The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1)

by Craig Kobayashi

  The group debated the logistics of leaving the building that had kept every member of the Raid safe for seventeen hours as more of The Band filed into the main hall and the perfunctory death count prompt arrived to let them know their half-hour window had already started ticking away.

  Monster respawns will be halted for the next 30 minutes as the next wave is prepared. Rest and hone your skills, human. The Culling continues at 15:00(GST).

  The Culling Totals

  Global Death Count: 6,555,147,239

  Community Death Count: 101,113

  A somber silence swallowed the noise of several rapidly elevating arguments in the hall as each member of the Raid saw that the Tamer's with their savage Dragonlings had outdone each of the previous waves in terms of human lives. The city of Everett once had a population of over one-hundred-thousand. Now, almost the entire city was dead.

  The Band of the Hawk ultimately decided to take a vote on whether to stay at the stronghold. The majority ruled to stay, and that's what they did. Garath fervently disagreed with the decision but didn't let his empty title of Raid Leader go to his head. Instead, he decided to use the remainder of the half-hour before the seventh wave to prepare his Raid group as best he could.

  With every member of The Band gathered in the main hall of the old school building, he stood on a chair and projected his words over the crowd of voices.

  "Votes are in, we're going to stay here. So far, we've been able to keep the monsters out of the building and our strategy has been working. I'd be lying if I didn’t tell you that I am worried that the last two waves may be designed to bring down structures," he told them. A worried murmur traveled through the crowd and Garath raised his hands for quiet. "I don't know that for a fact, but I think we seriously need to consider it as a possibility. Now, if that IS the case, I want everyone to stay together. Some of you have seen me shifting in and out of House Cat form and I want to teach everyone how to do it because evading attacks is much easier with the reflexes of a... well, cat. I honestly don't know the specifics, but I can tell you how I learned to do it. First, I made eye contact with my cat and felt a prickly feeling start to grow on the back of my neck, I focused on that feeling and willed it to grow until my whole body was tingling - and that's pretty much it," he said anticlimactically. "After a few seconds of that I was a cat. My cat is here with us, her name is Tarzan. I'll hold her in my lap here on this chair and I want three of you to come up at a time, stare into her eyes, and focus on the tingling."

  With that, he stepped down from the chair and proceeded to teach as many of the group as he could. Before long the main hall was much less crowded because its inhabitants were several times smaller. Dozens of cats in all shapes, sizes, and colors were wandering around meowing at each other incomprehensibly.

  "I forgot about that," Garath called over the Raid com, still in his natural form. "When you try to speak out loud in cat form it just comes out as a meow. Project your thoughts by thinking the words at whoever you are trying to talk to. Oh! One more thing. In House Cat form, the damage you take from attacks is increased by 150%. So, you know... try not to get hit a lot."

  Once the group more or less got the hang of their Beastscape Ability, Garath explained his back up plan in the case that the building were to become unsafe. The plan was simple, everyone was to shift into House Cat form and make their way as a group with all possible haste toward the Navy base.

  With ten minutes remaining before 18:00 and the seventh wave, the melee fighters stood at the ready outside the building and formed up defensively. The ranged fighters, now in various feline and human forms, stood in a tight circle behind them. The healers, all in human form (at Garath’s express direction, he didn’t need his healers taking any more damage than they had to), took their positions just inside the doors.

  "It's so quiet," said Athios.

  The sun, barely peeking over the western horizon now, was sending its final rays of light for the day in red beams to streak across the smoke-filled lavender sky. All was still. "Where are the orbs?"

  "Yeah,” Athios agreed, her voice just more than a whisper. “They usually appear right after the death count prompt."

  Garath glanced at her chest just below the bust, where she had been impaled by a Ghoul during the second wave. The dark blood stain still surrounded the hole that rusted scimitar had made. He noticed her noticing him staring at her chest and promptly looked away.

  "I kind of doubt they're running late," he said quickly. "But I guess there are still a few minutes..."

  In nervous silence, The Band of the Hawk waited. Not a single person had made it to their stronghold during the break before the ever encroaching seventh wave.

  Garath kept his MENU panels open and watched as the seconds made their unabridged march toward 18:00 hours. When the last second of supposed safety had elapsed, a blinding white light bathed the entire planet, seeming to come from every angle at once. The flash came and went in an instant, dissipating and leaving the group standing outside the building partially blinded.

  With dark and light spots clouding his vision, Garath looked around frantically, searching for any sign of danger. He saw nothing but what he heard nearly made his heart stop in his chest. A deep thrum filled the air and it was growing louder each second. Garath felt like something was wrong. He turned this way and that, his eyes and ears straining to provide him with some hint about what his gut was screaming at him to understand. Then he realized it, the sky had gone completely dark. Between recovering from the partial blindness and the fear of what would follow it, Garath hadn't noticed the difference in lighting at first. As the thrum grew louder, small openings appeared and the darkening lavender sky could be seen behind a constantly shifting tide of some kind of flying monster. As they neared and Garath’s eyes recovered, he understood the thrum.

