NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52: Curse Resistance
<Alex, Real - Endure, High School Gym>
Alex grabbed a quick—if minimal—breakfast, and joined the others at the ground-level exit to the gym.
He really should find a time to shave, among other things. His quick showers around training, sleeping, and venturing forth were the only concession he'd made to hygiene and appearance in the last days, and it was beginning to show.
He barely had time for bathroom runs. Though, they did take that time out on runs as no one fought well when they needed that kind of break.
But he needed to focus. They were about to go into combat.
The party was a bit bigger this time, including Lenka and James along with John, Pilar, Natasha, Grant, Alex, and the pack-teachers. In fact, the only one of the initiates who wasn't coming along was Kaylee, and that was because she just had too much to do.
Since Kaylee had stated that she'd made an 'anti-undead' modification to their base, new undead had stopped spawning in the surrounding streets and buildings, but those that were still in the area continued to clash and grow stronger.
Those that remained had finally gotten too powerful to simply die to an anti-undead blade from James, even with all his various class skills and bonuses coming into play.
Lenka had apparently done some sort of trade with John, and he'd used some of his expertise to improve her crossbow with 'magic shenanigans' of some sort. Alex wasn't sure what she'd given him in exchange, but he supposed it really didn't matter or concern him, really.
He had been curious about the upgrades, though. The largest improvements were a mana aided cocking mechanism—which had allowed the already incredible firing weight to be increased without sacrificing speed—and an expanded space that allowed for bolts to be stored within the weapon for quick reloading.
John had to refresh the work every couple of hours, as his skills and spells were all temporary at the moment, and the expanded space was only large enough for two quarrels, but it was impressive nonetheless.
They were all excited to see what could be accomplished in the levels to come.
Regardless, the plan was for Lenka to open the doors, allowing the rest of them to go forth and clear the street, while the pack-teachers waited for the nearby undead to be eliminated. She would, of course, follow along at a distance for added, ranged support.
Lenka counted down from five—steadily disarming traps as she did so—then yanked the door open. "Go!"
Alex and Natasha were the first out, weapons in hand.
Her spear lashed out, wreathed in magics of various kinds even as she slid across the ground, somehow not losing power even with the 'unstable' footing. She slew six somewhat standard—if angry—looking zombies, while Alex's dadao took a bone-armored figure by surprise.
Its armor seemed to be worn rather than a part of its body, and Alex heard a worrying crack-ping! from his blade as the left-to-right, sweeping strike glanced off the armor around the creature's neck.
Still, it was deflected up instead of trapped, putting the strike in conflict with whatever held the helmet in place. Alex had put enough power into the attack that it continued forward, actually lifting the helmet as the wide blade slid further, skipping up to flesh that was supposed to be protected.
He beheaded the creature with one, mostly-clean strike. He was about to turn to the next, seemingly less threatening enemy, when his Danger Sense practically screamed at him.
Well, that and the lack of a kill notification meant his job was yet incomplete.
Empty calories!
He activated multi-strike in a bid to deal with the danger, but activating it after an attack had a different effect than expected. Rather than giving him a second attack with his dadao, he felt like he could make an attack with anything else that he had at his disposal.
That's right useful. He tucked the information away for later use, but with no time to think in the moment, he acted on instinct.
His left hand flicked out, slapping against the breastplate, and he tried to push health into his opponent with Basic Life Transfusion, but something rebuffed him.
The armor wasn't the creature, but he should have still been able to destroy it. Unfortunately, it seemed to have some basic magic-resistance to it, keeping him from dissolving it like he had the lockers, locks, doors, and other mundane items.
That was inconvenient… he needed another solution.
<Alex, Projected Solution - Deal with the headless threat>
He continued the motion of his strike, spinning around before executing a powerful donkey-kick to the armored creature's chest.
His greatly increased strength lifted it and flung it away.
He called out, "Fire support!"
Pilar reacted instantly, torching the thing even as it flew.
A System ping let him know that they'd dealt with the threat.
It had been a flawless execution of a wonderful plan.
<Alex, Real - Endure, Street Beside the High School>
Satisfied, Alex did as he'd hoped, executing a reasonable donkey-kick to the armored creature's chest.
Just as he'd planned, his greatly increased strength lifted it and started to fling it away, but then, the plan went off the rails, Alex's call for fire support dying on his lips.
