DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

Dozens started using their picks to break new handholds on the sides of the walls. Others were climbing over each other in an improvised bone ladder. With their new tactics, they no longer pooled by the ladder, spreading out to both sides, covering ground.

Wade felt pissed at the sight. "Stupid fucking intelligent ass-"

"Is okay, we deal." The Russian said, one hand signalling at the elf and then past her.

The knight understood immediately, heading to patrol the left side of the ladder. She had fully recovered after the rest period up top, but he could hear her let out a string of swearing under her breath, no nuance, just anger. Mostly at the situation. She speared any skeleton that got too close to the lip of the wall like a fisherman, yanking them up and whipping them off. Most were fresh from the backline, at full health, so one spear hit didn't kill. The ones that weren't at full health however…

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The Russian took the right side for his patrol, slapping away any skeleton ladders or climbers trying to get cheeky like he was playing a game of cricket.

He wasn't scoring any kills, but neither was he letting them get further up the wall with his hammer. But Wade could tell the strain was already there. Too many on the bottom, they'd eventually get past the two patrolling up here.

"We can't hold this ground." He said, running the numbers and finding all added up to fucked. "We're gonna need an exit strategy."

Illy handed off another rock. "Hate to agree with a yank, or the frogs down the channel, but I think he's onto something here with running away."

They needed a new edge, the rocks were running out and Illy's summoned daggers were coming out too slow. The two nailed another, marking another dead skeleton on the questlog, and Wade did some mental crunching to find any advantage.

He had his floating stat point. Strength might help him pull off one-shots if the corrosive damage was based on immediate damage dealt, the additional dagger damage was overkilling them by leagues so far.

The problem really was in logistics. The further off they had to run for ammunition, the more ground the skeletons were claiming, despite the elf and Russian doing their best to repel boarders. Wade and Illy were already working as a team to get as many rocks as they could, but the smaller the rock, the less overall damage they were doing. Which meant even if he put a point into strength to one-shot things without Illy's dagger mark, he'd run out of heavy enough ammunition to continue one-shotting. And they'd be back where they started.

"Found exit here!" The Russian called out from a distance. He'd sprinted over to cudgel a skeleton that nearly made it up, then pointed at something in the shadows. Wade couldn't see that far without his glasses, it looked too blurry to make out small details. But there was something in the darkness there. Moving up the side of the walls, to the surface?

"Fire, good timing you big oaf, let's leg it! SELENA!" The scottish girl yelled out. "SELENA! Over here! We're leaving!"

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The elf speared another skeleton, then saw where the others were running off too. She'd been in the opposite direction of them, a few dozen feet away. He could see her give a renewed string of elvish swear words, and start booking it after them all in an all out sprint.

The skeletons pulled themselves over the lip, multiple breaches happening just about everywhere at once. Wade launched one final rock missile away, then raced to the ladder, swiping up rocks as he went, shoving them into his pocket.

Selena moved through the climbing skeletons like an armored bulldozer, easily cutting them off as she passed by.

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Multiple hits were fatal. Now that she wasn't being surrounded and at the advantage, her high level was really showing.

Following behind the group, Wade got a better look at what Leon had spotted: A sewer maintenance ladder, leading up. One problem - there was a goddamn manhole blocking the way out. Overly huge as usual for this hellhole of giant architecture.

"Leon you go first and deal with the cap at the top!" Illy said, waving him up. "We'll follow behind you."

They filtered in, Leon going first. Wade grabbed the rungs and started climbing after Illy, while Leon reached the top, pushing against the manhole at the top with a grunt. That was the last thing between them and freedom. But Illy wasn't looking up at that problem.

"Come on knife ears. Come on, run faster you big dumb blond bimbo." Illy muttered under her breath, eyes glued on the running elf.

Then she tapped Wade with a foot to move to the side, and climbed back down past him. "If she don't make it, we jump down. I'll knife them, you follow up with rocks. I don't need to throw the damn things to get the effect off."

"Got it." Wade said, mostly sure about what she meant. He dug into his pockets and pulled out a rock as she passed by him. "You'll be right in their grabbing range, you good with that?"

"And she's not already doing the same? Feck off yank, it'll take more than these assholes to put me out."

Selena was hot on their heels, her spear slashing one last skeleton through the hands, cutting off its ability to climb after them. More were piling off the lip, one getting right in her way. She shoulder charged into him, leaping at the same time, kicking off against the wall before hitting the ladder hard. Illy's hand shot out and grabbed the knight's breastplate, shoving her back onto the ladder with a full body pull, before Illy turned and scrambled back up. The elf hooked her giant kite-shield behind her back, using her off hand and legs to climb up after Illy.

The skeletons were now pouring across the lip, rushing down the walkway like a river of bone.

Far above, the giant Russian man still struggled with the manhole cover.

"Anyday now Leon!" Illy called out, panic starting to rise in her voice.

