The Legend of Noralon - A Litrpg Apocalypse

Adams stared at St.George Hospital. The once bustling building was painfully quiet. Just yesterday, this place had a constant cacophony of activity. Now, nothing. Even if it was the middle of the night, this place should have been bustling. And yet Ambulances sat unattended in the parking lot. No one was coming in or out.

"Somethings wrong," Adams said as he surveyed the scene.

"Agreed, sir." Sgt. Thorn groaned as she tried to sit up, Chester pushing her back down.

"Amanda, what do you think you're doing?" Chester asked.

"Reporting for duty." Sgt. Thorn or Amanda said.

"I just finished burning through my entire mana pool, putting you back together. I don't even know if you actually healed." Chester protested.

"The little boxes say I'm fine." Amanda protested.

Nope, Adam can't even think of her as 'Amanda' in his head. It felt weird, almost disrespectful to her service. To him, she is Sergeant Thorn, a decorated officer and a sniper who had saved his ass more times than he could count. If the world was going to hell, turning into a video game, or whatever was actually going on, he trusted the people with him more than any other. He was snapped out of his musing by Chester's shouting.

"That may be, but I still want to take you inside for a full check-up!" Chester argued.

"Specialist Chester, report on the general health of our patients," Adams said, cutting through the argument.

Chester immediately stopped talking and turned, giving his report in an official manner.

"Sir, they are stable. Mr.Burg had only superficial injuries. The other two required extensive first aid and then healing magic to repair their injuries. Corporal Tennesyon and Sgt Thorn look fine … As a side note, applying basic first aid reduces the mana costs for healing injuries."

"Given what you can confirm right now, can they return to active duty?" Adams asked.

"Well … yes. The leg and stomach wounds are visibly healed, look fine, and report no pain. The system gave me an extra level of 'perfectly healing.' But this is all my best guess based on visual inspection and the system. I can't confirm that they passed that inspection," Chester said.

"Acceptable. Thorn, don't push yourself, but keep that rifle ready." Adams said.

"Sir, yes sir," Thorn snapped as she reloaded the AR-15 again.

"Great. Casey stays here with the truck with Mr.Burg. Chester, Tennyson, and Thorn are with me. We will enter the hospital to determine what happened here before leaving. Given what's happened, this hospital should be the busiest building in the city, but it's dead quiet."

Adam led Chester, Thorn, and Jeffery into the building. As he walked into the empty hospital, he gripped the 12-gauge tightly in his hand. It was so unnaturally quiet that Adams could hear every breath taken. Jeffery and Chester both held Glocks, while Thorn had her AR-15 at the ready.

The sterile, white halls of the hospital were eerily silent, their footsteps echoing off the linoleum floor. Sunlight filtered through the dirty windows, casting long shadows and illuminating the dust motes that floated through the air.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Adam muttered, mostly just to hear something else as he was scanning the corridor ahead. Something was itching at the back of his mind, almost like he had left the stove on at home.

"This place gives me the creeps," Jeffery said.

"How is the hospital empty?" Chester asked. "I just picked up a [Life Sense] skill, and I can't feel anything. This place is dead."

"I'm just going to ignore that [Life Sense] comment," Adams muttered. This is a major hospital. How can it be empty?"

"Maybe everyone got out," Jeffery suggested, unconvincing.

"Or maybe something got in and ate everyone," Chester added grimly.

"Are you suggesting they're all dead?" Adams asked.

"I'm sure some people managed to escape. But I won't be surprised if we find some monsters inside." Chester said

They continued down the corridor, past empty rooms and abandoned medical equipment. There was a clear sign of a fight but not a speck of blood. The silence was oppressive, and each creak of the building caused them to tense up.

Suddenly, they heard a faint sound—a squelching noise, like someone playing in a puddle.

"Did you hear that?" Chester whispered, his grip tightening on his Glock.

"Yeah," Adam said, nodding. "Stay sharp."

They followed the sound to a room at the end of the hall. The door was ajar, and a flickering fluorescent light cast a sickly glow inside. Adam signaled for the others to cover him as he pushed the door open with the barrel of his shotgun.

A man was inside on all fours, bent over his face in a pool of blood, slurping it up. The itching in the back of his head seemed to increase as he stared at the man.

"Um," Jeffery said

The man's body jerked its back, curling up in a way that would have shattered a human spine as it turned to face them. Its mouth was covered in blood, and its eyes were completely bloodshot. Small worms were wriggling out of its eyes, noses, and mouth.

