Poll World [LitRPG][Reader Polls]

(This is a free public vote chapter)

Progress to the headquarters was slower than she would have preferred. The closer they got, the thicker the outgoing tide of zombie iguanas was. While the zombies held a special place of pride in her heart, they were much less adorable when hostile.

Jasper was in front using his flesh-crater hammer to detonate any zombies that entered Francine's cloaking zone. The fresh-crater enchantment, while limited against mechs, proved its worth against zombies, just a weak tap was enough to pulp even armored iguanas.

Ding~!

ERROR

CHECKING LOGS

STILL PLASTIC

STILL NOT ALIVE

RESOLVING PERMANENTLY

Where the nares were located at the top of her plastic beak, she felt a mounting pressure and a growing pain begin to mount. With a window-shattering sneeze, a cute button nose painfully erupted through the plastic.

She had no time to react to the pain as the rotten stench rushed to fill her new organic nose, and she gagged. She'd had time to gradually adapt to the smell before, but going from no sense of smell to being surrounded by splattered zombie iguanas was too much, and immediately, sharp acidic vomit sprayed out of her nose.

With no mouth, she found herself suffocating and rocketed straight up using the g-forces to clear out her unwanted sinuses.

WARNING YOU ARE ALIVE

WARNING DORMANT INFECTION ACTIVATED

INFECTED WITH ̷̰̘̮̲̺̗͉̗̯͎͓̖̎͂̾̓̈́͊̀͋͘͠͠s̶͎̳̞͚̙̄͆̾̅̍͒̓͑͌̚̕͘͝ư̴͙͔̟̜̘̱̏̽̇̎͌̾̈́̏̈́͆͘͝p̷͓̬̤̠̱͚̖͕̩͌͑̐̏̌̈́̑̐̅̄e̶͉̘̮̞͊̍̏̏̋̾̀̎͜͝r̴̢͓̦̳̺̽̀̿͂̎̇̓͋̎̇͘-̸͓̯̙̗̟̠̫̖̙̅͛̒̄̏́̿̈́̅̓͜c̸̰͓̬͉͕̀̈́̒̇̽̚͝r̶̛̦͙̟͖͚̜̞̝̔̋̅̓̑͂̈́̌̏̽a̸̱̯̱̰̰͉͎̙̿͌͌̐͂z̶̢̛̖͕̼̬͚̯̏̈́́͒͂͛͝ÿ̴̜͖̝̞̖͙̠̹̬̫́́͌̐̅̓͗͘-̷͎̘̳͓̃̓̿̏͌̎͐̈́̐̚̕ư̶̞͉̼͊̏̎̇̽́͛͋͛̕͜͝l̷̦̗̖̼̟̳̜̩̫̍͛̈́̓͑̒̈́̓̍͒͐̓t̸̛͓͕̼̩͚̠̰̋̐̓͐̄̅͑͐͐̈́̐á̸̤̩̹̼̹͐̿̾͘͠-̴̘̠͓̞̝̺͚̮͔̓̅́͒̓̍̚͝͠m̸̖̲͕̠̋̿͗̾̎̇͒͌͠e̸͉̮̼̤̎̐̄͋̽̋̾͐̕͠g̸̢̩͉̤̫͛̾̓̿̌̅̋͌̾̈́͝a̸̛͈̺̥̐͋͗́̕-̵͎͍̮͕̋͐̄̏͐̓͋̈́͘i̶̛̳͇͍͕̳̻̓̅͆̇̀̓͝n̶̬̺̖͙͍̈́̓͗͆͂͊͆͛͛͌s̷̖͈͙̖͉̈́̈́̾͗͌͂͂̓͠a̵̦̮̲̥̺͛̾͆͂̑͝n̷̛̼͎̳̠̼̔̇̋̑̀͋ë̷̠̲̙̟́̆͒̄̓̇-̸̩̦̙̯̠̰͇̗̞̓͋͛̐̋̽͘͝͝ͅi̶̛͎͇͉͚̺̓̈́̈́͛̇̾̒̑̑͝͝m̸̛̟̳̻̳̈́̋̀̋̓͂̐̓̍p̵͓͇̪̠̯̈́̓͐̑̽̈́̏͌̕͝ó̴̘͚͍͕͂̾̀̈́̇̎̅͒͋̚͜s̵̜̪̠̜̫̳͓̘̺̏͗͐͌͌͒̎̈́̍͝s̸̤̝̱̠̉̓́̏͛̎̒͘i̶̘͓͖̥̺̜̒́͊̆̈́͒͂ͅb̶͉͍̱͕̙͇͎̞̏̈́̓͌͐̔͌͠͝l̷̛͓̝̙̟̍͗̒̔̋͐͝͝é̴̲̠̤̘͇͎̜͙̞͆̈́̆̀͆̄͋͘̕͠-̵̪̝̙̺̹̳̳͕̒͗̓̾͊̓̚h̶̠̮̺͎̦̜̼͙͉̐̑͆̽̐͒̓̅͊͋͆͘ȁ̷̛̳̲̙͔̫̱̩͗̅̇̇͑͘ċ̶̳̹̥́̄̅͛͋͝͝k̷̜̗͚̯̤̙̙͍͂̑̍͊̐̈́̀͝ẻ̶̘̯̙̫̝̞̺̲͗͌̽̋̈́͘r̴̛̯̠͎̼͓̅̑́͗͛̐͘͝͠-̴̛̬̹̺̦̪͚̙̟̇́̋̽͊̒̈́̕͘͝͠b̵̯͖͙͇̪̀͐̇͋̆̒̽͛̅̕͝r̷̫̰̞̹̰̘͈̬̄͛͌͑͛̽͂̚̕͘͝o̷̼͕̠̯̞̟̜͋͆́͐̒́̏͆̅͝͝k̴̥͓̟͕͉̩͚̽͗͐̐͂́̓̄̈́͗̕ĕ̶͈͇̳͎̪͍̠͇̽̈́͌͂́̓͛̍̇̄̚n̴̯̙̲͚̬̖̝̹̪̿͊̇̈́̽̇͂̔̈́̈́-̶̞̞͕̙̌̽̐͌́̈́̍̇͑̚͝ȑ̸̞̤͈͚͒̐̒̅̐̒͋̅͝ä̵̰͈̯͈́͆̀͆͋̋̓͂̿͊̕ř̵̞̟̝̥̱̃̈́̎̍͊͝ẽ̴̘̫͚̖̩̤̥̹̄͛͐͊̓̓̾͘͠ͅ RARITY VIRUS

