Anti-Mage

Anton still had 10 minutes before Felix and Caitlyn reappeared, so he took his time flying back to the White House and reviewed his Personal Status and the gains he’d made over the last six hours. After a brief check, he’d confirmed that he had killed 970 invaders in total. That number included the people at the bomb depot and the soldiers in the Node Facility. It looked like killing people unlocked Slayer Titles.

Congratulations! You have Earned the Title Human Slayer I for killing 100 humans. Your Natural Aura will automatically fill humans with a sense of apprehension when within your presence.

1,000 XP Granted

+5% to all Intimidation Challenges

+1 to any damage you cause to a human

Congratulations! You have Earned the Title Human Slayer II for killing 300 humans. Your natural aura will automatically cause humans to become hesitant in your presence

3,000 XP granted

+10% to all Intimidation Challenges

+2 to any damage you cause to a human

Congratulations! You have Earned the Title Human Slayer III for killing 600 humans. Your natural aura will automatically cause humans to become nervous in your presence

6,000 XP granted

+15% to all Intimidation Challenges

+3 to any damage you cause to a human

Title Correction Required

Congratulations! Your Goblin Slayer III Title has been upgraded to Goblin Slayer VIII for killing 3,600 goblins. Your natural aura will automatically cause humans to become frightened in your presence

36,000 XP granted.

+40% to all Intimidation Challenges.

+8 to any damage you cause to Goblins.

Clarification:

Slayer Titles bonuses are race-specific. Variants and Sub-races that are at least 50% of a genetic match are affected by the Slayer Title.

Slayer Titles only range from levels 1 through level 10.

In addition to the Title Human Slayer III and the change to his Goblin Slayer Title, he’d also earned four more Class levels and reached level 32.

It looked like the SYSTEM was supplementing the change to XP for spawned creatures by giving XP with the Slayer titles. That bonus XP was capped, though. Was the SYSTEM also going to add more quest awards to make up for the lost XP for spawned creatures? Right now, he was receiving half a creature earned XP plus the Slayer Title, but eventually, that was going to change. Yes, he was double dipping, but he was sure it wasn’t going to last.

Anton thought back to his conversation with Staff Sergeant Clark. At she had been reasonable after he’d disarmed her. He’d had to possess the Staff Sergent to keep her from bringing her weapon to bear, but overall, he thought their conversation had gone well. He’d noticed her on the roof when he first flew back to the White House. She’d been hidden well, but while he was in his Specter form, the souls of those around him glowed brightly. She’d been impossible to miss sitting up on that roof all alone as he flew over.

Anton had ignored Staff Sergeant Clark while he handled the invaders. He’d decided that the time for politeness was at an end and gone medieval on their asses. The look on Major Fulbar’s face when the female recruit he’d possessed walked right up to the Major and handed him an active grenade, and then he smiled sweetly just before he left her body; yeah, that was going to be a good memory or give him nightmares. Since he didn’t feel bad about it in the slightest, he was pretty sure it would remain a good memory that he could share with a good friend over a drink. He could admit it was kind of fucked up, but he was practically undead, so a little dark humor should be expected from him by anyone that might consider him their friend or ally even.

Anton checked the XP gain per invader by level. It seemed that the SYSTEM adjusted XP based on his rarity and those he killed, so he wasn’t getting as much XP as he’d like. In addition to that adjustment, he also had to earn more XP than those with a basic class for each level, which meant that it was even more challenging for him to level.

Anton pulled up the information, sorted it, and looked over the awards for Basic Rarity soldiers. Level 1 earned 63 XP, Level 2 – 71 XP, and Level 3 – 83 XP. He found a level 10 individual who would earn 3,438 XP. Mrs. Ellison had been considered a Master Rarity caster at level 40. He’d earned 102,500 XP for killing that piece of shit.

Anton played with the interface and tried to figure out what his XP award would have been if their rarity had been the same as his. It only took a moment. A level 1 rarity opponent would earn him 500 XP. Level 2, 1,500 XP, and Level 3, 3,000 XP. It looked like the difference in rarity divided the total XP award as the SYSTEM assumed that monsters that were at a lower rarity would be easier to kill. If he’d faced a Mythical version of Miss Ellison, her death would have earned him 410,000 XP. Considering that it required 264,000 XP for Anton to increase from level 32 to level 33, that would have easily earned him a level and most of his next one.

