My apologies for the delay and mis-post!
It should be correct now.
NOTE:Patreon does not like formatting/different 'alignments' of paragraphs that help make this fiction what it is.
Because of that, I will always be providing a link the google doc for each chapter where you can see it properly formatted. Elsewise, feel free to read the chapter here, if that is your preference.
I am sorry for the limitations of this platform.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12rDWq78Vd1EoxK5L0Aq5uWyIdDmyIcxQKaqQ12ytZNk/edit?usp=sharing
Previous__________ToC__________Next
Alex and the other Initiates were in a bad way.
They’d killed most of the nearby undead, but more were coming, and Alex could tell through his Mana Sense as well as his Danger Sense that they were heavily empowered through some dark ritual… or something.
Well, the deeper chanting about dogs and asian food or whatever it is… That corresponded with the boosts… Wow… said like that it’s pretty terrible. Alex shook his head again, trying to drive the befuddlement back.
Thankfully, none of the Initiates were completely overcome by the waves of screeching magic washing over them, but they were greatly impaired.
Alex hesitated on what felt like the edge of a knife. He was ostensibly in charge here, and he needed to decide what to do.
They could press on to one of the buildings and try to find relief inside, but if he didn’t miss his guess, the magically infused sound was being transmitted through the college’s PA system, so indoors might even be worse.
They could retreat, but then they’d be right back where they had been, and he couldn’t allow that.
No, Alex, think. We’ve killed tons of undead. If we get to safety, many of these Initiates can level up, and we could come back, stronger than ever.
He felt like an ice-pick was being driven into his temples from the sound alone, and that honestly helped him make the decision. “Retreat!”
On a whim, he pulled his Greatcoat of the Traveler from his Inventory straight onto his body, and felt an instant lessening of the sound due to the ambient protections the garment offered.
The sound had passed beyond hearing as it felt like it was clawing at his very soul, but the coat’s magics seemed to pull it back to just being an unbelievably shrill, horrible noise.
In some ways that was worse, but he still didn’t take the coat back off. He’d ruin his ears over his mind or soul any day.
The decision had been made and the order given. As such, he began running to each Initiate, chivvyingthem back toward the gates.
As they withdrew, to Alex’s surprise, the undead slowed their advance, finally halting, seeming to be letting the Initiates retreat, their actions clearly under the control of a commander of one kind or another.
The agonizing sound followed the Initiates as that had obviously been what drove them back, but Alex felt like he had a building revelation.
We were close to… something. This was a desperate move. Earplugs wouldn’t remove the magical effects, but it would mitigate the sonic ones. We might be able to push further next time, especially if we can put more points into Physical or Magical Fortitude. He couldn’t command people on how to spend their points at level ups, but he could make suggestions.
He gave a decisive nod, despite the continually growing pain in his head… No, that’s a Shepard Tone of pain… somehow. It’s no worse than it was a minute ago, even if it feels like it’s constantly growing.
Regardless, they were almost out, and no undead were there to block their path. That fact said something to Alex. Whatever was in charge here wanted them gone.
Or… whatever they’re using has a cost, and the System is forcing the thing to keep everything else back while this sonic attack is in effect? That could be it, but Alex didn’t think so.
Still, he didn’t really have enough knowledge to know for sure.
They broke out through the gates, the sounds fading to the background, and the magical impact melting away like salt in the rain.
The Initiates who had been staggering along almost fell over in collective relief to be free of the effect, but as some started to turn back, anger in their eyes, Alex intercepted them. “We need to find a close, safe place. We have a lot of experience to accept, and that might make all the difference.”
Everyone heard him, as he hadn’t been trying to be quiet, and mutters of agreement and approval moved through their group.
Almost as one, they began to move once more, taking the first side street to break line-of-sight with the college.
Less than half a block later, they turned into a highrise, and after several Initiates used skills and spells to determine it was empty, they moved up the building, only stopping when they were some fifteen floors up, and the first Initiate indicated that they could collect their earned experience.
None of them did so, however, waiting to be truly secure. The group moved out of the stairwell and entered the office suite, closing and barring the doors, before everyone practically collapsed into the various reception furniture, exhaustion sweeping through them like a foul wind.
Initiates pulled out food and water, some scampered off to the facilities that seemed to at least be partially working, and the rest just flopped wherever there was room.
Brianne, to her credit, moved to each of their group, washing her golden mana through their being, refreshing them to an extent, and ensuring that no lingering injuries or ill effects remained.
She even did the same for Alex, which left him feeling quite a bit better.
He smiled grateful at the healer, finally able to sit up and accept his experience.
As he’d hoped, he was able to watch his progress toward another class level visibly advance, but he was still less than halfway there. After that, he’d have to do the same for his Class, only then could he level up and get a second Class.
…The second class that he still felt inadequate to choose. Calm down, Alex. You don’t even know what will be offered. Don’t stress over a choice you don’t have to make yet.
Still, he felt like he would be making a mistake by choosing another class too soon. He felt like his companions had made good enough choices, but he also saw flaws in each one that they’d chosen, overlaps that could hamper their advancement. He already had so many weights added, slowing his progress, that he didn’t know that he could keep up if he added more…
I could level my Class first… He grimaced at the idea, even if, in that moment, he couldn’t remember the reasons why he’d wanted his Race and Class to level in tandem.
He was sure he had a good reason… but it simply escaped him. Right…
It came back to him. If he leveled his Class first, he’d basically have to get another full Class level before he could level his Race, slowing down his progress overall. So, we won’t be doing that.
Around him, there were exclamations of excitement and triumph, some of their number even reaching as high as level eighteen in their second class.
No one was level nineteen yet, but that shouldn’t minimize what they’d accomplished.
After a quick talley, Alex found himself grinning widely.
Fourteen levels.
