My sword clashed against Barry’s, sliding down to his cross guard and forcing the weapon wide. I sent in a punch with my free hand, but he pulled his shield into place for a block, my attack clashed against the steel with a loud ringing
bang!
His follow up slash came from below, and I leaned backward to dodge, the tip barely grazing the side of my cheek and drawing a thin line of red.
My counter hooked my sword under his shield and tossed it high, leaving him open for the kick I sent into his stomach and knocking him backward a few feet.
[Blood Manipulation - Lvl 2 - Beginner]
My mana stirred to life in my body, a tendril of it traveling up to my face and stopping the cut Barry had left from bleeding almost instantly. It was a use of my new skill that I had learned in the two weeks since I had been rewarded it in the Common Dungeon.
In the privacy of my own room I had practiced with the skill to the point that it had levelled up once, and I had learned I had a measure of control over my own blood flow. Letting me supply more oxygen to my muscles, or to stop my wounds from bleeding. These uses also hid the activation of my skill, as all the effects were internal.
Given my many lies around my abilities and skills so far, I couldn’t reveal the skill, not even to Barry. Which felt a bit wrong, as I knew I could trust the guy, we had talked a lot and trained together many times. He was a good guy, a bit naive maybe, with starry eyes and ideas of peace and prosperity for humanity that didn’t exactly align with my own.
But that’s what made me like him more. He saw the good in people.
I saw the evil in them.
“You are really good with your unarmed skills, but your sword technique seems to be lagging behind, that Mastery Skill giving you trouble still?” Barry said as he put away his equipment.
“Well, I learned martial arts before the System even came,” I said, putting my own sword back into my inventory. Our little spar inside the cave facility was now over.
Around us, many others still fought and practiced, skills and spells flashing about in the immense space. Far off to the side, Huwett, Francis and Norton sat or stood against the metal wall, watching. Vasquez was still off by himself, practicing his own magic.
“Wish I had trained before all this too, would have been seriously helpful and made me even better at this stuff. You have an Epic class, yet you are still as strong as all the Hunters with Mythic classes.” Barry’s armor vanished next, leaving him in the white athletic shirt and shorts that the military supplied to us.
My own armor went away too, leaving me in similar attire, but in black. “Looks like it was a rather good class fit for me. Except for the weapon choice, I don’t think a sword is my thing even with the Mastery skill. Maybe I should lean more into the rogue style and go for daggers?” I rubbed the back of my neck.
My words were only a partial lie. I was better with my weapon than I really let on, trying to downplay things, as usual. But I could still see that my talent with the blade was below what I saw from other melee fighters with their chosen weapons.
Francis was amazing with his axe, especially after his new skill. Huwett was almost magical with her bow. Even Norton, who was a healer class and not a fighter, could perform some amazing feats with his new staff.
“Perhaps, we'll have to give it a try and see how they feel for you. Let's rest though, I’m hungry.” Barry nodded towards the rest of the crew and I nodded in agreement.
I took a seat with my back against the wall next to Francis, Huwett standing to my left.
“Here you go buddy,” Norton waved a hand, and light-green mana flashed from his fingers. I felt the sting on my face quickly dissipate as he healed my cut. It was barely worth the mana he spent to cast the spell, but the large smile he got on his face from doing it made me only smile back and throw a thumbs up.
“Thanks!”
“For sure man!” He gave a thumbs up back, his large frame shifting from the movement. The guy was basically a grizzly bear wearing a nurse’s outfit. I shuddered at the thought of how powerful he would be with a class like Francis’.
“How are the others doing?” Huwett asked.
“Everyone's still restless, upset. The delay on the vote is making them fearful from the uncertainty,” Barry explained between mouthfuls of a protein bar.
The congressional proposition vote had been delayed two weeks. Which meant we still had a few days to go before we learned if we would officially be classified as government property in all but name.
“I don’t blame them,” Francis muttered beside me. “My skin itches from the anticipation as well. I just don’t know what the right thing is here.”
“It’ll be alright, things'll work the way they need to in the end,” Barry said.
“How can you be so sure?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
He smiled at me, “Because humans always end up doing the right thing in the end, even if it seems like we get it wrong at first sometimes.”
“I hope that’s true,” Norton said.
“I know it is.”
“Well.” I stood and stretched, my knees popping loudly from the effort. “You wanna go next Francis? I wanna see what new tricks you can do with that axe.”
“Oh hell yeah!” He boomed as he jumped to his feet beside me. “I learned this new thing, it’s gonna knock your damn socks off, guaranteed."
“Then show me, we’ll see if I need to start packing extra socks!”
“You asked for it, don’t say I didn’t w—”
“Attention! Emergency deployment! Proceed to the hangar bay!” A loud voice broke over the intercoms of the large training area. The voice was female, one of the many facility workers.
“What the?” I turned to Barry, Norton and Huwett, but they all looked as confused as I was.
“Proceed to the hangar bay!” the announcement said again.
We all ran toward the exit doors, three dozen bodies moving at superhuman speed. Vasquez found our group and joined us as we ran through the tunnels towards the hangar, and we all entered the bay together.
