After looking over the corpses I let out a disappointed sigh as most of the thinks were either broken or incinerated by my magic. There were a few clubs dropped which were in good enough condition to use but when I thought about the reach and weigh the girls improvised weapons could do I suspected these wouldn't be good enough to replace them. Guess they could be used as back up weapons or to arm others back in the cafeteria who do not have any weapons at all. Aside from the clubs there were three health potions that I eagerly snatched up as well as a new brown potion. Potions seem to be as scarce as hen's teeth so with just these three I was happy enough.
I quaffed the brown potion which was a stamina potion and recovered twenty stamina. No notification of being first or top ten or whatever so I assume lots of people have consumed stamina replenishment items. Come to think of it the food we eat has slight stamina regenerating properties so when compare to everyone else in the world eating and drinking it is no surprise.
After collected a dozen useable clubs and stored them in my bag I wonder if we should use a room to store goods in for later use to avoid being encumbered when we have to fight or flee and also to avoid taking up space for the goods that we came here to get. I decided we would use the first classroom to store as that is currently clear of monsters and we could also store anything else that we come across that we may need in the future until we clear the place out and relocated everything to the other survivors.
As I made my way back to the trio I heard Virginnia arguing with Fran about something while Annabeth was watching anxiously in the middle of them. As I stepped in they all fell silent and turned to face me and I noticed that Virginnia had a flushed face. Obviously she was either embarrassed or really angry but whatever the case she was keeping her voice low enough that I knew they were arguing but not it wasn't loud enough for me to hear. Not that it was any of my business what these friends were disagreeing about. I decided to play it off by not noticing the atmosphere or their body language.
"Virginnia are you alright as you look a little flushed? If you aren't feeling well we can rest a little longer or we can escort you back. If you are thirsty drink some more water as we have plenty of it. Sorry I have drunk a little bit but I assure you that I don't have anything" I smiled at her while handing my bottle of water to her.
"I am a little hot and bothered so thank you very much I could use the drink" she replied before taking it and drinking a little before handing it back to me.
Annabeth had a strange look on her face and her eyes had a little shine to them and was murmuring under her breath. I could have sworn it sounded like the words 'indirect kiss'. Who would have thought that this girl who appears to be a well read and highly intelligent beauty would in fact be a closet otaku? How amusing I smirked inside.
"Ok now that I can see that you are nice and lively again we should press on and clear the block room by room until we have enough of the tools and materials we need. We will use this room to store things that we either can't easily take with us now or will take too much room like the loot from the Gremlins" I informed them.
After moving to the next room we found some wood and several tools like hammers, screw drivers and chisels and sever boxes of nails and screws and I had Annabeth stow those in her bag.
"Perfect this is just want we need. A few more rooms to clear and we will have a decent haul with which to start reinforcing the cafeteria. Of course this is a temporary measure but anything is better then nothing. After we clear this academy and can freely come and go as we wish I think it would be great to use this as a base to explore the surrounding and get more of an idea of how screwed the world is. If nothing else it might be the only place that is free of spawning monsters so that in its own way is priceless and another layer of security."
"I think that is a really good idea but you know there will be problems as soon as the place that happens. If we start sending out people to scout then everyone is going to want to see their families and some of the more unscrupulous people will take advantage of the situation to either loot luxuries or something equally stupid" Virginnia piped up
"Yeah it will be problematic keeping order and even if we do we have to worry about keeping everyone fed if they stay here. Thing is all the worthless trash who hid and did nothing will pull their heads out of the sand when the monsters are gone and think they can do a great job of leading us as humans are something we all know and the problems will have gone away" I snorted at that idea and carried on "When the time comes hard choices will be made and if this was the former would then there would be an army of lazy whingers about human rights and such. "
"You mean first come first served sort of thing and strong taking from the weak that kind of thing?" chipped in Fran
"Well to be fair that happened anyway didn't it? The strong taking from the weak is just like say a politician making laws to favour the rich or a boss abusing his power at work only nobody thinks like that as it isn't physical like hitting or killing. It is around us everyday and we have become so used to it that it no longer registers anymore."
This set them thinking a bit. Should have kept my mouth shut as this wasn't the time or place to have a discussion like this. Well with those cheerful thoughts we moved into the third room. In that room I saw a Gremlin hiding under a desk positioned at the back corner of the room in a ball thinking we wouldn't notice it. I smiled as this meant we had killed whatever was organising them before and their morale had broken with no leadership.
"Girls would you do the honours of seeing our unwanted and uninvited guest off to another world."
As they went to deal with that I looked through the room and located more supplies and a cupboard that strangely enough had a door that was moving slightly. The was no air flow here and the door should be stationary so I moved towards it with me sword in hand and heaved it open with the other. What greeted me was a trembling Gremlin with n expression of shock, horror and fear if I could judge their expressions at all. After we looked each other in the eyes for a second it reached out and slammed the door back covering itself again. Stupid creature clearly came from the lower end of whatever gene pool they crawled out from. As if I would forget about the creature if I couldn't see it. Now that I had seen it there was no way I was leaving it alive. Besides there were more resources behind it that we needed. After dispatching the creature I looted the cupboard.
The other three rooms were uninhabited so we easily took the things we needed from there. Annabeth and Fran were about full to capacity so we will check the last place which was the workshop where there should be more loot then all of the other rooms combined then head back. A good haul, a very good haul and relatively easy to gather if we discount the five minutes of life or death battle that we went through.
As we walk into the workshop there was only one monster in sight and as I scanned it I saw it was a named monster.