"Blyat! IS TOO HEAVY!" He called down, actually sounding worried for the first time.

Wade immediately climbed past, taking a spot right next to the giant. The two didn't need to share a word to know what the new plan was.

"On three, da?" The Russian called out. "One, two, THREE."

The two pushed as hard as they could. His right arm shook from the effort, undulating again, sweat making his grip slip on the metal. He tried to push with his back assisting his demon-possessed arm, putting his legs and every muscle in his body to work.

It slowly lifted. Up inch by inch.

Then the elf gave a shout of pure pain under them.

The lid fell back down as both turned to look at what was going on down there.

Selena had been pickaxed in the calf by one of the skeletons climbing up. And the tool was still deeply lodged in her calf. They'd had the same idea the group here had- more than one person on the ladders side by side.

The level 25 was strong, but she couldn't parry two attacks with one spear at the same time, while also holding onto the ladder, and the lack of her shield meant her defense was weakened.

They'd use the pick to drag her down. He had three more rocks stuffed in his pants, but they were wedged deep in there when he'd climbed back up to push the lid.

"Keep your eyes up top! I'll cover the elfie!" The scottish girl said, almost jumping off the ladder to zip down, one hand summoning a dagger, while the other kept a hand on the sides of the ladder. Wade could have sworn he'd heard her growl like some scottish feral berserker.

The elf wasn't happy to see this. Instead, she seemed completely horrified, "No, goddess damn you stupid monkey, get BACK to safet-"

Her words were not heard as the tiny hellion started stabbing away at the skeleton hands holding onto the pick. It let go to start swiping for the girl, and immediately got a spear shoved through the ribcage. The mark's extra damage triggered, killing the skeleton dead on.

Another was already taking its place, defending against a spear and angry knife slashing away to hold it off. Clearly trying to grab the handle of the lodged pickaxe and start shoving down premium elf into the menu.

Wade turned to the giant. "It's a knockback ability right?"

"Da?"

"The lid's the enemy." Wade dove a hand forward and pinched the Russian.

Leon stared at Wade for a half beat, got what he'd meant, then turned to the lid and punched it, flat out.

It rocketed up a few feet, spun once over itself, and landed somewhere nearby on the street side with a heavy crash.

The System didn't care if the target was too heavy to be knocked back in regular physics. The ability had said a knockback, so there had to be a knockback. And it had said the next attack Leon did. No mention about what the target could or couldn't be.

The man started laughing, pulling himself up. "Go help, I have rest."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Wade took a breath, and dragged out a rock from his pocket. This close to the elf and scott, there was a good chance he'd hit someone by accident instead of his target. And if the skyviper debuff applied, they'd be in for a world of hurt.

He felt the Russian's hand grab the back of his shirt, and hold him just off the ladder, leaning him until he had the right angle.

"Clear firing line!" He called out, and mercifully the rabid Scot heard the call, scampering out of the way, helped by the elf who'd been frantically trying to shove the girl out of the fight.

Illy left one last sendoff: A dagger half sunk into a skeleton's skull. The red circles already lighting it up. Its eyeless skull looked up and fixated on Wade.

The rock ripped through the air, past the scottish girl, past the elf, and exploded through the handle of the pickaxe, shattering it. And then it kept going straight down, into the skeleton's face, breaking that into pieces before burrowing further down the ribcage, making it flinch off balance for a moment.

The scottish girl didn't waste the chance, delivering a savage kick down at it, knocking it clear off the ladder.

It crumbled downwards, and Selena pulled herself up, hand taking the chance to rip off the pickaxe head from her calf with a few seconds of painful grunting. The skyviper debuff ate away the last of the skeleton's health as it scrambled back up off the ground to continue the hunt.

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Wade didn't see what happened next, the hand lifted him straight up and out of the manhole. Text appeared again in his vision welcoming him to the new zone, though he hardly noticed it.

Ancient Nathir Shelter-city - Slave District #8

Lethal Difficulty

"Out you go." He said, then reached a hand down and yanked out the scottish girl next. "You too smoll angry girl."

"Listen here you bowfin eejit - ILLY! IL-LY. Two syllables."

The Russian was chuckling under his breath, hand already reaching out to grab and yank out the last member of their team as if she were the pringle at the bottom of the can.

The moonwing elf - whatever kind of elf that was supposed to be, was clearly heavier than Illy, but Wade scrambled over to help. Both of them working together lifted her out of the hole, armor, shield and all.

The skeletons were close on her heel.

Wade grabbed all two of of his last rocks out of his pockets, and launched them down one after another.

Fortunately, they'd been already damaged from Illy and Selena's desperate fight.

Which meant two rocks, two kills.

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THE GAME recognizes your acc--

Silver Loo--

He didn't read through all of that, he'd scroll back up here later once he wasn't fighting for his life, and instead focused on the manhole lid. The Russian was trying to push it up to roll, but that thing was clearly too heavy.

Wade raced up to him and began pinching. Again and again.

