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Arcane Apocalypse ~ 41
🕑 Added 2024-09-27 16:00:19 +0000 UTC********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yLRze2OhWqheV1jXuex_KKi-5rurh_nCciHe2g2XDeE/edit?usp=sharing
*****
“Another bust,” Mia murmured, lowering her hand and letting her runic-model spin back into its resting mode. The Evergreen Marauder before her, one that had just been busy nibbling on an old oak on the outskirts of the city before she blew its head off, was almost a half a metre taller than the regular ones. Mia had hoped this would be the one, that finally she could complete that annoying quest, but getting to level ten had one clear downside, as it turned out.
[You have killed: Evergreen Marauder - lvl 9]
There were no damned monsters on the same level as her. The Familiar, a new one she’d summoned after she drank a mana potion, came flying back towards her and sat down in front of her feet like a soldier ready to report.
“You didn’t find anything?” Mia asked, shoulders slumping a little as she watched the cat shake its head. Carmilla patted her on the shoulder consolingly, quickly chasing away Mia’s sombre mood. “Well, I guess that was the last of the stragglers. Let’s go back and report in to that Colonel?”
Carmilla nodded. It was just the two of them now, with a squad of soldiers following them around to provide fire support should they need it. Brent and Helene were off to the other direction, combing through the streets and gardens for leftover Marauders in that direction.
Carmilla didn’t get to complete the quest either. Stop moping already! Mia thought self-deprecatingly. Odds were only Lina managed to complete it, especially since she didn’t get the level up that everyone else not at level ten got from assisting in killing the Juggernaut.
Not that Lina had been particularly enthused about having missed out on that opportunity. The blonde had been downright fuming. Though Mia could see that this event would probably do some good to the girl in the long run. At least, she won’t ever do something as stupid as knocking herself out with mana deprivation in the middle of a damned fight.
If Lina pulled that stunt a short while later, when they were fighting the Juggernaut, it likely would have killed her. It was a blessing in disguise that she burned through her reserves that fast in retrospect.
“Let’s,” Carmilla said, nodding. The vampiress still looked wary, but she almost always did. Sniffing the air, ears peeled for any sounds and her crimson gaze flickering around, seemingly without rhyme or reason. “The Colonel still owes us those ‘handsome rewards’ he promised for helping.”
“I’m plenty happy with just the levels,” Mia said, setting off at a leisurely pace with the squad of soldiers taking up formation around her and Carmilla, their rifles held at the ready. They seemed fluid in their movements and didn’t talk, only communicating with glances and short hand gestures. That Colonel probably sent his elite unit to protect us. “Though I wouldn’t say no to more potions and books.”
“Or food,” Carmilla said, her mouth curving into a smile. “You still need food, I doubt your mother had enough of it stashed away to feed the four of you.”
“Right,” Mia said, nodding. Still, she’d much rather live off of rationed food than lose out on getting her hands on new books. Though I haven’t even gotten through a fourth of what I already have. Hopefully, those upped Mind stats will speed up my reading a bit.
It wouldn’t help her with speeding up the assimilation of new runes into her runic-model, but with regular books it would be another thing entirely. Her reading speed and the swiftness with which she could comprehend the material had already been almost superhuman before her Mind crested over that ten point threshold. Now it should be even better.
As they stepped back out onto the street, walking over the ruined fence the Marauder had crashed through to enter the garden, Mia glanced down the street. From this close, she could see it. Just a few dozen metres away started a winding road that would lead up to the top of the forested hill, curving up its slopes like a serpent.
Now it was scorched and half of it had been blown up, a mortar shell having impacted the side of it. To both sides the shrubbery and the old trees were still burning, though by now they’d been reduced to embers. Further up, another fifty metres away on the slopes the greenery started once more and Mia could see the thick vines and roots having overgrown the asphalt road.
The forest looked ancient, ominous and had a deep darkness to it that could have easily hidden hundreds of Evergreen Marauders just out of sight. Just two weeks ago, this place had been a rather popular location, couples hiked up to the hilltop and had picnics, children played in the well-maintained woods.
