I shifted the heavy rifle to my left shoulder and pulled my beam pistol. A shot from the beam pistol into the wounded jabberwock only flickered its health bar, but the climbing health bar halted. I stepped back and counted until the monster’s health bar ticked up again.
Counting, I stepped back again as I switched pistols, then I fired the projectile pistol just before the creature’s health could go up.
I cycled through all of my weapons as I counted and stepped. Leading the jabberwock away from the park, I continued to wage war on its regeneration. I took one shot with each pistol before I fired a round from the hybrid railgun.
In between shots, I reloaded empty magazines for my Luxor projectile pistol. I frantically pulled ammunition from my inventory, reloaded individual rounds into spare magazines, then stowed everything so I could take another shot.
The jabberwock remained laser-focused on me as I kept up the constant attacks, and it pursued me away from the fort. My constant harassment drew the beast north until I reached Fort Duquesne Boulevard, the street which bordered the northern edges of downtown. I still spaced my shots at regular intervals as I backed up the street, but energy charges on both pistols and the hybrid rifle were getting low.
Then the jabberwock wiffled, that twisted sound I had associated with merciless laughter. It looked down at the leg that it had been limping on and flexed it tentatively before wiffling again.
I realized that I’d been so focused on keeping the chest wound and the creature’s overall health from regenerating, the wounded leg had healed itself.
Shit.
I glanced around quickly, knowing I was dead if I stayed in the open. There was nothing to my right. The north side of the street dropped off toward the Allegheny River. On my left, a towering condominium building rose high overhead.
I bolted left. But the building’s glass doors seemed impossibly far away. The jabberwock leapt into the air and glided forward, its gruesome head reaching toward me. There was no point trying to open the door. I crashed through the glass as the jabberwock’s maw snapped at my heels. Shattered glass cascaded around me, and I struggled to keep moving. Behind me, I heard the jabberwock gnashing. The creature sounded seriously annoyed.
I retreated through the devastated lobby and found the stairs. I ran up several flights and silently thanked the System that the lack of electricity had disabled the building security system.
I exited the stairs on the fourth floor and found a small lounge. Ignoring the clamoring of the jabberwock as it tore into the building after me, I slumped onto a long couch to take stock of my situation and reload my weapons.
One beam pistol was completely out of charges, and the other only had two left. I also only had three charges remaining for the hybrid rifle, so I didn’t bother reloading that. I filled the magazines for the Luxor projectile pistols, then slouched as I attempted to relax for what might be the last time.
I chuckled. I’d really managed to piss that thing off from the commotion it continued to make as it ripped through the building. I leaned my head back and winced at something digging into my side. Without looking, I pulled the hybrid weapon ammo case from my belt and almost tossed it aside.
My hand froze, and I sat up sharply, bringing the case up in front of me.
The red case!
Red. Rouge.
My hands shook as I opened the case and looked inside. Six wicked-looking hybrid projectile rounds sat nestled in a clear lattice framework. Each round had a different colored band around the middle, and my eyes were drawn to the one banded in red.
I grabbed the hybrid rifle from my Inventory, ejected the magazine, and cleared the round from the chamber. I stuck the cleared round back into the mag, then put the red specialty round in on top of it.
I still had enough energy for three shots though. At random, I picked the green and orange banded rounds and added them to the magazine before pushing it back into the hybrid rifle and charging it. I closed the red case and returned it to my belt before I got back to my feet.
The building shook as the jabberwock tore through it, growing very close now. I went back into the main hallway and faced the sounds of destruction. A moment later, the jabberwock smashed up through the floor, and it caught sight of me with its good eye. The other eye remained cloudy and unfocused, though clearly healing from my initial attack upon the creature.
I tried hitting it with Hinder, but the creature seemed unaffected by the Class Skill. The massive power difference between us, and the monster's innate resistances, was apparently too great for my ability to overcome.
Without further hesitation, I fired the hybrid rifle. Unlike the previous firings of the weapon, this time the beam of light that struck the jabberwock was a pale green. When the projectile within the beam impacted the monster’s snout, a cloud blossomed around the beast’s face, and it coughed.
I backed down the hall, away from the jabberwock and the spreading gas cloud that now surrounded it. My movements focused the monster back onto me, and it once again tore through the building toward me.
The hallway walls crumbled around the jabberwock as it clawed its way forward, and the entire building shook as I fired the hybrid rifle again.
The orange beam raised the temperature in the hallway and singed the beige walls into a darkening brown. The projectile flared into a raging inferno that charred the entire forward half of the monster. When the billowing flames reached the gas cloud, the gas flashed into a detonation that slammed the jabberwock’s head down through the floor of the hallway. The explosion staggered me, and I stumbled back against the tall window at the end of the hallway.
Then the jabberwock’s head tore up through the floor, almost at my feet, and there was nowhere left to run.
It had used so much force to push through the floor that its head bounced off the ceiling before the fanged maw snapped toward me. Ceiling tiles rained down as it lunged. I threw myself backward through the window and leveled the hybrid rifle.
