Chapter 56: The Eye of the Storm (Patreon)

“What did you do?” The guard stood in front of the scorched and empty cell, nudging the broken collar with her boot. She stopped and looked at Coop. It was obviously too much of a coincidence for him to have arrived immediately before a prisoner escaped, but Coop was counting on the limitations placed on the aliens by the system.

“Nothing too dramatic.” Derek answered, inadvertently giving a suspicious answer after the guard had previously suspected Coop. “He just popped his collar off and started going wild with his skills. You know he’s been trying to get out ever since you put him in there.”

The guard raised an eyebrow at them before she huffed like she’d rather be somewhere else, spun on her feet, and went back into the stairwell. Coop breathed a small sigh of relief that the guard seemed to be playing along even if she was onto him. He counted thirty seconds, feeling like it took forever, before he ripped his own collar off and activated Presence of Mind to mask his aura, then placed his five unallocated points from his previous level into Mind. He identified the other prisoners as he moved to remove Derek’s collar.

[Human (Level 12)]

[Virtuoso (Acumen)]

[(Requiem)]

Coop would never have guessed that someone like Derek would have a class called Virtuoso. His first impression was more like some kind of scoundrel, but his class really made him sound fancy. Coop wondered what his skills were like. Derek rubbed his neck while Coop moved the bars to their cell and went to the hopeless prisoner.

“What’s your name?” Coop belatedly asked.

“Marcus.” He answered while finally standing up.

[Human (Level 25)]

[Hierophant (Intelligence)]

[Chosen of the Endless Empire]

Coop broke the bars down and removed his collar before he confirmed that he wanted to leave his faction behind. Marcus had no love for the Empire, nor the people who were representing it on Earth and was ready to denounce his faction affiliation as soon as possible. That was good enough for Coop who moved to Emmanuel’s cell.

[Human (Level 24)]

[Enforcer (Strength)]

[Massive]

Charlie’s father had made good progress with his levels despite not being Chosen. Coop was impressed. It seemed like his mana affinity was also quite literal.

“She’s behind this wall.” Emmanuel pointed, not wasting any time leading the way to Madison.

Coop nodded and approached the illuminated stone. This was the part he was the least sure about. Would he be able to smash through the magically reinforced structure? He tested the wall with his knuckles and it seemed completely solid.

“Is there a door or something?” Coop asked while knocking on the surface.

“It just opens from right there.” Emmanuel answered.

Coop couldn’t find any obvious weak points, like hinges or a frame. He pushed on the wall like he had with the iron bars, to see if it would give a little, but there was no flex at all. He briefly considered if Emmanuel was mistaken, but if there was one thing he had already gleaned about the man, it was that he really cared about his family. He wouldn’t make a mistake like that.

With a sigh, Coop stepped away from the wall and tried kicking it like he was breaking down a door. Three tries was enough to know that kicking his way in wouldn’t be feasible. He walked a little further from the wall and used Salvation to summon his full ethereal armor, helmet and all, then Retribution to summon his shield. He took a deep breath and charged at full speed across the cell into the wall, shoulder first, with his shield against his arm to take the brunt of the impact.

The collision between the shield and the wall sounded like a high speed car accident. Coop’s ribs protested, but the wall was left with a massive crater centered at Coop’s shoulder height.

“Damn, man.” Derek gaped in awe. Marcus just grunted.

Coop took another running start, aiming to collide with the same spot. A second collision rang out with Coop driving his legs forward. His shield cracked before snapping and falling into pieces that evaporated into mist. The wall resisted his efforts, slowing him down to nearly a stop before it suddenly gave, individual stones collapsing all around him. He nearly fell on his face when the wall finally broke, but he maintained his balance in the middle of the gaping hole that he had created.

He found himself peering into a dark room, through the red mana mist leaking from the broken stones and dust swirling in the dim light. Coop just felt lucky that the wall never reinforced itself with mana the way he had seen the Tavern defend itself back on Ghost Reef. Breaking through the stone was difficult enough.

