BANG!
"GHLOOOOUU." With a resounding Thump. The huge beast fell dead to the ground, the last of its head exploding into greenish viscera and yellow blood from an accurate shotgun blast.
+500
"Huff... Ah, that was the last one..." Adryan exhaled a little, catching his breath. The barrel of his shotgun slid and moved, throwing an empty shell to the ground with a satisfying click.
Even for a Hunter, running from 7 angry Margwa would knock the wind out of him.
Slipping a hand into a random pocket of his jacket, he quickly loaded his weapon. The shells popped out as if by magic from his pocket.
Being a weapon created out of thin air, just like the information on how to use it like a pro that was inadvertently inserted into his brain, the ammunition would come from wherever it was most convenient. Intending to reload would be enough to manifest the shells in the pocket where his hand was.
Of course, it was not unlimited. In his head, the number of shells he had left in reserve appeared every time he reloaded.
"How are you doing for rounds?" Looking up, he glanced at his group, which was also slightly agitated from running.
Especially a certain Marauder.
"Huff! Huff!" Flora was trying to catch her breath. On shaky legs, she was leaning against the wall with one hand. Her face was red from the marathon she had just done, and the shotgun strap slipped a little from her shoulder.
"You all right there, Miss Worm?"
"I need, Huff, one second, Huff... Urgh..." Choking a little on her saliva, the Jacob could only cough a little.
Unlike Hunter and Prisoner, a Marauder didn't have the same physical augmentations, being practically a normal person. It also didn't help that she had never been the physical type.
Laughing slightly at the airless Flora, Adryan turned to the gothic duo.
"And you, pups?"
"We're doing well," Maric replied, finishing loading his shotgun. His eyes glancing up at the sky every now and then somewhat nervously, a bit of sweat dripping from his forehead, sticking his hair to it.
Sharron nodded, her breathing somewhat ragged.
"Next time, you two will come in hunting clothes," Adryan commented flatly, not wanting to think about how uncomfortable it was to run in heels.
The women looked at him for a moment before nodding slightly.
Sighing, the red-haired man throned his neck slightly and looked around at the abandoned fruit shops and the lone carriage.
Having fled from the Margwa, they had returned to the Junction through the door he had opened earlier.
Taking several deep breaths, Flora straightened up and looked up, her eyes trembling slightly.
The sky, once filled with black storm clouds, was now a malicious crimson color. Red lightning streaked across the city, striking the sea and some buildings on the shore.
Among those lightning bolts, shadowy figures were illuminated, their shadows casting a gloomy fate. Colossal tentacles were moving vertically through the black clouds. She could not see it, but she could feel it beyond the red storm clouds and the burning sky.
Something was approaching slowly but surely.
'This is...' Swallowing some saliva, Flora was unable to contain the shiver that ran through her body.
Her mind couldn't help but recall the several times her partner spoke of the Scarlet Monarch's goal and why he was forming a team...
To survive the Apocalypse that would strike the world in the future.
"Adryan... Is that what you meant by saving this world from destruction?" In a wary voice, the Jacob looked at his companion.
Her words carried within them another silent question that she was sure he caught.
"..."
Adryan looked up at the horror in the stormy sky. His expression was stone, showing no emotion.
He felt that his mind wanted to wander a little into the dark future of the world outside the tower, but he held his mind back, focusing on the present.
So, ignoring the dark fate that awaited him, he responded with a pop of his tongue, "Eyup."
Jacob's raised eyebrows lowered, and she folded her arms in a deep frown. A vein could be seen running down her neck.
"...You don't know how much I hate you."
Rolling his shoulders a little and seeing that his team had mostly recovered, Adryan slung his shotgun on his back and started down the stairs toward the abandoned station. "Come on, we still have an egg to boil."
Gritting her teeth, Flora scuffed and arranged the shotgun better at her side, fitting like a purse. She elegantly pulled her hair back with one hand and grumbled a little.
It was too hot in here.
...
"Hyaa!-Crunch!!!
+130
Crushing the head of the last zombie with his boot, Adryan watched as an illusory little white ball burst out of the zombie's body and bolted into his egg.
A light and somewhat elegant music played through the train station. The red-haired man raised his arm and watched the red number change to a three.
With a new round starting, he turned to his team and quickly explained:
"To fill the egg, we must kill 10 to 12 zombies. Don't over think it, you'll know when it's filled so don't think about it. Just so you remember, everyone will have to fill their own eggs; we can't do it for each other. To make it faster, we will all be together for the zombies to come to us.
"Once one fills their corresponding egg they will not kill anymore, they will stay here and help surround the zombies so that the missing ones can load their eggs faster.
