Isecant - Party based LitRPG-lite / Progression adventure

Six of the Dawn gathered in the Heavenly realm, watching the ongoing conflicts that were rising within Ecclesville.

Iwan looked around and commented, "I am concerned for Serilia. Her obsession with Mark is beginning to take its toll on the Heavenly realm. How many cherubs has she erased from existence recently?"

There was a very thick, tense silence in the monitoring room. "Why have you all gone silent? You can't honestly believe she is of sound mind right now..."

"That is not the point," whispered Chanaq, who raised a finger to their mouth. "You never know who is watching; you never know who is listening. You would do well to hold your tongue, brother..."

Yeezus entered the room with several trays stacked high with various colourful fruits, vegetables, and meats, as well as some exotic-smelling beverages brought to them as offerings from the mortal realms across the stars. He did not need to place anything down, for the gods could simply beckon forth whatever they needed.

"I hope you all enjoy. "We G.I.T.s will be waiting outside for your commands, my Lords."

The servant had barely left for a split second when they already began to ravage the feast offered to them. Chunks of various things began to fling across the room, for the gods had no concept of waste. Isn't it interesting how they had a concept of effort?

With a mouth full of ambrosia, Aricaer gargled the words, "Who do we have our bets placed on? Are we involving any outsiders in this interesting endeavour?"

"Does anyone ever listen to a word I say? We can't let anybody know this is happening. Aricaer, you complete moron!"

***

Meanwhile, back in Ecclesville, a public freak-out had begun, only further adding to Dillee's recent public disturbances.

The XOF News Network caught onto the emergency that had broken from beneath the city.

"We bring you this special bulletin: the Greys are currently invading the city, allied with beasts to eat us all in a great big sentient feast. A citywide evacuation alert has been put in place, as stated by Rank Three Anders of the number one ranked Guild."

MC and the others would have heard the news, but as Horace was a magnet for his mom's long-distance target practice, all they could do was run.

"What have we done that warrants such a manic put-down? Which one of you stole something from a rich twat!"

"If anyone was going to, it would definitely be Rhua. Can't trust anyone with hair that red, heh heh."

"Oh my gosh, you two are so mean!"

"It's okay, Luce. They can't stay awake forever..."

"Someone tell MY MOM I'M not going to make it! ARGHHH!"

Shots missed the group deliberately. Amelia didn't want to hurt her poor little Horatio. It was important that he was constantly keeping up with training.

Caer, rank one, level ???, had had enough of standing around without any action in his life. "Right, Amelia. I need to speak with your little chorizo's friend. Hold off on the gunfire if you don't mind. I'd hate to throw it back at you."

Amelia didn't respond; she was in the zone.

Blasting off back towards the city, Caer didn't stop for a moment. His speed and power enabled him to fly clean through the gargantuan green tick consuming everything in its path. The contents of its yellow, pus-like innards coated everything within a thirty-meter radius. Citizens began to slip along the floor as they tried to run.

"Well, you're a big boy, aren't you? Surprised you didn't complain about that. Your younger sibling couldn't shut up when it was injured. Hmm, what are you now? Forty feet? Keep that up and the Colossi will be getting annoyed you're taking their thunder. Should slow you down for a moment."

The louse was crawling and stomping across buildings, grabbing several citizens at a time with his claw-like limbs and eating them whole.

"[Solin brother, are you okay?]"

"[Yes, sister. It seems another outsider has joined in the fray now. Not to worry. Unlike that idiot sibling of ours, we prepared for this much better. Nothing will get in the way of our plans now!] "

Caer, remembering that there was nothing that anyone could do right now except one person, continued to repeat the same action, running over in an attempt to slow the monstrous beasts down. Within a matter of seconds, he found MC, revealing himself to the group with a mighty stomp to the ground. The shockwaves blew them over.

"Oh god, who the hell is this now?!" MC cried.

Together they readied their weapons.