“My love! I knew you’d come for me.” A weary woman’s voice whispered from somewhere inside the room. Coop was silhouetted in the gaping hole that he had just created, squinting into the darkness before he spotted her, tied with both hands above her head on the opposite side of the room.

Emmanuel rushed past Coop into the room, “I’m here! Are you okay?”

“I’m tired.” She responded, sounding like she was on the verge of passing out.

“It’s alright, honey, we’re leaving now.” Emmanuel soothed her. He looked at Coop who joined him in unfastening her. She wasn’t bound by magical implements, just regular ropes, but Emmanuel only had one hand to work the knots with. However, when Coop was done with the ropes, he realized that they had been slowly draining his mana while he held them.

While they were untying her wrists and ankles, Derek gaped at the hole that Coop had made. The wall was nearly two feet thick and the stones had actually crumbled rather than just separate from each other. The building wasn’t ready for Coop’s Strength, he was currently so far ahead of the curve. Thanks to his passive skills, profession levels, and title bonuses, his stats alone were enough to dismantle even the system provided structures.

Madison wrapped her arms around Coop’s neck as he removed her collar. He had to catch her to keep her from collapsing to the floor.

“You can protect her right?” Emmanuel asked with concern.

“No problem.” Coop answered, scooping her up and heading back to the cells. They should probably move quickly. There was no telling how much of a window the guard was yielding them or if more of the Empire’s Chosen would come to investigate.

Before they reached the stairwell, Madison put a hand on his chest and whispered, “You’re hurt?” Before he could respond, her hand shimmered with swirling mana that flowed directly into Coop. The outline of faint wings sprouted from her back before she passed out.

She had cured the Tracker’s Blight affliction that he still had from his fight with the Field Boss, and also healed his broken ribs with barely any effort. Coop was as good as new. He was surprised, Madison appeared to be a real healer, the first one he’d heard of. He identified her.

[Human (Level 30)]

[Angel of Dawn (Mind)]

[Sage of the Merciful]

[Graceful (Lifegiver)]

Coop was even more surprised by her level. Her faction must have invested a lot into her, considering she hadn’t had a chance to get any experience since she was captured when returning. She must have shown a lot of potential during the sponsorship bidding process. He had to imagine there was a good reason. Maybe she’d even be able to help Jones.

He had Derek peek into the stairwell to make sure the coast was clear before Coop led the group down the central stairs. He went quickly, leaping down the stairs without jostling Madison. The others struggled to keep up, but Coop really didn’t want to get caught before they were able to get out of the dungeon and they still needed to crack open the armory on the first floor.

They made it to the bottom, with Coop kicking the last security gate open and scanning the room for their goal. He was tempted to just leave as his gaze fell on the exit, but he was at least a little greedy for loot. After Derek pointed out that the settlement kept a makeshift armory inside the dungeon, he had been hoping to scavenge the Empire’s entire arsenal to distribute it to the phantoms.

“Where is it?” Coop asked as Derek finally caught up. The winded Virtuoso pointed to a door. Thankfully, Coop wouldn’t need to break down any more walls.

“Marcus, can you keep an eye in the stairwell?” Coop wanted to be warned if they needed to make a break for it.

“No offense, but I don’t trust you to not leave me behind.” Marcus stated, inching away from the stairs.

“I’ll do it.” Emmanuel volunteered, saving them time convincing the skeptical man.

Coop nodded and headed into the makeshift armory. Inside the room that was identical to the one where they found Madison imprisoned, they found piles of equipment. The Empire’s equipment had been disorderly tossed into the room. Coop immediately started using his free arm to start scavenging while cradling the passed out woman.

Nothing happened. He couldn’t hoover up all the free loot with his profession. He had gotten his hopes up and now he was just disappointed. Why didn’t his profession come with clear instructions? He figured he couldn’t scavenge everything here because these items were technically owned, while everything that he had scavenged before had been from something he killed or something that had been abandoned. He had no idea how the system would determine ownership, but that was the only explanation he could come up with. It must have something to do with mana.

