43 The Rest of Humanity (1/2)
They stood still, not making a move. I pulled my helmet off my face. I grinned, ”Come on guys. Calm down. I saved your asses again after all.”
I put my hands on my hip before a dagger appeared right in front of my eye. It was fast, fast as Althea. I couldn't dodge, but I shut my eye. The glass dagger didn't even sink an inch deep before it snapped.
I jerked my hand outwards, gripping around the wrist of my attacker. It was the assassin chick who was finishing off the other zombie cores. With my free hand, I pulled out the bit of glass from my eye before flicking it away. It clattered on the tile floor as I turned towards her face.
What looked back was pure fear, the kind of look you give when you know you done fucked it up. I frowned,
”Don't do that again, uh-” I glanced upwards and identified her,
Sarah Smith(lvl 188) - A member of the town's scouting party, Sarah Smith is the highest level and most experienced member. When Yawm first came to Earth, he entered BloodHollow and proliferated rapidly afterwards. The sentinels defending nearby priority dungeons abandoned their posts to assist the legion with containing the infestation.
This allowed Springfield to stage an evacuation. Most of the residents were left behind, but a few of the more skilled fighters escaped. They've organized a defense force in retaliation against the coming horde. The difference is that these members refuse to fall in line with the steel legion.
They believe that the steel legion is using the infection as an excuse to stage an invasion of Earth. For this group of independent fighters, Sarah Smith is considered their most valuable asset and the spear head of the entire operation they organized.
Being one of the only members capable of killing even the lowest level of zombie, she and her party were tasked with clearing out portions of town to gather supplies. During the process, the group of five developed strategies and tactics for handling the Spawns of Yawm.
She focuses entirely on assassination. She hides and waits for the right moment to strike before attacking. Her damage is very high and comes in bursts. Your defenses are far too high for her, so you have nothing to worry.
I held her up there for a minute while I read her status. It was large compared with most of the ones I'd seen up till now. Sarah started groaning about her wrist, so I tossed her onto the ground.
She turned back at me, not moving still. I rolled my eyes,
”The fuck is wrong with you people. Was I really that scary? I mean come on. Get over it and move on. We don't have time for you guys to gawk and stare all day.”
Stacy was at the back of the group, decked out in military fatigues. She whimpered,
”You're...Daniel?”
I threw up my hands, ”No fucking duh. I'm already tired of this. I save your asses and this is what you do. Piss your pants?”
David tossed his shield to the side of him, the rock shaking on the floor. He stepped forward,
”Hey there. I'm uhh...It's good to see you?”
I reached out a hand, ”Likewise.”
We shook our hands before he scratched the back of his head,
”We're sorry about being scared. You just ate one of the zombies. They're supposed to do that to us, not the other way around.”
I shrugged, ”Eh, I'm supposed to be some harbinger of destruction nonsense anyway. Might as well reap the benefits right?”
A small laugh escaped David,
”Yeah, I guess so...You're still Daniel then.”
I nodded before the other shield guy threw his stone shield to the ground. The girls in the back lowered their guns before I raised my arms,
”Hellalujah. You guys can move. It's a miracle.”
The group laughed a little, the tension ebbing out of the situation. David smiled,
”Well, it's crazy seeing you here. Who're your friends?”
I gestured an arm towards Kessiah and Althea,
”This is Kessiah, and this is Althea. Try not to say anything snappy. They both bite.”
Kessiah hit my shoulder. I laughed as I slid sideways. The sound of it was loud enough to scare the others though. The other shield bro beside David had a deer in headlights sort of look to him again.
Kessiah ignored it before walking up and reaching out a hand to David. Her fingers wrapped all the way around the back of his hand. It must have been like shaking hands with a giant.
Kessiah smiled, ”Good to meet yah David. I came by to help Daniel clean this mess up.”
He just glanced up at her, stunned. The others seemed overwhelmed as well. Kessiah brandished her white hair, making it flow out to the side. With canines jutting from her grin, she put her hands on her hips,
”I know, I know. Take your time basking in my radiance. It's a lot to take in.”
I pushed her aside,
”Yeah, that's about enough time. They may get a sunburn if they sit here any longer. Either that or skin cancer.”
Kessiah frowned before Althea chimed,
”Good to meet you all. Now let's go Daniel. We saved them already. We don't have time to waste.”
I pointed at her, ”Good point.” I glanced back at the group. ”I think I have a few things that could help you guys.”