SCHREEEEEEEE

The thing let out an inhuman screech, sending chills down Adam's spine. He immediately pulled the trigger. The 12-gauge peppered the thing with buckshot, sending it rolling across the floor. The itching in his head had transformed into full-on alarm bells as [Danger Sense] screamed at him.

The creature twisted its limbs, scuttling to all fours before it charged towards him. It unleashed a guttural roar. Adams pulled the trigger again. As he started backing away, the buckshot barely slowed it down. Instead, the flesh started wriggling as more of those red worms started to emerge from the thing that used to be human.

"Back!!! BACK!!!!" Adams ordered as eyes of every shape and color, along with red tentacles, emerged from the corpse, reaching for him as he ducked out of the room, firing buckshot after buckshot. This time, it was even less effective. Even as it ripped apart tentacles and popped eyeballs, the grotesque monster reformed almost instantly as the creature picked up speed.

The monster was little more than an amorphous blob composed almost entirely of pulsating, blood-red biomass resembling raw meat, with vivid blue veins snaking across its body. Other body parts will grow from or vanish into its central mass at random regardless of its size: round, bulging eyeballs of varying colors, gaping mouths lined with misshapen teeth, and numerous whip-like tentacles constantly stretching and shrinking.

All four of them turned and ran down the hall as the now tentacled horror ripped its way out of the broom closet, its size having blown up to that of a small car. It was a massive, twisting thing of flesh and tentacles. Its many gleaming eyes decorated its body with no regard for reason or sanity. Thorn fired a dozen bullets into the mass as they ran to no effect.

"Why is everything immune to guns now?" She shouted as they raced down the corridor.

The technical mass behind them was spitting and hissing as it slithered after them.

"Shut up and Run!" Adam shouted, firing his shotgun again, still to almost no effect.

They sprinted down the hall, the monster in pursuit, its tendrils lashing out and tearing through walls and doors.

"We need to find a way to slow it down!" Chester yelled, glancing back.

"We should split up!!" Jeffery said desperately, turning and running down a different hall.

"Corporal Stop," Adams roared.

But it was too late, and the horror turned and lept at Jeffrey. The horror lept on Jeffery as he tried to peel away from the group. Jeffery screamed as the creature latched on to him. Its flesh melted and fused into Jeffery's body. His clothing was ripped away.

"HELP ME!!" Jeffery screamed in a dozen different voices as his arm split open into five tentacles, whipping around.

Adams makes a snap decision, shooting Jeffery in the head to end his suffering. Jeffery's head snaps backwards before it snaps back to face Adams. Jeffery's head was a ruined mess of flesh. gurgling incoherently

"HELP ME!!!!"

Jeffery's flesh ripples and convulses. His features distorted even further, becoming grotesque. His bones snap, realigning as something under his skin wriggles. By this point, everything below the torso is gone, and Jeffery sticks out of the thing like a Lovecraftian centaur.

"HELP ME!!!!" the nightmarish replica of Jeffrey screams as it lungs for Adams.

Adams blasted the horror with the 12 gauge over and over again to almost no effect again, but too late, he realized he was not going to be able to get out of the way in time. He had made a rookie mistake of standing around instead of running away. And now he was going to suffer a fate worse than death.

But just as the creature started to get close, the buckshot did something. The places where it was shot began to rot, turning from red to black as its flesh necrotized. The replica of Jeffrey screamed as its body started to rot. The creature recoiled, backing away from the group and disappearing down a corridor with a speed that suggested it hadn't truly been trying to catch them earlier.

Adams turned back to find Sergeant Thorn halfway down the hall and Chester practically next to him.

"What the hell just happened?" Adams asked as he felt the cold sweat drip down his back.

"It was rotting?" Thorn asked.

"Sir, That might have been my fault," Chester said.

"What do you mean?" Adams asked.

"Well, I picked up [Death Mage], and I have the skills [Death Magic] and [Aura of Decay]," Chester said. "[Aura of Decay] makes it so any injuries inflicted on an enemy in my aura cause necrotization. My aura wasn't very big, but once it entered, those bullets started to rot it.l"

"You could have killed that thing at any time?!" Thorn asked angrily.

"It's not supposed to be that powerful. The skill isn't even level 10 yet. This thing must be just really weak against the rot element. Like in Pokemon, Charmander is weak to water attacks."

"I miss being able to shoot my problems away," Thorn grumbled.

"Enough of that. We need to get the hell out of here before that thing comes back." Adams said. "Fastest way out of the building now."