“Got it!” Derek exclaimed while Coop was disappointedly rifling through gear. Derek raised up an acoustic guitar in victory. Coop made a face, dissatisfied with the result of their haul, but didn’t say anything. The guy’s class gave him some benefit of the doubt.

“What are these?” Marcus asked while holding a wooden crate’s lid open. Coop looked inside and spotted hundreds of the Empire’s artifacts. The same ones they used to cause Jones’s blood curse.

“We need to destroy those.” Coop declared. When the other two looked at him dubiously he continued, “They crush them to give people an unblockable and incurable blood curse.”

Marcus nodded. “Alright. If you had wanted to steal them, I’d be abandoning you as soon as possible.” He put the lid down and held his hands over the crate. Golden light poured down from his palms like a liquid, engulfing the crate before it ignited in a cold white fire. The crate and artifacts inside disintegrated harmlessly as Coop watched.

They left the armory, mostly empty handed, though Derek wasn’t shy about grabbing as much equipment as he could, stuffing it into a makeshift pouch that he looped over the opposite shoulder from his guitar. He managed to collect plenty of the armor that had been widespread among the Chosen of the Endless Empire. They gathered Emmanuel and headed to the front door. There had been no sign of the guard, or anyone else for that matter. It was almost too quiet inside the dungeon.

Coop was suspicious why the distraction the eager prisoner had provided hadn’t attracted any reinforcements. Surely some of the Empire’s forces would have noticed an explosion in their singular construction and come to investigate. Even if the guards that had brought him there had returned to the gates, he had seen that there were plenty of other Chosen milling around the airport with nothing to do.

He led the way to the door, bracing to face down waiting enemies. Instead he found the answer for why no reinforcements had come. Gusting wind nearly pushed him back inside. It was strong enough to cause the sturdy front door to squeak on its hinges while he pushed against the wind.

“Is this a hurricane?” Derek yelled over the howling tempest. “Isn’t it, like, December?”

“I don’t think we can keep using the previous calendar.” Marcus responded.

“That’s what you focus on? Not all that?” Derek yelled back, pointing outside while trying to make himself heard over the screaming wind.

Coop remembered the orientation of the tower, and knowing the direction of the coast, turned to the freed prisoners. “Follow me!” He shouted before bracing Madison and stepping into the gusts.

It was tough moving through the storm, being buffeted by gusts of winds erratically. It genuinely felt like a hurricane had arrived in the short time that he had been locked up. Coop was pretty sure it should have been day time, but the sun was merely a fuzzy red ball visible only by squinting carefully in the wind.

On the bright side, the wind was definitely the reason no reinforcements had arrived. It would provide welcome cover for their escape. The tower was still standing, but it looked like a candle that had been blown out. Smoke and mana leaked from the top before being caught in the encircling storm, thickening the already dark clouds that had been whipped by the wind as they combined with dirt and debris.

The group moved slowly, inching their way through the murk and staying close together until Derek started strumming his guitar. He played a driving melody that gradually weakened the wind immediately around them. It was like he had created a windscreen that filtered the small debris while diminishing the impact of the gusts.

Coop wanted to ask a lot of questions about Derek’s class, but for now he was just satisfied that he was obviously useful. They picked up the pace, but before they made it outside of the shadow of the parking garages and into the wide open fields they heard shouts coming from behind them. The reactions were mixed. Marcus clearly wanted to bolt, but Derek froze and Emmanuel and Coop both turned.

A bulky silhouette chased after them, looking like a huge hunchback. Coop wondered if it was another monster type at first, but when the hazy figure emerged from the wind, it was actually Camila trying to catch up with them. She was giving an unconscious and fully cloaked Charlie a piggyback ride. Charlie’s father was the first to react, rushing into the wind to reach his daughter and make sure she was alright.