Things would be much simpler if XP awards were standard across the board. That’s when a notification, more like a tooltip, popped up.

SYSTEM Reintegration Update

XP awards for sentient creatures not spawned by the SYSTEM are significantly higher than XP awards for spawned monsters and creatures.

XP Awards are as follows:

Creatures Not Spawned by the SYSTEM earn (1/2 Total Earned XP as adjusted by difference in rarity.)

Spawned Creatures earn (Level x 100 XP). The difference in Rarity does not adjust the XP award.

Examples suited to your specific class Follow:

A non-spawned level 10 creature of equal rarity will earn you 27,500 XP.

A non-spawned level 10 creature of basic rarity will earn you 3,438 XP.

A spawned level 10 creature will earn you 1,000 XP and is not adjusted due to rarity.

After the Reintegration Phase has passed, all XP Awards will be adjusted to (Level x 100 XP).

XP awards will not be adjusted due to variations in rarity.

Anton checked his Personal Status. If he killed a Level 1 creature that wasn’t SYSTEM spawned, he’d earn 31 XP. If he killed a level 1 SYSTEM Spawned monster, no matter the rarity, he earned 100 XP. In his case, he would actually get more XP to kill spawned low-level basic monsters. Since almost everything he’d encountered to this point was either Basic or Scarce, except for Mrs. Ellison, it looked like low-level spawned creatures would earn him more XP.

Anton reviewed a few more levels and noticed that the differences continued to grow. To Anton, it felt like the SYSTEM was trying to incentivize population control, specifically the population of all the universes that had been mashed together during the SYSTEM Reset. Anton could live with that. His Immortal ability ensured that no one would be able to collect on his XP.

Anton closed his Status screens and entered the White House. He ghosted down to the meeting room and deactivated Specter when he found the room Felix and Caitlyn were in. The building was empty, so Anton closed the doors, moved a chair over into the corner of the room, and waited. His natural regeneration rates would replenish all of the Psychic Energy he’d use in the two minutes he had left to wait.

At 9:02 p.m., Felix and Caitlyn popped into existence.

“What the fuck, where is everyone?” Felix asked as he looked around.

Caitlyn, on the other hand, drew her weapon and pointed it toward Anton before she recognized him and pointed the gun toward the ground.

Felix, noting Anton’s presence, directed his next question toward him, “What happened?”

“Well, you know, Mrs. Ellison. Turns out she was the Supreme Commander of a group of assholes that attacked Washington D.C. when the Magical Density reached 5%.”

Anton went on to explain what had happened to said assholes. The state of the Node Facility in Antarctica and the state of affairs across the world had been around the globe. When he was done bringing both of them up to speed, Felix asked, “What do we do now?”

Anton shrugged, “I was kind of hoping you’d had your people coordinated like Mrs. Ellison had, without the backstabbing intent, of course.”

“Only a hundred or so had called in when we were put in that Stasis bubble almost three days ago. They were being shipped to Dover Air Force base, about 90 miles east of Washington D.C.,” Felix said.

“That puts them over by Delaware Bay, really close to the ocean,” Anton mussed.

“Two miles inland, I looked over maps of the area before we sent them there, “ Caitlyn offered.

“Well, I can’t use the portal to get you over there,” Anton said, “I could take each of you there individually, but I’ll need to head over to Dover to see what’s going on. Alternatively, I can take you to my dad’s up in Minot. It will probably be a bit safer. Then I can go check on your people. The big thing, and here’s the doozy, The SYSTEM is actively encouraging people to kill each other right now,” Anton said.

“What?” Felix and Caitlyn asked simultaneously.

“If you check your notifications, the announcement should be there. Basically, what it says is if you kill any creatures that were not spawned, read anyone that was mashed together from all those other universes into this universe, you automatically earn one-half of the XP they earned to reach the level they currently have. If you kill spawned monsters, they’re only worth 100 XP per level.

“Why?” Felix asked.

“No idea, but we should get moving. Minot or wait here while I scout out Dover?

“Let’s go with plan C,” Caitlyn said.

“What’s plan C?” Anton asked.

“Take Felix to Minot, then go check out Dover and come back to get me after. I’m pretty sure I can hold the fort here until you get back,” Caitlyn said. “I can act as the liaison between Felix and our personnel that made it there. If they’re still there, of course.”

