LEVEL 4 III | LEVEL 5 | LEVEL 6_Grandpa left me a soulbound sword

Mike had never felt so alive! The epic pill had given him a concentrated shot of super-life. He felt like he was full of electricity, hyped, fully amped. He was grinning like a lunatic.

Power pulsed through him. The world looked like it was in a higher resolution; he could see better, clearer, crisper. Time seemed to have slowed. He could hear in more detail, he could separate the sounds from each other. He knew where everyone and everything was around him. Everything seemed enhanced. He could hear Jay, Ben, the other Divers and the Grandmas cheering as they cleared up the remainder of the hobgoblin horde at the far end of the platform. He could hear the slide of the cloth his Grandma was using to clean her blades before she replaced them into Selphie.

And he could hear the Hobgoblin King, upstairs on the commuter platform above them, his riders, and his shamans creating havoc in the public area of the subway station.

[G: Use it or lose it, Mike.

“GRANDMA, WE HAVE TO STOP THE KING!” he pointed, and ran. He didn't wait for her response. He guessed she'd be telling him not to. Telling him he wasn't strong enough yet.

But she didn't say that at all. Instead she called across the subway platform with an incredible voice that cut through everything, sounding out loud, and clear, and inspirational,

“GUARDIANS, DIVERS, GRANDMAS… WITH MICHAE–… WITH MIKE!”

Mike had never felt so elated in his life.

Is there going to be an epic level comedown after this? he thought as he ran.

[G: Don't worry about that now, just level, Mike.

Suddenly Mike patted his ragged hoodie pockets. His phone and his ear buds were still there. He couldn't believe they were still intact. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this sooner.

Hell yeah! he thought.

[G: Hell yeah. Soundtrack. Do it.

As he ran he pushed his earbuds in and tapped them. It was still set to the last music he'd been listening to on the way to Grandpa's funeral. It was a heavy mix his friend, Joel, had put together for him. It was called JOELISANGRY.

Perfect.

He charged up the dirty old stairway access and back up onto the commuter platform.

Holy fucking shit, he thought, what the fuck am I doing…

If it wasn't for the playlist and the five minutes of invincibility, he would have turned and run away, screaming.

As it was, his eyes went wide, and an involuntary shriek escaped his throat.

It was carnage. There was blood, and there was gore, and there were dead bodies. Innocent commuter bodies. Being sickeningly savaged by berserk hobgoblins. Hundreds of hobgoblins. Some on foot, bigger ones on wargs or spiders.

They hadn't got out of the subway station yet. There was a contingent of Divers, supported by what looked like a specialist infantry unit, making a last stand on the stairway that lead up to street level. Mike recognized the black-beards with the battleaxes who had passed him on the stairs earlier. They were hacking wildly. One of the axes, the leader's, had magical red flames that erupted with every swing, a scorching area attack that most of the hobgoblins were shying away from, even in their berserk state. Staccato machine gun fire from the human infantry suppressed the hobgoblin's advance for now, but the little guards on foot just kept coming on, climbing over the carnage of their comrades with shrieks and squeals. All around the platform Divers were locked in individual combats with the warg riders, who circled and snapped viciously at their opponents. Sticky strands of electric spider webbing stretched across sections of the platform, crackling and sparking like an electric fence... and in the middle of it all, laughing with a maniacal, evil, belly wobbling cackle, surrounded by crazed, insane-looking cloaked shamans, was the eight foot tall, grossly fat, hook-nosed Hobgoblin King. The King who had stolen his Grandpa’s mind.

“HE’S MINE,” Mike's Grandma yelled in his ear as she ran up beside him, “YOU CAN HAVE THE REST. BUT I. GET. HIM.”

Fine with me, thought Mike.

They both screamed a battle cry together as they plunged forwards into the battle for 42nd St.

Grandma pulled out Selphie's daggers again and started slicing her way towards the King.

Mike, music blaring in his ear pods, threw himself at the closest enemy.

[M/TRACK: DON TOLIVER TORE UP

[G: THIS IS EPIC.

The electric cave spider saw Mike as he charged it. With incredible speed, it reared up and maneuvered its disgusting bulbous, furry abdomen to point its spinneret at him. With an electric crackle, a live, energized web strand shot towards Mike, hitting him square in the middle of his torso quicker than he could dodge, even with his enhanced senses.

[M/AFFECTED BY SHOCKWEB/NULLIFIED

[M/HEALTH INVINCIBLE 00:04:34

He leapt forwards as he raised Goblin over his head and brought it down in an overhead chop that cleaved straight through the spider's abdomen. It dropped immediately, curling up in a tight ball, throwing its hobgoblin rider sideways. Mike jumped towards it, and with a yell and a savage stab, impaled the rider through the chest. Blood pumped out of the wound in beats.

