There were 3 levels of Groups that Asher knew of. A regular group which was made of 5 people. Typically this halved experience received and was the most common. Next was Raid Groups. This was anything over 5 people. Prior to the Tutorial the largest that could be made was 10 raid members every Gamer. That number has gone up to 100 raid members, and Gamers weren’t required. This too halved experience you received. The System was pretty good about knowing who did what damage and would allocate experience accordingly. But with so many people participating in a kill, you didn’t get much.
Last was a War Party. These were made up of anything over 100 people. Back during his Roktai Trial he had made one with his entire fighting force. They could be as big as you wanted. The nice thing was most everyone gained at least some experience for the kills. There were no level restrictions on these kills. So if someone killed a monster close by that was level 20 and above, even Asher should receive experience points. Granted it was only 1 or 2, but you kill a few thousand and you’re really rolling in it. Add that to the few you get more experience for killing personally, and it proved to be worth being in a War Party.
No one on Wesrall had a Group Formation skill. That must have been a patch added later on in the System. Asher and his people were from after the most current patch, so they could. Soon enough Asher had a few thousand in his War Party. None of the Royals or Nobles joined of course. They were all high level, so Asher simply kicked them out of the city. Literally. After some quick Dragon Slayer bitch slaps they were knocked out and on their way to the castle roof. One by one Asher kicked them out of the city. They had planned this of course. Batman was nice enough to catch them so they didn’t die. But Asher felt it was a humbling act to make them understand they didn’t have a choice.
Batman had told him that Queen Nefr Truskin had wanted him to kill the king before Asher interrupted. Asher felt like this would be a good time for some couple’s therapy, so he kicked her out of the city as well.
General Vich was the only one smart enough to not raise protest. When the royals were gone he came right on board. After that he went around giving raid invites to everyone. Guards were shaking in their boots as he came to them. He forced people to follow and then he was in the Military District. General Vich gathered everyone around.
Since people knew of an Asher Whitmore in the world he decided to dawn his Berserker Armor that covered him head to toe. By that point there were 2,000 people in the War Party. Asher introduced his lieutenants and gave his rousing speech.
“All of you fuckers can kiss my ass,” Asher said. His father coughed, without his mother there he may have been a little loose with his words. Asher forced himself to calm down. It was hard. He had been their grunt for a long time, they needed to understand he did not like them. Keera was nice enough to make his words boom over the crowd.
“We are going to work together from now on. Instead of grouping you all by Systems, we will be splitting you up by Systems. Everyone will be put into groups of 5. Healer, tank, DPS.” They didn’t know these terms, but they would soon. “Instead of working apart, we will be working together. Apes together, strong!” He quoted with a yell. Only Keera got it.
It took a full day to get them into the correct groups. The priests did not like it at all. As the supposed holy men, they felt they were better than the common soldiers. Tiff was sure to use her telekinesis to muddy up their clothes. Asher cast Cleanliness on most everyone in the general area. After that the priests were the dirty ones. By dusk they had everyone separated by groups and raids.
There were 400 groups. Asher made 8 separate raids out of those groups. There just so happened to be 7 large gates that led out into the rest of the city. Asher took charge of Group 1. General Vich group 2. Bishop Group 3. Nadir and Keera Group 4. Vincent Group 5. Ming Group 6. Abby Group 7. Group 8 was left in reserve with one of General Vich’s trusted lieutenants. He was quite surprised to find out that Abby was no longer his second, and was now sent from the System itself. He did his best to adjust quickly. Tiff and Atty were their reserve fighters and message relayers for the time being.
“Are you sure about this?” General Vich asked when all the groups were separated. He was actually a big help. An older man in very ornate armor he was one of the few that had worked his way up. He didn’t like that Asher threw the Royals out, but he held his tongue. Tiff was able to confirm they were alive and holed up somewhere.
“Absolutely,” Asher said. “Now, don’t be a Vich, and let’s go.”
“Go?” He asked surprised. “But it’s dusk, no one will be able to see. The people have been working hard. They need sleep.”
“You are all a lot stronger than you expect,” Asher informed him. “Also these guys glow blue. There will be plenty of lights from the monsters. And…” He said looking around. “Keera, let’s put on a light show.”
She nodded a little ways away. Illusion mana leaked out of her and headed to the 7 gates. Quickly large white miniature suns appeared above the doors, illuminating everything. They were so bright Asher had trouble looking directly at them. “Now, if only we had a Bard,” he said. He felt they could use some heavy metal music for the kickassery they were about to enact on a zombie horde.
