"This might have been a terrible idea," Luke swore as a dozen small frozen blades tried to stab through his chainmail.
"You think?!" Duncan asked as he unleashed a pyroclap on Seraphel. The drow elf stood against five of them, covered in ice armor with a sword of ice in each of his hands. Seraphel's ice construct was a beautiful bright blue, or it had been until it had been covered in blood.
As Gareth lunged forwards with his ax, Seraphel ducked to the side. A spike of ice grew out of his armor, stabbing into Gareth's leg as Seraphel wiped his sword towards his friend's head.
"Mother fucker!!" Gareth swore as Luke parried Seraphel's sword strike, or at least he tried to.
As the blades encountered each other, Seraphel's bright blue sword changed from a large, broad sword into a thin rapier. Luke stumbled at the change in weight and balance, and Seraphel's blade stabbed into his shoulder.
"Frag," Luke swore as he smacked away the ice blade.
Seraphel kept up the pressure as he pressed the attack, forcing Luke to go completely on the defensive. Seraphel proved himself to be leagues ahead of Luke when it came to swordsmanship. Even with his skills, it was all Luke could do to stop Seraphel from striking his vital points. Even still, he was quickly collecting shallow cuts and instances of [Stagnation] as he was pushed backwards.
Gareth quickly rose to his defense, shouting out a battle cry as his Axe descended at Seraphels head. The drow quickly broke off his attack on Luke, his ice swords shifting into a massive two-handed weapon that was almost two meters long as he blocked Gareth's attack.
Instantly, icicles blasted out of his armor in all directions as he changed his focus to Gareth. Luke had to leap backwards as two icicles shot through the air wildly as they attempted to screwer him. He deflected the first one from piercing his liver and narrowly dodged the second one as it grazed his head, opening up a small cut on his forehead.
Two icicle arrows shot out of Seraphels armor, forcing Luke to leap back as he deflected the attacks.
"This guy is even worse at close range," Luke muttered. "How is he worse at close range?"
Luke's eyes drank in the situation as he reoriented himself. Duncan, Gareth, and Travis had joined him in trying to pin down Seraphel while Sam and the rest of the Larpers focused on holding back the goblin horde as they were steadily pushed back through the school by the unending horde.
"Ok, this guy is just annoyingly good," Travis hissed as he swung his blazing sword at Seraphel. The drow twisted his body beyond what Luke thought was possible as more icicles shot out of his armor to keep Travis away from the Drow.
"Hold still," Travis called out, ignoring Seraphel's attack.
"Travis, I love you, but stop the commentary, please!!" Duncan called out as he let out a spray of fire towards Seraphel as Gareth tried to chop the drow in half.
Seraphel clearly was used to fighting multiple opponents. He leapt backwards, kicking Gareth into Duncan's attack. He sent out more icicle arrows at both men. He transformed his massive sword into a katana as he attacked Travis.
"Don't let him gain distance!!" Luke called out as he activated [First Labor]
His skill-empowered attack stabbed into Seraphels chest before he could slice through Dustin, cracking the drow's armor as he was knocked backwards. For a second, Luke almost thought he had managed to hurt Drow. But Seraphel managed to bounce back to his feet with ease as he parried Traivs descending sword before a dozen spikes of ice shot out of his armor and into the paladin's chest, knocking him backwards as Seraphels armor repaired itself from the damage Luke had inflicted. At this point, Seraphels look like a bright blue porcupine made out of sharp edges.
"Enough, [Consume Magic]," Travis called out. All at once, Seraphel's ice armor slid off his body and was swallowed by Travis.
DING!!!
[Consume Magic] - Legendary
[Consume Magic]: You consume a source of magic in its entirety, devouring all of the magic and restoring your MP, be it a spell, a skill, an enchantment, or even a summons. Cooldown 11 minutes. Reduce the cooldown by 6 seconds per skill level.
"My turn," Travis said, holding up his sword.
