Excise: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 2)

by Ryan DeBruyn

  After a brief pause, he looked over the twenty-two souls that might contain a few innocent members and asked loudly, “Do you all understand?”

  More crying broke out at this point, but no one seemed to have any questions for him. After a time, Smith placed a hand on Rocky’s shoulder and nodded once before his voice cut through the muted sobs, “Please follow me.”

  Rocky stood there, watching the military and Smith escort the exiles out of the Grotto. While he frowned, Sela stood stoic and straight-faced. He tried again to emulate his Guide and couldn’t manage it, as he couldn’t feel nothing for the poor people.

  He turned to her after a time. “Shall we go meet Garnell?”

  Sela shook her head. “We will visit him tonight after we have rescued a Dragon!”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  A few hours later, Rocky and Sela were standing at the front of the army. They’d decided to take all the tanks and military with them. The Territory was still under Ether protection, which admittedly wasn’t a complete protection, but it also now had the two Master class Knights, so they might as well use this opportunity to attempt to beat the enemy with everything they had. Looking at the tanks and rifles, Rocky worried that they were going to be useless, except against Zombies. If the trip here had reinforced anything, it was that inherent Ether protection trumped the firepower of the mass-produced weapons; even the simplest of Ether-infused armor cut the damage significantly.

  That being said, everyone in the military was level 15 or above now since they’d been running training drills and hunting simultaneously in groups of ten. This meant that many of them had gotten a third or even fourth skill, often strengthening their attacks. Hopefully, they would all soon be able to afford their own individualized weapons. Rocky’s greed menagerie growled at him when he remembered all the weapons he’d destroyed in Corsair’s office at the hospital, they were definitely of significantly better quality than the mass-produced ones, and his army could have used them now.

  Just within himself, he could feel his inner menagerie building to a crescendo of indignation. He had yet to buy anything specifically for him from the shop. He’d spent a huge sum of his own money to help others over himself, and that was completely counterintuitive to his inner zoo of cupidity. He shook himself and promised himself some sort of special treat after this was all over to try and appease them.

  Attention outward again, he could see those groups prevalent now as each unit of eight surrounded a single tank that had two members inside. Joe discovered on day one in the Territory what the limit of the system was for a party before you started to lose Etherience due to what Sela called ‘risk reduction penalties’. They fooled around until they noticed that the same level of creature they killed gave them the optimal amount. Something else Joe noticed was that if the military trained against hordes of ants or in situations where the opponents’ numbers were greater than five, it seemed the Etherience limiter was removed.

  When the military gets stronger, Joe wants to run some tests against more powerful enemies. The level of the creatures around the Grotto averages around thirteen, so it makes sense that they’ve started losing a place to effectively level for now.

  Sela informed Joe of something that she had already told Rocky—that the level of the monsters would depend on the average level of the citizens. Which, of course, meant that with almost twenty-five hundred citizens sitting around level ten or eleven, that the average level was about twelve or thirteen. Rocky was hoping that the Dungeons would help speed along the leveling of everyone once they were finished setting up.

  Additionally, he noticed that many hunters and others were commissioning quests in the guild hall to craft reagents, make clothes, and a few even asked for armor. Rocky knew that the armor wouldn’t be complete until he finally had time to experiment with enchanting, but at least the quests would mean experience and crystals to some of the crafting classes in camp.

  Rocky waited as Joe got everything organized for the march to Chalk River. They were already at the edge of the Territory, and from that point on, everyone needed to be on the lookout. Each tank was still equipped with a radio emitter, and Joe had tied them into the devices that the A-Team, Sela, Rocky, and Zippo all wore. That way, they could pull heavy hitters to areas that might need them. According to Joe, the standing order was to retreat to the Territory if anything was too hard to handle. This excursion was going to be a foray to essentially test the enemy; if they could win, they would push it, if not, then not.