“Parties ready!” He bellowed with Intimidation. Asher jumped to the front of his gate. His people did the same. Asher didn’t give a signal. Jumping to the lever for the gate he pulled it and leapt back. As it raised the screeches of the Gone made many behind him jump and cry out. Asher only became more excited. The door opened all the way and Asher was met with a mass of bodies. Gray skin, blue glowing mouths and wounds. Young and old alike had not been missed by the horde.
Asher stared at them and yelled, “Charge!” Pushing into the thick of them he started slicing them up with huge swings of Dragon Slayer. He started getting 1 XP at a time, and it began adding up quickly. By the time he had killed all those in front of the gate the rest of his Raid Party had joined him. He jumped back and started giving orders.
“Tanks to the front,” Asher ordered. The men with shields stepped forward. There were 20 warrior type Systems. “Shields up. Cast your taunt.”
“Mages, archers and pretty much everyone not a healer. Start attacking into the horde on the left. I will be on the right.” He watched to make sure they attacked. There was no friendly fire as the DPS stepped up. Healers made a line at the gate. The long range attackers started firing as one. Zombies screamed and screeched. Warriors and rogues hacked and slashed those in front. Mages and long-range attacked the mass of them in the back.
Asher watched for a minute then jumped into the right side of the horde of Gone. In a mess of bodies he started mowing them down again. It took an hour but they cleared to the other side of the trench road between districts. People screamed and yelled. Mages and warriors rotated positions between other similar Systems, but they could keep going, and they slowly learned that. Asher received 1-2 XP per kill, the lower levels were getting 5-10. In that hour a few leveled multiple times.
After that hour they met their first Abomination. A giant ape man with faces stitched into him. They screamed for Asher. Some broke formation. Asher slapped them around, and pushed them back. He took on the Abomination himself, and though he only received about a dozen XP, it was better than nothing.
As Keera’s lights began to dim and the groups tired Asher called a halt. They had nearly a half mile cleared on either side of the gate. Moving back inside the gate Asher released them. The other groups hadn’t made as much headway. But there were no casualties at least. It was close to dawn when the groups came back together and split apart. He did not end the War Party.
They passed out plenty of food, and gave them 4 hours until they would all go at it again. There were groans, but there always would be. All had gained levels. Some had gained skills. He would review with interested parties before setting out the next day. It would be good them to realize the individuality with their Systems. Everyone had different mana affinities. If 3 Warriors got to level 10, there was no guarantee they would all have the same skills.
—
It took 5 days to clear out the city. There was drama of course. Families of nobles he kicked out tried a revolt. Asher kicked them out of the city as well. Twice daily the War Parties left to attack the Gone. He didn’t repeat the nightly attacks. After being scared of them at night and going through with attacking; the Gone weren’t as scary to the common soldier during the day.
There were casualties of course. A few Abominations appeared massacred a few before Asher and his people could get there. On the 4th day Asher’s best were over level 20. He actually let them take on an Abomination. With 2 tanks on it and as many DPS as could fit it only took them an hour to bring it down. There were more than a few happy tears shed by those who did the deed. They had liberated all the districts on the 3rd day, and recruitment had increased.
People who had hidden their class joined. They still only got a few experience a kill, but they leveled quickly. Increasing the groups overall strength, and boosting confidence of the people. Food was still an issue, but on the 4th day they attacked the civilian districts that had been lost. More food stores were found which increased hope.
It was the 5th day when they were wrapping up that a Behemoth was found. Tiff and Atty grabbed Asher and flew him to it. With a nice aerial view Asher saw barely any blue from zombie mouths. He did however easily find the Behemoth. 30 feet tall it was actually taller than most of the walls. The giant monsters had been seen now and then, but they wandered in and out of the city.
“Set me down there,” Asher said, pointing to the front of the group facing off against the Behemoth. Tiff and Atty simply dropped him from the sky. He landed hard, but recovered. He was smart enough not to curse them. Tiff had psychic ears.
“What’s the status?” Asher asked Batman. They were at the front of the Raid party facing the Behemoth.