Across their group, they’d gotten a total of fourteen levels, and no one had died.
Many more were close to another level, and those, especially, were raring to go again.
After making his suggestion on stat allocation, Alex had to admit that he wanted to make another attempt as well. He was sure they’d been close to something important.
After a bit of talking among those with the energy to do so, they decided to rest for a couple of hours, eat, drink, maybe nap a bit, then conduct another assault.
They’d all find some way of plugging up their ears beforehand, so Alex took that off his mental plate.
Alex wasn’t hopeful that would stop the magical effects of whatever that horrid noise had been, but it should allow them to think more clearly, and possibly endure a bit longer. Ideally, that would let them close in on the prize, whatever it was, but at the very least, it should let them kill a few more undead.
Regardless, the general attitude was one of excitement. They’d killed hundreds of more powerful undead, and they were getting ready to do it again.
Alex kept his own hesitations to himself.
The memory of what his skill had shown him on the campus souring his otherwise entirely optimistic outlook. The feel of so very many undead beneath their feet keeping him from any certainty that they were truly lessening the power that could be brought to bear in the second wave.
I need to find a way down there. I need to see what’s going on… But he shouldn’t do that alone. With a sigh, he called over the spear wielders, the six sitting in an arc before him as he explained what he’d sensed and what he thought he should do.
Needless to say, they were… less than pleased at the idea.
The concept was simple enough, as most good plans seemed to be. The group would assault the base once more, attempting to push through to the center. If they succeeded, that was that.
If they didn’t, however, Alex wanted to break off, and try to work his way underground and toward the center to figure out just what was going on.
The spear wielders really couldn’t come with him, though there were a couple of more stealth focused Initiates who would be good to have along.
Natasha utterly refused on that point, and after a minute or so of arguing, Alex realized something critical. It didn’t matter what he wanted or thought. She’d either come at his side or trailing close behind.
When that clicked into place, he stopped arguing and grimaced, causing Ben, Chip, and Dylan to laugh, drawing incredulous looks from Laura and Leanne. Those silenced the laughter quickly enough.
It was easy enough to get the two stealth Initiates to agree to the plan after that. The hispanic woman with a punch-dagger and buckler and the Indian man with a short, heavy blade—that seemed to Alex like a more balanced machete—seemed almost excited at the idea.
The odd phrase that Alex had heard as a child popped through his head as he officially met Paresh. Oh, dot, not feather.
He then mentally froze, uncertain if the thought would be seen as racist or offensive. An instant later, he moved on, deciding that what was done was done, and if he was able to get to know the man better, he might just ask.
Paresh was an older man, giving off the feeling of an amiable grandfather, and as such, he seemed like the sort to laugh and quietly inform that something was offensive rather than actually becoming offended. Even so, Alex didn’t want to risk such an interaction going poorly before a potentially dangerous mission.
Maria’s flat stare let him know that, yes, she was aware that she had one of the most stereotypical female hispanic names, and he’d do well to not comment on it.
Regardless, they seemed like good folk in the short time they had to chat before the group was ready to move out once more.
Near the end of their short breather, Natasha got an odd look on her face and turned to regard Alex. “Hey, what’s become of my spear?”
Alex grunted, pulling it from his Inventory. “It’s fully repaired, and the Life I put in it is fully transitioned over to harming undead. That said, I think it’ll slow fix itself if its damaged.”
“So… are you still studying it?”
“Not really? The Life within it is constantly generating HP which acts under the orders I gave it initially. I get the feeling I could draw the Life back, but I’m topped off, and the one point I tried to pull felt like it would simply fade away.” He shrugged. “I suppose I was keeping it as a back-up source of life in case?”
SHe gave him a flat look. “So, you have a powerful anti-undead weapon just sitting in your inventory?”
“I mean… yes?” Alex suddenly felt a bit awkward. He had use of it, or he could. Should he have offered back?
She sighed. “Laura could use boost in the coming fight. Are you willing to lend it to her?”
“Oh! Sure.” He shrugged and smiled, and they went over and gave it to the woman even as everyone else was beginning to rise and prepare to depart.
She was understandably ecstatic, and she promised to make it up to them both.
Alex waved her off, but Natasha simply returned a solemn nod, and that was that.
Leveled, rested, and refreshed, the Initiates were in high spirits as they descended the steps back to the ground floor.
They’d all found means of plugging their ears in one form or another, which should help against the sonic attacks at least a bit.
Once back out on the street, they quieted down, killing the very few simple and common undead that had spawned or wandered close over the last few hours.
Each kill was clean and efficient, the work left to the melee weapon wielders as they used the least resources for each such low-effort, low-reward exterminations.
Soon enough, the group had returned to the corner, letting them take turns to peer around and back at the front gates of the college.
When Alex saw what awaited them, he let out a long suffering sigh.
On the positive side, there were no new Flesh Golems of the Plague Guard, which indicated that the group had actually made some positive impact on the enemy, even if they didn’t know how much yet.
Moreover, there seemed to be far fewer Death Squires in evidence along the small portion of the wall they could see from their vantage point.
On the negative side, however, was the obvious milling mass of undead through the gate. They couldn’t see the extent of it, but it looked about the same size as the first one from their perspective.
Though, as Alex considered, they could actually see the renewed horde as a positive, given it would let them gain more experience, and push their power even higher if nothing else. In fact, he probably should have had this observation entirely on the positive side, as if the horde was renewed each time they withdrew, they had potentially found an effective means of grinding, either circumventing the scenario’s level cap, or as a means to reach it more effectively and more quickly.
No, the true negative was the singular figure that stood in the center of the open gates. The figure whose eyes immediately locked onto Alex as soon as he used Anlayze on it.
Death Knight (Epic)Threat Level: ExtremeCommander
Well… isn’t that just lovely.