[M/+6FIGHT

[M/+6POWER

[M/ENERGY INVINCIBLE 00:04:29

[G/VOLT POISON DEALT

[G/+2FORCE

[G: MIKE THIS TRACK IS EPIC. I'VE GOT AN IDEA. HOLD AN EARPOD TO MY AVAILABLE SLOT.

[M: HOW IS MUSIC A THING?

[G: FUCK IT, IT'S A THING RIGHT NOW. DO IT MIKE. IF THIS WORKS, I PREDICT MY FORCE POINTS WILL DOUBLE AND SOME OTHER EPIC EFFECT WILL BE APPLIED.

Mike, scanning for his next foe, grabbed an earpod, turned Goblin hilt up, and held the music to the slot.

[G/SLOT POPULATED EPIC TRACK SAMPLE

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

[G/+20GRADE

[G/ALL SLOTS POPULATED

[G/+20GRADE

[M/SLOT POPULATED FRISSION 20

[M/SLOT UPGRADED SPEED DEMON 18

[M/SLOT UPGRADED FEAR 18

[G/FRISSION+ELECTRIC POISON FUSED TO VOLTERGY BLADE

[G/+20GRADE

As soon as Goblin’s slot accepted the track sample, a tiny cover snapped shut and the sword's blade exploded in a cascade of bright orange electric sparks. It crackled and hummed with electrical power and glowed a bright, dangerous orange-gold.

[G: NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

A warg rider noticed Mike, snarled, and bounded towards him. Mike felt energized, and surprisingly calm and in control. The warg leapt, slavering jaws wide, razor fangs gleaming, hobgoblin rider wildly grasping the reins, white knuckled, cackling.

Mike timed it with the track. Goblin hummed like a light-sabre as he swung it. The warg's head was cleaved from its body in a flash and a shower of electric arcs. Mike side-stepped. Blood gushed outwards from its severed neck as it crashed to the ground. With a second cut, the hobgoblin rider's head was also parted from its shoulders in a geyser of red and an explosion of orange energy.

[M/+4READ

[M/+8FIGHT

[M/+8POWER

[M/+8SPEED

[M/ENERGY INVINCIBLE 00:04:02

[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 4.

[G/VOLTPOISON DEALT

[G/+4FORCE

[G/LEVEL UP. GOBLIN IS NOW LEVEL 5.

[G: YESSS.

Another, almost identical beast charged him from the left.

Mike stepped back, and thrust Goblin up through the warg’s chin with a sharp crackle. There was the smell of electrical fire and burning flesh. He pulled it out, and stabbed it through the hobgoblin rider’s throat in a single, fluid movement.

[M/+10READ

[M/+8FIGHT

[M/+2POWER

[M/+10SPEED

[M/ENERGY INVINCIBLE 00:03:41

[G/VOLTPOISON DEALT

[G/+5FORCE

All of a sudden no other enemies seemed to want to attack him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw his Grandma fire off a volley of four arrows at the back of the cackling hobgoblin King. They detonated against the back of his skull with a series of rattling booms that rocked the subway, dislodging cascades of dust from the ceiling.

He stopped cackling, but appeared otherwise hardly affected by the blasts. Blasts that should have blown his head off. He turned with an angry, malevolent glare to find the source of the attack.

“COME AND GET ME YOU DROOLING, MOTHER FUCKING PERVERT!!!” Mike's Grandma let loose with a hoarse, battle frenzied screech.

The hobgoblin King's laughter wasn't a cackle now, it was a deep, thunderous, booming guffaw. He saw who it was who was challenging him, and he couldn't help but drool in anticipation as he turned from the battle with the Divers on the stairs and lumbered in her direction.

Mike was suddenly thrown backwards by a green, shimmering magical explosion. He landed with a hard crunch, ten feet back from where he'd been standing a moment ago, shocked and winded, but still not damaged.

[M/INFECTED WITH MAGIC PUTRESCENCE/NULLIFIED

[M/MAGIC SAVE 2

[M/HEALTH INVINCIBLE 00:02:44

He looked for the source of the magical burst. It was a short, extremely ugly, partially disfigured hobgoblin with long yellowed curving fingernails, dressed in a tattered grey cloak.

[G: Shaman. And a decent one... THROW ME.

[M: SERIOUS?

Mike jumped to his feet, drew Goblin back and threw him like a spear at the shaman. It was a surprisingly good throw, considering Mike had never thrown much of anything, let alone a sword, before.