YOU ARE LEVEL 1 YOU HAVE 1 SECOND TO TAKE AN ANTIDOTE

Ignoring the garbled text, her mind flashed back to Barney's parting shot, and she acted reflexively, summoning one of the many antidotes from her inventory directly above her head. She crashed into it, shattering the glass vial violently.

With sheer willpower, she snorted the minty antidote together with shards of glass.

Bleeding and feeling the worst burning sensation of her life, her eyes spun in satisfaction at the system message.

INFECTION CURED.

Thinking dark thoughts about LEO, she looked down and tried to locate her group. Outside the invisibility zone, she couldn't see them, but she did spot an anomalous area where zombie iguanas were continually disappearing.

Flying down quickly before a spitter iguana got frisky, she reentered the zone and saw the group staring at her in confusion.

Unable to explain herself, she flew over to Todd and started wiping her bloody button nose on his shirt. He tried to push her away in disgust, but Francine spoke up with concern and said, "I think she wants to be healed…"

Todd held her at arm's length and looked uncertain as he attempted to activate his ability on her once again.

Healing Hour imbued! You will regenerate health for the next hour~

Anoint bonuses obtained!

Your physical stats are increased temporarily~

Your abilities and equipment have reduced cooldown temporarily~

Your equipment Consummable: Olympic Swimming Pool is now off cooldown~

Gen temporarily ignored the notifications as she blew out the last of the glass shards, vomit, and minty antidote from her adorable nose. The level of relief she felt as her nose and cracked chest started to regenerate was indescribable. Todd's heal wasn't instant, but it was still miraculously fast as her nose stopped hurting and the crack slowly shrank minute by minute.

