The following day Tom woke up earlier than most of the others and left to go to the cafeteria. Charlene was hard at work already training some of the other survivors in the kitchen area. Grabbing a cup of coffee, he headed over to one of the tables and sat down. As he thought about what had happened over the past few days, he decided to check in on his character sheet. He had taken to looking at it before he went to bed each night but still felt like he had been neglecting the strategy aspect of how he should be developing himself.

Name: Tom Harris

Race: Human

Class: Warlock

Level: 12

HP: 200/200

MP: 250/250

SP: 250/250

Total XP: 74,650 XP to Next Level: 12,850

Attributes:

Unused Attribute Points: 0

Strength: 25

Constitution: 20

Dexterity: 20

Endurance: 25

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 20

Charisma: 35

Luck: 20

Non-Combat Skills:

Combat Skills:

Inspect Level: 2

Vehicular Homicide Level: 6

Swords Level: 4

Summon Demonic Familiar Level: 1

Fear Level: 1

Corruption Level: 1

Jerky hopped up onto the table and sat down to watch Tom as he was thinking. Looking at the Quasit, he suddenly realized he had been completely forgetting to use his actual spell to summon creatures as well. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, he sat his coffee down, turned around, and began to cast Summon Demonic Familiar.

Dark purple lights engulfed his hands as he began to pronounce guttural words that just felt wrong in his mouth. His vision turned red for a second, then a portal opened on the ground and a small creature hopped out of it.

The creature was very strange. It appeared to have some kind of bird legs, with a pointed head with rows of sharp teeth. A pink tongue lulled out of its mouth as drool dripped on the ground and its body shape looked like an upside-down Dorito chip with the point facing up.

"What the actual fuck is that thing?" Tom wondered aloud, feeling very uneasy at seeing it. He inspected it to get a better idea of what he was dealing with.

Abyssal Chicken

The abyssal chicken is one of the most diminutive demons from the abyssal plane. But do not be fooled by its size. This tiny evil creature will attack almost anything and it fights ferociously using its unnaturally sharp teeth and claws. It can fly short distances using its distinct wing flaps.

HP: 10/10

MP: 0/0

SP: 100/100

Level: 5

Attacks: Bite, Claws

"Wing flaps? I don't see any wing flaps."

Just as Tom said this aloud, the abyssal chicken squawked a terrifying chicken sound that seemed to be an octave lower than a normal chicken squawk and pealed the pointed part of its body apart starting from the top of the point and flapped its grotesque wing flaps up and down in excitement.

"Buk-buk-buk BAGAAAAAAAAWK!" The abyssal chicken screamed and then took off around the cafeteria.

Tom watched in horror as the creature began chasing people around and trying to bite or scratch them. It became even more fearsome when it leaped onto a table and then jumped into the air, flapping its horrifying skin flaps with all its might trying to stay in flight. It was hard to call what it was doing an actual flight. It was more like falling...without style. And unfortunately, it's awkward...whatever mode of transportation that was, had it heading straight for the kitchen.

Tom jumped up to try to stop the demon's movement, but couldn't get close enough before it flew through the service window into the back preparation area. Screams erupted from the back as people tried to get away from it. Dishes crashed to the floor and broke, pans made loud clanging noises as they were tossed to the ground. It ran across the counters and the stoves, appearing unaffected by the fires as it chased people around the room.

"No no no no no, STOP!" Tom yelled, and surprisingly the horrifying chicken seemed to hear him and turned to look at him. It cocked its head to one side in confusion.

"SIT!" Tom yelled at the obscene creature, and in another shocking move, it obeyed, squatting down. Right on a stove fire that burned beneath it.

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Charlene and two other women were backed up into a corner where the demon was working to keep them corraled, all leaning back with Charlene's arms out protectively across the other two. They stared at Tom with wide horrified eyes, breathing heavily.

"Come!" Tom called to the beast. Again, it obeyed, hopping off the counter and walking over to the door to leave.

