by Naosu N R
Mandy nods.
But she's already going through the equipment of the burned up black mage.
"What are you doing? His equipment is ruined," Sadie told her.
"His clothes are. But mages often have a spell book. Here," Mandy handed a very expensive looking black leather covered book that's slightly damaged and still hot. She had to put out some sparks around the edges of the corners and wipe off some soot and some smoke coming up from it.
I just captured an enemy spell book!
Whoa!
Right away I can tell its a mage spell book.
!
Wow! What a find! I may be able to gain something from this!
Its hard to even describe the feeling. The book itself is magic. I can feel it has some magic energy in it. Capturing a spell book is awesome for someone like me.
Miguel took the guys belt, which is obviously also valuable.
Josh and Sadie took some rings from him.
"That's all stolen by the way. If someone recognizes it, they'll think you hurt their friends," Mandy told them.
That explains why Mandy didn't loot anything other than the spell book and his wallet, which she handed to me.
We took off at a run.
The parking garage where our car is...is right in front of us.
Next stop, to pick up Melanie and Simone!
Unfortunately the others feel because I got the spell book and they can't sell it that Mandy and my share of the money should be reduced.
"Technically that's fair," Mandy agreed.
She's right. And I knew that.
We only got 172 normal dollars and 42 dungeon dollars from the black mage's loot. Later it will be divided up, but I'll get most of it since I saved us. Such a waste for him to die over trying to rob us for small change honestly.
...
The parking garage is full of fire burned splashes with small loot piles in them. Presumably this is from the fire mage guy killing the zombies and then their loot appearing after bodies melted. There were scorch marks in the floor also in places that were fresh.
The ranger part of Sadie says that they'd spotted our car in the parking lot somehow and that's how they knew where we were. Then they set a trap.
10:41 AM
We reached the car.
The others exclaims of joy and thankfulness are too much to listen to. Sadie promises to help us again; which Josh didn't like.
But then they promised to help us again if we didn't leave them.
Psychology of power should have had me in the front right with my driver as Mandy and the others in the back. But I didn't want to risk it. Plus, we needed a good pair of eyes; the ranger's, to be in the front also. And when we pick up Simone and Melanie the quickest way to get into the car would be necessary also; which will be the front right passenger seat, where Sadie is now.
(The other team people don't particularly like this reasoning. But its true.)
Plus, Josh and Miguel are less likely to hit females in the back. It ends up with me in the back middle, so I can use stun as necessary with the other two on the sides on anything approaching us.
Mandy started the car.
They were also impressed with the leather seats and how new it was, and the nice color.
"We've been trapped in here for days before you guys found us. Someone was supposed to pick us up," Miguel said.
"Really? You didn't tell us that part," I said.
"We were afraid that you'd think we were weak," Miguel said.
"So, who was supposed to pick you up?" I asked.
Mandy turned a corner.
She's driving really fast now to make up time. And the ranger gets a look out bonus for using her class and job to help us avoid obstacles and zombies while Mandy is swerving, sometimes dangerously around zombies.
The roar of the engine goes well as we're cruising down the street fast.
"Wait, what's that?" Josh asked.
[System (dungeon) notification; you have found the entrance to level 7!] pings on my status screen, within my mapping utility. There's an XP reward that went with it also, as if its inviting me subtle like to go deeper into more danger.
The dungeon sure is sneaky. Its very good at drawing people in.
I also didn't realize that the mapping utility in my status screen could interact with the dungeon!
"That building's front door leads into level 7 it seems," Sadie said.
We look at it.
Unfortunately there's a lot of monsters around it. And some orcs even, with them fighting each other.
Its not so simple to get to the exit.
If the timing isn't just perfect, people would definitely die trying to get to the level 7 entrance!
"That's fine. But what were you saying Miguel?" I asked.
"Can you help us? My family was supposed to pick us up. They didn't show. I'm worried," Miguel said.
[System notification; Miguel quest, part 1.]
What the hell?
I got a quest from a non-npc, and non-dungeon guy? Is this even real?
Miguel gave us a quest! I can't believe it! But there it is in my status screen.
"My sister and my brother were supposed to pick us up. They would never leave me hanging like that. That's why we were out of ammo," Miguel told us.
For the first time, Miguel is being honest and not aggressive. He's even sounding sad and hurt.
We need to help him.
But I hope that Simone and Melanie have a second car.
The sedan is full.
Chapter 27
The fight with the 2 mages has just ended...
