Chapter 5: Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

Perseus jumped back, his sword zipped and cut the bony, thin, leg apart as it clawed at him with its singular sharp edge. The Gurgling did as its kind do and gurgled in pain before it was punctured and trampled by its brethren and horde, splattered on the ground from the sheer weight of the Tsunami building on and trampling on itself.

He then turned around, pulling Ilyne away from the straight, the crowd still tight enough that people pushed each other, like balls on a spinning string, like cars taking a sharp turn some stumbled and their string was cut, they fell to the pavement and never got up.

Ilyne in turn grabbed Perseus and Agon Gabriel and jumped over cars, and obstacles to the end of the street. They were now in Athinas, only a few blocks from the underground. The crowd thinned by this point, in the distance Nicholas ran like he didn’t weigh the same as a car. Next to him his office workers scrambled down the broken escalators. Not broken because of the apocalypse, just how things work in Greece.

Perseus put on the jets and rushed forth, From the roofs to his left a sputtering of Gurglings fell, Leeroy Jenkins style, only to break on contact with the ground, or safely land mouth first on the head of some target. They were cut apart with ease, Perseus waved the sword above his head with no technique.

And soon they were upon the square, they had reached the end of Athinas. “Go across!” Perseus shouted, to go to the other side of the square and the station. They jumped onto the street, with no traffic what so ever, and rushed across the fountain, legs splattering with water, Behind them Athinas and other side streets flooded and exploded forth with Gurglings, all with a body the size of a football, and legs as tall as humans. Their screams covered the empty, dead, square in their horrid sound as Perseus hopped onto the stair railing and slid down below.

Suddenly they found themselves with a moment as they took a sharp turn and the gray tiles turned to orange and red as they descended to the train station. The train tracks right in front of them and the main platform stood in between the two sets. No train managed to be in the station at this time. Probably for the better, as the people riding on it did not have to face the tide wave of horrid creatures. Though, who knew what they had to face where they were. They could just be stuck under the earth somewhere in the distance with no way to get out. Perseus shook those thoughts away, it wasn’t the time.

“Should we go to the metro already?” Perseus asked. Eying up the stairs leading even deeper into the earth. It was dark, both the station at their level and the metro further below. It would take a bit to adjust at this level of light.

“I think we should stick it out here, for as long as we can. Because once we go down there, that’s it.” Gabriel responded, then took a sit and caught his breath.

“Fucking office life. Took our youth right out of us. Hey, Agon, Ilyne, what do we have to do to get our stamina up?” Perseus checked his own status, his Stamina sat at a comfortable 550, quickly charging back up.

“You need to improve any one of these four Attributes. Endurance, Will, Agility, and Focus.” Ilyne responded, her eyes still curiously peering through the darkness, at the underground architecture.

“Huh. Didn’t really expect that. But I can see why. If you’ve ever trained you’d know that as long as you push, and keep pushing, mind on your breathing and on getting that leg forward. It just feels like you can keep running and running.

“Really? Is that how running feels for humans?” Ilyne turned around and zipped to Perseus, knees on the ground, paws above them, her eyes sparkled in the darkness, a grayish blue.

“Yeah. If I had infinite endurance, if my muscles could hold out, at a certain pace I could keep running forever. It’s not uncommon for humans to run more than 2 hour marathons, and at an incredible pace as well.”

“This, is getting weird.” Agon chimed in, unable to hold to himself. “This may not seem rude, know that it is a very big Taboo, but even so. How much stamina do you have? I have near 100, now standing at a measly 23, I’ve only gained a 2 points back since we stopped.”

“No worries about the taboos. Nothing I have right now is something you don’t understand already, so the more you give me, the more I’ll give you. My Stamina Pool is 725, my current pool is at 550. Oh, scratch that, 600. Gained 50 back.”

“What!?” The twins shot back in complete shock, Ilyne slid on the platform and fell off into the train tracks. Agon stumbled, he fell on all fours, jaw slack.

