Overlord of the Dungeon (In the System Book #4): LitRPG Series Page 2

  I didn’t have a way, so I just went about my business and waited until the situation resolved in one way or another. There was no way I could travel to Japan to look for the raven. However, a little radiation wouldn’t kill him, otherwise, we’d just find a new body for him, even better than the last one. In the meantime, I showed foresight and ordered a new, galvanized cage for my pet. I’m kidding… What else could I do?

  Plus, I didn’t get much rest, with another patient brought to the base on the second day. An old man who, judging by his appearance, was already in his late nineties. In a fancy ambulance, accompanied by a medical team and an impressive escort. I was also given additional crystals for his treatment, and I spent five sessions making the old man look twenty years younger. He certainly changed his mind about dying and left the base in an ordinary car. All without saying a word to me, only leaving another business card with a phone number and nothing else. I didn’t know who he was, but judging by the fact that he was brought to a secret facility, he was someone important… But not in the public eye. Well, I’d seen plenty of them.

  The problem was that my importance only grew with each patient. Despite all the agreements, I was a valuable resource that needed to be used now, before I disappeared on another mission. I’m sure such thoughts had occurred to the country’s leadership more than once.

  I was the strongest healer by far among the players. There were several other healers according to intelligence data. For example, the US president was now looking better and there were even rumors that he might nominate for a new term. His seventh… or eighth? The amendment to the constitution, which prevented a president from being elected more than twice, had been cancelled at the beginning of this century, and since then, there had been stability and order.

  Another healer was from China. Unfortunately, “was” being the operative word — her death during one of the missions had been officially confirmed. An American healer had also been killed, and not by the monsters. He was shot by a sniper. The information was classified, but my access level was high enough to get access to the report. It seemed not everyone liked the idea of their president living forever…

  With all this happening, the media whipped up further anxiety by devoting 90% of the airtime to the situation in Japan. The Leviathan, players, catastrophe, UN meeting, politicians speaking… What to do and who was to blame. The internet wasn’t far behind, with its own peculiarities… The whole world was grieving. About the dead, about the historical monuments or rare animals, about unique factories and the collapsed economy, and some about the disrupted release of a new anime, manga or game…

  The main problem was solved suddenly and completely unexpectedly. As sometimes happens, the plan to do nothing worked. All the unstable reactors at the stations suddenly disappeared, as if they had never existed. The so-called experts offered different opinions, but direct divine intervention prevailed. It was a very frightening idea, because what prevented the gods from not just removing the reactor, but transporting it to the lawn in front of the White House? Or simply whisking the president from his bed?

  Five plants that were far enough away from the epicenter remained untouched. Thanks to them, Japan hadn’t yet plunged into complete darkness and continued to flounder on the edge of the abyss.

  However, the main thing was that the situation had changed again. The typhoon raging in the region began to move towards the Korean Peninsula. It was time for all interested parties to act, myself included.

  * * *

  We were on board the Varyag guided missile cruiser, which was built in the USSR and, despite its forty-year history, remained in service and was the flagship of the Pacific Fleet. The expedition also included three large landing crafts, a couple of anti-submarine ships, a destroyer, a corvette, and a dozen civilian vessels, including five fishing trawlers. They were supposed to collect tissue samples from the Leviathan. Several submarines were also accompanying the convoy, but their exact number remained a secret. All the ships had their own numbers and names, but I didn’t go into the details. After all, this was a research and rescue expedition, not an invasion, and no battles were planned. We could have managed with a smaller force, but it wasn’t up to me.

  I was glad that I’d managed to orchestrate this rescue mission at all. My pet was no secret, and my desire to find the raven had been met with understanding. But my desire to personally go to Japan met a less enthusiastic response. It was strange that they let me go after all. Perhaps they thought that it was no more dangerous than remaining in the Russian capital in the current conditions? Or were they afraid that I would rebel? Players couldn’t really be controlled, and attempts to keep them by force had little chance of success. The resistance was short-lived, and the plan began to take shape quickly.

  Shortly before that, the UN had put out another resolution, calling for all possible assistance to be provided to Japan, and Russia was one of the first to respond. Our group had to simply join the convoy.

  The entire main group, numbering ten players, plus a company of guards, were going. The men assigned to ensure our safety were aware of the situation. They had been trained for the role of ‘units’ or, if they were unlucky, to provide combat support. They were normally training in a separate program and provided security for the base. Only the three members of the reserve group and the newcomers remained in Moscow.

  The flight to Vladivostok took nine hours and was completely uneventful, except that the group was divided in two. As Eva said darkly, in case one of the planes crashed. What happened in Tokyo had really affected her, and I was impressed that she’d refused to be replaced.

