Luke swore as he dodged one of Altan's attacks, and he cursed himself for the sixth time that day. When Eve decided to keep him in bed for the rest of the night, he had been bored. He had started talking with Eve. The conversation had, of course, been about the system. But it was when Eve told him about what had happened to her since the system—the goblins, what they were doing, everything. He spent the rest of the night considering Eve's story and Tom's words properly, and he had come to a realization.
Tom was right. He was being stubborn. Worse, he had gotten drunk on his skills and had started to act like an asshole. Even his skill purchases were more about sticking it to Tom than picking something useful.
If that wasn't bad enough, the world wasn't safe anymore. If he made a mistake, Sam and Gareth could die because he wanted to make a point that he could do it on his own. He resolved to swallow his pride and apologize to Tom and his team when he got back to Hopkins. Then he would take his head out of his ass and actually learn about the skills that could help him.
Now here he was fighting for his life as this … Altan tried to cut his head off with a flaming sword. He was still unsure if all of his clothes falling off and fighting the guy naked with his dick flapping about was a good thing or just distracting. Ducking one of the sword swings, he slashed across Altans body, his blade barely scratching his body.
He needed more information. He activated [Second Labor], [Third Labor], and [Fourth Labor]. Immediately, a deluge of information came back. [Second Labor] informed him that Altan was confident, almost stupidly so, in his ability to kill them all. [Third Labor] was screaming at him to stay away from those green flames. [Fourth Labor], on the other hand, was able to give him something new. In particular, he was able to see three of Altan's skills.
DING!!!
Horseman of War Skill: [Flaming Sword of War] - Legendary
[Flaming Sword of War]: You wield the Sword of War, the flames on the blade never fading, never cooling, dealing fire damage with every strike. With this skill, your weapon will never break. Bypass 0.5% of all Resistances per Skill level. Gain 1.25% to your Bladed Mastery per Skill level.
Bloodline Skill: [Invulnerability of the Leviathan] - Legendary
[Invulnerability of the Leviathan]: The Leviathan is nearly invulnerable. Its powerful scales turned away even the hand of god. Now, you, too, can enjoy a portion of that invulnerability.
Your mana converts into scales to cover your body and protect you from all forms of harm. Cost 1000 Mana for 100 points of Armour for a potential total of 1000 Armour. Reduce Mana Costs by 9 points of mana per skill level. Increase total potential armor by 1000 points per skill level.
Increase Natural Armour and Natural Magic resistance from 0.1 per point of END and SPIRIT to a 1 to 1 ratio. For every 1% of HP you lose, you gain a 1% reduction to all incoming damage.
Bloodline Skill: [Hellfire of Jealousy] - Legendary
[Hellfire of Jealousy]: Allows the user to transform any fire they produce into a variant of Hellfire at no cost. Specifically the Envy variant. Hellfire of Envy increases in power in proportion to the power of the target and the Envy of the user—+2 % to Fire Magic Mastery per skill level.
"His skin is armored," Luke announced as he charged the Altan. Chad and Gareth followed right behind him.
He brought the sword around with everything he had, but the Altan moved his sword faster than he could and parried his attack. His moonstone blade bounced off the flaming scimitar, the hot flames forcing Luke to back peddle. But he wasn't fast enough. No, that wasn't right. Altan was just faster than he was. The Kahn got a cut across his arm. The wound burned more than any burn he had ever received in his life. Chad took the opportunity and brought his Machete down on Altan's unarmed arm, the blade cutting into the hand with far more difficulty than he should have, only managing to score a shallow cut.
Altan kicked Chad in the gut, sending him rolling backwards. One of Sam's arrows impacted Altan's body only to bounce off again with no effect. Luke brought his sword around to attack again, but Altan stepped backwards just out of range, a cruel smile on his face, only for Gareth to try and slam his axe into his back, forcing Altan to dodge.
"Shade. Do your thing." Altan roared.
For a second, Luke wondered what was about to happen. Then his body felt cold, and his head felt hot. His head began to pound as the world swam. Luke tried to rebalance himself, but he only stumbled to the ground. He stabbed his sword into the ground to avoid ending up on his knees. His limbs felt like they were full of mercury, and he was having trouble moving or even thinking. And then he threw up. He absently noticed his vomit was red—blood red.
DING!!!
You have been afflicted with: Yellow Fever
You are [Diseased].