Sadly the pair could not question Perseus further. From across the station, People took to screaming and running once more. Some resisted, pained grunts of both human and monstrous origin sounded out. The Gurglings had finally figured out how to tumble en masse into the train station. People filed in, hopped onto the tracks, or rushed down further below as Gurlgins, now spread out thinly enough for them to stand on their own rushed down the stairs. Their many jointed folded legs piercing with their singular claw into the tiles unobstructed, they lunged and hurled their bodies at any moving sack of flesh they saw. Friend or foe and chomped down, their small circles of serrated teeth tearing into flesh, blood gushed into their meaty little bodies and they expanded in color, a pink hue added to those that had just eaten. Yet instead of growing slow and heavy they grew angrier, mightier.

Perseus slipped down his metallic chair, mounted to the wall as from his left a gurgling flew. He swiped his sword up and cut it open, it splattered to the ground in two pieces. Not a twitch from its corpse.

He turned to the south, Gabriel stood beside him, Agon and Ilyne brandished their claws. They faces off against the Gurglings, and they screamed at them, spittle flying, before rushing in.

“Sodality!” Gabriel shouted and a golden light shot out of him, it thumped like the beat of a heart and latched onto each of the other three. It pierced into them. And strength, understanding, flowed through them.

“Nice Gabri! That’s why I keep you with me!” Perseus shouted in a rush of adrenaline as he stepped forth, sword cleaving down. A Golden glow pushed the reach of his sword even further, it shone within his veins and under his foot as he stepped and in his eyes as he cut down three Gurglings in one swing. He stopped the sword that weighed less than a feather and attacked once more. A Relentless stand off begun, an assault of infinite enemies against four.

You are reading story World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse at novel35.com

“Preserve your stamina you two, We’ll deal with them as much as we can.” Perseus spoke to Agon and Ilyne, taking another step forth, with Gabriel just a foot behind, taking on more and more Gurglings at once.

“Grab anything you can to fight! They are weak without their numbers! Fight! Take their Source and become stronger! Come join us if you can’t fight alone! We’ll beat them off here!” He then shouted, his voice reverberated like thunder, bounced off the walls of the orange station cast in darkness. It reached people over their screams of pain, or despair. It cut through the thick fear.

And from that moment the ebb of the fight changed, with Perseus as it’s shining pillar, literally, Rose and Gold sword flying through flesh with not a single hint of resistance, as cuts and scrapes accumulated on his body under his shredded suit. He became the strength with which people moved, the push for them to get their mangled arms elbow deep in Gurgling blood and their broken legs moving. Suddenly the fight changed. Perseus pushed further, and he grew more confident in his capability to take life, Gabriel maximized the effect of his Specialization and helped Perseus with perfect synchronism. 30, 50, 90, 100 and more. Perseus had felt at some point his Source gather to two, he knew it, as if morning dew had coalesced into a drop of water. He cared not and continued till his massacre was finished. He took a step back, he took in a breath with more blood than air. He had brought the Gurglings all the way back to the stairs down, on his platform now more than 20 people stood, many died on the way, a few lay dying next to those still standing, and many went further down, the results of which decision were not immediately apparent. The Chaos reseeded. That was enough for now. “Good job, everyone. For staying alive.” Perseus said for the few of them. Man and woman alike merely nodded and plopped their asses on the blood floors.

“If I level up now, do you think I would get any attributes?” Perseus asked Agon and Ilyne, the both of them had been busy checking through the piles of gurgling corpses. Both had fought eventually, there was no avoiding it. They had flown through the train station, dove into the densest clumps of Gurglings and came out drilling through the other side, drenched in blood. Their fur was now back to its pristine white again, it only took some grooming and the rest happened on its own.

“How low is your stamina? Did it get below 10%?” Asked Agon. He got a nod and then shrugged in acceptance before returning to his job. Perseus put the point in and felt topped up once more, it was such a rush he would get addicted to it, he knew. He popped up and went to the twins.

“What are you two doing?”

“Something pretty morose, there really is not even half a chance that the Gurglings have one, but we are looking for a Core.” Ilyne said with a roll of her eyes, she had protested against using up their stamina in such a way, but dear old Agon was not one to play with chances.