“Felix?” Anton said as he looked at him.

“Sounds good to me,” Felix said.

“Okay then,” Anton said as he stood and walked over to Felix, “I just need to touch you, and we’ll get going.”

Anton put his hand on Felix’s shoulder and utilized Planar Shift to travel to his father’s basement right outside the secret door to the bunker. Felix looked at Anton and was about to ask a question when Anton put his finger on his lips, indicating that they should remain quiet. A moment later, the secret door cracked open, and his father waved both of them inside. Once the airlocks outdoors closed and they’d made their way into the bunker and closed the second door, Anton’s dad asked, “Who is this, and why’d you bring him here?”

“Dad, this is Felix, Felix. This is my Dad. I needed a safe place for him to stay. I’ll let him fill you in on what’s happened over the last three days. I have to get back to Washington,” Anton said before he activated Planar Shift and reappeared in front of Caitylyn.

“That was quick?”

“That’s what she said, oh wait, that is what you said,” Anton said.

“Ha ha, NOT very funny,” Caitlyn said admonishingly.

“Yeah, that was bad. Anyway, Felix is with my family. He should be fine there. Here are a few things, just in case it takes me a little bit to get back,” Anton said as he pulled out weapons, equipment, food, and water for Caitlyn. When he was done, he continued, “There is ammo and equipment outside the building on the South Lawn, that way,” Anton said as he pointed south, “I wouldn’t head out there if you don’t have to, though. With the military moving into the area I’m sure you don’t want to get sniped.”

“How long will you be gone?” Caitlyn asked.

“It’s 90 miles to the base from here. I also have to find it,” Anton thought about it. Five minutes to travel 100 miles, five minutes to find the base, five minutes to search and five minutes to get back, that would be 20 minutes if he was lucky. If he was unlucky, a bit longer. “I shouldn’t be gone longer than an hour, hopefully half that,” Anton said.

“I can stay put for that long. I’ll either be in this room or somewhere on this floor. I am going to scout it out and at least set some noise traps so I can hear if anyone approaches,” Caitlyn explained.

Anton nodded and said, “That sounds good. I’m going to head out now,” before he activated Specter and headed East.

Well, that sucked. There was no direct road to Dover from Washington DC, No direct highway anyway. That wasn’t a problem for Anton. He just increased his altitude to about 1,000 feet and headed east. Five minutes later, he found himself above Milford, Delaware. A quick flight around the city didn’t show anything that looked like an Air Force Base. This was going to take a bit longer than he thought

***

Caitlyn did what any good military person would. She scouted her immediate surroundings. First, she located the entry points to the area she was in: One stairway on the east side of the building and one on the west. Next, she found some dead computer monitors and used the butt of her pistol to smash the glass of the monitors near each entrance so that anyone walking over the area would definitely make some noise. Caitlyn set up the east side first and then the West. Of course, setting up a trap to alert her if anyone entered the area wouldn’t do a damn thing to alert her that someone was already in the area directly behind her; that is what her often overlooked second ability, Minor Intuition was for.

As she finished breaking the 2nd monitor, she had an uncanny feeling that she was being watched and felt a pulse of danger that felt like it was coming from behind her. Caitlyn dropped the monitor and turned. She caught sight of a man in one of the invader's uniforms sneaking toward her with a very menacing dagger in his hand. Before her attacker could react, she willed herself to move and shoot. Her hand glowed golden briefly before she pulled the trigger, and the bullet left her gun.

Caitlyn hadn’t had time to think or react. She just wanted her attacker dead, and her ability Celestial Spark responded. Unknown to Caitlyn, the SYSTEM had changed her ability during the integration; it had placed some restrictions on her ability. Caitlyn could now only safely infuse her celestial spark into her attacks by an amount of mana equal to her Willpower rating. Unfortunately, she only had a rating of 7. She could push more energy into her attack, but there was a 10% +1% per point of mana above her willpower rating that she invested into a single attack, that she would receive an energy backlash. As the holder of the Celestial Spark, she couldn’t be damaged by the backlash, but she could definitely knock herself unconscious, which she did.

