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World: MSS - Loading...
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I had about 2 seconds to make a decision.
The logical part of mind politely noted that what I did to Aurora was rude.. Beyond rude even. As an 21st century earthling, the whole idea of throwing Aurora to into a Core without consent had been unsettling. But she had been the best choice for this Core and without it, I knew we had a slim chance of getting out of this thing alive. The conscience pleaded for me to beg for forgiveness later.
My caveman mind, more concerned with things like food, sleep, sex and oh, I don’t know, Survival? Screamed at my 21st century gentlemanly mind to shut up and ordered my limbs to move.
I hooked two fingers under the fat warrior’s helm, dragging him close and sucker punching him in the throat with my other hand.
And then kicked him in the balls.
Right as that happened, all hell broke loose.
“G-Get them! GET THEM!”
All the fifty or so scavengers took out their weapons, activating various abilities and screaming bloody murder.
“Kyrian! Cover!”
I needn’t have bothered because Kyrian’s staff flared with power as he slammed it onto the ground.
｢Kyrian Tricilan casts [Tornado] ｣
A wall of wind rose up around us, fast and furious, and I took that moment to kick the armored man in the stomach. I hadn't put any mana into my strike but I’d struck him in the throat pretty hard. I don’t care how tough you are or how high your defense stat is, kick someone in the balls and they’ll be helpless for a good while. He stumbled through right as the tornado reached max speed, separating us from the crowd of furious scavengers.
A few of them tried to get through but Kyrian waved his staff, sending streams of lightning into the wind. Now the gale acted as an electric fence, frying those who wanted to get to us.
“I can’t hold this for long.” The mage’s voice was strained. “And-”
“I know. No spells anymore.” I took a deep breath, facing the others.
I hadn’t really thought past my own rage and in hindsight, I could have handled this better. But all the humiliation and jibes had unknowingly piled on. Not to beat a dead horse, but I’d been bullied before. Nothing serious like this but the old wounds were still there. Maybe deep inside, I had just been waiting for a situation like this; a chance to piss them off and leave with the last laugh. The last straw broke the proverbial camel’s back long ago, this was just the camel finding a good time to take revenge.
‘Focus, Lock.’
Right. No time for introspections. Just act.
“We’ll need to fight our way through.” The words spilled out of me and my brain belatedly and begrudgingly recognized that it was a good idea.
Skaris nodded. “Agreed.”
“Split up?” Stole’s voice was hoarse, weighed with fear. The girl’s eyes were wide and I could see why. She hadn’t expected things to devolve to violence so fast and truthfully, it hadn’t needed to. No matter how good a [Pioneer] she was, Stole didn’t have the experience that the rest of us had.
“First time for everything.” I muttered to myself. “Aurora, you need to open the way.”
Aurora nodded, having recovered from the shock of absorbing the Core. “I will.”
“The Core you just absorbed, it has the ability [Mass Fetch]... use it how you will. Kryian, you go right behind Aurora. Stole and Skaris will be right after you, I’ll bring up the rear.” I checked everyone’s reaction.
I’d just casually spat out information about a Core, without any explanation But the situation being what it was, if any of them found it suspicious they didn’t voice it. Still, I felt a habitual nervousness as I said it and silently prayed that it wouldn’t come back to bite me in the ass later.
“T-That’s it? That’s a lousy fucking plan! They’ll kill us!” Stole cried out.
“There’s something else. Isn’t there, Mr. Lock?”
Nodding, I took out the [Neung-uh’s Ocarina].
Kyrian took in a breath and it wasn’t from the strain of holding his spell. “Lock…”
“I know it’s dangerous. But it’s the only way.”
Skaris and Aurora looked a lot less sure about the plan now.
“What is that thing?” Stole had never seen it before.
“A summoning item.” Aurora explained. “To summon the strongest monster in the vicinity.”
Just as Aurora said, the Ocarina was used to summon the strongest monster nearby.
An extremely useful item in a dungeon where you had an idea of how strong the monsters were. Like in the Twilight Maze.
An extremely dangerous item in a field like this one where we had no idea what type of predators lurked in the area. If we were lucky, the Grade 6 Skeletal Vulture would be what we got. If we were unlucky, another [Cheonma ( 天馬)], or something worse; a Grade 4 monsters or above.
In MSS, power levels worked on an exponential system. The power gap from a grade 6 monster to a grade 5 monster was huge, and nowhere near the difference between a grade 10 or 9. Plus, there was the fact that monsters were exponentially stronger than adventurers. To hunt a grade 5 safely without risk, you needed a party of Grade 4 adventurers or above. Maybe you could pull it off if you had a good match up against the monsters, I.E Skaris’ Fire element in the Twilight Maze.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
That’s why this game was so infuriating; how the hell were you supposed to kill Grade 5 monsters when you needed Grade-4 Cores to hunt it without risk? That’s where the bread and butter of MSS came into play. You had to rely on Core Synergy, using your build to maximize your potential and minimize the risk of your party experiencing a total wipe. Oftentimes, you’d hit Grade 1 only to realize you screwed up your build and would need to invest hundreds of hours to replace the Cores you had.
