Charlemagne met the vanguard of the charging enemies head on, getting a good look at his new opponents as they moved to intercept him. The creatures looked like very skinny and boney humans and were covered a thick layer of black dust. In fact, it was hard to tell where the dust ended and their skin began, because what little skin was visible was half-melted and terribly scarred. Their faces lacked flesh almost entirely, and instead of eyes, the creatures had two balls of sinister green light burning inside their skulls. Their arms were longer than a humans would be and were tipped with razor sharp claws, which appeared to be their only weapons.
He dodged the first few swipes easily, putting his newly increased dexterity attribute to good use and retaliating when an opportunity presented itself. His beak did less damage than he thought it should, but not because his attacks were too weak. In fact, each peck blasted holes right through the enemies. The problem was that he had become used to fighting humans, who collapsed upon losing their genitals, tracheas, or brains. These creatures needed none of these to fight.
The rooster gamely continued fighting as more and more of the creatures swarmed around him. One of his Zen Barbarian class abilities kicked in, causing his Mana Core to gain a temporary level.
Charlemagne, being completely engrossed in what he was doing, only felt the diminished strain on his body as the mana reinforcing it flowed more efficiently, strengthening him further and reducing the drain on his reserves.
But Charlemagne wasn’t the only one gaining strength. As his speed and power increased, so too did his opponents’. Their green eyes glowed with greater ferocity as the claws sliced through the air faster and faster. A haze began to rise from the melee, empowering the monsters as they fought with what seemed like endless stamina. It took Charlemagne a while to realize what was happening, but the dimwitted rooster finally understood that his foes made each other stronger the more densely packed they were. He needed to get them to spread out again.
Charlemagne, not having been born with the ability to fly, could have simply taken to the skies to accomplish this goal. However, he still thought in terms of a land-based lifeform the majority of the time, so he struggled more than he should have to break out of the mob of charred monsters. Turning around, he accepted several swipes to his wings and back as he surged forward at full speed, activating both Strike and Athletics before and leaping straight at one of the larger monsters, bursting straight through the creature’s torso before landing smoothly and sprinting back the way he had come. Dozens of creatures followed him in hot pursuit.
The rooster fought against incredible odds again and again, hobbling the faster opponents just as often as he killed them outright. As he clashed with the monsters, foreign energy once again began choking his mana pathways and his Mana Core struggled to keep up. He also couldn’t replenish the calories he was losing. For one thing, he didn’t have to the time to stop and eat anything, but more importantly, the creatures’ bodies looked gross and tasted worse. Even his Special Ability didn’t have anything good to say about them.
The rooster’s wounds mounted as the energy in his Mana Core continued to dwindle and he made more careless mistakes. He was currently fighting six of the monsters, dodging claw attacks that came from multiple angles and trading hits when he found solid openings in the enemy’s defenses. The temporary boost to his mana-based skills had long since reached a plateau, and the strange energy that continued to accumulate in his body was hampering his ability to draw in the ambient mana surrounding him.
As he continued to accumulate damage, however, his resilience continued to grow due to another feature of the Zen Barbarian class.
For a while, the damage Charlemagne received and his natural healing were almost equal, allowing him to continue to put down foes at a steady pace. That all changed when an entire pack of the creatures arrived all at once, a haze of energy rising from them like miasma. Realizing that he was outmatched, the rooster finally remembered his wings, unfurling them. The first few flaps sent a couple of the monsters tumbling. Charlemagne used the distraction to gain altitude, planning to head back the way he had come, but he had underestimated the reach of the creatures’ long arms and claws. A punishing attack caught him from the left side, forcing him back to the ground as it lacerated his wing. A dozen of the fearless creatures surrounded the rooster in a flash, empowering each other through the strange energy they shared and choking off Charlemagne’s ability to draw in mana. In a matter of moments, he was bleeding from numerous lacerations all over his body.
It was then that his class skill, Zenrage, activated, and Charlemagne lost himself completely to the flow of battle.
Francois had lost track of the strange bird creature after it had disappeared over lake Nokoue. Thinking that there was no longer any point in trying to track it down, he had taken a short nap before heading due east, planning to pass between the ruined city of Porto Novo and Lagos while giving each a wide berth. He had just taken the oldest of the three bridges that crossed over the Lagoon of Cotonou, which was the only one still intact after the System integration, when he spotted a strange ball of light flying straight into the air. Having almost been killed by a nearly identical attack just a few hours earlier, the gorilla instantly recognized it.
Heading out at a fairy quick pace, Francois took a moment to check his equipment. The black and white striped shirt had seen better days but was still serviceable. His weapon was safely stored in his inventory, ready to be called upon as needed. Finally, the gorilla’s old hat had been thrown into storage, and a beret of lesser quality had been pressed into service. It would have to do.
Francois turned his attention back to the road and accelerated, realizing that he needed to move quickly to catch up. His powerful limbs propelled him at great speed, allowing him to simply jump over the occasional roundabout that blocked his path. Having seen a map of the area, the gorilla understood that he needed to head further east before turning north to take advantage of the road that still connected Cotonou and Porto Novo. It took him only a few minutes at top speed to reach the roundabout he was looking for and swing around to the north.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
As the gorilla neared the bridge to Porto Novo, another flash of light caught his attention, this time from almost due west. Slowing down, Francois decided backtrack and approach the bird from the south rather than risk heading too far north and attracting the attention of the corpses that haunted the ruins of the former capital.
