Earth Tactics Advance: Volume 1

by Scottie Futch

  Rosa used the book and acquired a new profession. She became a Dark Hunter. She would need to check her stats and fool around a little before she actually knew what that meant, but she was already excited for the possibilities of the future.

  Everyone who joined the battle drew together eagerly to see what a boss might drop. There was no question of who it would belong to, despite the interest. Even if some of the items outside the gate were acquired by gunners taking down the goblins, no one had been able to help Scott in the slightest.

  Scott opened up his treasure box and received ten silver coins, a bloodstone gem, and a book. He also received a letter about the monster he had beaten.

  [Hot Blooded Battle Boss]

  You’ve slain the Hobgoblin Mid-Boss, Arrkle Smash Mouth. He was one the strongest goblins in the region. During his destruction, most of his clan was slain as well. Those who remain will be eaten, or absorbed into other goblin clans. The other hobgoblin warlords will be wary for a time. Goblin attacks will lessen for the next few days.

  Boss Kill Complete!

  Your subjugation group will receive bonuses!

  Bonus: Experience Acquisition Up! Profession Progression Up! All level locked members of the battle party may now increase their level beyond level ten.

  Special: Secondary Title Attained. (Group Leader Only)

  [--]

  Scott rubbed his chin. He gained a new title? He looked at the book and read the little blurb inside. He now understood what was going on. The book was called ‘Legacy of the Warboss.’

  He gained the secondary title [Mid-Boss] by using the book. It was apparently a rare title only available to those who defeated certain types of boss monsters who were in command of an army.

  “What’s it say?” asked Frank.

  Scott shook his head. “We gained a few bonuses, and apparently I got a secondary title.”

  “A title?” asked Frank

  “Yeah. According to this thing I’m Mr. Badass the Arcane Slayer Mid-Boss, now,” said Scott.

  Frank laughed. “Alright. Hell, why not?”

  Scott laughed too, despite how tired he was. It had been a hell of a day. At some point it might even end.

  “What bonuses did we get?” asked Frank. "I don't see one of those screens telling me things."

  “Experience boost, we can all gain levels past ten now, and a profession upgrade. I don’t really know what the last one does since it merely mentions it as a hidden stat.”

  “We’ll find out. I guess,” said Frank. He then blinked and asked, "We couldn't gain levels past ten before?"

  Scott nodded to the man. "Yeah, that's how it is supposedly. Only people who beat things like in this battle, or something like Bartleby, can level past ten."

  "Damn... Sorry this fight happened, but glad I was part of it!" said Frank, before he released a slow whistle.

  It was only a matter of time. The world would not get any less dangerous in days to come. If anything, it seemed like greater dangers arrived with each moment that passed.

  The rifleman asked a curious question after that. "You know, we could have probably just all stayed inside the gate and shot them to death, most of them I mean."

  Scott patted the man on the shoulder. "True. But the thing is that we can only claim that now because of what happened."

  "How so?" asked the older man.

  "Well, can you shoot through a wall? Harley could have given us an idea of where they were, but they could have easily surrounded us, or hidden along the wall and put some of those vine ropes on the gate and broken it open." Scott took a breath then acquired a thoughtful expression. "Considering what their leader could do, he might have just said to hell with it, and rammed the gate with his shoulder to bust it open."

  The rifleman nodded. "I suppose so. I mean, we didn't know what they were doing half the time because they were hidden by the wall."

  "It could have gone bad for us, but it didn't," said Scott. "Outnumbered, pretty much outmatched, we still won."

  The group smiled at each other after that. Scott smiled slightly more than the others. It was actually nice to have backup for once. He would not have survived that encounter alone. He was not sure if anyone would have survived it if he was not here at the time, but they could have at least tried to use the wall and gate to hold the goblins back long enough to shoot most of them down.

  Many survival tactics might be used. Some would work out like the goblins' plan. Others would be successful despite the needless danger, like the plan used by Mr. Badass and his associates. Either way, the winners are the ones who get to plan for the next battle.

  Chapter 14

  It was a strange thing even in a world of strange things. A collection of people sat in a lavish dining room. They were beaten, tired. They had on filthy clothes, and several of them smelled like they had recently died and chose that moment to become overripe. Despite the aromatic assault on the senses, those people were smiling and laughing. It was a welcome relief from the problems that they recently faced.

  The small throng of people sat at a beautiful table in a lavish dining room, and ate spaghetti out of a can. There was no reason to dirty dishes at the moment, after all. The dinner, such as it was, allowed people to unwind a little. People began to speak their minds in relative safety.

  “I really thought that was it,” said a young girl in her late teens. She had straight black hair and had been the one to call Scott crazy earlier. Her name was Cia Newman.

  The Rifleman from the battle, Harold Weiss, laughed. “Yeah, it was definitely hairy there for a minute. I can’t believe we won.”

  Harold’s oldest daughter, Gretchen, reached out and squeezed her father’s shoulder. “You did great out there dad.”

