He let out a hearty laugh. I must have surprised him with my request.
“And here I thought you wanted a part of the city and tanks and aircraft.”
“I don’t need any of that, but I would like some contractors. See, you know I said our inn was transported to the rift, right? But we don’t have any plumbing or sewers to deal with the waste. I need that fixed. And I need some exterior work done.”
“Say, can I hold that sword of yours for a second?”
“You can have mine,” Lana interjected and offered her sword instead.
He took the sword from her and whistled as he stared at it. “Quite the monster, if I may say so myself.”
“It sure is. Imagine my beast. It killed a gigantic monster.”
“And the armor? It’s better than what we have over here?”
“Let’s say that you’d have an easier time trying to pummel a tank to death than me.”
“I see.”
“Then you get my point. I would also allow you to set up a small base within my dome for, let’s say… twenty people in total. A small office building, one for sleeping, and one for supplies.”
I knew then and there that I had him. His heart started beating faster, and the grin on his face was a dead giveaway.
“I’ll have someone prepare—how much of the stuff do you need, anyway?”
“How about twenty bottles of cognac, a metric ton of soda and bottled water, a hundred pounds of candy, and—” I turned my head toward Lana. She shrugged.
“I’m not really into anything but getting stronger. Good hygiene is a must though.”
General Kade nodded and looked over toward Linda. “Got all of that?”
“I’ll add—are there any children in there? Or young mothers? Elderly? Young kids? Teens?”
“All of us are between the thirties and fifties, though we have a newborn.”
“Alright, so diapers, baby food, wipes, and everything else to make the young mom’s life easier, right?” Linda asked. “And general hygiene necessities, pads for the ladies, underwear, clothing. Anything else? Oh, the livestock. Say twenty chickens for eggs? Several cows for milk?”
Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. “What do you have in mind, General? What kind of equipment do you expect for that abundance?”
“I want your assistance in the future as guaranteed. Secondly, I want some basic weapons and armor enough to outfit a unit.”
“A unit? How many?”
“Say—forty?”
I snorted and almost spat out the whiskey that was in my mouth. “Forty, huh?”
He nodded. “Forty weapons and forty armors. Not sets, just pieces.”
“Twenty weapons and forty pieces of armor, but I don’t want a deadline, General. Those things are hard to farm and make. The monsters have a respawn timer, and it takes a while for them to respawn.”
“Will a week be enough?”
“I want half of the things I requested in advance and half upon delivery.”
“Care to sign a contract, Viktor?”
I grinned. “Think you can enforce it?”
He shrugged. “No, but it’s good manners. So?”
I nodded and looked over at Linda. “Can you draft it up quickly?”
“I can, sir. Give me five minutes.”
“So, now that we’re on the same wavelength—” Kade laughed “—how about—”
People started screaming and crying outside the building as an echo of gunfire resounded all around us and explosions shook the building.
“What the hell?” I cursed and hurried over to the window.
Dozens of armed men and women were busy fighting the soldiers and killing people indiscriminately. I pulled the window open and jumped out, equipping the armor as I dropped the twenty or so floors. At the last moment, I launched myself using double jump and pulled the halberd from my pouch.
“What the hell is that?” one of the assailants asked. He was a big bald man wielding a club like one of the elites used to fight with.
My halberd came crashing down from above as he put the club up. The blade passed through the club and his whole body, coming out at the groin. Sparks and chunks of stone flew in all directions as the halberd struck the pavement.
I got up and sliced through the man next to him and his weapon alike, a thin fencing sword. Idiot. Who brings such a weapon to a battle?
“Kill him!” a woman screamed. She stood off to the side and held a sniper rifle at her side. Seemed that everyone understood the way to fight in this new world where you couldn’t fire off bullets as much as you wanted.
Several projectiles dinged off my Enma shield, going wide or bouncing back in the direction of the shooters. I looked over at my shield stats. It was barely down by forty points. They could shoot me all day long if they wanted at this pace.
I ran toward the closest woman, who’s holding a spear in her hands. She thrust it toward me, catching me off guard. She was fast, but not so fast. I deflected it using the shaft of my halberd and kicked her legs from underneath her. She fell and hit her head against the sidewalk, cracking it wide open. New gunshots rang out and peppered me, but nothing was passing through. The fear in their eyes was apparent; they hadn’t expected someone like me to be here.
“Retreat!” the same woman screamed. Her long green hair stood out among the others from her group. “Back to base!”
She fired off another round straight at my head. The barrier held, and the bullet dropped to the ground, but not before it took over thirty points off my shield by itself. Lana burst from a window closer to the ground and landed amidst the enemy. She slashed and cut through four of them before they could even react.
“Lana! Cut off their retreat!”
I dashed toward the green-haired woman at superhuman speed. She was startled when I closed the distance in what felt like a heartbeat.
I swung the halberd in a circle and cut through the backs of two retreating men. Then I stopped and stared at their writhing bodies. All of them had a green dragon tattoo on their necks or shoulders.