The Russian got the plan, letting it drop back down on the metal street and proceeded to kick the lid. Each hit made it slide a good amount further and further. At the entrance, Selena and Illy were stabbing away into the hole. A few managed to get out, but scattered away into lifeless bones on the street as the two menaces kept the assault up.

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One more skeleton leapt out of the hole, only to have its spine bisected from the manhole lid slamming through it. The Russian knocked it back into place like the world's heaviest soccer ball.

The bisected skeleton flailed around, legless, two hands trying to attack anything nearby until a dagger stabbed deep into the skull, pinning it in place while a spear point jabbed down to finish it off.

"Da svidania." Leon said, patting the heavy manhole cover with his foot.

A new health bar appeared in range just under the street ground, hovering in his vision. Slamming upwards… and failing to budge the barrier. More health bars followed. Soon it was a roiling movement of bars superimposed on Wade's vision, where the mass of undead were fighting each other to climb up.

"Mmm, we going now?" The Russian said, standing over the lid, adding extra weight.

"Voting we leg it to them buildings on the right. Unless anyone fancy waiting around for round two?" Illy said. "Cause I don't."

She was pointing across the street, and Wade took stock of where he was for the first time.

It was the world's most depressing apartment complex designed by a committee of dystopian architects. Row after row of identical stone cubes stretched into the darkness on either side of this street. Stacked on top of each other like building blocks. At least there was some kind of variation as they were stacked more like skinny pyramid levels, rather than just a flat wall of cubes. Each concrete housing block had a single black metal door and what might have been a window, though everything inside was dark or broken. Lines ran just about everywhere from cube to cube, forming some kind of giant chaotic spiderweb suspended like electric wires. Bottom cubes opened up to the street, the ones above had ladders that led them down. He could see mini alleyways in between some of the cubes, so he was certain there were even more cubicles stuck on the other side.

The street itself was made of scratched metal plates, worn smooth by countless feet. Above, the ceiling vanished into shadows, but occasional golden lights from the streetlamps here cast a dim glow over everything - similar to the lantern he'd lost in the sewers. Like some kind of crystal-powered magic society.

What really took his breath was what lay further down the metal street.

He knew where he was in terms of the city - this must be the outskirts, because the center of it was clearly ahead.

"Where the hell are we?" Wade muttered, staring up at the massive structures looming further in the distance. Those weren't cubes - they were proper buildings. And powered.

"Fecking wish I knew." Illy said, summoning another dagger and shoving it into her backpack, she'd replenished her supply by two more now, hilts sticking out the side. "Madhouse is what it is. I'm wagering we're all dead and stuck in the pit."

The architectural style reminded him vaguely of nordic longhouses, except built like skyscrapers and stacked up mansions. Plus they were all made of metal, at least from what he could tell. Lights gleamed out in those buildings, possibly life. Although, everything in the current district here was dark and dead.

"What I do know is this: You don't want to go anywhere near that place. Anywhere." Illy said, getting up close to the elf. "City's where the real mental shite is."

"Smoll devushka is right. We escaped city only hour ago. Not recommending going back." Leon said, still standing over the lid, eyes looking over the distant city. Then he looked down.

They all heard bone crushing against bone, coming from the road grating. The skeletons weren't giving up. In fact, they were massing up just under the street, probably climbing over one another on the ladder until it was one giant ball of undead bones all pressing against one another, just under Leon. A few bars were taking damage, as if being squeezed up was finally starting to break some bones.

"Okay, enough gawking, we leave - right now." Illy said, then turned to the elf.

"What are you doin- unhand me this instant! I can walk on my own!" The elf was fighting off the scott, who looked like she was pulling off some kind of wrestling move, lifting the entire elf onto her shoulders like a sack of potatoes in one go.

"Quit your writhing you daft bimbo, you're already heavy as shite and can't walk."

Neither the elf or Illy seemed to understand each other, but Wade could see the war was universal. Unfortunately, Illy might have had the strength to carry the elf, but only if the elf was cooperative.

The elf was not.

"Feck! Fine, limp around for all I care." Illy hissed, lowering the struggling elf back down. "Leon! Grab her shoulder, we do this the traditional way."

The Russian wrapped a hand on the elf's shoulders and Selena hissed back at him, slapping him away. "I. Am. FINE."

Leon and Illy might not have known what the elf had actually said, but the tone said it all.

The elf refused any help, stood back tall, glared at them both, then took a step and stumbled right away.

Leon grabbed her shoulder, hoisted her up and started walking after Illy. The elf struggled for a moment to pull away, but deflated and followed along with the steps.

Wade took the rear, looking around for the first rock he could get his hands on. Behind him, the entire manhole area was cluttered up with bones and discarded weapons, a real mess, but bones didn't make for good damage. The rest of the roadway was clear. He'd need to scour the alleyways for weapons he could use.

He didn't know if they'd break through the manhole cover, and he didn't intend to find out.