We could only hope.
All of us prepared ourselves, drinking potions and checking our armor.
“Lock!” Kyrian’s voice was pained.
Taking a deep breath, I blew on the Ocarina as he lowered the [Tornado] spell.
Piiiiiiiiiiiii
The Scavengers were a big group, crawling around the field like worker ants. But it seemed that the standards for their recruits weren’t that high. Instead of keeping us surrounded, they’d gathered around the tornado grouping up all nice and tidy like for me. I imagined them as pins being knocked down and rolled my metaphorical bowling ball at them.
｢Lock Slaveborn casts [High Tide] ｣
They all scattered, blown away by the ability.
I thought I’d be ok. I’d been knocked out for a duration of the Cheonma fight and had just drank a portion to boot. Yet, I still felt the drain on my resources through a noticeable weight settling in behind my eyes. It was part headache and drowsiness. No matter how many potions I guzzled, I wouldn’t be able to get rid of this fatigue easily.
Thankfully I wasn’t alone.
Aurora let out a battlecry and a few of the Scavengers who had resisted [High Tide] froze. That moment was all she needed to become a wrecking ball, speeding through bodies –both fallen, sitting and standing– with her shield and opening the way for us. Kyrian followed closely behind, huddling and uncorking another mana potion, chugging it down straight.
Stole had replaced her huge Arbalest with a small crossbow gun. She was the freshest out of all of us, having spent most of her time running around and pouring healing potions down our throats. She shot the Scavengers with precision, bolts appeared in their thighs, calves and feet, meant to slow them down. Even when we had an open shot, she never shot with the intention to kill.
Skaris and I didn’t spare such effort.
The two of us ran and each of our movements were controlled; using the least amount of energy to inflict the greatest damage. Skaris’ flame was red now, no doubt conserving his mana. He gutted a man from chest to stomach, cauterizing the wound and leaving the man screaming. I used [Aura] sparingly, only using it the moment before my blood made contact.
But this was us squeezing out what little strength we had.
Sooner or later, we’d make a mistake. Which was why Skaris and I didn’t bother wounding them; we needed to reduce their numbers as much as possible.
｢Kyrian Tricilan casts [Chain Lightning] ｣
Lightning flashed and more bodies fell, fried to a crisp.
It figured they had never succeeded in subjugating the Cheonma even with their numbers. They were weak to begin with, probably grade 9 or 8 at the most. Then there was the fact that we caught them in surprise. A small candleflame’s worth of hope flared in my chest. Maybe we had a chance to get-
Kyrian stumbled at the front.
“Skaris! Get to the front!”
The lizard beastman strided ahead, his legs considerably longer than mine. He grabbed Kyrian’s cloak and tried to right him. But the mage must’ve been unconscious or too tired to walk; Skaris resorted to carrying him like a sack of rice, wielding the spear with the remaining arm.
How long has it been since we started running? 10 seconds? 15?
“You idiot! Fire at them!”
Rocks, arrows and missiles began to fly towards us.
“Aurora! Pivot! With me!”
Aurora spun around and Skaris continued, so that he was at the front. She took up the rear with me, and planted her shield. I stood next to her, my [King’s Guard] active as the barrage of death landed all around us. Stepping foot into the shadow of Aurora’s shield, I soaked up all the stray magical projectiles. My shield and Aurora’s blocking the rest. I heard her grunt as one of her legs buckled under the strain.
Not even a minute and we were reaching the limit.
Then I saw her.
A small figure in the distance. A dwarf woman?
She threw something.
I saw Aurora’s form duck and then bounce, shielding the young beastman.
There was a horrible shriek of steel as the Harpoon tip pierced through Aurora’s shield and cut into her arm.
Holy shit.
Luckily, the cut wasn’t even an inch deep but the fact that it pierced through her shield from that distance…
The Harpoon went taut and ripped through the shield once more, returning to its owner. Before it did, I saw that it had a chain attached to the end.
She was going to throw it again.
“Aurora! Go with the others!” I shoved Aurora to the front.
She opened her mouth to argue but saw my [Lunar Shield] floating in the air above me. She nodded grimly, understanding that right now, it wasn’t about her skill with blocking we needed; but the indestructible nature of my shield. She took her space next to Skaris.
We were almost out. I just needed to trust in [King’s Guard] and-
KLANG!
The Lunar Shield flew out of its orbit as the Harpoon struck it; landing on the ground a few feet away from me. But the harpoon landed right in between my legs with a heavy thud. If it had gone even an inch further…
I gulped.
Once more, the Harpoon’s chains went taut and it flew back to the dwarf woman. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was walking towards us. The fact that my Lunar Shield went flying from the collision meant that my [Physical] stat was too low to block it fully, if I had been holding the shield in my hand it would’ve no doubt broken every bone in my hand and possibly arm.
Ignoring the fact that my mana reserves were running dangerously low, I recast [King’s Guard] and my Lunar Shield came flying towards me again.