While you are [Diseased] with Yellow Fever, you may suffer: [Bleed], [Severe Nausea], [Bloody Vomiting], [High Fever], [Chills], [Severe Headache], [General Achs], [Fatigue], [Weakness]
<[Vitality of the Cretan Bull] has Reached level 2>
<[Vitality of the Cretan Bull] has Reached level 3>
<...>
<[Vitality of the Cretan Bull] has Reached level 18>
Before this fight, he hadn't been sure about his skill purchases; now, he was immensely glad for his Cretan bull skill as he felt a little better with each notification but it still wasn't enough.
"Pathetic," Altan chuckled as Luke tried and failed to rise to his feet.
Altan put his boot on Luke's back, pushing him to the ground. Luke wanted to flip his sword around and stab this asshole in the balls. But he could barely force himself off the floor.
"You noobs clearly don't have a single idea what you're dealing with," Altan chuckled. "But I'll tell you what. If you submit yourselves to me as my slaves, I will spare your lives and ---"
Luke was just about to tell Altan to stick his head up his ass when he suddenly felt normal again.
DING!!!
Shade has used [Plague Eater] on you to restore his Resources
You have been Cured of [Yellow Fever]
Luke shoved Altan off of him before giving the man a kick enhanced with [First Labor]. Altan let out an ooofff as he was knocked away from Luke. Quickly getting back to his feet, Luke turned to see Penny stabbing that Shade guy in the heart. At the same time, the demon died and Travis moved to engage Donald while Penny moved towards the slave girls.
Luke's first thought was to help Travis. But before he could move more than a step, [Third Labor] screamed at him to dodge.
He leapt forwards just in time as he felt the wind whip around his neck. As he rolled away, he spun around just in time to see the Altan standing over him, the massive Scimitar descending on him. Almost by instinct, he raised his sword to parry the attack. That was a mistake. The moment he clashed with Altan, he realized the monster pretending to be a man actually outmuscled him beyond what he could ever hope to stop. His joints screamed in protest as he contorted himself to try and diffuse the blow.
He almost succeeded, but he didn't account for the difference in weight. The force of the blow launched Luke off his feet and sent him flying. He slammed into the wall with a hard Thwack. Luke felt his back seize as he collapsed to the ground.
"Fuck" Luke screamed as shooting pain radiated all down his back and into his legs.
Luke tried and failed to struggle to his feet. His body just wanted him to lie down and stop moving.
Luke's attention was drawn away again as a Woosh interrupted his thoughts. Penny was getting beaten down by the slave girls, and no one was free to help her. Travis was trapped in a one-on-one battle with Donald. Despite being encased in that massive suit of bones, the bastard was at least as fast as Travis, matching him blow for blow.
His attention was stolen again as he returned to Altan. One of the Scavengers was doing his best interpretation of a flame thrower as he hosed the Altan with fire. Issac was hiding behind Sam as he cradled his lost arm. At the same time, Sam sent arrow after arrow into the Altan despite the fact they were bouncing off his skin.
Gareth was running in, ducking and weaving around the flames around the buck-naked Altan as he slammed him with his axe over and over again. Each one of his strikes did little damage despite the fact that the big guy was slamming the axe into Altan's body with enough force to cleave wood. Then, the first nail in their coffin came.
The moment Penny died, the slave girls turned and started buffing Altan. The man howled in rage, green flames blasting away the scavenger who had been trying to torch him before he turned on the rest of them. Altan quickly set the entire building on fire, green flames licking up and down the walls. Gareth immediately had to disengage to avoid getting burned. But Altan didn't bother with Gareth; instead, he turned and started marching towards Travis.
"You, this is all your fault!!!" Altan accused.
Travis didn't respond. Instead, he opened his jaw. Instantly all green fire in the room was sucked down into his mouth, green flames flickering across his azure scales as he consumed the fire. Even the flames on Altans blade flicked out like a candle in the wind. All sucked into Travis's maw, the next second, the same emerald flames started flickering across Travis's body.
"Yep," Travis said before he spat out a beam of what felt like pure magic out of his mouth like a dragon breathing fire. He blew a hole through Donald's chest, sending him to the ground.
DING!!!
Donald has used [Duty Before Death]
For the next six minutes, Donald is [Invincible]
Travis immediately turned on Altan, unleashing more of his magic breath attack on Altan. This time to a much different effect.
Altans' sword cut the beam in two before it could kill him, holding his sword in place as he weathered the onslaught.
Then Travis's beam of magic is knocked off course, glassing the walls with unregulated magic. Travis was sent flying as Donald's body checked him, sending him flying through the wall with a sickening Crack.