“You want me to give chase?” Lana yelled as I stood there, still staring down at the two.
“No, don’t. This didn’t make sense from the start.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Why the hell would they attack a base full of soldiers?”
A sudden flare caught my eye at the far end of the street corner and was accompanied by a hiss as something came flying right at me. My eyes grew wide as I realized it was a damned RPG! I dropped the halberd and pulled out my blade, then put it up like a wall between myself and the incoming projectile. It was fast, but somehow I still had time once I was in position. Was the speed boost that important?
Lana’s eyes grew wide as the grenade streaked past her; the small plume of smoke caused her to cough as it barely passed a foot from her head. A soldier slammed into her from the side and landed atop her, shielding her with his body as the grenade exploded against my sword and shield. The explosion rocked my shield and my body as flames enveloped me like a cocoon. My teeth rattled as I absorbed most of it using Enma and finally flew off, slamming ten feet further against the wall.
My view blurred as I lay there in the rubble, trying to get my bearings. The ringing in my ears was bad, and I felt as if my head was about to explode, but it didn’t. My eyesight returned and the ringing disappeared as I pushed myself up in a sitting position, pulling at the Enma from around me.
Lana stopped beside me, already having closed the distance between us as I was getting up. She offered me her hand, and I took it, letting her pull me up.
“Fucking hell,” I cursed as I dusted myself off.
“You alright?” she asked worriedly, giving me the once-over. “How the hell did you survive that blast? That was fucking insane!”
“Where’s my sword?” I asked instead. “It served—as a shield as well.” I had trouble breathing, as the blast must have slammed the sword into me and right through the
shield. A realization dawned on me.
“I’ve figured out how I was able to kill the tyranitaur.”
“Huh? At such a time?”
I nodded. “Shields are negated when you have contact with either the shield or the target itself. Back then I was up against its body, and now I held the sword close to me, and that was enough for the shield not to activate.”
We took a step toward the building, but then I stopped. My right side was hurting, no, not the right, but my back.
“Hey, can you check my back?”
Lana frowned and stepped around me. Her mouth opened wide as her eyebrows rose into her forehead.
“You’re—oh shit! We need to get you inside!” she hissed. “Help! I need help!”
I accessed my status window and undid my armor just as a sharp pain erupted from my back. I gasped and dropped to my knees, the world around me spinning just before I blacked out.
I woke up on a soft bed. My eyes fluttered open without any issues this time, and I shot up into a sitting position. The pain was gone, and I felt almost as good as new. At least as much as one could be after getting hit by a grenade.
Lana slept on a bed next to mine. She didn’t have her leather armor on either, instead just the short yukata. The woman knew how to make me feel good the moment I woke up. Her legs were bare and part of her ass, at least the part turned toward me.
I looked around, but we were in there alone. The door on the far side of the room was closed, and I knew that no one would have been so stupid as to peek inside as we rested. She stirred as I moved my legs over the bedside.
“You’ve been out of it for two days,” she murmured as her eyes blinked the sleep away. She pushed herself up and sat on her folded legs.
“Two? Fuck!”
“Fuck indeed. And before you ask, yeah, they were the Green Dragons. Kade found out that someone sold information to them, so they came over to test us.”
“Test us, huh? I’ll give those fuckers a damn test!”
“Yeah? First, you gotta tell me how you feel. You good to move?”
I nodded as I got up and stretched. It still hurt a bit, but that wasn’t anything remotely close to what I’d felt before fainting.
“I’m good, don’t worry. What about the others? Why the hell didn’t they open fire with their tanks and the guns mounted to their APCs?”
She shrugged. “Civilians were around. They tried to contain it, and it was just now that he finally understood how the balance of power had shifted.”
“Kade will have his stuff as long as he gives us what we asked for, and I’ll even throw in a bonus by killing all those bastards.”
I walked over to a chair and picked my kimono up, then put it on. Shoes were next, and lastly the pouch. I opened it hurriedly as a pang of fear slammed into my gut. But everything was still there.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been with you the entire time. No one had a chance to even remotely try anything.”
I nodded and turned toward her, putting on my most earnest smile. “Thanks. I owe you.”
“I guess you do.” She chuckled. “See, it’s much more bearable to be around you by myself than when Melina is around.”
“Don’t let her hear you, or she might cut off your Enma flow.” I laughed. “Now, how about we go see the big guy?”
“Yeah, hold on,” she muttered. “I’ve gone through the Green Dragon’s info we got from Kade, and I’m not quite happy with what I read.”
“Why? What is it?”
“They have several S- ranked and one of the two S rankers. They got a lot of firepower.”
“I see,” I replied, not quite happy with the revelation either. If it were just the rankers, then it wouldn’t matter much, but RPGs and modern weaponry could seriously hinder us when out in this world. “Whatever the case, if we want to be friends with the military and see them alive and well next time, we need to do something.”
“Exactly my thoughts. They gave me chocolate. As in high-quality stuff. I want more.”
