Apocalypse Crusade: A Dungeon Crawler LitRPG Adventure (Gravity And Divinity System 3), page 52
“Still, you made it rain meteors. That was hugely awesome. Mike will be jealous.”
“You killed thousands of assassins and used a suplex on an immortal. That’s way more impressive. It looked like fun.”
“I still need to rework some things. I don’t know if my new style is all that good. I’m calling it Weirdo Kung Fu for now, but would that stick once I implement weapons again?”
Kleo smiled as Jay talked like the biggest geek around. She nuzzled lovingly into her master’s neck as they walked out of the area.
The Chinese Army was parked around the bend of the street, having barricaded the area as soon as the action started. They moved the barricades out of the way for Jay and Kleo without needing to be told.
Nobody in the government was going to impede the gravity duo after the defeat of their top powerhouses. They could try though. Kleo had room in her stomach for more bad guys. If not here, she would surely have a feast at their next action-adventure location.
Cairo, Egypt.
***
You’ve demolished an important stronghold of the World Knife and Benefactors. You’ve defeated 3000 enemies and slain 3 major Earthling immortals!
The immortals you’ve slain bear the collective names of Lei Gong, Ji Gong, Menshen, Jade Empower, Dragon King, Pagu, and others! Their levels ranged from 55 to 60 at their lowest power status. You’ve managed to cut them down before they’ve unleashed themselves fully and risen to higher levels of power!
While you didn’t slay all of your enemies during this latest display of outrageous violence, this worthwhile feat shows the measure of your power on a global scale. You have shaken the world greatly from the prominence and calamity of this event! But beware! You are still in the initial phases of overturning the Benefactors’ hold on this planet. Do not think your journey will go so smoothly for long against these immortals.
…
You have the option to gain a new Title for yourself! Or you can continue hunting Immortals and generate a Title for yourself and all of your Champions! Would you prefer to generate the Title for yourself? Yes or no?
You’ve selected no.
Continue defeating Immortals until you reach a high threshold of accomplishment that can generate a new title for you and your Champions.
…
Grav Kick leveled up from 33 to 50!
Sling Assist Leveled up from 35 to 45!
Horizondancer leveled up from 30 to 42!
Martial Gravity Mastery leveled up from 35 to 55!
Relativity Sovereignty leveled up from 21 to 39!
Graviton Monster leveled up from 19 to 41!
Gravity Grasp leveled up from 34 to 39!
Guillotine-G leveled up from 33 to 43!
Situational Gravity leveled up from 34 to 45!
Gravital Supremacy leveled up from 17 to 50!
Cosmic Showrunner leveled up from 9 to 15!
…
Exceptional Freak leveled up from 51 to 58! +7 Perception, +70 Free AP.
Laevateinn Faerie leveled up from 47 to 52! +5 Poise, +5 Agility, +5 Perception, +5 Discovery.
…
??? increased from 46% to 49%!
Cannot [Analyze] ???.
Kleo refused to inform the System on ???.
…
You’ve gained +10 Resilience, +10 Poise, and +10 Conviction for your incredible feats that affect prominence and calamity!
…
You’ve unlocked Earth’s Mightiest List! This list pertains to you especially as you lean toward being one of the strongest on Earth (while crossing the bare minimum power status needed to be considered a universal contender).
Getting placed on the list normally depends on your narrative significance + power + feats + speculative potential!
High Divinity YoAnna is placed at #2 of Earth’s Mightiest!
Low Divinity YoAnna is placed at #14 of Earth’s Mightiest!
You are placed at #15 of Earth’s Mightiest!
Kleo is placed at #16 of Earth’s Mightiest!
Brit is placed at #27 of Earth’s Mightiest
Mike is placed at #28 of Earth’s Mightiest!
Lilith is placed at #29 of Earth’s Mightiest!
Gatanna is placed at #30 of Earth’s Mightiest!
The cutoff point is at #30.
The others placed on Earth’s Mightiest List are hidden until you fight or associate with them. Are you prepared to climb the ranks and reach the #1 of Earth’s Mightiest?
