Coast on Fire: An Apocalyptic LitRPG (The System Apocalypse Book 5)

by Tao Wong

  “Grenades?” Lana says, turning her hand over to show me a concussion grenade. Less damage, more shock and distraction. Not a bad choice.

  “On three,” I say, moving to the other side of the door.

  We stack up on the door in an amateur approximation of good tactics. When I push the door open, Lana tosses the grenade inside and I shut the door again, getting only the barest glimpse of the Yurks all curled up behind solid barriers. An arrow bounces off my shield even as I close the door. The light rumble from the explosion comes a second later.

  Flinging the door open, I Blink Step slightly behind one of the barriers, appearing a few feet in the air even as Roland bounces in, unleashing a loud roar as he jumps over the blockade on the opposite side of the room. Anna and Howard rush in a few seconds later while Lana and Shadow keep an eye on the hallway. Even as I land and spin, my swords in both hands, I only catch one across its chest as the Yurks scramble away.

  Yurk Elite Warriors (Level 40)

  HP: 378/413

  MP: 188/201

  Conditions: Mild Stun

  Mildly stunned or not, the damn Yurk is still moving. Nine Yurks, scattered around the room, are taking us on. None of my AOEs will work—the classroom too small for their attacks. My only other spell is Mana Dart which, while great for Mana conservation, isn’t powerful enough to do real damage. That pretty much leaves my Skills and Freezing Blade.

  Considering their health, I ignore using my spell for now and just get on with the killing. They might be fast and skilled, but they’re smaller than me and in a retreat. I catch up with one of them fast. Behind me, I feel the impact of blades against the Soul Shield as his friends rally. Dismissing a sword, I block the Yurk’s cut and grab my target by the neck to spin and throw the smaller Yurk at his friends. Legs and hands flopping in the air, the Yurk bowls over his friends, tangling the group up long enough for me to send in a pair of Blade Strikes. A second later, I’m rushing over to the next in line, intent on finishing up my group.

  Lana steps into the room while I deal with the trio on my side, sending a widespread blast of pellets to finish them off before she twists to attack Roland’s and Howard’s targets. Anna has one of the Yurks on the ground, her jaw closed around its shoulder as her flames lick across its body while it thrashes around in pain. Howard’s worrying and backing off another two.

  I block a Cleave from one of the Yurks, pushed back a little by the sudden attack. Even as the Yurk tries to entangle my sword, its friend creeps around its side, ready to plunge a blade into me. Stepping sideways at the same time as I dismiss my blade, I use the momentum to complete a spinning back kick, sending the flanking frog into a nearby wall. As I land and recover, I slap the initial attacker’s glowing blade aside with my hand, my Soul Shield glowing as the sabre leaves a light line of red along my arm. Recalling my sword, I plunge it into the Yurk’s body before bull-rushing the Yurk attempting to pull itself out of the wall.

  With the added firepower from the redhead, the battle comes to a close soon enough. Battle over, I dismiss the blade and grimace as the blood on it, no longer having a place to grip, falls, splattering over my hand. Thankfully the Soul Shield actually protects me, allowing me to shake my hand clear of the gunk. While I’m doing so, Ali is looting and storing the corpses. After a second, I refresh the Soul Shields on myself and Lana, surprised by how low the shields has gotten. Even now, I can see the injuries on the pets slowly healing, the minor scrapes and cuts sewing back together as the puppies lick their wounds.

  “Nine Level 40s. Not bad, but nothing surprising,” I say.

  “Eleven,” Ali says, pointing at the additions.

  “Eleven…?” I frown, staring.

  He’s right. There were nine on the minimap, but in the heat of the battle, I hadn’t realized there were two adds. I stare at the additions, noting the slightly different equipment loadout and information screen.

  Yurk Rogues (Level 36)

  HP: 0/274

  MP: 0/347

  Condition: Dead

  “Bastard snuck up on me,” Lana says, kicking one body.

  “You know, if they’re frogs, they lay eggs in groups. So, not sure if they actually have a family structure like ours,” I say, shrugging. “Never mind the fact that they’re aliens.”