“Oh?” I chuckled as my right eyebrow rose slightly. “How was it?”
“Why don’t you try it out yourself?” She leaned in and shoved a small piece into my mouth. My tongue exploded into overdrive as it whirled around the block of chocolate. It melted with every twist and sent all kinds of lewd thoughts into my mind.
“Shit, what the hell was that?” I asked once it was all gone. “I sure wouldn’t mind more of it.”
“Told you!” She laughed. “Come on, let’s meet with Kade first. We can ask about chocolate once we’re done.”
“You tease!” I mock-hissed as she put her arm around me and ushered me through the door.
“Sir Viktor,” a young woman greeted us as we walked into the hallway. She wore a similar outfit to Linda when we’d met them two days ago. “Please follow me. The general instructed me to wait until you came to.”
I flashed her a warm smile and nodded. She turned about and rushed off, but we caught up at the elevator, joined her inside, and a minute later sat in Kade’s office once again. His expression told me volumes. Kade wasn’t happy with whatever the current situation was.
“What is it, General? Did they attack again?”
“No, but I know for sure they were testing us. And you as well. One of our informants ran from them and delivered the news. They’re in hiding right now.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“Kill them of course! We’ll launch an all-out offensive against their base before they get out of hand. We can’t do much about their rift, but we need to take back control over the city!”
I nodded, understanding what he was getting at. “You won’t want to attack them inside the rift, as they can pick you off like sitting ducks in there. Owners of rifts have special powers when it comes to fighting inside the domes.”
His eyes turned into slits just as his lips rose, showing two rows of large white teeth. “Right, right. So, can I count on you two?”
“Yeah, you can. That was my plan anyway, but when do we start?”
“In six hours. We’ll attack them during the night and cut off their rift. Luckily it’s pretty far from their base and much closer to us than them.”
“Then what’s the plan? Anything special?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea, Viktor. Whatever we do, there will be dead on all sides, especially civilians. We’ll need to hit them hard and fast. I was thinking of bombing their base to keep the number of dead down.”
I let out a sigh and closed my eyes for a moment. This kind of situation wasn’t something I wanted to be in. The cousins and their families had died when I was around, helpless to save them, and the situation would be mostly the same again if we went through with this. The difference now was that we had no one to revive our people.
“Hey, I know what you’re thinking,” Lana whispered. “You’re thinking it is all wrong. Think about how many people will be saved, not killed.”
“Yeah, easy to say, but you’re right even though I don’t want to admit it. What about the Greens, General? Do we kill them outright?”
He nodded. “Everyone who takes a weapon and points it in our direction is considered an enemy.”
“Even if it’s a child?”
“Even then, Viktor. Would you want to see that child kill your wife just because you thought it innocent? No one’s innocent, at least not anymore.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” I protested. “That still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like it. And tell me something else. What is to keep you from usurping control over the city and broader region if we get rid of them? Power gives rise to temptation. I’ve been there.”
He sighed and shrugged. “Nothing but people like you. I like to believe we can co-exist with certain—individuals like yourself. Like some of the Apocalypse Association. Like some of the other citizens with power. You will keep us in check by just being present and looming over our heads.”
I scratched the back of my head and str
etched. “I’d like to rest for a while before we move out. Is that alright?”
“Absolutely. I’ll send Linda to get you an hour before we launch, and have someone take care of all your needs until then.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Doesn’t this remind you of back then?” Lana asked as I sat in an oversized bathtub overlooking the city. Occasional explosions rocked the streets, tracer ammo flashed across the sky, and all of them were accompanied by screams of the dying and wounded.
“I wonder how it is in the other cities,” I replied as I tried not to feel the pain from outside. I already had my hands full trying to deal with Melina, Lana, and the rifts to worry about others, but it was stronger than me.
“Which cities?”
“Any other city. Is humanity as depraved no matter where you go? I’d like to say probably not, but I’m not sure after seeing everything I did so far.”
“Vik, why would you care? You got your hands full here in Sylmar. God knows how long we’ll need to sort shit out back at the inn and over here.”
I picked up another piece of chocolate from the chair next to the bathtub and pushed it into my mouth. This stuff wasn’t good for me. If I went on like this, I was going to have to start working out.
“I can’t get enough of this stuff!”
“Even after seventeen pieces?”
“No, I want more!”
A soft knock on the door startled me. I let out a sigh and called out to the person of annoyance, letting them know their interruption wasn’t welcome.
“What?”
“Sir Viktor? There’s a little over an hour left. Can you please get ready and come out?”
I thought it was the voice of that young woman who led us to Kade earlier after I woke up. Might have been wrong, but it wasn’t like it mattered.
“Give us fifteen minutes,” I called back and slowly got out of the tub, joining Lana near the bed where our new clothes were laid out. They’d even provided us matching kimonos earlier, which was… nice of them.
We got dressed and made our way down the hall, trailing after the young woman from earlier. Kade was waiting outside his office and talking to Colonel Herrion when we arrived.
Crafting Death: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 2) Page 16