With speed far beyond a pre-System human, the thing grabbed at his leg, stalling its momentum.
Still, the force of the kick had to go somewhere, and the straps on the creature's shoulder armor actually tore, even as Alex's hip groaned in protest.
Still, his leg had resisted better than armor. Alex had a moment to feel triumphant. One hundred and thirty two Physical Fortitude for the win!
Then, a familiar, cold sensation began to radiate out from the grasping hands, and his triumph turned to horror.
Hoofless ponies!
Notice:
Curse of Creeping True Death, partially resisted by Basic Resistance - Curse.
Reduced to Curse of Creeping Undeath.
Initiate is Immune to Undeath,
Curse of Creeping Undeath has no effect.
Apology Tutorial Courtesy Notice:
Attribute Experience Gained
A new type of Curse has been resisted, Attribute, Basic Resistance - Curse has gained bonus experience.
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Well… that wasn't too bad, then?
Hoofless ponies, going to a good home? That was somehow worse to contemplate and just made him sad, despite the world around him.
His momentary distraction allowed the armored foe to get a better grasp on his leg, even as Alex had spun around within the grip.
With a thought, he poured health into his weapon, repairing the chip from and crack in the blade even as he worked to counter his predicament.
Thinking fast, he pulled his previously-kicking leg in and stretched his left hand forward to reach into the open neck-hole in the enemy's armor, touching the body and dumping two waves of Life into it.
He was seemingly immune to one of the creature's primary attacks, and so he had an extra moment… even if the street was filled with other creatures that he needed to help slay.
Even so, he remembered how he'd been able to gain resistances from the rot tendrils, as well as the information—however unhelpful—he'd gained from the orb in the gym's basement.
That should be done distilling pretty soon… But that wasn't now.
All taken together, he had a plan. Therefore, he mentally commanded the first wave to 'Learn what you can' and the second was ordered to 'destroy' the creature.
He felt the two racing through the creature. Interestingly enough, the first wave was entirely unopposed, passing through the creature like a wave, returning to his hand in less than a blink, even while the second wave was still burning downward through the being.
System Notice:
Your Life has learned how to exist and function as the undeath variant of Life Force. Do you wish to alter your Life to function as undeath?
Yes?/No?
Apology Tutorial Notice: WARNING!
Volitional evolution to an undead will change your race and alter your attributes.
It will be unlikely that you can return your Life Force to functioning on a biological platform.
Alex immediately selected 'No' before some coincidental occurrence or other event could cause him to say or select 'Yes' on accident.
As if to prove him wise, Natasha called out. "Are you alright?"
Alex answered, "Yes. Moving forward."
Wouldn't that have been just perfect.
Imagine becoming undead on accident… when I'm supposed to be immune… He doubted he'd ever live down the shame.
He hesitated at that before beginning to laugh uncontrollably, even as he engaged something that looked like a newly created 'weaker' flesh golem, having only a few bodies of bones at its disposal and lacking the anti-magical bones.
He was sure he looked a bit manic, hacking away at the creature as he couldn't control his laughter at the unintentional pun. He even delayed a moment before slapping the unprotected flesh and ashing the thing.
It hadn't even been that funny, but the sheer stress of the last few days seemed to have decided this was the appropriate outlet.
Thus, he fought and laughed, helpless before the nature of his new reality.
In the end, they cleared the nearby street, and Alex took the brief respite to learn what he'd been fighting.
There had been two other of the armored creatures, along with many other things.
You killed
Zombie Ravager (Common), Level 17 x 21
Nascent Flesh Golem (Uncommon), level 20 x 5
Kill Assists:
Zombie Ravager (Common), level 17 x 48
Nascent Flesh Golem (Uncommon), level 20 x 3
Zombie Fodder (Common), level 10 x 92
Reward:
Experience to be granted when in a safe location.
Pilar and John had taken out most of the lower level threats, leaving the more powerful variants to Natasha and Alex. Alex, himself, had taken all three squires due to his seeming immunity to their cursed touch.
It was interesting that there were no bone lurkers on the streets, nor any brood guards, but he counted them lucky for that fact.
Grant, Lenka, and James had stayed at the doorway, only killing the few lesser undead that might have gotten into the school through the open door, where the pack-teachers waited just inside.
Lenka did snipe a couple further away, but not too many.
