Major Adams felt his stomach twisting into knots as they drove towards Kwantlen in the early dawn light. The massive caravan of police cars, RCMP, and a dozen emergency vehicles that had been converted for … Adams wasn't sure he wanted to say it, but the emergency vehicles, including Casey's fire truck, were now closer to military vehicles. Something about this entire situation felt wrong. It felt like they were marching to their deaths, and yet he couldn't identify why he felt like that as his sleep-deprived brain struggled.
"Hey, Major," Chester nudged him from the side.
"What's up, Chester," Adams asked.
Chester tapped him on the shoulder, and Adams felt like pure coffee was injected into his veins. His drowsiness was banished, and he was now wide awake.
"Holy crap," Adams said.
"Like it? It's my level 10 capstone skill [Caffeine]," Chester said. It's apparently one of the only skills that restores stamina."
"How is that helpful?" Adams asked, a little curious.
"According to Tom, the only way to restore stamina is through taking care of yourself—food, sleep, etc. So this is pretty unique," Chester said proudly.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Chester, but how do you know all this stuff?" Casey asked.
"I played a lot of D&D when I was a kid. My dad was a big fan, and this isn't that different. I talked to Tom about this stuff, and I think I got the basics down," Chester said.
"I'm glad to hear someone is enjoying this insanity," Adams said.
"Yes, sir."
"Casey, are you sure we're okay with bringing a fire truck into battle?" Adams asked.
"It's a bit late to be asking, sir." Casey pointed out.
Adams shrugged.
"Better late than never,"
"Well, thanks to my class, right now she is almost as tough as the humvees I worked on in the Middle East and almost as quick. But again, that's my [Driver] class doing all the heavy lifting. I'd love it if we could get an actual Humvee. Then we could really see what I could do." Casey chuckled good-naturedly.
Thorn reached over to hold Casey's hand.
"I'm just hoping we can get back to some semblance of normal after this," Chester said.
That's when the radio crackled to life. "We're coming up on Newton Park. Hostiles are milling around. Be ready to dismount and engage." Captain Crosses's voice cut through their conversation.
The crack of gunfire echoed out in the early morning air.
"Alright, halt the truck," Adams ordered.
Chester, I want you two to set up an Evac position towards the back. People are going to get injured, and we're going to need someplace to treat them. Casey, does this fire truck have a bucket on the end of the ladder year?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Thorn, I want you up in the Bucket doing what you do best," Adams ordered.
"Yes, sir," Thorn said mechanically, slinging her rifle and moving to get out of the truck.
"Casey, don't extend the ladder all the way. We might need to move quickly," Adams said.
Casey nodded as Chester pulled out his medical supplies along with a 12-gauge.
"Chester, you're with me. Let's secure the perimeter. We don't want those goblins coming around behind us," Adams ordered as they got out of the fire truck.
They were already at the back of the mob of police vehicles. He pulled out his own 12-gauge as he surveyed the scene. Thorn was already making her way up into the bucket as the ladder extended upwards. She should have a good line of sight in all directions. Chester was already setting up an area to address the injuries with the other paramedics. Thorn just looked bored as she handled the Ar-15. The sound of gunfire intensified quickly, turning as consistent as the sound of hail.
"Thorn, how does it look?" Adams asked over the interpersonal radios his group was using for communications.
"There are a lot of goblins, hundreds, maybe thousands. They're just running at us like a horde of zombies. Cross is handling them well enough, but I think we're going to run out of ammunition before we end the horde, Sir." she snapped out.
"Alright, keep me updated. We can—" Adams's next words caught in his mouth as he turned to look at the road they had just driven down. Goblins, followed by a hulking figure covered in fur, were already circling around behind them, cutting off their escape. No, this was too soon. This was planned.
Adam dialed his radio to the general and shouted. "IT'S A TRAP!!! There behind us, this is a trap!!!"
Adams raised his 12-gauge and opened fire. Thorn, Casey, Chester, and the other officers in the back line also opened fire. The child-sized goblins dropped on impact, but the hulking figure seemed to ignore the bullets. He immediately tried to use [Identify] on the thing.
