NOVEL FROG Chapter 401 - Treasure Hunt III
Eric’s mind roared into overdrive with Battletime as a flock of oversized velociraptors radiating deadly potency far beyond their mortal counterparts and clearly evolved for desert hunting raced from the shadowy ravine from which they had been hiding so cleverly in the storm to swarming over the ATV in less than three heartbeats.
A single beat. – Elly’s hand desperately reached to Eric. “Accept my party link!”
Eric instinctively did so, already knowing the advantages of a delving group versus fighting without any sense of one’s companions, where they were, or what they were doing.
Rising Sun – Mercenary Corp
Party Stats
St / Vi / Fin / Qui / Per / Mana / Qi Pool / Soul Reserves /
Bennett - 400/400/400/400/400/ 2800 / 280 / 100
Lone - 200/200/300/300/300/ 1400 / 152 / 42
Myl - 200/200/300/300/300/ 1400 / - / 76
Naje - 200/200/300/300/300/ 1400 / - / 55
Svena - 200/200/300/300/300 1400 / 140 / 35
Elly - 200/200/400/400/400/ 2800 / 70 / 65
Ernest - 531/582/462/788/451/ 5132 / 5291 / 392
NOTE! BRONZE TIER PARTY GESTALT IS IN EFFECT! You have NO PSIONIC defense. You have voluntarily fused your will to Captain Bennett! - Incompatibilities detected! Elves Eric & Elly have been subdivided to Top-Roof Gestalt (No boons save for Hive-mind are in effect.)
- Soul Bound Phoenix Ring HIDES IDENTITY & SURFACE THOUGHTS!
A second heartbeat. – Eric’s eyes widened as his perception and sense of self suddenly expanded to not just include Elly but their entire party, instantly understanding that Riz, loved as he was, did not have whatever level or potency was needed for the captain’s gestalt, and that the near uniformity of the party’s stats, despite their variety of personalities, was both awe inspiring and chilling. They were saving up absolutely hundreds of points before slotting them in blocks, and almost perfectly mirroring one another. Eric could only guess that such somehow led to massive efficiency boosts, both in stat costs and, of course, in how well the captain could control them as a single gestalt.
A third heartbeat. – Eric, to his horror and wonder, realized he was now one with the Captain and his crew. Yet before Bennett’s mind could truly fuse with his, Eric instantly sensed the captain’s spike of dismay and ruthless practicality, deliberately splitting from Elly and Eric on top of the ATV to focus on the four minds that he was now not so much controlling as simply being one with, as Elly and Eric became their own separate unit.
Heartbeats twinning, Eric felt a startling mix of competency, wisdom, and the dull thrum of Elly’s pain that Eric understood all too well, it being so similar to Elonia’s own.
Just as Elly felt the fearsome potency radiating from the monster that had hidden himself so well. A Gold-tier Phoenix roosted in a White-tier shell, radiating the monstrous power of a Rank 70 Advanced Bronze-tier Classer. And he would have sobbed tears of joy for his faith to be so powerfully vindicated, one of the Winter Queen’s lastborn children now one with her soul, were abominations that a part of her was so EAGER to fight not swarming their mobile battle platform at that very moment.
Eric would have felt dismay that his secret was revealed, had he not been weaving and dodging for his life as an entire murder of red-zone-enhanced Velociraptors leaped for the rooftop, necessitating the cessation of all extraneous thought, as he embraced the crucible of battle once more.
Quickness check made! You have dodged Disemboweling Strike!
Power Strike!
You have obliterated 3 Warped Velociraptors (level 106) with a fiery fist of destruction for 20 Qi!
Fire backlash is well within party member Elly’s armor absorption parameters!
Crimson Orb successfully summoned!
Enemies are swarming your other half!
BLOODFIRE DOOM FLURRY!
You have obliterated an additional 6 Warped Velociraptors!
360 Qi & 18 Soul Reserves expended.
Enemy vitality claimed!