A massive fireball shot out of his blade, forcing Seraphel to dodge. The fireball sailed over his head, impacting the goblins that had been coming up to help him. The explosion nearly knocked Luke off his feet. The goblins caught in the blast were so lucky. Their flesh melted off their bones, and they were not even able to scream as their throats had been severed.
Seraphel jumped back up, his ice armor reappearing on his body.
"He's been burning through his mana to compensate for a four-on-one, but he's already below 20%. He needs to retreat now, or one way or the other, our next clash will be our last." Duncan said
Seraphel seemed to agree with Duncan. He leapt towards the group, and his katana held high. Luke charged forward to meet him, and then Seraphel's armor exploded off his body. The chunks of ice flew at them at high speed, impacting their bodies like a rain of hail as they and everyone else was fumbling with chunks of ice. Luke was sent tumbling backwards as his body was pelted with chunks of ice the size of baseballs. He could already tell his body would be covered in bruises the next morning.
As the barrage of ice finally came to a stop, Luke forced himself back to his feet, readying his sword. He expected a follow-up attack, but there was nothing. Seraphel had disappeared in the explosion of ice and mist, leaving them alone in a hallway with chunks of ice and the goblins picking themselves up off the floor.
The ice was already creating a deep mist as if it had all been turned into dry ice. Fortunately, it seemed that Seraphel didn't care about the goblins, as they hadn't been spared the explosion of ice. Nor had he tried to take advantage of his final attack; instead, he had just disappeared.
"Assshole!!" Travis called out as he was helped back to his feet by another Larper as Sam reached him.
"We need to go. We're about to be overrun."
"Makes sense," Duncan said.
"How does that make sense?" Luke asked, confused as the Larpers turned the tide of battle and pushed the goblins back, giving some of them breathing room.
"He had us dead to rights. He could have killed us while the goblins swarmed us. Why didn't he?" Luke asked.
Duncan shook his head.
"Goblins aren't human. If he had kept up the attack, he would have left himself vulnerable to the other goblins, and they would have killed him to gain more experience. [Goblinoids] power structures are top-down. With the absolute strongest in charge and everyone else beneath them, as opposed to human societies that are more diverse. Because of this, [Goblinoid] leadership tends to have a massive degree of overturn as the subordinates kill their leaders to gain more power. They don't have friends or family, only temporary allies and enemies. And because of that, they must always strive to gain more power lest they be unseated." Duncan explained.
Luke wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, his sympathy for the goblins was low and getting lower by the second. On the other hand, their society sounded exhausting. To live like that, constantly paranoid about who was going to betray you while always scrambling to remain the strongest.
"Hey, no lollygagging; it's time to go!!" Duncan called out. Everyone was loaded up and ready to go; it was time to leave!
Travis raised his sword, mana undulating across the blade so thick Luke didn't think he would need [Second Labor] to see it. Travis brought his sword down with a Swish, and the roof of the school collapsed with the movement. The goblins inside of the school screamed as the building came down on top of their heads.
That gave the larpers more than enough breathing room to kill the last of the goblins before they all turned and fled. Luke followed as the crowd made their way outside. Dozens of minivans were lined up on the grass behind the school. They were full of the many kids the larpers had found, all of the noncombatants, and the supplies they hadn't managed to stuff into all the numerous inventories.
Luke raced over to Hope and the rest of the horses they had liberated from the Pegasus ranch. Sam, Gareth, Dustin, Travis, and a few larpers who had real-world experience or system classes that worked with horses joined him as he mounted Hope. Duncan leaped into the lead Mini-van as they started to drive south towards Highway 10, at which point they would head east until 180 St.
"Oh, this is bullshit!!" Travis muttered.
"What is it, Lizard wizard?!" Gareth asked.
"We have warg riders incoming," Travis said.
"Wargs," Duncan called out from the lead minivan's shotgun seat as they started to gain speed.
"Goblins and Orcs on wargs making their way around the school," Travis warned.