“It hasn’t moved,” Batman said. Asher studied it. 30 feet tall, it was taller than buildings. It reminded Asher of the Armor Titan from Attack on Titan. Humanoid with white hair, gray skin, and everywhere glowed blue. The faces were gone, and it was simply a sexless giant Gone. It stared at the raid party breathing slowly. Its eyes locked on he and Batman. Asher used Identification.
*Xare Behemoth*
Level 40
There was something odd about it, but he couldn’t quite place it. Using Mana Sense it was simply a big mass of mana. He used Mana Sight and saw it. There were mana veins in it of course, but the odd part was the Behemoth had 2 Mana Hearts. One centered on the chest, and another in the heart. There were many monsters with more than 1 mana heart, but they were usually much higher level. Everything over level 100 had more than 1 mana heart, and those close to level 100 also had them.
“I tank. Get the DPS attacking. Be careful of any cool moves. That thing has a lot of mana,” Asher said. Batman nodded and began yelling at his people. They formed into ranks. Their own tanks at the front the now seasoned men faced it. They shook in fear of course, but Asher planned for them to fight many of these in the future.
“All on me,” Asher assured them as he stepped forward.
He studied the Behemoth as he closed the distance. It never moved, but followed him with its eyes. When he was close enough Asher cast Intimidation. His roar echoing between buildings he let it die. The Behemoth then screamed and moved at him. The fight was on.
Asher jumped, hitting it in the face. A large gash appeared in it’s cheek but it healed. Asher moved to the top of a building turning its focus to him. He sliced into it’s large hands as it swatted at him. DPS began their assault. So much damage going around it became hard to keep aggro. Luckily Asher was the best at pissing things off.
Hacking and slashing he actually cut a finger off. All the nails on the Behemoth were busted and it slowly began healing less and less. Over 40 people attacking it at once did some nice damage. Batman, Atty, Tiff, and now Abby were there too attacking it. All of them over level 40 it wouldn’t take long to wear it down.
Asher was tanking from his 3rd roof when the fight changed up a little bit. The blue luminosity of the Behemoth’s mouth became brighter and Asher was hit with a beam of pure mana. It burned him inside the Berserker armor, but the attack hastily ended. He felt the mana was a little off somehow. It wasn’t arcane, and he didn’t recognize the type. In all honesty they should be shooting out Death Mana, but he didn’t sense any of it from the Gone.
He wanted to dig into the Mana Hearts to find out. Redoubling his efforts Asher began his assault again. He noticed the signs of the Mana Beam and dodged the next ones. It took 2 hours but eventually they brought the beast down. It shrieked and yelled, but with one big jump Asher caved its head in. It was no more.
When he received the experience notification of 150 whole points, he began digging around. He found the regular Mana Heart in the chest. It too was about the size of a beach ball. Much larger than he expected for a Boss that size. With that over he started digging for the one at the heart. After removing the ribs he was shocked at what he saw.
“Hey guys,” Asher said to his group. “I think I know what is causing the Gone.”
—
After day 4 they had made it to all the gates that led outside the city and sealed them. It was dusk on the 5th day by the time they killed all the Gone within the walls. People were cheering and celebrating. Asher felt a little guilty about kicking people out and found the nobles and Royals. They had grouped up and were staying in a small house on the outskirts of town. The Gone had been focused on the city so they were all relatively safe. He was a little surprised to find the King and Queen dead.
“Who did this?” Asher asked the nobles. Tiff was with him so the answer would be easy to find out.
“They killed each other,” a tall noble said. He was about 40 years old. Asher looked to Tiff.
“Truth,” Tiff said, looking around. A few faces looked down to the ground. There went his idea on couple’s counseling.
“What about the prince?” Asher asked.
“He ran off. He tried to help his mother, but the king got her. I am not sure where he went,” another noble said.
Asher let out a long sigh. “Fair enough.” He looked at Tiff, she slowly nodded. “No more killing,” Asher said looking around. “Humans I mean. Of course we have to kill the zombies. The city is now safe. We will bring you back, but I expect no more backstabbing. You do what I say or you’re out here for good.”
Asher had hoped to keep the king in position. Though the place wasn’t real he still felt like it was. He had wanted to leave someone in charge. He was trying to give the Royals time to cool off and clear their heads. The only thing that mattered in the System was strength. Not their blood, or the power they had pre-System. It only mattered what they could do now. The prince had been a good level. He might be fine, but with his attitude Asher wasn’t convinced he could survive.