Wardi could tell that this ordinary-looking person was overwhelmingly powerful, which was only further supported when they needed to look at his afterimage as he stood there with their weapons in his hands, examining them.

"Hello! How the bloody hell have you lot made it this far in life? This equipment will not do at all."

The group panicked, and they tried to retrieve their equipment, but it wouldn't return to them.

Rhua, furious that she'd lost her sword and shield, readied her great sword and lunged at the person. He caught the blade with one hand and took it straight from her grasp.

"By the gods, it was like running into a wall! Ow~"

"Hey, it's rude to attack someone when they're trying to help you. Got the manners of you, Terra and Malicore lot..."

Lucy was intrigued by the choice of words and dared to ask a question, "How did you know that we are not from the same world?"

With a snap of his fingers, all but MC fell asleep, and their equipment returned to them. "Okay then, you. The introductions can't wait any longer. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, MC, or should I call you Feet Denier?"

It surprised MC to have heard anyone but Tofla say that. He responded in kind, "You know what those two creatures are, right?"

"Of course. Invørsår. What a horrible pair of blighters. Not quite as ugly as that holy thing that appeared in the Manor, though."

"Whoa, you were there for that!?"

"No, bud. Well, I mean, I was watching from the outside, but you know that's neither here nor there. Anyway, shut up. You've got a job to do. The double G's have shown themselves. Tag! You're up."

MC had put what Tofla told him to the back of his mind. With such a wave of information coming at him over the past few days, a headache had ingrained itself well.

"Crap... I wasn't expecting both of them this soon..."

"That's how it is in this business. One of the Colossi is coming to help. The tick is much more dangerous than the louse, so the rankers will try to hold off the louse."

"I don't know what either of those are."

Sighing, Caer responded, "Green first, yellow second. Easy enough to remember, right? Brilliant." Caer grabbed MC before blasting off with him. "Just wait for the signal. You'll know it when you see it. Caer Tirizan, by the way. Rank One here on Maliterr. Keep it to yourself—I keep a low profile."

"Fuck. You're the first ranker?!"

"What'd you say? Can't hear you over this BLAST OFF!"

BOOM

"MY GOD, THIS IS SO FAST! WHAT THE FLYING F*** IS GOING ON!"

It was impossible for MC to really comprehend what was going on. Everything seemed to be happening all at once. Caer landed on the border of the southern and central districts. "MC, you need to keep running from here. I'm going to go find the tenners."

"But what about my friends? You can't just leave them back there..."

"Don't worry about that. The sooner this is over and done with, the sooner we can bloody start rebuilding. And when I say we, I mean everybody else, because I'm going on an off-world vacation."

'Well, that's nice for some,' MC wanted to say out loud, but fear of being demolished in a split second put him off opening his mouth.

Looking towards the city centre, MC could see trams and rubble being flung high into the air. There was no more screaming because most of the city had been evacuated, and all that was left were guildies and guards.

Well, here goes nothing, I suppose. MC took the orbs out of his inventory bag and placed a single orb in each jacket pocket and began heading towards the fighting.

In the north, towards the Dornam mining areas, a huge rumbling began to occur beneath the mines themselves, heading in the direction of Ecclesville.

Deep within the Hassolnutt Woods, Lodge's unfamiliar colours had begun to stir since the shift in energy occurring within the capital. "That energy is foul. You don't belong here. I do hope my Horatio is all right!"

Caer had reached the tenors that were battling with the giant louse. It had grown to seventy feet in height and was starting to dwarf most of the buildings that surrounded it. No longer could it crawl up or down or across, for its sheer size crumbled anything it attempted to travel along. He knew exactly where he wanted to encourage the tenners to begin their side of this fight: the Mizzfitters Skyscraper, two hundred feet high in the air.

