(TPOR) Chapter 158: Gains And Losses (Patreon)

Daniel and Ronda and Kid and Eitri looked just as confused as Zed.

But we don’t have it. Zed was peeking around from behind the tree. Or did someone lie to me? Can’t be. Right?

Why didn’t Festus just tell them that they didn’t have it.

“You heard me.” There no sign of concern in Festus’ voice. “If you want it, you’ll have to kill us for it.”

“Is it really worth dying for?” Andker asked.

Festus shrugged. “I should be the one asking you that. You just lost a good number of men trying to get it. Now there’s just a handful of you left.”

He looked at the four men still in the crater with them. They looked scared.

“While you ask yourself that, understand that these four are already forfeit.”

Andker shrugged. “They knew what they were walking into when they came.”

Judging by the looks on their faces, they’d had no idea what they were walking into when they went down the crater. In fact, one of them was already stealing glances at the top of the crater.

Zed guessed the man was wondering how quickly he could get to the top without losing his life.

Definitely not quickly enough.

But Zed was more intrigued at how easily Festus played the cold menacing villain. He was like an old man from some great sect in Chinese novels. But without the graceful height and sublimely straight white beard.

Festus lifted [Titan’s Axe] from the ground and let its blade fall back. “I am waiting, and you are wasting my time.”

Zero leaned close to Andker. “Should I hit him again?”

“No. He wouldn’t even let you.” He spared a glance at Zero and frowned lightly. “And you don’t look like you can handle another shot.”

Zed caught on to that. It seemed using the device had side effects.

“You are mistaken about one thing, though, old man.” Andker looked around, then raised his arms out beside him.

More men with riot shields slowly came out of the trees.

What the hell? Again, Zed looked around him, hoping he wasn’t just a fool thinking he was safe. Did they really bring an army? Who’s even funding these guys?

Andker dropped his hands when his men were all out in view.

“Everyone knows that when you go after Olympians, you bring an army.”

Festus shook his head like a man who pitied a child. He raised his hand and the man who’d been gauging the distance between him and top of the crater flew straight into his hand.

He caught the man by the neck. The difference in their height was enough that the man ended up on his knees. Festus released [Titan’s Axe] and grabbed the barrel of the man’s gun just as he lifted it to aim.

He bent all the way up.

What made it quite terrifying was that Festus wasn’t even looking at his victim. The entire time he had his eyes on Andker.

The man in his hold struggled, flailing around as Festus’ hold on his neck tightened. He hit Festus in the side with the shield, but there wasn’t enough force in the blow to make a difference.

“Don’t do it,” Andker said calmly. “You are not the villain in this story.”

Festus laughed. It was old and amused.

“There are no villains in this story, boy.” He turned his hand one way and broke the man’s neck. “Only monsters.”

He released the body and it fell to the ground.

Zed’s breathing picked up.

Festus had killed the man. Just like that. For no more crime than the fact that he was in the crater with him. Just moments ago he had watched the man subdue Jennifer gently. Now he was dead.

Andker sighed tiredly. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Maybe. But you shouldn’t have interrupted my meal.”

Andker took a step back, and the rest of his men proceeded forward.

“Kill them.”

Gunshots filled the air and everybody scattered.

Daniel and the others took cover behind any part of the ship that could cover them, and Zed started sprinting through the trees. He ran in an arc, intended to flank their enemies.

He did not support what Festus had done, but it didn’t distort his notion of who the enemies were. He couldn’t forget that he’d almost died because of them.

As he ran, Festus stood in the middle of the gun shots. In front of him was a shimmering purple distortion. Bullets pinged off it while some drilled a hole in the ground as Andker’s men started a steady procession down the crater.

The remaining three in the crater opened fire, progressing backwards. None of them spared a moment for their dead comarade, and Zed didn’t blame them.

As if remembering something new one of the men stopped shooting and changed his aim. He trained his gun on Jennifer and her eyes widened in fear.

Still cuffed and lying on the ground, she was at his mercy.

Zed turned from his initial path and burst through the trees. He drew a few people’s attention, but not the one he wanted.

There wouldn’t be enough time to get into the crater before the man killed Jennifer. And he wasn’t stupid enough to think there would be. He just needed to get closer to get a better chance at success.

He raised his hand and pointed it at the man while he held another to the side. He cast his runes as he jumped into the crater.

· You have cast basic rune [Force Shield].

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

· You have dual cast.

· Basic rune [Force Shield] has applied effect [Deflect] to multiple instances of [.50 calibre].

Zed ignored the notification as bullets pinged off the force shield held firmly by his side. His attention was more on his other rune and he saw its effect before the notification informed him.