Now, Mia wouldn’t have the guts to step foot inside even if her full party surrounded her and tanks cleared the way. She felt no monsters with her Spirit Sense from here, but the forest was dangerous, her instincts told her so and she’d learned to trust them by now.
Mia turned away and put some haste into her steps, setting off towards the command tent the colonel set up a few streets away. Only when she rounded a corner and put the treeline out of sight did she let out a sigh of relief.
Soon enough they reached the large tent the soldiers set up just an hour ago, right after the Juggernaut had been killed in the very same intersection. The corpse of the colossal monster had been left to rot at the side of the road, the soldiers not bothering with it beyond putting it out of the way.
Mia glanced at the monster, feeling a sense of wonder that they’d managed to kill it. The thing was larger than the elephants she’d seen in a zoo. Soldiers rushed about, patrols still aiming down every street and combing through this part of the city for other stragglers. Humvees rolled down the streets, rushing by with horns blaring in directions where Mia suspected another leftover monster had been found.
Sure, Mia with her Spirit Sense — which became much more reliable and accurate now that her Cognity had caught up with her Sensitivity — and her Familiar, and Helene with her flight were the two best fits for looking for the monsters, but the soldiers were no slouches either. They worked without rest and without complaint, having done so even when their comrades had been torn to shreds right next to them.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE DEAD!?” The Colonel’s enraged shout made Mia freeze up just as she pulled open the flap of the tent to head inside.
“We’ve found the soldiers left to guard it, Sir. All of them are dead, looking like they’d been attacked by a pack of wild dogs with claw and bite marks covering them and chunks of flesh torn out.” A soldier stood before the Colonel’s desk, he was pale as snow, but he stood straight and spoke without a tremble in his voice. Behind him was what Mia suspected was his squad, looking similarly pale. “A third of the crates are gone, Sir. For some reason, only that much had been taken while the rest had been left behind.”
“Damn it,” Colonel Zeigler growled, a fierce look on his face as he stood. “Kelvin, pull up the list. I want to know whether we have anyone with a Class fit for investigation or tracking.”
“Yes, Sir!” The driver from before said, grabbing a large folder from the side and putting on reading glasses as he huddled down to search through it.
“I wan-” Zeigler’s eyes landed on Mia and Carmilla. “Good, you’re back. Report!”
“We took care of every monster we found,” Mia said, swallowing nervously as a dozen pairs of eyes landed on her. The soldiers stared, their eyes roaming over her body, her civilian clothes, her petite stature and seemed like they found her wanting. Only the Colonel looked to be different, then again, out of everyone in the tent only he saw her fight. “As far as I can tell, there aren’t any remaining in the section we combed through.”
“Good, perfect!” The Colonel said, giving her a satisfied nod. “Seeing as we likely won’t be needing this many of our men standing guard and patrolling with that being the case, I want at least a hundred armed men standing guard around the storage. Tell Major Bergman that’s going to be his men, it’s an order, soldier, from me personally, see that you deliver it, understood?”
“Yes, Sir!” The pale soldier saluted, mirrored by his squad.
“You’re dismissed,” the Colonel said. “Now, as for you two girls.”
The soldiers spun on their heels and set off in a brisk walk, breaking into a jog once they left the tent and ran towards a humvee. Mia watched them go, then glanced back at the Colonel watching the two of them carefully. The old man had a calculating glint in his eyes, probably wracking his brain on how to best make use of their apparent strength.
Mia would have minded such a gaze, and him trying to use her if she hadn’t already wanted that to happen a bit. The Colonel was the one officially responsible for keeping the suburbs clean of monsters, and if Mia and her group wanted to freely take part in that, they needed his help. Plus he promised to reward them for a job well done.
“You two have done admirably well,” the man said, giving a respectful nod at the two girls. “As did the other members of your … family? Your friends?”
“A little bit of both,” Mia said, shrugging, feeling more at ease now that there were only the four of them in the tent.
“Anyway, I don’t believe paying you with money for your services is going to do you much good,” Zeigler said, lowering himself back into his chair as he intertwined his fingers. “I was thinking of providing you with additional food and water from our own rations, but I am open for requests if you have something else in mind. Within reason, of course.”