Once it was back out in the cafeteria area it looked up at Tom expectantly. For the first time, Tom noticed it didn't actually have any eyes to look at him with. Wondering for a moment how it could look at him, he recovered quickly and pointed toward the hall.

"Go, we need to move out of here. You have caused enough trouble you little shit." Tom said.

Finally getting up enough courage Charlene called to him. "Is that...thing yours?" she said, still clearly shaken.

"Ummm...Yes. It's a spell I have to summon a creature," Tom said, not wanting to use the word demon right now. "Sorry, about that. I didn't know what was going to happen and didn't think it would go ballistic. Jerky here was so calm when I summoned him, I didn't stop to think about what might happen."

Relief seemed to sweep over Charlene as she put her hand over her chest and closed her eyes breathing out a huge sigh. "Oh thank god. I was sure we were about to die there. Please, just don't summon any more creatures in the cafeteria or kitchen. It's probably not sanitary anyway."

"Yes ma'am. I will not be doing that again." Tom replied.

"Good, because if you do, I'm making you the same kind of food they give Russian prisoners for a month," Charlene said, clearly meaning business.

Tom chuckled for a moment, but that died when he noticed Charlene was not laughing with him.

"Oh shit, you're serious. Yes ma'am, I swear it will never happen again." Tom said.

Charlene nodded sharply then went back into the kitchen area to continue prepping and clean up the new mess she had.

Tom turned around to see where the abyssal chicken had gone and didn't see it. Then he heard a yell from the hallway.

"Fuck!" Tom yelled and raced out into the hall. There he saw a man backed into a corner at the end of the hall and the chicken looking at it with drool dripping from his mouth. It hissed at the man, who had fallen to the ground and was trying to protect his face with his arms and hands.

"Get back here you little monster!" Tom yelled at it.

The creature turned to him, seeming somehow disappointed, and walked back to Tom. The man rolled to his knees and crawled away as fast as he could down the turn in the hall. Tom glared at the creature in anger with his arms crossed. Seeming oblivious to his fuming, the chicken just stared up at him and waited.

Facepalming, Tom motioned to the chicken. "Come on, let's just go to the parking garage where you likely can't scare anyone else.

With that, they made their way out of the building. Once in the parking garage, Tom decided to inspect the Tahoe as well to see where it was at now.

Item:

Chevy Tahoe

Name: Goblin Slayer 2.0 (GS2)

Item Type: Vehicle, Weapon - Upgraded

Durability: 115,687/120,000

Attack: 45-78 damage

Item Quality: Well-Crafted

Item Rarity: Rare

Upgradeable: Yes

Item Level: 8

Item Experience: 29,450

Experience to next level: 6,550

Item Skill: Upgraded Armor - This skill will upgrade the armor on the vehicle as it levels

Item Upgrades: None (selections available)

"Awesome! It's already better than it was before," Tom said to the chicken and Jerky.

Noticing that there was another tab at the top of the screen, Tom selected the upgrades tab and noticed that there was a long list of options that could be added to the vehicle. Scrolling through the list there were some options that were greyed out and showed they needed other requirements first, but the list was so long that Tom was really getting excited about upgrading the vehicle.

GS2 Upgrades

Available Upgrades: 2

Please select from the following options:

* Reinforced brush guard

* Lift

* 1 inch

* 2 inch (must purchase 1 inch)

* 3 inch (must purchase 2 inch)

* 4 inch (must purchase 3 inch)

* 5 inch (must purchase 4 inch)

* 6 inch (must purchase 5 inch)

* Increase Tire size

* Front bumper spikes

* HID headlights

* Light bar

* Rollcage

* Increased cattle guard size

* Reinforced rear bumper

* Reinforced driver door

* Armor-plated driver door (must purchase reinforced driver door)

* Reinforced driver rear door

* Armor-plated rear driver door (must purchase reinforced rear driver door)

* Reinforced passenger door

* Armor-plated passenger door (must purchase reinforced passenger door)

* Reinforced rear passenger door

* Armor-plated rear passenger door (must purchase reinforced rear passenger door)

* Reinforced front end

* Armor-plated front end (must purchase reinforced front end)

* Bulletproof glass windshield

* Bulletproof glass driver window

* Bulletproof glass passenger window

* Bulletproof glass driver rear window

* Bulletproof glass passenger rear window

* Bulletproof glass driver third-row window

* Bulletproof glass passenger third-row window

* Bulletproof glass tailgate window

* Bulletproof glass sunroof

* Oil slick dispenser

* Smoke screen deployment

* Roof-mounted Gatling gun (must purchase full armor plating, must purchase full bulletproof windows)

* Performance exhaust

* ....

