Tower Apocalypse 3, page 22
I pulled up my larger chat, but Maxwell and Allan were still resting and picking out their skills. That was for the best—I wouldn’t mind a rare moment to rest and see what was happening in my village.
I walked towards the tavern, where I found a long line next to the Dungeon Hub, with Anna at the very front.
I grinned and waved at her. “Anna! How’s it going?”
She saw me and grinned. “It’s going well, boss. Just working on the dungeon right now, just like you ordered.”
“Damn,” I laughed, pointing at the new portal. “You decided to do some exterior decorating?”
Before, the Dungeon Hub portal was just like all the other portals, only a different color. Now, it had two protrusions at its side that curved into the air.
They looked like a pair of devil’s horns.
“It was a new option we unlocked after leveling the hub enough. I thought it was a good idea—don’t want any newcomers wandering by,” Anna explained.
I nodded.
“Yeah. That makes sense.”
With so many new people entering our village, it was easy to get lost. Stepping into the Dungeon Hub when you meant to pick plants at the Resource Hub would be a horrifying experience for any civilian.
“So, you want to take a look?” she asked.
I glance at Emma, and she nodded excitedly.
Food was nice, but we liked Anna and wanted to see what she could do.
I stepped onto the portal with Emma and Anna.
It buzzed, and then the familiar menu appeared. After Anna’s adjustments, there were several additional floors, but I picked the control room.
The portal fizzled, and then we were transported into the same control room from before—there was an orange control orb in the center, with dark black walls. However, there were now a set of three comfortable black leather sofas set in a wide U-shape.
I pointed at them.
“Did you add these?”
Anna nodded.
“I spend so much time here, it’s just a lot easier to lie down.”
She got onto the sofa on the left, and I sat on the one in the middle, with Emma cuddling up next to me.
Anna pointed at the orange control orb.
“Want to do the honors?”
I shook my head.
“Nah, this place is yours now.”
I’d put her in charge of the Dungeon Hub, and she’d grown it faster than I expected. I didn’t want to come back acting like the big boss when I couldn’t be here every day.
Back on Earth, I’d hated that kind of arrogant management, so I sure as hell wasn’t going to inflict it on anybody else. Anna tapped the control panel, and then the screen buzzed to life, flaring across the black stone wall.
Since Anna had built the Dungeon Hub up to the second floor by using Schroder’s army, she now had twice as many dungeon points as before to add monsters and obstacles. Just like before, there was also a random feature that offered greater rewards and experience gain.
There was a pair making a run right now—it was Ming and Vincente, two of Maxwell’s higher-tier fighters. Ming used his teleportation magic to shift Vincente around the battlefield. The white portals allowed him to dodge every incoming stone from the skeletal wyrm boss’s [DESOLATE EARTH].
Then, Vincente finished the foe off with a series of rapid strikes. His fencing blade glowed bright white as he struck it several times—it looked like a variant of [SNAKE BITE].
Anna saw me looking at them and grinned.
“He’s been slaughtering the monsters like it’s child's play. Also has one of the fastest run times.”
“How many people have been doing runs?” I asked, genuinely impressed.
“In the second tier?”
She shook her head, “I haven’t done the second-level dungeon yet myself, but some others from our faction have like Rhino and Hermina. The Blade Dancers, too.”
She pulled out a notepad very similar to Nick’s.
“I have the full list here if you want to take a look.”
I briefly glanced at her scribbles—it was a decent list of names, ranging from the stronger fighters in mine, Maxwell, and Allan’s factions to the division commanders of Schroder’s army.
“What are the rewards?” Emma asked, shifting beside me.
“There’s twice as much loot as before. It seems like each floor just scales directly upwards. However, a lot of it is common items, so we’ve set it aside for people who need new gear. But, we unlocked a new system as well. The Core Redemption System.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
The monster cores were another one of Gaea’s unique currencies, sort of like fres. We’d initially acquired them from the plotting the land mission, but they were also available in the dungeon hub.
They could be used to upgrade town facilities, but since I had nothing to unlock, they were just burning a hole in my inventory. If there was a good way to use them…
“It provides people with random magical gear. They aren’t even close to the high-caliber stuff you’re wearing, but it’s still much better than what we had weeks ago.”
“Excellent,” I replied. “Now we can finally use all the cores people are getting. With enough development, everybody will be able to survive, at least against the basic monsters.”
It made sense that the magical items were worse than mine—the White Glint came from beating a World Boss, and these just came from dungeon runs.
However, something was better than nothing, especially when it came to training an entire army. There were still over 90,000 humans on Gaea. Even as I grew stronger, I couldn’t forget the bigger picture. Anna clapped the White Glint armor, grinning.
“This looks good on you, by the way. I bet you could save us from those psychos now, huh?”
I smiled thinly.
“Yeah, the only problem is, once you deal with the old batch of psychos, a new one rises up. If only you still had your sniper rifle, Anna, I bet they’d be worried then.”