Mia shared a quick glance with Carmilla, and the vampiress shrugged, as if saying she didn’t care for the rewards either way.
“Books,” Mia said, staring back at the Colonel. “And food of course. Both would be good.”
“Books?” Zeigler raised a bushy white eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you are asking to read my collection of military fiction novels?”
“No,” Mia said, smiling slightly at the joke. “I’m sure you know the System gives out books for completing its Quests … with how many men you have under your command, I’m sure you have a mountain of seemingly useless books by now. I’d take anything that has to do with magic and such happily.”
“We do indeed have several crates filled with books the soldiers turned in,” Zeigler said, running a hand through his beard thoughtfully. “Marshal’s orders and all that, so we’d been collecting them all. I am supposed to keep them safe until we can ship them off to the capital … but I’m sure we have duplicates of a number of books, furthermore I’d see no harm in lending you some even if we don’t.”
“That’d be perfect,” Mia said, barely managing to suppress a grin. Zeigler had a thousand men under him, and as far as Mia knew everyone who was trying could get the System to give them at least five books. If everyone turned in every single book they got, that was five thousand books.
“The food though,“ Zeigler grimaced, a snarl overcoming his face. “It seems we just had our food stores raided while we’ve been distracted with the monster horde. We are down by quite a bit, so the best I can promise is that we won’t let the five of you starve or die of thirst. We’ll be needing every remaining bite of food.”
“Oh,” Mia said, stunned. How could someone be so stupid as to steal food from the people dying to protect them from a horde of horrific plant monsters?
“Kelvin’ll give you the list of books we have,” Zeigler said, ignoring Mia’s reaction. “You can take … let’s say five duplicates for every one of you, and you can loan out one book per person at a time. If you don’t bring back a loaned book within a week, the food ration promised to you will stop. That fair?”
“Y-yes,” Mia said, nodding quickly and then glanced at Carmilla who also gave a lazy nod. “Uhm, the other’s aren’t back yet … ?”
“Good, and not as far as I heard.” Zeigler shrugged. “You can ask one of the soldiers guarding you to radio them, if they didn’t lose their own protection detail yet, they’ll be able to give you a heads up. Now, if that was all I have a job to do?”
“Y-yes, uhm, sir?” Mia said uncertainly. “We’ll be on our way then.”
“And girls?” Zeigler said just as the two turned to leave. “Good job. You have saved a lot of lives today, not just those of civilians, but also my own. I appreciate that. If you want to help out again, we’ll be happy to have you. Now off you go.”
Mia gave a surprised nod, then slid out of the tent and walked over to the sidewalk with Carmilla to get out of the way of the soldiers still hurrying up and down the street. They were pushing monster corpses to the sidewalk, freeing up the place for their tanks and humvees at the moment, with many others setting up further, more permanent barricades down the road, facing the hill.
Now that there was a dozen metre wide scorched no man’s land between the treeline and the first houses, the soldiers could set up better to hold off another monster horde. A number of them were also up on the roofs with binoculars, surveying the woods and keeping watch with radio phones hanging at their waists.
“Well, that’s that,” Carmilla mused, sitting down on the porch of a random house next to Mia. “You sure like your books, hmm?”
Hmmm, she smells like pine and roses? Mia noted, the soft breeze blowing the vampiress’ perfume right into Mia’s face. She even smells pretty … Bad Mia! Get your head out of the gutter.
“They are our only means of learning about magic and how the System works,” Mia said, then trailed off, glancing at Carmilla. “Aside from your bloodline memories I guess.”
“Well, those will only help me do magic,” Carmilla said. “Glad you found something of your own to learn from.”
“I still have so many things to learn from the books I already have,” Mia lamented. Her ‘First Steps of Arcanism’ book was still hiding secrets and had other exercises she hadn’t had the time or opportunity to try and make use of.
“Better get to it then,” Carmilla said with a smirk. “With these monsters pushed back, I’m sure we’ll have some time to rest. Even Lina should be satisfied for a bit after this much monster slaughtering.”