Luke swore as the horses followed the cars as they made their way with the cars, the sound of canine yips and snarls coming into earshot.
"Everyone, assign your levels now. The people on horseback are going to have to screen the … caravan, I guess, while we make our way out of here!" Duncan called out.
Luke pulled up his stat sheet as he considered what to do.
<[Poseidon's Sea] has Reached Level 7>
<[Poseidon's Sea] has Reached Level 8>
<...>
<[Poseidon's Sea] has Reached Level 20>
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 5>
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 6>
<...>
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 15>
<[Greek Tragedy] has Reached Level 11>
<[Greek Tragedy] has Reached Level 12>
<[Greek Tragedy] has Reached Level 13>
<[Endless Brawler] has Reached Level 10>
<[Endless Brawler] has Reached Level 11>
<...>
<[Endless Brawler] has Reached Level 15>
<[First Labor] has Reached Level 15>
<[First Labor] has Reached Level 16>
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<...>
<[First Labor] has Reached Level 21>
<[Second Labor] has Reached Level 3>
<[Second Labor] has Reached Level 4>
<...>
<[Second Labor] has Reached Level 19>
<[Third Labor] has Reached Level 12>
<[Third Labor] has Reached Level 13>
<...>
<[Third Labor] has Reached Level 21>
<[Fourth Labor] has Reached Level 8>
<[Fourth Labor] has Reached Level 9>
<...>
<[Fourth Labor] has Reached Level 18>
<[Fifth Labor] has Reached Level 11>
<[Fifth Labor] has Reached Level 12>
<...>
<[Fifth Labor] has Reached Level 22>
<[Sixth Labor] has Reached Level 2>
<[Sixth Labor] has Reached Level 3>
<...>
<[Sixth Labor] has Reached Level 20>
Luke ignored most of the notifications as he considered dumping his levels into [Heir of Theseus] but quickly dismissed it. That class didn't have anything related to mounted combat. Instead, it seemed to be more focused on counters, and he wasn't sure he could do that on horseback. He needed something more direct. He needed an actual combat ability like the [First Labour], only with less setup than [Sixth Labour]. His eyes were drawn to the [Heir of Beleraphone] class. He didn't know much about the legend, but he knew that Beleraphone rode on the flying horse Pegasus. It seemed good enough, considering his current circumstances.
Heir to Beleraphone skill Options
* [Molten Lead Lance] - Legendary: Beleraphone's second greatest feat was the slaying of the Chimera. He did not do this through strength but through cleverness. He shoved a lead spear into the monster's maw when it attempted to breathe fire at him—melting the spear and pouring molten lead down the monster's throat. Now, you can tap into that power. When you wield a spear, you can superheat the blade of the weapon without dulling the tip, inflicting additional fire damage, and leaving the [Burn] aliment at the cost of 30 mana per minute. When you throw your spear at a target, the weapon will transform into a spear of compressed molten lead and explode when the spear impacts the target for 500 mana. You also gain a +1.25% boost to your Spear Mastery per skill level. +10% INT
* [Poseidon's Lure] - Legendary: Poseidon was associated positively with many animals, horses, bulls, and almost every single sea creature. As an heir to his son, your aura now releases a calming and charming effect on many beasts and almost all sea creatures. This skill draws animals to you and gives them a friendly disposition towards you and your species. +10% CHA
* [Soul Stable] - Ancient: within your soul, you possess a stable where you may store your mounts until such a time you need them. All of your mount's needs will be met in your [Soul Stable]. Any mount in your stable will be marked and can be summoned to your position from wherever the mount is in the world. (inter-dimensional realms may interfere with this effect.) You also gain a 1.25% boost to your riding mastery per skill level. (this does not affect skill level bonuses)
* [Chimera Slayer] - Legendary: Beleraphone slayed the dread chimera, and now you have gained a portion of that power. Whenever you attack a creature with more than one type, you gain the [Slayer] buff for the second [Type], inflicting triple damage on your target.
