HC:Pacifist | Ch. 81 - Mighty Athos (Patreon)

The woman on the other end of the line had her hair tied into a ponytail and had large thick glasses. She was pleasingly symmetrical and had beautiful feminine features, but Josh didn't feel attracted or captivated; on the contrary. She was a ruthless taskmaster.

Even though the parasitoid race was fun, Loki managed to suck the joy out of it. He had written a comprehensive and detailed guide that every sector had to adhere to closely, by the letter. Additionally, he had to give reports twice a day to one of Loki's secretaries. He was mercilessly scolded if he deviated one millimeter from any of the specifications Loki had outlined.

"What's the status report, Hilsford?"

"Everything is in order. I have control of eight rat nests and four snake nests."

"You're lagging behind some of the others, Hilsford. By the end of the day, please try to secure control of one more rat nest, at the very least. Do you copy?" Josh took a deep breath. She didn't even use his name. He was just a number to her. Josh reminded himself this was for the sake of freedom. If he were successful with this mission, a large part of his debt would be forgiven.

"I understand. I'll do my best."

"I don't want your best. I want you to fulfill the parameters you've been assigned, Hilsford. I'll get back to you today at 12.00. Remember, you need to hatch in 3 days. No one is allowed to fail. If you do, then your debt will remain the same."

The call disconnected. Josh felt like kicking a tin can or a piece of debris. Unfortunately for him, inside the parasite egg, he was as if in space. It reminded him of the opening cinematic of AstroTerra when they were hovering in the blackness of the Solar System, seeing Planet Earth as a rock amid an ocean of black. The difference was that inside the confines of the egg, there were no planets, only consoles, and graphics hovering everywhere.

Here he had access to the specifics of his race, how well his minions were doing, and how much he was developing. For the 1000th time since he had changed races, he went to read the description of the [Parasitoids].

Parasitoid (Hidden Race)

Race description: When the asteroid hit Earth, it brought passengers—the parasitoids scour the galaxy looking for hosts to use as conduits to their wills.

Conditions to unlock [Parasitoid]:

You have to be infected by another Parasitoid;

You have to give in to the infection.

Racial characteristics:

All native lifeforms of the planet abhor you;

You gain 1% of your king's stats in exchange for offering 1% of your XP to the King of the Hive.

Racial Skills:

Egg Form (Racial)

Skill description: You choose to stop fighting the great blessing the king has bestowed on you. It takes over, and you start a wonderful transformation. 

Skill effect: 

Active. Requires you to permanently sacrifice one of your stats;

You can't move while in this form.

Barrier (Racial)

Skill description: Suck the energy of your minions dry. Survival is one of the ways in which you can serve the king.

Skill effect:

Passive. Erects a barrier;

Affected by your overall stats and the number of infected minions.

Infestation (Racial)

Skill description: Suck nutrients from all life in your area so you can become a more precious asset to the king. Grow so that the king grows. All shall become the king's

Skill effects: 

Active. Create an area of influence;

You can expand your area of influence by 1m+(WIS.DEX.INT) per day;

All minions spawned within your area of influence can receive simple commands from you.

Hatchling Form (Racial)

Skill description: The king has shown you such beautiful promises. If only you can let go of your reservations and give your mind and soul to the hive, then your transformation can proceed.

Skill effects: 

Active. Hatch from your egg;

You must have 200 infected minions and permanently sacrifice one of your stats.

It was a perfect race for a guild master. It allowed them to stand at the top of the pyramid and to have a tighter grip on the guild. In a way, it did turn the guild into a hive. The stronger the king, the stronger the guild, and the stronger the guild, the stronger the king.

The feature where someone could implant parasitoid eggs in others, thus giving them power in exchange for giving you experience, was something off the charts. It might seem like a disadvantage, but if a player were good enough, he would use the extra 1% damage and make 1% more experience with the added damage output. The scary thing was that one player could have multiple people funneling XP toward them.

He was sure that there would be some limitations. He doubted that Loki could mooch experience from an unlimited number of players. All he could do was speculate; after all, in his current form, he didn't have access to the skill yet.

It was time to get back to work. He would be in trouble if he didn't complete his objectives. He had to become a hatchling in the next three days.

*

Roth dashed through the tunnels. He tried to run as fast as possible, but his boar form didn't allow incredible speeds. He had, in vain, tried to distribute some of his load amongst the 14th and Drake. At that time, Roth had received an annoying notification.

Those items aren't yours. You can't give them to others willy-nilly.

The system had blocked him. It turned out that being a broker wasn't all roses; some thorns were also hidden in the bushes. He was prevented from using all the money in his inventory or the items he carried for other races. He couldn't even share the load with other players, meaning he had to carry the goods back and forth. Roth had clenched his teeth and settled with traveling at a subpar speed.

Now that Roth was heading towards Scar's nest, Athos stood determined, fully awoken, his muscles taut like a coiled spring, ready to unleash their power. He pulled the musket off his back and ensured it was all working.

Athos also fiddled with his scabbard, slightly drawing and sheathing his sword repeatedly. It was a rhythmic nervous sound that fell into the rhythm of Roth's steps.

