Defending Earth (In the System Book #3): LitRPG Series Read online

  It was difficult to transport the raven as a pet in a cage. I’d have had to collect quite a lot of certificates, and I wouldn’t have been able to sneak him through on a mission. We’d discussed the issue and worked out a solution before I allowed him to be resurrected. The raven could go into ‘suspended animation’, which allowed him to remain in the bag, but for a very limited time. We didn’t know for how long exactly, but Legion claimed it was about a day. After that, he’d have to either go into an even deeper sleep, or die and return to a disembodied state. He had been very reluctant to climb into his ‘coffin’ and only did so after I put his share of the crystals at the bottom.

  “Get up, you faker,” I said. “We don’t have much time.”

  Without paying him any more attention, I put the box back in my bag and continued to prepare for the upcoming fight. Ignoring him did the trick, and the raven raised his head.

  “I almost suffocated to death! You should give me a crystal as compensation.”

  “You spent less than twelve hours in the bag. Besides, I don’t have any extra crystals,” I responded wearily. It seemed amusing at first, but the raven made continuous attempts to take some of my strategic resource. Moreover, having received his share of the stones, he didn’t even think to spend them on his own development, but lay them around his ‘nest’ and admired the sparkle.

  “The crystals… I can feel them nearby.”

  “Don’t even think about it,” I interrupted. “See the portal? I can’t be completely sure, but there should be crystals on the other side. So, stop playing dead and let’s head over there, before someone else kills all the invaders and removes the crystals from their bodies.

  “The crystals!”

  The raven flipped over, leaped up, spread his wings, and dove like an arrow into the portal. His enthusiasm was contagious, so I activated Invisibility and followed. Even if I had a couple of minutes left, they weren’t enough to make a difference.

  * * *

  Forest. I didn’t normally do much hiking at this time of the year. Although the encroaching winter had little effect in the cities, no one plowed the snow here, and it melted much more slowly. As a result, the ground was covered in white, and I landed ankle-deep in a snowdrift. It didn’t really interfere with movement, but the tracks I left behind significantly reduced the effectiveness of my main advantage, Invisibility.

  “I hate the woods,” I muttered as I inspected my environment. The raven appeared overhead and made a wide circle. “Legion, keep an eye on our surroundings. Warn me if you see any enemies... or anything else worthwhile.”

  The raven’s Perception hadn’t dulled when he’d acquired the body, quite the opposite. In fact, his powers of observation were far superior to those of a human, so with a scout like him, there was little danger of an enemy sneaking up on me.

  “Bri, your job is to stay close,” I said, releasing the second ghost from my bag. “Make sure no one attacks us from behind.”

  I thought about my allies, first and foremost. There were enough fools in this world, and someone could well decide that my bag would serve them better. And I was planning to give them machine guns... I doubted the System would react to a murder committed with firearms as a violation of the rules. There wouldn’t be any experience points, after all.

  “Yes, boss,” Bri confirmed, hovering over my shoulder for a moment and then disappearing. Even if the ghost was a little dim-witted, I’d had no problems with him. The perfect servant.

  I could see no tracks in the snow so far, which meant I still had time. The first thing I did was activate the beacon. The device thought about it for a little while, then issued a message about a connection being established with the satellite and showed me the coordinates. Latitude... longitude... I hadn’t paid much attention in Geography at school, so I couldn’t determine the exact spot on the globe, but it seemed to be somewhere in Russia... It was enough for now, so I didn’t take out my phone to contact ‘command’ and call for reinforcements. Unless a miracle happened, the cavalry would arrive too late. Record the outcome, explore the territory, collect any corpses and weapons, and get their hands on any loot.

  “Human!” the raven announced.

  Turning my head, I saw a player kneeling in the snow. A dark-haired man in his thirties. Judging by the untouched snow all around him, he’d just stepped through the portal. In the last few seconds, it seemed.

  “Hey, over here!” The player flinched, turned to me with his sword raised, and froze. He looked frightened at first, but then relaxed a little. Even if my equipment looked unexpected, the System indicated allies, and he could see my nickname. Just like I could see his. Level 1.

  “I’m Vasily,” I introduced myself anyway. “You know who I am, right?”

  “Of course. You’re one of the Alliance leaders.” he nodded. “I’m Warlock from the second squad. So, what’s the plan?”

  Well, at least he wasn’t going to challenge my seniority. Smart. Although the fact that he was from the American squad meant I couldn’t trust him completely.

  “Carry out the mission. First, we need to gather as many of our people as possible, and divide the weapons. Have you served in the army? Do you know how to use a submachine gun?”

  “I haven’t, but I know how to use it. I’ve prepared for this, studied the theory and even went to a shooting range a couple of times.”

  That made life easier. At least he didn’t talk about his extensive experience in Counter-Strike. Taking the submachine gun, he confidently flicked the safety off.

  “Here’s a walkie-talkie. You’ve already got a number, 4,024, if I’m not mistaken?”