  Five minutes later, Joe walked up and nodded to Rocky, who began walking along at the speed that the army could muster. Azoth leaped out of nearby foliage impatiently and began flapping his massive wings, kicking up a dust and grit storm in the infected and plague-ridden area just across the Territorial line. “Fine-ale-easy.” He mimed in a clear imitation of Sela, who Rocky was forced to glance at with a wide smile on his face.

  Sela shook her head minutely and wore her own smile as they both watched the creature take to the skies. “Couldn’t have said it better myself, Azoth,” she exclaimed while continuing to chuckle as Azoth flew over their heads.

  The tanks, which could move around forty kilometers an hour, were actually the bottleneck when it came to speed now. While they could move at a good pace, the humans that surrounded them with enhanced stats could move faster if they chose to go all out. However, some of the tank pilots had some pretty devastating skills and abilities that they could pair with the clattering machines to truly great effect. Additionally, the tanks gave quite a bit of defence to the teams in any sort of ranged fights. They were mostly used now as moving cover; well, moving cover with a massive turret that could spit death a few times a day.

  Thirty minutes later, Azoth sent a confused mental signal, “It clear one second. Now ground spits out pale creepies.” Rocky received a mental image of what Azoth was seeing simultaneously and felt his hair stand on end. There was undead spewing out of cave mouths in front of them. From the air, Azoth could see twenty-five or more caves, and each one was spitting out a horde of the creatures. Additionally, clear from the sky, on top of each cave, a Necromancer stood with a rod of twisted wood in hand.

  Something about the Necromancers made Rocky ask Azoth to send him another image with them as the focus. Once Azoth complied, Rocky instantly saw what had bothered him about the dark wizards on top of the caves. Each one was standing in a natural fortification that was getting higher and thicker as Azoth watched. The only upside to a closer view of the Necromancers was that he didn’t see any staff topped with red rods or Dragon Heartstrings.

  At first, I would have thought this was something LFD did, but unless those Necromancers have geomancers with them, they still have an active Dungeon on their side!

  “Prepare for contact with the enemy,” Sela commanded to Joe.

  Joe nodded and then touched his ear. “Contact imminent. Form up.” Letting go of his earpiece transmit button, he turned to Sela and Rocky. “Any ranged fighters amongst them?”

  Sela answered, as she too had received the images from Azoth, “The vast majority of the enemy are Zombies similar to what we saw in the Arena Dungeon, but yes, there are approximately twenty-five Necromancers; they are fortified and dug in. Haven’t seen them in action yet, so be prepared for anything as we close.” Rocky felt a bit helpless in this situation. He wasn’t a war leader like Sela or Joe. He was entirely out of his depth and wondered what he could do to aid them. He was the highest leveled and arguably the strongest fighter here, so what could he do that others couldn’t?

  As Joe got back on the radio, Rocky turned to Sela. “I’m going to try to remove some of the entrenched enemies. Can you keep the main forces busy?” Sela frowned at his suggestion, looking at him with a bit of concern showing in her eyes. He felt that formerly caged part of him raise its hackles at her concerned look. He didn’t need to be protected; he needed to protect, and he was going to be the best at it!

  The competitive surge surprised hi
m, but he was very familiar with its intense need to be the best at any cost. He tried to tamp down the rising heat of frustration he felt; it wasn’t like Sela had done anything wrong. Her concern for him should be touching, and he knew it. His attempts to get his anger under control only fueled it more, and he clenched his teeth as he felt the need for action grow to unbearable levels.

  Sela watched as the myriad of emotions flitted over his face, and she narrowed her eyes, trying to understand what had just happened. She had only wanted to confirm he wasn’t going to do anything stupid and reckless. She nodded to him and stated, “Be smart and deadly,” the same words she had used with many covert agents in wars past. Rocky’s smile was terrifyingly predatorial, and Sela felt a quick jolt of exhilaration rush through her chest and flush her face as dark, cloying smoke oozed from his body.