  Air communication with Japan had been partially restored. The first planes carrying aid and rescue teams were flying to the islands, but we couldn’t use this route. Honshu was in chaos, the transport system had been destroyed, and even if we could land safely, it would be difficult to reach the epicenter of the disaster.

  Upon arrival, we were loaded onto ships, and an agonizing wait followed. The fleet set out six hours later than planned and without everyone. Time was lost while we waited for the delivery of vital goods and for urgent repairs. Some of the ships turned out to be ‘in full combat readiness’ only on paper. Half of the convoy was made up of civilian vessels, recruited and conscripted into the operation.

  Considering that we could only move as fast as the slowest vessels, the convoy’s speed did not exceed fifteen knots. We had nine hundred nautical miles ahead of us, which would take about two and a half days, according to preliminary calculations.

  * * *

  The first half of the journey was across open sea, so people preferred to remain in their cabins. There was nothing to look at, and I was reluctantly allowed on deck, and only with a safety line. Quite tedious concern for my well-being.

  “I hate the sea.” I added another item to my list.

  Especially if it was choppy and you had to watch the waves from aboard the ship, and not from the comforting and motionless shore. The deck swayed under my feet. It wasn’t a storm, but six or seven points. This didn’t cause nausea since a high-level player’s body was significantly tougher than that of an ordinary person, but irritation. Many people here had it much worse.

  “Damn this swaying,” muttered Eva, pale and leaning over the side. She seemed to be considering parting with the contents of the stomach. “I hate ships…”

  Unlike my words, which were a tribute to tradition, there was a lot more conviction in her voice. Although I didn’t think she chose the right object for her dislike…

  “You’re not craving salty foods, are you?”

  “I don’t think so. If I do, it’ll be your fault, anyway,” the girl reacted sluggishly. “Only it’s a little early for nausea. Don’t look at me like that, I’m just kidding. I’m not stupid – I’m on the pill. I doubt the System will give me maternity leave, and the first goblin will kill me with a belly. If these waves don’t get me first...”

  This question, like many othe
rs, required further study and verification. It was quite possible that some protective mechanisms did exist. At least, I didn’t know of any cases when completely unfit players had been drawn into a mission.

  “I’m sorry,” I sighed. “It was a bad joke, wasn’t it?”

  “That’s right. If you want to have any sex today, then do something already.”

  Suppressing another inappropriate joke about ‘alleviating suffering’, I touched her forehead and activated Healing. Tsk, tsk... Wasting such an ability on sea sickness.

  The girl moaned slightly, this time with pleasure. The process was quite comfortable — for the patient. My mana dropped to zero again, leaving behind a sucking feeling of emptiness. The fact that I couldn’t dose the Healing power was pretty annoying. However, I’d noticed that the magical background in the region was higher and becoming more so as we approached the islands. Thanks to my newly acquired meditation, the regeneration rate had almost doubled…

  “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” I nodded. “I hope this stays between us. Otherwise, I’ll spend the rest of the trip meditating.”

  A full third of the passengers were experiencing sea sickness on the flagship, and I couldn’t help them all, nor did I want to. Adversity makes you stronger, if it doesn’t kill you first. I looked at the three ‘bodyguards’ unobtrusively monitoring the situation, unclipped the safety line, and headed back to the cabin.

  * * *

  We reached the shores of Japan a day later, close to one o’clock in the afternoon. The fleet entered the Tsugaru Strait, separating Honshu and Hokkaido. While things were very bad on the first island, the second one hadn’t suffered as much. I mean, there were thousands of dead, widespread destruction and billions in losses on Hokkaido as well, but order was going to be restored as soon as possible.

  Military planes appeared in the sky several times, reminding us that the American Misawa Air Base was nearby. Of the six US bases on Honshu, three had been in the Tokyo area and were completely destroyed, along with most of the fleet. This included the flagship, the Blue Ridge command ship, the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, and a bunch of smaller ships.

  The other three bases — Iwakuni, Sasebo and Misawa — had been damaged but retained their combat capability. In addition, the tropical Okinawa and the two air bases located there were in perfect order, nor had the main American base on the island of Guam been damaged. We were expecting reinforcements from there soon. However, the road was long, and our ‘competitors’ were cut off by the typhoon, so our expedition was going to be one of the first. We had to make use of this advantage.

  However, the Americans didn’t interfere with us in any way. They had enough on their plate, and our fleet wouldn’t have come if certain agreements hadn’t been reached. The cargo on one of the ships was actually intended for the American bases.

  After all, the official and primary purpose of this operation was providing humanitarian aid and evacuating civilians. Dozens of hastily formed expeditions were currently on the way here. Even though there was no one to accept the offer and, from a legal point of view, it could be perceived in different ways. Almost the entire Japanese government had died, for although there was a government bunker, no one had time to reach it, nor was it designed to remain underwater for so long.