Celestial Spark (SYSTEM Edit) - Celestials are beings of the Proper or Absolute. Also sometimes referred to as the Divine. The ability Celestial Spark indicates that you hold a portion of this divinity within you. You are 100% resistant to Putrescent and Anti, or Null, magic-based attacks. Additionally, you may utilize mana to channel your spark and augment your attacks on a one-for-one basis. One point of mana for one point of celestial damage. The maximum amount of mana that may be added to an attack safely is equal to your Willpower. Additional energy may be added, which increases the chance that energy backlash will occur by 10% + 1% per point of mana added above your willpower rating. The possibility of any attack modified by Celestial Spark hitting is increased by 100% and is incredibly hard to dodge, often resulting in automatic critical strikes.

As Caitlyn fell to the floor unconscious, the last thing she saw was the head of her attacker exploding as soon as the bullet entered his skull through his left eye. When she checked her Combat Log later, she discovered that she’d added all 75 points of her mana pool and succeeded in critically hitting her target. The level 10 fighter only had 52 hit points to begin with. Hitting her attacker with 158 points of celestial damage was instantly fatal.

Thirty-six minutes later, Caitlyn woke up on the floor outside the meeting room she’d come out of stasis in. The area was still dark except for the emergency lighting, which would probably only last as long as the underground diesel generators had fuel. As she looked around she realized Anton had not returned yet. She had a mild headache, so she slowly stood up and moved back into the meeting room, sat in a corner, and waited. Once her head felt a little better, she opened her Notifications.

Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 10 Human Soldier. 27,000 XP earned.

You have Earned Levels 6, 7, and 8

You have received 12 attribute points to distribute.

Caitlyn had seen the same messages Anton had,

XP Awards are as follows:

Creatures Not Spawned by the SYSTEM earn (1/2 Total Earned XP as adjusted by difference in rarity.)

Spawned Creatures earn (Level x 100 XP). The difference in Rarity does not adjust the XP award.

Now she understood what it meant. If that soldier had been spawned and level 10, she’d have only received 1,000 XP. Instead, she’d received enough XP to earn three levels. Unfortunately, Caitlyn wasn’t the only one to realize this, nor was she the only one to kill a fellow human that night.

***

Across the world, the Notifications the SYSTEM had sent out caused chaos. Men and women launched themselves at each other under the cover of darkness across the Americas while the fighting on the Asian and African continents was also vicious and extreme. Some generals in the various armies decided that the best way to use their troops was to kill anyone who had not originally been from this Earth. That’s how it started. In some countries XP farming turned into a free-for-all situation. Everyone was killing anyone else to earn XP and level, regardless of their affiliation. Some groups stuck together, at least until targets became sparse, and then the members of those groups would turn on each other also.

***

Anton wasn’t happy. Instead of taking him only 30 minutes to find Dover Air Force Base, it had taken him almost an hour. The base ended up being north of Milford, Delaware. That wasn’t the only reason he wasn’t happy. Instead of the Air Force personnel working with Felix’s personnel—he hoped they were Felix’s men and women—the U.S. Military was attacking them as they defended themselves in a hangar at the northwest end of the runway tarmac.

A barricade of vehicles sat on the runway tarmac just southeast of the hangar, acting as a blockade. U.S. Military Personnel used the vehicles as cover while they fired their weapons at personnel in the hangar. Luckily, Felix’s people were keeping their heads down. They also had a couple of healers who were fixing up anyone who was hit by a stray bullet. A few dead lay on the ground, obviously killed by bullets that had struck them in the head.

Anton really wished that there was something else going on that would keep the U.S. military personnel occupied and maybe convince them that they had to work together to survive. Just then, he felt a shiver run up his spine and tickle his temples.

The funny thing about wishes is that sometimes they are granted. The granter of said wishes, in this case, was the SYSTEM. After the reorganization and changes that had been made to it, The SYSTEM was nothing, if not respondent. Anton’s new base Luck attribute was 273. The ability Divine Luck that he’d “acquired,” for lack of a better word, increased his effective Luck to 3,576. The SYSTEM analyzed Anton’s desire, then the wish he’d voiced in his mind and checked Anton's Luck and Karmic Luck. If the SYSTEM could smile, it was doing so as it said in its best Jim Carrey imitation, “Well, really.”

Anton’s Karmic Luck was still 517,343, which could automatically influence any action under the right conditions. The SYSTEM noted the attributes and the desire and responded. The only evidence that what happened next was not entirely random was a single Notification that appeared in Anton’s vision.

