Chương 86: Chapter 83

Wade suspected most other players would have day three start exactly the same as day two and one. Probably lots of hiding, trying to survive Nathir golem patrols, skeletons, and blackrot creatures looking to chew on them for fun. Just trying their best to stay alive and hidden. A few more might have lucked out with stronger boons any of these three days and been able to abuse it like Wade to fight, maybe pull a win here and there.

Some might have gotten a level up by now if they had won any of those fights given the general difficulty. Storefront coin wise, the few lucky ones might have one or two to their name by now, or maybe even approaching the coveted five coin benchmark needed to lock in one of those boons. A little hard to complete System quests while getting spawn camped by the Nathir leftovers. Wade was going into round 3 with just about everything he could possibly bring, except for a kitchen sink.

Although, if he could find a use for a kitchen sink, he'd certainly have brought that with him too. The sea was rather calm this time, compared to the roiling mess he'd run into the first time, so he felt it instantly when his main plan failed: He wasn't floating upwards. He was floating downwards instead. Rapidly. Balloons he had were instantly popped as sharp mithril particles stabbed into the frail foil, and Wade realized perhaps bringing empty soda bottles might have worked better.

Sand blasted his goggles with full force, attacking and failing to puncture the hard plastic. His medical mask helped keep his mouth clear as hoped for, and the rest of his gear seemed to do jack squat else. He felt himself flip a few times, falling slightly slower than he should have in free fall but absolutely falling down.

"Oh fuckohfuckohfUUU-" He crossed the sea's final threshold in the next five seconds, like a reverse cannonball out of the sea, mithril sand trailing after him - and then he really started to fall. His first sight of actual hell under the mithril sea was a gloomy one: It felt as if he'd found himself underwater in a dark lake, pillars of pale light shining through, constantly shifting as the cloud layer above moved around, occasional places having less blocking the way.

That goddamn cliff was still here, and still descending at a ridiculous slope for quite some distance, maybe a few hundred feet further down before it started to half-level out into a smaller valley. More a pause in the mountain itself, since he could see from here how there were more cliffs ahead. Actual ground level was still far off. Plant life still existed even in this darker conditions. Moss had colonized just about everything, but no signs of any trees. Rather small shrubs were the most he could spot.

The clam like ecosystem was gone, there wasn't any sand or mithril blasting the plants down here, so they had no need to evolve any kind of protection. The freefall feeling of his stomach lurching went away, leaving him trying hard to focus. This high up he needed to get a lay of the land as far as he could before he landed. He saw buildings. Ruins of them at least. Stone architecture, built into massive artificial steps. Like a mix between the mountain rice paddies of japan and machu picchu from Earth.

Except with more stone castles and fortifications on the homes. They certainly looked more put together, though every rooftop had collapsed downwards. Abandoned long, long ago. Dark shapes were running across the ground here, attacking, snarling. Others sprinting away from larger predators. Blackrot. Wade immediately remembered part two of his fall-into-doom backup plan. Next to his hand was a string tied to a dangling plastic wrapped Glock. He pulled it to him as fast as he could, getting a hand over it.

Mithril sand was flying off it in clumps; the wrapping had clearly protected the gun correctly. All he needed to do was rip all that plastic off the moment he landed. Weapon secured, he looked back down to prepare against what he'd be fighting. Blackrot wasn't covering the ground like some locust swarm, but there certainly were a lot more than he'd hoped for what should have been a remote random location. Three of those larger shadows were chasing after one smaller shape darting at full speed.

That was all the time he had to study what was up ahead of him, since he was about to land on an open field of green moss. Wade made a quick plan: Roll the damage, sprint straight for a building to hide in while he ripped the wrapping off the Glock. After that, he'd ditch the gear that wasn't useful. He hoped he wouldn't need to fire the Glock anywhere here, gunfire would alert every creature in a half mile radius. And that was all the time he had to come up with anything.

The ground raced up in his sight, gravity looking for a quick kill. He triggered the dodge roll the instant before he hit the ground in a splat, and promptly middle-fingered physics. And then his careful plan went off the rails: The roll wiped him out stamina wise. Which meant the weight of his gear shoved him down into the ground. No sprinting possible. Too encumbered after wiping out half his current stamina. Ah. He hadn't expected that part.

Obvious in hindsight, he was carrying gear for three people and was already having a hard time moving around even with full stamina while walking around his home. So he found himself ass up on the ground, face smushed up against the moss with his backpack slightly overturned over his head, pushing down on his neck. Not the most tactical position he could hope for. Around he could hear the sound of creatures screaming. No shouts of pain, but more of rage or searching for a snack.