Camila joined the waiting group and explained that Charlie had used up all of her mana forming this storm. Coop was surprised to hear that the twisting winds were summoned by a person. His assumption was that it was a reaction to the settlement being attacked when the top of the dungeon was blown off. He couldn’t believe how much power Charlie wielded to be able to create a hurricane like that. Coop was strong, but he couldn’t do anything at that scale. The scope of her power was incredible, even if it wasn’t particularly deadly. The legendary classes didn’t seem like a joke.

Emmanuel ended up taking Charlie, holding her with his one good arm in the practiced way that a father carries his child. He must have been doing it the same way her entire life.

“I knew you’d just come out the front door like nothing happened.” Camila told Coop as she put her hand on his shoulder, catching her breath. He knew she didn’t have any points in Strength, so carrying Charlie through these conditions must have been tough. “So everything worked out?”

“So far so good.” Coop answered, gesturing to Madison before he was startled by a bark. The stray dog was also there, walking low to the ground with his tail between his legs, afraid of all the wind. Coop gave him a good scratch behind the ears before leading the group forward with the added members.

They traveled across the open ground that surrounded the airport still within the cover that the storm had built, staying close to Derek and his buffing songs.

They couldn’t see very far in any direction as the wind had brought thick clouds all the way to the ground while also gathering loose debris. The lack of rain was a bit strange for a storm in the tropics. Coop imagined that from a distance it would look like a giant slow motion tornado. Without any visible landmarks and the swirling winds surrounding them, it would be easy to get turned around. Luckily for Coop’s navigational skills, the airstrips went straight.

Madison groaned and stirred before she opened her eyes and looked up at Coop, confused. It was the first time Coop had gotten a good look at her, and he really noticed the family resemblance with Charlie. In contrast to Charlie, Madison had crystal blue eyes and straight, light blonde hair, with pale skin, but the freckles were exactly like her daughter’s. At first it seemed like they looked completely different, but that wasn’t the case at all. Charlie looked just like her mother even though she had dark brown, fluffier hair, grayer eyes, and a much darker complexion. Their faces were still the same shape, with dimples in their cheeks, and freckles across their noses.

“Don’t stare so much…” Madison quipped, jarring Coop out of his thoughts.

“Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking how much Charlie looks like you.” Coop apologized, feeling a bit embarrassed about staring.

“Mhmm. And who are you to be holding me in your arms like we’re newlyweds?” She asked unconcernedly. Coop knew she was a doctor, and he got the impression she was used to being in charge under all sorts of conditions. Even while being carried through the middle of a tornado.

He tried to give her a friendly smile, “I’m Coop. It’s a bit of a long story, but I worked on Ghost Reef and met Charlie there through her ranger job.”

“Where is my daughter?” The clarity had rushed back to her eyes and she pierced Coop with a stare. He twisted his hips so that she could see past his shoulder to where Emmanuel was carrying Charlie. “I see.” Madison chuckled, pushing her hair out of the way. “Like mother, like daughter, huh?”

“She’s pretty amazing. She made this storm while we were breaking out of that dungeon.” Coop explained.

“Damn right.” Madison declared before she softened her gaze. “Ah, you don’t mind carrying me a bit further? I’m feeling quite weak. I barely have any mana, and I have a strong affinity with it.”

“No worries.” Coop smiled again, not entirely sure what affinity had to do with anything, but he guessed that was why she and Charlie reacted the way they did when they ran out of mana. Coop was just glad he didn’t pass out when he ran out of mana, that would be annoying.

He was about to take Madison over to Emmanuel when he spotted scattered lights up ahead. He realized that a group of people holding torches were waiting at the edge of the storm. They weren’t in the clear just yet. The dog growled from behind Coop and he stopped, allowing the party to regroup.

They could see a dozen of the torchlights, but the ones holding them wouldn’t be able to see them just yet. The winds had picked up all sorts of debris to add to the thick cloud cover that had descended to the ground. They’d still need to get closer to leave the airport. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they would be able to escape without being completely noticed.