“Oh?” I asked as my eyebrows rose, and I looked over at the big orc chieftain.
He nodded and grinned. “They’re—what was the human word? Delicious?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his choice of words. Delicious. It sounded so strange coming from his lips.
“Grawl, tell me about your zone. Did everything go according to plan?”
He nodded his head, and an even wider grin set in. “That general friend of yours has helped us with materials and even people to show us how to use the strange material we got. It breaks easily if we apply too much pressure, but it’s surprisingly versatile.”
“Oh? What materials?”
“Plastic.” Mark exhaled. “They gave him all kinds of building materials, mostly leftovers from a failed project. At least those were Kade’s words.”
“But good enough for a start! I like my windows!”
“Windows?” I asked but then immediately understood. “Yeah, they’re good. Trust me.”
Grawl was still all grins from ear to ear as he gulped a whole pitcher down.
“Oh, and we met with Kade. Grawl and me,” Mark said. “And with Edge.”
“What did they say about our new friend? And wait, why did you take him in so easily?”
“Veles told us to. There were talks about some deal with their God and Veles?” Melina replied. “He’s been more around this place than his own.”
“And what about the thing we talked about, Grawl? The other cities?”
He shrugged and slumped his shoulders slightly as if embarrassed about the question. He even looked away. “Yeah, about that,” he mumbled. “Our God has brought the whole tribe with us, so we’re just under six thousand with our women and children. Give it a few years and that number will grow since we’ve got the space.”
“Right. But what about the other zones? The one in Farz probably collapsed with the death of its owner.”
“Not exactly. The ownership belonged to me.” Grawl sighed. “He was one of those prisoners, and after that bastard blew the base up, I killed everyone. Except for the one you wanted for Melina.”
Hearing him speak her name was so strange. It almost made my ears bleed. The pronunciation was totally off.
“And Anton?”
“Dead. I killed him right then and there. After some torture, obviously. Most of the hunters left for Sylmar that day. Even the soldiers.”
My right eyebrow rose on its own. “Who’s left?”
“Our association. That’s it.”
I let out a sigh as I slumped against Melina, not caring if anyone would bother thinking any less of me. Sure, I had been out of it for a while, but I was tired. So tired.
“Have the military and the Apocs grown since I went under?”
No one but Mark said anything.
“They’re getting out of hand and are becoming harder to deal with. All of them.” He stopped for a moment, and I knew he was thinking about how to proceed, so I cut him some slack.
“Don’t hold back, Mark. You should know better, so just say it as it is. I’m weak, and they’re hoping to capitalize on that.”
“More or less,” he muttered. “I don’t know, Viktor. If I’d been them, I would probably think the same, but I know you better. Even after getting blown to pieces, you’re far stronger than any of us. Right?”
I nodded reassuringly, but I had no idea. “Something like that, yeah.”
I pulled my stats up quickly and was surprised. The numbers were lower, sure, but they were… so perfect. I frowned and studied them for several seconds, thinking I might have seen wrong, but no, I hadn’t.
STATUS
NAME: Viktor
Age: 31
Level: 54
ENMA REALM: 2, RANK: 9
BURA REALM: 1, RANK: 4
HEALTH: 9,999
ENMA: 2,222
BURA: 1,111
SPEED: 2.5
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 7,777
ENMA ATTACK: 5,555
BREAK: 4,444
DEFENSE: 3,333
ENMA SHIELD: 9,999
Reflect: 122%
Absorb: 96%
POISON HIT CHANCE: 50
POISON BONUS DAMAGE: 44
NOTE: Current maximum power stats have been capped. Once the user has recovered, stats will greatly increase
“I’m penalized right now,” I said as I pushed the stats screen aside. “But the note said that’s only until I’ve recovered.”
“Which means that you should be able to, right?” Melina asked. Her voice was suddenly filled with hope. Just like her expression. I looked over to Grawl, who was awfully quiet.
“Do you have anything to add, blood brother?”
“Not really. I stabilized your Bura core and helped you push it into a higher rank. That’s about as much as I can do for you.”
I nodded, understanding what he meant. I had two pools, or cores as he called it, but I had no way of using Bura. They used it for skills, but other than that I had no idea what kind of miracles it could work.
“Grawl, we use Enma for all kinds of things. We can imbue it into our body, we can almost halt aging, and we can heal small injuries, sick organs, and many other things. What do you use Bura for? Other than fighting.”
He narrowed his eyes on me and opened his mouth to speak, but no words passed his lips. At least not for several long seconds, during which all eyes rested on him. He started to squirm and even coughed loudly, startling the girls.
“Bura is the source with which we imbue our bodies, Viktor. It makes us strong, fast, and we gain great endurance. It can help us overcome our weaknesses.”
“Do you think Bura could help me recover my missing arm?”
“Maybe, maybe not. It would take a long time, as you’re still missing—” he stopped to stare and then looked away quickly “—about a third and then the hand.”
“And how much of me was missing after the explosion?”
“All of it,” Melina whispered. “And even part of your shoulder.”
