Excise: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 2) Read online

  Member of the Primate Gang

  King Louie

  Level 17

  Apprentice-Chest Basher

  The creature was with three other primates, and each one was banging fists the size of car tires against their chests. Rocky triggered Stealth again and lunged towards King Louie in a fencer’s thrust. The sharp end of his Soul Blade pierced the chest and came out the back of King Louie as a surprised look passed over his face. The other three stopped hammering and hooted questioningly at the now silent King as he tumbled backward off the blade. Rocky didn’t let them question long as he spun into their midst, slashing his sword high to decapitate one of the creatures. He raised his foot and powerfully kicked another one that seemed to be the fastest to react to his initial attack.

  The kick spiraled the beast on to its back, and the last remaining primate swung a fist at the deeper shadows that contained Rocky. As the fist neared him, he felt Dark Cloak push on it slightly, and he ducked below the encroaching haymaker while simultaneously casting Shadow Clone. A second, near-identical Rocky popped up behind the fist and jumped at the off-balance creature, puncturing its hide with two identical black daggers.

  Rocky allowed his momentum to carry him towards the downed gorilla he kicked, which was struggling back to its feet. Before it gained them, Rocky’s Soul Blade punctured its chest, making the final primate gang member collapse lifelessly. In the moment of respite, Rocky saw that the last two groups of enemies on his side were already formed and charging his way.

  He glanced at his Ether bar and saw that he had approximately eighty-five of his original one hundred forty remaining. He hated doing it, but he grabbed an Ether Draught and chugged its content. It would only be half as effective due to his current debuffs. However, he couldn’t hold back. Rocky charged his Dark Blade ability with two stacks, loading fifty Ether points into the blade before he slashed horizontally along the ground at chest height. He had become used to the way that his Dark Blade acted during the Ottawa battles and the ensuing week of the hell march. So, Rocky had left the perfect space for the two segregated, black energy blades that shot out of his weapon to stretch from a foot above the ground to a maximum of six feet in the air.

  There were two primary energy blades which were separated by about five feet. In between each of the black slashes, static energy coalesced and dissipated continuously. As the edges sped towards the final four staggered groups, Rocky watched, hoping that none of the creatures would survive one of his most offensive and powerful abilities. A moment later, something akin to meat going through a grinder played out in front of him before the summoned ability buried and gouged into the rounded wall.

  Having gotten used to fighting powerful Master class enemies, Rocky just felt his stomach pang once at the grisly sight. Usually, this ability did some pretty hefty damage in the way of gashes and cuts, but this was something else entirely. Clamping down on his stomach’s single moment of disgust, Rocky turned to see who might need help and saw that everyone else in the group was finishing off their enemies with as much ease as Rocky had.

  A few short breaths later, a new counter popped up in the corner, accompanied by a message.

  Congratulations! You have earned the right to challenge the Champion.

  Monstar

  Level 22

  Journeyman-Spinner

  Good luck.

  Rocky gulped at the class name.

  Please don’t be a spider. Please don’t be a spider…

  He just kept repeating the words over and over in his head as the clock counted down to zero.

  Chapter Four

  Rocky spun in a fast circle, trying to see the indigo light that signaled the forming of a monster. A roar from Sela made him turn towards her feline form. She was looking up at the ceiling, and Rocky felt his heart fall. He glanced up.

  On the roof was an unmistakable indigo forming spider web with a massive ball of light, creating something in the middle.

  Damn it! How do we even attack it up there!?

  He looked at Zippo first, for obvious reasons, “Think you can burn the Spider or the web? Maybe force it to come down?”

  Straight faced, Zippo shrugged and formed two massive Fireballs, one in each hand. Then he just glanced up and waited to see his target. Again, his quiet demeanor created a pang deep in Rocky, but there was no time to try to talk to him now.

  Rocky glanced at his Dark Ether bar and saw it climbing slowly, inching back towards eighty points. He groaned and chugged back another Ether Draught. He watched a stack join his current debuff. Then he watched another one join the rest.

