The Connected System

“Dad,” Harper shouted.

Loch turned away from the father and son, ignoring the swirling multi-colored sparks of light that drifted up as the bodies of the Hobs disappeared. Harper was pointing down the entrance drive to the grocery store parking lot.

Their brief fight had drawn attention.

“There are too many of them,” Peter Millman yelled out, fear in his voice.

A large group of Hobs were charging their way. The humanoid creatures, only standing about four foot tall, were yelling war cries. Gray skinned, the things were bulky, heavily muscled, with long arms and short legs. They wore mismatched leather armor or just simple kilts, carrying rusty swords and clubs. Round heads with large pointed ears, large yellow eyes and pig snouts, two tusks growing up. They were closer, running across the cracked and pitted pavement.

There were no cars in the parking lot, the first time that Loch could remember seeing it completely empty during the day. The lot itself looked like Route 4, the pavement torn up, large chunks pushed into the air. It was rough, causing the Hobs to have to run around the chunks or climb over.

Harper was rushing forward, her bladed tonfas held to the side. Her body turned a light gray, starting to fade, it warped and melted, disappearing into the shadows along the ground.

“Did she just disappear,” Davis Millman asked.

Loch didn’t bother answering, Activating Bulwark, the green energy shield appearing in front of his left arm.

He cursed, he hadn’t wanted Harper to rush ahead. There were too many Hobs. It was hard to count the group as they kept running around and in front of each other, but there had to be at least twelve, probably more. And there could be more deeper into the lot. This wasn’t like the Dungeon where the mobs movements were somewhat restrained and they could dictate how many they fought at once.

There was nothing he could do about it now.

The first Hob was ten feet away, the distance closing fast as Loch ran at it. He Activated Windstep, one of his Challenge Armor’s Abilities. He hadn’t gotten to use it yet, this felt like a good opportunity.

The world blurred as Loch shifted. He didn’t know how else to describe it. One second he was running at the Hob, the next he was directly in front of it. The Hob’s eyes widened in surprise, seeing the large human with the even larger axe descending.

For Loch it was just a step.

He’d never used the Ability before but it had imparted the knowledge onto his mind and body. He knew what to expect.

Which is how he was ready with Onyx.

The axe swung down, cutting into the shoulder of the Hob, slicing into its chest.

Loch’s momentum was not stopped, he kept running, using Bulwark to knock the dying Hob out of his way. Onyx was ripped out of the monster, light red blood spraying into the air.

He got the translucent shield up in time to block a swinging club, shifting his feet and avoiding a descending sword. He got Onyx up, blocking another attack, kicking out and slamming the Hob in the chest. It slid back, Onyx following up the kick, biting deep into the Hob.

A bright flash of silver slammed into the first Hob, knocking it aside. A second blast knocked it down. A third kept it down.

Loch kept running, huge swings of Onyx knocking aside weapons, cutting into Hobs.

Harper appeared behind the creatures, bursting from their shadows. Her tonfas, the blades crackling with lightning cut into the neck of one Hob, burst through the chest of another. She pulled them out, ducking and dancing out of the way of wild swings from other Hobs. Two more fell as she danced around their swings.

It looked like the Hobs were moving in slow motion, feet of space between them instead of inches. Harper was graceful, her movements perfect. Blades and clubs coming close but never touching.

Her blades did. Each swing of a tonfa scored a hit on the enemy. They didn’t do massive damage. It was death by a thousand cuts.

Loch was just brute force.

He overpowered the smaller Hobs. They were strong creatures, but not a match for Loch.

More blasts from Piper’s wand took out two more, the flashes of silver bright in the late afternoon sun.

Loch came to a stop, no more Hobs in his way. He looked toward the grocery store as Bulwark caught an attack. There were no more monsters. At least not that he could see. The club slammed against the shield.

And again.

And again.

Loch planted his feet, adjusting the angle of the shield. He could barely feel the pounding, the attacks were that low damage compared to what he’d faced in the Challenge Dungeon. He was also Level Sixteen now. What would the Hob be? Four? Five?

Shifting his body, he sliced Onyx horizontally just below the edge of the shield. The Hob didn’t see the weapon until it was too late.

Kicking the dead Hob out of the way, shaking Onyx to get the blood off, Loch looked around for the next target.

There wasn’t any.

Already small sparks of blue, green and red swirled around Loch and his daughters as the Hob’s inner Spirit left their bodies, streaking into Loch and the girls. He could feel a very small amount of Experience gained. He briefly looked at the notifications, cursing in annoyance.

He’d been doing a lot more cursing since the Connected System had come to Earth.

YOU HAVE KILLED DARKMOUND HOB WARRIOR

100 SPIRIT GAINED

Maybe they were less than Level Four.

HORDE BONUS GAINED

100 SPIRIT

Loch laughed. The Connection considered twelve to be enough to gain the Horde Bonus? He’d have to keep that in mind. The only time in the Dungeon that they’d gotten the Bonus had been at the beginning with the first Skeleton and Zombie waves, and again with the Giant Spiders.

He thought they should have still gotten more Spirit from this amount of enemies, regardless of the Level difference. But it had been a quick fight.

The Connection wanted Quality, not quantity.

There was nothing Quality about the slaughter.

“What just happened?,” Peter asked.

“Loot the bodies,” Loch told the girls, as he walked back to the father and son. They looked at the battle in awe. It had only been minutes since their life and death struggle against six Hobs. “Keep the swords and clubs, anything else useful. The leather armor is probably worthless but if there’s anything worth saving, grab it.”

“Okay Dad,” Piper said, walking past him.

Davis Millman was staring past Loch, eyes wide in wonder. And something else. Awe, amazement. Loch looked over his shoulder, trying to see what had Davis’ attention.

Harper was moving from body to body, nudging them with her boots, grabbing the weapons but not touching the bodies.

Loch turned back to the Millmans, giving Davis a brief glare. He caught it, quickly looking elsewhere.

“We should probably find some shelter,” Loch said, looking up at the sun. “It’s getting late and there probably will be more Hobs. We all need rest.”

Neither the girls or Loch had taken any damage, but using his Abilities that quickly had drained his Spirit Reserves some. He’d recover quickly, but the rest was really for the Millman’s sake. And Loch wanted information.

They’d been in the Dungeon for two or three days. What had been happening in the world in that time?

“Yeah,” Peter managed to get out, still looking at Loch and the girls with awe. “That’s a good idea.”