“Did anyone do anything special?”
No one said anything. Which was as clear an answer as it could have been. Still, there was much more to this than at first glance. The two pools had merged, my wounds had healed, and the strange stats were all… suspicious.
“What do you want to do?” Melina asked, breaking the silence that ensued. “Do you want to have a rest?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t. There are two things we need to take care of, love. One of them is Edge, and the other is Kade and Pelos.”
“Now this is going to be fun.” Mark chuckled. “Can I come with you?”
“You can if you want, but I’d prefer you stayed here to protect the others if something happened.”
He shrugged and nodded, letting go of the matter. “Can you record it for me? If there’s going to be violence?”
“I will record everything,” Grawl said and snapped his fingers.
A crystal appeared before him. It shimmered, and a recording he made started playing right above the crystal. The image was about five feet tall and eight wide, with a crisp and crystal-clear image.
“You need to teach me how you did that,” I said enthusiastically. That way I could record all my battles, especially against larger bosses, so others could study them.
“I will once we have more time. It will take about a day for you to set up the crystal.”
I nodded and looked back up at the image.
“What’s the recording about?” Melina asked. “I wasn’t there, so anything you can show us is—appreciated.”
“Everything since we arrived at the city of Farz. I caught his fight with the other chieftain. It starts there.”
I rolled my eyes and gathered myself to stand.
“I don’t want to see it again. You guys enjoy as I get some time in to try to regenerate.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
The recording kept them busy for several hours. Melina came to check up on me three ti
mes, and every time brought something to drink or snack on. That was a good decision because I was getting drained and exhausted as I pooled all the Enma and the little bit of Bura I could catch from the world, and poured it all into my stump.
Melina came to check on me again when they were done, and even though I had done all I could to force the growth, I hadn’t managed to regrow shit. The pain had mostly returned, as the wound had reopened. I guessed that it wouldn’t recover unless the wound’s skin and flesh hadn’t opened up.
Blood pooled where I sat and had mostly dried up. Melina hissed when she noticed and cursed something I didn’t make out. I put my hand up to stop her, and she did. Melina sat there and was silent for… I had no idea. I lost track of time.
Sometime later, I felt her hand on my shoulder. She shook me lightly. My eyes snapped open, and I tried to remain sitting upright, but I was drained of all my Enma and Bura.
“How long have—what time is it?”
“Fourteen hours? Slightly longer.”
“So it’s the evening,” I muttered. “Help me take a shower and get dressed. I want to talk to Kade.”
“Are you sure? You’re a mess.”
I nodded and took in a deep breath, pulled out the largest crystal I had in my subspace, and pulled at the Enma inside. I could at least force one of the two powers to restore to… whatever it would allow me.
I cycled as we made our way down the stairs, gaining my balance with every second that passed. Once we were halfway down the stairs, I could already walk on my own. Everyone was already asleep, which was a good thing. Everyone but Grawl, who sat in the front yard under the sakura tree. He looked up at the moon and sighed just before he saw us.
“You can’t sleep?” he asked, not noticing my bloody stump.
I could have sworn an inch had regrown in the time I was out of it, but I had no idea. And I didn’t care, really. The important thing was that I now knew it was possible by mixing both powers. I needed a lot more Enma than Bura to start the process, but I regenerated it ten times as fast, so it didn’t really matter.
“I just woke up, I guess,” I replied and stopped for a second. “I’m getting a shower now, and we’ll be seeing Kade. You want to come along?”
He nodded and turned back to stare upwards. “I’ll be ready, don’t worry.”
I made to move on but stopped again. “Homesick?”
“How do you know?” Grawl asked, but he didn’t look back our way.
“For some reason looking up at the moon makes us feel… closer to home? At least it worked for me. I guess.”
“I’ve got a new home now, Viktor. Thanks to you, and it is what it is. There’s no use crying over spilled milk, right? Isn’t that how the human saying goes?”
“Sure is, Grawl. We’ll be out soon. Don’t make yourself too comfortable.” I laughed and moved toward the bathhouse with Melina right behind me. He didn’t say anything, but I knew what his thoughts were. I had been in the same situation, after all.
About an hour later, we found ourselves on the other side of the portal. I had done my best to mask my missing arm by donning a long-sleeved kimono, dark as the night, and was carrying the halberd in my left hand. I would be far from strong enough with my off-hand to wield the weapon, but it was more a show of force than anything else.
The group of soldiers perked up as the portal glowed a bright blue behind our backs, and jumped to attention.
“Halt! Who goes there?” one of them called out.
I turned to stare at Melina with disbelief painted across my face. “What the hell did he just say?”
“Don’t get annoyed with every damn thing, Vik. There are tons of new soldiers in service, and not everyone knows you.”
“Our faces were on every damn TV channel.”
“Hey! I asked you a damn question!” the same soldier yelled. Several others snapped to attention, and one of them, who looked like an officer, slammed his fist into the soldier’s temple.
“Idiot! Can’t you see who that is?” the man demanded.