  Of course, I meant his position within the Alliance — people with a System number below 7,000 were Level 2 at least.

  “T-that’s right,” he stammered. “You remember me?”

  “It’s not that hard, Bogdan. Especially if one pumps one’s Intelligence up to ten.”

  The most surprising thing was that I remembered this number simply because I’d carefully studied the Alliance lists and the received abilities. Not everyone had obeyed and provided the necessary information, but he’d been one of the loyal ones. The poor guy hadn’t been lucky, though, and had ended up with the almost useless Improved Sense of Smell. Or, on the contrary, something so interesting that he’d decided to lie. Judging by his twitching red nose, I didn’t think so…

  A terrible scream came from somewhere in the distance, and I automatically checked the participant counter for this ‘soiree’.

  Remaining players: 97/100.

  Three had already died. A stark reminder that we need to hurry up before the alien monsters devoured us one by one.

  * * *

  The landing area was quite large, but we quickly found three more players thanks to Legion. Khan, a Buryat, was armed with a spear and could Control Emotions. Level 2. Aitvaras had a sword and the special ability of Strong Bones. He was also Level 2. And finally, Eva, armed with a naginata. Level 1. She’d been luckier with her special skill, for the System had given her Magic Eyes, which she ironically called Sharingan. Judging by her red eyes, covered in a network of burst capillaries, the name was quite apt.

  It wasn’t difficult to notice that even random abilities were most often given according to the user’s specifications. People who had neither Wisdom nor Faith rarely possessed really strong skills. Simple abilities were inferior to their magical counterparts, while purely System abilities were rare and much less flexible. The desire to obtain mana in the absence of access to the skill market was another argument in favor of the gods.

  Out of the three, only Khan had served in the army and knew how to handle a submachine gun, while the others only ‘knew the theory’. In other words, they had followed the Alliance recommendations. The missions served as a kind of natural selection, so fools had been eliminated first.

  My idea to bring warm clothes also turned out to be correct. We probably wouldn’t have frozen to death in three hours, but even a light
frost was distracting. Plus, the fur hats looked quite charming.

  “I can smell blood,” Warlock announced. “Over there...” The squad turned in the direction he’d indicated and soon reached the site of the battle. Murder, more accurately. All that was left of the player was a pool of blood and scraps of clothing. No body, weapons or artifacts. It was, however, highly unlikely that they’d left here on their own two feet. The numerous animal tracks clearly showed that the corpse had been dragged away by... wolves? A large pack, for there were a lot of tracks.

  “These aren’t wolves,” Khan said. “The tracks are too big.”

  “All right, listen up!” I said. “Our priority is to quickly assemble a strike group. We can waste a lot of time wandering around and searching for single fighters, so we should set up a perimeter defense and try to attract the attention of potential allies. Using all available means.”

  No one asked stupid questions about how we would do this. Just like clarifying whether other players would be drawn to the sounds of the battle, rather than heading in the opposite direction. It wouldn’t be difficult to guess that our own people were firing, plus, I had written in the team chat about my arrival. If someone was monitoring it, they should be aware of the situation.

  “What if the enemy arrives first?” Eva asked, clutching her submachine gun. As a member of one of the last waves, she had landed safely in the fortress, gained experience using the undead, so, hadn’t participated in any battles. Nevertheless, she had completed the mission, which meant that she had gained a rank E skill and was officially considered a veteran.

  “We have firearms,” Aitvaras said. “We can easily drive them away. Do you think it’ll be better if the pack attacks someone else?”

  I took a quick walk to set up several mines along the most likely approach. The snowdrifts made concealment difficult, but the situation was made easier by the fact that our opponents were beasts. Even if they were intelligent, I doubted that they would have had time to familiarize themselves with our modern weapons. After some hesitation, I gave each player a couple of grenades, with the instruction that they were to be used only as a last resort. If one was being eaten alive, for example.

  “Stand by!” Among the equipment I’d wrangled out of the sergeant before I left was a flare gun. I found a gap in the trees and fired into the sky. The flare took off and exploded in a shower of green, drawing everyone’s attention. Both friends and enemies.

  “If someone needs any training, now’s the time. We have plenty of ammunition, so you can spend a magazine on shooting one of those trees. One at a time, reloading. You especially, Eva.”

  The sound of gunfire added to the general noise, making it easier to find us. I took out my machine gun and prepared to wait, while also scanning the surroundings. Perhaps my actions seemed overconfident, but I concurred with Aitvaras. If we couldn’t handle the monsters, then the others wouldn’t stand a chance. We had picked a good place to fight — the snow had been trampled down, so I had every chance of hiding in Invisibility if something went wrong. Of course, abandoning my allies was dishonorable, but dying was even dumber.

  * * *

  My fears were not unfounded, for none of the other fighters managed to reach us. Only a few shouts sounded somewhere nearby, and the player counter decreased by another three.

