NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70: Bank?
<Alex, Real - Lost Sheep Have Gone Astray, Outside a Bank>
Alex, John, and Natasha watched the undead around the bank for nearly ten minutes.
They were wandering about, most seeming to be turned civilians. The fact that they were higher leveled—most at 12, with a few as high as 14—told a story of just how many they'd killed both of living civilians and each other.
Natasha grunted. "It really does seem like the System is keeping them at about our level, with rare higher level creatures about."
John nodded. "And as we level, they are freed to kill each other and level as well, keeping them near to us in advancement."
Alex considered a moment before adding. "Yeah, I think this just reinforces what we've discussed before. This is probably a feature of the tutorial. Undead on the outside likely either keep killing each other, creating ridiculously powerful enemies in short order, or don't attack one another at all, making for larger swarms of low-level creatures. There does seem to be an artificiality to how they are always spitting distance from our own level."
John grunted. "Well, you also saw that horde leader, right? I bet on the outside, that's the thing—or things like it—that decide the balance of quantity vs. quality."
"Could be, yeah…"
There was a momentary pause before Natasha spoke again. "So… are we waiting for anything in particular?"
Alex shook his head. "Nope. We don't have the time to really scope the place out. We need to go in, blades flashing, and clear our way through to those sources of Life, whatever they are."
John raised an eyebrow. "Blades flashing?"
Alex grimaced. "I was going to say guns blazing, but we explicitly don't want to do that. So, I tried to think of the melee weapon equivalent. Natash and I both have blades so…?"
"Natasha." The Russian woman said.
He frowned. "What?"
"Natasha. You said Natash."
"Oh… I apologize. It wasn't intentional."
She grunted. "Fine."
They all hesitated for a long moment before John lightly patted his thighs. "Alrighty then. Let's get to it."
Alex nodded vigorously, and the three of them moved to the front door of the store they'd been hiding in to watch the bank.
It seemed like it had been a jewelry shop, and even though the front glass was intact, the display shelves inside weren't. It had clearly been looted.
They might have found something interesting if they'd taken the time, but Natasha's Detect Trove skill had only pointed toward the Bank, so they doubted it would be worth the time to do a thorough search.
Apparently, that skill didn't highlight every potential thing or group of things that might hold value. Instead, it directed the caster to the thing of most pressing value to them within the casting radius, or something like that.
There was more to it than that, of course, as it wouldn't point it at things in possession of others, at least Natasha had implied that it wouldn't. But Alex didn't feel like delving deeply into the intricacies of that skill, which he didn't even have, was a good use of time.
As they fell into formation once more, they were in a reverse order of how they'd come thus far.
With Natasha in the back, she could more easily handle stragglers, while Alex as point-man could continue to deal damage at close range as they pressed forward.
John remained in the middle, guns ready but silent to hopefully keep from drawing too many of the growing number of undead in the surrounding city blocks.
Alex tested the door slightly, finding the hinges well oiled. Good, it shouldn't make noise then.
He threw the door wide, being careful to only use enough force to open the heavy door fully, rather than slamming it into the wall.
His test proved right as the hinges were utterly silent, and he was able to rush out onto the street unannounced.
Then, the ding-dong of the store's entry-notice bell went off, unbelievably loud in the otherwise mostly silent street.
Every undead face turned toward him, many doing so with unnatural twists of body or neck.
Soggy doggy bag.
The nearest one—a turned woman in a rather smart pants suit—let out a keening wail and pounced, clearing the fifteen feet between them in that one leap.
Alex stepped, shifting to the side, seeing where she would land and lashing out with his dadao to cut her half, collar-bone to hip.
There was no kill notice, so he reached out with his off-hand and pumped a bit of health into her, killing and dusting her in one.
That got the notice he needed.
Natasha's spear blurred in a series of strikes to perforate an undead, splashing their innards across the sidewalk.
Alex dipped low to brush his hand through some trailing intestines and inject some health, finishing that one off too.
He used the spinning dip to bring his dadao around and take the next undead at knee height, effectively reducing that threat.