Karmic Luck Consumed 100,000

Anton watched as the battle unfolded. It looked like Felix’s people were holding their own, but the U.S. Military kept getting reinforcements. Eventually, it would reach a tipping point, and then Felix’s people would be overrun. That would have happened if a glowing sphere of brown energy hadn’t risen out of the ground between the two groups and begun spinning. As it spun, tendrils of brown energy reached out and dug into the runway tarmac, like a plow and shot the concrete out and away from the hole it was digging in the tarmac. This continued until there was a hole in the tarmac 50 feet across.

The magical anomaly of rotating energy was at least 50 feet from the hanger. The military personnel on the runway weren’t so lucky. The anomaly was really close to two of the vehicles acting as a barricade. As the energy began to spin out from the center, magical tendrils reached the vehicles and broke them down into confetti in a matter of seconds. That added tiny shards of metal to a ball of spinning brown energy and allowed the energy to dig the hole even faster.

Anton floated over and reached out to touch the area the energy passed through from the safety of his adjacent dimension. Nothing happened. It didn’t seem like whatever was happening to the Material Plane affected anything where he was. Also, he wasn’t sure being on that side would do him any good anyway; he couldn’t normally sense magic, though he did have a Psychic skill for detecting magic that he kept forgetting to use. Maybe that could be helpful. Right now, though, he was just going to back off and watch what happened.

Anton floated back up until he was about 100 feet above the wall of energy. He watched as a few of the US military personnel shot their guns at the ball of energy, their bullets completely ineffective.

The swirling ball of energy spun faster and faster until it began to sink into the ground slowly. As it did so, its downward velocity increased until it had disappeared entirely from sight. When the swirling mass of energy was gone, all that remained was a hole that led into the ground.

Anton looked down into the hole and wondered what was going on. That is, until a new Notification appeared in his vision.

SYSTEM Event

More than 48 Hours have passed since the Magic Density of Earth reached 100%. Magical Ley Lines have been established, and random manifestations of magic are occurring all over the globe. This is not one of those Random Events.

Congratulations! You have discovered an Earth-based Ley Line Node. Accelerated Monster Spawning will occur for 24 hours once every 7 days. Monsters will start spawning at level 1 and may increase up to level 10 during the day, depending on the spawned monster's destruction.

Ley Line Node: Earth-Based

Starting Monster Level: 1

Maximum Monster Level: 10

Duration: 24 hours every 7 days.

Time until Monster Spawning begins: 00:00:10

Anton read the Notification and smiled as he watched the timer count down the last 10 seconds. The timer hit zero, and a single ground beetle the size of a boxer came out of the hole and moved toward the closest person it could detect. Two more followed a second later. Four the next second. Eight more the second after that. Finally, sixteen more were added in the next second, with a steady sixteen per second.

Anton watched as the US military personnel switched targets and began attacking the beetles. The beetles weren’t fast, but they kept coming. Anton dropped back to the ground between the two forces off to the side of the new hole in the ground and deactivated Specter. The beetles had been spreading from the hole but had primarily been going toward the US military personnel and the hangar where Felix’s people had engaged them. Anton used Identify on the nearest beetle to him.

Giant Ground Beetle

Level: 1

HP: 4

Primary Attack: (Bite)

Base Damage: 1

Special Attack: None

Anton pulled up his Personal Status and scrolled down to his Physical Damage Resistance. Yep, it was five. These creatures' bites only did one point of damage, and he could ignore up to five. Well, then, that changed a couple of things. Of course, getting hit in the side of the head by a sniper round also changed his plans immediately, which was precisely what happened. Anton took a hit to the side of his head and was knocked prone. It wasn’t that the hit had hurt all that much. He hadn’t been grounded correctly, nor had he expected to get hit from the angle he did.

Anton’s physical resistance mitigated most of the damage, but 7 points made it through. While he was strong, getting hit by a 50-caliber bullet traveling at more than 2,700 feet per second, which was at least twice the speed of sound…Yeah, even his superhuman strength couldn’t hold him in place.

