Doom System Survivor: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 18
He could reach her.
He knew {Lupine Shift} would give him the speed he needed, but he didn’t know what the transformation would do after. He also didn’t know if his transformation would cause him to attack the others.
“Don’t—” Juan stammered. “She already hit me with that weird blood attack.” He rolled onto his side and looked up at the fading red cloud. “It’s not worth it.”
“What does it do?”
“Try moving.”
Hiro took a step forward and felt a wave of exhaustion roll over him, like he’d been up for three days straight with no food. His heart thrummed in his chest, beating wildly to the point that he brought a hand to it. What the hell?
“Let her go,” Juan said bitterly. “I’ll get that fucking puta next time. ¡Mataste a mi hermano, maldita perra!”
Thunk!
Valeria hit Juan with a healing arrow.
“What the fuck?” he cried as he looked down at his hand, the blood seeping away.
“She’s with me. It’s her healing power. Hit me too, Val,” Hiro said.
Thunk!
“Thanks.”
“So that’s her, huh?” Valeria said as she hobbled forward. “That’s the Survivor you were talking about?”
Near him, Juan continued to curse in Spanish. “Ojalá te pudras en el infierno…”
Hiro looked down at his hand to see that the blood had faded. Upon scanning the buildings ahead, it was clear that the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat was gone. This left a bitter taste in his mouth, one so strong that he had to turn his head and spit to get it out.
“What about you?” Juan asked Valeria as he calmed to some degree. “You going to shoot yourself?”
“My arrows don’t work on me, stupidly,” she said.
“I have gauze.”
“We do too,” Rena approached Valeria with the gauze in hand.
“They’re your team?” Juan asked Hiro.
“Rena and Valeria—Val to her friends.”
“Just call me Val,” she said, her eyes shut as Rena carefully removed a small dagger jutting out of her leg. “I might need to bite down on something.”
Rena nodded. She removed a handkerchief from her backpack, twisted it, and gave it to Valeria.
“I might need to sit down too,” Valeria said.
Hiro turned back to Juan. “I’m sorry.”
“About— Oh, the graves. Yeah.”
“Was it her?”
“The bitch in the raincoat? Yeah,” Juan said after a long pause. “She’s worse than a Hunter. Once she catches sight of you, she keeps at it.”
“She fucked me over yesterday. Forced me into a fight with a Sentry.”
“Not surprising. Probably just trying to soften you up. She did something similar to me and Marcello, but with this Hunter. We got the Hunter, and she appeared behind Marcello.” Juan’s eyes filled with rage. “Decapitated. Like in… some Quentin Tarantino movie. I can’t believe it. This place.”
Hiro looked around, not sure of how to react as Juan’s anger became an intense sorrow.
“Come with us,” Rena told him. “At least until the gate opens.” Valeria, who now bit down on a bandana, nodded in agreement. “We got a space,” Rena said. “You can stay there until the gate opens. Also, you should know something about the gates.”
“You sure?” Juan asked. “How many people can go to the gate?”
Valeria spit her bandana out. “It doesn’t matter how many people we bring. The Doom System is just trying to—ow!” She looked down at Rena as she finished placing gauze on a wound.
“Sorry. It feels better now, right?”
Valeria groaned.
Rena placed a hand on her cheek. “Come on, it’s better.”
“Fine, it’s better.”
“I don’t want to bother you all,” Juan said.
“You won’t bother us,” Rena assured him.
“I can’t shake the bad luck. My sister, my brother. You don’t want me there, trust me.”
“It’s just for the night,” Rena said. “You look like you could use a warm meal. And some company.”
Juan’s pride nearly got the best of him as he started to shake his head. It was quickly swept away by a deep exhale. “You’re right. I could use the company.” He turned to Hiro. “What about you, amigo?”
“I’ve still got things I’d like to do.”
“You’re going back out there, huh?” Valeria asked.
