Chương 40: Resistance is Futile

Patty's usual beaming smile had been replaced with a victorious grin as she gazed around the room at the stunned and frozen council members, before turning her focus on Spur.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to shut you up? For a military man, you talk far too much for the record. I can't tell you how many times I almost pulled the trigger on my plans, but it looks like waiting for my Capstone skill was the right call. Now that we're all together, I think it's time-""That. Is. It!" Patty froze mid monologue, turning in shock to the furious Explorer who was somehow still able to speak through her powerful new skill.

For his part, Vin felt as though he had twenty-pound weights strapped to every possible inch of his body, which made even speaking difficult, but not impossible. Resistance increased to lvl 6! 600 exp gained.

"How..?" Patty stared at him in horror, but Vin cut her off with a glare, uttering a single word.

"Alka!" Far quicker than Phil had moved, a ghostly blur shot out of Vin's body, blasting across the room in an instant before stopping directly beside Patty's suddenly frozen form. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of the ghost girl's toothy grin as she held the edge of a very real sword against Patty's throat; a few trickles of blood already running down the enchanted blade.

"Tough luck with your first evil plan," Alka said, shaking her head with a sigh.

"Might I recommend poison next time? It's surprisingly effective." Confusion flickered across Patty's horror-stricken face as the ghost holding her hostage gave her evil murder advice. Before things could devolve any further, Vin slammed his fist down on the table a second time to reclaim everyone's attention, only wincing a little bit at the pain radiating through his no longer enhanced hand as it connected with the solid wood.

"It's like trying to help a bunch of toddlers!" Vin cried, taking in the chaotic scene before him. The supposed leaders of their new world consisted of a crazed woman thirsting for power, a quiet crafter who barely seemed to have a thought of her own, a battle obsessed warrior hungry for violence, and a man so sleep deprived Vin kept expecting him to lose consciousness at any moment.

Things were bleak when the person that had literally been a wandering vagabond barely two weeks ago suddenly seemed like the most put together member of the council." Silence," Patty said, somehow having the guts to continue trying to use her power on them despite the situation she currently found herself in. While her actions did cause Vin to feel as though his mouth was suddenly filled with thick molasses, it mainly just stoked the flames of his rapidly growing fury.

"Alka, if she tries using her power on us again, feel free to separate her head from her body," Vin said slowly, having to focus all his attention on moving his weighted tongue correctly. He earned himself a whitened look of fear from the woman as his reward. Resistance increased to lvl 7! 700 exp gained. With every level of Resistance he earned, the effects of Patty's words lessened ever so slightly. Moving his gaze around the table, he checked on his fellow council members.

At the very least, he was confident that thanks to Patty's latest order he wouldn't be interrupted for the next minute or two.

"I'm going to make this as abundantly clear as I can," he started, making sure to direct his attention equally between the four other council members. He even included the leader of the crafters, the poor woman had eyes filled with fear as she suddenly found herself frozen in place and unable to speak with a murderous ghost standing right beside her.

"I don't even want to be on this stupid council, but obviously, someone has to knock some sense into you idiots."

"This. Is. Not. Earth." He said, thrusting a finger hard against the table with every word, trying to drive his point home.

"We're on a magical world containing powers we barely understand and dangers we can't even comprehend. There's no room for plotting or secrets or any of that pointless crap here. At least not until we have some form of an actual society put into place." Vin hadn't exactly seen that many towns yet in his travels, but he could only assume that plenty of them were still filled with backstabbing and idiocy despite the magical dangers they were surrounded by.

"Now that I finally have your attention, I'm going to tell you about the immediate threat that will be arriving on our doorstep in only a few hours that you all seem to care so little about." With a literally captive audience as his listeners, Vin finally explained what his party had learned about regarding the horde of monsters that would be appearing shortly before the second wave of Earthers arrived.

The longer he spoke about the danger and the sheer number of monsters they'd have bearing down on them, the more anger bled out from the gazes around the room; his fellow council members' expressions turning troubled as they finally realized the seriousness of the threat coming their way. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Well, except for Phil. That man's eyes seemed to shine brighter and brighter in anticipation as Vin spoke.

Even if Vin hadn't been able to feel Patty's orders wear off as his body loosened up again, he would have been able to tell the magic was gone as Phil began practically vibrating in anticipation at the fight to come.

"So there you have it," Vin concluded, actually thankful for Patty's attempted coup or whatever the hell she'd been doing. If it weren't for her magical bindings, he was pretty sure it would have taken far longer to get his explanation across.

"We need to start building defenses yesterday, and prepare everyone for the fight of their lives."

"You truly think it will be that bad?" Spur asked, rubbing his jaw after finally breaking free from Patty's enchantment. Thankfully, despite a quick glare at the woman still being held at sword point, the colonel seemed to understand they needed to focus on the real emergency heading their way.

