Chapter 27: Chapter 23: Red Dawn

Day 21(53) - Morning

Friday, August 29th

Red Hook - Lorraine Gate

Six Days

"Feuer!"

*zKowzKow* *zPowzPow*

The battlements of Red Hook's junk wall light up as a hundred magearms open fire. [Propel] magic circles flash and push against the metal around them. Launching their 30 or 40 cal jacketed magefire cartridges down rifled barrels.

"Grar!" *puch* "Gigi!" *chuk* "Wagh!" *krak*

Rocketing hundreds of feet to pierce into green skinned humanoids. Which are charging towards the enclave through ruined buildings and broken streets. Roaring. Screaming. Laughing. Humanoid, but not human. The goblins and orcs of fantasy stories come to life.

And they want to kill you.

To rape you to death. Eat your flesh. Sew your skin into their clothing. And if you are very, very, lucky.

Do it in that order.

Three times, in the last two months, the dungeon portals have "broken." Unattended dungeons popping and unleashing hundreds and thousands of creatures on the world.

The tortured Earth is drowning in magic and monsters.

These dungeon bred savages are beastial, even cannibalistic.

*krak* *bang* *pang* *ping*

But they aren't stupid.

Soldiers in urban camo flinch as bullets zip past their heads. Or ricochet off the wall around them. Proving these monsters have figured out firearms. And they'll figure out magearms too. Just like the hobs did on steam planet.

Magic-circle powered guns are not about dominating the playing field. They're about leveling it. Giving even Leads a chance against Steels, Silvers and Golds.

Disciplined fire continues to reap a bloody harvest from the attacking monsters. The flash of fire or lightning that follows each hit, as deadly as the bullet itself. The Tin rankers of first battalion are fighting Copper, Iron, even Bronze ranked creatures. And winning.

"Troll!"

Fire shifts as larger and even uglier bipeds come into view. Though the lighter guns stay on the gobs. Their smaller size makes it easier for them to advance under cover. Meaning they reach the gap first.

"Gigi!" *foooozh* "Aiyee!"

Into the waiting flamethrowers.

• [ Attention, Red Hook owner changed to John Barton ]
• [ Attention, Slavery changed to Illegal. All slaves in Red Hook emancipated ]
• [ Attention, Slave Market evicted ]
• [ Attention, Prison evicted ]
• [ Attention, Temple (Bah'al) evicted ]

*rumble*

The ground shakes as a new gate rises up from the broken street. Blocking the next wave of monstrous invaders and closing the gap.

""Roar!""

Rage boils up from the beasts. They know they don't have the numbers to take the wall. And with the gate rebuilt? 

*crunch*

Another troll heavily falls. It's corpse covered in flames from multiple hits by 40 cal Longfires as the rest route. Retreating back into the wreckage of the old world.

"Yeah!" "Victory!" "Wolverines!"

Shouts and cheers spread across the wall. Many raise their rifles in triumph. They have survived. They've won.

Day 22(54) - Afternoon 

Saturday, August 30th

Red Hook - Town Hall

Five Days

"But how?" CeName: Cecilia Devereux | Harem: Mistress | Height: 5’8” | Age: 23 | Eyes: Green | Hair: Brown (Short Curly) | Skin: Olive | Face: Heart | Breasts: G-cup | Body: Top Hourglass | Butt: Heart | Ancestry: French | Rank: Iron | Level: 25 | Class: Sorceress (Pyromancer) | Status: Unmarried (Dating John Barton), my french pyro, is pouting. Naked and wet, oh la la, but also pouting.

*shlurp*

A muffled voice from my waist. "Cuzh eesh awshum!" ChenName: Cheng Qiu | Harem: Mistress | Height: 5’2” | Age: 22 | Eyes: Black | Hair: Brown (Very Long Straight) | Skin: Fair | Face: Diamond | Breasts: B-cup | Body: Rectangle | Butt: V-shaped | Ancestry: Chinese | Rank: Copper | Level: 14 | Class: Monk (Martial Artist) | Status: Unmarried (Dating John Barton) | Member: Blackhearts, don't talk with your mouth full.

*rub*

"[Identify] says boss is Gold now and I believe it." Jet'sName: Jelinda Clarke | Harem: Mistress | Height: 5’5” | Age: 39 | Eyes: Brown | Hair: Black (Short Afro) | Skin: Dark Brown | Face: Oval | Breasts: D-cup | Body: Spoon | Butt: Heart | Ancestry: African | Rank: Iron | Level: 21 | Class: Sorceress (Aeromancer) | Status: Divorced (Dating Kasa Pearson) | Children: Two | Leader: Blackhearts wet soapy breasts scrub my back. "Last night was intense."