KLANG!
Again, my shield went flying.
‘One more time.’
I recalled my shield just in time to block the Harpoon.
But this time, my shield [King’s Guard] didn’t deactivate. Instead, the Harpoon stuck to the shield’s surface, a sticky greenish substance on the tip.
[Glue], an active still used to coat your weapon in… well, glue.
Reaching out, I grabbed my Lunar Shield moments before the chain went taut and felt my feet leave the ground.
“Mr. Lock!”
“Mister!”
Sailing in the air, I clearly saw the battlefield. My party members had broken through the Scavengers and were on their way out. That was why the dwarf kept firing; we had basically succeeded in escaping.
‘But with her range, she would get one of us. I’m going to run out of mana and she’s going to gun us down, one by one like a pod of baby orcas.’
I set my mouth in a line.
I had to distract her. There were enough [Shadow Blink] charges saved up from the earlier exchange. As soon as my feet hit solid ground, I could slink away. Maybe 1 or 2 jumps was all I could manage, but it’d be enough. Out of everyone in my party, I had the best balance between speed and defense. I also had another charge of [Lunar Shield] in my pocket. I could just-
The ground exploded, throwing up trees, shrubs, rocks and dust.
In the movies, you often see explosions. Giant robots, Kaiju, grenades, nuclear weapons; no matter what the topic, there’s always a mushroom cloud or something similar that obscures people’s vision. They scream and run away as fast as their human legs could carry them, trying to escape the oncoming rush of danger.
In real life, it’s not like that.
There was no warning, no sound. One moment I was sailing through the air and the nest I got tangled in a tree and my vision was blocked by dust. There was no sense of up or down, no train of logical thought; just sheer terrible naked terror that took root of my heart and brain in one grip, shaking it up and down. This wasn’t fear, this was just confusion and horror at the notion that something big was happening without the clearest inclination of what.
Tiny pebbles and grains of sand pelted into me, the air so dense with these particles that there would no doubt be bloody scratches on my face and hands. My ears faintly noted the sound of these things pelting my armor with each note of ‘ting ting ting ting ting’. I realized that someone was screaming and it was me. I closed my mouth before I got drowned to death in dust.
Still, I kept my eyes open.
The harpoon was abruptly gone and the dust finally cleared, I was able to see where I was.
For a brief moment in time, I noted everything.
First, I could see now because I had fallen below the aerial debris.
The Scavengers pointing and turning tail to run. A very pretty dwarf woman holding the colossal harpoon, a snarl on her face and readying to throw the harpoon.
And behind me was a monster from the nightmares of a Lovecraftian Horror Novelist
It was a worm, of that I was sure. But it was so big that I wasn’t sure where it began and where it ended; the creature let out a horrible cry, a bass so deep that I felt my body vibrate in sync. The sound rippled through my body as I fell and my eyes noted that the thing was covered in sparse hair, and that its hair was rooted in thick bulbous carapace that made up the segments of its body. The densely packed supersonic wave from its roar actually blasted me away from the thing.
And I saw how big it was.
It was a [Gargantuan Death Worm] - Grade 4.
God, it just kept coming up and up and up out of the ground. How the hell do you even hunt something so big? What does it eat?
Then the worm moved forward.
It didn’t move so much as a volcano erupted or a hurricane propagated. This monster was a force of nature in and of itself, surging forward and instantly creating giant chasms in the earth, filled with darkness and no clue as to how deep it was. The monster's shift in position changed the landscape, felling Scavengers into the bottom snake-pit it was creating.
One Consolation?
It was opposite of the directions my party had been running in.
In that single moment of clarity, everyone's face came surging into my mind like a dew drop falling from a leaf onto my face, cold and clear –waking me from the disbelief that this creature embedded in my mind. I had to live. I had to survive. My party was waiting for me. We were supposed to go on the quest for the church, have harrowing adventures and-
My god.
I enjoyed being around them.
Right there and then, I wasn’t a salaryman nor an adventurer. I was a teenager again, without friends, without family and the one thing I looked forward to everyday was MSS. Seeing the lifelike NPCs talk to me, laugh and fall in love with each other. Imagining myself in the world.
Beneath the hurt, beneath the worries about gold and constant threat of death; I loved this world.
And I cared about my party.
Skaris. Kyrian. Aurora. Stole.
My first party…
I can’t describe it in any logical sense or explain it in rational terms. It wasn’t like that. It was like how you can instantly fall in love with someone, imagining a life together. On the first day of kindergarten, you can meet your best friend for life. A basic human need for companionship, of having people who understood you and wanted your presence. People who became tighter than a co-worker or occasional acquaintance, people that you know had your back. They were-
I promised myself I’d never admit it to them or myself. But the fear made me soft.
They were my friends.
Most people would be filled with despair hurtling towards a bottomless pit next to a monster who made godzilla look like a baby gecko.
But as I fell into the deep dark chasm-void that the Gargantuan Death Worm left behind, without anything else in sight, I could only think of one thing.
How the hell was I going to get out of this one?
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