"Down the hall, we can pass through the cafeteria and out through the loading dock," Thorn said.

"Good Thorn, take point. I'll cover the rear. Chester, take the middle. If that thing shows up again, we need your aura thing. What's its range?"

"Seven meters now, with me at the center," Chester stated.

"Don't allow us to get out of range. Try to keep us within a meter of both of us," Adams said.

They quickly moved down the corridors. The signs of fighting were becoming more and more obvious. Broken lights smashed up doors. But not a drop of blood or a body. All of them were probably inside of that thing.

Adams shuddered as he heard the thing banging around on the floor above them as he entered the kitchen.

"IT'S THE MONSTER!" someone screamed, and someone blasted Thorn with a fire extinguisher.

"Stop, stop, we're First Responders, stop!" Adams ordered.

The fire extinguisher shut down, and Adams could see almost thirty people hiding among the kitchen supplies. They looked absolutely terrified and exhausted. From the smell, Adams doubted they had left this room since this system thing started.

"Are you here to rescue us?"

"Yes. We're going through the delivery area," Adams lied as he adapted.

"We can't. The door is locked." one of the nurses said.

"We have the tools, don't worry," Adams said despite his anxiety rising.

"Chester gets the door open," he said, tossing Chester his halligan.

"Everyone move towards the back door," Adams ordered.

Chester got to work tearing off the locks—yes, multiple locks—because someone thought that was a good idea.

Above his head, there was a banging as the thing started to move towards them. Maybe it knew they were trying to escape. Regardless, [Danger Sense] was already acting up again.

"Thorn, turn on the gas on all the stoves," Adams ordered.

Adams grabbed a metal bowl and shoved as much metal as he could find into it before shoving the entire thing in a microwave and setting it for six minutes. Gas was already starting to fill the room. Thorn and Adams pulled down their masks just as Chester opened the door. People immediately started racing out of the hospital space, and the banging got louder and louder.

"Move! Now!" Adam commanded as he hit the start button on the microwave.

The sound of Jeffery's 'HELP ME!!!' echoed through the kitchen as the monster burst into the room. Adam and Thorn raced to the door. The monstrosity crawled over them like a slug, its tentacles reaching for them.

BOOOM

Adam and Thorn were thrown out of the building as the gas ignited. The monster let out a terrifying screeeeech as it was enveloped in flames. After being thrown by the blast, Adams rolled once and twice across the ground. For a long moment, he lay on the ground.

"You've earned your rest, Jeffery," Adams muttered.

"HELP ME!!!!"

Adam's head jerked back to the building. The thing was still alive. It was horrifically burnt but alive. Writhing at the threshold as if trapped by an invisible wall. Unable to pass beyond the hospital's perimeter. It roared in frustration, its eyes glaring at them with a promise of vengeance before it disappeared back into the hospital.

DING!!!

Congratulations!!!

You have entered and escaped the St.George Lair Monster: [Lair Boss: Shoggoth]

Lairs are infested with monsters with seeds ready to restart civilization inside. As you are not a Beta-Tester, you will not be informed if you are entering a settlement until January 1st.

As you have failed to kill the boss or claim the settlement, no additional rewards will be granted.

<[Pursuite Hunter] has Reached Level 4>

<[Pursuite Hunter] has Reached Level 5>

<...>

<[Pursuite Hunter] has Reached Level 10>

<[Toughness] has Reached Level 2>

<[Toughness] has Reached Level 3>

<...>

<[Toughness] has Reached Level 6>

<[Turnout Gear] has Reached Level 2>

<[Turnout Gear] has Reached Level 3>

<...>

<[Turnout Gear] has Reached Level 6>

<[Lifeguard] has Reached Level 1>

<[Danger Sense] has Reached Level 2>

<[Danger Sense] has Reached Level 3>

<...>

<[Danger Sense] has Reached Level 11>

"We made it," Chester panted, collapsing to the ground.

"For now," Adam said, looking back at the hospital. "But we need to find a way to kill that thing for good. For Jeffrey"

"Can't we just burn the hospital down?" Thorn asked.

Adams honestly considered the question. Normally, that would be out of the quest. But he would rather burn the building down than face that thing again.

"Is the hospital even flammable?" he asked.

"I don't think so. It's mostly brick and mortar," Thorn admitted.

"Do we have any gasoline?" he asked.

"There's a gas station down the road." Chester pointed out.