The purple blast buried the man with the gun into the ground with so much force that it dug a hole.

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on [Awakened Mage].

A small part of Zed had expected to get the man’s name in the notification. It had known Abed’s complete name, so why not this guy?

He hit the ground and dropped into a roll that carried him straight into cover. Pain filled his side and he feared the height had been too great for him.

But he didn’t mind it much. Like most things, he would heal from it.

A bullet pinged off the part of the ship that got in his way and he ducked his head reflexively.

He darted a quick look out of his cover and cast another force rune, then quickly hid behind the cover. The best part about his notifications was that they were the perfect tool when laying down suppressing fire.

He didn’t have to look to know if he hit his mark. He just had to remember where he’d aimed.

· You have cast basic rune [Force]

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on x3 [Awakened Mage] and [Beta Mage].

He punched a fist in the air. Booyah!

But that was not enough. He needed to confirm his success.

Zed darted his head around the cover again and was glad to confirm it. None of the remaining men was even sparing Jennifer a glance. They were too focused on Festus who had now chosen to go on the offensive.

With one hand he held up a force shield, and with the other he cast runespells after runespells. Each one was a simple force rune, but they carried far more weight than anything Zed could throw at anyone.

Now he just needed to think about how to get to her without being shot in the head.

A scuffling sound drew his attention to someone approaching from behind him. He didn’t bother looking back. Even without his aura on display, he could sense a few things, depending on how close they were to him.

“On a scale of one to ten how much did you miss me?” he asked, still gauging his chance to get Jennifer.

“This is no time to joke,” Ronda said.

He noticed she was breathing heavily again, so he spared a moment for her. When he saw her, he winced.

“You look terrible.”

Her hair was a mess, blood covered one side of her face, and she was breathing like someone who hadn’t tasted air before. Sucking it like there wasn’t enough of it.

“It’s the mana pulse they hit me with.” She tried to control her breathing, stretching each one out slowly. “Got hit with that motherfucker twice. It just messes up the core and mana flow. I’ll need some time to get back in shape.”

“Uhm. Yeah. But I wasn’t talking about your core. You’re breathing like you ran a mile.”

Ronda sucked in another deep breath. “You know I can run a mile without breaking a sweat, right?”

Another bullet pinged off their cover and Zed ducked again. He checked on Jennifer quickly and found her doing her best to inch towards the other Olympian.

“Well that makes things complicated,” he muttered.

Ronda inched closer to him. “What makes things complicated?”

Her hand inched close to his side and he snatched it by the wrist. He looked from her to her hand, then back.

“You’re bleeding,” she said.

“Yeah.” He released her hand slowly. “It’s not mine anymore.”

He spied outside again. Jennifer was terribly close to the Olympian now.

“And that makes things complicated. How am I supposed to save my wife if she’s always going after other men?”

Ronda inched forward to get a better look and almost got a bullet for her worries.

She rested her back against the ship again, sitting back and breathing more gently now. “Good to see you’ve still got jokes in this kind of situation. You’re trying to save Jennifer?”

Zed nodded, thinking about his options. Well, there weren’t really any options, just the one. He couldn’t say he liked it, but it was a better plan than killing all the bad guys and saving the lady.

He turned to Ronda. “Do you know how to dance?”

“Dance?”

“Yes, dance. You know, turn, twirl, shake your hips a bit. None of that ass shaking stuff, it blinds the mind.” He peeked out again and found Jennifer resting next to the Olympian. She was doing something he couldn’t see.

He turned back to Ronda. “So do you know how to dance?”

“I learned how to waltz,” she said, confused. “And I took ballet as a child.”

“Good, good.” Zed peeked out again. He took a deep breath. “Remind me to hire you as my dance instructor after all this is over. I’m sure it will work wonders for my agility stats.”

Then he darted out, casting a new rune.

Before the rune was complete, a bullet struck him in the shoulder, staggering him. He sucked in a sharp pained breath as the rune completed and activated.

· You have cast basic rune [Force Shield]

· Basic rune [Force Shield] has applied effect on multiple instances of [.50 calibre].

Zed wondered why it was calling them instances now instead of just mentioning what they were. Maybe it was the number, he concluded. He could just imagine constant notifications pinging into his view for each bullet it deflected.

That would definitely be distracting.

He slid to a halt as next to Jennifer and the bullets followed him all the way to her. He held the shield out in front of her and hoped it would hold. If anyone pulled out a shot from one of those weapons they had used at Madam Shaggy’s soiree, he wasn’t sure how long he would last.

Well, I’ve kind of gotten stronger since then.

Now he was curious of how long it would last. The last time it had taken three shots to shatter his [Force Shield]. How many would it take this time?

“Zed?”

