Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8)
Page 23
“You think they reach all the way down or are they just arches?” Erik asked.
“You want me to answer that?”
Erik glanced at the darkness at the edge of the path. “Nah, I’m good.”
Erik, Gilly, and George got to work while Rugrat patrolled the ruin. He moved the stone blocks outside the capture area, creating defensive positions.
“Spikes are set.” Erik finished poisoning them all and laid down a few metal attribute needles.
“Okay, I’ll take those two paths. Split the kids up to take the others,” Rugrat said.
“Got it. Shall we?”
They all entered the capture area.
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Capture Area 3
1/100
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Rugrat took a position in some broken rubble. He pushed rocks and chunks away to get comfortable.
Erik used a broken wall to support his forward arm. Gilly and George hid among the piles of debris, looking at the paths leading to the ruins.
Rugrat fired first, dust shifting around him.
Erik double-tapped the first mite that appeared. George went with his fire crystals, hurling them into the entrance of the tunnel. Against earth and metal attribute creatures, he had one hell of an advantage.
Gilly created brown gems that dropped from the sky, struck the ground, and turned into stone spikes.
Erik’s penetrating shots cut through the mites. He drew in the earth and metal elements of the surrounding area. He was like a vacuum. The rate of mites showing up slowed.
“The hell is that noise?” Rugrat asked.
Erik listened; it was coming from the pits. “I dunno, sounds like bones hitting one another?”
A centipede-like creature shot out from the pit. It shook its body, letting out a shuddering roar as its exoskeleton clacked together. The top half of its body leaned forward, crashing to the ground. It was over ten meters long.
Three rapid-fire rounds went through its teeth-filled mouth and into its body, detonating at different points, spraying ichor and exo-skeleton everywhere.
Another one came out of the pit with its battle cry.
Erik fired on the creature. His rounds cut through its body but didn’t hit anything vital. “Blunt shot!”
His attacks did more damage as the creature dropped. A spike grew out of the ground to meet it.
It must have not seen the spike as it landed on it. The spike drove through its body and exploded.
Rugrat fired on the mites that were getting closer, excited by the earth and metal elements released by the dead centipedes.
Erik fired on his own paths and on Gilly’s as she took care of the centipedes.
“Need some support here!” Rugrat said. Erik drew in fire mana.
“Firestorm coming in on your paths, Rugrat!”
A spell formation appeared; the air twisted faster and faster, bursting into flames. The fire storms rapidly moved down the paths, burning and throwing mites into the pits, stopping before the tunnels.
Rugrat got to his knee, turning and shooting the head of a ‘pede that had crawled up from the pit. He swiveled like he had eyes in the back of his head. A penetrating shot took two mites out as George created fire rain that tore through three other centipedes.
Erik fired on Gilly’s path and then switched to his own.
Gilly roared. Earth spears stabbed through two centipedes and exploded.
Erik scanned the area, but there was nothing. He forced out a breath, his eyes flickering across the area.
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Capture Area 3
100/100
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“Ah shit,” Erik let out a breath.
“I fucking hate worms. Reloading,” Rugrat muttered, sliding down behind his cover.
“Got you. You mean centipedes?”
“Anything long, round, and with lots of teeth!”
“Makes me think of the sandworms.”
“Fuck those worms. I nearly died.”
“I got the damn One Foot in the Grave title a second time doing that.” Erik tapped his magazine.
“Back in. Wasn’t it the mana spirit knight things that nearly killed you?”
“Reloading.” Erik checked his notifications.
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You have reached Level 64
When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 10 points.
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132,701,878/273,500,000 EXP till you reach Level 65
==========
“Good to go. Maybe. I dunno. It was years ago now. You want to try for area four? Or call it?” Erik asked.
“I don’t have anything else I need to do right now.”
“So forward then?”
“Sure.” Rugrat shrugged, scanning the area. “When you drew in earth and metal elements, the mites slowed right down.”
“Yeah, I never really paid that much attention to elements. I thought they were only useful when combined with mana and became attributes.”
“You ever think that elements and attributes are confusing?”
“I guess. Element is the pure form, without the mana. Attribute is where the element and mana have combined. The purer mana is, the fewer attributes it has, or the lower the elements-to- mana ratio.”
“Yup, guess it’s that whole thing. Where the more you know, the less you think you know,” Rugrat said.
“So, where we heading to?”
“That way.” Rugrat pointed to a path.
Erik stood up, shaking out the kinks.
“Let’s do this. Cover me so I can examine the centipede and some more of those mites. I want to figure out what their weaknesses are. Just need more test subjects.”
“Bro, you know you sound all mad scientist an’ shit when you say that, right?”
“You’ve watched too much TV.”
Erik examined the bodies before they dissipated.
“The mites have a weakness.”
With a wet noise, Erik flipped the mite over. Its limbs were splayed out, and it was starting to drift away. “See where the limbs connect right there? That’ll kill them. Otherwise, go for where their head connects to their neck.”