...ended badly for them.
We were still trying to get to the meeting spot on time, while driving in the car...
Its nice to know the zombies can't chase the car.
But the car is extra quiet from us reeling in shock that other humans would dare to attack us.
If we decide to go with ramming the undead in a street by accident and getting swarmed, we still have to be very wary of them. And car damage could cause the car to not function; so my worries are piling up. A lot of the time there's numerous zombies in the street, but often we can get around them. Plus, because their brains are wired of former human lives, for some reason many of them don't go into the street. So they are programmed to not go into the street, unless they see prey go there first.
Go figure.
"What the freak Miguel, when were you going to tell us your hand was burned?" Josh suddenly blurted out.
I glanced to my right.
Whoa...
It seems that one of the fire mage's skills had burned up Miguel's right hand.
Miguel's hand is a total bloody burned mess. That looks several levels past painful also. Technically, its not a third degree burn, but if he tries to use that hand for anything it looks like the skin could just slip right off, out of what's left of it. It hurts to even look at.
Miguel is in a ton of pain. And he couldn't hide it because its too painful for even the air to touch his hand. He looks like he's grinding his teeth just to not scream. Sometimes he's even clenching his eyes shut to hold on in the pain.
!
That's... doesn't that mean zombies will be attracted to the smell of the wound, I thought.
"I have towels in the pocket behind the seat back and wrap it up. Do you have some burn cream?" Mandy said, while driving us around a street corner fast enough to make me lean to the left.
"We don't have anymore medical supplies. They were...being carried by our mage when that person got bit," Sadie frowned.
"Need...something...for the pain," Miguel gasped.
We ended up giving him a towel to wrap it in, but even doing that is making him cuss and cringe.
"D-damn, that's not good," I said.
"I was afraid you'd leave me behind. That's why I didn't say anything about it," he said, trying to gulp breaths of air between pain tremors.
"In a zombie map, you have to tell us when t
hings go wrong. That's the only way you survive," Sadie told him, clearly pretty upset by her tone of voice.
I also remembered that Miguel is right handed, which is really bad. There's no way he can hold a weapon right now. And maybe he'll be like that for weeks!
I sort of wish I had a heal skill right now, but I don't.
"That looks terrible," Sadie said turning to see it.
And while we're driving I can see that Sadie and Josh also have minor burn splash wounds from when we were fighting that fire mage guy. They aren't terribly large, but just here and there like spark like sprays all over. Sadie is cut up on her face and right wrist, but at least not a zombie wound...I think. It looks more like some kind of cut.
Josh's wound is covered in blood, with his shirt sleeve tied around his chest. So I can't see what his wound is from; another worry.
He glares at me harshly for even inspecting him. Not a good start.
"Mandy, we can't risk another confrontation right now. Everyone is wounded. We'll need to go hide out after this," I said.
But truthfully I really meant, everyone is wounded except me and her.
I'm surprised Josh and Sadie aren't demanding we flee right now.
Even while driving we see zombies chasing us.
But actuality I'd had things mixed up earlier. Its hard to not do that when you are trying to escape zombies while reading map directions on the fly.
We aren't going to the level 7 entrance, but to the level 5 entrance zone line!
And unfortunately the dungeon made it harder, by putting the level 5 entrance area near the level 7 area.
Some might think that would be a boon, but its actually vastly increasing the difficulty level because this dungeon floor, level 6 is so dangerous. It could have overflow spill risks into level 5 and 7. Plus, having tougher monsters from here AND possibly level 7 near the level 5 zone line.
We kept driving.
Fortunately, the others have the entrance to level 5 floor's area already mapped out. We won't have to waste a lot of precious gas.
But there's a denser population of monsters near both the level 5 and level 7 entrances! This worries me a lot, and makes me not want to be anywhere near this spot if we can help it!
"How are we supposed to deal with that?" I muttered, seeing them.
Huh? What's that?
"Wow I see two zombies eating each other," Sadie said.
"Really?"
"Definitely."
Weird.
Then we saw some darklings fighting with zombies over dominance of an alley.
It feels good to have survived and done well in this, despite it being a fragile balance. And that was only thanks to my skills that we're fine. It would be worse if I wasn't here because of the repelling nature of my skills.
Mandy is driving as fast as she can still keep high maneuverability on the road.
"We're close to the pick up spot. We can do this," Mandy said.
But inwardly, I can see that Miguel and Josh are eyeing us funny.
Uh oh.