The list went on and on and on for options to upgrade on the GS2. Scrolling through the options, Tom began to feel overwhelmed. He did, however, notice a few items that would make his current use of the vehicle better. He selected the Reinforced brush guard and the front bumper spikes.

The bumper began to glow and large conical spikes began to appear out of the metal of the cattleguard until they protruded about eight inches out. The underside also was glowing as metal formed over the undercarriage covering it so that nothing could get stuck in any of the parts below.

Wanting to take the car out right now, Tom grabbed the handle to open the door but realized it would be bad to go out alone remembering the ogre encounters. Shoulders slumping, Tom turned back to look at his familiars. Jerky was now riding the abyssal chicken as it tried to buck him off like some kind of demonic rodeo.

Staring at the sight far longer than he thought he should have, Tom finally spoke to the pair. "Can you two please stop? We need to figure out what this nightmare poultry is capable of."

A thought occurred to Tom as he was looking at the knee-high monstrosity. Tom began chanting again and cast Summon Demonic Familiar again. As he finished casting another abyssal chicken exited the portal on the floor.

"Oooooohhh....this could be fun," Tom said remembering a video game in which villagers highly advised that the hero not attack the chickens.

This meant that he could summon five chickens right off the bat. Then waiting for his mana to regenerate he could summon more. He took out his phone and watched his mana, timing how long it took to return one point. Taking about two point seven-seven seconds to return one point of mana, Tom did some math and found it would take him a little over eleven and a half minutes to get all his mana back. That meant he could summon five sets of five chickens before the first ones would disappear, giving him roughly twenty chickens at any given time if he wanted to focus fully on his summons.

Thinking of twenty of these monsters descending on his enemies went through his mind and he chuckled at the idea. With that fun thought in mind, Tom cast Summon Demonic Familiar once more. This time, however, the portal that appeared was larger than the one that had let out the abyssal chickens.

A single green hand with black claws reached out of the portal as the creature began to drag itself out. As its head poked out, a grotesquely disfigured face that looked like a cross between a mole and a dog showed with long pointed ears that stuck straight out to the sides. It had teeth similar to a dog but its body was shaped more like a bear. The creature sat down on its haunches and waited expectantly for Tom to do or say something.

"I'm really not sure about this skill anymore. These are some fugly-ass creatures that it keeps sending. And it's not even consistent. How am I supposed to have a chicken army if it gives me this..."Tom said, pausing at the end and realizing he needed to inspect the creature.

Dretch

The Dretch is a demonic creature that has some power behind its attacks but comes at the cost of its speed. It typically will grapple its opponent, then release its toxic gas to deal extra damage, helping ensure its victory. Beware the swiping claws as they are sharp along with its slack-jawed expression filled with pointed teeth.

HP: 50/50

MP: 0/0

SP: 150/150

Level: 5

Attacks: Bite, Claws, Abyssal Fart Cloud

Abyssal Fart Cloud: The Dretch can release a noxious gas cloud from its anus that will extend out for ten feet in all directions. This gas is poisonous.

"Are you kidding me? The system gave me what is essentially my grandpa after taco night at the nursing home?" Tom said.

"I didn't think your grandpa would be that ugly," A voice came from behind Tom and he turned to see Brian walking up to him.

"You never met my grandpa," Tom laughed. "But what brings you down here?"

"We have a message from another guild in the area and they are asking to meet with you. I think we should go and try to be as kind as possible. We could use allies in this time." Brian replied.

"OK. Let's go meet them then. I'm sure we can find a way to get along." Tom said.