“The centipedes?”
Erik moved to a headless centipede. “Sixth section down where it bulges out.” Erik pointed at the section with his rifle.
“Yeah.”
“Vital organs are right in there. Sixth, seventh and eighth sections have extra armor, but the fifth and ninth don’t.”
“So hit the fifth with a penetration round and it’ll tumble right through its vitals.”
“Yeah. They’re strong against direct hits. Between the sections and the leg joints, they’re weaker. Hit them from an angle or as they rear up. Much better chance to get through.”
“And that, kids, is our lesson on creepy crawlies and their weaknesses. Got it.” Rugrat nodded.
“Let's head for the next area then.”
Erik led the way down George’s path. He dispersed the heat as he walked toward the tunnel.
“Contact!” Erik fired on the mite that came down the tunnel. His rounds smashed through the thinner skeleton around its neck; it collapsed instantly.
Erik scanned the area for any more moving around.
“We didn’t kill all of them?” Rugrat asked, looking around.
“Maybe more of them spawned?”
“Moving.”
Erik continued forward. He cleared his way through the tunnels. It took them longer to get to the fourth area. They ran into more of the mites. The further from the ruin capture area, the more of them there were.
Erik entered the room that housed the fourth capture room.
“Well, this looks like a fucking pain in the ass. At least the holes in the ceiling aren’t right over the capture point, cause as sure as shit something is going to fall out of those. Hope you can catch them, Gilly!”
“Blind corners, pillars i
n the way.”
The center of the room had a much larger capture pillar atop several half-steps. There were several tunnel entrances along with holes in the ceiling and ground. Five large pillars as big as George surrounded the capture area, blocking their line of sight.
“Well, it should funnel them a bit. I’m using the mines.”
“Extreme dungeon makeover?”
“C-four style.”
George and Gilly covered for Erik and Rugrat as they laid down mines between the pillars. Spikes were stuck in the tunnels that led into the room.
“Contact!” Rugrat fired twice and went silent.
“Talk to me,” Erik said. He couldn’t see Rugrat with his rifle up and ready in his hands, watching the other side.
“Think it was just the one. Think it was just roaming the area.”
They kept working on the minefield and traps.
“Okay, that should work,” Rugrat said as they met up around the central pillar. They’d made a wall around the capture area for defenses.
“Minefields are primed, spikes all over the place.”
“Let's start.”
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Capture Area 4
1/100
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Chittering and the sound of armored feet against stone filled the room.
Erik flicked to automatic. He didn’t try to draw in the earth and metal elements, testing out his new theory.
He fired as soon as he saw mites. The tunnels curved close to their entrance, giving only a few meters before the spikes.
They smashed into the spikes. Even if the leading mites had wanted to stop, those behind them pushed them into the spikes.
Erik’s rounds cut down through the tunnels, killing dozens.
Rugrats’ rifle sounded like it was on automatic with how fast he was firing.
“Reloading!” Rugrat tossed off a magazine and grabbed a new one.
“Above!” Erik looked up as a centipede launched itself from the ceiling. Earth spears shot out of the ground like missiles, striking centipedes in the air. There was a stream from Erik’s rifle arcing across the open area between the pillars.
A centipede rose from the floor, stepped on a mine at the entrance, and its front half disappeared.
Erik’s rifle clicked empty.
“Reloading!” Erik yelled as he tossed the magazine, grabbed a new one, smashed it into the magwell, and hit the bolt catch.
Rounds went downrange.
“Mites on the pillars! Back in!” Erik yelled.
He hosed the mites and centipedes, aiming at their weaknesses. His arms blurred as he switched targets, rounds drilling holes through armor plates into the mites and centipedes’ vitals.
His reactions, honed by a lifetime of both medical training and fighting, came together with the enhancement of the Ten Realms. In his vision, he was overlaying the internal structure of the creatures.
It was a slaughter, but it was just a dent compared to the surging numbers.
They had broken through the spikes in some places, using the bodies of those that had gone before them as a bridge over top.
George let out a fire breath like a laser. The red light left scorch marks on the pillars and needed just a few seconds to cut through the mites. The centipedes cried out, but they were only more pissed off.
Erik gathered the mana and elements within his body. He tossed his rifle to his side, securing it with a tie.
He threw a punch, scooping up the ground. A fist the size of Gilly swung out, smashing through four centipedes and several mites.
Erik drew on the stone around him, creating fists he sent into the oncoming centipedes, crushing them against the walls and floor.
Gilly swiped her claw, earth condensing along her Frigate’s path, cleaving through mites.
Erik channeled the power of the fire element and mana through his leg, injecting it into the ground. The ground shifted and broke, spreading out and exploding, tossing mites and magma everywhere.
“Switching!” Erik pulled out a grenade launcher, firing it into the clumped groups near the tunnel entrances or around the pillars. He swung out the empty magazine, dropping it into his storage ring. “Fuck!”