At the end of the day some people weren’t worth saving. People didn’t change after a few days. It took effort and the desire to change. Asher’s group would leave and there would be a civil war as people discovered their individuality. Walking back to the Truskin city he smacked himself. He had to remember that this wasn’t real.
“You ok?” Tiff asked.
“Yeah, have to keep reminding myself this isn’t real,” he said.
“Oh, it’s real,” she said confidently. “My Deacia is real. Our experience points are real. I bet if we took this grass out of here it would be real.” She picked up a tall blade of grass and stored it in her ring.
“But Tyranis said-”
“It’s real,” she said. “Real for you and me. Who knows what the System does. Maybe we really are changing the past. Time mana is an element, right? Sounds way easier to send 11 people back in time than to create a whole planet.” Asher didn’t know much about Tempusmancers. But if he found one high enough level, maybe they really could go back in time. He worried that his wife might be right, but did his best to not think about it.
Once they were safe inside the city Asher gathered everyone important. A few nobles, General Vich, a few military personnel that had distinguished themselves, and of course the Earthlings.
“I was hoping to have the Royals here for the big reveal, but they had an accident and the prince ran off,” Asher said. No one there was too shocked, it had spread around the city quickly.
“The Gone have plagued this planet for a year now,” Asher announced. “Many of you thought they simply appeared some day. I assumed some Necromancer had gone rogue. We were all wrong.” He brought out the corpse from his ring. It was 3 feet in diameter. Gray skin, blue blood dripping down from the wound he had caused, it had about 40 finger sized tentacles coming from it. The tentacles now sagged on the dead monster.
“Everyone use Identification,” he ordered.
*Ision Lotus*
“The first thing everyone sees for a monster is the name of the planet they are from. All the monsters here have Wesrall on their name. That means this is from another planet,” Asher said. “Looks like we are dealing with a dungeon break.” With the statement the pop-up screen appeared.
| Congratulations for finding the cause of the |
| Gone. Threat (1/2) |
| 2,000 + Contribution Points |
| Close the Dungeon Portal for Additional |
| Contribution Points and ending the threat. |
Asher wasn’t surprised by the notification. It was the (1/2) that surprised him. He pulled up his original quest screen.
| CHAMPION REPRESENTATION TRIAL #3 |
| Current Challengers: 10/10 |
| Time Limit: N/A |
| Quest Description |
| Destroy the threats on Wesrall (0/2) |
| Receive Contribution Points for moving the Wist along. |
| Quest Rewards: |
| Syscos |
| Experience Points |
| Random Champion Gear |
| ?????????? |
There it was. (0/2) threats that had to be destroyed. He guessed that the Gone/Isions was one. He sighed as he tried to think what the other threat could be. Tyranis had said it could take some time to finish a Wist, but he didn’t want to be there for another 6 months.
“What does this mean?” General Vich asked.
Asher pushed the annoying thoughts away. “There is a door from another world where things like this,” he said shaking the Lotus, “roam. I’m guessing more than a few made their way here. Latched onto people. Bred and spread to all the Gone out there. I’m guessing that if we were to look inside the Gone we have killed we would find a small one of these.”
“What does that mean for us?” Another noble asked.
“It means that we have to go shut it down,” Asher said. “I plan for our troops to leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!” More than a few people yelled.
“Yes, the longer it's open, the more of these can cross. One of Tiffany’s people is an Oracle, and they divined that the gate is to the East. We will head there and end this zombie outbreak.”
“But sir…”General Vich said but trailed off.
“Speak,” Asher said.
The man nervously looked around and said, “We have no food. Crops were planted, but never harvested. Give us a month. We can get them harvested. Strengthen our people.”
“First of all, not all of you are going. I would like a team of 40 people. The best groups from the current cleanup. People can volunteer, but this will be a hard trek. I plan on moving constantly. We have a lot of ground to cover. I want locals, and people that can let us know who to talk to in cities we may pass,” that relieved them a little. “I hear you about the food stores. We found a lot, but much more was also spoiled. To make it easier we will do what we can to assist in harvesting the grain.”
“And how will we do that?” Tiff asked.
“Oh, I was thinking maybe a simple Roleplay,” he said with a smile.
She mirrored the look, but then a different sheen took over her eyes. “Fine,” she said as her eyes became heated. “But I want something special this time.”
“Like what?” He asked, confused.
“That thing you said we could try,” she said.
“Which…?” He slowly remembered. He gulped, but nodded.
