Book 2 Ch. 23
Wichita Falls was considered a small city before The Descent, and yet it was one of the largest densely populated areas closest to Drew’s home in Oklahoma. The overall size was a bit over seventy square miles, which truly wasn’t much as far as cities in Texas went, but it was a massive amount of ground to cover for Drew and his two hundred plus minions. When looking for human survivors, every rock needed to be upturned to check underneath, so he kept his minions close by, just in case.
The undead engaged in small-scale combat with groups of roaming monsters, but for the most part they kept their pace in the northern section of the city. Another small group of human survivors had been found by the time Drew made it to the elementary school closest to where he’d found the thirty or so adults previously.
What is that noise? Drew cocked his head, trying to listen closely and determine the source of the strange chorus of rasping he’d heard. It was coming from the elementary school, of that he was certain. It also didn’t sound like survivors, if anything it sounded like a commercial machine of some kind. Maybe a belt sander? No, there’s no mechanical whine… but it does sound like rough-grit sandpaper on wood at high speed…
Stepping closer to the school, Drew pulled his new sword from his inventory. While still long to the point of being a two-handed weapon, he was more comfortable using it in tight areas, and if he needed to investigate the school, it would be his best bet. I really need to have a short sword made for shit like this. Suddenly, the noise he’d been hearing at the very edge of his perception ceased, and for several seconds only silence hung in the air. From the overhung awning above the front doors of the elementary school, a brown animal popped out of a barely noticeable hole.
It ran across the awning’s ceiling before jumping down onto the nearby brown and dried out grass. The animal sat up on its hindlegs, its head tilting to the side so it could observe its surroundings. It sat over a foot and a half tall or long pending on how Drew looked at it, not including its bushy tail. A squirrel? That’s the biggest damn one I’ve ever seen. Drew squinted his eyes, inspecting the animal.
[Rabid Nut Thief - lvl 67]
Rabid… nut thief? It’s a just a big fucking squirrel… at peak E Grade… oh. The beast noticed Drew, cocked its head further, before opening its mouth and letting loose a high pitched howl that sounded like everyone’s favorite chipmunks singing Christmas songs. Finished with its helium-laced cry, it charged at Drew, foam dripping from its mouth. A rumbling replied to the beast’s cry, like the pitter-patter of a thousand feet.
From barely seen holes and gutters they came, from smashed open windows, bricks that made up the school’s walls fell to the ground, as more and more bushy-tailed creatures pushed their way out into the open. A tide of brown fur and dark almond-shaped eyes raced towards Drew with reckless abandon, fearless and certain in their hated foe’s future destruction.
Why does The System have to corrupt and taint all the cute critters? Drew sighed, knowing the beasts needed to be dispatched. [Field of Despair] broke through the ground, Drew dumped his mana into it, increasing the spell’s size. A gnoll of calcified arms and hands sprouted to the surface, like some morbid corruption of springtime flowers in bloom. The hands grasped the charging beasts by their heads, bodies, and even their tails, before smacking them against the ground.
Hundreds of mutated squirrels, held by their tails like nunchucks, were flung at each other, the ground, and everything else in sight. It was like watching the undead play whack-a-mole, but there was no mole, just fuzzy, rabid critters being beaten into paste. Still, the tide was unending, and Drew began to step between the attackers, using his large sword to cut open multiple at a time. There were so many bushy-tailed beasts that despite Drew’s incredibly high attributes he couldn’t anticipate the trajectory of them all.
Five would jump at him, as if pouncing on prey, only to be cut down, but two more would leap during his swing, somehow getting hit by the flat of his blade, their smushed corpses being shot off into the distance like a golfer driving home a ball on a par five. They latched onto his armor, their teeth and claws fruitlessly trying to peel him open like a can of cat food. One found its way into the tiny space between his leg and his boot, only to be pressed into a jam when Drew next flexed his calves to swing his sword. Disgusting, it’s going to smell like shit for days now.
Having seen the unending swarm of tails and fur, Drew sent out [Focused Contagion] in various directions, watching as the critters melted into puddles of meat and matted fur before the corruption flowed like gaseous streams into more nearby beasts. He sent forth [Death Toll] as well, screaming skulls flying into the flood of beasts, wiping out long lines of the beasts before exploding, fur and chunks of gore raining from the sky. Finally making a dent in their numbers, Drew summoned one of his new powerful AOE spells, [Call of the Grave].
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The earth shook, the walls of the elementary school doing little to support the weight of its ceiling, a proper localized quake, as stone broke through the ground outside of the [Field of Despair]. Dirt and refuse pushed to the side as a greywacke quadrate pushed through the ground, the shaking stopped. Crack. The lid fell forward, a fog rolling forward and falling and quickly spreading. The black robed specter floated forward as time seemed to freeze. It was the harbinger of death, known far and wide even before The Descent.