Luke immediately dismissed [Chimera Slayer] and [Poseidon's Lure]. They didn't offer any immediate benefits to his current problem. [Soul Stable] seemed semi-useful. However, the main benefits came from the mastery bonuses. The main effects, however, wouldn't be redundant currently. [Molten Lead Lance], on the other hand, was exactly what he wanted right now; his six labors were great but too focused on defense instead of offense. It even used mana, which he had an overabundance of and no outlet for.
He selected [Molten Lead Lance] for his second skill for [Heir of Beleraphone].
"Does anyone have a spear for me?!" Luke called out.
Duncan pulled out of the minivan and held it out the window like a jouster.
"Will this do?" Duncan asked.
Luke nudged Hope towards Duncan's car, picked up the spear, and twirled it around with an ease he was pretty sure he hadn't had thirty seconds ago and knew he hadn't had four days ago.
"Yeah, this will do," Luke said as the spear tip started to glow like a hot poker.
At this point, the people on horses were weaving through the cars like a biker gang as they started to get up to around 50 mph. Luke was pretty sure horses shouldn't be able to run this fast. But he also shouldn't be capable of half of the things he had done over the last three days, so he did what he normally did nowadays and just ignored it.
When the wargs started to close in on the caravan, they leaped through backyards and over cars with ease, allowing them to gain on them quickly.
Sam, Travis, and anyone with a ranged attack started to open fire at the incoming orcs. Those on horseback tended to shoot wide, missing their marks entirely, while those in the vehicles had better luck.
"Switch to fireballs and area of effect spells!!" Luke called out. "You don't need to hit them. Just catch them in the blast!!"
Travis launched a fireball, catching two wargs at the same time. The rest of the mages quickly followed suit, unleashing area-of-effect spells into the wargs. The warg riders immediately dispersed, making sure to avoid clumping together so as not to all get wiped out by a single spell.
Luke assumed that Travis must have riding skills, as they were doing better than Gareth, who appeared to barely be holding on as his horse galloped beside Luke.
"I am officially against mounted combat. Fighting should be done on the ground," Gareth grumbled as his horse snorted at him in amusement.
Luke rolled his eyes.
"LUKE!!" Travis called out. "We can't keep this up forever!!"
Luke quickly realized what he meant. The spells coming from the vehicles were already thinning out as the mages burned through their mana.
"Get ready for mounted combat!!" Luke called out as the wargs closed in on them.
"DIE!!" Gareth called out as he threw his ax.
It flew through the air and slammed into the chest of one of the orcs faster than the eye could track. The orc was launched off his mount with enough force that he bounced when he hit the ground.
"YES!!"
Then the orcs Warg lept, and its jaws snapped around Gareth's leg. The warg immediately started to savage Gareth's leg, shaking its head back and forth.
"FUCK" Gareth screamed in pain as he slammed a new axe he had gotten from somewhere into the warg flank over and over again.
Luke was about to move to help his friend when he was intercepted by another orc. Luke raised his spear to block the orc's sword, knocking it aside. To his surprise, he felt the [Sixth Labor] gain a charge from that. Apparently, that ability worked regardless of his weapon. That was good to know.
Luke thrusted his spear outwards, trying to stab at the massive orc, only to be surprised when his own attack was deflected with ease. Luke struggled as his actions quickly devolved into a cacophony of actions. Parry, counter, block, parry, every one of his attacks was blocked as he defended himself from the orc.
All the while, [Sixth Labor] kept charging, getting stronger and stronger. Then Luke felt a spike of fear from Hope, and his foot lashed out in a purely instinctively action. His foot slammed into the head of the warg just before it bit into Hope's neck.
In a mix of rage and fear, Luke activated [First Labor]. His spear grew, turning into something more like a ballista bolt as he stabbed at the warg. His spear punched into the warg's body like an actual ballista bolt, going through the warg and anchoring it to the ground. The warg jerked to a stop, and the orc that had been riding it was sent flying as Luke pulled his spear from the warg.