As Anton was knocked to the ground, the beetles swarmed him, and he learned that he’d been right; his Physical Damage Resistance could withstand the damage the beetles were doing. His clothes, however, were not damage-resistant. Luckily, it was his default outfit that was always reformed when he was healed or remade, so the clothes didn’t stay shredded for long.

Anton took the time to begin identifying the beetles that were trying to bite off his arms and legs, as well as the ones going for his head. Most were level 1, but then he started seeing level 2, level 3, and level 4 beetles. It looked like the longer these beetles kept spawning, the higher their level would grow. When he identified a level 5 beetle, he knew it was time to get to work. Identify let him know that Level 5 beetles had 38 hit points but still only did one point of damage with their bite. The critical multiplier was only double damage, which meant that, at most, he’d take only two points of damage. None of that mattered at the moment. Right now, he has a sniper to neutralize.

Anton activated Specter and headed southeast along the runway toward the tower. As he drew closer, the sniper’s life force shone like a beacon in the night from the top of the Air Traffic Control Tower. There were many ways he could handle this. The simple solution was usually the best. Since it looked like the military might need everyone it could get its hands on, he wasn’t going to kill this guy. What he was going to do was disarm him.

Anton possessed the sniper, placed all of his weapons into his Personal Storage, and then left the body. He quickly went back down to the other end of the runway, where the swarm of beetles coming out of the Earth Node was constantly growing. If sixteen beetles were coming out of the hole every second, that was 160 every 10 seconds. That meant that at least 480 beetles had come out of that whole in the last 30 seconds. It had only been 30 seconds?

As Anton flew back into position between the hanger and the US military, he saw that the Beetles had spread out primarily in two directions. The beetles were moving in all directions, but if there was no prey visible, the progress in those directions was much slower. Anton landed between the two forces a little way back from the beetles and deactivated Specter. Immediately, the beetles began skittering and moving in his direction. Anton targeted the center of the mass over the hole and activated Spectral Scream.

Anton’s Spectral Scream created a wave of death from where he stood across the opening and all the way to the few beetles that had skittered almost 100 feet toward the edge of the runway. Not a single Beetle survived the Psychic Attack.

Anton’s vision was flooded with messages. He modified the output and changed it to display the total killed by level, XP, and Treasure.

Giant Ground Beetle, Level 1, 144 Killed, 14,400 XP earned, 144 Copper.

Giant Ground Beetle, Level 2, 128 Killed, 25,600 XP earned, 256 Copper.

Giant Ground Beetle, Level 3, 80 Killed 24,000 XP earned, 160 Copper.

Giant Ground Beetle, Level 4, 32 Killed 12,800 XP earned, 128 Copper.

Giant Ground Beetle, Level 5, 16 Killed 8,000 XP earned. 80 Copper.

Two more Slayer titles quickly followed the kill notifications

Congratulations! You have Earned the Title Ground Beetle Slayer I for killing 100 Ground Beetles.

1,000 XP Granted

+1 to any damage you cause to Ground Beetles.

Congratulations! You have Earned the Title Ground Beetle Slayer II for killing 300 Ground Beetles.

3,000 XP Granted

+2 to any damage you cause to Ground Beetles.

Anton closed the Notifications and smiled as he activated Specter. He’d found a damn loot cave. Sure, it was only dishing out copper, but 768 copper for 100 Psychic Energy, which he could recover in under 40 seconds…yeah, that was a nice exchange rate.

Anton needed to use Battle Mediation to recover his Psychic Energy. Then he was going to go get Caitlyn and let her have some fun. But before he could activate Battle Mediation, he decided to do some scouting. Anton moved over to and through the hangar nearby. He checked the layout, the rooms, and the people within. He also scouted the area so he could teleport back into the hangar with Caitlyn when he returned.

While he scouted around, he noticed that more U.S. Military soldiers had moved in to surround the beetles after he killed the number that he did. Anton smiled; that would allow them to keep the beetles contained. As he watched, a few of the soldiers stepped forward with Batons. Their attacks did next to nothing against the beetles. The melee attackers stepped back, and the gunfire resumed.

Anton was satisfied with the way the U.S. Military and Felix’s people prevented the beetles from spreading. If they could keep that up while he was gone, they should be able to keep the beetles contained to the runway. Anton moved back to the tower and activated Manifest next to the sniper. Once he was sure the sniper could see him, Anton used American Sign Language to ask Can you understand me The Sniper responded in kind, Yes, who are you?