"No way to tell how bad, but it's definitely not going to be pretty," Vin said, closing his eyes and trying to imagine what the next few hours would look like.

"We have no way of telling how many monsters will be created from the backlash of the System bringing a thousand new people here from Earth, and we don't know when or where they'll actually start spawning either. Which is why we need to do less talking, and more preparing!"

"Right," Spur sighed, rubbing his eyes and blinking hard a few times before turning to Patty.

"If it were up to me, I'd have you executed right here and now for that little stunt you tried to pull. But we need those crafters of yours working on the double, and as much as I hate to admit it, it sounds like we're going to need every ounce of power at our disposal for the upcoming battle."

"Sir, I don't think that's wise," Phil interrupted, putting his excitement at the upcoming fight on hold for the moment as he frowned at Patty.

"Now that we know what she's capable of, what's to stop her from turning against us in the thick of battle? Or immediately after while we're exhausted? I hate to say it, but if something happens to Vin, we're helpless against her as we are now."

"I can help with that," Shia said, stepping forward and reaching into her pouch. Pulling out a single seed the size of a pea, the elf flashed everyone a rather disturbing grin.

"This is a wrigglethorn seed. A particularly nasty plant that only grows inside animals and rips them apart from the inside out. If she eats it, the only chance she'll have at survival is if I use my nature magic to stunt its growth while she passes the seed naturally. My attributes are high enough that while her magic affects me, she can't make me follow her commands." Shia shrugged, looking at the woman with a crazed grin filled with pointed teeth.

"If she turns against you during the battle, I'll just let her die one of the most gruesome deaths my people know of afterwards."

"Good enough for me," Spur said, his bloodshot eyes narrowing at Patty.

"Two options then. Eat the elf's murder seed and help us, or we kill you here and now. Your choice." At Vin's nod, Alka finally removed the sword from Patty's throat, and the woman took in a deep breath, shakily reaching up to touch the blood dripping down her neck. Despite her resounding defeat, Patty somehow managed to keep part of her superior air about her, huffing as she glared at the grinning elf.

"And what happens to me if you end up dying during the battle?" She asked, her eyes flickering fearfully to the small seed in Shia's hand.

"Think of that as encouragement to try really, really hard to ensure that doesn't happen," Shia said, her grin somehow growing even wider. Shuddering, Patty hesitated for only a moment before reaching out and plucking the seed from the elf's hand. With barely a second thought, she popped the seed into her mouth and swallowed it, grimacing at the knowledge that she'd just eaten a ticking time bomb.

"Well, now that that's taken care of…" Spur said, getting to his feet with only a slight wobble.

"Phil, go rally the combat classes. Let them know what's coming and get everyone prepared. I'll go with Patty to direct the crafters to start building defenses. Once we get plans in place, we'll get everyone working on those."

"Sir," Phil said, nodding and rushing out of the room. Vin could have sworn he even saw an excited grin peeking through the man's usually impassive face. Groaning and rubbing his eyes yet again, Spur went to follow, only to find his path barred by Alka and her enchanted sword.

"Uh… excuse me?" Spur said politely, clearly remembering how quickly Alka could move when she wanted to.

"You're not going anywhere," Alka frowned, taking in Spur's bloodshot eyes and disheveled appearance.

"You're practically delirious from lack of sleep. I'm not about to let you lead a hundred men and women to their deaths due to a bad order. You need some rest."

"I'll rest when I'm dead," Spur said dryly, moving to pass Alka. With a blur of motion, the tip of Alka's sword was suddenly pressed against Spur's forehead, and the colonel froze in his tracks, his weary eyes going crossed as he looked up at the blade.

"Does it look like I'm resting?" Alka said, matching his tone.

"Surely you have a second in command or someone you can trust with preparations, right? Even just a few hours of sleep will make a world of difference."

"Vin, call off your undead lapdog this instant," Spur snapped, carefully turning to glare at him.

"We don't have time for this!"

"You're right, we don't have time for this at all," Vin agreed.

"Patty, do you mind?" Spur's eyes widened, but before he could argue, a grinning Patty cleared her throat and spoke directly at him." Sleep." She said, her magically infused voice hitting the colonel like a truck and causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head as he collapsed to the ground. Despite her order being directed toward the colonel, even Vin felt a slight wave of exhaustion wash over him, and he watched Shia do her best to stifle a yawn. Whatever class Patty had, it was powerful indeed.

Quickly moving Spur to one of the couches, Vin stood up, nodding his thanks toward Patty. He silently noted her red face and how heavily she was now panting after using her Capstone skill so many times in quick succession. Briefly, he entertained the thought of asking her about her class, but they just didn't have the time.

"Let's go find Lieutenant Myers and explain the situation," he said, motioning for Patty and his companions to follow him as he made his way out of headquarters.

"Hopefully those crafters will have leveled up enough over the last few days to help us pull off a miracle."