Stars Awoken: A LitRPG Apocalypse (The System Apocalypse Book 7)

by Tao Wong

  “What is this?” I say, tapping on the crystal with a bare hand. The hiss from Mikito and Hondo comes a little too late. The crystal resonates from my tap, a slowly growing noise that fills the room, increasing in volume and sending a thrum straight to our bones. It’s not painful, just slightly uncomfortable. “Huh.”

  “What are you? A child?” Hondo snarls. “Never touch strange things in a dungeon.”

  “Oh, come on. Worst-case scenario, it just dumps some light or blasts us with acid. Nothing we can’t handle,” I say defensively.

  Mikito growls at me, the tiny Japanese swivelling her head toward the numerous exits then the resonating pillar.

  “You have thought of something, Spear?” Hondo says.

  “Trap.” Mikito points at the entrances.

  I open my mouth to point out that there’s no such indication on my map, only to be forced to shut it as dozens of dots appear.

  “Goblin shit,” Ali says.

  “Yes.” Mikito twists her hands, withdrawing items from her inventory. Underhand tosses send webbing grenades to the entrances of some of the smaller locations, blocking them off.

  Hondo is doing the same on his side of the crystal. I move away, reaching into my inventory to check what I have.

  “Ali, go high please,” I say.

  Right. Let’s see. Webbing grenades and fast-forming foam walls are perfect for the smaller entrances. I have three portable shield generators too, but they’re too low tier to do anything but annoy the Nuckelavee for more than a few moments. Better to save them.

  Oooh. Mines.

  Ali shoots upward, headed for the few entrances that are above ground level, and drops off foam-covers and webbing grenades. I do too but also add a series of portable mines to the area in front of me. I make sure to key the mines to go off on command only though.

  Not that I’ve got a lot of time to get all this sorted. By the time I’ve got the barest defensive line up, the Nuckelavee are on us. That’s when I channel my Mud Walls, focusing on the two largest entrances in sight. Those have been left alone thus far. As the Nuckelavee charge, I release my spell, earth rising from the front of the entrances to envelop the horse-demons.

  Screams and choked cries flood the room, but I’m too busy paying attention to my side to deal with it. I shape the walls, flooding the entrances as best as I can with the conjured matter. Even so, the leading edge of the Nuckelavee wave have broken free from the webbing grenades and other blockades at the other entrances.

  I tie off the spell, leaving the Mud Walls in place, and step forward, sword in one hand and throwing knives in the other. Within seconds, the monsters are on me and I dance, Thousand Blades and my original blade clashing with Nuckelavee claws. Sharp claws cut at bare skin, tearing through rotting clothing even as my body attempts to fight off the rot. The stacked auras of decay attack from within, corrupting organs, weakening bones, and rupturing blood vessels as I move. Blood drips from my nose, blocking my breathing and leaving a salty taste in the air. Back and back again, they push me.

  “Enough!” Hondo roars.

  The command washes over the room, freezing the Nuckelavee for a few seconds. I trigger the mines, only to realize that two-thirds of them no longer work, their mechanisms destroyed under the demonic aura. The pitiful explosions do little but wake the monsters from Hondo’s Skill. Mikito uses the break better, forming a twenty-foot blade with her weapon and sweeping the extended cutting edge across multiple necks. Blood fountains and the stench of decay and disease expands.

  “Frack it. Beacon from Angels,” I say, thrusting my hand toward the sky.

  I layer the attack again and again, its power reduced in these tight, underground confines. But the damage spreads across the group, those near expiring falling over. As the bright beams of light and golden glyphs disappear, a louder sound appears.

  A creature, a distorted mass of flayed humans and beasts, crawls out of the largest tunnel. Multiple heads stick out, most missing eyes, just gaping wounds that pour pus and blood. From a few of those wounds, alien insects emerge, boiling around the monster before burrowing back into its red, distorted flesh.

  “Goblin shit.” Ali flies down, coming to a standstill next to me as he finishes throwing a lightning bolt. “Boss.”

