Aggro Litrpg || Progression Fantasy

The ground of the power station shuddered beneath the weight of approaching jackal-things. It was an ugly rhythm of claws and snarls, like some cursed army tapping out a little bit of genocidal Morse Code on the concrete.

For all my 'none shall pass' bravado, I was quietly recalculating everything. The basic logistics here weren't looking great for us. I'd burned through too much of my health keeping everyone else upright, and the System hadn't seen fit to offer me a refund. The Chor was still somewhere above us, lurking, wounded but watching. And now this: another wave of adds.

I risked a glance at my backup. Max, noble idiot, was panting beside me like this was just a mildly exciting game of fetch. Kenny was loading another ward-stone with liver-spotted hands and offering prayers like he hoped God was online today. They were no Lia and Dema.

I didn't have walls to back up into. I didn't have a plan. And there appeared to be no Steam Cannon in the nearby vicinity. What I had was too much open space, rapidly dwindling stamina, and a seemingly endless talent for standing in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.

But hey, the odds were not going to get more in my favour by worrying about them.

I slammed my free fists against my chest and triggered Controlled Catastrophe. Sparks flew. Pain bloomed through my forearms and made itself at home behind my eyes.

"Alright then," I said through my teeth. "Come and have a go."

The tarmac cracked open beneath my boots and ran like an arrow straight towards the approaching Shadows. A shudder rippled up through my spine, then outwards, violently, from my chest.

The nearest jackal-thing took the Ability full in the face and burst like a sandcastle on a beach of excitable toddlers. Another staggered, blood boiling, and then dropped and exploded.

The other Shadows froze mid-lunge, suddenly blind eyes swivelling in panic, teeth snapping at nothing. One spun in a circle, disoriented, then collapsed with a wet grunt. The more sensible ones slowed before they were engulfed by my Ability.

Then the downside of Controlled Catastrophe hit, and my lungs seized. Blood roared in my ears. My health bar took a nosedive, and my stamina drained almost entirely to nothing. What I wouldn't give for some Abilities that didn't need me to punch myself in the face in order to work. Nevertheless, the charge had stopped. Even if it was just for a few seconds.

"Iris?" I yelled.

"You can't rush perfection," she called back. Dammit. I was hoping I might.

Then I heard Max yelp.

I turned just in time to see Max drop, legs twitching and smoke curling up from his flank. One of the shadows, still sparking from my last blast, had managed to lash out with something foul and fast.

Unwelcome Mat Activated
Target: Max
Lethal Damage Redirected: Successful
→ Health: 4
→ +20% Health and Stamina Restored

The hit landed on my instead, cracked through my ribs, and stole the floor out from under me. I dropped to one knee, my vision spun sideways, and everything tasted like metal. But I stayed up.

"Brilliant," I spat a mouthful of blood into the dust. "I just tanked a soul-splitting death ray for a dog."

Max gave a half-hearted bark. I hoped he was grateful, but I guess it might've just been gas. Still, fair exchange was no robbery. The 20% restoration to my Stamina was just what I was going to need.

Iris shouted something triumphant from behind me. She was drawing runes on her craft table with one hand and holding a glowing stone in the other. Her mouth moved fast, spitting out words that didn't sound like anything human.

"Kenny!" she yelled. "I need you here! The spell's almost done!"

Kenny gave me a regretful shrug and then dashed to her, ducking low as he went. He held his book of prayers in one hand, his other glowing faint green. "I'll try," he said. "But it's fighting back."

Awesome. So, it looked like it was just going to be me, myself and I up front for a bit then…

More of the Shadows came, slithering, clicking, unfolding themselves from vents in the power station's walls. These didn't look like jackals. Not anymore. They were sleeker now, stretched thin by hunger and hate. Spines like needles. Bodies too long. Jaws all wrong.

And I'd lost track of the Chor. Just flat-out, completely lost it.

Well, that needed to be future Elijah's problem. I pushed out Aggro Magnetism, and every shadow-thing turned at once. Their eyes, if I could get away with calling those voids eyes, latched onto me. Then they came. Fast and many.

"Come on then," I said. "Let's dance."

They slammed into me in one massive wave. I felt my ribs bend, armour crack and my breath vanished somewhere behind my teeth. The storm of creatures engulfing me was so overwhelming, I simply couldn't see anymore. Everything was just movement, claws, teeth and flashes of light.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I triggered Sidestep, which was just enough to twist past most of the slashes and then dropped down low and braced. My boots dug into the cracked concrete, and the angle for what I had intended was perfect. I got a nice little ping that my Crash Tackle bonus via Sidestep was active, so I went for it, driving my shoulder into the nearest monster with everything I had.

I exploded upwards, marmalising the first Shadow monster into mist and then kept going through the rest of them. I took the whole pack of them clean off the ground and carried them back into the pipework with a crunch that sounded like wet celery. Black mist hissed from them as I obliterated spines, organs, carapaces and whatever else they had.

And then, from high in the rafters, the Chor screamed. It was a wet, metal-hurt noise that rattled the air. The creature jerked in spasms, all its claws and antennae flexing at once. Light gathered around it, first a blinding blue, then a bruised purple, then something worse. A colour that didn't sit right in the world.

