Defending Earth (In the System Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 6

  I glanced to the side... Eva was standing on all fours, and although she didn’t look great, she probably wasn’t going to die. Her hat had been knocked off, exposing her red hair, while her crimson eyes, leaking bloody tears, looked quite frightening. Activating her ability must be quite painful. And I thought I was unlucky.

  “Eva, how are you?” I shouted, spotting the grenade in her hands. My God. A grenade like that should be thrown strictly from cover, and if she detonated it now, we’d all be done for.

  “I can barely see anything,” the girl said hoarsely. “But my vision will be back soon. Have we fought them off?”

  “Yes, we did,” I confirmed, replenishing my mana from a crystal as I went. “So, no rash moves. Just sit here while I check the others, then I’ll sort you out.”

  I broke into a run. Ait had been unlucky and although there were no lacerations on his body, he was dead by the time I reached him. There was no pulse, no breathing, and, judging by the unnatural angle of his neck, modern medicine was powerless here, despite his Strong Bones. However, the System still recognized him, so, after assessing the situation, I forcefully twisted the neck back into position and applied Healing.

  “Holy shit,” I muttered. “It worked.” Second shot of painkiller… The patient came back to life and started breathing, but didn’t regain consciousness. Was it worth it? One lot of healing clearly wasn’t enough here. On the other hand, he couldn’t leave on his own, which meant that he’d have to wait for the cleanup team, and I’d have a chance to finish the job.

  I took out a mana crystal and went back to the girl, taking away the grenade and fixing her eyes. Then, I approached the demon corpses. More precisely, the pools of slime. It was time to finish off the wounded and collect the loot.

  * * *

  “What was that?” I squatted down beside a pool of spreading goo and poked it with a stick. It felt like it wasn’t even real.

  “That was a small hunting pack,” quoth the raven, throwing a... dead rat at my feet. No, more like a very small dog. A six-eyed dog. “If you dig around inside the pile, you’ll find a rat just like this one. The huge body is simply a combat form, while the pool of slime is a sort of artificial flesh that protects the host inside.”

  I looked at him doubtfully. The words were too complex for a stupid and naive raven. It sounded more like the goblin speaking. Had the inner voice found its way out?

  “So, they could still be alive?” I asked, focusing on the main thing.

  “While you were wasting your time over there, a couple almost got away. Each one has crystals inside! Fortunately, this Old One cannot be tricked! Look!”

  The raven struck the rat’s body with its beak, and pulled out a bloody stone. Despite its modest size, it gleamed much more brightly. Identification.

  Medium mana crystal: 4012 units

  Holy crap... A treasure like this was hidden in every one of these puddles of slime? My disgust receded into the background.

  “You only saw a couple? Judging by their original size, many should have survived.”

  “The shell is quite unstable and is connected to the real body. Its destruction is very painful, and it is difficult for the creatures to clamber out on their own. Many are slowly dying inside these pools of slime as we speak.”

  “Drowning inside their own bodies? Seems a bit stupid, don’t you think?”

  “Not everything in this world is perfect, otherwise, you would have feathers and phoenixes wouldn’t exist,” croaked the raven, then got to the point. “The pack is one. If they had won, the survivors would have rescued the others. What is stupid is that you are wasting time when you should be digging! Tell me you brought a shovel?”

  I didn’t ask why I had to carry such a thing on me in the first place, and fished out a folding shovel from my bag. Another legacy of my greed. We had to hurry, for although the crystals weren’t going anywhere, we would lose experience and loot. Perhaps capturing a few of the beasts would be a good idea? I’m sure the scientists would appreciate it.

  * * *

  “Come here. Good boy.”

  The girl picked up the last of her hounds and stroked it, glaring viciously in the direction of where she thought the killers were. A simple reconnaissance mission in one of the new worlds had resulted in an almost complete loss of the precious pack.

  Was the meager loot, consisting of miserly experience points and junk artifacts worth it? They hadn’t even captured any prisoners, only corpses. Plus, the results of interrogations. Not that she hadn’t learned anything useful, but torture was less effective in the field. Of considerable interest were the local weapons, which had killed her pets.

  The pack mistress sensed that some of the hounds were still alive, but attempting to rescue them would be too risky. As well as engaging in combat in general. She was a scout, not a fighter, and she had completed her mission, albeit less successfully than planned. Her master would be satisfied. Hopefully… One could never be sure when it came to the gods.

  It was time to go.

  It may not happen quickly, but eventually, nine out of ten new worlds would fall under the onslaught of monster hordes or become the hunting ground for older races. She would have time to snatch her piece of the pie and get her revenge. The huntress did not care about who was to blame for their conflict.

  * * *

  My idea had worked, though belatedly, and several dozen players showed up at once, including several familiar faces. Fortunately, my authority and the machine gun were enough to hold back those wanting to help, and direct their actions to something more useful than trying to steal my prey. Like building fires, clearing a space for the helicopter, helping to cut up the ‘bodies’...

