Doom System Survivor: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 8
Or so it seemed.
Across the cityscape, thousands of stories like his were being played out. There were monsters, Hunters, Sentries, and Survivors.
It was mayhem.
The system was fucked.
And weirdly enough, Hiro was starting to enjoy it.
No one’s there, he thought as he looked down at the food bank. There could be supplies, but they’ve probably all been looted by now…
Hiro considered his options and decided it was time to head back.
Home it is. He turned toward the Financial District, toward his fallout shelter and the parking garage. And it’s time to deal with the two horned tigers…
11
THREE YEARS ON A STONE
Back in the Financial District, Hiro leaped down to the streets, bounced once, and landed.
He dropped his katana, his bag of supplies, and immediately triggered {Lupine Shift} as the first horned tiger lunged for him.
Umph!
He met its attack head-on, Hiro able to tackle the tiger, wrangle it using its own horns, and snap its neck back.
Lupine Hiro roared, the world around him a blur as the second tiger released a poison mist from the tip of its tail. To avoid the mist, Hiro jumped onto a parked SUV, crunching its roof. The tiger leaped from an overturned car to the SUV, its tail continuing to release a green mist that corroded everything it touched.
Hiro bolted away, and the horned beast threw itself toward a building, where it ran along its sidewall in pursuit of Hiro, whose mind was reeling from his transformation. He could feel his heart thumping; Hiro could feel the monster inside him crying out as he stood his ground.
The tiger slammed into lupine Hiro, its claws grazing against the skin but not drawing blood.
He hit back, first with a fist, then his own claws. Rage filled Hiro as he hopped on top of the tiger, where he was quickly bucked off.
The beast moved in for the kill as it landed on top of him, where it tore into his shoulder and shook its head left and right in an attempt to rip a good chunk of flesh off Hiro. All the tiger ended up doing was shredding his hoodie even more as Hiro bit back.
He tasted blood. Hiro bit harder until he could feel the tiger’s neck giving way.
The tiger lost its power, and Hiro kicked it off. He staggered to his feet, turned back to the beast, and roared until it felt like someone had drawn their fingernails against the inside of his throat.
Even with the pain it felt good to scream like that, good to be so primal. Then came the hunger pangs.
No… Hiro tried to tell his wolven body. But he had lost control, his world a blur of viscera and blood as he started to feed on one of the tigers. It all stopped once Hiro transformed back.
He fell to his knees, belly swelling, Soul Essence pouring into him.
You have new followers!
Performance upgrade!
Level up!
Skill level up!
Sword Proficiency, E-Rank > D-Rank
Sword Proficiency, D-Rank
Upgrade Available: 0/100 Kills
[Sword quality based on skill level.]
His phone buzzed. Hiro managed to check the message as he stumbled away.
There was no time to recover.
Even as the tiger bodies faded away, Hiro knew that they could attract attention.
He grabbed his katana and his bag and hurried into the parking garage, unaware that he was leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Almost back, Hiro thought as he found the ladder that led down to the fallout shelter. Navigating the dark with ease, he yanked the pull cord on the rusted generator, its engine sputtering to life. He flicked on the floodlights and sat for a moment, his arms clutching his knees as the transformation fully left him.
What a mess.
Hiro wiped fresh tiger blood from his lips and tried to ignore its metallic taste. To distract himself, he checked his status and saw that his performance grade had improved. He also noted that there were fewer Survivors in both the city and the world.
Makes sense, sadly, he thought as his eyes traced over his family altar.
Followers: 1,497
Interim Performance Grade: C-
City Survivors: 851,089
World Survivors: 379,239,814
Beast Death Count: 95/791
Hunter Death Count: 9/89
“Good. Fuck these monsters.”
I don’t actually know what time it is, yet I am able to track the passage of time through the countdown… Hiro pulled out his phone.
02:12:21:36
02:12:21:35
02:12:21:34
“Companion, will I get a Sentry count?”
The text appeared on the screen.
Hiro drank some water to ease his pulsing throat. “Great. I have to deal with Sentries, Hunters, monsters, and asshole Survivors.”
“Easier said than done.” Hiro wiped his mouth again with his arm. “Anyway. Whatever, for now. Tell me more about these enemy health bars I now have access to.”
“Will I see health bars for Survivors?”
“That means they would have to attack me first, or be a known enemy, like the bitch in the yellow raincoat.”
Hiro unpacked the items he had taken from the rooftop apartment and arranged them in his fallout shelter. He thought about what needed to happen next.
Being able to jump to the top of some of the largest buildings in the world makes me want to head to Central Park, toward Billionaires’ Row. There will definitely be some good loot in those condos.
Some of the buildings in Billionaire’s Row were over seventy stories tall, which would make it hard to get to the top. Hiro was used to jumping down to the ground and heading back up to a rooftop with this power, but he didn’t know what doing it from that high up would look like.