Below, any part of the ground still in one piece split with a shuddering groan. Iris stumbled as the table legs punched through the floor, her binding kit scattering like terrified birds.

Kenny turned, face white, eyes too wide. "It's phasing!" he yelled. "If it gets loose now, it'll drag half the bloody station through the Veil. Maybe the whole bloody town!"

The Chor twisted again, half its body flickering between states like a corrupted video. I could feel it pulling at the world, like it was trying to eat the rules of physics alive.

I could barely stand. Every part of me throbbed like it owed someone rent. I checked my vitals. Under 10% health. Not great. Definitely not good, but did mean I could trigger Anvil Break.

My foot slammed into the ground. Something deep in the bones of the world answered back as the floor split like dry bread, and power erupted outward in a raw, deafening, pressure-wave force. Any and all remaining Shadows that still fancied their chances were lifted off their feet and flung about like rags. Metal groaned. Loose bolts screamed against concrete.

The health bonus from that Anvil Break meant I could straighten up and find my footing, but I was still circling the drain. My hands curled into fists, and I pointed up at the Chor.

"Oy! I'm still here," I yelled.

Then Kenny was at my side, pressing a hand to my shoulder, and began whispering. The glow from his palm moved through me, and my heartbeat evened out. My skin stopped burning.

"We need to take the Chor down and fast!" he said.

"Thanks for that, I had absolutely no idea."

Which is when the Chor shrieked and began to charge down the side of the power station. It wanted out. And I was in its way.

"Get back!" I shouted, pushing Kenny away. "It's going to hit hard."

I activated Tactical Provocation.

Tactical Provocation Activated
→ Target: Chor
→ Forced Aggression: 10s
→ -15% Accuracy, -10% Crit Chance
→ Disoriented: Applied

The thing twisted toward me and then punched a thought straight into my brain.

It wasn't sound, or force, or anything I could try to dodge. It was panic shaped like a scream, jammed between my ears and lit on fire. Every part of me screamed back, but not with fear—just sheer, stubborn refusal.

Mind Shatter: Attempted
Psychic Damage: Severe
Status Effect: [Fear]
Trait Activated: Lineholder's Instinct
[Fear] Negated.

Nice try, you oversized bug.

The world tilted, a vertigo lurch like the floor had dropped out from under me. My heart was trying to punch its way out through my throat, but I kept my boots planted, weight low, and breath grinding in and out like sandpaper. I took a step forward to meet the charging Chor, jaw clenched so hard it creaked.

"You'll have to do better than that," I growled, firing off another Zone of Authority.

A thudding, invisible ring shot out from me, pulsing with pressure. My zone. My rules.

Around me, the world steadied. My stance locked. My muscles stopped shaking. It felt like standing in the eye of a storm, and I was the storm. Iris, within reach, didn't falter. Her chant gained strength, syllables tumbling like hail. Kenny was still upright, arms trembling in a desperate prayer, but still holding. Max's bark increased in volume.

Then the east wall exploded, and three massive Shadow things poured in. Max and Kenny moved to intercept before I could shout.

"We've got this," Kenny shouted. "You and Iris need to do your job!"

I turned back to the onrushing Chor. Cracks were spreading across its shell, slow at first, then faster, as if it knew time wasn't on its side. It was getting closer and closer.

Opportunistic Counter: Ready

I stepped in to meet its charge - just as Iris yelled 'finished!' - and drove a closed fist into its face with everything I had. The crack split wider, and the thing screamed.

"Now!" Iris yelled. "It's open! Hurry!"

But the Chor wasn't done.

Its shell began to spin, fast. Faster, until the whole centipede-looking horror blurred into a disc of flaring sparks and bleeding colour. Purple bled into ultraviolet. The pressure built like a migraine behind the eyeballs of the world and reality strained like wet paper. I'd never really understood what it meant for the Veil to tear. I did now.

"Cover me!" Iris shouted. "If it finishes that spin-up, we're toast. Multiversal toast!"

There wasn't time for clever. Or plans. I looked around and spotted a length of broken pipe half-buried beneath Shadow jackal bodies. It was thick and rusted like it'd already survived one apocalypse and wouldn't mind another. No stats and no buffs, but good, honest metal. I grabbed it and threw. The pipe flipped end over end, catching the flickering light of the Chor's field as it spun, once, twice, and then slammed into its epicentre with the sound of a star dying sideways.

Everything lurched.

The destabilisation field around the creature hiccupped, cracked and screamed in a frequency that made my soul try to leave my body, and then it stopped. Sparks fizzled. The spin fell to a halt like a clock running out of seconds.

"Finish it!" I roared.

Iris did.

The chant she'd been building cracked the air like a whip. Light surged from her, green and gold and ancient to strike the Chor like a nail through a coffin lid. It pinned the creature to the wall of the power station like the ugliest butterfly on display.

The floor underneath her craft table lit up. Symbols burned gold and silver and streaked out to run up the Chor's shell like it was being wrapped in binding wire. It wailed.

And then… silence. Long, thick, breath-holding silence.

Then Max farted.

It echoed.

No one spoke.

I laughed, and then everything went sideways. My knees gave out, and I hit the floor like a wrecking ball off shift.