It stretched out an arm, mist from the fog below flowed into his skeletal palm as its weapon of choice appeared for the vaporized material. The scythe. An unspeakable chill filled the air, and Drew’s breath came out as a small cloud, the miniscule amount of perspiration that had formed on his brow from combat froze near instantly, the now solid droplets cracking. The specter swung its grim tool thrice, separating the wheat from the chaff. Ethereal waves shot forward from the blade, flung into the frenzied tide of beasts.
It was over in seconds, as the ethereal shockwaves hit the beasts, the strings of life that bound them to this life were cut instantly, the bodies dropping to the ground yet not making a sound. An eerie sound at the very edge of Drew’s perception called from the specter as it retreated back to its stone coffin, he felt a slight tugging upon his body, but he brushed it away with his willpower. Motes of light, like ghostly fireflies erupted from the dead beasts’ bodies, quickly flowing towards the specter that now lay within its home. The motes coalesced, and the fog that had spread was pulled back to its source.
The fallen lid snapped up abruptly, sealing the ghostly robed figure and its new harvest, before the coffin sank slowly back down into the earth from whence it came. The switch was flipped, and Drew noticed color flooding back into reality, he hadn’t even noticed the world had changed to shades of gray, white and black. With the absence of all else, Drew heard and felt his heart throbbing in his ears. The battlefield had gone still and if anything was left alive, it refused to stir, lest it tempt another Reaping.
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The sun was setting, yet Drew still worked, clearing each house and business he came upon. Most were empty, some were now home to monsters which he cut down without prejudice. A local dollar store had turned into a Feral Goblin nest, the monsters digging deep underground and creating their own miniature dungeon to live in, at least until Drew found it. He found survivors living in motels along interstate forty-four, folks living in supermarkets, and gun stores.
Those who wanted help and a safe place, he sent with his minions, usually after a lot of explaining that made his head hurt. It was getting to the point where Drew considered creating pamphlets, both about his minions and Sanctuary, as it would save him a lot of trouble and time.
Drew was clearing out a Walmart when his minions notified him that Robert had arrived at the meeting spot for refugees. Taking a small break, Drew popped out his chair, and had a quick dinner as he spoke to Robert via his crows.
“I’m setting up defenses as we speak, I brought a couple of earth mages to set up a perimeter to secure the area for these people.” Robert said to the crow, while pointing and directing his mages where he wanted walls set up.
“I didn’t think we’d have any mages that dumped that many points into dex, how’d they get here so quickly?” Drew asked through the crow.
“Oh, they didn’t. I carried them over my shoulders while running here.” Robert chuckled. “No, not here, over there.” Robert corrected a mage while pointing. The portly mage in a robe huffed as he walked another fifty feet away.
“I’m going to finish up here and continue on. I have most of the northern area finished up now, but I’d like to have it double checked when our people start arriving. I probably missed someone somewhere, and I’d feel better having a second set of eyes.” Drew said.
“Understood. Our allies should arrive first in a couple of hours. Our people won’t be here until morning at the earliest.” Robert replied while walking over to talk with some of the rescued people. “I’ll leave you to it then. Good luck.” Robert said, cutting the conversation off before waving at a group of refugees.
Drew got up and put away his chair, he suddenly froze, getting the distinct feeling that he was being watched. He pulled his sword out, and casually strolled around the end of the freezer aisle end caps, looking at the spoiled food still sitting within. There you are! Drew turned quickly, racing towards a nearby clothing rack, and flinging the clothes off to the side as he brought his sword down. He froze instantly. Two widened deep brown eyes looked up at him in shock, her black hair tied up in a ponytail bobbed as she took off running to the other side of the store.
“Mami! Mami!” The little girl cried as she stumbled away, running as fast as her little legs could take her. Her little pink frilly dress got tangled with her knees as she tried to go faster. Drew put his sword away, and began following the child, hoping to find other survivors. He stayed a safe distance away so as to not scare the girl any more than he already had.
“Mami! Mami!” She cried out, making her way across the store. A woman close to thirty years old appeared from within an aisle near the outdoor and camping section. Her eyes wide at seeing the child running towards her and flailing. The woman quickly ran towards the girl, who was still far away just having hit the electronic section. Drew heard a low growl, and his head quickly turned to see a beast tightly sprung near an aisle of baby clothes.
[Feral Bobcat - lvl 21]
Drew shot forward, as fast as possible, using all his speed. The bobcat leapt towards its newfound meal. Drew’s fist slammed into the beast’s side, right as it was about to reach the young girl, he heard its ribs crack and turn to dust against his hand, as the body, now a corpse, blew forwards from the force and destroyed a discount DVDs bin. He wasn’t risking it though, with a child nearby, he needed to know for certain it was dead.
Stepping forward, he was arm’s deep in the bin, fishing out the bobcat. He grabbed the scruff of its back in one hand, before swinging and slamming into the white floor, causing it to crack. His sword came out, and he plunged the blade deep inside what was left of the beast’s head.
“Mami!” The girl ran straight into the woman’s open arms as she picked her up, and held her close to her chest, her wide eyes watching Drew as he removed the sword from the corpse of the bobcat.
“Dios mio…” The woman whispered, holding her child tight.