“I doubt she’s ever going to be satisfied,” Mia mused, thinking back to the pretty blonde girl’s seemingly insatiable thirst for levels and power. Really, with how bloodthirsty she seemed, instead of Carmilla it looked like Lina was the vampire of the group. “Just hope it doesn’t kill her in the end.”
The two let that hang in the air between them, just leaning back to rest their legs. With Mia deciding that this spot of rest was just what she’d been waiting for to decide on how to make best use of her nine new stat points.
She’d been eying Control for a while, with it being the stat that kept her from manually duplicating Runes in her runic-model. It was the stat that kept her from fulfilling one of the requirements of the Summoning Ritual.
“A quick question?” Mia asked, glancing over at the vampire who seemed to be delighted to just be sunbathing on the porch. “What Control do you think I’d need to duplicate Runes manually like you do?”
From what Mia knew, Carmilla had personally copied every rune out of her Bloodline memories manually. There was no better person to ask.
“Well, above ten at the very least for the simplest ones,” Carmilla said, her eyes staying closed as she smiled up at the sun. “If your Base for the stat is above five, then having an overall ten should be enough for most of the runes you’ll be getting in the near future.”
“Thanks!” Mia smiled. That meant she only had to put four, or at most five points into the stat to get what she wanted with her having exactly five Base Control and one more in Gained Attributes, making an overall six.
Once I get started with practising, my Base will naturally go up. Four should be enough.
[Control: 6 -> 10]
[Main Spirit: 10 -> 11]
[Free Attribute Points: 9 -> 5]
Mia shuddered, feeling that inexplicable sense of strength and firmness spread through the deep part of her being she came to understand was her Spirit.
Five more to go. Unfortunately for most of her Subattributes, the two winners of the second round of her stat assignment were predetermined: Will and Manifestation.
The only question that remained was the spread of the points, which Mia quickly decided on.
Will had 4 base plus 6 gained stats while it was the exact opposite for Manifestation with 6 base and 4 gained. For most gain in terms of magic, she should have probably gone all in on Manifestation.
I can’t. She knew that, even though it was somewhat tempting. Her Will stat was quite probably her most overworked Subattribute and whenever Mia reflected on her behaviour and choices in the past week, comparing them to The Before …
She’d done things she’d never thought herself capable of, she’d been decisive at times, determined at others and even had moments that she might be able to call brave too.
The ‘her’ from before the System would have screamed, bawled and fainted promptly when faced with some of the stuff the ‘new her’ had been forced to face.
Will was a trooper of a stat, the miracle that turned her life around and likely saved it more times than she even noticed. So even if she wasn’t going to give it the majority of her points, she still didn’t want it to flag too far behind Manifestation.
Especially since both stats had to be used in tandem to cast spells, if one was far lower than the other, she probably wouldn’t even be able to make optimal use of the higher stat.
[Will: 10 -> 12]
[Manifestation: 10 -> 13]
[Spirit: 11 -> 13]
[Free Attribute Points: 5 -> 0]
Mia let out a sigh of relief. That was it. Until the Rifts weren’t cleared out, that was the last free stat point she was going to get. It was somehow relieving, to know she wouldn’t have to wrack her brain over it for a while.
Sure, there were Natural Treasures to be gained from Quests and whatnot that could give her more Gained stats, but those would be random. No choice input needed on her part.
The rest of their group ambled back a while later. Helene came first, landing gently next to the girls and settling down too with Brent striding out from behind a corner a few minutes later, seemingly having been left behind by Helene.
“Where’s Lina and Mark?” Mia asked, looking between her mother and Brent. She thought the four of them were together.
“They should have come back earlier,” Brent said, his face pulled into a frown as he glanced over at the medical tent. “I’ll check. Both of them were rather exhausted, maybe they lied down to rest.”
“Or they went back to the house,” Helene said, shrugging. “It’s only a five minute walk away from here.”
“You can track them down if they somehow got lost, right?” Mia asked, whispering to Carmilla who gave a nod after softly sniffing the air.