  Mother Nuckelavee (Zone Boss Level 113)

  HP: 11830/11830

  MP: 3218/3218

  Conditions: Pregnant, Aura of Greater Decay, Disease Vectors

  “Armory of the People,” Hondo intones as he raises his hand. Gold and silver ritual circles with weird glyphs appear, hundreds of them rotating above the Truinnar. From each circle, a weapon emerges. Sometimes it’s swords, axes, polearms. But more modern weapons appear too, including rockets, grenade launchers, beam pistols, slug throwers, and more. With a sweep of his hand, the weapons unleash their fury at the Zone Boss in a furious roar.

  The suddenly compressed air from hundreds of weapons firing staggers me backward, pressuring my already weakened eardrums. They pop with a tear, and blessed silence appears while the Nuckelavee caught at the edges of the attack are torn into pieces. Swords bounce, arrows burrow, and rockets explode as Hondo unleashes his attack. Those within the actual blast edges aren’t just ripped apart but turned into bloody mist.

  Out of the cloud of blood and dirt, the Mother Nuckelavee staggers forward. It’s lost nearly two-thirds of its life but is still alive. The Mother gestures with a few hands, fingers shaping arcane motions. The air swirls toward her, sucking in floating pieces of her body and other Nuckelavee. As they reach the Mother, the creature’s health ticks upward.

  “Redeemer!” Hondo snaps.

  I growl in acknowledgement, bringing my sword forward. But Mikito takes off first, her Hasted form blurring as she rushes through the crowd, polearm extended.

  “Right. I guess I’m on support then. Fastball special, Ali,” I say, charging up the Enhanced Lightning Strike spell.

  I grin slightly as the Spirit floats a short distance away, his body glowing. As I form the connection of electrons between the Spirit and myself, I unleash the spell, converting raw Mana into electric potential. The blast strikes Ali, who takes the channeled energy and directs the bolts of lightning at the remaining Nuckelavee and particularly large, floating masses of flesh that the Mother is pulling back into her body.

  While I deal with the riff-raff, Mikito is dancing through the lightning, her blade leaving trails of blood and light as it cuts the Mother. At times, it looks as if Mikito is literally dodging lightning, her movements so fluid and fast. It’s a ballet of death that ends with the Samurai jamming her polearm deep into the Mother’s chest, the weapon extending within the creature and exploding out its back.

  It screeches, pounding the ground and sending another wave of exhaustion and dizziness through us all as it dies. I cough, spitting out blood, and eye Mikito’s health bar. Of us all, she’s nearest to bottoming out. With a wave, I cast a Greater Healing on her. Her health creeps up a little before it stabilizes, the lingering effects of the aura still warring with the woman’s natural regeneration.

  “Well, that was fun,” I say.

  Mikito shrinks her blade, kicking the corpse off her polearm, then spins it around, flinging droplets of blood and rotten flesh from it. Ali tosses a last Mana Dart to finish off a crawling, dislimbed monster, then eyes the swirling bat creatures above. None of them come down, instead fleeing the room.

  Hondo glares at me and stalks away from the crystal pillar trap, making a circuit to check each entrance. I sigh and slump against the now quiet pillar, mentally requesting Ali to deal with the corpses. As he does so, I pull up the notification I’ve received.

  Level Up!

  You have reached Level 26 as an Erethran Paladin. Stat Points automatically distributed. You have 14 Free Attributes and 1 Class Skill to distribute.

  I get that little rush of dopamine from achieving a new Level and find myself smiling slightly. Good reminder that I have a Class Skill still to assign. Al
ong with the attribute points. Truth be told, I wanted to hold off on the Class Skill point until I managed to get to the third tier. Or at the least figured out a more thorough build. Part of the reading in the Questors’ library was meant to help with that a little.

  Now, here I am, expecting to fight three Master Classers, which means I need every edge I can get. In some ways, I’d love to up my Advanced Class Skill Portal. Or perhaps Army of One. That’s a nasty sure-kill attack. But using my Paladin Class Skill on it would be a waste. Better to focus on my Paladin Skills.