There were 3 levels of Groups that Asher knew of. A regular group which was made of 5 people. Typically this halved experience received and was the most common. Next was Raid Groups. This was anything over 5 people. Prior to the Tutorial the largest that could be made was 10 raid members every Gamer. That number has gone up to 100 raid members, and Gamers weren’t required. This too halved experience you received. The System was pretty good about knowing who did what damage and would allocate experience accordingly. But with so many people participating in a kill, you didn’t get much.
Last was a War Party. These were made up of anything over 100 people. Back during his Roktai Trial he had made one with his entire fighting force. They could be as big as you wanted. The nice thing was most everyone gained at least some experience for the kills. There were no level restrictions on these kills. So if someone killed a monster close by that was level 20 and above, even Asher should receive experience points. Granted it was only 1 or 2, but you kill a few thousand and you’re really rolling in it. Add that to the few you get more experience for killing personally, and it proved to be worth being in a War Party.
No one on Wesrall had a Group Formation skill. That must have been a patch added later on in the System. Asher and his people were from after the most current patch, so they could. Soon enough Asher had a few thousand in his War Party. None of the Royals or Nobles joined of course. They were all high level, so Asher simply kicked them out of the city. Literally. After some quick Dragon Slayer bitch slaps they were knocked out and on their way to the castle roof. One by one Asher kicked them out of the city. They had planned this of course. Batman was nice enough to catch them so they didn’t die. But Asher felt it was a humbling act to make them understand they didn’t have a choice.
Batman had told him that Queen Nefr Truskin had wanted him to kill the king before Asher interrupted. Asher felt like this would be a good time for some couple’s therapy, so he kicked her out of the city as well.
General Vich was the only one smart enough to not raise protest. When the royals were gone he came right on board. After that he went around giving raid invites to everyone. Guards were shaking in their boots as he came to them. He forced people to follow and then he was in the Military District. General Vich gathered everyone around.
Since people knew of an Asher Whitmore in the world he decided to dawn his Berserker Armor that covered him head to toe. By that point there were 2,000 people in the War Party. Asher introduced his lieutenants and gave his rousing speech.
“All of you fuckers can kiss my ass,” Asher said. His father coughed, without his mother there he may have been a little loose with his words. Asher forced himself to calm down. It was hard. He had been their grunt for a long time, they needed to understand he did not like them. Keera was nice enough to make his words boom over the crowd.
“We are going to work together from now on. Instead of grouping you all by Systems, we will be splitting you up by Systems. Everyone will be put into groups of 5. Healer, tank, DPS.” They didn’t know these terms, but they would soon. “Instead of working apart, we will be working together. Apes together, strong!” He quoted with a yell. Only Keera got it.
It took a full day to get them into the correct groups. The priests did not like it at all. As the supposed holy men, they felt they were better than the common soldiers. Tiff was sure to use her telekinesis to muddy up their clothes. Asher cast Cleanliness on most everyone in the general area. After that the priests were the dirty ones. By dusk they had everyone separated by groups and raids.
There were 400 groups. Asher made 8 separate raids out of those groups. There just so happened to be 7 large gates that led out into the rest of the city. Asher took charge of Group 1. General Vich group 2. Bishop Group 3. Nadir and Keera Group 4. Vincent Group 5. Ming Group 6. Abby Group 7. Group 8 was left in reserve with one of General Vich’s trusted lieutenants. He was quite surprised to find out that Abby was no longer his second, and was now sent from the System itself. He did his best to adjust quickly. Tiff and Atty were their reserve fighters and message relayers for the time being.
“Are you sure about this?” General Vich asked when all the groups were separated. He was actually a big help. An older man in very ornate armor he was one of the few that had worked his way up. He didn’t like that Asher threw the Royals out, but he held his tongue. Tiff was able to confirm they were alive and holed up somewhere.
“Absolutely,” Asher said. “Now, don’t be a Vich, and let’s go.”
“Go?” He asked surprised. “But it’s dusk, no one will be able to see. The people have been working hard. They need sleep.”
“You are all a lot stronger than you expect,” Asher informed him. “Also these guys glow blue. There will be plenty of lights from the monsters. And…” He said looking around. “Keera, let’s put on a light show.”
She nodded a little ways away. Illusion mana leaked out of her and headed to the 7 gates. Quickly large white miniature suns appeared above the doors, illuminating everything. They were so bright Asher had trouble looking directly at them. “Now, if only we had a Bard,” he said. He felt they could use some heavy metal music for the kickassery they were about to enact on a zombie horde.