But the shaman winked out of existence, instantly reappearing three feet to it's left.

Goblin clattered to the ground.

[G/STATE 9:45

Mike gasped, wondering if he just made the mistake that would be the end of him.

[G: NOW! RUN SO HE IS DIRECTLY BETWEEN YOU AND ME, THEN HOLD OUT YOUR HAND AND SUMMON ME BACK TO YOU.

Mike didn't question or even think. He just did what Goblin told him. He ran right three steps, held up his hand jedi-style, and called out,

“GOBLIN, TO ME!”

The sword immediately flew back towards Mike, tumbling through the air. It punctured the shaman through his back, exploded out of his chest in a puff of gore and orange sparks, spun, and smacked, hilt first, hard into Mike's open hand.

The shaman gurgled and crumpled forwards to the ground.

[M/+15READ

[M/+15FIGHT

[M/+10POWER

[M/+10SPEED

[M/ENERGY INVINCIBLE 00:02:39

[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 5.

[G/VOLTPOISON DEALT

[G/+8FORCE

Whoa. thought Mike, coming to terms with what he'd just done.

The Divers who had been defending the rift platform, plus Guardians Jay and Ben, as well as the other Grandma Divers had entered the fray now.

The Divers each chose individual foes and charged.

The Guardians sought out the shamans and opened magical exchanges with powerful flashes.

The Grandmas ran in to support Mike's Grandma in the retribution fight against the mighty Hobgoblin King.

Mike had limited time left in his invincible state. He could see the large unit of hobgoblin guards on foot over by the subway stairs still pushing to overwhelm the defenders with sheer force of numbers. It was the front line, and it was a mass of hobgoblin spears, cleaving axes, smashing hammers and semi-automatic machine gun fire.

His track changed.

[M/TRACK: THE WHITE STRIPES SEVEN NATION ARMY.

Classic.

It was a change of pace. Mike paused a moment. He felt the frisson building. His body wanted to move with the beat.

Oh, yeah. We can take on an army.

[G: Oh yeah. We can.

He screamed, it sounded deranged to his own ears.

But what the hell. This whole thing is deranged. he thought, as he charged.

[HOBGOBLIN BATTALION | LEVELS 6-19 | SPEARS 4-18 | SHIELDS 3-19 | CHAINMAIL 2-19

He hit them from the rear ranks like a bolt of orange lightning. He didn't care about stray bullets, he didn't care about energy expenditure. He had about two minutes left to break the back of this line, and he would wreak havoc and carnage to achieve it. Time blurred. Goblin blurred. Mike swung it with extreme prejudice. He cut, and bit, and cleaved in glowing arcs of crackling power. Blood was everywhere.

I want to be wielded. I want the air to sing to me as I cut it. I want to bite through steel and leather and flesh. I want to draw blood. Blood. BLOOD.

[G: YES MIKE. YOU SEE? YOU SEE NOW?

[M/+29READ

[M/+35FIGHT

[M/+39POWER

[M/+40SPEED

[M/ENERGY INVINCIBLE 00:00:05

[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 5.

[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 6.

[G/STATE 5:45

[G/VOLT POISON DEALT

[G/+32FORCE

[G/LEVEL UP. GOBLIN IS NOW LEVEL 6.

[GOBLIN | LEVEL 6 | STATE 5:90

[SOULBOUND SWORD | ARMING SWORD VOLTERGY BLADE

[FORCE 62:64 | GRADE 64:64

[WORMWOOD SPRIG | SPORTS CAR TIRE SHRED | KRAKEN HOOK SLIVER | ELECTRIC CAVE SPIDER FANG | EPIC TRACK SAMPLE

[MIKE | LEVEL 6 | HEALTH 120:300 | ENERGY 30:150 | UNLIMITED HEALTH + ENERGY FOR 00:00:03

[SOULBOUND SWORD WIELDER | FIRST INHERITOR | LEATHER JERKIN CLAD

[READ 80:120 | FIGHT 91:120 | POWER 80:120 | SPEED 86:120

[FEAR 18 | SPEED DEMON 18 | RAZOR SHARPNESS 5 | POISON DEALER 2 | FRISSION 20

[SAVE 2 | MAGIC SAVE 2

[INVENTORY[-]

[M/HEALTH + ENERGY INVINCIBLE 00:00:00

The hobgoblin battalion was decimated. The Divers and soldiers were cheering.

Mike turned to see the Hobgoblin King and the Grandma Divers locked in an epic battle of their own.

He was ready to charge in.

[G: MIKE, WAIT!

LEVEL 4 III | LEVEL 5 | LEVEL 6

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