I grinned and nodded, pulling Emma up with me.
“Thanks for the tour,” I said. “I know I made the right decision handing the hub over to you.”
I got up, and considered trying to do a run myself—it’d be fun to see how fast I could fight through the second floor. As far as I knew, there wasn’t a list of record times or anything like that, but it’d be good to know just for myself.
But then, I received a notification from the Blade Dancers.
MARC ROSEWATER: Hey, Devin. My men and I were just passing through the ship and we received an odd notification. Come check this out.
I stood up, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked, worry crossing her face.
“The Blade Dancers found something on the ship. Want to go check it out?”
She pursed her lips and sighed. I could tell she wanted to just sit here and relax—and I did too, for that matter—but we had a responsibility to our village.
After a moment of silence, she nodded and we got up.
The battleship had been a gift from the old System. Without it, we never would have defeated the darkling. Just the sight of it had scared them off the battlefield.
Now, it was just floating in the lake.
I thought it’d stay there, but gifts from the System were always double-sided.
When I reached the lakeshore, I found the four Blade Dancers frowning and pointing at the ship. Schroder’s men were all by the shore as well.
Some—the ones who felt comfortable swimming—had swum out to the battleship. They floated beneath it in the clear lake.
Others were cutting down logs, trying to create a bridge.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
“Ah! Devin!” Marc cried, waving me over. “Let me know if you see this notification.”
I stepped within range of the battleship, and then a notification appeared.
ACTIVATE SHIP CORE?
REWARD
Access to another ‘village’
Create a portal between any village and the ship.
“Activate Ship Core, right? It can give access to another village?”
Marc nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m getting too.”
Emma stepped beside me, and then she nodded.
“Yeah, that’s also what I’m seeing.”
Marc frowned.
“That’s weird. Hold on.”
He waved one of Schroder’s soldiers over. She was a stocky woman with short red hair. I seemed to remember her as a member of Schroder’s tank division, but I couldn’t say for sure.
He asked her if she saw a notification, but she frowned and shrugged.
“No. I’m not getting anything.”
“It was the same for the other soldiers from Schroder’s faction,” Marc muttered. “I’m guessing only members of our squad got this quest.”
“Do you want to activate the battleship’s core?” the new System asked.
Judging by the surprised reactions of the Blade Dancers and Emma—and the complete confusion of Schroder’s soldier—only we could hear it.
I glanced at Emma and Marc, then nodded.
After gaining Boris and Miki’s villages, I’d already seen the vast improvement in our facilities. There was no downside to getting another one.
“Yes,” I replied.
VILLAGE QUEST RECEIVED
HUNTER BATTLESHIP
DESCRIPTION
Clear the ship from any monsters and help destroy the corrupted core.
REWARD
Access to another ‘village’
A quest?
The System hadn’t said anything about that.
Even worse, a timer appeared in my vision, counting down from an hour.
I had a bad feeling this quest wasn’t as optional as it seemed. Even worse, I knew there was no reason with this new System.
Beside me, Marc and the Blade Dancers drew their weapons, and Emma pulled out her wand. They had the same resigned expressions on their face as I did.
I pulled up the squad chat.
DEVIN CAIN: Alright, guys, we need to prepare for battle. I got us a new quest.
RHINO: Hell yeah, boss! I was getting bored with the dungeon and the tower! Give it to me!
Emma and I laughed at his enthusiasm. He was just the kind of man we needed for this job: a human-rhino battering ram.
Despite my worries, I felt better having him by my side.
BEN DIVER: We’ll be there. Do you only want the main party?
I thought for a moment, then decided otherwise. This was a village core, which would benefit everyone. Not only that, people across our factions had been training hard. It was time to give them a chance.
“System? Can we invite other people as well? Like our allies?” I asked.
“No, you can only clear this with your villagers. That’s why it’s called a Village Quest.”
That made sense—it was a miniature version of the Species and World Quests we’d battled earlier. The limitation was irritating, but we’d still have plenty of people. I shifted to the overall village chat, then repeated my message from before, asking for help by the lake.
DEVIN CAIN: Attention everyone. I know we’ve all been training hard—our village has unlocked a new mission by the lake, with great benefits if we win. If you feel confident enough that you can contribute to the fight and won’t die, come and participate.
Before the hour was over, more than a hundred people had gathered, with many fighters outside my main party.
Everybody—even the many faces I didn’t know—looked expectantly at me to take charge, so I pointed at the boat.
“Listen up! We’re going in blind, but that doesn't mean we don’t have a plan. Rhino and my summons will take the lead, clearing everything out ahead of us. If things become too dangerous, step back and let others deal with it. I don’t want to see people dying today.”
The crowd nodded and cheered, drawing their weapons. The timer hit zero and we were teleported straight onto the boat.
SHIP CORE
“Ah, shit,” I cursed.
The deck was swarming with zombies.
They had blackened and charred skulls—almost all the flesh had already sloughed off their faces. The remaining flesh hung in a few disgusting rotting strips.