Distancing herself from Todd, he looked at her in confusion, but he gave up when Francine just shook their head and the group started forward again.

Gen tried to consider her physical state. She was still plastic overall, but with the human nose and feet, her body had somehow passed a threshold where she was technically a living, breathing creature once again. She presumably had lungs and a stomach somewhere now and could bleed, but other than that, things were the same as before.

Her swimming pool's week-long cooldown being shortened by two days was an unexpected benefit, but the other perks from Todd's ability didn't seem helpful. Summoning iguanas already didn't have a cooldown, so it couldn't be reduced further, and aside from jiggling her ankles and rolling her eyes, she couldn't physically move to take advantage of the enhanced physical stats.

Ding~!

…

Who the hell was Rosalina, and why was Gen getting her poll completion notification? LEO really needed to get his shit together with privacy violations like this. Aside from the poll's text, she didn't have any insight into what the result even did. First, the UFO poll, and then this… Why was she getting polls she couldn't even benefit from? Instead, she got dumb things like a nose poll, which had almost killed her somehow.

Trying to comfort herself, she looked at the incubation countdown and only felt more stress as she saw 18 minutes remaining. They were so close to the finish line, but she couldn't suppress the anxiety that something would go wrong.

Switching perspectives…

***

Sarah's precognition activated again, and she threw herself to the side just in time to not get crushed as the mad woman smashed down from the sky, forming yet another crater. She glared at Morna and shouted, "Give it up! No matter how many holes in the ground you make, that will never hit me!"

Morna cackled, "Don't lie! I almost had you!" Not waiting for a response, Morna activated her ability once again and fell straight into the sky, escaping Sarah's range.

Sarah cursed, her ability clean cut increased the cutting damage of both her weapons and unarmed attacks, and its augment projection gave a spectral extension increasing her range, but it was still too short to retaliate against the repeated divebomb attacks.

The crazy woman was really starting to get on her nerves. While prepping for the attack, she'd tried using her mom's connections to get some background on her, but it painted a fuzzy picture. Everything prior to two years ago was scrubbed clean, and since then, she'd just been running around with an unremarkable organization with no discernible backing or purpose.

Precognition flared again, and Sarah activated her event item Instant Aegis, which created a steel riot shield planted in the ground in front of her. The antagonists on the wall redirected their gunfire to her allies, having long since realized they couldn't shoot through the shield.

Sparing a glance, she saw her mother still fighting as always with a grim expression on her face. Meteor after meteor was launched against the enemy headquarters, some were detonated prematurely by the headquarters' defenses, and others crashed into the wall, killing defenders and slowly crumbling and melting the wall.

Things had been going more smoothly when the large mech had been sniping the headquarters alongside them, but they'd heard no word from it since it went to assist the quarantine wall. Now, the full weight of the headquarters's upgrades was being brought to bear, and they had been struggling to make any headway.

Sarah felt her heart beating fast as she checked the time. Fifteen minutes!

They had teams in place at all the headquarters in zone 98, just waiting for the primary headquarters to fall. The timeline was small, but it was still technically possible to stop the incubations. Outside zone 98 headquarters were being eliminated at a rapid pace. Each siege was causing significant casualties, but with the new mechs coming online and whatever that dragon rider bastard was doing, their team should still be able to eek out a clean victory if only they could take out this location.

Susan stepped to the side, ducking behind Sarah's aegis just in time to avoid a giant explosion. Similar to Sarah's precognition, her mother's lucky step had saved her dozens of times over the course of the event so far.

Susan flashed her a grin, "Having fun yet?"

"Mom! Take this seriously! They're about to hatch!"

Susan shrugged as her eyes looked over the defenses and surveyed their allies. Despite the downsizer lowering her down to only two abilities, Sarah knew her mom had plenty of tricks up her sleeve and wasn't cornered yet.

Their radios flickered to life, and a woman's voice was heard.

"Hey! Is this the right frequency? Stew, may he rest in hell, well, that bastard didn't exactly leave instructions… if it weren't for the poll, I'd just be twiddling my thumbs still…"

Susan looked intrigued as she pressed down on her radio, "This is Susan. By Stew, do you mean the leader of the mech forces? When will they be arriving? Are you delayed?"