As Francois worked his way southwest, he spotted a veritable army of the reanimated guardians. Using his Identify skill on one of them, he confirmed that they were the remnants of the city’s inhabitants, which had been wiped off the map by several powerful atomic bombs.
The gorilla shuddered. He’d been burned, frozen, and electrocuted all within the last week, no sweat. But radiation was a different beast all together. It made damage harder to heal, sapped your strength, and could even make you sick in ways that weren’t easy to fix. In short, it was an energy type to be feared. Only crazy creatures tangled with radioactive monsters.
The sounds of battle cut the gorilla’s musings short. For a moment, he worried that he’d been discovered and that the reanimated horde was headed his way. Then he realized that the sounds weren’t getting any closer. Sticking low to the earth and using whatever vegetation he could find as cover the gorilla snuck closer to see what was happening. After a few tense minutes, he finally laid eyes on what was fighting the monsters.
It was that crazy chicken thing.
His Identify skill unfortunately did not work on other integrated creatures, so he was unable to see its level. Based on its performance in combat, however, the rooster must have been level 25 or possibly higher. It was weaving through a crowd of the Irradiated Corpses with ease, each swipe or peck putting another one down for good. Blood flowed freely from numerous wounds all over the bird’s body, making it difficult to tell that its feathers were black and not red. One of its eyes appeared to have been damaged, and chunks of feathers were missing in several places. And yet the demented thing fought with a ferocity that Francois had never seen before.
The battled raged for another few minutes as more and more of the reanimated corpses arrived, drawn by the radiation emitted from their brethren. The rooster took a few more nasty hits as it continued to put down the swarming monsters one after the other. Even from a relatively safe distance, the gorilla could tell that the ambient radiation level was rising quickly. Destroying the Irradiated Corpses released more radiation into the atmosphere, which attracted more of the things, creating a cycle that was bound to end in the rooster’s demise.
Just as Francois was about to turn around and retreat, leaving the chicken to its fate, something changed. The rooster’s smooth movements faltered, and it looked around as if in a daze. Several of the corpses took advantage of the bird’s confusion to score hits against it, their empowered claws leaving deep rents in the rooster. Finally realizing that it was outmatched, the chicken turned toward Francois and began to run away. But unfortunately, it was too slow to escape the mob of monsters that surrounded it.
To his credit, the gorilla never worried about what might happen to him if he intervened in the fight, springing into action immediately to aid the crazy bird that was now desperately trying to free itself from the horde of monsters on its heels. Withdrawing a strange-looking cylinder from his inventory, Francois reached in and pulled out a baguette. Holding it like a javelin, he hurled it with all his considerable might toward the nearest monsters.
The baguette spun in the air like an American football, the magic of the System causing it to fly true despite being a piece of bread. It blew through the first two monsters before impaling itself in a third. Before the corpses hit the ground, another baguette was already in the air, striking the pack of monsters with a similar effect.
A few more well-placed throws served to slow the herd, and Francois was sure that the rooster would be able to escape on its own. He started to turn to put more distance between himself and the radioactive miasma that emanated from the monsters but then stopped and stared in amazement. The crazy chicken had turned back into the throng of monsters! The gorilla pulled out another of his baguettes, ready to assist again, but the rooster didn’t attack again. Instead, it made a bee line for one of the downed corpses and grabbed the baguette impaled through its head. Then it turned back around, taking a few glancing hits in the process, and hightailed it again, passing straight by Francois in a blur of speed as it made good on its escape. The gorilla turned and followed, looking back occasionally to make sure that the monsters were unable to keep up.
Eventually, the pair put enough distance between them and the crowd of corpses that the entire group swung back around and began shambling north again, heading to more radioactive territory. The rooster trembled for a moment before shooting off again at an even faster pace, which meant that the System was distributing its rewards for combat. He wasn’t surprised to have not gotten any notifications. As a level eighteen, he wasn’t going to level up from killing a few monsters around half his level. But the rooster had slain dozens, which was a considerable feat even for someone in the early twenties. One thing bothered him, however. The rooster had gotten more than just a little faster. In fact, it was now moving considerably faster than he could, even at top speed.
“Wait for me!” he shouted at the quickly disappearing rooster to no effect. That is, until he added, “I have more baguettes!”
The rooster screeched to a halt and turned to face him, dropping the baguette it had stolen to the ground. Then it aggressively pecked at the bread, its beak moving so quickly that it sounded more like a woodpecker’s than a rooster’s. Its sharp eyes, however, never stopped staring his way. As it ate, the bird’s wounds coating its body began to close. In no time at all, the bread was entirely gone.
As Francois crept closer, he pulled out another baguette, holding it out in both his hands like an offering. Stopping at what he hoped was a non-threatening distance, the gorilla tossed the baguette, aiming at a spot close but not too close to the rooster’s feet. The silly bird ran backwards as soon as the bread was in the air, only returning to the area once the baguette was safely on the ground. It consumed the baguette in the exact same manner as it had the last one, before doing something entirely unexpected.
Raising its beak straight up in the air, it expelled a huge amount of mana laced with radiation into the sky. Then it looked directly at him with an expectant glint in his eye.
The gorilla pulled out another baguette, hoping that the rooster would be satisfied with just bread.
