It took a lot longer than I would have liked to get everything set up. A lot of it was sneaking around and waiting for Anathema to pass by, which, while nerve wracking, was apparently not all that dangerous.
Selene had informed me that low level Anathema weren’t very good at actually searching for people and were more of just a scouting force. As the Usurpation went on though, higher level ones with better senses would start coming out. As it was, low levels tended to rely mostly on sound and sight to find things.
Which turned out to be a huge blessing, especially considering how badly the store had smelled when I was done preparing it.
I peeked from behind the counter of the enclosed snack kiosk I was hiding in, glancing at the entrance to the store in question. Thankfully the wasps had stayed near the stairs leading down to the shelter, letting me skulk around the outer perimeter relatively easily to set everything up. Now, all that was left was putting everything into motion.
My hands were sweaty enough that I took a moment to wipe them on my skirt. I took a few deep breaths, though the tightness in my chest was making it almost impossible. My throat felt dry, tempting me to grab a water bottle from the kiosk.
[Your heart rate has increased noticeably,] Selene noted from next to me. [Is everything alright?]
I gave her a look, her beady eyes stared back at me.
“If this doesn’t work…” I replied silently, glancing back to the store.
[There is no reason it wouldn’t. The plan is well thought out and has reasonably few variables. Even if the plan were to fail, it would only mean the fight would be more difficult. By no means would it be unwinnable.]
After another deep breath, I nodded, shoving the tension down into my stomach. A quick double check of my HUD gave me 82% health, almost 250 mana, and my fully loaded Umbra with an extra round loaded in the chamber. While we were preparing, I had also spent three points on more ammunition, bringing me up to a total of 127 rounds split between nine magazines. With one loaded, three in each side pocket of my school blazer, and the final two in the side pockets of my backpack, everything was prepared, and I was as ready as I could be.Ah… I wonder if this would be the part where I pray for a miracle?
But that wasn’t quite right, was it?
After all, I was supposed to be the miracle now.
I turned to Selene, staring into her crescent shaped pupils as I gave her a nod.
“Let’s begin.”
Selene moved in a hopping blur, and I watched as she entered the store. I made sure to stay as hidden as possible while peeking over the kiosk’s counter. For a few moments, nothing happened, and I was left staring at the red light reflecting off the mall’s tile flooring.
Then a loud, ringing alarm went off from within the store I was watching as Selene activated one of the wind-up alarm clocks we’d placed throughout it.
And then another went off.
And another.
My shoulders tightened as I heard claws scrabbling against tile along with the flap of wings. The white blur that was Selene moving appeared a moment later, leaping from the store just before black shapes dashed from the shadows and came rushing to the disturbance. I recognized most of them as more of the hounds, and they rushed towards the door without hesitation.
A moment later, two ghouls joined the mix. Now that they were closer, I could make out their emaciated forms. They had off-black skin stretched over pointed bones, and their otherwise featureless head was dominated by a wide mouth with pointed, pale white teeth as long as a finger. They moved on all fours in an odd, jittery gait towards the store, but the hounds made it first.
The hounds' paws made little splashing sounds against the floor as they barreled through the store’s propped open front door, and soon after the first had entered, the sound of breaking glass began. Four or five of the creatures rushed in before the ghouls arrived. Instead of going through the door, the ghouls crouched down low to the ground, sinewy muscles rippling with tension before they leapt at the large display window. With a swing of their claws mid-leap, they shattered through the glass and disappeared inside.
I made a mental note of the jumping movement even as I heard wings flapping. A second later, one of the wasps made an appearance, hovering in front of the now broken window. It was about as big as a cat, and instead of insectoid wings it had six that were more bat-like. The creature was mostly covered in thin, pale white chitin with black flesh poking between the plates. The wasp was curled up on itself as it hovered, making a comma shape that pointed its stinger at the window. After a moment of looking into the store, it flew in.
The sound of glass breaking was at an all time high now, and at least one of the loud, beeping alarm clocks had been silenced. After waiting another moment and seeing no more incoming Anathema, I knew it was time, and so I made my way to the door of the kiosk and opened it. Selene snuck out first, making sure the coast was clear.
[Clear.]
I left the kiosk, forcing myself not to look around and instead simply scurry around to the back where I’d set up the stepladder. Using it, I climbed up on top to the roof. The mall itself had tall ceilings, especially in the central areas, letting me stand with just a slight hunch thanks to my already short stature. I made my way in a shuffle crouch to the roof edge facing the store, my left hand fumbling with the item I’d had clutched with me the whole time. Selene was waiting for me, watching my back for any Anathema that might show up.