“I have their trail, and scent,” the redhead said. “Though I don’t think that’s needed, look.”
The two came out of the medical tent after Brent, both wobbling on their feet and looking like they’d been forced to run a marathon with how their eyes were moments away from closing.
“Huh, what did they do to get that tired?” Mia mused, glancing at her mother questioningly.
“The girl wanted to catch up on the level she’d lost out on,” Helene said, sounding like she didn’t think Lina had all her screws screwed in particularly well. “And Mark … well, he really enjoyed beating a few Marauders into a pulp after what their Rift Guardian did to him. He tired himself out after the tenth or so.”
Mia bit her lips, staring at her downsized friend as he slumped down on the pavement. Was he alright? He didn’t look alright.
“Hey, Mark,” Mia said, catching the exhausted dwarf’s eyes. “How are you? With the … “
“Shit as can be,” he mumbled, snorting at his own little word-play. “You?”
“I’m managing,” Mia said, frowning. “But I wasn’t the one getting stepped on by a Rift Guardian.”
“Yeah,” Mark said. “I think I’m not into getting stepped on. The damned walking piece of lettuce didn’t even ask for my consent. I’m going to sue the shit out of the Rift that spawned it.”
Mia smiled, he seemed to be doing well enough to joke around. That wasn’t saying much, since he and Gabe both had a tendency to downplay their emotions with jokes. But it was also a coping mechanism for them, so Mia was more than happy to indulge him if it helped.
“Thought you liked tentacle stuff,” Mia mused. “That thing had like, twelve vines that worked like that, didn’t it?”
“That’s only hot if the tentacles are attached to a cute girl,” Mark grumbled.
Lina looked on with a half confounded, half amused look on her face as she looked between Mark and Mia like they grew a new pair of heads.
The girl frowned, then bit her lip as she turned away, a guilty look on her face. Mia frowned.
“Lina?” Mia asked, tilting her head as the girl whirled back around. “Are you alright too? Sorry, I forgot to ask. I know how horrible mana deprivation is.”
“I’m fine,” the blonde said like that was going to be the end of it, then sighed softly. “I’m just … you almost died out there while I’d been taking a beauty nap inside that tent. There are no words to describe how miserable that makes me feel.”
“Oh,” Mia said, blinking at the blonde for a moment before she propped herself up and hopped over to pull the surly girl in for a quick hug. “It’s fine. We’re all alive and … mostly well. Mark lost a few of his fetishes, but that’s about all of our casualties. Plus, I’m sure you’ll never do something like exhausting your mana mid-battle again.”
Lina looked taken aback by the certainty in Mia’s voice, but then nodded slowly and Mia beamed up at her. The smile came naturally, and with a rush of horror that was ingrained into her by years upon years of getting told how creepy her smile was, it fell off like it had never been there.
Mia sauntered off, lying down in the grass a bit further away now that she felt she’d done her friendly duties.
“Now that everyone’s here, I’d say we go back to the house and just rest. Any objections?” Brent asked, and when everybody just shook their heads the group set off to get some well deserved rest.
If only we had enough water for a bubble bath. Mia thought on the way back. She felt dirty and overall miserable with her clothes covered in grime and her body slick with sweat. In the end, she had to make do with a wet towel again. I’m getting really tired of this. It’s one thing to be forced to fight for my life against monsters, and another entirely when I can’t even properly clean up afterwards.
*****
Colonel Lars Zeigler rubbed his beard thoughtfully, staring out at the street through the thin space between the flaps of his command tent. The soldier who’d been tasked with protecting the two girls had just left through that flap, heading over to set up guards around that group’s house.
With how things were, he had to take every precaution to protect those people.
“Sir … if I may?” Kelvin asked, his voice uncharacteristically uncertain. Zeigler motioned for him to continue. “Is this really wise? Entrusting what should be our duty to civilians?”
“Wise,” Zeigler barked a laugh. “Kelvin, did you see that big, ugly fucker? The one that came running at me like I was its favourite chewtoy? Let me tell you, having something the size of an elephant rushing you isn’t good for the cleanliness of your underwear.”