"Hah! Susan herself, la de da! Umm, yeah, suppose you would want to know. Mechs are fucked, the whole lot of them. Don't expect backup any time soon."

Sarah's face whitened. Susan hadn't gotten many polls during the event as a result of her being high-level, but she'd gotten a zombie dissuader that prevented zombies from approaching in a wide area. They'd used it to set up a sieging position on the headquarters without having to deal with the zombie iguana tide. The mechs were supposed to handle the iguanas, but without them, and with the quarantine wall down, the iguanas would be swarming outside of zone 98 already.

Susan sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She looked at the headquarters again and shook her head, "Let's retreat. Clearly, we've been outplayed. We lost the first batch of mechs, probably the sniper mech, and the quarantine wall already. The fusioncracks will be a mess, but we can handle it, we're far enough ahead in the event already that it's our game to lose."

Sarah blanched, her mom was indomitable, and she hadn't imagined she'd retreat at a critical moment like this.

Susan ruffled her hair, "Knowing when to retreat is the most important part of getting to my level, sweetheart. Keep this in mind in your scenarios."

"Fuck that!"

Their mother-daughter moment was interrupted as the voice on the radio spoke again.

"You don't get to play it safe while I'm stuck here! I've got bills to pay, and I need that hatchery taken out! Now, how do I use this?"

Sarah's precognition activated, and she saw a vision of her mom's eyes changing color. Unable to understand the vision, she failed to react fast enough as the radio crackled again.

"Susan, destroy the hatchery by any means possible."

The radio went silent, and Susan's eyes shifted to a glowing blue.

Her mom rarely cursed, but she did so now.

"Dammnit, it's a geass. I could normally resist it with my level, probably, but with the downsizer…" She sighed.

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Looking at Sarah, she shrugged, "Well, at least you'll get to see me serious for once."

Sarah's precognition activated again, and she and her mom both leapt to the side simultaneously as the annoying woman crashed into their position once again, blowing up the aegis and making another crater.

Immediately, the antagonists opened fire on the two of them again, and Sarah formed another aegis, ducking behind it. Susan didn't join her as she rushed to the headquarters directly, unleashing a series of meteors to suppress the defenders.

Sarah yelled, "Support her! This is the final push!"

The weary protagonists rallied as they launched abilities and used consumable equipment one after another. The fight had been going on for almost two hours now, and they were sick of the smug antagonists hiding behind the defenses at this point.

Sarah charged as well, cursing her own weakness. Her aegis was good after being upgraded by a poll, but she'd followed her mom around too much in the event and gotten fewer polls as a result. Her equipment wasn't high-tier enough to be pivotal.

Her mom tilted her head back as she drank down a pulsing red vial. Sarah flinched as she saw it. She was probably the only person in the world fully aware of her mom's abilities and equipment, and that vial was a last resort that greatly amplified the strength of her abilities temporarily, with hefty side effects afterward.

Sarah knew that dying in an event was sometimes necessary, but she was still fresh enough that seeing her mom launch a suicide attack was gut-wrenching.

Susan summoned a meteor once again, but its flames flared hotter than before, and it was so bright it almost hurt to look at. It seemed unstoppable as it smashed into the wall and blasted a huge hole in the defenses.

Antagonists went flying, and the protagonists let out a cheer as Susan rushed into the headquarters.

Switching perspective…

***

A giant explosion flared ahead of them, and their group froze for just a second before Gen made a decision. She knew she was vulnerable on her own, but she couldn't afford to play it safe when the headquarters was in danger.

Rocketing up into the sky, she left the group behind and shot toward the sound of battle. Carefully steering clear of spitters, it took only a few seconds before she saw the frontlines. The highly upgraded wall that G2n had invested in had a section half-melted and a large, cracked hole in it that protagonists were rushing through.

Not hesitating, Gen unleashed her gnomish diarrhea. Ten gnomes per second barraged the unsuspecting actors, and in a rapid blitz, she eliminated the protagonist's rear support group, or at least disabled them as they were now body-locked.