…
Jay’s Mini Profile Check after inputting new AP–
Statuses: [Health 644/2400 HP], [Stamina 389/2500 SP], [Mana 2004/3750 MP], [Chance x9/x34 CM]; [??? 49/100%]; [#15 and #16 of Earth’s Mightiest].
Attributes: [1200 Applied AP]; 120 Resilience, 120 Poise, 100 Strength, 150 Agility, 250 Perception, 125 Intellect, 200 Conviction, 135 Discovery; [2 Free AP].
36. Traveling With Family
Jay flew through the night sky outside of Cairo. Miles of desert passed beneath him. With his perceptive eyes and fine sensory control, he could see the Giza pyramids every time he looked back at the city.
The Nile River was to his left, its waters reflecting the moonlight. When he looked up, he had a cloudless view of the universe. It was a star-studded and nebulae filled black canvas. His passengers appreciated the flight with different levels of enthusiasm.
Mom had more fun with the flying than the views.
They weren’t actually flying in Jay’s opinion. They were in a controlled descent relative to the directions Jay pointed gravity to bend. General Relativity dictated that Jay was curving space and time to pull off this level of acute control.
But Mom didn’t care too much about the science aspects to his magic. Even as their universe’s one and only Devil [Freak], one of the evilest creatures in existence, she was having the time of her life as she sang the most appropriate song for a moment like this: A Whole New World.
Amanda’s girlish enthusiasm was on full display tonight, her blue eyes directed upward. She was lying back while Jay’s [Relativity Sovereignty] Skill held some of the most important people in his life up miles in the air with him. Even Kleo was leaving the flight controls in her master’s hands and letting herself ‘fly’ in the direction of Jay’s choosing.
If there were other people hanging out in a desert on a cold October night, nobody would notice Jay and his passengers thanks to his [Champion Cloaking] Talent being pushed to its absolute limit. But there was barely a human soul for miles, sparing Jay a moment to just relax and be free.
It was here up in the air, the cool wind blowing past him and his passengers, whipping their hair about, that he studied Amanda’s awestruck, jaw-hanging face and came to a striking conclusion. He was happy he’d gotten the Gravity Affinity instead of the Air Affinity. He was happy he chose the [Freak] Class while lacking a natural connection to Earthling magic, letting go of humanity to become an Eldritch Monkey Scion.
He was happy to be one of the mightiest people on Earth. His might allowed him to defeat thousands of enemies in one night or take his family– both blood and found– on a magical flight under the stars.
His path was drenched in madness, violence, and death. His path would lead to more enemies, more challengers, and more risks. But it also afforded him to travel to new places with those he cherished in between adrenaline-filled action.
With a simple flex of his Skill, he whirled his passengers around him. It was like a Merry-Go-Round with him at the center and Mom, Kleo, and Amanda on the edges where the seats or handholds would be.
But Jay pushed it a little further to simulate a working carousel at an amusement park– he used his Skill to have them bob up and down at different intervals while they spiraled around him and flew in the same direction of his choosing.
This was a lot trickier than it looked since Jay wasn’t using telekinesis. And he was not using [Sling Assist]. He was committing with one Skill dozens upon dozens of micro-gravity shifts where they would fall up, down, forward, and around at different intervals to simulate a working carousel.
The result had Amanda squealing quietly into her hands with a mix of exhilaration and terror. Mom jerked around happily like a strung up puppet guided by the crazed glee of an invisible hand. Kleo smiled more from the reaction of her momma and someone they could consider as an honorary Luckrun– a big sister of sorts– Amanda Berkley.
The next day, he woke up sandwiched between Mom and Amanda. Kleo was inside of her home, his chest, and he could feel her stirring as soon as he opened his eyes.
A set of heavy all-terrain blankets and pillows helped them camp out against a strange rock formation in Egypt’s White Desert. A big white boulder hung over Jay’s family with only a thinner, wind-scoured column of limestone and chalk holding the boulder up.
It was a weird thing to examine in real life. If Jay hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would’ve called it fake news. He supposed Earth still had some wonders for him to see if he cared to look around. The desert alone was a wonder. Where did all the humidity go?
“Morning,” Amanda croaked, shifting around as she opened her bleary eyes. “It really is soothing sleeping when you have two empaths around.”
“I like it better when it’s time to get up,” Mom said, snapping awake instantly. “Your frog voice is a lovely alarm.”
