
The ground opened up where the light hit, at first just a small hole, but dirt kept falling in; in about 30 seconds, it was apparent the nature of the hole—it was the size of a grave.
They saw hands reach for the edges. As this happened, they heard the Lich order his skeleton army to attack. He was bringing out a flanking unit this time to disrupt the enemy as his major forces attacked straight ahead. This Lich wasn't Hannibal but at least he had a little trick up his sleeve this time.
Travis didn't think the Lich knew they were here, so they had to take advantage of it.
“Jav, get as close as you can and fire on the Lich or the bodyguards, whoever you can get a good shot of. Gary, go and cover him; don't let anything close. I am going to blow the whistle after you fire, then I will see what I can do about them.” He pointed to what looked like zombies coming out of the ground. They weren't formidable, but there were already about 15 either out of the hole or climbing out.
Gary started to protest, but Javy had already run forward. The zombies and the view of the Lich were when the team was on the right side of the building; Javy now hugged the wall on the left side. There was also a tree there for cover. Travis hugged the back of the wall and got ready to fire on the zombies. He absently thought that it would be helpful to have a silencer upgrade. The longer he could go without the Lich knowing he was there the better.
Javier didn't always agree with Travis, but he did trust him. The organization he had worked for taught him that you followed orders. That made it easy for him to do what this former US army officer ordered him to do.
Not every US unit was considered to be high quality outside the country, although their tech and elite units always were. But Javier had heard about the Joint Task Force in Syria; he had former colleagues that fought with the Free Syrian Forces as mercenaries.
Everything he heard about the Task Force was positive. It was when the Americans were at their best, purpose (fighting an actual terrorist enemy), tech, intel, working with competent allies and a small force so only the best of the best. The US tended to have a lot of bloat when it deployed large troop numbers. If the JTF thought well to promote Travis to Major in the field and as an intel officer; he must have been a bad man.
That had him moving with stealth to seek out a line of sight to the undead leader. Gary was trailing behind a bit, but he was there now. “Ese, cover me on the left and watch our backs. If Travis has to fall back, they might come from our 6.”
Gary was the type to say something dumb like, “Who made you my boss?” but he was smart enough not to say it here. He just nodded his head and did what Javier said. With a tier 3 skill book on axes, he could do some work given the chance. That is why he had wanted to stay behind to fight the zombies.
Travis had his gun out as about six zombies shambled towards him, but he noticed that the attention of the lich was in the front; why draw his not insignificant power this way?
He pulled his sword and began to move forward.
This was the first real chance for him to try out his new skills. He wielded a pretty common longsword; this particular type was used a lot in England and northern Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. It had a 35-inch blade and was incredibly sharp. If Travis had known or had time to think about where the sword came from that would have opened up all new questions. Luckily his entire focus was on cutting down these monsters.
Travis was much faster since the last time he fought. With six clumsy and slow zombies coming at him, it was not much of a contest.
He came in from the middle, but as two of them lunged at him, he ducked under, slicing one's leg off clean at the knee. Before the other one could turn around, Travis used a two-hand strike to lop its head off from behind. Both zombies fell to the ground.
As the other four came in at him, he let them get close. Then, with two sword strokes, he cut through three of the undead, finally kicking the third, which tripped over one of the dead and fell back down the hole.
That took him all of 15 seconds, if that, but Travis wondered why Javier hadn't fired yet. He looked at the lich and saw the problem. It had called its skeleton army to attack the front lines, but in doing so, blocked Javier's line of sight to the lich and his bodyguard.
He wanted the lich king distracted, looking for where the arrow came from before he started firing on it, but time was running out and he would be noticed soon anyway. Travis sliced heads, arms, and hands off zombies that tried to rise from the pit, then sheathed his sword.
Pulling out his trusty Beretta, he aimed for the head of the lich about 50 yards away from him, *blow, blow, blow, blow*—four shots fired, two hit it in the side of the head, and a third ripped through its neck, leaving a hole straight through.
He couldn't tell if it killed the lich king or not, but the skeleton army seemed to lose whatever life was given to them via dark magic. They hadn't fallen over, though. The zombies that were climbing out of this hole fell back in, and the hole started closing a little bit. Maybe he was dead.