  Drunk 1

  You have drunk too much alcohol over a set period, and your body is slightly inebriated. If you consume more alcohol, this effect will worsen.

  -1 Intelligence

  -1 Agility

  -1 Dexterity

  Lasts 1 hour. Renews if more alcohol is consumed.

  Damnit, I forgot these potions have an alcoholic base.

  Considering he had been imbibing them every day, he assumed he’d just crossed some threshold because of the speed at which he had just consumed an additional two. Regardless, his Ether bar began climbing faster, and he readied his Dark Blade ability.

  Azoth roared as the massive Spider formed and fell the short distance on to its now physical web. Rocky mentally sent, “Stay on the ground. Attack it once we get it to come down here. If you go up there alone, you will probably get caught in its web.”

  Azoth, of course, took off, and Rocky swore inwardly. Zippo launched his first Fireball at the web right under the Spider, but the hot air balloon-size Spider just moved on the web and then used its legs to excise the burning portion.

  Rocky mentally screamed at Azoth, “Get back down here, right now!”

  Azoth’s response, which he must have sent to both Sela and himself based on her growl, was petulant, “No, you forgot the magic word!”

  “Please!” he shouted but saw Azoth increase his wing beats instead of coming down.

  Rocky could feel his heart speed up as an internal timer began beating out desperately. Azoth was in trouble. They needed to hurry. So, Rocky commanded, “Target the edges of its web, Zippo.” He also sent a single-charge Dark Blade at one of the edges of the web and quickly charged a second. Zippo flung his spell, and a large portion of the network began to burn and curl away from the fire that now coated the wall.

  The Spider let out an eerie wail as the web dropped a few feet because two of the supporting edges had just come away. Rocky sent his second Dark Blade skill at a third edge of the web and saw Zippo forming two more Fireballs. As soon as his ability severed the third connection to the wall, the web swung down towards the group. It pivoted on its remaining attachment and unfortunately acted like a fly swatter.

  Azoth, who was under the web, got struck from the sky by the sticky, crisscrossing strands. The momentum of the swinging Spider silk carried him into the wall, which cracked under the combined weight of the Chimera and the Spider.

  A glance at his own Dark Ether, which showed him he was nearly dry. Luckily, Zippo flung one of his two new Fireballs at the top of the now vertical web. As the final strands began to burn, the Spider seemed to vibrate with delight as Azoth began fighting against the sticky webbing, which started to tangle him up more.

  Rocky took off at a sprint and was happy to see Sela’s tail already in front of him by a good fifty meters. As they closed in on the trapped Chimera, the Spider moved with jerky quickness and was suddenly attempting to bite Azoth. They had a bit of luck on their side, as Azoth’s scorpion tail, somehow untrapped, lashed out, which barely held back the many-eyed arachnid. The Spider ducked and dodged a few desperate strikes before it dug two of its front legs into the shoulders of the giant Chimera.

  Azoth yowled in pain and anger, and his tail began lashing furiously at the two offending appendages. Unfortunately, the tail had now also become entangled, thanks to all the thrashing. This allowed the Spider to dart in with it
s fangs, biting into Azoth’s neck just as Sela arrived. She jumped on to the Spider’s back and sank her massive canines and claws into the bloated abdomen of the creature.

  As Rocky approached, the final strand on the ceiling released and dropped the three fighters from the roof into a massive pile on the ground, and a dust cloud formed at the area of impact. Azoth’s health bar was a sickly yellow in Rocky’s interface, and he felt his heart clench as he saw Sela’s bar drop from full to half in an instant.

  He cried out and leaped into the cloud, hoping he wouldn’t be too late for either of his closest friends. With his enhanced vision, he made out webbing in bundles everywhere and cut his way through, hoping to get a line of sight on Sela to cast Dark Mend. A few steps later, he saw what had done so much damage to his ancestral companion. The Spider was lying on its back with all eight legs above its body, rolling back and forth and attempting to flip on to its dagger-like feet. Each time the Spider rolled, it careened over a desperately clawing and furious black Sabretooth tiger.