"Right, you lot, you better think fast from now on. I believe in you! Kind of." Caer became invisible, and so did everything he wanted. Under a large sphere in his hand, he began to lean back for the throw like a shot put. No need to calculate for wind interference. Better not throw it too hard now. I'm sure one of them is good enough to pick up the track if I throw it too hard.

He put just a dash of energy into it and threw it. "That was a good shot, if I may say so myself." Caer's sphere landed behind the creature and began to rattle with such strong force it was beginning to glow from the energy. A large siren appeared to form, matching the height of the creature, and played out the most grating, high-pitched screeching.

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Oops, that was the wrong thing to give them. Oh well, it will do.

The creature absolutely detested the noise, and even the tick was able to partially hear that audible grating.

"BLECH! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! BROTHER, THIS NOISE IS INFURIATING!"

Unfortunately for the wicked creature, this noise wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Whilst it was attempting to destroy the enormous siren blasting in its face, the tenners quickly banded together and unleashed a torrent of attacks upon it.

Emcee quickly took the opportunity to unleash one of her most devastating attacks. As she leapt into the sky and returned, diving akin to a blade-wielding eagle dive-bombing for its prey, she pierced cleanly through the creature. The gales of wind that followed her shredded it from the outside and followed her in. She continued to travel right through, breaking through the ground and into the underside of Ecclesville.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Anders, with his flaming axe, took aim and unleashed his most powerful ability: Hellfire Swing. He thought to himself before he spun and threw his axe at the creature.

Hellfire Swing – An ability from hell itself. Deals an unblockable 8000 damage. Target will continuously take 400 burn damage every 5 seconds. Cremates the target upon death; no items will be salvageable.

Watching from the distance, both high-ranking attacks destroyed a huge block of the city in one move. But the louse continued to stand. Edge Lord supported his fellow tenners. Though he was unable to unleash his strongest moves (a drawback of having a transformation-type class), nonetheless, his sword strikes easily cleaved huge areas of its flesh away with each swing. Filled with rage at how it had treated so many citizens, it only quickened his untiring attacks.

"Maggots. Schlurp. This changes nothing. You only tire yourselves. We cannot be stopped. Schlurp."

***

Sweat-soaked, gasping, and feeling he had far more responsibility than any person of his calibre should hold, MC now had the free-roaming green tick in his eyesight.

Holy fuck. Look at the size of that thing. Yuck. It's like an Arachne, only its arse is bigger and it has a big needle for a mouth. Oh yeesh, don't do that! It was not a pleasant sight for him as he watched this B-movie creature drain every last drop of a poor citizen with a SCHOOMP, throwing a floppy body away afterwards.

It took a moment for MC to compose himself before he tried to get in closer. There was no way he could throw the tear from this distance. In fact, at the rate it was going, he wouldn't be able to get near it at all, as it began to quickly crawl away, going eastward to its brethren.

MC looked around, hoping there was some other way he could get there quicker. But all he had to rely on right now was his little old legs and grit. This is really going to hurt in the morning, he thought, as he tried sprinting in the same direction.

The Impie, Shully, bounced down in front of him. MC was frightened and distracted and fell face first into the floor by the surprising meeting.

"Hello, MC. I'm Shully, here to help you, courtesy of our invisible friend! You're never bouncing over to that thing without me. Hop on~"

MC was not impressed. Why does it seem like all the crazies and stupidly strong people are coming out of the woodwork today?

"You should hurry up. Those Tenners probably won't last long when that second one joins in, eh!"

"All right already! Sheesh."

MC climbed onto the back of Shully, whose long, springy legs were quickly helping to catch up to the stomping monstrosity.

"I like this option more than travelling with..."

Shully interjected, stopping MC from saying the name.

"Shush. He will beat you mercilessly, believe me."

I'm starting to feel as if my life is no longer in my hands in the slightest. MC was not far off on that thought.

Even with all his gear enhancements, MC was still too far to realistically even attempt to throw at the Invørsår.