“Parties ready!” He bellowed with Intimidation. Asher jumped to the front of his gate. His people did the same. Asher didn’t give a signal. Jumping to the lever for the gate he pulled it and leapt back. As it raised the screeches of the Gone made many behind him jump and cry out. Asher only became more excited. The door opened all the way and Asher was met with a mass of bodies. Gray skin, blue glowing mouths and wounds. Young and old alike had not been missed by the horde.
Asher stared at them and yelled, “Charge!” Pushing into the thick of them he started slicing them up with huge swings of Dragon Slayer. He started getting 1 XP at a time, and it began adding up quickly. By the time he had killed all those in front of the gate the rest of his Raid Party had joined him. He jumped back and started giving orders.
“Tanks to the front,” Asher ordered. The men with shields stepped forward. There were 20 warrior type Systems. “Shields up. Cast your taunt.”
“Mages, archers and pretty much everyone not a healer. Start attacking into the horde on the left. I will be on the right.” He watched to make sure they attacked. There was no friendly fire as the DPS stepped up. Healers made a line at the gate. The long range attackers started firing as one. Zombies screamed and screeched. Warriors and rogues hacked and slashed those in front. Mages and long-range attacked the mass of them in the back.
Asher watched for a minute then jumped into the right side of the horde of Gone. In a mess of bodies he started mowing them down again. It took an hour but they cleared to the other side of the trench road between districts. People screamed and yelled. Mages and warriors rotated positions between other similar Systems, but they could keep going, and they slowly learned that. Asher received 1-2 XP per kill, the lower levels were getting 5-10. In that hour a few leveled multiple times.
After that hour they met their first Abomination. A giant ape man with faces stitched into him. They screamed for Asher. Some broke formation. Asher slapped them around, and pushed them back. He took on the Abomination himself, and though he only received about a dozen XP, it was better than nothing.
As Keera’s lights began to dim and the groups tired Asher called a halt. They had nearly a half mile cleared on either side of the gate. Moving back inside the gate Asher released them. The other groups hadn’t made as much headway. But there were no casualties at least. It was close to dawn when the groups came back together and split apart. He did not end the War Party.
They passed out plenty of food, and gave them 4 hours until they would all go at it again. There were groans, but there always would be. All had gained levels. Some had gained skills. He would review with interested parties before setting out the next day. It would be good them to realize the individuality with their Systems. Everyone had different mana affinities. If 3 Warriors got to level 10, there was no guarantee they would all have the same skills.
—
It took 5 days to clear out the city. There was drama of course. Families of nobles he kicked out tried a revolt. Asher kicked them out of the city as well. Twice daily the War Parties left to attack the Gone. He didn’t repeat the nightly attacks. After being scared of them at night and going through with attacking; the Gone weren’t as scary to the common soldier during the day.
There were casualties of course. A few Abominations appeared massacred a few before Asher and his people could get there. On the 4th day Asher’s best were over level 20. He actually let them take on an Abomination. With 2 tanks on it and as many DPS as could fit it only took them an hour to bring it down. There were more than a few happy tears shed by those who did the deed. They had liberated all the districts on the 3rd day, and recruitment had increased.
People who had hidden their class joined. They still only got a few experience a kill, but they leveled quickly. Increasing the groups overall strength, and boosting confidence of the people. Food was still an issue, but on the 4th day they attacked the civilian districts that had been lost. More food stores were found which increased hope.
It was the 5th day when they were wrapping up that a Behemoth was found. Tiff and Atty grabbed Asher and flew him to it. With a nice aerial view Asher saw barely any blue from zombie mouths. He did however easily find the Behemoth. 30 feet tall it was actually taller than most of the walls. The giant monsters had been seen now and then, but they wandered in and out of the city.
“Set me down there,” Asher said, pointing to the front of the group facing off against the Behemoth. Tiff and Atty simply dropped him from the sky. He landed hard, but recovered. He was smart enough not to curse them. Tiff had psychic ears.
“What’s the status?” Asher asked Batman. They were at the front of the Raid party facing the Behemoth.