“Sir … “
“Only the tank’s shells and the RPG did anything to that monster,” Zeigler continued. “And it was fast, too fast to hit from that close up with anything we have, and then again, tell me Kelvin, how many cannon shells do we have left for the tanks? How many RPG rounds?”
“ … If I had to guess, I’d say at most a hundred shells and maybe half that in RPG rounds, Sir.” Kelvin said, his unnaturally good memory once again shining through. Somehow, that man could always guess such things with an unnatural degree of accuracy.
“That pink haired slip of a girl that was stuttering there, asking me to reward her books for saving my life shot off magic almost as strong as the cannons we have on tanks,” Zeigler said, his voice turning serious. “Do you know how many charges she has for that magic of hers? Infinite! She takes a nap, and she’ll be back to full, or so I heard from the magicians here. When we eventually run out of ammunition … and we will run out of it, if those monsters keep coming at us at the same rate as they’ve been … we’ll have no choice but to ask that girl and people like her to take the place of tanks, mortars and heavy artillery.”
“I see, Sir.” Kelvin nodded, his own thin face pulled into a frown. “I … just hope we can keep them in line. That power in the hands of a civilian … “
“They seem like good people,” Zeigler mused, scratching his neck as he threw his legs up on the table. “I like them, they are good kids. Respectful, brave and not too rash. We’ll treat them as elite military contractors for now, with respect and with sizable reimbursements for their efforts.”
“They could come to hate you, and the army as a whole, if one of them comes to harm,” Kelvin said, looking anxious. Zeigler understood him. It was a strange situation, and the younger man was understandably nervous about the future. It was a trait only decades of experience beat out of Zeigler himself. Furthermore, he saw his adaptivity to changing circumstances to be one of his best qualities as a commander. Plus, his gut hadn’t failed him yet and his gut was telling him that treating those kids well was the right move. “What if one dies, and they blame you? We’ll have a group of insurgents in our midst, armed with heavy artillery that they can hide in their back pockets. We don’t have the means to handle that.”
“I appreciate your warnings, Kelvin,” Zeigler said, his voice serious, but not unkind. He knew his aide was only sharing his thoughts because Zeigler had asked him to always provide a second opinion to give contrast to the Colonel’s own. “And I know they are civilians. They wouldn’t be prepared to handle casualties. That’s why I am having my best men guarding them and why we’ll be right there to help them through it, should the worst happen.”
“Understood Sir,” Kelvin said, nodding. “ … When do you want me to deliver the list of available books to them, and the food rations you promised them?”
“Tomorrow,” Zeigler said, reluctantly sitting back down and grabbing the next piece of paperwork he’d have to go over. “Tomorrow, you’ll send a squad of trustworthy men over with the list and the provisions. If they decide on the books they want, I want those books to be delivered by tomorrow evening.”
“Understood, Sir.”
“Next up, have you found someone who might help us figure out who had enough balls to steal food from the blasted army?” Zeigler asked, his moustache flaring in fury. He’d been as gentle as he could be with the residents, his men died to protect them and this was how they thanked those sacrifices? Once I got my hands on the spineless curs who dared to do such a thing …
“I have some potential candidates,” Kelvin said, fixing his glasses as he handed a list over to the Colonel.
“Good, I want them all on a single team with a protection detail and soldiers helping them,” Zeigler said. “Select the most experienced of them to be the lead investigator and you’ll personally oversee their task. Those men will be under your command. Don't let me down Kelvin.”
“Of course, Sir!” Kelvin said, rising to his feet.
“Good hunting,” Zeigler said, a ferocious grin forming on his face. Kelvin gave a smile with the same hint of ferocity in it. They’d make sure whoever dared to kill their men and steal their supplies rued the day they were born.
Comments
Fi
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
ZephanyZephZeph
I wonder how long Ziegler's unit as a part of the military will last, as his adaptability will make him reckon with the fact a modern military doesn't really apply in a world of adventurers and no kingdoms or states yet. The monopoly on force is broken and it's a worldwide Warlord Era.
Stephanie Washburn
I like Ziegler. He's a good one.