Her attack was cut short, however, as the protagonists reacted and opened fire on her. She felt a flare of pain as she was shot in a plastic wing, and crimson blood started pouring out. Flying erratically, she fired gnomes continuously, trying to suppress her attackers. But a group of four protagonists rallied together, blasting the gnomes out of the air with shotguns while taking potshots at her.

Mentally cursing, she was about to retreat when an avenging angel descended from heaven and smashed the group of heroes beneath her boots.

Morna's expression was jubilant as she stood in the blood-soaked crater and yelled up to Gen, "GEN! You're finally here! It's killing time~!"

Gen flew down next to her and saw that Morna's boots had gotten another upgrade as they were sending out purple energy waves.

Morna raised her foot up high, "Ya' jealous? They make even bigger craters now and make a forcefield while falling!"

Another explosion echoed out from the headquarters, and Gen spun her eyes urgently.

Morna turned and yelled, "Stop wasting time, Gen! Katana girl is getting away!"

Morna abruptly fell upward to the sky, and Gen flew up after her. Morna's vertical speed was very quick, but her horizontal momentum was limited as she kicked her boots together, making little explosions pushing her toward the base.

Impatient Gen flew behind her and pushed her along faster.

"You're a genius, Gen!"

Gen felt Morna wrap her legs around her, straddling her like a rocket-propelled witch's broom as Morna rode her forward at a steep angle.

They were high enough up that the figures below were just dots interspersed with explosions when Morna suddenly reversed her gravity and started pulling Gen back to the earth.

"Faster, Gen! We've got to make a crater bigger than ever before!"

Gen was hesitant, but trusting in Morna's boots, she targeted the ground and shot herself at max speed as they plummeted to the ground.

The figures below slowly started to take shape, and Gen felt a bout of nervousness as she saw Susan.

G2n was fighting her with a group of antagonists. His wire tendrils that he used to interface with electronics were instead connected to other antagonists, and the whole group was moving with unnatural coordination as they attacked Susan and created emergency barriers against her meteors.

Gen angled toward Susan, but Morna shouted, "Not her! Get katana girl!"

Gen's plastic eyes flickered, and she saw Sarah bisecting an antagonist as she led a group of ten or so protagonists to help Susan.

Unsure if it was actually a plan or just Morna's vendetta, she altered course and rocketed toward the new group.

Sarah abruptly looked up and yelled, causing the whole group to turn and target them, but Morna's boots flared, projecting a force field that deflected the bullets. It only seemed to grow stronger as they continued to accelerate.

Sarah looked shocked, and the group tried to scatter, but it was too late as Morna leapt off of Gen and smashed her boots into the ground, creating a giant explosion that sent protagonists flying, including Sarah.

Gen shot away from the ground and unleashed a barrage of gnomes to pelt the stunned fighters.

One after another, they were baptized in sparkles and transformed into mannequins. Sarah alone detected the threat and sliced her gnome out of midair.

Gen didn't relent as she sent dozens of the gnomes pelting her one after another. Sarah summoned a riot shield out of nowhere and blocked several, but quickly her sword and shield were both turned to plastic.

Despite that, her sword was still disturbingly sharp as it kept cutting gnomes down just as fast as Gen could fire them. Gen rocketed around in a circle, trying to catch her off guard, but Sarah was always one step ahead as she skillfully eliminated the gnomes.

Morna strutted from the crater and cackled, "I told you I'd hit you! I just needed a bigger crater!"

Sarah shot her a glare, still cutting down gnomes, "Shut up! You just knocked me down! Stop flying around and fight me!"

Morna rushed forward, kicking off the ground with small explosions before pouncing high above Sarah's head and crashing back down with all the grace of a tiger.

Sarah's sword flashed, but the shield generated from Morna's boots blocked the strike and caused the plastic weapon to snap in two.

Sarah cursed, summoning another shield which exploded as Morna crashed through it.

Sarah stumbled back, her arms both glowing with the faint outlines of blades as she lunged forward with a flurry of attacks.

Morna blocked a strike with her boot and floated up, hovering above Sarah as she rained explosive kicks on her one after another.