AFV rooftop is secure!
The notifications flickered past his mind’s eye as the air rang with the shrieks and cries of an absolute swarm of terror birds, flooding over the ATV in a wave of talons and death.
Yet their wild charge was skillfully broken by the multiple streams of brilliant plasma fire now flooding out of all the gun ports facing the charge. Of course more than a few of those predators sought to escape searing plasma by leaping high to pounce onto the vehicle from above, and the results would have been devastating if those claws radiating such deadly sharpness had been allowed to connect with the roof and tear through it unimpeded. Instead, their screeches were cut off mid-squawk by the crimson fires of Eric’s blade, cleaving through their flesh as effortlessly as a blowtorch through butter, his foes erupting in scales, viscera, and so very much blood.
Eric’s soul howled with furious ecstasy as he weaved past disemboweling talons an eye-blink before his killing blade ripped through yet another raptor, the crimson fires of his sword infusing him with a roaring tidal wave of Vitality, drinking deeply of his foe’s life force and blood. In that bittersweet moment, he understood all too well the other path he could have taken, the one his mother had forced aside, that could have led him along a path of fiery crimson predation unlike any other. Forging himself into a Vampire Lord the likes of which Earth had never seen before, transcending the limitations that a Tier-2 pod had once warned him of, with an alternate fourth essence that he could have claimed.
Yet he had no regrets as he darted under another pack of velocis before spinning around and cleaving through three pairs of legs presently clawing and tearing up the tungsten-reinforced polycarbonate armor of their ATV… before crashing to that very surface in squawks and crimson sprays before a final jerking slash ended their cries forever.
“Eric!”
A desperate cry through the link, no time for words.
Eric spun around as fast as 788 Quickness and Battletime would allow. Just in time to see the largest Terror Bird yet to pounce on Elly, tear free his plasma rifle with a furious wrench, as it slammed it’s deadly beak down on her—
DOOMSLICE!
You have successfully decapitated Level 150 Veloci-Boss!
25 Temporary Soul Reserves expended!
He had no time to do more than swing his blade at speeds that transcended even what he was normally capable of, for just a heartbeat becoming one with the memories of countless System warriors that had come before, visualizing flashes of desperate last-second saves, heroes willing to do whatever it took to save their friends.
Even if that meant accepting what would have been a disemboweling gash to a weaker version of himself, desperately racing forward as he swung his blade, momentarily off balance, which was all that the veloci swarm needed to slam him right off the ATV with what would have been a powerful organ rupturing kick to anyone else.
But not before Eric had grabbed a stunned Elly, both of them rolling off the vehicle before an absolute rain of velociraptors could pounce on and disembowel them both, even as the ATV paid the price.
“Watch your fire!” Eric screamed in the party link as he and his wounded companion hurtled through the air, Eric desperately belting out the words he needed to say, even as he tumbled through the air.
“Inevitable Doom. Hell Vines! Hell Vines!”
And in the impossibly long second it took him to fall, the kick having thrown him off his feet not of his on volition, so no Speedracer inertia-manipulating perk was in play… with absolutely no time for a twenty second chant, he did the only thing he could think of, surrounding their ATV with the massive fiery trees covered in black-thorned whipping vines or blazing branches that eagerly reached down to grasp the velociraptors.
Of course the giant raptors were lightning fast speedsters at level 106 with Quickness that Eric pinged at being at least 200, absolutely monstrous compared to any common beasty he had ever faced that wasn’t a Contender or a dungeon boss. Not surprisingly, they dodged the blazing branches more often than not, a few birds even stopping to claw and peck at the fiery trunks, though most shied away from the resultant burns.
But Eric didn’t need perfection, just a distraction. A breather as he landed and darted right back to the vehicle now covered in Velocis.
“Hell Vines! Bennett! Open the portal!” Eric screamed as his latest whipping tree’s tendrils both tore raptors free of the rooftop and kept the portal clear.