"We should be done in one or two more rounds." Adryan finished with a short sigh.
It had been a long time since he had spent time explaining something. He felt like a uni professor now.
'If I was a Knowledge Keeper, I'm sure the potion would be melting in my belly...'
"URGHHHH AHHH!!!" A loud, unearthly, almost inhuman scream echoed through the train station.
From the corners and dragging its way out of the ground, a zombie came out with crazy grunts and screams, and as soon as its body was released, it ran off with good speed towards them.
Sighing a little, the red-haired man raised his shotgun and, without finishing exhaling all the air, pulled the trigger.
Bang!
...
Bang!
Another empty shell fell into the ground, along with another headless zombie. The same small, illusory white ball bolted up to his egg, which glowed for an instant.
Gong!
"And that would be it. Sigh." Bored and loading his shotgun, the red-haired man walked over and grabbed his egg, the tentacle wrapped around it, gracefully releasing it.
Unlike before, when it was a pale rotten green, the egg now filled with zombie souls glowed a soft light blue like a precious gem. Its weight remained the same, and it now gently pulsed in his palm.
Glancing at his group—who also had their own filled eggs on hand—and smelling the opportunity in the air, Adryan couldn't help but provoke with an obvious fake concern in his voice. "Does this make us parents? Oh, Flora! We're not even married. What will your parents think!?"
A delicate eyebrow quivered, and the aforementioned gave him an exasperated look, "You're a child."
"Anyone born in this epoch would be next to you, Dear Miss Worm."
Such a comment caused the gothic duo to look at her, their eggs in hand. Sharron's head slightly tilted to one side, her eyes glinting slightly.
"You..." Groaning, Flora quickly regained her control and huffed a little.
Ignoring the man's bright smile and the curious, quizzical looks she was receiving, Flora looked down at her egg and could only grumble and tuck it away in a hidden pocket of her skirt.
'Elegance, beauty, and not to mention utility. One shouldn't expect anything less from a Jacob.' Internally praising the tailor in charge of his beloved worm's dress, the redhead and his group left the Port District and returned to the train station under the Junction.
Walking to the altar hidden under the brick archway, Adryan took out the light blue egg and held it up. The egg began to pulse slightly as it approached a specific sword,
Bringing the egg close to it, its vibration intensified, and before he could react, it escaped from his hand and embedded itself in the third sword. Symbols glowed around it.
As soon as it did so, the egg began to break rapidly and then fragment. In its place was a small blue-green ball, much like an eye.
With all that done, the red-haired man with a gloved hand grabbed the sword's hilt and pulled.
Blurgh!
With a strange vomit-like regurgitation, the sword was released, revealing a white curved blade similar to a bone. It was covered with dark green goo. The blade itself burned with a delicate aqua-green flame that danced softly, giving the sensation of being on the beach at night tide.
Shaking it slightly, Adryan was a little surprised to feel the power contained in the blade.
"to... mo... bad... bad... blah... mald"
Unfamiliar murmurs that seemed to come from an unknown place assaulted his ears. The voices were ghostly and gloomy, sweet but also bitter. They tempted him to listen to them, but the redhead's expressionless face remained.
Thanks to the constant use of the Burnt Band, Adryan had a lot of experience in that. He ignored them, and after trying a few moves, he placed the bone sword on his waist by his belt.
As soon as he let go of the handle, the murmurs faded completely, and the slight assault on his mind was gone as if it had never been there.
"Well? What do you think of the singing?"
Maric snorted, stowing his bone sword at his waist, "It's nothing."
The ever-silent Sharron stood to the side with nothing to mention—the sword at her right waist.
"Your voice is worse," Flora added disinterestedly, her sword hanging on her back.
Snorting in amusement at her worm's comment, Adryan raised his wrist. The numbers were manifesting.
Points: 5250
Round: 6
Lowering his arm, he looked at his group. "We're almost done, but before we start the final part, we'd better upgrade our weapons."
"Magic method?" Flora questioned with a bored eyebrow. Ever since she bought a shotgun by touching a chalk drawing, she had already given up on using logic here.
" Eyup," Adryan nodded. He then looked at the rest. "How many points do you have?"
...
Climbing the stairs to the Junction, Maric looked at the weapon in his hands, somewhat dazed.
All sorts of mysticism-filled symbols burned all over the body of the shotgun. Sealed by magma itself and pulsing, wishing to release the great power that filled every part of it.
The name of this new weapon was whispered to him as soon as he took it back from that strange structure.
Dagon's Glare
The weapon in his hands vibrated loudly as if it heard its name being called.
"Was it vital to upgrade them?" Maric consulted, placing the shotgun on his back. 'This floor gets stranger by the second.'