The ladies are understandably confused. My "race" rank changed from B-grade to A-grade, Silver to Gold, in a heartbeat. Everything they’ve learned about ranking says that's impossible.

Louis’s "champion" body was the smallest vessel that could safely hold my soul. Without potentially exploding or radically mutating. But does that mean my spirit is actually that small? That simple?

Nope.

On Ipra, medieval world, I stepped into godhood. Just chose not to stay there. The flesh is weak. But also fun. Yeah there were other reasons too. Not going down that particularly dark and shitty memory back alley right now though.

So, mortality wise, I pretty much maxed out. And while studying summoning rituals, transmigration and reincarnation? Discovered a lot about the "soul." Including how to condense it. Something I had long been doing with my aura.

Means that the "breakthrough" others have to deal with, and potentially fail, when upgrading their body and spirit? Doesn't really apply to me.

Now, hold on there, I'm not saying I can roflstomp my way across the planet.

Yes, I may be a quasi-god. Sort of. But my stats aren't. Well, except for mana. Still have an ocean of that. But physically? I'm a remf. Rear mother fucker. Technomancer is a “support” class.

Yes you get stats from breakthroughs. But those are only "base" stats. On top of that you get stats from your classes. Front liners get more physical. Back liners, like me, get more mental.

Usually. Mostly. It depends on the classes.

And even my one "real" front line class, Swordmage, is DPS. Not a tank.

So if Colin had gotten his hands on me? Even being a full rank lower at the time? Could, possibly, have torn me in two. But I'm still superman compared to a Lead.

*splash* *schlup*

LezName: Alessandra Malave | Harem: Mistress | Height: 4’10” | Age: 18* | Eyes: Brown | Hair: Black (Short Straight) | Skin: Brown | Face: Round | Breasts: D-cup | Body: Bottom Hourglass | Butt: Round | Ancestry: Latino | Rank: Iron | Level: 22 | Class: Assassin (Shadow) | Status: Divorced (Dating Kasa Pearson) | Children: Two | Leader: Blackhearts is scrunching her eyebrows while looking down at miss monk's bobbing head. "Fuck, don't that taste bad?"

"Wuhrth ish…" Comes the gobbling response. Cheng is washing her mouth out. With my soapy dick. 

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Yep, I'm taking a bath. A Japanese style one. Colin paid for the executive suite option and chose oriental decor. The large bathroom has a stool to sit on for washing up before getting in the tub.

Never pictured him being a Japan fan.

Louis already had his shop so didn't add personal quarters when he bought Fort Matthew's [Town Hall I ]. That boy was all about pinching pennies.

Yep, crashed at the dead asshole's pad last night and had a celebratory reverse gangbang. Went all out. Every hole a goal. So most of my ladies still aren't mobile.

The Tyrant's "harem," sex slaves, are already at the new [Clinic I ]. Poor kids were not in good shape, physically or mentally. Hundreds of locals have lined up for treatment too. The system slave doctor is bitching up a storm, but still doing her job.

Again, only deployed time counts against their contract. And it's not too difficult to get the system to replace them. If you pay a fee. So they tend to be cooperative.

Replaced the [Prison I ] with [Barracks I ]. Ripped out the fence around the [Public Kitchen I ] and bought a [Public Baths I ]. Of course to get the most out them required [Power Plant I ] and [Water Treatment I ].

Dropped a [Police I ] and the surviving cops are getting retrained there. Left the [Arena I ] and [Casino I ] alone. Birdbrain advised evicting the [Mercenaries Guild I ] but they are raiding Coffey Park.

A four to six adventurer party doesn't last long in a demigod level dungeon unless they are veterans. So Colin, in a surprisingly smart move, bought a mercenaries guildhall instead. Which is geared more towards larger units. And sends them through the portal.

Casualties are higher but it worked. Coffey Park is safely in the [Yellow].

Oh, crap, sorry. There's a scale based on the faint "glow" around a portal. Blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Shows how soon a dungeon portal might break and let its monsters out.

Of course the more dangerous a dungeon is the greater the rewards. So adventures delve it too. But the heavy lifting is being done by mercenary raids.

*trickle*

"Ma-master?" It's so cute the way she still blushes when she says that. "D-does this feel good?"

Alessandra's brown skinned sudsy D-cups are getting into every nook and cranny of my left side. "It feels very good. Thank you honey."

Cecilia on my right starts squishing her G-cups harder. Geesh, always so competitive. While behind me Jelinda is getting overheated again. That girl's insatiable. 

*shlop* *slurp*

And while Cheng's B-cups are nothing to write home about? Her mouth more than makes up for it.

Damn…

*splurt*

"Oh you naughty nympho. Sucking another treat out of me." Miss monk's face looks downright rapturous as she swallows. Then opens wide, obediently sticking her tongue out, to show she was a good girl and ate all her food.