Three large military cargo planes were already set in the immense area, each with ground crews buzzing about the craft for pre-checks and flight preps. All of them grim faced or wide eyed as the hunters piled in behind the aircraft.
Lucilla sauntered in only a few seconds later, her clipboard still attached to her hand. Her hair had a few strands a touch out of place, which was a serious indicator that something big was happening.
“Group 1 in craft A, group 2 in craft B, group 3 in craft C. There is an incident nearby with a Dungeon Rift. We are deploying you all to help.” Lucilla yelled out over the crowd.
“What incident?”
“Where at?”
“Are my children safe?”
“There is no time for questions.” She tapped on her techpad, and a notification blinked on my phone. I looked down to read a single pop-up text.
“Group 1”
That’s all it said. I looked at the ground in front of the crafts, seeing large letters painted on the concrete. A big yellow “A” sat in front of the left-most aircraft.
“Come on!” I yelled, grabbing Barry by the collar. I didn’t know for sure, but I would bet ten stat points that “group 1” contained Barry and the rest of our little party, along with myself.
We piled into the plane, taking seats in the rather unforgettably uncomfortable military buckets that lined the interior in rows. It didn’t take long for us to all buckle in. Within two minutes, the engines roared to life and the large bay doors rolled aside for the craft.
The flight only lasted ten minutes or so, meaning we didn’t go that far from what I could surmise. We were ushered off of the plane and onto an airport tarmac, ground crews were running about still like chickens.
“Over here! All personnel into a chopper!” A man wearing a military uniform yelled out over the din and chaos. Behind him, a line of six helicopters, blades already whirring, sat waiting.
Once we dove inside and made it back into the air, we were finally able to see what was happening.
“That’s Pittsburgh!” Huwett shouted in the seat next to me.
I nodded grimly. The city was recognizable, even though it was already seemingly engulfed in a blazing storm of fires and smoke.
“What the fuck is going on?” Norton boomed from across from me.
The choppers strafed near a building top, and once we passed and got a view of the street below—at what indeed the fuck was going on…
We all gasped.
Blood and bodies littered the asphalt and sidewalk. Crashed cars, flipped or burning, dotting the whole length.
The
crack, crack, crack,
of gunfire decorated the grim scenery. Soldiers in Humvees or standing in squads that blocked side streets and alleys, all fired their rifles with near abandon.
All of them were aiming at the same things.
Beasts, if one could call the things animals, ran amok in the city streets. They had dark spotted fur, large canine heads and maws, but stood on two legs. Each was clad in metal armor, fur poking from the sides and edges, and they grasped weapons in their clawed hands.
They looked like anthropomorphized hyenas. And they acted like ones too, their yips and laughs reaching my ears even through the gunfire and the whir of chopper blades. They rushed soldiers and fleeing civilians both, cutting them down with blades and screams of glee.
It looked like they delighted in the bloodshed, happy for the slaughter.
“We got to get down there, they're tearing those people apart,” Barry shouted.
I looked over at him, seeing his eyes wide with worry, pain, a sense of failed responsibility eating at him already. The System had chosen well when giving him a Paladin class. Barry was a protector, through and through.
“Let’s fucking go then,” I yelled, already pulling at the straps that held me into the chopper’s seat.
“What do you mean?” Norton said.
I looked over the edge of the helicopter, seeing that we were hovering about fifty feet off the ground. Before, a fifty foot fall would have been a death sentence for any human. But now, it wasn’t that much of a distance at all.
“Yippee Ki-yay, motherfuckers!” I yelled, as I leaned out, and dropped from the chopper.
Wind whistled into my ears, buffeting my hair and cheeks, stinging at my eyes. Fifty feet was barely anytime when in free fall. The ground rushed up at me with immense speed. My armor and cloak formed over my clothes as I fell, light flashing briefly as they exited my inventory.
I landed on the street in a roll, coming up to my feet after a mere moment. I felt the shock as I landed, the force moving through my feet and knees, up into my hips and back. But I was strong enough to take it, my vitality was showing its worth.
My runesword appeared in my hand as my eyes scanned the area. A flaming car sat to my left, and the grim form of a corpse in civilian clothes lay at my right. Similar bodies dotted the whole street. I felt my gut tighten at the sight, there was simply so much blood, so many bodies. But, I couldn’t spend time mourning everyone who had died.
I mentally reached inside and flipped my switch, the world calming as a chill entered my veins and soothing my emotions. I held on to that, knowing I’d need to stay calm from here on out.
A series of
thuds
sounded behind me and I looked over my shoulder to find the rest of the crew had now joined together. Almost all of them stood panting, though Norton lay on his back, groaning. He didn’t look injured from what I could see, and he was a healer, he’d be alright.
“Ready?” I looked at Barry.
His equipment flickered into existence around his body and he lifted his shield. “You bet I am.”
At that moment, a notification came to life in front of my eyes:
[Event Notification:
Dungeon Rift Breach Event (Common):
Kill the beasts and stop the Breach!
Rewards: ?]
1.16 Yippy Ki-Yay