  “Yeah he did,” said Frank genially. He sat at the table shirtless, the wounds that had not been healed by the restorative drink were bound with tape and gauze. He looked like he had been tossed into a wood-chipper, but he was in good spirits.

  Rachel, the youngest daughter of the Weiss family grinned at Frank. “I think I saw you through one of the upper windows. You fought with three of those things with just an axe right?”

  Frank nodded. “I need more experience fighting with it. That was brutal.”

  “You did good. Not like that other guy,” said a short dark haired man named Manny Flores.

  “You talking about Scott?” asked Frank. He lifted one eyebrow and glanced sternly at the smaller man.

  “Yeah. Whenever I saw him, he was getting his ass handed to him by that one goblin,” said Manny. "It was pathetic."

  Frank snorted in derision. “That thing was a lot stronger than the others, and Scott barely managed to take it down. You might not remember clearly, but all those bodies on the road we ran across? He did that by himself, and I doubt they all came at him one at a time.”

  “Still…” said Manny.

  Frank shook his head. He would hear none of that kind of talk. “You know what? I didn’t see you out there.”

  “You said—!” began Manny. His expression shifting to an accusatory scowl.

  “You agreed,” said Frank coldly.

  Just like that, the festive atmosphere died a little. All it had taken was for someone to start talking shit when they had no idea what they had really seen.

  Manny's scowl died instantly. He closed his eyes then sighed. “You’re right. Sorry.”

  “Not a problem for me. Just, remember how you got here,” said Frank. “Do you think we would have made it if we’d had to wade through all those things when they were alive? Those two guns the girls used were looted from monsters that use guns.”

  “Damn…” said Manny. “Hey where did he go anyway?”

  “He went to scout the bridge. The guy’s been fighting all day, but he won’t rest,” said Frank, a slight hint of wonder in his voice.

  “Sounds like you’ve got a little hero worship, officer,” said Rachel with a smile.

  Frank laughed. “I wouldn’t go that
far."

  A moment later the big man became a little more serious and nodded his head. "He's a little off, but he seems like a good guy. We need good guys right now.”

  Harold raised up his water bottle. “Here, here. Even if he keeps a little girl who turns into a mini-bike as a pet.”

  “That was crazy, right?” asked Frank with a laugh. He raised up his own water bottle. “Here, here.”

  Manny looked a little sheepish and raised up his own water bottle. “Yeah. Here, here.”

  “There you go,” said Frank to Manny.

  Hector walked into the room and sighed loudly. “You cannot believe how good that felt.” He had just taken a hot bath for the first time in what seemed to be forever. The mansion had solar panels to help with the power needs. Unlike vehicles and gasoline powered generators, the solar panels still worked properly. They only ran a few things, mostly stuff in the panic room, but the hot water heater and the water pump were two of the other uses.

  The sound of gunfire reached their ears before anyone could laugh at the man. Frank jumped up and grabbed his axe. He did not even ask what was going on, and simple ran for the front door.

  Once he was out the door, he saw several large rats crawling feebly around near the gate. They fell to another round of fire.

  Frank called out to the tower and one of the three people on guard duty waved back to him. “Just some rats!”

  “Alright!” he called back. “Lemme go check them.”

  He trotted out to the gate and looked around. There were three dead rats, but no loot. “There were only three?”

  “There’s two more near the corpse pile!” called back the girl on duty. Her name was Hana James. One of the people who originally wanted to go with Scott earlier that day, she felt she owed him a little for doing his best to get her a profession book. Guard duty seemed like a good start.

  “Shit. They probably came for the corpses.” Frank rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine, we’ll have to burn ‘em and bury ‘em. They’ll keep drawing more of those things, otherwise.”

  Hana called out, "Scott told me to use one of his salvation crystals if things seemed bad. Does this count?"

  Frank shook his head. "Nah, but if anything else shows up use it. We can't be doing this all night. The monsters are stronger at night, too."

  "Roger that, fearless leader," said Hana with a smile.

  The police officer laughed at her then waved her off. He assigned a few people to help him clean the area. They gathered up some tools and a bit of gas before heading off to do what was necessary.

  At first, Frank thought that Scott was a bit too trusting to leave the place with both the owner and his only guaranteed ally in tow. What if the people in Frank's group wanted to take control of the place?

  It was not until he overhead Scott explain his plan to Rosa that Frank's estimation of the man grew even further than before. Not only could he fight, but he had a dangerous mind.

  Frank looked his people over then shook his head. If any of them tried to make the claim for taking this place and keeping Scott's group out, he would shoot it down as best he could. The last words that he had heard Scott speak still haunted him.

  He looked at the people around him while they began to haul corpses or dig holes. A few of them muttered things related to how the big shot should clean his own mess. Frank shook his head and got back to work. He already knew what would happen if the people he brought there tried anything. Scott's final words on the matter echoed in his ears, and simultaneously chilled him to the core.

  The black armored man's voice resonated in Frank's memory for a moment. "Rosa, the world's a graveyard. Digging a few more graves won't be a problem."

  The deeper the hole that Frank dug became, the more it began to look like a possible grave. The memory of the corpses littering the town were fresh in his mind. Never in his life had the massive law enforcement officer been so determined not to pick a fight.