Fortunately, his weapon had been protected by his own ability. Unfortunately, there were more orcs.
Luke raced up along the caravan, driving a burning spear into the back of an orc as it was moving towards one of the minivans.
Luke didn't give the notification any thought as he stabbed the warg with the burning spear tip. The warg snarled in outrage as it tried to get away from him. Luke stabbed the warg again and again until the overgrown wolf ran away from the caravan. Diving back into combat, Luke's world devolved into a constant struggle of metal, meat, and notifications.
<[Kin of Horses] has Reached Level 8>
<[Kin of Horses] has Reached Level 9>
<...>
<[Kin of Horses] has Reached Level 16>
<[Master of Death] has Reached Level 16>
<[Molten Lead Lance] has Reached Level 2>
<[Molten Lead Lance] has Reached Level 3>
<...>
<[Molten Lead Lance] has Reached Level 12>
Luke didn't know how long they had been fighting when there was a horrendous guttural screech. Luke looked up to see massive, grotesque birds descending on them from above as a familiar man with a scythe descended on them from above.
"Frag," Luke muttered.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Luke Graceson
Race: Demigod
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 13
SubRace: Human
Age 18
Health: 985 / 1045
Stamina: 2025
Mana: 1700
Health Regen: 12.4 per hour
Stamina Regen: 16.3 per min
Mana Regen: 5.2 per min
Titles: Awoken Myths
Immune
N/A
Resistances
Physical 10%, Elemental 10%, Mental 8%
Weakness
N/A
Bane
Manslayer, Godslayer
Classes: Heir to Theseus 10, Heir to Beleiraphone 3
Total
STR: 157
AGIL: 13
DEX: 57
CON: 85
END: 39
PER: 71
INT: 85
WILL: 13
SPIRIT: 39
EGO: 27
CHA: 74
LCK: 14
Base
STR: 143 +10%
AGIL: 13
DEX: 52 +10%
CON: 78 +10%
END: 39
PER: 65 +10%
INT: 78 +10%
WILL: 13
SPIRIT: 39
EGO: 26 +5%
CHA: 65 +15%
LCK: 13 +10%
Personal: +4 PER, +3 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CON, +2 CHA
Racial: +3 CON, +2 STR, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +2 CHA, +1 EGO
Bloodline: +5 STR, +5 INT
Level Bonus: +1 to all stats
Bloodline:
[Bloodline of Poseidon] - Legendary: Your father is Poseidon, the god of the sea, the earthshaker, Stormbringer, the father of horses, the guy you named the eighth planet in your solar system after. As the son of the sea god, you gain the following Benefits.
- [Power of the Sea God] - Level 1
- [Poseidon's Sea] - Level 6 >> Level 20
- [Kin of Horses] - Level 7 >> Level 16
- [Born Sailor] - Level 1
- [Natural Born Leader] - Level 4 >> Level 16
- [Master of Death] - Level 11 >> Level 16
- [Greek Tragedy] - Level 10 >> Level 13
- [Divine Assistance (Guide)] - ErR0R#4!!*!%!$
- +5 STR per level
- +5 INT per level
Skill Slots 11/60
Personal Skills
- [Endless Brawler] - Level 9 >> Level 15
- [Storage] - Level 10
- [Meditation] - Level 1
Heir to Theseus 06/11
- [First Labor: Periphetes' Crippling Strike] - Level 15 >> Level 21
- [Second Labor: The Charming of Sinis] - Level 2 >> Level 19
- [Third Labor: Hunter of The Crommyonian Sow] - Level 11 >> Level 21
- [Forth Labor: Vision of Sciron] - Level 7 >> Level 18
- [Fifth Labor: Father of Wrestling] - Level 10 >> Level 22
- Capstone - [Sixth Labor: Procrustes Just Desserts] - Level 1 >> Level 20
Heir to Bellerophon 2/6
- [Legacy of Misfortune] - Level 2
- [Molten Lead Lance] - Level 1 >> Level 12