World Filter

Daphne punched the closest Corrupted sending it over the railings. Its screech rose in the air followed by the sound of a body crashing to the floor.

Mark and Daphne had to have been holding the line for no longer than a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours. She did her best to keep them at bay but each time she killed one another took its place.

The screeching was incessant, ebbing around them constantly. Mark spent his time using the matchet to try and lessen the number Daphne had to hold off. He had already used 20 Mana in total. He was now limiting himself to try and conserve his resources.

He brought the blade down on the skull of the nearest Corrupted. Blood and brain matter splattered across his face. Mark wanted to gag and wipe it off, but there was no time.

Daphne was a flurry of blows, the sound of flesh impacting flesh wrung out like a nightmare bell.

Mark could see wounds were beginning to appear on her. Finishing off the nearest one Mark moved to apply [Regenerate] giving her a 20% hit, focused on keeping her moving and getting rid of any major injuries. Falling right back behind her, his eye caught a zombie moving up the second escalator, preparing to jump across. If that happened it would land behind Daphne and himself

“Fuck no!” he muttered darkly.

Moving to intercept the creature as it jumped

He swung his machete straight up towards the falling Corrupted. Unfortunately, the downward force from the creature landing was too much, staggering Mark. Gritting his teeth and cursing his own lack of strength, Mark conjured up a [Force bolt] in his open palm and slammed it right into the side of the offending Corrupted’s head.

A slap of note rang out.

Detonating the Corrupted’s skull, splattering gore in a streak around Mark. His hand throbbed.

The body fell and he kicked it out of the way and moved right back into place.

However, his absence had been felt Daphne had been struggling with four of them when he had moved away.

Her scream was piercing.

One of them had taken a huge chunk out of her stomach. Not that it lived long enough to enjoy it. She grit her teeth and brought her elbow down like a guillotine blade ending its life. Though the action left her with no room to recover.

More piled on, and she was about to be overwhelmed.

Mark had one other reason for wanting to do this on the escalators.

Triggering [Shape Mana] Mark made a scooping motion with his right hand. Shaping it into a rectangular panel of force. Pushing it forward and straight into the neat line of Corrupted, making sure to pass it through Daphne. Then with a flick of his wrist, he angled it straight off the edge. Pushing at least five or six off the side. The fall was fairly high but Mark wouldn't count on that killing them. It did however give Daphne a second of breathing room. Getting her footing once more she charged forward smashing into the horde. Mark was pretty sure his [Regenerate] was going to take care of the bite and though he was worried, he refused to waste resources when they were cutting this so fine.

Time began to lose all meaning.

Turn. Swing until dead. Repeat.

On more than one occasion Mark was splattered with zombie fluids.

His active thought process dulled and the only echoing thought was to keep moving, keep killing.

“Switch!” Donny's voice rang out. A saving grace.

Donny barreled past Daphne and himself. Crashing into the wave and forcing them back hacking into them with his ax to give them room to disengage. Mark was pretty sure Donny was getting better with his ax because the way in which he moved was very different from how he had in the beginning. Daphne turned to drag Mark back, Grace hesitantly filling the spot that Mark had just occupied. She was shaking.

Mark walked with mechanical movements he had not realized just how tired he was until no longer faced with the horde. Looking back he saw Donny fighting and Grace throwing a wind blade every now and then. The way they were lined up was perfect for Grace as her blades easily went straight through 2-3 Corrupted before slowing down. Leaving neatly bisected corpses on the stairs. The bodies were starting to pile up.

He wasn't worried, if anything happened Ethel would let them know. He hadn't realized it at the time but she was right behind him watching and waiting with Boe.

Mark inwardly berated himself, he should have trusted her to take care of the one he let pass. His desire to do everything had put Daphne in danger. He tried not to dwell on it, he needed to learn from it and move on.

Mark turned towards Daphne; she was busy setting a ten-minute timer.

He checked to see how her wound was only to find that it was mostly healed. He nodded happily and checked his reserves, 18 Mana and 63 Prana to spare.

If everything went well he’d regain 10 mana and 2 Prana by the time he needed to swap back in.

“Did you level up? I managed two in a row” Daphne said beaming.

“Oh congrats, one sec, lemme check,” he said as he brought up his status.

28 x Corrupted Humanoid(28 + Sector reward: x4)

[partial experience awarded to (Daphne Colt)(8)]

81/81

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Congratulations on reaching level 10!

Rewards: 1x Bronze rank Path chest

Error-

World Inventory not yet implemented.

Searching for a solution…

Deferring reward until implementation

Current wait time 23:03:42

‘Great another reward, let's hope I actually get it this time.’ he thought while biting his lip.

Congratulations [Force bolt] has improved!