  Rocky sprinted away from the group, easily outdistancing the clattering tanks and formations of the men that accompanied them. He entered Stealth on the run and took a few deep breaths to center himself. Once he was sure he wasn’t dripping black smoke, which would give him away in the afternoon sun, he continued. A short sprint later, he felt himself nearly miss his next footfall as the forming undead came into view. It was much more intimidating to see the thousands of pale, lifeless creatures from the ground than from Azoth’s point of view.

  He increased his speed, aiming for a slowly filling gap in the lines between two of the cave mouths that kept spitting out the Zombies. As he neared the hole, he considered where all of these undead were coming from. There was no way there had been this many people in the area of Chalk River before the apocalypse. As he got closer, he glanced at the cave mouths and remembered Sela had claimed they were Dungeon born creatures.

  I kind of see what Sela dislikes about Dungeons right now.

  Once through the forming line, he turned left and ran directly towards the first mound of earth that housed the cave exit or what he now was nearly certain was a Dungeon entrance. Once his back was pressed into the rocky outcropping, he summoned his Shadow Clone and sent it to the right. The Shadow Clone looked around briefly then gave a rare sardonic smile before vanishing.

  Good to see it is over the whole bait and sacrifice thing.

  During his run, he had heard a few more orders from Joe or Sela over his radio, but he had turned the volume down now that he was acting autonomously. However, Joe’s next radio transmission made his heart quicken a bit, “Barrage formation. Wait for order to open fire.” The need for cover suddenly jumped to the top of his priorities. He activated his Dark Cloak and began jumping and climbing up the back of the protruded earth the Dungeon had forced up to create an entrance. At the top, he found the Necromancer looking out over its Dungeon-created army.

  Rocky formed his sword and struck, not giving the abominable creature a chance to truly defend itself. His sword easily cut through the woman standing there, and he felt nausea rise for a moment. Then a concussive blast of force hit him in the chest and threw him from the top of the cave.

  Honestly, I am getting really sick of spell backlash! I am going to have to look out for these glyphs in the future.

  The current blast was nothing compared to the one Derik had produced, and a moment to orientate himself was all Rocky needed to flip in the air and land on his feet fifteen feet below and twenty feet away. In a moment, he was sprinting back toward the mound and climbing back up to his new vantage point. As he looted, he also scrutinized the lifeless corpse he had just murdered and sighed. Was this Necromancer a Dungeon creation as well?

  Apep’s Void Shroud

  This armor was created from a dungeon under the control of a Void God.

  Quality: Normal

  Stats: Unknown

  —

  Apep’s Void Stick

  These staffs are rumored to be all that is left of an entire planets vegetation after being consumed by a void god.

  Quality: Good

  Stats: Unknown

  Under the corpse, a burnt-out glyph resided, which must have been the source of the backlashing spell.

  They are standing on and powering something, but what was it?

  He looked from left to right and saw that the entrances were spaced pretty evenly at about five hundred meters apart. He looked at the ranks of undead in front of him and saw that they were as thick as twenty deep in places, usually in front of the cave mouths, and then they thinned to about four deep in the gaps. It was clear the enemy didn’t have perfect control of the creatures.

  “Fire!” was the one-word command that was barked out over the comms before all hell broke loose in front of him. He saw a tank muzzles flash, and the laser bolts blurred forward before turning into five identical shots spread out by about ten feet each. Laser rifles triggers were depressed a fraction of a second later, adding a kaleidoscope of skill-induced color to the barrage. The first wave of ionized laser fire struck the ranks of undead to his left and fizzled on contact. In front of him, ranks of undead were mowed down, however, and he blinked at the disparity for a split second.

  He glanced to his right and saw a similar shielding effect occur down those ranks. Between himself and the next cave, he saw the creatures were being cut down with ease, but past that cave, the creatures were defended and unharmed. Rocky groaned and stepped back to study his Dungeon-created cover and the burnt-out sigil more closely. His killing of the resident here and his clone’s apparent success had succeeded in removing the source needed to maintain it. He made sure to memorize the pattern, hoping it would help him in his future enchanting endeavors.