So far, the plan was going perfectly.
Phase one had been simple enough, sneaking around and collecting various analog alarm clocks from the antique and appliance stores. Then we’d taken them and hidden them throughout the target store before we prepared the trap itself.
Next Selene had gone in and used her tails to set off all the alarms before joining me. Selene had told me not all the Anathema would come, unfortunately, as they would instinctively delegate the task, but by my count, we’d gotten around half of them, maybe more. After we were sure we’d gotten as many as possible, I would climb on top of the kiosk, and then the final act would begin.
My heart was well and truly racing now, and I fumbled a few times with the small metal rectangle before I managed to flip open its lid. Pressure had built up in my head into a constant, throbbing pulse, but I chose to ignore it as I used my thumb to ignite the small lighter in my shaking hands. I took one last moment to aim, held my breath, and then threw the lighter towards the store entrance.
The liquor store entrance.
Earlier, when I had just finished hiding the alarm clocks behind various glass bottles throughout the store, I had taken extra time to open up various bottles and splash them around as well as empty them on the floor. Others I’d just opened, waiting to be spilled if an Anathema knocked it over. By the end, the store had been thoroughly soaked with a thick lake of alcohol covering the floor. It had even begun leaking outside the door into the area around the store’s entrance.
So I watched the lighter spin through the air, wondering how much better this was going to work because the Anathema had decided to go inside and start smashing bottles, soaking themselves in even more alcohol. The lighter’s small flame gleamed across the pool of liquor at the entrance, reflecting the flickering light for a moment before it landed.
Then a sea of fire flared to life.
It spread into the store, and a moment later there was a flash of light along with a crackling roar as the interior ignited, flaring light into the dim mall. Quickly, I aimed my gun at the entrance, but I felt my eyes widening. Warmth blasted into me in a wave, and I shivered as I watched the fire grow into a frenzy. Shadows played out in a frenzy of moving shapes across the mall as the Anathema in the store went berserk.
After a few moments of the fire crackling, there was a shriek as the burning form of a ghoul jumped out of the store and onto the ground, writhing in the flames completely engulfing its body. I aimed, but stopped myself from firing when I noticed it fall to the ground a moment later, twitching for a few seconds before going still. A chime resounded in my head, making me flinch.
[Defeated (Forsaken Ghoul - Level 5)
[Reward: 10 Points]
Flames snapped and consumed the inside of the store for another few seconds, but no more of the creatures managed to find their way out of the inferno. The dark shadows spasming from within the store began to slow and then go still, and more chimes began to go off, making my eyes widen.
[Defeated (Fomorian Hound - Level 2)]
[Defeated (Fomorian Hound - Level 1)]
[Defeated (Fomorian Hound - Level 3)]
[Defeated (Fomorian Hound - Level 3)]
[Defeated (Forsaken Ghoul - Level 6)]
[Defeated (Giant Cavern Wasp - Level 3)]
[Total Reward: 55 Points]
[New Point Total: 72 Points]
[Congratulations! You’ve leveled up multiple times! You are now level 3!]
[Stat Points Available: 20]
I watched the conflagration with awe, my throat suddenly dry. Selene had told me she thought these particular Anathema might be especially susceptible to fire, and I had expected it to be effective, but this…
A shrill alarm suddenly went off from within the liquor store, and through the broken window, I saw white foam begin to spray within. The fire immediately began to dim, and I let out a sigh of relief. Selene had assured me the fire suppression system would be part of the backup power supply and would activate, albeit only after the fire had been going for a while, but that hadn’t stopped me from worrying about burning the whole mall down.
[Incoming!] Selene informed me, and I twirled around in time to see shapes moving towards me.
From where I was on top of the kiosk, I had a fairly clear view of the central mall’s chaotic marketplace. The two fluttering shapes of wasps were hovering above the subway-entrance looking stairs leading down to the shelter. Around the rest of the area, I saw two more hounds darting towards the squealing fire alarm along with the last two ghouls. I couldn’t tell if they had noticed my position or not, so I quickly aimed first at one of the two wasps. After taking a second to steady the reticle on the gently bobbing form, I fired.
They were relatively far away from me, farther than I’d ever shot anyway, and so I wasn’t holding out much hope of hitting them on my first try. However, because they were able to fly and attack from a range, they were number one on my list of things to kill.
So instead of waiting to see if the first shot hit, I fired twice more in quick succession.