  I took the opportunity to exchange a few copies of my Army Training for empties. It wasn’t a very good deal, but it served to strengthen the Alliance overall. Then came the sudden message about the end of the mission, and people began to leave by the dozen. This was especially true for those who’d never made it to our camp. It was cold, so most people preferred to leave the snowy forest at the first opportunity.

  Hellhound (63%)

  Status: monster.

  Creature Rank: D.

  Level: 1.

  Danger: low.

  Specifications:

  Strength: 1.

  Agility: 1.

  Intelligence: 2.

  Resilience: 1.

  Vitality: 5.

  Stamina: 1.

  Wisdom: 20.

  Perception: 5.

  Instinct: 10.

  Features:

  — Servant of Order — the creature belongs to the System.

  — Pack Member — the creature is a part of the pack. Their abilities are cumulative and increase in strength.

  — Experience Transfer — the creature can transfer experience directly to its master.

  — Combat Form — can assume a combat form, increasing its specifications manyfold.

  Master: hidden.

  The ‘monster’ shivered in the cold air despite being wrapped up in a sweatshirt. It whined piteously and tried to lick my fingers, but I pulled my hand away just in time. There was nothing in the creature’s description about poisonous saliva, but who knew what it contained? In addition, its behavior was quite strange, considering the presence of a master. Most of its companions had tried to bite me, but this one didn’t seem antagonistic. Scared, more than anything...

  “They’re so cute,” Eve whispered, inspecting the growling monsters.

  “Yes, total darlings,” I agreed, pulling my finger away from the snapping jaws. I clearly remembered what these ludicrous creatures, which slightly resembled Chihuahuas, had done to those who had stood in the path of the pack. “As soon as their mana is restored, they’ll start growing again.”

  We had recovered only five prisoners from the twenty-four pools of slime. The rest were dead: some had been struck by a bullet, some had died from shock when their shell had been destroyed, some had drowned, two had been pec
ked to death by the raven, and four more were later found in snowdrifts. Even if they had successfully climbed out of the slime, the Hellhounds couldn’t tolerate the cold and simply froze to death. We hadn’t found the last creature, however. Most likely, it had been killed by one of our own in the commotion. In any case, we had 18 corpses and the same number of medium mana crystals, plus the prisoners.

  “There were five of us, so one of the mutts is yours.” I handed Eva a dagger. “It’s a D-ranked creature. You’ll be able to reach the second level, not to mention the possibility of getting a powerful card.”

  Eve hesitated to take the dagger. I’d suspected that this was how it would go. I wasn’t worried about the dagger, for its value had dropped considerably since I’d obtained the spear. One would have to be mad with greed to steal it. One had to pick it up, for a start.

  “I get a share, too?” Khan interjected. I silently moved my arm, handing the dagger to him. A minute later, one of the prisoners was dead, and the Buryat man had reached Level 3. He also gained a card and a crystal, which the raven eyed jealously. Never mind, he’d get his share as well. Having finished off two mutts, Legion was close to getting the second level (36/45). He hadn’t gotten any cards though.

  Eva suddenly came to a decision, and another one of the ‘darlings’ was soon stabbed to death. Khan clapped and grunted his approval, and Eva blushed before vanishing into thin air. I grimaced when a pile of equipment fell to the ground. The restrictions remained in place, and the level of her bag didn’t allow her to take the weapons with her. She’d left the dagger, so I couldn’t complain about that. She could have been neater about it all, though.

  “The crystal!” The raven reminded me.

  Eva had been in such a hurry that she hadn’t taken the last part of the loot. I didn’t remove the stone, and placed the entire carcass in the bag. I was sure that the scientists would be more interested in the whole corpse.

  Despite the severity of his injury, Warlock didn’t refuse his share, and my dagger was again stained with blood. The ‘American spy’ didn’t disappear, having decided to surrender to our authorities instead, and hoping that I would help to restore his arm. The two remaining ‘monsters’ whimpered in fright, huddling together and trying to hide in the sweatshirt.

  “I have to go,” Khan said. “I suppose we’ll meet again.”

  He clearly didn’t have any experience points left after going up a level, but I still gave him a couple of copies of my skills. The mission was over and most people had already left, returning to wherever the System had pulled them from. But not everyone. There were no penalties for remaining, so some thought that this was a good opportunity to make contact with the authorities. I think my presence played a significant role in this.

  I spent the remainder of the time tending to the wounded, regularly draining my mana to heal them. The loot meant I didn’t have to scrimp too much. An hour later, the radio uttered a hiss and military helicopters flew overhead, searching for a landing site. The cavalry had finally arrived, significantly late, as I had expected.

  Chapter 4. The Bonus Card

  TO BE HONEST, we’d been incredibly lucky that the mission hadn’t lasted longer. It had been 11 a.m. in Moscow, but we had been transported to Siberia, which immediately added another 5 hours. So, we had started at 4 p.m. Given the approaching winter, the sun had begun to set after only 10-15 minutes, and it had dropped below the horizon by 6 p.m. If the mission had lasted the full three hours, we would have spent half of it in total darkness. In a snowy forest, surrounded by a pack of monsters and, if things had been a little different, with no firearms. A classic setup for a horror movie. If I hadn’t arrived, this so-called easy mission might have ended very, very differently.