“What the hell is going on!?”
“Elly’s Hurt! I can’t guard her and fight!” Eric screamed in their party interface, speaking far quicker than words would normally allow. Fortunately, the captain at least sensed his coming and knew just the instant to open the portal as Eric tossed Elly in then immediately spun around to face the quartet of charging raptors EAGER to crash inside and tear up the intruders within that would be in no position to fire their blasters inside the ATV.
So Eric charged into them with a snarl and happily began embracing another skill that he was eager to level up as fast as he could.
You have embraced your WRATH!
Burst of Strength temporarily doubles your might!
Fire Fist enhanced by 18-Fold Damage & Explosion Multiplier!
You have OBLITERATED 5 Velociraptors! 4 Additional Velociraptors have been critically injured.
***
“Captain! Elly’s Stable!”
Bennett twisted around from glaring out the gun port to gazing at Lone injecting a still unconscious Elly with Regen-7, the strongest biogen booster they dared give Elly with her brittle, semi-synthetic mana channels. His thoughts raced, an echo of the rest of his party, horrified to see his battle-sister come so close to death on what should have been a routine assignment on a newly risen world. And by a creature that had only recently broke through to Bronze… the whole territory truly on the cusp of ascending to Black. Yet their foes were speed focused with talons that had a vorpal enhancement, perfect for cleaving right through the low-grade mecha armor that was all they were allowed in this world, requiring far too many level-up points or outright nodal perks to transform into elite-tier gear. Yet now they were forced to face down creatures whose claws were tearing through the triple-reinforced armor of their AFV like axes to brittle plywood.
“Got another one of those fuckers!” Svena cried.
Bennett grinned, having eased his gestalt after the first few seconds to let everyone focus on their specialties, and if Rank 20 Bronze mecha specialists were good at anything, it was absolutely obliterating lightly, even medium-armored opponents with blaster fire in a shockingly short period of time.
Yet he couldn’t escape the dismay he felt, knowing all too well that the highly maneuverable velociraptor pack with vorpal talons could have so easily have caused them multiple casualties, were it not for the young Contender, hardly more than a child, who had somehow surrounded them with magical trees covered in flames, thorns, and vines that eagerly swept their ATV free of raptors before they could tear through the armor. And whether or not the trees actually managed to kill the terror birds or not, the simple act of sweeping their too vulnerable ATV free of peril so that Bennett’s team could focus on devastating blaster fire was making all the difference.
Of course those birds were fierce, and more than a few of the fiery trees had already been destroyed. Yet whenever that happened, the impossibly fast streak of fiery flashes and explosions of flame that was their too young employer would somehow sense it, quickly belting off a handful of words that made absolutely no sense from what Bennett knew of arcane magic, which was considerable, and a new thicket of fiery trees would form. And even if they were a sight hindrance with their field of fire, at least the kid knew not to block line-of-sight through the gun ports.
Bennett gave one final prayer before locking onto yet another raptor, before sighing when that and the trio next to it erupted in a fresh explosion of flame.
“Fire Fist!”
“Fuckin hell, Captain. That kid can fight!” Naje said with an awed whisper, before unleashing another stream of plasma of his own, stitching a fresh veloci from neck to groin, the creature crashing to the desert sands to spasm its last, before all the ports were bathed in another hot backlash.
“Power Strike!”
Lone whistled. “And there’s another handful of those fuckers killed with an explosive fiery punch worthy of Blue’s mascot hero. And us risking third degree burns with the backlash through the ports, if we weren’t fully armored.”
“And why does he feel the need to scream his moves through the interface like Super Punch Man, anyway? Myl asked, wincing with the fiery explosion.
“Because he’s a child who’s been thrust into the crucible no more than a year ago,” Elly said with a tired smile through her face plate. “It helps focus his abilities and use them more efficiently. And to be fair, he doesn’t say it out loud. Well, not most of the time.”