Anton: The guy you shot in the head, or did you forget already?

Sniper: I remember. Do you have my weapons?

Anton: I do. I will give them back under one condition: No more shooting at the humans in the hangar…or me or the woman I bring back with me.

Sniper: I wasn’t shooting at the hanger anyway. That’s a fuel cell. As for you, what was I supposed to do? You suddenly appeared closer to our forces, and I had a clear shot that wouldn’t hit the fuel cell.

Anton: Fair enough. Just don’t do again or next time you won’t just lose your weapons for a little while. Now, if you didn’t see the messages…

Sniper: I saw them.

Anton: Okay then. Support your people. Also, watch in all directions. If monsters are spawning here, they’re probably spawning in other places as well.

The sniper simply nodded. Anton held his gaze for a moment and then activated Spectral Reach. He pulled out the weapons he’d taken from the sniper and put them back on the roof of the tower next to him. Next, he pulled out the ammo he’d taken, as well as a little extra ammo for the rifle and pistol from his stock.

The sniper looked at what Anton put down and then asked in sign, Why the extra ammo?

Anton: You’ll need it; the beetles are coming out of the hole at a rate of about 16 per second. I have to leave for a bit, you’ll probably need it while I’m gone.

Before the sniper could respond, Anton deactivated Manifest and disappeared from his view. Next, he moved to a nearby roof and sat down to meditate while in Spectral Form. Of his 1,865 Psychic Energy, he only had 412 remaining. With Battle Mediation, he could only regenerate 20 every 10 seconds, so it would be just over 12 minutes before he’d be fully recovered. Since it cost 1,100 Psychic Energy to Planar Shift with someone, he was going to rest for a bit so he could go get Caitlyn.

Twelve minutes passed in a flash. He opened his eyes, made sure that the…

The U.S. Military on the Runway were still there… They’d fled. Since he couldn’t hear what was going on in the material world while in his specter form, he couldn’t hear the gunfire move away from the runway. Anton flashed over to the hanger and saw that they were still holding the beetles back, but not all the beetles were headed this way.

Anton saw the U.S. Military forces now. They’d pulled back from their forward position and fortified themselves behind some barricades near a few key buildings. Beetles were attacking them there, but they were also bypassing them, making their way further west and off the base to the east.

The U.S. military should have held their position on the runway. Whoever had decided to pull them back was an idiot. Well, it wasn’t something he could worry about now. Anton made sure that there was a clear place in the hangar with Felix’s troops that he could bring Caitlyn back to and activated the Planar shift.

Anton appeared in the meeting room under the White House, looked around the basement, and found a newly dead body on the floor. Caitlyn was back in the meeting room, sitting in a chair with her eyes closed.

Anton deactivated Specter while on the opposite side of the room. Caitlyn opened her eyes, saw Anton, and smiled, “30 minutes, my ass,” Caitlyn said.

“If your ass is on the table, I’ll take that bet next time,” Anton snarked back.

“If my ass is on the table, your ass better be on top of that ass,” Caitlyn responded without hesitating.

Anton snickered, “Not backing down an inch…shit.”

“When you know you’ve lost, you know you’ve lost, point to me. What took so long?” Caitlyn asked.

Anton walked over and started putting everything she hadn’t picked up back into his inventory. He explained, “I found Dover. Conditions have started to deteriorate as people now know it’s worth more XP to kill other people. However, while I was in the area, an Earth Node opened up and started spewing out beetles. It will continue to do so for the next 23 hours and start up every seven days thereafter.

“The U.S. military had the node surrounded but backed off, allowing the giant beetles to expand outward. Your forces are holding their own because the beetles are pretty easy to kill. I was thinking about popping us over to the hangar. That should allow both of us to farm XP for the rest of the day. After a bit, I could probably fetch Felix, too. It looks like the SYSTEM created a literal XP Farm,” Anton explained.

“If you're sure it’s not a trap, I’m in,” Caitlyn said.

“I’m not sure it’s not a trap of some kind, but if it is, I can’t figure out how,“ Anton said as he finished picking up all of their gear, moved over to Caitlyn, and put his hand on her shoulder, “Ready?” he asked.

“Let’s go!” Caitlyn said as she nodded.

A moment later, Anton activated Planar Shift, and they both vanished.