"Yeah, there have been some strange damned things going on this week. What's your name, and what do you want? Are there any others with you besides that massive fucking dog?" the guy in Plate called. Charles, the level six warrior.

  "I'm John, and no, I don't have anyone with me. I'm just trying to get home. A huge Drake tore up my pack before we could get away. You wouldn't happen to have any water, would you?" I asked, trying to seem a bit pitiful. With a mage in the group, they could probably hit me with spells before we could get away. A follower of Ares might be a problem. Who knows what kind of abilities someone who followed a battle maniac god would get.

  The guy in the T-shirt spoke up, "yeah, we have water you can drink. Come on inside, and we will take good care of you."

  I wondered if they knew the penalty for swearing a false oath and thought it might be worth a shot and maybe get the strongest of these three to doom himself. "You swear it's safe to come in? You guys won't do anything to me, right?" I let my knees buckle a bit to show a bit of weakness.

  Patrick, the mage in the tee, smirked at me a bit and, with a hint of sarcasm, said, "Yeah, I swear. It's perfectly safe to come in. We don't mean you any harm. After all, we humans need to stick together against all these monsters."

  Tyler, the Ares follower, squinted at me as though he suspected I was up to something while Charles jumped down from the wall inside and began opening the gate. It took a moment, but a black aura bloomed out of the mage. His sneering face froze as he read a prompt that appeared in front of him. A look of horror crossed his face, and he screamed out, "WHAT THE FUCK IS A FALSE OATH? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT"

  He started to conjure a small tornado in his hands, with fire leaking into it, creating a flaming tornado that he wanted to unleash at me. Unfortunately for him, his casting was too slow as the black aura enveloped him. Black splotches appeared on his skin, and his veins bulged with a dark green color. He screamed out in pain. The tornado he was forming burst apart in his hands, engulfing him in his own spell as he lost control of his magic.

  If they hadn't meant me any harm, then none of that would have happened. It looks like the blessing of Odin was genuine. I felt no pity for the man who preyed on others. I pulled my spear out of my ring as when warrior charged out of the opened gate.

  Tyler tried to use his healing ability on his ally, but it had no apparent effect. The mage slumped to the ground with a gurgle coming from his throat, then he went silent; smoke rose from his scorched corpse.

  Charles pulled out a nice-looking bastard sword, then it burst into flame. What is it with fire today? The mage tries to form some kind of Firenado, the Drake tried to flame-broil me, now this guy wants to shish kebob me with a burning sword. That can't be good for the sword's temper, either. Though with magic, it's probably protected from it.

  I spun up my Bone Meridian and boosted my agility to twenty-two points. This guy was a lot slower than I was, and I hoped to use that to my advantage. Rukia broke away from me and circled around, ready to attack this guy from the flank.

  A loud inhuman bellow echoed from the weigh station, causing Charles to look back briefly. I glanced at the building too for a brief moment, but I brought my attention back to my opponent faster than he did. I dashed forward and struck at his ankle with the butt of my spear, tripping him in his run.

  He fell hard with the clatter of steel on concrete. I spun my spear around and stabbed down to his shoulder.

  The spear point glanced off with a shower of sparks and struck the concrete. "Shit," I swore. I forgot that my spear wasn't as effective when it came to penetrating heavy armor. I stepped back and saw that about a quarter-inch of my spear tip snapped off.

  I inspected my spear quickly and saw that it lost four points of durability and two points of damage from that strike.

  Charles rolled to his feet with a chuckle. "You thought your little stick could pierce this armor? Do you have any idea what I spent on this? It's worth three thousand credits and has a defense of thirty. Your best strike barely bruised my shoulder, you little shit. So now I'm going to split you in half. You and your dog are nothing but experience points for me now."

  "Don't worry about the dog. I'll take care of it, then give you back up if you can't handle a guy with a stick." The Ares dude called out.

  I glanced over and saw the leather armored man with a three-foot-wide bronze shield on his left arm with an old-style Greek helm embossed on it and a bone-white axe in his other hand stalking towards Rukia. He pointed his axe at Rukia, and a beam of golden-white light shot out in a bolt and struck Rukia in her side, her HP dropping by sixteen points. She let out a menacing growl and ran for him.

  I had to suddenly duck a wild swing at my head from the warrior, bringing my focus back to this man. Then, I imbued my spear with twenty of my own Ki to increase its penetrating power. Why I didn't do that earlier, I'll never know, but I did so now.

  I thrust at his chest, but he knocked it to the side with his sword. I really needed to learn how to fight better with this spear.

  "You obviously have no skill with that weapon. I, however, have been fighting with a longsword for years in my old Hema group. You may be fast, but I have real skill." He taunted me.

  I stabbed at his face as a feint then tried to stab at his chest, but he deflected that too. I skipped back to avoid a slash from his sword and tried to launch back before he could recover, but was had to abort as he sidestepped it and threw a punch at my head.

  I started to circle around him, trying to find some kind of opening to actually penetrate his armor. The first tripping attack must have caught him by surprise, but he was more careful now.