The Six of Dawn continued to feast like feral animals, watching as the sentients desperately tried to fight back against something they could not actually defeat.

Chanaq had changed their mind on the situation. "I think the citizens of Ecclesville will have a clutch moment. Mark my words."

Unbeknownst to Chanaq, the head of the Heavenly realm had entered the room. Serilia was unaware that the six were there watching, and as she entered, she was sobbing profusely, sniffling and waving a hand, bursting through walls with invisible force.

Aricaer yelled in fright. "Ahh, danger!" Turning around, he saw the goddess who was looking right at him. Tears continued to stream down her face, and in one hand she held a vase filled to the brim with ambrosia and appeared to be drunk.

"You b-b-bastard. What does she have that I don't?" The six gods tried not to move or make a sound, hoping that perhaps Serilia was in such a state that she couldn't register what was happening.

"Don't you fucking try to hide right in front of me. Do you think I'm s-s-stupid?" A large white whip began to appear in her hands, which burnt through the floor.

"It's time for the annual whippings of f-f-failure," she stuttered and whipped with a whopah, blowing the floor apart, and the equipment dropped below.

You know what? Now I am starting to agree with you, dear brother. A thought crept into Chanaq's mind.

***

"Right then, fella, do you think you can make the shot from here?" Shully asked.

MC tried to gauge the distance between him and the now colossal-sized monster. "Yes and no. I can definitely throw it. However, since this thing grew another twenty to thirty feet high, it's moving so fast now I'd be lucky if it doesn't move somewhere else by the time I even get the tear even halfway near it. And..."

"Okay, Terrahuum. You don't need to say anything else. I will just have to take you practically on top of it to make sure you don't fumble." Shully groaned, not happy that he had to risk himself.

The pair began to link up once more, only to find the tick began to burrow underground. And to make matters worse, it seemed to be much faster burrowing than it did crawling along the surface. Rumbles spread far and wide underground. It was hard to tell exactly which direction it was travelling. The tremors of the support structures beneath the city being crunched and smashed through buckled the floor beneath them.

Shully reacted quickly, picking up MC and darting via the buildings, aiming to reach as high ground as possible. There were still several buildings that hadn't quite crumbled yet that he could make use of. One of which happened to be the XOF News Network, thankfully now abandoned.

Damn it. Come on, we need a break here. Why can't you join in, you weirdo hiding super ranker? MC was really frustrated at the situation, but there was simply nothing he could do. Shully tried to comfort MC. He patted his back, giving him some words of wisdom.

"It's going to work out; don't worry. We just need to be patient. Look over there. At least one of them is being dealt with pretty easily, and it seems to have not grown either."

MC looked over towards the Eastern District. He could see the explosions, the pillars of ice, the lightning descending, and huge Gorthen constructs raining down furious attacks upon the second invading beast. It comforted him to see that people were trying to fight no matter what. But it still did not ease the tension he felt. It's not going to end until I use the tears against them. Come on, you grotesque shit, reveal yourself already so we can try this again.

Towards the Northern District, bangs and sparks of electricity began to occur. A sign that something had been destroyed in that area. Shully began to smile. MC asked him, "What's got you so cheerful all of a sudden? Is it a good sign what's happening over there?"

KABOOM!

Dust, dirt, debris, and a green Invørsår flew several hundred feet into the air within a plume that could be seen across the continent from the blast. The pair had to run for cover as huge boulders began to fly in their direction. MC jumped onto the roof of an office building that was nearby, and Shully bounced into a window on the top part of a building opposite. The boulder crashed through the roof, taking the topmost part with it to the streets with a crash.

Things settled after a few moments of concrete, ground, and flesh scattered and spattered around, and the pair ventured back outside.

Shully did not wait and immediately grabbed hold of him, running to the nearest high point he could find.