Name: Ug-tug
Race: Troll
Subrace: Swamp
Level: 7
HP: 1095
MP: 75
Stamina: 1945
Type: Goblinoid / Giant
Immune: Water, Poison
Resistance: Physical, Disease
Weak: Mind, Cold, Lighting
Bane: Goblin slayer, Giantslayer, Fire, Acid, Rot
Skills: Keen Smell, Regeneration, Water Breathing, Strong Arms, Hide Presence
"Fuck we've got a troll in the rear!!" he shouted through his radio.
Tom had warned him about trolls. Their resistance to physical attacks meant bullets would be less effective; worse, their regeneration would render firearms functionally useless even if they did hurt them. That didn't stop him from uploading his entire clip into the troll's center of mass. The green-skinned monster stumbled backwards, gripping its bleeding torso, the injuries were shallower than he expected, but he was already reloading as the thought crossed his mind, but as the troll's hand dropped from its torso, Adam felt his stomach drop as the damage he inflicted was already gone from the hairy chest, and It looked pissed.
"Fuck, any ideas?!" Adams called out. Only then did he realize that the others were holding back the goblins.
The troll let out a cruel smile as it charged at him, its massive arms outstretched like oak trees.
Tom's words echoed in his mind as he raised his shotgun. "Trolls are resistant to physical damage and can regenerate from almost anything. A bullet just won't do enough damage to kill a troll unless you get a much bigger caliber. If you have to fight a troll, spread out the damage across the troll's body as much as possible. First, it will hurt a lot. Second, the troll can only regenerate so much damage so fast, and it's not something it can control. It can't ignore a minor injury in favor of a critical one. It's all or nothing, so by spreading out the damage, you can slow the regeneration."
Adams sprayed the troll with shells hitting its torso, face, arms, legs, and its dick. The troll roared in pain as it raced towards him, its movements turning ragged and ungainly. Adams lept to the side, rolling with the movement as the troll tried to body slam into the ground.
"Aim for the joints, eyes, testicles. Regenerating muscle and bone is easy. Regenerating a complex organ isn't." Tom's voice echoed in his ears as he reloaded
Taking aim, he blasted the troll in both knees, causing it to roar in anger. Its arm flung up at him, smacking him away like a child. He landed on the sidewalk with an umph. He rolled backwards, trying to absorb the impact, but his chest hurt. He was sure his rib was bruised, if not broken.
The troll didn't stop. It started to drag itself towards him on its arms, its legs dragging behind it uselessly as it regenerated its kneecaps. Adams blew out the troll's right eye first, and then its left. The troll howled but didn't stop dragging itself bulkily towards him. Its eyes started to bubble, slowly regenerating.
Then, the last part of Tom's advice drifted into his mind, almost like an afterthought.
"Alex already taught you the fireball spell, so if you run into a troll, just chuck a few of those at them. It will die in no time." Tom had said almost flippantly
Adams scrambled backwards as he conjured a fireball. The spell took 2 seconds to cast. During that time, the troll was already getting to its feet. Before it could do more than rise to its full height, he flung the spell directly into the troll's face. The troll lit up like it had been doused in oil. The troll screamed, not howled, screamed as its hair caught on fire and its skin peeled and burned, turning what had been a living creature into a funeral pyre. Adams got to his feet, trying to ignore the horror of what he had just done as he refocused on the battle.
"Hold our exit," Adam called out as he raced to the frontline.
He needed to warn Cross about the danger before their exit was cut off. What he saw when he got to the front of the group shocked him. An endless sea of green surged forward as the officers gunned them down. Trolls peeked out from the sea of goblins, slowly making their way towards them.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"We need to leave." Adams cursed as he felt his panic try to rise.
Years of experience made him shove that fear down as deep as it could go as he keyed his radio, calling for an immediate response.
He was found by a police officer. He was bleeding from half a dozen injuries and an arrow made out of ice in his leg, his face beet red. Racing over, he grabbed the officer and tossed him over his shoulder as he turned and ran for the firetruck.
"Thorn, we need to go. What does it look like up there?!" he called out over the radio.
He looked up to the bucket just in time to see Throne boots smack into the top of his head and they both went tumbling to the ground.
"SGT, what the --" Adam's words were interrupted as a red steak blew apart the fire truck's bucket. It wasn't the only one. Dozens of other explosions sounded out, accompanied by the secondary explosions of fuel tanks igniting. Men and women screamed as they were sent flying by the blast or killed outright.
"What the hell is going on?" Adams demanded.
"Artillery fire made out of blood, sir," Thorn said straight-faced.
"How bad is it?" Adams demanded as they scrambled back to his feet.