Roth had marked Scar's nest on his map. They were almost there. They only had to turn around the corner and then they would see it. In the distance, Roth saw a hint of movement. It was a brief and fleeting shadow that retreated as soon as it peeked around the corner.

"What in the world? Athos, did you see that?" Athos took off from Roth's shoulders. The mouse pushed back with his legs, and the recoil hit Roth so powerfully that he was sent flying ten steps backward despite having more than 300 strength. How much strength did Athos have?

Athos disappeared around the corner. Recovering from the mouseketeer's take-off, Roth resumed his sprint. He could only hear an otherworldly slashing sound as if the whole world was being cut in half. There were also the blinding flashes of what Roth guessed was musket fire. In a matter of seconds, it went silent. Roth finally made it to the corner.

Gashes that were meters deep marked the walls and ceilings of the tunnel. Some pipes had been punctured and let out their contents into the canal. Scorch marks and blackened ash covered the floor around Athos, and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air.

In front of him were several dead oozing rats. Roth drew closer to the biggest one and recognized the big scar covering its face. Scar... They succumbed to the invaders in the end. Roth fell to his knees, feeling a heavy weight on his chest suffocate him. Why hadn't he sought help for these ratans sooner? He stared at the corpses of the ratans, confused and crushed.

To his right, Athos studied the nest. He looked at it from afar, sniffing the air. He took a deep breath and drew his sword, quickly sheathing it again. Roth couldn't follow the movement. All he knew was that after a few seconds, the pile of garbage and clothes had been turned into ribbons. Athos had turned the nest into a pile of confetti with one sword move.

If a Mouseketeer was as powerful as this, how powerful was the king? How powerful was Oli if he could fight the king and the four Mouseketeers together to a standstill?

"We're too late."

"Yes, friend. We are."

"I should have tried to do something sooner."

"Don't beat yourself up, human; you said you were here 6 days ago?"

"Yes."

"Even if you had run as fast as you could, you wouldn't have been able to help them. This nest was infected five days ago."

"How do you know?"

"Detective work is an important part of being a mouseketeer." He left it at that.

"What do we do?"

"Human, I'm going to check the perimeter, check the bodies. See if you can find any of the black eggs you gave to my king."

Athos took off, leaving Roth to loot the bodies. Roth grimaced as he recognized Scratchy among the corpses. He hoped the NPCs would respawn once this quest was over. He didn't know if they would come back with the same personality. He surely hoped so.

Roth found a black egg in each of the corpses that Athos had left in the tunnel, just as it had happened with the other two oozing monsters. There were nine black spheres in total. Roth collected them, and by the time he was finished, Athos was back.

"Did you find any?"

"Yes, I did."

"Bring them to me." Roth showed the nine eggs to Athos. He put his hand on the sheath of his sword.

"Toss them up for me." Roth did and took a step back.

Atomic slash!

Athos drew his sword, and for two seconds, Roth only saw blurs and felt the wind gracing his skin. Then it was over.

You don't retreat before darkness. 

+9 righteousness.

You feel closer to the light. 

+9 light affinity.

If things kept going like this, Roth would unlock his affinity soon.

"I'm going to patrol the perimeter and ensure no monsters make it through here. I'll try to contain this threat as much as I can. Locate the origin of this for me, and I'll do my best to end it."

[Call for Backup] has been updated.

[Down the Drain] has been updated.

Both quests have been combined into [The Sewer Monsters].

The Sewer Monsters (Rare)

You've managed to secure powerful backup. You even managed to bring along one of the mouseketeers of King Ratatouille.

Nevertheless, the threat is much more significant than you initially assumed, and your efforts were doomed from the beginning. Athos is concerned that this plague will spread.

Quest objectives:

Find all the lost gatorbots (3/5) and bring the data to Mario;

Locate the origin of the monsters and inform Athos.

Roth was already running west, deeper into the sewers. He still felt dazed after witnessing the echoes of the encounter between Athos and the losing monsters. In seconds, Athos had transformed the sewers into a warzone. His power was mind-boggling.

From previous experience, he knew that things that looked amazing in a game became less impressive once you reached more advanced levels. It was part of being a noob. For level 13 or 14 players, everything that a level 80 or 90 NPC did seemed God-like.

Roth looked over the shoulder back in the direction where Scar's nest had been. It worried Roth that Athos was so serious about this mission and adamant about wanting to finish it quickly. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. He wouldn't postpone this. Even though their meeting had been short, the thought of his ratan friends turning into those mindless beasts made Roth sick.

The first thing Roth would do would be to dump all of his cargo at Golden Mountain Inc. This whole thing of weight capacity was seriously hindering Roth's movements and limiting what forms he could use.

He couldn't wait to get to the auction house and buy skills or equipment to alleviate this problem. He wasn't far from the pipes that would take him to Soros. Roth ran as fast as he could.

Occasionally he heard the distant firing of musket shots deep in the tunnels.

Ch. 80 - The Armless Man

INDEX

Ch. 82 - Novice Broker