Hah, reducing, because it's shorter. He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts as he dusted the next ones as well.
They fell into a pattern where Natasha slowed the incoming undead on whatever side Alex wasn't addressing in that moment, and Alex alternated sides, killing and finishing off those they'd wounded.
John kept a wary eye out on their surroundings, weapons ready and held in reserve.
In that way, they chewed through the thirty or so turned-undead in the street and made their way up the bank stairs.
The sources of Life were in the basement, but they weren't interested in circling the building to try to find a way down there from the outside. They'd go in the main entrance and work their way down.
The grand facade of the financial institution loomed large over them as they slew the last remaining undead in sight.
They hadn't been silent, but besides the first undead's cry, they hadn't really been loud.
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In either case, it didn't seem like they'd drawn the enemies on surrounding streets.
John looked around. "They really wanted us to check this place out? They thought their family would gather here?"
"Apparently so, yeah. Most of them lived near here and quite a few of the adults worked in the bank or in stores close enough that it was a reasonable, central, fallback point."
He grunted at Natasha's explanation. "I thought that people lived near the schools they attended?"
"Seemingly they are allowed to, but these families decided to stay closer to work than to the school that they wanted their kids to attend."
John didn't have any response to Natasha's explanation, so they moved on.
Alex didn't see any threats through the glass doors, but he still opened them carefully, entering the eerily quiet building.
He pulsed Detect Unlife followed by Detect Life and cursed. "Undead are swarming near the sources of Life below us. At least a dozen sources of Unlife, and they seem strong. I'd guess at least level 17 on average? They're close enough to each other that I'm not getting a clear picture. They might be rarer variants. Maybe both rarer and high leveled."
John lifted his guns a little, arching an eyebrow.
Alex grimaced, looking around. Finally, he gave a reluctant nod. "Yeah. I think that's wise. We shouldn't encounter any opposition until we reach the basement, and that should be well enough sequestered and insulated that your guns will be more help than liability."
Natasha nodded. "I concur."
John's face broke into a huge grin. "Excellent!"
As they tried to move through the bank quietly, searching for the way down, Alex saw something that caught his eye. It was a minorly padded chair, set up in what was clearly a waiting area for richer clients. He took a moment to go and plop down in it, groaning slightly. "Oh, my gosh… This chair is way more comfortable than any at the school."
Before his companions could say anything, he stood and pulled it into his Inventory, after frantically shifting around what he already had within.
It barely fit.
With a four foot cube of space—the outer six inches all the way around filled with the expansion boxes—he had just enough room for the chair when it was oriented in exactly the right way.
He'd been hoarding a bit, but since he'd also been hauling resources for the base, he was able to finagle the remainder of his stuff around the chair as it came in. As a result, his Inventory wasn't precisely full but it was a near thing.
I have a few cubes of space here and there. Hopefully he wouldn't find anything else big that he wanted.
Natasha cocked an eyebrow at him, and John chuckled. "Are you done shopping? I've got some shooting to do."
Alex gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I've been really missing having a comfy chair to rest in."
John held up his hands in a calming gesture. "No judgement, here. I didn't know your Inventory had gotten that big, though. Mr. Weston's been helping me, too, but I'm not the fastest. So, I don't have nearly that much space yet."
"Yeah, it's working well."
Without needing to say more, they began moving once again.
Alex gave a passing thought to the cashier's desks, but as the money was for a fake world, and it would be stealing regardless, he didn't even bother checking.
It took them a bit more than five minutes to find the way down, and by then, they could hear, and even feel the heavy impacts coming from below.
Please no flesh golems of the plague guard… He frowned. And no brood guards… Those things are awful.
While the bank had been made with large, high windows that should make the main space bright even without power, if it weren't near the middle of the night, the basement looked to be closed in in a way that would make it pitch black even on the brightest day, if it lacked power, as it did now.
As such, Alex checked his ropelights and headlamp. He did this by pulling them into his Inventory and examining them within before taking them from his Inventory and directly into place with a simple thought.
He grinned at the accomplishment. He'd not done that with two items at once before, but the efforts and the techniques of the teachers were showing their fruits.