“It hasn’t moved,” Batman said. Asher studied it. 30 feet tall, it was taller than buildings. It reminded Asher of the Armor Titan from Attack on Titan. Humanoid with white hair, gray skin, and everywhere glowed blue. The faces were gone, and it was simply a sexless giant Gone. It stared at the raid party breathing slowly. Its eyes locked on he and Batman. Asher used Identification.
*Xare Behemoth*
Level 40
There was something odd about it, but he couldn’t quite place it. Using Mana Sense it was simply a big mass of mana. He used Mana Sight and saw it. There were mana veins in it of course, but the odd part was the Behemoth had 2 Mana Hearts. One centered on the chest, and another in the heart. There were many monsters with more than 1 mana heart, but they were usually much higher level. Everything over level 100 had more than 1 mana heart, and those close to level 100 also had them.
“I tank. Get the DPS attacking. Be careful of any cool moves. That thing has a lot of mana,” Asher said. Batman nodded and began yelling at his people. They formed into ranks. Their own tanks at the front the now seasoned men faced it. They shook in fear of course, but Asher planned for them to fight many of these in the future.
“All on me,” Asher assured them as he stepped forward.
He studied the Behemoth as he closed the distance. It never moved, but followed him with its eyes. When he was close enough Asher cast Intimidation. His roar echoing between buildings he let it die. The Behemoth then screamed and moved at him. The fight was on.
Asher jumped, hitting it in the face. A large gash appeared in it’s cheek but it healed. Asher moved to the top of a building turning its focus to him. He sliced into it’s large hands as it swatted at him. DPS began their assault. So much damage going around it became hard to keep aggro. Luckily Asher was the best at pissing things off.
Hacking and slashing he actually cut a finger off. All the nails on the Behemoth were busted and it slowly began healing less and less. Over 40 people attacking it at once did some nice damage. Batman, Atty, Tiff, and now Abby were there too attacking it. All of them over level 40 it wouldn’t take long to wear it down.
Asher was tanking from his 3rd roof when the fight changed up a little bit. The blue luminosity of the Behemoth’s mouth became brighter and Asher was hit with a beam of pure mana. It burned him inside the Berserker armor, but the attack hastily ended. He felt the mana was a little off somehow. It wasn’t arcane, and he didn’t recognize the type. In all honesty they should be shooting out Death Mana, but he didn’t sense any of it from the Gone.
He wanted to dig into the Mana Hearts to find out. Redoubling his efforts Asher began his assault again. He noticed the signs of the Mana Beam and dodged the next ones. It took 2 hours but eventually they brought the beast down. It shrieked and yelled, but with one big jump Asher caved its head in. It was no more.
When he received the experience notification of 150 whole points, he began digging around. He found the regular Mana Heart in the chest. It too was about the size of a beach ball. Much larger than he expected for a Boss that size. With that over he started digging for the one at the heart. After removing the ribs he was shocked at what he saw.
“Hey guys,” Asher said to his group. “I think I know what is causing the Gone.”
—
After day 4 they had made it to all the gates that led outside the city and sealed them. It was dusk on the 5th day by the time they killed all the Gone within the walls. People were cheering and celebrating. Asher felt a little guilty about kicking people out and found the nobles and Royals. They had grouped up and were staying in a small house on the outskirts of town. The Gone had been focused on the city so they were all relatively safe. He was a little surprised to find the King and Queen dead.
“Who did this?” Asher asked the nobles. Tiff was with him so the answer would be easy to find out.
“They killed each other,” a tall noble said. He was about 40 years old. Asher looked to Tiff.
“Truth,” Tiff said, looking around. A few faces looked down to the ground. There went his idea on couple’s counseling.
“What about the prince?” Asher asked.
“He ran off. He tried to help his mother, but the king got her. I am not sure where he went,” another noble said.
Asher let out a long sigh. “Fair enough.” He looked at Tiff, she slowly nodded. “No more killing,” Asher said looking around. “Humans I mean. Of course we have to kill the zombies. The city is now safe. We will bring you back, but I expect no more backstabbing. You do what I say or you’re out here for good.”
Asher had hoped to keep the king in position. Though the place wasn’t real he still felt like it was. He had wanted to leave someone in charge. He was trying to give the Royals time to cool off and clear their heads. The only thing that mattered in the System was strength. Not their blood, or the power they had pre-System. It only mattered what they could do now. The prince had been a good level. He might be fine, but with his attitude Asher wasn’t convinced he could survive.