*slurp*

Before focusing on my cock again. Her licker exploring every rib and wrinkle. Jesus, this girl is obsessed with fellatio.

Ahem, well, I also paced off new walls yesterday. System built walls this time. Included the waterfront too since the ocean is by no means safe. So the bastion has grown a bit.

• [ Community: Red Hook | Owner: John Barton | Population: 34,489 | Size: 1.4 km2 ]

Yeah they aren’t the thirty-two foot high solid rock [Wall IV ] of Fort Matthew. They are a weaker brick [Wall II ] instead. Have fewer towers too. But it's still much stronger and taller than the scrap rampart they had.

Plus with the sewers and tunnels now blocked off. Sweeps can be done to keep the underground subdued. And after the first couple to kill the really bad stuff? They'll become the "collect nine rat tails" type quests for rookies.

The [Temple I (Bah'al) ] is now a dirt patch. And, unlike that greed goddess, he didn't so much as chirp about it. Unfortunately, the surviving cultists jumped ship and are soaking up everything Charlie Chaplain, hehe, says like a sponge. The sneaky shits even opened a church.

There was an old catholic one near the Coffey Park dungeon portal that they managed to [register]. Just dedicated it too, sigh, me.

• [ Shrine to 1C367G (Emperor) dedicated ]

How? Well, unless you set the laws that way? Which aren't by default. Anyone can [register] a store inside a community’s boundaries. The system decides whether it qualifies or not.

Oh, uh, "facilities" mostly answer to the local government. "Stores" mostly don't. Yeah, there is some crossover. Depends on the options you pick.

This is my second time dealing with a "system." Ancyra, steam planet, was the first one. Neither Orn, cyber land, nor Ipra, medieval world, had them.

But on Ancyra I went the Victorian megacorps route. Nobody was praying to me. Didn't even deal with the local gods. Made my guns. Sold my guns. Made lots of money. Killed lots of people.

That's it.

Mostly.

Maybe religion is the key? Again, nobody prayed to me in steam land. But plenty do, or did, on medieval planet. After my sort of godhood, I could really feel faith. And it's just like that bitch said. “Who” is giving it matters more than “how many.”

You get a hell of a lot more [Faith] from a king than you do from a peasant. It has to do with personal power. Thousands of villagers, no matter how fanatical, won’t give you as much as the lord who rules them. Just as that lord’s ruler will give you more than that lord.

What’s with the code? Well buried in the various notifies was this one, after Nina converted the whores.

• [ Attention, John Barton receiving Faith. Religion 1C367G registered ]

In this system my creed’s identifier is 1C367G. Yeah, there are a lot of them.

And when the sisters setup a shrine in Carlton Heights?

• [ Shrine to 1C367G (Godbeast) dedicated ]

But what is [Faith]? Well, it's mana. Just a more ethereal version of it. Way past light, dark, and other flavors. You can't even tap into it, directly at least. Yeah, it's weird.

So why does the "system" give a shit? Why does it bother? Because it's mana. The greedy omniscient software takes a cut of that too. [Faith] comes in. Faith goes out. The asshole skims off the top.

A complete 180 compared to the "world engine." Which seemed all about suppressing mana usage. This one loves it. Wants more of it. And collects a transaction fee every fucking time.

Piece of shit even created [Priest] classes and skills for 1C367G to help move things along. And as its "deity?" I got to watch it happen.

Everything is gated though behind, basically, paywalls. And the currency is [Faith]. Can't use such and such blessing until you have this much faith. And lip service doesn't count. The worshiper has to actually "believe" or the creed gets nothing.

Didn't have much, at first, but the showdown with Bah'al's crew really blew shit up. Spreading it with the conversion of nearly a hundred faith generating and guiding clergy. Plus thousands of regular converts among the refugees.

And from what I remember of the game? A version of that siege mentality religion might be a very good fit for the pit humanity has been dropped in. 

A voice from the bathroom door. "Your majesty? Commander Aulus requests an audience."

*spurt*

Dammit Chen. "Coming…" Anyone got a cigarette?

None of my supersoldiers died. But we lost forty-seven yesterday. Including a couple sisters and several catkin.

Almost ten percent is not a good casualty figure. Even if we killed hundreds of opfor. Only got three days before the next break. Five before the land grab.

And while hundreds are already lining up at the new barracks too? Even a miracle worker can't turn refugees into soldiers in less than a week. The expanded walls will help but it's going to get rough for Red Hook.

Will have another batch of supersoldiers by then but I need to do more. There just isn't enough time.

Sigh.

"Oh well. Let's see what Aulus has to say."

 

 

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