Amanda turned away, covering her face in embarrassment.
Jay chuckled as he scooted back before sliding out from under his blanket. He rolled backward across the surface of the chalk and limestone rock formation, switching gravity.
He was wearing light, breathable Good Quality clothes, a long sleeve cream top, tan baggy pants, and black lightweight hiking boots. His clothes could redistribute heat and help with the chilly nip of a desert morning during fall, but if that was not the case, Jay’s physical Attributes were made of sterner stuff now.
Mom scrambled to her feet to join him, smoothly transitioning from floor to rock thanks to Jay’s acute control of [Relativity Sovereignty].
Amanda shook her head at them as the Luckruns crouched while horizontal with the ground, facing the sunrise. The yellow sands glowed like gold while the strange white formations shone brightly under the morning light. A light breeze blew currents of sand across the flat area they camped at in between mild rises and dips of Egyptian dunes.
“You ever thought we’ll see Egypt, Mom?” Jay asked.
“I’ve written about it,” Mom said, pulling out breakfast from the spatial pocket of her travelers’ leggings. “I never showed them to you. But I have little side stories of us going on adventures. With action, like a cheesy anime romp.”
“Were we fighting mummies?”
“Why wouldn’t we?”
Jay chuckled, looking away to watch some early morning birds swoop through the air.
Mom unwrapped a poisoned sandwich. It was better stuff, too. Great Quality. Lilith had helped make the poison.
Mom handed it over to her son, and Jay graciously took a bite. It was spicy this time around, and it constricted his throat a little. But he had so much Resilience and Poise thanks to his percentiles, it wouldn’t do too much damage.
It was a fun challenge that tickled his Eldritch Monkey side as he tried to recognize each poison Mom had him ingest. It would be nice if he could get a Talent from this, but those would be harder to come by nowadays thanks to being one of the mightiest on Earth. He was better off experimenting with his current powers to see if he could mitigate the poison damage until his Resilience and/or Poise wiped it. That depended on if it was physical-based or magically focused.
“Blegh,” Kleo said, ejecting out of Jay’s chest. She belly-flopped on Amanda’s upturned face with perfect timing.
“Wagh!” Amanda cried, her hands reaching up as if to swat Kleo away. She froze just before she did. It probably wasn’t a good idea to smack around a [Laevateinn Faerie].
“It’s morning time, Amanda,” Kleo said, her voice on the edge of sounding like a big monster stuck in a tiny girl’s body. She used all six limbs to scramble around Amanda’s head, pausing only to nip on Amadan’s ear, before grabbing Amanda’s hair and swinging around like a little Tarzan. “Time for your daily torment by me, Creepy Kleo!”
“Ugh, Kleo, why must we go through this?” Amanda groaned.
She didn’t wait for an answer as she moved determinedly to commit her morning ritual as Kleo terrorized her playfully. Jay and Mom watched as Amanda used magically enhanced water from a spatial canteen to drink, clean her mouth, wash her face, and follow through with her hygiene regiment. She was very studious about that even though their Systemized bodies would gradually eliminate whatever fear she had with acne or wrinkles.
“She’s so cute,” Mom said before using a claw to poke her poisoned son in the cheek. “But you’re cuter.”
“Stop it, Mom, you’re embarrassing me,” Jay muttered after finishing his sandwich.
Mom’s claws were like bone carved to a point and colored black, extending inches from her fingertips. It had been a change that came with her Rank 2 evolution, which she did without fighting anything or anyone while in divine containment.
Jay was still unsure how Mom managed it. He felt like it wasn’t worth digging into though.
Once Amanda finished up, Jay and Mom refreshed themselves. Not as much as compared to Amanda, but enough to feel like civilized people ready to face another day. They stored away everything– their pillows, blankets, change of clothes, mini campfire set, food, trash, and whatever little signs that could be tracked.
Then Jay used his gravity powers to sweep through the sand so they didn’t leave an impression of their presence. Kleo stopped fussing with Amanda’s hair and used Remove Presence as the last measure of ensuring nobody would know they had been here. Then Jay picked everyone up and sent them careening over the sands while only a yard above the ground– moving speedily, too.
