Chapter 171: Interlude Outside

Chapter 171: Interlude Outside

Polizeimeister Lukas Müller thought he’d seen everything. Literal terrorists, nutcases who thought the Federal Republic of Germany wasn’t real, that they still lived in the Third Reich and took potshots at the police, drug dealers, drug dealers who got high on their own supply and tried to go after armed and armored police officers with the weirdest “weapons”, and so much more.

Then, the [System] had arrived, and the whole world had gone to shit, at least for most people. Müller had just shrugged and kept going as normal because his situation was the same as it had always been. Him staring at dangerous criminals through the scope of his sniper rifle. Most of the time, he didn’t have to pull the trigger, just being on call in case things got violent. Hostage situations, ranged support when storming buildings with large windows, and so on, he’d done it al.

And when the [System] had arrived, he’d only gotten better at it. [Skills] that made his every bullet match grade. [Skills] that let him partially ignore armor.

And then there’d been those who’d been almost insulting, like the amazing superpower of detecting where and how the wind was blowing. He’d been able to do that before by paying attention to how it was affecting the environment, and that was before he’d reached levels of Perception that would let him track the movement of individual grains of dust in the air to account for the wind to a degree that the most sensitive of scientific equipment would have been hard pressed to match.

His latest deployment had seen him set up on a roof opposite a seemingly normal office building, with very loose orders that boiled down to “we expect trouble, but do not engage unless ordered to”. Between the precise targeting information available via the Party menu and his [Skills], non-lethally taking down people deep inside a building and around several corners. At least so long as the targets weren’t absurdly durable, that was.

But he hadn’t had to do anything but cool his heels lying on the roof with his Heckler & Koch PSG1 sniper rifle, three more identical rifles lying on the roof next to him. [Skills] tended to be rough on weapons that were, materially speaking, no different than they’d been before the [System], far too fragile for the new world. Of course, the various suppliers had been promising newer and better guns practically since the Initialization, but they were yet to deliver. Therefore, he had to bypass the issue by convincing the beancounters to throw money at it.

The day looked to go normally, like any properly planned out and executed operation should.

... then the fucking asshole in the supervillain costume had shown up. A blood-red ceramic-looking mask only marked by two thin slits for the eyes covered the face, a darker cloak, somewhat akin to the color of spilled wine falling down his back and covering his back in a way that spoke to a massively inflated ego. Rounding out the ‘look’ was rather generic set of reinforced fabrics somewhat akin to the tactical armor Müller was wearing, albeit in a similarly impractical shade as the rest of the outfit.

“The Pigs decided that people being people, exercising their freedoms in a way that the fat cats don’t like, was a little too much and decided to break out the jackboots.”

The declaration was as much an observation as anything else, something that Müller had heard slung his way a thousand times before, usually for similarly stupid reasons as “you arrested my friends/colleagues for the highly illegal shit they did”.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Müller was already moving before the man had finished his speech, the rifle he’d been cradling slung over his shoulder, the rest scooped up in his arms as carefully as he could, and was on the other end of the building in a matter of seconds. When the order came or if that guy did anything other than posture, he’d be ready to act.

“[AXIS MUNDI]!”

But when the blowhard, someone Müller had refused to call a supervillain in his mind, roared the [Skill]name like some damn Anime character, the world changed forever.

Looking at the area around the man, it was immediately apparent that something was wrong, but not what. Things seemed to be moving oddly, the very world flowing in a decidedly unnatural way, but in less than a second, the truth of the situation had become apparent.

Gravity had shifted sideways at a ninety degree angle, a massive pillar of altered gravity pushing everything away from the man in the center. Anything that wasn’t tied down and anyone out and about went flying immediately while buildings groaned and began to break. No matter how tough, how well designed they might have been, no one made plans for gravity to suddenly be pulling sideways.

And in the middle of the apocalyptic hellscape that an area at least half a kilometer across was become, the big crimson asshole floated serenely, arms hanging by his side, gazing out across the chaos he’d wrought.