“Yeah he just screams it in his mind, and this kid’s mind is powerful. If I didn’t know better, I’d think him a Psion-Knight,” Lone said with a chuckle.
“Unlikely,” Elly corrected, wincing while forcing herself upright in a seated position. “He’s got far too much Sylvan blood flowing through his veins. Even half-elves have no natural resistance against Psionic Attacks, no matter how strong our minds are versus charms, enchantments, or spiritual invasions. Without specialized training and extremely talented instructors, all he’d get pursuing a Psion-Knight’s path is brain damage, assuming his mind was capable of forming any sort of Psion pool or learning any sort of active defense at all. Now someone hand me my fucking gun!”
“Sorry, all we have is a backup,” Bennet said, giving her a concerned look. “I know what the group link says, but are you sure you’re up for round two?” He asked, handing his a standard T-II Deathblaze secured in the weapon locker under their seat.
Elly frowned at the gun, then shrugged with a shaky nod. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Ooh, check it out, he switched weapons again! Those fists of third degree burns for that flaming sword trick.” Myl whistled as Eric weaved and spun past the massive swarm of velociraptors that were now all focused on the boy. Though Myl did visibly shiver when Ernest ‘Call me Eric’ looked their way.
When anyone sane would be terrified of losing their lives as a swarm of flesh-hungry velociraptors snapped vorpal-sharp teeth at them, all Eric did was smile, eyes glittering with a manic hunger as his blade flashed with crimson death as yet another raptor crashed to the ground, intestines splashing across the desert sands.
Just a heartbeat before a fresh pack led by yet another raptor larger than the others raced in to pounce their young employer, eager to rip him to shreds from behind.
“Shit! Cover the kid!” Bennett yelled in fast-time through their interface. They all saw that Eric was about to get swarmed, and their blaster fire, triple perk deadly as it was, only picked off the ones closest to the gun openings before the other half dozen closed. Yet just when it seemed that he was about to lose his head, Eric spun around in a blazing flash of crimson, the air cracking with the hypersonic speed of his attack.
“Doom Slice, Motherfucker!” Eric mentally screamed through their interface as yet another pack-leader’s skull was cleaved completely in half, confused eyes gyrating wildly in their sockets as the body collapsed in a spray of ruptured brains and blood.
Bennett’s eyes widened, his party link allowing him to sense all too well the surge of fierce potency Eric was claiming from his kill as he began weaving and spinning about the smaller raptors. The crimson flames on his sword only grew thicker, more potent, with each theropod sent crashing to the ground. And all the while Bennett felt his own stamina reserves perk up as Elly gasped.
“Fucking hell!”
“Elly?”
“That kids a fucking vampire! And we’re party linked.”
Bennett’s worry and relief snapped to cold hard focus.
“How worried should we be?” he asked in hyper-text, their conversation happening in the literal blink of an eye.
“Give me a moment… Thank Aurelia, no dark taint. Just a Contender’s odd powers. But he clearly has unorthodox affinities, so sure as fuck don’t let the goblins know or accept any of their contracts. You know they hate my kind, and are just looking for any excuse to kill elves or those with native arts of any kind.”
“No shit, Elly. You sure we’re okay party-linked to this boy?”
“Yeah. If anything, my meridians feel soothed.” Elly’s blood-flecked lips split into a wide grin. “The fiery pain, it’s the best it’s been in a decade! We’re fine… yes. We’re more than fine, but only if we do our part and keep him alive. Those fuckers are looking to swarm him again!”
DANGER INCOMING!
Bennett’s eyes bulged open as instincts that had served him well over countless engagements abruptly flared to life once more.
But before Bennett could react or warn his people to brace themselves, their ATV was sent hurtling through the air.
Spinning like a top with G-forces so insane that any mortal would have been pulpified to jelly as the entire crew was slammed to the sides of the ATV.
Elly sent flying out of the portal that popped open with the devastating blow.
Lone flew out soon after.
Red lights were blaring.