Zed looked down and saw Jennifer staring up at him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Keeping my wife’s arms off another man. I swear I’m beginning to think you’re the problem in this relationship.”

He watched a war happen on her face for a split moment. She was clearly considering if this was the time and place. In the end, one side won.

“I’m sorry, honey,” she said in a sultry voice. “I promise if we ever get out of here, I won’t touch another boy again.”

“Boy?”

· Basic rune [Force Shield] has applied effect [Deflect] on [.82 calibre].

The bullet sizes were increasing.

“Well, that’s not good.” Zed stared at the notification then looked down at Jennifer. “Uhh… as much as looking at you all helpless on the ground and at my mercy does things to me, I think we’ve run out of time. We’ve got to go.”

She looked at the Olympian on the ground then at Zed. “What of Nick?”

“Don’t think I can hold you, and Nick, and this shield.”

Festus wasn’t too far from them and he took a moment away from throwing force runespells to look at them.

His eyes met Zed’s and he picked [Titan’s Axe] up and slowly inched over.

Zed looked around, thinking of how best to convince Jennifer that leaving was the better option while he came back for Nick. All the while Festus drew closer.

Then the blade of [Titan’s Axe] was embedded in the ground in front of him.

“I believe that’s yours, kiddo,” Festus said. Then he drew a force rune and threw it without aiming. Literally tossed it like he was playing catch with a child.

It slammed into another group, pushing them back. But it didn’t have the same effect as the last one. Instead, it smashed into their shields, pushed them back a bit, and scattered.

“I didn’t know you could cast a force rune like that,” Zed said.

“And you’re not supposed to,” Festus answered.

Do what I say not what I do. Got it.

Zed stared at [Titan’s Axe] then at Jennifer.

“We’ve really got to go, hun,” he told her. “Festus can take care of Nick while we’re gone until I can come back for him.”

“Then you better hurry,” Festus said. “I don’t know how much longer I can last.”

Zed looked up at him. “What?”

“I’m a Knight rank, not God. It’ll take more than being hit two times by that annoying spell to shave off my entire mana, but I still lost some of it. I’m practically scraping the bottom of the barrel here.”

He tossed another force rune. it dug a path through the ground and ploughed through a few of the enemies that had failed to get their shield up in time.

“But I thought you were good.” Zed was confused. “You goaded this whole fight.”

“I was bluffing.”

He was bluffing. Zed chuckled darkly. Just my luck. I’m stuck with people who bluff when there are guns in their faces.

He turned to Jennifer, tired of playing negotiator. “Sorry, love, but we can’t stay here.”

“We need to take Ni—”

Zed grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up. She was surprisingly light for a Rukh rank mage. He slid her over his shoulders and started his retreat.

“We need to save Nick,” Jennifer pleaded.

Zed said nothing to her as he hightailed it back to safety with bullets pinging off his rune shield. She was at least smart enough not to shout in his ear or struggle in his grip. That was good soldiering.

When he got back to cover, he dropped her a little too roughly in Ronda’s laps. Then he ducked behind the cover.

“Didn’t any of you think to bring guns with you when you were coming out?” he asked Ronda.

“The armory was locked,” she answered. “With the black out none of us could get in.”

“Then how did Nick get an armor?”

“No idea. Maybe he was already in it when we went down.”

Zed couldn’t believe his luck. They were facing down an army of men who could deflect force runes cast by Festus. There was scarcely any way they were winning this one unless by some stroke of miracle.

As if to mock him, another set of men came out from behind the trees.

“What the hell?!”

Ronda followed his eyes and swore under their breath.

“This is the problem with being popular,” Zed said a little too harshly. “Advertise yourself long enough and the bad guys bring a whole army to take you out.”

“We’re the good guys,” Ronda said, as if reminding him of something he didn’t know.

Zed rolled his eyes at her. “Of course you are. Remind me to rethink the whole joining you guys plan I had.”

With no attention on the rune shield, it had all but dissolved into nothingness, so he was forced to reactivate it.

“Just stay here and try not to get shot, alright,” he told Ronda and Jennifer. “I’ll see what I can do about Nick while I’m out there.”

“And what are you trying to do out there if you’re not saving Nick?” Ronda asked.

“Ever heard of David and Goliath?”

Ronda looked puzzled. “Yes. What about them?”

Zed paused. “Well… I’ve got nothing. I swear I thought I had something motivational about the underdog and the giant, but all I’ve got are shits and giggles. Anyway, wish me luck.”

With that, he held his shield close to him, and charged out into the rain of bullets.

What him and Festus needed right now was an intervention or a strategist, not each other. Bullets pinged against his shield as he came to a stop in front of Nick’s unconscious body.