A centipede screeched, dropping out of the ceiling and aiming for George below.
Erik dropped the launcher, grabbed his railgun, and pulled the tie off.
He fired one-handed. His tempered body took the recoil easily as he wrapped his hand around the handguards. The rounds punched holes in the centipede as it smashed into the ground and faded out of existence.
Erik turned to fire on the mites that had made it to the minefields when two explosions rang out, killing most of them. He tossed his rifle to the side on his sling and knelt to grab the dropped grenade launcher. He pulled out a full chamber, slotted it into place, and snapped it shut.
He fired wherever he saw groups of creatures, using magma explosion spells underneath those he couldn’t hit.
“Reloading!”
Another centipede came up after the minefield, just meters from Erik.
“Motherfucker!” Erik formed a hammer in his hand, infusing it with earth, fire, and metal. He threw it with all his power. The hammer smashed through the centipede’s mouth, going through it lengthwise before it exploded.
“Fuck centipedes!”
Erik finished reloading, looking for groups. He had time between shots as the groups had slimmed down, the ground filled with the dead and the dying.
“Reloading!” Rugrat yelled.
Erik threw out a hammer, catching a mite that came around a pillar, and jumped. It was tossed backward as Erik’s hammer exploded behind it, striking the ceiling.
“Back in!”
“Switching!” Erik changed to his rifle, firing on the mites.
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Capture Area 4
100/100
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“Isn’t this shit done?” Rugrat yelled.
“They’re attracted by it.”
“Shit!”
The mites slowed their progress as Erik fired on them, targeting their necks. They dropped faster than before.
“Reloading!” Erik tossed out his magazine and threw in a fresh one. “Back in!”
The mites’ forward line was getting pushed back. The centipedes had been slaughtered. Some of the mites were moving to their dead brethren and opening their exoskeletons to draw in the ambient mana.
Erik fired explosive shots into the open mites, leaving smudges on the stone. Scanning, he didn’t see anything.
“Good on my side, I think!” Erik yelled, looking at Gilly’s and George’s areas filled with tombstones.
“Good here. Shit, I think we got them all. Should we get out of here?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
They broke their medallions and reappeared at the dungeon entrance. The doors opened, revealing the training dungeon lobby.
“Shit! That was a tough last wave.” Rugrat pulled off his helmet.
Erik followed suit. “Got a little messy there with the centipedes coming from the ceiling.” They walked out with Gilly and George, who had shrunk down padding along with them.
“The earth spears were a good idea. You learn a new fighting technique with the fists?”
“Yeah, from the library. Someone watched too much anime. They wanted to make a magi-tech mecha. You can clad yourself with earth, fire, wind, and whatever. But it takes a lot of damn mana to do it. And you should temper your body with that element. Else, you need to wear armor to protect against it.”
Rugrat rolled his eyes as he stored his helmet, cradling his rifle in the crook of his elbow.
“Anyway, it didn’t work the best. Though, if you use parts of it, like that magma fist, you can create stronger versions of your own punch, and it doesn’t even hurt your fist.”
“Great to know you’re putting my gauntlets to use.”
“I thought that I would use them more often, too. Might be a better idea t
o get a formation that increases my spell damage.”
“There are new beast hide gauntlets. The armored ones are okay. They’re nice, but the plates rub on your finger. Starts to hurt after a while. The beast hide lasts longer and doesn’t restrict you as much, but the formation is sewn in.”
“Might be a good idea.” Erik looked at Storbon and his team. “Let’s head back up top.”
“You got it, Boss.”
Gilly and George grew, allowing Erik and Rugrat to sit on their backs.
“Guess we were in there for what, four or five hours?” Erik asked.
Rugrat sniffed his pits. “Smells like it.”
Erik grinned and checked his notifications as the group headed toward the teleportation pad.
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Skill: Throwables
Level: 58 (Journeyman)
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Your throws gain 5% power
Stamina used for throwing is decreased by 15%
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You have reached Level 65
When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by 15 points.
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146,596,128/344,700,000 EXP till you reach Level 66
==========
“Shit, it’s hard to increase any skill now.”
“You could take on another set of skills to increase levels quickly. Cooking, for one, or something like that.”
“Maybe once this is done.” Their party moved forward toward the teleports.
Erik saw Rugrat off once they were on the living floor. He headed to his private quarters in the Dungeon Mansion and took a sleeping potion.
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You have 15 attribute points to use.
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Erik looked at his stat sheet. His strength was a little high, but the agility was enough to control that. Stamina was regenerating at forty-one points per second. No wonder I needed two doses of the sleeping concoction. His mana pool was at 1160 while his stamina showed as 1845, with a mana regeneration of fifty-one per second. “Mana pool it is.”
Erik dumped in all fifteen points. His body started to change as he sunk deeper into sleep.