"Good enough. Once we get these people to safety, we'll come back here and set the building on fire." Adams said

As they caught their breath, the weight of what they had just survived began to sink in. They had escaped the monster, but the battle was far from over. How many more places had something like that inside? He needed to prepare, and he needed to understand how all of this stuff worked.

Adams let out a sigh. "Chester, I don't understand how this entire system works. I think I need some help."

Chester nodded. "Alright, give me a look. … Hmmm. You have a lot of defensive skills but nothing that does damage."

"I have a shotgun." Adams countered. "I'll stick with what I know before I pick up something completely different."

"Far enough. But everything else in your build makes you pretty tanky. In that case, [Fancy Feet] and [Thermal Vision] would be your best choices.

"[Fancy Feet]?" Adams asked, confused.

"It's a movement skill. But [Thermal Vision] and [Danger Sense] will help you identify threats to us and make it harder to sneak up on you. It's all useful without locking you into a specific path." Chester said.

"Thanks, Chester. Go around to everyone and see if you can help them while I consider this stuff." Adams said as he reviewed his options

He ended up taking Chester's Suggestion. He trusted Chester's judgment over his own ignorance.

DING!!!

[Fire Fighter] - [Thermal Vision] - Rare

[Thermal Vision]: Allows the user to see in the infrared spectrum, detect heat signatures, and provide some form of visibility even in complete darkness. Increase the range of this skill equal to 1% per skill level.

[Police Officer] - [Fancy Feet] - Uncommon

[Fancy Feet]: Enhances evasion, footwork, and balance by 2% per skill level. Allowing you to move with grace and agility.

Adam leaned back. Dawn was just peeking over the horizon when yet another message popped up in his face.

DING!!!

The Beacon has been lit!!!

[Awoken Myths] have lit a beacon welcoming newcomers to their settlement [Rivendale]. This settlement offers a safe zone, a 30% bonus to skill growth, and access to a skilled healer, making it the perfect refuge in these tumultuous times. But be careful: While settlement offers great security, none of these apply to your fellow man.

Before Adam could even finish comprehending what he was saying, Starkiller all but teleported in front of him.

"Hey, fireman. Want to pay off your debt?" he asked.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Adams asked.

Starkiller shrugged. "Not important. I want you to head to this settlement and give the owners a message," Starkiller said.

"I need to take these people to a Fire Department." Adam protested.

"You want to take them to Hopkins, trust me," Starkiller said with a smile.

Starkiller started to swing his staff around, and every time it hit something- asphalt, cars, dead bodies- it smashed chunks out of it with ease.

"Besides, you don't want to break your contract so soon, do you?" Starkiller asked with a cruel smile. "Who would protect your men?"

Adam looked back to where his people were sitting in the truck. He wasn't sure if Starkiller would kill his crew if he didn't comply, but he wasn't willing to test this maniac.

"What's the message?" Adam asked.

Starkiller grinned.

You may skip to the next chapter.

Name: Baily Adams

Race: Human

Type: Humanoid

LVL: 9

SubRace: British

Age 36

Health: 360

Stamina: 450

Mana: 0

Health Regen: 4.5 per hour

Stamina Regen: 6.3 per min

Mana Regen: 1.8 per min

Titles: Major

Immune

None

Resistances

Physical 3%, Elemental 3%, Vitality 1%

Weakness

None

Bane

Manslayer

Classes: Firefighter 5, Police Officer 3, Paramedic 1

Total

STR: 0

AGIL: 0

DEX: 0

CON: 27

END: 18

PER: 0

INT: 0

WILL: 0

SPIRIT: 18

EGO: 9

CHA: 0

LCK: 0

Base

STR: 0

AGIL: 0

DEX: 0

CON: 27

END: 18

PER: 0

INT: 0

WILL: 0

SPIRIT: 18

EGO: 9

CHA: 0 +10%

LCK: 0

Personal: 126 Unassigned

Racial: +3 CON, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +1 EGO

Skill Slots: 09/60: Skill Points: 0

Personal Skills

- [Pursuite Hunter] - Level 3 >> Level 10

- [Storyteller] - Level N/A

Fireman 02/11

- [Toolkit] - Level 5

- [Turnout Gear] - Level 1 >> Level 6

- [Thermal Vision] - Level 1

Police Officer 02/11

- [Toughness] - Level 1 >> Level 6

- [Danger Sense] - Level 1 >> Level 11

- [Fancy Feet] - Level 1

Paramedic 01/11

- [Life Guard] - Level 1 >> Leve 2