It was like riding in a hover car except for the complex use of gravity Jay implemented. He smoothened the rises and dips over dunes and gently swerved around more white rock formations, performing figure eights between clusters. They didn’t even have to cover their faces– every wind-riding sand got whisked off to the side and tossed past them. There were a lot of those, too. Their progress had sand billowing behind them as they kept going at a leisurely 100 miles-per-hour.
“Kleo, why do you enjoy tormenting me so much?” Amanda asked as Kleo buzzed around her and randomly nipped Amanda’s exposed arms and such.
“It’s fun. You’re so tormentable.”
“That’s not a word,” Amanda said.
“It sounds like someone wants to stay tormentable for trying to correct their Pantheon Leader,” Mom chimed in.
“Yeah!” Kleo shouted.
And just like that, Kleo and Mom tag-teamed to torment Amanda. The former CWG Buddy One was a tougher person thanks to having a System, but some things remained the same. She shivered as Kleo dove for her ears, and Mom wrapped her arms around her, bucked, and sent them flipping round and round. No matter how Mom moved with Amanda, Kleo found her target and gnawed on Amanda’s earlobes without breaking skin.
Amanda squealed throughout.
In truth, Amanda enjoyed the attention. Jay had read up on her dossier during the times he actually got around to reading stuff as Pantheon Commander. Amanda had grown up as a single child to a well-to-do family. She could’ve lived a pretty breezy life. It had been set for her to do so. But Amanda followed a higher calling, joining the FBI, then the CWG before it got disbanded, and then the Protectorates as an Agent of Change.
The moment Jay had met her, something about her clicked with him. It probably clicked with Kleo, too, because Jay and Kleo could sometimes swap feelings with each other. Jay had been pretty mischievous around Amanda when they’d first met, just like how Kleo was acting now. Mom loved to join in on the craziness, letting her devil side come out in cute and fun bursts that didn’t harm those who were dear to her.
Mom caught him watching her. She moved from Amanda to hugging Jay, their dreadlocks whipping and entangling briefly.
“I need to wash your hair again when we get back,” Mom said.
“How about I return the favor and wash yours?” Jay offered.
“Oh? Spoiling me now? First you grant me our ancestor’s small magic. Now you’re getting sweet on me?”
“I have that thing called love, a dreadfully strange thing,” Jay said.
Mom hugged him tighter. “There’s no removing the evil I harbor, Jay. Every moment I exist, I want to orchestrate the most entertaining acts of evil I could come up with.”
“I know.”
“But I care about you and the others too darn much to be some lame-o surprise villain for one of your later arcs,” Mom said. “We know how that story will go. Boo-hoo, Jay has to kill his Mom. Character growth, character growth, blegh, no fun.”
“I can’t help but agree one hundred percent.”
“So, how about I change that script?” Mom asked, swiveling around to face him, their hands uniting. “I’m going to do evil things to the enemies of the Protectorates. Downright heinous stuff. But I’ll hide it. I’ll make sure it’s offscreen. Off the page. That’s better for the narrative. I’ll play it soft and hard, of course, especially if I know it’s something that’ll hurt my precious boy and his friends.”
“Is this you sweetening me up so I’ll give my blessing for you and Amanda’s buddy-cop adventures?” Jay asked.
“I would cook you griot and pikliz if that was the case, but Cabana is too busy for us to pair up soon,” Mom said, her face twisting into a caricature of a frowning mask. “And there’s more to it than just having your blessing, I need to walk the Earth and be a Devil [Freak].”
“What did you do with our ancestor’s small magic?” Jay asked.
Mom’s expression straightened into a small human-like smirk. “I gave it to the kiddies. Their big ol’ egg slurped it up.”
“Oh.” Jay blinked. “That’s going to add something interesting to the mix.”
“Yup!”
“Hm.” Jay hummed before looking past Mom where his 9000 foot radius of passive spatial-g touched the edges of Cairo’s metropolitan. “You have my blessing. There’s going to be more devils walking around eventually once we iron out the deal with the 6th Hell Circle.” Which would probably include the 777th Heavenly Realms, too, if they wanted to actually negotiate and not be a domineering holier-than-thou force. “You’d get a head start.”
