Chapter 302

Etson, Florida - 10:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time

I took a breath and immediately activated Shield around my body in preparation.

<<<>>>

[[Congratulations!]]

Your prizes from the Star Spangled Shadow Invasion have been placed in your inventory.

Player knock-outs have been converted to points based on the total number they have gathered. You have gained 185,258 points from 7 participants.

As a third place winner, an accolade has been added to your MVP Token.

<<<>>>

The streets of Etson were in disarray, which was an unfortunately common sight. I floated over the sidewalk next to a strip mall that had been nearly burnt to the ground. The cars had all been ransacked, missing windows, hoods and trunks, and doors. There were no people around, strangely enough, but there was a forty-foot-long alligator made of algae charging towards me.

“Bad move, kid.”

I snapped away the system message as I Constructed a pair of blades without hilts in front of it. Sadly, the monster was far too dense to create something inside of it. There wasn’t a single bone in its body or tooth attached to its jaw. It was still powerful, it was just that all it could do was crush. Anyone who got pulled inside would be broken squeezing through its tightly packed innards.

The alligator opened its mouth, its jaws stretching wide enough that I could have stepped onto its tongue and had plenty of room to stand, and snapped down on the weapons.

It couldn't have known any better, but the Algaegator found out first hand what a bad idea that had been as the Constructs began to Spin, and then they were Pushed. They tore through the algae towards the twin cores holding the monster together.

Against anyone else who couldn’t see inside of it with aura, the creature would have been fine. The weapons would have passed through without much trouble and it would have regenerated itself. It was a bit of a bastard that way since you had to destroy both simultaneously. The broken one would just regenerate.

Both Constructs cut through the Algaegator’s dense center. They started to slow down when the monster constricted, increasing resistance, but it wasn’t enough to stop my attack. The blades continued to spin, each heading towards their own cores.

Rearing up onto its hind legs, the Algaegator roared, causing me to frown. If it was too loud then we might get some unwanted attention. The beast wasn't exactly subtle, either.

Its arms unraveled and two long strips of algae shot towards me. I put up two Force Fields at an angle, deflecting them back towards the enemy’s body. It didn’t work for long; the plant mass writhed like tentacles and shot back towards me, but it did its job.

The two cores shifted away from my Constructed blades as the Algaegator knitted itself back together. Strips of plants grabbed my arms, flexing against my Shield, and attempted to pull me towards it.

I moved an inch. Even though I was flying and not digging my feet in at all, I was very resistant to forced movement these days.

In the Algaegator’s confusion, the cores stopped, and my blades cut through them. It roared again, a death cry this time, before falling onto the ground in a heap.

<<<>>>

[[Victory!]]

You have defeated x1 Alpha Algaegator; +250 points.

<<<>>>

“Oh, come on!” I complained. “That thing should have at least been a dormant roaming boss. I'm being robbed.”

There was no response from the system, because of course there wasn’t, and I sighed and checked the area through my aura as I collected some algae and the destroyed plant monster cores.

Being able to see would have been better, but this was what I was stuck with.

It was strange, though. Aside from the monster, there was no one here. Given the administrator’s eagerness to kill me, I had expected Seraphim to stack the odds against me by surrounding me with people. Make me a boss like Frastina had back during the finale of the Chaos Cup. 

I looked around again, taking a few quick steps in every direction to expand my vision. It was empty.

Before I could voice my concerns to Sara, who I had been trying not to bother while she cooled down, another text box appeared in front of me.

<<<>>>

[[Main Scenario Etson (2)]]

The calamity in disguise has evaded the stockade put up by defenders of the city. Not only has it fled from the Etson College Safe Zone that you have worked so hard to build, but now it has free reign of the city. 

It is up to everyone who is capable to find the enemy and put it down. But, as was warned in the first quest of the latest main scenario, this beast is strong and capable. All it takes is one to kill dozens of players.

Nowhere is safe. This is a monster that can enter your sanctums, speak your language, and lie as easily as they breathe. What they can’t do is change their appearance. Once you find the calamity, a mark will appear around it. Harm the monster, and everyone will receive a beacon of its location.