My Umbra bucked in my hand slightly, letting out definitive cracks as it fired. With Selene’s help, I’d disabled the silencing enchantment as stealth was pointless in this fight, and the sound was much sharper than earlier. It made me flinch, each shot rattling through my bones. For just a second, the shock of the much louder sound combined with the muzzle flashes made me lose focus of my targets.
I quickly reoriented in time to see both still in the air but now headed toward me. I realigned the crosshair as I aimed down the iron sights, and then shot again. This time, I took a quick second to reacquire the shape and adjust before I let loose more shots. It created a careful rhythm of fire, pause, fire, punctuating the high-pitched whine of the fire alarm.
After the fifth shot, one of the wasps lurched in mid-air before falling to the ground. The other seemed to realize the threat, and twirled behind a pillar. I kept my gun aimed at the pillar, waiting for it to come back out, but it seemed content staying hidden behind cover. Meanwhile, I heard the distinct sound of claws clacking against the floor beneath me, signaling that the hounds arrived. I kept a careful watch on where the two wasps had disappeared but changed to aiming at the edge of the kiosk’s roof, waiting with a held breath.
There was more clacking and even the sound of some objects being knocked over, but nothing appeared. I hesitated for a second before I slowly made my way over the roof’s lip, and peeked over.
One of the hounds was on its hind legs, stretched towards the roof but unable to reach it. The other was pacing behind it, looking up at me with its lidless eyes and smushed face. I felt a fierce grin stretch across my face as a laugh bubbled up inside of me.
It had been a gamble, going on top of the roof, but sure enough it worked. Ever since Selene had told me that lower level Anathema were dumber and acted a lot like simplistic video game enemies, I had wondered just how much I could abuse that fact. After I had told her my plan and asked her if it would work, she had agreed, saying the only immediate real threat would be the wasps.
With such a high number advantage on their side, the fight itself was rigged from the start to be unfair. So, instead of facing them head on, I had decided to go with the age-old video game tactic of cheesing it. I wasn’t exactly sure how the term had gotten its name, but even with my limited experience in gaming I knew it referred to using a strategy that circumvented a challenge by abusing game mechanics or the simplicity of the AI controlling the enemy.
I figured the fire trap in the liquor store was just a good strategy, but standing slightly higher than them and using them as a shooting gallery while they stared dumbly at me?
Definitely less fair.
Unfortunately for them, I absolutely did not care.
I lined up my sights on the face of the hound trying to claw its way up and pulled the trigger.
Black ichor exploded out from the hole that appeared in its head, and the thing fell onto the ground with a dull thud.
[Defeated (Fomorian Hound - Level 2)]
[Reward: 10 Points]
The other hound began scrabbling, moving in an erratic back and forth but too stupid to find cover. I quickly snapped my gun to its center mass and let loose. The first bullet tore into it just behind its front leg, making it stumble. The second and third followed in a trailing line down its torso, causing it to fall. I failed to register it was going down in time and fired a fourth that went into the floor beside it.
The hound twitched slightly, as if trying to get up, but even I could see by the quickly expanding pool of blood under it that the thing was done. I checked my HUD, saw that I only had three bullets left in my gun, and ejected the magazine. I let it fall to the roof as I quickly reached for another, glancing back at where I had seen the wasp. Nothing appeared to be moving in the air, and my eyes snapped back to the ground as the two ghouls finally finished navigating the mess of the mall’s central area.
I smiled as they stopped a few feet away, staring as if unsure how to get to me. Even as I grabbed a fresh magazine, though, I noticed one crouch down slightly, its emaciated muscles rippling. My eyes widened, alarm flashing through me as I recognized the move.
The ghoul launched itself in a flying leap at the roof of the kiosk, and I let out a yelp as the claws sunk into the flimsy material of the wall near the top. Falling back onto my butt in surprise, I fumbled with the magazine, trying to slot it into the gun and missing a few times with my shaking hand. I forced myself to slow down and finally managed it with a satisfying click. I quickly aimed at the roof just as the ghoul’s head appeared above it right in the center of my iron sights.
A pull of the trigger, a flash of light and crack of miniature thunder, and black gore exploded from the back of the ghoul’s head, its neck snapping backwards violently.
[Defeated (Forsaken Ghoul - Level 5)]
[Reward: 10 Points]
The ghoul’s body fell, and I quickly scrambled back into a crouch, looking for the second ghoul.