  An eyeblink later, Rocky disengaged Dark Cloak and jumped from his vantage. He sprinted the five hundred meters to his left as he touched his ear. “Working on it!” he stated simply into the torrent of other conversation that was going on over the comms.

  A confused torrent of, “Working on what? Who is this?” answered him and gave him his first realization for the need for monikers and radio etiquette. He hoped Sela and Joe would recognize his voice because the Necromancer in front of him wasn’t facing the army. It was facing the cave he had just come from, as he too must have seen the disparity in reverse from the assassinations he was undertaking.

  A red wave pulsed out from the Necromancer, and unable to avoid it, Rocky ran right through it. He winced, expecting a spell to take hold, but all that happened was that the wave of red warped and curved around him. It lingered around him like a strange blood bubble. “Atlantean hell!” Rocky cursed and activated Dark Cloak, realizing that the spell was highlighting his position. He bolted left and right, beginning to weave. A pure black bolt struck the ground he had stood on a split second after he activated Dark Cloak and spun violently into the earth before imploding and then detonating outwards. His eyes widened at the destructive force of the spell as dirt and debris peppered his body and face.

  Yeah, I definitely don’t want to get hit by those.

  He ducked and weaved through more spells from the Necromancer as he approached. Unfortunately, the closer he got, the less time he had between the cast and the contact point, which forced him to begin strafing around the ranged caster. In all of his maneuvering, Rocky noticed one thing. The Necromancer refused to move from his spot on top of the cave.

  They need to be in contact with the rune to power it!

  A frustrating few spells from the Necromancer later, Rocky was no closer to him. He weighed options between a long-distance Dark Blade that may not succeed or if he had another option. His mind fell on his bandolier; he threw a few daggers at the man who stood on top of the cave. While his knife throws were entirely ineffective in the damage department due to his lack of skill, they did have the desired effect as the Necromancer was forced to interrupt a cast and erect a hasty shield that the daggers clanked off of, hilt first.

  Rocky grinned wickedly and leaped towards the snarling Necromancer, closing the distant and charging his sword with Dark Blade. The black-robed figure hissed one word and knelt as Rocky closed in, “Apothis!” Then
he touched his hand to the ground. A massive, black king cobra head shot from the dirt towards him, and he hastily released his charging Dark blade into its approaching maw. His Dark Blade sparked, screeched, and ground against the spell but finally tore the conjuration in half before continuing on to do the same to the Necromancer. Rocky landed a moment later, with his heart in his throat as a small explosion from where the dead caster had stood showered him with more debris but failed this time to displace him from his spot ten feet away.

  He clicked his radio. “Eagle Eye here. Another shield down. Moving on to the next. Over” Then he sprinted, removing his Dark Cloak and engaging Stealth once again. This was going to be a long day.

  An hour later and many grueling fights, clone resummons, and Zombie meat walls later, Rocky had cleared all of the caves in his direction. He turned back a grisly smile on his face as his forces continued to bombard the fragile undead from range. He checked his connection with his clone and felt that it was far away in the other direction, most likely attempting to clear Dungeon entrances still. Rocky received a mental image from Azoth and saw that his clone had three such Necromancers left to clear.

  None of the Necromancers had carried Heartstrings, which meant that there were definitely more powerful creatures lurking somewhere either in the depths of the Dungeon below or further ahead guarding the Dragon. Rocky gulped down a Health and an Ether Potion, looking to replenish himself after his most recent fight. While there had been a few easy kills of Necromancers who were ‘less aware’ of their surroundings, the vast majority of the sixteen he had ruthlessly slaughtered had turned it into a life or death fight. The massive hole in his Chimera leather pants reminded him of how close it had been in some of those encounters. He had a robe and staff from each corpse in his bag of holding though to help offset the cost of the repairs. He would Analyze them after the fighting.