“The initial group just unloaded from a van in front of the building. Three Gryalth entered the building. Two are by the doors. Whoever is driving the van is heading to the parking garage.” One of the capybaras informed everyone over their comms. There were four pairs of capybaras watching from the nearby roofs. They had orders against entering the fight directly. Their objective was to gather and provide intelligence only.
“Understood. Cal take the three inside, Stan break off with Jen and Bug to handle the two outside. Frank, Ethel, follow the van.” Andy instructed the group. There were no objections.
Cal and his family were currently inside the building. They had locked the receptionist in an empty room for her own safety while they prepared to engage the attackers in the lobby. Cal was sitting at the desk himself. He watched the Gryalth come through the door and ducked down behind the desk, feigning fear.
He saw two of them move past the desk and assumed the third was remaining to deal with him. He thought this was likely what happened in previous loops to the poor secretary. The idea of them killing an innocent woman just trying to do her job pushed his anger up. Not that it took much anymore.
He kicked the desk upwards and out, channeling a blast of lightning through his feet for the added punch. The desk flew into the Gryalth, coming at him. It pinned him to the ground.
“Hey aliens, you know I used to be a lot less angry before I had to keep dealing with you.” He yelled before dropping a small lightning ball between the two. He kept the range of the explosion to a minimum, but it was big enough that both went down hard.
Entirely unexpectedly, a message popped into his vision.
Gryalth killed 2/50.
That was weird and new. He had an idea of what it meant, but why had the game mechanics from the console increased in scope? He heard the third Gryalth start to move and blasted a lightning bolt into its face.
Gryalth killed 3/50 flashed before his eyes.
“Hey, is anyone else getting notifications when they kill Gryalth?” He asked over the comms.
“Yeah, I was just about to say something. I saw a message that said one of fifty killed.” Stan said.
“Same. Also, the outside Gryalth are gone.” Bug added.
“Any injuries to anyone on our side?” Andy asked/
“None here,” Cal answered.
“We’re all good as well,” Jen said.
“Good, Stan, Jen, and Bug, I want you to break off and pass the bright stone to the void house. Let me know once you’re back. How are things going over there, Ethel?”
“They just parked and climbed out of the van. I saw two of them. We will engage.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Understood. Let us know when you are done.”
Cal returned to his seat to wonder what was next. He knew the next wave wouldn’t be nearly so easy, but they had to wait until someone realized the first group was missing.
“Both Gryalth are down. I got the notification, but Frank did not.” Ethel’s voice returned in his ear.
“Oh, I bet this is part of the party mechanics of the console then!” Cal was excited again, a new weird function of the R.I.S. What happened when he hit fifty? He decided to go for it today. How hard could it be?
“Cal, stop it. I know what you’re thinking.” Andy scolded him.
“Oh, please, you’re thinking the same thing.”
“Bah, fine. Just be careful. We have to hold at least two hours before you do stupid things to increase your experience.”
“See, this is why you’re in charge. You understand the reality of giving me orders.” Andy didn’t respond.
Just as Stan, Jen, and Bug joined Cal in the lobby, they were informed of two flying Gryalth transport ships.
“How far out are they?” Andy asked.
“I’d guess it will be there in two minutes at most.” The capybara replied.
“Alright, everyone, we’re a little over an hour in on our timer. I doubt we get another break after this.” Andy was interrupted.
“They are splitting up, both still coming towards you, but one is heading towards Ethel and Frank now.”
“Understood, Bill, you’re with me. Ethel, we are on our way. Good luck, Cal and family.”
“You three should go prepare an ambush. Let me start the fight and catch them as off guard as I can,” Cal instructed his family.
“Got it, come on, Bug, Jen” Stan led his wife and dog to the nearby storage closet.
Cal heard the ship landing, stood up, and raised his hands. Ten Gryalth walked inside. They looked to be the same as the ones dead on the ground: good, no adepts yet, just more soldiers.
“I surrender. Please don’t hurt me,” Cal yelled.
One of them started to raise a weapon. Alright, this was destined to fail. He had forgotten to clean up the bodies. Next time, though, he would see how far he could trick them.
Cal tried chaining lightning through them all. He hadn’t had a good test of how far that had come yet; he might as well get it out of the way before the real wizards showed up. He pushed just what he thought was enough mana into the blast to take them all out.
It was too much. The first five exploded, the following four dropped dead, and the last one shot through the glass door, crashing dead to the pavement outside.
Gryalth killed 13/50.
“Ugh, I guess you guys can come out now. That went way easier than I was expecting. I think I’m a lot stronger than I realized.” Cal called to his family.
“My group’s down. How are you guys doing.” Cal asked over the comm.
“We’re fine. Frank took a hit, but he seems to be unfazed. Ethel is checking him over anyway. Sit back and wait for wave three.” Andy instructed.
“Incoming, this time they aren’t in a transport, five flying directly to you, Cal.”
“I see them. Uh, Andy, I think they’ve decided to focus on me.”
“Alright, we’re on the way, stay alive.” Cal planned to listen to Andy on this one.
“Dad, I’m going to fight them in the street, I’m worried about the damage they will cause in here.” Cal didn’t like leaving them alone in here, but it was likely safer than out there.
“Alright, we’ll jump in if we see anywhere we can help, but this is probably growing bigger than what we can handle,” Stan responded.
Cal walked through the doors, looked up into the sky, and pointed his finger at the figures he saw approaching. He shot a blast of lightning, arcing it with the intent of hitting all five. It fizzled out, hitting an invisible wall in front of them.
“Shit.”