One hundred feet tall, shimmering the same colours as the B.O.F., Colossi Eyron Bruu was shimmying around, waving his rattle-like tail with swagger. Unusual for a snake, he had two arms that appeared to be harbouring ginormous wristwatches and a black and purple ribbon ten feet wide and a high top hat.

It was an unexpected sight to behold, and MC's jaw dropped in shock. Now, I never expected it to look like that. It's quite cool. I wonder why he rarely comes to the surface. He would probably be the most popular of all the colossi…

Shully could tell that MC had never seen Eyron before. "In case you're wondering, he only likes to frequent places with cool people. He tends to travel the Far East or hang in the far northern mines the Dornam excavate."

He finished speaking, grabbed MC, and began bouncing in the direction of the colossi. The Invørsår and Eyron began to clash. It seemed the beast was troubled by the appearance of a colossi. The exchanges could have been heard for miles with how loud they were.

Eyron hissed, "I've heard of you creaturesss. You were around in the first age, the dawn of the universe. Just like we were."

"I do not know what you are. But you are nothing like my kin. Schloomp."

"No offence, pal, but if all of you look like that, I'd kill myself. That isn't a cool lookkkk."

Eyron began to spin incredibly fast, rising into the air, coiling into himself. A sonic boom erupted, a loud explosive noise into the air, thrusting a spear-like colossi into the monstrous being below it. The sheer force of the attack was stronger than anything MC had ever seen or felt. Shully braced the pair as the northern district crumbled in on itself, and the aftershock nearly sent the pair tumbling.

MC felt a sudden urge. Confidence was filling up inside him. This was the moment they'd been waiting for. He turned to Shully, standing tall. "Let's do this while it's down."

Grinning and bouncing the way Impies do best, Shully took MC up to the top of the biggest building he could find. He kneeled, building as much tension as possible before shooting across to the northern crater, landing on the outskirts of it.

"Shully, I need you to find MC's remaining companions," said Tofla, appearing in front of the pair almost as if it were watching the events as they happened.

"As you command, Tofla. Nice meeting you, Fate Denier. Good luck taking down this freak," bouncing away, his words trailed off.

"MC, throw that tear into the crater below. Do not worry about the colossi. He will be up here with us shortly.
"Your friend over that way is next, you big green arsehole!" MC took the brown tear from his right side pocket and tossed it down into the darkness.

Blinding brown lights erupted out of the darkness to the surface, and the sounds of bubbled hissing could be heard.

"[NO! After all our hard work, sister!" BLECH!

"Kill them all, Yeathe! Drain every soulllll!]"

The Invørsår spoke in a language unfamiliar to MC, but Tofla translated everything for him to understand.

Heroes and heroines would feel a sense of triumph at such a monumental moment. MC just felt relieved. Tofla gave him no time to stand around, however.

"Well done. Now we shall get to the next one." As the voice finished speaking, Eyron Bruu's head burst forth from the crater below.

How the hell is that top hat so clean after being down there?! There's not a speck of dirt or dust on it. MC's fondness of the colossi was growing by the second.

"My, oh my. Y'all finally got us a Fate Denier, eh? Weird voice thing from the beyond. Heh heh." The snake spoke with a dialect that was completely unfamiliar to him, but MC enjoyed it regardless.

"You sound so cool, Eyron. Where did you learn to talk like that?"

"Heh. I love my music, kid. I just copied those records from Earth; you feel me? I'm a Jazzhead~"

Tofla's dark void shook and shone at the conversation. "Finish the tasks at hand. "Eyron", said the young MC here.

"Hey, come on now. You're busting my vibes here, Tof. All right then, kid, y'all are going to need to sit under my hat. It's a short dig, but a bumpy one." Eyron used his tongue to flick MC up on his head, and he ran over to the hat, which lifted of its own accord. "That's so fucking..." "HOLY SHITTTTTTTTT!"