He could feel the constant drain on his core, but he still had more than enough for a fight. But not this fight.

“Pick up the axe,” Festus said.

Zed obeyed, picking it up. “Why?”

· Would you like to equip [Titan’s Axe]?

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this thing makes me slower,” he informed Festus.

Festus looked at him without turning his head. “I’m sorry I’m asking this, but is it true you have an attribute that makes you regenerate very fast?”

Oh, shit. I don’t like this plan already.

“Yes?”

Festus nodded, then threw another force rune. He’d been using only force rune since he came out of the ship. Zed wondered why. So he asked.

“Is there a reason you’re using only force runes?”

“Because force is my specialization. I can cast ten force runes for any one basic rune, and right now I’m so low on mana that any other rune will just leave my core empty.”

“I see.”

Zed saw very well and didn’t like it one bit. He and Festus were the only ones standing between an army of riot shield carrying psychopaths and the Olympians.

And Oliver and the rest were still out in the wind.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“You’ll do what?” Festus was giving him a worried look.

Zed shrugged. “I’ll equip the axe and go make a blood bath out there.”

“You’re going to get shot. Riddled with bullets.”

“You said so yourself. I can regenerate.”

“And what happens if you’re shot in the head.”

Zed’s focus slipped and one of the bullets made a crack in his shield. He was lucky enough that it didn’t go through the shield.

“Let’s try to stay optimistic here, okay?”

“You want optimism.” Festus threw another force rune. “Here’s optimism. I hazard they’ve got more men up there, and heavier machinery. You get one shot in the head and you’re out.”

“You can’t pretend you weren’t thinking of sending me in.”

“I considered it,” Festus spat. “Then I changed my mind. It’s this thing called thinking twice. I’m not sending you out to your death.”

Zed funneled more mana into his rune shield. He watched the crack heal itself.

“I just realized that this would make a great movie scene where the student tries to sacrifice himself for the master and the master tries to stop him, but—”

“We’re not acting a movie!”

“But if we were, it would be an amazing scene.” Zed equipped [Titan’s Axe].

· You have equipped [Titan’s Axe].

· You have gained +15 [Strength].

Penalties detected:

· Weapon [Titan’s Axe] is a Rukh rank item.

· You do not meet the requirements to use this item effectively.

· Penalties have been applied.

· You have gained -2 [Speed]

· You have gained -2 [Agility].

Zed frowned at the notification. You’re smart enough to customize hit notifications but not differentiate between using gains and losses.

His aptitudes came up in front of him, informing him of where he currently stood.

· Strength: 55-> 70.

· Agility: 40 -> 38.

· Speed: 40 -> 38.

· Mana: 77.

· Will: 33(-4).

He’d topped up his speed and agility with a touch of will in his fight against Chris. He’d fueled will with 2 points because she’d disarmed him of his force shield at one point, and his notification had told him it was because he had lacked a strong enough will. Speed got four points because he needed to outpace her. And Strength got 4 points because at the time she had been hitting like a damned train.

As the effects of [Titan’s Axe] ran through him, Zed felt more than alive.

He held [Titan’s Axe] in one hand and stared at the group of men with their shields raised and guns firing.

Festus spared him a look and said, “You look high.”

Zed had no answer to that. He almost felt high. It was the same feeling he’d gotten when he’d evolved to category 2.

A thought came to his mind and he really hoped the increase in Strength wasn’t messing with his brain.

He took two steps forward like a man about to throw a javelin, and swung [Titan’s Axe] in an upward arc. He allowed it dig through the ground and raise a pile of rubble as it arced upwards.

The effect was devastating.

It picked up a large amount of rubble, gouging out a line in the ground, and sent massive rocks flying forward.

It was like a move from a video game.

It tumbled into the oncoming men, and struck them down. Shields bent under the weight of the massive rocks, and more crawled over them like a landslide if it was going up instead of coming down.

The guns fell silent for a long second as everyone stopped to stare at what he’d done.

Zed pumped [Titan’s Axe] in the air.

“In your face!”

Andker stepped forward with a frown on his face and Zed pointed [Titan’s Axe] at him. There were a lot of catch phrases that suited the current situation and he had just the right one in mind.

It died on his face when he saw the weapon in Andker’s hands.

Shite!

He staggered two steps back and pulled up [Force shield]. He channeled as much mana as was reasonable and stood his ground.

“What’s going on, kid?” Festus asked, confused.

His force shield shined brighter and Zed realized Festus had channeled more mana into his own shield as well.

“Talk to me, kiddo. What’s happening?”

“That’s the gun that almost killed me last time.”

Andker hefted it and pulled the trigger.

The boom was thunderous.