I walked over towards Kessiah. She carried a satchel along her back full of random supplies. Mainly food, but there was other stuff as well. I took out a few sharpened bits of my armor. I made quite a few extra pieces of this stuff by now. These guys could get a lot out of it, especially considering how Sarah just broke her weapon on my face.
I tossed a few daggers and a small shield and sword at their feet. David walked up and lunged onto a knee as he inspected a few pieces of the armor. He grinned,
”Hell yeah. This will help us tons. I mean, tons of tons.” He glanced up at me, ”Thanks Daniel.”
”No problem. Anyways, we're going to clear out the rest of this area. If you head that way-” I pointed towards where we just came from, ”Then you won't find any spawns. If you come near us while we're clearing out the area, we may kill you. I'd recommend just waiting over that way for like...ten minutes.”
Sarah squinted her eyes,
”Ten minutes?”
I bent over and flicked her in the forehead. Her head flew back before I turned back towards David, ”Yeah. Ten minutes.”
Stacy shouted, ”Why'd you flick her, asshole?”
”Cause she stabbed me, dumbfuck.”
Stacy squinted her eyes too before I waved them off as I turned around. I walked off,
”Good luck then. I hope this helps.”
David shot a pointed glare at Sarah and Stacy before he grinned at me, ”Yeah, it does. Thanks for the save too. Can't remember if I ever thanked you.”
We walked out of the store, heading towards the rest of the strip of stores. Off in the distance though, I could hear them talking.
Stacy snapped, ”What a conceited asshole.”
Sarah said, ”Yeah. I really didn't like that guy.”
Althea turned towards me,
”Why are they complaining? You just saved their lives.”
I shrugged, ”Some people don't care what awesome ass present you give them on their birthday. All they care about is the wrapping paper and bowtie on top.”
Althea looked confused, but Kessiah put an arm around her shoulder, ”He's saying that some people want you to save them a certain way more than they want to be saved. It's just how some people are.”
Althea rolled her eyes, ”That makes no sense.”
I shrugged, ”Who knows. Maybe that's why they joined the defense force instead of the legion. They want to be saved a certain way.”
Althea sighed, ”Man, that's dumb as fuck.”
We continued on before I checked out my status. I'd gained 21 levels while we cleared out the infestation earlier. The overall speed of my level gains had plateaued. I could rationalize that though. More exp needed per level and less exp per enemy meant slower leveling in general.
It was enough points to matter though. Which stat to decide on next was the real question. I figured getting into the constitution-strength-dexterity chain would be good. I didn't know which to invest into first though. Unlike with endurance, I didn't get a massive 50% bonus towards these stats. I got 10% at most, meaning it would take a lot longer to develop them.
So long that investing into each stat individually would be a better, in my mind at least. I only needed the level 100 perks out of the stats I chose though. After that I would probably just invest in endurance until I found a reason not to.
The stats I wanted most were strength and constitution. Strength would be invaluable since it acted as a multiplier for my augmentation magic. The stronger I was at my base level, the more of an impact the runic energy would have. That meant strength would be a must. Constitution was a trickier subject.
The weight and density would be nice, but I already had capped physical damage reduction. When I remembered Elijah though, my thoughts changed. The ground quaked beneath each of his steps. When he swung his wings, they created tempests that could send people flying. I didn't care about flying, but damn did I want to quake the ground under each step.
It would make me much harder to knock around, which would be a serious problem in the future. Anytime Kessiah hit me, the difference between us was obvious. She wouldn't even budge, and I would literally drag my feet on the ground just to get steady. I needed constitution even if I didn't want it. Besides, it would spill over into strength, which was my next investment choice.
So I dumped all my points into constitution. My body grew from within my armor. The skin I'd become so comfortable in strangled me for a moment before the armor split. Several sharp cracks later, I heaved for a few breaths before my armor regrew, filling in those cracks. The sudden increase in size was obvious.
I caught up with Althea and Kessiah as I glanced at my status screens.
Level 294 Attribute Totals
Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 54.5
Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 82.5
Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 540
Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 35
Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 258
Intelligence - Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool 101.4
Charisma - Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops 29.3
Luck - Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events 54.4
Perception - Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness 31
Daniel Hillside Totals Regen Buffs/Debuffs
Health 19,938/19,938 4131.2/min Oppression Damage- 10,000+30%hp/min
Stamina 12,117/12,117 158.4/sec Elemental Res - 97.5%