  Countless, large winged beasts were descending from the burning sky.

  ‘Fuck,’ thought Garath. ‘Dragons…’

  Chapter 19

  Apocalypse 1/3

  The air had begun to chill and a stiff wind blew east off the ocean as the winged creatures neared the ground.

  "Heads up! We're in their firing range!" Warrion shouted as the massive reptiles began to fire streaks of lightning from their mouths.

  "What gave you that impression?" Athios asked. A silver disk popped into existence near her right hand and was then directed above the melee fighters with her left. Blast after blast of forking lightning directed at the fighting force from above sank harmlessly into the shimmering disk, which then popped back out of existence and was replaced by a second disk that sent the cumulative destructive force back at the aerial monsters. In the distance, a familiar neon explosion let Athios know that she had managed to kill at least one of the beasts.

  Seconds later, dozens of horse-sized, black, armor-scaled reptiles landed down on the black-top outside the school building. Powerful hind legs with wicked, obsidian claws touched down first, followed shortly to the ground by the hand-like appendages protruding from the tips of their great wings - leaving the creatures hunched over on all fours. Their elongated, serpentine torsos ended with a long, barbed tail that swung threateningly behind them. Garath triggered his Inspect ability.

  Wyvern

  Health: 165/165

  Race: Beast

  Level: 17

  Mana: 183/210

  Specification: Reptile

  Description: Often mistaken for Dragons, these winged reptiles have only two legs.

  ***Note: Wyverns lack the intelligence and reasoning abilities of their more advanced cousins, the Dragons. They do, however, pack a powerful ‘punch’.

  Average Respawn Time: N/A

  ‘So that's the difference between a Wyvern and Dragon…’ Garath speculated to himself while shifting into the form of a House Cat.

  Fluffy and adorable once again, the Necrologist was swept by an unusual feeling. Whenever he had shifted into his House Cat form before he had felt more powerful - lea
n, strong, and athletic - but this was different. He felt raw power rushing through his veins and a kind of bloodlust overcame him. He craved the feeling of slain enemies empowering his body in the form of Experience points. He could almost taste the power just waiting to be ripped from the winged reptiles, and his mouth watered.

  Garath started summoning his Fel Hound as he gave instructions to the fighting force around him. *Healers, get all the way inside the building. Ranged fighters, form up just inside the doors. Melee fighters, make a tight circle just in front of the ranged fighters.*

  The sickly green summoning circle received the necessary time and Mana and a sickly green Fel Hound emerged from it as The Band responded to Garath's commands. The Raid leader himself took his place in front of the entrance hall where the ranged fighters began to send attacks of their own at the winged reptiles now tearing into the melee fighters as they scrambled to forge a defensive line. Garath aimed and fired Death Bolts on repeat, sending his back orbs to join the kaleidoscope of magic attacks spewing out from the building’s southern exit. Several Wyverns cried awfully and flashed neon before disappearing entirely into the night.

  Finally, they managed to clear a ten meter half-circle around the doors. Garath sent his Fel Hound to join the melee fighters standing almost shoulder to shoulder as more Wyverns dove to attack. Garath continued giving orders over the Raid communication channel.

  *Athios and anyone else with a Skill that can stop these fucking aerial attacks, you're only job just became to do so. AyAyRon, you and your boys just do your thing but I want you to be responsible for any Wyvern that breaks through those shields, got it?*

  "Got it," the young man confirmed.

  With an eager tail wag, the Fel Hound took off at a sprint toward a Wyvern and leaped at its face. The demonic canine sunk its teeth into the Wyvern's neck and held the bite with all its strength as the great winged beast whipped its neck around in an attempt to fling the Hound off. After a few frantic attempts, the reptile succeeded in sending the Hound flying through the air, but the damage had already been done. A large, bloody chunk of scaled flesh was still between the hound’s clenched jaws as it hit the ground. It let out a whimper of pain before scrambling back to its feet. The Fel Hound battled on with the Level 17 Wyvern, zig zagging evasively to avoid the lightning being expelled from the reptile's mouth and jumping at its target again with gnashing teeth.

  A silver disk appearing out of nowhere just above him and to his left pulled the Garath's attention away from his Death Bolt spamming. A Wyvern diving at him from above disappeared into it less than a second after he noticed it. Scant moments later, a second disk appeared thirty-meters in the air and the winged beast came barreling out of it like a bat out of hell. The Wyvern slowed after a second, looking disoriented - but ultimately just turned back to the building and resumed its diving attack.