Alex found himself a bit amused that one of the monster types was literally called 'fodder,' but it was apt. The creatures seemed to be little more than experience bags. Though, they seemed to have had some energy radiating off of them that kept the other undead away.
Some sort of means of gathering more experience for higher-level variants? If so, he was quite glad that he and his companions had gotten the kills instead of some abomination that they'd then have to fight.
James had said that the squires had been killing the fodder at a rate of one every few minutes earlier that day. So, maybe the undead had to take time to process their gained experience too?
It must be something like that, else these things would have become far more powerful by this point. It also couldn't be that they were required to be in a 'safe' location, as then none of them could level as the undead had the tendency to attack each other.
Regardless, their group had drawn and slain most of the enemies on this street, and it was time to sweep around the whole school before going outward.
The teachers would come along in case their group came across something worth taking.
All told, it only took them an hour to circumnavigate the school, earning quite a few more kills and getting them much more used to fighting together.
It was funny as, while they were fighting near the fenced off field, students, teachers, and others within the base—whom they'd rescued and stayed within—could watch quite easily through the chain link fence.
Blessedly, they all stayed back far enough to ensure no blood-spray could get to them. That would have been a flip-flopping disaster.
Regardless, Alex was glad to have been moved off of teacher-watch—and he'd happily stay off said duty until his Inventory had had time to fully settle.
He still likely wouldn't say that he enjoyed fighting, but there was something gratifying about a task well done, and he was getting to the point that he felt he was doing it well. There was also the fact that he needed a lot of kills to level up… a truly mountainous number, and he was still hoping to advance his race and increase that requirement.
Once the surrounding square of pavement was cleared, James, Lenka, and Grant began working on barriers to 'seal' the area, which Kaylee thought would allow her to claim the whole place as part of the base, thus giving them a better place to stick everyone who had joined them without losing the prodigious amount of mana generation that was constantly feeding the base's reserves. It would also be an added layer and buffer of protection around the school itself.
Alex and the rest of the group—minus James, Grant, and Lenka—left from the gym once again, turning sooner than Alex had expected before going the half-block outward to a bodega to get Natasha's goods that had been locked away and allow her to finish one of her quests.
The cage pulled down in front of the store was more battered than Alex remembered it being, but it still held well enough. As they were looking to see how it might be opened, Alex asked Mr. Weston, "Couldn't you just take the whole thing into your Inventory?"
The teacher shook his head. "It is secured to the storefront somehow. It is possible that if I knew exactly how that was done, and could properly picture the parts that I wanted to take—excluding those I didn't—I might be able to do that, but it would still be difficult."
Mr. Southard added his two cents, "It is possible to, say, pull a bolt into your Inventory without having to unscrew it, or to put one in place without having to thread it in, but it takes incredibly fine control." He frowned for a moment. "To do what you're talking about here… I would say, Magical Agility over a hundred? Maybe one hundred and fifty? Even then, I would advise a lot of practice before counting on the ability to function in that way."
Alex grunted. So, even if he had a large enough Inventory—which he didn't—and had a Magical Agility over one hundred—his was eighty-eight—then he'd still need to practice extensively.
He sighed. Nothing was ever easy.
He almost laughed at that. He was contemplating how to use his magical Inventory. He was casually thinking about magic that he could wield and getting grumpy that it wasn't more convenient.
He would say this for the apocalypse: it had its perks.
Natasha sighed. "Couldn't you just destroy this, Alex?"
Alex blinked a few times, then closed his eyes and let out a breath. "Yes, yes I can."
He touched the metal and sent health into it with a purpose of destruction.
The solid catch turned to rust and rained down to form a pile at their feet, allowing them to roll up the remainder of the cage. "Thank you, Alex."
He gave a sheepish grin. "Of course. I'm sorry I didn't think to do it earlier. I was over complicating it, just a bit."
She gave him a reassuring smile. "It's fine. We're all new to this."
The teachers went into the bodega, and Ms. Woods glanced toward Natasha. "So… you bought all of this?"
Natasha looked around, seeming a bit confused, but then she shrugged. "I did indeed."
The teachers exchanged hesitant glances, before Mr. Weston just shrugged. "I'm sure we'll have to take a lot of things over the coming days to help everyone survive. This, at least, is most likely already paid for."
Natasha didn't address the implied slight, waiting as the other two teachers nodded in agreement and began to clear the shelves.
This was only the first stop of this trip, and they had a lot of ground to cover.