  “It’s just a saying,” Lana says.

  I cock my head to the side, curious to see if Ali has any information.

  “Don’t look at me. I’m not interested in learning about the mating habits of Yurks. Or, you know, any of you meaties.”

  “Meaties?”

  “Trying out a new descriptor.”

  “Don’t.”

  Ali sniffs, floating into the hallway as we gather at the door to the next classroom. We stack up again, ready to repeat the process. Interesting that they don’t come out. I debate if it’s a matter of tactics, stupidity, or just the dungeon and then give up. Not my problem if they want to make this easy.

  “Well, that was anticlimatic,” I mutter to Lana an hour later.

  We swept through the building without a problem, the small battles not an issue for the pair of us. Frankly, by myself, I out-Leveled our attackers. With Lana’s pets harrying and dealing with the others, it was a simple matter to clear each room.

  “Getting cocky, aren’t you?” Lana says.

  “Actually, I’m thinking there should be more to this,” I say, waving us forward and up the hill once again. We’ll reach the main campus soon, which is where the roads and dungeon square should show up.

  “We’re nearly out of time, boy-o,” Ali reminds me.

  “I know. I just want to see the square. We can pop right in there next time,” I say as we continue to walk forward.

  Occasionally, the plink of an attack reminds me that the damn scouts are still out there. That, and the strangled yelps or a sudden crunch as Roland and Shadow get to work on our flanks.

  “I should bring the boys up here more often,” Lana says with a slight smile. “They seem to be having fun.”

  “I can tell.” Rather than spend more time exploring the outer layer of buildings, I swing us toward to the main parking lot and the campus’s town square.

  We’re just passing another grey, boring building on our left, the parking lot on our right, when we hear a slow, thudding drum beat.

  “Boy-o…” Ali says, frowning.

  In front of us, slowly appearing on the map and disappearing as the mists continue to envelop us, is a large cluster of monsters. There’s nearly a hundred or so, many in the Level 30s or higher.

  “I think they were delaying us,” Lana says softly, eyes wide as she stares at the shared minimap.

  Glimpsed through the mists, the front ranks are slowly marching forward, shields held in front of them.

  “Yeah…” I stare at my Mana pool and sigh, popping a bottle of Mana restoration and swigging it down. Between that and my regeneration, I’m back up to two-thirds full, which should do. “I want to try something, then we can go.”

  Lana nods, face grim as she engages her aura once more. It bursts forth, making the front group stagger before they seem revitalized by the continued drumming.

  I step forward, crouching and whisper the command. “Army of One.”

  Around me, six identical copies of my sword pop into existence, tripling the total number that I get from Thousand Blades. I grunt, swinging my hand down, and the blades shoot forward rather than projecting a strike like Blade Strike. The glowing red-and-blue blades strike the front ranks, boring through the monsters and continuing onward, shattering their careful formation.

  “Nice,” Lana says as she unloads her shotgun into the group.

  Anna helps, flames stretching from her body to run across the group like long tendrils. But for all that, for how impressive it looks, the Yurks stagger back up to their feet and reform their lines.

  I sigh. I guess I know where I’m putting more Class Skill points next time. I need more blades and more damage. While the damage will
get better as I grow in strength and my blade does as well, the number of blades is a matter of another Skill.

  Once they’ve reset the line, harried by Anna’s and Lana’s attacks, the group continues their slow and steady march. A low growl from Howard behind us alerts us to the troops that have flanked us, pinning us in place and forcing both Shadow and Roland out of hiding.

  “John…” Lana’s voice grows concerned as the group gets within thirty meters.

  A shift in their positioning shows that they’re ready to charge. My wordless answer is to pop open the Portal, and the puppies and Roland dart in without a word. Lana and Anna follow even as arrows and spears fly, raining down around us. I follow her through the Portal.

  “Well, that was disappointing,” I say, grabbing one of the spears flying through the fast-closing Portal before it pins Anna.

  “Disappointing?” Lana says.