The world was spinning.
Alarms shrieked in and out of Bennett’s power armor.
The entire party’s stunned panic washed over Bennett as they hit the ground, slamming into the nearby basalt gorge in a crash before bouncing and going airborne once more, and Svena was flung free.
A blaring interface warning made it clear that Riz, their one Professional that they had done so much to elevate and ascend to a degree that few Professionals ever managed, was now suffering catastrophic injuries.
“Benny, help!”
His lover’s mental scream tore through his spirit as the velociraptors that had been hanging back in the ravine abruptly surged forward, now that some unseen monstrosity had so effortlessly slammed their entire party into the nearby basalt chasm. A rift that hid countless ambush predators choosing this moment to spring, enjoying nothing better than devouring wounded prey.
“We’re hot!” Bennett screamed. “To me! Regroup and establish cover! Svena! Lone! Elly! Head to my ping now! Now! Now!” He knew it was futile as the ATV rocked with furiously screeching terror birds doing all they could to rip open the hyper-polymerized tungsten alloy and much to his dismay, were actually succeeding.
“Die, motherfucker!” Naje roared, carefully blasting the beak trying to breach their cover, Myl following suit, the only two members of his crew that hadn’t been torn free of the vehicle. Yet even with their desperate last defense, mad skill ranks and perks keeping plasma ricochets from frying them inside their own crumpled vehicle, Bennett was filled with nothing but furious despair.
How?
How the fuck had it come to this?
An ambush from a cloaked ravine filled with scores of velociraptors so warped and bloated that their beaks and claws could tear through power armor and tungsten steel like it was rice paper. Far deadlier than their level suggested, just showing one of the awful perils of a world bloated and boiling over with such hideous, deadly power. More than enough power to reforge them all and allow so many broken Bronze to ascend past countless bottlenecks. And more than enough power to obliterate them all with the tiniest miscalculation, a full party of Rank 20 Bronze Classers and their captain in a territory that was technically red.
Even if their present foes were firmly in the black. Tier one Bronze with 200 Quickness and armor piercing talons, guided by a hideous intelligence that most definitely wanted them dead.
Naje’s disciplined voice was colored by fear. “Captain, they’re breaking through!”
“Benny! My leg’s broken! I’m out of ammo!” Svena’s panicked voice rang through Bennett’s skull.
“Hold on, babe. I’m coming!” Bennett’s words were filled with desperate intensity. Yet before he could even make it out the portal door, knowing he was being an idiot leaving his only scrap of cover, a pair of screeching velociraptors ripped the portal off the hinges, forcing their vicious maws through.
Bennett howled with despair before unleashing hot death in the form of hypercharged plasma particles that carved right through their vicious snapping mouths like a laser through butter. Their skulls exploded with the resulting pressure wave as the pair of corpses collapsed… only for more raptors to claw at their remains, so desperately eager the were to devour the Bronze-tier classers just beyond.
“I found cover!” Lone cried. “I’ll provide overwatch… Oh fuck, poor Riz! The velis ripped him free of the drivers carriage! They’re… he’s still alive!” Lone sobbed. “He’s screaming! They’re eating him alive!”
“One of them found me, Benny,” Svena’s husky voice rang through his skull on their private channel. “And all I got is my vibro blade. Damn. Should have married you when I had the chance. See you around, handsome.”
“Svena!”
Bennett roared, his Mark III minigun giving off a crimson glow as furious desperation drove him along paths that could ultimately destroy him. But not before he did a number on his foes, blindingly bright plasma now ripping through an entire murder of velociraptors as he fought just to break free of the death trap that the ATV had become.
“It’s been an honor serving you, Captain.” Elly’s voice rang through the ATV with eerie finality, Bennett grimly aware of what his second was planning. And the horror of it was, he didn’t dare try to dissuade her. Even if it did more than obliterate her mana channels, even if it outright killed her… they were all dead anyway. Right now, they had nothing to lose.