  While Frank and the crew went about the laborious task of cleaning up the corpses of two dozen goblins and nearly a half dozen rats, there was another clean-up underway at the bridge. After a brief scouting excursion, the battling trio determined that they had a reasonable chance of success.

  The lizardmen in and around the bridge numbered an even dozen, but they had an average level of three. In short, they were nothing more than scrubs compared to those who descended upon them.

  Battle, the clash of ideals that led to blood flowing across the innocent Earth, had begun. The announcer cried out, "Midboss Mr. Badass and associates VS. The leaping lizardmen of the bridge! Fight-O!"

  Harley hung back during the battle to keep watch for more monsters, she would fire whenever her turn came around, but she mostly served as rapid mobility backup.

  Scott and Rosa were going to go in to close combat to fight the beasts that held the bridge. The lizardmen were much stronger than ghouls or goblins of a similar level, but that only put them on similar footing to Rosa. They might as well have given up and died on the spot the moment Scott rolled up atop his hot pink robo-loli.

  Mr. Badass reached one of the lizardmen just before his speed would have run out. He only had a chance for one hit, but he made the most of it. His Kaiser blade whipped around and tore several conically shaped teeth from the crocodile-head of his opponent. The monster did not even have a chance to dodge the blow. The only thing it could do after taking such a major attack was to cry out with an agonized hiss. Harley took her turn, and easily killed off a lizardman at range. She had enough speed and movement left to critically injure another before Rosa made her move. Her stats would not allow her to reach her opponents this turn, but she was within threat range before the lizardmen began to make their moves.

  A lizardman ran over and leapt toward Rosa, in a bid to taste the flesh of a lesser prey. It received a swift slash across the side for its troubles. Blood only slightly trickled from the wound, but the monster heavily favored his side after that. It was a light weight weapon, but the leaf-blade design added extra damage to the attack and it was wickedly sharp.

  "Counter!" cried the announcer, before the lizardman made its next move.

  Rosa ducked under the claw-swipe of the injured monster then slammed her blade forward in a sharp thrust that rose up under its rib cage and punctured whatever was there. Whether or not its organ placement was the same as a man was hard to say. Either way, the beast immediately went limp and fell to the ground. Only a quick twisting motion kept her blade from going with it. She scored another counter in the process, according to the announcer.

  The other lizardmen attempted to swarm Scott instead, but they discovered that he was well beyond them. By the end of the first round, most of the lizardmen were dead. Not long after that, the rest of the lizard men at the bridge fell. It had not really been much of a fight, but such was the fate of those who were far weaker than their opponents in this world.

  “Scaled Boots.” Scott showed Rosa the footwear that had dropped. “Alligator shoes anyone?”

  “Tacky, but yes please,” she said with a tired little smile. Rosa reached out her hands and wiggled her fingers at him in a 'bring it on' sort of motion.

  Scott tossed them to her and she equipped her first real bit of new world armor. The boots increased agility by one point, and defense by three. Combined with the ring she had been given that increased strength and defense, she was starting to come along nicely.

  “The hell?” asked Rosa when she looked down at her new boots. They had morphed after she placed them on her feet. She now sported high-heeled boots with a crocodile skin pattern.

  “Sexy,” said Scott with a grin.

  She pointed her xiphos at him. “I have a sword you know.”

  “Yep. You’re good with it, too,” said Scott lightly.

  “Stupid sexist boots,” muttered Rosa before lifting her heel up a little and admiring the fit. She called them sexist, but she did not seem too unhappy if her smile was any indication.

  “W
ell, at least your agility is high enough that you won’t bust your ass,” said Scott.

  “I guess.” She twisted her knee and rotated her heel a little. “Kinda sparkly, though.” The boots shimmered a little in the light, much like the scales of the monsters they had just slain.

  Scott rolled his eyes then smiled. Rosa was no longer quite as fearful, and had started to become more confident now that she had survived her first large scale battle.

  There were several more fights as they attempted to cross the bridge. Lizardmen popped out of the water or appeared out of hidden spots.

  Luckily, the monsters that appeared on the bridge had been scattered in little groups all across the bridge. Only a few of them at a time were able to reach them before they were cut down. It was almost a restful battle for Scott after dealing with the hobgoblin boss earlier. He would not want to meet a lizard man boss any time soon, though.

  If a goblin's boss was that much stronger, what would a lizardman leader be like? The thought was more than a little disturbing. He imagined such a creature to be a hulking behemoth that would be both awesome and hideous in appearance.

  “So, guess this is where we say goodbye?” asked Rosa. She looked to Scott and smiled, though her eyebrows pressed together briefly while she did so.

  “Just till tomorrow. I have to get going before it gets dark,” said Scott. It was too late to walk to his house, but he could get there much sooner if he rode Harley.

  “Yes.” She nodded then looked away. “So, uhm…”

  Things became a little awkward after that. They did not actually know each other, but they were discussing meeting again. In a more normal time that might have been construed differently.