In the instant before I fell, everything seemed to slow. I felt glass slice into the back of my neck as the window shattered around me. The jabberwock’s fangs reached closer. And I focused on a singular point as I squeezed the trigger.
But not at the monster’s face.
Just below the monster’s lunging maw and waving tentacles, I saw charred flesh peeking from the shattered hole in the scales at the base of the jabberwock’s neck. The spot where Zeke’s Class Skill had left the monster vulnerable. That was where I aimed.
The rifle whined, and a crimson beam shot directly into the spot at the center of where the wound gaped. The projectile punched through the hole left by Zeke’s destructive ability, and a ring of red energy lit up the monster’s neck from the inside. The brilliant energy glowed beneath the monster’s scales as the energy disk sliced cleanly through the cracked and broken scales that protected the monster’s neck, leaving intact only the undamaged scales unaffected by Zeke’s final attack.
The round had severed the jabberwock’s spine from the inside. An internal decapitation.
That was all I saw before my fall cut off the view.
A sense of weightlessness filled me briefly, wind rushing over the back of my head, as I fell forty feet to the ground. Then my body crashed into the paved plaza, driving the breath from my lungs with an audible crack that was equal parts the cobblestones and my spine.
Above me, the lunging of the jabberwock had imparted enough momentum to the monster’s head that its own force completed the work all of our attacks had been unable to accomplish. The intact scales were torn free as the severed head catapulted clear of the building and tumbled through the air, falling towards me.
Terror gripped me as it looked like I had survived the monster only to be crushed by the fall of its severed head. The massive skulled crashed down next to me, showering me with shattered paver bits and gore.
I gasped, forcing air into my lungs, as I attempted to breathe normally and eyed my status. A helpful notificatio
n informed me that I suffered from a concussion, but the pain that pulsed through my skull made that obvious. Besides that, my status was a mess of broken bones and internal damage, but the timers for each detrimental effect slowly ticked down. I felt the System heal my broken body now that combat had ended.
Several minutes passed before I was able to pull myself from the cratered courtyard. I stowed the depleted hybrid rifle in my Inventory, then sat up and cradled my pounding head in my hands. When the throbbing in my brain subsided, I crawled tentatively to my feet.
I kicked the head of the jabberwock, which did nothing except bruise my toe, but it made me feel better. Then I attempted to loot the monster.
I received a stack of Jabberwock Fangs that were the length of my arm, a half dozen Jabberwock Claws that stood nearly as tall as my six-foot height, and a pile of Jabberwock Scales that looked as though they would make great armor plates. The final loot items I received were a pair of Ruby Jabberwock Eyes that glowed orange and red like the dying embers of a campfire.
After I pulled everything into my Inventory, I looked at the building above me where I could see the torso of the beast hanging slightly out of the fourth floor. I was thankful I hadn’t needed to climb up there to loot the beast.
When I looked at my inventory, I noticed that it had gained capacity. Instead of the initial five-by-five grid, my holding space was now six-by-six. That was a welcome discovery, especially now that I had looted the jabberwock bits.
I left the corpse and headed back toward the park and what was left of the fort.
Even at my slow pace, I soon caught sight of the damaged structure. Smoke wafted up from the corner of the fort where the turret had been, but all that remained of the walls there was a pile of debris. Just beyond the rubble, along the southeast section of the wall, several people stood together in a small clump.
I pushed my way through them and found Chrystal on her knees, attempting to hold together the ruin of Zeke’s torso. The big man was in a bad way. The jabberwock’s claws had torn deep into his chest and stomach. Exposed bits of broken ribs stuck up from the gaping slashes that leaked blood and other fluids to pool on the ground beneath him.
I glanced at the health bar above Zeke’s head and found it nearly depleted. Even as I crouched beside him, the bar ticked downward from the continued bleeding and internal damage.
“Nobody has any healing spells or Class Skills,” said a distraught Chrystal. “We can’t stop the Bleed effect.”
“Shit.” I didn’t have any words for the situation.
Zeke gasped with each breath, teeth gritted against the pain. Sweat glistened on the dark skin of his shaved head. He looked at me, and I saw the knowledge in his eyes that he wouldn’t make it. With one hand, he clutched my arm weakly.
“My kids, Hal,” Zeke said, his voice faint and raspy. “Please make sure my kids are safe.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I said. “I promise.”
Quest Accepted: Reach Montour High School and discover the fate of the Thomas children.
Zeke nodded at me appreciatively, and I knew he’d seen the prompt too. Words had power in this changed world.
Then Zeke glanced to the side, and his eyes grew distant as he watched his health count down with each tick of the Bleed effect. The bar above his head bottomed out, and Zeke’s arm fell limply to the ground.
I stood and pushed my way out of the gathered crowd. I strode several paces away, filled with the need to put some distance between other people and myself. I stared at the Pittsburgh skyline without really seeing it as the sun finally crested above the horizon.