“I think so, yeah.” Hiro nodded, his decision solidified. “I’ve been wanting to check out Central Park. I could see it from the place I stayed last night.”
“Where did you stay?” Juan asked.
“Billionaire’s Row. I used {Bounce} to get me to one of the penthouse apartments there.”
“Dang. I always wondered what the view was like from that high up,” he said. “I watched a couple of YouTube videos about it, realtor tours. Remember those?”
“Those kinds of things always felt like a way to keep the dream alive,” Valeria said. “Most couldn’t afford a fifty million dollar penthouse, but by showing it to the masses, it made some people think it was in the realm of possibility.”
“Don’t get her started,” Rena quipped.
“Heh. I’m already started,” Valeria said as Rena continued to apply gauze to her wounds.
“Yeah, it’s crazy how shit changes,” Juan said. “I’d say let’s go after the Raincoat Lady, but I’m beat.”
“What we need are more levels,” Hiro said. “That, or the right power, just like Val was saying. We find out where she stays, we hit her hard. Or, we bait her to come for one of us and then finish her for good. I don’t personally want to kill Survivors, but some will just have to go. Anyway. I’m going to do more exploring. Hopefully, I’ll find some pharmaceuticals too.”
“You trying to get fucked up?” Juan asked.
“No, he killed a mimic by trick-feeding it Xanax,” Valeria said.
This brought a crooked smile to Juan’s face. “I hate those things. Marcello and I dealt with one that looked like a park bench. Marcello was the one that killed it. His Roulette Skill. Basically, he shoved his hand down its throat, his arm turned to metal covered in sharp spikes, and he was able to rip most of its guts out.” He looked back to his building. “Anyway. I’ll grab my things.”
“And I’m going to keep moving.” Hiro didn’t mention that it sounded like Juan and Marcello had similar powers, able to turn themselves to metal. He had a feeling it was best not to bring Marcello up too much.
“Wait, when should we meet you?” Juan asked.
Hiro checked the time. “At the start of the final day. Or a few hours before. I’ll come to your place,” he told Valeria.
“That works. I got this feeling it’s going to get worse right before the gate opens. Just a hunch.”
Juan let out a deep exhale. “Let’s hope not.”
“Be safe,” Rena told Hiro as he slipped his mask over his head. “If there’s not a Zone of Influence, don’t be afraid to run.”
“I’ll catch up with you all soon,” Hiro told them before he bounced away.
Hiro stayed clear of Bryant Park. As much as he wanted to challenge himself and reap the benefits of killing the Triplet Bunnies, he knew he wasn’t at the right level to do so yet. To win would take some sort of Hail Mary, and all he had was a magical eighteen-wheeler through his One-Hit Wonder skill.
That could theoretically work, but it would have to be timed just right…
Beyond, closer to Central Park, he spotted a golden merchant beacon emitting from a collapsed building, one with huge beams of steel sticking out of it, curved like the skeleton of a beached whale.
Hiro bounced down, closer to the merchant.
He took a look around to make sure all was clear. When he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, he jumped over the splintering of steel beams and landed near a pile of rubble.
“What the—” he whispered once he found the source of the golden energy, which came out of an ancient stone vase.
Movement to his left had him drawing his katana and stepping back. “Minerva,” he said as an imposing woman appeared out of the darkness.
The merchant beacon had been a trap. Not only that, it had been a trap set by a vengeful Greek goddess, one that was clearly pissed that both Mercury and Hercules had died.
28
INSTANT DISCOUNT OZEMPIC
Minerva stood tall and proud, the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, arts, and trade, clearly happy with her ambush. The muscular woman wore a breastplate engraved with owls atop an armored skirt. She had a helmet on her head with a feathery red plume, the only thing on her person that wasn’t made of stone. Even her impossibly large glaive and her kite shield were crafted from stone.
There was no Zone of Influence here, Hiro free to leave. But dealing with her, he thought as her health bar appeared, means no one else will fall for this trap. And all three statues of Grand Central Station will have been handled.