Hard to see with his goggles still affixed, and partway pushed off so they nearly poked his eyes. Wade snapped to action and tried to half crawl, half push himself forward. Unfortunately, as he expected, his drop here didn't go unnoticed. Snarling came from behind him. No time to run. Not that he even could with this weight on his back. He rolled on his backpack, the best move he could to to see exactly what was behind him.

A massive jet black fuzzy looking wolf padding towards him through the undergrowth, trying to sneak its way through the taller green-blue grass here before it reached the moss clearing Wade had ended in. Level 31 Blackrotten Dire Wolf- 100% Black mist leaked from the obstructed fur. Its jaw hung partially open, strings of saliva dripping between a quiet snarl. There was a reason it was trying to sneak up at Wade - and it had nothing to do with hiding from Wade.

Two other wolf like monsters were off in the distance, snarling at each other, fighting each other. It looked more like a fight for dominance, or to secure something. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Or someone. Like a snack dropped from the heavens, up for grabs.

"Uh, nice puppy." Wade whispered, while he frantically dug straight for the plastic wrapping covering the Glock in hand, tearing it off like a maniac. In three seconds, it was free of the whole thing. The wolf looked backwards. It didn't consider Wade a threat, it was worried something else would attack it the moment it went for the easy snack, out of its blind zone. The other two wolves were still at it in the distance, Wade could see their levels.

35 and 39, with the larger level having a clear advantage over the other. The level 31 stalking after him was the runt of the three. A decision was made at the same time by the wolf, and it started a sprint directly at Wade, jaws opened wide. It didn't roar or even make a sound, trying to get to his snack before the other two noticed. If it got him, even a single bite, Wade would be stuck down here unless he amputated an arm or something. The mithril sea would become an actual barrier he wouldn't be able to pass.

Alternate plan: Do a dodge roll right as it lunged, then shoot basically point blank from wherever he landed. Except his stamina was anything but recovered though, it had barely been seven seconds since he'd landed and done the first dodge. Also the dodge roll animation itself took a second to complete, which was more than enough time for the wolf to just lunge after him again. Wade frantically racked the slide down to arm the Glock. He wouldn't have any time to properly aim at the head.

Panic hip firing it is then. The Glock kicked in his hands. Once. Twice. Three times. The first shot punched into the wolf's shoulder, forcing it back slightly. The second caught it in the neck, just below the jaw. The third went wide, zipping away far off. Those two shots chunked its health by a good twenty percent in total, so ten percent per hit. But that wasn't the important part. What was important was that all this happened within ten seconds of Wade hitting the ground.

Ten seconds inside the lightning dodge boon timing window. Lightning Dodge (Common) - When activated, drain half your maximum stamina and execute a dodge roll, gaining some invulnerability frames. If damage was negated by the use of this boon, your next attack within ten seconds will deal an additional 25% of your normal weapon damage as electric damage. Twenty five percent of a bullet's damage was rather significant on its own. Wade had often abused this part of the boon's ability.

And it just so happened when he'd done his dodge roll, his Glock was held in his main hand. What he hadn't considered was how electric damage affected living targets. It would zap a golem through their armor, but the effects on a living being? It shocked the wolf and made it curl up on itself the moment the first bullet punched it. Blackrot or not, that was still a weakness.

And the second thing Wade hadn't thought about was that there was another predator floating right above in the air, angling for the perfect swoop. One that had followed Wade into this world. On seeing the target get shocked and stunned, there was no hesitation. Eri canceled his featherfall, and dropped straight down like a holy snowboarder sent down from heaven, greatsword glowing bright blue. He landed next to the wolf, while the greatsword itself cleaved right through the spine, blackrot and all.

The skeletal champion then followed up by ripping the greatsword up before chopping back down on the neck like a barbarian. No need for anything fancy when just a second smash would do. The head was instantly severed from this followup chop, falling on the ground as the creature's three separated parts went still. Black mist leaked out of all sides for several seconds before all of it started to recede further into the dead body. Seeking out every last bit of still living cells.

For however many minutes the organs within could technically survive. As far as the System cared… Level 31 Blackrotten Dire Wolf - 0% Wade hadn't exactly planned for it all to work like that, but he'd absolutely take the win and gloat about it later.

"Thanks... for the... save," Wade wheezed, struggling to stand under the weight of his gear, ripping the thin balloon wires off of him and everything else. The flotation 'devices' were worse than useless here, just dead weight dragging him down and making him feel like he was waddling around with bloat. He started unhooking the plastic clasps, pulling the bright orange life vest off of him, and then going down the list of other stuff. Eri clicked his jaw, turning around to help Wade up.