Eyron returned below, digging his way through the wreckage of the Ecclesville underside, rushing over to the eastern side in a matter of seconds. The sheer power of colossi in any environment was really starting to dawn on MC. Dude just tore through metres of rubble as if it were paper. What the fuck.

When the hat lifted, however, the sight at hand was truly horrifying for him. No... no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. The louse was attempting to devour a large handful of dead guildies, only a few metres away from him. Eyron lunged into combat, smashing into the louse, but its power had grown beyond his capability from the huge consumption of rankers.

"Damn, ugly. You're one tough nut to crack." Eyron smashed the louse with his rattling tail. It sounded as if a dozen cannons fired simultaneously; thundering bangs rang out, but the armoured exterior was too thick to break.

"You're too late, colossi. My power is far greater than even yours now."

Eyron dodged a claw and wrapped himself around its arms and legs, binding it together.

MC couldn't get over the shock. His mind had frozen, and Eyron had taken notice of this and tried to bring him back to reality.

"There's someone else, hiss, joining in the fun, amigo. Snap out of it!"

BuzzzzzzZZZZZZZ

A noise drowned out any conflict around, and MC looked up to find the fuzzy, warm face of Vivyoly meeting his gaze.

"Hiyo, Eyron, Hiyo, MC. I've come to lend a helping buzzy hand." Viv was fluttering in the air, happy to be among friendly faces.

"You should have summoned the rest of your kind. I'd have liked to gain something worthwhile amongst this tripe."

"Be quiet, you stupid bug!" Viv's face turned sour. She was ready to sting the Invørsår to death. Eyron had other ideas, however.

"Viv, girl, focussss! Throw some of that lavender you grow at it. We need to slow it down BIG TIMEEEEE!"

"Ohhh, okay!" Viv took out a thick, dense clump of lavan and buzzed quickly to force Yeathe into consuming the compressed flowers.

"How dare you try to feed me such filth. YEEEARGHHH!"

It flipped itself up and onto Eyron, crushing him with a thud. "Damn, that sssstung~," he groaned, releasing the Invørsår.

Viv was swiped at, but her speed was unmatchable, even to such a creature. She continued to buzz around, distracting it so the larva could begin to work.

MC had managed to find a good spot, waiting for his moment. Tofla had returned to his side for comfort as he scanned the area. He recognised Anders, Velvet Blossom, Curly and Atropa's lifeless bodies on the ground.

"What they did and what you will do, MC, will save the lives of everyone on Maliterr and beyond." Tofla interjected to bring MC back to the scene.

"These were all people too. People that formed bonds with one another. Your words describe the future, but this is real. This is here and now, Tofla. Just GIVE ME A MINUTE. Please…"

Silence stood between them, interrupted only by the stumbling Invørsår crashing into a building.

"This poison... will not last. Your speed... can't save you forever... vile insect."

Calm filled MC. Without hesitating, he walked towards it, taking out the green orb from his pocket. The eyes of the Invørsår showed fear for the first time, sensing the power within it.

"A power most... ancient. How does... a mere nothing hold such... a thing!?"

The creature wheezed its words and tried to move, but the lavan sedated it enough that its limbs refused to move.

The tear began to expand from MC's hand. A green light shone brightly, and a glowing jade-coloured blade burst forth from within it. as the blade rose up of its own accord, hovering for a moment.

Is it looking at the Invørsår? MC thought. The beast was terrified but paralysed to move.

MC spoke the last words it would hear, "To all of you who gave their lives. To all of you who lost their loved ones on this fateful day. This is for you."

As if MC's last words acted akin to a command. The blade pulsed a light far and wide across the land and shot its way through the air into the creature's head, killing it instantly.

Strong wind cleared away dark overcast skies as the blade vanished far away from Eccles Ville. As if pulling the curtains aside, greeting Maliterr like an old friend, the B.O.F. showed itself.

He slowly placed his hands behind him, closed his eyes and looked upwards. That… is a nice feeling, MC thought as a warming ray met his face.