1.17 Be Prepared

Chapter 17

[Hyaenid Raider – Lvl 6; Marked to Die]

Vasquez’s flames struck the raider just after my skill tag activated. The boost from my skill helped the spell sear its flesh against its armor, forcing it to whimper loudly.

An axe flashed from behind, Francis appearing at its back and bringing it down to its knees. A quick burst of speed brought me in front of it and a mere slash to the back of its neck ended the creature a second later.

[You have Slain Hynaenid Raider – Lvl 6]

[Ability Activated: Soul Usher (F)…]

I dismissed the System notifications, ignoring the silvery glow of the creature’s soul as it absorbed into my body. It was the twentieth kill we had managed, and the tenth soul I had harvested. But my mind wasn’t on the possible gains I would be getting from my class ability.

Twenty kills was nothing.

Dozens upon dozens of the creatures still swarmed about. Each one that was brought down by the military’s gunfire or a Hunter’s blade just resulted in the beasts’ bloodlust gaining more steam.

Yips and laughs echoed over the streets and through alleyways as the fight went on. The furry humanoid hyenas looked to enjoy even the death of their comrades, and they fought harder with every kill from either side.

“This isn’t ending, we need to close this breach,” Barry shouted behind me. He was pulling his own sword from the back of a fallen raider as well, cleaning the metal along its slick fur.

“But how? Where the fuck is this thing?” Huwett strode up behind him, Vasquez and Norton close on her heels.

“They look to mostly be coming from that way,” I pointed towards a wide alley where, sure enough, another group of a dozen beastoids were running out from.

“Then that’s where we gotta go,” Barry said as he strode toward it.

Blood splattered, blades gleamed, arrows loosed, and flames streaked as we cut our way through the raiders on our way. I had given up on making sure I got the killing blow and instead focused on keeping our momentum going.

Barry swung his shield wide, smashing a raider into the wall of a nearby building just as Francis nearly cleaved another in half with his axe. Three arrows landed in rapid succession in another raider’s torso, dropping it to the ground like a sack of goblin-shit.

A fourth caught fire from Vasquez, causing it to screech and run around frantically.

My own blade split open the throat of a fifth, and as I pulled my weapon back into proper ready position, Barry was already clashing with a sixth, Francis running headlong into a seventh not far away.

We were far more powerful than the Hynaenids, as they were called. But their sheer numbers slowed us down, making us fight for every foot of distance we travelled.

[You have Slain Hynaenid Raider – Lvl 6]

[You have Slain Hynaenid Raider – Lvl 5]

[You have Slain Hynaenid Raider – Lvl 7]

[You have Slain Hynaenid Raider – Lvl 7]

[You have Slain Hynaenid Raider – Lvl 5]

[Ability Activated: Soul Usher (F)…]

Notifications flashed and were swiped away again and again, matching the rise and fall of my sword as we fought. We entered the alley, bodies and blood making the ground slick and our footing uncertain.

“Well, you think they came from there?” Francis pointed his axe at the crumbled wall thirty feet inside the alleyway. The building was entirely exposed, showing a corporate interior that was also smeared in crimson.

“I’d bet all eleven of my levels on it,” Huwett said, her bow twanging in between breaths as she loosed arrow after arrow into the charging Hynaenids.

Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that the beasts were pouring from the opening. They ran into the alley in twos and three, some turning our way to be cut down by blade and fire, but many also ran in different directions, spreading out to sate their bloodlust and hunt other prey.

“Wait one second,” I said. Barry looked back to me and nodded. I gave a thumbs up, it was nice to have the trust of the Paladin.

The next second, I was bounding forward, jumping from a dumpster in the alley onto a fire escape. From there, I kicked off the railing, clear to the other side of the alley and caught the edge of a window sill above the blow-open entryway of the corporate building the monsters were coming from.

I peered inside, getting a full view of what was going on.

The interior looked like it used to be a large office space, but it had been mostly cleared out, cubical sectionals, desks, equipment and other furniture was packed into a far corner of the large room. Ringing around the edge instead was various equipment that I recognized. Sensors and rad-ion detection dishes, a wheeled rack of charcoal lined protective refractory suits sat behind a desk covered in rifles and ammunition.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

At the very center of it all, was a dark blue dungeon rift floating above a small obsidian platform.

It looked like a common-grade dungeon had manifested inside this office building, and someone, instead of reporting it, had taken it upon themselves to study it. Somehow, someway, this had caused a breach, and there were Hynaenid Raiders now basically pouring out of the rift into Earth.

“It’s a dungeon rift!” I shouted down to the others below, “The monsters are just running straight out of it. We need to close it maybe?”

“Let’s kill all these guys and make our way in,” Barry yelled back.