Be wary, as it is now on the loose.

Objective: Find and harm the enemy.

Reward: 10,000 points.

Leads to: Main Scenario Etson (3) [All]

<<<>>>

“Bro really thought I was going to spawn by the library,” I said with a snort of amusement. “At least he kept his promise not to trap me, not that he had a choice.”

The system was supposed to drop me back where I was when it started. It had always done that, putting me in the bakery where I was waiting for my job interview. When Seraphim began his little speech, I was right outside of the Jody Etson Library at the college. He had seen me before the Administrator’s Black-out took effect.

By all rights, I should have been there. His whole plan was ruined by the boon Sara had given me at the end of my last run. Not only did it give me the option to summon her, but it also sent me back early this time so I could have a head start.

The system must have counted the moment my consciousness returned to my younger body as my natural starting point, not the one when Seraphim started talking. Well, I wasn’t going to argue with that, especially because I could see his game. 10,000 points was a lot for simply finding and hurting someone.

I was the calamity he was talking about. It was a fair description, all things considered, but he still sucked for making it. The fact that he couldn’t describe me in any way just made it funnier.

Monsters that could infiltrate safe zones were rare but did exist, usually in the form of things like Vampires, parasites, or humanoid psychics, and he was saying I was one of them. I could just imagine a ring of people, ready to attack wherever Seraphim was directing them. He was probably there in the flesh since he couldn’t see me through the system.

Two thoughts went through my head at that.

The look on his face when I didn’t show up was probably priceless. It put a smile on my face just thinking about the anger Seraphim had to be feeling.

The other thought made me turn towards Etson College. Man, it would be so easy to hunt him down and put Asi through his skull if he really was there.

A completely different smile appeared on my face at that one.

But I shook my head clear of such ideas. I didn’t know where I stood with the people of Etson and, while admittedly curious, I didn’t really need to find out. Not to mention, getting caught up in the scenario meant I might have to waste one of my new prizes, and I didn’t want that. Turning away from the college, I started flying towards the train station.

Then, I stopped and grumbled, because going that way would very likely lead me to several groups of people. They would have made the station a safe zone by now so they could protect travelers waiting for the train.

Instead, I started flying north. It wasn’t like I didn’t have time; Jamie’s trip was going to be a lot longer than mine. Atlanta wasn’t just a hop and a skip away.

It would be a pain in the ass to travel all the way to Stanley without my Heelies, just like it was going through Dublin. Just to say I made an effort, I lowered my feet onto the ground and attempted to use the skill that let me speed through the streets with ease.

<<<>>>

[[Skill]]

Winged Messenger+

When flying or traveling on the Heelies of the Twice Blessed’s wheels, gain a boost up to four times your speed in accordance with how full your inventory is. You may also use the wheels indefinitely as long as you are on level ground or a downwards slope.

<<<>>>

The moment I tried using it, my left foot nearly came out from under me. I couldn’t put any pressure on it because it wasn’t going to hold me up. Frowning, I decided not to let this get to me. I removed the Staff of Raphael from my inventory and Constructed a wheel that could be attached to the end.

While this ability was normally more taxing than Flight, I estimated that making it as small as I could would cost less in the long run. I put the wheel down on the ground and tried again. The setup made traveling weird for the first few feet as I held myself up with the makeshift crutch, but I soon got the hang of it. I was essentially traveling on just one of my Heelies, but if it worked then it worked.

Now that I had my speed back, I wasn’t idle as I zoomed through the back alleys of Etson. I had a brand new piece of equipment I had to equip. Sending the Belt of Overwhelming Constitution to my inventory, which was now mostly useless since I had used a Synthesis Page on its one passive, I brought out a new one.

The belt wasn’t rosewood red like the rest of the set, but a warm gold and dark brown. I wrapped it around me with Orbit, sliding it through the loops in my pants. The buckle had another rune on it, which was a diamond with two diagonal legs coming out of the bottom. This was Othala, meaning home. I grinned as I finished putting it on and pulled up the description.