  The raven flew over us, transmitting an image of the approaching enemies. I shuddered slightly. They did look a bit like wolves, except that they were much larger, with six eyes and spikes protruding from their fur. They were also extremely fast, and there were about two dozen of them — my scout hadn’t bothered to count more precisely. Hell, maybe we should have climbed the trees? It was too late now...

  “Stand by! The demons are coming!”

  The name, caliber, range or speed of the bullet, none of it mattered. I took the safety off, pointed the machine gun in the right direction and pulled the trigger just as the first enemy appeared among the trees. That’s how it goes.

  The ‘doggie’ dropped like a brick, and I stopped firing as soon as I realized that I couldn’t see anyone else. My allies needed a couple of seconds to follow my example. Warlock had clearly run out of bullets, while Eva hadn’t even fired. The trees had taken the brunt, but the demon had also received plenty of bullets.

  “Reload!” I commanded. “Eva, for fuck’s sake, take the safety off your submachine gun! This is only the start.”

  I noticed that the wolf corpse had suddenly melted into a puddle of unappetizing slime. What the hell? There was no time to figure out what had happened, for I had spoken truly and two more monsters leaped out from behind the trees. They were hit by bursts of fire and collapsed about five meters away from us. This didn’t stop the others, and the entire pack appeared as soon as the gunfire subsided. The creatures attacked all at once, from different directions.

  “Bloody hell,” I summed up, pressing the detonator button and activating Overclocking.

  The world around me paused, and I could see at least three of the creatures wiped out by the explosions. In any case, it gained our squad a bit of time. The demons were fast, but I managed to take down a couple more with the machine gun. The other players didn’t waste time either. Khan, looking as calm as ever, fired short bursts. Warlock was clearly stressed out and shouting something… Ait was swearing in... Polish, apparently? The sounds merged into a single, vaguely discernible cacophony. Eva’s eyes were completely red, but she was an excellent shot, much better than a rookie with a submachine gun should be. Much better than at the recent training.

  Unfortunately, none of this was enough. The trees obstructed our view of the enemy, which was too fast and too numerous. I had hoped that the demons would flee after suffering heavy losses, but this clearly wasn’t the case…

  Another beast stumbled, turning into a puddle. The machine gun went silent, and I threw it aside without hesitation, retreating into Invisibility and grabbing my submachine gun. Three of the creatures reached us at once. My companions had also discarded their submachine guns and switched to System weapons, but now we were unevenly matched.

  A leap, and Warlock’s arm was torn off at the elbow. A kick of the hind legs, and Ait was thrown back a dozen meters. A push with the shoulder, and Eva went rolling along the ground, losing her naginata. Khan proved himself again, managing to stab his spear into one of the monsters, but it only slid across the armor without causing much damage. However, the demon stopped for a second, and this allowed me to fire a short burst almost at point-blank range. Done.

  Khan was thrown to the side, but was already trying to get up. The remaining wolves spun on the spot, looking for the threat, but even if the tracks gave me away, the creatures couldn’t immediately spot them. The raven swooped down from above, screeching, and one of the demons was engulfed in flames. Emptying the rest of the magazine into the last fit opponent, I discarded the submachine gun and drew my spear, then struck the burning creature. I stabbed into the joint between the armor plates, simultaneously activating the Split Stone skill, which I’d decided to call Split for short. The spear pierced the flesh with difficulty, despite its rank E, but then the mana traveled along the shaft, causing the creature to sort of explode. The slime was scattered for several meters around, and the fire sizzled in the snow.

  Attention! You have gained 22 SP! (30/160)

  Damn it... no card. It happened occasionally, although it was a shame. I still couldn’t identify the creatures, but it was about what I’d get for a first-level rank D creature.

  Overclocking ended, so I didn’t have much time to think, and half the team was already injured. I changed the magazine, cocked the bolt, and looked back toward the trees. Easy to do, since they grew all around us. It was the nerves. Invisibility allowed me to hope that they’d target one of the wounded, but no other demons appeared. Was it over?

  Well, ‘over’ was a relative term. Considering that the mission wasn’t over, some of the monsters were still alive. I doubted it was the slime pools aroun
d us. It would be one thing if a couple of the wounded beasts had escaped, but what if there was more than one pack? Or if it had an owner? I couldn’t see why the beasts would take a dead person’s bag... or had someone come here before us and I was just winding myself up?

  “Keep an eye out for anyone approaching!” I said as I cast off Invisibility. Khan was almost unharmed and had managed to reload his submachine gun, ready to meet any new enemies. He happened to be a member of my eighth squad, so I was pleased with his behavior. “I’ll check how the others are doing… Oh, and don’t touch the raven, he’s with us!”

  I ran up to Warlock, who was growling and trying to wrap a belt around his stump, without much success. I shoved my hand in my bag and instantly found a tourniquet, which I applied just above the wound. I then took out a syringe with pethidine and jabbed it into his other forearm. There was now a good chance that the fighter wouldn’t die of shock any time soon. Unfortunately, there was no way to reattach the arm that had been torn off, so only magic could bring him back into service.