  “My Skill,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s really reliant on my other Skills and I just don’t have the points for it all. I’m going to need to put more points into it for it to get useful.”

  A cough drags our attention back to Katherine, who has stood up from behind my desk to extract a few arrows and spears that have embedded themselves on it and around the walls. “Perhaps another location would be better for you to teleport to whilst in combat?”

  “Sorry!” I say, watching as the prim and proper woman stacks the weapons aside.

  “You know she’s going to make you pay for that, right?” Lana whispers to me.

  “Nah, she wouldn’t do that,” I say, confident in Katherine’s professionalism. I purposely ignore Lana’s and Ali’s looks, content to bask in my naiveté. Though if you know you’re fooling yourself, is it really naiveté? “So what’s on the agenda?”

  Lana waves goodbye, off to deal with her own chores. Behind her desk, Katherine pulls up her status screens and rattles off the agenda for the day. More meetings of course. It’s always more meetings.

  “The Adventurer Guilds are here,” Katherine announces with slight disapproval as I lounge in my chair.

  Since there’s no paperwork, I’ve pulled my chair out from behind the desk. I’m in a nice, comfortable lounge chair taken from below, rather than the uncomfortable office chairs that used to fill this corner office. Katherine, for reasons of her own, is behind a desk.

  “Send them in.”

  A few minutes later, a tall humanoid elf walks in, a smile on his lips. Tall, blond, and pretty, he could have walked off the set of a Lord of the Rings movie if it weren’t for the futuristic sci-fi jumpsuit and beam rifle slung over his shoulder. I stand, offering a hand and shaking his before I flop back down in my chair, gesturing for him to choose his poison. After glancing at the options—office chairs, another lounger, and the couch—he takes an office chair and rolls it over to me. I note how he dismisses Katherine’s presence almost immediately, his focus on me.

  Mental Effect Resisted

  “I’m John Lee.”

  “Kryl a Sharra. I’m the Guild liaison of the Burning Leaves, a Tier II Guilds,” Kryl says.

  I’m a bit impressed by the fact that he’s from a Tier II Guild—those represent deep pockets, according to Ali, with Guild Halls in over five hundred settled worlds and a deep roster of dedicated Adventurers. Among other things, Guilds have to meet a certain number of Galactic Council quests and hit certain taxation numbers to qualify for each level. All things considered, there’s just over a hundred Tier II Guilds in the entire Galactic System.

  Kryl a Sharra (Level 18 Fell Ranger)

  HP: 740/740

  MP: 485/520

  Conditions: Aura of Command

  I don’t mention the Aura or the fact that he’s still using it. A glance at Katherine shows that her conditions still list as none, a rather surprising matter. Then again, I don’t know what kind of Skills she has, but being an Assistant who can be easily swayed probably wouldn’t be great. Something worth noting at least.

  “What can I do for you, Kryl?”

  “The Movana designate their Nobles by adding an a in between their names. So Kryl should, if you were feeling polite, be called a Sharra.”

  A flash of annoyance shows on Kryl’s face before he stamps it out. “We would like to know when our application for a Guild Hall in your settlements would be approved.”

  “You’ve got applications for places outside of Kamloops?” I say with a frown.

  “Yes. They were added a few days ago,” Kryl says smoothly.

  “Huh.” I consider what else to say then make the decision. “Get out.”

  “What?” Kryl exclaims, eyes widening.

  “Get. Out. You’re not welcome in this office anymore. If your Guild wants to continue talking, they can send someone else.”

  Kryl narrows his eyes in thought then nods before walking out in silence. Rude and manipulative as he might be, at least he’s smart enough to realize what he did wrong. Using his aura to attempt to manipulate the negotiation and force us to take his Guild is idiotic. Sure, it might work with some, but that’s no way to build a lasting relationship. When he walks out, Katherine lets out a little snort that I assume to be one of approval. Ass.

  “Next.”

  “Brommax’s Raiders are a Tier III Guild. We’ll be able to not only provide a wider market for your goods through our Guild Shops, but we also have a deep bench of Adventurers to fulfill any of your requests and we are willing—and able—to staff all three of your settlements,” the big yellow Yerrick says. I forget his name, having seen so many for now. I could look, but that’s what Katherine’s for.