John and Natasha each checked their headlamps in more normal ways.
With that done, Alex nodded. "I've got point."
He walked down the stairs, dadao in hand, trying to keep his footfalls quiet.
It was a bit pointless as when he got to the bottom, he was greeted by a long, tall and wide hallway with dozens of doors to each side.
His headlamp's beam immediately illuminated the far end—a large vault door—against which ten undead were pressing.
They, of course, instantly noticed the light, turning with various sounds of discovery.
Eight were 'Bulk Ravagers' in the level 16 range, some 15, some 17. Two, ironically, were 'Alpha Ravagers' at level 17. They all immediately charged, causing Alex to set his feet and brace both for the oncoming attack and the—
Tack, Tack!
John's guns began to bark a staccato rhythm as his magical created and enhanced rounds chewed into the undead.
It was somewhat beautiful to behold as each slug hit true despite the creatures seemingly attempting to dodge. The air was filled with traces of John's magic as it acted to keep his hits on target.
Still, Alex had a niggling feeling that he was missing something.
The ten charging creatures didn't even make it halfway to them before the last fell to the ground, unmoving.
Ten… Ten? His eyes widened. That's what he'd forgotten. He had forgotten to pulse his Detect spells.
He did so with a frantic certainty, also remembering that he'd sensed at least a dozen opponents before.
Sure enough, his spell showed a powerful source of unlife flanking them on each side.
"Sides!"
They also seemed to somehow feel his spell—or something else must have triggered them, possibly the momentary silence of John's guns, or Alex's shout—because they simultaneously launched themselves through the thin walls to either side of the long, wide hallway, bursting out practically upon the trio in a shower of wood, plaster, and flashing claws and teeth.
Natasha had spun at Alex's shout, her spear flashing out to take one of the beasts in the chest, and John had turned as well, unloading a quick pair of shots… into the same creature.
Even so, it continued forward, coming up the spearshaft at Natasha, rage in its undead eyes and frothing spittle dripping from its fangs.
Alex, blessedly, had turned the other way, and his dadao cleaved his beast in half.
Fanged, Alpha Ravager
??
Alex had a moment of irritation at four alphas being present, but he put that aside as the beast's upper half sunk claws into his shoulders and bit down into his neck.
At least, it tried to, his greatcoat resisted for long enough that he was able to slap his hand against the ravager's chest and dust it with an outflowing of his HP.
Behind him, Natash cried out, and Alex turned in time to be splashed with flecks of blood.
The fanged, alpha ravager on the other side had managed to rake one of its feet across Natasha's thigh around the small Force Shield she'd instinctively snapped into place to hold it back.
She'd kept it small as the purpose was to keep it at bay while John continued to pump it full of rounds.
Her spear was still in the creature, forcing the shield to have a donut shape, and that complexity likely made it harder to cast, thus influencing the size downward.
Regardless, Alex could feel the taint of undeath already spreading through Natasha.
The ravager fell, and Alex stepped forward to dust it. Based on the sounds coming down the hallway, those that had been dropped in that direction would need to be dusted as well, but that could wait. "Natasha, you have to be willing to take my blood. Are you?"
She grunted, somewhat paralyzed and fighting through the pain as she tried to clutch at her torn leg.
Alex activated his newest spell, Life Blood Transfusion, desiring to send his HP along with the blood with the intent to heal. He put the blood into the area all around the open wound, and they all watched in awe as the flow of blood increased even as the wounds pulled closed, the blackening spread of undeath fading as Alex's own nature overcame it.
Natasha began to let out a relieved breath, but it hitched. "Oh! That—STOP!"
Alex stopped instantly, and not just because he suddenly felt like his magic was having to fight through something to deliver the blood.
Natasha groaned, shuddering. "I feel like my leg is going to pop, but it's fading, spreading out."
Alex, for his part, felt a bit light headed. "Oh… I… I might have given you a bit too much volume."
The world momentarily darkened at the edges, and he swayed on his feet before everything went oddly slanted and something hit his head and unconsciousness claimed him.