At the end of the day some people weren’t worth saving. People didn’t change after a few days. It took effort and the desire to change. Asher’s group would leave and there would be a civil war as people discovered their individuality. Walking back to the Truskin city he smacked himself. He had to remember that this wasn’t real.
“You ok?” Tiff asked.
“Yeah, have to keep reminding myself this isn’t real,” he said.
“Oh, it’s real,” she said confidently. “My Deacia is real. Our experience points are real. I bet if we took this grass out of here it would be real.” She picked up a tall blade of grass and stored it in her ring.
“But Tyranis said-”
“It’s real,” she said. “Real for you and me. Who knows what the System does. Maybe we really are changing the past. Time mana is an element, right? Sounds way easier to send 11 people back in time than to create a whole planet.” Asher didn’t know much about Tempusmancers. But if he found one high enough level, maybe they really could go back in time. He worried that his wife might be right, but did his best to not think about it.
Once they were safe inside the city Asher gathered everyone important. A few nobles, General Vich, a few military personnel that had distinguished themselves, and of course the Earthlings.
“I was hoping to have the Royals here for the big reveal, but they had an accident and the prince ran off,” Asher said. No one there was too shocked, it had spread around the city quickly.
“The Gone have plagued this planet for a year now,” Asher announced. “Many of you thought they simply appeared some day. I assumed some Necromancer had gone rogue. We were all wrong.” He brought out the corpse from his ring. It was 3 feet in diameter. Gray skin, blue blood dripping down from the wound he had caused, it had about 40 finger sized tentacles coming from it. The tentacles now sagged on the dead monster.
“Everyone use Identification,” he ordered.
*Ision Lotus*
“The first thing everyone sees for a monster is the name of the planet they are from. All the monsters here have Wesrall on their name. That means this is from another planet,” Asher said. “Looks like we are dealing with a dungeon break.” With the statement the pop-up screen appeared.
| Congratulations for finding the cause of the |
| Gone. Threat (1/2) |
| 2,000 + Contribution Points |
| Close the Dungeon Portal for Additional |
| Contribution Points and ending the threat. |
Asher wasn’t surprised by the notification. It was the (1/2) that surprised him. He pulled up his original quest screen.
| CHAMPION REPRESENTATION TRIAL #3 |
| Current Challengers: 10/10 |
| Time Limit: N/A |
| Quest Description |
| Destroy the threats on Wesrall (0/2) |
| Receive Contribution Points for moving the Wist along. |
| Quest Rewards: |
| Syscos |
| Experience Points |
| Random Champion Gear |
| ?????????? |
There it was. (0/2) threats that had to be destroyed. He guessed that the Gone/Isions was one. He sighed as he tried to think what the other threat could be. Tyranis had said it could take some time to finish a Wist, but he didn’t want to be there for another 6 months.
“What does this mean?” General Vich asked.
Asher pushed the annoying thoughts away. “There is a door from another world where things like this,” he said shaking the Lotus, “roam. I’m guessing more than a few made their way here. Latched onto people. Bred and spread to all the Gone out there. I’m guessing that if we were to look inside the Gone we have killed we would find a small one of these.”
“What does that mean for us?” Another noble asked.
“It means that we have to go shut it down,” Asher said. “I plan for our troops to leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!” More than a few people yelled.
“Yes, the longer it's open, the more of these can cross. One of Tiffany’s people is an Oracle, and they divined that the gate is to the East. We will head there and end this zombie outbreak.”
“But sir…”General Vich said but trailed off.
“Speak,” Asher said.
The man nervously looked around and said, “We have no food. Crops were planted, but never harvested. Give us a month. We can get them harvested. Strengthen our people.”
“First of all, not all of you are going. I would like a team of 40 people. The best groups from the current cleanup. People can volunteer, but this will be a hard trek. I plan on moving constantly. We have a lot of ground to cover. I want locals, and people that can let us know who to talk to in cities we may pass,” that relieved them a little. “I hear you about the food stores. We found a lot, but much more was also spoiled. To make it easier we will do what we can to assist in harvesting the grain.”
“And how will we do that?” Tiff asked.
“Oh, I was thinking maybe a simple Roleplay,” he said with a smile.
She mirrored the look, but then a different sheen took over her eyes. “Fine,” she said as her eyes became heated. “But I want something special this time.”
“Like what?” He asked, confused.
“That thing you said we could try,” she said.
“Which…?” He slowly remembered. He gulped, but nodded.