"At least a dozen trolls are coming in from the front. They are managing, but if they kill the trolls, they have to let the goblins get close. We're losing, sir." Thorn spoke as quickly and clearly as possible.
Adams was about to respond when more trolls came to attack them from the back. Adam swore as he prepared another fireball, tossing it into one of the advancing trolls. Thorn had already brought her rifle up and was shooting into their ranks.
"Major permission to engage," Chester called out.
"You think it would help?" Adams asked.
"Leave the trolls to me!" Chester said.
Adam unleashed his last fireball, killing another troll. "Do it. We need to get out of here before anything else goes wrong."
DING!!
You have been affected by the blood magic spell: Vasoconstriction
Your blood flow has been slowed. - 30% to STR and AGIL - 15% PER. HP and stamina regeneration have been reduced by 20%
You have been afflicted with [fear]. You have resisted [fear]
Adams immediately felt sluggish and short of breath. But that wasn't what scared him. What had him utterly terrified, regardless of the notification, was the fact that this message indicated that the goblins had a blood mage.
"I had to open my mouth," he cursed.
Then Chester charged the troll, blasting it with his gun as the purple bear apparition tackled it.
"Wait, that won't --" Adam's words died as he realized that the Troll Chester was engaging wasn't healing; in fact, its skin was starting to necrotize already. Adams watched in morbid fascination as Chester danced around the troll, leaving small injuries on the beast as the entire thing started to slowly rot. The purple bear apparition did the rest, ripping out chunks of flesh as the troll's own attacks passed right through it.
Adams snapped himself out of his inattention as another scream broke through his stupor. Turning away from the carnage, he really hoped Chester could handle the troll. Keying his radio to the general channel, he shouted out orders.
"All units, this is Major Adams. I am ordering an immediate retreat. I repeat I am ordering an immediate retreat. All units rendezvous at Hopkins High School."
"Get off this channel, Adams." Captain Cross' voice cut through the static, but Adams didn't care. Tom had been very clear that if the bloodstone had a blood mage operating it, they were dead.
DING!!
You have been affected by the blood magic spell: Blood Harvest 3
As you are still alive, Blood Harvest 3 does not affect you.
For a single moment, everything seemed to go silent, and then everybody, every dead goblin troll and human exploded as every drop of blood was ripped out of them and dragged into the sky. A river of blood rose into the sky, descending behind the line of goblins who were still dying and feeding the ever-hungry river of blood.
Adam was transfixed by the Red River until he heard a scream. Turning to the side, Adams found one of the paramedics being disemboweled by a goblin. He kicked the goblin hard enough to send it flying.
"Help," the paramedic gasped.
Adams picked him up and dragged him over to Casey, who was trying to treat a dozen people with her meager healing magic.
"Alright, everyone. It's time to go!!!" Adams called out. Casey, get us out of here!!!"
"We've still got injured!!" Casey called out.
"Toss them in a vehicle; we don't have time!" Adams said, picking up a person and tossing them into the truck. Tom had said it again and again: The bloodstone was a battery that used blood as its power source, so what the hell could the goblins do with that much blood?!
Turning, he found at least a hundred officers running toward them. Casey had already turned the fire truck around and was slowly driving away as Chester packed the injured people into the fire truck like sardines.
Adams wasn't done, though. He could still save a few more people. Turning, he moved to go and help another person. It was another police officer. This one was nursing a broken arm. He picked the man up as he turned to leave, But he was too late. There was a blinding red light, and the world around him erupted in pain. Cross was torn from his arms as he was sent skidding across the asphalt as he came to a stop. He absently wondered why he was still alive. Some small part of his brain pointed out he was now resistant to physical damage.
<[Toughness] has Reached Level 25>
<[Turnout gear] has Reached Level 28>
<[Life Safe] has Reached Level 10>
DING!!
For rescuing multiple people from large-scale war magic and surviving said magic, you have unlocked the class Rescue Ranger.
Class Fusion Detected: [Fire Fighter], [Police Officer], and [Paramedic] have combined into [Rescue Ranger] - (Mythic)
The Rescue Rangers are the first on the scene of natural disasters. Unlike normal rescue operations that save lives after a crisis, you are there to save lives during a crisis. Leap into the eye of a hurricane to help an old lady, travel to the bottom of the sea to save a submarine crew, race into an erupting volcano to save a puppy, or walk into a reactor to stop a meltdown, the Rescue Ranger can operate in any environment they need to in order to save lives.