"Finish killing that Lizard; I'll kill the others," Altan said as he turned back towards the remaining scavengers.
Luke forced himself to his feet. Blood dribbled from his lips as he pulled himself to his feet and swapped out his sword for his spear.
Altan chuckled as Luke got ready to throw his little spear.
"[First Labor], [Sixth Labor], [Molten Lead Spear]," Luke breathed out in pain.
The spear in his hand turned into a smaller version of the Javelin missile he had used against Graves. Pushing himself through the pain, he threw the spear with everything he had. If it weren't for his abilities, he was pretty sure he would have missed. But his spear shot forward, flying out of his hand with enough force that Luke could feel a painful twinge in his arm as the javelin left his hand.
The javelin flew true and slammed into the Altans chest. He screamed as the javelin of molten lead exploded in his face. Its flesh sizzled under the molten lead as it dripped down his body. Altan roared as an abrasive aura slammed into Luke and the rest of the scavengers.
DING!!!
Altan Kahn has used [Horrors of War] on you.
Altan Kahn has used [Presence of Ares] on you.
[Horrors of War] has failed to inflict [Terror] on you
[Presence of the War God] has failed to inflict [Terror] on you
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 19>
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 20>
Altan turned to face Luke as he collapsed back to the ground. A golden light surrounded Altan, healing away the burns but failing to repair his singed beard.
"I am going to murder you," Altan says through clenched teeth.
Luke coughed up a dollop of blood as the Altan stomped over towards him. But Luke felt too battered to get up. Altan was going to kill him, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Luke desperately tried to cast a healing spell on himself. He needed to get up, but he kept fumbling the spell. He glanced up at the Altan as he desperately tried again and again to cast the healing spell.
"This is our chance, ATTACK," Chad's voice echoed out over the clearing.
Chad and some of the scavengers raced out from behind the damaged furniture and charged the Altan. Altan stopped turning to face them. He sneered at them as if annoyed at them for wasting his time.
"[Friendly Fire]," Altan stated as he waved his hand at Chad's group.
Immediately, every single scavenger attacked each other, screaming at each other as they hacked, slashed, and shot at each other desperately as they tried to scatter. Not everyone had been affected, but those who had resisted whatever skill Altan had used were buddy-fighting their friends.
BANG
A gunshot echoed through the grove as Chad drew a pistol and shot Altan. Where had Chad gotten a gun? Not that any of it mattered as the bullet failed to penetrate Altan's defenses, though Luke could see it took a lot out of his skills.
"Attack!!" Chad ordered again. Few people listened to him, but enough did that Altan had to face them.
The scavengers charged forward while Chad unloaded his pistol into the Altans to minimal effect. The Altan swung his scimitar with a lazy slash, but every scavenger it touched was torn apart. That wasn't to say the scavengers weren't getting in their hits.
They cut and slashed at the Altan's skin, cutting open small injuries as the Altan tried to swat them. Unfortunately, Altan was fast, even faster than Luke was, and when the scavengers failed to dodge, the attack was almost always fatal. People screamed as bones were shattered and their organs punctured.
Then, a smoldering table smashed into Altan's head, nearly knocking him off his feet. Altan stumbled, turned, and was then tackled to the ground, an axe sticking out of his chest as Gareth slammed into him.
"Let's wrestle!!" Gareth screamed as he slammed his axe down on Altan, or he tried to. Altan blocked the axe and kicked Gareth to the ground. Altan tried to stomp on Gareth's head. But his friend was already rolling out of the way.
"More," Gareth demanded as he rose to his feet, drawing out a second axe. He turned and attacked again, not letting up for a second, as Gareth launched himself at the Altan like a wild animal.
What Luke saw stunned him as Gareth and Altan ducked and weaved around each other, dodging each other's attacks by millimeters. Gareth was sloppy but made up for it with speed and ferocity. Altan, on the other hand, outclassed Gareth in both his swordsmanship and his defenses.
Even as Luke watched Gareth was getting better and more precise. He slipped through Altan's attacks and scored the occasional hit. But Altan pressed onwards steadily, scoring blow after blow against Gareth, and of the two, Gareth was weakening faster than Altan.
Luke, for his part, finally managed to get his mend spell to work. The magic fixed whatever was wrong with his back, and he rose to his feet. His back still twinged, but he could move again. He tried to cast another mend spell and found it worked much more easily. He frowned. Did he get a concussion when he hit the tree? Questions for later.
"This is getting tiresome," Altan growled as he kicked Gareth away. "Why won't you fools just die already!!! Nova!!!"