  Rocky didn’t hesitate; he cast a double dose of Dark Mend on his companion and felt his head go light as he nearly bottomed out what was left of his Ether reserves. Then he closed the last distance with the creature who had just managed to flip over. Rocky swung and took off two of the eight legs simultaneously. Ichor liberally sprayed in every direction from the stumps, and he waded through it as the Spider backpedaled away.

  It tried to snap its fangs at him, attempting to keep him at a distance, as it retreated towards the wall. Rocky leaped towards the leg that it was using to support the retreating attack and struck, removing a third leg and unbalancing the creature further. Unfortunately, the roll he used to stand back up allowed the Spider to create more distance. He pulled a gravity grenade from his bag of holding, knowing it was the least damaging if his friends got caught in the crossfire. He needed to end this fight before it got up on the wall, or this fight might go on too long to save the survivors who may already be outside.

  He ran forward in a short burst, depressed the pin, and threw the oblong-shaped grenade directly towards the creature’s gaping mouth. The creature was already nearly at the wall in its desperate retreat when his throw sank home.

  Nothing but net!

  The arachnid continued up the wall as he ran to Sela and poured a Health Potion into her fanged mouth.

  As feline Sela swallowed, the Spider screeched angrily at them from the safety of the roof.

  Be careful what you eat!

  Then the Spider’s abdomen crunched in on itself with a wet pop. The chittering outrage and revenge turned into a short-lived squeak as the creature died instantly from the sudden internal blender. Rocky felt himself slowly rise into the air and realized that this was going to hurt when he came back down. He saw Sela and Azoth follow him up a moment later, and as he turned, he found Zippo also airborne.

  As if in slow motion, the Spider continued to shrink in on itself in fits and bursts, spraying ichor that would get caught in its own gravity before, suddenly, all that remained was a ball of Spider parts the size of a beach ball. The group floated forty feet off the ground, rotating in lazy circles for about thirty seconds.

  During that time, a notification popped up, and Rocky read it.

  Congratulations! You have completed the “Arena Dungeon.”

  Bonus:

  For the first completion of the Dungeon, your group has been awarded 180,000 personal Etherience per party member.

  The Dungeon has been classified as a Level 18 zone.

  51,923,149 Etherience remaining until level 23.

  Rocky had a single moment to realize he had leveled, then the ball and the group plummeted out of the air.

  Each person hit the ground hard, but Zippo and Azoth hit the hardest. Sela, being a cat, landed on her feet with ease. Rocky, due to his high Dexterity, Agility, and Strength, landed on his feet and turned any momentum left into a roll, which took a good third of his health and cracked some bones, but he otherwise remained uninjured. Zippo screamed out in abhorrent pain, and Azoth didn’t make a sound despite dropping to a quarter of his massive health pool.

  Unsure who to attend to first, Rocky was saved from choosing as Sela transformed back into a human and ran to Zippo. Rocky went to Azoth, whose health bar still flashed a sickly yellow, and used Analyze on the still form of the massive Chimera.

  Azoth

  Apprentice Dread-Chimera

  Level 21

  Paralyzed

  Health Points 204/965

  When Rocky walked around and looked into Azoth’s eyes, he saw them move to meet his. Then Azoth mentally sent, “Azoth, listen next time. Azoth, sorry. Rocky help Azoth?” Not sure what he could do, he shouldered the beast and pushed with all his might. He barely managed to turn the massive Chimera on to his side, so gave up on getting him upside down. Once Azoth was on his side, Rocky pulled out a Health Potion and poured it into the Chimera’s open mouth, attempting to turn the beast’s head and force gravity to take the elixir down its throat.

  “The only thing to do now is wait for Paralyze to elapse, I’m afraid,” he mentally told the birdbrain who breathed out a defeated, cat-like huff.