But that was put to a stop when the skeleton sensed danger and immediately turned around on himself, greatsword at the ready. The two wolves on the other end had finished settling their business, with the lower level whining in submission. The larger one gave a growl, and then advanced on the dead wolf parts ahead. Two more to go. And while Eri was higher level, Wade wasn't sure he could take on both at the same time.

"Hold them off," He said, quickly shuffling through his fanny pack for the critical gear items while he remained knelt down on one knee.

"Just buy me a few seconds!" Wade could do the lightning dodge trick right this moment, using a rock to trigger it, and shoot a bullet that would zap the critters into a good deathblow. Problem: He was still wheezing from the first dodge. It had barely been twenty seconds since he'd landed. He needed a full minute to get his breath back. A second dodge roll would leave him incapacitated, too winded to even aim his gun and fire a shot within that critical ten seconds.

Bullets themselves didn't seem to be super effective against the blackrot, so firing right now was most likely just a waste of bullets. Maybe it might be a different story if he nailed one in the head. He didn't know, and he couldn't take a chance. Panic shooting the Glock while screaming would be plan B if the current plan didn't work. Which was why instead of aiming his gun and shooting without much of a plan besides prayer, he immediately got to ripping his boots off his feet.

Eri gave a nod, not knowing why his crazy human was suddenly obsessed with a wardrobe change, but he'd been told to hold off these oversized puppies, so he'd do his best. He held his greatsword at the ready, taking a few steps, making it clear the two challengers would have to fight him to get to the tasty Wade-shaped treat. The larger one advanced and bit down on the dead wolf head, deeply. Black dust started to flow out, into the maw.

Like the blackrot that remained alive within the body parts knew it could either stay and die, or take the lifeline out and join the larger one. The giant wolf held the part in his jaw for a moment, until nothing more came out. Then crushed the skull, and ate the entire thing, red blood flicking out everywhere. The other wolf padded behind, hungry. Looking at the cut torso nearby. The larger one gave a swift snarl at it, the message on what belongs to who clear.

Then the two wolves started to advance, looking to get past Eri. Wade was a higher priority apparently. The skeleton cracked his neck, then started the fight on his terms, attacking quickly. The wolves didn't want anything to do with Eri, and were smart enough to jump out of his swings. They tried circling around but the Skeleton simply took a few steps backwards and kept both of them in check.

They barked at each other, tried to get to Wade one more time, and then came to the realization there wasn't getting past the skeleton. As for why they were avoiding Eri, and going after Wade, he had no idea. Either they could smell weakness and thought he was the most injured of the pack of two here. Or they had some supernatural sense that Eri wasn't alive and didn't have any meat on him. From what Wade saw, Eri looked like a regular person, covered head to toe. So maybe it really was the first option.

The skeleton cut through one, and got a bite from the other, ripping apart some of the clothing. A curled up punch launched the wolf off, but dealt less than three percent damage. The initial cut he'd done on the other was already healing up. Eri fought hard, slicing out, anticipating when the wolves would lunge after him, but it was still two against one. The skeleton himself was oddly taking very little damage, mostly his clothing was getting shredded.

The wolves might be able to sense Eri wasn't alive nor had any kind of meat on his bones. But they couldn't quite tell what was clothing and what was bone. So each time they tried to take a bite, Eri would internally shift backwards, which left the wolves holding a wad of clothing. Which they promptly ripped off him. They weren't normal wolves, blackrot empowered them beyond reason.

The most damage he'd took was his health dropping 3% after using some kind of super-speed offensive dodge, where he bolted off to the right side and swung deep with his blade at the same time, nicking through a ribcage and part of a leg from far out of his usual range. The wolves retreated, and the blackrot clearly started fully healing even that amount of damage. Which was the real problem in all this: While Eri was equally strong, he wasn't blackrotten strong.

And if the wolves kept the attack, they'd start to actually see where his bones really were and those jaws would certainly snap them in pieces even if they were empowered with mana. Wade tried to move as fast as he could on his end through the entire fight. The yellow rubber rainboots were unhooked right after he'd kicked off his current hiking boots, and Wade shoved a few sponges inside down to the soles. Once ready, he shoved his feet into the boots, feeling them hit the bottom sponges. It was ready.

Waterproof rubber boots, with sponges and his socks all the way at the bottom. He cracked two water bottles open as fast as he could. Then he poured each inside his rubber boots. The moment the second boot was half flooded up to his ankle he felt it. His breath coming back to him. Stamina recovering at a far faster pace. Speed and power hummed through his legs. It was a hard boon to abuse. But that also meant it came with a shitton of great buffs with it.

A new buff was applied: Water Mastery I Wade stood up, and cracked his neck. Show time.