Their mouths were filled with sharpened teeth. They looked like they’d been honed or filed somehow.
Their bodies had a lot more meat than their heads and faces. A fair amount of skin was remaining, but I could see thick and powerful muscles through their many cuts and gashes.
Like the flesh on their face, the muscles looked badly diseased. They were sickly and gray. Blood hadn’t been pumping through these bodies for a while.
Behind me, I heard all sorts of cries of fear. These were regular villagers. They might have climbed the first few floors or hunted monsters in the forest, but that was hit.
“Aww, hell no!”
“Fucking shit, zombies!”
“Anyone knows how to warp out? I’m too young to die!”
“Calm down!” I shouted. “We can do this together!”
I acted immediately, throwing up my [BODY TRANSFER] skill to buff everyone around me before activating [TORMENT] to reduce every zombie’s defense.
Then I charged up a [FORCE WAVE], cutting through dozens of monsters.
Beside me, my allies activated their own long-range abilities. Emma shot out a [BLIZZARD] while Jenny and Hermina peppered the zombies with arrows and bolts.
The villagers took part as well—most used standard weapons like wands and bows, but a few had slingshots. One even hurled a boomerang.
The skills and spells set zombie body parts splattering all over the place. Arms and limbs thunked onto the ground and congealed, blackened blood flew through the air. A splash hit my face—the blood was cold and disgusting. It reminded me of meat I’d pulled out of the freezer.
A few seconds after they died, the zombie’s body parts vanished, but the disgusting feeling remained.
My well-trained squad carefully directed the less experienced players. Ben and Ren watched the backlines, using their powerful defensive skills to keep everybody safe. Between Ben’s [TAUNT] and Ren’s [IAIDO DEFENSE], no zombie could get past them.
I noticed both men taking less experienced tanks under their wing, giving them tips on defense and positioning. It reminded me that I’d made the right decision with my village and these people. Sure, a lot of luck was also involved, but I’d take it.
Next, I activated my most powerful ability—bringing out all three summons.
Shai and Reiny’s skills only added to the carnage as numerous spikes rose from the floor, impaling and shredding the zombies in swathes.
Unfortunately, their corpses dissolved as soon as they destroyed them—we had no chance to turn the zombies back to our side.
More zombies replaced the ones that died, always pushing out from below deck or from somewhere on the aft of the ship. Loot littered the ground, and I could see most of it wasn’t good, some parts were damaged, while other items didn’t look any better than what we’d gotten during the first days on Gaea.
“Where are we going, boss?” Rhino shouted. “Point me!”
The zombies had surrounded us on entry, but after the original rush, we finally had some space to operate. I quickly scanned the area, then pointed.
“The stairs!” I yelled. “That’s where they're coming from! We need to get below deck!”
Rhino surged forward, eviscerating every zombie in his path. My summons merrily charged after him, with Tiamat summoning her brood swarm to lead the way.
As for the rest of us, I ordered everyone into a tight battle formation.
DEVIN CAIN: Form a line and push the zombies back! Tanks on the outside, damage dealers stay safe!
We gradually pushed our way beneath the frontlines, steadily destroying the original zombies. Unfortunately, as the masses fell, they were replaced by stronger versions of themselves.
At first, the upgrades were small—there was no visual change, but they were able to survive a hit or two from us. But steadily, they started growing stronger, with bigger and stronger bodies.
After I slew an eight-foot-tall titan, he was replaced by a true monster, a beast with six arms stitched at haphazard angles across its torso.
I slashed it with my blades, then Emma obliterated it with a fireball.
The next zombie had two heads, facing side-to-side.
“Holy shit,” Jenny hissed. “This thing looks like the spawn of Frankenstein.”
She nailed it with a [SNIPE], but it bellowed and charged at her, fighting through the pain.
Ben grunted and threw himself in its path. The zombie smashed him hard into the ground, but Ben gathered up all the damage before viciously countering with his Sword of Heroes.
The blade split both heads at once, finally clearing the path to the second floor.
Ren was the very last person to enter, and he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Hah! That was way harder than it should have been.”
I nodded.
“Yeah. It’s a good thing the corpses disappeared. Otherwise, we would have been wading in them.”
I glanced back at everybody, then smiled.
The whole exchange had only lasted twenty minutes, but everybody had stayed focused during the fight. We’d all played a part, and I saw Elena quickly healing the few people who’d gotten injured.
A notification appeared.
WARNING
FLOOR 2 BOSS APPROACHING
The deck floors thudded and I could feel the ship rocking through the ocean as something climbed up to us from the first floor. At first, all I saw was a big and broad head with gray skin.
That, and the obvious weight of the monster, told me we were in for a fight.
“Get in position!” I yelled.
The beast finally emerged, climbing its way to us. It was another zombie, twenty feet tall and all gray rotting flesh. Its arms and legs were both the size of tree trunks, and it had a chest like a cinderblock. It looked like it had the flesh of countless normal-sized zombies all stitched together.