  “Raiders?”

  “It’s a translation imprecision.”

  “He’s telling the truth. An English translation thing. Maybe those US Rangers might be a better translation.”

  “I’m really only interested in discussing one town at a time,” I say. “Kelowna in particular.”

  “Of course. We’re willing to negotiate on the monthly Credit fee, as well as any additional settlement security requirements you might have.”

  “Keep talking,” I say, leaning forward. Finally. The Yerrick is the third in line, and the first I’m actually interested in.

  “I represent the Platinum Pixies, a Tier IV Guild. Our Guild might not be the biggest, but we punch above our weight class,” the pixie says, hovering in front of me with a grin.

  “You guys allow non-pixies in?”

  An uncomfortable silence later, I watch her tiny form flit out.

  “Crystal Clans isn’t your typical Guild. We’re a Tier III Guild, but we’re more focused on Artisan work. Our people are looking for stable and plentiful sources of materials, which is why a Guild Hall in a Dungeon World is perfect for us,” the dwarf states, offering me a grin and launching into his spiel the moment he sits down.

  “Sounds like a lot of great things for you—”

  “What? A stable market that buys at a higher price than the Shop doesn’t sound good to you? How about Advanced and Master Artisans who can guide some of your people? We can work in class schedules.”

  “That’s nice, but we’re a bit worried about our security…” I say leadingly.

  “We aren’t all Artisans. A significant minority are fighters—we do need guards for some of our rarer materials. And a number of Adventurers see the advantage of having access to Master Level Artisans,” Wrox says, beard waggling. “We’ll have a number of those people in your towns.”

  “And a security agreement?”

  “Can be negotiated.”

  “Good. Now, about the rent…”

  “No.”

  “But with the number of fallen in the transition, we will be able to raise—”

  “No.”

  “You don’t understand—”

  “Get out. Before I throw you out.”

  “Simpletons.”

  I watch the multi-legged heptadon walk out of the room, almost flouncing out. A hand held out to Katherine puts guests on hold while I keep my b
reathing deep and steady to get my temper back in control. Asshole necromancers.

  “Labashi.” I blink, standing and shaking the Hakarta’s hand.

  He’s still as big, green-grey, and tusky as ever. However, I’m surprised to see him here in Vancouver. Last I knew, he was up in Whitehorse, finishing his initial contract with the Duchess.

  “Redeemer.” He inclines his head and sits down. A hand comes up, offering me a small, red-wrapped piece of heaven. “Chocolate?”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” I say, grabbing the chocolate and popping the piece in my mouth. I blink when the chocolate melts in my mouth on contact, the liquid delight a surprise. Even as I sit, quietly enjoying the expensive treat, Labashi offers a piece to Katherine while introducing himself. “Good chocolate.”

  “Yes,” Labashi says, leaning forward. “A great export.”

  My mind shifts for a second to Adventurers fighting through hordes of monsters, risking life and limb, only to loot their corpses and exclaim in delight at finding a Toblerone. I chuckle, making Labashi stare at me with concern.

  I wave away his questioning look, continuing. “What are you doing here, Major?”

  “Visiting an ally. And pitching my Corp as an option.”

  “You can do that?”

  “It is not the most common use of that building slot, but is possible,” Labashi says.

  “MERCENARY CORPS ARE UNDER THE SAME CLASSIFICATION AS ADVENTURERS GUILDS. AS SUCH, A SINGLE COMPANY MAY BE ADDED TO ANY SINGLE TOWN.”

  “What else is covered under that classification?” I send the thought to Kim and Ali, grumpy about missing another thing. Between a lack of interest on my part and the sheer volume of information, I’m missing a lot about running a settlement.

  “Assassin’s Guilds and Thief Circles fall under the same categories. Also Spy centers, but you need to build up the requirements internally.”

  I sit in silence for a moment, listening to my companions while Labashi enjoys his tea. When my eyes refocus, Labashi shifts his attention back to me fully.