He also made a note to check out the improvement of his [Force bolt] later

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 10

Next level: 41/100

Stats:

Resistance Aura Mana Prana

45 (+2, +2) 0 41 (+5) 83 (+2, +5, +2)

Unspent stat points - 10

Corruption value: 5.16%

Spells:

Passive Regeneration(Self)[1], Force bolt[5], Prana Pulse[2], Regenerate[1], Draw Corruption[1], Corruption recovery[2], Shape Mana(Force)[3].

He turned to Daphne smiling.

“Yeah I did, and it seems like you get a reward for reaching level ten.”

She stopped and looked at Mark

“What do you mean? Did the system tell you that?” she was watching Mark now with some trepidation. Her smile fading

Confused Mark said.

“Yeah I just reached ten and it said that in about a day, the system inventory will unlock and I'll get a reward then. So I was just assuming that everyone would get one.”

After a long pause, she asked

“Mark, how are you level ten?”

That's when the realization hit him, he hadn't been keeping it a secret from her but simply forgotten to tell her. There just never seemed to be enough time. The one time he had thought to bring it up was when Grace noticed it and he definitely hadn't wanted to give Grace any more information than he need to.

Mark spared a glance at the fighting pair. They were managing, Grace didn't even seem that scared anymore.

“Alright I’ll tell you but you have to promise me you’ll keep it a secret from Grace and Donny.”

“What? Why?” She looked confused and suspicious.

Mark faced a choice here, did he trust her not to out him in front of Grace? Or did lie to her and makeup something altogether?

Mark lowered his tone, making sure she was the only one that could hear him

“Daph, listen. If I tell you this, I need you to trust me. Trust that I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't think it was true. ” He pleaded with her with his eyes.

Her face hardened.

“I can’t promise anything, but tell me and I’ll try to keep an open mind” she spoke with strength.

While it wasn't what he was hoping for it would have to do. Swallowing his uncertainty he said.

“I want to be wrong but I have a good reason to believe that Grace is using some kind of control magic on us,”

To her credit, Daphne simply went silent, not looking all that shocked.

“Okay, explain how you came to this conclusion” she demanded.

Happy this was going better than he first thought, he did, going all the way back to the alleyway and the first time he felt it, to just several hours ago.

The changes in Donny.

How he thought the spell worked and finally his decision to confront her as soon as they found the survivors.

He also told her about the section reward and how it worked.

“But then that doesn't explain why she hasn't tried to control me yet,” she asked calmly.

“So as I said I think it's a stacking effect, she needs to take time reapplying it to people. I think she was testing it on Donny and when she’s done, then she’ll move on to you and me ”

Daphne sunk into silence once more. Mark waited patiently.

“I have known Grace for over two years and while I don't want to believe she is capable of this, I know from experience just how overbearing she can be. If you think this is a possibility… then I choose to believe you”

Mark sighed in relief.

“That doesn't mean I'll help you crucify her. She is still my friend. Only that I’ll keep you secret and help you talk to her when you decide to. But you have to keep me up to date on what's going on” she said firmly.

Mark nodded.

“Oh, and do you know how we can avoid ‘it’ taking effect?” she asked.

“I’d say have a higher mental defense or perhaps keep your distance but I'm not sure how long it takes to fade or if it does at all,” he said shrugging.

“So you got nothing” she deadpanned.

“Well no, but it's like an attack, right? So I don't see why Prana can't heal a mental wound. I think I can whip something up if I had some time to work with Donny.”

She pursed her lips.

“I should be able to draw Grace away for a short while but then you gotta be quick,” she said.

“Done, I need to clear Donny of her influence before we talk to her. I just want you to be aware of your decision here” Mark paused looking at her.

“Even if you won't help do it. I fully intend to kick her out of the group, by force if necessary”

She frowned, finally nodding.

“Fine, but I need time to think about my part in this,” she said moving to sit a little further away.

Mark didn't blame her, he had just dumped a lot on her plate. It may have not been the best timing either but dwelling on it wouldn't fix anything. He just hoped that if she chose not to help, then at least she didn't warn Grace.

Mark decided to close his eyes and rest, Daphne's alarm would go off when they needed to swap out.

While he did so he tried to block out the sounds of battle and focus inward. Moving past the corruption, through his Mana core he came to rest in his heart center. The core of his Prana. Playing with it he started to form shapes and patterns with the energy. Stretching it like a band and releasing it, over and over. The Prana began to become more pliable, like warm rubber. Becoming even more flexible, able to be maneuvered into more and more complex shapes.

Mark smiled as he was beginning to feel a type of exertion. Like when he would go to the gym and work his muscles.

He was so close to something he could feel it, then his world shook knocking him from that deep state. Daphne's alarm blared. Ten minutes felt like it had passed in the blink of an eye.

It was time for them to return, time to fight once more.