‘I should have shot him the moment he started making threats.’ Müller cursed himself. [Know thy Target] told him that the man was either in the high nineties or low hundreds and someone like that would doubtlessly have been capable of immense destruction no matter the specifics of his [Class].

[Epic Blow: Threefold Power Shot], [Arcane Piercer], [Account for Insanity] immediately flowed into the bullet in the chamber, his standard enhancement [Skills] meant to bypass shields and compensate for preternatural interference.

Normally, that should have been enough. Would have been enough. He’d save his cooldown [Skills] for when he knew they were needed, and which ones to use. But now wasn’t the time to be picky.

[Hammerblow Impact], [Heartrender Shot] and [Unnoticeable Ambush] slammed home, the rifle bucking against his shoulder with enough force to send him sliding backwards across the roof, a pillar of flame and mystic energies blasting out of the barrel of the PSG1 yet hidden from anyone in sight, including the target, by his [Skill].

First, the bullet would automatically correct for the twisted gravity, then tear through the [Mage’s] shield through a combination of raw power and inherent anti-shield properties, speed up at the moment of impact, ripping through the terrorist’s heart while preventing all healing and regeneration for a few seconds. It wasn’t a survivable attack ... had it hit.

Half a dozen layers of defenses shattered as the projectile tore through them before another gravetic snarl made itself known around the man, hurling the bullet skywards and past its intended target.

[Account for Insanity] tried had tried to compensate, to subconsciously adjust his aim so the shield flung the bullet right at its target, but the less he knew about his target’s defenses, the worse the [Skill] was and the less he was aware of what it was doing.

The end result saw the lead projectile, still glowing like the noonday sun, skim past the target’s face, clipping the mask and causing his head to snap back while cracks spiderwebbed across it.

And then, for the first time since his arrival, the [Mage] focused on a single target.

Müller let the now bent, twisted and useless rifle fall to the ground, slung the second one over his shoulder threw last two into his inventory, burning one of the rather pricey cores in the process, then legged it. Behind him, the first building keeled over and the mage laughed.

“Hey, you could have at least waited for someone to die before taking that shot, you know. Might not have looked like you’d shot a peaceful protestor.” The same megaphone-voice as before rang out, carrying with it an undercurrent of amusement.

Down below, countless guns spat their deadly payload skywards, but not a single bullet reached its target. The sideways-pointing gravity utterly ruined regular the ingrained instincts acquired after years or decades of firearms use, shots that would have otherwise been right on target being thrown utterly off-course.

The few that did come close were tossed aside by the vastly more chaotic warp of twisted gravity that protected the caster himself, uselessly falling back down to earth.

“You really think that could have hurt me? Pathetic, but nonetheless something I can let stand. [Warp Blast].”

It had been abundantly clear where this was leading so Müller had already been moving when the scintillating sphere of energy was hurled towards him.

Phasing, he dropped through the building while kicking off the very air itself using [Sky Step] to accelerate his decent well past what gravity would have provided. Even so, he was very nearly too slow.

More and more rocks and chunks of roadway began to fly skywards, creating a floating ablative shield around her target, with several being hurled outwards at any target that presented itself.

“The last civilian has been retrieved, use of heavy munitions is authorized, I repeat, use of heavy munitions is authorized. An artillery unit is being but into position, fire will be coordinated using the party menu to avoid friendly fire.”

Schulz’s air to air missiles were launched the very instant the authorization had been given, overcharged to the point where they wouldn’t survive more than a couple of kilometers of flight. But they didn’t have to last even that long.

[Missile Control] had been earned during her last [Pilot] Evolution, and then, she burned her strongest cooldown [Skill]. [Thunderstorm’s Wrath: Kugelblitz], meanwhile, turned all her air-to-air missiles into a ball of lighting and her jet’s every hardpoint had had one of those attached.