  I didn't have anything special going for me. My only armor was my vest and my actual skin. I didn't know how to really fight. I considered just trying to run away and having Rukia follow me. But there was someone trapped inside that needed help. Rukia and the Ares guy were circling each other maybe fifty feet away. Perhaps if I used my increased speed, I could break away from this walking tin can and help her out real quick, then we could take out tall bright, and shiny. I mean, really, how much time does that guy spend polishing his armor each day?

  I stabbed out with several short jabs to throw him off, then right as he swung at me again, I ducked under his sword, spun on the balls of my feet, and sprinted straight for the back of the Ares dude. The first twenty or so feet, I thought my plan was working, then I crossed through a wall of aura of blood and steel. It felt like the essence of war filled the air. My speed dropped to my average speed without circulating. I double-checked and saw that my Ki was still cycling at high speed.

  You have entered the Aura of War. Through the blessing of Ares, god of war, your movement and attack speed is reduced by 20%

  He must have sensed my approach, or hell, he could have just heard the pounding of my boots against the concrete. He spun around and deflected the spear strike I was aiming for the middle of his back with his shield and followed immediately with a swing of his bone axe. The axe struck me in the ribs and knocked the wind out of me.

  -9

  However, Rukia didn't waste the opportunity and sunk her ice-covered fangs into his calf, jerking her head and forcing the man to drop to a knee.

  For a brief moment, his shield arm was flung to the side. I brought my spear slashing down into his exposed shoulder, bruised ribs protesting the twisting movement.

  Blood sprayed over my face and clothes. I didn't realize my mouth was open and screaming at the man while I struck until the thick, warm coppery taste filled my mouth. I stepped back to cough and spit it out in horror. He started to glow again as he activated one of his divine abilities, probably a selfheal, to keep him from dying. My strike wasn't quite enough to kill him in one shot, but he was a hair's breadth from dying. The blood loss would do it if not for a healing ability.

  I heard the clanking of armor approaching behind me, and I dove to one side in a forward roll. I had helped my son learn the forward roll when he was in gymnastics as a little boy, but I haven't been able to do one myself since I was a kid. But with my high attributes, my body just did it almost on its own.

  A bolt of fire just missed me and struck the Follower of Ares in the face before his healing ability took effect. A brief cry of pain came from him before he slumped to the ground. Seriously why with all the fucking fire today.

  The Aura of War faded, and I could feel my body move like it should again. With my higher stats and Rukia's help, we should be able to deal with this man.

  A loud boom echoed from the building, and then something that sounded like a wall collapsing. "What the fuck are they doing in there; they had better not let him escape," Charles growled.

  I tried to take advantage of his distraction by charging the remaining distance, but he swung his still burning sword defensively, keeping me back. Then, Rukia went wide around him while his attention was focused on me. I wouldn't say he was an actual expert with his sword, but he definitely had more skill than I did.

  "What are you guys doing here? Who are you holding captive?" I asked him while we circled each other.

  "None of your fucking business. If you give up now, I won't kill you. You just get to serve the Lord of War." He said with a sneer. "We always need new workers to build our new empire for us."

  I saw Rukia getting ready to go for the man's leg and decided to distract him a bit more. "Is that where you took the collared women, making them slaves for this new empire of yours?"

  "What? How did you kn-" Rukia hit him from behind the knee, buckling it and dropping him to one knee. I didn't give him the chance to recover and trust my spear into his chest while his arms spread out as he tried to maintain balance.

  The spear didn't penetrate far, but I managed to score a solid hit. It burned up all the Ki I infused into the blade and recharged it again to maintain the penetrating quality.

  I pulled it back and was about to thrust again when a ring of fire burst from Charles. It knocked me back, almost making me fall on my ass, and scorched me a bit, though nowhere near as bad as that firedrake did. It seemed to be primarily a fire-themed knockback spell.

  -5

  Charles managed to get back to his feet by the time I reoriented myself. Rukia already activated her charge ability and lunged for him. He spun on Rukia and slashed his sword at her. She mostly managed to dodge under the blow, though it did carve a furrow across her back. Her maneuver cost her eleven hit points, but it secured her a solid strike at the man's knee.

  I thrust my spear into the man's back, putting my total weight behind it and driving it as deeply as I could. Times like this, I wish I had my Muscle Meridian open already.

  With the spear penetrating his back through his armor, I exercised one of the basic uses of Ki and poured twenty points worth through the spear and out its damaged tip. I could feel the Ki detonate inside the man. He couldn't even cry out as his lungs were savaged.

  Blood sprayed out around my spear, his armor seemed to contain the worst of it, but pulped flesh and blood oozed out of the joints in his armor and sprayed from his mouth like a geyser. I pulled my spear free as he slumped lifeless to the ground.

  My stomach heaved a bit at the warm sticky blood coating my face and vest. I chose to distract myself from the sensation by checking on Rukia. She had a few wounds, the worst being the slash across her back. Fortunately, she could negate the fire damage and wasn't burned. As I examined her, I could see the wounds visibly closing and watched her health pool tick up while her Ki pool ticked down. She would be ok, just at half her capacity in Ki.

  Congratulations, you have slain the Settlement leader of Outpost.

  Headman Charles Henry has no designated heirs.

