Apocalypse: Generic System Macronomicon (miss read books TXT) 📖

Jeb shook his head.

“It’s too dangerous for any of us to have a falling out right now…but as soon as we’re out of the Tutorial and someplace safe, I will absolutely wreck your wife.”

Brett chuckled. “Alright, rain check.” He took another swig of water and walked back into the cave.

The noises resumed.

Casey stared at Jeb like she’d just seen some eldritch horror that had permanently scarred her mind.

“What, should I have said never?” Jeb asked. “Amanda’s smoking hot.”

“But they’re…how…” Casey finally gave up, shaking her head. “I don’t get it.”

“You don’t have to. Most people can’t separate sex and love until they’re well into their thirties,” Jeb said, turning back to his project. “Sometimes never.”

The decision not to get laid rankled, but it was the right one to sidestep unnecessary drama.

I might take a page from Ron’s book and work out my issues outside the camp.

A while later, Jeb took the first of his bouncing betties out of the furnace and tossed it onto the ground. The spherical glassy stone bounced and rolled for a moment, then stopped with the bubble facing up. Jeb repeated this test with a handful of about a dozen of them, and was pleased to note that they landed bubble up nearly every time, and even when they weren’t bubble up, they were still bubble-mostly-up.

Perfect.

Then Jeb went about putting a Mystic Trigger on each and every one of the little marbles, creating an If/and statement.

Mystic Trigger

If there is a weapon-wielding creature within two feet of the marble and none of Jeb’s group* is within fifty-two feet, whirling fifty-foot blades will appear three feet above, turning everything inside their range into mulch.

Jeb’s group* includes Jeb, Jessica, Ron, Brett, Amanda, Casey, Casey the third...and Smartass.

There were a few issues, such as the marble having a distinctive shape and not being hidden underground.

The enemy would most likely figure out a way to deal with them after the first handful of encounters.

But until then, they would give Jeb’s group a huge tactical advantage. And they only needed to win once.

Jeb kept weaving Mystic triggers, moving the marbles from the unfinished bag to the finished bag as he went. By the time he was too tired to continue, he’d finished a good three hundred of them.

Before he went to bed, he tossed a couple handfuls into the barren slopes surrounding the camp.

Just in case Eddie’s goons really are that stupid.

***The entrance to the dungeon***

A copper-covered claw scratched stone, taking an uncertain first step into the moonlight as the creatures entered the outside world for the first time in their history.

The copper-carapaced hunters crouched low as they tested the air, following the strange scent of the pale, soft creatures.

The lead hunter hesitated for just an instant before it padded silently out onto the mountainside. Behind him, dozens, hundreds more coppery hunters spilled out of the dungeon into the starry night, silent as the grave .

It was finally dark enough to see.

Chapter 19: When in doubt, sucker punch

Tom, Dick and Harry sat around their meager campfire staring at the flames.

“I would give my left nut for a big mac right now,” Harry said.

“I would give your left nut too.” Dick said, nodding before Harry punched him in the shoulder.

“We need to ask them if we can join,” Tom said, staring into the fire.

“What? Team up with those assholes? You want a maid outfit so you can take care of the baby while the rest of them go get more levels?” Dick said, scoffing at him. “All we have to do is get more levels, get stronger than them, and take what we want. That Casey chick’s pretty hot without the baby bump. I could get some milk straight from the tap, if you know what I mean.”

Harry chuckled appreciatively and Tom once again considered abandoning the two and heading out on his own.

‘Getting stronger’ was definitely possible. Killing creatures led to levels, which led to more power. But even with that in mind, those people were surely doing the same thing, and there were obviously more of them. Tom had made out five places to sit around the campfire.

If even the teen girl could send them packing, what hope did they have against all of them? And what if they had the monster who killed Eddie? Eddie had been practically fucking untouchable. Why on earth did these idiots think the chances of that guy still being alive were negligible?

He hadn’t seen Jessica’s corpse at the old safe-zone, either. She must’ve gotten away, and she’d killed four of them, severely wounded and weaponless.

Tom had no idea where they were getting this confidence from.

Idiot confidence, perhaps.

Fuck, I never should’ve joined Eddie’s crew. As far as Tom could tell, if he wanted to survive, now was the time to swallow his pride and start kissing feet and keep kissing them until they shined.

Yeah. That’s what I’ll do. Tomorrow, I’ll ditch these guys, toss my weapons aside and go over to their camp with my hands up. Throw myself on their mercy.

Crunch!

Crunch?

There was a tickle in Tom’s throat, and he coughed a bit, a chunk of something working its way up his trachea.

I smell blood. That’s weird.

He felt a rapidly growing itch in his solar plexus, and glanced down to see a bronze spear jutting out of his chest, buried partway into the ground in front of him.

Bronze? Like that Troy movie? Tom thought, confused as his muscles grew weak, slumping him over on his side. He felt something filling his throat and he tried to cough again, sending a spray of blood out of his mouth into the dust in front of him.

He could hear noises, and shouting, but he couldn’t