Jonathan, Franklin, and Chris were the only ones able to stay within range of the Titan, as remaining in the same space as the thing caused constant arcs of power to strike out into the air like an aura. The rest of the soldiers had to back off and were killing any Ghosts that got through. When the large Ghost had gotten involved, the battle had taken a turn for the worst. Not only did a constant charge of electricity ebb from the Ghost into the surroundings but the Titan's speed increased dramatically. In contrast, spasms shook their bodies as electricity jumped to the frontline, slowing their reactions.
Mark found he had to keep a constant stream of Prana moving into them to heal not only severe electrical burns but all manner of fractured bones and torn muscles.
Sam stood behind Mark channeling her growing spell. Mark had expanded a small second construct within his first to protect them from the stray electrical discharge.
This was normally very doable but with two barriers and the constant healing, Mark could feel he was spreading himself thin here.
The air was beginning to rip through the tunnel and by the looks of it, Sam was going for an even stronger version this time.
Pulling in anything that wasn't bolted down.
The Ghosts were being pulled from the room and off the construct one by one.
At the same time, the battle with the Titan became one of attrition, as Mark tried to repair the accumulating burns and wounds.
The frontline kept alternating the directions they attacked from. Chris had taken to using a spear while Franklin was hacking at the thing with a short sword. Jonathan chose a different target, instead of going for the titan he went for the Ghost whenever he had the chance.
Clearly, he had the right idea because the Titan protected it fiercely. Sometimes even choosing to retreat if it looked like it was in danger.
Mark had never seen this behavior from a Titan before. The only thing they knew was unyielding strength and stamina.
Mark realized he had the perfect answer, but managing it on top of the other spells would be tricky.
Making up his mind he shouted.
“Keep it back, it's about to get real angry!” Mark shouted to the frontline.
An orb of light appeared in his hand and launched itself toward the Titan. No matter how fast the thing was it could not dodge the light.
Mark sent it straight to the thing's chest and fixed it there, the Titan and the Ghosts screeched in surprise.
Then Mark ramped up the Mana.
Mark’s lights took almost no concentration but as he poured more Mana in it became more difficult to stabilize, requiring more attention.
Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but right now he was managing too many things at once. So to compensate he triggered his mental limit release.
As the skill took hold the weight lessened.
The light in the room bloomed and a squeal of pain came from the Ghost.
This sent the Titan into a rage as it desperately tried to charge past the frontline but they saw what Mark was doing and blocked the thing.
Mark allowed the spell to throttle his Mana, while he held the constructs together and maintained a constant flow of Prana to everyone.
An unholy scream issued forth from every mouth on the Titan as it battered Franklin aside and grabbed for Mark in that opening.
Wrapping its giant fist around Mark's construct, the crushing force alone caused cracks to spread along his secondary shield. The electric charge hit a moment later pushing Mark closer to the edge.
Then the pressure against his shield stopped all at once.
Mark looked up to see Jonathan having cut clean through the Titan's wrist and was now directly grabbing hold of the Titan and wrestling it backward.
Lighting was arcing off his body into the ground, but he kept the thing from advancing even a step.
The contact with the creature was the equivalent of grabbing one of these live wires, even with his Aura as high as it was Mark could see massive damage accumulating each second as his organs cooked and skin burned. With the flow of Prana barely helping.
Jonathan would be dead in moments.
Mark would not accept two deaths on his conscious today. His Prana churned and his mind stretched. [Regenerate] would take too long, so instead Mark pulled every scrap of Prana together and condensed it into a ball which moved to his lungs. His chest itched with energy that begged to be released, without a moment to spare he let it free in one shot breath.
The Prana traveled through his Resistance and slammed into Jonathan faster than he had ever managed before, replenishing his failing organs, muscles, bones, and tissues. Even as the electricity damaged the new cells they repaired faster than they could be burned away.
A Ping sounded out.
Mark’s vision grew dull around the edges right away and he struggled to remain standing. Mana still poured out of Mark but there was a change in the room. The electrical charge in the air was fading and then cut off all at once.
Mark heard the sound of multiple blades cutting into the Titan.
There was an explosion of wind as Sam sent the weakened creature backward into her spell with a wall of compressed air.
There was a sound of her bringing her hands together and a light almost as bright as his own bloomed in the room.
His Mind balanced on the edge of oblivion before he remembered his constructs. Drawing them in he pulled the Prana from them.
The world took on a sharp quality once more and he regained his footing.
Blinking the stupor away he noticed Sam’s spell had gone off, having destroyed the Corrupted leaving only crumbling remains. There was a decent-sized chunk left over from the Titan but it was definitely dead.
Mark let out a sigh of exhaustion as a migraine to end all migraines set in.
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The room was silent and then a satisfied laughter came from Sam, it was infectious, and pretty soon most of them were laughing in either victory, exhaustion, or just the plain fact that they were alive.
Soon enough Jonathan spoke.
“Chris I want numbers in the area we have to move soon,”
Other than his clothes he did not look like he had just fought a life-and-death battle.
Soon enough everyone gathered up and were moving back upstairs.
Chris said he did detect the odd Corrupted but none approached their party.
As they hit the stairs leading up to the ground level they shut the large steel door behind them.
When they got back to the control room they were relieved to find that while the Home team had encountered the Ghost they had managed to kill the intruders because of the warning and relatively low number.