***

As a literal swarm of lighting orbs swarmed away from one of the fighter jets, and for the very first time, that asshole was forced to actually move.

His body language radiating utter fury, cape ablaze, chest armor scorched and one arm hanging limp at his side from the one missile that had scored a direct hit.

Müller grinned savagely as he observed this, rifle slowly tracking the bastard as he considered how to follow that up.

High above, the gravity mage intercepted the plane that had hurt him, grasping it in some manner of arcane hold and began to crush it.

What happened next ... he really should have thought that through better. A bright streak of energy burst from the cockpit, the pilot suddenly floating a kilometer away and trailing lightning while the plane leaped forwards, slamming into the gravity shield and exploding.

The shield deflected enough, but when the time the dust cleared, it revealed a welcome scene. The mask was gone, shattered into a million pieces, and a twisted piece of fuselage was stuck in his gut.

“You fucker’s dare?” the man roared, spittle flying, heavily bearded face so red is fit right in with the outfit “You’re nothing but insects. Useless. Useless! Useless!”

Every piece of flying debris hammered into the ground and the Party network shuddered as it was forced to reorganize around the loss of a dozen of the people who’d been maintaining it. Then, more [Warp Blasts] flew out, each gutting a building.

“... useless, pathetic fucks!”

The man spun once again, thrusting out a hand and bringing up another shield just in time to catch the close to fifty artillery shells that had been fired at him with pinpoint accuracy. It looked like he’d gotten away scot-free, but someone’s analytical [Skill] announced that it had taken two distinct cooldown [Skills] and over a thousand points of mana to block the attack. That bastard couldn’t have much left in the tank.

Then, the gravity pillar finally collapsed, leaving the only defenses the gravity shield and whatever was cast in the moment.

Müller’s [Flicker Shot] left the barrel like any other bullet, streaking right at the target’s leg and a split second before getting caught by the shield vanished.

Unfortunately, the teleporting bullets didn’t do too well moving through anything that messed with space, time, or gravity, but even reduced to splinters, a bullet could do damage if it hit right. And now, Müller knew the dispersal pattern.

He dropped the rifle, still intact but too warped for a precise shot, and burned his last core to retrieve his final weapon.

The sniper rifle’s stock slammed home against his shoulder, he exhaled to relax himself, the breath clearly visible in the dust that hung in the air.

Wind was whipping around at speeds that would have been considered a natural disaster at any other time. Gravity was back to normal except in a small area around the target. And there were other preternatural effects in place, utterly insane changes to the natural order, but really, those were just another thing to factor in, to compensate for.

[Flicker Shot], [Eternal Consequences]. This time, the rifle did break and Müller dropped it, scooped up the old weapon and ran for his life.

The latter [Skill] might not have the same “all healing blocked, you’re fucked” power of [Heartrender Shot], but making the initial penetration of the target a lingering injury that could only be fixed to the point where it stopped actively bleeding, but never fully repaired could be rather nice as well.

“GRAAAH!” the cry of inarticulate rage made the few remaining panes of glass in the area shatter and the building Müller had just stepped off of crumbled away.

He risked a single look back, seeing the man downing a healing potion after pulling the metal chunk from his gut. That injury healed, but the right eye was gone, replaced by a bloody mess of gore, metal fragments and goo.

Using a combination of his [Aura] and the Party menu, Müller ran into areas utterly free of people who were at risk of becoming collateral damage and directed them out of ones that he might have to fall back to.

For him, there were only two things left in the world. Himself, and the evil god hurling lighting from the sky to end his life.

Then, there was a tremendous explosion, followed by blessed silence.

“Direct hit from artillery on the target. Does anyone have eyes on them? Did he survive that?”

“I have a kill notification.” A different voice, not one of the officers, said.

“Has anyone heard from anyone in the building?” yet another voice, tinged with alarm, asked. It took Müller a couple of seconds to recognize Polizeirat Habicht.

What had they missed while fighting this gravity [Mage]?