* UPGRADE!!! [Toolkit] → [Bound Weapons] - Ancient: Allows the user to bind up one weapon to your soul and an additional weapon every ten levels of this skill for a total of eleven. Each of these weapons will be bound to your soul, becoming a soul-bound weapon. Bound weapons can be summoned into your hand from any distance and safely stored within your soul, where they slowly regenerate durability and self-repair over time. Provides a 1.25% increase to weapon mastery per skill level, but only for bound weapons. A Bound weapon may be unbound, but the slot will be locked for one month, and you will be unable to bind a new weapon until the month is over.
* FUSION!!! [Turnout gear] + [Toughness] + [Lifesafe] → [Hazmat] - Epic: You Gain 0.5% resistance per skill level to Physical, Elemental, and Vitality effects.
* FUSION!!! [Identify] + [Greater Detection] + [Danger Sense] → [All-Seeing Eye] - Ancient: You can see a person's status. Through continued use, you have gained the ability to see through techniques to obscure your sight, allowing you to see through environmental factors attempting to reduce your vision, such as fog, smoke, and darkness. You can also see at a glance how dangerous other people are to you. You can sense incoming danger. Finally, you have a sphere of perception around your body that is equal to 1 centimeter per point of perception. +10% PER
* Fusion!!! [Freeze] + [First aid] → [Stasis] - Rare: Your experience as both an officer of the law and a medic has coalesced into this skill. You can now place a person in temporal stasis, locking all movements and metabolic functions. The person may then be placed in your [Storage] to be taken out later to heal them or take them prisoner. While the person in stasis cannot be harmed, buffs and debuffs may be placed on the subject, though they will remain frozen in time until [Stasis] is removed. This is a time effect.
He kind of wished he could enjoy the upgrade, but he was pretty sure he had a concussion. Despite getting thrown into the air, everything just felt great. He stared up into the red dawn as snowflakes fell down around him. It was so beautiful, so amazing. Chester's face appeared over his head, looking down at him.
"Chester?" Adams whispered as he reached up to touch his face.
The big guy ignored his hand as he kept moving. Adam tried to suppress his chuckling as Chester picked him up and raced towards the fire truck. Adam's head lolled to the side. His eyes traced to where he had been standing just before the blast.
Half of the vehicles were still there, wholly wrecked by whatever had blasted them; bodies littered the ground, human, goblin, troll. It didn't matter; the blood was drained from all three of them into the awful red river.
Adam felt a jolt as Chester leapt onto the truck, holding onto the back of the fire truck as they drove away. Even as they drove away, Adam couldn't take his eyes off that red river.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Bailey Adams
Race: Human
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 16
SubRace: British
Age 36
Health: 1200
Stamina: 1520
Mana: 320
Health Regen: 14.4 per hour
Stamina Regen: 19.2 per min
Mana Regen: 6.4 per min
Titles: Major, Awoken Myths
Immune
None
Resistances
Physical 7%, Elemental 7%, Vitality 7%
Weakness
None
Bane
Manslayer
Classes: Rescue Ranger 15, Major 1
Total
STR: 16
AGIL: 80
DEX: 64
CON: 96
END: 48
PER: 70
INT: 16
WILL: 16
SPIRIT: 48
EGO: 32
CHA: 52
LCK: 16
Base
STR: 16
AGIL: 80
DEX: 64
CON: 96
END: 48
PER: 64 +10%
INT: 16
WILL: 16
SPIRIT: 48
EGO: 32
CHA: 48 +10%
LCK: 16
Personal: +4 AGIL, +3 DEX, +3 PER, +2 CON, +2 CHA
Racial: +3 CON, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +1 EGO
Skill Slots: 11/60: Skill Points: 0
Personal Skills
- [Pursuite Hunter] - Level 20
- [Storyteller] - Level N/A
- [Storage] - Level 19
Rescue Ranger 07/16
- [Bound Weapon] - Level 19 >> Level 9
- [Hazmat] - Level 14
- [Snake Eyes] - Level 22
- [All-Seeing Eye] - Level 13
- [Fancy Feet] - Level 17
- Capstone: [Empty]
- [Stasis] - Level 7
- [Empty]
Major 01/11
- [Military Leader] - Level 1 >> Level 7