"Now we'll be facing more of those big boys quite often. We'll need the firepower." Adryan replied without looking back, his own Dagon's Glare resting on his shoulder.
"How many more of those guys will we have to kill?" Flora consulted, walking a few steps behind him, her heels making a soft tap tap tap tap.
Adryan tapped his chin for a moment, quickly adding up the remaining rituals to be done: "Mmm... Between 16 and 32, if we're lucky, it'll only be 23. But the way things are going, it's more likely to be 29."
The group's expression immediately soured. With Flora grimacing and Maric frowning and making a tsk, Sharron's only show was an almost imperceptible tick on her eyebrow.
"Don't be babies." Adryan rolled his eyes slightly at his team. Finally, set foot in the Junction.
Approaching where they had first awakened, the redhead nodded in satisfaction as he watched as a blood-red ritualistic circle manifested on the ground, right in the middle of the Junction.
The sword at his waist began to dip slightly, placing a hand on the pommel to keep it from falling. He advanced to the front.
The unique trio only glanced at the summoning circle on the floor, not stopping to follow the man.
Climbing the stairs to the rooftop and returning to the magician's hall, where they performed the first ritual, the trio was surprised to see one of those guardians hovering above the altar.
But, unlike the ones they had seen, this one was illusory; a bright green ghostly green made up his body that seemed to be made of energy.
Its slender arms were outstretched. Between them was an egg similar to the one they filled earlier. But unlike the other one, which was greenish white, this one was obsidian black, with what appeared to be cold lava covering its body.
The sword was vibrating even more, the eye releasing a solid glow.
"It doesn't seem to like whatever that is," Flora said curiously, her hand on her sword vibrating that was vibrating but not as hard.
"These guys are their mortal enemies," Adryan said as he reached up and grabbed the egg.
It felt like touching glass and was much lighter.
He could only let out an internal sigh of relief as he tucked it away in his jacket, his sword buzzing and quivering in discontent.
'I was a little worried that we would have to go ritual by ritual proving who was who, but luckily, my theory was correct. Whoever grabbed the worm is the owner of the egg of the place.'
Increasing his grip on the handle, he turned his attention to Maric, "You're next."
...
The last of the fantastic guardians lowered its arms, the egg it held now in the hands of Flora, who looked at it out of curiosity for a few moments and then put it away.
She approached the group by stepping down from the red podium of the theater, which looked more like a brothel cubicle.
"Okay, we'll make this as quick as possible," Adryan began, walking up the carpeted stairs toward the theater's exit.
"We're on round 6; if we do everything right, we should be done by round 14. Sure, if there are no setbacks."
Leaving the theater, the group stopped a few steps from the exit.
In front of the theater, just like the previous ritual sites, there was a circle made of blood, only now, it was releasing crimson ashes from all over its body.
Adryan approached the circle but did not enter it but stood a few feet away from it.
He pulled the egg out of his pocket, which was now emitting a bit of heat, warm to the touch.
"Ready?"
During the egg-gathering trip, he took the opportunity to explain the last parts of what they had left to do so the whole group knew what to expect.
They all nodded, with their weapons raised. Sharron even moved the barrel slide.
Adryan looked at her for a few moments, the image somewhat bizarre but extremely funny. His lips twitched slightly, the perfect comparison in his mind almost drawing a laugh from him.
'A Commando Barbie... A Gothic Victorian Commando Barbie!'
"Pff..."
He shook his head and said, "Maric and I will take the right. You take the left."
That said, the redhead placed a foot in the summoning circle, and as soon as his boot made contact with the blood, it flared up a bit.
Reaching out, Adryan raised the obsidian egg to the middle of the ritual circle. As soon as the egg was in position, a light shot out from the center of the circle and struck the egg, suspending it in the air.
The ritual circle burst into crimson flames, all its symbols burning with power.
The next instant, to the right and left of the theater, two yellow spheres with greenish-black smoke manifested.
Two huge Margwas appeared shortly thereafter. They roared into the air with their mouths open, their welcome gift ready to be delivered.
With the Dagon's Glare aimed at their respective targets, the group pulled the triggers.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"GHLOOOOUU." With pitiful roars, the huge beasts fell dead, the smoke that surrounded them without yet having dispersed mingled with the smoke from their bodies as they evaporated.
Adryan smiled at this.
One thing that was discovered quite sometime after the release of Black Ops 3 was that if you had a weapon with sufficient damage and a high rate of fire, it was possible to kill the Margwas without them spawning.
Shotguns were the best at that, and there was no better than the KRM.
Loading a shell for the shot he had fired, Adryan pulled the barrel.
"Let's finish this shitty floor."