Hiro moved away, able to narrowly avoid her first strike. He used {Bounce} to send himself to the top of a rubble pile, where he went with his {Kiss or Slap} Roulette Skill.
Might as well, he thought as the words sounded off, followed by an epic slapping noise.
Kiss or Slap? SLAP!
The effect was instant.
A giant hand formed out of the sky and struck Minerva, her red health bar taking a three-quarter haircut.
It fucking worked? Hiro thought as the woman was tossed to the side. Holy shit! He tried not to think about the odds of his Roulette Skill actually working on the first try. He knew this was random. I won’t get so lucky next time; might as well capitalize on it.
By the time Minerva was back on her feet, leaning her body weight against the glaive, she looked a hell of a lot worse than when Hiro first arrived.
Much of her stone body had crumbled away, revealing bloody bits of reddened muscle interspersed with thin blue veins. The red plumes on her head were missing, the feathers now attached to the underside of her arms, and she no longer had her kite shield.
It was her second form.
Like her counterpart, Mercury, as well as some of the other enemies Hiro had faced, Minerva’s second form seemed twice as lethal as the one she initially took. She came at him fast, darting up the pile of debris, gripping her glaive, which grew in size when she thrust it forward.
Hiro jumped over her; he thought he would clear the distance and land back at the base of the rubble only for Minerva to pivot and send her glaive up, slicing into the side of his leg.
He hit the ground, gasped at the pain, and the sudden rush of blood. He cast his next skill.
~Kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, NEKO!~
His phantom demon cats came to the rescue, but they did little to thwart Minerva as she flew forward with her glaive again, cats flying left and right.
Hiro rolled out of the way and brought his blade up to beat away her advance. This triggered {Refund}, which pushed Minerva back a few feet and took a sliver of her health.
His mind racing, leg pulsing, Hiro started spamming with a barrage of strikes through {Blade Whirlwind}.
It was the first time he had used the power so rapidly.
Something feels different, he thought as he struck her again and again.
Hiro bounced backward and drew his Buster Kunai. He tossed it at the Roman goddess, the blade growing in size just as she was lunging forward with her glaive. Success!
His weapon hit an opening in her stone form, draining all of Minerva’s health bar.
[A Sentry has fallen.]
You have new followers!
Soul Essence rushed into Hiro as he took a limping step backward, his focus shifting to his injured leg.
He was startled yet again once Minerva pressed up to her feet and took a knee, where she held out her hand as the stone reformed over her body. Vape pen cartridges fell to the ground before her as a spiraling light rushed toward Hiro.
One-Hit Wonder: {Instant Discount Ozempic}
Rank: A
Upgrade: N/A
Description: Drenched, floored, fucked, and fuddled. Sauced, scammered, scoobied, and scuttered. Other words the Sixteen Übermensch of the Reinheitsgebot approved to describe being drunk included laced, leathered, loopy, and lush. Later—mashed, merry, monstered, and newted.
It took an army of sixteen thousand draymen a full sixteen turns around the sun after visiting sixteen hundred public houses with sixteen virgins riding sixteen donkeys with their asses stuffed with sixteen dime bags of the finest cocaína to convince the Sixteen Übermensch of the Reinheitsgebot that something had to be done. To combat beer bellies, bierbäuche, pancioni da birra, panzas cerveceras, and the notorious brioches de vin of Montmartre, a new weight loss drug was in order.
Instant Discount Ozempic is not that drug.
A byproduct of the wastewater from Los Angeles’ glitzy and exclusive Bel Air neighborhood, Instant Discount Ozempic will greatly reduce the weight of your opponent, making them easier to fight.
For a weaker enemy, Instant Discount Ozempic will strip the fat from their bones and rupture their organs. Use with caution, and never forget the Cirrhosian proverb: a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.
