Chapter 101: Day 242 (2) – Calamity

Chapter 101: Day 242 (2) – Calamity

That was either a person trying to be extremely edgy or Death himself decided to pay a visit. The figure stood taller than me on a nearby hill to the East. While the sun, or light source, was coming up behind them it was darkened or muted. Like the figure itself was sucking in the light.

The figure had a dark black cloak and robe. A hood covered their head, and a silver rope was around their waist. Sticking out of the right sleeve of the robe was a dark blade, which reflected no light. The being gave off the same presence as the cracks that ran through the ground and into nothingness.

A subtle pressure, bearing down. An ill wind that you couldn’t feel. The desire to be anywhere else. I didn’t dare move, and I tried not to breathe too loudly. I was in the presence of an apex predator. The instinct driven part of my mind was screaming at me, ‘DANGER! DANGER!’

The rational part was also screaming, ‘DANGER! DANGER!’

None of that was useful in figuring out what to do. Fighting had to be the last resort. That was the only thing I was completely sure about. “Naran, get the cart. Just do it,” I hissed out at him. I heard him moving. I didn’t take my eyes off the dark robed figure.

“I can’t pull and clear,” he hissed back at me. Dammit. That wasn’t good.

“Clear a path North. Leave the cart. Once you clear about a mile come back and then we will move. One last thing. If you run off, you better keep running, got it?” I could only pray he listened. I was not looking away from that figure in case they moved.

“I got it.” Naran quickly set off. The figure and I kept having a stare down. I couldn’t see their eyes with that overly large hood, but their body was facing me. It was nerve wracking, how it just stood there waiting. Either attack or leave! Why wait?

Naran finally came back and began pulling the cart. I let out a quiet sigh of relief at that. I stayed right behind him, slowly walking backwards. The figure disappeared behind a hill after we got enough distance, but I kept walking backwards. We came to a stop a few minutes later.

“That is as far as I managed to clear,” Naran said.Ñøv€l-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

“Alright, we race straight to Esperanza, where I am cashing all of the crystals in. Then we rush back to Purgatory,” I said. I looked around again, but the figure was nowhere to be seen. Still, I felt incredibly uneasy. It was completely unnatural. If it was a person, why were they just standing there and with that kind of presence. If it was a monster, the same question. Why was it just standing there?!

There was nothing for it, but I began to clear the way through the rats while constantly looking every direction. Naran was doing the same but focused more behind us. We passed some cliffs Naran had found but ignored. There was probably a dungeon, but I didn’t want to bother before and now wasn’t the time.

When we hit the striped rats, I didn’t complain. Just killed them as quickly as possible. They were incredibly annoying, but now was not the time to hesitate.

By mid-day we reached the flowerlands and I began to relax. “Michael, behind us!”

I spun around. The dark figure was on a hill facing our direction. “Did you see it move?” I said in near panic.

“No, it was just there, but I wasn’t paying attention to that spot.” It was following us. It was following us!

“We need to reach the city.” We quickly pushed through the red beetles. I quickly killed them while looking over my shoulder constantly.

We didn’t even bother to pick up the dropped crystals. Just after mid-day we reached the South gate to Esperanza. No. Impossible. There was no way it could have circled around.

The dark figure was standing there at the entrance to Esperanza. “Michael, what do we do?” Naran asked. I don’t know! It wasn’t attacking, but I had no doubt in my mind it would do something if we approached it.

“Get out of the way or else, I won’t ask again. I am not handing over one crystal. Don’t push me,” I really didn’t want to send this city into chaos.

“Fine. But you owe us one gringo,” Juan said.

“Agreed. I owe you a favor.” Juan nodded at that, and the people got out of the way.

We quickly went to the pillars. We arrived and I purchased a restoration for 5,698. That was a lot, but no time to complain or think about it too much.

I began cashing in my crystals as fast as I could. I turned in all my tier 3 crystals at 450 points a pop. I purchased 200 stats for 919,500 points, leaving me with 195,408 points, I was going to save just in case.

Body-300; Mind-100; Spirit-100; Perception-100; Aura-100; Regeneration-200; Endurance-50; Absorption-50 for a total of 1,000 upgrades.

Naran was also cashing in all his crystals as well. He had about 200,000 points worth. With his 100 stats that would be about 150 more stats to add on to bring him up to 250.

“Well, at least you didn’t wreck another city,” Naran said.

“Shut up. You see Death?”

“That’s what we are calling it?”

“You have something better?”

“No. Don’t see, don’t feel it.” I was slowly moving my limbs one at a time to get used to my upgraded stats. “We running?”

“No. We wait. With the store next to us, this is our strongest position, since we can grab a restoration if needed.” Also, the other people might distract it for a split second. We waited and I focused on thinking. It was fast when it moved to kill the guards outside the city. But it didn’t move quickly inside the city. Except for when it blocked my attacks.

Death didn’t chase us down. It just pursued. That was the troubling aspect. Did we trigger something attacking it in the tunnel? But it came in the city. People had tried to bring in monsters before, but they turned away at the tunnel. It would reach a point, where their agro wasn’t enough and they would turn and leave. Forcing the monsters would lead them into a panic and they would kill themselves.

That had implied cities were safe. So was Death a player or a monster. It didn’t behave like a player, and it could enter the city. It had paused though. There was some kind of calculation being done. It was also the only time I saw it move. Think! Put the pieces together.

“Michael.” I looked up. Death had entered the plaza and was gliding towards us. Two bursts of fire struck at the monster. One from Juan and another from the third person who had been with him. Its sword swung quickly up, and the flames extinguished in the air.

Four arrows were fired. A wave of its sword and there were four piles of kindling in an instant. “I can barely make out its speed. Its attacks. My weapons won’t hold up,” I muttered. People began to scream and flee from the terror the thing was exuding. With my upgraded stats, something was giving me better resistance to its terror effect.

One person ran towards the figure. I had no clue why they did that. They just did. The sword swung out, impossibly fast. The sleeve of the dark robe covering up any hand or hilt of the blade. The blade tip only grazed the person for a millisecond. They collapsed into dust along with all their clothing.

One second, there. Next second, dusted. It was like the dust monsters left behind. “Of course, Death has an instant kill attack,” I muttered.