After taking a moment to lick their wounds they went back down with the engineers and all their equipment. Sam had taken the time to learn how to detect the new Corrupted, so between her and Chris they kept the party well informed.
When they got back Elizbeth inspected the damage and seemed optimistic.
“We’re actually damn lucky these things were only eating from the power grid, the damage is mostly superficial, hell it's possible that now that they’re gone things could improve on their own. If I had to give a timeline I’d say we’ll be done late afternoon tomorrow.”
Sam nodded.
“Alright, we’ll start a guard rotation, you’ll work in peace,” Sam said resolutely.
They split them into two groups once more.
One would go hunting to clear the infestation while the others would hang back to protect the engineers.
Mark joined the strike team and moved through the rest of the facility hunting down any Ghosts they came across.
Just before they left Jonathan pulled Sam aside and they chatted for a while. After which they headed out, Sam seemed better after the talk.
As the day continued they gathered up and moved back up to the control room to rest.
Dinner was protein bars as no one was keen to move around to find a cooking area right now. Mark pulled the first watch. He was not taking any chances and had secured the whole room with [Sculpt Mana] having it sit flush against the walls and doors.
While everyone was beginning to rest for the evening Sam was hunched over her table looking at the maps, she had a thoughtful expression on her face.
Mark went over.
When she saw him approach she turned to face him.
“Something interesting?" he said indicating to the tablet.
She chewed her lip.
“I’m not too sure, it's changing so fast”
“In what way” he asked
“Well for one, the green zones seem to be expanding without rhyme or reason, growing at different rates. It seems to slow down in some areas but is faster in others. Then there’s this,” she said handing him the tablet. It showed a small orange zone appearing and disappearing all over the city. Mark saw it was a time-lapse so this was over a couple of days but it never seem to appear in the same place twice. It would roam around the area leaving a green trail behind it before disappearing again.
Mark frowned.
“Maybe that's how Dungeons are created?” he tried.
“Yeah that's a possibility,” She said staring at the map lost in thought.
Mark waited in silence with her.
After a couple of minutes, she blinked and seemed to register that he was still there and after a moment she spoke.
“You know since this started I’ve lost a lot of friends. Jon and I were on campus when the system took over but I only found him later. I wouldn’t even be alive right now if one of the dorms hadn’t taken me in on the first night. Those girls saved my life. As I worked out more of the system I managed to stand on my own, but in the chaos so many of them lost their lives. Jaya was one of them that made it to safety with me. She didn’t deserve a death like that”
Mark didn’t know what to say to that.
Sam never shed so much as a tear but the exhaustion was bone-deep. She was racked with guilt over something she couldn't control. It didn’t make it any easier that Jaya had died in her arms.
Mark had no incredible insight into death but he still chose to speak.
“Jaya made the decision to be here, she knew the risks and she still chose to fight with you. We all have. We'll keep moving because that's all we've got”
It was cheesy and it may take her some time to believe the words but they were the truth.
Sam seemed to think it over and whether it helped right now or not she nodded.
“Thank you, Mark.”
She looked down at the Map once more and turned the screan off.
“You know what, I’m gonna get some shut-eye,” she said.
Mark nodded as she headed for her bedroll.
The next morning when they were back down in the tunnels
Mark stayed with the engineers this time.
He spent the time on look-out but very few actually attacked. These creatures were opportunistic and now that they could not greatly outnumber the squad they just waited and watched for an opening. Which Mark would not give them. He could almost feel them watching from the shadowy corners. A couple did try, but Mark burned them to death the moment he felt them.
During this time he opened his prompts to see what he had gotten for the last two days.
109 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed [109]
19 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed [38]
49 x Corrupted Ghost cleansed [98]
1 x Corrupted Spector cleansed [10]
255 System Points awarded
Partial exp awarded to (8 users - expand list) [622
Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young) [622]
311 System Points awarded
841/841
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
Spell acquired: Benediction
Also, known as the first step of [Breath of Life] the user can willingly give up all remaining Prana in an attempt to save a life.
While in this state the received user benefits from near invulnerability for a short period of time, as the healing factor of their body reaches incredible heights.
Conversion rate of 100 Prana to 0.5 seconds
Warning: This spell will fail in the event of instant vaporization or if no cells are available to regenerate from.
Mark's eyebrows rose in surprise. He had expected to get a spell but this one was impressive. Ignoring its absolutely insane cost, it was powerful and gave him more options in a fight. While it was not true invulnerability it seemed that as long as the person was not disintegrated instantly it was basically the same thing. Not to mention they would be healed in such a short time. Though Mark did wonder if there were creatures that could vaporize people.
Taking another look at attributes he weigh up whether he’d hit his Prana or Mana regeneration threshold first. Seeing it was Prana he dumped 8 points into it and 2 in Mana.
Name: Mark Young (22 - M)
Level: 29
Next level: 429/900
Stats:
Resistance
Aura
Mana
Prana
905 (+2) [815]
0 [+25]
135(+2) [+20]
358 (+1, +2, +8)[+90]
Unspent stat points - 0
Corruption value: 0.00%
System Points: 4663.5
Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical), Limit release(Mental)
Spells: Passive Regeneration(Self)[6], Force bolt[11], Prana Pulse[5], Regenerate[5], Draw Corruption[5], Corruption recovery[6], Sculpt Mana(Force)[2], Invigorate[6], Cleansing surge[5], Read Memory[1], Mind Spike[2], Earth Control[3], Light Control[4], Telekinesis[1], Benediction[1].
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