[Above you!] Selene cried out, and I looked up in time to see the wasp from before had crawled across the ceiling from behind the pillar and was now only a dozen or so feet away. It released itself, spinning with a flare of its wings as it oriented on me, and I had time to look into its giant, snake-like eyes before its stinger pulled back slightly. On pure instinct, I threw myself into a dive.
The wasp shuddered, and the stinger shot out as fast as a professionally thrown baseball. It whizzed past me, and I knew only my last second maneuver had saved me.
Unfortunately, it also launched me directly off the kiosk’s roof.
I fell in my twisting dive, my brain scrambling to try and make sense of the suddenly rising floor in vain. My body slammed into the ground mostly on my left side, and a shock of pain screamed through my entire left torso. The magazines in my blazer dug into my stomach with sharp edges, and I only barely managed to stop my head from snapping into the floor.
There was a moment of disorientation as I gasped, trying to regain my breath. Through the pulsing pain along my entire left side, I managed to process that I was now on the ground.
Right where the rest of the Anathema would be able to get me.
Panic shot through me as I scrambled to my feet, and I felt a few of my magazines slip from my pockets and clatter onto the floor. I looked up in time to see the wasp reorienting on me. I started moving just as it undulated again, shooting another stinger. It flew past me and sunk half of its six inch length into the floor with ease. Fear sent adrenaline rushing through me, and I sprinted as fast as I could, raising my gun and firing a few unaimed shots in its general direction.
The wasp jittered in the air in a weird pattern, and then with a shudder, regrew the stinger it had shot before flying after me. I ducked behind a pillar as it fired again, and when I heard it crack against the concrete, I spun out of cover, aimed, and unleashed a rapid-fire barrage.
The wasp dipped down before moving in the same pattern it used before. I tried to follow its movements as I shot, but ended up trailing after it. I clenched my teeth together as everything missed and rolled back behind the pillar as its stinger regrew. A quick check on my HUD showed I only had five bullets left, and I reached down to grab a new magazine.
As I did, I saw movement and looked up in time to see the ghoul I had lost track of come tumbling through a clothing rack a few feet from me.
I had half a second to scramble to the side before a clawed hand ripped through the pillar where my torso had been moments ago. Its claws dug a half-inch deep furrow into the concrete, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. I stumbled away, twisting to aim across my body. I didn’t bother to even bring the gun up properly before I unloaded the rest of my bullets in a one-handed grip. The creature flinched a few times as bullets ripped through, but it reoriented and rushed after me.
I pressed Umbra’s magazine release, reaching for a replacement as I backpedaled from the ghoul.
The wasp circled around the pillar, shuddered, and I felt a sharp, stinging pain flash across my right ankle. I bit back a cry, my hand reaching for the magazines in my left pocket only to find it empty. I dimly realized that they must have fallen out when I landed even as the ghoul took a lunging leap at me. I ducked to the side, letting it sail past me and slam into a clothing rack.
My hand found a magazine in my right pocket and began slotting it into the Umbra as I continued running. The wasp was ready for me, though, and I ducked as it fired another stinger that whipped past my head. My gun clicked as I finished reloading, and I spun to face the ghoul.
It had just finished reorienting on me from its failed leap, and was beginning to start another charge, its too-wide mouth opening with a clicking hiss. My reticle turned red as it hovered over its body, and I unloaded into the creature, not stopping until it came crashing into the ground in a heap. Vaguely, I recognized a ding resound through my head as the kill notification came in, but I was already throwing myself into a stumbling run.
A stinger flew right in front of me, and I flinched mid-step. A slight twinge of pain flared through my wounded leg as my foot hit the ground weirdly, and I slipped slightly. It took me a precious moment to regain my balance, and my instincts screamed at me to keep moving. I stumbled into another run as another woosh of air and crack of tile flooring let me know the wasp missed again.
I took the chance to aim at it and fire, but it flew into its weird, jerky evasive pattern again, causing every shot to miss. I managed to make it behind another pillar just as it fired, and I pressed myself up against my cover. My breaths were coming out heavily now, but I knew I had no time to waste. As I peeked around the pillar, the wasp took a wild shot that went into the pillar. Taking the chance, I aimed at it, but instead of firing, I watched as it immediately evaded, and something in my head clicked.
Whenever it evaded, it moved in the exact same pattern it had the previous times, making an upside-down “4” with its path. I pulled myself back behind cover, waited for the sound of concrete cracking as it tried to hit me, and then I leaned out of cover to aim once again. This time, even as it was mid movement, I targeted my reticle at the end of its pattern, and fired a quick burst just as it slid into the end of its maneuver.