Altan threw back his arms. Green flames erupted from the ground in a massive wave of carnage. Luke tried to avoid the flames, side-stepping and dodging their attack the best he could. Despite his best efforts, his clothes were shredded, and he was covered in bruises and cuts after forcing his way through the attack.
The flames burned everything they could. Issac and Sam screamed as their bodies were roasted almost instantly. The other scavengers weren't as lucky; they died slower and screamed.
Gareth somehow walked through the sea of green fire with an ease that made the rest of them look clumsy in comparison. Chad followed right behind him, avoiding the flames. Gareth looked over to his brother's corpse, and his face turned flushed. A red aura started to waft off of him.
"I am going to destroy you." Gareth roared as he tossed away his steel axe and gripped his moonstone axe with both hands.
"You'll die trying," Altan said, chuckling.
Gareth brought his axe down towards Altan's head, the crescent blade of his axe descending like the moon. Altan parried, kicking Gareth out of the way before he turned on Chad.
"Wait, no, I surrender, ill ---"
Chad didn't get the chance to finish whatever he was saying before Altan's scimitar gutted him. Blood exploded from his mouth as he hung onto Altan's sword. His machetes dropped from his hands, clattering against the ground.
"[Charged Attacked Physical] [Charge]," Gareth roared as he slammed into Altan hard enough that the man bounced across the floor from the impact.
Luke suddenly realized that there were only two of them left.
Gareth lept at the Altan, his axe whooshing through the air. Altan dodged and parried his attack before shoving Gareth to the ground, raising his sword ready to decapitate his friend.
Luke activated [First Labor] and slammed his blade into the Altan's side, interrupting its attack. As he sent the man stumbling, a deep gash appeared across his back. Altan howled in rage as flames shot from the ground in an attempt to screwer him. Luke lept backwards, avoiding the worst of the damage, but the flames still left burns across his body. Gareth took the opportunity to bury Axe into the Altan's side.
This time, the axe buried itself deep enough to do some damage. Altan backhanded Gareth, sending him skidding away. Luke slammed his sword into Altan's side with another [First Labor]. Altan stumbled away but turned and attacked.
Luke's world quickly devolved into two swords: thrust, parry, dodge, and slash. Luke quickly realized that he couldn't match Alta. He was slower, his swordsmanship was poor, and his sword wasn't spewing green napalm everywhere.
"Luke, can you use that escape thing?" Gareth called back as he joined the fight.
"It only works on me," Luke shouted back as they ducked past Altan's scimitar.
"Then use it!!" Gareth called out as he charged the Altan.
"What?" Luke asked, stunned.
He was so stunned he almost failed to dodge a root that ripped through his armor and left a nasty gash in his side.
"Get out, get Tom, do what you need to do," Gareth ordered as he hacked at the Altan.
"But," Luke began, he didn't want to leave his friends.
"We aren't going to kill this asshole before he kills us." Gareth huffed as he dodged the flaming scimitar.
"But we might still win!!" Luke roared as he slammed his sword into the Altan side.
"You won't!!" Altan laughed madly.
"Stop arguing and go!!" Gareth ordered as he hacked at the monster.
That's when Altan caught Gareth's axe in his hand. He turned, yanking Gareth's weapon out of his hand, causing him to stumble, before Altan thrust his sword into Gareth's gut.
"Fuck" Gareth breathed out before the Altan pushed him off his sword. Letting him hit the ground with a thunk.
"NOOO!!!" Luke screamed as he launched himself at the Altan.
He activated [First Labor] once, twice, three times. Every attack carried every ounce of strength he could muster. His sword was barely making any progress against Altan's scimitar. The fighting quickly devolved into an endless exchange of blows. Luke felt like he was having to use every single one of his skills just to keep up with Altan's endless attacks. Because he was just too slow, it was like dancing on a knife's edge; he didn't know how long he danced, but eventually, he slipped up. He parried when he should have dodged, and Altan made him pay for it.
Altan kicked him to the floor. Luke tried to stabilize himself, but he landed badly, twisting his ankle before he fell to the ground.
He rolled over, seeing Altan leisurely stroll towards him. Luke had lost, and Altan knew it. Everyone was dead. He was dead. He was terrified. But he remembered Gareth's words. He needed to get their bodies back to Tom.
The Altan raised his scimitar over his head like a guillotine, ready to end his life as it came down with the certainty of --
"[Legacy of Misfortune]" Luke shouted.