  What the hell were the gods thinking when they sent us here? Did they not consider the details? Did they know about me and had counted on the weapons? Were they trying to get rid of followers they didn’t like? Or was the truth much simpler and they couldn’t fully control the missions? Alas, I could only guess; the gods were not very forthcoming about their abilities. Even with their own priests…

  I didn’t see the point in dragging back or saving the ammo, so I allowed the remaining players to get acquainted with the weapons, shoot a few practice rounds and even detonate a few grenades, all under supervision. Away from the battlefield, of course. People needed the experience, and I wasn’t going to regret spending the ammunition. Plus, it allowed me to ‘write off’ a little more than what I’d actually spent.

  The second purpose of the training was to check that there was no divine bounty on my head. The fact that I’d claimed to be a follower of the Aztec god during the last mission was hardly lost on Inti. He had surely wondered about the reason and why I’d decided to pull this off. He had no reason to suspect me of murdering his priest, much less of heresy, so he’d probably blamed what had happened on the machinations of his competitors. The question was what he did next. Did he ignore it as something insignificant? Did he notify his supporters of the deception? Or had he decided to wait and see what my hypothetical patron was up to? Well, it was hard to unravel evil plans that didn’t exist. Therefore, I hadn’t ruled out simple assassination and had sent Bri to watch the players. None of them had tried to do anything suspicious, though.

  By agreement with ‘management’, I didn’t return to my private room, but remained to look after the other candidates, the wounded and, most importantly, the alien creatures. As expected, there was a lot of interest in the captives.

  It was completely dark by the time the helicopters appeared overhead, and the area cleared for landing had to be additionally illuminated with bonfires. I had a tent, and we even put it up, placing the wounded inside, but I had no desire to spend the night here. The temptation to leave was great…

  “I hope they give me a medal for this,” I muttered. “Plus, a house on the shore of the Barents Sea and a gorgeous babe with three tits...”

  * * *

  The clean-up crew turned out to be quite small, only two helicopters. The first was a modified Mi-8 with about twenty fighters onboard. And an attack Mi-24, probably as cover.

  As I watched the soldiers leave the helicopter and take up defensive positions, I tried to guess who they were. Some kind of army special forces? Hell if I know. In any case, it was obviously a combat team. They certainly didn’t fit the bill for a research expedition to “study the place of contact with an alien race”. After making sure that no one was planning to shoot the few unarmed spectators, I deactivated Invisibility and headed towards the arrivals.

  “Captain Sayanov,” the officer introduced himself. “Are you, uh, Agent Vasily?”

  The term ‘agent’ sounded strange, but it was due to the uncertainty surrounding my status. Nevertheless, it was better than being addressed as ‘private’, which would have sounded to me like being enrolling into the armed forces in absentia. I wasn’t too worried about this option, but it would have put a stop to any kind of normal cooperation.

  “That’s right,” I nodded. “I understand that you are aware of the current situation, Captain?”

  “In general terms,” he grimaced. “A group of either terrorists or aliens were detected, weapons and numbers unknown. By now, the threat has probably been eliminated. I need evacuate the combat group, conduct video recording, and sweep the area…”

  It was my turn to grimace. If the commander was that clueless, what could I expect from his subordinates? I’d expected something like this, though. Information about current events remained a secret, and these rapid response teams had probably been assembled locally. It was surprising that anyone had even bothered with this, since the breaches had started only recently and were isolated.

  “Almost but not quite,” I sighed. “You’re right, in broad terms. The wounded are in the tent, your medic can examine them. One has a severed arm, the other has multiple fractures, but their condition is stable.”

  The captain waved his arm, gave a command, and se
veral men with stretchers rushed towards the tent. “Two hundred?” Sayanov queried. “I heard there were casualties?”

  He seemed a little puzzled by the appearance of most ‘agents’. We clearly didn’t look like a combat group. The strange clothes, plus, most of the weapons had gone back in the bag.

  “That’s right,” I sighed. “Seventeen people are missing, but no bodies have been found. It’s too dark. It is likely that they were torn to pieces by the pack of... aliens. At least, I only saw pools of blood. I don’t envy you guys.”

  “Torn to pieces?”

  “Well, it’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times. Come on.” I led him to the two Hellhounds huddling around the fire. Unlike the corpses I’d put in my bag, the prisoners had to be kept under constant guard. Hence, a sentry stood watch beside them, while Legion hid somewhere in the branches and watched the player in turn. In case the sentry decided that gaining a level and a couple of cards would be more profitable than just completing the assigned task. Wolf, goat and cabbage... new version. Fortunately, according to the raven, the ‘doggies’ couldn’t instantly grow in size, they need not only mana but also building material to create a shell. Meat, for example. However, slime worked best, so it was vital that we didn’t let them anywhere near the destroyed shells.