  On that note, I eye the columns in my Skill Tree. The third branch is all judgment-related Skills, and those make no sense to upgrade. Well, perhaps Eye of Insight. Upgrading the Eye might give me a chance to break through their Stealth Skills. But I think that’s still a relatively low chance.

  My aura and Eye of the Storm Skills are great, but more meant for large fights. Paladins are meant to be standing in the middle of a war and rallying their side to them. Vanguard could be useful though—the additional damage and boost in Physical Stats could make a huge difference in a very short timeframe. I don’t use it as much, due to the cost, but if I’m going one-on-one with the Titan, it might make sense.

  Penetration is so damn useful, but I’ve already dedicated quite a few points, relatively speaking, to it. Adding more seems like a marginal increase to an already useful spell. On the other hand, Beacon of the Angels has been my go-to wide-area Skill. Hell, it’s my only wide-area Skill. Unlike spells, it takes almost no time to put in motion. Even if there’s a minor delay, it’s still better than standing around trying to cast a spell. Adding another Level to it might give the Skill the punch to do real damage.

  Eye of Insight or Beacon of the Angels. They both have good points to them. Eye of Insight might be more useful long term and over multiple situations, but Beacon of the Angels seems to be a decent Skill to shore up my weak area effect damage. Resolved, I dump the point into the Skill and eye the new information.

  Beacon of the Angels (Level 2)

  User calls down an atmospheric strike from the heavens, dealing damage over a wide area to all enemies within the beacon. The attack takes time to form, but once activated need not be concentrated upon for completion.

  Effect: 1000 Mana Damage done to all enemies, structures and vehicles within the maximum 25 meter column of attack

  Mana Cost: 500 Mana

  That’s what I call a satisfactory increase in damage.

  After that, assigning attributes is easy. I split them evenly among my go-to combat attributes. Once that’s done, I eye the newly developed Status Screen, soaking in the details.

  Status Screen

  Name

  John Lee

  Class

  Erethran Paladin

  Race

  Human (Male)

  Level

  26

  Titles

  Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead, Duelist, Explorer, Apprentice Questor

  Health

  3650

  Stamina

  3650

  Mana

  3440

  Mana Regeneration

  287 (+5) / minute

  Attributes

  Strength

  249

  Agility

  329

  Constitution

  365

  Perception

  186

  Intelligence

  344

  Willpower

  372

  Charisma

  124

  Luck

  74

  Class Skills

  Mana Imbue

  3*

  Blade Strike*

  3

  Thousand Steps

  1

  Altered Space

  2

  Two are One

  1

  The Body’s Resolve

  3

  Greater Detection

  1

  A Thousand Blades*

  3

  Soul Shield

  2

  Blink Step

  2

  Portal*

  5

  Army of One

  2

  Sanctum

  2

  Instantaneous Inventory*

  1

  Cleave*

  2

  Frenzy*

  1

  Elemental Strike*

  1 (Ice)

  Shrunken Footsteps*

  1

  Tech Link*

  2

  Penetration

  3

  Aura of Chivalry

  1

  Eyes of Insight

  1

  Analyze*

  2

  Harden*

  2

  Quantum Lock*

  3

  Elastic Skin*

  3

  Beacon of the Angels

  2

  Eye of the Storm

  1

  Vanguard of the Apocalypse

  2

  Society’s Web

  1

  Combat Spells

  Improved Minor Healing (IV)

  Greater Regeneration (II)

  Greater Healing (II)

  Mana Drip (II)

  Improved Mana Missile (IV)

  Enhanced Lightning Strike (III)

  Firestorm

  Polar Zone

  Freezing Blade

  Improved Inferno Strike (II)

  Elemental Walls (Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.)

