After an hour spent anxiously proposing ideas, before discarding each of them as unworkable, it was Jack who finally spoke out the winning plan.

"Uh, isn't there a military base, kind of close by?" Jack asked.

"Oh yeah, it's right down the street from that big church. I used to go there when they did the food drives." Lucius answered. "I have walked there a few times before, it takes about half a day."

"That was before the world invaded by monsters. It would take much longer now. We would need to move slowly and carefully." Patrick added. "It's not a bad idea, though. The people best equipped to survive this disaster are those soldiers, and even if the base is empty we might be able to find some useful equipment."

"Are we really going to try walking across the city, while those monsters are out there?" Mary asked, the idea of being so exposed was chilling.

"We don't have a choice. We can't stay here, and if we want to survive in the long run we are going to need other people." Patrick said, his tone of voice reassuring but firm. Mary knew that he had already made up his mind.

"It might not be as dangerous as you think. I can scout the way. With my unique aspect, plus Sense Danger, I should make a great scout." Lucius' confidence helped to easy Mary's worries.

"Fine, we had better pack plenty of supplies. We don't know how hard it will be to find those things after we leave." Mary made her final suggestion, and the entire group set about preparing for the journey ahead.

Jack had some camping gear in his truck that would be useful. A rucksack, a small tent, a few sleeping bags, as well as some supplies for starting a fire. He filled the rucksack with as much non-perishable food as he could fit, while the others packed some normal backpacks. Mary packed the medical supplies that she had been using, and Patrick packed his inscription tools, as well as all the food that could fit in each bag.

"Can we spend the night here at least? It's already getting late, I'd rather not travel through the darkness." Patrick suggested to Lucius. They were relying on his danger-sensing talent to know how much time they had left.

"It should be fine. I will take first watch tonight to keep an eye on things, if anything changes we can leave," Lucius responded.

The party settled in for their first night after the descent of the Abyss. Luckily, it passed without incident, and the sun rose on the embattled planet. The companions awoke weary, none of them slept well on the hard floors of the store, but nonetheless they were ready to face the day. After one last check to make sure they had all the supplies they would need, they walked outside and set off into the city. Patrick and Mary carried a new set of makeshift spears and shields, similar to the first pair that Lucius and Jack had created. Lucius walked ahead of the group by a few minutes, and told them to keep following the route behind him, he would come back and warn them if anything was wrong.

Lucius walked along the familiar city street, though he had never seen them so eerily silent. The few humans he did see along the way, were already dead. He thought he saw movement once, inside the windows of a home, but he couldn't be sure. They didn't have the time to check every building for survivors.

After walking for less than 10 minutes, Lucius had already found another Abyss creature. This one was different from the Abyss insects that he had seen before. It was larger than any of the others, at least five times the size of the Abyss Queen. The massive creature looked like a nightmarish mix between a crocodile and a snapping turtle, with milky white scales, a large armored shell on its back, a long snout filled with sharp teeth, and a thick tail with a mound of armor on the end that looked like a battering ram. The creature was sniffing around an overturned car, and it stopped to lick at what looked like blood on the ground. Lucius started to slowly move backward, planning to avoid the encounter, when the creature lifted its head into the air and began to sniff rapidly. At that moment Sense Danger blared its warning, just in time for him to see the creature come barreling right towards him.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Lucius was stunned for a moment, but he came back to his senses, quickly pulling his sword from its sheath and getting ready for a fight. He stood perfectly still until the creature was almost upon him, and just as it reached him, snapping out with its vicious maw, Lucius dodged to the side, slashing his sword at the side of the creature's face as he moved. Even with the sharpness of his magical sword, and Lucius' high strength attribute, the weapon barely broke through the creature's hard scales. It was obvious that it relied heavily on defense as a survival tactic. That was OK, Lucius had an ability perfectly suited to countering strong defensive types. He felt thankful that the creature couldn't actually see him, and was forced to rely on its sense of smell to pinpoint his location. As long as he moved at the right moment he could easily dodge the creature's poorly aimed attacks.

Lucius and the creature began a back-and-forth struggle for survival. The creature lashed out at him, and he danced out of the way, returning a strike to its exposed face. After three or four successful counters, Lucius' strikes began to tear through the scales much more easily, releasing fountains of blood from the creature's face. Lucius was feeling confident that he would be able to defeat his opponent, he only needed to continue his strategy. Unfortunately his confidence was misplaced, and the creature soon surprised him. After Lucius dodged another of the creature's snapping attacks, he moved forward to strike it again. At that moment, the creature's entire body spun like a top, and Lucius was unable to react in time as a powerful armored tail came barreling into his chest.

Lucius was sent through the air by the power of the hit. He could already tell that the wind had been knocked out of his lungs, and some of his ribs were certainly broken. Landing on the ground in an ungraceful heap, time seemed to slow down for Lucius as the creature turned to face him. Thinking quickly, he kicked out at his backpack that had landed just beside him after his fall, sending the bag rolling across the ground away from him. His quick thinking saved his life, as the creature's target immediately shifted from him to the backpack. It charged up, angrily grabbing the item in its mouth, before viciously wrenching it back and forth a few times. Finally, once it felt confident that it had defeated its foe, the creature rolled its head back and swallowed.

Although he had lost his supplies, the sacrifice had bought Lucius enough time to scramble to his feet, and regain his composure. He quickly grabbed a handful of pebbles from the ground, just before the creature realized its mistake, and began to approach him again. He tossed the pebbles to the side as the creature neared him, and when it inevitably turned its body to follow the sound, Lucius pushed himself forward with all the strength he could muster. Aiming his sword at the joint of the creature's back leg, he sailed forward at incredible speed, stabbing with all his might. Even after taking a hit and losing the damage stacks from his Assassination skill, the piercing ability of his sword managed to move through the armored scales, and the weapon sank all the way down into the creatures leg. The moment that the sword penetrated the creature's flesh, Lucius felt an immediate sense of relief coursing through his body. The creature was so large, with such a powerful life force, that even though his sword only stole a small amount of its life, it was enough to go a long way towards healing his wounds.

Lucius pulled his blade out of the creature's body and jumped back, just before it spun to defend itself. His attack had achieved its goal, and the creature was now limping as it moved. He had damaged the creature's mobility, and the pain in his chest was healed enough that it was no longer slowing him down. Lucius confidently resumed his deadly back-and-forth with the now crippled creature. It was clear that he had gained the upper hand. He landed a few more strikes on its face, aiming for its eyes and nose whenever he could manage it. When he was confident that he had built up enough stacks of Assassinate, he leapt forward past the beasts last desperate attack, and drove the blade into the side of the creature's skull. Even such a powerful defense of armored scales and thick skull bone could not prevent the magical sword from sinking into the creature's brain, not with so much bonus damage added to the attack, anyway.

The creature was stunned for a moment, as all its movement suddenly stopped. Lucius thought it might turn and continue attacking him at first, but his worries faded away when the creature suddenly collapsed.

You have defeated Crocodīlus Titanum, level 14.

Through effort, you have gained +1 to the vitality attribute.

Latent talent detected:

You have unlocked the talent Sword Fighter!

Sword Fighter - Level 1