Even if using {Bounce} is possible from a seventy-story building, it would be scary as shit. I definitely wouldn’t be able to jump to the streets. I would have to work my way up and carefully work my way down. Fucking carefully.
Over the last year, Hiro had mostly kept to the subway beneath the city until he’d discovered the long-abandoned fallout shelter, a product of the Second Cold War. Yet now, he felt as if the Big Apple was his oyster, especially with his newfound powers.
Better safe than sorry, his dad said constantly.
A Japanese proverb his mother had been fond of saying came to him.
石の上にも三年 - Three years on a stone.
The proverb implied that persistence and patience would eventually pay off.
Does it, though? he had thought numerous times after seeing both his parents suffer for following these concepts.
It was no wonder his parents had liked each other in the beginning. They were more alike than they knew, which also led to their eventual separation.
Hiro glanced back over to his family altar, which had a picture of the three of them before the separation. It also had a picture of his grandfather. Maybe I should stay here. For just a bit. Three hours on a stone.
Hiro needed just three hours for {Lupine Shift} to reset. In the meantime, he could plot his way toward Central Park using a few maps he had procured.
He examined his maps, which were plastered against one of the walls. There was a subway map, followed by tourist maps, and even a few hand-drawn parts noting where the rail line went and where the tunnels had collapsed.
Hiro’s eyes fell onto another famous landmark, the church on Fifth Avenue not far from Billionaire’s Row. That could be a place to start.
There will be Hunters, monsters, Sentries, and other Survivors. Kill more, and I’ll get more followers.
As frightening as these prospects could be, they brought a smile to Hiro’s face. The outside world was exciting, even if it was extremely dangerous.
He recalled what his Companion had said about banding with others.
Tomorrow, or in about eight to twelve hours judging by his understanding of time, Hiro planned to meet with Valeria. He would let her know that he had found two Survivors, Juan and Marcello, brothers who had agreed to join their cause.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” he asked his phone.
“Why do I need followers for a merchant?” Hiro asked, thinking of the prompt he often got after a fight or a daring exploit.
12
TWIN BUNNIES
Hiro continued along the darkened subway line, the light on his backpack illuminating the path ahead, a jumping beacon. Months ago, even after the trains stopped, it terrified him to travel this way. Humans and the dark were never bedfellows. But Hiro had grown used to the silence, the oily smell of the tracks, the drip-drip of some pipe, and the scurry of rats.
And now, he had a katana.
Before, it had just been Hiro with whatever weapon he, or the woman he was with at the time, could fashion. Crowbars, bats, knives, other things. He recalled when they came to the realization that it was actually safer underground, that they could keep to the shadows and avoid supers and other humans. Not that there weren’t people who lived in the abandoned subway system of New York City…
Hiro had encountered dozens of subway dwellers, but most had moved underground for a reason—to be left alone, to wait it out, to survive while it all fell—this created a sort of underworld honor system.
I don’t mess with you; you don’t mess with me, Hiro thought as he reached a silver subway train.
He had decided to use the sewer system because he was bored; he didn’t want to wait in his fallout shelter for three hours to pass so he could trigger {Lupine Shift} again.
There wasn’t a lot of room between the train and the gritty black wall of the subway, but it worked. Hiro stepped over debris and continued around a rotting body that had been picked apart by rodents.
He held his breath and barely shook his head.
Because of the length of the train, it took him another few minutes to reach the end, where he came to one of the platforms and found a ladder up.
“Finally.”
Hiro read the mosaic title on the wall, cast in a time when the city was still artisan, remnants of the Gilded Age.
42nd Street.
He saw another sign.
Fifth Avenue.
He was at least ten blocks away from where he wanted to be, somewhere beneath Midtown, near Bryant Park. But it was a start. He checked his phone to see the countdown timer.
02:09:03:11
02:09:03:10
02:09:03:09
Good. {Lupine Shift} is available again.
He didn’t know if there would be a Sentry at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but it was an old gothic church built in the 1850s, and it seemed like the kind of place he would find something like that.
Since he had his phone out, Hiro decided to ask his Companion a question he’d ruminated on since they last spoke. “Sentries. Are they always near churches?”
The text appeared.
“Are they always former statues that were already in existence? Like the Wall Street Bull?”
“Is there one at St. Catholic’s Cathedral?”
Fuck-you-very-much, Hiro thought as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
He placed his black Hyottoko mask over his face, adjusted his backpack, which still had the teddy bear inside, and took a deep breath.
His hand grazed against the hilt of his katana, ensuring its readiness.
“Here we go. Back into the unknown.” And just as he said that, just as these words left his lips, Hiro heard a cry for help that sent a jolt down his spine.
He didn’t think twice as he charged up the stairs and came out to the city, where he was greeted by a rush of cold wind, a creepy red sky, and another scream.