The world around him twisted and spun. It felt like he was falling through a blender, and then he slammed onto the pavement hard.
<[Poseidon's Sea] has Reached Level 22>
<[Poseidon's Sea] has Reached Level 23>
<[Poseidon's Sea] has Reached Level 24>
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 21>
<[Natural Born Leader] has Reached Level 22>
<[Master of Death] has Reached Level 18>
<[Greek Tragedy] has Reached Level 15>
<[First Labor] has Reached Level 24>
<[First Labor] has Reached Level 25>
<[Second Labor] has Reached Level 23>
<[Third Labor] has Reached Level 23>
<[Forth Labor] has Reached Level 22>
<[Forth Labor] has Reached Level 23>
<....>
<[Forth Labor] has Reached Level 25>
<[Fifth Labor] has Reached Level 23>
<[Fifth Labor] has Reached Level 24>
<[Fifth Labor] has Reached Level 25>
<[Sixth Labor] has Reached Level 23>
<...>
<[Molten Lead Lance] has Reached Level 16>
<[Molten Lead Lance] has Reached Level 17>
Luke barely noticed the notifications as he fell to his knees and threw up. A puddle of his half-digested breakfast decorated the snow.
"Hgh, hgh, hgh," Luke dry heaved as tears started to stream down his face.
He felt like a coward. At that moment, he hated [Legacy of Misfortune]. It was a coward's tool for killing your own kind and then running away. He hadn't even managed to kill Altan. He just ran away. He hated it.
DING!!!
Would you like to sunder [Legacy of Misfortune] and be refunded one skill point?
Warning: You will lose all skill levels and benefits, and even if you repurchase the skill, it will be at level 1.
Y/N
"YES," Luke snarled
The skill disappeared as he received a new skill point. After he had gotten rid of his shame, he dropped three levels into [Water Enhancer]. He would pick his skills later. For now, he needed to get up. Unfortunately, he couldn't, so he needed to cast mend on himself a couple of times before he could return to pick up the dead.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Luke Graceson
Race: Demigod
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 18
SubRace: Human
Age 18
Health: 1235
Stamina: 2385
Mana: 1980
Health Regen: 14.4 per hour
Stamina Regen: 19.3 per min
Mana Regen: 6.0 per min
Titles: Awoken Myths Member
Immune
N/A
Resistances
Physical 12%, Elemental 12%, Vitality 9%, Mental 10%, Crit 18%, Insta-death 18%, Poison 18%, Disease 18%
Weakness
N/A
Bane
Manslayer, Godslayer
Classes: Heir to Theseus 12, Heir to Beleiraphone 3, Water Enhancer 3
Total
STR: 181
AGIL: 15
DEX: 66
CON: 99
END: 49
PER: 82
INT: 99
WILL: 15
SPIRIT: 45
EGO: 31
CHA: 86
LCK: 16
Base
STR: 165 +10%
AGIL: 15
DEX: 60 +10%
CON: 90 +10%
END: 45 +10%
PER: 75 +10%
INT: 90 +10%
WILL: 15
SPIRIT: 45
EGO: 30 +5%
CHA: 75 +15%
LCK: 15 +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 21 >> Level 24
* [Kin of Horses] - Level 20
* [Born Sailor] - Level 1
* [Natural Born Leader] - Level 18 >> Level 20
* [Master of Death] - Level 17 >> Level 18
* [Greek Tragedy] - Level 14 >> Level 15
* [Divine Assistance (Guide)] - ErR0R#4!!*!%!$
* +5 STR per level
* +5 INT per level
Skill Slots: 10/60: Skill Points: 3
Personal Skills
* [Storage] - Level 10
* [Meditation] - Level 1 >> Level 20
Heir to Theseus 07/11
* [First Labor: Periphetes' Crippling Strike] - Level 23 >> Level 25
* [Second Labor: The Charming of Sinis] - Level 22 >> Level 23
* [Third Labor: Hunter of The Crommyonian Sow] - Level 22 >> Level 23
* [Forth Labor: Vision of Sciron] - Level 21 >> Level 25
* [Fifth Labor: Father of Wrestling] - Level 22 >> Level 25
* Capstone - [Sixth Labor: Procrustes Just Deserts] - Level 22 >> Level 23
* [Vitality of the Cretan Bull] - Level 1 >> Level 18
Heir to Bellerophon 2/6
* [Molten Lead Lance] - Level 15 >> Level 17
* [Bridle of Athena] - Level 1
Water Enhancer 0/6
* [Empty]