Gizmo Level 10
It looked nothing like a Gremlin so I paused for a bit deciding how to proceed. Was this a new monster? didn't the Gremlins get reinforcements from here before so where are the rest? Do monsters not kill each other if they are different races? That was all the time I had before it spotted me and began to transform! Ah now it looks like a Gremlin only nigger and tougher. That was the signal for all hell to break loose.
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Gremlins popped out from all around us and some dashed behind to block the door we had come through. No escape!
"Ambush" I shouted. You girls break through the gremlins by the door and run get away from here".
"We can't do that what about you?" Virginnia yelled at me.
"No time for arguing do as I say. You gave your word to follow my orders no matter what and I will be safer as I will not have to worry about defending you. also some may chase you and that means less to attack me."
After a quick head count there were sixteen monsters including the boss and five were blocking the route to escape. Fran swung her bag at the closest gremlin and caved the skull in of another while Annabeth and Virginnia both took one each then they ganged up on the last one and piled through the door with four Gremlins in pursuit. Honestly if we survive this I am going to have a chat with Fran. What is the point of collecting all the resources only to through it away. At least pick it up on the way out!
Well that is nine that I don't have to deal with I thought. I hope those three will be alright as while I never spoke to them before this mess I had grown to like them. Nothing like a life and death battle to forge bonds. I thought about having my back against the wall so that I wouldn't be surrounded and attacked from all sides but discounted that idea as not only will it leave me with no where to run if I need to but I had to attack and wipe them all out as they could get reinforcements from spawning in at any time and a protracted battle would only end one way for me.
I charged at the nearest one and neatly bisected him at the waist and before the others had a chance to react I jumped on the table to gain a height advantage. Immediately two Gremlins tried to climb up and I stabbed down at one taking him in the skull ending its worthless life the kicked the other in the face and jumped on him with both of my feet landing with a sickening crunch and a gurgling scream swiftly cut off as the life left its eyes. The named monster sat there through all of this watching everything without moving.
The other two no three now one must have spawned rushed at me the instant I had jumped so as I turned round and lashed my sword out in an arc cutting through one of their heads like taking the top off of a boiled egg. The two remains swung their clubs at he in an over head swing which I dodged and threw myself in a roll coming up behind one and wish a savage twist the bone and cartilage in its neck gave out and it dropped to the floor dead with its neck broken and flopping at an odd angle. One more left then the boss. The remaining monster say its fellows die but didn't lose heart and run like I thought it might. I swung my sword with a downward hack it jumped back while raising its club to block. My sword carved through the club and reduced it to kindling and slicing the torso open like a patient on an operating table and it watched horrified as its cuts spilt out all over the floor.
After watching all of this the named monster came rushing towards me with a blood-curling scream and attacked in a frenzy. I thought it would be a simply matter to kill it even though it was a named monster as I had killed its minions and I was both at a higher level then it and had killed higher level creatures before. How naive I was. How wrong I was as I was pushed back and oppressed.
No matter what sword attacks I did it dodged, jumped, ducked and rolled and I couldn't land a single blow! Even when I fired spells at it is did very little damage and there were no lingering effects like burning or paralasis. How was this possible? Natural immunity?
-10
-17
-16
Damn bastard was too agile I couldn't hit it but it could hit me. I couldn't run away either as it was faster then me. Just how many points of agility does it have? It was prancing around like Yodo in the fight with Count Dooku.
As I was being pushed back I slipped on the blood soaked floor and fell back and kit my head with a crack on the table behind.
Dazed
This is it I thought as the creature moved in for the kill. Suddenly from out of the blue a huge wooden table leg swung out and hit Gizmo on the head nocking it back and dazing it.
"Robert are you alright?"
"Virginnia? What are you doing here I told you to run" I groaned back weakly.
Virginnia was still on Gizmo and swung again at its head not wasting time to check my injury as the creature was obviously that dangerous the priority was to kill it. I shook my head to clear it and had a quick look around as I heard more fighting. It seems that the boss and I had got so caught up in our private light or death battle that we hadn't noticed more monsters spawning or Annabeth and Fran arriving to deal with them. In the quick glance at them I saw Fran score a solid hit and lifting a Gremlin off its feet sending it flying. That would definitely have been a home run.
I wanted to kill that swing that wanted to kill me and now we had the advantage I was feeling vindictive.
"Virginnia thanks for the save but you can help the others now. This bitch is mine!"
"Ok they have it under control and there are no more monsters as they kill then as soon as they spawn so I will stand back here and watch to be ready to assist you if needed."
Not like I am going to take my time on this as it is a named monster so I do not want to give it the chance to retaliate and reverse the situation. I lashed out with my right foot and kicked its head like a football sending the creature flying. As soon as it was airbourne I chased after it and when it landed I stomped on it chest crusting the ribs on both sides then as it lay crippled on the floor I delivered the coup de grâce.
Exp gained 1700
You are the first person to kill a named monster in the world and earn the unique skill Intimidating Presence as well as 10 leadership and 5 luck
Intimidating Presence
This is a passible skill that increases leadership by 5 and causes enemies to fear you a little and be wary of you
Wow with all the killing I have done as well as the experience gained from killing a named monster I have gone up several levels and now stand at level 15. Now that the monsters had stopped spawning I had the girls policing the weapons and resources that we could carry while I checked the boss for loot.
Ring of Magic Resistance
Allows 30% reduction to all hostile incoming spells and reduces negative buffs but that amount as well
So that is why my magic was so ineffective against it! Without hesitation I slipped it on my finger.
Author Note: Originally the boss monster was going to be a normal elite/commander monster then I remembered the film and just had to change it. Kudos to all those who got the reference