'Did they only not try to kill us because Miguel's weapon hand is disabled and the others are tore up?'
This was what was going through my mind right now! It also meant we wouldn't be able to trust them forever.
"Do you guys got any first aid supplies in the trunk?" Sadie asked, for Miguel. And probably for herself by the way she's giving Josh weird looks.
"We do and I'll let you use them. But we can't stop the car to get them out right now. We have to find a safe spot first, so something doesn't sneak up on us. These streets are so narrow we'd not have good reaction time if we had something run at us," Mandy said.
"She's right," Sadie frowned.
"Damn it. It hurts so bad," Miguel groaned aggressively, regarding his hand.
"You're going to have to stay quiet when we find a place to hide out. And you'll have to do that while still in pain. You realize that right?" I asked.
Josh and Sadie gave him a worried look. But their looks, are almost like someone about to commit cannibalism on their friend. They don't realize how readable they are.
Mandy I think is thinking the same thing.
"We can do this Miguel. Just hang on," Josh tried to encourage him.
We continued to drive.
I put my status screen in stealth mode, so that only I could see it and pulled it up. The others can tell I'm looking at it, but it looks like censored mosaic to them.
Name; Jay Williams
Race; Type 349F human hybrid
Magic job; Mind/Enchanter Mage
Titles unlocked; Support Mage (+1 MP), Novice Tactician (+1 MP), 'Mage Combat Survivor' (+1 to magic resistance)
Level; 7 → 8
Health; 108/108 → 113/113
Mana; 89/366 → 89/377
Mana Regen; 24 (per hour)
Health regen; 3 (per day)
Element affinities; mind, enchantment
Str; 31Agi; 35Con; 41
Int; 105 Wis; 94App; 104
Skills; athletics (+1 con), jogging (+2 agi), math (+2 int), physics (+1 int), mana affinity (enabled), defend+2, block+1, parry, (weak) Stun (4 seconds), First aid, alertness(new!), First aid, hide & sneak (limited, weak), blunt weapon skill,
Magic skills; Seduce +3, Charm +3, Mesmerize +1, Enchant, Enhance, Hypnotism (Temporary Charm), Dungeon Map Detection, Ice snap (new!)(reduced damage +2, element incompatibility, Mana Sensing
Passive skills; demon lord clan heritage (bonus starting mana +50), demon lord heritage (bonus mana; +2 mana points per level), +1 to mind control. Team leader skill (+1% to group offense), party team window management magic, enchant; enhancement, enchant+1, weapon enhancement+1; Mind Control Efficiency (+10% → +12% to efficiency), Quick reflexes(new!)
Gear list;
Crowbar +3 (Knock back effect)
Health necklace +1 (per 6 hours, maxed)
Baseball cap
Jacket +2
Jeans (+2 defense)
1 long crowbar +2
Hoodie +3 defense
Flashlight (energy efficient enchant, blind 3/day)
Flashlight #2 (nothing yet)
Remote Control (slow 1/day)
Baseball Bat
Buckler
(+5)+3
Belt +2
Ring; mana regen+1
Ring; Charm skill+1
Umbrella (Damage absorption shield enchant on activation)
Supply bag; 1 red health potion, 2 med gels, 3 pain creams (borrowed from the house)
Bank account; $2,561
Unused stat points; 0
Wow.
There's a few changes that I like.
The titles wasn't there before. And it seems the titles earn me bonus stats, regardless of whether or not I'm using the titles. And one of them was from engaging another mage in combat. (I'll have to watch out for titles and title bearing quests then, that give them.)
Can the titles be upgraded, I wonder.
And it seems I'd gained some bonuses from having my mind controlled women have enough loyalty to come to me.
Wow.
This is the life.
Although I'm getting some good skills, unfortunately I haven't gained enough offensive skills and this worries me.
...
I made a few questions to the others while Mandy is driving around dodging zombies.
First, Sadie has the first aid skill, and so does Josh, but its tied to wisdom in using it. This means that its the best possible gain if I'm the one that uses this skill to help the others.
I should ask them to teach us that first aid skill later. But that might take time. And asking them a lot could piss them off also.
(And I discovered what some of the skills of the others. They had to tell me also, since it affects their pain and suffering.)
I also found out Miguel has the dual wield skill but he'd been saving it for later. This came up because Josh asked him why he's not using his left hand. Miguel said he misses a lot with his left
hand, even though he has this skill. So it seems he's not worked up the skill much yet, and possibly hasn't had it for very long.