He glanced ahead to a seating area, one near the park that had little booths that used to sell coffee and ice cream. The shocking red of blood was the first thing that caught his eye as he saw a woman scooting away, pulling her left leg, which had been partially shredded, bone exposed, sinewy muscles pulsing.
“No,” she whimpered as she spotted Hiro. “No!”
He reached her in a matter of seconds. “Don’t worry about my mask. I’m not the main—”
“You don’t understand.” The Survivor gasped, fear in her eyes. “This is a trap. H-Hunters!”
Hiro’s nerves tingle once he came to the realization that something had joined him.
He looked to the roof of one of the park booths to find a teenage girl in a black leather mask with razor-sharp bunny ears that were the length of Hiro’s katana. As she crouched there, examining Hiro, the bunny-masked teen was joined by a teenage boy just a bit smaller than her and who wore the same outfit. Skulls appeared over their heads.
Definitely Hunters, Hiro thought as health bars appeared over their heads rimmed in gold, which meant they were too strong for him to take on at his current level.
“Shit…”
“Run,” the woman pleaded. “I don’t know who you are, but if you value your life, run. They already used me as a trap to kill another guy. They…” She nodded to a fallen body Hiro hadn’t initially seen. “Save yourself—”
“Hello, Survivor,” the teenage girl in the bunny mask said, her terrifying voice causing Hiro’s heart to skip. It was the first time one of the beings created by the Doom System had spoken to him.
Her counterpart leaned over and whispered something to her.
“One bait is better than two,” she said. “Yes…”
Hiro drew his katana. “Get the fuck out of here. Fuck you!” he barked at her.
He didn’t dare trigger {Lupine Shift}, not yet, but he was ready if it came to it.
The two bunny-masked teenagers laughed.
The girl dropped to the ground and spoke again. “You will be fun to kill.”
Hiro sent a blast forward with {Blade Whirlwind}, which she managed to dodge.
She lunged forward, her chin shifting down. As if they were whip-swords, her blackened rabbit ears quadrupled in length, the two blades twisting forward with minds of their own.
Her counterpart joined her and did the same maneuver, four razored bunny ears moving toward Hiro like murderous tentacles.
“Go!” the injured Survivor cried to Hiro. She fired a blast of power out of the palm of her hand, which struck the boy bunny. The girl bunny moved on her quickly with her razored ears, the Survivor shrieking as her body was diced into pieces.
Hiro had seen enough.
He used this distraction to {Bounce} away, where he was soon able to reach the rooftop of a smaller building in Midtown.
“God,” Hiro whispered as he watched the girl bunny help her counterpart up. Once they were both ready, the pair looked up at Hiro. The girl blew him a kiss, flashed a peace sign, and beckoned for him to join her again as her bunny ears returned to their normal size.
Once again, he noticed their gold-rimmed health bars.
“Goddamn you.” Hiro set a {Beacon} at Bryant Park. “As soon as I am strong enough, as soon as I am able, I will come back here, and I will annihilate the two of you,” he vowed.
And with that, Hiro jumped from one building to another, where he was soon presented with a view of Grand Central Station.
He fought the urge to head back down to Bryant Park and attempt a run at the twin bunnies. Hiro had to be reasonable here. Three years on a rock. There were two of them, and they were both at a higher level than he was. While he might survive if he used {Lupine Shift}, there was a very real chance he would die as well, and not before they used him as bait to lure out another Survivor.
“To the church, then.” Hiro steeled himself. “You have to keep going.”
He was just about to move past Grand Central Station when he remembered something.
Hiro reached the next rooftop and moved to the edge. In the distance, he spotted one of the raven-like monsters flying over the blood-red East River, the beast too far away to pursue. As Hiro looked down at Grand Central Station, he saw exactly what he hoped to see.
Hiro remembered a Roman-like statue above the facade and had even looked it up once on the Internet to find out that the three figures in the statues represented Hercules, Minerva, and Mercury.
Only one was there now, waiting, Mercury holding a caduceus, the Roman god in his winged helm. A red health bar appeared above the Sentry as Mercury slowly turned his head toward Hiro. It seemed to squint up at him.
“I’m right here,” Hiro said, still feeling a strange mixture of anger and adrenaline from the Bunny Twins. The statue vanished, completely stepping out of thin air. “What the fuck—”
Heavy stone footsteps echoed behind him.
Hiro spun around, heart racing again as he found Mercury looming just a few feet away. The statue gripped its caduceus like a club, poised for battle.
13
MERCURY RISING
The statue narrowed his gaze on Hiro’s katana, the two on a rooftop near Fifth Avenue, a true standoff about to take place high above the streets.
Hiro placed a shaky hand on the hilt of his blade. “You want me to draw my weapon.”
Mercury offered him a slow nod that sent a chill down Hiro’s spine considering the statue seemed to actually understand his words.