Four shots, and it went crashing to the ground in a twitching mess. As it tried to reorient itself on me, I took time to aim at its body. With two shots, the slide of the Umbra clicked back as I got the confirmation chime. Quickly, I reloaded my now empty gun, eyes searching around me.
A sudden chittering roar had me spin around in time to see a small booth be smashed to the side as the gorilla Anathema made its entrance.
The thing was big. Big enough that I had no idea how I hadn’t seen it before. It was seven feet tall on all fours with big, tree-trunk arms thicker than my entire body. Its entire body was covered in dark scales, and had a vaguely reptilian face with three bulging eyes independently looking around. Covering the monster’s back were dozens of forearm-length tentacles. Its arms ended in stumps, making them more like giant clubs than anything else. As the monster saw me, its three eyes all snapped to focus on me, and it let out another chattering roar, taking a step as it began charging.
A squeak escaped me as the giant rushed forward, and I responded by opening fire with my gun.
The nice thing about it being so big was that I didn’t really have to aim all that much. The targeting circle on my HUD was completely within its massive frame, and so I just let loose. I was halfway through my magazine when I realized that the thing wasn’t even flinching, and I pushed my legs to start moving.
I ran, aiming for a pillar and running past in my best sprint. I made sure to duck through a small maze of different stands, trying to get as many obstacles as possible in its way. After I passed the pillar, I took a sharp turn past a small booth selling t-shirts. Hoping there were plenty of things between us, I spun around, heart racing as I prepared to snap fire at the thing.
Surprisingly, the gorilla was nowhere in sight. It took another moment before the thing lumbered out from behind a pillar, its stubby back legs and arms propelling it forward in a slow and awkward gait. It looked around for a moment before it found me. Letting out another roar, it began another charge, but…
Calling it a charge was generous at best. I was pretty sure it wasn’t moving faster than I could at a light jog. Catching my breath for a moment, I raised my gun to aim at its head. If it was just tanking my normal hits, then I would have to go for its weak point. Compared to the rest of its body, however, it was a comically small target.
It was then I noticed that my hands were shaking from the mixture of adrenaline and fear pumping through me. Between the shaking and my heavy breaths, my reticle was large and jittering all over the place. I tried my best to steady my aim, but couldn’t seem to make the trembling stop. Doing my best to aim through it, I took a careful shot.
The shot completely missed, and I bit back a curse. In the time it took to steady myself and aim, it had managed to close most of the distance. Instead of giving into panic, I simply turned around and ran in another zig-zagging line through various obstacles. Then I turned back and tried to get a round in its head again.
And then again.
After repeating the tactic and missing for the third time, I felt frustration rising in me. My nerves were way too jittery, and so instead of continuing my weird shoot-and-run target practice, I decided to just empty the last of my magazine into its torso. Sure, the thing was big, but if I put enough rounds into it, I was sure it would go down.
I emptied my gun with a roar of thunder.
To my surprise, the creature was still coming at me like nothing had happened, and so I reloaded with the last magazine from my right pocket. This time I made sure to take at least some time aiming between shots so that none of the rounds missed. I got through another nine rounds before a lucky shot punched through its skull, whipping its head back. The gorilla fell to the ground in a thundering heap. I only lowered my gun when the kill notification flashed across my vision along with all the other notifications I had put off.
[Defeated (Lesser Monstrous Gorilla - Level 8)]
[Defeated (Giant Cavern Wasp - Level 2)]
[Defeated (Giant Cavern Wasp - Level 4)]
[Defeated (Forsaken Ghoul - Level 6)]
[Defeated (Fomorian Hound - Level 3)]
[Total Reward: 45 Points]
[New Point Total: 137 Points]
[Congratulations! You’ve leveled up! You are now level 4!]
[Stat Points Available: 30]
I swept my gaze around looking for further movement, searching for the next Anathema.
[Mai,] Selene’s sudden voice made me jump. [Mai, it’s over. You’ve done it.]
“...What?” I asked, blinking as Selene slowly came hopping over to me.
[All fourteen Anathema have been eliminated, and from my scouting, no more are approaching. Well done, Mai. The way to the shelter is clear.]
I stared at her for a second, watching her fluffy tails gently swish back and forth before the meaning behind her words finally washed over me. Trembling, I lowered my gun, staring at the body of the gorilla. My breaths were still coming out quickly, and it was only now I noticed a faint ringing in my ears from all the gunshots. I forced myself to close my eyes, working to steady my breathing as the tension slowly drained from my body.
It was over.
And I had won.
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