  Of course, some precautions were taken, and most countries publicly guaranteed Japan’s security and sovereignty. Meanwhile, the United States was helping their ally form a new government in Sapporo, the largest city on Hokkaido. It was mostly made up of regional officials. According to rumors, Katsunobu, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, was going to be the new head of cabinet. He didn’t have the most high-profile position, but he had been on a visit to France during the disaster and thus remained alive. Unlike his thirteen deceased or missing colleagues. This was a brief digression into geopolitics, since we needed to know what we were heading into.

  After passing through the strait, the fleet split up as some of the ships headed for the Kuril Islands, which had also sustained significant damage. Dozens of dead and destruction, yet we had gotten off lightly compared to our neighbors. Nevertheless, our government was taking advantage of the situation and was planning to set up a military base and refugee camp on one of the islands. In the old days, a move like this on the disputed islands would have caused an international scandal, but now, there was no one left to protest.

  The second half of the fleet turned west, heading along the coast towards Tokyo, or what was left of it…

  * * *

  The eastern coast, which we followed for the next day, was a terrible sight to behold. Although the salvage operation was in full swing, there were nowhere near enough people or equipment. Most of the destruction was left as it was, with the focus on rescuing survivors. The dead could wait.

  The further we went, the more swollen corpses we saw floating in the water. At first, we tried to fish them out and place them in cold storage for later burial, but it quickly became apparent that there was little point in this. There were far too many bodies.

  It was difficult to even estimate the Japanese losses, but the number of dead was clearly in the millions. Perhaps even tens of millions. The figure was so huge that it was impossible to comprehend. The fate of a few thousand players no longer seemed so important and global in comparison.

  There was a benefit, however. What was previously a squabble over a new resource by those at the top had suddenly turned into the biggest human tragedy. The Japanese catastrophe was being compared to the disappearance of Atlantis. I wasn’t the only one who came up with this analogy, and smart people were asking themselves certain questions. Why did this happen? Could it happen again? China had taken the initiative to create an international center to consolidate, study and counter the new threat. It was an important step, although it was difficult to say whether it was for good or for worse.

  The radiation level was being constantly monitored, and so far, it was only 1.5-2 times higher than normal, although this still wasn’t great news. Not that I was afraid of dying from cancer, with everything else going on.

  Attention! Would you like to accept a local F-rank mission? (0/1)!

  Yes/No

  Time remaining: 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

  “Yep, definitely not going to happen…”

  “Son of a...” Warlock swore. “What are we going to do, Commander? Draw straws?”

  At least half of the group was in the mess room, and everyone’s reaction was roughly the same. It was more annoyance than fear. Single-person missions of this kind tended to be simple and didn’t pose much danger, although one could never be sure.

  “We wait,” I said. “Nobody accept the mission, I’ll discuss the situation with leadership. Khan, warn the others, we don’t need heroes here. If the mission doesn’t disappear, we’ll land and then decide.”

  Ships don’t stand still, and if a person left on a mission while we were moving, returning to the starting point was difficult. It was easier to drop a volunteer off and leave the cover group to await their return. However, there was no need to rush. There was a helicopter on board for emergencies, so we could bring someone ashore in fifteen minutes.

  We didn’t know how large the mission area was, but there was a possibility that someone else would be drawn into it. Or that a person would volunteer. There were rumors that many new players had been initiated on the island, so there were enough other candidates. Finally, we could simply leave the conscription zone, which also varied in size.

  In that moment, the message blinked and disappeared. It looked like someone had accepted the mission. The problem had solved itself, although it was worth thinking about the reasons.

  * * *

  “Over there!” One of the sailors shouted. “A kraken!”

  I turned in the direction he was pointing and saw several tentacles appear, grab a floating body and pull it under the water. I had just enough time to cast Identification.

  Small Slime, Kraken
type. Rank F. Level 3.

  As expected. This wasn’t the first time we’d spotted the creatures, so there was a reason I was on deck, although I had to wait two whole hours to see it with my own eyes.

  The size, level and rank of the creature was a surprise. It was similar in size to an E-ranked Large Slime, yet it was only a Spider that had levelled up a little. The creature had fattened up on the corpses, but there was no one for it to kill here, so its level wasn’t increasing. Not the best news, but there was plenty of food in the sea right now…

  Tentacles flashed in the water again, dragging down another corpse. Shots rang out, but it would be hard to hit the heart like this. If we used the fishing ships, we could probably trap the kraken using nets… Especially if they were made out of something durable. But this was an idea for the future.

  * * *

  As we approached Tokyo, we were met by a lone American destroyer that set a parallel course. I guessed she had been one of the lucky ones stationed at Sasebo Base on the western tip of the island, far enough from the epicenter. It was a transshipping base, so there weren’t many ships there.