Morna was still laughing as she taunted, "Cry, puny hero! You fall today, and your momma is next!"

"Shut up, you witch! If you didn't have those boots!"

"You shut up! If you didn't have that escape capsule, I would've killed you the first time!"

"You think I wanted to escape! My mom made me bring that! It activates automatically!"

Gen had paused her gnome onslaught with Morna too close to get a clean shot, but with another giant explosion on Susan's end, she didn't have time for caution and shot a gnome at Sarah's feet, hoping to end this quickly.

Sarah's eyes flashed, and a spectral blade formed on her leg as she bisected the gnome. It put her off balance just enough for Morna to land an explosive kick on her face and knock a few teeth loose.

Blood streaming from her mouth, Sarah yelled, "No, stop it! I'm not done!"

Gen had no idea what she was talking about before. Abruptly, a metal egg materialized around Sarah and started to rocket her upward.

Morna shouted, "You're not escaping this time!" She smashed a boot into the shell, smashing a hole in it and getting her foot stuck as the two of them flew up and away together.

Gen watched them go higher and higher for only a second before rushing to Susan's fight.

The incubation timer was showing three minutes, but G2n's team was not doing well. She saw missing limbs and burnt flesh as they were barely held together by G2n's wires, looking more like zombies than the zombie iguanas themselves.

The iguanas had also joined the fight with abandon. For some reason, none of them had approached the side of the base Susan entered from, but this close to the swollen hatchery, there was no avoiding the tide of rotten flesh.

Gen's unfortunate nose wrinkled at the scent of corrupted BBQ as Susan unleashed another meteor that devastated its way through a hundred iguanas at once and another one of G2n's puppeted people. On Susan's shoulder was a small mounted turret that was firing a continuous stream of glowing purple darts at G2n and the other remaining antagonists.

Not wasting any more time, Gen started to unleash an endless stream of gnomes at Susan's back.

Susan didn't even turn as her shoulder-mounted turret rotated and began automatically targeting gnomes.

Each dart hit a different gnome directly on the forehead, and while there was no discernible damage, the gnomes stopped heat-seeking and went inert, falling uselessly to the ground.

It seemed to lower just enough pressure on G2n's side, however, as they lowered their shields and started launching their own projectiles at Susan.

Susan didn't seem bothered as she started to almost dance and weave her way through the attacks while intermittently firing new meteors. With a slow advance, she was inching closer and closer to the hatchery. Her eyes glowed blue, and Gen sensed that if she didn't do something desperate, they were all going to die as soon as Susan put an end to the iguanas.

Her thoughts racing, she recalled her first meeting with Susan and activated her trump card.

Olympic swimming pool!

The pool materialized while Susan was midstep, and her calculated footfall turned into a flailing motion as she crashed into water.

Zombie iguanas rushed into the pool, and the depths were immediately thick with their rotting flesh.

G2n was yelling something, and she saw him hurl a giant javelin into the water where Susan had disappeared.

Susan wasn't missing for long, though, as the water exploded, leaving a massive steaming crater and charred zombies.

Susan's eyes darted around, "Gen! I know you're here! I should've known it was going too easily! Was the geass your doing as well?"

Gen had no idea what she was talking about and kept shooting gnomes without having a better plan. There were just two minutes left, and they just had to keep delaying her.

Susan drew her Desert Eagles and yelled, "Fine, if you're going to keep hiding, I'll just finish this!"

The Desert Eagles suddenly flared red, and Gen got an ominous feeling as Susan seemed to be charging them up.

"You really don't know your place."

Susan's head whipped around at the voice, and Gen saw Jasper waltzing into the crater holding the flesh-crater hammer in one hand and the plasma sword in the other.

Susan smirked, "So you stopped hiding, Gen! I'm glad I got to see you again before the event ended. I tried digging into your information outside the event, but the consortium has a complete lockdown on your information. Are they your backers?"

Jasper scoffed, "The consortium will get what is coming to them, but first, you're going to pay the price for destroying my castle and targeting my brethren!"