Valeria would go to town over that description. Hiro hobbled over to the vape cartridges and picked them each. As the others had been, these were labeled on the side: Bleed, Decoy, Shadow Veil, Inferno.
I know what Bleed and Decoy do, Hiro thought as he instantly understood what the others did as well. It was clear even though he hadn’t been provided any information. Shadow would allow him to create a mist of shadows so he could escape; Inferno would allow him to blow a big fireball like a Street Fighter character.
“Nice,” Hiro finally said as he opened his backpack and got out the healing gauze.
He took care of his wounds and moved to higher ground, where he spotted another golden beacon in the direction he was planning to head anyway.
“Scout it this time,” Hiro told himself. He readjusted his mask on his face and checked his follower count to see that he had well over four thousand to sacrifice.
This also reminded him that he needed to do crazier shit.
With this in mind, he exploded into the air with {Bounce}, hit another rooftop, and tried for a flip, which he actually landed. He shouldn’t have, yet he held steady at the last moment and heard the applause in his head.
It felt good to know he was wanted. He almost smiled, but then he remembered that none of it was real.
Or is it? Hiro continued on, moving rooftop to rooftop. This is my new reality. In that sense it is real. It is unlike my previous reality, but that doesn’t make it any less real than what I experienced back then. I think.
Hiro reached a billboard featuring the image of a pair of celebrities on a pristine beach. Someone had also spray-painted the phrase “IT DOESN’T MATTER NOW” over the celebrities’ faces.
“No, it doesn’t.” Hiro’s eyes followed a golden beam down into a small courtyard created by buildings that had been joined together yet stood at separate heights. It was there that he spotted what had to be a merchant, who had made themselves a shelter out of melded-together e-scooters.
Hiro dropped down into the courtyard, prepared to strike if need be.
He relaxed to some degree when he saw the woman, who seemed frail in her prom dress with a sash that read Homecoming Queen. Her mascara had run down her face, yet she still looked at Hiro with bright eyes and a lipstick-smeared grin. “Hi, Survivor. Welcome to my store. You may call me Penny.”
Hiro didn’t know what to make of her now. He had been relieved not to be attacked, but to see such a strange sight had thrown him off guard.
“I have loads of things for sale, from vape cartridges to the best powers in the five boroughs.” Penny’s bloodshot eyes twitched once he didn’t respond. “Is something the matter?”
“No,” Hiro said, even though he actually wanted to tell her that everything was the matter. “I have followers.”
“Followers.” Her smile cracked to some degree. “That’s nice, baby, but unfortunately, I don’t take followers.”
“Then… what do you take?”
“Cold. Hard. Cash.” She smiled at him again. “Any currency will do.” The merchant made the universal gesture for money. “And hurry. It’s my lunch break soon.”
Hiro reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet. “Do you take card?”
29
DOOM SAMPLE SALE
Hiro felt stupid as soon as he asked Penny the merchant if she took credit cards, especially with the way she scowled at him.
His phone buzzed before she could answer. Her heavily mascara’d eyes darted to his front pocket. “Are you going to get that?”
He hesitated.
“Well?” she asked, annoyance in her voice.
Hiro took out his phone and read the message.
“What if I rob a bank?” Hiro asked his Companion. There was bound to be a bank nearby, and he could possibly use one of his powers to get the vault open.
Hiro started to tell his Companion that the merchant had just said she would accept any currency. Instead, he shoved his phone back into his pocket, followed by his wallet.
“I suppose I’ll have to come back later.”
“Yes, I suppose,” Penny said. “Do you know where to find me?”
Hiro set a {Beacon}. “I do now.”
“Good luck, Survivor. And if you can, come back rich. My brother and sister merchants don’t have the same wares as me.”
“Am I allowed to see what you have?”
Penny slowly shook her head. “Aside from vape pen cartridges, and perhaps things you can affix to items you may receive later, I specialize in a unique set of powers based on human internet culture. That’s all I’ll tell you, for now. Visit later and see for yourself.”