I had watched people die before. I had even seen the deaths of people I’d fought beside, some of them going out far more violently than Zeke.
That thought reminded me of the explosions that had torn through a building on the other side of the world. The blast that had wiped out my squad and left me half crippled. I had never really come to terms with that.
The VA docs labeled it survivor's guilt.
They were wrong. I didn’t feel guilty that my life had continued. My conflicted emotions were the result of my inability to fight back. My injuries had merited a medical discharge, so I’d never returned to the battlefield and never found out which group or warlord had set us up to die.
This time it would be different, I promised myself.
I looked at the typically overcast western Pennsylvania sky. No sign of the midnight portal remained where the jabberwock had emerged into our world. The monster had never used a portal ability throughout the rest of the time it had been here, so someone, or something, else had brought it here. Probably the same aliens that had turned our planet into this Dungeon World.
Someday I would find out. And then make them pay.
Chapter 12
We buried Zeke and the remains of the others under the corner of the fort, in the trench left behind by the jabberwock’s beam attack. I slipped Zeke’s gear into my Inventory as we moved the bodies, and no one either noticed or cared enough to say anything. When the dead had been placed, Carl applied his skills to reform the walls over top them.
It took some time for the walls to completely cover the area, and I pulled up my notifications while I waited.
Congratulations. You survived an entire day! You humans really are an excellent bunch. Only 60% of you died yesterday. We are impressed. Have a cookie. And some experience. Remember, monster spawning will increase over the next week.
The message popped up first when I reviewed my accumulated notifications for the morning, though I wasn't particularly surprised by the contents of the message. If things like the jabberwock had portaled in across the world on top of the increasing monster spawns, then the stated death toll was certainly conceivable.
Congratulations!
You have helped kill a Young Jabberwock (Level 52).
+24,840 XP (XP apportioned according to damage done)
If that was a youth version, I would hate to see it all grown up.
Title Gained
For your continuous actions in dispatching higher leveled foes by exploiting vulnerable portions of their defenses, you have been awarded the title “Sharp Eyed.” Critical hit chance increased by 10% and all critical damage dealt is increased by a further +10%.
Congratulations!
For achieving your first title, you receive a bonus +5,000 XP.
Level Up! * 2
You have reached Level 8 as a Relentless Huntsman. Stat Points automatically distributed. You have 4 free attributes to distribute.
Class Skills Locked.
The Level gains were definitely slowing down, and I was still blocked from accessing my Class Skills. If I hadn’t picked the Head Start perk off the bat, I would probably have been in real trouble. I might never have even made it to the Shop to get geared up.
Then without the hybrid rifle and the specialty ammo, I would certainly be dead.
I pulled up my status sheet and did mental math with the attribute requirements. I had a ways to go before I needed to spread out my Attributes beyond Agility and Perception, so I dropped two points into each of my primary attributes.
Then I looked at the Title section and considered the honorific within. I really didn’t want anyone digging into my status to consider how I might have obtained it. With a thought, the Title noted itself as hidden.
Status Screen
Name:
Hal Mason*
Class:
Hunter*
Race:
Human (Male)
Level:
8
Titles
Sharp Eyed (Title hidden)*
Health:
300
Stamina:
300
Mana:
270
Status
Normal*
Attributes
Strength
21 (30)
Agility
37 (60)
Constitution
30 (50)
Perception
30 (40)
Intelligence
27 (40)
Willpower
22 (30)
Charisma
26 (40)
Luck
16
Class Skills
Hinder
1
Keen Senses
1
On the Hunt
1
Perks
Gut Instinct
Spells
None
By the time Carl had finished with his fixes to the walls, the sun had climbed the sky and my status updates were long completed.
Satisfied that the defenses were rebuilt, I walked over to the plaza that held the concentric circles of the now-empty basin for a large fountain. Located at the tip of the peninsula that jutted out into the conjunction of the three rivers of Pittsburgh, the point would normally be packed with couples and families on a sunny spring morning like today. Yet I stood alone as I debated my next moves. I needed to plan which Shop would be most in line with the route I needed to follow in order to reach Zeke’s kids.
My first option was to head west and cross the Allegheny River, then make a stop at the Shop that my map marked as inhabiting the former River’s Casino. I saw two problems with that option. The first problem was that I would need to cross the Ohio River afterward, and the closest route, across the West End Bridge, looked like a poor choice. The bridge was a twisted wreck that sloped down into the river on either side of a large gap in the middle of the bridge.
The second problem was highlighted by the unusual fireworks that exploded intermittently above the Casino after the jabberwock’s death. Whoever launched them likely hadn’t wanted to attract the monster’s attention, but the explosives had to be System tech. I’d never heard of fireworks that spelled out “Shop here” in hovering, glittering lights before they burned out. To me, that said someone from off-world probably held the Shop there now.
Fist Full of Credits: A New Apocalyptic LitRPG Series (System Apocalypse - Relentless Book 1) Page 11