  Thwarting the attacks from above proved difficult but not impossible. Athios, TodoroKen, and SHONEN worked out a rotation that got the job done. The next dive-bombing reptile was promptly knocked unconscious by a pillar of asphalt that rose up from the ground to meet it, courtesy of the good doctor, TodoroKen - and was just as quickly dispatched by AyAyRon and the hawkies. After that, another diving attack was stopped cold by SHONEN’s AoE spell shield - a blue wall that extended over the Raid group like an awning and remained in place, protecting the group from sky attacks for 15 seconds. The spell shield came with a full one-minute cooldown, so Athios and TodoroKen would alternate interrupting dive-bombs and redirecting lightning attacks until SHONEN’s spell shield once again clicked into place above them. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it kept the group from breaking formation.

  The melee fighters kept the Wyverns attacking on ground level at bay as the casters wreaked havoc from the entrance chamber. Occasionally a Wyvern would break through from above, but AyAyRon and the hawkies were on them within seconds. The group’s formation held and they were able to keep the battle going their way with the horde of enemies bottlenecked outside the building, not unlike the six waves preceding it.

  With their defensive line holding strong, The Band of the Hawk was able to methodically take out the Wyverns at their front doors - but Garath knew it was nothing like the previous waves had been. Because Sharon and the healers worked in concert with Athios, Todoroken, and a few others holding off aerial attacks from the entrance, the Health of all those fighting outside filled just as quickly as the Wyverns could bring it down with their teeth, talons, barbed tails, and lightning AoE attacks.

  Garath did take note of the fact that every one of the healer’s Mana bars were already under half and dropping precipitously as they lit up the main hall with a myriad of different colors to send healing and fortifying spells into the battle ahead. The number of Wyverns descending on them didn't seem to slow down at all. If anything, Garath felt as though the swarm of Wyverns attacking their stronghold was actually just attracting more Wyverns. Half an hour into the seventh wave there were still hundreds, if not thousands of the flying reptiles circling above and, with almost the entire city already dead, they likely wouldn't be able to find another target for miles.

  Garath continued firing off Death Bolts as rapidly as he could. He was making a noticeable impact, but it wasn't enough for him. He wanted... needed to spill more Wyvern blood.

  The Raid leader, in his slight and nimble form, dashed out from below the raging battle of forked lightning, blazing fire, fangs, swords, and shields. He sprinted up the lowered wing of a Wyvern that was crawling on all fours into the fray with its mouth open, readying another lightning attack. Once on the creature's long serpentine neck, Garath found that his little claws were unable to penetrate the thick black scales and he lost footing. As he fell, feline instinct took over and his spine twisted while his hips and shoulders rotated mid air to land on his feet. The Wyvern he had been attempting to traverse looked down at the white house cat at its feet, dismissed it, and then resumed its barrage on Gary's raised shield as the bearded man approached.

  From just below the hissing, drooling mouth of the massive reptile, Garath released the instant cast of Blight - infecting three of the nearby creatures with its dark purple energy. From the same position, Garath channeled his Mana and waited for the Wyvern to open its mouth and once again send streaks of lighting at Gary. As soon as the Wyvern’s fangs parted, Garath released a Death Bolt directly into its gaping maw. The Wyvern roared in pain and its long neck whipped back from the impact.

  Apparently the wide open target was too tempting for Garath’s Fel Hound to resist. Leaving its previous target, the hound leaped to sink its teeth into the shocked Wyvern's unprotected neck. Off-balance already from the unexpected bolt of Death energy fired into its open mouth, the Wyvern fell to the ground as the Hound barreled into it. The hound sunk its teeth into the Wyvern, tearing this way and that as they wrestled on the asphalt.

  Streaks of electricity rained down from the sky and into the demonic canine's back, searing the meat between its shoulders. The Hound, already low on Health, flashed neon and evaporated into the ether.

  Garath paid it no mind and worked to finish the Wyvern craning its neck and pushing its wings awkwardly into the ground, desperately trying to get off of its back. Three Death Bolts in rapid succession did the job, each blast of the Death energy taking large chunks from the Wyvern’s displayed Health bar. The last point of Health in its pathetic, broken form was drained away by the damage Blight was still inflicting. The struggling Wyvern flashed neon and Garath bathed in exaltation as the Exp flowed into him. From the corner of his eye, his combat log let him know just how much power slaying one of these winged reptiles would provide.

  Begin Combat Log:

  [17:03:05.1] You have slain Level 17 Wyvern.

  [17:03:05.1] You have been awarded 2,850 Experience for slaying Level 17 Wyvern.

  End Combat Log.

  Garath cooed from the massive Experience gain even as a dozen or more Wyverns flooded in. He took off at a sprint tow
ard a group of five of the beasts that had just landed down on the basketball court nearest to the building. Once amidst the party of Wyverns and they, in turn, were all within the range of his Blight, Garath released the instant cast of deep purple energy and infected them with its poison debuff.

  They all turned on him and lunged at his slight form. With his heightened reflexes in feline form, Garath dodged the evil-looking fangs of an oncoming Wyvern that clamped down on nothing but air before skidding to a stop, face first on the asphalt. The fluffy Necrologist jumped onto the beast's head and ran up its scaled neck, placing each foot carefully to avoid losing footing on the dense scales this time.