<<<>>>

[[Equipped]]

Belt of the Warmongering Mystic

(Set Item 5/6; Growth Item, kill 5 bosses to upgrade; +60 Mental Points, +5 Wisdom, +5 Willpower, Body Buffer ability augment, Incredible Construct ability augment)

[[Ability Augment]]

Body Buffer

Empowered Body now increases your Strength and Dexterity scores by an additional 5%.

[[Ability Augment]]

Incredible Construct

You may create one additional item with Construct, and all items are now 20% more durable. In addition, increase the amount of physical and psychic damage done by weapons you make with this ability by 5%.

<<<>>>

“One more piece to go,” I said happily.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ask for the last item as one of my prizes because I hadn’t unlocked the final ability of the Warmind yet. There were ways around it, some of which I was going to try on the way to Chernobyl for the last piece of the Hellbreaker but, for now, getting the Belt was enough. Not only did it make my body stronger, but it made my Constructs harder to destroy as well. Less headaches for me was always a good thing.

Not only that, but I was up to the fifth set bonus, too.

<<<>>>

[[Notice]]

You are wearing multiple Items from the Warmongering Mystic set. You will receive the following set bonus.

Two Items: Increase your Mental Point pool by 50.

Three Items: You can comprehend the speech of any creature with some level of intelligence even if you don’t speak the language, and they are able to understand you in return. This ability does not work through a medium.

Four Items: You gain the use of a second Shield that can be used on an ally that you have a Mental Link with. In addition, you can now create as many Force Fields as you have items from the Warmongering Mystic set. Both of these abilities operate on the highest level available and recharge concurrently.

Five Items: You may use your telekinetic Warmind abilities on non-boss creatures that have a stat total less than or equal to your own. The closer your target is to that number, the harder it will be to affect them. This augmentation can’t be used to target specific body parts unless you are using it on a creature whose stats are 80% lower than your own.

<<<>>>

Finally, after all this time, I got my hands on the ability to affect living beings, and undead that didn’t count under that umbrella, with my telekinetic abilities. It was costly and there were a lot of caveats, but there were very few things that came close to my stat total right now. Most that did were either players who managed to luck into great items or bosses that were supposed to be above my weight class.

That last part was always a bummer, however. If they didn’t fall into that last category then I couldn’t do things like mess with eyeballs, tongues, or anything like that. It was still handy; being able to make hearts explode inside of weaker enemy’s bodies, which I could usually see through my awareness aura, was always going to be a great option.

And, honestly, I didn’t mind the handicap. If I used telekinetic eyeball pulling on all of the enemies that only relied on sight then I’d have such a huge advantage that I’d never have fun again.

Not that I was only in the business of saving the world for fun, but it certainly did help keep the doldrums away.

<<<>>>

[[Warning!]]

You have been spotted, and a beacon has been lit identifying your location to 2 players.

<<<>>>

“It’s Anthony!?” a familiar, gruff voice yelled loudly from somewhere in front of me.

That was unmistakably Thomas Brown, the one man I was hoping to avoid, was here. As far as I could remember he didn’t have any tracking skills or passives, so he probably had a Patron leading him in my direction.

I winced as two figures appeared in my aura ahead of me. Not having vision was already starting to bite me in the ass. I was about to veer off to escape between a pair of buildings when I noticed who his companion was. It wasn’t John, his right-hand man, like I would normally expect, but Gabrielle Garcia. She was the one who would usher Etson into a golden age of healing.

Hesitantly, I slowed down to a stop nearly a hundred feet away. The healer looked from the Citizen’s Justicar to me, her anxiety spiking in her aura. His fists were clenched, but he was unreadable. I could see him through my awareness but it was like a brick wall of gray. That was standard issue for classes that had to deal with people; he would have had the same thing as a Guiding Light.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I answered, ready to flee. The moment I was injured then everyone else would come and fight me, and I didn’t want to deal with that.

“Anthony Franklin,” Thomas said as he approached me. “I’ve been waiting for you to show your face back here for a long, long time.”