  Ice Blast

  Icestorm

  Improved Invisibility

  Improved Mana Cage

  Improved Flight

  Haste

  As I eye my Status Screen, my gaze falls back on the Aura and Eye of the Storm abilities. I don’t use them much—mostly because thus far, my enemies have been either too strong or too weak to bother. But perhaps it’s time I look at them as boosts for my friends. Not that these two need it necessarily. Yet thinking of Hondo’s experience Skill, of the way he led the kids—and hell, us—perhaps it’s time to look at how being in a team changes how I fight. Especially with my new Skills.

  Mikito rests on her polearm next to the Zone Boss. I catch her eye and find her smiling slightly. I return the smile, basking in the shared sense of accomplishment of raised Levels. One Zone Boss down. Next time, we’ll have to go deeper.

  Chapter 16

  For all our caution and concern, the next few weeks are quiet. Oh, the corporations and the sects keep pushing at our recruits, buying up debts and occasionally laying into them physically. But a few well-placed quests, along with the movement of many of our recruits into holding areas, mean that the number of incidents has decreased. Our recruitment numbers grow, such that we’ll easily meet the initial quest numbers once these immigrants actually set foot on Earth.

  There are a tense few days when the ships arrive and everyone is transported onto the ships. Needlessly stressful since there’s little chance of an attack on the station or the beanstalk itself. Irvina’s System Commander is infamous as one of the highly active Heroic Classes in Irvina. The Eye of Heaven. The Watcher of Watchers. His Heroic Class Skill All Seeing Eye means he knows everything that happens on his station and, if he pushes it, in the entire damn Solar System. Add that to his ability to teleport himself to any location in his domain at will—bypassing any Dimensional Locks in play—and no one tries anything on the stations under his watch. Much, much better to wait until everyone is on the ships.

  Still, we worried. To that end, we shuttled people back and forth to the beanstalk with care, eyeing everyone and triple-checking the loading of the ships for bugs and smuggled bombs.

  In the end, the ships leave the solar system without a hitch. After that, it’s a multi-week journey where the ships will travel to Earth via a series of random jumps. Without a logged or planned shipping route, it’s impossible to purchase their route information beforehand. That still leaves some viable options for attack—Forecasting and Divination
Skills being among the most likely culprits—but it does make things a lot harder. And harder is all we can hope for.

  After that, we start the entire process again. Training ourselves and new recruits. Putting them in sponsored and guarded locations. Offering loans when necessary. We’re watching and waiting. The only thing we know is that there’s still a contract out on me and Katherine. But when, how, they’ll be put into play is unknown. Even getting that amount of information from the Shop was expensive. And so we wait.

  Weeks pass by. One morning, I’m staring at the gruel I somehow inflicted on myself for breakfast. For the life of me, I can’t recall why I thought gruel was a good idea. Porridge I can do. Rice porridge is good, tasty food. Perfect for breakfast, especially when combined with some fried breadsticks. But that hasn’t arrived yet. Sooner or later, I’m sure. But gruel? Gruel the Galactics have a version of. And seeing it, I somehow thought it’d be a great idea to try it. Somehow.

  The doors slide open, and I eye Harry as he saunters in. The reporter offers me a weary grin as he drops into the chair beside me and takes my bowl of gruel, spooning my food into his mouth without a word. I watch, bemused, as the reporter swallows the meal down before he leans back, letting out a little burp. One hand comes up, wiping dark skin clean.

  “Nice to see you too,” I say.

  “Thanks.”

  “How are you doing? What have you been doing?” I say.

  “My job. Just finished my interviews with the Wolves of the Air,” Harry says. “Fascinating group.”

  “Did you now?” I say, forcing my voice to be light.

  “Oh yes. Took weeks to set it up, weeks to get their trust. Got to cut and sculpt the episode, but it’s fascinating really,” Harry says. “Utterly fascinating. The world they live in as hired assassins is such a different world. Do you know, they have to walk a very fine line? Can’t get too flashy or else the Heroic Classes get annoyed. Can’t turn down too many jobs or else, well, what’s the point of such a team? Really polite bunch too. Very apologetic about the attack on me.”