He rushed forward, and Susan looked confused, but rushed to attack as well. Her turret pelted him continuously, and his overpowered armor actually began to degrade and tarnish wherever the purple needles hit. He hissed with annoyance and attacked viciously with both weapons.

Susan danced around his strikes and fired her pistols at the weakened points in his armor before materializing a meteor point blank, blasting him away and herself out of the remnants of the pool and even closer to the hatchery.

Susan's ascent was abruptly halted as she crashed into a square force field that Gen recognized as Todd's ability, and she fell back into the half-destroyed swimming pool.

Zombie iguanas were everywhere as they swarmed through the mud and water. Outside the pool, looking down into the crater, G2n stood with Todd, Francine, and the few remaining antagonists as they all rained fire down onto Susan.

Another one of G2n's javelins flew down and actually managed to smash into Susan, only to shatter on impact as her skin shimmered, revealing a personal forcefield.

Francine's wooden spikes and bullets pelted Susan continuously, forcing her further and further back and giving Gen's gnomes an opening.

Only one minute was left now, and Susan let out a defiant roar as her pistols' red-hot glow intensified and she pointed the weapons at the group above and unleashed dual lasers with all the heat and intensity of a dozen normal meteors.

The ground, zombies, gnomes, and even Gen's allies all evaporated as the laser tore through the air and unleashed a trail of devastation in the direction of the hatchery. The Desert Eagles themselves couldn't withstand the force as they exploded in Susan's hands, blasting her back and shattering her protective field.

Terrified, Gen forced herself to charge straight at Susan. If they didn't end her here, they would never get a better opportunity! If she got close enough, maybe her gnomes could actually land a hit.

Susan was indomitable, though, as she flipped in midair and landed on her feet. Her hands were bloody from the backlash, and she was unarmed, but she wasn't out for the count yet. Her eyes were no longer glowing for some reason, but she looked even more intimidating.

She launched a series of smaller meteors all around and cleared out group after group of zombie iguanas in rapid succession. Gen couldn't escape the blast radius either, as she felt her plastic body melting and lost control of her rockets, crashing into the ground.

Her vision blurry and body wracked with pain, she saw Jasper rush at Susan and start a fresh flurry of attacks, his superhuman speed forced Susan to retreat, but he couldn't land a clean blow until abruptly, he threw his plasma sword not at Susan, but at her shoulder turret.

As the turret exploded, Gen pushed through the pain and started firing a fresh volley of gnomes. With the annoying needles finally gone, Susan couldn't stop the endless onslaught of lawn decorations. Gen worried she might hit Jasper, but if they didn't kill Susan immediately, they were both dead either way.

A gnome hit Susan's left arm, and she threw Gen a hateful glare before materializing a mini chainsaw and cutting off her own arm, halting the spread of plastic across her flesh.

Jasper didn't miss the opening as he swung his hammer from a low arc and crashed into Susan's stomach, causing her whole body to violently explode into fleshy bits.

Gen didn't let up as she continued to bombard Susan's remnants with gnomes for several seconds before belatedly seeing the notification.

Level 7 Protagonist Eliminated 50,000 contribution points earned!

Immediately after that, she saw a barrage of notifications as incubations completed all across the event map.

LEO's voice boomed in her mind, or rather, the sound of him clapping.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

You know, Gen, there is something ironic about you making your greatest contribution due to something akin to friendly fire on the other team… I blame your viewers, as ultimately it was their fault, but alas… Your viewers didn't pick assassinating Susan as your mission, and thank goodness, as I would have had to find something even more valuable than a dungeon core to offer as a reward. Regardless, I suppose you deserve something for being a bystander while your human-iguana did all the work!

Feeling exhausted, she only half read the poll options before turning her attention to Jasper, who was walking over to her. His sword was gone, having exploded along with Susan's turret, but he was holding a new digital tablet with an excited expression.

"Outsourcing to talented people truly is the best path to success. While he may have perished, his work lives on after him, so I will honor my side of the arrangement. Stop melting and come along, Gen, we must welcome my brethren in their new forms, we have much to do!"

Confused, she looked at the tablet and saw a document titled. An analysis of restaurants and food locations within the event area by G2n.