Perseus did not get the chance to ask what a Core was, nor did Agon go out of his way to answer him. It was the squeal of a pig that brought the resting souls of the train station out of the stupor and back to their horrid reality. Perseus turned around, bile forming in his mouth as Nicholas showed up, two Gurgling legs in each arms, broken and thrashed and covered in the blood of the bludgeoned Gurgligns they had been used on. He stood tall, taller than ever before and the layers of fat on him seamed diminished and even had a healthy sheen. He had leveled up, more than once probably. Meaning he had killed, or at least somehow contributed to the killing of more than 300 Gurglings, as they gave about a hundredth of a Source each. Perseus had figured form his own Source gain, the numbers also, simply, looked good.

Behind the mountain of a man trailed Bisir, his own blood mixing with the Gurglings and made him look even more frightening and stern, washed in royal purple. He held the claws of two Gurglings in his fists, splintered open like flint rocks to give them a sharp edge. He had fought in really close quarters. Diora, Kirey, and Fiora were not far behind. Kirey seemed frazzled, her caramel blond hair tarnished and sticky, her eyes erratic and her steps weak. She was dirtied and bloodied and clearly, had seen more fight than she had done. Diora was in a much better shape. Her body carried an imperious aura, probably relating to her natural disposition, mixed in with the Orator Way, if Perseus was asked, that would be his answer at least. The most surprising of the bunch was Fiora, she edged those behind her along, jollied up the steps and sang a tune, sometimes humming sometimes turning to whistling, not caring at all for the looks she got as she looked at her very own metallic chair leg caked in blood and flesh bits as if it was a crown. She was not crazy per say. She was just a different person compared to how she was in the office, before August 21st.

The platform suddenly felt crammed. Nearly a hundred people from a quick headcount had survived the ordeal. On one hand, there were a hundred people still alive. On the other, five times as many had died.

“You did well warriors, taking on the reinforcements all on your own.” Perseus was shocked, Nicholas spoke bullshittery he had to plug his nose to hide away from the smell. Others amongst both groups groaned in cringing pain as well. But many lost souls nodded, smiling, satisfied at the praise, the recognition at what had been in their mind the first and final stand of their lives. “But we have much more to do.” They just realised that they were still alive. “We are still alive.” Perseus saw it in their eyes, ‘Yes!’ They cried. “We have to go out and kick this apocalypse down a notch. We need food, we need water, we need fortifications and weapons. We need every single brave soul left standing because of their own worth, to run, not just walk, and to work, not laze about. We will beat this Gauntlet!”

“YEAH!”

“We, the people left behind, we here, not anyone else. We! Will do it.” Nicholas ended his speech and spread his meaty, stumpy, fingers forth. His minions sprang forth, the people listened, Perseus, Gabriel, the Yaoguai twins were undermined. Diora took charge and delegated orders. As if they were a natural extension of the group they were sent out, to find and catalogue supplies. Fiora and Kirey were to go with.  Perseus bristled, yet he did not try to argue just yet. He felt a hunger rise from within him stronger than ever. And the only way to satisfy it was getting more strength. He Checked his status as he took the exit stairs.

Personal Status
Name: Perseus Ianos
Race: Human (Basic)
Sponsor: -
Level: 2

Health Pool: 65/65
Stamina Pool: 800/800
Mana Pool: 8.4/8.4

Attributes:
Vitality: 7/10
Endurance: 7/10
Might: 7/10
Agility: 7/10
Dexterity: 8/10
Focus: 10/10
Will: 8/10
Intelligence: 8/10

Source: 0
Specialty: [Power]
Skills: -
Achievements: Leadership I

There was much more to come. For him, and for Nicholas. Perseus did not believe in much of anything before today. But with what has happened… Why can’t Karma be a thing? And if it is, God knows, it’s a bitch.

You can find story with these keywords: World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse, Read World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse, World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse novel, World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse book, World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse story, World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse full, World Gauntlet – A LitRPG Apocalypse Latest Chapter