  Do you wish to claim the outpost as your own?

  Y/N

  I looked at the men I had killed. Should I be feeling some kind of guilt over them? They were evil men, capturing people, making them slaves for some asshole wannabe dictator trying to carve out their own little empire less than a week into the apocalypse.

  I always knew some people should die for the things they do, rapists, pedophiles, and the like. But I have never killed anyone before. I wasn't in the military. I wasn't in law enforcement or any other career path that would put me in the position of having to take another human's life.

  I didn't feel any joy over killing these men. But I didn't feel any sadness, grief, or anything painful over it either. Was I in shock over it? I didn't think so, but only having a bachelor's degree in psychology didn't really give anyone the experience or ability to diagnose, and self-diagnosis is often wrong anyway.

  I minimized the prompt about taking ownership of the settlement to deal with later.

  I thought about looting these men. It worked on monsters. Would it work on people too? There was only one way to find out.

  You have gained

  Steel Flaming Longsword

  Plate Mail Set

  Ring of Endurance

  Ring of Strength

  c1309

  I walked over to the Ares dude and looted him too.

  You have gained

  Drake-bone War Axe

  Demon Boar Leather Armor Set

  Shield of Ares

  c1652

  Both men crumbled to dust and slowly faded away after looting, just like every monster I’ve looted so far. They all had a lot of system credits on them and what was probably decent gear. I’d Identify them all later and see if they were any good to me or if I could sell them.

  The weigh station was quiet now after all the loud crashing sounds and small explosions that went off in there. Rukia and I approached cautiously. Once the building was within my current one hundred forty foot range of my Spirit Sense, I stopped and pushed it out and swept the building with it.

  There was a lot of residual energy floating around inside. I could feel the residue of Ki breaking down after being used for a technique or something. Mana was used as well. It had a lighter texture than Ki did, more diffuse. There was one other energy in there that I could sense.

  It reminded me of the divine energy from the Path of Faith, but it felt wrong somehow. It was darker, oily to the crispness of even that Ares dude. If I were to describe it with a flavor or scent, it would be something along the lines of gangrenous rot, soaked in rancid beef fat and a dash of battery acid.

  Aside from the energies breaking down into essence, there was one person still alive in there. It was a cultivator, but their Dantian was nearly empty. Body Rank three like myself if I was to guess, but I couldn’t be entirely sure with them being drained as they were.

  I took a deep breath; this was either the captive I saw in that vision thing or another of the slavers. One, I would try to help, and the other would be put down. Gripping my spear tightly in my hand, I pushed open the door and saw the devastation.

  The ceiling tiles were shattered, and dust coated everything. Drywall cluttered the floor, man-sized holes in the walls and the counters the old DOT officers sat behind to inspect your permits, and bills of lading were crushed.

  One body, I think it was a man, was on the floor. Its head looked like it had been hit with a cannonball. Half of it was just not there; blood and pulped brain tissue pooled on the floor and splattered the wall and part of the ceiling.

  The cultivator I sensed was slumped over against an intact section of the wall. Blood coated half of his face from a scalp wound that mainly had closed up, caking the stubble on his head and chest-length red-blond beard. His Marvel Tee was torn and stained and looked to be at least three sizes too big.

  In his hand was a three-foot-long Warhammer. The head was about two inches to a side and covered in bits of bone, hair, and blood. The spike balancing out the hammerhead extended half a foot from the haft. He looked unconscious, so I took a moment and identified it and its wielder.

  Magnus Thomson

  Cultivator body rank 3

  HP: 51/105

  Stam: 3/132

  Ki: 4/125

  Debuffs:

  Exhausted (-25% stamina recovery)

  Severe Dehydration (-50% health recovery, -25% stamina recovery)

  Starving (-25% health recovery, -25% stamina recovery)

  Thorbjorn

  Soul bound Warhammer

  Quality: Well crafted (+20%)

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Durability: 60/60

  Damage: 24

  Armor Penetration: 15 (spike)

  Ki Pool: 0/20

  Ki pool Regen: 5/hour

  Effect: Concussive Impact-can spend Ki to cause a concussive blast from the head of the Warhammer on impact. Concussive blast bypasses mundane armor and inflicts 2 points of damage per Ki Spent

  Special: as a soul bound weapon, this item can be called to the owners hand provided the path between the item and its soul bonded is unobstructed. Additional Ki can be spent to attempt to break through obstructions.

  Chapter 17

  Day 6

  I watched the unconscious cultivator for a few minutes while trying to decide what to do. Unless there was an affliction specialist to stack those debuffs on him, the odds were good that he was the captured man I saw in my vision from Odin. But, unfortunately, I only received an impression instead of a clear picture of the guy.

  As I watched him, I started to notice a few details I missed when I first came into the room. There was a fragment of rope looped around one of his combat boots, some rope fibers caught in a Paracord survival bracelet, the kind that came with flint and a striker in the clasp if I didn’t miss my guess.

  The more I saw, the more confident I was that this guy was the captive. After considering my options while his stamina slowly crawled up, I decided it would be a good idea to give him one of my stamina potions from the other side of the room just in case he wasn’t very friendly.

 

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