Now that was a show of… I didn’t even have the words for it. I knew that he did that to impress me and probably as an apology of sorts, but it was unprofessional in any way you looked at it. I let out a sigh and walked over to the man.
“What’s your name and rank?”
“Sergeant Levi, sir!” He snapped a salute and stood at attention.
“Where’s Kade? And what’s with this shit-show?”
“I-I’m sorry, sir. We thought that you were in a coma, sir.”
“I was, but here I am now. Where’s Kade?”
“Umm, he’s at home? I don’t know, sir. It’s the middle of the night.”
I groaned inwardly and nodded. “Get a line to Kade and have him meet me at the best place we can get something to drink right now.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
He scurried off and disappeared into a shipping container.
“What is he doing in there?” Grawl asked as he stared at the red construct.
“Radio inside, probably. Hold on.”
It took Levi three minutes to come scurrying back. He stared down at his feet and shuffled around as if caught red-handed doing something bad.
“Speak,” I said calmly, showing him I wasn’t going to rip him a new one. The other guy still lay there, unconscious.
“The general doesn’t want to meet right now.”
“Say what?” I snapped. “Grawl, can you carry all three of us using Bura?”
“Yeah, I can. Where do you want to go?”
“To Kade’s apartment.”
“If you do this, there’s no going back, you know?”
“I do know. Grawl, will you fight for me?”
He nodded his head and then slammed the back of his fist against Levi’s head, knocking him out cold. The orc chieftain gave me a shrug as if saying “couldn’t be helped,” and I shrugged back.
“At least Kade won’t know we’re coming,” Melina muttered.
We found ourselves in front of his apartment building some ten minutes later. It was around three in the morning, and the lights were out in all of the apartments but for one on the seventh floor.
“I guess that’s our target,” Grawl said as we looked straight into the window while he kept us afloat. “Want to go in hard?”
“No. Take us up to the roof. It’s only three floors, so we’ll walk down.”
The door on the roof was locked, so Grawl ripped it off its hinges. It must have made a racket, but we didn’t hear anything from the floors below. Which was a good sign. The whole building was assigned to military personnel from what I knew, and most of them were hunters in their own right.
We moved down the first stairwell, then the second, and finally the third. Light spilled into the corridor from inside an apartment. Kade’s apartment.
“Do you want me to go first?” Grawl whispered in what could barely pass for chatter, much less whispering.
I shook my head and walked toward the door.
“I’ve been expecting you,” Kade’s voice came from inside. “Come in.”
I didn’t wait for another invitation and walked around the corner. Linda sat next to him. Both were dressed for battle and were armed. Grawl tensed behind me, but I put my hand up to stop him.
“No, don’t kill them yet. I first want to see what made them change their allegiance.”
“Linda? What the hell is going on?” Melina hissed from my side. The other woman looked away, but she didn’t say anything. Melina’s buffs flooded over the three of us as if in anticipation.
“No one else is in the building, right?” I asked.
“Right. But you still came.”
I shrugged. “I thought we were friends, Kade. What made you change your mind?”
“Not much. Several Gods promised to use their power and protect Sylmar from destruction once you lose against the Zanoxian. You can’t get a better deal than that, Viktor. Especially if I love Sylmar more than my
own life.”
I grinned and nodded. “Fool. You’re such a fool, you know that?”
He frowned and put his hands on the kitchen table. I glanced around as I approached him. The apartment was pretty spartanly furnished and nothing like last time. I understood then that even the last time we ate together had been a ruse of sorts.
“You do know that it’s not possible to prevent the destruction of Sylmar, right?”
“Oh, but it is, Viktor. It is.”
“No, it’s not. As a rule of the game, everyone who loses has their starting city destroyed. That rule isn’t negotiable.”
He bit down on his lower lip as if mulling over my answer.
“Kade, Viktor will never trust us again after this, so it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not,” Linda said calmly. She put away her weapon and got to her feet, holding both hands up. “I hope you understand that we did this for our people, Viktor, and not—”
“Enough, Kade. I’ve been betrayed so many times, even in this life, that I’m starting to get a thicker skin than I ever had, Kade. I’m giving you one last chance. Tell me who the Gods are who approached you, and I’ll forget this ever happened.”
“I can’t. If I do, I’m dead.”
Linda threw a notebook our way, and immediately her head exploded. She dropped dead. Kade pulled a gun from his holster and put it in his mouth. I didn’t know what it was, as I had little experience with guns, but the barrel was pretty wide. He nodded my way and put the barrel of his gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger. The back of his head exploded as the bullet passed through with ease.
I looked down at the notepad and opened it.
“Vulcan and Cernunnos.”
“Do we know anything about them?” Melina asked.
“Only that Vulcan is the Zanoxian sponsor and that Cernunnos is probably the remaining rifter’s deity,” I muttered. “Idiots. How the hell did they fall for their promises?”
Melina looked away and pulled at my sleeve. “Can we go? I don’t like seeing them like that.”
I turned to leave. I was pissed and fuming on the inside. This wasn’t just a blow to my camp, it was to Sylmar in general.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 26