  “Rocky! Going to need an elixir and some possible healing over here,” Sela called over, and he bit his lip and ran over to check on Zippo.

  Zippo had broken both femurs and had coated the ground nearby liberally in vomit. His already pale complexion was very green. Looking at the boy, Rocky immediately took out the two remaining Health Potions and handed them to Sela. Then he whispered, “I am going to have to pull the bones back into alignment, buddy. This is probably going to hurt—”

  Zippo luckily passed out as Rocky pulled the first bone back into a semblance of the shape it was intended to have. It was a good thing he had conked out too because the second bone that Rocky was forced to move around had broken the skin. After both legs were straightened, Sela poured the two Health Potions down Zippo’s throat. Rocky checked his Ether pool and cast a Dark Mend on the boy to help speed the recovery on both legs.

  Just as they finished up with him, a voice called out, “As victors in the arena, I must inform you of the danger that is outside! There is a large group of humans coming to attack. I can let you out the back way and hold them inside if you would like. Would you like to use the back exit? Honor to the Gladiator!”

  Rocky groaned and looked around, hoping to find an object that he could speak to. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a prominent area that would house the Dungeon core. So Rocky appealed to the air, “There is an Ether Storm about to hit outside. That large group is with us, and we need this place for refuge. Our group was sent to clear the cave. Can you please let them in?”

  There was an extended period of silence before the same emotionless voice quoted, “Gladiators, under Atlantian Law Special Allowances twenty-one dash one-zero-zero subrule one A, asylum will be granted to groups in dire need. Your group will be given refuge here due to the bravery of the initial combatants.” As the Dungeon spoke, Rocky heard grinding of what must have been the massive stone door that had fallen and closed his group in. A moment later, screaming could be heard as people rushed into the cavern.

  By the sounds of the wind down the tunnel, the storm had already arrived, and it was a close thing for the survivors. The tail end of the survivors looked really bad, with clothes and skin stained blue. Anywhere the blue liquid touched skin, it seemed to sink into the person, and the area instantly bruised. Those individuals began to shake as Rocky screamed out, “If you have any of it on your clothing, take it off now! Anyone who didn’t get any of the rain on them, move away from the others.”

  Once everyone was through the entrance, the Dungeon resealed the door with a grating sound. As the door closed, Rocky heard Joe shout into a held radio, “Hunker down, button up the hatch, and don’t stick your head out until we come for you.” He paused for a moment. “Swap out the air in the morning using the turret. Who knows how long this will last? Whatever you
do, don’t let any get on you.”

  After the initial confusion and fear, Rocky was looking at a group of about a thousand shaking individuals who were staring back with eyes filled with fear. He queried the remaining group if anyone had spare clothes or blankets for the afflicted, and soon, the thousand or so sickly individuals were huddled together as Rocky, Joe, and Sela deliberated.

  “I Analyzed one of them, and it doesn’t seem like anything is wrong.” Rocky’s words were punctuated with another individual falling over unconscious, so he amended, “At least nothing that I can figure out.”

  Joe looked over at the huddled and scared group and then back at the two others. “Honestly, the door opened just after the storm hit.” He looked back at the door they entered through. “I was about to order people to head back and try to make it into the tanks.”

  He took a long breath and let it out before completely breaking down, “That would have probably killed everyone, though. What about the soldiers in the tanks? I don’t even know if they’re waterproof. I should be out there with them. I left no one in charge.”

  Rocky placed a hand on his shoulder, which steadied the man. He breathed in and out for a long moment before his military calm took control again, and he addressed Sela and Rocky, “We lost a hundred or so out in the tunnel. If they got hit by too much of the ‘rain’, they just went into instant convulsions. I was forced to abandon those who fell because the ‘rain’ was too copious.”

  Then his eyes softened, and his voice changed to entreaty, “Please guys, we can’t lose any more–” His head snapped to Sela, and his look took on hope, “ Sela?”